Fic: Souls, Slayers... and a Scythe???
Author: mkcrl120
Disclaimer: All the characters mentioned in this story belong to Joss Whedon or Mutant Enemy or some other people. I own nothing and wrote this just to get it out of my system.
Summary: Set two weeks after the events in Explaining Africa 3
Authors Notes: I have no clue about Africa. Which is probably always a good place to start writing a story. So if details I've used for place names, and tribal names and whatever are wrong then just (correctly) assume I have no idea what I'm doing.
Rating: 15 by English standards (mainly for language)
========================
Chapter 4b:
The next morning
Amy was worried. Faith hadn't returned back to the apartment the previous night, and they were supposed to be heading towards Maputo today. The others had gone out looking for Faith, leaving Amy alone in the apartment in case she turned up there. 'Nothing to do... I want to be out there doing something... anything...' She'd been voted as the one to remain due to her inability to remain out in the sun for too long. It was times like this that she'd wished she'd attempted to adapt to this climate. 'Was just an excuse so the men can go out and do the rescuing, and the woman can stay at home' she thought bitterly.
'We should have eased her in. Got her used to... well, us, before springing any of that on her.'
She jumped when the door opened.
"Any sign of her?" she shouted before the person was even in sight.
"Nah." Xander replied. "Been everywhere I can think of. Heard from Roger yet?"
"Came back an hour ago. Managed to borrow a car from some friend of his."
"Who?"
"Didn't say and I didn't ask."
"Right. Have you contacted Giles yet?"
"And tell him we lost the first Slayer he sent us? No way, that's your job... boss."
"Har har..."
There was the sound of the door opening again.
"Roger!!!" Xander shouted, "Did you fin..." he stopped as he turned around. "Faith."
Faith stood in the doorway, her face showed no emotion. "Xan. Amy."
Xander matched her gaze.
Amy found herself the first to break. "Faith... are you okay?"
Faith turned to face her. "Not much around here that can take down a Slayer." Letting a smile pass her lips, "Especially someone who may be the Slayer, right?"
Xander was quick to apologise. "We shouldn't have dropped that bombshell on you so quickly. We definitely should have let you settle in first."
"No worries." Faith said impassively. "Shouldn't have let it get to me."
"Faith, it's okay to be shocked."
"I should be able to control my reactions. I mean... it wasn't even like it was bad news."
Amy asked. "What made you react the way you di..?"
"Just don't."
Amy looked confused and began to ask, "Don't wh..?" A look from Xander cut her off though.
"Don't pyschoanalyse me or any of that other bullshit okay... I got enough of that in prison. Look, you wanna know if I'm the Slayer or just one of many, that's fine... that's normal watcher-slayer crap that we all gotta cope with. But my reactions are mine okay..." Faith quickly glanced at Xander then bowed her head. "If I'm not hurting anyone, then it's cool capiche?"
"Faith," Xander attempted. "No one here wants you to do anything you're not comfortable with... no one here thinks you're going to hurt them... you've changed, we can see that." He paused to think about it. "Well I can. The others, you're in first impression terroritory with them, see. The past is behind you, no one here knows about any of it except me and you. And I'm not telling anyone anything you're not comfrotable with, okay?"
"Stop talking to me like a fucking child... and put your hands down." She sighed, "I need a bed to crash in."
"You can crash in any of the rooms for today. We'll sort something more permanent out for you by tonight."
"Don't get my own room then?"
"Well there is a spare room going, just it's the box room. And we're storing most of the unused stuff in there." At her look he added. "Just get some kip today and we'll have something sorted by tonight."
"Kay..." Faith walked over and opened a random door. "This'll do." she said as she disappeared inside.
"Well, Amy, I hope you don't mind losing your room for the day."
"I think we ought to pass on some of our findings to Giles anyway."
"Find out if Robert and Steven have come up with anything else about the history of the watchers council."
