Slayers Journeys VI: The Other Side of the Story
by Vincent
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Joss, ME, Fox and UPN. Just borrowing.
Spoilers: The events occur in the beginning to Season 7. Willow has just come back from England.
Note: This the sixth story of The Slayers Journeys Saga. After having shared time loops travel; Buffy and Faith are together and happy. There is a third Slayer, Kennedy. During one of their time loops, Faith had taken the place of a cruel Slayer pirate: Demona Nau.
Feedback: Yes, please.
In the living room of casa Summers, two opponents were now facing each other. It was the end of the afternoon that had been quiet till the incident, an incident that had forced these two proud individuals to duel to settle this.
On the left side of the room, a beautiful brunette was analysing her opponent’s every move, ready to strike if his hand reached his belt. She was used to this kind of exercises. After all, she was a Slayer; she was Faith, the darkest part of the Chosen Two.
On the right side, a man was ready to strike too, his eyes glued on the brunette’s right hand. He had done it plenty of times before and had often won the duels. He was a carpenter and a friend of the Slayer. His name was Xander and each member of the Scooby Gang considered him as the heart of their group.
Slowly, the two duellists were moving inside the room, circling it, carefully avoiding the pieces of furniture. Then, Xander quickly moved his hand towards the object that was on his belt and grabbed it. Then, he aimed it to Faith but couldn’t finish his move. His eyes went wider as he realised that the brunette had been the quickest. He could now see the gun she was aiming at him and soon felt the water on his face, on his clothes. Once again, he had lost a water gun duel with Faith. But this time, he wouldn’t be a willing victim.
Faith grinned when she saw that she had won. Then, her grin went wider when she saw the wet look that was now Xander. She stopped pulling the trigger, glad to be the one who had won but suddenly noticed the feral look that was on Xander’s features now. She tried to dodge but it was too late, the water coming from his gun hit her in the head and was soon reaching her clothes too.
“Geez, Xand! I won!”
“I know! What can I say? I’m a bad loser!” And with that, he continued to shoot at Faith who soon shot at him too.
They continued their shooting sessions till their guns were empty, giggling like kids, visibly enjoying the fight they were having. Then, as the water gun fight transformed into a tickling party, they suddenly heard the front door open, Soon, Buffy’s voice resounded in the house.
“Guys! We’re back!”
The two duellists looked around them and noticed the mess they had done. Wet spots were noticeable on the sofa and on some walls. A lamp was now on the ground. They had probably made it fall when they had tried to dodge the water sprays. Fortunately, it was still intact…but still, they were in big trouble. They heard footsteps coming to the living room and soon saw Buffy, Dawn, Willow and Kennedy enter the place.
“Guys? Ha there…what the hell?”
The four newcomers looked at Faith and Xander who were suddenly captivated by the carpet, their eyes glued on it as if they were trying to find a hole to hide into. Buffy shot a smile at Willow but soon recovered her stern face and moved close to her girlfriend.
“So, Faith! Waiting for explanation, here!”
Faith managed to look at her, with puppy dog eyes, hoping to soothe the blonde with it but quickly found out that it would be vain. So, she said:
“Well, you see B…it kinda…”
“It’s her fault!” Xander said, interrupting the brunette who automatically exclaimed.
“What? The hell with that! I won the duel. You are the one who hadn’t the guts to admit his defeat and started shooting like a bloody berserker.” Then, turning her head towards Buffy she added: “I couldn’t let him soak me without defending myself, could I?”
“Hey! Who’s the one who stole my cookie?”
“You let it on the kitchen table. How could I know it was yours? There was no ‘I’m Xander no guts’ written on it!”
“Wowowow! Calm down and shut up!” Buffy shouted, catching the quarrellers’ attention before pursuing. “You’re saying that this whole mess is because of a cookie error?” And, while saying that, Buffy burst into laugh. She couldn’t prevent it anymore. Soon, she was joined by Willow, Dawn and Kennedy while the two last Scoobies didn’t find it funny at all.
“Ain’t funny, guys!
“I agree with Faith here! It was a question of honour!”
“And honour is an important thing!”
“Sure! So, we decided to deal with it in an honourable way!”
“With a water gun duel?” Willow managed to say between laughs, the others still trying to find their breaths back.
“Well, yeah!” The reply came from both duellists at the exact same time.
“Enough! Please enough!” Buffy finally pleaded, still having breathing trouble because of the laughs. Her eyes still full of tears coming from the laugh, she cleared her throat and said: “OK guys! Clean your mess and we’ll forget the whole story…or we’ll try to.” She added while chuckling, receiving glares from Faith and Xander. Then, she saw Faith moving towards her.
“B…so, now that everything is cool again…can I have my ‘Hey honey, I’m back’ kiss?”
Buffy grinned and let Faith embrace her. “Well, as you ask it so cutely…I’d love to.”
Their lips met and the two girlfriends began to passionately kiss.
After dinner, Dawn and Kennedy were doing the dishes as it was their turn to do it. The youngest Summers and the new Slayer were closed friends now. In fact, they had gotten along quickly when Kennedy had come to Sunnydale while Buffy and Faith were in England to deal with the Avatar thing. Now, the new Slayer had been fully accepted in their family and Dawn suspected that things were evolving between Kennedy and Willow…the thought made her grin, a grin that didn’t go unnoticed by Kennedy.
“What’s funny?”
Dawn who didn’t want to embarrass her friend by saying the truth easily found another explanation.
“The duel! What else! Have you seen their looks? It was just too funny!”
“Yes, it was!”
“Now that I think about it…it makes me happy!”
“Happy?”
“Yes! Six months ago, this house was full of resentment, bad memories and anxiety. Don’t get me wrong, we loved each others as much as now but the previous year had been so awful, so full of bad things that we were still having a hard time dealing with them. Now, it’s completely different.”
“What changed do you think?”
“Faith!”
“Faith? I thought that the gang wasn’t too fond of her at that time?”
“You’ve joined the team right after the big news. Before Faith and my sister got together, things were indeed tense between the gang and Faith! But, as time passed, things have changed. Look at Faith now!”
Kennedy did look at Faith and saw the brunette discussing with Willow. The two girls seemed completely focused into their talk.
“See, six month ago, Faith and Willow in less that a 100 feet distance between them wouldn’t have been possible. And now, they’re buddies. Hell, Willow had even nicknamed Faith Brownie and Faith had accepted it…and believe me, that fact alone confirms it.”
“I think I begin to understand! Their pasts brought them closer.”
“Yep! If someone can understand what Willow had felt like right after her trip to the dark side, it’s Faith! And yes, I think she helped Willow a lot in the dealing with department. And Willow wasn’t the only one she helped.”
“Huh?”
“Xander! He has found his real self back and has coped with the broken wedding thing. Did you know that they organised Sunday morning cartoons party sometimes. B, Will and I had found them in front of the TV once, laughing their asses off in front of Bugs Bunny!”
“I’m not surprised!”
“And my sister has never been that happy. She and Faith are meant to be together, I have no doubt about it. This means that I have a new cool sister too…another good point.”
The two girls continued doing their dishes while Faith and Willow were continuing their talk. Then, suddenly, Faith noticed Buffy climbing the stairs…slowly…too slowly. She excused herself to Willow then walked to the stairs, climbed them and entered her room.
She found Buffy laying on the bed, her right hand on her forehead. Her eyes were closed and she was pale. Faith didn’t say a word, joined Buffy on the bed and kissed the hand, then the forehead of her girlfriend making her open her eyes. The dark Slayer began to caress the blonde’s cheek and said:
“Still the headache?”
“Yeah! A come back with revenge.”
“Come here!” Faith replied, gently moving Buffy’s head to her lap. She then placed her hands of both sided of her girlfriend’s head and began to massage her temples with her fingertips. Buffy began to moan under the expert fingers of the brunette.
“That’s it, B! Relax! Forget everything. Relax! Close your eyes!”
Buffy didn’t have to hear it twice. She closed her eyes and relaxed, totally focused on the feelings Faith’s massage was giving her. She felt her girlfriend’s right hand move to the back of her neck while the left one moved to her forehead, two places she began to massage too. Slowly, Buffy began to forget her headache and soon fell asleep in Faith’s arms.
Hearing the regular rhythm of Buffy’s breathing, Faith smiled, proud of herself. Buffy needed it, needed to rest. She continued her massage for the next ten minutes then, gently moved the blonde’s head to her pillow before kissing her forehead and leaving the room.
When Faith had descended the stairs, she went directly to the living room where the rest of the gang was gathered. She grabbed her jacket that was hanging on a chair then turned to Kennedy and said:
“Ready to burn some calories, K?”
The dark haired girl nodded and stood up before going to the corridor to take her own jacket. In the meantime, Willow had come closer to Faith and asked her:
“Buffy doesn’t come with you, does she?”
Faith shook her head before answering: “Nope! Another headache!”
“That’s the third time this week!”
“I know, Red! And it worries me too. I know brain tumours aren’t hereditary shits but still, I’d be cooler if she agreed to pass some tests! But you know how stubborn she could be!”
“Relax, Brownie! They’re just headaches! And regarding the stubbornness…that’s part of her…of you both!”
“You think I overreact, right?”
“A little! But it’s…”
Faith stopped the witch by raising her index finger. “Don’t say I’m cute, Red or you’ll pay for it!”
Willow chuckled before answering: “And how would you do that, Oh cute one?”
“Grrr! Remember that I’m about to have some time alone with K…who knows what I could say with my clumsy mouth?”
“Faith!” Willow replied, blushing.
“What? When will you stop glancing at her ass and tell her how you feel? She is younger than you, I know but she’s adult and the girl drools about you… a lot, trust me!”
“I…I …I don’t want to speak about this!” The redhead said before making a u-turn and retreating to the couch. However, she had the time to hear Faith’s next sentence.
“Don’t live in the past, Willow! Believe me; the future is much more fun to experience.”
Seeing Kennedy coming to her, Faith walked towards the front door and the two Slayers exited the house for an uneventful night. Two hours later, they were back and, after sharing the rest of the pizza that was on the fridge, went to their rooms. Faith smiled in seeing the petite blonde who was asleep on the bed. Buffy was so peaceful when she was sleeping, Faith thought before snuggling close to her girlfriend and falling asleep too.
When Willow woke up, the next morning, she had a hard time coming out of her bed. She hadn’t slept well the previous night; her mind had constantly come back with the words Faith had told her before going on patrol. “Don’t live in the past!” Was it really living in the past to cherish the memory of a loved one? And what about Kennedy? Sure, she was attracted to her but still…could she really allow herself to feel about another girl that way? So many thoughts were clouding her mind right now.
Shaking her head, she slowly got up then, moved towards the stairs to take her breakfast. Glancing at the clock, she noticed that she had stayed in bed longer than usual. It didn’t really mattered as she had no class this day but still, if she wanted to work on her thesis and stick to her schedule, she had to hurry. When she reached the final stairs, she heard noises in the kitchen. It could only be Buffy, Dawn and Kennedy finishing their breakfast. Usually, she joined them for the breakfast before accompanying the Summers girls to the High School while Kennedy and her went to the university. Half of the time, Faith was there too even if the dark Slayer wasn’t a morning person. She entered the kitchen and stopped a moment, surprised by what she was seeing.
Faith was pressing oranges to make some juice while Dawn and Kennedy were finishing their breakfasts. There was no sign of Buffy. The most surprising thing was that Faith was already dressed…usually, she was still in her pyjama when she attended their breakfast.
“Morning, Red!” Faith said after having spotted the witch. Soon, the two other girls welcomed their friend too. Willow moved to her chair and sat down.
“Where is Buffy?”
“Still sleeping! She wasn’t that well this morning so, Dr. Faith gave her the day off!”
“And I suppose that Dr. Faith would become Nurse Faith for the rest of the day.” Willow said while throwing a wicked smile to the brunette. Faith didn’t reply but instead handed her a glass of orange juice.
“Drink your juice instead of teasing the cook. There is some omelette left if you want.”
Willow gladly accepted the glass and sipped some of the juice while Faith signed the girls that it was time for them to go. Kennedy and Dawn saluted Willow and wished her a nice day while exiting the room. Faith stayed a bit and, once she was sure that the others were away, she said to the witch.
“Keep an eye on my girl, would you…but no groping!”
Willow chuckled then nodded. Who would have guesses that a year ago? She and Faith teasing each other all day long and loving it. Following them to the door, she saw them exit the house, then spotted Faith throwing the keys to Kennedy, proof that the brunette was in a very good mood this day. She rarely let someone else drive the car when Buffy wasn’t there. She still remembered her answer when she had asked her why she always let Buffy drive…as well as Buffy’s blush: “Hell! Being in the passenger seat is much more fun. My hands are free and I can let them wander wherever they want to…”
Nathaniel was sitting in the motel’s bed, ready for the second transfer. He was glad that he had had a few hours to recuperate some of his mental strength. Transfers were exhausting processes and doing it twice in a row was very risky. Focusing on her sixth sense, he quickly made contact with Rodeney. Smiling inwardly when he was confronted again to this warmth and so close presence, he let him guide the transferring process. After all, he was the most experienced one and he had the client with him.
His senses were now totally concentrated on his work. He wasn’t in a motel room anymore, no, he was in the middle of the road and he was about to let someone’s mind cross it. This power was in his family since so many generations and he was really proud to be one of the only beings capable of doing what they were doing.
He could now picture the girls, laying on their beds, could sense their minds leaving their bodies, could sense them travel the road then, as sweat was completely covering his face, he guided them to their new bodies. And, once the transfer done, Nathaniel sighed for the first time since he had contacted Rodeney. Once again, they had done it! Once again, the transfer had been successful.
“Transfer complete!” The wizard said. It was like a ritual. He had to confirm it out loud, as if his mind needed it.
Thanking Rodeney for his help, Nathaniel began to move away from the presence. That was the trickiest part of the process. Rodeny’s mind and his were connected because of the transfer. If something bad happened to one of them, the other would suffer from it too…or rather his mind would.
Still completely focused on his retreat, Nathaniel didn’t hear the steps coming to his direction, hadn’t heard the assassin coming inside the room right after he had begun the transferring process. The wizard didn’t felt the mattress move because of the new weight that had come on it and only felt the coldness of the knife the assassin was holding when it was too late. Still focused on the contact with Rodeney, Nathaniel didn’t really felt the pain when the knife cut his throat open.
The assassin moved out of the bed and contemplated Nathaniel’s body with a cruel smile on the lips. The murderer’s eyes were glued on the pool of blood that was slowly impregnating the mattress. Then, the assassin moved towards the bathroom and carefully washed the knife before exiting the room. When the killer reached the entrance, the receptionist had his back turned to the stairs. Coming behind the man, the assassin put the newly washed knife under his chin and asked:
“Do you want to live?”
Willow was taping on her laptop when she heard footsteps coming from the stairs. As the others weren’t back yet, she easily guessed that it was Buffy who had finally woken up. Deciding that she could use a break in her thesis, the redhead moved to the kitchen to see if Buffy was feeling better. She found the blond Slayer sitting on a chair, drinking water.
“Hey, Buff! Feeling better?”
“Better yes! Well, no!”
“Did you take some aspirin?”
“Not yet! I’m just trying to wake up right now!” Buffy said while standing up and moving to the sink.
Willow didn’t say another word. There was something in Buffy’s eyes that was bothering her. It wasn’t the usual Buffy’s joyful “Hey, let’s enjoy this day” look, nor the “God! My head is gonna explode” look she had had the last few days. No, this look was different, harsher, and crueller than usual. And the tone in the blonde’s voice was slightly different too.
“Buffy, are you sure you’re alright?”
