Ah, Sunnydale. Never thought I'd be glad to see this crummy place!
As I grab my bag and head outside the bus terminal, I can't help but be a little bummed about some of the changes. For one thing, The Bronze is all boarded up, and the neighborhood is even shadier than when I left. There's a new discount super store where the old high school used to be. Great, not only do we have the Hellmouth, but now we've got fucking Walmart to deal with. I don't know which is worse...fighting an endless stream of demonic creatures, or fighting crowds of mullet-sporting trailer trash so I can save fourteen cents on a tube of lipstick. Despite the changes, I know one thing remains the same. Sunnydale is still crawling with bloodsuckers.
It's dusk, so they'll be coming out to play soon. My skin has that electric, tingly feel I get when I'm ready to fight. Damn, I hope I'm up to it. I worked out a lot in the prison exercise yard, but I haven't actually killed anything since I went up the river. Well, it was touch and go with that skank, LaTecia, from Cell Block H. Girlfriend learned the hard way that she shouldn't mess with my stuff unless she wants to suck soup through a straw for the rest of her life.
There's the cemetery. Sure brings back memories. I remember me and B, The Chosen Two, opening up a big ol' can of whupass as we staked the latest batch of ungrateful dead. When we were still friends, we made a helluva team.
I miss her. I hate how I fucked things up between us. I never had a sister, but Buffy was about as close to one as I'll ever get. We sure fought like sisters...even over guys. She always got em, though. I'm the chick all the guys wanted to lay, but she's the one they all fell head over heels for. EVERYBODY loved Buffy: Angel...Riley...Xander. I was so jealous, I tried to take all of them for myself. Two out of three ain't bad. *grin*
So this is it. Buffy's grave. "She saved the world... a lot." Yeah, she sure did. She was a real hero, bravest person I've ever met, not that I ever admitted that to her when she was alive.
B, if you're watching from up there, please know that I'm going to work my ass off trying to be half the Slayer you were. I promise.
Someone else came here recently to visit B. There are fresh flowers on the headstone...yellow daisies. I bet it was either Xander or Riley who put them here. Wonder if they're around?
Xander told me that Soldier Boy showed up two years ago, back from his covert jungle missions and clueless about Buffy. Xander had to break the news to the poor guy. With Giles back in England, and Willow off getting her master's degree, Riley decided to stay in town to help Xander keep the locals in check. Since then, they've been Sunnydale's dynamic duo, fighting the good fight against all the creatures that go bump in the night. Dawn's still here, too, going the college thing and helping them out. I guess that kinda makes her Batgirl. Jesus, becoming friends with the X-Man sure has increased my geek IQ.
Hmmm... sounds like a big scuffle over by the mausoleum. Party time!
I drop my bag behind a shrub and grab the freshly whittled stake from my coat pocket. My juices start pumping as I make my way towards the fray. Five really gnarly vamps have some dude surrounded at the entrance. Five against one...he's seriously outnumbered. But not for long!
"Excuse me?" Surprised, they all turn around to look at who interrupted their dinner. I wander closer. Little miss innocent.
"Aren't you the Backstreet Boys? Oh, let's see...your music sucks the life out of people, you look like kids when you're really 35, and your career died a long time ago. The vampire thing suddenly makes a whole lotta sense..."
Backstreet Boy #1 and #2 lick their lips and rush forward, while the other three laugh and hold their victim tightly, muffling his cries.
"Oh, we're not pop stars, but we know all about making pretty girls like you scream!" The first vampire lunges forward and tries to grab me. Hey, watch the leather!
With a flying kick, I knock #1 over a grave marker, and spin around to give #2 a chest full of wood. Poof! Exploding vampire! Yeah, I'm BACK! Faith the Vampire Slayer makes the world safer for...
"OOPH!"
My legs are swept out from under me and I fall flat on my ass. Crap, I got so cocky about dusting my first vampire in years, I almost forgot about the rest of 'em!
