Replaced
by Cryptkeeper
Rating: R
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me at all.
Feedback: This is my first attempt at this fan-fic game so give me
your all.
PART 1
"What was it that hit me this time?"
God it feels like someone took a sledge-hammer to my head. Oh God! I can't see! I'm blind! I'm never going to see again! Oh. Just have to open my eyes. There that's better.
"B?! Oh shit, B are you alright?"
"Faith?"
I turn my head towards her voice and yep there she is in all her badness. Her delicious badness. Dark tight top, those mouth watering leather pants, and that sexy leather jacket. Hmm. Definitely have plans for her tonight.
"Hey B are you ok? You look a little sick and pale. Sit down and take a few minutes."
Oh Faith! She's always so caring and gentle with me. God I can't believe how much I love her sometimes.
"I'm ok Faith. Just a little dizzy that's all."
"Oh okay."
She doesn't look like she whole heartedly believes me, but she seems to be convinced enough to not question me on it more. She helps me stand then looks me over like she always does and when she's satisfied that I'm not majorly hurt she directs her questions back at me.
"Hey B where'd you go and what happened? I mean, you ditched us after we left Giles and when I come looking for you you're like nowhere to be found."
"I don't know what happened. I remember cutting across the cemetery chasing some baddies and then I wake up inside here. How'd you find me?"
"Are you kidding me? You were making enough noise to wake the dead! In fact you did. That's how I found you. There were a bunch of baddies scratching around the crypt and I came to see what the big deal was. The big deal turns out to be you."
I don't remember anything. What happened to me? All I can remember is the cemetery and then nothing. God anything could have happened to me!
"Faith?"
I look up at her with teary eyes. She looks like she wants to take away what I'm feeling. Like she wants to give me back those lost minutes of my life, but she can't. No one can. God why did this happen to me.
I must have really started bawling because the next thing I'm aware of is her warm arms around me holding me gently. I feel bad for what happened to me, but I feel even worse for having this breakdown in front of her. She doesn't need to see me like this. I don't want to let her see me like this, but I can't hold this from her. We've been through too much to try and hide from each other. She knows me like no other, and it's the same for me. We are like mirrors of each other's soul. There will never be another who can know my soul like she knows mine. Being here in her arms is heaven and something else for me. Something that will never be named and never be written.
"It's going to be okay B. We'll go see Giles and try to figure out what happened to you. Even if he doesn't have a clue what happened at least he'll give us somewhere to start looking."
That's my Faith. Always finding a way to make me feel better. When I first met her I would have never thought that she would be capable of this level of emotion but I've seen and felt the depth of her emotions and it astounds me. She's just absolutely wonderful sometimes.
"God I love you Faith."
What's this? She went all frigid with me. That's not supposed to happen. Faith doesn't get hard with me. Literally, well there is........ I must still be a bit out of it here. Focus Buffy! This is no time for your brain to turn mushy.
"Faith what's wrong?"
Faith backs away from me like I just stuck a knife in her gut. That is not an expression I want to see on her face while she's looking at me. Lust? O.k. Desire? O.k. Knife in the gut? SO not o.k.
"Buffy what are you saying?"
Buffy? Faith never calls me Buffy. Why did she do that? I'm not Buffy! I'm not Buffy! I'm B! Faith, I'm B! Your B!
"I love you Faith."
I try to get closer to her but she just backs away again with that same combination expression of disbelief and something I don't recognize. This night just will not quit.
"Buffy...you..you can't say that to me?"
"Why the hell not Faith? It's how I feel damnit and it's how you feel about me!"
"I don't feel that way about you Buffy. I never have. You must have thought that because I took care of you tonight with the holding and stuff that I love you, but I don't."
Please let this be a dream. Let this be a horrible dream and any minute, any second now I'm going to wake up in my nice warm bed wrapped around Faith. Please let this be a dream.
"What are you saying? We've been together for a year and a half Faith! Are you seriously going to tell me that during that time you didn't feel anything for me?"
She looks like she wants to take off, but doesn't want to look like she wants to. Even my brain wants to desert me.
"We were never together B. As for the year and half, yeah, I have been in a relationship but not with you. Are you sure you're okay? You're saying some pretty weird stuff."
"Ugh!! What the hell is going on? If you're playing around with me Faith this is not funny!!! This is so far from funny that funny isn't even in its circle of friends!"
"That's really clever there B, but seriously I'm not fuckin' around. Come on B, everyone know that me and Cordy have been together forever. I mean B, you were the one that convinced me to ask her out that first time. I'm still trying to come up with a big enough reward for you."
Slap me, stomp me, shake me, pour freezing cold water on me or something but please wake me up from this dream. I want to wake up now! Cordelia?! She loves Cordelia. Cordelia, whatever her middle name is, Chase. Cordelia Chase the girl who I absolutely despise at times. That is who she loves. There is seriously something wrong with this picture? There was only one thing to do in this situation.
"Sorry Faith."
"Sorry for wh.....?"
Oooh. Didn't mean to hit her that hard but desperate times call for desperate measures. I truly know what that means now.
"Faith in love with Cordelia? What kind of dream is this?"
