Loss of Faith

Chapter 28: Scoobies to the Rescue

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters contained within.

That would be Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc….

Xander's POV –

One side of my face is throbbing and feels like it's starting to swell like a balloon. The other is pressed up against a rough, cold, hard surface. I open one eye and see I'm laying on the concrete floor of the warehouse where we came rescue Faith. Shit! Some rescue job we did. We bust in like a hurricane and cause Faith to get shot to death. I start to get up and see that Buff is still on the floor with Faith pulled into her lap. She's crying blood tears and they're falling onto Faith's face to run down her cheek. Buffy has taken her arm away from Faith's mouth and I'm not sure if she fed Faith her blood in time to save her. Of all the crazy things to do, Buffy trying to turn Faith has got to be right up there in the number one spot.

I get to my feet and slowly start walking over to them. Looking past where they're at, I can see the Council goons laying in a crumpled pile. It looks like Buff might have gotten her rage on after I was out of it. From the way their arms and legs are all twisted up, I'm hoping they were still unconscious when she lit into them. Then I remember what they did to Faith and I change my mind. Yea, I hope they were wide awake and screaming.

Buff doesn't seem to notice me so I call out before I'm inside her reaching distance. I don't want to get too close and startle her cause, being knocked out once a day is my limit. You see, I'm trying to cut down. When I'm about ten feet away I stop and before I can speak Buffy says in a low, hoarse, voice, "Just keep away from us Xander." Guess she noticed me after all.

"Buff," I say and I keep my voice soft, "Why would you do it? As much as you don't like being a vamp, why would you do that to Faith?" I really want to know, too. Of all people, Buffy knows how hard she had to fight, what it was like to have the demon and slayer battling inside her. What it was like to slowly have her humanity torn away until the person that loved her most had to try and kill her. I don't understand why she would want to put Faith through all that.

"I didn't know what else to do," she says in a small quiet voice. She sounds so lost, more like a young child than a young woman really.

There's a pale ray of morning sun startin to peak through the hole in the roof where Shannon ripped through. Thinking of Shannon, I glance over to where she's still out cold on the floor. I can see her chest rising and falling so at least she's still alive, though I bet she's going to have an even bigger headache than I do. Looking back at Buffy and Faith I can see the sunshine is slowly moving closer to them. If Buff doesn't get them out of the way soon, it's going to be shining right down on top of them. Buffy doesn't even seem to notice it though.

"I couldn't let her go, Xander," Buff says. She's slowly stroking Faith's long dark hair, letting her fingertips trail down the side of Faith's cheek and neck. "When she went missing from the hospital I nearly lost my mind. I swore I would get her back and never let her go again. Then just as I was going to bring her home, those bastards killed her! I had to try, Xand. Don't you see? I had to try and keep her with me."

I guess I can see her point. I'm not saying she's right, or that I agree with her, just that I can see the way she was thinking. Or not thinking in this case. It doesn't really make a difference now if I agree or not, though. "Did it work?" I ask.

"I don't know," she wails out and the sorrow in her voice is making my heart break. "Even if it did she's going to have to fight the demon in her forever. Never knowing any peace. Slowly losing night by night. God, I'm such an idiot!" she screams out.

The sun is moving steadily closer to them and my eyes keep jumping from it to my girls. "Buff," I tell her as I take a few more steps towards where they are, "Why don't you let me help you move Faith further back in the shadows, huh? A couple more minutes and you're going to end up getting a bone deep tan."

What she says next freezes me in place. "Why?" she asks. "What's the difference now? You think I want to go on anymore if Faith isn't with me? You think I could possibly stand to walk around every night knowing that she won't be there to talk to? To hold? To love? I'd just as soon have it end here and now with her in my arms. She was going to do it for me, now I'm gonna do the same for her."

Now she's scaring the shit out of me. Buffy had never given up on anything in her entire life. Seeing Faith shot down seems to have taken everything out of her. Taken her will to live. There's no way in hell I'm losing two friends here today. I tell her, "Look Buff, Faith wrote in her journal that it took a while before the vamp demon started changing you, right? So we should have some time. When it happened to you it was just you and Faith. This time we have the whole Scooby gang behind us. Give us a chance to see if we can help. Please, don't just give up now."

