The Quickening

Previously:

"You heard me," the Mayor said, nodding at the cage. "Open the door." Trick nodded warily and opened the cage door. Vincent spotted his sword propped up against the desk. Rushing out of the cage, he grabbed the sword and plunged it into the Mayor's head before Trick had a chance to react. Vincent watched proudly as the head split in two. However, his pride suddenly turned to confusion as the head began to knit itself back together.

Chapter Fifty-Seven:

Cordelia closed the file folder and sighed. "This is bad, you guys," she said gravely. It had taken Faith nearly half of the night to figure out how to break open the safe, but eventually she had successfully cracked it. There had only been one item inside of it, something of such apparent value that it had to be hidden from prying eyes. A thin manila folder had been propped up inside of the small, gray box. They had all read the folder, their hopes sinking as the information contained within began to unfold itself.

They had feared that the government of Sunnydale was somehow involved in the occult; however, they did not imagine that the corruption spread so far. "What are we going to do?" Xander asked, running a tired hand through his hair. He had gotten no sleep that night and it felt to him that the weight of the world was beginning to sink onto his shoulders. He looked around his kitchen table at the two women sitting with him and saw their shoulders sagging as well. The world had seemed to condense into that one room. It was almost as if the entire fate of mankind lay in their hands and they were helpless to do anything.

"We have to go to Giles," Faith said softly. Her words were greeted by utter silence as the others considered what such a proposition meant. They would have to disclose how they obtained the folder.

"What do we tell him?" Cordelia asked, pushing the folder back in the middle of the kitchen table.

"Don't worry about that," Faith said. "I'll tell him everything."

"We'll be there for you," Xander said warmly.

Faith smiled, but shook her head. "No," she replied. "I don't want either of you there. This is something that I have to do myself."

"Are you sure?" Cordelia asked, though she knew better than to argue with Faith when she had made up her mind on something.

"Yeah," Faith said. "I need to talk to him about this. He'll appreciate it more coming from me. I think he'll understand." Faith had initially resisted talking to Giles about what had happened that night. However, the more she thought about it, the more she knew that they needed Giles on their side. She was terrified that he would reject her for killing Alan. Though she had become comfortable in Sunnydale and comfortable in her new home, she always feared that something would drive a wedge between her and her newfound happiness. That something had finally occurred and Faith wanted to make sure that she preserved everything in her life as best she could before it all fell apart.

"If you think so," Xander said sighing. He knew that the rest of the Scooby Gang could be irrationally judgmental. He had seen it before in Giles, Willow, and Buffy. He hoped that the bond between Giles and Faith was strong enough.

Faith reached across the table and grabbed the file folder. She held it as if it were a precious thing. "I'm going to go take this to him," Faith said, sliding back in her chair, and rising to her feet. "I may not be back for a while. I'll come back when we're done though," she said.

"Take your time," Cordelia replied as she and Xander saw Faith to the door. Once Faith had left, Xander turned to Cordelia.

"Do you think this is a good idea?" Xander asked.

"I'm not sure," Cordelia replied honestly. "But if she thinks that it's for the best, we have to trust her. I have an even more important question to ask though."

"What's that?" Xander asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Can you get me a pillow? I'm crashing on your couch," Cordelia said smirking. Xander smiled and nodded.

"One pillow, coming right up."

…………………

Faith slowly walked across town. The sun was starting to come up over the horizon in a splendid array of gold and red. Faith stopped for a moment and let the sun's light graze her face. She could feel its warmth despite the lingering chill of the evening. When she opened her eyes, she sighed loudly and continued walking. A police car passed her and Faith involuntarily looked down at the ground, hiding her face. She had no reason to believe that anyone suspected her of anything; yet, she could not help but feel paranoid that someone was looking for her. After all, the Mayor would realize eventually that Alan was missing. Once he did, she could only imagine the manhunt he would instigate in order to find his missing deputy mayor. Alan knew far too much to simply disappear off the face of the earth. The Mayor would want to make sure that Alan was not planning on talking about what he had seen and done while working with the Sunnydale government.

The police car continued down the street without even slowing. Faith let out a slow, long breath and softly chuckled to herself. The walk to the apartment she shared with Giles was not that long and, before she knew it, Faith was standing in front of the front door. She pulled her key out of her pocket with a shaky hand and inserted it into the lock. The door slid open and Faith stepped inside. Turning, she immediately saw a light on in the kitchen. She could sense a presence there and she instinctively knew it to be Giles. Moving to the kitchen, she paused in the doorway and watched as Giles poured himself a cup of tea. His back was to her and, for a moment, Faith pretended that it was a normal morning just like any other.

