The Path To Redemption
Chapter 4
Author: twin who likes to travel
Rating: R (only for one curse word)
Summary: Dawn is saved from a demon by Faith.
Disclaimer: I own nothing,
Reviews: I would like them. Constructive criticism is ok.
As the girls, Andrew, Xander, Gunn, and Fred made plans to go out to the same club they had gone to the night before, they were interrupted by Angel.
"Umm, Buffy?" Angel began.
"Yeah?"
"I just found out that there's been some recent demon activity."
"What else is new?" Xander muttered.
The girls just rolled their eyes at his response.
"I think we should deal with it tonight."
"What's so important that it has to be taken care of tonight?" the blonde replied.
"Because of the condition of the victims."
"What condition?"
"The only things left were the clothes, the bones, and a few organs."
"Do you have any other information about these demons?" Giles asked from a nearby chair in the lobby, "For example: the type, strengths, weaknesses, how to kill them, and what happens after they're dead?"
"Nothing. Wesley and I've gone through every book we have and gotten nowhere."
"Well, I guess that means the plans for tonight have been cancelled or at least delayed," Dawn grumbled, "Since we don't know much about these things, I'm assuming that means everyone who isn't a slayer or a vampire with a soul stays here until you get back."
"Yes," Buffy answered.
"I can help, Buffy. I've got my magic under control."
"So can I," Dawn and Xander said at the same time.
"I can't risk the three of you getting hurt or killed," Buffy declared firmly.
"But you let me help in the fight against The First," Xander argued.
"Yeah," Dawn added.
"That's when we knew what we were fighting."
"You're just saying that because of my eye, aren't you?"
"Kinda," Buffy revealed.
"Well, my eyes are fine," Dawn stated.
"It's still too dangerous."
"I say let her go, B. If things get too bad, we'll have her either hide or get out of there as soon as possible," Faith announced before facing Dawn, "Got it?"
"Fine," Dawn conceded.
"I still say she shouldn't go."
"Please, Buffy," Dawn pleaded.
"I'll watch her back, B," Faith promised when it didn't seem like Buffy was going to budge on her decision.
"You promise?" Buffy responded.
"Yeah."
"Ok. But if she gets hurt, it's YOUR fault."
"Whatever ya say," Faith informed the blonde before glancing at Dawn, who was smiling at her.
"What about me?" Willow challenged anxiously.
"No, you and Fred might try and see if you can find anything else on these unknown demons."
"Alright," Willow relented before sharing a smile with Fred.
"I think I could help Will too," Kennedy offered as she failed at trying to appear not jealous of Willow spending time with a girl that wasn't her.
"I'll be ok, baby," Willow assured after she placed a soft kiss on the other girl's lips.
"You better be."
"You might want to grab some weapons since we don't know what we're dealing with," Angel suggested.
"I agree," Buffy confirmed as they headed to where the crew kept their weapons.
They grabbed some swords, crossbows, and any other weapons they thought could help. Then they marched out into the night in search of their target with the hopes of getting rid of them quickly. Angel, Gunn, and a few Slayers went in one direction while the remaining slayers and Dawn patrolled in another. They had been walking around for what seemed like half an hour when they heard some noise that was probably coming from what they were looking for.
"Sshh," Buffy whispered to her team, and they hid a little behind an old and abandoned building.
From where they hid, they could hear growls and the sound of the demons feeding on their victims. Then they saw clothes that had belonged to the victims. They filed one by one toward the direction the sounds were coming from. As they advanced to the slightly dark area, one of the slayers kicked something that got their enemy's attention. The next thing they saw were demons appearing from out of the dark into the light from the few, overhead street lights. They gasped at the sight of them. They were at least twice the size of the slayers and had green, scaly skin and red eyes.
