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: Back with a new chapter, but not so much with the happiness in this one. Brace yourself, it's going to be a rocky ride...
Chapter 23: Gone
Hope fired the gun at the vampire as he lay on the ground, wounded temporarily due to a short fight that had transpired after he'd managed to knock her gun loose. He let loose a roar as he dissolved into dust and Hope fell to her knees, so completely exhausted from the battle. She looked around and saw similar images. The left over slayers were finishing their own vampires, demons, or in some cases, humans. They were all sporting wounds of some sort, and they were all exhausted.
Hope saw Faith finish off a demon with a swift crack of its neck and she made eye contact with Hope and gave her a grin and a nod. Hope smiled back at her and then continued to survey the area.
They were exhausted. All around her the slayers, done with the battle, gave into the feeling of exhaustion and were leaning against each other, or giving in to the temptation of collapsing to the ground. It had been a gruelling battle and now it was showing.
Spike shuffled over to Hope, one arm hanging loosely at his side, and a cut above his left eye which was beginning to swell. She grimaced at him and he returned it. His not so swollen eye looked at her arm which had a cut running down it, and he reached out to it and then withdrew with an apologetic look as she winced, but she just shrugged and grimaced once again.
"We won." She said weakly and he smiled slightly at her.
"That we did, pet." Spike said and his smile was of kilt, due to the swollen eye.
Buffy stood next to Faith as they watched the mostly silent exchange between Hope and Spike.
"They look happy." Buffy said and Faith nodded as they watched Hope look up at Spike lovingly and he returned the look as he reached out slowly and traced her jaw line with his hand.
"Yeah. They are." Faith agreed and Buffy nodded, Faith turned to look at her, "Are you okay?" She asked with a head tilt.
"Well, I do have a nasty cut," Buffy said turning to Faith and gesturing to her stomach which had a deep, but not fatal, cut running across it. And then, seeing Faith's look, she added, "But about Spike, I'm fine. Andrew told me he was alive. I made my peace with it a while ago. Besides, they look like they are a way better suit than Spike and I ever were."
"You're right about that," Faith agreed and winced at Buffy's look, "What? I was agreeing! No offence or anything, but you guys were even more doomed than you and Angel ever were. And that's saying something." Faith said and Buffy hesitated before surrendering to the logic with a nod.
"Thanks Faith." Both slayers turned to see Angel standing there with a bemused expression. Faith grinned and patted him on the shoulder as she passed by him on her way out of the tension area.
"I'll catch up with you guys later." She called out over her shoulder as she ran off to join her sister and Spike, a quick escape to the most awkward situation. Buffy watched her leave and wished that she could do the same. But she couldn't and she looked back to the big hunk of tortured vampire who was standing in front of her.
"Angel." Buffy said, trying to cover up her embarrassment by being curt.
"Buffy." Angel returned, with a slight nod.
"Thanks for the help." She said and knew that the way she distinctly clipped all her words off wasn't exactly the most inviting tone, but oh well.
"You're welcome." Angel replied, his eyes softening and Buffy could almost feel like melting in them... But no, self control definitely had to be paramount. And with self control, came defensiveness. And as Buffy withdrew herself from sinking into those depths she transferred herself straight to the land of the defensive.
"Am I?" She asked as she tried to harden herself against getting hurt again.
"Of course," Angel's eyes changed to show the hurt in them as he tried to find the words to stop her defensive outburst, "I... I just wanted to apologise. For earlier. You were right, I should have taken better care of Hope and Faith. Not let them get drunk."
"No, you were right. They're adults, it's their choice. I'm sorry for how I was. I was just... Whenever I see you, it throws me. Being around you... I tend to get hurt. So, I just kinda get ultra defensive." Buffy said and felt the hot sting of pending tears at the back of her eyes. She swallowed heavily and blinked the feeling back. Angel saw this and he went into ultra sympathetic mode.
"I know, that's why I try to stay away..." He said looking down at the ground and Buffy bit the inside of her cheek. Damnit, those tears were really pissing her off and Angel wasn't making it any better by looking like a kicked puppy dog.
"You don't have to... Just... God, I don't know. If you could just be less... you?" Buffy grimaced and they looked at each other and all of a sudden the awkwardness disappeared and they chuckled at the impossible task, yet one that they knew would make it so much easier for both of them.
