Chapter Twenty: Prelude
Faith walked through the deserted streets, snow falling silently around her. Her boots crunched the snow beneath her feet, packing it tightly into footprints. The fantasy of being in Germany in the middle of winter seemed like a stupid idea to her now. She hadn’t exactly planned out her cross-continent travels, and Angel only slightly guiding her whenever she called him every couple of months. He would give general information about things going on in nearby locations- read, less than 5000 miles away- and she would pick whichever she decided was closest, more appealing, or more in need of her help. She was never given an exact location, but instead- as she put it- followed the screams.
Her Slayer dreams- which, not unlike Buffy’s, albeit more sinister- would transform into horror-filled nightmares that she would only fleetingly remember upon waking. They would depict the horrors of what could happen in the most evil of ways. Faith hated sleeping for the sole reason that her dreams –while they steered her towards her goal – made the normally restive human necessity fitful and she would enter into it with apprehension.
It was on these thoughts that Faith sensed vampires lurking nearby- the scream of a woman giving her all the persuasion to investigate. Sprinting over to an alcove outside of a church, Faith slid to a stop mere meters from two vampires and dropped her bag of weapons to the ground with a muffled thud in the snow.
“Aren’t you worried about getting frostbite?” Faith drawled in English, causing the vamps to spin to face her, the helpless woman’s arm tightly grasped in one of their hands.
“S-slayer,” the vamp who was holding the woman hissed back in strongly accented German.
“Guess my reputation has gotten around. Kinda hoped it wouldn’t,” Faith shrugged, “You know rumors.”
“You’re gonna be dead before you have to worry about that,” the vamp that wasn’t holding the woman replied in rough English, the words barely understandable with his strong German accent.
“You know, you guys have gotta come up with more imaginative lines,” Faith remarked, sidestepping the vamp, and used his momentum to push him into the stone church wall.
The sickening sound of a skull cracking and the howl of pain echoed along the alcove and out into the street as Faith moved forward to the other vampire who still held onto the woman. Yanking the woman up against him, he cupped her chin with his hand, and Faith paused, knowing how easily he could snap her neck. Hearing the other vamp finally stumbling back up, Faith turned around and landed a kick to his sternum, before following him to where he slammed against the wall again and staked him. Swiveling around in a crouch, Faith watched the other vamp’s eyes go wide before releasing the woman and running for his undead life. Running back to her bag, Faith pulled out a hand-held crossbow with a bolt locked into place. Running past the woman, Faith took careful aim at the vamp running down the deserted street.
Letting the bolt fly, a ghost of a smile appeared on Faith’s face at the sound of the vamp dusting before she turned back to the woman, “Sind sie in ordnung?” Are you all right?
“Ja.” Yes.
“Gehen sie nach hause,” Go home. , Faith commanded gently, grasping the woman’s shoulder warmly.
“Vielen dank.” Thank you. The woman replied, tears in her eyes.
Faith nodded silently to the woman and watched her run off. She was currently very glad that she had learned some German beforehand. Walking over to her bag, Faith put the crossbow away and slung the bag over her shoulder, dusting the snow off of it as she did so. As she began walking, Faith entered a park, continuing her patrol.
Coming to a bench, Faith smiled gently at the blonde sitting there in a pair of plaid pajama pants and a muscle shirt, her arms crossed and an expression of confusion etched across her face.
“What are you doing here?” Faith asked as she stood over the blonde, who had just noticed the dark Slayer’s presence.
Buffy looked up at Faith, taking her in before speaking, “Time’s running out Faith, lay out your cards before it’s too late.”
Faith bolted upright in bed, rolling away from Buffy as she did so. Buffy sat up almost as quickly and flicked on her bedside lamp.
“Wha…Where?” Buffy’s less than coherent questions focused Faith, who took a deep breath before answering.
“You bumped into a memory I was dreaming about,” Faith started.
“Where were we?”
