"Woah, hold up there…..first you're telling me that my Mom wasn't really my Mom …..and that my real Mom is some Evil Queen from a fuckin' fairytale? Dude, you are seriously wack if you believe that shit", snorted Faith defensively as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Colourful language aside", Giles said tentatively, "I'm afraid Quentin is right, I'm sorry Faith but it's all true. You are the Evil Queen's daughter"
"But how? I mean it was never mentioned in any of the fairytales I ever…", Buffy started before being cut off unceremoniously by Faith.
"Hang on, you knew all along Giles? And when the fuck were you gonna tell me?", barked the slayer as she bolted to her feet slamming her hand down on the table to accentuate her point. The smack of flesh striking wood echoed around the library bringing an awkward and guilty silence on them all
"I-I hoped I would never have to…. in case you might overreact", Giles said ashamedly.
"Who's overreacting?", shouted Faith as she kicked a chair sending it crashing into the wall in a flurry of splinters.
"Faith, I was under the assumption the curse would last always and keep her trapped in Storybrooke", coughed Giles as he slowly and methodically cleaned his glasses feeling the rage radiating from the brunette.
"As was I", Quentin said backing up his Watcher of choice.
"Well lucky me", Faith spat with a menacing sarcasm which wavered, "All those years bein' slapped around by a fuckin' drunk bitch and she wasn't even my Mom. You knew…. a-all this time ….and I wasn't even worth bothering to tell"
"Faith….I…", stammered Giles.
"No, fuck you G. Fuck you", growled the slayer as her body shivered, her knuckles white and cracking.
"Fai, please calm down", Buffy said putting a tentative hand on her girlfriends shoulders.
"But…those assholes…", Faith forced out through her grinding teeth.
"I know, and we can beat the crap out of them later", said Buffy with a calming tone to the impending violence before turning to the Englishmen who sat with red faces like naughty children before the headmaster, "Guys, what do we do?"
"I..erm…well that is to say….if we….I m-mean….", stammered Giles as he averted his eyes.
"You have no idea do you", replied Buffy putting extra force into her hand around Faith's shoulders to hopefully prevent her girlfriend from snapping and delivering anger fuelled blows to their pasty faces.
"Well…..no". Quentin's voice now lowered in shame to a notch above a whisper.
"So some evil bitch is coming here to do what? Steal me away to some fairytale land so I can fuck around with dwarves and unicorns n' shit?", Faith snipped as her anger slipped down into an incredulous sneer as Buffy's calming influence shimmered through her battered soul.
"W-we don't know. We're only working on a theory here so until we can find out some more information…", began Quentin before trailing off as a sharp blast of a laugh fired out from across the table making all eyes bear down on Willow.
"Oh…sorry….I just had a thought is all", smirked the redhead shyly, "I mean, if this woman is the Queen ….a-and Faith is her daughter ….doesn't that make Faith a princess?"
"Technically, yes", said Quentin hoping that a small gesture would pacify the slayer long enough not to pound his flabby body with a pool cue.
"Well woop-de-fuckin'-doo-dah", Faith grunted. "Besides, there's only one Princess round here"
"Hey", protested Buffy trying to force back a smile seeing that even though the gravity of the situation hadn't dampened her girlfriend's lively sense of humor.
"I think it's time we told them everything Rupert", sighed Quentin fearing the outcome of his words, "Girls, was the last slayer positioned here on the Hellmouth? No. Don't you think it's a lucky coincidence that you became a slayer and just happened to move with your mother to the town where there just happened to be a Hellmouth?"
"Huh?"
"Every couple of months some demon tries to open this particular hellmouth, and it's fortunate you and Faith are here to stop them"
"Your point being?", Faith snapped back.
"If demons have been on this earth for so long why didn't they just open the Hellmouth before a slayer was in residence? Was there always a slayer guarding it? No. And do you honestly think the Council are this huge multi-national sect with near limitless resources who just sit around twiddling their thumbs awaiting reports from one slayer on one hellmouth?"
"One hellmouth? How many are there?"
