Faith's POV:
I walk into the lobby and everyone turns to look at me. I guess slamming the door startled them. And I take it back. The rage is still bubbling inside me. Punching the shit out of Kennedy temporarily took away this feeling but in the short trip from the basement to this room, it's all returned. I've always had that problem, though. Whether it was violence, drinking, or fucking, nothing could ever take away my pain for long.
That's one of the things I hate most about myself. As much as I act cold and keep my emotions to myself, I'm really way too emotional for my own good. I'm extreme. Dancing, sex, fighting, loving, and hating is always 200 with me. I really wish I didn't care so much. I really wish that I didn't care that they're all looking at me now like I'm psychotic.
Come to think of it, maybe they should look at me like that. I'm not feeling totally balanced right now.
Angel's eyes immediately fall to my bloody hands. I don't know if he can tell the blood isn't mine. No one else has noticed them yet. I turn and walk over to the counter and start unwrapping my hands before they get a chance to. I don't need to deal with this shit right now. I mean, as soon as the fucking bloody mess down there comes to, they're all gonna know, but maybe I can cool down a little bit before that happens so I don't hurt anyone else. Cause right now, I feel like I need to hurt someone else.
"Faith, are you…" Dawn trails off and I don't even bother to turn around.
"Um, Robin's upstairs," Buffy says. Her voice's getting closer. She's walking over to me. Get the fuck away, B. Right now, you're number one on my shit list. "He's packing his stuff, going back to New York. I think maybe-"
She stops talking when she gets to the counter and sees all the bloody bandages. I try not to look at her, but I can't help stealing a few glances out of the corner of my eye. She looks confused.
"Why is there blood on these?"
I don't answer and pick up the towel to start wiping my hands.
"Faith, did you hurt yourself?"
I can't look at her when she figures out what it is. What I'm turning into. Or more accurately, what I becoming again.
She grabs my now clean hands and searched them for cuts. She's not going to find any. She looks up at me and I finally let her meet my eyes. I make a real effort to make sure that she doesn't find anything there. She can't know what I'm feeling right now. I don't even know what I'm feeling right now.
"Faith, you're not bleeding." She drops my hands and softly asks, "Faith, what did you do?"
"The blood isn't hers?" Cordelia asks, sounding pretty distraught. There's something off about her voice, though. Like she was either being waaay to sincere or a little sarcastic. I don't know which I like less.
"Faith, is that someone else's blood?" Wesley asks. Wow, he really is an idiot. Time to put some of old Faith back up.
"Well, Wes, if it's not my blood…" I trail off, looking him dead in the eye. You know what? I'm not going to let them make me feel bad about this. What am I getting so worked up over? I just hit the little bitch around some. She deserved a lot worse than what I gave her.
Now everyone's getting panicked looks on their faces and turning to each other to compare their retarded expressions.
"Everyone, just calm down." Giles takes off his glasses and cleans them, turning to me. "Faith, what exactly happened? Did you hurt somebody?"
I turn to Red and look her straight in the eye. I want her to know. She needs to know that I hurt someone because she cares about them. Not that that's really the reason I hurt Kennedy. But I want her to think that that's the reason. Her eyes start to grow wide as the bulb flicks on and she gets it. About time.
"Well, who's miss-"
"Kennedy!" Red jumps up and shouts, cutting off Dawn. She rushes to the door that I just slammed, the whole group standing up and following her. Only B and Angel stay in the lobby with me.
B's staring at a spot on the floor and Angel's just sighing and shaking his head like's the principal's just called him again because of something his troublemaker kid did. It's good to know that he realizes this isn't that bad. I've done a lot worse. I can't stand that everyone's gonna freak over a dumb shit like Kennedy finally getting what she deserves.
"Oh Goddess!" I hear Red yell. I hear only a few foot steps in the basement. I guess they're checking her out. Now I hear a bunch of footsteps coming up the stairs. I guess this is it. Time to face the firing squad.
No POV:
Gunn and Giles were the first to come through the door from the basement. They each had one end of Kennedy, who was still unconscious and now dripping blood out of her mouth. Fred and Dawn quickly rushed off to get a first aid kit, while Wesley came over to check her pulse and breathing. Xander, Cordelia, Andrew, Angel, Buffy and Lorne all remained watching from the sides as people fussed over the injured slayer. Faith was leaning against the counter with her arms crossed and entertaining herself by looking down at her shoes.