“Dresden, Germany.”
“Germany?!” Buffy turned and looked at the brunette in surprise, “When the hell did you go there?”
“Around a year and a half after I left you,” Faith replied quietly.
“Oh,” Buffy’s voice softened, and silence fell between the two, “Why were you dreaming it?”
“Because of my dreams,” Faith started with a sigh, “They’ve been bothering me since I came here, and for some reason, I just didn’t really put my finger fully on it because I never remembered anything, but now…”
“What?” Buffy prodded gently, turning to face the other Chosen One.
“Now, I think I went back to that memory because it was that night that I was mulling over my dreams,” Faith replied, “Kinda like a subconscious way of smacking myself upside the head from the inside.”
“Huh,” Buffy smirked at Faith’s comment, “Why didn’t you ever tell me about your dreams before?”
“I didn’t remember them, so I never connected that they might’ve been important to tell you anyway,” Faith shrugged, “I don’t always pick up on shit, okay?”
“Okay,” Buffy lifted her hands in surrender, “I’m sorry.”
“Have you been dreaming anything as of late?”
Buffy shook her head, “Tonight was the first time, and I don’t remember anything until you walked up to me. I felt like I was sitting there, but I didn’t make the words come out of my mouth, they just… happened.”
“That’s…interesting,” Faith mused, leaning back against the headboard.
“Yeah,” Buffy agreed.
The pair fell silent again before Buffy broke into Faith’s thoughts by asking, “When you remembered your dreams, what were they about?”
Faith stiffened slightly and closed her eyes, why did you have to ask?
“Faith?” Buffy inquired, her voice softer, and yet, closer.
Faith opened her eyes and saw that Buffy had moved slightly nearer to her, making the space between them intimate, safe.
“They were…” Faith stopped and swallowed, “They were nightmares…of hell, and torture, and death. They would guide me to the next place that I would go to help people. As the nightmares worsened, I knew I was getting close. Every night I spent in the place where I was led was terrifying. I learned to sleep in sets of three or four hours to reduce the images that would be seared into my memory.”
“God, Faith, I…”
“It’s okay. Not every night was horrible. Some nights were cryptic,” Faith joked darkly. “I guess tonight was my brain’s way of saying that just because I wasn’t remembering the nightmares didn’t mean they weren’t happening.”
“Which means?” Buffy prodded.
“Which means that the apocalypse is gonna be comin’ soon, and the Kartuk’s base camp is within a 500 mile radius of here,” Faith explained, rubbing her temples before getting out of the bed.
“Well, why don’t we get Willow and Andrew to work on pinpointing the place where ol’ One-Hand Bates or whatever his name was, was held captive?” Buffy asked, her gaze following Faith across the room, “At least we might have something to track or…something,” She finished lamely.
“Beatman?” Buffy raised her hand in a silent amendment to messing up the name, “Yeah, we could do that,” Faith nodded before sighing and yanking a pair of jeans, a bra, socks, and a deep red muscle shirt out of her drawers. Moving into the bathroom, Faith dressed quickly before pulling on the boots she had left in there the night before. A sense of restlessness had awakened within her, and Faith felt the need to move. After exiting the bathroom, Faith pulled her hair back into a ponytail, and grabbed her jean jacket. She had just made it to the door when Buffy finally spoke.
“Where are you going Faith? It’s four in the morning,” Buffy had moved to sit on the end of the bed, her feet hanging limply over the edge of the bench at the end.
Faith, hand gripping the doorknob tightly, sighed, and lowered her head, “I can’t stay here right now. I-I need to get out, think…fuck, I need to clear my head.”
“Faith…” Buffy began, and Faith sensed a round of attempts to keep her in the mansion.
Taking a deep breath, Faith turned to look back at the blonde Slayer and cut off whatever she was going to say, “Look, I’ll be back later. I just… I need space.”
