Fic: Souls, Slayers... and a Scythe???
Author: mkcrl120
Disclaimer: All the characters mentioned in this story belong to Joss Whedon or Mutant Enemy or some other people. I own nothing and wrote this just to get it out of my system.
Summary: Set two weeks after the events in Explaining Africa 3
Authors Notes: I have no clue about Africa. Which is probably always a good place to start writing a story. So if details I've used for place names, and tribal names and whatever are wrong then just (correctly) assume I have no idea what I'm doing.
Rating: 15 by English standards (mainly for language)
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Chapter 4a:
Faith grinned and strided into the room. "Hey Cyke, what's the what?"
Roger stood up, walked over to the newcomer and graciously bowed in front of her. "Lord Roger Craddle at your service madam."
"'nother Brit... right. So X why you surroundin' yerself with the..."
Roger quickly interrupted, "So I take it you've know our mysterious leader Faith, it was Faith wasn't it? Would you care to join me for a drink?"
"Jeez X, it's the middle of the afternoon, this is what you've been up to this whole time? Figured you might need to let loose bu.."
Xander butted in before she got started, "Do you see a drink in my hand? And for you information it's past seven pm."
Faith collapsed onto a chair, "Whatever... feels like mid-afternoon. My body clock is completely fucked."
Amy sat down next to Faith and returned to her meal, "Hi. Erm... we met at the door. I'm Amy."
"Yeah, yer said."
"Very sorry, if we'd have known you were coming we'd have ordered you some. There might be some left if yo..."
"Don't worry none." Faith interrupted. "Not gonna be hungry for a few hours yet. Point me in the right direction come the time, and we'll be set."
"Would you like a drink..?" Amy offered, glaring at Roger she added. "We do have non-alcoholic ones here."
"Coke'd be nice. So fucking hot here."
Amy went into the kitchen to fetch a bottle.
Xander commented, "Most people don't wear jeans here, Faith."
"Hey, I've never been here before, ya know? They said it was hot so I figured Sunnydale-ish right. They told me it was hotter so I lost the leather. Man, this place is boiling."
"Leather?" Roger coughed, trying not to choke on his food.
Faith ignored him. "So oh wise one... what sort of clothing would you recommend? I've only got jeans and tees in my bag, figure I'm gonna have to restock."
Amy returned from the kitchen.
"Well I'd suggest.."
As Amy was passing Faith her drink, she heard Faith interrupt Xander. "Actually, hold it. Changed my mind, remembered what you used to wear in the dale. So chickette, Amy right? What's the fashionable female wear in these parts?"
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A few hours later
Local pub
"What is this stuff?"
Amy sighed. This was getting to be a normal question for the Slayer. 'I don't know why she doesn't just eat it anyway. She looks at it, she smells it, she tastes it carefully and then she wolfs it down. She's done that for every single thing on the plate she didn't recognise. I mean, who orders a meal by the house speciality, especially when they aren't even sure what sort of food that place serves.'
If she was being honest though, it was because Faith intimidates her. 'She isn't trying to.' Amy reasoned to herself. 'It's just that... she's a far cry from the other Slayers I met for a few days back in England. They were.. well... how to put this... they were just teenaged girls. They had interests and hobbies and formed little sub-groups based on those things. I could see them gossiping about boys, and talking about one another behind each others backs. Hell, most of the time I felt like their older sister. But Faith...'
She stared across at where Faith had decided the latest 'unsure' thing was edible and was stripping the meat off it with her teeth.
'Faith is different.' She thought about it some more. 'Whereas with the others. the fact that they were extremely powerful was like an afterthought, the Slayer part of them only seemed to come out when it was necessary. Same for fighting. In the field they were warriors through and through, but back at the school... it was all scratching and hairpulling and destroying each other's stuff.' When she'd first heard that two Slayers were going to face off in the yard, Amy had nearly gone running to Giles, but as she'd passed it and seen it in action... there were no stakes or other weapons, no fancy martial art moves performed with speed and agility that no normal human could match, it was just two girls fighting, like you'd see in any high school. 'But Faith. Faith seems all Slayer all the time. She's something primal. It's not like she's sizing you up to see how and if she could beat you. It's more like she just knows she will if she has to. I wonder if this is why Xander thinks that she's the active Slayer. Hell, it's enough to persuade me, and I haven't known her a day yet.'
