FF: Realms (16/?)

["sam stoltz" <shadowmage_draco@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Realms
By
Sam


Title: Realms (16?)
Words of praise: Special thanks to Coy, a most excellent beta reader 
and offer of like totally great advise, don't know what my poor 
twisted self would do without her help, but I do know that Realms 
wouldn't be what it. 
email: shadowmage_draco@xxxxxxxxxxx 
Disclaimer: I don't own em <sadness> Joss does. I'm only borrowing 
them for a while, I'll try and play nice. 
Spoilers: None that I can think of, but everything is fair game 
Archive: Gary, Bill, Quin, Stephanie, all others just shoot me an 
email first.
Pairing: B/W, F/T, G/J
Notes: OK I'm about to see just how close to the edge I can get.  
Angst, injury, and other such stuff lay in wait. (grabbsroller blades 
for a hasty get away).
Feedback: I like it, I love it, I need it, what more can I say, 
please.


Faith sat in the waiting room crying, Tara was the first person that 
she had actually loved, sure she had liked the others she had dated 
in the past but she loved Tara.  

The brunette looked over at her fellow slayer and friend, "It's not 
fair B. She never did anything to hurt anyone, the only reason he 
took her was because of me, she's gone and it's my fault," sobbed 
Faith.

Buffy placed her hand on the brunettes' shoulder, "Faith listen to 
me, it's not your fault, Tara was involved in this before you two 
became an item. The Warlock only said what he did to hurt you," her 
voice was filled with compassion for her hurting friend as she looked 
Faith in the eyes, "We'll find The Warlock and we'll get Tara back."

"And we'll make him pay," Added Faith as she wiped the tears from her 
eyes.

Buffy and Willow sat next to Faith and continued to comfort their 
friend as Giles paced back and forth across the waiting room.

"Sweetheart all this pacing isn't going to make the doctors get here 
any faster," replied Joyce as she got up and went over to her fiancé.

Giles wrapped her arm around her, "I know, I can't help it, I think 
of all of them as my children and&and this is&it's to much, I don't 
know what to do," replied Giles, his eyes filling with tears.

"There's nothing we can do now but wait and see what the doctor has 
to say."

"You're right, "sighed Giles, "but what about The Warlock."

"Rupert, you'll think of something, you always do," lovingly replied 
Joyce.

"What if I can't," replied Giles his voice laces with doubt, "I've 
already let them down once and look what happened."

"Rupert, you didn't let them down, there is no way you could have 
know when or how The Warlock would attack," replied Joyce as she 
tightly wrapped her arms around Giles.

The two of them stood there comforting one another till a voice 
interrupted their moment, "Excuse me you wouldn't happen to be Mr. 
Giles would you?"

Giles released Joyce from their embrace and turned to face the young 
doctor, "How are they?"

"There stable," replied the doctor pausing for a moment to give the 
older couple time to prepare themselves for what he was about to 
say, "you might want to have a seat I have several things I need to 
tell you about their conditions."

Giles and Joyce held tightly to one another's hand and he placed his 
other arm around Faith. Buffy grabbed a hold of her mom's hand and 
wrapped her arms around Willows waste as the red head sat down on her 
lap. Giles looked to at the doctor, "OK, we're ready."

"Right now it's to early to speculate about either one of their 
conditions. The next forty-eight hours are going to be very critical 
for both of them. I will tell you what we do know at this point.  
First of all I would like to start with your nieces condition Mr. 
Giles."

"OK," replied the watcher, tightening his grip on Joyce's hand.

"She has suffered massive head trauma from the large amounts of 
energy her body absorbed&she is currently unconscious, the next 
couple of days will tell us what her chances of a full recovery are.  
I wish I could tell you more but with that kind of injury it's 
difficult to make any determination on her status until we have had 
more time for observation. Do you have any questions?"

"Any idea on what are we looking at with her?" nervously inquired 
Giles.

"Like I said before it is still to early to tell. All I can really 
do at this point is give you the best and worst case scenario of what 
could possibly happen. The best-case scenario would of course be a 
full recovery&I'm afraid that the worst-case scenario however would 
be that she doesn't regain consciousness and lapses into a comma.  
Before you start to panic I want to remind you that is the absolute 
worst case scenario and we will do everything in our power to prevent 
that from happening."

