Title: Falling Toward Apotheosis
Rating: R
Author: Banquo
Email: banquo@fanfiction.net
Summary: Xander and Faith have returned home after the events of "Leaves of Grass" but all is not as it seems. Dark dreams and plans set into motion allude to the danger that waits beyond the horizon.
Disclaimers: I own nothing except the story and all the characters I create in between. Buffy and all character related there in belong to Joss and Mutant enemy. While the concept of Immortality and all characters pertaining to Highlander belong to Panzer-Davis.
Archive: Go right ahead! Just email me a link where you plan on archiving my fic.
I've been working really hard on this story and I hope it is living up to everyone's expectations. If you read this story please review, I really do want to know what my reading audience thinks of my fic. Feedback is an author's greatest addiction, however only you readers can feed this addiction so please review!
…
The darkness has come for him again.
It is as if he could not hide from it, not matter where he ran no matter what he tried to do it came for him. He could hear the things around him the sounds of screaming and pain. He could feel the heat of the fires but there is no light, he is isolated in a world of darkness.
If he tried to reach out and feel for the sensations and sounds all that would greet his fingertips at each turn and step is the nothingness of air. The heat against his skin is almost searing but if he tries to reach out for the flames they are not there.
Of all the sounds that he can hear one drowns them out every time; the sound of a sword singing against its sheath. It is a sound that released an instinctual reaction in all immortals, a reaction that had been engrained in their minds since their rebirth into Immortality. The sound brings a sword into his hands immediately, ready for a fight, ready to battle for his life again.
Sword in hand he waits for the battle to begin straining his ears against all the sounds hoping for an indication, anything that could point out the direction of his unknown adversary. The heat is almost unbearable as he hears movement to his left.
He tries to track the movement trying to keep the sounds in front of him but they come at him from all angles. The noise he hears to his left suddenly comes from the right and then back again. He moves as fast as his reflexes will allow jerking his body from left to right, spinning around as the sound comes from behind him.
"If you want to fight then come out and do it!" He yells at his unseen opponent slashing at the air when he hears the sounds get closer and closer.
The moment he says those words he feels the coldness of steel against his neck. Acting entirely out of reflex he brings his blade up and back twisting his body away from the cold metal and knocking it away from him with his sword. He backs a way a few steps in the darkness hoping to put some distance between his unknown adversary and himself. But it is to no avail, as he backs away he once again feels the cold metal against his neck.
This time however he does not have the time to push the blade away, it moves on its own accord away from his neck leaving slight burning sensation in its wake. Moving away again he brings his free hand to his neck and feels a warm stickiness. Bringing his finger to his mouth he tastes the fluid confirming his suspicions, blood.
Again he hears the sound of a sword cutting against air and the burning sensation hits his hamstrings and suddenly his legs can no longer hold his weight. Falling to his knees he hears the sound again but this time is able to block the blade. The ringing of metal against metal is not even gone from his ears as he feels his hand go limp and his forearm burn with pain. Another whip through the air and his feels his back open up just to the side of his shoulder blade causing his arm to go limp at his side his blade dropping to the ground.
He can feel his clothes sticking to him, his blood soaking the cloth weighing it down against his skin. His wounds are only barely beginning to heal themselves as he hears footsteps approach him. Suddenly in the darkness he can see something, light, he can see light being reflected off of the blade of his opponent. No, not reflected, the only other thing he can see is the blade. He watches as the blade comes to a stop in front of him and then raises high above him.
All he can do is watch in horror, his muscles no longer responding to the commands his mind sends to them. He is kneeling in his blood pooling beneath him. The only thing he can do is to fall backward to evade the blade as it falls toward him. The movement saves his life but the blade imbeds itself deeply into his thigh, severing arteries and nerves as his leg instantly goes numb.
His body shuddering from the shock and loss of blood he turns his head to the side and sees his sword. Weakly he is able to move his arm and reaches for his fallen weapon. He realizes that the blade is just out of his reach as the point of another sword comes into view. As he lies on the floor, helpless, he realizes that there is nothing left for him to do. As the blade once again rises in preparation for the descent that all Immortals dread, the last cut that would take his head and release his quickening.
The blade falls, cutting through the air causing a sound that has now long become familiar to him. In a split second the sword will be at his neck and his life would be over.
Xander bolts straight up in bed, his breathing labored, soaking in his own perspiration. His heart races in his chest as he can hear the blood pumping in his ears as he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Focus. Breathe. His breathing slows and eventually so does his heart. Gaining his composure he opens his eyes.
Damn, I'll have to change the sheets again, he thinks to himself as he gets up and out of bed. He makes his way to the bathroom and towards the sink. Turning on the cold water he cups the liquid in his hands and splashes it onto his face. He repeats the actions again and again feeling more and more refreshed with each splash of cold water. Turning off the water he reaches over for a towel and dries his face.
Looking at his reflection in the mirror he says, "They're only nightmares, dreams."
Walking out of the bathroom and out of his room he makes his way to his study repeating the only words he could think of for the past two nights, "Only dreams, they're only dreams"
…
Inside of a nondescript shop in Sunnydale a phone rings. The shop's owner answers the phone with a cordial greeting, "The Magic Shop, how may I help you?"
"Giles? Is that you old boy?"
"Julian! How are you?"
"I'm doing fine, and yourself? How's your new shop?"
"I'm doing fine and the shop is running quite nicely thank you." With the pleasantries over Giles says, "It's quite late for you right now isn't? What did I do that required a call at such a late time?"
"Something is up Rupert. Something big."
"How so?"
