Aftermath
Buffy unwound the bandages gingerly from her arms, trying her best not to wince at the stinging pain she received. Her arms were healing nicely, the long cuts still needed a bit of time, but it wouldn't be long before she didn't have to wear the bandages at all.
She reached for a fresh role of bandages and began to rewrap her arms. It had been two days since they'd escaped from Wolfram & Hart, and if getting in was hard, getting out was almost impossible. She'd dangled in the elevator shaft for a good fifteen minutes, trying to come up with a way out. In the end she'd simply leapt to an adjoining cable for the second elevator and slid all the way back to down to the sixteenth floor. Lucky for her that someone had obligingly left the shaft doors open. She'd had no idea of what to do otherwise.
The sixteenth floor had been empty when she got there, but that didn't mean it had been empty all along. She'd found Faith knelt on the floor of the executive suite, surrounded by scorched marks that had originally been blood. A fine settling of dust had covered the floor in front of her. There was no sign of King. It didn't take a rocket scientist to work out what had happened in that room, and for the first time in years, Buffy actually felt a twinge of pity for Faith, along with, dare she admit it, the slightest hint of pride. The girl had come through for them and God knew they needed it back there.
Together the two of them had clambered down the cables, back to the ground floor, where the fighting was still continuing apace. They'd fought their way back through the vampires picking up the others as they left and fleeing back to the cars. For the rest of the night they'd been assaulted by a number of vamps at the hotel. Some of Shinji's more passionate followers had decided it was better to try and martyr themselves to the cause than go on without a master. But after that the attacks had stopped. According to Lorn, Angel's green skinned, karaoke bar owning confidant, the word on the street was that the remains of the vampire army lead by Shinji were being cleared up by Wolfram & Hart. It seemed the devils own law firm hated to leave loose ends lying about. And that had left them with some time to catch some serious R&R. Buffy had to admit she was glad. The last few days had been exhausting. Being kidnapped by a maniac vampire and his own self bred army; being slowly bled dry and then fighting a kick ass duel on top of a falling elevator would take its toll on anyone, including the Slayer. But she had the feeling her problems weren't the most important right now.
"Where's Faith?" said Angel, slipping onto the couch alongside her. Buffy shrugged.
"Take one guess." She said.
"She's still in her room?" said Angel, frowning. Buffy nodded.
"Hasn't been out all day." After the first night back at the hotel, Faith had vanished up into the room Angel had given her when she was released from prison, only leaving it to get food and drink, before disappearing back inside.
"Buffy?" Angel's voice was questioning.
"Yeah?" Buffy replied absently as she finished wrapping one of her arms.
"Is this what it was like for you after…" his voice died gradually away. He didn't need to finish. They both knew exactly what he was talking about. Buffy thought about it long and hard.
"I'm not sure." She said finally. In truth, she'd been trying not to think about it at all. Her memories of killing Angel to stop the awakening of the Demon Akathla were some of her most painful, and she didn't like to think about them at the best of times. Angel gave a sigh.
"She should talk to someone." He said finally. "I mean this isn't healthy, right? She should get all her feelings out in the open, right?" Buffy gave a nod of affirmative. She remembered when she had killed Angel how hard it had been for her. Maybe it would have been much easier if she'd just talked about it with someone. No, scratch the maybe. It would have been much easier. Angel gave a sigh.
"I'd best go up there." He said, easing himself out of the couch and walking toward the stairs. Buffy sat for a moment, lost in thought.
"Angel wait." She said eventually. He turned and looked at her questioningly.
"I'll talk to her." She said. Angel smiled and nodded.
"Now that," he said as she walked past him, "is a much better idea."
Faith's door wasn't locked. That alone surprised Buffy, but what she saw beyond surprised her even more. The girl had been beating the hell out of her room! Roughly fist shaped holes had been punched through the thin plaster walls and a lamp had been hurled hard against the mirror over the sink in the bathroom. She could see the shards of the mirror that had been left strewn across the floor. It looked as if a whirlwind of fury had swept through the room; destroying anything it didn't like to see. Faith was lying on the bed, her arm drawn up over her eyes, her breathing steady and shallow.
"Faith?" Buffy said quietly, testing to see if the girl was awake.
"What is it?" Faith said. Her voice sounded hollow, empty and cracked, as if someone had drained the life out of her.
"I just wanted to check on you." Buffy said slowly. She couldn't think of anything to say.
"I like what you've done with the place." She said finally. Faith gave a soft chuckle.
