Becoming Me

I know it's been a really long time since I've updated, but I have a WONDERFUL excuse. I realized the story really wasn't going in the direction I'd wanted it to and I went back to majorly edit the first 25 chapters. I'm still not quite done, but I thought I'd post chapter 26 since it was finished.

Enjoy!


26: FAITHFUL

Giles set his teacup in its saucer and placed the two on his coffee table. “Buffy.”

“Hm?” The Slayer flipped a page of a musty tome and did not lift her gaze to meet the eyes of her Watcher.

“Have you been…” he sighed, looking around at the walls of his apartment. “I cannot help but get the feeling that you are somehow withholding, erm…What is that you’re reading?”

Buffy shut the book with a slam. “Nothing! It’s, uh, it’s – nothing. And what do you think I’m ‘withholding’? What, you don’t trust me to tell you the truth?”

Giles removed his glasses and rubbed his temples. “No, no, of course I do…”

“Giles, I swear, I told you everything. I killed Angel. I left. In LA I met Amber, who killed a ton of people and is just begging to be staked. So now I’ve come home to re-supply, and I’m gonna kick her undead ass.”

Giles frowned. “And you also had an encounter with the, erm, sorceress? I believe?”

“Who, Miss tight-assed bitch queen?”

The Watcher’s frown deepened. “Buffy…Are you sure you’re quite alright?” Buffy nodded emphatically and began to justify herself, but Giles cut her off. “Never mind. Buffy, there’s something I don’t quite understand. What did this woman…Reinhardt, I believe you said? What did she want with you?”

Buffy casually slid her book into her weapons bag and slung the bag over her shoulder. “How should I know, Giles? I’m the Slayer, not a baddie jonesing for an apocalypse.”

“ – Yes. Yes, of course. And…I believe the information you supplied aobut, ah, closing Acathla should prove a great help. Now, if there is nothing else…” Buffy pouted as she stood by the door. “Yes. Go have your…summer.”

“Thank you, Giles,” Buffy chirped as she reached for the doorknob. “Oh!” she suddenly exclaimed. “Amber – she kept talking about ‘the Slayer,’ but she didn’t mean me. Could there be another one? Again? Maybe, like, Kendra’s replacement?”

“I’ll look into it, give the council a ring. Now, about patrol tonight…”

“Giles. Summer? I’ll come back tonight. Or call, or something.”

“Yes, fine.”

The second the door clicked shut, Giles frowned and began shuffling through his papers. “Dman it!” he exclaimed at last. Then he frowned. “Mysteries of Acathla. What does she want with Mysteries of Acathla?”

* * * * *

Buffy sat at her kitchen counter, staring at the pages of Giles’s book, unable to take in much information. Why had Angel come back? Would she have to kill him again? Once was certainly enough to last her a lifetime; she didn’t know if she could handle twice.

And why hadn’t Spike killed him? She knew Spike in no way had her same fuzzy little feelings for Angel. In fact, he hated the guy. He wanted to see Angel dead. Buffy closed her eyes and tried to shut out the feeling of betrayal. The feeling she shouldn’t have, since she shouldn’t have had faith in Spike in the first place. But he could be so sensual, so intimate, the way he ran his tongue along her skin, and whispered Buffy…Buffy… It made her want to be faithful to him, to the idea of him and what he stood for, if only because it was so beautiful…Buffy…

“Buffy? Buffy?” Willow laughed. “Buff, you fell asleep on your book. Is Giles making you do research again? He really oughta learn.”

Buffy sat up. “No, uh, this is…”

“Acathla?”

“Heh, yeah. Just…readin’ up! …Trying to make sure he’ll, you know, stay gone. You know.”

Willow nodded. “How’s Spike?” she asked.

“Spike?” Buffy choked on her soda. “Um, he’s good. Well, not good - I never said he was good, cos he’s evil – but you know…fine.”

Willow played with her long red hair. “Buffy, you’re not, you know…”

“No! No, definitely not…Not what?”

“Oh, you know – “ Willow fidgeted with her sweater hem – “sleeping with…”

“Oh! No! No, I’m so over that. It was like a fluke. Like a one-time thing. Only, you know…lots of times…but so over.”

