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Chapter 6 Continued ‘Man this sucks!’ Faith shouted in her mind
for the hundredth time, dread flowing through her body like a raging river. ‘Coward! God what a fricken fraidy cat!’
she chastised herself. She’d been standing in front of the door to
the triad’s home for almost a full minute, trying to work up the courage
to knock. ‘Some big bad Slayer I am!’ She froze when the door opened, revealing Buffy with a
confused look on her face. “Uh, hey B,” Faith stammered, feeling startled
and embarrassed. “Faith,” Buffy said, tilting her head and
frowning. “Are you ok?” “Yeah, sure...five by five,” Faith
mumbled. ‘God, what a fricken tool!’ Buffy stepped back, offering silent invitation.
“So, what’s up?” she said perkily. Faith shuffled in. “I, uh...I kinda need to
talk to Red, if that’s cool,” she ended with an entreating tone. “Uh, sure,” Buffy said, her brows furrowing
slightly. “I mean, you don’t need my permission, it’s
not like I own her or anything,” she babbled. ‘Right, since when?’ Faith thought, raising
her brows and smirking ever so slightly—amused despite her tension. “Oh!” Buffy said, blushing heavily.
“Except I kinda do, I guess.” ‘Damn B, you’re so fricken hot when you blush
like that,’ Faith couldn’t help but think. Immediately she
chastised herself, ‘Damn, not supposed to think of that anymore,
remember?’ Rolling her eyes in apparent embarrassment, Buffy
continued, “So I’ll just shut up now and go get her.”
The blonde Slayer punctuated the comment by spinning around and walking away. “Thanks B,” Faith called out to her sister
Slayer’s retreating back. “No prob,” Buffy said over her shoulder with a
smile. The brief respite from anxiety Faith had enjoyed
immediately evaporated as soon as Buffy was out of sight. ‘Jeeze,
why the heck am I so nervous?’ she asked herself as she shifted from foot
to foot, her eyes wandering the room. ‘Oh, I don’t know, how about because B’s
pet witch scares the living crap out of you?’ ‘No way,’ she thought half-heartedly.
‘Oh who am I kidding, Red’s one scary fricken chicka since she got
herself all mojoed up.’ ‘Yeah, and the fact that you were a complete bitch
to her back in the day, and that’s not even counting the whole knife
incident...’ She cringed as the voice of her insecurities brought up
that little reminder. ‘If she was still pissed about that, she coulda done
something about it already,’ she told herself. “Faith?” ‘Damn! I didn’t even notice her!’
Faith thought as “Oh! Hey, Re-uh...Willow,” Faith stammered. “Yeah, well, I...um, I kinda need a favor,”
Faith said, continuing to stumble over her words. ‘Damn, I sound
like a complete !’ she railed against herself for her hesitancy. Now the redhead’s brows furrowed. “You
need a favor. From me,” she said with confusion written on her
face. “Look, I know you don’t owe me jack,”
Faith started, having to force herself to remain calm despite her impulse to
say, ‘forget it’ and take off. “If anything, it’s the other way around, but
it’s not just about me—Giles said I should ask you and stuff, so
I...uh...” The _expression_ on ‘Jeeze, chill girl,’ Faith told herself as she
initially bristled at “You’re babbling—and you don’t
generally babble—so, clearly something very not-good is going on,” “Uh, well it’s like this...” she trailed
off nervously. ‘Just say it,’ she told herself and then took
a deep breath. “So, it turns out Alex and Beth were sent by the
Watchers to, um, help me...” “Help you?” Faith started wringing her hands. “Yeah, um,
like to keep me from, you know, turning evil and stuff?” “I don’t know, they’re supposed to help
me get my head right and stuff, I guess,” Faith explained. “They told you this?” “No.” she answered. “I, uh...I
kinda overheard them and that watcher-guy...Travers. See, I followed him
from his hotel and stuff after our little meeting. He went right to Alex
