Xander paused to yawn as he started his morning jog. It helped keep him in check if he kept a small routine in this special slice of hell, and his newest routine? Walking. Well, it wasn't new by a longshot, considering he'd been doing that back in Scotland to keep himself in shape (watching over that many teenaged girls required you keep yourself in tip top shape, so you at least had a chance of outrunning them), but he was starting it anew.
His jog took him right past the cafe, (or where the cafe was the last time he checked, since the hotel had this rude habit of moving things around without letting anyone know) and he decided to stop in for some juice and maybe a doughnut. When he opened the door, the lights were completely off in the cafe, which was.. not normal. Xander walked in a little further and closed the door behind him. Which, in retrospect, was probably not the safest of ideas, considering he'd already done the poof once before, and this had poof-like situation written all over it.
Suddenly, the lights came on, and Xander was momentarily blinded by the sudden change in scenery. He wasn't in the cafe at all, but this looked eerily familiar. He heard a voice in the distance, and started walking in said direction, trying to figure out where he recognized this from before. When he got closer to the voice, realization started to sink in. He was back in Sunnydale High's basement? Moments later, he saw Spike, curled up in the corner, looking just like he remembered oh so many years ago.
"..Not this again.." Xander said, a disparaging tone in his voice.
Spike's head snapped up when he heard a voice, meeting Xander's gaze with wild eyes.
"They say you can never go home again," he said with a broken sort of laugh. "You can go through the looking glass once, but getting back is the hard part. You have to look out for broken glass," he added sagely.
Xander raised an eyebrow at Spike, and wondered if it was the Spike that he knew from the hotel, or if he was just visualizing Spike in some sort of weird hallucination.
Of course, of all the things for him to hallucinate about, Spike would be the weirdest. Why couldn't it be lonely supermodels? That would be more his cup of tea.
"Spike? ..What happened?" He asked, figuring he was going to get a riddle for an answer.
Spike staggered to his feet, and took a few steps towards Xander.
"Went through the looking glass whelp, try to keep up," he replied shortly.
"What happened is the question. There was the Buffy that's not Buffy, the Dru that's not Dru, and the First that's not dead..." he trailed off and looked over Xander's shoulder with a faraway gaze.
Xander poked at Spike in the shoulder. No, wait, he was solid. Which meant he wasn't imagining him. However, he was correct in the statement that things wouldn't make any sense.
"Spike, there's no First. We destroyed the Hellmouth, remember? Sunnydale was a giant crater? Hell, you died doing it.. well... sorta.." He said, trying to get Spike back into the present.
Spike's eyes moved from the spot he was starring absently at on the far wall to where Xander poked his shoulder. Xander touched him, he was solid, somewhere in his mottled mind he knew that meant something important.
"I died," he repeated looking down at the deep gouges that he could see and feel on his chest, "but it used to beat. Right here, I know it did," he said laying his hand over his heart. "True! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?" q "SHUT UP!" he shouted behind him, to a voice only he could hear.
Xander stared at crazy Spike, and shook his head. "Yes, it used to beat Spike.. but you've kind of been with the pointy fangy group for a while here. ..Actually." He grabbed Spike and reached to see if his heart was beating. Since, for some reason he'd declined to remember that the hotel turned vampires back into humans. That would answer his question if it was real!Spike or a hallucination.
Xander shook his head. Well, Spike wasn't going to let him do that test. Which.. probably not his best idea.. now that he thought about it. "Look, you can stand here and be.. weird and talking about the first, but I'm going to try and find a way back out of here."
“Nature is a labyrinth in which the very haste you move with will make you lose your way,” Spike said lowly from the shadows. "Buffy's not going to be very happy about this," he tsked to himself.
Xander shook his head. Buffy was still missing, which still got to him. Although, he could almost hope with how long she was missing that maybe she'd gone back to earth. "Spike.. come on. Let's get out of here."
Spike glanced up at Xander and really looked at him for the first time since the other man had entered the basement. Seeing the eyepatch on the younger man triggered something, somewhere in his addled mind, and he knew that this wasn't right. His sanity fought to the surface, as he remembered that no matter what this looked like or how he felt, this was not the basement of Sunnydale high, and Xander's suggestion of getting out of here was the best one he had heard in a long time.