She looks up at me and wipes away some of her tears. The sun has moved more and is starting to shine down on her legs. I can actually see them starting to smoke. I take another step forward and go on in a panic, "Christ Buff, you have to let us try. You have to let me try. Take Faith somewhere and look after her until I can talk to Giles and Will, okay. Call me later today and I promise we'll have an answer for you. One day is all I'm asking. You can give me a day, can't you?"

She stands up with Faith in her arms while stepping back out of the sun's light and looks right in my eyes. "One day Xander," she says. "I'll a hold of you later. But if you can't find a way to help us, then it's over."

She turns to the back wall where the access to the aqueducts is boarded over. Then she suddenly moves in a blur and smashes straight through leaving nothing but flying pieces of wood behind her. I run a shaky hand over my face and move over to start waking up Shannon. We have got to get to Giles and come up with a way to keep both her and Faith alive.

When we get back to the mansion, Joyce, Giles and Will meet us at the door. Looking at their expectant faces I see a mix of confusion and sorrow when they see that it's just me and Shannon.

As we move inside, Joyce asks, "Where's Buffy and Faith?"

"It didn't go as smoothly as we thought it would," I answer her.

Willow eyes are wide and she takes Shannon by the arm while saying, "Tell us what happened."

"We…..we arrived at the warehouse and broke in to get Faith back," she starts telling them. "At first it was going alright. There were six of the Council's men and we seemed to be making progress. Buffy and Xander kept four of them busy and I dropped through the roof to get Faith free. There were two of them next to where she was being held and I took care of them then started undoing Faith's restraints." She looks down at the ground and continues, "I thought I took care of them. One of them pulled a gun and was going to shoot me."

Will puts her arm around her and says, "I'm sure you did your best. What happened then sweetie?"

"Faith……….Faith saw what was happening," Shannon goes on and her voice is getting softer. "She saw what was going to happen and she …..she saved me."

"Saved you how?" Giles asks. There's a look of sorrow in his eyes that tells me he suspects what is coming next.

"Faith pushed Shannon out of the way," I tell them, "But she wasn't quick enough to get away herself. They had her all doped up. They shot her Giles. They killed her."

Joyce and Willow break down crying and Giles just slumps into the chair next to him. Their shock and pain just brings my own back up and I can feel the tears leaking from my eyes.

Giles recovers first and asks in a worried tone, "What….what did Buffy do?" I guess he's worried Buff went on a killing spree. Now I have to let them know it's even worse than they think.

"Buffy went a little nuts," I tell them. "She flew across the room, but by that time Faith had lost a lot of blood. Christ, Giles, they must have shot her five or six times. Buff was holding her and asking her to stay with her. I didn't get it at first and by the time I did, it was too late. Shannon and I tried to stop her, but she just swatted us away like we were nothing. By the time I woke back up it looked like she had went back and tore through the Council's men for what they did to Faith. I didn't check, but I don't think they were still alive."

"What didn't you get? What did she do?" Willow asks.

"She gave Faith her blood," Shannon answers. "She tried to save Faith by turning her."

"Where are they now?" Giles asks quietly.

"Buffy took Faith to look after her. I told her to give me some time to talk to you guys and see if there's anything we can do," I say. I look right in Giles' eyes as I tell him, "She was going to sit there in the sun and let herself die with Faith, Giles. I couldn't let that happen. We need to help them."

Giles gets up then goes over and puts an arm around Joyce, "Joyce", he asks gently, "They're both your daughters in a way. What would you want?"

Joyce turns into his embrace and tells him in a firm voice, "I want my girls back."

He nods his head and turns to Willow, "Willow?," he asks. When Will looks up at him he goes on, "We have to move quickly. I need you to do an ensouling spell on Faith. Xander and I will go get the Orb of Thesulus while you set up. Shannon, if you would assist her it would be greatly appreciated. We will also need to do the anchoring spell you've been working on. I know it will take a lot out of you and I will assist as much as I can. Do you think we can anchor both of them?"

Willow has a look of concentration on her face as she says, "I don't know if we can do both separately, but they might be able to share it. We would sort of anchor them to each other."

Giles gives Joyce a quick hug, then starts moving and says, "Fine then. That's exactly what we'll do. Xander, are you coming?"

"Right with you G," I tell him as we head for the door. As we leave I can hear Shannon telling Willow and Joyce again how sorry she is for all of this. How she can't believe she thought of the Council as her family. Willow tells her that she has a new family now. Us. I don't know if that's true or not. It's going to depend a lot on how things go in the next few hours.