Chapter 4

Burning Love

It took a combined effort but both Buffy and Willow managed to calm Faith down enough for her to listen. It wasn't to much of a feat because Faith was still loopy on the drugs that were pumped into her body, but it was an effort nonetheless. Filling her in on what was going on all Faith could do was stare at Buffy after she had told her that she had just saved her life. Giving her a questioning look, Faith smiled and punched Buffy lightly on the shoulder.

"Damn, B who the hell did you piss off?" she asked as she went into a violent coughing fit.

"You're welcome Faith." Buffy mocked angrily. "I mutilate myself to save you and..."

"Guys come on, focus." Willow said more then a little annoyed. "Faith do you remember anything about what happened before you got here?"

Flashback

Stockton, California

Northern California Women's Facility

Day

Across the yard inmates played cards and exercised behind tall fences capped with razor-sharp concertina wire. Shaking his head at thinking about how these women had messed up their lives , the chief guard Eddie, picked up a phone and called down the yard.

"Inmate 430019, coming out!" as he yelled that a buzzer sounded and a thick metal door slid open. After a few moments Faith walked out into the sunlight and surveyed the inmates with a cold look in her eye.

This was her second day after being transfered here from LA and some of her 'new friends' had already tried to rape her. After showing them who was really the top dog, she knew that she had to watch her back. Going over to some exercise equipment, she started to work out by herself, doing pull-ups on a high bar, while the other women played basketball and gossiped all around her. Feeling someone coming up behind her, she was about to do a back kick, when she turned her head and saw that it was only Eddie. Probably the only nice guard she'd met since being in jail period.

"Oh shit, you scared the hell out of me." Faith said as she let go of the bar and dropped down in front of him and the other two guards behind him carrying shotguns.

"Sorry, but you gotta visitor." he said as she looked at him suspiciously. The only two people who would ever try to visit her were either Angel or the Council. 'But would the Council really try to get me here?' she thought to herself. "Is it a tall guy with spiked up black hair?" she asked hoping that it was Angel, even though she was aware that it was broad daylight.

"No it's some blond." Eddie told her as he led her into the building and towards the visitor room.

The bars slid open and Faith entered the visitor's area and sat down at her assigned booth. As she nervously looked up, she saw someone standing up with their back turned to her with long flowing blond hair. Picking up the phone she nervously asked...

"Buffy?"

Responding to the name the figure turned around and Faith's eyes widened as the figure's wig fell off and she saw that the thing was wearing a scary boar mask.

"What the fuc..." Faith was barely able to get out as she hung up the phone and backed up as the thing jumped through the Plexiglas, shattering it. It tucked and rolled on the other side, rolling to it's feet just in time to duck the swinging billy club from one of the guards. It quickly dispatched him, then wrenched the arm of a second guard around and flipped him to the floor. Taking the oppurtunity, it turned and zapped Faith with a taser, before picking up her prone body and diving through a nearby window.

As both of them plummeted from the high window and crashed down onto the roof of a parked car, caving it in and shattering the windows, the thing quickly rolled off of the car. Punching Faith hard in the face, after hearing her groaning, to make sure she was truly knocked out, it snatched her off of the car and started to run, even as the prison guards came too and started to shoot down at them.

End Flashback

"I felt electricity going through my body and then I woke up here."

"This guy is so going down." Buffy grumbled as she tried to crack her knuckles forgetting all about her damaged hand. Grimacing, she looked over to Willow as she started talking.

"And that's all you saw? You didn't see anything else that could tell us anything about this guy?"

"Hey, I was being pumped full of electricity!" Faith shouted back to the red head. "What the hell do you expect out of me?"

"Guys, stop. This isn't getting us anywhere." Buffy said as she started thinking. "I think we're missing out on the obvious here. I think I know who's doing this to us now."

"Who?"

"The Council." Buffy concluded. "Think about it. Before Giles was fired by them he used to send in regular reports on us all the time. I mean who else would know so much about us and be this powerful to abduct all of us like this?"

