Title:When Destinies Meet.
Author: buffyfaith19
Pairing: Buffy/Faith
TV Show:BTVS
Summary: Buffy & Faith have a disagreement and they each embark on separate journeys in which their destinies are revealed to them piece by piece until they come together in a most spectacular fashion.
Feedback: buffyfaith19@yahoo.com
Rating:PG-13
Spoilers:None. It takes place after the series finale.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in this story. Sadly, someone else does, Joss Whedon and the UPN network do, they simply don't use them quite the way they should.
Part One
Redemption was a bitch. That's something Faith was learning first hand as she spent every waking moment trying to make a difference in somebody's life, only to find out that not everybody was grateful for her help. At times, it was the most rewarding feeling in the world, but there were times she wondered if it was worth it.
It was then that she remembered Angel's many speeches on the long, never ending road of redemption and that usually put her back on track.
That's before she met a young girl named Isabella. A pretty young girl who was having problems most girls here age never have to deal with. It wasn't problems at home, in school or few friends she had either. Faith met Isabella in a small town in Bishop County, just south of Sunnydale. Isabella was sitting on the edge of a small dock, tossing tiny pebbles into the clear blue lake.
Isabella was 16 and was now dealing with thoughts of death, demons and other such distractions.
There was something about Isabella that pulled Faith in from the moment she first laid eyes on her, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Isabella turned to see Faith standing watching her, "Hi there. You must be new around here."
"Is it that easy to tell?" Faith said as she eased her way forward.
"Well, I know everyone in Bishop County so you're a welcome sight." Isabella stood up, walked over to Faith and held out her hand, "Hi, I'm Isabella Moyer."
"Hi Isabella, I'm Faith, nice to meet you." Faith said with a big smile, but as her hand touched Isabella's something happened that shook Faith to the core.
While shaking Isabella's soft warm hand, Faith began seeing images of Isabella being chased through town by an angry mob, with a creepy looking demon hovering in the background. Next she saw Isabella lying on the beach in a very tiny bikini and as she tried to focus on just how tiny the bikini was, the same creepy demon appeared behind her with a large shiny axe about to come down on her head. Just then, she opened her eyes to see Isabella kneeling before her.
"Oh my god, what have I done." Isabella said as she checked to see if Faith was okay.
Faith managed to get to her knees and looked up at Isabella, "What the hell was that?"
"I'm sorry. I have to go. I shouldn't have.I just have to go." Isabella said quickly then took off down the dirt road.
Not one to give up without a fight, Faith pulled herself to her feet, ran after Isabella. Within a couple minutes had caught up and was standing in front of her, "So, we meet again. Now, would you like to tell me what exactly is going on here? And spare me the I don't know routine, cause it won't work."
"But I don't know, I mean, not really." Isabella said as she stopped and tried to explain things to Faith. "I know what happens when I shake hands or touch skin with certain people. It's only happened twice before and well, both those people died less than a day later of some bizarre accident. Both people I touched were strangers. Both were women and both wanted to help me. I'm the reason they are dead."
"That's not true. I don't know what's going on here, but you are no killer. I have a sense about these things." Faith said with a smile as she tried to get Isabella to relax. "Listen, is there somewhere we can go to talk? Somewhere you'd feel comfortable?"
"I'm not sure I should talk to you anymore. I couldn't take it if something happened to you to. I don't want anyone else to die because of me. It might be too late for you anyway. I've already touched you. You've been inside my head, lived my dreams and now I have to watch you die." Isabella was visibly shaken so Faith took her by the hand and once again was down on her knees in the middle of Isabella's dream or nightmare.
This time she was watching as Isabella fought off a demon using a broom and baseball bat, then followed Isabella into a room full of people where she sat down in the middle of the table.
A tall, beautiful woman stood up at the end of the table and began to speak, "We are gathered here for the moment we've all been waiting for. After 16 uneventful years of existence, Isabella Moyer is about to give the greatest gift of all, her life. She has been chosen to be the next and most promising sacrifice for our one and only leader, Higathi."
As she said the name, the strange demon appeared, hovering through the room, before stopping in the middle of the table. It spun it's triangle shaped head around to all sides of the room then focused on Isabella, "You are a special girl. You will make me stronger and help your family live a long and prosperous life. Are you ready for the big day my sweet child?"
Faith got to her feet again and couldn't help but be confused by what she'd just witnessed, "Is this going to happen every time we touch?"
"You mean you want to touch me again after what just happened?" Isabella asked, her eyes full of hope and anticipation as she looked into Faith's eyes.
Not sure what to make of the question Faith did the next best thing and avoided it, "In this last vision there was a demon called Higathi who was getting ready to take you as a sacrifice with the apparent blessing of your whole family. How much of this is true?"
"All of it." Isabella said somberly, "At the stroke of midnight in two days I will give my life to save my family and the town I love."
"Okay, first off, you aren't going to sacrifice yourself for anything. You are young and have your whole life ahead of you." Faith was about to grab Isabella by the hands, but thought better of it, "Why don't you just tell me more about this demon, these visions I get when I touch you and then you can tell me about your dreams for the future. If I have anything to say about this you will have a long happy future to look forward to."
"You are so different than anyone I've ever met. You are so confident and sure of yourself and you want to help me even though you don't even know me. I feel like you're my angel, sent here to save me." Isabella said as her eyes lit up. "Are you my angel?"
Faith was caught off guard by Isabella's comments. "I don't know about that, but I do want to help you."
"I still say you are my angel and nobody can tell me I'm wrong." She said with a defiant grin, "Anyway, for as long as I can remember I've had these visions. At first I thought they were just dreams like everyone else had, but each year they became more intense until finally I stopped sleeping so I wouldn't have to dream."
"What did you dream about?"
"At first it was normal things and then they slowly changed to supernatural dreams with ghosts, demons, magic and all kinds of strange things." Isabella said as she walked down a long hill, coming out by the lake again as she walked down the deserted shore. "Just last year I met this girl, her name was Samantha. She was passing through town and we hit it off and started hanging a lot. One day while sitting at the diner, she put her hand on mine and she was flooded with images of me in horrible situations. I know this freaked her out and she became obsessed with protecting me and then one day she pushed me out of the way of this speeding car, saving my life but losing her own in the same exact moment."
"That had to be tough. I'm sorry. That must've been a terrible time for you." Faith said wanting to reach out and hug Isabella, but not quite ready for another vision.
"It was, but within two weeks another girl appeared wanting to help me and she to was killed while saving me, only this time it was a demon who killed her. Now you're here and I know you will be next. Don't you get it, it's my destiny to be sacrificed and every time I try to fight it someone dies. I can't be responsible for your death. I just can't." Isabella ran towards an old boat and jumped in before Faith could reach her. "I'm sorry, but you have to leave now."
Back in Sunnydale.
Buffy Summers was on a routine patrol just passed the old cemetery when she came across a freshly made hole in the ground.
Stopping to investigate she stumbled on a piece of metal sticking up from the ground and fell head over heels into the hole and plummeted 20 feet before she landed on a large metal machine.
