Hold the Line

Episode 20

Giles's Apartment:

Faith had only been back for a few weeks and already she was put in charge of everything. She was their leader. She was the one who would lead them into battle against the two evils now. This would be the second time. But this time was different. Buffy wouldn't come back, she was out of it. And her troops were larger, which meant that more lives were in her hands.

She hadn't seen the potential slayers since she came back to town. But according to Giles, they were living in the same apartment complex. She liked having Angel and his gang in town. It was so nice to have them around. She especially enjoyed having Angel around because she felt like she could relate to the vampire.

Xander was happy once again. He and Cordy had hit it off again. They couldn't stand to be apart from each. Cordy was so concerned for him because of his eye. And that may have been the reason that they were dating again. But it seemed like they were in love.

Willow was a mess. She was extremely depressed, definitely not herself. She always seemed to be out of it. She had lost so much over the past several years. First, she lost Tara, then Xander was injured, then she lost Kennedy, and now Buffy was in a coma. When Buffy came back to the house, Willow lost it. She just stopped talking to everyone. She'd just sit there and listen.

Giles and Wesley were busy at the books. They were trying to find as much information about the gathering and this goddess. But it was leading them no where. Everything they were getting was old news. It was all the same things they already knew.

Riley was just being annoying to everyone. He kept offering them all tips on how to do things. He would also brag to Angel how Buffy loved him better. And his military tactics just pissed Faith off. He kept thinking that he was the leader, instead of Faith.

"Look Faith, I just think that we should just do it my way," Riley insisted.

"Why so we can get everyone killed?" Faith questioned, "I don't think so. We're doing things my way. And if you don't like it, you can go back to your military buddies."

"I'm just saying that we should sit tight for now," he said, "Wait for them to come to us."

"Why?" Faith asked, "So we can be unprepared and get killed?"

"No, it's safer this way," Riley argued.

"Look here, army boy!" Faith yelled, "I'm in charge here! And you will do what I say. End of discussion!"

"Faith, we are gonna get killed if we go on the offensive," Riley kept going.

Faith pulled back her fist and hit him across the face. He fell like a sack of bricks. Faith knew he'd be out for a while.

"Now that wasn't very nice, Faith," Angel said, walking up to her.

"He just pisses me off so much," Faith replied, "I can't stand him. I mean, why's he even here?"

"Look I don't like him much at all," Angel told her, "But we need all the help we can get. He's trained by the military so he does know how to fight and defend himself."

"Is that the only reason?" Faith questioned.

"Yes," he replied, "Come on, Giles wants us in the other room."

The two left Riley lying there on the floor and headed into the living room. Everyone else was seated all around the room. Angel and Faith stood there.

"As you all know, two vicious armies are wondering around town at night," Giles began, "Both greatly outnumber us and are much stronger than any of us here."

"What are you getting out, Giles?" Xander questioned.

"We need to surprise our enemies one by one. That is the only way to defeat them," he replied.

"What are you trying to say?" Cordy asked.

"What Giles here is trying to say is that we need to attack each group separately," Wesley confirmed.

"And how do we possibly do that?" Gunn questioned, "I mean come on they are both ten times stronger than us. And plus, there are way more of them."

"We did it once before," Xander informed, "And I know we can do it again."

"Yeah, well I'll believe it when I see it," Gunn replied.

Suddenly the door was pushed open. A raggedy-looking man stumbled into the room. His clothes were torn and bloody and he had a scraggly-looking beard. He was obviously in pain.

"Andrew?" Xander questioned.

Andrew dragged himself into the room. He was limping. He walked over to the couch and collapsed. Xander rushed over to him, helping him sit up.

"What happened to him?" Faith questioned.

"I don't know," Xander replied, "I haven't seen him in a few weeks. One night he went out, but never returned. I didn't think anything of it because I figured he left town to get away from everything."

"It got me," Andrew murmured.

"What was that?" Giles asked.

