Chapter Notes:
Sorry for the late updates. I have really been busy with school, not to mention I have been diagnosed with Depression. Hard times, but I shall not dwell about it. This fic is nearing its conclusion and I hope you guys are still reading it. If so, thank you for your continued support and hope I shall not disappoint. Anyway, here's the new update, enjoy!
Special thanks to my beta, djellibabe, for her ever continuing support. Couldn't have done this without you!
(O.O)
Buffy and Spike ran as fast as they could to Faith and her companions' location. After taking the scythe from Caleb and the bastard indicating that he had done something to the other Slayer's group, they immediately knew they had to get to them fast.
After getting the location from April, via Spike's mental walky-talky-thingy, they entered the underground arsenal and immediately noticed the unconscious forms of the Potentials at its entrance.
"Hey, hang in there!" Buffy told the young woman as she sat beside her and inspected the girl's injuries.
The Slayer noticed with relief that the Potential's injuries were not that bad, a couple of bruises here and there but there were no visible indications of fatal or permenent injuries. She looked around and saw that the other Potentials were also waking up and took notice that they too had similar minor injuries.
"Buffy?" the Potential that she was siting beside called out her attention. "Is that you?"
She stared down at the young red haired Potential.
Vi! She remembered.
That was the girl's name, one of the few Potential whose name she actually did remembered.
"Yeah, it's me, Vi." She gently smiled at the young woman. "Can you stand up, and tell me what happened?" she asked.
The Potential looked around the room confusedly. "We were in the vault filled with weapons. We got locked in, then there was a bomb and an explosion!" She alarmingly looked around the room again before confusion once again settled in. "I-I don't get it. Why are we out here and alive?" The young Potential looked at her as if she held the answer to that question.
"I think I know the answer to that question," a familiar voice of a man echoed behind the two.
"Angel," Buffy called eying the vampire with a unreadable expression.
"Buffy," the vampire called her back, only he held more emotion in his voice. He was happy to see her, more than he cared to admit, and he was glad that she came back for them, for him.
"Well?" She stood up and crossed her arms as she waited for him to answer.
"Well, what?" was his dumb reply.
She rolled her eyes at his stupid answer before clarifying her question. "Well, what happened? You said you knew the answer to it. So?"
"Oh!" Angel said realizing what the Slayer meant and sounding disappointed about her distant behaviour with him. "Well-we're alive thanks to what that Ethan guy did. He cast a spell around us that teleported us outside the vault and back here in the entrance. But the explosion still occurred so some of us still suffered from the blast."
Once again Buffy sighed in relief upon hearing this wonderful news. This trap was meant to kill the members of her team and their enemies would've succeeded had the members of Spike's team not been there to save the day. For once since she had been called, she thanked the Powers for their ingenious plan to send the said team to aid them in their fight. So far, they had all proven quite useful to them, with their advance technology and superior skills in fighting and magic. She didn't have anymore qualms of who composed the members of the said team.
As long as they can help keep her people safe and alive, she didn't care if she was fighting alongside the devil himself.
She then looked around to search for the heroes that were responsible for keeping her girls safe and noticed that they weren't there with them. In fact, she belatedly noticed that the vampire she had come in with was also not among the group. So she walked ahead and searched for them and was able to find the group within the destroyed insides of what she assumed was the vault her girls were trapped in. She gasped at the sight she saw.
Inside, Spike and Faith were sitting side by side the unconscious form of Ethan Rayne, who she saw had severe burns on most parts of his body, and were doing CPR on him. Spike was busy compressing the man's chest while Faith blew air in to his lungs.
Buffy's heart broke for the two as they tried their hardest to revive their friend. She flinched as she listened to the pain that resonated in the couple's voices as they called out for their comrade and tried encouraging him in their own unique way to come back to them.
"Dammit! Rayne, you bastard, wake up!" Spike screamed, as he strongly pumped the man's chest. "You're not allowed to die! That's an order, you stupid sod!"
"Come on, you cold hearted asshole, you're too much of jerk to die like this, idiot!" Faith said in between breathing in takes of air and breathing them inside of Ethan. Tears were running down her face as she continued on with her efforts to revive their fallen comrade. "Come on, Rayne."Blows air. "Come on!" Inhales air and blows it into Ethan. "Please, you selfish bastard, wake up!" she begged as she held Ethan's half burned face in her hands. "Wake up or I swear I'll fucking shave that head of yours and let April set you up on a fucking date! You hear me? April and I are gonna hook you up with some obsessive and unhygienic chick with a thing for older British dudes, if you don't wake the hell up, heartless piece of shit!"
Spike simply kept pumping the man's chest but the strength of his pumps were slowly weakening as he was beginning to accept the inevitable.
