Sorry for the long delay, everyone, but I am running into time problems. As I said, this fic is nearly at the bottom of the "to-do" pile of mine. In the last few weeks, I have written a 30 page original fiction (over 17k words), am working on two others and about start a third. This is all in addition to me running around like a headless chicken trying to get a job and deal with Christmas time (and I am not even Christian.....!). I hate to say it, but it is VERY likely that the next chapter would take a longer time to do than this one. Especially once I actually get a job.
Thank you, all, for the kind reviews. I do try to make it as "believable" as possible, granted that it is Buffy and Diablo we are talking about, as Daughter of Night so aptly pointed out :)
Other than that, it is 0126DEC252003 here. That is translated to 1:26 AM, 25th December 2003, in the shorthand that I use. So.....
Merry Christmas to the Christians
Happy Hanukah to the Jews
Happy Birthday, Mithra
Merry Yuletide to the Wiccans (yes, I know it is 12 days)
And to all, I wish thee the most solemn of blessings on this spiritual day of honour, thankfulness, joy and meaning.
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It was well past noon when the Slayer woke up. She lazed for a while, listening to the busy sounds of the camp. Eventually, her rumbling stomach forced her to leave her tent.
"Ah, the hero awakens!" Warriv's booming voice stilled the conversation around the central fireplace. Leoric and Cain turned to give her a welcoming smile, but Liene concentrated on the animal roasting over the fire, not looking up. Kashya and Akara turned up soon after.
"It is certain we face the demon queen Andariel, who has corrupted the Rogue Sisterhood and defiled their ancestral monastery. This does not bode well for us, my friends," Cain said after Liene had served the newcomers. "Ancient Horadric texts record that Andariel and the other lesser evils once overthrew the three Prime Evils, Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal, banishing them from Hell to our world," Cain continued, drawing Faith away from her thoughts on the Rogue's uncharacteristic behaviour. "Here, they caused mankind untold anguish and suffering before they were finally bound within the soulstones. Andariel's presence here could mean that the forces of Hell are once again aligned behind Diablo and his brothers. If this is true, then I fear for us all. You must kill her before the Monastery becomes a permanent outpost of Hell and the way east lost forever."
"We will need at least a day to properly prepare," Kashya said, troubled. "The Sisterhood is ready, but we will need that time to gather our scouts and the bands out in the wilderness scattered by Andariel's initial assault. But our main problem is not knowing what our enemies are like. We know the Citadel, but without knowing what demons Andariel has brought with her, we are charging blind."
Faith and Leoric looked at each other. With a sigh, Faith raised a hand.
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"Faith?"
The Slayer turned around to see Liene kneeling just outside her tent. "What?" She instantly regretted her tone when the Rogue flinched. "Come in," she said more gently.
"I- I just wanted to apologise for-"
"Don't." Faith knew that she was being cocky last night and that the lecture and the anger were well deserved, but still, she couldn't bring herself to apologise. Only Buffy could ever wring that out of her. A wave of sadness washed over her as she remembered her fellow Slayer. "No blood, no foul. Just leave it."
The Rogue noted the sadness in her eyes. "No. We cannot just 'leave it'," she blurted, surprising both herself and the Slayer. "Something is wrong, Faith. You are reckless, insanely so. I talked with Kashya. You wanted to go after Blood Raven, the best war captain that we have ever had. Alone! You wanted to take on a hundred demons all by yourself. Last night, you just dived in there without even looking at who or what you are fighting. It is like you have a death wish. What is wrong with you?" Faith stared at Liene. "It is about the dreams?" Liene asked softly. "About Buffy? What happened, Faith?"
"How do you know about B?" The truth was there in her eyes.
"You call out in your sleep for her, begging forgiveness." Liene ignored Faith's reddening cheeks. "I do not know what you did, but you saved my life." It was the Rogue's turn to blush. "I swore an oath to protect you. It is our way," she said defiantly, catching the look in Faith's eye. "We do not forget those that have helped us."
"Are you crazy? I am the Slayer. It is my job to protect you!" Faith stared at the other girl with incredulous eyes, even as she admitted to herself that that had never been her first priority. Trying to make her understand, Faith tried to describe the Slayer and what it is that a Slayer does. In the end, she found herself quoting Giles, "In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer." She pointed to herself. "That's me."
Liene looked at Faith for a long time. To her credit, she did not react like most people would have reacted. She did not laugh or try to have Faith committed to a loony bin. She just accepted that Faith would not be lying to her. "It does not matter. An oath is an oath. Please, Faith," she said, stopping the Slayer's protests before they could begin, "the Order has stood for untold centuries and its traditions is who we are. Do not make me into an oathbreaker. Please, take care. For me?"
