Chapter Nine

Cordelia roamed through the Hyperion's halls one by one, pissed off, and nearly on the verge of screaming out at the top of her lungs. Although she was used to fighting supernatural phenomenon on a daily basis, she was not used to reasoning with ex-cons that happened to be a psychopathic Slayer who terrorized her and her friends only a year or so ago and can turn into a scary and somewhat large and deadly-looking panther. It already added too much weight to the burden she already bore. Though it was nowhere near as heavy as a Slayer's, it was still heavy enough to make her stumble sometimes and she now understood that everyone makes mistakes and everyone deserves a true second chance. Something no one ever gave Faith.

She paused as she heard a faint snarling sound and sounds of things being ripped to shreds coming from the room next to her. The brunette seer took a strong determined breath and went inside the room. She stood with her arms crossed sternly in front of her, very much like a scolding mother as she watched an overgrown black panther tear the room apart with its sharp claws and teeth.

Cordelia cleared her throat and waited for the panther to stop. Its green eyes flashed angrily towards her as it stood in the midst of broken furniture and torn wallpaper. Cordelia couldn't help but break a smile.

"You know, you're nothing but an overgrown kitten that hasn't been housebroken," Cordelia replied. She strode slowly around the room, shaking her head at the damage. "Man, Angel's going to be pissed when he sees this." She stopped and bravely stood in front of the huge growling panther. "Now, are we going to talk civilly or do I have to throw you in a litter…a sandbox?"

She took a step towards the panther, but it gave a warning snarl and darted away. Cordelia followed until it was backed into a corner.

"Come on, Faith, I don't have time to play games with you," Cordelia said through gritted teeth.

The panther's only reply was a low growl. Cordelia tentatively reached out a hand to stroke the panther's head, but it flinched away.

Don't! I don't want to hurt you, came Faith's plea inside Cordelia's head.

Cordelia kneeled down so she was nearly nose-to-nose with the black panther and stared right into its large green eyes.

She saw anger and fear mixed in them. "You won't hurt me unless you want to." She cocked an eyebrow. "And I know you don't want to."

The panther looked away as it sat on its hind legs. There are a lot of things I want, but I still manage to fuck things up. Better leave now while you still got your face attached.

"Faith, I'm not leaving," Cordelia stated. She sighed and shut her eyes before slowly opening them again. "Look, I didn't mean to say what I said down there."

No. I know what you meant, Faith interrupted. I know what a Freudian slip is. Had to visit the shrink the first month in the clink, saw that I was a lost cause, and told me to stop coming. The panther snorted almost sadly. Looks like everybody likes to lose faith in me. The panther's mouth opened up into a grin, showing fangs and a large pink tongue, then disappeared as quickly as it came. Pun definitely not intended.

Cordelia sat cross-legged in front of her and placed a hand on top of the panther's large head and lightly began scratching the space between the panther's ears. "I'm still here. Aren't I?"

The panther suddenly moved its head away from Cordelia's hand and laid on the floor with its head on its paws and ears down flat on its head looking very much like a sad beaten dog. Yeah, I don't get that. But you will turn against me eventually. It's like a curse or a cycle or something. Anybody who tries to get close to me either dies, leaves, or betrays me.

Cordelia let out a breath, not sure how to respond to that. Quietly she leaned closer towards the large animal and began stroking its soft fur comfortingly. The panther made no move or response, only a small shivering. After a moment, the shivering stopped and a low rumbling sound came from deep within the panther's throat and chest. It was a second later that Cordelia realized it was purring.

Before Cordelia could make a witty remark, the panther leapt to its feet, ears up in alert, and used its strong tail to swat Cordelia behind it as if protecting her. Before Cordelia could blink, Faith was standing where the panther was, Slayer senses on full battle mode and muscles tense as her dark eyes kept a steady gaze on the door.

The doorknob slowly twisted around and the door creaked open. A moment later, Dawn appeared at the doorway. Faith relaxed a bit as Dawn smiled and slowly approached them, looking worriedly at the scattered and broken items in the room. Faith tensed again as her Slayer senses nearly screamed with danger.

That doesn't make any sense, Faith thought as she felt Dawn's arms wrap around her in a tight embrace. She could feel the warning and danger thrumming off the young girl. How could that be possible? Better ask Giles about that later.

"Hey, Faithie," Dawn murmured softly into Faith's dark tresses. She pulled away from the embrace and looked searchingly into Faith's eyes. "Buffy didn't hurt you did she?"

"Nah, nothing Slayer strength can handle." Faith smiled crookedly.

Dawn smiled and peered over Faith's shoulder to Cordelia. She looked at her curiously, as if seeing her for the first time. "Willow's downstairs. She's hungry. She needs a bite to eat."

