Chapter 19

Eye for an Eye Power for Power

Rat and Scratch departed from the ship after installing a new gun on the ship with powerful harpoons. They wished Faith luck and then introduced Oz to their leader, the woman gave Oz his coordinates and they were sent on their way. A week had passed before Oz was able to give the coordinates to Ivy without another ship picking up on their destination.

Neo stood scared as the squids came closer and closer.

"You have the power," he heard the voice whisper in his mind.

"Not out here," he whispered back.

"You and she share power, she's not using it, take it, save your girlfriend." Neo looked up and saw the fear in Trinity's eyes.

So he reached within himself to his connection with Faith. As he raised his hand he pulled the power into himself.

"What are you doing?" He heard Faith ask.

He released the power and destroyed the squids. Then everything went black.

Faith listened as Oz gave the Ivy the coordinates.

"Not out here." She heard Neo whisper.

"Neo?" She asked.

The other three turned to her.

"Faith?" Oz asked.

Hannibal tensed.

"What are…"

Hannibal grabbed her as she fainted.

"Faith! King, what's going on?" Oz demanded.

Hannibal closed his eyes, "Neo, he, he drained her power somehow. He used her slayer strength, her life-force and turned it into a weapon."

"What?" Ivy panicked.

"Ivy, we need to get to the Outlanders ASAP!" Oz ordered.

"Aye, captain." She replied as she finished entering the coordinates and turned the ship around.

Hannibal carried Faith to the infirmary.

"Faith, how?" Roin asked.

"Neo thinks walking around in people's heads is okay."

"What?"

Hannibal laid her on the table, and then fainted himself.

Oz entered a minute later, "what…"

"I don't know either, sir." Roin replied as he bent over, picked up King and laid him on the table next to Faith.

King glanced around, he was in the hallway of a prison in each cell around him scenes from Faith's life were playing out like scenes from an old fuzzy TV.

"Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7-3-0."

"Faith, you killed a man."

Neo appeared at the end of the hall.

"In every generation…"

"Who are you?" Neo asked.

"Bu-ffy."

Hannibal realized the question was directed at him.

"I'm the slayers' guide; I see what she can't and protect the line." Hannibal repeated what the Oracle told him. "What do you think you were doing?"

"You can't do that it's wrong."

"What is all this?" Neo asked as he walked closer.

"This Faith, in her purest form, but it's confused, because of you."

A male's voice echoed through the hall. "I've never been up with people before."

"Neo, why?" They heard Faith whisper.

"The voice said it was okay."

"The voice is evil," Hannibal told Neo.

"No, but…"

Faith cut them off by showing the voice as it appeared to Neo, it morphed into a preacher. Before the preacher appeared a man.

"You're the one who sees everything, aren't you?" The preacher pressed his thumb into the man's eye socket.

"No," Neo called out and the scene froze. "It said it was our shared power."

"It was her life force, you have to repay what you took." Hannibal told him.

"With what?"

"An eye for an eye," the preacher spoke as the man before him vanished. He turned and stepped toward Neo.

"Your fight is in there!" Faith yelled. "They told you, Ra told you not to listen to the voice!"

"Why do you think only changelings can hear it?" Hannibal asked.

"What?"

"William the Bloody with a chip in his head, I kinda love this town."

"Faith, concentrate," Hannibal called out.

"Five by five."

"Neo, you have to. I'm losing her." Hannibal yelled out.

"I-I don't know."

"Just let it come, like the lord to his flock," the preacher spoke

Neo stood strong as the preacher came closer.

"He killed her, didn't he?"

"They don't have a word for what he did to her."

Hannibal awoke to see Roin and Kale watching him.

"How long was I out?"

"A week," Roin replied.

"Faith will be along soon."

"What happened?"

"Neo, he fed off her strength, but don't worry, momma gave him a nice spanking."

Frost appeared in the doorway, "you have to see this!"

Hannibal stood on top of the ship with Trans, El, Frost, Twitch and Oz; before them stood the entrance to a massive ice cave.

"Fuck me sideways!" Hannibal swore.

"No thank you," they all watched as a man rose up from below. He stood on a large square of metal with booster rockets attached to the bottom. His eyes traveled across them all. "Your pilot looks cold, you shouldn't be here." The man was tall and thin his skin was pale white, his lips and irises were sky blue.

