The Brink Of Your Mind

We Shall Fall
A/N: So, I’ve gotten some pretty grevireviews on this one, people wanting to continue the story on. And I originally wasn’t going to, because I liked the way that I ended it. but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I could completely change the way that the buffy’verse continued. You know, in my own image. And I always wanted to do something like that. But I’m not too sure on the direction of this whole thing. But hey, I wrote a new chapter for it anyway. So, enjoy. If the reviews come in positive, then I maybe might continue it more. Lemme know guys.

~ ~ ~

//I’m not a perfect person,
There are many things I wish I didn’t do.
But I continue learning,
I never meant to do those things to you.
And so I have to say before I go,
That I just want you to know.\\

//I’ve found a reason for me,
To change who I used to be.
A reason to start over new,
And the reason is you.\\

“What you must realise Buffy, is that you and Faith have very different temperaments.” The blonde slayer could actually feel that he was trying to get her to see some form of sense, but he wasn’t there last night, he didn’t see what faith was doing to that vampire. She seemed like she was in a psychotic rage.

“Yeah, and mine’s the sane one. The girl’s not playing with a full deck Giles. She has almost no deck. She has a three.” It was only after she’d taken another few steps that she realised that Giles was no longer following her. “Giles?” turning around she looked at him, cocking her head to the side. He had his mug half way to his face, as if to take a drink, and his eyes were half closed, as if he was blinking.

“Ok, that is the strangest thing I have ever seen. Giles?” taking a quick look around, she noticed that the rest of the people that populated this hallway, were also frozen. Like statues. Creepy, living, breathing statues, that had no idea what was going on. “Great. I so need to talk to Willow about this.”

“She didn’t do this.” Buffy spun around at the sound of someone else’s voice, only to find herself looking down the hallway, at a tall man in a black suit, who was currently leaning on a row of lockers, with his hands in his pockets. “I did.”

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Did you pay any attention what so ever, to what I told you last time? Did a decade of someone’s life not affect you at all?”

“Yeah, about that, you’re Lucifer, and I’m personally not into helping the evil? So I figured: no.” she wandered up the hall to him, looking up into his face as he smiled down at her. Not a friendly smile, but one that should have been directed at a child.

“I’m not doing this for me.” Buffy raised an eyebrow at him. “Ok, so I am doing this for me, but this is for your world too you know. She comes to hell, she takes over, and then the balance shifts. It’s not allowed to do that.”

“What balance?” Luc stood up, taking his hands out of his pockets and shooting his cuffs before looking at her.

“Let me show you.” Before she could say anything in protest, he once again touched the center of her forehead with the tip of his finger. This time, however, she didn’t fall backwards, through time and space, but her head felt as if it were going to explode.

Pain like fire ran from the point of his contact, back over her brain, snaking itself through her entire head, until she felt like it was wreathed in flames.

Flash

She was stood in a wasteland, the sand and rock beneath her feet a faded red color, and the sun that hung in the sky blood red. The air smelled of death and pain. Of eternal suffering, and she knew she was currently in Lucifer’s hell. This time she didn’t even bother to try and move, because she knew she couldn’t.

As she was stood there, a small rip appeared in the darkened sky, a small jagged line of pure white, it’s rays streaming down onto the hard earth and burning it, causing it to sizzle and steam. A black shape filled that rip for a single moment in time and as she watched, the figure hurtled down towards the ground.

It was in her natural instincts to try and reach out and save that person, so while she stood there frozen, she found herself fighting against Luc’s hold on her, hoping to reach the being in time, before they shattered into a thousand little pieces.

She watched, wincing as they hit the floor so hard it actually shook beneath her feet, listened to the soft groaning and finding herself relieved that they hadn’t died in the fall. She didn’t seem to realise that if she was in Luc’s hell, then they were already dead.

The rip in the sky healed itself, the ground almost breathing in relief, as the figure pushed themselves up into a standing position. It was only then that Buffy got a good look at them. It was Faith.

Bruised, bloody, with a violent snarl on her face. She had a cut down the right side of her face, the blood that used to flow having run down her skin and almost covered the front of the shirt she was wearing. It wasn’t until the dark haired girl used the sleeve of her shirt to wipe some of the blood away, that she noticed the large, painful looking slice, that made a jagged path across her throat.

