FF Five by Five (4/4)

["Christeen Demons" <Shyfox30@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Okay...I'm giving you guys fair warning...it's a doozy.


Disclaimer: Joss owns them..he is the king...All hail the King.:-) I just 
play with them.:-)


Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the lord my soul to keep.
If I die before I wake.
I pray the lord my soul to take.

Hush little baby don?t say a word.
And never mind that noise you heard.
It?s just the beasts under your bed,
In your closet, and in your head.

Exit light, enter night.
Take my hand.
Off to never never land.

Faith walked back and forth across the rooftop, getting increasingly more 
agitated as time passed with sullen ticks of her wristwatch. She was 
growing bored with the cat and mouse game she was playing, and wished to 
move on to the good stuff...pummeling the blonde buffet into the pavement. 
But that was hard to do, when the person in question
hadn?t even showed up yet. As she paced, she played a catching game with 
the knife, kind of a lets see if we can play a little trick on destiny game 
where she threw the knife up into the air with one hand, then without 
looking tried to catch it with the other. It made a
colorful sight as it arched up into the air, reflecting the moonlight off of 
it?s surface, shining with a hint of it?s own evil intent. She would catch 
it gracefully every time, her hand coming to rest on the wooden handle, 
holding it idle for only a second or two before
she threw it again.

Finally, even this activity grew tiresome, and she reached her limit of 
being able to just sit idly by, waiting for the other Slayer to show. She 
turned back towards the red head, a menacing look taking root across her 
face. ?You know...you would think if B cared anything for you, that she 
would have been here by now. Maybe she doesn?t love you as
much as you thought?? Faith said, coming closer to where Willow sat 
helpless, watching the dark eyes of her captor as they watched her without 
the slightest hint of emotion.

?What?s the matter, Red?? Faith took great pleasure out of taunting her 
captive, grinning as Willow shrank back in fear. One eye ever present on 
the sharp blade, the other watching her eyes very carefully. ?Is the 
relationship just not what it was cracked up to be? What was she...dull in 
bed? Was she no good in the sack? Is that why you had to
find some guy, cause B just wasn?t man enough for you?? Faith grinned, 
eyeing the rounded buldge of the wiccan?s stomach. ?I mean, I know she?s 
good...? Faith said, gesturing wildly with the knife, causing Willow to 
gulp nervously. ?...but she?s not that good.?

Willow searched frantically for anything to say that could keep the Slayer 
talking, without giving her the temptation to give in to her greater 
instincts. Usually she had no trouble talking, babble mode usually kicking 
in instantly whenever she was the slightest bit
nervous. But now that she needed it the most, it chose to dessert her, 
leaving her a blank slate in dire straights. She let her eyes devour her 
surroundings, as she hunted for anything that could get her out of this 
predicament, and almost feinted with relief when she spotted
the one person she was sure could end this nightmare climbing over the edge 
of the roof from the fire escape.

Faith doesn?t know she?s there...got to keep her busy. Willow thought to 
herself, as she moved her eyes back to the dark brown/almost black ones that 
were staring into hers. ?There?s a lot that you don?t know about Buffy.? 
Willow said finally, as if answering an unspoken question, an air of 
certainty in her voice. ?Just as there is a lot that you don?t know about 
me.? An inscrutible smile started to take form over her lips, and she was 
intrigued to notice Faith staring curiously back at her.

?Oh yeah? Like what?? Willow watched as the knife darted perilously close 
to her chest, no doubt in response to the tone of challenge that had filled 
her voice. Oh well...can?t stop now. She focused her attention on the 
handle of the blade, and the hand that was holding
it, a hand that hadn?t bothered tightening around the weapon?s handle, too 
confident in her ability to cower the helpless wiccan into submission.

