Operation Slayers and Non Essentials, the Second Coming:
Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
After a few moments, Giles asked another question while Father Gabriel snuck close to Faith and whispered something which caused Faith to leave the library. "My dear did you see the bad men's faces? Do you remember anything about them? Their clothes? Anything at all?"
After taking a bite of her cookie and chewing with her mouth open for what seemed like an eternity, little Emily spoke. "The...the bad men didn't open their eyes and they had big sharp metal things…and they had mommy's bath time clothes on."
"Bringers." Everyone in the room said aloud.
"Alright everyone I will keep this brief." Giles told the group in the library's second meeting of the day.
"Going by what Father Gabriel and Emily told us, the First is up to something that involves the members of the Catholic Church. I will notify the Vatican and all of the Council's around the globe and see if their cities have experienced any similar tragedies. In the meantime I would appreciate volunteers to help research any rituals or spells that require a priest of any religion and then take it from there." Giles announced from his seat.
After another 15 minutes of a work out, team Kennedy, team Satsu and the rest of the younger Slayers and two watchers that were using Slayer Central's work out facilities started to do stretches.
"Maaaa-dooooon!" A familiar voice rang out in the gym, a sharp whistle being heard before the voice as the Slayers were bent over and stretching their calves…in their tight workout sports bras and shorts.
Getting back to a vertical base and looking towards the exit/entrance, all eyes were on Father Gabriel and the Chosen Two walking into the giant room. Buffy and Faith wearing sports bras and sweat pants while Father Gabriel sported cargo shorts and a tank top which revealed his broad shoulders and thick chest.
"Hey Ken…remember when you said the next time were both in the training room my ass is grass?" Father Gabriel asked with a sly grin. "Care to make it interesting?"
"What do you have in mind padre?" Kennedy asked back, the outside of her forearm still locked in place against the young man's, the Slayer in her forcing out a fanged smile at the challenge.
Father Gabriel slowly let the pressure in his arm release and both him and Kennedy dropped their fists before the man spoke. "If I win, you have to…" Father Gabriel then slowly leaned in and whispered to Kennedy before pulling back seconds later…for some reason causing Satsu to smile.
As soon as Kennedy and Father Gabriel sat down all of the audience were conversing and laughing and commenting on the fight, with the exception of the Chosen Two. Buffy and Faith both shared another knowing smile, internally marveling at how fast enemies could become respected friends after a fight. Both Slayer's remembering how they would constantly fight as teenagers…that is until a loud whistling sound filled the room.
"I trust I have everyone's attention?" Giles asked the now silent crowd, a coaching whistle around his neck.
"Alright then, on the more pressing matters then a bloody street fight." Giles began as he sternly looked at the formally cheering younger Slayers, who suddenly found the gymnasium floor very interesting. "With Willow and Andrew's help, along with contacting Council's across the globe and the Vatican, I believe that we have discovered the intent of the First's plans." Giles started before he began to take his glasses off and reach into his pocket, which everyone knew was a bad omen. "The First is trying to force open a sealed Hellmouth here in Scotland-"
"And?" Buffy asked with her arms crossed over her chest, nonchalantly.
"And all over the rest of the world."
"…Oh," Buffy managed to utter the same words after she found out she had to go up against a Hell God after a few silent moments.
Chapter 15
"How…How is that possible? How could the First do something that complex without us, or any other major organization knowing about it?" Dawn asked one of the question's Buffy couldn't, as her sister seemed to have a lost look on her face.
"Dawn, the First has unimaginable resources gathered probably since the first creature was created on this earth. The First didn't just go away since we buried Sunnydale and I imagine that defeating it then just caused the First to 'take off the gloves'." Giles answered.
"Wait….if the First is planning to unleash hell world-wide, that means that Joan of Arc...and the Ethros demon…"
"Just a distraction," Buffy stated with assertiveness and anger, looking towards the gymnasium floor.
"Buffy, you musn't blame yourself." Giles spoke with a soft tone towards his surrogate daughter.