Faith felt the mask of her younger self shifting into place, and the hurt look on Buffy’s face as she left was all she needed to see to know that Buffy recognized it as well. Striding down the hall, Faith shook her head, trying to find an equilibrium between the mixture of frustration, fear and guilt that were raging within her mind. As she silently exited the house into the garage, Faith pressed the door opener before grabbing her helmet from the seat of her Ducati and rolling it out and down the drive way. When she had wheeled the bike around the first curve in the driveway, and the mansion was mostly obscured by the surrounding forest, Faith threw her leg over the seat, pulled on her helmet, and kick-started the bike. Revving it just enough to get down the driveway, Faith kept the sound to a minimum so as to keep the rest of the people in the mansion from waking. Once out on the main road however, she went full throttle, and welcomed the feeling of the roaring engine between her legs. With all thoughts draining from her mind, Faith let her body take control, finding comfort in how merely riding her bike could calm her.
It was almost an hour later when Faith pulled into a 24-hour restaurant. Pulling the helmet from her head, she looked around at the nearly vacant eatery, before walking up to the counter. A waitress leaned against the back wall, her jaw moving in a jerky motion to compensate for the large piece of gum that she was chewing. Faith watched the woman size her up before pushing herself from the wall and move towards the counter, the smile on her face not quite making it to her eyes.
“Mornin’ Sweets. Anything I can get for ya?”
Faith glanced up at the chalked menu over the waitress’s shoulder, “Coffee, black, and a blueberry muffin.”
“Bag it?” the woman asked as she moved to the coffee pot, a styrofoam cup in her hand.
“Yeah,” Faith replied, pulling a bunch of folded bills from her back pocket, her driver’s license slipping a bit from the middle.
“$3.50,” the woman finished as she secured a cover on the coffee and walked over to the far wall where a set of shelves filled with various croissants, crullers, donuts, bagels and muffins were shut behind clear glass doors.
Faith dropped $4 onto the counter as the waitress came back over, the coffee in one hand, and a paper bag in another.
“Keep the change,” Faith stated as she picked up the coffee and bag in one hand, held her helmet in the other, and turned to leave.
“Thanks dahlin’,” the waitress called out after her.
Faith glanced over her shoulder as she pushed open the door and nodded quickly to her before exiting. Normalcy in an already fucked up day.
Faith hadn’t checked her phone – which conveniently was on silent mode- since she had stopped at the restaurant. The sun had appeared over the horizon, but aside from that, she had no knowledge of time. However, she could tell from the non-interstate highway she was on that she had entered into a more rural and hilly part of Ohio. Nothin’ like New England though. Taking the next exit off of the highway, Faith came to a stop at the end of the ramp, her eyes widening before furrowing her brow in thought. To her right stood a sign informing her that Forest Hills State Park could be found down the road to her right. Well isn’t this coincidence? Deciding not to wonder just how in the world she ended up at the very place that she and Buffy had been discussing before her quick departure, Faith took the turn, deciding to attempt at least a little reconnaissance while she was up here, being all avoidy. Avoidy- now that’s definitely proof that I’ve been around B for too long, Faith mused, her eyes scanning the road signs as she turned left up a road that inevitably lead to the park.
A few minutes later, Faith pulled into the main parking lot. Killing the engine, Faith glanced around at the only two vehicles in the lot, early birds. Getting off of the Ducati, Faith freed her head from the helmet and placed it on the end of the bike as she freed her hair from its secure ponytail while she strode towards the Visitor’s Center. Pulling open the glass door, Faith glanced around, and noticed the overly cheerful Park Ranger chatting with a less-than perky Ranger at the reception desk. Striding over, the two turned to look at her, and she flashed a smile that she hoped was not off-putting. The Ranger behind the desk yawned as she stood before sparing a guilty look at the other Ranger and smiled welcomingly at Faith.
