Title: Undercurrents
Author: Sean Gaffney
Email: gaffney@iconn.net
Distribution: Any Faith or Buffy/Faith sites that archive this sort of thing...
Spoilers: Even though this takes place after Graduation Day and Season Three, it will contain spoilers up to and including Restless and Season Four. Futuristic orbs and weird dream sequences are your friends...
Author's Notes: This will eventually be a B/F romance, but not for a bit - they have a lot to work out. It will contain loads of angst, and perhaps some scenes that might contain violence, language and sex - hence the rating. Thanks to Dreiser, Alan Harnum and Jeff Hosmer for looking it over before I risked it going public.
Feedback: It's also my first Buffy fanfic - in fact, my first fanfic where the characters aren't animated - so please feel free to advise me on anything ringing false.

Twist, whirl, stake.

The vampire only had a chance to look vaguely surprised before it crumbled into dust. Buffy stared at the dust for a few seconds and then moved on, her eyes roving around the cemetery.

She didn't say anything. In fact, she hadn't said anything since she arrived. No puns, no rhymes, no quips that fit her role as the sassy yet deadly dealer of undead death that roamed the plots of Sunnydale's finest burial grounds. Just stomping around, staking vampires, then going home. For the past seven days. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Oh, and thinking. Lots of thinking. Lotsa time to do that now.

Graduation was a week past, but she was still living it. Over and over again. The Mayor's insanity resulting in so much death and destruction. Angel walking off, leaving her life without a word. And Faith.

Mostly Faith.

Angel was, strangely enough, easier to accept. Perhaps it was part of the same denial that she'd been walking around with lately, but she kept telling herself that it was better this way, that there was no possible way they could have made things work. He was a vampire, cursed with a soul that would vanish the moment he experienced true happiness. And Buffy knew herself enough to know that if the one she loved wasn't happy, she couldn't be happy either. And, even though it hurt to admit it... the magic had been gone for a while now. She'd been afraid to admit it, but Angel had become just another part of her life, albeit an important one.

So leaving... it hurt, but it was a dull ache, like a headache you'd known all day was coming. Not like Faith.

Not like pain that hurt like a knife to the gut.

She wasn't sure why it hurt worse exactly. Angel was her love, her first love. Faith was just a friend. A good friend, and fellow Slayer. Someone who understood the sort of things she felt, and knew the rush of emotions that no one else did. Someone to remind Buffy how to have fun, how to kick ass. Someone who, at times, seemed so painfully unsure of herself, as if there was a crack through which a whole other world could be seen.

She wished she knew why it hurt more, why every night these days the thought of the fight with Faith on that roof made her want to curl into a ball and sob.

Vampire, 5 o-clock. Twist, whirl, stake.

That should be all of them for this evening. Now came the hard part. Now she had to leave the cemetery, put her stake back in her pocket, and go to the hospital. For, she swore to herself, the last time.

She couldn't keep doing this to herself. She was almost on the edge of a breakdown as it was, and going to see Faith every night was only increasing the anxiety. The others were amazed that she was doing it at all. Besides the doctor's insistence that it was unlikely Faith would ever wake up, they kept reminding her that Faith was a psychotic killer who had gone over to the enemy. Buffy knew that. Had, in fact, been repeating it like a mantra to herself. She'd gotten to the point now where she could almost believe it.

Just one more visit. And then Faith would be past history.

"I'm sorry, are you Buffy?"

9 o-clock, twist, whirl --

"Aaaigh! I'mnotavampirepleasebelieveme! Don't stake me, I'm human! Honest!"

She stopped herself and peered down at the twitching body kneeling at her feet. British accent, in fact he reminded her a lot of Wesley, only less impressive, if that was humanly possible. He was dressed in what may once have been a nice suit, but had certainly seen better days, The cuffs were tied together with string, and as he rose to his feet she noticed holes in his socks.

"Hi. Who are you?" she said curtly. Normally she'd be a lot more accessible, but this was not the best of days. Especially since he'd snuck up on her from out of nowhere.

"Um... hello. I, um, apologize for taking you unawares like that. My name is Percy, and I'm looking for a Buffy. I think you might be her. Are you the Slayer?"

She nodded, still suspicious. Nerdy plus English equaled Watcher to her, and she was excessively unhappy with the Watcher's Council at the moment. If he was here to get her to come back into the fold, she was going to have fun giving her answer.

He put his hands on his temples, trying to calm himself down. "I know that I must be looking pretty untrustworthy now, but I can't really help that. You see, I need to get *your* help. You and your friends. And in order to do that... well, ask me any question you like and I can try to answer it."

Buffy had her arms folded. "What was Wham's biggest single in the United States and what year was it released?"

"Aaahh... alright, music is probably not the best type of question."

"Who won the gold medal in men's skating in 1992?"

"You see, I was hoping for questions more along the lines of 'Why do you need a Slayer' and 'What sort of people are needing my help', that sort of thing.

"Uh huh. Name five movies starring Ally Sheedy."

"You aren't playing fair!"

"Why should I? Generally when mysterious English dudes arrive in my life, news I dislike follows." She glanced at her watch, and noticed the time. "Dammit, she's gonna be gone soon. Look, I have an appointment. I'll make you a deal. If you can keep up with me, and tell me exactly why you're here, I will actually listen to you before I say to go away. Sound fair?"

Percy seemed a little dazed by the conversation, but attempted to rally bravely. "What would, um, be the alternative?"

"Well, you'd try to explain yourself here and I'd run off, leaving you talking to several headstones. Might work for you, I understand they're terrific listeners." And with that, she ran off, not even noticing if he followed.

For a few seconds, Percy simply watched her go, a forlorn look on his face. Then he started and ran as fast as he could after her.

***

Nothing much had been exchanged on the way over to the hospital. Actually, Buffy was impressed that Percy was able to keep up with her at all. Must work out a bit under all that ragged clothing.

There was very little activity, but Buffy had done this before. She quickly slipped into a side room, where a young woman was putting a coffee cup away. She looked up when she saw Buffy.

"You're late. I was just about to go home."

Buffy looked apologetic. "Sorry about that, something came up. Besides... I think this might be my last visit."

The nurse raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you change your mind, to be honest."

Buffy tried to get that resolute look in her eyes. "It's for the best. I can't... Faith isn't just going to wake up, and I can't keep doing this every day hoping that she will. I have to let go."

Sighing, the nurse glanced over Buffy's shoulder. "Can I help you? Are you with Miss Summers?"

Buffy turned, Percy having almost been forgotten. She pondered saying he was a weird stranger who'd been following her just to get rid of him, but to be honest she was now at least a little bit interested in what he had to say. He really seemed to want to talk to her. Besides, he certainly wasn't going to get the better of her physically.

Before she could say anything, though, Percy spoke up. "Yes, I must apologize. I'm Faith's cousin, from England. We'd been corresponding over the last several years, and I was going to come over and surprise her with a visit." He looked down. "Unfortunately, when I tried to find her, Buffy told me about the accident. I... well, I was wondering if I could go with Buffy to pay my respects. It seems churlish of me not to see her now, even if... even if she's not able to see me."

Buffy impressed herself by managing to keep the stare of disbelief off her face as she gazed at Percy. The nurse's hard look softened. "Of course, Mr..."

"McInnerny."

"...Mr. McInnerny, I'll be happy to let you see your cousin. Just stay with Miss Summers at all times, these aren't visiting hours. I'm taking a risk letting her see Faith as it is."

Percy nodded, looking relieved. "Of course."

The nurse turned to Buffy. "You know where she is. And again, I wish you'd reconsider. She really has no one else visiting her besides you... and coma patients sometimes can be seem to react positively to outside stimuli-- "

"I'd rather not talk about it right now," Buffy said curtly. She was losing her inner battle, and began to suspect she'd just end up back here tomorrow night.

Saying no more, the nurse turned back to the microwave and prepared another cup of coffee. Buffy moved out into the hall again, towards an undistinguished side corridor.

Going almost all the way to the end of the hall, she turned in at the last door. She stopped momentarily in the doorway, the image of Faith lying there unconscious and broken still making her heart stop. *You did this to her,* she kept repeating in her mind. She'd gotten better at ignoring the voice, though, and simply sat at a chair next to the bed, picking up Faith's unresisting hand.

Percy followed Buffy inside and closed the door, standing at the entrance. He was still trying to figure out a way to broach the subject of what he needed Buffy to do. She'd probably react poorly if he brought it up now... but it was already late, and he needed to get the others as well. He looked at the young woman in the bed. It wasn't Willow Rosenberg or Cordelia Chase... he'd seen photographs of them. And definitely too old to be her mother.

In the end, Buffy was the first one to broach the topic. "That was some pretty fast storytelling you did out there, Cousin Percy."

He rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. "Yes, well, I didn't want to get thrown out... I worked fast."

Buffy nodded. "Keep working. I'll ask the questions you want now. Why are you here?"

Percy took a deep breath. "I'm from the future." She raised an eyebrow, but didn't react in any other fashion, so he continued on. "I know it seems unbelievable... I wanted to bring something back to try to prove my case, but everyone's so afraid of changing history that they barely let me take a biro. They dropped me off in the most likely place to run into you, the cemetery. I do have a signal to take me back, but it's made of parts that are easily available in this time. So the only way I *can* prove it is to take you with me... which can be a bit hard, seeing as you don't seem to trust me."

