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It's
Not Exactly Stealing
December 28th, the evening before the next scheduled apocalypse... After a total lack of success with Plan A--find the monsters ahead of time--they all gathered in Buffy and Dawn’s living room to discuss Plan B. From left to right: Methos and Anya were sharing the armchair nearest the front door, Methos sitting in the chair and Anya perched on one arm. Dawn was curled in the corner of the couch, Legolas sat next to her, and Duncan sat on the other end. Joe took the other armchair, his cane propped against one side. Buffy nervously paced back and forth on the opposite side of the coffee table. "Tomorrow’s the big day and we haven’t found them," Buffy stated the obvious. "I didn’t think we would," Methos admitted. Buffy stopped he pacing and gave Methos a sharp questioning look, a look that was echoed by most of the rest of the group. Duncan had a glimmer of an idea of what was going on so he didn’t join in on the group stare. "These guys, they’re smart. After drawing that symbol, there was no reason for them to be in Sunnydale before the big day. They had to know you would be looking for them. The smart thing was to stay away," Methos explained. "Then why the wild goose chase?" Buffy asked pointedly, her tone implying that Methos could expect some grievous bodily injury should she not like the answer. "I thought you needed something to do--to keep busy. Besides, we could have gotten lucky and found out I was wrong," Methos answered. Buffy grimaced in distaste, snorted humorlessly, and said, "Thanks for thinking of me, but you know we do this kind of thing all the time. If we hadn’t been busy with... busy-work, maybe we could have gotten some actual work done. God knows there’s enough for me to do around here without adding a completely pointless tour of the seedy side of Sunnydale to the list." "But, they have Angel and are trying to bring back one of the few monsters to ever get a piece of you," Dawn protested, "Don’t even pretend like you’re not majorly wigged." "Am not," Buffy shot back. "Are too," Dawn insisted. "Girls, maybe we could focus on what happens tomorrow, come up with some plan of attack," Joe interrupted the cat fight in the making, trying to bring the conversation back to the matters at hand. "What’s to plan? We already know who, when, what, where. We go, we kill, we free Angel, simple," Buffy said with a shrug. "That’s my sister, always great with the complex strategizing," Dawn observed rolling her eyes. Buffy, not wanting to get caught childishly bickering with her sister a second time in thirty seconds, let the comment pass. "It’s not that simple. We know the name of our enemy and what they’re after, but do we know numbers? Strengths and weaknesses? How to kill them? If the Order was a bunch of push overs, I doubt we’d have been called here to help. It looks like we’re going to have a tough battle on our hands, we need to prepare, we need to have a strategy," Duncan lectured. Methos was nodding in agreement, wanting to say something but knowing now was not the time. Buffy would at least listen to what Duncan had to say, but she might reject Methos’s advise just because of the source. There was less friction between the two after killing those fishy demons together, but with the revelation of Methos’s wild goose chase scheme the friction was back in spades. Anya didn’t hesitate putting her two cents in. "I like the sound of that, strategy and preparation, that’d make it sound like we’re all professional, like we have some chance of winning. Now we need maps and stuff, maybe some little colored push pins." Buffy gave Anya that slightly confused look she always gave the vengeance demon when Anya said something peculiar, shook her head, and finally agreed, "Okay, we’ll come up with a plan. Where do we start?" "An exact time for this ceremony would be helpful," Legolas pointed out, finally joining the conversation. Planning a battle was something he knew how to do, unlike a lot of the rest of this demon stuff. "Midnight," Anya answered and at everyone’s inquiring looks she elaborated, "It’s always midnight, if it isn’t sunrise or sunset. Dawning of a new day, end of the old, it’s a whole thing. And, death stuff requires total darkness, so midnight’s all that’s left." "My research says the same," Methos confirmed. "Your research say anything about numbers?" Joe asked. "Membership in the Order seems to vary from century to century. Some accounts put it in the hundreds, in others it’s only a few dozen. One thing is certain, it takes twenty-four to complete the ritual so there’ll be at least that many, and probably quite a few more," Methos explained. "Twenty-four, that’s a lot," Buffy admitted, starting to see the wisdom of making a plan. "The good news is most of them will be Largoss demons. They’re grey scaly demons with a row of short horns running around their heads. And, they don’t have any special powers, not even super strength. You just need to remember that the heart’s about where you’d expect the stomach to be. There might be a Kratha or two, but those are rare and you’ve already killed one. I don’t know what else we might find, but Largoss demons seem to be pretty careful about who they let join their little club. They don’t want anything stronger than themselves moving in and taking over so there shouldn’t be any heavy hitters. Vampires are stronger than most of the demons known to have joined the Order," Methos continued detailing what he’d found out in his many hours of research. "The odds are increasing in our favor," Legolas said confidently. "Those vampires we faced a few nights ago were strong, but we were a match for them. If these demons are lesser opponents..." "Yeah, they don’t sound like much of a big bad to me either," Buffy agreed with the elf. "What’s the catch?" "The catch is that all they need is a few seconds at the stroke of midnight to perform the ceremony. It’s just a single line of verse and cutting off the sacrifice’s head. Then up pops the Master, completely under the Order’s control. They don’t have to kill us, they just have to delay us for a few seconds. Then your friend’ll be dead and the Master will kill us," Methos pointed out. "Pretty big catch," Dawn said, eyes wide with worry. "I mean, Buffy can kill the Master if she has to. He’s just another vampire. But, if you guys are just a little late, Angel’ll be gone. I was never a big Angel fan, but he doesn’t deserve to die." The part about Buffy not deserving to have to see him die went unspoken, although that was probably the source of the lion’s share of Dawn’s concern. "Then we won’t be late," Duncan said firmly, catching Buffy’s eye to give her a look of reassurance. "Is that all?" he asked, turning toward Methos. "Did you uncover anything else in your research?" "Well, there is one other thing," Methos said. "I think we might just have the advantage of surprise." "Surely, they realize we will try to