"I can just *feel* the power already," Faith exulted, as the little group made their way to the center of the clearing. She was forcing Spike to walk ahead of her, and she suddenly grabbed him from behind as they reached their destination, pulling him back against her to sneer close to his ear, "Can't you?"

He had been ordered to silence, so he did not respond, but he did give her a derisive smirk that let her know that he would have plenty to say if she allowed it. She frowned, irritated by the unexpected reaction. Shuddering in terror, shrinking away from her touch -- she had expected. Smirking at her with mockery in those stunning blue eyes -- not so much what she had in mind.

She released him with a hard shove forward onto his knees, walking slowly around in front of him and regarding him for a moment, a cold, angry smile forming on her lips. "You got something to say, smart ass?" she snapped. "Say it." He was silent for a moment, and she repeated impatiently, "Go on, tell me what’s on your mind! That's an order!"

"All right then," he shrugged. She had given him an order, hadn't she? "I was just going to say that all I *feel* from you is your pathetic desperation to get *some* kind of control, since you bloody well can't control *yourself*. This..." He gestured around them to indicate the ritual they were about to perform. "...this isn't power. This isn't *real*!" he informed her in a disgusted, derisive tone, then met her eyes boldly to finish, "This is a pathetic, useless little girl trying to work out her -- I don't know -- abandonment issues? Daddy issues? Control issues?" He paused, giving her a mockingly innocent questioning look.

"Is there a bloody issue you *don't* have?"

Faith's eyes widened in utter disbelief – after all her efforts to break him, after all the pain and terror she had inflicted on him, that he would dare to speak to her that way! Never mind the fact that he had really had no choice, as she had ordered him to speak his mind. That did not even occur to her – not that she would have cared if it had.

The truth was, his words had hit just a little too close to home for her liking.

"I'll kill you," she declared in a low, dark voice trembling with rage. "You worthless little piece of garbage, I'll -- kill -- you!" she snarled, punctuating her ranting words with vicious kicks to the kneeling vampire's stomach and face, doubling him over in pain, gasping for breath, as she went on, her voice rising in pitch as she poured out threats and insults.

Spike realized through the pain that he had taken it too far; the Slayer was on the edge of losing control completely.

She very well might forget all about the ritual and just kill him.

"Faith." Giles moved forward to stop her, more alarm in his eyes than should have been if the ritual was his only concern. "Faith, stop." He took her arm to pull her back, but she just shoved him back away from her, hard, sending him staggering a few steps.

"Wait," she snapped, her furious eyes never leaving Spike, who was doubled over in agony on the ground, struggling just to get back to his knees. She grabbed him and yanked him relentlessly closer to her, her menacing face inches from his as she spoke again.

"You wanna see power?" she demanded, shaking him. "You wanna see power, you worthless little piece of shit?" Her voice became low and soft, and all the more frightening for it as she went on, "Once this ritual is done, and my transformation is complete, I'm gonna have so much power, *this*..."

Without warning she punched him with her full strength, right in the face, and he fought to stay conscious against the explosion of pain that rocked him.

Her full, pretty lips formed a cruel smile of triumph as she finished softly, "...is gonna look like a love tap, Baby! You're gonna..."

Her words were cut off suddenly when a powerful hand unexpectedly gripped her arm and threw her backward, away from her victim, who sank to the ground, barely conscious, unable to stay up any longer when her hand ceased to support him. Faith turned indignant dark eyes toward the person who had dared to interrupt the punishment she had been meting out.

A slow smile came over her face at the sight of the blonde Slayer, facing her a few feet away, standing between Faith and her captive with her arms crossed over her chest, and a look of fiery determination in her blazing green eyes.

"I told you already, B," Faith smiled, her voice deceptively soft, full of menace mingled with amusement as she slowly sauntered toward her, shaking her head. "This vampire's mine. Go find your own toy."

