Fight For Freedom
by Lauren
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, FOX,
blah blah. I use 'em for fun.
Spoilers: Angel "Sanctuary", I guess. Pretty much "The Gift", Buffy S5.
Author's Notes: My first posted fic. Tell me what yall think.
I did a crossover thingy with the series of books
called "Fearless" by Francine Pascal. It's a really good series,
kinda a Buffylike thing. But anyways, I just used the character from
it, Gaia. Enjoy. :)
I sat quietly in the small cell, staring at the grey painted wall. I'm doing this, and it feels good. Yeah, good. None of the fucking bullshit where I just wanna break free of here and run away for the rest of my life. Well, okay, that's a lie. Of course I wanna get outta here. I mean, who would want to spend their young life locked in a cell, staring at a wall all day? Not exactly my cup of tea. The thing is, I don't think I'd be here if it wasn't for B. Everything I do is for her, not for me. I don't deserve a chance at redemption.
Angel says that he can get me outta here, with the help of Kate. She didn't seem like she was the kinda person to bust anyone outta jail, but her and Angel seem pretty close these days. The think is, I feel guilty. I don't wanna get outta here, cause then that would mean me getting a lucky break, and I don't deserve that. After torturing and killing all those people, why am I getting outta here? It's fucking bullshit.
I can't stop thinking about B. She's all I think about in here. Well, her and the fact that I hate myself. I do hate myself. For all the shit I've done, I probably could have prevented that if I trusted Buffy. One fucking thing that I had to do, and I couldn't do it. I pushed her away, I acted like I didn't need her; when really, she's the one thing that I did need.
I like her. She's a wicked person. She's perfect, and yeah, that pisses me off, but still, I like her. I think it's almost impossible to hate Buffy Summers, unless you're like a vampire or whatever. And even vampires fall in love with her, I mean, I've heard about Spike. This big bad two hundred year old vampire who's killed two slayers, and he falls in love with her. Yeah, it's fucking weird. But anyways, B's the closest I've ever been to someone. And that's exactly why I think I pushed her away. I didn't think I deserved her trust, her love. I'd never had it before, and I couldn't deal with it.
Angel's awesome. He knows exactly what I'm going through, and he's the only one who helped me after I went psycho. He spent over a hundred years torturing and maiming people, and he dealt with it. I spent what, a year doing it? That's nothing compared to his time doing it, but in the end it's all the same. I think the longer you've done it doesn't make it any worse. And Angel's been dealing with this fucking pain and guilt that hurts like a bitch for over a hundred years, and I've been doing it for what, 8 months? Fuck this. I'm barely making it, too. See how much of a fucking wimp I am? I mean, sure, I got the superpowers, I got the strength to send twenty guys to hospital at once, but that's just physical strength. I don't got the emotional strength, and fuck, I wish I did. Because then maybe I'd still be out there, doin' my thing, having my fun; and I wouldn't be sittin' in this shithole. Wouldn't be feeling this remorse. But then again, it's for the better, right? Yeah, in the long run, it'll pay off.
The thing is, I get out today. My last day here. I hope I can fix things, I hope that everyone will respect what I've done. I know I don't deserve that, but you can't blame me for hoping, right? I decide to go down to the gym one last time before I leave. I walk outta my cell, and as usual, I hear a couple whistles from some of the girls here, but I just ignore them. I enter the gym, and quickly go to the change room to change into some shorts and a sports top. I scan over the room, and rest my eyes on a blonde girl.
"Hey, Sarah."
"Hey, Faithy. How's it goin'?"
"Not bad." I begin my procedure of stretching, pulling my arms behind my head. "I get out today, ya know."
She stops running on the treadmill, and jumps off, grabbing her towel and wiping the sweat away from her face. "You do? Damn, you gonna leave me all alone?"
I smile at her. Sarah's my closest friend in here, we understand each other. She's in for assault, beat a couple of girls nearly to death. But she was just lookin' out for her sister, wasn't her fault.
"Sorry, girlfriend."
She shrugs. "It's okay. I guess I can hang out with Crissy."
"Yeah, Crissy's pretty cool." I've finished my stretches, and begin running on the spot, preparing for my work out.
"Well, I'm gonna hit the showers. Don't forget to stop by my cell before ya leave."
