Chapter Text
Chapter 5 (Interlude) : Exiles, Part 1 : Arrival
Virginia,
Twenty Minutes Before Slayer Exile
Renee Catawanee looked dubiously at her grandfather as he drove their families old pickup down a dirt road at a speed she had never imagined seeing him use.
There was no denying that the man was acting strangely. After all, he had caused quite the scene when he showed up at the movie theater where she had been standing in the ticket line with her friends and insisted she leave with him immediately due to an emergency at home. When she had complied, he then stubbornly refused to answer her questions about what was even happening.
Her afternoon had already been going strangely before he had even showed up, at least, it had as of an hour and a half ago when she had suddenly felt the greatest high she had ever felt suddenly washing over her. It had been like she was filled to the brim with the energy of having downed a hundred pixie sticks in all their sugary glory. There had honestly been no reason or explanation for her sudden burst of energy, but at the time she had been so focused on the discussions happening around her that she had simply tried to ignore it, even if it had caused her to start and restlessly bounce her leg.
That same energy was hard to ignore now that she was on edge because of her grandfather's obvious apprehension. She was about to ask again what was going on but she was interrupted by a reactive need to grip the door's inner handle housing as the truck slid around a particularly sharp bend. She let out a breath of relief when the truck remained on the road.
As she loosened her grip on the door, she found herself looking down at her hand in confusion because the metal of the door itself seemed to be hugging her skin where a perfect imprint of her hand had been dented into it.
“What-” She began to ask aloud, her gaze slowly turning back to her grandfather who she found glancing at her sidelong, his jaw tightening. “Agi?”
Upon hearing the nickname she had always used in lieu of the full Cherokee version of ‘grandfather’, his eyes darted forward again, and she could swear she saw tears in his eyes.
“Your potential has been awakened.” He said, finally speaking to her, not that she had any idea what he was talking about.
“My potential?” She parroted as she looked again at the dented metal. “I don't understand.”
He sighed and then narrowed his eyes as he shifted gears. “There was supposed to be time enough to explain this all to you. But something has changed and the stars have shifted suddenly. As such, I was only able to glimpse a tiny sliver of what is to come before the voices fell silent.”
Renee furrowed her brow and frowned. Was that what this was all about? She knew the elders on the reservation considered her grandfather a great seer, but she -and her parents- had never really been much for believing in ‘the old ways’ of their people.
Unsure what to think, she watched as they passed by the turn that would have led to their home and found herself asking. “Where are we going?
“Your parents are stubborn and refused to believe me when I told them they needed to hurry home to see you off. I am trying to get you to them so you have a chance to say goodbye.”
“Goodbye?” Renee repeated, swallowing hard. “Agi, you're scaring me.”
“I am sorry. That is not my intention.” He replied, reaching over and squeezing her hand, before then reaching for the radio dial to turn it on. “Perhaps some music will help calm you.”
Unfortunately, the first thing they heard was not music.
“-can confirm that the president's daughter has just disappeared into thin air along with another young girl who was attending the annual Armed Forces Day dinner at the White House. Whether or not these disappearances are somehow related to the sudden outbreak of devastating earthquakes around the world or the fact that the secretary of defense was caught live on camera spontaneously combusting is still in question, but many in the religious community are claiming that this is-”
The radio was clicked off before she could hear any more, and then she was forced to brace herself against the dashboard as her grandfather slammed on the brakes, causing the truck to slide to a halt on the dirt road. Before she could ask about what they had just heard or the reason for their sudden deceleration, her grandfather was out the driver's side door and rounding the front of the truck toward her side with grim determination playing across his face.
She stared wide eyed and shaking as he opened the door and held out his hand to her.
“I'm afraid we are out of time. You need to be prepared for what is to come.” He said, and she blinked back tears, unsure what was happening or why, but after hearing what was on the radio, she knew whatever he had ‘seen’ was most likely real. She quickly unbuckled her seat belt and allowed herself to be helped out of the cab.
