Disclaimer: I downloaded the characters from Napster to see if I like them. I'm going to buy the cd... Really....

Fallen from Grace
Chapter Nine
By IceWing (icewing@one.net)


Faith stood there in shock, not fully able to digest what she had just heard. It had been years since that fateful day when Angel had delivered that heart breaking news to her from behind the plexiglass shield of the visiting room. Years which she had adjusted to the loss without ever knowing what had happened in the cemetery that fateful night. Now she knew, and although the years of acceptence of the results dulled the edge of the pain, nothing could stop it completely.

She could feel the pain in her heart as she replayed his words through her mind, watching in her imagination as those that she had turned away from fell one by one to the darkness Tears welled up in her eyes, as once again she cried for those she wished she had called friend.

But even as the Slayer felt these all to human emotions, she looked to the man before her. His eyes had a distant look, as if he was seeing something far beyond mortal comprehension. Soldiers called it the thousand yard stare. Faith looked past that, past the ache and pain that for that brief moment of time had come through the windows to the soul. That cold, emotionless armor, which had been built over the scar tissue covering the soul, was rendered for those few seconds. And beneath it, Faith saw that the man she once knew, Xander Harris, was still in there, somewhere, alone in all that darkness with nothing but pain, suffering and agony to keep him company.

Gently, Faith reached out her hand and closed her fingers around his. His focus never changed, and in that moment she knew that she couldn't just turn and run, because if she did, then it was only a matter of time until that sputtering spark of his soul would vanish forever into the darkness. And if it did, hell, heaven and earth would quake before what would be unleashed. With a tenderness that any from Boston would have disbelieved, Faith squeezed Xander's hand, and was surprised when she felt a slight pressure in return. "I'm here for you Xan. I'm not going anywhere.."

His head turned, his eyes met her's, and for an instant, Faith thought she saw the old Xander. But before she could even react, the armor snapped back into place, and the pain filled eyes were once again cold, hard and unyielding. His hand pulled from her's, not quickly, but with an unstoppable action. "I'm" He hesitated, as if not sure quite what to say. "I'm not that person any more Faith. To much has happened." His voice trailed off slightly. "What I am, I cannot change. I'm not the boy who watched as those who he cared about were picked off one by one. Now I am the hunter. Now, I implore you. Leave me alone Faith, please." And with that, he turned and jogged back towards the house.

Faith stood there for a moment, trying to catch up with all that had just transpired. By the time she moved to follow Xander, he was already to the house. Even sprinting, she only covered a fraction of the distance before the heavy door slammed shut and she heard the sound of the bolts being thrown, sealing her out. "Damn it," she muttered as she came to a halt on the porch. 'Well, at least he's still in there, somewhere' Tenatively, she knocked on the door, but wasn't surprised when there was no answer. From inside the apparently sound proofed house, Faith thought she heard the sounds of someone, obviously Xander, beating the hell out of his environment. With a sigh, she stepped away from the door.

'Now what?' she wondered. She wasn't going to leave him and just go back to her routine of driving around the countryside hunting down monsters. If she left for any considerable amount of time, he was almost sure to bolt. And now that he knew she was looking for him, he would be a hell of a lot more difficult to find. But would he bolt anyway? There was no way she could watch the house 24/7. If nothing else, he probably had a bolt hole leading away from which he could escape if he truly wanted to.

That was the big question. Did he want to? At least part of him was still in there, and wanted that contact she had started. But was it enough?

"Ok Xander. I'll come back in the morning and talk to you then. Want me to bring you anything?" she yelled. Faith wasn't exactly surprised that there was no response. "Ok. See you in the morning then."

** ** ** ** ** **

The scrub grass stretched out around her, laying like a blanket over the side of mountain on which she stood. Beneath her, a small city stretched out towards the ocean. But as beautiful as the scene was, the backdrop itself stole any peace or tranquility which one could have found in the view.

The sky was on fire.

