Primitive

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xx. SIX .xx

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I remember to roll into it this time, and land more or less on my feet. In the time it's taken me to hit the ground, I've decided I'm going out fighting, so I whip around and prepare to be mauled. "You wanna go, kitty, we'll go!"



I open my eyes, my arms up and clenched into fists, and stare back at the bewildered faces of everyone in Buffy's livingroom. I swallow hard and look around. "Where's B?" My voice sounds hoarse even to my own ears, and Dawn lowers the book in front of her, staring past me.



There's Buffy, crouched in the corner glaring, her teeth bared defensively.



Andrew chooses this moment to walk in from the kitchen looking desperate. "Who ate the last Hot Pocket? 'Cause.. my name was on it. And it's just common courtesy to.." he trails off and glances back and forth between Buffy and the rest of us. "You know, I respect the art form of cosplay as much as anyone else who's ever dreamed night and day of going to Comic-Con, but Land of the Lost is kind of an obscure reference."



I look at him disbelievingly and he shrinks back a little. "I'll just have Bagel Bites instead, it's cool." He disappears back into the kitchen and I look back at Buffy, who looks less defensive and more overwhelmed, and slowly move towards her. She's fine with it until Xander makes a move towards her as well. Then she freaks and knocks over an end table on her way out the door.



"Shit," I mutter. "You guys, stay!" I don't even wait for a response, instead jumping over Kennedy's prone body on the floor to run after Buffy.



I come to a stop in the backyard, but she's nowhere to be found. I can't even see where she might have gone, and I sink onto the porch steps, putting my head in my hands. Not good, not good at all.



Xander sits down next to me. "Faith.. we'll find her. Willow's in there now, setting up a locator spell." I nod a little, feeling suddenly both exhausted and defeated. "What the hell happened to you guys? Why is Buffy suddenly at one with her inner Wilma?"



"I don't know," I say softly. "I thought.. maybe it would wear off if we got back or something. I--I don't know what happened. We were in this desert.. with these weird guys in thunder need of some fashion advice. They had these sticks.. they knocked me out. And.. and when I woke up, she was like this. And they said some weird shit, too."



He furrows his brows, studying me. "Like what?"



I shrug. "Something about.. Yoko being a lezzie?"



His face pales a little. "Uko mlezi?"



I look at him quickly. "How the hell did you know that?"



"It's in the book," he answers, looking troubled. "Dawn was trying to translate it.. she said it was some kind of prophecy."



"The guardian," comes a soft voice from behind us. I turn around quickly and Dawn is standing there, looking worried and tired.



"What?"



"Uko mlezi. It means 'The Guardian'. It's.." she lifts up a piece of notebook paper and reads over it. "Something about the Slayer. The--the first Slayer. She um.. had a Guardian? I think it's supposed to mean Watcher."



I swallow hard, holding my hand out. "Can I see that, Dawnie?" She silently passes it to me and sits down on the porch, pulling her knees to her chest. "Chained to the earth? Filled her with dark? What is this?"



"That's what I was reading, when the portal opened. It's how the first Slayer was made. They um.. they chained her down and forced a demon into her. It's what.. what gives the Slayer her power."



Chained to the earth. Demon. I lift my head, looking at her quickly and grabbing my cigarettes out of my pocket. "I was chained. They.. they knocked me out, and when I woke up, I was chained to the wall of this cave."



Xander studies me for a minute. "You're the Watcher."



I choke on the cigarette I'm trying to light and spend a few seconds coughing and spitting before looking up at him. "What are you, on crack? I'm a Slayer, not a Watcher."



"I think he's right, Faith," Dawn pipes up nervously. "I mean.. it makes sense. The Shadowmen--those guys you met--they couldn't come back with you. They had to know it. And--and the Slayer needs someone to watch over her, according to the lore. So.. so that would be you."



"They put demon in her," I whisper, mostly pointing it out to myself. "They.. they violated her, and they turned her into a monster. And I'm supposed to do what? Watch her?"



"Help her. She's.. she's got to be so scared. She doesn't even know what's happened to her," Xander says softly. "The first Slayer.. Senaya.. she said she had no speech. They did that, they took that away from her. Turned her into a mindless killer."



"Buffy's not mindless!" I snap, surprising myself. "She's just.. I don't know what she is. And I don't really care. She's out there alone in a fucking rug, and I'm gonna go find her." I stand up and throw my cigarette aside. "And you better have a way to turn her back when I find her or she won't be the only one with brain damage." Someone clears their throat behind me and I whirl around to face Willow. "Where is she?"



Willow hands me a ragged piece of paper with a pinhole off to the side. "It's a map. That spot there, that's where she is. Or.. was, five minutes ago. That's just north of Crawford Street, the place where Angel had that mansion a few years ago?"



I nod and jam the map in my pocket. "Figure out how to bring her back."



Without even waiting for a response, I take off at a run.