Notes: Thanks for the feedback I've received on this. You all rock. And thanks to my Beta (she's a nightmare, this chapter took about 100 re-writes, if she sent it back just once more I was going to hire a pack of mercenaries to hunt her down and torture her until she decided it was tolerable as it was), also, thanks to Kara Olsen, the cowardly flamer who thinks it's ok to be rotten to people about disabilities. It's always nice to know that no matter how bad I feel about doing something wrong, there's always someone lower on the morality ladder.
"Still convinced they're not dating?" Faith asked conversationally as she and Buffy watched Taz dash out the door at high speed. For the previous three hours they had been trying to convince Taz that it was too early to call Maya, at 8.30 they finally agreed that it was a reasonable time. Faith had lent her some money and she had gone to the nearest payphone.
Wesley was on a breakfast run and then would be going to the library to use the internet to learn more from the journal that Willow found the previous day.
"I was never convinced they weren't dating," Buffy replied. "I just didn't notice they were." She stretched and began walking around the room, feeling a little sluggish from lack of sleep. "So where did you get your 'great gaydar' from?" She asked with a grin.
"Ah, you know how it is, some things you get free with the package." Faith took a sip of coffee, made a face and set the mug back down. "I think that mug has been there all night. Yuck."
"Package?" Buffy asked, intrigued.
"Yeah, like you can whittle really good stakes. I can't. Guess that didn't come with the Slayer package for me."
"So this is a Slayer thing?"
Faith sighed. "You missed the point, B. But I can't blame you for that, you are blonde. It's a person thing. You're a Slayer and you can whittle stakes and I…" Faith tailed off and looked for a slightly warmer mug of coffee.
Buffy took a few minutes to process what Faith had just said. Faith had gaydar because she was…? When Buffy remembered Faith's constant innuendoes, it seemed kinda obvious that she might be gay, but somehow she had still not really noticed. Then she flushed, several times she had responded to them. She quickly thought of something to say, something that sounded casual and non-wigged. "What about you and Taz? Did you two ever…?"
Faith snorted. "Me and Taz? No. Actually, I didn't realise back then that Taz was gay. And even if I did know… probably not. Not then."
"But you would now, if she and Maya weren't together?" Buffy persisted.
Faith stared at her. "What's with the big old questions, B?"
Buffy paused in her circuits of the room. "Just a funner version of Twenty Questions, F. See, when two people are friends they show interest in each other's lives, they ask questions and share details."
Faith snorted again. "Is this how you and Willow bond?"
"Nope. Willow's a big talker, mostly she'll share details without being forced, but with you it's like getting blood out of a stone. And don't think I'm not noticing how far you're going to get out of answering the question."
"Fine. But I get to ask you questions in return."
"That's kind of how it works." Buffy told her.
"No, I wouldn't be after Taz if she didn't have a girlfriend."
"Hrmm. Why?"
"Jesus, B! It's like being with a four year old, if your next question is 'why is the sky blue' I'm going to knock you unconscious, and given our current location and situation, that's a fairly serious threat."
Buffy processed the threat for a few seconds. "Hrmm. Ok, well, I won't ask that then. So, I'll return to my previous question of why?"
"Why?" Faith laughed. "I don't know! Um, maybe her hair, I like to drink a lot and I couldn't face waking up with a hangover and the first thing I saw being such a toxic shade of purple. I don't know, B. Why don't you want Xander? It's one of those things that you just know but don't know why!"
"Is there someone else?"
"Hey! When's it my turn to ask questions? You've asked loads already." Faith protested.
"Ask away." Buffy replied, quickly storing up her questions for another time.
Faith stretched and thought. "Well, I've asked before, but you boinked the undead, what was that like? I mean, was it really cold? Was it good? Does he have tricks that mortal men don't? Did he bite you?"
"That's like four questions." Buffy pointed out, blushing furiously.
"B, you've dug around in my brain, this is payback."
"Ok. Ok. It was good, nice…"
"Good? Nice? B, he was your big love, I don't think he'd be too flattered if that was the best description you could think of."