She then unsteadily followed him to the rear of the truck where he reached in and hefted out her father's hiking pack, which appeared fully kitted.
“You must put this on.” He instructed her, and she did so. Surprisingly, even with how much gear that seemed to be attached and packed within, she found she had no trouble bearing the weight.
After she tightened the straps she startled slightly as he took her face in his hands and looked her in the eyes.
“Renee, you have always been a light for our family. And I know that you will continue to shine wherever it is you are going.” He said, tears streaming down his face. She had never seen the stoic old man so emotional before. This of course caused her to finally give into the uncertainty and fear of what was happening and she began to cry as well. “Stay strong. Remember where you come from. And know that while you may never again see us, we love you with all that we are.”
In the distance, a large group of coyotes began to yip and howl, and with loud flutter it also sounded as if every bird in the forest was startled into taking flight.
“Goodbye.” Her grandfather said, leaning in to kiss her on the forehead, and in response Renee closed her eyes.
“G-Good…goodbye.” She managed, and then stumbled as she suddenly felt the absence of her grandfather's hands on the sides of her face.
Gasping, she opened her eyes to find not only was he gone… but she was no longer where she had just been.
As she stared in stunned silence at the strange landscape before her, she reached up to touch the ghosting echo of her grandfather’s lips on her forehead. It took a moment for what she was seeing to sink in, along with the understanding that she would never be returning home to everything that she knew and loved.
Not too far away, two other suddenly displaced teen girls -equally as surprised and confused about where they were- both jerked their heads up when they heard Renee’s wrenching cry of despair.
—----------
One Minute And Thirty Seconds After Exile
Leah Acheson had no idea which way was up, which was unfortunate as her lungs were starting to burn, indicating that she really needed to surface to get air.
How she had gone from her bed, asleep, to suddenly being swept up in what she assumed were the raging rapids of a large river, she had no idea, but one thing was certain, she wasn’t dreaming. After all, just as this entire ride had begun she had bounced off the rocks at the bottom of the river -which she figured would cause some nasty bruises later- and everyone knew that pain was one of those things that woke you from dreams. Or in this case, the equivalent of a nightmare.
She gasped when she finally not only broke the surface but remained there long enough to draw in some oxygen and let out a cry for help. Unfortunately, her success was short-lived as the current almost immediately dragged her under once more. This time however, because she finally had some sense of which way was up, began to pump her legs and arms to fight toward escaping what could easily become her watery grave. She was honestly surprised by the strength she felt in her limbs as she forced her way upward, and this time as her head rose to the surface, she was able to make out which direction each shore was and determined which was closer.
As she focused on her goal, she struggled with the confusion that had sprung up in her mind at the odd colorations on the plants she could see along the river. However, that confusion was cut short by relief as she spotted the blurry shape of someone moving fast along the river, possibly in an effort to reach her.
Her head went under the water again, but it was shallower now that she had pushed her way toward the shoreline, so she was able to kick off the bottom almost immediately to retake the surface. And it was just in time too, as a rope -or something ropelike- made its presence known by smacking into her face as it landed in the water.
Quickly scrambling to grab onto the lifeline, she gripped hard and then, using a strength she had never known in her life, started to pull herself along, basically climbing against the current. She probably could have just held on for dear life and hoped for the best, but with the power of the rapids pulling on her, she figured it was best to not completely rely on the person on the other end to be able to save her.
After what seemed like an age, she finally found herself scrambling up and onto the bank where she all but collapsed with her forehead in the dirt. As she lay there with her eyes closed, shivering and panting to catch her breath, she heard the person who had pulled her out of the water moving nearby.
“Thank… you.” She managed to get out between breaths.
There was no reply, but suddenly the air smelled of something like a strong perfume. Curious, she turned her head and opened her eyes to see who had saved her, and even though she was still fighting to catch her breath, her breathing hitched and stopped completely at the sight of who -or more so, what- she found looking down at her with inhuman, amber eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~
Five Minutes After Exile.
