A/N: Hello everyone, I apologize for the super late update. I hope that this chapter makes up for the wait. I'll try and update sooner but I can't make any promises since I do have a lot of stuff going on (school, girlfriend, job).
I would like to thank my brilliant Beta Babbles4Twillow who once again made this chapter become it's best.
Warnings: Might be some mild Language
Disclaimer: I only own the computer I'm typing this on.
CH. 4
Buffy was looking around searching for familiar faces. She had just gotten off the phone with Giles who had informed her that Faith was on her way to meet her at the bus station. He had informed her of Faiths discovery and the reason she had come back. Admits the panic and the fear, Buffy thanked the fates for keeping Faith just a bit longer.
Angel was also searching for familiar faces. He then stopped and smelled the air.
"Buffy hold on," he said as the vampire closed his eyes and focused on the scent he picked up.
"What is it?" the slayer turned around and waited for Angel to respond.
"I smell something familiar, it's coming from this direction, come on," the vampire led the slayer through a darken path when they heard a distant scream for help.
At that very same moment, Kennedy who had been looking into the darken tunnel, saw a figure fast approaching her. The young slayer braced for an attack but was surprised when a very frightened Dawn collapsed in her arms.
"You gotta help her! They are going to kill her please, someone help her!" Dawn cried as Kennedy slid down the floor to keep the very upset Dawn from collapsing completely.
"Shhh. Shhh, Where's Faith?" Kennedy asked fearing that the pleas the young Summers was making were for Faith.
Before Dawn was able to answer, Buffy and Angel appeared.
"Dawn!" Buffy yelled, relieved to have found her sister safe and sound. "I'm so sorry, did they hurt you? How did you get out?" Buffy bombarded the poor girl with questions.
"Buffy!" Dawn said in desperation as she sprung to life "Faith! She rescued me and she's in there. Please don't let her die." Dawn begged.
Buffy looked down at the small tunnel and questioningly looked at Kennedy.
"Is Faith in there?"
"Yeah. She went in there and told me to wait out here for you guys."
Buffy grabbed Dawn and moved her towards Angel and gave out commands.
"Angel, take Dawn back to HQ, Kennedy and I will go grab Faith, give me your cell," Buffy said as she extended her hand out to Angel.
"Buffy, I don't think you should do this. I should go in there with you," Angel demanded but Buffy's feral look stopped him before he could say anything else. Angel picked Dawn up as the young girl struggled against him.
"No. I have to go help Faith," Dawn told them.
"Dawn, Listen honey, I'll get her okay? You need to go back to HQ and wait for us there. I'll bring her back, I promise." Buffy said and nodded for Angel to leave.
Kennedy took out a knife and handed it to Buffy.
"Lets go get Faith," Kennedy stated as Buffy quickly made her way into the tunnel.
Faith had managed to take out most of the Bringers she had come face to face, but not without a price. Her right arm had been injured in the process alongside much of her back. Her shirt was soaked with blood and she realized that she would most likely die of blood loss. She continued to fight hoping that every second she was there, Dawn was that much closer to safety.
The battle seemed to go on for hours, yet Faith new it had only been a couple of minutes. As she was finishing off a Bringer, the remaining two Bringers caught faith and brought her down on the floor, pinning her down. The Bringer who had been lucky enough to survive Faith's attack lifted his knife up to finish off the fallen slayer.
Faith struggled against the two Bringers who were holding her down, but her attempts were useless. Her arm felt like it was sawed off and her back felt like she was lying on flaming broken glass. She knew that this was it. She braced for the deathly blow. She turned her head not wanting to see her killer. She had a vision of Buffy and her beautiful pair of green eyes staring at her and silently whispered, "I love you Buffy."
As Buffy approached the closed off entrance, she began to kick at the crates. The slayer could feel Faith and she knew that she didn't have much time. Kennedy joined the efforts and soon the two slayers were met with a pile of dead bringers by the entrance of the cave. Buffy looked up to see Faith on the floor with three bringers over her. Her eyes met chocolate brown eyes and she heard Faith whisper something not too audible. She ran forward and kicked the Bringer about to stab Faith and sent him flying several feet away.
Kennedy sprung into action and head locked one of the Bringers and threw him against a near by crate. Kennedy stabbed the remainder Bringer in the back making him collapse next to Faith's lifeless body. Buffy walked up to the Bringer she had kicked away from Faith.
"You tell that incorporeal bitch that I'm going to kicks his ass again!" with that she twisted his neck, successfully killing the servant. Before the body even dropped to the floor, Buffy made her way to where Faith was laying immobile. Seeing the younger slayer like that made Buffy's heartbreak.
