The Quickening

Previously:

Buffy was the only one who heard her. The others began to discuss various plans while Buffy rose to her feet and walked over to Faith. Standing directly in front of the other slayer, she looked deep into Faith's eyes, and said, loud enough for everyone to hear, "What do you know that we don't?"

Chapter Seventy:

Faith internally grimaced as the library fell silent. She could see Giles watching her intently from across the room and the looks of confusion on the rest of the faces gazing eagerly at her, willing her to explain Buffy's words. Buffy stood directly in front of Faith, her eyes gleaming with determination and accusation. Faith thought about replying with a frivolous, sarcastic remark, but knew that it was not the time. Everyone was freaking out about the Mayor. They needed something to cling to and Faith was dangling a life raft in front of them. "Sit down," Faith said quietly. Buffy considered her for a moment before nodding and taking a seat at the table with the others.

Faith suddenly found herself standing alone in the middle of the library, the center of attention. Her nerves sparked and for a moment she thought that she would be unable to speak. Finally, the words found her. "When I was unconscious, something came to me," Faith began. "I told Giles a little bit about it, but I still didn't know what it all meant. I think I do now," Faith absently began to pace in front of them. "The First Evil came to me and told me things."

"The First Evil?" Wesley interrupted. "What makes you think that we can trust anything that it said?"

"It was scared. It was afraid of the Mayor," Faith replied. "Whether that seems likely to you or not, it was. I could see the fear in its eyes. It told me how to defeat him."

"What?" Giles asked surprised. "The First Evil told you how to defeat the Mayor? Why would it do that?"

"Yeah, aren't they working on the same side?" Willow interjected.

"No," Faith replied. "They have different agendas, so to speak. The First doesn't want the Mayor standing in its way."

"The First has plans of its own," Wesley stated.

"Yes," Faith replied. "But that's the least of our worries right now," she replied deflecting attention from the First back to the Mayor.

"So how do we kill the Mayor?" Buffy asked, eager to return to their original subject as well.

"The Mayor is invincible until he ascends. After that, he can be destroyed. Granted, it will take more than the usual, but it can be done," Faith replied.

"I don't think our weapons are going to do the trick," Cordelia said, looking over at the weapons closet.

"I could contact the Council, see if they'll send us more," Wesley suggested.

"They'd be too late," Faith said. "All of this is going down at graduation. That's only a day away. We don't have time to wait."

"Graduation," Giles said, shaking his head. "We don't have any time."

"I have an idea," Buffy said suddenly, her face brightening.

"What is it?" Wesley asked.

"Well, the last impenetrable demon we came across was The Judge," Buffy explained. "We couldn't use normal weapons on him, so we used a rocket launcher."

"What's your point?" Xander asked.

"My point is that the one thing that will kill anything is fire. The Mayor's going to ascend into a bigass demon. We need to blow him up," Buffy said, smiling widely. "And I know exactly where we can do that."

"Where?" Giles asked curiously, dreading the look of sheer delight that spread across Buffy's features.

"The school," Buffy said. Xander instantly smiled.

"You want to rig the school with explosives, lure the demon Mayor into the building, and then blow it up?" He asked, catching onto the plan.

Buffy nodded enthusiastically. "It would be a fitting end to our high school careers," she supplied.

Faith laughed and looked down at the ground. "I like it," she said. "But I don't know if it's going to be enough."

"Why not?" Willow asked.

"The Mayor's going to have backup," Faith replied. "No way he's walking in there alone."

"Good point," Wesley said.

"I know," Cordelia said, clapping her hands together, and nearly jumping to her feet. "We arm everyone at graduation. All of the students, all of the parents."

"What makes you think they'll go for that?" Xander asked.

"They know all about the evil things in this town. We explain to them what's going down. We've helped them all these years, they'll help us now," Cordelia said. "Besides, it's not like anyone has a choice if a giant demon is going to be parading through town ripping everything to pieces anyway."

"Everyone shows up at graduation secretly sporting weapons under their robes. When the Mayor starts to ascend, we give the signal, they break the weapons out. Then Faith and I lure the Mayor into the school. Wesley and Giles wait with the explosives. Once we're out of the building and clear of the explosion, you set them off," Buffy said, wrapping up the plan. "Does that sound good?" She asked, turning to Faith.

"Sounds perfect," Faith replied.

"Excellent," Buffy said, rising to her feet. "Okay guys, we have a demon killing plan to explain to the senior class. Let's go." The others rose to their feet and left the library, leaving Faith alone with Giles and Wesley.

"Do you trust the information the First Evil gave you?" Giles asked.

"Yes," Faith replied. "It wants the Mayor dead."

"Why?" Wesley asked, knowing that Faith had held back when explaining things in front of the others.

