She was placed on a bed with having no memory of being carried through into a building. The room was made of wood with real glass windows letting in the bright sunlight. The walls were whitewashed and the wooden floor polished to a high gloss.
The Slayer tried to move, the mongrels would be attacking at any moment and maybe she would be able to trade her life for the settlers. Belle sent out her extra sense again, only to have it overwhelmed by the same strong presence as earlier.
The small frail woman glided over to Belle's bedside with a drinking glass filled with some kind of dark liquid. Her long titian hair pulled back into a lose braid that fell down her back. She sat down on the bed next to the Slayer and immediately Belle knew this was the presence that was blocking her extra sense. The Slayer couldn't tell if it was the delirium from the poison or the magical energy but the woman seemed to be shimmering with a golden light. The Slayer had to fight her need to crawl into that light, it felt so soothing, like she belonged by this strange woman's side. That all her life had been leading up to this moment, the second they would meet.
A man dressed as a farmer rushed into the room from the outside door and the Slayer was brought back to herself and the peril this woman was in because of her Watcher.
"Hope, John needs you . . . " The man's words were silenced by a wave of her hand.
"I will be there shortly," the woman snapped followed by slight smile to take the sting out her words. The farmer nodded and left.
?Miss, you are making a mistake!? The Slayer had to get across the danger that these people were in. ?The beasts that did this to me . . . ?
?Rest still or the poison will move faster. Already I fear we might be too late,? the woman told her. She placed her warm hand on the Slayer?s good shoulder to push her back down on the bed, then pulled it back as if she had done something unseemly. ?John speaks the truth; this small valley is protected from the werefolk. You are safe here to recover.?
Somehow the Slayer knew she spoke the truth, knew that she would be safe in this small haven. She licked her dry lips and was about to ask for some water when the woman interrupted her.
?I have the antidote to the poison,? the woman told her taking a deep breath before going on. ?I warn you it?s going to be worse before it will get better.? The woman looked away again and the Slayer forced her heavy arm to move. She touched the redheaded beauty?s arm, marveling at the difference between her filthy one and the clean white skin of the woman?s.
?Miss, just ? tell me,? she pleaded with her. The woman looked back down at her, a sad smile touching her lips.
?My name is Hope. Please call me that,? she said holding up the glass. ?I have mixed an antidote for the poison that the werefolk use on their claws. I?m sorry but it will be very hard to endure,? Hope gently told the Slayer. The Slayer sighed. Her life up this point had been hard to endure.
?I am stronger than I look, I feel sure I will survive your treatment . . . Hope,? she told the woman. The Slayer was finding it difficult to talk, so she surrendered herself to the soft bed and closed her eyes.
?Slayer? Slayer wake up.? Hope shook her good shoulder and she opened her eyes again. She didn?t know she had passed out. Then what the woman had called her filtered through her fuzzed brain.
?How did you ?? She started pushing up on her elbows, until her weakened shoulder protested. She flopped back down in a heap, trying to breathe through the shooting fire.
Hope calmly sat through the display.
?My dreams of late have told me many things about you, or at least about your Calling,? Hope answered her glancing away. The Slayer could do nothing but accept that the woman was a seer. ?They have told me many things about your Calling but none about you. Like your name?? Hope looked back her.
?Annabelle Mills of the Southside Mills, everyone calls me Belle.? She whispered automatically, unused to hearing her given name and title, it had been so long since she was that girl.
The roaring started filling her ears again.
?Time is getting short, Belle. The antidote is hard to endure so I have mixed it with a sleeping potion . . . . ? The Slayer shook her head.
?I want no sleeping potion; I can?t be unconscious when the beasts attack, I can?t be!? She tried to explain to the woman. Surely she should understand, being a woman herself?
?I?m . . . sorry. The antidote makes people . . . do things . . . I know of your Calling and once the poison is . . . neutralized, your strength might return before your senses do,? Hope told her, and fear made the Slayer go cold. She knew the woman spoke the truth but to give up control, with the beasts so close? What if this was some kind of trap?
?Where is Arthur?? she demanded. She believed the woman, still she was the Slayer. It was her duty to protect, not to be protected.
