The Dark Years
Part Eight: Losing Faith
Posted: September 2, 2004
Author's notes: Hey guys! Long time no update, and I'm sorry about that. The story's just about over, and I'm gonna try to be more frequent in my updates!
Recently, while writing the next few parts, I had to go back and update my Age Chart, and I was surprised to see how old some of the characters were getting! Some of the ages are just rough estimates, but here's the chart, in case you care, and I'm sorry I haven't been describing them as well as I could, I kinda forgot time has moved on!
Piper: 64
Angel: 62
Phoebe: 61
Oz: 60
Buffy, Willow, Xander: 59
Paige: 58
Connor: 56
Dawn: 53
Wyatt: 37
Joyce: 36
Ashley: 34
Andrea, Amanda: 33
Anne (Will's girl), William (Dawn's son): 22
Faith, Melinda, Grace: 13.
So those are the ages. Can you believe how time flies when you're miserable? I'm not even going to calculate Spike's age, or Leo's. They're about the same age as Piper and Andrea, respectively.
And I'm not sure if is still taking out my dividers, something I'm getting very sick of, so I've made sure you know where the scene changes...
Disclaimer: see first chapter.
Reader Responses:
BuffyAngelfan32: thanks for your review! Yet again, you're the only one who's reviewed, so this chapter is dedicated to you! Thanks for giving me my review I needed!
And, just so I can see what you're thinking, how do you expect this to end? Lol...I want to see how shocked you're gonna be, since I never expected it to end the way it is, lol.... THANKS!
(START OF UPDATE)
"I-I did it," Grace told them later, in their room, "Somewhere in Sunnydale, I think. I recognized the area. Tonight, the moon looked full."
"Faith, you have a plan, right?" Melinda asked, sounding nervous.
"Mom should be coming alone. I'll freeze her, if someone comes, Mel, you and I will take care of them while Grace orbs Mom to safety."
"But she's evil. How are we going to make her...unevil?" Grace asked.
"It can't be by choice. I've been trying to think up a spell that would give her free will back. I haven't gotten all the details, but the spell would give Mom her free will bak, and she'd choose not to be evil."
Melinda pulled the hot plate out from under her bed, and a bunch of herbs, "I'm gonna try to brew up a sleeping potion, or freezing potion, just in case your freeze wears off, leaving Grace in trouble."
"Good idea. I think there are some power double-er spells in the book, wouldn't be a bad idea for Grace to have those as well."
"I'm gonna go for a walk, see if I can pinpoint the area," Grace said, grabbing a coat.
"And I've got spell duty," Faith said, "Be careful, Grace."
"I will."
(Scene Change)
They hid behind some boxes in an alleyway. The building in from of them was an old rundown club, boarded up for as long as they could remember. The faded sign faintly read "Bronze."
Nobody questioned Grace about the location. It was time to trust their powers. Her premonitions might have been the newest of their powers, but so far it was the most reliable.
Ten minutes to eleven, a petite teen, of about sixteen, walked out of the boarded up club. She was all in leather, and her hair was shockingly black, with fire engine red tips. Her ears were pierced multiple times, as well as her nose, eyebrow and bellybutton.
Grace nudged her sisters as the teen lit a cigarette. She counted each movement as it came, waiting for the murderer to show up.
She saw the teen flip her hair, just like she had in the vision, and then she saw the figure slide into the shadows. She pointed hurriedly to Faith.
Then everything was moving too fast for her to think. Melinda squeaked and threw up her hands, only to fly over the pile of boxes. Faith spun, only to go flying as well. Then it was just Grace, against some unseen forces, with no physical powers of her own.
She heard rather than saw the knife slide across the girl's throat, and the pain almost brought her to her knees. Then something hit her in the back of her neck, and her knees did give out as the darkness swallowed her.
(SCENE CHANGE)
Piper rolled over for the tenth time in the last three minutes.
"What's wrong?" the arms around her asked sleepily.
"Something just doesn't feel right," she sighed, "I'm going to check on the girls."
"You just checked half an hour ago. They're safe, and asleep."
"You're always telling us to trust our instincts. I'll just be a minute." He sighed as she pulled on her robe.
Two minutes later he heard frantic feet on the stairs. He sat up, alert, as she burst into their room, no longer whispering.
"They're gone."
(SCENE CHANGE)
"I can't sense them," Paige told her sister.
"Neither can I," Leo told her, his voice tight. It was four am, five hours since Piper found the empty beds. They sat in the kitchen, all in various states of dress.
"Try again!" Piper paced, close to hysteria.
"Honey, why don't you-"
"Don't give me that honey crap. Find them, Leo."
"Maybe we should tell Buffy," Phoebe suggested, setting down her crystal, "She might think of something we haven't yet."
"I'll go," Paige said, "Why don't you guys get dressed?" Paige orbed to the old LA hotel.
"Leo, keep...sensing!" Piper ordered, continuing her pacing.
