Have Faith Pt 8/?
Xander's eyes were wide as he looked around the living room. What on the Hellmouth had just happened?Willow came trotting into the living room and frowned.
Everybody is gone! Dawn, the potentials, Andrew, Faith----all gone! Even Spike and Buffy aren't all talky/cuddly. Willow looked at the ground as Xander's eyes took on a slight flash of anger and confusion. Hurt, Willow thought. What happened to them?
Xander now looked angry, completely angry. I don't know, but judging by the fact that we live on the Hellmouth, I'm guessing they all didn't decide on mochaccinos the exact same second as we did. Besides, they disappeared a little too quick.
I blinked--I just blinked! Didn't I blink? And then POOF! No people!
Relax, Will. We will find them. Everything will be okay, we just have to find some clues. Xander tried to comfort his friend but his own heart was troubled.
I just don't understand what happened. Willow's voice touched a high note and broke.
I promise we'll find them. You take the upstairs and I'll take the downstairs and basement. We'll find them, Will.
Willow nodded and walked to the staircase leading to her search area. Before climbing a step, however, she hesitated and looked back at Xander. What if it's The First? Do you think Buffy and the others are ok? Buffy can't fight The First alone. She needs help. Willow's brow wrinkled with her worry.
Xander's face was suddenly set with strong determination. I don't know. But whatever it is, I know Buffy will defeat it. She has help, Spike and the potentials are more than nothing. Buffy has always gone against the odds and come out fighting. She will do it again. It's what she does.
*******
Buffy blinked. She had no idea what was going on. Slowly looking around the living room, the slayer tried to understand what had happened. One second she had been talking to Spike and the next second he was just gone! It didn't make any sense at all. It wasn't even as if she had woken from some magical sleep, it was just a split second change!
Desperately she had ravaged her memory----searching for the tiniest pieces of what had happened---but nothing came. Instead she decided to search the house for any survivors' of the mystic disappearance.
Quickly the slayer had run up the basement stairs calling her sister's and friends' names. Dawn! Willow! Xander, where are you? Answer me! Giles? But no response came. After a quick look upstairs Buffy ended in the living room where she was now.
She couldn't put aside the fact that something felt terribly wrong. Where were her friends? Her sister and watcher? The girls she was supposed to protect? Where was Spike? And faith? They wouldn't all just disappear like that unless some kind of magical force was involved. the question was, what magical force? And where did it take them?
Buffy slowly walked into the room and looked around again for anything she might find. Everything was exactly as it should be, nothing was out of place. There was no sign of a struggle which meant her friends had gone peacefully. Or they didn't know they were leaving, she thought aloud.
Suddenly, a cold wind blew through the living room and sent an icy chill down the slayers neck. Buffy shivered. The wind was strong, yet nothing moved from it. Research books sat open on the tables, yet the pages didn't even flutter. Even the hairs on Buffy's head sat untouched. It was too eerie for the slayer's liking.
Then came a whisper. A whisper more chilling than the wind. A whisper full of anger and hatred for whomever it called. A whisper calling the slayer to a duel.
Come. COME!
Buffy put up her guard and prepared herself for anything to jump out at her. she called, Who's there? Show yourself!
Come. COME! The chalky voice drew the slayer towards a wall in the living room. In front sat a table with the telephone on it. Nothing else except a thick, wooden stake.
thought Buffy.
Without warning, the wall began to ripple and move like water in a gentle breeze. The wall, which had been white, was now a shimmering silver, so light it was hard to see. Tiny tendrils, like fingers, reached out to the slayer but then pulled back seemingly unsure of something. Instead they motioned for Buffy to follow and they slid back into the shimmering wall.
Buffy took a deep breath and slowly let it out. She didn't have time to play games, not with The First out there somewhere jut waiting for her to fall into it's evil trap. But her friends. Spike. Where were they? Slayer instincts told Buffy that it was not some coincidence that her friends disappeared and a wall in her house became a rippling mass of opening to somewhere. She had no choice. The slayer had to go. It was her duty to help her friends.
Buffy closed her eyes and tried to slow her rapidly beating heart. Opening them again she held her breath, braced herself, and walked through.