"There's three in America, one in China, one in…..", Giles began before Quentin cut him off again.
"There are many spread all over the world, we find and train potential slayers in nearly every country, it just so happens that this Hellmouth is active at the moment"
"You mean?"
"Yes, I had the Council put a little spell on your mother to convince her to move to Sunnydale. After she left LA she could've moved anywhere in the country, but she just happened to move with the slayer to the town with the Hellmouth, it's all very convenient isn't it…..you really never thought about this, Buffy?", Quentin said blankly.
"Well….er…no"
"Great story guys, save it for fuckin' PBS", snarled the brunette slayer as her lips curled into a menacing swell.
"Faith, despite how angry you are at Quentin and I right now, we have to think about what to do when Regina arrives as we need some time to try and figure out how to stop her", Giles said.
"Eat my fuck, G-man"
"Listen to me…"
"No, I ain't gonna be your bargaining chip", the slayer spat with narrowing eyes.
"Now be reasonable Faith", Quentin said flinching at Faith's misanthropic scowl.
"Reasonable? First you tell my Mom ain't my Mom, and now my real Mom is here, before I even meet her, you want to make a plan to kill her?"
"W-we never said kill her…exactly….but…", stammered Giles watching the veins bulging in Faith's neck and her eyes misting over.
"That's very reassuring", came clipped and precise tones as the library doors swung open.
"Oh my god", Quentin gasped backing away from the table, "Regina"
"Glad to see my reputation precedes me", replied the raven haired woman as her glossy heels clacked on the cheap linoleum of the room as all eyes snapped wide open. "And what is better to herald someone's arrival than a piece of flying furniture"
"Where the hell did you come from?", snapped Faith seeing the brunette woman in a pinstriped black skirt suit saunter forward bearing the smirk of a conqueror.
"I'm parked outside", Regina said back as her eyes skimmed across every feature of Faith making the slayer shed her simmering rage in a confused awkwardness.
"Parked? Like in a car?"
"Naturally", Regina said back as her brows furrowed.
"Well I was expecting you to arrive in a big puff of smoke or on a broomstick or in some carriage pulled by horn headed horses or something. A black cape at least", Buffy said trying not to be intimidated by this well-dressed woman whose aura sparkled with authority.
"You've seen too many movies my dear", replied Regina as her eyes felt the burn of unshed tears as she gazed deep into Faith's chocolaty orbs.
"I-I thought everyone from Storybrooke was returned to the Enchanted Forest?", asked Giles timidly.
"I don't know how you arrived at such a supposition. But those who wanted to leave were free to, we have a plentiful supply of magic beans, but I couldn't leave without….my little girl"
"Er…..so…", said Faith at a loss for words as her mother turned to her.
"It's you…..it's really you", came the full sorrow ridden rasp.
"Er….yeah….it's me", said Faith blinking widely, "So I guess that makes you….?"
"Yes my dear…. I'm your mother ….. I-I never thought I would…. they took you from me… but now…", said Regina with a crack in her voice as she went to cup her daughter's cheek only to have Faith flinch back.
Regina felt her heart slice and bleed, all these years of loss hadn't stemmed the flow of despair.
"So what do you want then? You expect me to fall into your arms and have that whole Hallmark happy ending where we run off to live in a gingerbread house?", Faith snorted as denial was always her defense mechanism.
"Well no….but I hoped that…"
"Look Queenie, if you're my Mom…where the fuck have you been?"
"Language!", chided Regina with a flicker of amusement.
"Oh fuck you, where in the shit have you been all these years?"
"There is much to explain, please…..come with me"
"You think I'm just gonna wander off with some evil chick?", said Faith as she reached to her side and clasped Buffy's hand tightly.
"You really shouldn't believe everything you read in books my dear. For history is always written by the victors, and they always paint themselves in a vainglorious manner to portray themselves as chaste and just. Whilst everyone else is cast in an unfavourable light. I'm sure if anyone ever decided to write about your lives they would make sure you seemed like valiant and heroic people who could do no wrong and vilify anyone who didn't fit into your little in-bred circle"
"So, what, it's all propaganda or something? So what is the truth then? That you're not some evil Queen?", Faith said ignoring the jibes aimed at the scoobs.
