Chapter 1
Buffy had no idea how she was going to get out of the situation. There were six heavily armed men, all with guns pointing at her, as well as another Slayer who hated her lying on the floor right beside her. She looked up at the men, all of them weren't going to falter, and by the way they acted and held their weapons, she could tell that they were the best. She counted six of them. She looked towards Faith, who had a pure look of hopelessness in her eyes. She didn't know what to do. Buffy had never seen Faith like that before, and probably wouldn't see her in that condition again. She looked at Faith, and Faith nodded, signalling that she was ready to help Buffy take them down.
"Hands behind your back," one of them said. Buffy and Faith complied. When one of the men bent down to put handcuffs around Faith's wrists, she reached up and grabbed the back of his head and slammed it onto the floor. As soon as Buffy saw that, she rolled over and kicked the closest assassin to her. Using the momentum of the kick, Buffy kept rolling and got up onto her feet. She looked over to Faith and saw that she had just rammed another Assassin into the wall.
Buffy ducked as one of the Assassins tried to punch her. She stayed crouched and started pummelling the Assassin in the stomach. She was extremely surprised when the Assassin started blocking her blows. Obviously, these people were trained in hand to hand combat. Buffy punched out at the person firstly with her left hand, and then with her right, and then she kneed him in the ribcage. He bent over, and Buffy sent him into the wall with a well placed snap-kick to the mid section.
Buffy was having a hard time getting any blows through to the Assassin she was fighting. He knew how to block her every move, and he was even returning some of them back. He was almost as strong as her, but not strong enough. Buffy had grabbed one of his punches. The Assassin was trying to resist, but Buffy hurled him towards the wall. She looked around and saw another Assassin getting up from where she had knocked him down. It was the same one she had snap-kicked. A quick glance over at Faith told her that she wasn't doing much better. She was fed up with fighting, and with all her power, she delivered a round-a-house kick to the Assassin. Buffy heard a sickening crack as her kick broke his cheekbone, and broke and dislocated his jaw. He fell to the ground screaming. She went over to help Faith, who had knocked one of the Assassins unconscious. Buffy was almost there when Faith elbowed the man in the stomach and then jumped up and sent her elbow into the middle of the back of his head. Buffy heard the crack and knew that the man would be lucky if he didn't wake up with brain damage. Buffy and Faith glanced at each other, and something in their eyes told the other that they didn't want to fight at that moment. Buffy and Faith walked out the door, only to find another Assassin waiting for them with his gun raised.
"Stay back," he said with an Australian accent. Buffy noticed that he was holding the gun limply, which indicated that he had been injured. The slayers glared at him, ready to make a move, but the Assassin did something totally unexpected. He lowered his gun and pointed down the hall towards the exit. Buffy and Faith had only taken two steps when they saw more Assassins coming down the hallway. In an instant, Faith had grabbed her knife out of the back of her pants and raced around behind the Australian Assassin. She held the knife to his neck.
"If you want this man to live, you'll drop the weapons and let us go!" Faith screamed at them. Buffy looked at Faith, and then looked at the Assassins. She decided that she'd go with Faith and get out of the whole situation. Slowly, Faith and Buffy inched forward down the corridor, getting closer to the Assassins. When they were almost there, Buffy looked into the nearest room and saw that it had a balcony that was looking out onto the car park.
"Faith," Buffy said while moving towards the room. She picked up on what Buffy was doing immediately and followed, still with the knife to the Assassin's throat. They backed their way down the room, and climbed over the railing. Buffy was thankful that they were on the ground floor, or they would never have been able to get away. They climbed over the railing and walked out into the car park. Buffy was surprised that there were no police around yet. They backed away from the front of the hospital, still with their hostage. The Assassins had made their way out the front by now and were standing in a line across the front of the hospital. All of them had their guns pointing at both of the Slayers. Buffy tensed as she saw figures running towards her. She was relieved when she saw that it was Xander and Giles. She looked over their shoulders and saw that Dawn and Anya were helping Willow and Tara along.
