Future's Hope: Into The Woods. (part two)

[Firecracker]

Title: Futures Hope : Into the Woods
Author: Firecracker
Disclaimer: The buffy verse and its character's do not belong to me, however Hope does.


A/N: The first story takes place around two weeks after the season seven final. It is a AU continuation of the show... where basically Buffy ripped the amulet off Spike after the first and all the vampires were killed but before it had chance to finish the job and destroy the hellmouth. Sunnydale was not destroyed and Spike is very much alive, well as alive as Vampires get. The potentials turned slayers have all returned to their homes and will continue to slay vamps and demons there.

Also during 7x20 Touched, Faith and Wood never got it on, it was Xander who came to the room and he and Faith talked.

This is a follow up story to Enter Hope, so it might not make any sense unless you've read that first.

Cast:

Sarah Michelle Geller : Buffy Summers
Michelle Trachtenburg : Dawn Summers
Eliza Dushku : Faith Lehane
Jessica Biel : Hope

Tom Lenk: Andrew Wells

Iyari Limon : Kennedy
James Marsters : Spike
Alyson Hannigan : Willow Rosenburg
Nicholas Brendon : Xander Harris



Previously on Buffy the vampire slayer...

"So think we might see any action tonight, ?cause we've been out there almost every night since the apocalypse and not one vamp." Kennedy said sounding a little fed up...

"Well who knows tonight might be our lucky night." Faith said trying to sound positive...

"My watcher sent me here to help you, I'm from the future, my name is Hope."

"Wait did you just say Scythe's as in plural there's only supposed to be one?" Willow said.

"Yes but that was also said to be true about slayers wasn't it" Hope said

"You see the Scythe that was passed on to me isn't yours Buffy it's Faith's." Hope told them.

"Faith comes to Sunnydale after the death of her watcher and slays vampires there for a year or so before returning to Boston...

Hope said filling them in on what she knew.

"Why the hell did we tell them I was in Boston?" Faith asked standing up.

"Maybe because you deserve a second chance." Buffy said meeting faith's eyes letting her know she meant it.

"You wanna know if you and Spike are together in the future?" Hope asked

"You are, and you're happy. This isn't some passing phase he doesn't leave you for you're own good or run off and come back months later married. This is the real deal. It's destiny, Forever." Hope tells Buffy.

"I guess somewhere deep down I've always known, but I was always too scared to admit it." Buffy said looking into Spike's eyes.

"But I'm not afraid anymore. I love you." she told him

"I love you." he repeated before leaning in to kiss her.

"When do we start?" Faith asked

"Tomorrow at noon I found a couple of nests on my way though town took out one tonight." Hope told them.

The vampires were sat around on old pieces of furniture and boxes when suddenly the large blacked out window on the left side of the building came crashing through, Hope who had just dived through it landed on her feet glass falling around her. The vampires began to scramble in all directions to avoid the sun's ray's that where coming through the broken window.

Teaser:

It was nine thirty when Hope walked through the back door of the Summers Home, she had woke up early and decided to go for a walk. She had enjoyed herself at The Bonze last night, it was actually kinda cool, she had decided after been there for only an hour. Xander had explained that they had been coming here since they were in high school, he even told her some very entertaining stories that had happened there over the years, such as Willow's vampire self from another universe taking over the place, Olaf the troll completely wrecking the place. He also mentioned the gang following a certain vampire slayer by the name of Faith Lehane, out into the ally after seeing her leave with a vamp, only to find out that she wasn't his next victim he was hers.

"Good times." Faith had said with a huge grin as she handed them both a double shot of Jack Daniels after declaring them as her designated drinking buddies for the evening.

Closing the door behind her she found the kitchen empty, hearing voices she headed towards the living room where they were coming from.

"I still say it's a good idea, the apocalypse is over we won, I say we party." Faith declared.

"See Faith agrees with me." Xander told them.

Not one of them had noticed Hope who was standing in the doorway, not wanting to be stood there forever she cleared her throat, the whole room fell silent and turned to face her.

"Hey." Hope said by way of a greeting before stepping into the room.

"What's going on?" she asked a puzzled look crossing over her face.

"Well I said that we should go to The Bronze again tonight, figured after everything that's happened we could use a little fun." Xander replied his thoughts drifting to Anya a pained look washed over his face but was gone within the next second, unnoticed by all but Willow.

"And I still say we should be out patrolling." said Kennedy from where she sat next to Willow.

"You can't do both? From what Xander told me last night you guy's used to all the time." Hope said offering her opinion.