Backstreet Boy #1 grins and tries to kick me in the face. I grab his ankle and twist, and he howls seconds after hearing a nasty crack. I yank him to the ground, jump on his chest, and plunge my stake home. He wilts into nothing between my thighs.
*sigh*
Am I really losing my touch if a guy can't stay hard while *I'm* straddling hhim?
I hop up and smile as I turn to face the remaining vampires, ready to stop them from killing their hostage. As he tries to wrench himself free, the dark-haired man's eyes widen in recognition.
Oh. My. God. I know him...it's Xander! They've got Xander!
Shocked, I freeze. Dumb move! The biggest one punches me square in the face, and I go down, hard. I roll to the side when he tries to grab my hair. I pull myself up, and I can taste blood running down from my nose.
I grit my teeth and lash out at Big Guy, peppering his face with brutal jabs as I force him back. I line him up for a roundhouse kick...but DAMN if I didn't just miss! Christ, I'm rusty...
I gasp for breath as a new vampire pins me from behind, crushing the air out of my lungs and lifting me off the ground. Big Guy laughs as he leans in and cops a feel, lewdly running his tongue along his fangs. Pervert. I kick him in the nuts, but I can feel the one holding me getting ready to strike...
"NO! Faith!!!" Xander pulls out of the vampire's grasp and pounds on the back of the Backstreet Boy who's trying to give me a hickey. While he's distracted, I dig in my heels and flip the vamp over my shoulders.
"Come back here, meat!" The last vampire pounces on Xander and pins him to the ground while #3 and #4 slowly circle me. Xander struggles with his opponent, managing to knock him aside.
Before the vampires can close in, one of 'em starts going all epileptic on me, and falls to the ground, twitching painfully. Taser. Where the hell did that come from?!
Xander pulls out a stake and dusts the vampire he's been fighting. Big Guy goes rabbit on me, but before he gets away, I jump on his back and cram my stake in his heart. I tumble to the ground, breathing heavily. Shit, I forgot how tough this is. I've got a lot of catching up to do!
As I get up, I see Riley Finn finish the stunned vampire on the ground, and then he smiles at me. "Nice moves you've got there, miss."
I wipe the blood off my face. "My moves used to be a whole lot nicer...but then, you oughtta remember, Boy Scout!" I wink at him.
"Faith?!!" Riley croaks. I smirk as I check him out from head to toe...one, two, three...there it is! Watch him squirm and blush! Oh, yeah. Maybe I haven't lost my touch after all. Riley nervously rubs his hand on his fatigues before he holds it out to shake. "Um, good to see you, Faith. Xander talks a lot about you."
I shake his hand. "Ditto. Thanks for your help, by the way."
Who would've thunk it? Riley shaking hands with the slut who bagged him right under his girlfriend's nose! Buffy must be rolling in her grave!
There's Xander...just the man I want to see! After he rises wobbily to his feet and brushes grave dirt off his clothes, I slide over and hug him so tightly he squeaks. It feels so good to actually see him, touch him, after having only memories to keep me company for all these years.
"Whoa, girl! Watch the ribs!" He hugs me, pecks me on the cheek, and rustles his fingers through my new cropped 'do. "You cut your hair!" He shoots me one of his patented goofy grins, and while I don't doubt that he's glad to see me, the smile doesn't quite reach his eyes.
"Check out the beard! I almost didn't recognize ya, Xand Man!" And it's true. Where did the sarcastic, fumbling boy with the lopsided grin and the Bambi eyes go?
He still has those gorgeous, gentle brown eyes, but he's no boy anymore. The old Xander was soft, like a big, cuddly teddy bear, but the man standing in front of me is toughened from years of hard work and fighting vampires. I touch the long, angry scar running down the left side of his neck, new since the last time I saw him over a year ago. He flinches lightly, averting his eyes. I couldn't miss the flash of pain reflected there...obviously there isn't a funny "how I got this scab" story associated with the wound.