She slowly sat up and moaned as she rubbed her back, "Just great. Like I needed this after the summer I'm had."
After she got to her feet, she surveyed the large object she'd fallen on and found a way down the other side, jumping the final 10 feet onto a narrow platform hovering in mid air.
In front of her was a door leading inside the large object, so she moved forward and tried to open it. It took only a couple seconds to realize she wasn't going to budge the door, so she turned around and looked for a switch or lever of some kind. Again, she was disappointed.
With very few options at her disposal, she turned towards the door when she heard a buzzing sound getting louder and louder. She stepped to the side of the door and waited.
Sure enough, the door opened moments later and a trio vamps stepped out onto the platform. One of them used a remote control device to open a hole in the wall and all three of them walked through it.
Buffy had two choices, follow them or sneak inside the door that was still open. She chose the latter and hopped inside.
She looked around the small room, quickly focusing on a blinking light in the corridor directly in front of her.
"This just gets better and better. Demons going high tech, that can't be good." She muttered to herself as she examined the light.
There was a tiny button below the light and Buffy couldn't resist pushing it. As soon as she did, a portal appeared to her right. With no way of knowing where it was going it was a tough call whether to jump in or investigate further, but she had this flashback of Faith jumping into a vampire lair as she looked on and she knew that was a sign of what to do.
With a deep breath, Buffy lunged forward into the portal.
She wasn't in it for a second before she was tossed out the other side, landing hard on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere.
Before she could even dust herself off, she was blind-sided by something and again knocked on her ass.
When she got to her feet ready to fight there, there was nobody around to fight. It was just a big old dirt road with a forest on one side and miles and miles of hay bails on the other side.
There was a building to the north so she hopped over the barbed wire fence and headed towards it.
As she got closer, she noticed numerous people moving back and forth from the main house and what a storage facility.
She crept up behind a large metal garbage crate and peeked out the side and as she got a closer look at the people moving around she could tell they were vampire's and wondered what the hell they were doing on a deserted farm.
Since there was only one way to find out, she waited for the vamp closest to her to move away and she ran towards the side of the two-story farmhouse and snuck inside.
Before her foot could hit the ground, a right hand decked her, sending her falling ass over teakettle out the front door and onto another pile of dirt.
A large man walked out of the house and laughed at Buffy wiping the dust off her, "Well, what have we here? I smell a slayer. So why is it you are over there and I'm standing here? Did you lose your skill when you split your powers amongst all the potentials?"
Buffy didn't have time to think about his question as a handful of demons rushed out the door after her.
There was a huge battle as the tall vamp looked on, but when it was all said and done Buffy was the only one standing and with a confident smile, she moved towards vamp in the doorway.
"Well done slayer. I see your powers haven't dwindled at all. Oh well, this makes it of a challenge." The vamp said as it closed the door and walked back inside.
"Hey, get back here you.you.oh just get back here so I can kick your ass." Buffy was steaming at being ignored and rushed into the house again, only to be unceremoniously crunched with a bat and again sent flying onto the dirt.
"I do admire your persistence, but it's your strategy that could use some polishing." The tall vamp said as he laughed at Buffy once more.
"Okay, now I'm annoyed." Buffy fumed as she pulled herself up and slowly walked towards the tall vamp.
This time he didn't move. Instead, he let Buffy walk right up to him and when she did, he opened the door and let her inside.
"Oh, now you don't want to fight? Well, nobody knocks me down twice and gets away with it." Buffy said as she grabbed the tall vamp and tossed him against the far wall.
Only problem is he didn't hit the wall and as she felt a tap on her shoulder she just shook her head and said, "Oh crap." Just as she was sent flying against the very wall she wanted to send the vamp.
The tall vamp walked over to Buffy and held out his hand to help her up, "Don't be too proud to accept assistance slayer, it's not a beneficial trait to possess."
Buffy took the vamp's hand and got to her feet yet again, "Okay, who the hell are you and why am I here?"
"That's better, think slayer." The vamp said as he moved into the large living room. "You're acting like your old nemesis Faith used to, but even she's learned to control her impulses." Buffy couldn't argue with the comparison, but that was the least of her concerns, "I don't have time for Yoda talks now, I used a portal I saw some vamps use and ended up here in the middle of what looks like a vamp assembly plant, so tell me wise one, why shouldn't I stake you?
"Well Buffy, some things are up to you to figure out. Destiny is a tricky thing, very few people get a chance to shape their own destinies, but you do, but only if you make the right choices." The vamp said, his long black coat covering the entire length of his body.
"I'm too tired for cryptic messages. If you have something to tell me just do it and spare me the riddles." Buffy sat down on a large bar stool and looked the vamp over, "What is your name and how do you know so much about me and my so called destiny."
"You can call me Fatum." He said as he walked behind the small bar and poured himself a drink. "Ah, that's refreshing.
Buffy watched with a look of disbelief as he was about to take a drink. "Since when do vamps drink Vodka?"
"You'd be surprised what I can enjoy that most vampires can't." Fatum said and then gulped down the last of his drink. "Probably because I'm not a vampire, I just took this form as it was familiar to you."
"Oh, that's really nice. You couldn't take the form of a human, perhaps a little old lady that I wouldn't try and kill?" Buffy asked, the annoyance in her tone undeniable. "Never mind, just tell me what this place is and why I'm here and I can get on with it."
"It's like your patience has evaporated since you saved Sunnydale. When one might think it would be at an all time high with most of the threats to you and your friends being eliminated. Why do you think you're so irritable?"
Buffy rolled her eyes and put her finger to her mouth in a highly mocking fashion, "Oh I don't know Dr. Phil, I guess it's because summer's almost over and now I have to go back to school and I'm just not ready yet."
"I see, and you think sarcasm will hide your true feelings?" Fatum said, his eyes showing his displeasure at Buffy's attitude.
"Oh come on, am I here to slay vamps or talk to a shrink?"
"I think you succeed best when you do a little of both." Fatum stood up and walked over to the window and looked out at the stunning blue sky, then turned to Buffy, "You've always been able to be a slayer and for the most part you've been able to separate slaying with your real life, but ever since the Sunnydale situation you've been lost. This is a chance for you to get back on track. If you want to that is."
"This is silly, I'm fine." Buffy said with very little conviction, "You sound like Xander, Willow and Dawn. They've been on me since we saved the world, AGAIN I might add; that's why I took the walk in the first place. They couldn't be more wrong. I'm fine. I'm not sad or upset or mad or anything. I helped save the world and gave the powers to all the potentials and I couldn't be happier for them."
"Yes, 'for them' you are happy." His eyes looking deep into Buffy's soul, "The question is why aren't you happy? Have you thought about why?"
"I don't have to think about it. Even if I don't HAVE to be a slayer, I want to be. I thought I wanted out of this life, but it was just an excuse not to deal with things." Buffy stopped as she thought of something, "Have you had this talk with Faith to? I mean, she's the one who took off."
