CONSEQUENCES

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created.

CHAPTER 7-10 THINGS TO DO IN LONDON WHEN YOU'RE DEAD

She didn't know what it was, but ever since she had slipped into her hotel room, one that Gwen had at first forgotten to purchase, Faith could not stop looking at the intricately carved medallion. Luckily for her the chain that she wore it on was long enough for her to leave it around her neck and still get a good look at both sides of it. At the current time she sat on the side of her bed, still glistening wet from an overly hot shower, with her towel lying nearby and letting herself air dry. In truth she had started to dry off the medallion first before she had looked closer at the carvings on both sides and felt as if she had been there before. Angel had knocked on her door a few moments earlier on his way up to his room with Nina asking her if she was okay but Faith had only grunted something back in reply with a hope that Angel would accept that as her answer. Every time that she touched the medallion a vision of Wesley seemed to flash through her mind. Unlike many of her memory's of Wesley this vision brought with it no feeling of regret or fear but instead mostly a great sense of loneliness and sadness. The loneliness tore at her heart as to her she had caused much of his loneliness. After some time Faith had saw what she had at first thought was some paint on the one side of the medallion, but upon closer inspection she had decided that it was blood instead, most likely Wesley's blood.

On what could be considered the face or heads side of the circular medallion was carved what looked like a giant snowflake. The snowflake had been carved very carefully and thoughtfully into the heavy metal. The snowflake had been coated with something that had made it turn black, however Faith had noticed that when she glanced at the medallion in the mirror the snowflake looked whiter than pure snow. When she touched the face side of the medallion the feelings of loneliness and sadness nearly overwhelmed her. However when she touched the other or tails side of the medallion the exact opposite feelings overwhelmed her, so in turn she had ended up holding onto both sides of the medallion at the same time, hoping that the two sides would cancel each other out. The tails side of the medallion was carved to look like a snowflake, only instead of being black this snowflake was pure white, but again she had found that when she looked at the tails side in the mirror it would turn pitch black. That discovery had confused her enough so that she had forgone asking Giles or Angel about it. Lazily yawning, and with her eyelids becoming strangely heavy, Faith reluctantly switched on the radio on the nightstand beside her bed and crawled under the covers. All without drying off or putting anything on, even though she had picked up a few things at a shop a couple of blocks from the hotel. As she drifted off to sleep her dreams were filled with what could have been and what could still be.

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"We should get moving, we have to figure out what happened to the axis," Angel stated with an anxious scowl on his face as he huddled in the entryway of a pub while Faith scratched the back of the medallion with her eyes closed and a smile etched on her face.

"We could ask around, although that could throw up a red flag with the whole hiding plan if someone that we talk to is connected to Wolfram and Hart," Spike replied with a very serious look on his face as he scowled up at the night sky and shook his head.

"Then we're just going to have to be discreet about it okay," Gwen prodded with a frustrated pout on her face as she watched several locals walk by them, all staring at them with nervous looks on their faces.

"Way to go Peaches, we're only here five minutes and you've already alienated half the locals," Spike joked with an amused grin on his face, one that Faith soon matched before she spoke up.

"So we going to sit here all night and freeze our collective asses off or are we going to actually do something," Faith quipped with a bored grin on her face as she was already eyeing a couple of taverns as she slipped the medallion fully back under her shirt, positioning it directly in the middle of her chest.

"So what's the story with her and that trinket, she hasn't taken it off since I met her…," Gwen whispered softly to Angel as she took a step closer to him and tried to look as if she wasn't talking about the rogue slayer.

"I don't know, she says that she found it at Wesley's apartment, I know that he took home a lot of the more sensitive items that he didn't feel comfortable with leaving in his office at Wolfram and Hart so it could be anything…," Angel answered softly with a look of caution on his face as he crossed his arms and was glad when Faith half turned away in an instant and looked as if she thought that she saw someone that she knew well. Though he saw Faith turn he did not fully know why.

She was trying her best to stay out of Gwen and Angel's whispered conversation but had caught enough of it to know that they were talking about her. She had been about to say something when a familiar face caught her attention. But the identity of that person was impossible, he was dead. To her amazement it seemed that Wesley walked right by her without even looking up or slowing down. In fact he seemed to speed up as he came within five paces of her. She started to call out to him but her words died in her throat when she realized that she was looking at the old Wesley, still in his ironed suits and crisp collars. Without a thought to what any of the others would say she took off in hot pursuit.

By the time that the woman in the bed awoke Illyria had been awake for hours, rifling through every drawer and cupboard in the house, not caring or even thinking to stop and take the time to put something on or at least readjust her look. In her previous shell she had kept its basic appearance but altered it to suit her preferences. This time however she still did not know enough about her current predicament to make any sudden moves. Even though she could tell that she retained much of her earlier power Illyria knew that Wolfram and Hart was still lurking about and she didn't want to arouse anyone's suspicions.

