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WARNING: the rating has changed to M, I don't think it's really in this chapter but there is a possibility for in later chapters, also pairing is B/F

Hey I know it's been a while but I had a bit of writers' block, but here it is.

A.N I know this is a short chapter and I'm hoping to put a longer one up soon, I just wanted to put this up tonight, so here it is…

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Cruciatus

By Audiodream

9. Apocalypses

BUFFY:

She had woken up about an hour ago and she could tell that Faith had done the same. Still both of them lay perfectly content in each others arms but Buffy could almost feel Faith's thoughts turning sour and more depressing as the seconds ticked by and the sun rose fully into the blue canvas.

"What ya thinkin' bout?" She finally broke the silence with a question she hoped she had masked to sound like a flippant comment. For several moments after the silence remained and the brunette gave no indication of being awake or of hearing the comment from the blond.

"How everyone's gonna ask a bunch of questions once A tells 'em all." Faith answered honestly and for that Buffy was grateful. She was really hoping this relationship worked but if Faith couldn't open up to her and be honest then she knew it wouldn't. Buffy turned around in Faith's arms so they were facing each other and Buffy's breath hitched in her throat at the sight of her counterpart. She truly was beautiful in the morning, with the sun's light licking at her face and her deep brown orbs glazy with sleep. "Might have already. Probably over tryin' to knock down my door as we speak." Faith told her whilst absently playing with a few strands of Buffy's blond hair. Buffy could see how much that scared the younger girl. She smiled reassuringly and kissed her on the nose tenderly then laid back down, half on top of Faith with her head resting on her shoulder whilst Faith idly played with her hair.

"I don't think he would have told them if you weren't present. He probably waited knowing Angel. And yes, there will be questions but if you want not everybody has to be present I'm sure if it's just you, Giles and Angel then it will be fine." Buffy tried to reassure her and lifted her head up to look at Faith. Faith smiled at her and kissed her forehead gently then started getting up.

"Well I'm gonna go back to my room to shower and then go about getting me some breakfast." Faith said getting up and heading to the door, just as she was about to open it she paused and turned around. "Oh, and thanks for yesterday and last night, I had fun. I'm kinda thinkin' we might need to talk later or something, but I just wanted you to know, I appreciate it." She said and then left.

Buffy smiled to herself in an empty room, and lay back down. Last night she had slept better than she had done in a long time, and she had an idea of why that was: Faith. She had slept close to Faith and it had been fantastic and she had been happy. She wondered on that for a moment, when had she started to feel happy when she was around the younger slayer. In Sunnydale they had started to be able to put up with each others presence, but then in LA they had basically ignored each others existence again. Now Buffy already felt a little down because they couldn't spend all day together again, they couldn't just sit around watching movies, going shopping and chatting about everything and absolutely nothing again. They had work to do, another apocalypse to avert. And it was going to be hard on all of them. Especially Faith.

There in that moment, in her bedroom at six in the morning, wearing her pink pyjama's she made a promise to herself. That during the next few weeks, whatever this apocalypse brought about she would support Faith and make sure she was ok. She would get to know the girl properly, unlike the way they had tried to become friends through their slaying all those years ago when Faith had first turned up in Sunny hell.

FAITH:

For the last three hours she had been following blindly a group of three slayers as they did their patrol. Today had been quite easy considering. Angel had explained to Giles what had happened and he had thought it best not to tell anyone else as of yet. Not even Willow and Kennedy. So since then Faith had been hanging about all day waiting for nothing.

Her nerves were all frazzled, the slayer in her could feel something coming and whatever it was…well a part of her was hoping she never had to face. Whatever was coming was going to be big. It was going to be hard to beat. And it was going to be coming after her. That's all she knew. She was scared out of her wits.

She had been fighting demons and gods from cruciatus for years now, but this was all different. This was going to be harder. Because before? Well compared to what she felt was coming was a piece of cake. Ok so maybe not a piece of cake….a piece of burnt, dry, filled with glass shards and nails cake…but still cake.

Now she had everything to lose: there was the newer and less experienced slayers, there was the Scoobs, there was Angel….and there was B.

She didn't quite know what was going on with her and B, but whatever it was at the moment it was her beacon of light. The only thing to look forward to at the moment. Of course she was happy she was out of the hell dimension but sometimes, even if for only a small millisecond of her day, she wished she was back there. Where she hadn't brought back any evil demon god whose intent was to destroy her, people she cared about and then go on to destroy mankind as they knew it.

Tonight, she and the two newer slayers (Lillian and Kate), were set the task of patrolling quadrant four of the city. It was a large quadrant, fairly decent amount of night time activity apparently. To make patrolling easier the Academy had split the city up into quadrants, 1 through 12, and groups of four or five would go out each night and patrol. Looking for the monsters under your bed, or this case right under everybody's noses. If they just looked hard enough.

So far though, not a lot of commotion. She had yet to stake a new-be. Quadrant four covered the docks, some of the club scene in this part of the city, and even some of the outskirts of town. Where there were lots of barns and fields, just waiting to be inhabited by a nest of vamps. That's where they were walking now, towards a large barn that had a light on inside.

The barn itself looked old; the large blue wooden doors were slightly open. The handles were rusting off. The walls themselves were full of crevices and had a worn textured surface due to weathering and aging. The roof, with its mix'n'match set of tiles looked as if it had been neglected for sometime; in contrast to the surrounding field. Where the nourished grass had been cut recently. Faith didn't much care for the barn, it reminded her of a barn her and her brother had once found on the rare occasion when they had gone on vacation. Later they had found out that it was a site where a family of four had perished in a barn murder. That didn't exactly help her shift the foreboding feeling she had been carrying around, especially since it was getting a lot worse the nearer they got to the barn.

