Continued from HERESlippin' my hand outta her hair, I let it slide down and wrap tightly around her throat. I licked my lips, wishin' I could just snap her pretty little neck. But I couldn't
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I was still trying to process everything Xander had said, the way he'd been acting and everything, when I heard something come from downstairs. Frowning, I stood up slowly, looking at Xander, Willow, and Wes before the voice seemingly floated its way upstairs to us.
"Buffy... Come out, come out wherever you are."
"Omigod," I whispered, nervously rubbing my arm. "It's Faith."
Faith. Faith and from the way she was talking? The spell hadn't worked at all. What could I do, though? She might go nuts - worse than normal - and just kill them all. No... no, we still had the Sanctuary Spell in place in case she tried to attack me, or anyone for that matter. I began making my way to the door nervously, thinking about such dumb things like where on Earth we'd keep her prisoner if we actually caught her, when she screamed.
"B! Fuckin' help me!""It worked," I breathed a sigh of relief as I ran downstairs as quickly as possible, tearing past everyone in my way until I saw her. How long had it been since I'd seen her? Last time, it had been here
( ... )
"I knew you were a demon-magnet, Xand, but this one really takes the cake."
I was about to reply when a voice from downstairs cut me off. A familiar voice.
"Buffy. Come out, come out wherever you are."
I stood up, my body tensing, ready for a fight.
"Omigod. It's Faith." Buffy exclaimed.
Strange thing was, even though she seemed caught off guard she didn’t look all that surprised.
"B! Fuckin' help me!"
OK, this was definitely getting curious.
"It worked.”
I opened my mouth to ask her what she was talking about, but she was already out the door and heading for the stairs. I followed.
Buffy quickly made her way downstairs and weaved through the gathering crowd to reach Faith. I took the short-cut, vaulting the railing and dropping to the lobby. Buffy’s demeanor didn’t indicate that she was expecting a fight, but I wanted to be close by just in case.
"You need help? Tell me how. Tell me what you need."
Folding my arms, I watched and waited to see where this was going.
Before something exceptional or important happens in this hotel, I've found that there comes a certain change in the air-- the tiniest shift, a miniscule bit of electricity that sets the hairs on the back of one's neck on end. Typically around here, that meant some sort of fight or confrontation. On the rare and happy occasion, it announced the coming of something good and welcome. I felt that shiver just before we heard the voice, and for a moment I wondered which way things would go this time.
"Buffy... Come out, come out wherever you are."
"Omigod... It's Faith."The entire room was on its feet in a heartbeat, and moving for the door in a surprisingly orderly fashion given our haste. As I instinctively began reaching under my shirt for a pistol, I realised that despite knowing who waited downstairs, and why they had come, I still didn't know how things would fall
( ... )
Faith screams had escalated to that final, puncuated demand. But I didn't need the sharp retort of her voice or her grand entrance to know that Faith had arrived. I had been standing by the window after all, busy trying not to look too coldly at Xander, not that my efforts seemed to register. And then there was the pull of a spell just performed, especially one as powerful as this one. It was like a silver, silken thread growing tighter and tighter with each passing second. Nothing had snapped yet, but as we all followed Buffy's lad down to the lobby, I couldn't be so sure that it wasn't the inevitable conclusion.
"It worked."
Yes, it did.
And I wondered for a moment why we had even ever doubted it. It's only the simple things we seem to fail at, when we want it to be just a moment, just magic, or just love. We've always gotten along with complicated pretty well.
I stood just to the right of Buffy, tense and taunt from Xander's unusual entrance and the very feel of the gun Wesley had introduced into the room
( ... )
"Are... are you hearing things, Faith? Voices, maybe...?"
I laughed, shakin' my head.
"Somethin' like that. They're here. Talkin', fuckin' with me. They won't shut the fuck up!"
I grabbed the sides of my head again. Tryin' to shut ‘em out. But they was gettin' louder. Everyone was gettin' louder. This was really gettin' to me. I just wanted to get the fuck outta here.
"Faith, listen... I know this is hard to believe, but...... we put your soul back."
I looked past her, seein' that fuckin' kid again. Standin' there, starin' at me. Marissa was right beside him. And a bunch of other fuckin' people. I killed ‘em. All of ‘em. And they were comin' back to fuck with me. Watchin' me. Talkin' to me.
