Disclaimer: Same as in first part

Faith couldn't believe it. When that knife left her hand, it was supposed to pierce something non-vital, but at the last moment, it slipped, going straight for Buffy's head. An apology probably wouldn't have helped either considering the murderous expression on the blonde's face when she picked herself up but she couldn't help but try anyway. "I didn't mean to do that."

"So you weren't aiming for my head?" Came the sarcastic question.

"Actually I was aiming for something fleshier, like your arm, your side, or your ass if all else failed. What the fuck is the matter with you anyway? So you want nothing to do with me, fine, I can deal with that. But you shoot at me? How fucked up are you?"

Buffy was shocked speechless for a moment at the question but finally let loose at the indignity of the charge. "I'm fucked up? You're one to talk considering your picture's in the dictionary under 'psycho fucked up slayer'. And run it by me again. Who threatened to mutilate my friends if I didn't get on the ball? Yup, that's right. You!"

Faith held up her hands in hopes of preventing anymore outbursts that made absolutely no sense to her. "Hold up, okay? Did you get into someone's private stash cause you damn sure hallucinated that crap."

"You're telling me you didn't say that?" Buffy asked incredulously.

"I'm telling you, whatever you heard or think you heard, I didn't say it."

Buffy wanted to believe her and was more than a little pissed off at herself for wanting that. "How many times do you think you can play me, Faith before I wizen up?"

"I'm not playing you!" Faith shouted in frustration. "What's it going to take for you to believe me? For Christ's sake, you nearly impaled me on an arrow. Don't you think I'm taking a chance in trusting you too?"

Seeing the validity of her point, Buffy slowly relaxed from her battle-ready stance. "I guess we need to talk," she finally suggested.

"Guess so."

Neither made a move to do so as they alternated between keeping a close eye on each other and looking at anything else but each other.

"This isn't going to work if one of us doesn't start talking soon," Buffy said wryly after a good ten minutes had passed in complete silence. She sighed before continuing, "Yesterday, when I was looking for you after you ran off, you...or someone that sounded exactly like you, told me that you had gotten your memory back and then you threatened to kill me and my friends...sound familiar?"

"No, but tell me if this rings a bell. After I took off, you tracked me down and told me that I screwed up so bad in the past that you couldn't have anything to do with me anymore. And then, this morning, you shot an arrow at my back."

"I didn't say that to you yesterday," Buffy protested after mutely accepting guilt for the second part of the statement.

"Then assuming we're both telling the truth, someone's playing both of us for fools."

"Are we accepting bets on our anonymous phone caller?" After dropping the bow she'd still been holding up up to that point, Buffy moved to step in front of Faith. "Sorry I shot at you. It's just that..."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I threw that knife at you." A soft grin slowly formed on the brunette's face. "So I guess I should get rid of these," she continued, going about the task of pulling out a knife from the waistband at her back, one from both her boots, and a paring knife from between her breasts, although how she managed to put it there in the first place was beyond Buffy's comprehension.

Shaking her head in bemusement, the blonde led the way into the living room, plopping down with a hard thud on the sofa. Faith followed suit, putting her legs onto the coffee table.

"I'm so tired," Buffy mumbled, her eyes already closing and her mind half way to dreamland. A sleepless night in combination with the adrenaline rush earlier had sapped her of whatever reserves she had and at that moment, she could barely stop from tipping over. Faith, on the other hand, wasn't tired at all. She'd slept the night before and, even though it wasn't four star accommodations, she felt pretty well rested. That didn't mean she had any intention of getting up though. Nope, she was perfectly happy sitting right there. At what other time could she openly stare at Buffy without trepidation? No need for sidelong glances and veiled looks. That's right, Faith thought to herself, I'm a pretty happy girl. And after all that's happened, it was a truly miraculous thought. A good fifteen minutes passed in which Faith spent happily engaged in this activity when a thought suddenly hit her like a Mack truck. In their earlier standoff, Buffy had called her a...psycho fucking slayer. She was a slayer? The revelation should have come as a surprise and it was but not in the 'Holy cow, look at me Ma' kinda way. It was more along the lines of 'Hmmm...that's interesting, now let's move on' kind of a deal. She wasn't sure if it was due to the spell or some quirk in her nature but she found accepting the bizarre and weird relatively easy. So what had she learned in the past two days? That Buffy and herself were slayers, that Buffy's friend cast a spell on her, that vampires and magic do exist, that elements thought only to exist in ghost stories were more real than people liked to admit? Okay, that was fine with her, she could deal. But when it came to other more personal truths that were being discovered along the way? Those she was having a tougher time getting a handle on.

