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.
Once she was gone, Buffy tuned on Giles. "You can't be serious," she told him angrily. "Faith's... from what you told me, Faith's deep psyche has gone to all of this trouble to get her on the right path. She saved all of us at the Ascension. And you're saying that it's hopeless, that she's going to turn bad again? Isn't there anything we can do?"
Giles held up a calming hand. "I didn't mean to alarm you, Buffy. There may very well be a way we can assist." He paused, considering. "If we can help Faith to confront, to overcome the issues that led her to evil, we may be able to prevent it from happening again." Giles shrugged uncertainly. "Psychology is not exactly my field - but Willow and I can research similar cases to iron out the details."
"Okay, sounds good," Xander muttered. "What do we do now?"
"The first step, is to get Faith's willing co-operation," Giles started. "Let her know enough of what she did to scare her a little bit. But we shouldn't go into the reasons why yet - that might be a nudge downward when she isn't ready for it."
"Okay," Buffy said. "Let's go."
"Are you ready for active duty, my son?" Thonis rumbled at Janson, now a vampire.
"Yes, my lord Thonis." Korben took note of that - all of his people had been instructed to show no unnecessary devotion towards Thonis. They were to work with him, show him respect, but not venerate him. Veneration was to be saved for the true lords of the demons.
Apparently, once Thonis changed someone into a vampire, new rules applied, and quite understandably so.
"Due to the precise nature of the demon spirit I have changed you with," Thonis was saying, "you can cause incapacitating, though temporary, pain in mortals with a single touch. Experiment with this power throughout the day with your former peers. That is, if such an exercise would be agreeable with you, Sir Gautier?"
Korben considered only a moment. "Yes. Do not permanently harm them, but you may use them as test subjects. Would two be enough? I would like to assign other duties to the rest of my people."
"That should be sufficient," Janson said raspingly. The rest of the brothers shifted around nervously, wondering which two would be picked for the torturous 'test.'
But Thonis was not yet finished. "Once night falls, you will seek out and engage the Slayer. Hold her captive with the pain-touch, long enough for me to psychically probe her. Then, dispose of her."
Fat chance of that happening, Korben thought to himself. The Slayer would destroy Janson, the first of the brotherhood to be sacrificed to the goal of weakening her defences. Or could he do it?? Suddenly Korben wasn't so sure.
"Faith?" Buffy called out, coming back into the Slayer's room. A white-gowned doctor was in with her. "Doctor??"
"Oh, hello. Miss Summers?" the doctor said, holding out his hand for a quick shake. "Leroy Ralston - we spoke on the phone earlier. So nice to see Faith's friends come down - she was so confused when she first woke up."
"Yeah, thank god that's over with," Faith muttered sarcastically. Luckily, the doctor didn't seem to hear her.
"So, what's next for our Faith?" Buffy asked.
"Well, she's recovering very well from the system shock," Ralston said. "If she wants to, she can probably check out at noon." Buffy was surprised at that - didn't Ralston know about the memory loss? Then again, probably Faith wouldn't have told him, and it was just as well if Faith could leave the hospital.
"Great!" Buffy said, smiling.
"Okay," Ralston agreed. "I'll send someone in with the paperwork. Meanwhile, I've got more rounds to make. If you'll excuse me?" With a cheery smile, the doctor left the room.
"Okay, Buff, now that Doc Holliday's gone, what the hell is up?" Faith groused. "I'm picking up a really weird vibe from you guys. Come on - what did I forget??"
Buffy paused a minute before she began. Faith's confusion and anxiety were sincere. She really didn't remember, Buffy was sure of that. Faith was a good actress, but Buffy had learned to read her face - while she had been pretending to be Faith and Angel's captive at the mansion, during the final fight with the other Slayer at her apartment. There could be no deception anymore.
"You... you did some bad stuff during that period you don't remember," Buffy began slowly, indicating to Xander and Giles that they should remain quiet. "You... you killed-" Buffy almost started with 'you killed a guy, on patrol, by accident,' leading into how much the guilt of that had messed the other Slayer up, but she remembered just in time what Giles had warned her about. Nothing about motive, the whys and wherefores. Just the facts, ma'am. "You killed several people, Faith. You agreed to work for the Mayor." A very confused blank look crossed Faith's face, like 'and why is working for a politician worse than killing people?' "The mayor being a really bad guy who had this master plan for turning into a demon and destroying the whole town. You tried to rob Angel of his soul, turn him back into the nastiest vampire I've ever had to deal with, so that you could make him your partner. You tried to kill all of me, Xander, and Willow at some point or another." Buffy took a deep breath, and decided to stop there.
"What?? I couldn't have..." Faith trailed off in mid-sentence, totally stunned.
"You did, Faith," Giles said, taking a part. "If you're amenable, we'd like to help you come to terms with why you did what you did, and try to make sure that it doesn't happen again..." Giles was cut off by a knock on the door.
"Hello?" A well-dressed man of about Giles' age in a dark suit entered the room. "Oh, look who's all here. Giles, Faith, Buffy..."
Oh, no. Buffy should have figured on this, but she hadn't thought of it until just now. "Hi," she said sassily. "You're from that collection of rejects who call themselves the Council, aren't you?"
"Guilty as charged," the newcomer said, sweeping off his hat and bowing. "Keith Hancox, at your service. How..." Keith broke off as Buffy's hand closed like an iron vice on his arm.
"Let's take a walk," she murmured, maneuvering him back out of Faith's room.
Quickly, they were back once again in the waiting room. "So, Keith," Buffy drawled condescendinly. "What's the council want you to do with her?"
Keith chuckled nervously, and then assumed a more sober disposition. "I am, er, under orders to see that Faith is finally brought back to England, to answer for her crimes in a Watcher's court..."
"Great," Buffy drawled. "Where were you when she was threatening all our lives? She doesn't need this now. She can't remember all the stuff that she did, she's got another chance."
"Oh, really?" Keith said, interest evident in his tone. "That would indeed make things simpler. We could skip the trauma of a trial and simply proceed to re-educating our dear Faith..."
"Not a chance!" Buffy declared passionately. "Your man Wesley was a big part of the reason Faith flipped out on us to start with. You don't get a second chance with a person's life like that."
"You are on very shaky ground here yourself, Miss Summers," Hancox shot back. "If you don't stay out of this matter..."
"Then what?" Buffy asked him. "You don't have a say over me anymore. I quit the Council, remember?"
"Yes, I heard," Hancox replied. "But surely, you must have guessed that it was something no Slayer had taken it in her mind to do before. There's no precedent for a Slayer 'quitting' the Council, and in the eyes of many, that means that there is no right."
Buffy's mouth fell open. Desperate, she turned to Giles, who finally, almost imperceptibly, nodded.
"Do you remember Quentin Travers?" Hancox pushed. "He's a perfect example of the kind of conservative we're dealing with. To him, a Slayer's destiny is to follow the dictates of the Council, through the duly appointed Watcher. There is no alternative, no recourse." He turned a steely gaze on Buffy. "The only reason you are not in an awful lot of trouble, Buffy, is that people like me have argued in favor of letting you be, as the most expedient course. Now, I don't intend to argue this any more. I'm taking Faith into my custody - now!"
With that, Hancox turned and strode out of the waiting room back to Faith's room, Buffy and the others trailing along uncertainly, stung with a nagging sense of helplessness. But as Hancox opened the door, his mouth dropped in total shock.
"What is it?" Buffy said, pushing past him. And theny she saw what had surprised him so. Faith's bed was empty. The other Slayer was nowhere to be seen!!
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.