As the group tended to Kennedy, another slamming of the basement door caught everyone's attention. Willow stood in the doorway with black eyes and slowly darkening hair, her eyes fixed on Faith. Faith stared back at her, not even flinching under the death stare that was being directed at her.
"Willow, stop it!" Buffy yelled, running over to the livid Wicca. Buffy grabbed Willow's shoulders and turned her so that the black and hazel eyes met each other.
"Buffy, she's screwed around with us for the last time. Faith has never been anything but bad news, and now she's going to get what's been coming to her."
"But you don't need to be the one to give it! Willow, remember what happened before. Revenge doesn't solve anything. I know you're still in there right now. You're still you. Fight it! Don't do this!"
"Willow, you are stronger than the magics. Remember everything I taught you. Remain in control." Giles slowly approached Willow, keeping his voice steady and calm as he spoke.
"Kennedy will be fine, Wills," Xander added. "Don't throw away all the progress you've made over this, It's not worth it."
Willow's eyes began to flicker back to green as the black began to fade from her hair. She breathed deeply and clenched her fists as she fought to calm down, finally sighing and slumping her shoulders. She dropped down into a chair at the table and then dropped her head into her hands, shaking slightly. "I need a drink."
"Amen, sister!" Lorne said, quickly moving to the office. "That is something I can definitely help with. One very strong drink, coming up!"
As Lorne rushed off to get Willow's drink, the rest of the group heaved sighs of relief that a major crisis had been averted. Now, they just had to deal with the other crisis at hand.
"Faith, I'm sure there's some logical explanation for this, right?" Angel looked at Faith expectantly. Faith just kind of shrugged at him, so he tried again. "Did she attack you or something?"
"Not really."
"Well what were you two doing?"
"Sparring."
"Did she ask you to spar or did she just start fighting with you?"
"She asked me."
"Were you provoked at ALL?"
"YES! She was saying shit. Running her stupid-ass mouth. You know how she gets when she's being a twat."
Angel rubbed his eyes and shook his head. "Help me out just a little, Faith. Give me SOMETHING to work with."
"I'm not the one in the wrong here, Angel. She started this shit. She's been fucking around with me for weeks, and now that I finally put her in her goddamn place, I'm the fucking bad guy?"
"Faith, I'm not saying-"
Buffy cut Angel off with a harsh tone. "Angel, don't try and act like she didn't do anything wrong. Faith, you can't just go around hitting people just because you don't like what they're saying."
"She's not just a normal person, B. She's a slayer. And as I recall, you have no problem smacking someone around if you know that one punch from you won't break their face. I can even list some of the times you hit me because you didn't like what I was saying. How about recently when you punched me outside the Bronze when I took the girls there? Oh, and there was that time-"
"What, did you write it all down or something?" Buffy asked sarcastically. "Way to obsess."
"No, I just vividly remember every interaction that I've ever had with you." Faith licked her lips and leered at Buffy, making the blonde shift uncomfortably and look around to see if anyone had noticed. They had.
"Well, I for one think some serious rethinking of the living arrangements in this hotel needs to be done here," Cordelia said, crossing her arms. "I'm not really comfortable with the idea of staying in the same building as a slayer who seems to be reverting back to her old psychotic ways. She's obviously ditching her whole redemption gig, once again proving my theory that Faith is a crazed monster."
"I think I may have to agree with Cordelia," Wesley said, stepping forward. "As rudely as she expressed her concerns, she is right. Faith is too much of a threat to us. Look at what she was able to do to Kennedy, a fellow slayer. We wouldn't stand much of a chance. I can speak from experience when I say that Faith attacking one of us would not be pleasant." Wesley's voice held sarcasm, but the seriousness of what he was saying was obvious.
"Maybe we could talk about this like adults and not just fling petty insults at each other," Angel said.
"As much as this pains me to say it, Soulboy's right." Xander cringed and shook his head. "Anyway, why don't we stop talking about Faith like she's not here? That really isn't helping."
"What I'm not understanding is why it's OK when Buffy beats the crap out of someone, but I'm possessed by fucking Lucifer if I do it!" Faith dug her nails into her palms to keep from hitting someone.
"Faith, you nearly killed her!" Buffy yelled.
