Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!
  Stories ~ Leave Comments ~ Links   WyndGyrl Buffy Femslash View Comments ~ Disclaimer ~ Email

illustrationillustrationWitch's Faith
Episode 15 – Leaving

Beginning of story ~ List of all 32 episodes

 

"So when are you going to get up off your butt and help me find Elise?"

Faith was doing stretches in the living room, warming up gradually to a few basic punches and kicks. She wasn't fully recovered by any means, but she wanted to be ready to slay as soon as her strength returned. Having started out far worse off than Willow, her Slayer constitution had now surpassed Willow's progress. Buffy's presence made her self-conscious, though. Buffy had proven herself the more formidable fighter, and now on top of that Faith was recovering from both internal injuries and a magic spell. She found herself unconsciously trying to display her abilities to Buffy, and attempted an advanced kick that her muscles could no longer manage after being bedridden. She fell to the floor, wincing in pain.

"Not today, I don't think!" said Buffy, smiling. Faith accepted her help standing up.

"Still no luck?" asked Faith.

"Actually, I have a lot to tell you. We know some of what Elise is up to now. First of all, with you out of the picture, she's still claiming to have you in her pocket. She's playing that game for all it's worth. And until recently I was spending a lot of time here with you two instead of patrolling. She played that too. So she's got a massive network now, more disciplined than ever. She doesn't have her strength spell, but so far she's holding power just fine without."

"And second of all?"

"Second, she's still planning to capture Dawn, to draw some really powerful demons and vampires into her army. And she's got a large underground base where she plans to keep Dawn. We don't know where it is but we know it has flowing water and we know it's big."

"That's a start, anyway. You'll find her long before I'm my old Slayer self."

"At this rate, I'm not so sure. She has the secrecy thing down pat."

Faith started rolling up her workout mat. "Buffy," she asked hesitantly, her cheerful tone gone, "have you heard from Tara?"

Buffy looked down sadly. "Not for several days. I tried to visit her today, but either she wasn't home or she wasn't answering the door." But Buffy didn't want Faith to be burdened by something that could not be helped. "She'll be fine, Faith. She's really pretty tough, you know!"

Faith wasn't so sure. If she were in Tara's place, she would be anything but fine.

 


 

Faith sat astride Willow's face, pleasuring Willow with her own mouth in return. Trapped beneath the Slayer's satisfying weight and heat, Willow was glad to have Faith mobile again. Both girls still became too cold to do this in the open, so several heavy blankets covered the pair, turning them into an unlikely-looking mound in the bed.

"I've just showered..." hinted Faith, pulling her face out of Willow's crotch briefly and breathing hard.

"Yeah, I know," was Willow's muffled reply. She was too distracted by Faith's teeth pulling at her lips and clitoris to understand the Slayer's meaning.

"You said sometime... when I was freshly clean you would–"

"Oh..." Willow remembered now what Faith wanted. She knew it felt wonderful–Faith had pleasured her that way several times. But she wasn't exactly comfortable with it. Much less with serving Faith the same way in return.

"It's all right if you don't want... ohhhh!" Faith's entire body trembled. This was one of her favorite sensations.

Willow was pleasantly surprised to find that Faith's anus simply tasted like her skin. She didn't push her tongue inside, but she found that licking the wrinkled aperture itself was actually very erotic and intimate. "You do have the cutest little anus!" said Willow, trying to shock Faith.

Faith simply pressed back against Willow's tongue even harder, relishing this new way of possessing her Willow.

Lying tangled together afterwards, Willow said, "That was amazing, my love. As always.... I am so lucky to have you." The witch kissed Faith's collarbone.

Then Willow fell silent, and her eyes were cold. She got that way often, and it almost seemed that Willow was angry with Faith. But Faith perceived something even more disturbing. Willow was angry, yes–it was there beneath the surface all the time now. But not at Faith. Willow was angry at Tara. This cold stillness was the same look that had come over Willow when Faith had told her of Tara's decision to leave.

Faith's heart was heavy. This didn't feel right. It didn't feel good. She and Willow shared a deep friendship, and an understanding of each other's problems that each girl badly needed. And the sex was incredible. Willow found the Slayer's power irresistible, and gave herself in to it with abandon. But... was all that enough? Once, Faith would never have suspected that something even deeper could exist between two people. She knew she would never experience such a thing first-hand. But she had seen it. Between Willow and Tara.

Faith looked at the wooden figures she had given as a gift to Willow. The witch clearly treasured the figures of a lost Faith and a loving Willow.

