It was Graduation. It was in the air, everyone was saying their goodbyes, everyone was asking for yearbook signatures. Everyone except Buffy. Buffy just didn't feel the connection. To the school, to her schoolmates, to anything at all really. It was a strange feeling that had been growing in her stomach over the last few weeks. Ever since she and Faith had stood up on opposite sides of this ascension thing, Buffy had had a bad feeling in her gut, like something was just soo wrong. And Angel! Angel was leaving, after graduation, he'd said. Now, even worse, if possible, Angel had been shot, and only slayer blood could cure it. She was on her way there now, just caught up reminiscing. Now, Buffy was standing in Faith's room. She took a moment, just to bask. Faith looked so good. Wait, what? Buffy shook her head. Had to clear her mind, had to save Angel. So he could leave anyway… NO! She had to… Had to… Buffy fell silently to the floor. Her heart physically hurt. She took some shallow breathes and when she rose, Faith was waiting for her. "Hey, is he dead yet?" Faith asked with a smile. "No," Buffy said, wiping away her tears. "There's a cure." "Really, Damn! What is it?" Faith asked, thinking to herself, she must have missed something. "Your blood." Buffy answered simply. "So, you here to drain me? You know you'll never take me alive." "Not a problem." Buffy responded, trying to quell the emotions within her. Faith rubbed her breast, or, no, her heart, and circled around Buffy. They threw out some more talk then, "Give us a kiss." Faith said with a smile, and Buffy punched her in the face. Faith responded in kind. They fought for several minutes, throwing each other into walls, smashing each other with solid objects. Kicking each other, punching each other. They were both quite skilled. Until finally Buffy was leaning over Faith with her own dagger. She wanted to plunge it in, but couldn't. She just couldn't. She tried again. The tears started to flow. In an explosion of grief, she threw the dagger away, and collapsed onto Faith instead. The tears just wouldn't stop. Faith just lay there; she had absolutely thought she was going to die. She ran her fingers through Buffy's hair. "Buffy," she asked, calm for the first time since the fight had begun. "How did we get here?" Buffy's answer was unintelligible in her state. Faith ran her fingers over the back of Buffy's neck, through her hair, pulling it back, and finally finding her face. "Buffy, why is Angel so much more important than me?" Buffy raised her head, her face in a state. "I'm sorry Faith. I never had any siblings; I didn't know how to share, least of all, the slaying. I have to save Angel, so he can leave. Then you'll be dead and I have to fight the mayor, alone, so my friends can live, and they can leave. Oh god! I'm so sorry." Faith cupped Buffy's face with her hands, and tilted Buffy's face towards hers. "It's okay Twinkie, I did some bad things. Finish it, for me. Gotta go out with a bang." Faith pulled out a blade, and offered it to Buffy. As Buffy reached for it, their mouths connected. Instantly, the blade was forgotten. Their tongues slid into each other's mouths at once, stroking each other. As Buffy grinded her body against Faith's, she was crying again. This time though, it was happy tears. She had wanted this so badly. Why had it taken this long to figure this out? She slowed down, taking time to enjoy tonguing Faith. She began to smile as flicked her tongue inside Faith's mouth more sensually. "Oh GOD! Buffy!" Faith moaned as Buffy began to start working her way down Faith's neck. Suddenly, Faith shoved Buffy off. Buffy looked around confused, did Faith not want it too? Her questions were answered when Faith picked up a clear cut crystal glass of Cognac and waved it at Buffy temptingly, as she sat down on her bed. Buffy rose to her feet, took off her coat, shoes and socks, and climbed onto the bed, crawling towards Faith. Just as Buffy was wrapping her thighs around Faith's waist, Faith brought a finger to her lips, silencing any questions Buffy might have asked. She opened the cognac, placed her left hand up Buffy's shirt, and opening Buffy's mouth with her right, poured it in. Before Buffy could lick her lips, Faith slid her tongue in, and they tasted the Cognac together. Buffy slid her hands up inside Faith's shirt and groped her gorgeous boobs. Faith smiled and slid her other hand inside Buffy's shirt too. Together, they pulled off each other's shirts, but Buffy wasn't satisfied there. She reached around, and undid Faith's brawl, groping Faith's naked breast first with her hands, then her tongue. Faith bypassed Buffy's breast, and undid her legs from around her. She undid Buffy's pants, and slid her hand in. Buffy moaned as Faith slid her fingers inside her. By the time the vampires showed up, Buffy and Faith were eating and licking each other out and moaning almost religiously.
These vampires had just walked into what could possibly be the worst scenario ever. Two sexed up slayers with adrenaline flowing. Oh yea, and surrounded by splintered wood and a field of broken debris too. After the customary twelve seconds it took to dust them, Buffy and Faith stood nude covered in funeral ashes. Buffy took a moment to enjoy Faith's glistening body when it hit her. Angel. She was here for Angel. As Faith watched Buffy's face with growing worry, Buffy was bombarded with all the memories if stupid drama Angel had brought into her life. She couldn't sleep with him or he'd turn evil, the mayor's speech about him ruining her life, the no sunlight thing. She was just as suddenly struck with a thought. It wasn't worth it. Let him leave, but to let him survive to leave… Buffy didn't even have to look at Faith to make the choice, there was none. She turned to faith, who was halfway towards the bed to get her clothes. "Faith, come with me. Please?" Faith shook her head. "No, B. Look, I love you, or I think I might anyway, but no. I won't give of myself to feed that thing, and I won't go to watch you do it either." Buffy smiled as she walked over to get her clothes too. "Will you come with me to watch me kill him?" Faith spun around. "What? Are you saying you'd kill soul boy?" "Yes," Buffy responded without a moment's thought. "I don't know if it's the strength of what we've done here, or that we're both slayers, or just if we're soul mates or something. But well, it's like this. Angel has given me lots of gifts. Rings and crosses. They're all meant to tie us together, but the chords keep breaking. I've never given him one thing. Not one, and what we did here tonight, all the chords are cut Faith. I choose you. I love you also. Come with me. Besides, with as powerful and sudden as this all was, I'm guessing this has happened before, and Giles knew about it." "You think the watcher is hiding something?" Faith asked, curious now. "Let's go find out."
