Faith
Buffy and Faith are walking through an alley when they are attacked by two of Balthazar's vampires. The battle is intense, but quickly, the two vampires are dust. A third one appears, and Buffy tosses him in the direction of Faith. He crashes into the dumpster and slides to the ground.
"Faith! No!" Buffy screams, but it's too late. The deputy mayor is dead, a new stake shaped hole where only his heart should be.
Faith drops to her knees, screaming as memories of the next few months flood into her. "No! Why?!" Why send me back but not in time to stop this!? She drops her stake and scrambles away from the body.
In the moments before she was sent back, she took the time to think about what she would do differently with her second chance. She had hoped that they would send her back to before her watcher was killed, believing that she wouldn't make the same mistakes, that she could kill Kakistos this time. If that had gone differently, everything else would have too. She would have been different when she came to Sunnydale if she even decided to go there. She wouldn't have listened to that fake watcher. She could have helped Buffy with Angel, she wouldn't have slept with Xander, she probably wouldn't have convinced Buffy to break into the sporting goods store. Never once did it occur to her that she would have been brought back to now. Unable to stop the worst mistake she thought she had ever made.
"Faith?" Buffy moves to Faith, trying to help her stand up. "It was just an accident. It will be ok."
"No, nothing will be ok. It was all for nothing!" Faith refuses Buffy's help, continuing to scramble away from the body until her back hits the wall.
"What are you talking about?"
"It doesn't matter, none of this matters!" Faith screams and turns to run off.
"Don't leave me!" Buffy calls out, and Faith freezes. Their slayer connection is open. She can feel the fear radiating from Buffy. Forcing herself to turn around, she kneels down and looks at the body of the deputy mayor. Pretending to examine him closely, all while remembering everything that happens next. All the things that go wrong because she tried to convince everyone that she didn't care about killing this man. She knows she won't do those things this time. She's just going to run away. Buffy doesn't need her, and they can handle everything that happens next without her.
Her eyes trail down to the stake wound in the man's chest. So much blood. Faith stands and turns to face Buffy. Once she sees her eyes, she knows there's no way she can leave. She knew she couldn't let Buffy down again.
"Go, you have to take care of Balthazar. I'll deal with this."
"What do you mean you'll deal with it? We should call the police."
Faith sighed, "We can't keep the world safe if one or both of us in jail." Buffy's eyes widened in fear, and Faith cursed herself for suggesting Buffy was responsible for this too. "This was just an accident. You have no idea how much I wish this hadn't happened. But it did, and there's nothing we can do about it right now. You have to go stop Balthazar. We'll talk tonight, and we'll figure this out." Faith used the slayer connection to send calming and comforting sensations to Buffy. She didn't like using the connection this way, but she needed Buffy to cooperate. Buffy's face softened, and she nodded slightly, running off.
The Keepers
"Did you do this!?" The keeper clad in burgundy runs to her partner, grabbing her roughly by the shoulders.
"No, of course not. It was not up to us to decide what would happen."
"I'm helping them! They cannot get torn apart again!"
"Give her a chance. See if she can be who she needs to be before you interfere again."
"It's not fair."
"Nothing is ever fair. We have to trust that they will get it right this time."
"Do you agree that I am right? That they are the ones?"
"Once I saw them together, it was impossible to deny."
"So, you'll help?"
"I do not believe they need our help. I will watch over them with you. We can decide together."
Faith
Faith knelt down over the body and collected her thoughts. She had thought endlessly about how she could have done things differently. During her time with the Mayor, she had discovered that there was a crew of carrion demons that the Mayor used to dispose of any bodies that he didn't want to be found. All she had to do was to drop this body into the correct sewer, and all of this would go away.
Bending down, adjusting his body to make him more manageable to carry, she noticed an envelope in his shirt pocket. Sliding it out and opening it, she grinned. Maybe this was going to work out after all.
After she dropped the body into the sewer, she waited until she could hear the scratching sounds of the carrion demons approaching. Grimacing at the memory of the one time she stayed to watch what they would do to a body. She slid the manhole cover shut and ran towards City Hall. She only had three hours to complete her task if the note was correct, she was not going to screw this up.
Approaching the building from the front, not at all trying to conceal herself. Her plan required that she be the Faith that she was before and that Faith did not slink around. She charged right into everything. The front doors were locked, she simply tore them open and entered. Several vampires quickly attacked her, and she staked them easily. Not interested in putting on a show or dragging any of this out. She went through five more vampires before reaching the Mayor's office door. Her stomach clenching at the memory of the first time she was standing here.