"Future Girl does have a good point either way one night off isn't going to kill anyone." Faith said
"Well I hate to be the one to tell you this but it already has." said Dawn who moved to stand beside Hope, she held up the mornings newspaper for them all to see. The headline read "Third body found in woods"

"May I?' Hope asked indicating towards the news paper.

"Say's here the guy was mauled, estimated time of death was some time yesterday evening."

Hope read before handing the news paper over to Buffy.

"Werewolf?" Asked Faith

"Could be, it was a full moon last night." Willow informed them.

"No it says here the first two victims were killed during the day." Buffy told them, placing the paper on the coffee table.

"Yogi had a bad day?" Xander offered trying to lighten the mood.

"We should have been out there, we should have stopped this." Buffy said sitting in the small armchair.

"Well we were kind of busy, what with the whole trying to stop the world from ending thing." Willow told her.

"And last night?" Buffy asked.

"One thing I've learnt is that you can't save everyone, it's tragic I know but sometimes all you can do is stop it from happening again." Hope told her.

"Hope does have a good point Buff, you shouldn't blame yourself." Xander said.

"Yeah you guys are right." Buffy admitted.

"So what do we do now?" asked Kennedy

"We go to the woods, see if we can find anything." Buffy said.

"We could hit the books." Dawn offered.

"Yeah me and Dawn can hit the books and willow can jump into the web see if anything like this has happened before." Xander agreed.

"Yeah that'd help a lot thanks guy's." Buffy said before standing up and walking over to the weapons chest in the corner of the room.

Picking out a small dagger and some throwing stars Buffy moved aside so that the other slayers could pick their weapons. Faith choosing a pair of matching knives and Kennedy going for a small dagger and her crossbow, Hope stood there for a moment before picking out a pair of bladed Sai's.

"You know how to use those things Future Girl?" Faith asked

"Since I was fourteen." Hope said with a smirk before twirling them around in front of her for a few seconds.

"Ok lets go, I've got my cell if you guy's find anything." Buffy said before walking to the front door.

She stood for a second waiting for Faith to finish putting on her denim jacket, turning around she walked out of the door with rest following behind

[Firecracker]

Chapter One:

Willow and Xander were sat alone at the large table in the dining room. They had been researching for almost an hour when Willow had asked Dawn to go down to the basement and fill Spike in of the morning's events. The room had remained silent for a few minutes after that.

"It's ok to miss her, to think about her." Willow finally spoke up.

"You've been waiting to say that all morning huh?" Xander asked after a short pause.

"Sorta." Willow said with a sheepish smile.

"I'm ok Will, I'm not saying I'll ever be completely alright with it, or that the hills are alive with the sound of music, but I'm getting there." He admitted with a sad smile.

"I know you to were just starting to..." Willow began then stopped not really knowing what to say.

"It's hard I keep thinking maybe if I'd been there I could've stopped it y' know." Xander said finally meeting Willow's eyes.

"But I'm not gonna sit around and mope about it or let it hold me back, because I know Anya wouldn't want that." He said.

"And on the up side there's bound to be some women out there who finds guys with an eye patch sexy and mysterious." he added.

"Yeah, plus who can resist the Xander Harris charm?" Willow added, before taking another glance at the computer screen.

"Spike said he'll go to Willy's see if he can find anything out..." said Dawn as she walked back into the room stopping when she saw what was going on.

"And I Just interrupted a big emotional conversation didn't I? I'll just go ... and sit, I'll be in here." she said turning around.

"No Dawn it's fine we were actually done. Come rejoin the party." Xander said patting the chair next to him.

"You said Spike's going to Willy's?" Willow asked looking up from her lap top.

"Yeah he's gonna use the sewer tunnels." Dawn said grabbing another book.

"Something's going on." She added.

"You find something?" Both Willow and Xander asked at the same time.

"No not this I mean them Buffy and Spike, they were together all last night, I swear she was almost glowing." Dawn said.

"As long as she's happy." Xander said not taking his gaze off the book in front of him. There was a short silence before Dawn spoke.

"Ok did I just land in some alternative universe or something?" she asked.

"I talked with Hope last night while we were out" Xander began.

"She told me they're together, that he treats her right and that she's happy. I'm not saying I love the idea but it's Buffy's choice and I can respect that. Just don't put me down for any "I heart Spike" t-shirt's just yet." he finished

"Your right and then there's that whole he travelled halfway across the world to fight for his soul, so that he could be with her." Added willow before getting back on track with the research.

"Besides if she's gonna be with a vamp better Spike than Dead Boy." Xander added before the subject was finally dropped.

"So what do you guy's think about Hope?" Dawn asked.