"Get the car. We're leaving," Buffy said to Giles. She saw him run around the hospital and later come back with the car. It was only small, and they would have to absolutely cram themselves into the car. Buffy wasn't even sure that they'd all fit. She was greatly relieved when Xander said that he and Anya came in their car. He went around to get it as well. Giles and Xander pulled up behind Buffy and Faith, who were still backing away from the Assassins and the hospital. Buffy was afraid that they'd shoot them anyway and not care about the man that Faith had as a hostage, or that they'd try to shoot some of her friends instead. They piled into both cars, Faith going last. Just before she got in, she pushed the man away and threw her knife at the Assassins, distracting some of them.
"Giles, go!" Buffy shouted at him.
"No need to shout. I do know when to go," Giles replied.
"Then why aren't we moving," Buffy pointed out to him.
"Because I'm too busy talking to you!" Giles replied. At that, Buffy shut up and watched the Assassins as they retrieved the man Faith had held hostage. She could see Xander's car driving along right behind them.
Ryan groaned as he got up. As he looked around the hospital room, all he could see was devastation. The fight between his team and the Slayers had wrecked everything in the room. He looked to his men, who were getting treated by Nurses. He could see beds outside the room, obviously for his people.
"Are you alright?" A Nurse asked him.
"Do I look alright?" Ryan replied.
"No, not really," the nurse replied.
"Well then there's your answer… How badly are my men injured?" he asked.
"One has severe concussion, another has a broken cheekbone and jaw, and his jaw is dislocated as well. Other than that, your men have minor injuries," the nurse replied. "Are those two girls federal criminals or something?" she asked.
"Yes and they're very dangerous," Ryan replied. he saw Rex come into the room, looking fairly well off compared to the others. "What happened to you?" Ryan asked him.
"They held me hostage in order to escape," Rex replied.
"Why didn't you attack them?" Ryan asked.
"They had a bloody knife to my throat," Rex replied.
"They wouldn't have killed you," Ryan stated.
"The psychotic one had the knife to my throat," Rex replied in a 'matter-of-factly' voice.
"Oh. She would have killed you," Ryan replied.
"I know, that's why I didn't attack them. They got away in two cars," Rex replied. Once he had seen the Slayer in action and had seen the look in her eyes, Rex had made up his mind. He was going to try and help the blonde Slayer, although he didn't know how he was going to help her. He wasn't sure about the other one though. From what he had heard, she was very dangerous and ready to kill him at any moment.
After they were sure that they weren't being followed, Xander and Giles drove the cars to the Magic Box, where everyone got out. Faith decided that she'd go. Things still weren't right between her and Buffy. Faith didn't want to fight at that moment because she knew she couldn't. she was absolutely exhausted from the fight with Buffy and the Watchers Council's Assassins. She returned back to Angel's old mansion where she slept for the rest of the morning.
Quentin Travers didn't want to sit in that seat, and turn all the equipment on. If he did, he knew that he'd be facing stares of all the Council. Failing to catch even one of the Slayers was the worst thing he could report in. It wasn't his fault that they were too good, and that the Retrieval team couldn't get them. He flicked the switch to turn on the transmitting equipment. He saw the red light on the camera above the computer screen turn on and heard the speakers hum to life. As he waited for the connection to go through, Ryan Hodges walked up behind him.
"I know that we'll be able to capture the Slayers. It was our first encounter with them, and we didn't know their fighting styles. Now we do and we're better prepared," Ryan said.
"I know. I have Faith in your team's abilities," Travers replied. Ryan nodded and left the room. Quentin had just started to explore an idea he had when the connection to the Council was put through.
They all watched as Quentin Travers' face appeared on the wall to wall screen. The look on his face immediately told them all that the capture mission was not a success. Among them sat the master magician that had journeyed to Sunnydale.
"The mission was not a success. The Slayers escaped. We lost one man. He won't be able to fight until his injuries heal," Travers said to them all.
"We know. We were expecting them to fail the first time. However, we need the Slayers soon, and most importantly of all, we need them both alive and here within the next couple of days," one of the men said to Travers.
"What is going to happen to them over there? I thought the whole idea was to kill the Slayer Faith to get another Slayer that is in our control, hopefully, and to remove B…" Travers started.
