Night Falls

Notes: No need to fear, the Buffy characters are not going to be out shadowed by my original character. I intend for Faith and Willow to be the leads in this story. However, I did have to get the story from point A to point B so to speak. So thanks for bearing with me.

Previously:

"Vamos?" Maria asked in a shaking voice. "Sunnydale?"

"Yeah, let's get out of here," Colleen agreed.

Chapter Five:

Supposedly the pile of steaming noodles sitting front of her was spaghetti; however, Faith always thought that spaghetti sauce had more of the consistency of chili than tomato soup. While she appreciated three squares a day, she did not appreciate the oppressive block prison food seemed to form in her stomach. "I can't eat this shit," she muttered, pushing her tray away from her.

A lanky, stringy haired druggie leaned over, her eyes shining unnaturally, and whispered excitedly, "Hey, you gonna eat that?"

"It's all yours, kid," Faith replied, grimacing when the girl yanked the tray towards her and began wolfing it down. The sauce leaked out of the corners of her mouth and it reminded Faith of blood. Looking away before her stomach decided to rid itself of what she had eaten, she surveyed the cafeteria. She had heard that the only way to survive in prison was to beat the shit out of someone on the first day or to become someone's bitch. She had never been anyone's bitch and she did not intend to become one. She had won a great deal of respect from the other women by beating the shit out of the biggest, toughest chick in the place, but she was starting to notice that respect waning.

She had not repeated the performance. She knew that if she was going to embrace the path to redemption, she had to change things. A part of her wanted to lash out and bust a few heads every time someone pissed her off, but she knew that if she went down that road, she would never come back. As it was, she had barely managed to save herself the first time around. Without Angel's help, she knew that she would be dead, or worse. Her eyes rested on a woman affectionately named Big Bertha by the rest of the inmates. She was the type of woman that could have been a man at first glance – big, nondescript, and dangerous. Faith had not had any trouble with Big Bertha, but she was starting to worry. The looks the other woman was flashing her from across the cafeteria only increased that concern. Big Bertha stood and began walking towards Faith, stalking like a tiger.

"Hey," a voice said from behind her. Faith turned and saw two guards standing there, holding guns that were nearly bigger than them. Overcompensation, Faith thought to herself and threw them a cocky grin.

"What's up, boys? Whatever it is, I didn't do it," she said, throwing her hands up in mock innocence.

"Yeah, like we haven't heard that one before," one of the guards snickered.

"You got a visitor. Let's go," the other said, motioning for her to follow. In addition to winning the respect of the rest of the inmates, Faith had also won the respect of the guards. She had only gotten into one fight that she started. Other than that, she had tried to stay out of trouble. Sometimes, trouble found her, but Faith could hardly be blamed for that. After all, it was a prison and no one in it was an angel. The guards were wary around all of the prisoners, but they knew they had nothing to worry about with Faith. There were some prisoners that they did not take chances with, but Faith was not one of those.

As they walked down the hallway towards the visitors' room, the guards let their guns drop down by their sides and they visibly relaxed. "Beautiful day out," one of them said.

"Yeah?" Faith asked. "Maybe I'll go for a bike ride," she said sarcastically.

"I'm sure we could arrange that," the other guard joked.

"How're the kids?" Faith asked.

"Good," the man replied. "Thanks for asking."

"Here we are," the other said, opening the door for Faith. "You know the drill."

Faith nodded and stepped into the room, her eyes resting on the empty chair in her booth. She had not had any visitors in a long time – several months. Angel used to come regularly, but she knew that he had a mission. The fight against evil was not going to give him a day off so that he could visit old friends. While she respected his dedication to the job, she had to admit that she got lonely in prison. She was always surrounded by people, but sometimes she just wanted to see a familiar face. However, when she sat down and stared through the glass at the woman sitting across from her, she was greeted by a stranger. She picked up the phone, which the other woman already had to her ear.

"Looks like you hit a shit storm," Faith muttered into receiver as she glanced the woman over. She had taken a serious beating. The woman smiled and raised her eyebrows slightly.

"You could say that," she replied in a slight English accent.

"From the Council?" Faith asked immediately.

"Not exactly," the woman replied evasively.

"What does that mean?" Faith demanded.

"No one is from the Council anymore. It's gone," the woman answered. "It was destroyed a little while ago."

"Destroyed?" Faith asked, barely able to believe it. "It's gone? Just like that?"

"Well, with a lot of explosives and general mayhem, but yeah, just like that," the woman said.

"So then what are you here for?" Faith asked, suspicious again of the woman sitting across from her. Her instincts were screaming at her not to trust her, but there was something sincere in her eyes that Faith felt herself believing and she hated herself for falling for it.

"To get you out," the woman answered. "My name is Hailey Travers. I used to work for the Council. I was a potential Slayer."

"Was?" Faith asked. "Didn't think you got to quit that job."

"You don't," Hailey replied dryly. "But it quit on me."

"Meaning?" Faith asked.

"I never got called. Moved onto other things," Hailey answered. "Look, my life story isn't really all that important."

