Forgotten Conscience
by Christopher Andrews
Just because you failed, doesn’t mean things won’t work out
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Spike’s POV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I duck as a chair comes flying at me.
Adam’s been throwing things around for a few minutes now. You’d think Dr. Frankenstein would’ve installed a rage suppressor in a guy with this much power.
“Hey bits and bytes, what’s with the adrenaline rush? I though you were mister calm and collected with your master plan mate?”
“Riley.”
“What did Captain Cardboard do now?”
“He’s dead.”
Dead…?
“Well good for him, can’t say I’m gonna miss the drugged up bloke. Tell ya what, I’ll go out and get a pint of scotch or something and we’ll celebrate.”
He comes at me, grabbing me by my throat and lifting me off my feet.
What the hell is with people grabbing me by the throat? Doesn’t anyone realize that crushing my windpipe wouldn’t do anything except stop me from talking? Course this guy could take my head off with one hand if he wanted to.
“Riley was part of my plan, he was supposed to be my brother in arms. Mother wanted us to rule together. Now he’s gone and my plans are ruined.”
He lets me go and moves to the middle of the cave among his surveillance equipment.
He’s just gonna give up? Geez what kind of a ponce is he?
“Look mate, you’re not going to just give up are you? For evil’s sake man you’re supposed to be all big and bad, so be all big and bad… find yourself a new little brother to hang off you and continue with your master plan.”
“No… there can be no one else, I’ll have to do this without Riley.”
“There ya go mate, I say good riddance to bad rubbish. Let bygones by bygones. You’ve got your fresh demon parts locked up in the initiative ready to tear into your fresher than fresh human parts. I say let the flood gates open and watch your little puppets ripped to shreds.”
“Perhaps it would be for the best. I no longer have a timeline to keep up, however…”
However?
“However?”
He turns to look at me.
“Well come on then Tony Robins, spit it out.”
“I need the slayer.”
God damn it, why does everything always come back to the slayer with me?
“Yeah well, we all need the slayer one way or another. Personally I prefer the slayer dead myself but I can’t do nothing about it with this soddin chip in my head.”
“I do not wish the slayer dead, not until she’s served her purpose.”
“I’d rather her purpose be pushing up daisies but that’s not something I can help her with.”
“Your chip will be removed as soon as you bring me the slayers.”
“Right then and how was I gonna do that again?”
The audio equipment in the cave kicks in.
I think he’s got it wired to respond to certain voice patterns, nifty skill.
“The bitch deserves to die.”
Adam looks at one of his monitors and I inch a little closer.
“But Forrest…”
“She killed Riley man. We can’t let her get away with that.”
“Course not Riley was like family to us. But we don’t know that Buffy did this.”
“She’s a killer, that’s what she does. She kills things. Riley went to see her and he ends up dead. That doesn’t give me a lot of reason to believe she didn’t do it.”
Ooh, another one going after the slayer. Might mess up jigsaw boy’s plans though.
“Forrest…”
“I’m going after Buffy man and you can either help me or get out of my way.”
“You know I’m with you buddy it’s just…”
“Good, get some of the guys together and suit up. We’ll start at the scene of the crime and move outward in a circular pattern.”
“Okay.”
Looks like things are about to get better.
“Your human parts seem to be looking to mess up your plans.”
He starts to the cave exit.
“They won’t get a chance.”
“Yeah? How’s that then? What are you gonna do?”
He looks at me before leaving.
“Send the slayer a message.”
Ooh, sounds like fun.
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Willow’s POV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Buffy’s in love with Faith? Buffy and Faith? Faith and Buffy? When did this happen? How did this happen? Since when is Buffy gay?
I’m still sitting her at Giles’. I’m supposed to be reading this book but all I can think about is Buffy… and Faith.
Buffy’s in love with Faith? Does that mean Faith feels the same way? Since when does Faith give a damn about anyone but herself? Was it the amnesia? Could having no memory have changed Faith? She did seem a lot nicer when she had no memory even with everything she had to deal with she was still a lot nicer and an all around better person than usual.
Most of all we actually managed to get along with Faith, which gets harder to do with the more you get to know her. There is something different about Faith though, she talked Buffy out of killing that Watcher guy which, I gotta say I didn’t see that coming. Maybe having no memory helped Faith to see Buffy from a different perspective. Maybe it helped her to care about someone other than herself.
What if it grew into something more? But what about Buffy? When did Buffy start falling for Faith? Was it the amnesia? Did Faith having no memory make Buffy see a different side of Faith? Did it make certain… feelings emerge? The must be pretty strong feelings for Buffy to be willing to kill to stop her from leaving. I’ve seen Buffy do some pretty weird things for love, Angel in particular made her do some crazy things but she never would’ve killed an innocent for him. This must be some powerful feelings she has. A little too powerful if you ask me.
What if it’s the spell? She is kinda insano-girl as of late. Maybe the spell worked we just didn’t realize it. The original spell used on Faith was designed to amplify her anger and hatred for Buffy making Faith obsessed with it in a way, the counter spell was supposed to help Faith deal and release the anger, using Buffy as the anchor. Buffy is very much in control of her feelings, most of the time, and creating a bond between them was supposed to give Faith some of that control to help her deal.
It makes sense that they would get closer I mean, who wouldn’t with that kind of connection being made? Especially with the existing connecting being what it was. But what if? Oh my god, that’s it.
“Guys, I think I’ve figured it out.”
True love is a bumpy road so try not to pick up hitch hikers
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Tara’s POV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I hope things get worked out. I can’t believe that Faith kill an innocent person, much less Riley. Not with the way she feels about Buffy. Faith has too much invested in what they have to jeopardise it now. It was SO obvious, at least to me it was, how happy they were just to be together once they worked out whatever was bugging them. The pure joy was coming off them in waves, it was intense. I was so happy for them. When two people are that right for each other like Buffy and Faith they deserve all the happiness in the world. The way Willow and I are happy.
There’s a knock at the door.
Who could that be? Willow would never knock I gave her a key, besides she said she would be helping her friends most of the night. I wonder who it could be.
I walk over to the door and open it.
“B-Buffy?”
She pretty much lunges at me, throwing her arms around my neck as she does.
“Help me?”
Help her? Help her how?
I close the door behind us and manage to peel her off me.
Thank god she’s not using her full strength.
“Buffy what… what’s w-wrong?”
“It was horrible… the, the things… what have I done?”
She’s distraught I should try and calm her down.
“Buffy calm, calm d-down. Come let’s, come sit on the bed and t-tell me what h-happened.”
I lead her over to the left side of the bed and we sit against the edge.
“What, what happened?”
She hugs my ribs tightly, a little too tightly, and I’m not sure what to do.
I want to help her but she’s so vulnerable right now, there’s no telling what she could do.
I decide she really needs to be comforted right now and put my arm around her, holding her closer.
“The… the things I said. I was so horrible to her I don’t blame her for hating me. I wouldn’t blame her if she hated me for the rest of her life. I yelled at her, I accused her of murders she didn’t commit and worst of all I put a knife to her throat. She may never forgive me.”
“It’s okay Buffy. It’ll be okay.”
She lets go of my ribs and looks in my eyes from her own tear soaked eyes.
“But it won’t… not without her. I’ll never be okay without her. That’s why I need your help. I need you to help me get Faith to forgive me. I need you to make Faith love me again.”
I wipe away the tears on her cheeks.
