TOTAL RECALL
Minimum safe distance II
By Annie
Rated: PG Spoilers: The Gift; Go Fish? Disclaimer: don't, won't and can't ever own 'em. Third paragraph thanks to Miranda. ( Feedback: crehnert@ptd.net
Darkness reigned rampant in her world, and had for some time now. Of course, she was aware of this only subconsciously. There was no conscious. She was at rest, in peaceful warm darkness, enveloping all that she was, a safe womb at the other end of her life. No conscious memory of family, Scoobies, lovers or demons. Just, finally, peaceful darkness. Perhaps she'd really had a death wish. Death had been her gift to the world; but it was a gift to herself as well.
But, nothing really lasts.
Funny, out of all the others - the friends she'd loved, the Watcher she'd trusted, the sister she'd died for - it was Spike's voice that she had heard, and his pain that had called her back from that quiet place where she had been pleased to rest.
Not the broken-hearted tears of anyone else she had known, but the cold tear and the whispered wish of a long-dead poet.
Her life had not flashed before her eyes, cliché-like, when she jumped from the tower. Her heart was filled with Dawn, and when she actually leaped into the tangled dimensions, there was only light and energy, enfolding her, bathing her - killing her.
Or so it should have been.
Her subconscious knew, somehow, in this engulfing emptiness. Of course, the ritual needed blood - Summers blood. But it needed Dawn's - the Key's - blood. The Slayer's was close enough to do the job, but other factors had to be considered.
Shocking fall. Heart stopped. Blood of the Slayer, that had been coursing through Buffy, now ceased its' travels. Another Slayer would not be called; this had transpired once before and Faith was still out there, somewhere.
Hence the twist; this Slayer has already died, but has been brought back.
No precedent for this existed. Having died once, and been brought back, could the Slayer cease living yet again?
Dimensional energies mixing with Slayer blood. Cataclysmic.
The darkness soothed, nurtured.
After a time, she heard a whisper - at least her subconscious told her that she did.
"Come back, Summers."
Life ran backward in her mind, memory in crazy rewind; Dawn, friends, lovers, demons, Watcher, Mom, Dad, college, high school, grade school, tot years, birth..
She gasped suddenly in the dark, reliving her very first breath.
"Come back, Summers." She had definitely heard it, subconscious, conscious and all.
But she liked the darkness, and tried to remain. No use. The echo of the voice - Spike's voice - reverberated over and over in her head.
She might as well. Apparently, she was doomed to existence.
Strange, though, Buffy thought, moving her arms and legs fractionally. They felt like they were asleep. Memory crashed in on her all at once, and she pushed up instinctually with her arms, encountering what she knew must be a coffin lid. HER coffin lid.
Thoughts raced; have to get out, have to conserve air; am I strong enough; AM I DEAD??
She pushed on the barrier above her, mind screaming, unaware that she was screaming out loud as well.
Two arm-lengths above her, Spike's eyes flew open.
Minimum safe distance II
By Annie
Rated: PG Spoilers: The Gift; Go Fish? Disclaimer: don't, won't and can't ever own 'em. Third paragraph thanks to Miranda. ( Feedback: crehnert@ptd.net
Darkness reigned rampant in her world, and had for some time now. Of course, she was aware of this only subconsciously. There was no conscious. She was at rest, in peaceful warm darkness, enveloping all that she was, a safe womb at the other end of her life. No conscious memory of family, Scoobies, lovers or demons. Just, finally, peaceful darkness. Perhaps she'd really had a death wish. Death had been her gift to the world; but it was a gift to herself as well.
But, nothing really lasts.
Funny, out of all the others - the friends she'd loved, the Watcher she'd trusted, the sister she'd died for - it was Spike's voice that she had heard, and his pain that had called her back from that quiet place where she had been pleased to rest.
Not the broken-hearted tears of anyone else she had known, but the cold tear and the whispered wish of a long-dead poet.
Her life had not flashed before her eyes, cliché-like, when she jumped from the tower. Her heart was filled with Dawn, and when she actually leaped into the tangled dimensions, there was only light and energy, enfolding her, bathing her - killing her.
Or so it should have been.
Her subconscious knew, somehow, in this engulfing emptiness. Of course, the ritual needed blood - Summers blood. But it needed Dawn's - the Key's - blood. The Slayer's was close enough to do the job, but other factors had to be considered.
Shocking fall. Heart stopped. Blood of the Slayer, that had been coursing through Buffy, now ceased its' travels. Another Slayer would not be called; this had transpired once before and Faith was still out there, somewhere.
Hence the twist; this Slayer has already died, but has been brought back.
No precedent for this existed. Having died once, and been brought back, could the Slayer cease living yet again?
Dimensional energies mixing with Slayer blood. Cataclysmic.
The darkness soothed, nurtured.
After a time, she heard a whisper - at least her subconscious told her that she did.
"Come back, Summers."
Life ran backward in her mind, memory in crazy rewind; Dawn, friends, lovers, demons, Watcher, Mom, Dad, college, high school, grade school, tot years, birth..
She gasped suddenly in the dark, reliving her very first breath.
"Come back, Summers." She had definitely heard it, subconscious, conscious and all.
But she liked the darkness, and tried to remain. No use. The echo of the voice - Spike's voice - reverberated over and over in her head.
She might as well. Apparently, she was doomed to existence.
Strange, though, Buffy thought, moving her arms and legs fractionally. They felt like they were asleep. Memory crashed in on her all at once, and she pushed up instinctually with her arms, encountering what she knew must be a coffin lid. HER coffin lid.
Thoughts raced; have to get out, have to conserve air; am I strong enough; AM I DEAD??
She pushed on the barrier above her, mind screaming, unaware that she was screaming out loud as well.
Two arm-lengths above her, Spike's eyes flew open.