Cordelia nodded mutely, giving Dawn a strange look, before heading out the door. "I'll see if I can find her something."

"So what did you and my sister talk about," Dawn said very little sisterly like.

A sudden image of Buffy's lost expression and hurt voice appeared in Faith's mind. Faith shrugged. "There wasn't much talking as there was…"

"Hitting!" Dawn finished with a start. "You said she didn't."

"Yelling, Dawn, there was no hitting," Faith finished. It's somewhat the truth. "Geez, didn't know you cared so much." She ruffled Dawn's hair teasingly.

"Of course I care," Dawn replied, snatching Faith's hand and straightening her hair. "You're like a sister." She paused in thought. "The cool I-wanna-be-like-you kind. Not the strict, motherly, let-me-wash-behind-your-ear kind."

"Motherly huh? B would so kick your ass for saying that." Faith smiled, warmed in the inside for what Dawn had said and also feeling a terrible pang of sadness, as she knew that it wouldn't last one way or the other.

"Hey let's see what Cordy and Willow are doing," Dawn said brightly. "I heard Cordy's worse than my sister when it comes to the kitchen." Faith nodded in agreement. "I'm kinda hungry myself."

Faith grimaced at having to go back downstairs to face Giles and Wesley again, but she smiled nonetheless for Dawn and led the way down the hall. As she walked down the stairs, she heard screaming and quickly recognized it was Cordelia. Faith immediately took off running, clutching the rail to keep balance as she barreled the rest of the way down the stairs. She could hear Dawn keeping pace closely behind her.

As soon as Faith landed on the bottom floor, she stood stiff in shock. The first thing she saw was Giles knocked unconscious on the ground with Wesley sprawled next to him with blood drying on an open wound in his neck. Then she saw Willow, or whatever it was that was now Willow, holding Cordelia up with one arm around her chest as if using her as a hostage, shielding herself with Cordelia's body. Willow's once green eyes were now a golden yellow rimmed with fiery red. She was snarling animalistically, baring long sharp fangs.

"Dawn, run! Find B," Faith said firmly, never breaking her gaze with Willow's. She was preparing her mind for what she had to do. She had to stake Buffy's best friend. She knew Buffy couldn't do it and she didn't want Buffy to know that kind of pain. It was then she noticed that Dawn hadn't move. She didn't want to turn around and lose sight of Willow.

"Dawn I said go!" Faith yelled through gritted teeth.

"I'm not going anywhere," Dawn replied cruelly, her voice cold and harsh.

Faith's blood nearly turned cold as she heard Dawn's reply. She half turned to face her, while keeping an eye on a hissing animalistic vamp Willow. A sickening feeling crept into Faith's stomach as Dawn grinned at her maliciously, her skin pale and smooth as marble, fangs glistening with hot saliva, and eyes an evil yellow. Faith fought the urge not to vomit right there and then.

"I like it here," Dawn finished harshly.

The words struck like physical blows as Faith forced down that memory of betrayal when she said the same exact thing to Buffy. "Damn, Dawnie, that's some good acting."

Dawn grinned. "I learn from the best."

Again the words were like a knife in her chest and Faith couldn't believe such cruel words could come from her Dawnie. Faith's face lost all emotion and her eyes became empty and cold, something she never let Dawn see before, something she promised herself she would never let Dawn see; her dark side, the evil Faith. But this wasn't Dawn.

"Sorry, Muffet," Faith replied in a dead, emotionless tone. Not the time to lose my head. It's not Dawn anymore.

With that, Faith kicked a nearby chair into the air and did a roundhouse kick, shattering the chair and sending the splinters impaling on Dawn's smooth skin. Without missing a beat, Faith snatched a reasonable piece of wood and headed straight towards Willow, not really wanting to see Dawn crumble to ash.

Willow made a growl, tossing Cordelia to the side, and flung herself towards Dawn as if trying to save her. Faith changed direction at the last minute and headed towards Cordelia, throwing her makeshift stake towards Willow. It landed with a sickening thud in her thigh. Willow roared with pain and stumbled on top of Dawn. Faith used the momentary distraction to sweep Cordelia in her arms and crash through the front door, streaming the afternoon sun into the lobby.

As Faith was bathed in the afternoon sunlight, feeling a bit safer in its light, she set the semi-conscious Cordelia on her feet. She was warring internally with herself on whether or not she should go back in for Giles and Wesley who might be dead or dying. Faith turned around in time to see Dawn slowly stand up with a calm expression on her face. Faith's eyes widened as she watched Dawn remove a wooden shard out of her chest where it was embedded straight through the heart. She should have been dust by now, but the wound was healing rapidly and nearly gone in seconds. Another thing Faith noticed was that the sunlight was shining brightly on Dawn's pale skin, but she wasn't combusting and neither was Willow who was seated on the ground next to her removing the stake from her thigh.