"They got me," Andrew replied, speaking a little louder.

"What did?" Faith asked.

"The Bringers," Andrew answer, talking normal.

"The what?" Gunn questioned.

"They are agents of the First Evil," Giles replied, "They are blind monks."

"Blind?" Gunn asked.

"Yes," Faith replied, "Okay Andrew, tell us what happened."

"I was captured by Bringers a few weeks ago. They took me to the Hellmouth," he told them, "It was in the basement of some store. There was one of those seals down there, a Seal of Danthalzar. The First appeared as Jonathan and tried to trick me again. It had me hung above the seal and the Bringers cut me open with big daggers."

"Ouch," Kennedy replied.

"They opened the seal and those things came out," he continued, "The Turok-Han."

"So that's how they got out," Giles said aloud, "From what I've read, only the blood sacrifice of a human or demon can open the Seal of Danthalzar. These seals are the doorways to every Hellmouth in the world."

"You guys kept throwing around this word Hellmouth," Fred said, "What is a Hellmouth?"

"A Hellmouth is the doorway to all hell dimensions," Wesley replied.

"In other words," Xander added, "It's a place where all those demons come from."

"Oh." Fred replied.

Buffy's Room:

Spike stood by himself. He was in the room where Buffy was. She was in a coma and had been for a week now. She'd been in one every since that night on the beach, ever since she was attacked by those demons and vampires. That was the night he had followed her when she went after Kennedy; that was the night he failed her.

It was his fault that Buffy was in a coma. He had promised himself that he would protect her. He had lost her while they were fleeing and by the time he had found her again, it was too late.

He kept beating himself up over it. He felt so guilty. It was the bleeding soul. He couldn't take it sometimes; it was driving him crazy. At some point, it made him wonder why he even went and got a soul. But it all came back to him. He had gotten it for Buffy.

"Are you okay Spike?" Fred asked, coming into the room.

Spike jumped. She had startled him. He turned and came face-to-face with the young girl. He smiled.

"I'm fine," he replied.

"You don't look it," she said.

"It's just…all my life…I never cared," he began, "I never cared if someone got hurt…I never worried about them. But this...this is different."

"Do you love her?" Fred asked

"Do I love Buffy?" Spike questioned.

Fred nodded.

"Yes."

"Does she love you?" Fred asked.

"I'm not sure," Spike replied, "She told me once, but it was just because I was about to die."

"Do you know that for a fact?"

"Yes."

"Spike, what happened that day?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Spike turned and walked out of the room, through the wall. Fred turned and looked down towards the bed. Buffy didn't show any signs of waking up anytime soon.

Giles's Apartment:

"All right everyone!" Faith called, "We're going with Giles and Wesley's plan."

"You mean that we're going to fight?" Fred questioned.

"That's right, sweetie," Faith replied.

"It's about time!" Gunn exclaimed, "Been waiting for the action!"

"Here's the deal," Faith began, "We're going vampire hunting. We are going after the Ubervamp army. We're done it once before and we're going after them again."

"Sounds fun!" Gunn exclaimed.

"We are going to hunt them down and kill them all off," Faith informed, "Angel, Gunn, Wesley, Riley, Oz, Kennedy, Axel and Cordy, you are all going with me."

"Why me?" Cordy protested.

"Because I need as much help as I can get," Faith answered.

"Why can't I stay here?" Cordy questioned, "I'm not gonna be much help."

"No more chatting!" Faith yelled, "We need to get moving. We don't have all the time in the world. Grab some weapons! Let's go!"

With that, the others grabbed several weapons and headed out into the night. Giles stood and closed the door behind them. Andrew cautiously fell asleep on the couch after all the noise stopped.

"I hate this!" Xander shouted, "I can't help with anything anymore. I just get left behind."

"Don't worry about it baby cakes," Lorne said, "Probably better that you stay here. Don't want to end up dead now, do you?"

"At least you're still of the living," Spike spoke up, walking into the room, through the wall, "I'm stuck like this for bloody ever!"

