Prompt #102 - Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Ronin - Alex Foster - BTVS

[alexfoster451.livejournal.com]

Title: Ronin Chapter Five
Fandom: BTVS -- Season Eight Comic
Prompt: 102 - Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Word Count: 4,885
Warnings: Femslash
Rating: R
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Mutant Enemy, Dark Horse, and Joss Whedon. No money is being made and no infringement is intended.
Summary: On the run from a powerful force, including the slayer army, Satsu must unravel a mystery surrounding a mystical object and the phantasm taking a familiar form surrounding it.

Chapter Five

Kennedy leaned against the shack’s sheet metal wall and looked out at the early morning sky over Rio. Distantly she could hear children screaming and playing in the street. Men and women jabbered to each other in Portuguese.

Here in the slums of the city the air was heavy with humidity. The smell of sweat and grease stuck to everything. Kennedy raised her sleeve to her nose and grimaced. Including herself. The rat holes she’d been living in for the past week didn’t offer much for showers or personal care.

Times like these she missed smoking. Her fingers itched for a lit cigarette. At Willow’s request Kennedy had given up the habit, and it was only respect for her girlfriend that kept her from sneaking a butt during the mystical walkabout.

Giving the street one last scan, she slipped inside and blocked the door. It was going to be a long day.

---

Buffy was still asleep when Satsu slipped from bed. Late morning sun streamed in through the cottage’s many windows and warmed the chilly air. She quietly walked to the bureau and retrieved fresh clothes. Holding them against her chest, Satsu moved to the hall, silently clicked the door shut, and dressed there.

Satsu drew a deep breath and stretched pleasantly worked muscles. She felt better than she had in a long time. The pain in her ribs had healed to a mere stitch and the burns on her hand no longer throbbed. She smiled. Slayers did heal fast—especially when they knew a battle was forthcoming. Good sex didn’t hurt either.

She walked down to the kitchen and began preparing the percolator for another pot of coffee. Suddenly ravenous, she began looking through the dry pantry for breakfast. Wishing for something from the perishable bacon and eggs family, she settled on a box of crackers and a strip of dried beef.

Sitting in front of the fireplace, Satsu began eating and waited for the water to boil. She glanced over her shoulder at the staircase and wondered exactly how she was supposed to handle the morning after. Breakfast in bed didn’t seem appropriate, but she didn’t want to seem like she was avoiding the fake Buffy either.

Satsu took a moment to process the oddity of that thought.

Truthfully, after last night she wasn’t sure what else they could say. Buffy couldn’t—or wouldn’t—tell her about the evil she was about to fight, and Satsu possessed enough self-awareness to understand the apparition wasn’t really the slayer it looked like. Without knowing more about her, she couldn’t even treat her as just another lover.

“Hey,” a voice said behind her.

Satsu looked back and saw Buffy on the stairs. She wore a silk robe that Satsu hadn’t brought to the cottage and that she was sure wasn’t there before. “Hey.”

Buffy walked to the landing and gestured to the percolator. “Water’s boiling.”

Surprised, Satsu gave a small jump and used a hook from the tool set to pull the percolator from the embers. Careful to avoid burning herself again, she poured coffee into two mugs. Setting the percolator aside she offered one of the mugs to Buffy.

“Thank you.” The apparition joined her on the floor, her robe pooling around her legs like a deflated balloon. Satsu caught herself looking at how the silk moved over Buffy’s skin, tightening over her breasts, and glanced away. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Satsu quickly answered. “I’m…Actually, in the light of day, it’s a little weird.”

“Oh?”

“I…know you’re not…but it feels like you are…and that makes me feel great and confused and great and—”

Buffy touched her shoulder and immediately ended the babbling. “You need to stop thinking so much.”

“I know.”

“How do you feel?”

Satsu paused before answering this time. “I feel ready.”
“Good. That’s all that matters right now. Everything else is secondary.”

Satsu nodded. “Do you know what I’m going to face?”

