Author's note: This is a crossover story that takes place long after Buffy the Vampire Slayer/during S5 of Pretty Little Liars, at which point the characters are all over 18.
*
Aria Montgomery was running. At first she was running towards something, now she was running away from something. That may sound like it was meant to be deep and philosophical, or at least trying to be, but this wasn't Aria trying to impress her teacher or Spencer showing off, this was real. She was literally running away from someone who might be A. Or just someone in a black hoodie she had made the mistake of following into the woods. Whatever the case when he had turned around he... she... it had looked really weird, and she could have sworn it growled at her.
The next thing she knew she was running, and someone or something was chasing her. When she looked over her shoulder it looked like a man, but the sounds he made sounded frighteningly inhuman. Then, just to prove once and for all she was in a bad monster movie, or hopefully a frightening dream, she tripped over a rogue tree root and drove herself face first into the dirt. Immediately she tried to flip over and crawl away but the thing was on top of her in a heartbeat, monstrous jaws diving for her neck. So, a wild beast then. Good to know.
Forgetting every single karate and self-defence lesson she'd ever had Aria punch the thing in the face as hard as she could, figuring if she was going to die at least she could postponed the inevitable a little. Instead the animal went flying off of her, a sickening crunch echoing throughout the darkness as Aria swore she could feel something breaking underneath her knuckles.
Within seconds she was on her feet and breaking off a branch from the tree which had tripped her as if it was a blade of grass. The thing, whatever it was, was on its feet too, and it was snarling and charging her again. This time she didn't run, or scream, or even flinch. No, she just drove the branch into her attacker. As in, she slammed the branch directly into his chest, somehow finding enough force to break through the skin and deep into his insides. Suddenly he looked very human and surprised, and then he just disappeared. Or he exploded, Aria genuinely wasn't sure which.
All Aria knew was she found herself standing in the middle of nowhere clutching a branch in her hand, covered in dirt and dust and with her heart racing. In a way she had never felt more alive, but at the same time she had never been more afraid or confused, her big eyes searching her surroundings as if she was expecting her friends or some ass hole from school to jump out and scream surprise.
After minutes passed and that didn't happen Aria found herself murmuring, "What the hell was that?"
*
Many miles away a redheaded Witch opened her eyes and grinned, "Found her!"
*
Spencer Hastings had always been a light sleeper. Something about having trouble shutting off her brain, or being affected by all the coffee she drank, or some combination of both. Of course the last couple of years she had been constantly on edge, the slightest sound normally waking her from her slumber. So it really freaked her out to feel something on her shoulder, the lanky brunette freaking out as she shot upwards in bed and prepared to scream bloody murder and/or attack whoever it was who thought sneaking into her room was ok.
Her scream died on her lips before she even really made a noise and her body relaxed as she recognised the intruder as her closest friend Aria Montgomery, one of the few people who could get away with waking her in the middle of the night given what they had been going through for the past two years. And from the look on her face this was very much an emergency, Spencer's brief moment of relaxation quickly forgotten as her eyes properly focused in the dark and she noticed that Aria's beautiful face was a mask of tears.
"Aria, what happened?" Spencer asked, cautiously reaching for the other girl.
Breaking down Aria just crumpled into Spencer's arms and wept furiously for a solid minute. It was terrifying, Spencer's mind racing with all the possibilities of what could possibly have happened, and thanks to A she thought of some pretty horrific stuff. Trying to put that aside for now she glanced at her clock, surprised to see it was four o'clock in the morning. How did Aria get inside her house? Was one of her parents awake? And why didn't Aria call? And was there something in her hand? It felt like there was something in her hand, one of the shorter brunette's hands clutching her while the other was clutching something else which was also pressed against her back.
"I did it again." Aria whimpered suddenly, breaking Spencer from her thoughts.
Frowning Spencer pulled back, "What did you do Aria?"
"I, I..." Aria stammered.
"What's that?" Spencer asked, turning Aria's handover to reveal a crumpled piece of metal, "Is... is that a doorknob?"
"It... it just kind of, broke away in my hand. I didn't mean to, I just..." Aria stammered, before focusing on what was important, "Spencer... I killed someone. Again."
Spencer's eyes were wide, "What? When? Where? Who? What? I mean, what happened?"
"I don't know!" Aria exclaimed, tossing the piece of metal aside and breaking Spencer's lamp in the process, "Sorry, I... I just... it all happened so fast. At first I thought I was finally getting the drop on A, but then he turned around and it was like, he wasn't human or something. He made this weird sound, he chased me, and then... and then I just killed him."
"So it was self defence?" Spencer breathed a sigh of relief, resisting the urge to add just like Shana.
"You aren't listening, I killed someone! Again! It doesn't matter why, I'm now a freaking serial killer." Aria practically yelled.
"Well, technically you have to kill three people to be considered a serial killer." Spencer said, her analytical brain causing her to put her foot in her mouth as usual, and when she had realised that was what she had done she quickly added, "Not that it would count if it was self defence, and if it was him or you then you did what you had to do Aria."
"That doesn't make it better." Aria argued, and after a long pause sighed in despair, "There isn't even a body anymore."
Spencer frowned, "What? You mean you went back and someone took the body?"
"No, like... it just went poof. One moment it was there, the next it... wasn't." Aria murmured, and then when Spencer gave her a look she added, "I know how it sounds, but I'm telling you the truth. I've now officially killed two people and, and... and how can I possibly live with that?"
"Hey, hey, hey! I believe you, ok?" Spencer lied to her friend, before then telling her the truth, "And you didn't do anything wrong. It was self-defence. You're a good person, and an amazing friend. You saved all of us in New York, and I am so, so grateful. You did the right thing Aria, never doubt that."
There was a long pause, then Aria smiled softly and leaned her head against Spencer's in a sign everything was going to be ok. Spencer still wasn't 100% sure, but from the looks of it Aria just had a really bad dream brought on by PTSD which she was understandably experiencing after what happened in New York. So it was the least Spencer could do to comfort her friend in her time of need.
"You smell really good." Aria suddenly mumbled.
Spencer was a little court off-guard, but she smiled and thanked Aria for the compliment, "Thanks, I guess."
Aria was feeling really, really confused. She had no idea what was happening to her, and what happened earlier felt like a bad dream or a really bad hallucination, but all of a sudden she wasn't terrified anymore. She wasn't worried what she had done, what it meant for her future, or how she was going to live with it. In that moment her entire world became wrapped around a sudden overwhelming sensation and the need to do something about it.