They were almost immediately attacked by the demons. They seemed pretty agile considering their size. Each slayer felt the power of the creatures when they were hit. It was hard enough to send the girls to the ground almost a foot back. Their weapons were knocked out of their hands as they fell to the ground. Each slayer was taking on one demon as Dawn watched and tried to decide which one would need her help the most. The girls and the demons were exchanging a variety of punches and kicks that were definitely going to leave bruises on the slayers. Dawn shuffled toward one of the newbie slayers, who seemed to be in trouble. As she did, she heard a yell from Faith.
"DAWN, LOOK OUT!"
Dawn quickly turned around to see another demon coming out of the dark. As it reached her, she heard another yell.
"DAWN, DUCK!" Faith ordered as she jumped over the kneeling girl and kicked the demon solidly in the chest.
Dawn and Faith observed as it was only moved back about three feet.
"Hide," Faith demanded to the youngest Summers as the demon bared its apparently sharp teeth.
At Faith's commands to her sister, Buffy glanced over at them. Since both Faith and Dawn were doing what they said they would do, the blonde turned back around to focus on the demon and barely dodged a punch aiming straight at her head. Dawn could only stare as Faith received a back handed punch to her nose from her demon. It instantly started to bleed. Dawn guessed that it was now broken thanks to her. It only got worse when the demon grabbed the brunette's left arm and applied enough pressure to break it.
"FUCK!" Faith growled in pain as she gave her opponent an upwards kick to the head that got the demon to let go.
Dawn shifted her attention for a few seconds to the other slayers, who seemed to be barely holding their own with the ones they were fighting. Somehow, Faith was able to get the knife she had stashed in her boot and stabbed it in the chest. It stumbled as it tried to grab the knife. Faith took this opportunity to give one of the legs a swift kick. The creature fell to the ground but not without punching Faith on the way down. Faith felt dizzy but managed to pick up the sword she had brought with her. She went straight for its neck and was able to cut off the head before collapsing to the ground. Almost immediately after the demon's head was separated from the rest of its body, both pieces exploded into a big pile of goo.
"CUT OFF THEIR HEADS! THEY'LL EXPLODE IF YOU DO!" Dawn instructed to the other slayers.
The first chances they got, the others did exactly that. However, Dawn didn't notice as she ran to Faith. She gently rolled Faith onto her back to see a few bruises on her face, a broken nose, and her left arm broken.
"Faith, wake up, PLEASE!" Dawn begged and yelped at her sister when nothing happened, "Buffy, help!"
The blonde was cutting the head off of the one that Faith had left behind to protect Dawn when she heard her sister call out to her. The brunette apparently stabbed it but hadn't gotten the chance to behead it yet.
"Dawn, what's…," Buffy tried to inquire but became silent and dropped her sword as she knelt down beside Dawn and the unconscious slayer.
In the blonde's opinion, Faith looked worse than when she had ended up in the hospital before her graduation.
"What happened?" Vi quizzed as she got to the sisters and examined the brunette closely.
Dawn described everything that she had seen.
"I TOLD you that you should've stayed back at the hotel," Buffy exclaimed and continued at the tears from her sister, who reacted as if she had been slapped across the face, "I'm sorry."
"We need to get her to a hospital," Kennedy claimed.
"She's right," Rona determined after she glimpsed at Faith.
"Dawn and I will take her to the nearest hospital. Everyone else, go back to the hotel, tell them what happened, track down the other group, and get to the hospital as soon as you can."
Buffy carefully picked up Faith and Dawn grabbed the weapons they had brought with them and handed them to Rona and Vi. The sisters then raced to the nearest hospital as the others followed Buffy's instructions.
Around an hour later, a local hospital, the waiting room of the emergency ward
Dawn and Buffy had been waiting for forty-five minutes while the rest had been waiting about half an hour. When the rest had gotten there, a few bruises could be seen on the faces of each slayer that had been with the sisters. After they all found a chair to sit in, everyone who hadn't been with the sisters questioned them on what happened. A few of the newbies described what went down with Buffy and Dawn nodding along. They failed in their attempt to hold back the nervous feelings toward Faith.
"I'm sure she'll be alright," Willow affirmed as she tried to comfort the worried Summers girls.