“The battle is different each time,” Buffy said. “For some it is more mental than physical, but knowing that you are a vampire slayer I don’t think that will be the case this time. When you go through the Sylph there will be monsters— jarka —that exist in both planes. Kill them there and they die here. Just as it is my job to ready you, the jarka work to bring in the darkness. They open seals that bind the darkness to its world.”

“So I have to close the seals again?”

Buffy shook her head. “Only a witch or warlock can do that. It’s what you need Willow for. You and Kennedy have to hold the darkness and its jarka long enough for her to return. Distract the darkness, get its attention, and Willow should be able to fight her way back.”

“And she’ll know what to do?”

“A witch of her level, yes she should.”

Satsu gave her a look. “If not I need to know. If I have to give her lessons on the fly I’d better start writing this down on my hand.”

Buffy smiled. “Trust her.”

Satsu took a long sip of her coffee. “I’m doing a lot of that lately—trusting.”

The two sat in companionable silence for a long while. Satsu finished her coffee and started on a second cup. Buffy reached over and helped herself to a cracker.

“You eat too, huh?”

“Yes,” Buffy said with a laugh. “I eat food too.”

“Oh.” Satsu flushed with realization. “I didn’t mean—”

“It’s okay. I’m just having fun.” She looked at the half-eaten cracker. “Though it’s been some time for both.”

Satsu buried her face in the mug to hide embarrassment. “Do you mind me asking how long…?”

“A few thousand years, give or take a crusade.”

Satsu was stunned. “So you mean last night was the first in—”

“Sometimes the champions I appear to don’t require that sort of companionship.”

“Wow. That’s either really flattering or very insulting.”

“Take it as a compliment.”

Satsu finished her breakfast and set the empty coffee cup aside. Her skin tingled with the finality of this meal with Buffy. Outside the sun was past its midway point in the sky and her meeting with Kennedy was quickly approaching. “If I didn’t say it before,” she began. “To whoever, or whatever, you really are...thank you for all your help.”

And then there didn’t seem to be anything else to say. Buffy climbed to her feet and walked to the armored vest still draped over the back of a chair. Reversing course from their first night in the cottage, Buffy retrieved the vest and held it for Satsu.

The Asian slayer slipped her arms through the holes and let the weight of the armor settle over her shoulders. Behind her, Buffy slipped the first of two belts around Satsu’s waist and tightened it firmly. The second went around her middle and buckled just under her breasts.

Lastly, Buffy took the wooden stake Satsu carried around like a security blanket on her first day at the cottage and tucked it out of sight in her waistband. The weight of it was still reassuring against her hip.

Buffy took stock of her. “Something’s missing.”

“Gauntlets? Kneepads?”

“Fluffy.”

“Oh.” Satsu smiled wryly. “I left them at the citadel. Do I have time to run back?”

“Let’s go, Rude Girl.”

---

The Brotherhood watched from the shadows as the brown haired vampire slayer readied the Sylph Box. For days they had hunted her, searching for what she took from them. The longing burned in them with such fire no human could know. Nor slayer.

Still, they held back even as the box called to them. The slayer named Kennedy had killed members of the Order in their past attempts to reclaim the box. Now that she was about the use it, they would wait until she was defenseless.

They stirred. The Brotherhood would taste revenge.

---

The quicksilver box sat open on the desk in the den. Following the instructions Kennedy made her memorize, Satsu prepared the crystals to send her to the rendezvous point. The last one, the activating crystal, pulsed warmly in her hand.

“Let’s try not to blow up the house this time,” Buffy said behind her.

Satsu shrugged. “I’m hoping once I go through the portal will stop expanding and close.”

“If not, good bye Scotland.”

“Thanks. I wasn’t quite nervous enough.” Satsu took a deep breath and dropped the crystal in place.

At first nothing happened. Buffy and Satsu exchanged a glance. And then the thunder sounded. Not from outside but from inside the box. Satsu winced as the concussion reverberated through her bones. A pencil thin beam of light shot up from the crystal housing.

“It did that last time.” Buffy took Satsu’s arm and pulled her back slightly.