"The High and Lesser councils met at Skipton to discuss some kind of plan of action."
"Skipton? My word, if both councils met then it had to have been important. How did you find out?"
"I have friends who guard Murdoch, not the brightest bunch and very talkative but nice enough."
"Did your friends know what the meeting was for?"
"No but I was able to do some digging and I think I may have found something."
"What did you find out?"
"Mr. Travers has been spending an inordinate amount of time in the archives and my contacts there tell me he and his team have been researching for a few months now. Apparently he is researching the Calling."
"The Calling? Why would he do that? Does the Council know if Faith has passed? Buffy is still alive I spoke to her a few moments ago."
"No as far as I can tell Faith is still alive. I think he is trying to activate a new Slayer without one of the other ones passing."
"Do you have any idea of how he plans to do this?"
"No but I think it will happen soon. Watch yourself Rupert, keep your ward safe."
"Thank you Julian I will. You watch yourself as well Julian, you already know too much."
"I will, cheers."
"Cheers."
Giles sets the phone down on its cradle and contemplates his next move. Moving to the back of the store Giles opens a safe and pulls out a few books. Closing the safe and walking back to the front of the store he begins to do the only thing he can do until he sees Buffy later on in the evening, research. Opening his book he hopes to find something helpful before then. The Calling of another Slayer is potentially the most dangerous thing that the Council has ever attempted, and that fact worries Giles to no end because he has no idea how it would affect his young ward. As her Watcher it is his duty to protect her, but how do you protect someone from the unknown?
Sighing Giles turns to his books and finds comfort in his research. Hopefully he'll find something, anything to help him protect Buffy from the Council's plan.
…
Across town Buffy is sitting in her class bored out of her mind. Ancient Eastern Civilization, it's a class that Giles would rave about of course but all of the Chinese Dynasties just rolled on and on and on. Mentally kicking herself she tried to pay attention to the lecturer. Sure she needed the class of one of her breadth requirements but was it really worth of this incredible boredom? Thanks to Willow's amazing note taking skills last quarter she didn't even have to take notes in lecture, she even didn't have to read the assigned readings. She wouldn't have come to class at all had it not been for Willow's threat to take her notes away and thus forcing her to go to class and take notes herself. Sighing she tries to pay attention.
Twirling her pencil idly she imagines how she would fight off a vampire attack inside the sloped lecture hall. Buffy eye's the entrances and exits throughout the lecture hall finding the most likely points of attack. Buffy sits forward in her chair and eyes the bolts holding the chairs to the ground. Nope too strong to tear off of the floor to use as a weapon she thinks to herself. The only weapons at her disposal in the lecture hall are her skills and a lot of number two pencils. She is halfway through her battle plan when she hears the people around her beginning to shuffle their papers in anticipation of the end of lecture.
"And that brings us to the end of the Golden age of Chinese civilization." The lecturer says, "Homework for tonight is to read chapters six through eight and be prepared for a Q and A session in your discussion section."
Packing her stuff up she makes her way into the herd of students shuffling slowly out of the lecture hall. Done with her classes for the day she makes her way towards the dorms to put her stuff down and plan the rest of her day out before she goes out on patrol.
As she walks through the commons she makes a mental list of things that she could do with the rest of her time. It's a beautiful day, the sun is out and it isn't too hot, its a day that screams out saying that you should be outside enjoying it, she needed to stop by her mom's house later on but that was later. Passing by the bookstore she sees the flower stand. Looking at the flowers she knows exactly what she can do to pass the time.
Twenty minutes later Buffy is walking down a familiar gravel path in one of Sunnydale's many cemeteries. As she rounds a familiar corner she is not in the least bit surprised to see a familiar red-headed figure sitting at the foot of her destination.
"Hey Willow." Buffy said sitting next to her good friend and placing the flowers that she had bought earlier.
"Hey Buffy." She replies.
"You just had to get outside and enjoy the day too huh?"
"Yeah, after I got out of my last class and saw how nice it was I just had to spend the rest of the day outdoors."
"Same here, on my way back to the dorm I passed the flower stand and thought it would be nice to visit Xander." Looking over at Willow she notices her somber mood and asks her, "Willow? What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, it's just…"
"Just what?"
"It's days like these that make me miss him so much Buffy." Willow says nodding over at the direction of the headstone
Not wanting Willow to fall deeper into her reverie Buffy says, "But Xander wouldn't have wanted you to be sad on a day like this, he would have said `Wills, it's a beautiful day out lets go do something!"
Her words effects on the young witch are the exact opposite that she was expecting, Willow's shoulders slump slightly and her head falls a fraction of an inch. "That is exactly it though Buffy, when we were little on days like these he would walk over to my house and ask my mom if I could play. I never wanted to you know but every time Mom let Xander come up to my room and he would say `It's a great day outside for an adventure!"
"I would always say no to that one, I told him that I didn't want to have an adventure. Then he would say that it was a great day to be outside and I told him that I didn't want to go outside. But then he would say the one thing I could never say no to."
"What was that?" Buffy asks her curiously.
"It's a great day to be with a friend."
The silence that hangs between the two young women as they soak in the discrete wisdom of a friend long gone is almost tangible. Willow's thoughts are that of a time of innocence long past, a time where she, Jesse and Xander would play and laugh, unknown to them the dangers and horrors of the Hellmouth. The only thing that mattered to the three of them was their friendship. Now looking up at Xander's tombstone and turning her head to the left she can slightly see Jesse's tombstone as well. She was the last one left, the only one who could remember the good times. It was when she thought of this did Willow miss Xander the most; it was then she felt the most alone.