"We have come for the Outlander's tool." Oz spoke.

"Tool? Who are you?"

"Captain Oz, this is the Apollo's Chariot."

"But it is not you who seeks the labyrinth's prize."

"One minute," Hannibal interrupted holding up his index finger before jumping back into the ship.

Roin was waiting below with Faith in his arms.

"They will need the warrior." He spoke as he handed Faith to Hannibal.

Hannibal reemerged with Faith in his arms. "She is here for the tool."

"She, a girl?"

"The slayer."

The man wrinkled his brow, "name?"

"Faith."

"And yours?"

"Hannibal King."

"She arrives in the arms of a king, guide of warrior, slayer of evil, guardians both." The man spoke. "There is a test."

"Of course."

The man stepped aside making room for Hannibal on his hover board. "You should go inside, keep warm it will be a long wait."

"Your name," El burst out, "what is it?"

"Apollo."

Hannibal entered the cave with Apollo.

"First you must wake her." A woman's voice spoke.

"Who is that?" Hannibal asked.

Apollo smiled, "both of you must pass a test, yours is trust. There are many voices here, which ones should you trust."

Hannibal nodded his head and then reached into his connection with Faith.

"All the same, I hear this holler in the distance." Faith whispered.

"Wake up, we're here. Time to save the world." He felt her stir and pulled out.

"Still weak," she whispered.

He opened his eyes and met hers. She blinked taking in her surroundings. "Go test," she told him, "we're running out of time." She watched as Hannibal put her on her feet and the turned to the Outlander. The Outlander handed him a torch from the wall, Hannibal took and watched as the Outlander pointed to the wall to their right.

"This is your entrance; you might fight in and then fight your demons to pass."

Hannibal seemed confused at first; he walked up the wall and ran his hand down it. He then backed up and side kicked it. It shattered like candy glass. He turned back to Faith. "Good luck," and then turned back and entered.

Once he was out of eat shot Faith spoke, "mine isn't a test, it's a choice."

"That's right, take a torch from the wall, when the light goes out in the entrance my people will know you have arrived."

"And Hannibal?"

"His path leads back to you. If he fails he will not return."

Faith didn't reply she turned and entered the tunnel. She sighed.

"Hannibal," a voice whispered. Abby appeared before him. "Why are you here?" She asked.

"For Faith," he replied.

"Are you?"

"Does it matter, you're not really here? I left my Abby in her pod."

Abby faded away, "you can't help her."

The next voice sent shivers down King's spine, "Hannibal, my little fuck bunny, where are you?"

Faith left Apollo and started down the dark tunnel at her left. She started to walk a bit faster to get to the end sooner. As she walked she turned to look at the icy walls, along her right the ice seemed lit from within. She realized it was Hannibal. She continued on as the tunnel twisted and turned.

'Danica, crap!' He thought.

"King, you can't help her. She's a slayer, what are you going to do hold her hand?"

"I see what she can't."

"Ghosts of a fucked past?"

"Memories."

"So you go from being my prized pet to the slayer's crystal ball?"

"At least I'm not being used."

"But you always are, you're the power's puppet."

"No, I help."

"So you do hold her hand?"

Hannibal was getting frustrated.

Then another character entered the space, it was Buffy. "From my understanding, she has been in two comas and fought her way out of both. I'm beginning to think it is the only rest she really gets."

"See I helped her out of a third."

"But she was the one to Neo, what did you do?"

Hannibal ignored them and pushed ahead. He knew in his heart why he was there. No one was going to sway him otherwise.

At the end of the tunnel Faith began to hear voices arguing. One sounded a lot like Buffy's the other was definitely female. She entered a large cavern to see a female version of Apollo standing before her.

"Are you the guardian?" Faith asked.

"I am and you the slayer?"

"Faith."

"How fitting," she smiled warmly.

"Funny and ironic is more like it."

Faith turned her head to see Buffy standing before her.

"And it's the first," Faith spoke snidely.

"Yeah, what can I say, I live in the hearts of every human including the pod people."

"So you whisper in the dark? How very stalkerish of you."

"Humans name, not mine."

"We are here to discuss fate." The guardian interrupted.

"What did the vampire tell you?" The first asked.

