The Quickening

Notes: Willowbabe – I don't personally use a Beta reader, nor do I know any. Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance. I hope you find one.

Previously:

"Willow and Giles are going to perform a binding spell, which hopefully, will stop the Hellmouth from opening," Buffy answered.

"And if it doesn't?" Faith asked.

Buffy shrugged and replied, "the world ends?"

Chapter Forty-Five:

Giles and Willow stood in the center of the library. They had drawn a mystical figure on the floor, but Faith could not understand what it meant. The furniture previously occupying the library floor had been cleared away, placed inside the cage where Oz had been held just a few minutes prior. Cordy, Buffy, Xander, Angel, and Faith stood in the back of the library, by the main doors. "We need you to do something," Faith said, suddenly turning towards Xander.

"What?" Xander asked, eager to help.

"The classroom we put Oz in isn't very secure," Buffy cut in. "We need you to find a new place to put him."

"That's it?" Xander asked, obviously disappointed. "I don't get to wield a fancy sword and kick some undead ass?"

"It's not always all it's cracked up to be, Xan," Faith said wearily. "If Oz gets out, we're gonna have a whole mess on our hands that we really don't need right now."

"So this is actually important?" Xander said, happy to be able to contribute in a proactive way for once. Usually, he went out and bought donuts and other snack foods for the team. Often, he wondered why they bothered to include him in things. He was not very good at fighting, he was not very good with weapons, and he was not very good with research. Unlike Willow, he could not read Latin or the other languages she seemed to master quite easily. Buffy and Faith were slayers. Even Oz was supernatural in his own right. Even though Cordy rarely did anything to contribute, no one questioned her presence at that moment, or decided to send her away, as the Scoobies had done to him in previous battles.

"Yeah, it's actually important," Faith said, smiling over at him. "Don't try to move Oz though. Just find us a place to put him. We sedated him, but it won't last for long."

"I got it. Scout a location. I'm all over it," Xander said, instantly out of the library and rushing down the hallway, mentally listing places to examine.

"Want a weapon?" Faith asked, looking over at Cordy. The taller girl seemed a bit nervous, as if she could sense that something major was about to happen in that very room. Before they had removed the furniture from the library floor, they had cleared some weapons out of the cage, which were now stacked by the checkout counter.

"Yeah, something sharp might be kinda nice," Cordy said as confidently as she could, even though she was terrified. It never got any easier battling evil. Though she had seen numerous vampires and demons, the pit of her stomach always quaked with fear when the time came for action.

"Not a problem," Faith said, smiling reassuringly at the other girl. Cordy smiled back, grateful that Faith understood her well enough to know that she was afraid, but also that she would not want anyone else to know.

"Everything's gonna be okay," Angel whispered over to Cordelia once Faith had moved over to the checkout counter to procure a weapon. Cordy looked over at him in surprise.

"I know," Cordy said, looking up into his deep, soulful eyes. She could see her own reflective staring back at her. For a moment, she though she saw a much older person reflected in his eyes – someone who had seen great evil and had survived, a strong woman with infinite possibility. Then the image faded and she saw a young, high school girl looking nervously up into the eyes of a man she barely knew, yet fought beside frequently.

"Good. But just in case you had any doubts…you're stronger than you think, Cordelia," Angel said honestly. Then he shifted his gaze back to the front of the room, where Giles had just finished lighting the last candle.

"Here," Faith said, appearing beside Cordy again. "Thought this might come in handy."

Cordy reached over and took the battle-axe out of Faith's hands. "I don't really know how to use this," she stated, holding the heavy weapon in her hands. Though she thought it should feel out of place, it did not.

"It's easy," Faith instructed, "you just swing it at the bad things that come near you."

"I think I can handle that," Cordy replied, looking over at Faith with laughter in her eyes. "These demons won't even know what hit them between me and you."

"We're about to start," Willow said, looking back at the group behind her. "A little silence might be nice."

"Earth…wind…fire…and rain. Linger four gods, we implore you. Defend us, immediately after, I will release you," Giles spoke in Latin, his voice booming through the library. The group standing in the back immediately fell silent, awed by the strength and power in his voice.

Suddenly, the earth began to quake. Faith could feel something rising up from underground. Her head pounded from her slayer senses struggling with her to fight or flee. She knew the evil that was about to rise out of the ground. It was written in the blood of every slayer. Her blood was urging her to move forward and meet her foe head on. But her brain was telling to run. The evil was too great. Buffy's voice ripped through her head suddenly and she focused on the words.

"I thought this spell was supposed to stop the Hellmouth from opening!" Buffy shouted over the thunder of the library floor suddenly splitting up the middle. Giles and Willow dove out of the way, into the group standing by the library doors.

"It was," Giles said. "I didn't get a chance to finish it. It started too soon."

"So what do we do now?" Cordy asked.

"Fight," Angel replied solemnly.

"I'm ready," Faith said, gripping her sword intently. Buffy had a sword similar to hers. Faith looked over at her and their eyes met. For a moment, Faith saw the recognition she had always wanted to see in her sister slayer's eyes. Buffy was no longer embarrassed to go into combat with her. Instead, Buffy looked at her as an equal, a fellow warrior in the fight against evil.

"Me too," Buffy said quietly. Suddenly, the library floor exploded, pieces of tile flying through the air. The group collectively ducked, shielding their heads from the rubble. The dust cleared and several large tentacles shot out of the ground, wriggling across the floor and groping for live flesh to cling to and devour.

"That's pretty creepy," Willow muttered breathlessly. For all but Buffy, it was their first glimpse of what lived in the Hellmouth. The beast repulsed Faith, yet, some part of her found beauty in it. Faith sought out Buffy's eyes again and with a swift nod, both girls lifted their swords and charged at the creature emerging from the ground.

……………………………

Xander slowly opened the door to the boiler room. A few moments ago, the ground had suddenly started shaking. He knew that things were about to get messy in the library. Part of him wanted to go back and join his friends. He knew that he would not be of much use, but he needed to know that they were alright. He needed to be able to watch over them. However, he also had been given a task. He did not want to give up without completing it. Moving inside the dark room, he stumbled blindly for several long seconds until his fingers hit a light switch. A pale, dull light spread over the room when he flipped the switch. A single, bare bulb hung in the middle of the boiler room. Xander's eyes adjusted in the dark and he moved forward.

"This seems like a good place," he said aloud. "Nice, heavy door. No way Oz could get out of here." Looking around one last time, he was about to turn to head back to the library when he saw a blinking, red light out of the corner of his eye. "What the hell is that?" He asked himself as he moved further into the room. The light came into view and suddenly Xander realized what he was looking at.

"Oh shit," he said fearfully, "it's a bomb."