Shannon Wilcher had only been a Slayer for a little more than three and a half hours, and already she was grateful for her new speed and stamina.
Sure, she would have loved to not have a reason to be stretching her Slayer powers again so soon after the last battle had ended, but fate seemed to be out to get her.
Why did she think that? Well, she had barely survived being stabbed and thrown out of a moving car by Caleb, barely survived the battle with the Turok-han, been on the bus that had barely outraced the collapse of Sunnydale, and then after they had all started to disappear one by one from the Hyperion, she had found herself alone in an alien looking forest. Then… THEN! Almost as soon as she had arrived in this place, she found herself running for her life. Again.
Seriously, what had she done to piss off fate?
Now a couple minutes later, she was still running and not having not made any headway, she truly hoped that the break in the trees ahead would offer some kind of escape. Maybe it would be a river she could dive into, or a cliff she could leap down, something, anything at all that would help her throw off her extremely persistent pursuer.
As she broke out of the treeline, she realized that it was just a large field, so no luck there. However, then she spotted ten girls that happened to be gathered in the middle of the clearing. It was possible they were all Slayers like her, because what were the chances a different random group of girls would be teleported to the same place she was?
Still, even if they were Slayers like her, she doubted they would be able to put up much of a fight against this thing either, so she found herself shouting, “Run!”
All the girls' heads swiveled in her direction -halting whatever conversation they had been having- and then instead of actually running, they all screamed in unison as they saw what was chasing her burst from the treeline.
She honestly couldn’t blame them for their reaction, after all, it was a freaking dinosaur.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Twenty minutes after exile.
Sastu Aoki winced as she touched her cheek, and then frowned deeply as she pulled her hand back and saw just how badly she was bleeding.
She hazarded a glance down at the forest floor to find that the wild dog -things- were still circling the tree she had scrambled up to save herself. Thankfully, whatever they were, they couldn't climb.
Her adrenaline was pumping as much as her mind was racing with questions on where she was or how she had gotten there.
The last thing she recalled was that she had been sitting at her desk in her first class, taking notes, and then suddenly she had been here in this place falling onto her butt -for the second time that day.
At first she thought that maybe she had blacked out, that the earlier rush of whatever it had been from an hour before -which had been what had knocked her on her butt the first time, and had her crying tears of joy for some reason- had finally caught up to her.
As for after that… maybe someone had scooped her up, brought her here and dumped her in these strange woods, the act of which had startled her awake…maybe? But that made little sense, and judging by the fact that she had still been holding the pencil she had been writing with in class, she came to the conclusion no time had passed between her leaving where she had been and her arriving here.
Which honestly made even less sense, because how could someone just teleport from one place to another like that? Magic?
There were plenty of stories about people being whisked off to other worlds in the blink of an eye, but she had never thought it would happen to her. And if it had happened to her, why her?
Satsu’s confusion was cut off by a strange whistle sound from somewhere off to her right. Turning her attention to try and locate the source, her eyes widened as she watched a few figures emerge from the trees, each one wearing a tribal mask and wielding a wooden spear.
Even without the presence of their weapons, she would have been stunned and terrified at the sight of these new arrivals, for they were definitely not human, or anything close to human.
One of the figures whistled again and Satsu glanced down at the two dogs that had chased her up the tree and watched them suddenly calm.
This of course had Satsu coming to the dreaded realization that these were not wild animals like she had first assumed.
They were hunting dogs.
~~~~~~~~~~
Forty minutes after exile.
Her bare feet pounded through the dirt as she sped through the strange forest, having ditched her slippers a few miles back because it was bliss to run free for the first time in years, a new untapped strength burning through her veins.
New, but familiar…
As familiar as the screams.
The anger.
The drive to fight.
And the need to hunt… to slay .
