The young woman was sitting on a red, Leather covered barstool at a demon bar, drowning all her tears in a bottle of whiskey, and talking to a blue skinned Vargoth demon beside her.
"Goofy Xander Harris. Yep, he's a trip to be around. I think any and every female demon who has ever come near Sunnydale has either been in love with Xander, he has been in love with them, or both. Just to name a few there's been the praying mantis lady, the girl in the pack of hyenas, of course Anya, and I even felt something going on between him and Harmony when the Xan-man was a freshman.
Willow. Loyal Willow. The first friendly person I had met in Sunnydale. In high school, she never was one you would go to for fashion tips...that would have been Cordelia. If it was help in some class you needed though, you didn't need to open a book, just go and find Willow. After high school, that all changed. She was still the slightly nerdy bookworm and computer genius, but in college she had Tara.
I miss Tara so much, especially now. She was always sweet and she really helped Willow. She knew exactly when Will was out of line, and was never afraid to point it out. True, she was shy but Willow returned the help by pulling Tara out of her shell. Then came Warren and his Star Trek, Star Wars, nerd buddies.
I can't even say that I blame Willow or am even mad at her for trying to get revenge by attempting...no...for actually killing Warren. It's hard to wrap my head around her flaying him alive. Even when I think about it that way, him as a human being skinned, I can't even begin to feel angry at Willow for being the one to skin him. After all, he killed Tara. All of us expected Willow to fall into and stay in the dark magic after that. It took a lot of effort on her part, but somehow she pulled it together.
I say somehow like I don't know what it was. I know exactly what helped her through it. Xander did it. He was the one who found her before she ended the world. He reminded her of how much we all loved her. Giles and the rest of the Watcher's Council really finished helping her work through it.
Giles went to England and came back with a group of potentials to be trained to not only take on Caleb, but to begin training to take over if...no...when Faith or I die. One drawback to being a Slayer -- a very short life span."
The demon raised a hand towards the bartender, a green scaled Forgont demon, and motioned to the empty bottles before him and the woman beside him. The barkeeper brought over another refill and the girl took a swallow before she continued.
"One of those potentials was a young girl -- Kennedy. She was at first much like Faith in the beginning. Little miss 'Look at me, I'm gonna be a Slayer, Watch out I could kill you'. Willow sure must be a changer. Kennedy's attitude went on a 180 real fast.
Speaking of Faith, she was not as fun to deal with. The darker slayer killed a man. Deputy Sunnydale Mayor Finch to be exact. At first she didn't even seem to care. Then she turned herself in. Spent about half her sentence in jail and Wesley, one of the Watchers, came and had her break out to save Angel. She was talking about going back to finish the sentence when it was all said and done. All her records and the jail exploded with the rest of Sunnydale though. Good thing too, I had gotten used to fighting beside her again.
Dawn seemed to be the only thing in my crazy life that made any sense. Only...not so much. Turns out every memory of every Thanksgiving, every Christmas, and every birthday was faked by some monks. She was really a key to a Hell dimension I was supposed to protect. Had a run-in with a demon goddess, Glory because of it. This was back when Tara was still with us...
Then of course there was having to live with the knowledge that all the vampires, demons, monsters, and things that go bump in the night were real. Living in Sunnydale for any length of time kind of forces you to believe in the boogie man.
I yelled at my friends after Sunnydale got wiped off the map. We were out a little ways and I just started screaming at them. Pointed out everything bad they ever did. Faith killing Finch, Willow killing Warren, Xander being a demon magnet. It wasn't a pretty sight. They stopped here and I just had to get out. I bet none of them even care I'm gone."
The young blond swallowed the last of the large bottle of whiskey, her third of the night. "Stupid slayer metabolism kills off alcohol," she had muttered when the bartender asked her if she should drink that much. That had been two and a half bottles ago. She looked at her blue skinned companion and chuckled wryly.
"I think I've also had enough to drink that I really don't care if they pack up and leave while I'm here. I just wonder where I'll go then..."
At some some signal unseen by the blond, the demon placed money on the bar and walked away. The blond turned around to see a slender but muscular brunette behind her. "Faith," she whispered.
Faith raised an eyebrow. "Not really surprised, B. I told Red we'd probably find you here. Don't know why she wouldn't believe me. She was determined to check the mall, cemeteries, walking the streets, motels, hotels...Pretty much anywhere that doesn't serve alcohol."
Buffy looked at Faith, wide-eyed. "What are you doing here? I can't think of a single reason why you would come."
Faith sat down beside the blond, both of them sitting with their backs against the edge of the bar. "Well, you were kind of mean, but it was just time until one of us broke. We couldn't keep pretending nothing had happened, ya know? Yeah, we've all done all the bad things you told us about, but we also know that we've done good things too. Humans mess up, B. It's not how badly you mess up that counts, but how hard you try to fix it."
Buffy stared at the younger girl. "A few years ago I wouldn't have believed that was you saying that."
Faith chuckled. "Tell me about it. A few years ago I don't think I would have even thought that line. So, are you coming or what?" Faith stood up and held out a hand towards Buffy.
"You guys can't really want me back. I mean, I pretty much attacked every living soul with us...." Buffy cut off as Faith's cell phone rang.
"Yeah, yeah Red, I got her. No, you weren't right. No, I didn't check the cemetery. Why would I have?! I told you I knew where she was. Yes, I know you told me it was an insane theory. Okay, next time someone runs off I'll check the cemetery first. Just call Dawn, Giles, and Ken. Let them know to just meet back at the house."
Faith slid the phone back in her jean's pockets and held out her hand again. "Come on, B. We're going home."
Buffy slid her hand into Faith's and they walked out of the bar and onto the sidewalk. Buffy took her hand from Faith's and wrapped her arm around the younger girl's waist.
"Faith, can you do me a favor?" she asked uncertainly.
Faith stopped walking and dark brown eyes met hazel ones. "Anything, B."
"Don't ever let me be stupid again. Don't ever let me leave. Don't leave me."
Faith pulled Buffy a little closer and started to walk again. Buffy leaned her head onto Faith's shoulder as they walked. Faith smiled. "Of course I'll never leave. And if you do get stupid, I'll just point out that you're human right there with us."
Buffy chuckled at Faith as the younger girl led her down the sidewalk. "Deal."