"Yo chickette." Faith waved her hand in front of Amy's face. "I said I'm done. You wanna hit the bars see what's going on?"
"Xander and Roger normally go to the one down the street." Amy stated, "That is, if you want to join them." 'Please want to join them, I'm not sure if I could cope with it just being me and her for one night.'
"Sure, whatevers... that way the guys can buy the drinks eh? Not that a couple a hotties like us would have had probs anywhere."
Amy self-consciously blushed. Wrapping herself up in her shirt more. Faith had borrowed some clothes of Amy's earlier. She was still in the t-shirt she'd arrived in, but had swopped the jeans for a pair of shorts. They didn't match in any way but somehow Faith managed to get them to work. Probably the way that just enough mid-riff was on show that they didn't seem connected to each other in any way. And Amy had noticed how men's eyes tended to focus on that patch of flesh.
"Jeez girl, I'm only teasing. Let's see Cyke and Brit."
Amy quickly got up. Faith followed her.
As they arrived in the other pub, Amy was looking for the others while Faith headed straight to the bar.
"Come on. I'll get the first round in."
"I thought you said that the gu..."
"Nah, I'll leave it til Brit gets to know me. Don't want him to expect me to put out, ya know?"
"I don't think Roger would expect you to..."
"Is he a man? Does he bring women home?"
Amy refused to answer.
"See I can tell." When Amy still refused to comment, Faith added. "I'm not calling him a perv or anything. It's just some men look for it. That's fair game and all, goose and gander and all that shit, sometimes I go looking myself. But at the moment I'm not offering."
Amy let herself smile.
"So what's everyone drinking?"
Amy began "Normally I'd have a vodka and orange juice, I'm not sure about Xander as it depends on if he's drinking or not, Roger would probab..."
Faith's attention was taken by the barman who arrived to take her order. She turned to give Amy the 'decide now' look. Amy just stared back. "Fuckit," Faith turned around and made her decision, "Four lagers cheers."
He returned with the drinks, Faith paid him, gave two of the pints to Amy, picked up the other two and was about to walk away. Amy quickly stopped her. "Your change."
"What?" Faith turned around, "Oh... ta." Putting one pint down, she quickly deposited the rest in one of her pockets.
"You gave him over three times too much."
Faith picked the other drink back up, and gestured Amy to move away from the bar. "No idea how much this shit is tell the truth. Where the guys at?"
Amy pointed to a table near the entrance. They quickly walked over.
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Xander and Roger were sitting down, Roger had a whiskey and Xander had the remains of his pint.
Faith sat down next to Xander and Amy did the same next to Roger, handing out drinks Faith said, "Missed you on the way in. Would've checked what you were having if I'd seen ya."
"So Faith," Roger began. "What brings you here?"
"Was in England with some more newbies. Got talking to Giles and he reckoned I could help you."
"Well it's a pleasure anyway. You're the first Slayer I've met. I must say I wasn't quite sure what to expect."
"I didn't say anything about you, we didn't even know you were coming."
"G didn't say?" Faith was shocked, "He was quite talkative when I saw him."
"Xander has talked about you." Roger confided.
Faith turned to stare at Xander, "He has?"
Xander continued to stare at Roger, "I have?"
Amy turned to stare at Roger, "When?"
"Earlier today." Roger turned to Amy, "When we were on a plane."
"If this is some mile-high thing, let me say right now, for the record, that I have never done it on a plane... with Xander."
Amy looked shocked while Roger asked, "Commercial or private?"
Faith grinned. 'This one could be some fun.' "Girl doesn't fuck and tell."
Xander smirked and turned to face her. "You don't?"
Faith took the challenge, "Kept it quiet about us back in the day, didn't I?"
"And yet in the here and now, you've mentioned it already."
"Everyone knows now."
"These didn't!"