“Buffy you, you don’t have to w-worry. If she loves you the way I-I know she does then she can’t hate you, not really. She, she’s just angry with you, but she’ll get over it. And I… I can’t m-make her love you again… she never stopped loving you.”
“Really? Are… are you s-sure?”
“Yes I’m sure.”
She wraps her arms around me, hugging me.
“Oh thank you Tara you… you don’t know how much this means to me.”
Actually with the way her aura’s changed in the past few minutes I’d say I kinda do.
“Just give her some time and a little space and she’ll come back to you.”
She takes my head in her hands with a longing look in her eyes.
Wait… this…
“Thank you so much…”
She presses her lips against mine lightly.
What do I do? She’s so vulnerable right now if I reject her I could really hurt her. She could really break down, emotionally. But this isn’t right we shouldn’t…
She kisses me again, deeper this time, more passionately.
I don’t know what to do so like on instinct I kiss her back, gently. I don’t want her to get too into this it could lead to…
She leans into me, straddling me, grinding her hips against mine. I feel her hands start to grab at me, running her hands along my sides, groping my breasts as her tongue slips into my mouth.
This is wrong, we, we should stop this but… but it’s not like I can stop her. She sorta has me at a disadvantage.
She breaks our kiss and I look up at her, eyes closed, tears streaming down her face, she lets out a deep breath, whispering to me.
“Faith…”
After a moment her eyes fly open in shock. She moves off the bed and takes a few steps back.
“Oh… oh god Tara I , I didn’t mean to…”
I take a second to get over the shock of what just happened and then sit up.
“Its, its okay Buffy I under-understand.”
“No… not it’s not I mean, you’re with Willow and I’m, even though she doesn’t think so, I’m with Faith and… and I love her.”
“I know d-do Buffy and I love Willow and that’s why it’s okay.”
“But it’s not, I shouldn’t have…”
“B-Buffy it’s okay because despite what just happened I don’t… I don’t think of you that w-way.”
“I don’t think about you that way either. I love Faith.”
I stand up and close the gap between us.
“Then everything’s o-okay, we’ll just pretend it didn’t happen.”
She smiles weakly at me.
“Thank you Tara.”
She hugs me again out of happiness, instead of desperation like before and I hug her back.
“Just give Faith some time, she’ll come back to you I promise.”
She pulls back and looks at me.
“I will thank you.”
I smile at her and she turns and leaves.
Wow, things are really bad between them right now. I meant what I said though. Faith just needs time to deal before she comes back to Buffy. And she will go back to Buffy eventually. I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t mean it. I have a hard enough time saying what I mean it wouldn’t make sense for me to say what I didn’t.
Chopping down Forrest------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Forrest’s POV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------She has to die.
I motion to Graham and my back up to come through Stevenson’s front door, blaster guns raised like I did moments earlier. I get them to fan out on the main floor, creating a perimeter before heading upstairs to the second floor.
Buffy Summers deserves to die for what she did to us, for what she did to Riley. Riley never would’ve been brutally stabbed to death if it hadn’t been for her.
I reach the bottom of the stairs and I motion for them to head upstairs and after a second I join them. I look down the hall, it’s empty.
Good, its better that no other civilians get hurt. Buffy isn’t a civilian though, she’s a monster.
We reach her doorway and it’s barely hanging off its hinges. I can see the blood stains on the floor.
That’s where it happened, where Riley took his last breath. It’s all her fault and I’m gonna kill her for it, slow and painfully.
I move away from the door and two of my unit kick it in. The five other guys in my unit charge in, guns drawn and ready to fire, making sure the room was secure.
“Clear.”
I rush in looking around the room.
“Damn it, she’s not here.”
“Well maybe she’s just out. We can wait. We’ll take her down.”
She could be in the area.
“Fan out, form a perimeter. I wanna know the second she enters the building. I’ll stay here and coordinate.”
“Yes sir.”
“I do not believe they will have time.”
I turn to see someone standing in the door.
“And why’s that Adam?”
“Because they will all be dead in a few minutes.”
“Don’t count on it, take him down.”
We all fire our blaster guns at him. The charges hit him and it barely fazes him. It’s as if he absorbs it and it makes him stronger.
“Thank you.”
He starts to come at us and we spread out in the room.
Damn it, we’ve got to do something.
“Hit him again.”
“But sir…”
He doesn’t finish as Adam grabs him by the throat and tears one of his arms off incapacitating him as he’s dropped on the floor.
“Colin!”
Graham charges Adam in a rage.
“Graham don’t!”
Adam punches him hard in the face making him fly across the room in a skull cracking, bloody mess. I come at him with a flying drop kick. He barely stumbles before I come at him with a right cross and I nearly break my hand on his face. He grabs me by the neck and lifts me above his head as the last two of my team impale themselves on Adam’s skewer.
I can’t breathe. Oh god I can’t breathe.
I look down at Adam and he looks back.
“Your blood will make the perfect message for the slayer.”
I knew the slayer was in on this.
My neck snaps.
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Faith’s POV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Fucking bitch!
I close the door to my motel room as I walk in.
How could she think threatening to kill a man would win me back?
I start pacing around the room.
I mean, generally speaking killing someone is not considered a declaration of love… unless you’re evil which I’m not anymore. What would make her think killing someone could make me forgive her for what she did to me? Did she go insane?
I throw myself on to my bed and stare at the ceiling, spread out like I’m being crucified.
Did falling in love with me drive her insane? Well it wouldn’t be the first time. I’ve had plenty of guys go all schizoid on me when I left them for being too clingy. Most of them ended up in jail, some of them even ended up in the hospital after trying too hard to get me back. Is that what’s gonna happen to B?
Am I gonna have to put her out of commission when she goes too far, or worse? I don’t know if I can do that. I mean I will if I have to but I… I don’t want to have to. Maybe its better that we’re broken up, Buffy is obviously hurt but she’ll get over it. I may not be able to forget what she did but that doesn’t mean I don’t still care about her. I don’t want her to go all psychopathic killer on me, like I used to be. I might not be able to live with myself if that happened. So I’ll stick to the plan… we’re broken up and it’s gonna stay that way… whether we like it or not. It’s better for everyone this way.
I run my fingers threw my hair and go back to crucifying myself.
Besides it’s not like we can be together anyway. She doesn’t trust me… and if it were anyone else that wouldn’t be a problem but… well it’s Buffy. I can’t be with someone like Buffy unless I know that she trusts me especially with my past, and she doesn’t. No matter how many times she might say she does, deep down inside she doesn’t, not really. I can’t be with her without trust, not completely. Odd as it might seem, even after what she’s done I’d still trust her with my life… even if she can’t do the same.
There’s a knock at the door and I sit up.
Who could that be?
I get up to start toward the door and I’m all conflicted about whether I want it to be Buffy or not.
Part of me wants it to be her so I can tear her apart, part of me wants it to be her so I can kiss her and make up, and some part of me doesn’t want it to be her at all.
I reach the door and open it and…
“What the hell do you want Spike?”
I turn around and head back into the motel room.
“Well… isn’t that a nice way to greet the man who saved your life?”
I look at him.
“You’re not a man Spike.”
“Well no I suppose not but that doesn’t change the fact that I saved your life. Don’t I get a thank you?”
God did I NOT need this.
I put my arms across my chest as I see him checking me out.
“What can I say? I’m not much for giving gratitude.”
“Yeah so I hear. You’re more of the gratification giving type of girl ain’t ya?”
He raises an eyebrow at me from outside the door.
“Fancy a go?”
Why did B ask me not to stake this bastard?