Buffy slowly looked up at Giles with eyes full of fire. Giles' aged face now wore the same look that was worn when Buffy gave her infamous speech and declaration of war on the First.
"I'm so hot for you right now B" Faith accidentally said aloud as she and the Scoobies noticed the look on Buffy's face.
Not letting her lover's comment nor the 'ewwww' face her sister was making phase her, Buffy spoke up. "Everybody who helped Giles research, front and center."
Willow and Andrew started to get off the bench after Buffy's command, and stood on either side of Giles while looking back at their Slayers…and one Nick Fury look alike.
"Andrew," Giles stated.
"Alright so I aided Giles in contacting Council's all over the world and they all reported the same thing. Certain Catholic churches, minus the many in Italy, have all been found abandoned. BUT, unlike the church Father Gabriel is stationed in, the other churches were like a ghost town. No priests, nuns or people of any kind in the buildings. Which means-"
"The First ordered the bringers to massacre the people in the church here, to get our attention." Faith cut in, but stopped before continuing as a loud creaking noise could be heard.
As all eyes zoomed to the source of the noise, Father Gabriel was seen with his hands holding the bench seat, white knuckled and a snarl plastered on his face. Everyone in the room knew and understood the man's anger, but they were all surprised when Satsu laid a hand over one of his and actually tried to calm the man down.
"What else do we know?" Buffy asked, trying to get back on track.
"With the Vatican's and Willow's help, we were able to discover what such a ritual to force open sealed Hellmouth's would require. As always the text was cryptic and vague but we believe that there are two ritual's for opening a sealed Hellmouth, one being the ritual of Dansilthar. Luckily we destroyed an essential piece of that ritual when Buffy broke the knife of Dansilthar in Sunnydale. The other ritual we don't yet know of, but the Vatican is sending everything they have that can be related to such a ritual by air mail within 24 hours. What the Vatican's scholars were able to discover before sending the text is that the First needs 50 priests and 50 nuns to complete each ritual."
"SON OF A BITCH!" Father Gabriel exclaimed as he suddenly stood to his feet.
"I understand your anger Father, but we need to keep a level head. Do you remember how many bodies you saw when you escaped the bringers?" Giles asked.
"Close to a dozen," Gabriel answered, thinking back to the bodies of priests he saw on the ground. Suddenly, while seeing the image of a dead priest on the ground in his head, Father Gabriel's eyes widened in shock. "Giles, Buffy…do you have any maps or any information where known dormant Hellmouth's are located?" The paladin asked with a dreadful look in his eyes.
Andrew quickly turned and ran for the gymnasium door and came back with his infamous 'big board', however this time, nobody laughed as everyone studied the board.
"No….NO!" Father Gabriel's yell could be heard over the many voices.
"Father?" Giles asked.
"I...I have to go." The man responded as he started to run out of the large room.
"What's up with him?" Rona asked.
"I think I know," Satsu answered. Her teary eyes locked on the red circle in Canada.
Hours after the previous meeting that evening and many phone calls to warn families to head for Italy later, all of the more important figures of Slayer Central were holding a meeting in the castle's library.
"Olivia, has everyone's immediate families been notified to leave for Italy as soon as possible?" Giles asked from his seat, getting a nod sent his way as Olivia was setting up the 'Watcher's Diary' laptop. Ever since the fall of Sunnydale, the Scoobies felt it was important to take note of what was said during every meeting and to keep stock of every event that happened. Thinking back to the years in Sunnyhell, imagine what could have been done if the Scoobies were more organized. A certain hammer of the troll god's comes to everyone's minds when looking back. "And all of the patrols are taken care of?" Giles again asked.
"Yeah G, got some of the more promising youngin's leading the groups." Faith answered.
"Alright then. Does anyone know if Father Gabriel will be attending?" Giles asked as he poured some tea.
