Chapter 42

Free Falling

A/N: Chapter forty two of the series. I don't know who is still reading this. According to I have received quite a few hits (over 1,800), and I know that doesn't necessary guarantee a review, but that would give me an idea of whether there is someone out there still reading this. I received written confirmation from Carol and the ever faithful Igore. Thank you both for your recent reviews. It keeps me writing this story.

Disclaimer: All belongs to Joss Whedon and the parties involved on airing the shows. Original characters are mine.

Feedback: Sure, that'd be great.

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London, England

The Watcher's Council

December 2017

Later on in her life Willow would say the chaos on that awful December night had lasted hours, but in reality, the attack took mere minutes.

Buffy had left the room in a hurry, closely followed by Faith, who'd only had time to whisper her lover's name before charging hard behind her fellow slayer, headed downstairs to help their sisters and watchers in a deadly fight against the primitive slayers.

Willow, on the other hand, had stayed behind to try to unlock the safety measures keeping the slayers and watchers trapped inside the 'safe' building with the raving turok hans, Xander at his side, unsure of what to do.

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"How the hell did this happen?" Faith asked, leaping four stairs at a time as she followed Buffy.

"Damned if I know." Buffy replied as she looked around to see if there was anything that could be used as a weapon. "Didn't happen to bring a sword with you, right?"

"Sorry, B." Faith replied. "Don't remember where I left it."

"Still got a stake, don't you?" Buffy asked again.

"Yeah." Faith reached into her back and pulled the stake held by her pants' waistband. "Got it."

"Good, let's go to work."

The two slayers appeared on the battleground just to see the slayers had managed to fend off the first attack, but they also noticed several watchers dead on the floor. Buffy felt something twist in her stomach, but knew she had to shut herself off from her feelings if she wanted to get through the battle alive. She felt the link that connected every slayer and was washed in the heat of the battle and frightened by the fear felt by many girls there.

"You all have to keep fighting!" She screamed as she punched a turok han and jammed her stake on the eye of another one. "Focus your attack on the necks! They can die if beheaded!"

The slayers acknowledged her words and they focused their attacks on the only weak spot the primitive vampires possessed. Buffy looked at the windows, still blocked by hard steel, keeping them trapped inside.

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"How are those blocks going?" Giles asked, looking at the screen and feeling a growing pain in his chest whenever he saw any watcher fall or any slayer injured. "Please, Will, tell me you've got it covered."

"I'm doing my best!" Willow said, carrying the override manuals locked in her old office. A bead of sweat covered her head as she went through the volumes as fast as she could, typing furiously on her station, hoping to override the security system.

"It would be easier if I absorbed the book." She said, remembering how she had once been able to absorb the knowledge of books just by touching them.

"Con you do it without going into the dark side?" Xander asked. Willow thought about it for a moment and looked at Giles.

"I'm going to try it. If you see my eyes roll back or the black eyed thing, then slap me on the head or knock me down, ok?" She asked. Giles nodded but quickly stood up behind her.

"I know you can do this." He said. "We trust you."

Willow nodded and began the incantation, carefully using words that wouldn't dab on the side of dark magic. Fortunately, the spell began to work and soon her skin was grafted with many tiny words, her hair the same color as ever and her eyes the usual green.

"Whoa." She said, rubbing her eyes. "I had forgotten how that feels."

"I'm sorry for being insensitive, Will, but..."

"I'm on it." She interrupted Giles. "I know how to override the system. Unfortunately it will take me about four minutes."

"The girls down there don't have that much." He sighed. "Is there something else we can do?"

"I'm sorry." Willow turned sad eyes to him as her fingers began typing. "I'll do my best."

"It's all right, dear." Giles said, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Anything you need, we're right here."

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Faith had picked up a broken sword from the blood stained floor, and tried not to imagine whose slayer's sword it had been. She swung it back and forth, beheading as many vampires as she could. She momentarily looked around, trying to find Robin in the midst of all the violence and struggle. She also knew they would have done anything to stop the vampires to climb further and to try to push them back into the sub levels, which led her to believe Robin had been one of the first to attack back.

Faith pushed her way towards the other end of the stairs, where the turok hans had entered the level. She grunted when a vampire tackled her and sent both of them tumbling over a turned desk and head first into a steel covered window. She felt her head crack and struck back with all her strength, managing to behead the turok han trying to strangle her. The dust settled around and she gasped again when she saw Robin lying on the floor, in the middle of a puddle of blood. All the air left her lungs and her head began spinning as she tried to take a few steps. She knelt in front of her fallen partner and turned him around. She thanked God when she realized the blood wasn't his, and immediately felt bad when she saw the watcher whose blood had bathed Robin.

"Faith! Were are you?" Buffy screamed. "What are you doing?"

"Over here!" Faith shouted as she cradled Robin's head. "Found Robin!"

"Is he all right?"

"He'll live."

"Good, then come help!"

Faith nodded, kissed Robin's forehead, picked her sword and once again joined the fray.