"Hasn't anyone ever taught you, Faith?" Buffy countered quickly, with a cold, tight little smile of her own. "If you play too rough with your toys – you’re gonna get them taken away from you."

Faith's eyes narrowed in anger; she had had enough of banter -- especially since she had no response to that last comment. She had always been better at *physical* battle than verbal, anyway. She lunged toward the smaller girl in fury, her eyes blazing with deadly intent. One look at her face made it clear that she did not mean to stop until Buffy was dead.

Buffy was ready for her, and launched herself at the other girl with a pure rage, born of her love for the fallen vampire behind her. The Slayers met in a clash of primal power so intense that for a moment, the Watcher was stunned, staring at them with a sense of awe and wonder. His magically enhanced senses could feel the power rolling off them in waves as they fought desperately in the clearing, feet and fists flying as each strove to keep her prize from the hands of the other -- one to protect him, the other to destroy him.

The Watcher wondered momentarily if he should use his magic to intervene, to help his Slayer. But although they were almost perfectly matched, she was holding her own and not losing any ground to the other girl – and there was a good chance that if she was careful, she could gain the upper hand. He knew that as focused on her goal as she was at that moment, the other would have to kill her to stop her.

If she could defeat her enemy here and now – then the plan would no longer be necessary.

But neither girl seemed really able to gain much of an advantage in the battle. Just as the last time they had fought, they were simply too equally matched to make much progress either way. The blows fell fast and hard between them, but each was returned with equal intensity, and neither seemed able to gain any ground, as they ducked and spun and feinted their way away from the center of the clearing, toward the woods at its edge.

Through the haze of pain that shrouded him, obscuring his vision, past the roaring in his ears from the savage blow to his head, Spike could sense the presence of his Slayer there, in the clearing near him. Over the scent of his own blood that filled his nostrils, he could just barely catch the scent of her fury -- and fear.

He struggled to open his eyes, fighting weakly to rise from the ground where Faith had struck him down. He had to get to Buffy -- he had to help her! Suddenly, he felt a strong hand under his arm, helping him to his feet, and looked up to see Giles, standing beside him.

He wrenched his arm out of the grip of the Watcher, with much more effort than it should have taken, and then took one halting, staggering step toward the dueling Slayers, nearly collapsing as his head spun with the motion.

"No, Spike." Giles' voice was gentle but firm as he stepped forward to take his arm again. "You're too weak. You won't be any help to her this way. You'll only get her hurt if she's worrying about your safety while she's trying to fight Faith."

Though he desperately wanted to help her, Spike knew that Giles was right. He was in no condition to fight anyone at the moment. He watched as the two warriors grappled for control of the conflict, seemingly unaware of the pair watching them intently.

"What the bleedin' hell does she think she's doing?" Spike asked, exasperation joining the weariness in his weak, trembling voice. “We were about to take her out – why’d she jump in like that at the last minute?”

Giles smiled softly as he watched his fierce Slayer strike a powerful blow that knocked her enemy to the ground. It was an impressive move, even if Faith *did* get right back up again immediately.

“As usual, I believe that Buffy lost patience, and did not want to wait for the ritual to stop her,” Giles replied in a voice of quiet affection. After a brief pause, he clarified softly, “I believe she was unwilling to allow you to – sacrifice – any more to stop Faith.”

Spike felt a strange prickling sensation at the backs of his eyes, and a lump rose in his throat as he realized exactly what Giles was saying – Buffy had joined the fight, casting the plan aside, simply to stop his suffering.

“She could get herself hurt,” he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. “Faith’s a bloody good fighter…every bit as good as Buffy, though I’d never tell *her* that.” He paused. “And Faith’s power hungry. She’s been working on this ritual for months. She’s all the more dangerous at the moment, because she’s fighting for something that means more to her than anything else in the world.”

Giles smiled again, a slightly secretive smile as he replied softly, “So is Buffy.”


