When World's Collide: Merged Worlds
Series Title: When Worlds Collide
Story Title: Merged Worlds
Rating: M
Series Genre: crossover, sci-fi, fantasy, action, adventure, romance, mostly het
Fandoms: Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
Characters: Bruce Banner/Hulk, Fred Burkle/Illyria, AU!Tara Maclay, Thor, Willow Rosenberg, mentions of others
Pairings: Jane/Thor, Tara/Willow
Series Summary: When Castiel tries to open purgatory something goes terribly wrong. Realities start to collide and bleed into each other. People from different worlds have to start working together to try and save their worlds, but will they manage to undo the damage already done or will they have to learn to live in damaged and chaotic worlds that defy everything they were used to?
Ficlet Summary: While trying to stop the destruction of universes and fighting demons Willow and Illyria unexpectedly get help.
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters or fandoms. I wish I did… *g* I don’t make any money with this! I’m just writing for fun and hope someone else will enjoy it, too.
Spoiler Warnings/Timeline: all BTVS & ATS seasons (no Comics), the Avengers, Thor
Other Warnings: Like usually, I write from multiple points of view to grant an insight into what different characters are thinking.
I’m German and my English isn’t and probably never will be perfect. I hope I don’t make too many mistakes. Feel free to point out errors so I can learn and improve.
This is the first time I wrote anything for the Avengers. I hope I managed to write them well enough. Thor was the hardest, because of the way he talks, which is something we just never learned in english class in school over here.
The BTVS/ATS part continues from the previous ficlet in the Series: Collision.
Thank you to my beta landiana24 on lj for betaing this! :-)
Fanart *~*~* Master Post *~*~* Series Introduction
World 2:
Willow’s eyes widened when Faith, Dawn, Buffy, Angel and several demons disappeared in front of her. She hadn’t been fast enough. She had felt the shifting of worlds too late and hadn’t understood quickly enough what it meant. Now she did. Worlds were colliding, bleeding into each other and pressing parts of one world into another. She could feel it happening in every cell of her being. When she started to use white, instead of black, magic she became attuned to the world around her. By now she was so in sync with nature that she could feel what was happening to it… and it was bad. Different realities were colliding, breaking and pushing into each other further and further. The planet, the Earth, was at the center of it and practically being ripped apart and scattered into pieces.
Willow sank down to her knees as the horror of what was happening sank in.
“Willow, we have to stop this madness!” Illyria said when she saw the redhead sinking to the ground. She wasn’t sure what the witch sensed about what was happening, all she knew and cared about was that they stopped it. If they didn’t, worlds would continue to press against each other and eventually destroy everything in one big explosion. She hadn’t come back to life, endured living in a mortal shell and even started to share her body with the shell’s inhabitant, Fred, to die now. She would not let the world… her world be destroyed like this, and she certainly would not lose everything again! If she just had all of her powers… Allowing Fred to awaken and share this body with her had strengthened the shell, as Willow had promised her. They had even managed to get some of her powers back, but unfortunately not all of them. She wasn’t strong enough to steady the worlds and seal them off. She needed help. She needed Willow.
“Get up!” she ordered. She could see the pain on Willow’s face, had become accustomed to reading human emotions on their faces, so she knew that the witch was feeling bad, but there was no time for that right now. “Help me end this!”
Willow looked up at Illyria. She was right. She had to shut out the pain, that the disruption of universes was causing her, and focus on keeping things from getting even worse. Ignoring the tremors that had started again, Willow got up unsteadily, then stepped towards Illyria who held out a hand. Willow took it and started to focus, clearing her mind of all the horror, fear and doubt, to make room for finding a solution.
Willow wasn’t sure how long they stood there or what exactly they were doing. She was going on instinct, using magic and her own will to steady the universes and keep them from colliding any further. Illyria was helping, though she couldn’t tell how. She had no time to try and figure it out or analyze what the ancient goddess was doing. Her whole focus was on the task at hand: stabilizing the universes, before she ran out of power and collapsed. And she knew that she didn’t have much time left. She felt tired… oh so tired. Usually she could tap into the nature’s magic surrounding her, to help her and make her stronger. This time all she had was her own strength and that of Illyria next to her, but even together she wasn’t sure if they would succeed. They had slowed the collision down, there were less earthquakes, less shifting of parts of the worlds, but it was all still unstable. If they stopped now, she doubted that things would hold. It felt as if there were… holes between worlds, which had to be plugged. As long as they stayed open, the worlds would continue to be pulled together.