"Plans change," a woman said, who sat near the head of the table.
"I fear that we are loosing more than we are gaining. We are just wasting the Council's resources on this," Travers said. "For too long the Council has been perverted by these two Slayers. We need a disciplined and well trained Slayer that will follow our orders," Travers said, the conversation getting heated.
"Yes, and hopefully, soon, that will be corrected," the woman said to Travers.
"If you can not capture the Slayers using your current methods; change them," the magician said to Travers. "Do whatever is possible to get the Slayers in your possession and get them here."
"Okay, I will," Travers said just before the connection was closed.
"Do you think he can really get them here?" The woman asked the rest of the council.
"He must. If he doesn't, our future will be ruined," another man said to everyone. There was a long silence as everyone thought about the possibility of loosing the war that they were waging.
Buffy sat on a chair that was pulled up at the large, round research table inside the Magic Box. Around the table sat, Xander, Anya, Willow, Tara and Dawn. Giles was standing.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Giles asked. There was a short pause as Buffy thought.
"You didn't need to know. I knew that it would hurt you like this," Buffy said while looking at Willow.
"What was it like?" Anya asked. "Were there any floaty angels and such?" Buffy didn't even bother to reply to the second part of the question. Slowly, she replied.
"I was happy. I was loved. Complete. I knew that everyone was okay. I was me, but at the same time, I wasn't… I-I have to go," Buffy said while walking away, into the back room. Willow immediately got up to follow her, but Giles signalled her to stay.
"Whys she sad?" Anya asked. No one answered for a while, and Giles had an idea why.
"I would imagine that it would be a daunting experience for Buffy coming back to the real world. She was in heaven, and then she came back and had to experience all the faults of living. Which at the moment, far out weigh the privileges. I am extremely surprised that Buffy hasn't killed herself," Giles explained slowly: as he figured it out.
"Giles! Don't say that," Willow exclaimed. "Buffy would never kill herself."
"Under the circumstances, anyone would be likely to kill themselves," Giles replied. Everyone was silent in shock, no one daring to speak. "The most we can do for her is to be there. Support her." For the rest of the morning, they all talked about ways to help Buffy along, and how to keep her alive. They only checked on her once, and thankfully, she was still in the training room.
Faith found the door ajar, just as it was before. Knowing what was inside, Faith entered the apartment. To her shock, everything was how it should have been, before Michael was killed. She looked to where his body was meant to be, and there was nothing. Not even any blood stains on the carpet. She looked to the window, which before had a bullet hole in it. It was fine now. Faith couldn't figure out what was going on. She checked the rest of his apartment, and found all his valuable things were missing. As she came back into the main room, from the one and only hallway in the apartment, she saw a man. He was standing with his arms crossed, looking at Faith.
"Who are you?" Faith asked. The man just stood there and continued to stare at Faith. "Who are you!" Faith demanded. Still, the man stared at her. "Do you want me to beat it out of you?" Faith said, menacing the man while quickly moving towards him.
"I'm the man that killed your man, the man that was living here," he said.
"Speak English," Faith said, getting very impatient. The man rolled his eyes.
"I killed the person that was living here," he repeated.
Somewhere in the American Mid-West. 200 AD
He and his men crept through the forest, being as quiet as possible. Before them, they saw their village being burnt to the ground by an attacking tribe. He was the Shaman of the tribe that was being attacked. Next to him was the chief, and behind him, there were fifteen of the village's best warriors. He and the Chief were leading the counterattack against the attacking tribe. He told his men to spread out in a line across the forest. They were going to try and counterattack soon. When he saw that his men were in place, he got up and yelled. His men did so as well.
Not ten minutes had passed before he couldn't see any of his men. He had seen some of them cut down in the first couple of minutes, but the rest survived and fought right along side him. He turned around only to see a person running straight at him with a short knife. He turned around and stuck his foot out, and as the man tripped, he put his own knife into the man's neck, killing him. It was then he realised that all his men were dead, in a circle around him; the closest was the chief. He saw all the members of the attacking tribe in a circle around him. He knew that they wanted to take him alive. All the tribes of the land had heard of the white shaman, who was rumoured to have more power than the local shamans. This tribe obviously wanted him for themselves: to improve their reputation with other tribes by saying that they had captured the white Shaman.