Personal truth #1: If she wasn't in love with Buffy, she was damn sure close to it. Which really sucked considering Buffy not only had a boyfriend but seemed straighter than the arrows she was shooting. Although, there were times when she could've sworn there was something happening between them that was definitely not platonic.

Personal truth #2: She had been Evil's right hand whore before she lost her memory. That had been made abundantly clear to her by Buffy and her friends. If their initial meetings were any indication, she must've really been good at being a badass. You don't elicit the kind of reaction she did by being a girl scout and helping old ladies across the street.

Personal Truth #3: ...She hadn't gotten that far yet It had only been two days after all and numbers one and two were going to give her enough problems as it was.

As Faith mulled over these points, Buffy, who had been perilously close to tipping over when she went to sleep, did just that. And as luck would have it, she slumped right into Faith's waiting arms. By that time, Personal Truth #1 was being tattooed into her heart. To hold the other girl in her arms was to taste heaven and she would take full advantage of it because heaven was some half formed ethereal realm, this was real.

****

Buffy woke to a most luxuriating feeling of being held. She basked in the warmth and love that hit her like lapping waves, slowly washing away whatever tension still existed in her mind and her body. Nuzzling into the soft skin resting underneath her body, her hands wandered unbidden across exposed flesh and not until she'd made it to a distinctively shaped mound of flesh did she finally realize that it wasn't Riley she was feeling up. Opening her eyes and sitting up slightly, the first sight that greeted her still groggy mind was that of the face of a reddening brunette.

Faith cleared her throat in the ensuing silence. "Nice dream?" She blithely asked while at the same time trying to force some air back into her oxygen starved lungs.

"I'm sorry," Buffy started, already pulling away with a flustered look about her. Not really knowing what else to say since it wasn't everyday this sort of thing happened, she repeated the sentiment despite the inherent lameness of it. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Faith waved the whole incident off with a cavalier gesture, attempting to put the other girl at ease. "Stuff happens." Inside though, she was hardly so nonchalant. She was burning up in fact and every second spent in Buffy's vicinity only heightened the feeling. Moving to stand up with the intention of taking a walk to cool off, she was instead pulled back down by an insistent and oblivious blonde.

"Faith, I know stuff happens but I also want you to know that...I didn't mean anything by that. I just don't want things to be awkward between us."

Faith looked away momentarily, muttering "Of course not. And it's not going to be." There wasn't anything like cold reality to temper ones rising passions. Staring right into Buffy's eyes, she stated with an assurance she didn't particularly feel, "Everything between us is going to be fine, B. A little groping isn't going to break us...I hope not anyway." Buffy nodded her head as if the matter were resolved which couldn't have been farther from the truth, at least in Faith's view. But what was she going to do, yell at the top of her lungs that she wouldn't mind it at all if Buffy kept on groping her? That was a surefire way to make sure the only friend she had would run screaming into the night. If not running than at least coming at her with an arrow again.

"Faith? You all right?" The question snapped her out of her melancholy thoughts. Aiming what she hoped was an easy smile at Buffy, she suggested they go get something to eat. Hopefully, this mundane activity would take both of their minds off the earlier incident, at least for a little while.

