Sadly, I own neither Vampire Knight nor Buffy

PROLOGUE

The two girls stood side by side underneath the arching entrance way. Both were wearing jeans with dark hooded jacket, although the brunette's clothes were slightly more ripped and scuffed. Two duffel bags lay in the dust of the driveway, their owners much too occupied examining the scene in front of them.

"B, I told you this was a bad idea. Ain't no way a girl from my side of the tracks is going to fit into this slice of wealthy insanity."

"Funny", the blonde replied, "Insanity and you usually go hand in hand".

"Jesus, way to sympathise B." Faith turned around and examined the road. The taxi was still visible, but was rapidly becoming a small dot. "What the hell are we doing here?"

In the distance the township that had sprung up because of the existence of Cross Academy could be seen, but it was painfully obvious that there was no easy escape route. You either had a car, a taxi or were prepared to take an awfully long walk.

"Time to save the world, Faith. Let's go stop the apocalypse. Again." With that Buffy bent down and picked up the duffel closest to her. The brief shifting of the clothes revealed the large knife concealed by her wind-breaker and the duffel clinked with muted metal as it was repositioned. Striding confidently towards the administration building, she did not turn back to see if Faith was following.

Faith sighed a little, and scuffed the dirt with her boot as the cab finally disappeared. Picking up her bag and followed Buffy, although at a slower pace. Her eyes roamed over the landscape, picking out ambush spots, pinch points and areas where someone might be concealed.

"Yee-fucking-ha. This is such a bad idea".

"Faith?" The question was tossed over Buffy's shoulder as she realised her companion had fallen behind.

"Five by five, B. Five by five".

CHAPTER 1

"At no time shall a Day-class student be on the grounds after curfew."

"At no time shall a Day-class student enter the Moon-dorms."

"At no time shall a Day-class student disobey a member of the Disciplinary Committee"

Faith read the student handbook aloud as she lay at the bed in the dorm room she now shared with Buffy. "Jesus, B. This place is going to kill me. If the Chairman thinks that these stupid rules can create some sort of fucked up utopia where the vamps and the cattle live together in peaceful serenity, he's more cracked than I thought".

Buffy hummed a small noise of agreement as she hung up the few clothes that she had brought with her.

"I don't know. I think the whole idea of getting humans and vampires to co-exist is something well, noble, I guess…"

Faith snorted derisively, "That's cause you get all soppy 'cause of the whole vampire with a soul thing. Lover boy twisted you up good. Vamps are vamps." Buffy moved from the closet and flopped cross legged in front of the open bag between the two small beds in the room. "The teeth, the blood, the ash. That's it. Over think it, and you'll have plenty of time to repent as you push up the daisies."

Buffy didn't bother to respond as she pulled the weapons that remained in the bag, given them a quick once over with a critical eye, before lining them up in front of her. "Oh, come on Faith. Even you have to admit that if they could succeed here, with their blood tablets and all, it'd be pretty amazing. Besides, not all vamps are super-Sunnydale Hell-Mouth specials."

"Hell, B you are the eternal optimist." Faith fell silent as Buffy continued to check her weapons. Tossing the school pamphlet aside, Faith drew out her favourite 12 inch hunting knife which had been lying by her side. Watching the light from the small window dance over the blade she felt herself relax.

The quiet in the room lengthened as Buffy efficiently finished checking the weapons. Having done so she stood and started to cache them securely around the room. Faith, having taken care of her weaponry first just idly watched her counterpart. Suddenly, Faith spoke up again.

"I'm not wearing that skirt. It's some sort of bad joke at the expense of the adult entertainment industry."

"You have to," came Buffy's reply as she balanced on the edge of the bookshelf in order to place a loaded crossbow on the top.

"Nah-uh. I'll wear the guys uniform – it's blastin. But I'll leave the girly frou-frou to you." Faith smirked.

"Fine," Buffy sighed as she jumped lightly down from her perch. "I'll let you fight it out with the Disciplinary Committee".

"Oh, what the fuck, B. That Yuki girl is so twisted. All light and fluffy – you know what she is don't you? Her and that silver-haired hottie. Why does all the talent have to be the walking dead?" Faith rambled on as Buffy hid another knife behind the towel rail in the adjoining bathroom. As she emerged Faith seemed to click back onto her train of thought.

"What a joke. Why the hell would Cross make a hidden pure-blood and a Level-E wannabe the disciplinary committee – it's almost as though he's catering to the leeches". Faith pushed herself up into a sitting position as she continued her rant.

Buffy sighed again and kicked the now empty duffle bag to the side and wandered over to the window. Faith continued to go on about the lunacies of their new school, but she wasn't really expecting an answer and Buffy was content to let the sound of her companion's voice blur into the background as she looked over the ground.

It's not to bad considering, she thought to herself. I mean after the Hellmouth this is a walk in the park. I don't have to worry about sociopathic head masters here either. Maybe it'll be nice to pretend to be a school-kid again. Maybe this messed up school is just what a slayer needs.

"… and don't think for one second that I'm going to go anywhere with out a serious armament. If I've got the freakin' Vampire Nation camping out next to me, there is going to be knives and stakes with me at all times, and those disciplinarian nancies can deal…" Faith continued to catalogue her list of grievances.

It's good to get away from Sunnydale. It's good to be here with just Faith. It'll be better when Willow arrives though. But sometimes it's good to get away from the others. They don't understand the damage. Giles, Xander, Cordy… none of them. Only Wills and Faith understand. The power. The control that must come with it.

Sometimes, I think that I have killed so many in order to save the world that I have damned myself. Is that possible? To destroy yourself and save the world at the same time?

Buffy's mouth turned down at the unhappy thoughts.

Faith, having picked up on Buffy's changing mood, allowed her rant to trail off.

"It'll be okay, B"

Buffy glanced over her shoulder at her friend. "You sure about that?"

"Fight the good fight and all that jazz. We'll deal with this and move on. It'll be okay." Faith repeated.

Buffy's mouth half-kicked up into a small smile. "Since when did you become the cheer squad?"

Silence.

"Since you pulled me out of hell and made me realise that sometimes you just have to keep fighting, even if your life does blow. Since you and Angel-face decided that you wouldn't give up on me. Since I decided that kickin' with you and Willow-girl was a damn site better than dealing with the big bad on my own. Pick one."

Faith sat on the end of her bed staring down at her interlocked fingers. What she had said came out quietly. But Buffy knew the truth of the matter. Faith still questioned her humanity.

And sometimes I question mine.