Buffy
Faith is dragging me away, and I've never seen her so terrified.
"Stop! Faith!" I'm not sure she can even hear me. "Tell me why we're running away!" I've never known Faith to back down from anything.
I grab the door frame and refuse to let her pull me any further. I start to worry that she might just leave without me.
"You don't understand. She's…" Then she just stops talking. I believe her that this is probably something we should just run from. But I can't turn away from being the slayer without at least a little idea of what I should.
"Explain it to me. Explain how there's anyone that we can't defeat together." The screaming and crazed animal sounds are really starting to freak me out.
"Buffy!" That was Willow screaming for me, and I instantly turn back, but Faith tackles me to the ground.
"We can't let her hurt Willow!" I try to get out from under her, but she's not letting me.
Faith is breathing heavy, but she finally does situp so that I can too.
"Come on out, Faithy. You know you can't hide from me." That woman sounds completely insane.
Faith is shaking. She's so scared, I wrap my arms around her, and she latches on to me. Then she takes a deep breath and pulls back a little. I'm surprised when she leans forward and kisses me gently.
"I love you, B. More than you'll ever understand." Then she kisses me again and stands up. "I'll take care of this."
"Wait! I'll go with you."
"I have to do this myself. It's my problem, and I'll fix it."
She turns to walk away, but I chase after her. She shoves me away, but I don't let up. "I am coming with you. The only way you are stopping me is if you knock me out." I lower my arms, giving her a free shot if she wants to take it.
I really hope she doesn't.
Her fists are balled at her side, but she doesn't raise them. "OK. Just... stay behind me. Let me do the talking."
I smile in relief, and we head back into the gym. The crazy lady (Faith's sister, I guess?) is holding Willow by her neck. The wolves are surrounding them. I try to focus on her because if I don't - I might notice all the dead bodies, and I really don't want to do that.
"Faithy!" The girl looks younger as she floats towards us. Her face and hair seem to keep changing. I can't really even tell what she looks like. She's holding Willow by her neck with one hand as if she weighs nothing.
"What do you want?" Faith snarls out, and the girl grins.
"Come now! Is that any way to talk to your family?"
"You are NOT my family." Faith takes a step towards them, and Willow cries out.
"Well, if you aren't going to be nice to me - why should I be nice to your friends?" She brings a dagger out and holds it to Willow's throat.
"No!" I step forward, and she grins, lowering the weapon.
"She's so cute, Faithy. I'm so happy you found someone like her to play with."
"What do you want, Glory?!" Faith growls out again.
Glory grins and stands up straighter, then she rubs her temple. "There's a funny story about that."
Faith and I share a glance before we turn our attention back to Glory. It's clear that something is not right with her - beyond the obvious.
Glory shakes her head a little, now she's no longer floating, and Willow is standing on her own feet again. It still seems like she can't move, but at least they're on the ground.
Faith and I split up. I start to edge around - but the wolves start barking and growling at me. This gets Glory's attention, and she snarls at me. She must have squeezed Willow's neck in the process. I stop my approach immediately.
"Watcha planning on doing, little girl?" Glory shakes Willow like she's a ragdoll. "Don't forget who I've got."
I take a few steps back and drop my eyes, hoping Glory sees that as a sign of weakness and stops hurting Willow. Really I'm just looking for any kind of weapon and at the same time trying to discreetly rip my dress so I can move better.
"Come on, Glory. Leave everyone else out of it. It's me you want." Faith holds her arms out wide to show she's unarmed and takes a few steps closer.
Glory rubs her temple again. "It was you that I wanted. But now I'm not so sure. I had this whole plan. We are going to be a family again. But..."
Then Glory looks at me and makes a funny face like she's wrestling with what to say.
"Your mom... she..." Then she trails off, looking really guilty.
"What about my mom? Are you why she's been acting so weird lately?" It would be so great to have a magical answer for what's been going on with her. If magic is involved, I know we can help her.
"Has she been?" Glory straightens back up, seeming to regain some of her strength. "Well, guess it doesn't matter now. Her feeble brain couldn't handle my adjustments. I am kinda sorry about that. Though mostly because it forced me to change my plan. Wasted over a year of effort!" Then she huffs and stomps her foot like a child. It takes a second before what she said sinks in.
"What!?" I scream and launch myself at her. I manage to clear the circle of wolves to wrap my hands around her neck. I don't really know what's going on behind me, but I hear a lot of yelping from the wolves. I hope that means Faith is taking them out.
Glory just laughs as I choke her. She hasn't even let go of Willow. I squeeze as hard as I can. "What did you do to my mother?!"