Buffy's arm around her shoulders brings Willow back to the present. "Xander was right, today is a good day to be with a friend."
The two young women lean into each other for support as they quietly sit in front of the grave of their fallen friend.
…
Faith was sitting on the floor of the workout room sipping a bottle of water as she watches Xander continue on with his workout. For the past few weeks she joined Xander in his daily routine. She was very surprised at the amount of stamina he had, every time she would workout with him she could only keep up with him for so long before she had to stop and rest. To his credit Xander would only look over at her and nod as he continued on with his exercise waiting for her to rest up and return to the floor to finish the workout. Xander had taught her the entire kata in just a few hours due to her natural fighting ability, but she was far from perfecting the motions.
It was during times like these that she reverted back to just sitting and watching Xander as he moved gracefully across the floor. She watches as the muscles in his arms flex and relax in turn with the movements, with a an eye that only develops with training she watches his center of gravity shift seamlessly from position to position. As a physical specimen he is perhaps as close to perfect as she has ever seen, a fact that has not been lost on her.
Enough of that girl you so do not need to go there, Faith chides herself. Realizing that she is staring Faith quickly averts her attention elsewhere before Xander can see her staring. As Xander continues on with his workout Faith steals a few glances at him as he moves.
Damn, he's filled out, she thinks as she watches him out of the corner of her eye. Listen to yourself; you're acting like a little schoolgirl. But even as those thoughts flit across her mind she can't stop herself from stealing looks at him.
"You going to sit there and stare all day?" Xander's voice draw's her attention, "Or are you going to join me on the floor?"
Faith blushes slightly thinking that Xander had caught her staring at him, but the easy smile on his face tells her otherwise. Quickly regaining her composure she replies, "Oh definitely on the floor."
"Now that is so not fair." Xander says the grin never leaving his face.
"What are you talking about?" Faith says with as much innocence as she can muster with a broad smile on her face.
"You know what I'm talking about. No fair using feminine wiles while working out, it gives you an unfair advantage."
Leaning in she says to him in the sultriest voice she can manage, "But I'm just a girl and I need all the advantages I can get." She bats her eyelashes just for good measure.
"Yeah right and I'm Carson Daly." He says sarcastically, "You ready to get started? You're the one who wanted to do this you know."
Straightening out and stretching slightly she tells him, "I know, I know, but I was wondering something this morning as I made my way down here."
"What?"
"Why are you doing all this?" She asks.
"I'm not sure that I understand your question, doing what?"
"The training everything, why are you doing this?"
He looks at her as if she were crazy, "I'm an Immortal. It sort of comes with the territory you know?"
"That's not what I mean and you know it, being Immortal is one of the reasons you are doing this but it isn't why you are doing it. I talked to Cassandra and she told me that most Immortals your relative age only know one martial art, she told me you know five not counting the weapons training you have. She also told me that most young Immortals focus mostly on their physical training but not you. If the books upstairs give me a clue of how much you've studied then you've put away more knowledge than a college grad. So what gives?"
There is a moment of pregnant silence as Xander looks at her gauging her with a tired far off look. Sighing he asks her, "When did you become so insightful?"
"You tend to pick up a lot from Cassandra. That and because back in Sunnydale you never had this kind of…" She pauses a few moments looking for the right word "…drive."
"You're right I didn't."
"So what changed?"
"I died." He says somberly. "It took my death to make me realize that I could change who I perceived myself to be."
Seeing that Faith was waiting for him to continue he tells her, "But I didn't come up with that by myself. I didn't figure that out until about three or four weeks after my death. Adam said something to me that just made it all click."
"What did he tell you?"
Doing his best impression of Adam's English accent and all Xander says, "A friend of mine once said `Where does the difference between past and present come from? The laws of science do not distinguish between the past and the future. Yet there is a big difference in ordinary life. You may see a cup of tea fall off a table and break into pieces on the floor. But you will never see the cup gather together and jump back onto the table."
A look of confusion appears on Faith's face. "I'm not sure that I follow."
"I didn't either until he explained it to me, the past is different from the present only because of the amount of chaos that emerges from the structure that was the past. The cup of tea may break and shatter into a million little pieces, but it didn't mean that I had to as well. Once I figured that out it gave me the chance to do what I always wanted to do."
"And what would that be?"
"I know this will sound kind of corny, but to be more than I was to be more than I ever thought I could be. I don't know if any of this is making sense but that moment I decided to pick up what I thought were the broken pieces of my life and sculpt them together to make a life for myself, a life that I could be proud of."
"I can understand where you're coming from Xand," Faith says pushing stray hairs from her face and tucking them behind her ear. "When I woke up the only thing that I wanted to do was make things right, to go back in time and change things so that everything would end up differently. I wanted to make a life for myself where I wasn't hated, where I wasn't the bad girl, where I had friends to turn to. Basically everything I didn't have."
Seeing that her attitude has sobered a bit Xander tells her, "But you have that now right?"
Nodding she says, "I guess I do."
Smiling at her Xander says, "We're a couple of kindred spirits aren't we?"
The smile brings warmth and a feeling in her chest that she can't describe as she answers, "I guess we are aren't we?"
"Come on lets get started." Xander tells her gently grabbing her hand and leading her to middle of the workout area. Once there they stop and Xander faces her and asks, "Ready?"
Faith looks at him a moment before answering. She and Xander really were kindred spirits maybe that was why she was drawn to him that night in her motel room. Maybe if she didn't throw him out of the room frightened by the look of adoration in his eyes he would have been there to help her when she needed it most instead of fighting the devil and loosing. Looking at him just for a moment she shakes loose the regrets and what ifs that linger and answers, "Yeah I guess I am. Let's dance."
