Fic: Damned if I don't, damned if I do...12.5 iii
Chapter title: The Ten Trials of Truth, Faith and Destiny (…and Toni!) (part three)
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and his associates own the characters…I just like playing with them.
Rating: Nc-17 overall
Pairings: Buffy/Faith (Buffy/Toni, Faith/Troy)
Summary: Breaking out is hard to do.
A/n: Thanks Electra126! for beta’ing this :)
A/n ii: This chapter is split into nine segments so, to speed things along, I’m posting them in nine separate sections. Hopefully there will be one every couple of days (as I write them). Thank you for you patience :)
iii : Through the Valley of Judgement
Toni led the way through the damp forest. The ground was a mix of mud and moss and felt disgusting on her bare feet but as Faith didn’t complain neither did she. They didn’t speak at all in fact and everything was very quiet until up ahead there came a creaking sound, like a bough waving wildly in the wind. It wasn’t long before they found the source of the eerie noise.
Toni gasped as she realised where they had stumbled into. “We must go very quietly now.”
Stopping to watch the naked man spin on his large wooden wheel, Faith whispered, “Who is that?”
“Ixion.”
The wheel’s axis was suspended between two of the trees, allowing it to spin freely a few feet above the ground. The man’s arms and legs were tied with rope to the circumference, spreading him out torturously - although, in truth, he looked more green from dizziness than pain.
“Shouldn’t we help him?”
“He is a murderer. Hurry up.”
They had left the spinning man behind when Faith said, “You know where we are now.”
“I wish I did not.”
“Well?”
“This is the darkest realm of Hades. It is where the damned are imprisoned to endure their eternal fate. We must not linger here. If we are caught… Hurry as much as you can.”
After a few minutes Faith said, “We got more company coming up.”
Toni’s ears had already picked out the wailing of several voices. “Oh no.”
“What is it?”
“Just ignore them. They will not be able to see us.”
Faith didn’t look happy with her uninformative response but kept quiet as they left the cover of the trees for a shallow clearing. It was over-crowded making it impossible to see the wishing well in the centre, but Toni could hear the squeak of its rusty handle as the bucket made its relentless journey up and down.
Faith stopped in shock and although it was foolish Toni didn’t blame her. In this place the sight of forty-nine beautiful women all wailing and clamouring for their turn with the single bucket was enough to give even her pause.
“Who are all these chicks?”
“The Danaides.”
As one of the women broke free from the commotion around the well, Toni touched Faith’s arm to get her to stand back out of the way. The woman was carefully cradling a baked clay jug between both hands and her face was lit up with gladness at her success. Before she was halfway to the trees, the jug started to spring leaks. Water poured from cracks unnoticeable a moment ago. In distress, the woman tried to plug the leaks with the quick and precise positioning of her hands but for every crack she covered another appeared. By the time she had reached the edge of the clearing her expression had fallen into one of misery and frustration, clearly visible as she turned back to her sisters carrying the now empty jug despondently.
“What the fuck?” Faith drawled under her breath. As they watched, several more of the women repeated the same journey, exactly. So happy walking away from the well, so sad walking back. “Are you sure I ain’t trippin’?”
Toni touched her arm again to get her moving and they skirted the edge of the clearing to reach the opposite path. “Fairly sure.”
Faith looked back over her shoulder. “So what are they in for?”
“They killed their husbands on their wedding night.”
“What, all of them?”
“Si, and all on the same night.”
Faith looked back again. “Wow, that’s pretty impressive. Yunno, in a bad way.”
Toni chuckled. “Si.”
“One thing I’m not getting - they iced their honeys, in cold blood I’m guessing, and they just have to spend eternity singing ‘There’s a hole in my bucket’?”
Toni shrugged. “Gods cannot be whimsical?”
The mud and moss under her toes became hard and bristly, not enough to hurt but certainly making every step uncomfortable. Toni wished she had thought to wash her boots in the well but it would have led to detection, and then mayhem.
