Authors: Eliza Lentzski
"Sometime today, eh?" she remarked with a scowl. "I've gotta flight to catch."
The young man behind the counter flashed the beautiful woman a flustered smile. "I'm sorry, Miss," he apologized. "It will just be a few more minutes while I finish checking your rental car back in. If you'd like, I can call a complimentary shuttle that will take you right to your gate."
Faith sniffed. "Nah, s'ok. I don't fly out for another couple of hours. I just don't like waiting in lines, yunno?"
The rental car employee nodded and then returned to his computer screen.
The Boston slayer looked around the small rental car office space inside the Cleveland airport while she waited at the front desk. The room was filled with uncomfortable-looking plastic chairs, and a small television sat in a corner of the room. She glanced briefly at the screen, but noticing it was only a news station, flicked her eyes away.
"All right, Miss Lehane," the man chirped, his eyes still on the computer screen. "It looks like everything checks out. I'll have your receipt for you in just a second." He turned his back and walked over to the printer behind the front desk.
Faith looked back at the television screen and sighed. This wasn't exactly how she'd imagined spending her Saturday. In her version of the day, Buffy ran out of the chapel with her and then the two...well, she hadn't exactly gotten that far in imagining what would happen next, but she was certain that getting hot, naked, and sweaty would have been part of the equation. Maybe that was her whole problem, however - she never really thought through her plans.
A telephone rang in the office and the car rental employee picked it up on the second ring. "Hello? Oh hi, Mike. What's..." the man trailed off and Faith could barely hear the chattering coming from the other end of the receiver. "Right now?" he asked in a confused voice. "What channel?"
The man hastily hung up the phone and wandered out from behind the front desk towards the small television set. He turned the channel to a local news channel and turned up the volume.
"Police estimate the casualty count at about a dozen or so, but no word on how high the death count is right now. Eyewitnesses who escaped Tower City Center are telling us that about half a dozen large, masked men suddenly, and without warning, started to shoot."
"God damn it," Faith cursed bitterly when the news cameras panned the glass-encased building and she saw the bumpy, gnarled, demonic faces of the gunmen. "I never can just leave, can I?" she complained aloud. "Always some demon ruining my grand exit."
"I'm sorry?" The car rental worker looked confused by the dark-haired girl's odd vocalization.
Faith grimaced. "I need those keys back," the brunette stated, holding out her hand, palm upwards. "It looks like I'm gonna need the car for at least another day."
++++++++++++++++++++++
Faith sped her rental car down the narrow city streets of Cleveland towards Tower City Center. Luckily her vehicle had a built-in GPS system so she didn't have to waste time asking for directions. "Uh, excuse me. Can you point me in the direction of the demon massacre?"
Police cars and other law enforcement vehicles formed a wide barricade around the shopping center's perimeter, so the Boston girl had to park a few blocks away. She quickly, but not so fast as to garner anyone's attention, made her way towards the Mall. As she suspected, by-standers gathered around the police blockade, all nosily trying to get a view of the violence.
Circumventing the growing masses of onlookers, Faith slipped around to a service entrance. The Cleveland police were so busy trying to keep back the throngs of nosy townsfolk, she was able to move undetected. Finding a fire-escape door that some chain-smoker had probably left propped open, Faith looked both ways and then entered the shopping center.
The Boston-born slayer wandered cautiously through a series of illuminated hallways, and a smile crept onto her face. The scenario vaguely reminded her of a video game or movie - Zombies in the mall. Only if you got killed here, there wasn't a ‘Reset' button.
When she watched movies like that - with zombies in the Mall - the dark slayer always envied the main characters. Not that she wanted to avert a zombie apocalypse, but if you were stuck in an end-of-the-world scenario, the Mall seemed like the perfect place to wait it out. Auntie May pretzels, Orange Julius slushies, and all the weapons one could ever want.
Faith made her way up a stairway to the second level of the shopping mall. She needed to find some kind of weapon before a demon found her. Normally when she traveled to a different city, especially a city on a Hellmouth, she always brought along some kind of a weapon. Normally she took the bus or the train, too. She'd been in such a rush to get to Cleveland before Buffy's wedding, however, she'd booked the first connecting flights between Boston and the Midwestern city. It seemed airlines were awfully picky about carry-on weapons.
