Fanfiction || The Chain of Destiny || Buffy/Faith || Part Eighteen
Title: The Chain of Destiny
Author: Sapphire Smoke cuzimastripper
Beta(s): supershineygirl & Frass
Fandom: Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Rating: NC-17
Pairing(s): Buffy/Faith
Word Length Thus Far: 146,266 words
Timeline: *** AU *** Welcome to me screwing with canon for my own pleasure. Buffy and Faith aren't slayers (yet), Buffy grew up in Sunnydale all her life and is the picture of popularity. Faith moved to Sunnydale eight months ago with her mother and is befriended by only Willow and Xander. I take liberties with canon events and facts and twist them to mold to my needs, you'll learn to either love or hate me for it, I'm sure.
Summary: All her life, Faith struggled with being a nobody. Then suddenly she's hit with the revelation that she's a potential Slayer, and that she and another girl that she's always despised are just pawns in the game of destiny, fate, and maybe even the end of the world...
A/N: Hold onto your hats, boys and girls. This will be one LONG ride...
Other Parts: PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR | PART FIVE | PART SIX | PART SEVEN | PART EIGHT | PART NINE | PART TEN | PART ELEVEN | PART TWELVE | PART THIRTEEN | PART FOURTEEN | PART FIFTEEN | PART SIXTEEN | PART SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
Homecoming
Faith knows she’s pushing it once she shows up in front of Buffy’s house to pick her up for the dance. In her defense though, Kennedy’s parents rented them all a limo and she’d be a fucking idiot if she didn’t take advantage of that; this will probably be the one and only time in her life that she’ll be able to ride in one.
She’s not alone though, thankfully. Xander, Kennedy, Tara, and Willow are already in the limo and have been urging Faith not to be stupid and try to greet Buffy when she comes out, but Faith hasn’t exactly been the queen of smart decisions lately. So she’s standing on Buffy’s walkway, waiting for her to emerge from her house. She knows she’s running the risk of being decked in the face, but she still needs to try anyway; she feels fucking horrible about what happened.
Sure, Faith is still under the belief that she should be able to fuck whoever she wants, but there’s a huge difference in doing it and doing it in front of Buffy. Not that she meant for Buffy to see it, but still; she knew the risks. Regardless of her intentions, it was still really cruel and she wishes she could have listened to her brain over her pussy for once, but she doesn’t have high hopes that that will ever happen. She’s just a fuck up; she’s known that her whole life and she’s been trying to tell Buffy that, but she hasn’t listened. Problem is, maybe she finally is listening and Faith isn’t exactly sure how she feels about that. She should feel relieved but she doesn’t, she just feels like an ass; an ass who feels sorry for themself.
But she made her bed; she can either lie in it or try to make things better. Faith chose the latter.
When Buffy emerges from her house, Faith has to remind herself to keep breathing. Buffy is beautiful normally, but in that white dress? God, she was fucking stunning. Faith’s never been one to trip over her tongue around a girl, but at the moment it feels like it’s tangled around her feet. Once Buffy sees her though she literally grinds to a halt, her face becoming stone cold.
“Faith, just back away slowly,” Xander hisses at her from inside the limo. She doesn’t listen, of course.
“Got ya this,” Faith says quietly, holding out a long stemmed rose towards her. She’s never been the romantic type, but she figured flowers might do her some good in getting maybe a little bit of forgiveness. She could only afford one, so right now she’s praying that one is as good as six or twelve.
Buffy stares at the rose for a moment, face expressionless. Finally she reaches out for it and Faith thinks that maybe, just fucking maybe everything isn’t complete shit, but that delusion shatters once Buffy crushes the petals in her fist before throwing the flower to the ground. She says nothing.
“Uh,” Faith stumbles for a second, not expecting the silence. She was prepared for being yelled at, for being punched in the face, but she wasn’t prepared for Buffy to do or say nothing. So she tries plan B. “Okay, so roses are out,” she says, knowing she sounds incredibly nervous and hating every damn second of it. She hands Buffy the small box in her hand and tells her, “Luckily the corsage I got you doesn’t have roses; it’s white lilies… since I remembered you sayin’ you were gonna wear white and all.”
“Keep it,” Buffy tells her, voice dangerously even. “You’re not my date anymore.” She brushes past Faith to climb into the limo and the brunette just stands there for a second, sighing heavily. Well, ain’t like she wasn’t expecting that. She knew it’d be a long shot if Buffy still wanted to go with her, but she couldn’t help but try anyway.
Once they got to the dance (after a very tense ride in the limo), Buffy immediately attached herself to Willow and Tara, who seem to be on the same side as her after everything that went down. Kennedy stormed off, pissed that even her best friend wouldn’t talk to her, and Faith hung back with Xander, not having the slightest fucking clue about what to do.
“You’re an idiot, you know,” he tells her finally, once they’ve situated themselves near the very nonalcoholic punchbowl with the rest of the losers.
“Thanks, Xand,” she replies dryly before taking a sip of her punch. She wishes she had vodka.
Xander sighs. “Faith, I’ve heard about your womanly conquests for over a year now, but not once have I ever seen you this hung up on a girl. Do you think maybe that means something?”
“Yeah, it means I shouldn’t try to get involved with bitches for more than a night. It fucks up the natural order of shit.” She stares at the empty cup in her hand before she crushes it, throwing it to the floor.
“When have you ever tried to get involved with her?” Xander contradicts, making a valid point. “You’ve been pushing her away like she’s carrying the disease that’s going to start the next zombie apocalypse.”
“Don’t talk about apocalypses,” Faith groans, remembering tonight could very well be the night. She hopes it’s bullshit and seeing as nothing weird has gone down yet it probably is, but still. “Where’s G anyway? Didn’t he say he was gonna chaperone this shit just in case the Master like, I dunno, fuckin’ flies out of the sky and tries to kill us all?”
“He’s probably around somewhere, Miss Change-The-Subject.”
“Whatever,” Faith retorts, knowing that isn’t the most mature response in the world but not caring in the slightest.
Her eyes land on this little nerd boy that’s been staring at her for the better half of ten minutes and getting fed up, she asks, “What? You need a fuckin’ picture or something or is the image of me you’re gonna jack off to later clear enough in your mind?”
The boy flushes about ten shades of red and scampers off and Xander looks like he’s trying not to laugh. “That was mean,” he tells her, yet still looks amused by it nonetheless.
“The kid was fuckin’ staring at me; creepin’ me out, man.”
“Look, maybe you should just try to talk to her,” Xander suggests, getting back on topic. Faith’s face darkens at that suggestion. “I mean, she won’t hit you in a gym full of people, right?”
“Wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Faith mumbles.
“Just go,” Xander tells her, sounding tired of repeating himself. “You know you’re gonna regret it if you don’t fix things between the two of you.”
“And how can I fix it, Xand? I mean really? She fuckin’ walked in on me getting fucked by another chick!” Faith exclaims, angry. That shit doesn’t magically fix itself, even if she’d like it to.
“Well, I knew that lesbian love-fest wouldn’t last long.” Faith and Xander turn to see Cordelia pouring herself a glass of punch on the opposite side of the table. “Xander, I need to speak with you,” she says, completely ignoring the death glare Faith’s giving her. Her voice is hushed and she’s looking around like she’s hoping no one’s overhearing her speak to them.
“I’m kind of in the middle of something, Cordelia,” Xander tells her flatly.
“So? I’m more important.”
“Bitch, unless you start hiking up that skirt of yours and spreadin’ your legs, really don’t think Xander’s gonna give much of a fuck,” Faith tells her harshly. “Your tongue can only do so much before it’s required to be wrapped around his dick.”
“Xander!” Cordelia exclaims, looking incredibly offended for the first time in like… ever. Usually the bitch can take as much as she can dish out, but sex seems to be a sore spot with her. Faith’s starting to wonder if she’s a virgin, which would be so fucking laughable. “Are you going to let her talk to me like that?”
“You’re not his girlfriend so I’m thinkin’… yeah.”
“Just… give us a minute, okay?” Xander requests, looking embarrassed by Faith’s comments. “Please, Cordy?”
Faith’s never seen Cordelia look hurt until that moment. But she tries to suppress it as much as she can and replace it with her bitch attitude. “Whatever, I don’t even know why I bother trying to talk to losers. I’m all for good deeds, but this is too far.” She storms off, making Xander look torn between going after her and staying here to deal with Faith.
Faith notices this and asks, “What the hell is up with her? Thought you said she’s jerking you around, so why would she care?”
“I… don’t know,” Xander admits, looking a little perplexed. “She’s been acting weird ever since that football player died. Weirder, I should say.”
Ah, the football player she was cheating on Xander with. Well, not cheating since they ain’t actually together… but regardless. The one she was being a fucking whore with.
“Weirder how?”
Xander shrugs, looking a little embarrassed. “She’s… talking to me.” He fidgets a little, his eyes shifting to look over at Cordelia in the distance.
“And this is news how? Unfortunately she has a mouth; bitch talks to me and I wish she didn’t.”
“No, she’s… talking to me,” Xander reiterates, trying to make her understand. “Like about stuff that’s going on in her life. Granted she’s still hiding me in closets and stuff, but I think… maybe she’s starting to trust me?” He looks perplexed by that conclusion.
“That’s fucking weird, dude.”
“You’re telling me.”
While Xander’s off staring into the distance at Cordelia, Faith can’t help but let her eyes wander until they land on Buffy. She looks like she’s trying to force herself to have fun to appease Willow and Tara who are advocating it, but Faith can read the pain all over her face. It makes her feel sick because she knows she’s the one that caused it. Normally she couldn’t care less, if it was any other bitch she’d ignore it and move on, but for some reason she just… can’t with Buffy. Why the fuck does she care so much? Why her? Out of everyone in this world why did it have to be her?
She wasn’t ready for this. But then again, if this happened when she was twenty five, would she have been ready for it then? She’s lived this specific lifestyle for so long that it just… freaks her out when someone comes along and upsets it. Faith’s not exactly a control freak, but she does like to have some things in her life stay the same for her own peace of mind.
See what happens when her peace of mind is fucked with? Someone always gets hurt.
Problem is, Faith knows it’s not just Buffy that’s hurt; she’s hurting too. Which is so fucked to admit but there it is, in black and white: Faith’s hurt. She’s spent so long pretending she doesn’t have feelings that when she realizes that she might actually be a human being it kind of fucks her sideways. Not that Faith wants to date her or anything, she’s still firmly on that side of the fence but… shit, she has no idea what she wants. She just wants her to be around. Can’t that be enough?
Probably not, but Faith’s stubborn anyway.
