Disclaimer: I don't own anything here. Get a life.

A/N: I WROTE THIS ON SATURDAY AND I WAS GOING TO POST IT UT XFINITY SHUT OFF MY WIRELESS SO IT'S NOT MY FAULT I HAD TO POST IT TODAY!

yeah…this is a lot of work to update, and I try my best, okay? It might take me one or two weeks to update this, so try to be patient. Oh, in November I'm completely dropping everything for the whole month because of Nanowrimo. Sorry. I'll continue writing in December.

Lastly, because of the whole not having time to update issue I'll probably making the chapters a little shorter than they have been, but not by much. This might be a lot shorter than normal, only because I'm trying to update today (Saturday) as soon as I can. You can get the general idea, though…I kinda explained in this why Dawn was so calm when she was at the hospital, because I would have been freaking out if I was her…in fact, there was a time when I was freaking out because of something similar, but that is a long, long story that I cannot tell.

Enjoy!

P.S. Please forgive me for my horrible spelling, I can't reread my own work, so I only use spellcheck. I'm looking for a beta, if anyone's interested…

Echo was shadowing Buffy, watching as she started fighting a vampire. Even though everyone said that some of her other personalities had good fighting skills and she was actually getting to be a better fighter Buffy insisted that if Echo wanted to go patrolling she had to watch and stay out of the way. For that matter, Echo had noticed that after the weird incident with Toth's gun Buffy had been avoiding her. She would look at Echo sometimes and her eyes would be full of pain, but then it was gone. Also, whenever Echo was around when Riley came over Buffy made show of kissing him and holding his hand. It was strange.

Just then Riley tackled the vampire Buffy was fighting, to be joined a second later by Spike. Echo knew he was Spike because everyone called him Captain Peroxide, and this person's hair was an unnatural white-blond.

Buffy was yelling at them both, more Spike then Riley. Spike was just starting to walk away when Echo crept out from her hiding place curiously. "Hi…"

"Bloody hell!" Spike yelped, jumping away. "Slayer, how come you didn't tell me she was in town?"

Buffy shook her head. "That's Echo."

"What?"

"Echo." She said the name with a hint of disgust and protectively took Riley's hand.

Spike noticed. "Oh, jealous, are you?"

"Shut up!"

"I was all sorts of different people last week, I can't believe you didn't see me." Echo explained to him easily.

Spike said, "You were different people?"

"I'm surprised that you didn't do her." Buffy said, glaring. "Apparently her other personalities are all sluts."

"I got shot." said Echo.

"Oh." Spike didn't seem concerned. "But you don' know me?"

"No."

"No memories of talking about…champagne?"

"No."

Buffy sighed. "Whatever…we should go, Spike. Say bye to airhead."

"Forget it." Spike went of into the dark mumbling to himself about women and how they were all insane. And something about "Dru".

"Coming?" Buffy asked. "You wouldn't want to get eaten by a vampire."

Echo nodded. Somehow it sounded like that was what Buffy wanted.

O.o.O.o.O.

Back at the Magic Box Echo was helping Dawn arrange shelves while Willow and Tara talked and Giles showed Buffy the new training room.

"She's going to love it!" Dawn said. "Maybe then she'll get off my case."

"Maybe." Echo said. "I think she's mad at me."

"Why?"

Echo shrugged. "She keeps looking at me funny, and kissing Riley when I'm around, and acting like I did something wrong…Did I?"

"Did you what?" Dawn asked, placing a statue of a horse on the shelf.

"Do something wrong."

Dawn turned her full attention to Echo. "Listen, back when you…when you were faith, or who knows what, you stole Buffy's body and slept with Riley. Then when she went to L.A. to see if Angel was okay she found him helping you and misconstrued it as something else. We think that when you became all those people in your head…"

"One of them was Faith." Echo said. "And she saw Faith?"

Dawn shook her head. "No. At least we don't think so, Riley kept her distracted."

Echo felt guilty about what must have happened, but she didn't understand. Why was Buffy blaming her? She hadn't directly done anything. Not on purpose.

Echo could hear laughing coming from the training room. "She seems to like it."

"Good for you, then." said Dawn. "As to this whole hate-love relationship, I suggest you stay out of her way and far away from Riley."

Echo nodded absently as she saw Buffy and riley walking out of the training room, laughing and swinging their hands in the air as they walked. "Uh-huh."

There was something familiar about him now that made her feel sick.

…Faith leered at Riley from the doorway in a body that didn't fit her like her own. "Hi, sweetie." She said, voice like ice and honey. "I'm home."...

Echo shuddered. There were some things she didn't want to know.

O.o.O.o.O.

Buffy sighed, cuddling up to Riley as he finally fell asleep. She had to give him credit; three times in a row was pretty good considering she was the Slayer, even if she did try to go easy on him.

"Hey…"

He was awake? "yeah?"