"None of us could find him after he took off." Satsu stated. After notifying her parents and close friends back in Canada to head to the one place where a known Hellmouth isn't waiting to be unlocked, Satsu personally looked all over for the paladin in hopes of talking with him. When Satsu unknowingly said she may know why Gabriel left in a hurry, nobody heard her over the voices of concern filling the castle's gymnasium. In fact, unknown to all, Satsu and Father Gabriel became pretty close while bonding over the hockey games the two would watch in the rec-room during the young holy warrior's recovery.
(Once upon a time during a hockey game flashback)
"Yeahhhh!" Both Satsu and Father Gabriel screamed from the couch, spilling Cheetos on the floor as they celebrated their team scoring on the television.
"Oh….crap" Gabriel spoke out as he noticed the mess.
"Oh don't worry about it Gabe." Satsu said before she made a sharp whistle. "Dannnnnteeeee! C'mmmmmereee Dante!" Satsu screamed moments before Faith's hell hound came running in the room, eyes lighting up at the spilled snack.
"You still didn't answer my question missy, confess your sins child. What about Ken bugs you? I mean c'mon look at her…not that…ok yeah I look, but I'm only human." Gabe said with a smile, soon holding the spot on his arm where Satsu lightly punched.
After looking at Satsu with a raised brow, even holding the look while drinking his beer, the woman finally broke under Gabriel's stare. Sighing, Satsu started. "That's exactly why it bugs me. I just want to hold her, kiss her, touch her…every time were together. But she hates it when we show affection in front of everyone. When you caught us, well…you remember."
"Oh yeah. I still wear a metal chastity belt whenever I sleep over."
"I just want things to be like the way Buffy and Faith have it. Not afraid to love each other in front of everyone." Satsu admitted.
"Hun, you have to look at it from Kennedy's point of view." Gabe softly told his sports buddy with a hand on her shoulder. With Satsu looking at the man with a puzzled look, he continued. "Satz, Kennedy sees herself…and rightfully so, as some kind of bad ass leader that can't be stopped. But more importantly, I guarantee that she thinks that she can't show any kind of weakness or anything that's not aggressive while around the people that look to her for leadership. She thinks that to many people depend on her to be the one everyone can count on to get the job done, an in our line of work that unfortunately means being hard or rough around the edges."
"How can you-"
"I know because that used to be me. When I first started commanding my squad I was a major hard ass and a big square. My team mates actually requested a transfer." Gabe said as he finished his beer and smiled, reminiscing about how he was in his youth…which is pretty sad considering it was only about four or five years ago. "It wasn't until we were forced to function as a unit and rely on each other intimately to survive, that we discovered we could be ourselves around each other. And now, were family."
Looking at Satsu for a few moments, an off duty Father Gabriel sighed as he knew what that look on Satsu's face meant. "Alright fine, but give me another beer…..thank you. Now, we were on our first serious mission in Africa. Our cover was teaching the locals to read, write and about the lord our father. Which is all true, but we were also there to protect the settlement or village from the evils of hell, bah blah. Any who, one night a warlock from much bigger village down the river wanted our village's land and resources. So the guy summoned all kinds of African Lion Safari beasts. Now you'd think that the village would know how to fend off the wild animals…but these weren't wild animals. I saw some kind of demon hyena bite a man in two at the hip. I saw women and children being eaten alive by demon ape's that could make King Kong run away."
"I'm so sorry"
"Hey, it happened. Nothing we can do now. Anyways, the village burned to the ground after some oil spilled near a busted lamp and caused an explosion. My team managed to evacuate the survivors, but we were stranded in the African wilds for a week. Along with the natives, we all learned to rely on each other to survive." Gabriel concluded before he took a swig of beer.
"Wow…what happened to the warlock?" Satsu asked like a kid asking her grandfather to continue the bed time story.
After finishing the swig of beer and placing the bottle on his lap, Gabe answered. "When help arrived, my team went to the warlock's village, captured him and let our villagers do God doesn't want to know what with him." The tale telling paladin suddenly placed his beer on the nearby table while on the couch and then looked back at Satsu, "So…how we gonna fix Ken?"
