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Heart's Desire	By : PencilNeck Category: -Buffy the Vampire Slayer > FemmeSlash - Female/Female > Buffy/Faith Views: 9582 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
Chapter 6: Whisper
To A Scream

�I�m gonna tear your eyes out for this Xander! I forgot!
Y�only got one� Guess that makes my job easier!� Buffy lets out a wild, frightening
cackle. And then what begins as a series
of low growling whispers to herself turn into�

�You chose her, over ME?
Over ME?� She�s shrieking
now.

The heavy door closes, leaving Xander, Giles and Dawn staring
at Buffy through the small glass window.

She looks at them like she can see them.

She runs full speed at the door. Smashes her head into the little glass pane. There�s a smear of blood, and a tiny
crack. She falls back. Laughing.

Their Buffy. Dyed
dark.

****************************

�Kennedy, I need you to move all the teams away from grid
13. Copy?� Willow
was on a mission now.

�Whaddya know, beautiful?�
Kennedy can practically see Willow�s
resolve face.

�I know that Faith is there. And that if anyone finds her
but me, in the shape she�s in, she�ll die.�

�Copy. All teams move
out of grid 13, and prepare for med-evac situation.�

�I might not be able to see you for a few��

Kennedy interrupts. �S�OK, babe. You do your thing. I�ll be here.�

Willow focuses
all of her energy. She closes her
eyes. Not really for dramatic effect,
like Kennedy always said, but because apparating was kinda squooshy with your
eyes open.

------

The smell tells her she�s in the right place.

And the shallow breath, like drowning in sand. But gurgly.

Willow looks
around. In the dark. And she sees her.

�Oh.� Not so much a
word as a non-word. Can �oh.� be an
emotion?

Faith is crying. Not
wailing and heaving, but a constant stream of tears flow from her eyes, and she
doesn�t wipe them away. Willow
finds her just as she�d been left.
Exposed, beaten, but semi-conscious.

Willow rushes to
do up the buttons on Faith�s jacket.
Rushes to cover up the raw skin.
Magicks away some of the dirt and grime from this place, from this
day. And it�s Willow,
half blind with tears, murmuring �sorry sorry sorry sorry�, who jerks Faith�s
nose back into shape. Magicks always leave one side a little wonky
with the nose..

�Uhm� OK� Faith, you�re going to be OK� and I�m here
now. I�m going to try to fix your
internal injuries, and your lung� and unh� other stuff� OK? So
I�m going to have to put my hands on you.
So please don�t freak, or jerk, cos I think if you do, you might cause
more damage inside?�

Willow talking softly.
Willow in her head� her
hands are warm. Faith feels warm. Who�s
screwing with the thermostat? Years
go by. But no, it�s only minutes. Lots of minutes that make hours.

Willow in her head� I
remember, at the Bronze. She saw me.
Hey looky, coherent thought!

�Red?� Faith can
talk.

�Hey Faith! Good to
hear your voice and all, but I�m channeling and whatnot, and you should be saving
all your air for, y�know, breathing type stuff?�

Willow is
rambling.

Everything�s going to be fine.

****************************

�D�Hoffryn came up with some valuable information on our
Fabio guy. I�m sending the A-Team out on
this one. Kennedy�s in charge. You go, you get him. You bring him back. I don�t care if he�s in the pink or one
breath from the great goddamn beyond.
You get HIM here.� Xander has
learned to emphasize words by speaking them quieter and lower.

�No deals, no promises.
I want free reign.� He speaks
these words directly to Kennedy.

She nods. They go.

Giles overhears this, and doesn�t raise an eyebrow. Or clean his glasses. Xander is learning.

****************************

Dawn is crying. Willow
is sitting on one of the comfy couches in the library, with Dawnie in her
lap. Stroking her hair. And Dawnie is crying. It�s happening all over.

****************************

Faith opens her eyes, for the first time in three days. She�s in a hospital? In the prison infirmary? Oh,
god! Did I miss graduation?

She shakes her head.
No� not right.

Her eyes study the walls, her bed, her nightgown. She tries to move her arm, her leg. Okay,
that hurt�

Scans the beeping flashing machines. Nope.
No call button� OOOH! Morphine drip! Faith drags her arm over and grasps the cord
that leads to the button that leads to the morphine.

Not a complete waste
then� And she presses the button
about fifteen times. Coughs. Presses the button another ten or twelve
times.

�C�mon�� Is that her
voice?

�Gimme!� Click. Click.
Clickclickclickclickclickclick! �Argh, screw it!� And she throws the button away, leaving it to
swing on its cord.

�Gahhhd!� Faith
crosses her arms, kinda pouting. Well, definitely pouting.

