Exodus Revoked

Chapter 3

Faith walks idly along the sidewalk, a couple blocks away from her job, on her way home to her apartment. The night air is a little bit cool, at least by Miami standards for the time of year. She wasn't in any hurry. The length of her day had made her slightly tired, despite her vast energy reserves, though the blast from her past hadn't made the day much of a picnic either.

"The whole summer it was, like, the worst heat wave... so it's about a hundred and eighteen degrees and I'm sleeping without a stitch on..."

The waitress sets the tray on a table and leaves.

"And all of a sudden, I hear this screaming from outside. So I go tearing out, stark nude, and this church bus has broke down, and there's these three vamps feasting on half the Baptists in South Boston. So I waste the vamps, and the preacher comes up, and he's hugging me like there's no tomorrow, when all of a sudden, the cops pull up and they arrested us both."

She reaches for a muffin. Xander stares blankly ahead of himself, trying to picture the scene.

"Wow. They should film that story and show it every Christmas."

Cordelia, sitting next to him with her arms and legs crossed, turns her head to him and gives him a look. Faith tears into the muffin.

"God, I could eat a horse. Isn't it crazy how slayin' just always makes you hungry and horny?"

The others all turn their heads to look at Buffy. She stares back wide-eyed and suddenly uncomfortable.

"Well... sometimes I-I crave a nonfat yogurt afterwards."

A look of sudden revelation washes across Cordelia's face, and she smiles.

"I get it."

Faith gives her a confused look.

"Not the horny thing. Yuck! But the two slayer thing. There was one, and then Buffy died for, like, two minutes, so then Kendra was called, and then when she died, Faith was called."

Faith gives her a nod.

"But why were you called here?"

She makes it within ten feet of her small duplex style apartment building and notices someone covered by shadows sitting on the steps to her front door. A bad feeling comes over Faith as she slows her approach to the door and puts her hand on the inside pocket holding a sharp wooden stick in her jacket. Her bad feeling gets worse the closer she gets and she actually grips the top of the weapon tightly until the shadowy figure suddenly leans forward, smiling at her from behind the shoulder length red hair swaying in front of her face.

"Hi..."

Willow's cheery attitude makes Faith twitch slightly, forcing her to become defensive instead of predatory in her stance against the young redhead.

"What... what the hell are you doing here?"

She leans forward in her sitting position to put her elbows on her knees when she talks.

"Waiting for you..."

"Why?"

The redhead shrugs with an almost care-free attitude.

"I told you. I need to talk to you."

That statement makes Faith a little confused.

"And I thought I was pretty clear about the not wanting to talk to you."

"Actually, what you were clear about was the fact that you didn't want to know why I wanted to talk to you. Then there's the part about me leaving in the middle of what was turning out to be a pretty good meal."

"Maybe you should take the hint."

This makes Willow stand up slowly and face Faith.

"Oh I'm all about hints. Puzzles and mysteries are kind've an interest of mine."

"Then take this one and go away."

"I can't do that. See, I'm only really interested in hints as long as the hint isn't so obvious that it gives away the mystery. Those kinds of hints aren't good hints. Kinda like yours."

Faith's stance becomes more aggressive and she moves closer to Willow with more confidence.

"Well learn to take it anyway and get lost."

"Like I said, I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because the fact that you really want me gone is a better mystery... I mean, I get it. At least, I think I get part of it. Have for a while from what I can piece together. But I could use the whole picture."

The young brunette gets a bit of an understanding look on her face.

"What? Is that what you're here for? Well you're out of luck. Cause I don't know what the hell happened. I guess you're gonna have to live with that."

Willow gets a bit of a confused expression.

"So you ran away and never came back because you're completely innocent and you don't know anything?"

"Are you hard of hearing or something? I said I don't know anything. What the hell do you want from me?"

"Well the truth might be nice."

Faith gets up close to Willow with as much aggressiveness as she can manage and stares her straight in the eyes.

"I told you the truth. I don't know anything."

Willow doesn't even flinch at the way Faith is talking to her.

"Which I should take at face value because of all your credibility..."

There's a little bit of a retreat in Faith's aggressiveness after a lack of reaction from the redhead.

"Take it or don't take it. It's the truth. Just go back to Loserdale and leave me the hell alone."

Faith moves her way around Willow and starts heading up her steps to the front door.

"I'm not going to do that."

She stops at the top of her steps.

"Then you're gonna be hanging around for nothing. Now get lost."

For a few moments, Willow doesn't say anything as she watches Faith's less then imposing presence.

"A conversation is coming Faith..."

"Just try it."

Willow starts to walk away from Faith's apartment building as Faith puts her key in the door and starts trying to turn it.

"I will."

That makes Faith turn around, key still in the door, to see that Willow is gone. She looks around confused slightly before taking a deep breath and unlocking her door to go inside.


"So you're a Slayer, too. Isn't that interesting? Do you like it?"

"God, I love it!"

"Uh, Mom?"

"Uh, just a second, honey. You know, Buffy never talks that way. Why do you love it?"

Buffy gives up and grabs a pair of tongs to take some fries for herself.