The drugs that had kept her docile might have been flushed from her body, somehow, and so too gone were the walls, windows and doors that had kept her contained, but the voices were still there. As were the memories of the man who had hurt her… tortured her. All mixed with flashes of the monsters who hunted them , those other girls she could remember being… but also had never been.
She slid to a halt when she smelled smoke and tilted her head to listen for danger and found that she could hear someone talking, in a language she didn't understand.
Slowly, cautiously, she moved in the direction of both the voices and the source of smoke and eventually came to peek past a bush to find a small clearing filled with what appeared to be huts.
The small village, and its occupants, were of an unfamiliar kind, no knowledge or memory -hers or otherwise- could be found of them.
Whatever these things were though, they were not human, and she felt the thing inside her that needed to hunt, stir.
A small gasping sound to her left had her turning her head sharply to find a smaller one of the inhuman creatures staring at her in surprise.
She growled and stepped toward it as a warning and it made a sudden fearful whooping sound, which was followed by a series of whistles and calls from the village.
She narrowed her eyes as she turned her head and saw that many of the inhuman creatures had begun to run in her direction with spears and other varied primitive weapons in hand.
At the front of the approaching group, were doglike beasts that clearly had their sights set for blood. Her blood.
This caused her skin to crawl with anticipation as her stance shifted, a smile slowly spreading across her face.
After years of seeing visions of such things in her mind's eye, the time had come for her to follow in the footsteps of those that came before her.
Yes. Dana knew that it was finally time for her to slay.
~~~~~~~~~~
Three hours after exile.
After giving instructions to the last search party, Faith held her hand up in front of her eyes as she looked toward the setting sun. Even with their sudden exile from Earth and the mad scramble to prepare for surviving in the wilderness, she couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. After all, she had technically been an escaped fugitive and would have had to have kept her head down anywhere they went. But here… here she was free to start over with a truly blank slate.
Not only that, here she had a purpose.
As one of the two original Chosen Slayers, she had experience which had these girls already looking to her to guide them, to protect them, to lead them.
Okay, maybe that last one was a bit freaky. After all, her last foray into leadership hadn’t gone so well.
Literally blew up in my face.
Thankfully, this time, she wasn’t expected to do it alone.
Her eyes trailed over to the large group of girls gathered around Buffy. She could see easily that all these girls were looking to Buffy even more than they were her, as if Buffy was a pillar of assuredness amidst the craziness that was their new reality. And as Faith spied a very familiar focused and determined look upon Buffy’s face, she honestly couldn’t disagree with their assessment. Faith had always admired Buffy for her ability to face a challenge head on, even in those times she had faced her as an enemy, and she hoped she could learn to emulate even a fifth of that ability some day.
And then there was the woman's… glow? It wasn't an actual visual light being exuded from Buffy, more like a presence that screamed, ‘Hey, Buffy’s here. Sit up and take notice!'. It had kind of always been there, that connection, to a much lesser degree, letting Faith know the other Slayer was nearby, but now it was almost blinding, especially if she actively focused her Slayer senses on Buffy. Which of course Faith had been doing on and off for the last few hours just to calm her own nerves under the sudden weight of responsibility, and to remind herself that she wasn’t alone in this.
Yes, that's right, Buffy made her feel safe.
Not that I'll admit that… but I wonder if she already realizes?
Either Buffy could read minds or she must have felt her staring because the blonde glanced over and smiled at Faith brightly before quickly returning to discussing with the group what needed to be done before nightfall.
Faith’s smile faltered as Buffy looked away and she furtively reached her hand up to trace the scar from when Buffy had stabbed her. Clean slate or not, there would always be that reminder of how far she had once fallen. And what she had lost because of it.
Never again.
“Hey, Faith!” Buffy called out and Faith looked up again to find the other Chosen waving her over.
Buffy needs me.