"Good drinker, the girl can hold her whisky, drank both me and Faith under the table." Xander spoke up.

"And I'm sure neither of you minded." Dawn added with a mischievous grin referring to Faith and Xander.

"I'm going to ignore that last comment Dawn Summers." He said before casting his gaze back towards the book in front of him.

"She seems nice enough, and she gets along with the others, she's even helping Kennedy out with her training." Willow said.

"Yeah your right, I kinda feel bad for her though, doesn't sound like she had much of a choice in coming here." Dawn said voicing her opinion of the future slayer.

"Speaking of the others, I wonder if they're having any better luck." Xander said.

[Firecracker]

Chapter Two:

"Is it just me or does anyone else think the woods are creepy?" asked Kennedy as they made their way towards the crime scene.

"Your not gonna need a hug are you brat." Faith asked putting her arm around Kennedy's shoulder.

"Please tell me they're not still like this in the future." Buffy said as she walked beside Hope.

"Oh yeah." Hope replied.

Buffy's shoulders lowered and she shook her head in defeat. They continued to walk for a short while before coming to a small area that had been taped off by the police.

"Ok me and Kennedy will check this out why don't you two take a look around see if you can find anything." Buffy said as she and Kennedy ducked under the tape.

Hope and Faith set off soon after searching the surrounding area, but staying in eyesight of the others.

"You're from the future any of this ringing a bell?" Faith asked as she moved a branch out of her way.

"Not really." Hope admitted stepping in beside Faith.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked coming to a stop.

"Sure." Hope replied stopping as well.

"The Scythe?mine?yours?ours." Faith said shaking her head at the last part?

"Why does it have those scratches on the blade, I thought the thing was suppose to be impervious." Faith said taking a step forward.

Hope didn't have time for to reply, looking down Faith saw her left foot was placed in a bear trap, thanks to her slayer reflexes she was able to move her foot just in time. There was a split second before the trap snapped closed, causing them both to jump back.

"Jesus Christ!" Faith shouted

"That thing almost took my leg off!" she said looking at Hope who was staring at the trees in front of them.

Suddenly an arrow came flying through the air, with a quick movement Hope shot her hand out and caught it a few inches away from her own face. Out of the corner of her eye Faith saw Buffy and Kennedy running towards them.

"What's going on we heard you shout..." Buffy didn't get to finish as Hope caught yet another arrow that was this time headed for Buffy.

"Don't move its a trap." Hope told them as she reached for one of the sai's that were placed in the pockets on either side of her jeans.

Staring ahead for a moment she threw the weapon towards a small cluster of tree's that were in front of them. Seconds later a demon fell from the tree, and landed on the ground. Dead.

"Ok what just happened we heard you shout?" Buffy asked.

"I almost got my leg ripped off that's what happened." Faith said pointing at the bear trap.

"Just getting over that then Robin Hood over there starts firing at us." Hope said pointing to the demon.

"Well I think we might have found what we were looking for, I think whatever killed those people is just past those trees." Buffy said as she began to walk towards where the demon was.

The others followed closely behind as they walked past the demon Hope grabbed her weapon and returned it to its former place, before catching up to the others. They continued to walk straight forward when suddenly there was a flash of light.

"Whoa? what just happened?" Kennedy asked.

They all came to a stop looking around them at their surroundings, they were still in the woods but it was now night.

"Wild stab but I don't think were in Sunnydale anymore." Hope said looking around.

"Or maybe we are." Faith said causing the others to turn around.

Turning around they all looked towards the way they had just come it was still day there, it appeared they were in another universe or something that had been cloaked.

"Oh this should be fun." Buffy commented

[Firecracker]

Chapter Three:

"You had to be right didn't you B." Faith said looking around.

"Ok just an idea, but why don't we go back to the house grab some more weapons and find out what we're actually dealing with." Buffy suggested.

Seeing that would be their best option the slayers began to walk back the way they had come. As Kennedy walk towards the sunlit area she was thrown backwards landing on the ground behind the others who rushed to her side as she began to sit up.

"What the hell?" she asked rubbing the back of her head.

Hope moved away as the others helped Kennedy to her feet. Bending down she picked up a small rock from the ground and threw it in the direction they had been walking. It hit some kind of barrier then bounced off like Kennedy had.

"Ok that's not good." said Buffy.

"Its like this place is cloaked, it'd explain why we didn't see it." said Kennedy.

"I'm less concerned with the how we got here, and more with the how we get out." Faith said running her hand along the barrier.

"Something tells me this day isn't gonna get any better." Hope said pointing at a small group of demons who were charging towards them.