Riley drew her closer, affectionately kissing her head. Buffy loved feeling this way, when he was just nice to her by doing little things. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." Buffy lied.

"Something happened with Echo when she was all those different people, didn't it?"he asked.

"Maybe." Buffy said. She would never tell him what really happened, but might as well tell him half the truth. "I…nothing major, just something silly, okay?"

"What?" Riley persisted.

Buffy said, "I was hoping to see Faith…but I guess since Echo doesn't remember being Faith as much then Faith wasn't around."

"I guess." Riley said. "But why would you want to see her?"

Buffy could tell he was getting uncomfortable. Even with Echo around they hadn't talked about Faith much, just Echo. "I had some things I wanted to say to her."

"Okay." Sweet, reliable, gullible Riley. As he started falling asleep Buffy reached to the table next to the bed and pulled a slip of paper from the pocket in her jeans.

5x5

She just wished she knew what it was supposed to mean.

O.o.O.o.O.

The next morning Echo was up bright and early, laughing at how Dawn was piling cereal high in bowl just for the prize inside. Echo wasn't sure why, but Dawn was more sparkly today than she usually was. It seemed to have something to do with how much Echo could remember from her other personalities. After the incident with the multiple Echos she hadn't been able to remember as much. It hurt to think too hard.

"You want an omelet?" Joyce asked Dawn.

"With ketchup, please." said Dawn. Echo made a face at her from across the counter. "What?"

"Ketchup?"

Dawn giggled. "Hey, it tastes good, okay?"

Echo couldn't help but smile. Dawn was the only one that didn't judge her for things she couldn't remember doing.

Suddenly she noticed Joyce had paused mid-step and was staring at Dawn.

"Mom?" Dawn asked.

"Who are you?" Joyce mumbled, passing out on the floor.

Echo couldn't move. She sat there, horrified, while Dawn pulled the phone off the wall, rapidly dialing the number. "Hello? Yes, my Mom fell down, she's unconscious…1630 Revello Drive…I don't know! She just fell!" Dawn sobbed, starting to shake. "Please, please hurry!"

Slamming the phone to the counter Dawn raced back top her Mom. "Mom…Mom? Mom, please wake up!"

Echo finally moved her legs, stumbling down top the floor with Dawn. "Dawnie, she's gonna be okay…you hear me? She's gonna be okay!"

"No…no…" Dawn was shaking Joyce's shoulders frantically. "Please don't…!"

"Dawnie!" Echo shouted, pulling her away. This seemed too familiar, like she had lived it so many times already. "She. Will. Be. Okay. The ambulance will be here in a minute, and she's breathing. You need to calm down." The last words were spoken with deadly seriousness. "Okay?"

"She can't die." Dawn whispered. "She can't die."

Echo pulled Dawn close, hugging her. "Yeah…she'll be okay, I promise…" How many people had she seen die? Just another thing she didn't want to know.

By time the ambulance reached the house Dawn had calmed down enough that she could explain what happened, and then the two sat out in the hospitals waiting room while dawn played with some doctor's stethoscope. "I'm sorry." She said. "I mean, for freaking out. It never occurred to me that…something bad could happen to Mom. It's Always Buffy I'm afraid I'm going to lose."

"I know." Echo said. "You thought that she would always be there, but I'm sure she's fine."

Before she could get another word in Buffy was racing towards them from nowhere, embracing Dawn hurriedly. "Dawnie?"

"I'm okay." Dawn said placidly.

"And so is your Mom." A doctor said, walking from inside Joyce's room. "I'm Ben."

Echo tuned out everything that he was saying, happy that Joyce would be okay. Dawn was already distracted, listening to everyone's heartbeat. She went to Ben, then Buffy, then Echo. It reminded her of something, someone with a scarred face and a quiet voice. And whiskey.

Dawn moved onto Riley, eyes widening. "Uhhh….."

"What, Dawn?" Buffy asked.

"You might want to listen to this."

O.o.O.o.O.

Boyd was beyond frustrated by now. Topher had said that all the Echos had unexplainably gone to the same place and then it had just been Echo again. He hadn't seen her, and Buffy hadn't been home at all the past week.

"What do you suggest we do now?" He asked Topher, on the phone.

"I don't know…" a pause. "Try to find something she associated with strongly, and then try to lure her somewhere with it. Maybe something from being Caroline?"

"Not strong enough, Topher, she didn't even want a treatment." Boyd said. "And Caroline wasn't a real person, she was an imprint. Faith was a real person."

"This the Faith Lehane people keep telling you about?"

"Yes. All I know if she was involved in a murder and went to jail, but she was released early." Boys said. "I've explained this all before, Topher! Can't you find something from that past that I could use?"

He heard keys clicking in the background. "Nothing much…she was poor as a child, and then she up and left…there was a woman she stayed with for a while…" more clicking. "Why don't you ask that girl…Buffy?"