Faith’s smile returned at the thought and she started over, because that was another thing that had changed. Back on Earth, even when they had been getting along, the two of them had always clashed, and she had figured it was because two Slayers were never supposed to exist together. But now, in this place, surrounded by what was equivalent to a whole new race of Slayers, maybe she and Buffy could finally not only get along, but also have a chance to expand on their connection in the way Faith always hoped they might.
Geez, enough with the wishful thinking already. This is Buffy we are talking about. She would never…
“Where do you need me, B?” Faith asked as she stepped beside Buffy, who almost immediately turned and placed her hand on Faith’s shoulder and began to point at various places around the field to overview her plans.
Now, Faith knew it was probably not a big deal to Buffy, as she and her friends had always been more tactile in their interactions, but for Faith, this simple touch meant more than anything else to her.
It was proof of how she was finally where she was supposed to be.
Accepted.
Validated.
Needed.
Wanted.
Connected .
There was nothing better than that.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Five hours after exile.
(An hour after nightfall.)
Leah was at a loss. Somehow she had found herself somewhere that definitely wasn't anywhere on Earth, hanging out with a…well, ‘something’.
Okay, she honestly wasn't sure what to make of it… no, her? Yeah, it definitely had feminine features, although she doubted that the same characteristics of gender were present in this creature as it would be in humans. After all, she was pretty sure that -despite its humanoid features- it was more flora than it was fauna.
She glanced down at the small child sized ‘creature’ that was calmly shuffling along beside her as if this was in any way a normal circ*mstance.
Honestly, at this point, Leah wasn't sure which of them was leading and which was following, or if they had any destination at all.
She has to admit though, as odd -and worrying- as this whole ‘lost in a strange forest' situation was, Leah couldn't help but be fascinated by her companion.
The plant-child-thing, was about three feet tall, had blue-green grassy fiber and moss instead of skin and hair, and Leah could only marvel at the long coiled vine that wrapped around its body like clothing. It was that same vine which the child had used to pull her out of the river, and interestingly enough, it seemed to be a part of the child's body, attached to it on its lower back where a tail would be on an animal.
And then there was the large budlike orb of… something… in its… hand? This strange object -or possibly another body part- was what was lighting up their path with an orange bioluminescent glow as they walked.
The child's large round -literal- amber eyes shifted toward her again and Leah couldn't help it, she blushed at having been caught staring and darted her eyes forward once more.
This of course had the strong floral scent in the air shifting again, as it had countless times since she first encountered this creature. She had -hours ago- deduced that the shifting scent this thing produced was the means it normally used to communicate with its own kind… which of course left her in a tough position.
“How do you communicate wit' something that doesn't ‘ave a mouth?” She mumbled to herself.
The smell unhelpfully shifted again in reaction to her words, this time to something strong that made her eyes water.
Leah sighed and then halted her step to turn and face her strange companion. The little creature mirrored her action and stopped to stare at her inquisitively, lowering its light so as not to blind her new friend. That at least was a sign that she/it was both intelligent and capable of empathy. Which in itself had been obvious already by the fact she/it had saved Leah from the river.
Looking around, she found they had come to a stop between two large fallen trees that would provide a bit of protection from wind and predators and she decided this was as good a place to stop and rest as any.
She slowly sat and leaned back against the log and then watched as her new friend did the same across from her. Then Leah watched in wonder as her/its vine suddenly uncoiled itself a few times and then dug itself into the soil beneath their feet. Perhaps it was like the root on a tree, searching out nutrients.
This of course had Leah considering her own food situation, which would likely soon become an issue. She was glad she had had a full dinner before heading to bed last night… although she wasn't even sure how long she had slept for before she had been spirited away to this place. Whatever the case, she was starting to get a bit peckish and she wasn't sure how to bring it up to her companion.
Almost as if in response to the thought, Leah’s stomach rumbled, which would normally have been a good indicator to those around her that she was hungry, but her companion seemed startled by the noise more than anything.
