Chapter 23: Twisted Timeframes

Disclaimer: No ownership. I've got most of the DVDs, though!

Rating: I think I'm boring everyone to death repeating the same thing each time. See the first fourteen chapters if you haven't, yet :)

A/N (Apologies for the long wait. I'm just going to blame writer's block and leave it at that, just like last time. sigh. These few chapters have been really hard to write… but thanks for the reviewing! And thanks to kim for finding the fic I was looking for.

: ). And thanks to both kim and Dieu Anonyme for reviewing! You two really kept me going when the writing was tough. :D. And yes. I know I was cruel to mention Riley bashing and not include any… but there will be a lot of Riley bashing in the chapter after the next one. Promise. :P. Because this time he deserves it. :D

Now, enjoy! And Review:P )

8 8 8

The first indication Cassandra had that something peculiar had happened was when Buffy didn't pick them up from school.

The second indication Cassandra had that something strange was going on was when Spike wasn't at his crypt. And it was daytime. And when they usually met.

The third indication Cassandra had that something was downright bad was when they went to Revello Drive, and no-one was there. And the place was in ruins.

The fourth indication was when they found Spike, Joyce, and Giles looking extraordinarily grim at Giles' apartment.

And the fifth indication that the apocalypse or something very, very, very bad was happening was that Giles and Spike weren't arguing.

"Dawnie, you're safe," Joyce pulled Dawn onto her lap. Daniel and Cassandra sat down on the floor, looking worriedly at the three adults.

"What's wrong?" Daniel demanded edgily.

"It's Buffy. She's not… Buffy. We managed to contact her at Riley's…"

"We called a meeting for tonight. The witches…"

"She's not Buffy."

Spike thumped his mug down with a… thump. Luckily, he'd already drained it of blood, or else Giles' carpet would have suffered. Strain showed in the lines around his face. "Met the bloody bint last night. Tried to come on to me. It wasn't her. It just wasn't. The Slayer doesn't talk like that. Doesn't act like that. There's something in there, and it's not the Slayer!"

"And to make it worse," Giles continued. "We've heard news from the hospital that Faith has awoken. And she visited Joyce last night. Luckily, the Council…"

Cassandra didn't need to listen to the rest of the story. "Buffy's Faith." Without realizing she'd spoken out loud, she cradled her face in her hands, thinking furiously. What the hell? Shouldn't this have happened last year?

"What!" Giles demanded sharply.

Oh… this isn't good. Think, think, think, think, think! Excuse… um… crap…

"Um with the… acting weird part… you… um… the… uh… Faith? Yeah…Um… Buffy and Faith… you know? Um… just the whole… Buffy's Faith?"

Daniel laughed in the silence of incomprehension that attacked everyone else. A short laugh, strained by the worry in his voice.

"Cass… Cassie, you're not making any sense."

"I mean… um…"

Dammit… I can't tell them why, yet! They just need to trust me…

Dead silence. A moment of pure and utter clarity.

I can't believe I'm going to be able to get away with this.

"I can feel it," she said simply.

And I can. It's not a lie. In my gut. In my mind. In my breath. In my bones. Things are different now we've come. Time has changed.

They all shared another look of incomprehension at that. "What?"

She sighed. Resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Gave up and rolled her eyes anyway.

"I can feel it. Just like I felt Dracula coming. It's the only logical… well, scrap logical, explanation."

The world erupted around her. She fainted.

Images. Again. This time, she forced them back before anything happened. She heard laughter.

"Well done."

The being glided out again, its face amused and not unkindly.

"Well done what?" she sat up to ease her throbbing head.

"You figured some of it out. At least partly. We did not expect you to be so quick."

Irritation flashed. "What, you think I'm dumb?"

Musical laughter again. "Of course not. Else, we would not have seized the opportunity."

"Opportunity?" Daniel appeared, looking rather irate. "What's happening?"

Before the being could reply, there came a soundless scream, and another appeared. But she shifted in and out of focus. Glimmering green energy surrounded her. Burned from her irises. Glittered around strands of her long brown hair. Twirled from shaking fingertips, and shone inwardly from every pore of her skin. She stumbled, and Cassandra ran to support her.