Taking a deep breath Willow tried to stay upright and find a way to magically seal the worlds. She couldn’t stop now, couldn’t fail. She needed to do this… but she also needed more power, more strength… Then, all of a sudden, she felt power rushing through her as a hand took hers. A part of her wanted to open her eyes and check who was helping her, but she didn’t have time for that. Besides, whoever was helping her felt familiar and right by her side. She didn’t have anything to fear. She turned her focus back to repairing the universes as best she could. It took time, but everything stabilized more and more with each ‘hole’ they plugged… or were it doorways? Doorways that needed to be closed so the worlds could be sealed and stay away from each other. Yes, that was a better way of describing what she felt.
As Willow started to tire again, she suddenly felt the rest of the open doorways close. Just like that it was over. They had done it. The walls between worlds were thinner than usual and Willow could feel that there was a lot of damage to the world she was in, but the immediate danger was over. Everything else could be dealt with later… after a long nap.
Taking a deep breath Willow opened her eyes, then froze when she saw who was standing next to her, who had helped her.
“T… Tara?” she asked, her voice shaking slightly.
Before Willow could get an answer, and before her mind had a chance to fully comprehend what was going on, something came rushing at her. Illyria stepped in the way and blocked the attack, snapping the demon’s neck quickly. The demons… right, they had been out hunting a group of demons and had found them just as the worlds started to collide, Willow thought. When the earthquakes made it hard to stand, the demons had stopped attacking, but now they apparently felt like all bets were off again. Trust demons to leave you alone long enough to save their lives, but come back to kill you the second they were safe again. She really, really hated demons!
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Avengers Movieverse:
“Jane,” Thor called desperately while fighting off Loki’s newest minions with his hammer and advancing towards his brother, who had his hand around Jane’s throat and was holding her in front of him like a shield. Thor had no idea how Loki had escaped from his prison cell, but right now he did not care. Upon coming to Earth, the first thing his adoptive brother had done was kidnap Jane, the woman Thor loved. All that mattered right now was getting to her before Loki decided to take his revenge and kill her.
Thor was faintly aware of the rest of the Avengers fighting with him against Loki’s overwhelming forces, but did not have time to check if they were alright. He had to trust that they could care for themselves. Jane on the other hand did not stand a chance against his brother. She needed him.
Thunder crackled dangerously in the air, fuelled by Thor’s anger, and zapped three of the thin, pale alien minions. His hammer took care of another one, throwing it through the air to get it out of the way. Only a few more steps and he would reach Loki and Jane. Then the ground beneath him suddenly started to rumble, shake and crack open. Within seconds the earthquake went from bad to worse. Several aliens fell into rips in the ground that opened up underneath them and screams echoed through the air. Thor tried to stay on his feet, then wondered if he would not be better off in the air. He had barely finished that thought and started to swing Mjolnir when Loki and Jane suddenly disappeared from his view. He stared at the empty space, where they had been moments before, then looked around frantically. Was Loki using an illusion again? But he and Jane were not the only people missing. Over half of the aliens were gone as well, together with Steve, Natasha, Clint and Tony. The only Avenger left, besides him, was the Hulk, who let out an angry roar before hitting several aliens and dropping them into one of the cracks in the ground. What had just happened?
“Where did they go?” Thor called angrily and looked at the last group of aliens left. They met his gaze with fearful eyes before looking around in panic. Either Loki had abandoned them without letting them in on his plans, or whatever just happened was not his brother's doing at all. Thor was inclined to believe that the latter was the case. Loki disappearing did not make any sense. He wanted revenge, and what better way was there, than to take it right in front of Thor’s eyes? Plus, he had a really strange feeling. He was unable to tell why, but something was terribly wrong, something besides Loki kidnapping Jane and stealing the tesseract.
