Standing at the steps of school holding hands with Beck I frown as we see the Scoobies sitting under a tree with Buffy looking all preppy and yellow "Aren't you supposed to be having lunch with them?" Beck asks nodding over to the Scoobies.
I groan loudly "why?" Beck just smiles knowingly and takes out his toothpick giving me a kiss as he lightly pushes me away "I'll see you later" he promises with a wink as he walks away to his van.
Sighing, I pull my shoulder bag closer as I walk over the grass towards my group of friends as they all look up at me "Sorry I'm late, I didn't want to come" I say as Buffy looks at me confused "Then why are you here?".
I glare down at Willow who smiles happily knowing she was blackmailing me into this, throwing my bag to the floor, I sit taking the water bottle Buffy offered me tentatively.
"Don't you guys have a meeting with Principal Snyder?" Xander asks us "We're seeing Snyde-Man tomorrow" Buffy answers as Willow starts to make an excited noise "Ooh, Scott Hope at eleven o'clock" We all turn to look and see Scott Hope looking at Buffy.
"He likes you. He wanted to ask you out last year, but you weren't ready then. But I think you're ready now, or at least in the state of pre-readiness to make conversation, or-or to do that thing with your mouth that boys like," I spit the water out I had in my mouth at Willows words as Buffy gives her a shocked look.
Willow realizes her slip-up "Oh! I didn't mean the bad thing with your mouth, I meant that little half-smile thing that you..." she stops and glares at Oz "You're supposed to stop me when I do that,".
Oz smiles shaking his head "I like when you do that" Scott has finished talking with his friends and comes toward them. As he passes, he looks over at Buffy and smiles "Hi, Buffy" Buffy smiles back coyly "Hi" Scott just continues on his way.
Willow breaks out into a huge smile "I think that went very well. Don't you think that went very well?" Cordelia nodded smiling "He didn't try to slit our throats or anything. That's progress,".
"Hey, did you do that little half-smile thing?" Willow asked with a grin as Buffy sighs "Look, I'm not trying to snare Scott Hope. I just want to get my life back, you know, do normal stuff,".
"Like date?" Willow questions Buffy "Well..." Xander chuckles out loud "Oh, you wanna date. I saw that half-smile, you little slut" Buffy punches him on the arm, and none too lightly.
Xander smiles and chuckles "Ow," he winces and holds his arm "All right, yes, date and shop and hang out and go to school and save the world from unspeakable demons. You know, I wanna do girlie stuff!" I look at my sister as she utters that last line "Ew,".
A black stretch-limousine pulls into the parking lot of Happy Burger and heads toward the drive-through lane, the car pulls up and stops at another fat boy fitted with a speaker and mic and the window of the limo lowers.
"Welcome to Happy Burger. May I take your order, please?" A voice asks from the speaker sounding bored "Diet soda. Medium," A man's voice orders from inside the limo "That'll be eighty-nine cents at the window, sir," the speaker replies.
Mr. Trick, a dark-skinned vampire who liked a lavish lifestyle raises the window, and the car pulls forward "Sunnydale" Trick calls out looking next to him "Town's got quaint. And the people? He called me 'sir'. Don't you just miss that?".
When Trick receives no response he continues "I mean, admittedly, it's not a haven for the brothers, you know, strictly the Caucasian Persuasion here in the Dale. But, you know, you just gotta stand up and salute their death rate. I ran a statistical analysis, and hello darkness. It makes... D.C. look... like Mayberry, and ain't nobody saying boo about it. We could fit right in here. Have us some fun,".
Hidden in the shadows of the limousine came a growl, as an ancient vampire Kakistos sat forward "We're here for one thing" He pulls his cloven hand from Trick's knee and Trick looks at it, disgusted "Kill the Slayer, yeah. Still, big picture...".
He lowers the window again, and looks out, he hands the boy at the window a dollar. The boy hands him back the soda, a straw and his change with a customer friendly smile "Have a nice night, sir" Trick smiles back "Right back at ya" He sits back on his seat.
"The Slayer. I'm going to rip her spine from her body, and I'm going to eat her heart and suck the marrow from her bones," Kakistos growls angrily as Trick considers that for a moment, smacking his lips "Now I'm hungry,".
Trick lunges out of the window, vamped out, the boy is shocked and tries to move away but Trick already has him by the shirt. The boy screams as Trick pulls him out of the building and part way into the limousine.
The car takes off with the boy's legs kicking outside the window, the limo screeches through the parking lot and into the street as the boys' screams seem to disappear as well as his body.
Looking at the library doors as they open I notice Buffy and Willow walking together, they stop by the counter giving me a smile "It's so great that you're a schoolgirl again" Willow tells Buffy with a smile "Giles say what he wanted? Do you think he's mad?".
Looking back on the counter I see play with the bowls and jars of various dried herbs arrayed on it "No, I don't think so. I think he just needed to see you" Willow says as she glances around smiling " Have you ever noticed, though, when he is mad, but he's too English to say anything, he makes that weird cluck-cluck sound with his tongue?"
Giles suddenly rises up from behind the counter and looks at the things he's laid out on the counter "Hi, Giles!" Buffy greets as Willow turns to face him, looking worried " Oh, hi! Been there long?" she glares at me as I give her a grin payback for making me have lunch with Buffy.
Giles just rushes around preoccupied "Buffy, good timing" he looks around behind the counter "I could use your help. I trust you remember the demon Acathla?" Buffy smirks as she looks at Giles "Giles, contain yourself. Yes, I'm back in school, but you know how it embarrasses me when you gush so".
"Giles looks up from his searching "Let's just skip all that and get straight to work" Buffy finishes as Giles slowly straightens up "Oh, ahhhh... Well, I, um... Well-w... O-o-of course, it's wonderful to have you back, i-i-it goes without saying" Buffy just raises her eyebrows at him and smiles "But..." he stops and notices Buffy's look "You enjoy making me say it, don't you?".