"Can't imagine why," Buffy interjected.

Percy shrugged. "Let me go on. You asked why we need a Slayer. Well, there are no more Slayers. We're not sure why, some sort of soul magic, or perhaps a curse of some sort. In any case, for the past three years the Earth has been without its protector. And the darkness is winning."

He was looking beyond her now, caught up in his own story. "Buffy, try to imagine a world where there are only about 700,000 humans left on the entire face of the Earth. In three *years*. It's taken that little time for the vampires to gain control. Thousands die or are turned every day. There's nowhere on any continent that's safe from them. A life of fear, running from the moment you're born until the moment you're caught."

Buffy was now staring at him, unconsciously tightening her grip on Faith's hand. "So we lost," she murmured. "It was all for nothing."

"I'm sorry, Buffy."

Buffy's forehead crinkled for a bit. "You say you can't find the Slayer... what if there hasn't been a new one because the old one's in some sort of coma? Like Faith here. I mean, she's still a Slayer, even if she's like this. Giles would have told us otherwise, and we'd probably be expecting someone new."

Percy shook his head. "I don't think so. Remember, our equipment is twenty-five years more advanced than yours. It's calibrated to..." He ran off as something Buffy had said penetrated his consciousness. "I'm sorry, did you say Faith is a Slayer?"

Buffy nodded. "And a good one. We were a great team. The chosen two..." She bit her lip to keep from travelling down that route.

"I'm a little confused, how was she even called. The reason it's called The Chosen One is that there is One Slayer. Two is just..." He sat back, his mind working over the prospect.

"I died. At least for a few minutes. And apparently that was enough to give the power to someone else. A girl named Kendra. But she was killed, and then her power passed to Faith. And now Faith's here... and we're guessing she's still a Slayer. Certainly no evidence to the contrary. Her -- her stomach wound is healing a lot faster than it really should considering. And - you are listening to me, right?"

Percy was staring at Faith, his mouth hanging open. "This is wonderful. Even better than I'd hoped. We can do it with just the two of you, involve fewer explanations. The power of two Slayers... that should be enough even to satisfy him."

"Um, hello? Remember me, the girl who you're trying to convince to help fight a hideously unwinnable battle?"

Percy snapped his head up. "It's not unwinnable. Not with what we have in mind. We're not asking you to go out there and stake several million vampires, after all."

"Well, what *are* you asking me to do? And why the hell should I even do it? I have my own responsibilities here, you know! Sure, the vamp situation is quiet after the whole Graduation scene, but if I leave I know it's just going to start flaring up again! I can't simply jump into the future just because you say bad things are happening. And even if I did, you could turn around and kill me."

"Why would I do that? I've told you how much we need you."

"Yes, and have you ever heard of this wondrous human trait called 'lying'?"

"I've been given very little to offer you here aside from my reassurances. Perhaps if you tried having a little..." He stopped and stared at the young woman still lying unresponsive on the bed. "...a little faith," he murmured. "Buffy, what if we took Faith with us and woke her up?"

Buffy stood up quickly. "What? You can do that?"

"Well, I'm fairly certain. Our medical facilities are second to none, after dealing with demon-related injuries, and the human brain is certainly mapped out more than it was in your time. I can't offer absolute guarantees, but it's in my interests too. Two of you would make our odds that much better."

Buffy's mind was awash with contradictory emotions. On the one hand, Faith was a borderline psychotic who had killed two men already and certainly tried to kill others. She tried to kill and seduce Angel, she tried to kill Buffy herself. She had spiraled down so deeply into the darkness that there might not be a way up. And if she woke up, and hurt more people, could Buffy live with the consequences?

Yes. Because she'd felt closer to Faith than anyone else in her entire life, even Angel, even her mother. And she knew that if she'd been there for the girl, if she'd taken the time to help her, that Faith would never have done what she did. She only did it because Buffy had rejected her, pushed her away. And now she was getting a chance to tell her that. And even if it turned out to be a lie, even if they couldn't wake Faith up and there were no future vampires and all... she'd have taken the chance.

She looked up. "How long will this take?"

Percy, startled that she seemed to be accepting, paced back and forth. "If you mean the journey to the future... well, if all goes well, we should be able to return you only a second after you left. No one here should notice a thing... well, except for Faith's sudden consciousness. Assuming all goes well, that is. As for your personal time sense, well, I'm not sure. It won't be months, but it may be weeks. Does that sound all right to you?"

Buffy nodded. "I'd rather not involve the others... it's too soon to have another big crisis. Cordelia just left, and everyone else is recovering... so just me. And Faith."

Percy nodded. "I may not have mentioned it, Buffy, but thank you for even considering this. Believe me when I say we wouldn't resort to this except under the direst of circumstances. We're dying. The world needs a Slayer once more."

Buffy glanced over at Faith, and felt her stomach lurch. Was this really a good idea? Did she even have the right to do it? And what's more, would Faith even allow her to explain and try to apologize if and when she woke? And why was Faith's forgiveness so important to her?

More unanswerable questions. Might as well just get on with it.

"Do we need to move her? How do you call up your future guys? Or is there a DeLorean round the back of the cemetery?"

"No, I should be able to call them to pick us up here. It's set to retrieve anyone in the same room as myself. And I'll make a note of the time, so that when all this is over, you and Faith can return here immediately after your departure and not disturb the nurse."

Buffy sighed and reached out to squeeze Faith's hand once more. Then she got up and stood next to the bed. She wanted to be able to fight and protect Faith if this turned out to be a huge trap. "Let's do it."

***

She was, to be honest, a little disappointed. It was just another room, with only the barest of furnishings and a machine at one end. Hardly the stuff of Star Wars. There wasn't a welcoming committee of thugs, like she'd half expected. In fact, there was only one other guy in the room, behind the machine. He blinked at the new arrivals, then spoke in a drawling Southern accent.

"A few short, are we?"

Percy seemed to be a lot twitchier here, more like he was when Buffy first met him. "It's alright, Joe. In fact, this is even better, we're in luck. I'll explain -- "

"Not to me, you get to explain to His Nibs. He's expecting you in the office. I was told to ferry Slayer and company to a suite."

"Yes, but as you can see, we need to pay a stop to Med Lab first." Percy turned to Buffy. "I'll drop you off with the doctors, then I have to report back. Provided all goes well with Faith's revival, we should be able to explain to both of you what's required and have you set off after she's healed."

It suddenly dawned on Buffy that he never *had* explained what he needed her to do, beyond not staking 8 million vampires. "Hang on a sec..." But he had already vanished through the doorway.

The other man chuckled. "Didn't explain much, did he? Percy's good that way. Don't worry, we're not here to eat your brains and make you do our taxes. What's wrong with your friend?"

Buffy was now feeling very out of her element, but reasoned that she had come here to see what could be done for Faith. "She's recovering from a stab wound, and a fall. She's a Slayer, so she should heal fast... but she's not waking up. That's why we're here."

"I thought you were the Slayer," the man asked, puzzled.

"She is too. It's a long story, just take my word for it that there are two of us."

The man blinked. "No wonder he said he could explain. Still, she's no good like that. C'mon, I'll take you to our hatchet boys and we'll see what we can do."

"Right." She got behind Faith's bed, all of which had been transported along with Percy and Buffy, and wheeled it out of the room.

***

Percy stood quietly by, having explained his reasonings to their leader. He was a tad taken aback by the lack of delight with which the leader had greeted the news, and was starting to wonder if there was something he didn't know.

"So let me see if I have this straight. We send you to bring back the Slayer and her auxiliaries, so that we may complete the spell that requires them in order to complete. You then decide to bring back only the Slayer, plus a rogue slayer who was the catalyst for the schism of the Slayers and the Watcher's Council. Because of that schism we've lost the Slayer and are forced to sit in this bunker and try to reverse our fortunes. And now you've brought her back here."

Percy's mouth hung open. "I--I knew none of this."

"That is because it was a secret. We do not reveal our secrets, and therefore they remain secrets. I didn't tell you because you shouldn't have had any need to come into contact with her. Get Summers, get the others, and go. What was so difficult?"

"Well for one, I had almost nothing to prove that I was who I said I was. Therefore the Slayer didn't feel particularly inclined to believe me. There had apparently been some sort of tragedy recently, probably involving the other Slayer, and she was very closed off, nothing like what you described her. So I basically tried to let her do what she liked while I thought of a way to bring up the subject. As it happens, she was on her way to visit Faith."

"Who you spontaneously decided to bring along."

"Look, from what I gather, this spell needs a Slayer's power to work. Two Slayers should make it that much more successful. Plus she was very wary of risking anyone more than herself. She only agreed to come because I promised some aid to Faith - who, by the way, is in a coma, and unlikely to influence Buffy one way or another at the moment. Why can't the spell be done with two Slayers?"

"It can, but spells require a certain amount of *belief*. The Slayer believes in magic when it suits her, but she doesn't fully trust it. That's why I asked you for the witch and her friends. We have evidence of them *doing* this spell, therefore..."