stop them," Legolas said, not knowing how their attack could possibly be a surprise. "Yeah, we destroyed the symbol thingy, and their plan is written down in a bunch of books," Buffy pointed out. "They’ve gotta know we’re on to them." "I’m sure they do. I’m fairly certain they’re aware we know what they’re up to. But, I’m betting they think we don’t know when it’s going to happen. You see, all the texts agree that the ceremony must be performed on the second day of the Sumerian Feast of Fire, but none of them say what day that is on a modern calendar, nor are any clear astrological signs given. Modern scholarship would put the ceremony on January 2nd, because someone improperly figured in a couple holidays, throwing the whole calendar off a few days. Having actually lived with that particular calendar, like some of the demons in the Order have, I know the actual date. Like I said, the Order is smart. I bet, they’re counting on us getting the date wrong and think they’ll be able to get in, do the ceremony, and get out without us any the wiser." "So we need to get Angel away from an unspecified number of not very strong demons before midnight, and they don’t know we’re coming," Buffy summed up what they knew. "I believe any further plans must rely upon the terrain. Perhaps we should return to the place this will be happening and see what our surroundings allow," Legolas suggested. "Sounds like a good idea to me," Duncan agreed. "We need to know more about what we have to work with before we can plan our attack." * * * * * * Everyone, except Anya, piled into Joyce Summers’ SUV, Joe and Dawn went along too even though they weren’t going to be fighting, and Duncan drove them to the school. Buffy still didn’t have her license, but Willow and Tara had been using the car, driving Dawn to school and such. Anya decided to teleport over rather than try to squeeze a fourth person into the back seat. On the way over, Duncan made a halfhearted and admittedly futile plea for Buffy to stay out of the fight. She was too emotionally involved and, unlike some people, she could get killed. Buffy flatly refused to take the out Duncan gave her. Then Buffy, with everyone else backing her up, informed Dawn that she would not be participating. Dawn protested at first, but after the fact that she’d be more in the way than not was pointed out and Joe offered to let her come with him to witness the action from a safe distance through a telescopic lens, she reluctantly agreed to stay out of it. Anya met them at the front door. "What took you guys so long?" she asked. "I’ve been waiting forever and this place is creepy." "Anya, you’re a vengeance demon. You’ve caused murder and mayhem for hundreds of years, have probably started more fires than you can count, and you’re nearly indestructible as long as you have your necklace. How can the charred remains of a high school be creepy?" Dawn asked. "One, it was high school. Do you have any idea how much it sucked to be seventeen again and having to do book reports and take gym? Two, I always left while the fires were still burning. The warm glow of a fire, that cute little crackling sound, the smell of burning flesh, it’s homey. A blackened ruin is just sad." "Okay..." Buffy interrupted, "Now that we have that all cleared up, why don’t we go inside and see if we can come up with a plan." The group trooped into the library, carefully avoiding tripping on loose boards and other debris. Breaking an ankle at this stage of the proceedings wouldn’t be a good idea. Even if it healed right up, it’d still be embarrassing. Once inside the library, they all looked around the room in silence for a few moments. Some with knowing looks on their faces, others faking knowing looks. Finally, Duncan asked, "The twenty-four doing the ceremony, do they need to all be in here? Or will they be scattered around the building?" "In here. They have to be in sight of the place where the Master died," Methos answered. Noting the amount of floor space not covered in collapse shelving and support beams, "It’s going to be a tight fit," observed Duncan. "Unless they’re really tiny demons," Buffy interjected. "Are they really tiny demons, ‘cause that would be cool." "Generally human sized," Methos answered. Buffy shrugged as if to say, ‘Ah well, no harm in asking.’ "If there are going to be twenty-four in here and God only knows how many outside, we better be waiting for them when they come," Duncan suggested. "We don’t want to be stuck outside battling a hundred of their friends while they’re in here sacrificing your friend." "But, where in here? With twenty-four of them coming in, there’ll barely be standing room, much less places for us to hide. They’ll probably get here as soon as it’s dark out. They’ll fight us as soon as they know we’re here. Can we really hold them off from sunset to midnight? That’s a lot of hours," Methos pointed out pragmatically. "What about a spell?" Dawn asked. "Couldn’t we do an invisibility spell or something?" "I could make you invisible, I have books that say how to do it, but then you’d be blind too. I don’t think being blind is a very good idea," Anya replied. "There are spells that make other people not notice you, but if you actually bumped into them, they’d notice. The spell isn’t that strong." Legolas, who’d been looking up at the ceiling this entire time, then said, "I have noticed that very few ever look for an attack from above." "How would you do that?" Joe asked. "I doubt the roof would hold your weight, there’s so much fire damage, and if it did how would you get down?" "We could take a page out of Amanda’s book," Methos suggested, now looking up at the sealing. "Ropes, pulleys, a couple grappling hooks should get us down fast enough." "And, the ceiling isn’t that badly damaged. It looks like most of the force of the explosion went out the skylight. If we spent tomorrow morning reinforcing it, I think it’ll hold," Duncan added. "The spell you mentioned," Legolas said to Anya, "it will conceal what sounds we make while on the roof and prevent discovery before time?" "Long as no one touches us, the spell will work," Anya confirmed. Having formulated what they all agreed to be a workable plan, everyone went home promising to meet bright and early the next day to start putting the plan into action. * * * * * * Later that night... Methos knocked on the door of Legolas’s hotel room. The elf opened the door and seeing who it was waved him inside. "I’ve been thinking," Methos began. "Thinking?" Legolas asked. "I’ve been thinking that this Master, if he is brought back, will be more of a threat than the girls want to admit. I’ve been thinking the Powers That Be wouldn’t have summoned us here if it weren’t absolutely vital that we stop this. And, I’ve been thinking that we weren’t summoned here because the Slayer can’t handle the job, that we’re here because the Slayer won’t handle it," Methos explained. Legolas paused for a minute, pondering what Methos just