"Well, when I'm fighting, it's like the whole world goes away and I only know one thing. That I'm gonna win and they're gonna lose. I like that feelin'."

Joyce smiles at that and takes her seat.

"Well, sure. Beats that dead feeling you get when they win and you lose."

"I don't let that kind of negative thinking in."

"Right... right... that could get you hurt. Buffy can be awfully negative sometimes. See, honey, you gotta fight that."

"I'm working on it."

"Oh, Faith, can I get you another soft drink?"

"Oh, you bet."

"Right..."

"She's really cool, huh?"

"Best mom ever... Excuse me."

She gets up and goes. Faith grabs a bottle of hot sauce, gives it a sniff and grimaces.

Faith walks through the swinging door of the kitchen for the café with two plates in each hand. One of her co-workers passes by as she makes her way to delivering her orders to the right tables. The co-worker has a slightly annoyed but also amused look on her face.

"Your new favorite regular is at Table 6 for you."

She looks at Table 6 quickly and her expression suddenly turns from happy to angry. Turning to her co-worker and holding out her orders, she doesn't really give her a choice despite the question.

"Here, serve these to Table 3 for me."

"Uh, Faith, what..."

Her co-worker is forced to take each plate one at a time into her empty hands and seems confused about her sudden workload.

"I need to take care of something."

Immediately, Faith heads for Table 6 with purpose. Once there, she slams her hands flat against the table in front of Willow, attracting the attention of the entire café.

"What part of get lost didn't you understand?"

Willow looks up at Faith calmly.

"I told you. I need to talk to you, and I'm not going away until we do."

Faith suddenly grips Willow by the collar and pulls her out of her booth so that they are face to face.

"Oh you're going away whether you like it or not."

Joey notices the commotion taking an even less friendly turn.

"Faith... what the hell?"

She doesn't respond, staring straight at Willow and suddenly noticing a bit of a black root to her red hair. Willow puts her hands on top of Faith's firmly, never taking her eyes away from Faith's.

"This is the part where I need to be clear."

Everything goes deadly quiet in the café around the two of them and Faith takes her eyes away from Willow to notice that the entire room seems to be frozen in time. Even the people walking by are frozen mid-stride in front of the window. Faith uses more and more of her strength to maintain her grip on Willow's collar which she finds to be slipping by the second until it's broken and her hands are pulled away.

"I can be nice about this, or I can be a bitch. So far I've been trying to be nice about this. But you're not making that easy. So let's talk."

The young waitress puts more force behind her hands, trying to break Willow's grip, unsuccessfully.

"Or what?"

A stinging pain in her hands starts spreading into Faith's arms and they start to feel like they are burning.

"Tempt me and find out."

That burning feeling gets worse when Faith tries to fight the grip Willow has on her hands.

"Ow, damn it... all right, all right stop..."

Willow lets go of Faith's hands and Faith immediately backs up, taking a moment to let the burning go away before saying anything.

"What the hell do you want?"

"I told you. We need to talk."

"About what?"

The dark rooted redhead stares at Faith silently instead of responding.

"I already told you. I don't know anything. It's the truth."

This time it takes her a moment to respond.

"Maybe... still, I'm guessing that you know more than I do."

"Based on what?"

The hotel manager is having a talk with Faith.

"The room's eighteen dollars a day. That's every day."

"Yeah, I know. I'll get it to you by tomorrow, I swear."

"It's not like I own the place."

"But I bet you will someday."

"Not if I listen to broads like you."

Buffy appears at the door and steps in.

"Roommates are extra."

"I'm just visiting."

The manager gives up and walks out of the room. Buffy reaches for the door to pull it shut.

"So, what brings you to the poor side of town?"

The door slams closed, and Buffy faces Faith.

"Reliable source has it on good authority that she was headed in your direction last we heard."

Faith glares at Willow.

"Well I don't know what to tell ya Red. She didn't make it."

She watches Faith for a moment with an unconvinced glare.

"You never saw her?"

The young waitress shakes her head.

"Nope..."

"So you had a sudden thought that a vamp with a serious thing for your blood was coming and took off right before all hell broke loose?"

Faith doesn't respond to Willow's question.

"Figuratively speaking anyway... at least that time..."

"Maybe not a sudden thought, like some crappy vision or epiphany or anything like that... but any idiot who knows a super-powered vamp is after them should have the good sense not stick around when they give you a gang of lackeys to get you and you survive as advanced warning."

Willow watches Faith's face as there's a pause in the conversation for a moment.

"You're lying."

"Screw you... it's the truth."

Another pause of deathly silence happens between them. Eventually, Willow starts walking away from Faith towards the door.

"Fine... go home when you're done your shift and pack."

"No way... not even if I wanted to know where you want me to go."

Willow glances back at Faith, stopping as she reaches the exit.

"What part of what I said made you think you had a choice?"

She leaves the café and suddenly everything goes back to normal. A few people look around wondering what happened and why there's no redhead standing next to the brunette. But most go back to their meals, leaving Faith standing in the middle of the café confused.

End of Chapter 3