The trees were thinning again, a grassy meadow lay beyond them. Stepping from the border Toni took in their surroundings. If there had been sunlight, or even moonlight, it would have been pleasant but the never-ending night with its smoky, inexplicable glimmer made it monochrome and dull. It was a pale imitation of the place she had picnicked with Buffy the day before leaving the upperworld behind but still she felt a pang as the landscape brought the memory forth.
As they crossed the soft grass -- easier on her feet but Toni was waiting for the catch with every step -- the field began to slope upwards. It was barely noticeable at first and they continued to walk without mentioning it. As the incline grew sharper Faith’s even breathing quickly turned to laboured pants.
Toni checked for danger on all sides before offering, “Do you need to stop for a few minutes?”
“I need to stop for a lot longer than that.” Before Toni could say anything Faith held up her hand. “I know, we don’t have time. Just saying, could use some time off. A few beers, plate of ribs, maybe a pool to cool off in.” They started trudging upwards again as Faith continued her list. “Some sunlight wouldn’t hurt. A decent night’s sleep. A change of underwear. A mystical morning after pill.”
Toni looked at her sharply. Faith was holding her stomach again. “Why mystical?”
“Doubt the regular kind work on miracle babies.”
So Faith had guessed the cause of her predicament, or Buffy had finally told her all sometime before the wedding… but no, that seemed unlikely. Surely Faith would have found a way to stop the ceremony herself if she had been aware of it. There had been a reason for Troy’s insistence that the conception remain a secret after all. Faith was obviously just assuming, correctly, that any child of Troy’s would be a miracle.
“You would wish to be rid of the child?” It was a dangerous question but Toni had asked it reflexively, a verbal continuation of her thoughts.
Faith was quiet for a while. Eventually she spoke her thoughts slowly. “Just gonna be awkward, is all.”
Was she thinking about her future with Buffy? Toni was - both of their futures' with Buffy. How would this change things for her? Would it change anything at all?
Faith laughed uncomfortably. “Troy’s gonna be pissed!”
What? Before she could ask Faith was shouting.
“What the f…?”
Toni saw the large object rolling towards them a split second later. It barrelled out of the darkness, gaining speed all the while. She just had time to jump at Faith, knocking her clear from its path.
On her back, with eyes wide, Faith watched the boulder race downhill. It would have easily flattened them both with its bulk if Toni had not reacted so quickly. Still, Faith was angry.
“Get the hell off me!”
“Keep your mouth shut!” Toni hissed back.
Seeing Faith about to protest, she pressed her hand hard over Faith’s lips, keeping her silent. Soon they could hear a man cursing the boulder and a short time after he ran past, his sandals slapping the grass, his toga flying up behind him. He didn’t stop abusing the rock and shaking his fist until he was long out of sight.
Toni released Faith’s mouth, rolled off of her and sat up.
Faith sat up faster. “Don’t ever throw yourself on me like that again!”
“I saved your life!”
“Yeah, well next time do it without touching me.”
“It was hardly a pleasure for me either.”
“Don’t give a fuck! Just keep your distance.”
“Are you worried that Buffy will be jealous,” Toni taunted.
Faith snorted. “If she is it won’t be for the reasons you want.”
The truth hurt and Toni got back to her feet silently.
Faith walked a few steps behind, straightening out her tattered wedding dress. “So that dude’s condemned to chase a rock for the rest of his death?”
“He has to push it to the top of the hill, but it always rolls back down.”
“I can see how that’d get annoying.”
“Hence his swearing.”
“So what did he do?”
“He pissed Zeus off.”
“Well, at least he didn’t kill anyone.”
“He did that a lot too.”
“Right. Of course.”
Detecting something in her voice, Toni slowed down as they crested the hill, allowing Faith to catch up. “Is there something on your mind?”
“There’s a lot of things on my mind. Right now it’s that this place seems to be full of murderers.”
“It is what you would call Hell. What did you expect?”
Faith shrugged, looking around to avoid eye contact. “Just wondering why you’re bothering to rescue me if I’m only gonna end up back here anyway.”
