"Hello Firecracker." Richard said as he walked over to where Faith was sitting on a park bench.
Faith looked around and sighed, realizing that she was most likely dreaming. "What happened?"
Richard smiled in that way of his and crossed his ankle at his knee, smiling widely as he lifted his head into the afternoon sun. "You've completely exhausted yourself Faith...had a little bit of an adventure today?"
Faith nodded. "What was that room and how come I couldn't get out of it?"
Turning his face towards her, Richard shrugged. "I think you know what that room was Firecracker, but why you couldn't get out of there...that is a bit more complicated."
Faith just glared at...fuck! What was she to call him?
"What should I call you? Dad, Father...Pops?"
"Don't get smart with me young lady." Richard admonished. "I'm here to help."
"Sure, like telling me I was going to die alone? I'm not sure how that helps me Dad."
Richard grinned at Faith's moniker for him. "Faith...you need to know something important. When I appear before you in your dreams...this is the real me...Richard Wilkins III, your Father...the man who loves you and wants what's best for you. Here in your dreams, I'm free of my enslavement to the First. Here I can talk freely and am not bound by my persona as Strega...do you understand?"
Faith nodded. "I think so. So that room? Hell Mouth?"
Richard nodded. "It is unlike any other Hell Mouth however."
"How?" Faith asked with interest.
"Forty thousand years ago, Danzalthar was banished by the Powers That Be into everlasting torment...what mortals call Hell. But he wasn't banished alone...I was his servant and as such suffered the same fate he did. Eventually due to the rise of evil upon the earth, places of worship to Danzalthar were created and these were known as Hell Mouths. Five existed until Sunnydale was destroyed. The one in Gotham is the original seal in the United States and there are two in Europe. One near the Vatican and another where the original site of Babel was. I made a bargain, if you will with Danzalthar...he used his powers to give me a way back to mortality and in turn, I would provide him with the power he needed to return with the First as his tool...his power. Unfortunately, the Powers learned of our bargain and created the Line of Slayers...of which you are one."
"Did you know that I was your daughter back in Sunnydale?"
"Yes Faith, I always knew. I had hoped that perhaps my ascension would ultimately protect you from the fate that awaited Sunnydale when the Hell Mouth was finally opened. I've come to realize now that I no longer wish that fate for you."
Faith nodded. "What were you before you became a man?"
Richard smiled widely. "The First was and is, what you would consider the absolute embodiment of evil...older than the Old Ones...older than the first demons who walked the earth. Danzalthar is an agent of the First...it's very essence...they are virtually inseparable except for one thing..."
Faith nodded. "The seal can be destroyed."
"Well done Firecracker, you do understand. When the Slayers opened the seal in Sunnydale, you unleashed the power of Danzalthar and the First. The seal here in Gotham can't be destroyed Faith...evil doesn't work that way...but it can be sealed for an indefinite period of time. Masked if you will, so that the area of Gotham can know peace again."
"What do I need to do to make that happen?"
"The balance was irrevocably altered when the power of the Scythe called forth the unlimited potential of the Slayer line...you must restore balance Faith. As long as the unlimited potential of the Slayer line exists in its expanded state then the First will draw more evil unto itself to restore the balance."
Faith paled. "How do I do that?"
Richard smiled at his daughter. "Only you have the power to harness what is to come Faith. The power of the Slayers must be brought back unto itself and only through this can all the remaining Seals be quieted."
"For how long?"
"Generations Firecracker. It's not permanent I'm afraid because evil is always present but you have the power to give not only Gotham back to itself...but so much more...to let Gotham heal and become what it was always meant to be before evil took root here. It was what you were destined to do."
"Will I survive what's to come?"
"That I can't tell you Firecracker, but I will tell you this...I am also an Old One...my powers are a part of you and as such, you can draw on them when the time comes. There is a weapon forged in Hell itself and waiting for you when the time comes. You'll find it here in Gotham at the sight of my old homestead."
"Dad, why are you doing this, why are you helping me?"
Richard smiled a bit wanly as he touched his daughter's cheek. "Because you are the very best thing I've ever done in my thousands of years Faith, so what kind of father would I be if I didn't give you this one chance at a happy life."
"Why couldn't I get out of the room?"
"Because it sensed in you the power of the Old One's and protected itself from further discovery. It's why no one other than you will be able to access it Faith. There is no Calvary Firecracker...only you."
Faith nodded in understanding. "Thank you for coming to me and telling me this."
