FIC: Three Years in Hell, A Lifetime of Pain (17b/?)

["Bill Gopher" <asagiri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Three Years in Hell, A Lifetime of Pain

By Red Demon & Bill Gopher

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

Pairing - Beth/Faith

Archiving - As our girl Faith liked to say; Want, Take, Have. So go ahead,
just drop us a line so we know where it is.

Spoiler – Not really, no. The story starts 3 years after what would have
been Season 5. So everything after the beginning ep of Season 5 never
happened.

Summary – An AU where Buffy is framed for the murder of Deputy Mayor Finch
and ends up in the US Marines.

Feedback - All comments and criticisms are welcome. However, flames will be
summarily deleted!!! billgopher@xxxxxxxxxxxx

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Midnight
Outside Sunnydale High School ruins…

Dawn crept forward trying to stay quiet, the demon she’d been following from
Willie’s had almost caught her once already. <The last thing she needed or
wanted was a lecture from her Mom or Willow, or worse…both of them!> Dawn
shuddered at that thought and focused her attention on being quiet as she
looked out from behind the tree she was using to hide.

Dawn watched as the demon walked down towards the ruins of Sunnydale High,
as it reached the entrance it paused for several seconds before entering the
building and disappearing from sight.

Moving out from behind the tree Dawn broke into a quick run towards the high
school and quickly arrived at the entrance, stopping she peered inside and
saw nothing but a burnt out hallway. <Oh well, here goes…> Dawn thought
nervously as she stepped inside and started down the hallway…

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

She had been wandering down the hallways for a while without any luck
finding the demon or where it might have gone and Dawn was feeling tired and
frustrated. <Yickkk!! Another piece of the Mayor, just great!> Dawn grumped
as she stepped in a pile of goo while avoiding a hole in the floor. <Why can
’t I just ‘find’ this stupid demon already!> Just as she was about to give
up and go home , <Aha!! That’s it!! I can’t believe I didn’t think of this
sooner!!> Dawn thought excitedly as she made a quick left and headed towards
where the library used to be…

Dawn found the hallway had fallen in here blocking off her way, except for a
large hole in the ground. Looking down Dawn saw it went down for a short
ways and there seemed to be a passage of sorts that she could follow.
Carefully lowering herself down the side till she hit bottom, looking she
saw a medium sized tunnel that continued forward. “Well I’ve gone this far,
I may as well see what I’m going to find.” Dawn muttered softly as she
started forward.

Several minutes later Dawn started to hear something, <What the hell is that
sound? It’s not real loud though> she thought as she continued walking.
Ahead Dawn saw another large, gaping hole in the floor. As she neared the
hole, Dawn saw strange symbols drawn on the walls and felt a chill down to
her bones that had nothing to do with the temperature. It was something that
felt utterly alien and evil.

At the hole Dawn could hear the voices was actually chanting. Lying down
Dawn lowered herself partially into the opening and looked, <The library, or
what’s left of it at least!> Dawn felt a small surge of satisfaction at
having found what she was looking for. As she looked around Dawn saw a large
area in the center of the library had been cleared out of any debris and a
black altar had been setup in the middle and painted on the floor was a
large central design and several smaller ones inside the main one, as well
as some sort of glyphs or writing. Six red-robed figures were kneeling in a
circle around the altar, <I guess those are the ones doing the chanting,
flunkies I guess. But there’s got to be more though!!> With that thought
Dawn tried wiggling down further to get a better view of the rest of the
room.

<Well I guess that’s all there is to see, I can at least tell Will or Tara
about this. I know they’ll be interested that some demon’s have moved into
the library.> Just as Dawn finished that thought and started to move four
new figures walked into the room from somewhere off to her left. Three
smaller figures carried an empty human-sized cage and the fourth figure was
dressed in black robes with a hood covering its’ features but the robes
couldn’t hide it’s size or height. Easily 7’ she watched it walk forward and
gesture to a spot several feet away from the altar and the three carried the
cage and put it down where they were told.

<Ewww, those things look like walking lizards, except they’re people sized.
But that last one is huge, I wish I could see more…>

Dawn noticed suddenly that the chanting had stopped and the robed figures
were now standing. A loud sibilant hissing with growls could be heard coming
from the tall figure and Dawn was ready to leave as she heard one word,
“Sssssllayyer,” as it pointed toward the cage. <Uh oh! Time to go!> Dawn
thought quickly as she pulled herself up she knocked a large piece of cement
with her elbow and watched in horror as it fell to the ground with a loud
SMACK!!! Jumping to her feet Dawn ran as fast as possible down the hallway,
she could hear footsteps behind her.

Climbing up the second hole Dawn paused to look back down the hallway and
saw all three of the lizards running down the hallway with swords. With a
quick burst of speed Dawn was up the hold and running for the exit she could
see just up ahead. As she ran out the ‘exit’ Dawn turned on the speed again,
trying to put as much room between her and Sunnydale High School when a hard
blow slammed into Dawn’s back lifting her up and throwing her forward. As
the ground rushed up to meet her Dawn tried to cushion the impact by rolling
as she hit, but as she tucked in to roll she felt something hard slam into
her head then…nothing….

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

Three Days Later…

Beth looked behind her at the mountain they had just crossed that brought
them into Germany unannounced, “Well I guess this means we’re a step
closer.”

Faith looked over at Beth and nodded, “Yep. One thing though, how are we
gonna get by if neither of us speak German?”

“It shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Germany’s pretty much used to
American’s traipsing through their country, so we should be able to talk to
the shopkeeper’s and ask any questions.

Faith looked at Beth skeptically, “Uh huh. We still might want to get one of
those English to German dictionaries anyway B.”

“Over there, it looks like a city sign. It says Stadt von Trier 15
kilometer.”

“And that would mean what B?” Faith asked, her hands on her hips.

“Well I think stadt means city, so someplace called Trier about 15
kilometers away. We can probably catch a train from there to pretty much
anywhere in Germany. Taylor was always going on about that, he used to….”
Beth fell silent as she felt a stab at Taylor’s name.

Faith watched as Beth’s good mood vanished after she said Taylor’s name.
Faith moved over to Beth and put her arm over her shoulders, “It’s okay to
remember him B.”

Beth wrapped an arm around Faith’s waist, “I know, it just hurts when I
think of him sometimes. Thanks Faith,” Beth said as she hugged Faith and
kissed her on the lips.

Puzzled Faith raised her eyebrow, “What was that for B?”

“For just being there when I need you. Now come on, we’ve got a city to get
to and a train to catch!”

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

“Do you understand what you are to do?” the gravelly voice asked.

“Yes my Lord,” the small dog-like demon answered nervously.

“Then bring her back unharmed and kill the other one,” the voice said
impatiently.

The demon brought its fist against its’ chest in a salute and exited the
room as fast as possible, wanting nothing more than to get out of there.

A short walk brought the demon to its three compatriots, “The Lord has given
me our instructions. We are to capture the dark-haired one and kill the
other Slayer. But the dark Slayer must ‘not’ be injured or we will all
suffer. Understood?” The demon looked at each of his associates, getting a
nod from each of them that they understood. “Good, then let’s be off then.
The sooner we’re out of here, the better.”

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continued in chapt 17c