He sets his glasses on his nose and continues looking around, Buffy plays with a bowl on the counter "Okay, Acathla, huh? What are you doing, making him some demon pizza?" She picks up a bundle of sage, sniffs it and frowns. She holds it over for Willow to sniff, who smiles.
"We need to make sure that he remains dormant and that the dimensional vortex is sealed tight. So I'm working on a binding spell" Giles informs us as Willow perks up "Oh, a spell? Can I help?".
Giles nods at our redheaded friend "Possibly, with the research. It's very sensitive and..." Willow looks upset "Oh! Who's more sensitive than me?" she says sounding hurt "...and difficult spell. It involves creating a-a-a protective circle around... Well, I don't want to bore you with the details, but, uh, well, there's a litany th-that one has to recite in Aramaic, and it's very specific. So I need to get a few details about your experience of defeating Acathla and Angel".
He starts ingredient hunting again as Buffy considers for a moment "Fire away" Giles nods quickly " I've put the time at about, um" he checks his notes "6:17, around, about half an hour after Xander rescued me" he comes back to the counter as my stomach involuntary churns remembering how Xander carried me out of Angel's mansion.
"Less. More like ten minutes" Giles looks over to Buffy shocked "Oh, was the vortex already open?" Buffy nods in affirmation "Barely" Giles hums "I see. And Angel?" Buffy shrugs to herself "A big fight, Angel got the pointy end of the sword, Acathla sucked him into Hell instead of the world. That's about the it".
Giles writes a few notes "Yes, well, that, um... should be very helpful" Buffy checks her watch "Oh, no, I have to go take an English makeup exam" she picks up her pile of books from the counter "They give you credit just for speaking it, right?" she asks looking at us as we just stay quiet "Oh..." she whines stomping away.
Willow picks up the bundle of sage and sniffs it some more "Mm, sage. I love that smell" Willow says as she puts the sage under my nose before reaching into a jar " And marnox root. You know, a smidge of this mixed with a virgin's saliva..." I smile as she gets a look from Giles "Does something I know nothing about".
"These forces are not something that one plays around with, Willow. What have you been conjuring?" Giles questions as Willow looks a little uneasy "Nothing... much. Well, you know, I tried this spell to cure Angel, and I guess that was a bust. But since then, you know, small stuff: floating feather, fire out of ice, which next time I won't do on the bedspread" Giles looks down and Willow looks sad "Are you mad at me?".
Giles looks up at her "No, of course not, no. If I were, I would be making a strange clucking sound with my tongue" I belt out as laugh as Willow looks up embarrassed and smiles cutely at him.
Dancing on my own in the Bronze I see a guy dancing very energetically and weirdly enough dancing like he was stuck in the 70's, looking over to where Willow was sitting I smiled seeing her and Oz making out.
As the girl dancing with the guy turns around she winks at me "Nice moves" I laugh noticing our dancing styles weren't that different "ditto" I smirked as I walked back over to my friends.
Standing behind Scott I noticed Buffy looking a little awkward "Don't you love this song?" Scott asks as Buffy nods quickly "Uh, yeah! Actually, I do" moving around Scott, I dropped into an armchair.
"Well, would you like to..." Scott offers as he indicates the dance floor "Dance? Um..." Buffy questions gulping as Willow smiles at her encouragingly "I don't know. I'm bad with... Well..." Willow frowns at Buffy's reluctance.
Buffy fidgets "Thank you for asking, it's just that there..." Scott nods getting the picture "Okay, you know what? I'm just gonna go stand by the dance floor. If you change your mind, you can mosey on over, and then if not, then you don't mosey. No harm, no foul, right?"
Buffy nod halfheartedly "Right" Scott walks off to find a place to wait as rolls her eyes and flops her head back, obviously kicking herself for the way she handled that.
I grimaced having to watch that "That looked painful" I commented as Buffy pouted "Come on, Buffy. I mean, the guy is charm, a-and normal, which is what you wanted to get back to" Willow said looking very disappointed.
"Plus bonus points for use of the word 'mosey'" Oz interjected in his monotone humor "Yeah you don't see many people moseying nowadays" I mumbled as Oz points at me in agreement.
"I just don't think I'm ready" Buffy shrugs as Willow sighs "What's stopping you?" before Buffy can answer Cordelia and Xander walk up "Check out Slut-O-Rama and her Disco Dave".
I look over to where she points and see the girl I had kind of talked to earlier, although the girl's style is more contemporary, the guy is dancing way too fast for the music "What was the last thing that guy danced to, K.C. and the Sunshine Band?".
Rolling my eyes at her I got up and walked away needing to use the bathroom, I was starting to get bored here being at the Bronze is as much fun as it used to be, back when things were... better.
Buffy watches as her sister walks off on her own and can't help but wonder when she was going to forgive her for leaving "I mean really" Cordelia scoffs watching the couple and Buffy begins to really wonder about them.
The couple gets close again, and the girl extends her arm, pointing at the door. The guy takes the hint and leads her out with his arm around her. Buffy watches them go, suspicious of his intentions.
She sees him say bye to his buddy and head for the door "I don't think that guy thrives on sunshine" She quickly puts down her drink and starts out after them. As she crosses the room behind the dance floor, Scott sees her coming and steps over to intercept her "Hi".
Buffy stops short, startled "Hi. Oh" she frowns knowing what he must have thought she was coming to dance with him "no, I..." she points at the door "I-I have to..." Scott nods as he gets it "Oh. Uh, uh, sorry, my bad".
Buffy gives him an apologetic look "No. I-it's mine. Really, it's mine, but I..." she glances back at the others "I-I-I have to go," she tells him as she hurries out as he looks very confused, and just watches her leave.
Buffy strides out and looks around as Xander comes out right behind her followed closely by the others except for her sister who had disappeared at the wrong time "Where'd she go?" She takes a few steps down the alley to the left to check things out, the others look around also.