Before I could get a question out, Xander piped up. "Hey, I didn't send you a cake with a file in it, so how'd you get sprung so early, jailbird?"
I didn't notice it before, but his speech seems kind of...slow, thick. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he'd been drinking. Nah, he's probably just tired.
"Believe it or not, good behavior. Some bitch tried to shank a guard, and I stopped it. My lawyer pulled some strings to shave a few months off my sentence, so here I am!"
"That's a girl! I'm proud of you. It's really, really good to see you.
You look...beautiful, Faith." He pats my arm appreciatively.
I'm blushing! Grrr...Eyes in, girlfriend! Remember the gold ring he wears around his finger.
Riley waves a beeping gizmo around. "I've swept the perimeter, and I'm not picking up any residual preternatural energy signatures in the vicinity. The coast is clear. Let's move out."
You can take the man out of the Army, but you can't take the Army out of the man, I guess. I resist the urge to salute him.
We all walk back to the shrub where I dumped my bag, and I can't wipe the big shit-eating grin off my face. We babble about my bus ride into town, what it's like to finally be a free woman, what my plans are now that I'm out. Man, it feels so good to be outside, slaying vamps again, talking to a couple of hotties. But underneath all the small talk, both Riley and Xander seem kind of tense.
I knew as soon as he opened his mouth that Riley had a huge stick up his butt.
"Xander, you didn't wait for backup before approaching the nest. Why didn't you follow the plan and rendezvous with me at 20:00? We need to stick together, buddy, or you could have gotten yourself killed!"
Xander glared at the older man. "Chill out, Sergeant Rock! I'm fine! The vamps are toasted, the streets are safer, everything is just hunky dory."
Riley's jaw tensed, and I realized he wasn't just angry, but also genuinely concerned.
"Xander..."
"Drop it, Riley. Just...let me enjoy visiting with Faith, okay? You can lecture me tomorrow."
Something's going on between these two. Why does Riley seem so worried about him? "Everything okay, guys?"
Riley gives Xander a sideward glance, but smiles and tells both of us to run off, grab a bite to eat, and catch up on old times. He's a decent guy, but I'm glad when Riley leaves so I can spend some alone time with Xander.
He takes me to a diner on Fremont Avenue, and we chow down on what must be the best burgers I've ever had. But then, ketchup on stale crackers would taste great compared to the prison food I'm used to getting. He's unusually quiet as I ramble about how great it is to see him, how awesome it was to kick some vampire butt, and how I'm really looking forward to being a Slayer again. Xander really has changed a lot. There once was a time when I would have paid good money to get him to shut up for five minutes.
"So, what's the plan, Stan? Got a place lined up to stay tonight?" he asked.
"I figured I'd drop by the Y or something. I don't have a lot of cash on me, so until I find a job I've gotta live on the cheap. That reminds me, you're paying for dinner, moneybags."
He grins as he pulls out his wallet and drops some bills on the table. "No way, you're not staying in some run down, roach-infested old YMCA when you can crash at my run down, roach-infested old house! C'mon, you're staying with me." He stands up and grabs my bag out from under the table and we exit the restaurant.
"Really? You'd do that for me? Oh, I don't want to be any trouble...maybe you should call Anya and make sure she doesn't mind having an ex-lover as a houseguest...she might have a few objections to me being there, you know."
Xander stops and looks down at the ground. "Um. That's not going to be a problem," he says sadly. "Anya's...gone."
"What? Why didn't you tell me? Jesus, Xander, I'm sorry. Last time I heard from you, things were going great for you guys. What happened? When did she leave?"
As a car passes by and shines its headlights on us, I see the torment in his eyes...eyes that are supposed to be shining and laughing and full of mischief, not haunted and sad.
"She didn't divorce me, Faith. Anya's dead. She...she was killed three months ago."