“Good morning and welcome to the Forest Hills State Park. If you have any questions, you can ask any Ranger you see, or come here if you cannot find anyone. The trails and pond are free of charge, as this is a State Park, and restrooms can be found both in this building as well as down near the pond beach area,” The woman greeted Faith.
Faith smiled, “Thanks, I do have a question, actually.”
The Ranger raised her eyebrows slightly, “Yes?”
“I’m from out of state, and I’m conducting a countrywide road trip and survey of random State Parks, and I have a few… odd…questions,” The second Ranger perked up slightly at her phrasing, but Faith noticed that he otherwise didn’t move, “Have you had any problems with wild animals or attacks of any kind in the general vicinity of the park lands in the past year?”
“Well, Ranger Timlon would know more about that I would, as I’m relatively new here,” The Ranger at the desk gestured to the Ranger next to Faith.
Faith turned to face him, retaining a look of curiosity as he spoke, “Well ma’am, this is a park, and animals are known for doing their damage over the years. I would have to say that there have been various bear incidents up in the northernmost section of this park, but there are no trails or camp sites out there, and we only really find other animals that are victims. It’s strange, considering that there is no real pattern in conjunction with the seasons, but we don’t completely understand animals. Do you have any other questions?”
“Just one,” Faith smiled gently, “Do you have any tagged bear breeds?”
The Ranger shifted, “Well yes we do, the black bears can be found in the section I told you. They don’t venture out of their area too often.”
Faith nodded, “Thank you, that’s all I wanted to ask.”
“Mind if I ask what this survey is for?” Ranger Timlon asked as Faith turned to grab a map of the trails.
“Oh, it’s for my graduate paper on how different breeds of bears act in different areas of the country. I wanted to do some real footwork for it, and not just check books and the internet. I’m an outdoorsy kinda person, so it seemed like a great idea,” Faith lied, raising her hand to loop a few locks of hair behind her ear, completing the act.
“Well you don’t hear that too often these days, do ya Bri?” Timlon chuckled, “Nice to know that not all the youngin’s are stuck indoors. Enjoy the park,” Timlon touched the brim of his hat as Faith smiled back before exiting out the glass doors.
Sighing, Faith walked towards the Trail entrance to her left, pulling open the map as she did so. Glancing down at the half-dozen or more trails that would split out in about a half mile, Faith saw that one- the Blue trail- led the closest to the northern edge before the park was left to the wildlife. Folding the map and sticking it into her back pocket, Faith began what she figured would be a long hike.
It was over an hour later when Faith finally came to a halt in the trail. Cinching the jacket arms’ knot around her waist tighter, Faith rubbed her forearm across her damp forehead,no shit it’s a hike. Pulling the map from her back pocket, Faith figured the soft U- turn she was starting in the trail was the edge she was looking for. From the looks of the map, a utility road ran parallel to the top of the U-turn about a mile further into the woods. Following the road out, it seemed to dump out in one of the Ranger’s two parking lots near the visitor’s center. Folding the map up, Faith walked further into the topmost part of the U before glancing around, oh yeah, like anyone’s gonna see me…Faith shook her head before stepping off of the trail, careful not to flick leaves around at the edge to give a clue to her off-limits excursion.
The sun was warm in the late April weather, and Faith felt sweat dampening the hair at the base of her neck. Pulling her hair tie from her pants pocket, Faith pulled her hair back into a ponytail, the heat of the sun immediately beating down on her exposed neck. Moving further into the untamed woods, Faith moved in and out of direct sunlight, the moments in the shade a blessing. Staying in a relatively straight line, Faith decided that if she found nothing in the next thirty minutes, to make a 180º turn and head straight back out. Focusing heavily on specific landmarks, Faith moved forward as quietly as possible.
“We’re lost, aren’t we?” Glenn asked through his mouthpiece inside his helmet, his hands wrapped around Faith’s waist.
“No. We’re merely taking the scenic root,” Faith replied as she slowed down slightly to take a sharp curve.