He had been in the new land for twenty years, wanting to escape the wrath of the Romans, who were coming towards his island country. He and his crew built a ship, not very much different than the ships they had seen the Scandinavians build. They sailed across the ocean and crashed upon the shores of a strange, new land. Slowly, one by one, his crewmates died out, and it was only through magick that he had survived as long as he had. The Shaman of the nearest tribe had sensed his magickal abilities, and the tribe came looking for him. When their Shaman, an old and feeble man, died, they gave the position to him. He had been the tribe's shaman for nineteen years, and had acquired a rather large reputation. The magicks he used were very different than the magicks of the local population, and he had guessed that was why he was said to be so powerful.
He had dreamt about his past, and when he woke up, he was dangling upside down. His hands and feet were attached to a large branch, which was carried by two men. Slowly, he slid his knife that he had managed to keep with him from his homeland: an actual metal knife. He cut off his hand restraints and then just as quickly, he cut off his foot restraints. The two men turned around to face him, but they were mesmerised by his metal knife. He stabbed the man in front of him, and then turned the knife around in his hand so the blade was along his arm and spun around and cut the other man deeply across the chest. He fell to the ground clutching the wound. He grabbed everything he needed from the two men and ran off into the forest.
For a year he wondered the forest, trying to find his way to any form of civilisation. After a year he gave up, and decided to settle into the forest and spend the rest of his years alone. He had committed a number of inhumane crimes back in his homeland as a practitioner of magick. Most of them were in the early years, when he had tried to harness a Dark God, and then later, tried to control him. He was sent insane by the God, but is wore off. During that time, he had killed many and tortured even more. When he received news that the Romans were coming, he decided to leave. He didn't need the land to be ruled by Christians that looked down on his kind.
He spent most of his free time delving into the arts of magick. He became very powerful after five years of almost pure study. Fifty years later, he began his travels again. He very well knew that he hadn't aged as he kept an advanced calendar of the days by using the positions of the stars and the moon and sun. He looked and felt as good as he did the day he was captured. He knew how he had come to be like this, but he would never tell anyone. He journeyed south, where he met a race of people more advanced than the tribe he had been a member of. They called themselves the Inca, and in their view, he was a god.
Faith was now looking at this man, disgusted. He had killed the one person that understood her. He had killed the only person that was there to listen. In Faith's eyes, that deserved vengeance. In a second she had closed the distance between them. She punched him in the midsection and he bent over. She grabbed his nose between her index and middle finger and squeezed as hard as she could. Blood seeped out of his nose as Faith slowly crushed it. She was just about to ask the man who he was again when she was kneed in the gut. In a flash, he had knocked Faith's hand off of his nose and was standing, ready to fight Faith.
"Do you know who I am?" Faith asked him. The man didn't reply. "I'll tell you. I'm the one that's gonna put your ass in the ground!" With that, the man approached her. He punched at he head with his right hand, and Faith caught his arm with her left hand. She knocked it out of the way, but already his left hand was coming for her face. It hit Faith in the head, snapping her head back. She was forced to back away from the man. He was quick, and strong. Almost as fast and as strong as her, but not fast enough. Faith took up a fighting stance: side on with both feet shoulder width apart. She raised her arms up in fists. She signalled for the man to come at her, and he did, over confidant. Faith punched out with her closest hand, but brought it back before it could hit anything. She was testing his reflexes, and they were good. Then, she sidestepped forward, towards the man, and delivered a snap kick with the leg that was closest to him. To her surprise, he caught it and held on tight. Before he had a chance to let go, Faith anchored her foot in his hands, leapt and twisted her midsection towards him. Her other foot twisted around and hit the man directly in the head, sending him crashing into the wall, unconscious. Faith fell to the ground and when she got up, looked at the man sprawled on the ground. Slowly, she smiled to herself. She wasn't going to give this man any mercy.