“Yes, sure! Apart from the headache, I’m fine!” The petite Slayer replied with a smile, a smile that was different from the usual ones too…and different in a way that didn’t please Willow. She studied the way Buffy moved too and that too was different. The blonde’s muscled were tensed, as if she was ready for a fight…but which fight, the witch wondered as she was feeling more and more bad at ease around Buffy. For an external watcher, nothing in Buffy’s behaviour was odd but for someone who lived with her…there was definitely something wrong here.
She then saw Buffy take an orange and a big knife to cut it in two. The blonde’s eyes were still looking to Willow with the same strange look the redhead was tired of seeing in her friend’s eyes. Then, she heard Buffy say to her:
“Let’s stop playing, would you?” And, to Willow’s surprise, Buffy threw the knife at her. Completely stunned by what Buffy was doing, Willow didn’t move and soon heard the impact the knife made with the wall, on her left. Buffy grinned cruelly when she saw the witch’s reaction. She grabbed two other knives and added: “Well, well! You’re sure you don’t want to move, witch?”
The term “witch” drove Willow back to earth. It wasn’t Buffy who was in front of her, she was certain of it now. Buffy would never have called her a witch in such a harsh tone. She concentrated on a spell that would knock Buffy down and recited the enchanted formula…but it didn’t seem to affect the petite Slayer whose grin just widened.
“Oh! The witch has no power left…What a pity!” The blonde then threw a second knife to the redhead who, even if she didn’t know why she didn’t seem to have magical powers anymore, knew that it wasn’t the time to think about it. Running like a possessed woman, she exited the kitchen to go to the corridor and the exit door but crashed into Faith that she hadn’t heard coming back, too confused about Buffy’s strange behaviour.
“Red, what the hell…”
Faith hadn’t the time to finish her sentence as Willow pushed her to the living room.
“Duck!”
She had indeed seen Buffy come behind them, ready to throw another knife. The knife finished its course on furniture while Faith turned to Willow, puzzled.
“Red! What…”
“I don’t know! She’s acted weird since she came downstairs. She must be possessed or something. Oh God!”
Turning her head towards the direction Willow was looking at, Faith could see Buffy take a crossbow out of cupboard of the kitchen, one of the weapons they were keeping there in case of a sudden attack by the forces of evil. Turning her head to Willow again, the brunette said:
“Red! When I’ll say go, you run to the basement then go away from this house by the window.”
“Why the basement window? Why not running to the front door?”
“Too dangerous! There are 5 or 6 feet from here to the basement door…there must be twenty feet minimum to the front door…too many times for a Slayer to shoot. I’ll distract her while you escape.”
Willow just nodded. She couldn’t feel any magic connection into her and without her magic; she knew that she would only be in Faith’s way. She waited for the signal then, when she heard the ‘go’ word coming from Faith’s mouth after the brunette had moved for Buffy to see her, she sprinted towards the basement door and quickly descended the stairs. Then, she took the window’s direction and stopped when she spotted…No, it couldn’t be.
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Chained to the wall, a person was laying on the floor unconscious…a Slayer was laying on the floor unconscious…Kennedy was laying on the floor unconscious. But, Kennedy was gone, had left the house the same morning with…with Faith. Then, two scenes came back to her mind, two scenes involving the dark Slayer.
Faith handing her a glass of orange juice and her crashing on Faith while running away from Buffy…Faith giving her some medicine to cut the witch from her powers and Faith cutting her only way out.
She slowly made a u-turn, hoping that she had been wrong but the sight she had in front of her now only confirmed her deductions. Standing on the end of the stairs, grinning like a kid in a toyshop, Faith was looking at her, her arms crossed on her chest. To her left, an also grinning Buffy was aiming the crossbow to her and Willow was sure that this time, she wouldn’t miss the shot if she tried something.
“Took you long enough to understand, witch!” Faith said without moving.
“How? Who?” were the only words Willow managed to say.
“Think, witch! You’re supposed to be the brain here!” This time it was Buffy who had spoken, cruelly, harshly.
“And don’t try anything stupid, Willow. Angie is a natural with crossbows. Even when she wasn’t a Slayer yet, she could reach a skull from the bridge to the bow of my ship.”
Willow’s eyes widened when she heard the last sentence. It was clear that the brunette had said it on purpose; giving her the last elements to find out what was happening…And Willow did find out! The nickname Angie made her think about the real name of the girl in Buffy’s body…Angelique and it only comforted her fears…fears about the real identity behind Faith’s face…the one of the cruellest and most horrible Slayer of all times.
“D…Dem…Demona?”
The brunette smiled before answering: “Why are you so surprised? Did you really think that time loops were one way trips?”
And, after saying that, both “Slayers” began to laugh. A cruel and insane laugh that sent shivers down Willow’s spine.
Feeling the sunrays bathing her face, Faith began to wake up, slowly. Her eyes still closed, her other senses began to scan her surroundings instinctively…the weigh and scent of the blonde woman who was in her arms were the first things she noticed. She didn’t have to open her eyes to know who it was and a grin appeared on her face as it had always appeared for the last four months. It was amazing how a simple thing like waking up in her girlfriend’s arms or with her girlfriend in her arms could bring so much pleasure to the brunette.
Then, she felt the rolling and knew that something wasn’t right. She had woken up in a boat twice and both times, it had been during their time loops…and, as the Summers house wasn’t built on water and as the house was the place they had fallen asleep in, this rolling thing could only means…Faith opened her eyes and saw the pretty face of her lover. Grinning again, the younger Slayer didn’t let herself unconcentrated by Buffy and quickly scanned the room they were in, a room she already knew: Demona’s room on her pirate ship.
“Oh Shit!”
She then felt Buffy move in her arms. The petite woman was waking up too. Still sleepy, the blonde asked, her eyes still closed: “What’s wrong, honey?”
“Open your eyes and tell me what you see!”
Buffy opened them, then stared at Faith and said, smiling: “An angel! My gorgeous angel!”
Faith couldn’t prevent her third grin of the day to come to her lips. God, she loved that woman.
“My smiling sexy angel!”
“God, B! What did I do to deserve you?”
A wicked smile came to the blonde’s lips: “Well, do you want the whole list?” It was at that moment that Buffy noticed her surroundings. Recognizing the place too, she exclaimed: “Oh Shit!”
“Already said it, B!”
“I thought we were done with this gig!”
“I thought that too. Guess the PTB decided we weren’t!”
“Well, they suck big time then!”
“Won’t be the first time!”
“You know what? Let’s go on strike! I’m fed up with this mess. To be Slayers, to kill monsters and protect the Hellmouth, OK! That’s part of the deal…even if they didn’t ask our opinions on the matter…But we sure didn’t sign to be Time Cop Slayers!”
“I’d love to go on strike with you! Sounds like fun!” then, she continued, her right hand beginning to caress Buffy’s thigh under the sheets. “So, Miss Summers, how do you want to spend your striking time? After all, we’re on a ship, in the Caribbean…naked in a bed…”
“Well, Miss Mc Dougal…I’m open to suggestions!” Buffy replied raising her brows.
Slowly closing the gap between their lips, Faith replied: “I have a few ideas but it will require some initiative from you, my dear…”
Buffy could feel Faith’s hot breath on her face now. Lost in her girlfriend’s eyes, she pursued: “You know I can be full of initiatives, my love!”
“I’m counting on it!” And with this last comment, Faith kissed Buffy passionately while both Slayers hands were exploring their bodies.
Willow was too stunned to react. She hadn’t even opened her mouth for at least five minutes and didn’t resist when “Angie” had chained her next to Kennedy. She could now see the two individuals who had stolen her friends’ bodies sharing a kiss. She remembered Faith and Buffy explaining their soul mates theory…saying that maybe, their souls were meant to be together…well, as Demona and Angelique were the past incarnations of the two Slayers, it seemed that the theory was correct…even if the witch would have preferred to have another kind of confirmation. Finally, she managed to ask:
“How?”
The two lovers broke their kiss and looked at her, grinning cruelly. Then, slowly, they walked to the redhead and glared at her before Demona answered:
“How what? How did we get here? I think you already know the answer…the rest is just details.”
“No! I think she is wondering how we found out about the time loops and her friends, Dem!” Angie told the pirate.
“Yes…You weren’t supposed to remember anything and…”
“And what? Damn, witch, have you ever wondered how it was on our side? Did you really think we wouldn’t have questions? No, it’s quite normal to fall asleep one day and then, waking up more than a month later with a fucking book in my hands and a ship that was sinking in the ocean.”
“Well…I.”
“You nothing! You’ve never envisaged this, have you? You, you knew what was going on! You knew the whole story! Well, on our side, we had lots of blanks to fill in…and so we did! We discovered how we’ve been played with and we even discovered who did this to us!”
“And…and you decided to take revenge on us!” Willow finished.
“Not really! Figuring all this shit out was a benediction for us…the revenge is just a bonus!”
“A benediction?” Willow said, taken aback by this description. But Demona couldn’t answer the silent question as Angie cut them off.
“Dem! As much as I’m enjoying this conversation, we have lots of things to do!”
“Coming, hun!” She walked away from Willow then looked at the redhead and said: “We’ll be gone for a couple of hours…Don’t be too dirty with Kennedy!”
Ignoring the comment, Willow asked: “Where are you going to?”
“Well, Angie has a little sister to pick up…and I have a carpenter to knock down!”
“B?” Faith said, looking at her girlfriend who was at her side.
“Huh?” Buffy replied, locking her own eyes in Faith’s.
“As much as I love this strike idea…”
“…we’re stuck in this period as long as we don’t accomplish whatever mission the PTB planned for us! I know, I was thinking about the same thing.”
“Too bad we can’t meet them. There would be some major ass kicking if we could!”
“Keep that in mind. Who knows? One day…”
Suddenly, a kind of growl came from under the sheets and Buffy couldn’t prevent herself to smirk before saying: “Looks like your stomach shares our point, F.”
“You know what Xander always says: Never underestimate the power of the stomach!”
Buffy took a pensive expression before replying: “I never heard him say that one but it’s definitely Xander’s. Remind me to shorten your alone time with him. If you began to quote him, it proves that you’re infected.”
“Aw, B! You don’t like my Xanderisms?”
“No, I prefer your Faithisms…I’m crazy of them!” She said before giving a quick kiss to the brunette and standing up. She then headed towards the wardrobe where she knew she would find some clothes.”
After having gazed a long time to Buffy’s naked form, Faith stood up too and joined her girlfriend. They quickly dressed then, after a last kiss, they opened the door that led to the bridge. Gasps soon came out of their mouth as they saw what or rather who was pinned on the other side of the door. A girl was indeed crucified on the wooden plank, her face showing that she had suffered before dying, suffered a long and painful agony. Just above the head of the red hair girl, some words had been written on the door, words that sent shivers down the Slayers spines, words written with the woman’s blood: “SAY HI TO MAUREEN!”
Dawn was hurrying towards the School Entrance, worried. Her teacher had just told her that her sister was waiting for her there, an emergency she had told her. What could have happened? It had to be something big to force her sister to come and pick her up during school time. What could it be? Numerous scenarios were coming to her mind and none of them pleased her. Soon, she saw the car, increasing her pace; she soon spotted Buffy and Faith waiting inside. Without thinking, she opened the back door and stepped inside, asking in a hesitant tone:
“What happened?”
Her sister smiled at her and Dawn didn’t felt at ease with that smile…it was a strange smile, a smile that she had never seen her sister do. Completely focused on her sister’s face, she didn’t see the brunette moving so she could reach her from the passenger seat. She then felt two strong arms grab her and, before she could even react, felt a tissue under her nose then, everything began to spin and she soon fell on the seat, unconscious.
“You know what, Angie? I like chloroform!”
The blonde started the vehicle and replied: “I bet you do! You’ve always liked means to put other people under your control.”
“Look who’s talking! I’m not the one who did what you did to Maureen! She was supposed to be your friend since like forever.”
“Well, I had fun with her for a long time but I got bored! I thought she could become like us and I was wrong!”
“Well, Angie! Chicks like us are unique! Fortunately!”
“You don’t think we could create one?”
“Oh! I know this smile. You’ve just had an idea!”
“Well, as we’ve decided to have some fun with the Slayers friends…I was wondering…”
“You want to corrupt them?”
“Not all of them! You see, I think the problem with Maureen was that she was too old, too brainwashed by her standard education to fully embrace our philosophy…”
Demona’s grin grew wider. She had just finally understood her lover’s idea. She pursued, looking at Dawn: “…and we have a young girl, still really susceptible to influence here with us.”
“Don’t forget to mention good looking, Dem!”
“Yeah, that too! You think we could make it, Angie?”
“I think we could give it a try!”
After a last look to Dawn, Demona looked to the road, smiling. “Let’s do it! It would be as if we’d be forging a daughter…”
“So, do you have any idea about the how we’re gonna corrupt her yet? We’ve 15 minutes to discuss about it before we’ll reach the carpenter’s place.”
“Don’t forget that we have to drop the body in the trunk too.”
“Oh yes, that’s right! Why didn’t you kill him in the motel instead of bringing him back with you?”
“Well, you know, I don’t like this machine that works without animals or wind. I needed someone to drive me back.”
“God, Dem! You know how to drive it so do it. That’s the glory of time loops, learning skills in a heartbeat because the persons from whom you stole the bodies knew it.”
“Well, let’s say that I like the idea of having my private and hot driver…” Demona replied; glad to see the grin appear on her girlfriend’s features. She then heard Angie say with her most sexy voice: “Do we really have to pick the carpenter up now?”
“As much as I hate to say it, yes! Duty first, fun after!”
Angie replied, her tone showing her frustration. “Yeah, you’re right! But as soon as we’re back…we’ll lock the Scoobies downstairs and have fun.”
“Oh, believe me, baby! We’re gonna have lots of fun here!”
The two Slayers couldn’t detach their eyes from the body in front of them; it was as if their gazes were literally glued to it. So, this was Maureen, the poor girl Willow had borrowed the body when they had first time looped in this period. Except for the colour of the hair, she had little in common with Willow.
When they had come back from England, Faith had finally asked Willow the question she had had since their time loop in Germany. How come that every time they travelled back to past periods, they still see each others as Buffy and Faith, as if they had always reincarnated themselves in the same bodies? Willow’s answer had been simple and logical. As they were coming from the same period of time, there was some connection between their minds that made them see the other as the one they knew. In other words and as they would always come from the same period, Buffy would always be Buffy for Faith and Faith would always be Faith for Buffy…even if their physical forms were different.
Slowly succeeding in pushing their disgusts away, the two Slayers gently de-crucified the poor girl before laying her on their bed. There were so much blood on her clothes, so many cuts on her body…whoever did this to her deserved to be punished for this cruelty and there was only one name that came to their minds as they were trying to guess who had done this: Demona.
They hadn’t said a word since the discovery of Maureen’s body and they didn’t really feel in the mood to say a single word. Still, the need to feel the other was present too so, after having put Maureen on the bed, they clasped their hands and silently decided to have a look outside.
Once outside, they couldn’t prevent others gasps as they saw bodies everywhere. It was as if the whole crew had been killed and, deep down inside of their hearts, Buffy and Faith knew that it was probably the case. There were no signs of cuts or blood on these bodies but the features of the victims couldn’t let any doubts about the way they had been murdered.
“Poison!” Faith stated, her hand still clasped in Buffy’s.
“But why? I mean why would Demona kill her crew then came back to her room to lay down with…well, my past me, Angelique.”
Faith closed her eyes. She had a really good idea about the why and knew that Buffy had thought about it too. Her lover was just hoping that she would have another explanation, which unfortunately she hadn’t.