The sound of a scuffle alerted the Boston girl and she quickly made her way toward the violent noises. When she turned a corner, she was greeted with the sight of Rona and Vi fighting one of the red-skinned demons. Rona was slumped against a wall, however, holding onto one of her forearms while Vi struggled to dodge the demon's attack. For such a large, bulky demon, it was amazingly agile.
Acting on instinct, Faith hastened her pace toward the two young slayers. She grabbed onto a fiberglass, 4-foot lollipop and retched it from an Easter Holiday display. Launching into the fight unannounced, Faith made quick work of the assaulting demon. She jabbed the stick-end of the lollipop at the demon's face and pierced one of its yellow, beady eyes. Faith nearly dry-heaved at the cracking noise that resulted when she plunged the fiberglass spear deeper into the monster's cranium. After a little more shoving and wiggling, the demon's flailing arms went still and it crumpled to the ground. So much for making the most of the Mall's available weaponry.
"I can honestly say that's the first time I've killed anything with candy," the Boston girl quipped as she stared down at the now-dead demon.
Faith flicked her glance over at Vi and Rona. The red-haired slayer was gingerly helping the other woman off the ground. "You two all right?" the Boston girl asked.
Rona grit her teeth together and continued to hold onto her arm. "We could have handled it on our own," she grunted.
Ignoring the younger slayer's lack of appreciation, Faith nodded at Rona's arm. "Is that the one you hurt before?"
The dread-locked slayer swallowed down her pain. "It'll be fine," she said again.
Vi spoke up, breaking the tension that had engulfed the other two slayers. "We should start getting the shoppers out of here," she noted helpfully.
"How many demons are left?" Faith asked.
Rona kicked at the dead demon who had probably broken her arm. "Can't be that many left," she remarked. "We already killed three. And this one makes four."
A jubilant cheer interrupted the three slayers' conversation.
"Burn, baby, burn!" came a familiar voice.
Faith looked in the direction of the feminine voice. In front of a Lady Footlocker was Kennedy, still in her bridesmaid dress, with a flame-thrower strapped onto her back.
"Dang," Faith laughed to herself. "Where can I get one of those?"
The elder brunette watched as Kennedy killed another demon with the fire-spewing weapon. The creature was quickly swallowed in a wall of flames. It flailed and ran around for a few moments before its chard body fell to the ground.
"Start rounding up the shoppers and get them out of here," Faith instructed the younger slayers. "Kennedy and I will take care of the rest of the demons."
Faith left Vi and Rona to help the mall-goers and jogged over to the former boarding-school brat. "Nice work, small one," she greeted when she reached Kennedy's side.
"Faith!" Kennedy exclaimed when she saw the leather-clad slayer. She dropped the bulky flame-thrower on the ground. "You're here!? Why?"
The Boston girl shrugged. "Saw the story on the news before I got on my flight," she explained. "Figured I couldn't let ya have all the fun."
"Uh huh," the younger woman stated distractedly.
Faith couldn't help but chuckle when she saw Kennedy furiously scrubbing at a scorch mark on the bodice of her dress. "God, Willow's gonna kill me," she mumbled miserably to herself.
"Didn't expect to run into you here," Faith noted. "Buffy didn't freak out that one of her bridesmaids ditched her wedding?" the formerly rogue slayer asked with a bitter laugh.
Kennedy stopped her futile rubbing and her eyes grew wide. "You haven't seen her yet?"
The Boston girl furrowed her eyebrows. "Who? Buffy? No," she said, shaking her head, "not since at the church."
"Dude, she's here," Kennedy announced. "The wedding is off."
Just as the words left the younger slayer's mouth, Faith spotted a blonde girl in a wedding dress fighting two demons across the center courtyard. "Fuck me," she muttered under her breath.
"Later, Ken," the dark-slayer called as she launched herself down the escalator toward the ground floor.
As Faith came upon the violent scene, she could see that the blonde slayer had abandoned her strappy white stilettos and her wedding veil, but she fought against the bulky monsters in the rest of her wedding paraphernalia. Buffy was handling the two demons on her own, but two slayers are always better than one.
