Summary: Faith joins a cult. Buffy and Faith make a bet while hanging out in an ossuary (a place where the bones of the dead are kept.)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Joss, Mutant Enemy, WB, etc., own everything. I got the idea after reading 'A Watcher by the Dead' by Ambrose Pierce.
Earl has a visual for this story.
A Question of Faith's
Midnight, alone in the cemetery - no matter how routine her patrols became, there was always a part of which was nervous. Not when there were actual demons to fight, of course - then she was far too busy fighting the forces of darkness to allow her imagination to get the better of her. No, it was when there was no actual danger that the graveyard shift began to bother her. The more she told herself that she shouldn't be so jumpy, that she should be grateful for an uneventful evening, the jumpier she became. "Get a grip," she mumbled to herself, "you've killed countless vampires and demons but you're afraid of a few weird shadows. Pathetic." But then there was something else in the darkness with her - instantly, her former trepidation vanished and she felt the familiar adrenaline rush.
Buffy forced the grip she had on the stake to relax and affected a nonchalant demeanor. She felt, rather than heard, the approaching creature silently closing in on her from behind. Vampires usually made some noise - often reveling in terror that they inspired in their victims. Buffy spun around, lashing out at the intruder...
"Hey, B!" Faith said merrily, as she released Buffy's wrist. She had caught Buffy's arm in time, the tip of the stake just inches from Faith's chest. "Scared of the dark?"
"A slayer's life expectancy's not short enough for you?" Buffy retorted. "You have to tempt fate?"
"You wouldn't have got me," she said.
"Where have you been?" Buffy asked, quickly changing the subject. "I went by your apartment but they said you'd... um...moved."
"Evicted, yeah. Probably coulda got an extension if I'd've slept with the manager."
"So where are you staying?" Buffy asked uncertainly. "If you need a place to crash..."
"I'm staying at a church. So, did I scare ya, B?"
"I don't 'scare' easily," Buffy said as she turned and stalked off among the tombstones. "C'mon, we've got a lot of graveyards to check."
Faith followed, smiling slightly to herself.
`The Cult of Fibonacci
"Find anything on the cult Faith joined?" Buffy asked Willow. Willow, Buffy, Giles Xander were gathered in the library. Faith had been staying at the Church of the Divine Proportion for the last week and showed no desire of leaving.
"We don't actually know it's a cult," Giles cautioned.
"She said it was non-denominational - doesn't that automatically give it Jonestown status?" Xander asked.
"All we know so far is that the church grounds have been unoccupied since the turn of the century until this new group moved in a few weeks ago," Giles said. "They have done nothing to arouse our concern as of yet."
'Why was the previous church abandoned?" Buffy asked suspiciously.
"Doomsday cult," Willow responded, breaking away from her computer to join the conversation. "They all killed themselves. No one wanted the property after that - until now." Buffy glanced triumphantly at her watcher.
"P-perhaps, we should look into this further," Giles said grudgingly.
"They've got a website - it's pretty strange though," Willow said.
"Strange? That's not a word to bandied about lightly 'round here," Xander said. "What is it? A countdown to doomsday 2000?"
"Actually, it's a discussion of mathematics. A statistics professor and a biology professor founded the church after they were kicked out of a private religious college for unorthodox views of religion. They think that the natural constants reveal God's hidden message to mankind - especially the Fibonacci numbers, you know, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and so on. Each number it the sum of the previous two."
"What do they want with Faith?" Buffy asked.
"I'm guessing it's not virgin sacrifices," Xander said helpfully.
"Maybe you could reconnoiter the church grounds tonight, Buffy," Giles suggested.
"How 'bout I just check the place out?"
The Bet
The church was located outside of the town limits. Buffy arrived nearly two hours before midnight, but it was a few minutes after 11 before the last lights of the church were extinguished. The grounds, themselves, were quite extensive. A large garden covered the back area. A dark, stone mausoleum stood perhaps half the length of a football field from the main building. The translucent, stained-glass windows, shaped like crosses and made up of spirals, afforded no view of the interior of the church. After a quick tour of the garden, where Buffy found nothing more sinister than flowering shrubs, she headed to the foreboding monolith. The large double doors were set in a sunken stairwell. Buffy slipped silently down. She had to strain to force open the heavy, stone slabs far enough to allow her entry. She peered into the darkness, but could make nothing out in spite of the full moon. She entered hesitantly, stepping down into a pool of water as she did. "Great," she muttered to herself, stepping back suddenly, bumping into something as she did. She spun around in an instant and pulled out a stake.
