Epilogue
"So that's what happened, huh?" Dawn fingered the bandages around her leg, wincing slightly as pain lanced through it.
"Yeah," Willow replied softly. "She was pretty brave."
Dawn nodded and glanced around her living room. Xander was sitting placidly on the recliner, a dazed and exhausted look on his face. Tara was nestled at the end of the couch, resting against Willow with a distant and mournful expression.
Dawn swallowed the rising guilt in her throat. "How are the others?"
"Tara and I did a healing spell. They're still unconscious," Willow replied automatically.
Dawn flinched inwardly, knowing it was her fault that Gunn and Wesley had been whipped to within and inch of their lives and that Willow and the rest of them were possessed in the first place. She was surprised Giles was still alive from all the bloodloss. She remembered everything perfectly. She was there inside herself, but with no control at all; like someone else had taken the wheels and she was along for the ride. Shifting her thoughts away from her anger and guilt, her eyes traveled towards the kitchen.
"What about Buffy and the others? What are they doing," Dawn asked softly.
Willow shrugged helplessly. "I'm not sure, Dawnie. They're probably still…"
"In the Land of Denial." Xander shifted in his seat, finally looking at Willow with tired eyes. "What are they doing, Wills? We all know Faith's dead. There's nothing they could do about it."
Dawn glared at him. "What's wrong with you? She sacrificed herself!"
"Her life doesn't make up for the ones she took and the lives she's ruined," Xander defended angrily.
"She paid for her crimes, Xander," Dawn snapped icily, her crystal blue eyes piercing into his own. "She paid with her life."
"But…" Xander started, but Dawn cut him off.
"You weren't there with us, Xander! You didn't see that she had changed." She shook her head in disbelief. "Who's life did she ruin? Yours? I thought getting rid of that pesky virginity was on the top-ten lists of 'things to do' when you were in high school." Her eyes were nearly narrowed down to slits in anger. "Willow and Buffy's lives look pretty damn good to me, probably better than what she ever had."
The room became silent, letting the truth of Dawn's words sink in slowly to the inhabitants of the room. Xander opened his mouth as if to say something then closed it again as if he had nothing more to say.
Inside the Summers kitchen, the blonde Slayer leaned heavily against the sink, listening to every word her sister and friends were saying. Her eyes remained unfocused, lost in thought. When the living room became silent once more, she rose and headed towards the basement door. She paused outside of it; just staring blankly at the closed door as if gathering what courage and strength she had left before opening it and stepping down the staircase.
Once at the bottom, her hazel green eyes rested on her ex-lover, who softly turned towards her and met her gaze before turning back. Silently she made her way over to his side, arms crossing over her chest as if trying to shield herself from the cold air. The Slayer's eyes drifted down to the two figures on the small cot; one sitting, the other lying deathly still. Faith, the Vampire Slayer; the second half of the Chosen Two and Cordelia Chase; the big-hearted seer.
Cordelia's eyes shifted from the still body and met the Slayer's in a silent greeting, before traveling back to the still form of Faith. One of her hands softly held one of Faith's while the other moved to wipe a stray strand of hair out of the other girl's face.
"There's no wounds," Angel finally replied softly. "No bruises from the fight, no cuts, no blood…"
"No gaping hole in her chest," Cordelia finished blankly, her eyes never leaving Faith's body. The hand that moved to wipe a lock of hair was now trailing down the side of Faith's neck and over where the bite mark should have been. "Not even a bite mark or the scars on her hands."
Buffy stirred and slowly moved to Faith's other side. She glanced at the seer as if asking a silent permission and Cordelia nodded mutely. Her hands slowly lifted the hem of Faith's shirt and gave a surprised look to find no scars. Not even the one she herself gave Faith with her own dagger. The blonde Slayer then, hesitantly, gripped Faith's other hand and gasped in surprised to find how warm it was. Not like death at all. She gave a little squeeze and froze. Maybe it was her imagination or maybe it was just wishful thinking, but she felt the warm, frail fingers under her grip lightly squeeze back. But it was so soft, so light, that Buffy thought she had just imagined it.
However, when she looked over to Cordelia, she saw a slightly surprised and confused expression on the ex-cheerleader's face. Their eyes met briefly in question and both nodded their silent answers.
Suddenly, Faith's eyes snapped open and she bolted upright in her bed as if waking up from a horrible nightmare, surprising everyone around her. Buffy and Cordelia dropped her hands as she looked around the room. Her gaze first met Angel's, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. She turned her head to meet Cordelia's gaze and Cordelia backed away in shock and horror. She then slowly turned towards Buffy. As soon as their eyes met, Buffy stifled a gasp of shock, slowly backing away herself.
Chills of fear swept down her spine. There was something really wrong about Faith and something told the blonde Slayer this wasn't the same Faith they all knew. The first sign was her eyes. They were pure white and had no pupils. In fact, they seemed to be glowing softly and even crackled small bolts of lightening on the outside corners.
With the speed of the gods, Faith was off the bed and standing mere inches apart from the blonde Slayer. Her eerie white eyes studying her with warm affection. Buffy was finding it difficult to move with those inhuman eyes boring into her. She knew something was wrong, something was different, but she couldn't force herself to move. It was as if Faith's eyes and the amount of gentleness and affection she could feel pouring out of them was holding her in place. She felt Faith's fingers run up her arm, softly and curiously. A familiar smirk graced Faith's dried lips and the familiarity of it made Buffy question if there was anything wrong with Faith at all.
"My love," Faith whispered in an un-Faithlike way. Gentle, loving, tender, but also with a hint of an undistinguishable accent that Faith never had.
Love? What? Huh? Buffy thought frantically, a million thoughts going through her mind as she gazed questioningly into Faith's unnaturally glowing white eyes.
"…we did it," Faith continued softly, resting her forehead against Buffy's.
What? Did what? Buffy's mind raced, thoroughly confused.
Before Buffy could interpret what Faith was saying, she felt Faith dip her head closer and her lips capturing hers in one movement. It was then that she realized this was definitely not Faith at all.
The End???