said, then he nodded in agreement. "I think you may be right. What do you propose we do?" "I propose that should it look like we can’t stop the ceremony in time, you put an arrow through the vampire’s heart," Methos stated baldly. "I don’t like this choice but it seems to be the only one we can make," Legolas reluctantly agreed. "It is better that this man die to prevent the return of the Master than die to bring the Master back." "My thoughts exactly," Methos agreed. "If it makes you feel any better, from what Buffy and Dawn have told me about him, Angel would be the first to tell us to kill him." "It doesn’t, but I will still do what is necessary," Legolas said pragmatically. "I only hope we are fast enough and the situation does not come to that." Having said what he wanted to say, Methos started to excuse himself, saying it was a big day tomorrow and he needed a good night’s sleep. Legolas stopped him and asked, "Why come to me? Why not Duncan?" "Mac’s too much of an idealist. He’ll do what’s necessary if it really comes down to it, but thinking about it beforehand would just upset him. You and me, we’ve been around too long not to be pragmatists. Besides, you’re the archer. If we’re unsuccessful, we probably won’t be able to get anywhere near Angel. For you, that won’t be a problem," Methos explained. * * * * * * The next day everyone was at the school, making the agreed upon preparations. Duncan and Legolas were reinforcing sections of flooring and pulling up sections directly over the library--so they could make a fast entrance when the time came. Anya and Methos were working on the spell to conceal their presence. And, Joe, Buffy, and Dawn were on fetching duty--fetching weapons, magic ingredients, the equipment Duncan and Methos asked for, and snacks. By early afternoon, they’d done everything they could do and all that was left was waiting. Each of them went off to do their own pre-game warm-up, agreeing to meet back at the school an hour before sunset. Buffy went home and pulverized the punching bag which had yet to be moved out of her basement and into the Magic Box’s back room. Picturing the bag as some vaguely grey and scaly thing who’d dared to threaten Angel’s life with each punch, it didn’t take long for the bag to split open. Looking down at the remains of the bag, Buffy was ready for some violence. Duncan moved through a complex kata, slowly and with precision. He completed the last graceful movement, finding balance and focus. Duncan knew what he had to do, and this time he wouldn’t fail. Anya, back at her apartment, tried on yet another possible outfit and stood in front of the full length mirror in her bedroom, checking to see how it went with a sword. Giving the mirror her best intimidating look she said, "Die, evil demon scum." Tossing her hair over one shoulder and nodding to herself, Anya decided hip-hugger blue jeans and a lacy blue blouse would be appropriate demon slaying attire. And, they were both machine washable. Legolas found a nice shady spot in the park where he re-fletched his hundred and first arrow. He didn’t trust the plastic fletching that came on the arrows. Legolas found the familiar action of tending to his weaponry--an action carried out before more battles than he could count--oddly soothing. A squirrel lept down from a nearby tree and watched the elf from not two feet away. Seeing the squirrel sitting there, looking as if it was trying to puzzle out what he was doing, made Legolas smile. He didn’t believe in omens, at least not of the small rodent variety, but suddenly Legolas was almost positive that they were going to win. Methos spent the time in his room, bringing his diaries up to date. He’d gotten a bit behind, having been busy with other things, but now that there was some possibility of him never being able to do it later he felt like he had to do it now. Methos had been keeping his diaries for so long, he found the idea of leaving out the last chapter more than a little irksome. Finishing up the entry about the events earlier that day, Methos decided he was as ready as he’d ever be. Joe got together his photographic equipment and wondered why he bothered. He definitely wasn’t going to show the Council any of the pictures, they weren’t ready to know about demons. Realizing that he was just trying to distract himself from what was going to happen that night, Joe reminded himself that his friends were strong and that they’d fought plenty of battles tougher than this one and come out alright. Dawn pretended to watch a video and worried about all the things that could go wrong. * * * * * * Faith paced her cage desperately looking for a way out. She was hungry and thirsty, the demons apparently not wanting to take on any of the risks that came with giving her items. They had untied her, after tasering her to unconsciousness, and provided her with a bucket. At this point, Faith didn’t much care about the boon of not having to piss herself, but she still found being free of the chains a godsend. As long as she was free to move around, the Slayer had hopes of freeing herself from this prison. As soon as they opened the door to get her for whatever they were getting her for, she’d kick some demon ass and escape. "It’s time," one demon said to another. "Time for what?" Faith demanded. "Answer me you assholes! Time for what?!" The second demon picked up a rifle, aimed at Faith, and fired. Faith dodged to one side and the tranc dart missed her by a hair. The demon fired again, this time, not having enough room to move in, Faith was hit. A few seconds later Faith dropped to the floor, once again unconscious. * *
* * * * "Vans," Anya scoffed, "What self respecting demon drives a van? Don’t they have any respect for tradition?" "At least the vans are all rusty and creepy looking," Buffy pointed out. "If I was going to complain about anything it’d have to be the station wagon, or maybe that sporty red convertible." "Where’s that?" Anya asked. "Over there, parked next to the tree," Buffy said pointing. "It’s just disgraceful," Anya said, shaking her head in disgust. "Yeah, they should be walking up in a mob, torches blazing," Buffy said facetiously. "Exactly," Anya agreed seriously. Legolas who’d been ignoring this conversation in favor of keeping an eye on the library through the hole that used to be a skylight, said, "I count twenty-two down below, no sign of a sacrifice." "Midnight’s hours away, they’re probably waiting till the last minute to bring him in," Methos answered. "Since we’ve got some time, I think I’ll take a look around, see what kind of numbers we’ll be up against on the way out," Buffy said. "After midnight passes, most of them will probably leave without a fight. They’re in this for the power, if they can’t do the ceremony there’s no reason for them to fight us," Methos pointed out. "Still, I’d like to know," Buffy insisted. "Be careful," Duncan warned. "Try not to bump into anyone," Anya added. "And don’t leave any corpses lying