Chapter 10: Pieces: Part II
FAITH'S APARTMENT
BUFFY'S POV
Faith looks at me then jumps out of bed. As she searches her leather jacket for her cell phone, I hear her mutter under her breath, "Well, this can't be good." She finds it, answers, then almost immediately starts talking.
"What the fuck? Willy? Jesus calm down! Whoa, whoa, slow down, I can't understand you. Yeah? Yeah?" She starts rifling through her duffle bag, bringing out a leather bound book and pen she nods then, "Ok, now repeat it all again from the very beginning. Yes I'm serious." She is furiously writing then she stops "Are you sure about the demon? It's very important." She pulls the phone away from her ear then puts it back again, "Jeeze, no offense. Ok, thanks, you're the best."
She hangs up then grabs her jeans. "Willy just found your missing piece."
"What do you mean?" I sit up as she throws me my clothes.
She puts on her jeans, "It's Emma, come on get dressed."
I furrow my brow at her, "What the hell are you talking about?" I get out of bed.
She walks over to me, "Trust me?"
"Of course," I don't even pause, wow things have changed. Reaching out I stroke her cheek with my thumb then get dressed.
She smiles at me as she dials her phone. "Dawn?" pause "Yeah, look, I need you to wake up Ken and Red. Make sure you and Andrew are armed and Emma's ok." pause "Well I just figured he was with you." pause "Yeah, B and I will be there in 5-10 minutes."
When she hangs up, I turn her to me, "Faith, you have to tell me what's going on."
"I think Red was right, well sort of right, it's Emma. Willy called to tell me a M'Fashnik demon just dusted one of his best customers because he wouldn't tell him where the new slayer who got into town a couple of days ago is. Willy thinks it's me, but I'm thinking Emma's that little girl you saved and brought to the Coven. And now because no one ever taught her how to mask her power, that demon is hunting her like a bloodhound so he can finish whatever fucked-up job he started for that Goddess."
"But that doesn't make sense, why didn't I recognize her?"
"I don't know a spell maybe?" Faith offers as she pulls on a T-shirt and grabs her jacket, stuffing the book in the inside pocket.
"But..." I start.
"B, how many M'Fashnik demons have you ever seen in your entire career as a Slayer?"
I nod, "Two."
"Exactly, it's like you just said, it can't be a coincidence. But I think I have a way to find out for sure."
Finishing getting dressed I follow her out the door. "Yeah, and maybe the Coven has a lot of explaining to do."
DAWN'S POV
Running into our office I grab the phone, "Hello?" pause "Faith?" pause "Holy crap! Ok, eh how did - " pause "Ok, you on your way?" I look at the phone then put it down. Andrew is concerned and from what I can gather from that call he has a reason. I walk towards the door, "Get a weapon, go wake up Emma and bring her down here. I'll get Willow and Kennedy."
"On it."
We make it about two steps before slamming into Kennedy who's walking into our office.
"Who called?" she says as Willow and Emma follow her in.
I look at all of them then back to Ken, "Faith. They're on their way, something is very wrong. All she said was she wants us armed and looking out for Emma." I turn to Andrew, "Can you be ready to go to lock down when they get here?"
"On it." He says again as he moves to his computer.
"Willow?" Emma asks shakily as she steadies herself on the back of a chair. "Can you do a spell to cover my aura, power, whatever you want to call it?"
"Sure, why?"
"You better do it now, something's, something's coming for me." She's scared.
Willow immediately starts to murmur a chant as Kennedy grabs a machete from the wall. Andrew and I each take broad swords and stand in front of Emma.
A couple of minutes later the front door is thrown open and footsteps are racing towards us.
Kennedy's arms are cocked back and she takes a full swing as soon as she sees a form coming into the office.
"Kennedy, NO!" Andrew screams at her.
Her arms stop short as if they hit a wall. Simultaneously the machete clangs to the floor as she's thrown back into the room. She looks up, then shakes her head as Andrew helps her to her feet.
"Whoa, tiger, last thing we need is friendly fire." Faith looks around; her eyes settle on Emma, relived she blows out a breath. "You ok Ken?"
"Yeah, just cleaning the floor with my ass... again."
"It's leaving now and..." she turns to Buffy, "confused." Emma says haltingly as Buffy puts an arm around her. She leans into my sister as if she's known her all her life.
"So am I, what just happened? We were walking over then all of a sudden I couldn't feel Emma anymore." Faith walks over to her, "It was like you were gone, erased. So we ran the rest of the way."
"Cloaking spell," Willow says as she makes sure Kennedy is ok. "She said something was after her, so I did a spell to hide her aura. Then you came in like gang-busters."
Buffy rubs Emma's back as she guides her to the couch, "Are you ok?"
"I feel like I'm losing my mind, too many thoughts, Faith needs to teach me - " she and Buffy sink into the couch together.
"I will," Faith says emphatically, "tonight."
The front door slams closed. Faith jumps in front of them ready to fight.
"Sorry, that was just me," Andrew is typing away. "Ok Dawn, it's all yours." I move to my desk and begin locking down the school and its grounds.