I scoff at him. He smiles at me and starts to check out the door frame.
“You’re so totally not invited in by the way.”
He steps through the doorway and his smile gets a little bigger.
“Public living quarters pet, don’t need an invite.”
I roll my eyes at him.
Damn it, I should’ve remembered that.
“Did you need something Spike or did you want me to just stake you?”
“I heard about some doings from the underground, thought the Chosen Two might wanna hear about it.”
“What is it?”
“Tell ya what, we’ll go see blondie and I’ll tell you two together.”
I am NOT going to see B right now.
“Look if you wanna go find B and tell her you go ahead but we ain’t going together. She and I aren’t exactly talking right now.”
“Really, something happen between you two birds?”
“Yeah, something…”
I’m not gonna spill my guts to this loser.
“You know I’ve been meaning to ask you, is there something going on between you two ladies? Cause I sorta picked up on a vibe…”
“Are you gonna tell me what’s going on or not cause I’m picking up a vibe that’s telling me to throw you out that door.”
“Right then, straight to the point, something’s going down.”
“Something’s going down, is that it? Oh you are so going out that door.”
I walk up to him and grab him by his leather jacket collar.
“No wait… that’s not it.”
I resist the urge to throw him through the door.
“Talk fast.”
“The big bad beasties in this town…? They’ve got their panties in a bunch about something big. I’m betting it has something to do with Adam and the Initiative. Whatever’s going down, it’s going down soon, maybe even in the next couple of days, possibly even as early as tomorrow night.”
“Fine, now go tell Buffy and the gang.”
I throw him out my door landing a few feet from the door.
“They may actually do something about it.”
He gets up slowly.
“But…”
I turn my back to him.
“GO, before I decide to do more than throw you out of my place.”
I hear him run off.
I ain’t saving the world on info from Spike.
I close the door and go back to my bed.
Bloody walls------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Buffy’s POV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No… I’m not gonna do it.
I walk through the front door of Stevenson and head toward the stairs.
I’m not gonna go see Faith, much as I might want to. She needs time like Tara said and going to see her would not fall into the category of giving her time. I’ll just… I’ll just go back to my room ad go to bed. Sleeping will keep me from wanting her so much, at least until I wake up.
I head up the stairs to the second floor of the dorm.
I’ll let her deal with the whole me not being able to trust her thin. I need to find a way to convince her that I trust her. Course it would help if I actually did. She was right. I don’t trust her, not really. I want to trust her I really do I just… something inside me wouldn’t let me. I wanted to SO much but I couldn’t. Maybe after everything with Angel and Scott and Parker and even Riley I just… expect her to do what they did. I just expect her to betray me like all the others. It’s almost like I want her to do something wrong so I can hate her for it. I feel so horrible about it.
I have to do something. I have to do something or say something to make things okay again. I have to do something that’ll prove to Faith that I trust her and that I mean it deep down inside. But I can’t. I can’t do it if she won’t talk to me.
I get to my door and go to open it.
That’s there the giving her time thing comes in. I’ll just…
I open the door and walk inside.
Enjoy my blood red walls.
I look over the walls, stained with blood.
What the hell?
I nearly trip over something on the floor and I look down at it.
“Oh my god Forrest…”
I kneel down next to check his blood soaked body for life.
He’s cold. He’s been dead for a while, but what is he doing here?
I hear someone gasping for air.
There’s someone still alive?
I look up from Forrest’s body and scan the room. I see three other dead bodies, none of them moving. I stand up and take a second look around. Graham appears from behind the bed obstructing my view, lying on the floor bleeding and barely breathing. He’s propped up against the wall trying to keep from dying.
“Graham, what happened? Who did this?”
“Adam… he, he did this to… us.”
Adam? Why?
“Adam? Why? What were you doing here?”
He speaks between painful breaths.
“Getting murdered… apparently...”
He tries to laugh but it makes him grabs his side in pain and coughs up a lung.
“We… we came here looking for you. Forrest… he blamed you for, for what happened to R-Riley.”
“I didn’t kill him.”
“Didn’t matter to him... he was c-convinced if Riley hadn’t… met you he’d still be alive…”
I can’t argue with that, unfortunately.
“He came to take you o-out but… Adam showed… up and tore us a-apart… said he had… plans for the… slayers.”
“Plans, what plans?”
“Dunno… but whatever… whatever it is I bet it’s going down to-tonight… at the Initiative. S-stop him… please.”
“I will, now try and hold on until I can get a doctor.”
I start to get up but he grabs my arm weakly.
“Don’t bother I’m… I’m too far gone.”
“But…”
“You… you have to know, he… we found out his power core, it’s in his chest. You’ll h-have to rip it out to… stop him.”
“Okay I’ll, stop him just stay still until I can get a doctor.”
“Just promise… promise me you’ll… you’ll stop Adam.”
“I will, I promise.”
He smiles at me as he coughs up blood for the last time and collapses.
He’s gone all of Riley’s friends are gone.
I stand up and look down at Graham’s body.
I’ll do it Graham I’ll stop Adam for you, for you and for Forrest and especially for Riley.
I look around the room at the bodies on my floor.
I’ll do it for all of you, but I’ll need some help.
I leave.
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John’s POV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Damn it!
I kick the garbage can in my office next to my desk.
I had her.
I start pacing around the room looking for something else to destroy.
I had her right there. She was busy trying to save that loser Riley, she didn’t even see me coming up to her. I could’ve killed Faith and been done with it. Screw the plan, screw the trigger killing Buffy and taking Faith out in the process. If I get another chance to take either of them out I’m taking it. If Omega has a problem with it he can stake me after the prophecy DOESN’T come true and he doesn’t get his ass kicked.
I decide to sit down on my desk.
Then again, I might not have to worry about my next chance to kill the slayers. If I’m right Adam could be taking care of that very soon. Without Riley to plan around he can go any time. If they haven’t gotten too close Adam will tear them apart and our problems will be solved. He does want the slayers there for the kill count after all.
Scooby hypocrites
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Buffy’s POV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I walk through Giles’ door. Giles, Xander and Willow are still here and Anya has joined them.
“Guys we have a problem.”
“Yes I should say we do. Buffy we must talk about the situation you’ve put yourself in.”
Situation… what situation?
I walk into the living room so I can look everyone in the eyes.
“What do you mean? What situation?”
“Buff, we just… we want to talk to you about this Faith thing.”
“Faith thing? This Faith thing? Wanna clarify what exactly you mean by this Faith thing Xander?”
He gets really nervous.
Good, he should be. I’m not gonna let them tear apart my feelings for Faith.
“What I meant was your… your feelings for Faith they’re… well we’re concerned.”
Concerned?
“How? What EXACTLY is it about my love for Faith that ‘concerns’ you?”
“Well we…”
Xander pauses in mid sentence, unsure of how to finish that sentence so Anya jumps in.
“We think you might be insane.”
“Anya.”
“What? I said might be.”
They think I’m insane?
“Is that right? You think I’m insane do you?”
“No we, we don’t think you’re insane we just, we’re concerned that maybe… Buff you gotta admit you’ve been acting kinda weird lately, ever since Faith came back.”
“So I’m insane am I? I guess I’d have to be to hang out with such hypocrites.”
Willow steps in at the hypocrite remark.
“Buffy we aren’t hypocrites.”
They aren’t?
“This coming from the biggest hypocrite of all. Willow fell for Tara and we all just accept it, but I fall for Faith and I’ve gone insane? Talk about hypocritical.”
