Hello everyone! I'm here with the next chapter :D Can I hear a whoop whoop? ... Er never mind, I'm going deaf over here. It's not gonna come across loud and clear lol. Gone to a gay pride thing over the weekend and lemme say this. Burned much? That's me right now. Cursed sun. Anyway, there was a reviewer (a guest) who left something and I like to reply to my reviewers. So, Anon, please read this chapter and my reply to you at the end, okay? On with the show!
Chapter 4
The brunette leans against one of the signs on top of the rooftops, eyes closed as she listens to the slow approach of the blonde Slayer. Gravel crunching under her soft footsteps. Not quite being quiet like a mouse but pretty close to it.
"Great work earlier," the brunette compliments, angling her head back so that her face is towards the dark skies. Morning was due to come soon.
"Thank you," Buffy whispers as she sits down next to the woman.
They stay there for several long moments just enjoying the view of Sunnydale. They stay like that for quite some time before the brunette sighs and leans forward, rubbing the bridge of her nose at the sudden migraine. "Things just got worse," the woman whispers, her entire body tense and radiating of it.
"What? How?" Buffy exclaims in shock.
"The Watcher, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce," the Slayer could hear the venom in the woman's voice, "he called the Council."
"But we- We didn't speak about the death around him!" she protests.
"He has suspicions," the brunette explains. "He doesn't quite believe that his death is of pure human malice."
"Technically it had human involvement," Buffy mutters softly under her breath.
"That foolish man is going to ruin everythin'," the woman continues like Buffy hadn't said anything. "Somehow he got his hands on the coroner's report."
"Oh my god, the stake!" Buffy gasps when she realizes what the brunette is pointing towards.
"Exactly." Buffy jumps to her feet and dashes over to the ladder. "Annie," she hears the brunette calls to her, pausing with a foot already on the bars. "I… if things go wrong…" she looks at the woman as she waits for to finish. "I can't intervene. Not unless she acknowledges that she needs guidance." Shock doesn't even begin to cover the extent of the emotions Buffy is feeling towards this revelation.
"Why, why is that so important?" Buffy demands tightly.
"It goes with the whole 'Can't tell ya'," is the brunette's short answer.
"But you care a great deal about Faith?" If the Bostonian is so important to her then why is she wasting so much time playing by the rules?
"I died once already, Annie. I'd do it again in a heartbeat," is her only answer. Buffy didn't know what to make of that and shook her head, scaling down the ladder as quickly as possible.
Buffy pounds her fist at the door, half shouting Faith's name. "Faith! Faith, open the door!" she cries. She was close to her wits end and ready to kick down the door. "Faith, I know you're in there!" she cries, the tingles down her back intensifying.
"B," she hears behind her, causing her to jump in place. She whirls around with a rather vivid blush on her face as the Boston Slayer smirks at her. "Wanna check yer senses?" Faith teases her before the smirk falls when Buffy throws herself at the brunette with a relieved sob. "Whoa, hey, what's wrong?"
"I thought- I thought the Councilmen came already and grabbed you!" came Buffy's muffled reply.
"Wait, what?" Faith pulled away from Buffy, her hands secured at the blonde's shoulders. "The Councilmen?"
"Wesley, he found out," Buffy tells her, her hands gripping the brunette's elbows. "He called the Council and they sent backup to take you back to England." She tightens her grip briefly on Faith before releasing her when she feels her try to pull away. "I swear to god, Faith, I'm not going to let him take you away."
"B, it's the Council!" Faith snaps, "They ain't gonna stop 'til they have me locked up or dead!"
"Then I'll kill them all!" Buffy snaps back heatedly. A stunned silence falls over them as Faith stares at Buffy, shocked at what she said. Buffy, however, was determined - she did not regret those words. "I'd kill them all, Faith. Just to keep you safe."
