Chapter 11
Faith poked out her tongue, concentrating on the brush in her hand and the line she was drawing.
"I'm doing my part," she spoke, slowly dragging the brush across the paper. After making an almost inch long line, she stopped, placed the brush down and hopped up. "And I'm done. Can I go now, B?"
The blonde, who had been dutifully cutting out paper, hopefully looked up. However, as soon as she saw Faith's handiwork, she frowned.
"That's it? That's your contribution to my education?"
Faith looked back at the humongous empty paper and that tiny line on it.
"Education is overrated," she declared a moment later. "Besides shouldn't there be another chick here to help you out? Sheila something? And how come I don't see Red or Xan-man? Don't they give a shit about your education?"
"They'll be here," the blonde murmured, before frowning at her paper. "Is it crooked?"
She lifted up the canvas and Faith couldn't help but snicker.
"No, straight as Elton John."
"Hey, don't mock me!" The blonde groaned. "It's not my fault these scissors are faulty and the paper keeps slipping, okay? I'm... I'm incapable of handiwork! I... I had issues with macaroni craft back in kindergarten!" She threw the red scissors down as if a petulant child. "I want to go home."
Faith wrinkled her nose at the paints and brushes, before groaning as in pain.
"You need to impress your mom, right?"
"Yeah," Buffy murmured, still pouting.
"And you need to stay in this stupid school."
"Yeah..."
"Okay then," she grabbed her brush, narrowing her eyes at the mocking canvas in front of her. A second later, she shook her head, turned and handed the brush to Buffy. "You paint and I'll cut."
Buffy hesitantly took the paintbrush, before grabbing Faith's hand to pull herself up. As she did so, they found themselves standing face-to-face. She looked up at the taller girl and grinned, making Faith roll her eyes at her.
"Tell me, why I'm doing this again?"
"Because I charm you with my awesome looks, incredible brainwork and unbelievable smile," the blonde spoke matter-of-factly, before her grin lessened into a soft smile. A second later, she pressed her lips against Faith's cheek gently. "And because you're an amazing friend," she murmured, before withdrawing, stepping away and moving towards the table with the paints on it.
Wordlessly, Faith shrugged off her jacket and threw it onto the ground. There was of course a small amount of things she wouldn't do for her friend, but cutting papers was not one of them.
So there she sat, carving out posters, little moons and colourful streamers, just because Buffy had asked her to. It was weird. She wasn't the type of a person to waste her time cutting out moons because someone had asked her to, but she was forced to admit that Buffy had her wrapped around her finger.
And there was a reason it didn't bother her. Every time she glanced towards the blonde and saw her looking back at her, a tiny swipe of paint on her cheek, she knew that the feeling was mutual.
This was what having a best friend was all about.
Of course, it didn't take long for both Willow and Xander to show up as well and soon they were almost done. However, that's when Cordelia appeared and practically dragged her out of this "horrible company."
They passed Giles in the hallway and she smiled – well, half-smiled at him, to his surprise it'd seem. After all, they had barely spoken during the month Faith had spent here. But they were about to be introduced.
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"I'm cool, ya know, as long as Diana doesn't meet with Glass," Faith spoke, about to sip the lemonade Buffy had made. However, a hand on her glass stopped her.
"Sorry," Willow smiled sheepishly. "Just... you don't want to do that."
"Oh... okay," Faith slowly placed the glass down, not even questioning the warning. After all, she did know who had made it. "So what are we doing here again?"
"We're helping Buffy," the redhead explained. "Her mom and Principal Snyder must not meet at all costs."
"Oh, right," Faith fixed up her denim jacket. "We're the diversions, right?"
"Right and we," Willow paused, when she noticed Faith gazing off to some direction. Before she could ask, Faith beat her to the punch.
"That's Diana. Listen, I'll be right back, okay?" she threw a look at the redhead. "It'll just take a moment."
Without another word, the brunette hurried off to meet the blonde by the wall. They soon disappeared, leaving Willow act as a diversion all by herself. Soon enough, she was assigned as a personal tour guide to Mrs. Summers – to show her all the places Buffy's teachers were not at.
Just as the redhead finally gave up and brought the woman back to the middle of the room, where she unfortunately met with Snyder, Faith and Diana started their heated argument.
"Wait, what?"Faith stared at her Watcher with pure horror. "No!"
"It's not up to you, Faith," Diana spoke, calmly – too calmly in Faith's opinion. "The Council has made its decision and we can't fight against it."
