Loss of Faith
Chapter 27: Who's That Knocking At My Door
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters contained within.
That would be Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc….
Faith's POV –
Ugh! What the fuck! My mouth tastes like I was chewing on tin foil and there's a pounding in my head that just won't quit. It's so loud that it sounds like it's bouncing of the walls. Wait a minute. That's not comin from my head. I open my eyes and look around to find I'm strapped to this gurney thing and in some kinda warehouse. There's a half dozen of those Council dudes standin round and starin at the roll down door that's off to the side. I recognize two of them as the ones that grabbed me from the hospital. The other four I never seen before.
Things are kinda hazy, but I remember everything that happened. These guy's snatched me from the hospital and took me away before I got to see B. Damn, I need to get outta here. I try and get the restraints offa my arms, but I'm still a little weak. And that poundin sound is gonna drive me nuts. Lookin back over to the door, I see it start bucklin in and a moment later it explodes off the track to fly across the room. Oh, shit yea! There standin in the openin is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life.
She's standin in the middle of the doorway with a hand on one hip and her head tilted to the side. B's dressed in black leather pants, red tank top and my leather jacket. Jesus, she looks hot! She also looks royally pissed off to no end. Xander is right next to her, spinnin a battle axe in his hand and has a lopsided grin plastered on his face. Heh, heh, I dunno how they found this place, but I shoulda known my buds were gonna come get me. I start giggling and yell over, "Hey B, you're early. I didn't have time to get dressed for our date." Then I bust out laughin. Shit! Whatever they gave me must not of worn off all the way yet. This is gonna be sooo not of the good.
The two guys that snatched my ass turn and head over towards me. Two others facin Xand and my girl are reachin for guns. The other two look like they don't know whether to fight or run. They're gonna find out they shoulda just ran. One of the ones with a gun says over his shoulder, "If she starts to get loose, just kill her. I don't give a damn what Travers said." He musta been talkin about me and seems to be the guy in charge of this little shindig. He turns back to the doorway and the both of them open fire at Buff and Xander.
B grabs Xander and moves in a blur of speed over behind some crates. She moved so quick I swear I saw Xand's feet leave the ground. I can see the bullets exploding through the wood as the Council guys try and track them with the weapons. I start struggling against the restraints again, cause there's no way I'm gonna lay here while those assholes shoot up my friends. The other two guys over there are still kinda hangin back. I guess they're just waitin to help gather up the bodies. Too bad for them they're the ones gonna need body bags.
From behind the stack of crates I hear my girl shout out, "You hanging in there Faith?" Christ, it's so good to hear her voice. I can feel those tingles from our connection runnin through me and just wanna show her how much I missed her. Yea man, just knowin she's here, and alive (sorta), makes me think everythin is gonna be alright.
"Yea B," I yell back, "I'd give ya a hand but I'm kinda tied up right now. Hey, maybe when we leave we can take these restraints with us." And I'm giggling again. When is this stuff gonna wear off?
"Don't worry baby," she says, "We got this covered."
The two guys comin at me are just about here and I see one of them pullin a syringe from his pocket. Guess they don't wanna take the chance of me gettin loose and bustin up their plans even quicker. I start to struggle even harder against the restraints, cause I sure as shit don't wanna have any more of their happy juice in me. As they come up on my left side, there's a loud crash and shit starts fallin from the ceiling. Lookin up, I see the mini slayer droppin down through the rafters where she just broke through. She lands on a catwalk and I can see the pre-dawn sky through the huge hole she left in the roof behind her. A second later, she flips over the railin and lands next to my buddies with the non-over the counter meds.
I'm not sure if I can trust her, after all I did threaten to feed her to my girlfriend, but I figure if she came with B then it's all gotta be good. I try and get the giggling under control as I give her a nod and say, "Nice of ya to drop in, Sunshine. How about givin a girl a hand?" Nope, no use. I'm back to laughin again.
She looks at me like I'm crazy and starts poundin on the Council dudes. She kicks one guy in the stomach then punches the other in the jaw. They both go down like a ton of bricks and she reaches for the restraints to let me loose. She just about has my one arm free when the guy she kicked rolls over and leg sweeps her. When this is over, someone's gotta teach her how to pay attention to more than one thing at a time. Freakin rookie.
Sunshine lands flat on her back, but at least she slaps the ground to take most of the shock. Guess she's not totally clueless afterall. She flips up to her feet just as the guy who swept her is standing up and he's wide open for a front kick. She nails him dead in his chest, with the resounding crack of his ribs bein heard and he flies backward to trip over his buddy that's still kissin concrete. Alright, I'm done just watchin all the action I gotta get these things offa me. I work my one arm free, the one the newbie started to loosen, then release my other one.
As I lean up to start undoin my legs, I see back on the other side of the room that the Council goons are walkin towards the crates that Xander and B are behind. They're just firin away, shootin the whole place up and not really carin what they hit. They get about five feet from the crates and suddenly Buff comes flyin over the top. She does an amazing spinnin hook kick that knocks both the goons that were shootin at her up and off their feet at the same time. She grabs the guns they were usin before they can hit the ground and quickly bends the barrels so they look like pretzels. Not gonna be usin them for nothin but paper weights from now on. Xander comes around the other side of the crates and starts fightin one of the guys that were standin there just watchin the show. Meanwhile, B's done a backflip to get closer and grabs the other one. She lifts him offa the ground with one hand, while smackin him around like he's her bitch with the other.