"No problem." I smile at her as I throw a couple punches at the punching bag, mixing them in with some kicks. I love working out. The whole time I was in here, it got my mind off of things. It's like there was nothing but me. No thoughts to make me feel pissed off or depressed, just me. And since I spend most hours of the day in the gym, my body has become pretty built. I mean, having the slayer powers I don't really need to be built, but it's a bonus. I finish my workout about half an hour later, and I wipe my face quickly and throw the towel around my shoulders. I'm about to walk back to my cell, when this chick named Rizus walks in, and grins at me.
"What the fuck do you want?" My tone is harsh; I don't feel like putting up with her bullshit right now.
"Hey, hey, why so testy?" She approaches me slowly, taking confident strides.
I glare at her, and attempt to walk by her, but she quickly steps in my way, that confident grin still upon her face. "Get the fuck outta my way. You know you don't wanna fuck with me."
"Is that right?"
"Remember what happened last time? If I'm not mistaken, you had to spend three days in the doctor's office."
Her face became stern. "You got lucky."
I force a laugh. "Yeah, maybe." When I see she's not moving, I look at her with a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me kind of look. "You gonna move, or do we throw down?"
"You think you're the tough bitch in this jail. Well, you thought wrong, Faithy." She pulled out a knife, a fucking knife. Where the hell did she get that from?
"Hey, now. Play fair."
She ignores me and throws a punch at my face, but I block it, grasping a hold of her arm. I twist her arm behind her, and wrap my free arm around her throat, grabbing hold of the knife. I take it from her grasp, and hold it to her throat. "Next time, make sure you can take me." I tuck the knife into my back pocket, and push her aside, causing her to fall to the ground.
"This ain't over!" She yells at me as I walk off.
"Yeah, yeah, sure." I mumble, grinning my whole way back to the cell. During my time in here, I've learned how to deal with people without injuring them too badly. I've learned self-control, so my dark side doesn't take over every time I get into a fight.
"Hey, girl. You ready to leave soon?"
I look up at the guard, smiling slightly. Don's the only guard that's actually half decent. "Hey, man. How long I got?"
"Twenty minutes before you've outta here, hopefully forever."
"Awesome." I was changed back into my normal clothes now, and after having a nice, warm shower, I was clean and ready to be on the outside again. But before I left, there's somebody I had to see.
"Hey, Sarah."
"Hey again. When you leaving?"
"About 15 minutes."
Sarah jumped off her bed on the top bunk, and stood beside Faith.
"Damn. I'm gonna miss you."
I shrugged. "Yeah, well, fuck it. You can hang out with Crissy, and as soon as you get outta here, you better come visit me, alright?"
"Yeah, of course." Sarah flashed a smile at me. "Have fun out there, kay?"
"Yeah." I looked into the light blue eyes of my friend, and I swore I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I quickly looked away before Sarah could see them.
Sarah tipped my head back up to look her in the eyes. "Hey, don't worry. You can cry."
I let the tears out, dripping tear by tear down my face. Me and Sarah had been best friends for nine months now, and I didn't wanna leave her. She meant a lot to me, I shared every secret with her, every inch of my soul; I had never been able to do that with anyone else.
She pulled me into a hug, and we stayed in that position for a few minutes, before I broke away. "I gotta go…"
"Yeah. You have fun out there."
"Don't forget to visit me, girlfriend."
"Course not." She held my hand for a few moments before letting it fall to my side, a sad smile upon her pretty face. "Bye, Faithy."
"Bye, Sarah." I walked out of her cell, and met Don in the hall.
"Ready?"
"Ready." I smiled at him as he led me through the doors, and out into the main area of the jail. The heavy doors shut with an echoing boom behind me, and it suddenly hit me that I was free. I was finally out. A grin spread slowly across my face, and Don looked at me, shrugging. "You're free, girl. You're a lucky one."
"Yeah, I know. Thanks." I walk out, and spot Angel sitting on a chair, waiting for me. He spots me, and runs to me, embracing me in a hug. I'm quick to pull away. "No offense, big guy, but I'm not the hugging type."
He looks away; I guess he's embarrassed. I have to chuckle. Angel's so adorable. I'd probably date him if me and him weren't in such fucked up circumstances. Whatever, we just understand each other, that's all. We're close. Yeah, I'm fucking close to somebody on the outside. It was hard to trust B, but to trust Angel; it was like chewing a piece of gum. That easy. Cause I know he's been through the same shit I'm going through. It was the same with Sarah. I hope I can stay on this path, and I know that Angel's gonna be here to help me. And as long as he's here, I know I stand a chance.