" You might be right..."

"Come on Willow it's the only thing that makes sense." she went on. "The Council has hated me and you guys too, because you've been helping me, since the beginning."

"Let's just keep going." the wiccan started as she took off her sweater and handed it to Faith. "We'll just have to figure that out later on."

Taking Willow's lead Buffy allowed Faith to lean on her slightly for support as they walked up a set of stairs and walked down another hallway. Only seeing two doors down the endless stretch of hallway, they walked to the second one at the end that read 'love, blood, or friendship.' Gving each other a look they used the latest key on the door and watched as it opened up to a huge factory like room. As they looked inside even further they saw five huge numbered metal chambers, sitting up and about the size of coffins.

Seeing an envelope sitting on the floor, Willow walked over to it, picked it up and saw a key along with a tape. Holding the key tightly she handed the tape to Buffy, only for the Slayer to roll her eyes at her and show her, her burned hand and indicate that she was busy holding Faith. Inwardly wincing, she took the recorder out of Buffy's back pocket and popped in the tape.

"Finally Buffy you've made it to your last test. Did you enjoy your last game? Knowing you, you probably spoiled the fun and saved Faith, but no matter. What you see before you now are what's called a sound proof fire chamber. Inside them are Anya, Tara, Dawn, Joyce, and your boyfriend Riley and as I said they can't hear you. The doors to the chambers aren't locked from the outside and there's no time limit. The only catch is that as soon as you open one of those doors, the other chambers will lock, fill with a short burst of gas and will be flared up with a jet stream of fire that will send them to hell. Think wisely Buffy. Knowledge will be your key to success."

As the tape stopped all three of them looked at each other, seemingly thinking the same thing. What are we going to do now.

Flashback

Summers' Residence

Finally finishing her homework for the weekend, Dawn got off of her bed and started to stretch. She had been sitting in the same position for an hour and her body went stiff. Remembering that she was supposed to meet her friend Janice, she ran downstairs and into the kitchen in search of her mom.

"Mom." she called out, not seeing her. Looking down at the Snoopy watch, that Xander had bought her last year, she was right when she thought that it was time for her mother to have fixed dinner by now. Going through the rest of the house, looking for her, she finally decided that maybe she should call Buffy. Walking back into her room she was about to pick up the phone, when she looked up and noticed that her window was wide open.

Knowing full well that she didn't leave it open she suddenly felt a bit uneasy. Looking the room over she also saw that her closet door was slightly ajar. Slowly inching towards it, the door suddenly burst open and she was engulfed in darkness, even as the unconscious form of her mother fell out of the closet.

UC Sunnydale Campus

Night

With a shake of her head Tara walked out of her Wicca meeting, carrying her books tightly to her chest. The girls in the group meant well but they had alot to learn when it came to being a true witch. Walking down the dark hallway, she suddenly felt a cold chill in the air. It was as if someone was walking over her grave. Feeling a presense behind her, she turned around and saw a dark figure wearing a hooded cloak.

"Hello Tara." the thing called out in an terrifyingly demonic like voice.

Not feeling right and feeling some dark power rising from the figure Tara ran through the hallway, throwing her books to the floor as the hooded figure chased her. Not caring that it was gaining speed on her, she ran into a classroom, up the tiers of chairs, and tried to get out the back door but found that it was locked. Seeing her the figure chased her up the stairs, then back down as Tara tried to get away but was soon cornered. Not knowing what else to do Tara screamed and threw a chair at him, making him collapse to the floor. Tara stood there panting, not knowing what to do, because the only way out of the room now was to step over her stalker.

Deciding to risk it, she prepared to step over the prone figure only for it to grab her leg. Letting out a blood curdling scream she fell in a heap as he injected her in the leg, with some form of sleeping agent in a syringe.

Restview Cemetery

Hours Later

"So you mean to tell me that Santa is real?" Riley was asking Anya as the two walked slowly through the cemetery. Every since the whole Dracula incident, where Buffy was enthrolled by the Dark Prince, he wanted to know all about the other supernatural beings that he was unaware of.

