Second Time's the Charm
by Faithful_14
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: BtVS is owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and whoever else. I mean no infringment and I make no profit.
Timeline: Takes off from issue #13 of Buffy Season 8.
Feedback: Yes, please!
"Buffy what?!"
"Yes, it appears they found Satsu and Buffy in bed together just before the..."
Clunk.
Silence.
"Faith? Faith are you there?" Giles asked with concern.
A dial tone soon rang in his ear as Faith had just fainted, knocking the phone off the desk.
As the dark slayer hit the ground, the receiver fell out of her hand. But the knock to her head snapped her out of it. "Ugh..." Faith sat up, rubbing her head as she looked for the phone. However, it was in pieces. "Shit..." she cursed.
Picking herself up off the floor, she moved to sit on the couch that doubled as her bed. The old watcher had set her up in downtown Cleveland when they first arrived. And since slaying didn't exactly pay, it was all she had.
Had she really heard Giles right? Buffy had actually slept with Satsu? And not in the "let's-have-a-sleep-over" sort of way? She definitely wouldn't have pegged Buffy to be a lover of the Asian persuasion. Then again, only in her wildest fantasies had the golden slayer ever swung that way.
Back in Sunnydale, before everything went to hell, and the Mayor, she once thought she had a chance. All their flirtatious banter, the sparring that always got a little too intense. That wasn't entertained for long. Not after Mrs. Post, and Finch...
Faith shook her head in attempt to clear it. Even if it was true, there was no way. Buffy thought she'd just tried to kill her. Again. Besides, Cleveland Ohio was far from Scotland. And what was she supposed to do, just ring the door bell and say 'hey, found out you were gettin' it on with the girlies now, can I come in?'
She had to talk to Giles again. He wouldn't have mentioned Buffy if there wasn't something other worldly going on. As they'd continued to work together, the tweed clad Brit began to understand the once misguided slayer. Of course, with the phone in pieces that wasn't quite possible. With a growl she fished in a jar for some change. There was a pay phone downstairs. This couldn't wait.
After Giles had filled Faith in on the Japanese vampires and the stolen scythe, she had her way in. She'd failed in so many ways though, so many times. After being cut so deep by the blonde slayer, physically and emotionally...was it worth it? With the passport Giles had gotten she could surely get safe, legal passage. Besides, she'd always wanted to travel. The G-man could take care of the Hellmouth for a while. Wasn't for lack of slayers.
'Course now, she couldn't get the image of men in kilts and that god awful bag pipe music out of her head. Faith laughed at herself. The things she did for that one little blonde haired slayer. It would never end.
Staring down at the ticket in her hand, Faith began to have second, third, and forth thoughts. Her travels would take her from Cleveland's Hopkins International Airport to Newark NJ, and on to Glasgow-Prestwick Airport in Scotland. In total a nine hour and forty-five minute flight. From there it was another who-knows-how-long journey on land to reach the castle itself. Not to mention the dubious task of getting inside, and coming out alive. Empty handed or not.
Giles had contacted Xander for the directions, which were convaluted at best. The one eyed wonder as Faith affectionately called him was sworn to secrecy. After the 'Dale bit the big one they'd become friends. Likely something to do with both of them feeling on the outside looking in. She was pretty sure he was the only one who knew that she was coming, but not about why or how she felt.
After landing in Scotland, she waited for her meager duffel of clothes and got her rental car. Which was about the size of a roller skate. By then, night had fallen. It would take at least two hours by countryside, using roads barely wide enough for one car let alone two.
In the end, it took Faith three hours to reach the castle. Turning down the long private drive, she neared an area of grass that appeared to be the parking lot.
Unknowingly setting off a series of alarms.
It was 3AM and Satsu had elected to do the night watch, so it was she that heard the alarms and watched the car approach on the survelience cameras.
She couldn't sleep. Earlier she and Buffy had a little talk, and she could not quiet her mind. Everything they'd talked about replaying in her head.