PART 2
Hmm, where to go? Where to go? I could go to Giles' place but it's kind of late and I don't want to wake him up. Plus there's the fact that all he's going to do is bombard me with questions once I explain to him what happened, well as much of it as I know which is about zilch right now. I kind of want at least a good 5 hours sleep before that happens. Oh well, I guess home it is.
I look down at Faith and see that she's still knocked out. Uh-oh. That looks like a pretty nasty bruise she's got forming there.
"I guess I'm going to have to carry you to my house Faith. I hope nobody gets suspicious."
It takes about 10 minutes to get from the cemetery back home and surprisingly no one got suspicious seeing me carrying Faith. Then again this is the Hellmouth. I don't see any lights on in the house. Thank God Mom is asleep. That is another lecture I don't want to hear.
Okay this is going to be a challenge. The key should be above the door in the crack. I'm reaching up for it and of course Faith slips from my arms. Being short is so not fair! Ouch. She fell flat on her face. I hope her nose isn't broken. I think she's had about enough damage caused by me for tonight.
Well she's already down there and it's not like she's going anywhere. I reach up for the key and feel for it with my fingers. Cobwebs. I'm SO hating spiders right now. Finally. I slip the key in the door and twist it to the left. I pick Faith up into my arms and kick the door open.
"Home Sweet Home."
Glad to see that my house hasn't changed. Still the same. Nice and homey like. God that sounds like something Xander would say. I kick the door closed, walk over to the couch, and place Faith down as gently as I can. She looks so sweet and innocent like that. I could spend hours just watching her.
I'm so tired. A glance at my watch and I see that it's almost 2 in the morning. I better get some sleep. For the second time tonight I grab Faith and silently carry her upstairs to my bedroom. That's weird. There's somebody in my bed already. I am totally surprised at myself for being so calm, but I guess I've reached my 'Freak Out' quota for tonight. Still, there's somebody in my bed and it's not me or Faith. Who the hell is it?
The lump in the middle of my bed moved. The sheet slipped down a little and I can see an abundance of blonde hair. Blonde hair that is the exact same color as mine. I'm panting already. I'm panting like I've just run a slayer marathon and that's a LOT of running.
I don't control my arms anymore as they bonelessly slip from around Faith's waist. She slumps to the floor with a loud thud. The lump stiffens briefly and then all I see is this white sheet being thrown over my head. Cheap trick. I'm a slayer so it's no problem for me to get from under the sheet and tackle whoever to the ground. We're rolling along the floor trying to get a grip on each other. Jesus, whoever this is is pretty damn strong. I usually don't have to fight this hard unless I'm sparring with Faith.
I finally pin loose limbs to the floor. Whew! That was a real workout. I have to see who this is. My curiosity is just jumping up and down doing cartwheels. I climb up further and pin their arms with my legs giving my hands free purchase.
I whip the sheet off and force myself to breathe normally. This is the absolute last thing I was expecting and it looks like it goes the same for her. Yep. It's a girl. Oh yeah, but not just any girl. No, that would be too easy. The Hellmouth doesn't allow anything to be that fuckin' easy, we need that extra little bit that makes us special.
So ladies, gentlemen, demons, and baddies of all kinds let me introduce you to my double. It's official. Something really creepy is going on around here.
PART 3
"Who the hell are you?!"
"Who the hell are you?!"
The nerve of this clone, double, image, oh what the hell ever it is. It's got a fuckin' major attitude problem going on! Asking what I'M doing here when it's taken up residence in MY bed, in MY home.
"Ohh! Fuckin', fuck, fuck! My fuckin' head hurts! FUCK!"
Faith chooses now to join us again among the conscious. I knew she was going to be pissed. I SO knew it!
"Faith?! What's wrong with you? Faith answer me! You crazy bitch, what the hell did you do to her?!"
Will this thing quit yelling at me! I am so close to losing my patience with it.
"B? I see...two...of you."
"Faith. You have to pull yourself together. Just try. I might need your help tonight and I would like for you to be at least somewhat aware."
"Fuck you B! OWW! My fuckin' jaw's bruised! I shouldn't do anything for you after you punched me tonight! By the way, what the HELL was that for?! Just because I don't share your feelings you decide to clock me?!"
"Faith I'll explain later but we really have a problem here."
I really don't need to get into this with her right now. Come on Faith get pissed later. I don't know how dangerous clone-girl is yet and I don't want to chance not being able to help the both of us if the need arises.
"Just remember B.....whichever one you are........I owe you one."
That's all that comes out of her mouth before she passes out again. I really need to see about her but my arms are kind of full right now.
"Just a glance won't hurt."
I take my eyes off of clone-girl for a second to look over at Faith and see how she's doing. Not so good. Her eyes are closed and she's moaning. She still must be pretty out of it. That's to be expected seeing as how many times she's hit the floor tonight. The bruise on her face is an odd mix of blue and purple. That's got to hurt. Icing it will help.
"I'll kill you."