"Ah yes, Faith. Why did she leave?"
"Oh please, you're the seer of all so you already know." Buffy began walking away, but quickly turned and continued, "She was bored and bailed like she always does. I'm fine with it. I am. It's fine with me that she left. Why should I care anyway?"
"You seem awfully emotional about Faith's departure, is there another reason she left that you haven't mentioned?" He asked softly. Buffy was shocked at how much Fatum seemed to know about her, "How the hell do you know all this? God, why can't we just have some privacy. Is that too much to ask?"
"You avoided the question Buffy."
"Yes, Faith and I had a disagreement and it wasn't long after that she took off. Why am I telling you something you already know? Oh, are you saying it's my fault she left? Is that it? Did she send you?" Buffy asked, not even sure why she said it.
"I think you know she didn't." Fatum said, answering a question Buffy already knew the answer to, "Where is Faith now? Have you talked to her lately?"
"I don't have a clue." Buffy snapped, "She's probably out partying somewhere. She's free now. As much as she loved the slaying, I don't think she did it for the right reasons. So I'm guessing she's off living the life she's always wanted, being the party girl, not having a care in the world and leaving her friends in the dust." "Hmm, curious response."
"Oh shut up." Buffy said loudly as she stomped across the room.
"Even more curious." Fatum said as he moved to the couch and put his feet up on the footstool. "Let me change the subject for a moment, how are things with your other friends, is everything going well?"
Buffy let out a sigh, smiled and sat down beside Fatum, "Yes, actually Dawn is working now. She loves her job and can't wait to graduate next year. Willow & Kennedy have a place of their own and couldn't be happier. Xander came into a huge fortune when a long lost uncle died and left him millions. He bought his old construction company and his helping rebuild Sunnydale. Andrew is well, he's Andrew. Giles is back home in England working on a book about his adventures as a watcher. I'm so happy for all of them. Everything is working out and I love it."
"That sounds wonderful." Fatum said with a rare smile, "What would it take to make Buffy happy?"
"What?" Buffy asked, confused by the question.
"You heard me, what will make you happy?"
"Um, I don't know." Buffy said with an honest shrug of her shoulders, "I am. I think. I mean, I'm not unhappy. I'm content. Yes, I'm content with my life."
"Well, content isn't happy though." Fatum added, then changed the focus of the conversation again. "Have you thought of Faith much since she left?" "Why are you so obsessed with Faith? Are you her new watcher? Or, maybe you're her stalker. If you want to talk about Faith so bad, go find her." Buffy said, her blood pressure clearly rising each time she talked about Faith.
"Again you avoided the question."
"You are annoying. Do you know that?" Buffy said bluntly, "Did I ask to be analyzed? Nope. I'm done here. I'm going out back and if these vamps are real I'm going to do my job and take care of them." "Okay, you go do your job and we can talk when you're finished. I'll be right here." Fatum said as he turned on the TV. "Oh look, it's Dr. Phil, I love that guy."
Buffy growled and wanted to deck Fatum, but remembered the last few times she tried and instead just mumbled some nasty words under her breath as she walked outside.
Back in Bishop County.
"Isabella come back. Isabella please, I'm not going to die. I promise you this." Faith said as she waded into the water.
"Don't come any closer." Isabella said as she put her hand on the engine cord, "I have to tell you something, so please stay there."
"Okay, I'll stay here. For now." Faith agreed then backed out of the water.
"When you touch me and see visions of my life I also see visions of your life." Isabella said as she moved further out into the lake. "I saw visions of the other two girl's lives to. Both times, I saw them dying exactly the way they did and I still couldn't stop it. I saw something different for you. It was so beautiful I could hardly control myself as I watched it. It was you and a pretty blonde girl alone in a house, just sitting by a fireplace holding hands and kissing softly. I could feel the love in the room, it was overpowering."
Faith knew instantly that Isabella was talking about Buffy, but had no idea what vision she was seeing, since none of that had happened. "I'm glad you saw something good for me. I plan on living a long happy life from now on. If it's with a certain blonde slayer then so be it, but doesn't that show you that things are changing? You didn't see a vision of me dying, so please come back here and let me help you."
"There's more." Isabella said as her face became very gloomy. "That was just the first vision I had of you. The second was much different."
"I don't believe in all this voodoo hocus pocus stuff, so go ahead, let me have it. How am I going to die?" Faith asked as she stared out at Isabella.
"You see, the thing is you won't die if you leave now."
"Just tell me what you saw." Faith said, this time more demanding than the last.
"I saw you saving my life as I was about to be sacrificed. You were amazing." Isabella said with a big smile, "You killed what seemed like hundreds of Higathi's demon friends and then took on Higathi and after a short battle you killed him."
"It all sounds good to me. So if I saved you and Higathi is dead, where's the downside to all this?" Faith asked, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"After you saved me, my family were all congratulating you and thanking you some strange cloud appeared about the town and without warning sucked you up into the sky and you were gone, out of my life forever. It's what happens when people try to help me. Don't you see why I can't risk this?" Isabella pleaded, not wanting to leave, but afraid to stay.
"Okay, here's how I see it." Faith said as she sensed an opportunity to get through to Isabella. "What if I'm going to die regardless of what I do to help you? If that's true, I'd much rather die saving your life than die doing nothing. So, unless you want me to die for no reason you had better get back here." "I don't know what to do." Isabella stared back at Faith, even more confused than before.
"Isabella, please come back here. There's a whole lot more to me than meets the eye. I'm not your average girl, if you hadn't noticed by now. " Faith said as she again moved towards Isabella, "I'm a slayer. I'm not sure if you know anything about slayers, but we are tough little cookies and it takes more than some big bad cloud to take us out. I have tried to do this your way and give you space, but if you don't get back here I'm going to show you a bit more about what a slayer can do."
Isabella smiled at Faith's change of tone, "You look so sexy when you get mad."
"Oh I do, do I?" Faith smiled at the compliment, "Are you gonna come back or am I going to have to get all wet bringing you back?"
"I would like to see you all wet, but okay, I'll come back." Isabella rowed her way back to Faith, hopped out and stood beside her. "Here I am. What are you gonna do about it? Frisk me?"
"Okay, where's all this coming from?"
"This? What do you mean?" Isabella asked with a sexy pout.
"You know what, the sexual innuendo. How old are you anyway?" Faith asked, as she looked over the pretty girl standing in front of her.
"I'm 19 if you must know." Isabella said without looking Faith in the eyes.
"19 huh, somehow I doubt that. Come on, how old are you?"
"Oh fine, 16, but I'm gonna be 17 in a month so it's not like I'm a kid. I mean, look at me, do I look like a kid to you?" Isabella said as she spun around for Faith, showing off her womanly curves.
"I'll admit you look older than 16, but you're still too young for me." Faith said, taking her eyes off Isabella's body and focusing back on her pretty blue eyes, "Okay, where were we? Oh right, you agreed to let me help you out, so let's concentrate on that for now."