around. That would be bad." "I’ll be careful," Buffy promised then scampered away across the roof tops to do a little reconnaissance. * * * * * * Faith woke up alone in the back of a van. From the sound of the engine the van was either on its last legs or moving very fast or both. She was chained just as she was when she first woke up in that cage. Her feet were shackled together, her hands were handcuffed behind her back, and lengths of heavy chain were tightly wound around her body. Faith was lying on her back, her hands painfully pressed underneath her. To relieve some of the pressure Faith tried to turn over. It took her a couple minutes to flop over onto her stomach, but in the struggle she learned something. This time, the chains weren’t nearly as tight. Someone did a sloppy job chaining Faith up. She now had just enough room to grasp a chain in her hands and pull. Her hands were cuffed too close together to do very much damage, but she only had to bust a single link. That much she could do. Faith went to work on the first piece of chain to come to hand. After what seemed an eternity of effort, which was made even longer by the lightheadedness caused by hunger and thirst, she finally had success. A link broke and suddenly the chain was loose, or at least some of the chain was loose. Looking down at herself, Faith noted three padlocks. Apparently, there were three separate chains and she’d only broken one of them. Cursing in frustration, Faith grasped a still tight length of chain and started on chain number two. Just as the second chain broke, Faith felt the van pull over and park. Hearing the demon guys in the front get out of the van and head toward the back doors, Faith quickly grasped the loose chain ends in her hands, to conceal her progress. "God damn it, I just can’t get a fucking break," she hissed to herself as she heard the van doors being opened. "Should we knock her out?" one demon asked the other. "No, she needs to be awake for the ceremony," the other demon answered. Gingerly reaching into the van, the two demons grabbed Faith and started to drag her out. Faith wriggled and struggled a bit just for show. Mostly, she was just trying to keep them from realizing that she was partially free and with just a little time alone she could be totally free. The two demons hauled Faith out of the van. Faith, finally getting a good look at her surroundings, couldn’t suppress a, "Crap!" A return to Sunnydale High couldn’t be good. * * * * * * The good guys were all once again gathered on top of the library. Buffy’d returned from her scouting mission nearly an hour ago to inform the rest that there were nearly 300 demons there by her count and that they’d better hope Methos was right about the running away. At a quarter till midnight, the last two demons needed to make up the twenty-four came in hauling the chained sacrifice between them and dumping her into a circle drawn on the floor. It wasn’t Angel. "Faith!" Buffy gasped. "I take it that isn’t your ex," Methos stated the obvious. "That’s Faith. They’re bringing back the Mayor, not the Master," Buffy said. Taking a deep breath and swallowing the bitter taste in her mouth Buffy added, "We can’t let that happen. If it comes down to it. We have to kill her before they bring back the Mayor." Methos arched an eyebrow, surprised at Buffy’s reaction and clearly wondering why it was okay to kill Faith while she wouldn’t consider the same option for Angel. "The Master I can kill, he’s just a vampire. The Mayor’s different, he’s a true demon. Since we don’t happen to have half a ton of fertilizer and whatever else Giles and Xander made that bomb out of, I don’t think I can kill the Mayor, at least not before he eats half of Sunnydale or worse," Buffy explained. "If you don’t kill him in the first few minutes you won’t be able to at all. True demons, after their first feeding, are theoretically impossible to kill--mostly they just have to be banished to some other dimension. I guess that gets around the prophesy clause of the Order’s mission statement," Anya pointed out. Then, as an afterthought she added, "Besides, Faith’s a deranged serial killer. We don’t have warm cuddly feelings for her." Buffy gave Anya a look that clearly said she didn’t appreciate Anya’s help--on the Faith score at least. Then the group fell silent. Duncan kept a careful eye on his watch and on the mark of five minutes before midnight, he signaled the beginning of the attack. On Duncan’s mark, Legolas stood at the corner of the skylight from which he could see the largest section of the room and let fly an arrow. More arrows followed, killing the half dozen demons gathered on one side of the room. Duncan, Methos, and Buffy quickly lowered themselves to the floor, over the area Legolas had cleared of living enemies. Anya teleported in. Duncan, Methos, Buffy, and Anya spread out, each trying to reach Faith from a different direction. Legolas, still on the roof, kept circling the skylight killing what demons he could from one position then moving on to the next. On the floor, they weren’t doing as well as the elf. The demons weren’t hard to kill, but unlike vampires, their corpses didn’t disappear after death. Each one they killed provided a new obstacle to trip over. And as they killed one, two or three poured in from outside. Hearing signs of attack, reinforcements were coming in. After the first minute of chaos, Buffy decided to get organized. "Anya, Methos, watch the doors. Don’t let anyone get in. Mac, kill as many as you can, if there aren’t twenty-four they can’t do it. I’ll try to get Faith," the Slayer ordered. Meanwhile on the other side of the room, Faith was momentarily shocked to see Buffy and a bunch of people she didn’t know coming to her rescue. Then snapping out of it, she decided to take advantage of the distraction to go back to work on her bonds. Grabbing the last chain, Faith made short work of it, desperation adding to her strength. Struggling to a sitting position and then to her feet, Faith wiggled free of the chains. Then she crouched down and putting her cuffed hands behind her knees, rolling to her back she pulled her legs through her arms to bring her hands in front of her. Never taking her eyes off the fight the entire time, Faith went to work on the handcuffs. Across the room, Methos and Anya were successfully keeping demons out of the room. There was a hairy moment when one of the demons backhanded Anya into a wall, making her lose her axe. That wasn’t the problem though, the blow just pissed Anya off enough to bring out Anyanka. Once she was in full vengeance demon mode, Anyanka started to savagely tear into demon after demon using no finesse, just raw strength and rage. The problem was that completely shocked by Anya’s transformation, Methos was caught off guard and took a knife to the shoulder before he could recover his composure. Knowing it would heal, and fighting through the pain, Methos recovered enough to keep up his end of