Now, it was reactions like that which had already had Leah figuring that the child had ears of some kind. After all, it obviously reacted to noise, especially whenever she had spoken.
Of course, Leah had tried to communicate immediately, in both English and Gaelic, but when she had realized the thing staring at her intently had no way of talking back, she had stopped trying. Still, she had the feeling that she/it at least somewhat understood the gist of what she was saying, which was surprising.
It was possible that her new friend was interpreting her mood or movements along with vocal tone, but that was all conjecture really. Still, maybe -if she/it was truly capable of listening and learning- at the very least Leah might find a way to be understood, even if the reverse would likely never be true. After all, how did you interpret plant aroma’s into complex forms of communication unless you too were a plant? And even if you could learn to understand the language as a human, were there enough variations on the provided scents to convert into disparate parts of grammar, like verbs and adjectives? Or would it all equate to a really simplistic language, with something like twenty important words available to convey important ideas, like ‘danger’, or ‘food’.
She supposed there was only one way to find out and decided to start out by attempting introductions.
Pointing at herself, she said, “Leah.”
The creature studied her for a moment before mirroring her action and suddenly the air smelled like fresh cut grass.
Leah smiled at possibly having learned something, but then realized that she had no idea if that smell was actually this thing's name for itself or if it was its classification for its species, or maybe it assumed that ‘Leah’ was the ‘word’ for the noise her stomach had made and had replied with its own version of what would mean ‘hungry’.
Great. She wondered how people in the past who found themselves in this situation had ever learned how to speak to each other without ripping out their hair in frustration.
Sighing, she leaned back against the log once more and contemplated how to better approach this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Six and half hours after exile.
(Two and a half hours after nightfall)
Satsu glanced down at the piece of fruit she had been tossed and hesitantly took a sniff of it before looking up at the one who had passed it to her.
“Thanks.” She offered, even though she was pretty sure these ‘people’ didn't understand Japanese, English, or Italian, the three languages she knew.
As such, It had taken almost an hour for them to communicate that they wanted her to come down from the tree and that they meant her no harm. At least, she assumed they meant her no harm. For all she knew they were trying to fatten her up to eat when they got her back home.
Whatever the case, she was starving, so she took a tentative bite into the fruit, wincing as the wound on her cheek complained about the action.
Her taste buds however, responded with joy, because the fruit was delicious. It had to be the best tasting fruit she had ever eaten, its flavor like a mixture of watermelon and oranges, but with the fleshy texture of an apple.
She smiled at the three hunters across the small campfire they had built, and watched as they seemed to nod in understanding at the pleased noise she made in enjoyment. They took bites of their own fruit -never once removing their masks- and then tossed some meat to their hunting dogs.
With that, some of Satsu’s tension and fear about these people's intentions faded, because sharing a meal with strangers was one of the most basic ways to connect.
Maybe they weren't a threat after all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eleven hours after exile.
Willow stepped away from where she and Dawn had just finished wrapping Buffy's wounds and made her way to the singular dark spot at the center of camp.
The Big Tree -of which they had avoided putting any campfires near- was the only place she could think of that would allow her to be alone and yet still remain safely ensconced within the group. When she reached it, she leaned her forehead against its trunk and tried to find her center.
However, that was easier said than done.
She looked down at her now bloodied hands and in the dim firelight and could see that she was shaking slightly.
Willow knew her nerves were frayed, and that she was worried about her best friend, but she also knew that was not what was causing her shakes.
Magic withdrawal was, and she wasn't sure what to do about it. She figured it would get real bad soon, especially after having recently performed the spell to activate all the potentials. In fact, she figured the only thing keeping her body front shutting down outright was the connection she still had with the Slayers and their inherent magic. But she also knew she now had no magic of her own anymore, and her body was not happy about that.
She shuddered and felt chills on her skin that were not being caused by the cool night breeze. It was obvious that the balm the Slayers were providing had only been enough to keep her symptoms at bay temporarily.