"I'll try." Angel promised looking into Buffy's eyes, and with that Buffy knew that despite the impossibility of it, he really would try. He broke the eye contact that would have probably ended up in something not so smart, and looked around, "This was a good fight. Tiring, but hardly any casualties."
"Yeah, we have Hope and her guns to thank for that. She reminds me of Sean Connery in 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'. With the shot gun and the... other... guns." Buffy finished lamely not quite finding the right words but Angel just nodded.
"She was pretty amazing." He said as he thought of the image of her running through the endless number of cult members, guns a blazing. Buffy, seeing the far off look on his face, gave him a funny look. He noticed this and asked, "What?"
"Don't tell me you're in love with her as well." She said disbelievingly. He then gave her a look in return and, seeing that this wasn't enough of an answer for her, he shook his head.
"No, I'm not. She's like a younger sister to me." His eyes shifted over to where Faith and Hope, with Spike by her side, were standing and added, "They both are."
Buffy followed Angel's gaze to the happy trio who looked exhausted, beaten up, but also joyful. Watching Hope laughing at Spike's obviously rude joke made her realise that she could never take away what the two of them had together. Even if she did want to. Which she really didn't.
Buffy looked back at Angel and saw the paternal look on his face, and she couldn't help how her heart swelled in her chest. He felt her gaze and turned to her, with a questioning head tilt. She just smiled at him in return and took a chance, slipping her hand in his. He looked down at their interlocked fingers, and then back up at her with a slightly confused look. She just shook her head and smiled up at him. This melted his insides and a ghost of a smile passed over his lips, staying in his eyes, something extremely rare. She squeezed his hand and he squeezed gently back.
Suddenly those fuzzy feelings swept over Buffy and everything else was forgotten as she looked into his deep chocolate eyes. Eyes that could contain such pain and hurt, eyes that were now filled with love. Love for her. And she felt like the luckiest girl in the world to have that love. God, she was so the crushing school girl.
Meanwhile Angel felt similarly. Despite his complete lack of body temperature, he felt like he was going to burst into flames because he was on such a high, and his non beating heart felt like it was about to burst right out of his chest. His hand quickly warmed to Buffy's own temperature and he felt the warmth travel all the way to his heart, which warmed instantly, shedding the ice which had encased it in so long.
They were both so involved in their own worlds that they didn't notice the sound of an arrow leaving the bow, or the dull thud it made as it buried itself in flesh. But the scream that came soon after did bring them crashing back to reality.
The slayers, exchanging their exhaustion for the much more interesting panic, scattered every which way. Apparently when they were presented with an invisible assassin, nay, many invisible assassins, they panicked wholeheartedly. As arrows continued to fly every which way, so did the slayers, and more than one was struck down. It was complete chaos. And in the middle of it all, stood Faith, with an arrow sticking out of her shoulder. First arrow that left the bow was the one that was now sticking out of her torso. First soldier down.
The slayer who screamed first off ran around, like the rest of them, and kept screaming. Faith, however, stood there and stared at the arrow shaft buried in her shoulder in wonder. Hope did the same, only with shock and horror instead of curiosity. Spike was the first to recover and quickly supported Faith as she toppled forward, and took a sister under each arm as he dragged them both to shelter. Laying Faith down against the opposite side of the concrete stairs that went up to the building, he then put Hope down next to her and whispered something to her before running back out to try and steer the slayers out of the open, along with the help of Buffy and Angel, and into the shelter of the trees and side of the house.
When all the slayers were safely away he turned back to where he'd left the sisters, only to have an arrow buried into him with a sharp 'phwip'. He made eye contact with Hope and her eyes widened as she saw everything go by in slow motion. He looked down at the arrow and then looked back at her, his eyes showing that the arrow had hit its mark.
"I love you." He whispered and then that was it.
He was gone.
Hope howled into the night with grief and pain. Anyone who heard it throughout Rome shivered and felt the pain in the voice and thanked god that they didn't experience such pain and hoped that whoever did, would be okay. Eventually.
Faith looked on, barely conscious and she felt the pain of her twin sister and a silent tear crept down her cheek but, as hard as she tried, she couldn't reach out and comfort her sister. Then Hope looked up and suddenly she changed.
Her eyes grew darker and her face lost all emotion.
"I'll be back." She said to Faith and Faith's eyes widened as she saw her twin go to a place that she never had before.