"Calm down, Spike," Fred comforted, "We will get you back to normal. We're working on it."

"Bloody hell! I can't stand this anymore! I can't do anything anymore! I useless!" Spike shouted, "No need to have me around anymore."

Spike walked right through Giles's apartment door. Giles, Xander, Lorne, and Fred looked at each other. Giles turned back to his books and continued his readings on the apocalypse.

The Beach:

"Why the beach?" Wesley asked.

Faith didn't answer. She just glanced down the beach, listening to the crashing of the waves on the shore.

"This is where Buffy was taken down," Kennedy answered quietly.

"I figure this would be the first place to look," Faith spoke, "See if we can find a trail leading us to where the vampires might be."

With that, Faith began wondering around. The others split up and began searching the beach for any type of trail that they could find. Angel walked over to Faith.

"You're doing a good job," he commented, "Buffy would be proud."

"I feel so alone, Angel," Faith said, "I'm the leader and I'm the one to blame when everyone loses their heads. I can't carry the weight of the world on my shoulders. That's always been for Buffy. I just follow, I don't lead."

"It's okay," Angel comforted.

"No listen," she said, "Last time I lead people into battle, it ended up being a trap. I got a lot of potentials slayers killed and injured myself badly. When I came to, I felt so bad."

"Look Faith," Angel began, "Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone has to make tough decisions in their lives. You've just had to make the toughest ones that anyone has ever and will ever make. But you know something you have made the right decision this time. You knew that we couldn't sit around and wait for the end, so you acted. I believe in you, Faith. I know you can do this."
"Thanks Angel," Faith said, "Thank you so much."

"Vampires," Angel said.

"What was that?" Faith questioned.

"They're coming," he replied.

Faith turned and looked in the direction that Angel was. She glanced down the beach and saw them. It was like a stampede. The army seemed never-ending to Faith and Angel. There seemed to be thousands of Turok-Han. They were quickly approaching the group. The others noticed and came up besides Faith and Angel.

"You wanna take that statement back now?" Faith asked.

"No," he said, "Are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be!" Faith exclaimed, holding her axe, ready for battle.

The Ubervamp army was closing in on the gang. The gang held their stance though. They weren't backing down from this one. They had to defeat these vampires in order to have any chance of winning this war.

The first several vampires came barreling towards them. Faith swung the axe and decapitated the first vampire. She followed up with a slice to another's chest. The vampire howled in pain and swung its massive fist at Faith. Before the fist could reach her, it was sliced clean off. She smiled at Angel.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem."

Angel bashed a vampire in the face with the side of his hand. It fell to the ground, bewildered. Angel slammed the sword down, right through its heart. Then he thrust it forward, into the gut of another. He pulled the sword out and sliced its head clean off.

The second line of vampires quickly charged through the group. Faith hacked the axe right through another vampire's chest, cutting it in half. She swung the axe straight down on another, slicing it straight down the middle. She quickly swung the axe to her side, decapitating another.

Wesley and Gunn were handling themselves pretty well considering they had never fought these massive vampires before. They were now taking on five vampires. Wesley's mace was quickly knocked away. He quickly pulled the crossbow around, which was dangling from his back. He fired a bolt into the vampire's heart. He was shocked when he realized that it didn't work.

The vampire kicked the crossbow out of his hand. Luckily, Gunn was there. Gunn brought his mace down on the vampire's head, killing it. Wesley ran over to the mace and picked it up out of the sand. He swung it, nailing a vampire in the stomach. Gunn swung his mace but it was caught and ripped from his hands. The vampire used it to knock him to the ground.

Kennedy was doing well. She was proving to be a good and stronger fighter. She swung her sword, cutting two vampires in half. Another vampire lunged at her from behind knocking her to the ground. She flipped it off and thrust the sword through its heart. She gave another a roundhouse kick, snapping its neck.

