Disclaimer: If you think I own BTVS or Dollhouse…you are insane. Go see a therapist.
A/N: This is a very extreme twist on the episode "The Replacement", but no worries: Xander will still get his apartment and job :) also, depending on what I think could work, Kiki Turner might be in this even thought I know she's not imprinted on Echo until season 2, which doesn't exist in this fic….not yet, anyway…I just love Kiki, so she might be here.
Smalville-HarryPotterfan13: I liked your Caroline and Dark Slayer idea so much I decided to incorporate it into my story. Thanks for the idea! 'Course, Faith's not really "dark" anymore, because she went to jail and felt bad for all the things she did, but…meh. I'm not sure how Echo will play into all of this yet…meaning completely blank Echo, of course, without her flashbacks and emotions.
Ltlconf: Thank you for the amazingly lengthy review, it's like the first insightful one I've ever gotten in my career as a fanfiction writer :) I don't mind ranting, either, I do a lot of it myself. Anyway, I get what you're saying, and to make my answer short; the idea is they haven't really figured out what happened to Faith because they're busy with other stuff (Dawn…well, soon it'll be Dawn, and Glory, and demons in general. Like you said, they weren't very accepting of Faith, so there's also how they aren't very willing to have her change back. I definitely am going have Buffy learn to accept Faith because you were right about how she was judgmental about Faith.
Finally, this will be in two parts because of my laziness and not writing last weekend. Hopefully by next weekend I'll have part 2 finished.
Buffy was studying a textbook on the crusades intensely as she, Riley, Anya, and Xander all watched what sounded like some sort of fighting movie. Since Anya was still recovering from being slammed into a door by one of Harmony's minions Xander had suggested they rest a while, taking it easy and watching a movie.
Xander sighed. "Wish I had something food-like to offer you guys, but the hot plate's out of commission."
"We think the cat peed on it." Anya added bluntly.
"I do have spaghetti-o's." Xander said. "Set 'em on the dryer and you're a fluff cycle away from lukewarm goodness."
"Nah, I had dryer food for lunch." said Riley.
They all heard a loud thump from above.
"Huh." said Xander. "I guess the folks are back." There was a crash and a shattering noise. "No, no, I was wrong. Just incompetent burglars." There was a louder smashing noise. "Yeah, maybe it's definitely time to start looking for a new place…somewhere a little nicer. Buffy, you've been to hell; they have warm bedrooms, right?"
The comment went right over Buffy's head, as she was too deeply engrossed in her book.
Riley leaned forward a little to peer over her shoulder. "Hey, Buffy, how's that book? A lot of zippy dates and zesty names?"
"I'm fine." she said automatically. Riley reached his hands over her shoulders and covered the pages with his hands. "Hey…I'm enjoying the studying."
"Where have you been lately? You're always studying." Riley protested. Buffy sighed. She was tired of the boring textbook. "I guess it has been a long day with the crusades. I could take a little break from the violence for some…" she glanced at the TV and saw what seemed to be Chinese warriors battling it out. "…ooooh, fighting!"
"Incompetently dumb kung fu," Xander said approvingly as one of the Chinese men missed his target, "our most valuable Chinese export."
"It's more durable than their hot plates." Anya agreed.
Riley grinned and stretched out his arms casually, reaching for Buffy's shoulders. "Just relax."
Buffy moaned appreciatively as he gently massaged her muscles, tense from training and Slaying. "That feels good." She didn't even notice Xander attempting to do the same thing until she heard Anya's yelp of protest.
"Ow!" she complained. "What are you doing?" Buffy noticed Riley sheepishly withdrew his hands and looked away from Xander as casually as possible. "I have a dislocated shoulder, and I'm trying to concentrate on the kicking movie."
Buffy said, "Hey, the rubbing went away."
"Oh...sorry, I got caught up in the action." He started massaging again.
"Yeah, it's pretty good…" Buffy said, eyes trained back on the TV. "Oh, give me a break! This is all wrong. See, first you would get the big guy, like a flying kick, then you would take out all the little ones—see?" she said, gestured as one of the warriors kicked the biggest in the face, then methodically went for a smaller one like Buffy has said.