the task. Between the demons originally in the room that survived the first attack and the ones that got in before Methos and Anya started watching the door, there were still roughly thirty of the Order still in the room and only three minutes to kill at least seven of them. Legolas crouched on the edge of the skylight, arrow aimed at Faith’s heart just in case they weren’t in time. He also kept an eye out for demons wondering into his line of sight. Unfortunately, most of them had caught on at this point and were staying out of his way. Buffy, axe in hand, was plowing straight through the crowd of demons, killing when she could but just knocking them aside when it was faster. She knew if she could get Faith out of that circle, up and fighting, there was no way the Order would be able to perform the sacrifice in time. Duncan was following close behind, watching the Slayer’s back and permanently dispatching as many demons as he could manage. The status of the struggle kept repeating itself over and over in his mind. Two minutes left, three demons down, four more to go. He swung the claymore he’d brought in place of his usual katana--knowing the straightforward fighting of his youth would be more practical in this situation than style and precision. The head of the demon went flying across the room. ‘Four down, three to go, less than two minutes left,’ he chanted mentally. Buffy sliced another demon open, almost cutting him in two, the last one in the path directly between her and Faith was down. Just as Buffy reached her, Faith pulled her left hand free of its cuff, leaving behind a lot of skin. "Legs," Buffy ordered. Knowing exactly what the other Slayer meant, Faith spread her ankles as far as the shackles would allow to give Buffy room to cut the chain. Buffy swung the axe as if she were trying to put it through the floor and cut the leg shackles apart. "Thanks B," Faith said, jumping to her feet and rubbing her raw wrist. Faith glanced behind Buffy, and her eyes widened in fear she lunged at the blond Slayer, knocking Buffy to the ground just outside the circle with Faith landing on top of her. As she hit the ground, Buffy finally spotted a demon that had gotten past Duncan and was creeping up behind her. The demon was in mid thrust when Faith knocked her over, if Faith hadn’t done what she did, Buffy would have been slayer-kebob. As it was, the demon couldn’t check the trajectory of his spear. Instead of catching Buffy in the stomach, it went through Faith’s side. Pushing the injured Slayer aside, Buffy grabbed her axe and beheaded the demon, who was momentarily glued in place by the realization that he’d just screwed up the ceremony himself by fatally injuring the sacrifice before time. With the death of the demon, the total in the room was brought down to twenty-three with a whole fifteen seconds to go. Knowing there was no way to succeed, the demons let out a synchronized screech that had Buffy and the rest wincing in pain. Then the demons started to retreat. Seeing the fight was over, Methos stepped aside and let them. The rest followed Methos’s lead and let the demons pass. "B?" Faith said weakly. "Faith, you’re not dead," Buffy said, surprised as she knelt on the floor next to her sister Slayer. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Faith asked with a slight chuckle. "Faith," Buffy started, to say she wasn’t sure what. "Never mind, it doesn’t matter," Faith interrupted. "God knows you have enough reason to wish me dead, and I think you’re about to get your wish. I just... I just want you to know I’m sorry... sorry for everything." "I don’t wish you dead," Buffy told Faith, then more firmly she said, "You’re not going to die." Looking up from her former enemy Buffy saw Legolas. Sometime during the Slayers’ conversation, Legolas had made his way down from the roof and to the injured girl’s side. "Legolas, can you do something... anything?" Buffy asked hopefully. "I don’t know," Legolas replied. "It is a grievous injury, but I can try." Placing his hands on the wound, around the shaft of the spear, he said, "It needs to be pulled free, on my mark." A soft glow started around the wound, as Legolas began. He would have to heal the wound a little before they pulled the shaft free, otherwise Faith would bleed to death in an instant. Guessing it was the right time to remove the spear, he ordered Buffy, "Now." Buffy
grasped the spear in both hands and pulled. It slid out of Faith’s
side making a nasty tearing sound. Legolas, completely focused on
the healing, didn’t even notice when the spearhead sliced open
his palms as it passed by. Faith let out moan of agony and passed
out from the pain. Chapter 16 Faith reluctantly crawled back to consciousness, prodded on by a painful tugging sensation at her side. Warily, she opened her eyes, afraid of what new mess she might find herself in. After a second, Faith recognized her surroundings from a dim recollection of Joyce Summers’ bed room and sighed in relief. "I’m still alive," she observed, somewhat surprised. "And, it looks like you’re going to stay that way," Buffy replied, not looking up from the half healed wound and the bandage she was changing. "Now what? You wait for me to heal up, then ship me back to prison? Or are they on their way to pick me up now?" Faith asked antagonistically, because that was the only way she could keep from embarrassing herself by begging not to be sent back. Buffy’s brows drew together and her mouth screwed up, then she opened her mouth as if to snap back at her fellow Slayer. Then, without having said anything, she paused, relaxed a bit, and shrugged. "If you want, I could call the cops right now," Buffy offered in a disinterested tone, "But, if I were you, I’d want to avoid going back to prison, maybe try doing good for awhile--see how that worked out." "You mean that?" Faith asked half sitting up in surprise then falling back on a pile of pillows still too weak to sit up. "You’re not just shittin’ me, are you? You’re really not sending me back to prison?" she pressed thinking what Buffy seemed to be offering was just too good to be true. "No, I’m perfectly serious. From what I hear you’ve sincerely changed. Heck, you almost got yourself killed saving my life. If you’re not going to go around maiming and killing innocent people anymore, you could do a lot more good out of prison than in," Buffy explained, still not overly enthused about Faith’s release but willing to be reasonable about it. "You’re just gonna let me go?" Faith asked for confirmation, still not believing Buffy could have forgiven her enough to let her go. "Not exactly," Buffy replied. "What do you mean ‘not exactly’?" Faith said suspiciously, feeling vindicated. She knew there had to be a catch. Taping the new bandage in place, Buffy hedged, "How do you feel about Washington State?" "Never been there," Faith replied, "What does that have to do with anything?" "Well..." Buffy began, not exactly sure how to explain, "I don’t