Isabella wanted to give Faith a hug, but had learned long ago to control her urges and gave her a friendly smile instead. "I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time. I do trust you; I just hope you know what you're doing."
"Tell me about this demon that wants you as a sacrifice. Has it always been around?" Faith asked as she sat down on a large tree stump and motioned for Isabella to come join her.
After settling in beside Faith, Isabella cleared her throat and began, "I first remember hearing about Higathi when I was about 15. I can't say if he was here before, but it's the first time I saw him. It was at my best friend Katie's birthday party. We were all down by the lake swimming and playing in the water and I went back to the shore because my top had come loose. I was in behind an old watershed adjusting my bikini top when I spotted this gross looking thing watching me from the trees. I let out a scream and everyone came running, which was the last thing I wanted since I hadn't fixed my top, so in addition to being scared out of my mind I was also embarrassed trying to keep my breasts covered up."
Faith was laughing as she pictures Isabella's story, then quickly stopped the visual as she remembered her age at the time, "Well, that's funny to hear about, but I'm sure it wasn't fun for you. What happened next?"
"Well, I told everyone about the creature and none of the adults seemed surprised by any of it, but the kids all were." Isabella said as she flipped through her purse.
"I'm not surprised about that." Faith said, her eyes watching Isabella as she pulled something from her purse. "When you're young, you're always the last to know about everything.
Isabella handed Faith a couple pictures. "This is Higathi. I took this less than two weeks ago, so I'd have proof it existed. The other picture is Higathi talking to another demon, but it was a different kind of demon and it seemed to be the one in charge as it was really yelling at Higathi for something."
Faith studied the two demons carefully, but couldn't tell much else from the pictures.
"I sure wish the scooby gang were here now." Faith said aloud, but didn't really mean to.
"The scooby gang? You mean from the cartoon?" Isabella asked, suddenly questioning Faith's sanity.
"Oh no, it's a nickname someone gave to some friends or I should say associates of mine. They were really good at this kind of thing." Faith said, enjoying the quick trip down memory lane.
Isabella was quick to offer a solution. "Well, you could ask them to help couldn't you?"
"I guess, but I'll see what I can do on my own first."
"Okay, well what should we do now?" Isabella asked, waiting anxiously to start her new adventure.
Faith had to stop and think for a moment, but that didn't last long as she was jumped from behind and sent flying to the ground. As she got up she saw a large scaly demon moving closer to Isabella so she began running hard towards it and as she got close she leaped into the air and gave it a drop kick to what looked like it's head, knocking it off balance long enough for Isabella to get behind Faith and start running.
"Come on Faith, run." Isabella said as she watched the demon stare back at Faith but not make a move.
"It's okay, I don't think it wants to kill me or you for that matter." Faith said as she let her guard down and moved slowly towards the demon.
"What are you doing?" Isabella yelled from down by the dock.
Faith put her hands up in a defensive position and smiled at the demon, "Um, hey there, you wouldn't happen to speak English would ya? It would sure help if you did. Cause I can't speak demon worth a crap."
With it's head moving slowly from side to side the demon reached into it's skin and pulled out a small metal device. It held it up to it's ear then looked back over at Faith, "I am Sittoussionigzznnoolstoyntraloeerfxeod."
"Whoa there, could you give me the condensed version?" Faith said shaking her head at the curious demon.
"I've contacted the human database of names and translated mine to the closest possible match." The android sounding demon said as it pushed more buttons on the device then looked up again, "The best match is, Bob."
"OMG, you translate a 50 letter name into Bob? I love it. You're my kind of demon, Bob." Faith said with a spontaneous laugh.
"You are a slayer. We have the same goal in mind. Protect Isabella." Bob said as it moved toward Faith. "We've been watching Isabella since she was made the next target. We felt your presence in Isabella's life, but your aura is so mixed up it was impossible to distinguish the good from the bad, so we had to find out."
"Well, I used to be a bad girl so that's probably why my aura is mixed up. Now, what's the deal with these demons, why do they want Isabella to be sacrificed so desperately?" Faith asked as she stood beside the odd- looking demon.
"We cannot advise you on how to deal with this situation, but we do know that Isabella is the key to a vital event that must take place in your universe. If she dies before this event is set in motion, the consequences would be devastating and we're not sure your world could survive such a catastrophe." Bob said, sounding like doomsday was just around the corner.
"Aren't you just full of good news." Faith said as she turned to smile at Isabella, showing her that everything was calm, for now at least.
Bob was still pushing buttons on his little gadget as he talked to Faith. "I'm not here to bring good news or bad, just give you a chance to keep history on it's current path."
"Who are you?" Faith asked, getting a strange vibe from the demon. "You don't act like a demon and before I go helping you I want to know what any of this has to do with you?" "I am the keeper of the timeline. You are now the guardian of the girl. If you fail at your duty there will be little else we can do for you or the people of earth." Bob said as he clicked one more button on his little toy and a pretty gold bracelet appeared in mid air in front of Faith.
She looked at the bracelet then back at Bob, "Is this for me?"
"Yes, this is a multi purpose decorative item. You may contact us in an emergency by pushing the 2, A, 4, H, 6, T, 3, V, 5, L, 1, P, 7, S, 8, Q, 0, F keys in the correct order. You may push the 2,4,1,8."
"Are you insane? Who the hell has time to punch 20 buttons in an emergency? Didn't you notice how us earthlings narrowed that down to three little number, 911? Why do you think we did that?" Faith asked with more than a little sarcasm in her tone.
Bob looked at Faith then back at his own device, pushed a few more buttons and looked back at Faith, "It is best to use larger numerical codes in order to guard against security threats." He paused for a moment and stared back at Faith as he pushed more buttons, "However, we see your point and have adjusted the device accordingly. The new code will be 811."
"Oh my god , why not just make it 911 then? Wouldn't that make more sense?" Faith asked, ready to pull her hair out at Bob's so called logic
"We didn't feel the 9 was a strong enough number to evoke a sense of emergency." Bob said with a straight face.
Faith began looking around the area with a curious smile, "Am I on some show like Demon Punk'd or something, cause this is getting way to weird for my liking."
"We do not know what you are speaking of."
"That's okay, I'll stick with 811 and let's hope that I don't have to use it." Faith shook her head and put on the bracelet.
"I must be leaving now. Watch over Isabella and your world will be saved from."
Faith rolled her eyes and interrupted Bob, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, an unspeakable evil. Is there any other kind?"
"Actually, there are many types of evil. Some you would.."
"It was rhetorical Bob." Faith said as she put her hand over Bob's large mouth. "Thanks for the little trinket and I'll make sure Isabella is safe."
"We shall meet again Faith; your destiny is of great interest to us." Bob said and quickly disappeared into thin air.
Isabella walked back over to Faith, "That was strange. What do we do now?"
"I'd say we need to get you back home and then I am going to have a look around for this Higathi demon and see if I can't take care of this problem tonight." Faith said, her eyes focusing in on someone watching from up on the hill. "Isabella, do you know who that is up on the hill?"
