Title: Five by Five
Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.
Author Notes: As the title indicates this is all about Hope's memories. Showing a past almost as bad as Faith's own. Of course there are some very unexplored parts like home life which I would've loved to go over in more detail, but maybe at a later date.
Chapter 8: Memories
"How do we know that you're you?" Willow asked and Faith shot her a look. Then she decided to elaborate, "I mean, how do we know that you're Hope? I know what I said in my own spell you know." There was a chuckle.
"Alright so you got me. I ain't her. I'm just a messenger okay." Faith's face contorted into a painful and deadly expression. Someone was going to pay.
"I mean Faith here thought I was Hope cos she's talking through me. I'm like a conduit between the two of you. Like a window between here and there."
"Huh?" Willow apparently didn't know her spell as well as she thought.
"There aren't only things that trick there are guides as well. I thought you knew your own spell, witch." The voice drawled and both of the women shot each other a look, they were both starting to dislike this voice. Its sarcasm was something that could rival Faith's own and Faith couldn't help but wince on behalf of Willow when it treated her like a little kid.
"Well if you're a guide then guide us to Hope." Faith said and then Hope walked out of the fog and in front of Faith. Faith's eyes widened as she saw her twin in front of her.
"You're not getting it Faith. The land of the lost isn't an actual place. This isn't another dimension which I've slipped into. It's a place that's in all of us. A place where we just forget about things and let ourselves be lost."
"Hope..." Faith began but Hope cut her off.
"You want to find me? You got to do it with memories," Hope tapped her temple, "You know some of my memories, you got 'em tucked away somewhere. Bring them out. It's the only way for you to find me. Help me remember who I am." Faith reached out to touch her but her form was replaced by fog which Faith's hand passed through.
"Ah, ah, ah, no touchies." The voice taunted Faith and then softened to say, "You want to find your sister you got to bring out her memories."
"But I-" Faith started and the voice interrupted her again,
"Remember." Then the voice faded and Faith looked around frustrated.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" She yelled off into the mist and after a few more rants from Faith Willow put a hand on her shoulder. This calmed her pretty much and she turned to Willow.
"Maybe you should just... I don't know, try. See if you can reach within yourself and draw it out." Willow said shrugging slightly and her own confusion clear on her face. Faith looked at her and said with a slight grit in her voice.
"I don't know... I can't remember..." The last word trailed off and all anger disappeared from Faith's face. She swallowed hard and looked at the ground, not really seeing it, her eyes darting from place to place like a humming bird. Then a crease appeared in between her eyebrows and she looked up at Willow, her eyes showing that her mind completely clear and Willow could almost see the memories being played out in her eyes. Then it felt like they were being sucked into the memories and then...
And then they were in them.
A very young, about three or four year old, Faith stood in the doorway of the lounge room of a dilapidated apartment, just behind her mother sitting in a Lazy Boy facing away from her. Her dad was walking from the bathroom to the bedroom further down the hall. He stopped when he saw Faith. He walked towards her, bare feet padding on the old and quite disgusting carpet.
"Hey, watcha doin' honey? Its way past your bed-" He stopped when he saw what she was looking at. His jaw clenched visibly as he saw the empty beer bottles around his wife, her limp hand hanging from the side of the chair, and her heavy snore. He gently took Faith's hand and said,
"Come on big girl, let's get you to sleep." Faith looked up at her father before looking back at her mom and shaking her head.
"I wanna say goodnight to mommy." Her dad sighed softly and then went over to the unconscious figure and shook her gently. Faith's mom whinged swear words before finally opening her eyes. Her speech was slurred and barely recognisable.
"I'm fine. Five by five. You know. Five beers in five... minutes. Five by five." Her husband sighed and the called Faith while she was still awake. Faith toddled up to the chair and said, with big eyes,
"Goodnight mommy, I love you." The response was a large snore. Faith then toddled off to the bedroom she shared with her twin at her dad's side.