Buffy had no idea how she was going to get out of the situation. There were six heavily armed men, all with guns pointing at her, as well as another Slayer who hated her lying on the floor right beside her. She looked up at the men, all of them weren't going to falter, and by the way they acted and held their weapons, she could tell that they were the best. She counted six of them. She looked towards Faith, who had a pure look of hopelessness in her eyes. She didn't know what to do. Buffy had never seen Faith like that before, and probably wouldn't see her in that condition again. She looked at Faith, and Faith nodded, signalling that she was ready to help Buffy take them down.
"Hands behind your back," one of them said. Buffy and Faith complied. When one of the men bent down to put handcuffs around Faith's wrists, she reached up and grabbed the back of his head and slammed it onto the floor. As soon as Buffy saw that, she rolled over and kicked the closest assassin to her. Using the momentum of the kick, Buffy kept rolling and got up onto her feet. She looked over to Faith and saw that she had just rammed another Assassin into the wall.
Buffy ducked as one of the Assassins tried to punch her. She stayed crouched and started pummelling the Assassin in the stomach. She was extremely surprised when the Assassin started blocking her blows. Obviously, these people were trained in hand to hand combat. Buffy punched out at the person firstly with her left hand, and then with her right, and then she kneed him in the ribcage. He bent over, and Buffy sent him into the wall with a well placed snap-kick to the mid section.
Buffy was having a hard time getting any blows through to the Assassin she was fighting. He knew how to block her every move, and he was even returning some of them back. He was almost as strong as her, but not strong enough. Buffy had grabbed one of his punches. The Assassin was trying to resist, but Buffy hurled him towards the wall. She looked around and saw another Assassin getting up from where she had knocked him down. It was the same one she had snap-kicked. A quick glance over at Faith told her that she wasn't doing much better. She was fed up with fighting, and with all her power, she delivered a round-a-house kick to the Assassin. Buffy heard a sickening crack as her kick broke his cheekbone, and broke and dislocated his jaw. He fell to the ground screaming. She went over to help Faith, who had knocked one of the Assassins unconscious. Buffy was almost there when Faith elbowed the man in the stomach and then jumped up and sent her elbow into the middle of the back of his head. Buffy heard the crack and knew that the man would be lucky if he didn't wake up with brain damage. Buffy and Faith glanced at each other, and something in their eyes told the other that they didn't want to fight at that moment. Buffy and Faith walked out the door, only to find another Assassin waiting for them with his gun raised.
"Stay back," he said with an Australian accent. Buffy noticed that he was holding the gun limply, which indicated that he had been injured. The slayers glared at him, ready to make a move, but the Assassin did something totally unexpected. He lowered his gun and pointed down the hall towards the exit. Buffy and Faith had only taken two steps when they saw more Assassins coming down the hallway. In an instant, Faith had grabbed her knife out of the back of her pants and raced around behind the Australian Assassin. She held the knife to his neck.
"If you want this man to live, you'll drop the weapons and let us go!" Faith screamed at them. Buffy looked at Faith, and then looked at the Assassins. She decided that she'd go with Faith and get out of the whole situation. Slowly, Faith and Buffy inched forward down the corridor, getting closer to the Assassins. When they were almost there, Buffy looked into the nearest room and saw that it had a balcony that was looking out onto the car park.
"Faith," Buffy said while moving towards the room. She picked up on what Buffy was doing immediately and followed, still with the knife to the Assassin's throat. They backed their way down the room, and climbed over the railing. Buffy was thankful that they were on the ground floor, or they would never have been able to get away. They climbed over the railing and walked out into the car park. Buffy was surprised that there were no police around yet. They backed away from the front of the hospital, still with their hostage. The Assassins had made their way out the front by now and were standing in a line across the front of the hospital. All of them had their guns pointing at both of the Slayers. Buffy tensed as she saw figures running towards her. She was relieved when she saw that it was Xander and Giles. She looked over their shoulders and saw that Dawn and Anya were helping Willow and Tara along.