"She won't let me in her house." He realized how stupid that sounded. 'But I could break in like last time. What chance is there that Caroline will still be there?"

"Probably not good…"

"Thanks, Topher, I'll call you later."

He hung the phone up and got in his car. Surely Buffy had something of Faith's, an old photo or letter. He just had to find something that would trigger old memories and make Echo come with him.

When he got to the house it was empty, so there was no problem with breaking in. He headed straight for her bedroom, searching through her closet and nightstand, but there was nothing. Only one picture, one of Echo glaring at the camera like she was about to kill it. She seemed to be standing in a library, but there was nothing to suggest an emotional bond, just a dislike of cameras.

He was about to give up when he noticed a scrap of paper on the bed, halfway under the pillow. He pulled it out and unfolded it;

B,

I'm sorry.

He flipped it over;

5x5

B was probably Buffy, but had Faith given her this note? Or had Echo?

It was time for some serious investigation. Boyd investigated the bed carefully, looking I over again. nothing else was there. He was about to take the picture of Faith when he noticed it was double-sided and turned it over.

In this picture the room was crowded and hazy, but he could make out who he assumed was Faith. She looked younger, and was a blur of pale arms and brown hair, mixing with more tanned arms and blond hair. A younger Buffy was dancing with Faith, the two of them surrounded by eager-looking boys.

Faith was the one he had seen dancing.

He took out his phone. "Topher? I think I might have something." He made his way out of the bedroom. "Can you send a team down here?"

O.o.O.o.O.

Echo was headed for Spike's so-called house, heart racing. Riley had been missing for hours now and somehow Echo was sure that if he died Buffy would automatically blame her despite what really caused it. Also, she liked Riley, eve though he could barely make eye contact with her.

She opened the door and looked in to see Spike talking to someone blond...it was Harmony!

"You again?" Spike asked with disgust. Harmony made a little noise like someone had steeped on her foot and dashed away. "What do you want?"

"I need to find Riley." Echo said. It was scary being here without Buffy, especially when her fighting skills weren't the best—it was harder to call up memories now—she knew she had to pretend she didn't care. Spike had obviously been afraid of Faith, and she intended to keep it that way.

"Buffy was already here asking the same thing." Spike said. "And I don't feel like there's any reason I should help you. You're crazy."

"Spikey…" Harmony whined, coming back into view. "Can't we go get that chip out of your head already? I don't like her…"

"That's Faith, you idiot." snarled Spike. "Harm! She'll go tell the Slayer, and we can't have that, can we?"

"What's a chip?" Echo asked. She knew she was losing ground fast, and she knew what he as talking about. Buffy said the chip kept him from hurting people.

Spike laughed. "Oh, you want to play that game?"

"You can't hurt me." Echo said. "You can't hurt me."

Harmony smiled. "But I can…" she looked at Spike. "But she's a Slayer?'

"Don't know." He said. "She's seems out of it…Buffy called her 'Echo'."

"I am Echo." said Echo, voice starting to shake. "I'm Echo…but I can remember things, and I can fight, and…I'm Echo. I'm Echo." She could feel the memories slipping out of reach…that had never happened unless she was calm, never.

"Yeah. You can take her." Spike said.

Harmony approached slowly, but when Echo didn't move she ran at Echo and slammed her into a wall. Echo helplessly batted at Harmony while Spike came over with a bundle of rope. Harmony, twisted Echo's hands behind her back, tying them. In her mind Echo knew this had happened to her before too. Instead of a memory she got an overload of emotions and started screaming.

"Shut up!" Spike pressed a hand to her mouth. "Stop doing that, will you?"

Echo couldn't breathe. It was like that time, and one before it, and after it, and there was always white-hot pain and fear that she couldn't run away from. It was always there in the back of her mind and they couldn't get rid of it. Her vision started to blur, and the last thought she had before she blacked out was that maybe she wouldn't be scared anymore.

O.o.O.o.O.

When She woke Echo was tied up to something at the wall, in a crouching position. She cough on smoke in the air, just in time to hear, "Please put that out, you can't smoke in here."

Echo was in a small surgery room, Spike in the table a few feet away having a nervous-looking doctor operate on his head. Harmony was smoking and watching the doctor.

"…Uhhh…." Echo managed.

"So she finally wakes." Spike said. "How you feeling, Dru?"

"I'm Echo." Echo whispered. She was Echo. She wasn't Dru.

Spike laughed cruelly. "Yeah, you kept saying that even when you were out cold. Hate to tell you, but after this you'll be my first human blood in months. Can't have Buffy knowing about this until I jump her in my sleep."

"You're going to kill me." Echo clarified. "I am Echo…I'm something else, too."

"A Slayer." Spike agreed. "That will make exactly four dead by my hands when I finish you and Buffy."