Whatever had lead the girl here, had ended in a knife being slashed across her throat.

Flash

She was in a room, or more like a cave, which meant that this trip was different from the last. Her surroundings would change to suit Luc’s needs. But the focus was still the same: Faith. Her journey, her after life.

Buffy stood there watching, mesmerised by the dark figure in front of her, ripping her way through a pile of demons and nasty beings, taking their limbs and beating them with it, being coated in the blood of the dead and not even noticing.

But that wasn’t what was scaring the blonde slayer. It was the smile on Faith’s lips as she did it. Feral, and full of pleasure at what she was doing. The rumbled ended with her ripping the head off a demon with her bare hands, a growl coming from the depths of her throat as she did it. As she enjoyed it.

What had caused the girl to come down here, what had twisted her so much that pain was now her ally, it was her friend, and she liked to inflict it on those who got in her way. There was no spark of the girl she met the other night left in her eyes, no kind of sanity or humour. Just a human weapon that had gone wrong. And one that knew she could use that to gain more power.

She pulled herself out of the pile of bloody and broken demons, walking casually over towards the throne in the room and throwing the head down at Lucifer’s feet. The blood from the torn neck wound splattered up towards him, landing on the bottom of his pants. His face was not amused, despite Faith’s smile.

“What do you want?”

“I wanna sit down. Do you mind?”

Flash

Faith was standing in a dark room, with absolutely nothing in it but a plinth, a swirling ball of dark energy sat upon it. Buffy watched as images started to flash through that darkness, twisting as they washed away, only to be replaced with another.

“Show me her.” The dark woman pulled her arms across her chest as she twisted her head to the left and then sighed at it’s cracking sound. The images on the mystical screen changed; morphed into something else, and then Buffy was looking at her future self.

Instead of the light, happy girl she knew she was, she was looking at a complete stranger. She was looking at someone who knew she was a weapon, and then honed herself as one. Who no longer had any light in her life, except to fight, to win.

The future Buffy’s body was a hardeneonedoned muscular knot. She could see them rippling below the surface of her skin as she fought the demons in the same vision. For a split second, there was a close up of her face, with one huge knife scar running down the right side of her face. It sliced over her eye, down the side of her nose and over her lips to end at her chin. And the green iris, that used to belong to the right eyeball, was alm almost stark white, only a trace of its original color left.

She wondered if she was now blind in that eye. And then she wondered who had caused it.

“Hey B. how you doing today?” the Buffy in the images finished off her fight and stood up, taking a look around her before sighing and straightening her tank top.

“I’d be feeling just fine if you hadn’t have sent your little minions over here to try and kill me. *Again*.” Buffy blinked, watching as Faith smiled into the images and then flickering her eyes back to herself. She could hear faith? Wait, of course she could hear faith, Faith was now in charge. She could do anything she liked. “I thought we agreed that you’d only try to kill me during the night?”

“Well I was just getting so bored.”

Flash

Once again she was pulled into a different room, but this time, things were slightly different. It wasn’t just Faith and her minions, but it was herself. Her future self, chained in between two pillars in what Buffy nicknick named the throne room. The place was like a party.

Thousands of demons, vampires and other evil beings were in the room, jumping around, and basically celebrating the capture of the original slayer. Faith sat on her throne, one leg casually flung over the arm as she rested her chin on her fist. Her eyes were trained solely on her future self, studying her.

“Get out.” The moment she spoke the room went silent, everyone listening to her and then looking at each other at her words. Quickly and silently, they shimmered, orbed, and fired themselves out of the room. Those who couldn’t transport themselves either walking out, or latching on to someone who could and getting a lift.

You could see the slight fear in their eyes; no one wanted to leave their master with the killer of the underworld. But then, no one had the guts to actually stand up and speak their objections to her. She must have ruled with an iron fist, commanding her troops with a kind of fear and power that none before her could ever have possibly wielded.

“Hey B. Long time so see girlfriend.”

“Are we back to pleasantries now Faith? I figured we’d got past them years ago.” She brunette shrugged as she pulled herself out of her chair, walking down the steps and onto the main floor. She took her time, picking up a glass of something on her way towards her future self, her eyes never really straying from her.

“You’re gonna be here for a while B. I figured, you know, you be nice to me, and I don’t damn you to an eternal life of torture.” The older Buffy rolled her eyes at her dark counter part, shifting her weight on to her other leg as she watched her advance.