Faith stopped short of the battle and perched herself on the edge an oversized potted plant. "Hey, B. Need some help?" the Boston girl offered with a wide grin.
The blonde bride didn't look surprised to see the younger slayer. She probably had felt her presence as soon as she'd entered the shopping mall. "Thanks for the offer, F," she spat out angrily, "but I can handle these two all on my own."
As if emphasizing her point, the ax she was wielding struck one of the monsters in the neck area. The creature was nearly decapitated by the horizontal blow. Its head lopped backwards, but remained connected to the rest of its body by a thin piece of scaly flesh. Blood spurted out of its arteries like a fountain; the creature's body soon succumbed to its injuries and toppled to the ground.
"I can see that," Faith noted. "But what about the baby? Shouldn't you be takin' it easy since you're With Child?" the Boston girl pressed. Would Buffy continue this charade, she wondered, if she really wasn't pregnant?
"Don't make a big deal out of it," Buffy huffed as she swung the fireman's ax at the last advancing demon. The blow missed, but knocked the monster temporarily off-balance. "Slayers have had babies before. Besides, it's still early," the blonde said, wiping away at the sweat that had formed on her forehead. "I'm not going to hurt it."
"You're not exactly wearing combat clothes," the Boston girl pointed out.
The golden-haired girl gave her former enemy and lover a cheeky smile. "You'd be surprised how many times I've had to stop the End of the World in formal wear."
I may be dead, but I'm still pretty.
The two women smiled at each other as if all of the afternoon's previous drama had been forgotten. In that moment, neither woman seemed to remember that one demon still remained.
"Buffy!" Faith yelled out...too late.
The Boston slayer could see the pain and surprise in the blonde's hazel-green eyes. A large patch of crimson red immediately formed when the remaining demon pulled a hunting knife out of the Chosen One's abdomen.
Faith let loose a primal scream. The final monster looked surprised that a noise such as that could have come out of a human girl. Kicking a foot up high, the dark-haired slayer connected with the demon's still-outstretched arm. The weapon fell, clattering to the marble-tiled floor.
Eschewing the knife that had just sliced open her lover, Faith launched herself at the red, scaly demon. Its tough skin was probably too thick to be penetrated by only a hunting knife anyway. The creature blocked the dark-haired slayer's flying fists and feet and deftly knocked her to the ground.
Momentarily breathless, Faith scanned the floor from her position to find a weapon. Next to Buffy's fallen figure was her ax. The Boston girl reached out and grabbed onto the wooden handle of the weapon. In one quick movement, she agilely flipped off the ground and landed back on her feet.
The demon looked for its own discarded weapon, but Faith kicked the oversized knife across the marble floor. Weaponless, the creature futilely attempted to block the brunette's second-series of attacks. She was not to be denied her victory this time, however.
With another yell, Faith swung the ax over her shoulder as if chopping wood. The weapon connected with the demon's torso, slicing away at one arm. The creature squirmed and tried again to deflect another attack, but ended up losing its second arm as well. With one final chop, the Boston girl swung horizontally. This time the weapon struck at the demon's waist and bifurcated the monster.
The Boston girl tossed the ax to the side and fell to her knees next to Buffy's body. She turned the girl onto her back and choked out a sob when she saw the size of the red stain covering Buffy's stomach.
Kennedy rushed over to Faith's side. "What happened?" she asked in a breathless voice. She could only see that Buffy was laying on the ground with Faith crouched over her body.
"Faith!" Kennedy said in a louder voice. "What happened?"
The Boston girl finally looked up from her fallen partner. "Do you have a phone?"
"Yeah, I do," Kennedy affirmed, her eyes glued to Buffy's figure. "In my...fuck...my purse is in the car."
Faith stood up and Kennedy was afforded an unobstructed view of Buffy and the severity of her wound.
"I-I can go get it," the younger slayer stuttered. The red stain on Buffy's dress was getting larger with every second she lay on the ground.
"God damn it," the Boston girl cursed. "There's not enough time. She's gonna bleed out."
Faith bent at the waist and scooped Buffy's unconscious form into her arms. The golden-haired slayer's head lolled forward and rested against Faith's shoulder.
"What are you going to do?" Kennedy asked, her dark eyes wide. She felt paralyzed with indecision.