"B…"
"I failed you once. I failed you too many times," the blonde pauses, shaking her head. "I can't… I refuse to live with myself if I willingly just stood by and let you be taken away." She turns away from Faith, a hand covering her mouth.
"…" Faith didn't know what to say but looking at the blonde slayer she knew that she couldn't let the girl kill for her. She opens the door to her room and slips in, quickly getting her duffle bag out. She tosses clothes, stakes, and the like into the bag - not that she had much that she could call her own. "I need to get outta here," she mutters.
"What, no!" Buffy protests, trying to grab Faith's wrists but found her own seized in a firm but not tight grip.
"B, listen. I ain't gonna let ya kill for me," Faith tells her. "Finch was an accident, you and I both know this. Ya saw how fucked up I got. I'm still fucked up for that matter!" She lets go of Buffy's wrists and pick up her bag. "It hasn't even been a week, B, and the nightmares are hellish." Buffy couldn't see the dark rings under Faith's eyes because of the heavy makeup but she could guess that they're there. "I don't want ya to feel that, B. It ain't a walk in a park."
"But…"
"No, B. What I'm gonna do is run. It's what I've done before and I'll be fine." She could see the reluctance in Buffy's eyes. "B, I'll be okay. I'm an expert in running away."
"But I want you here, in Sunnydale. With… with us."
"We can't get everything we want, B," Faith tells her before walking out of the room, leaving the blonde alone. Buffy stays here for a second before she throws a fist at the wall, burying it up to her mid-forearm.
"I can't…" she mutters to herself as she removes her arm from the drywall. She shakes her hand before storming out of the room with a determined look on her face.
Buffy walks along the docks, her eyes intent on the cargo boat up ahead. She could see that it is currently being loaded up by workers. She crosses her arms, shivering just slightly under her jacket, as she searches for any signs of Faith.
She passes under a gangplank, the shadow cast by it darkening her appearance in a threatening manner. "Ya just don't know when to give up, do ya?" she hears, startling her from her thoughts.
She turns to find Faith standing at the top of the gangplank, looking like she got into a scuffle recently - causing her to wonder briefly if she ran into the Councilmen in the time it took for her to look for the woman - who was strangely MIA - and to arrive at the docks. She could see that Faith still had her duffle bag on her so she was relieved that even if she got accosted she still managed to come out on top.
"Not on my friends," she tells her, getting a sad hopeful look. A strange combination in her opinion but she took it in stride, thinking that something she said had struck a chord in the brunette.
"We ain't like what ya got with the X-man or Red," Faith points out as she starts walking down the plank, her hands casually stuffed into her pants' pockets.
"That's okay with me. I don't need another Xander making with the corny jokes and supplying the food. Or Willow with her shyness, magic, and computer geek. I love them both but… I want you to be you." Faith was surprised by the speech and, deep inside, moved.
"I can't be like ya, B. A lil' miss goody two shoes. It ain't gonna happen," Faith stops halfway down the plank, leaning on the railing. Her voice gruff as she tries to push the blonde away so that she can leave without regret. Spare the blonde from having to kill for her.
"Nobody's asking you to be like me. Being wild, reckless, and passionate. That's what makes you alive - unique. The world doesn't need another Buffy."
"Are ya ever gonna admit that it scares ya?" Faith asks. She grips the railing and hops over it, landing on the dock with a soft thud. "Being wild and free, it terrifies ya, doesn't it?"
Buffy looks thoughtfully at her. "I like my strategies," she admits slowly, "but you have a point. But a balance… it needs to be found."
Faith stares at her for a moment before she shakes her head, her body radiating tension as she thinks of a surefire way to make Buffy push her away.
"That's not what bothers ya so much," Faith states as she turns back to the blonde. "What bugs ya is that ya know I'm right. Ya know it in yer guts that we don't need the law." Her expression becomes dark, "We are the law."
"No," Buffy couldn't believe what she's hearing. She thought she had gotten through to the brunette. She needed to find the woman, she wasn't prepared for Faith to take two giant steps back! She turns her back and walks away with Faith right behind her.
