Part 26
Faith and Tara met the others in the house; they were gathering in the living room, Giles, Xander, Buffy and Kennedy were picking up some weapons from the chest while Anya and Dawn where trying to scry for Willow using a map on the table
"Hey…it's all set?" Tara asked entering the room
"Yes…are the potions ready?" Giles enquired
"Yeah…here hold this one" she said handing him the syringe
"Is this…?" he asked taking it from her
"Yes…that's the antidote" she looked directly at his teary eyes "bring me back Giles"
"I promise" he hugged her affectionately "I love you my child"
"Uh…okay, I hate to interrupt this touching moment, but…" everybody turned to look at the ex vengeance demon "we have a problem"
"What is it?" Buffy asked unsheathing a sword
"How are we gonna find them?" she pointed to the map on the table
"With this" Tara came forward holding a vial
"Is that blood?" Dawn asked watching Tara opening the little bottle
"Yes…it's Ariel's blood" she answered covering the crystal with the red liquid "I may not be able to locate Willow, but I sure can find my child" Tara scried and the crystal pointed to a place on the map
"Gotcha"
Demon's lair
"Come my queen" he extended his hand and Willow took it "how are you feeling? Still getting a buzz from your earlier trip?" Willow didn't react just stood there looking blankly "not much of a talker, huh?" she still didn't react "I'll tell you what" he reached up and put some of her hair behind her ear "what if I say I can guarantee you a life time of dark juices" she looked up to him "interested huh? Good…now there's just this small…detail" he circled her "something really small that needs to be taken care of before you have all dark magic you need" he snapped his fingers and a witch came over carrying a screaming and kicking little girl. She stopped in front of them and deposited Ariel on the floor; the girl stood up and looked terrified at Willow
"You must kill her" he whispered in her ear
Outside of what seemed to be a cave entrance the gang stood examining the place
"Are you sure this the right place?" Buffy asked
"Positive" Tara answered sternly. She then turned and looked at the others
"Okay…you guys ready?" they all nodded "you all know what you have to do, right?"
"Yeah…we get in, kill the demon, save everybody and get out alive and kicking" Faith summed up and then looked at Tara specifically "all of us"
"Remember, we only have fifteen minutes" Giles reminded them
"Alright…let's rock'n'roll" Buffy said swinging the sword over her shoulder
Meanwhile
"What are you waiting for?" the demon hissed through clenched teeth "kill her"
The moment Willow looked at Ariel her eyes went back to normal and she cocked her head to side as if recognizing the child
"Kill her" he repeated angrily
"Mommy?" Ariel cried hopping Willow would wake up
"She won't do it" the dark witch declared
"It looks that blood is thicker than you thought, huh?" they looked up to see Xander standing there with a mocking grin
"Get him" Andreas shouted and the witches came forward
"Hey bitches, over here" Buffy yelled and the witches turned to see the slayers and Kennedy standing there ready for a fight. They ran towards the girls forgetting about Xander
"Hey Willyster…nice hair, who dyed it?" she diverted her attention from Ariel to him
"Kill him" Andreas told her angrily
"Hey handsome, over here" Andreas turned and saw Anya smirking "haven't we met before?" he sent a bolt of magic at her, she ducked and it hit the wall; she ran and hid behind a rock
Meanwhile Tara, Giles and Dawn sneaked inside crawling quietly behind another big rock
"Alright Dawn, go now while his distracted" Tara coached the youngest Summers. Dawn crouched and moved fast towards Ariel
"Hey squirt" she whispered; the little girl turned and threw herself into the young woman's arms "shh…don't cry sweetie" Dawn soothed the girl "I have a message from your mama…she needs you to be very brave, can you do it?" the little blonde sniffed and nodded "good…now that's what you have to do"
The moment Dawn moved to meet Ariel, Tara took the vial from her pocket
"Are you ready?" Giles asked seriously
"No…but I don't think I have choice now, do I?" she smiled weakly
"I'll be right here…everything will be okay" he assured her; she opened the vial, drank the potion and collapsed immediately, Giles grabbed her and laid her lifeless body to the floor gently; Tara's soul left her body
The slayers and Kennedy were busy fighting a witch each. Faith leaped up and kicked her witch in the face; the witch arched backward and then snapped forward; the slayer kneed her in the chin and punched her face sending her to the floor
Another witch punched Kennedy in the face and she quickly retaliated with a left hook-spinning backhand combination, the witch tried a sided axe kick but Kennedy blocked that and punched her across the face.