Tears were falling down his face too as he weakly hammered the man's chest."Dammit! You weren't suppose to die before me, you ponce. You were suppose to bloody find a way to break my bloody hold on you, you useless git! You said you were going to kill me and go back to being a Chaos mage, remember? How are you gonna do that if you're dead, you wanker? So wake the bloody hell up!" His fisted hand gave the body one last blow before he finally gave up and accepted the horrible truth. "Ethan, please... wake up..." he begged one last time, though he knew it was useless.
He had already lost one member of his team.
He and his demon let out an agonizing scream that echoed throughout that place.
Almost every Potential who had witnessed the scene were reduced to tears as they all felt the vampire and the brunette Slayer's pain.
Even Buffy, who was always a tough bitch since they met her, was crying at the sight of the man, who had comforted her and given her strength the night before, being in more pain than she had been and she had no idea what to do. She wanted to run and comfort him, to take him in her arms and wish the pain away, and she would've had a voice she had thought she'd never hear again not spoken and stopped her.
"If I had known dying was all it took for you to lower that guard of yours like this, I'd have done it ages ago, vampire," the voice, that came from the supposedly dead mage, croaked, surprising everyone in the room. "Too bad I'm too worn out to do even the simplest fire spell or you'd be in serious trouble." A half smirk appeared on the unburned part of the man's face before it changed in to a pained expression. "Bloody hell, it hurts all over. I think I'm now regretting not dying."
"Well, you're just gonna keep regretting, you git, because there is no way I'm letting you go back to whatever hell you've been." Spike grinned down on his team mate.
"He's right, you bastard. After this stupid stunt, you're gonna be stuck with us for a very longer time!" Faith said, her eyes still brimming with the tears she shed moments earlier.
"Bugger! I should've stayed dead then! Hell would've been kinder than you lot," the man groaned earning him a chuckle from his two companions.
"Ooh, I'm sure we can make you're life something similar to hell, can't we Faith?" Spike grinned at the dark haired Slayer, who returned it in kind.
"Yeah, we can. If not-well, I'm sure April and Amy can think of something."
"Or Jonathan and his comic book references?"
"Good heavens! Anything but that!" the mage said mockingly, before grunting in pain. Yup, he was feeling the burns at that moment. "Bloody hell!" he screamed.
"Suck it up a while longer, mate. We'll get you back to Amy and she'll fix you up right and proper," the vampire told his injured friend, before he started to pull him up.
But the moment he lifted the mage up, pain filled the poor guy's body. Another scream filled the air and Ethan fell unconscious.
"Bugger. Sorry, mate," Spike apologized, while he adjusted his hold on the mage. Faith attempted to help him but he shook his head and told her to help the girls she had brought with her, after all, some were injured as well.
While Faith rounded up the Potentials and inquired of the status of their injuries, Buffy approached Spike and asked if she could help him carry the mage. The vampire gave her a gentle smile and nodded his approval. The blond Slayer attempted to take the unconscious man's other arm but she hesitated. There were a lot of burns visible on that part of him and she feared aggrivating them further than they already were.
As if reading her mind, Spike spoke to reassure her.
"Don't worry, luv. Whatever injuries you'd cause, Amy, will be able to fix it when we get him to her. And as for him feeling pain while you help, well-you don't have to worry about that . Not only because he's unconscious so he won't be able to feel much pain at the moment, but also because I have placed a barrier in his mind that will limit the pain he feels so whether you wake him up or he wakes up on his own on our way back, he still won't feel much pain. I could stop him from feeling pain altogether but this is the best I can do with the kind of blood bond we have," he explained.
Confusion was evident on the Slayer's face upon hearing his explanation.
"Blood bond?" Buffy asked while she gently took Rayne's other arm.
"Oh, right! Knowing you and Rupert, you two must have never talked about a vampire's human minions and the effects of a blood bond."
"Vampire's Human Minions? Is that something like the thrall thing Dracula did to Xander that made him obey his commands?"
A growl escaped Spike as he heard his rival's name.
"No! They're not the same bloody thing! Dracula's thrall or any kind of thrall is only temporary and can easily be broken! A blood bond is eternal and almost unbreakable. Almost because it can only be broken when one or both the vampire and the human dies."
"And you share such a bond with all the members of your team?" she asked, a frown crossing her face. She didn't like the idea of someone sharing something so special with her vampire.
There are three women in his team and if he does have this kind of bond with them-there will be hell to pay! She promised herself as she waited for the vampire to answer.
"No, of course not! I only shared this bond with Rayne over here because I knew the bastard wouldn't have joined my team and help save the world willingly. So when I recruited him, I created the bond with him by drinking his blood and sharing some of mine. It's a bit like turning him into a vampire, only without the lack of pulse and the need to drink blood," he explained as they started walking out of the vault. "Using this method I have a great hold over Rayne and if he'd do anything funny I can simply use my bond to control him. Although, as time went by, I didn't have to do any such thing as the bastard seemed to have started enjoying what we do, although there'd be no way the bastard would admit this."