"Depends on your point of view", Regina said wryly, "Just look at how they treated Elphaba all this time, it took them near a century of slander and lies before her truth was unveiled. Please, just come with me and I'll explain everything"
"Why? So you can drag me off to some tower to wait for my savior or something?"
"Don't you dare lay a hand on her", Buffy blustered in feeling her heart being slowly sliced open at the thought of losing her love.
"And who are you?", Regina said casting a critical eye up and down Buffy.
"I'm Buffy"
"And?"
"The vampire slayer"
"Never heard of you", said Regina with a shake of the head.
"What?", squawked Buffy indignantly, her ego dented.
"Regina….er… your Majesty….", said Giles in muted awe, "I…well that is…"
"I'm just here for my daughter", Regina said wanting desperately to take her beloved child into her arms once more.
"Yours? I ain't yours, you think I'm some kinda pet you can just abandon and then one day just come along and…", said Faith with a strained voice as she recalled the horrors of the uncaring foster system and their disposable attitude to her after her mother died.
"Don't you think I've suffered too? When I get back I will not hesitate in finding Snow and her feckless manchild of a husband….it was they who tore us apart. Them and their deal with….."
"Snow? As in Snow White? She's the bad guy in all this? Then how come all the stories say…", Faith interrupted.
"Were you not listening? About history being written by the victors?", sighed Regina wondering just how badly this realm had affected her child.
"I see your point, after all, the first tale of Cinderella in our world came from a Chinese fable where, at the end, the two wicked step sisters were forced into red hot iron boots and made to dance until they died from exhaustion", Giles said hoping to placate any lingering tension, "And originally Cinderella wore slippers made of squirrels"
"That's not true", said the former Queen almost in disgust.
"It's not?", he replied.
"No, the truth is much worse than that. This happens so much in this world, our tales become diluted and sanitised for….."
"But I'm a slayer, I'm the Buffy. How do you not know who I am?", Buffy interrupted still reeling at the slight barb snared in her vanity.
"B, now's not the time", Faith said as her throat closed to muffle the sob trying to escape as her eyes bored deep into her mother's as if she could plunge into the guarded recesses of her soul.
"It's alright, I'm here now my darling Esmerelda", Regina said opening up her arms trying to hold back her tears.
"Don't you….what?", Faith coughed in shock.
"It's your name, Esmerelda", said Regina reaching out to take her daughters hand.
"E-Esmerelda", sniggered Willow seeing the blush erupt on Faith's face.
"Shut it, Red", spat the slayer.
"Of course…..your Highness". The redhead couldn't help herself from this rare opportunity where for once she didn't feel like such a tool in Faith's presence.
Regina, seeing the displeasure on her daughter's face, snapped her wrist up and within a moment Willow was engulfed in a swirl of purple mist, her clothes crumpling to the ground with no human frame to support them.
"Willow!", screamed Buffy as she darted forward.
"Y-you killed her?", Faith rasped as she stared into the sparkling eyes of the Queen.
"Kill her? Why would I do that? I'm not a monster. Oh, you people and your artistic license to change the truth to fit a story", replied Regina with a roll of the eyes.
Buffy shook out Willow's empty top in panic before seeing her friend's jeans writhe about. The blonde slayer baulked as she watched a small piglet run out in a panic stricken circle squealing as she ran.
"Hey, that is so not cool", snapped Faith as her lips tugged into a small smirk.
"It was funny though", Regina shrugged.
"Well…yeah. But there's something so wrong about turning a Jew into a pig, y'know", said Faith as she watched Buffy try and hold the squirming piglet in her arms.
"Fine", huffed Regina as she twirled her wrist again, once more bathing Willow in curl of smoke.
"What in the….", Buffy said with wide eyes for she no longer held a fretting piglet but the trunk of a sapling standing in a terracotta pot.