Buffy had sat down on the bed they had made love in. The weariness in her voice audible. "Satsu..." the petite blonde began, "I heard you talking to Willow in the courtyard about us earlier. And I wanted you to hear it from me. The night we spent together was amazing but..."
"But you're not gay," Satsu finished, eyes cast to the floor. Buffy tried to speak but was cut off. "No, it's okay Buffy, I know. No need to explain." It wasn't like they hadn't had this conversation before.
"I just don't want to hurt you, that's all."
"Nothing to worry about. I'm a big girl," she got up, "I need to go. I'm on night watch. Get some sleep. You're gonna need it." Heading to the door, she paused a moment before turning, "Goodnight ma'am." With that, she left.
Buffy exhaled loudly and fell back onto the bed. It was going to be a long trip.
Faith exited the car, bag left in the backseat. With no idea how this would go down, she wouldn't push her luck.
Satsu didn't want to wake anyone, the next few days were going to be tough. So after seeing the security feed, she left the control room and headed to the door.
What used to be the original door was bolstered shut. A smaller, regular size steel door set into it. Did she knock?
"Here goes...everything..." fist poised to knock, the door opened. Faith then found herself staring down the barrel of a sixteen guage shotgun aimed at her head.
Immediatley she put her hands in the air, a gesture of no harm. "Whoa, hey...why don't you put that down?"
"Why? Because I know exactly who you are. Faith, right? Yeah, I've heard all about you. And that last little stunt you pulled on Buffy; I knew you hadn't really changed."
"Then you must be Satsu..."
"What of it?" she gave the gun a priming pump.
"Nothing. Look, if you're going to shoot me, do it. If not, I'm here to see Buffy."
Satsu's eyes narrowed and her finger tightened on the trigger.
A shot rang out in the night, waking Willow and a number of other girls.
Willow was the first to arrive and found the two women on the ground wrestling. The gun had skidded to the side but she could see blood.
"Hey!" reacting, she went down to pull them apart but got a fist in the face instead. Stumbling backwards, she fell into the crowd of girls gathered in the doorway. She was quickly picked up and checked on by one of the other Wiccans.
"What is going on?!" came the booming voice over the scuffle.
Everyone immediately stopped; the crowd parted like the Red Sea as Buffy stepped forward.
Faith and Satsu disengaged and stood. Faith held the side of her shoulder while Satsu stared off into space angrily.
Willow rubbed her jaw lightly as she confirmed she was okay, "I heard a shot, ran down and these two were wrestling. Normally I might have been excited. But the wayward punch kinda killed the mood..."
"Satsu, are you hurt?"
"No, ma'am..."
"Then I think it's time for you, and everyone else," she spun on her heels toward the crowd of girls, "to get back to bed. And Faith, what the hell are you doing here?"
The girls all retreated as instructed. Satsu got another 'we'll talk' look from Buffy as she stormed inside, pushing past the others.
"Giles didn't tell you?" Faith arched a brow.
"Tell me what?" Buffy was aggravated beyond words. She'd just gotten to sleep.
"He told me about the scythe. Thought you could use some help. Said he told Xander..."
Blank stare.
Faith could kill him. This was difficult enough as is without surprising Buffy. Then again, she should have known. She hadn't heard the other slayer's head explode from the other side of the world. Time to take cover, she thought.
"Great, just what I needed. Willow, can you get Giles on the phone? I need to speak with him."
The redheaded witch nodded and left the two original slayers alone.
"You hurt?"
"Just a scratch." She moved her hand from her arm and it was covered in blood. When the gun went off she'd managed to knock it out of the way. It was just a graze- looked worse than it was.
"Let's get inside, get that cleaned up." Buffy's tone was defeated. She was under a lot of pressure, the scythe, Satsu, and now Faith. Shaking her head, she led the younger slayer inside and shut the door.
They walked down the corridors in silence, only their footsteps reverberating. Faith had no idea where Buffy was leading her. It seemed like the castle went on forever. After a few winding turns they reached a door with a red cross on it. The infirmary.
