FF: Seven days in Hell Chapter three

["Christeen Demons" <Shyfox30@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

You know, I was thinking just how wonderful it would be if Frank Parker and 
the backstep program were real. Then he could go back in time and the last 
week would never have happened. Unfortunately, he isn't. We can't turn 
back the time, but we can move forward. Well, here's my contribution in an 
attempt to move forward. My heart goes out to Americans everywhere.

Shyfox

Disclaimers: Buffy belongs to Joss whedon and Upn. Seven Days belong to 
UPn, gee, what a coincedence.:-) I'm merely playing with them.:-)

Chapter three: Coming face to face with a God.

It took Frank a while to figure out where the World's Culture fair was being 
held. It seemed nobody in this strange town wanted to talk to strangers, 
understandable considering what he'd learned about this place, but still 
annoying. Finally he got smart and hailed a taxi. He'd thought about 
following Willow Rosenberg to the fair, but the vibes he was picking up from 
Harris and his girlfriend had let him know that they were getting 
suspicious, so he beat it out of there before they had a chance to question 
him.

"Been in town long?" The driver asked him, after he had ascertained where 
he was going, looking at him with a mild air of suspicion.

Honesty was usually the best policy in these situations, it was so easy to 
trip up on a lie. "Nope, just got in today. I heard about your World's 
culture fair, so I thought I'd check it out." Frank answered, smiling in 
what he hoped was a reassuring way.

"You a reporter?" The cabbie asked, still suspicious but moving toward the 
friendlier side of congeniality.

Lie, not to lie, that is the question. He optioned for a story that 
wouldn't be as easy to trace. "Nope...just a tourist. First time in 
California too. You have a beautiful town here." Frank answered easily. 
'Aaaah, flattery. It will get you everywhere' Frank said to
himself as the driver relaxed perceptibly.

"Eh...it's all right." The driver responded, looking through the rearview 
mirror at him. "Not anywhere near the size of L.A. but I like it."

"Pretty town...nice scenery..." Frank continued, watching the driver 
nodding, even as he made a turn into a parking lot.

"Yep...but I wouldn't go out at night." The cabbie muttered as he pulled to 
a stop. "Here ya are." Frank looked out the window and saw a 
conglomeration of activity happening out the window. Tents were staked out 
as far as the eye could see, with people going in and out of them like busy 
little bees hunting for adventure. Carnival rides were set up near the back 
and he could see people cavorting near the top of one Ferris wheel, waving 
their arms at the world.

"Thanks." Frank handed the driver five dollars, wondering how much the 
driver really knew about his own hometown, and if he knew, why did he stay, 
then wandered toward the crowd. Two women meandered by him, one dressed in 
a cheerleader outfit, another holding a balloon. He eyed them 
appreciatively, then shook his head. 'Keep your mind on
business, Parker.' He told himself sternly, then headed into the crowd, 
wondering how he was ever going to manage to find anyone in this mass of 
carnivalistic confusion.

The smell of hotdogs and cotton candy filled the air, invading Parker's 
senses and reminding him that the last time he had eaten had been seven days 
in the future, and even then, it had been beer related. Stopping to buy a 
hot dog, he noticed a lonely and forlorn looking blonde sitting alone on a 
park bench. It appeared as if she were looking for
someone, and by the look on her face, she didn't know, or had lost hope that 
the someone would show up.

"Yeah, what'll it be?" The hot dog vendor asked him, distracting him from 
the sight, and he turned away to give his order. When he looked back again 
another woman had joined the blonde on the park bench. Only she didn't look 
too happy about it...in fact, the blonde looked...petrified. 'I wonder 
what's up with that?' Frank thought, getting distracted once more as the 
vendor gave him his hot dog and he paid for it. Taking a big bite from his 
hot dog, his curiosity got the better of him and he turned once more to 
study the scene that had
been transpiring. To his concern the girl had turned completely pale, and a 
look of agony was etched on the girl's face. The blonde that had taken the 
seat next to her was grinning though, and to Parker's view, looked slightly 
insane. "What the hell?!" He thought, losing
the rest of his hot dog in the trash, and starting to make his way through 
the throng of people between them. If there was one thing he could not 
stand, it was a woman in pain.

