Complement

XXVI – Enjoy the Silence
(Part B)

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"Morning sleepy head..."

"Morning to you too..." Buffy burrowed deeper into Faith's side, not wanting to get up yet. She had a gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach, and she felt an answering response coming from Faith.

They had been here for ten days; today was the start of their eleventh. In Glory's domain, it was the beginning of the sixth day, while for the Scoobs, and the L.A. crew the sun had just gone down on the second day after Luc's arrival at the Mansion. The Fates domain was once again out-of-sync with the rest of the dimensions; it was a necessity in order to maintain the Tapestry of Life.

The Chosen Two had fallen into a daily routine within the Fates' domain. After the first morning, all three Fates joined them every day for breakfast. They had found out that Clotho's was a master of hand-to-hand combat, as well as a medieval weapons expert. So after breakfast everyday they trained with her and she suitably impressed both Slayers, they had learned quite a lot from her in only nine days.

Lachesis, it turned out, was a master of Tai Chi and Yoga. They spent their afternoons with her and had learned new Tai Chi exercises that even Angel didn't know. She taught them about pressure points, how to regulate their heart rate, breathing, the flow of their blood through their veins. She taught them about the seven basic chakra's and what each one did, they were learning how to unblock and balance their chakra's; to let the vibrations of the light, which made up their centers flow freely. In turn, Lachesis taught them how to share the energy or use it themselves with not only Yoga meditations, but their Slayer Healing to help heal their bodies even faster.

They spent their evenings with Atropos in her favorite room, who still, despite her young appearance treated them much like a grandmother would her grandchildren. She began teaching them different meditations that would strengthen the bond, or the echoes they shared. The bond expanded under her tutelage, it became second nature to them. They learned to communicate effortlessly with each other through emotions, without words. They were not telepathic in the sense that they could speak to each other in their minds, rather it was with images in a place between their conscious and subconscious minds.

They were learning how to fine tune and control their connection, echoes. How to expand them, narrow them down to a single thought, emotion, even close all except that one small thread that would for eternity connect them. That thread Atropos told them would always remain open, not even death could close it, it was the thread that linked them outside of being Slayers, it was the thread that anchored their souls together, it was the thread that made them soul-mates. They hadn't however, started to explore the new echo of the ghost-like-physical-touch they felt upon their own skin when the other was touched.

Between the three Fates both Buffy and Faith began to learn how to use all of their Slayer senses, from sight, to smell, to touch, to sound, to even taste. They were learning how to fine-tune all of their senses to their advantage. To begin to tap into the source of what made them Slayer's, something they had barely touched upon before. Both Slayers had to wonder if the council didn't teach them this because they didn't want a Slayer to actually realize their full potential.

The Fates were teaching them how to substitute one sense for the other if one became disabled. On the second day of training Clotho's began to teach them how to fight without their sight. They spent most of the afternoon blindfolded and on their butts, but in the last hour of training it became a rare sight to see either Slayer on the ground. Faith became quite proficient at fighting blind quickly, earning herself a new nickname from Buffy, which had come from some damn television show that she used to watch on Nick-At-Night. She started to call Faith, Grasshopper after the character Kane from the original Kung Fu series with David Carradine.

As the days passed and they trained together using their newly acquired skills, they began to move in perfect synchronicity, like true mirror images of the other. Graceful, almost as if they were performing a choreographed dance. Yet they still remained independent, still able to improvise, surprise the other. They were able to communicate, warn the other of an impending attack or danger. They became each other's proverbial eyes-in-the-back-of-the-head.

They balanced each other in a way that the Fates had not seen in eons and they all thought that the sight of the Chosen Two moving together or simply just being together was one of the most beautiful sights they ever had the honor to see.
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"Good morning Grasshopper and Buffy." All three Fates said together.

"B, you are so going to regret that name and so are you three." Faith snarled but there was no real threat behind either the snarl or the words.

"Well Grasshopper, it is only fair that you have a nickname too after all, especially since you gave all of us at least one if not two. Let's see Elizabeth, or Buffy here is B. I'm Elder or Pos, Lachesis is either Lach or Ma and Clotho is either or Kiddo..."

"Yeah but those are wicked-cool nicknames, not like mine..." Faith grumbled some more before she sat down with a huff and a pout on her bottom lip.

