Chapter Two
How?
�What is this discoloration?� Seven asked peering at the scar that Faith carried. She moved closer and examined it with her tri-coder.
Even after floating in space for allegedly over three year, Faith�s body was flawless with no apparent scar or wound visible to the naked eye. Except for one right next to her heart that Seven was now examining.
�Any closer and you might even suck on them.� Faith evaded the question with false cockiness, as she looked down remembering the night the spear had pierced from behind, right through her heart and to her front. Her blood had sprayed out and burnt with the acid on the ground as her heart stubbornly refused to give in. She had prayed at that moment that she wouldn�t die, so that she could keep Piper safe in her arms away from the burning acid that was engulfing her life beneath her skin.
Even though when silence conquered over every impending queries, Seven�s nano probes were always at work, picking up the slight change in the breathing, a rise in body temperature and the rate of the heart that slowed or made an almost skip in the beat. Seven�s electronic brain was noting it all but her human part was noting the cloud in Faith�s eyes as it refused to let go of the scar that was just a surface to the pain she nurtured underneath. Anyone in Voyager who knew Seven would have told you that the very little human conclusions that Seven made would have been completely ignored by the ex-Borg who made it clear that her transition to humanity was against her will and she would have just proceeded with the new line of questioning, but to reasons Seven herself was unable to compute she decided to let it go and she walked back to her console.
�Destroying an M-Class planet is an offense with a life time imprisonment sentence.� Seven informed changing the subject for Faith�s benefit and focusing at the console as she finished her report on the Planet Astarzi that Faith claimed to be in when it exploded.
�I didn�t say I blasted the planet, I said I was there when that happened. But you can falsely accuse me of doing so if you want, it�s not like it hasn�t happened before.� Faith got up from the examination bed as she adjusted her clothing making sure the scar was covered.
�I am not placing any accusation. An inhabited planet is destroyed, and you are the only survivor. The probability of you being accused is high.� Seven reasoned without even looking up.
�Well it�s not like it hasn�t happened before.� Faith sighed as she stood next to the console.
�You have been in the Federation during and after its formation. You have fought on the side of the Cardasians and also been a part of Klignon army. You have lived with Friangees. You even claim to have saved Q.� Seven recounted few of the achievements that Faith had confessed.
At their first dinner Faith had willingly volunteered to co-operate with any investigation the Captain wished to pursue. But when Captain had chosen Seven to make the report, Faith had been anything but co-operative, by avoiding her in everyway possible, until upon Seven�s request, Captain gave a direct order to the Slayer and sent Commander Tuvak to escort her to the science lab where Seven was waiting.
�Yet, you are on record only at the period of your original lifetime. Could you please explain why none of your claims have any records?� Seven questioned Faith�s accounts as Faith provided her with nothing but vague reference to couple of actual historical events that she claimed to have been part of.
�Oh you�ll know that when I leave Voyager.� Faith said aloud. �Or you won�t.� She thought to herself.
�Do you want Voyager to take you to your destination?� Seven looked up as she anticipated new information.
�No, I am at my destination.� Faith replied as she stared into the piercing blue eyes that gave away no emotion.
�Is Voyager your destination?� Seven asked to reconfirm what she interpreted from the Slayer�s answer.
�For now, yes.� Faith replied.
�State your purpose.� Seven asked the obvious follow-up question that Faith had heard many a time before that day.
Every time she had come in contact with any species, she had been interrogated or investigated by scientist or military or any one who had the power or interest in sometimes her abilities and sometimes her mere existence. But at the end of every such day, was the one question, �What was her purpose?� to which she had only one answer.
�To save the world.� Faith grinned as she repeated the words that she knew opened the floodgate of numerous other questions.
Faith waited as she wondered how the �Ice Queen� according to Lt. Toress would ask the obvious queries. After all even though she had at first dreaded the moment she had to face Seven, one thing she hadn�t anticipated on was how much she would enjoy answering or evading Seven�s questions. Seven was the Annika from her past, but now in the privacy of the science lab, with no Dark Lord or her family members hovering all around, she realized that she hadn�t taken the time to notice the prominent features of the blonde beauty. Of course at that time her focus was on another beauty that had her heart and soul but now, after centuries, she wondered if staring into those eyes and craving for those lips to open was actually wrong. Faith flashed her sexiest smile, as she prepared herself to evade more questions, and made a mental dare to herself to try and annoy the ex-Borg to an extent that would actually make her frown.