“I’m gonna go be suicidal,” she tells Xander, which seems to throw him from his stare-longingly-at-Cordelia daze. He looks confused but Faith doesn’t reiterate, she just walks away, heading towards Buffy.
She has no idea why she’s doing this. She’s so gonna get punched in the face. But fuck it, right? Probably what she deserves and until Buffy gets her anger out, ain’t like they can move forward; if they can even move past this at all.
Buffy stiffens once she realizes Faith’s coming over to her. She keeps constant eye contact with her though, almost like she’s trying to flay her alive on the spot. It makes Faith feel a little uneasy.
“Hey,” the brunette greets softly. She has the intense urge to shove her hands in her pockets but unfortunately the damn dress she’s wearing has no pockets so the end result is her doing some weird ass things with her hands before she decides to keep them contained behind her back. “Uh, do you want to dance?” She has no idea why she just said that. Of course she doesn’t.
“You seriously have the balls to ask me that right now?” Buffy replies, looking at her in disbelief and anger.
“Didn’t mean to - just kinda popped out of my mouth,” Faith mumbles. God, she sucks at this. “Look I didn’t-”
“Actually fine, we can dance,” Buffy interrupts, cutting her off. Faith looks confused.
“What?”
But Buffy grabs her hand, pulling her onto the dance floor. Since the world seems to hate Faith’s life though, a slow song comes on just as they do. Buffy wastes no time wrapping her arms around Faith’s neck as the brunette awkwardly slides her hands around her waist. She doesn’t do slow dancing; in fact, she’s never slow danced in her entire life. With her luck she’s gonna end up stepping on Buffy’s feet.
“I’m only doing this because people have been harassing me,” Buffy tells her, still sounding really pissed off with her as they swayed gently to the music. “The popular kids,” she reiterates, sounding a little bitter because she used to be one of those kids, “They’ve been asking me where my girlfriend is and I’d rather not deal with their shit right now. So you get one dance and if your hands wander I’m going to forcefully remove them from your body. Understand?”
“Who the fuck’s been sayin’ shit?” Faith asks, pulling away a little like she’s ready to beat the crap out of everyone in this room, but Buffy forcefully pulls her back towards her.
“It doesn’t matter. Just shut up; it’s not important. Besides, I really don’t want to hear your voice right now.”
“But B-” she doesn’t want to just stand here if people are giving her shit.
“I said shut up,” Buffy hisses, the tone in her voice clearly meaning she is not kidding. Faith relents and shuts up for a moment, but not long.
The music is almost tortuous as they dance slowly, in silence. Faith can almost feel Buffy fuming and she wishes she could go back in time and just fix everything. But that’s not possible and all she has is here and now, so she knows she has to say something. After all, she figures if Buffy wants to keep up appearances that badly then her chances of coming out of this whole thing with a broken bone has been significantly lessened.
“I’m really sorry, Buffy,” she whispers. Faith can feel the blonde stiffen in her arms and she’s pretty sure Buffy just made a fist in an attempt to control herself from hitting her.
“Are you deaf? I told you to shut up.”
“Look, I have to say this,” Faith tries, but Buffy starts shaking her head and pulling away from her. “B, please. I… I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Buffy untangles herself from Faith but the brunette grabs onto her forearm to prevent her from walking away. Her voice is a little desperate as she tries to explain, “I’m just a fuckin’ idiot, okay? I wasn’t thinking.”
“And that’s supposed to make everything all better?” Buffy snaps, eyes like fire as she glares at her. “News flash, Faith: you never fucking think! That still doesn’t give you the right to fuck another girl in my house!”
A few heads turn in their direction from the decibel of Buffy’s voice, but she’s not even looking at them. She’s staring directly at Faith, all the anger and all the hurt practically pouring from her eyes.
“I was drunk-”
“You’re always drunk!” Buffy exclaims, pointing at her accusingly. “You’re always drinking and doing stupid things and I sit here and let you over and over again because somewhere in my deluded mind I think you’re going to change, but you never do! You’re always going to be selfish, Faith; and you’re always going to be alone.” She turns around to storm off, but Faith grabs her again, needing to somehow stop this from becoming a goddamn train wreck.
“Ken doesn’t mean anything to me, B! Not like…” but Faith trails off, unable to finish. She’s much too aware of the attention they’ve earned from the other students because of their fight.
“Not like what?” Buffy snaps, whirling around and getting in her face. “You can’t say it, can you? Not when everyone’s fucking listening. You can’t admit that you give a shit.” Faith stares at her, but she doesn’t say anything. She can’t. And why should she? It’s not like it’s any of their goddamn business how she may or may not feel about someone. “That’s what I thought,” Buffy says, sounding angry and hurt as she backs away from her.
“Look, we… we’re not even together, Buffy…” Faith tries, attempting to find an excuse for her asshole behavior. She knows instantly she shouldn’t have said that, even before Buffy’s fist collides with her face and she falls to the ground.
“That still didn’t give you the right, you stupid, selfish whore!” Buffy screams, tears brimming her eyes. “Twice you’ve done this to me now. Twice.” As Faith cradles her cheek, she remembers Trish and when Buffy walked in on them. Fuck, she’s right. “Well I’m not going to let you do it a third time,” Buffy tells her, voice shaking a little before she turns and flees, leaving Faith broken and bruised on the floor.
“Faith!” Xander exclaims, running over to her to help her up once he saw her lying on the floor. He looks behind him and sees Buffy storming out of the gym. “Are you okay?” he asks, turning back to Faith and looking torn between thinking she deserved it and being sympathetic.
“I don’t even know why I fuckin’ try,” Faith grumbles, pressing her knuckles to her cheek and hoping that somehow it would magically stop the bruising. God, she’s gonna look like a fucking wreck tomorrow. Everyone’s still staring at her though so she bursts out angrily, “Anyone have anything to fuckin’ say?! Cause I could use a good punching bag right now! Fuck off!”
That seems to make everyone mind their own business, at least for a little while. Xander takes her arm and brings her to the back of the gym, away from everyone’s prying ears. “Sorry,” he apologizes. “I guess maybe you shouldn’t have said something so soon.”
“Ya think?” Faith snaps.
Xander sighs. “Maybe after a few days she’ll cool off…”
“She hates me, Xand. Like, for real fuckin’ hates me. Doesn’t matter if I give her a week or a year, ain’t gonna change anything,” Faith replies, trying to keep her voice even though saying it out loud hurt like hell. “I’m such a fuckin’ idiot,” she mumbles.
“Yeah, you are,” Xander agrees softly. Faith wishes she could be pissed at him for agreeing with her, but she knows it’s the truth; hell, she wouldn’t have said it otherwise.
Faith slumps against the wall, content on just sitting there and brooding, at least, that is, until she sees Angel come through the gym doors like his ass is on fire. Faith straightens up immediately, already knowing in her gut what’s going on before he opens his mouth.
“Buffy-”
“Where is she?” Faith interrupts, her stomach dropping to the floor in fear. For once she’s not pissed that he’s being super freaky stalker boy, in fact she’s kind of glad for it. “Where, Angel?” she reiterates, hoping to fuck he doesn’t say she went off to bitch slap the Master. A vamp, fine; Buffy can handle that. A demon; no problem. But him? All Faith can hear in her head is Giles telling her that Buffy’s gonna die and she’s starting to freak out.
“The Anointed One,” Angel tells her, worry crossing his own features. “I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t-”
Faith feels like she’s going to vomit.
“How did you know it was the Anointed One?” Xander asks, still not trusting Angel or his judgment. “I thought we weren’t even sure if he rose yet!”
“Where the fuck did she go?!” Faith yells, not giving a fuck if it was even really the Anointed One or not; fact is Buffy’s still out there about to walk into a death trap alone. “ANGEL!”
“I could smell the power on him; on the child,” Angel answers Xander before he turns to Faith. “And I’ve done some looking around this past week; I’m almost positive the entrance the vampires have been using to the Master’s prison can be found in a mausoleum in Oak Hill.”
Oak Hill, Faith knew that cemetery; it was close to here. Fuck, Buffy could already be dead; she’s been gone for at least ten minutes and the cemetery was only five minutes away. Faith’s starting to feel sick and she tries to control it but all she can do is wonder why the fuck they’re all still standing around like this; they could talk on the way, damnit!
“A mausoleum?” Xander asks, not seeing the logic in an above ground stone burial site being the entrance to the Master’s underground prison.
Angel doesn’t have time to answer him though because Faith suddenly takes off running, “Get Giles!” she hollers back to Xander. Fuck this, she isn’t waiting. Buffy could be fucking dying.
“Faith, you can’t-!”
But Faith ignores him and just keeps on running. Her hearts pounding in her ears and her legs are screaming in pain as she runs all the way to the cemetery, barely stopping for a breath. Maybe it’s the adrenaline but pain, breathing? None of that fucking mattered right now. The only thing that mattered is that Buffy was stupid enough to go off on her own. Faith can’t help but blame herself; maybe Buffy was too pissed to come back and ask for help, or maybe she thought that because she was so angry she’d have enough rage to beat him… whatever it was, Faith was sure at least part of it was her fault. That sickened her. She knew she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if Buffy’s death was on her hands.
And so she runs faster, pumps her legs harder as she zigzags between the graves, trying to reach the mausoleums in the back. Faith has no idea which one it is and she should have waited for Angel to tell her, but it’s too late now. Out of the corner of her eye though she sees a shadow and she knows… she knows that’s the way she needs to go. Follow the vamps, right? Cause no one in this town is stupid enough to roam around a graveyard at night, not anymore.
Faith only stops for a moment to grab her stake from her boot before she practically tackles the vampire that’s exiting one of the mausoleums. “Where is she?!” she screams, fear in the back of her mind as she lands a punch square to the vampire’s jaw. “WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE?!” She knows he’s not going to answer but she’s frantic.
The vampire snarls and knocks her to the ground like an annoying insect, but Faith ignores the pain and gets to her feet before he can get on top of her. Fuck him, fuck his goddamn strength; it didn’t matter. She was going to fucking kill him. “Tell me!” she screams as she hits him in the face; once, twice. He lands a punch after and her back collides with the cold stone of the mausoleum before he grabs her arms, pinning her in place.
His fangs are descending and it takes every bit of her strength to get him off of her. But then suddenly it’s like she’s hit with some serious fucking adrenaline and her next hit that connects with him makes him go flying. Faith stands there, shocked as the vampire tries to get to his feet. She can feel it; every inch of her is starting to feel more alive; stronger, faster, better. “No!” she cries, knowing exactly what’s happening. “No, no, no!” she screams, coming after the vamp and dusting him without barely exerting any effort.