****

"Where are they?" Riley muttered to himself in frustration. They'd circled the entire town, yelling out for the slayers and gotten no response whatsoever. Two days had passed since they'd been here last. Two agonizingly long and worry-filled days that grew ever more so with the information they'd managed to dig up about the eventful history of Sayersville. In the face of his own helplessness, he punched the invisible barrier as hard as he could which really didn't do any damage aside from that done to his own hand, as far as he could tell.

Giles took off his glasses to wipe the sweat from his face with a handkerchief. "I don't think that's going to work," he said testily, annoyed at the impulsive display while at the same time wishing he could've done it first.

"Well, what would you suggest?" Riley fired back, almost immediately closing his eyes in contrition. "We're both worried," he said stating the obvious.

"They could be asleep," Giles replied, turning his searching eyes back to the town that laid enticingly close within arm's reach. "Or they might be somewhere where they just can't hear us. Let's just wait awhile and call them again, shall we?"

Riley mutely accepted the suggestion, imitating Giles' posture and staring pensively into the barricaded compound.

****

Faith sat with her back against the wall, her eyes darting every which way, her senses on heightened alert to any shadows playing across the room. The feeling that something was staring at her was, by now, a familiar companion. It'd been like this for God knows how many hours. Unable to move because the fear in her gut held her glued to that spot, all she could do was sit and wait. Something in this town was coming for her. She believed it with absolute conviction. Her body was a knot of tension just waiting for the right provocation to strike out. From time to time, she had to remind herself to breath but even so, she took shallow breaths, afraid that even the tiniest rustle or noise she made would give her away or prevent her from picking up a sneak attack.

The intense, sudden prickling along her spine made her quickly stand up, backing as far into the wall behind her as she could, which wasn't but a millimeter more. She looked around, seeing nothing, but the rest of her senses screamed to her that there was something else in the room. A cold breeze nipped at her shoulders even though there weren't any windows in the room and the door was closed. A moment of eerie silence passed until it was shattered by a creaking, almost as if something heavy was walking towards her on the wooden floor. Looking frantically around with a wild eyed expression, she started taking swings at the air. If she could've seen herself then from a different perspective, she would've wondered what had brought her to this situation, trying like a madwoman to hit a foe that might or might not be there at all. How had it progressed to this point, you might ask. She really had no clue. Yesterday, she had turned her back for five seconds---FIVE SECONDS!---when she turned back around, she was alone. Buffy was gone; she'd just disappeared. She tried looking around for the other girl but was soon forced to stop due to the increasing sense of fear filling her up inside. And it kept rising until the only thing she could do was sit down in that damn room, waiting for her fear to come and find her.

****

Buffy sat with her back against the wall, one knee pulled up to her chest, staring uncomprehendingly into space. Unlike her fellow slayer, she felt no fear. In fact, she felt absolutely nothing at all. She'd been mulling it over for well on a couple of hours already. It made no sense at all. And it still didn't. As far as she could figure it, she'd...disappeared. Even now, she could barely wrap her mind around that fact but it was undeniable. Faith had freaked when she turned around and didn't see her, calling her name over and over again. Of course, she'd been standing right in front of the brunette and, at the time, had wondered if she was the butt of a juvenile joke. No such luck though as Faith grew increasingly agitated, running around the house and eventually most of the town, screaming her name.

