Sorry bout the wait, some things came up. Here's next chapter, some things are revealed.

Chapter 39

Have Faith

Early Hours of Friday Morning – Sunnydale – California

She knew that they had to find shelter from the coming sunlight, and fast. She could sense the coming light on the Eastern Horizon. She was at least thankful for one thing, Drusilla was in a cooperative mood. They had been pursued for the last couple of days by Operatives of Wolfram and Hart. After their first encounter, she had doubled back and spied on them. There were two highly trained human assassins who she learned used to be in the Watchers Council, before it was destroyed by The First's operatives. The demon which was working with them was there to help them, and Darla knew that he was also there to kill them if they tried to escape. From what she knew from her brief time she was at Wolfram and Hart, The First's operatives had attacked the Watchers Council. She was now guessing that Wolfram and Hart had gone and absorbed the remaining resources of The Council.

She needed a place to stay for the day, where they would both be safe from the sun, and the assassins after them. Her thoughts about returning to Wolfram and Hart alive had slowly disappeared and she knew that the assassins were out to kill both her and Drusilla.

At that instant Darla was struck with an idea of where to hide. They would stay right next door to the houses that The Slayer and her people were occupying. The assassins wouldn't dare go that close.

6:00 A.M – Somewhere in Sunnydale

Lindsey McDonald hated getting up early in the morning. If the sun wasn't up yet, it wasn't time to get up according to him. Still though, today he would make an exception. If everything went according to plan today, the fate of the world would be sealed and there would be nothing at all that the Slayer, or anyone else on this plane of existence would be able to do to change the momentum and his position would be sealed within Wolfram and Hart as the head of all the resources under control of the LA Branch. It had been a huge logistic effort to get to where they were today. They had to arrange for the resurrection of Caelecae, they had to play a part in securing a part of Cordelia's essence; they had to possess the soul of a hero, plus the soul of someone who seeks redemption, and they needed protection. If everything was going according to plan, every vampire, bringer, Turokhan and every demon which served Wolfram and Hart that was in the city would now be making their way to the Hellmouth. Surely, everything hadn't gone according to plan. The resurrection of Illyria and Inanna wasn't meant to occur. The remainder of Angel's crew were meant to stay in LA and they were meant to team up with the O Ops contingent which was now in the city, and all of the Potential Slayers were meant to be dead by now, which they weren't sure on seeing as twenty or so had just seemed to drop off of the face of the earth, obviously being kept hidden from them. The last thing required was to get Caelecae to the Hellmouth in time for the ritual to suffice, and to make sure that the Slayer and her group were present. From the intelligence that a number of operatives had gathered for him, it looked like that the latter part of that plan was going right on track.

Lindsey got dressed and grabbed a quick meal to last him through the day before he went to check on Caelecae in the roomy four bedroom house that they had commandeered for themselves. He opened the door to her room and found that she wasn't there.

"Not again," he said under his breath. It was hard to watch over something which thought that you were nothing more than a tiny, tiny ant. As if on cue, the front door opened and the figure of Caelecae stepped in through the door. "At least you're using doors now," Lindsey said to her. He saw that Caelecae looked up to him.

"I will enter and exit a structure as I see fit," she replied to him. They had to leave the last house that they had commandeered because she kept on walking through the walls.

"Where did you go?" Lindsey asked her.

"I do not require sleep and grow bored of being confined within these walls. I performed several acts of violence on some Turokhan which were hunting for the few surviving humans of this town," Caelecae replied.

"Well, come, we're finally doing something," Lindsey replied. "Today's the day." Caelecae tilted her head to the side, reading him.

"Today? Do you know for what purpose I have been summoned to the Hellmouth?" Caelecae asked.

"Not a clue," Lindsey lied.

6:00 A.M. – Base Camp – Sunnydale – California

Buffy hadn't been able to get back to sleep for at least the last two hours and she was now sitting on the couch in the lounge-room having given up on trying to get back to sleep altogether. From what they had learned from the vampire that had played a part in their ambush, today was the day that everything was going down at the Hellmouth, and they had no idea what it was, what it was going to do, or who was involved with it. So far, only five extra people had turned up since the spell that Willow had cast, and it wasn't nearly enough for them. According to Giles, Willow, and Buffy's mind, it wouldn't be for an extra week or so until a lot of people started turning up to help out in the fight. For those on the Earth who were still alive, transport was a major issue. All the Airlines and most ships had ceased operation. Buffy hoped that most of the people still alive had learned never to travel at night anymore, and even then it was dangerous travelling during the daytime, according to what they had heard from Riley in Los Angeles. Most of the Bringers and Vampires which had come out and openly attacked across the world had been taken out by various counties' military forces, and the fact that after everyone realised what was going on and came out of shock, fought back.