Faith shook herself as she made that realization, watching the flames cross the heavens like mad sheets of lightning, consuming all before them like some ravenous god. 'Oh shit, not now,' she thought. 'I don't need one of these damn prophecy dreams.' But, as always, the choice was not her's to make and so she cursed at whatever gods were listening as they threw an extremely unneeded monkey wrench into her plans... The gift of Prometheus, now twisted into something dark and sinister, licked across the sky. A ribbon reached down from the heavens like a whip to hit her, setting every nerve in her being ablaze in pain.

Then, as fast as it had struck her, it was gone, as was she from the spot she had stood.

Her eyes reopened and she found herself somewhere else. From the pre-dawn skyline, is was someplace in New York, but this was a New York she had never seen before. It was the Big Apple as if it had been descended upon by a horde of demonic worms, gutted and consumed. The streets were deserted, but the stench of battle, blood and death lingered like the smoke that drifted between the now ruined buildings. The burnt carcasses of taxis and commuter vehicles lay in the street like roadkill. "Is this supposed to show me something?" she cried. "Okay, bad things happening. I get it. Give me something a bit more descriptive!" The smoke grew thicker around her, obscuring her vision and making it hard for her to breath.

A gust of wind blew past, and the smoke dispersed.

Blinking her eyes, she knew she had shifted again. To Los Angles this time. She looked out over the city, recoiling from what she saw. It was like a scene from a bad movie. The city ruined, parts still burning. Over the din, she could hear the wailing of emergency vehicles, the screams of terror and the sounds of battle. Without thinking, she began to run towards the source, not realizing the limitations of her current state.

Rounding a corner, she knew exactly where she was. The looming form of the Hyperion stood before her, surrounded by police cruisers and spotlighted by helicopters. The chatter of gunfire could be heard from inside. The dark Slayer knew something was wrong, seriously wrong. This kind of encounter always brought the police coming in swarms, but there were barely a handful of cruisers here. Moving between two of them, she realized that the police cars themselves looked like they had been through a war zone. Hastily welded steel reforcing over them was pock marked by bullet holes, burn marks and cracked glass. And, even stranger, there were no cops around.

The sound of a voice from the inside of a cruiser grabbed her attention. She ran to it, but stopped short at what she saw. The voice had come from a radio inside the car. A radio which was being held by what looked to have, until recently, been a LAPD officer. An officer who looked like he had been fed face first into a mulcher and pulled out when it got to his waist.

The sound of bullets richochetting near her jarred Faith from her shock and into motion towards the shattered doors of the Hyperion.

The scene which confronted her chilled her to the core of her soul. The once spotless and tasteful lobby had been redecorated in carnage. Scattered like ragdolls, she saw the perforated remains of Wesley, Gunn and some other girl. It seemed as if they had come running out of the office when they had been stopped cold by a fulisade of weapons fire. To the right, near and on the stairs leading upwards, were the remains of the team which was normally led by Liv O'Shanaussee, the other Slayer. Faith shook her head as recognized Reginald Sinclair, her current liason with the Watchers.

More gunfire ripped through the hotel, this time from beneath her. The basement. Faith raced for the stairwell, bouncing off the wall as she took the turn midway. As she stepped of the final step, she say Liv standing before her, arms and hands outstretched as she chanted. From each palm flowed a streamer of flame, which was being whipped around the room in search of some unseem foe. Crouched behind the flame throwing Slayer was Angel. His face was ashen as he cradled Cordelia, her shirt drenched with blood.

Faith tried to move towards them, but one of the streamers of flame flowed over and around her and suddenly she was standing outside of an ancient castle, which was burning with almost maniacal intenisity.

It took her a second to take this in, as she was a bit disoriented from all she had to take in, not to mention the sudden shifting. 'Oh shit,' she whispered as she realized the castle which was burning before her was in fact Waddesdon Keep, the main headquarters for the Council of Watchers.

She looked up and saw illuminated by the flames consuming the centuries old complex someone had left a message on the parapet over top the gate. But before she could be positive of what she was afraid she saw, a wall of flame lashed out of the castle and she was in New York once more.