"What is important?" Faith asked, studying the woman sitting across from her. She looked as though she had survived a war. Her face was bruised and a partially healed gash ran down the side of her face, by her eye. Though Faith could not see, she knew that the woman had other, more serious injuries, hidden beneath the surface. Pain lingered in her eyes and she hesitated when she spoke, as if she were trying to pull the words from a part of her brain that wanted to quit on her.

"The First Evil. I know you haven't heard of it. But it's been picking off the line of Slayers. The theory is, if it can kill all of the potentials before the Slayer dies, than there will be no one to take her place once she perishes. The line of Slayers will end and evil won't have anything to oppose it," Hailey explained. "It's been tried before, but no one has ever been successful, until now."

"The First took out the Council and now it's looking to take out everyone else," Faith surmised.

"Yeah," Hailey agreed. "It's already executed a number of potentials. The rest are in Sunnydale."

"Of course," Faith said, rolling her eyes. "Why wouldn't they go to the one place that attracts every form of evil imaginable?"

"I know this is rather sudden," Hailey said. "But I need to get you out of here – today. We have to go to Sunnydale."

"I don't particularly think that I'm wanted in Sunnydale," Faith replied bitterly.

"Maybe not. But you're needed there. Listen to me, Faith. The Council had many opportunities in the past four or so years to kill you. But they didn't. You know why? Because I'm the daughter of the man who ran the damn thing and I told him not to. I knew that you would be important. He didn't always listen to me. As a matter of fact, you were the only thing he did listen to me about. I'm glad he did. But if you're gonna be a pussy and cop out of this fight because you're scared of a couple of stupid people, than I guess I was wrong about you," Hailey said heatedly, rising out of her chair.

"Hold on," Faith replied quickly. "Don't go getting up just yet. I never said no. I just don't like it."

"We don't have time for you to contemplate the unpleasantness of returning to Sunnydale, not when all of our lives hang in the balance. You think you're impervious because you're in here? The First Evil is everywhere, Faith. It'll find you," Hailey warned.

"I'm getting that," Faith replied. She leaned back in her chair, her mind reeling. She could easily break out of prison. From the moment she went into police custody, she was never really a prisoner. She was a volunteer. If what Hailey was saying was true, than Buffy would need her help whether she wanted it or not. Though Faith was loath to face the Scooby Gang again, she knew that she needed to make amends with them if she was ever going to move on with her life. Besides, the idea of seeing Buffy again was nearly enough to persuade her to go. She had blown all of her chances with the blonde slayer, if she had ever had a chance to begin with. But maybe, if nothing else, she could be the older girl's friend once everything was said and done.

"Well?" Hailey asked impatiently.

"So how were you thinking I'd get out of here?" Faith finally asked. Hailey smiled. Faith, despite herself, found herself smiling back.

"Usually I would use my sway to get you out by more legal means," Hailey said.

"Wait, your sway?" Faith asked.

"I'm a sheriff," Hailey explained.

"The enemy," Faith muttered jokingly.

"Not really," Hailey said. "Vampires were more my enemy than people. I hardly ever arrested anyone. This glass, it isn't too thick, is it?" Hailey asked and Faith instantly knew what the other woman was thinking.

"You want me to bust through, sheriff?" Faith asked, grinning like the cat that had caught the canary.

"Yeah," Hailey said. "Right about now would be good." Hanging up with phone, Hailey took several steps back. Faith rose to her feet, her muscles tensing as she backed up. The guards looked at each other, wondering at her strange behavior. Their wonder soon turned to alarm when Faith darted forward, diving head first through the glass partition that separated her from the outside world. Glass blew apart in front of her, spraying into the other side of the room. Faith curled her body in mid air and rolled into a standing position when she hit the floor.

"And now?" She asked breathlessly, once she was on her feet.

"Run," Hailey replied. They sprinted through the visitors' area, capitalizing on the guards' shock. They made it out of the building before anyone reacted. A car was waiting for them near the door. Hailey slipped into the driver's seat and slammed the door shut, turning the keys as the engine roared to life. Faith slid across the hood, wincing as a bullet struck behind her, and dove into the passenger's seat. Once the door slammed shut behind her, Hailey stomped on the gas. The car sped out of the parking lot. The guards shot several rounds at them as they fled, but the car soon vanished from sight.

"They following us?" Hailey asked, glancing in the rearview mirror.

"Not yet," Colleen replied from the backseat. "But I don't suggest we wait around to find out."

"Who are they?" Faith asked, glancing back at the two young girls.

"Potentials," Hailey replied. "The one on the right is Maria, she doesn't speak English. The one on the left is Colleen."

"It's nice to meet you," Colleen said to the stranger. "But who is she?" She asked Hailey.

Hailey grinned as she let up on the gas and merged onto the freeway, heading towards Sunnydale. The cops would be looking for them, no doubt, but she had a considerable lead. She just hoped that she could get out of town before they had every uniformed officer in the city looking for them. "This is the Slayer," Hailey said. "Her name's Faith."

"I thought you said the Slayer was in Sunnydale?" Colleen asked in confusion.

"A Slayer is in Sunnydale," Hailey clarified. "The Slayer is sitting right in front of you."