Meanwhile, the others were not doing too well. Riley was getting pummeled by two vampires. His face was bloody and his shirt was stained with it. He swung an axe, decapitating a vampire. Another charged, tackling him to the ground. The vampire began punching him the stomach. Just as it was about to move in for the kill, it exploded into dust. Oz bent down and let Riley a hand, pulling him to his feet.

"I owe you one, Oz," Riley thanked.

Faith and Angel were now surrounded by at least ten vampires. The vampires were circling them slowly, ready to pounce.

"Wait for them to attack, Faith," Angel informed.

A vampire lunged forward and Faith sliced its head off. That was the cue for the others to attack. They ran at the two of them. Angel swung the sword, slicing three vampires' heads off in one swing. Faith brought the axe up, slicing a vampire in half from between the legs.

Angel tripped another and then cut the vampire in half. Another vampire charged him, knocking him off balance. That caused two more to come forward. They knocked Angel to the ground and proceeded to stomp on him. Angel grunted in pain as a few ribs broke.

Faith thrust her sword straight through the heart of one of Angel's attackers. This made the other advert his attention to Faith. It swung its massive fist, hitting Faith in the face. Then it punched her in the stomach, causing her to fall backwards to the ground. It jumped on top of her and continued beating her.

Angel regained his senses and rose to his feet. He gripped the sword and sliced at the vampire pummeling Faith. It growled angrily and jumped at Angel, who used his sword to cut its head off. Angel then bent down and helped Faith to her feet.

The two then glanced around at the others. They were definitely not doing too well. These vampires were way too strong for them to handle.

"This isn't going too well," Faith said, "We should get out of here."

"We can't," Angel said, "We have to keep fighting."

Downtown Haynesville:

Spike wondered alone through downtown Haynesville. There was nothing for him anymore. He was useless to everyone. He thought about leaving. It wouldn't be that hard either, no one could stop him.

"Where are you going?"

Spike spun around. He saw the one-eyed boy following him. Spike turned back, ignoring him, and kept walking.

"I know how you feel."

"And how's that," Spike called back.

"Useless."

"And what's your point?" Spike asked.

"I am too."

Spike stopped walking and turned around again.

"How so?" he questioned.

Xander motioned to his eye.

"I'm not useful," Xander replied, "I can't fight anymore."

"At least you can still have an impact on everything," Spike said, "At least you matter."

"You do too."

"What are you talking about?

"You matter to Buffy."

"What?"

"Buffy loves you."

"No she doesn't."

"Spike, Willow told me that this goddess thing created an image of you to fool Buffy."

"And your point is?"

"It worked. She truly believed that it was you. She'd always go out and wouldn't return until the next morning."

"That's not love. That's just like me going out and getting that Buffy-Bot made. It's not love.

"When the First was tormenting 'you', Buffy was always there. She was always protecting 'you'. She didn't let the First's minions get the best of you."

Spike stopped. It was starting to sink in.

"You're not useless. You saved the world. You're a hero, a ghost hero, but nonetheless, a hero."

The Beach:

Cordy had no idea what to do. The axe she carried wasn't really doing much. She couldn't use it effectively. The vampires just kept moving out of the way. She was kind of standing off to the side, attempting to attack the stragglers. But her efforts were futile. She kept trying though.

Gunn was smacked to the ground once again by the vampire. He was getting pummeled with his own mace. He gasped in pain each time he was hit. Axel came running up and jumped on the vampire's back. The vampire dropped the mace, trying to knock the man off.

Gunn picked up his mace and swung it at the vampire's chest. The vampire howled in pain. It reached around and grabbed Axel by the throat. It lifted him into the air as it squeezed Axel's windpipe harder. Wesley and Gunn bombarded the vampire with their maces. The vampire tossed Axel through the air and swung its fist quickly, knocking both Wesley and Gunn to the ground.

Riley and Oz were back-to-back, fighting off the vampires. They were not doing well at all. The vampires had the upper hand and they knew it. Riley swung his axe and sliced a vampire in half. But another quickly took its place. It smacked Riley across the face, breaking his jaw. Riley yelled in pain.