Richard smiled softly at his daughter. "This will be the last time I can appear to you this way Faith, unless you survive what is to come. If you see me again in my other form...remember this moment and know that this is the real me...your father, who has always loved you and only wanted the best for you."
Faith felt a tear fall from her eye as she asked one final question. "Bruce?"
Richard smiled indulgently and nodded. "He was always meant for you Faith and you for him. Rachel Dawes was never meant to stand beside him...that spot was always meant to be yours. Be strong Firecracker."
Faith watched as her father faded in front of her and as she looked around, the scene faded into shadow and the cold returned...her body seizing in terror as she gasped out in pain.
"Faith?" She heard Bruce's voice calling to her, and she groaned in discomfort...trying desperately to open her eyes and get her bearings.
"Bruce." She whispered hoarsely, her throat felt like sandpaper and her voice sounded much too scratchy to be hers.
Faith felt a soft kiss on her forehead and then felt a pair of lips by her ear whispering lowly, "Yes baby, it's me...wake up Faith...come back to me."
When she finally opened her eyes, she didn't recognize her surroundings immediately...but then realized she was back in Bruce's bedroom at Wayne Manor. When her brown eyes met Bruce's hazel ones...he smiled in relief and whispered, "Hey beautiful...you gave me a scare."
"How?" Faith's voice failed her as Bruce ran a hand over the crown of her head and down her face.
"How did you get here?"
Faith nodded.
"Faith, what do you remember?"
Faith sighed and thought for a moment, her memories were a bit hazy but then it all came back to her in one great rush.
"I was trapped." She breathed out harshly and Bruce lifted her head to give her a sip of water. Faith noticed her arm was hooked up to an IV bag and fluids were being pumped into her system. She gave Bruce a confused look. "Why is this necessary? I was only missing for a few hours."
Bruce sat back down on the bed and gave Faith a look that had the hairs on the back of her head standing up. "Faith, you were missing for almost 36 hours."
"What?" Faith breathed out in shock, feeling her eyes welling with tears and her hands shaking violently. "No! That's not possible!"
"Shhhhh...it's alright...you're home now."
"But I couldn't have been gone that long..." Faith shook her head emphatically, feeling herself becoming more agitated. Bruce tried to get her to calm down, but she was trying to rip the IV line out of her arm. Bruce signaled to someone in the room and the next thing Faith knew, her eyes were dropping shut as her breathing became heavier. Her brown eyes caught the worried hazel ones staring down at her as she whimpered out...'no' before she succumbed back to the darkness.
Once Faith's breathing had relaxed and she was back asleep, Bruce looked over at Lucius and sighed deeply. "She's traumatized Lucius and she looks like she's been through a war."
Bruce ran his hand down Faith's arm which was covered in cuts and bruises that for some reason, were taking longer to heal than normal. Her hands and knees looked like they'd been shredded open...possibly from crawling through some confined space for hours upon end. Bruce felt his breath hitch as he tried to keep his emotions under control. When the call had first come in from Buffy, telling him that Faith had gone missing, Bruce hadn't been overly concerned. Faith was a Slayer and despite evidence to the contrary, she was more than capable of taking care of herself. But as an hour turned into two, then five, then ten...Bruce felt his whole life being ripped away from him again. When the twenty four hour mark had hit, the police had been contacted and the media circus followed because he was fucking Bruce Wayne and he simply wasn't allowed to grieve in private.
Angel, Spike and Buffy had gone back down to the sublevel under Arkham, the way Faith had gone and there had been nothing...no sign of were she'd gone. Willow had used magic to try a locator spell, but what had happened had been the cause of all the panic...the spell had come back that Faith had vanished...there was no trace of her anywhere and Bruce had been livid as to how that could've happened. He'd not lost control of his emotions, not in the traditional sense but he was Bruce fucking Wayne and he wouldn't be dismissed from finding Faith, not even when the police had tried to get him to leave Arkham and investigate on their own. Even Commissioner Gordon had pleaded with him to let the police handle it, but Bruce hadn't been swayed. He'd refused to believe Faith was gone...and when he'd walked out of Arkham and saw her battered body standing across the parking lot, staring at him with hollow empty eyes...he didn't care what anyone reported or thought of his actions...he took his Faith into his arms and decided right then and there, he was never going to let her go.
"Mr. Wayne, I don't know what she's been through but she will recover...it might take a bit longer than normal for her, but she's strong and resilient from what you've shared. Just give it time." Lucius offered kindly and Bruce nodded in agreement.