and Beth’s and I was listening from outside.” “Yeah,” she said at the look of shock that
crossed “I can imagine!” “Yeah, so anyway...Travers is all in their face,
saying that they weren’t doing what he wanted and stuff, and they were
all ‘we’re here to help her, not spy on her,” she stopped
there, uncomfortable enough without sharing even more. “Do you believe them...wait, that’s the favor,
right?” “Yeah...Giles told me I should ask you,” she
offered apologetically. “I uh...” Faith trailed off. ‘Come
on, I can’t even think of a good lie here!’ she railed at herself
silently. “You didn’t want to do a spell...” “Look, I,” Faith began, though she had no idea
where she was going to go with it. “You could talk to Tara,” ‘Damn, I’m screwin’ this all up,’
Faith realized. “No, that’s not...I don’t...” she
shook her head angrily. “Look, I ain’t any good at this
stuff, ok? I just...every time I look at you, I keep seeing me holding a
knife to your throat and stuff,” she finished in a near whisper and then
wrapped her arms around herself, all the while chastising herself, ‘Weak,
pathetic little crybaby!’ “Oh,” Faith had to make an effort not to jerk away as “I think I get it Faith,” “I...huh?” a shiver of fear ran down her
spine. ‘Holy freakin crap!’ Faith thought, caught
like a deer in the headlights, her emotions as confused as her thoughts. “It’s ok,” “Uhh...” Faith started, slack-jawed with
shock. A loud pounding at the front door saved the Slayer from
having to respond. ========== BtVS ========== ‘I’m a bad, bad girl,’ She noticed her two lovers entering the room as she walked
to the front door. “Boy, somebody’s impatient,” she muttered
as the pounding continued unabated. As she opened the door, she was immediately verbally
assaulted. “ “And hello to you, too?” “I had a vision, someone’s going to shoot
Dawn, if they haven’t already!” Cordelia continued as though “What?” Buffy fairly screamed, drowning out
Faith’s and Tara’s responses as well as “And you decided to drive here to give us the
news?” Buffy demanded, sounding furious. “Didn’t you
ever hear of a phone?” “We did try to call,” Wesley broke in,
following Cordelia in through the door. “In fact we’ve been trying
the entire time we were driving here; however your line has been busy the
entire time.” “Oh no!” “Why did you have the phone off...never mind, I
don’t want to know!” Cordelia interjected. “What are we going to do?” Buffy cried,
looking to “I can find her,” “You can?” Buffy whimpered, “What if
it’s too late, what if,” “I can find her, Mistress. I can go to
wherever she is and make sure she’s ok,” Willow tried to reassure
her lover even as her own heart raced. “Do it,” Buffy commanded. “Please,
don’t let her die,” she added in a frightened whisper. “I won’t, I promise!” “Use the circle to focus,” Nodding, “It’s not much,” Cordelia said with a
sigh as she followed. “She and this older redhead are standing in
someone’s living room—big, expensive, but a little overdone, if you
ask me,” “Well, she and Xander are in “Well, that would explain it,” Cordelia said
with a note of distaste in her voice. “Wait, her and Xander?
Why,” “Right, anyway, they’re talking and this
nasty, skanky old-guy comes into the room through a door and he’s got a
machine-gun—kinda like that one Gunn had when we took out Ms.
Trailer-park trash-goddess—and he says something to them and then he
points the gun at them with this evil look on his face and pulls the
trigger...then the vision ended.” “So, you didn’t actually see her get
shot?” “Well, no,” Cordelia admitted. “Thank the goddess,” “Still,” Cordelia corrected, “He was
totally about to pull the trigger and stuff,” “Ok, let me focus,” Willow interjected.
“Oh, and remind With that she closed her eyes and tuned out any response
Cordelia might have made. ‘Dawnie, where are you right now?’