?He is still meeting with John,? Hope told her, looking away, refusing to meet her eyes. A slight blush rising in her cheeks.
?Then no, I won?t take it until I can see him. This could be a trap ?it wouldn?t be the first time someone wanted a Slayer. Just this morning ?"
Panic building with each word, the Slayer struggled to pull her leaden body over so she could push up, sit up, escape from this crazy place in the middle this strange land. She didn?t want to die here, she didn?t want to die in this barren place, she wanted to see the thick forest of trees just one more time. She wanted to feel what it was like to be really clean, to have enough water to soak her dry skin until it was soft and moist.
The pain in her shoulder and down her back screamed at her as she was finally able to push into a sitting position. Hope stood up, and after placing the glass on a table, she knelt in front of the Slayer.
?I have to go, I have to find Arthur!? The Slayer forced the words through the fiery pain that even as she sat there was turning her vision red. Then a coughing fit claimed her. After a few moments, Belle was able to breathe again, but she could feel the fluid beginning to build up in her lungs. Pneumonia, she knew she didn?t have long.
?No! You don?t understand,? Hope told her urgently, taking Belle?s cold hands in her warm ones. Pinning the Slayer with her clear emerald eyes, ?Please, you don?t have to trust me in anything else but in this one thing, please believe me. You are safe from the Werefolk in this valley . . . .? She pleaded.
Belle started to protest as the sick dizziness made her sway.
?No, listen to me,? Hope said shaking the Slayer's clasped hands. ?If by some chance the Werefolk do get in here, I promise you they will not take you alive.? Then she reached down and pulled one of the Slayer?s daggers out of her boot. ?You have my word.? She finished.
And what could the Slayer do but accept? Unlike the monster that morning, Belle completely believed the woman kneeling before her. Still, the Slayer?s pride wouldn?t let her say the words so she just nodded her head. Then she let Hope help lay her back down on the soft bed.
The woman helped the Slayer drink the vile concoction that tasted like mud, and yet it soothed her thirst.
Hope stood and backed up against the far wall of the tiny room as if expecting the devil himself to appear. Belle watched her as Hope nervously wrung her hands.
The Slayer felt . . . nothing. Nothing other than the lingering aftertaste that she wished she could rinse out . . . Belle wished she could just have one drink of water.
She heard, ?We?ll clean and bandage your wounds . . . ."
. . . and then every muscle in the Slayer?s body locked at once . . . her chest constricting to the point where she couldn?t breathe . . . the muscles in her back making her arch up off the bed . . . bending her so far that she felt her spine creak . . . then inferno burned through her blood . . . flowing into each part of her body . . . blotting out her vision, turning it red . . . .
and a scream was torn out of her throat. . . .
_____________________________________________________________
The gut-wrenching agonized scream ripped through the quiet of the hospital corridor. Willow instantly recognized the voice?Buffy. It suddenly didn?t matter who was between her and the Slayer, she would go through them. Willow and Xander turned as one and started sprinting toward the Slayer?s room. She vaguely noticed and wondered why the Council?s guards were scattering, backing down the hall away from Buffy?s room. She slid around the doorway, only to stop at the sight that met her. It looked as if every muscle in the Slayer?s body was at war?the muscles in Buffy?s back were locked making her arch up off the bed?bending her so far that Willow swore she heard her spine creak.
Everything slowed down for Willow as she watched her friend begin to gasp for air. The hacker couldn?t move, she couldn?t make her legs carry her further into the room. She was sure that Buffy was dying right before her eyes.
Then the alarm on one of the machines started blaring . . . .
?Move Willow!? Cordelia said, shoving both Xander and the hacker into the room right as two nurses and a doctor barreled by them toward Buffy?s bed. Willow backed up against the wall, using it as a support to keep standing. The room was tiny and if she fainted now then one of the medical personnel would surely trip over her.
Willow couldn?t take her eyes off of Buffy as she thrashed on the bed. The muscles of the Slayer?s neck stood out in sharp contrast as her jaw locked closed.
?She?s not getting any air!? The Council?s snitch, Robbie, shouted over the blaring alarm. The nurse?s face drained of color as Willow saw the heart monitor blare its warning that Buffy was in trouble. The hacker started forward, if her best friend was going to die then she wasn?t going to do it alone. The Slayer would know that someone who loved her was with her?Buffy would not die alone.