End of Part One.
Author: buffyfaith19
Pairing: Buffy/Faith
TV Show:BTVS
Summary: Buffy & Faith have a disagreement and they each embark on separate journeys in which their destinies are revealed to them piece by piece until they come together in a most spectacular fashion.
Feedback: buffyfaith19@yahoo.com
Rating:PG-13
Spoilers:None. It takes place after the series finale.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in this story. Sadly, someone else does, Joss Whedon and the UPN network do, they simply don't use them quite the way they should.
Part One
Redemption was a bitch. That's something Faith was learning first hand as she spent every waking moment trying to make a difference in somebody's life, only to find out that not everybody was grateful for her help. At times, it was the most rewarding feeling in the world, but there were times she wondered if it was worth it.
It was then that she remembered Angel's many speeches on the long, never ending road of redemption and that usually put her back on track.
That's before she met a young girl named Isabella. A pretty young girl who was having problems most girls here age never have to deal with. It wasn't problems at home, in school or few friends she had either. Faith met Isabella in a small town in Bishop County, just south of Sunnydale. Isabella was sitting on the edge of a small dock, tossing tiny pebbles into the clear blue lake.
Isabella was 16 and was now dealing with thoughts of death, demons and other such distractions.
There was something about Isabella that pulled Faith in from the moment she first laid eyes on her, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Isabella turned to see Faith standing watching her, "Hi there. You must be new around here."
"Is it that easy to tell?" Faith said as she eased her way forward.
"Well, I know everyone in Bishop County so you're a welcome sight." Isabella stood up, walked over to Faith and held out her hand, "Hi, I'm Isabella Moyer."
"Hi Isabella, I'm Faith, nice to meet you." Faith said with a big smile, but as her hand touched Isabella's something happened that shook Faith to the core.
While shaking Isabella's soft warm hand, Faith began seeing images of Isabella being chased through town by an angry mob, with a creepy looking demon hovering in the background. Next she saw Isabella lying on the beach in a very tiny bikini and as she tried to focus on just how tiny the bikini was, the same creepy demon appeared behind her with a large shiny axe about to come down on her head. Just then, she opened her eyes to see Isabella kneeling before her.
"Oh my god, what have I done." Isabella said as she checked to see if Faith was okay.
Faith managed to get to her knees and looked up at Isabella, "What the hell was that?"
"I'm sorry. I have to go. I shouldn't have.I just have to go." Isabella said quickly then took off down the dirt road.
Not one to give up without a fight, Faith pulled herself to her feet, ran after Isabella. Within a couple minutes had caught up and was standing in front of her, "So, we meet again. Now, would you like to tell me what exactly is going on here? And spare me the I don't know routine, cause it won't work."
"But I don't know, I mean, not really." Isabella said as she stopped and tried to explain things to Faith. "I know what happens when I shake hands or touch skin with certain people. It's only happened twice before and well, both those people died less than a day later of some bizarre accident. Both people I touched were strangers. Both were women and both wanted to help me. I'm the reason they are dead."
"That's not true. I don't know what's going on here, but you are no killer. I have a sense about these things." Faith said with a smile as she tried to get Isabella to relax. "Listen, is there somewhere we can go to talk? Somewhere you'd feel comfortable?"
"I'm not sure I should talk to you anymore. I couldn't take it if something happened to you to. I don't want anyone else to die because of me. It might be too late for you anyway. I've already touched you. You've been inside my head, lived my dreams and now I have to watch you die." Isabella was visibly shaken so Faith took her by the hand and once again was down on her knees in the middle of Isabella's dream or nightmare.
This time she was watching as Isabella fought off a demon using a broom and baseball bat, then followed Isabella into a room full of people where she sat down in the middle of the table.
A tall, beautiful woman stood up at the end of the table and began to speak, "We are gathered here for the moment we've all been waiting for. After 16 uneventful years of existence, Isabella Moyer is about to give the greatest gift of all, her life. She has been chosen to be the next and most promising sacrifice for our one and only leader, Higathi."
As she said the name, the strange demon appeared, hovering through the room, before stopping in the middle of the table. It spun it's triangle shaped head around to all sides of the room then focused on Isabella, "You are a special girl. You will make me stronger and help your family live a long and prosperous life. Are you ready for the big day my sweet child?"
Faith got to her feet again and couldn't help but be confused by what she'd just witnessed, "Is this going to happen every time we touch?"
"You mean you want to touch me again after what just happened?" Isabella asked, her eyes full of hope and anticipation as she looked into Faith's eyes.
Not sure what to make of the question Faith did the next best thing and avoided it, "In this last vision there was a demon called Higathi who was getting ready to take you as a sacrifice with the apparent blessing of your whole family. How much of this is true?"
"All of it." Isabella said somberly, "At the stroke of midnight in two days I will give my life to save my family and the town I love."
"Okay, first off, you aren't going to sacrifice yourself for anything. You are young and have your whole life ahead of you." Faith was about to grab Isabella by the hands, but thought better of it, "Why don't you just tell me more about this demon, these visions I get when I touch you and then you can tell me about your dreams for the future. If I have anything to say about this you will have a long happy future to look forward to."
"You are so different than anyone I've ever met. You are so confident and sure of yourself and you want to help me even though you don't even know me. I feel like you're my angel, sent here to save me." Isabella said as her eyes lit up. "Are you my angel?"
Faith was caught off guard by Isabella's comments. "I don't know about that, but I do want to help you."
"I still say you are my angel and nobody can tell me I'm wrong." She said with a defiant grin, "Anyway, for as long as I can remember I've had these visions. At first I thought they were just dreams like everyone else had, but each year they became more intense until finally I stopped sleeping so I wouldn't have to dream."
"What did you dream about?"
"At first it was normal things and then they slowly changed to supernatural dreams with ghosts, demons, magic and all kinds of strange things." Isabella said as she walked down a long hill, coming out by the lake again as she walked down the deserted shore. "Just last year I met this girl, her name was Samantha. She was passing through town and we hit it off and started hanging a lot. One day while sitting at the diner, she put her hand on mine and she was flooded with images of me in horrible situations. I know this freaked her out and she became obsessed with protecting me and then one day she pushed me out of the way of this speeding car, saving my life but losing her own in the same exact moment."
"That had to be tough. I'm sorry. That must've been a terrible time for you." Faith said wanting to reach out and hug Isabella, but not quite ready for another vision.
"It was, but within two weeks another girl appeared wanting to help me and she to was killed while saving me, only this time it was a demon who killed her. Now you're here and I know you will be next. Don't you get it, it's my destiny to be sacrificed and every time I try to fight it someone dies. I can't be responsible for your death. I just can't." Isabella ran towards an old boat and jumped in before Faith could reach her. "I'm sorry, but you have to leave now."
Back in Sunnydale.
Buffy Summers was on a routine patrol just passed the old cemetery when she came across a freshly made hole in the ground.
Stopping to investigate she stumbled on a piece of metal sticking up from the ground and fell head over heels into the hole and plummeted 20 feet before she landed on a large metal machine.
