Colliding Worlds Series

Buffy stretched as she stepped through the double doors, taking a deep breath of the fresh night air. She loathed hospitals; had loathed them since the day Celia had been murdered right in front of her by that invisible boogie man. She looked back through the small portal that showed the reception of Sunnydale General; a single clerk on duty, sitting across from the security guard that had let her out. Shaking her head, she sent up a silent prayer of thanks the Council – with the help of Giles and Dumbledore – had made it so that Faith was, officially, Faith Summers. She was now and would always be; Buffy’s sister in more ways then just their Slayer Calling. Now, the Hospital would contact Buffy and her mom should anything happen, should anything change. Looking back one last time, Buffy shuddered before heading back out onto the streets; she’d make one last sweep before heading home for the night to rest.

She’d been having the same twisted dream for weeks now, always the same result; Angel turning into a big pile of dust, the screams of others echoing around her. Last night had been slightly different though, Faith had gotten even more cryptic. Gone on forever about Pink and Red, tearing out the heart and leaving the spirit in tatters… Buffy winced and shook her head to clear it. The more she thought about it, the more it felt as though she was getting a migraine. She’d called L.A several more times in the month that Giles and Willow had been gone, and Cordelia had still seen no sign of Angel. She’d even put in a call to Anne, asked her to keep an eye out, but no such luck. She’d spoken to Giles about it the few times he’d called, but other then that, it was just a waiting game. Waiting until Faith got better and could be relied on to look after the Hellmouth, or another could take her place.

Another sweep of Peaceful Meadows, Fair Haven, Evergreen Forest and Revello Street cemeteries and Buffy was ready to call it a night, crawl into bed and sleep away the better part of the hot July day. The night was muggy, and what little breeze there had been when she had first left the hospital, by the time she got home, was non-existent. Her mother had been gone a little longer then Giles and Willow; she’d already written about a new deal with the gallery and several other small galleries across the country. It meant she would be gone from Sunnydale longer then planned which suited Buffy just fine, so long as she was out of harm’s way when everything came to a head, it didn’t matter if Joyce was in Michigan or Guam, so long as she was no where near the Hellmouth once Buffy left.

Buffy stepped out of the shower and made her way to her room, her entire body still on alert… just in case. Propping her bedroom door open, she slipped into her pyjamas and got ready for bed. She’d already triple checked all the windows when she got home. Vampires might not be able to get in uninvited, but there were plenty of other things that could just walk, slither or crawl right in.

“Buffy Summers,” came a voice, somewhat muffled, from her left.

Stretching out, Buffy flicked on her lamp and grabbed the small hand mirror that she kept beside her bed.

“Checking up on me Giles?” She teased, brushing damp hair out of her eyes.

“It’s my job,” the familiar lop-sided smile appeared on his face and Buffy felt her heart flip at being able to see her Watcher. “I wanted to see how both you and Faith are doing,” he began, green eyes sparkling, “and to pass on some news I think may interest you.”

“Faith is… the same. Getting weaker it seems, in the dreams at any rate, but the hospital says no change.” Her smile grew at the prospect of news. “Did you marry Willow off?” She made a clucking noise with her tongue, “Giles how could you?”

“Very funny,” Giles rolled his eyes and tilted the mirror slightly, “Willow,” he called over his shoulder and the redhead popped into range, waving before burying her head back in the stack of books she was currently focused on. “She’s researching Dark Wizards,” he smiled and came back into focus once again. “I’ve actually gotten some information on the new Watcher,” Giles’ grin grew. “You’ll be meeting him sometime in the next few days, I’ve already spoken to him and he’s quite looking forward to working alongside you.”

“Who is he?” Buffy raised her eyebrow slightly; the look on Giles’ face was enough to make her want to crawl under the bed and hide until it was all over.

“You’ll see,” Giles smiled softly.

“Gi-ules,” Buffy whined, pouting slightly.

“No, sorry, I’m afraid that won’t work with me today Buffy.” He chuckled softly and shook his head.

She quickly stuck her tongue out at him before smiling, “How is everyone? I got Xander’s owl this morning. I think my neighbour may have seen it.” Off his look, she continued on in a rush, “Well, it was too hot to sit inside this morning so I took my breakfast out onto the front patio and that’s where it found me.” She smiled sweetly. “If it means anything, I think they were so shocked at seeing it, they walked into their garage door?”

Giles shook his head, “The world is doomed.”