she silently mused as she reached out to find her sister witch. ========== BtVS ========== ‘Christ, like I wasn’t screwed up enough
already,’ Faith thought—not for the first time—as she walked
toward Alex and Beth’s house. ‘It’s not enough I gotta
deal with this Alex and Beth thing, now she’s gotta start playing
freaking mind games? I mean, no way she was serious.’ “Holy crap, what if she was serious?” she
whispered aloud. The emotional maelstrom raging inside her actually brought
her to a standstill for several moments. Finally she gave a violent
headshake and thought, ‘Stop it! Just freakin' deal with Alex and
Beth right now and worry about...other stuff...later.’ “Yeah,” she sighed as she resumed
walking. “Way the hell later.” Her stomach was again rumbling with nervousness as she
arrived at her destination. She pushed herself to enter, trying—but
mostly failing—to appear nonchalant. “Hey guys,” she
greeted her once and maybe future lovers with a subdued voice. “Faith, could you come in the living room
please? We...uh...we need to talk,” Alex’s voice was serious,
yet hesitant. ‘At least they weren’t kidding about wanting
to tell me,’ she thought as she looked at them. They were in the
living room, standing close together—but not quite touching. Each
had their arms wrapped around themselves and both looked very uncomfortable. “Yeah, 'bout what?” she grunted out, still
trying to not show her conflicting emotions outwardly. ‘Crap, I
don’t know if I’m more pissed-off, or scared out of my friggen
mind!’ she thought. “Uh, well, it’s kind of a long story,”
Beth said, her voice quiet and she was clearly very nervous herself. “Maybe you should sit down,” Alex said,
sounding unsure. “Look, whatever it is, spit it out already,
okay?” Faith blurted out. ‘God, I just want this over with,
whatever fricken happens!’ “We’ve never lied to you, Faith,” Beth
blurted right back. “But there’s some things we haven’t
told you...and you might not be happy to hear them.” “Our first meeting wasn’t happenstance,”
Alex said with a sigh. “We were looking for a way to...involve
ourselves...in your life.” “What are ya tryin' to say Alex?” Faith insisted
impatiently. “It’s kind of a long story,” he started. “Why don’t you reader’s digest it for
me,” Faith demanded as her patience wore ever thinner. “Fine,” Beth said with a sigh, dropping her
arms and dropping down onto the couch. She then took a deep breath and
said, “We’re a pair of combat-psychologists that were chosen by the
Powers That Be to come here to this time and place in order to help you as one
of their chosen champions to keep from falling into the darkness.” Faith’s jaw dropped and she blinked a couple of
times—her mind a complete blank. She dropped back into the big
overstuffed chair. “Gotta say, I wasn’t expecting
that,” she muttered when she finally found her voice. “Faith...please believe me when I say that we never
meant to hurt you, or betray your trust,” Alex said intently as he sat
down next to Beth. “It really is a long story,” “And we want to tell you all of it!” Beth
interjected. “Yes, yes!” he agreed, nodding his head
emphatically. “We’ll tell you everything...it’s just,
well...some of it is going to sound bad, but,” “You mean like the part where you work for that
piece of crap Travers?” Faith interrupted, unable to keep the bitterness
out of her voice. The stunned looks on their faces were almost enough to
make her laugh out loud, despite the pain. “That would be one of the worst parts,” Alex
said, sounding crushed, his entire posture slumping down in defeat. Her eyes darted toward her girlfriend and she saw silent
tears pouring from her eyes. ‘Crap, even after all this, all I want
to do is pull her into my arms and kiss her till she stops crying!’ she
thought. “I can only imagine the h-horrible things he must
have told you about us,” Beth whispered, hoarsely. “I only
hope you’ll hear our s-side before you judge us.” “I realize that this might sound ridiculous, given
the situation,” Alex spoke quietly, but with great seriousness in his
voice. “But Faith, you can’t trust Travers.” She reacted with a humorless laugh.
‘There’s a friggen news flash,’ she thought.
‘Question is, can I trust you? I want to so bad...I just hope
you’ll let Red do the mojo.’ Beth apparently took Faith’s reaction as
disagreement, responding, “Faith, regardless of what you must think of us
right now, you...you have to know that Travers doesn’t have your best
interests in mind.” “God, there has to be some way we can prove to
you,” Alex trailed off, clearly frustrated. “There is,” Faith said, relieved by the segue
opening. “We’ll do it!” Beth immediately
answered. “Anything!” She raised her eyebrows at Beth’s vehemence.