"No, no please..." Faith whispered but Hope ignored her and walked out into the, now abandoned, open area in front of the building. Arrows flew all around her, but they seemed to avoid the immediate area around Hope. She seemed to have some sort of force field that kept her safe from any of the flying things. She calmly drew out her semi automatic Beretta and began to fire into the tree tops were the arrows seemed to come from.
And soon enough black clad soldiers were dropping like flies from these trees. She kept firing until there were practically no leaves on the trees and the hail of arrows had completely stopped. She then stood there, listening and watching for any sign of any more soldiers, but no signs came.
It was over.
She was done.
And with that she fell to her knees, put down her gun, and finally began to cry. At first it was softly, with the sobs silently making her body convulse, but then they became loud wails as she began to beat the ground with her fists.
"Goddamnit! Why? WHY?" She yelled to the heavens which were starting to gather dark clouds that were threatening to rain any second.
Angel ran out of the cover that they had sought to comfort Hope and he grabbed her and held her firmly to him as she sobbed into his chest.
"Why him? Why Railroad? Why not me?" She asked and Angel just rocked her gently, whispering comfortingly into her ear.
"It's okay Hope, it's going to be okay." He whispered and she sobbed into his shoulder.
"What if it isn't Ace? What if it isn't going to be okay?" She asked and looked up at him. He swallowed and wiped some of her tears away with his thumb.
"It will be. I promise." He promised and she choked back a sob.
"An awful lot of people have been promising things they can't deliver to me lately. Figured I'd have to add you to the list." Hope said, finding enough temporary comfort to joke lightly with Angel. He knew that with this humour, came the fact that Hope would start to close up. And he knew that he would now start losing her, and if he did, he wouldn't be able to help her.
"Lots of people do." Angel said as he gave her a sympathetic look. Hope shook her head and blinked back tears.
"He meant so much to me Ace, he was the first person I've been in love with for a long time. The first person..." Hope's voice became overcome with tears and she found it impossible to keep speaking. She buried herself into his chest and he stroked her hair.
"Hope, hey," He tilted her face up to him, "I know for certain that Spike felt the same way. He loved you so much, more than he'd ever loved anyone before. He would have done anything for you."
"Yeah," Hope smiled through her tears, "Damn him and his stupid urge to be a hero. Why'd I have to fall for the guy with the big heart who always thought of himself before others?"
"Because no other guy would deserve you, and you'd never fall for anyone who wouldn't deserve you." Angel reasoned and Hope grimaced.
"Figures. Okay logic man, let's get back to your heart ache, she's eyeing me up jealously something fierce." Hope said with a nod to Buffy who was giving the two of them an extremely weird look. Angel nodded and helped Hope stand up and guided them over to Buffy, who was keeping an eye on Faith, and the two of them at the same time.
Hope quickly bent down over Faith, who looked up at her through hazy eyes.
"Hope..." Faith whispered, barely able to speak.
"Shh, Faith. Don't speak." Hope said but Faith insisted on continuing to try and speak.
"I'm sorry..." She wheezed out and Hope just winced and took Faith's hand in hers and squeezed.
"So am I. So am I..." She whispered back and squeezed her hand again. And this time Faith squeezed back softly.
"Is she going to be okay?" Buffy asked from a distance and Angel watched Hope and Faith.
"Not until she lets it out," Angel looked at Buffy and saw the confused look on her face and began to explain what he'd learned about the Winters' sisters, "Those two seem to be experts at bottling up, and it takes them a while to get around to dealing with things, so they bottle it up. Pretend that everything's okay, so when they do let it out it's like an explosion. It gets really bad, but then it gets better slowly, day by day, and then... It's gone."
"You seem quite the expert." Buffy observed with a raised eyebrow and Angel shrugged, with his palms up.
"Well, I've done my fair share of bottling." Angel replied and they shared a look.
"I think we both have." Buffy said and slipped her hand back into his, and felt that familiar comforting feeling come back.
"I just hope she lets it out sooner than Faith did." Angel said and shared another look with Buffy. She squeezed his hand reassuringly and he grimaced at her and they both turned to look back on the twins. Both of them concerned with Hope's transformation of her grief for Spike, to worry for her wounded double.
AN: Ah, poor Spike, and poor Hope as well, and Faith with the arrow-in-the-shoulder-ness. I be back soon with new one... Review please!