Buffy flicked the lights on as they entered. "Wow, B, quite the set up you got here." Words echoed from the past. It looked as though they entered a hospital. Stainless steel, stocked cupboards, beds with all the monitoring gizmos.
"Yeah well, with so many girls..." she set about grabbing gauze and the other necessities. "Have a seat," she gestured to a clear table.
Faith hopped up and quietly watched her counterpart. Wondering why exactly it was they'd yet to exchange blows.
Bandages in hand, Buffy pulled up a stool. "So if you're here to 'help' you wanna tell me what the hell our last little get together was about?"
Shrugging off her jacket, she exposed her arm; tattoo peeking out from under her blood stained sleeve. She pushed it up to expose the wound.
Faith took a deep breath, "GiGi was about to try and take you down. I was trying to help...But you just assumed I was..." she sighed, "I got caught up in the moment..."
Looking at her with skeptical green eyes, Buffy began to clean and dress the wound. "So you just decided to do exactly the thing I had accused you of? Let me tell ya, not the best way to convince me otherwise."
"I get that, and I'm sorry." Faith winced as the other woman wrapped the bandage a little too tight.
"Sorry," she mumbled, loosening it and finishing. "Well, I can't refuse any help on this one. What with these vamps playing by new rules. We leave in the morning. You're just lucky I've bigger things to worry about," she said pointedly.
Faith nodded her understanding and pushed her clothing back into place. "Do we know where we're going?"
"Yeah, downtown Tokyo. We've gotten intel from one of our slayers there. Xander's currently recruiting Dracula to help us since he's the original fog-turning-guy," the blonde began to clean up.
"So what's the plan?" Faith jumped off the table and slipped her jacket back on.
"Retrieve the scythe. We don't know why they have it, but I'm sure it's not for anything as wholesome as saving puppies and kitties," she finished putting the supplies away. "I'll show you to a room, c'mon," Buffy led the way out and back down the longest corridor before ascending a set of stone stairs. "This is where the guest rooms are," she gestured down a short, damp hall. "All of them are empty, feel free to pick. And, uh, I guess I'll see you in the morning." She gave a half hearted smile and turned to leave.
"Hey, B..." she stopped at the first door.
The blonde slayer turned, brow raised in question.
"Thanks. For not just pounding my face in. Giving me another chance."
Buffy gave another half hearted smile and a nod before taking her leave.
Faith sighed a breath before pushing open the heavy door. Like the rest of the castle seemed, it was cold and damp. With its own, unique smell. Her lip curled in distaste. She'd left her bag in the car but it didn't really matter. Instead she stripped down and quickly ducked under the heavy covers.
It was painfully obvious that not all of the castle had been outfitted in the latest, or even standard amenities. But as the once dark slayer stared up at the stone ceiling, she wondered what the hell she'd just gotten herself into. This was THE Buffy Summers. THE slayer. Why in the world did she think she could ever possibly get close to that? Nothing in the past had ever pointed in that direction, not really.
No matter her feelings, she was in this fight now. She'd just leave as soon as it was finished, go back to Cleveland. This was her last thought as she fell into a fitful sleep.
Early that same morning, or rather, a few hours later, everyone got up and began prepping. Faith woke late and by the time she dressed and found the control room, the team was nearly ready to go.
By her count, there were at least fifty slayers-in-training, three witches, and Andrew. No one knew why. Plus nearly all the contents of the armory; minus the scythe. All of which were being loaded into an Air Force type cargo plane. How in the hell Buffy afforded any of this was beyond Faith. But she knew better than to ask.
Everyone was milling around, intensely focused on their tasks. The second of the original two slayers felt even more lost and insignificant than usual. Wandering around, she found Buffy alone on one of the castle's balconies overlooking the preparations, just off Slayer Central. "Hey..." the younger slayer slowly approached.