At first, Buffy had tried to lay a calming hand on the girl but when her hands went right through Faith's body, all thoughts of jokes, practical or otherwise, flew right out the window. She'd spent the next few minutes paralyzed, eyes steadfastly fixed on her own two hands. Hands that looked solid enough but had already proven otherwise. She finally tore her horrified gaze away, hoping that it'd only been some kind of fluke that'd worn off by now. Hesitatingly reaching out for a book on the nearby desk, she tried picking it up only to find that it hadn't been a fluke, and if it was, it was an awfully long-lasting fluke. It was an odd sensation really, not to be able to touch or feel...to be invisible. She spent the rest of the day and the next watching Faith slowly come apart at the seams, unable to do a thing to prevent the collapse. She watched as the other girl began jumping at shadows, her behavior becoming more and more erratic until finally, she just sat down. And that had been her position for the last few hours. Sitting in that shuttered room, eyes darting around as if the next unguarded moment would bring unimaginable terror. She couldn't blame her though. With all that'd happened and continued to happen, who could blame her for being alert. Only problem was, this was more than simple vigilance. One look into those haunted eyes could have told anyone as much.

She was puzzling over just how she managed to comfortably walk through walls and yet, not fall through the floor when Faith suddenly jumped up. Buffy watched in mild interest when the other girl started taking swings at the air around her for no apparent reason. She supposed she should be concerned but all she felt was detached indifference. Somewhere along the way, in the time between yesterday and today, that ability to empathize had long since been drained clean out of her. It started off a slow process, she hadn't even been aware of it until it was too late. And now, she sat watching, a part of her wishing she felt...something, although the memory of ever feeling anything was becoming fuzzier by the second. Not for the first time, she idly wondered if invisibility wasn't all that had befallen her because not only was she invisible, she was feeling hollowed out as well. She spared a dispassionate glance up when Faith suddenly flew out the door and followed only out of a perverse compulsion to see what the other girl would do. On her way out, she felt a cold breeze blow across her arm but didn't even miss a step, attributing it to the quirks of a drafty, old house. What she didn't take into consideration was the fact that the house was neither old nor drafty but, given her current condition, it was an understandable oversight.

****

Faith ran outside, hoping that she could outrun whatever was hounding her but she could still hear the pounding of footsteps beating a path right behind her. Turning a sharp corner, she barreled down the street, completely forgetting the pesky, little force field that had kept her confined for so many days. As a result, she crashed headlong into the barrier, dropping like a sack of wet laundry. She made a valiant effort to get back up but to no avail as she slowly slipped from consciousness. The last thought she had was that she wouldn't be waking back up again.

****

Buffy slowed to a stop next to Faith's crumpled form and crouching, she almost reached out a hand before remembering her immaterial status. She didn't really know why she was there. It wasn't as if she cared one way or the other whether the girl recovered or not. Commonsense would say yeah, she'd wake up, she was a slayer after all. That wasn't the motivating factor for Buffy's decision to stay. No, the only reason was that there wasn't anywhere else she cared to be at the moment and, even if there were, she didn't feel like walking over to it. Lifting her head to the afternoon sun, she closed her eyes, trying to absorb its warmth into the hollow spot growing inside her soul. Lulled nearly to a trancelike state, she didn't hear the rapid approach of footsteps until Giles and Riley were almost upon her.

"What's going on? Where's Buffy?" Riley ground out in frustration, palms flat against the barrier he'd quickly grown to detest.

Giles stared in equal agitation at the still form on the ground, thankful that the girl still appeared alive. Running a hand through his hair, he muttered, "I wish I knew." He now regretted more than ever that he'd let Buffy implement her plan. He knew it would lead to more trouble than they'd anticipate, just not this much. But he hadn't been able to dissuade the headstrong young woman, especially since he couldn't come up with any alternatives they could have used.

"Buffy? Buffy!" Riley continued to yell out, eyes scanning for any signs of movement coming from the town.

Buffy herself was becoming annoyed with the yelling. She was standing right next to them and just because they couldn't hear or see her didn't mean they should shout so loud that she had to cover her ears with her hands so as not to go deaf. Fortunately, Faith picked just that moment to wake, saving her the trouble of moving to a quieter spot.

"Faith? Are you all right?" Giles was the first to notice the faint stirrings.

The brunette blinked slowly a couple of times before staggering to her feet, only to grab her head at the momentary dizziness that lingered from her collision. But as soon as it passed, her eyes widened considerably as her head swiveled behind her. "It's still here," she whispered in a terrified hush. "It's here. Do you feel it?"

