Chapter 36
Two hours later, the spell was successfully performed and the slayers were asleep in the workout room for the spell to work faster.
"Why would the demons want that?" Tara asked. "I mean, if those demons wish to keep the balance a confrontation between the slayers is bound to end up with one of them dead and the other severely hurt."
"Two birds, one stone." Willow replied.
"Yes but in a way it doesn't make any sense. Look, these demons, the Engrden, practically drip magic of their pores. If they wanted the slayers to kill each other they would have cast another spell." She looked at Giles who was nodding to himself. "When I took a look at their auras nothing was disrupted."
Willow mulled it over. "You think this could be a prophetic dream of some sort."
"Yes."
"Faith and Buffy killing each other?" Xander asked lost.
"No." Giles took of his glasses. "I see where Tara is coming from. There has to be more to the dreams."
"Role reversal." Dawnie and Willow said in unison smiling at each other. Yeah, they are smart alright?
"Yes." Tara nodded. "Buffy mentioned something about a vampire saying 'when the door of hell opens, you'll die."
"Okay, I'm officially lost." Xander said stopping their ranting.
"What we are saying is that if the slayers are busy killing each other, who's killing the slayers? What are the demons doing? If there's a confrontation between them then one of them has gone all bad and crazy or the two of them have but they realize there's only room for one rogue slayer. They are killing a human instead of slaying demons. A shift in energy. The biggest and strongest foe, the one that can take them out is their absolute equal. Themselves. A confrontation of forces. "
"Okay… a little less lost."
"Wait let me see the demons." Anya asked gesturing for the book. "Aha! I know these fellas. They are actually called Jhgikl'r Engrden Nhjivrl."
"The ghjghjr what?" Xander asked.
"Jhgikl'r Engrden Nhjivrl. Easy." She shrugged nonchalantly.
"For you."
"Anyway, I think humans shortened to something they could pronounce."
"You mentioned you know the demons." Giles prompted.
"Yes. Well never actually met one of them but know of them. They work with the PTB."
"And..."
"And? That's it. That's all I know. I think they help with prophecies, premonitions and such."
"So they are good demons, right?" Dawn asked.
"Yes. Although you can never be too sure. The PTB aren't a favorite among anybody. Be it demons, wizards, monks and such. That is why the demons work WITH the power's and not FOR the Powers. The Powers are sometimes too complicated and rather demanding. Oh, and selfish."
"Yes well, now we have to wait and see if the girls can remember whatever message was sent across."
"Isn't a little dangerous to have them sleeping so close to each other?" Dawn asked. "I mean, they did have all those nasty dreams."
"Don't worry dear, the counter spell is effectively blocking out the nightmares and any wicked thoughts."
"But you said before they are going to have more nightmares for at least one more night."
"Yes but the counter spell is, well, fresh and it is at its strongest right now, giving them a chance to rest peacefully and make up for last night's lost sleep."
Faith stretched snuggling into the warmth beside her before opening her eyes.
The first thing she saw was Buffy's peaceful features, and then the trail of drool from the blonde's mouth to the mat.
She chuckled and tucked a loose strand of hair behind the girl's ear making the sleeping slayer mumble something and snuggle into her hand. The brunette thanked whatever spell the sorcerer had performed feeling her wariness slip away if only a little and relaxed next to her sister slayer enjoying the warmth of their connection.
She smiled and gasped when the blonde wrapped an arm around her and rested her head on her chest mumbling some more before her breathing settled into a soft snore.
Uh... now what? What do I do?
Buffy snuggled further into Faith and draped a leg across the brunette's body.
Okay, okay, don't freak out. Freaking out! What do I do? This is... this is... strangely good... No! No! I don't cuddle!
"...Mr. Gordo... don't die..."
Despite herself, Faith couldn't help but laugh at Buffy and find her endearingly cute.
"Wow... shaking..." Buffy said opening one eye. "Boobs. Round boobs." She opened her other eye and tilted her head up noticing the dark slayer. "Faith. Faith's boobs." Her open eyes widened comically. "Yagh! Boob! I mean Faith!" Buffy said disentangling herself from her counterpart. "Faith!"
Faith laughed harder. "Jesus B, one day you throw yourself at me, the other you jump away from me as if I had some contagious disease. Really, make up your mind girl." Buffy glared at her. "Plus you were totally cuddling up to me."