“There’s only one explanation to it, B. And you know it as well as I do.”
“They knew we’d come!”
“Yep! We’re trapped here with no crew, nothing to sail away.”
They quickly looked to the horizon. They were indeed immobile, in the middle of the ocean with only a tiny island on the left side of the ship.
“Why do I have the impression that this island isn’t the paradise it seems to be?”
“Cause you know Demona as well as I do, B. There is nothing good to expect from her.”
“Faith! If Demona really is behind this mess…it means that she wanted us here, right?”
“Yes!”
“So, we can assume that she and Angelique are in Sunnydale now!”
“Yes!” Faith replied, sharing Buffy’s worry. “And the guys aren’t prepared to deal with them…”
“I thought Angelique was a good girl!” Buffy sighed.
“Well, I kinda shared that thought. Guess we were wrong and they really were soul mates.”
Their eyes continued to scan the place, looking for whatever could help them and soon found a book, lying next to a man’s body. The most curious about it was that this man wasn’t wearing the stigmata the others had on their faces. This man didn’t die because of the poison.
They quietly walked towards the book then, Buffy grabbed it before opening it. Soon, the two girlfriends began to shuffle the pages. It was Angelique’s diary but what caught their attentions was the few pages that had been torn up from the book, pages that began by the following words:
“To Buffy and Faith!”
When Xander heard the knock on his front door, he walked towards it, wondering who it might be. He glanced at the little bull’s eye he had drilled in it and smiled when he saw that it was his favourite slaying duo. Still smiling, he quickly opened the door and invited her friends in.
“Hey girls! I wasn’t expecting you! Miss me already?”
“A little!” The blonde replied while scanning the place, verifying if there was somebody else in the apartment.
“Well, I’m flattered! What can I do for you, ladies?”
“Choose a number!” Faith exclaimed while sitting on a chair.
“What?”
“Come on, X-man. It’s just a game. Choose a number!”
“7 but…”
“One…Two…Three…” The petite Slayer began to count while walking towards Xander, a strange smile on her lips, a smile that made Xander shiver.
“Buffy…Buff what are you doing?”
“Four…Five…Six…”
Walking backwards, scared by the strange behaviour of his friends, Xander began to sweat. He soon could feel his front door on his back.
“Buff? Faith? What’s going on, here?”
“Seven!” Buffy was in front of him now and, slowly, leaned down and began to kiss the boy on the lips. After a few seconds, the blonde broke the kiss and said:
“Happy birthday, Xander!”
Smiling goofily, his eyes glued on Buffy’s lips, Xander spent a few seconds lost in the feelings the kiss had awakened in him. Then, recovering, he replied: “But…It isn’t my birthday.”
“We know!” The brunette said from his left side. Xander jumped to the voice. Faith had indeed taken advantage of the kiss to join them discreetly. “Let’s just say we’re sorry!”
“Sorry for what?” Xander said, puzzled.
“This!” Both girls exclaimed at the same time before punching him. The blonde punch took it on the jaw, sending his head to his left where the brunette’s fist was waiting for it. Even if Xander was really proud of the fact that he had a thick skull, two hits coming from Slayers were too much for him and, as soon as the second hit touched him, he fell unconscious on the floor. While Xander was hitting the floor, Angie turned to Demona and said:
“I’m not sorry!”
“I know but you’ve seen his face when I said it! It was priceless!”
“Well, the face he made after the kiss was fun too. It’s always good to know I haven’t lost my touch!”
Hearing that comment, Demona grabbed her lover and took her in her arms, roughly before hissing:
“Don’t make a habit of it, Angie! You’re mine! Never forget that!”
Instead of scaring the blond girl, Demona’s statement only made her smile. Angelique then began to kiss her lover’s neck while saying sensuously:
“How could I forget, my love? Come on! Let’s wrap the boy and go back home! Then, you’ll show me how yours I am!”
They had decided to read the book on the bow, a place that had a dear place in their hearts. The place where they first kissed! They had taken their usual position; Faith was sitting her back against the wooden hull while Buffy was sitting between her girlfriend’s legs, feeling the brunette’s warmth on her back, her chin on her neck. They were both reading the notes Demona and Angelique had left for them.
Hello, Slayers!
How is it to be back on our ship? Looks like you had a great time here while we were stuck sleeping in your beds…unaware of what was going on.
You know, we don’t know if we have to curse you because of what you did, or to thank you for it. After all, without you, we wouldn’t have met each other. Sure, at first, it was curiosity that linked us but soon, we discovered how alike we were. Two people who liked to make the others suffer, two people who were meant to be together.
To thank you too because, without you, we wouldn’t have known a damn thing about the time loops, this wonderful way out! You see, think have a bit evolved since the time you made your trip here. Looks like some pirates didn’t like us being so good at what we were doing. Being girls in a macho world isn’t easy everyday, you know! So, they tried to kill us and soon Tortuga became too dangerous for us to stay, even if Demona was the Slayer.
So, we retreated to our secret headquarters but the bastards told its position to the British. One day, when we were back from a raid, we found it in ruins. We couldn’t fool ourselves anymore…with pirates, British, French, Spanish, Dutch and others trying to find us to hang us, the Caribbean seas weren’t safe for us anymore. Our crew was beginning to show some signs of rebellion too…We had to find a way to escape…And guess what, we found it!
While searching for answers about what had happened to us when you stole our bodies, we had met a wizard who was a specialist of the time loops. He and his family members through the ages have found a way to make people travel to past our future periods. Don’t ask us how they do it; we don’t know a damn thing about it. All we can say is that they are able to communicate with their ancestors or descendants and it is thanks to this special bond that they can do it. We made a deal with them…and it cost a lot!
Doesn’t Buffy have had headaches lately? Guess what, it was because of us. Sure, Demona has also made a few trips in Faith’s body to feel at ease in this future period, but I, Angelique was the one who prepared everything, stealing Buffy’s body in the process. Oh, it was only a few hours a night but it was enough for us. Now, as you have probably guessed, we have just made our last move. The transfer is done and there is no way back. You’re stuck in this period, full of people who want to kill you, lost in the ocean, next to an island full of cannibals (what did you think? We’re evil, remember!). We couldn’t let the crew help you either so, we dealt with them too. And, by the way! Don’t look after the wizard who helped us…his body is the one next to the book.
Anyway! Time to say goodbyes, girls! We have a period to discover, some friends to torment, a town to conquer and lots of fun to have.
Have fun too!
Demona and Angelique
“Bitches!”
“That’s too smooth for them, F. I don’t even think I could find a word that would do justice to what I think about them!”
“Any wonderful idea, B?”
“Well, I’m kinda focused on the ‘Us being stuck in the middle of nowhere in a period that isn’t even ours’ thing now!”
“In other words, we’re in deep shit!”
“In other words, yes! At least, we’re together!”
“Always the optimistic thinker, B! That’s my girl!”
Buffy turned her head to lock her gaze in Faith’s.
“We’ll find a way back, Faith!”
Their faces were now only inches away. They could feel their breaths on their faces. Then, as their lips were about to meet, a loud noise erupted in the air…a cannon had just shot a bullet. They then heard a splash, proof that the bullet had missed their ship. They quickly stood up and soon saw another ship sailing into their direction.
“Well, I’d need some optimistic thinking here, B! Cause according to me, we’re in an even deeper shit.”
Buffy didn’t say a word but she wasn’t far from sharing her lover’s opinion. Things were really going from bad to worse.
Willow was the only one conscious when the two pirates came back with Dawn and Xander. She watched silently as the two bitches who had taken her friends bodies chained them to the wall. She wanted to do something but chained and with no magic power at disposal, she also knew that the odds were against her. When Xander was chained, she saw Angelique coming and knee in front of her.
“Thirsty, witch?”
“W…why?” The redhead finally asked.
“A question? Again? Geez, I already knew about your babble tongue but never guessed you could be so inquisitive. Why what?”
“Why are we still alive?”
“Oh, that why!” The blonde shrugged then replied: “Well, I guess I can answer this one. You, my dear, are alive because of her!” She gestured towards the still unconscious Kennedy.
Willow’s eyes grew wide when she heard it. Glad with her effect, Angie continued.
“See, she is the one connected with the PTBastards. If she dies…”
“Another Slayer will be called!” Willow finished.
“Yep! And this new Slayer could really become a pain in our asses. So, we’d prefer keep her alive and chained. But, see! Dem and I know by experience that, if you want to kill yourself, you will finally achieve this goal…so we needed a way to keep this suicidal thoughts away from her…And that’s where you intervene, witch. She has feelings for you and don’t pretend the contrary, I’ve seen thing when I was in my incognito Buffy trips.”
“So, you keep me alive so she’ll stay alive too!”
“That’s the point. You’re a clever girl!”
“And…and the others?” Willow asked, not certain she wanted to know the answer of her question.
“We have some plans for the cute little girl…Don’t ask! Top-secret information there. The boy, it’s different. We’ve always to have a buffoon on board, a boy toy to play with. As long as we find him funny and all, we let him live…When we’re bored…”
“Oh God! That’s…”
“Don’t worry! I’m sure he’ll do his best to entertain us. Now, if you’d like to excuse me, Dem and I have some catching us to do…and new bodies to test.”
The blonde winked to Willow then joined her lover upstairs, leaving the scoobies alone and chained…powerless.
A second salvo of cannon bullets almost touched the ship. Buffy and Faith looked around, looking for a divine inspiration or something but all they could see were the bodies lying on the floor and water surrounding their ships. Angelique and Demona had prepared a lethal trap for them. Turning her attention to Faith, Buffy said:
“We can't stay here, Faith. We have nothing to defend the ship and can’t sail with it.”
“So, we agree then. Let’s take our chances with the cannibals.”
They climbed the bow, ready to jump in the water and swim to the tiny island they could see at the horizon when the next salvo hit the ship badly, breaking the hull and the masts. The two Slayers lost their balance and fell in the water while a fourth salvo reached the boat, hitting the “Sainte Barbe”, the place where all the powder and explosive stuffs were stocked. A huge explosion resounded and pieces of the ship were flying everywhere.
Faith was the first to swim back to the surface. She slowly swam between the debris, avoiding others that came from the air to land on the water. Looking everywhere around her for her girlfriend, she felt shivers running down her spine when she noticed that Buffy was nowhere to be seen. Turning her head from right to left, looking for a clue about where the light Slayer could be, she finally spotted some blond hair quickly descending in the depth of the ocean.
Without even thinking, the brunette dived into the clod water just in time to spot Buffy who was indeed slowly falling towards the blue darkness of the Pacific. Swimming like crazy without paying any attention to what her lungs were screaming to her brain, Faith finally reached her lover, grabbed her hand and brought her back to the surface. When she reached it, she thought that her lungs would explode but the pulse she was feeling on the basis of the blonde’s neck was all that mattered. Buffy had probably been hit by something but it wasn’t bad. She’ll survive and, once again, that was all that mattered.
The brunette then gave a quick glance towards the British ship that had just shot on them. It hadn’t changed its course. Its captain probably wanted to be sure they were really feeding the fishes now, which meant that they couldn’t stay here. She tried to wake Buffy up by awkwardly shaking her in the water but the blonde didn’t move. The dark Slayers didn’t have the choice. She had to swim towards the island while maintaining Buffy’s head above water.
While she was swimming, her mind came back to her childhood in Boston and the moments she had spent on the beach with the other kids. These were probably the only good memories that came from her childhood. Even if she had taken many risks back then with the “diving from the top of sharp and dangerous rocks” thing, she considered herself as a good swimmer and it was a good thing in her situation.
Seconds quickly became minutes and minutes quickly turned to an hour and the brunette could feel every muscles of her body becoming painful. The running of the water wasn’t helping, she had to swim against it constantly and the weigh she had in her arms only increased the difficulty. But this same weigh was also what was giving her new waves of energy when she felt weak. This weigh was what was the most precious to Faith. She couldn’t lose her, she had to reach the island for Buffy’s sake.
The sun was about to set when the couple finally reached the beach. Faith was tired, exhausted, wanted only one thing: to lie on the sand and breath but she knew that they would be easy targets for cannibals if they stayed too much time on the beach. Taking Buffy in her arms, she led her towards the palm trees and, after five minutes of walk, collapsed on the ground.
“Demona and Angelique died in an island, probably victims of the cannibals who lived there.” Angie said, finishing the line she was reading before turning her head towards Demona who was currently doing some push-ups. The dark haired woman grinned and replied without stopping her exercises.
“See! Told you they would choose the island.”
“I’ve never said they wouldn’t! You know, it’s kinda good to know that our trap worked. It would have been kinda disappointing to learn that they escaped the fate we planned for them.”
“And what? You were afraid to see them here, ready to kick our asses?”
“Of course not! How could they? No, I am just being perfectionist here! I like when a plan works perfectly. I know for you the ends are all that matter but, hell, I have my pride too.”
Demona smiled then said: “I understand perfectly, Angie! Machiavel was a newbie in comparison of you.”
“Thanks, Dem! I like when you compliment me…”
“Don’t say I have to anyone. I’m supposed to be bad to the bone!” The brunette added, winking.
“Oh, but you’re bad, baby! Evil is in your blood…in our blood. And tonight, we’ll prove it. Now, have you finished the push-ups? There is still time before tonight and I have some idea about how to spend them.”
“New plans?”
“Yep, and I think you’ll like them.”
When Buffy woke up, night had fallen on the island. She was a bit confused at first. She didn’t know how she had ended in the island. The last thing she remembered was receiving a hit on her head after the jumping in the ocean. When her eyes found the sexy brunette who was laying next to her, she had no pain to fill her blanks in. She raised her hand and caressed her girlfriend’s check tenderly, amazed by the feelings this gorgeous woman who had just saved her life could awake in her…love was such a beautiful thing.
After a few minutes, she felt Faith beginning to stir and waited, never stopping her caresses. She waited, wanted to see these marvellous chocolate eyes when the dark slayer would open them. When she did so, they smiled to each other before Buffy leaned forward to capture her lover’s lips in her own, giving her a sweet and gentle kiss.
“MMM, best awakening ever!”
“Glad you like it. And thanks for saving my life.”
“That’s what Slayer’s girlfriends do for each other, you know?”
“I know! And I can’t tell how proud I am to be yours!”
“Then, we’re equal and…duck!"
Faith pushed Buffy’s head into the sand as an arrow crossed the air at the exact same place where the blonde’s head had been a second before. The two Slayers quickly stood up then ran away, followed by indigenous who seemed willing to add them to their menu.
“That was…sput… rude! Don’t these…sput… guys know that interrupting a romantic moment…sput… is against the rules?” Buffy said, spitting the sand out of her mouth.
“Hurry up, B! If these are the waiters…I don’t want to meet the fucking cook at all.”
The two Slayers took a minute to catch their breaths before looking outside of the cave they had just entered in. The chase had lasted a long long time and the two women were now completely exhausted. After all, the day had been a long one, even for people who shared Slayer stamina.
They could still see the autochthons outside, waiting for them to get out of the caves. When they had first seen the caves, the Slayers had hoped that they could loose their followers in the darkness of this labyrinth but, when they had entered it, they had been surprised to notice that no one had followed them here as if a wall was stopping them. They could see the icy stares they were receiving from their followers, could easily guess that if they exited their temporary shelter, they would jump on them, attack them and probably win. Turning to Buffy, Faith asked:
“Why do you think they’re staying there? Global claustrophobia didn’t seem a realistic answer to me!”
“Maybe we are in a sacred place or something. A place they can’t enter in.”
“A sacred place! Yeah, with some kind of treasure hidden somewhere!”
Buffy smirked before looking at her girlfriend.
