Night Falls
Notes: Thanks for the reviews. Keep them coming.
Previously:
"I can't," Buffy whispered, tears straining to break free from her eyes.
"Why not?" Wesley asked, sighing wearily.
"I…," Buffy hesitated.
"You can say it," Wesley prompted. "It's alright."'
"I'm afraid," Buffy finally admitted. "I'm afraid to let her in like that again."
Chapter Twenty-Eight:
The room was dark, save for the light of a single candle that burned earnestly and intensely. The flame flickered from the breeze coming in through the opened window, creating dancing shadows that flitted across the blackened walls. The lonely sound of midnight traffic meandered in and settled in Buffy's ears. She sat on a chair by the side of her bed and held Faith's limp, cold hand in her own. Emotions tumbled through her like an avalanche, but her face remained impassive and stoic. She had to be a leader. She had to be strong. The last thing in the world the Potentials needed was to see their leader have an emotional breakdown. But that was exactly what she wanted to do at that moment. She felt like crying until her tears would not come anymore – until she had dried every ocean in the world. But she did not.
Shadows danced across Faith's face in a symphony of light and dark. It was rather poetic. Faith was light and Faith was dark. Both halves of the coin lingered somewhere in her soul. When Buffy had first met her, all she could see was the darkness oozing from her stormy, brown eyes. But now Buffy could see something different. The light had taken control and her eyes seemed to sparkle more. There was hope in her face, even though she had nothing for which to hope. Buffy sighed and closed her eyes. She was tired. The rest of the house was asleep, as far as she was aware. The night had gone terribly wrong, but they had survived.
She stopped herself from thinking about the girls who had not survived. Two bodies lay in a pile of rubble at Sunnydale High. Several more lay in a row in the backyard, waiting to be buried with the first light of day. A new sound filled Buffy's ears as it softly began to rain. The sound of raindrops hitting the roof comforted her. It was as if the sky was crying for her. Opening her eyes, she leaned forward and gazed into Faith's face. Wesley had patched the wound on her head, but he did not know when she would wake up. Several bruises marred her beauty, but Buffy knew they would fade. They always did; even if the memory of them lingered on. The body did not forget all of the wounds it received. It never forgot, no matter how much time passed.
"I look like shit, don't I?" A voice said in the darkness. Buffy jumped, startled.
"Who's there?" She asked, squinting her eyes to see as a person approached her.
"Don't you recognize me?" The First asked, stepping into the candlelight and wearing Faith's face. "You should. You wake up next to me every morning. Isn't that romantic," she said sarcastically.
"You're not Faith," Buffy growled angrily. "You have no right to pretend to be."
"Oh, I have every right, B. I died, remember? That puts me in a whole different category," the First replied.
"You're the one who did this to her. Get out!" Buffy said harshly, rising to her feet.
"Well, that's very chivalrous of you, but please, B, you don't have to stand up," Faith said, throwing up her hands and laughing. "And technically, I'm not the one who did this. One of the Bringers did. Not me."
"Technicalities," Buffy retorted. "I don't want you in my home."
"Now are you talking about the First or are you talking about Faith because it could really go either way," Faith replied. "But let's not fight, baby, I know plenty of better things we could be doing with our time," she said, waggling her eyebrows suggestively. Buffy turned away disgustedly. "Oh, that's right. I forgot. We're not having sex are we?"
"Why are you doing this to me?" Buffy asked, sinking back into her chair. Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks.
"Don't you know, B? Why I've always tormented you? Way back in the day when you thought I was stealing all of your friends and I let you? Way back in the day when I tried to steal your boyfriend and you let me? I've always done it because I can," Faith sneered.
Buffy leaned forward and squeezed her Faith's hand harder. "Don't worry, baby, I won't let it hurt you again," she whispered.
"I'm sorry, what was that? I didn't quite hear you," the First said laughing. "It's not like you can stop me. You've proven that well enough." Buffy looked up to see the First morphing into another body. This time a woman in her thirties stood before her with stringy, black hair, and hollow eyes. "Faithy always liked big ka-booms, didn't you, my little firecracker?" The woman asked, leaning over Faith as she lay unconscious in the bed.
"Who are you?" Buffy asked in confusion.
"She'd never tell you, would she? She's ashamed of me. Of where she comes from," the woman said.
"You're her mother," Buffy said suddenly.
"Why aren't you a smart one," the woman replied sarcastically. "You look out for her now, you hear? She's a mean little bitch. There's something wrong in her head, you know," the woman said, pointing at her temple with her index finger.
"Are you sure you're not talking about yourself?" Buffy asked.
"What goes around comes around, kid. She is her mother's daughter, after all," the woman replied and then disappeared in a flash of light.
"What the hell," Buffy muttered to herself and shook her head. Looking back at Faith, she reached out and gently caressed the side of her girlfriend's face. "I need you to wake up now, baby. I know that I wasn't ready…for us, before. But I am now. I want you. I need you," Buffy said, hoping her words would rouse Faith from her slumber. But Faith remained motionless and asleep.
……………………………………
Willow reached out with a hesitating and shaking hand. "Are you sure it's okay?" She asked, almost pulling her hand back. Hailey smiled softly.
"It's not going to hurt," she replied.
"Are you sure though?" Willow prodded.
"It's almost completely healed, Will. I'm fine," Hailey answered. Willow smiled and nodded. Reaching her hand forward again, she gently brushed her fingertips across the skin of Hailey's chest, under which her heart beat. The skin was broken and bruised around the spot the knife had entered her body, but the wound was already starting to knit itself back together.