“Buffy!” she screams, leaving the vampire to collapse in a pile of dust as she starts running into the mausoleum. There’s a hole in the ground, an entrance near the back and she jumps down without a second thought, running down the tunnel, deeper under the earth. She can smell the soil; the dampness of the earth like it’s right under her nose. She can see almost clearly in the darkness, she can hear cars passing from a mile away like they’re right next to her.
Faith knows, she fucking knows with every fiber in her being that she just became the Slayer. She also knows that could only mean one thing, but she refuses to believe it. Instead, she keeps running faster, calling out Buffy’s name and praying to God that she’ll answer her.
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
Two Girls In All The World
Faith expects to be met by a legion of vampires and the Master once she gets to the bottom of the tunnel, but instead she’s greeted by nothing more than a wide stretch of space illuminated by candlelight. In the center is a small pool of water and Faith’s stomach drops once she sees who’s lying face down in it. “BUFFY!” she screams, taking off with a burst of speed to immediately fall to her knees beside the fallen girl.
Faith pulls her out of the water, lying Buffy on her back. Her heart is racing in her chest, she can literally hear each erratic beat. What frightens her is that she can’t hear Buffy’s at all. “No, no, no, no,” she whispers, her hands cupping Buffy’s cold face. “Please don’t be dead, please…” she breathes as she starts to do CPR on the girl beneath her.
Part of her knows it’s futile; that if she’s the Slayer now then that means that Buffy’s really gone. But she refuses to believe that. Buffy’s strong, stronger than any fucking person she’s ever met in her entire life and she can not be dead. She just can’t be, damnit! Fuck destiny, fuck prophecies; they don’t mean jack shit, they’re just fucking words spewed by virginal monks or something and just… fuck, she can’t be dead! No!
Faith’s lips cover Buffy’s as she tries to breathe air into her lungs. “Please, please,” she whispers, tears starting to fall from her eyes as her hands do chest compressions. One, two, three, breathe. But Buffy isn’t moving, she isn’t breathing, and Faith still can’t hear her heart and she’s starting to really freak out now. “You can’t be dead!” she screams, praying Buffy can hear her and that she’ll wake up. “You can’t fucking be dead, Buffy! Not now, not when I…” she chokes on her tears and covers Buffy’s mouth again with hers, desperately trying to give her some air.
Not when I just realized that I need you.
Because Faith does; she fucking needs Buffy in her life. It’s a scary realization but the fear of that doesn’t even compare to the fear that Buffy may never wake up again. She’s been so fucking stupid; she shouldn’t have pushed Buffy away, she shouldn’t have been such a slut, she shouldn’t have been so goddamn scared of something that in retrospect is so freaking simple. Why couldn’t Faith have told her that she gave a fuck? Why couldn’t she have tried to be in a stupid relationship? Why couldn’t she have just done something?? Buffy can’t die; not like this. Her last day on earth shouldn’t be filled with sadness and feelings of betrayal. This is her fault; Faith’s… she knows it’s her fault. She did this. Buffy came out here alone because of her.
“B, please…” she chokes as she does three more chest compressions. She knows she should just give up, but she refuses. On the third one, Faith hears the best sound she’s ever heard in her life: Buffy choking as she coughs up the bit of water that’s in her lungs. “Oh my god,” Faith breathes, eyes wide in shock as she can hear Buffy’s heart starts beating in her chest again. “Holy fucking shit, B… Buffy…” That’s impossible… isn’t it? She was dead! Sure she was trying but she didn’t expect… fuck, she was just being stubborn!
Is this some kind of miracle? Faith’s never been religious, but fucking hell she’s about to get down on her knees and thank God in a second.
“Faith?” Buffy asks, coughing a little as she opens her eyes. She looks like she thinks she’s hallucinating and she asks confused, “Am I dead?” She struggles to get herself up to a sitting position.
Faith lets out a small, relieved laugh before she gathers Buffy in her arms, kissing her with every bit of emotion she has in her. “Jesus,” she breathes against her lips between kisses. “I thought you were gone… I fuckin’ thought…” But Faith doesn’t finish. Instead she presses her lips to hers again; needing Buffy to know how glad she is that she’s alive. She’s pretty sure she’s still crying but it really doesn’t matter - nothing fucking matters besides the fact that she can feel Buffy’s breath against her lips again.
When they broke Buffy says, kind of dazed. “Yeah, I’m definitely dead. Though I have to say: heaven? Not as pretty as I would have expected. Was kind of expecting a harp playing angel at least.”
Faith laughs a little; that’s so Buffy for you. “You’re not dead,” she tells her, voice filled with emotion as she touches Buffy’s hair, her cheek, her neck. She leans in and kisses her on the forehead. “Fuckin’ thought you were though. Or I guess… shit, you did die, for a minute because…” she trails off; she’s not exactly sure how to tell her that she’s the Slayer now. Does that mean Buffy isn’t anymore?
“The splitting has come to pass, as it is written.”
Both Buffy and Faith turn, jumping up in a defensive stance as they suddenly realize they’re not alone anymore. Faith take a step forward in front of Buffy, almost trying to shield her from three ugly ass demons in black robes that appeared out of fucking nowhere.
“Who the hell are you?” Faith demands.
The first one speaks first, “We are one.” Then the second one, “We are many.” Then the third, “We are the Composers of Prophecy.”
Do they really have to talk like that? That’s freaking weird.
“The Zan’Hurrak,” Faith answers, putting the pieces together. Her heart is pounding in her throat. Why the fuck are they here? If it’s to kill them, they really don’t need this kind of shit right now. The Master’s all vertical and walking around upstairs and that kinda takes precedence at the moment.
Buffy’s eyes flash though and she steps out from behind Faith. “You killed my Watcher!” she screams, just as she takes off towards them to lay some serious smack down.
“B!” Faith calls out, but it’s too late because the middle demon passes his hand through the air and suddenly Buffy’s warded back by some sort of force field. She nearly trips over a rock as she’s blown back and Faith catches her.
“We pose no threat to you,” the second demon tells her. “We are merely the messengers, not the hand that drives the sword,” the third finishes.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Faith demands as Buffy steadies herself on her feet.
“We are the composers prophecies; writers of destinies. We do not carry them out,” the first informs them. Faith thinks that’s one large load of bullshit, but she fumes silently. Sure, they don’t but they probably got a whole slew of minions to do their dirty work for them. But they gotta be here for a reason then, right? Might as well let them spew their crap.
“Then what are you here for?” Buffy demands, still looking like she wants to flay each and every one of them on the spot.
“The apocalypse draws near,” the third demon replies.
“Uh, have ya checked the news lately? Big bad and ugly has already escaped from his cage, geniuses,” Faith spits, annoyed by their complete lack of answers that made any kind of sense.
“An ally once trusted will turn against you during the coming war,” the first demon tells them, ignoring Faith’s response. “A death will cripple the darkness, leaving the soul vulnerable to corruption,” the second goes on. “The light must eradicate the coming shadows before the fourth phase of the moon, or earth will perish in the fires of Hell,” finishes the third.
“What the fuck does that even mean?” Faith asks, really confused now. Can’t they speak like normal fucking… non-people? Jesus Christ. They don’t exactly have a weirdo demon translator handy.
“You have been warned,” all three of them say just before a bright light blinds both Slayers. They shield it with their hands and when the light fades, they’re left alone. They look at each other, neither of them understanding what they were just told.
“The Master,” Buffy says suddenly, remembering what happened before. “Shit, Faith… it’s my fault he rose. He couldn’t have left without drinking some of my blood.” She presses her palm to her forehead for a moment before sighing and running her fingers through her hair. “Damnit. I didn’t think-God, I hate prophecies!”
“You and me both, B. But fuck playin’ the blame game; let’s get out of this gutter and go filet his ass.”
She takes Buffy’s hand and is about to lead her back up the tunnels, but the blonde stops her. “No, Faith; I’m not going to let you get hurt. This isn’t your fight!”
“Fuckin’ hell it ain’t my fight!” Faith exclaims. “I just had to bring you back from the dead. From the fuckin’ dead, B! Can you even think for one goddamn second how screwed up that was? That asshole fucked with my property, I ain’t lettin’ that slide.”
“Your property?” Buffy repeats, sounding halfway between astounded and offended. “I’m still angry with you, you know! You may have saved my life, but that doesn’t make up for everything.”
Talk about ungrateful.
“So not the time.”
“I know it’s not-!” Buffy starts, but stops herself midway and sighs instead. “Fine. But you’re still not coming with me to fight the Master. He’ll kill you in a second; you’re not the Slayer.”
“B, you died!” Faith exclaims, trying to make her understand what the hell that means. Buffy doesn’t seem to be comprehending though.
“So? I feel fine now, I can do this!”
“No, you’re not fuckin’ getting it,” Faith replies, letting out her own sigh of aggravation. “You died and…” she’s sure she’s not going to take this well so she exhales a hesitant breath before finishing, “and I became the Slayer, B.”
Buffy stares at her for a moment, a look of utter disbelief on her face. Finally she shakes her head and says, “No, that’s not possible. I know I’m still the Slayer, Faith; I can feel it.”
“Well then we both are! I don’t fuckin’ know. I just know that I am! I can see better, hear better, smell better, and fuck knows I’m stronger than I’ve ever been, so yeah; pretty damn sure here,” Faith tells her, needing her to understand that she’s not lying or anything. “And can’t… hell, can’t you feel me?” she asks. “Because I’m pretty sure that humming feeling I’m gettin’ right now is you.”
Buffy continues to stare at her for a moment, as she’s taking all of this information in. She’s still looking distrustful though so she tells Faith, “Hit me.”
“What?”
“Just humor me for a second.”
“B, I’m not gonna fuckin’-”
But Buffy punches her in the arm which makes Faith retaliate by hitting her back just as hard. The feeling for both of them makes them stop, staring at each other. “That actually kind of hurt,” Buffy tells her, astounded.
“And that didn’t hurt nearly as bad as it used to,” Faith adds. Instead of feeling like she just got hit by a truck, it’s like she was just punched by someone… well, normal.
“This is so crazy,” Buffy says, staring at Faith like she doesn’t exactly know what to make of her anymore. “How is this even possible?”
“Dunno. But ya think that’s what those ugly ass things were talkin’ about? The splitting happening, like maybe the Slayer split between us?” Faith asks, trying to piece everything together and have it make some sort of sense. She hopes it doesn’t mean they’re only half as strong though; that would suck.
“I don’t know, but we should probably figure it out later. We need to go,” Buffy tells her, her brain catching up to the situation at hand that doesn’t include the anomaly in the Slayer line.
Fuck, she’s right. Who knows what kind of damage the Master has already done while they were standing down here getting lectured by a bunch of demon monks and playing punch for punch.