“Buffy we’re not…”
“You know Willow out of everyone I figured you’d understand. I figured you’d understand what I’m feeling, what I’m going through.”
“I do Buffy I mean I think I do but… Buffy we’ve seen you do a lot of things, most of them with Angel, but we’ve never seen you willing to kill for someone.”
“Okay but… I mean doesn’t that prove just how much I really do love Faith?”
“Buffy who you love is your business we are simply concerned that perhaps you are not thinking clearly.”
So they think I’m insane. Fine then, if that’s the way they want it.
“I’m not insane, I don’t care what you guys say. My love for Faith has never been clearer. The whole accusing Faith of murder thing is making things rocky between us but I’m gonna get her back, no matter what you guys think.”
I start to leave and then turn back.
“You know I came here because whatever’s going on with Adam is going down soon, maybe tonight. I came here for help. But you guys are obviously not interested in helping. All you want is to attack my love for Faith.”
I start to leave again.
“If you don’t wanna help with the spell or anything, then don’t. I’ll find a way to help her myself.”
“Buffy the spell is already off.”
What?
I stop at the door in shock and turn to look at Willow, standing now a few feet away.
“What are you talking about? W-What do you mean the spell is off?”
“Buffy… how did Faith get her memory back?”
“W… what do you mean? I told you h-how it hap… happened.”
“Buffy you need to tell us the truth. I think I know what happened but I need you to be honest with me. I can’t believe that Faith just got her memory back for no reason.”
“Well it… that’s really what h-happened.”
“Will’s right Buffy, it just doesn’t make sense that she just happened to get her memory back for no particular reason. What really happened?”
They’re not gonna stop are they? They’re just gonna keep…
“I, she… we kissed okay? Is that what you wanted to hear? We kissed and… our first kiss brought her back.”
The silence in the room is deafening as the whole picture comes into focus for them.
“Buffy you… even you have to admit, that such events can not be just coincidence.”
“No I… I get it, I realize that this could all be part of some plan some big evil cooked up to make me insane but it doesn’t feel that way. It feels real and beautiful and completely right and something this incredible can’t be evil, it just can’t be. Because, see the kiss it… it didn’t just bring her memory back it also made me realize we were meant to be.”
“But Buffy, that’s what broke the spell.”
What?
“What? How? What?”
I start to walk back in and stop.
“The kiss, the one that gave Faith her memory back… it broke the spell too.”
“What? What do you mean? How did our kiss break the spell?”
“Buffy the spell that these cult guys cast on Faith, it was supposed to amplify her feelings of anger and hatred for you. To make her unable to think of anything else and the drugs were designed to make her lose control when those feelings got too strong and then lash out at the person causing that anger, namely you.”
So that’s why she had those freak outs and attacked me.
“The point of the counter spell was to get her to release those negative feelings for you but the only way for that to happen was if she had… other, feelings for you.”
“Other feelings like… a love spell? You did a love spell on me? On both of us?”
“It didn’t work.”
“That’s not the point Will and you know it. You tried to do a love spell on us and you didn’t tell us. How could you?”
“Buffy the goddess I was praying to for the spell, Diana, she’s the goddess of love and FRIEND-ship. There was every chance all it was gonna do was make you guys friends.”
“But there’s a chance it might have been more than that. God Willow how could you? Did you guys… did you guys know about this?”
I look around at the people I thought were my friends.
“Did you guys know about what Willow was doing before the spell?”
No one says anything.
“You’re NOT ANSWERING ME.”
Xander breaks the silence.
“Yes Buffy we did.”
God who are these people? I thought we trusted each other. I can’t be here. I can’t look at these people.
“Well Willow I guess we didn’t need your little love spell cause Faith and I fell in love all on our own. Without your help. I-I have to go. I have to go stop a bad science experiment from committing a massacre.”
I go back to leave.
“I have to go find someone I can trust.”
I leave Giles’.
There’s only one person I can really trust.
The only one I can trust
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faith’s POV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------God she makes me so mad. I feel like I just wanna… SMASH something. This whole situation with B makes me wanna smash something.
I’ve gone back to pacing around my crust old motel room.
I can’t sleep. I’m not sure I’d want to even if I could. No doubt the damn PTB have cooked up another dream for them to beam into my skull to make me change my mind about breaking up with B. I’m not gonna let them. They don’t get a say in my love life. Hell they don’t get a say in my life at all.
I do what I want, when I want and I really could care less what they think I should do. And as if it wasn’t bad enough having the PTB on my back I gotta worry about the spell too. I gotta worry that the spell is gonna make me hurt Buffy because of my feelings for her. This is all her fault. It’s all…
There’s a knock at the door.
What the hell is going on? Why do people keep coming to me? It can’t be the manager I’m paid up for the week. The nest egg the mayor set up for me will keep me paid up for… well, as long as I want.
There’s another knock at the door.
I guess I can’t just let whoever it is stand out there, fun as it might sound. It better not be who I think it is.
I walk over to the door and open it.
Damn it.
“What do you want B?”
It’s exactly who I didn’t want it to be.
“Faith I…”
She looks at me with a mix of pain and desire. I roll my eyes at her and walk back into my motel room in a huff.
“Did you want something B? Other than the obvious.”
There’s a moment of silence.
“Faith can… can I come in?”
My back to the door I look at her from the corner of my eye. She looks like she could cry if I don’t invite her in.
“Please?”
Not that she needs an invite.
I take a deep breath.
“I guess.”
She tries to hide her smile as she steps inside hesitantly.
“So… how are you?”
Oh good, small talk.
I turn around and face her.
“Angry.”
She lowers her eyes.
“Right, and who could blame you?’
I look at her with a raised eyebrow and a half frown.
“You did.”
She breaths in sharply.
“And again I say right, without the blame question cause, well… god knows that could get repetitive. Faith I know I’m not your most favourite person in the world right now.”
“You’re not wrong about that.”
“And I don’t blame you for being angry with me, after what I’ve done. And I wouldn’t blame you if you decided to hate me for the rest of your life. I don’t deserve your forgiveness, after what I’ve done to you, and I would never ask you…”
“Were you gonna get to a point some time soon? Because I was kinda busy with the not caring.”
She takes a few steps forward but my steely glare makes her stop. She looks at me with tentative hope.
“I need your help.”
I just gotta chuckle.
“Is that so? Well too bad for you because I’m not in the helping mood.”
“Okay I… I totally get that I have no right to ask for your help but there’s no one else I can turn to, no one else I can trust. Even if you can’t forgive me, you helping me would at least make us… even.”
“Even?”
She runs a hand through her hair and looks at me. I shift my weight to my back foot and cross my arms over my chest.
“When you needed um, help… I was there for you. At the very least if you help me we’ll be… even.”
She is right. She was there when I needed her, no matter how things ended up between us she was there. And I can’t have something like that hanging between us.
“This doesn’t change anything, between us I mean.”
“I know “
She lowers her eyes again.
“I’m still mad at you.”
“I get it.”
We fall into silence again for a few seconds.
“So… what kinda arsenal you putting together for this little shindig?”
“We ARE the arsenal.”
“What?”
“Well um, whatever’s going down with Adam it’s going down tonight and…? I didn’t really have time to gather the troops.”
“So the Scoobies aren’t coming?”
It takes her a second to answer.
Is something up with B and her Scoobies? Bah, what do I care?
“Okay so, no Scoobies.”
“Yeah they could get hurt.”
“Okay so, it’s just you and me handing out a good old fashion slayer ass kicking. What about weapons?”