The beam began rotating and expanded outward. Within moments it covered almost half the desktop. Wind pushed at both slayers and the rumble grew to a loud pitch. Bright white light, overpowering and hot, beckoned.

Satsu looked at the growing portal and tried to make out Kennedy waiting for her in the white. It was empty this time however. “Any last words of advice?”

“Yeah.” Buffy had to shout over the roar. “Don’t die.”

“Rule number one.” Satsu stepped forward. “Now for good old number two.” She gathered her strength and jumped into the portal.

She was ready for the sensation of Traveling this time. Falling through the nothingness she held herself relaxed and prepared for the sudden end. Without injures holding her this time, Satsu enjoyed the slightly heady feel of passing from one dimension to another.

The floor was suddenly underneath her boots and Satsu stumbled with the impact. Regaining her footing, the slayer looked around and found herself again in the gutted ballroom from her first meeting with Kennedy. The clop of her boots hitting the polished floor filled the cavernous room. The same unreal light poured in from high windows.

Satsu walked to the orchestra pit and glanced over the empty chairs. No sign of Kennedy.

Perfect.

“Hello?” Her voice echoed and she grimaced. “Smart, Satsu, tell the big bad exactly where you are.”

She paced the length of the pit and sighed. In her instructions, Kennedy never mentioned how long the spell would last before she snapped back her normal plane.

At the far end of the hall were two doors that lead deeper into whatever building housed the ballroom. Hoping it wasn’t the Overlook Inn, Satsu decided to explore while waiting for Kennedy. If she had battlefield information ready, maybe they could make quick work of the mission.

She moved to the doors and reached for the old style lever handle. And found both firmly locked. Giving a pull with slayer strength, she splintered the wood around the lock and opened both doors. Expecting a corridor or entryway, she started to step through but stopped short when hot dry air pushed against her.

Over the threshold was a barren landscape of jagged black rock. Wind swept over the desolation. The stench of sulfur and ozone gagged her. The same ethereal white light filled the sky in place of clouds or sun. After the iciness of Scotland, Satsu felt like she stood before an open oven.

“Holy—”

A crack-snap sounded behind her and Kennedy landed hard in the center of the hall.

Satsu ran back. “Are you okay?”

“No.” Kennedy brushed herself off and looked around in annoyance. “I haven’t been okay in a while.”

Satsu took a respectful step back and let the other slayer pull herself together. “I’m glad you are here. Still safe on the outside?”

Kennedy took in the familiarity of the ballroom and nodded. “Safe as can be. I think a hovel would be a step up from where I’ve been staying. Well, you are on the run too so you understand.”

Satsu thought about the cottage and its warm bath, big fireplace, and soft bed. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Okay, let’s see who is waiting for—” She caught sight of the open doorway and the outside view. Kennedy slowly walked to the entrance and finished the curse Satsu started. “I guess the contractor forgot to build the rest of the building.

Satsu agreed. “I’ve come to the conclusion I don’t care for dimensional travel. I’d rather my normal be normal.”

“Magic,” Kennedy simply said. “Remind me sometime to tell you about the stuff I’ve seen these past few months. Freestanding dance halls are the least.”

Tiny bits of black rock, sharp as glass, crunched underfoot as they ventured from ballroom. A long square cut mountain towered over them. The doorframe and hall fit perfectly into its side.

Around them massive boulders, some several stories tall, dotted the land. Between them were gaps and chasms, some just big enough to trap an ankle but others were too wide for even a slayer to jump. Dusting over it all was coarse sand with flecks of quartz sparkling in the white light.

It went on for miles, Satsu marveled. Unchanged and utterly bleak all the way to the horizon. “My God,” she said. “How big is this place?”

Kennedy started walking. “It’s another world, Satsu. This place could be bigger than Earth.”

Satsu stumbled after her. “And we have to find some seals in all this?” At the other’s confused glance, she explained about the seals to this world failing and needing Willow put them back. She made sure to leave out mention of Buffy.

“I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on your source of information,” Kennedy said. They began climbing one of the hills. The ground beneath them was loose with scree and blowing sand. “Magic usually deposits you wherever you need to be. We’ll just keep walking in one direction until we find—well, that.”