The two of them make their way out of the tunnels quickly, stealing across the graveyard in record time. But then Faith stops, grabbing Buffy’s arm. “What?” Buffy asks, impatient.
“Where the hell are we even going? How do we know where the bastard’s gonna be?”
“We don’t, that’s why I’m figuring we should go back to Giles and regroup - he might have some info we don’t,” Buffy answers, like Faith should have figured that part out already. Well excuse her for not being able to read minds.
“Fine, then let’s motor,” Faith replies, biting back her sarcastic remark. The two of them take off again until they reach the outskirts of the Sunnydale High parking lot. This time Faith doesn’t have to stop Buffy because she grinds to a halt at the same time Faith does; staring out at the school with the same look of horror Faith’s wearing.
Vampires were everywhere. At least thirty five of them were making their way into the back entrance of the school, near the library. “Well, least we know where he’s at,” Faith responds to the scene dryly. Fuck.
“Why would he want to come to the high school?” Buffy asks, though knowing Faith doesn’t have an answer for her.
Faith shrugs. “Fuck if I know, but at least they ain’t goin’ in the gym; we’d have massive casualties. Ya think they’re after G’s books?”
“Only one way to find out,” Buffy replies before she takes off towards the school. “The roof!” she calls back to her, letting Faith know that they’re going the back way, away from all the vampires that could alert the Master of their presence. Faith nods and continues after her, hoping all her friends were still safely in the gym and not wandering around the damn library.
They get to the fire escape and start climbing until they’ve reached the second floor. Unfortunately, that’s where its cuts off and they still got at least five more feet until they get to the roof. “Give me a boost and I’ll pull you up,” Buffy instructs, turning her gaze from the roof back to Faith.
Faith cocks an eyebrow at her. “Take off those heels and we’ll talk.”
Buffy sighs in aggravation but kicks off her heels, telling her impatiently, “I can fight in heels, you know.”
“Not ya fighting I was worried about. It’s you climbin’ on me with those things; pretty sure I’m gonna end up shanked.”
Buffy rolls her eyes. “You can’t get shanked with a high heel, Faith.” She puts her bare foot in Faith’s linked hands and holds onto her shoulders.
“Ya don’t think?” Faith counters as she lifts Buffy up with enough ease that it actually surprises her. It’s going to take her awhile to get used to being super freaky strong, that’s for sure. She looks up as Buffy gets herself situated on the roof and waits for her to hold her hand out, but it never comes.
“I’m sorry,” Buffy apologizes, looking a little guilty.
“B…” Faith warns, knowing exactly what she’s trying to do. She damn well better not. This ain’t no time for jokes! Buffy already died once fighting this dude, does she seriously think she can take him on again alone?
“I’m not going to let you get hurt; this is my fight. I’m sorry,” is Buffy’s only rushed explanation before she takes off running.
“BUFFY!” Faith screams in aggravation. Fuck, she should have known she was gonna do that. She’s still got that ‘one girl in all the world’ complex. Whatever; Faith knows how to work with what she’s got. It’s not ideal and it definitely doesn’t allow her the element of surprise, but she’s out of options.
Faith’s elbow collides with the second floor window she’s next to, shattering the glass on impact. Damn, that was a little louder than she expected it to be. Snyder’s probably gonna piss himself when he sees it, but Faith’s hoping there isn’t any cameras around that documented her little delinquent act. She’d rather not get suspended when she’s trying to save the world, thanks.
Faith climbs into the building and finds herself in a classroom. She runs over to the door and… of course it’s locked. “Man, I hope this works,” she mutters as she takes a couple steps back. She’s only seen this in the movies and she knows that when she wasn’t a Slayer she’d probably break her leg doing this, but she rears back and kicks the door will full force.
The damn thing nearly comes flying off its hinges.
“Sweet,” Faith exclaims, grinning. She could get used to this. Her attention flies to the sounds coming from downstairs; the vampires were moving in fast. However they seemed to be completely ignoring the racket Faith’s making upstairs. Though it confuses her, she doesn’t dwell on it; more important shit to worry about. Instead she takes the stairs two at a time to get to the roof door.
When she barrels her way through it she hears the Master speaking to Buffy from on top of the library roof across the way. “You’re dead,” he says, surprise in his voice as he sees Buffy standing not ten feet in front of him.
“And I still look pretty,” she quips, “which is more than I can say for you.”
“You were destined to die; it was written!” the Master exclaims, looking furious with this new plot twist. He snarls and holds out his hand, as if trying to enchant her. “Come here,” he demands. Faith’s about to laugh at his ridiculous attempt at mojo, but starts to freak out a little once Buffy’s feet actually start moving towards them, seemingly of their own accord.
When the hell did vamps get that kind of power?
“Buffy!” she yells, beginning to run towards her. That seems to break the Master’s concentration and he turns, watching Faith jump over a small sunroof to get to them. Buffy hits the Master square in the jaw before falling back into a defensive stance, smirking. He snarls, backing up a few steps.
“This can’t be…” he mutters, looking between the two of them. “Such power should not radiate from two girls, there can only be one Slayer!”
“Your fault, ya know,” Faith tells him, smirking as she watches the Master reevaluate his position now that he’s up against two Slayers. “If ya hadn’t tried to gank B, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
“I told you to stay behind,” Buffy hisses, looking over at her with disapproval. “Don’t you ever listen?”
“Have I ever?” Faith replies, grinning as she suddenly fills with more confidence than she’s ever had in her life. This bastard’s gonna die; she can feel it. If he can’t even manage to kill one Slayer properly, how in the fuck is gonna kill two?
But that confidence is quickly shattered once a deafening crash is heard below. Both slayers look down the large oval sunroof into the library, eyes wide. “What the fuck is that?!” Faith screams, seeing a fifteen foot tentacle-clad looking creature burst out of the floor - right in the middle of the library.
That can’t be normal.
“Faith, everyone’s down there!” Buffy exclaims, finally taking notice of Giles and their friends pressed up against the doors, trying to keep the herds of vampires out. “Faith, we need to-!” but she doesn’t get to finish her sentence because all of a sudden the Master grabs her by her throat during her lapse in concentration.
He hovers two fingers in front of her eyes, trying to enchant her again. “You will not struggle,” he hisses and Buffy stops moving instantly.
Dude, this hypnotizing shit ain’t fair. At least he can only seem to do one of them at a time, which puts him at a serious disadvantage.
“She might not, but I sure as fuck will,” Faith tells him before she kicks out; her foot landing square on his back and making him release his hold on Buffy. He snarls and whips around to face her, blocking the first punch she throws but unable to dodge the second.
Faith can’t celebrate her victory long though because his fingers are soon wrapped around her throat. What is it with him and his asphyxiation kink?! “You got fruit punch mouth,” she informs him as she sees Buffy come up behind him. Off of his confused look she smirks just as Buffy punches the back of his head hard. He drops Faith instantly and snarls.
“Faith, help them!” Buffy shouts, but Faith doesn’t budge.
“And watch you get hypnotized and bitten again? No thanks, Princess. Besides, Angel’s down there; he’s got that covered while we deal with this asshole.”
“FAITH!” Buffy screams in frustration as she dodges another punch, which allows Faith the opening to attack.
“Ya want me go to down there? Then let’s dust this fucker quickly so I can!” Faith shouts back, not about to leave Buffy alone. Honestly, neither of them should be alone with this Houdini mother fucker.
“Ugh, sometimes I hate that you’re so damn stubborn!” Buffy shouts, pouring out all her aggravation at Faith on the Master.
It’s strange, but it seems like after a little while they seemed to be moving in sync with each other; complimenting each other’s moves. As they’ve never trained like that since they’ve never been on the same level, it’s safe to assume it only came naturally. It was kind of wicked, if Faith’s being honest.
The Master was strong; there was no denying that. Even with their combined strength and skill they still had a hell of a time fighting him. They kept him occupied enough though that he couldn’t hypnotize them, which Faith figures is a plus just in case he got fed up and ordered one of them to kill themselves. After a brutal back and forth, Faith sees an opening and drives a stake through his heart.
But nothing happens.
The Master laughs, pulling the stake out from his chest and dropping it to the ground. “You’re going to need a bigger stake, Slayer.”
“Uh, B…?” Faith starts, backing up a few steps. Fuck, it ain’t like they’re carrying sharpened two by fours in their back pockets. The Master advances on her, cackling in that typical bad guy way. Mixed between her feelings of dread, Faith can’t help but wonder if all vamps have to take lessons for that kind of shit.
“On it,” Buffy tells her as she looks down through the sun roof, into the library. Faith’s too busy to see what she’s doing though because he suddenly has his hands around her throat again.
“Fuck, what is it with you and choking people!?” Faith screams through her coughs as she feels her airway start to close. “Anyone tell you there’s supposed to be a safe word involved?” Her fingers close around his own, trying to pry them off of her.
She has the stray hope that maybe Buffy can get at him, but that’s diminished when the Master apparently senses her coming and suddenly she’s in a choke hold as well. “Fuck, way to go,” Faith wheezes, starting to feel a lightheaded. He’s backing them up towards the sunroof and Faith’s praying he doesn’t throw them through it.
“Did you really think you could stop me from unleashing Hell upon this earth?” he goads, looking far too pleased with himself than Faith would like.
“You’re that amped about Hell?” Buffy asks, eyes flashing before she grabs a hold of his throat. Faith instantly follows her lead and places her hand over Buffy’s, helping her keep him in a choke hold. “Then go there,” she tells him before she shoots a pointed look at Faith. Maybe it’s a Slayer thing, but Faith seems to instantly understand what she’s trying to do.
They move in sync as they step to the side quickly, forcing the Master to release his hold on them as they hurl him through the glass of the sunroof. He curses at them as he falls, but it’s short lived once he lands on a large, jagged piece of the flooring that was uprooted from the tentacle demon’s entrance. He screams as he turns to dust, leaving nothing but a skeleton behind.
Damn, Faith ain’t ever seen any actually leave something behind before. Guy must be super fucking old.
The second the Master dies, the large tentacle demon retreats back into the hole it came from and the vampires scatter. Giles and their friends look up at the roof to try to figure out what the hell just happened and they’re greeted by Buffy and Faith’s grinning faces.
“One apocalypse down,” Faith says, turning to look at Buffy.
Buffy frowns as she finishes, “Ugh, which means one more to go.”
“Don’t sweat it, girlfriend. There’s two of us now; serious ass kicking is bound to happen.” Faith grins at her and Buffy tries to keep herself from smiling, but one sneaks out anyway.
“Your cockiness is going to kill you one day, you know,” she warns, but lightly. She still sounds amused regardless.
“Whatever. Least when I die I’m gonna go out thinkin’ I’m the shit.”
Buffy laughs, shaking her head as the two of them begin to make their decent back down to the library.