“Well I… I have a couple of stakes on me cause I was gonna go patrolling later but I guess that’s out.”
“Yeah I guess you’ve got bigger things to deal with.”
“You could say that.”
She takes a deep breath.
“Um, I do have something else that might help us.”
“What’s that?”
She reaches into her jacket pocket and pulls out a… a knife… my knife.
I… that could help her I guess.
“That could be a real help to you. Cut the big guy open and stuff.”
She closes the gap between us.
“Not me…”
I look her in the eyes as she puts her hands out to hand it to me, her steady confident eyes staring back at me.
“You.”
Me? Is she serious?
I look down at my knife in her hands, the blade gleaming at me from the bad lighting overhead. I look her in the eyes again, the same look staring back.
“Are… are you sure?”
She holds it up a little higher.
“I’m sure.”
I see the look in her eyes.
She means it, she really does.
I take the knife from her and hold it tightly.
“You’re not worried I might…”
I twitch at her with a stabbing motion and she doesn’t flinch in the slightest.
“… use it on you instead?”
She takes my hand with the knife in hers and guides it between us, blade upward. She puts it against her chest.
“I trust you.”
She… she really means it. When did this happen? What could’ve happened that… forget it, we have more important things to worry about.
I take a step back and she lets go of my hand, giving me the knife.
“I think I have an axe somewhere here. You can use it if you want.”
“Thanks.”
I turn and go to the closet for the axe.
“We could use all the help we can get.”
Don’t I know it?
I pick up the long handled axe and turn back to her. She’s pulling her hair back into a ponytail with elastic revealing her beautiful neck.
Okay, back to the world in danger.
“Here.”
I toss her the axe and she catches it no problem.
“Thanks.”
She looks it over.
“Pretty wicked axe.”
“Yeah I know. You ready?”
“Yup.”
“Let’s go.”
We head out the door and lock it behind us.
Kane and Able------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Buffy’s POV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I kick the front door of Lowell House in.
“Think the government will pay to have the door replaced?”
I look at Faith standing next to me.
“Oddly? Not my biggest worry right now.”
I smile at her and for a second she smiles back before she catches herself.
“Right, okay world in danger…”
She walks into the frat house/evil government Frankenstein lab and I follow her in.
“… big Frankenstein type monster looking to slaughter a bunch of people.”
“Right, gotta focus. The Initiative elevator is right over here.”
We head towards it.
“Yeah I know B, I do actually remember.”
Oh gee that was insensitive of me.
“Oh right… I’m sorry I, I didn’t mean to say that…”
She stops a few feet from the elevator/mirror.
“Look, B… can we just get through this without you apologizing every two seconds? I get that you’re sorry but that doesn’t change what happened.”
“I know I’m…”
“Let’s just do this I’d like us to be even.”
Even?
“Is, is that all that… that night was to you? Just some favour to be repaid?”
“God B, are we really gonna do this now?”
“Cause it was more than that for me. It was incredible and beautiful and the rest of the world went away for me.”
“Did it now?”
“Faith I… I tasted you.”
“Yeah you did. But lots of people have tasted me, more than I can remember. And you know, just for the record? You’re not the first girl to taste the power between my thighs either so just step off your high horse for a second and see what’s really going on between us.”
“But I…”
“We’re ex, remember? And by the way, you were the one who brought up the whole paying back a favour thing so I don’t see why you get to throw that back in my face. If anything I should be the one throwing it in your face. Besides which, this favour you got me doing? Kind of a big one, I’m thinking maybe… the scales will be tipped in my favour when all this is said and done.”
“Okay… if-if that’s what you want.”
At this point I’ll take any chance I can to spend time with her.
“Oh you’d like that wouldn’t you?”
“What?”
“You’d love an excuse for me to come crawling to you asking for help just so you can spend time with me.”
Did I say that or just think it?
“Faith I…”
“Look are we done here with this whole heart to heart thing? Cause for some reason I’ve got this weird urge to save the world and I kinda wanna get to it.”
She takes a few steps but I grab her arm to stop her. She looks at my hand on her arm and then up at me.
“We gonna throw down here B?”
“No I… I don’t know how many more times I can apologize for what I did.”
“How about none? I told you I get that you’re sorry and I’m tired of hearing about it. We’ve got innocent lives to save. It’s so sad that I’m actually happy about that.”
She starts to the Initiative front door again and I grab her by her shoulders, making her face me.
“Just… Faith just tell me that maybe… just maybe one day we could…”
She brushes my hands off her shoulders.
“We have work to do, are we gonna get to it?”
We have no chance. Oh god we have no chance.
“Okay we… we should go save the world.”
We walk over and stand in front of the mirror. I lift my leg to kick it down.
“Wait.”
I stop in mid-kick and look at her.
She’s checking herself in the mirror.
“What?”
She leans forward, checking her bra to make sure everything fits properly.
“Gotta make sure all the goods are in the right places. Don’t want anything getting bruised or broken you know?”
I put my leg down as she pulls her pants up, making it cling to her incredible ass. She uses her hands to puff up her hair a bit.
God she looks incredible.
“Your goods look pretty good to me.”
Did I really just say that?
She fake coughs and straightens up.
“Okay let’s go.”
“You’re ready?”
“Did I just say let’s go?”
“All right.”
I lift my leg again and sidekick the mirror, shattering it completely.
“That’s a waste of a good mirror.”
I smile at her and she brushes me off.
I guess it wasn’t as funny a joke as I thought it was.
“I bet the party’s already started. Spike told me Adam’s got nothing left to lose.”
She saw Spike?
“Spike told you?”
I don’t know whether to be worried or not.
“Yeah… oh don’t worry I threw him out on his ass quicker than he can say apocalypse.”
She goes to pry the elevator doors open and I decide to help her. The doors start to open.
“I wasn’t about to save the world on the advice of some Billy Idol wanna be.”
“Sounds like a good idea.”
The doors come open enough that we can get in.
“Actually I wasn’t planning on saving the world at all, not until you came by that is.”
“Yeah I…”
She doesn’t want me to apologize.
“Look I know you asked me not to apologize for stuff but… I’m sorry I didn’t leave you alone. I wanted to, I really wanted to but, well, world in peril and you were the only person with enough power to help me.”
“So I was your last resort? I’m not sure whether to feel proud or just disgusted.”
“Like I said, I’m really sorry.”
“Yeah well, life goes on you know?”
She looks down into the elevator shaft and smiles.
“Looks pretty steep, you ready to take the plunge?”
“Sure, why not? But don’t worry I’m pretty sure the party hasn’t started yet.”
“What makes you say that?”
“He wants us there for the death count.”
“Sounds like a trap.”
“Yeah it probably is.”
“Well only one way to find out.”
She steps off the edge of the elevator doorway and drops the probable 20 feet to the top of the elevator car.
All right fine, I better go after her.
I jump off the edge.
The Initiative------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faith’s POV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I hit the roof of the elevator and my slayer shock absorbers absorb the shock of the probable 20 foot drop.
Well that was fun.
After a second something drops beside me. I look over.
Oh, right… HER.
“Are you okay?”
I wish she’d stop asking stupid questions.
“I’m fine… you?”
“I’m good, one of the benefits of having slayer shock absorbers.”
I watch her ass jiggle as she slaps it, indicating her absorbers. I roll my eyes at her. I look down and unhook the latch on the currently underfoot overhead escape hatch, opening it. I motion for her to go first.
“Ladies first.”
She comes over and stands over the hatch.