"Oh God, what's happening now?" The color is draining from Emma's face as the sound of locks being turned along with various buzzes and beeps fill the house.
I look up at her from my computer screen, "I'm making sure nothing comes near us again." As my hands fly over the keyboard thirty flat panel screens flip out from three walls. They flicker on and a slide show starts of every possible angle of the two houses and the surrounding grounds. On the last wall a mural of the Legend of the First Slayer scrolls down revealing a huge 20 foot long, 10 foot high map of the world that's lit up with many different colored lights.
"Holy shit," Faith spins around taking it all in, "when did the Scoobys meet James Bond?"
Andrew stands next to me very proud that Faith's impressed. I take his hand and say, "When I started taking my guy here seriously." I see a couple of raised eyebrows then Faith chuckles.
"Ok, Mr. and Mrs. Q, tell Emma and me what security is between us and the demon who wants in.
ANDREW'S POV
Dawn looks and me and sees I'm barely containing myself, "Go ahead," she encourages – as if I need it.
Jumping right in I start, "Well first there are 100 multi-angle cameras located throughout the complex." I push one screen of my 2 panel monitor to face them showing them a diagram with all the camera locations lit up by red dots. "See? Then we wired infrared, motion, heat and pressure sensitive sensors that activate both an immediate camera position change and laser tracking."
Faith scoffs, "Get out, a laser?"
"No, really," I continue very seriously, "depending on what we set it for it can scan, stun or kill." I realize I'm blushing, "…Star Trek – what an inspiration."
Interested, Faith probes. "So if something has weight, heat or moves; you'll see it on the screen and can blast it with your laser?"
"We usually like to scan it first, but yeah. Isn't it cool? Oh, oh and we can also detect flying objects too. Then there's the standard stuff: automatic locking windows and doors, remote alarm activation... boring but effective."
"What's up with the disco map?" Faith asks.
Looking lovingly at my masterpiece, I laugh, "Well, no one has every called it that before. Blue dots are all active Slayers, yellow are Sleepers; green active Watchers, orange stands for retired ones; the white are the Covens and red Hellmouths. Willow, Dawn and I all helped spell it to accept everyone's essence, then I converted each essence into binary format so it could be read like data into the server that maintains the hologram and…" I stop and look around, "am I getting too technical?"
Faith squints then nods her head.
"Oh, ok, sorry, ah, then Willow charmed the program to actually follow each person as they move around the world. It's actually a type of living holographic image. So the data is all stored but can also change as people change and move." I blush again, I can't help it. "It's my baby."
"Have you learned how to beam people yet? I always wanted to do that." Faith jokes with me but you can see she is very impressed.
Dawn smiles at me then turns to Faith, "Well what do you think?"
Faith winks, "I think you two are absolutely adorable together."
DAWN'S POV
"FAITH!!!!" God, she makes me feel like a teenager again, it's infuriating. Ok, it's also funny. I shake my head and laugh.
"Seriously," Faith looks back and forth from me to Andrew, "you guys did an incredible job with all of this and I think everyone will finally be able to get some sleep tonight. Now, speaking of sleep, I made a promise to a certain young lady." She kneels down in front of Emma, "I'm sorry I didn't do this earlier, forgive me?"
Emma smiles, "Of course, there is a hell of a lot going on here. I just thought I could handle it, then once the drugs wore off it got overwhelming so fast. I'm sorry I let you guys down. I can help, I want to contribute, I don't want to be one more thing you have to worry about." She leans on Buffy again, her frustration only a smidgen more apparent than her exhaustion.
"You haven't let us down. You have no idea how powerful you are." Buffy gives her a hug, "Faith and I are only beginning to realize..."
Faith cuts her off with a slow shake of her head; Buffy stops short and looks down. Wow, I wonder what the hell that's all about.
"Emma, I want you to sit up, hold my hands and concentrate on pushing all the thoughts out of your head except mine."
Emma's eyes go wide, "But the last time we touched..."
"It will be ok," Faith says soothingly, "trust me?" She reaches out her hands.
Slowly Emma nods and clasps hers hands. You can almost feel the magic in the air, then it abruptly stops. After a few minutes Faith's head snaps back and Emma screws her eyes tightly shut. Both of their breathing is labored and I can make out a thin sheen of sweat forming on Emma's face.
"That's it, just like you are physically pushing someone out of a room," Faith pants. "You're doing great, now just a few more...ughhh" Faith stops, her brows creases as if in pain then she hangs her head.
Suddenly Emma's eyes fly open as she breaks contact with Faith. Only then did I realize Buffy's hand was still on Emma's back. She turns to Buffy who is just catching her breath, "My God, that all really happened? It wasn't a hallucination? It was you? You saved me?"
My sister squeezes Emma's shoulder as she nods, "Yes." That one word seemed to be a supreme effort for her to speak.
Crying, Emma throws herself into Buffy's arms. Faith rolls back on her heals, gets up and staggers a bit. With all eyes on Buffy and Emma, no one else notices Faith leave the room. Her head is still down and she looks a little, I don't know sad maybe. "Ok, I know I was watching but can someone tell me what the hell just happened?"
