"He's gone!"
The entire story came rushing out of the panicking brunette who was still staring at the door as if any minute he might come walking through it. Ha, ha, what a clever joke but no it was me all along. As the minutes ticked by and her story came out it was becoming increasingly obvious that this was no joke. Ripper was loose in London again and was liable to pick up where he left off with no memory to hinder his decisions. He was a menace in the making and every minute they spent looking was another minute where he might make a choice that affected his entire life. When she finished Faith finally took a breath, slumping down onto their sofa amid the magical tools and candles he'd left behind.
Buffy paused, sighing into the phone. "Alright, I'm coming over. I've got to grab Willow first."
She shuddered and nodded though the blond couldn't see it. "Hurry."
Every muscle in her body felt like it was solid stone, held tight by worry. Her brow was furrowed as she watched the door waiting for he, or Buffy, to come through it. She prayed for the first time in her entire adult life to some nameless god that she could find him, that they could bring him home safely. Maybe this was the price they had to pay for all these weeks of peace and joy. Maybe none of them were meant to be happy. She felt a tear slip down her cheek and brushed it away, shaking her head in disgust. She was not this weak. She was strong and determined and would find her fiance come hell or high water.
Buffy came through the door and Willow trailed in behind her. Both of them looked around the room and Willow shook her head, looking apprehensive.
"Whatever he was casting was big. You can feel it."
"He made himself younger." Buffy shook her head. "I can't believe it. Why?"
"We had talked about it. Not him making himself younger but, you know, age. Life expectancies. It came up when he proposed."
Buffy shook her head, knowing her mentor all too well. He'd want to fix it if he thought something was broken, especially when it came to love. All of them knew he didn't have the best luck on that front. The blond didn't spot any clues among the magical rubble about where he would have gone and she, admittedly, knew very little about this side of him.
"Faith, where you do you think he's gone?"
"I don't know."
"Try. You know him better than anybody."
"I don't, not really. The person that knew him best as Ripper is, is -"
"Ethan."
The two appeared on the same page at the same moment, and Faith nodded fearfully.
"If he finds him and Ethan knows he can't remember he'll take advantage of it. Everything he wants to do right now he'll have the perfect enabler. I've seen the two of them together and it's fireworks all the way. People are going to get hurt or worse. He'll hurt himself."
"Or he'll make a choice now that'll affect the rest of his life."
The brunette nodded, though no one had really doubted how serious of a situation this was.
Willow piped up, picking up something from the floor, a candle.
"I can try scrying, or a locator spell."
"Whatever you gotta do, Will."
"I need something personal of his."
"How personal?"
"The more he cares about it, the stronger it'll be."
Faith nodded, picking up a ceremonial knife that was on display for interest, not for use, and cut her finger. She smeared some of it on her engagement ring, sliding the band off of her finger to hand to the redhead who took it with a knowing nod. It was more than enough. If he was in the city at all, she'd find him.
"He cares about both of these things a lot."
"I know; it's good. I need a map."
Faith went into his office and came out a short while later with a map of London he'd used to map other phenomenon. She handed it wordlessly to the witch. Both Slayers appeared in much the same pose while she prepared: rigid the brunette with her arms crossed over her chest and the blond with hands on her hips. They both looked equally worried, brows furrowed with concern. The blond was nervously biting her lower lip, something they only saw her do in extreme cases. She reached out and touched the other girl, trying to reassure her despite her own nerves.
Willow lit a few candles and began chanting a simple spell using the ring and a candle he'd used in his youth spell. Laying the map out she hovered the candle over the map and held the ring above it. Magic glowed around the ring and wax dripped onto the map before the light quickly extinguished. Faith rushed over and studied the map, frowning as she straightened.
"That's not a good look."
"That's the same part of town he lived in before. It might be the same building him and his friends crashed in when we met. It means he's looking for what he knows."
Worries were no longer just that. They were full blown fears.
"From here he tries to find the old gang and fails or makes a new one. It's not hard to find an impressionable person with magical talent and a desire to escape. He's charming enough and that shit gets addictive too quickly. No offense, Will."
The redhead blanched and shook her head. "None taken."
Buffy nodded, completely on the same page with her companion. "How should we do this?"
"I think we should let me do most of the talking but I'm not discounting him seeing you. Maybe deep down he still knows you're the Slayer, his slayer. That's what had him interested in me back then: seeing a slayer face to face."
"You're a Slayer, too."
"Not his." She shrugged, knowing they all knew what she meant. "Anyway, you too have had a bond way longer."
The blond sighed, wanting to say something to keep Faith from continuing to play down what she knew to be a strong and heartfelt relationship on both sides but opted not to knowing how concerned they both were for him. Right now there were more pressing things than trying to get Faith to develop some much needed self esteem. Find Giles, save the world, and then work on her ideas of value.
"The tube will take too long."
"We're taking his motorcycle."
"HE HAS A MOTORCYCLE?"
It was hard to say which girl got to it first, blond or redhead. Faith simply nodded and grabbed the keys from the dish. He had one, though like his guitar it was hardly used. He'd taken her out on it once on a date to impress her perhaps and laughed the entire time about how loud it was, what a disturbance it caused. That's why he'd gotten it, he confided, when he was younger. He'd wanted the entire row to know when he was about and make his parents shudder for it. Things were different now; he'd said he hardly knew why he kept it anymore except out of nostalgia, but it sat in a storage shed mostly unused under a cover. She pulled it out as it started to rain, never a good sign.
"Hope you're cool riding without a helmet."
"Just don't slip in the rain, ok?"
She nodded, not willing to make an issue of it. She had the reflexes of a Slayer, very little would catch her off guard, but they were both worried and it would be pointless to argue over trivial things. Maybe this was what maturity looked like; she hardly bothered to care. They sped off through the rain, weaving through traffic. The raindrops felt like mini bullets, pelting their exposed skin at the speed they were traveling. She artfully wove through the London streets, pulling steadily away from heavier traffic as they got into the seedier side of town. She stopped the bike in front of the building they'd met in. It looked better than the last time she'd seen it, this entire section of the city under some "beautification" project, but not as good at the townhouse they lived in now.
"What's this?"
"This was where him and his friends were squatting when we met."
"Here?" Buffy's nose wrinkled.
Her companion nodded impassively. "There's a lot you don't know."
"It seems so. If he's not here...I don't know where to begin."
"If he was here, we'd know. We should have brought Willow. She could track him, maybe."
"He'd feel it."
"Would he?"
"Right now he's got to be confused, paranoid, with tons of magic on his side. He'll be quick to lash out, angry. He's looking for something he knows. B…"
The blond picked up her hand and squeezed it. "He won't be alone, not for long. We'll find him. Where did he go with Ethan?"
"There was this club, a thrasher bar not too far from here. They'd go there a lot, I think. If it's still there…"
"Let's go."