Faith faked being hurt, "Ashamed of me Xan?" 'Okay, Brit's looking at me again. Need to change the topic off of sex.'
"You tw..." Roger began.
"So," Faith ventured onto a topic she hoped wouldn't backfire on her. "What was Xander telling you guys about me?"
"Xander was debating on whether you're the Slayer now."
"What?" Faith looked confused. "Of course I'm the Slayer... it's not a gig you retire from Xan. It's with you 'til you die remember. You of all people should know that!"
Amy tried to explain, "We know you have Slayer powers, but we weren't sure if you still had the Slayer essence."
"Slayer essence? What's that? You talking about the wicked healing power or freaky dreams or some shit?"
"The Slayer essence is what makes you the Slayer. It's what you pass on when you die that calls the next one."
'What the fuck are they talking about?' "Well... I ain't dead if that's what you're getting at. Been in a coma once, but..."
"Maybe 'the Slayer' is the wrong term to use, Amy." Roger offered. "Maybe you should start thinking in terms of active Slayer."
"Active Slayer? Xan, what the fuck are these people on about? We're all active Slayers, least those that survived Sunnydale anyway. There's fucking loads of us. I'm now one of many, yeah, they all look at me as one of the senior Slayers, which is kinda okay. But that's me in a nutshell; senior Slayer to the masses, former member of the Chosen Two."
"Faith," Xander tried to make himself sound calm. "Faith..."
"You've said that."
"We were trying to work out if you're still the active Slayer."
Faith found herself immediately going on the defensive. 'Typical, I'm never fucking good enough, am I? Wasn't good enough back in the day to be anything better than Buffy's second, not good enough now. Trying to tell me I'm not good enough to be an active Slayer. Fuck them.' "Typical. It's always me, isn't it? Bet you're not accusing Buffy of not being good enough to be the active Slayer."
"No. We aren't accusing Buff..."
Faith was beginnign to shout now, and attract attention from other people in the bar. "Why not eh? She fucking made mistakes you know. She wasn't the little Miss Perfect everyone seems to think she was. She was fucking human, her shit still stank!"
"Faith," Xander tried calming her down. "We're not accusing Buffy because we know she's not the active Slayer, but you were."
Faith's anger had momentarily been replaced with confusion, "What?"
"Back in Sunnydale, when you were part of the 'Chosen Two' as you put it."
"Yeah?"
"Well you weren't."
"What?" she asked, genuinely curious now.
"Remember we told you that Buffy died the first time?"
"And you brought her back. Yeah, I know that shit."
"You brought Buffy back?" Roger asked incredulously.
"I thought you read Giles' chronicles?" Amy asked.
"I did... well the summaries anyway. I haven't had time to read the full journal entires... they're massive and we were in..."
"Can you two shut up? Xan..?"
"Remember how that called Kendra?"
"My predecessor. Yeah I got the four one one."
"What have the American police got to do wi..." Roger stopped under the other's glare.
"Well at that point, for the first point in written history there were two Slayers."
"That we know of." Amy clarified.
Xander conceded the point with a nod. "When Kendra died, I asked Giles whether or not another Slayer had been called. He told me he didn't know. As he wasn't informed of Kendra's calling, he doubted whether the council would have told him anyway. It seems he did some checking of his own through back channels, and no-one was certain. None of the potentials had been called this time, but that alone didn't prove anything."
"I wasn't a potential. I guess someone saw me doing stuff..." at their look she decided to elaborate. "Typical teenage kid stuff you know. Trying to get beer, daring to run across rooftops, that sort of shit. One day I felt weird, and by the next day I was starting to display powers. It wasn't like with the others in Sunnydale... they just got them," she clicked her fingers, "like that. Mine sort of developed I think, I started to notice subtle changes; like balancing on walls and high ledges was easier, and running from the cops and other people, well I just didn't get tired. It was probably about four days before I resembled anything like a Slayer in skill or ability."
"Yeah, so they picked you up. Anyway, the problem as Giles explained it to me, was at the time of Buffy's death there were no Slayers in the world. For that brief minute or so, something changed in Kendra. Probably much like it happened to yourself, she received the essence and even though Buffy got brought back it started to turn her into a Slayer."