"How was mom?" Hope asked after Faith turned the light off and settled into bed.
"Five by five." Faith replied, revelling in her cool new saying.
"You?"
"Five by five."
"Okay."
"What bout you?" Faith said, sleep weighing heavily on her speech.
"Five by five too." With that both girls went to sleep wondering exactly what 'Five by five' meant.
A teen Hope, about sixteen or seventeen, and another girl of about the same age were surrounded by five vamps. Hope didn't have her guns, but a stake instead. She fought with a precision that Willow had only seen in Buffy and Faith. She staked two of them and then a third without much trouble and was busy with the fourth. The fifth had sneaked around her and the other girl who was peering over Hope's shoulder.
Faith and Willow only now got a good look at the girl who had dyed blonde hair and striking green eyes with dashes of hazel in them. Both of the women witnessing the memory were struck by just how alike she and Buffy were. Except for the whole not kicking vamps ass. She left that to Hope who's shoulder she was peering over.
Without a warning the vamp crept up behind her bit into her neck just as Hope dusted the fourth vamp.
"Hope!" The girl let out a scream as she felt the life being drained out of her and Hope turned to see the vamp sucking the girl dry and gave an almighty yell with wide eyes.
"Jess!" The vamp dropped the girl to the floor and looked at the slayer with a smug expression on his face. But Hope had other things in mind. She dusted him without a second thought and fell to her knees by Jessica's side. She gathered the blonde in her arms and ran her hands over the girl's eyes, shutting them, and started to cry, cradling Jess' body to her.
They were in a cemetery. Hope didn't look much older than in the other memory. She was taking out a bunch of vampires with her twin guns. Behind her on a gravestone her leather jacket, Berreta and mini stun gun lay, her holsters for all the world to see were strapped to her on top of a white wife beater. When all of the vamps were well and truly dusted a woman who reminded both of the audience strongly of Gwendolyn Post stepped out of the shadows.
"Quiet well done but you must use your stake Hope. It is traditional, after all." She said in a mightier-than-thou look on her face. Hope just looked at her for a second with a death glare painfully present and directed straight at the British woman and then said,
"No. Using a stake gets people killed. It is slow and hard to use and gives vampires a chance to get to your neck. Or the people around you."
"Hope you must not let one encounter cloud your vision. It is tradition."
"You know what?" Hope asked and holstered her gun threateningly, "Screw this." She went to the gravestone and picked up her paraphernalia. She slung the Berreta over her shoulders, clipping it to the holster.
"You cannot deny who you are Hope. Being a slayer not only means that you can see evil, but that it can see you. You will be fighting evil whether you renounce your status or not."
"Let them come. I will kill them one by one," The watcher had a relieved expression as Hope said this whilst putting the stunner back in its place at the back of her pants but her next sentence changed the relief, "But not as the slayer." Hope slipped on her duster and it billowed behind her (think Spike putting on his beloved duster in 'Get It Done'). She adjusted it so that it fell perfectly on her shoulders, like a second skin.
"Never as the slayer." She said, turning her head to look directly into the eyes of her watcher, her own cold and hard, with as much lack of emotion as was possible in a living person's eyes. Hope then she turned and disappeared off into the night without hesitation.
A bell jangled over a shop door and the owner looked up to see Hope walking in. She looked older now, more tired, and so much like Faith that it scared both of the witnesses to the memories. It was a shop filled with guns of all different varieties. Hope took these in with a cold look and ignored the guns, more focusing on the dark corners and places that could conceal anything, a vamp, a demon, god even the Easter bunny.
"Hey Hope." The owner smiled causing his double chin to become a triple. Hope looked around warily as she walked into the store before reaching the glass show case counter and looking at the big jolly man and allowing herself a small smile.
"Hey Kenny." She nodded at him and gave the shop another once over with her powerful gaze.