She's goin a little overboard so after Xand knocked his guy out he goes over to try and ease her down. I can hear him say, "Hey Buff! Are you going to keep playing with that guy or go get Faith?" B looks at Xand, then over to me and throws the guy over her shoulder like a dishrag.
The mini-slayer is back, removing the restraints offa my legs and I jump off the gurney only to almost fall on my ass. A wave of dizziness comes over me and I lean over to catch my breath. When I stand back up I see that the guys that went after Xand and B aren't the only ones that were armed. The guy Sunshine decked earlier has come back around and is raising a gun towards her. Oh shit, I can see his finger squeeze down as he starts to pull the trigger. After this is over, I gotta make sure she learns how to put someone down and keep them down.
"Look out!" I yell. My reflexes aren't so good right now, since I'm still partly doped up but I manage to push her outta the way. God damn rookie! I can feel the bullets as they rip across my side and back. It feels like a bunch of icicles are being stabbed into me in a straight line one after the other. A deep, penetrating freeze, that goes all the way through me. Then the ice turns to fire as the burning metal shreds me up inside. I never felt anything like it before, and damn this shit hurts.
I fall to the ground as Sunshine jumps over me to start wailin away on the guy with the gun. She's beatin him to a bloody pulp and I'm thinkin she just might finally get it. Sometimes you hafta go all out for your friends.
My eyes drift over and lock with B's. I see her mouth openin and closing as she stares at me, but I can't hear what she's sayin cause of the rushin sound that's fillin my ears. Just past her I can see Xander as he drops his axe to the ground in shock as he looks over at me. I try to give him a smile. Ya know, I'm really gonna miss that big goof.
Someone is liftin my face up and I see it's B. How'd she get all the way over here so fast? I dunno, don't really care either. Right now I just wanna have her hold me so I can remember this feelin we have for all eternity. Buffy's got those tears runnin outta her eyes again and I wanna tell her not waste them on me, but I'm havin a hard time pullin any breath in to make sounds. I can feel the cold seepin into me, replacin the blood that's runnin out on the floor. Damn, more blood on my leathers. Well it's not like I'm gonna need them anymore, right?
Xand's over here now and even that Shannon chick is kneelin down lookin like someone ran over her puppy. Funny, I didn't think she even liked me, specially since I kicked her ass. Twice. That thought makes me smile a little. Oh well, guess its all water under the bridge or over the falls or whatever the fuck that sayin is. None of that shit matters anymore. All that matters is I'm here with B, she's holdin me and kissin my lips and yea, I'm thinkin this is the perfect way to die. This is the way I wanna go out, fightin the bad guys and bein kissed by my girl.
I start to close my eyes and just let go when B shakes me roughly. "Faith!" she screams.
Sure, now I can hear her. It's not bad enough I'm dying here, she wants to make me deaf too. "Faith, don't you even think about giving up on me," she screams some more.
She still keeps shakin me and it doesn't even hurt anymore. She just doesn't understand that I'm tired. I'm tired of always gettin the ones I love ripped away from me as soon as things get good. I'm tired of fightin to do the right thing only to have it blow up in my face. I'm tired of it all. And the only thing, the only person, I'm gonna miss in this fucked up world is holdin me right now and won't let me go.
"God damn you Faith, I said wake the fuck up," she just won't quit. So I struggle to open my eyes a crack. "Faith, do you want to stay with me?" she asks.
Huh? What the hell is she talkin about? Of course I wanna stay with her. It's not like I have a lot a choice in the matter though.
"Look at me," she yells while shakin me again. "Do you want to stay with me? Will you stay with me?"
I don't really have the strength left for this and I don't have the breath to answer her anyway so I just nod my head.
Next thing I hear is Xander yellin, "No! Buffy, no! You can't! Don't do it!" And watch as B backhands him across the room when he moved in to grab her. He rolls to a stop on the floor and just lays there. Shannon tries to snatch Buff up by the arms and pull her away from me, but B slams her fist into her chin. I can see the lights in her eyes go out as she crashes to the floor. She ain't dead but she's not getting up for a while either. See, that's the way ya keep someone down. Rookie.
Buff is still right there at my side. Fightin them off didn't even move her an inch. She's gently liftin me up into her lap. I can barely see her now, as she brings her arm up to her mouth and bites into her wrist. The blood gushes out, runnin down her arm and starts drippin into my mouth. Then she places the open wound right on my lips and I can feel the blood runnin down my throat. At first I don't get what she's doin and I try to turn my face away. But B has got an iron grip on my head and won't let me move.
My vision goes darker even as I'm swallowing the blood that B is pourin into me. I feel my heart stutter, then give up its last beat. The world slowly fades away as the last of my blood runs outta my wounds onto the concrete floor. Shoulda been there. Quite a ride.