=====
Faith awoke a few hours later. The clock by the side of the bed told her it was almost three pm. 'Jet lag's a bitch.' she thought, as she got out of bed. Wondering who's room she'd slept in, she opened one of the cupboards. 'Amy's, right!' she figured as she tried to find something to wear. She found another pair of shorts and tossed them on the bed; pulling a new t-shirt and some fresh underwear out of her bag, she put them before walking into the main room.
"Hey." Making a show of rubbing the sleep from her eyes she continued, "I'm awake... what's today's plan?"
The group were sitting around the table in the dining room, they all looked up as she entered. Xander indicated a seat that she should sit at. 'Great more philosphical discussion about me... I so don't need this, this early in the afternoon.'
"Okay, what?" She asked, when the silence had finally gotten to her.
"Faith." Roger began from beside her. "We're sorry about yesterday."
"Yep. Gotcha... apologies all round, fair?"
She watched as they nodded their agreement, all except Xander who simply smiled at her. "But... you gotta stop pussy-footing around me like you did today..." At their glances, she added "I know I didn't cope well last night. But... I'm just asking that you give me prior warning to get my head in the right place, before dropping any more shit like last night on me..."
"Faith," Xander said, attracting her attention from the opposite side of the table. "I don't think anything else we've got directly relates to you... well least not anything you wouldn't be expecting."
"So... what was last night's relevation all about?"
Amy took up the gap in conversation. "Basically... what do you know about what we're trying to do here?"
"G said you were on some mission to find out where we come from."
"Okay, right... well, did he explain how you were supposed to help us do that?"
"That..?" She looked around the group. "He said that the box might be useful for helping with that."
"How exactly?" Roger asked.
"According to G, when B went in the swirling thing she saw where these guys stuck a demon inside this girl."
"And..?"
"Well, G figured that if that was where the Slayers originated from... maybe you could somehow... enter the box yourselves, with someone who knew something about Africa and maybe recognise the location or the language the guys were using or something."
"The language?"
"B didn't recognise any of it... she figured it was African... dunno how accurate her opinion would be though, can't see B knowing anything about African shit myself."
"Joyc... Buffy's mom collected lots of foreign artifacts for her gallery. Maybe Buff remembered some of the things she brought home and recognised something." Faith could see Xander was forcibly hiding any emotion when he spoke of Joyce.
'Shit, Joyce... another person I'll never get to make it up to. Never knew she did anything like that though.' Faith refused to make any comments aloud though, scared of what Xander might say regarding her actions at the time.
"So..." She said, changing topics. "Rog, you gonna be the guide for all this?"
"I don't have anywhere near the necessary skills for that."
"Who then?" Faith asked, looking between Amy and Xander to see if they were going to be the ones to do it.
"Shote." Roger answered.
'Who the fuck is' "Shote?"
"You haven't met him yet." Xander explained, "He's talking to his government about the Slayer situation, he won't be back for a few days."
"His government know about the Slayer situation?"
"I think somewhere in every government, they might have an idea of the supernatural world that lives alongside ours."
"What makes you reckon that? Angel had this cop chick he knew, and she was like the only person in the precinct in the know." 'Wonder what happened to her anyway? She was the one to bust me, but Angel never mentioned her again after that.'
Amy answered, "Shote confirmed that the various African governments admit it with varying degrees of knowledge. I know at least some members of the British government are aware, due to how much external power the Watchers Council are able to obtain when necessary. I'm not sure about the Americans though..."
"I'd guess they know at some levels too." At their looks, Xander added. "The Initiative was a military op, and it was aware of the Slayer myth when they worked there. And I think Riley dating Buffy may have sort of confirmed that myth to most of them." He said with a wink.
"So Shote's off talking to his people right? Anyone else we can call on in the meantime?"
Amy informed her, "We trust Shote; if Shote has further suggestions on people who might know more about ancient languages then we'll take that under consideration. But for now, Shote has the vote."
