Sought & Found
by Freakysplatterz
Rating: R
Disclaimer: See any chapter of "Shrouded Watcher".
CHAPTER 1
She was spacing again. She knew she should be concentrating on what was going on around her but she couldn't force herself to. Her thoughts were on Faith. Just like always. When wasn't she thinking about the mysterious girl who had walked in and walked out of her life so suddenly. She should be concerned about the potential new bad that had moved into town but again....no going. Faith took precedence. She wondered where she went, what she was doing, was she thinking about her like she was thinking about.....
"BUFFY!!!"
She jerked and turned to look at her best friend.
"I'm sorry Wil. What did you say?"
The red-head looked at her with a frown but didn't comment on her friends unusual lack of attention.
"I said that Giles just ended the meeting and we're going to The Bronze. Do you want to come with us?"
"No that's alright. I think I'm just going to go home and get some sleep. Maybe catch up on some homework. I'll see you guys later."
She walked out leaving a trio of worried faces.
Walking down the street she got caught up again in her thoughts of Faith. Where was she? It had been 5 months since she last saw Faith and she thought the girl had all but fallen from the face of the Earth. She hadn't seen her again anywhere.
"Where could she be?"
As she was passing the cemetary her senses kicked into overdrive. Something was near and it had a lot of power. It took a second for the "Slayer" to overpower "Buffy" and take full control. She was the "Hunter" now.
Less than a second had passed before she was over the cemetary wall and heading towards the action. She could hear some weird chanting the closer she got. Then she saw them. These ugly tarantula looking things with spikes on their heads.
"Okay. Got to remember to rethink my definition of ugly."
She crept closer and crouched low behind a headstone. They were standing over a fresh grave pouring bright liquids over the dirt. Everytime the liquid touched the ground it would turn a bright white and a dark smoke would rise.
"What are they doing?"
"We're about to bring forth "The Oracle" and you....are about to die."
She looked up into the face of....well she couldn't be too sure that it was a face. She was looking up into something though.
"You know for something so ugly you have a very firm grasp of the english language."
It never saw her coming. She moved too quick for it to defend itself. A fist buried itself deep into his stomach causing him to double over. Just as quickly a powerful roundhouse turned him over on to his back. Buffy dropped down onto him being careful of the spikes that seemed to be more concentrated on his stomach. A straight right followed by a left and she was ready to end this. She grabbed his especially fragile neck and was about to snap it when she was tackled to the ground.
There were two more of them. So caught up in defending herself from the first one she had forgotten about his friends. The spider-bug like creature crawled on top of her and pinned her down. She struggled helplessly but the thing was too strong for her. It bent over and sniffed her.
"You smell like a Slayer. Are you the Slayer?"
"What's it to you?"
If she couldn't overpower it right away she would at least try and delay it.
"We were told that the Dark Guardian was here. Is this true?"
"Do you really think I would tell you?"
He suddenly emitted this high pitched shriek that nearly burst Buffy's ears. It convulsed above her and then suddenly it keeled over. Buffy threw the rest of its body off and got to her feet just in time to see a dark blur laying havoc on the remaining bugs. She was about to go help when something grabbed her leg. It was the bug again. It hadn't died completely.
"Ugh. I wish I had some bug spray. Oh well, guess it's the old fashioned way."
With that she raised her foot and squashed its head in. Yellow gunk oozed from it and she grimaced when she thought about her poor shoes.
"So disgusting."
She turned around and was blown away when she saw the fight taking place. The figure was an excellent fighter. So quick and fast she could barely keep up with executions. There were moves in there that she had never even seen before. That was just the fighting style. The figure itself was amazing in another category. How could anyone move like that? Like performing some dance. A ballet of death.
In a matter of minutes the large bugs were disposed of. Lying on the ground twitching in agony with their final seconds of life. The figure moved over to the grave and crouched down. Buffy noted that there was an impressive sword close by locked in a tight fist.
The energy was emanating heavily from the figure. Buffy's Slayer wires were getting crossed as well. It couldn't seem to classify the figure as a friend or an enemy. All it was doing was giving Buffy a major stomach-ache. Curiosity was playing cat and mouse with her instincts. Curiosity won so she approached guardedly.
The closer she got the familiar it felt. She was directly behind them and could just see an abundance of black. Black leather that is. Whoever this was was obsessed with it. Just as she was about to open her mouth to speak the figure stood and turned.
"Hello Buffy."
She couldn't believe it. Her heart stopped and started at the same time. She could hardly breathe.
"Faith?"
CHAPTER 2
Freak Thought: You HAVE to love the Mistress even if she is antagonistic and evil. She's evil in a HOT ass package!! Eh-hhahahah.
In an abandoned factory just on the outside of town...............
"Mistress the plan has failed. The Oracle still lays chained."
The spider-bug kneeled before its Mistress. A figure decked out in tight white leather, pale white hair spilling over her shoulders, alabaster skin, and stone cold pale grey eyes sitting high on a skeletal throne.
"Hmm. What happened?"
