Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.

Author Notes: Hm, this might be an all dark chapter here. The whole psychic connection Hope has will be explained in a later chapter. Promise! Ends on a very interesting note. PS: To Darklight: Hope was just being sarcastic and messing around when she called Buffy 'boss'. Sorry bout the misunderstanding.

Chapter 5: Slayer Connection

"I don't know why… I mean I have seen a body before. Believe me I've seen more'n my fair share of bodies it's just… This one… Was different." Hope said, stumbling through an attempt of a description of the feelings running through her mind to Buffy who was crouching in front of her with a concerned expression written all over her face.

"It hit you harder than usual…" Buffy summed up and Faith snorted. Faith was leaning on the wall behind Buffy watching the whole exchange and was doing her best to contain herself better than Hope was. Even though she felt exactly the same as her. I mean, this is Faith y'know? The whole hiding of the emotions thing was basically her job.

"Well yeah, didn't you just hear her B?" Faith asked sarcastically and Buffy shot her a look over her shoulder which shut her up pretty much right away. She just kept looking on silently and tried to share some of her strength with Hope through their connection. Hope's eyes flickered towards Faith and Faith knew that she felt some of it. Whether it helped or not.

"It hit you harder than usual and you don't know why?" Buffy continued summing up and Hope nodded her head wordlessly.

"It hit you harder because you knew her. I mean you didn't really know her but you had a connection."

"Plus smell." Faith added from behind Buffy doing the waving her hand in front of her nose at the same time (okay this is really disrespectful, so I'm sorry, but you know how death is always tried to be brought down because it doesn't want to be really felt so yeah. Apologies all round.) Buffy turned to her and was about to tell her off when she saw the look in her eye. It was the same look that she could see in Hope's eyes only slightly better hidden. She just turned back to Hope and was about to speak again when Hope stood up suddenly. Buffy stood up with her.

"What's wrong?" Buffy asked and Hope looked around swiftly.

"I don't..." She then stopped and closed her eyes. Listening.

"Oh god… He… He killed her. She was his… tenth. He's killed others. All over the world. Brazil, Africa, Romania (hehehe, shout out to Romania! I'm like half Romanian so yeah. Back to el story), Britain, California. Tiff was walking around the hallways looking for something and then… She heard something…" Hope moved to a spot just outside of the pool of blood with her eyes still closed. "And she turned… There's nothing there… And then she turns back and…" Hope got slung into the wall by an invisible force and she cried out. Both slayers, which had been frozen to the spot immediately ran to help her but couldn't make it…

"Oh god…" Hope slid down the wall and began to cry. Faith attempted to run to her and made it this time. She gathered her sister into her arms and began to rock her gently.

"S'ok, it's ok, it's ok…" Faith whispered into Hope's dark locks to comfort herself as much as her twin that she was okay. Then all of a sudden Hope moved away with a blank expression on her face. Then she started running down the corridors and the two slayers behind her had to run as fast as they could to keep up with her.

She almost seemed to be flying, she was moving so fast. As she was running she drew a (semi-automatic) Beretta out from her duster (don't ask me how she can run with that thing in there) and turned off the auto safety and pulled back the bolt. She did this without breaking stride and as Buffy saw it her eyes widened, even Faith was ever so slightly surprised. Definite gun girl.

Then she turned the corner and was ready to fire when…

There was no one there. Only a dead body in a pool of blood. It looked so much like the other body that both slayers knew that it was the same murderer who did it.

She was a brunette and her name was Melody. She was the opposite of Tiff and was more of a loner than a popular girl. She was hiding out in the corridors away from everyone in the rotting area of the building that was zoned off to the girls because she liked it when it was quiet and no one else was around. Perhaps she would've been a really good slayer back in the day when there was only one but now there was no chance of her being alone. And that killed her. Well not literally, cos a knife really did but you know what I mean.

Hope walked over to the wall that had a huge blood stain that indicated that she'd been stabbed on ht wall and then slid down it. Hope touched the hole in the wall of where the knife protruded into it after emerging from the other side of her body. Then she knelt down and touched Melody.

"She's still warm." She then stood up and looked around the hallway, "He must've just left when he heard us coming."

"Hope…" Buffy said stepping forward and Hope glared at her.

"What?" She asked harshly and Buffy seemed taken aback, but not for long. She continued in a soft voice.

"What happened? Back there?" Buffy asked and Hope melted under the questions that she seemed to be asking herself as well. She dropped her eye contact and looked at the ground. She shifted her gaze every moment or so but when it became actually a string of proper words that formed a sentence she was able to look at both Buffy and Faith. Mostly Buffy because Faith wasn't interested in the details, more of just if she was okay or not.

"It… I… I don't… There was, like… It was as if... As if I made a connection with all the slayers who have ever been killed, or harmed. Well, mostly killed. Or being… killed… At the moment…" She stepped towards the opposite wall were there were no markings or blemishes. She touched the wall and closed her eyes at the coolness before facing Buffy and Faith again.

"You made a connection?" Buffy asked and she shared a look with Faith. They both knew what if felt like to be connected to another slayer but why did Hope feel it? And why did she feel it stronger than they, or any other slayer, did? But these questions were stored away for later thought. All that mattered was Hope.

"Yeah." Hope said and she noticed the shared look and asked, "What?" Buffy hesitated and Faith picked it up and filled in the silence with a grin and a quip.

"Nothing little sis." She said and got Hope in a head lock. Hope grimaced and wrestled with Faith for a bit. Faith seemed to have this uncanny ability of turning a serious situation into something that seemed light and normal. Buffy couldn't help but smile slightly at the two sisters.

They always seemed so... untouchable when they were together. All they needed was each other and then everything was okay. Hope pried Faith's arm off of her and gave her what started out as a dirty which then turned into a smile. Faith acted innocent backed off showing her palms to her sister and asked,

"What?" Hope brushed off her leather duster and didn't answer her. Then she stopped and held her head and cried out in pain (think Doyle and Cordy getting visions).

"Gnnnh. Oh god. Oh god. Ohgodohgodohgodohgod..."

"I get the feeling God ain't listening right now sis." Faith said but Hope was still clutching her head in pain and turned around to grab onto the wall. She grunted and then kicked the wall so hard that she actually penetrated the wall and got her foot stuck in it. She gritted her teeth and made a cry of pain and fell back onto the ground, in an attempt to free her foot, and writhed there in pain with her foot still stuck in the wall.

Both of the slayers were down on the floor next to her in an instant and Faith tried to stop her writhing. Buffy couldn't do anything but look on with pain written across her face. She couldn't help but think that Hope looked like she was having an epileptic fit.

"Hope. Hope! HOPE!" Faith screamed at her sister getting more desperate by the second and tried to hold Hope down onto the ground so she was no longer shaking and writhing so much but she wasn't strong enough to keep her sister down. Hope's eyes were shut so tightly that it looked like she would be never able to open them again.

Then she stopped writhing.

And her eyes opened.

They were completely white.

TBC

See, told ya it ends on an interesting note! Heh, well I'll update as soon as possible. Next chapter ahs a few speeches in it. Bear me with me k? Also: If you review I'll be happy. Hehe.

JB