"Don't pout baby... I hate it when you pout." Buffy leaned in close to Faith, and purred in her ear, "You know I have other nicknames for you, but I don't think you want me to share those..." Buffy planted a soft kiss on the sensitive spot behind Faith's ear before she moved away and attacked her breakfast.

For a little while after Buffy's lips touched the sensitive flesh by her ear, Faith forgot all about what had happened to her, to them, over the last seven months. She felt a blush creep up her neck, and the light laugher from the Fates' whom she was sure heard what Buffy said, just made it grow brighter.

"No fair B... Did I ever tell you, you don't play fair...?" Then she attacked her own breakfast, reveling in that warm fuzzy feeling that Buffy had always been able to give her.

They all talked while Faith wolfed down her food and was lost in her own little world. Then that gnawing feeling in her stomach grew, reminding her of what had happened, what still wasn't over. The blush faded from her cheeks and neck, the warm fuzzy feeling grew ice-cold. Vaguely she heard the little pearl-of-wisdom that Atropos decided to drop on them that morning.

"Food is a lot like the source of your power. That which sustains you, like the source of your strength, your power, what makes you each uniquely you, can also be your poison, or your greatest weakness, and that which can destroy you..."

Faith continued to stare at her plate when she was finished, forgoing her usual seconds. She closed them all, the sound of their voices off and instead, concentrated on the link to the part of herself that was still aware there. Then the tingling of her Slayer senses was rushing at her and if she didn't know better she would have sworn that she heard the distinct sound of the other shoe dropping. Every hair on her body stood on end, seeming to crackle with electricity. She bolted upright, her back, spine rigid, every muscle in her body tightened painfully.

"Faith baby...?" Buffy tried to keep the tremor out of her voice but she knew and if she didn't she would have known the second she saw the haunted eyes that Faith turned to her.

"B... I'm sorry..." Unbeknownst to Buffy, Faith had spent hours every night in the Fates' library researching, trying to find something, anything, to merge their segregated bodies into whole ones here in the Fates' domain. Atropos had joined her after the first night thinking perhaps that she might have forgotten something over the years that might help them.

Then Faith had begun to look for anything that could even just get Buffy away. She didn't care the cost, even if was her own soul, she would pay any price to get Buffy free from Glory and Johnny, any price at all to keep Buffy from ever having to go back there. Neither Faith nor Atropos found anything that could release the Slayers from the other dimension. They kept on researching anyway just in case. Biding their time, waiting for the sixth or seventh day, when hopefully, with the help of the Chosen Twos' family of friends they would escape that place.

Buffy grabbed Faith's hand, squeezing it gently. "No sorrys... We'll get out of this together..."

"Now Atropos..." Faith choked on the words as they came out.

With a nod of her head, the Slayers' were returned to Glory's hell and the Fates were once again in the Tapestry of Life room.
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"Atropos..." Lachesis pleaded with her sister as she sat at the loom.

"You have to tell them... Tell Luc... That skanky-bad-haired excuse for a god and that vermin weren't supposed to be back for two more days..." Clotho's joined her voice to her sister's, sounding a lot like the Dark Slayer.

"Please Atropos you can't leave them there..." Lachesis looked into her sister's sad eyes. She knew Atropos didn't want to leave them there, but those goddamn rules. Always the rules! "Atropos do you really want to have to cut one or both of their Life Threads in two days time? This whole thing should have never happened to begin with. Let alone the cutting of their Life Threads, not now, not this soon, not this way... Atropos please..." Lachesis voice was soft, barely a whisper.

Atropos spent less then two seconds looking at her sisters' crying, pleading eyes. They, like her, admired, respected and loved the Slayers; the Slayers had become a part of their family. She knew Lachesis wasn't lying, knew that there was a real possibility that she might have to cut one or both of their Life Threads. Already the scene in Glory's dimension was starting to play out and with almost one-hundred percent certainty one or both of the Slayers would not survive to see the sunrise on the eighth day within Glory's domain if she didn't do something. This time it all came down to her, only she could stop the cutting of a Life Thread so the choice to break the rules was hers alone.

"Fuck it! That skanky-bad-haired-bitch started this!"

With a fury in her jade green eyes that neither of her sisters had seen in a very long time, and that the Chosen Two, especially Faith would have been proud of, Atropos waved her hand and was gone.
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"LUC!" This time it was Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness, who jumped out of his skin when suddenly someone was behind him.