"Looks like the welcoming committee." Faith said pulling the knives from her coat, the others doing so as well.

Buffy tackled the nearest demon to the ground, punching him a few times then stabbed him with his own sword before throwing her dagger into the back of a demon that was headed for Kennedy who was preoccupied with another demon. With her knives Faith swung at the demon who narrowly avoided been cut to shreds, a powerful kick sent him into the barrier before slumping to the ground. Kennedy still wasn't getting anywhere with the demon, she swung at him but he dodged her attacks, punching her in the stomach he didn't give her time to recover hitting her again he sent her head first into the nearest tree. She slumped to the ground and lay there unmoving.

"Kennedy!" Faith shouted before rushing the demon that was now going in for the kill.

Jumping on his back she placed her hands on either side of his head and gave it a quick twist that was followed by a sickening crack, the demon and Faith fell to the floor. Buffy helped Hope who had two of them on her. Grabbing Hope by the throat the demon lifted her into the air, struggling to release herself from his grip she reached for one of the sai's at her side lifting it she stabbed him threw the eye with it, which resulted in them both crumpling to the ground. Coughing Hope rubbed her throat as she stood up.

"Chump." was all she said before joining Faith who was knelt at Kennedy's side.

Buffy dodged attacks from the second demon before gaining the upper hand, and slicing his head off with the sword she had gained earlier. With that taken care of she walked other to the others.

"She's out cold." said Faith from where she was knelt beside Kennedy.

"What do we do now, we can't leave so..." Hope began.

"Well whatever it is we can't stay here we need to move." Buffy said looking around them.

"B's right when those guys don't turn up they'll send more." Faith said.

"Ok well you two grab what weapons you can of those guys and I'll get Kennedy." Hope said as she lifted her over her shoulder.

"This way," Buffy said leading the way with Hope between her and Faith so they could cover her and Kennedy if there were anymore attacks.

"Ok we get outta this in one piece someone's going on a diet." Hope said referring to Kennedy.

They continued to walk for a short distance before coming to a halt.

"You see that." Buffy said pointing to an area of the woods that was lit with torches.

"You think that's where our welcoming committee came from?" Faith asked as she helped Hope lower Kennedy to the ground.

"Well it would explain why there are about thirty demons surrounding us right now." said Hope.

Buffy and Faith who had been concentrating on the area in front of them turned to see that Hope was right.

"This day's not gonna get any better is it?" Buffy asked Hope.

"We could take them." Faith said counting the demons.

"Sure you take the ten on the left we'll get the ..." Hope began but broke off suddenly. Looking around her the woods began to spin.
"Hope you ok? Hope?" Buffy asked the younger slayer.

"Yo! Future girl you in there?" Faith said after there was still no response from Hope.

"You were right this days not gonna get any better." Hope said before collapsing.

Landing face down on the ground Buffy and Faith saw that there was a dart sticking out of her back, Kneeling beside her Buffy pulled out the dart and Faith rolled her over onto her back.

"Get out of here, run." was all Hope said before darkness claimed her.

Before either of them could move the demons closed in on them, suddenly Buffy felt a sharp sting in her shoulder, looking down she saw a dart imbedded there.

"This is bad." she said pulling out the dart as her vision began to blur.

At the same time Faith was hit in the stomach with a dart. With all the slayers out for the count the demons moved in.

[Firecracker]

Chapter Four:

"Ok that settles it I'm never going into the woods again." Hope said as she came around.

Sitting up she took in her surroundings for the first time. She saw that she and Kennedy were in some kind of a ring made by some small rocks, while Faith and Buffy were in another.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." Kennedy said from where she sat in the circle.

"Could say the same to you, How's your head?" Hope asked.

"As well as it can be after been slammed into a tree." Kennedy replied as Hope began to walk to the edge of the circle.

"I wouldn't try to cross those." Buffy said.

Faith picked up a small stone from the ground and threw it towards the rocks in their circle, it hit something and bounced straight back.

"You have got to be kiddin'." Hope said before punching the barrier repeatedly, realizing it was no use she sat back down.

"You think we haven't tried that, B here got tossed she hit the thing that hard." Faith said.

"Do we know anything?" Hope asked.

"No but I think we're about to." Buffy said pointing to two demons who were headed there way.

"That was a prime kill last night but have I got a treat for you." the smaller of the two said as they walked towards them.

"Slayers, how..." the larger demon asked.

"They were found wondering the woods, they must have slipped through the barrier like the humans did." the smaller demon replied.

"This is truly a great challenge." the larger demon said as he looked the slayers over.

"That one." he said pointing to Kennedy. "I sense new power."