"Hey, Buffy, you ought to leave the work behind sometimes…you're not on Slayer duty all the time, you know." said Riley. Buffy felt a twinge of guilt at how lonely Riley sounded. She was just always so busy…
"Well…" she began, deciding to make it sound like she was just joking around. "It would drive you crazy if we were watching an army movie and they were all saluting backwards and invading willy-nilly."
Riley didn't respond, coughing very pointedly when another crash sounded above them.
"And anyway," continued Buffy, "you can't blame me for being critical. Willow's the same way when we watch movies about witches, right, Xander?"
Xander, still upset at accidentally hurting Anya, was slow to say something. "What? Oh, yeah..she's all 'What's that, a cauldron? No one uses those anymore.'"
Unknown to them, only a few miles away, the demon Toth was using one to forge a weapon that would help him kill the Slayer.
O.o.O.o.O.
Echo was very, very bored.
It'd been about a week since she had gotten all weird and become a different person, and Dawn was still safe as ever. As far as Echo knew, Harmony had disappeared off the face of the earth. No one had seen her since the fight in her lair.
Right now she was tagging along as Xander, Anya, Willow, Riley, and Buffy were apartment-shopping so Xander could have a new place. Echo remembered the only time she'd been to his basement, and she didn't blame him for wanting to move out. It was so damp and dark all the time, and it smelled funny.
The woman renting the apartment was highly unimpressed with Xander, giving him disapproving looks as he shook her hand and then took the place in, fancy ceiling fans and all. Echo couldn't help but grin when she saw Buffy and Riley cast sly glances at each other and slip into the adjoining bedroom.
"Look, a microwave!" Willow exclaimed, waving her hands at the aforementioned object. "You could have food, like popcorn!"
Echo smiled. It was nice without bad things happening, though she knew that after such a long period of time without serious problems there was bound to be evil brewing. Like the evil that would happen when Xander found Buffy and Riley having a major kiss-and-grope session in the bedroom of an apartment he hadn't even bought yet.
A few minutes later exactly that happened, followed by Anya getting upset because Xander couldn't get the apartment and storming out in a huff. When they arrived at the Magic Box Giles immediately started talking about how he was attacked by some demon, so Echo went to talk to Dawn.
"What are you doing?" Echo asked, watching Dawn stack little bundles of herbs on shelves.
Dawn waved one of the bundled around vaguely. "You know, helping out and all that. You hear about the funny demon coming hear and attacking Giles?"
"He said it left, it didn't want to fight." said Echo. "I think I heard him say it was looking for Buffy."
Dawn inhaled sharply. "Of course it was." As soon as the panicked expression on her face has appeared, it vanished. "But I'm sure she'll beat it to a pulp, so there's no worries here." A fake smile plastered her face.
"Uh-huh." Echo strained her ears, listening to the still-happening conversation across the Magic Box. Riley didn't seem too happy about the whole situation. Echo knew he was just worried about Buffy because of all the things that were constantly coming after her, but it was still a little annoying. He had top realize he couldn't try to keep protecting her, seeing as he could and most like would get himself killed in the process. Echo could see it more now then when she had first met him, but Riley was one of the overly-protective types, the kind of guy Echo could remember from her memories. He instinctively tried his hardest to protect Buffy from the world when he should let her do what she had to, and it bothered him that she was stronger than him and could take care of herself. It wasn't in a bad way, Echo knew, but in the way where Riley just wanted Buffy to be safe. If she wasn't the Slayer she wouldn't be in danger. Echo wondered if he ever wished Buffy wasn't the Slayer.
"Nice face." she heard Dawn tease. "What's up with you and the quiet, brood-y looks? You're getting to be a lot like Angel, and trust me, that is not a route you want to take."
"Nothing…" Echo watched as Riley went to Buffy and drew her into his arms. A smile traced Buffy's face and she tipped her head up to look at him. "Nothing at all. Just—"
"—thinking." Dawn finished. "Like always. You know, Faith never thought about anything, just did what came to mind instantly." She tipped her head quizzically. "I like this new look. The thinking look…even if it turns you into Angel."