There were many answers Toni could give, she chose the curt, “It is not your time.”
From the top of the hill there was nothing but hazy blackness in all directions. It made her uneasy, not being able to see the cliff face yet even from high up. She began the downward slope, the sharp gradient making her steps faster, jarring her.
“So how many other evildoers can we expect to find here?” Faith asked, her tone forced into lightness.
“There are many hundreds.”
Faith looked around at all the empty space ahead of them. “So, what, they all made camp on the other side of the island?”
“This place is much vaster than the maps suggested. The punished are obviously spread out.”
“Or we’re doing the time warp here.”
“Scuzi?”
“Hell dimension. Time gets warped. Moves faster, slower, whatever. Maybe distance does too.”
Toni watched her closely as they walked. “A thousand steps for you is only ten steps for me?”
Faith shook her head. “Ya lost me.”
“That aside, I never realised you were remotely this intelligent.”
“Thanks and fuck you.”
Toni grinned. “The passage of time here is an illusion. Perpetual night gives the impression that no time passes but in fact it moves very quickly, far more quickly than in the upperworlds.”
Faith shrugged, “I knew time was passing fast.”
“And if you hadn’t become five months pregnant in three weeks that would be impressive.” Toni recaptured her train of thought. “What if distance were the same? What if it feels like we are walking for days but really it is only hours?”
“Then wouldn’t we be there by now?”
Toni’s voice fell flat. “It is just my first theory.”
“You have others? Boy, can’t wait to hear them.”
Toni refused to rise to the bait as she mulled over the ideas in her head.
The ground was beginning to level out again. Ahead trees crowded the horizon once more. Faith seemed to be getting slower again, but aside from making sure she was never too far behind to reach in an emergency Toni didn’t take much notice. They were hardly willing travel companions after all.
They were surrounded by the forest sooner than she expected. Did perception play a part in it? The closer you imagined the trees, the faster you arrived? She tested it by imagining the cliff face but it did not appear.
The first sign that they were not alone was a deep rumbling sound. Instinctively she waited for Faith to catch up.
“What is it?” Faith whispered when the sound came again.
Toni shook her head, not knowing. They walked on slowly, both ready for the unexpected. Except, when the unexpected came it was…unexpected.
They stopped in another clearing. The rumble was more of a gurgle close up.
“What is it?” Faith asked again, her voice even lower.
“His stomach,” Toni murmured, smiling.
“What?”
Tantalus was standing in a pool of clear water up to his neck. At the present moment he was straining his chin upwards, trying to catch with his lips some of the juicy berries hanging level with his eyes.
“He’s that hungry?”
Toni nodded.
Faith’s stomach gave a gurgle of its own at the sight of food and she rubbed it. “Know how he feels.”
Toni’s own stomach replied but she ignored the way her mouth watered at the sight of the plump fruits and concentrated instead on the pool. She knew from legend that it was the sweetest drinking water around but she had other designs for it. It wasn’t as if Tantalus would be poisoned by the acid.
“Stay very quiet,” she murmured. “I am going to wash my boots.”
“Fuck your boots, I want a drink!”
Toni considered it - Faith probably desperately needed hydration, she couldn’t take her back to Buffy a dried out husk - but it was too dangerous. To sip from the pool would be a crime against Hades whereas nobody would even notice if she dipped her boots in.
“We can’t risk it,” she hissed. “Please, just stay back. Do not draw unneeded attention to us.”
Faith did stay back although she was obviously unhappy about it. Toni crept to the edge of the pool, careful not to snap a single twig on the way; she even held her breath in case it carried over the sound of the prisoner’s rumbling stomach. Very carefully she bent over and slid both boots into the pool to wash the remains of the swamp acid from them.
“Hey!”
She froze at the sound of Tantalus’s voice, inhaled silently at the fright and then set about submerging the boots more thoroughly.
“I said: Hey! Stop that.”