“In Russia?” Glenn shot back.
Faith was silent a moment, “We’re lost.”
“I knew we should’ve asked for directions back in Omsk.”
“Oh shut up. You should’ve known where we were going anyway, you’re my contact,” Faith grumbled back.
“I don’t really know the Russian language,” Glenn mumbled.
Faith hit the brakes, the tires squealing and leaving smoke as they came to a quick stop, “What?”
“I thought you would!” Glenn explained defensively.
“Why the fuck would you think I would?” Faith shot back, turning to look back at him as she flicked her visor up.
“You know German.”
“That’s not Russian you ass!” Faith countered angrily, “You’ve got ten seconds to explain to me why I need you for this mission before I leave you here to freeze.”
Glenn flicked his visor up, “I know the family of half demons you need to help. They only trust me, and they speak Polish, which is my primary language.”
Faith looked hard at him, “Where are they?”
“Bamaul.”
Faith turned around and flicked down her visor, “We’re going the right way.”
“East?”
“Yeah,” Faith revved the engine and accelerated, hearing Glenn swear as he flicked his visor down before tightening his grip around her waist.
Faith figured she’d almost given herself another hour as she came to halt at a nearby creek bed. Glancing around, Faith sighed, Maybe I was wrong. Shaking her head, Faith began to walk back before noticing a large clump of bushes.Odd. Faith cocked her head to one side before approaching it a bit. Seeing an arrangement of rocks into a small pyramid at the creek to her left and a similar arrangement to her right about 50 feet away, Faith stopped. Odder still. Deciding not to walk between the two small rock formations, Faith backed away. The clump of bushes turned into a camouflaged structure up close, but she could see why it didn’t stand out to her immediately from a distance.
Turning back the way she came, Faith pulled a small pocket knife from her jean jacket. Carving out a small notch in three trees, Faith marked her area. For the hour walk back, Faith did the same thing every five hundred feet. After passing over the utility road a second time, Faith turned down it and walked alongside it, pulling the map from her back pocket to make sure she was going the right way. After putting the map away, Faith gathered a small bunch of sticks from the side of the road and broke them up. Making a small, unobtrusive pile, Faith marked a spot almost a hundred feet from where she had come from the woods before continuing on down the road.
When she finally arrived near the end of the utility road, Faith slipped back into the woods. Staying about fifty feet in, Faith moved quietly around the parking lot, the map pulled out to direct her toward where she parked her bike one lot over. She didn’t want anyone to see her come strolling out of the road- that would raise too many questions. Vying for remaining hidden, Faith kept one eye on the Ranger’s parking lot and one on where she was walking, careful not to step on sticks, minimizing her presence as much as possible.
When she finally got over to her lot, Faith watched from the woods as a family of five tumbled out of a van near to where she stood in the woods and started walking towards the Visitor’s Center. Exiting the woods while using the van as cover, Faith walked quickly to her motorcycle. Grabbing the helmet from the seat, Faith threw her leg over the side and pulled the helmet on. Kick starting the bike, Faith backed up before leaving the park and flooring it back to the mansion.
It was a long ride, and Faith realized that she must’ve driven well over and hour and a half away from the mansion. As the words on the signs became more familiar, Faith felt a surge of adrenaline at getting back and letting everyone know what she saw. When Faith finally made her way back onto the road where the mansion was, she saw a familiar SUV coming towards her. Smiling despite herself, Faith revved the engine a bit more and cut in front of the vehicle- beating it into the entrance to the driveway. As she weaved her way up the driveway, the sound of the driver beeping at her caused her smile to grow and she glanced over her shoulder to look back at the SUV behind her.
Pulling into the garage, Faith killed the engine and freed her head from the confines of the helmet before getting off of the Ducati and looking over at the SUV as Buffy, Dawn, Britt and Shane climbed out, groceries in their arms.
“Nice moves,” Dawn stated flatly, a hint of a smile at the edges of her eyes.