So loud in my head, I couldn't hear nothin' nobody else was sayin'. They was all lookin' at me like I was pathetic. Like they felt sorry for me.
"Stop lookin' at me like that! I ain't your god damned charity case!"
Next thing I know, fuckin' Xander's runnin' his mouth.
"Help her? You think she can be helped? They restored your soul, Faith
( ... )
I started laughin' again. What the hell was goin' on around here. See to my health?
"Hate to be the one to wet the paper here, but I'm fuckin' dead people. So my health? Not really an issue. Now, all this other shit? That's an issue."
That's when B's voice echoed in my head. Somethin' she said a minute ago. Somethin' that didn't fuckin' register til now.
"Faith, listen... I know this is hard to believe, but...... we put your soul back."
I lifted my hands up to my ears, holdin' the sides of my head. It has to be the voices. Somebody's usin' B's voice to fuck with me.
"Don't use her voice to lie to me! They're tellin' lies! Nobody put my soul back. That was Angel. He's fuckin' gone now. Angelus...." I shook my head again. "...Spike. Not me."
"....we put your soul back.""Stop fuckin' lyin'! Can't put the cracker jack prize back into the opened box! The box is open, no prize inside
( ... )
Once, in my younger days at Watchers' Academy, a group of friends and myself headed out into London on an evening's pass, intent on seeing the latest avant garde production of Shakespeare that was garnering quite rave reviews from West End criics. In the Bard's home country in particular, young artistically minded theatre types were always keen on 'reinventing' or 'reinterpreting' Shakespeare's works, whether transposing them to different time periods, using more symbolic and esoteric stage tricks, or what have you. Personally, I was something of a traditionalist, but it was still a night out on the town with the chums.
Instead of a theatre, we entered a clean, if somewhat elderly warehouse space, the entire place painted pitch black, with harsh, bright lights hung at seemingly random spots. Rather than the traditional arrangement, the audience for this performance was seated in the middle of the space, all facing inward, with a handful of aisle dividing the sections. The play-- Hamlet, of course, the ultimate subject of artistic
( ... )
I am not a hero. I believe, perhaps, that at one point, I had the chance to be one.
For most of my life, I was not worthy of that title. Year and years passed, ever-hopeful and constant in the overwhelming desire to be a hero, that I was not enough; that I came up short of the mark. And then, I allowed the dark things into my soul, turning myself, as Lilah was so very correct in pointing out, gray, forever. Since then, I have gone past what a hero would do, and there is no turning back.
I am not a hero. But, I believe it is my honour and privilege to stand beside them. And, surprisingly, to love one. And I am more than content to do my part.
And that is why when Faith attacked, it was my left hand that slipped under my jacket, and it was the air pistol loaded with tranquiliser darts that rose and fired. The red flare at the base of the dart blossomed, and the needle drove enough sedative into Faith's system to put down a linebacker on amphetamines
( ... )
Comments 13
"Buffy... Come out, come out wherever you are."
"Omigod," I whispered, nervously rubbing my arm. "It's Faith."
Faith. Faith and from the way she was talking? The spell hadn't worked at all. What could I do, though? She might go nuts - worse than normal - and just kill them all. No... no, we still had the Sanctuary Spell in place in case she tried to attack me, or anyone for that matter. I began making my way to the door nervously, thinking about such dumb things like where on Earth we'd keep her prisoner if we actually caught her, when she screamed.
"B! Fuckin' help me!""It worked," I breathed a sigh of relief as I ran downstairs as quickly as possible, tearing past everyone in my way until I saw her. How long had it been since I'd seen her? Last time, it had been here ( ... )
Reply
I was about to reply when a voice from downstairs cut me off. A familiar voice.
"Buffy. Come out, come out wherever you are."
I stood up, my body tensing, ready for a fight.
"Omigod. It's Faith." Buffy exclaimed.
Strange thing was, even though she seemed caught off guard she didn’t look all that surprised.
"B! Fuckin' help me!"
OK, this was definitely getting curious.
"It worked.”
I opened my mouth to ask her what she was talking about, but she was already out the door and heading for the stairs. I followed.
Buffy quickly made her way downstairs and weaved through the gathering crowd to reach Faith. I took the short-cut, vaulting the railing and dropping to the lobby. Buffy’s demeanor didn’t indicate that she was expecting a fight, but I wanted to be close by just in case.
