Leaving Her
by Salix
Only In Sunnydale
[reviews]
The plane had finally landed in L.A., they were able to get their bags without any problems and they're currently speeding towards Sunnydale. Faith decided to drive, since she's the outsider of the situation she isn't as emotionally attached and she will be less likely to cause and car accident at the moment. The other two were sitting in the back seat, Buffy was in the middle, Willow sitting by the door and they were holding hands and leaning up against each other. They'd been like that since the plane. They didn't want to let go of each other, and Faith thought it was kind of sweet. She sort of wished she had something like that in her life.
"He said to meet him at the Magic Box. Xander's gonna be there too, and the other slayer should be there too, he was gonna call when we get there," Faith said and turned off the radio so she would be able to hear their responses better. There wasn't any for a couple of minutes, until Buffy finally spoke up.
"Call her? I thought she was out on patrol? She's supposed to be looking around, how is he going to call her?" she asked getting angry. Things were just so stressful and it was becoming very hard for the slayer to cope. Willow had told her to stop thinking like a mom and start thinking like a slayer, the problem was the slayer was thinking like a mother. She was screaming at Buffy to get their child back, to protect her and kill whatever took her.
"Chill out, B. Since there's so many of the little newbies runnin around he bought 'em cells so he'd be able to call 'em when he needed 'em back at the shop or whatever. He has the newbies training now, trying to up their skills some more in case they need ta help. But according to him this other girl is pretty good and we might not need their help. Besides, old timers like us, we should be pretty much unstoppable by now," she said with a smirk and focused on her driving. Buffy mentally yelled at Faith, keeping quiet so she wouldn't start a fight, but on the inside she was pissed and she hoped that Faith didn't just jinx their shot at getting her kid back.
As soon as Faith parked the car next to the curb the two mothers jumped out and ran into the store. They saw Xander pacing back and forth obviously very worried, and they saw Giles, sitting at the table, all sorts of books spread out in front of him while he cleaned his glasses. The two men looked up when they heard the bell ring and Xander raced forward and embraced both of them in a tight hug.
They were like that for a couple of minutes before they pulled back and Buffy walked up to Giles. He stood up and looked down at her, he could tell that she was nervous, a little afraid of what he might have to say. He pulled her into a tight hug and she reciprocated and then they pulled back, and he cleared his throat, trying to gain back some of the British modesty he lost by displaying his emotions.
"Ok, so who's this other slayer, and how experienced is she? I want to know who I have helping me," she turned around when she heard the door open and in walked Faith. She had stayed outside so she could smoke a much needed cigarette. Buffy wouldn't let her smoke in the car and it had been a very long drive to Sunnydale. Faith said her hellos to the ex-watcher and the nervous wreck still pacing back and forth.
Then all of them turned to face the door when they heard it open again. In walked a girl, a little bit shorter then Buffy, light brown hair that went just a little passed her shoulder blades, dark brown eyes, skin as white as a sheet. Buffy thought for a second that she might be a vamp, but no little tingles went off and she could only feel a vibe of power, this was a slayer. Buffy was mad. She was very, very mad. This girl was no older then sixteen, how the hell was she going to be able to help them?
"Giles," she said and turned back to the older man, her jaw clenched tight, her eyes set hard. He took a step back in fear of being hit and he shook his head. She looked back at the girl who was just standing there, looking from one person to the other. If Buffy's guess was right, then this girl was checking out the situation to try and get a feel for what was going on.
"Buffy, I assure you that Ashley is skilled enough to help. She may look young, but she's the best we've got. She's been training for the last six years, she's helped stop four apocalypses, and she's in charge of training the others, all of which are older then her. Other the you and Faith, she's the best around. If you want Emily back you'll let her help. She's lived here her entire life, she knows the area almost as well as you do." She still wasn't convinced. The girl was just too young. She looked over at her, skeptically, and the girl tense up, obviously wanting to make a good impression.
"You have any family?" Buffy asked and she watched as the girls face momentarily dropped. "I need someone whose going to fight and to slay not just because she's a slayer but because she's protecting the people she loves. If you don't fight with emotion, if you don't have any other reason for slaying other then just because you're a slayer, then stay here, because I won't need your help." She watched as the girl processed the information and then looked deeply into Buffy's eyes.
"I have a baby sister. Every time I see a vampire or a demon I imagine they're going to try and hurt her and I kill them before they can, no matter what. Is that good enough?" she asked, eager to know the answer but not wanting to seem eager or like a suck up. In all honesty she couldn't believe she was in the same room with the Buffy Summers, and the Willow Rosenberg. The two are celebrities in the slayer world, and she was excited that she would actually get to work with them. Everyone was quiet while Buffy thought about it, Giles was the first to speak.