There was something in her eyes that Faith could not identify. "That's crazy. I am a Slayer. We fight against Evil every day. We don't get a chance to say goodbye before we check out. Not usually. A Slayer doesn't retire, Pix." The Rogue gave her the expression that another red-head used so well in getting her way. Faith had always chuckled at the way Buffy and the others had crumbled before it. Now that it is directed at her, she understood the devastating power of that look. "Okay, fine," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "I'll be more careful."
The smile that answered her lit up the entire tent.
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"Okay. This is getting too creepy," Faith whispered, looking around at the foyer of the Rogue's Monastery. It was covered in cobwebs and bloodstains. "Where is everyone?" The sun had set four hours ago but it was as dark inside the building as it was outside. Not a single torch marred the darkness. "I don't like this."
"This is only the lowest level," Liene whispered. "The Citadel extends up to the top of the pass. This is the first line of defence. Behind this is a courtyard, the Outer Cloister. Beyond that is the barracks. It is in the barracks that we find the only passageway up to the Inner Cloister, through the Jails and from there, down to the Catacombs. The Catacombs hold our most honoured dead. Although the bodies are protected by holy wards, they cannot stand against one of Andariel's power for long. She is most likely to be there trying to raise them for they would be the most powerful minions that she could command here."
Silently, the trio crept to the double doors in the opposite wall. They opened on silent hinges. As they cautiously headed for the doors to the barracks, Faith caught sight of something familiar. "Is that a waypoint?" she asked. Liene nodded. "Why didn't we just use that?"
"You need to be able to visualise the waypoint before you can teleport to them," Leoric replied. "Liene might be able to, but not us."
Their trip though the barracks are uneventful. It was as if the place was deserted, although there were many signs of a battle being fought here. It was near the passageway to the Jails that they first found any signs of habitation. The ring of metal on metal caused Faith to jump. "What is that?" Faith asked
"What was what?" the other two replied, confused.
The Slayer started towards the sound.
"Faith!" Liene whispered furiously. "The passageway is that way."
"There is something here," Faith replied and cautiously opened a door. With the door open, the ringing sound was much clearer. The passageway beyond the door extended left and right. The sound came from the right passageway.
"That leads to Charsi's workshop before we were driven from the Monastery."
"Someone one is making weapons," Leoric rumbled. "That cannot be good."
Faith was about to close the door when Liene stopped her. "Charsi had a magical malus that could create weapons and armour of incredible power," she said. "I haven't seen her use it since we fled the Monastery. If a minion of Hell is using it, it could tip the coming fight in their favour."
"Does it matter?" Faith asked.
"Even one less could mean that less of my Sisters die."
With a sigh, Faith slipped around the partially opened door and headed for the sound. "You know that we are only supposed to play scout, right?" she asked.
"Shh!" the other two whispered back.
The workshop, as Liene called it, was actually a full fledged smithy. Burning coals lit up the large room and a huge, bloated figure hunched over an anvil, hammering a sword blade into shape. An exquisite hammer lay, carelessly thrown, on a table near it. It glowed with a soft golden light of its own. A few demons milled around the room, waiting for weapons. Half of them were already armed with small axes and swords. Two of the demons, taller than the others and holding banners of some sort, stood in a corner.
"Shamans," Leoric whispered. "We will have to take them out first. They can bring the others back to life if we let them. If only we could do the same."
"Pix, they are yours." Faith was about to dash forward when she remembered something. "Any of those funny sparkies out there, Tin Can?" She felt a small hand on her left shoulder as the paladin shook his head. "Okay, then," she whispered, reaching up and over to give the hand a quick squeeze. "Let's party."
The room erupted into shouts and squeals when the two rushed in, drowning the sound of Faith's blades springing into place. A blurred shape flashed between the pair and one of the shamans sprouted feathers at his throat, cutting off his shouts in mid-sentence. The second shaman followed a split second later. The smaller demons turned to look at the forms of their leaders, still and upright, pinned to the wall by the arrows in their throats. They did not even have time to turn back before Faith and Leoric exploded in their midst like a bomb. Liene wisely shifted fire to the demonic smith.
Squealing and screaming in fear, the smaller demons scattered and ran. But there was nowhere to run. There was only one way into the room and any that tried to approach it invariably caught an arrow in a painful, and not to mention fatal, spot.
Turning from the last of the little group of demons before her, Faith felt huge hands grab her by the arm and neck. "Oh, shit," was all she managed before being tossed through a wooden frame of some sort and into the far wall. Luckily for her, the wooden frame robbed her of most of her velocity and the padding in her armour was enough prevent her from sustaining anything more than a couple of bruised ribs. She rolled to her feet just in time to see the smith's backhand stop Leoric's charge cold and smash him aside.