The more she laughs, the more terrified I become. Finally, I realize she must be a vampire or something else that doesn't need to breathe. I change my tactics and jam my thumb in her eye.
"Hey!" She screeches and tries to shove me away. She can't, though, because I have my legs wrapped around her midsection, and I'm pushing as hard as I can into her eye socket. She ends up having to throw Willow and use both her hands to try and pry me off.
Faith
Holy shit.
This is really not how I saw this going. B has been screaming pretty much non-stop since Glory started talking about Joyce. I really hope Glory was lying about that, but that's never been her style.
She's never had trouble telling the truth about the awful shit she did. I'm pretty sure that was most of why she did the things she did - just so she could watch how much it hurt people.
Least I can do is try and take out some of these wolves while B has her distracted. They're trying to bite B and pull her away, but she's not letting go of Glory. I really wish I'd thought to bring some weapons.
I hop on the back of the one closest to me and twist it's head until the body goes limp. I get two more this way, but the third one turns around and snaps at me. I roll to the side and manage to punch it in the head. It's stunned for just long enough for me to snap it's neck too.
"Enough!" Glory screams, and B goes flying away from her. I watch as B smashes into the wall and drops to the ground. I can't tell if she's even still alive.
"No!" I try to run to her, but Glory grabs me by my hair and flings me in the opposite direction.
"I am so disappointed in you, Faithy." She stands over me with her hands on her hips. "After everything I did for you - how could you attack me this way?"
"You never did shit for me!" I spit back as I get up on my feet again.
"Ouch, now that really hurts. Did you forget how I protected you when you were all alone? I gave you a place to live and food. I even gave you a purpose." It's hard to take her seriously with the huge hole B put in her face. It doesn't even seem to be bothering her, though, and that makes me very nervous.
"Yeah - some purpose." I am not letting her drag me back down. I am not letting her remind me of what I used to be.
"It was a great purpose! Because of you - our little family was taken care of. Aren't you proud of that?"
I can see B finally moving from the other side of the gym. Thank god she's still alive. Willow is with her, and it looks like they're both going to be OK.
"Will you fuck off already?"
She backhands me across the face, and I crash into the wall again. "I can't believe you forgot all the manners I taught you."
I stand back up and lean against the wall. I try not to draw attention to B and Red. They're moving closer - I shake my head, hoping they'll realize they should stay back.
Glory is right up on me again - she grabs my chin and makes me look at her. "You know - I actually came here to help you. I planned to rescue you from this suburban nightmare you let yourself get caught up in."
I laugh at her, "you are insane. The only nightmare in my life is you!"
She drops my chin and backs away again, with her arms crossed over her chest. She almost looks sad, "Is that really how you see it?"
"Yes, you fucking lunatic!" I scream at her, which maybe isn't the best idea - but I'm trying to buy time for Red and B to get out of here. That would work a fuck of a lot better if they were actually trying to leave.
"Wow, guess I had you all wrong." Then she's grinning in a way I really don't like. "Guess I'll just leave you alone then."
I don't buy this for a second. No way is she done.
"There is just one last little thing." She moves so fast, I don't even realize what she's done until it's too late. She's over by B now, with both her hands on B's head. B shakes for a few seconds and then drops to her knees. Seems like she's still alive, but that can't have been good.
"What did you do?"
Glory is back in my face, floating up in the air, so she's leaning over me. "I just showed her who you are."
"No!" Fuck. Of all the things she could do - why did she have to do that? I'd rather be dead than have B know. "Why... why did you do that?"
"To prove to you that you belong to me. I know everything about you, Faithy. And I still want you. Do you think she will?" Glory points back towards B, who is still on her hands and knees. Her head is up now, and she looks fucking furious. "Now that she knows your dirty little secrets - do you really think she's going to want to be anywhere near you?"
I look away because I know she's right. There's no way B could want me after this. I take a deep breath and prepare myself for going with Glory - for being who she wants me to be.
Suddenly, Glory is ripped backward from me, and she's screaming - or maybe B is.
"How dare you!?" B is screaming as she claws at Glory's face. She's jumped on her back - two fingers are hooked into her empty eye socket, and with the other hand, she's stabbing into Glory's chest with her stake. Looks like Glory isn't a vamp, though - so it's not really working.
Glory is flailing all around but can't seem to get B off of her. After a few stabs, B seems to realize that isn't going to work, so she tries something else. She jams her stake into Glory's other eye, and I think maybe that did it. Glory dropped to her knees, but B doesn't stop pushing the piece of wood into her head.
Once the stake is completely embedded, B stands up and grabs Glory's head, and twists it all the way around. She's standing over what I really hope is Glory's dead body and breathing really heavy. Then she screams again and stops on her chest - I can hear the bones crunching from here.
