Redeemed

Chapter 10

This is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel fan fiction based on the character, Faith. I do not own any name or reference in this fan-fiction, and all rights concerning Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel belong to Joss Whedon.

Fighting broke out in all directions of the warehouse. Buffy and Angel went straight for the two slayers, as Tanya and Kennedy went towards the werewolves. Willow immediately began to set up for what she was about to do.

Faith went towards The First, but the four vampires cut her off almost immediately. She threw out her fist and punched one of them head on in the face, sending him immediately to the ground. Two more of them grabbed her arms in an effort to hold here, while another came at her from the front.

Faith used the constraints of the vampires against them as she did a back flip with the support of the vampires that were holding her. On her way over she kicked the third vampire, sending him flying across the room. The two vampires that were holding her let go immediately, but it was two late. Faith pulled the saber from its sheath across her chest and decapitated both of them in one swing.

The two remaining vampires came at her again, and she used the saber to kill them as she plunged it through each of their hearts. She kept going, searching frantically for where The First had run off to. It wasn't like him to hide out.

While Faith was looking around for The First, Buffy and Angel were fighting off the two slayers that were still working for him. Buffy was countering one of the girls' punches and kicks just as fast at the other was throwing them out. She was doing a good job of keeping up with her until Angel flew out of the sky and landed on her.

They both got back up as quickly as possible and switched foes. Buffy was now facing the slayer that Angel had been fighting, and vice versa. Angel punched the slayer in the face, and then grabbed her behind the head. He brought her face down to meet his knee, and as she fell to the floor he looked her straight in the eyes.

"You're making a mistake." He told her. "You don't want to work for him. As soon as we're out of the way, you're next."

"You're wrong, vampire!" The confused slayer yelled back at him. "The First has offered us power beyond anything imaginable."

She launched herself up to a standing position again, using only the power in her back and legs. She immediately threw out a punch that landed Angel on the ground again. She produced a stake from inside her jacket, and started walking confidently towards Angel.

"I believe this is what you fear the most." She said, trying to taunt her victim.

"Now you're wrong." Angel said as she plunged the stake down at him. He caught her wrist in his hand. "I don't fear death. I've been to hell once, and it's not all it's cracked up to be."

With the flick of his wrist, Angel snapped the girls arm. Keeping hold of it, he used her weight to pull himself off the ground. Then, he grabbed her by the neck, still holding her arm, and launched her through the air. She landed on the ground and hit her head on the rim of a barrel. She just lay there, unconscious.

Buffy was doing circles with the other slayer. Buffy could have easily taken the girl out, as she was quickly starting to lose her stamina. This other slayer hadn't been fighting for as long as Buffy had, and she didn't know how to balance out her fighting so as not to tire out too quickly.

However, Buffy was trying to persuade the girl, just as Angel had when he was fighting the other that this wasn't the way to go out.

"You need to stop, Robin." Buffy said. "You helped up fight The First before. You went with us down into the hellmouth. Now you're working for him!"

"He's offered me so much more than you ever offered me." Robin replied. "He never once told us that we might die. You told us going into the hellmouth that there was a possibility that we might not come out alive. You scared the hell out of us, just so you could be called the hero in the end. You never cared about us."

"That's not true." Buffy replied, impatiently dodging the girl's attacks. "I cared more for you girls than you could ever imagine. Do you think that The First cares whether or not you live or die today? Do you think that if I killed you right now, and you know I could, that he would stop for one second to mourn your death?"

"The First told us that he would protect us from you. He told us to just fight a little longer and he would kill anyone who tried to harm us."

Suddenly, Buffy was grabbed from behind and thrown through the air with great force. She hit the ceiling of the warehouse and then came falling back down to the ground. She got up off the floor weakly, and looked to her attacker, The First.

"I did tell you that I would protect you didn't I?" The First asked Robin.

"Yes," she replied, "thank you."

The First grabbed her by the neck and with just the twitch of his wrist he had snapped her neck. Robin was suspended in the air, dead in The First's grasp. He dropped her to the floor of the warehouse as if she were nothing more than a rag doll.

"I lied." He said calmly.

