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: On the final stretch of this story. Trying to build it up and answer some things in this chapter. Have fun reading! And remember to review! Hehe…

Chapter 21: Mirror, Mirror On The Floor…

Faith woke up slowly and groggily. Her head pounded painfully and she gripped it and groaned. Then she took in her surroundings. They were your typical prison surroundings, dirty, dank and very little light. She got to her feet slowly and went up to the bars, holding them and testing the strength of them experimentally. Of course, the old looking, slightly rusted metal didn't give. Trust her kidnappers to use weak looking bars that were actually strong enough to deter a slayer.

So they knew what they were doing, that was just great. Wonderful. And so on. Faith looked into the darkness glumly and started to pace the 2 by 4 cell, feeling the whole animal in a cage vibe.

"Bored?" She heard and her head snapped up to the outside of her cell where the voice originated. A man stepped out of the darkness and sneered at her. She just glared at him. He had the type of face that you'd forget if you saw him in a crowd. Typical John Smith-ian vibe, brown hair, brown eyes, clean shaven face, and a long black trench coat.

"I'm George." He said and stuck out his hand, just in reach of Faith's cell. She ignored him and just narrowed her eyes at him.

"Wow, I'm just meeting a whole bunch of new people nowadays." She said cynically. He smirked at her and withdrew his hand.

"You women are always such…" He trailed off, his hands and jaw clenching and unclenching.

"Superior beings?" Faith offered and he glared at her.

"Women, was the word I was looking for. None of you are different, even though you might say you are. All the same, you're all the same."

"Ok, buddy? Sounds like you've got some screws loose." Faith said and George sneered at her again.

"Same as every other woman, think you know it all, but you don't Faith. You don't know everything."

"I know some things. I know that you're probably the psycho who killed all those slayers, the one who's behind the whole super vampire prophecy apocalypse deal, and that I'm the last one who you've chosen to die. One thing's bugging me but, why not just drain me like the rest of the girls? Why take the trouble to capture me and all that? Well, get someone else to capture me anyways."

"Hmm, you don't know quite as much as you think. Common female mistake. Thing is, Faith, I'm not the only one behind the, how did you put it? 'Super vampire prophecy apocalypse deal'? Yes, that, not just me actually. There are many, many more who believe in this."

"Sure, I bet you have a whole lot of other vampires who believe in this whole super vampire business thing working for you."

"Actually, Faith, it's not only vampires that believe in the super vampire. I, for instance, am not a vampire." He said and sneered at her.

"You're not a vampire?" Faith asked and then her look turned from shock to disgust. "You're even more psychotic than I thought, you killed all those girls and you're human. You sicken me."

"Why? I mean, I'm sorry Faith, but I don't see why it should disturb you so much. After all, you did kill some people yourself. If anything, I'd expect you to understand. Not that I would really be worried by it at all, you are just a female after all. You know, I never understood why slayers were female. Why entrust such a job on such a hopeless race? Then I finally got it, it doesn't matter. Slayers, the fight between good and evil, none of it matters. Because in the end, this is going to go ahead, and all that will be left in this world, will be evil."

"Wow, you really enjoy going on. So is this how you're going to kill me? Bore me to death with your pathetic, psychotic whingeing? Well, I gotta say, it's working. Sorry to tell you, George, but I'm not interested in your ideas of what's right and wrong, or what the future's gonna be like. Because you're not gonna get the chance to feed me to some Joe Blow who thinks being the ultimate evil will be something to do in the after hours." Faith said, her eyes cold. But to this George only laughed.

"Joe Blow, hmm? Well, first off, unfortunately, it is a woman. Despite my extremely vocal protestations, it was insisted that it be a certain person. I agree that she may fit the job description, but still…"

"Once again, females top males in the superiority competition." Faith quipped and George grimaced at her.

"Now might not be a time for you to be so cocky, Faith." George tutted her and shook his finger at her through the bars.

"How so, George?" Faith asked, cocking her head with a less than genuine air to it.

"Well, you know this 'Joe Blow'. In fact, you know her almost as well as you know yourself." He said, eyes glittering maliciously and Faith eyes widened as she realised who he was talking about.

"No…" She whispered, barely loud enough to be audible.