Xander leans down and pushes the play button on the small CD player and music fills the room. It is a slow and beautiful song as they move into each other's arms and move music.
Some day, when I'm awfully low,When the world is cold,I will feel a glow just thinking of you...And the way you look tonight.
"I'm going to try a turn ok?" Xander tells her.
"Lead away."
Xander lifts his arm enough to allow Faith to pass under it and spin out slowly and with a gentle tug Faith follows mirroring the previous movement ending up secure in Xander's arms once again.Yes you're lovely, with your smile so warmAnd your cheeks so soft,There is nothing for me but to love you,Just the way you look tonight.
"You're really getting good at this you know?" Xander says to her.
"Thanks, you're not so bad yourself." She replies
"But you've got an unfair advantage, heightened Slayer abilities and all…"
"And what about you and your Immortal training hmmm?"
"Point taken."
With each word your tenderness grows,Tearing my fear apart...And that laugh that wrinkles your nose,It touches my foolish heart.
Their movements are complementary as they dance across the workout area. They move to the old music in style of dance that is dated but that doesn't matter to the pair. They are together in each others arms gliding softly to the music each having complete trust in the other's skills as they move.
If Xander pulled Faith would follow, if he pushed she would move away. If he paused she would pause with him. Lovely ... Never, never change.Keep that breathless charm.Won't you please arrange it? 'Cause I, I love you ... Just the way you look tonight.
"I'm going to dip you okay?" Xander tells her softly in her ear.
"Go ahead, just don't drop me."
"When have I ever dropped you?" He says his voice full of humor, "Besides I'll be there to catch you if you fall."Mm, Mm, Mm, Mm,Just the way you look tonight.
Xander's left hand goes up and signals to Faith to begin a turn. However this time Xander doesn't let go spinning her around in his arms. His lead hand guides her right arm around his neck and his arm cradles her back across her shoulder blades while his other arm moves to her waist distributing her weight evenly between his arms. Leaning into his arms she leans back as he slowly leans forward dipping her slightly.
As the song changes to the next track on the CD all that Faith can feel are Xander's arms around her the way his arms support her and the way she feels inside.
…
As one walks toward the location of Fountains Abbey one can see the great tower above the tree line giving the illusion of a small chapel jutting out of the woods. As one approaches the site however they can see the steep path that leads to the valley below where the abbey's true size lies hidden.
The abbey, hidden away from the outside world by the wooded valley of the River Skell, has lain away virtually undisturbed for nearly five hundred years. When the first settlers arrived at the site where Fountains Abbey would be erected they described the area as `A place of horror and vast solitude, uninhabited for all the centuries back, thick set with thorns and fit rather to be the lair of wild beasts than the home of human beings.'
Only few of the original monks who had begun to cultivate the land for the grand abbey knew of the true history of Skell Wood. It was said that this site was once an open portal to Hell, opened by Nergal himself. The portal allowed demons to enter the realm of man and cause chaos and havoc. This portal was so important to those in the demon world that it was rumored that Adramalech was appointed to safeguard the portal allowing the continued passage of demons onto Earth until a mortal soul passed through the portal and into hell.
As more and more demons began to pour onto the Earth the heavens sent a lone Archangel to combat Adramalech and to close the portal forever. The intense battle was waged for more than two days with heavy damage dealt to both sides. At the end however it was the Archangel who prevailed. Seeing that there was no way to kill Adramalech and close the portal the angel drove the demon lord and himself into the portal. But before they fell through the angel was able tear off its own wings forcing himself to become mortal and thus closing the portal and trapping Adramalech and himself in hell.
When the portal closed the valley of Skell Wood was left. As the millennia passed the wood began to grow covering the spot where the portal had once existed. Though the portal was closed long ago the residual energies left over manifested over the land as a focus point for the natural power drawing "wild beasts" to it. The monks who had built the abbey had designed it to harness these powers. To all those who would see the abbey would see its association to the church with it's grandiose architecture and holy symbols strewn throughout the building. But very few would know that the ones who were in control of the building was the Council of Watchers.
Fountains being built on such a large manifestation of spiritual energy gave the Watchers a location to perform more difficult spells and rituals by tapping into the energy that had saturated the area so many years before. The Watchers have used Fountains for this purpose through the centuries; tonight they will once again use Fountains for their magical needs.
Lauren Fletcher thought of the great abbey's history as she roamed about the west range, her steps echoing between the great stone pillars and walls. At the moment she is underneath the main dormitory, removed from the ritual being performed in the Chapel of Nine Altars on the opposite side of the abbey. The ritual had actually started earlier that day but the preparation and the time it took to forcibly call the next Slayer into existence was considerable. She had already waited three hours for Travers' team to finish the ritual before she began to wonder about the old place of worship two hours ago.
She finds the simple, clean design of the Abbey refreshing. Symmetrical and imposing, Fountains is quite an impressive sight. The tightly laid stones forming the vaulted ceilings, creating lines and order, giving one a sense of awe, knowing that the entire building was built by hand, before the modern machines and technology.
Yes, the ancient knowledge that had been passed down from generation to generation of builders seemed to culminate here. Now the Council has returned to this place to use the knowledge that had been passed down to them through the ancient texts and journals to call forth the Slayer.
Lauren smiles to herself at that thought.