"Tell me one more thing about you and you have a deal." Satsu stated.
"What? No, it's your turn….oh c'mon don't look at me like that." Gabriel pleaded as Satsu gave the man her version of Buffy's 'Giles can't say no'look. And if that wasn't bad enough, Satsu nuzzled into the man's chest and looked up at him with her puppy dog eyes until Gabe cracked. "Alright, alright! Just stop it already. Did Buffy teach you women the pout to?"
"No, I learned by observing. Now tell me about your family. Maybe mine knew yours back in Toronto."
"I don't think they could have. I didn't know any Asian's when I was a kid. My grandfather was a Decan before the arthritis kicked in…he was a type of priest that is allowed to marry but has some limitations within the church. Soooo maybe my grandfather might have met your parents or grandparents or something. I'll mention your last name to him when the family finishes their tour of the country. Now let's shake and bake a plan for operation 'get Ken to make out with you in public'," Gabriel said as he quickly rubbed his palms together.
"Hey you're the older one who gets the girl after he saves her…I'm counting on you Romeo."
"I knew I would regret telling Andrew my stories. You try to help a guy sweep his girl off her feet and it comes back to bite you in ass….Hmmmm…I know she's short tempered….think I could goat her into a non-life threatening fight?" Gabe asked.
"Oh without a doubt," the Asian Slayer replied with a smile.
"Ok, this is what we do. When I'm fully recovered I will piss her off enough until she wants to fight me. Then I will try to make a bet with her. If she accepts my terms and I win, she will have to walk right up to you in front of everyone and lay one on you." Gabriel offered, earning him a huge smile, a squeal and a hurting hug from his hockey buddy.
(end of flashback)
"Blast. I do wish he would be here for this. We need to all put out heads together and formulate a plan to-"
"Here's a plan…I dress up in my priest uniform, get taken back to base and kill everything in my way." Father Gabriel said with absolutely no emotion as he entered the library, seemingly out of nowhere with a belt of throwing daggers in his right hand and what was obviously an ice pack wrapped over his breast.
"Gabriel, I can understand your anger but putting yourself in danger is no…." Giles' speech was quickly tuned out by the majority of people in the room now looking at Satsu squint and lean forward in her chair, looking at something particular in Father Gabriel's direction.
The second, the very second Father Gabriel made eye contact with Satsu, the Asian got up while Giles was still trying to talk Gabriel out of a suicide mission and strode towards the paladin with purpose.
"….And we must formulate a more sensible plan whic-…"
This time, Giles and the entire room went silent as Satsu latched her arms around Father Gabriel's and embraced him in a hug. For several mind boggling and Scoobie staring moments, Satsu hugged a statue like Gabriel until she uttered a few mood changing words. "I'm so sorry Gabe".
Slowly, Father Gabriel started to bend his elbows, and eventually dug his face into the crook of Satsu's neck while tightly holding onto the slim figured woman. "They took him Satz…they…*gasp and sniffle*…He's gone."
"Shh, it's ok well get our Canadian Council in Ottawa to get him-"
"No!...He's….*gasp*…he's dead." Gabriel interrupted.
At the instant the word dead was uttered, Satsu tightened the hug and laid the side of her head flush with Father Gabriel's cheek.
"Umm…I'm sorry, but-"
"The bringers at the Canadian Hellmouth started gathering…resources. Gabe's family was touring the country when it happened." Satsu responded with her eyes closed and cheek resting on Gabe's forehead.
A teary Father Gabriel tried as best he could to sober up, sniffling and eventually pulling back from Satsu, not wanting to show his emotional side in front of everyone…and that's when Buffy made her move. Buffy suddenly got up and walked to Father Gabriel, put her hands on his shoulders, looked him in his red eyes and spoke with both sincerity and aggression. "I sweat to you Gabriel that we will avenge your family." Images of her mother lying dead on the couch ran rapid through Buffy's mind as she spoke. "We will do anything and everything to stop those bastards of the First. But-"
"No"
"…What?" Buffy asked after she was interrupted.
