04-13-2008, 11:44 PM
Faith came to slowly. She looked around her, noticing that she was in chains... And in the basement of the Bronze. Angel--Angelus--was in front of her. "Hey, sleepyhead," he greeted her.
"Didn't know you went in for that kind of thing," she challenged him.
He walked up to her. "Only in special cases. Slayers, Faith. Never go for the kill--you can go for the hurt first."
"Yeah, I suppose you'd know a lot about that. I heard about what you did last time, Buffy sending your ass all the way back to hell."
"Buffy." He chuckled. "She's a little uptight."
"She's gonna do it again," Faith threatened.
"First, she's got to come for you. Think about it. How many times were you here, and you never came for her?" He stood aside, and she could see Vamp-Willow carrying Buffy's body up the stairs, with Xander behind her.
"No!"
"Yeah. She's been down here the whole time, Faithie. But you guys never came, did you? Think about it. When Buffy sees what you let happen, do you think she'll come for you?"
"That's.... That's the other Buffy." She looked back at Angelus.
"Yeah. Willow got a little bored."
"Puppy got old, boring," the other vampire told them matter-of-factly.
"We wouldn't want our Will getting bored, now, would we?" asked Vamp-Xander.
Faith glared at them all. She hadn't known.... Buffy hadn't known. It hadn't been their fault--they were Slayers, sure, but they weren't perfect. How were they supposed to know??? She couldn't blame herself.... It had been the other girl's fault, getting caught.....
"No, Faith," Angelus quietly interjected. "It was your fault. You were up there almost every night, staking vamps left and right. But you never came down here."
"I didn't know," she protested, wondering why she bothered talking to this scumbag. B would take care of him again, and he'd be gone--maybe Willow could do something permanent about his soul this time--or maybe she'd just kill him. Besides, Willow had skipped out, along with their other friends.
When things got tough, the wimps left. Leaving just her, Buffy, and Giles.... And now just Buffy and Giles. What were they going to do this time? Buffy definitely wouldn't know how to find her--Faith had been here almost every night, and still hadn't found the place. Giles sure wouldn't know.
"Don't worry," Angelus comforted her. "They're just taking her a present. They'll be back soon."
"Taking who?" Faith came out of her tortured thoughts.
"Buffy, of course. There'll probably be loads of presents for her before too long--all kinds of people she was too slow to save. Or, maybe, too busy...."
"Meaning what?"
"How do you know I was really good?" She looked him in the eye, listening to him voice one of her original concerns after she'd met him.
"She said so."
"Yeah, she did. After Xander made her say I was back. Maybe I was never good--she's kept things from you before, Faith."
"You're lying," she told him. "And I don't have to listen to this."
"Yeah, you do. See, there's this thing.... Where I've got you here, and you can't get out.... And if I want to talk, you've got to listen." He leaned in closer. "Or anything else."
"Get away from me," Faith growled at him.
"Say please."
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