"Still got the sense of humour, eh B?" She sat up, her arm falling away. Buffy was taken aback. The other girls face was a mess. Two day old eye shadow was smudged from countless hours spent crying and even Faith's heavy handed approach to mascara couldn't hide the red rimmed swollen eyes and exhausted looking hang dog expression. She could tell Faith hadn't been sleeping.
"My God Faith…" Buffy said, practically at a loss for words. Faith glared at her.
"What's the matter? Upset I don't look worse? Glad I finally got mine?" Buffy stared at her in horror.
"What… of course not!"
"Then why are you here Buffy? We both know how you feel about me, and I'm not in the mood to dance around it all night long."
"I came here to talk." Buffy said. "Not to gloat." Faith leaned back tiredly against the wall.
"Okay then B. You wanna talk, let's talk. What do you want to say?" Buffy swallowed. Her throat suddenly felt very dry. What did she want to say? What could she say that wouldn't sound empty or half hearted? That wasn't what Faith needed right now, and Buffy was surprised when she found herself actually caring about that.
"I just wanted to say…" she trailed off before beginning again. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm not sorry King's dead. He was a vampire and a killer and the world is better off without him." Faith just glared at her.
"You get to leave now." She said, beginning to clamber off the bed.
"Would you just wait a second and let me finish? After all the things you've done to me over the years, I think you at least owe me that." Faith stood in front of her, arms folded, large brown eyes burrowing into her.
"Go on then." She said finally.
"Like I said, I'm not sorry King's dead, but" she said as Faith rolled her eyes, "I am…" she paused, trying to dredge the words up from the depths of her heart. Apologising to Faith was never something she thought she'd find herself doing.
"I'm sorry you had to be the one to kill him." She blurted it out unexpectedly, as if her mouth had just had enough of all the pussyfooting around. Faith just stared at her for a long time, her face inscrutable. Then she saw it, something glistening at the corners of Faith's eyes. Tears. Real tears! She couldn't believe it. Faith was crying! She watched, awestruck as the other girl collapsed to her knees, sobbing like a baby.
"I… killed… him!" she managed to get out from between choked sobs. "I killed him Buffy! I killed him!" Tentatively and unsure of herself, Buffy knelt down alongside her. Not really sure how Faith would react, she reached out and gently stroked the other girls matted hair away from her face. Faith's reaction was definitely the last thing she expected. The other girl flung her arms around Buffy and wept harder. She clung to her like she was her lifeline, like she was the only thing keeping her from falling entirely into despair.
"I killed him Buffy!" she sobbed again. "I killed him!" Slowly, Buffy reached up and patted the back of Faith's head, rocking her back and forth and cooing softly in her ear as she would a child.
"Shhh." She whispered softly. "Shhh. No more tears. You did your duty. You did what you had to."
"My duty?" Faith sniffed. "What I was born for?" Buffy nodded, still stroking Faith's hair.
"Yeah." She said softly. "What you were born for."
*****
The warehouse was dark, just like Faith remembered, dark and surprisingly cold. She shivered slightly as she tramped up the stairs, wrapping her coat more tightly around herself. She was amazed at how much the feel of the place had changed. No longer was there an eerie sadness hanging over everything. Now there was just a calm silence that approached perfect serenity. It was surprisingly soothing. She moved through the small office rooms until she finally reached the one where she had first met King.
The ancient Egyptian pieces glistened softly in the moonlight like some strange museum display. She couldn't believe they were still here. She really ought to report them to the police so they could be taken away to their rightful owners. Rightful owners. She chuckled softly at that thought. Who did these more rightly belong to than King? They were from his time, the legacy of his people. She glanced from one to the next and as she looked at them, she thought about him. She thought about everything she'd known of him, his strength, his resolve, his courage and his tragedy.
God she missed him. At least if he'd been here, this whole redemption thing might have been a bit more bearable. She sighed softly. That wasn't the point. Redemption wasn't meant to be easy. If it were everyone would do it. What was it Angel had once said? That it was supposed to hurt? He'd been right about that. It hurt like hell.
She smiled softly. It didn't matter how much it hurt any more. She could hack it. She had to, because she wasn't just redeeming herself anymore. She was working for his redemption too. From this day out, everything she did, she would do for him as well as for her, a way of saying thanks. Thanks for the strength he'd helped her find.
Slowly she made her way across to the back of the room, to the shattered window he'd jumped out of with her cradled in his arms. She looked up at the stars shining overhead, for a brief moment offering them silent thanks, before turning and walking away.
"Now I'm strong enough," She said aloud to the empty room, "and I know who I am." Then almost imperceptibly she whispered,
"Spread your wings."