Xander closed his eye and put his hand over his face while he tried to remember the layout of the school basement. "...If we go..." He started, trying to remember the school that he'd left at the bottom of a crater. "..so.. we need to go.." Xander drew a line with his finger, and found himself pointing south. "That way!" He grabbed Spike's wrist and hoped he wouldn't fight. "C'mon Spike. The evil spooks are coming back to make you with the crazies. Uhm... so let's not be here when they're back." He said, tugging.
Spike was so surprised when Xander actually grabbed his arm that he forgot to struggle and let the other man half lead/half drag him through the basement. The hotel, apparently feeling like it had done enough, let them find the staircase easily enough and they soon made their way out of the basement. As soon as they stepped off the last stair, they were no longer in Sunnydale High and we're back in the Hotel California they had come to know and well not so much love.
As soon as he was back in the lobby, Spike fell to his knees, feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders and the veil of crazy had been lifted from his mind.
Xander let Spike's wrist drop when he'd fallen to the floor, they were out of the fire, and back into the frying pan. Which, still wasn't a great place to be, but anyplace was better than the quite literal hell they'd just relived. "Okay, so.. places I don't want to go again now include that basement. Duly noted." He looked back at Spike and tilted his head.
"Okay, so do we have mildly snarky dating my best-friend who's currently missing Spike, or do we have crazy first haunted Spike. I mean, the latter one is more interesting at parties, but kind of gets old after a while.." Xander said, trying to deal with what he'd just seen with his normal way of coping, making a crack about the whole thing.
"What the bloody buggering fuck was that?!" Spike exclaimed climbing back to his feet, and pulling back his shirt to see that he didn't have so much as a scratch. It had all seemed and felt so real, he had really thought he was back in the highschool basement right after he had come back from Africa.
Then what Xander was saying to him actually filtered into his mind. "What's that about Buffy?" he asked
His jog took him right past the cafe, (or where the cafe was the last time he checked, since the hotel had this rude habit of moving things around without letting anyone know) and he decided to stop in for some juice and maybe a doughnut. When he opened the door, the lights were completely off in the cafe, which was.. not normal. Xander walked in a little further and closed the door behind him. Which, in retrospect, was probably not the safest of ideas, considering he'd already done the poof once before, and this had poof-like situation written all over it.
Suddenly, the lights came on, and Xander was momentarily blinded by the sudden change in scenery. He wasn't in the cafe at all, but this looked eerily familiar. He heard a voice in the distance, and started walking in said direction, trying to figure out where he recognized this from before. When he got closer to the voice, realization started to sink in. He was back in Sunnydale High's basement? Moments later, he saw Spike, curled up in the corner, looking just like he remembered oh so many years ago.
"..Not this again.." Xander said, a disparaging tone in his voice.
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"They say you can never go home again," he said with a broken sort of laugh. "You can go through the looking glass once, but getting back is the hard part. You have to look out for broken glass," he added sagely.
Reply
Of course, of all the things for him to hallucinate about, Spike would be the weirdest. Why couldn't it be lonely supermodels? That would be more his cup of tea.
"Spike? ..What happened?" He asked, figuring he was going to get a riddle for an answer.
Reply
"Went through the looking glass whelp, try to keep up," he replied shortly.
"What happened is the question. There was the Buffy that's not Buffy, the Dru that's not Dru, and the First that's not dead..." he trailed off and looked over Xander's shoulder with a faraway gaze.
Reply
"Spike, there's no First. We destroyed the Hellmouth, remember? Sunnydale was a giant crater? Hell, you died doing it.. well... sorta.." He said, trying to get Spike back into the present.
Reply
"I died," he repeated looking down at the deep gouges that he could see and feel on his chest, "but it used to beat. Right here, I know it did," he said laying his hand over his heart. "True! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?"
q
"SHUT UP!" he shouted behind him, to a voice only he could hear.
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As soon as he was back in the lobby, Spike fell to his knees, feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders and the veil of crazy had been lifted from his mind.
Reply
"Okay, so do we have mildly snarky dating my best-friend who's currently missing Spike, or do we have crazy first haunted Spike. I mean, the latter one is more interesting at parties, but kind of gets old after a while.." Xander said, trying to deal with what he'd just seen with his normal way of coping, making a crack about the whole thing.
Reply
Then what Xander was saying to him actually filtered into his mind. "What's that about Buffy?" he asked
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