FIC: Three Years in Hell, A Lifetime of Pain (9/?)

[William Labarbera <asagiri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Three Years in Hell, A Lifetime of Pain

By Bill Gopher and Red Demon

Disclaimers - Buffy & Co belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and UPN. We're
just borrowing them for a bit.

Rating - R'ish

Pairing - Beth/Faith

Feedback - Is like cotton candy, the more we get, the faster we write.
Senseiferret@xxxxxxxxx or kerrison29@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

==================================================

Chapter 9

LA

Faith looked at her watch for the 5th time as she waited in the dimly lit
parking lot.

The message she had gotten was short and sweet as usual, but the meeting
place was different. Instead of a meeting in a public area she was in an
empty parking lot in south LA at 10PM at night, not her favourite place to
be.

A black limo followed by a dark blue Lincoln Towncar pulled into the parking
lot and stopped at the center of the lot. The doors opened on the Lincoln
and out stepped 4 large men, dressed in black and openly carrying Uzi's.

The four spread out in front of the Limo and finally the door to the Limo
opened and an older man of medium height and build stepped out of the car.
He was dressed in a dark, conservative suit, taking several steps away from
the Limo he stopped and leaned on the cane he carried.

Faith felt her Slayer sense on overdrive when she saw the old guy from the
limo step out. <What the hell?> she thought. She brushed her hand against
the stake on the wrist sheath on her arm. Stepping forward she walked
towards the old man and his bodyguards.

The nearest bodyguard stepped in front of her, "Weapons check" and pulled
out a metal detector wand and moved up and down her waist, legs and back.
"Okay, she's clean." He stepped aside to let her go by.

Faith walked forward toward the old man and stopped several feet away, her
Slayer sense was screaming at her now. But she couldn't tell what was
setting it off. <I don't think they're vamps, when was the last time a vamp
carried a gun.> "What's up and why the cloak & dagger in the middle of south
LA?"

Faith saw the older man smile, "Ahh, you are charming as your file says Miss
Spencer."

<What the hell? How's this guy know my name?> Faith felt herself start to
tense as she kept an eye on the 4 bodyguards.

"Do not be concerned Miss Spencer, or do you prefer your Nome-de-plume,
Winters?" When he saw no answer was forthcoming, "Very well. We have an
operation especially suited to your talents, it would require you to leave
the U.S. however."

"Who are you and how do you know my name?" Faith asked angrily.

The old man smiled at her, "You may call me Samuel, and the reason I know
your name is because I had you 'recruited' to the agency Miss Spencer.
Technically you could say I'm your boss."

Faith saw "Samuel" seem to grin at some private joke. "Well I'm 'thrilled'
to no end that I've met the boss, but I'd like know why I'm meeting you
now."

"Faith, may I call you Faith? Faith, we have an operation that your unique
abilities are well suited to, but before I can continue I need to know if
you are interested. What is your answer?"

<Nothing's keeping me here anymore> she thought. "I'm in."

Faith saw the man smile, "Excellent," he replied. "Follow me," turning he
headed back towards the limo, opening the door and stepped inside. Faith
walked over to the limo door and entered the car.

===============

Sunnydale, CA
Roselawn Cemetery
2 Days later...

Faith waited several hours until the cemetery was empty and made her way
back towards Beth's grave.

A drop of water hit her face and she didn't know if it was the rain or the
tears from her eyes. Either way, she didn't care.

"They say you're dead. I don't believe them. They gave you the Purple Heart
and call you a hero. You aren't a hero B. You're a slave to your birthright.
You come and go when it tells you. You're just a pawn in their master plan.
Willow tells me that you were an aunt. I'll look after him for you. I'll
make sure he's always protected. That day in my apartment I wanted to tell
I... I... Dammit B why'd you have to be so noble."

She sighed, taking in the simple headstone;

Elizabeth Anne Summers, LCpl, USMC
B - September 13, 1982 D - October 17, 2003
Sister, Best Friend, Protector.
"She was taken too soon from us."

"Faith?"

"What do you want Red?" Faith didn't turn to look at her, she didn't need to
see the pity on Willow's face. She wasn't worthy of it.

"I know you loved her. I just...well..."

"I know it's hard, but you don't need to blame yourself Faith. And you don't
have to play the hero. No one expects you too."

"Get to the point Red. I don't have a lot of time." Faith growled.