think you’re ready to be completely on your own--" "You mean you don’t trust me," Faith interrupted. "And," Buffy continued a little louder, deciding to ignore the interruption, "I don’t think your coming back to Sunnydale is a good idea--" "You mean you still hate me and don’t want me around you and your friends," Faith interrupted again. Knowing that any reply she might make to Faith’s interjections would only result in a full scale argument, Buffy simply gave Faith her best evil eye and continued, "I didn’t know where you should go, since the Council was definitely out. Luckily enough, Mac saw you sacrifice yourself for me, thought it was noble, and offered to take you in. He lives in Seacouver which is in Washington State." "Who’s Mac?" Faith asked, "And, why would he offer a perfect stranger a place to stay?" "Tall, dark haired guy with a big sword, you might have noticed him in the fight?" Buffy prompted. "And he offered because he’s a really nice guy and just does that sort of thing." "Yeah," Faith nodded. "I remember him. But, you know, B, no one is that nice. He has to have some ulterior motives," Faith protested Buffy’s naiveté. "Of course, if I’m remembering the right guy, I could really go for some ulterior motives. It’s been awhile, me not really going for the girl on girl action," Faith qualified her protest. "If he has any ulterior motives, they’re not what you’re thinking," Buffy said dryly. "I haven’t known him very long, but if anything I’d guess he’s making up for his very own detour through the darkside." "You’re sending me off with some near stranger?!" Faith complained, but not seriously. Her moving in with a total hottie sounded like a good plan to her. "He could be a major freak on the look out for Slayer nookie." "You wish," Buffy replied. "And, if he turns out to be some other kind of freak, I’m sure you can handle it. You are a Slayer after all." * * * * * * Downstairs in the dining room, Methos had his lap top out and was working on something illegal. "What’cha doin’" Dawn asked, coming up behind the Immortal, sandwich in hand. "Creating identifying records for one ‘Faith MacLeod,’" Methos replied absently, still concentrating on what he was doing. "I thought Mac was going to do that?" Dawn asked, "You said it wasn’t your business and you didn’t want to get involved." "Mac was going to make a mess of it," Methos answered, eyes still glued to the screen. "If he’s going to be harboring escaped convicts, the least I can do is make sure he doesn’t get caught. Otherwise, I’d have to come up with a clever plan to get him out of prison. Faking a few records for his new ‘cousin’ is a lot easier." Just then, Buffy walked in. "The patient is finally awake and eager to meet her new roomie," Buffy announced. "Where’s Mac?" "He’s fixing the leaky outside faucet," Dawn answered. "He really doesn’t get the whole not doing stuff thing does he?" she asked rhetorically. Buffy went through the kitchen and out onto the back porch. She was about to go down the steps and circle around to the side of the house where the drippy faucet was, when she heard voices. Catching her sister’s name, Buffy couldn’t resist the impulse to stop and eavesdrop. "What are you planning to do about Dawn?" Joe asked. "I’ll keep in touch, and when the time comes I’ll be there to explain anything she hasn’t figured out on her own," Duncan said, clearly unconcerned at present. "But what happens in the mean time?" protested Joe. "Life goes on like normal," Duncan suggested. "Immortals avoid the Hellmouth. Now that the crisis is over, I can see why. Ever since we stopped the ceremony, Methos and I have been feeling sudden impulses to leave. I think Dawn’ll be fine without me keeping an eye on her." "Don’t you have any curiosity?" Joe asked, frustrated with his friend’s apparent lack of concern for the oddities of Dawn’s case. "Not enough to go poking my nose in business that doesn’t concern me," Duncan replied evenly. "Suit yourself," Joe said, giving Duncan up as a lost cause. "I’m going to go see how Methos is progressing with his little project. It’ll be easier to get the details on your new family member from him than to look them up myself later." Hearing Joe come her way, Buffy started down the step toward Duncan. As they passed each other, Joe gave Buffy an assessing glance, trying to figure out if she’d overheard anything. Buffy pasted a clueless smile on her face and pretended she hadn’t heard a thing. Finishing up his repair of the faucet, Duncan was screwing the garden hose back into place. Seeing Buffy come around the corner of the house, he rose to greet her, brushing dried grass off his knees. "Faith’s awake," Buffy said. "Did you tell her about my offer?" Duncan asked. "Yes," Buffy answered. "Are you sure you don’t want to take it back? It’s not too late. You haven’t met her yet, so she can’t take it personal... ly." "If I weren’t sure I wouldn’t have offered. She nearly died for you. That’s not the action of an irredeemably evil person," Duncan said for what felt like the millionth time. Everyone except Anya had tried to dissuade him from his offer--Anya didn’t care where Faith went as long as it was away from her. "Just because she’s not irredeemable doesn’t mean you’re the one who has to do the deeming. A serial killer, even if she’s former, is a lot to take on, and you don’t even know her," Buffy pointed out. "All the more reason for her to move to Seacouver with me," Duncan said, still convinced of the rightness of his decision. "Faith has enough to deal with already without a lot of personal history getting in the way." "If you’re not changing your mind about it, I guess you should come get introduced," Buffy said turning back toward the back porch with Duncan following close behind. After ascending the top step to the porch, Buffy suddenly stopped and spun to face Duncan. "One more thing before we go inside--what’s so special about Dawn?" Buffy demanded. "Special about Dawn?" Duncan replied innocently, "You’re her sister, you’d know more about that than I would." "I am her sister, which is why I have to ask what you know," Buffy pressed. "And, don’t pretend it’s nothing. The look you gave her when you first came to the Magic Box, the fencing lessons, Adam’s irritating questions, all add up to something and the conversation you just had with Joe pretty much clinches it. So, now you’re going to tell me what it is, because I really need to know," Buffy said not quite threateningly, but with lots of conviction. Duncan silently looked at Buffy for a minute, gauging how likely the Slayer was to not let the matter go until she had all the answers. Then he gave it up as a foregone conclusion, figured that, as the Slayer, Buffy didn’t have room to throw any stones, and decided to tell her the truth. "Dawn’s going to be Immortal one day," Duncan stated simply. "Oh," Buffy said, a little nonplused. "I thought it might be something like that, but it’s still a shock to have it confirmed. My