From what they could tell, a lot of vampires and demons had been heading to both Sunnydale and Los Angeles during the last couple of weeks, not to mention the fact that a large number of Turokhan Vampires and Syophers had seemed to appear out of nowhere. Buffy guessed that the main concentration of Bringers were also in Sunnydale.

Buffy looked out the window at the rising sun in the sky. Everyone would be awake soon, and then they'd have to go to the Hellmouth to face something nobody knew about.

"Can't sleep either?" Buffy heard Faith say from behind her. Buffy just slowly shook her head. There was a long moment of silence as Faith sat on a chair adjacent to Buffy and looked out the same window that Buffy was. "How you coping?" Faith gently asked. Buffy looked from the window to Faith and then back out the window.

"It's, confusing. I don't know how to feel. Everything's trying to destroy us. We've been through God knows what on that evolution quest thing. I mean, this isn't the body I was born in. It looks like me, it feels like me, but way stronger and faster, but, it's not me. I just don't know what to do," Buffy replied.

"I get that. I went through it with you B. But, I was asking about Dawn. How are you coping with that?" Faith asked after a brief pause.

"Better than I thought I would be," Buffy replied at first. "She's gone, for now, but I know that we'll find a way to bring her back. It'll have to be after all this is over, there's not enough time right now." There was a long silence as Buffy decided whether or not to tell Faith the rest of it. Eventually, she decided it was best to tell her. "Also, I think, that if we bring her back now, and if it doesn't go our way, maybe she's better off where she is now," Buffy said. She kept her eye contact away from Faith, and eventually when she looked to Faith, Buffy could see that she was nodding her head slowly.

"That's understandable Buffy," Faith replied. The pair of Slayers now sat in silence, gazing at the coming sunrise in the Eastern Sky. "Hey B, there's something I need to talk to you about, it involves Cordelia," Faith said after a while. Buffy looked to Faith and wondered what it was that was on her mind. She didn't get the chance to open her mouth before Faith continued. "I don't know if it's just me, and that's why I'm asking you about this, but, does Queen C seem a little… avoidant to you?" Faith said to her. Buffy thought about it for a moment.

"No, she's fine by me," Buffy replied. "Why do you think so?" Buffy asked after a moment.

"Well, she's never here, she's always off on some 'mission' to help some other people somewhere else. And she's never really had a conversation with anyone, and she's way different to what I remember her as back in the day," Faith explained to Buffy.

"Well, yeah, she ascended to a higher plane of existence. Something like that would make her realise that whatever God there is, it's not the Executive of Revlon," Buffy replied.

"Yeah, but that's the thing B. What if it's not Cordy?" Faith queried.

"What do you mean? That it's some higher being helping us disguised as Cordelia?" Buffy asked. Faith just rolled her eyes slightly before replying.

"The First B. It can imitate dead people, why not Queen C herself," Faith said. "Think about it from The First's point of view. What better than having all of the white hats looking up to you for guidance and not even questioning what you tell them to do," Faith explained. It was obvious to Buffy that Faith had been thinking about this for a while now.

"Yeah, that's true, but she's touched something hasn't she?" Buffy replied as she scanned her memory.

"Nope B. I've been thinking about this for a week or so now, and I haven't seen her touch anything, come through any doors or anything," Faith replied. Buffy sat there scanning her brain for a few more moments.

"You're right, I can't remember her touching anything," Buffy replied. "But what about her helping us? She's killed demons and vamps for us?" she queried Faith as well as backed up her own thoughts that Cordelia could not be The First.

"Well we know that The First can make itself look like a whole bunch of people at the same time. How do we know that it wasn't just killing images of itself?" Faith replied. There was a long moment of silence as Faith let Buffy contemplate what she had been told. "She's never here, meaning that there's less of a chance for The First to slip up and make a mistake. I hate to say it B, but what better way to get into the inner circle than come back as a member of the old circle, saying that you're the ultimate good guy," Faith voiced her opinions. Buffy was having a hard time believing it. It was obvious to her that Faith definitely thought that Cordelia wasn't the legitimate Cordelia. "And don't forget about that 'mission' to the morgue that she sent me on. It was a bloody trap to get me out of the way," Faith added.

Suddenly a thought snapped into Buffy's head. It was something that the people from Los Angeles had told them, it was the whole reason that they had come to Sunnydale.

"Tara?" Buffy replied. "If Cordelia really is The First, then why bring Tara back?" Buffy asked, remembering that Fred had told them that Cordelia had shown up and told them to get to the newly resurrected Tara at the time.