While Thor looked around, trying to figure out what was happening, he noticed out of the corner of his eye, that the Hulk was as angry as ever and let his frustration out on the remaining aliens. He knocked one of them off its feet with his left arm and used his other fist like a hammer to crush a second one, ignoring the earthquake completely. The next moment however, even the Hulk could no longer stay on his feet. Thor quickly jumped out of the way when the huge green creature went down with a thud, causing another crack in the ground.
As the earth split into more fractions Thor quickly swung Mjolnir, grabbed the Hulk by a finger and took to the air. The Hulk roared and struggled for a moment, but seemed to change his mind and hold onto Thor when he saw the ground giving in. The remaining few aliens fell into the crater that appeared beneath them.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
World 2:
Willow set one of the attacking demons on fire, then fell to her knees. She knew that there were more - and not just the demons that they had been fighting before the worlds collided either, another group had suddenly shown up - but she just didn’t have any more strength left to stay on her feet, let alone fight. Stopping the collision had taken too much out of her.
“Willow,” Tara called, when she saw the other witch go down. With her last remaining strength she telekinetically sent the demons closest to them flying, then stepped towards Willow and sank down next to her. She felt so exhausted, but she had to keep fighting somehow. She had lost Willow once, and no matter if the woman before her wasn’t herWillow, she still was a version of her. Tara could feel it in every cell of her being when they joined hands and stopped the collision of worlds. She knew that this woman was from an alternate reality, but she also knew, that she was just like her Willow in every way that counted. Her aura, spirit and soul were almost exactly the same.
“We have to keep fighting,” she mumbled silently while taking Willow’s hand.
“I don’t think I can,” Willow answered in a weak voice.
“Yes, you can!” Tara cried. “I am NOT losing you again!”
Willow blinked, startled, and stared at Tara. What did she mean? It was her who had lost Tara before, not the other way around. But how was Tara here anyway? She was dead, had died right in front of her eyes. Had she become a higher being? Willow had wondered that for a while now. Could it really be true? Had she come back now, because she needed her the most? Or was something else going on? Worlds had collided. She had felt it, felt the different universes pressing in on each other, crack and merge. So, if different realities were involved, was this even her Tara? And did it matter? It was Tara, and she had helped her.
“Get up and fight!” Illyria called while pulling two demons away from the witches. She knew they were exhausted. She felt the same way herself, but she was not going to die here!
Just as another onslaught of demons rushed towards the three women something came out of the sky and landed with a thudding noise next to them. Before Illyria had a chance to assess the new threat, something huge and green threw itself on several demons. Next to it a tall man with a long red cape was swinging a hammer and knocking demons away with it. What was even more startling though was the amount of power she could feel emanating from them. It felt similar to the power of her kin, the Old Ones, power worthy of Gods. She smiled.
Willow could barely believe it when help suddenly arrived. And it wasn’t just the fact, that they did get help, but from whom. The huge green creature looked suspiciously like the Hulk from Xander’s comics. The other one had a hammer, which seemed to pull lightning from the sky, when he held it up, and direct it towards the demons. That, combined with his clothes and the power Willow felt radiating off of the man, made her wonder if he could be the God of Thunder himself. But they weren’t in a comic, were they? On the other hand, different worlds had collided and merged. Who knew what was possible anymore?
When demons came too close to them, Tara conjured up a force field around them. Willow helped her as much as she could, but was glad when a blast of lightning took care of the demons. If she had to use more magic, she was sure she’d pass out any second. Luckily the fight didn’t last long. Bodies of demons were soon scattered all over the ground and the rest of them fled, accompanied by a loud roar from the Hulk-look-alike.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
When Willow woke up the next morning she was snuggled up against Tara, and they were both wrapped in a red blanket. For a moment all she managed to do was stare at the beautiful blond woman next to her. Her chest was rising and falling, indicating that she was indeed alive. Her face looked peaceful and almost angelic, but that was probably just Willow’s own rather biased opinion.