"Excellent choice. This will be the fifth slayer you've fought am I correct?" the smaller demon asked.

Hope stepped in front of Kennedy, she couldn't let the demon fight her. In the future Kennedy would have kill him in a heartbeat, but this wasn't the future. Kennedy's fighting skills were improving with each day they trained but if she fought this demon he'd kill her, no doubt about that.

"You killed those people didn't you?" Hope asked already knowing the answer. The only answer she received from the demon was a grin.

"I'm guessing you've never lost a fight either?" Hope asked. The demons smile widened.

"What'd they last three minutes, Five? You want a good fight something with a challenge, you really think she can give you that?" she said pointing at Kennedy who was about to defend herself but was interrupted by the demon.

"I have made my decision." was all that the demon said.

"You sure about that?" Hope said before grabbing Kennedy and throwing her into the barrier.

"What the hell are you playing Hope?" Buffy shouted.

"She knows what she's doing." Faith muttered.

"You'll fight her, you'll win then what the fight will have been as empty as the rest." Hope said pushing Kennedy back down to the ground with her foot.

"Look at her! she can't even fight her own kind, what kind of a fight could she possibly give you!" she yelled at the demon.

Kennedy who was now on her feet swung at Hope, punching her in the face she was just about to go for another attack when Hope grabbed her by the shoulders and head butted her, letting go Kennedy fell to the ground unconscious.

"Woops how's she gonna fight you now." Hope asked as she walked to the edge of the circle.
The demon stood there for a few seconds clearly pissed off suddenly his hand shot through the barrier and seized her by the throat.

"You wish to fight me slayer? Do you wish to die?" he asked from where he stood outside the barrier.

"Who say's I'm going to?" Hope asked, if the demon wasn't pissed before he was now.

"Bring her to me." the demon said before throwing her to the other side of the circle and walking off.

The moment the demon was gone Hope knelt beside Kennedy to see if she was alright, then turned to face the others.

"When she wakes up tell her I said sorry ok." she said.

"Why?" was all Buffy asked.

"Do you honestly think she could have beaten him?" Hope asked.

"Hope he could kill you." Buffy said understanding now what Hope had done.

"He won't." Hope replied.

"What makes you so sure?" Faith asked.

"What's the first rule of slaying?" Hope asked before the barrier was brought down and the demons dragged her away.

Buffy and Faith looked at each other for a second before turning to see Hope been dragged away.

"Don't die." they said in unison.

[Firecracker]

Chapter Five:

They had been researching for over four hours now and they hadn't found anything. Willow had looked over the police files three times already and the computer screen was beginning to go all fuzzy from looking at it for so long.

"I don't know about you two but this is really starting to grate my cheese." Xander said throwing the book he had been reading onto the table.

"Tell me about it, there were words in this book an hour ago now it's just squiggle." Dawn said placing the book on the table.

"Hey I think I found something." Willow said not lifting her eyes from the screen.

"Old news paper reports, the same thing happened fifth teen years ago a group of campers went missing their bodies were found less then a week later." Willow told them.

"Well that would explain why we don't remember anything we were what six, seven?" Xander asked.

"Whoa." Willow said suddenly.

"Good whoa or bad whoa?" Dawn asked.

"It happened fifth teen years before that, a man went missing while walking his dog they found his body in the woods three day's later." she read to them.

"Fifth teen years between the murders looks like we just found our pattern." Xander said.

At that moment Spike burst in through the front door holding a large gray blanket above his head in an attempt to protect himself from the sun's harmful rays. Closing the door behind him
he hurried into the dining room where he found the others sat around the table exactly where he had left them earlier that afternoon.

"We've got trouble." Spike said looking at group "The slayers back yet?" he asked.

"Not yet, did you find something?" Dawn asked the vampire.

"There's something big going down in the woods happens every fifth..." Spike began.

"Fifth teen years?" Willow said.

Then off of Spike's questioning look she explained.

"We found some old newspaper reports, people going missing in the wood's their bodies were found days later." Willow told him.

"The demon I spoke to said it happens every fifth teen years, didn't know how long its been going on." Spike told them.

"How long what had been going on?" Xander asked.

"Told me that it's another universes, there all the time we just don't see it is'all, every fifth teen years the barrier that separates it from our world disappears." Spike told them what he had learnt.

"And of course it has to be in Sunnydale." Xander said shaking his head.

"What do you mean disappears?" Dawn asked suddenly.

"It means the demons are free to come into this world and us into there's."

"Well that explains our missing people..." Willow began but was cut of by Spike.