Buffy sighed in relief upon hearing that Spike wasn't bonded with anyone but Ethan. Then she smiled as she heard him regale on what he had forced the chaos mage to do under his control. It should disgust her, this blood bond thing, because simply the thought of vampires having the ability to control humans against their will, but she just wasn't. Contrary to it, she was really curious of this bond thing. Spike said that the bond can go both ways and it can connect a vampire and a humans in a very intimate and special way. He said that the bonded pair would belong to one another and both will always be close to the other even if they are worlds apart. This caught Buffy's attention.
If she can be connected to Spike in such a way, she wouldn't miss him when he'd be doing his thing, travelling around the world and saving people and stopping apocalypses. It sounded really nice to her. She was beginning to think that this is one of the good things she'd like to discuss with the vampire after this battle with the First ended.
As Buffy and Spike walked out of the vault their heard a loud commotion outside. They hurriedly went out to check out what had caused it while dragging Ethan's body with them only to find out that the cause of the commotion had been Kennedy and Faith, who had the Potential cornered to the wall with her blade pointed at the young woman's throat. A surprise gasp came out of Buffy's mouth.
"Faith!" Angel called the brunette's Slayer's attention. But she paid him no mind and it angered the soulled vampire. "Faith, stop this! This was not something a Slayer should do, threatening her-"
"Who said anything about threatening, Angel?" she asked him, not turning her attention from the Potential. "I don't threaten, man. I do what I want and what I want is to punish little Miss-Know-it-all here for her stupidity that almost caused everyone, especially my friend, to die today. I'm thinking a little scar on her bitchy little face will work so nicely. Don't you think?" she asked the last part to the Potential.
"Fuck you, you crazy bitch! You're suppose to be a Slayer! Why the hell are you doing this?" she asked trying to look strong and unaffected with what was happening but the fear in her eyes told a different story and Faith smiled sadistically at the sight.
Good, be afraid little girl. Be very afraid. No one messes with me and my own and gets away with just a slap on the wrist. She thought as she glared at the young woman in front of her.
"Why? Let's see if I can remind you." She placed the tip of the blade on her neck, her sadistic smile in place. "You disobeyed my commands andnearly got everyone killed. You insult me and some of your teammates and finally you had the nerve to blame me and my team for leading you to this trap when I was the one who said that we shouldn't go any further with the plan to explore this place. I told everyone to retreat but what do you do? You entered and fell right into the trap! And you have the audacity to say that it was my fault?! That Rayne nearly died because of me? Stupid little girl!" She suddenly stabbed the blade on the wall besides Kennedy's head making the Potential and everyone there jump in surprise. "So you ask me why I am doing this? Why I want to punish you? Well, I'm doing this because it is justice and it'll serve you just right to endure what I give you because of what you did to Ethan." The tip of her blade again pointed at the Potential, this time it drew closer to her neck. "Jut pray you survive after I am done with you."
"Faith don't!" Angel cried approaching the brunette Slayer to stop her but it was too late, with a swift movement Faith slashed the Potential's face from her chin to her cheek bone.
Screams filled the air and Angel pulled Faith away from the Potential, who was screaming and bleeding at what had been done to her, and slammed the Slayer to the wall.
"What the fuck, Faith?! Why would you do that?!" he asked her.
"Justice, Angel. She deserved it for being an arrogant bitch and for what happened to Rayne," was her cold answer. "Now let me go before I show you my own brand of Justice for what you've been doing since we got here."
The look the Slayer gave him startled the vampire and scared him. It was a look that Slayer's usually directed on demons they killed. Being on the receiving end of it didn't sit well with him causing him to release the Slayer and take a step back away from her.
Faith adjusted her clothes and looked around the occupants in the room. They all looked scared at her but she didn't care. She wasn't there to coddle them or to be their friend. She was there to make sure they all survived and stopped the world from ending. They all needed to know and understand this. Her team was created to save the world and maintain the Balance between Good and Evil by whatever means necessary, and she wasn't gonna let a bratty little girl ruin that by her stupidity and arrogance. She wasn't gonna stand by while that said little girl or anyone like her got her way and got her and her teammates killed. She just wasn't gonna let them do that.
They can insult us, judge us, and even distrust us, but they are not allowed to let those things get in the way of them getting the job done!
So that's why she showed them her true colours. She showed them that they weren't as kind and understanding as Buffy and the rest of the heroes they knew. She showed them that she wasn't gonna take shit from them and she wasn't gonna let mistakes like this go without punishment.