Willow followed Faith's gaze and sighed. Faith was very much afraid that Willow shared her doubts. Faith needed this relationship. But Willow needed something more.

Willow could not bring herself to say anything. She could not bring herself to destroy the person who had healed her soul and then saved her life.

 


 

That afternoon, Faith asked to borrow Buffy's car. "Sure, where are you going?"

"I'm going to Tara."

Buffy reached out to touch Faith's arm, sensing just a little of the pain inside the other Slayer. She had an idea that Faith was about to make yet another terrible sacrifice, and she was awed by the goodness that had been hidden in Faith for so long. "Can I do anything?"

Faith tried to smile bravely. "You can let me sleep on your couch."

"Of course... you still need to be taken care of." It was true–Faith's strength would sometimes give out suddenly, and the cold inside was not gone. "I'll take care of you, Faith. No matter what happens, you'll be OK in the end."

Faith chose not to answer that. She went to find Willow, with the air of someone walking into certain doom.

"Willow? Will you come with me?"

"Where?" said Willow, surprised. They had never gone anywhere alone since Faith had moved in.

"I'm taking you to have a talk with Tara."

After all, that was the real test, wasn't it? It was actually pretty easy to be good when it felt good. Being good when it hurt–that was the hard part.

 


 

Willow's fury astonished even herself. "You did this to yourself! And now you won't even answer the phone?! You won't even let Buffy in to see if you're still alive?"

"I can't, Willow. I need to be away. It hurts too much. Please... just go!" Tara knew she had behaved very badly. This was not the way she and Willow should have parted. But it was the only way they could part. Willow must really hate her after all, to track her down and vent this anger when she surely knew how Tara was already suffering.

"Hurts you? This is my life, too! How dare you go to Faith behind my back and decide what my life will be?"

"I knew you wouldn't let me go."

Willow's mouth hung open in disbelief. "So you thought you'd just force me to be with Faith?! That's not up to you two to decide!"

"Look at her, Willow!" Tara looked down at the car below her window, where they could see Faith's shoulders shaking. "Don't pretend that I'm better than her. I'm not the person you thought. I know what I can do now. And I know what she is. She wanted to die for you. She loves you just as much as I do."

"No, Tara. She doesn't. That's why she made me come here. She is a wonderful person, and she loves me enough to let me go. I know how hard that is... I don't want to let her go either." Willow's anger was finally spent. "I know how difficult all this has been for you. I have at least as much to be sorry for as you do." Willow looked into Tara's eyes. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Tara. And I'm not leaving here without you."

Tara stopped in the middle of opening her mouth to yell. It had not even remotely occurred to her that Willow was here because she wanted her back.

"Yes, Tara!" said Willow, exasperated. "How could I live without you? How could you even think such a thing?" She opened her arms and her eyes pleaded to Tara. She was shivering–she and Faith had left without taking the time to bundle up.

Tara walked forward, feeling completely unreal, and fell against Willow. Despite her weakness, Willow supported Tara's weight and held her close.

They did not mean to be cruel by embracing in front of the window in Faith's sight.

 


 

"I'll always love you, Faith. And it will always be you who gives me strength when I am tempted to abuse my powers." Faith didn't want a tear-filled goodbye, and Willow was doing her best. Tara would be coming home tonight as soon as her things were packed, and this was the time for Faith and Willow to speak privately.

"You too, Willow. Thanks for... everything." The two sat on Tara and Willow's bed, holding hands for the last time.

"I wish..." Willow began, and then she could not help crying. "I wish there could be two of me!"

"Me, too."

"I'm worried about you, Faith! I don't want you to be alone." The prediction of the Oracle was a constant presence in Willow's thoughts.

"I'll be OK, Willow. Not right away. But I will be. I'll be much better than I ever was before we were together. Will you be OK?"

Willow could not find words, only tears. She nodded and hugged Faith tenderly. Faith hugged her back, but her lip trembled and her jaw clenched. "I'm going to go now. I don't want to cry." Faith was about to lose control, and she didn't want to do it around Willow.

She turned back briefly at the door. "Be happy, Willow."

 


 

Willow felt great sadness in her heart, but also great joy. She and Tara would never be apart again. She rearranged her things, making room for Tara's, and planned a hundred ways to show Tara that she loved her more with each passing day. According to Dawn, Faith was out for a short walk.