“Oh that’s right, you’re not a lady… but you’re one hell of a hot woman.”
She smiles at me before jumping into the elevator.
God that’s even worse than the mirror joke.
I jump in after her. I hit the elevator floor and Buffy’s already working on the door. She doesn’t need help as the doors come open.
“Okay let’s…”
The elevator comes open and all we hear is guns cocking.
“… go.”
Outside the elevator there are six soldiers with their guns pointed at each of us.
Oh good, this looks like fun.
“The slayer… what are you doing here?”
“Looks like the party’s already started eh B?”
“Maybe so.”
“Party? What party?”
Buffy explains.
“The big massacre party Adam has planned for you and your boys.”
“A massacre? Have you gone insane? We’ve had every possible entrance under constant surveillance since Adam woke up. There’s no way he could get in without us knowing much less commit a massacre.”
Are these people morons?
“You really think one little guard is gonna stop an evil killing machine?”
“All right I’ve heard enough these two are under arrest for breaking into a secret government building, and the murder of Agent Riley Finn. Let’s go.”
The toy soldiers cock their guns again.
I bet it’s not the only thing they cock themselves.
I look over at B and she rolls her eyes at me. I let out a deep sigh before I step out of the elevator and surrender to the army brats.
I can’t believe I’m doing this.
One of the action figures pokes me with his big stick, urging me to walk faster.
These boys are really starting to annoy me. Boys didn’t used to annoy me, even the insane ones. Maybe it’s this whole new orientation thing that’s making these guys seem a little less than interesting. Bah, whatever.
The Colonel tries to assert his manly dominance over his prisoners as we walk by a big pit with demons strapped to gurneys and scientists doing experiments on them at the bottom.
“Take the slayer and her bitch to a holding cell.”
Her bitch?
“There are no more…”
Okay that’s it.
I spin around, grabbing the gun of the guy behind me and use the handle to hit him in the forehead, knocking him out. I point the gun at the Colonel’s head.
“Her BITCH? YOU BASTARD! I am NOT her BITCH!”
I aim the gun and put my finger on the trigger. Four of the five guns are pointed at me, the last one still pointed at B.
“Faith calm down.”
“Calm down? Did you hear what he called me? He called me your BITCH.”
“I know.”
“I’m NOT your BITCH.”
“No, no you’re not. You’re far from it, but now is not the time.”
“I’m not gonna let this Colonel Clink reject talk to me like that.”
Fucking bastard.
“Faith this isn’t the time.”
Not the time?
“Why not?”
All of the sudden the lights go out and the emergency lights come on. The alarm sounds and I look at B.
“Because we’ve got bigger things to worry about right now.”
I look around at the flashing orange lights spinning against the poorly lit blue over head lights.
She’s right.
I lower the gun and take my finger off the trigger.
“Adam must know we’re here.”
“That’d be my bet.”
“I told you people, Adam is NOT here.”
B and I look around the room and we both have the same thought.
“Your security system begs to differ.”
All seven guys look at us like we’re insane. We look at each other and shrug. I speak first.
“It’s a slayer thing. We’re both slayers by the way.”
One of the toy soldiers breaks in.
“Sir, what do we do?”
“Well I…”
He doesn’t finish as one of the scientists bursts through a door on the other end of the room.
“They’ve escaped, dear god they’ve escaped!”
The Colonel yells at him as he approaches.
“Who? Who’s escaped?”
A demon bursts through the door, chasing the panicked scientist.
“The…”
The demon catches up and tackles the scientist and sinks its teeth and claws into him. It almost looks like a werewolf with all the fur covering it, except there’s no full moon tonight, or this morning I should say since it’s almost dawn. The situation finally clicks in for the Colonel as the demon finishes off the scientist about 10 feet from us and starts looking for its next victim.
“The H.S.T.s… they’ve escaped.”
You think?
One of the action figures with brains speaks up.
“How many do you suppose sir?”
I guess having brains was going too far.
“If I had to guess, probably all of them, but maybe that’s just me.”
Three more demons burst through the door and they are joined by a couple more demons from some other part of the Initiative.
“It’s not just you Faith.”
She smiles at me and I check my gun.
“We have to take the armoury before it’s too late.”
If I were him? I’d know it’s already too late, but that’s just me.
“But sir, what about… them?”
The Colonel looks at me and B.
“Leave them, with any luck the H.S.T.s will take them out for us. Move out.”
Not likely.
I look down at the gun in my hands.
What do I need this for?
“Hey kid.”
The guy I knocked out starts to get up and tries to shake it off. I lob the gun to him and he catches it.
“You’ll need this more than I will.”
He turns and follows his troop toward what I’m assuming is the armoury, fighting demons along the way. Screams start to come from the pit as the demons in there start to break free of their restraints.
“Rude much? HEY! Where’s my thank you?”
I turn to B.
“See, this is why I hate helping people, they’re never grateful.”
“Yeah, I know.”
I look around at the growing number of demons and soldiers in the room.
“Hmm, quite a little massacre Adams’ got going eh?”
“Yeah pretty good plan, he doesn’t have to do any of the massacring himself.”
“Well, what do you want to do now? Take the demons down one by one till there aren’t any left? Cause I could use the big fight about now.”
“Nah, we’d never make it. I have a feeling this place is gonna be swarming with demons in a matter of minutes. I say we go for the head. We go for the master in this master plan.”
“Adam.”
“Any idea where to start looking?”
“Well, he was created in room 314. I figured we’d start there.”
“Sounds like as good an idea as any.”
“It’s over this way, let’s go.”
I follow her to that room 314.
The Power of Love
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faith’s POV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I kick the door to 314 down with very little effort. Buffy goes in first axe raised and I follow moments later pulling my knife out of my belt ready to attack. The room’s empty. We look at each other.
“I guess he’s not here.”
We both let our guards down.
“I guess not. Well, there goes my plan.”
Maybe he’s somewhere else, like command central wherever that is.
“Any idea where we should look now?”
“I was kinda hoping that this would be the last place we look but…”
The door behind us slams shut and locks automatically.
“Well this can’t be good.”
“I’m gonna have to agree with you there B.”
“Lock in a room, with no way out… this almost looks like a trap.”
All of the sudden, a secret door opens out of the wall at the other end of the room.
Obvious much?
“Okay this is officially a trap.”
Yeah I’d say so.
“You ready to take the bait?”
“It’s not like we have a choice.”
“True.”
We head toward the secret door but just before going through B stops me.
“Faith?”
Aw geez.
“Yeah?”
“Look I know that we’re, you know, not on the best of terms right now but… well one of us might not come back from this and… just in case it’s me I… I want you to know that I, I love you.”
Oh she just HAD to say that, didn’t she?
“Can we go yet?”
She gets a little teary eyed.
“Sure…”
We start walking through the door and down the mysterious hallway.
“Okay, Graham told me the only way to stop Adam is to remove the power source in his chest.”
“So what do we do? Ask him to lie down while I cut into him with my big knife?”
“Do you think that it would work?”
I laugh at her.
“Probably not.”
She smiles at me sheepishly.
What am I doing? Focus on the end of the world.
“We should probably have a plan B just in case.”
“Well I was thinking about that and I figured… Adam is probably expecting me but, he’s not expecting you. He may not even know about you, and if he does know about you he’s never fought you. He doesn’t know your fighting style. I figure if you attack him head on he’ll be caught off guard and I’ll use the distraction to bury my axe in his chest or something. Once we open him up it’s only a matter of time before we take him apart.”
“Or he kills us.”
“Either way.”