*** TO BE CONTINUED ***
As I grab my bag and head outside the bus terminal, I can't help but be a little bummed about some of the changes. For one thing, The Bronze is all boarded up, and the neighborhood is even shadier than when I left. There's a new discount super store where the old high school used to be. Great, not only do we have the Hellmouth, but now we've got fucking Walmart to deal with. I don't know which is worse...fighting an endless stream of demonic creatures, or fighting crowds of mullet-sporting trailer trash so I can save fourteen cents on a tube of lipstick. Despite the changes, I know one thing remains the same. Sunnydale is still crawling with bloodsuckers.
It's dusk, so they'll be coming out to play soon. My skin has that electric, tingly feel I get when I'm ready to fight. Damn, I hope I'm up to it. I worked out a lot in the prison exercise yard, but I haven't actually killed anything since I went up the river. Well, it was touch and go with that skank, LaTecia, from Cell Block H. Girlfriend learned the hard way that she shouldn't mess with my stuff unless she wants to suck soup through a straw for the rest of her life.
There's the cemetery. Sure brings back memories. I remember me and B, The Chosen Two, opening up a big ol' can of whupass as we staked the latest batch of ungrateful dead. When we were still friends, we made a helluva team.
I miss her. I hate how I fucked things up between us. I never had a sister, but Buffy was about as close to one as I'll ever get. We sure fought like sisters...even over guys. She always got em, though. I'm the chick all the guys wanted to lay, but she's the one they all fell head over heels for. EVERYBODY loved Buffy: Angel...Riley...Xander. I was so jealous, I tried to take all of them for myself. Two out of three ain't bad. *grin*
So this is it. Buffy's grave. "She saved the world... a lot." Yeah, she sure did. She was a real hero, bravest person I've ever met, not that I ever admitted that to her when she was alive.
B, if you're watching from up there, please know that I'm going to work my ass off trying to be half the Slayer you were. I promise.
Someone else came here recently to visit B. There are fresh flowers on the headstone...yellow daisies. I bet it was either Xander or Riley who put them here. Wonder if they're around?
Xander told me that Soldier Boy showed up two years ago, back from his covert jungle missions and clueless about Buffy. Xander had to break the news to the poor guy. With Giles back in England, and Willow off getting her master's degree, Riley decided to stay in town to help Xander keep the locals in check. Since then, they've been Sunnydale's dynamic duo, fighting the good fight against all the creatures that go bump in the night. Dawn's still here, too, going the college thing and helping them out. I guess that kinda makes her Batgirl. Jesus, becoming friends with the X-Man sure has increased my geek IQ.
Hmmm... sounds like a big scuffle over by the mausoleum. Party time!
I drop my bag behind a shrub and grab the freshly whittled stake from my coat pocket. My juices start pumping as I make my way towards the fray. Five really gnarly vamps have some dude surrounded at the entrance. Five against one...he's seriously outnumbered. But not for long!
"Excuse me?" Surprised, they all turn around to look at who interrupted their dinner. I wander closer. Little miss innocent.
"Aren't you the Backstreet Boys? Oh, let's see...your music sucks the life out of people, you look like kids when you're really 35, and your career died a long time ago. The vampire thing suddenly makes a whole lotta sense..."
Backstreet Boy #1 and #2 lick their lips and rush forward, while the other three laugh and hold their victim tightly, muffling his cries.
"Oh, we're not pop stars, but we know all about making pretty girls like you scream!" The first vampire lunges forward and tries to grab me. Hey, watch the leather!
With a flying kick, I knock #1 over a grave marker, and spin around to give #2 a chest full of wood. Poof! Exploding vampire! Yeah, I'm BACK! Faith the Vampire Slayer makes the world safer for...
"OOPH!"
My legs are swept out from under me and I fall flat on my ass. Crap, I got so cocky about dusting my first vampire in years, I almost forgot about the rest of 'em!