GO TO PART NINETEEN...
Author: Sapphire Smoke cuzimastripper
Beta(s): supershineygirl & Frass
Fandom: Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Rating: NC-17
Pairing(s): Buffy/Faith
Word Length Thus Far: 146,266 words
Timeline: *** AU *** Welcome to me screwing with canon for my own pleasure. Buffy and Faith aren't slayers (yet), Buffy grew up in Sunnydale all her life and is the picture of popularity. Faith moved to Sunnydale eight months ago with her mother and is befriended by only Willow and Xander. I take liberties with canon events and facts and twist them to mold to my needs, you'll learn to either love or hate me for it, I'm sure.
Summary: All her life, Faith struggled with being a nobody. Then suddenly she's hit with the revelation that she's a potential Slayer, and that she and another girl that she's always despised are just pawns in the game of destiny, fate, and maybe even the end of the world...
A/N: Hold onto your hats, boys and girls. This will be one LONG ride...
Other Parts: PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR | PART FIVE | PART SIX | PART SEVEN | PART EIGHT | PART NINE | PART TEN | PART ELEVEN | PART TWELVE | PART THIRTEEN | PART FOURTEEN | PART FIFTEEN | PART SIXTEEN | PART SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
Homecoming
Faith knows she’s pushing it once she shows up in front of Buffy’s house to pick her up for the dance. In her defense though, Kennedy’s parents rented them all a limo and she’d be a fucking idiot if she didn’t take advantage of that; this will probably be the one and only time in her life that she’ll be able to ride in one.
She’s not alone though, thankfully. Xander, Kennedy, Tara, and Willow are already in the limo and have been urging Faith not to be stupid and try to greet Buffy when she comes out, but Faith hasn’t exactly been the queen of smart decisions lately. So she’s standing on Buffy’s walkway, waiting for her to emerge from her house. She knows she’s running the risk of being decked in the face, but she still needs to try anyway; she feels fucking horrible about what happened.
Sure, Faith is still under the belief that she should be able to fuck whoever she wants, but there’s a huge difference in doing it and doing it in front of Buffy. Not that she meant for Buffy to see it, but still; she knew the risks. Regardless of her intentions, it was still really cruel and she wishes she could have listened to her brain over her pussy for once, but she doesn’t have high hopes that that will ever happen. She’s just a fuck up; she’s known that her whole life and she’s been trying to tell Buffy that, but she hasn’t listened. Problem is, maybe she finally is listening and Faith isn’t exactly sure how she feels about that. She should feel relieved but she doesn’t, she just feels like an ass; an ass who feels sorry for themself.
But she made her bed; she can either lie in it or try to make things better. Faith chose the latter.
When Buffy emerges from her house, Faith has to remind herself to keep breathing. Buffy is beautiful normally, but in that white dress? God, she was fucking stunning. Faith’s never been one to trip over her tongue around a girl, but at the moment it feels like it’s tangled around her feet. Once Buffy sees her though she literally grinds to a halt, her face becoming stone cold.
“Faith, just back away slowly,” Xander hisses at her from inside the limo. She doesn’t listen, of course.
“Got ya this,” Faith says quietly, holding out a long stemmed rose towards her. She’s never been the romantic type, but she figured flowers might do her some good in getting maybe a little bit of forgiveness. She could only afford one, so right now she’s praying that one is as good as six or twelve.
Buffy stares at the rose for a moment, face expressionless. Finally she reaches out for it and Faith thinks that maybe, just fucking maybe everything isn’t complete shit, but that delusion shatters once Buffy crushes the petals in her fist before throwing the flower to the ground. She says nothing.
“Uh,” Faith stumbles for a second, not expecting the silence. She was prepared for being yelled at, for being punched in the face, but she wasn’t prepared for Buffy to do or say nothing. So she tries plan B. “Okay, so roses are out,” she says, knowing she sounds incredibly nervous and hating every damn second of it. She hands Buffy the small box in her hand and tells her, “Luckily the corsage I got you doesn’t have roses; it’s white lilies… since I remembered you sayin’ you were gonna wear white and all.”
“Keep it,” Buffy tells her, voice dangerously even. “You’re not my date anymore.” She brushes past Faith to climb into the limo and the brunette just stands there for a second, sighing heavily. Well, ain’t like she wasn’t expecting that. She knew it’d be a long shot if Buffy still wanted to go with her, but she couldn’t help but try anyway.
Once they got to the dance (after a very tense ride in the limo), Buffy immediately attached herself to Willow and Tara, who seem to be on the same side as her after everything that went down. Kennedy stormed off, pissed that even her best friend wouldn’t talk to her, and Faith hung back with Xander, not having the slightest fucking clue about what to do.
“You’re an idiot, you know,” he tells her finally, once they’ve situated themselves near the very nonalcoholic punchbowl with the rest of the losers.
“Thanks, Xand,” she replies dryly before taking a sip of her punch. She wishes she had vodka.
Xander sighs. “Faith, I’ve heard about your womanly conquests for over a year now, but not once have I ever seen you this hung up on a girl. Do you think maybe that means something?”
“Yeah, it means I shouldn’t try to get involved with bitches for more than a night. It fucks up the natural order of shit.” She stares at the empty cup in her hand before she crushes it, throwing it to the floor.
“When have you ever tried to get involved with her?” Xander contradicts, making a valid point. “You’ve been pushing her away like she’s carrying the disease that’s going to start the next zombie apocalypse.”
“Don’t talk about apocalypses,” Faith groans, remembering tonight could very well be the night. She hopes it’s bullshit and seeing as nothing weird has gone down yet it probably is, but still. “Where’s G anyway? Didn’t he say he was gonna chaperone this shit just in case the Master like, I dunno, fuckin’ flies out of the sky and tries to kill us all?”
“He’s probably around somewhere, Miss Change-The-Subject.”
“Whatever,” Faith retorts, knowing that isn’t the most mature response in the world but not caring in the slightest.
Her eyes land on this little nerd boy that’s been staring at her for the better half of ten minutes and getting fed up, she asks, “What? You need a fuckin’ picture or something or is the image of me you’re gonna jack off to later clear enough in your mind?”
The boy flushes about ten shades of red and scampers off and Xander looks like he’s trying not to laugh. “That was mean,” he tells her, yet still looks amused by it nonetheless.
“The kid was fuckin’ staring at me; creepin’ me out, man.”
“Look, maybe you should just try to talk to her,” Xander suggests, getting back on topic. Faith’s face darkens at that suggestion. “I mean, she won’t hit you in a gym full of people, right?”
“Wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Faith mumbles.
“Just go,” Xander tells her, sounding tired of repeating himself. “You know you’re gonna regret it if you don’t fix things between the two of you.”
“And how can I fix it, Xand? I mean really? She fuckin’ walked in on me getting fucked by another chick!” Faith exclaims, angry. That shit doesn’t magically fix itself, even if she’d like it to.
“Well, I knew that lesbian love-fest wouldn’t last long.” Faith and Xander turn to see Cordelia pouring herself a glass of punch on the opposite side of the table. “Xander, I need to speak with you,” she says, completely ignoring the death glare Faith’s giving her. Her voice is hushed and she’s looking around like she’s hoping no one’s overhearing her speak to them.
“I’m kind of in the middle of something, Cordelia,” Xander tells her flatly.
“So? I’m more important.”
“Bitch, unless you start hiking up that skirt of yours and spreadin’ your legs, really don’t think Xander’s gonna give much of a fuck,” Faith tells her harshly. “Your tongue can only do so much before it’s required to be wrapped around his dick.”
“Xander!” Cordelia exclaims, looking incredibly offended for the first time in like… ever. Usually the bitch can take as much as she can dish out, but sex seems to be a sore spot with her. Faith’s starting to wonder if she’s a virgin, which would be so fucking laughable. “Are you going to let her talk to me like that?”
“You’re not his girlfriend so I’m thinkin’… yeah.”
“Just… give us a minute, okay?” Xander requests, looking embarrassed by Faith’s comments. “Please, Cordy?”
Faith’s never seen Cordelia look hurt until that moment. But she tries to suppress it as much as she can and replace it with her bitch attitude. “Whatever, I don’t even know why I bother trying to talk to losers. I’m all for good deeds, but this is too far.” She storms off, making Xander look torn between going after her and staying here to deal with Faith.
Faith notices this and asks, “What the hell is up with her? Thought you said she’s jerking you around, so why would she care?”
“I… don’t know,” Xander admits, looking a little perplexed. “She’s been acting weird ever since that football player died. Weirder, I should say.”
Ah, the football player she was cheating on Xander with. Well, not cheating since they ain’t actually together… but regardless. The one she was being a fucking whore with.
“Weirder how?”
Xander shrugs, looking a little embarrassed. “She’s… talking to me.” He fidgets a little, his eyes shifting to look over at Cordelia in the distance.
“And this is news how? Unfortunately she has a mouth; bitch talks to me and I wish she didn’t.”
“No, she’s… talking to me,” Xander reiterates, trying to make her understand. “Like about stuff that’s going on in her life. Granted she’s still hiding me in closets and stuff, but I think… maybe she’s starting to trust me?” He looks perplexed by that conclusion.
“That’s fucking weird, dude.”
“You’re telling me.”
While Xander’s off staring into the distance at Cordelia, Faith can’t help but let her eyes wander until they land on Buffy. She looks like she’s trying to force herself to have fun to appease Willow and Tara who are advocating it, but Faith can read the pain all over her face. It makes her feel sick because she knows she’s the one that caused it. Normally she couldn’t care less, if it was any other bitch she’d ignore it and move on, but for some reason she just… can’t with Buffy. Why the fuck does she care so much? Why her? Out of everyone in this world why did it have to be her?
She wasn’t ready for this. But then again, if this happened when she was twenty five, would she have been ready for it then? She’s lived this specific lifestyle for so long that it just… freaks her out when someone comes along and upsets it. Faith’s not exactly a control freak, but she does like to have some things in her life stay the same for her own peace of mind.
See what happens when her peace of mind is fucked with? Someone always gets hurt.
Problem is, Faith knows it’s not just Buffy that’s hurt; she’s hurting too. Which is so fucked to admit but there it is, in black and white: Faith’s hurt. She’s spent so long pretending she doesn’t have feelings that when she realizes that she might actually be a human being it kind of fucks her sideways. Not that Faith wants to date her or anything, she’s still firmly on that side of the fence but… shit, she has no idea what she wants. She just wants her to be around. Can’t that be enough?
Probably not, but Faith’s stubborn anyway.
“I’m gonna go be suicidal,” she tells Xander, which seems to throw him from his stare-longingly-at-Cordelia daze. He looks confused but Faith doesn’t reiterate, she just walks away, heading towards Buffy.