"I bet it's nothing. They're probably just making out" Cordelia guesses as Buffy comes back until they hear a girl call out in a complaining tone "Hey!" They also hear a loud noise, as though something was just broken.
Xander pulls a stake out of his jacket and Buffy takes it from him heading in the direction of the noise " That's not what making out sounds like, unless I'm doing it wrong" Willow mumbles as they all follow behind Buffy.
Buffy arrives at where the noises were coming from, the girl notices her and approaches, smiling "It's okay, I got it. You're, uh, Buffy, right?" Buffy is taken aback and just as she's about to answer, the vampire comes up behind the girl and grabs her by the shoulders.
She snaps her head back to headbutt him in the face and grabs onto his arm "I'm Faith" she twists the vampire around and shoves him into the section of chain link fence "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say there's a new Slayer in town" Oz half whispers to Willow.
Faith knees the vampire in the gut from behind, the vamp whirls around and tries to backhand punch her, but she easily ducks it. She punches him in the gut and then again in the face.
Everyone just watches her fight in shock as Nikki walks up to them "Who's that" she asked causally not sounding worried at all, Faith does a high side kick to the vampire's jaw, grabs onto his shirt and neck and throws him to the ground. The vamp does a no-hand front roll to control his fall while Faith reaches over to Buffy for the stake and jerks it from her hand "Can I borrow that?".
The vampire uses the momentum of his roll to get back to his feet and runs at Faith, throwing a punch as he comes. She ducks it, hooks her hand on his shoulder, turns him around and pushes him back into the fence.
She raises the stake and jams it cleanly into his chest and jerks it back out, the vampire instantly crumbles into ashes. Buffy stares in confused amazement as Faith faces her and hands her back the stake "Thanks, B. Couldn't have done it without you".
She just continues walking past them and grabs onto Nikki's arm pulling her along like the two of them hadn't just met, Buffy turns to stare at them, unsure how to react.
Sitting back in the bronze the seven of us are sat around a table as Faith is relating one of her stories to us "The whole summer it was, like, the worst heat wave. So it's about a hundred and eighteen degrees and I'm sleeping without a stitch on".
A waitress sets a tray of muffins on the table and leaves "And all of a sudden, I hear this screaming from outside. So I go tearing out, stark nude" I smirk when I noticed Xander looks down at her body, licking his lips.
"and this church bus has broke down, and there's these three vamps feasting on half the Baptists in South Boston. So I waste the vamps, and the preacher comes up, and he's hugging me like there's no tomorrow when all of a sudden, the cops pull up and they arrested us both".
She reaches for a muffin at the same time I do as we're all entranced by her story "Wow. They should film that story and show it every Christmas" Xander mumbles looking dazed as Cordelia turns her head to him and gives him a look.
Faith tears into the muffin "God, I could eat a horse. Isn't it crazy how slayin' just always makes you hungry and horny?" The others all turn their heads to look at us in question.
I just smirk as Buffy stares back wide-eyed and suddenly uncomfortable "Well... Sometimes I-I crave a nonfat yogurt afterward" A look of sudden revelation washes across Cordelia's face, and she smiles "I get it".
Faith gives her a confused look "Not the horny thing. Yuck! But the more than two Slayer thing. There was one, and then Buffy died for, like, two minutes, so then Nikki died on Halloween, so Kendra was called, and then when she died, Faith was called".
I just stare at Cordelia as Faith gives her a nod "where were you when Giles explained that to us" I questioned as she pouted "But why were you called here?" Willow wondered looking at Faith.
"Well, I wasn't. My Watcher went off to some retreat thing in England, and so I skipped out. I figured this was my chance to meet the infamous Slayer twins and compare notes" Faith grins at me as I replicate but Buffy didn't look as happy to meet Faith.
"So Nikki?" I looked over to Faith who was looking at me dubiously "Is it true you have Telekinesis" Everyone at the table looked around to see if anyone had overheard Faith as I nodded "Yep. I'm down with the mind powers" I told her as I moved the muffin tray discreetly.
Faith looked at the tray and laughed excited "So cool" she complimented before turning to Buffy "So, B, did you really use a rocket launcher one time?" Buffy winced at the nickname something I hadn't called her in a while at least in a kind tone.
"Uh, yeah, actually, it's a funny story. There was..." Xander interrupts Buffy story and turns to Faith "So what was the, uh, story about that alligator? You, uh, said something... before".
"Oh, there's this Big Daddy Vampire out of Missouri who used to keep them as pets. So he's got me rasslin' one of 'em, okay? The thing must have been twelve feet long and I'm..." Xander interrupts once again "So was this, um, ahem, also naked?".
Faith grins as she teases him "Well, the alligator was" I let out a laugh as Xander did "Xander?" Cordelia calls and glares when he looks "Find a new theme" Faith shakes her head, "I tell ya, I never had more trouble than that damn vamp" Faith turns to look at Buffy and I "So what about you? What was your toughest kill?"
I notice Buffy lowers her eyes and has a look of pain. Angel. She smiles weakly at Faith "Um, well, you know, they're all difficult, I guess" I just shrug at Faith "I haven't really been up against anything I struggled with".
Faith looks at me impressed and takes a drink "Oh! Oh, do you guys remember the Three?" We all look back at Buffy inquisitively "That's right, you never met the Three. Well, there was three...".
Oz interrupts Buffy and looks at Faith "Something occurring. Uh, now, you both kill vamps, and who could blame you, but, I'm, I'm wondering about your position on werewolves".
Willow puts her hand on his shoulder sympathetically "Oz is a werewolf" Faith glances at us as Buffy smiles "It's a long story" I sigh eating a muffin "He got bit" Buffy looks at me annoyed "Apparently not that long".
Faith considers it briefly "Hey, as long as you don't go scratchin' at me or humpin' my leg, we're five-by-five, you know?" she answers as I laugh, "I think you've got more of a chance of Xander doing that than Oz".
