L.A, CALIFORNIA
"Taken over by Vampires?" A very old Robin Wood asks as the hot California sun boils down on him.
"Seems like it," Faith responds, although in her early forties, she looks as fit and as beautiful as ever. The same can't be said for her long time companion, who has put on a few pounds since he turned fifty a few years back. Together they walk the streets of L.A, looking at all the abandoned cars and dead bodies, most would be saddened by this sight, but not Faith. She is a fighter who has seen and done it all, including murdering humans and demons alike. She looks back at Wood who seems very unsure. " There certainly aren't any humans left alive around here. That means there has to be a mother load of nests, yo."
As they walk down the streets, weapons in hand, Wood has something he wants to bring up to her but doesn't know how to say it and doesn't know if now is the time for it. But if he has learned anything over the years of knowing her, it is never the time to say something that will discourage. He sucks it in and says it. "What happened to that settling down thing we talked about a few years back?"
She stops in her tracks as does he, she looks very pissed off at this question. " Are you going to bring this up again. We settled, remember?
Wood sighs as she begins to argue. " Faith, that was for two weeks and I don't call hiding out from the government as a happy suburban couple in Ohio counts."
"Robin, you knew what you were getting into when we first started, be happy that you lasted this long."
"You know that I love you and I appreciate your calling, but frankly I'm not a slayer or a vampire or demon and I'm getting too old for this."
She looks straight at him as she says this, it hurts him everytime she says these words, but he has taken such a liking to her. "Than leave, your acting just as weird as you did when I turned down that stupid ring of yours. Plus, you know that this is a very personal mission I'm on."
"I know but, I just can't..."
"Wait, I found what I'm looking for." She interrupts him as he is about to say something very important at least to him. He tries following her as she runs towards a very abandoned butcher shop. His heart can't take it as he catches up to her. She stops at the door and pulls out two stakes, one for each hand. She signals for Wood to grab something, he pulls out a bottle of holy water as she sighs. "When did you lose the passion for this job? Holy water isn't going to get the job done." He just shrugs at her, he still can't understand how she isn't feeling the ravages of age, the funny thing is that she doesn't understand why he is. "Whatever."
She begins counting down to him with her fingers, he cringes at what's going to happen once she has only one finger left. She busts down the door with her left boot, then she goes running into the building. He follows right behind her and the first thing he see's is about a dozen vampires being set a blaze. Faith lunges towards the vampires towards the back and begins staking one after the other. He slowly passes by the bodies that are disappearing in the flames. One vampire approaches him and he slams the body of holy water on his face. Once he catches up to Faith, she has a vamp on the ground and holding a stake to his heart. She begins screaming into his face, there's information she needs to know, the vampire actually looks terrified. "Who did it? WHO KILLED ANGEL?"
"I don't know what your talking about." The vampire squeals as Faith has his arms pinned to the ground.
"Don't lie to me," Wood hasn't seen her this violent in years, even in bed. " Angel was this city's champion against you guys, there's no way you wouldn't know who he is."
"Faith" Wood interrupts her as she grills the vamp. "Maybe he doesn't know anything."
"Stay out of this Wood, stick to your holy water and watch my back." She doesn't even look back towards him.
He turns to look at the entrance, but then realizes that that is not the place to be looking. He spots a huge gaping hole in the floor in the butcher shop. Almost as soon as he spots, a horde of dark figures arise from it. "FAITH!!!! IT'S A TRAP!!!"
She throws the vamp down and lunges at the horde approaching towards her. She begins staking them one by one, but she is still overwhelmed. He takes notice that they are ignoring him and going straight towards her. As the vamps huddle ontop her, he pulls a stake out of his jacket and leaps towards the barrage of bloodsuckers that are engulfing his sometime girlfriend. He manages to stake about three, but still, they keep coming at them. He can hear that she is still alive, every once in awhile dust would get in his eyes, so she's okay for now. Him on the other hand, he's not doing too well, he's already starting to ache during this battle. And then once he leaps at another vampire and stakes, that's when it happens. It feels like his inside have just exploded.
Robin grabs at his heart as the pain grows in that area, he is quickly pushed out of the dog pile on Faith. He falls to the corner and realizes that he is taking his final gasps of air. He wonders if it was worth it, if fighting by her side was worth all this chaos. Does she really care if he lives or dies, apparently not, because here he is, dieing, and all she can think about is avenging the death of some vampire with a soul. As he passes onto the otherside, the vampires pick up Faith, still alive and struggling. She gives him one last worried remorseful glance, and for him, to know that she at least cared a little bit, made it all worth it.