Buffy was using a sword to fight the other witch, but she grabbed the slayer's arm and disarmed her with a kick; she shoved Buffy backwards, and then moved towards the slayer and slammed her head against a wall; she was about to strike her when Faith saw it and charged at them grabbing the witch's neck from behind. The dark witch broke the brunette's grasp and kicked her stomach making Faith double over in pain. The first witch walked to them carrying Buffy's sword and stroke Faith
Buffy looked up to see that the witch had stabbed Faith with a sword, piercing her abdomen. The brunette stumbled forward and collapsed to the ground, face-first.
"NO"
Enraged at seeing that, Buffy rushed at the witches; she fought them with renewed strength, avoiding their punches, she kicked one of them so hard that the witch was sent flying against a wall lying there unconscious. The witch that was fighting Kennedy launched herself at the slayer who swung and backhanded her across the face, she them kicked the witch's stomach causing her to bend down grunting in pain. The witch that stabbed Faith came forward and punched Buffy but she grabbed her arm and heaved her over onto her back to the floor. She quickly sat across the witch's waist and started slamming her fist into her face. Faith winced and managed to roll over and lie on her back, Kennedy went to her side, pulled her head to her lap and tried to stop the bleeding by pressing the wound; the brunette slayer opened her eyes and saw Buffy straddling the witch and hitting her mercilessly
"B, stop" she spoke weakly and coughed "you're…gonna…kill her" she was struggling to breath
"Buffy, she's right" Giles yelled when he saw the commotion "you can't kill her…she's human" that seemed to do the trick; she stopped in middle action and shook her head as if coming to her senses; she got off the witch and move close to Faith
Xander was still trying to hold Willow's attention
"So, Will…you're not gonna really shoot me, are you?" she lifted her hand and sent a bolt of energy in his direction, he dived and it hit a rock behind him
"Holly crap!" he said covering his head with both hands
"Stop it" Andreas commanded her "they are trying to drain you…and divert our attention" he turned and saw Ariel standing in front of them with her eyes closed
"What's going on?" he asked sensing the threat
Ariel opened her eyes and they where shinning brightly
While the gang was distracting Willow and Andreas, Tara's soul had floated inside Ariel's body
"Hey, baby girl"
"Hi mama"
"Are you ready?"
"Yes"
"Good…you just have to say the words inside your head, ok?"
"Okay"
And together they started reciting aloud
"We call upon the ultimate power, Hear now the witches of light, the oldest Goddess we invoke here; may this demon no longer dwell, may this evil no longer resist. Return to dark; Evil, be gone. Interfectum Malum"
A bright white light flashed out of Ariel's outstretched palms with concentrated intensity like a laser and hit Andreas right on the chest; it crossed him from side to side; He yelled and caused a big explosion sending everyone to the floor.
Giles recovered quickly, shook his head and crawled fast to Tara's body; he reached inside his pocket and took the syringe; with one hand he lift Tara's head, he removed the cover with his mouth and with one fast move he shot the potion into the blonde's heart. She gasped and fell back unconscious in his arms
"Tara" he shook her frantically and used his fingers to check her pulse point
Meanwhile the cave started shaking and rocks began to slide from the ceiling
"The place is crashing" Xander shouted "we have to get out of here"
Giles lifted his head and scanned the place quickly. He saw Kennedy holding Faith's head in her lap while Buffy tried frantically to contain the bleeding; he saw Dawn holding Ariel close to her chest while Xander tried to wake a motionless Willow, her hair had gone back to red; he also saw Anya helping the witches who seemed to be back to their normal selves and looked a little disoriented
"Let's get out of here" he yelled and lifted Tara's body in his arms. Xander carried Willow and Dawn, Ariel; Anya helped the witches out while Buffy and Kennedy lifted Faith to her feet, and carried her out, one supporting each of her arms.
The moment they stepped outside the place crashed forming a big cloud of dust behind them. They stopped running and some of the fell down coughing heavily
"Faith needs to go to the hospital" Buffy said agitatedly
"Here…I'll drive" Xander offered depositing a passed out Willow gently on the floor and then rushed to open the car door so Kennedy and Buffy could carry Faith inside
"What just happened?" one of the ex dark witches asked feeling confused
"You became evil bitches and tried to kill us" Anya said nonchalantly enjoying the look of shock and horror on the girls bruised faces
"Giles" Dawn said coming closer and handing Ariel to him "is Tara…?"
"She's alive…and breathing" he kissed the little girl's head "both of them are" he said nodding to Tara and Willow lying unconscious side by side on the floor
"Then, why are they not waking, grandpa?" the child asked in a small voice
"I don't know sweetie…I really don't" he replied in a very worried tone
Next chapter, Conclusion…