Author's note: Kitty Genovese is real. Look up the details if you want to be horrified.

Disclaimer: Buffy's Joss's. Daria's Glenn's. Dr. Vaughn's Mediancat's.

X X X X X

Daria said, "Now, I know you're not another split personality." After a second, "Are you?"

Buffy grinned. "Naaah. I'm not even the real Buffy Summers."

"You're not?"

"Nope. I'm just an echo. I mean, I guess I kind of think act like the real Buffy Summers, but I'm not really her. Just the impression Faith had of her, maybe mixed in with a bit of the real Buffy, from back when Faith and I switched bodies." A pause, then "She did tell you about that, right?"

"Briefly," Daria said. "I wasn't so sure I believed her."

Buffy nodded approvingly. "Smart woman. Always a good idea to take anything Faith said with a grain of salt. Or a whole bucket's worth. In this case, though, she was telling you the truth."

"So what are you doing in my head?" Daria asked.

Chuckling briefly, Buffy said, "Slayer dreams are funny things. Sometimes they're of earth-shattering importance. And when I say earth-shattering, I mean that literally. Others can be for much lesser reasons."

"Well, if this is for a 'lesser reason,' I'd just as soon go back to sleep. I'm still kind of pissed off that Faith isn't here any more."

"Faith no more," Buffy said, interrupting. "Get it?" Daria just glared at her. "Right. You're pissed. I'll have to remember that."

"Please do," Daria said irritably.

"Anyway, this one is kind of important. Since Faith isn't around to do it anymore, I'm taking on the task of training you."

"Let me get this straight. A fragment . . . of a person . . . who isn't actually here . . . is going to train me do something . . . that I'm not complete sure I believe in. The ways of the Vampire Slayer." Buffy nodded. "Congratulations," Daria said. "Just when I start thinking this situation couldn't possibly get more surreal, a clog-dancing ninja hands me a herring."

"Clog-dancing ninja, at your service," Buffy said. "So. Ready to get started?"

"I'm guessing that if I say no your answer is going to be something on the order of, 'tough'?"

"More or less," Buffy admitted.

"Then, one question before you start wiping the floor with me," Daria said. "Did Faith deliberately leave you here, or are you just kind of left over from when "from Daria's mind Faith was untimely ripp'd?"

"Faith knew that this echo of me was still in here," Buffy said. "Though she might not have thought the 'in here' part was quite so literal. Anyway, she's moved and left no forwarding address, so that sticks you with me." Apparently Daria seemed less than wildly enthusiastic -- though, honestly, she was rarely so much as mildly enthusiastic -- because Buffy said, "Look. I know you're ticked she's not here. Under the circumstances, I would be too. But least I'm here to help you through this. So channel that rage you're feeling towards whoever took Faith away, and show me what you've got."

Daria had thought Faith had been a tough opponent. She had nothing on Buffy. Despite using 'muscle memory' and her intelligence to help her fight, in the next ten subjective minutes or so, while they sparred, Daria hit Buffy exactly twice. Once, Daria stomped on her feet, and once, she caught a punch and used Buffy's momentum to throw her into a wall.

When Buffy called time, Daria said, "This is a lot different from Faith."

"Yeah, well," Buffy said, "No offense intended, but I've always been better at this than she is. Still, you've got some pretty good moves considering you've never had any formal training at all. Not as good as mine, of course, but then you've only known you were a Slayer for what? A couple of weeks?"

"At most," Daria said, a little annoyed by Buffy's superior attitude. "And I'd appreciate it if you'd show a little more respect for the dead."

"Faith's not dead," Buffy said.

"She's not?" Daria said, startled.

"Nope. To be dead, you have to have been alive in the first place."

"She was," Daria said. "I'm not saying I'm thrilled with everything she did with my body, but she was alive as much as I am. And more, I should point out, than you are."

Laughing, Buffy said, "True enough. But she's not here right now, is she?"

"She should be," Daria said.

"Deal with what is, not what should be," Buffy said, "Faith's gone. Kaput. And there's not a damn thing you can do about it."

