Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow

Previously:

Moving toward Willow and Tara, they all turned and threw one last look at Glory before fleeing the mansion. Once they were gone, the magic wore off. Falling forward slightly, Glory caught herself and surveyed the room. The bodies of her fallen minions lay scattered about the room, their blood staining her plush carpet. Growling, she muttered, "Oh, you're so gonna pay for this."

Chapter Nineteen:

"How is she?" Xander asked from the doorway of Kara's bedroom. Inside, Willow and Tara were cleaning and dressing her wounds.

"It's hard to tell," Tara said, glancing back at him. "She's lost a lot of blood, but the wounds aren't too bad. I think Glory used more magic than actual physical torture."

"Yeah," Willow agreed. "It sure looks like it. She's got some burns and lacerations, but it all looks worse than it really is. I guess we'll just have to wait for her to wake up."

"How's Callum holding up?" Tara asked as she began to stitch one of the nastier looking gashes.

"Nursing a bottle of something," Xander said with a small smile. "He's just worried. I guess we all are."

"Yeah, I have a feelings things are gonna be worse from here on out. Glory didn't seem too happy," Willow said gravely. "Shouldn't someone contact Giles at the hospital and tell him what happened? I don't think we should be separated right now."

"You think Glory might try something?" Callum asked, coming up behind Xander and slipping passed him into the room.

"Maybe. It's not a risk I'm willing to take though," Willow said, giving the worried Englishman a reassuring smile. "She's gonna be fine."

Callum smiled back weakly, taking Kara's hand in his as he sat beside the bed. Sighing, he rubbed his face with his other hand and closed his eyes. "If Faith survives, which we don't even know if she's alive now, the doctors won't let her leave the hospital for a couple of days at least. We're gonna have to split into two groups. Buffy will want people protecting her mom and Kara's in no shape to do anything. Unless we can get her moving, we're gonna have to stay here," Callum said wearily.

"We just lost two of our best fighters," Xander declared. "I'm not seeing much hope here on the fending off Glory front."

Willow nodded gravely. "Neither am I."

...................................

Buffy sat beside Faith's bed, holding the unconscious slayer's hand in her own. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. The doctors were able to remove the bullet and patch up the wound, but the rest was up to Faith. She was still in critical condition and the doctors weren't sure she would survive the night. Sighing, Buffy closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair, her thoughts drifting to how happy she had been earlier that day when the doctors told her that her mom was okay.

Things had drastically taken a turn for the worse. Giles had visited with her a few minutes ago only to inform her that he hadn't heard a word from Xander, Tara, Willow, Kara, Callum, or Riley for several hours. Despite repeated calls to the Magic Box, her house, and Callum, Kara, and Spike's house, he hadn't been able to reach any of them. He sent Anya to try to find them, but hadn't heard anything from her yet either. In a matter of hours, her whole world seemed to be falling apart and the fate of it all seemed to rest in the hands of the unconscious girl in front of her.

In her worry for Faith, she had yet to see her mother, who by this time had woken up. Dawn and Spike were with her, keeping her company and watching over her. Though she wasn't too particularly pleased that Spike showed up, she was grateful to have another fighter in the hospital to look after her loved ones. Despite all of his faults, Buffy knew Spike would never let anything happen to Dawn or her mother. He seemed to love them in his own way, a development Buffy hadn't seen coming.

Leaning forward, Buffy brushed a stray strand of hair behind Faith's ear, gently tracing her fingertips down her face. Faith usually looked so strong and confident, but lying in that bed, she looked like a piece of glass about to break. Her face was pale, nearly matching the white bed sheets, and without any makeup, she looked significantly younger. Buffy felt a fresh wave of tears begin spilling down her cheeks. "Come on, baby," she whispered. "You've gotta wake up. I can't do this without you. I love you," she said so low the beeping of the heart monitor rang louder. But she knew Faith could hear her.

Buffy could hear the click of the door sliding open and Giles stepped into the room, the gentle falling of his feet somehow reassuring. "Any change?" He asked softly, pulling a chair up beside Buffy. She shook her head, leaning back in her chair and looking over at him.

"Heard from anyone yet?" She asked, desperately wishing her friends were okay.

Giles shook his head slowly. "I'm afraid not," he said. His voice sounded tired. "Anya should have called by now and I expected Xander and the others hours ago. I hate to say it, but they may have run into trouble with Glory."

Buffy closed her eyes, nodding her head in resignation. "Maybe I should look for them," she said, though her body seemed unwilling to move. Giles smiled gently, his voice taking a fatherly tone.

"No, it's better you stay here, in case she wakes up. She shouldn't be alone," he said, giving Buffy's hand a tender squeeze. "Besides, I could be very wrong. Perhaps they're all on their way."

..........................................