"What's here?" Giles asked in a confused tone.

"IT!" she tersely reiterated. "Why won't it just leave me alone? Help me," she cried, turning back to the two men.

Riley looked around, finally giving up and barking at Faith, "There's nothing here. Just tell us where Buffy is."

At the mention of the blonde slayer's name, Faith seemed to physically deflate, her face falling. "I don't know," she replied in a low murmur.

Before Riley could angrily interject again, Giles interrupted and, in a gentle voice meant to calm the girl down, he asked, "Faith? Please tell us what happened to the two of you."

Faith took a shuddering breath. "I turned around...and she was just...gone." She turned a beseeching glance to her audience. "I looked for her but I couldn't--and then, I felt it coming for me. It's here! You have to help me." Again, Faith looked behind her with a panicked expression. No matter how hard she tried, the fear wouldn't abate. In fact, it seemed to grow stronger the more she tried resisting its grip. She wasn't behaving rationally. She knew that but knowing and acting were two completely different propositions.

"Faith, we're trying to get you both out of this trap but it'll take time. I need for you to try and stay calm in the meantime."

"You're not the one stuck in here!" Faith shouted, her nerves, already shot full of holes, were clear to breaking. She threw a sudden punch at Giles' face and would've done some major damage if not for the Wall that stood between them. That didn't stop her from repeatedly striking out again and again though, stopping only when the sound of bloody, wet flesh bounced off her own ears.

Buffy, who had been watching intently the entire time felt the first faint stirrings of concern igniting in her heart. But it was gone as fast as it had appeared, much as Faith was now gone, running off with a slightly disgusted look on her face mixed with the ever present stink of fear that seemed to accompany her like a shadow. Turning back to Giles and Riley, she caught their shared look of unease.

"What do we do now?" Riley asked, always more comfortable taking orders than giving them.

"She won't be able to help herself let alone us," Giles observed pensively. "We don't know what's happened to Buffy and we're still no closer to knowing how to save them. All we've been able to do so far is dig up some rather sordid history about this town. Bloody hell, we might as well be backed into a corner."

"We'll get them out," the determination in Riley's voice hinted at a far greater faith than he actually felt. "We have to, for Buffy."

Buffy would've been touched upon hearing the assertion if she weren't already preoccupied with something more intriguing. A thought had slowly been percolating in her mind as the drama had unfolded before her. If she was invisible and she could pass through things...Walking straight ahead where the Wall should have been, Buffy passed through to the other side unhindered. She was free. The thought snuck up on her but the excited shouts from Riley and Giles reinforced what she already felt because, the whole gamut of emotions raced through her mind, as if making up for lost time.

After the initial fervor had passed, Giles asked rather pointedly, "What happened to you? And to Faith?"

Still trying to adjust to the sudden change, Buffy took a moment before answering. "I just disappeared all of a sudden. That's how I walked through the Wall. And Faith...I'm not sure what's going on with her. She's unraveling. We have to help her before she hurts herself."

"Too late for that," Riley muttered under his breath.

Ignoring the comment, Buffy asked, "What did you learn about this town?"

Giles went into lecture mode, explaining how Sayersville had been an ordinary town up until the mid-60's when an epidemic broke out, eventually killing most of its residents. The entire town had been put under quarantine. What happened to cause the epidemic or what occurred in that town during said epidemic were still fuzzy and under investigation by the government. It was never reported in the news, however, that there was a force field surrounding the town, physically preventing anybody from entering or leaving. For all intents and purposes, Sayersville was still under quarantine at the present time, its status unrevoked. The few people who had come through the ordeal couldn't enlighten the situation any further, aside from telling everybody that it had started as suddenly as it had ended and the time in between had been a waking nightmare to live through.

"So do you have any ideas how to get her out?" Buffy asked after Giles had finished.