"It's okay, Dawn. It's okay. We're here."

She shivered, and held on to Cassandra like a lifeline.

"Cass…I can't see."

"Why the hell are we here?" Daniel moved to the two of them, hovering almost protectively. "And why is Dawn blind here?"

The being didn't react to the hostility in his tone. "Simply because we needed to tell you that you were on the right track. And warn you."

"About Faith and Buffy?" Cassandra asked. "They worked out fine last time."

"No. About the Hellmouth."

"The Hellmouth?" Dawn asked shakily. "What's already not wrong with the Hellmouth?"

The being sighed. "Something's happening. Its force is being siphoned off, and thus the opening is getting stronger."

"That doesn't make sense," Dawn frowned.

"Actually, it does. The Hellmouth is being awakened again, and with each energy-draw, it becomes stronger."

"Oh…"

"That ain't good," Daniel finished sweetly. Dawn scowled in his general direction.

"What is with you and not swearing these days?"

"Um, guys? I think he…she… um, I think they're trying to tell us the apocalypse is coming again."

"Indeed," the being said sourly. "It is only natural that things be different this time around, but we had not expected this."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing," it replied blandly, but a wince in its eyes told Daniel that either it hadn't meant to divulge that or the slip had been expressly forbidden. "It is just we felt we must warn the three of you. And give the vampire, the Watcher, and the Slayer's mother time to calm down."

"What?"

Hurriedly, as if scared, the being sent them back.

8 8 8

Giles stared at the three unconscious teenagers.

"WHAT!"

Spike didn't bother. He just bolted for the door with supernatural speed, stopped somehow by Joyce who'd followed him.

"Spike, get a grip!" she snapped, the blood drained from her face. "We've got to plan this out rationally…"

She didn't step back when he growled at her, unconsciously changing to gameface. "Will you do any good by waltzing out there now? You don't even know where Buffy or Faith are!"

Her words were a sharp slap back into reality, and the vampiric visage slipped from his features, leaving his blue eyes icy chips.

"I planned to smell her out," he snarled.

"Faith will have Buffy's scent. And besides, I already told you that Fai… dear lord."

"What?" Joyce demanded.

"Faith… Buffy… remember? The… Council have taken her. We have to go after her immediately!"

"That's what I was going to do!" Spike roared in frustration.

"Well you won't get very far without directions!" Giles grabbed his coat. "Joyce, stay here and look after them in case they wake up. Keep in direct network with Willow, Tara, Xander, and Anya. Spike, we need to get to the Watcher's Airport quickly.

"I'm not staying behind!"

"Where the bloody hell is that?"

Giles sighed and put his head in his hands. From behind him, the three teenagers stirred and groaned, having been largely forgotten.

"Oh God, my head," Dawn muttered.

Joyce rushed to her. "Baby… are you alright?"

As much as Spike ached to stay behind to make sure the Juniors were okay, his unbeating heart knew that they were safe with Joyce. He and Giles nodded, and bolted for the door, one flying under a blanket.

8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

"We've been holed up in here for three hours, now," Weatherby complained irritably as he and Smith watched Collins on the phone. "Bloody hell, I just hope they can't give us passage. Can't stand the bitch thumping away in the back there."

Smith glared at him. "You know, I'm starting to think that…"

"They can't get us passage," Collins interrupted them. He screwed a silencer onto a pistol. "They've ordered the kill."

Weatherby nodded his grim agreement. "Torch the place?"

"Get the gas," Collins affirmed.

"Whoah… hang on a sec," Smith walked in front of them. "She could've killed me. She didn't."

"Lucky you."

Faith stilled as she heard their voices talk so casually around her. The truck closed in on her as she heard Collins' heavy breathing come even closer. She had to move now. And fast.

Collins stuck the gun through the bars, the metal weapon illuminated against the wall. As he moved to pull the trigger, Faith scissored her feet around the pistol and his hands and pulled him into the truck, hard enough to stun him. With a swift movement, she shot the locks and chains that were holding her, and leapt out of the truck. Exulting.

Freedom!

Smith looked in terror as the Slayer materialized out of nowhere and ran to the driver's compartment, shooting another lock. "Weatherby!"

