Peace
III
"I think she's a little weird, ya know?" Willow squeezed a little too hard on her toothpaste tube, sending the minty-flavored substance flying onto the mirror over the sink. "Not again. Buffy, you've got to get a better alarm clock. If I keep needing to wake you up, we'll never be on time, we'll always have to rush, and I'll always end up with high toothpaste bills to pay." She smiled slyly at her own babbling and re-aimed the toothpaste at her toothbrush.
"Okay, maybe she's strange," the blonde pulled a brush through her hair with much effort against aggravating tangles. "But she's new; it's to be expected. Where'd she say she came from? Boston? It's a hell of a change from there to here. What kind of-ugh," she struggled with a particularly difficult knot and grunted in frustration. "Who would want to come here anyway? I wonder if her counselor in high school warned her of this city's greatest perks when she recommended UC Sunnydale as her choice of college…"
Willow rolled her eyes emphatically. She knew that Buffy was fully aware of the world's knowledge, or lack there of, of what a Hellmouth even was. "Not everyone deals with vampires on a daily basis, Buff. I'm sure if she'd known, and believed, she wouldn't be here. If anyone had tried to tell her…she'd be laughing her ass off at their evident psychosis."
"Psychosis? Please, Will, save the big words for when I'm not awake enough to even hear them," the Slayer sighed and put her brush down. After splashing her face with cold water, she turned to her best friend and grinned. "So shall we Bronze it tonight? I'm sure Riley isn't busy with his TA stuff…and the Initiative has been slow: according to Riley, that is. I bet Tara would really love to come also. She doesn't know us too well, so it could be fun!"
Oh yeah it's like the rain come down
It washin' all my fears and doubts
Each drop of tears across my lips
They be drippin', drippin' for my lips
Sweat glistened in a thin layer across her chest and forehead. She wore jogging shorts and a sports bra, yet Faith still found her breath to be short. Damn this California weather, she cursed the climate in her thoughts. Whistles and catcalls followed her, but she didn't answer. She pretended not to hear, but inside she grinned a cocky grin; even here she could grab any man's attention.
Slowing down to a brisk walk she passed a building labeled 'library.' "Great, I'll have to check that place out for my text books after I shower and change," she muttered. I wonder where the hell I'm supposed to meet my contact. He said to be here, but damn he shoulda told me more. Faith turned, still musing over the cryptic vagueness of the instructions she'd received from this strange city, beginning her jog back to her dorm. Vampire slaying wasn't a common topic of discussion, so she couldn't very well ask around. It was a warm day, as she'd noticed earlier in great annoyance. She'd never admit that she had an ounce of human emotion in her, but she missed Boston. In her words 'being away from Boston hurts like a mother fuckin knife in the gut,' not that she'd know what a knife in the gut felt like.
Her mind flashed back, as she ran, to a cold early spring night. It had rained and hailed, making short sleeved shirts very painful.
Ice pellets slapped her already wet skin, leaving stinging red marks on her scarred flesh. She stood outside her home, not wanting to go inside and face reality. The police were on their way to the fourteen year old Faith's house, with an ambulance. Her mother was on the couch, passed out: drunk. Her little brother was a dead bloody mess. Her father was long gone. The ice hitting against her was no pain compared to that which she was trying to shut out. Sirens wailed, lights flashed, and her life in the moment was a crime scene.
One of the cars had no markings or lights. It was plain, boring, dull, and very suspicious looking indeed. Faith figured it was child services coming to take her away. I'm not leaving Boston, she thought. And she wasn't.
From the car stepped a youthful woman, perhaps in her mid-thirties. She walked stiffly, but her face was not unkind. She paid no heed to the police and paramedics now milling about the grounds. The spot on which Faith stood was her destination. Pulling from her trench coat a portable umbrella, she neared the teenager. "Hello, Faith, my name is Diana. I am to be your guardian…do you want to come with me out of this nasty weather?" She offered a hand and looked back at the car. "At the least come get a jacket…it's quite rough out here." Her British accent felt crisp against the wind.
"Excuse me…are you okay?" A low strumming breached Faith's reverie; the voice that followed causing her to nearly jump out of her skin. "Hello, anyone in there?" The girl stood up, gently laying her guitar on the bench. She smiled warmly at Faith's confused expression. "No offense, but you look like shit." She offered Faith a swig from her water bottle. "Don't worry, I don't have cooties…and I think you need this more than I do."
Faith accepted the offered drink, still in a dazed state of mind. After a few minutes of thinking silently, she looked at the stranger. "What happened? How long was I just standing there?" Her complexion, still considerably paled, was returning to normal. It was then that she realized a tear was drying on her cheek, and she longed to hide it.
"About five minutes…you started running, and then you just stopped. Here, sit," she picked up her guitar, sat down, and began strumming absentmindedly as Faith sat down.
Baby, keep your singing tears
Away from my chest
I swear I'll do my best
To catch them in my heart
You won't fall apart
"You don't recognize me, do you?" The girl smiled. "I saw you at the LA airport. You put some cash in my case. Isn't it kind of ironic we ended up in the same place?" She laughed. "My name is Ileana: Yours?"