"Yes, ya know exactly what I'm 'bout 'cause ya have it in ya too."
"No, Faith, you're wrong. We're not the judge, jury, and executioner! We weren't made to fight human evil!"
"Why not, B! The whole world is going to shit. Someone gotta do somethin' 'bout it!" Faith shakes her head when she sees that Buffy isn't raising to that so she switch tactics. "I've seen it in ya, B. Ya got the lust and I ain't just talkin' 'bout screwing vampires."
Buffy stops in her tracks at Faith's words, anger surging forward at the not so subtle jab at her history with Angel. "Don't you dare bring him into this," she warns.
"It was good, wasn't it?" Faith continues, "The sex? The danger? Bet a part of ya even dug him when he went psycho."
"No!" Buffy snaps as she stomps ahead.
"See," Faith follows her again, "ya need me to toe the line because yer afraid yer gonna go over it, aren't ya, B? Ya can't handle watchin' me livin' it up - having a blast 'cause it tempts ya so fuckin' badly! Ya know it could be ya!"
Buffy has had enough. She stops, turning to face her, and backhand punches her in the jaw. Faith stumbles back but it couldn't hide the wicked smile on her bleeding mouth. "There's my girl."
"No," Buffy mutters, regretting the fact that she punched the Dark Slayer. "I'm not gonna do this."
"Why the hell not!" Faith snaps, "It feels good, doesn't it? The blood rising up inside?!" She knows that Buffy could feel the same thing she always feel when she slays. She doesn't know when it changed from pushing Buffy away to trying to get her to understand her side.
Buffy hears a noise above them, causing her to look and notices a palette of crates falling. To her horror she realizes that it is going to fall directly onto Faith and shoves her out of the way. The crates hits her instead and she goes down, getting a good bump on the head that dazes her but she is still conscious.
"B!" Faith shouts as she gets up, making to go help Buffy. When Mr. Trick and three other vampires suddenly show up on the attack.
Faith spins around when she hears them roar, but is soundly punched in the face by Trick, forcing her body to snap to the side. He and another one grab her by her jacket and throw her to the ground. As Faith tries to get to her feet, the second vampire roundhouse kicks her in the face. She blocks it and drops a bit, but manages to get up and block an uppercut from the third one by grabbing his hand.
She backhand punches him in the face, making him step back to keep his balance, and turns to face the second vampire. She high blocks a wide swing from him and punches him, making him fall, but the third one behind her flat hands her in the back and she stumbles.
From under the crates Buffy has just finally starts to come out of her daze, with a large marching band stomping its way across her head with cleats. "Oh, god," she mutters under her breath as she starts to work her way out from underneath. She could hear Faith fighting and feeling the presence of at least four vampires.
The third vampire holds Faith with her arms behind her back. She tries to get free by snapping her heel backwards and striking his kneecap. That has no effect, so she snaps her head back and butts him dead in the nose, but the vamp still doesn't let go of her. The second vampire launches into a half spinning hook kick intended for Faith, but she ducks it and the demon holding her takes the blow, forcing him to let go of her as he goes down.
Faith flies into full spinning, jumping out-to-in crescent kick, hitting the second vampire hard in the face and sending him spinning to the ground. The first vampire runs at her, but she sidesteps him and shoves him into the third, who was just getting up. He isn't knocked down, though, and comes at her. She grabs him and pulls him with her toward the water, and throws him off the dock.
Buffy is out of her daze now, and with difficulty pulls her legs out from under the pallet of crates that fell on her. She gets to her feet, but is immediately punched by Mr. Trick. She falls spinning onto the crates and rolls off onto the concrete. She gets to her feet as Trick approaches and tries to backhand punch him, but he blocks it, so she punches him in the gut instead. Her jab is weak, though, and has no effect on him. Trick does a painful right hook to her face. Buffy stumbles backward. Trick advances and swings again, this time snapping her head back with a powerful uppercut, making her fall onto another pile of crates.
