Author's Note: Really I should just call this author's thanks to the few and awesome people who keep me going by putting in their two cents every time they review. Really I can't stress this enough; you guys are the ones who keep me writing. I hope ya'll like this chapter and I apologize it has taken me so long to update. I've edited this story a bit, cut some stuff out and changed directions a couple of times. It's hard to keep it going especially when I had originally thought I would never work on it again. I'd given up on it and trying to come up with a new plan is a lot more difficult then I would have thought. Well again thanks for the taking the time to review and I do take comments into consideration in writing chapters and in changing directions.

Walking down the streets of Sunnydale Faith had to admit that the town was empty. It felt as if she was walking through a ghost town, no people, no noise, and very few cars. It was convenient she supposed for her own plans. The town being empty meant she had free reign and all 'crimes' she planned on committing wouldn't get her in trouble.

Sunnydale had three banks and all three of them she planned to rob. From everything she had learned the hellmouth was under Sunnydale and if it was closed she suspected the town would collapse under itself. If that was the case she saw no reason not to take advantage. The whole group would need a fresh start. The Council was gone and they would no longer be available to fund the training of potentials. It would become the gang's job and since the gang was relatively poor they would need funds. The town of Sunnydale would be underground and its banks gone. What money lay within those banks would be insured so stealing it wouldn't really hurt anyone. The way she saw it insurance companies rarely if ever went broke and they deserved to pay out every once in a while.

Figuring since no one was really left in the town each robbery would be rather easy. All she would have to do was cut the power line to each bank. Using her lock picks to break into the bank and her skills at safe cracking she would be in and out in a matter of ten maybe fifteen minutes. She didn't know how much had been cleared from the vaults or the registers but she hoped it was enough to help the gang out when everything came to an end.

Going to the high school Faith called Robin and asked him which lab he had allocated to her. She spent most of her morning making a couple of small ranged explosives. It was dangerous and corrosive and she was glad no one else was in the lab in case she screwed up. Three hours later she had everything ready. Keeping the explosives at the school in a cabinet she made her way to the Summer's house to work with the girls.

Like the day before Kennedy had organized the girls and taken them on a run. Faith had to admit that even though the girl was a bit cocky she was a hard worker and more importantly she was eager to learn. Faith knew she would make an excellent slayer. Rounding up the girls in the backyard Faith broke the girls up into pairs. Each pair got a set of weapons to work with. She wanted them to focus on the long sword, quarterstaff, knives, mace, and crossbow. Setting up each station Faith walked back and forth between the groups correcting, instructing, and demonstrating.

She was doing her best to get to know each girl just a little. She knew some of them would die but she felt that they deserved the respect of being known. She didn't want them forgotten. She knew they didn't want to be here. She knew that they were afraid. She also knew that they needed to know someone cared. She had expected that person to be Buffy but it seemed the 'Leader' wasn't willing to socialize with the troops.

Finishing up with the girls before the sunset Faith walked them back into the house and got to work on dinner. Again she marveled that she had fallen into two roles she didn't particularly want to have. The first was leader by proxy and the second was mother to the girls. The girls helped cook dinner and it wasn't long before everyone was eating. Seeing to it that the girls would clean up after dinner Faith left. She had three banks to rob. With promises to return and take the girls out for a quick patrol Faith made her way out of the house and back to her apartment.

Grabbing a pair of black leather pants, black long sleeved top, and a face mask along with three duffle bags Faith made her way to the high school. Changing at the school Faith grabbed her homemade bombs and went to the first bank. As she had suspected it was easy enough to cut the power lines and even easier to break in. She knew that in a normal bank heist by cutting the power to the building she would in essence be setting off an alarm. The good part in this particular case was that there was no one around to respond to the alarm. Even the cops and firefighters had cleared out.

Going first to the cash drawers Faith broke into them and took out what little cash was inside. Each drawer had five hundred dollars and there were only three drawers. The vault was locked and it took Taffy only a couple of minutes to break it. Walking into the vault Faith shifted Taffy out of her mind and took out her bump key. Going through a couple of the safety deposit boxes she took out the few valuables before moving on to the banks cash vault. Sliding back into Taffy she cracked the second vault and opened the door. Looking into the bank Faith couldn't help but smile. It was full, the bank clearly hadn't had enough time to clear out the vault before everyone left. Grabbing her duffle bag Faith piled all the money into the bag. Part of her wanted to count it but the other part figured she could do that later when she checked for any marked bills.