Percy was getting fed up. "It's good of you to tell me all of this now!" he shouted.

"There wasn't a need for you to know. The Slayer's activities, especially this Slayer, are top secret. The reason we sent you is because you're supposed to be discreet and subtle. We didn't send you in to change the plan and make decisions on your own."

Percy sighed. This was bad. "Can the spell still be done?"

"Yes... but it will take longer. The three other parts of the spell that the auxiliaries would have represented will have to be gathered. It can be done by the Slayer and the rogue, but not with great ease... unless they're experienced in dreamscapes."

"The subject never came up."

The leader rubbed his temples. "Well, we'll do what we can. Right now we should try to convince the Slayer that we need her help, and explain what needs to be done. We may even have to do it using only her, if the rogue can't be woken up. We can't risk going back again until it's done, you were almost noticed as it is."

"I'll go talk to her."

"Fine. I'll go pay a visit to our new addition."

Percy nodded and headed out the door. After it closed, the leader waited a few seconds while he listened to the man's footsteps receded down the hall.

Then he picked up a paperweight and threw it against the door, snarling.

***

Buffy was currently arguing with the doctor on call, an unpleasant old man who seemed to regard her as little more than an annoying insect.

"And I'm telling you, I'm not going to stand outside and let some quacks I barely know operate on my friend after having just arrived twenty-five years in the future! Try to see my logic here, it's not hard."

The doctor had spent the past five minutes trying to get rid of the girl, to no avail. He finally decided to hell with secrecy, and let her have it.

"Miss Summers, we are attempting to revive this woman after she's been placed in a coma by injuries inflicted by *you*. Not only do I not want to traumatize her by having her wake up to see the face of her attempted killer standing there, but I feel no real need to have you attempt to assuage your guilt by seeing her revived. Now, let me repeat myself for the sixth time. Get out."

Buffy had paled at the doctor's words, especially since he seemed to know all about what she had done. She found herself stumbling backwards out into the hall, and the door slammed shut in front of her face.

She stared at the floor, breathing heavily. Was that the only reason she wanted to be there? Not to save Faith, but to get rid of the guilt of her putting Faith there? Was that why she'd kept coming back to the hospital - not for friendship, or to make amends, but for closure?

"Ah, there you are. We have a lot to talk about."

It was Percy. Good, she could get her mind off things by killing him. She grabbed him and threw him up against the wall. "OK, Lord Percy Percy, tell me how the doctor seems to know my entire life history with Faith, including how I gave her those wounds?"

Percy was incredibly good at faking surprise, if he wasn't genuinely shocked. "You gave her those wounds? Wait a minute, I thought you two were both Slayers? How did that happen?"

"You tell me, everyone else here seems to read me like a book!" Buffy snarled.

"I can't think how... was the doctor who told you this grey-haired, face like a squeezed lemon, hates people in general?"

"That's him."

Percy frowned. "That's Dr. Lewis. He's second in command. And as I just found out, there seems to be a lot more to your life than I had previously been aware of. Something which apparently the higher-ups *do* know. Do you know that you're top-secret, Buffy?"

"My enthusiasm knows no bounds. OK, so everyone here knows my deepest, darkest secrets except you. Right?"

"Well, I would suggest that the more accurate description is that there are three or four people here who know more about you than the others, Dr. Lewis and our esteemed leader being two of them."

Buffy sighed. "Does he have a name?"

"I've never known it. Perhaps it's in the secret file with your exploits." Percy smiled. "Does it help that I'm as much in the dark as you are?"

"Not really, it just makes you less threatening. But I'll deal. So, you were going to tell me the real reason you brought Faith and I here, and you were going to do it before I beat you up."

"Um... alright. You're familiar with Wicca from your friend Willow, right?"

"...oh, *great*..." Buffy murmured.

***

Dr. Lewis looked up as the leader approached Faith's bed. "How is she?" he asked the doctor curtly.

Lewis shrugged. "Essentially exactly the same as they said. She's recovering nicely from the stab wound and the fall, but there's some brain trauma. She could wake up anytime, but could also stay like this till she dies. Of course, in the original timeline she woke about 8 months from now..."

"Mmm."

The doctor looked around, noting they were alone. "*Is* she going to die? If you know what I mean..."

"No, she isn't. Unfortunately, we need her for the moment. Percy, damn his eyes, is correct, she will help the spell. This doesn't, of course, mean she necessarily has to return after the spell is completed."

The doctor nodded. "How would you like her?"

"Awake, able to fight. No lethal surprises, Andre. Get her back to normal. However you see fit."

The doctor smiled. "Will do." He turned towards the bed, and stroked Faith's forehead. "It's odd, she really has no idea what she started. In the Slayer's eyes, the mess with the demon Mayor and that souled vampire was the worst thing she'd done. Nothing more."

The leader nodded. "Very few people realize," he said, turning to look at a painting on the wall. A painting of a sunny beach, happy beachgoers frolicking along the shores. "Very few know how she and Summers started our world on the course to eternal damnation."

She kept wanting to fall back into the darkness. Something deep inside her said that if she woke up, there would only be more pain, hatred, and loneliness. She knew she didn't want that. So she found herself retreating, back into the cool, welcome oblivion.

The only trouble was that when she tried to retreat she felt a far more immediate pain. Not an emotional grief or hurt. This was physical agony, ripping through her mind and body. She would find herself rising to consciousness, resist and try to drift back, and then end up wracked with pain. This couldn't go on.

So she ended up choosing to wake, rationalizing that once she found the cause of the physical pain and stopped it, she'd be able to go back and get some deep oblivion once more.

Now... who was she again?

Oh yes. Faith. Faith No-Last-Name, No-Fixed-Abode, No-Real-Future- Family-or-Friends Faith. Faith the Other, Less Important Vampire Slayer. That Faith.

No wonder oblivion seemed the safest bet.

"She's coming around, I believe." Faint voices, but definitely audible. She wouldn't be able to fake being out for much longer. She tried to gauge by sound where she was. Prison? Police station? Too quiet. Hospital, more likely, judging by the wound she'd got when she--

SHIT!!!

She shot up in her bed, sprang to her feet, overpowered the doctors and nurses, ran from the room, and set out finding a way outside so that she could get to the graduation before the Mayor brought about the Ascension.

Well, in theory at least. In reality she slowly opened her eyes and let out a mild croak.

"Ah, there we go. Good evening. Time to wake up." The voice was rather caustic, and Faith decided instantly that she didn't like it.

She battled with her throat to try and make a coherent sentence. "Whr... whr'm I?"

"Safe."

Yeah, that made a hell of a lot of sense. Wherever she was, she was sure that 'safe' wasn't one of the options. She tried to look menacing. Judging by the bemused look on the doctor's face, she wasn't succeeding.

Oh yeah, she could see now. Better take a look around. Typical hospital room, ugly pale green walls, painting on the wall, little else. One doctor, one nurse. Doctor old, unhappy looking. Nurse big, male. Lotsa muscles. Not getting by him, that's for sure.

Didn't look like Sunnydale's hospital, though. She'd been there before, after a nasty mission for the Mayor required some stitches on a wound that wasn't going away via Slayer healing. Maybe a prison hospital? Or at least someplace out of the way where they didn't have to deal with her.

It started to dawn on Faith, judging by how weak and out of it she was actually feeling, that she might have been unconscious for a little more than a few hours. In fact, it might have been days or weeks.

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

Faith squinted. "One. And fuck you, too."

The doctor chuckled again. "You'll do. Be in bed for a bit longer, and will have to get back in shape, but you should be decent for the mission in two weeks, especially since you're a Slayer... ah, that woke you up, I see."

Faith was desperately trying to get her body to obey her and run. But between the IVs and the fact that she was completely out of shape, she only succeeded in slipping to the side of the bed. She was incredibly angry with herself... she'd never been this sluggish after an injury, ever since she'd come into her powers. She didn't like being weak, it reminded her too much of her childhood. The nurse grabbed her one- handed and hoisted her back into the bed.

"Nice try," the doctor said. "Yes, we know who you are, but that's hardly surprising. Someone will be here shortly to clue you in. For the moment, just be reassured that we need you alive and healthy, so alive and healthy you shall me. Mick, keep an eye on her." The doctor made as if to leave the room.

"Dr. Lewis, what if the other girl wants to see her?"

The doctor sighed and ran fingers through his diminishing hair. "Then let her. I was only able to get her to leave by striking at hidden fears - something you are entirely incapable of doing. Just make sure they don't attack each other, and it should be all right. They've got to work together sometime." And with that, he departed, leaving Faith lying in bed staring at the nurse, who appeared to be wrinkling his brow trying to decide if he'd been insulted or not.

*Oh, this couldn't get any better,* Faith thought sarcastically. Then she went back over the conversation. 'Other girl', the nurse had said. Had to be Buffy. No one else would have bothered bringing her to any hospital. In fact, Faith was amazed that Buffy had bothered. In that final moment, when Buffy had confronted her on the rooftop, Faith had finally seen it in her eyes. Buffy was playing by her rules, and was going to get her blood. Was going to kill her.

Faith had achieved her goal. She'd tainted Buffy. Brought her down to Faith's own, sordid level. And she hated herself for it.