Faith laughs loudly as Xander blushes and Cordy glares at me "The vamps, though, they better get their asses to DEFCON ONE, cause we are gonna
have fun, you know, Watcherless and fancy-free" Faith smiles deviously as Buffy and I look at her confused.
"Watcherless?" We question in sync as Faith looks around at everyone's confused faces "Didn't yours go to England, too?"
Giles stands at the end of the table with his hands in his pockets, reminiscing about the gatherings "There's a Watchers' retreat every year in the Cotswolds. It's a lovely spot. It's very s-serene" We all listen to him as he recites the Cotswolds to us.
"There's horse riding and hiking and punting and lectures and discussions. It-i-it's... it's a great honor to be invited" his voice turns a little bitter "Or so I'm told".
Faith walks closer to Giles with her arms crossed "Oh, it's boring. Way too stuffy for a guy like you" Buffy looked over to Faith as I pull myself up on the counter to sit "Um, maybe I should introduce you again. Faith, this is Giles".
"I see him. If I'd've known they came that young and cute, I would've requested a transfer" I snigger at Faith's words as Giles takes off his glasses trying not to look flattered.
Buffy, however, looks grossed out "Raise your hand if 'ew'" she says as she raises her hand, Xander raises his but hides it by scratching his cheek. Giles chuckles "Well, um, uh, leaving aside for a moment my, uh, youth and beauty" he goes to the copier and grabs a newspaper "I'd-I'd say it was, um, fortuitous that Faith arrived when she did".
Willow shoots up her finger "Aha!" she shouts loudly as we all look at her "Sorry. I just meant..." shoots up her finger again "aha! There's big evil brewin'. You'll never be bored here, Faith" Faith grins at her "'Cause this is Sunnydale, home of the big brewin' evil".
"Yes, well, I don't know how big an evil it is, but, uh, two people have disappeared from the Sunset Ridge District," Giles says as he hands me the newspaper and Faith comes over to scan the article with me.
"Well, I'm good for patrolling. Late-ish, though. I promised Mom I'd actually be home for dinner today" I say handing the paper to Buffy who frowns at Willow when she nods toward Faith.
Buffy turns her eyes to Faith, and gets the hint "Um, to which you're also invited, of course, dinner with us" Faith frowns looking between Buffy and I before her face changes to realization "Wait so you're actually twins?" Buffy and I both nod slowly.
"Wow, I just thought they called you twins because there was two of you" Faith grins before throwing an arm over my shoulder "Dyin' to meet the fam. I'm in" I look at Faith questioningly but I don't remove her arm.
"Great! Great, then you can patrol" Buffy starts looking at the two us less than thrilled "also together" I frown at my sister wonder what her problem was when Willow speaks up "Hey, don't you have that health science makeup?".
Buffy nods "Oh, yeah. Actually, I could use a little coaching" Willow hops off of the table, smiling "Wanna hang out?" I asked the brunette Slayer as Xander hangs over my shoulder "Say yes and, uh, bring your stories" I smile and push Xander off my shoulder as we walk to the door.
"You guys go. It's fine. Fine! I'll just...sit" Buffy mumbles as she sits at the table as Faith turns to Giles "We will talk weapons," she says as she follows Xander, Willow and I out of the library.
Crossing my arms I smile at Willow as she perkily gives Faith the tour of Sunnydale High "And over here, we have the cafeteria, where we were mauled by snakes" I groaned remembering my food turning into a reptile.
Xander points down with a smile "And this is the spot where Angel tried to kill Willow and kissed..." I stop and take a breath as Xander looks at me "Oop sorry" Faith looks at us confused as we continue with the tour.
"Oh, and over there in the lounge is where Spike and his gang nearly massacred us all on Parent-Teacher night" I smiled remembering that night "And I kicked his ass with my telekinesis" Faith grinned as she bumped me.
We reach the stairs, and Willow points up to the landing "Oh, a-and up those stairs, I was sucked into a muddy grave, we'll until Nikki saved my life" Willow said giving me a sheepish smile.
We stop walking "And they say young people don't learn anything in high school nowadays, but, um, I've learned to be afraid" I laugh as the two of them nods in agreement.
Faith grins and laughs "You guys are a hoot and a half. If I'd had friends like you in high school, I... probably still would've dropped out. But I might've been sad about it, you know?".
Willow and Xander give her understanding nods and exchange a smile, Faith crosses her arms "Hey, so what's up with B? I mean, she seems wound kinda tight. Needs to find the fun a little?" she asks me as I just shrug uncaring.
"Oh. Water" Faith mutters as she spies the drinking fountain and points as we both walk over to it, after taking a drink I lean against the wall waiting for Faith to finish hers. Seeing Scott come out of the cafeteria I watch carefully as Faith stands up and they almost bump into each other.
"Oh. Excuse me" Scott says politely as Faith looks at him curiously "Sorry. I know you from somewhere" Scott looks at her in recognition "The Bronze. You were there with Nikki and Buffy".
Standing next to Faith I smiled at Scott "Scott, have you met Faith?" I introduced as they shook hands " Nice to meet you" they both say as they let go of their handshake "Faith will be here visiting for a while" I inform him as Faith looks at me with a smile.
"Yeah, we should hang out sometime" Faith agrees as Scott smiles at her widely just as Buffy walks over to us "Hey!" she gives us a fake grin "Hey, Buffy! Uh, I've just met Faith" Scott tells my sister looking happy.
Buffy smiles big "She's great right" she takes our arms "And she's leaving. We have to go" Scott looks disappointed "Oh..." Faith gives Scott another smile "Bye" Buffy pulls us away and down the hall, Faith gestures back "He's a cutie. Is he seeing anybody?" Buffy just ignores her and continues down the hall.
Trick is typing away on his palm-top computer where he and Kakistos are holed up, The lights are low and candles are burning everywhere "Mr. Trick, talk to me" Kakitstos orders from where he sat.