"Ok, it was absolutely amazing, and yes, it was very cold to begin with." She fought the blush, determined not to invoke more questions from Faith. "It was kinda like when you hop into a swimming pool in the middle of summer and the cold hits you instantly, but then he began to warm up."
Faith's eyes lit up. "More details?"
"You want the really ooshy details?"
"Well, not every thrust and grunt, but some more would be fun."
"He was very gentle with me, and it was amazing. No, he didn't bite me. And I don't know if he had any tricks that mortals don't since he's the only one I've ever been with."
"So you didn't do the dirty with Scott, then?"
Buffy was saved from answering any more of Faith's inane questions by the return of Wes and breakfast. "I didn't know what you wanted," he said without any preamble. "So I got a little of everything."
"Go, Wes!" Faith said approvingly.
"Hope you got a receipt." Buffy added, helping herself to a blueberry muffin. "Otherwise the Council won't reimburse you."
"Damn it!"
Buffy and Faith exchanged amused looks. This was the closest they had been to seeing Wes curse in everyday life.
Buffy patted his shoulder. "But on the plus side, it's very yummy."
The door opened once more and a very pale Taz walked in.
"Yummy breakfast?" Buffy offered.
Taz stumbled over to bed and sank down on it. "I can't do this any more." She said softly, her face in her hands.
"What?" Faith asked.
"Losing friends." Taz replied. "Annie died last night."
Given Taz's track record, all three expected her to cry, so they were quite surprised when she merely picked up a cup of coffee and sipped it as if on auto-pilot.
"Taz, that coffee's three hours old." Wes said, taking it from her.
Faith stared at Buffy who was making some bizarre gestures with her eyes towards Taz, who was staring at the cup that Wes just took from her. Faith finally understood when Buffy mouthed 'hug her'. She tentatively put a hand of Taz's back and patted her awkwardly.
Taz shook her off. "Look, you guys have been great, really. I mean, you saved my life, and that's a hell of a lot, but right now I need Maya." She stood up. "I'm going to see Maya."
"I'll drive you." Wesley offered.
"I'm ok."
"You're exhausted, Taz, and upset." Buffy pointed out. "We won't stay, unless you want us to, but let us give you a lift."
"Fine." She replied listlessly.
*~*~*~*
They stayed in the car when Taz got out at Maya's house. Maya was waiting at the end of the drive for her. When Taz reached her they embraced, sinking to the ground, overcome with grief.
Buffy felt her own eyes fill with tears. She blinked them back. "Let's go."
"B, you ok?" Faith asked.
"Fine."
"You don't look fine." Faith told her bluntly.
"Faith…" Wes cautioned, glancing at them in the rear-view mirror.
"There wasn't anything we could have done." Faith added. "I didn't see Annie at all while I was dreaming, how about you?"
"No."
"Wes?"
"I only saw the two of you and Taz. I didn't even see Freddy in his true form." He replied.
"I should have gone back to sleep." Buffy said softly. "I should have been there."
"B, first rule of slaying, don't die. You told me that. You didn't die. I feel bad that we couldn't help Annie, but we did manage to save Taz, you saved Taz, and all three of us here are still alive."
"And after we saved Taz I should have gone back to sleep." Buffy said stubbornly.
"B, none of us knew this would happen –"
"Well it's a fair assumption! After what we saw him do to Taz I should have known!" She snapped.
"Buffy, I'm your," Wes paused, knowing how the girl would respond if he used the word 'Watcher', "chaperone, I'm in charge of the both of you, I'm fully trained to do this. Do you think I'm not feeling guilty that a girl has died?"
"How the hell am I supposed to know? You're so damned British I wasn't aware you even had emotions!"
As Wes pulled up outside the library she hopped out of the car and started walking away, Faith quickly walked after her, leaving Wes in the car. He saw Faith catch up with her, then clearly heard Buffy say, "F, I'm storming off, it has less of an impact if you come with me!"
Wesley sighed deeply, wondering why he hadn't just let Giles accompany the girls. He couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't cut out for this. Whether that thing last night had been his father or not, the words still hit home. His father would have certainly told Wesley that he was making a complete pigs ear of the whole operation. While failures could have their good days, there was no changing the fact that from the beginning of their lives to the end, they were still failures.