He whirled around, blinking, not believing his eyes. He heard Spike growling and purring in what he knew was the equivalent of a vampire courting call, and whirled back around on Spike, "Don't even think about it!" He turned around once again; he guided her into the kitchen so they could speak in private. "What are y..."

"I had to send them back. One or both of them will not live to see the sunrise on the eighth day in that bitch's domain. You have to go to Shedu now!"

"What? But it's only the sixth day there! Son of a bitch! It's going to take us almost a full day to get there... If only I could fade them there, but I can't. It doesn't work. I can only move, fade myself to the middle and then to Shedu, even that takes time. We don't have everything we need... fuck we're not ready yet... What the hell am I going to do? I can't leave Buffy and Faith there alone... I have to go help them... distract Glory, something... But I can't leave here; they won't be able to get there... what the h..."

"Luc..." She lightly placed her hand on his arm to stop his rambling. "Tell me what it is that you still need. Then you can tell me how to get to Shedu and where the Slayers are being held. I will lead these Warriors of Light there. This way you can go and help the Chosen Two immediately... "

"Atropos... You... why are you doing this? The rules..."

"Sometimes you have to break the rules Luc... They are family now... this was never meant to be... should never have happened. Neither one of them deserves this... I should have done something the very first second we discovered this within the Tapestry and I will regret that I did not for the whole of my life..."

He gave her a lopsided grin that was brilliant, "I knew there was a reason why I'm still in love with you after all these eons..." Luc's eyes grew wide whe rhe realized what just came out of his mouth. Atropos stared at him, disbelief and hope mingled in her jade green eyes, eyes that he used to lose himself in for hours, once upon a time.

"Luc?" She questioned him softly.

He lifted his hand and gently stroked her hair and whispered to her, "I never stopped, not once, not for a single second..."

The smile she gave him left him blind for a fraction of a second; his heart skipped a beat when she told him softly, "Neither have I... but..."

"Now is not the time..." He finished with a happy sigh none-the-less. "But after this, we will talk and then after the talk..."

She slapped his arm as he dragged her out into the living room.
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Their outer layer and their inner layers rejoined the same second Johnny came busting through the front door.

"Daddy's home, girls! Did ya miss me?"

They were off the couch and on opposite sides of the room from each other so fast that all he saw was a blur of motion. He could hear the low rumbling growls coming from the both of them. He looked at Buffy first who was crouched low, ready to spring, a feral light in her eyes making them more gold than hazel. He turned his attention to Faith next, whose stance was relaxed, almost casual, the same feral light in her eyes. The flecks of emerald green glowed brightly within her dark chocolate eyes, making her look even more like the predatory panther that Buffy often likened her to.

He snarled and gave them a tightlipped thin rabid smile of his own. They took in his appearance, there didn't seem to be a mark on him and something was different about him. Both of the Chosen One's opened their Slayer senses to him like the Fates had taught them. In samesame instant, they knew what was different about him, he was now only a quarter human the rest was pure hell demon. For just a second, terror flickered through both of their eyes but they pushed it down, focusing instead on remaining strong.

He didn't miss the fear in their eyes and he smiled broadly at them showing them what the additional change had brought him. He now had a very long sharp set of upper and lower fangs, they sparkled like they were coated with some shiny substance. He saw their bodies tense minutely. He couldn't wait until they saw his hands, which he had kept behind his back since he entered the room, not to mention the other little powers that came along with his almost full demon state. He ran his tongue over the top set of fangs, loving the way they felt.

"Like 'em....?" Neither Slayer answered him, but then again he hadn't expected they would. He turned his attention to Faith once again locking his eyes with hers, "I can't want to use them on you, baby girl... Can't wait to taste you... I bet you'll taste good..."

They moved forward as one, slowly stalking him. Then they were a blur coming towards him as they tapped in further than they ever had before into the source of what made them Slayers.

There wasn't any way that he could take out both of them at once, coming at him from either side like they were. Then again, he didn't need to. Faith reached him first, her longer legs giving her the advantage, Buffy was only a step behind her. Faith lashed out with her left leg in a knee-strike, and Buffy barely managed to whirl out of the way a second before Faith would have hit her, because Johnny was no longer there.

"Looking for me my little Pets?" He waited to continue until they turned around to face him, "Oh did I neglect to tell you I can do that blinking from one place to another like Glory now? So sorry."