Whoa! Damn this thing can hit hard. Here we go again and this time she looks really pissed off. She bucks up and dislodges me then wraps her arms around my waist. What she does next is pretty damn impressive. I'm guessing we're the same weight since she looks EXACTLY like me, so that's about.....110 pounds of me that she's tossing across the damn bed. I know slayer strength and all but she could have at least looked like she was straining. Not that I'm heavy or anything. I'm SO not heavy. I weigh nothing. Still it's a little ego pinching when I'm tossed like that. I mean demons have tossed me, but they are like demons, but she's a slayer......
Author: "Hey Buffy um.....the fight? Want to get back to it now?"
Buffy: "Oh. Right. Sorry."
Concentrate. Ooph! She flys across the bed and tackles me to the floor. She's got some pretty impressive moves going on. This is almost like what Merrick taught, well was trying to teach me before he died. I kind of stopped using it because it just reminded me of him but I still remember it. Good thing too. She's about to try another toss when I roll to the side and lock my legs under her arms prepared to launch her. Bet you don't know this one.
"Bet you don't know this one."
She smirks. The damn thing smirked at me.
"I bet YOU that you didn't think of this."
Huh? Oh shit! I don't even have time to think when I find myself airborne through the bedroom window. She threw me like I was a fuckin' frisbee through the damn window. She threw me high too. I'm thinking I've been airborne for about 10 seconds before I see the ground rushing to meet me.
"Good night."
THWAACK!
"I hate this part."
The last thing I know is total darkness
==Unconscious=====1...2...3..4..1250....8000.
(Back to the land of the living)
"Ohhh."
Major headache here. This waking up on cold stone is getting really old. I'm not going to freak out. I'm NOT going to freak out. There's sunlight streaming in from a window above me so it must be light out. That means I've been out since dark. About 5 hours maybe.
"Wow. That's really weird. It looks just like you Buffy. Well except that it doesn't have your clothes. Not that they are bad clothes. They're good clothes just not regular Buffy clothes. But that's good, because if they were regular Buffy clothes it would be hard to tell you two apart. That would be bad. Two Buffys is bad. Not that I'm saying one Buffy is bad, just that two at the same time is not right. Unless you were twins, then that would be cool. Totally cool. Would you both be slayers? Is that possible? Twin slayers. That's cool. Are you sure she isn't your long lost twin Buffy? That could happen. Then that would be cool. Two Buffys would be coo....."
"WILL! Calm down. You're rambling on and on. Sorry for snapping but I was woken from a damn good dream by this clone and I'm still a little...ugh, so can you just not ramble now."
"Okay."
Will? Willow? Willow who is my friend? Willow!
"Willow!"
If there's one person who can help and believe me it's got to be my best friend. I prop myself up against some bars and try to.......... Hold on a minute. Bars. I reach out and my fingers bump against...yeah, they are definitely bars. Why would bars be here? Bars. Bars. Oh God. They didn't. My eyes fly open and I look all around me. They did! Oh God they did.
"You locked me in the cage?!"
PART 4
I'm in the cage. I'm IN the cage. Me. Buffy. The Slayer. I am in the freakin' library CAGE!! The first thing I do when I get out is to have another round with clone-slayer over there. Definitely. She can count on it.
"Giles? Are we sure that this Buffy is bad? I mean, she looks pretty harmless to me."
Thank you God for giving me the greatest best friend in the world. Doesn't matter what horrible things have happened I've always got Will by my side.
"I thought the same thing Red and look what I got for my troubles. A fuckin' punch to the face!"
Faith's STILL obsessing over that. GRRRRRR! Why can't I catch just one fuckin' break?! One! That's all I ask. Just. One. Fuckin'. Break!
"Yes she does seem quite normal actually. Perhaps caging her wasn't the best approach to finding out what has happened?"
He directed it right at clone-girl. Like I'm going to get ANY sympathy from her. She turns toward me and instantly lock into this silent staring contest. Against my will I find myself really looking at her. Same hair, same face, same everything, but her eyes are....different. What's different about them? They look empty, defeated, completely without emotion. Then it comes to me so quickly.
"You're lonely."
She's stunned for a second, but just as suddenly the walls come down. Faith, my Faith, she used to do that. When I would come too close to getting through to her, she would clamp down, shut herself off from me. It killed me to see it from her, but it's frightening to see it happening to a mirror image of myself.
"You don't know anything. Giles? I say we just get Will and Amy to work a spell and banish this thing before it causes any trouble."
"Uh, Buffy? I understand your need to do your duty however; I think that we should look at this from all angles before we react too hastily."
Giles to the rescue. She's not liking it. In fact she is hating it, but even I wouldn't go against Giles on this if our roles were reversed.
"Fine."
She sneers at me before rolling her eyes and stalking to the farside of the library. She reminds me of an irritable 5 year old. Do I act like that when I don't get my way? Geez I hope not.
"FAITH!"
My head snaps up and I look on with irritation as the Queen waltzes, well that's not right, floats into the library. Dressed in the latest like always. My ire gets knotted when I see her run straight to Faith.
"Poor baby look at your face. Who did this?!"
Clone-girl suddenly strolls back to our side of the room. There's a huge smile on her face. It's almost sinister. This can't be good.