"S 'not all I learnt the demons have battles, they fight each other, people, anyone who happens to slip in through the gateway. S'not that uncommon the bloody Romans did it there was even word of something similar going on in LA a couple years back two brothers running their own octavian matches." Spike informed them.

"Those people just walked in there, they had no idea..." Willow said understanding everything now.

"How long, how long till the barrier goes back up again?" Xander asked.

"Not sure about that one mate, he said it was soon though." Spike said then a look of panic washed across his face.

"You said the slayers haven't bin back at all 'as anyone spoke with 'em?" Spike asked.

"You don't think...?" Willow began as realization began to set in.

Xander suddenly reached for his cell phone that was on the table and began to punch in Buffy's number. Raising it to his ear he remained silent for a few seconds.

"There's no answer." He said.

Spike suddenly moved towards the living room walking to the weapons chest he opened in and pulled out a large battle axe.
"Sunset?s in ten minutes then we're going after them." He said. Nobody argued.

Faith sat alone in the circle of rocks, after the guards had dragged Hope away the smaller demon had remained behind, he wore a black robe that had golden swirls around the sleeves and hood, he looked like something out of a really bad cartoon she had thought to herself. He had preformed some kind of a spell to move Buffy into the same circle as Kennedy after they had been arguing over what to do. He told them he didn't want a repeat of earlier.

Kennedy had woke less than fifth teen minute after Hope had been taken, she had been pissed off at first but had calmed down after realizing that Hope had probably saved her life. Faith just sat there throwing a small stone at the shield, it would bounce back and she would do the same again. After being in prison she was use to being confined to a small space.

"You don't think she..." Kennedy asked even though she didn't want to.

"She'll be fine. I get the feeling she's dealt with worse." Faith said hoping she was right.

A few minutes passed all of them remaining silent until Kennedy spoke.

"Head's up." she said pointing to two demons wearing matching armor who were heading their way dragging Hope behind them.

The demons approached Faith's circle stopping just in front of it. Picking Hope up they threw her into the barrier, so that she landed beside Faith who gently rolled her over so that she was lying on her back. They all gasped when they first saw her. The white top that she wore was now covered in blood and dirt. There were some large claw marks along the top of her left arm and across her chest just below her throat. A large cut ran down the side of her face and blood trickled slowly from her nose and mouth.

"Oh my God." Kennedy gasped when she saw the future slayer.

"What did you do?" Buffy yelled at them, with no answer she began to pound against the barrier. "What did you do?"

The larger of the two demons that had a nasty looking scar where his right eye should have been simply smirked at her before he and the other demon walked away.

Faith began to shake the injured slayer being careful not to cause anymore damage, they were all relieved when Hope's eyes fluttered open.

"Thank God." Buffy said.

"Remind me never to do that again." Hope said.

"The demon?" Kennedy asked.

"Dead, Kicked his ass." replied Hope.

"Look's like he kicked yours too." Faith said noting Hopes injuries.

"Little bit." Hope said sitting up with Faith's help.

"Any sign of a cavalry?" Hope asked the others.

"Nope, nada, zilch." the others replied one after the other.

"I hate the woods." Hope said before bowing her head and shaking it in defeat.

[Firecracker]

Chapter Six:

Shortly after the sun had set the gang had got into Xander's car and headed for the woods. The ride there had been quiet mostly as Willow had been concentrating on a locater spell from where she had been sat behind Spike who was riding shotgun. Pulling the car into a small lay by opposite the woods Xander turned off the engine, and shifted in the seat so that he could see Willow.

"Any luck with the spell?" Xander asked her.

"No I've been trying the whole way over here, they must be blocking it somehow." Willow said before she and the others got out of the car.

Spike was the first to walk across the road and towards the woods, the others walking behind him trying to keep up. Xander, stepping in so that he was walking beside the vampire.

"The spell didn't work how are we supposed to find them?" Willow asked as they walked further into the woods.

"I'll find them. The blood I can smell it." Spike stated.

"Ew." Dawn said wrinkling her nose.

"and in terms of a plan?" Xander asked

"We find them we get them out and kill whatever gets in our soddin' way." Spike said as he lead the others towards the crime scene.

"Sound's good enough to me." Xander said.

'Merlin' as she had decided to name him and the two guards that had brought Hope back stood watching over the slayers. The one eyed demon still wore that hideous grin that Faith really wanted to wipe off his ugly face.

She was suddenly growing tired of the whole confinement thing as she paced backwards and forwards in the circle she shared with Hope.

"Ten more minutes in here and I'm gonna snap." she said as she continued to pace.

"We'll find a way out." said Buffy who was also getting tired of being trapped there.