“Told you that the Indiana Jones marathon we watched last week would give you strange ideas.”
“Hey! That was a wicked cool idea!” Faith replied, trying to put as much indignation she could gather in the pout that appeared on her face.
“That was more like wishful thinking if you want my opinion!” The blonde said, grinning in front of the brunette’s pout.
“You know what? If we find some cool stuff here, I’d keep it for myself, no sharing with my neglectful girlfriend.” The brunette answered while crossing her arms on her chest.
“Me, neglectful?” Buffy replied indignant.
“Sure, I didn’t get any kiss since I woke up!”
“Hello! We were chased by cannibals drooling at our flesh.”
Faith’s grin suddenly appeared on her face, betraying how much she was enjoying teasing her lover. Then the dark Slayer said: “So, what are you waiting for? We have some time to make up for.”
Buffy’s first thought was to refuse Faith’s suggestion. She wanted to tease the brunette too…but it would be frustrating for her too…she so wanted to feel Faith’s lips on hers right now. So, she slowly walked towards her and said before kissing the brunette:
“You’re gonna pay for it, you know that?”
And for only answer, Faith pulled Buffy in her arms to passionately kiss her. The kiss lasted a long moment before a low growl made them jump. Turning their heads towards the darkness of the caves, they suddenly saw a tiger with sabre teeth coming to them threateningly. When she saw the animal, Buffy couldn’t prevent herself from saying: “God, I hate…”
“…caves!”
“I know Angie! I’m not a fan either but caves are usually the place when evil thing lurk and you know that as much as I do.” Demona replied.
Handcuffs around her wrists, Dawn could only watch as the two pirates were talking to each other. They were currently walking in one of the numerous caves that abounded under Sunnydale, looking for some nest if she had understood clearly what Willy told her tormentors an hour before.
Looking for the hundredth time to the two women she was walking with, she couldn’t prevent herself from thinking that they were lots of common points between these two and the real Buffy and Faith. Sure, these two could be described as sadistic and evil, as the dark side of her sister and Faith but the way they teased each other, the way they were looking to each other, all of this had a kind of déjà vu feeling. These two represented what her friends would have become if they hadn’t had friends and counsellors to guide them in life.
Suddenly, she felt someone push her to the ground. She didn’t know which pirate did it and didn’t really care as she watched the scene that was occurring in front of her, or rather beneath her.
The tunnel had led them on a platform, in a bigger cave where different kinds of demons and vampires were gathered. Sitting in a kind of throne, a spiked demon was listening to what a slimy thing was telling him. She then heard Demona speaking in her ear.
“See, kid! Razor is trying to gather all the major baddies of Sunnydale in a kind of crime syndicate. I suppose their first decision would be the deaths of the Slayers as they are in their way.”
“They’re not the first one to try it!”
“Sure but as we’re already here, we’ll make them understand how bad this idea is, not because we’re afraid of them…can you understand the real goal of this mission?”
“Get rid of the competition?”
Turning her attention to Angie, Demona stated: “She’s clever, you were right!” Then, the girl who stole Faith’s body continued:
“Good guess, Kid! See, if you want to possess a city, the first thing you have to do is to eliminate its protectors. Sunnydale’s protectors are the Slayers and they’re not a problem to us anymore. The second step is to crush the scum and we’ll take care of it now! Then, we’ll gather the remaining ones and force them to work for us and, in less than a week, Sunnydale and the Hellmouth will be ours. Now, stay silent and admire!”
Demona nodded to Angie who quickly disappeared with her bag while the two dark haired girls still looked at the demons.
The tiger ran towards the Slayer and Buffy was ready to fight but when the tiger was only a few feet away from them, the petite Slayer saw Faith moving towards the beast then, punch it on the muzzle. Completely taken aback by what the brunette had done to it, the tiger backed away, puzzled. Then, to the blonde’s surprise, Faith walked to it and said raising a finger:
“Duck!”
And to Buffy’s amazement, the tiger did it, whining while looking at the brunette as a kid caught the hand in the cookie jar. Faith continued to walk then, she knelt down and put her hand on the tiger’s forehead and began to caress it and the most amazing thing was that the animal seemed to appreciate it.
“Good boy! Come one, B! Big Teeth isn’t gonna bite you. It’s a good boy!”
Before Buffy could move, she saw a man appear from the way the tiger had come in earlier. He was wearing local clothing, had a staff in his hand and didn’t seem pleased by the display of affection he was witnessing.
“Kabor, attack!” He ordered.
But the animal didn’t move and stayed next to Faith who stood up and made her way towards the man. It was that moment that Buffy’s feet finally decided to move and the blonde ran to the man before her girlfriend could reach him. The guy, entirely focused on Faith didn’t see her coming until it was too late for him to retreat.
“What…what have you done to Kabor? I’m gonna…”
“You’re gonna do nothing! I’m tired now and had a very bad day! We woke up in this period that isn’t ours thanks to two bitches who are probably messing up with the future. We’ve been shot, have drank too much water. I have still sand between my teeth, our clothes were wet and we’d be lucky if we don’t catch something. Your pals have tried to add us to their menu and your pet almost caused me a heart attack so, you’re gonna stay still or I’m gonna lose my temper, understood?”
The man paled then nodded. Glancing at Faith who had a huge grin of pride on her face, she turned back to the man and said:
“OK, now, you’ll tell us who you are and why the hell we can understand what you’re saying!”
Demona, Angie and Dawn were now walking back towards the entry of the caves, towards the car they had left there. The younger girl couldn’t erase from her head the slaughter she had just witnessed. The demons hadn’t had a chance!
It wasn’t the fact that the demons were dead now that bothered Dawn so much. She wasn’t in the demons fan club at all. But she had never wished their fate to anyone. It had been a real carnage.
When Angie had left to go to her position, Demona had tied her to a stone before giving the signal to her lover. Then, Dawn remembered the noises the explosions had made, remembered the look of pure joy she had seen on Demona’s face while she was watching the bodies exploding in pieces because of the grenades Angie was throwing at them. Tears of pain and disgust had fallen on her cheeks but Demona forced her to look at the scene, then she forced her to look at them when they had slowly killed the survivors…in the most painful way. Her dinner hadn’t support the sight but seeing her throwing it out had just seemed to please her tormentors. Demona had only left two survivors escape, telling them that they were Sunnydale masters now.
They finally reached the car but, to Dawn’s surprise, neither Demona, nor Angie stepped in. She saw them going to the back of the car, then noticed that they were opening the “coffer” before pulling someone out of it, someone Dawn knew: Willy.
“Surprised?” Angie asked the teenager.
“What…what are you going to do?” Dawn replied, knowing she wouldn’t like the answer.
“Nothing! Dem, wanna explain to her?”
“Sure!” The brunette replied in a teasing tone. “See, Kid, having someone to gave you information when you’re not the boss of the underworld is very useful…but when you’re this boss, something we’ll be soon, it’s a damn pain in the ass! So, we don’t need Willy anymore and we’re sure that you’d be happy to do us a favour in shooting him!”
“What?” Dawn said, shocked and scared at the same time. But she knew that she couldn’t do it, even if her life was at stake. “Never!” She exclaimed, defiantly.
“Ow, Kid, I’m sure you’ll reconsider your answer soon. You don’t want to disappoint us, do you?”
“I don’t care!”
“Yes, but you see, your friend, Xander, wouldn’t appreciate it if you say no!”
“Xan…Xander, what…”
Angie was the one to reply: “He is our boy toy, right? So, we’ll play with our toy tonight if you disobey. And believe me, sometimes toys break!”
The horrified look that crossed Dawn’s features at that moment brought grins on the other girls’ faces while Willy was shaking like crazy, his eyes scanning the place as if he was hoping to see someone running to save his life. The scotch on his mouth gave him a fragile look that reached Dawn right to her heart. What could she do? She couldn’t kill a human being but, on the other hand, she couldn’t stand being responsible for Xander suffering. Still debating her choices, she saw Demona handing her a crossbow.
“You’ve got one minute to decide, Kid. And don’t think about shooting us, we’ll be ready for that.”
Her brain was in turmoil; she could almost see the seconds running in front of her and then, it was there. The solution was there. She aimed the crossbow to Willy and shot, injuring him on the leg. She then handed the crossbow back to Demona saying:
“You said shooting him! It’s done!”
The two pirates grinned, something Dawn hadn’t expected. Demona took the weapon and said: “Good girl! I’m sure the poison won’t be long to work.”
This comment hit Dawn right to her chest, sending shivers of horrors down to her spine. They had guessed what she would do. Poison? She had poisoned Willy with the crossbow! If he died, she would be the killer. She wanted to run to him but was grabbed by Demona who pushed her inside the car before following her outside. She didn’t look at Angie who sat before the wheels, her attention focused on Willy who was still on the ground, suffering because of the injury she had made.
“NO! Don’t go! We have to bring him to a doctor, we have to…” But her pleads were vain. Angie ignited the motor and soon, Willy disappeared from her sight. Dawn felt her tears running freely on her cheeks but her mind was constantly coming back to the crossbow and the events that had followed…the events that would lead to Willy’s death. The events she was responsible for.
The strange man sighed heavily before sitting down on a large stone, showing similar “seats” to the Slayers, inviting them to sit. They sat down too but never let their eyes leave the man’s moves.
“As you have probably guessed, I’m not an autochthon. My name is Piet Voorhand and I’m a Dutchman. I guess you can speak Dutch if you understand me.”
The two Slayers looked at each other, puzzled. So, they could understand Dutch, probably a new side effect of the time loops. As The Netherlands were a mighty nation in the Caribbean islands at that time, it wasn’t that surprising. Faith looked back at the man and asked him:
“OK, so why are you here? Are you a Robinson Crusoe wannabe?”
“I beg your pardon?” Piet replied.
“Never mind, just tell us why you’re here?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
Faith was the first to say:
“Just do it, Dutchboy! We’ve seen so many strange things in our short lives…”
The man seemed to hesitate a short while before sighing again.
“OK, I was a cook on a ship. The crew was good, our captain young and a very confident on himself, too confident. We knew this weakness of him would lead us into trouble…and we were right. Anyway, he was the captain so we followed him. One day, we were ready to quit a haven in Port au Prince when big black clouds appeared in the sky. A storm seemed on its way. The storm didn’t dissuade the captain wanted to sail away from the haven. You see, a pirate had damaged our own ship before and we had to rest at Port au Prince to repair. We were already late to deliver the goods and the captain didn’t want to loose more time.”
Faith was listening to the story and, in the back of her mind, the events told by the cook reminded her of a story she had read in a book during her time in jail. She didn’t interrupt the teller, wanting to know more about it. Could it really be…
“I can still hear the warnings a priest yelled to the captain. This day was sacred, it was supposed to be the day the Christ died on the cross and the priest was sure that the storm was a sign coming from Heaven, a sign that said that if we didn’t wait, something bad would happen to us. The captain didn’t pay attention to it. He said that it was just superstitions and that he didn’t care. We sailed away, straight to the storm.”
Buffy was captivated by the story. The Dutchman made a pause before continuing.
“I’ve never seen a storm like that in my whole life. Waves so high that the ship was just a toy between them, a wind so furious that the masts were crushed by it. Something hit my head and I lost consciousness. When I woke up, the captain, 5 men and myself were floating on a piece of the ship, alone in the ocean. I was wondering if our fate was to die in the middle of the seven seas when something incredible happened.”
“The ship that had just sink came back to the surface!” the brunette said, receiving a shocking glance from the man and a surprised one from her girlfriend.
“How…” The man managed to say.
“Read it somewhere! But let’s say I don’t know shit, please continue.”
The guy nodded and came back to his story.
“So, the ship went back but it wasn’t really the same. Our proud vehicle wasn’t the shining vessel he had been. It was now a ghost ship and I can still see the look of terror of my friends when they noticed that our fellow crewmember, those who had died in the storm were present on board, as zombies. The wood we were staying on disappeared, sending us in the ocean. I should have let myself die that day instead of swimming to the ship…but I didn’t know then what it had in store for me. I don’t remember the name of my ship, I mean the name it had before the sinking. All I can remember is its new name…”
The man chuckled and sobbed. The story seemed to really affect him. Seeing that he wouldn’t say a word before a while, Faith decided to tell the name. Turning to Buffy, she just said:
“The Flying Dutchman!”
Demona was lying in Buffy’s bed, no, her bed. They had come back from their trip, the one that had cost Willy’s life and was quite proud of what they had done there. In a single evening, they had decapitated the demonic lords of Sunnydale, get rid of an annoying little worm that could have become a problem by telling things to their future enemies, and forced Dawn to make her first step to the dark side. Yep, even if she had had doubts in the beginning, she was now sure that she and Angie could transform the little Miss Perfect into a monster without soul like her and her lover. This would be fun. Hearing a noise, she turned her head and saw Angie enter the room.
“How did it go?”
“Very well! She is a wreck! Making her kill that bastard was a brilliant idea, my dear.” The blonde said joining the brunette on the bed. They were now facing each other, her heads resting on their hands.
“I know! I know! I’m so bad that sometimes I surprise myself.”
“That’s one of the reasons I love you so much, Dem! And I’m sure you have already scheduled the next steps of her conversion.” Angie retorted, her hand playing with her lover’s hair.
“Phase one: we have to limit her contact with her friends to a minimum. We’ll keep her locked in her room, chained to her bed except during breakfast, dinner, supper and when we’ll be out of the house. I want her to spend as many time as possible with us.”
“So, we’ll be the only thing that will lead her out of her dark thoughts, out of her guilt!”
Demona gave her a wicked grin before nodding.
“That’s the plan. Once a day, she’ll bring the food to her friends but we would warn her, if a single word escaped her lips, Xander will suffer or maybe die!”
“Showing her what she couldn’t reach anymore to reinforce the guilt and regrets…so, she’ll be forced to bond with us. That will drive her crazy!”
“That’s the second phase of the plan!”
“Aren’t you afraid she would try to kill herself?”
“Well, it’s a risk, I know and we would have to keep an eye on her. I think your idea to bring demons to the house to watch our gests is a good idea. With us being away to lead the Hellmouth, her being tempted by suicide and the Scoobies…we need some backup!”
“I always say that two heads are better than one…”
“And you’re right! Especially with a pretty one like yours, full of mean things to say and cruel acts to execute.”
“What can I say? We were meant to be together…And what’s phase three?”
“We’ll force her to do horrible acts, always threatening to hurt Xander. Step by step, Xander and the Scoobs would become responsible for her acts. It’s human! And one day, she’ll break…She’ll either refuse to do something or kill the man herself…And at that moment, she’ll be ready for her jump to the dark side…”
“As I said before, you’re brilliant…And have I already told you how hot you are when you are brilliant?”
Demona smiled and replied: “How about you show me that?”
“The Flying Dutchman! The most famous ghost ship on Earth?” Buffy replied to Faith’s statement.
“The one and only! There are lots of witnesses who had seen it over the years. Even during the XXst century!” Faith said.
Hearing Faith mentioning the XXst century, Piet Voorhand stopped crying and looked at them, puzzled.
“You…you’re coming from the future?”
The Slayers shared a look. Faith shrugged and Buffy decided to tell the truth to the guy. After all, their story wasn’t so fantastic in comparison to the one of the Dutchman.
“Yeah! It’s called a time loop! Someone from this period succeeded in transferring their souls to our real bodies and sent us in theirs. We’re stuck here while they are doing God knows what in our time.”
“I…I noticed you were behaving strangely for girls of this time. Now, I know why! How can you live in such a polluted era?”
Two puzzled looks answered his question.
“Don’t look at me like that! Yes, I’ve seen the XXst century you’re coming from.”