Brat's lucky I was the one she had to deal with than the rest of the team. She thought as her attention turned to the screaming and crying Kennedy.
She approached the girl again, only this time she was met with anger and fear.
"Don't touch me!" the Potential screamed.
"Shut up, brat, and raise your head and let me see the wound," she ordered her.
"A wound you caused," she snarked but did as what she was told, fearing to get another scar if she didn't.
Faith ignored what she said and simply inspected the injury. It was still bleeding and was indeed very deep. In fact, she was sure it will leave a scar once it healed, which was what she wanted in the first place. Then she chanted and a blue light surrounded the Potential's face. Once the light disappeared, the bleeding had stopped the only thing left was a deep scar on the girl's face.
"There, all done," she said and backed away from the teen and turning once again to face the rest of the group.
"What did you do?" she asked the Slayer.
"I hastened the healing process and closed up the wound. Now all you have left is that scar, which shall remind you not to be rash and always follow the orders of your betters."
The fear she felt for the Slayer disappeared and only anger filled the Potential's heart. She was humiliated, mutilated and shall be forced to wear the reminder of her sin to be looked at and insulted in public. She had never felt so angry in her life and all because of some bitch skank who thought she could do this to her just 'cause she's a Slayer like Buffy. Well, fuck her!
With a roar she charged at Faith, a dagger in her hand, to kill the crazy bitch and to make her pay for what she had done to her. And she would've succeeded if she hadn't been stopped by the other vampire in the group.
Spike placed a tight grip on the girl's wrist that was holding the dagger, and another on her neck. His face had shed its human appearance.
"Naughty little girl. Didn't your mother ever tell you that it is bad to stab people in the back?"
"Let me go, vampire!" she said struggling.
"Ooh, I will, but only after you hear what I have to say," he whispered close enough to her ear that his fangs almost grazed the skin. "See, pet, Faith was quite lenient with you. A scar in the face? That's nothing compared to what we usually do to people who are like you: arrogant ones who think they are better than others. We usually make them suffer before we kill them. And before you say that we are the good guys, let me just inform you that we are the kind of white hats that kill our bad guys, who are in fact humans. We have no qualms ending the lives of humans who we all think deserve to be ended and who get in the way in our mission, and what you did had really put you in league with those humans on our hit list. Your arrogance nearly killed my teammates and had they died, we would've failed our mission which means you got in the way of our work. Hence, why in all honesty, you deserve to be killed. But Faith didn't do that. She merely gave you a scar, you should be grateful for it and not attempted to kill her, because if it had been me who you did those things to? I would've drained you faster than you can say uncle. So don't forget it, little girl." He released the Potential and went back to Buffy, who was busy carrying Ethan's full weight on her own.
The original Slayer simply watched the exchange, her face had an unreadable expression. She didn't look angry about what happened nor did she look happy about it. She simply eyed the vampire, nodded to him and adjusted her hold on the unconscious man on her shoulders to give him room to take the man's other arm, before telling everyone to move on and hurry so they can get back to her house. The rest of the Potentials simply followed her, fearing that they too might anger the brunette Slayer since it seemed that the blond one didn't really care about them, which they couldn't really blame her for it considering they kicked her out of her own house the night before.
(O.O)
The Scoobies all waited patiently in the Summers' living room for news of their companions. No one had contacted them since they left earlier that day and they were all worried, more so was that they also learned that Buffy had gone back to the vineyard with only Spike for back up. After the conversations that occured the night before they all realized just how unfair they were to their Slayer. Yes, she had been too hard on them and yes, she seemed to always be so cold and uncaring when it came to those who had died during these past few months. But this was her way of coping, her way of showing to everyone that she was not afraid and that she could protect them. It had been her way to show her strength, but they hadn't understood. They hadn't cared because she wasn't only doing that to the Potentials but to them too, her supposed friends.
Only when Dawn told them of Buffy's true feelings had they realized why she acted that way towards them. She had resented each and everyone of them and had stopped trusting them to give her strength to face the enemies. Buffy no longer saw them as the people she could rely on when she needed to be weak or when she needed to rest because they all at one point over the year had stopped doing that to her unconsciously, so she too stopped depending on them. It hurt to think that all this time they had been with her they never noticed the real distance of their relationship with their Slayer until they all decided she was not good enough to lead them.
Last night, they did the ultimate betrayal and it only served to prove their unworthiness to their Slayer. Last night was the first time in a long time had they seen Buffy truly need them but they all turned their backs on her without blinking an eye. It was harsh and evil of them, but not as evil as the thought that someone had to point out their mistakes before they realized the wrongness of what they did. Had Whistler or Spike and company not come last night, they all knew they would've continued to justify their actions and not think of the badness
of their actions. Their only hope now was to make amends with their Slayer, if she survived her mission in the vineyard with Spike, and do better by her, if she would allow them.
