Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel: the Series. I do own who you don't recognize.
A/N: There's an exceptionally large count of slashy and femslashy pairs; Angel is Spike's sire.
Chapter Two: Headaches and Bad News
Cleveland, Ohio- Two Weeks Later:
Curly brown hair fanned out around a golden-tanned face. A sighing breath woke the senior slayer. She streched and opened her chestnut eyes. Rolling over, she found that her bed partner had already woken up. She looked at the clock and saw that it was 10:34 in the morning. She smiled and got out of bed.
Walking over to her dresser, she pulled out a white wifebeater and cutoff jeans shorts. She slipped on socks and her tan boots, laced them up, and headed to the bathroom. After applying black liner, light brown shadow, and chapstick, Faith was ready to face the world. Or, at least the Slayer Academy. She picked up her diskman and, reminiscent of when she was first called to Wesley, she put on some punk rock and danced to the kitchen one floor down.
The headquarters of Slayer Academy was disguised as a preparatory school, R. S. Giles' Academy of Talented Girls. From an outsider's perspective, the building seemed like a college: large lawns in the back, dormitories and large kitchens. A cafeteria, complete with tables and benches that folded into the walls. The library was quite impressive, though it still had many books to be placed on the shelves.
"Ah, Faith. Could I have a word with you?" Giles asked from the doorway of the library as Faith passed. She turned off her headphones and put them around her neck.
"Sure, G. What's the what?" she asked. Giles held open the doorway to the library and they entered it. Sitting down at a table that was piled high with boxes of books, Faith kicked her feet onto the table.
"Uhm, could you tell me of your time with Angel in Los Angeles?" he asked her. "Behavior and knowledge-wise."
"When I went there, he was the big bad in town. He was soulless, crazy, and pissed off. He was being controlled though. And he bit me. But then Red came and put the soul back in the bod and he went all domesticate-like. He killed the Beast, though, so kudos to him on that. That all? I'm kinda craving some food." She took her feet off the table and stood.
"He's coming here," Giles said. "There was an apocalypse, and Wesley was a cas-"
"Wait, Princess Margaret died?" she asked, horrified. She fell back into the chair and put her head in her hands. Her shoulders shook, but Giles knew she wasn't crying. "What happened? Did Angel tell you? How did he die!" She glared up at the calm, but slightly subdued ex-watcher. He sat in a chair next to her.
"They were fighting a demonic cult called the Black Thorn. Angel was initiated and related information to his partners."
"Wes, Fred, Gunn, Green Jeans, and the kid," Faith stated. Giles shook his head.
"Winifred died. An ancient took over her body and killed any remnants of her from the inside. The ancient survived, though. And Lorne skipped town after the apocalypse ended. Charles Gunn didn't make it through the whole of the final fight, either, and Angel's son Connor was told to get out of town by Angel, so that he didn't die," Giles explained. Faith put her head down on the table and sighed.
"Any other news I should know before I go and stare at my bowl of cheerios?" she asked wearily. Giles shook his head.
"None other than they're coming here. Angel and Ilyria," he said.
"That the ancient that took over Fred?" With a nod from Giles, she got up and left. She thought about going down to breakfast, then noted how she wasn't hungry anymore, so she headed in the opposite direction, to the training room. She took out a mix CD and put it in the surround sound player so she could practice to a beat. She faced the human-shaped punching bag and started hitting as AFI's Miss Murder came on.
"Hey, Miss Murder, can I?
Hey, Miss Murder, can I
Make beauty stay if take my life?
With just a look, they shook
And heavens bowed before them.
Simply a look can break your heart.
The stars that pierced the sky,
He left them all behind.
We're left to wonder why,
He left us all behind!"
As it ended, she stopped wailing on the body bag. Faith moved onto the crossbow shooting range as Dashboard Prophets' Ballad for Dead Friends came on. She loaded the crossbow as the intro started. Then she turned to the target, turned the dial to take it out to one-hundred feet, then she snapped a bolt out of it with every beat. Thank whoever made them, for automatic crossbows.
"How are you feeling? Do you feel okay?
'Cause I don't. It keeps me reeling.
Will I ever be the same? No I won't.
It's a cold day in a cold world.
I really wished I could have saved you.
Then who would have saved me from myself?
Right now, well I could use a stiff drink
To kill the pain that's deep inside my bones.
Have you been dreaming? I don't dream at all.
I have nightmares. Never ceased careening,
Have you come to kill what's left of my smile?
There's no vacancy in paradise.
I really wished I could have saved you.
Then who would have saved me from myself?
Right now, well I could use a stiff drink
To kill the pain that's deep inside my bones.
I really wished I could have saved you.
Then who would have saved me from myself?
I really wished I could have saved you.
I'll never forget you.
I'll never forget you.
I'll never forget you.
I'll never forget you.
I really wished I could have saved you.
I really wished I could have saved you.
I really wished I could have saved you.
I really wished I could have saved you.
I really wished I could have saved you."
Faith dropped the crossbow and fell to the floor, burying her head in her arms and started crying.