We see the end of the hall 10 feet away.
“You ready for this B?”
She takes a deep breath.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Okay.”
We walk into the secret room at the end of the secret hallway behind the secret 314 room in the secret government base.
There sure are a lot of secrets in this place that could be why no one who works here has a clue about anything.
Anyway, we walk in and there’s a huge guy who looks like a bad 3-D jigsaw puzzle standing over a monitor.
“You must be Adam.”
He turns around making big thumping noises with his feet as he does.
Boy I bet this guy has a hard time sneaking up on people, then again why would he?
B starts moving around the room, trying to surround him. Adam looks at me with a lack of emotion.
“And you must be the infamous Faith.”
Infamous? I’m infamous? Cool.
“Infamous? B did you hear that? I’m infamous.”
“Yeah I heard.”
She’s a little nervous. Who wouldn’t be? Well me actually.
“I suppose it’s better than being a botched science experiment like you.”
“What happened to you Faith?”
Happened?
“Uh, not to point out the obvious but, we haven’t known each other long enough to talk about my past.”
“I was told you were once a pretty evil killer. What happened?”
Happened?
I look over at B, who’s almost behind Adam.
She happened.
I look back at Adam.
“Stuff.”
“Come over to my side, you can do all the killing you want.”
Ooh what an offer.
“Well gee, let me think about that.”
I put my index finger to my cheek as if I’m thinking about the offer.
“Um okay.”
Buffy almost panics.
“How about I start with you?”
I rush at him at full speed and B joins me. Buffy was closer so she strikes first, swinging her axe. He blocks it with the metal on his left arm. He uses the same arm to knock her across the room.
Bastard!
I hit him in the metal side of his face, denting it slightly.
Well that was hard.
“Wow, I thought you were though.”
He backhands me in the face, sending me crashing into the wall.
Ow! Damn it that hurts.
“Tougher than you.”
I shake off the pain and stand up.
“Wanna bet?”
I smile at B’s words as she comes at him from behind and buries her axe into the demon half of his back. He stumbles a bit at the force of the blow, leaning forward slightly but staying on his feet.
“Ow!”
Ow?
“That’s it? You’ve got an axe in your back dude. What the hell is this thing made of B?”
“Why don’t we ask him?”
Adam turns around pulling the axe out of his back as he faces Buffy and throws it aside. He punches her in the face, knocking her down.
“Better things than two apparently.”
He hurt her, I’m gonna kill him for that.
I run at him, hitting him with a drop kick but it doesn’t faze him. He spins around, knocking me back a few feet. I’m about to strike back when I notice B, sporting what looks like it might become one hell of a shiner, getting to her knees and hits him with an uppercut to his nether regions. Again he’s not fazed.
“Damn, I guess he’s got no stones.”
She backs up out of reach of Adam. I come at him but the pain is too much. I can only watch as Buffy tries to take him on herself. She punches him in the face and he barely feels it.
“Faith, are you okay?”
I manage to get to my feet.
“Peachy.”
While she’s worrying about me, Adam punches her in the face again. She kicks him in the side and again he stumbles but doesn’t feel any real pain.
We need a new plan.
He hits her in the stomach making her double over.
Maybe one involving a little less pain.
He hits her again in the face and she drops to her knees.
He’s hurting her, I have to help her. I have to stop him.
She gets up and kicks him in the stomach. He barely flinches.
Why aren’t I helping her?
I feel my blood start to boil, a feeling I haven’t felt since…
No I, I can’t do this. Not now. I have to help her, I can’t hurt her.
He grabs her by the throat and lifts her off her feet. She starts to choke.
“Faith, help...”
I have to…
Something snaps inside me and I charge at him, faster than I ever have. My forearm comes down, hitting him on the underside of his elbow and I swear I hear something snap as he lets go of B and she falls to the floor.
Is she?
I hear her cough, getting her breath back.
She’s still alive, thank god. I must’ve broken his arm, I can use that.
I grab him by the wrist and twist it and he grimaces in pain.
He tried to hurt her.
“You tried to…”
He tries to back up but I twist his arm and he stops.
He tried to hurt her.
I catch his fist in mine as he tries to punch me, crushing it. I hear the bones in his hand crack and it brings him to his knees. He looks up at me.
“H-How?”
“YOU TRIED TO HURT HER!”
I let go of Adam’s wrist and I use my free hand to punch him in the chest and it goes right through him. I grab his power core and rip it out of him. His broken hand loosens in my grip and he collapses dead on the floor. I look down at the glowing power core in my hand.
I, I did it. I stopped him I… How did I do it? I thought the spell was supposed to make em hurt Buffy but… I don’t understand I…
“Faith… how did you…?”
I look down at Buffy, holding herself up by her arms weakly.
“I don’t know I…”
She coughs and collapses on the floor unconscious. I throw the power core aside and kneel down next to B.
“Buffy?”
I roll her over on her back and she has her eyes closed.
She’s not moving.
“BUFFY?”
I gently tap her on the cheek, trying to wake her up.
“Buffy speak to me.”
I check her neck.
It’s not broken, she’s all right.
I press two fingers against her pulse point.
She’s still got a pulse, but its weak and getting weaker. She must be hurt somewhere else.
I check her breathing.
She’s still breathing but if her pulse gets any weaker she might not be for long.
I start checking her ribs for broken bones. I count two maybe three broken ribs and possibly internal bleeding.
“God Buffy, what did he do to you?”
I run my hand over her face the bruises on it are starting to turn purple.
“Buffy please speak to me.”
I check her arms and legs.
They aren’t broken but her right leg feels like it might be fractured. I have to get her to a hospital.
I hear noises coming from down the secret hallway, probably demonic.
The initiative is probably swarming with demons by now and those soldiers are probably fighting for their lives with no way out. And I don’t care.
I pick her up my left arm under her neck, my right arm under her knees. I hold her close to me as I stand up.
I have to get her to a hospital and I don’t care what it takes.
A demon comes barrelling down the secret hallway at us. I shield B from the oncoming evil and use a high kick to kick it in the head, kicking it clear off. I look down at Buffy in my arms.
I don’t have time to kill every demon in this place I have to get her out of here.
I hold her tight and take off at half speed down the hall.
I can’t go at full speed or I might hurt her.
I reach the end of the hall and the door to 314 is wide open from when the demon broke in.
I have to get her out.
I run through the door to 314 and look around.
I was right, the place is swarming with demons and the soldier boys are trying to stop them. They can do whatever they want all I care about is getting her out so she can be safe.
I look toward the elevator we came down.
We can’t go back the way we came. I’d never be able to climb all the way up and carry her with me. And I am NOT leaving her here. If she stays I’m staying. I’ll die with her if I have to.
One of the soldiers runs by us and I bring him to his knees with my feet.
“YOU! Tell me how to get out of here.”
“What?”
I kick him in the head, knocking him on my back. I put my foot against his throat and press down, enough to hurt but not enough to keep him from talking.
“I need a way out.”
I readjust B in my arms.
“WE need a way out, and we need one that doesn’t go straight up.”
A demon comes at me and I step off the soldier’s neck long enough to kick the demon in the stomach, sending it 20 feet across the room and stepping on his neck again.
“A way out… NOW!”
He points to the elevator.
“There.”
I step on his neck a little harder.
“That’s the elevator. I said I wanted one that doesn’t go straight up.”
“N-Next to it… there’s a… a stairwell but the door’s locked and it’s solid. We can’t get through it.”
I take my foot off his throat and shift Buffy in my arms before heading towards the door.