"Oh yes. Its your very own sister, Hope. Now you might understand why you're still alive. It's so much more interesting when you see the anguish brought about by the fact that one sister knows that she's about to die, and the other knows she's the cause of it. Quite entertaining, if I do say so myself."

"You're lying! You have to be! You psychotic son of a-" Faith launched herself at the bars and tried to grab at George but was just short. George looked down at the arm that was waving around, an inch away from his neck and snorted a laugh.

"You shouldn't strain yourself Faith, not good for the heart." He said and laughed shortly at his own joke. Faith stood there, struggling to gain control but when she did she decided to go back to the satirical side of things. Hurting would come later.

"Gee, is that concern Georgie Porgie?" Faith spat at him and he just leered at her.

"I just don't want you to drop before your sister gets to see your dying moments."

"Oh totally, I mean why die without mentally scarring someone in the process?" Faith drawled, sarcasm laced through her tone.

"Sarcasm never helped anyone, Faith."

"No, but it's a great security blanket on those late cold nights in my matchbox prison cell." There was a loud beeping that interrupted the death glares that were being traded through the bars of the prison cell. George looked down at his pager and sighed heavily.

"I must go, I'll see you at the ceremony tonight."

"Sure thing, Doctor X." Faith said and then a thought crossed her mind as she stuck her hand between the bars, offering her hand as George had earlier. George regarded her and then smiled and took it. Then Faith pulled him to the bars of the cell and held him there firmly. He attempted to move, but Faith was a slayer after all, and he couldn't budge. Faith looked him in the eye as he looked back at her, his wide eyes showing fear.

"You are one sick human being, and if you ever try and get within a hundred feet of Hope I will…"

A shot rang out and George's fearful expression froze and he fell to the floor, Faith's one handed strength not enough to hold up the assassin. She quickly stepped away from the body, and deeper into her cell, and stared down at the body. Then she looked up as another figure stepped out of the shadows.

"He does love to go on doesn't he?" Asked the female who was looking down at the body of the former assassin.

"Who're you?" Faith asked and the woman looked up at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, where are my manners? I'm Margot."

"You here to save or gloat?" Faith asked, studying Margot from a safe distance in her cell, keeping a wary eye on the hand that held the gun.

"Neither actually, I'm here to give you this." Margot said and slipped a mirror through the bars of the cell. Faith took it from her and looked into it, she saw a reflection of herself stare back at her and looked up at Margot, puzzled.

"I don't know what you heard, Margot, but I'm not really a mirror chick." Faith said, gesturing to the frameless mirror that Margot had handed to her.

"Well, since your sisters a psychic and all…" Margot hinted casually, trying to get Faith to see her point but Faith was too wrapped up in what she'd said rather than the way she'd said it.

"What?" Faith asked, in shock, her eyebrows rising up.

"A psychic. Didn't you know?" Margot asked, her own eyebrows rising.

"No, she's not a psychic, she's a slayer." Faith said, her mind not being able to work properly, stumped by the whole psychic idea.

"Really? Is that what you really think Faith? All those little moments that you knew something was just… off. Why do you think you could share feelings and thoughts so clearly? Its not just a sisterly bond, its her ability." Margot said and Faith's decisiveness wavered. It was true, there were times when the thought that her sister was a slayer was so absurd to her, and other moments when it seemed impossible for it. And then there was the scarily true predictions that her sister seemed to be in a habit of making.

"What about the strength then? And the fact that she got a watcher?"

"She's a psychic, she was channeling your strength through herself, and the watcher? Well, the group of old men in England trying to control young girls weren't always that good at their jobs. They make mistakes, and Hope seemed like a sure bet for a slayer."

"Why are you telling me this? I mean, why are you helping me? Aren't you like my prison keeper or something?"

"Well yeah, but I'm trying not to be the bad guy here."

"So what's the deal? I talk to my sister, tell her where I am, she comes and then you get your 'ultimate evil' on a stick?" Faith asked and Margot shook her head.

"I'm doing this so you can warn her against it."

"So, since you're in the giving mood, how about letting me out of the cell?" Faith suggested and Margot scoffed.

"I may not want this to go down, but I don't want to die. And if I happen to help you get out, then that's pretty much guaranteed." She said and Faith nodded slowly.