After having lived for over a thousand years, Anya took pride in the fact that she didn't freak out too easily. Granted, she had her moments of doubt and panic, much like anyone else, but her long years had taught her the utter futility of giving in to alarm. However, after finding no one at the Magic Box and Buffy's house abandoned with the front door swinging wide open, she was beginning to feel the constricting squeeze in her chest of anxiety. She practically ran all the way to Kara, Callum, and Spike's house. By the time she reached the front door, she could barely breathe. Thoughts were skipping through her head, nightmarish imaginings of Xander and all her friends lying dead somewhere or beaten beyond recognition.

Ringing the doorbell, she anxiously bounced back and forth on her feet, hoping that someone would answer. When the door slid open to reveal Xander, she propelled herself toward him, grabbing onto him and hugging him so tightly he could barely breathe. "Thank God," she said. "I thought you were dead. Where have you been? We've been calling all over the place but no one's answered anywhere," Anya said, her high-pitched voice nearly hurting Xander's ears.

"It's okay, we just ran into a little trouble. Glory captured Kara this afternoon," Xander said, pulling Anya in the house and closing the door behind her.

"What? We have to go get Buffy," Anya said, starting back toward the door. Xander grabbed her elbow, effectively stopping her.

"No, it's okay. We went and got her out. She's upstairs."

Anya paused, glaring at him. "Don't even tell me you and Callum decided to play hero and go up against an immortal hell goddess to try to rescue her!" She yelled, now completely irritated.

"Well...not exactly," Xander reasoned. "I mean, we had Will and Tara with us." Swatting him in the back of the head, Anya groaned in frustration.

"You, Xander Harris, are just about the stupidest man alive," she ground out. Her expression softened as she glanced up the stairs. "Is she okay?"

Xander smiled at his ex-vengeance demon girlfriend. Though her outbursts demonstrated her complete lack of socialization into modern society, they also proved how much she cared. "Yeah. She just woke up a few minutes ago. She's a little out of it, but she'll be okay. We're all pretty worried though," Xander said, leading Anya upstairs.

"About what?"

"Glory. We really pissed her off today. We're not so sure it's safe for us here...or anywhere for that matter," Xander replied as they neared Kara's room.

"We should get back to the hospital. At least Buffy's there," Anya said as they entered the room.

Kara was sitting up in bed with her head resting against the headboard and her eyes closed. Callum sat next to her, tracing soothing patterns across her knuckles with his thumb. Next to the bed, Willow and Tara were huddled together, the worry on their faces mirroring each other. "Anya's here," Xander announced as they entered the room. "Been looking for us too. How is Faith doing, by the way?" He asked, suddenly remembering the dark haired slayer.

"The doctors got the bullet out, but they're not too optimistic. Buffy's taking it really hard," Anya said as Kara opened her eyes.

"What happened?" She asked, completely out of the loop.

"Someone shot Faith outside of the Magic Box today," Anya answered.

"Not just someone," Willow said quietly. "We think it was Riley." Anya looked over at her in surprise.

"Giles has been trying to contact him all day. No luck, though," she said.

"Maybe he skipped town," Tara offered.

"Hopefully. The last thing we need is a jealous boyfriend with a hard on to kill lurking around," Anya muttered.

"Jealous? What would Riley have to be jealous about?" Willow asked in confusion.

"Faith and Buffy," Anya said, as if it explained everything. Kara groaned, knowing where this was going and not sure her mothers would be pleased that the Scooby Gang was aware of their blossoming relationship.

"What about them?" Xander asked, looking over at his girlfriend.

"Well they're together. You know, orgasm buddies? It's incredibly obvious," Anya stated in a matter of fact way.

"Actually," Kara cut in before things got out of hand. "I don't think they've gotten to the orgasm buddy stage yet. Besides, that's not really the point. Let's assume for the sake of argument that Riley has skipped town. We've still got an enraged hell god looking for us and the Key," Kara said, then added, "who is Dawn by the way, for those of you just joining us."

Anya looked completely incredulous. "The Key is Buffy's little sister? No way," she said, dismissing Kara's statement until she saw the looks on everyone's faces. "Okay...I could be wrong."

"Do you think you can walk?" Callum asked Kara, smiling gently. She nodded.

"Good. I say we make like true Scoobies and run like hell to Buffy," Willow said, jumping to her feet with Tara right beside her.

"I'm definitely in with that plan," Xander said with his typical half smile.

"Alright, so we go to the hospital, find Buffy, and figure out what to do about Glory from there," Kara said, gently pulling herself to her feet. Her whole body ached in ways she didn't think possible. More importantly, though, things were spiraling out of her control. Glory was a loose cannon now and whatever she was planning, there wasn't a thing Kara could do about it.

..........................................

"You think you can just come in here and kill my minions and take my hostage and I'm just gonna sit around and drink tea all freakin' day," Glory muttered to herself angrily as she stomped down the street. "I don't think so. Two can play this game. Enough sitting around and hoping the slayer will screw up. No, this time, I'm takin' the fight to them. If they won't tell me where my Key is, I'll just find out for myself," Glory growled as she walked toward Sunnydale General. "And there'll be hell to pay."