"That's amazing," Willow muttered to herself, allowing her fingers to brush over what should have been the mortal wound that killed her girlfriend. The thought caused tears to well up in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" Hailey asked, reaching down and taking Willow's hand in her own.
"You could have died tonight. You should have died tonight," Willow said, her tears spilling freely. "And I would never have gotten the chance to say all of the things that I wanted to say."
"I'm still here," Hailey reassured her. "And I'm not going anywhere. You still have plenty of time."
Willow did not hear her. "You make me so happy in so many ways, baby. I never thought that I would be happy again. There's so many times I've wanted to tell you, but I just couldn't. I couldn't get the words to pass through my lips. I don't know why. I wish I had told you before because if he had stabbed you one second sooner, you'd be dead," Willow rambled in panic.
"Told me what?" Hailey asked in confusion. Willow suddenly stopped talking and looked up at her with, wide, fearful eyes. Hailey smiled. "It's okay. Whatever you were going to tell me, you don't have to."
"No, I do have to," Willow said. "That's just the point. I have to say it."
"So then say it," Hailey prompted.
"I love you," Willow blurted out and instantly reddened from embarrassment. Hailey gazed at her with a mixture of shock and wonder crossing her face. "Are you going to say anything? Anything at all?" Willow asked awkwardly as Hailey remained silent.
"I think I love you too," she whispered softly, looking down at the bed. She and Willow were lying side-by-side facing each other. She felt Willow scoot closer.
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Willow murmured.
"I don't mean it like that," Hailey quickly said. "It's just, it's been a long time since I've ever really loved anyone."
"It's okay, you know," Willow replied. "It's scary, but it's okay."
Hailey grinned. "I thought I was supposed to be comforting you," she said.
"I think there's some mutual comforting going on here," Willow responded with a goofy smile.
"I love you, Will," Hailey said, cupping the side of the witch's face and staring into her eyes intensely. "In every good way there is." Willow could not stop a single tear from escaping her eyes as Hailey spoke. Leaning into her girlfriend's chest, she closed her eyes and let her body relax.
"I'm so tired," Willow murmured as she felt herself slowly beginning to drift to sleep.
"Go to sleep," Hailey whispered and closed her eyes.
…………………………….
Hailey's eyes shot open suddenly. She was standing in a barren desert on top of a high, steep cliff. A fierce wind whipped through her hair. It was almost deafening and it almost pushed her over the edge. Looking down, she shuddered when she saw the jagged rocks below, which would certainly kill her, were she to fall from the cliff. The landscape changed dramatically at the bottom. Fertile fields and groves of fruit trees lined the ground below in organized rows. A river receded into the distance, disappearing at the horizon. Vaguely, Hailey heard soft, footsteps padding up to her.
"This is where it all began," a woman said. Hailey looked over her shoulder and saw a beautiful blonde woman with caring eyes standing behind her.
"Where what began?" She asked. The woman smiled and began to walk away. Hailey followed her away from the edge of the cliff, which frightened her, and further into the desert, which was oddly comforting. The sun had burned everything on the ground – a cruel, astral taskmaster. "Where are you going?" Hailey asked, struggling to catch up with her.
"This is where all life began," the woman furthered. Hailey stopped walking abruptly and glanced around at the nothingness and barrenness that surrounded her.
"How did life begin here?" She asked. "It's empty." The woman smiled patiently, as an omniscient teacher would when waiting for her pupil to grasp a simple, yet complex idea.
"Everything changes," the woman finally explained. "What once was is no longer. The desert you see here used to be a fertile plain."
"Like the one back there…" Hailey said, turning to look back at the edge of the cliff, only to discover that the desert now stretched on eternally in all directions.
"There's nothing back there," the woman said cryptically and moved on. "What you are lies ahead now."
"What I am?" Hailey asked, again struggling to match the woman's pace.
"Go on," she urged, motioning for Hailey to walk ahead of her. "There's much you have to see yet." Hailey followed the woman's pointed finger, which stretched north towards the sun, and followed it. The sand began to harden, as if footsteps had packed it into a compact and smooth surface. Through the haze of the heat rising from the ground, Hailey saw shapes begin to form. Jagged teeth arose from the sand, marring the horizon. She stopped walking.
"What is this place?" She asked confusedly.
"A graveyard," the woman replied.
"For who?" Hailey asked.
"People like you," the woman answered.
"Slayers," Hailey murmured.
"Yes," the woman replied. "This is your final resting place. This is where Slayers go when they die."
"To a desert?" Hailey wondered incredulously.
"Back to the beginning," the woman clarified.
Hailey gazed in wonder at the thousands of simple, stone markers that lay scattered through the sand. "They're all unmarked," she noticed. "Why aren't there names on them?"
"You have no name," the woman replied. "You are a part of an eternal, infinite power. That is all."
"I don't understand," Hailey said. "Why are you showing me all of this death?"
"Death is your gift," she replied sadly.
"Death is my gift?" Hailey repeated. Suddenly, she understood. She had understood for a very long time. Death was not her gift to give to others. It was the gift that the Powers that Be rewarded every Slayer when her time had been spent. It was the gift of rest and peace. "I understand now," Hailey said, looking over at the blonde woman. Something struck her as she gazed into the other woman's eyes. "You look familiar."
"We share a great love," the woman said kindly. "Wake up,"