The ritual itself is very familiar to her. Her late husband Jacob was enamored with the old texts, his first assignment as a young man was translating the ancient journals. Ever since then he had been a glutton for the history of the Watchers. It was that zeal that had earned him the title of lead historian, responsible for the great library of Council and everything enclosed thereof. It was there that she had learned of the particular ritual that Mr. Travers and his team were about to partake.
Upon her husband's death she had taken her husband's duties as lead historian. When she had learned that someone within the Watchers had been inquiring about spells and books that referenced the calling of the Slayer. Using her position to discreetly discover who was looking for this information, when she had discovered it was someone from the High Council she began to put her plan into motion. A plan that needed the right catalyst and now, thanks to Mr. Travers, she has it.
As the chanting echoing off of the walls grew louder she realizes that her catalyst is about to take place. She makes her way towards the nave giving her a full and clear view of the East Window and the Chapel of Nine Altars. In the center of the chapel a young woman stands between two pillars. Looking at the way the girl is standing she quickly reassesses that the girl is actually chained to the pillars. Looking at the assembled Watchers she cannot see Travers anywhere near, undoubtedly he had left earlier knowing his impatience. If the ritual's results were what she expected however, it was fortunate for Travers that he isn't here.
The chanting continues to grown in strength as she can feel the power of the land begin to add to the power being collected by the spell casters. Closing her eyes and remembering her Watcher training, she uses her mind's eye to bring a forth an image of the spell's power. Each of the casters is a deep blue along with the power they are collecting. Below them is the swirling cloud of white energy, pulsing sending out tendrils that latch onto the spell casters binding them together in a large matrix of combined energy.
She can hear the chanting grow in strength again as now the collected power begins to manifest itself in powerful windstorm, the energy coalescing to a focus point just above the young woman. A powerful blue light forms just above her, each passing moment giving it a more solid form. The energy seems to solidify in form but its translucency allows those around to see through its murky body. The form becomes more detailed and life like as two eyes open on the head that has formed. The form turns into a body of that of a woman, energy crackling around it as it slowly descends to the ground.
Once it's feet touch the ground the spirit turns and gazes upon the young woman who is tied down in front of it. The girl is crying and is frightened, that much Mrs. Fletcher can tell. The spirit floats around the young woman, appraising her, looking her up and down, as one would inspect a purchase. As if approving of the offering before it the spirit begins to glow brighter and rises into the air. It circles around the helpless girl who is only able to look above her with horror.
The spirit's eyes are two orbs of fire as the power within the floating form spills through the only openings on the spirit's body. The Watchers continue to chant as the spirit floats down to face the young woman. It reaches out and wipes the tears away from the young woman's face. The girl smiles just before the spirit floats away from her and glides around behind her. The girl smiles comforted by the kind gesture, maybe the worst of it is over with.
At least that is what the girl thinks until she realizes that the Watchers have stopped chanting. The ruins of the old buildings are completely quiet and looking around at the Watchers around her she can sense a feeling of apprehension fall onto the chapel. Struggling against her bonds she tries to escape the fate that waits for her.
She finds the ropes holding her in place too strong and she hangs her head down submitting to the fate the Watchers have cut for her. It is in that simple action that she catches a glimpse of what the Watchers had planned for her as her elongated shadow moves as the source of light rapidly moves toward her.
Lauren watches as the spirit floats quietly away from the young woman until it is thirty or forty meters behind her just floating. It was then everything at Fountains stopped.
All sound, all movement, everything.
And with a speed previously hidden by the spirit's slow and lethargic movements, the being moves as a blur of speed to the young woman. The girl arches her back and screams as the spirit implants itself inside of her.
"And so it begins," Lauren Fletcher whispers.
Above the great ruins of Fountains storm clouds form and mute the colors of the night sky, blocking the moonlight and twinkling of the stars. The clouds continue to grow larger and begin to pulse with power as wind causes the clouds to spin in a tight circle.
On the other side of the world Buffy is at her mother's house preparing to run some errands when it starts. A wind picks up inside of the house moving furniture and toppling frames and plants over.
A few hours away Faith is in the training room when the weapons on the wall all begin to shake and rattle from their mountings. As they fall to the ground a strong wind blows Faith to the ground.
The wind continues to pick up in strength until Buffy and Faith are both pinned against a wall and the young woman at Fountains is driven to her knees. Suddenly a spear of energy rips through the ground and shoots upward through Faith's torso. Back at her mother's an energy spear also shoots from the ground through Buffy impaling her. At the same time two energy beams spear the young woman at Fountains pinning her like an insect to the floor of the abbey. As the beams grow brighter lightening shoots from the ground up as Buffy and Faith scream in unison. Lightening follows the energy beams like a lightening rod enveloping the young woman her screams harmonizing with the pain Buffy and Faith feel.
The lances continue to pulse and act as lightening rods the energy arching upwards away from Faith's body. She reaches up and tries to grasp the pole of energy but is only greeted with the pain of electric shock, the flesh on her hands burning with energy. It was almost as if had closed an open circuit allowing even more energy to course through her and up the spear causing her to scream out in pain as tears streak down her face.
Buffy is writhing in pain as she feels the energy rip through her taking small pieces of her own energy with as it travels upward through the ceiling. The pain is so great that she can no longer use her other senses. The world is becoming darker and indistinct and has grown mysteriously silent replaced by the searing pain of the energy tearing away at her mind, body and spirit.
At Fountains the young woman convulses against her bonds and the two spears of energy that hold her in place. Her wails of pain bring no reaction, compassionate or otherwise, from the assembled Watchers. In the background as the scene continues to play itself out is Lauren Fletcher looking on waiting anxiously for the situation to play itself out to the end.