Faith nodded her head, "Following you so far."
"But when Kendra died, there was already a Slayer in the world; Buffy. So no-one was sure if that meant another, you, would be called or not. No-one was sure quite how a Slayer's death equated to another being called. As it turned out, the Slayer line was being passed from Kendra onto yourself as it should be."
"Which is why me and B were the Chosen Two." Faith explained. "But you said we weren't; if not, why not and why wasn't I told."
"Well, at the time we didn't know. It took several further years before we found out."
'Several years?' "When B died."
"Bingo. When Buffy died, again no-one knew if there would be another called or not. If one had been it would have meant that from that point on there would always be the Chosen Two." Xander looked around wondering whether to confess the next statement or not, deciding there would be no harm he went with it. "Actually, we were quite scared at that point." At their looks he continued, "Willow wondered if it meant from that point on there was always going to be two slayers. Well if that was true. Then the council had a known method of obtaining more slayers. A controlled death."
Faith couldn't help herself, "Very Flatliners."
"Yeah well, probably shouldn't have let Willow watch that at the time... she was worried about people who'd had near death experiences for months afterward..." He paused. 'Bizarre how that scared little girl changed into a woman that forcibly dragged one of our friends out of the afterlife.' Shaking his inner thoughts off, "Anyway, if more could be called by that method; then the council would have reasoned that they could build their army of Slayers simply by a controlled killing and reviving of each Slayer; even if they failed to revive each Slayer they would shortly be replaced anyay. So each attempt either gave them an extra Slayer or at worse just a replacement, its a win-win situation from the Watchers point of view. And an army of Slayers was something we didn't trust the council with."
"Unlike the new council that has one now." Roger chipped in.
"Shhh... anyway, that didn't happen and we were so relieved that our nightmare scenario hadn't come true," Xander silenced Roger's next comment with a glare. "And we were also so worried that with Buffy in prison and you in jail that we were Slayer-less..."
"Hang on," Roger interrupted, "you were the Slayer in jail."
Amy nudged him. "Of course she was." Faith stared at her in disbelief, and was about to make a comment of her own when Amy added. "You know there were two of them, you know Buffy was around and the other went to jail. You know Faith was the other one... how did you not put two and two together?"
"Firstly no-one said that Buffy wasn't the one in jail, secondly Giles' chronicles only cover up to the Crucialiam thingie."
"We told you Xander fought alongside Buffy for seven years."
"Oh yeah. Okay scratch firstly and I'll stick with secondly."
Their mini-argument got silenced by the looks of the other two.
Faith had worked it out, "Buffy dying and no-one being called, proved she didn't have this Slayer essence. So she was just this... girl with Slayer powers?" At Xander's nod. 'But...' "I didn't die. Why wouldn't I have the Slayer essence?"
"Cos there are lots of people who also have Slayer powers."
"So they're like Buffy..?"
"We don't know. They could be like Buffy. Or the spell could have taken it from you and passed it to all of them."
"Or..." Roger joined in. "It could have been passed down the line from you to Kennedy, onwards until it stopped at that twelve year old."
Amy added her own, "Or possibly passed from the scythe outwards in an ever increasing sphere until it reached them all."
Xander finished it for them, "The point is we don't know."
"But..." Faith was afraid to ask.
"But we need to. And to do that we need to find out who the active Slayer is. So the best place to start would be with you, as you are the last active one we know of."
Roger asked, "How are we going to find out who is the active Slayer?"
Xander said, "I don't know."
Faith stood up. "I can't... I'm not... I..."
"Faith relax, what is it?"
"Why did... what...?"
"Faith..?"
"I gotta go." and with that Faith ran out into the night.
Running as hard as she could, she kept running until she reached a place where she could see no lights no houses no nothing. 'It's not true. All the time I was with B... I thought I was some second string slayer. The spare for when B wants to go see Fang and get her not quite groove on.' "IT'S NOT FUCKING FAIR!!!" she shouted into the empty night.
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End chapter 4a:
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