The Final Prayer: I'm Not Me
by cheekacherrycola



Buffy quickly scanned the ruins that was once the college library, her eyes threatening to tear. Xander was at her side, his hand running through his hair. Andrew stood behind them, his eyes full of disbelief.

“We have to…I’m going to look for her.” Buffy told Xander.

His hand stopped her, salty tears running down his reddened cheeks. “No. We have to find the Master and Faith.”

“What?” Buffy yelled at him, pulling her arm out of his grasp.

“She’s not alive!” Xander shouted at her as he pointed to the rubble. “Look at it! Look at it! There is no way…no way…” The tears fell quickly from his eyes and he turned from her. “If you really want to help her, you’ll get revenge.”

“On who, Xander?”

“On Faith.” Andrew said, pointing the figure who was now standing in front of the broken edifice. “And uh…maybe all of them too.”

Buffy scanned the perimeter. Vampires had gathered, at least thirty were surrounding them. “Shit.”

“We need backup so bad.” Xander said as he took a stake that Buffy handed him.



“What?” Anna asked again.

“Julie and Ariel didn’t make it. I’m sorry.” The doctor told her, his face showing to remorse.

“So what? That’s it? It’s over? They’re gone, dead, never coming back?”

“Anna…” Selena told her, placing a hand on her shoulder, turning her attention towards Spike.

The blonde vampire had followed the doctors when they took Dawn up the burn unit, vowing not to leave her side. His face showed no change as he sauntered towards them, his duster blowing behind him from the suction with the air he caused by walking.

“Spike! Dawn? How is she?” Anna asked, running up to him.

“We’re going.”

“What? How can you say that, you don’t even know that…”

“Neither Ariel or Julie made it.” Riley told him.

“Fine. We’re still going.”

Spike walked past them, Kennedy racing after him. Riley, Anna, Molly, Sam and Selena all stared after them, a long lost look from Kennedy holding them where they were.

“Dawn?” Kennedy asked Spike as soon as they made it into the parking lot. When he did not answer, she pulled on the sleeve of his duster and punched his face.
“How is she?”

“Gone.”

“Wha…”

“She’s gone ,okay? Deal with it. I am. We have more important things to worry about now.”

“Like what?” Kennedy asked him, anger flaring in her eyes as he started to speed walk through the parking lot once again.

“Saving the world, kid. Saving everyone who isn’t already dead.”



Buffy swung out her second stake of the evening as a vamp rushed at her. His attempted bear hug, driven more by hunger than brains, left him a dust cloud as she ducked her head to escape a death blow kick one of his buddies made at her. Quickly glancing over at Xander and Andrew to make sure they were okay, she stuck the stake into the other vamp. A girl in a tight leather skit and shirt with platinum hair was standing on the outskirts of the fight watching Buffy. Upon noticing this, the Slayer somersaulted through the legs of a large bulky vamp, flipped herself around another, and came face to face with the blonde.

“Looking of me?” She asked innocently as she drove the stake home.

“Ya.” The vampire caught her arm, twisted it, and the stake fell from Buffy’s fingers. “I was.” Her face morphed into the hideous creature that she really was, and she flipped Buffy over her back in one swift movement.

Andrew staked a vamp and closed his eyes, the dust beginning to irritate him. Another vampire grabbed his shoulder from behind, but the young do-getter elbowed the nasties face, and twisted out of his grasp. He swung the stake towards the vampires chest, and missed by six inches, plunging the stake into his shoulder. The vamp growled, and threw Andrew’s body ten feet through the air, the only thing stopping him from going farther was Xander.

Buffy thrust her stomach into the air and launched her feet on the ground. Round-housing a kick to the Platinum’s head, Buffy dropped the other side of her body, and snatched the stake back up in her right hand. Kicking her other foot up, she caught the vamp under the chin, and then she brought the stake to her heart, leaving nothing but a pile of dust.

Xander felt something fall into him from behind, knocking him to the ground, the wooden stake in his hands falling from his fingers. Looking through a pair of dead legs, he smiled. He didn’t always like seeing a head of bleached hair, but this time it was welcoming. Spike was just the kind of help they could use.

Kennedy ran around to the other side of the circle of vamps, leaving Spike to fight alone. She saw Buffy being knocked to the ground by a big hulky guy with camouflage pants. After knocking the Slayer to her knees, Camo lifted her by her neck. Kennedy rushed forward, stake in hand, and the man holding Buffy was dust, not even knowing what hit him.