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"Thirty seconds, Giles!" Willow said, her finger moving inhumanly fast. "Let's hope this countermeasures are good and the building will let us out."

"Good. All windows will be open as well, right?" Giles asked. Willow nodded and Giles finally sat back on his chair. "Xander, I don't want to look, but I have to know. How many fallen?"

"I...I don't know for sure." Xander replied. "There's too much noise. Too much blood and vampire dust in the air. I hear only the battle...I...I'm not sure."

"Damn." Giles sighed. "All this time, we were falling in their traps. Their tricks worked perfectly." He ran his hands through his head and sighed again.

"We should have listened to Wesley." He said. "We tried to stop this but more people died. We let it all get out of control and now the army will strike harder."

"We don't know for sure." Xander offered.

"I think it's sure." Giles said. "I've been trying to reach General Ross, but I've received no answer."

"That could mean a lot of things." Xander said.

"Or it could mean he has finally taken action." Giles countered. "Which is worse than it sounds."

"Guys!" Willow shouted. "The countermeasures are in. The doors and windows should open in the next ten to fifteen seconds!"

"Thank God." Giles sighed. "Very good, Will. Dawn, use the microphone and let the slayers know the security measures have been lifted and..."

Giles looked up and scanned the entire room. He looked at Willow and then at Xander, who was silent and confused.

"Where the hell are they?" Giles asked. "Where have Dawn and Annie gone?"

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Dawn almost tripped on the stairs as she was running behind a faster Annie.

"God damn it, kid! I'm not your fucking babysitter!" Dawn shouted. "Stop running!"

Annie heard her aunt but had also heard Willow talk. The redhead had said it would take her almost five minutes to unlock the steel doors and windows, which left the turok hans with three more minutes they needed to hurt the slayers.

So Annie ignored her aunt's words and ran faster, knowing Dawn wouldn't be able to catch her on time before she go to the sub level.

Dawn, on the other hand, realized the same thing and thought of something else. She stopped running on and instead headed to the elevators. She knew there was some amount of power and decided the fastest route between two points was a straight line, up and down.

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Annie frowned when she no longer could hear the footsteps of her aunt, but rationalized she had either tired or would try to reach her through another route. She pushed that out of her mind when she reached level 4 and could hear the sounds of battle. She smiled when the doors began humming and slowly whirl to the side.

'Way to go, Aunt Willow!' She thought before wielding harder the sword she'd picked up from her grandfather's office and charged inside the room.

Her bravado was cut short momentarily when she saw the violent struggle going on inside the now blood covered room.

'Oh mum, I understand now.' She thought as she saw two turok hans noticing her. 'I'm sorry, but I have to do something.'

The vampires struck at her, but the years of sparring with Connor had improved her reflexes and her fighting instincts, which allowed her to duck and avoid the fists of the vampires, and struck back with her sword.

Her strength, combined with her desperation and the sudden adrenaline rush allowed her to slice the sword through one of the vampires' arms and directly behead the other. Annie rolled and struck again, this time loping off the remaining vampire's leg. The turok han growled and fell hard into the ground, it's hands clawing at Annie's own legs. The blonde girl leapt back and turned to find herself in the middle of the fight. The slayers still hadn't had the time to notice the now fully open windows, their possible means for an escape.

Annie looked around, trying to find her mother in the middle of the melee, but failing because of the massive amount of fighters on the reduced space. Annie sighed and leapt atop the same turned desk Faith had seen Robin lying next to, and shouted with all she got.

"Turn around! The windows are fully open!"

Some slayers turned around and some cheers were listened. Annie quickly jumped out of the way when two slayers tossed mangled turok hans out of the window, and some others seemed to be contemplating the idea of jumping out into the street.

"Annie?" Buffy suddenly shouted as she had beheaded a turok han. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Annie smirked and lifted her sword. "Trying to help, mum!" And to demonstrate, Annie beheaded a turok han that was in the middle of a fight against another slayer. The aid was thoroughly appreciated as the slayer smiled and swatted Annie's behind.

"Hell of a girl you've got, boss!" The slayer said as she ran past Buffy to help other fighters. "Hell of a girl."

Buffy smiled at the compliment and headed towards her daughter, fending off a couple of turok hans before finally standing next to her.

"Ok, you've proved your point. Now get upstairs and go with your grandfather." Buffy said, looking around to assess the damage and the well being of her slayers.

"But mum, there are still a lot of vampires here, and..."

"I said up!" Buffy interrupted her daughter. "I know you can help, but I don't want you fighting on closed quarters!"

"The windows are open, mum! We can get out the moment we..."

Annie didn't finish her sentence when four turok hans charged Buffy and her. The elder slayer kicked one in the stomach, but the rush of the other three pushed the doubled over vampire into her sword, effectively stopping her from using it against the others. Annie quickly struck with her sword, but it caught a vampire's shoulder, instead of its neck. She only had the time to look at her mother's eyes when they were both tossed out of the window and into the street four levels below.