"Wow, I'm getting out of this cesspool at just the right time, huh?" Everyone turned to the staircase at the sound of Robin's voice.
"Robin, really, now is not the time-"
"It's fine, Rupert, I'm not starting anything. I'm just saying my good-byes. I'm already packed and everything, see?" He lifted up his duffle bag that had been hanging at his side and then continued down the stairs toward the exit of Hyperion. He stopped again and turned to face the group.
"I can't really say that I'm sad to go, but just to let you guys know, I'm heading back to New York. If you ever need any help, just look me up." He turned and pushed the door open, then paused one more time, looking over his shoulder at Faith. "And Faith, I guess you were the one who surprised me in the end. I thought… I thought we could work out. I realize now that we couldn't. I was so convinced that you were alright and that I could handle anything you threw at me. Guess I was wrong, huh? Maybe that one-way ticket to Hell that you bought all those years ago really is non-refundable."
With that, Robin Wood turned and walked out of the lives of the Scooby Gang. They remained silent for several moments and Faith never took her eyes off of the door. Finally, though, she began backing away from the group.
"You know what? Talk about what you want. I need to get out for a little while." Faith turned and made her way to door. As Faith walked up the steps to the exit, her eyes flashed gold and she turned to look at Buffy.
"Thought I'd stop by."
"Is he dead yet?" Buffy asked, amusement and eagerness in her voice.
"Good Lord, here we go again," Giles said, taking off his glasses to clean them.
"Guys, we should really figure out what's happening to them," Xander added, not taking his eyes off of Faith and Buffy.
"He's not gonna die. Good try, though. Your plan?" Faith asked, crossing her arms and staring at Buffy with a murderous look.
"Uh huh. Mayor got me the poison. Said it was wicked painful." Buffy moved across the floor as she spoke, gesturing as Faith would and grinning the whole time.
"Oh God, this is the night before graduation, which means…" Xander trailed off.
"Faith's gonna stab Buffy," Cordelia finished, her voice flat and emotionless.
"There's a cure."
"Damn." Buffy shook her head. "What is it?"
"Your blood," Faith said, her voice cold. "As justice goes, it's not un-poetic. Don't you think?"
"So what, you've come to get me?" Buffy voice was sarcastic and didn't reveal the fear that she was secretly feeling. "Gonna feed me to Angel? You know you're not gonna take me alive."
"Not a problem."
"Well, look at you. All dressed up in big sister's clothes."
"You told me I was just like you." Faith walked down the steps and moved closer to Buffy. Buffy began moving also until they met each other half way and stood face to face, inches apart. "That I was holding in."
"Ready to cut loose?"
"Try me."
"Alright then." Buffy tilted her head and then whispered, "Give us a kiss."
Faith punched her in the face and was hit back just as hard a second later. They froze and watched each other, then began fighting with a vigor and force that the group watching had never seen before.
"Giles! Can't we do anything?" Dawn yelled, frantically turning to the former watcher.
"We, we have to think. Willow! Can you do anything to stop them?"
"I wouldn't be able to control it if I did," she muttered, looking down.
"Jesus, what are we gonna do? Buffy is Faith. Faith gets stabbed at the end of this. We have to help Buffy. Anyone, what can we do?" Xander looked around frantically at the group.
"Pray," Angel said, standing ready to jump into the fight if the barriers should come down.
Buffy threw Faith away from her as both of their eyes flashed gold again and growled, "You can't win this."
"SHUT UP!" Faith yelled. "You think I'm afraid of you?" Faith jumped at Buffy and landed on top of her, straddling her. "You're nothing. A disgusting murderous bitch. You're nothing! You're disgusting!" Faith punched Buffy repeatedly and slammed her head into the ground as she cried and yelled. Buffy suddenly grabbed her hand and they flew apart.
Both girls landed five feet away from where they were and on their backs, gasping for air. Faith clutched her head as she shook her head back in forth, not believing what was happening.
"Are you guys alright?" Dawn asked as the group moved toward the two slayers. Or more specifically, Angel, most of the LA group (excluding Cordelia) and Xander moved to Faith as the rest of the group moved to Buffy. They slowly helped Buffy up as she tried to catch her breath. Angel held out a hand to Faith, but she moved back quickly and got up on her own.
"I, I," She looked around at the group staring at her like some kind of freak science project. "I gotta go. I gotta get out of here."
