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Chapter 4: Seeing Things A month went by and there had been no word from Spike. Faith was starting to question if he would ever find Buffy. It appeared that she had wanted to disappear and she also had, it wasn’t the first time she had done it. Nothing had changed in Sunnydale, but slowly everyone were getting on Faith’s nerves. Especially Willow and Joyce who were both still rooting for Riley. Why couldn’t they just get over him? The gang had gathered at Giles’ place, he had called all of them and informed he had something very fundamentally important to tell them, his words, not hers. Willow was sitting hand in hand with Tara but they kept their hands shyly under the table. Xander and Anya were snuggled on the couch, Anya throwing her remarks on sex and Xander chastising her of talking about sex in front of his friends. But Faith was getting bored, all she wanted was to go to the Bronze, get some action and slayege but instead she was stuck at Giles’ house. “You do remember the Nagel demon from last month?” Giles started and Faith nodded looking at him like saying ‘what do you think I am, some memory challenged’. “Well as I told you before, those demons customarily travel in groups. Well, the demon you killed had a group of friends and they were waiting just outside of town. They have cause havoc there and are headed towards here, they have been swearing revenge”, Giles said. Faith looked at him like he had grown a second head. “Was that all you wanted to tell us? So what his friends are coming to town, not the first time I’m on somethings hit list. When they come, I’ll handle it.” Giles nodded but he wasn’t happy and it showed in his face. He looked around him and stated: “I haven’t seen Spike in a long while.” “He skipped town”, Faith answered like she was talking about the weather. “Why?” Giles asked getting curious. “Who cares. Good riddens”, Xander chimed in. “But we need his sarcastic feedback”, Anya protested. “I’m the only entertainment we need”, Xander said and puffed his chest. Faith rolled her eyes and then turned to look at Willow and Tara. “So how ‘bout hitting the Bronze?” Willow looked at her nervously and then at Tara. “I’m sorry, but I promised to spend the night with Tara, we planed this a week ago”, she said clearly feeling sorry that she had to turn her down. “Why don’t you take your love monkey along for the ride”, Faith suggested and winked at them. Willow looked at her with wide eyes. ‘Love monkey’, that was a weird word for Buffy to use, not to mention the wink. “I’m sorry, but I’m not up to night on the town”, she said. Faith got up pulling her jacket on. “No prob, If anyone needs me, I’ll be at the Bronze”, she said. “Maybe you shouldn’t, maybe it would be better to look out for the demons”, Giles suggested but Faith just brushed it off. “I’ll do that later, after I’m done clubbing”, she said and left. Willow turned to the others concerned look on her face. “She’s been acting weird lately. We need to do something”, she said and received several nods from the group.
Willow had set up a meeting in the Bronze to discuss about Buffy with the gang. “I’m telling you, we need to help her. She has been acting strange, like leaving Riley without a reason”, Willow said to her friends. “Maybe she just got bored with him, you have to admit, he wasn’t all that interesting, what if he wasn’t sexually satisfying”, said Anya not caring about the topic. Everybody else in the table blushed. “No, Buffy loves him, they were meant to be together. It’s obvious he’s right for her, he hasn’t made her cry, not even once. We need to help her”, Willow insisted. “Need to help who?” Faith asked from behind the gang. She knew and had heard what they were talking about but she just wanted to see them squirm. “Oh! Buffy! Aaa... A friend from psych class”, Willow covered clumsily. Faith suppressed a chuckle. “Sure”, she said and sat down. “Don’t stop on my account”, she said and she got what she wanted, more squirming. Soon getting bored with the long silence, she got up. “Okay, I’ll go get a drink.” The gang looked after her as she headed towards the bar but got distracted by an attractive guy on the dance floor. “See!” Willow cried out when they saw take a drink from a guy. “She doesn’t look like she’s still in love with Riley”, Anya chimed in. Willow frowned. “She’s just venting the hurt. Something must have happened.” And it was Anya’s time to frown, Willow really should get over Riley. The gang turned to look and saw Faith on the dance floor with three guys dancing with her.
Angel was sitting in his office, pretending to read but truthfully he was just staring at the picture of Buffy. He had been having very vivid dreams of their day together, the one day that he was human. He had been standing in a ice cold shower for nearly an hour that morning, it had done some good but his memory was too good and soon he had the same problem. Cordelia looked through the window and frowned, he was brooding again and wearing his Buffy face. With a frustrated sigh she stomped into the office without knocking. Angel snapped to look at the door and said: “Cordy, can’t you just knock?” She just ignored him. “What ever you’re brooding about again, you need to get over it!” Cordelia said with a stern voice. “I wasn’t brooding”, Angel tried but it was in vain. “Oh, you were reading?” she gave a sarcastic laugh and continued: “I’m not that stupid. You haven’t turned the page all morning, just stared at the picture of Buffy. Snap out of it!” And that was when she was hit by the unbelievable headache and images rushed in front of her eyes. She collapsed but Angel was there to catch her. “What did you see?” he asked concerned, guiding Cordelia to sit on the chair. Cordelia lifted her gaze and whispered: “Buffy.”