Faith quickly grabbed Cordelia by the hand and practically dragged her away from the hotel. The same thought kept repeating over and over in her head like a chant as she ran down the street pulling Cordelia with her.

Not a vampire, not a vampire, not a vampire.

*           *           *

Tara glanced insecurely at the fuming blonde next to her as she struggled to keep up with her short but quick steps. She had to practically drag the blonde Slayer out of the gym when Buffy knocked the punching bag off its chain and pummeled two boxing trainers without breaking a sweat. The customers were getting a bit suspicious and not to mention frightened.

"Buffy," Tara said, trying to match Buffy's rapid steps. "Buffy, you need to slow down." Still Buffy made no response. The blonde Wicca was about to resort to magic to hold the stubborn Slayer down but voted against it. "Buffy, you need to talk about this. You need to let it out."

Buffy immediately stopped dead in her tracks and glared angrily at Tara. "What's there to talk about? That Faith, my archenemy, is now roaming free on the streets trying to steal my friends, my family! Like stealing my body isn't enough!" She was trying to keep herself mad at Faith and maybe if she kept reminding herself of what Faith had done, she could.

"Buffy, I know she's done so many bad things to you, stuff I can't even begin to comprehend, but you can't keep hating her like this. You can't let her get to you like this. You need to forgive her in order to heal these wounds, both for her sake and yours." She paused, wondering if she was getting through to the blonde Slayer. When Buffy didn't reply, she decided to continue. "Buffy, you've had enemies before, enemies that actually killed people you knew or cared about. Faith never did and I don't think she ever wanted to. I know she's killed before and you both know that it was an accident." She took a deep breath. "What I'm trying to say is, you should give her a second chance, a real one. A whole-hearted attempt. Not some half-ass effort that makes her feel insubordinate and worthless." She sighed. "Why do you hate her so much? I mean, you forgave Angel and Spike and Faith's at least trying."

Buffy began walking again, trying to make her thoughts make sense as she contemplated Tara's question. At first, she thought it was a stupid question. The girl had betrayed her, stole her body, tried to steal her boyfriend, twice, and on more than one occasion tried to hurt her friends and family.

However, there was also this little voice in her head objecting to these reasons; that her anger for the dark Slayer ran a little deeper than that. The little voice that found it's way to Buffy's mouth earlier with Faith before she stormed off crying.

Faith was also a Slayer, her sister-in-arms, the only other person on the planet to ever understand what it felt like to wake up in the morning wondering if tonight's the night you were going to die, to fight an endless, unfair battle of good versus evil knowing it will never stop, that the demons and evil keep coming, that you will never make it and live long enough to have a real life, a family of your very own. Faith understood and accepted the Slayer burden.

~ "See, you need me to toe the line because you're afraid you'll go over it, aren't you, B? You can't handle watching me living my own way, having a blast, because it tempts you! You know it could be you!" ~

Faith had been right in saying she was a temptation to Buffy. She was the part of Buffy that Buffy wanted to be. The wild side, the one without rules and regulations. Where Buffy was organized, trained, and precise, Faith was wild, carefree, without any rules to hold her down. In the end, she was jealous of Faith, that Faith could live on the edge with no worries, that she could do whatever she wanted without a Watcher or mother nagging at her ass, but most of all jealous that Faith accepted her Calling far better than Buffy ever could. Faith saw it as a gift, she saw it as being someone special, to be Chosen for such a special gift, where Buffy saw it as a curse, to never be normal, to never fit in like all the normal girls.

With horror, Buffy began to remember other things. That Faith had been attracted to her, but Buffy had never been ignorant of Faith's sexual innuendos and come-ons. She had always pretended not to notice, but in reality Buffy was scared and confused about the way she felt for the dark Slayer so she hid behind Angel. She had always felt the electricity whenever she and Faith would accidentally touch in battle or training. She also missed the tingling sensation she felt whenever their skin touched. There was also that soft humming sound that grew louder whenever Faith was near, a reminder that they shared the same power, the same bond.

A wave of anger boiled through her as Buffy was reminded that Faith was supposed to fight with her, not against her. That Faith betrayed the bond they shared and her Calling. They were supposed to fight the evil together and share the burden and power. She wondered what drove Faith to do the things she's done, to make Buffy a victim. She realized that she was the center of Faith's attention. Everything Faith did was to hurt Buffy, but why?

"Because we always hurt the ones we love," Buffy finally said softly, answering both her and Tara's question unknowingly.

Tara looked shocked, and it was her this time that stopped dead in her tracks. "You love Faith?"