Toni turned to the sound of his voice this time, wondering what had startled him. He was staring straight back at her. She froze again. He must have heard the quiet splash of the water. She waited for him to think it was his imagination.
“What are you deficient or something? I can see you, you know? Get your bloody boots out of my drinking water!”
If Toni had thought she had frozen before…
Faith arrived soundlessly by her side. “What’s he saying?” she mouthed.
In her shock Toni hadn’t even registered that he was speaking in Greek, although that made sense. He had been standing here long before the English language had come into being.
“He can see us.”
“What?” he snapped. She repeated it in Greek for him. “Of course I can bloody see you! You’re standing right in front of me. Although I’m so thirsty I should be bloody blind. Speaking of which: your boots!”
“Sorry.” Toni dragged them out of the water and let them drip onto the ground.
“Take it the potion’s worn off,” Faith muttered.
Toni nodded, reaching quickly for the canister at her belt. “We have a little more.”
“Hey, before we do,” Faith stopped her. “Now he can see us…any reason we can’t…” she gestured at the fruit.
“It will be detected, draw attention to us.”
“What are you talking about?” Tantalus demanded.
Toni quickly translated. “We’re travelling through Tartarus, trying to reach the higher worlds. My companion is very hungry.”
“She can’t have any, they’re mine!” He reached his head up again, fruitlessly. “Damn!”
“We know we can not partake,” she tried to soothe him. “Hades would know of it at once and be alerted to our presence.”
“That old bastard? He wouldn’t know. He’s forgotten I even exist.”
“Really?” Toni found herself eyeing the berries too.
“But you still can’t have them!” Chains made a subdued rattling sound beneath the surface of the water as he tried to reach them again. “Damn!”
Faith had apparently gathered the gist of the conversation. “Can’t we just steal some? Not like he can stop us.”
“But then he might tell someone of it. We cannot take the risk. There will be some sustenance when we reach Hades. Come now.” Toni started to back away.
“Unless,” Tantalus stopped her with his calculating tone. “If you feed me half I will let you share the rest. And if you lift a handful of water to my mouth I will let you drink.”
Toni thought about the tempting offer but it really was too dangerous. “No thank you. We must leave. We have many miles ahead of us.”
“I’ll tell you the quickest way to the Gate,” he wheedled.
That caught Toni’s attention more than the offer of food. “The Gate?”
“There is only one way out of here, that’s through the Gate.”
“We were going to climb the cliff.”
Tantalus shook his head. “You will just climb and climb. The darkness keeps you in, you see.” He obviously decided he had shared enough without reward and nodded his head at the fruit just out of his reach. “Help me, woman, and I will help you.”
Toni made her decision quickly. “Faith, pluck some berries for him.”
She, herself, cupped her palms together, caught some water and raised it to his lips. He slurped it up, groaning in delight at the refreshment after thousands of years of having an unbearably dry mouth. She had to do it twenty times before he finally smacked his lips and nodded, satisfied. She began to pull water up to her own lips, drinking deeply of the cool, sweet liquid.
When she finally dried her mouth with the back of her wrist Faith was still pushing two berries into her mouth for every one he consumed.
“Do not over do it,” she cautioned. “It has to all be expelled before we can cross the Styx.”
“Huh?” Faith asked with her mouth full, red juice running down her chin.
“Have a drink,” she instructed, taking her turn with the fruit.
When all three of them were sated, Tantalus tried to be elusive about the way to the Gate. Faith grabbed the long hair at the back of his head, twisted it painfully and convinced him to be more honest.
Toni waited until they had left the clearing behind before she stooped to put on her boots. Nothing burned, that was good.
“Uh, that water we both just drank a gallon of,” Faith asked. “Wasn’t contaminated by them was it?”
“I was too thirsty to consider,” Toni admitted. “But I think the water in that pool is magical enough to combat the acid.”
“Let’s hope so.”
“I agree.”
“I feel better though.”
“I also.”
They smiled at each other, realised they were, and looked sullenly away into the trees to make up for it.