�I have no further questions. You are dismissed.� Seven said instead.
�Dismissed?� Faith exclaimed unable to believe Seven�s response. �You are not going to ask me how I am going to save the world or from whom?� Faith found herself wording the questions.
�No.� Seven simply said as she started to exit.
�Seven wait.� Faith hollowed as she speeded to the door before it even opened. She smiled as she hoped that Seven noticed her display of ultra human speed and that would encourage Seven to continue her interrogation.
�You do not have to prove your extra ordinary physical attributes. Your physical scan already proves that you possess strength and physical abilities that are beyond human capabilities. I also believe that you are from 20th Century Earth as your skin and your DNA sample is of human of before the shift.� Seven stated undeterred on her course to the door.
�Then why don�t you have any further questions?� Faith asked surprising herself.
�I do not wish to question you further as I do not wish to hear any more of your lies.� Seven replied now right in front of the Slayer.
�Lies? You think I am lying to you?� The once Dark Slayer exclaimed with an artificial gasp.
�Your heart rate, pulse and your temperature rise by a minuscule but detectable quantity, every time I ask you a question. That suggests that you are not being truthful.� Seven replied.
�There could be another reason for that.� Faith confessed realizing that her cockiness wasn�t going to save her this time. She knew that she could just leave then, but then she wasn�t sure if Seven would chase her down later. As much as she wanted to avoid telling Seven about her part in her past, right at that minute, and having an eternity to live through she had learned to live for the moment and at that moment she didn�t want the taller woman to leave. �I could be nervous around you.� Faith added hoping that her honesty would change her mind.
�You have no reason to be nervous. As, you stated you have been interrogated numerous times.� Seven stated as she watched the Slayer now walking back to the bed that just moments ago was more than eager to hop out of.
�I�ll answer with more specifics this time.� Faith answered instead, and lied back down on the bed as though it was a couch on a psychiatrist�s office. �What do you want to know?�
�I want to know you.� Seven said and immediately wondered what she had meant by that. It wasn�t like her to ask anything vague. �I want to know of your life.� She rephrased.
�Where should I start?�
�How did you become immortal?�
�Well, for that I need to start from the beginning. You see not all slayers are immortal. Actually none of them are; that�s why there is the famous line, �To each generation a slayer is born�. To our generation, Buffy Summers was the Slayer born.� Faith started making herself comfortable with the view of the plain white ceiling of the Voyager.
�Buffy Summers, the biological mother of your daughter Kelly Spencer.� Seven voiced her recollection of Faith�s records.
�Yes.�
�You adopted a child of a slayer.� Seven concluded.
�No, she was my daughter too. I was her surrogate mother.�
�Yes, the record does state that it was you who gave birth to Kelly Summer Spencer.� Seven concurred to her statement.
�Do you want to hear the story or not?� Faith snapped back as she was getting in the mood to tell the story and she didn�t like the interruptions.
�You may continue.� Seven said with an almost smile in her lips at Faith�s sudden eagerness to confide in her.
Faith paused for a second wondering if it was a smile, but then shook her head recalling the fact that Seven showed no emotion, and looked back at her invisible spot in the ceiling to go back in time in her head.
�Now you see you have to understand how I came into being to understand why or how Kelly was born. Now, like I said one generation one slayer and that was Buffy. But Buffy died for a brief moment, causing another slayer to be called, but she was revived back, making two slayers in our generation. Then that slayer died and I was called. And then started all the mess. You see, Buffy and I ummm� how can I sum it up, Buffy and I had a thing.�
�A thing?� Seven repeated unable to understand the reference.
�You know, we had this unseen chemistry going.� Faith tried to explain still unwilling to use dictionary words to describe. Faith searched for a more appropriate word when she heard Seven speak.
�I comprehend. Chemistry in the same reference as of what Ensign Kim always said that Kathryn and I had.�
�I guess.� Faith acknowledged a little softer at the reminder of Seven�s lover�s name.