"C'mon, England." Faith opened his door, breaking him out of his reverie. "Let's go hit the books. B's gonna come back when she's less volatile."
"She said that?"
"No, but she's big with the loyalty. She'll be back."
Wes got out of the car and locked up, as he did so he heard Faith mutter, "I'm no good at this."
"I can assure you that you are." He replied, not caring if he was supposed to hear or not.
She stared at him, as if weighing up the pros and cons of pretending he hadn't spoken or jumping in with both feet. "I mean the girly shit." She said finally. "Kill a demon, fine. It's this hug-and-share-and-learn-and-grow crap I can't deal with. She needs someone like Willow here to do the hugging thing."
"You're not Willow." He told her firmly. "But that's a good thing. Buffy doesn't need a replacement for Willow, she already has the real thing. And I doubt I'm mistaken when I tell you that Buffy is glad that you're here."
"Whatever." Faith replied emptily, taking a bag from Wes and heading towards the library.
Wes hurried to catch her up. "Not 'whatever'. She considers you a friend, and that is certainly not a 'whatever' situation."
Faith stared at him, the corners of her mouth twitching as if she was fighting a smile. "For a suit, you're not bad at this girly stuff." The smile won out. "Maybe you could give me some pointers for talking to B?"
"I think you're handling it just fine." He told her as they entered the library.
Faith followed him, still smiling. As stuffy, slightly anal and overly British watchers went, Wes wasn't so bad.
*~*~*~*
"Is there anything else you need, Mr Wyndham-Price?" The librarian asked with a big smile.
Wesley paused to read the name on her badge. "I think we're set, Ms Jarrett."
"Oh, call me Suzie." She smiled even wider.
"Suzie, then. I think we're set."
Suzie smiled again and Faith began to wonder how her face muscles dealt with the strain. That was one big-ass smile. Finally, she bustled off, smiling over her shoulder at Wes.
"She's crushing on you." Faith told him in an undertone.
Wes choked on his coffee. "What? She's not. I mean, well, she's twice my age! No, she's not."
"I don't get it." She stared at him appraisingly. "I mean, you're ok. You wear a suit well and you're less tweedy that Giles, but still, you're so Wesley."
"Faith, research." He said regaining his composure.
"Not that it's not handy." She continued. "She's letting us drink coffee in here, and use our own books and has given us unlimited access to the net, but all the same… it's just not natural."
Wesley passed her a book from his own collection. "Chapter nine deals with sleep demons. Simply marvellous author."
"Are you going to ask her out?"
"The author? She's been dead since the thirteenth century."
"Wes! We're bonding here, stop making with the funnies, it's weird enough that someone finds you attractive, let alone you develop a sense of humour."
"Chapter nine." He repeated, opening his emails.
She sighed deeply and opened the book. Silence reigned for a few minutes.
"So, where are you going to take her?"
*~*~*~*
Buffy took a seat under a big tree and rested her face in her hands. What she really wanted was to clear her head before she went into the library and started researching. All she could see was Annie's face. She'd only met the girl yesterday and now she was dead.
She hated the fact that she hadn't been able to save her, and the guilt almost felt physical, pressing down on her from all sides. Something that Taz said last night had been bothering her.
"Sometimes I think about killing myself. Not because I want to die, I really want to live, I have so much going, Maya, my friends, an art scholarship, even my Dad when's he's not drugging me. But I really don't want to die in the dream. I just get the feeling that if you die in there your soul isn't freed. You're trapped in his world forever, and that's even more scary than what he might do to me before I die. I'm a Catholic, and I've been brought up with the idea that suicide is a sin and you go to hell for it. That's fine. Hell can't be worse than that kind of dream."
Not only had she not been able to save Annie, but Annie's soul was trapped in one of the most scary places Buffy had ever been to, and she had already visited a hell dimension.
"Buffy!"
Buffy looked up and saw a flash of purple hair, flanked by a brunette and a redhead, Taz, Maya and Marie. Buffy sighed inwardly then waved and got to her feet to meet them.
"Hi." She said softly on reaching them.
