Fic: What The Hell(mouth) Happened?
Author: mkcrl120
Disclaimer: All the characters mentioned in this story belong to Joss Whedon or Mutant Enemy or some other people. I own nothing and wrote this just to get it out of my system.
Summary: I'm writing some of these, as I've come up with ideas that I honestly don't know what I'll be doing when the Ultimate series gets that far. In the meantime, these won't go away from my brain unless I do something with them. Warning: It may be a standalone it may be spoilers for something later; only time will tell.
Rating: 15 probably... mainly for language.
Setting: Season 3 - I think you'll recognise when.
What The Hell(mouth) Happened?? - Chapter 23
"You know where the glove is..?" Faith asked Jesse as Giles quickly read through the appropriate pages.
"Restfield Cemetary." Jesse responded. "There's a crypt there belonging to it's last owner."
"They buried it with the owner..?" Jenny mused aloud.
"They buried it attached to the owner." Willow corrected.
"Nice." Cordelia said, quickly looking around. "So we going after this bitch then..?"
"Just waiting for what to do if she's already wearing it." Buffy explained, staring at her Watcher.
"According to this, it only releases itself once it's wearer is dead." Giles explained skimming through the text.
"So we might have to kill her..?" Buffy asked, not liking the option.
"Or you could just cut her arm off." Jesse offered, "Cordelia says that's what you did in her dimension."
"We'll consider them final options..." Buffy answered. "What about if we just knock her unconscious..?"
"Remains attached." Giles answered. "At the moment, Cordelia's suggestion of cutting her arm off seems the most likely."
"Could it ever have been used by a vampire..?" Faith asked, remembering the recent arguments over why they need to find it. "Or was all that a lie too..?"
Giles pondered the comment, "I suppose that the glove might be able to distinguish between an demon possessed corpse and an actual corpse... the text doesn't really go into detail."
"Or she didn't know." Xander offered.
"All it says it that the glove belonged to Von Hauptman at the turn of the century. No details are given as to how Von Hauptman came into possession of the glove, other than it had previously belonged to a demon called Kalos. Lagos swore revenge for this theft from his father and has reputedly spent the last eighty years trying to discover the whereabouts of the glove."
Giles paused, turning the page. "Von Hauptman's children lived in fear of the glove's abilities, swearing it corrupted their father and stated it turned his heart as black as the demon he took it from. They buried it with him and fled Sunnydale forever, changing their names so as to avoid the attentions of Lagos."
"Fleeing Sunnydale and avoiding the nasty demon that wants them dead." Xander mused. "These kids were so much smarter than we are."
"Living Flame..." Giles muttered to himself, heading off into the stacks.
"Hello... no time for reading." Faith commented, waving her hands trying to get his attention. "Evil Watcher to stop remember..?"
Giles returned with another book. "Yes, of course Living Flame... I believe I have the ingredients right here."
"What ingredients..?" Buffy asked.
"To destroy the glove." Willow responded.
"That's nice... but as Faith said, what about the Watcher..?" Buffy commented.
"If she has put on the glove..." Giles paused thinking it through. "It might only be necessary to knock her out."
"I'm up for that." Faith cracked her knuckles in response.
"We might be able to burn the glove off her."
"Won't she be burned too..?" Willow asked.
"It beats cutting her arm off." He replied.
"Okay..." Buffy accepted that as the current plan. "So we fetch Post and then we deal with the glove... Giles you gonna stay here and get the flame thing ready..?"
"We sure that's a good idea..?" Xander asked. "What if she comes back looking to get revenge on us all..? Specifically as we've already knocked her out once today."
"A Slayer with each group would be more useful." Jenny agreed.
"But it took them both to deal with her last time." Cordelia informed them. "One to draw fire and one to cut her arm off."
"Slayer with each group it is." Jesse replied confidently.
"Were you even listening to her..?" Buffy asked.
"Yes... and we don't have four Slayers." He responded. "But we can have a Slayer in each group so that the Slayer can draw her fire, while the rest of us attempt to take her down.