OK, hated herself more.

"She's really not ready to receive visitors. She *just* woke up."

"Don't care." Faith warmed at the voice, despite herself. Something about Buffy that always made her feel all fuzzy inside. Not that she'd ever dare admit it.

She steeled herself and looked over. Boy, Buffy looked like she felt. There was a fatigue in the blonde Slayer's eyes that bothered Faith, and her face was set in a frown. All that changed, though, when she turned to look at Faith. All at once her face softened, and tiny tears appeared at the corner of each eye. And she was Buffy again. The Buffy Faith envied more than anything. The one everyone had to be friends with.

Faith tried not to let her own eyes water, and merely smiled. Despite everything, despite all the feelings that were rising to the surface, she couldn't turn her back on Buffy. Couldn't afford to. It might get a knife in it.

"Hey, B." Her voice was sounding better, though it was still a croak. She'd kill for a glass of water, but no one had offered her one. She was also beginning to realize that the fuzziness in her head and body might not have anything to do with Buffy. What had they given her to wake her up, anyway? Horse tranqs?

"Hey," Buffy said. After a while, she looked away, towards the picture on the wall. "Thanks for the assist, by the way."

"Huh?"

"The dream," Buffy said, still sounding noncommittal.

"Oh," Faith said. She did vaguely remember a dream, giving Buffy advice, that sort of thing. "That. I thought that was a dream."

Buffy turned and looked at Faith again, a quirk in her mouth. "It *was* a dream."

Faith tried to smile as well, but her mouth simply refused to move like that. Ah well. "Yeah, you know what I mean. A dream, not a Slayer dream. I mean, you've been in my dreams before without them meaning anything significant..." She decided to cut herself off there before she stuck her foot any further into her mouth than it already was.

Buffy snorted. "Good to know," she said. What the hell did she mean by that, Faith wondered. Buffy continued speaking. "Anyway, we did it. The school blew up, and there were... there were some people killed, but hey, better that than the Ascension, huh?"

Faith's head was feeling worse now, as if a hurricane-force wind was rushing by her, making hearing impossible. "Yeah..." she murmured. No Ascension. And therefore, no Mayor. Richard Wilkins was dead.

Wasn't that what she wanted? She remembered the dream. She helped Buffy. Helped her to stop him, to save the world. She wanted this.

And yet there were tears coming to her eyes, and she felt herself starting to sob. Dammit, he was dead. Dammit, dammit. Why did he do that? Why did he have to be evil? Why did he have to die? And why did he have to care about her so fucking much?

She was turning her head to the side now, away from Buffy. Crying into her pillow. She couldn't deal with Buffy like this, not now. She wasn't in control now. She'd just end up trying to attack Buffy, and in her condition, that'd get her ass kicked.

Suddenly she found herself violently whipped around, her head snapping around to look at Buffy. And Buffy was angry. Her eyes showed a betrayal and fury Faith hadn't seen since their confrontation. Bitch Buffy was back.

"You're crying for him! I can't believe it! After all this time, you're still on his side?" Disbelief colored her voice.

Suddenly Faith felt cold. The fuzzy warmth that she'd felt when Buffy had entered the room vanished, to be replaced by a icy cold fist around her heart. She stopped crying, stopped showing any emotion at all. Buffy's hand on her arm now felt like just another lump of meat.

"Get away from me," she hissed, dry throat making her voice almost serpentine. "Get the fuck away."

Buffy backed away, disturbed for a moment. Then the anger returned. "Damn straight. I can't believe this at all. I thought you'd changed. Thought you'd come around. But no, you still would rather be with him than me. Well that's just fine. I'll leave you here to reflect on his wonderful pure memory." And she practically ran out of the room, slamming the door.

Faith sat there, her face still a block of stone, tears drying on her cheeks. She saw a glass of water being placed at her side, and heard the door open and shut once more, but didn't pay attention. All she was thinking about was an evil demon who manipulated people and wanted to destroy the universe for his own power trip...

And who had been the only person who'd ever loved her.

Not even Buffy could say that. Especially not Buffy.

She was feeling dizzier now. Too much information, too fast. After a few minutes, she settled back into a fitful sleep.

***

The leader looked up. "Awake?"

"Yes," Dr. Lewis replied.

"How is she?"

"Recovering nicely, now that she's awake. Getting her awake was a bit of a wrench, but we did it with surprisingly little damage. She's weak now from the drugs that we're giving her, and they'll be even more effective now that she's conscious. Clever idea, by the way. By tomorrow she'll be so mellow she'd barely notice if a bomb went off."

"Don't underestimate her too much. Slayers are very resilient. Physically and mentally. They have to be, otherwise they'd never survive." The leader was surprisingly mellow himself today, Lewis noted.

"In any case, I estimate that it should only take a week for her to be able to fulfill the mission..."

"Good."

The doctor continued. "...PROVIDED that she train with the other Slayer. If they won't work together, this is totally pointless. And considering they just had a screaming fight a few minutes ago, things aren't looking very good on that end."

The leader shrugged. "It won't last. They're too connected, and Summers feels too much. Unless Faith kills her mother or something, she'll forgive her anything."

The doctor looked dubious, but didn't say anything. "In any case, the stomach wound is healing even faster now that she's fully conscious. Ready for light training in two days. Shouldn't be too difficult considering we simply need them to lie on a slab and sleep."

"You misunderstand the power of the spell. They have to be at their strongest merely to survive. Physical power adds to the spiritual self, as does mental and emotional. That's why we were very careful with the drugs you're giving her. It doesn't make her physically weak, and won't affect her once she's dreaming. Four parts to the spell, all equalizing."

"Yes, thank you."

The leader looked up. "You still don't believe this at all, do you?"

Lewis shrugged. "No. But you knew that, that's why you told me. You don't want another spiritualistic sycophant."

The leader smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. "True, true. In any case, Percy's with Buffy. I'm sure he'll give her some wonderful advice, he's good that way."

Dr. Lewis grinned despite himself. "Yes, Percy always says the right thing."

***

Buffy ran down the corridor until she hit the first empty room she could find, and slid down the wall, cradling her head in her hands. She knew that she'd get all emotional when she saw Faith again. She just didn't realize how those emotions would play out.

She stared into space for an indeterminate amount of time, seeing only the cold, stony face of Faith shutting her out. Again. She'd seen it before, but it never stopped hurting. Especially when it was Buffy's actions that caused it.

"Ah, here you are. Checking out the decor?"

Buffy turned, seeing Percy standing in the doorway looking his usual vaguely embarrassed self. She got up, eyes fiery. She needed an outlet for her repressed anger and frustration at the moment, and he'd do.

"So, here to feed me more lines about how much you need me and how Faith and I are the saviors of the world?"

Percy rubbed the back of his neck. "They aren't lines, Buffy. We do need you. Both of you. I thought we went over this, why are you so upset?"

Buffy shrugged, leaning back up against the door. "I saw Faith. She's still the same. I don't know why I ever thought we could work together again. She's still upset that her Sugar Daddy blew up on her. There's no way she can be trusted to help you."

"Who was this Mayor exactly? Remember I'm not working with the best of information here. They've allowed me to see certain documents now, but they're vague at best. I need you to trust me at least a little."

Buffy debated the dangers of telling him, but decided that it was all past history... *really* past history in his case... and maybe it'd convince him to make his cronies come up with a better plan.

So she talked. She started before the Mayor, going back to when Faith first showed up. Told him about Kakistos, and Allan, and Wesley. He winced a little when she mentioned Wesley, enforcing her suspicion that these future dudes were connected to the Watchers somehow. How she met the Mayor, and was drawn into his inner circle. She mentioned her attempted seduction of Angel, and finding out she'd killed Lester. Finally, taking long pauses, she told of their final encounter on the rooftop, cutting Faith with her own knife to get a Slayer's blood, and Faith denying her that by jumping off the roof. And the dream, where Faith had told her how to kill the Mayor, and Buffy had taken her advice to heart.

The entire tale seemed to exhaust her, and after it was done she lay, back, looking up at the stone ceiling. It was then that she looked around, taking in the room she'd ended up in. It looked pretty much like your typical medieval dungeon, complete with manacles on the wall, and the only oddity was a large stone slab in the center. She shuddered inwardly, feeling bad vibes coming from all around her. Slayer sense tingling again, she mused.

Percy had steepled his hands together, and seemed to be doing some heavy English guy thinking. After a while, he spoke.

"You say Faith allied with the Mayor shortly after her new Watcher arrived in Sunnydale. Why? It doesn't make any sense. She's a Slayer, even without a Watcher she shouldn't be that predisposed to follow someone so obviously evil."

Buffy flushed a bit. "She's never really had a good life to get those sorts of moral codes from. She really doesn't talk about it, but I think she may have been abused..." Buffy's voice got quieter. "Her first Watcher was probably her first real friend, and then she was killed right in front of Faith. When she met me, things started going great again... but then she killed Allan, and she wouldn't take our help when we tried to give it to her. And there was the Mayor, saying all the right things."

"I think you're answering your own question, Buffy," Percy said quietly.

Buffy nodded, rubbing her eyes. "She went to the Mayor cause he said she was great. Cause he said all the right things. Told her she was valuable. And all we were saying was she had to admit she's committed a murder."