With the same fiery passion Buffy once had in her eyes as she looked onto a reflection of herself as the First taunted her while she lay bleeding on the floor, Father Gabriel spoke again. "No. No but's, no if's, no and's and no or's. You want to help me avenge my family? Nothing we do can be considered avenging or right, or justice." Father Gabriel then walked towards the table he set the belt of throwing knives on and picked it up before looking at everyone in the room as he spoke. "The first and its agents took one of mine away from me until the day I die. I don't care if any of you help me or not. I am walking out your doors to get captured and bring back an agent of the first. If I have to resort to magic's to learn the location of the Hellmouth here, I will. After I get the location of the Hellmouth I'm loading up and going in." The paladin eventually fell temporarily silent as he strapped on the belt of knives to his waist. "I'm not doing this because it's right, or because it's riotous…..You DON'T…FUCK...WITH FAMILY."
Without waiting for a response, Father Gabriel turned to leave the room. Seconds past as the older Scoobie members tried to think of a way to call the paladin back to think of a better plan…but how could they? If one of them was slain wouldn't they all move heaven and earth to get revenge? Hell, Buffy herself was brought back to life twice and Willow almost destroyed the world when Tara died. What could they possibly say or do that would make anyone in Father Gabriel's position not do what he is about to do? As those brief mind racing moments passed, the man on a mission didn't get more than three steps before he halted.
"Gabe!" Kennedy hollered. The Latina Slayer and former enemy of the 'Father Gabriel State' swiftly walked up to the man as he turned around and looked him in the eyes as she spoke. "I'm coming with you. You owe me a rematch and the bringers might get lucky and hit the hickie I gave you earlier." Kennedy finished with a smile, trying to calm Gabriel and lighten the mood.
Father Gabriel only nodded at Kennedy before turning to leave, however stood still as Satsu stood in his way. For several seconds, the two shared an intense gaze before Satsu gripped the man's hand and held on tightly while looking back at the rest of the completely silent room. "The rest of you think of all possible ways to get ready to launch an assault on the First once we get back. Andrew, make sure our Kevlar outfits are ready and think of ways to do massive damage in a tight spot. If were forced to fight like you guys did in Sunnydale, I want a way to take out chunks out of any surprises the First has waiting underground. Xander, make sure all weapons are sharpened and ready to go, and help Andrew get whatever he needs. Willow, your emergency bag of tricks helped us not die against Joan of Arc…make more of those. Giles, you and Olivia contact every council around the world and the Vatican. Tell them to start dressing up watchers and warriors in priest costumes and create ambushes to capture a bringer to gather intel. Faith, you and Buffy figure out how to train Dante to not render us useless when he uses his powers. The rest of you go on patrol or help one of the elder's do their job. Dawn you're in charge of Ken's team. Dana, make sure everyone comes back alive from ours. I want results by morning," Satsu finished as she, Kennedy and Father Gabriel left everyone in the library flabbergasted without another word.
…"What….the fuck….just happened?" Faith asked aloud after about half a minute of silence.
"I believe you and Buffy just became out dated my dear." Giles spoke with a smile while cleaning his glasses in his seat.
"But….were not even that old," Buffy pouted.
"Welcome to my world ladies." Giles continued as he put on his glasses before sighing the kind of sigh one performs before tackling a long and tedious task. "Well…shall we all get to work?"
"I'll put on the tea and coffee," Olivia spoke out as got up from her seat.
"I'll order the Chinese," Dawn said next as she got up and walked to Giles' office.
"I'll get the beer," Xander announced as he got to his feet.
"I'll drink half" Faith exclaimed as she got to a vertical base.
