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Part 3
She was cowered in the corner of the room. The other one was pacing in front of the
mother. Buffy's mother. But it was different. The knife. It was there. She stopped cowering
when the other waved the blade menacingly at Joyce Summers. She tackled her away
from the mother she could have had.
"Stop it! Stop it! STOP!"
She started getting stabbed. She couldn't block anything. She saw Buffy standing over
the other's shoulder staring at her sadly. The plastic tiara was on her blonde head. Tears
coursed down her face.
"For everything we could have been. Almost unstoppable. And not alone."
*~*~*~*~*~*
Faith bolted up in the bed. Her scream was a harsh whisper that formed into a roar. Angel
was by her side in an instant. Faith just started sobbing. Angel just held her. She turned
her head to see Giles and Buffy watching her in the doorway. She just cried harder.
Buffy grabbed Giles and pulled him away.
She walked slowly to Cordelia's sofa and sat on it wearily. She rubbed her hands over her
face. Giles came to stand next to Wesley. She looked at the both of them.
"What do I do?"
"Why do you have to anything?" Cordelia asked.
"I don't know." Buffy's lower lip quivered. A single tear escaped. "Something's different.
Either with her. Or me. Or both, but she needs something or she's gonna go crazy. I don't
know if I can fix this."
"Why is it your responsibility to?" Cordelia was getting angry. Though she'd never said it
at the time, she knew Faith's betrayals had cut Buffy deep. She didn't hang out and slay
with the slayer for two years and not learn anything about her.
"I should have held on to her so tight she had no choice but to stay. We should have
fought together. Never each other. It just spun so far out of control. How did someone like
me get her to feel so inferior? I'm not that great." Buffy was crying now. She grabbed her
stake off the coffee table where she'd left it and stormed out the door.
"Should we go after her?" Wesley was looking at the door.
"She'll be fine." Giles removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"She didn't look fine." Cordelia had her hands on her hips.
"She's had a rough year. She's looking for answers now."
"Answers to what?"
"Being a slayer."
"Good Lord."
Faith walked into the room with Angel right behind her. "Where's Buffy?"
"She was upset and took off."
Faith stalked to the door. Angel grabbed her arm. "Where are you going?"
"After her." Faith jerked her arm out of his hand and slammed out the door.
*~*~*~*~*
"Hey, B."
Buffy looked at the figure emerging from the shadows. Faith. In black leather.
"How did you get out here so fast?"
"Is that really the issue? No, I don't think it is. I think the issue is how I'm gonna gut YOU
now."
Buffy noticed the knife in her hand. THE knife.
*~*~*~*~*
Faith jogged into the park. If Buffy had gone looking for vamps to slay, this had to be the
place. She walked past a line of trees and froze. Buffy was fighting her. The other her.
"BUFFY!"
The blonde slayer looked at Faith, and it cost her. Faith watched in horror as the blade
sliced across Buffy's abdomen.
"NO!" She started running. She skidded to a stop next to Buffy. The blonde was covered
in blood already. "No." She started crying, and the other started laughing.
Faith looked up at her. She licked the blood off the knife. Faith screamed and launched
herself at her. She caught the evil one in the midsection, and they tumbled to the ground.
Faith just started swinging. After a few minutes she realized she was punching the
ground. She sat back on her heels as a wave of panic hit her. Was she crazy?
Buffy moaned.
"B." Faith crawled back to her. "Hold on, Buffy. I'm gonna help you."
Faith stood and looked around. She took off running. There had to be a phone here
somewhere.
*~*~*~*~*
Angel was pacing the length of the waiting room. Cordelia was pretending not to be
nervous by reading a magazine. Giles kept cleaning the left lens of his glasses while
staring off into space. Wesley was just plain fidgeting.
A nurse entered the room. Everyone jumped and turned to her.
"Who's Giles?"
"That would be me." Giles put his glasses back on.