Faith searched through the room but she couldn’t find Buffy’s diary. She was practically under the bed when Willow stepped into the room. “What you doing?” she asked puzzled and sat on the bed. “Looking for my diary. Have you seen it?” she answered and rose from the floor, standing up straight. “No, I haven’t.” “I can’t find it anywhere”, Faith sighed frustrated. But then the thought hit her, maybe Buffy had been in town. She jumped up ready to run after her but then she realized it was fruitless, she didn’t know where to go. With another frustrated sigh she sat down. The phone rang and Willow answered in lightning speed. After a short conversation, she turned to Faith. “That was Giles. We need to go to his place. He has something important to tell us”, Willow said and grabbed her coat. Little while later Faith and Willow walked into Giles’ apartment, everyone else were already there. “What’s up?” Faith asked and then she saw Angel in the dark corner of the living room. Her expression was like a deer caught in headlights, now she was screwed. Willow closed the door and noticed the change in Faith right before seeing Angel. “Angel”, she said surprised. “Willow”, he said courtly and turned to look at Buffy who immediately looked away. “Buffy”, he breathed but got just a bland ‘Angel’ in return. He looked at her more accurately and moved few steps closer to her. There was something wrong about Buffy, he could feel it. And now he was worried that she was mad at him or something because she wouldn’t meet his eyes.”Buffy?” asked and moved closer to her. ”Angel”, she whispered but still she looked away, anything but him. He was getting tired of this, he took hold of her chin and said: ”Buffy, look at me.” He lifted her chin and saw her eyes. But it wasn’t Buffy, her body, her smell, even her eye color was Buffy's but it wasn’t Buffy in those eyes. Suddenly Angel felt rage and grabbed Buffy’s body from the throat. ”Who are you and what have you done to her?” he asked keeping all the rage just under control but he was slipping when the range of possibilities ran across his mind. ”Angel!”, ”What are you doing!”, ”Did you loose it completely, deadboy!?”, ”Let her go”, ”What do you think you’re doing”, were the various shouts coming from behind him but he didn’t care. ”Where is she?” he asked menacingly tightening his hold on her neck. He could see the fear in her eyes and he had to keep reminding himself that it wasn’t his Buffy that he was hurting. ”Let her go!” yelled Giles with a commanding voice and tried to pry his hand off of Buffy but Angel wouldn’t budge. ”Angel”, Faith choked and tried to wring his fingers off her wind pipe, she was getting light headed from the lack of air. ”Let go, and I tell”, she managed to choke out. Angel didn’t let go but he did loosen his hold so that air filled her lungs again. She kept pulling air inside her in long gasps. ”I’m Faith”, she said finally after getting her head together. Angel let her go but still kept his gaze fixed on her, ready to jump if she tried anything. ”What!?” came the stunned chorus from the Scooby gang. ”I guess she was right, you were the only one who recognized her”, she said after breathing a moment. ”Where is she?” Angel asked with a tone that left no room for playing. ”I don’t know”, she answered and after seeing he wasn’t happy about the answer, she quickly continued: ”She’s in my body. But she took off. I don’t know where she is.” ”She did what!? She ran away, again!” yelled Xander in self-righteous anger. ”Why would she do that?” asked Willow with a small hurt voice. ”Why? Maybe because she got tired of all your bullshit. I have been in her body for nearly four months and nobody noticed. Except her creature of the night ex boyfriend after only few minutes in the same room. Not her best friend, not even her mother dearest or the most boring boyfriend, soldier boy. He may be easy on the eyes if he would get rid of that greasy hair, but he isn’t smart enough to notice it’s not his own girlfriend he’s banging”, Faith gave a short pause when she heard low growling from Angel's direction. ”Even Spike noticed it wasn’t Buffy in this body”, she added. ”Spike”, Angel growled. ”Good to be rid of him”, said Xander. ”I wonder where he went, we all know he can not hunt”, wondered Giles out loud. Faith rolled her eyes at the way they were getting side tracked from the matter at hand. ”He went to look out for Buffy. Promised to tell me if he found her but no such luck.” ”Why would Spike go look for Buffy?!” Xander said loudly. ”I guess the de-fanged vamp has a thing for her”, Faith said and looked at Angel from the corner of her eye. He certainly didn’t look happy, he looked like he was ready to murder someone, probably Spike. ”Come on, Angie. You wanted her to have a normal life, no matter how gut wrenching it is.” ”Normal life doesn’t include Spike”, Angel said behind gritted teeth, all he wanted to do was go after his childe and teach him a lesson. ”And I thought you were smart. She’s the Slayer, she’s never going to have a normal life. She doesn’t want picnics with ants on the food, she doesn’t want to have some farm boys kids because they will never be safe because of what she is and they probably will become orphan in no time if they even get to be born because when she’s pregnant she won’t be fast enough, and most of all she knows that she has already beaten the odds by staying alive because most slayers don’t even last a year. You know, slayers don’t have long enough lives to get gray hair, you really don’t have to worry about her growing old when you look young”, lectured Faith looking Angel right in the eye. ”And how do you know what she thinks?” Angel asked defensively. ”I read her diary”, she answered unapologetically and continued when he saw the look Angel was giving her: ”She forgot one, she took them all with her except she forgot one under the mattress. Really not the best hiding place.” “So that’s why you left Riley! It wasn't Buffy!” Willow cried out when the explanation came to her. Faith just rolled her eyes. “How could she have been so selfish?! Leave us again, with a psycho killer”, Xander yelled. “I haven’t killed you yet in these four months, have I? And let me tell you, I had many opportunities and you thought this psycho killer was your friend. What does that make you?” she said angrily placing her hands on her hips. Anya smacked Xander and whispered: “Shut up Xander, do you want the crazy slayer kill us?!” Xander went quiet but kept glaring at Faith and Angel in turns. “We need to find Buffy”, Angel just said, trying to ignore the happy feeling he was having from the thought of Buffy leaving Riley. Then again, it was really Faith, but still he felt satisfied. “I’m with you on that one. I miss my bigger boobs”, she said and adjusted her chest. Angel’s eyes drifted to her rather generous neckline. Faith saw it and changed her pose pushing them up. Angel shifted his gaze away, he was feeling grateful that he couldn’t blush. Giles was just starting to wake up from his shock. “This explains so many things”, he said more to himself than to others. “I thought you wanted her life”, accused Xander and Faith gave him a hard look. “Yeah, well that was before I knew what her life was really like, things sure have changed during the time I was in a coma.” Faith challenged him with her eyes and for once he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut.