She slowly sat up and moaned as she rubbed her back, "Just great. Like I needed this after the summer I'm had."
After she got to her feet, she surveyed the large object she'd fallen on and found a way down the other side, jumping the final 10 feet onto a narrow platform hovering in mid air.
In front of her was a door leading inside the large object, so she moved forward and tried to open it. It took only a couple seconds to realize she wasn't going to budge the door, so she turned around and looked for a switch or lever of some kind. Again, she was disappointed.
With very few options at her disposal, she turned towards the door when she heard a buzzing sound getting louder and louder. She stepped to the side of the door and waited.
Sure enough, the door opened moments later and a trio vamps stepped out onto the platform. One of them used a remote control device to open a hole in the wall and all three of them walked through it.
Buffy had two choices, follow them or sneak inside the door that was still open. She chose the latter and hopped inside.
She looked around the small room, quickly focusing on a blinking light in the corridor directly in front of her.
"This just gets better and better. Demons going high tech, that can't be good." She muttered to herself as she examined the light.
There was a tiny button below the light and Buffy couldn't resist pushing it. As soon as she did, a portal appeared to her right. With no way of knowing where it was going it was a tough call whether to jump in or investigate further, but she had this flashback of Faith jumping into a vampire lair as she looked on and she knew that was a sign of what to do.
With a deep breath, Buffy lunged forward into the portal.
She wasn't in it for a second before she was tossed out the other side, landing hard on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere.
Before she could even dust herself off, she was blind-sided by something and again knocked on her ass.
When she got to her feet ready to fight there, there was nobody around to fight. It was just a big old dirt road with a forest on one side and miles and miles of hay bails on the other side.
There was a building to the north so she hopped over the barbed wire fence and headed towards it.
As she got closer, she noticed numerous people moving back and forth from the main house and what a storage facility.
She crept up behind a large metal garbage crate and peeked out the side and as she got a closer look at the people moving around she could tell they were vampire's and wondered what the hell they were doing on a deserted farm.
Since there was only one way to find out, she waited for the vamp closest to her to move away and she ran towards the side of the two-story farmhouse and snuck inside.
Before her foot could hit the ground, a right hand decked her, sending her falling ass over teakettle out the front door and onto another pile of dirt.
A large man walked out of the house and laughed at Buffy wiping the dust off her, "Well, what have we here? I smell a slayer. So why is it you are over there and I'm standing here? Did you lose your skill when you split your powers amongst all the potentials?"
Buffy didn't have time to think about his question as a handful of demons rushed out the door after her.
There was a huge battle as the tall vamp looked on, but when it was all said and done Buffy was the only one standing and with a confident smile, she moved towards vamp in the doorway.
"Well done slayer. I see your powers haven't dwindled at all. Oh well, this makes it of a challenge." The vamp said as it closed the door and walked back inside.
"Hey, get back here you.you.oh just get back here so I can kick your ass." Buffy was steaming at being ignored and rushed into the house again, only to be unceremoniously crunched with a bat and again sent flying onto the dirt.
"I do admire your persistence, but it's your strategy that could use some polishing." The tall vamp said as he laughed at Buffy once more.
"Okay, now I'm annoyed." Buffy fumed as she pulled herself up and slowly walked towards the tall vamp.
This time he didn't move. Instead, he let Buffy walk right up to him and when she did, he opened the door and let her inside.
"Oh, now you don't want to fight? Well, nobody knocks me down twice and gets away with it." Buffy said as she grabbed the tall vamp and tossed him against the far wall.
Only problem is he didn't hit the wall and as she felt a tap on her shoulder she just shook her head and said, "Oh crap." Just as she was sent flying against the very wall she wanted to send the vamp.
The tall vamp walked over to Buffy and held out his hand to help her up, "Don't be too proud to accept assistance slayer, it's not a beneficial trait to possess."
Buffy took the vamp's hand and got to her feet yet again, "Okay, who the hell are you and why am I here?"
"That's better, think slayer." The vamp said as he moved into the large living room. "You're acting like your old nemesis Faith used to, but even she's learned to control her impulses." Buffy couldn't argue with the comparison, but that was the least of her concerns, "I don't have time for Yoda talks now, I used a portal I saw some vamps use and ended up here in the middle of what looks like a vamp assembly plant, so tell me wise one, why shouldn't I stake you?
"Well Buffy, some things are up to you to figure out. Destiny is a tricky thing, very few people get a chance to shape their own destinies, but you do, but only if you make the right choices." The vamp said, his long black coat covering the entire length of his body.
"I'm too tired for cryptic messages. If you have something to tell me just do it and spare me the riddles." Buffy sat down on a large bar stool and looked the vamp over, "What is your name and how do you know so much about me and my so called destiny."
"You can call me Fatum." He said as he walked behind the small bar and poured himself a drink. "Ah, that's refreshing.
Buffy watched with a look of disbelief as he was about to take a drink. "Since when do vamps drink Vodka?"
"You'd be surprised what I can enjoy that most vampires can't." Fatum said and then gulped down the last of his drink. "Probably because I'm not a vampire, I just took this form as it was familiar to you."
"Oh, that's really nice. You couldn't take the form of a human, perhaps a little old lady that I wouldn't try and kill?" Buffy asked, the annoyance in her tone undeniable. "Never mind, just tell me what this place is and why I'm here and I can get on with it."
"It's like your patience has evaporated since you saved Sunnydale. When one might think it would be at an all time high with most of the threats to you and your friends being eliminated. Why do you think you're so irritable?"
Buffy rolled her eyes and put her finger to her mouth in a highly mocking fashion, "Oh I don't know Dr. Phil, I guess it's because summer's almost over and now I have to go back to school and I'm just not ready yet."
"I see, and you think sarcasm will hide your true feelings?" Fatum said, his eyes showing his displeasure at Buffy's attitude.
"Oh come on, am I here to slay vamps or talk to a shrink?"
"I think you succeed best when you do a little of both." Fatum stood up and walked over to the window and looked out at the stunning blue sky, then turned to Buffy, "You've always been able to be a slayer and for the most part you've been able to separate slaying with your real life, but ever since the Sunnydale situation you've been lost. This is a chance for you to get back on track. If you want to that is."
"This is silly, I'm fine." Buffy said with very little conviction, "You sound like Xander, Willow and Dawn. They've been on me since we saved the world, AGAIN I might add; that's why I took the walk in the first place. They couldn't be more wrong. I'm fine. I'm not sad or upset or mad or anything. I helped save the world and gave the powers to all the potentials and I couldn't be happier for them."
"Yes, 'for them' you are happy." His eyes looking deep into Buffy's soul, "The question is why aren't you happy? Have you thought about why?"
"I don't have to think about it. Even if I don't HAVE to be a slayer, I want to be. I thought I wanted out of this life, but it was just an excuse not to deal with things." Buffy stopped as she thought of something, "Have you had this talk with Faith to? I mean, she's the one who took off."