“Actually, we’re coming from the beginning of the XXIst but how…” was Buffy’s reply.
“I’m following you with the how there, B!”
“The Flying Dutchman can travel from period to period. When the captain wishes to explore a new one, he chooses it and we go there. The keys of the ship’s power are the souls of the victims it made but also the fear it gives to them. If the attacks were too focused on one period, it would make its deeds common.”
“You mean like a war! When it starts, everybody is shocked but the longer the war is, the more people get used to it.” Faith interrupted.
“Exactly!”
“But what about you? What are you doing here, on this island?”
“I was fed up of this live. You see, from the seven guys who were alive when we joined the Flying Dutchman, I’m the only one that is still alive. The others have been killed during an assault or in trying to escape as I did. They are now part of this ship with no feelings, no soul cause no one escapes the ship’s curse. I knew that soon, I would join them and I didn’t want to become like them. So, one day, when the ship was near this island, I escaped and join it. Of course, they followed to kill me and force me to join them again but I found out that this cave is sacred…No dead things can enter here. So, as long as I stay here, I’m safe.”
“Sounds like a lonely life.” Buffy said.
“Not really, I found a family here with the Sabre tigers. They give me the love I never had in the ship. So, it’s not really lonely. It’s living here with my family or dying outside…Because they would never give up. Every two weeks, the Dutchman comes here and its crew verify if I’m still here. They would never give up on me.”
The Slayers looked in each other’s eyes and knew that they had had the same idea at the same moment. Every two weeks, a time travel ship comes to this island…well, sure, it was full of zombies that would probably try to kill them…But it was a chance.
“Dutchboy! Tell us everything you know about the Flying Dutchman. For instance, when would it be back to check up on you?”
Willow looked at the retreating silhouette of Dawn, wondering what to do to help her. The younger Summers had always been so full of energy…and now, she was acting like a zombie, moving step by step in autopilot as if she didn’t care about anything anymore, as if hope had deserted her soul. What could have happened three days earlier?
She still remember this day, her worry when Dawn hadn’t come back from whatever trip the two pirate bitches had led her to, the sadness in her puffy eyes when she had seen her the next day. She had tried to ask her what was wrong, what they had done to her but Dawn hadn’t said a single word, constantly looking at Angie who was watching her intently while leaning against the wall where Xander was chained. She had so wanted to take the poor girl in her arms to soothe her but her own chains had prevented her from doing that. Her own chains…she wondered how Demon and Angie had been able to put these chains in the basement without them noticing it…probably during the night they had tested the time loops…
She heard the basement door being closed and looked around her, searching for the hundredth time a way to escape…Xander and Kennedy were chained too and none of them could break the chains…they had tried, many times. She and Kennedy were forced to drink some awful beverage every morning to prevent their powers to come back and the only things they could reach were the bottles of water they had…plastic bottles of course. Three times a day, they were escorted to the toilets but never at the same time. Demona knew how to hold someone…never maintain the same schedule. The three of them had tried to imagine a plan to execute during the toilet time but one Slayer had always remained with the other Scoobs when one of them left the room and it was clear what she would do if something went wrong with the other. And now…it was worse, now they couldn’t even communicate between them. The demons prevented them from it.
The pirates had come with them the day before. Three red, horned and well muscled demons to guard them. Demona had pretended that they would be too busy taking over Sunnydale to really have time to be proper hosts so they needed some reinforcements…the demons! One of them constantly stayed with the Scoobs and the pirate had been clear. Whoever spoke would receive a proper beating. No communication is one of the keys of the holding people hostages deal.
Dawn prisoner somewhere in the house, undergoing who knew what, the Slayers lost in another era while their bodies are under the control of XVIIth century pirates, the Scoobs chained in the basement, Kennedy and her unable to use their powers…the situation was definitely not pleasant. What could they do the change the way things were now?
Buffy and Faith were looking at the Sunset on the beach. Piet had showed it to them the morning after their meeting. Rocks surrounded it and as a part of the island sacred place, it was safe. The only thing they had to do was cross the cavern and the dozen of sabre tigers that lived there.
“I still wonder how he succeeded in domesticate them!” Faith said. She had her arm around Buffy’s shoulder but didn’t look at her. She didn’t want to miss the sunset…this sunset with Buffy.
“Guess it’s one of the many mysteries this island has in store!”
They stayed silent till the sun disappeared. Then, Faith used two stones to lighted the wood they had gathered. When the fire was ignited, she joined her girlfriend, sat behind her before pulling her closer.
“I could be used to that!”
“Used to what, B?”
“Us alone in a desert beach, on a desert island!”
“Well, if you erase the cannibals and the time loop thingy, I could be used to that too!”
“Party pooper!” Buffy replied, gently slapping the brunette on the shoulder. Faith just smirked before kissing the top of Buffy’s nose.
“I’ll go wherever you want, B! As long as you’re with me!”
Buffy smiled brightly before kissing Faith.
“You like me being all sappy, don’t you!” The brunette said after the kiss.
“Hu hu!”
“Thought so!”
“It’s just that you always choose your moments to be Sappy Slayer…always when I need it!”
Faith locked her eyes in Buffy’s. She had felt Buffy’s nervousness when she taken her in her arms. The beach talk had been a way to prevent them to thinking about the events to come, not a great success to her opinion. Now, she wanted to reassure her.
“We’ll make it, B! It’s not the first time we’ll do it!”
“Yeah but usually, the monsters we fight aren’t immortal zombies in a ship that feeds on the energy of the livings. Usually it wouldn’t involve us taking control of such a ship for a long journey to the XXIst century.”
“That’s not why you’re that nervous, B! We both know that!” Faith wiped the tears that have begun to fall on her girlfriend’s cheeks before continuing: “The Scoobs are strong, B! They’re fine!”
“You can’t know it! You know Demona as well as I do! You know how…how…”
“And she’ll pay for whatever she has done while we were stuck here. I’ll kick her ass and every fucking thing that will stand in my way.”
“And I’ll join you! But what if…”
“You have to trust them, B! And don’t forget that Ken is with them. She is a Slayer too and that’s a plus for our team!”
“I just wish we could go back to when they took our bodies!”
“You’ve heard Dutchboy! That’s not how it works!”
“Yeah, I know! Time is a tricky thing…blablabla… now that we are almost a week older than at that time, we can’t go back there because cataclysm… blablabla…It’s always the same refrain!”
“Yeah and it sucks, I know! But we can’t do anything about this! See the good point, B. Tomorrow, at this time, we’d be back to the good old XXIst century.”
“If…”
“No no no! No damn ifs, no buts! We’d have plenty of time to worry tomorrow! You know, B, it’s frustrating!”
“Frustrating? What are you talking about?”
Faith grinned. “See! I’m with this cool chick, the one I’ve fallen for a while ago! The one with this hot body I want to ravish a hundred times a day. You see who I mean?” Faith asked raising her eyebrows.
It was Buffy’s turn to grin. She just nodded.
“Good!” The brunette moved her head closer to the blonde’s. “We are lost in a heavenly island for days, sitting on a sandy wonderful beach with no one to disturb us and…”
Buffy was now feeling Faith’s breath on her lips. She barely managed to say: “And?”
“Show me the rest of the story!”
Buffy closed the gap between their lips and happily obliged.
Sitting in the couch of the living room of the Summers house, Demona was waiting for Angie and Dawn and was beginning to loose patience when she spotted. the two girls she was waiting for coming down the stairs. Angie had her arm on the teenager’s shoulders and was explaining to the younger Summers where they were going and, most importantly why.
“…fun! Demon and human to slain, you know the ones that still refuse to bow in front of us. And quit this sad face, Dawnie, you’ll see, soon, you’ll love it as much as we do.”
“Don’t!”
“Yeah, I know! Don’t call me Dawnie and the bullshit that follows. Geez, girl! I like you but sometimes, you sound like a parrot, only capable of repeating the same sentences. Grow up, girl! We are in charge of Sunnydale now and no one can stop us. So, you’re either with or against us and believe me, you won’t like being in the second group.”
Hearing Demona join them at the bottom of the stairs. Angie flashed her a big smile before adding: “And don’t forget to do what we’ll tell you to…otherwise, bad Xander time will come…or good time, depends of the point of view.”
Dawn didn’t answer and bit her lower lip. She so wanted to retort or do something to these girls who have crush her world, expelled her sister and hurt her friends but she couldn’t do anything against them, they were better than her physically and have a mental advantage too…she could feel herself loose hope, day after day, could feel the remorse ate her hour after hour and didn’t know how to cope with this all…her mind was step by step loosing the inner battle that was occurring inside of her, leaving only a physical shell she was both afraid and relieved to become. She then felt something in her hand and looked at what it was. A book, no a diary. She vaguely remembered having seen Demona take something on the table, it was probably that. But why had she given it to her, for which purpose?
“Page 54! Some interesting news for you!” The brunette replied to her silent question. Then, she could prevent herself to add: “Looks like your sister and her girlfriend were really appreciated by some folks…with special eating habits if you see what I mean!”
The two pirates smirked at the joke before heading towards the front door, leading an even more shocked Dawn towards it. Angie was extending her hand to open it when the phone rang. She exchanged a puzzled look with Demona who just shrugged. Even if they were now the leaders of Sunnydale underground population, they still had to act like the people they had replaced in front of the others. Sighing, Angie moved towards the phone, an instrument the XVIIst century’s girl wasn’t really comfortable with yet.
“Hello!”
“Erm…is…Is Faith there?” A female voice said on the other side of the line.
Looking at Demona, Angie replied: “Well, yeah! Who’s speaking please?”
“Oh, sorry! Tell her, it’s Mag…I mean Magda, her cellmate!”
Covering the lower part of the phone with her hand, the blonde said to her lover: “It’s Faith’s cellmate, a girl named Magda…or Mag…probably the nickname Faith gave her.”
Demona took the phone and answered, trying to put as much gentleness in her voice.
“Mag! Good to hear you! What’s up, girl?”
“Hey, Faith! Nothing bad I guess! I’m out of jail now! So, I suppose it’s a plus. What about you?”
“Good for you! Me? Well, not bad!”
“Still the same, huh! Not fond of details!”
“You know me so well!”
“Yeah! Li…listen, Faith! You remember when you said to me that if I need anything…I…I could always count on you?”
A grin appeared on Demona’s features when she answered: “Of course, I remember!”
“Well, I…Being out is good but I don’t really feel at ease…You’re the only one I know in California and…Well, I was kinda wondering…”
“If you could come so we could talk and stuff, right?”
“Yeah!” was the shy answer.
“Sure! Whenever you want!”
“Oh, thanks, Faith! You’re so cool!”
“I know, Mag, I know!”
“You’re sure your girl wouldn’t mind?”
“I assure you, she’ll be as happy as myself to see you! So, when will I see you?”
“Well, I have an appointment with my parole officer tomorrow so I guess that in two days…”
“Two days, it’s a deal then. Listen, Mag, I’d like to chat with you a bit longer but I really have to go now. We’ll catch up when you’ll be here. Deal?”
"Deal, Faith! Thanks again!"
“You’re welcome. Take care, Mag!”
Demona hung off the phone before looking at Angie who had a similar grin on her face.
“Looks like a pet is coming!"
“Yep, being stuck in a place full of hostages we can’t even hurt for various reasons sucks. I intended to kidnap someone in the days to come but the Devil seems to like us. This Magda girl is his gift.”
“And I think, it would be the perfect occasion to teach Dawnie how to play with someone, don’t you think?” Angie said, locking her eyes with Dawn whose heart stopped a second, knowing full well what the blonde was implying.
“Total agreement here! We’ll discuss the details later. Time to move if we want to be there on time.”
The two pirates grabbed Dawn’s arms before pulling her trough the front door. The young girl didn’t have the force to resist.
The two Slayers were lying, still naked, near the fire Faith had previously ignited. The beach was peaceful and the two of them were lost in their thoughts. Buffy’s head was on her lover’s lap while Faith was gently stroking her hair, a gesture the blonde usually did to the brunette but she didn’t mind this change at all. Each touch from Faith was like heaven for her. Faith gave a warm smile to Buffy. Then she asked:
“What were you thinking about B?”
“Us as pawns! Not the brightest think to think about, I know!”
Faith put her hand on the petite Slayer’s cheek and said: “And? Development needed here!”
“Well, since we’ve met Piet, there is this question in my head that I know the answer.”
“Again with the and? Development needed here!”
Buffy smirked before continuing: “How many chance did we have to end in an island with a return ticket to our century?”
“Very, very few! I’ve asked myself this question too but I stopped! Didn’t like the answers that came in my mind, didn’t like the implications! You know me, B! I prefer to see the goal, not the way to achieve it. We have a way back! That’s what matters!”
“Yeah! It’s not that we have the choice either! There are not many ways to come back!”
“That was my next argument!”
“Still, I can’t prevent myself to think that we are the pawns in a gigantic chess match between the PTB and the forces of evil!”
“We’ve always been their pawns, B! It fucking sucks but there is nothing we can do about it!”
“Sure but, what I mean is that if there is this way back here, it’s because of the PTB. They probably want to help us…but, they haven’t really helped us before. So, my question is why?”
“A test?”
“Maybe but I don’t think so! Why let Demona send us here to offer us a direct ship back?”
Faith nodded, still stroking Buffy’s hair.
“The only explanation I have is that they need us in our period or they will soon. They need us as champions for an upcoming battle. And if…”
“…you’re right! Then, this battle would be a really tough one!”
“Yeah! Apocalyptic tough is my guess!”
“Great! And knowing the PTBastards, this battle would probably happen as soon as we’d be done with Demona and Angie. They probably have the worst timing ever! I start to wonder if we really have to go back!”
“Faith!”
“Just teasing, B! I know we can let the Scoobs deal with the bitches alone! Look, we have to go back and it’s the only way out! Tomorrow night will be an everything or nothing kind of deal and even if we boil our brains out, thinking about whoever has given us this opportunity, or its reasons, we won’t find anything! So, why don’t we forget it and enjoy the moment?”
“I agree! After all, I don’t wanna you to get all frustrated again…wait, correction. I won’t mind you being frustrated again!”
A wicked grin appeared on Faith’s face. “That’s a good point cause I suddenly feel very frustrated. The most frustrated gal in the world.”
And, after saying it, the dark Slayer bowed her head to let her lips meet Buffy’s for a breathtaking kiss.
The next night, hidden in the trees that were near the entrance of the sacred caves, the two Slayers were waiting for the pirates to come. The cannibals were anywhere in sight which was normal. According to Piet, they were too afraid of the undead crew of the Dutchman to try anything against them. The first encounter between the two groups had been really bad for the autochthons who had lost a dozen of their warriors.
From where they were hiding, Faith and Buffy had a full view of the creek of the island. It was there that they had spotted the Flying Dutchman coming an hour before. They had then seen a dinghy with 8 men leaving the ship to go to the island. Now, they could see them walking on the path that led to the caves with their captain to guide them. They finally arrived and stopped 20 feet away from the caves. The captain put his hands around his mouth and shouted.
“Piet! Fishbate! Where are you hiding, you coward!”
“I’m here, Captain” was the reply as Piet came to the entrance, protected by the magic of the place. No arrow could fly there, and any undead monster that came too close of it turned to ashes in a second.
The captain smirked in disgust and replied: “I know you’re there! You’re too chicken to face us, face what you really are!”
“What, Captain? Doomed like you all! Oh, I know I am but I still live to have remorse!”
“Look where it has led you! Trapped in this place till you die!”
“You know! Trapped in here or in a time travelling pirate ship…at least, here, I have peace!”
“Shut up, traitor!”
“Did I hit a nerve, Captain?” Piet teased.
