A/N: So, this is a really random...waffle type thing, I suppose you could say. I had the spark of an idea and just started writing. But I kind of like it :P Obviously, while fighting for her life Faith didn't just stand there and have a daydream, but I like to think maybe there was a fleeting thought of 'Why can't we all just be normal?'
And, it's another oneshot with a title stolen from a game OST track from the amazing Brian Tyler, but what can I say? Awesome music and I was stuck for ideas when it started playing :P Anyway, enjoy!
There were no Hellmouths. No demons and Vampires. No higher callings. Just plain old Sunnydale and the daily gauntlet that was 'High School'. Not that Faith Lehane went in for such nonsense. No. She was what they labelled a 'problem child' and was left to her own devices. She spent most of her time in school out of lessons wandering the corridors until her motley crew (a nerd, a geek, and a kickboxing cheerleader) rocked up at the library (of all places…) to hang out over lunch. So not her idea. They were doing that before she transferred to the school (kicked out of her old one for disruptive behaviour. Totally not her fault.), a bunch of misfits that the school librarian seemed to have taken under his tweed-covered wing for no reason whatsoever other than they seemed to feel safest in his library and students actually being in that part of the school was a rare and exciting thing.
Faith was at that moment casually strolling along one of Sunnydale High's many empty corridors with her thumbs hooked into the belt loops of her low slung, tight-fitting black jeans, heavy scuffed boots thudding against the floor with each step. She was the only person walking the school at that moment. Everyone else, staff and students, were in lessons. Which was, to be honest, where Faith should have been right then, but…screw that!
It was then that Faith heard hurried footsteps behind her, rushing, eager to reach their destination…
"Faith!" Principal Flutie…
Faith sighed, but didn't turn or slow her pace. The footsteps behind her sped up until Principal Flutie was walking alongside her, albeit at a much more rushed step in an effort to keep up with her long strides.
"Why aren't you in class?" His tone was casual, friendly almost, begging to be confided in. Faith looked sideways at him and lifted one eyebrow.
"I needed some air." She informed him. Kind of true…She despised being cooped up in a classroom, crammed behind a tiny desk, surrounded by people she didn't like in a boring lesson she hated.
"Where should you be right now?" Flutie asked, the concerned father as always.
"Math."
"And why aren't you?" Gently probing.
"'S boring."
"Faith, we've talked about this-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, gotta buck up my ideas or I'll be kicked out again." Faith dismissed him before he could even finish the sentence. "I'm goin' to the library."
"The library?" Flutie echoed in surprise. That didn't seem like Faith at all to him.
"Yeah, you learn stuff there." Faux enthusiasm.
"I really think you should get to your math class…"
"Maybe tomorrow." Faith shrugged nonchalantly.
"Faith, you know you need to do well in school to get ahead in life." He continued and Faith answered with a derisive snort. Life had so far spent its time kicking her in the butt, and so she had no time for Life. What was the point? Might as well have fun and do what you want until it's time to kick the bucket.
Then again…Life had also given her a couple of new friends to hang out with who weren't juvenile delinquents with questionable morals. Maybe things were looking up.
"Okay. Maybe tomorrow." She repeated more definitley, halting her steps and jerking a thumb over her shoulder at the double wooden doors of the library.
"We're going to have another meeting at the end of the week." Flutie said, standing opposite her with his 'stern face' on. Faith nodded and smirked.
"Sure thing, boss." She said, and turned her back on him.
She shoved open the heavy library doors and strode inside, letting them swing shut behind her with a loud whump and a rattling of hinges.
Giles' head poked curiously round the edge of the open doorway to his office, wondering who on Earth could be visiting the library.
"Faith." He acknowledged, emerging from the office with a mug in one hand, steam curling upwards from within. Tea, Faith presumed. After all, he was British and that was all they drank. Right?
He paused just behind the library counter and slipped his free hand into his trouser pocket. He wore a plain white shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a smart tie, red braces holding up his grey trousers. His stuffy librarian jacket (known to most people as a blazer) was hidden away in his office. This was his casual wear.
"Shouldn't you be in a lesson right now?"
"No." She answered. Then, off the look he gave her, "Maybe. Flutie knows I'm here." She sat on the edge of a desk and watched him.