She didn't even appear to be concerned. The only indication that she was thinking about it was the way that her finger traced patterns on her knee.
"They were slain by the Slayer and an unknown."
A slight upturn of silver lip-sticked lips. A maniacal fire seemed to ignite instantly in the eyes. If he had possessed the mental processes to think the spider-bug would have hauled-ass.
"An unknown? This makes things even more interesting."
Her smile, while revealing perfect gleaming white teeth, was none-the-less deadly.
"Faith? You are Faith aren't you?"
"Yes."
Buffy was still reeling. She had just seen one person practically obliterate those things in a matter of minutes while she was hard pressed to even over-power one of them on her own. To top that all off the person to lay all this Hell down turned out to be Faith.
She looked up at her with a frown.
"Who and what are you?"
Not exactly what Faith wanted her to say but she would deal with that later. Right now there was a pretty damn big bug problem in Sunnydale.
"I'll tell you as much as I can, but not here. Tomorrow? Is there some place where we can meet?"
Forget the stupid clauses and obligations. Those bugs were up to something big and it was going to take more than just her to stop it from happening. This time she was going to need the strength of her One.
"There's a store in town called the Magic Box........."
"I know it. Tomorrow then at 6."
Faith took one last long look at Buffy. Her heart pounded and she could feel the call luring her closer. It took more than she should have possessed to turn her back on Buffy and walk away.
Buffy felt deserted. She hadn't wanted Faith to leave. She was trying to adjust to what she had seen. She wanted to understand, to know all about Faith, but that didn't look like it was going to happen tonight.
"Damn it."
She took a quick patrol around the cemetary and then headed home to phone up the gang and inform them of the meeting.
"I want to know the identity of this unknown. If she is who I hope her to be then half our plan has already been accomplished."
"As you wish Mistress."
The Mistress was drinking leisurely from a jade goblet. The dark red liquid coating the rim leaving no doubt what the substance was. She pointed a sharp fingernail in the direction of the bug in front of her.
"I have no room in my ranks for failure so the choice is yours. Succeed and live, fail and......hmm I'm not sure what I want to do yet. I'll have to get back to you on that."
The bug retreated quickly leaving his demented Mistress to contemplate different methods of drawing out his death.
Faith waited in the deep shadows until Buffy left to take another look at the grave. She crouched down and the bright stains on the dry earth immediately caught her attention again. She felt that she had seen this before but couldn't quite remember where.
She reached down to gather a sample and as soon as she made contact she felt a jolt in her fingertips. When she drew back the liquids were glowing. Amber, gold, silver, and bronze.
Her heart instantly started racing. This was an even bigger problem than she thought. Those overgrown spider-bugs were drawing upon a divine being. Something extremely powerful judging by the brightness of the liquids.
"This is going to get messy."
CHAPTER 3
"Okay Buff you've got us here now spill. What new big bad do we have to be on the lookout for?"
She sighed then pulled herself together to explain as much as the situation as she could to her friends. She had been dreading this all last night and most of the day but it had to be done.
"I'm not really sure about the big bad but last night I was attacked by some really strange bugs. They were chanting over a grave and pouring weird liquid in the dirt."
"Good Heavens! Are you alright?"
Giles walked over from his place near the book shelf and stood before his slayer. He looked her over from head to toe to determine if she were trying to hide any injuries. When he was satisfied that she was at an acceptable health level, he inquired of the bugs.
"Bugs you say? Can you describe them?"
"Big, very big bugs and extremely ugly. They were made like bugs but they had like spider features and they had spikes all over them especially on their stomach or thorax or something."
"And you managed to defeat them?" Giles was impressed, but then again he was seldomly disappointed.
"Well that's the other half of why I called this meeting. Someone helped me last night."
"A normal someone or like a 'you' type someone?" the red-head asked.
Willow was curious as were the rest of the Scoobies. They all leaned forward in their chairs like pre-schoolers ready for story-time even Giles managed to shuffle in closer.
"Definitely not normal but I wouldn't say that they were like me Will. I mean, she was...."
"A woman?" Giles cut her off.
"Yes. She...."
"Was she hot?" Xander cut into her explanation.
"Xander!"
Xander cowered like a little puppy when he met Anya's angry eyes. He needed to learn to control his hormones better or maybe learn to keep naughty thoughts to himself more.
"Will you guys quit inte........"
She was cut off yet again by the bell above the shop door ringing. A couple of seconds later Faith stepped through the door. The Scoobies held their breath when they beheld her, a vision in form fitting black leather.
"Ho...How can I hel..l help you?"
Buffy looked at Giles strangely. He was bright red and he seemed to be on the verge of hyperventilating the way he was breathing.
"Giles what's the matter?"
Faith took a couple of steps forward and Giles immediately retreated backwards trying to drag Buffy with him. Now she was really confused.
"Should we be doing the Giles thing now cause I'm thinking that her being here is bad."
Even as Xander was speaking he was getting out of his chair and tried to grab Anya but was surprised to find her already a suitable distance away. He noticed that Willow had grabbed Tara's hand and her lips were starting to move, silenting chanting a protection spell.