"Ra, nothing."

The first and the guardian stepped away from what they were hiding behind them. Like Excalibur the scythe was stuck blade down in a square pillar of ice. It looked different. Instead of red and silver, it was a black with red swirling on it as though alive.

"What happened to it?" Faith asked.

"The slayers did not have access to the scythe until right before the creation. As it happened in the matrix she found the tool and sunk the Hellmouth. She had a dream and called upon the spirit of the guardians. My grandmother's grandmother arose and she helped the slayer keep the tool safe."

"The machines rose against man and the demons left this dimension in fear." The first spoke changing its appearance from Buffy's to Angel's. "Our favorite vampire offered to send the slayer away, she refused and he missed the portal, too."

"Ra?" Faith asked.

Both nodded their heads.

"He helped her hide as the machines began taking demons and vampires. They spelled the scythe to slice through metal." The first continued.

"For the war started, she reemerged and fought. In the end she was killed the next slayer was born in the matrix. Ra and we guardians hid the scythe here."

"And the changelings? How?"

"The machines don't comprehend, but when they took DNA from demons and replicated it they couldn't fix it so they left it. That and I protected them, I may work my way, but the machines have no side but their own."

"How noble of you. So what do I lose in gaining the scythe?"

"Not lose, gain," the guardian spoke.

"You take the scythe and reopen the portal." The first added.

"For the demons to return?" Faith asked.

Both nodded their heads.

"And if I say no I go back empty handed?"

They nodded their heads again.

"All the demons at once?"

"No, I agreed to let the portal open every six months and release five demons each time."

"Where?"

"Any where."

"One more question, Willow's spell, is it real?"

"Magic is magic, it exists the same everywhere." The guardian spoke.

"All the slayers are still sleeping anyway." The first added.

"You do this and you not only release the slayers, but the changelings as well." The guardian spoke.

"So what do you choose?" The first asked.

Hannibal could see a light up ahead.

"She'll choose evil." Danica whispered.

"No, she'll choose what's right."

"Too much faith," Abby whispered.

"No, such thing."

He found himself at a dead end with a wall of ice before him. Beyond the ice he saw Faith standing before a woman who reminded him of Jadis from the Narnia books and a man in a black trench coat. He watched as the man's form changed into an older man in a tailored suit.

"Don't use his image to bully me!" Faith yelled angrily.

The man changed into another with bleached hair in a leather trench coat.

Hannibal kicked the wall. It cracked, but didn't break. He watched as Faith with her back to him stepped up onto a block of ice and bent over. He kicked the wall again and this time it broke.

"His will is stronger than we thought," the woman spoke.

Faith pulled something out of the ice, "of course, he's my guide." She turned to face him in her hands she held what looked like a wicked axe. A flash of Buffy holding red one blinked before his eyes. "The stake end is metal." He spoke without thinking.

She glanced down to see that he was right.

"It's silver," the guardian told them, "trees are extinct, vampires shall be killed with silver."

"Ash either way," the first spoke in a British accent.

"Indeed," the guardian agreed.

"So shall we go?" Hannibal asked.

"The whipping boy blinds into battle," the first spoke.

"Spike doesn't fit the cryptic talk." Faith told it.

Trans stood on the top of the ship, when a wave of power hit him and he felt himself begin to ship into the ship. He slipped down to the gun deck, before he gained control of himself and stopped staring around in shock. Frost was eating in the mess hall with Twitch and El when he felt a horrid pain in his gums. He fell backward off the bench. Before El could run to his aid he jumped up onto the table in a crouch. He hissed and the two watched as his canines had elongated into fangs. Frost could smell El's fear; his other senses were just like they were in the matrix. He stared at her confused. Oz was with Ivy and Kale when he began to sprout fur.

"Faith!" He growled as he forced himself to change back.

Back in Zion Mystic felt power surge through her as Newt saw sparks appear around her fingers. Ra was talking to a magma demon named Lava when her body ignited. He jumped away to avoid being burned.

"She chose," the voice whispered, "gods fall."

"I'm not a god, she humbled me." He whispered his reply.

Faith turned to leave, but stopped and turned. "I'm going to recruit champions, you haven't won."

"I never do," the first replied in Kakitos' form.

Faith turned and left with Hannibal a step behind.