"Our parents have told us to get out of the house and get some fresh air. I can't get Krueger out of my mind, you said you were going to find a way to stop him. We're going to help you." Taz informed her.
Marie glared. "And wow, look how simple it is! All we gotta do is plonk our asses down under a tree in the sunshine and Krueger's gone! Who'd have thunk?"
Buffy winced, but said nothing to defend herself.
"Marie, shut up." Maya told her sternly. "She saved Taz last night."
"But not Annie." Marie pointed out. "Which begs the question why? Why was Taz good enough to save but not Annie."
"Shut up!" Taz snapped at her. "Annie wasn't there when we were."
"Oh, so when Fluffy here said that she had come to Springwood to stop Krueger and save us, what she actually meant was that she'd only do it when it suited her? When she was asleep and fighting for her life, she might as well save someone else who was there too."
"I'm sorry." Buffy said weakly.
"Oh, well that's ok then." Marie sneered. "It's fine that Annie's dead because Buffy's sorry. Yay. I feel better now."
"Marie, shut the fuck up!" Taz grabbed Marie by the arm and frog-marched her away from them.
"No, she's right." Buffy said. "I fucked up, and I'm really, really sorry."
Maya tentatively put a hand on her arm. "Marie's just hurting over Annie. Annie was her big unrequited love and her best friend, she doesn't really blame you. You saved Taz last night, and I, for one, will be forever grateful to you."
"It's my job." Buffy replied tonelessly. "And I messed up."
"Saving a life is messing up?" Maya asked. "Because I really don't think so. Annie was one of my best friends, but I don't blame you, and like I said, Marie doesn't either, she's just hurting. If you weren't here she'd be lashing out at Taz or me for not dying last night. Except for the fact that Taz would be dead if you weren't here. Don't blame yourself, blame Krueger."
Buffy processed what Maya was telling her, it seemed to make sense, but the guilt didn't lessen. "I should get inside and start researching." She said finally, then paused. "Thanks."
"We'll be there in a second, we just need to calm Marie down." Maya told her.
*~*~*~*
Faith slammed the book shut, then sneezed loudly as some dust shot out of the book and up her nose. "Bless me." She muttered.
"It's bad luck to bless yourself." Wes informed her.
"That's ok. I figure given the lack of luck we've had a little more bad luck couldn't hurt. You reach a point where there's just no more hopeless to have." She replied, taking another book.
"Hey guys, what do we have?" Buffy asked, walking up to the table.
"Well, we have a starter of nothing, a main course of zip, with a double side order of zilch with nil sauce, rounded up with a dessert of sweet fuck all." Faith responded.
"Sounds yummy." Buffy took a seat and took a book. "Can the seating plan extend to three more? Taz, Maya and Marie are on their way."
"There's plenty of nothing to go around." Wes said.
Buffy stared at him, then turned to Faith. "Did he just make a funny?"
"Uh-huh. That's about the fourth time. It's getting downright freaky being here." Faith replied.
"Ah!" Wes said.
"Ah?" Buffy and Faith responded. Faith quickly added, "That was a good 'ah', right?"
"No! Don't you do that! Thank you, ah –" Wes hit a few buttons on the computer in front of him. "Bugger."
"Not a good 'ah'." Faith concluded. "Another virus?"
"No, just a random crash." Wes replied.
"Wes and the computer are not getting along very well." Faith told Buffy. "The server for his email is down, so we called Willow who told him a way to get around it, but the computer isn't taking orders very well. We've tried everything, rebooting, swearing, poking it with a pen and frowning disapprovingly but nothing so far."
Buffy blinked. "You poked the computer with a pen?"
"Well yeah, I was going for blue, but Wes said that red is the colour of correction."
"Really?"
"No, I made that up. I used black."
Wes sighed as the computer made various beeps as it rebooted. He pointed to a dot on the monitor. "See, this is where she poked it."
Buffy turned to Faith. "What did you do with the real Wes?"
"It's the effect of true love, it brought out the best in him." Faith replied, skimming a page in her book.
Buffy goggled. "Please don't tell me you're macking on your Watcher."
"Oh no, Suzie behind the counter is. Wes is taking her to the movies."