"What are you talking about?" Willow asked curiously.

"I'm leaving for a while Red, wont be back real soon."

Faith turned and started walking away from Beth's grave and Willow.

<Stupid Willow, very stupid!> "Faith wait!"

Faith heard Willow call her name and stopped walking, "What now Red?"

"Buffy loved you Faith. She just wasn't ready to admit it."

"Maybe, but that doesn't matter now though. She's dead. Take care of
yourself and Tara, Red." Faith walked away without ever turning around.

Willow watched Faith walk away, she had the strangest feeling though that
she was watching Faith walk out of her life forever.

Faith walked over to her motorcycle, sat down and started it up. She wiped
the tears she felt on her face with the back of her hand. <Take care of
yourself Red, I'm never coming back here again.> Gunning the engine Faith
flew down the road out of town and Sunnydale, CA.

========================

NIS Headquarters
Washington, DC

The normally quiet office was bustling with activity, excitement over the
latest batch of intercepts had enabled them to narrow down the possible
sites for several POW camps and HQ wanted that made top priority.

So here he was for the 2nd day straight looking over pieces of signal
intercepts, UE documents, maps and possible sites as he tried to narrow the
list down to something acceptable by the brass.

"Sir," looking up at the speaker at his desk Connor looked at the sergeant
standing in front of his desk. "Yes Sergeant, what is it?"

"This just came in priority from the 2nd MarDiv," he held a piece of paper
in his outstretched hand. Connor took the paper and looked it over.

"Where was this found?" Connors asked trying to keep his excitement under
control, <This could be the break we are looking for>.

"It was found in a bunker about 50 kilometers East of Aurillac by a recon
platoon sweeping that area sir."

"Thank you Sergeant, dismissed."

Connors waited until the Sergeant had left his desk and hit the intercom
button for his clerk. "Thomas,"

"Yes sir?" a young voice answered.

"Drop whatever your doing, get me a list of all Marines wounded, killed or
missing in or around Bordeaux in the last 2 months. I need it yesterday,
this may be the break we've been waiting for."

"Aye sir," Thomas replied.

<<<<<<>>>>>>

3 days later....
13th MEU Headquarters

"How accurate is this sir?" Major Stewart asked.

Col. Gunther chewed his cigar for several seconds before replying. "The
spooks are pretty damn sure the letter isn't a fake and that they've located
a POW base with our Marines in it. The Commandant called me about this
personally, he wants to see a plan to pull our people out of there by the
end of the week."

"That's not much time, but we can have something on your desk in 48 hours
sir." Maj. Stewart replied.

"Excellent. This could be nothing Bill, but if our people are there, they've
been in the UE's hands for almost 2 months and I don't want them there one
second longer. We don't leave our people behind, we lost a lot of good
people in that clusterfuck of an assault, if we can get some of them back
we'll do whatever it takes, understood?"

Maj. Stewart came to attention, "Aye sir."

"What's the status of the refit for Alpha and Charlie companies?"

"We have Alpha Co. back up to 100% strength, Charlie Co. is different story
sir. The company took 45% casualties during the assault, if this were any
other unit I'd recommend we transfer the orphans from the unit and rebuild
from scratch. But they're working hard sir, they all want a shot at payback
with the huey's, it'll take time to integrate the replacements though."

"Anything else sir?" Maj. Stewart asked.

"No, just have that plan on my desk in 48 hours. Dismissed."

=================

4 Days later...

She walked quickly around the room, she had been here for a while she knew
and that she had to get out. The exit to the room was always kept locked and
the 'others' watched her carefully, and were never alone when they opened
the door.

<WANT OUT!! Want out now!!!> she felt the anger inside her build at those
'others' that were keeping her here. They had hurt her and she would hurt
them back.

An image of a man popped in her mind. She knew him, he was a friend and he
was locked in here as well. She knew that the 'others' that kept her here
would become careless and then she would strike. She would get out, and
get...get..."Tay?"

Lying down in corner she curled herself up to stay warm and close her eyes
to sleep. Her eyes flew open as she 'felt' one of the 'others' was near and
then she heard the CLICK from the door. Quickly she got up as she heard the
door opening and leapt for the door to grab it and get out. As she landed
near the door, something hit her on the back and she felt a powerful
electrical shock course thru her knocking her down. She struggled to get up
off the floor and keep moving <Need out! Get Tay and find mate> when she
felt her body convulse under the dual electric shocks and collapse to the
ground as she lost control over her body and felt her limbs shaking
uncontrollably.

