Twenty One: A Visit From The Past
A/N- A different take on that episode where Angelus and Faith are taken into Angel's past only this time, it's Faith's past that they're taking a little visit to.
A dim light buzzed somewhere and Faith opened her eyes.
She was in a room but she knew this room. She knew it so well and had worked so hard to forget it.
She heard a grunt and sat up, looking to her right to see Angelus sitting up and shaking his head to clear the same haze that she felt.
He groaned and then took a look at where he was.
"Where in the hell are we?" He asked but his tone was harsh.
Faith licked her lips.
"My room."
Angelus frowned.
"You just had to shoot up that nasty shit, didn't you? And now we're in some alternate reality thing."
Faith rolled her eyes.
"It's the past, dumbass. This is my room when I was growing up in Boston."
Angelus looked around and grinned.
"What a shithole...matches your personality."
Faith ignored the jibe and got to her feet.
She could hear shouting from downstairs and she sighed.
She could hear her mother shouting at her latest boyfriend and things were being hurled against the wall; glasses smashed and plates shattered.
The door to Faith's old room opened and a fifteen year old version of herself came into the room, shutting the door and leaning back against it.
Angelus looked at the kid.
"This is you?"
Faith nodded as she looked at herself.
Not much had changed but she'd definitely grown into a more attractive woman, this kid looked a little plain, but the clothes were bordering on trashy.
Young Faith walked across the room and sat on her bed, covering her head with the pillow.
The girl tensed when she heard heavy footfalls on the stairs and Faith backed up against the wall.
"Argh, I don't wanna see this again." She muttered unhappily.
Angelus grinned at the slayer's discomfort.
"Somethin' bad about to happen, Faithie?" He teased.
She said nothing as the door opened and her mother stormed in, drunk and angry.
"It's all your fault, you know! Before I had you, I had a life! Now I have nothing! And you...you're sick! I don't want you in here tonight! Get out!"
Young Faith fled her room while her mother passed out on her bed.
Faith followed her younger self and Angelus found himself forced to go with her.
She watched as Young Faith ran out the door and across the street to the park a few blocks away.
Faith watched until she couldn't see her younger self anymore.
"Where are you going?" Angelus asked, standing right beside her.
"The park." Faith answered as she looked up at the setting sun.
"I slept in that park for three days straight til she came and found me."
Angelus rolled his eyes.
"Do you expect me to care about some childhood trauma?"
"No but since you're here, might as well give you the grand tour. I would've preferred that we were taking a look at your life but we're obviously here for a reason."
Angelus growled low in his throat.
"Well yeah, this is all part of your plan, bore to me death with an episode of Faith's This Is Your Life!"
Faith chuckled at the sarcasm in his voice.
He hated being here almost as much as she did.
That was when she felt a shift and suddenly, they were outside a club.
Young Faith was standing in an alley, smoking and watching as the smoke disappeared into the air as the music pounded from inside.
At least it was quiet out here.
A woman, dressed in a business suit walked towards her.
"Faith?"
Angelus frowned.
"Who's that?"
"My watcher. I didn't know it at the time."
They watched as the woman smiled at Young Faith who was now eighteen years old.
Young Faith frowned and stood, flicking her cigarette to the side.
"Who wants to know?"
"I am here to tell you that the previous slayer has died. I am your watcher and you, Faith, are the new slayer."
Faith's brow creased.
"What's a slayer?"
There was another shift and Faith ducked as Kakistos loomed above her.
Angelus smiled.
"I know this guy! A vampire so old his hands became cloven."
Faith felt fear grip her even though she had killed Kakistos, that fear never left her, it just got pushed to the back of her mind.
Faith looked as her watcher sat, covered in blood, clothes ripped and tied to a chair.
newly activated slayer Faith was being backed into a corner. Tears streaked her face and she was shaking.
Faith knew what would happen and she waited for it.
"You and Buffy took Kakistos on, how is it you're still alive?" Angelus asked.
Faith looked at her watcher, guilt cutting into her heart like a blade.
"I left her..."
Faith watched herself pick up a shard of glass and stab Kakistos in the face with it, scarring him for the rest of his undead life, then she ran, leaving her watcher there.