"You need to train. You haven't slayed in years, you need to get your reflexes back up before you go out there again." She was about to protest, but then Giles let out that father side of him that he's always held for the scoobies. "No arguments. Emily is like a granddaughter to me, and I will not let her get hurt because you weren't prepared enough to fight whatever has taken her. Faith, you better train as well, Connecticut certainly doesn't have as many vampires as Sunnydale, and if this thing thinks it can take on a slayer by stealing one of her own then it must have some type of advantage. I have three other slayers out there now, they're rookies, but they're just looking. They'll call if they find her but they won't engage in an attack."
The two slayers walked off towards the training room and then Giles nodded his head towards Ashley, silently telling her to follow. She did and when she walked into the room and shut the door Giles turned to Willow. She had her eyes closed and seemed to be deep in concentration. Magical sparks started to come out of her fingertips, but they would quickly vanish and more would appear. The air around her got warmer and her mouth dropped open a little bit. Giles knew what she was doing and he would have tried to stop her under any other circumstance, but because this was Emily they were looking for he allowed it, even though he didn't think she should be doing it.
"What is she doing?" Xander asked and watched her with worry and curiosity. Willow has always been very powerful, and Xander has always been worried. He was afraid that the magic would be too much for her to handle, even thought she's disproved that theory many times in the past. He was afraid now, that she might do something wrong, that she might overdo it because of the stress she was under.
"She's pulling magic out of the earth. Super charging her magic, if you will. She knows when to stop, when it gets to be too much. Don't worry Xander, she'll be alright," he said, not knowing if he had just told a lie or not. When Willow finally did stop she closed her mouth and kept her eyes closed for a few extra seconds. When they finally opened them, they were pure white, and then they slowly faded back to their normal color. She seemed a lot calmer, and more focused then before. She looked over at Xander and smiled before she walked off to the training room to watch the slayers practice.
When she walked into the room she had to bite her lips to keep from laughing. Faith was sitting on the couch, watching the other two spar and making her sarcastic comments. Willow went and sat down next to her. She looked down on the blue mat to see her wife, the big bad slayer, pinned down by her shoulders. Her hands were being held above her head and onto the ground, Ashley's knees were pinning Buffy's shoulder down to the mat. Buffy was struggling and then Ashley looked at her and the tiniest smirk played across her face. Buffy lost it, she threw her legs up and wrapped her calves around the girls neck and threw her backwards. She flew up into the air and hit the punching bag. She bounced off of that and hit the floor very hard.
She stood up and she brushed herself off. Buffy was already back in a fighting stance but Ashley stayed calm and laid back. That made Buffy ever angier. They were supposed to be taking this serious, they were supposed to be getting her daughter back, not sparring in the back of a magic shop while God only knows what is happening to her kid. She watched as Ashley started to slowly approach, her put her hands behind her back, the back of her hands rested on the small of her back and she held onto one of her wrists. She walked up to Buffy and stood inside of her comfort zone.
"Don't hold back. You never hold back. You wanna hit me right now, doncha? Go ahead, hit me. Hit me with all you got. Don't worry, I can take it. Come on Buffy, hit me. Hit me! HIT ME!" she screamed and Buffy finally gave in and swung as hard as she could. She watched as her fist connected with Ashley's face. The girl spun three times and then landed on the ground. She rolled over onto her stomach and spit out a little bit of blood. She laughed and rubbed her jaw.
"Feel better?" she asked. She knew the only way Buffy was going to be able to train the proper way was if she got out most of her anger first, and because she wasn't able to do that with the sparring the youngest slayer figured that she just needed to hit something, good and hard. She was more then willing to be that thing if it meant they would be able to hurry this along and then save a life. Buffy nodded her head and then started to stretch out, she did feel a lot better.
"Ok, good. Faith, spar with Buffy while I got rinse out." She didn't seem to think twice before giving orders. That's good if you're a slayer, giving orders and being in charge is natural, it's taking orders that's the challenge. As she said this some more blood started to spill out of her mouth. She hesitated before walking off. She opened her mouth up wide and with two fingers reached into the back of her mouth and pulled out the now extremely loose tooth. She looked at with some curiosity and surprise.
"First time I've lost an adult tooth. Here," she said and looked over at Buffy and then she tossed the tooth to her. "It's yours." Then she walked out of the room. Buffy looked down at the bloody tooth and decided that when this is all over she's going to take Ashley out to Stars Hollow for a little vacation time. She tossed the tooth the Willow who, disgusted by it, dropped it onto the couch and then wiped her hand on the top of her jean clad thigh.
The two slayers started to spar. It was quite a sight to see. They were both graceful, and very quick, and their sarcastic remarks were better then normal. They seemed to be feeding off of each other's energy, like the used to do whenever they would spar. They locked eyes and they never looked away. They let their slayer sides take charge and from then on out every move, every side step, every punch or block or duck was pure instinct. They were ready, it was finally time to leave.