"Get the car. We're leaving," Buffy said to Giles. She saw him run around the hospital and later come back with the car. It was only small, and they would have to absolutely cram themselves into the car. Buffy wasn't even sure that they'd all fit. She was greatly relieved when Xander said that he and Anya came in their car. He went around to get it as well. Giles and Xander pulled up behind Buffy and Faith, who were still backing away from the Assassins and the hospital. Buffy was afraid that they'd shoot them anyway and not care about the man that Faith had as a hostage, or that they'd try to shoot some of her friends instead. They piled into both cars, Faith going last. Just before she got in, she pushed the man away and threw her knife at the Assassins, distracting some of them.
"Giles, go!" Buffy shouted at him.
"No need to shout. I do know when to go," Giles replied.
"Then why aren't we moving," Buffy pointed out to him.
"Because I'm too busy talking to you!" Giles replied. At that, Buffy shut up and watched the Assassins as they retrieved the man Faith had held hostage. She could see Xander's car driving along right behind them.
Ryan groaned as he got up. As he looked around the hospital room, all he could see was devastation. The fight between his team and the Slayers had wrecked everything in the room. He looked to his men, who were getting treated by Nurses. He could see beds outside the room, obviously for his people.
"Are you alright?" A Nurse asked him.
"Do I look alright?" Ryan replied.
"No, not really," the nurse replied.
"Well then there's your answer… How badly are my men injured?" he asked.
"One has severe concussion, another has a broken cheekbone and jaw, and his jaw is dislocated as well. Other than that, your men have minor injuries," the nurse replied. "Are those two girls federal criminals or something?" she asked.
"Yes and they're very dangerous," Ryan replied. he saw Rex come into the room, looking fairly well off compared to the others. "What happened to you?" Ryan asked him.
"They held me hostage in order to escape," Rex replied.
"Why didn't you attack them?" Ryan asked.
"They had a bloody knife to my throat," Rex replied.
"They wouldn't have killed you," Ryan stated.
"The psychotic one had the knife to my throat," Rex replied in a 'matter-of-factly' voice.
"Oh. She would have killed you," Ryan replied.
"I know, that's why I didn't attack them. They got away in two cars," Rex replied. Once he had seen the Slayer in action and had seen the look in her eyes, Rex had made up his mind. He was going to try and help the blonde Slayer, although he didn't know how he was going to help her. He wasn't sure about the other one though. From what he had heard, she was very dangerous and ready to kill him at any moment.
After they were sure that they weren't being followed, Xander and Giles drove the cars to the Magic Box, where everyone got out. Faith decided that she'd go. Things still weren't right between her and Buffy. Faith didn't want to fight at that moment because she knew she couldn't. she was absolutely exhausted from the fight with Buffy and the Watchers Council's Assassins. She returned back to Angel's old mansion where she slept for the rest of the morning.
Quentin Travers didn't want to sit in that seat, and turn all the equipment on. If he did, he knew that he'd be facing stares of all the Council. Failing to catch even one of the Slayers was the worst thing he could report in. It wasn't his fault that they were too good, and that the Retrieval team couldn't get them. He flicked the switch to turn on the transmitting equipment. He saw the red light on the camera above the computer screen turn on and heard the speakers hum to life. As he waited for the connection to go through, Ryan Hodges walked up behind him.
"I know that we'll be able to capture the Slayers. It was our first encounter with them, and we didn't know their fighting styles. Now we do and we're better prepared," Ryan said.
"I know. I have Faith in your team's abilities," Travers replied. Ryan nodded and left the room. Quentin had just started to explore an idea he had when the connection to the Council was put through.
They all watched as Quentin Travers' face appeared on the wall to wall screen. The look on his face immediately told them all that the capture mission was not a success. Among them sat the master magician that had journeyed to Sunnydale.
"The mission was not a success. The Slayers escaped. We lost one man. He won't be able to fight until his injuries heal," Travers said to them all.
"We know. We were expecting them to fail the first time. However, we need the Slayers soon, and most importantly of all, we need them both alive and here within the next couple of days," one of the men said to Travers.
"What is going to happen to them over there? I thought the whole idea was to kill the Slayer Faith to get another Slayer that is in our control, hopefully, and to remove B…" Travers started.