Buffy started as Faith broke into her reverie. "Jeez, you scared me..." she straightened from her slumped position over the ledge.
"Sorry. Just wondered what the plan was," she sidled up to her former counter part.
"We're set to leave within the hour. Xander and Renee are meeting us at the training house after dusk. From there, I don't know."
"Training house? Damn, you guys really are global."
"Yep, that's us...We should get going. Looks like everything's almost ready." With that, she turned and left Faith by herself.
"Good talkin' to ya B..." she announced to no one.
Shortly thereafter, the entire population of the castle, minus a few safe guards, was in the air on their way to Tokyo. All in all the ride would take fifteen hours. And spending fifteen hours on a plane with multiple teenage slayers was not Faith's idea of a good time.
It was, however, the perfect opportunity for Buffy to have that talk with Satsu. Who was seated as far away from everyone as possible.
The original slayer approached casually, she knew enough not to confront Satsu; she wasn't trying to be the General here. She was upset, obviously, and Buffy could take a guess as to why but she wanted to know the answer for sure. "Hey, mind if I join you?"
Satsu didn't respond, instead she turned away.
Heaving a sigh, the petite blonde took a seat next to her on a box of equipment. "What's going on with you?" she asked gently. Genuinely she wanted to know. Even if they couldn't be more than friends she still cared.
"It's nothing."
"Satsu, please..."
"I can't. I'm sorry," she stood abruptly and turned to head into the cargo hold where she could be alone. Leaving a much bewildered Buffy in her wake.
Truth was, Buffy wasn't ready to hear it yet. Satsu had been filled in, by others, about Buffy and Faith's past. And she'd overheard Xander on the phone; knew Faith was coming. She wasn't dumb, and it bothered her that an ex-con had a better chance at Buffy's heart than she.
But Buffy was oblivious. She her head, she walked back to where everyone was seated. No use in pushing Satsu away any further than she already had. She'd just needed that. That connection. However, the price was proving to be much more than she bargained for.
After touching down just outside the city, they were met by a caravan of trucks and the rest of the Tokyo based slayer squad.
"Where's Aiko?" Buffy approached the small group of five.
The oldest looking girl of the bunch stepped forward and bowed, "My name is Kimiko. She is awaiting your presence in the city. We've gotten confirmation on their location. I will take you to meet her there."
Buffy nodded her understanding and turned to Willow. "I want you and the rest of the girls to get situated in the training house. I'll take Faith with me to go check out this place. Let me know when Xander gets in."
Willow nearly saluted Buffy, but thought better of it. "Sure thing, Buffy." Immediately she began organizing the girls and transferring their gear into the trucks.
"Faith, Kimiko, let's go," the petite blonde was all business as she followed Kimiko to a smaller Jeep for the trip.
Faith still stood with the others, shocked she had been called. Breaking out of her trance she followed the other two women. Glancing back over her shoulder she saw Satsu with her fists clenched at her sides.
As always, she'd have to watch her back. This time from a small, angry Asian girl.
The ride into the city was silent, tense, and long. The Bostonian didn't know how long they'd been stuck in Toyko's infamous traffic but it felt like forever.
Eventually they inched their way into the heart of the city's business district. Everyone was awash in a sea of suits and briefcases. Faith had never seen anything like it.
As they drove alongside massive, glittering buildings they had to be careful of the street vendors. New and old, both coexisting next to one another. Faith watched out the window with wide eyes until the car came to an abrupt halt. Causing her head to slam into the scarcely padded roll cage. "Son of a...what the hell was that?!" she demanded.
Her question was met with only silence. Following Buffy's stone gaze out the window, she saw the reason for their sudden stop. On the side of a building was strung a young, dead, Japanese girl. Behind her was painted unfamiliar characters in red.
"That's her blood isn't it," Buffy deadpanned.
"Yes," Kimiko spoke barely above a whisper.
"What does it say?"
"Tokyo he youkoso...Welcome to Tokyo."
...to be continued...