“You don’t even know what it is,” she started. “Anything we can do that will let you trust us
again...well, if we can’t be part of your life,” Alex closed his
mouth with an audible click of teeth; his jaw muscle visibly clenched, and his
lips quivering slightly. ‘Damn, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Alex
cry,’ Faith thought with amazement. ‘If this is for
real...God, I hope it’s for real!’ “Just tell us what you want us to do, Faith,”
Beth said sincerely. ‘Damn, I’m about to friggen cry myself!’
Faith thought as she took a deep, shuddering breath. “You, um, you
gotta let Red cast this truth spell thing on you,” she said, avoiding
their gaze. ‘Why do I feel like I’m the one betraying
them?’ she wondered at the clenching sensation in her gut. “That’s perfect!” Beth said, sounding
excited suddenly. “It’s Brilliant,” Alex sighed, sounding
relieved. “Why didn’t we think of that?” “Really?” Faith asked, surprised at their easy
acceptance. “You’re ok with her doin' the mojo thing on
you?” “Absolutely!” Beth gushed. “It
eliminates any second thoughts! You won’t have to wonder if
we’re being honest, or if we’re holding anything
back...you’ll know.” “I...ok,” Faith stammered. “Faith,” Alex started, sounding actually happy
about the subject. “It’s not like we ever wanted to hide
anything from you. Even just from the standpoint of helping you deal with
things, it would have been better if we could have been completely honest from
the start.” “Then take into account the...um, deep feelings that
we’ve developed for you,” Beth continued the thought.
“It tore us up inside to keep things from you. God, so many
times...how I wanted to just come clean and tell you everything!” “There’s so much we want to tell you,
Faith,” Alex said. “Things we worried that you wouldn’t
believe.” “When can we do the spell?” Beth asked
excitedly. “Oh, uh...might be a couple days,” Faith
muttered, still overwhelmed by their response. “Oh,” Beth sounded deflated. “Why
so long?” “Well, see, there’s this thing,” Faith
started to explain. “Buffy's little sis got herself in trouble
again...” ========== BtVS ========== The ringing phone interrupted Giles train of
thought. He’d been working on translating an ancient copy of an
Abyssinian Magus’ diary, still investigating the mystery of He sighed and reached behind him for the phone.
“Hello,” he said, with a polite voice that belied his annoyance. “How dare you?” and angry female voice started
out without preamble. “What in Gaia’s name were you
thinking?” “Sarah?” he asked with a confused frown.
“Good Lord, what’s wrong?” “You sent a sorceress, and tried to pass her off as
a witch?” Sarah demanded angrily. “What on earth are you talking about?” he
exclaimed, baffled. “The girl—the one you sent with the supposed
amulet? She dared claim to be a witch, and when I asked for a
demonstration of the craft, she performed a fire-sorcery!” “Oh, I say...” he trailed off thinking
furiously. “If this was a jest, Rupert Giles, it was in the
poorest of taste!” Sarah went on without missing a beat. “I
was under the apparently mistaken impression that you had put your dark days
behind you.” “Please, Sarah...you must calm down,” Giles
interjected. “I don’t know precisely how to explain the magic
that Dawn and her mentor’s are using, but I assure you that it
isn’t sorcery, or anything akin to it. “The girl can manipulate fire, Rupert. There
was no spell, no calling on the elements...such power is not human in nature,
as you should well know,” Sarah’s voice was clearly upset.