~Los Angeles, CA - 8:30pm~
Angel's taking me back to his place, and I have to admit, I'm nervous. I mean, hello! Cordy queen-bitch and Wes the unforgiving guy; how am I ever gonna get on their good sides? Oh well, I'll just have to do my damn best to show them that I'm a good guy again. I notice that Angel has this little grin on his face as we're driving back, but I can see some sadness in there. I can't help but wonder what's wrong; usually I would just forget about it, but this time it's different. So me being me, I confront him about it.
"A-man, what's up?" He glances over at me for a second before turning his attention back to walking.
"Glad you're outta there, Faith. You deserve another shot."
"Yeah, thanks." He's way off target. I don't deserve another shot, what's he talkin' about? I've already had more than enough chances. B and A both gave me numerous chances to turn around and come running back to them, and I shot them down everytime. Whatever, I gotta concentrate on gettin' it outta soulboy here.
"Yeah, thanks. But I mean, what's wrong? Something's botherin' ya, I can see it."
He hesitates for a few seconds, before shrugging. "It's too important to talk about now, Faith. I'll tell you when the time comes up."
Fuck that. He can't just say it's something big and important and then not tell me, I mean what the fuck! I hate it when people do that. "No, you gotta tell me now. Just tell me, Angel."
He sighs, and closes his eyes for a brief moment before nodding, and stopping right there, turning to me. "Faith, there's not easy way to say this, so I'm just gonna say it."
Okay, shit. I'm nervous now. What happened? I mean, last I heard, all was good, Angel and his gang were back on good terms, and they had gone to another dimension and returned home. That's what he told me last back in May. Since then, he had come to visit with the little chit-chats, but not much to tell. But now I'm pissed at myself for not noticing that something was wrong before.
"I know that you wanted every chance to get Buffy to forgive you, Faith. I know that you would go out on a limb for her, you would do anything for her forgiveness."
"Yeah, so? We can drive up to Sunny-D in a few days, no worries."
Angel gulps, and he just spits out the words. He fucking says it like it's no big deal. "Faith, Buffy's dead."
What? My eyes open wide in shock, and my heart races about 10 million times faster. I just stare at Angel, not knowing what to do next. "W- what?" I manage to choke out.
"She meant a lot to all of us, and I know that she was the one person who meant everything to you."
My bottom lip begins to tremble. Fuck, I can't believe I'm starting to cry. But fuck, this is Buffy. B. *My* B. She's fucking dead? I can feel the tears stream one by one down my cheeks, and then I just break. The tears are pouring out, and my body's racking with sobs. I fall into Angel's arms, and they wrap around me protectively. "Buffy, where are you? Fuck Buffy! I loved you!" We fall to the ground together, and I bury my head into his chest, not wanting to face anything right now.
"Faith, shh." Angel strokes my hair, trying to be as gentle as he can with me. I look back up at him, and I can see the pain reflected in his eyes, his love for Buffy. My love for Buffy. "Angel, I loved her." I whisper it, afraid to talk too loud.
"You're not the only one." He forces a smile at me, and shrugs. "I was out of it for a long time, Faith. Weeks, almost months. I couldn't think straight, I mean, It's Buffy, the love of my life."
I nod in understandment. "You think I can stay sane?"
He nods straight away. "Definitely. You have me."
A smile crosses my tear-stained face, as I wipe my nose roughly with the back of my hand. "Thanks, Angel."
~Sunnydale, CA - 10:30pm~
"Giles, her *soul* is gone. *She's* not. We can still save her if we can find her soul."
Giles removed his glasses, and rubbed the brim of his nose, sighing. "Willow, I don't know that we can perform magic that advanced."
"Um, hello! Me and Tara, big-time witches now." Tara looks over at me, smiling. I know she's proud of me. I've really expanded my witchcraft in the last year, I'm really powerful. Sometimes it's scary even for myself, but in all honesty, I love it.
"Yes, but do you realize how hard it will be to find her soul? We don't even know what dimension she's in."
I sigh, frustrated. Me and Tara have researched this for months now, with the help of Angel. He told us that he has the spell for opening portals, so we can use that once we locate her soul. Sure, the spell will be harder since we have to mentally move Buffy's soul through the portal, but we can do it.
"Giles, we have the spell to move her soul through the portal once we open it, so all we have to do is find her soul."