Her ears picked up the sound of a voice and she ran towards it. Turning a corner, she skidded to a stop. The voice had been Spike's and even now he was screaming obscenities at someone in the shadows. But it was the situation which lay before her that stopped her movement cold.

Children. A dozen or more, all laying like broken puppets, scattered around Spike on the ground. And Spike himself was on his back, his head lifted as he was yelling at someone Faith couldn't see.

"You bloody animal! They were kids!" Spike snarled as he tugged on his arms. Faith could now see that he was stuck to the ground, or more appropriately, stuck into the ground. Wisps of smoke rose from the stakes which were driven through his arms and legs into the concrete.

"They would grow into my enemies," came the reply, the voice empty of anything resembling humanity. "Much easier to eliminate them now than wait till they can cause more evil to be spread upon the earth."

"They were children you bastard! Human children! They weren't evil, they were kids you bloody wanker!" Spike struggled against the stakes that held him captive. "I'm going to tear your heart out and shove it down your throat!"

"You going to that that in the next three seconds?" asked the speaker as he pointed at the horizon from the shadows.

The sun lifted itself over the land, coloring the smokey sky with the first rays of light. "I'll see you in hell, you bastard!" Even before the last word had left his mouth, Spike began to smoke, then burst into flame.

"Maybe so," said the figure in the shadows. "But, soul or not, you'll be there first" The voice was hauntingly familiar, but seemed like a pale shadow of what it had once been. It was as if all the human qualities had been ripped from it, leaving only a dark revenant behind.

Faith's mouth was dry as she watched Spike burned.. She closed her eyes, trying to shut out the tableau which was before her. But she couldn't shut her ears. When the sound of the crackling flames abruptly cut off, and she felt the cool moist air against her face, she was relieved.

Until she opened her eyes, and found herself in a graveyard she had stood in before in Sunnydale, years before. The sight which assailed her drove her to her knees.

Tears filled her eyes as she stared at the name on the tombstone before her. The fire in the sky causes the shadows to ripple across its face, the name seeming to change with each flicker of darkness until finally settling on the one name she hoped to not see, 'Dawn Summers'. Suddenly the fire illuminates a metal spike which had been hammered into the granite, and driven onto the top of the spike, staring out with terror filled unseeing eyes, was her own severed head.

** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Faith's eyes weren't even fully open as she rolled out of the sweat soaked bed. Her stomach was rolling about like a rabid beast, threatening to void itself of the pizza she had eated before falling asleep. After a moment of collecting herself and performing a few repetitions of a breathing exercise she had learned during her martial arts training, Faith felt that she would be able to at least walk around without tossing her cookies.

Perched on the edge of the bed, she hit the first speed dial on her cell phone. As the call went through, she fitted the headset in place, getting the mic adjusted just as the call was answered.

"British Museum of"

Faith didn't even let the receptionist finish her introduction before she cut her off. "Reggie Sinclair. Now. And if you don't put me through to him, right this second, you're going to find out what an irritated Slayer is capable of doing."

After a single stutter, the lady informed Faith that she was connecting her now.

Two rings later, Sinclair picked up. "Hang on, I've got to take this.. Hello?"

"Reggie!" A sigh of relief crossed the phone lines as Faith heard the voice of her liason.

"Faith? You sound upset. Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, I think so," she replied as she got up to pace around the room. "Look, I I had a dream."

Reginald was all business with those words. "A prophetic dream?"

"Maybe, or it could have just been a nightmare, but I'm betting on prophetic."

"Was this the first time you've had this particular dream? Can you remember it?"

"Oh, I can remember it. The problem is that I don't want to remember it. And yeah, it was the first time for this one."

"Did it manifest as an extension of one of the other dreams you've had, or was this one a stand alone? What was it about?"

"Before I say anything else, I need to know something Where are you right now? And where's the Brat Pack?"

"Currently I am New Orleans, enjoying myself as opposed to being here on Council business. And as of this morning, the Brat Pack is back home in Montana, I believe. Why? Is there something amiss?"

"Look, this dream was I don't know, weird. There was some shit in there from my past and some stuff that I don't know quite what it means," she lied smoothly. "I'm on it, but there's some stuff I need you to take care of for me."