She has no idea why she’s doing this. She’s so gonna get punched in the face. But fuck it, right? Probably what she deserves and until Buffy gets her anger out, ain’t like they can move forward; if they can even move past this at all.
Buffy stiffens once she realizes Faith’s coming over to her. She keeps constant eye contact with her though, almost like she’s trying to flay her alive on the spot. It makes Faith feel a little uneasy.
“Hey,” the brunette greets softly. She has the intense urge to shove her hands in her pockets but unfortunately the damn dress she’s wearing has no pockets so the end result is her doing some weird ass things with her hands before she decides to keep them contained behind her back. “Uh, do you want to dance?” She has no idea why she just said that. Of course she doesn’t.
“You seriously have the balls to ask me that right now?” Buffy replies, looking at her in disbelief and anger.
“Didn’t mean to - just kinda popped out of my mouth,” Faith mumbles. God, she sucks at this. “Look I didn’t-”
“Actually fine, we can dance,” Buffy interrupts, cutting her off. Faith looks confused.
“What?”
But Buffy grabs her hand, pulling her onto the dance floor. Since the world seems to hate Faith’s life though, a slow song comes on just as they do. Buffy wastes no time wrapping her arms around Faith’s neck as the brunette awkwardly slides her hands around her waist. She doesn’t do slow dancing; in fact, she’s never slow danced in her entire life. With her luck she’s gonna end up stepping on Buffy’s feet.
“I’m only doing this because people have been harassing me,” Buffy tells her, still sounding really pissed off with her as they swayed gently to the music. “The popular kids,” she reiterates, sounding a little bitter because she used to be one of those kids, “They’ve been asking me where my girlfriend is and I’d rather not deal with their shit right now. So you get one dance and if your hands wander I’m going to forcefully remove them from your body. Understand?”
“Who the fuck’s been sayin’ shit?” Faith asks, pulling away a little like she’s ready to beat the crap out of everyone in this room, but Buffy forcefully pulls her back towards her.
“It doesn’t matter. Just shut up; it’s not important. Besides, I really don’t want to hear your voice right now.”
“But B-” she doesn’t want to just stand here if people are giving her shit.
“I said shut up,” Buffy hisses, the tone in her voice clearly meaning she is not kidding. Faith relents and shuts up for a moment, but not long.
The music is almost tortuous as they dance slowly, in silence. Faith can almost feel Buffy fuming and she wishes she could go back in time and just fix everything. But that’s not possible and all she has is here and now, so she knows she has to say something. After all, she figures if Buffy wants to keep up appearances that badly then her chances of coming out of this whole thing with a broken bone has been significantly lessened.
“I’m really sorry, Buffy,” she whispers. Faith can feel the blonde stiffen in her arms and she’s pretty sure Buffy just made a fist in an attempt to control herself from hitting her.
“Are you deaf? I told you to shut up.”
“Look, I have to say this,” Faith tries, but Buffy starts shaking her head and pulling away from her. “B, please. I… I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Buffy untangles herself from Faith but the brunette grabs onto her forearm to prevent her from walking away. Her voice is a little desperate as she tries to explain, “I’m just a fuckin’ idiot, okay? I wasn’t thinking.”
“And that’s supposed to make everything all better?” Buffy snaps, eyes like fire as she glares at her. “News flash, Faith: you never fucking think! That still doesn’t give you the right to fuck another girl in my house!”
A few heads turn in their direction from the decibel of Buffy’s voice, but she’s not even looking at them. She’s staring directly at Faith, all the anger and all the hurt practically pouring from her eyes.
“I was drunk-”
“You’re always drunk!” Buffy exclaims, pointing at her accusingly. “You’re always drinking and doing stupid things and I sit here and let you over and over again because somewhere in my deluded mind I think you’re going to change, but you never do! You’re always going to be selfish, Faith; and you’re always going to be alone.” She turns around to storm off, but Faith grabs her again, needing to somehow stop this from becoming a goddamn train wreck.
“Ken doesn’t mean anything to me, B! Not like…” but Faith trails off, unable to finish. She’s much too aware of the attention they’ve earned from the other students because of their fight.
“Not like what?” Buffy snaps, whirling around and getting in her face. “You can’t say it, can you? Not when everyone’s fucking listening. You can’t admit that you give a shit.” Faith stares at her, but she doesn’t say anything. She can’t. And why should she? It’s not like it’s any of their goddamn business how she may or may not feel about someone. “That’s what I thought,” Buffy says, sounding angry and hurt as she backs away from her.
“Look, we… we’re not even together, Buffy…” Faith tries, attempting to find an excuse for her asshole behavior. She knows instantly she shouldn’t have said that, even before Buffy’s fist collides with her face and she falls to the ground.
“That still didn’t give you the right, you stupid, selfish whore!” Buffy screams, tears brimming her eyes. “Twice you’ve done this to me now. Twice.” As Faith cradles her cheek, she remembers Trish and when Buffy walked in on them. Fuck, she’s right. “Well I’m not going to let you do it a third time,” Buffy tells her, voice shaking a little before she turns and flees, leaving Faith broken and bruised on the floor.
“Faith!” Xander exclaims, running over to her to help her up once he saw her lying on the floor. He looks behind him and sees Buffy storming out of the gym. “Are you okay?” he asks, turning back to Faith and looking torn between thinking she deserved it and being sympathetic.
“I don’t even know why I fuckin’ try,” Faith grumbles, pressing her knuckles to her cheek and hoping that somehow it would magically stop the bruising. God, she’s gonna look like a fucking wreck tomorrow. Everyone’s still staring at her though so she bursts out angrily, “Anyone have anything to fuckin’ say?! Cause I could use a good punching bag right now! Fuck off!”
That seems to make everyone mind their own business, at least for a little while. Xander takes her arm and brings her to the back of the gym, away from everyone’s prying ears. “Sorry,” he apologizes. “I guess maybe you shouldn’t have said something so soon.”
“Ya think?” Faith snaps.
Xander sighs. “Maybe after a few days she’ll cool off…”
“She hates me, Xand. Like, for real fuckin’ hates me. Doesn’t matter if I give her a week or a year, ain’t gonna change anything,” Faith replies, trying to keep her voice even though saying it out loud hurt like hell. “I’m such a fuckin’ idiot,” she mumbles.
“Yeah, you are,” Xander agrees softly. Faith wishes she could be pissed at him for agreeing with her, but she knows it’s the truth; hell, she wouldn’t have said it otherwise.
Faith slumps against the wall, content on just sitting there and brooding, at least, that is, until she sees Angel come through the gym doors like his ass is on fire. Faith straightens up immediately, already knowing in her gut what’s going on before he opens his mouth.
“Buffy-”
“Where is she?” Faith interrupts, her stomach dropping to the floor in fear. For once she’s not pissed that he’s being super freaky stalker boy, in fact she’s kind of glad for it. “Where, Angel?” she reiterates, hoping to fuck he doesn’t say she went off to bitch slap the Master. A vamp, fine; Buffy can handle that. A demon; no problem. But him? All Faith can hear in her head is Giles telling her that Buffy’s gonna die and she’s starting to freak out.
“The Anointed One,” Angel tells her, worry crossing his own features. “I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t-”
Faith feels like she’s going to vomit.
“How did you know it was the Anointed One?” Xander asks, still not trusting Angel or his judgment. “I thought we weren’t even sure if he rose yet!”
“Where the fuck did she go?!” Faith yells, not giving a fuck if it was even really the Anointed One or not; fact is Buffy’s still out there about to walk into a death trap alone. “ANGEL!”
“I could smell the power on him; on the child,” Angel answers Xander before he turns to Faith. “And I’ve done some looking around this past week; I’m almost positive the entrance the vampires have been using to the Master’s prison can be found in a mausoleum in Oak Hill.”
Oak Hill, Faith knew that cemetery; it was close to here. Fuck, Buffy could already be dead; she’s been gone for at least ten minutes and the cemetery was only five minutes away. Faith’s starting to feel sick and she tries to control it but all she can do is wonder why the fuck they’re all still standing around like this; they could talk on the way, damnit!
“A mausoleum?” Xander asks, not seeing the logic in an above ground stone burial site being the entrance to the Master’s underground prison.
Angel doesn’t have time to answer him though because Faith suddenly takes off running, “Get Giles!” she hollers back to Xander. Fuck this, she isn’t waiting. Buffy could be fucking dying.
“Faith, you can’t-!”
But Faith ignores him and just keeps on running. Her hearts pounding in her ears and her legs are screaming in pain as she runs all the way to the cemetery, barely stopping for a breath. Maybe it’s the adrenaline but pain, breathing? None of that fucking mattered right now. The only thing that mattered is that Buffy was stupid enough to go off on her own. Faith can’t help but blame herself; maybe Buffy was too pissed to come back and ask for help, or maybe she thought that because she was so angry she’d have enough rage to beat him… whatever it was, Faith was sure at least part of it was her fault. That sickened her. She knew she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if Buffy’s death was on her hands.
And so she runs faster, pumps her legs harder as she zigzags between the graves, trying to reach the mausoleums in the back. Faith has no idea which one it is and she should have waited for Angel to tell her, but it’s too late now. Out of the corner of her eye though she sees a shadow and she knows… she knows that’s the way she needs to go. Follow the vamps, right? Cause no one in this town is stupid enough to roam around a graveyard at night, not anymore.
Faith only stops for a moment to grab her stake from her boot before she practically tackles the vampire that’s exiting one of the mausoleums. “Where is she?!” she screams, fear in the back of her mind as she lands a punch square to the vampire’s jaw. “WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE?!” She knows he’s not going to answer but she’s frantic.
The vampire snarls and knocks her to the ground like an annoying insect, but Faith ignores the pain and gets to her feet before he can get on top of her. Fuck him, fuck his goddamn strength; it didn’t matter. She was going to fucking kill him. “Tell me!” she screams as she hits him in the face; once, twice. He lands a punch after and her back collides with the cold stone of the mausoleum before he grabs her arms, pinning her in place.
His fangs are descending and it takes every bit of her strength to get him off of her. But then suddenly it’s like she’s hit with some serious fucking adrenaline and her next hit that connects with him makes him go flying. Faith stands there, shocked as the vampire tries to get to his feet. She can feel it; every inch of her is starting to feel more alive; stronger, faster, better. “No!” she cries, knowing exactly what’s happening. “No, no, no!” she screams, coming after the vamp and dusting him without barely exerting any effort.
“Buffy!” she screams, leaving the vampire to collapse in a pile of dust as she starts running into the mausoleum. There’s a hole in the ground, an entrance near the back and she jumps down without a second thought, running down the tunnel, deeper under the earth. She can smell the soil; the dampness of the earth like it’s right under her nose. She can see almost clearly in the darkness, she can hear cars passing from a mile away like they’re right next to her.