"I hope so, Will," Dawn mumbled before lightly biting her lower lip.
"Did she really look worse than she did after your fight at her place back in Sunnydale?"
"Yes. At least then her nose and arm weren't broken."
"Dawn, sit down," Buffy requested after the younger girl began to pace around the room.
"Am I the only who thinks it's strange that Angel sent the girls on a mission to kill something that we don't know too much about? The girls look like they went a few rounds with Evander Holyfield while Angel, Gunn, and the few slayers that went with them don't have a scratch on them."
"What are you implying, Xander? That Angel wanted this to happen to us?" Buffy countered as she began to get out of her chair.
"He's not saying that, Buff," Willow asserted, "Are you, Xander?"
When her friend remained quiet, Buffy got right in his face.
"YOU ARE!"
They took a few seconds to look over at Angel and Gunn, who were both angry at his accusation.
"You said it yourself. It's crazy for them to take over Wolfram & Hart. Who's to say they haven't already started to change on us. We can't trust them, Buff."
"This coming from a guy still hung up on a girl he never had a chance with," Angel scoffed.
Angel gave her a regretful expression after the blonde glared at him.
"We thought we could cover more ground quicker if we split up. We had no idea where their hideout was," Gunn explained confidently.
Before another word could be said, they were interrupted by a doctor.
"Are you all here for the woman brought in by these two?" the woman grilled as she motioned to Buffy and Dawn.
"Yes," they all told her unanimously.
"How is she?" Dawn voiced with concern clearly showing on her face.
"We put a put a cast on her arm and set her nose back into place and taped it up so it could mend. The bruises on her face should disappear soon, but I'm kind of worried about the other bruises we found."
"What other bruises?" Buffy cut in.
"There were several bruises on her upper body. With the force it could have taken to make those bruises, I'm surprised that she didn't have more broken bones. How did she and the rest of you get those bruises?"
"From some drunks who tried to start a fight," Dawn lied quickly.
"Did you contact the police?"
"No, after they got knocked on their asses, it was pretty much over," Kennedy blurted out.
The woman studied the brunette suspiciously before letting the topic drop.
"Can we see her?" Dawn remarked anxiously
"Sure, but not all at once and only for few minutes each." the doctor insisted, "No more than three at a time. So who's first?"
The rest sat back down as Buffy, Dawn, and Angel made the first trip. After each of them had taken their turn, they gathered outside her door.
"When can we take her home?" Buffy sighed as she leaned against the wall by the door to Faith's room.
"Is she going to wake up soon?" Dawn murmured softly.
"She has a semi-serious concussion. I'd like to keep her overnight for observation. The painkillers we gave her should have her knocked out until morning. Visiting hours are up in a few hours anyway, so you can go home and come back in the morning."
"Can I stay the night? I promise I won't get in the way," Dawn begged lightly.
"I don't think…," the doctor began to advise but caved at the look on Dawn's face, "Ok, you can stay. If there are any problems, we will kick you out until the morning and your sister will have to come and get you."
"I'm going to stay, too, if that's ok?"
"Ok, but the same goes for you as well."
"You really care about her, don't you?" the doctor directed to Dawn, who had been staring at Faith through the glass.
"She saved…," Dawn started to confess but paused when she realized what she was doing and concluded, "Yeah."
"It's nice to see she has so many friends, especially a close one like her," the doctor commented and pointed to Dawn at the sight of the girl barely taking her eyes off of Faith.
Everyone else became speechless at that comment but managed to hide the surprise. The gang had a brief talk before they said their goodnights to the sisters. During the talk, they all agreed to put off the celebrating until they knew the full extent of Faith's injuries. Dawn turned her head at the feeling of a soft hand resting on her right shoulder. She smiled back as Willow gave her a comforting smile. After Willow pulled her hand away, Dawn reentered Faith's room. They all watched for a few seconds as Dawn sat down beside Faith's bed and gently held Faith's right hand with her own. Then they silently left the hospital as Buffy joined her sister by Faith's bed.