Over the top of the rise they peered down into a large valley relatively cleared of debris. A dais crafted from smoothly cut stone was in the center of the clearing. An unadorned altar stood on the raised platform and several obelisks, all in various states of disrepair, circled the entire structure.

“Exactly what were those seals you mentioned?”

Satsu shrugged. “I figured they were some sort of metaphysical…thing.”

Kennedy continued onward, picking her path carefully down the loose incline. “Well, if it’s this Machu Picchu knock off you should know I’m a horrible mason.”

Satsu glanced up at one of the obelisks as they walked past. “We shouldn’t have to do anything but hold off whoever lives here. Miss Rosenberg should do the rest.”

“Come on, red.” Kennedy stopped in front of the altar. “Well, we showed up. Where’s everyone else?”

“It’d be really embarrassing if there was another platform over the next rise and the bad guys are waiting for us there.”

Kennedy kicked the altar. “Hey! I’m serious here. I’m sick of these mindfucks. Come on.” Softer, to Satsu, she added, “I could have stayed home for this.”

“Maybe we should—”

A high-pitched scream cut through the calm around them. Both women covered their ears and cringed. “See!” Kennedy shouted. “Annoying gets results.”

“I’ll remember that, ma’am. Where is it coming from?”

“I don’t know.”

As sudden as it started, the cry ended and faded into echo. Her ears still ringing, Satsu pointed. “There.”

Liquid shadow poured from the crevices between rocks and towered upward, slowly taking the form of a man. It solidified and began walking toward them. The figure was huge—easily over six feet tall—and moved with long strides. He wore simple robes that twisted around powerful frame. Long life had weathered his dark brown skin to dried leather.

“‘Bout time,” Kennedy said. Without waiting for Satsu, she charged the approaching man. At several paces away she jumped into the air.

Satsu never saw him move. In the space of a blink he had stepped to the side and backhanded Kennedy in midair as though swatting a fly. The slayer flew through the air and landed hard on her shoulder, sliding through the bits of sand and rock.

The man reached the raised platform and began climbing the dais. Satsu launched forward with a battle cry. She dipped low and unlike Kennedy attempted to make use of her target’s higher center of gravity. Moving with speed, she darted inside his armspand and punched just above his kidney once, twice, with slayer enhanced strength.

The man just tipped his head and regarded her strangely. Seeming not to even notice her attack. “You’re the champion?”

Up close Satsu could see the gray stubble on his face. Not knowing what to say, she said, “You’re the evil?”

He threw his head back and gave a booming laugh. For a moment, he looked…kindly. Like just an old man. “I’m a prisoner in this place.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.” From the corner of her vision, Satsu saw Kennedy stand and start for the man again.

“Jarka,” he called, never looking away from Satsu.

Hands reached up from the cracks in the ground and grabbed Kennedy’s ankles. The slayer went down and rolled onto her back. Shadows oozed from the small crevices and took the form of two large dog like creatures with long sinewy arms. Leathery skin glistened in the preternatural light.

Kennedy caught one by the throat and held its snapping jaw from her face while kicking another away with both feet.

“Kennedy!” Satsu tried to get past the prisoner, but he stopped her with a viselike grip on her arm. She wheeled back and drove her fist into his face. When that didn’t work she twisted her thumb into a nerve cluster just above his wrist.

Unperturbed he said, “I wish to speak with you. I have had only one voice for company for so long. Tell me of your world.”

“Let me go!” Satsu turned into him and jammed her shoulder into his solar plexus. Her leverage loosened his hold and she broke free. Stumbling away, she bolted for Kennedy.

She crossed the distance between them in a blink and grabbed the boney plates protruding from the back of the jarka on top of Kennedy. Driving a heel into the ground and twisting with her momentum, Satsu lifted the jarka and threw it thirty feet away. It slammed into one of the obelisks and dropped to the ground, stunned.

Hands now free, Kennedy turned and met the second jarka. She locked her fingers around its neck, brought her legs around its abdomen, and jerked her upper body one way while forcing the jarka to the ground in another direction.