sister, an Immortal, it boggles the mind." "You can’t tell her," Duncan warned. "She should have as normal a life as possible before..." he trailed off not wanting to mention the d-word. "No worries there, I wouldn’t dream of telling her," Buffy reassured. "We haven’t seen normal in years, but I’m still not going to say anything. If she knew she couldn’t die permanently she’d be beyond reckless. Then I’d have to listen to her bitching and moaning about being an eternal sixteen-year-old till my dying day," she elaborated, quickly getting used to the idea. Compared to finding out your sister was originally green energy and your memories were created by monks, Immortality is small potatoes. "Actually, it makes a lot of sense when you think about it," Buffy mused to herself. "It makes sense?" Duncan asked, surprised at Buffy’s reaction and more than a little confused. "Perhaps you could explain something that’s been bothering Methos and Joe," Duncan said tentatively. Since Buffy didn’t make any protests, Duncan continued, "I don’t know if anyone has mentioned it, but all Immortals are foundlings. None of us have ever had a biological family." "And?" Buffy asked, seeing where Duncan was going with this, but wanting to know how much he knew before she said anything. "Dawn’s not adopted, is she?" Duncan asked. "Joe looked, but couldn’t find any record of an adoption." "There wasn’t technically an adoption, but..." Buffy fished around for the right way to put it. "Let me put it this way: Dawn wasn’t adopted, but I didn’t have a sister three years ago." "What about the school and medical records going back before three years ago?" Duncan asked. "My, Joe certainly was thorough," Buffy observed pointedly. Then getting back to the matter at hand, she shrugged and said, "They’re fakes." "Fakes?" Duncan prompted. "Dawn needed a place to hide and someone to protect her, so I got a sister," Buffy explained. "The one who was after her is dead now, but others might come looking. As far as the world’s concerned Dawn’s my sister and has always been my sister. It has to stay that way," Buffy warned, dropping into a dead serious tone. "I will never do anything to endanger Dawn, you have my word," Duncan gave his solemn oath. "Good," Buffy accepted Duncan’s promise. "Can I ask one other thing?" Duncan said, returning the conversation to a more normal tone. "You can ask." "What about the forgeries? Methos couldn’t even spot them and he’s an expert." "He may be an expert at normal forgeries, but magical forgeries are a lot harder to spot," Buffy answered. "You can forge documents with magic?" Duncan asked, surprised. That just didn’t seem like an appropriate application for magic to him. "From what I’ve been told, you can do just about anything with magic if you can figure out how to go about it and are willing to pay the price," Buffy replied. "Oh, and before I forget to warn you, don’t bring up her life before she became my sister with Dawn. It’s not something she likes to think about. Last time it came up, a trip to the hospital and several stitches were involved." "As far as she’s concerned, I only know she’s your sister and think she was born that way," Duncan agreed, seeing no other choice in the matter. Duncan thought Dawn would probably benefit from talking about whatever was so horrific about her past, but there was no way he could bring it up without revealing how he found out Dawn was anything other than what she appeared and that would entail revealing her Immortality. "Alright then, now that we’ve got that settled, let’s go see Faith. She’s probably wondering what’s keeping us," Buffy said, relieved to finally have her suspicions confirmed and that she was able to fob Duncan off with some half-truths, avoiding any mention of The Key. On one hand, she wasn’t happy that Dawn would one day have to participate in the Game Duncan told her about, but on the other hand at least Dawn wasn’t going to die at a young age as was so likely to happen living on a Hellmouth. Then the two finally went upstairs to introduce Duncan to Faith. * * * * * * Buffy quickly performed the introductions then left the room so they could get to know each other. Buffy figured that with her there Faith would be on edge, making the conversation with Duncan unnecessarily difficult. Faith had struggled into a sitting position while Buffy was downstairs. From her spot, propped against the headboard, she looked Duncan over like she was sizing up a side of beef. Amused by her blatant inspection, Duncan quirked one eyebrow, grinned, and decided to play along with his own minute inspection. Deciding to put the bad girl attitude on the back burner for awhile, Faith patted the bed beside her and said, "Why don’t you stop towering over me and tell me what possessed you to invite me to come stay with you." Duncan took a seat about even with Faith’s knees, facing her, and said, "Buffy told me what happened before, and I saw what you did for her. I just thought you might need a place to go." "You’re not worried I’m going to kill you in your sleep?" Faith asked, only half joking and defenses firmly in place. "Not really, should I be?" Duncan answered. "I’m not plannin’ on it, but I never planned on doing a lot of things, but I did ‘em anyway. I mean, killing a bunch of people and going to prison wasn’t exactly on my to do list," Faith said with a humorless chuckle. "Long as you’re not planning to kill me, I won’t worry about it. I’ll worry about you knifing me in my sleep when it actually happens," Duncan said. "But, then you’d be dead," Faith pointed out, obviously beginning to think Duncan wasn’t playing with a full deck. "Not for long," Duncan corrected, then seeing Faith’s blank expression, he added, "I guess Buffy skipped that part." "B must’ve skipped something if that last bit was supposed to make sense," Faith agreed. "Faith, I was born four-hundred years ago and I cannot die," figuring she’d find out anyway if she moved in with him, Duncan didn’t hesitate to give her the short version. "Huh? What gives? You’re not a vamp. How can you be four-hundred and only look thirty-something?" Faith asked. "I’m an Immortal, and before you ask, I don’t know where we come from. We’re just like normal humans except we don’t age, at least not after the first time we’re killed, and although we can be killed we just get up again a few minutes later, as good as new," Duncan explained. "You serious?" Faith asked, disbelieving. "I could stab you in the heart and you wouldn’t be hurt?" "It’d hurt, dying is usually painful. But, I’d survive," Duncan answered. Faith looked at Duncan for a minute, then accused, "You’re just pulling my leg. People don’t just get up after they’ve died. Demons sometimes, but you’re not a demon." "I was hoping to avoid the demonstration this time," Duncan said, pulling a pocket knife out of his back pocket. Unfolding the knife, he said, "Watch closely, I don’t want to have to do this more than once." Duncan took a deep breath