by Chris Kenworthy (scoobyhq@fcmail.com)
All characters from the 'Buffy' show, including Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, and Anya, belong to Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon or some such. I don't mean to step on their rights or copyrights.
"Don't let Buffy's babbling bother you, Xander," Willow called out from the living room couch. "She's been kinda giddy with relief ever since the heat wave broke."
"Ah, I see," Xander said with a wide grin as he made his way into the house. "It's so great to see you guys again, Buffy, Willow," he dropped down onto the couch giving Willow an enthusiastic hug hello. "Giles," Xander finished belatedly, cocking his hand at the dignified British man sitting in the armchair across from the couch.
"Man," Buffy said, smiling at him. "I'm sorry, Willow's right, I'm kinda sleep-deprived and stuff. I'm so glad you got back." She walked over to Xander, holding her arms open for a hug of her own. "When did you get in? Was it before the heatwave broke?"
"Naa," Xander said, getting up and putting his arms around Buffy briefly. "The thunderstorm had just started when we got into the area. That was when the heat started to break, wasn't it?"
"Yeppers," Buffy agreed. "Wait a second... 'we?' Who else was in we? Just your car, or..."
"Anya," Xander admitted. "We, uh, we kinda ran into each other in Las Vegas, misplaced her car temporarily. It's a really long story. Don't ask about it right now."
"Uh, okay," Willow said, quite happy to leave Anya out of any conversation. "So, what's next for you, Xander??"
"Moving on," Xander told them. "My parents expect me out of the house within the week, so I need to find a new place, a job, stuff like that." A glum look settled on Xander's face.
"Hey, you'll do that," Buffy said in a cheerful voice. "We'll all help."
The phone rang, just once. Xander looked at Buffy, who was unconcerned, so probably her mother was home. "Well, thanks, I guess," Xander said.
"Buffy??" It was the voice of Buffy's mom, coming from upstairs. "Uh, can you get on the phone, Buffy?"
"Sure," Buffy said, picking up the cordless. "Hello?" Everyone else was silent. "She is? ... She is?? ... Is there any problem... Uh, okay yeah, we can be right there... Yeah, they're right here with me... Uh, okay. Thank you, doctor." She pushed the end button.
"What?" Xander asked.
"That was, uh, Doctor Ralston from the hospital," Buffy said slowly. "Faith has woken up."
"Really?" Willow asked, wide-eyed.
"How many dead?" Xander asked. Buffy turned to search his face for any side of humor, but he was totally serious.
"She's not causing any trouble," Buffy told him. "She's just asking for us."
"Us?" Giles asked.
"You, me, Mom, Xander," Buffy listed off. "Mom's offered to drive us all in."
"The attack must commence," Demon Thonis rumbled, standing in his protective pentacle, in the ruined Sunnydale High library. "It will take a long time to proceed appropriately. First, we will need to test the defences of the Slayer. She is the primary source of resistance to our efforts."
The demon considered a moment. "I require a volunteer."
Korben Gautier prodded Janson Munro in the back, making him jump forward and up, yelping in surprise. "Very good," Thonis rumbled. "Step up to the threshold."
Janson walked cautiously to the edge of the magic pentacle. "You will be the first," Thonis told him. "From the demonic essence I breathe, you will be reborn as a vampire, such as the earth had never before seen."
"V-vampire?" Janson stuttered. "No, please, no..."
But no-one listened to his protest. Foul vapors poured out of Thonis' mouth, passing across the border of the circle, and choking Janson. The cultist jerked and spasmed, then straightened up. His face snarled in a strange parody of a vampire's facial ridges.
"Excellent!" Thonis chuckled nastily.
"Hi, Faith," Joyce Summers said cheerily as she led the way into the Slayer's hospital room.
"Hey, Mrs. Summers," Faith shot back. "Nice to see a familiar face."
"I can imagine," Joyce replied. Looking around, Buffy's mom noticed that Buffy, Xander, and Giles were instinctively huddling near the door. "Well, what's the problem? You came to see Faith, didn't you?" she scolded them. "Come in, sit down, say something."