They had not even taken a half a step towards him when he hit them both with darts from the Tranquilizer Guns he pulled out from behind his back. He shot Faith a second time, just to be on the safe side.

The drug worked its way quickly through their bloodstreams; they staggered another step or two. Both swaying drunkenly, fighting with everything they were worth against the effects of the drug on them. First Faith, then Buffy's legs gave out; they both fell to their knees with bone jarring impact. Their world becoming blurry, their limbs heavy, so very heavy, yet they felt like they were floating at the same time. They watched him approach them with glazed eyes in slow motion leaving a rainbow-like trail behind him.

He kicked out and caught Buffy in the shoulder knocking her down to the floor on her back. He giggled like an insane three-year-old as she struggled to get back up.

He turned towards Faith and lashed out with his foot, five times as hard, catching her in the stomach. Smiling as she slid a foot backwards doubled over in pain.

He saw the little tremors, the slight convulsion starting to move through Buffy as she fought against the drug. He knew this was one severely painful drug. Causing hallucinations, disorientation, confusion, extreme muscle cramping, heart palpitations and convulsions; eventually rendering them unconsciousness, but it was a pain-filled trip getting there.

He walked behind Faith and pulled her up by her hair. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her tightly to him, letting the razor-like nails of his fingers slice thinly, delicately across her stomach. He released her hair, and cupped her under her chin pulling her head back harshly onto his shoulder, exposing the long column of her neck. He stood towering over Buffy, holding a struggling Faith against him like she was no more than a two-week-old hissing kitten. He had that same self-satisfied triumphant smug look on his face that Buffy had longed, needed to claw off, that first day here. That need returned to her with a vengeance.

"Slayer-Runt, did Faithy ever tell you about the summer we spent up here after her junkie-whore of a mother died of an overdose?"

With each word, a memory struggled to find its way out of the deark ark place it still lay lurking within Faith. A memory that she had buried so deep, that it had not even come close to surfacing that first night of their captivity here with the rest of her childhood memories.

"No... Well, it was the summer she turned sweet sixteen... So..." He paused and licked the side of Faith's neck, smiling at the taste of the fear in her sweat.

Buffy watched him from under heavy eyes, concentrating on clearing her system of the drug. Using the breathing and meditative methods the Fates' had taught them. She was slowly succeeding, but it wasn't fast enough. She could feel the sheer panic rising up in Faith, could feel bewilderment overtaking Faith as she slipped out of the here and now, sliding back into her past.

"Yummy... As I was saying... I decided to give her a special present. I decided to teach her something. I've heard she actually put it to use once. Do you want to know what it was, Runt?"

The memory slammed into Faith, overtaking her. Creating more terror and fear, then she had ever felt in her whole life. It forced her back in time, the drug confusing her as she was once again caught up in the nightmare of that summer. She was sixteen again, Buffy, vampires, demons, Slayer's, didn't exist, and never had. The only thing real to her was the tortured-filled weeks of the summer she turned sixteen and the real-life monster that was holding her now, cruelly and had been hurting her for years.

"That summer I taught my baby girl all about the five basic torture groups. I'm thinkin' though that it's time I taught them to her again..."

Faith started to struggle against him harder, small whimpers of fear coming from her. "Please don't... please..."

"If I remember correctly we started with blunt or was it sharp Faithy? Guess now I can do both!" He licked his lips lavishly and threw a malicious look at Buffy, smiling widely. Venom dripped from his fangs as he lowered his head towards Faith's neck. He bit her ferociously in the junction where her neck met her shoulder.

The scream came out from some tortured place inside of her soul, as he ripped through her skin and muscle. She felt the venom hissing, slithering under her skin, spreading like wild fire through her, scorching her, boiling her blood. The blood that dripped down from where his fangs punctured her felt, oddly enough, cold on her skin as it trailed its way down her back, her chest, over her breast.

With Faith's scream, a layer of what separated Buffy from that ancient remembered thing that ran through her blood was ripped away. She reached further into herself, into what made her a Slayer and shrugged off enough of the drug's effects to regain her feet.

He pulled his fangs out of Faith in surprise, disbelief running riot over his angelic features as the Slayer-Runt s bef before him. He shoved Faith from him. Before he had a chance to blink himself away, Buffy caught him brutally in the chest with a jumping front-kick. He went flying backwards, landing hard on his ass.