She lay there as she heard the door shut and waited for the shock to subside
so she could move again. <Will get out, will find mate.

Minutes passed before she could finally move again, as she cautiously got up
from the floor.

<Need out! Want OUT! Out, Out, Out!> She moved over to where she smelled the
food. Crouching down she felt around with her hands to find it. Her hand hit
the plate and she snatched it up quickly. She cocked her head slightly,
before heading over to the far corner of the room. Sitting down she grabbed
the food in the plate and felt something crawl across her hand. Her free
hand darted out grabbing the bug. She shoved it into her mouth and started
chewing. She could hear them moving around her. <Don't go. Food, Need Food!
Where's my food? Stay!> She jumped up, and felt something fall. Patting the
ground she felt around till felt the plate.

Greedily she shoved the food and bugs into her mouth until she felt the
empty plate. Moving to the corner, she started to yawn, <Want mate, miss
mate...> sleep was overtaking her. Her last thought was an image of a tall,
dark haired woman, <Need mate...> then darkness.

=====================

Sunnydale, CA

Joyce walked slowly down Main Street when she arrived at the mall and
stepped inside. Moving a little faster she walked towards the Food Court as
felt her stomach rumbling. <When was the last time I ate? Yesterday I
think>. When she collided with someone and was knocked down, looking up she
saw the person she had walked into, "Willow!" she said surprised. She hadn't
seen Willow for over a month and had missed talking to her.

Willow looked up as she heard her name called and saw Joyce, <Oh great, just
what I need right now. I really don't want an argument.> "Hi Joyce," she
replied in a subdued tone of voice. "Sorry about that, you okay? Good, I'm
gonna go now, things to do and that. Bye." She turned and started to walk
when she heard Joyce calling her name again.

"Willow, wait."

Will stopped frustratedly and turned around. "Why? I know that you blame me
about Beth and I really don't want to have a confrontation in the middle of
the mall. So why don't I just go Joyce."

Joyce looked at Willow, confusion was written on her face at Willow's words,
<Angry at her? What's she talking about? I thought that she blamed me for
Beth.>

"Will, why would I be angry at you? Wait, why don't we go and sit down so we
can talk. I think there's been some confusion here." Joyce walked over to
Willow and stopped in front of her.

"I don't have time. I'm.. I'm running an errand."

Joyce reached out to touch Willow on the shoulder, but Willow flinched and
moved slightly back.

"Don't!" Hey eyes flashed green fire, "Whenever I called the house or
stopped by to see you or Dawn, you were either 'out' or you couldn't be
seen. For 3 weeks I tried to see you, be there for Dawn and just be
supportive during that time. I understand it hurt a lot to lose Beth, but
how about the rest of us Joyce? We were hurting just as bad then and you
shut us out."

Joyce dropped her hand to her side, "That's not what I meant to do Willow,
but seeing you and the others...Can we talk, please?"

"Joyce, I don..."

"Please Willow..."

"Fine, how about Friday's? They're usually pretty empty during the week and
we can 'talk' there."

Once they were seated at a booth Willow looked over at Joyce, "Okay, what do
you want to talk about Joyce?"

"Willow, I didn't mean to shut you out. I just couldn't see anyone for a
while. It hurt too much and I shut myself off from everyone. When she was
the Slayer and I found out, I understood that she could be killed. But this
is so different, what was the point? She wasn't fighting evil, no giant
creature killing innocent people. Just a stupid war, somewhere where she was
alone. They don't even have a BODY for me to bury Willow."

"I thought you shut me out because you blamed me in someway for Beth dying.
I felt I was to blame for what happened and that hurt so much Joyce. I loved
Beth as my best friend and family. She was the first person who talked to
'me', not as a brain or a nerd, but as Willow."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that. But I'm not sorry for what I did. I needed
some space and time to deal with losing Beth. I'm not any closer to
understanding it, but I'm here for you now."

Willow could see the sincerity in Joyce's face, but she couldn't let go of
the anger over being shut out. "Losing Beth was probably the hardest thing
in the world for you Joyce, but shutting out Xander, Tara and me the way you
did was wrong." Willow saw the surprise on Joyce's face, "We're her family
and we were in pain when she died too." Standing up Willow slid out of the
booth, "I'm 'happy' you're here for me now, but you're a little late, about
2 months too late. Goodbye Joyce." Willow turned and walked out of the
restaurant.