"Four dead." Echo repeated. She felt like she was going to be sick, everything was spinning around in loops.

Spike said, "Yeah, what's it to you?"

"Four dead." She said again. "You can't hide from a ghost." Only the bad memories were in her head, the ones where she was scared. Where that man, the ghost, had hurt her when she was little. She got away.

"I'm not a ghost." Spike said. He almost sounded like he was amused by her. "Honestly, you are as crazy as I thought."

"I don't like her." Harmony said. "I think she's just faking so she can kill me for Buffy when I'm not looking."

"Harm…" Spike began. "She can't bloody remember being a Slayer."

"Champagne." Echo said suddenly. It was there, where the memory of the strange body and Riley were. "And horses…I think. Maybe it was galloping."

"What?" Spike almost sat up even though his head had been cut open.

"It's there." She said. "With the other vampire and Buffy and the dark room when I kissed her and ran. It's Faith."

"See?" Harmony said.

"Hurry up!" Spike ordered the doctor.

Half an hour later he was getting his head bandaged while he stare at Echo. "Now," he said, sliding off the table, "let's see how much you remember of Faith. Then I'll kill you."

Echo pressed closer to the wall, cowering away from him. White-hot pain.

That's when Buffy and Riley crashed through the doors.

Echo didn't see much, but soon Spike and Harmony were running for their lives, and Riley had somehow gotten shot in the leg. He was saying something but he collapsed and the doctor pulled him onto the table. "Get her out, now." He ordered.

Buffy, eyes still on Riley, pulled Echo free from the ropes and dragged her out. "Are you INSANE?" she asked once they were far enough away. "Why would you go to Spike? Why?"

"I wanted to help." Echo said. She was afraid she would start to cry, but she couldn't. Buffy would laugh at her. "You were scared for Riley, and I thought that if he died you would be sad, and you would say it was my fault. I wouldn't kill anyone."

Buffy glared at her. "But you would! You did kill someone, Faith, so why should I trust you?"

"I-I didn't." Echo said. "I didn't kill anyone."

"Yeah." Buffy realized what she had called Echo. "I know…you're not her."

"I didn't." Echo said, tears falling down her cheeks. "I didn't ever, I wouldn't."

"Echo…Echo, please, I didn't mean it…" Buffy said, struggling to comfort Echo.

…Faith looked at the dust of the vampire that had killed her Watcher, her only friend, then at Buffy. She desperately wanted to cry, but she wasn't going to. She was always strong. She did wish Buffy would say something, though…

Buffy reached down and helped her stand. After a moment she said, "You hungry?"

"Starving." Faith lied. She knew she would be sick later, but Buffy just didn't get it…

"I'm sorry…" Echo cried brokenly, sinking to the floor. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…I didn't mean to get in trouble and I didn't ever mean to kill someone…I'm sorry!"

Buffy didn't speak. She was considering running when Willow, Xander, and Dawn came in.

"Echo?" Dawn was at her friend's side in a second, giving Buffy a death glare. "What did you do?"

"I…I called her Faith. I said she would kill people, which she did." Buffy admitted, backing away.

Echo shook her head frantically. Dawn was trying to comfort her, stroking her hair. "I didn't, I didn't!" Echo said, almost begging.

"Hey…" Dawn said. "You didn't do anything wrong…Buffy's just bipolar, he gets mad at everyone. She's like a monster."

Buffy gave her a withering stare. "Whatever."

O.o.O.o.O.

A few hours later Echo had calmed down and Buffy was with Riley, so Echo said she would head home. As she was walking she noticed a picture on the ground and picked it up. It was her, dancing…

…there was a blur, but she was always at the same place. She danced with anyone nearby, even Buffy. That was when they were friends, when they would hang out and laugh over silly things like boys. It was safer there…

Echo knew she had to go there as soon as possible. Everything would be better.

O.o.O.o.O.

Boys sat in the back of the van on his phone, watching the girl a few feet away carefully. She groaned against the gag in her mouth when the driver hit a bump. "Yes, Topher, she's fine…might be some bruising, the guys had to be a little rough to get her. I think she can still remember some of the fighting moves from her previous imprints…Otherwise, she's fine. I'm sure, Topher. I'll talk to you later."

He slipped the phone back into his pocket, crawling over to Echo. She tried to wiggle away, but her arms and legs were tied. A whimper of fear escaped through the gag.

"Don't be scared." Boyd said. HE wasn't sure if this programming would work if the treatment one hadn't, but it was worth a try. "Everything is okay now. You're going to be fine."

The code words had no effect, and Echo shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. Boyd sighed. This was going to be a long drive home.

A/N: yeah, if you didn't know I was evil you know now. Of course somehow Buffy and the others will rescue Echo, but that is for another time.

Review, please. So many people (I think) read this and don't review, but reviews help me keep writing.