The demonic being's chest was already bristling with arrows from Liene but it just ignored them and picked up the hammer on the table. Liene's next shot surely caught its attention. It gave a yelp of pain when she drilled an arrow into his backside. Outraged at the attack, it stalked towards the Rogue, hammer swinging wildly.
Faith slid in between the two and blocked the overhanded blow with her crossed blades. The force caused her to slide back a foot or so. Surprisingly, her blades held under the blow. The two strained against one another for what seemed like hours to Faith. Even her Slayer strength was not enough to keep the hammer from inching its way inexorably towards her face. Then, the smith gave a soft huff of surprise. The pressure suddenly relaxed. Off-balanced without the force on her arms, Faith went sprawling to the ground. She just managed to avoid hitting the demon's knee on the way down.
The demon growled, turned and backhanded Leoric over a table. The small axe that he had hit the smith with fell from his hand as he went flying. As it turned back to the Slayer at its feet, an arrow caught it in the right eye. Immediately, it dropped the hammer and covered the injured eye with both hands. Its roar of pain was deafening.
The Slayer got to her hands and knees and swept her right foot through the demon's legs. The force of her circle kick pitched the demon forward. "Ouch," she commented a moment later, looking down at the dead smith. "That has got to hurt." The fall had driven the arrow through the demon's eye and into its brain. The arrow must have splintered on impact with the back of the skull, ricocheting shards of wood and metal within the cranial cavity. Only half an inch of arrow shaft and a few bloodied feathers of the fletching are still visible.
"Here." Leoric handed the hammer to Liene. "Let us be gone before his allies find out what we have done."
"You okay, Tin Can? That was some hit you took."
"It was nothing. I jumped back when I saw my blow having no effect on the beast. My armour absorbed the rest of the blow."
"What about you?" Liene asked the Slayer. "It threw you through that spear rack."
Faith shrugged. "Five by five." Catching the Rogue's look, she hastily added, "Just a couple of bruised ribs, Pix. Nothing serious, okay?"
Liene was about to reply when Leoric clapped them both on the shoulder and gave them a small push. "We can discuss this after we have completed our mission. Onward!" he proclaimed with a grin.
"Shh!" the other two instantly replied.
Liene took one look at Leoric's amused expression and Faith's relieved one and threw up her hands. Muttering something about stupid males and Slayers with death wishes, she stalked down the corridor back towards the stairway to the Jails.
Thank you, all, for the kind reviews. I do try to make it as "believable" as possible, granted that it is Buffy and Diablo we are talking about, as Daughter of Night so aptly pointed out :)
Other than that, it is 0126DEC252003 here. That is translated to 1:26 AM, 25th December 2003, in the shorthand that I use. So.....
Merry Christmas to the Christians
Happy Hanukah to the Jews
Happy Birthday, Mithra
Merry Yuletide to the Wiccans (yes, I know it is 12 days)
And to all, I wish thee the most solemn of blessings on this spiritual day of honour, thankfulness, joy and meaning.
=================================================================================
It was well past noon when the Slayer woke up. She lazed for a while, listening to the busy sounds of the camp. Eventually, her rumbling stomach forced her to leave her tent.
"Ah, the hero awakens!" Warriv's booming voice stilled the conversation around the central fireplace. Leoric and Cain turned to give her a welcoming smile, but Liene concentrated on the animal roasting over the fire, not looking up. Kashya and Akara turned up soon after.
"It is certain we face the demon queen Andariel, who has corrupted the Rogue Sisterhood and defiled their ancestral monastery. This does not bode well for us, my friends," Cain said after Liene had served the newcomers. "Ancient Horadric texts record that Andariel and the other lesser evils once overthrew the three Prime Evils, Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal, banishing them from Hell to our world," Cain continued, drawing Faith away from her thoughts on the Rogue's uncharacteristic behaviour. "Here, they caused mankind untold anguish and suffering before they were finally bound within the soulstones. Andariel's presence here could mean that the forces of Hell are once again aligned behind Diablo and his brothers. If this is true, then I fear for us all. You must kill her before the Monastery becomes a permanent outpost of Hell and the way east lost forever."
"We will need at least a day to properly prepare," Kashya said, troubled. "The Sisterhood is ready, but we will need that time to gather our scouts and the bands out in the wilderness scattered by Andariel's initial assault. But our main problem is not knowing what our enemies are like. We know the Citadel, but without knowing what demons Andariel has brought with her, we are charging blind."
Faith and Leoric looked at each other. With a sigh, Faith raised a hand.