They cleaned up a little bit, washing their faces off in the bathroom sink. Xander had gone out to the car and brought their bags into the shop so they were able to change clothes as well. Once they were changed and sparkly fresh, they started to grab weapons. Willow had a crossbow, Buffy had an axe, Faith grabbed a sword but Ashley didn't grad anything. They were all armed with stakes, those were hidden in the pockets of their jackets, but the girl didn't grab any other weapon. When Buffy questioned her on it she said that she doesn't like to use them, that hand to hand combat is more her style. Buffy deemed the girl insane and then they made their way out of the shop and into the cool streets of Sunnydale.
"I already checked the warehouse district. Seems like whenever someone gets taken they're held there. But I didn't find anyone, least no one with a pulse. Couple of newbie vamps. Got back to the shop as soon as I felt you two drive into town. Now, my best guess would be the high school. They rebuilt it a couple years ago after the big fire, and the creepy things just love to wonder the basement. It's full of hidden rooms. I know it by heart though, so navigating shouldn't be much of an issue," Ashley said and walked along side Faith. Next to Faith was Buffy and next to Buffy stood Willow, holding onto Buffy's hand, using her magic to send calming waves into the blonde so she wouldn't panic. It didn't help much, but she was able to think clearly.
"We'll check there first. We still don't know what this thing is so be on high alert, it could be anything at this point. No one attacks until I say so. Either of you two do anything and she gets hurt because of it, I'll beat you to death myself," Buffy said with no emotion in her voice at all. They walked towards the school in silence, everyone just wanting to get this over with. They stood in front of Sunnydale High, looking up at the tall building for a few seconds. Buffy started to walk towards the front doors but then Ashley mentioned a window that would send them straight down to the basement. So they followed her and one by one they crawled through the tiny space, landing on their feet and then taking a look around. They each crawled in by rank, Buffy first, then Willow, then Faith, and last was the littlest slayer.
"Now we just look around. There's five hidden doors in the halls, the others are inside of the rooms, six more. Two in the furnace room, the rest are in storage rooms. Which do you want to check first?" Ashley asked and looked over at Buffy. The blonde thought about it and then looked into the girl's eyes. She was glad that this was turning out to be easier then she thought. So far the kid wasn't putting up any fight at all, she wasn't trying to impress them, and she wasn't trying to be in control. She really was a good slayer after all.
"The nearest ones," she said and then silently they followed the teenager as she led them down the halls. It was like a maze, there wasn't much room to move around because the walkways were so narrow, and there was a turn every minute or so. They stopped in front of a large poster that said 'be cool stay in school'. Faith raised and eyebrow and laughed a little. Ashley explained how she put posters up on all of the hidden doors so she'd be able to find them faster. But the room was empty so they went on to the next. They were walking towards the fourth hidden door when Ashley suddenly stopped. She crept forward, letting her senses roam. She felt evil, and it was strong, and it felt old. She looked over at Buffy and Faith who gave each other a knowing look and the teen knew that they felt it too.
She put her ear up to the door and she could hear voices. A man and a woman. She couldn't really make out what they were saying, but it didn't really matter. They had found what they were looking for. She stepped back and let Buffy open the door very slowly. Then they slowly walked into the room, in the same order that they had crawled through the window. When she finally took her position, standing next to Faith, hidden by the darkness, she could see a girl tied to a bed, in nothing but her underwear. She was passed out and looked a little pale. Sitting on the bed next to her was a vampire, he was picking dirt out from under his nails with a very large hunting knife. As soon as he sensed them he held the knife to the girl's throat.
"I'll slit it before the arrow could land," he said and looked into Willow's eyes. Buffy wanted to be surprised that it was Spike. She really wanted to believe that it could have been someone else who would kidnap her daughter and drag her all the way back to Sunnydale and tie her to a bed, in nothing but her underwear. 'Wait...nothing but her underwear?' she thought becoming very, very angry.
"If you touched her, I swear, Spike, you'll be begging me to dust you before I'm done," she said, venom and hatred oozing out of her voice. He smiled and then laughed. He shook his head a couple of times, while Buffy did a quick scan of her daughter's body with her eyes, checking for wounds. What she saw when she came to her daughter's most private area devastated her. Two little white scars, the mark of a vampire, high on her upper thigh. She knew that it wasn't Spike who had done this, these marks weren't fresh they were old, a month maybe more. They heard a noise in the far corner of the room, the darkest corner and they couldn't see what was back there.
"Come on out, luv," Spike said and kept his eyes on the four girls. They watched as someone started to walk forwards. Her legs were visible first, and she was wearing a long dress that had a slip on the side that went very high up, revealing almost her entire leg. 'Great, Drusilla. Just what we need, ramblings from an insane freak,' Buffy thought. But none of them were prepared for what they saw when the woman stepped out of the shadows. None of them knew what to do, what to think, Buffy forgot to breathe, Willow thought she was going to faint. Faith laughed and very distant and unbelieving laugh, Ashley...well she didn't really know what the big deal was seeing how she's never met this person before. The two older slayers and the witch all had the exact same thought at that very moment: 'What the fuck?'
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Bet you can't guess who it is.....muahahaha (evil laugh)