The door to the Summer's house flies open as Buffy's mother rushes in to her home. The fearful thoughts running through her mind are confirmed as she sees her daughter impaled by a spear of energy with a look of unquestionable pain on her face.
"Buffy!" She cries out as she moves to try to help her child.
Through the fog of pain Buffy can barely hear her mother cry out her name. As the world comes to focus for a few precious seconds she says with what strength she has left to her mother, "No! Stay back!"
Unheeded by her warning Joyce Summers rushes to her daughter's side reaching out to her hoping to help her in some way if not only to comfort her. But as her hand touches her daughter the connection is made and the energy surges through her exploding at the point of contact throwing the elder Summer's across the room and into the opposite wall. Her last sight is of her daughter screaming out loud before she blacks out from the impact.
A small hand picks up a nearby phone and dials the only number that she can think of to find help for the situation.
"Giles! You've got to help me! Buffy is in trouble! We're her in the house, mom tried to help her but she was thrown away and is knocked out, you've gotta get her quick, I don't know what else to do!" Dawn listens for a few moments as Giles tells her to do. "Got it, please hurry!"
Running in to the kitchen Dawn pulls out a bag of frozen mixed vegetables and runs to her mom. Laying her out she puts the bag on her head hoping to reduce the swelling from the blow to her head. Seeing that her mom is a comfortable as she can get her she picks up the phone and dials a second number.
"Come on, come on! Please be there." She says impatiently to the ringing. When someone answers immediately explains the situation, "Willow! Thank God that you are there! Buffy is in trouble and Giles in on his way my mom is unconscious and I need your help!" Taking a deep breath she listens to Willow before continuing, "I don't know big energy pole thingy has Buffy trapped and when my mom tried to help her she was thrown across the room. Can you hurry please? Ok I'll be waiting, Giles should be her soon."
Hanging up the phone Dawn continues to tend to her mother while watching Buffy out of the corner of her eye. She flinches every time she hears her normally strong sisters cries out in pain when the lance of energy flashes periodically.
Upstairs in his study Xander was researching some stocks on the Internet. The recent correction in the market left some really strong stocks in a very low position, a position that would be perfect for investors like himself to capitalize on to have some good returns.
The crash from the workout room didn't concern him too much he knew that Faith tended to train really hard and it wouldn't be the first time that she had broken something in the room while training. Grinning Xander gets up from the computer and walks over to the door hoping to catch Faith off guard to tease her a bit. The grin on his face quickly fades away when he hears her scream filter to the top of the stairs. Xander's walk breaks out into a full out run as runs to the door. The sight that greets him is one that chills him to the bone.
Faith is practically floating in the air with a beam of energy lanced through her. The beam pulses with energy, every so often the beam would pulse strongly and Faith would cry out in pain. Without hesitation Xander rushes down the stairs and bounds toward Faith hoping that he would be able to help her.
Somehow through the haze of pain Faith is able to feel Xander's approach and turns her head. The look of pain and hopelessness on her face only urges Xander forward as the beam pulses again causing Faith's features to twist in pain.
Faith sees Xander trying to come to her rescue and weakly says, "Xander don't!"
Her warning however doesn't slow Xander's approach, the only thing he can hear are her cries of pain and the only thing he can think of is to save her, to protect her from the pain she is feeling. Just before his hand connects with Faith a streak of energy arcs to meet him.
The charge is strong enough to stop him dead in his tracks. He can feel the air around him crackle with energy as the power continues to arc into him, building, until it reaches a critical point. For Xander it is something he can feel coming.
He is not disappointed as the strong charge finally releases its energy in an explosion that sends him flying against the wall with a loud crack and a small streak of blood as he slides down. He lands in a heap with the weapons on the floor barely conscious as his blood spills from the wounds on his head.
Xander reaches out with his hand and starts to crawl towards Faith still determined to help her. The pain he feels with each movement lessens and lessens as he inches his way towards Faith. His healing beginning to take care of the injuries he had suffered but the loss of blood is beginning to take its toll as he looses feelings in his arms and his vision starts to blur.
Faith turns her head weakly and sees Xander's futile attempts to save her. The pain she feels in her heart at the sight is a thousands times worse than what beam of energy coursing through her body could ever inflict on her.
With all the strength she has Faith reaches out and cries out loud, "Xander!"
Xander can see Faith call out his name and he too reaches out to her, "Faith!"
Faith finally succumbs to the pain and blacks out, the last thing that she sees is Xander collapsing on the floor as he reaches out to her. I'm sorry Xander, she thinks as the blackness overtakes her.
Xander seeing that his strength is tapped out does the only thing he can think of, he reaches down finding the source of his power, the power that helped him defeat the demon possessed Master. Reaching deep down he feels the steady hum of his quickening as it heals his body. Reaching out to the pulsating power of the quickening he looses himself in the power.
The power surges through his body allowing him to animate previously unresponsive muscles. Staggering to his feet, his stance unsure, one arm still limp at his side Xander begins to stagger forward. One step turns into two, two to three, with each step his strength increases. Xander's stagger begins to become steady as his quickening continues to provide him with the energy to fulfill his only objective; save Faith.
Across town Adam and Cassandra's heads jerk up suddenly as they feel the power of teir young student increase suddenly. The two older Immortals say nothing as they head straight to the garage to drive over two Xander's home. Xander had to be in trouble if he was forced to use the full power of his quickening.
Xander continues forward towards Faith his strength increasing with each moment that passes. As he reaches Faith he can feel the energy around her emanating from the energy lance speared through her body. Again he feels the energy reach a critical point as it arcs once again towards him. Remembering the strength of the last blast Xander readies himself.