"Unfortunately, we're still working on that," he replied rather sheepishly.

"That's not good enough," she retorted sharply. "Did you see her just now? If she's not out of there soon, she's going to die."

Heaving a sigh, Giles dejectedly replied, "Yes, I know that."

****

The trio set up camp that night. Fortunately, Riley had had the foresight to bring along some equipment as well as food so they could stay there comfortably for the next few days if necessary. They also had a direct link to Willow via cell phone, relaying the good news to her about Buffy. After the momentary jubilation though, she had reported that the rest of the group still hadn't found a means of penetrating the barrier whereby they could rescue Faith as well. Digesting the bad news, Buffy turned over the phone to Giles and then went to stand outside the Wall. It was ironic how, for the past few days, she had stood exactly like this on the other side, staring at the outside world and wishing she were free. Now, here she was, wish fulfilled, staring balefully back to that prison wishing just the opposite.To be free but to be free without Faith wasn't something she desired , she had learned. Maybe she should have phrased her wish more carefully. Feeling a pair of arms encircle her waist, she leaned back gratefully. They didn't say anything, just stood there, looking into a deserted town. Deserted, save for one person...Faith, please be safe, she prayed silently into the night.

****

If you were to ask Faith right then if she felt safe, she'd laugh in your face and then spit in it for good measure, assuming she even heard you that is. Because, right then, at that moment, and for countless moments before, she'd heard nothing but the voices conjured up in her own mind. They weren't discernable either, more like mumblings and half-spoken words that made no sense when pieced together. But if there were a silver lining in the gray storm clouds hovering above her head like a bad rendering of a cartoon, it was that she no longer felt the fear dining slowly on her insides. She no longer felt overwhelmed and threatened by every shadow, rustle, or noise. No longer felt that something was out there, waiting to pull her guts out and play with them like a child with his favorite toy. All of that was great news if it weren't for the damn voices that popped up in its place. She'd ignore 'em if she could but it's kinda hard when it's your own mind you're trying to shut out.

Her hand still throbbed painfully from her earlier encounter with the Wall. Losing to an inanimate object that couldn't even hit back, that was just depressing really. Trying to stay sane in the face of this new obstacle that somebody somewhere deemed funny enough to thrust in her face, she almost didn't notice the light in the sky until it almost swallowed up the entire night sky, turning dark to light. Shielding her eyes from the brightness, Faith waited for it to pass from blinding to bearable.

****

"What WAS that?" The slayer asked after the bright flash had disappeared.

"Looked like one of those films the military used to show about the hydrogen bomb, except if it was the bomb, we'd all be dead right now." Riley stumbled forward, still seeing spots dancing in front of his eyes.

"Riley!" He stopped at Buffy's warning shout but it was already too late. He'd inadvertently stepped across that invisible line separating Sayersville from the outside world. He surprised himself and everyone else not by running back but by running back to the other side without incident.

"How did you do that?" Giles asked astounded.

Buffy hedged forward, her right arm held in front, feeling for what wasn't there anymore. "It's gone," she said with surprise. Looking back at her two companions with a determined look, she stated in no uncertain terms her intention of going back in there and retrieving her fellow slayer.

"It's too dangerous, it might be a trap," Riley warned, placing a hand on her shoulder as if that could stop her if she really wanted to go.

"I don't care if it's a trap. I'm not going to leave her in there alone."

"Buffy--"

"No. This might be the only chance she has and I'm not going to give up on her again." Quickly shaking his hand off, she ran into town before they could dissuade her further.

Riley instantly took off after her and Giles was sorely tempted to do the same but he knew he was of more of help to them right where he was. Sometimes, he mused, being the mature adult isn't all it's cracked up to be.

****

Buffy shouted Faith's name as she ran all over town, acutely aware that Riley was trailing a pace or two behind her.

"Right here, B." Faith staggered from her spot behind a building, nearly running into Buffy in the process.