and ran the blade over his left palm hard and fast, leaving a deep cut behind. Faith was surprised by his actions but still deeply skeptical. Then, before her very eyes, little flashes of what looked like lightening moved over the wound sealing the gash in their wake. Mere seconds later the wound was completely healed as if it were never there, the only remaining evidence being a few smears of Duncan’s blood. "Wow, that was really cool," Faith observed, as Duncan grabbed a couple tissues from the box beside the bed and wiped away the blood. "Now you believe me?" Duncan asked. "Yeah," Faith said, "But, that still doesn’t explain why you’d want to help me. What’s in it for you?" "I want to help you because everyone deserves a second chance. And, because people have helped me in the past with no expectation of return; doing the same for you is the least I can do. Besides, I hear you’re pretty good in a fight," Duncan explained. "Okay, I got all the standard do-gooder mumbo-jumbo, but you lost me on that last part," Faith replied. "I own a dojo and I’m always looking for a good sparring partner. There’s not a lot of people who can match four-hundred years of practice. I thought maybe you could teach a few classes, just to keep busy. And, I could learn a thing or two in the process." "You paying?" Faith asked. "We can work something out," Duncan agreed. "Sounds good to me," Faith agreed to the plan. "I suppose this means you’re coming to Seacouver?" Duncan asked. "Not like I have anywhere else to go," Faith shrugged, "If I don’t like it, I can always leave." * * * * * * Several days later, after Faith had time to heal up, everyone was at the airport saying their farewells. "Too much shit’s happened for us to be friends, hasn’t it?" Faith stated more than asked. "Yeah, but I don’t want you dead anymore, I don’t even hate you," Buffy said brightly. "I guess that’s progress," Faith admitted with grin, "You’ll call me if you need help with something?" "I will, even before calling Angel, at least we never dated," Buffy replied. "You take care of yourself B," Faith ordered. "You too," said Buffy, then she moved on to the next person in line. Buffy went up on tip toe to give Duncan a sisterly kiss goodbye. "If something happens you should know about, I’ll keep you posted," she promised. Then looking pointedly at Methos and Joe she said, "Or, you could just ask them. They’ll probably know about it before I do." "Sorry about that," Joe, Duncan having filled him in on part of the truth, apologized for his investigation, "I never could leave a mystery alone." "I’m not sorry. No harm no foul, I always say," Methos said, grinning to let Buffy know he was just teasing. Then glancing over to see Dawn still well out of earshot--hugging Legolas goodbye and instructing Faith to not be a jerk--he added, "Don’t worry about your sister, we know how to keep a secret. No one who shouldn’t is going to know anything about her." Finishing up her farewells to Methos and Joe, Buffy interrupted Anya’s presentation of a scheme to transport elven made goods from Middle-earth for a vast profit and shooed the vengeance demon away from the elf. "So, you’ll be going back to Middle-earth in a few months and we’re probably never going to see you again." Buffy said with a disappointed sigh. "That is the plan. We probably won’t ever meet again," Legolas agreed. "I shall miss you and Dawn, even Anya. Her odd directness has grown on me." "Yeah, we like you too. But, if you’ve gotta go..." Buffy trailed off. Then chewing on one side of her bottom lip and giving Legolas a speculative look she said, "You’ve gotta go and I’ll never see you again, so what the heck." Then she went up on her toes, pulled the tall elf down to her and kissed him full on the lips. Legolas hesitated for a split second. Then, embracing the ‘what the heck’ mentality, his arms went around Buffy and he deepened the kiss. The nibbling and tasting went on for quite sometime, until their audience started throat clearing and commentary. Needing to breathe, Buffy eventually broke the kiss, panting slightly. "You’re very good at that," Legolas observed grinning from ear to ear. "You too," Buffy agreed with a matching grin. Then giving each other a quick, friendly, hug they said their good-byes. * * * * * * Meanwhile, a few steps away there was an uncomfortable moment between the semi-lovebirds. "So, Anya..." Methos trailed off, not really sure what to say. "It was the veins wasn’t it?" Anya asked shrewdly. "Veins?" Methos asked. "You know, my demon visage. Xander couldn’t deal with me going all veiny either. Men are all so superficial. You look slightly inhuman for two seconds and next thing you know they don’t want to be your orgasm friend anymore," Anya complained. "Uh... I’m sorry?" Methos tried. "Yeah, sure, whatever. At least you apologized," Anya shrugged and walked away. * * * * * * A couple minutes before their boarding call, a familiar balance demon strolled up to the group. "Good job with the demons, that coulda gotten seriously messy," he congratulated the group. "And, now you’re here to warn us about something even worse that’s about to happen?" Buffy guessed. "Nah, nothin’s comin’ for awhile yet. There’s somethin’ brewin’ but with you and Faith still alive and kickin’ we got a good shot," Whistler replied. "I’m here to keep you from making your own mess. The separation between Immortals and demons is back on." Giving Duncan a significant look, he continued, "You stay out of Faith’s business. Give her a job, place to stay, be her friend, but leave the demons to her. There’ll be hell to pay, in the literal sense, if you go sticking your nose where it don’t belong." "I’ll stay out of the vampire slaying," Duncan grudgingly agreed. "And you?" Whistler asked Methos. "As if I even considered the possibility," Methos sniffed. "Good, I’ll be goin’ then, have a nice flight," Whistler said and walked away, swiftly disappearing around a corner. Faith, Duncan, Joe, Methos, and Legolas boarded their flight to Seattle a few seconds later and Dawn, Buffy, and Anya went home. * * * * * * Legolas spent a few more months in Seacouver, then when the right time came, Methos and him flew back to Switzerland and the stones. Methos said goodbye to the elf at the bottom of the hill and said he’d probably visit Middle-earth again in the not so distant future. Legolas entered the circle of stones, sliced his hand, said the words, and woke up several moments later under a different and very familiar set of stars. "How was your visit?" a gruff voice asked him. Sitting up and seeing his friend Gimli sitting nearby, he answered, "It was... interesting. Remind me to tell you about it sometime," he teased the dwarf. "Sometime? What about now? It’s still a long walk to the city," Gimli pointed out barely able to restrain his curiosity. "Very well," Legolas relented. "Adam’s world is very different from this one, even the trees aren’t the same, but that was just the beginning of it..." |