Brave New World
Chapter Seventeen

Faith slipped down the stairs, glancing back fervently in case the Mayor noticed her absence at the big talk. She reached the bottom of the stairs, turned and jogged quietly down the hall. She reached the basement door and paused uncertainly.

She didn't have to do this; she could leave it locked. Let the vampires in the house kill Spike. It wouldn't upset Buffy, most likely she wouldn't be surprised. She would probably gloat, "I knew we couldn't trust her…"

Faith frowned. She could be trusted. She was going to help them stop the Mayor. Her stomach lurched at the thought and she pushed away the thought. She was going to betray the only person to ever cared about her. She didn't know how that had happened.

The memory of the woman and child being devoured lurched into her mind and she swallowed. It hadn't been a one-off. Oh, God…

She heard thumping from upstairs and realised they were ready to go. She stared at the door, willing herself to make a choice. Unlock the door or turn around and leave. It was that simple.

Only it wasn't. Whatever she did would have consequences and Faith really understood consequences. Her decision now might affect the rest of her life. Whatever she chose to do now would ultimately decide what side she would be on and that wouldn't be something she could change.

"Faith?"

She jumped at the sound of the Mayor's voice. She glanced over her shoulder briefly, heard his voice coming from the stairs.

"Coming!" she yelled back, turning a stricken face to the door.

His footsteps still sounded and suddenly, without even giving it a final thought, her hand grabbed the bolt and yanked it to one side, unlocking the door. She spun around and strode up the hall, almost colliding with the Mayor.

"Hey there," he greeted cheerfully.

"Hey," she answered, forcing out a grin.

"Ready to go kill?" he asked.

She gulped.

"Yeah. Yeah, I am."

Funny really, that of all the places in this town, it would be here that they would battle. Buffy's eyes scanned the area.

She hadn't seen this place in two years. The last time she had seen this place, she had been on her knees, screaming beside the fallen body of her Watcher as her lover's dust clung to her clothes and the blood of her friends stained her knees.

Before that, this place had been where she spent everyday, sometimes even weekends if she needed to help Giles research. It had been somewhere she felt safe, even though it was on a Hellmouth. She had always thought that so long as she could get to the library, everything would be fine.

Now, she couldn't even tell where the library had been. There was no sign of Sunnydale High. The only building that rested on the wide expanse of land that once housed the school was a grotesque temple. She guessed that was where the library had been. It was a black marble structure, obscure symbols decorating it, marble snakes with glowing eyes curling around the pillars, mocking her. She wanted nothing more than to knock the thing down, to smash it to pieces. Her fingers tightened on the sword at her side as her other hand took hold of the strap that held her other weapon to her back.

"Buffy," Dawn whispered.

Buffy looked up and saw the shapes of the Mayor's army edging over the horizon. The Mayor rose up in snake form and Buffy thought she could make out Faith at his side. She pressed Dawn back between Doyle and Wes, who took hold of her arms and pushed her behind them. It wouldn't protect her much, but it would hopefully mean she faced nothing too awful.

"Oh, God," Andrew muttered as the opposing army paused in front of them.

She felt warmth spread over her back and looked up for a second to see Willow and Tara rising into the sky, hands clasped tightly between them as their other arms reached out toward the army.

At some unspoken signal, the demons ahead of them thundered forward and Buffy found herself moving without thinking.

The others followed, obviously scared, but fearless in their determination.

And for one glorious moment, Buffy knew without a shadow of a doubt, that they were going to win.

Spike turned the handle of the door, slipping out into the lavish hallway as he shut the door behind him.

His lip curled as he surveyed his surroundings. Old fashioned carpet stretched to the end of the hall and the walls were painted green. There were dark tables lining the walls, sporting lamps and more gruesome knick-knacks. Spike approached the staircase and climbed it, turning left to head to the back of the house.

He followed his nose, turning around corners, slipping through doors into other hallways, before he found a row of doors.

He smirked. Bingo.