The jarka gave a strangled scream and then its spine broke with a loud snap. Its forked tongue flopped wildly as it gasped for breath.

Kennedy untangled herself from its slack limbs and pushed to her feet.

“You okay?” Satsu asked.

“Will be.” Kennedy’s gaze locked on the prisoner. “Soon as I wash this guy’s blood from my hands.”

The prisoner turned away and walked to the altar. “You won’t be doing any such thing, vampire slayer.” He ran a large callused hand along the smooth stone table. “You have visitors.”

Satsu warily watched the remaining jarka as it paced around the raised platform. “What does he mean?”

“He’s just being a…” Kennedy trailed off as realization slowly took hold. “They found me.”

Satsu had to turn to keep the jarka in sight. “Who?”

“The people I stole the box from. I have to go.”

“What?!”

Kennedy shook her head insistently. “I’ll be back, I swear. But I’m dead if I stay here and they slit my throat back there.”

“Just as well,” the prisoner said. “My business was never with you. She is the chosen champion. Go back to your world. I will see you there soon.”

Kennedy gave one last apologetic look to Satsu and then reached for something only she could see. While Satsu looked on, colored drained from the slayer and then she vanished in a flash of light.

“There is a reason for only one,” the man said. “Come closer. The jarka will not stop you.”

“No.”

He laughed again. Loud and booming. “If I wanted to kill you, I would have ripped the heart out of your chest the moment I saw you. I wish to speak with you.”

Gravel crunched as Satsu inched back. Sweat ran uncomfortably down her back, underneath her body armor. Fear and nerves made it hard to think. She needed Kennedy—needed backup to do this.

Humor filled his dark eyes. “Don’t you wish to speak with me? I would think you eager.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m the other half to the entity you have spent so much time with. I know how it works. It never feels the need to tell its champion why he or she must fight. Don’t you find that odd?”

For one brief gut churning second, Satsu expected the large man to take the form of Buffy. She wouldn’t be able to fight it then. “I’ll stop you,” she said with more conviction than she felt.

“And what have I done to you? I simply wish freedom.”

Satsu forced herself to stop inching back and stepped forward. “You’re evil.”

Again he seemed almost kindly. “Simply because you were told that by a form that lied to you. It only offers a delusion that is called good and evil. What harm could I do? I’m just an old man.”

Satsu blinked and tried to focus. She had finally reached an understand and belief in the false Buffy. She would not waver now. “No. And you can save the Nietzsche quotes, Zarathustra.” Strength came to her voice again. “I have no clue what you are, but an old man is definitely not it.”

The kindness drained from his face and it became an unreadable mask. “Very well, vampire slayer. You could have had peace and instead you want pain.

“Jarka …kill.”

Freed from its leash, the animal crossed the space between them and lunged at Satsu.

Reacting, Satsu jumped straight up and leaned back into a flip. Her sore side gave a small twinge of discomfort as she landed on the peak of an obelisk. The soles of her boots slid along the smooth stone as she gathered her strength and jumped the length of the raised platform to the top of another obelisk. Falling to a crouch, she struggled to maintain her balance.

High above the ground, she was safe from the jarka. Beyond that, she had no idea what to do next. The animal paced at the base, waiting for her.

The prisoner glanced up. “Impressive acrobatics, vampire slayer, but hardly enough to bind me. I have done battle with great wizards, but all your kind can offer is physical violence.” He turned and stepped from the platform. “You are welcome to stay here; the way for me shall soon be open and I’ll be sending your mistress back to join you.”

Satsu’s arm touched something firm at her waist. The wooden stake Buffy gave her.

“Perhaps,” the man continued, “I will find the shape form’s real counterpart. You and I might share the same taste. And it has been a long time.”

Satsu was in motion before thought caught up with her. She stood, let one hand fall to her waist, and stepped from the obelisk. The jarka wheeled around and reached for her with its long arms. Satsu barely looked at it when she flicked her wrist in its direction.