"It is likely that only the Slayer can outrun the lightning bolts." Giles stated, agreeing with Jesse's plan.
"Okay..." Buffy started, only to be interrupted by Faith.
"I'm with the group hunting her down." She ordered, then looking sideways at her fellow Slayer she added. "I owe this bitch."
"Okay... take Jesse and Xander with you." Buffy responded. "And make sure you've got distance weapons as well as that axe." She added, staring at Jesse's hands.
He moved into the weapon's cabinet and returned with some throwing knives.
They nodded to the rest of them and the three headed out the door towards the cemetary.
"Try not to cut her arm off unless you really need to." Cordelia shouted after them, getting Xander to wave his free hand in the air in response.
Buffy turned to the others. "Giles, you start preparing the fire in your office... I don't want her taking pot shots at it from the doorway." He moved to do so.
"Everyone else collect your weapons." She said, looking at the remaining women. "Try to avoid putting your back to any windows or doorways, first one to spot anything shout. I'm the lookout in the corridor, but I don't want that bitch getting anywhere near the library without one of us knowing about it."
Ten Minutes Later.
"So that's it." Willow asked, looking at the flame.
"That's it." Giles confirmed.
She looked at it again, shaking her head. "Are you sure it was supposed to be made in a wok..?"
"Willow..." He pinched his nose automatically. "The fire is the important part. Not the container."
"But it smells kinda like spicy chicken." Willow she commented, not daring to meet his glare. "Why's it called Living Flame anyway..?" She leaned forward to get a closer look.
"Cos whoever discovered it chose to name it that way." He responded sighing dramatically.
"Are there supposed to be all these little green and yellow flickers in it..?"
"Willow."
"I've never seen it before." She whined, pointing back to the flame.
"I've never made it before." He countered, "And the only way we'll know if it works right is if it destroys the glove."
Leading her out into the main library he called out. "we're done, any sign of her..?"
"Not yet." Came Buffy's response from where she was glancing in each direction just outside the swinging doors.
"Nothing here either." Cordelia shouted from somewhere up in the stack where she could focus on both the windows and the skylight. Jenny was standing a few feet away eyes flicking in every direction.
"So we wait..?" Willow asked, feeling a little anxious.
"Til she either comes here or the others bring her in..." Jenny agreed, not bothering to comment on what sort of state she might be likely to be brought back in.
Outside The Von Hauptman Crypt.
"Looks like the book was right." Jesse commented pointing at the list of people apparently buried inside. "The one buried in 1916 is the last, the rest must have fled."
"Probably to the corners of the world." Xander added.
"Shhh..." Faith instructed, as they circled the crypt looking for it's entrance. "If she's in here I don't want her to know we're after her... unless she hasn't put the glove on yet, then I really don't care what she thinks."
On the third side they found the door.
Putting a finger to her lips she instructed the others to stand on either side weapons raised.
Xander raised his eyebrows in silent question. Faith shook her head, making a negative response and then pointing to her ear.
Jesse pointed at the door and back to Faith with a shrug.
Faith shrugged back, glancing at each of them in turn she continued to make eye contact until she recieved a brief nod. Xander stepped back aiming his crossbow at the doorway so that it would travel diagonally into the crypt if it were released. Jesse raised his axe over his right shoulder, ready to make a swing at chest height should anything come charging out.
Satisfied that she was covered, Faith raised her left leg and kicked the door wide open, instantly stepping back and ducking down allowing her eyes to pierce the gloom within. For a couple of seconds all three remained where they were.
Then Faith strode into the crypt, quickly noting the four coffins and the stairs leading down to a lower level.
By this time the others had followed her in.
"Do you think she's down there..?" Xander asked.
"Only one way to find out." Faith responded, swopping his crossbow for her axe and holding the sword in her other hand.
"It better be in one of these." Jesse commented, having taken a quick glimpse down the stairs. "Otherwise we'll be looking for the glove all night."
