The Ring - Sunnydale Version
by KC Hights
Rating: XXX
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. BTVS belongs to Joss, the plot
belongs to "The Ring".
Spoiler: Season 4, and the movie 'The Ring'.
Note: Buffy and Faith have been together since "This year's girl".
Riley confronts his own feelings towards Graham and finally admits
that he is gay. Riley decides to be honest with Buffy and ends his
relationship with her. He and Buffy remain as close friends since
then. Both Riley and Graham are happy for Buffy when Buffy finally
gets together with Faith.
Dedication: To all you great writers out there, FC, Sulks, Shamrock,
Anne, Michelle, you guys rock. Happy Halloween.
Feedback: Yes please.
[Thursday, October 24th, Riley and Graham's Place]
"Hey honey, how was your day?" Riley asked when Graham stepped into their bedroom.
Riley was sitting by his desk across from the door and was working on some research report for the initiative.
"Oh, it was horrible like you would not believe." Graham replied as he dropped his belongings on the carpet to the left of the entrance. It was a spot which Graham had always kept his 'work' related equipment. Riley had long complained about things lying around on the floor but had recently stopped his protest when he realized that Graham, like most boys, would never change.
"Why, what's wrong?" Riley stood up and made his way towards his lover.
Graham sighed, "Well, first, Forrest spoiled his coffee on my favorite muscle shirt, then we got this emergency call from the Head office requesting immediate assistance at this site not so far from The Bronze. It turns out that a guy and his girlfriend both died while 'doing it' on their bed. Simple right?"
Riley nodded and brought Graham to the edge of the bed where they both sat down.
"But when Forrest and I took a closer look at the bodies, it freaked the hell out of me. Their faces, god, their faces looked all twisted like someone, or something choked the air right out of them. It wasn't like any orgasms you'd expect, hell, if you looked like that when you cum I would have picked up and ran like there was no tomorrow."
"Hey. You don't have to use me as an example." Riley cut off, "So what did the researchers find after you've finished the standard protocol?"
"That's the thing, they couldn't find anything. No marks on their necks. No bites, no wounds, no scratches, well, except those that the victims gave to each other, but other than that, we don't know why they died. Nothing in our database seems to indicate anything remotely similar to what happened."
"Now I could understand why the local police contacted the initiative over a murder case." Riley placed a hand over Graham's and held it, attempting to relief his lover's puzzled distress.
"Hey, what's that?" Riley caught a glance at the unfamiliar videotape beside Graham's bag.
"You mean the videotape?"
"Yeah."
"Beats me really. I haven't taken a chance to look at it just yet. Oh, I forgot to mention, when Forrest and I entered the room, the TV was on. Nothing was actually on the screen, though, just static and noises. I let Forrest went ahead to check on the bodies while I moved towards the TV. Then that video just popped out as soon as I was close to it. So I took it. Maybe it had something to do with the deaths."
"Hmm. It's highly unlike that a videotape would be any indication to the crime, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to find out. So you wanna check it out right now?"
"Sure."
Graham bent over and untied his boots while Riley grabbed the video. Sighing softly, Graham slid himself up the bed and rested his back against the bedboard.
[A week later, Buffy's place]
"What do you mean Riley's dead....and Graham...how?....why?" Buffy began sobbing into the receiver.
Faith was standing by the older slayer the whole time. She had a bad feeling about it even before Buffy picked up the phone call. Now Faith's intuition was confirmed. She wrapped her arms gently around Buffy's waist and held her as she waited for the news.
Note: Thank you Aby, I'll be more careful with grammar and stuff.
Dedication: Tera, and Sulky. Thanks.
[Buffy's Place]
"We heard about what happened, Faith, and we got here as soon as we could."
"Thanks Red, I really appreciate you coming down here, I know you and Tara both have classes today. It's just that Buffy has been crying nonstop since she got the phone call from the Initiative, and Dawn and I were freaking out. I mean, the last time we saw Buffy like this was when Mrs. S passed away."
"We know. Where is she right now?" Willow asked as she and Tara both stepped into the house.
"She's upstairs in her room. She fell asleep about ten minutes ago." Faith replied and led the two witches to the living room.
"I still can't believe what happened. Riley's dead? How? Did Buffy say anything at all?"