The stake flew from her hand like a missile and met the slope of the jarka’s skull. Force from her throw buried it several inches deep before finally stopping. The jarka was dead before it dropped to the ground.

The animal was no longer important to Satsu. She ran full speed toward the prisoner, anger coloring the corner of her vision. If all a slayer had to offer was violence, then she would give all she possessed. All she had to do was buy time, she remembered.

The prisoner stood calmly waiting for her. At ten paces away, Satsu launched herself at him. Recalling how he responded to Kennedy’s attack, she angled herself away at the last second and flew past him. He grabbed for her but missed.

Satsu hooked her right arm around his throat as she landed. Twisting around behind him, she drove the heel of her boot into his Achilles tendon. Hard.

For the first time, after pushing aside the bombardment of two slayers, he let out a cry of pain.

That was all the encouragement she needed. Satsu kicked his legs out from underneath him and used her arm around his neck to slam him to the ground. She went down on top of him, pushing all of her weight against his throat and pressing a knee to his hip.

Surprise was slipping away, however, and he began fighting back. Even with enhanced strength behind her, Satsu knew she couldn’t hold him for long.

Anger shook the massive body underneath her. Gone was the passive old man. He growled inhumanly as he fought against her. “You child! You have no clue what I am. I will pick you part for the next hundred years.”

Satsu drew her left hand back, but didn’t tighten it into a fist—she kept her fingers rigid and held the palm up. “Then why don’t you show me?” Letting all of the power of her birthright explode in one motion, she plunged her hand into his soft belly.

Hot warmth burst around her hand and she twisted her shoulder into the attack, driving deeper. Her probing fingers found what she wanted and she locked them together. Jerking her hand back, Satsu pulled his heart out of his chest.

The prisoner’s body bucked wildly and knocked Satsu off. She rolled away and came up in a crouch, ready another attack. Blood soaked her t-shirt sleeve and dripped down her arm. The same high pitched scream from when the prisoner emerged sounded again.

“Child.” The voice shook the ground and made Satsu’s teeth hurt. It seemed to come from every direction at once. “Think you could kill me? I am endless.”

Satsu wiped her hand on her pant leg and pushed to her feet. Well, she thought, the point was to get his attention. Job well done.

“Here in this pace I will make you suffer.”

Inky blackness rolled through the sky like a storm front. Wind swirled around and picked up loose sand and small, sharp rocks.

Shielding her eyes, Satsu started running back to the ballroom. She hoped this was enough of a distraction for Miss Rosenberg to return. The ground in front of her suddenly erupted in a geyser. She fell back and rolled away, climbing again to her feet.

“Is that the best you’ve got?!” she gloated. “I’ve come a long way for this and you’re letting me down. You’re supposed to be this big baddie that had to be locked away for all time—well, I don’t know, I took you down pretty easily.”

The scream sounded again and Satsu was sure her eardrums were going to shatter.

Dirt exploded around her as more geysers fired. The dark clouds pooled down from the sky and took the form of a hulking horned beast. It revealed a mouthful of sharp pointed teeth when it gave another scream.

“Knew you weren’t really an old guy,” Satsu muttered.

It swept an arm out and scattered several boulders. It started for her, the ground shaking with each hoof fall.

Satsu rolled her eyes. “Holy jeez.”

Wanting the shelter of the ballroom, she turned and came face to face with another human being. Satsu jumped in surprise. Thinking it was another shape form sent to attack her, she immediately threw a punch at the other woman’s head.

Her fist stopped inches from the redhead’s face. Satsu saw the woman’s pupils were inky black and realization struck.

“It’s time to go, sweetie,” Willow said.

---

The Brotherhood cried in pain. Again the brown haired slayer hurt them. They raged and threw themselves at her. The box belonged to them and not to her. They would hurt her back and reclaim it.

They were many and she was one.

Already the slayer’s internal red liquid had spilled on the floor. The Brotherhood desired more.

The brown haired slayer looked past them and began to laugh. “You guys are so dead,” she said.

They were confused. The Brotherhood was many against one.

Awareness of another sparked. They turned to face the witch and heard her say, “She’s with me.”

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