He sized up the situation quickly. Five doors, probably about three vamps to a room. That's only fifteen, but he couldn't be sure that there weren't any others. So however much he wanted to announce his presence and revel in the fight, he didn't. He opened the first door quietly, stepped into the room and found the nearest bed. His axe connected with the neck of the vampire and it exploded into dust. The next vampire stirred and the axe sliced silently through the air and decapitated it before it could wake. The third vampire, shifted, yawned and sat up, staring at Spike.

"What the fu -?" it started in a loud yell before Spike, well, cut him off.

But the vampire's shout had stirred the vampires in the other rooms. Spike left the room, turning to the next but found himself faced with twelve sleepy, but pissed off vampires. He twirled his axe cockily.

"Sorry, lads, did I wake you?"

There was a collective snarl, before they leapt at him and Spike laughed as he launched himself into the fight.

Well, Willow, he thought, you can't say I didn't try to easy way.

The Mayor surveyed the fight with pleasure. He wasn't going to get involved until he needed to. Until then, he was quite content to watch his army take Buffy's apart.

And at first, that's what seemed to be happening. His demons seemed to be steadily gaining the upper hand. But now the Mayor's euphoria evaporated.

He watched as demons fell at the hands of the Slayer's army, watched as grins spread over their faces at the realisation that they were doing well. He could taste their fear and their anxiety, but there was something else. Something that whispered of magick and strength. He looked above the battle to find the two Witches hovering over their friends, casting spells and fireballs at his army. He was about to start forward after them, to take out the Slayer's secret weapon when he noticed something.

He turned his head and gaped at the familiar figure of Faith fighting, a smirk of pleasure on her face.

As her feet connected with the chin of a demon. One of his army.

Andrew was not a fighter. Despite his many promises that he would help in the war to avenge his brother's death, he still felt like the odd one out. The one that had only joined group training a few days ago. The one that hadn't lived day to day, surviving on rations, weapons and adrenaline for two years.

Which was why he was glad that he had been thrust to the back of the fight. He and Dawn brought up the rear of the battle, so that by time the demon slipped past the others to get to them, the worst had been filtered out.

With a yelp, Andrew ducked the swing arm of something bright red and lumpy, feeling the arm thud against the back of his head with enough force to make him feel sick.

"It's arms!" Dawn screeched. "Watch its arms!"

He straightened up, bringing his sword with him and drove it forward. The demon made a gurgling sound and Andrew yanked the sword out of the demon's throat as it fell to the floor.

It was his first kill and seemed to have kicked in the realisation that he was strong. He was tough; Willow and Tara's spell had worked.

"Watch out!"

He jumped forward, turning to see Dawn lifting up the bloodied sword, a bruised cheekbone for her trouble. He looked down at the demon that had come up behind him and now lay dead.

"Thanks," he said, reaching out his hand.

"No problem," she answered, frowning as she took his hand.

He pulled her sharply toward him, thrusting out his sword and decapitating a short and stumpy demon with razor sharp teeth.

Dawn pulled away from him, gasping. She smiled her thanks and turned to look for a second toward the others.

Satisfied that they were doing ok, she spun, kicking a Fyarl in the jaw as Andrew attacked the other.

Faith had left the Mayor's side as soon as the battle had started and was skirting the edges of the battle, killing the demons quickly and helping out any of Buffy's army that were in trouble.

Now, she fought back to back with Anya who over her years had picked up a few nifty sword tricks.

"Oh my God," she heard Anya mutter. "Where's Doyle?"

"He's fine," Faith said over her shoulder, before spinning into a kick that sent a slim demon hurtling onto Wes's sword.

Anya heard her, but didn't believe her. She pushed through the demons, hacking blindly at anything that didn't look human. There were husky groans of pain as her sword collided with scales and soft squelching flesh. But her preoccupation with Doyle's welfare blinded her and a demon came out of nowhere and caught her around the waist, slamming her to the ground, knocking her sword from her hand.

"Anya!" she heard Tara call, conjuring a fireball in her hand that launched at the demon's hairy back.