Looking at her watch as she walked out of the bank with two of the duffle bags full Faith let out a small curse. It had taken her twenty minutes to rob the bank. She had missed her mark by five minutes. It was clear some of her skills were becoming a little rusting. Making her way back to her apartment Faith dropped of the two bags and picked up another two for the next bank.

Three hours later and six full bags worth of cash sitting in her apartment Faith was ready to return to HQ. Changing back into less suspicious clothes Faith walked back a little tune playing over and over in her head. She had to admit she was actually a little happy. Everything seemed to be going her way for a change. It seemed that working through an apocalypse was a great way to work through grief. The thought of Paul made her smile slip a little. She missed him or at least the part of her that was Echo missed him. She always wondered how much of her love for Paul came from herself or from Echo. Strange to think that there were so many people in her head and that one of them in particular was just a creation of her own brain. A method of coping she suspected from the loss of her actual self. Shaking her head she had to admit it was all so Meta.

Entering the house Faith was surprised to see everyone gathering into the living room. Seems someone called a meeting and forgot to tell her. Looking around at the group she failed to see Spike. He didn't hang out with the potentials but he did attend meetings. Searching for Giles, Faith spotted him by the fireplace.

"Giles, where did Spike go?" She asked wondering where the vampire had snuck off to.

"Well we found some interesting things on Caleb and I asked him and Andrew to go check it out last night." Giles said looking over a file.

Faith wondered when that had happened and how she had missed it. She figured he must have been sent off while she was breaking in and robbing the banks. Releasing a sigh of mild frustration Faith got down to business. "So what did you find out about the preacher?"

"A couple of days ago Willow and I went to the police and had them get what we think is Caleb's Interpol file. It didn't' provide as much information as we would have liked but it might have given us a clue about Caleb. I sent Spike and Andrew to a church someone of Caleb's description was reported to have been. We won't know what they found out until tomorrow night." He said getting up and walking into the dining room. "What's all this?" He asked looking at the tape recorders and receivers on the table.

"Faith bugged the vineyard." Dawn said looking over a couple of books. The receivers were silent.

"When? How?" Giles asked looking at Faith.

"Yesterday." She said.

"How did you get into the vineyard?" Giles asked a note of suspicion tinting his voice.

"Set up a couple of chargers off in the back of the building and when the Bringers came out I went in. They should last at least 48 hours maybe longer if there isn't that much going on." She said turning around and going to the kitchen. Grabbing a cup of coffee Faith snuck back out onto the porch. She didn't smoke often but she realized that she had smoked more in Sunnydale than she did throughout her entire life. She suspected it was something about the town that made her feel so stressed out. Years of combat and fighting for every scrap in a hostile world hadn't made her as tense as this town did.

"Hey you know that habit will kill you." He said taking a seat on the front porch.

Smiling Faith lit up her cigarette and took a seat further down. "Yeah but with all the crap I've been through I feel I deserve the occasional smoke."

"I guess you're right." He said watching her.

"Hey I really appreciate you getting those materials I requested and for letting me use the schools lab. Hell if we live through all of this maybe I will take you out to dinner as a thank you." She said finishing up her cigarette and standing up. Throwing out her smoke she opened the door and motioned him in. The troops were gathered and Buffy must have come down while she was outside. Taking a seat on the stairs Faith kept an ear out for the receivers and an eye on the girls.

Buffy stood a few feet into the living room and addressed the troops. "I'm glad you're all here. I've learned several important things about the vineyard." Seeing the tension spike in the room Buffy stopped and changed tactics. "I know that wasn't a very pleasant night for any of us." She started only to be interrupted by Kennedy.

"Wasn't pleasant for us? You led us into trap with a man who is stronger than you. He kicked your ass and if it wasn't for Faith we all would have died." Kennedy burst out angry at Buffy.

"Kennedy, stand down." Faith said looking the girl in the eye.

"I figured out something today. I went to the school and had an encounter with Caleb. He was going on and on about the seal and that's when I finally saw it." Buffy continued as if Kennedy hadn't interrupted her.

"Saw what Buffy?" Willow asked confused.

"The bad guys always go to their source of power. If the seal was so important he would be guarding the seal, instead he's guarding the vineyard. Its clear there is something important, something powerful in that vineyard. We have to go back."

Everyone stared at Buffy as if she was out of her mind. Faith on the other hand merely nodded her head. She agreed with Buffy even though she disliked the methods Buffy used.

"This is asking too much of us Buffy, of them."Giles said staring at Buffy in confusion and disappointment.

"I'm not going back in there." Kennedy said outraged. "None of us are going back in there."