“Hey!” Buffy laughed, “I think I do alright,” she stopped and looked at the man that had come to mean so much to her in such a short time.

“You do a wonderful job, Buffy.” His smile softened and he seemed to relax. “How has your summer been so far?” He missed her, missed having her burst through his living room after patrol, burning off the last of her energy before going home.

“Kinda boring actually,” she looked out the window, screwing her nose up at the stillness of the tree outside. “Hot, hotter then normal actually, Vamp activity is down as per usual for this time of year, and I’ve only had a few new demons to deal with. Willy’s been really helpful though,” she smirked, “he gives me any information I want, so long as I promise not to beat the crap outta him.”

“Buffy…” Giles pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Hey, what can I say? It’s a deal that works for both of us.” She smiled. “Anyway Giles, I need to get my beauty sleep,” she stifled a yawn. “Let Willow know that there are some letters heading her way via that Owl, and tell Xander he’ll get his chance for a one-on-one session when I get there. Stay safe Giles and I’ll see you soon?” She looked at him expectantly.

“I will be sure to let everyone know,” he smiled into the face of the young woman he was gazing at. “Be careful Buffy and yes, I will see you soon, of that I’m sure.” He smiled, “Goodnight.”

“Night Giles,” Buffy yawned, already snuggling onto her bed and into her pillows. “Miss you…” she said as she lowered the mirror and switched off the light.

“I miss you too,” Giles said softly, tapping his wand against the rim of his small mirror and ending the connection.

~*~

“She seemed enthusiastic,” Willow began, looking up from her place at the long library table.

“A little too enthusiastic,” Giles agreed before smirking, “Oh to be a fly on the wall within the next few days…” he trailed off, chuckling a little.

“Do you think she’ll willingly let Wesley be in charge of another Slayer?” Willow folded her hands in front of her, resting her chin on them.

“It’s not just Wesley I’m sending,” Giles walked over and touched Willow’s shoulder gently, knowing exactly what had given the young Witch cause to worry. “Albus has hand-picked the small team of Watchers to travel to Sunnydale, each of them members of the Order.” He rolled his wand between his fingers as he moved to the other side of the table. “Trust me, Wesley and Buffy will get along this time, Isabella will be one of those going with him.”

“Oh,” Willow’s smile brightened, “that makes me a lot more comfortable,” she snickered softly, “last thing we need is an Owl telling us Buffy has killed Wesley.”

“Hmm,” Giles agreed before giving Willow his full and undivided attention. “I think that about covers it for today Willow.” He motioned to the books, “Xander and the others should all be waiting for me; don’t forget that you’ve got an extra lesson with Minerva.”

Willow nodded and gently closed the book she was looking through before standing up and moving towards the fire place. “I’m already there,” she lifted a handful of floo powder and smiled at Giles, “See you later Giles, Transfigurations Classroom!” she cast the floo powder to the hearth and in a swirl of green light and red hair, was gone. Stumbling out at her destination, she landed on her backside, giggling and coughing up soot. “Evening Professor McGonagall.” She pushed her hair out of her eyes and looked up at the stern looking witch.

“Miss Rosenberg,” the professor smiled over the rims of her glasses before motioning to the lone desk in front of her. “Mr Potter has finished for the day, he is coming along splendidly, but you my dear, while your enthusiasm is apparent, we still have a great deal of work to do if you’re going to be of any help to your friends in the coming months.”

“Yes ma’am,” Willow nodded, taking her seat. “I want to get this right, absolutely perfectly right.”

“Very well, shall we begin?” Another nod from Willow and McGonagall flicked her wand toward the board, enlarging it before another flick had words slowly and steadily appear. “Now…”

~*~

Buffy rolled over, her legs tangled in the sheets; sweat beading on her furrowed brow. She was so confused; everyone just kept talking in circles, silly things, things that she couldn’t control…

“Ya know, when I became the Slayer, I was like, “This is IT. I’m finally gonna be someone special.”” She smiled grimly, “Diana was all… well, you know the speech, how many times you heard it now?”

“Too many,” Buffy murmured, “one girl in all the world -”

“A Chosen One, one born with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires, to stop the spread of their evil -”

“Blah, blah, blah.” Buffy turned and smiled at Faith. “Merrick used to stand there and drill it into me, I think Giles only managed to get the full speech out once or twice. Wes had no chance.”