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"Faith?"
The Slayer turned around to see Liene kneeling just outside her tent. "What?" She instantly regretted her tone when the Rogue flinched. "Come in," she said more gently.
"I- I just wanted to apologise for-"
"Don't." Faith knew that she was being cocky last night and that the lecture and the anger were well deserved, but still, she couldn't bring herself to apologise. Only Buffy could ever wring that out of her. A wave of sadness washed over her as she remembered her fellow Slayer. "No blood, no foul. Just leave it."
The Rogue noted the sadness in her eyes. "No. We cannot just 'leave it'," she blurted, surprising both herself and the Slayer. "Something is wrong, Faith. You are reckless, insanely so. I talked with Kashya. You wanted to go after Blood Raven, the best war captain that we have ever had. Alone! You wanted to take on a hundred demons all by yourself. Last night, you just dived in there without even looking at who or what you are fighting. It is like you have a death wish. What is wrong with you?" Faith stared at Liene. "It is about the dreams?" Liene asked softly. "About Buffy? What happened, Faith?"
"How do you know about B?" The truth was there in her eyes.
"You call out in your sleep for her, begging forgiveness." Liene ignored Faith's reddening cheeks. "I do not know what you did, but you saved my life." It was the Rogue's turn to blush. "I swore an oath to protect you. It is our way," she said defiantly, catching the look in Faith's eye. "We do not forget those that have helped us."
"Are you crazy? I am the Slayer. It is my job to protect you!" Faith stared at the other girl with incredulous eyes, even as she admitted to herself that that had never been her first priority. Trying to make her understand, Faith tried to describe the Slayer and what it is that a Slayer does. In the end, she found herself quoting Giles, "In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer." She pointed to herself. "That's me."
Liene looked at Faith for a long time. To her credit, she did not react like most people would have reacted. She did not laugh or try to have Faith committed to a loony bin. She just accepted that Faith would not be lying to her. "It does not matter. An oath is an oath. Please, Faith," she said, stopping the Slayer's protests before they could begin, "the Order has stood for untold centuries and its traditions is who we are. Do not make me into an oathbreaker. Please, take care. For me?"
There was something in her eyes that Faith could not identify. "That's crazy. I am a Slayer. We fight against Evil every day. We don't get a chance to say goodbye before we check out. Not usually. A Slayer doesn't retire, Pix." The Rogue gave her the expression that another red-head used so well in getting her way. Faith had always chuckled at the way Buffy and the others had crumbled before it. Now that it is directed at her, she understood the devastating power of that look. "Okay, fine," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "I'll be more careful."
The smile that answered her lit up the entire tent.
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"Okay. This is getting too creepy," Faith whispered, looking around at the foyer of the Rogue's Monastery. It was covered in cobwebs and bloodstains. "Where is everyone?" The sun had set four hours ago but it was as dark inside the building as it was outside. Not a single torch marred the darkness. "I don't like this."
"This is only the lowest level," Liene whispered. "The Citadel extends up to the top of the pass. This is the first line of defence. Behind this is a courtyard, the Outer Cloister. Beyond that is the barracks. It is in the barracks that we find the only passageway up to the Inner Cloister, through the Jails and from there, down to the Catacombs. The Catacombs hold our most honoured dead. Although the bodies are protected by holy wards, they cannot stand against one of Andariel's power for long. She is most likely to be there trying to raise them for they would be the most powerful minions that she could command here."
Silently, the trio crept to the double doors in the opposite wall. They opened on silent hinges. As they cautiously headed for the doors to the barracks, Faith caught sight of something familiar. "Is that a waypoint?" she asked. Liene nodded. "Why didn't we just use that?"
"You need to be able to visualise the waypoint before you can teleport to them," Leoric replied. "Liene might be able to, but not us."
Their trip though the barracks are uneventful. It was as if the place was deserted, although there were many signs of a battle being fought here. It was near the passageway to the Jails that they first found any signs of habitation. The ring of metal on metal caused Faith to jump. "What is that?" Faith asked
"What was what?" the other two replied, confused.
The Slayer started towards the sound.
"Faith!" Liene whispered furiously. "The passageway is that way."
"There is something here," Faith replied and cautiously opened a door. With the door open, the ringing sound was much clearer. The passageway beyond the door extended left and right. The sound came from the right passageway.
"That leads to Charsi's workshop before we were driven from the Monastery."
"Someone one is making weapons," Leoric rumbled. "That cannot be good."
Faith was about to close the door when Liene stopped her. "Charsi had a magical malus that could create weapons and armour of incredible power," she said. "I haven't seen her use it since we fled the Monastery. If a minion of Hell is using it, it could tip the coming fight in their favour."