"Take a look at what did this Cordy. I know how much you would love to take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity."
Bitch. You are a Slayer Buffy. Vamps tremble before you, demons run screaming when they hear your name. There is no way in hell that Cordelia Chase glowering at you is making cold chills roll down your spine.
"What the hell is that? It's so ugly!"
"HEY!!!"
At least we agree that she was damn insulting.
"Sorry Buffy, but would you look at its clothes? Total 'Nightmare On Elm Street' here. This proves that your sense of style is improving because of me. She's dressed like you were when you first got here."
"GRRRRRRRRRR!"
I can feel the snarl on my lips, but the growl surprised me. Seems in this..whatever, Cordelia's powers to irritate me have been increased exponentially.
"Are you sure that cage can hold her?"
"Definitely."
Another growl forms on my lips as I see her cuddled up in Faith's arms. This isn't your life Buffy. None of this is what you know is true. She has every right to be with your,....her Faith. I think I'm going to be sick. I can't look at this. My head drops to stare at the floor.
"Buffy why are your eyes glowing?"
Glowing? Just as quickly my head snaps up. Well, well, well. Little Miss clone-slayer's eyes are definitely glowing. A pretty bright purple at that. Hmm. Maybe now I'll get treated with some respect. A warm feeling I just can't describe is racing through my body. I can feel the smile on my face grow.
"Look! Both of their eyes are glowing! It's both of them!"
What are you talking about Will? I look around trying to see who else has glowing eyes but everyone's NORMAL eyes are either focused on clone-girl's or on....me. Me? My eyes are glowing. My eyes are glowing! What's happening?! Why are my eyes glowing?! Before I can even properly panic a cold, dark, voice rumbles through my head. It makes me squeeze my eyes shut tightly and grab my head.
'Guess what Buffy? This is only the beginning.'
PART 5
"BUFFY!!!"
I jerk up quickly and look around. They're all looking at me with anxious expressions on their faces.
"Hey B, what's the what? Didn't you get enough sleep last night?"
I'm used to Faith leering like that at Cordelia, but it's kind of freaky when she's directing it specifically at me. If Cordy were here she'd trash me right now. Where is Cordy? In fact where's everything? What is this? Where's the cage? Where's the clone Buffy? What happened?
"Buffy are you alright? You seem...disoriented."
He's advancing on me and instinctively I back away. I don't know what's going on. I feel like I'm losing my mind. Where am I? What's going on? The chills run down my back and I'm heaving just trying to get air into my constricted lungs.
"Get away from me."
I back away until my back touches the wall and it then occurs to me that I must have been on the floor to start with. How did I get on the floor?
"B? It's going to be alright. I'm right here for you."
Now Faith's coming toward me. If she thinks she's going to get any more than that fake Giles did she's got another thing coming.
"Get away from me."
She stops abruptly and looks at me with this wounded expression. She looks like someone took her favorite toy away.
"B what's the matter?"
She tries to come forward again and this time I lash out. Lucky her, she's got good reflexes because a normal person would have a broken arm now. I watch tears form in her eyes. Faith crying? As long as I've known Faith I've never seen her cry. It's disconcerting to see her almost doing it now. I'm used to bad girl Faith, not touchy-feely Faith.
"Who are you? Where am I?"
"Buffy just calm down. Everything is alright."
Alright? Everything's alright?! Nothing is alright! I'm in a strange place that I KNOW I don't belong in with people that look like my friends but who I KNOW aren't. How in the hell is anything alright at this point?!
"What are you crazy? What demon are you because I'm SO going to hurt you if you don't change everything back the way it was!! And another thing...show your real faces!"
You could have set off an atomic bomb and it still wouldn't have budged them. They stand like concrete garden gnomes. It's the fake Willow who pulls out of it first.
"Umm Giles? Faith? I think something's wrong here."
"You are quite right Willow. I believe the next question would be 'what'?"
"Nope. Not what. Who?"
Didn't she get the message the first time. Obviously not. Looks like I'm going to have to remind her because Faith is coming toward me again. No way she's taking me without a fight. I'm getting ready to spring at her but she stops short. She stoops down and looks at me with her head cocked to the side.
"What are you looking at Demon Girl?"
She smiled. The thing smiled at me. I can feel my anger rising and rising fast. What is it with demons thinking they are superior? That was an EXTREMELY dumb question to ask myself. Hello? Evil thing doing evil things with evil powers. Who wouldn't get a kick?
"Hey lookie what I got."
I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't even notice her. She's pretty damn quick. In less than 5 seconds she's gotten close enough to me to snatch a piece of my skin off. Damn Slayer quickness!
".............."
Wait. She snatched a piece of my SKIN off? I look at her and yes that is my flesh she's got in her hand. That is disturbing in itself, but what really catches my eyes is the thick black goop dripping off of it. It's then that I feel something wet on my face. I already know what it's going to be, but I still freak when I reach up and pull back a hand full of the mysterious black stuff.
"Gotcha."
I see a cold light in her eyes that I've never seen before. The Faith I know is bad-girl to the tenth degree but I've never seen her with this frigid determination in her eyes.