"Thank you?"
Dawn giggled, happiness restored. "Wanna help me with the rest of this while Buffy and Riley make kissy faces at each other?"
"You bet."
O.o.O.o.O.
Boyd Langton was exhausted after the long drive to Sunnydale, what with all the wrong turns he'd taken to actually get there. He had researched the town, and it was definitely one of those places where the unexplained happened every day. People dying of mysterious neck wounds, animal attacks reported almost daily, an outbreak of laryngitis, rumors of gangs with malformed faces; Sunnydale seemed to have it all. That and the low house mortgages due to the high mortality rate for Sunnydale residents.
He pulled over, spotting a woman walking to the end of her driveway to grab mail. "Excuse me?"
"Yes?" her face was guarded. He head heard rumors that outsiders weren't accepted well because of how many outsiders had wreaked havoc on the little town.
"I'm Boyd, I was wondering if you've seen this girl." Boyd offered her a picture of Echo. "She is probably going by the name 'Echo' and might be disoriented."
The woman's eyes widened. "That's not Echo or whoever you're looking for, that's Faith. She was wanted for murder a year or two ago, she's in jail." She shuddered. "Right?"
"No, she's not." Boyd said. Faith? That had to be her real identity; the one that the other Dollhouse had said was something they didn't need to know.
"She's not?"
"No, and she's believed to be here." said Boyd. "Do you know her last name, or people she knew while she was here?"
The woman was backing away. "Her last name was Lehane, but that's it. You should ask the police for the file they have on her or something, they keep track of people she knew." Before he could question her further she was gone, door locked behind her.
It was easy enough to find the police station, but Boyd was kept waiting for quite a while. Person after person came in with a missing person to report, or murder, or a severe accident. When he finally was allowed to speak to the sheriff she reluctantly gave him Faith's file.
The only name listed as a person that knew Faith was Buffy Summers. She happened to live on Revello Drive, exactly where Topher had said Echo was. Closing the file, careful not to drop the numerous papers inside, Boyd headed for his car.
He had to go ask a certain Buffy Summers about an old friend.
O.o.O.o.O.
Echo screamed when she saw the demon standing behind them.
She and the Scoobies had all headed for the town's dump when Giles explained the demon smelled like trash, but she was starting to think that maybe it hadn't been such a good idea after all. The demon, or Toth, as Giles had told them it was called, was enormous, face traced with glowing green lines. Echo barely managed to jump aside when it shot at them with its staff.
"Buffy, look out!" Xander yelled as Toth aimed again and missed Buffy, hitting Xander. He flew into a pile of trash.
"Xander!" Echo ran to him when a jolt of pain surged through her body. She felt like she'd been struck by lightning.
Exactly a minute later she was being helped up by Buffy and Willow, Xander limping in their direction with Giles' and Riley's help. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Echo said. She felt funny…all the borrowed emotions that had been in her head for weeks seemed to be draining away, leaving her blissfully free of any feeling except the pain in her back. "I'm alright, thank you." It was like what being drunk sounded like. Taffy, Caroline, Faith, Eleanor…they were all fading away in a swirling mass of faces and memories.
As they headed home, Echo forgot everything except the Dollhouse, her name, and the people walking her home.
O.o.O.o.O.
Boyd couldn't believe what he'd just seen.
He had been driving aimlessly around after finding Buffy's house empty when he'd seen Echo heading somewhere with a bunch of people. She had been smiling, laughing—something the dolls never did.
The group had gone into the junkyard and confronted something. Boyd hadn't been able to see it, but it appeared to be a tall, bulky man in a cloak that had a gun of some sort. One of Echo's friends had been hit, along with Echo. She appeared to be fine when two of the girls in the group assisted her up, but what had horrified him was the bulky man's face. As the man had made his getaway to the street Boyd had noticed his face was deformed and traced with neon green lines like someone had painted his face with acid.
Of course, the people around him HAD said Sunnydale was a strange place. Sadly, he had lost track of Echo.
