This
chapter's a bit dodgy, because I know everyone has different views of the Buffy
Faith situation. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Faith, I think she screwed
Buffy when all Buffy tried to do was help her. And I hated the Angel episode 'Sanctuary'
so much, because I thought Angel was so out of order to Buffy and Buffy had
every right to go looking for her revenge. That said,
I've tried to be reasonable to Faith here because I know a lot of people like
her (Becks89) and I want to use her in the story.
As usual thanks to:
Wllw979 – like the fic, keep going!
Miz – let me know what you think of Faith
Charmedfanatic3000
Ckk
Tiger tiger2
ScruffyWes
GoddessEris
Manticore-gurl071134
Becks89 – let me know what you think, hope I've done faith enough justice for you
Chapter 25 – Faith
The day was
spent doing more research, something that they all found boring but realised
the necessity of. Buffy killed time by sitting on Sirius' lap and finding ways
to distract him. Giles kept shooting them reproving glances.
The evening came and Buffy chose a variety of weapons to take on patrol.
"I'm coming with you," Sirius said
firmly. Buffy opened her mouth to protest but he cut her off. "I'm not letting
you go on your own. Especially now there are three lots of people wanting to
kill or maim you."
"Alright," Buffy agreed reluctantly. "But the
first sign of trouble and you have to transformy."
Sirius and Buffy headed out of Giles'
home, towards the graveyard. Since that had been the first sighting of the
Antichrist vampires, Buffy thought they might get lucky again and even be able
to get some information. They crossed the graveyard to the part that was most
wooded and loitered.
"Try to look vulnerable," Buffy murmured
to Sirius. "They love that." They strolled along for a few moments and sure
enough two vampires started to follow them.
"…So I was thinking we could go to the
movies," Buffy said cheerfully to Sirius and he nodded and attempted to look
interested while keeping an eye on the vampires.
"But nothing with Mel Gibson," Buffy
said flipping her hair. "He is so over."
Before
Sirius had time to react, Buffy turned and punched one of the vampires that had
been just about to attack them. Sirius pulled out a stake and ran at the other.
As he did, he dimly noticed that the vampire wasn't adorned with the symbol of
the Antichrist.
Regardless, he threw himself into the battle. He punched the vampire and then
attempted to stake him, but as he did so the vampire grabbed his arm and
flipped him and he found himself pinned to the ground. It grinned menacingly
and Sirius looked over in a panic at Buffy, who was still fighting and didn't
have the chance to notice his predicament.
Sirius looked up at the vampire who was eyeing his neck hungrily and prepared
to transform into his dog form, which, if nothing else, would alarm the
vampire.
Before he
could move, the vampire turned to dust before his very eyes, and crumbled over
him, a thing layer of dust left on his body.
Brushing dust off his face, Sirius looked up and a brunette girl stood in front
of him, pale with dark circles under her eyes, dressed in mismatched clothes
that looked like they'd come from charity shops. The girl brandished a stake
and stared down at Sirius. Her eyes were filled with pain, pain that he recognised
in Buffy's eyes and his own when he cared to look in the mirror. But whereas in
his eyes and Buffy's he saw love and warmth, in this girls eyes he saw anger
and ice.
"Faith," he said with recognition and Faith
glared at him.
"Who's asking?" she said coldly but
Sirius didn't reply, merely pulling himself to his feet. She watched him warily
and Sirius moved slowly, knowing what this girl was capable of. Faith was still
aware of him but she turned to watch Buffy battle with the vampire.
Sirius wasn't sure, but he thought he saw something like reverence in her
stare, even longing.
Buffy
staked the vampire and dusted herself off. She turned to see Sirius and then
stopped when she saw Faith.
"Faith," she said impassively. She looked at her, regarding the dark circles
under her eyes and the pale flesh.
"B," Faith said in return. She flexed
her hands, cracking her knuckles. "It's been a while."
"It has," Buffy agreed and she took a
few steps towards Faith. "Why did you come here, Faith?"
"Why the hell do you think I came here?" Faith
yelled angrily. "For my god damned revenge, that's why." She moved into action,
springing behind Sirius and holding the long silver bladed knife she carried to
his throat.
"This your new boy toy?" she asked
callously. "Didn't take you long to go over Angel did it B? He's pretty cute
though." Buffy started forward but Faith pressed the knife to Sirius' throat
harder.
"Back off," Faith snarled. Buffy looked
directly at Sirius, communicating with her eyes. Sirius knew what he was
supposed to do and so he did it.
"What the-?" Faith exclaimed as Sirius
transformed into his dog form and ran over to Buffy's side. "You got yourself
something tricky there B." Buffy did smile but Sirius noticed her jaw tense.
"It's better this way," Faith said
reflectively. "The two slayers, fighting to the death. Always thought that
would be the way I'd go out, no vampire would take me."
"It doesn't have to be this way," Buffy said
tensely.
"But where's the fun in that?" Faith
said mockingly and without warning leapt at Buffy. They tumbled over together,
stopping with Faith sitting astride Buffy. She punched her hard.
"That's for stabbing me," she said and
punched her again. "And that's for Richard." Buffy flipped her off and they
stood facing each other, fists raised.
"Let's dance," Faith said and leapt in for the attack.
Sirius
watched once again as the two slayers did battle, flipping, kicking, punching.
Their motion was immaculate, their attacks effortless. Sirius thought about
changing into his dog form and attacking Faith but he didn't want to break
Buffy's rhythm.
And finally, she had Faith pinned. In Buffy's hand she held a knife, and the
moonlight shone on the blade making it flash.
"Go on then," Faith said smiling.
"Become me. You kill me and you become me." She closed her eyes and tipped her
head back, as if welcoming the touch of the blade on her neck.