“Ok, good…Oh hey Buff? You know, Xander told you, but I tried Ms. Callendar’s spell again, in the hospital.” Buffy frowned. “It flopped, didn’t it. No surprise - it had this weird flash of green light, and I didn’t think it was supposed to.”

“Green?” asked Buffy. “I don’t know what, but it must have done something… When Spike and I switched, and switched back, it was all green…”

Willow gasped. “Spike! But Buffy, no…Spike didn’t get a soul, did he?”

“I seriously doubt it. And besides, if he did? He’s certainly lost it by now,” added Buffy wryly.

“Buffy!” exclaimed Willow, laughing.

“Anyway, I don’t know what the spell has to do with Spike, but we can figure it out. But until we do…Wil, can we kind of not mention it to anyone else? It would kind of…raise questions. Spike questions.”

Willow smiled. “Sure, Buff.”

* * * * *

Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Oz sat crowded around a table at the Bronze. Xander had spent the last 20 minutes dropping hints that he would much prefer Cordelia being in Sunnydale than in Mexico.

“Alright guys, I’m up,” announced Oz, who kissed Willow on the top of the head and made his way up to the stage.

“Hey Buff? Aren’t you supposed to check in with Giles?” Willow asked.

Buffy shrugged. “I can have fun hanging with my bestest buds first, can’t I? I can do the Slayer thing later.”

“Well said,” commended Xander as he clapped Buffy on the back.

Possibly out of habit, Buffy’s eyes drifted to the door, as if she thought Angel might appear through it. Briefly, she entertained the thought of Spike walking through it and over to her table. Never happen Buffy reminded herself.

Suddenly, she was startled out of her reverie by spotting a shock of purple hair moving through the crowd. Buffy wasn’t entirely sure it belonged to Amber, so she remained seated while she trailed the person with her eyes. She followed the person – she could tell it was a girl, about her own size – up the balcony, where she lost view of the probably-Amber.

“Bloody hell!” Buffy exclaimed under her breath.

“What?” asked Xander. Buffy stood and began to fight through the people blocking her way to the stairs. As she reached the base of the staircase, someone pushed past her. Buffy turned and realized that it had been Amber – for sure – who had rushed past.

Buffy tried to spot Amber’s prey. Probably it would be some freshman boy of the punk/goth persuasion, who would undoubtedly find Amber the hottest thing in forever.

At last Buffy’s eyes found Amber amidst the people on the dance floor. To Buffy’s surprise, Amber was dancing by herself, moving distractedly while staring at a girl a few couples off, who was slutting it up with two guys, one on each side. There was something strange about those guys, Buffy noticed as she watched them grind their bodies against the curvaceous, curly-haired brunette. They looked at her with a hunger unmatched by that of any normal teenage boy Buffy had ever seen – and that was really saying something. When one leaned in to whisper in the girl’s ear while the other sniffed her neck, and the two men led the girl towards the door, Buffy felt she should follow. Casting a last glance at Amber, who still not made any move towards enstaring a victim, Buffy reluctantly headed towards the door.

Upon leaving the Bronze, Buffy immediately heard the sounds of a struggle. She ran to where the men – vampires – had cornered the brunette.

“Hey!” Buffy called. When the vampires turned, she hit the closer one solidly in the chest with a roundhouse kick. “Didn’t you r mama ever tell you not to play with your food?” She shouted over her shoulder for the other girl to run, but when she looked she saw the brunette flipping the other vamp over her shoulder and into the side of a dumpster.

“Easy, B.!” laughed the girl. “Stick to your own vamp!” Buffy could hear ‘her’ vamp coming up behind her so she swiveled around and kicked his legs out from under him. Pulling a stake out of her jacket, she bent down and dusted the vampire. Behind her she heard the sounds of the other girl laying punch after punch on her vamp, and also the sound of running footsteps.

“Buffy!” panted Willow as she came to a stop.

“Who’s that?” asked Xander, eying the brunette.

“Wil – did Amber get anyone?”

Willow shrugged. “Amber? Didn’t see her.”

