Earlier that morning:
Hope rolled over onto her side and looked at the small clock that was placed on the back wall.
"Six thirty?" she groaned as she sat up.
She had given up on the idea of sleep a long time ago. She had told herself repeatedly that this wasn't her world, that she would be safe if she fell asleep, but it was no use. She heard Buffy come down stairs some time in the night. "Probably going to talk with Spike" she thought to herself. She had also known that Faith had been awake most of the night but still Hope had remained silent. She figured if Faith had wanted to talk she would have.
Standing up Hope grabbed a set of black bottoms and a gray t-shirt from her rucksack and headed upstairs as quietly as she could as not to disturb anyone. Coming down fifteen minutes later she placed her old cloths in her bag rolling up the sleeping bag she placed it in the corner of the room with her things. Looking at the Scythe that was also there she stood there a moment before picking it up. She traced her fingers along the two scratches that were on the blade.
"Hopefully I can stop this as well." Hope said as she placed the Scythe back in the corner, heading towards the kitchen she walked out of the door and onto the back porch.
Little did Hope know that Faith had been awake the whole time, throwing the blanket off herself Faith pulled on her black sweat pants and a white t-shirt. Walking over to the corner she picked up Hopes Scythe.
"Stop what exactly?" She asked looking at the scratches, before placeing it back in the corner.
Heading in the direction she had seen Hope go, but when she got there she found the kitchen empty, looking out of the window Faith saw Hope doing some exercises in the back garden. Grabbing two bottles of water from the fridge Faith stepped out side and walked over to Hope. Faith offered one of the bottles to Hope who accepted it.
"Thanks" Hope said as she opened the bottle and took a drink from it.
"No problem, mind if I join you?" asked Faith
"Not at all I could use the company not many people up at this hour, I'm sorry if I woke you." Hope said recapping the bottle.
"You didn't, just not a good sleeper is all." Faith admitted being in prison would do that to you she thought to herself.
"So what about you, why are you up so early?" asked Faith
"I don't sleep much never have since this whole mess started. The only way you could get some sleep in my world was to sleep in shifts, but I only slept when I had to." Hope told her.
"How come?" asked Faith
"Because it doesn't matter how fast or strong I am when I'm asleep I'm just as weak as everyone else, and being weak would get you killed." Hope informed her
"Sound's rough." Faith noted
"It was at first but I got use to it." Hope said shrugging it off.
"You wanna spar?" she asked.
"Think you can take me?" asked Faith not at all serious
"I guess we'll see" replied Hope with a smirk.
"Alright you're on." Faith told her as they put their bottles over to one side.
Before Hope could turn around Faith sent a quick punch towards the back of Hopes head trying to catch her off guard and to see how good this girl really was. Hope spun around and caught Faiths fist in her hand.
"Not bad, you got some good reflexes Future Girl." Faith told her
"Future Girl?" Hope said grinning at Faiths nickname for her.
Faith then threw a series of punches at Hope all of which were blocked.
"How old are you anyway?" asked Faith narrowly avoiding a kick from Hope.
"Eighteen" replied Hope as she ducked to avoid a high kick.
Turning around she flipped backwards and landed in a crouched position, and then turned to punch Faith as she stood up. Faith caught her fist and pushed Hope past her so that she landed on the grass.
"That last move you did you wanna try to pull your arm a little further back and put a little more spin into it." Faith said as she offered her hand out to Hope who accepted it.
"Here try again, and aim for my hand." Faith said holding her hand out in front of her.
So Hope tried the same move again doing what Faith had told her.
"You're right, that's a lot better, thanks." Hope said
"No problem." Faith said picking up her bottle of water and drinking from it.
"That was some pretty impressive work last night. D' you always take on twelve vampires by yourself?" asked Faith
"I found a nest on my way through town decided to take it out didn't really have a plan." Hope admitted
"So you just went in there, not knowing how many of 'em where in there?" Faith asked then began to laugh.
"Ok I have been spending way too much time around B." Faith said
"Huh?" was all Hope said clearly not seeing what was so funny.
"A couple of years ago when I first came to Sunnydale there was this demon who had a bunch of vamp's looking for this amulet that was suppose to restore his strength or something like that, so anyway I come across this mausoleum and I find B hiding in one of the caskets, apparently she didn't like the odds of six against one. So we head outside and the vamp's are jumping down this man hole and B was all you don't know how many are down there, so I go over and I jumped down anyway." Faith told her.
"Cool." Hope said laughing at what she had just heard.
"So today" Faith paused
"Think you can leave some vamp's for the rest of us?" She asked.
"I can't promise." replied Hope with a smirk.
"So are you up for round two?" Hope asked
"Sure." Faith said
Walking back into the center of the lawn, they began to spar once more. They continued like this for over an hour, not one of them noticed Buffy or Kennedy standing on the porch watching them. Faith had just gained the upper hand pushing Hope towards the tree, running up it Hope flipped backwards landing behind Faith, she kicked her sending her into the tree.
"Nice." Faith noted
"Mind if we join you?" asked Buffy as she and Kennedy walked over to them.
"More the merrier." Faith told them.
"That thing with the tree was cool, how'd you do that?" Kennedy asked
"It's easy come on I'll show you." Hope offered as they walked over to the tree.
"How long have you been out here?" Buffy asked Faith as they walked over to the porch and sat on the steps.
"A couple of hours, you definitely trained her she's got a lot of your moves." Faith told her before downing the remainder of her water.
They continued to watch Hope and Kennedy who had finally managed to run up the tree and flipp herself over to land on her feet.
"Well check out Brat!" Faith shouted over to Kennedy how took a mock bow and then turned to face Hope.
"Thanks." Kennedy said before looking over to where Faith and Buffy were sat.
"You look up to them don't you? You respect them." Hope asked
"What makes you say that?" asked Kennedy
"Because underneath all your little banter sessions with Faith and all the times you call Buffy out when you thing she's not making a whole lotta sense..." Hope began
"How did you...?" Kennedy asked
"You'd be amazed at what still happens in the future." Hope told her
"Anyway so you figure hey they've been fighting this long and they're still standing, sure Buffy's died a couple of times but she's still here. They're the embodiment of what a good slayer is to you, and that's what you wanna be, it's what you're going to be." Hope told her.
"How did you know that?" Kennedy asked
"Because when I first started training that's how I felt about the three of you." Hope told her
"That little move I just showed you, you taught me that and then some. I could show you if you'd like." Hope offered
"Sure thanks." Kennedy said as they walked over to Buffy and Faith.
"Oh and don't worry your secret's safe with me." Hope told her
"You two ready?" Buffy asked as she stood up.
"Actually I'm gonna do some training with Hope." Kennedy told them
"Brat, I'm hurt aren't we good enough for you anymore?" Faith said in mock hurt
"Look's like it's just you and me B" Faith said as they walked onto the grass and began to spar.
Kennedy and Hope had been training for an hour when Kennedy stopped.
"This feel's weird, you're teaching me moves that I taught you that I don't even know yet." Kennedy told her
"Well if you think it's weird now imagine what its going to be like when you're teaching them back to me in seventeen years." Hope told her.
"My advice, don't think about it so much." Hope told her.
The four of them continued like this for another hour before heading inside.