Trick looks up "Check this out. This town, this very street, wired for fiber optics. See, we jack in a T-3, um, twenty-five hundred megs per, we have the whole world at our fingertips" Kakistos looks up at him, not really understanding.
"What I'm saying is, we stay local-where the humans are jumpin' and the cotton is high-but we live global. I mean, you know, you get the hankering for the blood of a fifteen-year-old Filipina, and I'm on the 'Net and she's here the next day, express air" Trick smiles widely proud of himself.
Kakistos starts to lose his patience "I want the blood of the Slayer" Trick can't believe Kakistos' shortsightedness and looks aside for a moment "On that note, there's good news and bad. Rumor has it that this town already has not one but two Slayers. So that makes three" he shakes his head "I'm not real sure how that happened"
Kakistos jumps up from his chair shouting "I don't care if there're a hundred Slayers! I'll kill them all!" he indicates his scarred, blinded eye "She's going to pay for what she did to me".
Trick nods obediently "Yeah, she is" there's a knocking at the door "I'm running a computer check on every hotel, rooming house and youth hostel in town" Trick goes to get a welder's glove "Meanwhile, as soon as the sun goes down" he pulls on the glove "we're out in force" he heads for the door "Food's here, boys"
He opens the door, hiding behind it from the bright daylight outside, the Pizza Man looks in "You guys order a piz..." Trick lunges out with his gloved arm, grabs him by the shirt and yanks him in.
The pizza falls to the floor along with the delivery man as Trick slams the door shut again safe from the suns rays as he roars and bends down for lunch.
I smile a little as I sit at the dinner table as mom is serving dinner to Faith "So you're a Slayer, too. Isn't that interesting!" she smiles "Do you like it?" mom questions as she sets down the bowl.
"God, I love it!" Faith grins at her as I scoop myself some carrots "Uh, Mom?" Buffy calls putting her hand out for the bowl but mom waves her off "Uh, just a second, honey" she scoops broccoli onto Faith's plate and mine when I hold it up to her "You know, Buffy never talks that way and talking to Nikki is like getting blood out stone".
I just look at her blankly as she motions to me "Why do you love it?" Buffy gives up and grabs a pair of tongs to take some fries for herself "Well, when I'm fighting, it's like the whole world goes away and I only know one thing: that I'm gonna win and they're gonna lose. I like that feelin'" Faith admits as she digs into her food.
"Very true," I say pointing to her as mom smiles and takes her seat "Well, sure. Beats that dead feeling you get when they win and you lose" Buffy mumbles joining the conversation but Faith shakes her head "I don't let that kind of negative thinking in".
Mom points at Faith "Right. That could get you hurt. Buffy can be awfully negative sometimes" mom tells Faith as I nod along "See, honey, you gotta fight that" mom smiles at Buffy who smiles back weakly "I'm working on it".
Mom notices Faith's empty glass "Oh, Faith, can I get you another soft drink?" Faith hands over the glass "Oh, you bet" mom takes the glass with a smile "Right" she walks into the kitchen.
"She's really cool, huh?" Faith nods at our mom as Buffy grimaces "Best mom ever" she looks back into the kitchen "Excuse me" She gets up and goes, I smile as Faith grabs a bottle of hot sauce, gives it a sniff and grimaces.
Joyce gets out a bottle of cola, brings it to the island and opens it "I like this girl, Buffy" she tells her eldest daughter as she pours the soda "She's very personable" Buffy agrees as she sits on a stool "my own sister likes her more than me right now".
Joyce just gives Buffy a look of disbelief "It's true. She gets along with my friends, my Watcher, my mom" she leans back and looks into the dining room "Look, now she's getting along with my fries".
Joyce closes the soda bottle "Now, Buffy..." Buffy sighs and cuts her mom off "Plus, at school today, she was making eyes at my not-boyfriend. This is creepy" Joyce crosses her arms "Does anybody else think Faith is creepy?".
Buffy pouts "No, but I'm the one getting single-white-femaled here" Joyce nods and looks back into the living room where Faith and her troubled child were laughing together "she's having a good effect on your sister".
"Mom, I'm just getting my life back. I'm not looking to go halfsies on it, Plus I want Nikki to want me to make her laugh again not Faith" Buffy pouts with jealousy as Joyce looks at her knowingly.
"Well, there are some things I'd be happy to see you share. Like the slaying. I mean, three of you fighting is safer than one or two, right?" Buffy nods at her mom's words "Unless, I mean, you heard her. She loves the slaying. Couldn't she take over for you and Nikki?" Joyce asks leaning over the counter.
"Mom, no one can take over for me" Buffy stresses as Joyce continues "But you're going to college next year. I think it would be..." Buffy interrupts with a stern look "Mom, the only way you get a new Slayer is when the old Slayer dies".
This quickly registers in Joyce's mind, and she straightens back up and Buffy realizes she's just said way too much "Then that means you..." Joyce looks at Buffy upset before her eyes drift to her youngest "When did you die? You never told me you two died!".
"No, i-it was just for a few minutes" Buffy stuttered as her mom frowned "Nikki was a vampire for a few hours... she died on Halloween" Buffy explained when her mom looked at her incredulously.
Joyce starts to pace nervously "Oh, I hate this. I hate your life" Buffy stands as he mom faces her "Mom, I..." Joyce takes a deep breath "Look, I-I know you didn't choose this, I know it chose you. I have tried to march in the 'Slayer Pride' parade, but..." Joyce stops suddenly very solemn "I don't want either you to die".
Buffy lowers her eyes shaking her head and gives her mother a warm hug "Oh..." Joyce gasps not expecting the hug "Neither of us is gonna die. We know how to do our job and Nikki's got her power" she releases the hug "Besides like you said, I've got more help now".
She looks into the living room to see Faith picking at everything in sight and stuffing it into her mouth as her sister laughs at Faith gluttious display, Buffy raises her eyebrows "I've got all the help I can stand".