"Maybe she's a part of The First's bigger plan?" Faith suggested uneasily. "A way to get close to Willow. The First could be influencing Tara for all we know," Faith said after a while in coming up with a reason to bring Tara back.

"You're right, we have to ask the Los Angeles crew all that they can remember," Buffy replied. "We'll do it as soon as everyone's up," Buffy added.

"Right," Faith replied whilst nodding her head. The pair of Slayers sat in the lounge room, a dead silence as both of their brains worked overtime. After a while, Faith got up. "Going to the kitchen, need breakfast," she said. Just before Faith entered the kitchen, Buffy turned her head.

"Faith," she said.

"Yeah B?" Faith replied.

"Keep this quiet," Buffy replied.

8:00 A.M. – Base Camp – Sunnydale – California.

Buffy stood alongside Faith in front of Wesley, Gunn, and a still distant and injured Connor, all that was remaining of Angel's group from Los Angeles. They had asked for everyone else to leave the Summers' house for a while and go to one of the other houses while they discussed what Faith had brought up to Buffy earlier that morning. Cordelia was outside, and Buffy and Faith wanted to question the others before they tried confronting Cordelia about the issue. Both Buffy and Faith decided that if it was determined that Cordelia was in fact The First, that they pretend not to know. That way they would have an advantage over The First, allowing it to circulate in their midst without the knowledge that they knew it was imposing.

"No, I don't remember Cordelia touching anything," Wesley explained to them.

"Me either," Gunn said with an ever increasing look of concern on his face. Connor just shook his head in agreement with the other two.

"This could pose a serious problem," Wesley said after a while.

"Yes, we know. That's why we're coming to you, so that we might be able to use this," Buffy replied to him.

"If Cordelia really is The First, then everything we know might be a lie," Gunn said, referring to the explanations that Cordelia had given them all. Buffy's heart almost leapt out of her mouth as she heard a familiar voice come from the kitchen entrance.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Cordelia asked. Buffy noticed that Faith was slowly moving around behind her, and she was wondering what good it would do.

"Just this and that, you know," Faith replied.

"Someone touch her," Wesley said out of nowhere. Faith was the closest to Cordelia and she put her hand out. Instead of trying to leap out of her mouth, Buffy's heart now sank to the bottom of her stomach as Faith's hand went straight through Cordelia and Buffy heard an almost silent gasp from everyone in the room.

"You're not Cordelia," Buffy said to her. Cordelia looked back at her, stunned.

"Sure I am. Why wouldn't I be?" Cordelia replied to her.

"You're The First," Connor said to her.

"What? I'm not The First," Cordelia replied. An awkward silence filled the room as everyone looked at Cordelia, analysing everything that she did, analysing her entire appearance. "Oh my god, you're all serious," Cordelia said, breaking the silence. "I'm not The First. Why would you think I'm The First? I'm not The First."

"Did you think we were that stupid?" Wesley attacked. "Do you think that eventually we wouldn't figure you out?"

"Please? Do I look like The First Evil?" Cordelia said. "Look, I'll prove it." Cordelia took a step sideways and to Buffy's amazement picked up the kettle. "See, I can touch things. Not The First Evil." Buffy was confused. Last time that they had checked, The First couldn't touch things.

"But…" Buffy started before realisation swept over her. She reached out, her hand firmly touching Cordelia's shoulder, and she gently pushed Cordelia out of the way. In front of her, she saw Faith. An awkward silence filled the room as everyone now faced Faith. No one moved, and no one said a thing. Buffy slowly took a step towards Faith, and then another, and then another. She noticed that everyone else in the kitchen was slowly moving to surround Faith. In the back of her mind, Buffy knew that it was an instinctual movement to surround a newly discovered enemy, but the rational part of her mind knew that there was nothing that they could do to the image of Faith in front of them.

"I was this close," the image of Faith said without warning, raising it's right hand and showing it's thumb and index finger held in a pincer like fashion close together. "This close," The First said again. "Had you all suckered in."

"Create mistrust within the group, question our most knowledgeable members," Wesley said, voicing the thoughts of everyone in the room.

"It was a setup all along," Gunn said. "She was the one who told us to go to the Hellmouth that night," Gunn said referring to two nights ago when they had been scouting the Hellmouth and had been trapped.

"You planted that vampire there as a trap all along," Buffy said, further voicing everyone's thoughts.

"Hey, we can play the blame game all you want. The fact is that I played my cards right, except a lot more of you were meant to die that night," the image of Faith said directly to Buffy. At that moment, Xander and Willow came in the kitchen door from the backyard, which was now joined to the houses behind and next door to the Summers' house. Buffy saw Willow stop in her tracks and Xander do so behind her as they took in the situation.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Willow asked nervously.