"Exactly my point. Willow, listen to me." He moves closer to me, sitting in the chair across from me. "Sometimes we loose people, and we have to accept that Buffy is gone, and --"
"--but she's NOT gone, Giles! She's not gone! She may be dead, but her soul is still out there somewhere!"
"Yes, but we have to accept that we won't be able to get her back. Willow, you know that we're all sorry. We just have to wait for the next slayer to come along."
"Uh, sorry to butt in here," It's Xander. "but technically Buffy's still dead from the first time that she died, so how's another slayer gonna be called?"
Giles stared at Xander in mere shock. "Well, it appears that you are right, Xander." Giles pauses and doesn't move for a few moments, before saying, "Oh, shit." He whispered the last part under his breath, but we all heard it.
"Faith."
"Sorry?"
"Faith." I look up at Giles. "She's still a slayer. So it's either we kill Faith, or get her to fill in for Buffy while we work at getting her back."
Giles sighed, clearly tired. "You're right, Willow. Hold on, I'll ring Angel." He gets up and goes to get the phone.
"Tara." I lean against her as she wraps her arm around my shoulders.
"Don't worry, baby. We'll get her back."
I don't know if she's right. I mean, Giles is right. What are the chances of finding her soul? There are so many dimensions out there, and we'll never be able to find Buffy. I can't live without her. Before her, my life was so normal. I knew nothing about vampires or demons or anything. But then she came into my life, and the things that I thought would never exist, came true. And I was used to it by now, I loved it. But I've always known of my life with Buffy in it. I can't imagine knowing about these things without Buffy, the slayer, here to help us out.
Giles walks back into the room, and all eyes are on him. Xander, Anya, Tara, Dawn and me are all staring at him. He shifts uncomfortably under our watch, and places his glasses back on. "Well, Faith is out of jail, she got out today."
"And?" Xander is impatient, I can see his anger in Faith getting out of jail.
"And her and Angel are coming down here tomorrow."
"Giles.."
"Xander, Faith's changed. Angel says that there is no way that she can go back to the person she was before. She's just too...emotional now." Giles smiled slightly, clearly proud of Faith. "And I think that we should all accept her. I'm not saying welcome her with open arms, but we should be kind to her."
I nod in agreement. If Faith truly has changed, then I'm willing to accept her help. And I know Tara's cool with it, cause she's cool with everything that I'm cool with. And if Faith still isn't quite the sane person she used to be, then I'm willing to help her out if she'll accept my help.
I just hope that Xander's as open to the idea as I am. I mean, his face looks pretty much in the category of I'm-so-pissed-off-I-could-beat-the-fluff-outta-somebody. Uh oh. I hope him and Faith aren't gonna be a problem.
I just want Buffy back.
~Los Angeles, CA - 9:40pm~
Angel just told me the news. Me and him are gonna go down to Sunny-D, and help bring our B back. We got back to Angel's apartment, and the gang was pretty much not welcoming, so I just went down to the basement, and I've just been lying on my back for awhile, thinkin' about B. Damn, B, why'd you have to leave me? I never got the chance to tell you how much I loved you. And now your soul's in another dimension, how the fuck are we gonna find you? Fuck, I just want you here with me to help me through all this. I want to look at your beautiful face again, feel the soft touch of your lips...dammit! Now I'm just torturing myself.
"Faith?" It's Angel.
"Yeah."
"You ready to go? Giles is expecting us."
I nod. "Yeah, okay." I look over at him, and he's got this look on his face. That adorable look that says I-hope-you're-gonna-be-okay. I smile at him slightly, and he returns the action. "Com'ere a sec." He listens to me and walks over in that swift way that he does. I pat the bed beside me as I sit up, and he sits down. "I just wanna tell you how much I respect you being here for me. You've changed my life around, Angel."
"Always ready to help a friend out, Faith. You know that."
"But I was ready to kill you."
"Listen, Faith. It's in the past, we don't have to worry about it, alright?"
"Yeah." I touch his cheek lightly, and my voice becomes a whisper. "But thanks anyways."
In a response, he closes his eyes and leans towards me, and I find myself doing the same. Our lips touch, and his lips are so incredibly soft that I need more. The light peck soon turns into a emotion-filled kiss, as he pushes his tongue into my mouth. I open my mouth slightly, accepting. Our tongues duel around each other and we wrap our arms around each other in an effort to get closer. Damn, this is nice. But--
"Fuck! Angel!" I push him away from me, and he goes flying off of the bed.