�Anyway, things didn�t work between us, as we both had too many issues. That�s when I met, Piper. She was a witch. But, most of all, she was my love, ONE and ONLY.� Faith emphasized the last words almost as a retaliation of the mention of Kathryn by Seven. She also piped on the side to see if it provoked any reaction, but the ex-Borg had no expression on her face as usual.
�Well long story short, Buffy and I vanquished the First Evil but while doing so, we also sacrificed Kennedy who was the Slayer who was supposed to continue the Slayer line. But, with First gone, Slayer really wasn�t needed; you see the good and evil had to be in the balance. Once the First was gone even the Slayer had to go, but of course for people that is not that simple. The watcher�s council, they were the ones who made their living by training and watching out for the slayers. So, the watcher�s council needed a slayer as B, I called Buffy B just incase you were wondering.�
�Anyway, B and I didn�t need watchers, so they needed a new slayer, so what they did. They opened the book and decided to conjure up just like the ancient did to get the first slayer. But, they were not the ancients so they came up with a way to conceive a slayer, but for a slayer to be in the womb you needed a slayer womb so they approached B.�
Faith paused as the thoughts of Buffy flooded her memories, and she almost felt guilty for giving Buffy the reasons to have said yes to the watcher�s council.
�You got to understand, unlike me, B was called at a very young age, and slaying was all she knew. She did crave the normal life, hell we all craved a normal life, but for B there really wasn�t much of an alternative, as more than once she had to choose between slaying and her heart and more than once she chose slaying. I mean she was the slayer who stabbed Angel, her first love, as he was a vampire.�
Seven looked up, but Faith just put her hand up and continued. �Long story, he was a good vampire who turned bad and B damned him to hell. Not to mention she even stabbed me.� Faith recalled as her hand automatically went for the spot where she had carried a scar for years, but was gone now.
�She stabbed you?� Seven repeated as she had learned from interaction that sometimes repeating could be interpreted as a question, which she had often tried to use but had never found it necessary to do so, but right now she repeated instead of actually asking a why question.
�Well, I kind of had wandered into the wrong side for a little bit. I mean looking back I would blame her for it, but who cares now. So, anyway, where was I?� Faith asked herself unwilling to remember the dark phase of her life.
�Oh! Yeah, anyway, so when we killed the First, I moved in with Piper, and B was all alone. I think she had a girlfriend but god I can�t remember it now, but when the council approached her to have a slayer baby, she jumped at the chance. Partly I think to get back to slaying and partly to get back to me. I knew that.� Faith made a self confession, which she always denied to Piper, but now she felt it was ok to admit that one of the reasons why Buffy had the baby was to get her back in her life, and a reason why she had agreed to help Buffy was the same.
�Slayers are basically conceived from the power of evil, in our case from the power of demon called Odan. Now, what the watchers had left out to say was that the baby could turn out evil. But, by the time we realized it, it was too late, B was already pregnant and her Slayer body was killing the baby. That�s where I came in; I volunteered to carry the baby for the rest of the term so that the baby would survive. Even after her birth there were a lot of obstacles, for now she did turn out to be evil so she was turning both B and me evil. Because of which B, committed suicide. Long story short Kelly needed a sacrifice of a pure power to turn back into good, so ultimately Odan decided to sacrifice himself, and as his love for his children was pure it worked. Except the loop hole that no one realized was that Odan was immortal. For him to sacrifice himself, he had to pass on his immortality, now he couldn�t do that to Kelly as she had to be the Slayer who would continue the legacy, so the fucking bastard cursed me with his fucking immortality.� Faith jerked up concluding as the pinned up anger against the demon responsible for her curse resurfaced and she no longer could calm her self down with a the peace of the Voyager ceiling.
Seven was immediately by her side and her hands were on Faith�s which was clutched with such force that without even looking at it, the ex-Borg knew that the blood had already erupted out. The Doctor and Kathryn had versed Seven well on social norms of human contact but her urgency to rush to the Slayer�s side had nothing to do with her learning from either of them. It was an almost an automated process that her body complied to as soon as she saw that the Slayer needed comforting. Something she had never felt before.
�Seven to sickbay.� Seven said aloud as she tried to force Faith to un-clutch.
�No. No.� Faith demanded as she tried to yank her hand out of Seven�s hand but the ex-Borg didn�t let go.