"This is a nice little setup you've got going here. Got a barrier and everything," Faith said to the group, turning to Willow at the end. "It still won't stop me."

"What's going on?" Xander queried.

"Well, I'll be at the Hellmouth having lunch with every vampire in Sunnydale. Come around if you want to even have a go at trying to stop me," the image of Faith said before disappearing in a flash.

8:10 A.M - Above the Hellmouth – Sunnydale - California

Everything was set, and all the pieces of the board were in motion. In front of him stood the nervous representative from Wolfram and Hart; Lindsey McDonald. The three moping were on the ground in front of him, two holding a soul each, and the third holding a tiny ball of powerful blue energy; the essence of Cordelia Chase. The old one known as Caelecae walked around the room, examining it and doing a number of things that Ethan Rayne thought to be very strange, but after all, she was an Old One. Vampires and Turokhan patrolled the building while a large number of vampires, Turokhan and Bringers waited in the surrounding buildings until the right time. He had cast the spell which placed a dome of energy over the surrounding area, creating a barrier to the sunlight, allowing the vampires and Turokhan into the daylight, so long as they stayed in the area. In front of him stood the image of Jenny Calendar, The First Evil.

"You're sure that they're going to be here?" Ethan asked the image of Jenny.

"Our Slayer and her band of merry followers can't resist the chance to stop a big bad evil from being unleashed upon the world, even if they know it's a trap," The First said, "so yes, they're definitely going to be here."

"Is she going to be here? We can't do this without her," Ethan asked.

"Of course she'll be here, all the Scoobies will be here," The First replied. "It's going to happen."

9:33 A.M. – Summers' Residence – Base Camp – Sunnydale – California

They had been reeling from the discovery that The First had been imitating Faith. Immediately, they had told everyone at the camp and systematically they had began questioning everyone to what Faith had said to each of them over the last week or so. They had no idea when Faith had disappeared and The First had taken her place, and they couldn't believe that it had happened to someone that most of the people were familiar with.

Buffy looked around to the other people sitting at the dining room table with her. She was sitting with Willow, Giles, Xander, Wesley, Oz and Naomi while Gunn, Cassia, Cordelia and Nicola stood by.

"Of course it's a trap," Wesley said

"The fact of the matter is that we can't just sit here and do nothing about it," Giles replied.

"We have to go in there and make an attempt. We know that something big is going down at the Hellmouth, and we have to do something to try and stop it," Nicola said.

"Do we know that?" Gunn questioned. "This could be another complete setup like before."

"We'll be careful. We have to go," Willow added to the number of voices talking over one another.

"We're not really doing too well in numbers. The people turning up from Willow's spell aren't too good so far," Naomi said. "Even I can fight better than half of them."

"Not to mention that we're now down one evolved up Super Slayer" Xander added too. Buffy's mind wondered off from the argument as she heard some sounds coming from the front of the house.

"Everyone be quiet!" Buffy said loudly. Almost instantly, everyone fell silent. "Do you all hear that?" Buffy was sure that she was hearing things, but she heard another noise from out the front again.

"It sounds like a car door," Naomi said. Just then, there were three loud knocks on the front door. Immediately Buffy went to answer it, her mind was wondering who it was. She knew that it was probably someone else turning up to help them fight against The First due to Willow's spell she had cast two days ago. She opened the door and was stunned at the sight before her. Faith was standing in the front doorway with a huge grin on her face.

"Hey B, look what the cat dragged in," Faith said while turning outward from the doorway and gesturing with her hand onto Buffy's front lawn. Buffy could see a number of cars now parked in the street, and a lot of people getting out of them. She noticed that they were all females, and they all looked pretty young. Most of them were carrying weapons, and most of them had wounds and blood over most of them.

"Who are they? More Potentials?" Buffy asked, connecting the dots that they were all armed, and that they were all Female.

"Nope. They're Slayers B. Every last one of em."

Oh my god it feels good to get that out! I've been planning the last line of this chapter ever since Faith was introduced into "Post Grave" (About chapter 4,5,6, somewhere around there). I've been working towards this bit for SOOOOO long! I've had that line in my head ever since then.

The Slayers will be revealed next chapter

Chapter after that It happens

Reccomended References for Next Chapter: THE CHARACTER REFERENCE PAGE - Specifically - "Skye and Rhonda", "Amanda and her group", "The Coven"
Chapter 30: Evolution.

Those are some reccomended readings for next chapter to fully understand what's going on... well, not to understand, but to have an idea how things leading up to this have been put throughout the story....icould go and give you a reference for EVERY thing that happens, but i'm hoping that you actually remember some things in this story and your mind will fill some of the things in.

Anyway, next chapter

Chapter 40: Intricate Plotting