"What? What?" He pops his head up from behind the bed and looks at me, all confused and shit.
I look at him with a look of slight disgust and intense regret. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" What the fuck was *I* doing? This is Angel! Like, big bro guy!
"I-I...what? You did it too!" He feels stupid, I can see it. He's harsh embarassed.
"I just miss Buffy, that's all. And I needed some comfort."
"Well, me too." His look of embarassment turns into a smile, and he chuckles lightly. "Damn, we're pathetic, Faith."
"I know." I stand up, walking over to him. I shake my head at him with a grin on my face. "C'mon, let's get outta here." I pat his back and walk out, him following.
~Sunnydale, CA - 11:45pm~
"It's good to be home!"
They all look at me as I walk into the Magic Shop, and Xander backs away a little, but the rest seem to be pretty welcoming. "Hey, guys."
"Faith, hello. Angel."
Angel nods to Giles, and I just give him a smirk. Then I look over at Xander. "X-Man, hows it goin'?"
He shrugs, I can tell that he still has a lot of rage bundled up in there. I smile at him, trying to be all sweet and shit. I guess he can see a little bit of a goodness in me, cause he smiles back, and the smile is genuine.
I look over at Willow, and see that she's still with that chick from last year, what was her name? "Hey Red, what's your girl's name?"
She smiles as she looks over at her girl, brushing the blonde's arm gently. "This is Tara."
"Cool. Hey." I grin at her, and she reflects the action. "Hey." Glad to see that she's not so shy anymore. Wow, the scoobies are all here. Even Anya, I remember her!
"Come near my Xander and I'll have to severly injure you." Damn, looks like she's still the same upfront gal that I liked way back when.
"Don't worry, I ain't gonna come near him. That was a one-time thing." I wink at Xander, and he shifts unfortablely under my watch. I look over into the corner of the room, and there's a young girl sitting beside Tara. "Hey, who are you?"
The girl smiles up at me sweetly, and then a look of confusion crosses her face. "Faith, you don't know who I am?"
"Uh, no. A name would be helpful."
Angel cuts in. "Faith, this is Dawn. Remember I told you about her."
Oh shit. This is the little squirt who Buffy gave her life up for? This is B's sis? Whatever, I can think about these things later on. "Yeah, alright. Hey, Dawn." She gives me a little wave, and I clap my hands together. "Alright! Down to business."
Red nods to Angel and he begins explaining. "Well, Faith. Since you and Buffy," the whole room gets depressed suddenly at the mention of B's name, "seemed to have some sort of slayer connection, we were hoping that you'd be able to play a big part in finding her."
I look from Angel to Red and back to Angel. "What? Hell no, you can't rely on me to be the big person in the middle here."
"Faith, please. We need Buffy so much, she was our friend, protector, our everything. We just want her back as soon as possible." Red looks at me with those sorrowful eyes, and I just have to give in. I mean, Red looks so sad there, wishing Buffy was here. And I know how she feels, so eventually I sigh, and give in.
"Alright, alright. What do I gotta do?"
"Well, you did have a connection with her right?"
"Yeah. Slayer connection of some kind." I raise an eyebrow at Red. "So what?"
"So, that's good. Maybe if you stand with Tara and I by Buffy's grave, then somehow you could use your connection to find out where she is."
"Uh, I'm not like pyschic or anything, Red."
"Yes, but with the help of our powers, there's a good chance that both of you being slayers, and completing each other's faults and assets, that you could locate her. The slayer bond." Tara says it pretty well, it makes sense. I guess her and Red are pretty powerful now as witches.
"Yeah, sounds cool." I throw my backpack onto the table, and turn to walk towards the door. "Let's get outta here."
~Buffy's Grave, Sunnydale, CA - 12:20am~
Buffy's grave. Shit.
Buffy Summers Beloved Sister Devoted Friend 1981-2001 She saved the world a lot
Okay, what the hell? 'She saved the world a lot'? I look over at Xander with a look of question, and he just shrugs. "It sounded good in my head." I grin, and look back down at the grave and my face changes to one of pain. My heart rips into pieces as I realize that B's body is under there, six feet deep in the soil. I fall to my knees and immediatly burst into tears. "Buffy..." The single word is shaken by my sobs, and I grimace as my face hits the dirt, but I don't care. I want her back! "Buffy!" Despite my sanity, I find myself digging through the dark soil, getting dirt in my fingernails and mud in my hair. I feel the grip of somebody's hands on my shoulders as they pull me away, with me still sobbing hysterically. I fall into the arms Red as she comforts me, rocking me back and forth slightly. She softly strokes my hair as she looks down at me, smiling slightly.