Backstreet Boy #1 grins and tries to kick me in the face. I grab his ankle and twist, and he howls seconds after hearing a nasty crack. I yank him to the ground, jump on his chest, and plunge my stake home. He wilts into nothing between my thighs.
*sigh*
Am I really losing my touch if a guy can't stay hard while *I'm* straddling hhim?
I hop up and smile as I turn to face the remaining vampires, ready to stop them from killing their hostage. As he tries to wrench himself free, the dark-haired man's eyes widen in recognition.
Oh. My. God. I know him...it's Xander! They've got Xander!
Shocked, I freeze. Dumb move! The biggest one punches me square in the face, and I go down, hard. I roll to the side when he tries to grab my hair. I pull myself up, and I can taste blood running down from my nose.
I grit my teeth and lash out at Big Guy, peppering his face with brutal jabs as I force him back. I line him up for a roundhouse kick...but DAMN if I didn't just miss! Christ, I'm rusty...
I gasp for breath as a new vampire pins me from behind, crushing the air out of my lungs and lifting me off the ground. Big Guy laughs as he leans in and cops a feel, lewdly running his tongue along his fangs. Pervert. I kick him in the nuts, but I can feel the one holding me getting ready to strike...
"NO! Faith!!!" Xander pulls out of the vampire's grasp and pounds on the back of the Backstreet Boy who's trying to give me a hickey. While he's distracted, I dig in my heels and flip the vamp over my shoulders.
"Come back here, meat!" The last vampire pounces on Xander and pins him to the ground while #3 and #4 slowly circle me. Xander struggles with his opponent, managing to knock him aside.
Before the vampires can close in, one of 'em starts going all epileptic on me, and falls to the ground, twitching painfully. Taser. Where the hell did that come from?!
Xander pulls out a stake and dusts the vampire he's been fighting. Big Guy goes rabbit on me, but before he gets away, I jump on his back and cram my stake in his heart. I tumble to the ground, breathing heavily. Shit, I forgot how tough this is. I've got a lot of catching up to do!
As I get up, I see Riley Finn finish the stunned vampire on the ground, and then he smiles at me. "Nice moves you've got there, miss."
I wipe the blood off my face. "My moves used to be a whole lot nicer...but then, you oughtta remember, Boy Scout!" I wink at him.
"Faith?!!" Riley croaks. I smirk as I check him out from head to toe...one, two, three...there it is! Watch him squirm and blush! Oh, yeah. Maybe I haven't lost my touch after all. Riley nervously rubs his hand on his fatigues before he holds it out to shake. "Um, good to see you, Faith. Xander talks a lot about you."
I shake his hand. "Ditto. Thanks for your help, by the way."
Who would've thunk it? Riley shaking hands with the slut who bagged him right under his girlfriend's nose! Buffy must be rolling in her grave!
There's Xander...just the man I want to see! After he rises wobbily to his feet and brushes grave dirt off his clothes, I slide over and hug him so tightly he squeaks. It feels so good to actually see him, touch him, after having only memories to keep me company for all these years.
"Whoa, girl! Watch the ribs!" He hugs me, pecks me on the cheek, and rustles his fingers through my new cropped 'do. "You cut your hair!" He shoots me one of his patented goofy grins, and while I don't doubt that he's glad to see me, the smile doesn't quite reach his eyes.
"Check out the beard! I almost didn't recognize ya, Xand Man!" And it's true. Where did the sarcastic, fumbling boy with the lopsided grin and the Bambi eyes go?
He still has those gorgeous, gentle brown eyes, but he's no boy anymore. The old Xander was soft, like a big, cuddly teddy bear, but the man standing in front of me is toughened from years of hard work and fighting vampires. I touch the long, angry scar running down the left side of his neck, new since the last time I saw him over a year ago. He flinches lightly, averting his eyes. I couldn't miss the flash of pain reflected there...obviously there isn't a funny "how I got this scab" story associated with the wound.