"We have to go back in. We have to get whatever it is he has." Buffy said forcefully.

"You're chasing windmills Buffy." Giles said shaking his head.

"You're waiting for some kind of mystical sign to show up and tell us it's the right time, that sort of thing almost never happens, least, not for us. We need to strike now." Buffy says looking at her watcher as if he is stabbing her in the back.

"And I think whatever is there, if anything is there, will still be there in a few days." Giles counters.

"I don't know that. We don't know that. What if we let it go and we lose our chance? I'm not prepared to live with that." Buffy says looking at everyone.

"And if we rush in now, before we're ready, and more people get hurt, are you prepared to live with that?" Wood asked ignoring the annoyed look from Buffy. "You need to consider this."

"I don't understand. Seven years I've kept us safe by doing this, exactly this, making the hard decisions. Suddenly, you're all acting like you don't trust me." She said staring at her friends.

"But didn't you just tell me today that you don't feel like you can trust us? Maybe there's something going on that we need to address." Giles said his voice firm.

"Is this why you sent Spike away? To ambush me?" Buffy asked confused and outraged.

"Look around you, this isn't about Spike. This is about you. You're being reckless." Rona says quietly.

"What?"

"You are. I don't even know you, and I can tell. You're so obsessed with beating this guy that you're willing to jump into any plan without thinking." Rona says getting more and more ticked off.

"That's not what I'm doing." Buffy says becoming defensive.

"Well, that's how it feels to us!" Kennedy says jumping up and getting into Buffy's face. "You don't know us, you don't care about us, and yet you want us to go off and get killed so you can get this thing that you don't know is or isn't there." Kennedy says getting closer to Buffy only to have Willow step in between them. Buffy looks relieved for the support. "Why are you always defending her?" Kennedy asks looking angry and betrayed.

"Just calm down Kennedy, it's clear she's strung out. Once she gets some rest I'm sure she'll be fine." Willow says pulling Kennedy back to the couch.

"Look, I wish this could be a democracy. I really do. It would be more fair, I agree. But democracies don't win battles. It's a hard truth, but there has to be a single voice. You need me to issue orders and be reckless sometimes and not take your feelings into account." Buffy said looking at everyone. "You need someone to lead you." She says confidently.

"And it's automatically you. You really do think you're better than we are." Anya starts and stops Buffy every time she tries to interrupt. "You do. Of course you do. That's why it's your voice leading us. But we don't know, do we? We'll never know. That you're actually better. You came into the world with certain advantages, sure, that's the legacy. But you didn't earn them. You didn't work for them. You never had someone come to you and say, Here, you deserve these more than anyone else. There were just…handed to you. And that doesn't make you better than us. It makes you luckier than us." Anya said staring Buffy down.

"That's enough." Faith said breaking the silence that had fallen among the group.

"No it's not enough. Anya is right what makes Buffy the automatic choice for leader. From what I've seen you've been doing more for us than she has." Kennedy said getting back up and moving towards Faith. "You've been training us, you've actually taken the time to get to know us, and you are the one who saved our ass in that cellar." Kennedy said getting louder, her words encouraging nods of approval from the rest of the potentials. "And where Buffy has been busy getting her ass handed to her by Caleb you've been working towards figuring out what he's up to."

"I am still responsible for this group. I am still in charge here." Buffy said hoping to regain her authority.

"And why is that, exactly?" Rona asked.

"Because I'm the Slayer." Buffy said.

"And isn't Faith a Slayer, too?" Rona asked looking at Faith with a bit of hope.

"Okay and now this little meeting is over. I am not taking charge of all of you." Faith starts only to be interrupted by the Mayor of Sunnydale walking into the room.

"You never were the take charge type were you Faithy?" He asked jovially. "You were always a solo player, the lone wolf. It's what made it so easy to get you to come work for me." He said walking up to Faith.

"Hey Boss." Faith said with a smile. "You know I have to admit I have missed you. If it wasn't for the fact that you are the First I would even be a little happy to see you."

"How about me Faith are you happy to see me?" The First asked shifting into Faith's watcher after Kakistos had tortured her. The whole room gasped and Faith stared her eye's blank.