Getting all my gear together I smile at Faith as she waits for me "ready" I nod as Buffy walks with us a little "Buffy, I don't think patrol needs three of us" I tell my sister as she turns to Faith and me with a raised eyebrow.
"Funny thing about vampires even when there's more than one Slayer they'll always attack you when you least expect it. It's like they have no manners" My sister tells us as I frown at her, we very rarely patrol together even when we were talking.
Faith shrugs "Mm. You've been doing this the longest" Buffy nods glad she agrees "I have" Faith sniffs "Yeah. Maybe a little too long" Buffy looks at Faith as my eyebrows shoot up "Excuse me? What's that supposed to mean?".
"Nothing" Faith shrugs as Buffy confronts her "You got a problem?" Faith spreads her arms "I'm five-by-five, B, living entirely large, actually wondering about your problem" she points at her.
"Well, I may not sleep in the nude and rassle alligators..." Buffy starts but Faith interrupts her "Maybe it's time you started, 'cause obviously something in your bottle needs uncorking. What is it, the, the Angel thing?".
Buffy stops in her tracks "What do you know about Angel?" I sigh as I realize we had only made it to our gate before the two began to argue and again I had to listen about Angel, Faith faces Buffy copping an attitude "Just what your friends tell me: big love, big loss. You oughta deal and move on, but you're not".
Buffy steps closer to Faith "I got an idea: how about from now on, we don't hear from you on Angel or anything else in my life. Which, by the way, is my life" Buffy growls as Faith laughs lowly "What are you getting so strung out for, B?".
"Why are your lips still moving, F?" Buffy retorts as Faiths smirk drops "Did I just hear a threat?" Buffy smiles "Would you like to?" Faith just laughs like she can't believe what she's hearing "Wow. Think you can take me?".
Shrugging at no one, in particular, I call out into the night "Hey vampires of Sunnydale can we have a timeout for like 5 minutes because two Slayers would rather fight each other than help the people your killing".
Buffy and Faith both look at me as I continue "Oh and anyone getting killed right now I'm awfully sorry but this is obviously more important" looking at the two girls as they stood silently I sighed expectantly "are we done?".
They both nod and I clap my hands "Great, Faith lets go, Buffy, you stay" I dictate until my sister takes my slaying bag in her hands "Nope, not today" I frown and look at the two of them as they walk away with Faith shrugging at me apologetically.
Walking to the library with Giles and Buffy the next morning I frown at my sister after she finishes telling us about Faith wailing on a vampire like she was crazy "I'm still pissed at you" I told her as she rolled her eyes at me.
"What you must realize, Buffy, is that you all have very different temperaments," Giles says as he sips his coffee "Yeah, and mine's the sane one" I glare at Buffy who looks at Giles "The girl's not playing with a full deck, Giles. She has almost no deck. She has a three".
Giles nodded and looked at Buffy "You said yourself that she-she killed one. Sh-she-she's just a plucky fighter who got a little carried away. Which is natural. She's focused on the slaying. She doesn't have a whole other life here, as you do".
"She doesn't need a life. She has mine" Buffy pouts crossing her arms childishly, "I think you're being a little..." Buffy nods knowingly "No, I'm being a lot. I know that. But she nearly got us both killed. The girl needs help".
Giles stops and sighs " All right. I'll see if I can reach her Watcher at the retreat. They're" he looked down and checks his watch "eight hours ahead now. I guess they're probably sitting down to a nightcap"
Buffy and I continue on toward the library, but Giles just stands there and starts to stare off into space "I wonder if they still kayaking. I used to love a good kayak" Buffy and I walk back to him.
"You see, t-they don't even consider..." he sees the looks we are giving him "Sorry. I digress. The, um, vampires that attacked you, can you furnish me with some details that might help me trace their lineage? I mean, ancient or-or-or modern dress. Amulets, cultish tattoos..." Giles says as he sips his coffee again.
"Uh, no tats. Crappy dressers. And, uh... Oh, the one that nearly bit me mentioned something about kissing toast" a spark of recognition appears on Giles' face when Buffy mentions that "He lived for kissing toast".
"You mean 'Kakistos'?" Giles askes her but she was in thought "Maybe it was taquitos. Maybe he lived for taquitos" Buffy looks at him "What?" I shake my head at my sister, she could be ditzy sometimes.
"Kakistos" Giles mumbles as he heads into the library as we both frown "Is that bad?" Giles quickly paces into and sets his things on the counter "'Kakistos' is Greek. It means the worst of the worst".
Buffy looks at me worried as Giles heads behind the counter "It's also the name of a vampire so old that his hands and feet are cloven" I grimace at the thought as Giles goes into his office and comes out with a book, setting it on the counter and leafing through it.
"Now, this guy shows up two days ago, right? Right around the same time, my bestest new buddy makes the scene" Buffy mocks as Giles looks up and considers "You think he and Faith are connected?".
"Giles, there are two things that I don't believe in coincidence and leprechauns" I roll my eyes at Buffy again "it's possible that they both arrived here by chance simultaneously right?" I ask as Giles nods.
"Okay, but I was right about the leprechauns, right?" Buffy questioned as Giles thinks for a moment "As far as I know, yes" Buffy grins and points to Giles "Good. Okay, you get England on the phone. I'm gonna talk to Faith, see if 'khaki trousers' rings..."
"Kakistos" Giles cuts in as Buffy says the name wrong "Kakistos rings a bell. Or an alarm" I look at my sister "No, you stay here and I'll go see Faith" I glance at Giles who nods in agreement as Buffy eyes me annoyed as she walked out of the library.
I sighed talking to Buffy tires me out, it felt too much like hard work lately. I frown as Giles walks out of his office looking discombobulated "What's wrong? Did you reach the retreat?".
Giles looks at the floor solemnly "Yes, I did." I look at Giles expectantly "Well What did her Watcher say?" Giles looks up at me slowly "Her Watcher's dead" I stare at Giles in disbelief before walking out of the library and to the bad part of town where I knew Faith was staying.