O.o.O.o.O.
The next morning, in the dump, Xander woke up to the smell of trash, and nearby, so did Taffy. They headed separate ways, never spotting each other.
A minute later Eleanor was on her way out.
Then Jordan, Jenny, Susan, Alice, Esther, and many others made there way out, one by one.
O.o.O.o.O.
Buffy was happily kissing Riley (she had just slammed the doors in Dawn's face when Dawn made repeated gag noises) when the doorbell rang. "Perfect timing." She sighed sadly, detaching herself from him and putting her axe down. "I'll be back."
When she opened the door a strange man was standing there. He looked fairly well-muscled, with a neat and rather expensive looking suit.
"Hello." He said. "I'm Boyd. Are you Buffy Summers?"
"Yeah, that'd be me." Buffy said. "Why?"
"Do you know this woman?" he held up a picture of Faith, one Buffy recognized as the old police one that had been on a bunch of posters around town years ago.
"That's Faith Lehane." said Buffy.
Boyd nodded. "We have information saying that she's in this area, and we were wondering whether or not you've seen her around."
Buffy decided to keep Echo a secret for now. "Nope, sorry. Last time I saw her was a year ago, when she woke from her coma. I heard she went to L.A."
"Really?" Boyd looked unconvinced. "Because I could have sworn I saw her with you when you and a bunch of friends went into the town's dump last night."
"So you've been following me?" Buffy was liking Boyd less and less by the minute.
"I happened to see Faith, so I followed her and the people with her, you included. May I ask what you were doing at a dump that late in the night?"
"No."
They had a silent staring contest for nearly a minute before Boyd shrugged. "Well, I have to go. Please call this number—" he handed her a slip of paper "—if you feel like being helpful." With that he turned on his heel and swept off down the walkway to his car. The second he was out of sight Buffy raced back upstairs.
"Riley!"
O.o.O.o.O.
Boyd was beyond frustrated now. The small blonde girl, Buffy, clearly knew that Faith was back and probably was letting Faith stay at her house, but she wasn't telling. Without a warrant Boyd couldn't barge into her house and search it, not even with the Dollhouse's high clearance in most government agencies…not that other government agencies knew of them.
He finally decided on shadowing Buffy and the people he had seen her with when he saw Echo walking down the street.
"Echo!" He called, running up and grabbing her arm. "Echo? What are you doing, wandering the streets?"
"Echo?" she blinked. "I'm not Echo…I'm Alice!"
Alice? He remembered an imprint of Echo's named Alice. "No, you're Echo. Would you like a treatment?"
"What? NO!" Echo/Alice jerked her arm out of his grip. "What are you, some kind of perv? What's 'treatment' codeword for? A threesome?" she hurried away from him and across the street.
"She didn't want a treatment?" that was all wrong. No matter what could have happened, what persona Echo was in, she was programmed to say yes and willingly come with him. No matter what.
Five minutes later he saw her outside a coffee shop. "Echo, would you like a treatment? Or…Alice, would you like a treatment?"
She squinted at him. "My name's not Alice, it's Eleanor Penn. You can call me Miss Penn, and I would not like a treatment."
Then she was gone too, but before she disappeared around the corner Boyd saw another Echo, exactly like Echo/Eleanor, come out of the coffee shop. There were two of them?
"Alice?"
She kept walking, forcing him to grab her arm. Before he could fit in another word she grabbed his wrist, twisted it behind his back, and had him pressed against a brick wall. "What's your game?"
"Are you Alice?" Stupid question. "I mean, what's your name?"
"Taffy." She let go and vanished before he could turn to face her.
Boys stumbled to his car and picked up his phone. "Topher? It's Boyd. We may have a serious problem."
End of Part 1
A/N: As you see, I've managed to post this a little late and still have time to finish the second half. I'm terribly sorry this is late, I kinda promised I would update this weekend. I'm trying not to be the kind of author that does the old "life gets in the way" thing as much as possible. Anyway, you can go read the oneshot I posted to make up for posting this late. It's called "Love 'til the end".