�Hey there Sunshine�
Bad time for a visit?� Willow�s
head peeks through the curtain. �Glad
you�re finally awake. I was getting
tired of carrying the conversation!�

Faith smiles.
�Hiiiiiya Willow. You came to see
me? You�re sweet.� OK,
maybe the button did work.

Faith gives Willow
a sloppy wave, and a drunken grin. And
passes out.

�Ok then.� Willow
sits down. �Did I ever tell you about my
pet fish?�

****************************

�The package is in holding, very tremendously battered and
working on some major bald spots.�
Kennedy reports to Xander.

�Thanks Kennedy. Good
work. Take your people and go
off-rotation. Send Rona up to take C.C.�
Xander prepares to leave. �Get Giles on
private channel.� Someone nods. Someone does.

�Giles, Fabio�s in the house.�

�Excellent. I�ll meet
you.�

****************************

Gahd, I�m sleeping!
Can�t someone stop whoever it is from bawling? Isn�t that what sedatives are for?

That crying is really
getting under my ski� oh.

Faith rubs her eyes with the back of her hand. Looks around.
Sees Dawn. Holding her hand. Smiling with tears in her eyes.

�Hey, kid!� Faith
croaks out.

�Hi! Gosh, I was so
worried about you�� Dawn�s not sure what
to say. �I�ve never seen you cry
before.�

And you never will
again, I�ll bet. �Let�s keep the
waterworks as our little secret, �kay?
Blame it on the morphine overload��

�Sure. What
waterworks?� Dawn can forget. Not a problem. She was
crying like, I dunno. I�ve never seen a
person cry like that. �I didn�t see
nuthin�!� Hands Faith the water bottle
from her bedside.

�Thanks, Dawnie.�
Faith chugs from the bottle. So
thirsty. �So, how long have I been out?�

�Four days.�

�So, not bad. Beats
the last time B put me in the hospital!�
Way to keep things upbeat. Faith
fakes another smile.

�You don�t have to, y�know� pretend everything�s OK.� Dawn�s face is going scrunchy. �I hate her
for what she did to you. I hate
her.�

�No, Dawnie. Don�t
hate her. She�s not herself. She�s� me? I guess. So you could say that I did this to
myself.� Faith finds a soft laugh
somewhere inside, and shares it with Dawn.

�How can you be like that?
I mean she� beat you up so bad.
And then she ra�� Dawn can�t say
it. ��left you there to die!� Dawn�s face goes from scrunchy to scary.

�I know.� Faith
doesn�t want to talk about this right now.
�Hey, did the doc say when I could get outta here?�

�Probly in a couple days?
Maybe.�

�Good.� Faith is
tired now. �Hey, Dawnie� whyn�tcha tell me
a story now�� Her eyes close. There�s a
soft snoring.

Dawn puts her head on Faith�s belly, and her hand on Faiths
exposed arm. She closes her eyes too.

****************************

Willow peeks
through the little square of glass, and sees Buffy. Buffy sitting on the padded bench. Buffy�s mouth is moving. Buffy�s pulling out her mahogany hair with
her fists.

Willow squinches
her eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of the aura� the essence. God, this would be so easy if Tara� But looky there! That�s something�

Hey! That�s not right.

****************************

Xander closes the door.
Turns to face Giles. Little red
droplets on his face and shirt. Big red
droplets smeared on his hands.

�He�s still not talking.
I asked him nicely. Then I asked
him nicely with my fists.� Xander is
breathing a little heavy. Scary Xander.
That�s new.

They turn to look through the one sided mirror. Giles inspects Xander�s work.

�Perhaps I should give it a try. I�m assuming you were
playing good cop?� Giles picks up a
little bag from the desk he was leaning on.
Walks toward the door. Hesitates.
�How far?�

�Whatever it takes.�

Scary Xander. Lookin�
good.

****************************

Dawn is in the library.
She�s sitting alone, on the floor in the stacks. Reading about demons.

She can�t be with Buffy.
It�s too scary. She can�t be with
Faith. It�s too sad.

So she�s researching the Fabio Demon. All references to seduction, spells, wish
granting, evil of all shapes and sizes�

The piles of books on the floor beside her is gradually
becoming a fort. A fortress of
knowledge.

And it�s all useless.

Giles will kill her if she cries all over these stupid
things�

****************************

Giles closes the door.
He puts his little bag down on the table, takes his glasses off. Begins to clean them with his
handkerchief. Wipes his brow.

�Our friend in there has finally become much more
co-operative. I believe �singing like a
canary� is the standard phrase.�

Xander looks a little
green. Note to self. Do not watch when
Giles is working. �Did you get what
we need to fix her?�

�I believe so, yes.
At least partly.�

�Take it to Dawn, she�s researching. And Willow, since she�s the heavy lifter in
this. � Xander jerks his head back
toward the holding cell. �What about
him?�

�I believe his usefulness is at an end.�

�Got it.� Xander
looks hard at his friend. �So we
agree. And this? Never happened. Yes?�

�Of course not. I�ve
no idea what you�re talking about.�
Giles smiles, very Giles-y. And
walks out.