"Faith, come on. We can still get her back."
I look up at her with a tear-stained face, and I can't believe it. Here's Red, the girl who wanted me dead, comforting me. Maybe the Scoobies aren't such bad people after all. But we fucking better get Buffy back, or else I'm gonna be pissed off. I mean, there would be no point in me living anymore. I bring my head up and sniff my nose, regaining myself.
"Okay, what's the deal?"
Red gets up and makes a circle around B's grave with some sort of magic stuff, and then motions for me to kneel in the middle. I nod and obey her, and her and Tara kneel beside me, forming a circle. We all grasp hands, as they begin their chanting. I close my eyes, just to fit into the mood. After a few moments, I open my eyes again. They're still chanting, but they have their eyes open, so I keep mine open. But after a few minutes, I find that I have to close them again when the pain strikes. "Fuck!" I feel the two of them grip my hands tighter and I figure that this is a good sign. Whoa, shit! I'm getting some sort of vision...it's Buffy! Except it's not. What the hell? I know it's her, I know it is. But somehow she looks different...I mean, she's in her body and all but - wait, I gotta figure out where she is first. It's all white, and it looks like it's in the clouds. Is B in heaven? Damn, that's not a bad dimension to go to! Of the thousands out there, she's in heaven! Way to go, B! I wonder if I'll actually be able to see what God looks like or anything!
Fuck! There's the pain again. My head feels like I'm being hit over the head repeatedly with a sledge hammer. Then suddenly, it stops and I feel myself flying backwards, but I don't know where. I try to open my eyes, but I black out as I feel my body go limp.
"Faith?"
"W-wha?" I groan as the searing pain comes back, but this time I can open my eyes. I open them slowly, but before I do, I realize the voice that I heard. Was it --
"Buffy?"
"What the hell?" I opened my eyes slowly, to face the beauty of Buffy's face. "B-Buffy." I reach up to her face as she kneels beside me, and touch it with a gentle brush. She takes my hand in her own, and the smile on her face is ten-times bigger than any smile I've ever seen in my life.
"Faith, I can't believe you're here! I'm not alone anymore!"
I sit up and face her, not risking the chance of getting hurt by making eye contact. A thousand thoughts are running through my head right now, and they're all so mumble-jumbled that I can't even form one of them. "What - where..." I shake my head, attempting to clear my mind a bit just so I can form a question. "Where are we?"
"Well, I think it's heaven."
"But, your body...it's still at home. Yet you're still in your body."
She smiles down and me, and just shrugs. "Yours probably is, too. But Faith, how did you get here?"
"W-we were trying to rescue you. Trying to get you back." I look up into her eyes and see a tinge of respect there.
"You risked yourself to save me?"
I nod slowly, forcing a pathetic attempt at a smile. "All I want is your forgiveness, B." I avoid eye contact as I say it, embarassed.
Her face softens, and I can tell she's in one of those moods where she could just burst into tears of happiness. Fortunately, she doesn't. Because if she did, I would be wicked uncomfortable. Instead she pulls me into a hug, and we just stay there for a few moments. I try to take it all in. I mean, I'm hugging Buffy Summers here! Damn, she smells *so* good. And her hair...her soft, beautiful hair. I feel like I'm in heaven. Oh, wait a minute, I actually am! Heh! This is crazy!
She pulls away, and smiles at me. "Don't worry, I forgive you."
I figure I better change the subject before things get too emotional for my taste. "Why'd you come here, B? I mean, why not some other crazy dimension?"
She just shrugs. "Not sure. I think it's cause some higher power up there decided that, being slayer girl and all, I needed a good place to be. And lemme tell ya, heaven really *is* heaven."
I look at her in shock, an amused grin gracing my face. "Meet the big guy yet?"
"God? Nope, but that would be so cool!" She's all giddy now, I can see it. I guess the excitement of having somebody with her. "But guess who I did see!"
"Who?" I ask, my voice grazed slightly with anticipation.
