Chapter Text
To say that Faith was predictable would’ve been a lie, because she wasn’t. Not in the slightest. But things were different now, Faith was different now. No, that was a lie too. Buffy had just gotten lucky, and she knew it. She was lucky that Faith was so broken and oh so thirsty for revenge. And what better way to hit the blonde where it hurts than to go after mommy dearest? So there Buffy was, creeping around her house searching for that familiar tingle she got from her fellow slayer.
But to be quite frank, Buffy still wasn’t sure what exactly it was that Faith was planning to do to her mother. Before her psycho slayer days, Faith was a pretty cheery gal. Had a great bond with Buffy’s mom and Buffy’s friends, even Scott Hope for crying out loud. Buffy hated that. Because yeah, Faith was a slayer-nothing like Kendra, but a slayer nonetheless. And Faith was sort of pretty, Buffy had to admit. And she was a good slayer. And yeah, Buffy was jealous.
She’d never had to fight for her spot as the Chosen One, not even with Kendra around. Buffy always knew her place, her strength, and how hot she was because although it was flattering, Xander really couldn't shut up about it. And yet with Faith added into the mix, suddenly everything wasn’t so clear. Suddenly she didn’t know her place. The Scoobies were crazy over this mysteriously seductive brunette, and Buffy couldn’t wrap her head around it. No, Buffy could wrap her head around it twice, maybe even three times, but the blonde was stubborn, so she played dumb, pretending like she hadn’t had a clue why her friends were so enamored by Faith. And it worked for the most part. But Faith could see right through her and all her walls and knew exactly which buttons to press to get Buffy furious, or flustered.
So there she stood, staring up at the willow tree directly outside her mother’s bedroom window. It was surprisingly stagnant given how windy of a night it had been. Buffy didn’t want to waste anymore time, so she started climbing.
Buffy positioned herself directly under the window sill, eyes peering into the room. As much as she wanted to charge in and slam Faith to the ground, she knew that would only end in...well end in nothing good. The dark slayer had her back to the window, waving around a blade. Buffy’s mother was curled up on the bed, surprisingly calm, almost expectant. The blonde continued the rest of the way up the tree and was now balancing on a flimsy tree branch. A snap followed by a crackle erupted from beneath Buffy’s feet, realizing she was losing time, Buffy bent her knees and launched herself through the window.
Lucky for her, she’d managed to land right on top of Faith pinning her to the ground.
Faith didn’t remain pinned for long, much to Buffy’s displeasure. She threw punches and kicks in a frenzy with no clear direction. Buffy caught a glimpse of her mother out of the corner of her eye, phone in hand. She was calling the police. With the bedroom window shattered, Buffy knew she’d need to direct their fighting into the hallway. It would be too easy for Faith to escape once she heard the echo of sirens making their way down Revello Drive.
Buffy charged forward with a series of blows, guiding them down the hall. Faith was resistant though and continued with her sloppy attacks on the blonde. The fight was escalating quickly, and Buffy struggled to get a grip on her fellow slayer. She was moving at lightning speed, her only aim being to get in as many hits as possible.
Faith’s unpredictable fighting style overwhelmed Buffy. Hoping to disrupt the brunette’s rage, Buffy lunged forward, throwing the two slayers down the stairs. The sound of ribs and knee caps banging against the steps made Buffy squeamish, Faith was hardly phased though, only looking to get another blow in before Buffy.
“Thought you’d go after the clean marine, didn’t ya? He’s a cutie, looks like he could use a good roll in the sack,” Faith spat, a wicked smile spreading across her face.
“You're not his type, he’s not big on sleaze,” Buffy’s words clearly hit a tender spot within Faith, and before she knew it she was pinned against the wall by the neck. A burning sensation welled up in Buffy’s ears as Faith squeezed on her neck harder, directing more blood to the blonde’s head.
“He’s probably just never tried it,” Faith froze, loosening her grip on Buffy just a bit. The warmth in Buffy’s ears continued to build which made the blonde fill with dread. She hadn’t had a fight like this in months, and as embarrassing as it was to admit, Buffy was totally wired.
“Going for the boyfriend again? That’s tired,” Buffy shot back.
“Just something to remember me by once I’ve moved on,” Faith punched a hole through the wall next to Buffy’s head in an attempt to scare the blonde. It failed. Buffy ducked out of Faith’s grasp and bolted into the dining room. It was time for a change of pace.