�You are damaged.� Seven protested with as much of a demand as her monotonous voice could make it sound.
�No, I am not.� Faith said as she slowly opened her palm. �Not anymore.� She added as she revealed a bloodied palm with cuts from her own fingernails, which now seem to be healing before their eyes.
�Do you know how it feels to have something thrust upon you, that you never asked for and to live with it day and night?� Faith asked hoping for no answer as always but this time she was wrong as her eyes fell on the metallic hand of the ex-Borg who was still holding on to her hands.
�Yes, I do know.� Seven replied with an understanding that both the women had given up hope in finding with anyone else.
�I am not damaged.� Seven assessed as her nano probes found her to be in optimum condition.
�Yes, Leo healed you.� Kaynard said as he let the blonde wake up on her own and walked towards bar area of his magnificent bedroom that was furnished with nothing but the best that the money could buy. Of course which was of no significance now, as he understood for the first time in his life, the importance of what his family was saving every day of their life while he sat on the side lines and just despised them for not noticing his thousands of dollars? Right then, all of those thousands of dollars were still intact yet he had lost all.
�Does he possess Borg technological knowledge to make repairs on me? My damages couldn�t not even be repaired by ��
�You knew.� Kaynard started to talk ignoring Seven. �You knew Aunt Faith was immortal, that�s how you knew her, not because she traveled through the portal, but because she lived long enough to meet you.�
Seven got up and walked towards Kay who was walking and talking in daze like he was on some kind of a drug. Seven stopped his wandering and turned him to face her.
�How come you didn�t stop it? You are from the future. Why didn�t you save them? Why didn�t you know what was going to happen?� Kaynard desperately shook the taller woman begging for answers, for some kind of reason for what had just befallen his family.
�Contrary to popular belief, time travelers don�t possess the knowledge of every event.� Seven answered still unaware of what had happened.
�This is not like every other event that happens. My whole family is annihilated and you call this just an event.� Kaynard was now angry and grabbing the woman from future with all his strength hoping he could hurt her as much as his heart was hurting.
�Kaynard Steel, your strength does not suffice to inflict pain on to me.� Seven informed the young Mr. Steel. �Besides, events of the past cannot be deterred.�
�Then why are you here?� Kay demanded as tears rolled out of his eyes. �Why are you here?� He broke down as he asked.
Seven looked down at the man on his knees weeping like a baby for a moment and remembered the Doctor�s teaching about social norms of humanity. He had told her that when a friend was crying it was best to hug them for comfort. Seven knelt down and put her arms around the man as her mind echoed the same question, now that she was repaired.
�Is Faith the only survivor?� Seven finally dared to ask after Kaynard calmed a little on her arms.
�No, she managed to save Aunt Piper too, and Victor was able to save Kate, but everyone else�� Kay couldn�t even finish the sentence as he burst out into another fits of sobs.
�Kaynard, I understand that this might be a very difficult time for you, but could you please tell me where Faith is?� Seven asked unwilling to just comfort the lad.
�When Leo told her she was immortal, she slit his throat and ran away. Thankfully Leo is immortal too, or else she would have had the blood of a whitelighter on her hands.� Kaynard informed as he slowly regained some control on his thoughts. �Even Aunt Piper went into a daze when she heard it. It was as though it was like the last straw especially when Leo couldn�t heal anyone. But don�t worry, Aunt Faith will be back, as Aunt Piper said she already found a way to get rid of her immortality.�
�Piper cannot get rid of Faith�s immortality.� Seven had only stated it when a blow hit her from behind and she flew to the other side of the room.
Seven got up almost as suddenly as she had fallen and looked up to face Kate.
�Aunt Faith will get rid of her curse.� Kate said as she raised her hand to pin Seven to the wall with her new found magical powers. �I don�t care what happens in the future, but looks like your past is going to change.�
Her eyes turned black and a fireball appeared on her free hand as she smiled with glee of kill she was about to make.
Just then an arrow shot from the door of the room, and hit her right on the heart. Her face changed then her body flamed as Kaynard froze at the sight.
�That wasn�t Kate.� Willow said as she ignored Kaynard and walked towards Seven�s aid.
�You are from the future huh. We�ve been waiting for you.� Willow offered a hand to the ex-Borg who was still trying to assess the scene.