"Yeah but he doesn't so much as deliver presents as he disembowels children." Anya replied as she heard a noise.

"Hold that thought." he e said as he took out his handgun. They then both looked and saw something rustling in the bushes.

As he was about to go over and investigate a noise from behind made them turn, and then something came out of the bushes. Riley tried to grab it, but it shoved him out of the way. Going for Anya instead, it punched her hard in the jaw making her go flying backward into a tree and fall to the ground. Getting his bearings the figure pounced on top of him making him scream, before he was quickly knocked out. Anya lifted her head and saw the mask wearing person coming for her. Not being able to do anything about it, she could only taste the blood that trickled out of her mouth as her head dropped back onto the ground and she went unconscious.

End Flashbacks

"I think we should just all choose a door and open them at the same time." Faith suggested as the drugs started to wear off. "It's better if two die, then four."

"Faith, if you make one more stupid suggestion like that, I'm gonna slap you so hard you'll still feel it next year." Buffy threatened.

"Slap me with what, raggedy hand." before they could get into it, again Willow interrupted them as she spoke.

"Actually, Faith that's not a bad idea." Willow replied as the wheels in her mind started to turn.

"What!" Buffy shouted. "Willow what's wrong with you? How could you think about sacrificing..."

"I'm not thinking about sacrificing anyone!" Willow uncharacteristically shouted back, making Buffy shut up for once. "Tara is in there too...my Tara."

"Red's a lesbi..." Faith stopped whispering to Buffy, as she looked up and saw that her blond counterpart was glaring at her. "Sor...ry."

"I was thinking that we could get some rope tie it around the door handles and pull all of them open at the same time."

"I know where we can get some rope." Buffy replied with a grimace.

Going back to see the dead body of Giles was one of the hardest things, Buffy had to do. Especially considering that she had to help take him down. Finding a mirror, they broke it and used the shards of it to cut the long rope in pieces so that they had two each, except for Willow, who was about to open the frst door. Making sure the rope was securely tied around the handles, they gave the nod that they were ready.

"Alright we'll do this on a count of three." Buffy said, getting ready. "One, two, three..." as they yanked on the doors, the handles on the ones that Faith and Buffy pulled on broke off making the Slayers fall to the floor. Fortunately for Willow her door opened and her little unconscious friend tumbled out and into her arms.

"Dawn?" Willow asked, giving her the once over.

But unfortunately for the others the fire chambers kicked to life.

"Oh, God no!" Buffy screamed as she heard the short burst of gas shooting through the chambers. And what was worse the covering for the screens on the chambers opened and they saw their faces and heard the final screams of their loved ones as the all consuming flames ripped over their bodies. As their screams died out the room was filled with the smell of roasted flesh and the tears of the survivors of Jigsaws sick game. Even Faith at that point had a small tear in her eye.

Hearing sobs, Dawn struggled to come out of her unconsciousness. Succeeding she looked up and saw Willow sobbing uncontrollably, her tears falling down on her face like a river.

"Willow?" Dawn said quietly as she sat up. Looking about the room she saw the fire chambers and two other people in the room, crying. As her eyes fully adjusted she saw that one girl was Faith and the other was... "Buffy?" as she ran out of Willow's arms she draped them around Buffy's neck and held her tightly. "Buffy why are you crying? What's going on? Where are we? I...the last thing I remember was trying to find mom and somebody being in my room."

Not being able to answer her sister at the moment, all Buffy could do was hold on to her a little tighter and snuggle her head into her shoulder. How was she going to explain to her little sister that she had failed in saving their mother. More importantly what would happen to them now.

Suddenly from another corner of the room, a light came on, revealing a man sized frightening image of a demented clown-like doll its face white with red spirals on its cheeks. Coming fully alert, Buffy stared at it wide eyed, her sobs softening for a moment as she could do no more but look at it. Slowly, it wheeled toward them on a tricycle, leaving Buffy for the first time in her life with the feeling of not knowing what to do or expect. It then stopped, leering at her, before it spoke.

