"I was waiting for an answer from God, but you'll do for now. So tell me,
what reason could you possibly have for killing my friend?" Asked Nina.
The doors of the temple flew open behind them, and council members along
with Buffy, Willow, Tara, Spike and Angel came storming in.
"Ms. Hunter," stated Mr. Travers, "If I may ask, what was all that
screaming about? I expected you to be much more subtle in the attempt of
killing of our slayer. You completely gave yourself away! Why?"
Nina had not yet pulled herself together enough to get up, and because of
that, what still sitting on the floor. She hadn't even looked away from
Faith to answer the slayer or Mr. Travers. He finally realized she was not
just avoiding him, and turned to follow her gaze.
"Oh," he noticed, as he watched Faith's lifeless body.
"Oh," mocked Nina. "So, you, new slayer girl."
"Lyra."
"Lyra, you never explained to me why you killed my friend."
"Because she is evil."
"Oh really?"
"Yes. Our job description is very clear. We kill demons, that's all. Faith
killed humans, she deserved to die."
"No," said a familiar voice walking down the temple steps.
"Giles," jumped Nina, finally looking away from Faith's body.
"Yes," said Giles, "I'm here." He walked over to Nina and kneeled next to
her, his back to the council members. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, but Faith..."
"The first chance you get," said Giles, removing something, a vile, from
his pocket. "Pour this into her mouth."
"What?" Questioned Nina. She couldn't believe it. He was actually asking
her to play with the forces of evil. She stared into his eyes, and saw
something she had never seen before, a look of pure hatred. "Giles, you
said I shouldn't play with time, life and death. Those are the three things
you said to never manipulate."
"I know, but she did not deserve to die. Every person deserves the chance
to seek redemption. Faith had her chance stolen from her. I saw you
together. You were really making a difference with her; I want you to have
a second chance. I know you too well; you can't win without her alive. I'll
distract them as best as I can," he whispered. "First chance you get, pour
it down her throat, got it?"
"Yes."
"So, Mr. Travers," said Giles, getting up, and helping Nina up, "I have to
congratulate you on your work with this new slayer. She killed Faith so
quickly, we didn't have time to stop her."
"Yes, she's amazing, isn't she?"
"Fantastic," added Buffy, realizing what Giles was doing, "But I could take
her."
Giles smiled.
"You could not," explained Lyra. "I have all the council's knowledge, all
their spells and magical powers. You wouldn't last five seconds."
"Gee, she's cocky," murmured Spike.
"Bring it on," invited Buffy, stepping forward.
While all of this was happening, Nina had slowly made her way over Faith.
She was unscrewing the cap when Lyra noticed her presence near the body.
"Hey," called Lyra, "What are you doing?"
"I'll tell you one thing you can't do Lyra," said Nina, as she tilted back
Faith's head.
"What ?"
"You can't predict the future," explained Nina, pouring the potion into
Faith's mouth. "Because if you could predict the future," she continued,
placing the cap back on the bottle, "You would've seen this coming."
Faith's chest suddenly rose and fell, her eyes blinked open and she sat up.
"Not possible," murmured Lyra.
"Not probably," said Nina as she helped Faith up, laughing.
"You got that from Pirates of the Caribbean didn't you?" Laughed Faith.
"Yeah," submitted Nina, "I love that movie."
"You know," continued Faith "I should probably thank you for killing me,
because now I know what's on the other side, and I'm even less afraid of
dying."
"You're so welcome," lied Lyra. "But really, I would think you would be
more afraid. Being stuck in hell dimension for hundreds of years, and
you're not afraid?"
"Show's how much you know," murmured Faith.
"What are you talking about?" Asked Mr. Travers. "You had to be in hell,
you couldn't possibly have been in heaven."
"No, not in heaven," explained Faith, "but not in hell either. Boy, you
watcher boys sure don't know a lot about other dimensions. I was sent to
another world, to see all the consequences of my actions. I saw what pain I
had causes, and it made me really think. So I decided to change, and I am
going to do my best to stay on the right side of the line from now on."
"Really?" Questioned Mr. Travers.
"Yes," continued Faith, "And now that you've heard my little story, can we
get on with the ass kicking?"
"I thought you were on a path of redemption?" Questioned Nina.
"I am, but I'm also on a quest for revenge," explained Faith.
"So I guess we should start this show," stated Spike.
"Great idea," agreed Nina. "Ladies and gentlemen, councilmen, slayers,
vampires, and witches, welcome to the first of probably many fights in the
system that you will be involved in. To all on the opposing team, I'm so
sorry. And to all you with me, don't, hold, back."