Faith staggered away from him, falling down on her knees again, her body pitching forward. She began to half drag, half pull herself away. Lost in a drug and fear-induced haze, her only thought to escape.

Buffy rushed forward, lashing out with her foot again, hitting him with inhuman force between the legs. His breath caught and he started to choke. It felt like his balls were lodged in the back of his throat. She hit him with rapid-fire right and left crosses, whipping his head back and forth with her punches. The feral light in her eyes making them turn gold, as she growled, hissed, with pleasure seeing him bleed.

Johnny's head began to spin; he put his hand out behind him to stop from falling onto his back. He felt one of the tranquilizer guns with his fingertips; he slid back from her and grabbed the gun. He swung it towards her too fast for her to get out of the way and fired two shots directly into her stomach.

She kept on punching and kicking him, trying to fight off the staggering effects of the drug. She had to protect her mate!

Had to protect Faith!

Had to get them out of here!

Had to stop this!

Had to hurt him like he had hurt them!

Had to...

had to...

had...

He stood when she could barely lift her arms anymore. He shoved Buffy violently backwards. She stumbled; her legs too heavy and cramping on her. She was seeing trails as if she were on a bad acid trip. Her legs gave out and she fell to the floor face first, her arms barely breaking her fall. She tried to rise, but couldn't, "Fai...... I'm sor......" Then the drug overwhelmed her and forced her into the coldness of the darkness' embrace.

Faith heard him coming up behind her; she rolled herself into a protective ball. Her body began to convulse violently from the drug, her temperature rising dangerously from the venom, heating her blood. Pleading hoarsely under her breath until the darkness claimed her, "Pleasesomeonehelpmeplease."
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"That son-of-a bitch... I'm gonna..." Lachesis snarled under her breath, she continued to mumblehersherself as her sister rushed over to her.

"What? WHAT?"

Lachesis just pointed down at the Tapestry of Life.

Clotho looked at the Life Threads of the Chosen Two, her cerulean eyes glinted dangerously. "He is so gonna bleed... Rip... I'll..."

A disembodied voice floated to the two sisters. "You might want to make a brief trip to the Radiance room; I believe there is a spell there called the Amalgamate..."

"Chronos?"

"Yes..." came the voice to them again.

"What..."

"Time is of the essence here..." Chronos's chuckled at his own joke lightly, "...Oh and while you're in the Radiance room, I believe the spell requires a few things for it to work... Harvester, Valor, Fortitude, Emancipator, Amnesty, Witness, Quintessence and Foreshadow... And no... I will not tell you why, you will know why... And in the words of your sister of the heart, the Dark Slayer; It's time for you to motorvate. And Clo..."

"Yes, Chronos..."

"I'd wish you all luck, but you won't need it now... Remember to wait for the sign..."

"Thank you, Chronos..."

"Your welcome Clo..." This time the disembodied voice spoke to an empty room, the sisters were already gone.
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Luc and Atropos finished going over the new plan with the Scoobs and the L.A. crew. Atropos opened her mouth to call for her sisters when they appeared in front of the fireplace before she got the chance. Clotho pulled a large bag off her shoulder and dropped it to the floor; it fell open, its contents spilling out.

"What is this?" Atropos asked as she saw what the bag contained.

"Chronos..."

"You mean like Father Time that Chronos..." Clotho nodded yes at the redheaded witch. "Well then can't he turn back time... stop this... make it not happen at all... if we knew ahead of time then we could stop it... kill Ben... Glory... something..."

"It doesn't work that way, little tree..." Everyone in the room jumped except for the Incarnates when the deep voice of Chronos fed ted to them on the air. "I don't have the power to change what happens, I can only set the clock back... besides I already know I didn't do that so it is not an option..."

"But..."

"No buts... Time is of the essence... You have what you need... Remember to wait for the sign..."

"Clo and Lach explain to them what's going on. What all this is, I need a few minutes alone with Luc. When I get back you can fill me in."

Atropos walked Luc outside to the walled in garden. They stood staring at each other awkwardly for a few minutes.

"So... I should get going... You have everything you need. Be careful... we don't have the same power there that we have here. Glory can't kill us, well I don't think she can, but she can hurt us badly. She can kill them though and I... Just be careful all of you..."

