Chapter 6 - Confessions of a Broken Slayer
Dawn comes stomping down the stairs, fast, a white box in her hands. She rushes through the house to the back porch, worrying that Faith might be hurt.
"Slow down D. I could hear you coming down the stairs, even though at first I thought it was a herd of elephants. What's that for?" Faith asks, noticing the white box and pointing at it.
" You and Buffy were fighting and Giles told me to go get it. Are you hurt?" Dawn starts looking everywhere on Faith but finds nothing.
Faith starts laughing. "Dawn, I'm okay. She didn't hit me. Maybe she's losing her touch."
Dawn glares at Faith and swats her arm.
"Be nice. She may be a total bitch but she's still my sister." Dawn doesn't know why she's sticking uo for Buffy, but she knows it's the right thing to do.
"You're right. I'm sorry," Faith says, actually meaning it. If she's going to prove herself, she's going to have to take the highroad.
Dawn smiles, noticing the difference in Faith already.
"Wanna go for a walk?" Faith asks, randomly.
The question catches Dawn off guard but her smile grows. "Yeah, sure." Dawn puts the first aid kit (the white box) on the porch and leaves with Faith through the back gate.
**MEANWHILE**
Inside the house, in the living room, Giles is pacing in front of the coffee table, stopping briefly when Willow walks in and sits on the arm of the chair that Xander is sitting in. Buffy is sitting on the couch, alone, feeling like a bad puppy or something. Her head is bent and her hands are folded in her lap. She looks like she's feeling bad for attacking Faith, when actually, she feels bad for not being able to hit her, and being caught.
"Buffy, this is...unacceptable!" Giles is more than pissed; he is furious. "Faith is here because I asked her to be. She wants to help. Why can't you see that?"
Buffy giggles and says, "Faith doesn't need to be here. But if you like sleeping and never waking up, go for it. Won't be my problems." And with that, Buffy gets up off the couch and walks towards the front door.
"Buf, where are you going?" Xander asks.
"Since you believe that Faith cna take care of things, then Idon't need to be here. Faith can play Head Slayer." Buffy grabs her black, leather jacket off the coat stand, opens the door and leaves, slamming the door once again behind her.
Willow looks at Giles, not believing that Buffy would just leave like that. "Giles, what do we do now?" she asks.
Giles sighs and looks back at willow, looking many years older than what he really is. "I don't know," he says, shaking his head
Faith and Dawn walk down the quiet suburban streets of Sunnydale in comfortable silence.
"So," Dawn says quietly, not actually sure what to talk about.
Faith just raises her eyebrow.
"Oh, school is cancelled. I guess the First really is more Evil than school," Dawn adds nervously.
Faith shows a partial grin before her face falls again. She suddenly turns and walks across the grass into a park. The solumn brunette walks over to the swings and sits down on one of them.
Dawn just follows, still not able to figure Faith out. She sits on the swing beside Faith, feeling a little uncomfortable.
"I use to love going to the park near my house, back in Boston," Faith says out of the blue. "It's where I went when my mom was drinking or had guys over, so I was there a lot."
"Faith..." Dawn whispers.
Faith turns to Dawn and smiles, but it is a sad, tired smile. Dawn feels her heart beat painfully at that look, and leans over and hugs Faith, which is greatfully accepted.
Faith sniffles, not fully believing that she's finally talking about it; her old life. "I was happy when she came and told me that I had been called to be the next Slayer, even though at the time I didn't know what that meant. I thought that I could finally escape my life; leave my mom and everything. But it still haunts my mind every night; the way my mom looked when I said that I was leaving and never coming back. I left that night and stayed true to my word: I never went back. But it wasn't long till the next most important person in my life was ripped away." Faith stops for a second and takes a deep breath. "Kakistos killed my Watcher. I got to watch the whole thing. And then he came after me. That's when I came here for the first time and met Buffy." By now, Faith has tears running down her face , remembering how badly everything turned out.
Dawn can't believe what Faith's been through already. "Faith, I had no idea."
Faith sniffles again and turns her head to face Dawn. "Nobody does,until now," she admits.
"When I got here, nobody even knew about Kakistos until Buffy ran into some of his minions. I thought that I could run, like before. But he found me. Doesn't matter coz we dusted his ass.
And then this Watcher came in, who turned out to be completely evil, and everyone found out that Angel was back. They were so focused on Buffy and Angel that when they saw me, it was like, 'Oh hey, sorry, we forgot about you'."
Faith gets off the swing and walks a few feet and stops.
"I wanted to be a part of them; the Scooby Gang. I tried so hard, but they kept me shut out. So I started to show her the better side of being a Slayer. It was fun, for awhile."
Faith stares at the ground, dead silent. "Everything changed so quicky," she whispers. "We were going after this big demon guy and vamps were jumping down off the roofs at us. I heard footsteps behind us and I reacted. I plunged the stake into his chest. I think Buffy said something but I don't know," she continues. Looking back at Dawn, Faith looks so lost, reliving her past; the one that she tried so hard to block out and forget.
Dawn gets off of her swing and slowly steps close to Faith.
"I didn't know that he was human," Faith chokes out, falling into Dawn's arms.
Shoulders shaking violently, Faith cries out the pain of everything; leaving her mom, her Watcher dying, rejection of Buffy, the guilt of killing that man, and the guilt of killing many people after that under the orderd of the Former Mayor.
Dawn holds onto Faith, rubbing her hands up and down Faith's back, attempting to comfort her. Faith loses the strength in her legs and collapses to the ground, Dawn going down with her, still holding on tight.
A/N: I know that Dawn wasn't there in the original season that all this stuff happened that Faith is talking about and that the Monks input the memories but I wanted Faith to tell Dawn even though Dawn probably already knew. It helps with the bonding of the two of them :). please Review and let me know how I'm doing with this story :):)