The vampire punched him again and again in the chest. Riley heard a few of his ribs crack. Oz was tripped and then lifted into the air. The vampire tossed him through the air. He landed in the sand, face first. Riley fell to his knees as the vampire kept hitting him. He gasped in pain each time.

Oz turned and glanced in Riley's direction. He was done and all Oz could do was watch what happened to the soldier. Oz couldn't move at all, he was in too much pain.

Riley reached down to his belt. Oz gasped at what he saw Riley pull from the belt. It was a grenade.

"Run!" the soldier yelled, "Everyone get out of here! Now!"

Everyone turned in the direction of Riley. They saw him hold the grenade tightly, reaching for the pin.

"You heard him!" Faith shouted, "Retreat!"

Everyone turned and ran down the beach. Riley reached for the pin and yanked it out. He dropped it to the ground in front of him. It hit the sand and just stayed there. The Ubervamps were all confused. They wondered why everyone had run off.

Suddenly, the grenade went off. The explosion rocked the beach. Sand and dust flew everywhere. The gang was knocked off their feet as they ran. Faith glanced back towards the battle site. She saw Gunn laying face down in the sand. Angel noticed and ran over to his fallen friend. He checked the pulse. Gunn was dead.

Giles's Apartment:

Faith and Angel came stumbling into the apartment, followed by the rest of the gang. Giles jumped to his feet as he saw them walking in. They were all hurt, some more than others.

"My god!" Giles exclaimed, "What happened?"

"There were too many of them," Faith said, "But we won."

"Where's Gunn?" Fred questioned, looking worried.

"I'm sorry, Fred," Angel said, "He didn't make it. The explosion killed him."

"Did you say explosion?" Giles asked, "Where did an explosion come from?"

"Riley," Faith replied, "He used a grenade. He saved us all."

Kennedy came walking in, limping. She looked like she was going to pass out. She fainted, but luckily, Willow was there to catch her. Willow picked her up and carried her to the couch.

Cordy stumbled into the apartment. She had scratches and bruises all over her arms and face. Her clothes were stained with her own blood.

"This is why I should have stayed here," Cordy said, out of breath.

She collapsed on the floor due to her injuries. Wesley came in next, and picked Cordy up. He carried her into the second bedroom. Axel and Oz walked in after Wesley. They were both injured badly. Oz's wrist was obviously broken and Axel had a large cut down the side of his face.

Faith turned and walked out the door. She couldn't stand to be in the room anymore.

Downtown Haynesville:

Faith wandered, lonely and upset, down the streets. She had failed them all. She had gotten them all injured, but even worse, she had gotten Gunn and Riley killed. It wasn't supposed to go over like that. They weren't supposed to lose lives in the process of winning.

She felt horrible. Now she knew how Buffy must have felt after she had gotten the gang hurt after they went after Caleb. She couldn't go back to the apartment after what she had done. She had to leave.

"It wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was," Faith replied, not even turning, "I led them into battle, I got them hurt."

"There are always casualties in battle, Faith," Angel said, "You can't change that."

"Buffy put me in charge and I failed her."

"No you didn't. We won Faith. We may have greatly affected the outcome of this whole thing."

"That's not the point. I got everyone hurt and Gunn and Riley were killed."

"Riley sacrificed his life for you! He sacrificed his life so that you could win. And you are treating this like this is your fault! A general's job in war is to lead the troops and hope that they win, not to prevent them all from dying. You did more than that. You attempted to prevent them from dying."

Faith didn't answer. She just looked at Angel, waiting for him to continue.

"I believe in you, Faith," Angel said, "You tried your best tonight. And I know you can lead us to a victory in this."

"Thank you, Angel," Faith replied.

She embraced him in a hug. Tears flowed from her eyes as she wrapped her arms around him. Angel wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight, making all her pain go away.