Reaching her room I stepped in as a man turns and looks at me "Roommates are extra" I just shrug him off "I'm just visiting" The manager gives up and walks out of the room and I reach for the door.
"So, what brings you to the poor side of town?" Faith jokes as I slam the door and turn to her "Cloven Guy. Goes by the name Kakistos" Faith looks at me taken aback "What do you know about Kakistos?".
"That he's here" The look on Faith's face betrays her apprehension at hearing this "We're not happy to see old friends, are we? What'd he do to you?"
I question her as she quickly grabs her bag "It's what I did to him, all right?".
She puts it on the bed and starts to stuff her things into it "And what was that? Faith, you came here for a reason. I can help" Faith looks up from packing "I'm the one that can handle this".
I nod at her mockingly "Yeah. You're a real bad-ass when it comes to packing" Faith gives me a look "You don't know me. You don't know what I've been through. I'll take care of this, all right?" she heads for the door.
"What happened to your Watcher Faith?" This stops Faith cold, She lets go of the doorknob and looks down sadly and I realize as she turns to me "He killed her, didn't he?".
Faith looks angry "They don't have a word for what he did to her" I look at her sadly knowing she'd been through a lot, There's a knock at the door and Faith looks through the peephole before sighing "Oh, what now?".
"Faith, you run, he runs after you," I tell her but she just shakes her head "That's where the head start comes in handy" She opens the door and sees Kakistos standing behind the dead manager, holding him up.
Faith steps back into the room aghast, Kakistos drops the manager's body and smiles at her "Faith" he drawls as I get a good look at him "wow you are not pretty" Kakistos roars and grabs Faith by the neck as she grabs his wrist and tries to pull him off of her, but he is too strong "No!"
I rush up between them and grab Faith pulling her back into the room and forcing Kakistos to let go before slamming the door on his arm. He yells in anger and pain and eventually pulls his arm out.
I slam the door shut, locks it and puts on the safety chain "I just bought us a little more..." Kakistos punches through the door and tries to reach for me "...time!"
Faith begins to panic and screams "NO! NOOOOO!" I look at Faith in disbelief "Scream later! Escape now!" I grab Faith's hand and drag her to the bathroom, kicking out the window I half push Faith throw through it before jumping down behind her "Let's go!"
Taking Faith's hand again I pull her into a run, reaching a fork in the alleyways Faith pushes me down one of them as we crash through a window in an attempt to escape.
Scrambling to our feet we see the vampire chasing them run right past "We're okay" I say as I face Faith "What happened?" I ask but she is too freaked out to think straight.
"Faith, what happened?" I ask louder and sternly as she shivers frightened "I... I was there when he killed my Watcher, and I saw what he did to her... what he was gonna do to me. I tried to stop him, but I... I couldn't. And I ran".
Breathing hard I nod "Faith, first rule of slaying: don't die. You did the right thing. Okay? You didn't die. Now you do the math. One of him, two of us" Faith looks over my shoulder shaking her head "No".
Grabbing her arm I nod "Yes" Faith looks panicky again "No" Turning around I see what she's looking at. There on the floor lie the bodies of the Pizza Man and others "This is his place" Faith mumbles and I suddenly realize "He drove us here".
A vampire appears at an entrance and growls at us, we begin to run through the warehouse as the vampire gives chase. Two others come in from the other side and try to head us off.
I stop by a bucket, and put my foot in and kick it into one of the vampire's faces, he stumbles backward and over a chair. I turn into a full spinning hook kick to the other vampire and a sidekick to another one behind me, he falls backward over a table.
I run and jump onto the table, log rolls over it and kick him in the back as he tries to get back up. I see Kakistos walks into the building, his one-eyed gaze fixed on Faith.
Roling to a stand on the table I pick up a crowbar and swing it baseball style at yet another vampire advancing towards me, hitting her squarely in the neck and knocking her down and out "3 strikes and you're out!".
Looking up I see Kakistos advancing on Faith "Faith!" I shout getting her attention "Don't die!" I say throwing her the crowbar. She catches the crowbar in mid-air, but before she can swing it at Kakistos, he punches her hard and knocks her into a bunch of large wooden beams leaning against the wall.
I knife hand my attacker in the neck and throw him into an assisted front tuck off of the table. Kakistos calmly steps up to Faith as she scrambles up against the wall, cowering. He reaches down and grabs her by the shirt, picking her up off of the floor "NO!" once he has her up, he punches her squarely in the face.
Knocking the legs out from under a vampire who was standing on a table, he rolls off of the table and onto his back where I lean down stakes him cleanly. I look up at Faith being whaled on by Kakistos.
Kakistos finally hits Faith hard enough to knock her from his own grip onto the floor as he roars loudly. Jumping up I run over to attack him, I roundhouse kicks him in the back of the knee, spins around and try to backhand him in the face, but he blocks it
I spin around and successfully backhand him in the face, seeing the other vampire getting up and running away I pull out my stake and try to slay Kakistos but the stake can't easily penetrate his thick hide, and so has little effect on him.
He grabs me by the hair, lifts her and throws me back but I ran back to him with a backhand, landing a hard punch. He swings at me but I ducks, standing back up I try to stake him again, even though the stake goes in deeper this time it still has no effect on him.
Again he grabs me by the head and shoves me back into the wall, I watch fearfully as he looms over me with a grin "I guess you need a bigger stake, Slayer!" he laughs maniacally as I stay back against the wall.
I see Faith is up and moving but before Kakistos can turn his attention back to her she thrusts a broken wooden beam through his chest and out his back. He looks down at it and back up at Faith, and then explodes into ashes as I stare in amazement.
Faith heaves a few heavy breaths as she looks around, stepping over to Faith I put my hand on her shoulder making her jump a little before we both look down at the pile of ash left by Kakistos.
