Title: Betrayal 1/1
Author: Sweetness
Fandom: Buffyverse/Anita Blake crossover
Pairing: Faith/Edward
Rating: FR13
Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and company, while Anita Blake belongs to Laurell K. Hamilton and company.
Notes: Written for
7_crossovers for prompt #3 (sickness.) Set during the second half of BtVS Season Three.
Summary: Faith learns how cold Edward truly is.
Faith was trembling as she followed Edward out of the mansion. She dropped to her knees as she started to retch from the scent of burning flesh. He stood away from her and silently watched as she vomited. When Faith was done, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and glared at him.
”Why?” Faith demanded as she slowly stood up.
“Because it had to be done.”
”You said just Angel.”
”The others were unavoidable casualties. Now let’s get out of here, before the authorities arrive.”
”No, they were…”
”Were what Faith?” Edward coldly asked.
“They weren’t the enemy.”
“Weren’t they?”
”They weren’t! They fought the monsters just like we do.”
“Yet they allowed a vampire and a werewolf in their ranks,” Edward pointed out.
”Angel and Oz helped them fight the monsters.”
”They were symptoms of a sickness.”
”No,” Faith protested.
“You have a lot to learn, little girl, and now is not the time for your lessons,” Edward quietly stated.
“Buffy was a Slayer just like me.”
Edward’s eyes turned colder as he scrutinized the young woman standing in front of him. Gone was the defiant and proud Slayer who had led him to the mansion so that they could destroy a vampire. He wondered just how jealous she had been of Buffy and her vampire lover.
“She made a choice to side with the monsters, Faith. How many times did she put humans at risk because of her love for Angel?”
”Are you saying love is wrong?”
“When it makes one choose the monsters over the humans, then it’s not love. It’s a perversion. It’s a sickness that grows and festers until one is no better than the monsters. I will ask you again, how many times was Buffy faced with the choice of destroying Angel? And how many times did she choose to save him despite the risks to others? He was cursed with a soul; a soul you told me was broke when he found happiness with Buffy. She didn’t destroy him when he lost his soul the first time, if he lost it again, do you honestly think she’d destroy him then?”
“It’s not that simple,” Faith weakly protested.
“Yes, Faith, it is that simple. Buffy would have sacrificed her own family to save Angel. I’ve seen it happen with others, people who had sworn to defend the helpless from the monsters.”
Faith watched as Edward stalked away from the burning mansion. She still didn’t think that Edward was right but she had no choice but to follow him. When she had first joined him after she had accidentally killed the deputy mayor, she had burnt all of her bridges to the Council. At first she had thought that she’d made the right choice in following him, but now she wasn’t too sure. Faith had betrayed her friends to a psycho and now she was chained to him.
**END**