"I'm wondering what types of things your Watcher was telling you. I... um... well, I have access to certain Watcher records, and it is a certain fact of life that mistakes do happen. Especially with someone like Faith, who was only partially trained. There have been fully trained Slayers with years experience who sometimes, in the heat of battle, have killed innocents. It's never something to be taken lightly... but it's also not a heinous sin. After all, you're essentially vampire assassins."

Buffy wasn't getting any better listening to Percy wibble on about stuff she'd already told herself. "I know. And don't start going on about how the Mayor seemed to show genuine caring for Faith, and we never did, and he was a loner, and she was too, and I had all my friends that didn't like her, cause I know that too. I *know*, OK?"

"In that case, why are you so surprised that Faith is showing grief that the closest person she had to family is dead?"

Buffy blinked. "Because I'm a shallow, insensitive idiot."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far. I'm genuinely curious, Buffy. Why does Faith's emotion for the Mayor bother you so much? He's dead, so she doesn't have much to return to. Further, I would think that her showing genuine concern for someone is a bit of a breakthrough."

"It wasn't me," Buffy muttered.

"Hm?"

"It wasn't me, OK? I wanted to be the one to be there for her! I wanted to be the one to break through her shell, to get her to care, to grieve! And it was *him*! Not me! So I'm mad at her, because she didn't come to me when she could have! I tried, I tried so hard to let her in..." Buffy was crying now. Been doing that a lot lately, she though.

Percy looked puzzled. "But you've just been saying you were pushing her away..."

"Percy?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up." Buffy got up. She walked over to the slab. "If I go back in there now and try to apologize, she won't listen."

Percy had to agree with that, from what he'd heard about Faith. "Very likely."

"So probably the best thing to do is to start training with her, wait it out while she releases all sorts of nasty violence on me, and gradually try to rebuild some sort of friendship with her."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Then we'll both get together, reconcile our differences, and shoot you."

Percy blinked. "I'm sorry?"

Buffy grabbed Percy and, one-handed, sat him on top on the slab. "'I have access to certain Watcher records'? Right. I suspected we were helping the Council from the moment you fell to the ground begging me not to kill you, and you've done nothing to make me feel anything else. Why so wary about revealing it? Because Giles and I abandoned the Council for being cruel, amoral and callous? Because if Faith finds out she'll go around here ripping out people's hearts till she's satisfied? Or simply because you like to keep everything a secret from me in the hopes that what I don't know won't hurt me?"

Percy was sweating, trying to subtly remove himself from Buffy's grip. "You're being incredibly perceptive today. It's a wonder you need me here at all."

"Questions. I ask, you answer."

"Fair enough."

Buffy smiled. "What are you trying to accomplish?"

"Well, in broad terms, you're going to be gathering the ingredients for a spell that will call upon the power of the very first Slayer. We hope to be able to harness that to give the power to a suitable candidate, in order to have a Slayer once more." Percy spoke very quickly and succinctly. He had no desire to break anything, and Buffy looked to be at the end of her rope thanks to the other girl waking up.

"Fine. How do we gather these ingredients?"

Percy sighed. "This is perhaps where I made my initial mistake, although I didn't know it at the time. The ingredients were supposed to come with you, each of them representing one of the core. You as the physical side of the Slayer, Miss Rosenberg as the spiritual side, Mister Harris as the 'heart' of the group, so to speak, and Mister Giles as the mind. They would cast the spell, it would be drawn into you, and you in turn would pass it on to the chosen candidate."

"Right. Hey, what about Oz?"

"Oz? I've no idea, I was only asked to get the other three. We were going by old records of the three of them having cast the spell before. There wasn't an 'Oz' in the equation."

That fact worried Buffy slightly, but she dropped it and moved on. "So, now that the Scoobs *aren't* going to be with us, how do we do this spell? I'm not Wicca girl, that's what Willow's for."

Percy nodded. "After getting my arse handed back to me by the leader, we realized that while you and Faith don't have much in terms of spellcasting ability, you are both excellent in another, equally useful aspect."

Buffy had let go of Percy by now, and was pacing back and forth. "We're going to kick the spell's butt?"

"Not quite... Buffy, you were saying so earlier. How did you say that Faith helped you to find the weakness that destroyed the Mayor."

"Hm? She was in my dream... ooooooh." Buffy blinked a few times. "We do seem to do that a bit."

"Precisely. I've been doing some research into the possibility of, if there *were* two Slayers, the sort of psychic connection they would have."

"And what have you come up with?"

"Nothing at all. I was hoping the two of you could help." Percy rubbed the back of his neck, a habit Buffy had noticed him doing when he was uncomfortable. Good, she liked seeing him squirm.

"So what's the plan? We dream up the spell?"

"Essentially. We're going to have several spellcasters bathe this room you're in now in a kind of sympathetic magic-dream state. It should enable the two of you to control your dreams to a certain extent, and point you towards finding the right magical links within you. Then, once you've awakened, the two of you should be able to cast the spell yourselves, assuming, of course, that the dreams have also taken away the 'magic is bad' attitude you have."

Buffy scowled. "Not bad, just can't be trusted. I've seen too many spells go wrong. Remind me to introduce you to Amy the rat sometime."

"Um... all right. In any case, this would enable us to get the Slayer back. And perhaps then we can go about saving our world." Percy was pensive for a moment, then continued. "After we've confirmed that our candidate has Slayer powers, we'd send you and Faith back, right about ten seconds after you left."

"And what if it goes wrong, and you don't get any powers?" Buffy said with a trace of suspicion.

"Well, then we'd most likely see if we could figure out why it didn't work, and if we couldn't... well, we'd bring you back to your time and then try to come up with another plan."

Buffy was silent for a few moments, then nodded. "OK, good enough. Tomorrow I'll tell Faith what you told me, only maybe not the Watcher part, and see if she'll even speak to me again. Or try to kill me. Or lots of other things that could happen. You guys got a gym of some sort?"

Percy brightened. "We have an excellent training ground. In fact, it's one of the few holdovers from the time we did have a Slayer. It's one floor above us, I'll show you tomorrow."

Buffy shook her head. "I'll find it myself. English plus tweed will set off certain alarm bells in Faith, just like me. Stay away and this will probably work out. No offense," she added, grinning suddenly.

"Um... I suppose." Despite her grin, Percy couldn't help but feel a little affronted.

***

Faith looked up. Buffy again. Faith felt a little more ready for her this time. Actually, Faith felt a lot more mellowed out in general. And at least Buffy was looking a little bit ashamed.

Buffy walked over to the picture, running her hands along its frame. "So, um... OK, we're twenty-five years in the future, trying to stop the world from ending by sleeping for a week, casting a spell, and then giving its powers to a new Slayer so she can go out and kick butt." She looked at Faith and mustered a weak grin. "Wanna start?"

Faith blinked while she took this all in. She really shouldn't have been surprised. Hardly any different than helping a giant demon snake rise up and take over the world, when you got down to it.

"Sure, B. Let's do it." Faith gingerly got out of bed - she was feeling a lot stronger physically today for some reason - and made her way to the door.

She turned back to see Buffy still over on the other side of the room, with that 'I want to go over and hug her but I know she'll deck me so I'm just standing here looking stupid' face. She knew Buffy desperately wanted to get all touchy-feely with her, and was relieved she was fighting it. Faith wasn't ready to deal with yesterday yet.

She had to say something though. "Um... how you feeling?"

Faith grinned. "You know me, B. Five by five."

***

Buffy continued to be amazed at Slayer healing. After only five days, Faith looked just as healthy and strong as she'd been when Buffy had first met her. Well, OK, physically back to normal. Emotionally, things between them were almost back to square one. Faith had been oddly detached all week - she'd respond, but it was as if her mind had to creep back from somewhere else. Buffy had been walking on eggshells around her all week, only speaking for the barest of questions and training chatter. Sure, they fought, and Faith certainly didn't seem to be holding back when it came to beating the shit out of Buffy. But any mention of their past was like some forbidden wall. Don't mention the Mayor, don't mention Allan, don't mention Angel. And with no vampires around to slay, that left little they *could* talk about. She was also still a bit suspicious of this whole setup, despite Percy's assurances. The whole 'people from the future need you to get dangerous spell and then we'll send you back' reeked of complete and total bullshit, to be honest. It was one of the few things Faith had brought up, one day while they were training.

"Whole thing stinks on ice, Faith," Buffy had replied. "But it's not like we're gonna wake up and give them the spell all meek-like. Once we've got it - if they're even telling the truth about that - we can get some more info. There's a lot of stuff that we're not being told that I want to find out about."

"Such as everything?" Faith had replied.

"Right," Buffy grinned. And that seemed to be it, as they got back to practicing and didn't say much else for the rest of the day.

Finally they were gathered around the slab, getting one last explanation from the Joe that Buffy had met upon arrival. Presumably, not being British, he was deemed an acceptable liaison. "We've magicked this room to hell and back, and hope that might make things easier. To be honest, no one really knows how your dreams are gonna play out - we don't have much evidence of two Slayers dreaming to go on. Let's just hope you two can make sense of what the dreams tell you, and that it's not just a bunch of random images."