"You can haunt me as much as you like. You can stand there and tell the whole room about everything I've done. It really doesn't matter to me. Hell I'll do it for you." Faith said looking at her dead watcher as it shifted to Allen Finch. "This is Allen Finch everyone, I accidently killed him with a stake. Buffy threw him at me and I didn't have time to tell he was human. So I rammed a stake into his heart and he died within a couple of seconds. Then I killed Professor Wirth. He was a volcanologist. I knocked on his door and when he opened it I gutted him. It was rather messy but I was trying to make an impression." Faith said looking at the slightly shocked faces of the group she smiled and continued. "However, Mr. First you don't know about all the other people I have killed. I've used a variety of methods too. I once had a man who was as innocent as a child hold a bomb and count to ten before letting it go. He died obviously and took a whole building out with him. I've strangled more than one person to death; I've stabbed people, shot people, and snapped a few necks. I'm not innocent but I'm not evil. You can try all you want but I will help take you down." Faith said getting closer to the First.

"Not if I can help it." The First said shifting forms before disappearing.

"Well that was interesting." Faith said looking at the place where the First had been. "Anyways back to what I was saying. I'm not going to lead you. That isn't my role and it isn't a role I want. I have spent six years leading people to their deaths and I have no desire to do it again. However, I do agree with you all that Buffy needs to stop, think and listen." She said turning away from the girls and looking at Buffy. "We don't need a General and I'm not a soldier regardless of whether or not we are fighting a war. I'll follow you but you will listen to what I say, to what we all say. It is our lives on the line along with yours, so if we are going to die, we are going to have a voice." Faith stopped waiting for Buffy to show some sign of acknowledgement.

The two stared at each other for several moments before Buffy turned to the rest of the group to judge their reaction. Looking back at Faith, Buffy nodded. "Good now not to burst the bubble you all had." Faith said looking at the group. "But I agree with Buffy because I've seen it. The preacher is digging up something that was under the vineyard. I don't know how long it will take for them to dig it out but once they do we have no chance at getting it. Now I don't know what it is but from the preacher's reactions to me getting too close to the entrance I agree that it's important. Now we have to make a plan on how to get into that building. Mine currently is running along the lines of blowing it up. I've stolen enough C-4 from the army base to do just that. Now I say we blow it up, kill the remaining Bringers and get whatever is in there." Faith said smiling at the group.

"You're insane!" Giles said looking at Faith then Buffy. "You're both insane." He said taking off his glasses. At that moment the lights went out leaving the whole room in darkness.

"Kennedy, Molly, Vi please get the flashlights, lanterns, and candles I brought over the other day." Faith said and the aforementioned girls immediately got up and went to the closet to grab everything.

In a couple of minutes lanterns were lit and candles. Faith looked at the group and smiled. "Well I might be insane but at least I was prepared Mr. Giles. Now as I said before I find the easiest way would be to blow the vineyard up."

"Do you even know what you're doing? I mean after listening to you talk about how you've murdered people I don't believe you have been rehabilitated." Giles said outraged at Faith's calm behavior.

"Would you rather I had lied? The Council sent me to a dimension where the world ended. We had reapers scavenging through the cities. Have you ever seen a reaper? No of course not because they don't exist here. Reapers were a byproduct of the wipe on normals. Humans who lost all sense of their humanity and began killing and eating people. They were alive and if I didn't kill them I would have been killed. Do I have an issue killing humans? No. After spending years killing people so that I could save humanity has desensitized me. Now is it a good idea to blow up the vineyard? Yes, it's quick, it's easy and it will prevent these girls from getting killed. Do I know what I'm doing? Yes, I've used C-4 more than once." Faith said staring at Giles. Deciding she has had enough of the dirty looks and animosity and doubt coming from these people she decides to go with the truth.

"Do you know what the Council did to me? Do you have any idea of the hell I've been through?" She asks moving closer to Giles. "And now you stand there and think you have the right to judge me and my actions? Do you want to know how the Council planned to rehabilitate me? They gave me to a corporation who removed everything that made me Faith and stuck me onto a hard drive. The plan was to take me out of storage after five years, edit out the bad parts and put me back in as the good slayer they desired. Do you know what happened to my body during that time?" Faith asked looking at Giles before shifting her attention to Willow, Xander, and Buffy. Receiving disbelieving shakes she continued.

"They implanted different people into my mind, into my body. I was a toy, I was a doll. People bought me for a night, for a week, for a month. I became whatever they fantasized about, whatever they needed. I'm not as lucky as the other dolls, the implants never wiped clean. I have 46 people in my head. I have saved a world and honestly you all have no right to judge me." Faith said looking Giles in the eyes. "Now it's been a very long night and we have all heard more than enough. I need to go to my apartment and pick up my supplies. I promise I won't accidently blow up the house." Faith said with a smile and walked to the door.

Walking into her apartment Faith packed up the C-4 and detonators alone with a couple of changes of clothes. Locking up the apartment she said goodbye to it and started back towards HQ as she had come to think of it.

