In the End
Chapter Sixteen
Faith and Jessica walked amongst the tombstones in the graveyard. Jessica had been talking Faith's ear off about her fights with demons. Faith might've been impressed had Giles not expressed uncertainty about the girl.
They stumbled upon some vampires, Faith sprung into action and hit one of the vampires in the back of the head catching him off guard. Jessica held her own with one of the vampires but suddenly they were surrounded.
"Nothing like a welcoming party" said Faith
The vampires surrounded Faith. The first vampire swung wildly at her, but she ducked him, and his momentum carried him past her. She roundhouse kicked the second one and turned back to face the first one, shoving him away from her. He smashed into a nearby tombstone.
Turning back to the second one, Faith delivered another roundhouse kick. The first one tried to kick her from behind, but she blocked him and roundhouse kicked him in the side. The third vampire did a jumping roundhouse kick, which Faith easily ducked.
"Can you give me a hand here?" Faith shouted at Jessica, who had been standing there watching the fight.
The second vampire lunged at Faith, but she jumped into the air between them and landed behind them. The third one threw a punch at her, which she quickly blocked. Faith pulled out a stake.
The first vampire tried to attack Faith again, but she cleanly staked him, and he burst into ashes. The second vampire got up again and was ready to attack. Faith quickly staked him
The remaining vampire knocked Faith backwards, sending her flying through the air. He pounced and grabbed her by the lapels of her jacket, then dipped his head towards her neck. Faith braced herself for his teeth to enter her neck, but instead, she was covered in his ashes as Jessica staked him.
Jessica offered her hand out to Faith to help her up. Faith ignored her hand and got to her feet "What the hell was that?" asked Faith
"I'm sorry, I just froze up" said Jessica
"Now is not the time to be gettin' shy Princess, if you're in this fight you gotta be in it" said Faith
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Tara sat at the dining table reading when she found something interesting. She grabbed the booked and rushed up the stairs to Buffy's bedroom. She barged in the door, making Giles and Buffy turn to face her
"I'm sorry to i-interrupt but I've found something" said Tara
"What is it?" asked Buffy
"I've been looking for ways we can try to slow down Nahum, maybe make him weaker?" said Tara
"And?" asked Buffy
"And I found something, there's a spell to diminish his power" said Tara
"That's great!" said Buffy
"Yes, well done Tara! This is just what we need until we can find the weapon or Jaraslawa" said Giles
"I need to grab some ingredients from the Magic Box but I can do the spell tonight" said Tara
"Go and get whatever you need" said Giles digging into his pocket and pulling out the keys for the Magic Box and handing them to Tara.
XXXXX
Faith slammed the front door behind her and sighed heavily. Willow and Xander appeared from the living room.
"What happened?" Willow asked nervously
"Does that chick always freeze up mid fight? I almost got my ass handed to me by a vamp!" Faith yelled
"What?" Xander asked
"There was a few vamps… seemed like a setup" said Faith
Xander and Willow looked at each other nervously.
"Anya was right…" said Xander
"Looks like Jessica might be fighting on the opposite side here" said Willow
"So why'd she set me up?" asked Faith
"Wait… the Slayer line, it doesn't run through Buffy anymore. Technically Faith, you're the Slayer in charge" said Willow
"Huh?" said Faith
"So Buffy died at the hands of the master…" said Willow
"I brought her back" Xander smiled
"Yeah, yeah you're a hero" said Willow "then Kendra was called, Drusilla killed her and then you were called so technically you're the Slayer"
"So the line runs through me, and with me out of the way…" said Faith catching on
"The Slayer will falter and there shall be no more" said Willow "But Jessica didn't know you existed until Spike mentioned you the other night"
"I wouldn't be so sure" said Faith
"What?" asked Xander
"Someone came at me with a nasty looking knife. Didn't really know why 'til now" said Faith
"So Nahum knows you're a Slayer" said Willow
"If Jess is working with him wouldn't that mean she would know too? There's a piece of the puzzle missing here" said Xander
XXXXX
Buffy sat with her eyes closed crossed legged on her bed, she breathed in deeply and slowly let the air back out. Faith watched her for a few seconds before Buffy opened one eye and looked at her.
"Hey B" Faith said softly
"Faith"
"Got a spare bed for a wanted fugitive?" she smiled
Buffy looked at her and raised her eyebrows
"Well, I guess "wanted" wasn't really accurate." said Faith
"You look good…" said Buffy
"Yeah… Prison is really working for me" said Faith
"I see that" said Buffy "Why did you come back?"
"Giles said you needed me. Didn't give it a lot of thought. Do you—Am I getting you want me to be not here?"
Buffy sighed "No, that's not what I meant. I'm...glad that you're here. It's good. Thank you"
"No problem. You know me. All about the good deeds" Faith smiled
Spike entered the room "You're looking better" he said to Buffy
"Thanks" she smiled a little
"Tara's almost ready" he told them
"So what's your deal?" Faith asked Spike
"He's with me. He has a soul" said Buffy before Spike could open his mouth to answer
"Oh, he's like Angel?" Faith asked
"No" Spike protested
"Sort of" Buffy shrugged
"I am nothing like Angel" Spike seethed
"He fights on my side. Which is more than I can say for some of us" said Buffy
"Angel's dull as a table lamp. And we have very different coloring" Spike carried on
"Okay" Faith laughed a little "Catching up. Anything else I gotta know?"
Buffy and Spike looked at each other and then looked away
"Nice to have you back" said Buffy
XXXXX
Tara had filled in the guys on the spell, they all began setting up candles and burning sage. Jessica walked through the front door. Xander and Willow looked at her nervously.
"Hey, ohh what's with the sage? Is it spell time?" asked Jessica.
Buffy hobbled down the stairs with Faith behind her.
"Nice to see you up Buff" Xander smiled
"I couldn't miss this" said Buffy
"We're almost ready" said Tara
"So what's the spell?" asked Jessica
"Glinda here is going to make that bastard Nahum weak" said Spike
"What?" Jessica seemed slightly panicked "I mean will that work?"
"Can't hurt to try" said Willow
"Are you guys ready with the candles?" asked
Tara
Willow, Xander, Anya, Spike and Giles stepped forward with candles in their hand. One after another they lit them and stood in a star shape formation.
"When I signal blow out the candles" said Tara
Tara took a deep breath and began whispering her chant. Jessica looked nervous her eyes darted around the room looking at the others.
Two orbs of light shot out of Tara's chest. One after the other the gang blew out the candles. The room descended into darkness the only light was coming from the orbs. They hovered in the air for a moment before one shot right out of the window smashing the glass. The other light went straight into Jessica, who dropped to the ground, her chest still glowing. Somewhat disoriented, Jessica looked around the room at the rest of the group.