"I'm not." Wes interjected.
"Then to dinner, then back to his motel room for a bit of down and dirty."
"Again, I say I'm not."
"We'd better wear earplugs tonight."
Buffy flipped a page. "You know what? Reading this boring dusty book seems more appealing that listening to this conversation."
"Marvellous idea. Faith, research." He said sternly, but smiled at her.
"Ok, I'm done with demons, I'm gonna find out what Krueger was before he died. I'm getting nowhere, I want a new topic. Buffy can take the demons."
"You wanna say demons any louder?" Buffy hissed.
"Ah, it's ok." Faith assured her. "Wes told Suzie that he's a horror writer and we're his research assistants."
"Wow." Buffy said to Wes. "She must really like you if she bought that."
"Buffy, research."
"Great theme song." Faith commented as she headed off to the news archives.
When she returned, laden down with several large books filled with newspaper clippings, Taz, Maya and Marie had already arrived. Wes had given Maya and Taz a book each and they were reading them, their mouths hanging open, looking a little stunned by the content of Wes's books. Marie was curled up in a chair reading a Harry Potter book.
"Don't think you're gonna find any answers in there?" Faith commented, not seeing the warning looks from the others.
Marie stared up her, her green eyes narrowed, "Well, I'm one of those people who doesn't want to die in the middle of a book. I have seven chapters to go and only after I finish them will I bother to read anything else."
Faith opened her mouth to comment again, but this time she saw Maya shaking her head emphatically, and shut it again. "Right. Ok. Let me know how it ends, I always meant to read those books." She said softly and took her seat at the table again.
"You know the archives have been pulled on him." Taz commented, noting Faith's books.
"I'm not looking for how he died, I'm looking for what he was like before then." She replied. "I wanna know if he was the type to invoke a demon, or if this was pure chance."
"Knock yourself out." Taz replied, her attention returning to the book in front of her.
There was several minutes' silence, aside from the odd 'yuck' or 'eww' from Taz and Maya who, while were almost used to the idea of demons, were not quite so used to some of their methods of breeding, eating or fighting.
"Ah!" Wes said rather triumphantly.
"Virus?" Buffy suggested.
"Crash?" Faith added. "Or better yet, a good 'ah'?"
"No, no and yes, a good 'ah'." Wes replied. "Faith, pass me the Draconim Compendium."
Faith looked helplessly at the books around her.
"The one that you said looked like a dragon vomited on it." Wes added obligingly.
She located the book and handed it over. "Actually I said it smelt like a…" she tailed off as Wes held up one finger to silence her.
"This is good, right?" Maya whispered.
Faith nodded. "Hope so."
"Definitely a positive vibe." Buffy added. "He's wearing Giles' smug face."
"I can assure you, this smug face is my very own." Wes muttered absently, searching the pages of the huge tome in front of him.
"And once more with the funny. This is getting creepy."
"A-ha!" Wes said in the same triumphant tone.
"Now that's definitely a good sign." Faith said knowledgably "He's not said 'a-ha' the whole time we've been here."
Wesley gave her a tolerant smile. "Willow emailed the diary of a girl named Alice Johnson to –"
"Crazy Alice?" Maya asked. "She's a local legend around here too. The only person in the world who faced Freddy twice and lived. Nearly drove her crazy though, she took her son and high-tailed it out of here back when I was still in kindergarten."
"Yes, most probably, this is her journal. Mostly it contains her personal reactions to the deaths around her, but she did mention that once when she was facing Krueger he referred to 'soul food', and then at the end of her diary she also wrote that she saw souls being released when she defeated him."
Wes paused and took a sip of his coffee, the others stared at him expectantly, even Marie's interest was piqued and she was leaning forward, although she was trying to maintain a bored expression.
"There is tell of a demon, a Krakhlahn, that will inhabit a host, but can only survive on a diet of human souls. This demon is very picky about who it will choose to be its host. It would rather be an intangible entity than trap itself in the 'wrong' body. Once it chooses a host it's stuck with it forever."
"Hrmm, a classy demon, standards and everything. I bet Cordy's sorry she missed this." Buffy commented.