"Ah yes, Faith. Why did she leave?"
"Oh please, you're the seer of all so you already know." Buffy began walking away, but quickly turned and continued, "She was bored and bailed like she always does. I'm fine with it. I am. It's fine with me that she left. Why should I care anyway?"
"You seem awfully emotional about Faith's departure, is there another reason she left that you haven't mentioned?" He asked softly. Buffy was shocked at how much Fatum seemed to know about her, "How the hell do you know all this? God, why can't we just have some privacy. Is that too much to ask?"
"You avoided the question Buffy."
"Yes, Faith and I had a disagreement and it wasn't long after that she took off. Why am I telling you something you already know? Oh, are you saying it's my fault she left? Is that it? Did she send you?" Buffy asked, not even sure why she said it.
"I think you know she didn't." Fatum said, answering a question Buffy already knew the answer to, "Where is Faith now? Have you talked to her lately?"
"I don't have a clue." Buffy snapped, "She's probably out partying somewhere. She's free now. As much as she loved the slaying, I don't think she did it for the right reasons. So I'm guessing she's off living the life she's always wanted, being the party girl, not having a care in the world and leaving her friends in the dust." "Hmm, curious response."
"Oh shut up." Buffy said loudly as she stomped across the room.
"Even more curious." Fatum said as he moved to the couch and put his feet up on the footstool. "Let me change the subject for a moment, how are things with your other friends, is everything going well?"
Buffy let out a sigh, smiled and sat down beside Fatum, "Yes, actually Dawn is working now. She loves her job and can't wait to graduate next year. Willow & Kennedy have a place of their own and couldn't be happier. Xander came into a huge fortune when a long lost uncle died and left him millions. He bought his old construction company and his helping rebuild Sunnydale. Andrew is well, he's Andrew. Giles is back home in England working on a book about his adventures as a watcher. I'm so happy for all of them. Everything is working out and I love it."
"That sounds wonderful." Fatum said with a rare smile, "What would it take to make Buffy happy?"
"What?" Buffy asked, confused by the question.
"You heard me, what will make you happy?"
"Um, I don't know." Buffy said with an honest shrug of her shoulders, "I am. I think. I mean, I'm not unhappy. I'm content. Yes, I'm content with my life."
"Well, content isn't happy though." Fatum added, then changed the focus of the conversation again. "Have you thought of Faith much since she left?" "Why are you so obsessed with Faith? Are you her new watcher? Or, maybe you're her stalker. If you want to talk about Faith so bad, go find her." Buffy said, her blood pressure clearly rising each time she talked about Faith.
"Again you avoided the question."
"You are annoying. Do you know that?" Buffy said bluntly, "Did I ask to be analyzed? Nope. I'm done here. I'm going out back and if these vamps are real I'm going to do my job and take care of them." "Okay, you go do your job and we can talk when you're finished. I'll be right here." Fatum said as he turned on the TV. "Oh look, it's Dr. Phil, I love that guy."
Buffy growled and wanted to deck Fatum, but remembered the last few times she tried and instead just mumbled some nasty words under her breath as she walked outside.
Back in Bishop County.
"Isabella come back. Isabella please, I'm not going to die. I promise you this." Faith said as she waded into the water.
"Don't come any closer." Isabella said as she put her hand on the engine cord, "I have to tell you something, so please stay there."
"Okay, I'll stay here. For now." Faith agreed then backed out of the water.
"When you touch me and see visions of my life I also see visions of your life." Isabella said as she moved further out into the lake. "I saw visions of the other two girl's lives to. Both times, I saw them dying exactly the way they did and I still couldn't stop it. I saw something different for you. It was so beautiful I could hardly control myself as I watched it. It was you and a pretty blonde girl alone in a house, just sitting by a fireplace holding hands and kissing softly. I could feel the love in the room, it was overpowering."
Faith knew instantly that Isabella was talking about Buffy, but had no idea what vision she was seeing, since none of that had happened. "I'm glad you saw something good for me. I plan on living a long happy life from now on. If it's with a certain blonde slayer then so be it, but doesn't that show you that things are changing? You didn't see a vision of me dying, so please come back here and let me help you."
"There's more." Isabella said as her face became very gloomy. "That was just the first vision I had of you. The second was much different."
"I don't believe in all this voodoo hocus pocus stuff, so go ahead, let me have it. How am I going to die?" Faith asked as she stared out at Isabella.
"You see, the thing is you won't die if you leave now."
"Just tell me what you saw." Faith said, this time more demanding than the last.
"I saw you saving my life as I was about to be sacrificed. You were amazing." Isabella said with a big smile, "You killed what seemed like hundreds of Higathi's demon friends and then took on Higathi and after a short battle you killed him."
"It all sounds good to me. So if I saved you and Higathi is dead, where's the downside to all this?" Faith asked, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"After you saved me, my family were all congratulating you and thanking you some strange cloud appeared about the town and without warning sucked you up into the sky and you were gone, out of my life forever. It's what happens when people try to help me. Don't you see why I can't risk this?" Isabella pleaded, not wanting to leave, but afraid to stay.
"Okay, here's how I see it." Faith said as she sensed an opportunity to get through to Isabella. "What if I'm going to die regardless of what I do to help you? If that's true, I'd much rather die saving your life than die doing nothing. So, unless you want me to die for no reason you had better get back here." "I don't know what to do." Isabella stared back at Faith, even more confused than before.
"Isabella, please come back here. There's a whole lot more to me than meets the eye. I'm not your average girl, if you hadn't noticed by now. " Faith said as she again moved towards Isabella, "I'm a slayer. I'm not sure if you know anything about slayers, but we are tough little cookies and it takes more than some big bad cloud to take us out. I have tried to do this your way and give you space, but if you don't get back here I'm going to show you a bit more about what a slayer can do."
Isabella smiled at Faith's change of tone, "You look so sexy when you get mad."
"Oh I do, do I?" Faith smiled at the compliment, "Are you gonna come back or am I going to have to get all wet bringing you back?"
"I would like to see you all wet, but okay, I'll come back." Isabella rowed her way back to Faith, hopped out and stood beside her. "Here I am. What are you gonna do about it? Frisk me?"
"Okay, where's all this coming from?"
"This? What do you mean?" Isabella asked with a sexy pout.
"You know what, the sexual innuendo. How old are you anyway?" Faith asked, as she looked over the pretty girl standing in front of her.
"I'm 19 if you must know." Isabella said without looking Faith in the eyes.
"19 huh, somehow I doubt that. Come on, how old are you?"
"Oh fine, 16, but I'm gonna be 17 in a month so it's not like I'm a kid. I mean, look at me, do I look like a kid to you?" Isabella said as she spun around for Faith, showing off her womanly curves.
"I'll admit you look older than 16, but you're still too young for me." Faith said, taking her eyes off Isabella's body and focusing back on her pretty blue eyes, "Okay, where were we? Oh right, you agreed to let me help you out, so let's concentrate on that for now."