"Plans change," a woman said, who sat near the head of the table.
"I fear that we are loosing more than we are gaining. We are just wasting the Council's resources on this," Travers said. "For too long the Council has been perverted by these two Slayers. We need a disciplined and well trained Slayer that will follow our orders," Travers said, the conversation getting heated.
"Yes, and hopefully, soon, that will be corrected," the woman said to Travers.
"If you can not capture the Slayers using your current methods; change them," the magician said to Travers. "Do whatever is possible to get the Slayers in your possession and get them here."
"Okay, I will," Travers said just before the connection was closed.
"Do you think he can really get them here?" The woman asked the rest of the council.
"He must. If he doesn't, our future will be ruined," another man said to everyone. There was a long silence as everyone thought about the possibility of loosing the war that they were waging.
Buffy sat on a chair that was pulled up at the large, round research table inside the Magic Box. Around the table sat, Xander, Anya, Willow, Tara and Dawn. Giles was standing.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Giles asked. There was a short pause as Buffy thought.
"You didn't need to know. I knew that it would hurt you like this," Buffy said while looking at Willow.
"What was it like?" Anya asked. "Were there any floaty angels and such?" Buffy didn't even bother to reply to the second part of the question. Slowly, she replied.
"I was happy. I was loved. Complete. I knew that everyone was okay. I was me, but at the same time, I wasn't… I-I have to go," Buffy said while walking away, into the back room. Willow immediately got up to follow her, but Giles signalled her to stay.
"Whys she sad?" Anya asked. No one answered for a while, and Giles had an idea why.
"I would imagine that it would be a daunting experience for Buffy coming back to the real world. She was in heaven, and then she came back and had to experience all the faults of living. Which at the moment, far out weigh the privileges. I am extremely surprised that Buffy hasn't killed herself," Giles explained slowly: as he figured it out.
"Giles! Don't say that," Willow exclaimed. "Buffy would never kill herself."
"Under the circumstances, anyone would be likely to kill themselves," Giles replied. Everyone was silent in shock, no one daring to speak. "The most we can do for her is to be there. Support her." For the rest of the morning, they all talked about ways to help Buffy along, and how to keep her alive. They only checked on her once, and thankfully, she was still in the training room.
Faith found the door ajar, just as it was before. Knowing what was inside, Faith entered the apartment. To her shock, everything was how it should have been, before Michael was killed. She looked to where his body was meant to be, and there was nothing. Not even any blood stains on the carpet. She looked to the window, which before had a bullet hole in it. It was fine now. Faith couldn't figure out what was going on. She checked the rest of his apartment, and found all his valuable things were missing. As she came back into the main room, from the one and only hallway in the apartment, she saw a man. He was standing with his arms crossed, looking at Faith.
"Who are you?" Faith asked. The man just stood there and continued to stare at Faith. "Who are you!" Faith demanded. Still, the man stared at her. "Do you want me to beat it out of you?" Faith said, menacing the man while quickly moving towards him.
"I'm the man that killed your man, the man that was living here," he said.
"Speak English," Faith said, getting very impatient. The man rolled his eyes.
"I killed the person that was living here," he repeated.
Somewhere in the American Mid-West. 200 AD
He and his men crept through the forest, being as quiet as possible. Before them, they saw their village being burnt to the ground by an attacking tribe. He was the Shaman of the tribe that was being attacked. Next to him was the chief, and behind him, there were fifteen of the village's best warriors. He and the Chief were leading the counterattack against the attacking tribe. He told his men to spread out in a line across the forest. They were going to try and counterattack soon. When he saw that his men were in place, he got up and yelled. His men did so as well.
Not ten minutes had passed before he couldn't see any of his men. He had seen some of them cut down in the first couple of minutes, but the rest survived and fought right along side him. He turned around only to see a person running straight at him with a short knife. He turned around and stuck his foot out, and as the man tripped, he put his own knife into the man's neck, killing him. It was then he realised that all his men were dead, in a circle around him; the closest was the chief. He saw all the members of the attacking tribe in a circle around him. He knew that they wanted to take him alive. All the tribes of the land had heard of the white shaman, who was rumoured to have more power than the local shamans. This tribe obviously wanted him for themselves: to improve their reputation with other tribes by saying that they had captured the white Shaman.