Faith had told herself over and over that it didn't matter what she did, even if she could've killed Kakistos in that moment, her watcher was still dead but she hadn't been, had she? She'd been beaten, amongst other things, bloodied and passed out but she was still alive and Faith had to live with that as well as her fear for the older vampire.
Angelus walked over to the watcher who's head had lolled forward to hang on her chest.
"She was still alive, Faithie, and you just left her? *Tsk tsk*, how you do live with somethin' like that, huh?"
"I don't! You think I don't see this everyday?! Just like I see the guy in the alley! This haunts me! Angel understood that!"
"Angel's a moron." Angelus muttered.
"Angel is more man than you'll ever be." She snarled.
"Yeah, but if he didn't have that soul, he'd be well...me. More powerful, not so tortured if he just gave in to that animal instinct."
"This wasn't his choice. With Buffy that was different. He loved her."
Then another shift and they found themselves in Sunnydale at the Bronze.
There was Faith, just a few years younger than she was now, and she watching Buffy.
Angelus grinned.
"So are we experiencing the first time you had the hots for little Buffy?"
Faith rolled her eyes.
"No, this was the first time I came to Sunnydale."
She was only half telling the truth, from the moment she'd laid eyes on the other slayer, she knew something was gonna happen. She just didn't quite understand what.
There was another shift and they were in Faith's apartment.
Faith watched herself wrap the sheet around herself and walk over to the mirror.
She turned slightly to look at her back in the reflection and saw the scratch marks on her shoulder blades.
She grinned to herself. Buffy really had done a number on her.
"So we're taking a look at your rough sex life, why?" Angelus asked, bored and annoyed at the whole thing.
"This was after...our first time." She said awkwardly.
Angelus grinned and bent low to whisper in her ear.
"Oh yeah? Does she like it as rough as you? Or did you have to go all coy and shy on her? Angel had to be gentle, make her feel like she was the only thing that mattered, but you...I got a feelin' you took what you wanted and let her finish herself off."
She whirled around to glare at him.
"No, it wasn't like that, I would never-" She stopped and frowned.
"I loved her." She said, her voice very soft and quiet.
Angelus smirked.
"And all who do seemed doomed to a life of suffering. Take yourself for example, what has happened to you since you met her? Anything good?"
Faith frowned.
Angelus was trying to get to her.
"She nearly killed you. You ended up in jail and she also rejected you when you tried to tell her how you felt."
"None of that-apart from the trying to kill me part-was her fault. If I hadn't of killed that guy then maybe-"
"Maybe what? You think she'd still love you? If she ever did. I mean come on, Faith, you're really not her type. She probably only slept with you out of curiosity."
Faith licked her lips and stared him down.
"Whatever. I'm done with all this anyway."
Something shifted again and they were in prison.
Faith groaned.
"Oh shit."
Angelus looked around.
"Ooh jail time. So what's this looking at now? And please tell me it's over soon."
Faith nodded.
"Not long now." She said but she was distant.
Angelus looked at the dark, office type room.
"So what room is this? Bit swanky for a prison."
Faith nodded.
"It's the counselor's room. I used to go here for sessions."
Angelus laughed, causing Faith to glare at him again.
"What's so fucking funny?"
"I didn't think you were the therapy type."
Faith shrugged.
"It was mandatory."
A man walked into the room, followed by another version of Faith.
"Take a seat."
Angelus leant back against the wall next to Faith.
"So what's this? First session?"
"Last."
Angelus frowned slightly.
"This is the session where I completely opened up. It was hard but I did it anyway."
"You know I still don't care, right?"
Faith smirked and nodded.
Prison Faith sat down while the counselor sat in the chair opposite her.
"So, how have you been?"
"Ok, I guess."
"You guess?"
"I'm in prison, dude. What do ya want me to tell you? That I've made a few new gal pals and we've started a book club?"
"It would be a start but first, tell me why you are so insistent on staying away from people."
Prison Faith licked her lips.
"I don't see the point in getting close to anyone."
"Because you got close to someone and got hurt before, yes?"
Prison Faith fixed him with a look that was meant to say, 'you're playing way too close to home here' but instead, he pushed.
"Who was he?"
"She." Prison Faith corrected him.
"Ok, 'she' then. What happened?"