Faith silently shook her head.
"Does Giles know about this? Xander?"
"I called them right after I called you. They should be here soon."
All three girls looked at each other when the doorbell suddenly rang. Faith quickly stood up to answer the door and returned a minute later with Giles, Xander and Anya.
"I guess screwing the government doesn't pay off huh? Xander, remind me not to cross them." Anya said, tugging at Xander's sleeve.
"Anya, please, can you at least try to be more sympathetic?" Xander sighed and turned his attention to the group, "Guys, there's something I have to tell you. Riley. He called me. He told me he was going to die. I thought he was playing some kind of Halloween prank. You know? Like you call up your friends and you ask them what their favorite scary movie is. People do that all the time, right? That's why I didn't say anything before...and now it's too late."
"When did he call you Xander?" Giles asked as he took off his glasses and wiped them with his handkerchief.
"Late last night. Around one in the morning."
"Oh, so that explains the annoying phone call." Anya interrupted.
Faith shot a glare at Anya before she spoke, "Well, aren't you gonna tell us what Riley said?"
"He said, Xander, I'm seriously dying...And then he just hung up."
"That's strange. That's not something Riley would do at all. Why didn't Riley call Buffy and Faith?" Willow questioned as she stared uncomfortably at the floor.
"I don't know."
"B and I took Dawn out slaying last night." Faith added.
"So what do we do now?" Tara reached for Willow's hand and held it tightly.
"We wait. When Buffy's stable, we should ask her what the Initiative told her. Hopefully they can shed some light onto Riley and Graham's deaths." Giles replied, letting out a deep sigh.
Dedication: To my Beta readers, thanks.
"Faith?" Buffy whispered from their bed.
"Yeah B, it's me."
Faith gently closed the bedroom door behind her and quietly made her way to Buffy. Slowly, the younger slayer lifted the blanket and slipped into the bed before she spooned Buffy into her arms.
"How are you feeling baby?" Faith asked softly against Buffy's neck. She could tell that the older slayer had stopped crying for a while now, the redness around Buffy's sad emerald eyes weren't as apparent as before, but nonetheless Faith still sensed a great deal of loss and confusion.
"Useless...as always."
"Shhh...don't say that. You know that's not true." Faith replied as she stroked Buffy's hair.
"But it is true. I'm the slayer. I'm supposed to protect my family and my friends. I couldn't even do that properly. I failed Riley just like how I failed mom...I..."
Faith saw the tears that came rushing down Buffy's cheeks again and she tightened her arms around the older slayer, "B, there was nothing you could do. Nothing you and I could've done as slayers. Sometimes things happen for reasons we can't understand, and the only thing we can do is to make the best out of the cards that we're dealt with. I didn't get it when Angel first explained it to me, but now I do."
"Promise me...you'll never...leave me." Buffy sobbed between her words.
"I'll never leave you, Buffy. I love you." Faith cupped Buffy's face in her hands and placed a soft kiss on the blonde's forehead.
"They said he died of heart failure..." Buffy whispered, after a long time.
"And Graham?"
"The same...I don't buy that though. Riley's had minor heart problems before, but Graham sure didn't. Even if they both did, the doctors would have picked up on that from their weekly physical checks ages ago." Buffy replied as she locked her gaze with Faith.
"Did they say anything else?"
"No, except that they've put their top men on the case."
"Do you trust them?"
Faith got her answer from the look in Buffy's eyes. Of course they didn't trust the Initiative, not before and certainly not now. Faith leaned in and kissed Buffy on her lips, and both slayers knew what needed to be done.
"C'mon B. Let's go."
[8:12pm – Same day, Riley's Place]
"Good ol' detective work, I used to be so good at it. Well, that was before I started using all kinds of spells as shortcuts," Willow whispered to Tara as they followed the slayers.
They stopped just outside the front door of fraternity house. Buffy lifted her arm but before she could knock, the door swung open as Forrest rushed out and grabbed her into a big bear hug.
"Buffy..." Forrest's voice trailed off sadly.
"I know," Buffy pulled back from Forrest and stared into his eyes. They both remained silent until Buffy continued, "Do you think we can take a look around?"
"Yeah, sure, come in."
...to be continued...