Willow chose a shelf and cleared away a place of honor for Faith's carved figures. But when she went to her nightstand, one of the figures was missing, The carved Willow had her hand extended lovingly to... no one. Willow looked around on the floor, but the figure of Faith was nowhere to be found.

With a growing feeling of unease, Willow walked over to open the drawer that contained everything Faith had with her. It was empty.

Willow ran to the closet by the living room. Perhaps Faith had moved her things there, as Willow had when staying on Buffy's couch. Nothing, just some coats of Buffy's.

Willow's heart caught in her throat. Those were the coats she or Faith wore when going out, to keep the inner cold under control. And Faith had gone out unprotected.

"Dawn?" Willow called, alarmed, "When did Faith leave?"

"Maybe two hours ago," Buffy's sister replied from her room. "She made a mess in Buffy's room, too. Is she OK?"

"Buffy's room?" Willow ran up the stairs and saw what Dawn meant. A trunk of some of Buffy's old, disused weapons was dumped on the bed. Several seemed to be missing.

Dark was falling, and the temperature was dropping. The Oracle loomed again in Willow's mind.

 


 

Faith tripped on a root, cried out in anger, and leapt on the vampire again. The creature kicked her in the head, hard. The Slayer came back for more. With a scream of utter rage, she dodged a fist and planted her stake in the vampire's chest. Bad aim. The vampire screamed but did not die.

Dodging another blow, she tried again for the heart. She felt the stake penetrate bone and flesh, and then the supremely satisfying crunch as the flesh transformed into the caked dust of ancient decay. Gray powder exploded around her. To Faith, the dust in her nostrils was like the smell of blood in water to a shark. For just a moment, she forgot the cold in her bones and in her heart. Her face was twisted into a mask of hate.

Faith had walked for miles, waiting for sunset and putting distance between herself and the warm, safe home that was no longer hers. She carried her possessions in a garbage bag. Eventually, she had to stop and rest, gathering her strength. When darkness fell, she was shivering with cold, dressed only in black pants and a sleeveless shirt. But her strength had largely recovered. She was ready to slay.

Faith slew three vampires in quick succession before she began to weaken again. After that, she began taking quite a beating. But her rage drove her on, and she managed to slay five more vampires, gaining fresh bruises from each battle. Each slaying gave her more than just the satisfaction every Slayer felt at the moment of the kill. Every time her stake buried itself in an undead heart, she felt the same fulfillment that she had received from brutally beating Elise. The dark satisfaction of acting out the hate she felt for her own worthless self.

There was no future in Faith's mind. She would slay until she dropped, and if she didn't get up again, then so be it. She had made herself weak–in every possible way–and she hated being weak.

Shivering and exhausted, Faith found that she had unconsciously wandered to familiar ground. The graveyard where she had worked. She dropped her garbage bag and picked up a shovel that was lying on the cement driveway near the tool shed. Then she took from her pocket the dejected wooden figure of herself. She placed it on the hard cement, unaware of the tears flowing from her eyes.

Faith raised her shovel high over her head, and with a shriek of anguish brought it down on the statue with all her might. Wood splintered. She smashed the pieces, again and again, howling at the pain inside that she now knew could never really be banished.

"Stop! Faith! What are you doing?!" Buffy had almost given up hope of finding Faith, and was horrified at this display of self-destructive violence. The head of the figure had rolled to one side and gazed upwards in misery. Although Faith was two years younger than Buffy, she often seemed about ten years older. Not now. It seemed to Buffy that it was a small, hurt child chasing the broken head across the ground. With another grunt of hate, Faith ground it to particles under her boot. Then she whirled to face Buffy. Buffy, who would never know this kind of pain!

Buffy tried to hand Faith a heavy coat and found herself dodging a shovel blow to the head. Infuriated at this rejection, and seeing murder in Faith's eyes, Buffy dropped the coat and fell into a fighting stance.

 

Continue to Episode 16 – Heat.

Willow leaned forward, allowing her own erect nipple to touch the taught, warm skin of an egg yolk. She moved, breaking the skin, and allowed her nipple to sink into the rich warm yolk. She sat up again, yellow liquid dribbling down from her breast. Tara's mouth hung open. A step in the right direction.

 

I would be grateful if you would give me your comments and rate my stories in my Guestbook, or email me. Reader responses will determine whether I publish more stories, and will help improve them! Thanks for reading!

  Stories ~ Leave Comments ~ Links   WyndGyrl Buffy Femslash View Comments ~ Disclaimer ~ Email

www.angelfire.com/grrl/wyndgyrl