"How, by sittin' on our asses? Tell you what B you wait for your pals to come save the day me I've had enough." Faith said

"Faith this isn't Buffy's fault. Why are you..." Hope began

'You knew about this didn't you? You had to. You know everything else, what did it just slip your mind? Or did you plan for this to happen." Faith accused

"Faith I swear to you I had no idea." Hope said

"God have you listened to yourself?" Kennedy asked beginning to think Faith had gone mad.

"Kennedy's right Faith, I'm not the bad guy." Hope said trying to make the older slayer see sense.

"Oh so you two are best bud's now? Wasn't too long ago you were kicking the crap out of her." Faith said.

"To protect her, If it would have been you or Buffy I would have done the same." Hope said trying to argue her case.

"You honestly think you could take me Future Girl?" Faith asked.

"Faith, stop this." Buffy said, fearing what was about to happen.

"I'm not gonna fight you Faith." Hope said standing her ground.

"Come on don't go soft on us now Hope. Show us what you got." Faith said goading her in to a fight.

Hope stood still not daring to taking her eyes off of Faith for even a second.

"Show me!" Faith said pushing the future slayer so that she almost fell to the ground. "Show me!"

'Merlin remained sat down simply watching the slayers.

"Master what should we do?" One eye asked as he took a step forward.

"We do nothing." replied their master as he continued to watch.

Hope suddenly snapped sending a nasty right cross to the left side of Faith's jaw which sent her into the barrier. Turning around to face Hope she moved her hand up to her bottom lip tracing her fingers along it for a second she looked at them and saw a tiny droplet of crimson blood.

"There you go, knew you had it in you somewhere." Faith said before rushing the other slayer

Faith sent Hope flying into the barrier with a roundhouse kick before she could regroup Faith was on her again lifting her onto her feet she went to hit Hope who ducked to avoid being hit again. Faith punched the barrier so hard she was sent flying across the circle and landed on the ground. Before she could stand Hope rapped her arm around her throat and pulled her up so that Faith was on her knees. Hope who was stood behind Faith tilted her head so that she could see Faith's face.

Before either Buffy or Kennedy knew what was happening Faith pulled out a small throwing knife and stabbed Hope in the thigh with it. Screaming in pain Hope let go of Faith and clutched her wounded leg as Faith stood up and began to stalk towards her with the knife in her hand.

"Master with all due respect now would be a good time to bring the barrier down." the smaller demons said.

"Damit, get in there but don't kill them we still need them." their master ordered.

He had made promises of fights with the slayers to the demons of this dimension and if they didn't get their fight he would be a dead man.

A second later the barrier was brought down acting quickly Faith threw the knife at Merlin hitting him in the chest it killed him instantly. The barrier around Buffy and Kennedy went down and the slayers began to surround the two demons.

"What the hell was that?" Buffy asked Faith and Hope.

"We had a plan." Faith shrugged.

flash

"You wanna get outta here?" Faith asked her voice low enough so that only Hope could hear her.

"What do you have in mind?" Hope asked her voice matching Faith's quiet tone.

"We fight." Faith replied.

"That's it, that's your big plan?" Hope asked beginning to think the older slayer had gone crazy.

"Don't you get it Merlin over there has probably been promising all of his buddies a fight with a slayer. They don't get one they'll kill him, so we fight he'll lift the barrier." Faith explained.

"and when the barrier's down we kill him which will lift the barrier around the others." Hope said now seeing the logic in Faiths plan.

"Good plan." Hope said.

"You sound surprised. You ready?" Faith asked.

"As I'll ever be," Hope said not looking forward to having her ass kicked again.

Flash

The two demons looked at the four slayers that surrounded them knowing this wasn't going to end well. Faith grabbed one eye from behind she pulled out a large Knife that had been sheathed at his side and stabbed him in the chest with it. Buffy took out the remaining demon with a round house kick that sent him into the nearest tree he slumped to the ground unconscious.

"This way." said Hope as she stepped forward.

"Are you sure?" Kennedy asked.

"You wanna fight a whole mess of demons then go that way." Hope said pointing in the opposite direction.

"If not follow me I got a pretty good look around when they took me." Hope said leading the way.

They walked for a short distance each of them on guard. Hope stopped suddenly looking to the left side of them.

"I think we've got company," she said only to be proven right a few seconds later when about twenty demons stepped out from behind the trees.

"Plan?" Faith asked looking around them.

"We fight?" Kennedy asked

"I don' know about you but I don' really feel like having my ribs bashed in again." Hope said.

"We run." Buffy said.