But, as Willow took the first step forward, she was yanked back against the wall and held there by Cordelia. The beauty queen grimaced, ?Let them work, Willow. They need room to work. She?s gonna be ok.?
Willow looked up into Cordelia?s determined face. A face soon blurred out of focus by the tears that started pouring from Willow?s eyes. ?We?re too late!? The redhead felt strong arms wrap around her and she could smell Xander?s cologne. She didn?t have the strength left to fight so she slumped against him watching the doctor and nurses work.
?Do you want us to try and tube her?? The other nurse, a small blonde, asked as she turned off the alarms and tried to reattach some of the wires that Buffy, in her throes, had pulled off.
Then Buffy stopped moving. Willow pushed away from Xander stunned, praying, hoping that the worst was over, that Buffy was going to be all right.
The nurses reconnected the monitoring equipment. ?Pulse is returning to normal, oxygen levels are coming up, blood pressure . . . ? The blonde nurse read off the numbers from the monitors.
?What in the Hell just happened?? The doctor asked the nurses.
Willow felt like she could breathe again. She wanted to cheer, she wanted to dance around the small hospital room. The doctor checked over Buffy and gave her an injection.
?Well, I have rounds to make. I want someone in here with her,? he said staring at Nurse Swinson. The doctor took a threatening step forward, ?I want you in this room monitoring the patient, not sitting out at the nurse?s station filing your nails!? he whispered in a fury. ?Maybe then if the poor girl has another episode we can start pinpointing the cause.?
?Yes doctor,? the nurse answered with her eyes downcast. She busied herself straightening the sheets and covers that Buffy had pulled loose.
?It?s bad enough that her parents won?t let us do an EEG or CT. Why I'll never know.? The doctor shook his head and then left the room. Willow watched as the Council?s soldiers formed back around the door.
She heard sniffing and glanced up into Xander?s stricken face. He was white as a sheet and he backed up against the wall, sliding down it as his leg folded under him.
Willow and Cordelia knelt beside him. The shock of seeing Buffy like that was too much for him, it was nearly too much for her and she had been there through most of it.
?Willow?? he whispered to her and then looked into her eyes, pleading with her that the girl on the bed couldn?t be their friend.
?I?m sorry Xander,? she told him simply. She looked back at Buffy, thin, pale Buffy. Her eyes were still bruised either from Spike?s beating or because she hadn?t eaten anything in a week. The Slayer always ate like a horse but she especially ate a lot when recovering from any injury.
?We have to get her out of here, we just have to,? he said never taking his eyes off of Buffy.
?We will, Xander. I promise,? determined, she stood up.
?If you need anything let me know,? the blonde told Nurse Swinson, drawing Willow?s attention.
?All right, all right,? the nurse said nervously glancing at the Slayer. After the blonde nurse left, nurse Swinson stood as close to the open door as possible, causing the Council guards to back away from entrance. The guard continued to face away from the room, never once looking into it.
The nurse continued to fidget and it made Willow remember how anxious the nurse was earlier this morning.
Xander stood up wiping his eyes, ?What are we going to do??
?I don?t know yet,? she answered him.
Cordelia shrugged, ?So we need a plan??
?The air ducts?? Xander asked looking up at the vent in the ceiling.
?No, I don?t think they would support our weight and the way the seams fit together could really slice and dice Buffy as we pull her through them,? Willow explained following Xander?s look to the tile ceiling. ?It?s one of those things that looks great in the movies but has no practical application in real life.?
Willow noticed that both Cordelia and Xander were staring at her. ?What? I researched it ok? Happy that I?m a geek here,? she finished defensively.
?Well, I have an idea if you two losers don?t mind a little kidnapping?? Cordelia said. She smiled as she reached behind Willow and pulled a roll of medical tape off the shelf. ?Willow you close the door while Xander and I grab the evil Nurse Swinson. . . . ?
Tbc
-- Michael Moore
Click to feed a rescue Critter:
Willow: "It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
Buffy: "I kinda love you."
--'Choices'
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