"Or worse," Xander thought about it. "It was in one of these and we have to check the rest of them while she goes on a rampage..."
"Now you're just being annoying." Jesse told him, watching as Faith returned. "Xander was saying..."
"I heard you." Faith cut him off. "There's about twenty or thirty coffins down there. Some piled on one another."
"So we're hoping that these are the latest ones..?" Jesse said excitedly.
"Or that the kids hoped people would assume that, and swapped their father's body with one of those buried in the pile." Xander was quick to counter.
"You're just Mister Pessimistic today, aren't you..?" Jesse sighed.
"Right. Let's get started then." Faith said, grabbing one of the coffin lids and peering inside. "Nope." She stated, moving onto the next one. "Nope." Pushing past the others she grabbed the third. "Bingo." She said, moving the lid to the side.
Jesse and Xander peered into to see that the glove was still attached to the skeleton inside. "Nice..." They both commented at the same time.
Faith lifted the arm up and snapped it off at the elbow. The glove balancing on the hand. Passing it to Xander, she went to close the coffin lid. "Looks like we beat her here."
"A bit of luck." Jesse agreed, glancing over to where Xander was pulling the remains of the skeleton out of the glove, his crossbow resting on top of one of the other coffins. "Not that Mister Glass-Is-Completely-Empty here would ever expect that."
"Leave the arm in." Faith instructed him, turning her attention back to the lid she'd just closed. "We don't want anyone to accidently end up wearing it."
Xander had almost removed the hand from inside, but as instructed dropped the hand back into glove. "It really smells in there." He informed them.
"Give me that back." Faith said, holding her hand out but eyes never leaving the lid. Xander casually handed it to her. "Jesse put your weapons down."
"Okay." He answered, doing so. "Now what..?"
"Both of you try to open it." She ordered, gesturing at the coffin. They shrugged and moved to opposite sides of the lid, grasping each side they each lifed with their hands and arms. Re-arranging the grips they tried again, straining noises could be heard from both of them.
"Come this side." Jesse asked Xander, who moved to join his friend.
This time they placed their hands on one edge of the lid and one of their feet on the wall behind them. This time pushing in an attempt to slide it across the coffin. This was marginally more successful, a few scraping noises could be heard as they slowly moved it an inch at a time, eventually it had travelled far enough so that they would have been able to place their arm inside to find the glove.
"It's fucking heavy." Jesse stated, collapsing against the wall of the crypt.
"It's a stone lid, what did you expect..?" Xander asked between heavy breaths.
"So if you both had trouble... it might be that she's been here but wasn't able to get at the glove." Faith thought about it. Moving around to the opposite side to the guys, she casually pushed the lid back into place making a horrific noise at it did so.
"We got to make it so that it looks like no-one's been here." She informed them, glancing around. "Hopefully she'll come up with the same ideas Xan did... and think she's got to dig around further."
"Why do we want her to believe that it's in here..?" Jesse asked, returning to an upright position.
"In case she comes while we're away." Faith responded, picking up weapons and handing the glove back to Xan. "Anything comes on the way back... I fight it, you make sure nothing gets the glove."
"What are we doing again..?" Xander asked, trying to find a comfortable to position to hold the thing.
"We give this to Giles to burn with the fire thingie... then we come back and wait for her to return to the scene of the crime." Faith explained, pushing them ahead of her out of the crypt. Loudly slamming the door shut as they all left.
Xander wedged the glove under his arm and then zipped up his coat as they walked back towards the school, turning to Jesse he asked. "Just between us, how the hell did you spot the book..? I mean you just picked one up off the ground and there it was..."
"Ms Post dropped it." Jesse informed him.
"Ahh... so she found it then..?" Xander clarified for himself.
"No, I found it." Jesse corrected him, at the glances of the others he added. "I was flicking through the books just looking for any pictures with either a hand or a glove on them... if the pictures of the demons only included a drawing of the head then I skipped it."
"Right." Both Faith and Xander responded, wishing they'd thought up the same plan.
End chapter twenty three