As she kept watching Tara’s sleeping form, Willow realized why she was lying next to her in the first place, and what happened the previous night. After they had stopped the collision of universes and the demons were dealt with, their aid really had introduced themselves as Thor, the God of Thunder, and the Hulk. Under different circumstances Willow probably would have thought that they were crazy. Ore maybe not… she had seen way too much in her life already to think that anything was impossible. But still, comic heroes? Well, she was a witch who was lying next to her supposedly dead girlfriend, or possibly an alternate reality version of said dead girlfriend, who happened to also be a witch. Her friend, who was sitting up next to her at that moment, was sharing her body with an ancient demonic goddess. So, who was she to say that comic heroes couldn’t be real?
Willow took a deep breath, inhaling Tara’s familiar scent, which almost brought tears to her eyes, then sat up and looked around. They were on a meadow and the sun had just started to rise. Next to Fred the God of Thunder himself extinguished a fire before looking towards the rising sun with a sad and worried expression. To his right a slightly dishevelled looking man yawned. Where had he come from? And where was the Hulk? Oh, right, Willow thought. The Hulk wasn’t always huge and green. He was a regular human most of the time, wasn’t he?
“Morning,” Fred said. “How are you feeling?”
Willow glanced at her and shrugged. Worried because of the collision and the disappearance of Buffy, Dawn, Angel and Faith, unsure about the future of the world, slightly weirded out because of the comic heroes, happy and hopeful because of Tara, she thought, but said instead: “Better… less exhausted than last night for sure.”
“Good,” Fred replied with a small smile. “Me, too. Illyria is still asleep though. She was exhausted after fighting the demons and whatever you did to stop the merging of realities.” Since Willow had noticed that she was still around in her own body and helped her to get Illyria to let her take control of her body from time to time, Fred had learned to use and understand some of the ancient demon’s powers, but most were still a complete mystery to her. What Illyria did last night fell under that category, but it also showed her, that she could be glad that Illyria was with her now. Having to share her own body might be weird and often annoying, especially because Illyria wasn’t the easiest person to get along with, but what would they have done without her and her powers last night? On her own Fred would have been powerless.
“I completely understand,” Willow said. Then she turned towards the men. “Thank you for your help.”
“You’re welcome,” Bruce Banner answered. “The other guy had a blast.”
Willow smiled slightly when she realized, that he meant the Hulk. So he had a sense of humor. Xander would totally love to meet him. That reminded her of something.
“Have you called the Slayer School yet, Fred?” she asked.
“I tried, but something must be up with the phone lines. It said the number isn’t registered.”
“The same happened when I tried to call the other Avengers, Stark Industries and S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Bruce said.
“Weird,” Willow mumbled, lost in thought.
“Maybe that’s because the people you were calling aren’t in this world,” Tara offered with a yawn and pushed herself up into a sitting position.
Willow glanced at her and couldn’t help but smile. “Morning.”
Tara returned the smile. “Hey,” she whispered in that shy kind of voice Willow knew so well.
“What do you mean by that?” Thor wanted to know, looking at Tara, who reluctantly tore her eyes away from Willow and turned to the man.
“Remember, last night I told you, that different realities crashed into each other. I don’t know how or why, but I could feel it happening. It’s hard to describe, but I think that during the collision parts of one world were pushed into others. Since I am pretty sure that we…,” Tara started and gestured at all of them in turn. “…are from at least three different realities, it is pretty safe to assume, that not all of us can still be in their own universe. The ones of us who aren’t might not have anyone to call,” she finished, then looked down, when she noticed that all eyes were on her. She had never really liked to be the center of attention.
“Great,” Bruce muttered. “If we don’t have Stark Tower or S.H.I.E.L.D. resources, how are we going to solve this mess?” If it can be solved, he added in thoughts, but didn’t say it out loud.
“Magic,” Willow said automatically. “The same way we stopped the collision.”
Bruce snorted.
“Magic is real, Banner,” Thor told his friend. “As real as science. To Asgardians they are one and the same.”
Bruce raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. He was talking to an alien after all, one who happened to be the God of Thunder. Was magic really that big of a leap?
“So, if magic can fix this mess…,” he said in a sceptical tone of voice. “…any idea how to actually do it?”
