Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own anything but Celeste. Enjoy!
Realizations
Celeste jumped as the door slammed, causing her to spin around in surprise. She smiled, shaking her head as Faith and Ox walked in, neither noticing her. "You both know how to give a woman a heart att – "
Her voice died away abruptly as they both looked up at her, conflicting emotions swimming in their eyes. She put down the book she was holding and rushed over to them, concern written all over her features.
"What happened?" she asked, her voice calm but a hint of urgency in it. "Did you run into something on patrol?"
Neither of them answered at first, both too shaken up by their experiences in the graveyard. Celeste did not push, though. She instead led them both to the couch, giving them time to think of what they were going to say. She sat down in a chair across from them, leaning forward slightly.
"What happened?" she asked again, her voice soft. Faith and Oz glanced at each other for a minute before Faith turned to look at her Watcher.
"Two vamps attacked us," Faith started slowly, dropping her eyes. She reached forward and grabbed a glass from the table, idly playing with it. "Figured it was the typical fight and dust. But when I staked one of them, it changed."
Faith stopped talking abruptly as her voice caught in her throat. Celeste said nothing, giving her time to collect herself. Faith looked up again. Celeste was surprised to see tears slowly glassing over her eyes.
"It turned into Allan, the mayor's secretary," Faith said quietly. "He was bleeding and fuck, there was so much blood and it was all over my hands. And then he turned to ashes and the blood was gone."
"Mine did the same thing – except it turned into Willow."
Celeste stared at the two in shock, taking a deep breath to calm herself. Faith clenched her fist, not even noticing when the glass broke and shards of it cut into her skin.
"Faith…" Celeste started but was cut off as Faith stood up, her knuckles white from the strain.
"Someone's playing with us," she muttered, beginning to pace around the room. "Someone's fuckin' playing with us. The bastard. It's all just a fuckin' game to him."
"Faith, calm down."
Faith turned to her, eyes flashing in anger. For a moment, Celeste could see a darkness brimming deep within the Slayer's eyes, pulsing to be let out. For that moment, a wild look seemed to overtake Faith.
"No," Faith hissed, clenching her teeth. "No! There is no calming down. I will not let some bastard play me like this, reminding me of what I did. Fuck that. I won't."
She stared at her watcher through narrowed eyes, daring her to say something. Celeste stood up to her full height and walked over to Faith. Celeste met Faith's gaze fully, not backing down one bit.
"You will calm down, Faith," Celeste said, her voice firm. "You have to. If you want to find out who is doing this, you need to calm yourself and sit down. Yes, someone is playing with you. They're evil – they want to do everything they can to undermine your strength and abilities. You have to let yourself accept this and calm down. Tearing up your hands with glass will not help you accomplish that."
Faith looked down at her hands for the first time, noticing in surprise the blood that slowly started trickling down her wrists. She unclenched her fists, wincing as the glass tore into her flesh. She looked at her watcher again, the wild look dissolving from her face. The darkness vanished in her eyes vanished, leaving a lost girl desperately trying to control her anger and fear.
"Yeah," Faith said softly. "You're right. I need to get the better of this bitch. I can't do that with torn hands, can I?"
Celeste's face softened as she shook her head, inspecting the Slayer's hands carefully. She opened her mouth to give directions when suddenly, a loud bang caused all of them to jump. Faith immediately fell into a defense stance, reaching for the stake hidden in her coat sleeve. She winced as her hands brushed roughly against the material of her jacket.
"Oops."
Celeste smiled at the voice, visibly relaxing as she walked towards the stairs leading to the attic. A young man stood there, burdened down by books, another book laying at his feet the obvious cause of the noise. He grinned sheepishly as she picked the book up.
"Next time, call us when you need help."
He nodded and walked towards the table, barely able to see over the stack of books. He carefully put them on the table, glancing up at Faith for the first time. He was momentarily surprised to see her but quickly caught himself.
"Hey Faith," he said. "H-how are you?"
Faith stared at him for a moment, a vague sense of familiarity coming over her. An image of a younger, more insecure high schooler came to mind, as did the name Buffy had give to her just a short while ago.
"Jonathan?" she asked, tilting her head slightly in question. He nodded and gave her a smile as he sat down on the couch. Celeste walked over to Faith, carrying bandages in her hand. Slowly and painstakingly, with a few curses from Faith, Celeste got rid of the glass pieces from her skin and bandaged Faith's hands.