The door burst opened and several Potentials entered the house. The Scoobies all stood up to greet them but gasped at the sight of Ethan Rayne's half burned body on Faith and Buffy's arms.
"Amy!" Faith cried out, "Get down here now!"
"Move!" Buffy ordered them as they slowly laid Ethan on the couch.
"Wha-what happened?" Giles asked looking worriedly at his old time frienemy. He and Ethan may have had their differences in the past but he and Giles had history. They were friends once upon a time and after last night he had thought that it was possible to renew that friendship.
"It was a trap, and we fell right into it because of a certain someone." She glared at Kennedy, making everyone stare at the now scarred faced Potential. "Anyway there was a bomb and Rayne here, the idiot, teleported everyone but himself out. Most likely to control the bomb's explosions from the inside so its blast wouldn't kill those of us who were outside. Stupid bastard," Faith explained as she eyed her friend.
"Oh, my god!" Amy's voice echoed from the living room's entryway. "Mr. Rayne, are you alright?!" she asked as she hurriedly knelt beside the man.
"He's fine, Aim, Spike put him into some painless and dreamless state to prevent him from suffering even further," Faith informed.
"Speaking of which, where is he and dead boy senior? Please tell me they got killed on the way here," Xander joked, trying to lightened the mood, only to earn him glares from the teams of both vampires.
"Sorry to disappoint, Xan, but no, they didn't get killed. Actually, I'm certain that they are on their way here. We had to separate because we came here from above while Spike and Angel went underground to avoid Mr. Sun," Buffy answered coldly. It angered her that her friend was talking in such way to the vampire who was the only reason she came back to that house.
Xander flinched at her tone. It hurt him that his Slayer was acting this way towards him, but he really couldn't blame her for it either. He had put his foot in his mouth again after all.
But they really shouldn't blame me for it! Old habits die hard after all!
Of course he knew that that didn't absolve his transgressions towards his allies.
He looked apologetically at Buffy, only to be ignored by her.
Because instead of looking at Xander and seeing his repentant look, she had turned to address Amy instead.
"Spike said that he had to put him under because he was in a lot of pain after they were able to revive him earlier."
"Revive?! You mean he died?" The brunette witch asked looking quite alarmed at the news.
"Yeah, but he's okay now," Faith tried to say calmly. "Just make sure you heal all his injuries and I am sure he'll be safe. You can do that, right?" She eyed her witch teammate pleadingly.
"I'll try my best, Faith," was all the brunette witch said, sensing that her friend was still shaken by what happened. After that she focused her attention to the man lying on the couch. She then chanted and a red light surrounded her body moving towards Ethan's .
Everyone, except Faith, gasped once more when they saw the burns slowly disappearing from the injured mage.
"Amazing," Willow whispered admiringly as she watched the other witch do the spell, while failing to notice the jealousy that was emitted by her now scarred faced girlfriend.
The redhead had never seen anything like it before. A healing spell that was healing at the rate Amy's was doing was downright impossible, at least that was what the witches in the coven that she went to in England had said. But after seeing the witch before her do such a spell with such ease, it made Willow slightly jealous of the other woman and at the same time it made her admire her even more. She thought back on the Amy she was friends with a year ago and remembered how the woman was as addicted to magic as she was, if not a bit more than her. Yet it seemed that the way that the other witch had recovered from her addiction surpassed her more because at least Amy was confident with her skills and actually knew how to control herself, rather than let her magic control her, unlike Willow who was afraid of her own magic and of going off the rails again.
The brunette was able to do better for herself and for others, unlike her who hadn't been much help to anyone besides in the research department. She wanted to be like Amy and stop being scared of herself. She wanted to help people like Amy was doing with her magic and not be the controlling little witch she had been before. She wanted to change and actually change for the better and not be stuck in the past and of her guilt that had led her to limit her own power. And most of all she wanted to be helpful to Buffy again, like she had been before and like Amy is to her team. She thought back on what happened the night before and realized that part of the reason why she turned against Buffy was because she was always feeling useless during battle. Other than being research girl, she wasn't doing any major spells and if she was, like that portal thingy, she always did something horrible, like steal power from Kennedy without her permission, which was why she altogether avoided being her witchy little self. And because of this avoidance she felt useless to Buffy. It didn't help that her bestfriend didn't rely on her either in the bestfriend department as of late and didn't turn to her when she felt that she was getting overwhelmed by all the problems. It was because of all these things that she wanted Buffy to stop being the leader for once and be just be Buffy so that she'd stop having to think she can help her with something without using her powers. If Buffy wasn't being their General then she could just be her bestfriend, then Willow would at least be able to help her.