"Mom!" She jumps up, and does this little giddy dance thing. I just chuckle, and shake my head at her. "I'm happy for ya, B." I decide to change the subject. "This is cool! We're in heaven, but we're not actually *dead.* I mean, I have faith in the gang, I think they can get us back home."
She nods. "Yeah. How did you get here, anyways?"
"I dunno, I think the power of the spell while us being over your grave and stuff must have given me a connection to you. So I came to where you are."
She nods, understanding. "Come on, I'll show ya around." She extends her arm, and I grasp her hand as she pulls me up. "There is *so* much to show you!"
"Alright, B. Cool. Hey, I wonder if we'll getta meet like Elvis Presley and all those cool guys!" I pause for a moment, as realization washes over me. I stop in my tracks, and B looks back at me with a confused expression on her face. But I don't care. My heart beats about ten times faster as I realize that I could probably see...my voice is quiet, almost in a whisper, as I say the one word that means everything to me. It comes out a bit husky as I speak it, slowly and quietly. "Mom."
"What?" Buffy looks at me with her sympathetic look. "Faith?"
"Mom!" I yell it, as I spin around in circles as if expecting her to magically appear.
"Faith, what about her?" Buffy's next to me now, and she stops me from moving with two sturdy hands placed on my shoulders. She looks deep into my eyes, and I feel myself get lost in the deep green beauty of her eyes.
"My mom, B. I-I can see her." The last time I saw my mom was when I was 9. Yeah, she was a harsh alcoholic, but she still did her damn best to support me. She was trying to quit drinking, she really was. Just for my sake, just so I could be safe. And then..and then my dad..that bastard!
I feel myself sobbing as I collapse into Buffy's strong arms. She holds me there for a few moments, and I know she's harsh confused. So I look up into her eyes again, and begin explaining. "B, my mom's gotta be here. She...she was an alcoholic."
"Faith, I don't think-"
"No! B, she's here, I know it. She was trying to quit for me, she was trying. She was such a good person, I loved her so much." My voice is shaken with my sobs, and I continue hesitantly. "B-but then, my dad. He...he killed her, B, he killed her."
"Faith, oh my god." She wraps her strong arms around me as I begin to sob more and more, my body racking from the sobs. She presses her face against my neck as she whispers, "shh, Faith. I'm here for you."
Without looking into her eyes, without moving apart from our embrace, and my speech still interrupted by my sobs, I continue. "He was trying to...to rape me, B. And she tried to stop him, but she was drunk and couldn't defend herself. And he killed her."
She pulls back from me, and looks deep into my eyes once again, and I realize now that Buffy is the best person in the world. Just five minutes ago, we were enemies, and now, here she was comforting me. I'm lost in her eyes, I can't break contact with her beautiful eyes, when I suddenly realize that her soft, luscious lips are pressed gently against mine. It's her gesture, it's her gesture to calm me. And damn, it works. She ends the gesture as she pulls away, and looks me in the eye once again, smiling slightly. "Faith, I'm here for you. Trust me."
"Buffy..." I reach my hand up and touch her face, electrified by the touch of her skin. "Buffy, I love you."
She smiles at me, her beautiful smile that only Buffy Summers can make me melt with, and puts her hand over mine. "I love you too, Faith."
We're just about to lean in for another kiss, another kiss that I know would have been the best damn single moment in my life, before a husky voice interrupts us.
"Faith, baby." I look up and groan as realization washes over me. "You've got to be fucking kidding me." I look up into the gorgeous eyes of my only other lover, Gaia.
No, not now. Fuck, not now. I know that at this moment, I am completely screwed. The only two people I've even loved in my fucking life are standing side by side, and I know that I'm going to have to choose between them.
"Faith, who is she?" Buffy voice disturbs my thoughts.
Gaia was my girl back in Boston when I lived there. She was my main girl, I had never been so deeply in love before. Her beautiful, long blonde hair sweeps gorgeously over her shoulders, and her big, blue eyes stare at me, sparkling. She's almost as beautiful as Buffy. She's strong too, she's been practicing...or had been practicing every type of martial art with a name, before she died in a car accident. She's probably not as strong as a slayer, but seriously, she is afraid of *nothing.* Which makes sense, considering the fact that she was born without the fear gene. And since I'm going to be here for up to a couple of weeks, these weeks are going to be hell.
"Buffy, this is Gaia, my ex-girlfriend."
...to be continued...