“Just keepin’ ya on ya toes, girl,” Faith replied, grinning as she helped them with the bags.
“Where’ve you been?” Buffy asked nonchalantly as the group entered the mansion and walked down the hall towards the kitchen.
“Out,” Faith replied shortly, then, glancing over her shoulder, “Actually I need to tell you and whoever's here some things that I found out while I was gone.”
“Oh?” Dawn asked, her gaze flicking from her sister to the dark Slayer.
Faith saw the pointed look of hurt Buffy gave her but shrugged it off as she began to put the food away, “Yeah. Do you guys know who’s around?”
“I’ll go check, meet you in Willow’s in five?” Dawn asked, as she shoved the last plastic bag into another bulging one underneath the sink.
Faith nodded before exiting the kitchen to make a hasty retreat to the bathroom near the garage.
She had heard another pair of steps follow her quietly, and it wasn’t until she was washing her hands that a soft knock sounded on the door of the half-bath.
Faith looked up towards the door, “Come in.”
The appearance of Buffy was not a surprise to her. Buffy shut the door behind her and leaned against it, almost as if it were the only thing keeping her from falling. Regarding her silently for moment, Faith broke the eye contact and sighed, turning her head away to look at herself in the mirror.
“Faith…” Buffy began hesitantly.
“I’m sorry I bailed on ya, B,” Faith cut in, dropping her eyes to the faucet, “I just… I needed to get away for a bit.”
Buffy was silent for a moment, before quietly commenting, “Some things never change?”
Faith allowed a ghost of a smile to grace her features for a moment at the light undertone in the statement, knowing it wasn’t a dig at her, “Some things,” Faith lifted her foot and dropped the toe to the ground, playing with the edge of the rug before turning to lean sideways against the sink top, her gaze meeting the blonde’s, “Are we okay?”
Buffy smiled softly, “I think so. Just don’t listen to all of the messages I left on your phone.”
“How many…” Faith began as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, “Eighteen messages? What the fuck…”
“You didn’t get any of them?” Buffy cut in, surprised.
“I had my phone on silent, I didn’t check it at all,” Faith explained as she put her phone away.
“Just delete them, what I said doesn’t matter now,” Buffy continued, a look of fear on her face as Faith pocketed the phone.
“What’d you say?” Faith asked, her tone dropping an octave, a sense of nervousness bubbling within her stomach.
Buffy blushed guiltily, but before she could reply, Dawn’s voice cut through the wood door, “Will you two kiss and make up so Faith can tell us what she learned already?”
Faith grinned, and Buffy shut her eyes, a similar grin on her face, “We’ll be out in a sec Brat.”
“I said…” Buffy started, only to be cut off by Faith.
“Doesn’t matter, we good?”
Buffy eyed the brunette for a long moment before an impish grin spread across her face, “Five by five.”
“Is this everyone?” Faith asked, her eyebrows arching at the sight of only a handful of the core group that was currently gathered in Willow’s study.
“Work, school, errands, commitments…” Willow began.
“A lack of afternoon classes…” Dawn cut in, grinning, before becoming serious at the look the witch shot her.
“We’re the ones who don’t have a life, apparently,” Willow finished, a mirth-filled smirk gracing her features as she twirled a ballpoint pen between her fingers while leaning against the front of her desk.
“So spill. The rest’ll get the Reader’s Digest version later,” Dawn added, crossing her arms as she leaned against the side of a bookcase.
“Ai’ight,” Faith sighed, thinking about where to begin, definitely not the exact beginning. Shaking her head, Faith made a mental note to inform Giles and Willow of her dreams after Buffy left and thus would be spared any embarrassment. Taking another breath, Faith took the plunge, “I woke up early, before dawn. I was… restless. I had to move, it’s how I deal, so I hopped on my bike and peaced…”
It was almost an hour later when Faith finished retelling the day’s events. The group remained quiet for a few moments, digesting the new information, before Willow suddenly stood up and began pacing.