"But why?" The brunette slid a hand through her hair, frowning. "Why? Why now? Why at all?!"
"I ... don't know," her watcher replied after a small hesitation. "They wouldn't explain their decision. All I know is that we must do as we were instructed."
"Now come on," she placed a comforting hand on Faith's shoulder. "Can I meet your other teachers or..."
With a cold shrug, Faith got rid of the hand.
"What's the point anymore?" she murmured, turning around and walking away.
"Faith!"
She ignored her watcher and kept going until she found her best friend. Their eyes met across the room and just as she was about to gesture for her to meet her in the hallway, their little party was interrupted.
The large glass window in the room broke and a bunch of vampires jumped in, all of them looking ready to attack.
Faith grabbed as many people as she could and helped them escape, knowing that at the other end of the room, Buffy was doing the same.
So with that, half of the people ran to the left, Buffy included and the other half ran to the right, Faith making sure that none were left behind.
About three minutes later, the brunette found herself in a large room with about ten people she had never met. She slid her eyes over the room, satisfied with the lack of windows and the easily blocked door.
"We should try to escape," an older man spoke up, confident all of the sudden.
"What?" Faith turned around. "Are you completely insane or something, mister? You aren't going anywhere right now."
"Listen," the man stepped closer, placing a mocking hand on her shoulder, that seemed tiny compared to his huge hand. "I realize you're just a young girl, but those kids are just probably under an influence and wouldn't hurt a fly. I could get by them easily..."
Suddenly they all heard a loud crash. Faith wheeled around, nudging off the enormous limb on her shoulder. She was seriously tired of people touching it. However, for the time being she dispelled the thought of shoulder protection and concentrated on the banging on the door.
"They're trying to break down the door," she mumbled. Then she turned towards the room, which was full of scared people and repeated, louder, "They're trying to break down the damn door!" She moved by the bulky man in front of her, elbowed the case holding the axe meant for emergencies and grabbed it.
A second later, she shoved it into the man's hands.
"You'll stay here and if they get through, which they probably won't, but IF they do," she grabbed him by the shirt. "You'll get your fucking chance to show how easily you'll get by them."
"For the rest of you, I may look like a kid to you, but if you go out there, you WILL die. Did you get that? You'll fucking die!" She turned around and pulled off the thing in front of the ventilation. "Just stay together here and don't try to be a hero," she directed that at the man holding the axe. "Cause in case you haven't seen any horror movies, the heroes are always the first to go."
With that, she slid into the ventilation, hoping that they listened to her. Judging by their pale faces they might've.
She continued crawling for a minute or two, before she realized something. The plan she had made, while yelling at people, had a teeny-tiny flaw in it.
She tilted her head, staring at the two shafts in front of her, unable to decide, because, hello, she had no idea where either of them led. Just as she was about to give up and just drop down from somewhere, she felt something.
Something rather encouraging. Barely a moment later, she also heard a soft whisper.
"Come here often?"
She would've laughed if she could've, but right now, that might get her killed, so instead she looked behind her and smirked.
"Go to the left," Buffy whispered again and without a word, the brunette begun to crawl. They had been moving for a small while, when Buffy added, "Nice pants by the way."
"Stop checking me out, Summers," Faith replied, her voice low and a small grin on her lips. She was about to ask where they were heading, when she heard it. Without any warning she stopped, ignoring the small oomph she heard from behind her a second later.
"Are we here already?" Buffy asked, placing her ear against the floor of the shaft.
Faith, still surprised by the voice she had heard, turned around, opened her mouth and then... fell, as Buffy had purposely broken the ventilation duct. They both landed on their feet, Buffy gracefully, and Faith – well, she was just glad she managed to land on her feet.
She looked around the library for a second, before reaching over and flicking the blonde over the head.
"Thanks for the warning."
"Sorry," Buffy spoke sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. "I just wanted to... Oh... snap."
Faith, realizing there was something behind her that shocked her friend, instantly grasped her stake and turned around. A second later her eyes widened and the fingers around her stake loosened.
There stood her Watcher. She was standing there, right next to Rupert Giles. And Rupert Giles was holding her arrow. One of the arrows Diana had personally fletched. Neither of them looked very happy and Faith had a reason to believe it was not just because vampires had invaded the school.
She swallowed, before voicing the only thought in her mind.
"Fuck."
XxXxXxXxXx
"Buffy, what is the meaning of this?" Giles asked.