Angel and Faith were patrolling together. They both felt weird about being in each others company but still Angel could see the difference in Buffy/Faith even if it wasn’t external, it was her behavior, the way she dressed, acted and the way her eyes looked. He couldn’t believe that her friends hadn’t recognized her or realized she wasn’t Buffy. “This is so weird”, Faith finally said and stopped walking. Angel also stopped and turned to look at Faith. “Not all that much. Sure it is, a little but...” Faith gave him a weak smile and shifted nervously on the balls of her feet. “You know... Angel... I’m sorry about what happened... back then, before the Ascension. It wasn’t personal, not really.” Angel looked at her with scrutinizing gaze, trying to find out if she was sincere. And he saw no deceit in her eyes, only regret. “I understand, I have been in that place, it takes more to admit what you have done and try to work things out than to keep walking on the dark path.” Faith nodded but she couldn’t look at him. “Back at Giles’, I got the feeling you aren’t holding a grudge against Buffy anymore”, he started trying to get her open up, he had failed her once and he didn't want to do it again. “Well, yeah, I read her diary, got a little inside scoop. And hey, you really can’t hate your sister can you. She always seemed to have it all so easy, having the great watcher, supporting friends, loving mom, the boyfriend and everybody kept telling me she was the greatest slayer. But after spending four months as her, I see things more clearly. The supporting friends aren’t like that anymore, come to think of it they weren’t all that back when you were still in town, Xander really gave such a sweet stories about Buffy and you, that’s why I was so ready to stake you the first time we met. Her friends just expect her to save the world and keep on living like nothing happened, they don’t understand what it’s like to be a slayer, not like you and me. Willow is so busy pushing her to Riley that she doesn’t see what she truly feels and when Oz left town, she blamed Buffy not understanding how it feels. Well Giles is taking distance and the mommy dearest is pushing her to quit slaying. She just don’t get it that it isn’t just a phase, that she isn’t going to wake up one morning and realize she is a normal girl. And then there is the guilt tripping, she really knows what to say to make things go like she’d like. Now I want my life back, I want to be in my own body and start my own life with a clean table. I just wish it is possible.” “It is if you try hard enough. It won’t be easy but it will be worth it.” Faith looked at Angel and hoped he was right, that it was possible to have a life anymore. But she didn’t have time to wallow in self pity when Angel sniffed the air. “Something's coming”, he said and frowned: “And they haven’t bathed in a very long time.” “Must be the demons”, Faith said and they heard a deep voice sneer: “You would be right, slayer.” “Big scary demon, had to bring friends to a meeting with little old me”, Faith said and took a defensive position. “And a slayer working with a demon”, came the answer in disgust. “Enough with this banter, some of us have a life”, Faith said and swung her axe. The demons attacked but Faith and Angel held their own. Angel drew extra strength from thinking that it was Buffy they were attacking, it wasn’t so hard since Faith was in her body. But then she was thrown into the wall of a mausoleum and that distracted Angel for a moment giving one of the demons an opportunity to slash his ribs. Angel growled, grabbed the demon by the neck and twisted his head till he heard a snap. He was barely keeping his own demon in check. He saw the largest demon loom over Faith, ready to trike the deathly blow. That was when Angel snapped, he jumped at the demon and brutally started to beat it till there was no life in it. The other demons saw what was happening and they fled the place not wanting to face the same fate. Angel stopped beating the already dead demon when he heard Faith moan in pain. Slowly his demon visage disappeared and quickly he went to her. “Faith, you okay?” he asked helping her up. “Five by five”, she answered leaning into Angel’s strong frame. “Let’s get you patched up. After that we’ll find Buffy”, he said and started to walk away from the cemetery with wounded Faith by his side. At least this time the man wasn’t fleeing away from her, finally things were looking up.
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