The two Slayers watched as the Captain began pacing, furious about the way Piet was succeeding in turning his arguments against him. The cook had been real proud of himself when he had explained what had become a kind of ritual. Every time the Dutchman came in the creek, the Captain would come himself to see if Piet was still in his cave, and each time, Piet succeeded in irritating him so much that he often was near the point when he would forget about prudence and launch himself to the man’s throat, a gesture that would cause his death, a real one this time. The two Slayers looked at each other, nodding. It was time to move. They waited till the moment the Captain was the closest to the cave then jumped.
The pirates weren’t expecting this assault and the Slayers took advantage of it. While Buffy rushed to the captain, easily putting her right arm around his throat to immobilize him, Faith managed to keep the other men away from them. This was the danger of their plan, the moment where everything would be ruined. Buffy wasn’t the Slayer here so, she had to be the one to immobilise the captain and Faith had to maintain the others away. Everything was on Buffy’s shoulders and she couldn’t fail. Fortunately, the surprise factor had played on their favour. Now, Buffy had the captain in her grip, had managed to throw his weapons away and she had enough experience with brawl to hold her grip. Seeing their Captain prisoner, the other pirates were looking at each other, wondering what they could do! Buffy didn’t let them the time to think further.
“OK, guys! One move and I step back to the caves, which means no more captain! Understood?”
The pirates were hesitating. If they still were alive, they wouldn’t give a damn about the captain but, as part of the crew of the Flying Dutchman, they knew that their captain’s destruction would mean their destruction and the one of their ship too. Grumbling, they remained quiet.
“Good dogs!” Faith said.
“What…What do you want?” The captain asked, feeling fear for the first time in eons. Sacred places and weapons were the only things that could kill him and they weren’t that common. He usually remained far from them and now, he was trapped next to one of them.
“Your word!” Buffy exclaimed with calm tone that surprise even her.
“My…my word for what?”
It was Faith who continued. “Piet told us that there is only one thing sacred in the bloody ship you command. The captain’s word. Once you give it, nothing or no one can break the promise you’ve made. Correct?”
The captain refused to answer but, as he felt Buffy beginning to step back, his fears resurfaced.
“OK, OK! Yes, it’s true!"
The two Slayers shared a smile before Faith continued. They had agreed that, as the Slayer, she had to be the one who would impress them the most…So she had to be the one to lead the conversation.
“OK, captain! Here is the deal! You’ll li…remain in one piece if you give us your word that you’ will lead us to the time period we want and debark us there without harm. Then, you’ll get away to whatever period you want and won’t try anything again us. See, no big deal!”
The captain remained silent for a few seconds. When they had planed all this, the Slayers had wanted to force the captain to drop his hunt on Piet too but the cook had refused, arguing that it was too much to ask and that he thought he deserved to be punish for his pirate’s years. Seeing that the captain was still silent, Buffy decided to pull him a bit, a gesture that made the Captain open his mouth.
“I…I can’t promise you all of that!”
Another pull from Buffy forced him to speed the cadence of his words.
“No, no! Don’t pull! Even if I give you my word, I wouldn’t be able to hold it!”
“And why?” Faith asked in a threatening tone.
“Be…because, time travels don’t work that way!” The captain said before continuing. “When we travel through time, there is a kind of magnetic shield that covers the ship…it…it creates a kind of dependence for humans, dead or undead. If I drop you after a time travel, you’ll begin to feel sick after a couple of days then, you’ll progressively lost consciousness before your body will take control of you and return to the Dutchman forever. I can’t lie to you here! I’ve seen it lots of time before!”
Faith smirked before replying: “Nice try! But you’re lying! Piet never spoke about it before!”
“It’s because he doesn’t know it! The caves are sacred here. That’s what protects him against the dependence. But if he leaves them, he would come back to us. That’s the reason why I so want him back. He is the only one that has succeeded in beating the curse of the Dutchman. I can’t let him live because of that.”
The two Slayers remained silent for seconds. They hadn’t planed it! Sure, the captain could lie but it didn’t fit with the profile Piet had given them. Sure, the man is stubborn and cruel but, according to Piet, he would do anything to save his skin. And, seeing the man’s face, they were forced to believe the profile. No one could play fear so good, even an oscarised actor. Sighing, Faith took her decision, a decision she knew Buffy wouldn’t take.
“We don’t care, captain! We have to go to the XXIst century! So, give us your word that you will debark us where and when we want to with no harm and you won’t be destroyed.”
Jumping on the occasion, the captain replied quickly: “I give you my word to debark you at the time and the place you’ll give me, unharmed. But we won’t quit the place after that. We’ll wait for you!” The captain replied. Now that he had given them his word, he knew that they couldn’t destroy him anymore. He had become too precious for them. So, he could say whatever he wanted without fear. He wasn’t expecting the answer the brunette Slayer gave him though.
“48 hours! We’ll need 48 hours and then, we’ll be back when you’ll drop us, bastard. B, you coming!”
The captain felt Buffy letting him go, then saw the two girls moving to the caves. He just heard the blonde telling them to wait for them a couple of minutes before seeing them disappearing in the dark of the cave.
Once inside the cave, Faith was waiting for Buffy. She was expecting her to yell or to be angry but she surprised her by giving her a big and crushing hug. Glad, Faith hugged her back saying.
“So, you’re not mad at me, you know for taking the decision for us both and kinda putting us in a deeper shit than the one we are already in?”
“I should be! But you’re right! It’s the only way out and I kinda guess what you’re planning. Thanks anyway!”
“What for?”
“Saying things I still have difficulties to tell! You should think I’m too prude or something.”
“Well, I’m in good position to tell you you’re far from prude, B!”
Buffy playfully slapped her girlfriend’s arm, saying: “You know what I mean, Faith!”
Taking a serious tone, Faith replied: “Yes, I know! And that’s part of you, B! Don’t change it! You’re a forgiving person who wouldn’t wish bad to your worst enemy, well, worst human enemy I should add. I’m less forgiving than you and I don’t give a damn shit if the bitches we’ll be confronted soon end slaves on this ship for the rest of their lives once we’ll switch bodies with them.”
“That’s the plan I guessed you had in mind! How are you planning to do the switching thing? I bet you’d ask a witch’s help!”
“She has done it once already, B! Couldn’t be that difficult to do a repeat performance.”
“Still, 48 hours, it’s damn short!”
“You heard what the captain said, B! The first side effects of the time travel deal will appear a couple of days after leaving the ship. Against two mighty Slayers, we’d need all our strength and brain so, if we couldn’t do it in two days, there is no need to try again. On the other hand, if I have to end my life on this ship, I’d prefer to come on board with all my senses, I’ll take the ship for myself and change its purpose.”
“Faith and Buffy’s Ghostly lifeguard ship?”
“Why not! With a better name of course!”
Buffy stuck her tongue to Faith who quickly captured it in her mouth for a brief kiss. Then, Buffy took Faith’s hand and led her to the cave’s exit. After saying goodbye to Piet, they joined the crew and began to walk the path that would lead them to the ship, to their way back to their century.
And without even realizing what happened to him, the vampire turned into dust in front of his peers. Proud of her act, Angie put the stake she had just used back in her jacket pocket smiling brightly.
Usually seeing Buffy stake a vampire was a happy sight for Dawn but not this time. Not after what had occurred the last days, not when the woman in Buffy’s body was a cruel and sadistic criminal instead of her sister. The younger Summers was standing next to the stone throne Demona was sitting on, the dark haired girl was currently continuing the lesson she had decided to give her unwilling pupil.
“When you’re the boss, Dawnie, you have to impose your decisions to others. If they are too stubborn to see who the real boss is, just discard them. Then…” Demona nodded to her girlfriend who turned to one of his minions.
“You!”
Gulping, the vampire looked at her and replied with a hesitating voice: “M…me?”
The blonde smiled and continued: “Congratulations for your promotion! You’re the new boss of the gang now.”
A smile came to the vampire’s face when he heard it. Even if he knew that being at the head of his gang implied being the Slayers’ lackey, it was better than joining his former boss in hell…technically. Glad to see the vampire’s contentment, Angie pursued:
“So, your predecessor refused to give us 65% of his gains…do you agree with him or are you ready to make it a deal?”
“I…no, it’s fine by me! 35% is good for us!” The vampire’s answer was received by some growls among his men but no one tried to say something out loud or to act foolishly. Once again, Demona turned to Dawn to comment the situation while the gang was leaving the cave after Angie had ended the conversation.
“When you’ve terminated the uncooperative boss, always choose one of the weakest among them to replace him. It has two advantages. Firstly, the new boss will eat in your hand, too scared to try anything. Secondly…”
A stake flew through the cave from Demona’s hand to the heart of a tall vampire who turned to dust. The other vampires looked at the brunette who just smiled at them, then left the place.
“Secondly, just by looking to the others, you can say who is the most displeased by your choice as a replacement! It’s usually the guy who planned to take the place over which means that he could become a threat. Solution, discard him too!”
This all lecture thing was making her dizzy. How could someone be so cruel and calculative was beyond Dawn’s comprehension and it was far from being over. In this autumn night in Sunnydale, Dawn knew that she wouldn’t returned to her house, her prison, before, well, dawn.
At the same time, crossing along the shores of California, the Flying Dutchman was ready to anchor itself not far from the beach. The ghost ship had just appeared from the limbs of time and its two passengers were now looking to the ground waiting for them to come, their XXIst century’s ground.
The travel had been really fast, even faster than they both had expected it to be. Sure, you had to get used to the proximity of so many dead people guiding the ship, sure, there was no food on board and the Slayers stomachs were crying for some stuff to eat, sure the looks they had received for the crewmembers during the whole journey were far from being nice, it was rather the “I want to eat your flesh” kinds of looks than the “Hi, I’m the GO of this ship, what do you want to do” ones but hey, they were back and ready to give the two pirate bitches the payback they deserved. And, the captain’s word was keeping them safe so…the crewmembers could go to hell, which they probably already had but that wasn’t the point.
“I’ve never thought that one day, I would be so delighted to see that beach. With the Hellmouth and all, it has always been as if the pressure came back when I returned there.” The petite Slayer said.
“Well, you hadn’t been trapped in another period then…and weren’t so worried about the Scoobies.”
The brunette saw some tears on Buffy’s face, proof of her worry. She gently put her right arm around the blonde’s waist.
“They’re fine, B!”
“You’re not sure of that! What if…what if…”
Faith squeezed her girlfriend’s waist but didn’t reply. She too was worried. They had been away for almost a week. Who knew what had happened during that time? No word could stop the anxiety that was theirs and even if Buffy was letting her emotions taking control of her now, Faith knew that when they would be in front of their nemesis, she would be as tough as she had always been. She was her girl, she knew her. Seeing the captain wave at them, Faith gently wiped the tears from Buffy’s face and led her towards him, glad to have seen the weak smile Buffy had given her after her touch. God, she really loved that woman. They joined the captain and he was the first to speak.
“The dinghy is ready. He will drop you on the beach as you wished. Don’t worry about the eventual witnesses, we are hidden thanks to a spell. So, see you in two days then.”
Buffy just nodded, trying to prevent the urge to hit the guy. Faith just said: “Yeah! In two days, you’d have two more slave bodies on your ship!”
Then, without another word, they joined the dinghy.
It seemed to Dawn that she had just fallen asleep when Angie came to roughly throw her out of bed. The teenager shot daggers through her eyes to her tormentor who just smiled at the sight.
“Time to wake up, hottie!”
Ignoring the bitch who was currently scanning her goods, Dawn walked to the bathroom, followed by the blonde who stopped at the door, leaned against the wall and waited for the young girl to get out of the room.
Alone in front of the mirror, Dawn sighed. Every morning, it was the same modus operandi. Angie or Demona came to wake her up, made lots of sexual innuendo to her as how they would like her to join them for some fun…some time, a behaviour that had revolted her at first but now, she didn’t feel as she cared about it. She knew that her bravado was slowly dying and, again, some part of her was disgusted by it while another part which was becoming louder and louder, yelled at her to stop fighting. The remorse she felt regarding Willy’s death didn’t help at all.
She looked at her reflection in the mirror. God, she looked so bad…not a wonder with the lack of sleep she was currently suffering from. If the days were the same, the nights were too. Every night, she wanted to vomit after the events she had witnessed. These two girls were sick beyond redemption…and then, the tears came and only exhaustion led her to sleep, an agitated sleep, not a peaceful one. How many times could she hold? She couldn’t even speak about it to someone as she wasn’t allowed to speak to the Scoobies. And she didn’t go to school either for obvious reasons…and no one would ask questions about it as Angie had called the High School to say that she was ill, the bitch had even found a medical certificate to cover this lie. She even used it to excuse herself from not being at work. Yep, she was trapped…How many times could she hold before breakdown?
“Hottie! Time to hurry or we’ll be late for the meetings.”
The meetings, yeah! Looked like Angie and Demona wanted to see every creature related to the underworld of Sunnydale to judge them, scare them or kill them. Once again, the envy to vomit came but she resisted it. She couldn’t be late or Xander would suffer because of her and she didn’t want to add this remorse to the others. So, she quickly finished her morning ablutions then exited the room to put some clothes on, still followed by the vicious glare of Angie.
Buffy and Faith were observing their house, hidden in the garden of the building in front of it, whispering to each other. As nothing seemed to happen, Faith gave a quick look at Buffy and grinned.
“What?”
“I always say that you look hot in leather and damn, I sure think you do!”
Blushing a bit, Buffy look at her clothes by reflex. The red leather jacket, the leather pants and the white top that Faith had given her were quite tight and she was sure that Faith intended them to be when she had chosen it. The blonde still felt a bit guilty about them stealing it from the shop (Faith had chosen it of course) but as they hadn’t any dollar on them and as they couldn’t walk incognito with their past outfits, they hadn’t really had the choice.
“That makes us even then!” Buffy replied grinning too. The retort that Faith intended to say never came out of her throat when she spotted the front door opening. Three girls exited it…and even if they had expected it, seeing them or rather their bodies walking a few feet away from them was a damn strange feeling. But what caught Buffy’s attention was the third person to exit, a person who looked so sad that it broke her heart.
“Dawn!” She said and automatically felt Faith’s hand on her shoulder, preventing her to move which she had almost done by reflex.
“Not now, B! We still don’t know anything about the Scoobies and look, there is a guy inside. Demona is talking to him.
There was indeed someone on the porch, talking to Demona and, thanks to their Slayer hearing, the two girls could catch the end of the conversation.
“…So, OK! You and your fellow demons let the girl enter, play the gentle landlords before catching her and putting her with the others. Don’t touch her though! She’s mine! Understood?”
They saw the demon nod before closing the door. Even if Buffy had caught the exchange too, her eyes were focused on Dawn. God, what did these bastards do to her sister?
“She looks so in pain!” Buffy said, leaning her head on Faith’s hand.
“I know, B! They’ll pay for that.”
They saw the three girls stepped in the car, then leave the place.
“So, what about now?” Buffy asked.
“Well, looks like the Scoobs are in there somewhere. They must be the others Demona was talking about.”
“Sounds logical! And what about this girl she seems to expect?”
“Dunno! She…Oh fuck!”
Puzzled, Buffy saw the brunette get up and run towards a girl with a bag who was crossing the street a 100 feet away from them. The two pirates gone, it was indeed safe for them to leave their hidden place but why was she running to the girl. Buffy wouldn’t know if she stayed there so she quickly stood up, followed her lover and joined her just at the moment she reached her target.
“Mag!”
“Err, yeah!” The girl replied, not recognizing whom she was speaking to.