"Right, I get the aim of the game now. Help the prisoner but don't get your hands dirty."

"Hey, I don't want this whole 'ultimate evil' thing to come to terms, okay? So I'm doing everything I can to make sure it doesn't. But you have to keep up your end of the deal as well."

"What deal?" Faith asked exasperatedly.

"Look, I'm handing this to you on a platter. Take it. Tell your sister what's going down and then get that whole army that I know you have stowed away somewhere to come and bring this place down."

"I don't even know where 'this place' is."

"No, but Hope probably will. Keep the connection strong and she'll be able to track you." Margot explained and Faith snorted.

"Like my very own hunting dog." She said, leering at Margot.

"Just do it, Faith. We don't have much time." Margot said and Faith rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself, scratching at her tattoo.

"We? There's a 'we' now?" She asked, scratching at the tattoo and Margot raised an eyebrow at her and Faith stopped scratching.

"Will you stop being so difficult already? I'm trying to help you here." Margot said, a little harshly and Faith went on the defensive.

"And you'll excuse me for being suspicious. Kinda hard to trust someone from the inside of a jail cell. Not to mention you're carrying a gun."

"Since when has a young woman carrying a gun worried you Faith? This whole jail experience really has gotten to you." Margot tutted her and Faith grimaced at the 'gun' pass.

"Funny that, I hear everyone else gets so cute and cuddly during them. I just don't know what is wrong with me." Faith retorted sarcastically and it was Margot's turn to grimace.

"Just do it. Okay? I just want this whole thing to end. Soon." Margot said and walked away leaving Faith in her cell, holding a mirror, with George's dead body mere feet away. Faith looked at the body and swallowed hard before turning to the wall and moving as far away as possible from it.

"Not my fault. Not my fault. Not my fault…" She chanted under her breath and tried to calm herself. Then she looked down into the mirror and saw herself reflected back. Her hair was awry, her eyes had a crazy glint in them and she looked dead tired. She looked at it for a few more seconds and then gave up.

"God, what is this? Some Lion King deal? Look into the reflection deep enough and you shall see your relation? Can't believe I'm even trying this." She rolled her eyes and looked into the mirror again, eyes searching deep.

"Where are you Hope? You out there somewhere? Hiding in the shadows or something?" Faith sighed at the completely non responsive mirror, "Fine, don't respond. Can't believe I ever considered that whole 'psychic' bullshit."

Then there was a flicker in the mirror and Faith's eyes went back to it as they widened slightly.

"Hope?" She asked and looked into the mirror, closer than before.

She was so engrossed in the mirror that she hadn't noticed that she had been stepping backwards, to try and get some more light onto it. She had moved so far back that she was now almost touching the bars of the cell, and was inches away from the body now. So when George used his last ounce of life left in him to grab her ankle she got so shocked that the mirror tumbled from her hands to the floor.

It shattered into many pieces and as Faith stared down at the pieces she saw the small figure of Hope running away until she was only a spot on the mirror...

Hope woke up with a shock and sat up suddenly on the couch and wiped away some of the sweat that had built up on her forehead. She tried to calm down her breathing and pulse, to no avail. Whilst her heart pounded like a sledgehammer in her chest she tried to figure out what was going on.

Faith picked up the shard of mirror that had fallen onto the floor and stared into it.

"Hope? Hope please, I need to talk to you. Please, Hope just…"

Hope felt Faith calling her. She didn't know how or why but she just knew that she needed to get to a mirror pronto. Maybe it had something to do with what she'd seen. Or maybe it was to know whether or not she had something crazy going on with her hair. Despite what she had seen, she deeply doubted the fact that it was halfway true. Probably another dream. But she still couldn't quash the feeling. I mean, look how the other dream turned out, all of them being true.

So she just tried to quieten the voice in her head that called her crazy and went over to the mirror and stared at the reflection of herself. She looked into her own eyes and tried to find something in them. Anything. And then they changed.

Faith almost dropped the mirror again as she saw Hope's eyes look back at her.

"Hope…" She whispered and smiled as she saw her sister look back at her, shocked.

