The Guilty One's Remorse
"A, are you really planning to hang for something that we sure as hell know you weren't responsible for?" Faith snarled, punching the wall next to Angel's head and feeling only the briefest amount of shock that it broke completely with her strength, even though she was knocked up. But then she smiled at the thought that her little Roxy must have been pissed that her uncle was being this stupid, too.
"Faith, I want to believe as much as you do that I'm not involved in any of this. But be honest with me: You know when it comes to everything we faced over the years… there was no one ever as evil as I could be. Maybe I was just a fool to think I could escape the darkness," Angel said hanging his head, as he sank even further into the jail cell that he had made for himself in Point San Quentin Village of all places. Ugh. He was such a drama queen.
This had all started when Erin Fray had returned from the future (to the Scoobies' present) to relate that her sister, Melaka, had been murdered in the future and that the utopia the sisters had seen upon previously returning to their home of Hadyn had disappeared in the blink of an eye. It seemed some new villain was the Big Had of Hadyn now, and the Scooby Gang were starting to feel the ripples of that in their own timeline.
Faith was thankful that her friends had truly grown to appreciate Angel and let go of old biases… so it had taken longer than it might have for the "Angelus" name drop to happen, but of course it had eventually come. And when it did, Angel was once again looking to be a martyr. It was pretty tired, honestly.
"That's a load of bullshit if I ever heard one!" Faith argued furiously, crawling up onto the bars now and trying desperately to get Angel to face her—though she knew he wouldn't, as he was no doubt alphabetizing his worst sins as he always was. "What about that boy, Ryan's, mind, that even that Ethro demon feared? God, where is B in this?! I can't believe she's letting you be such a pansy!"
"She's right here," came a voice from just behind Faith, near the only exit in this room that Angel had created. And though Faith was loath to turn and face her sister Slayer—because she was afraid A might do something stupid, like try and rip his own head off—she was desperate to see some sense in this senseless situation. So, she did turn around and look at Buffy.
And Faith smirked when she did. One had to appreciate that even when the world was ending, B still looked like she'd come off the runway—though she dressed more practically now, than she had in her younger days—in a hot pink jumpsuit that Barbie no doubt would have admired, and with her hair looking like it was perfectly curled, even though Faith knew she either hadn't slept or had to have been tossing and turning all night, and hadn't had a lick of time for her hair after that.
"And Faith's right, Angel. And after everything we've been through, we're fighting this. Strong is fighting, remember? Besides, Detective Buffy is on the case, and I'm starting to think the evidence against you isn't at all convincing."
At that, Faith couldn't help but snort. Both Buffy and Angel gave her a look for it, and she quickly shook her head to let them know that she wasn't laughing at them, per se, even though Angel was the one who was supposed to be the Great Detective here, and even Buffy had done her own detecting before, but because it seemed so obvious to her. "You mean the fact that it's all circumstantial and meant to frame the Big Guy here?"
"Faith, I don't know how that the fact that the assailant clearly has to know magic exactly frames me," Angel argued, and Faith couldn't help glaring at him for that. And she was thrilled to know that Buffy was doing the same. Sometimes, it really seemed like Angel almost wanted to die. And if she were B, and Angel were acting like this after they'd finally gotten their happy ending, hell she might finally call a spade a spade and stake him herself. "I didn't really do magic without my soul, I mea-"
"Oh, please!" Buffy cut in now, throwing her hands up into the air. "As if doing at least one spell is that difficult. And pretty much everyone who knew you as Angel knew you dabbled in some magic. And what you know, your demon knows."
Buffy was absolutely right about what she'd said, of course… as she often was. Though Faith would never admit that. But she couldn't ignore the chill that passed over her as what Buffy had just unearthed really sank in. "You know what you probably just said, right B? The people who spent most of their time with Angel… is us. The Scoobies. So, does that mean the person trying to do him in is one of us, too?
In her heart of hearts, Faith thought she knew the answer. It was too perfect a job for that not to be the answer. And if that was the answer, they were a step closer to saving Angel… but what betrayal would they learn of in rescuing their vampire?
She could only hope it wasn't Robin: her man and father of her little Roxy. Faith wanted to believe she knew him enough to know that for sure, and that he'd changed his mind enough about Angel and Spike over the years.
But when she thought back on past altercations the three had had, she suddenly couldn't be sure of anything… And for the first time since she was a teenager, she felt the earth shaking beneath her again.
She wanted to tell Buffy and Angel of some of her suspicions—because they more than deserved that—but she held it close to her chest for now, knowing that if one side of her family had attacked the other, there was definitely going to be a reckoning: but the person who would be the Slayer in that situation would be her, not Buffy.
Author's Note: A snippet of a 50K words Buffyverse story I was writing when I first joined the fandom (to try and get a feel of the characters' voices), that will probably never fully see the light of day, unless I seriously edit all of it. But I thought I could at least share this part of it for my friend bisexualblckcanary/Starling76's birthday months ago. Though as this is very personal, I didn't want to post it online and only sent it to her through Tumblr messaging... But now I decided I might as well post it, so she can read it easier than through messaging, if she ever does want to re-read it. ^_^'