Xander watches his friend leave. Then slowly he turns, and walks back through
the holding cell door, closing it behind him.
Tying up loose ends.

****************************

Giles just told her something important� And there�s a book. She remembers. The back of her head. She searches the stacks, way up top. Standing on tippy toes.

It�s here� It�s here it�s here� somewhere� had it a few days ago� Aha!

Dawn brings the book into her fort. Sits on the floor and flips through.

Dra..coni� is this it?
Ok. Yes.

�Nope, Nope, No.�
Dawn rejects demon after demon, flipping the pages and skimming
furiously. �Nu-uh� EEK! Yes!�

The unnamed� unpronounceable language� Translates
to� Grff-ling-in-der�? Whatever! Can see into the hearts and minds of their
victims� yadda yadda. Grant their heart�s desire� need a pic� picture� EW!
Buffy! That is so NOT great hair!
Scrapin� the bottom of the demon barrel�

Ok� heart�s desire�
visible to the demon after... ohhhh.
OK. There�s the sex mojo�

So where�s the cure
page. The �rub this ointment� part.

Dawn flips and flips�

Dammit! Why do they always leave the fix to the end?.
OK. �only way to truly release the spell�

Huh. OoohKay.
I�ll get right on that.

She looks up from the book.
Stares at the wall of tomes and scrolls around her.

This is not going to
be fun.

****************************

�So is it heart�s desire, woo woo baby?� Willow
is confused. �Or� something else?�

�I am under the impression, that it�s whatever the heart
desires most, no sub-categories.� Giles
sits at the research table. �The
troublesome thing is, Buffy herself may not know her own heart, and therefore
we can never be sure of the exact nature of this� erm� transformation.�

�Oh, so we know that it�s got something to do with Faith. But we don�t know why she�s gone all Girl,
Interrupted on us?� Xander is really
hating today.

�And, I was checkin� out her aura, and there�s some
weirdness there I can�t quite figure.� Willow
chimes in. �I mean, Buffy�s aura is complicated
at the best of times, but it was all murky, like it had too many layers, or
something. And there was this
thing� like it kept bursting out.. Whoosh, like solar flares� Aura�s are not supposed to do that.�

�Right. That, and my
discussion with the er.. Fabio, leads me to believe that Buffy�s transformation
is far more extreme than was intended.
Of course, wish granting demons tend to twist things to the darker
side..�

�So, if there�s something� amplifying the spell� making it stronger�� Willow�s
lost in thought.

�Share with the rest of the class, Will.� Xander touches her shoulder.

�Ok, here�s a theory.
Y�know how Buffy and Faith have the slayer connection thing? Like, more than the other girls? What if that�s the amplification� What if that�s opening a door between them,
letting all Faith�s un-dealt-with stuff out.�

�and Buffy�s on pain and anguish overload?� Dawn looks briefly concerned for her
sister.

�Of course, why didn�t I see it before? Faith told me that Buffy was re-living some
of their� erm� finer moments. And she
did seem to get dramatically worse when Faith arrived�� Giles thinks they�re on the right track. �If she�s feeling everything that Faith felt
then, without balance or context, it would most certainly drive her mad��

�Sure, I mean look at what it did to Faith�� Willow
sees Dawn�s wave of anguish. �So
Dawnie, What does the book say?�

�Unh� it says there�s
only one way to fix the curse�� Dawn
gestures faintly at the book lying on the table. �But it�s too much! I mean, we can�t ask Faith to�� Dawn is obviously torn. She wants her sister back, but can�t stand to
see Faith hurt any more.

Willow takes the
book from Dawn�s side of the table, and reads the passage.

�Ohhh.� Willow
looks up at Dawn, wide eyed. �I�
Faith� I don�t know if��

�So are you saying that in order to cure Buffy, we have to
sacrifice Faith in some manner? And in
order to protect Faith, we have to leave Buffy in her current state?� Giles looks up incredulously.

�No, not sacrifice!
No. Unless Buffy�s heart�s desire
is to like, kill Faith�� Dawn
sighs. Then continues. �It says�
Buffy has to get her heart�s desire, the real way. The right way. And since it�s about Faith somehow, she would
have to be a part of it, and be willing to give her whatever it is she�s
seeking. And we don�t even know what
Buffy�s heart wants�� Dawn trails off.

�Dear lord.� Giles
looks blankly at the table.

Willow looks
around at the dejected faces of her friends� her family.

�I�ll think of something.
I promise� Maybe we can work
around it� Maybe I should talk to the
Fabio�� Willow
tries to smile.

�You can�t�� Giles
turns to Willow. �He�s dead.�
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Heart's Desire