Before I could get a question out, Xander piped up. "Hey, I didn't send you a cake with a file in it, so how'd you get sprung so early, jailbird?"
I didn't notice it before, but his speech seems kind of...slow, thick. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he'd been drinking. Nah, he's probably just tired.
"Believe it or not, good behavior. Some bitch tried to shank a guard, and I stopped it. My lawyer pulled some strings to shave a few months off my sentence, so here I am!"
"That's a girl! I'm proud of you. It's really, really good to see you.
You look...beautiful, Faith." He pats my arm appreciatively.
I'm blushing! Grrr...Eyes in, girlfriend! Remember the gold ring he wears around his finger.
Riley waves a beeping gizmo around. "I've swept the perimeter, and I'm not picking up any residual preternatural energy signatures in the vicinity. The coast is clear. Let's move out."
You can take the man out of the Army, but you can't take the Army out of the man, I guess. I resist the urge to salute him.
We all walk back to the shrub where I dumped my bag, and I can't wipe the big shit-eating grin off my face. We babble about my bus ride into town, what it's like to finally be a free woman, what my plans are now that I'm out. Man, it feels so good to be outside, slaying vamps again, talking to a couple of hotties. But underneath all the small talk, both Riley and Xander seem kind of tense.
I knew as soon as he opened his mouth that Riley had a huge stick up his butt.
"Xander, you didn't wait for backup before approaching the nest. Why didn't you follow the plan and rendezvous with me at 20:00? We need to stick together, buddy, or you could have gotten yourself killed!"
Xander glared at the older man. "Chill out, Sergeant Rock! I'm fine! The vamps are toasted, the streets are safer, everything is just hunky dory."
Riley's jaw tensed, and I realized he wasn't just angry, but also genuinely concerned.
"Xander..."
"Drop it, Riley. Just...let me enjoy visiting with Faith, okay? You can lecture me tomorrow."
Something's going on between these two. Why does Riley seem so worried about him? "Everything okay, guys?"
Riley gives Xander a sideward glance, but smiles and tells both of us to run off, grab a bite to eat, and catch up on old times. He's a decent guy, but I'm glad when Riley leaves so I can spend some alone time with Xander.
He takes me to a diner on Fremont Avenue, and we chow down on what must be the best burgers I've ever had. But then, ketchup on stale crackers would taste great compared to the prison food I'm used to getting. He's unusually quiet as I ramble about how great it is to see him, how awesome it was to kick some vampire butt, and how I'm really looking forward to being a Slayer again. Xander really has changed a lot. There once was a time when I would have paid good money to get him to shut up for five minutes.
"So, what's the plan, Stan? Got a place lined up to stay tonight?" he asked.
"I figured I'd drop by the Y or something. I don't have a lot of cash on me, so until I find a job I've gotta live on the cheap. That reminds me, you're paying for dinner, moneybags."
He grins as he pulls out his wallet and drops some bills on the table. "No way, you're not staying in some run down, roach-infested old YMCA when you can crash at my run down, roach-infested old house! C'mon, you're staying with me." He stands up and grabs my bag out from under the table and we exit the restaurant.
"Really? You'd do that for me? Oh, I don't want to be any trouble...maybe you should call Anya and make sure she doesn't mind having an ex-lover as a houseguest...she might have a few objections to me being there, you know."
Xander stops and looks down at the ground. "Um. That's not going to be a problem," he says sadly. "Anya's...gone."
"What? Why didn't you tell me? Jesus, Xander, I'm sorry. Last time I heard from you, things were going great for you guys. What happened? When did she leave?"
As a car passes by and shines its headlights on us, I see the torment in his eyes...eyes that are supposed to be shining and laughing and full of mischief, not haunted and sad.
"She didn't divorce me, Faith. Anya's dead. She...she was killed three months ago."
*** TO BE CONTINUED ***