This time however the energy is much stronger, strong enough to push Xander backwards shielding his eyes from the bright energy. He can feel the energy rippling over his skin, burning and stinging him. In turn Xander reaches even deeper, dipping farther into his quickening for strength against the onslaught attacking him and Faith.
Xander approaches Faith a third time the power around her stronger than ever, as if the energy was building a defense in response to his increasing power. This time however Xander is not going to let the energy overpower him. Focusing his energy he readies himself for the onslaught of the energy approaching him.
Suddenly his quickening becomes a tangible thing, living and breathing as he does, moving with the commands his mind gives it. He breathing slows controlling the urge to run away from the energy flashing towards him. He raises his hands up and screams, a scream deep and guttural, a scream that is almost primal as the energy lances at him
The shadows around him quickly disappear as the energy races toward him. The energy baths him in a eerie white light paling his skin and clothes as the energy snakes to and fro on its way to its target. Xander's hair is blow backward as the air in front of the energy is pushed forward in a great burst of wind. The energy is almost upon him Xander's screaming increases giving him focus and direction. As the bolts of energy reach him Xander catches them with his hands and like with a quickening he opens up his defenses allowing the energy to enter him.
In that moment the energy fills him, threatening to overwhelm his senses, blinding him, deafening him and burning him from the inside out. If anyone could see Xander at this point it would have been a frightening sight. The energy now redirected into his own body crawls over his skin like dozens of snakes. His eyes glowing a bright white as the power he is channeling adds to his already vast stores.
It is like that Xander slowly pushes against the energy as it surges against him. Step by step, inch-by-inch he moves toward the Faith's body still twitching with the energy being torn from her. The energy being thrown against him surges time and time again trying to dispel the intruder in its space, each time it attacks growing stronger and stronger but Xander barely notices the change as his focus, his only purpose, the only thing in his mind is to save Faith.
As he closes the distance between them Xander can see the energy spear's light grow more intense than it had ever been previously. Perhaps it senses the fact that Xander is making his way closer to the beam's victim, perhaps it is reacting in the only way it knows how, by increasing the speed and intensity of its process. Although unconscious Faith responds by crying out as beam leeches power from her at an incredibly fast pace.
In the Summers home Giles looks on in horror and bewilderment as he sees the spear of energy brightens and the power dancing around it grows. Buffy's screams of pain quickly shake him into action.
Opening a book that he brought with him he beings to chant a spell of protection hoping to defend Buffy from the onslaught. Before he can finish the incantation a bolt of energy causes Giles to stop mid-spell as he drops to his knees and rolls out of the way to dodge the incoming bolt of energy.
"Dawn! You have to get your mother out of here! Both of you move to the other room!"
"I can't, she's too heavy, I need help!"
His gaze darting from between the tree Summers women, all of which whom hold important parts in his life. Looking over to Buffy he realizes there is nothing he can do for her right now and moves to the oldest and youngest Summers women.
Putting his arms under Joyce's arms he tells Dawn, "I've got her! You go outside and wait for Willow!"
Giles proceeds to drag Joyce to the other room where she will remain unharmed from the flying debris. Once in the room Giles mumbles a quick spell of protection to safeguard Joyce as she lies vulnerable in the room. Shucking off his jacket and placing it on her Giles rolls up his sleeves and picks up his book. Flipping through the pages he tries to find a spell that will do something, anything to help Buffy.
Outside Dawn rushes to the pair of witches stepping out of a car. "Willow! Tara! You've got to help Giles!"
"Dawn what's going on?" Tara questions the young girl.
"No time to explain," She explains as she grab both their hands and runs into the house and into the living room. There they are greeted by the sight of Buffy floating in the air held up only by a beam of energy. To the side is Giles on his knees his shirt singed and smoking, his familiar glasses on the floor broken at his feet and a spell book in one hand.
Willow look at each other and nod quickly, they both begin to chant a spell to dissipate the beam of energy holding the Slayer in the air.
Giles shakes his head and hears the spell the girls are trying to use. His eyes grow wide with horror, "No! Not that spell!"
Seeing that he is too late to stop them from finishing the incantation Giles scrambles to his feet and throws himself at Dawn.
Tara and Willow watch on curiously as they finish the spell as Giles knocks Dawn to the ground.
"Get down!" Giles yells at them.
Not understanding the motives of the Watcher the two witches look on as their spell begins to manifest itself as blue wave of energy collecting into a single point growing in size and energy until it forms a perfect sphere. Once formed the sphere moves with blinding speed towards the top of the beam.
"Get down!" Giles screams at them again as he takes them both down to the ground thankful for their close proximity allowing him to force them both to the ground.
"Giles! What's wrong with you?" Willow yells at him.
"I tried that spell already!" Giles yells back, "Now stay down!"
The sphere connects with the beam but instead of stopping the beam the sphere distorts and its energy is unleashed outward a blue flame flows over everything in the room. Powerful wind pushes the individuals away from the beam of energy along with the furniture and rugs on the floor.
Getting up slowly Giles rushes over to Dawn's side, "Dawn, you okay?"
"I-I think so." She replies.
Looking back to the two witches, "What about you two?"
"I'm fine." Willow answers
"Me too." Tara answers back. When Giles turns back to Dawn Tara gasps slightly seeing that Giles' back is singed and parts of his shirt are burned away. "Giles! We need to do something for your back!"
Willow sees what Tara is talking about and they both rush over to the Watcher. "Never mind me," Giles dismisses the pair of witches. Turning his gaze back to Buffy he says, "We need to help her."