"Did you send the boys to get her?" Buffy's voice said over the transmitter. Everyone turned and looked into the dining room and then to Buffy. In a rush the originals walked into the dining room.

"I did they should have her by now." Caleb said with confidence.

"Good, I had hoped to weaken her connection with them, to bring her over to our side voluntarily but I don't think that is going to happen. If I had known she was so easy to turn before I would have focused on her instead of the Original. Now she's not so weak, not so malleable. We have to turn her." The First said.

"How do you plan on doing that?" Caleb asked with a bit of wonder.

"Well you'll have to soften her up first. I would think a little bit of torture would make her a bit more acquiescent. Then, well then you have a very important job to do. The Bringers will perform the spell for you then all you have to do is implant a seed of darkness. Once she turns the Scythe will turn. Then you can take it. Then you can kill her and the line will end. No slayer will be called." The First said and Caleb chuckled. "I hope you are up to the task."

The voices moved further away and the room was left in silence. The whole house was silent as everyone processed what they had heard. Buffy looked at Giles and the other before staring at the transmitter. Dawn finally spoke up breaking the tension filled silence. "They are going after Faith." She said stating what everyone was thinking.

Gathering the troops Buffy led everyone onto the streets of Sunnydale to search for Faith. Two hours later they all reconvened back at the house. There was no sign of Faith. Dawn was sitting at the dining room table worry and fear etching the lines of her face. She had stayed behind to listen, to see if it was true that the Bringers had gotten to Faith.

"Dawnie?" Buffy asked hoping against logic that Faith was safe. Dawn shook her head.

"They got her. I don't know if the transmitters aren't working properly or if she is being kept in a room away from the bugs. All I hear is the occasional muffled groan, moan, and scream. I don't know what he's doing to her but I know it's not good." Dawn said looking at her sister with a touch of despair.

"Start the spell." They heard the First say in Buffy's voice.

The chanting started and Willow got closer hoping to hear enough to be able to determine what spell they were going to perform. It was muffled and she only got the occasional word. Listening intently Willow wrote down every word she could decipher. The chant seemed to go on forever and Willow still had no idea what type of spell they were casting. Finally the Bringers stopped and Willow looked down at her notes. Of course they made no sense and she knew it would be a while before she would even have a slight idea at what it said.

Everyone stood around the table listening to the muffled screams, each cringing as their imaginations ran rampant. They had run to the vineyard once they realized Faith was there but the place was swarming with Bringers. They surrounded the vineyard and Buffy knew it would be suicide to walk into the building. Using force and the occasional harsh word she had gotten the girls back to the house. Buffy wanted to get Faith back as much as the potentials did, but she knew it was impossible at the moment.

It had been hours since they had returned. Buffy was tired of hearing Faith's muffled pain. It made her feel helpless to hear Faith in so much pain and not be able to do anything about it. She felt useless and that made her angry. They finally had a plan, they were finally close to getting whatever it was that Caleb had, and now it was ruined. Part of her blamed Faith for being so foolish as to walk the streets alone at night and the other part blamed Faith for not listening to her about staying at the house. Unwilling to admit it out loud she was also afraid that she was going to lose Faith.

It had been so long since she had seen Faith. That old feeling of security and connection, of belonging had finally started to return and she had just realized how much she had missed it. She was only now realizing how much she had missed Faith. Her feelings were flying in every direction and that was making her crazy.

"How long will it take?" Caleb asked making everyone perk up.

"As long as it would normally take I would think. The spell wasn't to make her turn; it was to give you the opportunity to turn her. I make no guarantees that it will work but she is young enough and if we are lucky it will work." The First said in Buffy's voice.

"Is there any way for me to keep it?" Caleb asked his voice going soft with wonder.

"No this time there isn't. It could be powerful I will admit, a mixture of my essence and hers but I want the slayer line ended more than I want it." The First said.

The silence that filled the air waves made everyone stare at the transmitter hoping to hear something, anything. Instead Faith's muffled moans floated through.

"What the fuck did that mean?" Kennedy asked breaking the silence. The moans of pain had taken on a new meaning in her mind and she prayed to God that what she was hearing wasn't what she thought it was. It was too horrible to think and yet… and yet the First had said mixture of essences and an it. Shaking those terrible thoughts out of her head Kennedy refused to think about it.

Her words however had brought her thoughts out into the open and she could see that everyone was thinking something along the same lines as she. Getting up Kennedy made up her mind; they needed to save Faith.