"Follow me. Keep in mind she's groggy. We had to sedate her. And there's also the pain
killers. She had to have twenty stitches."
The nurses voice trailed off. Angel sank into a chair. Buffy' fist had been wrapped around
a knife covered in her own blood, a knife that looked very familiar to Angel, and she had
said one thing. Faith. Angel didn't want to believe it.
"I think this time she has to be put down."
"What?" Wesley was looking at him.
"Faith did this."
"We can't be sure of that, Angel."
"Wesley, she had that damn knife in her hand."
"What?"
"That knife in Buffy's hand. It was Faith's."
Cordelia nodded her head. "That's right. I remember."
"It's doesn't mean anything."
"Wesley, I can't believe you, of all people, are defending her." Cordelia's face held
absolute shock. "What happened to the feeling in your right arm?"
"I got it back." He got up and stormed out of the room.
He stalked through the hospital and ended up near the chapel. Faith needed him not to
fail her this time. She had changed. He knew it. Felt it. He walked into the chapel and sat
in one of the pews in the front. He closed his eyes and prayed. For Buffy and for Faith.
Could a soul be so lost it could never be found?
*~*~*~*~*
Gunn was walking the streets with a group of five. They were just passing an abandoned
building in the 'vamp' part of town when one of the guys nudged him.
"Gunn, look."
Gunn followed his gaze to the top of the building. There was a girl standing on the edge of
the roof. Gunn swore. He recognized her lavender dress.
*~*~*~*~*
Buffy was trying to focus on Giles. She knew she was about to go to sleep, but she
needed to tell him.
"Giles."
"Buffy?"
"Giles. Two of them. Not Faith, but Faith. Two. Good and evil. Evil. Other one did this.
Two. Faith. Find..." Her voice drifted off as the drugs took effect.
Giles stared at her as he puzzled over her words. Two? Not Faith, but Faith?
*~*~*~*~*
"Faith?"
She jumped and nearly fell. "You shouldn't sneak up on people."
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Going out with a bang. Or in this case a splatter."
Something about her tone angered him. "Girl, get your ass down off that ledge."
"Ok." She turned away from him and started to step off the roof.
Gunn ran for her his arms were around her waist before gravity could get to her. He
dragged her against his chest and stumbled backwards. He landed on his back and
grunted. He could hear his crew cheering on the street below. Another life saved. He
couldn't say much for her spirit though.
"You should have let me." She was crying.
"Not a chance, girl."
"It's not like I never fell off a roof before."
*~*~*~*~*
It was about two hours before dawn. Wesley hadn't come back to the waiting room. A
nurse had told them he was in the chapel. Giles was asleep in the chair in Buffy's room.
"Look, Angel, I'm going to go home and get some sleep. You should think about it."
"Let me walk you to your car."
"I'll be fine." Cordelia started to walk off then she turned back. "She'll be fine."
Angel smiled at her.
*~*~*~*~*
Cordelia entered the underground parking at the hospital. It was very dark. She took out
her keys and began the brisk walk to her car.
She was almost there when she felt something grab her ankle. She screamed as she fell
to her hands and knees. Cordelia scrambled to get away and saw Faith pulling herself out
from under a car, her leather pants making an insane scraping noise on the concrete.
"Hey, Cordy. I was hoping for Wesley, but you'll do in a pinch." She had a baseball bat.
Cordelia screamed and took off running. She heard the whoosh of the bat right before it
hit the back of her head. It made her see stars, and a screaming pain exploded in her
head. And she thought her visions hurt? She stumbled and caught herself on a car. The
alarm went off. Thank God. Maybe someone would come. She looked over her shoulder
to see the bat coming again. She threw up her arm and screamed when she felt her wrist
shatter. Faith swung the bat and caught Cordelia's chin. Her head reeled. Then Faith
punched her in the face with her free hand. Cordelia felt her lip split open. Faith jabbed
her in the gut with the end of the bat, and Cordelia fell to her knees. Faith had the bat
poised to crack the back of the cheerleader's skull open when someone yelled.