It yelped and Anya pushed against it. It was halfway off her when a boot swung at it and kicked it off her. She looked up and Doyle bent to drag her to her feet. He scooped up her sword and pushed it into her hand.

"I got your back," he shouted over the sounds around them.

Which was the only reason she turned around and faced the battle again.

Tara turned her gaze away from Anya who had launched back into the fight with Doyle at her side. She looked at Willow, whose hand she clasped and saw her glaring at the Mayor.

"Willow," Tara said urgently. "Not yet. Remember? Not yet."

Willow tore her eyes away from the Mayor back to Tara. She smiled weakly at her friend before looking down at the battle below.

"We're doing ok," she breathed.

"Yeah," Tara answered.

"Faith…?"

"Is on our side," Tara jutted her chin in the direction of Faith who was dragging a demon away from Andrew as Dawn helped him to his feet.

Willow nodded, looking down at Buffy who impaled a demon before moving onto the next. Willow sent a bolt of light at a demon that had Wes around the throat. Then she reached over her shoulder to grab the crossbow she had hung there. She pulled it off and turned to Tara.

"Feel like lending a hand?" she asked.

Tara smiled, grabbing the crossbow from her own back.

"Why not?" she answered.

They aimed and fired, hitting two demons, sending them sprawling. Willow spun lightly in the air, aiming with crossbow in one hand and magick in the other. She sent a fireball toward a demon towering over Doyle and smiled in satisfaction as he sliced it in two.

She sent another bolt flying at the same time as Tara, before looking for Dawn and Andrew to check on them.

As she did so, she noticed the Mayor's house in the distance and felt her heart contract. Swallowing her fears for Spike, she sent another bolt of magick to separate a Siamese demon Dawn faced.

She shot another glance in the direction of the Mayor's house.

God, I hope you're ok.

Wes wasn't used to this battle-hungry confidence or this strength. But he was starting to like it a whole lot as he caught a demon in the stomach with a well-aimed kick before decapitating it. He took a moment in the lull between attacks to check on Doyle and Buffy, whose extra weapons glinted in the sunlight. He slipped a finger under the strap that held his weapon in place and smoothed it out. Thank God for the spell Willow and Tara put on them to make them lighter. He didn't fancy throwing his back out again. And he most certainly didn't fancy throwing his back out here and now. He ducked a punch and thrust his sword at the demon's chest before his legs crumbled beneath him. He rolled over to avoid the rock like fists of a burly demon that bore down on him.

He tried to roll away from the thing, but found he didn't have to as the demon slumped to the side and collapsed, leaving Faith offering him her hand.

Without thinking he grasped it and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet before she disappeared without a word. He looked up, over the flashing swords, bolts of magick, fireballs, demons and his friends, to look for the Mayor.

Who he saw staring at Faith, who cut a bloody swath through his army.

Buffy was starting to believe that feeling. That rush of knowing that this was going their way. She feinted to the left, before slicing her opponent in half. She took advantage of a spinning kick she aimed at a Skilosh to check on her friends.

They looked a little worse for wear, but Buffy would rather have them injured than dead. But what she noticed most, was the obvious difference in the amount of fallen demons and those still fighting. She looked up at Willow and Tara, who were using crossbows and magick to aid their friends.

She almost grinned, before a troll brought her back to earth literally. She kicked him off and wrapped her feet around his neck, snapping it before leaping up.

She glanced around, saw that though they were winning, they were tiring.

It was now or never.

With one hand, she unclipped the strap that held her weapon to her back, pulled it so that it slid onto her shoulder and dropped her sword to take hold of it.

"Wesley!" she yelled. "Doyle!"

They glanced toward her, nodded and finished off their opponent before dropping their swords and tugging their weapons on their shoulders.

The three of them forced their way through the demons, the path cleared by their friends and Willow and Tara

They came to the edge of the battle and faced the Mayor.

He tore his eyes away from the sight of his Faith fighting against him and staring down at the three humans.

Who were all sporting wicked looking rocket launchers.