"Uh, hi Faith," Buffy said cautiously. "L-long time, no see."
"Yeah, that's what they tell me," Faith agreed. "If it's August now, I must've been in here for, what, six months, huh?"
"No, Faith, it was only..." Buffy started, then stopped short. "Do you- Faith, do you remember any of what happened to you? What's the last thing you do remember??"
"We, we had gone hunting the night before," Faith said confidently. "You got mad at me because I didn't wait 'til the count of three to jump this vamp with swords. The swords disappeared. We were gonna talk to Giles about it in the morning. I overslept, was heading into the school... That's the last thing I remember."
"Oh," Buffy said. "That was, uh, more than three months before you got put into the coma, Faith," she said tentatively.
"Really?" Faith said, her eyes wide. "So, what am I missing? Bring me up to speed here, B."
Buffy shared a long look with Xander and Giles. If Faith really didn't remember any of that time, she didn't remember turning to evil. And if she didn't remember being evil, did it mean that she wasn't evil anymore??
"Um," Xander said, his face reflecting Buffy's own uncertainty. "We, uh, really need to go talk to someone. Be back in a flash, Faith." They left, Buffy dragging on her mother's arm.
"Buffy?!" Joyce exclaimed in total surprise. "What's going on? I don't understand..."
Buffy didn't say a word until they had found an empty waiting room to commandeer. "There's something I didn't tell you about Faith, mom," Buffy said intently. "She, uh, well, she made some very foolish choices... put simply, she changed sides."
"What!?" Joyce breathed, her eyes wide. "She..."
"She was working for the mayor, the transdemonist who trashed graduation," Buffy said. "Killed a lot of people for him. Would have killed me, and Angel, and Xander, if she could have."
"Oh, my god, Buffy," Joyce said. "But, wait a second. If she doesn't remember, then..."
"Yeah, exactly what I'm wondering," Buffy said. "Giles? Any ideas on how we figure out if she's still evil or not??"
Giles considered. "That's a very complicated question, Buffy. If she isn't shamming, if she really has lost her memory, I'd say that she is essentially the same person as she had been at that time."
"I wonder how my dream fits into this?" Buffy said suddenly. Everyone looked at her strangely. "After I put Faith into the hospital, and Angel put me in, I had this weird dream. Faith and I were in the apartment the Mayor got for her. That was when she gave me the clue about how to defeat the Mayor. She'd... it was as if she'd changed sides again. She was on our side again."
"You... you did what?" Joyce whispered. "Angel did what??"
"Uh, another time," Buffy said, frowning at the pain on her mother's face. After a second, she sat up in surprise. "Oh, wait a second. 'It fades - it all fades.' Faith said that, in the dream. And now, her memory has faded. And... all the stuff in the apartment, she said that it was mine, that she wouldn't be needing it. What if that was about the memories of her time with the Mayor??"
"She... she gave you her memories Buffy?" Xander said, disbelieving. "Wouldn't you have realized that?"
"Well, not the memories, but I know about what she was doing in that period, which Faith doesn't." She turned to Giles. "Does this make any kind of sense, Giles?"
"It might," he began uncertainly. "I'm trying to remember what I know of the psychology of amnesia. Selective, precise memory loss like this, as far as I know, is not associated with physical trauma. It indicates a psychological defense mechanism on the part of the deep unconscious."
"So, Faith repressed all of those memories?" Xander asked.
"Yes. Perhaps because, at the end of her experience with the Mayor, she unconsciously realized the folly of her turn to evil, but couldn't figure out any way to purge the darkness from her mind other than removing all memory of the events that triggered her fall from grace, and its consequences."
"Okay," Buffy said. "That sounds good. So she's on the home team again, yes?"
"Not forever, Buffy," Giles warned her. "From what I know of Faith, her capacity for evil, her 'dark side' as it were, has its origins in her deep childhood, its threads running throughout her psyche. She hasn't removed it simply by repressing the memory of a few months. The next time that dark side works its way out, Faith will turn to evil again!"
Click here to go to the fanfic discussion board.
Go back to Tales of the Scooby Gang.
Or go to the Demon's breath index.