Okay...I?ve done it with pencils...and a soda machine with Tara?s 
help...let?s just hope my majik doesn?t fail me now. She concentrated as 
hard as she could, ignoring everything around her including the menacing 
presence in front of her, Buffy?s worried emotions, and
her own fear, and felt the power rise up inside of her. ?Like the fact that 
I can do...this...? Willow said, and surged the power out of her in a wave 
designed to impact the blade of the knife and send it spinning out of the 
dark Slayer?s hand.

Faith was too stunned to react as she felt the power impact on her 
hand...feeling warm waves of heat that were left behind as the knife went 
sailing across the roof top. She turned her head...watching it fly, and 
noticed where it landed before turning her attention
back on the red head, who was a lot more than she had seemed when she knew 
her last. ?Nice Trick.? Faith spat, allowing a faint amount of grudging 
respect to enter her voice. The slap that followed was meant to teach her a 
lesson about who was really in charge on that rooftop, and if Red didn?t 
learn it then, she?d be learning it when she was slicing her open for sure.

Willow felt the vibrations of the blow starting from across her cheekbone, 
which the Slayer had managed to hit with full force and no doubt would leave 
a lovely bruise, if it wasn?t indeed broken, and ending all the way down to 
the tip of her spine. Now Buffy!
She managed to think desperately as the impact of the blow caused her head 
to rock back on her neck, and she looked up at the powerful Slayer through a 
daze of stars.

*****

Buffy saw Faith hit Willow, and then she saw red. Without a second thought, 
she was running across the rooftop, intent on reaching her destination...a 
collision course with the other Slayer. Faith heard her coming and was 
starting to turn, when Buffy met up with her in a hard impact of bodies, and 
Buffy?s weight took them both to the ground. Buffy came to a rest on top of 
the other Slayer, and her fist was swinging before the dust had cleared.

The impact of her fist against flesh was extremely gratifying to Buffy. She 
took great pleasure in watching her fist rise like a hammer, and rain 
punches against the giving flesh and bone of the other Slayer.

Faith soon recovered from the initial blow that took her to the ground, 
however, and bucked the blonde Slayer off of her, sending her flying into 
the pavement.

The two slayers were a blur of motion after that, and Willow had a hard time 
keeping track of what happened to who next. She would feel her heart 
quicken with elation when Buffy would get the upper hand, throwing Faith 
into the door that led from the roof to the inside of the apartment 
building, and groan when Faith would retaliate...ramming Buffy?s head 
against the steel door.

It was a battle between the Slayers. A rematch, if you will, to see who was 
the better Slayer. Who was better...stronger...faster. Who could deal out 
the most pain...and who could take it.

Buffy fought with a certain visciousness that Willow had never seen before 
from the Slayer. She had seen her fight many times...had even seen her 
fight Faith on occasion, before what happened with the Mayor. The fight 
that had happened after, the one that had put Faith in a coma...Buffy had 
refused to talk about, but Willow assumed it had been a
lot like this...no holds barred, for either of them. As Willow watched, an 
unwilling spectator to the match of the century, she realized that Buffy 
could allow no hint of remorse or regret into this fight. It was too 
personal...with too much at stake. Faith had crossed that one uncrossable 
line and had turned this into a personal contest to see which
one would be the sole survivor, and in the end there could be only one 
person left standing.

In the end, it appeared that Buffy?s holy justice won out over Faith?s 
insane rage. Faith lay still on the concrete finally, what seemed like an 
eternity later, but in truth could only have been maybe ten or twenty 
minutes, with Buffy looking down at her with a look more fierce than any 
Willow had seen before. Faith appeared unconscious to Willow, but she
wondered if she really was when Buffy kneeled down and murmured something 
hoarsely to the other Slayer. Willow could just barely make out most of the 
words, but it sounded to her like... ?If you ever touch another hair on her 
head, I?ll bury you under so deep you?ll never dig your way out again.?

Buffy looked at the still face for a long time after that, and Willow was 
for the first time afraid of what her wife might do. The look was so 
venemous, that she was afraid Buffy might actually kill Faith. Then Buffy 
rose, with a last look at the unconscious Slayer, and made her way back to 
where Willow was straining at the ropes that bound her to the chair.