"If the demon's that elitist, why did it pick Krueger?" Faith asked. "I mean, there are hundreds of maniacs all over the States, what made him so special?"
"Well, if you think of the way he was conceived anything's possible." Maya commented.
Wes, Buffy and Faith stared at her. "What do you mean?" Wesley asked.
"Everyone around here knows the legend… but of course you're not from around here, so you obviously don't know." Maya sighed. "In a nutshell there's a abandoned hospital around here called Westin Hills, it got closed back in… when was it, Taz?"
"Eighty-seven." Taz supplied. "Right after another Freddy fiasco."
"Right, so it was closed. But before that it was a mental institute, not one of the cozy ones with finger painting and the Disney Channel, more like hundreds of nutbags locked in a tower at one end and left to rot. The story goes that a young nun named Amanda Krueger was locked in there over a long weekend, either a joke or just a mistake, the maniacs had their fun with her, and when they she was let out she was pregnant. Guess who the baby was."
"They called him the bastard son of a hundred maniacs." Marie supplied, joining the conversation for the first time.
"Well, that would certainly bump up his points on the psycho scale." Buffy said. "So, how do we kill old crackly?"
"The Krakhlahn is impossible to kill." Wesley replied.
"Well, that's inspiring. Glad I stopped reading for this." Marie commented.
"Back off, Red." Faith snapped. "He's my Watcher and only I get to dis him, ok?" She turned back to Wes. "Something inspiring would help no end right about now."
"However, you can draw the demon out of the host, leaving the host mortal once more."
Faith flashed a smug look at Marie, who glared back at her and returned to her book.
"Sounds like a plan." Buffy said. "How do we do that?"
Wesley sighed and stared at the page in front of him. "We need and Urn of Ylliano."
"I've heard of him, he opened the Olympics back in ninety-six, sang that boring song in Italian."
"Doubtful." Wesley replied. "If that was him, he was looking remarkably spry for a man of twelve-hundred years."
Faith grinned at her. "Yeah, Ylliano is the guy who invented that spirit drink that's about seventy percent and tastes like peppermint essence."
"That would be Galliano." Wesley smiled slightly. He had always found the Slayers to be tiresome when they played dumb for Giles, but now he was involved he actually found it amusing. "And I would point out that you are too young to drink, Faith, but I fear it would only encourage you."
"Hello, tired people here." Marie interrupted. "Very tired. Are you going to tell us how to get this vase or whatever or are we going to play word games for the rest of the day?"
"Shut up, Marie." Taz and Maya chorused.
"No, she's right. I apologise." Wes smiled slightly at the surly redhead. "Ylliano was apparently rather fanatical about Krakhlahns and made an Urn that would essentially suck the demon out of the host, very powerful magic."
"You're telling me that we're facing Krueger, and all we've got is a supernatural vacuum cleaner?" Faith asked.
Wesley ignored her and carried on. "Unfortunately the urns are extremely rare. I suggest you all go and stock up on coffee while I try various sources to obtain one."
"Well," Marie decided, standing up. "I'm glad I was here for that. It was just like a history lesson, boring as hell and nearly as deadly, I felt my eyes closing several times and we're still no better off." She stomped out, hastily followed by Maya and Taz. Taz threw a hurried "sorry" over her shoulder as she left.
"I think he means we're cramping his style and he wants to ask Suzie out." Faith said to Buffy, getting to her feet.
Wesley sighed. "Just go."
"I'll even get you a donut on the coffee run." She replied, shouldering her bag.
"Any preferences?" Buffy offered. "I'm craving chocolate."
"Jam please." Wes answered, then paused. "That's jelly in American-speak."
"Gotcha. And what would Suzie like?" Buffy asked.
"Probably not what you could buy in the local diner… although we could probably get some chocolate sauce if you want." Faith added.
"Please go." Wesley replied, his face turning rather pink.
Faith grinned at him, "Let's go, B. I think we've hit out quota for embarrassing Wes today."
Wes watched them leave the library, smiling slightly. There was no doubt his father would consider this a failure, for the Slayers to feel comfortable enough around him to have a joke with (or at) him, but strangely, Wes didn't care.