Faith knows, she fucking knows with every fiber in her being that she just became the Slayer. She also knows that could only mean one thing, but she refuses to believe it. Instead, she keeps running faster, calling out Buffy’s name and praying to God that she’ll answer her.
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
Two Girls In All The World
Faith expects to be met by a legion of vampires and the Master once she gets to the bottom of the tunnel, but instead she’s greeted by nothing more than a wide stretch of space illuminated by candlelight. In the center is a small pool of water and Faith’s stomach drops once she sees who’s lying face down in it. “BUFFY!” she screams, taking off with a burst of speed to immediately fall to her knees beside the fallen girl.
Faith pulls her out of the water, lying Buffy on her back. Her heart is racing in her chest, she can literally hear each erratic beat. What frightens her is that she can’t hear Buffy’s at all. “No, no, no, no,” she whispers, her hands cupping Buffy’s cold face. “Please don’t be dead, please…” she breathes as she starts to do CPR on the girl beneath her.
Part of her knows it’s futile; that if she’s the Slayer now then that means that Buffy’s really gone. But she refuses to believe that. Buffy’s strong, stronger than any fucking person she’s ever met in her entire life and she can not be dead. She just can’t be, damnit! Fuck destiny, fuck prophecies; they don’t mean jack shit, they’re just fucking words spewed by virginal monks or something and just… fuck, she can’t be dead! No!
Faith’s lips cover Buffy’s as she tries to breathe air into her lungs. “Please, please,” she whispers, tears starting to fall from her eyes as her hands do chest compressions. One, two, three, breathe. But Buffy isn’t moving, she isn’t breathing, and Faith still can’t hear her heart and she’s starting to really freak out now. “You can’t be dead!” she screams, praying Buffy can hear her and that she’ll wake up. “You can’t fucking be dead, Buffy! Not now, not when I…” she chokes on her tears and covers Buffy’s mouth again with hers, desperately trying to give her some air.
Not when I just realized that I need you.
Because Faith does; she fucking needs Buffy in her life. It’s a scary realization but the fear of that doesn’t even compare to the fear that Buffy may never wake up again. She’s been so fucking stupid; she shouldn’t have pushed Buffy away, she shouldn’t have been such a slut, she shouldn’t have been so goddamn scared of something that in retrospect is so freaking simple. Why couldn’t Faith have told her that she gave a fuck? Why couldn’t she have tried to be in a stupid relationship? Why couldn’t she have just done something?? Buffy can’t die; not like this. Her last day on earth shouldn’t be filled with sadness and feelings of betrayal. This is her fault; Faith’s… she knows it’s her fault. She did this. Buffy came out here alone because of her.
“B, please…” she chokes as she does three more chest compressions. She knows she should just give up, but she refuses. On the third one, Faith hears the best sound she’s ever heard in her life: Buffy choking as she coughs up the bit of water that’s in her lungs. “Oh my god,” Faith breathes, eyes wide in shock as she can hear Buffy’s heart starts beating in her chest again. “Holy fucking shit, B… Buffy…” That’s impossible… isn’t it? She was dead! Sure she was trying but she didn’t expect… fuck, she was just being stubborn!
Is this some kind of miracle? Faith’s never been religious, but fucking hell she’s about to get down on her knees and thank God in a second.
“Faith?” Buffy asks, coughing a little as she opens her eyes. She looks like she thinks she’s hallucinating and she asks confused, “Am I dead?” She struggles to get herself up to a sitting position.
Faith lets out a small, relieved laugh before she gathers Buffy in her arms, kissing her with every bit of emotion she has in her. “Jesus,” she breathes against her lips between kisses. “I thought you were gone… I fuckin’ thought…” But Faith doesn’t finish. Instead she presses her lips to hers again; needing Buffy to know how glad she is that she’s alive. She’s pretty sure she’s still crying but it really doesn’t matter - nothing fucking matters besides the fact that she can feel Buffy’s breath against her lips again.
When they broke Buffy says, kind of dazed. “Yeah, I’m definitely dead. Though I have to say: heaven? Not as pretty as I would have expected. Was kind of expecting a harp playing angel at least.”
Faith laughs a little; that’s so Buffy for you. “You’re not dead,” she tells her, voice filled with emotion as she touches Buffy’s hair, her cheek, her neck. She leans in and kisses her on the forehead. “Fuckin’ thought you were though. Or I guess… shit, you did die, for a minute because…” she trails off; she’s not exactly sure how to tell her that she’s the Slayer now. Does that mean Buffy isn’t anymore?
“The splitting has come to pass, as it is written.”
Both Buffy and Faith turn, jumping up in a defensive stance as they suddenly realize they’re not alone anymore. Faith take a step forward in front of Buffy, almost trying to shield her from three ugly ass demons in black robes that appeared out of fucking nowhere.
“Who the hell are you?” Faith demands.
The first one speaks first, “We are one.” Then the second one, “We are many.” Then the third, “We are the Composers of Prophecy.”
Do they really have to talk like that? That’s freaking weird.
“The Zan’Hurrak,” Faith answers, putting the pieces together. Her heart is pounding in her throat. Why the fuck are they here? If it’s to kill them, they really don’t need this kind of shit right now. The Master’s all vertical and walking around upstairs and that kinda takes precedence at the moment.
Buffy’s eyes flash though and she steps out from behind Faith. “You killed my Watcher!” she screams, just as she takes off towards them to lay some serious smack down.
“B!” Faith calls out, but it’s too late because the middle demon passes his hand through the air and suddenly Buffy’s warded back by some sort of force field. She nearly trips over a rock as she’s blown back and Faith catches her.
“We pose no threat to you,” the second demon tells her. “We are merely the messengers, not the hand that drives the sword,” the third finishes.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Faith demands as Buffy steadies herself on her feet.
“We are the composers prophecies; writers of destinies. We do not carry them out,” the first informs them. Faith thinks that’s one large load of bullshit, but she fumes silently. Sure, they don’t but they probably got a whole slew of minions to do their dirty work for them. But they gotta be here for a reason then, right? Might as well let them spew their crap.
“Then what are you here for?” Buffy demands, still looking like she wants to flay each and every one of them on the spot.
“The apocalypse draws near,” the third demon replies.
“Uh, have ya checked the news lately? Big bad and ugly has already escaped from his cage, geniuses,” Faith spits, annoyed by their complete lack of answers that made any kind of sense.
“An ally once trusted will turn against you during the coming war,” the first demon tells them, ignoring Faith’s response. “A death will cripple the darkness, leaving the soul vulnerable to corruption,” the second goes on. “The light must eradicate the coming shadows before the fourth phase of the moon, or earth will perish in the fires of Hell,” finishes the third.
“What the fuck does that even mean?” Faith asks, really confused now. Can’t they speak like normal fucking… non-people? Jesus Christ. They don’t exactly have a weirdo demon translator handy.
“You have been warned,” all three of them say just before a bright light blinds both Slayers. They shield it with their hands and when the light fades, they’re left alone. They look at each other, neither of them understanding what they were just told.
“The Master,” Buffy says suddenly, remembering what happened before. “Shit, Faith… it’s my fault he rose. He couldn’t have left without drinking some of my blood.” She presses her palm to her forehead for a moment before sighing and running her fingers through her hair. “Damnit. I didn’t think-God, I hate prophecies!”
“You and me both, B. But fuck playin’ the blame game; let’s get out of this gutter and go filet his ass.”
She takes Buffy’s hand and is about to lead her back up the tunnels, but the blonde stops her. “No, Faith; I’m not going to let you get hurt. This isn’t your fight!”
“Fuckin’ hell it ain’t my fight!” Faith exclaims. “I just had to bring you back from the dead. From the fuckin’ dead, B! Can you even think for one goddamn second how screwed up that was? That asshole fucked with my property, I ain’t lettin’ that slide.”
“Your property?” Buffy repeats, sounding halfway between astounded and offended. “I’m still angry with you, you know! You may have saved my life, but that doesn’t make up for everything.”
Talk about ungrateful.
“So not the time.”
“I know it’s not-!” Buffy starts, but stops herself midway and sighs instead. “Fine. But you’re still not coming with me to fight the Master. He’ll kill you in a second; you’re not the Slayer.”
“B, you died!” Faith exclaims, trying to make her understand what the hell that means. Buffy doesn’t seem to be comprehending though.
“So? I feel fine now, I can do this!”
“No, you’re not fuckin’ getting it,” Faith replies, letting out her own sigh of aggravation. “You died and…” she’s sure she’s not going to take this well so she exhales a hesitant breath before finishing, “and I became the Slayer, B.”
Buffy stares at her for a moment, a look of utter disbelief on her face. Finally she shakes her head and says, “No, that’s not possible. I know I’m still the Slayer, Faith; I can feel it.”
“Well then we both are! I don’t fuckin’ know. I just know that I am! I can see better, hear better, smell better, and fuck knows I’m stronger than I’ve ever been, so yeah; pretty damn sure here,” Faith tells her, needing her to understand that she’s not lying or anything. “And can’t… hell, can’t you feel me?” she asks. “Because I’m pretty sure that humming feeling I’m gettin’ right now is you.”
Buffy continues to stare at her for a moment, as she’s taking all of this information in. She’s still looking distrustful though so she tells Faith, “Hit me.”
“What?”
“Just humor me for a second.”
“B, I’m not gonna fuckin’-”
But Buffy punches her in the arm which makes Faith retaliate by hitting her back just as hard. The feeling for both of them makes them stop, staring at each other. “That actually kind of hurt,” Buffy tells her, astounded.
“And that didn’t hurt nearly as bad as it used to,” Faith adds. Instead of feeling like she just got hit by a truck, it’s like she was just punched by someone… well, normal.
“This is so crazy,” Buffy says, staring at Faith like she doesn’t exactly know what to make of her anymore. “How is this even possible?”
“Dunno. But ya think that’s what those ugly ass things were talkin’ about? The splitting happening, like maybe the Slayer split between us?” Faith asks, trying to piece everything together and have it make some sort of sense. She hopes it doesn’t mean they’re only half as strong though; that would suck.
“I don’t know, but we should probably figure it out later. We need to go,” Buffy tells her, her brain catching up to the situation at hand that doesn’t include the anomaly in the Slayer line.
Fuck, she’s right. Who knows what kind of damage the Master has already done while they were standing down here getting lectured by a bunch of demon monks and playing punch for punch.
The two of them make their way out of the tunnels quickly, stealing across the graveyard in record time. But then Faith stops, grabbing Buffy’s arm. “What?” Buffy asks, impatient.