Faith watched as Xander seemed to go deep in thought, she waited for him to offer his opinions but nothing came.
"So we're just gonna hang out here for a few days and do nothing... can't believe I agreed to this assignment."
Roger looked confused. "I can't believe Mr Giles would send one of his most experienced Slayers down here on delivery errand."
Faith watched as Amy seemed to think about that. "He could have just got it delivered regularly, or if he wanted it kept under Slayer protection surely there are others he could have used?"
'Shit. Shit. Shit. Think, girl, excuses needed now.' "Well," she stalled, "I was visiting Giles anyway and had been asking about the rest of the gang. Got a bit lonely in Cleveland, with just Wood and some kids for company," giving a quick glance towards Amy she added, "and no offence Amy, but the Watchers that got sent over... they made the original Wesley look brave."
"Original Wesley?" Xander asked.
"You know, how he was when he first turned up. All book-y and 'the slayer shall fight-eth alone' and all that crap."
"And he's not like that now? I mean Willow mentioned something about him changing, but I just reckoned it was..."
"Wes was the one who got me to bust out of prison."
"Wes busted you out? No way!!"
Amy looked shocked, whereas Roger blurted out. "You broke out of prison..? You mean you weren't parolled or anything... you actually broke out?"
"Wes didn't bust me out!!" Faith chuckled at the thought, "He persuaded me that it was necessary to leave. I did all the actual breaking."
Roger said again, "You actually broke out of prison?"
"It was an apocalypse." Faith said, in a tone that indicated that that explained everything. "Apocalypses wait for no girl, ya know."
Roger couldn't believe it, "Are the police after you now?"
"Don't think so. Fang was gonna sort some shit out for me. Stick Gunn on the case or summat."
Amy looked confused, "Fang? Is this some member of a gang. And he's going to help you out using a gun..?"
"Fang owns a law firm now."
Roger looked from Faith to Xander, who appeared to be following all this.
"Yeah we heard about Deadboy."
"Deadboy?" Roger asked, "Is that another member of Fang's gang?"
"Fang is Deadboy." Faith explained.
Amy suddenly looked a little worried, "And why do you call them... him that?"
"He's a vampire." Faith explained.
"Another one?"
"Nahh..." Xander stated, "Fang and Deadboy are the same person... you've heard of him as Angel."
"Ahh... Angel, right." Amy said, obviously relieved.
Roger thought about it some more. "But he hasn't sorted it out yet though? So they don't know you're over here... how did you get over here by the way?"
"Giles got me some fake passports." She straightened her back and added in a posh voice, "I'm British, don't you know. Faith Masterson at your service..."
"Masterson?"
"Some Watcher Giles knows. Got a daughter 'bout my age; simply sent the real passport across and got Fang to put us in contact with some guys he knows. Made a few changes, voila."
Amy looked confused. "Angel knows people who can..?"
"He's over two hundred years old. He ain't got a valid identity in any country."
"Faith, about Angel..." Xander started.
'Sounds serious.' "Yeah?"
"What do you know about that prophecy of his?"
"The Shanshu thing? Yeah, he used to be really into it. When he first started visiting me, it was something we shared you know?"
Xander seemed a little lost.
"My parole, his Shanshu. It was like the path to redemption had a destination, ya see. I could get out; and he could be human. I figured if a vampire had a chance at redemption, then maybe the there was one for a Slayer who'd strayed too..." She drifted off, deep in thought. "Eventually he stopped talking about it as much... I just figured that he saw how much of a long-term plan that was gonna have to be... I mean, I was looking at probably at least a decade inside cos of what I'd done, and I wasn't practically immortal."
Xander swallowed hard, "We may have evidence that he isn't going to like regarding his..."
Amy interrupted him. "We don't know anything Xander."
"The old men told us that it was Spike."
"They never said it was Spike." she corrected.
"A vampire came looking for a wish wasn't able to have it granted cos of a prophecy."
"Exactly!"
"What?"