"Faith!" The blonde stopped just in time to avoid what would've been a nasty collision, instead going to the other girl's side to support her swaying friend. "We have to go now. The barrier's down but we don't know for how long."

Riley took a position on Faith's other side and, together, the three of them took off for their freedom, simultaneously hoping that this wasn't some kind of nasty joke that would bite them as soon as their hopes were high enough.

****

"How's the hand?"

Faith couldn't help but smile at the sound of a voice she never thought she'd get to hear again. "Already healed," she said, turning around from contemplating the town that, on first glance resembled all the other small towns dotting America's landscape. "I can't believe we're finally free of that mousetrap."

"Believe it Faith." Buffy moved closer, unable to keep the giddy smile from her face. "We did it. We survived. We beat it."

Faith's hand involuntarily reached up to cup Buffy's face. "I...Thanks for saving me." She'd almost said something she would have surely regretted but the momentary lapse was just that---momentary.

"I wasn't about to leave you there, all alone," Buffy said, finding it hard to focus suddenly. She was staring deeply into Faith's eyes, losing herself in its warm, chocolaty depths, her hand automatically covering Faith's own.

"*Ahem*"

They both looked up at the interruption to find Riley standing there with an inscrutable expression on his face. "We should pack up and go," he said tersely before turning back around and walking to their makeshift camp.

Removing her hand, Buffy gave a forced smile and went after her boyfriend.

Heaving a soft sigh, Faith turned around and returned to contemplating the ever silent town, only this time, there was a creeping sadness laying behind her eyes that would never go away unless she stopped feeling how she felt about someone who was already taken. But, for the life of her, she couldn't see herself feeling any other way.

****

Taking a shower, brewing some tea, getting some sleep, and sitting on the couch was what Faith, Giles, Buffy and Riley each did respectively as soon as they got back to Sunnydale, and more precisely, to Giles' apartment. Each derived some small bit of comfort from the normality of the routine and the surroundings. Faith, of course, had the impediment of memory loss to prevent her from deriving much of anything. However, the soothing spray of hot water did wash away some of the tension and horror she'd lived through in the short span of time she could recall. By the time she stepped out of the shower, her skin had acquired a rosy glow. Standing in front of the mirror on the medicine cabinet, she seriously looked at herself for the first time. Assuming a critical stance, she would say she had a pretty face but the more she looked, the more she recognized that that single feature wasn't what defined her. Gazing into a reflection of her own eyes, she didn't have to look very hard to see the burden they carried. Even when she couldn't remember, some part of her did and refused to give up that knowledge, imprinting her past just underneath a thin veneer for all the world to see, even her. Do I even want to remember, she asked herself aloud. She rested her forehead against the mirror's cool surface when it refused to answer, choosing not to delve too deeply into a part of herself that was as strange to her as the surface of the moon.

****

By the time Buffy finally emerged from the bedroom, the group of three had run out of conversation a long time ago. Moving over to Riley's side, she asked, "Why's it so quiet in here? I feel like I'm in the cemetery, right before the vamps attack."

"We've run out of things to say about the weather," Faith answered dryly from her seat on the couch. Before Buffy showed up, she was really starting to get annoyed at the stares she was getting from both men. At least Giles tried to limit his to subtle glances. Riley was a whole different matter. He out and out stared at her as if she were a class below human. She'd probably respect him more if he just came right out and said what was on his mind but she had a pretty good idea what that might be. If it came out in the open and Buffy were forced to choose, she had no doubt who would be left out in the cold.

"Faith?" Buffy looked as if she were having a difficult time saying what she had to say. "Some of our friends are going to come over later. It might be awkward and maybe a little hostile at first but I'm sure they'll come around and accept you like we have."