The blonde, having adapted a deer-in-headlights look, glanced between the two Watchers. A moment later, she shrugged innocently. Then she frowned a little and looked around, probably for weapons.
"Vampires broke into the school," she stated, "and we have to stop them."
"That's not what I was..."
"She's right," Diana interrupted, her eyes solely on the brunette in front of her. "They have to take care of the threat to the others out there." As soon as Faith begun to move towards the weapon rack, she continued. "But this conversation will happen."
Faith paused for a second, glanced over her shoulder in an indication that she had heard and then grabbed a rather big axe, throwing it to the blonde, who caught it effortlessly.
She took a sword for herself, slid her eyes over the library and froze.
Buffy seemed to come to the same realization.
"You're here alone?" She asked, her brows furrowed. "Didn't anyone come with you?"
"Xander went to get help," Jenny Calendar filled them in, glancing warily at the two Watchers near her.
"And Cordelia and Willow?" Faith frowned.
"They're locked in the closet across the hall," Buffy placed a stake under her shirt. "My mom, Snyder and four others are in the Science lab."
"Ten more are in the classroom down the second hallway," Faith added to the count, grabbing a cross or two. She glanced at the adults in the room. "Help them out once we get rid of the vamps guarding this hallway."
The two Slayers exchanged a glance and a nod and begun to climb back to the vents, when Diana stopped them.
"Do you even have a plan?"
"Well," Buffy glanced at her best friend. "They split up to hold us here..."
"So our best bet is to take them out one-by-one," Faith ended her thought. Then a tiny grin appeared on her lips. "They'll never see it coming."
"Be careful," Giles took off his glasses, a nervous habit of sorts.
"Don't worry, the Chosen Two are on the case," Buffy hopped up and hoisted herself back into the ventilation system. "Will be fine."
She moved forward a little, making room for Faith to climb into the vent as well.
"Faith!"
The brunette glanced down.
"Yeah, Di?"
"Just be back in one piece, okay?"
Faith nodded.
"Will do."
And the two of them started to crawl once more.
"Hey," Faith murmured, as the reached the vents above the hallways.
"Yeah?" Buffy asked back, holding onto her axe, so it wouldn't clank against the metal beneath them.
"Your pants are pretty fine as well."
Buffy glanced over her shoulder and presented her best friend with an amused look and a raised eyebrow. Then she shook her head and continued the trek.
The two of them finally dropped down right next to the room Buffy's mom was in. With ease, they took out the vampire nearby and Faith, managing to remain unseen by Joyce, headed forward a little, dusting another one, while Buffy led the adults to safety.
Then they headed towards the hallway they knew Spike to be. They didn't make it far though, before two vampires lunged at them.
"Hey, B?" Faith asked, kicking one of the vampires in the face.
"Yeah?" Buffy sent the other vampire flying against the wall with a nice roundhouse kick.
"Diana told me – ow..." Faith dodged the next punch thrown her way and aimed her own into the vampire's face. "... that..." she kicked the vampire once more. "...we have to..." she pulled out her stake and dusted the vampire in a swift movement. "...move."
"What?"
Faith turned around to see Buffy standing there, her own stake in her hand, a tiny amount of dust by her feet and a shocked look on her face.
Buffy stared at her best friend in front of her, knowing she probably didn't look as cool and collected as the brunette in front of her, but she couldn't care less right now.
She had enjoyed having Faith around more than she had expressed. The depression of being the only one in the world with this kind of burden to bear was gone. The feeling of safety she felt around the brunette might be stalked on their weird connection, but the happiness Faith brought her was just good old Faith.
The brunette had been a big part of her life ever since she could remember, but during the last month, she had begun to realize how good it was to have her for real, not just in her dreams.
And now it was over.
The two of them stared into each other's eyes for a second more, before they both turned, as in sync, and headed towards the room Spike was in.
They couldn't deal with that right now.
Not yet.
But soon.
XxXxXxXxXx
A/N – Okay, I updated again so soon. I shock myself as well as the people around me. I actually ahve proof of that. Wait...
CUT'N'PASTE FROM MY MSN LOG!
I say:
and I'm writing Slayer's Bond
I might actually update today :D
She says:
u update a lot altely
lately*
I say:
I've updated...
:D once (This month)
She says:
which is more than usual for u :D:D
SEE? Even my friends are surprised :D However now my once in a month became once in five days, thanks to this story. Anyways, I hope you don't think this is utter crap. Feel free to leave feedback.
Love, me :)