"If they'd allowed the demon to give him a soul in order to fulfill the prophecy, then I'd agree with you."
"But you don't?"
"No. I thought about this some. They didn't let him make a wish. That means Spike didn't ask for a soul there."
Faith had watched this conversation like a tennis match, she'd had no idea what they were talking about but suddenly something stuck in her head. "Hold the fuck up! Spike's got a soul?"
"According to Andrew."
"Spike; that little puppy-dog that followed Buffy around like she was in heat or summat?"
"Not how I would have worded it, but yeah."
"He's got a soul... does Angel know?"
"Yeah. He's up at W&H with Deadboy."
"So you think he's trying to steal Fang's Shanshu... no fucking way that's happening... I'll stake the bastard first!"
"That's what I sa..."
They were interrupted by Amy shouting, "Will you two stop it. I'm trying to explain why Spike isn't the one to get the prophecy."
Faith eyed her suspiciously; "This better be good."
"Firstly, they didn't let him enter the cave. So they weren't the ones to ensoul him. Secondly, if they were talking about the prophecy then they were refusing it on some grounds. Possibly that they were already aware of the existence of another vampire with a soul and didn't want to upset the balance by introducing another."
Faith watched as Xander maintained eye contact with Amy, "They said that the vampire makes sure the prophecy occurs. That sounds like it's Spike to me."
"They didn't say that, they said, that the vampire helps to ensure the prophecy occurs."
'To-may-to, to-mah-to.' Faith thought. But Xander looked deep in thought, "Okay, I'll concede that we've almost been caught out by wordings within prophecies before bu..."
"But nothing. We can't view the original prophecy... cos we don't even know what prophecy they were talking about. I'm working on it being the Shanshu prophecy; but that might be an incorrect assumption."
"And if it isn't?"
"Then maybe they couldn't kill or ensoul Spike because of something he does in the future. Maybe stopping one of Spike's plans is what earns Angel his Shanshu. That would be Spike helping to ensure the prophecy happens, wouldn't it?"
"Okay, I'll give you that..."
"Actually." Roger added, "It could have been Spike wanting to get rid of his soul."
Faith turned to face him, "What?"
"He could have wanted to get rid of it for some reason."
Xander conceded, "When Spike first arrived he was being driven mental by the First."
Faith shivered, as she remembered her encounter with the First. For a split second she could see something in Xander's eye as he obviously remembered something himself.
He shook it off and continued, "He could have thought it was the soul that was causing him to go crazy and wanted rid of it."
Faith didn't like the way that was going. "But that means his request wasn't to be ensouled it was to be de-souled."
"And they didn't let him do it because of a prophecy." Xander finished for her, clenching his fists at his side.
Faith could feel the anger burning inside her, 'Keep control girl. This is not the time, and I'm definitely not losing it twice in twenty four hours.' "If he wanted rid of the soul, why didn't he just get laid like any normal ensouled vampire?"
Amy was the one to keep the peace. "Spike's not the issue, face it." she said glaring at Roger. "We don't have enough information to decide on this."
"Can we go see these Wisher people tomorrow?" Faith asked. "Get some more info on the prophecy."
"Xander upset them a little bit." Roger admitted.
"You were hardly innocent." Amy argued.
"I told you that wasn't my fault! I did nothing to provoke him."
"They were still gu..."
"Guys!!" Xander shouted, using a time-out motion. "Let's get the drinks in, and move conversation onto easier topics." Xander moved towards the bar.
"So we just gonna wait for this Shote guy to turn up?" Faith asked.
Amy answered, "Nah, gotta see a man about a demon tomorrow."
"What?"
Roger explained, "We're going to Maputo... you coming?"
"All of you?" At their nods, Faith added, "then sure. I mean what else am I gonna do?" 'Though, I really need to speak to Xander about the soul scenario. Preferably alone. Probably best to do that tomorrow,' and with that thought Faith got up to help Xander carry the drinks.