"Keys, keys," Faith muttered desperately.

"Stop her, you ponce!" Weatherby swore as he rushed the truck. Faith yelled in triumph as she found the keys, and then opened the door into the Council official knocking him out.

"Ok, I'm good at this," she grinned, strained. She shifted gears randomly, until the light lit, and she smiled in triumph. "Ooh, drive."

Smith fired random shots at the truck as she drove out through the wooden wall, smashing it into splinters, and out towards the road of freedom.

8 8 8

"That's the Council truck!" Giles exclaimed.

"Sodding hell!" Spike swore as he cowered underneath the steaming blanket. "Then slow down!"

They pulled across the road, and Faith cursed as the car blocked her way, before grinning happily.

"Giles! Um…" her initial elation faded as his grave look "Oh… uh… I'm not who you think."

"On the contrary, you are," he said with a smile, and threw aside British reserve and hugged her.

Spike watched the reunion from the safe cover of the car and his blanket. And something ached within him. He pushed it away. A Master Vampire worrying about the Slayer… no way. Not possible. Uh-uh. Inconceivable. Just wanted… ah, that was it. Not some stupid poncey officials offing her. When he got the chip out of his head, then he'd send her to a fitting death.

But you don't want to…A little voice needled him at the back of his head.

Shut up! He snarled back, and returned to his state of denial.

Faith and Giles returned to the car, animatedly talking.

"Mum's okay? Bloody hell, I was so worried she'd get hurt. We need to find her, Giles. Find her, and get our bodies switched back somehow. And tell Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya… God, is Dawn and the rest okay? I was supposed to pick them up… When did you guys last see her? How did you guys know? And… what's Spike doing here? And… I'm babbling, aren't I?"

"Well, no, apart from the fact you managed to get that lot out in about five seconds," Spike drawled. Something in him was dancing. She talked like me and didn't even notice it! "Good to see you again. Well… at least… you know."

Faith just stared. The last day had been a blur of confusion and fear. First, the bodyswap. The magics that had ripped her out of her own body and bound her to the prison of another, and the police and Council swapover… not to mention the hours in the stinking back of the truck, chained to the wall. The fact that Giles had come out here was amazing enough. But… Spike?

"What are you doing here?" she asked again.

Spike raised his eyebrows, and then looked at Giles. "Watcher? I think she's in a state of shock here."

"I am not in a state of…" Faith started indignantly, but was bundled into the car by Giles.

"We need to get back and figure out where the real Faith is. She could be anywhere."

"Yeah," Faith slipped into Slayer mode. She could deal with everything later. "She could have carted my body off to Mexico by now…"

Something flashing on the radio caught Spike's attention. "Watcher," he interrupted. "Turn the radio up louder."

"Spike, this is not a time…"

"Just do it!"

Giles grumbled, but did so.

"… and barricaded themselves in the church with at least 20 parishioners. One of the few who escaped described the women as frighteningly disfigured, almost inhuman. So far, two escapees have since died of severe neck wounds. There is no report on the condition of the parishioners still trapped inside, but the assailants have vowed to kill all of them if police attempt to storm the church."

The report ended, and the car was silently stunned.

"Wait a minute, this has happened before," Faith said slowly. "Those three vampires went ballistic, but I got all of them."

"Two female vampires enough to reign it over twenty parishioners? I would have thought more than one would have escaped," Spike mused.

"It doesn't matter. We gotta get there and stop…"

It was the day of interruptions. Giles' mobile phone suddenly began to ring merrily. He blushed. Spike and Faith both stared.

"Giles? You watch Gilligan's Island?"

"Watcher? You have a life?"

"Oh shut up," he muttered irritably, before replying. His face immediately became grave once more.

"Yes… I see. How did you…? Never mind, we'll compare notes later. You have it, then? Good work! I must say, excellent! Meet us at the church… we'll be there in about five minutes. Hurry. We'll distract the police again somehow. Let's just hope that they are still there. Good. See you there, then."

8 8 8

They were silent. Completely pale and bloodless, with long blue hair melting over vampiric features as they stalked around the congregation.

One of them touched the cross. Caressed it. Then smiled as she looked at her unblemished hands.

8 8 8