"You passed your test Buffy, now tell me who lived and who died? What have you given up in your short journey tonight? Was it more then I've given up?" the puppet asked making Buffy have a feeling of dread wash over her. "The metal door behind me leads outside and into your safety. But I'll still give you one more choice tonight Buffy. Your friends can leave and I'll personally see to their safety, but all you have to do is stay behind. If you stay behind, I'll come out and reveal myself. That choice is up to you and you alone."

With that said, it stopped talking even as Buffy stood to her feet and helped her sister up aswell.

"Dawn, I want you to go with Willow."

"What? No I want to stay with you." Dawn whined even as Willow put a hand on her shoulder.

"Just go with her, please." Buffy said stroking her cheek with her thumb fondly. "I can't fight if I have to worry about you."

"Okay, but you better come outside in a few minutes, or I'm gonna kick your butt." she said as she started to walk outside with the red head. Turning, Willow gave Buffy a look that seemed to say everything she was feeling and wanted to say. Nodding her head in understanding Willow took Dawn by the hand and both of them walked out.

"Faith wait." the senior Slayer called out, making her turn back around. "I...I wanted to say I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Faith asked, leaning her head to the side. "What the hell do you have to be sorry about?"

"For...for everything actually." she admitted. "I should've...I should've been more of a friend for you when you first came to Sunnydale."

"It's not like I was the queen of trust." Faith replied with a crooked smile. "I guess alot of shit coulda been better between us though."

"Are we five by five?" Buffy asked using the slightly younger girls catch phrase.

"Yeah." Faith replied, feeling a little relieved that they had finally buried the hatchet. She was also a little at ease because she felt like this was going to be her last time seeing her. Especially after what she whispered in her ear next.

"Just in case I don't make it out of here I want you to take Dawn to Angel. He'll make sure to protect her and keep her safe."

"Yeah...yeah you got it." Faith replied, giving her a look even as she walked outside to join Dawn and Willow.

"Finally we're alone." a voice said as the metal door slammed behind Faith. Turning she saw a figure wearing all black, a duster, and the same kind of mask as the puppet, with a remote control in their hand, which Buffy guessed was used to close the door. "It's been a long time, Slayer."

Ignoring the pain in her hands Buffy again cracked her knuckles and went into full Slayer mode. In response Jigsaw reached into his duster and pulled out a shortsword. With a growl, Jigsaw swung and hit nothing but air as Buffy sidestepped the blow. Using her Slayer speed Buffy did a flip over his back and onto the floor behind him, ready to fight.

Feeling her presence behind him, he swung the sword again just as Buffy caught it. Thinking she had the advantage Buffy was shocked as Jigsaw used his own strength and pulled her around and slammed her into the wall, pushing the sword up onto her chest. Feeling as though she remembered fighting a fight like this before Buffy pushed the weapon up and away from her, just as he pulled down on it, flipping Buffy over onto her back.

Gritting her teeth and grunting in pain, Buffy waited until her enemy stood over her, before grabbing Jigsaw's arm and rolling him over and away. As they both scrambled to their feet Buffy kicked the sword out of his hand, just as he tried two kicks, which Buffy easily blocked. Buffy then ducked a swing to her head and swung back, only for him to grab her arm in mid-swing and flip her over onto a table, smashing it. Letting out a pained breath, she could only lay there as he reached down for her. Suddenly with a burst of energy, Buffy kicked up with both legs into his face and made him fall backward to the floor.

"No...I won't let it end like this." Jigsaw said as he watched Buffy pick up the short sword. Taking a taser gun out of his duster, he aimed it at the sword and opened fire. Amplifying the current of electricity, foam poured out of Buffy's mouth as she sank to her knees and started to drift in and out of consciousness. Watching as Jigsaw took off his mask Buffy made the discovery that he was not a man at all, but a woman. A woman that she knew in her not so distant past. And that was all she remembered as the woman lifted up her foot and kicked her in the face knocking her unconscious.