Buffy blushed. "Sorry. I tend to do that."
"It's okay B. One minute longer and I woulda had to throw you off or you would have drool all over me."
"I don't drool."
Faith gestured to her cheek and pointed at the floor. "I think the mat begs to differ."
"Whatever... one minor incident. Plus I was tired I had all the right to drool. For all I know that's your drool." The blonde wiped her cheek clean.
"Okay. Ew."
Buffy shrugged noncommittally. "I was asleep, you and your drool plotted against me." She cleaned the drool nonetheless. It wasn't like it was a pool; it was just a little bit.
Faith laughed. "Yeah right."
Buffy straightened up and sat in a lotus position. "Are we... are we okay?"
"Mmm... yes? No? Kinda?"
"So, we are not okay but... we're okay. For now."
Faith sighed and draped an arm over her head. "I guess... I mean... we need to talk about that, about everything... but how do we know when it is the time to?"
"Do you feel like now is the time?"
Faith rested on her elbows. "Not really. I don't want to talk about it just because of some nightmares pushed us into it."
"Me neither. Maybe we'll know when the right time comes."
"Maybe we will." Faith smirked. "Cliché."
"Faith... did you get the feeling we needed to know something when you woke up?"
Faith nodded. "Yeah but I couldn't tell what."
"Did you slay with me? In the dreams I mean."
"Uh, yes, that's how it started."
"Then you heard what that vamp said."
"Yeah, something about the gates to the underworld opening or something."
"So that's it. 'You'll die when the gates to the underworld open.'" Buffy announced.
"The hellmouth would be my guess." Xander said.
"Somebody is going to try to open the hellmouth. Mark perhaps?"
Faith frowned. "I don't know about you but this guy sounds like pure blah blah blah and no action to me."
"I hope you right dear, but we know better than to underestimate our enemies. After all, he could be in the possession of the other gem. That's enough for us to be wary of him."
"Have you tried that locator spell yet?"
"Yes. Nothing showed up. Not even the ones we had. The gems must carry a cloaking spell with them."
"How about the other spell?"
"I tried a minor one to try and see where they were before but I couldn't risk opening a vortex to another dimension."
"Cranking up the juice is bound to open a portal. Got it." Faith said.
"Yes..." Giles agreed with her
"So what do we do now? I mean both of us felt like there was something we should know and... well, we still don't know what so..."
"And you said we are gonna visit Bizarro Zone one more time, so do you think we'll get more prophetic stuff?"
"Yes. That's why the counter spell doesn't stop it immediately."
"But whenever we get prophetic dreams they aren't so violent." Faith said making everybody look at her weirdly. "They are mostly confusing and stuff." She felt the need to explain.
Faith got prophetic dreams? Apparently.
"Well this was given to you and practically forced into you, so it is not a regular slayer dream."
"Is it still going to be so violent?" Faith asked the ex-watcher.
"Let's hope not dear."
Nightmares plagued the slayers by night again making them trash around and faces contort in pain and fear with small sounds escaping their throats and mouth.
The energy in the hellmouth as usual had risen during the night.
In a dungy room, somewhere dark and cave-y, a single purple gem lit the surrounding darkness and a swirling passage was revealed in a tiny burst of energy. The room was light up and runes and unknown languages and dialects could be seen written on its walls, floors and every available surface.
A gust of wind invaded the cave carrying the tiniest sound of chanting voices vibrating in deep guttural synchronicity.
At the school's basement; the hellmouth's seal began glowing with the smallest flicker of white light while the ground shook in what could be described as an Earthy sigh, barely registering in the thousands of seismometer around the world, not enough to cause any kind of seismic activity but enough to agitate and make the underground creatures stare greedily at the door to the world they once had had access to and the thousands of portals that very door would open and could open to.
Buffy was fighting Faith on the rooftop.
Buffy
She plunged the knife and punched Faith hard on the head knocking her out.
Buff
She carried the brunette firefighter style away from the building and walked slowly but surely towards the souled vampire's mansion, impervious to the brunette's blood staining her clothes.
B
She opened the mansion's doors with a kick and went to her boyfriend's room dropping the brunette unceremoniously on the ground and watched as Angel drank from the slayer.