Buffy started to run at The First, but she was quickly stopped by Angel. Angel motioned behind The First. He turned around, only to be confronted by Faith. She swung the saber down and hit him at the base of his neck. This, however, did nothing as the saber shattered into shards of metal.

"Did you honestly think that you could kill me with a weapon forged by man?" He asked her.

"No," Faith replied, "but it was fun."

She kicked him in the chest and then immediately brought her fist up to his face. She didn't slow even for a second as she continued to throw attack upon attack at The First. She jumped over him, grabbing his head as she did so and brought it down as she landed on her feet. She sent a knee into his face, and then pushed him back towards some crates that were lined up against the wall.

The First came for her, but she had learned that you had to be quick when fighting him, because attacks weren't what were going to kill him. She knew what it was that would kill him, and she was ready to put into action the plan that she had devised with Willow.

"Willow, now!" Faith yelled.

All eyes turned towards Willow as she began to do an incantation. Her eyes turned black, and she held her hands out in front of her. She was conjuring some heavy magic, because the items that she had brought with her for the ritual were suspended in the air by the power of the magic behind her words.

"Power of the darkness, heed my call. I call upon the powers of the demon ancient whose strength dwells in the bodies of mortals. Bring forth your essence from these bodies of mortals previously housed with your power and thrust it all into this willing host. Come now, with my words, I summon thee!"

Willow finished the incantation and a powerful surge of power was manifested inside her circle of magical items. Out of the magical power came white voids and everyone in the room knew what they were. They were the souls of slayers previous who had died before them. Soul after soul shot into Faith's body, knocking her body around with the power behind them.

Finally, the souls stopped coming and the void of power ceased to be. Faith got up from the ground effortlessly and turned to face The First.

"Are you ready for the fight of your life?" Faith asked. "I am."

The First, now extremely ticked off by the show and over confident slayer, came rushing at Faith full force. He threw out his fist towards Faith, but she merely held up her hand and grabbed it as if it were a little kid trying to slap her.

"Who has the power now?"

Faith threw out her other fist and knocked The First back with a blow that sent him flying through the air and into the wall. She ran at him and threw herself up into the air, barely trying. She launched her legs out at him and kicked him with both, and instead of falling to the ground this time, she sprung backwards with her own force and landed on her feet.

The others just stared in wonder as Faith fought The First with power that they had never seen before. Faith had been indwelled by the powers of all the slayers that had lived and died before them, and she was using that power to fight The First. The First couldn't grasp the power she had now, and everyone in the room was oblivious to just how powerful she really was.

Only Willow knew the repercussions of such power being housed in one mortal body, but she had been asked by Faith to not tell anyone until it was too late. This was the only way, Faith had explained to her, and she knew that if Willow told the others of her plan that they would try and talk her out of it.

Faith continued to fight The First, just as effortlessly as he had fought each of them in the beginning. Soon, it would be over as they saw The First tiring out for the first time. Faith kneed him in the head after having grabbed him once again from behind, and he flew back towards the wall one more.

She didn't stop as she continued to pummel him with blow after blow of her fists and her legs. She was paying The First back for every life that he had ever cost to others. He was avenging the deaths of every slayer that had lived and died by his hand.

Finally, it ended as Faith jumped up onto his shoulders. As she stood there, balanced by only her own strength she bent down and grabbed The First's head in her hands. Pulling straight up and jumping off his shoulders with a flip that landed her on her feet, The First's body, head excluded, fell to the ground. He was dead.

Faith immediately started breathing rapidly as the power inside of her became too much for her to hold onto any longer. She dropped The First's head as she lost all control. She heaved and fought against what was happening inside her body, but the consequences of what she had indwelt herself with were unavoidable.

Angel and the others ran over to her as she fell to the floor of the warehouse. She lay there for a few moments longer, and as Angel ran over to her he threw himself down at her and grabbed her head, supporting her.

"Faith…" He said.

She held a hand up to his lips to stop him from talking. She knew what was happening, and she didn't want the sympathy of the others.

"Five by five right, Angel?" She asked.

He nodded as she lay there in his arms. The others, knowing what was coming, started crying.

"Don't shed tears over little ole me," Faith said, "I knew going into this what would happen."

Then, Faith took her last breath. She lay dead in the arms of Angel, redeemed at last.