He had been in the new land for twenty years, wanting to escape the wrath of the Romans, who were coming towards his island country. He and his crew built a ship, not very much different than the ships they had seen the Scandinavians build. They sailed across the ocean and crashed upon the shores of a strange, new land. Slowly, one by one, his crewmates died out, and it was only through magick that he had survived as long as he had. The Shaman of the nearest tribe had sensed his magickal abilities, and the tribe came looking for him. When their Shaman, an old and feeble man, died, they gave the position to him. He had been the tribe's shaman for nineteen years, and had acquired a rather large reputation. The magicks he used were very different than the magicks of the local population, and he had guessed that was why he was said to be so powerful.
He had dreamt about his past, and when he woke up, he was dangling upside down. His hands and feet were attached to a large branch, which was carried by two men. Slowly, he slid his knife that he had managed to keep with him from his homeland: an actual metal knife. He cut off his hand restraints and then just as quickly, he cut off his foot restraints. The two men turned around to face him, but they were mesmerised by his metal knife. He stabbed the man in front of him, and then turned the knife around in his hand so the blade was along his arm and spun around and cut the other man deeply across the chest. He fell to the ground clutching the wound. He grabbed everything he needed from the two men and ran off into the forest.
For a year he wondered the forest, trying to find his way to any form of civilisation. After a year he gave up, and decided to settle into the forest and spend the rest of his years alone. He had committed a number of inhumane crimes back in his homeland as a practitioner of magick. Most of them were in the early years, when he had tried to harness a Dark God, and then later, tried to control him. He was sent insane by the God, but is wore off. During that time, he had killed many and tortured even more. When he received news that the Romans were coming, he decided to leave. He didn't need the land to be ruled by Christians that looked down on his kind.
He spent most of his free time delving into the arts of magick. He became very powerful after five years of almost pure study. Fifty years later, he began his travels again. He very well knew that he hadn't aged as he kept an advanced calendar of the days by using the positions of the stars and the moon and sun. He looked and felt as good as he did the day he was captured. He knew how he had come to be like this, but he would never tell anyone. He journeyed south, where he met a race of people more advanced than the tribe he had been a member of. They called themselves the Inca, and in their view, he was a god.
Faith was now looking at this man, disgusted. He had killed the one person that understood her. He had killed the only person that was there to listen. In Faith's eyes, that deserved vengeance. In a second she had closed the distance between them. She punched him in the midsection and he bent over. She grabbed his nose between her index and middle finger and squeezed as hard as she could. Blood seeped out of his nose as Faith slowly crushed it. She was just about to ask the man who he was again when she was kneed in the gut. In a flash, he had knocked Faith's hand off of his nose and was standing, ready to fight Faith.
"Do you know who I am?" Faith asked him. The man didn't reply. "I'll tell you. I'm the one that's gonna put your ass in the ground!" With that, the man approached her. He punched at he head with his right hand, and Faith caught his arm with her left hand. She knocked it out of the way, but already his left hand was coming for her face. It hit Faith in the head, snapping her head back. She was forced to back away from the man. He was quick, and strong. Almost as fast and as strong as her, but not fast enough. Faith took up a fighting stance: side on with both feet shoulder width apart. She raised her arms up in fists. She signalled for the man to come at her, and he did, over confidant. Faith punched out with her closest hand, but brought it back before it could hit anything. She was testing his reflexes, and they were good. Then, she sidestepped forward, towards the man, and delivered a snap kick with the leg that was closest to him. To her surprise, he caught it and held on tight. Before he had a chance to let go, Faith anchored her foot in his hands, leapt and twisted her midsection towards him. Her other foot twisted around and hit the man directly in the head, sending him crashing into the wall, unconscious. Faith fell to the ground and when she got up, looked at the man sprawled on the ground. Slowly, she smiled to herself. She wasn't going to give this man any mercy.