Buffy was mad now, but for a more unprecedented reason. Her whole body was vibrating with slayer energy threatening to push her to the edge. Her cheeks felt hot and her pants felt unbearably restrictive. Buffy grabbed onto Faith and dragged her across the dining room table, hoping a piece of broken glass would pierce her skin and give her an upper hand. The brunette regained her balance with no visible wounds. Buffy blew hot air out of her nose.
“Ever occurred to you Faith the reason we all forgot you is because we wanted to?” Faith lost it and hurled a vase at Buffy’s head. She continued to throw an array of items at the blonde, each thrown with less and less force as tears welled in her eyes unbeknownst to Buffy.
Sirens surrounded the Summer’s residence and Faith sprinted into the living room in search of a window to jump out of. But Buffy couldn’t let that happen. She wanted to see Faith locked up behind bars for the rest of her days.
As long as it meant that she was safe.
Because yeah, Buffy cared about Faith or whatever. Not like she loved her or anything, but they were slayers. The chosen two. Faith was the only one that understood Buffy and as much as she’d love to reclaim full ownership of the spotlight, the thought of doing all of this solo frightened Buffy. She didn’t want to go back to having the weight of the world on her shoulders. She was only eighteen for crying out loud. Sure, she was an adult now, but she still felt like a kid. She still felt so fucking vulnerable.
Splitting her responsibilities with Faith had had their pros and cons. It had only occurred to Buffy now that those pros outweigh the cons by a lot.
Despite being asleep for the past eight months, Faith was exhausted. Buffy dragged her knuckles across Faith’s cheeks-left, right, up, and down. That wasn’t enough to incapacitate her though, and before Buffy knew it Faith was by the fireplace fumbling with her hands.
Was she putting on...jewelry? Buffy was unsure. There wasn’t any time to speculate, so the blonde pulled on Faith’s shoulder, greeting her with a punch to the face. And another, and ano-
Buffy’s fist was stopped by Faith’s hand, which was now wrapped around her’s. A warmth filled Buffy’s body unlike anything she’d ever felt before, and her hand tingled. A shimmering light circled their hands and Faith squeezed tighter in disbelief as a stream of dust escaped from between their fingers and fell to the ground in a small pile.
The glow diffused within a matter of seconds and Buffy pulled her hand away forcefully. Well, she tried, but her hand wouldn’t budge. She pulled and tugged with all her might but her fingers were still very much intertwined with Faith’s.
”Let go!” Buffy shouted urgently.
“I’m trying!” Faith wriggled her fingers furiously trying to escape Buffy’s hand. The screaming of police sirens grew louder and Faith searched the room frantically with no clear goal in mind. A sudden pounding startled the two slayers out of their tug of war bringing their attention to the front door.
”This is the police, open up!” Buffy turned to Faith and shot a nasty glare before pulling her towards the kitchen. The blonde flung the back door open and began to sprint with Faith matching pace next to her.
They weaved their way through various culdesacs and backyards, jumping over hedges and white picket fences. What felt like an endless marathon finally came to an end once they reached a small cemetery on the opposite side of town. The sun had all but set and Buffy dragged Faith to a nearby crypt, stomping her feet over freshly dug graves and soggy grass.
Police sirens echoed all around them and Buffy tugged Faith into the crypt. She tried once, twice, to remove her hand from Faith’s. It was no use, they were stuck.
“What did you do?” Buffy huffed out, struggling to catch her breath.
Faith just stared at her with a bewildered look, mouth agape. “I didn’t- I met a guy and he gave me this and- I just thought it’d give me the upper hand or something if we ended up trading blows. I didn’t know it’d do…this,” she motioned at their joined hands.
Buffy sighed and ran a hand through her hair. The police sirens weren’t nearly as loud anymore considering they were several blocks from Buffy’s house. No doubt the cops were questioning Joyce. Buffy had no idea what her mom was telling the cops, but she knew she couldn’t exactly turn Faith into law enforcement without turning herself in due to their circumstances.
”We need to go to Giles,” Buffy decided.
Buffy stretched her free arm and rolled her neck before pulling Faith towards the door. They made the short trip without saying a word to one another. Cause what were they supposed to say? A half hour ago Faith was about to murder Buffy’s mother. And while Buffy really, really wanted to give Faith a good beating, she wasn’t too keen on the idea of dragging around Faith’s body.
It’s not like Faith had made many friends during her stay in Sunnydale. Buffy was searching in her brain for why someone, probably a demon, would give her whatever the hell it was that left them sticky handed. It became obvious pretty quickly; One of the Mayor’s lackeys had to have set Faith up with this magic device thingy. Though she couldn’t wrap her head around why the Mayor would give her something that would do ‘this’.
What was his plan?