“Not really,” Willow answered. “I need to examine the world. Maybe that will help me figure out what caused this and what needs to be done to fix it.”
“Are you strong enough to do that yet?” Fred wanted to know.
“I don’t know,” Willow admitted.
“I’ll help you,” Tara offered. “But first we should try to find something to eat, get our strength back.”
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Willow sat down on the ground cross-legged and took a deep breath. They were back in the meadow, where they hopefully wouldn’t be interrupted by strangers. The trip into the closest village hadn’t been fun. Most of the houses were damaged or completely destroyed in the earthquake. A lot of people were wounded. In addition to that a lot of things had been… misplaced. Willow didn’t manage to come up with a better word for it. It weren’t just people who ended up in other worlds, it were objects, landscapes and buildings, too. Sometimes even halves of buildings. Sceneries changed abruptly, streets ended suddenly or led straight into houses. People couldn’t find loved ones or their homes. It was chaos. No cafés or restaurants had been open. Luckily tough, they had found a nice old woman who had insisted on sharing her breakfast with them. Willow had a feeling that she was a little disoriented and believed Fred to be her granddaughter, but they couldn’t be picky in their situation. They needed to eat to be strong enough to do the kind of magic that might save the whole world… or better worlds, in this case.
Tara followed Willow’s example and sat down opposite her. When they joined hands she looked at the redhead.
“If we figure this out,” she said silently. “If we manage to restore everything, get everyone back home…” She sighed and looked down. “What I mean is…”
“… that we won’t be able to see each other again,” Willow finished. It had occurred to her as well. Here she was sitting, with Tara’s hands in her own. It might not be herTara, but it still felt like she was. Part of her wondered how she could even think about trying to reverse what had happened. She would probably never be able to see this version of her girlfriend again, the only version she had left. She wanted to be with her so badly, and she was sure that Tara wanted the same. They had talked a little while on their way to the village. Apparently Tara’s reality wasn’t that different from her own, but instead of Tara, Warren’s bullet had killed Willow there. This Tara wasn’t just another version of her girlfriend, but also knew exactly how Willow felt. If things stayed the way they were right now, she might have another shot at being with the woman she loved more than anything in the world. But if they did nothing, if they stayed together and left the world as it was, so many others would suffer. What she saw in the village surely happened elsewhere, too. People were lost, families and loved ones separated. How could she put her own happiness before theirs?
A tear started to run down Willow’s cheek. She quickly wiped it away and saw Tara do the same. Then, without even thinking about it, or making the decision to do it, she leaned forward at the same time as Tara. Their lips met in a desperate kiss as they both pulled each other closer. Willow’s right hand got tangled in Tara’s hair, while her left arm wrapped around her, holding her close.
Seeing their kiss Fred quickly looked down with a sigh. She was happy for Willow that she had this chance, this opportunity, to be with another version of the woman she loved, but she also felt a little jealous. Was there another Wesley out there? Was he maybe even in this world right now? She wished he had been there after the collision. A part of her wanted to go look for him, but she knew that they didn’t have time. They needed to try and fix this as soon as possible.
When the two witches suddenly kissed Thor averted his eyes and tried not to rush them, even though he was more than impatient. He needed to get back to Jane! Every second he was away from her meant one more second in which he was unable to keep her safe. He knew very well, that Loki already had had enough time by now to kill her, if the other Avengers did not manage to rescue her, but he needed to go back and find out what happened. Wasting time in another reality was the worst kind of torture he could imagine right now. On the other hand he could understand Willow and Tara as well. He overheard them talking earlier and knew enough about their past. In addition to that it was written all over their faces how they felt for each other. They had every reason to run away together and leave the world as it was, maybe even fight to keep it that way. Yet they were planning to try and fix things themselves. The least he could do was give them a few moments together. Still, it was extremely hard. He had never been a patient man. Sighing he started to pace, which earned him a glare from Bruce. Then the witches finally broke apart.
“If I see a way for me to come with you I will take it,” Willow whispered while wiping Tara’s tears away.
“Me, too,” Tara promised. “And if not now, I will try to find one later.”