“Where the hell are we even going? How do we know where the bastard’s gonna be?”
“We don’t, that’s why I’m figuring we should go back to Giles and regroup - he might have some info we don’t,” Buffy answers, like Faith should have figured that part out already. Well excuse her for not being able to read minds.
“Fine, then let’s motor,” Faith replies, biting back her sarcastic remark. The two of them take off again until they reach the outskirts of the Sunnydale High parking lot. This time Faith doesn’t have to stop Buffy because she grinds to a halt at the same time Faith does; staring out at the school with the same look of horror Faith’s wearing.
Vampires were everywhere. At least thirty five of them were making their way into the back entrance of the school, near the library. “Well, least we know where he’s at,” Faith responds to the scene dryly. Fuck.
“Why would he want to come to the high school?” Buffy asks, though knowing Faith doesn’t have an answer for her.
Faith shrugs. “Fuck if I know, but at least they ain’t goin’ in the gym; we’d have massive casualties. Ya think they’re after G’s books?”
“Only one way to find out,” Buffy replies before she takes off towards the school. “The roof!” she calls back to her, letting Faith know that they’re going the back way, away from all the vampires that could alert the Master of their presence. Faith nods and continues after her, hoping all her friends were still safely in the gym and not wandering around the damn library.
They get to the fire escape and start climbing until they’ve reached the second floor. Unfortunately, that’s where its cuts off and they still got at least five more feet until they get to the roof. “Give me a boost and I’ll pull you up,” Buffy instructs, turning her gaze from the roof back to Faith.
Faith cocks an eyebrow at her. “Take off those heels and we’ll talk.”
Buffy sighs in aggravation but kicks off her heels, telling her impatiently, “I can fight in heels, you know.”
“Not ya fighting I was worried about. It’s you climbin’ on me with those things; pretty sure I’m gonna end up shanked.”
Buffy rolls her eyes. “You can’t get shanked with a high heel, Faith.” She puts her bare foot in Faith’s linked hands and holds onto her shoulders.
“Ya don’t think?” Faith counters as she lifts Buffy up with enough ease that it actually surprises her. It’s going to take her awhile to get used to being super freaky strong, that’s for sure. She looks up as Buffy gets herself situated on the roof and waits for her to hold her hand out, but it never comes.
“I’m sorry,” Buffy apologizes, looking a little guilty.
“B…” Faith warns, knowing exactly what she’s trying to do. She damn well better not. This ain’t no time for jokes! Buffy already died once fighting this dude, does she seriously think she can take him on again alone?
“I’m not going to let you get hurt; this is my fight. I’m sorry,” is Buffy’s only rushed explanation before she takes off running.
“BUFFY!” Faith screams in aggravation. Fuck, she should have known she was gonna do that. She’s still got that ‘one girl in all the world’ complex. Whatever; Faith knows how to work with what she’s got. It’s not ideal and it definitely doesn’t allow her the element of surprise, but she’s out of options.
Faith’s elbow collides with the second floor window she’s next to, shattering the glass on impact. Damn, that was a little louder than she expected it to be. Snyder’s probably gonna piss himself when he sees it, but Faith’s hoping there isn’t any cameras around that documented her little delinquent act. She’d rather not get suspended when she’s trying to save the world, thanks.
Faith climbs into the building and finds herself in a classroom. She runs over to the door and… of course it’s locked. “Man, I hope this works,” she mutters as she takes a couple steps back. She’s only seen this in the movies and she knows that when she wasn’t a Slayer she’d probably break her leg doing this, but she rears back and kicks the door will full force.
The damn thing nearly comes flying off its hinges.
“Sweet,” Faith exclaims, grinning. She could get used to this. Her attention flies to the sounds coming from downstairs; the vampires were moving in fast. However they seemed to be completely ignoring the racket Faith’s making upstairs. Though it confuses her, she doesn’t dwell on it; more important shit to worry about. Instead she takes the stairs two at a time to get to the roof door.
When she barrels her way through it she hears the Master speaking to Buffy from on top of the library roof across the way. “You’re dead,” he says, surprise in his voice as he sees Buffy standing not ten feet in front of him.
“And I still look pretty,” she quips, “which is more than I can say for you.”
“You were destined to die; it was written!” the Master exclaims, looking furious with this new plot twist. He snarls and holds out his hand, as if trying to enchant her. “Come here,” he demands. Faith’s about to laugh at his ridiculous attempt at mojo, but starts to freak out a little once Buffy’s feet actually start moving towards them, seemingly of their own accord.
When the hell did vamps get that kind of power?
“Buffy!” she yells, beginning to run towards her. That seems to break the Master’s concentration and he turns, watching Faith jump over a small sunroof to get to them. Buffy hits the Master square in the jaw before falling back into a defensive stance, smirking. He snarls, backing up a few steps.
“This can’t be…” he mutters, looking between the two of them. “Such power should not radiate from two girls, there can only be one Slayer!”
“Your fault, ya know,” Faith tells him, smirking as she watches the Master reevaluate his position now that he’s up against two Slayers. “If ya hadn’t tried to gank B, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
“I told you to stay behind,” Buffy hisses, looking over at her with disapproval. “Don’t you ever listen?”
“Have I ever?” Faith replies, grinning as she suddenly fills with more confidence than she’s ever had in her life. This bastard’s gonna die; she can feel it. If he can’t even manage to kill one Slayer properly, how in the fuck is gonna kill two?
But that confidence is quickly shattered once a deafening crash is heard below. Both slayers look down the large oval sunroof into the library, eyes wide. “What the fuck is that?!” Faith screams, seeing a fifteen foot tentacle-clad looking creature burst out of the floor - right in the middle of the library.
That can’t be normal.
“Faith, everyone’s down there!” Buffy exclaims, finally taking notice of Giles and their friends pressed up against the doors, trying to keep the herds of vampires out. “Faith, we need to-!” but she doesn’t get to finish her sentence because all of a sudden the Master grabs her by her throat during her lapse in concentration.
He hovers two fingers in front of her eyes, trying to enchant her again. “You will not struggle,” he hisses and Buffy stops moving instantly.
Dude, this hypnotizing shit ain’t fair. At least he can only seem to do one of them at a time, which puts him at a serious disadvantage.
“She might not, but I sure as fuck will,” Faith tells him before she kicks out; her foot landing square on his back and making him release his hold on Buffy. He snarls and whips around to face her, blocking the first punch she throws but unable to dodge the second.
Faith can’t celebrate her victory long though because his fingers are soon wrapped around her throat. What is it with him and his asphyxiation kink?! “You got fruit punch mouth,” she informs him as she sees Buffy come up behind him. Off of his confused look she smirks just as Buffy punches the back of his head hard. He drops Faith instantly and snarls.
“Faith, help them!” Buffy shouts, but Faith doesn’t budge.
“And watch you get hypnotized and bitten again? No thanks, Princess. Besides, Angel’s down there; he’s got that covered while we deal with this asshole.”
“FAITH!” Buffy screams in frustration as she dodges another punch, which allows Faith the opening to attack.
“Ya want me go to down there? Then let’s dust this fucker quickly so I can!” Faith shouts back, not about to leave Buffy alone. Honestly, neither of them should be alone with this Houdini mother fucker.
“Ugh, sometimes I hate that you’re so damn stubborn!” Buffy shouts, pouring out all her aggravation at Faith on the Master.
It’s strange, but it seems like after a little while they seemed to be moving in sync with each other; complimenting each other’s moves. As they’ve never trained like that since they’ve never been on the same level, it’s safe to assume it only came naturally. It was kind of wicked, if Faith’s being honest.
The Master was strong; there was no denying that. Even with their combined strength and skill they still had a hell of a time fighting him. They kept him occupied enough though that he couldn’t hypnotize them, which Faith figures is a plus just in case he got fed up and ordered one of them to kill themselves. After a brutal back and forth, Faith sees an opening and drives a stake through his heart.
But nothing happens.
The Master laughs, pulling the stake out from his chest and dropping it to the ground. “You’re going to need a bigger stake, Slayer.”
“Uh, B…?” Faith starts, backing up a few steps. Fuck, it ain’t like they’re carrying sharpened two by fours in their back pockets. The Master advances on her, cackling in that typical bad guy way. Mixed between her feelings of dread, Faith can’t help but wonder if all vamps have to take lessons for that kind of shit.
“On it,” Buffy tells her as she looks down through the sun roof, into the library. Faith’s too busy to see what she’s doing though because he suddenly has his hands around her throat again.
“Fuck, what is it with you and choking people!?” Faith screams through her coughs as she feels her airway start to close. “Anyone tell you there’s supposed to be a safe word involved?” Her fingers close around his own, trying to pry them off of her.
She has the stray hope that maybe Buffy can get at him, but that’s diminished when the Master apparently senses her coming and suddenly she’s in a choke hold as well. “Fuck, way to go,” Faith wheezes, starting to feel a lightheaded. He’s backing them up towards the sunroof and Faith’s praying he doesn’t throw them through it.
“Did you really think you could stop me from unleashing Hell upon this earth?” he goads, looking far too pleased with himself than Faith would like.
“You’re that amped about Hell?” Buffy asks, eyes flashing before she grabs a hold of his throat. Faith instantly follows her lead and places her hand over Buffy’s, helping her keep him in a choke hold. “Then go there,” she tells him before she shoots a pointed look at Faith. Maybe it’s a Slayer thing, but Faith seems to instantly understand what she’s trying to do.
They move in sync as they step to the side quickly, forcing the Master to release his hold on them as they hurl him through the glass of the sunroof. He curses at them as he falls, but it’s short lived once he lands on a large, jagged piece of the flooring that was uprooted from the tentacle demon’s entrance. He screams as he turns to dust, leaving nothing but a skeleton behind.
Damn, Faith ain’t ever seen any actually leave something behind before. Guy must be super fucking old.
The second the Master dies, the large tentacle demon retreats back into the hole it came from and the vampires scatter. Giles and their friends look up at the roof to try to figure out what the hell just happened and they’re greeted by Buffy and Faith’s grinning faces.
“One apocalypse down,” Faith says, turning to look at Buffy.
Buffy frowns as she finishes, “Ugh, which means one more to go.”
“Don’t sweat it, girlfriend. There’s two of us now; serious ass kicking is bound to happen.” Faith grins at her and Buffy tries to keep herself from smiling, but one sneaks out anyway.
“Your cockiness is going to kill you one day, you know,” she warns, but lightly. She still sounds amused regardless.
“Whatever. Least when I die I’m gonna go out thinkin’ I’m the shit.”
Buffy laughs, shaking her head as the two of them begin to make their decent back down to the library.
GO TO PART NINETEEN...