"You hungry?" I question the brunette as she looks at me with different eyes "Starved" she nodded grabbing on to my arm as we both head out of the building leaving behind the remains of the monster Faith had been running from.
Sitting in the library with Buffy and Willow the next day, I already had explained to them what happened between Faith and Kakistos, why she was running from him and that we had slayed him together.
Buffy wasn't very happy hearing how Faith had put me in danger of being killed by an ancient vampire but she'd get over it, she had no choice. Giles comes out to the table in the main room with a smile.
"The council has requested that Faith stay here," he tells us as Buffy sits up straighter "I'm to look after all of you until a new Watcher is assigned" I smiled happily thinking of Faith "Good. She really came through in the end. She had a lot to deal with, but she did it".
Buffy snaps her head over to me "Still it doesn't change the face you got hurt because of her" I look at Buffy annoyed "no more than I've been hurt because of you" Buffy faces face crumples "What do you mean?" I sighed shaking my head "nothing".
"I'm glad to hear it," Giles says referring to what I had said about Faith "I'm glad she was able to get over her trouble," Giles said aloud like he was talking to someone. Buffy looks down at the table sadly and quietly for a long moment "Angel was cured".
Giles looks up at Buffy as do Willow and I "I'm sorry?" Buffy sighs shakily "When I killed him, Angel was cured" I sat shocked as Buffy turned to Willow "Your spell worked at the last minute, Will" Willow looks up, taking it all in.
"I was about to take him out, and, um something went through him and he was Angel again. He just held me. Um, but i-it was... it was too late, and I, I had to, he hurt everyone" she turned to me "he tried to turn you into a vampire. So I, I told him that I loved him... and I kissed him... and I killed him".
She looks down at the table again for another long moment and we all stay silent "I don't know if that helps with your spell or not, Giles" Giles just nods "Uh, yes, I, I believe it will".
Willow looks at Buffy very sympathetically "I'm sorry" Buffy shrugs but I knew how hurt she must have felt "It's okay" she gives them a little smile "I've been holding on to that for so long. Felt good to get it out" she pauses then smiles thinly "I'll see you guys later".
She begins to walk out of the library while looking down at the floor and I started to feel something, she killed the love of her life for us and I suddenly realized I was punishing her for something he did to me, something she didn't even know about.
"Buffy!" I call as she turns to look at me shocked "Yeah?" she replies with hope "I'll see you at home later" I say as she smiles at me knowing what I was doing, she gives me a nod as I reciprocate "Later".
As Buffy leaves Giles eventually starts to go back to his office, as he walks around Willow she gets up from her chair "Giles, I know you don't like me playing with mystical forces, but I can really help with this binding spell".
"There is no spell" Giles informs us as he starts toward his office again, I let out a chuckle when I realize that he'd made the whole spell issue up to get Buffy to talk and release her inner sorrow "Well played G".
Buffy slowly walks into Angel's now deserted mansion through a side door to the spot where she slew Angel. She looks down at the floor, and the tears begin to come. She slowly crouches down and looks at her Claddagh ring "Goodbye" she whispers quietly.
Gently she places the ring on the floor as she reflects for a moment before standing back up, looking at the great hall around her. She turns around and slowly starts
to walk away toward the main door when the room with the broken door caught her eye.
Walking into the room she saw a bed covered with bits of blood, looking up she noticed a pair of cuff attached to the bed and wondered if that was Angelus was into as Angel wasn't.
Turning around she felt her feet hit something on the ground, she looked down to see a stray black belt laying on the floor making her frown but it didn't mean much to her.
As she began to walk away a glint caught her eye and she got closer to the bed and noticed something metal was caught in between the sheets, picking up the piece of metal she gasped feeling sick when she recognized it immediately.
It was Nikki's belly ring, Buffy felt her stomach churn when she noticed the flesh-colored stuff stuck on the metal was actual flesh, this had been torn from her sister's stomach.
Dropping the metal Buffy ran from the room wanting to get him and talk to her sister, comfort her, she didn't know what she was going to do but she knew her sister had been hurt and that was okay with her.
A moment later a bright beam of light illuminates the ring on the floor. It gets more and more intense, and the ring begins to vibrate, clinking madly against the marble.
Suddenly the room is awash with a blindingly bright white light emanating from a dimensional portal opening above the ring. A body falls through and hits the stone floor hard.
The light fades as the portal closes, and a naked man is left lying there. He is unsteady as he tries to get up, but he is too weak to do more than lift his face. It is Angel, looking very dazed. His breathing is shallow and labored, and he shivers violently as he looks up at the room around him confused and horrified.
Finishing up my homework I jumped when my door is thrown open, throwing my alarm clock at the intruder I sigh when I see it's just Buffy holding my clock in her hand watching me carefully.
"God B, when I said I'd see you later I wasn't expecting you to give me a coronary" I joked but she didn't laugh, taking my clock out of her hand I put it back on the shelf "Who did it?" Buffy questioned as I put my homework away sensing I wasn't going to be finishing it tonight "Did what?".
"Who hurt you at Angel's mansion" I felt my body stiffen as she growled at me, I turned to see Buffy crying "No one" I answered yet again as she let out a laugh in disbelief before running at me and grabbing my shirt "What the hell are you doing!" I shouted as she pulled it up.
"See! I found your belly ring, Nikki, it had your skin on it" I put my hand on my belly button remembering the pain I felt that was long gone now, the skin had healed over like nothing had ever happened to me, the only wound I had now were mental ones.
Looking down at my stomach I heard Buffy arguing with me but I wasn't listening as she fumed "Just tell me who it was!" she hissed one last time before my head shot up "Angel! It was Angel!" I screamed at her as she fell silent.
"He took turns in torturing Giles and me" I admitted finally, crossing my arms I looked at my shell-shocked sister "He cut me repeatedly with a dagger and then he ripped out my belly ring" I whispered as she stood looking at me before she wrapped her arms around me "I'm sorry" she whispered in my ear as she rocked me back and forth "I'm so sorry".