Giles was pasty white and he seemed to be glued to Buffy. He wouldn't take a step forward nor allow her to go either.
"Giles! Tell me what's going on? Why are you acting like this?!"
It was Faith who answered her.
"He knows who I am so does she. I didn't think I would see you again Anyanka."
"Okay that's it! Someone better explain to me right now just what the hell is going on?!!"
Faith pulled her duster off revealing her trim figure. Two thick silver bracelets adorned her wrists. They were fashioned into complicated weaving patterns separated by a blood red jewel in the shape of the mythological fire bird. A tattoo in the same complicated pattern adorned her arm just above the elbow.
Buffy let her eyes roam freely over the delicious figure that she so wanted to know better. She'd been haunted by what it looked like but having it finally revealed to her nearly took her breath away. She almost forgot that she hadn't really received an answer to her question. Almost.
"Buffy..bbby any chance was she ttthee one th..thth..that helped you last night?"
"Yes she did. I probably would have been seriously hurt if she hadn't helped me. I don't think she's dangerous Giles. She could have left me there when those bugs got the best of me but she didn't. I trust her."
"She couldn't have let you die anyway."
Everyone turned to look at Anya. She was nearly covered with Xander but you could see her peeking over his shoulder.
"What do you mean?"
"If you would have died she would have suffered because of it."
Buffy looked at Faith and saw that she was calm with a look of neutrality about her. Her eyes told a different story. They were pulsing with activity and emotions she just couldn't describe.
"How?"
"She's yours."
"Meaning?"
Anya rolled her eyes and gave Buffy a hard stare.
"You humans don't know a whole lot do you? She's an Angel, like a Guardian Angel. In other words she's your Angel. The 'Angel' part is a big oxymoron to me seeing as how she caused over 9,000 years of destruction."
Buffy didn't hear the last part because she was too caught up in the other parts of what Anya said.
"Angel? My Angel?"
CHAPTER 4
"Angel?"
The thoughts were rolling around in Buffy's mind and bouncing back static. Once again she had been Hellmouth victimized.
"Yes Buffy for the billion-ith time. That.....is your Guardian Angel." Anya waved a hand in Faith's direction.
Buffy swung confused eyes toward the brunette. Faith looked back at her steadily. A thousand words, a thousand thoughts, a thousand lifetimes passed right before them in the space of infinity.
"You don't have to fear me. I won't hurt you."
Giles didn't seem to take her word at face value because he grabbed an axe conveniently lying nearby before he took a step closer towards her.
"Why should we believe you? In all my years I have never read about a creature as evil as you are. I have never heard of the destruction you so carelessly inflicted upon the poor innocents past. You don't deserve her."
Faith's eyes flamed up in rage. Literally. Her eyes turned molten gold before she closed them and pushed down her anger. She opened her eyes again and saw that everyone was on the defense. Giles was clenching the axe so hard she thought he would shatter the wooden handle. Then she noticed the red-head. Her eyes were pitch black and the air around her was crackling with energy.
"You're messing with powers you know nothing about. You're being corrupted from your path Wicca."
"Willow stop it. You promised."
Tara squeezed Willow's hand, almost frightened that the red-head had skipped all other alternatives and went straight to black magics. She feared now more than ever that her lover would give into the seductive lure of darkness.
"Just exactly what or who is she Giles?"
Willow's eyes went back to normal, but if you looked closely enough you could see a dark ring lingering dangerously around the pupils.
"Vessel of Rage. Ghost in the Darkness. She has many different titles, but she is best known as the Dark Guardian. She was cursed with life centuries ago by her Creator to seek her redemption so that she may gain a soul."
Faith's eyes narrowed to slits and a slight golden haze flurred within her dark gaze.
"You don't know the truth of what I was cursed with. A curse upon a curse."
"I'm sure you deserve every word of it."
There was real venom in Willow's voice. Something about Faith just caused all the defenses in her to stand up to attention and ready for battle. She couldn't understand it and with the feelings surging through her now, it would be a while before she did.
"Dark Guardian. They said that name last night." Buffy's voice was low and spoken softly but it drew everyone's full attention.
"Buffy?"
She looked at Faith with sorrowful eyes.
"Last night...the bugs. Before Faith came that's what they said. The said they were summoning the Oracle....and then they asked about the Dark Guardian. It sounded like they were looking for her."
"Your accomplices?" Willow spat harshly.
Faith didn't rise to the bait. She didn't have time to play with the Wicca. She needed to rally them against the dangers lying in wait.
"No they aren't my friends. They are messing with some very old magics. If they get their hands on this kind of power with the Oracle......"
There were no words for the destruction that would befall the world. Nothing, and absolutely nothing could unravel it. It would be as definite as night.
"How do you know this?"
"Because I can sense it and....I know of only one person who has the ambition and nerve to disturb the Oracle at her rest. She won't stop until she has absolute power."
"Who?"
Faith turned to Buffy and it shocked everyone when small black tears began to make their way down her pale cheeks.
"My Mother."
...continued in Red Mother...