With a sudden crash, the Slayer Central library doors flew open and in its place stood a bringer. The inhabitants of the large room quickly got to their feet in preparation to fight, but soon breathed a sigh of relief as the bringer slumped to the ground unconscious. Looking up from the body, all eyes now gazed upon Father Gabriel standing in the middle of the doorway; Kennedy and Satsu standing on either side of the man.
"Gather what information you can, I'm going to call it an early….morning" Father Gabriel said as he checked the library clock before looking back and forth between his two confidants. "And I suggest you two do the same, who knows what we will have to do once we get the intel we need." Just as Gabriel turned to leave, the man turned again and from behind both Kennedy and Satsu, he once moved close to their ears. "And I mean sleep".
"So, shall I begin?" Giles asked the very familiar library once again, having spent almost all of his time since Father Gabriel returned with the bringer in the very same room. Receiving nods from everyone, the patriarch began to do his 'thang'. "Alright, having gone over the results of everyone's assignments, here is where we stand….Andrew?" Just like that, watcher Jr went to stand by his infamous 'big board' with markers in hand. "Everyone's families have been notified to move to safer quarters."
*Saaa-feeeer quarters*, Andrew began to both say and write as his markers squeaked.
Rolling his eyes, Giles continued. "Olivia and I have notified Council's around the world to deploy a method of catching a bringer and gathering intel. Hopefully, one of the bringers will have knowledge of the finer details of the First's plan and can help us cut down on our ritual research."
*Notified Council…and cut down on reeeeesearch*
"And now to the good yet startling news. The bringer we ascertained was able to give us an underground location of the Hellmouth here. However, we don't know what to expect when we enter." Giles yapped on.
*We have Hellmouth looooocation, but contents unknown*
"And the shit storm of bad news you're gonna dump on us G?" Faith asked with an eyebrow lift.
"….Please don't use those words in that order again in the future-" Giles was suddenly cut off by squeaking.
*Shhittt….Stooor-*
"Andrew!" The room yelled, startling the young man and causing him to fumble his felt pen into the air and then onto the floor. "Hey! I didn't get much sleep….and Ken don't start, I was busy being plan guy." Andrew defended, a smirk plastered on Kennedy's face.
"Moving on," Giles uttered. "By use of mystical force, the Bringer confirmed my fears." Giles then started to reach into his pocket for his hanky, letting the room know that 'Oh for fuck sakes' mode is about to be busted out. "The First is already gathering resources to open Hellmouth's around the world…at once." Giles finished as he put his now spotless spectacles back onto his face.
"…..This is bad….This is very bad." Buffy managed to say after moments of mind numbing silence.
"Indeed. And given what we have experienced with dealing with the First in the past, and what we know now….honestly I don't know what we can do." Giles spoke as he sighed, causing all the Scoobies of old to raise their heads and look at the man in disbelief.
Did Giles just give up? Why would he give up? This can't be good, Xander thought. Before the one eyed demon slaying veteran could ask for clarification when he opened his mouth, Father Gabriel interrupted.
"Wait, so you're telling me that the First Evil is already in the development stages of opening Hellmouths all over the world?...Jesu Christo we lost! I can't fucking believe this!" Father Gabriel said aloud, now starting to pace back and forth. "There's no way ALL of the Hellmouth rituals all over the world can be stopped!"
"As much as I would like to tell you that you are wrong Father, I would be lieing if I did. We may win a few battles and seal a few Hellmouth's, will undoubtedly lose the war." Giles agreed, everyone minus a very selected few in the room starting to freaking out.
"What? But… But...Your Giles… you never say we lose…What the hell is going on?" Xander asked.
"Xander my friend, let me put it to you this way…and to the rest of you here" Father Gabriel spoke as he looked around the room. "Giles correct me if I'm wrong, and God willing I am but….I have no doubt that we will succeed in closing the Hellmouth here, but the rest of the world stands almost no chance. The only reason why the forces of Hell were stopped at Sunnydale California was because of all of you."