Before she could even comment on anything, the rickety barn doors flew off of their worn hinges and crashed with a large resounding thud on the shaven earth. Out charged the one Faith had been searching for, but wished she had never found.

He stood tall, she was sure she had never met him during her stay in Cruciatus. If she had she was sure she would have remembered the unmistakable colour of his eyes. Blue, yet grey and they seemed to glow in the shine of the moon. Most of the gods/demons whatever you wanted to call them back in Cruciatus had dark black eyes that bore into you and made you feel as if you were suffocating on your own soul. She had soon realised to get over that though, as it gave her nothing but injuries.

Her body was ready for a fight, she had fought demons and gods like him before, and yet she new he was going to be tough, like many of the others. But what concerned her was the two girls with her, Lillian and Kate; they hadn't spent years practising this, learning what your punishment was for failure. Not learning it was better to train your body until you no longer could feel the aches and pains than to spend the next year possibly years in a dungeon being tortured by Crutio and his minions. They didn't know what his limits might be, all they had to go on was the myths, the legends, and they were scarce.

She ran in front of the two, raised her weapon. An imitation of the scythe they had found in Sunnydale during the fight with the first. She expected him to attack her, she was in front and the one he was talking loudly about wanting to kill. Instead, surprising her and her companions, he leaped into the air, out of her range and landed behind them. Nearest to Lillian, he picked her up with such speed that Lillian and Kate had never seen someone possess before and broke her neck. She fell to the floor, on the crisp cut grass, limp and dead, like the strands of grass surrounding them that had been cut off recently.

Repartidor never had a chance to attack Kate because this time Faith was ready, and she wasn't about to let him kill either of them without a fight. In matching speed she grasped the handle of her scythe and hit out with it with grace that other slayers even had trouble accomplishing.

KATE:

Kate, frozen with fear, stood still and crept backwards until she was out of the fight. She watched, unable to move, to join in with the battle between the two warriors, or to run to maybe get help. Although she knew that wasn't going to happen, they were out on the outskirts of quadrant four, where they hardly ever patrolled.

The only reason they were this far out tonight was because she and Lillian had wanted to find some action for Faith and try to impress her with their skills. Now that she saw the elder slayer in action she knew they would not have succeeded, for they didn't even compare. She hadn't ever seen anyone else fight with such skill, strength, speed and precision. She was sure that Buffy might give a good game but in the end the winner would be clear.

Repartidor kept coming at Faith with his razor sharp swords, of which he had two, and she kept blocking and attacking with matching vigour. All that Kate could hear was the deep metallic clanging that seemed to surround them, and make her friends death even more real. Faith and Repartidor kept at it for what seemed forever, all the while she was stuck there on the spot, unable to do anything. Then Faith managed to disarm her opponent, and with a roar the demon kicked the scythe out of her hand. Now it was hand to hand. Knuckles bled, bodies went flying, but they kept coming back to the centre of the field, where the match kept on with energy that few demons and slayers held. The battle invoked something inside Kate and made her feel proud of what she was, a slayer. A girl who was no longer alone but fought for humanity. They fought for what was good, what was right. The Light to the dark.

It seemed like hours had passed and so far not much trauma, no one side was better off than the other. The demon, that looked chillingly human, bled from various cuts and bruises on his face, and now bare torso from where he had lost his shirt. Faith's knuckles were split open from hitting so hard and she was also covered in welts and cuts. Neither was winning nor losing, it was a stalemate.
Then out of nowhere the demon grabbed a dagger and hurled it at Faith, aiming right for her heart, she tried to block and dodge it but in the end it came at her with too much speed and pierced her in the abdomen. She grunted and fell to one knee, the demon flung himself at her and knocked her to the ground, truly it was unfair. He attacked her face with cement like fists; she was now covered in even more welts and cuts. Kate stood watching, unable to move for her own fear. Unable to protest but within her mind.

Just when Kate had all but lost her hope that something could be done for her and for Faith, Faith snapped her legs from under him and kicked him through the air. He went flying into the old rickety barn and the whole thing crashed down on top of him. He wouldn't be getting up soon, and dust lifted into the atmosphere of the field. He wasn't dead, she could still sense his darkness, but he wasn't an immediate threat.

She was broke out of her fear by the sight of Faith barely standing and looking at her with sadness, pain and….she couldn't quite place it. Her right hand clutching her wound where she had now removed the dagger with a yell into the dark night. With a small sad sarcastic smile Faith said five fantastic words before drifting into unconsciousness.

"Let's get out of here." And with that slumped to the ground. Kate quickly ran forward to the prone body of the warrior and lifted her up. She got out of there quick, trying to make it as painless for the dark haired woman as possible, whilst trying to get back to the academy quickly in fear of the demon catching up with her.

BUFFY:

In the middle of her patrol a sense of foreboding had washed over her and she hadn't been able to get rid of it. She and four other slayers were patrolling quadrant three, the busiest of all twelve quadrants. Everything they had come about this evening had been easy to kill, so it wasn't that.

She called their patrol short, anxious to get back to the academy and check to make sure it was secure and safe. As soon as they stepped inside the grounds she could tell something was wrong. All other patrols had been called short as well, slayers from all twelve quadrants making their way back according to the radio she carried. No one said why, just that it was expected and no one was to go against their wishes. Also, she could feel the hum of a freshly painted up protection spell thanks to Willow all around the grounds. Something was definitely up. She walked quickly to the building, sure that what ever was on the other side of that door would be trouble.

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TBC…

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