Finally, B looks up and sees me. I hold my breath while I wait to see what she does next.
"Are you OK?" She asks and moves towards me, but it seems like she's not getting any closer. "Faith?" She stops walking and is giving me a really weird look.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I finally say, or at least I think I did. She's walking again but still can't get any closer.
"Why are you running away from me?"
Oh, guess that's why she can't seem to get to me. I do my best to stay still and take whatever she has to say about what she just learned.
She moves faster this time and is right in front of me. "Did she hurt you?"
"No." I shake my head.
She looks back over the gym - there are bodies everywhere. Red is trying to help a couple of kids that are still alive.
"Come on, we need to get home and check on my mom." B holds her hand out to me, but I don't understand.
"I should just go."
"Why?"
"You can't still... not after... you... "
She's got her hands on my face, and she's forcing me to look at her. "What she did to you - was not your fault, and it doesn't change how I feel about you at all."
"But..."
"No!" She grips my face a little harder, so I can't even think about turning away. "No but. That crazy bitch is not taking you from me. Do you hear me?" Then she kisses me.
I can't help but chuckle a little, "I hear ya, B. Let's go check on your ma."
Buffy
I'm sure there's some kind of lesson in this - me thinking I could have just one perfect night with Faith. I really should have known better.
"Mom!" The front door is hanging open, and I'm yelling as I run through the house.
"B." I hear Faith's voice from the dining room, and I can tell that I am really not going to like what I'm about to find. Faith grabs me before I can see what happened to my mother.
"You don't need to go in there." She pushes me into the living room and pulls out her phone to call someone. I can't hear what she's saying. The ringing in my ears is blocking everything out.
I can't believe this is happening. This can't possibly be real. My mother is dead, and my head is filled with horrifying images of what Faith was put through.
"Where are you going?!" Faith is halfway across the room before I can stop her.
"Just answering the door." She replies, and I think she can tell how freaked out I am. She walks back to me, ignoring whoever is ringing the bell. "I'm not going anywhere, B."
"You promise?"
"I promise, B. You're stuck with me." She gives me a quick kiss before heading back to the door.
I can't focus on anything that's happening now. People keep coming by to ask me questions, but I don't have any idea of what to tell them. Faith has stayed by my side all night. I think she even forced me to eat something at some point.
We're still both in our dresses - mine basically torn to shreds - when everyone finally clears out for the night.
When I come out of my haze, I'm lying in bed with Faith. She's got her arms wrapped around me, and she's whispering something.
"I'm so sorry, B." She says it over and over again.
"It wasn't your fault." I pull away enough to see her face.
"But if it wasn't for me..." I cut her off before she can say anything else.
"First of all - who knows how things would be right now. And more importantly - you are in no way responsible for what she did. You're not responsible for what she did today, and you're not responsible for anything that happened before."
Faith frowns and looks away. I don't blame her for feeling like this was somehow her fault. Glory had some serious control over her when she was younger.
"Can we talk about Glory?" I know this is going to be awful, but we need to do it, and we need to do it now.
Faith's body completely tensed, and I could hear her teeth grinding. "No."
I sit up so that I can straddle her. I think this is the best way to make sure she can't get away. "I really think we should. I think there are things you don't know about. You might feel better about what happened if you knew the whole story."
That gets her to look at me with complete fury. "You want to try to make me feel better about..." Then she growls and tries to push me off of her, but I am not letting that happen. I cling to her and make sure that even if she could get out of the bed, she'd be taking me with her.
"OK, maybe I said that the wrong way." She calms down a little, but she still looks furious. "You were just a kid. She lied and manipulated you."
"Yeah, no shit." Faith grumbles back, and I kind of want to smack her. But that would be very much the wrong thing to do here.
"If you know all that, then what is the problem?"
She glares at me, and I'm starting to think I am never going to get her back after this. "The problem is that I still did all that shit. I let her use me."
"Faith," I start out softly, doing my best not to match her energy. As angry as I am about this situation, I am not angry with her. I need her to know that. "Maybe you did - but don't you remember why you did?"
Her face softens slightly, and she seems to be calming. "I did it because I was weak and pathetic. I just wanted someone to love me, and she was the only one who ever did."
I rock back a little at this. Is that really what she thinks happened? "No, Faith. That's not true at all."
All the life seems to be falling out of her now. Her shoulders are slumped, and she's staring at the floor. I gently turn her head, so she has to look at me. It breaks my heart that she's just giving up like this.
"You did it to protect the other kids. Don't you remember that? You saw what she was doing and what she was planning to do. So you offered yourself up. You didn't do it for her approval or for any other reason. You did it to make sure no one else got hurt."