Anne
When the vamp had his fill, making sure Faith remained alive like the good man he was, Buffy walked to him and staked him, watching him turned to dust with a surprised and pained expression. She knelt by Faith's side and turned her over, driving her stake into her heart.
Summers
She chuckled and dipped her fingers into the girl's wound using some blood to paint her cheeks red and the girl's lips with the crimson color before kissing the death slayer's lips.
She smiled maniacally and tapped the dead slayer's cheek.
"Two birds... one stake."
She cackled again and skipped all the way out of the mansion.
"Two down…seven to go…"
Murderer
Blood. Guts. Severed arms and legs. Piles of dust and rumble. Everywhere.
Faith
Sweat dripping into her eyes clouding her view. Her throat raw from all the screaming. Her arms and legs held in the iron grip of her foes being forced to watch. Tears escaping her eyes mingling with her sweat and sliding down her cheeks.
Faithy
Diana being tortured and slaughtered right in front of her. Torn into pieces as if she were a piece of paper.
F
Kakistos cackling maniacally holding something that was belonged inside Diana's body.
Firecracker
Faith broke away from the grip and dusted the vamps that were holding her, but she didn't notice when that happened.
She had her sight set on Kakistos and the sword laying a few feet away from her.
Whore
She heard Kakistos shout out an order and the next thing she saw was the decapitated heads of demons and vampires rolling by her while she kept walking towards the ancient vampire.
Scumbag
She felt his heavy claws grab her neck and before he could squeeze, she sliced the sword on his face opening and awful gap and felt him let go off her howling in pain.
She felt to the ground breathing heavily and let a sob escape her throat when she recognized one of her watcher's eyeballs in the ground.
Trash
Faith stood up and ran as fast as she could to get away from it.
Never stopping 'til she got to Sunnydale.
Only in this nightmare, she never made it out of the warehouse district. Never made it out of Boston.
Because there she stood. Waiting for her. Along with them... and the blood in her gut and hands never washed away.
She was home.
Psycho
Make her bleed...
"Buffy! Please don't!" Faith howled in pain.
Make her pay...
"Faith! Don't do this please! Snap out of it!"
She deserves it...
"Agh! B! Buffy! Please! Stop! No more please!"
She's made you suffer...
"Shut up bitch! Just shut the fuck up Buffy!"
She's made us suffer...
"This is MY town! I'm the slayer! You are trash! A mistake!"
Let her bleed...
"Fucking goody-two-shoes!"
Let her suffer...
"You are a whore! A psycho! You are NOTHING!"
Kill her...
"This was meant to be MY town! You ruined it! You took everything from me!"
How does it taste?
"You are disgusting! When I look at you all I see is trash! I despise you!"
Kill her...
"You should've stayed dead like you were meant to! All you are now is a reanimated corpse! Nothing but a zombie!"
Good?
"I'm the better slayer. I've always been. And I won't let a slut like you ruin it for me!"
Kill her...
Murderer
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Bloody hell! Who can it be knocking at this ungodly hour?" He rubbed his sleepy eyes and checked the clock on the bedside table. 5 am. "Oh, not so ungodly... Hold on a second will you please?" He got up from bed grabbing his robe on putting on before descending the stairs and going to the door to stop the incessant knocking. He opened the door and paled at what he saw.
Faith looked like a ghost. She was clutching her abdomen and could barely breathe, let alone stand, leaning against the doorway. "Giles? Something is wrong. Something's happening." She said before she passed out.
Giles caught the swaying slayer in his arms and carried her to the couch inspecting her wounds. His first instinct was to take her to the hospital, but when he saw where the blood was pouring out from he frowned and ran to the guests' bathroom getting the first aid kit temporally stopping the blood loss.
He stood up and took his phone out dialing a number while he gathered some herbs to prepare some ointment that helped wounds heal and close faster.
"Spike! I need you to go to the hospital and get me three pints of A+ now!" He kneeled down next the sweaty slayer. "I don't care you daft! Use the bloody sewers then and get bring the blood back as fast as you can!"
Giles got a book out muttering a spell and blowing some white dust over the brunette, before mixing furiously the herbs trying to get the ointment as fast as he could. He kept the slayer as stable as he could but without the blood there wasn't much he could do. When he finally got the ointment done, he rubbed some of at the sides of the open wound muttering something under his breath and watched as the dust particles over the brunette's body drifted into the wound and glowed brightly along with the unguent healing the bruised body.