Buffy frowned and decided to raise a few objections. "Say, um, don't take this the wrong way, but when we're lying here all helpless on the big stone block, do we have any guarantee that you won't try and kill us or steal our souls or any other such? Sounds odd, I know, but we get that a lot."

Joe didn't seem to be fazed by the question. "Well, before we had it redone in neo-Gothic dungeon, this place used to be an X-ray room. That make you feel better?"

"It would if you went on to explain what that means, rather than pause and expect us to know so you can make yourself look clever," Buffy said.

"It means you can only open the door from the inside. So, once it's closed, we aren't getting in until you open it and say you have or don't have the spell. Or, if you don't come out in, say, a week or two, we can blow open the door and give you a decent burial."

"I can see why you weren't the one sent into the past to get me," Buffy muttered.

Faith spoke up. She was standing on top of the slab, raising her arms in a crucifixion pose. "Ah well. Who knows, maybe these dreams will end up being like a big ol' Playstation game. Find the objects, defeat minions, and rack up the points. Let's do it, I'm sick of hanging around."

Buffy sighed. "OK, fine. We'll go sleepy and get these things for you. But when we wake up, I wanna have a chat with you guys and make sure we're doing the right thing. You're asking us to give you a lot of power, and sorry, but we're not going to do it based on your looks and charm."

Joe shrugged. "Fair enough. Good luck, we'll chat when you get back." And with that he went outside, Buffy following him and closing the heavy steel door.

"That went far better than it should have," she muttered. She turned and saw Faith lying across the slab, hair dropping over her face. "C'mon, Buffy, come to bed," she said saucily.

Buffy flushed slightly. She'd forgotten how good Faith was at taking any situation and turning into something sizzling with unresolved sexual tension. She'd also forgotten how it made her feel. Suddenly crawling onto that slab to sleep next to Faith was making her feel far more awkward than it should.

Nevertheless, Buffy hopped up there, laying down next to the other Slayer. For a moment the two of them simply stared at each other, then Faith grinned.

"You know how it is... need to go to sleep, but you're too tense."

Buffy grinned. "Yeah, got too much on my mind." Her face turned serious. "I missed this, Faith. I missed you. I can't even begin to say how much I -- "

Faith had put her hand over Buffy's mouth. "B, and I say this sincerely, not now. We gotta wait, or things'll get messy. Just... let's do this, OK? I understand what you mean, no need to get all Ricki Lake on me."

Buffy sighed. "Fine. Sleepies, then."

"Yup. See you on the flip side." And with that Buffy turned over and closed her eyes. It ended up taking her a long time to get to sleep.

***

Percy got into the elevator, sighing. It had taken him nearly a week to convince the leader to let him do this. Not being able to help Buffy had made him very restless, so he'd been doing more research into the topic of how to get the spell to do what they wanted and give powers to the chosen Slayer. The Council's library was excellent, but still only partially complete. He needed more information.

So he'd asked to go outside, for a short journey. Dangerous, to be sure, but necessary. They couldn't afford to risk messing this up, for fear of creating more problems like what had happened with Buffy and Faith twenty-five years ago.

He knew exactly where to go, it was simply a matter of staying out of sight, keeping cautious, and not getting caught. The elevator doors open and he crept out, looking around the deserted lobby before taking his first steps outside in six months.

Percy smiled, then headed across the street into the hustle and bustle of the city, heading for the local library. He smiled at the people passing by, and looked up at the bright sun. It was even looking to be a lovely day.

Faith woke with a start, immediately springing to her feet, ready to attack. She felt... amazing. The fuzziness that had plagued her mind for the past week was gone now, and the clarity that was left was like a cold shower.

She took in her surroundings, realising them to be downtown Sunnydale, somewhere down near The Bronze. No one seemed to be around, which was surprising considering that the sun was just settling over the horizon into dusk. She dropped the fighting posture a bit, trying to remember the last thing...

Oh, right.

The fighting posture came back up again, as she realised the reason for the deserted area. This wasn't real. They were on some stone slab in real life, and this must be her mind's way of making this whole journey for spells gobbledegook into something she could deal with better.

*Why am I thinking of all this now,* she mused, before a chilling thought hit her. Drugs. They must have drugged her, which is why she went along with everything this past week like some sort of trained poodle. Her hands clenched into fists. She looked around, searching for the other person she knew would be here.

"BUF-" she shouted in a furious rage, then caught herself. She remembered Buffy's confused looks the past week, as well as constant questions as to whether she was all right. And while the blonde could be a good actress when it suited her, Faith doubted she'd be able to pull it off to that extent. No, Buffy hadn't been aware of what they'd done to Faith. Good. It meant they didn't have to get into another shouting match - at least not yet. Not all was forgiven between them by a long shot.

It also made her more anxious to find her Slayer companion, who was beginning to be conspicuous by her absence. "Buffy?!" she called, still loud but with less anger behind it. She continued to hold the fighting pose, unsure if she could be hurt in a dream but unwilling to take the risk.

A crash from behind her made her spin, then she relaxed as she saw it was just some random Sunnydale teen. "What are you doing here?" Faith asked.

The teen grinned, turning towards Faith, and immediately a game face appeared. Faith cursed her inability to recognise the signs and reached for a stake. The girl snarled and headed towards Faith, trying to duck low and come up from under to catch her off guard. Faith wasn't a Slayer for nothing, though, and side-stepped the attack, then planted the stake deep into the vamp's chest.

And blinked heavily when the vamp didn't crumble to dust, but instead gasped and fell to the ground, bleeding heavily from the stake still buried in her breast.

In fact, it didn't seem to be a vamp at all anymore.

The girl reached up, trying to find the strength to remove the stake from her heart. But she fell back after a few seconds, her breathing coming to a stop.

Faith stared at her, stunned.

What the hell was going on here? That girl had been a vampire. Faith had seen it... game face, attack, everything. She examined the body closely... shit, it was a girl. She was completely normal, except for the fact that Faith had just buried a stake in her heart and killed her. Faith sprang to her feet, her face ashen. This wasn't supposed to happen... she wasn't going to do this again. She wasn't like this. It was an accident, just like Allan.

"Faith, this can't go on. It's got to stop."

She nearly jumped out of her skin, turning towards the door of the Bronze where the voice had originated. Then she saw his face... and realised that the sun had finally set.

"Angel," she snarled.

***

Buffy's eyes snapped open, and she took a moment to try and take in her surroundings.

She was staring at a school locker... or rather the shell of one. It stood askew, door ripped off its hinges. As she rose to her feet she took in the rest of the sight. The hallway looked like a bomb had hit it. Which wasn't too far from what had actually happened.

Buffy shuddered, moving quickly through the ruins. She never wanted to come back here, the whole thing had too many memories for her. Bad ones.

She shook her head, trying to remember what she was doing here. She was trying to find... something. And wasn't someone else supposed to be here with her?

"Buffy?"

She turned, recognising the voice. "Willow? Where are you?" The young redhead was nowhere to be seen.

"Buffy, what are you doing out in the open? He's going to see you!"

"What?" Buffy fell into a crouch, now ready for any danger that might be lurking around. "Who?"

"Buffy! Get back under---aaaaah!!" The last was a scream, one that ended in a quick gurgle.

"WILLOW!" The blonde took off, running randomly through the school, trying to figure out where the voice had been coming from. There were no further voices, and in fact the entire school had been plunged into an eerie quiet. The setting sun bled through the walls where the cracks were deepest, giving the entire thing a nightmarish air.

Finally, Buffy burst out from the school... only to find Willow lying there on the ground. Her throat had been torn out, and her face was white.

Buffy fell to the ground by her body. "NO!!!" she screamed. Tears streamed down her face, as she clutched Willow's shoulders.

"Aw, isn't this a touching scene?" The voice came from across the street, sounding amused and sadistic. Buffy's head snapped up.

"I'm back, luv. Miss me?"

The name escaped her lips like a curse.

"Spike."

***

Percy quietly made his way along the corridor, towards the books he was looking for. He really didn't need to sneak. This was a public library... well, the sections above him were public. And he had always got on well with the staff and had permission to be down here. But every time he came up to Sunnydale proper, he always got the feeling that he was going to be jumped by someone. Being a Watcher had always involved a certain amount of paranoia, and these days that was almost a prerequisite.

Still, he wasn't planning on staying long. He couldn't, he'd only been given a certain amount of time. It wasn't as if the Council could go up for a burger and fries whenever they wanted to. Percy's talents and the library's completeness were the only reason he was here at all.

He wanted to do a little more research about the spell they were having Buffy and Faith "collect". Every time it was discussed, it seemed straightforward, but Percy couldn't help but feel that there were too many ways it could go wrong, starting with the fact that the ingredients were controlled by two other Slayers. Still, if they managed to pull it off, things would be better. And not only for the Council.

The light was getting dimmer down here. He wasn't quite sure why they kept the books in such a dark, musty area. Perhaps their magic was heightened by the atmosphere, who knows. He scanned the shelves, looking for a particular tome he'd browsed before many times...

And found it being held by a young teenage girl, with long dark hair and a pale complexion, who seemed to be studying it with intense concentration.

At least until he came closer. Then he saw what he'd taken as deep thought would be better described as deep confusion.