"So what brings you to my neck of the woods?" Hope dumped her duffel bag at her feet and took off all of her main guns, the two semi autos that looked a bit like Colts, the Beretta and the stunner. She dumped these on the counter and looked him straight in the eye.
"Engravings." Kenny's eyes lit up at the array of guns before him. He picked up one of the Colt variations. He studied it with his small beady eyes before they widened and he looked over it at Hope,
"These are Cobalt Azure's guns." Hope gazed off into space and nodded almost imperceptibly but the keen eye of the shopkeeper caught it. His eyes reverted back to the gun and he began studying it in greater detail. After a few seconds Faith got slightly impatient.
"Kenny." She said in a warning tone and he immediately placed the gun back on the table.
"Sorry, it's just... To us gun people a Cobalt is... Well like a myth." Hope shot him a look and he cleared his throat, "Right, engravings." Hope pointed to each gun as she named them and the shop keeper wrote each order down on a piece of paper with an inch long pencil.
She pointed to one of the Colt variations, "Tom," The other, "Dick," The Beretta, "And Harry." Then she pointed to the stunner, "And that's Joe Bloggs. But just call him Joe."
"You have a sense of humour Hope. I'll do 'em now, it'll take about ten minutes." Kenny said and Hope shot him another look,
"It'll take five." She growled and Kenny looked at the young girl who looked older than possible and caved under her glare and nodded. He took the guns round back and Hope heard the screech of metal on metal and then, three minutes later, he came toddling out with guns in tow. He placed each one carefully on the desk. Hope picked each one up and inspected them before putting them in their place.
"On the house." Kenny said in an attempt to be warm towards the girl but she just gave him a look that said 'Of course, would it be any other way?'.
"What about the rest of 'em in the duffel?" Kenny asked and Hope didn't reply, just slung the aforementioned duffel onto her shoulder and started to walk out.
"You seen Cobalt lately?" Kenny asked just as she was about to leave the store. She turned and looked at the chubby man, fire flashing in her eyes. Then she turned back to the door and Kenny thought that she wasn't going to reply again until he realised that she wasn't moving, just standing and staring at the door.
"No, he left town after I murdered his daughter." Hope replied, more talking to the door rather than the overweight shopkeeper.
"You didn't murder Jess. It was the vamp." Hope didn't turn to look at him when she replied,
"I should've stopped him. But I didn't" And for the first time she turned to look at the shopkeeper with tears in her eyes, "And now she's dead." Hope turned back to the door, not wishing to show the shopkeeper any more of her weakness.
"It's all my fault." And with that she pushed the door open and walked into the blinding sunlight.
There was blinding white light and then...
Hope woke up to the concerned face of Dawn Summers. She blinked and then looked around not moving her head. Her gaze returned to Dawn and it had a combination of confusion and gladness of knowing the person hovering above her.
"Hey Dawn break, what's going on?"
TBC
Like I always say, unless I'm not saying it, if you're not ending a chapter with a cliffie, or a relatively cliffie-like thing, then don't end a chapter. I'd file this under the relatively cliffie-like thing. I don't know where the hell I'm going to take this next so yeah. Probably bonding over a nice strong vamp battle. Sister to sister. And maybe Buffy can tag along... If she really wants to.
And if you don't get why this is a cliffie remember: Hope's never met Dawn before so why does she know her? And why's she calling her what Faith usually calls her. Uh-huh. Stick that in your non existent pipe and smoke it.
Trivia: Yes I know I'm weird for using my name in there (jess) but it's such a great name y'know... Okay, okay, more because of a reason I'll explore later about Cobalt Azure's obsession at naming his daughter a normal name, unlike his own, and since Jess is so popular and it seemed to fit the character better than 'Emily' I decided to use it. Oh and I'm not a blonde and neither do I look like SMG or Buffy (pfft, I wish).
Mm interesting. Not. Okay I'm gonna go do something else or read someone else's stuff.
JB