London, England
From the minute she hops into Xander's beautiful new car, she realizes how quickly it has become like old times between the two of them. Maybe not exactly like old times, Willow not being there sort of spoils the moment, but it's close enough for her. Then a really sad thought hits her, he too will die, just like everyone else, she will out live him. Buffy wonders why she even agreed to go with him, part of her thinks that she should have just said good luck and just leave Xander and the other slayers to the big work, it's not her job anymore. But there's just some things she cannot let go, like loyalty. Her father figure was murdered and sired, she can't just leave during that type situation. As much as she wishes she can just turn the other cheek and walk the other way, like many others she has seen before, it's in her nature to stay and fight. And to be honest, it's very comforting that that side of her still exists deep down inside.
But returning is going to be much harder than she wants it to be right now, only one person has forgiven her. Even though Xander was very eager to forgive, she knows that Dawn will not, it's not in her character. She doesn't know what her sister's reaction will be once she knows that she has returned, will she be happy or just angry. It broke her heart those first couple of years not having Dawn around, but she's spent so many years watching over everyone else. So once Dawn was all grown up, she packed her bags and left, she tries to forget that day. Tears and yelling went on between the two of them, but once Buffy put her foot down, she was greeted in a slap in the face by Dawn. Now that was painful, at the time she didn't understand why everyone had to throw a big fit when she left. But now she understands more than ever, even though there were other slayers out there, she was still there guardian. They couldn't just simply replace her with Faith or Kennedy or Vi, they tried that once and they regretted it. But those issues will have to wait, she needs to find out what happened in L.A.
"At first it just looked like another riot, it was L.A, we didn't think much of it." Xander begins to explain the current world situation. "Then it became more and more obvious what was going on, like the fact that the intial fighting and death was only going on at night. Once LAPD was taken out completely, they sent in the army, they too were immobilized. Then guess who was sent there next?"
"The Intiative?"
"Bingo," He gives her a big thumbs up and then goes back to explaining. " Yeah, and guess what? That idea bombed bigger than the first time the Government had the Intiative on the scene. After about a month, the government gave up on trying to understand and control the vampires, so they barricaded the city off from anyone else. About a week before Giles died, he sent Kennedy and a few scouts there to see exactly what was behind it. Most of the slayers and watchers were taken out, Kennedy was the only one who was able to escape."
"Wow," Buffy is very taken aback by all this shocking information, she thought everything would be taken care of with her gone, but perhaps she was wrong. " This is bad, really, really bad."
"Your telling me, we have a city taken hostage by vampires and the mysterious death of the man who became my mentor." He gives her a look that gives her a lot of guilt. "Buffy, we really need you with us for this."
"I know Xander.."
"Please, I go by Alax now, some of us have grown up." She is surprised at how stern he is becoming now that he knows she has no choice to fight. " Buffy, I know this is hard for you, but you have to understand, it's ten times harder for those of us who actually stayed to fight the good fight. And to be honest, I hate having to ask you for anything, I wish I could do this on my own. I'm not leadership guy, that shouldn't be my job."
"Yes it should Xander, I mean Alax. Do I have to call you that, it doesn't feel right?"
"A lot of things don't feel right nowadays, Buff. I shouldn't have to be in this position to make the decisions."
Now it's Buffy's turn to be stern. " Yes you should, because you damn well deserve this role, wish it was under different circumstances." She looks at Xander, who is now more than a bit worried about the current situations. "I have never met someone who was more loyal to the cause than you. Giles made the right decision in giving the council over to you. Don't waste it due to your lack of confidence. I will go with you and fight this one time, but don't be going to me to make some rash decisions. Xander, Alax, whatever you want to be called nowadays, this is your time to lead."
Xander gives a half smile to her again. "Well, you have never been shy with the speeches have you?"
"Well, you know me, I'm speech girl."
"Your wrong." He now gives her a full smile, she is surprised at how handsome he still is.
"Wrong about what?"
"Your not a girl anymore. Sad to say, but all of us are all grown up now."
"Scary isn't it?" She asks Xander sort of jokingly.
"Completely terrifying." He gives her another bright smile as they finally make it into a parking lot. She has never actually been to The Watchers Council in either the Traverse Regime or when Giles was in control, so this is actually kind of a treat. "Well, were here."
"Do I have to go?" She is sort of sarcastic while saying this.
"Hey if I have to lead, you have to go. Congratulations, your days of isolation are now officially over with." He opens the car door and then gets out, she soon follows maybe a little bit eager.