"Good lord Faith! How did you manage to figure out that she wasn't human?"
"Slayer connection Giles. I didn't feel anything. That's what gave it away. I didn't feel that feather down your back thing that I do with B. It kind of threw me when I didn't feel it before."
That's new. She's looking at me like she wants to just run right through me.
"Do yourself a favor and tell me the truth because if you don't...."
She pauses and pulls a dangerous looking knife from her jacket. The sun shines on it and it reflects in deathly beauty.
"Where is she?"
What am I supposed to say? I don't know what to think for that matter. I'm obviously not human judging by my propensity for dripping black blood and my habit of dropping into unexpected places like this one for example.
"I don't kno..."
I barely managed to bring my arm up to lessen the pain of having her ram her forearm into my throat. She's pissed. I'm face to face with her and her eyes are like two black holes. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am staring at my death.
"Faith! You mustn't let your emotions rule you. Calm down so we can find out how to help Buffy. She's our only chance at getting her back safely. You must pull yourself together..for her sake."
Oh thank you. She's letting up on me but still there's that cold look in her eyes.
"You haven't gotten off that easy. You will tell us what you have done with Buffy."
Giles has joined her now. His eyes are as hard as rock. A glance to the right tells me that Willow is on board too, though her eyes are the most frightening. What with them being totally black and the white current dancing on her fingertips. I'm stuck between a cold watcher, a berserk slayer, and a raging witch. Of course I start telling them everything and anything.
"Do you believe any of this Giles? Could it be true?"
It's been about twenty minutes since I started telling them about the other Buffy and my other world. I've got to admit to myself that the chances of them believing it are slim. They might as well be minute. I mean would you believe a demon with half her cheek gone and dripping black blood?
"If I find out that you lied to me..well let's just say that I really hate to be lied to and when I'm done with you...you're really going to hate me."
"You don't have to be so cold. I mean I just found out that I'm not human, something that I thought I was for 17 years mind you, and on top of that I'm in this alternate world. Believe me, I'm anxious to get back to normal, or what passed for normal."
She rolls her eyes but I see that berserker slayer has left. Giles took a chill pill and Willow's stopped scaring me with the light show but there's still a standoffish attitude about her.
"What do you think Giles? Sound like any baddie you ever heard of?"
Giles takes his glasses off and wipes them in his shirt. It's right down to business. Giles always does that when he's about to get into the mode. It never fails. He puts them back on and it's Watcher time.
"Possibly. I recall a demon mage by the name of Timoxiuz in my early days who's particular energies were focused upon this sort of diversions but he was banished 1200 years ago. I do believe that he is still quite unhappily floating in an outside Hell right now. We must research this deeper. Ahem, Willow will you...."
"I'm right on it Giles."
"Faith, perhaps you can find the crypt that uh......what should we call her?"
There it is again. They are talking around me. I wonder if they did this to the Buffy that belongs here. Something tells me that I'm not far off in my thinking.
"Call me Anne."
I see Faith stiffen briefly and then relax. She doesn't look at me but then again she doesn't have to. Her body language said it all.
"Fine."
There couldn't have been a reply she said that could have been any terser than that. Well that's just fine.
"Yes, alright as I was saying. Faith could you possibly go over the crypt again? Perhaps there is something there to give us a clue."
"I'll check it out."
She's about to leave again when Giles says something that she really didn't want to hear. I don't think it's a good idea.
"You want me to take that with me?"
Okay that was mean. The other Buffy must've felt like this when I kept doing it to her. Damn. I hate this 'turn about is fair play' thing.
"Yes...she can be of assistance and I don't believe that she will give us any trouble."
He didn't have to say the 'or else' because just his tone alone implied that much. She turns to look at me for the first time in a 5 minutes and the anger is clear on her face. She walks over to a drawer and pulls something from it then stalks back over to me. A second later she tosses a little package at me.
"What's this for?"
"Your face. Come on."
She turns without another word and walks away. I have no choice but to follow. I wordlessly follow her out the door while trying to put the bandaid on to cover my mutilated cheek. I just know this is going to be a fun night.
PART 6
We've been checking out the crypt for the last hour and a half and she hasn't said a single word to me. This would be fine normally but I'm getting bored, and the vibes she's throwing out are making me feel uncomfortable.
"I don't think there's anything here that can give us a clue."
She stops and I can just make out the faint growl that comes from her. What is it with the growling? I mean first the other me, well I guess I can call her Buffy now seeing as I'm Anne. I wonder how close her and Faith were. I mean Faith looked like she wanted to take my head off when she found out everything.
"Were you two close?"
"That's none of your damn business."
Oookay. She's going to be difficult. I can do difficult. I'm used to her stubborness. She might not be the Faith I know, but they are pretty much carbon copies of each other except the love stuff.
"You were pretty close huh? Faith, my Faith, and I aren't really close. We like each other plenty it's just that we're not a couple-y type close."
She stands up and walks, correct that, stalks over to me. We're so close that I can feel her hot breath on my cheek and see the tiniest flecks of gold in her eyes. I never knew Faith's eyes were this beautiful up close.