“Hey! We’re friends of Faith! I’m Cat and this is Buffy, her girlfriend. She must have talked to you about her.”
Relieved, the young girl shook their hands. Glad that her lie had worked, Faith continued.
“We were on our way to do some shopping! Faith is currently out but she’ll join us there. Want to join us?”
“Sure, why not! But, what about my bag?”
“Give it to me! See, I’m a tough gal!”
Buffy who hadn’t say a word decided that now was a good time to do it. She now knew who this girl was. Faith had talked to her about her cellmate and, seeing her here on her way to their house had also given her the solution of the “Who’s the girl Demona was waiting for” enigma.
“So, Magda! How’s life?”
“Good, I guess…I kinda have trouble getting used to it but…”
Thirty minutes later, they were seating down in the Expresso Pump. Buffy had chatted to Magda a long while and hadn’t had trouble to find why Faith liked the girl so much. She was funny, a bit shy but really sweet too. The blond Slayer could see that Faith was thinking hard, only dropping a word or two during their conversation when she felt she had to. They had finished their coffee when Faith began to talk, her eyes glued into Magda’s.
“Mag! I…your name is Magdalena Michaëla Garrech, born in Phoenix 22 years ago! You have a brother who still lives there but had no contact with him for the last four years! You believe in Tarot, has two panties with Tweety on them that were gifts from a good friend of yours and you are convinced that your Grand-Mother ghost is helping you when you are in deep shit, always guiding you to the right direction.”
Buffy was astonished by Faith’s speech and she wasn’t the only one, Magda was too.
“How…Faith shouldn’t have told you that! She didn’t have the right! She was the only one to know that and I trusted her to…”
“I didn’t say anything to anyone, Mag! Your trust was right.”
Magda’s eyes went wide when she realised what the brunette in front of her had just implied.
“F…Faith?”
Trask was sitting on the couch of the Summers house. The demon liked the place, it had all the comfort he and his peers needed. The only thing that disturbed them was the Slayers and their moods but hell, Trask wasn’t suicidal enough to face them. They were too strong! They were the masters of Sunnydale. So, being their minions was kinda a good position in Sunnydale ladder of power. The demon looked at his brother, Melk who was walking towards the kitchen, probably to fill this endless pit that was his stomach. Then, he heard someone knock at the front door. It was probably the girl Demona had told them to keep fresh for her. Smiling, the demon whispered the enchanted word that changed his appearance. He looked like a human now. He made his way towards the door and opened it, revealing a not so bad looking brunette with a bag.
“Hey, man! I’m Magda! Is Faith there?”
Still smiling, the demon nodded: “She’s out but will be back soon. Do come in!”
In the meantime, Buffy and the real Magda were circling the house, to penetrate in the garden. Thanks to Magda’s skills, it shouldn’t be difficult for them to enter by the back door to back Faith up.
“I still can’t get why I believed you! If Faith hadn’t known that much things about me…”
“Well, that and the fact that you already believed in supernatural stuff before!”
“That too! Still, it’s so incredible…”
“Well, that’s Sunnydale. Incredible is its second name…that and creepy, monstery and stressy!”
Magda gave her a strange look then grinned before continuing walking.
“What?”
“Nothing! I can see now why you and Faith are together. You’re as strange as she is!”
“Strange in a good way, I hope!” Buffy said raising her eyebrows which caused Magda to giggle.
“It kinda grows on people if I can say so!”
“Well, thanks…I guess. Enough talking now. We’re on a backup mission!”
When Faith penetrated in the living room, the first thing she noticed was the horrible demon that was coming from the kitchen. Feigning terror, she moved to a box on her left that she knew was hiding a sword. One of the weapons hidden in the house in case of an unexpected assault from some evil force.
“Ow, Melk! Couldn’t you use your magic for a while. I intended to play a little bit with our guest and you blew it, man!”
“Chorry!” The demon replied his mouth full of food.
Trask looked back at Faith, dropped his disguise and walked towards her, his arms extended as if he wanted to apologise. Spotting the box, Faith feigned to fall on the ground and quickly opened it, glad to feel the sword in her hand. Looking to the approaching demon, Faith happily noticed that he hadn’t seen through her comedy so, when he was near enough, she launch her attack, beheading him in the process. Turning to the second demon whose brain hadn’t registered what happened yet, she threw the sword to him, reaching him in his throat. Melk died without a whisper.
Then, Faith heard footsteps coming from the kitchen. Waiting for the worst, she was relieved to see that it was Buffy and Magda. A smile appeared on her face, quickly followed by another one on Buffy’s while the thief paled at the sight of the demon.
“O my god, they’re real!”
Faith gave her a light tap on the back then said: “Breathe, Mag! And stay here! We’ll be right back. B, I take the up stairs, you look at the basement! Don’t try anything stupid, remember, you’re not a Slayer here!”
Buffy nodded and moved to the basement door when she heard Faith say.
“And B? Love you!”
The blonde smiled, blew a kiss to her lover then continued her way. She opened the door, descended the stairs but stopped only after a few when she heard someone singing. Risking a look through the bars of the stairs, she gasped when she saw Willow, Xander and Kennedy chained with a demon to guard them. They were alive and it warmed her heart. Retreating back to the living room, she winked at Magda who gave her a weak smile before moving to another box, opening it and taking the crossbow that was in it. She took a couple of bolts then moved back towards the basement door and waited for Faith. She didn’t wait long as the brunette was soon back, shaking her head to tell her that she had found nothing on the first floor.
“Will, Xander and Kennedy are chained downstairs. A demon is there too.” Buffy whispered to her girlfriend.
“And what do you want to do with the crossbow? Shoot him? B, you’re not…”
“The Slayer, I know! But I know I can, I feel I can do it. Trust me, Faith!”
Still unsure of it, Faith nevertheless agreed. So, they silently descend the stairs. Faith, ready to run to the demon if Buffy failed.
Willow’s nerves were on the verge of breaking. This demon was probably the worst singer ever and he hadn’t stopped since he came to guard them, three hours before. Even Xander’s pleas hadn’t worked. She wished she had her powers…well, if she had had them, none of the previous events would have happened. She was seriously considering to insult him when she heard a whizzing noise that seemed to have stopped the demon’s annoying litany. Then, to her stupefaction, she saw him fall, a bolt through the throat. She then heard footsteps to her right and saw two girls coming to them, a brunette and a blonde, the blonde being the one with the crossbow.
“See! Told you I could do it!”
“Never had doubt!”
“Liar!” Buffy said playfully, silently telling Faith that she didn’t mind, after all, if she would have been in her lover’s position…she would have probably have doubts too.
“OK, you take Xander and Kennedy! I take, Will!” The brunette nodded and went to Xander while Buffy moved to Willow.
“Hey Will! Happy to see me?”
“Well, who wouldn’t? But who the hell are you?”
While using the key she had just taken on the demon’s body to free her friend, Buffy replied: “I’ll give some clues: Pretty blonde with a hot brunette as girlfriend who has been your best friends for the last years…does it tilt?”
“Buffy?”
“The one and only!” Buffy answered while finishing freeing her friend.
“Buffy!” Willow repeated pulling Buffy in a bone-breaking hug.
Witnessing the exchange, Xander who had just been released too looked at the brunette, mimicking Willow’s tone, he said: “Faith?” But didn’t try the hug part of the deal.
“What are you waiting for, Xan? I missed you too you know!” The dark Slayer replied putting her arms around his neck. He didn’t wait to hug her back. For the first time in days, hope came back to the carpenter’s mind. They stayed like that for a few seconds, waiting for the same thing, a reply they didn’t wait long to hear.
“Hey, Harris! No groping with my girlfriend!”
Laughs and smirks followed the remark, coming from everyone in the basement. Yep, things were looking good again.
“Hum! Someone is still chained here!” Kennedy tries to say in her most serious tone but failed miserably, happy to see their Slayers back! Now, the payback would come.
Twenty minutes later, in the living room, after having introduced Magda to the present Scoobies, the two Slayers finished explaining how they had managed to come back to their century. After a moment of silence, the ex-prisoners began to tell their own story. Buffy and Faith flinched when they heard about Dawn and her sad and strange expression. The most frustrating thing was the fact that no one seemed to know what had happened to her but the two Slayers made a silent vow while hearing it: Find the reason, help the young girl and made the responsible pay for it. Then, Willow asked:
“So! Now what?”
Buffy was the one who replied: “Simple! We’ll switch bodies with the bitches from the past then kick their asses!”
“Yeah! I kinda imagine you will but, hello, the witch has no power and I doubt that they would be back in the next 48 hours!”
“No need for this, Red! Remember the stone you used when B and I switched bodies?”
“Oh, this stone! Of course! I had forgotten it.”
“You have it, Will? Please tell me you have it!”
“I…yeah, I have it! It’s somewhere in my room!”
“So, what are you waiting for! Get you ass out of the couch and go take it, Red!”
They waited for the redhead to go to her room and come back, relieved to see the stone in her hand when she did.
“How does it exactly work, Will?” Buffy asked after having taken the stone Willow had handed to her.
“It’s counter magic! It only works with people who have exchanged bodies, transferring the souls back where they belong. In other words…”
“It will only work between B and Angie or me and Demona! Right Red?”
“Right, Faith!”
“OK, guys! This is the plan! Xander, go to the Mansion and check its defence. Demona and Angie have to ignore we’re back! It’s pivotal for our plan. So, we’ll need a place to Hide. Willow, make sure the stone works. I don’t want it to fail when we’ll be in front of our enemies. Kennedy, take the crossbow and the bolts, you might not have the force of a Slayer but I doubt the potion you drank had any influence on your dexterity. Magda, I know you’ve already done a lot but could you go with Xander and check the places. I want it completely safe. Faith…”
“I know, B! I’m the “getting D back” girl!”
Buffy smiled at the brunette. “You read my mind!”
“Hell, yes. Being in your head is a pretty place to be!”
The blonde flashed a big smile at the comment.
“It is not the only place I’d like to be now though!”
“Faith! Scoobies here!”
“I know! But you’ve just send them on a mission…and I…we have to wait for Dawn to come back and, according to Willow, it could take a while and…”
“Faith! Scoobies here!” Then, turning to her friends who had huge grins on their faces, she just added: “Aren’t you supposed to be on missions?”
Still grinning, Xander, Willow, Kennedy and Magda stood up and walked towards the exit. Before leaving the room, Magda whispered to Willow.
“Are they always like that?”
“No! I find them rather soft today. They must tired by the whole time travel thing I guess!”
A couple of hours later, the two Slayers were cuddling on the sofa, waiting for their enemies and Dawn to come back. They had stayed like that till the moment the Scoobies had exited the house, enjoying the other’s presence, enjoying being back home, even if it was behind the enemy lines for the moment. They had remained mostly silent which strangely enough had only increased the importance of the moment. There were so many things that a look, a loving gesture could express better than any word.
Finally, they heard the car that used to be Joyce’s stop in front of the house. Hiding her face behind a Halloween mask they had found in the house (a mask representing a vampire, not very original but, hell, the important thing here was to remain incognito), Faith moved in front of the door the others will soon open. Buffy positioned herself behind the window, ready to give a signal to Faith.
Dawn exited the car and sighed. Once again, the day had been full of crimes, innuendos and other horrible things Angie and Demona seemed to love so much. The revulsion she had felt for the two people who had stolen her sister and Faith’s places had only increased tenfold…as well as the revulsion she was feeling for herself…after all, she remained where she was supposed to be and had seen them doing all those things…and the remorse, her never leaving companion of the last days was still eating her inside. Like a robot, she followed her tormentors, they were speaking and not really paying attention to the young girl. They knew she couldn’t do anything. Her friends’ lives depended on her good behaviour. She barely saw Angie introduce the key in the lock and was ready to enter her house that had become her prison when she heard coming from the inside: “Now!”
Angie had just opened the door, pushing it to enter when the word was shouted. She didn’t had the time to react. Indeed, someone had just kicked the door who slammed on Angie’s face, projecting her on Demona. Barely a second later, someone exited the house, someone whose face was hidden behind a mask, someone who grabbed her and pulled her inside the house before closing the door, someone who put her on her shoulder and ran to the back door where a blonde was waiting for them. They had reached this door when they heard the bang that meant that their opponents had stood up again and had forced the front door open. The girls didn’t stop running and soon joined the streets before entering another garden, crossing it, join another street…etc…etc…Dawn had been quiet the whole time. She didn’t know what to do or what to say, didn’t know who these girls were. All that she knew was that they were leading her away from Angie and Demona who had lost their traces…they didn’t know the town so well while these two girls seemed to know it by heart. Then, she saw the blonde look behind her, smile then say: “They lost us! You can put her down now!”
The brunette did as told then looked at Dawn and added: “About time, B! Shit, D, once this all-critical situation is resolved, I’ll put you on a fucking diet. Way too many kilos in this body of yours.”
Dawn’s jaw dropped on the ground before tears began to water her cheeks. Turning her attention to Faith, then Buffy and vice versa, she finally threw herself in their arms saying the same sentence again and again.
"You’re back! Thank god, you’re back."
Back in the Summers house, two furious pirates were checking the place in search of any clue that might help them discovering who the hell were these persons who had just assaulted them. Who dared? They had lost them way too easily. Too busy to establish their hold on the city, they had forgotten to scan it, to analyse it, to know every single of its street like their pockets and now, they had just received the backlash of this error. Spotting Angie coming back from the basement, she asked her:
“Anything?”
“The demon is dead, the prisoners gone! You?”
“Two dead demons! Nothing else. Someone has laid on the couch for a while but no clue.”
“So, what do we do now?”
Demona thought about it a second, then stated: “We leave the house and wait for them in the caves.”
“You sure they’ll come?”
“They are against us! They’ll come for the final battle.”
“Who do you think they are? Council?”
“That’s my best guess! I’ve already killed some of their kind…and I’ll happily do it again.”
An hour later, in the Mansion, the Scoobies were eating some pizza Xander had just brought in. Grinning, Faith savoured her part before saying: “Fuck! That’s what I call food. Fishes aren’t bad but eating it for a week isn’t really on my “favourite menu” list. Pizzas rule!”
“Wasn’t it you who said she could get used to live on a desert island with just me?”
“Well, yeah! And a mobile phone to call Air Pizza Deliveries!”
“And how would we pay them?”
“Annual subscription?”
Buffy smirked while seeing her girlfriend’s “B, please, forget it, ok. You win but I won’t give it in with the Scoobs here” look. Spotting Dawn who had barely touched her food, she walked to her, put her arm around her shoulder and said:
“Hey there! Why the sad face? We’re all free and soon, we’ll beat the bitches!”
“I…I know! It’s just…”
“What? What did they do to you?” The anger present in Buffy’s voice caught the other’s attentions.
“I…I can’t tell.”
“Dawn!” Then, on a lower, soft tone, Buffy pursued: “Dawnie! It hurts to see you like this. Please, don’t shut down to me!”
“I…what…I…”
“Come on, Dawnie! Whatever it is, we’ll help you, you know this.”
Tears were running on the younger Summers' cheeks. Finally, she whispered: “They forced me to kill Willy.”
When Buffy heard it, she couldn’t prevent a gasp. Turning her head, she could notice that the others didn’t hear it with the exception of Faith thanks to her Slayer hearing. The brunette didn’t waste a second, she said to the Scoobs.
“Guys! Can you wait for us in the garden, please.”
“Wowow! Faith! What’s happening here? What did she say?” Xander tried but the look in Faith’s face warned him that now wasn’t a time to argue. The others saw it too and, without any further word, left the place. They just heard Buffy thanking them before the dark Slayer closed the door. Looking at Willow, Xander said: “What the hell just happened?”