=====
End chapter 4b:
========================
Author: mkcrl120
Disclaimer: All the characters mentioned in this story belong to Joss Whedon or Mutant Enemy or some other people. I own nothing and wrote this just to get it out of my system.
Summary: Set two weeks after the events in Explaining Africa 3
Authors Notes: I have no clue about Africa. Which is probably always a good place to start writing a story. So if details I've used for place names, and tribal names and whatever are wrong then just (correctly) assume I have no idea what I'm doing.
Rating: 15 by English standards (mainly for language)
========================
Chapter 4b:
The next morning
Amy was worried. Faith hadn't returned back to the apartment the previous night, and they were supposed to be heading towards Maputo today. The others had gone out looking for Faith, leaving Amy alone in the apartment in case she turned up there. 'Nothing to do... I want to be out there doing something... anything...' She'd been voted as the one to remain due to her inability to remain out in the sun for too long. It was times like this that she'd wished she'd attempted to adapt to this climate. 'Was just an excuse so the men can go out and do the rescuing, and the woman can stay at home' she thought bitterly.
'We should have eased her in. Got her used to... well, us, before springing any of that on her.'
She jumped when the door opened.
"Any sign of her?" she shouted before the person was even in sight.
"Nah." Xander replied. "Been everywhere I can think of. Heard from Roger yet?"
"Came back an hour ago. Managed to borrow a car from some friend of his."
"Who?"
"Didn't say and I didn't ask."
"Right. Have you contacted Giles yet?"
"And tell him we lost the first Slayer he sent us? No way, that's your job... boss."
"Har har..."
There was the sound of the door opening again.
"Roger!!!" Xander shouted, "Did you fin..." he stopped as he turned around. "Faith."
Faith stood in the doorway, her face showed no emotion. "Xan. Amy."
Xander matched her gaze.
Amy found herself the first to break. "Faith... are you okay?"
Faith turned to face her. "Not much around here that can take down a Slayer." Letting a smile pass her lips, "Especially someone who may be the Slayer, right?"
Xander was quick to apologise. "We shouldn't have dropped that bombshell on you so quickly. We definitely should have let you settle in first."
"No worries." Faith said impassively. "Shouldn't have let it get to me."
"Faith, it's okay to be shocked."
"I should be able to control my reactions. I mean... it wasn't even like it was bad news."
Amy asked. "What made you react the way you di..?"
"Just don't."
Amy looked confused and began to ask, "Don't wh..?" A look from Xander cut her off though.
"Don't pyschoanalyse me or any of that other bullshit okay... I got enough of that in prison. Look, you wanna know if I'm the Slayer or just one of many, that's fine... that's normal watcher-slayer crap that we all gotta cope with. But my reactions are mine okay..." Faith quickly glanced at Xander then bowed her head. "If I'm not hurting anyone, then it's cool capiche?"
"Faith," Xander attempted. "No one here wants you to do anything you're not comfortable with... no one here thinks you're going to hurt them... you've changed, we can see that." He paused to think about it. "Well I can. The others, you're in first impression terroritory with them, see. The past is behind you, no one here knows about any of it except me and you. And I'm not telling anyone anything you're not comfrotable with, okay?"
"Stop talking to me like a fucking child... and put your hands down." She sighed, "I need a bed to crash in."
"You can crash in any of the rooms for today. We'll sort something more permanent out for you by tonight."
"Don't get my own room then?"
"Well there is a spare room going, just it's the box room. And we're storing most of the unused stuff in there." At her look he added. "Just get some kip today and we'll have something sorted by tonight."
"Kay..." Faith walked over and opened a random door. "This'll do." she said as she disappeared inside.
"Well, Amy, I hope you don't mind losing your room for the day."
"I think we ought to pass on some of our findings to Giles anyway."
"Find out if Robert and Steven have come up with anything else about the history of the watchers council."