“Such abilities come from truck with demonic powers—whether through
sacrifice or subjugation, they are equally foul.” “Sarah,” Giles interrupted. “If
you had taken the time to examine Dawn’s aura, you would have clearly
seen that there was no demonic taint.” He took off his glasses and
pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “I,” Sarah’s voice cut off, leaving a
ringing silence. Taking pity on her, he continued, “As I said, I
cannot explain the how they do what they do, but I can assure you that it
isn’t demonic—it isn’t sorcery...though I can certainly agree
that it doesn’t follow the rules of either Wiccan or Hecation witchcraft
either.” “You can’t mean,” she paused, her voice
rife with disbelief. “Wizardry? There hasn’t been a true
wizard on this plane in millennia!” “I honestly don’t know, Sarah,” Giles
admitted with a sigh. “I’ve been researching, trying to find
out if there is some record, or-or prophecy, or...anything that might explain
how this came to be,” he trailed off in frustration. “If it is wizardry,” Sarah’s voice was
filled with both wonder and no little fear. “Rupert, this
girl...Dawn...she said that she was apprenticed to two others?” “Yes, “She said she’d only been apprenticed for a
very short time...a few months?” she went on. “Yes, why?” Giles asked. “If she can do what I saw, after only months...what
must her mentors be able to accomplish?” she asked in wonder. “Actually, I have yet to see Dawn cast
anything,” Giles admitted. “May I ask what it was that she
did to have such a profound effect on you?” Sarah let out an audible sigh. “She
manipulated the candle flames, wrapping them about herself and causing them to
change colors...Rupert, I feel like a fool.” “I say, whatever do you mean?” he sputtered,
confused by the apparent non sequitor. “I was so angry at the thought of sorcery being
performed before my very eyes,” she admitted, sounding shamefaced.
“I verbally assaulted that poor girl...no wonder she seemed so startled
by my invective.” “Oh dear,” he muttered. “I must find a way apologize to her,” Sarah
went on, almost as though she were talking to herself rather than to
Giles. “It wouldn’t do to make enemies of such powerful
potential allies.” “I say, whatever are you talking about Sarah?”
Giles interjected, suddenly concerned by her turn of phrase. “Is the girl still in ‘Why would the coven be seeking allies?’ he
wondered to himself, in turn ignoring her question. “Rupert, please,” she prompted. “I was surprised to find that the entire coven had
left She chuckled ruefully. “You’ve always
been just a bit too sharp for my comfort Rupert,” she admitted. “Sarah, if you were in need, why didn’t you
ask me?” he asked, surprised and disappointed. “We didn’t want to involve the council,”
she began. “Sarah,” he admonished. “Surely
you know you can trust me not to involve the council in things that are none of
their business.” She let out another audible sigh. “Honestly
Rupert, if the information we’ve found is accurate, this is something far
beyond The Slayer’s ability to handle.” Giles chuckled at that. “You would be
surprised, Sarah.” “How so?” she asked, sounding suddenly
interested. “Buffy has become remarkably stronger and faster of
late,” Giles said trying to ignore the feelings of paternal pride that
rose up inside. “Just the other day she was ambushed by twelve
vampires and slew the lot without even one of them landing so much as a single
blow.” “Truly?” she asked, sounding reluctantly
impressed. “Still,” she began “Not only that, but Sunnydale once again has a
second Slayer in residence.” “Was not the second Slayer in prison?” she
asked. “Was she killed?” “We had a bit of a situation here several months
ago,” he explained. “The council had her released.” “Truly?” Sarah again sounded surprised. “Further, Buffy has entered into a triad
relationship with two rather powerful witches,” Giles added. “Two witches? You don’t mean,” she
trailed off with a gasp. “Indeed,” Giles answered her unfinished
question. “These days the Hellmouth is guarded by two slayers, and
two—now three I suppose—powerful witches. Or, magic-users if
you prefer.” “Had I known, I would have rung you right up, I
assure you,” she said emphatically. “Had you called, you would have known,” he
answered, unable to resist a slight dig. “Now it becomes even more imperative that I make my
apologies to...Dawn *Summers*. Good goddess, is Dawn?” she asked,
sounding fairly horrified. “Sister to Buffy Summers, the senior Slayer.”
Giles finished her thought with a smile. “Oh dear,” she sighed despondently. TheBear! http://papa-bear.com Psst, hey! Don’t tell anyone, but 6c is
already up on the Bear’s yahoo group. Just thought I’d let you know. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BearCave_BtVS/ Willow: "It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in." Buffy: "I kinda love you." --'Choices' Community email addresses: Post message: buffywantswillow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subscribe: buffywantswillow-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Unsubscribe: buffywantswillow-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx List owner: buffywantswillow-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Shortcut URL to this page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/buffywantswillow Official archive for the list: http://www.ikoly.com/fanfic Other links to Buffy/Willow fics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/buffywantswillow/links
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