"What the hell is this?" she murmured to herself, though Percy was close enough now that he could hear. He coughed, not wishing to startle the young woman.

He startled her anyway. "Yeep!" she squeaked, jumping in the air and almost losing hold of the book. "Sorry, sorry... didn't know anyone else was down here." She smiled in a shy way and rubbed the back of her neck.

Percy felt his natural-born need to be more apologetic than anyone else rise up once more. "No, no, entirely my fault. I shouldn't have moved up so quietly... I didn't think anyone else would be here."

She smiled wryly and put the book back on the shelf. "I know, nobody ever goes down here. I got in trouble, and they decided the best way to punish me was to make me shelves the old tomes. But I think I ended up getting lost... is this the Wicca section?"

Percy smiled. "It's three aisles over. And what on Earth did you do that they sent you down here?"

She grinned. "Well, I got in an argument with my geometry teacher... um, so I kinda burned the textbook. It was cool, you should have seen the look on his face."

She stopped grinning when Percy's smile began to switch to appalled horror. "Aheh... why don't I just be going now. Over there. Better get down to that sorting, yup. Bye..." And then she took off like a shot down the aisle, heading down the corridor Percy had directed her to.

Percy blinked for a few moments, trying to regain his composure. "That was odd," he finally said aloud. He reached for the book, verified it was indeed the one he needed, and set down to search for what he was looking for.

***

Faith stood up, keeping her eyes on the one man she probably hated more than anyone else in the world. Not that he was a man. An undead. A vampire. And the love of Buffy's life.

"And who are you to be telling me anything, dead man?"

He didn't respond for a few seconds, just stood there staring at her with those puppy dog eyes. It amazed her that the man was a vampire. He should have been some sort of poetic Irish wasting away hunk myth. Cursed forever to be Tori Amos' soundman, or something.

"Faith, look at yourself. You're falling fast. And this time, there won't be a truck to keep you alive. Your soul will be dead."

He gazed down at the corpse of the young woman, still frozen in an expression of fear. Faith turned away. She needed to think, she couldn't concentrate on things like that.

Not that she had much time to worry about it. Another vamp appeared before her, grinning and moving lightly back and forth. Another girl, with dark hair, she looked vaguely familiar, but Faith couldn't place her.

Faith waited a second or two, taking in the features. Star-trek bumps on head. Fangs. Pasty skin. Vampire. Not a costume, a vampire. Not Faith seeing things. Good to attack.

Faith kicked out, sending the vamp flying over back towards the Bronze. Angel was behind her, saying something, but Faith had shut him out. There wasn't time for that, she was slaying. This was what she was good for.

The vamp got up, and slugged her in the face. Faith shot back with her own right cross, sending the creature flying backwards. Faith then leaped, landing atop the vamp and bringing out her stake.

One last check. Vamp. Faith brought the stake down with a grin.

Into a chest that now was suddenly bleeding red. Bleeding from a body that Faith now recognised as a very dead Cordelia Chase.

Faith almost fell over. "No," she said. "This can't be happening. I checked."

Angel was behind her again. "And you trust yourself now? Can you honestly say that? Can you expect Buffy to? Who is that, Faith?"

"Angel, shut up!" Faith was trying to get to her feet, but Angel's hands were on her now, keeping her down on top of the body.

"Who is that?" he said, more sharply.

"It's Buffy's friend, OK? Cordelia! Only she was a vampire!"

"No, Faith."

"Yes! I didn't attack randomly! I checked! Twice!"

"And what does that say about your senses, Faith? Can you exist as a Slayer if you continue to kill the innocent? Or does that make you a simple murderer? The way you murdered Allan, and Professor Worth? How can you say that you can even make those choices again?"

Faith turned back to tell him to go away, then her eyes widened. "Behind you!" she yelled, then sprang out of his grip to punch back the vampire who had appeared there.

That same vampire then picked her up and threw her into the side of the building. "Aaah!" she briefly cried, before cutting it off. *OK, now we're getting personal. I need to stop thinking.*

She then dove towards the vampire, stake in hand.

"Faith!" Angel shouted. She ignored him.

***

Buffy sat by Willow's body, trying to take in everything that had happened. Unfortunately, Spike didn't want to let her. He moved over to her, taking advantage of her grief, and backhanded her away from Willow's body. He put a foot down on her cooling remains, wiping the blood onto his boots.

"I don't think I like the kind of greeting I'm getting here. After all, I've been gone for so long. And now I'm back, and all you do is stare at me? No, no, that won't do."

Buffy's shock was starting to give way to rage. She got to her feet, but Spike was suddenly gone. Not as in moved too fast for her to catch, but as in disappeared. Then she heard his voice again. It echoed all around, not remaining in one place for too long.

"Guess I'd better keep going. Apparently Red wasn't enough. You obviously want more parting gifts from me."

Buffy spun, trying not to panic. Willow was dead. Where would he go next?

"Are you sure you're ready to deal with me... Slayer?"

Buffy bolted, her mind on where Spike would strike next. She hated to abandon her friend, but Willow was dead, and Buffy could still save the others. She had to.

She found herself running towards Xander's house, but then turned and went towards Giles'. The distances didn't seem to matter, she was moving so fast that she covered the miles into only a moment or two.

Bursting through the door, she tried to get her breath back. "Giles!" she shouted, moving from the living room into the kitchen. And found Giles, sitting at the table.

His throat had been slashed open, in the same manner as Willow's. His neck was almost torn in half. Blood poured from the wound like a fountain. And Spike sat next to Giles, smiling cheerily at Buffy and drinking from a teacup.

"Sorry, luv," he said. "Just felt like a spot of English Breakfast."

There was no hesitation in Buffy now. She ran over, grabbed Spike, and threw him into the doorjamb. Bouncing back, he barely had time to move before she grabbed his head and slammed it back against the wall again and again.

She let go briefly, ready to get a stake and end his miserable excuse for an unlife. But then he seemed to melt away from her grasp, flitting over to the other side of the room as fast as the mythical bats vampires were rumoured to become.

"Two down, who knows how many to go?" Then he was gone, leaving Buffy alone in Giles' kitchen.

She briefly put her head in her hands, feeling tears starting to form. But then she shook herself, and bolted out the door. Xander's place next.

***

The girl was outside now, just hidden by one of the stairwells. She was bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet, still looking very nervous and excited.

"Did I do OK?"

The woman next to her shrugged. "I thought your story was incredibly forced and unbelievable. But he seemed to buy it, and that's all that matters. Now, are we clear about what to do next?"

The girl nodded. "Follow Percy, get down to their HQ, and then try to find Miss Sum--"

"A-hem!"

Flushing, the girl caught herself. "Find Buffy and Faith. Then just see where events go."

"Right. And what are the three things you have to remember?"

"Um..." The girl drew a blank and grimaced. "I forget. What are they?"

"I don't know, I'm not the one who does this. I'm only here because they don't have a decent photo of me."

"Oh, I remember! Um... don't tell Buffy and Faith anything about their future... don't get killed... what was that other one?"

"Don't trust Percy. Not even if he sounds really believable. Not even if he says he's lying. Never take him at his word. Ever."

"Hey, you did remember!"

The woman chuckled. "You got two of three, not bad. And *relax*. You'll do fine provided you don't freak out."

"I can't help it. This is my first mission that doesn't require just sticking sticks into people! I mean, this is what we have the others for!"

"And why can't we use the others? Because Buffy and Faith are down there, right! We can only use you!"

"I know, I know..."

"Then stop pretending you're going to go down there and die! It's annoying! You have lots more training than those nimrods. Use what you've been taught. Even what I taught you."

"Um... what did you teach me?"

"Oh look, isn't that Percy over there?"

The girl spun, and saw that it was indeed. He was moving swiftly across the street, heading for an innocuous building on the corner.

"OK, gotta run. Bye!"

The woman watched as the girl weaved and bobbed through traffic, keeping a constant stream of apologetic chatter at the drivers while making up the distance between her and Percy. Percy barely noticed her, mostly as she managed to keep a car between her and him at all times, despite her supposed random movements.

There was a chuckle. "She'll be fine." She picked up her cell phone and hit a key. "She's on her way. Can I go now?"

***

There were four vamps now, coming at her from two directions. A third direction held Angel, who was yelling at her to stop, that she was hurting innocents, killing them. The fourth direction held a bunch of crates, and a wall.

*Best choice, though* Faith thought as she scaled the crates, kicking one creature in the face as she did so. Once on top, she spun, immediately staking the vampire who had come after her. As she expected by now, he failed to crumble into dust, but instead turned into a very surprised looking human, with a stake sticking out of his chest. Faith didn't even bother to look at him, but simply kicked him off the crates onto his compatriots and waited for another to take his place.

"Faith, what do you think you're doing?" Angel screamed. He wasn't bothering to climb up after her, he was simply standing to the side, his arms raised in what Faith assumed to be a sort of plea. She shrugged and staked the next vamp, pushing the corpse down on top of Angel to shut him up for a moment.

The final two she managed to stake in quick succession by knocking the crates to the ground, keeping her balance as they tumbled around her. She did a one-two stake that managed to impress her, and then turned to face Angel.