Across the clearing, Buffy delivered a powerful backhand punch that knocked Faith backward, slamming her back into a tree. “You know what they say about bullies, Faith?” she asked, her voice calm, conversational, as she took a few slow steps toward her. “They say that people who are bullies really have very low self-esteem, and they beat others down to make themselves feel better.”

“Don’t psychoanalyze me, you little bitch!” Faith snarled, springing forward off the tree and lunging for Buffy again, delivering a solid punch to her face, followed by another, backing her up a few steps. “You wanna know why I’m beating you down?” she sneered, giving the girl a shove that knocked her back a few steps. “Just because I like it!”

Buffy’s lips turned down in a mock sympathetic frown as she ignored Faith’s argument and proceeded with her chosen method of taunting. “It’s not working for you, is it? Not building your self-esteem very much to act all big and tough and lord it over people not as strong as you?” She shrugged with a smirk. “Oh, well. I guess you’re right. In your case, low self-esteem is just…good common sense.”

She paused long enough to deliver a powerful blow with her fist, spinning around to follow it up with a lightning fast side kick that sent Faith sprawling to the ground. “And by the way,” she added with a satisfied smile. “You’re *sooo* not beating me down!”

Faith quickly scrambled to her feet, and Buffy noticed with satisfaction that she was breathing hard, seemed to be wearing down a bit.

“I’m gonna *show* you a beat down, B,” Faith vowed with a cold smile. “And then, I’m gonna finish this ritual – and I’m gonna show your little boyfriend a beat down, too.” She paused, then corrected herself with a smile of false wide-eyed innocence, “Except…I guess he’s not really yours anymore, is he? Now that he’s mine to command any time I want to!”

“Yeah,” Buffy sneered. “Cause that’s the only way he’d *ever* touch *you* again!”

That last comment brought out a fury in Faith that took Buffy a bit by surprise, as the dark-haired, taller girl threw herself at her and knocked her to the ground, grappling for her throat in an attempt to choke her. Buffy struggled to keep her hands away from her neck, knowing that that would give her an advantage – and possibly the battle.

“Must have – struck a nerve,” she muttered as she struggled with Faith, trying to flip her over so that she was the one in control. “You must know the only way you’re ever gonna get a man like him – is by force.”

But her words, intended to throw the impulsive, reckless Slayer off her game, only served to make her fight with a new intensity, fueled by rage at what she saw to be an unforgivable insult. She pulled one hand free from Buffy’s grip and drew back to strike her a stunning blow across the face.

While she was trying to recover, Buffy’s grip on Faith’s other wrist slackened, and the other Slayer took advantage of it to grip her throat tightly, crushing her windpipe in a hard fist.

Buffy struggled to break her grip, gasping and choking for breath, but Faith pressed her advantage as far as she could. Buffy fought for all she was worth, knowing that her life hung in the balance, forcing herself to put everything in her into breaking the choke hold that the other girl had on her.

She knew she was close to success when she saw the panic beginning in Faith’s dark eyes when she realized that she was losing her hold – her advantage. Frantically she looked around for something – a weapon of some kind – that might help her to hold onto the edge she had gained.

Her eyes focused suddenly on a small object a few inches to the right of Buffy’s head. She reached out with her free hand and grabbed it, lifting the heavy rock she had found over her head.

Buffy saw what she was going to do, and her eyes widened, fear finally revealed in them, in the instant that she realized she was not going to be able to get away, not going to be able to stop her.

And then, Faith brought it down hard against her head, and flashing colored lights danced before Buffy’s eyes against a backdrop of black, slowly rising to swallow up the lights and everything else around her, as her eyes drifted shut.

The last things she heard before she lost consciousness was Faith’s nervous, disbelieving laugh as she rose up off of her – followed by an anguished cry from across the clearing, a dear familiar voice screaming out her name.

“*Buffy*!!”

And then, the blackness consumed her, and there was simply nothing.

On the cool grass at the edge of the clearing, the blonde Slayer lay still.