Chapter 1 Finishing Up Important Business...
The Slayers watched as the ground seemed to rush towards the rapidly expanding hole in the ground, they were also anxiously watching Buffy running towards the slowly rumbling school-bus. However, Faith began to feel lightheaded. Something felt... off since Willow did The Spell, while the lightheadedness could be explained by stress from essentially engaging in extended-life-threatening combat, there was a sense that it wasn't. The dizziness increased, causing her to swallow the slight nausea, as cold sweat broke out along her forehead and neck.
When Buffy finally made it onto the bus, the loud rumbling of the schoolbus was smothered by the sound of Sunnydale caving in on itself. If Faith didn't have the overwhelming urge to lie down, she knew she'd be watching the results of their world-saving efforts. But the grayness grew, blackness creeping along the edges of her consciousness, causing her to lie her head back onto the seat, blocking out the sounds. Her eyes closed as she lost complete consciousness, not hearing Dawn call out to her in concern.
After ensuring that Buffy made onto the bus, Dawn's attention was caught by Faith, who had ignored Robin bleeding out onto the front seat as she quietly made her way to the last seat, her skin growing paler by the second. She grew more concerned as Faith simply laid her head back and closed her eyes, not even responding to her calls of concern. When her sister finally reached her, plopping heavily onto the seat next to her, Dawn switched her concern to her sister due to the wound in Buffy's stomach.
Scooting over in her seat, Dawn began to fuss over her while calling up front to have Rona the medical supplies. Holding a towel over Buffy's wound, she snuck another look at Faith, seeing the rise and fall of her chest, she chocked it up to passing out from exhaustion. So she returned her attention to her sister.
"Buffy… are you ok?" She was scared because their relationship had been… dicey ever since they essentially kicked Buffy out. The guilt sometimes overwhelmed her and the fact that there'd been a significant chance that Buffy might've died today, or even on the night they'd kicked her out, without her having ever pled for forgiveness, made her feel even worse.
She began dabbing at the wound with gauze, carefully watching for any unusual signs of pain – other than the obvious. "Aside from the gaping hole in my stomach, I'm peachy with a side of keen," she wearily responded.
The Key watched as her sister laid her head back, closing her eyes, occasionally flinching when Dawn prodded a particularly tender area. "Buffy?"
Dawn waited until those green eyes focused on her. The fact that those eyes were guarded, pained her more than she could ever imagine. Dawn looked down, taking a moment to collect herself, before taking a deep breath, finding Buffy's eyes once again. "I… messed up… " she swallowed thickly, feeling the sting of salty tears threatening to spill over. "I'm so, so sorry." Dawn could feel her lip quivering. "I let you down when you needed it the most."
She looked down at her hands, one with gauzes stained with Buffy's blood, driving in the guilt, deepening it, making it a rancid mix inside her. "We… we—I- I got caught up… the… stress, my general immaturity…" she trailed off, knowing nothing could excuse her behavior. "But I-I-I'll do whatever you need me to do to make it up to you." Gathering her courage she stared into her sister's eyes again. "Nothing. I mean nothing will ever make me choose anyone else over you again and I'll never, ever give up on you."
What Dawn didn't know was that Buffy was feeling two conflicting emotions. On the one hand, she knew she couldn't continue to watch her sister prostrate herself—out of everyone else, Dawn was still a kid, not even a Slayer, who'd been handed a raw deal. But at the same time, Buffy was angry. Dawn was family, made from her blood, if anyone was gonna have her back it should've been her. And while Dawn was still a kid, she was also played at being responsible enough to make her own decisions and to own those decisions.
"You hurt me the most Dawnie. After you… there is no one else. Family that is. We've always had each other, even when we were tearing each other's hair out." However the simmering anger and betrayal wearily died down as she watched the fat tears of sorrow and guilt roll down Dawn's face.
Enough people have been hurt and she certainly after today, Buffy felt all out of dishing out pain, of any sort, particularly against her sister. Not after everything they'd been through. "But I love you, always will, and we'll get past this."
Buffy painfully and slowly lifted her arm to give Dawn a half-hug, causing the teen to turn her head into Buffy's shoulder. "And if you promise me to no longer wear my favorite pair of boots, I'll even forgive you."
Letting out a watery laugh Dawn responded. "I think I can do that." She went silent for a moment. "I love you too Buffy."
Chapter 2 - Road to Recovery
Meanwhile everyone else was either frenetically prattling away as the new Slayer-energy roiled in their blood, others were busy assisting the wounded. Xander remained stoic as the grief from Anya's death coursed through him, Giles was trying to find the nearest medical facility as he drove. Willow, exhausted physically, yet weirdly energized. She suspected it had something to do with The Spell. She hadn't had a chance to mention it, but along with Calling forth every potential Slayer, she also felt a… shift, like a dam blown open. It had almost caused her to lose her concentration because the magical feedback was so intense, but Willow wasn't potentially the most powerful witch in the world for nothing. It also helped that the Scythe helped to center her when she desperately needed it. Currently she was sitting with Kennedy, trying to meditate. She'd already instructed Andrew to find a motel and food for everyone. She had also put in a call to Angel to help them once they arrived in Los Angeles.