"You too Luc..."

He turned to leave and then spun back around pulling her into his arms. "I..." he paused, not sure if he should say what was in his heart, what he had been hiding for so long. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly letting it all go. "I know we need to talk about this. I know this is not the time or the place. But I never stopped loving you, not for a second. So... Atropos, Aspect of the Fates, I give to you the thread which binds me to you as my eternal soul-mate. I give it to you freely; as I should have a long time ago with no expectation of having you bind yourself to me. I have been and will forever more be yours alone." He kissed her softly on the cheek and let her go.

"Luc I..."

"No." He began anticipating what she was going to say. "This is not a spur of the moment thing for me. I've wanted to do this for what seems like forever. We can talk about it when we all get back safe and sound. You do not have to accept my pledge or bind yourself to me, this is not something I am doing lightly or because of what may or may not happen. I am just doing what I should have done the first time, should have done a long time ago..."

He turned and started walking away from her, fading slowly.

"And so should have I... Lucifer, Prince of Darkness, I accept your pledge, and I give to you the thread which binds me to you as my eternal soul-mate. I give it to you freely, as I too should have a long time ago..."

He turned, "Atropos, Aspect of the Fates, I accept your pledge in return, binding us together now for all eternity."

He flashed her, a lopsided grin his eyes a brilliant sapphire blue and filled with love.

Then Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness was gone.
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He faded into the dungeon that he had spent three days watching Glory torture Johnny in. Neither were there, he was just about to fade out and try the Log Cabin when he felt the air shift behind him. He started turning getting that same gnawing feeling in his stomach the Slayers' had earlier that morning.

"Lucifer..." The thing that was Glory hissed at him, before he had a chance to react, her hand swiped out at him. The razor sharp nails slicing a path through his skin and muscle from his shoulder down to his hip. "So glad you could join us pretty boy..."

Someone or something smashed him in the back of the head; he swayed drunkenly on his feet. He tried to block the next swipe of her hand across his torso but he was too slow. She sliced through his abdomen and he watched incredulously as his blood seeped out from the four long gashes. Another blow to the back of his head sent him pitching forward slowly, as if in a dream, his saw two hands reach out in front of him not even realizing they were his own.

'FUCK! I'm sorry...' was his last thought before his head cracked sickly against the cold black cement floor.
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Excruciating pain greeted her as she woke with a fire-filled gasp. Dully she felt a needle withdrawing from a vein in her arm. She felt bothd and and hot at the same time as the venom from Johnny's fangs burned a path through her veins. Her body was shivering uncontrollably from both the drugs and the fever running through her. She was semi-delirious, hallucinating and knew it, she was caught somehow in both the summer she was sixteen and the here and now. Her arms were slowly being drawn up over her head and she became conscious of the cuffs around her wrists. She couldn't stifle the moan of pain as she was raised up higher until she was hanging by her bound wrists a half a foot off the floor.

She forced her eyes open as far as they would go, they were swollen, and she knew the motherfucker had beaten her viciously while she was helpless and unconscious. She felt something sticky, wet on her back. Blood! Hers! She could smell it. Could feel the wide welts from his favorite belt and it dawned on her that he must have used the buckle end this time.

She stared at the black cement floor knowing they weren't in the Play Room this time. She heard him move from behind her and she rolled her head up and back, the movement making her head spin, her stomach churn. Her head was so heavy, it was almost impossible to keep it raised; she let it rest against her arm. She followed him with her eyes as he moved across the room, the world blurry around the edges. He entered a cage that was similar, only larger then the one in the Play Room and that was when she saw them.

Luc was chained spread-eagle to the bars of the back of the cage. His head hanging down and she could see blood dripping from the back of his scalp over the side of his face to the floor. His shirt hung in tatters on him and there were multiple gashes on his arms, chest and stomach. No one needed to tell her who had given them to him; she had born many similar ones herself. His chest rose and fell evenly and she gave a sigh of relief that he was still alive.

Her eyes slid over to her mate who was also obscenely bound spread eagle to the bars of the back of the cage. Unlike Luc though, both she and her mate did not have any clothes to hide them from Johnny's leering eyes. Buffy's head was dropped down to her chest, her blonde hair covering her face and Faith couldn't tell if she was awake or not. Her body once again covered in purple and black bruises. There were wide stripes across her chest, arms, stomach and legs and she knew Johnny had beaten Buffy with his favorite belt too. Every part of Faith cried out in pain and anguish for her soul-mate.