“We could take a team up to Forest Hills and check to see if what you described as a barrier spell is functioning, or just made to look the part. Then, once that’s settled, you guys could go in and scout it out,” Willow stated, full pace-mode aiding with her thought process.
“Scout only, no fighting?” Buffy asked, clarifying.
“Yes,” Giles replied, catching Willow’s glance before pulling off his glasses to clean them, “There seems to be a link between the pair of you attacking the Kartuk and their life force removal spells. They appear to be retaliating for your assaults on their clan- possibly as a way to hide their true motive for doing them in the first place.”
“Do you think that if we just avoid engaging them, we could hold off their little apocalypse?” Buffy asked, placing her hands on the back of the couch and leaning her weight on it.
“For a time, possibly, but they will do their final spell on one of you eventually, regardless if it will also be as an act of retribution. I don’t think you should avoid fighting them for too long after the first time- especially if they become aware of what you’re trying to do,” Giles explained, putting his glasses back on.
“I personally would like to buy as much time as possible for us to prepare for this apocalypse before we get to the final countdown,” Faith commented, shifting her weight to the opposite foot.
“No way to avoid it then?” Dawn asked, “We’re definitely gonna be hearing R.E.M.’s song on playback in the trauma ward?”
Buffy chuckled before sobering, “I have got to make sure we don’t let Sandra do that ever again.”
“Glad to know she gets black humor,” Faith smirked, shaking her head, getting an idea of what she must have missed while out on her own.
“Yeah, well, she only did it before the shit hit the fan,” Buffy explained, “Then it wasn’t so funny.”
“Well duh,” Faith commented, before winking at the blonde.
A less tense silence fell upon the small group before Willow broke it for the second time, redirecting the conversation back to the most pressing issue, “Well, when Andrew and the Coven get back here, we’ll do extensive research. Until then, Giles- would you like to help Dawn and I research?”
Giles smiled softly and nodded, “Of course.”
“All righty, let’s aim for an outing tomorrow. Buffy, pick out who you want to go with us and we’ll bang out the plans around ten tonight. Sound good?”
“Peachy,” Buffy replied simply.
“’K, we’re good for now,” Willow’s eyes meet both Slayers’, silently letting them know that they could leave.
As Buffy walked out, Faith hung back, waiting to see the blonde Slayer disappear down the hallway before turning around to see Giles’ arched eyebrows.
“There’s something I think I should tell you guys, I just didn’t want to upset Buffy while she was in here,” Faith started before plunging into her second lengthy story of the day, retelling not only the true events of the morning that caused her to leave, but her past experiences with her dreams as well.
When she was done, she stopped moving, realizing that she had been pacing back and forth in the small room. It took Faith a couple of moments to gather herself before she turned to look over at Giles, her gaze quickly flicking at and away from Dawn and Willow- who was still scribbling notes into a notebook at a speed Faith didn’t think was possible. Faith allowed a brow to arch in intrigue at the redhead’s note taking skills, before her attention shifted to Giles, who spoke quietly, keeping his tone gentle.
“Why didn’t you inform us of this before?”
Faith allowed a half-smile to appear before replying, “Remember who you’re talkin’ to?”
Giles shut his eyes for a moment and nodded almost imperceptibly, “Touché.”
Willow sighed; “I need to research these dreams. Can you come back here around 7? By then, I hope we’ll have a more comprehensive understanding for what we’re doing tomorrow, and then I can fully focus on you. I’ll save my questions ‘til then, K?”
Faith nodded, remaining silent.
“All right, thanks for telling us. You never know what might end up being important. See you for dinner,” Willow smiled warmly as she dismissed Faith.
Faith nodded again and turned to leave. As she got to the door, Dawn piped up, “German?”
Faith smirked before turning to glance back at the younger Summers, “Ja.”
