Well of Realms Description Post Chosen, AU, Spuffy Shanshue story, R, might beef up to Nc17 M/F Category Subcategory Buffy/Spike(William) Rating R Allow Additions Yes First Chapter Author: Nightmelody Email: nightmelody@ hotmail.com Spoilers: Post 'Chosen' Pairing: S/B Rating: R (rewrite to Nc17, I think0 Summary: Yet another human-Spike-shanshue story Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon. All Hail Joss. A/N Wrote this after Chosen, will be tweaking it some, perhaps gearing it to Nc17 instead of R WELL of REALMS Chapter One: The Beginning The sun rose in a red sky, over the crater that once was Sunnydale , California. The bowl of earth was churned and tossed, filled with all manner of rubbish and debris, harsh and ugly. The morning was silent and still, all the spring bird calls stopped.. All life was gone. The earth began to shake and tremble. From a small opening in the ground a golden bird flew into the dusty sky, trilling a song. The canopy of a huge tree emerged. Slowly the tree pushed up from the destroyed ground, taller and taller, its branches and leaves intact. The trunk was broad with age, its height reached more than a hundred feet. At its base was a pool of clear blue water, surrounded by shrubs and a small grassy meadow sprinkled with wildflowers. Birds flew across the tree branches, a fish jumped, making circles in the pool. On the bank a frog croaked, eyeing water skippers. A man lay in the tall grass of the small meadow, curled on his side, asleep. He began to awake, stretching. He was of medium height, strongly muscled, naked except for a necklace. Suddenly he jumped up, wide eyed, staring at his surroundings in shock. He stared down at his naked flesh. He fingered the large jewel around his neck. "Bloody hell." He walked past the meadow and saw the destroyed land all around.. "What the hell is going on?" Later he decided to try to find...something. Other people, medical help. Since it seemed he couldn't remember a blessed thing. Clothes. I really need some frickin' clothes. He trudged across the rough land and up a steep incline, finally coming to a blacktop, which he followed for several miles. He came to a home, leveled into a pile of timbers and bricks. In what was once the drive way was a car, its hood caved in by a fallen tree. With great effort, the man managed to pull the tree off. The occupant was dead, impaled by a branch. But other than the roof the car seemed undamaged. "Sorry, guy, but I'm gonna take your car. Not like you need it anyway." He put the body under the tree. There was a suitcase in the car, and a cooler full of snack food. He dressed in a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt, and removed the dead man's shoes, which were a little long, but okay. Then he ate a couple packets of peanut butter crackers and drank a couple bottles of water while exploring the car. A small locked box yielded cash and bank account information. He returned the items, and then put the necklace he was wearing inside, too. He searched the corpse and found the driver's license. "David Green, thirty years old..Sunnydale, California. Well, man, I'm gonna borrow your life for awhile. Until I can remember who the hell I am." He went to the side view mirror and compared his face to the license. He was surprised to find that he was handsome, with sharp cheek bones, blue eyes and curly dark blond hair. The man in the drivers licence had very short hair and glasses, a goofy half smile on his face. Bad photo. Brown hair, blue eyes. It worked. Using a tree limb as a lever, he managed to get the ruined car roof up. Then he started it, and was pleased to find that the engine was in good shape. "Oh, yeah. Off to civilization." He saw no other traffic for miles. He found a radio station that gave a news flash about a huge earthquake in southern California., but the reception was really poor. Finally he saw two cars, rushing down a dirt county road. The second vehicle caught up with the first, and rammed it off the road. "What the hell ?" David turned onto the road and arrived to see a man hauling a small woman out of the wrecked car. He began shaking and slapping her. "Hey, there's no call for that!" David leaped out of his car. "Get lost. This ain't no business of yours." The man was huge, red faced. The woman was tiny, and petrified. Pregnant, too. A screaming toddler could be heard from the back seat of the woman's car. "Wanna bet?" The man took a swing at David, who neatly avoided it. Instinctively he kicked the man in the chest, sending him flying into the car. "Wow. I know karate." He gave a cocky grin. "And I'm good." The grin annoyed the other man, who charged him with a roar. David again avoided the punch and sent him flying with a punch and kick combo. To his surprise the man flew through the air and landed on an incline that lead to a ditch. The man rolled down the incline. His head cracked into the sharp metal edge of a culvert. "Oh, my God. I think he's dead!" the woman cried. The man's head was spilt open. Definitely dead. David stared at the man in horror. "I didn't mean to kill him. I just was trying to stop him..." The woman took him by the arm and pulled him back from the edge. "It was an accident. You didn't do anything wrong. He probably would have...killed me...this time. I was leaving him." "The law..." "No! You shouldn't have to be involved any further. Please. Can't we just...leave him? What with the earth quake and all..." They were both silent for a while, staring at the body. "Yeah, all right." He didn't want any trouble with the law. And it had been an accident. "Will your car start?" It wouldn't. It was an old beater, with a paper tag in lieu of licence. "Well, lets get your stuff transferred. Is the little kid okay?" "Marie is fine, I think she'll go back to sleep once we're driving again." "Okay then. Where are we going?" "I was on my way to my Aunt's place, near the Nevada border. Where were you going?" "I don't know. Seems I got injured in the earthquake. Can't remember a thing. But my licence says I'm David Green." The lie came easily. Now, that was kind of a worry. "I'm Emma Starnes. My daughter Marie is not quite one and a half." She was young, dressed in a denim skirt and baggy shirt, long light brown hair pulled into one loose braid that fell to her waist. Big blue eyes in a round baby face. She didn't look very old. There were bruises around her neck, from the dead man, he surmised. Didn't feel so bad about killing him, now. "And you're expecting?" "Yes. Twins, actually. Due in four months. Do you..do you think you have family?" "I looked through all the papers here in the car. No wife on the car title, or on any of the bank stuff. Apparently I'm single." "And you're British." "I am?" "Well, sure. I can tell by your accent." "Oh." She gave him directions to the small town of Shepard's Creek. She fell asleep soon, as did the child. He pulled into Shepard's Creek at sunset. Even this far southeast of Sunnydale the earthquake had an effect. Houses and trees were down, emergency vehicles were milling around. "Wow. I hope Aunty is okay. You'll need to turn left at the next stop sign." They drove through a deserted small town main street to a block long warehouse area. "The next building. She has a shop and apartment there." He parked in front of a three story brick building. The door was painted in purple enamel with silver and gold moon and stars. 