"Listen cause I'm only goin' to say this once Demon-Girl. YOU are not Buffy. You will never BE Buffy, but you've probably already figured that out what with you not being too human an' all. The only reason why I haven't put a nice fat woodie through your chest is because you know the score better than me, and as much as I don't like it, you're my only chance at getting my B back."
Her standing so close and breathing on me is starting to make me feel weird. God, I can feel her body heat right on me. She's soo hot. Metaphorically speaking...I think.
"Um Faith could you maybe back off some. You're....you're making me uncomfortable."
Of course, in true Faith form, she takes two steps closer making me take two back. We're in this altered Bunny Hop until I finally hit the wall. She's got to back up or I'm gonna make her back up.
"What? Can't stand the heat Demon-Girl? Shouldn't play with fire then."
"I can stand the heat just fine Faith."
Something in her eyes light up. A feral grin spreads across her face and I just know that this is going to get out of hand.
"You wanna dance Demon-Girl? I got all night."
"Let's go then."
So what if I'm a demon, half-demon, or whatever. She's been challenging me at every corner tonight and this time I'm gonna lead.
"I've been wanting to do this all night."
I block the first punch but she connects with the second. She doesn't have time to get in a third when I grab her arm and run her into the wall. As soon as she moves off I grab her and flip her onto her back. She's up in a flash and then the real fighting begins.
We're throwing punches and kicks left and right. On a skill level we're pretty evenly matched even if she's obviously stronger than me. The pain in my ribs from her kicks is evidence of that, but I've got the control. She's riding high on her anger and rage.
Just as I'm ducking to avoid one of her strong kicks something catches my eye. Wrong move when you're in a fight. Never break concentration. She kicks me so hard I think I feel two bruised ribs crack. I land in a pile of bricks and that just kicks the pain up to an almost unbearable level.
"Faith stop."
She ignores me and picks me up by my throat. Her eyes are so cold. I don't think I've ever seen anyone with that much hate before.
"This proves you're not her. You don't have her focus."
"There's something there."
Breathing becoming an issue here. I'm fighting just to draw air into my lungs. It's got to be the ribs for sure.
She looks at me for a long moment. Her eyes lose the cold front but they're blank, like she has absolutely no feelings at all. Like she's a robot.
"Later. You need to see Giles."
"Sure, Giles sounds fabulous right now. Oh yeah, I can't take two steps without doubling over from pain."
She almost, but not quite, she almost smiled and I could see a bit of the Faith that I know. The danger girl with the *wicked* sense of humour.
"I'll... Here."
She comes over to me and gently puts her arms around my uninjured side. With a little fumbling and alot of pained hisses from me, we finally find a position that allows her to take much of my weight so that I can walk.
"Thank you."
She won't look at me and instead stares straight ahead. From this angle I can appreciate Faith fully. She really is a beautiful girl. It's funny that it takes time-travel and finding out I'm not human to realize what Cordelia and Buffy must've seen all along.
"You're welcome....Anne."
She looks at me and then she really does smile. I guess whatever anger she had with the situation has been resolved. Our little throw-down served to bring us together so-to-speak. I don't think she completely trusts me but I think she understands that it's not my fault this happened.
'Of course not! You're not that strong nor that clever little Slayer. Ha ha hahaha. I have big plans for you two my Slayer. The fun is just beginning! It's all a game and you are my pawns! Check-mate Slayer! Ha, ha, ha, hahahahaha!'
I grab my head in pain. He's too loud. I can't stand to have him in my head like this. He's making my head hurt.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!"
"Anne? Anne what's the matter?"
"He's in my head."
"Who's in your head?"
"I don't know! Make it stop! Make it stop!"
His laughter is still rumbling through my head. It's like someone set two sonic speakers in my ears. My sharp slayer hearing just amplifies it to 100 decibals. Make it stop. He's making me crazy. It gets louder and louder until I can't control the scream that rips from my mouth.
"AAAAHHHHHH!"
I fall to my knees in pain. My eyes are squeezed so tightly I can feel tears streaming down my face. I feel the sensation of hot liquid dripping from my ears and seeping through my fingers. It's still getting louder. I can't take it anymore! Turn it off! Make it stop!
"STOP IT!!!"
It's so loud now I can't even hear myself yelling and screaming. I can't stand it any longer and my world suddenly goes pitch black.
PART 7
Notes: You're supposed to be seeing color and bold to show different voices in the story.
“Where the hell am I?”
“Where the hell am I?”
“Okay. That's strange.”
“Okay. That's strange.”
“This is so not funny.”
“This is so not funny.”
I'm looking around me for the source of the echo but all I see is nothing. It's like I'm in a complete void or something. Oddly enough I'm in a spotlight. When I move it moves with me, but it doesn't light my way.
"I'd kill for a yellow brick road right now."
“I'd kill for a yellow brick road right now.”
"Not funny. Not freaking funny at all."
“Well it was supposed to be.”
That's new. Now maybe I can get some answers or at least an idea.
'You're in my world now Slayer. That means you play by my rules!'
I. Hate. That. Damn. Voice. If I ever find out who that guy is, he is so going to get an ass-kicking. Once the ringing in my ears subsides I head toward the last area I heard the echo.