FAITH'S POV
Well that was fucking intense. I know I shouldn't have left B to explain it all by herself, she looked a little wiped. But, damn, connecting with the two of them really kicked my ass. I find myself at the kitchen sink so I run the water until it gets cool. Splashing some on my face then grabbing a glass from the dish rack I allow the water to calm me inside and out.
I raised a protective barrier around the three of us because I didn't want the magic I was using to tip off our location to the demon. I only included B because she was so close to us, I had no clue she was touching Emma. Damn, as the kid pushed out everyone else's thoughts, I could feel B's get stronger until I was actually experiencing everything B felt that day: the shock, the pain, the complete and utter emptiness, then Emma feeling so disoriented and frightened. I never linked with two people before and I can see why – what a trip.
Still bent over the sink I feel arms wrapping around my waist. "Hey, why'd you disappear on us?" I turn in her arms. She takes one look at me then pulls me into a fierce hug, "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, just... drained." I say uncomfortably. I bring my hands up to her face holding her gaze to mine, "I'm really sorry, I didn't realize you were touching her." Dropping my hands I look down. "I could feel everything you went through. I ... I didn't mean to, but I couldn't help it."
"Hey," she lifts my chin up, "it's ok." She rests her head against mine and I sigh. She reaches her arms up around my neck, "You were there, you already knew how I felt."
"But I didn't feel it Buffy…"
Her lips graze mine. "Don't worry, I know you didn't mean to jump into my head," she whispers as she kisses me again. Her hands float from my shoulders down my arms, "You sure you're ok?" she asks, concerned.
I look into her eyes and smile, "I am now."
"Good. Now come on, Emma's asking for you. She's a little freaked and I think Kennedy's come up with a plan."
We walk back into Dawn and Andrew's office as Andrew is explaining the holographic map to Emma. She looks up and reaches out her hand, "Faith." I can't help but smile as we sit next to her on the couch. "Thank you," she clasps my hand in hers, "I don't think I can thank you enough."
"Glad to help." I pat her hand then look over to Kennedy, "B tells me you have a plan."
Kennedy leans on the arm of a chair and nods, "Willow is on the phone with the Coven now and is probably going to be a while so it's best if everyone gets some sleep. I think I'm the only person who actually slept at all tonight so I'll stay up till daybreak while you guys take a cat nap. Buff – I called over to the SiT house and Sara said the girls can be ready as quickly as we need, so there's plenty of back up. I just want to quickly go over what we managed to piece together from what Buffy told us tonight along with what we already knew from Emma and Faith.
Getting up, Ken pushes a button on Dawn's desk bringing down a white board from the ceiling. Man, this place is really cool. She looks over to Emma, "The demon that Willy told Faith about tonight is the same one that kidnapped you." She writes same demon on the board with a blue marker. "Willow thinks someone spelled a glamour to hide your true appearance that's why Buffy didn't recognize you," she writes down Emma glamour then continues, "the sedation you were under apparently was for two reasons: one – to stop you from using your power and two – to keep you under the demons radar." Meds with two lines coming out from it: no power and under radar follow on the board.
"Now this is where it gets a little dicey." She puts down the marker and picks up a green one. On one side of the board she writes Powers that Be on the other Coven, then Dark Goddess in the middle. She turns around and looks directly at Emma. "It looks like you are in the middle of a power struggle that has something to do with your parents." She stops then switches back to the blue marker and puts parents on the list.
Ken looks at me, "Can you pay the PtB a visit and see if they can tell you anything?"
Getting up I walk over to her, "They already have," I hold out my hand, "May I?" She gives me the marker and we turn to the board. I write under PtB - darkness craves light and answers found in questions of past. "Once we figure out what happened to Emma's parents I think a lot of our questions," I point to the word on the board, "will be answered," I tap on the other word.
"Hmmm" Ken nods then looks around the room. "Ok, try and get a couple of hours sleep guys. We got a lot of info here and we haven't even gotten into what Dawn and Andrew have been working on." She rubs her head and finally sits on the other couch reading over everything on the white board.
Buffy walks over to her as Andrew and Dawn go upstairs, "You good?"
"Yeah," Ken nods, "just trying to connect the dots."
"I have a feeling there'll be a ton more dots in a couple of hours," she tilts her head over to Red's office. You can hear her voice rising.
Ken nods again, "Yeah, you should get some rest. You're never going to get over your jet lag you know."
Buffy laughs then turning to me takes my hand while calling good night to Ken over her shoulder.
We follow Emma upstairs. When we reach the second floor Emma gives each of us a huge hug, thanks us again then goes to her room. We go up another flight to B's room.
We're finally settling into bed when B turns to me. "It's funny, but there's something about Emma that makes me want to take care of her. I mean more than the other SiTs, I don't know, can't describe it."
Rubbing her back I venture, "Maybe it's all part of the grand inter-connected plan." I feel her nod against my chest. "You want to know something funnier?" I kiss her forehead.
"What" she looks up at me smiling.
"I feel the same. There's something about that kid..."
"Yeah."