?Hey...sorry I took so long.? Buffy said, as she limped back to where her 
wife was sitting.

?That?s okay.? Willow said, smiling in relief as her wife got closer. 
?Just hurry up and untie me so we can get....BUFFY!!!?

*****

They had assumed that she had been out...gone to the 
world...unconscious...the fact that she might have been faking it never 
crossed either of their minds...until now...when it was too late. Buffy had 
unwittingly thrown her close to where her knife had been thrown
earlier. Buffy hadn?t realized it...but she had..and she had bided her 
time, letting the Slayer pummel her into an almost unconscious state, 
somehow knowing that the Slayer wouldn?t be able to finish the job...to 
cross that line. She waited until Buffy?s guard was down...until her back 
was turned before she felt around for the knife, sliding her fingers
around the hilt of blade...curling her fingers around it possessively.

B had been so involved in getting to her wife that she had never even heard 
her approaching, although Red?s eyes had been drawn to her...almost 
magnetically...as if sensing her prescence. The red head had lifted her 
voice in warning, but by then it was too
late, the blade had already been slicing sweetly through the blonde Slayer?s 
skin, dodging the hard bones of the Slayer?s rib cage, and burying itself 
deeply within the Slayer?s body. The cry the Slayer had emitted was like 
music to her ears and she found herself grinning
as she hugged Buffy?s weakening body against her, feeling the life dribble 
out of the hole she had made. ?Looks like I killed you this time, B.?

****

Buffy?s eyes widened in pain as she felt herself cry out unwillingly. She 
heard Faith?s murmured words in her ear...at least she thought they were 
murmured, it was hard to tell through the loud buzzing in her ears, but it 
was Willow?s eyes that she met as she stared into her wife?s horror filled 
gaze. She knew she was dying, she didn?t have to hear Faith tell her that, 
she could feel it in the blood that dribbled copiously out of her open 
wound, and she had never felt more sorry for anything in her life. The 
sudden knowledge that she wouldn?t be around to see her child grow up was 
like a stake through her chest and hurt a
hell of a lot more than the knife being driven into her body. But she would 
be damned if she would let Faith live...live to reign terror onto her wife 
and unborn child. No...if she was going to die...she was going to do it her 
way...Slaying to the end...even if it was another slayer.

She communicated her sadness and horror to her wife through the link that 
they shared. She told her that she was sorry...and then she said goodbye. 
Take care of our little girl. She pleaded with her, wishing that she could 
be there to watch her be born...to grow...to love. This was all 
communicated within a moments time and then she was turning, raising her 
hands to grip Faith?s in all too surprisingly strong grip. ?I may be 
dying.? She choked, on a mist of blood, looking directly into the deep 
brown eyes. ?But I?m taking you with me.?

Eyeing the nearby ledge, she shoved with all of her weight and managed to 
propel them both over the edge, enjoying the brief look of surprise that was 
on the other Slayer?s face before it clouded over with acknowledgement as 
she felt gravity working it?s will.

Time seemed to slow to a stand still at that moment, a second turning into 
enternity as she saw the ground below her...and the huge utility sized trash 
bin that appeared was going to be her coffin. For this timeless moment it 
seemed so far away from her...inconsequential...as she listened to her 
wife?s screams echo in the wind. That sense
of timelessness seemed to last forever, but then the time god must have 
remembered to turn it back on because it reasserted itself on reality and 
Buffy found the ground rising up to meet her. She stared at the jagged 
metal of the trash bin, knowing somehow that her head was going to collide 
with it, and that it was probably going to hurt...a lot...she closed her 
eyes...not wanting to see her fate...and then all went black.

The uncaring night listened to the screams of horror and rage of a young 
woman in pain, while a disinterested moon shined down on a pool of dark 
colored blood that seeped from a still body. And Fate knew that something 
had gone horribly wrong in a small town named Sunnydale.


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