"Is that so?" He said, raising his mug to his lips and sipping at his drink. Faith gave him her most innocent look.
"Would I lie to you?"
"Probably." Giles said, and before she could complain, gestured with his mug to a stack of books on the library counter. "Seeing as I know I'll never convince you to go to your lesson, why don't you make yourself useful and shelve those books?"
"Why?" Faith demanded to know, and fixed him with a pout (learned from Buffy, no doubt).
"So people can find them."
"No one reads them." She protested. "No one ever comes here besides me, Buffy, Xander, and Willow." She counted them off on the fingers of one hand, held them up to show him the evidence. The library rarely saw more students than those four.
"Well, for in the rare instances that other students actually come to the library for the purpose it was intended I'd like you to shelve them for me please." Giles told her. "Besides, sometimes Willow reads them." As he turned away to head back into his office Faith stuck out her tongue at his retreating back. "And don't pull faces at me."
Faith rolled her eyes and slid from the desk to grab the heavy stack of books.
It was another hour before the others started to turn up. Willow was first, bounding into the library wearing the usual fashion disaster (fluffy pink jumper, deep red knee-length skirt, fuzzy white tights and clumpy shoes…) with her rucksack swinging from one shoulder. It looked heavy enough to be containing a couple of bricks. She faltered a few steps in as she saw Faith sat in a chair with her feet up on the desk in front of her, chair rocked back onto two legs (Giles had long since given up asking her to sit properly).
"Faith?" Willow frowned.
"Hey, Red!" Faith grinned at her (well…Buffy's…) nerdy friend and let her feet drop from the table to the floor. The chair shifted back from two legs to four with a bang of wood on tile. Willow crossed the distance between them and dumped her rucksack on the desk in front of Faith, pulling up the chair next to her.
"You're here early." Willow said suspiciously, already guessing why that was. Faith smiled and spread her arms.
"Let out early." She lied. Willow focussed on her rucksack, rummaging around inside for her lunch. It was in a brown paper bag and had probably been crushed beneath all of her books.
"Oh…?"
"Aha. Way early."
"Before the lesson early?" Willow questioned carefully. She located her lunch between two text books and pulled it out of her rucksack. It didn't look too flat.
"It's possible." Faith grinned at her and Willow sighed, unrolling the top of the bag and peering inside. The books hadn't done too much damage, though her sandwich was flatter than it should have been.
"Faith…" She started, looking up at her to deliver the usual lecture. Faith simply twitched one eyebrow, a smirk on her lips that claimed whatever Willow said would fall on deaf ears.
"Afternoon, Willow." Giles said as he emerged from his office, a fresh mug of tea in hand. Willow smiled in greeting. "You don't need to bother Faith. She's been helping me so her 'free' period wasn't entirely wasted."
"Helping?" Willow asked, blinking at Faith, who looked incredibly pleased with herself.
"Yeah! I put books away in the right places and everythin'. Gotta love the alphabet, amirite?" She grinned at Willow, reaching across the desk to tear a corner off the redhead's sandwich. She popped it into her mouth as Willow wordlessly watched her food disappear. "Mmm, PB 'n' J, good choice."
"Thanks…"
"Faith, do we have to remind you to bring your own food now, as well?" Giles asked disapprovingly. Faith spread her arms, her face the picture of innocence.
"What? There's nothin' decent in my house." She insisted. Willow rolled her eyes and handed over the triangle of sandwich Faith had already started on. Faith grinned and accepted it.
"Thanks, Red." She said, and stuffed it into her mouth.
The library doors burst open and in hurried Buffy, Xander trailing behind her like a lost puppy as usual.
"Will! You gotta help us!" He said, dashing forwards and crouching by her chair. "Hey, Faith."
Faith grunted around the donated sandwich.
"Do I…?" Willow asked.
"Yeah, I swear the math is in Greek or something today." Buffy moaned, dropping into the seat opposite Willow.
"Shoulda taken a leaf outta my book, B." Faith said, rocking back on her chair again.
"Don't tempt me." Buffy scowled at her.
"No, please don't…" Giles said drily, going back into his office.
"Are you stealing food again?" Buffy asked Faith, eyeing up the last of Willow's sandwich in her dark haired friend's hand.