“You're funny.”
“Glad you think so. Feel free to come out so we can introduce ourselves.”
“Ha, ha, ha. Daddy won't let me come out. This is the only way I can talk to you. You're really pretty. I have a pet that looks just like you.”
Umm, stopping right now and rewinding.
“Repeat please?”
“My pet, Javrila. She looks just like you except she's got pretty purple eyes. Your eyes are green. Daddy likes green eyes.”
Purple eyes and a pet that looks like me. My life has just turned into a sci-fi channel movie of the week. Oh, I'm SO happy. Need to get to the bottom of this.
“So what's your name?”
“So what's your name?”
Headache. I'm getting the mother to end all headaches. It's got to be a kid I'm talking to. No adult would keep up this ridiculous game of repeat.
“You're really funny. You and Javrila will be bestest friends. Daddy says you are going to be my new pet when he finishes playing with you.”
“Why doesn't your Daddy come and face me?”
“He's busy right now. I heard him say that he was going to destroy the nasty old Slayer monster.”
“The Slayer is NOT a monster!”
So maybe I'm a little sensitive but come on. I kill yes, I destroy yes, maybe I even eviscerated a couple of times but they were bad things. They were trying to end the world for pete's sake! I had to do something!
“Does your voice always get that loud? Javrila has sensitive ears and if you yell like that she might think you're trying to attack and kill you.”
My mouth just hangs open. I'm getting insulted by a voice in the dark.
'This is play time Slayer. The real hell is going to begin later. I shiver with pleasure when I think about how much you're going to scream. I'm sure I won't be disappointed by your performance.'
My eyes roll back in my head with the power of his voice. I just collapse there on the floor on my hands and knees. The reverbrations still rack my skull till I think I'm going to throw up with the dizzing effect of it all.
There's no point just thinking about it anymore. My stomach rebels forcefully and I'm bent over heaving out my guts. I give and I give till there's nothing left to give. A few seconds of dry heaving until my stomach clenches in agony and I drop completely.
I feel beads of sweat trickling down my face but I'm just too tired and unfocused to do anything about it.
“Are you okay? You look sick.”
I'm dehydrated is what it is. My throat feels like someone dumped a bucket of sand down my throat and my stomach acids are stinging my gums. There's a thickness in my throat like a lead weight. I don't even bother to swallow.
I've never felt like this.
“Don't worry. I'll take care of you real good.”
'Oh but you should worry Slayer.'
“Daddy don't. She's hurt Daddy.”
'Quiet child. It's Daddy's turn to start playing.'
“No Daddy don't!! She's too hurt to play. Let me take care of her first!”
'Wakey wakey Slayer.'
Please somebody help me.
PART 8
“Where the hell am I?”
Boy does that sound familiar for some reason, but that's a valid question. The last thing I remember is being trapped in that damn cage. Wonder what happened to clone-girl? I thought it was a pretty neat show watching her disappear like that. That is until I did it myself not 10 minutes later.
So here I am. Where exactly is still open for discussion.
“You have to help her!”
“Who said that?” Something seriously weird is going on here. Clones, false memories, sudden disappearing acts, now I have to deal with mysterious voices coming out of the dark.
“He's going to kill her! I don't want her to die! She's my friend!”
It's a kid's voice I'm sure of it and by the sounds, it's a little boy but he's crying.
“Why should I help you?”
“If you help her, I'll help you get back where you belong. I know what he did and I can fix it, but please......you have to help her.”
What am I supposed to do? Do I trust him and possibly walk into a trap or do I take the chance that this kid can make things right again?
“Where is she?”
“Thank you. Just walk forward. Make sure you go straight or you'll get lost in the shadows. I'll open a portal to take you to her. I'm not very strong yet and I can only make it stay open for so long. You have to hurry or you'll be trapped there. Then he'll have both of you.”
And those are very good reasons for me to reconsider this, but it's my only chance. I start walking forward taking careful steps putting one foot directly in front of the other. It's weird but it's like some natural feeling inside wants me to go just to the right. It's a strange pulling sensation but I ignore it concentrating on my task.
I know I've walked about 200 hundred feet before I encounter this thin glass wall.
“Hey! Where's the portal?”
“I told you I'm not very strong. I'm trying to open it now. Stand back.”
I take three steps back and watch as slowly a swirl starts forming in the glass. It gradually gets bigger and bigger until it's about 8 feet wide and 6 feet tall. The inside is a dark grey swirling tunnel.
“Hurry now! I'll hold it as long as I can!”
I run towards the tunnel and dive through. Head rush. My body feels like it's not attached. I feel like a bunch of different parts just floating and then I come together in an almost painful jolt. The tunnel ends and I'm spit through it to end up in some kind of laboratory type room.
PART 9
'B! B answer me please! You can't die, please B!'
Faith. I hear Faith's voice and she's calling me. I'm looking all around for the source of it.
'Oh god B. Please don't die. I love you so much. You can't die, please come back. Buffy please.'
That's my Faith. It's her, it's really her!
“Faith where are you?!”