(SCENE CHANGE)
The knock came through the darkness, and instantly she was awake. Her first thought was something had happened to one of the potentials, but when she saw Paige at her door, in nothing but a tank top and matching boxers, she started shaking her head, disbelievingly.
(SCENE CHANGE)
Piper bustled about the kitchen, getting everyone breakfast. Or lunch, as the case may be. Everyone and their cousin was in the solarium, trying to be useful.
"Bollicks!" she heard the British tinged voice exclaim. Andrea and Spike must have arrived.
"Piper!" Leo called urgently. She threw down her oven mitts and rushed to the sunroom.
"I should have known," Spike muttered as she entered the room.
"What is it?" Angel growled. Even with his hair a thick gray, he was threatening.
"The girls confided in me. Knew it wasn't right, but I figured at least someone was keeping tabs on them-"
"Get to the point, Spike, or so help me God..." Buffy threatened, her own locks shot with gray.
"Awhile ago, the pints did a spell that took Grace back to the night Joyce disappeared. With that handy book you gave them, they identified the kidnapper as an ubervamp.
"They got to thinking that the First wasn't gone, just banished, stuck in some hell dimension."
"Oh, God," Buffy's knees collapsed, but Angel was there to steer her towards a chair. Piper leaned heavily on Leo, who seemed like he was going to fall over himself.
"Grace also supposedly saw Joyce, and got a real good, not so good reading on her. And yesterday she told me about a premonition she had of Joyce killing that potential, Dana."
The room irrupted in argument.
"I told her to tell you," he said, turning to Buffy, "I swear. I told her that if she wouldn't tell you, I would. I thought it would be enough..."
"I believe you," Buffy whispered. The arguing continued, as she closed her eyes, trying to get her emotions in check.
(SCENE CHANGE)
She groaned, rolling over, only to have a hand clamped over her mouth. Her eyes flew open, and thought of struggling flew from her mind at the view. She didn't know what she was looking at, whether it was floor, wall, ceiling, or just black emptiness. Two hands helped her sit up, and she was shocked to notice that what she had been looking at, the thing that seemed to go on forever in inky blackness was what she had been laying on.
Faith, her other hand over Grace's mouth, placed a finger to her lips. Melinda slowly moved into her line of sight.
What's going on? Where are we?
No clue. We've only been awake ten minutes, tops.
This place rocks though.
Mel, concentrate. We need to find a way out.
G-Guys! Grace motioned towards her left...right? Who could tell direction in this type of place?
Two figures were now there, one kneeling before the other. The standing one was a blonde, and Melinda thought she recognized her from the book Grammy Summers gave them.
The other blonde, the kneeling one, they knew to be their mother, even if all they saw was her back.
They couldn't hear what was being said, but the blonde switched bodies, into their grandmother, and then, like changing clothes, into a vampire they all recognized from the book.
The First. they thought at once, looking at each other, with fear and uncertainty in their eyes.
(SCENE CHANGE)
"I vote for pounding some demons until we get some info."
"We're not as young as we used to be, Connor," Angel told him. Age had been plaguing him for years.
"I say we round up the usual informants, Willy, Clem, Merl. Leo should check with the Elders, and-"
"He's tried. They don't know anything," Piper interrupted.
"I'm not about to just sit around! I lost their mother, there's no way-"
"We lost her too, Buffy," Dawn wrapped her arms around her sister, "We'll find them, don't worry."
"That's what we said about Joyce!" Buffy broke down, sobbing. Willow wrapped her arms around the blonde slayer as well.
The room was silent a moment, before Willow spoke up, "Piper, maybe you should try scrying for them again. I'm going to activate the locater spell on their necklaces."
"If you wanna get your ya-yas out, Connor, there's a nest of about ten vamps downtown. With all this potential stuff, haven't gotten a chance to clean then you yet," Paige told him.
"We can't give up hope," Dawn said, her voice slowly losing the British accent she had acquired over the years, "If three thirteen year olds could figure out that the First Evil took their mum, then we can figure out how to get all four of them back."
"Dawn's right. The First wants us broken, wants us hopeless. We can't play into its hands," Willow agreed. Angel wrapped Buffy in his arms, without thinking, as Willow moved away to do the spell. Buffy leaned against him, drawing comfort from his embrace like so many times before.
TBC...
Author's Note: the more reviews, the faster I type....
Oh, and just a bit of advertisement, lol...I am currently writing a story, a challenge, really, that is the most bizarre challenge I've ever seen. It entails Buffy being pregnant season six, and running away. The child she carries is Connor's TWIN sister... How? Even I'm not too sure yet, but if you'd like to read it, let me know, and I'll start posting bit by bit here! If you can't wait, then check out this link, where I've posted it on my site: ?action=getmessage&mview=0&IDMessage=432&LastModified=4675487196146129922. That will take you directly to the message...Feel free to add some comments, but you'll have to join the site first, sorry!
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