Through all the madness no one noticed that Faith had fallen unconscious, or the increasingly noticeable twitch, and tiny sparks emanating from her abdomen. At least no one noticed her until the feedback from those sparks reached Dawn's magic. Frowning, Dawn kept feeling tiny… shocks, like the kind you got from wearing fuzzy socks rubbing against the floor, and then you touch someone nearby, only to receive an electrical shock. She looked around when the next shock was a little harder, causing her own hum of magic to twitch.
Buffy's hand shifted to Dawn's knee in concern. "What's wrong? Why are you sparking and the twitchiness?"
Dawn looked down and confirmed Buffy's observation. "What?! Whoa! I have no idea."
She wildly looked around until her eyes landed on Faith. Her alarm grew as she saw that the only other Chosen Slayer in the world was still unconscious even though her body jerked and shuddered, while green sparks intermittently flew from her body. Shaking Buffy, she jerked her head in Faith's direction. "Look! It's Faith!"
When Buffy saw her Sister-Slayer she quickly stood up only to be reminded of her injury. Holding the bandaged wound, she yelled out, "Will, ummm… can you come here please?!"
The urgency from Buffy's voice had everyone looking at the back of the bus, as Willow rushed from the seat towards Faith, with Kennedy behind her. Giles could only try to look in the mirror while trying to navigate the yellow bus. Xander barely moved. Buffy and Willow shared a look as they cautiously approached Faith.
"Ahh, Will? You feelin' anything?" inquired Buffy.
Shifting closer to Faith, Willow's hand hovering inches above Faith's body, she closed her eyes, centering herself, seeking, searching… until she virtually collides with another's magic. Different magic, old, not Willow's kind of magic, but still powerful magic. When she opened her eyes, Faith was still unconscious, having no idea of the crowd hovering over her. Willow's momentarily pure white eyes, now shifting back to green widened in stunned surprise. Buffy, seeing the look on her friend's face grew even more concerned.
"What?! What's wrong with Faith?"
Shaking the dizziness from her head, yet still buzzing from connecting to this new… well 'new' for Willow, magic, she refocused on Buffy. Taking a deep breath, Willow dropped a… surprise. "Ummm… well technically nothing is wrong…"
Buffy had always been impatient, Dawn even more so. "Will-"they started in exasperation.
Willow pointed towards to sparks flying from Faith. "Those are magic sparks. I mean that it appears that Faith… has magic."
Silence met that statement, Buffy frowned in confusion. "Umm, Will, you do know Slayers don't have magic? At least nothing I've ever heard of." Redirecting her attention to Faith, Buffy followed up with, "And Faith definitely has no magic."
Willow began wringing her hands. "Actually, that's not totally true. There have been reports of one Slayer… or two," she frowned, trying to remember, "or was it four… anyways, there have been unconfirmed reports of Slayers throughout history imbued with magic." Frowning, Willow concentrated on Faith's core. "But… not like this."
Surprised, Buffy certainly didn't know anything about Slayers with magic, seemed she would've remembered something about that, especially during all their hours of research. Although to be fair, Buffy usually skipped out on the Scoobies' research parties. She was an 'action girl' after all. "What do you mean 'not like this'?"
"This is strong. I mean the magic is strong. Really strong."
At this point Dawn chimed in. "I don't think that matters – this is Faith. What do you mean that's her magic?! How?"
Willow shrugged helplessly. "I wish I knew."
At this point the bus finally rumbled to a stop in front of a clinic. Giles, wearily and painfully got up from his seat, while Andrew directed volunteers to help the injured into the clinic. Giles finally made his way to the back of the bus; Dawn took a few moments to explain their latest sort-of-crisis. Removing his glasses to polish them with a slightly dirty cloth before replacing them on his head, he gently pushed his way next to Willow. But not before instructing Dawn to help a protesting Buffy into the clinic to have her wound examined.
When Giles saw the color of the sparks that seemed to be emanating from Faith's core, over her belly-button, he paled. There are various forms of magic-users in the world; the Council had varying relationships with these magical communities; some of these relations were polite, others, given the former Council's penchant for arrogance and ruthlessness, were slightly hostile. However, in exchange for discreet assistance for demon-troubleshooting, these communities handed over any potential Slayers throughout the years. Giles also suspected that the Council didn't necessarily always wait for these young girls to be handed over. Luckily these slayer-witches were very rare, a once-in-a-few-lifetimes thing, which was good when dealing with a group like the former Council. Giles was never privy to what became of these young girls once the Council had access to them; all that information remained top-secret. Knowing what he knows now about what the Council and men like Travers, it's a safe assumption that these potential Slayer-Witches were not positively utilized. Perhaps something worse befell these young women if things did not go "according to Council plans."
But if what he was suspecting was correct, he would need to find any and all remaining Council records soon to assist Faith. And he was determined to do so; he'd failed her once before, he would not do so again. However, the other issue he might have to worry about is that similar to a beacon, Faith's… newly released magical core would gain attention, and he needed to ensure her safety in that regard.