'B? I hear you.'
Oh God. Tears just start rolling down my face. I've never been so glad to hear that voice in all my life.
“Faith! Faith I'm here! Can you hear me?”
'How can I hear you? You're dead.'
She's got the clone! So that's where she went. She's in my world.
“Faith you have to listen to me. I know this may sound strange but that's not me with you. She's a clone.”
'No. She's a demon. I know that but she looks just like you B. I feel her, like I would have felt you.'
I don't get the chance to respond to her because all of a sudden this horrible scream ripples through the air. I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I realize that it's my scream.
'B! What happened?! Why are you screaming?! B answer me!'
“Calm down Faith. That's not me. There must be another one somewhere. I think that's who the kid was talking about.”
'What kid? Where are you?'
“I honestly don't know but I have a promise to keep. Listen Faith, you're the only link that I have so you're going to have to help me out here. There's a portal open in this place and I remember Giles talking about energies being displaced when they are opened to implicate time change. I know he can work something out if he tries.”
'I'll go to him right now. What are you going to do?'
“I have a promise to keep. Faith...I love you.”
'I love you too B. Be careful.'
Whatever link we had is terminated and I feel this lifting sensation from inside me. I curl my lips up in a slight smile.
'Thanks Kid.'
'You're welcome, now hurry!'
Another scream puts me in action. This one is decidely longer and especially loud. I'm looking over the laboratory and it's enough to make any mad scientist absolutely ga-ga over it. There's a large black door at the far end of the room. The only door as a matter of fact.
As I approach, I get the sensation of eyes upon me. A slight shift in the air allows me to catch the thrown dagger before it does any damage. I whirl around and there's a purple creature in the corner with large golden eyes. I grip the handle of the dagger and prepare to defend myself but the creature seems reluctant to make a move. It's backed in a corner just staring at me with these large golden eyes.
We're at some sort of an impasse waiting for each other. A cautious step back finally makes it move and it dives toward me. It meets a quick death with a slight flick of my wrist.
It's no problem to retrieve the dagger from its throat. The body was already dissolving into some jelly-like substance. Now that I know things like that are around, I'm more cautious. When I reach the door I press my ear against it to hear anything. There's nothing so I slowly turn the knob and step inside.
It takes all my strength and some more not to throw up. Large tubes with human bodies are aligned along the walls. I'm estimating maybe there's 30 or more of them. Mostly women, but there's a few men. Boys really. I pass each one slowly.
'They're so young.'
The last one brings tears to my eyes. It's a little boy. He looks to be around 8 or 9 maybe. He's perfect, except that he's mutated on one side of his body. Rough looking scaly skin covers him.
I feel this weird sensation of falling and then suddenly I'm on the floor on my knees. I'm trying to get up but it's like I'm pinned down. A hole starts to eat into the wall directly across from me. I can hardly breathe, it's like the air got thick or something. I'm reduced to short pants to draw air into my lungs. Something's coming through the hole.
PART 10
First one leather covered leg and then another. Then it starts to slide through revealing a white t-shirt covered torso. My heart is racing. It couldn't be her. It can't. The body continues to slide through the hole showing prominent breasts and a leather jacket.. Oh god it is. It continues to slide through. The beginning of shoulder length dark hair and then the head pops through. It's her!
She drops to the floor and looks like she's in the same predicament that I'm in with the not being able to breathe right or stand up thing. The hole starts to shrink little by little and then it's gone. The air gets lighter and I can move. She lifts her head up and looks at me with a cute grin on her face.
"B."
"Faith."
I don't think I've ever moved this fast in my life. In seconds I'm in her arms and hugging her for all she's worth. Everytime she takes a breath I squeeze her tighter.
"B...it's okay," she speaks softly into my ear.
I let her go and just look at her. God I've missed her. I saw her face the entire time all this was happening, but I've missed my Faith. I bury my face in her chest and cry. I can feel her running her hands through my hair and I hear her whispering in my ear. I don't ever want to be without her again.
I pull back to say as much but she pulls me back and kisses the tears from my face. Her lips are so soft. I love her so much.
"I love you so much Faith."
"I love you too B."
I pull back and kiss her. Everything I've felt from this sick nightmare is pouring out of my body with this kiss. Faith can do this so well. Make everything feel better again and make me feel whole again. She deepens the kiss and I follow her. We're still kissing when I get the weird feeling of being watched. I open my eyes just a bit and I can make out a shadow in the corner. What is that?
It's dragging forward almost like it can hardly move. I pull away from Faith and she frowns at me.
"B?"
I don't acknowledge her, just nod my head toward the shadow. She turns and stands up quickly into a fighting stance.
"Time to rumble?"
"I don't know......." There's something so familiar about it. I feel something but it's fuzzy.
It lurches forward and hits the wall, sliding down into a crumbled heap. Whatever it is it's injured pretty badly. I walk toward it slowly, Faith right at my side. We approach and the feeling gets stronger. All of a sudden it lunges forward and tackles me to the ground. I'm fighting to get it off but it just lays there on top of me, breathing. Correction, barely breathing. Faith pulls it off and......
...continued in part 11...