Though angry at Buffy's cavalier attitude, Daria smiled. "Sure there is. I can refuse to play their game. Your game, either."

Buffy said contemptuously, "And how are you planning to do that?"

"Simple," Daria said. "It ain't like I can do Faith's voice perfect, but I got her attitude nailed. And I've been doin' a good enough imitation that I've managed to fake out damn near everyone except Doc Vaughn. And it ain't exactly like I'm plannin' on seeing her again anytime soon."

"So your plan is to make them thing Dr. Vaughn is either lying or mistaken?"

"Yup," Daria said, still using Faith's voice.

"And you don't think they'll take Dr. Vaughn's word over yours?"

Daria shrugged. "Sure, they're more likely to believe her. But seein' what they think of Faith in the first place it ain't likely they're gonna wanna take the risk."

"You do realize," Buffy said, "That this is likely to keep you in jail for the next 25 years?"

Resuming her own voice, Daria said, "Yes. And it's not like I want to do that. But as it's the only weapon I have, I may as well make use of it."

Buffy shook her head and laughed in disbelief. "You're willing to do serious jail time to save Faith's personality? A convicted murderer who used your body to sleep with more men than every hooker in Vegas put together?"

"If necessary."

Buffy shrugged. "Your loss. You might want to reconsider taking me up on my offer, though. You can refuse to play the shrink's games all you want. Vampires are a different story. Most of the time with them you don't have a choice."

"Sure you do. You can act like everyone else does in this society and run in the other direction. If I'm attacked, I'll fight back. Beyond that?" Daria said. "I didn't sign up for it --"

"No one signs up for it," Buffy said. "You think there's some sheet out there with, 'Long hours, no pay, life-threatening work, inquire within'?"

Daria nodded, "You're right, but that's not relevant. I'm not even the one who got drafted. That was Faith. And as you so elegantly put it, Faith's kaput. So I'm not a soldier in this eternal struggle you seem so keen to make me a part of. I'm a draft dodger."

"You could do that?" Buffy asked.

"Watch me. Give me one good reason I shouldn't."

With conviction, Buffy said, "Because it's wrong."

Daria said, "I'm not arguing with that. I'm not even saying my conscience wouldn't bother me. But until you start laying off the attitude, and until they bring her back here and find some other solution to this problem, I'm not going to do what any of you want me to do."

Buffy said evenly, "If I 'lay off the attitude,' will you at least let me train you? And will you help other people?"

"Considering you're kind of trapped in here, that's all I can ask of you. Just remember: Faith's the vampire slayer. This training, this muscle memory, I'll do it to keep myself alive. If I get out of here, and someone needs my help, I'll probably even help them. I'm not like everyone else. I wouldn't have shut my ears while Kitty Genovese screamed."

"Kitty who?" Buffy asked.

"From before we were born," Daria explained. "Kitty Genovese was raped and murdered by an apartment in New York City. Over twenty people heard her screams for help and not a single one of them lifted a finger to help her. Never mind that none of them rushed down to help her. None of them even called the police. All because they 'didn't want to get involved.' It's infamous." Throughout this, Daria's voice had gotten more and more angry. "And I'm not like that. I may not think very highly of other people. I may joke about them, insult them, let them get humiliated, embarrassed, in trouble. I couldn't let them get killed. Or even badly injured. There are too damn many Kitty Genoveses in the world."

"So when you said you'd look the other way, you were bluffing?"

"Of course I was bluffing," Daria said. "It worked, though. Assuming you're the kind of person who keeps her word."

"I am," Buffy said.

"Good. Then I'll keep mine. You can train me. Just remember, I'm not the one with years of experience who knows how to do this on instinct. You saw it yourself. Even with Faith's instinctive abilities and my own intelligence I hit you twice -- and once was when I stepped on your feet."

"Don't knock foot-stomping," Buffy said. "A well-placed blow to the instep can cause as much pain as a kick to the groin if you do it right."