Dawn, Willow and Tara look at the Watcher as he tries to formulate a plan, something to save his young ward but his next words scare them more than any demon of vampire ever can, "But I don't know how to."
Dawn is in a panic, if Giles didn't know what to do who would? Who would save Buffy?
Xander was almost there. The energy sears at his face and skin, the wind tries to topple him over like a house of cards but Xander won't have any of it. So focused he is on saving Faith, nothing, nothing in this world could stop him from achieving his goal.
Reaching out with his hands Xander grabs hold of the energy beam. The energy surges into him latching on to what it can and then rips away taking pieces of him with it. The pain is almost unbearable, almost.
Xander reaches out with his own energy his quickening flaring in his senses threatening to melt his brain in his skull. He could feel his body beginning to strain under the pressure but he ignored it in hopes that he would be able to save Faith.
He could feel his power teaming inside of him. He could feel it in his fingertips, his skin, his eyes, everywhere. Focusing all that power into a single point he screams out loud again expelling all the energy he had at once.
His hair flies backward as he releases a tremendous amount to energy into the beam hoping the amount of energy would feedback into the source disrupting it. As more and more energy is released into the stream the beam begins to change from a bright white to a searing blue around his hands. Xander screams even more as he releases more of his quickening into the energy stream.
The blue color begins to fly upward into the energy spear as Xander pours more and more of himself into it. At Buffy's house in Sunnydale Giles, Tara and Willow watch on in awe as they see the energy beam begin to change color from the top down. The color reaches Buffy's body and encircles it, protecting her from the white energy of the spear.
"Giles what is that!" Tara yells over the noise.
"I don't know, but whatever it is it's protecting her!"
The trio can only watch as the two energies surrounding Buffy's body fight for supremacy. Up until then they had tried everything they could think of collectively to save Buffy but to no avail. But now some heaven sent energy is battling for her life, together they hope that who ever is intervening on behalf of the Slayer will succeed.
In Fountains Lauren Fletcher is withdrawing a small sphere from her coat. Quietly saying a few words she had memorized long ago, the orb begins to spin in her hands glowing brightly. Energy swirls to it collecting into the orb as it spins faster and faster. Slowly it levitates from her hand, lifting her hand above her head the orb follows as she readies herself to disrupt the ritual.
Suddenly the light emanating from the chapel of nine alters changes from bright white to intense blue. Her head snaps toward the chapel in wonderment. There is a way to disrupt the ritual from the site of the draining but it was far easier to do so at the source. To disrupt the power of the draining remotely would require a power so great that Giles couldn't possibly disrupt the ritual. Unless she had underestimated her peer, no, it had to be something else. Could Faith be the cause, could she have fallen in league with something so powerful that it had enough power to disrupt the draining?
But what could possibly have that kind of strength? What? As another wave of blue energy rippled down the energy spear she understands where the power is coming from.
Seraphim. The burning ones, beings whose power stems directly from God.
As another wave of energy falls from the sky it disrupts the energy flow. The energy surges back into the night sky. In the Summers house a wave of blue energy envelops Buffy and suddenly shoots upwards taking the white energy spear with it. Suddenly without the spear to hold her up Buffy's body falls to the ground. Dawn reaches her first, followed closely by Willow, Giles and Tara. All three are relieved by the sudden change of events but are all wary of the energy attack against of Buffy. Whatever or whoever had done it is powerful and whatever caused it stop were just as powerful.
The power he had released into the energy stream was now returning to him ten fold. His body rebels against the power, his mind screams against it his soul fights against it but there is nothing he can do to stop it. Whatever it is, it is now more than he can handle and all he can do is accept the power surging through him.
As the energy flows into him he can feel his mental defenses being torn apart. The mental armor he had cultivated over the years were blown away in mere seconds. All the walls, the barriers, all of it washed away clean by the purifying energy coursing through his body. The energy overwhelms him as everything turns white as his senses abandon him with wave upon wave of energy. Suddenly with one final wave of energy and explosion the energy stops. Faith's body falls to the ground at Xander's feet. Still standing Xander's form is smoking; his skin burnt his clothes ripped and burning around the edges. Slumping to his knees he says one word before surrendering to unconsciousness.
"Faith."
He finally falls to the ground, his body limp and unresponsive. It is in this condition that Cassandra and Adam find the two on the floor in the middle of the tattered mess that was once the workout room beneath Xander's home.
Neither of them can even guess at what had done this to them as they carry them upstairs where they can take better care of them.
The assembled Watchers walk up to the young woman still on the ground approaching her with caution. Something had happened, something that disrupted the ritual, they didn't know what could have possibly happened nor do they know what would become of the young woman before them with the ritual only partially finished.
The young girl's eyes open revealing them to be a glowing dark blue. The Watcher's all back away instinctively as she sits up and looks around her. With a voice so otherworldly it causes fear to rush through the Watchers' blood the young woman says a simple statement, "There can be only one."
Lauren Fletcher far removed from the chapel can only hear the other Watcher's cries of pain and mercy as the young woman lays into them leaving only blood and carnage in her wake. With no more targets in her immediate area the girl stops and looks around. Seeing that there was nothing left for her to do here the young woman takes off running into the shadows.
Carefully walking into the chapel Lauren looks on in horror at the scene in front of her, "It wasn't supposed to be like this." She says to herself in a voice so small she doubted that it even came out of her own mouth. Dropping to her knees crying she sobs for the loss of life that had occurred indirectly at her hands, "It wasn't supposed to be like this!"
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