She was glad though, for that connection, because she was sure if she had gone cold turkey -with no way to get a magic fix or to fill the void that had opened when every single drop of mystical energy had been wrung out from her body- then she could have very well died.
She still might, just much slower.
Yes, ever since she fully locked herself into being a conduit for mystical energy after going darkside when Tara had died, she hadn't been able to avoid magic as it had become an inherent part of her being, so much that she very likely needed it to live. She wondered if the PtB had realized that when they had started to take her magic away and they might have had a plan to keep her from dying… and maybe she had interrupted that plan by tagging along with the Slayers? Whatever case, she didn't expect to survive more than a few days.
Willow turned to look over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching her, or had noticed her current state. She hadn't been sure how to tell anyone -especially Buffy- that they might lose her anyway, even though she had successfully tagged along. Thankfully, it seemed that everyone was focused on the sudden rush to circle the wagons, as it were.
This place had turned dangerous, and fast, and here she was, not only with no magic to help keep everyone safe, but also sitting at the edge of a downward spiral that could have her down for the count, permanently.
She wanted to cry, to scream at the futility of it all, but most of all, she wanted to feel that familiar connection she had had made with the Earth, or the one with her Goddess… hell she would even take the unfortunate -but thankfully small- connection she had built with the Hellmouth over the years.
She let out another shuddering breath as she placed her hands on her knees and tried not to throw up at the need burning inside her that was making her consider that a desired option.
“Withdrawal is never pretty.” Faith's voice broke in, causing Willow to jump slightly. She looked up to find Faith standing on the lowest branch of The Big Tree, the Slayer’s eyes scanning the forest's edge in the distance, the scythe in her hands at the ready in case any more threats came. Willow hadn't seen her since she had gotten her nasty claw wound patched and then stormed off angrily after being told to stop hovering and give them space to focus on Buffy. Thankfully, Faith seemed calmer now as she spared Willow a glance and asked, “So, what was your poison? Caffeine?”
“Magic.” Willow explained, wincing at the reminder that she also had a pretty bad addiction to caffeine, but any reaction to detoxing from that would likely be overshadowed by this.
“sh*t. I hadn't thought about that.” Faith admitted and then after a moment added. “That explains how you are already getting the shakes after only a few hours, you were deep into that stuff. And it also means it's probably going to get worse really quick. I figure you'll start feeling like you're on fire in about six hours, and be completely delirious in about ten.”
“Have you been through withdrawal before?” Willow asked, not liking the sound of any of that.
“Naw. But I knew a guy who did, back when I was on the streets… it was a month or so before my Watcher found me.” Faith replied, her tone suddenly strange, distant. “Mike and I, we were slumming it together, trying to make it by, day by day. But he got himself addicted to some bad sh*t and things kinda spiraled.” Faith seemed devoid of emotion now and Willow wondered if Mike and Faith had been more than just friends or ‘roommates’. And as Faith continued her story, Willow couldn't help but be surprised that Faith was opening up about her past at all, especially to her. “Got to the point he couldn't afford a fix, and after a week or so, he started to get desperate. He thought I was holding out on him, tore through all my sh*t looking for cash, but I was just as broke as he was. In the end, a dealer gunned him down when he tried to get some through force.”
Willow shuddered as she considered possibly becoming that desperate, but then suddenly felt trapped by the realization that it was going to happen no matter what. No escape.
“You think there might be magic here that you could figure out how to tap into before it gets too bad?” Faith asked after a long quiet moment, a surprising amount of concern in her voice that Willow would have never expected would be directed toward her.
“Trust me, if there was magic here, I would have felt it.” Willow noted, shaking her head. And she had tried too. About an hour after they had arrived she had taken a moment to concentrate, to reach out. But there had been nothing. No deities, no dimensional rifts, not even the planet itself exuded mystical energy like Gaea had.