They all heard the sound of the remaining vampire exploding into dust. “I’m gonna go check,” Buffy told Willow, and she ran back towards the pounding beat spilling out the door of the Bronze.

Once inside the club, she realized the brunette was right behind her. “Hey. Is there another one in here?”

“There was…” Buffy replied, scanning the crowds, which were Amber-free. “She split.”

Xander and Willow burst through the door, and at about the same time, Oz appeared, looking worried.

“Who’s that?” Xander asked again, breathlessly, pointing to the girl standing beside Buffy.

The girl in question winked, and then looked around at everyone. “What’s up, guys?” she greeted. “Buffy. Friends of Buffy.”

Xander smiled, and then he looked at Buffy. “Buff,” he said, “I ask again: who’s that?”

“I’m Faith,” the girl introduced herself. “Hey B, where’s Belvedere? Said he wanted to see me. Somethin’ about…well, I dunno. He called my watcher this mornin’, got me a plane, an’ everythin’.”

Xander jumped in: “Oh – so you’re a Slayer,” he said emphatically. “We like those around here.”

Faith turned to Xander, raising her eyebrows. “Gotta lot of vamps in this town?”

Buffy laughed dryly. “Clearly this is your first time in Sunnydale.” She looked back at her friends. “Sorry to break up the fun, guys, but Faith and I should probably go over to Giles’s, and then get started with patrol. See you tomorrow.”

Faith waved goodbye – a gesture that was reciprocated by everyone, but especially by Xander – and the two Slayers went out into the night.

* * * * *

About an hour later, Buffy and Faith strolled side by side through the grave markers of one of Sunnydale’s copious cemeteries. “So Faith,” Buffy inquired, “If you’re a Slayer, what exactly were you doing with those vamps out on the dance floor?”

Faith laughed. “Just havin’ a little fun with ‘em before I wasted ‘em.” Buffy looked skeptical. “Aw, c’mon, B. Don’t tell me you’ve never fooled around at all with one of ‘em. C’mon!”

Buffy felt the heat rising to her cheeks. “Well, ok…maybe a little…Wait – what do you mean, ‘fool around?’”

“Whatever you want it to mean,” Faith replied suggestively. “So what exactly have you done with a vamp, B? Now I’m curious!”

Buffy threw her head back. “I am so not talking about this. I have a – a boyfriend, I want you to know! I living, breathing, boyfriend, named Scott…What about you, what have you done with vamps?” Buffy asked. “Besidesshag them with your clothes still on, to music?” she added teasingly.

Faith laughed. “Shag?”

“Don’t ask. But really, what have you done?”

Faith thought for a moment. “Well, there was this time…” Buffy waited for Faith to continue, but the other Slayer did not. Instead, she was staring off into the shadows.

“What is it?” Buffy asked.

“I don’t believe it…” murmured Faith. Buffy then noticed Amber, vamped out and growling.

“You!” Amber exclaimed, taking a step backward. Then her eyes fell on Buffy and she recovered, saying, “You again? What are you, like a vampire groupie?”

Buffy turned to Faith with a look of amusement. “Um…no…,” she said at last, “I’m the Vampire Slayer. Well, one of, I guess,” she added, glancing again at Faith.

Amber seemed to take a few moments to process this information. Then she regained her cool and shot back, “Well, how convenient is that? I go lookin’ for a Slayer to kill, and there they are, two of ‘em, right in front of me. It’s, like, my lucky day.”

“Don’t know about that,” replied Buffy. She hopped over a gravestone and landed her foot in the middle of Amber’s stomach, throwing the vamp into a headstone that crumbled from the impact. Buffy saw Faith right to her left, and the other Slayer ran to where Amber had landed. With two Slayers attacking, Amber was clearly on the losing team. Buffy could tell that Amber wasn’t half as experienced a fighter as Spike or Angel. Still, Amber managed to get in a strong kick to Buffy’s hip that sent the Slayer flying backwards and left her hipbone throbbing. Clenching her jaw against the pain, Buffy slowly stood up, to see Amber disappearing around the croner.

“What happened?” she demanded, clutching her hip and looking angrily at Faith.

Faith’s brow was creased in a deep frown, and she was staring at where Amber had been only moments before. “She got away.”