The doctor waited for a moment to allow them to absorb what he has 
just said, "Do you need more time or do you wish for me to continue?"

"We'll be OK, what about Xander?"

"Your nephew is conscious, however I'm afraid that most of the damage 
appears to be to the spinal cord. Right now he has no feeling from 
the waste down, but has full function of his upper body."

"Is he going to be paralyzed?"

"I simply don't know; it's just to early to tell."

Later that evening. . . .

Joyce nervously looked out the window as the sun began to set over 
Sunnydale, she felt helpless, not only where Cordelia and Xander 
badly injured but now Rupert, Buffy, Willow, and Faith where on their 
way to face the monster who had put their friends in the trauma 
center. Tears rolled down her face as she leaned up against the 
windowsill, and whispered a prayer to the Goddess, "please watch over 
them and bring them back to me safety." 

The group cautiously entered the warehouse that Willows tracking 
spell had led them to. Buffy and Faith were both prepared to attack 
as they moved slowly into the main room, scanning it for any sign of 
The Warlock or his allies, but found none. The only one who was in 
the room with them was Tara who was tied to a chair in the middle of 
the room and gagged. As Faith rushed to free her love, Buffy 
motioned to Willow and Giles that the cost was clear.

Hidden in the shadows of the warehouse Torin the assassin stealthily 
moved into position. His unholy blood rapidly pulsed through his 
body as the blonde slayer came into his sights. The demon slowly 
took aim with his ever-faithful blowgun and patiently waited for the 
just the right moment to fire.

Faith grabbed the ropes that bound Tara to the chair and tore them in 
half, as soon as she did the blonde reached up and yanked the gag 
from her mouth, "Get out, it a trap!"

Torin blew into the gun sending the deadly dart towards an 
unsuspecting slayer. A sinister smile spread across his demonic face 
as he watched the blonde grab at the dart that was now lodged in her 
left shoulder, then collapse.

Willow dropped down to her knees next to Buffy and quickly removed 
the dart from her shoulder. She quickly scanned the area to see a 
Grey demon moving quickly towards the door, "No," screamed the red 
head as a blue bolt of light soared through the air the retreating 
demon.

Torin dropped buckled over in pain as the magical energy scorched his 
back. Turning to face his attacker, Torin howled out in agony. His 
eyes filled with panic as he watched the red headed mages eyes 
pulsate with power.

Willows hand began glowing a bright blue light as she pointed towards 
the beast that had harmed her beloved, "Die".

A wave of magical energy shot from her hand and rippled through the 
air towards the demon, and disintegrated the fowl creature as soon as 
it struck.

Willow slowly kneeled down by Buffy's side, she found herself growing 
dizzy, everything around her was becoming a blur, looked up at the 
others who had rushed over to the fallen blondes side, "Something's 
wrong," replied Willow in a weakened voice before collapsing next to 
her beloved.

"How sad, the Warrior of Light and her Mage have fallen," 
sarcastically stated Ciarán as he appeared next to the group.

The Warlock looked down at the two young girls who laid motionless on 
the grown, "Rupert, it would seem that I have won. I would stay for 
awhile and kill you and your slayer myself, but I have to prepare to 
open the Hellmouth, so I'll leave that task to them," replied Ciarán, 
pointing to the twenty plus vampires who where emerging on of the 
back rooms of the warehouse.

The Warlock turned to Faith and Tara, "See how long you can last 
without your friends," he snarled right before vanishing.

Faith and Giles took up fighting positions in-between the oncoming 
vampires and Buffy and Willow as Tara quickly worked to put up a 
protective shield over them.

The three of them stood there in shock as they watched all of the 
advancing vampires burst into flames.

Faith and Giles both turned around to Tara who had just as a confused 
look on her face as the others.

"Don't just stand their staring at each other, we have little time, 
the poison is already destroying her," replied a voice of to the left 
of them.

"Fey, what can we do to help them," inquired Tara as she turned to 
meet her long time friend.

"We must rid the slayers blood of the poison it is the only way to 
save the two of them."

"What do we need to do?" asked a very panicked Giles.

"There is nothing you can do," replied Fey as she turned to 
Faith, "Only one of you can save them."

"Me?" questioned a rather confused slayer.

"Yes, Child&you."


TBC&&&&&&