Unaware to his own actions, Father Gabriel was about to enter 'leader speech' mode…but not exactly in a good way. With a wave of his hand in the direction of the new and non-original Slayers he spoke, "The soldiers, trained for physical combat like any other. But you selected few, mentally mentored and prepared to face the minions of hell by the woman who was forced to survive for years by doing just that. It was because of your strength combined, hells minions were held at bay." Gabriel then waved his hand in Giles' direction, "The Watcher. Not just a watcher...THE Watcher. Your guidance's and expertise before and during the fight with the First, was and is always paramount to the good guy's victory." Next came Willow, "The witch…nay, the Goddess, enough said. Without you Willow, nobody here would be alive today and everyone knows it. People who know the Slayer say she is strength, but everyone here knows that you are the strongest human alive on this earth. You will always be needed to be the real muscle for mankind, just like in Sunnydale." Gabriel now smiled and pointed to Xander, "The man. The normal, average, ordinary man. Expendable, yet essential. Reading the watcher diaries or any material chronicling the lives of Slayers, everyone always gives praise to the Slayer and watcher. However we all know that without you, there is absolutely no way that the Slayer could function in modern society. You Mr. Harris, are irreplaceable to your team and to the world."
Spinning in a circle to wave his hand to Buffy and Faith, Father Gabriel didn't even notice the two deep in thought and looking towards the floor as he continued his rant. "And then you two. The Chosen Two. Faith…forget the bull about the dark Slayer, you are THE Slayer. And Buffy…you are legend. If people were to look back for champions of mankind, your name will forever lead the charge." The paladin then looked around the room and finished his speech. "In conclusion, I am not telling you what you already know because it sounds cool. I am telling you this to drive this fact home. Scotland has the warriors needed to win, the rest of the world doesn't. Some of the Hellmouth's around the world may be closed, but the majority won't. How long before were forced back to one safe haven while the rest of the world burns?...How long before evil gather's enough forces to break our one haven? How long before the extinction or enslavement of the human race?"
The mood in the Slayer central Library was now solemn and silent, the true reality of the situation now setting into the many minds in the large room. Even Dante was lying on the floor beside Faith. Moments…seconds…who knows, maybe even minutes went by with horrifying silence. Yet funny enough, take a wild guess which ray of hope came shining through.
"Not long"
All eyes lifted from the floor to one Buffy Summers, the blonde's own head raising to meet the other gazes.
"Umm…Buffy-"
"No Giles, he's right. The world isn't prepared to deal with what pours out of hell and global leaders would call us crazy if we warn them. People…a lot of people are going to die. We can't save the world Giles." As Giles gave Buffy that confused and taken back look he gave her when she gave the speech to declare war on the First within the Summers home, Buffy herself started to pace around and look at everyone. "I hope you all have told everyone you love and cherish to head for higher ground because there will be loss and there will be casualties. What's worse?...Knowing that the world suffers but we have to let it. We can't help nor send for help. Our brothers and sisters around the world will be on their own once we gather the information we need to stop the First yet again. Once we gather the information we need, we will win the battle here-"
"And we'll win the war." Faith cut in, striding to Buffy's side and taking a look around the room. "While we fightin' here, the Vatican and Council's round the world will fight to. Some will win, a shit ton will lose. And after we seal our Hellmouth, after we come home soar and bloody and tired, we WILL gather our shit and get on the first plane to the closest hell hole of a country and kill any and every demon in our way."
Feeling the hum in the pit of her stomach, feeling the power and confidence radiating off of her other half and pouring into her, Buffy stepped in with perfect timing. "After half the world sinks into hell, when all hope seems to be lost, We will be all that stands between total hell on earth and the survival of mankind. We will be the force that pulls the world out of hell" As Buffy continued to carry out her speech. Unconsciously choosing her words, she said what she felt and showed her passion and fury in her eyes and within her words. "We will fight, we will die…..And we will keep on coming EVEN FROM THE GRAVE! TO KEEP THIS WORLD FROM GOING TO HELL! That is who we are AND THAT, IS WHAT WE DO! Any questions?"