At least that was what she thought.
But Buffy didn't need me for that.
She didn't need someone to be her bestfriend in such a way. What she needed were friends who did stick up for her, who fought beside her, and who used everything they had in them to help her win the fight. A fight that was more important than their friendship. A fight that would determine the fate of the universe. But she was so petty and childish and, like always, she wanted Buffy to be someone she was not. She wanted Buffy to be someone that the Slayer obviously didn't want to be and when she couldn't force her to be that someone-she turned on her.
Her heart clenched at all these realizations. She was truly a very wicked person and she truly didn't deserve to have Buffy for a friend. She didn't deserve being anyone's friend. She-
A gentle hand touched her shoulder, startling her and making her look towards its owner. She was surprised to see that it was Amy's hand that had been placed there. Amy, who had just finished healing Ethan Rayne, was comforting her. She looked at the couch and was surprised to see that Spike, who hadn't entered the house with Buffy, Faith and the Potentials earlier, was already there and was checking on his mage companion. She looked back to Amy, who she was giving her that gentle and supportive smile that was too much of a painful reminder of her Tara, and gave her a confused look that seemed to ask: "why are you comforting me?".
"You looked like you needed it," she answered. "Willow, you need to stop being hard on yourself. If there is anything Spike taught me during my time with him and the team, it is that what we did in the past should not get in the way of who be are in the present or who we will become in the future. You want to be a better friend? A better person? Then stop all this negative thinking and start changing. Nothing will happen if you keep on dwelling in the past. Move forward and try to be better now. Prove you are someone worthy of all the gifts given to you, Will. And when you do, you will finally be able to be the kind of person worthy of the friendship of those who always stuck by you."
And after that, Spike called her attention and she was once again put to work with helping out in patching up the rest of the Potentials who were with Faith. But Willow had already gotten the message of what she meant and planned to actually put the advice in to action.
"Buffy?" she called out to the Slayer, who was standing on the sidelines and was watching as Spike was giving orders to everyone about assisting in taking care of the injured Potentials as well as transferring Ethan upstairs.
"Take him to my room," Buffy said, thus getting Xander and Gunn's help for the transfer, before turning to face the redhead with a stoic expression. Willow could not help but flinch at the sight. "What do you want, Willow?" she asked, her tone neutral and showed no indication of how she felt about her.
"I-I just wanted to say that I am glad you came back-"she started.
"Not like I had much of a choice, what with the world ending and all," she said and cut the witch off from what she was going to say.
Again, she flinched at the other's cold words. But she didn't let it deter her from finishing her speech.
"I know, which is why I am happy you're back and sorry about what happened last night. Buffy, I-"
"Not now, Will," she said again cutting off her friend's speech, making the redhead feel bad again for herself. She should've expected Buffy wasn't gonna forgive her. Dawn had said that she hated them for what they have been doing to her all these years, and last night would've been the last straw for her friend. "Later," the Slayer suddenly said in a very soft tone that she nearly missed it. "We'll talk later when everything is less apocalyptic and we don't have all these young girls to protect. But for now? Let's focus on the job at hand, okay?"
Her eyes widened when she heard it and happiness swelled in her heart.
She's not turning her back on us! We still have a chance to make things right!
She smiled and waited for Buffy to make an order or do something. She instead saw her gesture at Giles and her to follow her upstairs. They reached the master bedroom, which had become Willow's room again, and closed the door before they all began talking.
"I took it from Caleb. It might be important," she told them, "Do you think you two can find out why?"
Giles looked taken aback at her question and the trust she was placing on them despite what happened the night before. But he easily composed himself.
"Of course," he answered taking the said weapon aand started inspecting it. "This is quite an ingenious weapon."
"Kills strong bodies three ways," the Slayer replied approvingly.
"Can you sense something when you hold it?" the redhead asked as she too did her own inspection of the weapon.
"Yeah. Not much but it's strong. And I knew it belonged to me. I just knew it," Buffy answered staring intently at the weapon in the witch's hands.
Giles took the weapon again and inspected it for the second time.
"So in addition to it being ancient, it's clearly mystical," Giles pointed out.
"Yeah, I figured it out when I King Arthured it out of the stone."
"So maybe it's some kind of traditional Slayer weapon," Willow suggested.
"I can't imagine how something like this could exist without my having heard of it," Giles stated.
Buffy snorted. "Well, the good guys are not traditionally known for their communication skills," she said off handedly. But her listeners flinched at the hidden meaning of that statement.
After clearing his throat, Giles sat on the bed. "Right. Um-any chance that it might be something other than a tool for killing things?"