"Taken over by Vampires?" A very old Robin Wood asks as the hot California sun boils down on him.
"Seems like it," Faith responds, although in her early forties, she looks as fit and as beautiful as ever. The same can't be said for her long time companion, who has put on a few pounds since he turned fifty a few years back. Together they walk the streets of L.A, looking at all the abandoned cars and dead bodies, most would be saddened by this sight, but not Faith. She is a fighter who has seen and done it all, including murdering humans and demons alike. She looks back at Wood who seems very unsure. " There certainly aren't any humans left alive around here. That means there has to be a mother load of nests, yo."
As they walk down the streets, weapons in hand, Wood has something he wants to bring up to her but doesn't know how to say it and doesn't know if now is the time for it. But if he has learned anything over the years of knowing her, it is never the time to say something that will discourage. He sucks it in and says it. "What happened to that settling down thing we talked about a few years back?"
She stops in her tracks as does he, she looks very pissed off at this question. " Are you going to bring this up again. We settled, remember?
Wood sighs as she begins to argue. " Faith, that was for two weeks and I don't call hiding out from the government as a happy suburban couple in Ohio counts."
"Robin, you knew what you were getting into when we first started, be happy that you lasted this long."
"You know that I love you and I appreciate your calling, but frankly I'm not a slayer or a vampire or demon and I'm getting too old for this."
She looks straight at him as she says this, it hurts him everytime she says these words, but he has taken such a liking to her. "Than leave, your acting just as weird as you did when I turned down that stupid ring of yours. Plus, you know that this is a very personal mission I'm on."
"I know but, I just can't..."
"Wait, I found what I'm looking for." She interrupts him as he is about to say something very important at least to him. He tries following her as she runs towards a very abandoned butcher shop. His heart can't take it as he catches up to her. She stops at the door and pulls out two stakes, one for each hand. She signals for Wood to grab something, he pulls out a bottle of holy water as she sighs. "When did you lose the passion for this job? Holy water isn't going to get the job done." He just shrugs at her, he still can't understand how she isn't feeling the ravages of age, the funny thing is that she doesn't understand why he is. "Whatever."
She begins counting down to him with her fingers, he cringes at what's going to happen once she has only one finger left. She busts down the door with her left boot, then she goes running into the building. He follows right behind her and the first thing he see's is about a dozen vampires being set a blaze. Faith lunges towards the vampires towards the back and begins staking one after the other. He slowly passes by the bodies that are disappearing in the flames. One vampire approaches him and he slams the body of holy water on his face. Once he catches up to Faith, she has a vamp on the ground and holding a stake to his heart. She begins screaming into his face, there's information she needs to know, the vampire actually looks terrified. "Who did it? WHO KILLED ANGEL?"
"I don't know what your talking about." The vampire squeals as Faith has his arms pinned to the ground.
"Don't lie to me," Wood hasn't seen her this violent in years, even in bed. " Angel was this city's champion against you guys, there's no way you wouldn't know who he is."
"Faith" Wood interrupts her as she grills the vamp. "Maybe he doesn't know anything."
"Stay out of this Wood, stick to your holy water and watch my back." She doesn't even look back towards him.
He turns to look at the entrance, but then realizes that that is not the place to be looking. He spots a huge gaping hole in the floor in the butcher shop. Almost as soon as he spots, a horde of dark figures arise from it. "FAITH!!!! IT'S A TRAP!!!"
She throws the vamp down and lunges at the horde approaching towards her. She begins staking them one by one, but she is still overwhelmed. He takes notice that they are ignoring him and going straight towards her. As the vamps huddle ontop her, he pulls a stake out of his jacket and leaps towards the barrage of bloodsuckers that are engulfing his sometime girlfriend. He manages to stake about three, but still, they keep coming at them. He can hear that she is still alive, every once in awhile dust would get in his eyes, so she's okay for now. Him on the other hand, he's not doing too well, he's already starting to ache during this battle. And then once he leaps at another vampire and stakes, that's when it happens. It feels like his inside have just exploded.
Robin grabs at his heart as the pain grows in that area, he is quickly pushed out of the dog pile on Faith. He falls to the corner and realizes that he is taking his final gasps of air. He wonders if it was worth it, if fighting by her side was worth all this chaos. Does she really care if he lives or dies, apparently not, because here he is, dieing, and all she can think about is avenging the death of some vampire with a soul. As he passes onto the otherside, the vampires pick up Faith, still alive and struggling. She gives him one last worried remorseful glance, and for him, to know that she at least cared a little bit, made it all worth it.
