[San Diego - Torrance's House, Upstairs In The Bathroom]

"Hey lover, did you miss me?"

"What the fuck...?" Faith stepped back slightly and widened her eyes as she leaned her weight against the sink, supporting the rest of her body on either side of her arms. Normally Faith was the one to surprise others with her remarks, but this time she was terrified by the stranger's presence.

"Oh you're confused, Twinkie, let me clear it up for you." The girl walked out of the shadows and slowly headed towards Faith, entering her personal space. "I'm you and you're me."

Faith felt a drop of cold sweat rolling down her forehead. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. She fixed her eyes on the approaching brunette and was stunned by the similarity.

"You're still having doubts eh?" She licked her bottom lip and continued, "I'm Missy, your alter ego."

Faith couldn't believe what was happening. She brought her hands up and tangled her fingers in her hair as she struggled to fight off the pain. Her head was filled with echoes of the girl's voice.

"What? You think it was a coincidence that we both liked bossy blonds?"

"Fuck You! You're nothing like me." Grinding her teeth, Faith finally chocked out.

"Not bad, thought you might have an attitude." The girl chuckled and continued, "Face it Faith, I'm just the better side of you. You know, I have things you wished you had. Families, friends, lovers, whatever it is that you wanted I got. I'm your ideal."

"That's fucking bullshit." Faith yelled out, tightening her fists. She didn't believe a word that this girl was saying. How could it be? How could she possibly be her?

"Oh believe me, it is possible." The girl replied as if she had just read her mind. "I *am* you. Well, not that I was the one in a coma for eight months."

Faith shook her head in protest as she watched the girl moved right up to her face.

"All the time that you were sleeping, I was out here being you." Faith felt the girl whispered to her ear, "You seriously can't remember a thing huh?"

Then all of the sudden it hit her. All the memories came flooding into her mind. Faith remembered exactly what happened after the fight with the Councils. She ran. She ran away to meet up with Torrance, who she had been in love with for the past 3 months. Torrance needed her support to compete against the Clovers. As they walked out of East Compton High, Buffy came to find her. Then she strictly remembered Buffy dragging her down the streets of L.A. and knocking her out unconscious moments after.

Faith remembered waking up in the back of a car, but she didn't know where she was or how she got here in the first place. And the next thing she knew, she was wandering down the streets of downtown L.A. in the middle of the night.

And all the missing pieces of the puzzle became clear to her. Cliff was not her brother. Heck, they weren't even related. He was the Mayor's son. The Mayor had been so secretive and protective of his only son that he refused to let anyone know about Cliff. Well, anyone except Faith that is.

The Mayor loved and cared for Faith as if she was his own. So he brought her to San Diego, where he bought the luxurious house for Cliff and her. He told her that she could come and live here if she was ever tired of her life in Sunnydale.

Faith remembered being in a coma for eight months where she consistently dreamt of being a cheerleader. The Mayor probably did some kind of spell for her before he died. Somehow he managed to take away all her misery by giving her a second chance. He let her live her life as Missy Pantone. But he would never have thought that the spell would go wrong. Faith didn't live as Missy; instead, they were two separate yet connected souls.

Faith felt her heart bleed at the thought of how she failed him. He was the one who truly cared for her, the one who sheltered and protected her, and she failed him. Faith struggled to contain herself as she felt drops of tears came rolling down her cheeks.

"So you *do* remember." The girl stared at her. Then pulling away slowly, she said, "Whatever. I'm not lookin' to hug and cry and learn and grow here. Man, can't believe how pathetic you are."

Faith sniffed and swallowed hard. She was feeling a lot better now that she remembered everything. She heard the girl's comment and stood up to defend herself. This was one battle she needed to win to become herself again.

"You claim to be better than me." Faith said, narrowing her eyes. "Sure you've had a lot nicer life than I have. But at least my life wasn't meaningless. Yes, by lows were lower than you've ever gotten. But I made a difference. I fought the good fight and all that shit. What have you ever done to make the world a better place? Look pretty?"

"Oh bullshit! You wanted to be a cheerleader." Missy exclaimed as she walked in circles with Faith, preparing for a face off.

"Maybe I did want to be a cheerleader. But that doesn't matter. I did what I had to do as a Slayer, not what I wanted to do. And believe me, I went through Hell because of it. *That*, is what makes me better than you."

"Don't try to fool yourself Faith. In case you didn't remember you killed a man. Don't even try to run away yourself, because you can't. Your mistakes will catch you one day. It always will. So why don't we settle right now. Let me have your body and you'll get to live rest of your life in peace." Missy continued to pace around her.

"In your dreams!" Faith laughed. "Do you honestly think I'll let that happen? Now that I remember everything I know just the thing to get rid of you."

"Well, you better think fast cuz if you're not gonna do me, I'm sure as hell gonna do you." And with that said, the girl pounced on Faith and straggled her neck.

Faith kicked the girl in the crouch and swung her fist into her face, giving her enough time to get back on her feet again. She quickly slid herself behind Missy and head-locked her head in her arms. Then, with all her strength, she twisted and snapped her neck.

"Like I said, you can't beat me now that I know what you are." Faith stood there as she watched the body fell to the ground.

Moments later, Faith heard the ringing of the front doorbell and turned to head out. Taking one last look behind her back she found that the body had disappeared.

She smiled, and was relieved to see that she had won. She had finally won the battle against herself. And now, all Faith could think about was Buffy and Torrance. She knew she had to make things right with them somehow.

***

[San Diego - Torrance's House, Down Stairs]

"You...what the fuck are YOU doing here?!" Torrance opened the door to see her the blond girl standing there with one arm on her hips.

"Where is she?" Buffy asked. She wasn't surprised to find Torrance here, but she was still struck by the sudden sense of jealousy.

`Oh god, B.' Faith though to herself as she ran around the corner and came face to face with Torrance and Buffy and saw the girls eyeing each other off.

Both girls turned to look as her as Faith stepped out between them.

"What's going on here, Missy...?" asked Torrance. Faith could tell that she was hurt.

"Yeah, FAITH, what's going on?" added Buffy. Faith looked from one girl to the other.

"I, um...Look, I can explain..."