Faith does a half-spinning hook kick, connecting with the second vampire's jaw. He falls onto an open barrel and struggles not to fall in. The first one comes at her again, but she has her stake out now and jams it home. He explodes into ashes. She looks over and sees Buffy struggling with Mr. Trick. He wraps a cord around her neck and begins to choke her. But Faith isn't finished with her fight yet. The second vampire throws off the barrel, only to become intimate with her stake and burst into ashes.
Faith sees Trick yank at the cord around Buffy's neck and pull her off of the crates. He pulls her up and swings her around into a pallet leaning against still more crates. She hits it hard and falls to the pavement. Faith looks around, trying to decide what to do. She sees Trick pick Buffy up again and slam her against the huge crates. Buffy struggles to get loose, but the cord around her neck is too tight.
"I hear once you've tasted a Slayer," Mr. Trick says with a vicious smile, "you never wanna go back." He opens his fang-filled mouth wide and moves in for the bite. Buffy struggles to keep him away, but can't. Suddenly Mr. Trick stops and looks up in wide-eyed shock. "Oh, no," he starts as he shakes his head, "No, this is no good at all."
He begins to fall and explodes into ashes as Faith pulls her stake back. The two Slayers look at each other uncertainly for a long while. Faith lowers her stake. Buffy massages her neck.
"Don't leave…" Buffy pleas Faith, sad green eyes looking up at her as dark brown eyes stares at her. "We've both said stupid things," she mutters, "but I care." She ducks her head, "I care about what happens to you."
"Damn it B," Faith curses, rubbing her face. "Why do ya have to be so fuckin' difficult?!"
"I wouldn't be me," Buffy whispers, clearing her throat a few times.
"I have to say," they suddenly hear a husky voice say, causing the two Slayers to whirl around - ready for action. "I have never, ever, met such stubborn girls 'fore until I met the two of ya."
Buffy looks up to find the older brunette perched at the edge of one of the roofs, dark eyes glinting down at them. Faith sees the woman's features when the brunette leans forward for one of the streetlamps to cast some light across her.
She feels her breath catch as she stares at the angular face, her memories causing a maelstrom as they clatter for attention. "Alex," she whispers softly, getting a smirk from the woman.
"Alex?" Buffy questions, looking at the Slayer next to her.
"That's my name," the older woman says from her position, leaning back into the shadows. "Don't wear it out." Faith couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"But… you died, Al." Buffy's eyes felt like a ping pong game now, flipping back and forth between the two brunettes.
"I did."
Not even a heartbeat went by before Faith had her stake out which has Buffy lunging for the Slayer with a quick 'No'. "She's not a vampire!" Buffy exclaims, gripping the hand holding the stake with both hands.
"B?"
"I…" she didn't know how to explain it.
"I've been helpin' her, Fairy," the woman above them states bluntly for the blonde. "I told ya, Fairy, I'm always gonna be here to watch over ya."
"Then ya did a piss poor job of that then," Faith snaps, freeing herself from Buffy.
"Did I really? Were ya raped after I came into yer life?" the woman asks. "Were ya a victim of any of yer ma's boyfriends? Did ya die from starvation?" With each question Faith's expression got increasingly darker. It made Buffy step back as she sense that Faith was probably seconds from exploding. "How, pray tell, did I fail ya, Fairy?"
"YOU FUCKIN' DIED!" Faith shouts angrily at the woman.
The brunette sighs before jumping off the roof, landing without so much of a pained grunt or anything to signify that jumping from a three stories building was painful. If Buffy had any doubt about whether or not the woman is of supernatural origin it was blown out of the waters by that display. "Didn't I tell ya, Fairy, that I have wings?"
Both slayers looked at her in confusion. Well, Buffy was more like 'What in the world?' sort of confused while Faith was like 'Yeah, your point?' confused.
