"That's impossible," cut in Giles. "No one brought her here, she came on
her own ."
"That's not what she means," explained Nina.
"But ." started Giles.
"I did a spell," continued Nina. "You all don't remember, but, this entire
day, the whole week in fact, happened before."
"What?" Questioned Giles.
"In this week," explained Nina, "I had to kill Faith. I did kill Faith. But
I felt so horrible about it, that I needed to change things, so I brought
her back." She looked up at Giles, and seeing the disappointment in his
eyes, quickly continued.
"Giles, I know that you don't like it when I change time just to benefit
myself. I know you always told me I had to learn to live with things, but
what if I couldn't. What if I saw her face every night in my dreams? What
if I relived the entire thing about 20 times in my head in one hour? Giles,
I couldn't take seeing her face every night. I couldn't take waking up in a
cold sweat, and not being able to go back to sleep. I now know what it was
like for you," she explained, turning to Angel who had just entered the
room, "I know what it was like for you to get your soul back. I know what
it was like to be haunted by spirits of the dead. I couldn't get her out of
my head. I knew she didn't deserve to die, and now I have the chance to
change things. I would rather die myself, then let Faith die again."
"Really," said Faith, walking down the steps of the library, "that can be
arranged."
"Faith," jumped Nina "didn't you hear what I said? I don't want you to
die."
"But you killed me last time? Why should I believe you now."
"It was not my choice last time!"
"You always have a choice! If the council was threatening you, why didn't
you just blow them off, or better yet, kill them. There was once a time
when you wouldn't take orders from anyone. When you knew what was right and
what was wrong, and you fought for what you believed in. What happened to
that girl?"
"I thought I was doing the right thing!"
"What?" Questioned Faith. "How is killing me the right thing?"
"You seemed so horribly evil last time. It seemed like there was only one
choice, the right choice, to kill you. And then after I did, I met someone
that changed my view."
"Who?"
"Angel," she explained. "Angel told me what you were like when you first
came here, you were just like me. You were living it up. You loved being a
slayer. The only thing was, you had a different reason for loving it. You
loved the power, as I did, but you thought something else that made it
worse. You thought that you were better then everyone else. That having
this power somehow made you better, but it didn't, it doesn't. If you don't
have people around you like Giles, who always can help you fight and give
you a good plan, or Willow, who is one of the most powerful witches, or ."
"They don't help. They're just there. They can't really fight."
"No, you're right. They can't be with you on the front line punching and
kicking. But if you're the only one standing there, you have no chance of
winning. You might be very strong physically Faith, but mentally? You need
people like Xander, who will always make you feel like you can win, you
will win, that what you're fighting for is worth fighting for. You need
people to help you Faith. No one can do this job alone."
"I can!"
"No you can't. I know what you've seen out there. All the pain and
suffering, death and destruction, and I know it's not easy to take. If you
don't have people around you that will help you deal, you won't deal.
You'll just move on. And those things that you've seen in the dark, that
you've talked to, that you screamed at, that you've killed, those will be
the things that will haunt you there forever. Faith, no one can take this
job alone. No one can survive on pure power. Eventually you're going to get
lonely. And eventually, you're going to need a friend."
"And who's going to be there, you? The only things I can talk to, are the
things that linger in the dark with me."
"And what do you think? We're in sunlight all the time. We're right
alongside you in this fight, but you just won't see us. Faith, we will be
there. Me, Buffy, Willow, Giles, Xander, Spike, Angel, we're all here. You
just have to find it within yourself, to talk to us."
Faith looked around at all the different faces.
"Return," yelled Nina suddenly, looking toward the sky. Angel fell to the
floor behind her, and then looked up.
"Thank you," he said.
"Well, I couldn't really leave you without a soul, could I?"
"Faith," questioned Nina turning around, "Do you think you could just
attempt to trust us. Just give us a chance, please."
"Alright," said Faith, "I'll let you help me. But don't get to mushy or
anything."
"Take it slow," said Buffy walking forward, "got it."
"Well," said Mr. Travers also coming forward, "now that you've got her
under control, it's time for us to take her away."
"No," said Buffy, turning around. "She's made some mistakes I know, but the
only way for her to fix them is to stay with us here. She's not going with
you."
"Try and stop us," he said.
At that moment, Willow stepped forward.
"Go back to the mother country," she said, and with a simple way of her
hand, they were gone.
"What did you do with them?" Asked Xander.
"I sent them back to council headquarters," explained Willow. "And put a
curse on it to lock them in there for a week. You know, give us enough time
to make a plan."
"One point for the witch," smiled Faith, "very cool."
"Thank you," said Willow, smiling back. "Look Faith, I know I have never
really been nice."
"Don't sweat it," said Faith, "I think we should all start over, at least
isn't that what you were hinting at Nina?"
"It was."
"So, hi, I'm Faith."
"Buffy."
"Xander."
"Willow."
"Giles."
"Spike."
"Angel."
"Nina. Welcome to Sunneydale."