"Does it matter?" Faith asked.
"Even one less could mean that less of my Sisters die."
With a sigh, Faith slipped around the partially opened door and headed for the sound. "You know that we are only supposed to play scout, right?" she asked.
"Shh!" the other two whispered back.
The workshop, as Liene called it, was actually a full fledged smithy. Burning coals lit up the large room and a huge, bloated figure hunched over an anvil, hammering a sword blade into shape. An exquisite hammer lay, carelessly thrown, on a table near it. It glowed with a soft golden light of its own. A few demons milled around the room, waiting for weapons. Half of them were already armed with small axes and swords. Two of the demons, taller than the others and holding banners of some sort, stood in a corner.
"Shamans," Leoric whispered. "We will have to take them out first. They can bring the others back to life if we let them. If only we could do the same."
"Pix, they are yours." Faith was about to dash forward when she remembered something. "Any of those funny sparkies out there, Tin Can?" She felt a small hand on her left shoulder as the paladin shook his head. "Okay, then," she whispered, reaching up and over to give the hand a quick squeeze. "Let's party."
The room erupted into shouts and squeals when the two rushed in, drowning the sound of Faith's blades springing into place. A blurred shape flashed between the pair and one of the shamans sprouted feathers at his throat, cutting off his shouts in mid-sentence. The second shaman followed a split second later. The smaller demons turned to look at the forms of their leaders, still and upright, pinned to the wall by the arrows in their throats. They did not even have time to turn back before Faith and Leoric exploded in their midst like a bomb. Liene wisely shifted fire to the demonic smith.
Squealing and screaming in fear, the smaller demons scattered and ran. But there was nowhere to run. There was only one way into the room and any that tried to approach it invariably caught an arrow in a painful, and not to mention fatal, spot.
Turning from the last of the little group of demons before her, Faith felt huge hands grab her by the arm and neck. "Oh, shit," was all she managed before being tossed through a wooden frame of some sort and into the far wall. Luckily for her, the wooden frame robbed her of most of her velocity and the padding in her armour was enough prevent her from sustaining anything more than a couple of bruised ribs. She rolled to her feet just in time to see the smith's backhand stop Leoric's charge cold and smash him aside.
The demonic being's chest was already bristling with arrows from Liene but it just ignored them and picked up the hammer on the table. Liene's next shot surely caught its attention. It gave a yelp of pain when she drilled an arrow into his backside. Outraged at the attack, it stalked towards the Rogue, hammer swinging wildly.
Faith slid in between the two and blocked the overhanded blow with her crossed blades. The force caused her to slide back a foot or so. Surprisingly, her blades held under the blow. The two strained against one another for what seemed like hours to Faith. Even her Slayer strength was not enough to keep the hammer from inching its way inexorably towards her face. Then, the smith gave a soft huff of surprise. The pressure suddenly relaxed. Off-balanced without the force on her arms, Faith went sprawling to the ground. She just managed to avoid hitting the demon's knee on the way down.
The demon growled, turned and backhanded Leoric over a table. The small axe that he had hit the smith with fell from his hand as he went flying. As it turned back to the Slayer at its feet, an arrow caught it in the right eye. Immediately, it dropped the hammer and covered the injured eye with both hands. Its roar of pain was deafening.
The Slayer got to her hands and knees and swept her right foot through the demon's legs. The force of her circle kick pitched the demon forward. "Ouch," she commented a moment later, looking down at the dead smith. "That has got to hurt." The fall had driven the arrow through the demon's eye and into its brain. The arrow must have splintered on impact with the back of the skull, ricocheting shards of wood and metal within the cranial cavity. Only half an inch of arrow shaft and a few bloodied feathers of the fletching are still visible.
"Here." Leoric handed the hammer to Liene. "Let us be gone before his allies find out what we have done."
"You okay, Tin Can? That was some hit you took."
"It was nothing. I jumped back when I saw my blow having no effect on the beast. My armour absorbed the rest of the blow."
"What about you?" Liene asked the Slayer. "It threw you through that spear rack."
Faith shrugged. "Five by five." Catching the Rogue's look, she hastily added, "Just a couple of bruised ribs, Pix. Nothing serious, okay?"
Liene was about to reply when Leoric clapped them both on the shoulder and gave them a small push. "We can discuss this after we have completed our mission. Onward!" he proclaimed with a grin.
"Shh!" the other two instantly replied.
Liene took one look at Leoric's amused expression and Faith's relieved one and threw up her hands. Muttering something about stupid males and Slayers with death wishes, she stalked down the corridor back towards the stairway to the Jails.