“Yeah, but, we didn’t give him one. Not really.” Faith sat on the edge of the brick balcony, legs dangling over the side. “After Diana…” she stopped, her throat closing at the words. “I’m dyin” B.”

“Nah,” Buffy smiled, “Just… really sleepy,” she nodded, more to convince herself then the other Slayer.

“I welcomed it, ya know?” She quirked an eyebrow in Buffy’s direction, “when Diana first came to me, I was twelve years old, my mom was happy to be rid of me. I’m pretty sure I’d have been willingly handed over for a pack of Luckies and a bottle of scotch.”

Buffy’s shoulders slumped slightly; in all the time she’d known Faith, her “Pre-Slayer Life” hadn’t been high on their list of “Get To Know You” questions. “Yeah, but Diana…” She was cut off by the darker haired young woman.

“She was amazing,” Faith’s face lit up, “I mean, at first, I was a real problem child, we started training and, I did everything I could to screw it up. I was even wilder than when I arrived in Sunnydale, but Diana? She was so patient, just like your mom was with you, no matter what I’d done; she’d patch me up and try all over again. She never once raised her voice at me, though, I’m sure she wanted to; sure she wanted to throttle me, ya know?” She looked to Buffy and smirked, “She actually talked to me, listened to me… I remember, this one night, just before the whole thing with Kakistos; I had this nightmare about my life Pre-Slayer, it was all dark and hot and heavy, and I remember, when I finally woke up, she was just sitting there, holding me in her arms and brushing my hair back.

“I didn’t find out until later that I’d accidentally broken two of her ribs, thrashing about.” Faith’s eyes seemed to glitter with unshed tears as she thought about her first Watcher.

“How’d you find out?” Buffy’s heart went out to the younger girl; she had so much potential to be one of the great Slayers.

“I busted her wrapping them up in the bathroom a couple hours later. I think that was the moment I stopped fighting her, started working with her,” her smile turned sad, “a couple of weeks later; Kakistos kidnapped her, tortured her, raped her and then killed her.” She shuddered at the memory. “There were things he did to her, that no one, not even a Slayer, should see.” She reached over and slugged Buffy in the shoulder, “Next time you’re with Giles, ask him if you can check out her diaries, I gave them all to him, I’m pretty sure you’ll get a good laugh out of them.”

Buffy smiled at Faith, “We should compare notes,” a tiny gasp escaped her lips as Faith’s image started to fade in and out. “Faith?”

The dark haired Slayer grinned, a mirthless laugh escaping her lips, “Guess that’s my cue.”

“Huh?” Buffy reached up and covered her ears as a high-pitched buzzing crept into the dream-scape. “Cue? Are there gonna be dancing chickens? Faith?”

“Stay cool B,” Faith grinned.

“Faith, what’s going on?” Buffy’s voice grew panicked, “Are you okay?”

“Five by five,” she giggled as her image grew ever more distant. “Oh, and B?” she looked to the other girl, her brown eyes sparkling, “answer the damn phone.”

Before Buffy could even begin to contemplate what the hell was going on, Faith had all but disappeared, leaving Buffy in a sepia-toned room, devoid of anything, the buzzing noise becoming more insistent. Looking around, calling out for the other Slayer, Buffy felt her blood freeze in her veins; the room seemed to be shrinking, as though the air was being sucked out. The buzzing grew louder and louder, and Buffy turned aimlessly in the sepia-toned room, looking for its source, looking for Faith. Coming to a stop in the middle of the room, her eyes welling with tears, she was about to give up when the room suddenly flashed green.

“BUFFY!” Faith’s voice echoed throughout the room, bouncing off the walls.

Buffy awoke with a gasp and reached for the mirror on her bedside table, ignoring the ringing of the telephone. “Rupert Giles,” she muttered into the reflective surface, ignoring the tangled mess that was her hair.

“Buffy? What is it? What’s wrong?” Giles” voice floated to her before his face came into view.

“It’s Faith,” She reached over and flicked on her lamp, blinking as light flooded the room. “I need you here, something’s not right.”

“I’ll be there as soon as possible,” Giles looked up from the mirror to something she couldn’t see. “Go answer the phone and I should be there by the morning.”

Buffy nodded, her heart pounding in her chest. She was actually surprised that Giles didn’t comment on the thudding sound. Setting the mirror down as Giles ended the connection, Buffy picked up the telephone.

“Miss Summers?” A voice came over the line.