Willow smiled faintly, sat back down and reached for Tara’s hands. It was time to examine the damage and try to fix it, no matter the costs for her fragile heart. She had gone evil once and selfishly tried to destroy the world. She could not allow herself to go down that road again. She wouldn’t deserve Tara otherwise anyway.
----- -----
“What do you think they are doing?” Bruce asked silently, after the two witches were motionless for at least twenty minutes. They had started to float above the ground shortly after joining hands. A breeze came out of nowhere, making their hair fly behind them, in opposite directions, then they started to glow faintly. If he really needed proof that magic was real, he had it now. Still, nothing seemed to happen.
“I do not know,” Thor answered and went back to pacing.
Fred rolled her eyes. Apparently the Norse God wasn’t good at waiting and doing nothing. Not that she could blame him, but walking up and down didn’t do much besides make her nervous. She was just about to tell him to cut it out, when Willow and Tara suddenly floated back to the ground. They stopped glowing, then moved and looked up.
“Well?” Bruce asked.
“There is a lot of damage, and not just here. The walls between worlds are very thin and fragile right now. I can feel the damage and destruction echoing back through them,” Willow answered.
“Can you repair it?” Thor voiced the question that was on everyone’s mind.
Willow and Tara both shook their heads.
“There is no easy way to undo what happened. The only way I can see is to try and push everything back by force,” Willow said. “Which would need an incredible amount of power.”
“Plus, if we tried to push the parts of universes back where they came from, people would have to go back to where they were when they arrived, or they would be left behind. Not to mention that we would have to undo what we did to stop the merging, which means that in addition to trying to reverse everything we would have to work on preventing another collision. If we failed we might make everything worse instead of better,” Tara added.
“So you are not going to do anything because you might fail?” Thor demanded.
“We’re not saying that we might fail. There is no way we could possibly succeed right now,” Willow answered. “We simply aren’t strong enough. We would need a whole lot more power to pull this off, and trust me, I considered tapping into each of you for strength. It still wouldn’t be enough, and that even though you are pretty powerful.”
Tara nodded in agreement. “If we want to try this we will need to find help, a lot of help.”
Thor looked at them and sighed. He did not doubt what they said. The whole world still felt wrong to him, and he had seen the damage in that village. To expect that two humans could fix everything had been stupid. He should have known that it would not be that simple.
“The tesseract,” he then said silently, lost in thought.
“What?” Fred asked.
“The tesseract is an asgardian artifact of great power. I am certain it could be of help in restoring order,” Thor elaborated.
“But Loki took it,” Bruce objected. “And last time I checked he wasn’t here. He disappeared during the collision,” he added in explanation for the women.
“So this artifact is in another reality right now?” Fred asked. “That doesn’t really help us, does it? We can’t actually go there.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Willow said. “Like I said, the walls between universes are very thin right now. Travelling between them shouldn’t be that hard.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Thor wanted to know. If they could go to wherever Jane was right now, they had to do it!
“The problem is that we don’t know where we need to go. There are a lot of realities. We could search for the right one for the rest of our lives and still don’t find it,” Tara said.
“Is there no way to narrow the search down?” Bruce asked. “Maybe sense the tesseract’s power?”
“If it is powerful enough to be of use to us, I am certain that we would be able to feel it, but only if we are in the same universe with it,” Willow said. “If I could find it right now, I would have while we examined the world’s structure, but I didn’t sense anything useful.”
“Sounds like all we can do is randomly chose a world and once we are there, see if you can feel that tesseract,” Fred said. “Right?”
Willow and Tara nodded. “Right.”
Thor was not too fond of that plan, but if it was the only option they had, they should leave as soon as possible, and it would be better than staying in a world without the tesseract, and without Jane.
“What do we need to do to cross to another universe?” Thor asked.
“You? Nothing. Tara and I will do it,” Willow answered. “But depending on how hard it gets, we might have to tap into your strength a little, if that is okay with you?”
“Whatever you need,” Thor quickly assured her.
“Okay, then I guess there is no need to wait any longer,” Tara said and held out her hands.
Once they were all holding hands and standing in a circle Willow took a deep breath. “Alright, hold on tight, everyone.”
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