“Really? I mean, I figured they sent us somewhere that had some kind of magic, cause we were created through magic, ya know?” Faith offered and Willow furrowed her brow, looking up again to find the Slayer was looking toward where Buffy was being tended to. “Could it be that you’re just looking for the wrong feeling?”
“What do you mean?” She asked, trying not to sound skeptical that Faith could ever understand at all what having a real connection with magic could feel like.
“Like, I recall you being pretty happy with Oz back in high school.” Faith said, and Willow started slightly, not understanding the sudden segue in the conversation. “Bet back then you didn't think you would someday be into the ladies.”
“What the heck does that have to do with-” Willow began to say, annoyed, but then she trailed off as she suddenly understood what Faith was trying to say. “Oh. You mean that you think I'm looking for something familiar, something safe, when I should really be leaving myself open to the wider possibilities?”
Faith chuckled. “Yeah, sorry, I wasn't sure how else to say what I was meaning… ya know?”
Willow nodded and considered the chances that Faith was right. What if there was plenty of magic here, and she was simply closing herself off to it subconsciously because she was used to it feeling one way, when it could very well feel completely different. After all, this was a different planet, in what could also be a different dimension altogether, so who was to say physics would be the same, let alone metaphysics.
“In the meantime-” Faith began, and Willow started again as the Slayer suddenly landed in front of her. “Here.”
Willow looked down at the proffered scythe and then back up at Faith who nodded as if to suggest she take it.
Uncertain, Willow reached out and gripped the handle, finding herself letting out a sigh of relief as her symptoms began to fade.
Okay, it made sense that the scythe would be a balm just like her connection to the Slayers, but there was no reason to have thought it would somehow be more of one.
“How did you know that would help?” Willow asked softly, closing her eyes as she felt her chills recede and her migraine start to clear. She could tell that there was no real transfer of magic, and the void inside herself was still quite present, but touching the scythe felt like she was having all of the Slayer's give her a big magical hug at once.
“That thing was forged with both the materials and magic from Earth. So I figured you and it might both be missing that connection and could be able to comfort each other.” Faith said with a shrug.
Willow opened her eyes and then let her mouth drop open in awe at not only the sentiment behind what Faith had said, but also at how much sense it made. She found herself giving Faith a long hard look, one that had the Slayer clearly feeling uncomfortable because she fidgeted and looked away.
“When did you get so insightful?” Willow finally asked.
Faith scowled and shot her a hard look that had Willow wishing she could take back the question (and the accidently implied insult).
“Have you ever considered that maybe you're not the only one who's ever had a connection to someo- thing , some thing that touched you deep down in your soul? Or that maybe you're not the only one who knows what it's like to feel like your whole world has come crashing down because you lost it?” Faith growled out and Willow blinked in surprise as a tear fell down Faith's cheek. Then the woman's tone shifted to a softer, more pained one. “When I was in the joint, I was secluded, alone, kept far from what made me feel whole. I couldn't slay… couldn't fulfill my purpose… couldn't feel the presence of-” She cut herself off and roughly ran her hand through her hair. “Look, you spend enough time apart from the source of that feeling… you find whatever way you can to fill the void until you can find your way back to it.” She then cleared her throat and nodded toward the scythe. “So, get your fix.”
“What about you?” Willow asked, realizing that Faith had probably been reveling in the connection the mystical weapon gave her as well. In fact, that had probably been how Faith knew it would help Willow too.
“Unless some big baddie shows up, I won't need it as much as you.” Faith replied, her eyes and head shifting to the side as if she was considering something behind herself. She then turned fully and made to walk away before stopping to look back at Willow to add, “At least as long as I don't lose her again.”
Willow looked past Faith toward where Buffy was laying, Faith's words suddenly taking on a whole new meaning.
“Oh.” A suddenly shocked Willow intoned as she watched Faith continue to walk off toward the apparent source of the ‘connection’ she had been talking about.
Honestly, she felt like she should have been more surprised, but she really wasn’t.