"Run? I can barely walk." Hope said pointing at her injured leg.

"You got a better idea?" Faith said rapping Hopes arm over her shoulders for support before they began to run in the direction they had been headed.

It hadn't taken them very long to find the crime scene they had looked around for a few minutes before walking further into the woods. Suddenly Willows voice broke through the silence.

"Wait don't move." she told them pulling out a small book from the bag she had brought with her.

Flipping it open she began to read in some language that none of the others could understand, shortly after she had finished there was a flash of white light. Looking ahead of them they saw the slayers appear out of nowhere running towards them with a group of demons behind them.

"Look's like we found the gateway." Spike said

As they ran the slayers could see the gang about to come through the gate way.

"How do you know the barriers not going to be there?" Kennedy asked as she ran

"The barriers around us went down when Faith killed the demon so in theory..." Hope said

"In theory?" Buffy said not liking the sound of that.

Before the gang could enter the gate way the slayers came through almost running into them, the demons that had been chasing them slowed a little two of them running straight towards them only to be thrown back. The area around them began to shake and the demons began to retreat.

"What's happening where are they going?" Kennedy asked

"The gateway it's closing." Willow said.

"Look's like you got out just in time slayer." Spike said smiling at Buffy who smiled back before placing a kiss on his cheek.

The others saw but said nothing as they began to make their way home.

[Firecracker]

Chapter Seven:

"Never again," Buffy said as she walked along beside Spike. "I don't care what's at stake."

"No pun intended." she quickly added seeing the look the others were giving her.

"What happened back there anyway?" Dawn asked as she walked along side her sister.

"Oh lets see I almost got my foot ripped of by a bear trap, a demon starts shooting at us with a crossbow... " Faith began to tell the others as they walked.

"Then we're trapped in the demon dimension and we run into a some demons that knock Kennedy out then tranq us..." Buffy continued.

"Then when we come to were trapped inside some mystical barrier or something and there's this huge demon who has been promised a fight to the death with a slayer, and who does he happen to pick?" Kennedy paused pointing at herself for a second before continuing.

"So Hope knowing he'd kill me knocks me out so I couldn't fight him." Kennedy finished at this point everyone turned to face Hope.

"Moving along" Hope said seeing the look Willow was giving her.

"So after I had killed the demon the guards brought me back to where the others were, and the whole time I'd been gone Faith here had come up with a plan to get us out." Hope finished.

At that moment everybody stopped and turned to Faith looks of surprise on all their faces.

"What?" Faith asked

"Why is everyone so surprised that I could come up with a plan?" she asked before they began to walk again.

"Still, it would have been a good idea to fill me and Kennedy in on your plan." Buffy said

"Yeah but then the demons would have heard and it wouldn't have worked." said Hope who wince after putting too much weight on her injured leg.

"Erm? what's that?" Xander asked pointing at her leg.

"That?" Hope asked pointing at her leg.

"That's a hole in my leg made by a knife." she said looking at Faith then smiled to let her know there were no hard feelings.

"You stabbed her?" Xander exclaimed.

"Well I... you tell him." Faith said.

"Well Faith had this idea that if we got into a fight the demons would have to bring down the barrier around us to separate us." Hope said.

But the demons weren't buying it so we had to move onto plan B." Faith said looking at Hope whos arm was still draped across her shoulder.

* Flash Back*

"I don't think they bought it." Faith whispered to Hope who had her arm around her throat.

"Then we better make this look real." Hope replied

"There's a knife in my boot use it." Hope told her.

"What no way." Faith said she wanted to get out of here but not like that.

"What just a quick jab to the arm or leg I'm not talking about anything life threatening." Hope said

"You wanna get outta here?" she said repeating Faiths words from earlier.

* End Flash Back*

"Good plan." Xander said a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Well it worked didn't it?" Hope and Faith said at the same time then laughed.

"How long were they together exactly?" Willow said smiling at the two slayers.

"Wait a minute how did you get the knife the demons took all the weapons we had?" Kennedy asked.

"From the demon that brought me back." Hope answered then seeing the looks of confusion on their faces.

"I sorta picked his pocket." she shrugged.

"I just wanna get home and forget about all of this, take a bath and relax." Buffy said

"I can't wait to get out of these." Hope said pulling on her bloodied clothes.

"Yeah but just think about the fun you could be having spending time with you best friends" Xander said falling behind the group a little.

"and if there happens to be some music and maybe an alcoholic beverage or two that's just a bonus." He added then saw the looks he was receiving off the slayers.

"And we're not going to the Bronze tonight are we?" He said lowering his head before joining the others.

The end.