She pushed the door open without knocking. Seeing the Mayor sitting behind his desk, his very confident and goofy smile plastered on his face.
"I did not expect to see you so soon."
His words cause her to pause, losing herself for a second as she looks up at his goofy smile. "Yeah, well. I like to keep everyone on their toes." She moved to his desk easily, dropping into the chair and propping her feet up on his desk. Grinning at the disgusted look on his face. She dropped them back down, pretending to be chastised by his look. "Your boy was trying to sell you out. Thought you should know. I took care of him for you."
"My boy?"
"That Finch guy, or whatever." She tossed his wallet onto the mayor's desk and waved her hands around like he wasn't important. She had to restrain her grin when the Mayor frowned and pulled out a sanitary wipe to clean off the blood she had added for effect.
"Ah, I was wondering where Allan disappeared off to. He knows tonight is a big night for me." The Mayor continued to stare at Faith, and she did her best not to let it show how uncomfortable she was. "So you're here to offer your services to me? Why would you do that?"
Faith gave an exaggerated sigh, "B super freaked when I killed that guy. I just know she's going to turn me over to the council or the police. I figured you could protect me."
"It would be useful to have a slayer on my side. But I don't really need any more muscle." He tapped a button on his desk, and Mr. Trick entered the room. Faith grinned, she was on her feet in a moment, trading blows with the well-dressed vampire. She played with him a little more than the others, wanting to let the mayor see who she was. Her moves were chaotic and furious. Remembering how this vampire had almost managed to kill Buffy, it wasn't too hard to tap into her rage and unleash it on this monster. She fought with complete abandon. He got one good hit on her cheek, and she decided that was enough playing. She dodged around his latest attack and thrust her stake into his heart.
"Are you sure about that?" Turning back to the man, she briefly believed cared about her with a wicked grin.
"Ah, yes. I do appear to have an opening. Still, I'm not sure why I would trust you."
"I know where you're books are. So I figure, I get you your books, and you keep me free. Whatever else you need, I'm happy to do."
"Even if I need you to take out your little friends?"
Faith just shrugged, "if you mean the other slayer and her band of heroes, they're not my friends. I've got no problem taking them out."
That did it, the Mayor's eyes widened as he grinned and steepled his fingers like the super-villain that he was. "That is excellent news. Excellent, indeed." His grin and open approval rippled through Faith, despite herself she felt drawn to him. "You are an impressive woman, Faith. I'm sure we will accomplish many great things."
"Well. I'm gonna head out before anyone gets suspicious. You just let me know what you need." This was a risk. She had killed all the minions she knew about. She couldn't sense anyone else but the Mayor here, and one other vampire who wasn't moving. She hoped her indifference would get him to invite her to the ceremony.
"Faith? Before you go, perhaps you could help me with something. Since I seem to have recently lost all my support staff." He chuckled, clearly supremely confident.
"Yeah, what do you need, Boss?" Calling him boss startled her, it came so naturally, and she almost forgot who she was.
"I just have a little ceremony to perform in about twenty minutes." Yes! He's not invincible yet, that means I can take him out. She kept her face as calm as she could, not wanting to reveal her excitement.
"Sure, I guess I could stick around for that. It's not going to be gross or anything, is it?"
He chuckled again, "No, it won't be gross."
"All, right. Then I'm in." Faith casually walked around the office, examining the maps and other items on the walls.
"It's an exciting night! The hundred days will begin, and nothing will be able to stop me after this ceremony." The Mayor moved to stand next to Faith as she looked out the window. Faith kept calm, working the dagger she had hidden in her sleeve into her palm. She wasn't sure if he was entirely human or not, but she knew it didn't matter. She could do this, if he was human, she could get rid of the body, no one would have to know.
Moving quickly and efficiently as soon as he was close enough, she sliced into his throat, making sure to sever his vocal cords so he couldn't cry out. Clasping his hands to his throat, he gurgled as the blood seeped out of his mouth. His eyes filled with fear and shock, he was trying to speak, but there was no way. He dropped to his knees, and she continued to work on him with the dagger, severing his head from his body completely.
She almost shouted for joy when the body began to bubble and fizz, leaving nothing but a sticky mess behind. Once his body was completely gone, she got back to work. First, she searched his desk, hoping to find that he had researched the Scythe already, but it didn't seem like he had. She did find one thing that almost brought her to her knees. An envelope with a very familiar return address. She stuffed it into her pocket and instantly forgot about it. She searched for a few more minutes before giving up and heading the deputy mayor's office. This time they wouldn't have been able to hide his files, so she hoped she'd be able to find something to explain what the Mayor was up to.