"Hey hon…what are you doing up, you should be in bed…with me," The busty blonde sniggered as she slinked up behind Illyria and wrapped her arms around her waist and pulled her close before nibbling on her ear.

"I…do not understand the question," Illyria slowly replied back as she debated whether or not to break free from the other woman's grasp, but her shell didn't seem to want to.

"What's to understand, a soggy breakfast and working for that pig Dyson or a few more hours in bed with me…," The busty blonde sniggered back into Illyria's ear before she began to pull the two back towards the bedroom.

"I…am liking the second choice," Illyria stated more into thin air than anyone else before she let herself be led back into the bedroom, curious as to the other woman's intentions.

"So it's settled then, we're all going to Los Angeles today," Buffy announced with a very confidant and urgent tone to her voice as she went to her closet and pulled out the biggest suitcase that she could find.

"Easy Buffy…we can't just run off like this we need to think about…," Willow began to say with a fearfully nervous look on her face before Buffy half spun around and cut her off.

"They're in trouble Will…big trouble, and they…he, thinks that I turned my back on him…that I don't care about him anymore, I can't leave it like that," Buffy started off with an angry growl before her voice faltered and she had to steel herself to keep from letting tears slip out.

"Come on Buff…Angel's a big boy, he can…," Xander started to say back with a nervous smile on his face as he edged into the room, serving as the blocker for a scared Dawn.

"No Xander…he can't, Angel will get…got blinded by the big picture and missed the little things along the way, the little things like having friends that he could turn to, friends that would be there for him when he needed them…we were supposed to be those friends Xander…but we weren't," Buffy said back with a great amount of self scorn in her voice and words as she look about ready to burst from frustration.

"But we can't leave now Buffy, that new slayer never showed up for her flight, her flight landed in London hours ago and she got off…but she missed the flight here to Rome," Dawn said with a nervous and scared look on her face as she briefly stepped from behind Xander.

"Do we know why…did she call," Buffy asked with an impatient frown on her face as she slowly pulled open her sock drawer and began to rifle through it.

"We don't know anything, other than that she definitely arrived in London, but after that we have nothing," Willow answered with a sad and worried look on her face as she fished around in her head for something happier to say.

"She probably just fell asleep in the terminal or something, there could be a million and one reasons why she didn't…," Buffy started to say with a steadily growing nervous look on her face before Willow stepped in.

"Or something could have happened to her, something bad, we're not the only ones with the idea to get to these girls and teach them how to use their abilities you know…but we are practically the only ones that want them to use those powers for good," Willow interjected with a very serious and nervous half smile on her face as she slowly sat down on the end of Buffy's bed and looked out through the window into the Rome night.

"So what do you suggest we do then Will, pack up and go to London tonight and spend days if not weeks searching for her…sorry but I can't do that, I've already got enough on my plate with Angel and…," Buffy came back with as she shook her head and pulled a few pairs of socks out of her drawer and placed them on the bed beside the suitcase.

"No…Buffy, we don't go to London…at least not you and Dawn, Xander, Kennedy, and I will go," Willow announced with an interest peaking smile on her face before she turned around and stepped out of the room.

He stepped into the room and was almost knocked over by the rock thick cloud of smoke that hung in the air over the tables. Trying his best to keep his breathing to a minimum he made his way over to the bar and after ordering a drink he made his way towards the steps, taking in many deep breaths after getting above the smoke. He had kept a low profile ever since leaving and had only visited clubs sparingly, for the most part finding it to difficult to enter them given his history. He could feel all of the emotions pouring off of the others in the club that night, least of all being a woman that had started off following a man with bleached blond hair. She had followed him for several blocks before he had caught on and eventually lost her. After trying in vain to pick up his trail again she had slipped into the first club that she could find, mumbling something about missing her flight. In fact she was a bit to consumed in her own thoughts to notice a haggard looking demon with red horns and green skin lurking about the upper levels of the bar.

She didn't know how far she had followed him, or it as the case probably was. Faith didn't have a true clue what exactly is was that she was following but it looked and sounded like Wesley. When it spoke its voice reminded her of when she had first met Wesley, all dressed up with no place to go. On the day of that first meeting she had mostly blown him off, but in the back of her mind she had wondered if her first impression had been completely accurate. She had felt that it was until the day that he had shown up at the prison with the dire new of Angelus being loose on the city once more. Since then though she hadn't been able to make up her mind about Wesley, and then he was dead and it was all too late. She followed him through some of the ritzier parts of London, watching as he stopped at the window of several stores, seemingly letting his attention be held by something there. Before long though a look of sadness would come over his face and he'd move on, leaving Faith with an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach at the sight for she knew that feeling quite well. It wasn't until she followed him into what seemed to be more of the slums of London that she began to notice that more and more she would pass by shops where beings other than humans walked out of. She was about to give up her search when a voice from the past snapped her off of the immediate chase.