“Glad to see me?” Kennedy asked, an amused look on her face.

“Ya. What are you doing here?”

“Spi…” A vampire charged her, knocking her to the ground.

Buffy pulled the vamp off of Kennedy, punched him in the face just for the hell of it, and dusted him without any effort at all. Looking around her, she noticed Spike was dusting the last vampire, Andrew and Xander were getting to their feet, and Faith was approaching.

“I applaud you.” Faith said, clapping her hands.

“Faith…why?” Buffy asked, Xander, Andrew and Spike grouping towards her.

“It isn’t Faith.” Kennedy said.

“Isn’t it?” Faith asked.

“What?” Buffy asked the potential.

“Faith is dead. Sailed through the front window of 1630 Revello drive earlier this evening. That,” She said pointing to Faith, “is the First.”

“Then how can I possibly be holding this knife?” She asked, producing a glistening blade from her pants.

“Just how you killed Rona and Chao-Ann.” Kennedy said, raising her stake.

“Won’t kill me.”

“If you really are human, and I hit your heart it will.” Kennedy rushed her. “This is for Dawn you, bitch!”



The Master watched from across the street as a young girl rushed Faith, his accomplice easily pushing her away. He sighed, his long fingers running along side each other as his hand meet and clapped once. A young girl, about the age of five walked up next to him, her face full with ridges and yellow eyes.

“Do you see the blonde attacking Faith?” He asked.

“The girl?”

“Yes.”

“Then yes, I do see her.” The little girl answered.

“She’s the one you’re going to kill.”

The little girl only nodded and trotted across the street. Running through the grass, police sirens in the distance, she slid under Faith’s legs. Drawing a knife from her jacket pocket, the little girl with blonde curls slashed out at anything that moved. A cry was produced from the brunette who had charged Faith.

Glancing down, Kennedy saw what had cut her. Yanking the little girl up by her arms, and being kicked back by Faith at the same time, the little girl went flying into Andrew. The boy was surprised to see a child’s demon face staring down on him, tears forming in her arms.

“She hurt me…” She started, when a stake entered her back and she turned to dust. Andrew smiled up at Xander, and got up, just as Faith kicked Xander down.

Buffy swore as she jumped to her feet once again, and kicked out at Faith’s knees. Faith dropped to the ground, and Buffy’s shoe caught her chin, making her neck snap back. Her head rolled to the side as it hit the ground, her eyes remaining open, a twisted crooked smile stuck on her face. Buffy was in fighting stance for a few moments before she realized that her old friend wasn’t moving. Kneeling down, she felt for a pulse.

“Is she…?” Andrew asked.

“She can’t be.” Kennedy said coming up behind Buffy. “It’s the First. Not Faith. Faith is in what’s left of your living room.”

“Huh?” Buffy said, pushing herself up with the balls of her feet.

“Your house…Dawn’s bedroom kind of fell through the ceiling. Oh and uh, we’ve lost three potentials…and…Buffy…Dawn, she…”

“What about Dawn?” Buffy asked, quickly forgetting about Faith.

Kennedy’s words caught everyone’s attention, the dead Slayer on the ground leaving their minds. Spike let a low growl escape from his throat.

“Little Bit’s fine, Slayer. Alive and well. No harm done.”

“What?” Kennedy yelled at him. “You told me she was dead?”

“Would you have come here and fought like you did if you had known she wasn’t?” He asked her. “You needed anger in your blood to fight for revenge, and I gave it to you.”

“She was on fire, Spike! Fire! We all saw it.”

“And she’s fine now.” Spike told her. “No burn marks, no scars, no cuts, or bruises, nothing.”

“WHAT?” Buffy shouted, her hands grasping Spike by the collar of his jacket. “My sister was on fire?”



Dawn ran down the back stairs of the Sunnydale hospital and into the emergency room, hoping to catch Anna and the others before they left. Sneaking away from the doctors had taken longer than she would have liked, but she was here now, and that’s all that mattered. She saw Riley just leaving through the front doors, and she pumped her legs through the busy room. Her whole body still felt like it was on fire, her mind was racing, wondering why she wasn’t hurt. She knew that she had been on fire not ten minutes ago, and now she was just fine. Upon reaching the automatic opening doors, a harsh cold gust of wind hit her. A few rain drops hit her skin, misting into the air.