"Faith," Giles said, interrupting Faith's happy reverie.

"Hey," Faith responded, her voice cracking a little. "I need to talk to you."

Giles turned and set his cup of tea down on the kitchen table. Pulling out a chair, he sat and folded his hands in front of him. "Please, sit," he said, motioning to one of the chairs. Buffy had already told him about everything that had happened the night before. However, he wanted Faith to tell him as well. He knew that this was a critical moment for her. She could choose to be honest with him, and thus liberate herself from the guilt of the accident, or she could lie to him and bury herself in blame in recrimination.

Faith slowly sat down at the table and placed the file folder in front of her. "Something happened last night," she began. "Buffy and I were in this alley by the warehouse district. We had just given Angel the amulet and were leaving the Bronze. Vampires started attacking us from every angle. This vampire…or so I thought…jumped out at me. I staked him. I didn't realize it at the time, but he was human. I could feel it as soon as the stake went in. I could feel his heart beating through the wood," Faith said, pausing as she shuddered at the memory. Closing her eyes, she focused on slowing her heartbeat, which had sped up rapidly as her anxiety increased.

"Faith," Giles said, slowly reaching across the table and taking one of her cold, clammy hands. "It's alright," he continued. "You have to continue."

"I freaked out and ran," Faith said. "I think Buffy did too. I didn't really stick around to find out."

"What happened after that?" Giles asked. He knew only as much as Buffy did. He was as much in the dark as anyone else about the rest of the events that had transpired that evening.

"I went to Cordelia's house. We talked about things and we both agreed that we needed to get rid of the body," Faith explained, noting how Giles's eyebrows shot up at her words. "After I staked the man, he said something to Buffy. Something about having been looking for her. I told that to Cordelia and we both thought it would be best to figure out why the guy was looking for us to begin with. When we got to the alley, Cordelia recognized him."

"Who was he?" Giles asked, intrigued.

"Alan Finch," Faith replied.

"The deputy mayor," Giles said.

"Yeah," Faith said. "You're not going to like this next part," Faith warned. "We figured that the best way to figure out why Alan Finch was looking for us was to go looking for him. So we broke into his apartment to find out what he had wanted to meet with Buffy for. While we were there, we discovered a safe. Inside of it was this folder," Faith said, sliding it across the table.

"Where is the safe now? Is it in the apartment still?" Giles asked.

"No," Faith replied. "We took it."

"It's in Xander's apartment," Giles stated.

"Yes," Faith replied.

"We need to get rid of that safe," Giles said as he flipped open the folder. Faith watched him as he read. "My God," he said as the contents of the folder became clear to him. "The Mayor is trying to ascend into a demon."

"And apparently he's invincible," Faith added.

"This isn't good," Giles said. "And while I don't approve of your methods for obtaining this evidence, I must admit that we need it terribly."

Faith nodded and looked down at the table. "What are my options?"

Giles sighed and squeezed her hand gently. "Where did you dump the body?"

"In the harbor," she replied.

"Well, I don't think we'll need to worry about Alan Finch resurfacing. If he does, there shouldn't be any evidence on his person to connect you to him. What happened to the stake?"

"I still have it," Faith said.

"We'll burn it. We need to dump the safe as well. Faith," Giles said, capturing her attention, "what happened was an accident. I'm not saying that you shouldn't feel guilty for it, or that there should be no consequences, but there's no reason to punish you for what happened."

"So what are the consequences?" Faith asked.

"I want you to talk to Angel," Giles said. "I may not particularly like the man, but he knows that it's like to kill a person. He can help you talk through your issues. I know you don't like to talk about things," Giles said off her look, "but you need to. If you don't, darkness will build up inside of you until it consumes you entirely. You need to let it out."

"If you think it'll help," Faith said skeptically.

"I do," Giles replied, smiling. "Until then, might I suggest you get some sleep? You look quite tired."

"What about the Council?" Faith asked as she rose to her feet.

"I don't see a reason to tell them anything," Giles replied. "But might I suggest we leave Wesley out of the loop in this. I fear he won't agree with us on that point."

"I won't say a word if you don't," Faith said smiling. "Good night."

"Good morning," Giles corrected as Faith disappeared into her room. Giles looked down at the folder. Things were going to take a turn for the worse in Sunnydale.