"Faith," she said with a sigh, more relieved than she cared to admit. "Don't do that."
"Hey, Buffy. Whatcha doin'?"
"Investigating - Giles' orders," She responded. "What's in here?"
"Don't know. Don't think anyone does - I asked the others about it. Wanna check it out?"
"After you," Buffy said magnanimously as she stepped aside to make way for Faith.
Faith pushed the door open a little further and squeezed through. Buffy heard Faith swearing a moment later as she splashed into the water. She sat down and took off her shoes and socks before wading into the darkness after her friend. It took a minute for her eyes to adjust, but then she saw the bones scattered haphazardly about them. "I guess we know where they disposed of all the bodies," Buffy murmured.
"What bodies?" Faith demanded. She found a raised area and waded out of the ankle deep water.
"A suicide cult from 1900. Let's get out of here before someone shuts us in."
"What's your hurry? Scared of a few skeletons?" Faith taunted, picking up a skull, then casually tossing it into the water. "You've been pretty jumpy all week."
"I am not jumpy - I just don't see any reason why we should be hanging here," Buffy replied.
"This would be a cool place to bring some guys," Faith mused. "Total privacy - none of the Jesus freaks would bother us here - too busy with their flowers and computers."
"You'd bring a date here?" Buffy responded incredulously.
"You've never had sex in a graveyard?" Faith asked, "It's very cool. Guys totally get into it - probably 'cause they're scared even if they won't admit it. Makes it more exciting." Faith looked closely at Buffy and smiled. "You are afraid, aren't you?" she said.
"Let's just go," Buffy said, turning to leave.
"Admit you're scared first."
"I am not scared!"
"Prove it."
Buffy stopped and turned back. "How?"
"I bet you can't spend the rest of the night here without freakin' out."
"No way."
"I could do it."
Buffy knew Faith was baiting her, but it didn't matter - her pride was at stake. "What are the conditions?"
"Stay here with the doors shut 'til sunrise. I'll patrol and let you back out in the morning - before the Christians wake up."
"What happens if you lose?"
"Whatever you want."
Buffy thought for a moment, then said, "You know, Xander's been kinda depressed since Cordy dumped him..."
"I not screwing Xander for a bet," Faith growled back.
Buffy flushed, suddenly glad of the darkness. Faith's casual attitude to sex always made her uncomfortable. "I-I wasn't suggesting that...just a date."
"Sure. Maybe I'll bring him here. And if you lose..."
"I won't"
"But if you do - trade me your shoes."
"Deal."
"Try not to think about all the dead people if it makes you nervous," Faith said mischievously as she slipped past Buffy in the dark and began to push the stone slab back into place.
Chaos Theory
Faith walked into the library at three in the morning. Willow was up, keeping watch over Oz as she worked at the computer. "Hey Willow!" Faith shouted, causing Willow to jump and eliciting a series of howls from Oz.
"Faith! Hi. Um... where's Buffy?"
"Locked in a tomb - don't ask - it's a long story. I'm gonna get a few hours of shut-eye. Can you wake me at five? I've gotta let her out."
"Um, okay," Willow said uncertainly, but curiosity was already eating away her. "I found some more info on your church."
"Whatcha got?" Faith asked, hopping up on table and sitting cross-legged on it across from Willow.
"Most flowers have 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 or 89 petals - all Fibonacci numbers. They think God himself is responsible for this natural order and breaks in it indicate that evil is present - so when plants evolve with, say, 4 or 6 petals, it indicates that their place of origin is a place of evil."
"Like the Hellmouth."
"Yup."
"That explains why they were all freakin' out over those 4-petaled lilies they found growing outside the church," Faith mused. "Well, I'm going to sleep. Giles' office isn't locked, is it?"
"I have the key - somewhere," Willow responded as she began to search for it. "Oh, and they have some theories on spiritual chaos - you know, the 'butterfly effect?' - a butterfly flaps its wings in China and a tornado hits Texas? Anyway, they say the same happens for good deeds and bad deeds - buying a homeless person a meal in New York could cause peace in the Middle East. Of course, it's not that simple. But they believe that sources of evil magnify the result of evil deeds so these areas need people doing good to counteract the effects while they are still minor. They have been asking biologists to send in information on areas where non-Fibonacci flowers are found - like Sunnydale. Here it is," she said, producing the key and handing it to Faith.
"Whatever." Faith replaced her headphones and headed for Giles' office.
Buffy, muddy and bedraggled, marched in barefoot a little after four and tossed her shoes on the table. She turned, without a word, and stalked off.