A few minutes later there was a knock on the door and Lucius went to answer it, not surprised to see Angel and Buffy standing there, worry etched over their faces.
"Bruce, has she woken up yet?" Angel asked calmly.
"A bit ago...but she was completely disoriented, she thought she'd only been missing for a few hours...I shouldn't have told her how long it was...she got agitated and Lucius had to sedate her again."
Angel looked over to Buffy who sat down on the opposite side of the bed, her hand clasping onto Faith's. "I'm sorry Bruce...I don't know what happened. We were only apart for not even ten minutes when I'd realized my direction was a dead end. When I went back to where she had gone, there was nothing...not a single access point I could see where she could've gone to. Even the police didn't find anything."
"I'm not upset at you Buffy."
"I was so scared..." Buffy sniffled as she reached over and took a lock of hair out of Faith's face. "I never really thought she'd would've actually done what Spike warned me she was thinking of doing."
Bruce looked up in confusion as Angel just glowered at Buffy. "You don't know she would've done that Buffy."
Buffy glared back at Angel. "Tell me it didn't cross your mind once while she was gone, especially when Willow couldn't locate her?"
Bruce looked from one to the other before he snapped. "Someone better tell me what the fuck you're talking about!"
Buffy took a deep breath and stood up from the bed to get a bit of distance from Wayne, who was looking at her like he wanted to throttle her. It was clear after everything that had happened over the last 72 hours that he was deeply in love with Faith. Fuck, the news media had been all atwitter over the news that Bruce Wayne's paramour had gone missing and today's paper had run a picture of an injured Faith being carried bridal style by Bruce in front of Arkham with the caption, 'Billionaire playboy officially off the market'...it was the leading story on every Gotham news channel and even some of the national affiliates had picked up the story. Faith was going to be so pissed when she woke up to find that her love life was now riddled with endless speculation. Fuck...she didn't want to be the one to share that bit of news with her sister Slayer.
When Buffy remained silent, Angel sighed in defeat realizing the news was probably going to have to come from him, but before he could say a word, Bruce looked to Lucius Fox and said in a commanding voice. "Lucius, if Mr. Spike is downstairs, I want to speak with him immediately."
Lucius nodded and left the room, and Angel breathed out a sigh of relief. He had to give it to Wayne, he wasn't going to accept this information second hand and Angel felt a bit bad for Spike having to be the once to share...or rather break...Faith's confidence. But perhaps the time for full disclosure had come.
When Spike finally entered the room, he could feel the tension and grimaced uncomfortably. "Maybe I should come back later?"
"Sit down Mr. Spike." Bruce Wayne gave him a hardened glare that almost had Spike wishing he'd stayed back in Gotham, but one look over at Buffy told Spike that he needed to leave his sarcastic self at the door.
Spike nodded and took a seat near Buffy, and she was quick to grab his hand in comfort. His look of confusion was genuine when he asked, "Is everything alright?"
"That remains to be seen." Bruce offered unequivocally. "I have questions and apparently, you're the one who has the answers I need."
"About?"
"About why Buffy and Angel here think that Faith might've done this to herself on purpose?"
Spike looked taken aback before his eyes widened in understanding then he looked down at Faith's sleeping form. Unlike Angel and Buffy...Spike hadn't thought that Faith really would've offed herself or gone down without a fight especially not now, with Bruce Wayne in her life.
"I don't think they think that at all. I think we all can agree that what ever happened to Faith was not of her own doing." Spike sneered in disgust at even the insinuation that Faith might've done this on purpose.
Bruce's gaze softened as he nodded in agreement. "That was my feeling as well."
Spike nodded in return. "It might help to give you a bit of context, I suppose. You see, before I had my soul returned I was known as William the Bloody...Angel and I...well let's just say we've known each other at our best and worst. When I'd first heard about the Slayers, I made it my life's mission to find them and kill them. That's why Wood and I...our history is what it is. I was the vampire that killed his mum and he tried to take revenge on me after my soul was returned. I'm not excusing my actions, but being a soulless demon isn't something I'd wish on anyone."
"I can appreciate that." Bruce offered evenly, not sure where Spike was going with this but interested in the vampire's story despite himself.
"Yeah, well...the thing is I've done a bit of what you'd call Psychology...not an expert mind you, but I've been around long enough to know how people's mind's work...and one of the things I've seen is that Slayers, eventually...wish for death. Seeing what they do up close with Buffy and Faith...when they do it long enough..."
Bruce finished the thought... "They long for peace."