Faith didn't look like her Faith. She was pale, and her shirt was stained with blood. Her face was bruised and cut. Her hands were also bruised and had stab and cut wounds everywhere. Buffy reached her hand out to cup Faith's bruised face gently.
"Faith?" She said quietly. "Faith I know your still with us, please open your eyes, please?" Buffy pleaded but the raven-haired girl made no sign of life.
"Hey B,"
Buffy looked at Faith's still lifeless body in shock. Hoping she hadn't hallucinated hearing Faith's Voice.
"Up here"
Buffy looked up to a corner of the cave and saw Faith standing there smirking.
"Oh no," Faith said with a shocked expression, " you let me die B," and blood started to soak over the white shirt she was wearing. "I save your precious sister, and you let me die?" The voice said getting louder.
Kennedy caught on to the whole deal and ran towards the illusion that was being projected, making Faith disappear.
Buffy turned back down to look at Faith. Tears began to weld up in her eyes.
"No. No. No. Come on Faith you can't be dead. Please No. " Buffy said and picked up Faith's body and began to run out of the cave. Kennedy soon followed behind trying to keep up with the Blonde slayer.
Buffy ran and ran until she was inside the gates of Angel's building. She gently whispered to Faith, "Please Faith come back to me, I love you." She pushed thought the doors and bypassed the elevator and instead climbed the flight of stairs to the third floor. Angel and Mike seemed to have been waiting for them. Two doctors where waiting at the elevator with a gurney ready to take in any injured slayers. They quickly made their way to Buffy and Faith.
"Buffy," Angel looked relieved for a second then noticed Faith was in her arms.
"Ma'am please set her down here so we can take her," Mike asked trying to get Buffy to relinquish her hold on the slayer's body.
Buffy was stuck in a bubble of sorts and could hardly hear anything other than her own heart beat. She was so focused on trying to hear Faith's she was in a trance.
Angel then gently forced Buffy to let go of Faith's body and dropped her on the gurney. The vampire watched the three men take her away and then turned to Buffy who had collapsed on the floor. He could see and smell Faith's blood all over her.
"I can't loose her Angel. I just can't." Buffy choked out as tears began falling from her eyes. Angel crouched down and helped the blonde slayer to her feet.
"Buffy she's going to be okay. You and Faith are the chosen two remember? You guys don't go down like this." Angel said trying to comfort the younger girl but apparently only serving to thrust her deeper in sadness.
"Oh god. I didn't see it before," Buffy cried and walked away from Angel's embrace. She ran in the direction the doctors had taken Faith and caught up with them.
"Ma'am, you can't come with us." Mike said trying to hold the slayer back. "Please let us do our job," a doctor chimed in.
Buffy glared at the three men, "I'm. Not. Leaving. Her." She continued to follow closely into a room where three more doctors where awaiting the fallen slayer.
"What's her stat?" one of the doctors asked.
"She has no pulse, she's lost a lot of blood, and she appears to have been dead for several minutes." Mike replied.
"Get the defibulator ready, if we can't get a pulse we can't save her. " The doctor ordered as he moved to grab some equipment.
Buffy stood in a corner of the room trying to let the doctors do their job.
'Please, Faith, come back to me. I can't loose you.' She thought as she watched the doctors try to shock Faith back into life.
"Up the shock," the doctor ordered as he tried once again to make Faith's heart beat again.
Buffy was on the verge of falling apart when a faint beeping sound brought her back from that edge.
"We got her back, get the equipment ready and get two bags of blood ready, she's lost a lot of blood." The doctors began to move around and Buffy only moved when Faith's gurney began to move. They took her out of the room and towards the surgery room. It was in between the change in rooms, that Buffy was separated from the other slayer.
"Buffy, you have to let them do their job, they are some of the best doctors in the world," Angel said as he held Buffy back from following Faith's gurney.
As Angel led Buffy into a sitting area the elevator doors opened to reveal Willow and Kennedy. Buffy's body rushed towards Willow who embraced her friends in a comforting hug.
"Will, you have to do something, we can't let her die," Buffy pleaded
"Buff, there is not much I can do," Willow said as she held on to her friend.
Minutes later, after Buffy regained some of her composure, she made her way to the floor above them to check up on Dawn.
"Buffy!" Dawn squealed as she tackled the slayer with a hug. The young summers had bloodshot eyes from the substantial crying she had done. Giles had kept her upstairs instead of letting her wait in the make shift hospital in the floor below them.
"Dawn," Buffy said relieved "are you okay?"
Dawn nodded and gave her sister a small smile that soon faded once she asked about the dark-haired slayer.