Plane- Rome to Cleveland:
Five people sat in their seats on the plane, three in one row, and two in the other. Xander was asleep in the window seat, Andrew's head on his shoulder, asleep. In front of them, Buffy was sulking, upset that the Immortal had broken up with her. He had told her she would forget about him if she went to Cleveland, and then told her that they were better off without each other. Dawn and Syndie were playing a gave of go-fish in the seats next to her.
"D'you have any threes?" Syn asked. Dawn slapped one down and the blond added it to her pile of pairs. So far, she was winning by two pairs.
"Fours?" Dawn questioned. Syn shook her head.
"Go-fi--"
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, we are making our descent now. Please fasten your seatbelts," a cool feminine voice said over the intercom. Dawn packed up the cards and turned to Xander and Andrew.
"Hey," she said, poking Andrew in the nose. He rubbed his nose and opened his eyes. "We're landing, you need your seatbelt," the nineteen-year-old girl told him. Andrew nodded and buckled up, then pulled Xander's around him. The two-tone eyed man woke up and put a sleepy smile on. The plane turned and pulled onto the landing strip. There was a slight bounce as they slowed down, then the terminal was attached and the door was opened. They got out of their seats, grabbed their carry-on bags, and queued up to unboard.
"Thank you for taking Italian Air, please enjoy your stay in America!" the stewardess said as they passed. Her smile lost its luster as her eyes fell on Syndie.
"You lost somethin'," Syn said to her. She held up her hand and in it was the stew's identification card. She handed it back to the reddening woman and stepped out. "Good thin' I'm not one of them bints that nick stuff and don't return it." She walked down the terminal and found her new friends being enveloped in hugs by a red-haired woman and an older man. There was a sulky brunette with them, and she seemed only slightly older than Dawn, by maybe two years.
"Buffy! Good to see you!" the redhead said, pulling the blond into a hug. "How have you been?"
"Alright. I'm kinda tired. And really hungry. You have food at the homestead?" the senior slayer asked the wiccan.
"We have to. There's one-hundred-fifty plus girls living with us, plus the next generation of watchers, Faith, Robin, Giles, Kennedy, and I," Willow explained as they went to the baggage claim. Syndie didn't group together with them as they waited for Andrew, Xander, Buffy and Dawn's things. She already had her stuff.
"Oh, Willow, Giles, Kennedy, this is Syndie Orielle," Dawn said, including her in the conversation. Willow grinned excitedly.
"Andrew tells me you're a tele-pyro-slitch," she began. Syndie quirked an eyebrow and turned to look at the half-asleep blond man.
"Tweedle Dum also explain wha' tha' meant?" Syn queried. Willow shook her head.
"I only know that you're a pyro and telepathic. What's the 'slitch' part?" she asked Andrew.
"Slayer and a witch. She's also got some really cool Bruce Lee moves," he answered. Syndie shook her head in annoyance.
"I'm nothing like that crusty ol' has-been. He's dull as a white-washed fence. I'm more Jet Li-Yuna like," Syn argued.
"Oh, you have some Bruce in you. And Yuna is such a wimp!" Andrew differed.
"Well, Lee's better than Chuck Norris, at leas'. So props to me," she agreed. Andrew looked horrified.
"You are sooo wrong! Chuck Norris would take down Bruce Lee in a second!" Andrew crossed his arms, clearly offended.
"Wha'ev'r! And Yuna's not a wimp! She'd so kick Norris' arse in any fight! You've got a few screws loose, Boy Wonder," Syn snapped, crossing her own arms. Giles sighed in annoyance and went to take off his glasses when he remembered that he wore contacts now.
"Bloody hell, which Fate decided we needed a Spike-wannabe with Andrew's knowledge of pop culture television?" he mumbled. Willow grinned at him.
"Wishing you had your glasses to clean angrily at them, Giles?" she asked him. He nodded slightly, when he was run into by a small woman with blue-frosted brown hair.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, I wasn't looking where I was--"
"FRED!" Willow went to hug the woman, but something was clearly different about the leather-clad female.
"You... you knew her," the woman said. "Winifred. You were her friend. I remember it. You reek of magic." She looked up and Willow saw that the once warm brown eyes were now an icy blue.
"Ilyria! Ilyri-- Giles?" A blond man in a duster came out
"Spike!" The bickering of Andrew and Syndie stopped dead and they both stared at the man.
"What are you doing here!" Andrew, Buffy, Xander, Spike, Angel, Dawn, Syndie, and Willow asked at the same time. Giles seemed like the only one who knew what was going on.
"I thought you were going to take the later flight," Giles said to the brunette vampire who was holding the blond up. Spike wasn't paying attention to anyone, he was just staring at Syndie, his mouth slightly agape.
"Roslyn?" he asked, drawing everyone's attention to the young woman. She dropped to her knees and started bawling. Spike joined her a second later, wrapping his arms around her. His less-than-bleached hair only slightly brighter than hers. Angel looked on sadly.
"I told you!" Andrew announced.
A/N:
I don't own any of the songs that Faith was training to. Dashboard Prophets were actually on Buffy at one point in time, singing that song. 'Miss Murder' just fit in with Faith, so don't kill me.
--biLLie