Faith scrunches her face and closes her eyes.
"I saw everything from her side, so I can't say for sure what you were thinking. But I do know exactly what she was thinking. If you hadn't offered yourself the way you did - so many other kids would have gotten hurt." I shuddered at the memories Glory shared with me. I never imagined that humans could be that evil.
I lean in and gently kiss her. She doesn't exactly respond, but she doesn't push me away either.
"You were a hero, even then. Even before you had power - you put everyone else first. Then when you had the chance, you did everything you could to take her out."
Faith's eyes snap open at that. "She knew that I... shit."
I chuckle at seeing her start to come back to life. "I wouldn't say she knew. She definitely suspected." I give her a few more moments to think before I tell her the rest. "Your mother had been looking for you. Glory told her that you didn't want to go back."
She tilts her head and narrows her eyes. "I fucking knew it."
"She's also the one that got your mother hooked on drugs again." There's even more to tell, but I think I've said all I can bear to tonight. I really hope we never have to talk about this again.
Faith groaned and rubbed her face as if trying to hide and wipe away the memory of everything that happened to her.
I slide off of her and sit on the edge of the bed. I'm really surprised when she moves behind me and wraps her arms around my stomach, and rests her chin on my shoulder.
"I'm so sorry about your mom, B. I shoulda known that Glory wasn't really done with me. After she died, I kept thinking I saw her around the city. I just didn't believe it 'cause I didn't know about vampires and demons then."
I burst into tears at the reminder of my mother. I turn and bury my face in Faith's neck. She holds me tight while my body shakes with the force of my tears. I don't even know how long I cry before the exhaustion takes over.
"Where are you going?" I ask and cringe at the desperation in my voice.
"Someone's at the door. I'll be right back." She leans down and kisses me. I cling to her and refuse to let her pull away. The bell rings again after a few seconds, and I reluctantly let her go. "Be right back." She assures me before heading downstairs.
I roll onto my back and try to figure out how the hell I'm going to keep living. My mother's gone, and every time I close my eyes, I see a young Faith through the lens of Glory's deranged mind.
"B, it's Willow. Are you up for talking to her?"
I consider saying no, but I decided it'd be better to try. I do want to make sure that she's OK, too. "I'll be down in a few minutes."
Faith nods and leaves again. I almost want to beg her to stay. I have to trust her when she promised me that she isn't going to leave. I slowly make myself presentable and head downstairs.
Willow is sitting on the couch, her arms wrapped around her stomach. I move to her quickly and wrap her in a hug.
"Are you OK?"
The tears in her eyes answer the question easily. Her eyes dart to the kitchen, where I assume Faith is.
"Something about Faith? Do you not want her to be here?"
Willow quickly shakes her head and takes a deep breath. "You guys left so quickly."
I pull back a little at the accusation in her voice. "I had to..."
"No, I know - of course, you did. I'm so sorry about your mother." Then she sucks in a breath. "The body... it was gone."
"No!" I stand up, and Faith comes running in at my shout. "That can't be..."
Willow stands then, "I have a plan." She holds up a scrap of cloth, and I feel like maybe we have a chance here.
"Let's get everyone - even Angel," I say, and Faith nods.
Once we know where she is, I try to convince Willow to leave. She hits me with the 'resolve-face,' and I easily give in. She seems just as pissed off about what happened as we are.
Faith, Kendra, and I are standing at the entrance to the cave. Angel and Willow standing behind us.
We're moving carefully, not sure if Glory might have some minions that helped her. It's hard to believe she could have gotten here on her own. As we move closer, we can hear voices - confirming the fears that Glory is not alone.
We move slowly and cautiously. It is tough not to scream and run towards those voices. I want to hurt Glory more than I've ever wanted to hurt someone before. I'm almost glad that we're getting a second chance to cause her pain.
Glory's annoyed voice starts to rise above the others. She's furious, and it sounds like she's throwing things as she rants about how much she plans on hurting me.
Faith growls a little and moves faster, trying to pull ahead of me. I put a hand on her arm, and I am grateful when she responds by slowing down.
I can see light flickering in the distance, and I can guess that the main chamber is just up ahead. I stop for a second and look at everyone who's with us. They all look fierce and confident. I can practically feel the magical energy sparking around Willow. I really wonder what she has planned.
I take a moment to look at Angel. He didn't ask a single question or hesitate when we told him to come with us. Assuming we survive this encounter, I am going to try to convince Faith that he should leave town.
Rolling my neck and loosening my shoulders, I nod to Faith, and we enter the chamber. It's a large cavern which reminds me of the Hellmouth - where I died at the master's hands. I am determined to make sure this encounter doesn't end the same way.