“Y-yes.”

“We need you to come down to Sunnydale General -” the phone went dead in the nurse’s hand.

Buffy didn’t even need to hear the end of the conversation. Dropping the phone back in the cradle, she threw on a pair of sweat pants and slipped into her running shoes. Silently, she made her way out of the house and into the street where she broke into a run, heading for the hospital.

~*~

“Giles?” Xander took the mirror from the older man’s hand and set it aside. He’d only seen this look on his face twice before; when a call had come through the summer before, asking him to fly to New York and ID the body of a young woman that matched Buffy’s description and when Angel’s return had been made known.

“I’ve got to go,” he said absent-mindedly, standing up from the desk in the library at 12 Grimmauld Place.

“What’s going on?” Harry asked, looking up from one of Hermione’s past assignments.

Xander shook his head and shrugged, “not too sure, I think something’s happened in Sunnydale.”

“It’s, uh, Faith,” Giles said, snapping out of it. He looked at Xander, “something’s not right. Buffy needs me there,” he took a deep breath, taking his glasses from his face, he started to clean them. “I’ll be gone two days, perhaps not even that long -”

“Go,” Xander cut him off. “I’ll explain to Willow and the others, just… you go, help Buffy.”

Nodding, Giles moved to the centre of the room. “I’ll organize an emergency portkey with the ministry.” A moment later, a resounding crack and Giles had apparated from the room, leaving behind a very confused Harry and an extremely worried Xander.

“We need to find Dumbledore and Willow,” Xander looked towards his nephew, “Willow’s with Professor Minerva McGonagall, I’ll get her, if you can check with Phineas for Dumbledore?” At Harry’s nod, Xander continued, “Meet back here in half an hour?” He headed towards the heart, grabbing a fistful of floo powder.

“Right, half an hour,” Harry nodded and made his way to Phineas” portrait in his and Ron’s room.

~*~

The hospital doors burst open and it was only at the last minute that Buffy remembered to reign in her strength. Each step that bought her closer to Faith, felt like someone had put her chest in a vice and was tightening it, inch by inch. Pushing past a group of young interns, Buffy made her way to the doors to Faith’s room. She stopped outside the door, something didn’t feel right; her Slayer senses were going insane. Something was off on the other side of the door; taking a deep breath, she swung open the door, wishing she’d bought along more then just her trusty stake.

“Buffy!” Faith was backed up into the far corner of the hospital room, her face pale and almost waxy looking.

“Faith?” Buffy stepped into the bedroom, her entire body ready to spring into action.

“How nice…” a smooth, unfamiliar voice announced itself from behind the blond slayer, “two Slayers for the price of one.”

Spinning, her whole body poised to attack, Buffy glared at the stranger, “Who the hell are you?”

“Buffy…” Faith groaned.

The man in the corner sighed and with two loud cracks, disappeared and reappeared near Faith. “As nice as it would be to sit here and chat, all will be revealed in due time.” His grin sent shivers down Buffy’s spine. Watching him closely, Buffy tried to inch closer, anything to get to Faith before he could do anything to the younger Slayer.

“What have you done to her?” Buffy asked, her gaze flicking between the man and Faith.

“Nothing except perhaps save her life.” The man wrapped his right arm around Faith’s shoulders, a thin length of wood aimed in Buffy’s direction. “She will be safe, I assure you.”

Buffy raised an eyebrow at that, “Just because I’m blond, does not mean I was born yesterday. Tell me who you are and I won’t show you what I can do with my length of wood.” Even Faith’s eyes lit up a little at that. “Okay, so that didn’t come out quite like it should, but you get my drift.”

The man sighed, his hand slipping into his long dark cloak, “I am afraid that’s just not possible. Petrificus Totalus!” He flicked his wand at Buffy, watching as she froze and fell backwards.

“Buffy!” Faith called again, though in her weakened state, she was no match for the tall man that had her in his grip.

Rolling his eyes, he tapped his wand to the younger girl’s chest, “Immobulus,” pulling his hand from his dark cloak; he muttered his apologies to both prone bodies before slipping a ribbon around his hand and touching it to Faith’s shoulder.

Buffy watched from her position on the floor, her mind racing as she tried to fight the spell. She heard the man’s apologies but couldn’t and wouldn’t stop the anger that made her blood boil. She screamed inside her head as they disappeared in a swirl of colours that she’d come to associate with Xander’s departure from Sunnydale.