Spike nodded. "Faith told me that day we went to Arkham that 'sometimes she looked forward to death...just to stop the pain from eating her alive'...and she'd meant it. When I called her out on it, she promised me that she didn't intend to go out without giving it everything she had...and I believed her...still do."
Bruce's eyes fixed back on Faith who was still sleeping peacefully and sighed. He had known where her mind was likely at when he'd called Angel and Giles, but hearing those thoughts confirmed made him sick to his stomach.
"I talked to Faith too before she went missing," Buffy clarified, "mentioned that I knew what she had told Spike. Faith said that she was convinced she wasn't going to make it through this alive. I don't know how much she's told you about Slayers, but one of the gifts we have is the ability to see the future...or what we call portents of what's to come. It's a gift from the Powers that Be to help us with our destiny. Mine have always been fairly straight forward, but with Faith...her's are always to do with Richard Wilkins."
Bruce's hazel eyes fixed on Buffy's hard. "He comes to her in her dreams...she's told me this."
Buffy nodded. "Yes, he does and I'm sure it means something, but what I don't know. Faith did tell me that she was alright with the possibility of her death, until she met you Bruce. Whatever has happened, you've given her a reason to live again, so I thank you for that."
Bruce's gaze softened as he considered the blonde Slayer before him. Whatever she and Faith's issues, it was clear they cared about each other in a fucked up sisterly way.
"I have no intention of allowing Faith to fight this alone." Bruce said firmly. "I know I'm not a vampire nor a Slayer, but I'm not useless either."
Spike chuckled. "No, I don't imagine you are but speaking from someone whose already faced the First and sacrificed himself, not everything is as simple as death."
Buffy giggled. "Hey, I've died twice."
Angel smirked. "Well, technically I've died twice too...once from my human life and once when you ran me through with that sword to stop the apocalypse from happening."
Spike just put up two fingers like it was normal and Bruce chuckled as he shook his head. "Do you make it a habit of killing all your friends, Miss Summers?"
Buffy smirked. "When they become all evil...sure...but just for the record, it was never my first choice. Faith and I fought when we were sixteen and I stabbed her...I'm not proud of it and she was in a coma for a year which you're probably aware. It broke my heart, because I'd genuinely cared for her and couldn't stop her spiraling into darkness. Now that I understand her heritage a bit better, it makes much more sense. But Faith's never had it easy as you're aware. I don't know if she told you but her first Watcher in Boston was killed right in front of her...and I think it did something to her...to not be able to avenge a woman she'd seen as a mother figure...the only one she's really ever had?" Buffy shook her head, realizing how fucked up Faith's life has been and how she might've just reacted out of pain and frustration. Buffy had her mom, her friend's and Giles...what did Faith really have...Richard? Not a lot of great choices.
Angel sighed. "Faith broke out of prison to save me from Angelus, but that's not the entire truth of our story. The specifics aren't as important as the fact that before the dust settled, she was left broken. More broken than I'd ever seen her...she begged me to kill her and then cried for days, then was catatonic for a while and when she was done, she made the choice to turn herself in and go to prison to pay for her mistakes. She could've walked away anytime she'd wanted to...but she didn't until I needed her help."
Buffy hissed out in shock. "You never told me any of that Angel."
Angel glared back. "It wasn't your business Buffy...that was between Faith and myself and the only reason I'm bringing it up now is that we can all agree that Bruce has a right to know. He needs to know everything, because if this ends badly...Faith won't survive it." Angel then looked at Bruce with a quiet resolve that Bruce understood all too well. It was the look two men share who care deeply about the same woman. One a lover and the other a brother...there was a warning in the look Angel was sending his way and Bruce knew the vampire had the means and wherewithal to make good on that threat. Bruce nodded in recognition and he noticed Angel's tension leave his body as the vampire nodded back in return.
Spike grunted in agreement. "She told me once it was her choice to remain. Three square meals a day, a weight room and a place to reflect and prevent herself from becoming dangerous again. Faith is never going to be a socialite Wayne, she's far too blue collar for that. She won't ever ask for jewels, or fancy things...she hates that stuff. The only thing she'll want from you is to just accept her as is. Full stop. If you can't do it Wayne, then let her go before you destroy her."
Bruce glared angrily at Spike. "I have no intentions of walking away now or ever...so let's just get that out there right now. Whatever has happened and whatever will happen, I'm here for Faith...no judgements...Full stop."
Spike grinned in admiration at the billionaire. "You're alright Wayne."