"I can't see the point in this. I don't really talk about my feelings, ever."
"Maybe you should give it a try. You might surprise yourself." He said with a kind smile.
Prison Faith shrugged, giving in.
"What the hell. Ok well, I met someone, loved her, she didn't love me back. I killed a man, we slept together, she hurt me, I came back, tried to destroy her life, came to LA, turned myself in. That's it."
"This girl, how did you know you loved her?"
Prison Faith sat back, lacing her fingers together on her stomach.
"I dunno...I just saw her, knew who she was straight away. We spent some time together and she...she got me all fired up, y'know?"
"In what way?"
"Well when we were fighting-"
"Fighting?"
Prison Faith struggled to come up with a convincing lie.
"We took martial arts together."
He nodded, seemingly convinced.
"Anyway, we would take this...class, and afterwards, we were both really juiced y'know, and then I'd need to cool off and it was like she didn't. She'd go and eat a low-fat yoghurt or somethin'."
The counselor smiled and wrote something down on the pad in front of him.
"So how did you two end up sleeping together?"
Prison Faith grinned and bit it back.
"One night, we just let loose. We were fighting, I challenged her to walk away from me and we kissed. One thing lead to another and we ended up back at my place."
Faith stood and looked at Angelus.
"I don't need to hear this." She muttered, then looked up at the ceiling as though The Powers That Be could see her.
"What is the point of showing me this?! I know what happened! I was there! What's with the fucking reminders?!"
Angelus chuckled.
"Don't wanna remember how open you got, huh?"
Faith glared at him.
"The only reason I'm reliving this nightmare is because of you!"
Angelus held his hands up.
"Hey, you're one who took the drug."
"Yeah, to stop you!"
Then another shift and they were in Angel's mansion back in Sunnydale.
Angelus let out a breath.
"Why are we here!" He moaned to The Powers That Be, the same way Faith had done.
Faith frowned, not understanding anything until Angel walked by and stopped by the fire.
Angelus looked around for another version of Faith.
"Where are you?"
Faith's frown deepend.
"I don't know...I still don't get why I'm being shown all this."
Angelus sighed and sat down on the couch.
"Maybe it's showing you how pathetic Angel really is. I mean look at him! Living above ground like one of them-" He picked up a book from the table and chucked it onto the floor. -"reading classic novels like one of them, he probably ate the writer of the damn book! He's pathetic!"
Faith only watched as Angel turned away from the fireplace, picked up his book from the floor and stared at Angelus.
"Angelus never did care for reading."
Faith's eyes widened.
"Angel? You can hear us?"
Angel gave Faith a small smile.
"I'm the only one that can. Willow is in LA, she's trying to restore my soul, I can feel it. You, Faith, you're close to death but you can fight this. Never give up, remember? I need you to wake up, Faith. Wake up and perhaps I will too."
Faith shook her head, slinking backwards, away from the fight she might have to face.
"I don't know if I can-"
"You have to. Not just for me. There's another reason Willow is here. She wants to take you back to Sunnydale."
Faith frowned.
"Why? I'm a wanted fugitive."
"Because there's a big evil going down, the Hellmouth will open and all of hell will follow with it. Buffy needs you, Faith. She needs you by her side."
Faith smirked at Angel.
"She's never needed me, Angel."
"She needs you now more than ever. If you can't wake up for me, wake up for her."
Faith pursed her lips and glared at Angelus.
"And him?"
"Willow will restore my soul. I'll fight him and he will lose but Faith, I need you to wake up...please."
Faith nodded and watched as Angel suddenly jumped Angelus. She jumped in to help but was knocked back.
She was running out of time.
She lunged again but was knocked back into the wall and hit her head.
Darkness threatened to take her when Buffy's face flashed through her mind. She was crying, talking to someone.
"I can't do this without her. I need Faith back."
Faith's eyes snapped open and she found herself on one of the beds in the hotel with the demon, Lorne, watching over her.
She jumped from the bed and went down to Angelus.
She got there just in time to see his soul being restored.
Angel looked up at her, weak but it was definitely him.
"Knew you could do it."
Faith smiled at him and Angel passed out, exhausted from the effort of fighting his evil alter ego.
Angelus was buried once more.