The Slayer shrugged, before answering "The First's guys clearly wanted it out of that stone. It's not just a tool. It's important. We need to find out whatever we can. Who made it, when, why? Does it have a name? I don't know, a credit report? Just find out and fast," she told the pair before moving towards the door.
"We'll start work immediately," Giles promised while gathering a couple of books from Willow's collection.
"Yeah, don't worry, Buff. We'll find out everything there is to know," Willow followed as she grabbed hold of her laptop to start researching.
Buffy merely nodded in approval before informing them that she was going to go downstairs to check on the others. She turned away from them after that and missing the sad look the couple gave her. When she left the room, Willow spoke to Giles.
"Do you think she'll ever forgive us?" she asked the old Watcher, who simply sighed and began cleaning his glasses.
"We can only hope, Willow. But for now, let's focus on what she wants us to do."
The redhead nodded before donning her infamous resolve face.
Giles' right. I need to focus on the now. I need to focus on helping Buffy before trying to find ways to get in her way by trying to apologize to her.
And with that, the two began their research.
(O.O)
Buffy walked towards the kitchen, where she assigned Spike and his team to do a different research regarding the ways to defeat the First, to check on the group and to inform their leader of her team's progress in terms of finding out about the origins of the weapon, or the Scythe, that she took from Caleb. Andrew, out of all people, was the one who found out about it and she was planning to do a little reconnaissance in the area and had planned to invite the said leader of the other group with her. But when she got there she was surprised to see that only the researchers of the team were present in room.
"Where's Spike and Faith?" she asked.
"They went back to the arsenal to loot the place," Jonathan answered her, not taking his eyes away from the book he was reading.
"Loot?" she repeated, not understanding why on Earth those two would return to that place.
"Yeah, loot. We're not really rich, Buffy, and the Powers aren't exactly the most generous of bosses we've had the pleasure to work with. We actually don't get funded for what we do. So we usually loot our enemies for what they are worth, and either sell what we find or use them for ourselves," Amy explained.
"It's why I have such amazing upgrades!" April followed, taking her eyes off her laptop. "We were able to loot some very rich man who wanted to use his technology to start Armageddon. Anyway, Spike and Faith went back to that place to see if they can salvage anything there that would be worth selling!" After her explanation the bot went back to what she was doing on the computer.
Buffy wasn't sure how to feel about that. Looting their enemies for what they are worth? Sounds like something a villain would do and not Champions for good.
Jonathan must've seen the conflict in the her eyes and he tried to make her understand their situation better.
"I know, it's not a really good guy thing to do, but we have to make ends meet afterall, Buffy. It's kind of hard to fight the forces of evil without cash in our hands. We need money for ingredients for Amy and Ethan's spells, April's updates, not to mention Spike's blood supply, and that doesn't even include our travel money. We move around the globe and we have to pay to get from one place to another. This was the only solution we found for our money problems, you know? Unless of course we asked for cash payments from those we helped, which we don't because there'd be no sense helping people if we just took money for it, right?"
Well if he put it like that, it did sort of makes sense. Looting the bad guys of their treasures does seem better than asking the helpless for money. So I guess there is logic in what they do.
"Yeah, I think I get it now. Although did they have to do the looting now? Couldn't they have done it after we finished defeating the First?" she asked, only earning a shrug from the people in front of her.
"Now is just as good as any, besides, it's not like they have anything they had to do. If you haven't noticed yet, Faith and Spike are not exactly the research types. So they were bored out of their minds trying to help us. So they decided to go and do some looting. Plus this is the Hellmouth, a lot of looters live here and if they'd have waited until we finished fighting off this apocalypse, there'd be nothing left to loot."
"They went looting? That's kind of dangerous and very reckless of them," a new voice joined the conversation from behind the Slayer. The members of the group including Buffy turned to face the newcomer, which they learned was actually Angel.
"What do you mean by "reckless of them"?" Amy asked as her eyes narrowed at Angel.
She was getting easily irritated at the tall vampire. Ever since they had got here their actions were continuously scrutinized by the group. She would've understood the actions had Whistler not told the group of their intentions quite thoroughly but he had and they still were suspicious of them. Most especially the tall vamp. Amy was really getting annoyed at the questioning and the blatant display of distrust from the so called Champion of the People, and if the vampire were to continue he would very later on find himself with a very long tail in his behind, courtesy of the brunette witch.
"I mean, we are at war, they shouldn't be going out in their own for such selfish reasons. Something could happen to them while they are out. They could get hurt and we are not there to save them," Angel, noticing the witch's animosity, stated carefully.
"They don't need saving, man. If you weren't watching them yesterday, then let me simply tell you that they can take care of themselves just fine. Spike and Faith are really strong, nothing's gonna happen to them," Jonathan said proudly.