When she finished, Celeste sat back down on the chair. Faith stood by the couch for a moment, suddenly feeling out of place. Oz, Jonathan, and Celeste seemed completely at ease with each other, an easy chemistry in them. Faith felt like an outsider, watching something she could never be part of.
Jonathan seemed to sense her discomfort. He moved closer to Oz, giving her room to sit down the couch. She smiled her thanks and sat next to them, leaving a visible amount of space between them.
"So, what's the sitch?" Faith asked, motioning towards the books. "Do we know what demony thing is the cause of this? Or is it just another case of the Hellmouth?"
"At this point, we're not sure yet," Celeste explained. "We only know a few things about whatever evil is at work and even those things we're not sure about. From your dream, Faith, it seems there is a possibility this demon might have claws. Also, it seems to be able to change the forms of other beings, like the vampires did tonight."
"So, research party?" Oz asked. Celeste nodded.
"Exactly. We'll start with these books and if we still can't find any information, there are more in the attic."
With that, each grabbed and book and started to look for anything that could connect them to the demon that was causing problems. All that was heard in the room was the quiet ticking of the clock and the continuing turning of pages.
"I found something!" Jonathan exclaimed, breaking the silence of the room. He put the book on the table so everyone could view it. "It's a demon c-called Ransofor. Um, it can change the form of both himself and other creatures. The demons are extremely rare and few, though each one is extremely dangerous."
Jonathan looked up at the others, looking at them nervously. "T-They use magic. Dark Magic. Demons fear them, because of how far they've gone into the Black Magics."
Celeste sat back in her chair, contemplating the information that they had just found. Faith looked at her watcher expectantly, waiting for a response. Faith jumped as she heard a noise from the kitchen.
"Sorry I took so long. We were out of Doritos, so I had to make salsa for the Tostitos. I made it a little spicier than usual – I think I might have put in a little too much hot sauce. But it's a newer recipe too, so that could be it and – AHH!"
The floppy-eared demon gave a yelp of surprise as Faith leapt at him, grabbing a knife from a nearby table. As Faith jumped forward, she vaguely heard Celeste calling after her name. She plunged the knife at him but before it touched flesh, she was shoved hard to the ground.
"What the hell was that for?" Faith yelled in frustration as the demon cowered behind a partially morphed Oz. "And why the fuck are you protecting a demon?"
"Clem helps us out, Faith," Celeste said, walking over. She smiled at Clem, and he visibly relaxed. "He's one of our links to the demon world. He can usually tell us what new demons are in town and things like that."
"But he's a demon," Faith said, unsure of herself. "That means he's evil."
Clem shook his head, his ears waving back and forth. "We floppy-eared aren't evil. In fact, we don't even like to fight that much. There's a just a few every now and then who get bad genes and cause a little bit of trouble."
"There are some demons that are not evil," Celeste said, walking over to Clem and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Clem, for instance, is not evil. There are many demons that do have a choice in whether or not they want to be evil. Most choose to be so but there are others that choose not to. It's all their decision."
"They choose to be evil? Just like a person can choose to be evil?"
"Well, not all, but some," Celeste explained. Faith nodded, thoughts of her own decisions coming to her head. Celeste realized her Slayer needed time to think and grabbed the Tostitos from Clem's hand. "So, let's try some of that salsa, shall we?"
As Clem, Celeste, and Oz walked back to the couch, Faith stood there alone. He chooses to be good. He could be evil, but he chose not to. If demons can decide what they want to be, maybe I can to. Maybe I can make up for what I've done and choose to be good.
Authors Note: *grins* Bet you weren't expecting Clem to show up, huh? Well, since I was very upset for no more Clem this season, I decided he would work perfectly in this story. As would Jonathan. Grrr to Joss Whendon and the rest of the writers for abandoning poor Jonathan and Clem. Anyway, I will probably be updating more often now (YEAH!) since finals are now done and I'm on break (DOUBLE YEAH!) Oh, and once again, thanks to EVERYONE who has reviewed my stories.
For confused: Travers is, well in my story was, the head of the Watchers Council. He and Buffy never really got along that well.
Jane McCartney: Even though Xander, Willow, and Dawn are dead doesn't mean they're out of the count ;)
Jammies2002 and jedi-jainafel: You'll have to see what happens to Travers – he's just started with Buffy.
And for everyone else who reviewed but didn't have any questions: THANK YOU!!!! I really appreciate reviews because I know that people enjoy my stories. I think that's it for now, so catch ya on the flipside!