Isabella wanted to give Faith a hug, but had learned long ago to control her urges and gave her a friendly smile instead. "I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time. I do trust you; I just hope you know what you're doing."
"Tell me about this demon that wants you as a sacrifice. Has it always been around?" Faith asked as she sat down on a large tree stump and motioned for Isabella to come join her.
After settling in beside Faith, Isabella cleared her throat and began, "I first remember hearing about Higathi when I was about 15. I can't say if he was here before, but it's the first time I saw him. It was at my best friend Katie's birthday party. We were all down by the lake swimming and playing in the water and I went back to the shore because my top had come loose. I was in behind an old watershed adjusting my bikini top when I spotted this gross looking thing watching me from the trees. I let out a scream and everyone came running, which was the last thing I wanted since I hadn't fixed my top, so in addition to being scared out of my mind I was also embarrassed trying to keep my breasts covered up."
Faith was laughing as she pictures Isabella's story, then quickly stopped the visual as she remembered her age at the time, "Well, that's funny to hear about, but I'm sure it wasn't fun for you. What happened next?"
"Well, I told everyone about the creature and none of the adults seemed surprised by any of it, but the kids all were." Isabella said as she flipped through her purse.
"I'm not surprised about that." Faith said, her eyes watching Isabella as she pulled something from her purse. "When you're young, you're always the last to know about everything.
Isabella handed Faith a couple pictures. "This is Higathi. I took this less than two weeks ago, so I'd have proof it existed. The other picture is Higathi talking to another demon, but it was a different kind of demon and it seemed to be the one in charge as it was really yelling at Higathi for something."
Faith studied the two demons carefully, but couldn't tell much else from the pictures.
"I sure wish the scooby gang were here now." Faith said aloud, but didn't really mean to.
"The scooby gang? You mean from the cartoon?" Isabella asked, suddenly questioning Faith's sanity.
"Oh no, it's a nickname someone gave to some friends or I should say associates of mine. They were really good at this kind of thing." Faith said, enjoying the quick trip down memory lane.
Isabella was quick to offer a solution. "Well, you could ask them to help couldn't you?"
"I guess, but I'll see what I can do on my own first."
"Okay, well what should we do now?" Isabella asked, waiting anxiously to start her new adventure.
Faith had to stop and think for a moment, but that didn't last long as she was jumped from behind and sent flying to the ground. As she got up she saw a large scaly demon moving closer to Isabella so she began running hard towards it and as she got close she leaped into the air and gave it a drop kick to what looked like it's head, knocking it off balance long enough for Isabella to get behind Faith and start running.
"Come on Faith, run." Isabella said as she watched the demon stare back at Faith but not make a move.
"It's okay, I don't think it wants to kill me or you for that matter." Faith said as she let her guard down and moved slowly towards the demon.
"What are you doing?" Isabella yelled from down by the dock.
Faith put her hands up in a defensive position and smiled at the demon, "Um, hey there, you wouldn't happen to speak English would ya? It would sure help if you did. Cause I can't speak demon worth a crap."
With it's head moving slowly from side to side the demon reached into it's skin and pulled out a small metal device. It held it up to it's ear then looked back over at Faith, "I am Sittoussionigzznnoolstoyntraloeerfxeod."
"Whoa there, could you give me the condensed version?" Faith said shaking her head at the curious demon.
"I've contacted the human database of names and translated mine to the closest possible match." The android sounding demon said as it pushed more buttons on the device then looked up again, "The best match is, Bob."
"OMG, you translate a 50 letter name into Bob? I love it. You're my kind of demon, Bob." Faith said with a spontaneous laugh.
"You are a slayer. We have the same goal in mind. Protect Isabella." Bob said as it moved toward Faith. "We've been watching Isabella since she was made the next target. We felt your presence in Isabella's life, but your aura is so mixed up it was impossible to distinguish the good from the bad, so we had to find out."
"Well, I used to be a bad girl so that's probably why my aura is mixed up. Now, what's the deal with these demons, why do they want Isabella to be sacrificed so desperately?" Faith asked as she stood beside the odd- looking demon.
"We cannot advise you on how to deal with this situation, but we do know that Isabella is the key to a vital event that must take place in your universe. If she dies before this event is set in motion, the consequences would be devastating and we're not sure your world could survive such a catastrophe." Bob said, sounding like doomsday was just around the corner.
"Aren't you just full of good news." Faith said as she turned to smile at Isabella, showing her that everything was calm, for now at least.
Bob was still pushing buttons on his little gadget as he talked to Faith. "I'm not here to bring good news or bad, just give you a chance to keep history on it's current path."
"Who are you?" Faith asked, getting a strange vibe from the demon. "You don't act like a demon and before I go helping you I want to know what any of this has to do with you?" "I am the keeper of the timeline. You are now the guardian of the girl. If you fail at your duty there will be little else we can do for you or the people of earth." Bob said as he clicked one more button on his little toy and a pretty gold bracelet appeared in mid air in front of Faith.
She looked at the bracelet then back at Bob, "Is this for me?"
"Yes, this is a multi purpose decorative item. You may contact us in an emergency by pushing the 2, A, 4, H, 6, T, 3, V, 5, L, 1, P, 7, S, 8, Q, 0, F keys in the correct order. You may push the 2,4,1,8."
"Are you insane? Who the hell has time to punch 20 buttons in an emergency? Didn't you notice how us earthlings narrowed that down to three little number, 911? Why do you think we did that?" Faith asked with more than a little sarcasm in her tone.
Bob looked at Faith then back at his own device, pushed a few more buttons and looked back at Faith, "It is best to use larger numerical codes in order to guard against security threats." He paused for a moment and stared back at Faith as he pushed more buttons, "However, we see your point and have adjusted the device accordingly. The new code will be 811."
"Oh my god , why not just make it 911 then? Wouldn't that make more sense?" Faith asked, ready to pull her hair out at Bob's so called logic
"We didn't feel the 9 was a strong enough number to evoke a sense of emergency." Bob said with a straight face.
Faith began looking around the area with a curious smile, "Am I on some show like Demon Punk'd or something, cause this is getting way to weird for my liking."
"We do not know what you are speaking of."
"That's okay, I'll stick with 811 and let's hope that I don't have to use it." Faith shook her head and put on the bracelet.
"I must be leaving now. Watch over Isabella and your world will be saved from."
Faith rolled her eyes and interrupted Bob, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, an unspeakable evil. Is there any other kind?"
"Actually, there are many types of evil. Some you would.."
"It was rhetorical Bob." Faith said as she put her hand over Bob's large mouth. "Thanks for the little trinket and I'll make sure Isabella is safe."
"We shall meet again Faith; your destiny is of great interest to us." Bob said and quickly disappeared into thin air.
Isabella walked back over to Faith, "That was strange. What do we do now?"
"I'd say we need to get you back home and then I am going to have a look around for this Higathi demon and see if I can't take care of this problem tonight." Faith said, her eyes focusing in on someone watching from up on the hill. "Isabella, do you know who that is up on the hill?"
End of Part One.