"Faith is okay right?" Dawn asked hoping Buffy would agree with her statement.
Buffy's eyes, once again, filled with tears and threatened to fall. She looked away from her sister and put on her confidence face on.
"She's alive," Buffy offered.
"Buffy," dawn said firmly "Is Faith okay?"
Willow made her presence known and rescued Buffy from having to actually acknowledge that Faith was on the verge of dying, again.
"She's in bad shape Dawn" Willow stated, "The doctors are operating on her as we speak. It's going to be a while till we know how that went." Willow then motioned for Kennedy to come over.
"Why don't you go get your self cleaned up and rest, I will come get you when we have any news okay?" Willow asked trying to meet Dawn's eyes.
The young girls only nodded and followed Kennedy.
Time became so worthless and critical at the same time. Buffy would look at the clock and then look towards the doors that held Faith. Willow held on to Buffy's hand through most of the time. The blonde slayer would have bursts of energy and begin to pace quickly around the room. Then she would settle back down next to her red-haired friend.
After an eternity, Mike walked through the doors and Buffy's heart caught in her throat. The world seemed to stop rotating.
"How is she?" Willow asked seeing as her friend was on the verge of falling apart.
Mike looked up with sadden eyes. "We were able to keep her from going into cardiac arrest again, we stitched up all of her wounds, however she lost a lot of blood."
Willow was silent and Buffy's voice decided to come back.
"So what does that mean? Can't you just give her more blood?" Buffy asked confused.
"Normally we would. Actually we tried, but there are some unexplained complications." Mike said his mind still trying to figure out why this problem was happening.
"What's the problem?" Willow asked
"It seems Faith's body is rejecting the blood. When we tried to transfuse her with blood her body would attack it. We tried several times but we almost lost her due to it. We have never seen this before; not to this extent. I'm afraid without a blood transfusion, Faith won't be able to hang on much longer."
Buffy turned to Willow hoping her witch magic friend could give her something to hang on to. The doctor had just told them that Faith was dying. The slayer was slowly loosing her mind. Willow put on her own business face and guided her friend to the seating area and left to talk to Mike.
"Wait," Willow stopped Mike on his way back into the room "Do you guys have Faith's clothes?"
Mike nodded.
" Good, may I please have them? I want to check something out. ?" Willow said hopeful.
Mike disappeared through the doors and came out and handed her a bag full of bloody clothes.
"Anything that can help, let us know," He looked towards Buffy and then back at Willow "You should take your friend so she can get some rest. "
Willow had tried to detach her blonde slayer away from the sitting area with out much success. She had only been able to feed the slayer a cold sandwich. Willow had traded places with Xander and headed off to a lab.
"Buff," Xander said getting the slayer's attention "don't take this the wrong way, but you look awful, you should go rest."
Buffy simply shook her head.
Xander remained silent for a few minutes and tried again. "Buff, you know Faith, she is going to wake up and be okay, do you want the first thing she sees you looking all," he paused trying to find the right word "not Buffy like?" he finished
Buffy turned to look at her friend. " I can't leave her Xan, what if she wakes up, or something else goes wrong and I'm not here?" She asked
"Buff, I'll stay here okay? You need to go rest. I promise the moment anything happens you will be the first to know." He said lifting up his pinky.
Buffy looked at him confused and then realized what he was trying to do. A pinky promise, she chuckled lightly. "I'm only going to go upstairs to change and clean up. I'll be back in a few," She said and intertwined her pinky with Xander's.
Buffy wanted to get out of her bloody clothes. Up until then she hadn't realized that she had Faith's blood on her. She wanted to forget about all the blood. As she pressed the button for the 4th floor, Faith appeared in next to her.
"You are going to watch me die again, B," The First mocked using Faith's appearance to torture the blonde.
Buffy's expression changed from one of pain and worry to her 'slayer business face.' She punched through the apparition and watched it dissolve into the air. She was determined to demolish the first once and for all. He had crossed a line that Buffy didn't know he had crossed. When the doors opened to the fourth floor, she momentarily forgot about a dying Faith and her bloodied clothes. She marched her way into Gile's office.
"Ah, Buffy," Giles said shocked to see his slayer in such a bad state.
"Giles, the First is back," Buffy's determined look stopped the watcher from asking her any questions. " I need to know how in the hell it's back, and more importantly, how do I puff it out of existence? Get everyone on research mode." She demanded and quickly exited the room.
'This time, I'll personally escort the First back into hell.' Buffy thought.
A/N: Reviews keep me going; they are my energy source. During the past days when I was swapped with reading assignments, I looked back at the reviews and it kept me going. Thanks to all those of you who are kind enough to leave reviews.