This is an alternate universe story, taking place after the end of Sunnydale. Faith's new life begins after the coma she suffered while trying to return Angel's soul. Pairings are Faith/Batista, Trish/Randy, and Stephanie/Hunter. Please be aware that Willow Rosenberg is a lesbian in this story.

Major Characters:
Faith
Trish Stratus
Dave Batista
Stephanie McMahon
Randy Orton
Triple H
Ric Flair
Angel
Spike
Cordelia
Rupert Giles
Willow Rosenberg

The skin cut so easily, but he never screamed. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction, and it pissed her off. She wanted to hear him wail with pain and degredation. She wanted him to feel weak and helpless, the way she had ever since he had failed her. The way she had when everthing and everyone she knew and loved had been snatched away from her by the monsters of the dark.

Her hands were covered in blood. She dropped her tool to watch the thick, viscous fluid course the lines in her hands. It reached the inside of her wrists in thick horizontal lines, then streaked vertically up her arms. One long line trailed down to her elbow as she lifted her arms, then circled then welled up in the crease.

She looked at him, again. A part of her didn't want to do it. Somewhere, deep inside, she knew this was wrong. She knew that none of it was his fault. She knew that he had tried his best, but neither of them had been good enough for his best to enough to save either of them. She held too much bitterness and resentment. He was too young and sure of himself. Maybe if she'd had the other one, it would have been better. Maybe if she'd have never been Called, things would have turned out differently. Maybe if everyone she loved wasn't dead...

"Scream!" she cried, but he wouldn't do it. Even now, right before his death, he wouldn't give her the satisfaction. He wouldn't give her what she needed, what she wanted. He never had before, and he wouldn't do it even now.

Then, everything was a blur.

The next thing she knew, she was outside in the rain, kicking, punching and screaming. She shouted at him to fight back. She begged him to throw a punch. She pleaded with him to kill her. She wanted it all to end, but she knew she couldn't do it herself. She didn't have it in her to commit suicide, but he was better than her, and he could take her. She wanted him to take her. To take her miserable life and let her go wherever her kind went when it was all over.

She was drenched in rain. Her clothes were heavy with the falling water and weighed down her arms. Her hair stuck to her face and head. She couldn't remember ever being so desperate for anything. She wanted it over, and he refused to do it.

Faith sat up abruptly in the bed and her eyes instantly searched the darkened room. She didn't know what she was looking for, but it had always been that way, or at least she thought. She always bolted up and took in her surroundings, just in case there was something there, something waiting to get her when she was sleeping.

But... why would something be after her? And why did she always think of it as something instead of someone? There were so many questions about her life that she didn't have answers for, and she didn't think she ever would have answer for them. Parts of her life would always be a mystery, and the only look inside that she would get was through her dreams.

She could remember that her name was Faith, but that was about it. She didn't know what her last name was, and had felt no need to make one up. She told everyone she was like Cher and Madonna. She was too damn cool to have anything but one name. Most just laughed, and nobody said anymore about it. She didn't care if anyone had a problem with it. She didn't, and that was all that mattered.

A hand touched her and she jumped. Her head spun so fast that her hair whipped around and slapped her in the face. As her eyes focused on the face that looked at her with concern, Faith pushed her hair back behind her ear. For reasons she could only say dealt with her past, she still felt somewhat uncomfortable by the closeness that she had developed with Dave Batista.

Though she didn't remember her past, she thought that at one time, she had been a loner. She didn't let anyone get close, and she didn't want anyone close to her. She preferred to be on her own. But, since joining World Wrestling Entertainment, she had been unable to do that. She had found friends, relationships, and something that felt like a family. She wasn't too sure that, even if she had a good memory, she would be able to remember an actual family. The concept seemed too foreign, no matter the circumstances.

"What is it?" Dave sat up, and as he moved closer to her, his bare chest brushed her arm. Faith shivered. "What's wrong?"

"It's, uh... nothing." She shook her head. "Everything's five-by-five. Just a dream."

She wasn't too sure that she could call it that, though, and be honest. She thought maybe it was a memory, and in that case, she didn't want to tell him about it. If all of her dreams were memories, then she had been a person that no one wanted to be around. She had been a bad person, an evil person. She wouldn't tell him about this dream anymore than she would tell him about the others.

"What was it?" Faith leaned back against the headboard and Dave leaned over her. His right arm stretched out over and around her. He pressed hard on the mattress to hold himself up. "Nightmare?"

"You could call it that."

"Memory?"

She shrugged and turned her head to the side. "I don't really wanna talk about it."

Dave sighed and his body sagged. His chest brushed her again, and once more she shivered. "Maybe, if you talk about it, we could actually get some sleep." He groaned. "You've been waking up like this every night we've been together this past month."

"I..." She was about to say she hadn't, but that would have been a lie. She'd been waking up with vague memories in the form of dreams for over a month, actually. Others had asked about them, but she never answered. "It's just not the kinda thing I wanna remember, ya know? Honestly, I don't think I wanna remember at all."

"Faith..."

"Uh uh. Just..." She groaned. "I woke up almost a year ago, and the only thing I could remember was my name. I was somewhere I didn't know, but I felt like I shouldn't have been there, I didn't want to be there. Whatever my life was before, I didn't want it. I don't want it now, either."

"What do you want, then?"

"I wanna go back to sleep." She looked up at him and smirked. "You tire a girl out, and even without a memory, I'm thinkin' I've never met a guy that could do that."

Dave laughed. "Think you've met a lot of guys?"

"Dozens," she said with a wink, "but none like you."

Dave leaned into her and though his kiss wasn't rough, it wasn't hard, either. There was an ease to it that she thought she would have never admitted before that she wanted. In her previous life, she was a loner. She was a rebel. No man was an island, but that woman had been and she liked it that way. Now, though, she was a part of something and she liked it. They didn't look like at her like she was a freak or someone not to be trusted. To them, she was just Faith, a kickass chick in the ring and a fun girl outside. She thought that, for the first time in a really long while, she was actually living.