“Riley!”

“Dawn?” He asked, quickly turning around, his eyes red. “But…”

“I’m fine. I know it’s all really weird right now but…”

Anna turned when she heard Dawn’s familiar voice, and rammed into her, wrapping the girl in a bear hug. The other potentials ran towards her too, all wrapping their arms around her, their eyes filled with tears.

“We tried to figure out what happened to you, but they wouldn’t tell us anything. Spike went off with Kennedy, and we were just deciding who would go and who would stick around here.” Molly told her, removing herself from the group hug.

“Spike and Kennedy left?” Dawn asked them, being answered by a few nods, she smiled. “Good. Then they must have went to go find Buffy.”

“Ya, but…how are you okay?” Selena asked. “I mean, we all saw you being…you were on fire, Dawn. A lot and lot of fire…”

“Where are Julie and Ariel? Did they go with Spike and Kennedy?” Dawn suddenly asked.

“They…they died Dawn.” Anna told her. “They didn’t make it…they got…they had some pretty bad burns…how could they have burns and you’re just…”

Dawn’s eyes glowed ebony, and her once little body, turned into Faith’s.

“Surprise!” She held her arms up, as if expecting an applause. When the people around her just backed up, fear in their eyes, she frowned. “What? Not happy to see me?”



“But you are sure that she is fine?” Buffy asked Spike again as Xander applied the breaks to his car.

“Yes, and…bullocks. Look at your house, Slayer.” Spike said in awe as he climbed out of Xander’s car.

Buffy slowly stepped out of the small vehicle, Kennedy right behind her. Xander and Andrew climbed out of the front, their eyes wide.

“You guys really redecorated since the last time I was here.” Andrew said, Buffy throwing him a weird look.

“You said Faith’s body is on the living room floor?” Buffy asked Kennedy again as the group walked through the wet lawn in front of the broken picture window.

“Ya.”

“Okay. You guys wait here, I’ll be back in a minute.” Buffy told them.

Mustering up her Slayer strength, Buffy jumped up, grabbed onto the outside ledge of the window, and pulled herself inside over broken glass. Her feet hit the cushiony padding of the couch, and she stepped down onto the floor. No where did she see Faith’s body, only broken furniture, glass, and ceiling chunks. Sighing deeply, Buffy made her way over to the wall connecting to the kitchen. Her weapon box was still there, unopened. Lifting up the latch, Buffy pulled out a handful of stakes, enough for everyone, two small daggers, and a cross bow with a few arrows. Shoving a few stakes up her sleeves, she made her way back to window. She climbed onto the couch and stepped up onto the window sill, careful not to step on any glass shards.

“Catch.”
Kennedy looked up and caught the crossbow as Buffy threw it to her. Spike stuck his hand out without looking and caught a stake, and two daggers. Buffy jumped down onto the wet grass, her feet slipping, and Spike caught her before she fell.

“Thanks.” She said, pulling away from him. “Xander, Andrew, here.” She held a stake out to each; now they were all prepared. “We’re going to need these.”

“For what?” Kennedy asked.

“For when we find the Master, and if we want to survive the night. Faith’s body was gone. It wasn’t her who was thrown through the window, it must have been the First.”

“How could the First transform into her if she wasn’t dead, and she was the one who was talking to us inside of the house?” Kennedy asked.

“Why does a Slayer have a death wish?” Buffy asked her.

There was a moment of silence before anyone answered, and when an answer did come, it was from Spike.

“Because she wants it.”



“Where’s Dawn?” Anna growled.

“Dawn? Uh…I think her body is upstairs in the burn unit. I wonder why Spike didn’t tell you?”

“What?” Anna screamed before Riley could react. She rushed forwards, and went right through the First’s form.

“Anna!” Molly screamed as the First turned around the punched the young potential back a few feet.

“I’ve got a few tricks of my own up my sleeves, girl.” The First told her. “And why didn’t Spike tell you that Dawn was dead? I mean, I don’t get it.”

Riley grabbed Molly and Selena’s hand, pulling them away from the scene.
“Come on.” He hissed at them. “We can’t do anything here, we have to find Buffy.”

Anna crawled over the Sam, who helped her up and began running after Riley and the other girls. The First scoffed and rolled her eyes, her form changing back to Dawn’s.

“Fine! Just run away – losers!” She called after them, her eyes full of pain.


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