'Mystical Hearth' was printed in fancy script. David recognized it as a magic shop, and that seemed strangely familiar. Another familiar thing he didn't understand. Emma extracted little Marie and then knocked on the door. It opened after a few moments to reveal a small, thin, older woman with long silver hair, dressed in a tie dyed t-shirt and purple pants.. "Aunty? Aunt Kate? It's me, Emma. And little Marie. I've left Ben." She spoke quickly, as though nervous. "You left him? Well, praise be to the Mother! Come in. And let me see this precious child! And who's this handsome young man?" "Oh, this is David Green. A good Samaritan. He picked me up off the side of the road. I only spent three hundred on that car, but I did expect it to get me here." "Welcome. May you reap good for your deed. Come have some ice tea." They walked through a small attractive shop through to a doorway separated from the shop by rows of shiny beads. It led to a combination living room, kitchen and dining area filled with shabby but comfortable furniture and many house plants. While Kate got tea and cookies, David sat on a kitchen chair and watched Emma with her daughter. A quick diaper change and a cookie and the tot was sitting on her Great Aunt's lap, playing with her necklace of amber beads. "I had a feeling trouble was brewing-for months I had that feeling. So I began stocking the pantry. Don't know how long the town will be in turmoil, but we're in good shape." Kate said with satisfaction. "I'll fix us up a mess of spaghetti. Do you like spaghetti, Mr. Green?" "Why yes. But I really shouldn't impose." " Nonsense! Plus the restaurants around here are closed. Where are you headed?" "I don't know." "He has amnesia, Aunt Kate. He was near Sunnydale. I guess that's where it really hit." "Sunnydale. Don't doubt that for a minute. Went there once. Gave me the heebie jeebies." Kate waggled her grey head. "You should stay here tonight." Kate said to David. "There's a room in the basement, if you don't mind basements. And you and little Marie can share the sofa bed, Emma." He didn't mind basements. "Thank you." He was exhausted. He yawned all through supper, as did Emma.He helped clean up and bring in the bags, and then he went to sleep in the comfortably furnished basement bedroom, which was at the back of a large empty storage room. Dreams, crazy dreams woke him up in the middle of the night. Dreams of a blond haired girl with green eyes. Dreams of monsters, and bloody horror. Dreams of fighting. Disjointed, violent vignettes, interspersed with the beautiful face of the girl. Always serious or sad, that girl. And once she had tears in her eyes and her face was scratched and bloody. And then there was a bright, burning light. Burning and painful. Were they just nightmares? Or were they memories, or a mix of both? He couldn't remember any names, or reasons behind any of the scenes. They kept him awake for some time, but finally he fell into a deep sleep. The chirping of birds woke him in the morning. He woke up disoriented, and almost in a panic. Who? Where? Then he remembered the events of the previous day. He got out of bed and pulled on his jeans and headed for the small bathroom next door. The storage room was no longer empty. It was full. The ash tree stretched up into a mist, and the pool reflected sunlight that didn't exist in the basement. Birds flew from branch to branch and he could smell the sweet fragrance of the wild flowers. "My God, it's real." He ran up the stairs. "Come see this. Tell me if I've gone insane!" Kate was sitting at the dinette, with a cup of coffee, while little Marie ate dry cereal and raisins from a plastic cup.. Emma sat up on the sofa bed, startled by his out burst. They followed him down stairs. The tree was still there, and the pool. They walked down to the pool, silent. Kate bent down and dipped her fingers in the water. She walked around to the tree trunk and touched it. David sank down on the bank and Emma sank down next to him, holding tightly to her daughter. None of them knew what to say. "I woke up next to this pool, yesterday," David said. "Naked except for a flashy necklace." "Do you still have the necklace?" Kate asked. 'Yeah, in my stuff down stairs." He went downstairs to get it. Yep, the tree was still there. He took the necklace to Kate, who examined it thoroughly. "It looks very old." "And not like something I would normally wear, I think." "Anyway," he continued. "I walked away from the pool and found myself in the crater. I found a piece of newspaper, the Sunnydale Tribune. Then I walked up and out of the crater. I found a black top and followed it for miles, until I came upon the car. I'm not really David Green. He's dead-a tree fell on his car. I sort of borrowed his car, his stuff." He looked a little embarrassed. "Then I met Emma and we came here." He left out the part about killing her husband. " And I woke up this morning with that same pool and tree. It followed me from Sunnydale." "And you don't remember a thing?". "No. Last night I had lots of crazy dreams, but nothing makes sense. And the tree wasn't in any of them." Kate went to the shop and returned with a book and pen. She handed them to David. "Write down your dreams, like a diary. They may lead to answers." "You should stay here." Emma said. "You have nowhere else to go until your memory returns. And Aunt Kate understands about magic." "Yes, you can help with the shop, if you'd like. And I have a very good library of magical works, upstairs. We could do some research." What else did he have to do, where would he go? Staying seemed like the best idea until his memory returned, any way. "Thank you. I hope I can repay you for your kindness." Kindness from strangers--it felt odd.