“You’re what? Gonna get some demons to beat up on me for the rest of time? Yeah, that’ll be torture.”

“Naw. Too easy for you. Besides, I was thinking that maybe you’d like to watch some home movies.” The older version gave her a puzzled look, as the master of the underworld leaned against one of her pillars, folding her arms over her chest and giving her a smile. It seemed genuine, but for a split second, there was a hint of malice within those lips.

Without saying a word, she looked towards her throne, blinking her eyes and smiling as a large version of the dark image ball appeared in front of them.

The images that came across it were ones of the world as it was now. Burning, darkened, covered in blood. Without either slayer there, there was no help for the helpless, no salvation for the weak. Just pain, fire and blood. Lots of blood.

The images changed, revealing one of the main streets in Sunnydale. A small figure was running down the street, looking back over her shoulder every couple of seconds.

Buffy watched as her older self tensed within those chains, her muscles straining against the metal links as her eyes starred, riveted, to the image before her. The girl on the street stopped running, turning and looking back over her shoulder as she stopped. A figure moved in the far distant background, whatever was chasing her had found her and she was running out of time.

The girl on the screen turned around, her face coming into the light and Buffy felt herself gasping. The child on the screen was definatly her future self’s, with the same nose and eye shape. But then, she was definatly Faith’s too. With that raven, wavy hair, those dark, burning eyes and her lips.

“Faith, what’re you doing?” the other Buffy’s voice was trembling slightly, in her attempt to hide her fear, her muscles so bunched up and ready to lash out that Buffy could clearly make out the veins that ran up and down her arms and neck.

“Well, I figure that someone’s gotta take over the family business. And it can’t be you because hey, not my heir, so I guess that leaves only one choice: our daughter. How old is she now B?”

“6.”

“My favourite number.”

Flash

The blonde slayer found herself once again back in the hall at her high school, her breathing harsh and ragged as her mind returned to her body. This time a hell of a lot less physically painful than the last. She stumbled slightly, catching herself against the lockers and looking down towards the floor.

She’d received so much information within such a short space of time, again, she didn’t know where to start. But the one thing that kept coming to the front of her mind was that fact that she and Faith had a daughter. Together.

Kind of put a whole new spin on things.

“Why did you show me the last part? Why?!” she looked up and Luc, seeing for the first time, something that closely resembled sorrow in his face. But the moment she saw it, it was gone.

“Because if the other images didn’t work, I knew that that one might. If you let things go as they are, do you really want your daughter to become more evil that Faith? Because she will do.” He pushed his hands into his pockets again and looked down at the floor. “If you leave her alone Buffy, if you treat her with contempt and hostility, she will turn on you. You are her last hope, her last chance. If you don’t save her, then she’s lost forever. And so is the world.”

And with that, he left. The people in the hallway started to move again, leaving Buffy to stand against the lockers, her eyes on some distance point. Her mind couldn’t release the image of that child. Her child. Faith’s child.

“Buffy? What *are* you doing over here? Weren’t we just talking about Faith?” his slayer blinked, bringing her mind away from the images that hadn’t yet come to pass and looked up at him. Her mind was kind of like a tumble dryer. Images of Faith’s past mingling in with her future, causing a tidal wave of emotions to wrap themselves around her.

She couldn’t let her child grow up in a world that was dark, and painful and without hope. Even if that meant, that by changing the future, she would never have her.

“Sorry Giles. I, er.. I guess I’m being too hard on her.”

“That’s the spirit Buffy! Now, I’m currently on with the council about her records, to see what I can dig up on her. Not that it’s easy with everyone being at the retreat.” Buffy caught the slight trace of bitterness to his words and touched him on the arm, smiling softly to him.

“You don’t need to go to a retreat to have honour Giles, or to know that you’re the best watcher. Cause we already know that.” He smiled at her, taking a sip of his tea to try and hide his blush at her words.

“Yes, well. About Faith?”

“You don’t need the records Giles.” He gave her a puzzled look. “I already know about her past. And I’m guessing that’s already one person too many for her liking.”

As they walked off towards the library, neither of them noticed the tall man in the smartly pressed suit who was stood just around a corner. He smiled softly and sadly to himself, before slowly fading out of view.


To Be Continued..?