Joyce sat at the table in shock, she hadn't expected Willow to act the way
she did. <Maybe I was wrong, but I can't change things and I won't
apologize. She just doesn't understand what it is like to lose your child.>
Joyce got up from the booth, opened her purse and dropped $2.00 on the table
and left the restaurant and the mall feeling worse than when she had come
in.

====================

Gehenna...

Taylor saw the door open as he looked up from the ground where he was
resting. Three guards came in, two grabbed him by his arms, lifted him up
and pulled him out of the cell.

Taylor could hear the guards talking among themselves in French, "Ceci
devrait être amusement à observer, elle le déchirera aux morceaux." *This
should be fun to watch, she'll tear him to pieces*

The guard holding his right arm answered, "10 francs indique qu'il ne dure
pas 5 minutes." *Ten francs he doesn't last 5 minutes.* Looking up he saw
them dragging him down the hall, one guard at the end opened a cell door and
he was thrown inside.

The door slammed shut behind him and he looked around the dark, damp cell.
It was mostly dark towards the walls, with only light some light to
illuminate the center of the cell. He couldn't see anyone, but he knew
someone else was in the cell, peering into a dark corner he made out the
shape of a person.

"Who's there? Beth, Is that you?"

The figure moved forward on all fours towards him, he could hear it sniffing
as it got closer. Finally it moved into the light....Taylor saw it was
wearing torn and tattered rags and was covered with filth and dirt and long,
dark matted hair.. Looking closer he could see the torn clothing were once
BDU's....The head looked in his direction and he saw thru the long hair a
face he never thought he'd see again.

<Oh my God!!> "Beth? Is that you?" Slowly and carefully he reached out
towards her. As his hand neared her face he heard her growl menacingly <Did
she just growl at me?> Taylor thought in surprise.

Taylor thought about taking a step backwards. He saw her move closer and
then lean towards him until she was inches from him. She cocked her head at
him and sniffed. He saw her stance relax as she leaned back after she had
sniffed him several more times and she looked up at him. Her face was still
hidden by the long hair covering it. Slowly he moved his hand towards her
face and moved the hair away from her face.

As the hair was moved away he saw that she had been beaten so severely her
entire face was a deep purple and black, and was puffy. Her eyes were
swollen slightly, but she made no attempt at any time to open them even
though he was sure she could.

"Beth, open your eyes and look at me. Let me see those beautiful brown
eyes."

Taylor saw Beth shake her head, "No want to,"

Taylor touched Beth's cheek gently, "Please Beth, open your eyes. Look at
me."

Beth jerked back from him. "NO!!! No want!! Hurt... Hurt Bad!!!"

Want out, want out now! You take out Ttt..Tay?" Taylor heard Beth mumble.
She 'looked' at him, "Why not go? Want out! Want to see mate!" Beth pulled
his arm hard, trying to move him towards the door.

<Mate? What's she talking about?> "No Beth, I can't go out either. We have
to stay for now. I promise I'll get us out later though, okay?" he lifted
his hand and touched her shoulder gently, feeling her shoulder bones under
his hand. <Good god, she's as thin as a rail? How's she alive? it doesn't
matter, I'm going to get her out of here.>

Beth turned her head towards the door and then back at him, "Go later? Go
see mate later!" she whispered. Taylor nodded sadly, "Yes, go see mate
later..." When suddenly Beth jumped up and the door flew open and 3 guards
rushed into the cell.

Beth ducked under the club swung by the first guard, Taylor saw her grab the
guards arm and twist it. He heard bones SNAP as she shattered his elbow, as
the guard screamed in agony she slammed her elbow into his throat. He dodged
the first swing from the guard who rushed him, but he felt a club smash his
head from the other side.

As they grabbed him and dragged him out he saw two more guards lying on the
ground by Beth and then he saw another guard step in from behind her and
shoot her with what looked like a stungun. Her body convulsed as the
electricity coursed through it as she collapsed to the ground. "What the
hell are you doing to her!!" Taylor jerked his arms trying to get back to
Beth. "Let me go! Beth!!"

His eyes locked on the spasming body of his best friend. "Beth..."

TBC...