"Just because they are strong, doesn't mean that they can't get hurt. Something could still happen to them while they are out their on their own," Angel pointed, again earning glares from his Grandchilde's teammates.
"Okay, he has a point," Buffy said, surprising everyone in the room. "No matter how strong they are, mistakes still happen, and we can't afford such mistakes to happen. Better safe than sorry, guys. So we need to call them back." She then turned to the brunette witch. "Amy, can you do that mind thingy and call back Faith and Spike and tell them to come back?"
The brunette was startled at first, before panic crossed her features. "Umm, sorry, Buffy, but I can't," the witch replied hastily.
"What?! Why? Are you still recovering from all those spells you did earlier?" she asked worriedly. It wouldn't do them any good if one of their best magic users would be put out of commission. They already lost one of them from the First's trap, they couldn't afford to lose one more, especially if they are from Spike's very dependable group.
"Oh, no! I am fine! I can very much still do spells and I haven't exhausted all my magic yet," Amy hurriedly said.
"Then why can't you call them back?" the Slayer asked in confusion.
"I'm not saying that I can't do it because I can't do the spell but more because I don't want to do it." A blush appeared at the young woman's cheeks.
Buffy became suspicious after seeing it.
What the heck is she blushing about?
"Why don't you want to do it anyway, Amy?" she pursued, her eyes narrowing at the witch.
"Umm-well, you see, I learned my lesson not to call both of them when they are together," she said hurriedly, blushing even more heavily.
"Not to call them when they are together? Amy, what are you trying to say? Why are you afraid to call them when they are together?"
"Oh, just tell her already!" Jonathan yelled, "It's not that hard to say that you once called Spike and Faith while they were doing heavy monkey sex and you became accidentally linked to them while both climaxed and you ended up soiling your panties because you did the same thing too because of the emotional connection!"
"Jonathan!" Amy cried. She was being careful not to reveal that particular embarrassment of hers, it angered her that the nerd shared it to the two strangers in the group. She stood up electricity sparking in her fingers. "There is such as thing called confidentiality, you little nerd! You're not supposed to tell anyone about what happened!"
Jonathan immediately stood up to get away from the angry witch and her sparking hands. Books fell as the two began running around the kitchen.
"Come back here, you nasty weasel!" Amy called after the short man who had escaped towards the living room where the Scoobies and team AI were doing their own research.
"Ow!"
"Hey!"
"Stop it, you two!"
Screams indicating an obvious commotion happening in the living room area were loudly heard, but Buffy wasn't really paying attention to what was happening around her. Her entire mind was on a stop ever since she heard of Spike and Faith having heavy monkey sex. Her head was running a lot of scenarios of what the two were doing at that moment and none of those scenarios she liked in any way. It didn't take long for anger to fill her heart as she thought of the peroxide vampire.
So much for wanting to give us a chance! I turn my back on the asshole for one minute and he immediately runs to do a quicky with his whore, little Miss Slutty Slayer number two. Ooh, if I ever find him I am gonna show him just what happens when idiots put their dicks first before an apocalypse! I'm gonna make him regret-
"Buffy?" Angel's voice brought her out of her reverie and mental plan of committing murder, "Are you okay?" he asked her concern evident in his voice.
Buffy looked up to him and immediately shook away her worries and anger for the certain bleached haired vampire. It would do her and everyone no good to if she became distracted because of Spike's uncontrollable libido and stupidity. She had a job to do and since the idiot wasn't around to help her with it and was obviously busy playing hooky, she decided to do it alone.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Angel," she told him curtly, before turning to face April, who was still busy using her laptop and hadn't even been fazed at the earlier commotion. "Hey, April, if Spike or Faith do come back, tell them to stay here and not to wander anymore. Angel's right, we are at war, they shouldn't be doing reckless things that could hurt them and yes, no matter how strong they are they can still slip up and bad things can still happen to them," she told the robotic woman.
"Very well, Buffy! I shall inform them of what you said. Is there anything else you need?"
"No, nothing else at the moment," she answered while making her way towards the living room, where a slightly singed Jonathan and a very irritated looking Amy were busy getting reprimanded by Giles.
"Guys," she called out everyone's attentions, "I'm going out to investigate this tomb Andrew found that had info on the scythe. I want you all to continue researching. I'll come back as soon as I can when I get the information I need."
She simply went to the living room table, took the scythe with her before turning around and walking towards the front door while paying no mind everyone's objections. They all lost their rights to tell her what to do the moment they threw her out of her house. So she ignored them and left the house alone into the the slowly dimming world outside.
(O.O)
Chapter End Notes:
And that's it for now! Again nearing the conclusion and I thank you all for your support. Hopefully I can update soon. And I also hope you guys will leave a review. It shall be greatly appreciated, like greatly! Thanks again and see you in the next chapter! Bye for now!