"It wants Sunnydale," Faith said. "It has plans for this town. And it can't take over if someone else already has."

"By destroying the Mayor instead of allowing him to claim Sunnydale, we'll be putting ourselves into even greater danger," Giles surmised.

"It said I had a choice," Faith said, shrugging her shoulders. "I could tell you or not. But the way I see it, nothing's kept us down before and nothing'll keep us down in the future. Whatever the First is planning to dish out, we can take it."

"I agree," Wesley said, grinning.

"Must have been creepy though," Giles said.

"What?" Faith asked.

"Having the First Evil rattling around in your head," Giles replied.

"Yeah," Faith agreed. "It kinda was."

……………………

Angel threw on his coat as left the mansion. The sun had just set and the moon was lazily rising over Sunnydale. He was eager to see Faith. He had grown quite attached to the young slayer in the relatively short amount of time in which he had known her. She reminded him of himself when he was younger, though Faith seemed to possess a wisdom that he had not. The walk to the library was a short one and Angel followed the familiar path without much regard for his surroundings. It was only until it was too late that he felt that something was terribly wrong. He stopped suddenly in the alley he was walking through, his senses tingling and alert. A vampire was near. Before he could turn to survey his surroundings, however, he felt a sharp object pierce him through the back.

Looking down, he saw an arrow sticking out of his stomach. Quickly moving into the shadows of the alley, he crouched low to the ground, wincing in pain. Grabbing the arrow shaft sticking out of his back, he broke the feathered end off. Then, grabbing the point, he braced himself before ripping it out of his body. He strangled the cry of pain that threatened to rip from his throat and waited in tense silence for a follow-up attack. None came, however. His senses stopped tingling as he felt the vampire move away. Standing, he cautiously moved out into the alley and looked around. Emptiness and silence greeted him.

"What the hell," he muttered to himself, looking down at the arrow he still clutched in his hand. Then he felt it. The wound started to burn as if someone had set it on fire. Grimacing, he braced himself against the wall as pain wracked his body. It suddenly dawned on him why there had been no follow-up attack. The arrow itself had not been meant to kill him. It had been meant to do something else.

"Poison," Angel muttered to himself. He knew that he did not have much time. Quickly pushing himself away from the wall, he moved as fast as he could towards the library. He felt dizzy and waves of nausea crashed through him, but he stayed on his feet. Finally, he saw the dim outline of the high school looming ahead of him. Stumbling towards it, he lost his footing and fell onto the grass. It was slick and wet with dew. He tried to push himself up, but found that the strength had left his limbs. Lying on the grass, he rolled over, and looked up into the sky. The stars shone brightly above him. The little dots merged together in a blur and the world went dark.

………………….

"We need to gather all of our weapons here," Buffy said, motioning around the library. "I know I have a lot of things at home."

"Yeah, me too," Faith agreed. The others nodded their agreement. They each had plenty of weapons stored at their homes.

"We'll arm the first group with crossbows," Buffy began to explain, but suddenly stopped, her face clouded with anxiety.

"What's wrong?" Willow asked, concerned for her friend.

"I don't know, I just felt…something's wrong," Buffy said slowly.

"What is it?" Faith asked. Buffy looked up at her.

"Angel," she replied. Buffy and Faith were on their feet and out of the library before the others knew what was happening. Rushing out of the school, they darted across the lawn, each keenly feeling Angel's fading presence nearby. They saw a dark shape sprawled out on the lawn of the high school. Redirecting their steps toward the shape, Buffy and Faith rushed towards Angel. Kneeling beside him, they both lifted him up, draping his arms around their shoulders as they dragged him into the building. Faith took the arrow tip from Angel's hand. Giles and Wesley were waiting for them in the hallway.

"What happened?" Giles asked, seeing the unconscious vampire.

"Arrow," Faith said, lifting up the arrow for Giles to see.

"It missed him by a great deal," Wesley commented, noting the blood on Angel's shirt.

"Something tells me it was meant to miss," Faith replied. They pushed open the library doors and carefully laid Angel on the table.

"Giles took the arrow from Faith's hand and inspected it carefully. "There must be something on it."

"What do you mean?" Xander asked as he, Cordelia, Willow, and Oz moved out of the way.

"Poison," Wesley said. "We need to test it to find out which, however."

"I can do that," Willow volunteered.

"Yes," Giles said, passing the arrow to her. "Cordelia, Oz, and Xander, go with her. We'll try to help him as best we can here. Report back as soon as you get results."

"We will," Willow said as they gathered supplies and rushed from the library to the science labs.

"Giles," Buffy said quietly. Giles looked over at her and nodded. He knew how much Buffy cared for Angel, even if the couple were not together anymore, as he had suspected.

"Don't worry, B," Faith said, also sensing her sister slayer's anxiety. "He'll be okay."