=====
Faith awoke a few hours later. The clock by the side of the bed told her it was almost three pm. 'Jet lag's a bitch.' she thought, as she got out of bed. Wondering who's room she'd slept in, she opened one of the cupboards. 'Amy's, right!' she figured as she tried to find something to wear. She found another pair of shorts and tossed them on the bed; pulling a new t-shirt and some fresh underwear out of her bag, she put them before walking into the main room.
"Hey." Making a show of rubbing the sleep from her eyes she continued, "I'm awake... what's today's plan?"
The group were sitting around the table in the dining room, they all looked up as she entered. Xander indicated a seat that she should sit at. 'Great more philosphical discussion about me... I so don't need this, this early in the afternoon.'
"Okay, what?" She asked, when the silence had finally gotten to her.
"Faith." Roger began from beside her. "We're sorry about yesterday."
"Yep. Gotcha... apologies all round, fair?"
She watched as they nodded their agreement, all except Xander who simply smiled at her. "But... you gotta stop pussy-footing around me like you did today..." At their glances, she added "I know I didn't cope well last night. But... I'm just asking that you give me prior warning to get my head in the right place, before dropping any more shit like last night on me..."
"Faith," Xander said, attracting her attention from the opposite side of the table. "I don't think anything else we've got directly relates to you... well least not anything you wouldn't be expecting."
"So... what was last night's relevation all about?"
Amy took up the gap in conversation. "Basically... what do you know about what we're trying to do here?"
"G said you were on some mission to find out where we come from."
"Okay, right... well, did he explain how you were supposed to help us do that?"
"That..?" She looked around the group. "He said that the box might be useful for helping with that."
"How exactly?" Roger asked.
"According to G, when B went in the swirling thing she saw where these guys stuck a demon inside this girl."
"And..?"
"Well, G figured that if that was where the Slayers originated from... maybe you could somehow... enter the box yourselves, with someone who knew something about Africa and maybe recognise the location or the language the guys were using or something."
"The language?"
"B didn't recognise any of it... she figured it was African... dunno how accurate her opinion would be though, can't see B knowing anything about African shit myself."
"Joyc... Buffy's mom collected lots of foreign artifacts for her gallery. Maybe Buff remembered some of the things she brought home and recognised something." Faith could see Xander was forcibly hiding any emotion when he spoke of Joyce.
'Shit, Joyce... another person I'll never get to make it up to. Never knew she did anything like that though.' Faith refused to make any comments aloud though, scared of what Xander might say regarding her actions at the time.
"So..." She said, changing topics. "Rog, you gonna be the guide for all this?"
"I don't have anywhere near the necessary skills for that."
"Who then?" Faith asked, looking between Amy and Xander to see if they were going to be the ones to do it.
"Shote." Roger answered.
'Who the fuck is' "Shote?"
"You haven't met him yet." Xander explained, "He's talking to his government about the Slayer situation, he won't be back for a few days."
"His government know about the Slayer situation?"
"I think somewhere in every government, they might have an idea of the supernatural world that lives alongside ours."
"What makes you reckon that? Angel had this cop chick he knew, and she was like the only person in the precinct in the know." 'Wonder what happened to her anyway? She was the one to bust me, but Angel never mentioned her again after that.'
Amy answered, "Shote confirmed that the various African governments admit it with varying degrees of knowledge. I know at least some members of the British government are aware, due to how much external power the Watchers Council are able to obtain when necessary. I'm not sure about the Americans though..."
"I'd guess they know at some levels too." At their looks, Xander added. "The Initiative was a military op, and it was aware of the Slayer myth when they worked there. And I think Riley dating Buffy may have sort of confirmed that myth to most of them." He said with a wink.
"So Shote's off talking to his people right? Anyone else we can call on in the meantime?"
Amy informed her, "We trust Shote; if Shote has further suggestions on people who might know more about ancient languages then we'll take that under consideration. But for now, Shote has the vote."
Faith watched as Xander seemed to go deep in thought, she waited for him to offer his opinions but nothing came.