"There's no food at home." Faith told her in a bored tone, fed up with repeating herself to people now.
"Does your Mom ever go food shopping?" Xander asked. Faith snorted.
"No."
"You can have my apple. I don't eat green." Buffy said, rolling it across the table. Faith caught the fruit and gave her thumbs up, then scooted her chair in closer and grinned at Willow as she finished the piece of sandwich she had been given.
"So, c'mon, Red, you gunna give us a math lesson?" She asked in a playful tone.
"Yes, please do." Xander said, clasping his hands in front of him to beg. Willow looked amused and pushed her lunch aside.
"Well, if you're all eager to learn I can't fault ya." She said, dragging her hefty text book from her rucksack. "What are you stuck on?"
"Like, everything…" Buffy admitted with a small pout.
"Oooookay…" Willow said, opening her text book to the chapter she thought they had been covering. "Is this it?" She asked. Xander wrinkled his nose and nodded.
"See? All Greek!" Buffy insisted.
"It's not actually in Greek, you realize?" Willow asked her friend uncertainly. Buffy had the tendency to come out with some silly things at times.
"I swear you should be employed here or somethin'." Faith teased Willow. Xander pulled a chair round to sit next to Willow and look at her book. She moved it into the middle of the table so everyone could see the pages.
An hour later the bell rang to signal the end of lunch. Willow quickly wrapped up the impromptu algebra lesson feeling quite pleased with herself. Buffy and Xander sounded confident they would be able to complete their homework and even Faith had paid attention. She closed the book and stuffed it back into her rucksack as Faith sighed and scraped back her chair, leaving her forearms resting on the desk so that she was hunched over it.
"What've you got next?" Buffy asked.
"History." Faith grumbled. "And yes, I'm going." She added on seeing Willow open her mouth. "There's a test on Friday that I actually have to pass."
"Wow, you almost sounded academic there." Buffy teased. Faith shot her a playful glare.
"Better watch out, Faith. We'll be coming to you for homework help soon." Xander said with a grin.
"Yeah, okay, guys, I get it." Faith rolled her eyes and stood up, cuffing Xander good naturedly upside the head as she passed him heading for the library doors. Buffy, Xander, and Willow followed her, calling goodbye to Giles as they went.
As they left the library, heading into the corridor outside, Faith threw an arm around both Xander and Willow, smiling to herself.
"If I'd had friends like you guys in my old high school, I'd…Probably still have dropped out, but I'd have been sad about it, ya know?" She said, looking between her three friends. Buffy grinned at her.
"Thanks, Faith!"
"Don't drop out of school…" Willow told her nervously.
"I won't." Faith said definitely.
School was boring. But it was a good kind of boring. Normal. Stressful but not life threatening. She could get used to that…
"Hold the line." Buffy's voice was weak, vulnerable. She lay prone on the ground, blood leaking from a through-and-through stab wound. Sharp steel punched in through her back, out through her gut. All around them the battle raged, clash of steel, dull thud of fists and feet striking flesh, shouts and roars on all sides. The Slayers versus the wrath of Hell. Faith smelled smoke and sulphur, blood and dirt.
How could this be real? They were a handful of slayers stood in the mouth of Hell, fighting against an army of Turok-Han in a last ditch effort to save the world. Übervamps scaled the cliffs all around them, a relentless tide of brute strength, of flashing claws and gnashing fangs. And Buffy lay dying before her as Faith knelt there on hard dusty rock wondering what she should do.
How could any of this be real?
Buffy was the leader, not Faith. They had already tried that…
And yet the blonde haired slayer pushed the scythe towards Faith, wincing with the effort. Cold metal scraped across warm stone. Faith looked from the weapon to Buffy, uncertain.
Hold the line…?
This was real. The fight to save the world, to lead the slayers in victory against the original evil. The First. Buffy was down, it was up to Faith now.
She closed her fingers around the scythe and leaped to her feet as she sensed one of the vamps bearing down on her and Buffy. She rammed the scythe backwards, the sharpened stake hitting home, and instantly ripped it free to spin round and lash out with the blade.
A normal life was something she was not born for. Plain old school worries, simple friendship without supernatural complications. Those were things she couldn't have. Things that could have been, but never would be.
This.
This was real.