“Not a problem for me.”
I’ll break it down if I have to use all my strength to do it.
A few demons come at me as I head to the door and I kick them away, never letting them get too close to Buffy.
I can’t let them hurt her, she’s too important to me.
I reach the door, surrounded by bodies, some demon some human. I kick the door and it barely vibrates.
I have to get out.
I kick the door again and I hear it crack.
I have to save her… I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to her.
I kick it again near the doorknob and it comes open. I burst through the door and fly up the stairs as fast as I can without hurting her.
I have to get her to a hospital before…
I make it to the top of the 3 flights of stairs and burst through the door and I’m back upstairs in the frat house.
“Buffy?”
She hasn’t moved, voluntarily or otherwise so I check her breathing and her pulse. It’s weaker but she’s still alive.
I run out the door, Buffy in my arms, looking for a hospital.
Remorse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faith’s POV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What am I gonna do?
She’s lying in that hospital bed in the room they put her in for her to recover.
What am I gonna do if she doesn’t wake up? They made me wait out here, in the chair outside her room. If they hadn’t insisted I stay out then I’d be in there now, sitting by her bed waiting for her to wake up. I don’t know what I’m gonna do if she…
My head drops into my hands and I feel like I’m gonna cry.
No, I can’t think like that. She WILL wake up. She WILL get better… and I’m gonna be there when she does. She has to be okay, she just has to be. No matter what else might be going on between us, I don’t want her to be hurt I don’t want her to…
God I don’t even want to think it. She’s the woman I… I care about her too much to want her to… She obviously trusts me now she wouldn’t have given me my old knife back if she didn’t. But I can’t forget what she did, no matter how much I might want to. When she gets better I’ll have to leave. Leave before we get to the talking thing and the forgiveness thing which of course leads to the making up, and you know the making out.
Which sounds all well and good but that’s not what we need. I told B that whatever went down wouldn’t change anything between us and I meant it. We still have to deal with what happened, no matter how beat up she is. I’ll be here for her until she wakes up and then I’ll bail. It’s what I’m good at.
I look up at the door to Buffy’s recovery room and my eyes get watery.
Things are really screwed up aren’t they? What if I never get a chance to tell her how I really…
“Sir… sir…”
My slayer hearing perks up unexpectedly.
“What was so important?”
Those voices… I know them from somewhere.
“They’re here.”
“They?”
The vampires…the ones who murdered Riley.
“The two of them.”
I wipe the tears from my eyes.
“You’re not giving me enough info Dave. Who’s here?”
What are they doing here?
I look down the hall they’re about 30 feet away.
“The slayers, they are both here.”
“What? How?”
“They went to fight Adam.”
“And?”
“He’s dead.”
“Damn it.”
“But all is not lost. Apparently one of them took a real beating she’s lying in a hospital room down the hall. We stopped the internal bleeding for the moment, but if you need her to she could have… complications.”
Evil doctors, the doctors here are evil. What are they gonna do to her?
“What are you waiting for? Why haven’t you done it already?”
“We were waiting for you John.”
I stand up and look at the door to Buffy’s room.
They’re going to hurt her, I have to do something.
“Let’s go.”
They’re coming to kill her I have to get her out of here while I still can. She’s still hurt and I can’t fight off the entire hospital staff and keep her safe.
I burst into Buffy’s room.
She’s still alive the heart monitor’s beeping away.
I rush to her side and check her over.
Her ribs are still broken, I think, and her leg is still hurt but I’m pretty sure they weren’t lying about stopping the internal bleeding. We have to get out of here. The window, I can get her out of here through the window.
I run over to the window and try to punch through it, it doesn’t shatter.
Damn it, where’s that incredible strength I had when I killed Adam?
I punch it again and it only wobbles.
Crap, it must be some kind of Plexiglas or something.
I look at Buffy, lying in the hospital bed.
I’ll get you out of here I promise. I need something to help me break the window.
I pick up the chair next to her bed by the backrest. I try and smash the window with it but it doesn’t break.
I have to get her some place safe.
I hit it again and it starts to crack.
I thought she’d be safe here.
I hit it again harder.
I was wrong.
I hit it harder and it cracks more.
It’s my fault.
I hit it again.
It’s my fault that she’s in danger and now I have to save her from it.
I hit it one more time and it shatters. I throw the chair aside and rush to Buffy’s side.
“Buffy?”
She doesn’t move.
“I’m gonna get you somewhere safe, I promise.”
I take all the monitors off her. I pick her up and rush her to the window as someone comes through the door. I jump up on the main floor window sill look back at the vampires at the door.
“Get her!”
Not gonna happen.
I jump out the window clutching Buffy to me, protecting her.
I’ll take her to Giles. He can help her, I can trust him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spike’s POV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------“Willy! Give me another one.”
“Sure thing sport.”
He comes over with the blood and vodka, pouring me another.
“I told you not to call me sport.”
“My bad Spike, but then again… what are you gonna do if I keep doin it? Bite me?”
I grab him by the collar and pull him to me till we’re face to game face.
“No… but I still know a few demons in this town who, if I beat them up enough, won’t mind tearing you apart.”
“Exnay on the port snay.”
I let go and he straightens up.
“So… Adam’s on the dung heap is he?”
“That’s the word from the big and nasty.”
“Bollocks, I guess that means I don’t have to keep saving for that chipectomy I was hoping for.”
“I guess not… I guess you’re not gonna be going all big and bad any time soon.”
I glare at him evil like.
“No, suppose not.”
I down the drink in one shot.
“Oh yeah, that’s the stuff. Gimme another.”
He pours another one and then gets called away by a demon.
“Hey…”
He stops.
“Leave the bottles.”
He sets the bottles down and goes to serve the other demon.”
I start pouring myself a new drink.
So, what do I do now? Adam’s dead. I’ve lost my chance to go frolicking through the park, have myself a happy little massacre. Lost my chance to dance on the slayer’s grave after I suck the marrow from her bones and drain her of every last blood cell.
Ah well, life’s a bitch and her name is BUFFY. So… what do I do now? Do I go to John and see if I can get in on all the death and destruction of the coming Omega apocalypse?
I take another drink and start pouring a new one.
Omega apocalypse? Isn’t that a little redundant? I mean omega stands for the end and an apocalypse is all about bringing everything to an end so… yeah I guess it is a little redundant.
I down another drink.
Bah, John bugs the hell out of me. I don’t know how I sired such a ponce. Following that idiot Omega, doing all his dirty work… screwing with the slayers and all that like some kind of, well… ponce.
I must admit though screwing with the slayers is rather enjoyable. Though I bet screwing the slayers is a lot more fun, at least according to Angelus. I’d love a go with that Faith chick, she looks like she’s good for a tumble. But she would never give me the time of day, not that I’d want one with the attitude on her.
She’d probably just do me to find out what Buffy felt when she boned Angel. Slayers these days do seem to have a thing for making it with vampires. But then Faith would probably just stake me afterwards. She seems just that impulsive. Wouldn’t want me bragging to all my friends, and I would brag. Banging a slayer isn’t something that happens every day.
No I’m guessing I’d have a better chance with Buffy, and she hates my guts.
I take another drink and pour a new one, downing it quickly.
But then she did give me that kiss I’m trying SO hard to forget. Faith was kinda put off by the whole thing though. I can’t quite figure out what’s between those two birds. I should go find out. At least with them I get to kill things… some of the time. But then I’d have to leave these wonderful drinks of mine.
I pour myself another.