"Hey! You! Stop!"
It was a man in a suit. He tossed aside his briefcase and started running towards them.
Faith tossed aside the bat and ran in the opposite direction.
*~*~*~*~*
"Somebody help me please!"
Angel stepped out of the waiting room and his stomach fell through the floor. There was a
guy standing there holding a battered Cordelia in his arms.
"CORDELIA!" Angel ran over to them and was looking at her wildly. She was bleeding
and bruised. Doctors and nurses swarmed in and put Cordelia on a stretcher.
The guy looked at Angel. "You know her?"
"Sh-she's my sister."
"Some chic was beating the shit out of her with a baseball bat in the parking garage."
"What did she look like?"
"Didn't get a good look. Shorter. Long brown hair."
Angel's fists clenched at his sides. "Thank you. You saved her life." Angel turned and
walked out of the hospital.
The guy watched him go. Someone was gonna pay tonight.
*~*~*~*~*
Buffy was deep in the dream.
People were dancing. It looked like something out of a movie based on a Jane Austen
book. Except everyone was dressed normal not period. They were doing the minuet
though. And the music was by Garbage. She was fairly sure it was "Medication", but it
was so distorted. She was walking through the center of the dance floor. It felt like she
was walking in warm syrup. Everything was so slowed-down and strange.
Suddenly someone was next to her. She looked over. Spike.
"Slayer, will you dance with me?"
She looked at him for a minute as people danced all around them.
"I would love to, but I have to find her first."
Spike took her hand and brought her knuckles to his lips. He kissed them softly. "I
understand, gorgeous. Another time?"
"Yes. Another time."
She turned and walked away. In the corner of the room she saw them. Both. One Faith
was in the sundress dress in a cage. The other Faith had on a black leather and was
poking at the caged Faith with a stick.
"He's gonna kill her. Then I kill him. She's closer to you than I had realized. She was
almost there."
The leather Faith opened the cage and grabbed the other one by her hair. She yanked her
out. The leather Faith had the blade in her hand. She yanked the other Faith up against
her chest and drug the knife across her throat. Then she pitched her to the floor. Buffy
watched in horror as the Faith in the lavender sundress bled all over the floor. She hadn't
even fought.
"She's the one you met. I'm the one you fought."
Faith lunged at her with the knife.
Buffy gasped and jerked awake. She was breathing heavy. Her gut hurt. Giles was still
asleep in the chair next to her bed. She looked out the window. The sun would be setting
in half an hour. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and winced. There was an IV
in her hand. She gritted her teeth and yanked it out. She slipped into the hall and ran
right into Wesley.
"What the devil do you think you're doing out of bed?"
"Angel's gonna kill Faith, but the wrong one. I have to stop him."
"He must think she... Cordelia... What do you mean the wrong one?"
"What about Cordelia?"
"She was severely beaten by a woman matching Faith's description early this morning in
the parking garage."
"It wasn't Faith."
"Buffy, a man saw her."
"Ok, it was her, but it wasn't."
"I don't follow."
"Do you have a car here?"
"I have my motorcycle."
"You have a bike? Nevermind. Let's go."
"You're not exactly dressed for public." He looked at the open back of her hospital gown.
"Hey!"
"Sorry." He smiled.
"Lemme have your jacket then."
He handed her the beige sports coat draped over his arm. She put it on and looped her
arm through his.
"Let's go."
"Shouldn't we tell Giles?"
"He'll only try to stop me."
"Well, this is something I never thought I'd be doing."
"What?"
"Sneaking around behind Giles with you."
"Things change."
"That they do. Now what's all this about Faith not being Faith?"
Buffy took a deep breath. Explaining was never her strong point, and she wasn't even
sure she knew what was going on. All she knew was Faith needed her. She had to be
there for her this time. No leaving her to come to grips on her own. Not this time.
Part 4
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