"Did ya think I was jokin'?" the brunette continues, walking towards them. "Did ya think that I wasn't bein' honest 'bout what I am?" Faith steps back from the older girl, her eyes narrowed. Buffy looks back and forth between the brunettes again, torn between what to do. Get in the way and keep the older woman away from the Dark Slayer or stop Faith from running away. "Yer the Slayer, Fairy. Just like I promised ya would be."
That forces Faith to stop retreating and she looks at the slightly taller woman. "Ya… yer jokin'." But a single look at the woman's face revealed that no, she wasn't joking. So she runs her hands through her hair, fisting her hair at the nape of her neck as she tries to recall this.
"One day, Fairy, yer gonna be at the top of the world," she recalls. "Yer gonna make the Darkness fear yer name. Gonna make them cower at the word Faith."
"…You did," Faith mutters, shaking her head as she drops her hands. "What I don't get is… how can ya be here? I saw ya fall that day. That bastard stabbed ya in the freakin' heart!"
The Slayers flinch when the brunette reaches into the duster she is wearing and removes a dull looking knife. Faith recognizes as the knife that stabbed her friend in the heart. Buffy recognizes it as the knife the older brunette had been playing with. An ancient ceremonial knife that almost looks plain except for the wicked writing on the blade.
"I assume," the brunette starts with a low drawl, "ya mean this one." She tosses the knife to Buffy, glad to be rid of it. "Now, Fairy, ya gonna stop running? Yer gonna face what ya did?" Faith's face tightened as her old friend called her on what she did, what she has done since that accident.
"Cherish life and never, ever, treat it like its expendable." She turns around and starts walking away, leaving a disappointed brunette behind.
"I'll take that as a big fuckin' no," the woman mutters before she is offered the knife. "Nah, keep it with ya. Ya never gonna know when ya need to kill a Devil."
"Devil?" Buffy didn't know what to make of that.
The woman looks down at her with dark unreadable eyes. "I suggest keepin' an eye on Faith. The Councilmen are still 'round. I could do somethin' 'bout it but like I said 'fore. She needs to acknowledge that she needs guidance. Right now she's accepted the fact that she killed a man, but she ain't doin' this the right way." The woman curses in a language Buffy couldn't readily identify. "Damn that Watcher. She was close to confessin' to yer Watcher."
"I'll work on her again," Buffy volunteers.
"I suggest dealin' with Mr. Wyndam-Pryce," the brunette tells her. "If ya get to him and make him back off then the Council will back off." The woman turns away and makes to disappear into the darkness.
"Wait!" the blonde calls after her. When she sees that the woman stopped she rushed her question. "How can you still be alive if Faith saw you die?"
The brunette turns partially, standing at the line between light and dark. "I suggest, Annie, askin' yer Watcher, Mr. Giles. I suspect by now that he has a good estimate of what I am." With that she disappears into the shadows.
Wow, I'm stunned to realize that I only have two scene changes? Daaang, the dock scene too forever! Does anyone feel like we did a step forward and two steps back here? Sure does feel like it to me and I'm the one writing this. *glares at the Slayers* Uncooperative girls.
Anon, I'm glad you like the story so far. The back story is mostly something that has already been established before I jumped into this. I'm just adding my own twist into things. And I dunno, Anon, who do you think she is? If this chapter answered that question then I'm glad you sorta read my mind! If it didn't then I have to consider the fact that you're thinking something else. Giles' reactions were pretty much what happened in the show. I just made some adjustments in how Buffy reacted when she found out about what Faith told him and went according to that. And I suppose my OC's identity was obvious to everyone except Buffy and the cast ne? I hope you liked this chapter!
Also, I wanna thank Ltlconf and miketech for following the story. And Ltlconf for giving me further insight into Faith's mindset. Hopefully I'll be able to use this information to help the story process because after a bit I think we're gonna start deviating from the season shows and that's what I'm going on right now -_-" Anyway R&R folks!