"Shit, yeah, I remember you! I saw you in the courtyard yesterday, too. Your sound is pretty sick," the younger brunette smiled. "Thanks for the water. You know: if I'd known we were heading the same place I'd have shared a cab with you...name's Faith."
"Oh, it's no big deal. I don't enjoy playing to beg money, but I do love playing to give people enjoyable music," Ileana's fingers continued to strum. "Playing in a public place for strangers is exciting, you know? The adrenaline starts pumping and you have no idea if they'll like you or not. It's different with loved ones and fans 'cause even if something you play is sucky they feel obligated to say they like it for fear of crushin' your heart. Strangers don't have any qualms when it comes to honesty: so if some random dude says you're good, it means you're pretty damn good."
Faith laughed. "Take it from me, then. You're pretty damn fantastic. Sorry if I freaked you out with my spaz attack. I just suddenly remembered something and it kinda struck a nerve. Hey, I know! Do you know your way around town yet? We can hang out and look around if you want." She looked down at her attire. "I should probably clean up first, though."
Ileana chuckled at the younger girl. She's cute…young, but cute. "Sure. I have to get my text books at the library when it opens." She looked at her watch. "And that's…twenty minutes from now. What house are you in? I can meet you there whenever you want to go out…hang out."
"Stevenson," Faith answered, unaware of Ileana's blunder. "But I need text books, too. Meet you in the library lobby in twenty?" Faith stood and stretched out a little. At Ileana's concerned look, she smirked. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna pass out." She struck a pose for dramatic effect. "I'm super girl: hotter than a burning hair dryer, smarter than the average cheerleader, and more bad-ass than the everyday biker chick," she swayed on her feet a little. "And at the moment: dizzier than the drunkest chimpanzee."
Ileana laughed and ran a hand through her hair. "I trust that you'll be fine after a quick shower. I'll see you in twenty minutes, Faith. Not a moment later or I'll be crushed," she teased. "Go: Fly like the wind, Super Chica!"
Faith blushed and sprinted off, hoping that Ileana hadn't noticed her reddened face. I'm not usually into older chicks, but damn she's good lookin'…she thought.
Cry, baby, cry like the rain
Cry now or you'll never let it out
Don't look back on pain
Look back on the cause
And make it go away
She got to her dorm where her roommate, Nancy, was reading on her bed. "You smell all nice and sweaty," sarcasm dripped from her words. "What did you do: circle the whole damn campus?" She wasn't always so cynical. Sometimes she could be quite the charmer. It was taking a while for Faith to get used to the mood swings, but she was adjusting to the patterns.
Faith, now nearly fifteen, walked into hers and Diana's home after school. The next day would begin her first summer without her late brother. They used to enjoy the summers because they went away to camp: away from their father. Most siblings avoided each other, but Faith and Chris had been attached at the hip.
She hadn't yet asked Diana about the possibility of camp. Over the last few months, Faith and her guardian had grown closer and more comfortable together, but still had some steps to take. Despite bestowing upon the woman the pet name of 'Di,' the teen gave her an incredibly hard time. She closed herself off from the poor native of Britain. Most of what she said to her was out of obligation, or in harsh tone of tongue.
Walking into the foyer, Faith heard voices from the adjacent living room. "Diana, you have a duty to the Council to train here, and you have yet to tell her what she is? Dear God, if she were to be called the world would be in more peril than now. The current girl could die any day, and the Powers That Be may very well choose Ms. Lehane," a thicker accent than Diana's wafted through the hall. "As her Watcher it is your duty to…"
"I know bloody well what my duty is to the girl," snapped Di, cutting off the man in his brilliant arrogance. "It is my rightful duty to do what in my mind is in her best interest, and Slaying isn't top of the list. She has been through the mill, Faith has, and I need to be there for her as a guide…not a trainer, teacher, or Watcher. She needs a mother, Quentin. I am not hers, but I am the closest she has."
"This is preposterous. Of all potentials in the next generation, she is the least prepared. Knowing the Powers, that makes her the most likely candidate…seeing as those impartial beings do love to present a challenge," a chair scraped back as this Quentin stood. "Get her in shape, or you shall be withdrawn from the Council."
Faith didn't know what to think of what she had just heard. In fact, she hardly had understood one word. The best thing to do, she decided, was to step into the doorway and make her presence known. "Yo, Di, how's it hangin'? Ready to kick off the summer with a party, eh? Who's your boyfriend?" She waggled her eyebrows suggestively at the red-faced man standing before her.
"I am most certainly not this woman's 'boyfriend,' as you so crudely put it," he looked Diana in the eye and frowned disapprovingly. "Teach this girl some manners, while you're at it. Farewell. I rather hope I do not have the displeasure to ever come here again."
When he left, Diana ran her hands through her hair before facing Faith. "I think it best if you sit down for this, Faith. I have quite a bit of explaining to do. Perhaps you would like to talk over a cup of tea?"
"Hey, freakazoid: what are you staring at?" Nancy shifted awkwardly. "Are you alright, kid? You seem a little out of it."
Flying up to heaven
Please remember me
Remember how you were my mom
When my real mom couldn't talk
And you were like a sister to me
A best friend, ever faithfully
Look down on me when you're flying up
'Cause without you I'd be flying down
A/N: The poem is mine. It's untitled. Hoped you liked this chapter. Sorry for the wait.