*****

"Oh, this is nice." Glory said, beaming into Tara's face. She was happy, 
very happy, she'd found her key. Life was good again...It was good to be 
God. "Just hangin' out, just us girls. You like that sort of thing, don't 
you?" She asked, wickedly, grinning with the
insinuation as she squeezed the blonde's hand, taking great pleasure in 
hearing bones crack and in seeing the agony on the blonde's face.
Tara cried out in pain, but Glory stopped her with a look. "Don't ... make 
a sound." Glory orders as she looks around at the other fair attendees. 
The people walked among them, oblivious to what was transpiring on the park 
bench. "Nah...they won't help you. I'd kill
them. You know that."

Tara looked around desperately, searching for someone who could help her, 
preferably Willow. Her fear increased as she watched three bicycle cops 
ride by unaware of the danger in their midst. "There's no one here that can 
stop me. I'll kill her..." Glory said, indicating a brown haired girl that 
passed by waving a pompom. "...and ... and them..." A couple holding hands 
was indicated this time. "...and it'll all be your fault." Glory's nails 
digged into Tara's palm and her blood began to drip out between their 
fingers. Tara whimperd in pain, breathing erratically. "Kinda funny, isn't 
it? All these people here and ... no one can do a thing. Not a person who 
can help you. Except..." Her face lost its grin as she noticed a man 
making his way determinedly towards them through the crowd of people. "He 
looks like he wants to interfere...pesky humans...too bad he won't get here 
in
time."

Glory smiled, bringing clenched hands up to lick off some of the blood. She 
looked like she'd just ingested something that tasted awful. "You lying 
little tramp! You're not the key, you're nothing! Just another worthless 
human being!"

"I didn't-" Tara started to protest, but she didn't get the chance as 
Glory's fury cut her off.

"I hate being lied to. It makes me feel so betrayed." She stops, 
considering as she eyed the man who was getting closer, being halted every 
few feet by people getting in his way. "Hey! You wanna make it all better?" 
She asked the trembling blond, allowing a smile to
reappear on her face. Tara's eyes bugged with her fear. "If you tell me 
who the key really is ... I'll let you go. Think about it. You think your 
hand hurts? Imagine what you'd feel with my fingers wiggling in your brain." 
Tara almost stopped breathing at the remark.

'No...please no!' her brain cried out, but all she could utter was a tiny 
squeek. Glory looked at her as if she sympathized as she explained what it 
did. "It doesn't kill you. What it does ... is make you feel like you're in 
a noisy little dark room ...naked and ashamed...and there are things in the 
dark that need to hurt you because you're bad...little pinching things that 
go in your ears ..." Glory watched as tears welled in the blonde's eyes and 
slipped down her cheeks noiselessly. "...and crawl on the inside of your 
skull. And you
know...that if the noise and the crawling would stop...that you could 
remember how to get out. But you never, ever will. " Glory cast one more 
look at the man, his eyes focused on hers and she could see the raw 
determination inside. 'Now there's a strange one.' she thought, growing 
increasingly nervous the closer he got.

"Who...is...the key?" Glory asked, one more time.

'I can't. I can't betray Willow...I can't betray Buffy.' Tara forced 
herself to stop crying and look Glory in the eye, saying nothing.

Glory saw the resigned look enter the blonde's eyes and knew she wasn't 
going to tell her. She knew she'd just run out of time, anyway. "Fine. Let's 
get crazy." The sympathetic look never left the goddess face as she 
carressed the side of Tara's face with her other hand.

*****

Willow ran through the fairgrounds, looking frantically for her girlfriend. 
She knew Glory was after her. She had to stop her. "Tara?!" She looked 
through the people and her heart
shrivelled when she saw Glory with Tara on the bench. "Tara!" She screamed 
frantically, making a mad dash for the pair. "By force of heart and mindful 
power, by waning time and waxing hour..."