"You need help? Tell me how. Tell me what you need."
Folding my arms, I watched and waited to see where this was going.
Reply
"Buffy... Come out, come out wherever you are."
"Omigod... It's Faith."The entire room was on its feet in a heartbeat, and moving for the door in a surprisingly orderly fashion given our haste. As I instinctively began reaching under my shirt for a pistol, I realised that despite knowing who waited downstairs, and why they had come, I still didn't know how things would fall ( ... )
Reply
Faith screams had escalated to that final, puncuated demand. But I didn't need the sharp retort of her voice or her grand entrance to know that Faith had arrived. I had been standing by the window after all, busy trying not to look too coldly at Xander, not that my efforts seemed to register. And then there was the pull of a spell just performed, especially one as powerful as this one. It was like a silver, silken thread growing tighter and tighter with each passing second. Nothing had snapped yet, but as we all followed Buffy's lad down to the lobby, I couldn't be so sure that it wasn't the inevitable conclusion.
"It worked."
Yes, it did.
And I wondered for a moment why we had even ever doubted it. It's only the simple things we seem to fail at, when we want it to be just a moment, just magic, or just love. We've always gotten along with complicated pretty well.
I stood just to the right of Buffy, tense and taunt from Xander's unusual entrance and the very feel of the gun Wesley had introduced into the room ( ... )
Reply
I laughed, shakin' my head.
"Somethin' like that. They're here. Talkin', fuckin' with me. They won't shut the fuck up!"
I grabbed the sides of my head again. Tryin' to shut ‘em out. But they was gettin' louder. Everyone was gettin' louder. This was really gettin' to me. I just wanted to get the fuck outta here.
"Faith, listen... I know this is hard to believe, but...... we put your soul back."
I looked past her, seein' that fuckin' kid again. Standin' there, starin' at me. Marissa was right beside him. And a bunch of other fuckin' people. I killed ‘em. All of ‘em. And they were comin' back to fuck with me. Watchin' me. Talkin' to me.
So loud in my head, I couldn't hear nothin' nobody else was sayin'. They was all lookin' at me like I was pathetic. Like they felt sorry for me.
"Stop lookin' at me like that! I ain't your god damned charity case!"
Next thing I know, fuckin' Xander's runnin' his mouth.
"Help her? You think she can be helped? They restored your soul, Faith ( ... )
Reply
"Hate to be the one to wet the paper here, but I'm fuckin' dead people. So my health? Not really an issue. Now, all this other shit? That's an issue."
That's when B's voice echoed in my head. Somethin' she said a minute ago. Somethin' that didn't fuckin' register til now.
"Faith, listen... I know this is hard to believe, but...... we put your soul back."
I lifted my hands up to my ears, holdin' the sides of my head. It has to be the voices. Somebody's usin' B's voice to fuck with me.
"Don't use her voice to lie to me! They're tellin' lies! Nobody put my soul back. That was Angel. He's fuckin' gone now. Angelus...." I shook my head again. "...Spike. Not me."
"....we put your soul back.""Stop fuckin' lyin'! Can't put the cracker jack prize back into the opened box! The box is open, no prize inside ( ... )
Reply
Instead of a theatre, we entered a clean, if somewhat elderly warehouse space, the entire place painted pitch black, with harsh, bright lights hung at seemingly random spots. Rather than the traditional arrangement, the audience for this performance was seated in the middle of the space, all facing inward, with a handful of aisle dividing the sections. The play-- Hamlet, of course, the ultimate subject of artistic ( ... )
Reply
For most of my life, I was not worthy of that title. Year and years passed, ever-hopeful and constant in the overwhelming desire to be a hero, that I was not enough; that I came up short of the mark. And then, I allowed the dark things into my soul, turning myself, as Lilah was so very correct in pointing out, gray, forever. Since then, I have gone past what a hero would do, and there is no turning back.
I am not a hero. But, I believe it is my honour and privilege to stand beside them. And, surprisingly, to love one. And I am more than content to do my part.
And that is why when Faith attacked, it was my left hand that slipped under my jacket, and it was the air pistol loaded with tranquiliser darts that rose and fired. The red flare at the base of the dart blossomed, and the needle drove enough sedative into Faith's system to put down a linebacker on amphetamines ( ... )
Reply
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