At the Sunnydale High library, the scoobies kept switching between research and checking on Angel. Everyone froze as Buffy and Faith all but waltzed through the doors, holding hands. "Buffy!? What's she doing here?" Willow asked, scared for Oz behind her. "Umm Buffy, may I have a word with you?" Giles asked as he came down the stairs by Angel. "Hi guys!" Faith said, with an awkward wave. Buffy walked right over to Angel. "How's he doing Giles?" "Well he's getting worse Buffy, but I'm guessing you already know that. Look, can we," "No," Buffy interrupted. "Faith, stay by me. So tell me Giles," Buffy turned her full attention towards him now. "Me and Faith had an interesting experience just now. Any guesses what?" Giles took off and cleaned his glasses. "Buffy, I don't know what you mean by bringing a known enemy in.." "Lover." Buffy interrupted again. "She's my lover now. We started fighting, then there was crying, then lots of adult content. Any ideas as to why?" Giles dropped his glasses as she spoke. His hands shook as he bent to pick them up. He started to say something, and then stopped. "Ughh. The "Twin Flame" scenario, I'd imagine." Everyone, Faith included, froze. "So, there is an explanation. Care to share?" Everyone was now watching Giles now, and he looked like he had just aged ten years' time in thirty seconds. "It's happened before. Four hundred years ago. A slayer died, then came back, after fulfilling a death prophecy. She ran into another slayer, bonded with her, and the watcher's counsel had them killed for corruption and sin." Oz now took this moment to speak up. "So, what kind of sin exactly?" "And why exactly?" Xander blurted in as well. Giles sighed. "Sinful fornication." Buffy and Faith looked abashed. "So you're telling me, the counsel executed them for being Lezzies?" Faith said angrily. "I'm sure that's not exactly what," Willow started to say. "Yes." Giles cut her off. "The counsel has always been a bit too, uh, old fashioned for my taste as well. You see it all comes down to biology." Giles started to get out a dry erase marker for the dry erase board, but Buffy cut him off. "Look, is this (She put her arm around Faith) permanent?" "Yes. In fact, it's actually the norm. It's why I sent Kendra off as soon as she was done helping us. I didn't want the two of you joining. I didn't know how the counsel would react if it happened again." Giles eased himself slowly into a chair. Buffy was starting to understand. "SO when Faith showed up, you wanted to contact her watcher immediately to send her home, but she was dead, leaving her no choice but to stay, making it inevitable that," "Twin Flame." Giles said simply. "Honestly, if you didn't kill one another soon, this was just a natural reaction." Everyone was sitting now. "But why?" Faith asked. "What did I do, or not do?" "Nothing." Giles sighed. "Look. It delves into very complicated matters, but as you kids say, it boils down to this. Buffy, like all slayers, doesn't need a man in her life to create new life. All she needs to do is die. It could be said, theoretically, that the next slayer, in this case Kendra, is actually therefore here daughter. (Everyone's mouths fell opened). And so on and so on. In the unique situation like with Buffy, death prophecy and all, she's been removed from the slayer line, yet remains a slayer. That's why Faith was called when Kendra died. Faith's the current Bloodline, Buffy is a new bloodline, in these unique cases, the "Twin Flame" scenario comes into play. Over time, the slayer's lack of shall we say, physical intimacy, has led to another hunger being born to replace it, if ever at all. It only comes into play when the "Twin Flame" comes to pass. Two slayers simultaneously." Everyone just let this sink in for a moment. Until Willow spoke up. "So you're saying Buffy has to choose between Faith and Angel? Not a tough choice, is it?" She said with a sarcastic smile. "No," Giles said as Buffy got up. "I fear it's really not." As everyone looked on, Buffy grabbed a wooden chair, broke off a leg, walked over, and staked Angel in his comatose state right then and there. He awoke for just enough time to look surprised, before going to ash. The silence deepened as Buffy looked at the stake, dropped it, and went back to sit down by Faith again. "Like I said, it's really not." Giles said sadly. Everyone, even Faith stayed quiet for a moment to honor their friend. "So what about Faith? Is she still with the Mayor or…" Xander left the question open-ended. Buffy took Faith's hand. She can stay with me, if she wants to." Faith smiled at this, and squeezed Buffy's hand warmly. "If Buffy can Kill Angel just like that," Faith gestured to the pile of ashes on the table behind them. "Then screw Mayor Wilkins the third. Buffy's all the family I need." After a moment, all nodded that this was acceptable. 'Okay Faith, what can you tell us about the ascension?" Faith smiled. It felt like home again already.