"Hope…" Her reflection said. Well, not really her reflection since it wasn't her looking in the mirror. It was Faith. Someone who she had been mistaken for a few times, very few times, but still. Her reflection smiled and she nervously smiled back at it.

"Faith? Is that you?" She asked and the mirror nodded vigorously. Her eyes widened as she realised something life changing.

"It was all true…" She whispered to herself, barely audible, but Faith caught it.

"What was true?" She asked, her eyebrows knitting together. Then she caught on and her eyebrows went up her forehead, "You saw what happened?"

"I.. Yeah. That man, George, the assassin, and then the lady, Margot, who said I'm a…" Hope started and then she trailed off and her gaze drifted downwards at the discovery of the information which would change everything for her. And for everyone around her.

"Psychic?" Faith finished questioningly and Hope nodded.

"Yeah. Psychic." Hope repeated, bitterly.

"So you know about the…?"

"Ultimate evil deal? Yeah. I do. I don't know which I hate more, the psychic thing, the non slayer thing or the fact that I'm gonna bring about the apocalypse." Hope said and gave Faith a look at the end of her mini rant.

"Personally, I'd hate the non slayer thing. I just gotta have control ya know?" Faith joked and Hope rolled her eyes.

"I'm serious Faith, this is the only thing that links me to you, to this place, to Buffy. If there's nothing linking us, do you really think she's gonna keep me on? I mean, what if she kicks me out cos I'm not in her little exclusive group?"

"She's not going to do that, Hope."

"Why not? Cos she's such a great friend with you?"

"Hope…"

"God, everything's falling apart right now. I find out the one thing I've believed my whole life is wrong, my only living relative, my only decent relative, my only best friend, the person I love and trust the most in my life is captured by a cult who thinks I'm the 'ultimate evil'. The first boyfriend I've had since… ever thinks I hate him, even though I'm crazy in love with him, and won't talk to me since he's on another continent. The one guy I can count on is at some evil law firm trying to stop me from bringing about the apocalypse. Since I'm the ultimate evil. And suddenly I'm some psychic with the power to leech strength from the people around me. Oh, and that little fact won't get me any love from the people around here either."

"Hey, hey, hey. Hope, c'mon, cool your jets for a second little sis. Everything's going to be okay, I promise. Okay? This is me making a promise, the person you love and trust the most in your life, is making you a promise." Faith said, trying to be comforting from the other end of the mirror.

"You promise?" Hope asked and Faith nodded and smiled genuinely at her.

"I promise." Faith said and Hope smiled into the mirror.

"Good. Now I better go and save your ass." Hope said a mischievous glint in her eyes but Faith reacted differently than she'd quite expected.

"No!" Faith said, her eyes showing her panic.

"How's that now?" Hope asked, on the defence against her sister who suddenly went all kinds of rabid.

"You heard her! If you come here, and they capture you, then it's all over. It can't be risked." Faith said, the voice of reason, for once. But Hope didn't accept it.

"Since when have you cared about the risk, Faith?"

"Since you're the one who's doing the risking." Faith replied, throwing it straight back at her.

"How are the Scoobies gonna find you then? They need me to put you on the radar." Hope said, cocky about the fact that she knew that she had Faith in a corner now but Faith would have none of it.

"Okay, you point them in the direction and then you get out of there." Faith insisted and Hope's shoulders sagged down as her sister kept on being overly protective. Then again, she couldn't be blamed for it, considering what would go ahead if she wasn't.

"And if something goes wrong?" Hope asked, confessing her deepest fear and Faith swallowed hard at this, she knew the weight of the question. And also the fact that it was Hope's greatest fear by the way that Hope looked at her as she asked it.

"You get out of there, whether something goes wrong or not." Faith said, her eyes full of certainty. There was no room for doubt in her mind, and she showed that fully.

"I'm not going to let you die in there because of me." Hope said, pushing back the lump that had crept up in her throat.

"I'm not going to let you die because of me. I don't want to be the reason that there's an apocalypse. And I know that you don't either."

To this Hope was silent and Faith gave her a small sad smile.

"Everything's going to be fine. I make a promise, and I deliver. Trust me."

"I do." Hope said and then continued under her breath, "That's the problem."

Gonna cut it off there, be back soon with last few chapters…