“I don’t know, Xand but it’s probably bad, real bad.” At that moment, she felt Kennedy’s hands on her shoulder and leaned her back on the third Slayer. “All we can do is wait!”
Once the Scoobies out, the two Slayers waited for Dawn to continue. They knew that the Scoobies deserved to know what had happened, that their help would be precious for Dawn but they had also guessed that the less people were in the room with Dawn now, the easier for her it would be to speak. So, they waited, knowing that pushing her wouldn’t help either.
“I…they told me they would hurt Xander if I…I…they gave me a crossbow and ordered me to…to shoot him…I didn’t know what to do…I didn’t want to…then, I noticed that they had said shoot him…Not kill him so…I shot a bolt in his leg…I…I didn’t know it was poisoned..I swear, I didn’t want to…”
Pulling her sister in a hug, Buffy whispered to her: “I know you didn’t! It wasn’t your fault, it…”
“I KILLED HIM, BUFFY! HOW COULD IT NOT BE MY FAULT!”
“Dawn! I…”
“YOU WEREN’T THERE! YOU DIDN’T SEE THE LOOK ON HIS FACE WHEN HE HAD REALIZED HE WAS GOING TO DIE!”
“Dawn! Shouting won’t solve…”
“I DON’T WANT IT TO BE SOLVED. I…I KILLED HIM AND I CAN’T EVEN STAND THE THOUGHT…AND YOU…you want me to forget it?” The last part was barely a whisper, as if Dawn’s strength had just quit her body. Then, Dawn heard…
“You’d never forget him, Dawnie!”
The two sisters turned to Faith who had remained silent till that moment. They both knew that this had to be a hard time for the brunette, that bad memories were probably resurfacing in her mind.
“…and you’d better not!”
“What?”
Kneeing in front of these two girls she loved, the dark Slayer continued:
“Ask your sister! I still have nightmares sometimes where I kill my victims again.”
“She’s right! She trembles all night after this…All I can do is hold her and wait.”
“And strangely, I welcome them. Sure, it’s not fun at the moment but I know that as long as I have them, it means I haven’t forgotten them, it means that I still know which path I don’t want to follow again.”
“But…But how can you stand it?”
“It will be hard, Dawn. But think about it. Your story is not mine! I killed twice, one was an accident, the other…Well, let’s just say I was too far gone to care then…But you, you didn’t really kill him.”
“Yes, I do!”
“NO you didn’t!” It was Buffy who had just replied. “You hurt him but didn’t poisoned the bolt. Dawn, if the bolt had been normal, Willy wouldn’t have been killed. You didn’t know!”
“But Buffy! I feel like I did kill him and…”
“Then stop whining, Dawn. Self-pity won’t help you to feel better. You want to fight it, try to prevent anything like that to happen again then fight against the bastards that did this to guy. Use it like a power to make this fucking insensitive world better cause otherwise, you’ll be lost for us and for you and I sure don’t want to loose my sister of adoption.”
Dawn gave the two Slayers a weak smile while Buffy mouthed a thank you to her girlfriend. Then, Dawn said: “So, where do I begin?”
“Well, we’ll let the Scoobies enter then, why don’t you talk to us about the places Angie and Demona led you to?”
The darkness in the caves they were currently walking in was oppressive. Nothing positive could come out of this kind of dark. The six persons who were moving there could feel the dark embrace them, almost chocking them in its tendrils. They tried to move silently but their breaths were so heavy that they failed miserably. Even Buffy couldn’t prevent it. It was as if only a real full packaged Slayer could walk in these caves without being spotted. Spotted because she was sure that they had been seen…no one had assaulted them though, probably because they had received orders not to try. The two bitches probably wanted to deal with them on their own…and that was part of their plan. Their enemies were too proud, too eager to install themselves as Sunnyvale’s new lords for letting anyone else the pleasure of the kill.
The blonde looked around her at her friends. No one had backed up. They all knew that it will probably be really dangerous, that everything was depending on a bet…according to Dawn, the two pirates were following a kind of procedure when dealing with other people and they were counting on it. Turning her attention to her sister, the petite Slayer could see that she was both determined and scared. These caves were representing so many bad memories for her but she could also see the wish to fight in her eyes, the wish to bring her own stone to this better world Faith had spoken about earlier that day. Sounds a bit clichéd but it seemed to work on Dawn and Buffy was grateful to her girlfriend for that. Dawn’s road would be tough, she knew it but with the brunette and their friends, the young girl would make it, she had no doubt about it. When Dawn had revealed the Willy incident to the Scoobies, they had been all supportive, something Dawn had really appreciated, something Buffy had never doubted about either.
Her attention was on Magda now. The most recent addition to the gang. The former thief was scared too, you could see it but she hadn’t hesitated when they had asked who was in for this mission. She said she owed Faith that much and that she wanted to help her find her body back. She was a good girl, totally the kind of gal Faith had described to her.
Then suddenly a bright light coming from another cave, 60 feet away. Buffy looked at Dawn who nodded. That was it, they were entering the lion’s mouth, the place where Angie and Demona were ruling Sunnyvale’s underground population. Taking their breath, they walked in slowly, Buffy verifying that her wide robe and the Halloween mask weren’t betraying her features. A cold voice welcomed them.
“Good evening, guys! We’ve been expecting you!”
Demona was sitting on a wooden throne, Angie standing next to her, two swords hanging on her belt. The queen and her prime minister. Around them, a dozen of vampire or demons were waiting for the signal to attack them. Other openings leading to other caves were visible on different level above them. According to Dawn, there was no one in there, the pirates counted only on their strength and on a limited number of demons when facing danger. Demona continued:
“Well, that’s very brave of you to come here with mortals without powers…but I wonder who this masked guy or gal could be. Don’t you, Angie?”
“Well, you know what they say: Curiosity killed the cat!”
Demona made a gesture to Angie who moved towards Buffy. That was it! The key moment of their plan. If they failed…
“Fortunately for me, I have claws.” Angie retorted to Buffy’s comment on curiosity. The blond Slayer didn’t move and waited, not wanting to seem too dangerous to her opponent. When Angie was only a few feet away from her, she just said:
“Don’t touch me!”
“Or what? You’re gonna hit me with your ridiculous mask. Come on, we all know you’d be dead before trying anything.” Now in front of Buffy, the pirate’s hand moved to remove the mask. Buffy moved her hand to catch Angie’s.
“I said don’t…”
Buffy didn’t finish. She felt Angie’s hand beginning to crush her own in a death grip. Moving the object hidden in the palm, the light Slayer finally made it enter into contact with Angie’s skin.
Suddenly, a bright light engulfed the two opponents. For a few seconds, time seemed to freeze before one of the adversaries blinked then grabbed the masked girl and kicked her on Demona’s direction. Grinning brightly, the pirate queen said in delight:
“See! No one could mess with my girl on me. You OK, Angie?”
Grabbing the swords, the blonde nodded then, she said: “Want me to kill them?”
“No, no need to spoil your hands on them. They’re not worth it. Guys!”
The two hugest demons in the caves moved towards the Scoobies to kill them. Walking next to Angie, they didn’t have the time to see the swords moving. They didn’t even register they're dead and were already gone when they hit the ground. Puzzled, Demona stuttered:
“A..Angie? W…WH…What…”
Flashing a bright smile, Buffy turned her head towards the pirate and just said: “What can I say! Took me a while but…I’m back!” Then, she decapitated another demon that was coming to her and added, grinning: “Oh yeah! It’s good to be me!”
Fearing the worst, Demona looked at the masked girl unconscious at her feet…the mask was lying a few feet away. The girl had lost it when flying to her. She could see her face now…Angie’s face…the face from before the time loop…No…It couldn’t be real? They’re dead…Eaten by cannibals or lost centuries away…How could they..? Her mind returning to the present time, she could see that her minions were loosing the fight. Buffy was killing them easily. The death of her most powerful lackeys seemed to have ruined the mood of her army. The other Slayer, Kennedy was deadly accurate with her crossbow while the other Scoobies were dealing with the few demons the other were leaving them in a lethal synchronicity. Fortunately, she had a last ace in her sleeve. Shouting to the winged demons, she ordered them to kill the intruders. She saw them extend their wings and begin their flight when two bolts killed them on the spot. Looking to the direction the bolts had just come from, her worst fear confirmed when she saw a brunette who was giving her an evil grin. It was her body…Faith’s body and at that moment, Demona knew that she had lost the battle.
Moving away from her throne, she began walking towards the opening behind it…her escape route. Then, she spotted the unconscious body of her girlfriend a few feet away from her. She knew that she couldn’t take the risk to bring her with her, that she would loose some precious seconds…Besides, helping someone wasn’t her style…But still, the feelings she had for her were real, were making her so alive…she couldn’t let her there…but she who had so often claimed that she had no weaknesses couldn’t let her become one…but it was too late and she knew that. Cursing, she walked to her girlfriend, put her on her shoulder then ran away.
Faith hadn’t missed the internal conflict that had just happened in Demona’s mind. While the other Scoobies were moving in the open, catching the enemy’s attention, Faith had found another way to come there. She knew these caves quite well, a little souvenir of her time with the mayor…She also knew where the opening Demona and Angie had just taken was leading and how to join them. Before turning her heels back to the tunnel she had just came from to kill the winged demons, she shouted at Buffy:
“B! The stone!”
Finishing the last demon, the blonde girl just nodded and threw her the precious stone that had helped her claim her body back. Faith caught it, winked at her girlfriend then ran away. It was time for the final confrontation.
Demona was running as fast as she could but she knew that Angie was slowing her down dangerously. But she couldn’t drop her, she was too precious for her. She was the only one who could understand her, soothe her…the only one she could love and who could love her back. Taking another tunnel to her left, she spotted the exit, bathed by moonlight…but then, she saw a silhouette falling from an opening above, blocking her way out.
“Been a while I wanted to meet you, bitch!”
Gently putting Angie on the ground, Demona retorted: “Same to me!”
The two girls were circling each other.
“You know what, Faith? I don’t understand you! You had so much potential and you wasted it by going soft…”
“You’ve made some research I see!”
“I had to enter in your skin!”
“Well, I’ve been in yours and it’s not a sane place to be. All this rage and cruelty.”
“Power and Fun!”
“Fucking Sickness and Bloody Insanity.”
“You can’t understand!”
“Possible! Even at my worst, I didn’t like the kill. I’ve always liked the fight and the slay but I’ve never been cruel or delighted to kill another human being.”
“So alike and so different at the same time!”
“Being poetic there! Beware, it could be interpret as a weakness.”
“I have no weakness!”
“We both know you’re lying! You weakness is on your left, mine is still fighting in the caves.”
“Guess that’s the part where we’re alike. It sucks!”
“But one smile of her and you forget how crappy it is!”
“Yeah!” Feeling bad at ease with the conversation, Demona said: “Enough speaking! Time to see who’s the best.”
“I agree but before that..” Faith showed her the stone. “Now, that this whole body switching shit isn’t necessary anymore…don’t you want to have your body back.”
“Oh yeah! Seeing you in the mirror every morning was far from being a pleasure. Kinda reminded me how disgusting you are.”
“How original! You know, knowing whose body I was in was also fucking disgusting. If I could wash my mind to erase the taints I could have been exposed to in there, I would without hesitation.”
They carefully approached each other, joined their hands, stone in the middle then, as soon as the light disappeared launched their attacks at the exact same time. Flying backwards, they both hit the walls roughly. Without taking the time to recuperate, they ran to the other, exchanging hits and kicks with ferocity.
Demona punched Faith on the right side of her jaw, turning, Faith used the power of the hit to kick Demona’s leg, sending her on the ground, on her back. Without thinking, she kicked her on the stomach and sent her on the walls again. Groaning in pain, the pirate stood up, facing a grinning Faith.
“You know why you’re gonna loose, Demona?”
Screaming in rage, the pirate rushed to Faith. Blinded by her fury, she couldn’t dodge Faith’s next attack. Using her opponent’s force against her, she threw her away once more.
“You’ve never faced a real threat, or a Slayer.”
Two punches hit the pirate again.
“Never fought for others than you, never had to fight someone you loved.”
A kick on the stomach brought Demona to her knees.
“Never had to fight your darkest side. Instead you chose to follow it.”
Another punch on the face.
“I’ll kill you!” groaned the villain.
Demona rushed to Faith again, trying to punch or kick her but the dark Slayer constantly dodged of parried. No hit reached her while the brunette’s punches were doing marvels. With a final hit, Faith hit Demona on the temple knocking her down. “You lost bitch and to quote B…It’s damn good to be me!”
Glancing at the two unconscious pirates, she felt relief. This time, it was over.
Twenty hours later, the two Slayers and their captives were waiting on the beach. The fire they had lighten was supposed to guide the Dutchman. They were at the exact same place the ghost ship had debarked them two nights before.
The two pirates were bonded, their mouths scotched, lying on the sand. The scotch part was recent. Both Slayers were tired of hearing them curse and even Faith didn’t want to hear a repeat of some of them. They had locked them in the basement for the whole day, using the exact same chains they had used to the Scoobies. They had also drugged Demona with the drug they had used on Kennedy, blocking her Slayer's abilities in the way and now, they were waiting for their future floating prison. The first symptoms of the dependence the captain had told them about were now visible. Trembling, the two girls were remaining calm for the moment, probably too stoned to move. They finally spotted the lights of the ship and soon spotted the dinghy coming their way.
“Still sure about it, B?”
“Yes, they deserve to rot there.” The blonde replied, surprising the brunette by the hatred carried by these words. “Besides, no jail could hold them.”
No other words were exchanged as they saw the captain and some men of her crew debarking.
“Well, well, well. Look who’s here! I should have known you had some trick in your sleeve.”
“You know who we are?” Buffy asked.
“Sure! I’m a ghost! I can see things…but frankly, I don’t care. I have two new crew members so, I really don’t care.”
The crew took the two prisoners who tried to escape their grips but failed miserably with them. Then after a last sign to the Slayers, they sailed away to their ship. Buffy and Faith waited to the lights to disappear before walking back to the town, Faith putting her arm around her girlfriend’s shoulders.
“So, it’s finally over.”
“Yeah, I guess!”
“What’s wrong, B! You seemed off the whole day!”
“Dawn! I’m worried about her. She looks so sad.”
“She’ll deal with it. We’ll help her. Stuffs like that take time.”
“It’s just! She’s too young to suffer like that and…”
“And?”
“I wanted them dead. I’ve never wanted someone dead as I did for them.”
Feeling the guilt behind these words, Faith replied: “I wanted too. But we didn’t! We aren’t like them!”
“Yeah! But I hate them so much. I have this rage in me and…”
“I know the feeling! But you have to see the positive part of it. Red and Kennedy are closer than ever. Bet they would hit the mattress real soon.”
“I so don’t want to have the visuals you’ve just sent me.”
“Me neither! But hell, it’s a fact. And have you seen how Mag and X-Man seem to enjoy each other’s company?”
“Well, Xander is indeed drooling and…”
“Xander always drools in front of a pretty girl B.”
“Sure but this time, the drooling seems to be shared. And Magda not being a demon is a good thing for him either.”
“Yep! So, isn’t it something good that resulted for this fucking week?”
“Yes, you’re right! Still, I am frustrated and worried.”
Faith slapped her on the arm, playfully.
“Hey! What was that for!” She replied seeing Faith adopting a fighting position.
“You need to burn some calories then. I don’t know a better therapy for you not to mimic a certain broody vampire we both know. Come on, B! Show me what you have in you!”
Adopting the same position, Buffy grinned, already feeling better. “So, want me to kick your ass, F?”
"My ass is yours, B! All you have to do is catch it."