Faith quickly turned and sprinted out of the hotel, not looking back. Buffy wasted no time in running after her, yelling that she'd be back.
"We must figure out what's causing this. Not only are these re-enactments getting more violent," Wesley said. "But I fear that this severely affecting Faith's state of mind and may cause her to do something drastic." The group turned and looked at Wesley like he was insane. "Well, more drastic than what she's already done, I mean."
Faith's POV:
"Faith, wait! We need to talk."
I sigh and stop walking. B is un-fucking-believable. She thinks that she can just fuck with my head and my heart, but still have the right to tell me what to do and try and guilt me into shit. No, I'm not letting her. Maybe I would have before… not now though. I'm fed up and feeling particularly fucked up right now.
"Save it, B," I say, turning around. "There's not one goddamn thing you can say to me right now that will make anything of this shit better. Just leave me the fuck alone. I think that'd be best for everyone involved."
"I can't leave you alone, Faith. I leave you alone, and something worse will happen. You're way too self-destructive for your own good."
"Oh please, flatter me some more, why don't you? That's exactly what I want to hear right now." Seriously, who the fuck does she think she is? She thinks she can talk to me like that after everything she's done to me? And I do mean EVERY fucking thing she's done to me.
"I don't care what you want to hear. I'm telling you what you need to hear. You're unstable, Faith. You always have been, and right now you're about to fall over the edge. I know the signs. I care about you too much to let you do something to hurt yourself or someone else." Hah! She cares? That's a laugh. And I'm choosing to address that blatant lie, rather than the question of my sanity. Cause quite frankly, I'm starting to wonder about that myself.
"Bullshit! You wouldn't piss on me if I was on fire!"
"I love you, Faith."
I can't listen to this shit. Just hearing those words come out of her mouth revolts me. I follow my first instinct and lash out. My fist connects with Buffy's cheek before she even knows what happened.
"SHUT UP! Do NOT say you love me. You don't love me! You betrayed me, Buffy. You broke my fucking heart, and now you have the FUCKING nerve to say you love me?"
"Didn't you betray me when you were in love with me?" Oh, good, B. Throw shit like that in my face when you're trying to convince me you love me.
"Like that even compares. We weren't together, and I knew that you didn't love me back. Now recently, on the other hand, we WERE together and you knew pretty fucking well how in love with you I am. Oh, and lets not forget that my betrayal stemmed from fear because I had killed a man and was gonna be shipped off somewhere and probably killed. You betrayed me because your 'bestest friend in the whole wide world' got upset that you were fucking with me. If you love me like you say you do, B, it wouldn't matter what your friends thought. And you've made it pretty obvious, B, that it matters to you."
B looks down at the ground guiltily. Good, be guilty you stupid bitch. "You're right. I'm sorry I shouldn't have done what I did. I was scared, I panicked, and I didn't think it through. I would take what I did back if I could. I'm sorry, Faith. Please, please forgive me. I love you. I love you more than anything. Please believe me." Tears stream down her face as she pleads with me. The tears look gorgeous on her. They make me want to fuck her more. I think I like making her cry. I wonder what else I could do to keep her this way.
You know what's strange, though? Twenty-four hours ago, that little speech would have had me forgiving and kissing her faster than you can say "pussy-whipped". But now? Nothing. Well, not nothing. I feel some love for her still, but more than anything, I feel rage at the complete and utter audacity of Miss Buffy "Better that thou" Summers. I want to hit that pretty little face until it bleeds, which scares me a lot. I thought I had left this behind. I don't still want her dead, do I? I guess it makes sense, since once again I feel rejected and want to make her pay. I don't think I really know what I feel. I love her and hate her. I feel both guilt and satisfaction at my thoughts and actions. Jesus, I'm so confused. I'm just completely overwhelmed. The one thing I do know, though, is that I don't forgive her. Not even the tiniest bit.
"Thanks, B," I say, smirking.
B looks confused, upset, and a little worried. She's crying harder now. I REALLY like it when she cries.
"That was sweet and all," I continue, "but I've got things to do. Gotta motor. See ya."
I turn to walk away, but B quickly grabs my arm to stop me. I stop moving again and slowly turn to face her. My scary grin is on. "I'm gonna say this one last time, B. Do. Not. Touch. Me."
She lets go and I continue down the street, not looking back. Ok, time to find a bar. I need to get well and truly tanked.