"So we're just gonna hang out here for a few days and do nothing... can't believe I agreed to this assignment."
Roger looked confused. "I can't believe Mr Giles would send one of his most experienced Slayers down here on delivery errand."
Faith watched as Amy seemed to think about that. "He could have just got it delivered regularly, or if he wanted it kept under Slayer protection surely there are others he could have used?"
'Shit. Shit. Shit. Think, girl, excuses needed now.' "Well," she stalled, "I was visiting Giles anyway and had been asking about the rest of the gang. Got a bit lonely in Cleveland, with just Wood and some kids for company," giving a quick glance towards Amy she added, "and no offence Amy, but the Watchers that got sent over... they made the original Wesley look brave."
"Original Wesley?" Xander asked.
"You know, how he was when he first turned up. All book-y and 'the slayer shall fight-eth alone' and all that crap."
"And he's not like that now? I mean Willow mentioned something about him changing, but I just reckoned it was..."
"Wes was the one who got me to bust out of prison."
"Wes busted you out? No way!!"
Amy looked shocked, whereas Roger blurted out. "You broke out of prison..? You mean you weren't parolled or anything... you actually broke out?"
"Wes didn't bust me out!!" Faith chuckled at the thought, "He persuaded me that it was necessary to leave. I did all the actual breaking."
Roger said again, "You actually broke out of prison?"
"It was an apocalypse." Faith said, in a tone that indicated that that explained everything. "Apocalypses wait for no girl, ya know."
Roger couldn't believe it, "Are the police after you now?"
"Don't think so. Fang was gonna sort some shit out for me. Stick Gunn on the case or summat."
Amy looked confused, "Fang? Is this some member of a gang. And he's going to help you out using a gun..?"
"Fang owns a law firm now."
Roger looked from Faith to Xander, who appeared to be following all this.
"Yeah we heard about Deadboy."
"Deadboy?" Roger asked, "Is that another member of Fang's gang?"
"Fang is Deadboy." Faith explained.
Amy suddenly looked a little worried, "And why do you call them... him that?"
"He's a vampire." Faith explained.
"Another one?"
"Nahh..." Xander stated, "Fang and Deadboy are the same person... you've heard of him as Angel."
"Ahh... Angel, right." Amy said, obviously relieved.
Roger thought about it some more. "But he hasn't sorted it out yet though? So they don't know you're over here... how did you get over here by the way?"
"Giles got me some fake passports." She straightened her back and added in a posh voice, "I'm British, don't you know. Faith Masterson at your service..."
"Masterson?"
"Some Watcher Giles knows. Got a daughter 'bout my age; simply sent the real passport across and got Fang to put us in contact with some guys he knows. Made a few changes, voila."
Amy looked confused. "Angel knows people who can..?"
"He's over two hundred years old. He ain't got a valid identity in any country."
"Faith, about Angel..." Xander started.
'Sounds serious.' "Yeah?"
"What do you know about that prophecy of his?"
"The Shanshu thing? Yeah, he used to be really into it. When he first started visiting me, it was something we shared you know?"
Xander seemed a little lost.
"My parole, his Shanshu. It was like the path to redemption had a destination, ya see. I could get out; and he could be human. I figured if a vampire had a chance at redemption, then maybe the there was one for a Slayer who'd strayed too..." She drifted off, deep in thought. "Eventually he stopped talking about it as much... I just figured that he saw how much of a long-term plan that was gonna have to be... I mean, I was looking at probably at least a decade inside cos of what I'd done, and I wasn't practically immortal."
Xander swallowed hard, "We may have evidence that he isn't going to like regarding his..."
Amy interrupted him. "We don't know anything Xander."
"The old men told us that it was Spike."
"They never said it was Spike." she corrected.
"A vampire came looking for a wish wasn't able to have it granted cos of a prophecy."
"Exactly!"
"What?"