Glory put her hand on Tara's head.

Frank, extremely concerned now, attempted to move faster through the crowd, 
but it was like destiny or fate didn't want him to reach the girl in time, 
people kept getting in his way, slowing and even halting his progress. He 
noticed Willow run by him and stoped completely, peices of a puzzle mixing 
jarringly in his head as the connections piled up.

"I echo Diana, um, when I decree...uh, what is it, what is it?" Glory's 
hands were now on Tara's temples and Willow began to panic. "No! No!" 
Willow screamed as light began to stream out, and Glory's fingers entered 
Tara's head. Both of them cry out, Tara in pain, Glory in what could only be 
pleasure. Willow reacheed the edge of the path but is blocked by moving 
people and had to stop. "That she I love must now be free!"

Frank took in the scene from his vantage point and could only stare in shock 
at what he saw. He'd seen a lot of things in his time, both in the service 
and as a chrononaut, but nothing could have prepared him for this. "Oh my 
god." He whispered, straining for breath as he watched the unbelievable 
scene before him. He could hear Willow screaming the blonde's name, and 
attempted to order his feet to move, to do something, but they appeared 
frozen to the asphalt. Just before she disappeared, he could swear that the 
maniacally grinning blond had winked at him, sending a shiver of revulsion 
down his spine in the process, and then she had simply vanished. Not got up 
and walked away, just simply poof...gone. And Parker had no way of 
explaining that, except that he had just come almost face to face with the 
God-like force he had been warned about. All of a sudden he felt extremely 
inadequate. There wasn't much left to do now but clean up the
peices. Pulling his cell phone from out of his pocket, he dialed 911, then 
waited to give instructions.

*****

Willow stumbled over to Tara's side, grabbing the blonde by her shoulders. 
"Tara...Tara, are you okay?" She asked, frantically, noticing the 
incredibly vacant look in the blonde's eyes.

"It's dirty. It's all dirty. And all over me!" Tara brushed at her clothes 
as if attempting to wipe away dirt. "Dirty. Dirty. I'm bad. Bad." She 
whimpered and was pulled into Willow's arms, who was now crying as she 
rocked Tara gently.

"Tara. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." She didn't hear Frank's approach, 
or notice when he came to a stop in front of them.

"I'm sorry...I saw...I...couldn't get here in time." Willow looked up in 
shock as she heard him talking to her. She didn't think anybody had even 
noticed. How could she explain what had just happened to a total stranger. 
She found herself not even wanting to try, all she wanted to do was hold 
Tara and make it all better. But it wouldn't be all better. Not now.

"What?" It was the only thing she could think to say.

Frank stared into red-rimmed eyes and felt like kicking himself. "I called 
an ambulance...it's on the way." He said, holding up his cell phone, 
feeling like a complete idiot. "Is there...anything I can do?" He asked, 
feeling helpless for the first time in his whole entire life. He was a 
chrononaut, he was supposed to stop events like this from taking place..and 
yet, he hadn't really known about this one, so how could he have stopped it. 
He'd be ready next time, he vowed to himself, as he watched the red-head 
shake her head at him simply.

As he heard a siren getting closer he knew he'd done all he could for now. 
Standing here wasn't going to accomplish anything except make him look 
suspicious. Giving the girls one more sympathetic look, he walked away, 
watching as the paramedics moved in.

*****

He walked for a while, feeling bad about the way this mission was going and 
himself in general, until he looked into a store front window and gave 
himself a wake up call. 'Okay, Parker. Pull yourself together. So you ran 
into something you weren't expecting...big deal..get over it...it happens. 
You screwed up...don't let it happen again. The fate of the world is on 
your shoulders, so you'd better get used to it pal.' Feeling marginally 
better, he hailed a taxi. As he climbed in, he spoke to the driver. "Take 
me to the nearest hospital.

...to be continued.


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