"Fancy meeting you here…," A gruff voice called out from several feet behind her, causing Faith to search her mind for a moment to figure out the identity of that particular voice.

"Fuck…," Faith groaned softly under her breath has her memory came back to her and she remembered the person attached to the voice.

"Fuck is right you little bitch, you stole my bike…," A gruff looking man growled as he stepped towards Faith, one hand holding a mostly full bottle of beer and the other reaching for a knife.

"You owed me money Cody…so I took your bike, thought it was a fair trade at first, damn thing didn't even make it to Cleveland before I had to shove it off an overpass," Faith shot back with a sarcastic and daring scowl on her face as she slowly turned around, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and leaned back up against the wall.

"You what," Cody exclaimed with a furious look of shock on his face as he finally managed to fish his knife out of his pocket and aim the point at Faith.

"Oh please, even your knife is bigger than your…damn…me and my big mouth," Faith joked with a sly and sexy pout on her face before Cody growled low and suddenly the alley that Faith was standing alone with Cody in was suddenly very crowded.

"What…what was that…," Cody asked with an evil grin on his face as he took a swig from his bottle of beer and then tossed it aside into the nearest pile of trash.

"I said that you're hung like a mouse, I needed a magnifying glass to find your…," Faith started to angrily shout back before she was smacked in the back of her head by the business end of a shovel, knocking her down to her knees. She started to stand up but was struck again, this time in the left shoulder by what felt like a tongue. Gritting her teeth against the pain she turned and looked at her left shoulder, only to find three small rivers of blood trickling forth from three small holes in her shoulder.

"Nothing to say now eh…," Cody jeered with a mocking sneer on his face as he took a step forward and grabbed a fist full of hair with one hand and forced Faith to look at him.

"The last person that came at me with a knife put me in a coma for months…you gonna try to trump them Cody," Faith stated with a very confidant and proud laugh even though her left shoulder was starting to ache and Cody reeked of things that Faith didn't even want to imagine.

"You know…if you're dumb enough to pull a knife on a lady you should expect something to go wrong," A completely calm voice said from out of the darkness before a smirking Spike stepped out into view.

"Because something always goes wrong when that someone tries to hurt a friend of mine," Another completely calm voice said from out of the darkness before Angel stepped into view on the other end of the alley, a nervous knife wielding Nina by his side.

"Who the hell are you," Cody screamed out with a defiant and frustrated expression on his face as some of those in the alley began to move towards either end of the alley and closer to Spike and Angel.

"No one special really, a lot like you actually…because you wanna know what I see when I look at you…Cody, is that you're a scared little man with more balls then brains, but unlike my friend Spike over there you don't have a prayer," Angel replied with a carefree and almost giddy smirk on his face as he unclasped his hands and tilted his head to one side until he heard a pop. At his words several of those assembled in the alley seemed to lose some of their nerve, with a few whispering in hushed tones with Spike's name being repeated over and over again, accompanied by his old moniker of William the Bloody.

"I see that my reputation precedes me," Spike said back with a sly grin on his face as he walked forward towards the group at his end of the alley, pulling a curved blade out from beneath his duster in the process.

"Am I supposed to be scared of you or something," Cody asked with a look of no fear and even a bit of foolish confidence on his face as he turned away from Faith and took a few steps towards Spike, making sure to keep his knife in plain sight.

"Well it couldn't hurt…it might help the doctors tomorrow morning when they try to piece you back together from all of the little bits that I'm going to leave you as unless you give us back our pretty little friend there," Spike joked back with a smug smirk on his face as he lifted his blade up and marveled at how the light in the alley reflected off of it.

"You should listen to him, he gets pretty cranky when stupid idiots like you try to pick a fight that there's no way in hell that they can win," Angel added with an almost childlike look of excitement on his face as for a moment Nina stared oddly at him and wondered if he had lost it.

"You…you don't scare me…," Cody snapped out with a faltering tone of voice as both Angel and Spike couldn't help but smirk and then take a few steps forward, not caring in the least to count the number of enemies in front of them.

"Whatever…you ready pet," Spike asked with an excited smile on his face as he gave a quick look towards Faith before he stepped closer to the group at his end of the alley.

"Always," Faith said back with a relieved and excited grin on her face before she brought her hand up off of her injured shoulder, unintentionally coating the medallion with her blood that had been on her hand. Before Cody could say anything more Faith's foot connected with his stomach and the brawl began.

END OF CHAPTER 7