"If they'd allowed the demon to give him a soul in order to fulfill the prophecy, then I'd agree with you."
"But you don't?"
"No. I thought about this some. They didn't let him make a wish. That means Spike didn't ask for a soul there."
Faith had watched this conversation like a tennis match, she'd had no idea what they were talking about but suddenly something stuck in her head. "Hold the fuck up! Spike's got a soul?"
"According to Andrew."
"Spike; that little puppy-dog that followed Buffy around like she was in heat or summat?"
"Not how I would have worded it, but yeah."
"He's got a soul... does Angel know?"
"Yeah. He's up at W&H with Deadboy."
"So you think he's trying to steal Fang's Shanshu... no fucking way that's happening... I'll stake the bastard first!"
"That's what I sa..."
They were interrupted by Amy shouting, "Will you two stop it. I'm trying to explain why Spike isn't the one to get the prophecy."
Faith eyed her suspiciously; "This better be good."
"Firstly, they didn't let him enter the cave. So they weren't the ones to ensoul him. Secondly, if they were talking about the prophecy then they were refusing it on some grounds. Possibly that they were already aware of the existence of another vampire with a soul and didn't want to upset the balance by introducing another."
Faith watched as Xander maintained eye contact with Amy, "They said that the vampire makes sure the prophecy occurs. That sounds like it's Spike to me."
"They didn't say that, they said, that the vampire helps to ensure the prophecy occurs."
'To-may-to, to-mah-to.' Faith thought. But Xander looked deep in thought, "Okay, I'll concede that we've almost been caught out by wordings within prophecies before bu..."
"But nothing. We can't view the original prophecy... cos we don't even know what prophecy they were talking about. I'm working on it being the Shanshu prophecy; but that might be an incorrect assumption."
"And if it isn't?"
"Then maybe they couldn't kill or ensoul Spike because of something he does in the future. Maybe stopping one of Spike's plans is what earns Angel his Shanshu. That would be Spike helping to ensure the prophecy happens, wouldn't it?"
"Okay, I'll give you that..."
"Actually." Roger added, "It could have been Spike wanting to get rid of his soul."
Faith turned to face him, "What?"
"He could have wanted to get rid of it for some reason."
Xander conceded, "When Spike first arrived he was being driven mental by the First."
Faith shivered, as she remembered her encounter with the First. For a split second she could see something in Xander's eye as he obviously remembered something himself.
He shook it off and continued, "He could have thought it was the soul that was causing him to go crazy and wanted rid of it."
Faith didn't like the way that was going. "But that means his request wasn't to be ensouled it was to be de-souled."
"And they didn't let him do it because of a prophecy." Xander finished for her, clenching his fists at his side.
Faith could feel the anger burning inside her, 'Keep control girl. This is not the time, and I'm definitely not losing it twice in twenty four hours.' "If he wanted rid of the soul, why didn't he just get laid like any normal ensouled vampire?"
Amy was the one to keep the peace. "Spike's not the issue, face it." she said glaring at Roger. "We don't have enough information to decide on this."
"Can we go see these Wisher people tomorrow?" Faith asked. "Get some more info on the prophecy."
"Xander upset them a little bit." Roger admitted.
"You were hardly innocent." Amy argued.
"I told you that wasn't my fault! I did nothing to provoke him."
"They were still gu..."
"Guys!!" Xander shouted, using a time-out motion. "Let's get the drinks in, and move conversation onto easier topics." Xander moved towards the bar.
"So we just gonna wait for this Shote guy to turn up?" Faith asked.
Amy answered, "Nah, gotta see a man about a demon tomorrow."
"What?"
Roger explained, "We're going to Maputo... you coming?"
"All of you?" At their nods, Faith added, "then sure. I mean what else am I gonna do?" 'Though, I really need to speak to Xander about the soul scenario. Preferably alone. Probably best to do that tomorrow,' and with that thought Faith got up to help Xander carry the drinks.
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End chapter 4b:
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