"Faith, let me try this one more time."

"Please don't bother. Angel, can I just say something to you? Just quickly?"

"Yes, Faith?" There was a hopeful look in his face. It almost made her ill to look at it. This not only wasn't a badass vampire, it wasn't even the Angel that Buffy fell in love with. Angel was never this pathetic.

"This is a dream. We're here to find a spell. And no amount of distracting me by bringing up all my past sins is going to stop that being true." She began to advance on him, stake in hand. "And I don't care if this is some outside influence, or my own subconscious come to life, but let me tell you something. When I decide to look for redemption, it isn't going to be because I was told to in some dream. I will consciously decide."

She had turned Angel around, and was backing him up against the wall of the Bronze.

"And let me tell you something else, as Angel clones go, you aren't even close. Not only would Angel have been trying a hell of a lot harder to stop me if he thought I was killing innocents, but he certainly wouldn't be standing there like a complete moron while I did this."

And she took the one stake she had left and jammed it with all the force she had into his chest. He didn't cry out, or hiss, or even make any sound at all. He simply looked down at the stake and then crumbled to dust.

As Faith took a step backwards, all the other corpses littering the ground were similarly dissipated, turning back into the dust she would expect from vampires. She grinned, feeling a little bit better about things now.

"Stupid Slayer dream," she murmured. Then looked up at a commotion from further down the street.

"Speak of the devil."

***

Spike was just at the edge of her vision, about two blocks ahead of him. She knew he was doing this deliberately, just to torment her. And it was working. She wasn't thinking straight, was reading him badly and having to double back. The tears in her eyes kept threatening to pour every time she thought of Willow, or Giles. She ended up nearly running into a streetlamp, and stopped for three seconds, holding her head in her hands.

Then she was running again, feeling more focused. And it was about time, as there was a vamp coming at her from out of a nearby parked car. She wasn't sure if Spike had brought in reinforcements or if this was simply a coincidental attack, but at this point she didn't care. She reached into her jacket, got a stake, turned, he was dust, and she was off after Spike again.

He'd disappeared once more, but there weren't many other options in this direction. He wanted to hurt her as much as possible, that was clear. Xander, Cordelia, and Oz were all in the other direction - the only thing in this area was the Bronze. So she imagined Spike had somehow managed to lure the others to the club, in order to force Buffy to try and defend them all, and maybe make that one mistake that would land Spike his third Slayer.

There were more vamps coming at her now. It had to be something Spike was doing to slow her down, but she was barely noticing them as she staked each one. It was as if her focus was a pinprick connected to the Bronze, and anything else was merely secondary. There must have been seven, eight vamps coming her way, but they were just like flies. Swatted away.

And then she saw Spike again, running at full tilt towards the Bronze. He wasn't looking so confident now, more like a trapped animal. That thought made Buffy smile grimly, and increase her pace, even as her heart was threatening to stop from too much happening too fast. He was going to suffer for this.

A shout came from the alley behind the Bronze, but Buffy barely noticed it. Spike was stopped at the entrance, and turning to face her. She had one stake left, but wasn't reaching for it yet. He wasn't broken yet.

Suddenly she was jerked hard to a stop, her arm feeling like it was coming out of its socket. She turned around to see the face of Faith.

"Buffy! It's a dream! Remember?"

Buffy ripped her arm away, staring back in shock. What was Faith doing here? She was supposed to be in a coma... wasn't she? Or did she wake up? And there was some Watcher guy...

"Buffy, none of this is real! The spell? Remember?"

And suddenly she did. The future. Percy. What they were doing.

Dreamscapes.

Her friends weren't dead.

She almost laughed out loud. She couldn't help a grin from appearing on her face. "Dream... a dream!" She grinned some more and hugged Faith.

The feel of Faith's body tensing up made her pull back, but she was relieved to see the other woman smiling as well. More to the point, she seemed to be fully in control and lucid too.

"Can we stop imagining bad guys and get on with this?" Faith asked, her mouth twitching slightly.

Buffy ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah, sure... hold on one sec." She quickly reached for her stake, ducked, spun around, and drove it deep into Spike's chest, as he tried to sneak up on her from behind. He growled, then evaporated into dust.

Faith leaned back against the wall of the Bronze. "I take it you got the whole guilt trip disguised as fever dream fight too?" Buffy nodded. "More like bringing things I don't like to think about up to the surface. Nightmares."

Faith sighed. "They're drugging me."

That got Buffy's attention. "What?"

"Back in 'reality', so to speak. Pumping me full of what must be a complete drugstore of nasty shit. Doesn't seem to work in here, for which I'm grateful."

Buffy gaped for a moment, then the world seemed to go red briefly. Faith took a quick step back. "B, watch it, you'll break something."

She took a few deep breaths, then stared back at the street, now bathed in the glow of the evening. "I'm gonna kill him."

"Oh good, I wanna be there when that happens." Faith grinned. "So..." she paused, and looked away from Buffy, "so you didn't know or anything, then?"

Buffy looked up, startled. Faith had thrown that 'I don't really care one way or another' look onto her face, but she could never make her eyes match it. And her eyes looked hurt, and wounded. Buffy felt a pang go through her, and remembered how Faith had attempted to reach out that first time she'd awoken, and Buffy had shouted her down.

"No, Faith, I didn't. I swear it." And she looked Faith right in the eyes, knowing that her eyes were the same as Faith's; unable of hiding truth.

Faith waved a hand. "It's alright, I had pretty much guessed it anyway." But her body was relaxing now, and she gave Buffy a quick grin. "Thanks."

Buffy was about to say something else, when suddenly there was a thunderclap above them. The air briefly shimmered, and the two girls prepared for an attack. But all that happened was two small cards appeared, falling to the ground by their feet as things returned to normal. After a moment, Faith picked one up.

"MANOS," she said.

"The Hands of Fate?" Buffy cracked, then picked up her own card. "Same thing here."

"I'm guessing these are part of the spell."

Buffy nodded. "Tarot cards, Willow showed me some once. Makes sense, Percy said this was supposed to get all Wicca-ey and stuff." She winced as she realised what she'd said. "Sorry, shouldn't have..."

Faith shook her head. "Skip it, we'll beat him up later."

Buffy smiled, then a small thought occurred to her. *She said beat him up. Not kill him. I wonder if she even realises it.*

Faith sighed, leaning back against the wall once more. "B, we really need to have a nice, long chat."

"But this probably isn't the place."

"Right. Got spells to find, got Slayers to wake. That sort of thing."

"Any idea where we go next?" Buffy asked, unconsciously taking up position next to Faith.

"Not a clue. I'm kinda hoping our brains give us a nice big neon sign showing us where to go next."

Suddenly the wall behind them disappeared, and both found themselves falling onto their butts. Sunnydale seemed to have disappeared, and in its place lay a big, long featureless grey void. A neon sign hung neatly in the air, pointing towards a structure that seemed very, very, very far away.

Faith blinked. "Sweet! Hey, I could really use a tequila shooter right now too!" she called to the air.

Nothing happened.

"Rats," Faith sighed.

Buffy stared at the distance they had to cover, and then turned back to Faith. "Ready?"

Faith shrugged and stuck the tarot card in her pocket. "Guess so." She too paused to look at the journey they had in front of them.

"Wanna talk?" Buffy asked, a rueful smile on her face.

***

Percy sighed, taking the key from his inside pocket. His search had solidified a few things in his mind, most of which he'd known but had been trying not to admit to himself. But it wasn't going to be easy to keep doing that. Especially not if Buffy and Faith succeeded in bringing back the spell.

He was beginning to come to the realisation that he might be forced to actually take a stand. It wasn't something he enjoyed doing. It was so much easier to simply remain loyal and in the background, using his many skills when required and not getting noticed otherwise. But he wasn't sure...

He'd seen Buffy, seen what a Slayer was really like. And she was human. In fact, she was barely eighteen. And she laughed, and cried, and felt things just like he did.

*Without the Watcher's Council, the Slayer became unhinged. A monster. Unstoppable.* It was what he had always been taught. And now, ironically, he was starting to realise it might be a lie.

He now thought he understood why people disliked it when he lied around them. It was an unpleasant feeling. Very much so.

He wished he could do anything about it.

He pulled back the wrought iron gate and stepped inside, then pushed the button that would summon a more state-of-the-art lift. More disguises, as the current Council raised their paranoia to an art form.

The doors opened, and he quickly stepped inside, hitting the button for the underground... and was rather startled when the young girl he'd met in the library basement barrelled inside after him, just barely avoiding the doors closing.

As the elevator began his descent, Percy slowly took this in. "You... what are you doing here? You have to go, this is a private elevator!"

She grinned, and shrugged. "Sorry, but I really needed to get down here. And if it's any consolation, I won't be going all the way down." She quickly leaped up to the roof, grabbing the maintenance panel and ripping it from the housing. A second leap let her grab the lip of the hole it created with one hand, and she quickly squirmed her way through it, taking the panel with her.

Percy stared at her, stunned. "What in God's name do you think you're doing?"

She peeked back in the hole at him. "I really wish I could tell you, Mr. McInnerny. But I can't. Oh, by the way, I'm Elegeia. I'm the Slayer. The current one."