"Well her name is Willow, so why not be the tree named for her"
"Will you stop doing that", Faith huffed as her nerves began to fray before the woman who spawned her.
"What? I think she needs to learn a little humility in front of a Queen. Besides, she was mocking you my dear Esmerelda and…", Regina said.
"And stop calling me that!", grunted Faith, "My name is Faith, ok? And stop with all this magic shit, is this how you want to make a first impression? By turning my friends into pets and ornaments?"
"No...I…", said Regina fearing she had already destroyed any hope of a relationship with her newly found child, "Sorry"
Regina clicked her fingers and within the blink of an eye Willow burst back into her normal self. Only her clothes still lay in a tangled heap on the floor.
"Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod", coughed Willow as her friends quickly tried to cover up her naked curves. Buffy grabbed the redhead's clothes and held them up to shield her shame before snapping her eyes back towards the Queen who's power was more than a mere slayer could ever handle.
"So will you come with me?", Regina asked holding out her hand towards Faith.
"No", gasped Buffy through unshed tears, "Y-you can't just take her. I've only just found her, please…. don't take her away from me. She belongs here…with me… with us, not back in your fairytale land"
"Er, you misunderstand me. I meant we should get a coffee together so we can talk properly", said Regina with the same cock of the brow which Faith used sporadically.
"Oh… I-I knew that", blushed Buffy furiously.
"Just a coffee?", said Faith trying to diffuse the potentially dangerous situation.
"That's all", replied Regina.
"Ok then, but you're buying"
"I wouldn't have it any other way, my dear", the former Queen said taking her daughters hand and slowly closing her fingers around it. After all these years Regina could finally hold her beloved child once more.
"Bye..… Princess Esmerelda", Xander chuckled as her helped Willow on with her clothes.
"Don't!", snapped Faith as she watched Regina's wrist raise and point to the young man.
"Why not?", Regina said lowering her hand which fizzed with the promise of magic.
"Look, will you just stop turning my friends into shit, ok?"
"What about the bloated Englishman?", she asked pointing towards Quentin who backed towards the doors attempting to flee.
"Oh, do what you like to him. I don't care", shrugged Faith.
Without another word Regina twirled her fingers as Quentin was engulfed in swirling black and yellow smoke, leaving only a collection of finely pressed tweeds and a table lamp.
"Well he seemed quite bright, just don't turn him on", Regina said with a wry wink.
"Oh you are so Faith's mother", Xander said trying not to feel the glare of spite from Willow.
"Er…Regi….your majesty", blustered Giles fearing her power, "H-how long are you in town for?"
"I don't know. But it seems to me that you need a new Mayor", smiled Regina triumphantly.
"A new Mayor. B-but shouldn't there be some long campaign and an election and…", coughed Buffy as she hoped Faith would be alright.
"As a Republican I've never found voting to be that essential to the democratic process", shrugged Regina, "I'll talk to the town council in the morning, I'm sure I could convince them to appoint me the interim Mayor of Sunnydale"
"I'll see you later B, don't worry, I'll be ok", Faith said with a soft and tender smile trying to allay her girlfriends obvious fears.
"Bye Fai, please be careful", she replied.
"So, you and this Buffy girl, eh?", Regina smiled nodding towards the other slayer,
"What about us?", said Faith staring at her mother for the first time since birth.
"Nothing. Let's just say that a weakness for feisty blondes must run in the family", Regina said with a wry smirk.
"Huh?", said Faith
"I'll explain it all over coffee"
"So… you've come back for that which is yours then?", the dark haired slayer said trying to enter into some kind of a conversation as they headed towards the library doors.
"What on earth are you talking about? Who told you that?", Regina said stopping them in their tracks as the eyes of the scoobs washed over the pair.
"Giles…and the lamp dude", Faith said nodding across the room.
"You people and your willingness to believe everything you read without hesitation. This isn't about me, or even you"
"Then who?, the slayer continued.
"You should ask him that question, my dear", said Regina staring at the Watcher whose cheek twitched, "For he knows more than he has ever let on. Isn't that right Mr Giles, or should I call you…..Baelfire?"