Glory is sprawled out on a couch that is far too fancy to be in a dark cave. These short creatures wearing brown robes are surrounding her. They're bowing to her and telling her how amazing she is. Promising that she will get her revenge.
Her face is still the disgusting mess I made of it earlier. And since she's the only one facing us, no one has noticed that we're here.
I nod to Faith and Kendra - we each pull out two daggers. Moving with complete synchronicity, we hurl our daggers rapidly - taking out six of the robed creatures. Willow apparently joined in, controlling four daggers herself and taking out the remaining minions.
"Damn, Red. That was badass." Faith says, and Willow grins.
"Told you I could help," Willow says to me, and I chuckle. It bums me out a little that she's been turned into someone who has to use her magic to kill, but at this moment, I am very grateful that she's here.
"What!? Who's there? Where are all my scabby minions?!"
Faith moves forward. "Hey, Glory."
Glory shoots to her feet and raises her arms - I'm guessing to cast a spell of some kind. Before she can do whatever she was planning on doing, several daggers are embedded in her shoulders. Her arms drop limply to her side, and she screams in frustration. A final dagger flies and embeds in her throat.
The crazed Glory begins totally freaking out, her mouth open in a silent scream. I let her misery amuse me for a minute before I start to wonder what we do next.
"How can we make sure that she doesn't come back?" Faith asks and crosses her arms over her chest. She doesn't seem to be enjoying watching Glory flail around in frustration. I'm sure she just wants this nightmare to be over.
"I have an idea," Angel speaks up, and we all turn to look at him. He keeps his eyes focused on Glory as he waits for our response.
"Well? Spit it out already." Faith says, and he winces.
"We'll have to dismember her and scatter the pieces so she can't be reassembled," He says, and the idea of it makes me gag. But I do kind of see his point.
Glory really doesn't seem to like this idea, and she launches herself towards Angel. He grabs her in mid-leap and does his best to keep her under control.
"Let's do it," Faith says and pulls out a long knife.
The next two hours are completely horrifying. No matter what we did to her, Glory refused to die—each of the pieces flopping around and being generally annoying as hell. We sent Kendra and Willow off to find something to contain each piece. This wasn't really Kendra's fight, and I didn't want Willow to have to see what we were about to do.
Finally, it's done—eight metal boxes of varying sizes, each containing some part of the still not dead Glory. Scratching and thumping noises can even be heard as the parts attempt to escape their confines.
"Now what?" I ask, really hoping that someone has a brilliant plan of what to do next.
"I say we bring them down to the docks and sink 'em." Faith offers, and I nod my agreement.
"We should make sure the head is as far away from the rest of her as possible." Angel offers, holding the box containing the head.
"You should take it. Get as far away from here as you can. Don't tell us where you are going, and we won't tell you what we do with the rest. That way, no one can ever put her back together." I hope Faith doesn't fight me on this. I really just want him gone and to never have to think about this night again.
He looks over at Faith for confirmation of my idea. She frowns briefly but then nods. "Don't ever come back here." He doesn't visibly react to her command, just gives me one last look before turning to leave.
"Wait," Willow says before he takes a step to the cave's exit. She reaches into her pocket. "This will mask her essence so her parts can't be found with a simple locator spell." She pulls out a small vial of liquid and shakes out a few drops on the box Angel is holding.
She then treats the remaining boxes. "Don't worry, water won't wash this away. Your ocean idea makes a lot of sense."
Kendra, Faith, and I each grab two pieces while Willow grabs the last one, and we make our way out of the cave system. When we finally make it outside, we all stop for a minute.
"Thank you for helping, Kendra," I say.
"Of course," She says, but then she looks away.
"Something wrong?"
"No - it's just that I planned on leaving Sunnydale soon." She motions to her two pieces of Glory. "Perhaps I should leave now so that I can dispose of these far away."
"Where are you planning to go?"
She smiles, "home. Robin told me where my parents are. I wanted to wait until I graduated, but I think I would rather just go now."
I frown at the idea of Kendra leaving us. I've grown to really like her, and it's always good to have another slayer around. I know how selfish it is, though, she has a chance to be with her family. I move forward and wrap her in a hug. "I'm so glad we got to know you. Please keep in touch. If you ever need anything - don't hesitate to ask. And you are always welcome to return."
She smiles brightly at me, "I am glad as well. I fear what would have happened to me if I was never given a chance to see that the council wasn't what I thought it was."
Faith and Willow hug her too, and she turns to leave. I hope we get to see her again. I hope even more that she finds her family and gets to live a happy life.