Once she gathered all the materials she thought were interesting, she moved to the security office to destroy all the surveillance, before heading back to her motel room to wait for Buffy.
Buffy
Buffy slowly approached the door to Faith's hotel, not at all sure what to expect. She was confused and scared, feeling immensely guilty for what had happened with the man that was killed. She was confused by how calm Faith seemed to react, her entire demeanor had suddenly changed, and Buffy couldn't make sense of why.
"Should I tell her? Isn't the whole point that I shouldn't? There's no reason to tell her now anyway. It's over. I don't know anything that will matter." Faith was muttering to herself, Buffy could barely make out what she was saying, but it seemed like there was something Faith wanted to hide. There were a few moments of silence and Buffy knocked.
"Hey, everything good with Balthazar?"
"One fried tub of demon." Buffy grinned, feeling weirdly calm now that she was with Faith again.
"What's all this?" Motioning to the bed covered in file folders.
"That guy that I killed was into some seriously evil stuff. The mayor was a demon and was planning on basically killing everyone in the town."
"The mayor was a demon?"
"Yeah, now he's just a gross puddle on the carpet at City Hall." Faith grinned, and Buffy couldn't help but be charmed. She had really enjoyed the past few days with Faith, actually letting loose for a little while and 'finding the fun' as Faith would say.
It certainly hadn't been perfect, she still was nervous any time she saw a police officer, thinking they would recognize her from the break-in.
"How did you know to go to City Hall?"
Faith hands Buffy a folded piece of paper. "I found this."
The note explained most of what Faith just said, mentioning that there was a ritual that needed to be stopped before midnight. "I got in there before the ceremony - no invincibility and no ascension for the Mayor."
"So that guy we...killed, was evil?"
"Totally." Buffy got a weird flash when Faith said this, somehow getting a strong impression that Faith was lying, or at least trying to hide something. "So we can show this all to Giles and see what he thinks, but I don't think we have anything to worry about."
Buffy looked at Faith skeptically, something was different, and it was starting to bother her. She focused her attention on the folders. "Why is there a folder about you in here?"
"What? I didn't see that." Faith picked it up and started to flip through, her face darkening as she looked at it.
"What does it say?"
"Nothing." Faith snapped the folder shut and jammed it into one of her drawers.
Buffy frowned but didn't press. The strange sensations she always felt around Faith were different now, harder to ignore. She almost felt like she was being drawn to move physically towards the other slayer. It was making it hard for her to make any sense of what was going on. She knew Faith was hiding things from her, but she somehow seemed to think it was a good thing that she was.
"So what do you think? We'll show Giles tomorrow? Sound good?"
"Yeah.. what about Wesley?"
"I'd rather not tell him just yet if that's ok."
"Why not?"
"I'm pretty sure he's going to rat me out to the council."
"Why would he do that? It was an accident, and this guy was evil."
"Yeah…" Faith is shifting nervously, unable to meet Buffy's eyes.
"Ok, well, I guess we'll see what Giles says."
Faith breathed an immense sigh of relief. Buffy turned to leave.
"B?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think… I mean… would it be OK with you and your mom if maybe I stayed with you guys for a while?"
"You want to move in with me?"
"Well.. nevermind.. maybe I'll ask Giles. I just kinda hate it here, and maybe it'd be good not to be… alone all the time." Faith's voice had lowered, Buffy barely heard the last words.
Buffy almost dropped to the ground. Her knees felt weak as she realized how life in Sunnydale has been for Faith. Looking around the room closely for the first time, taking in the stained walls and moldy carpet. She didn't even want to think about the bedding.
"I'll ask, I'm sure it will be fine. I'm sor…"
"It's cool, thanks." Faith shrugged and started gathering up the folders.
Buffy stared at her. Everything seemed different. She carried herself differently, she hadn't even made one comment about sex all night. Buffy didn't identify anything bad about these differences, but she knew something had changed. It was more than just being freaked out over the accidental killing of a human. Faith didn't seem panicked or disinterested, and with the things Faith had said immediately after, it was almost like Faith knew what was going to happen.
"Faith? What is going on?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're like a completely different person all of a sudden. I know there's something you're not telling me."
Faith sighed, "tonight was just kind of traumatic. It's hard to explain."
Buffy folded her arms as she stared at Faith. She wasn't upset, she was mostly confused. Buffy had never seen Faith acting so vulnerable before, she felt like she needed to do her best to keep Faith engaged and open. "You're asking to live in my house. I need you to try."