London, England
From the minute she hops into Xander's beautiful new car, she realizes how quickly it has become like old times between the two of them. Maybe not exactly like old times, Willow not being there sort of spoils the moment, but it's close enough for her. Then a really sad thought hits her, he too will die, just like everyone else, she will out live him. Buffy wonders why she even agreed to go with him, part of her thinks that she should have just said good luck and just leave Xander and the other slayers to the big work, it's not her job anymore. But there's just some things she cannot let go, like loyalty. Her father figure was murdered and sired, she can't just leave during that type situation. As much as she wishes she can just turn the other cheek and walk the other way, like many others she has seen before, it's in her nature to stay and fight. And to be honest, it's very comforting that that side of her still exists deep down inside.
But returning is going to be much harder than she wants it to be right now, only one person has forgiven her. Even though Xander was very eager to forgive, she knows that Dawn will not, it's not in her character. She doesn't know what her sister's reaction will be once she knows that she has returned, will she be happy or just angry. It broke her heart those first couple of years not having Dawn around, but she's spent so many years watching over everyone else. So once Dawn was all grown up, she packed her bags and left, she tries to forget that day. Tears and yelling went on between the two of them, but once Buffy put her foot down, she was greeted in a slap in the face by Dawn. Now that was painful, at the time she didn't understand why everyone had to throw a big fit when she left. But now she understands more than ever, even though there were other slayers out there, she was still there guardian. They couldn't just simply replace her with Faith or Kennedy or Vi, they tried that once and they regretted it. But those issues will have to wait, she needs to find out what happened in L.A.
"At first it just looked like another riot, it was L.A, we didn't think much of it." Xander begins to explain the current world situation. "Then it became more and more obvious what was going on, like the fact that the intial fighting and death was only going on at night. Once LAPD was taken out completely, they sent in the army, they too were immobilized. Then guess who was sent there next?"
"The Intiative?"
"Bingo," He gives her a big thumbs up and then goes back to explaining. " Yeah, and guess what? That idea bombed bigger than the first time the Government had the Intiative on the scene. After about a month, the government gave up on trying to understand and control the vampires, so they barricaded the city off from anyone else. About a week before Giles died, he sent Kennedy and a few scouts there to see exactly what was behind it. Most of the slayers and watchers were taken out, Kennedy was the only one who was able to escape."
"Wow," Buffy is very taken aback by all this shocking information, she thought everything would be taken care of with her gone, but perhaps she was wrong. " This is bad, really, really bad."
"Your telling me, we have a city taken hostage by vampires and the mysterious death of the man who became my mentor." He gives her a look that gives her a lot of guilt. "Buffy, we really need you with us for this."
"I know Xander.."
"Please, I go by Alax now, some of us have grown up." She is surprised at how stern he is becoming now that he knows she has no choice to fight. " Buffy, I know this is hard for you, but you have to understand, it's ten times harder for those of us who actually stayed to fight the good fight. And to be honest, I hate having to ask you for anything, I wish I could do this on my own. I'm not leadership guy, that shouldn't be my job."
"Yes it should Xander, I mean Alax. Do I have to call you that, it doesn't feel right?"
"A lot of things don't feel right nowadays, Buff. I shouldn't have to be in this position to make the decisions."
Now it's Buffy's turn to be stern. " Yes you should, because you damn well deserve this role, wish it was under different circumstances." She looks at Xander, who is now more than a bit worried about the current situations. "I have never met someone who was more loyal to the cause than you. Giles made the right decision in giving the council over to you. Don't waste it due to your lack of confidence. I will go with you and fight this one time, but don't be going to me to make some rash decisions. Xander, Alax, whatever you want to be called nowadays, this is your time to lead."
Xander gives a half smile to her again. "Well, you have never been shy with the speeches have you?"
"Well, you know me, I'm speech girl."
"Your wrong." He now gives her a full smile, she is surprised at how handsome he still is.
"Wrong about what?"
"Your not a girl anymore. Sad to say, but all of us are all grown up now."
"Scary isn't it?" She asks Xander sort of jokingly.
"Completely terrifying." He gives her another bright smile as they finally make it into a parking lot. She has never actually been to The Watchers Council in either the Traverse Regime or when Giles was in control, so this is actually kind of a treat. "Well, were here."
"Do I have to go?" She is sort of sarcastic while saying this.
"Hey if I have to lead, you have to go. Congratulations, your days of isolation are now officially over with." He opens the car door and then gets out, she soon follows maybe a little bit eager.