"Good to know. Still. While I'm still having these 'Slayer dreams,' I seem bereft of the instinct that you and Faith seem to possess. She mentioned that Slayers seem to have some kind of innate abilities to do all of these things -- and, apart from the strength, which seems tied to my physical body, the only time I'm able to do any of this is when I'm channeling Faith."

"If I was the real Buffy, I'd ask Giles to research this," Buffy said. "'cause you could be right. I've never been big on the theory of vampire slaying, but it's possible that since Faith's personality was dominant when she was called to be a Slayer that she's the one who got all the instincts and all you got was the strength and the ability to dream. Still, that doesn't mean training won't help you."

"Doesn't mean it will, either," Daria said. "But I'll give it a try."

"Okay," Buffy said. "What's your first instinct when someone's trying to attack you?"

"To run," Daria said.

Buffy nodded. "Good instincts," she said. "If you're facing off against someone who's bigger and stronger than you, running can be your best bet. You know what the first rule of being a Vampire Slayer is?"

"Make sure the stake you're using is wood and not plastic?"

Chuckling, Buffy said, "No, but that's not a bad rule two. The first rule is, don't die."

"Also good," Daria said.

"One thing I want you to try to do for me," Buffy said. "I want you to try to not use Faith's instincts. I want you to just use your own."

"Ah. So we've reached the 'beat Daria into a coma' portion of the evening."

"We won't be sparring. I just want to see how you throw a punch." Consciously trying to channel only what she'd learned from her self-defense course, she threw the best punch she could.

"Passable," Buffy said. "I'm guessing you've had some martial arts training in the past?"

"A bare minimum," Daria said. "An eight-week women's self-defense course. They tended to concentrate on fighting off muggers and rapists. They were sadly deficient in 'how to fend off supernatural creatures."

"A common failing," Buffy said. "Anyway. Here's what you need to improve with the punch . . ." And they spent the next couple of (subjective) hours practicing how to punch someone or something. While Buffy pronounced herself satisfied with Daria's basic ability to hit someone, she did say, "I think you're right. You're not showing any instinct for fighting. Now let me see you channel Faith."

Daria closed her eyes and tried to rely on her muscle memory. Then she threw six punches, three with each hand.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "I can definitely see a difference. On your own, you're about a C+. You could probably improve to maybe a B level. With the Slayer strength, that'd be good enough to fight off most garden-variety vampires and demons. But there's a whole lot else out there."

"So maybe I'd be better off just channeling Faith," Daria said. Sometime during the course of this dream, she realized something: She now believed Faith. About the vampires, the supernatural, all of it.

She just wished she could have told her that to her face. Or whatever metaphor was appropriate for talking things over with one's own split personality.

"No," Buffy said. "It took you a good fifteen seconds to reach the point where you could do that. Fine if you have lead time, but you don't always have lead time."

"So I'm going to need to keep up these exercises."

"Yup. Let's check out your raw strength level next." They did this by simply arm wrestling. It turned out that Daria's strength indeed matched Buffy's own.

"Assuming," Daria said, "That we can trust the dreamworld and relative strength rankings. And assuming you're actually Buffy's echo." After a second. "And does that mean that the real Buffy has an echo of Faith in her somewhere?"

"I wouldn't bring that up if you ever actually talk to her," Buffy said. "She might kill you." After a second, "Are you still planning to pretend to be Faith once the dream's done?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Daria asked.

"I might. I understand why you want to do something. But do you really think that ADA who said Faith had to disappear for you to get out of jail is going to change her mind because you're 'refusing to play her game'? Or do you think she'll shrug her shoulders, say, 'I did what I could," and let you rot in here for the next 25 years? Either way you won't get Faith back, only this way you won't be free."

"And your better idea is?"

"Play their game long enough for you to get out. Then -- well, what Dr. Vaughn took away, she can probably give back. Or, failing that, there's always magic."

"Or there's another way," Daria said. "I could try to trigger it myself."

"How?" Buffy asked.

"There's this book I've been reading . . . "