"Are you sure you don't need any assistence on this, Faith?"

"Reggie! Damn it, listen to me." Faith snapped at him, then took a breath. "Look, this dream just has me on edge. I'm dealing with it, on my own."

"Faith, I understand that you want to do this yourself, and as much as I want to ask exactly what is going on, I won't. For now. But I do need to ask you if this problem is going to pose a risk for anyone else."

The Slayer sighed. "No Reggie, not if you listen to me and do what I ask you. First, I don't want you or the Brat Pack anywhere near LA, until I say otherwise. Unless its end of the world time, stay the hell out of Los Angles. Second, I'm off the clock for a while. And before you ask, no I don't know how long. Probably a couple weeks at least. I've got some ghosts I have to face, in order to keep some serious shit from hitting the fan." She paused, not sure of what to say next. "Look, I've got to deal with this. I'm asking you to trust me on this. It's not something the Council needs to worry about. I'll deal with it and when I'm done, I'll be in touch."

"Ok Faith." His concern could be felt across the country. "I'll pass the word and do as you ask. Now, not as your watcher, nor as anything but a friend, are you ok?"

"I think so, Reggie. It's just that some things came up out here out of nowhere that I thought were dead and buried. I don't want anybody else involved in this. I'm not real sure whats going to happen, but I don't want anybody else in the crossfire if things go bad."

Faith could tell he wanted to ask her more, but after a moment, he simply said that he'd cover for her and if she needed anything, he'd stay in the US until he heard from her one way or the other. Faith chuckled. "You know, if you got a satellite phone then I wouldn't have to call England to find out where you are and what cell number to try."

"Stop getting your doors kicked in and maybe I could pry one out of accounting." He paused. "Just be careful, ok Faith."

"I will. After all, I wouldn't want to pass these damn dreams on to Liv, now would I?" And with that she disconnected.

"Ok, that was the easy one." Her fingers danced over the numbers on the keypad. This was a number that wasn't stored in her phone, because is changed twice a month and frankly, she didn't want to run the risk of anybody getting it if her phone got into the wrong hands.

The call was answered after three rings, and immediately the sound of a crowded room could be heard over the connection. "Before you say anything, I'm at a party and I can't get to someplace with fewer people so we can talk in private."

Faith translated in her head, 'This isn't a secure line and I can't get to one. Don't say anything that needs to stay secret' "Hey, sis, its me. I just got to the bed and breakfast I am staying at for my vacation."

"Yeah, what was the name of the place, again?" 'Where the hell are you?'

"Powhatan Point. It's a real small town, but I thought some of the local color was interesting enough to check out. If you want to take a vacation sometime, its in eastern Ohio, only about eight hours from New York. The place I'm staying is on Sycamore Street. You know this place doesn't have any real hotels, and this is the only bed and breakfast in town? Reminds me of something out of the past, like a forgotten time or something."

"Sounds interesting. Anything nitelife to speak of?" 'Vamps or demons?'

"Nothing at all. Its like Mayberry or something. But there are some really interesting people here. This one guy in particular I think you might like him. Too bad you can't get here while I'm in town. I'd like to introduce you to him."

"Sorry, sis. But I've already booked this week. I've even got an appointment in the morning with a real mover and shaker in the local scene. I've got to be out the door before the sun comes up." 'I can be on road by morning.'

"Well, make sure not to take too much. Better to be light on your feet. Anyway, I'll let you go. Gonna try and get back to sleep. Had some weird dreams earlier."

"That's too bad. You'll have to tell me about them sometime." 'When we get together, you better give me the run down.'

"Ok, well you take care sis. Hope we can get together soon."

"You too Love you and see you soon."

And Faith hung up, shedding her headset at the same time. 'One way or the other,' she thought as she reached for her katana and sharpening stone. 'I'm going to keep that dream from coming true."

End Chapter 9

Well, what did you think? Opinions are greatly appreciated and requested.. Please feed my Muse so she'll keep happy and it won't take months before Chapter 10 is ready.