Silently she cursed herself for ever becoming a part of Buffy's life. Had she just stayed away none of this would have ever happened.
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Johnny stepped out of the cage, closing and locking the door after he had given the wake up shots to both Luc and Buffy. He could feel Faith's eyes following him the whole time he was in there, and now, as he moved over to the stainless steel table against the wall.

"Oh goody everyone's awake... I was getting so bored... Felt like you all were going to sleep forever...Though I did manage to amuse myself a little..." He grabbed a pack of cigarettes off the table and took one out, then started moving back across the room towards Faith.

"Faith..." Buffy's eyes grew wide with horror when she saw her mate.

Faith was covered in blood, angry welts across every part of her body that Buffy could see. Not one inch of her skin wasn't covered in inky-black bruises. Her eyes were practically swollen shut. There were shallow and deep cuts across her skin, from the buckle on the belt and from Joh's r's razor-like nails. Sweat was pouring off her, and Buffy could feel in an echo the fever that was raging through her. The skin surrounding where Johnny had bitten her was raised, swollen, and leaking a sickly looking ochre-colored pus. Blood was already trailing out from under the cuffs that were holding her suspended by the wrists. "Oh god... Faith... I'm sorry... I couldn't st..."

"B... no...t" Her tongue felt thick and swollen in her mouth. The words heavy, hard to form, "...yo...ur... f...ault..."

"That's right B not your fault it's all my baby girl's fault... Ain't that right Faithy?"

Faith felt her stomach clench and churn even more as his foul breath wafted across her face.

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER!"

Johnny moved in close to Faith. He put his arm around her waist, pulling her more intimately into him. His other hand holding the cigarette came up. Razor-like nails traced affectionately over the burn mark high up on the inside of her underarm. A burn he had given her as one of her sixteenth birthday presents.

"You will die for this. If it's the last thing I do you will suffer and die for this." It was not a threat that Luc gave but a promise.

Johnny sneered at him. "You don't scare me Luccccc. You lost any power you had over me the minute you gave me to Glory! In fact, none of you look like a threat to me at all right now. So shut the fuck up or I'll gag you."

Buffy snapped her head towards Luc, before she could say anything Luc cut her off.

He whispered to her, for her Slayer hearing only, his voice full of remorse, sorrow, regret. "Not now! We have to work together to get out of this. You can beat me up later..."

"Count on it..." Buffy snarled at him.

They both struggled futilely against their bindings, straining with their effort. Luc tried to fade out of his chains and found that he couldn't. Fuck! Glory must have had one of her Clerics cast a spell preventing him from using any of his mystical powers. Johnny laughed at them, he rested his head against Faith's raised arm and shoulder, his eyes level with hers.

"So, I believe I was about to reintroduce you to the five basic torture groups before your slut of a lover over there so rudely interrupted us with her pitiful attempt at an attack. I gave you all a little something to make sure that none of you, especially you baby girl, didn't poop out on me. Otherwise, this is going to be over way too fast. We wouldn't want that now, would we?" He used almost the exact words from her past. Words she had said to Wesley when she was torturing him, teaching him the same lesson.

Faith felt sick to her stomach, sick that she had been emulating this man, who was next to her. She knew before he even continued that he would use the rest of the words to hurt her, to haunt her, to remind her of what she had been.

"Now we've only done one of the five basic torture groups. We've had Blunt, but that still leaves Sharp, Cold, Hot and Loud. Have a preference?"

Faith, was once again thrust back into the past, remembering now that the words she had said to Wesley were the same words that Johnny had said to her the summer she had turned sixteen. She felt even sicker, her stomach churning, cramping.

While he waited for her to answer him, he casually lit the cigarette.

"No...? No preference... Then how about I pick for you...? Let's see... Sharp...?" He flicked his razor-like nail carelessly across her skin, making her bleed. "No... No... I think... Hmmm... Hot! Hot that's it. Hot is what I want..." He pressed the glowing tip of the cigarette into the burn mark he had only seconds ago been tracing affectionately.

Buffy and Luc both started struggling harder against their chains. Screaming at him in vain, damming him, cursing him.