Buffy looked at her reflectively for a moment,
then got up, stood over Faith. Faith opened her eyes and glared at Buffy.
"God when did you turn into such a
wimp?" she hissed angrily. "Remember what I did to you, I tried to kill all
your friends, and Angel, I tried to take him from you. Remember that."
Buffy didn't move and Faith got angrier.
"Just kill me!" she said. "End it. You
kill me and I'll be out of your hair forever. Don't and I'll be back when you
least expect it, I'll just show up and ruin your life again."
Buffy still
made no move.
"I'm evil!" Faith shrieked. Buffy
watched her, lying on the ground and pitied her. She never thought she would
feel that for Faith but she did. And finally Faith broke down, she began to cry
angrily.
Tentatively Buffy crouched down next to Faith and carefully put her arms around
the girl. Faith was uncomfortable in her arms at first but then she crumpled
into them and Buffy held her rubbing her back while she sobbed.
"You're
better than this Faith," Buffy said softly after a few minutes of silence.
"Better than you think you are."
"What do you know about it?" Faith
snarled, pushing Buffy away from her and rubbing her face furiously.
"Everyone's favourite slayer, the perfect one. You had it easy."
"You know that's not true Faith," Buffy
said, still gentle.
"Sunnydale could have been my town,"
Faith continued. "I could've been the chosen one, the only one. Instead I had
to share it with a Slayer who has averted more apocalypse than had hot
dinners."
"No one was asking you to be like me,"
Buffy said, staring at Faith.
"They all were, Wesley, Giles, Willow,
they all thought deep down 'Why can't faith me more like Buffy?'" Faith said
bitterly. "No one ever though 'why can't Buffy be more like Faith?' or even
gee, that Faith is great just the way she is."
"I did," Buffy said carefully. "I believed in
you Faith. I liked you the way you were. And sometimes I wanted to be more like
you." Faith regarded her blankly.
"You rolled into Sunnydale, a force
instead of a girl," Buffy said with a chuckle. "You were cool, you were sexy
and you had funny, happy stories about slaying. All I could do is think why was
I chosen to be a slayer? I hated being a slayer back then and everyone knew it.
But you, you were something else, you loved it."
"Loved it too much," Faith said bitterly.
"Look what happened, I became evil."
"Why?" Buffy asked. "Why did you choose
that route?"
"I killed someone Buffy," Faith said looking
at Buffy as if she were stupid.
"I know, I was there," Buffy replied. "But
it was an accident. An accident."
Faith was silent and stared moodily into
space.
"Why do you keep doing that?" Buffy asked puzzled. "Why do you keep placing yourself into one category like it's the be all and end all of your existence?"
"I killed people B" Faith said, barely
controlling her emotion. "I am evil. Look what I did to you. That is the end of
it. "
"No it isn't," Buffy said slowly. "I saw
your face the night you made that mistake, and I saw your face a few moments
ago. Vulnerable, guilty, sorry."
"What do you want from me Buffy?" Faith
yelled. "What do you want me to do? I can't make it right; I can never make it
right. I can't just say sorry and it'll all be alright."
"But you are sorry?" Buffy said
questioningly. "Because it's a start."
"Yes," Faith murmured. "I'm sorry. Sorry
for what I did to you, to Angel, to Xander to Willow, Giles, Xander, Oz,
Wesley. Well maybe not Wesley," she finished reflectively.
"Then here's where you make another
choice," Buffy said. She extended a hand to Faith who stared at it from her
position on the floor. "You take my hand and you try to make a difference. You
become the person that you want to be, minus the evilness. You stay in
Sunnydale, figure yourself out, let Giles help you. Or you don't take my hand
and you go back to being just another person not strong enough to handle her
power. But I only offer this once. You want to walk away from it, then just don't
cross my path again. You take it and don't mean it and I'll kill you. I promise
you that. But if you take my hand and mean you want to make things right, then
I'm by your side all the way, I'll support you in whatever you want."
Buffy
looked at Faith but Faith stared at Buffy's outstretched hand. Minutes passed
and then, tentatively Faith reached out and took hold of Buffy's hand. Buffy
pulled her up and grinned.
"Good," she said briskly.
"Okay, but I'm not gonna hug you again,"
Faith warned, barely concealing a grin. "That was a one time thing."
"Didn't expect any less," Buffy replied.
"Now, we've got an apocalypse coming and I need your help."
"What's the deal?" Faith said, falling
into step with Buffy and Sirius who joined them "Hi by the way, I'm Faith."
"Sirius," Sirius replied, feeling a little confused
by the scene that had just passed before his eyes.
"You're English," Faith said in surprise.
"That's what they say," Sirius said.
"What brings you to SunnyD then?" Faith asked.
"I'm with Buffy," Sirius replied. Faith
nodded.
"They always are. That's my girl," Faith said and Buffy grinned. "You look kind of familiar actually. Have we met?"
"I was there that time before, well you know,
in the mansion," Sirius said awkwardly. Faith nodded again.
Enough said," she said with a grateful
smile. "Anyway what's the apocalypse?"
"Not so much an apocalypse as a war,"
Buffy began. "But I'll let Giles do the explaining, that's where we're headed."
"Giles?"
Faith said stopping dead in her tracks. "With everyone there, Willow and Xander
and Oz?"
"It's okay," Buffy reassured her. "I'm with
you. I'll explain the deal. They want to help you too." Faith looked at Buffy
and then shrugged and carried on walking.
Buffy felt strange, Faith had always had the ability to make her feel small, immature
and uncomfortable about what she did. But their roles had changed completely;
Faith suddenly seemed younger, looking to Buffy for help and Buffy had never
wanted to help her more.