Faith choked back the grunt of pain, tears leaked out of the corner of her eyes. She didn't remember the cigarette being this hot before, it felt like a torch against her skin. The smell of her own burning flesh assailed her nostrils, repulsing her, nauseating her. The bile came up fast from her stomach, hot, thick, burning, she rolled her head forward towards him and vomited into his face.

He was so stunned, that she managed to empty the entire contents of her stomach on him before he jerked back from her. He roared out his anger, his fist came up and he smashed her across the face. "You fucking cheap little whore... You'll regret this..."

She laughed in his face, then spit the rest of the vomit and blood that clung to the inside of her mouth in his face. "Thou-ght pigs liked this shit..." She laughed at him again, as he moved away from her stripping out of his soiled clothing and grabbing up a wide leather and chain belt.

She wrapped her hands around thainsains that bound her wrists and waited for him to get close enough to her. She dug down deep into the well of the source of what made her a Slayer and drew strength from there. When he was near enough, she pulled herself up and lashed out at him with both her feet catching him by surprise. The first kick hit him where she knew would do the most damage, right between the legs. He fell to his knees gasping in pain and for the second time that day he felt like his balls were lodged in the back of his throat.

The second kick caught him on the cheek and she growled loudly in satisfaction when she heard the bone break. She caught him on his temple on the other side before he could fall over. Again, she lashed out hitting with the ball of her foot under his chin, the equivalent of a foot-undercut. The force of the kick jerked him slightly up off his knees and sent him tumbling backwards.

He sat up dizzily, wiping the blood from his face, smiling like the madman he was. He was pissed, beyond pissed, but he oh-so loved it when she fought back. It made it all the more fun when he finally broke her and break her, he would. He had not one single doubt about it, not even for a second. He snapped the belt out at her, wrapping the strap tightly around her calf and yanked down hard trying to break her hold on the chains.

Faith let him pull her down and towards him. She used the momentum of the swing and her body weight to pull him towards her. Sit hit him in the face with the bottom of her foot, breaking his nose and knocking his front teeth loose again. She brought the leg up that still had the belt wrapped around her calf and wrapped the belt around his neck twice. He was gasping for air and he reached up trying to cut through the belt with his razor-like nails. She kicked with her free leg at his hands, keeping them away from the belt.

She started lifting him up, the belt growing tighter around his neck and her calf. Her arms were trembling with her effort and she didn't know how long she could keep this up. She could feel that the cuts on her back had reopened, the blood dripping and pooling on the floor below her feet.

He felt his eyes bulging and wished he could truly blink himself away. They thought he blinked from one place to another like Glory, but in reality, he just moved so fast they couldn't see him, not even with their Slayer sight. He was fighting for every breath, his head growing lighter. He couldn't believe that she was able to keep knocking his hands away. How the hell had she gotten so fast, so strong, over the last six days? How the hell was she even moving with all those drugs in her system, not to mention the venom?

He looked up and saw how her arms were trembling fiercely from holding up her own weight and his. He knew she couldn't last much longer, but then again neither could he. An idea came to him. He changed tactics, he feigned going for the belt then at the last second he grabbed her ankle with both hands as she lashed out at him.

He sunk his nails deep into her flesh and pulled down, using both his weight and every ounce of strength that he possessed. He was rewarded with a scream as his nails almost sliced the tendons in the back of her ankle completely in half. He let go with one hand and sliced through the belt. Then he blinked himself across the room.

"Oh I am so gonna make you bleed..." He took one of his favorite thick leather belts, the one with small pointy spikes on it, off the wall. He turned around and started walking back towards Faith.

Buffy started struggling ferociously against her restraints and felt the flesh ripping around her wrists. She didn't care if it took tearing off her own skin to get out of them, she would do it, whatever it cost she was going to get out of them, she had to! She used her own blood to coat her wrists and started slowly to twist them within the cuffs, slicing off skin, determined to get free and help Faith.

Luc saw what Buffy was doing; within a second blood was dripping down from his wrists too.

He made sure he stayed out of reach of her legs and made his way behind her. Johnny snapped the belt out to the side once, just because he liked the noise it made and because he loved the shudder of fear it caused to ripple through Faith's body. He leaned in close to her ear and threw her own words back in her face again, "Before we get started, I just want you to know, if you're a screamer F, feel free..." He stepped back and raised his arm...
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Continued in Chapter XXVI – Enjoy the Silence (Part C)