This didn't sound good at all. If any of these "friends" acted like Giles and Riley, she'd rather shoot herself in the foot than go through a meeting with them. But Buffy was turning those imploring eyes on her and she just couldn't let her down. Nodding her willingness to play along, at least for the time being, she was rewarded with a relieved smile from Buffy. I mean, really, she thought, how hard could this be.

****

It was hard, it was very hard. She wasn't used to the loathing and she wasn't used to the disgust. She had to laugh at herself now to ever think that Giles and Riley were bad. Willow and Xander made them look like they were in the bush leagues. If she were the queasy sort, she would've bolted a long time ago. She saw through a dim haze that they'd started arguing again. It seemed to be a conversational norm for them. This time, as with many others already, was a heated exchange carried on between Xander, Willow, and Buffy. If she couldn't repeat the dialogue verbatim, it was only because they were each shouting on top of each other. Shaking her head sadly, she knew she shouldn't be here. Not only was everybody against it but she honestly had no compulsion to make friends with these people. Only Buffy stood up for her. Only Buffy defended her. But she could see the toll that was being taken by the blonde. To stand up to all of those dissenting voices wasn't easy, especially when they're those of your best friends. Making up her mind, Faith resolutely walked out the door.

****

It was only the muted closing of the door that made Buffy turn around. At first, she didn't notice anything wrong until she realized that someone was missing. Hurrying to go after Faith, she threw a warning glance back to those who had started to come with her. "Don't...just don't." She walked out the door without a backward glance. She thought it would go better than this. Faith wasn't the same person she was before. Why couldn't they see that? But all they saw was the tattered remains of leftover hurt and pain. The only way they would be satisfied is if blood were spilt but she swore to herself that wasn't going to happen again. Closing the distance, she reached out a hand, grabbing Faith's arm, refusing to let the other girl go.

"Why are you doing this?" Faith asked, still not turning around.

"They'll come around--"

"No they won't. You're fooling yourself if you think they'll wish for anything but my quick death. It's better for everybody if I just go, Buffy. Out of sight, out of mind."

"Not mine," Buffy stated adamantly, walking to stand in front of Faith who almost broke down at the unswerving support.

"Don't you see it's not just them. I don't want to be a part of their stupid group any more than they want to see me join."

"So what are you going to do, run away?"

"Seems like a good solution to me."

"You can't do that."

"Why do you care what happens? You weren't too thrilled with me either that first day."

"But I spent time with you and if they spend time with you too, they'll start to see you the way I do."

"And what way is that?"

Buffy paused before taking hold of both of Faith's hands. "You're a good person. You're smart, funny, compassionate, and I don't understand how anybody in their right mind wouldn't want to be your friend." Pulling Faith into a hug that was returned in full, she continued, "I'm sure glad I am."

After a contented moment, Faith muttered, "I just don't want to see you fighting with your friends."

Buffy closed her eyes briefly at the unexpected warmth that rose within her as Faith's breath fluttered down her neck. "Let me worry about that," she replied, instinctively tightening her hold. She wasn't sure how long they stood like that but when they finally parted, Buffy had the distinct impression that something in their relationship had changed. It was as if pieces were finally falling back into place after a long hiatus apart. And Faith must have felt it too because she turned an enigmatic smile on her before leading the way back.

****

Depending on how you looked at it, the next couple of days were either jarringly good or abysmally bad. At the very least, both Willow and Xander were toning down their dislike for Faith, their verbal assaults limited to a minimum and other more mundane facts of life were settling into their appropriate niches. Giles had agreed to put Faith up in his spare bedroom so she didn't have to live in some godawful motel. It'd been awkward at first but as the two spent more time together, they learned that the other wasn't as bad as they would have thought. So everything was looking up except for one important factor. It seemed that the only time the two slayers got to see each other anymore was when they went out patrolling each night. Buffy's days were occupied entirely with spending "quality" time with Riley. Faith hardly saw her biggest proponent and if not for the mandatory patrols, she doubted they'd have seen each other more than once that entire week. Hard as she tried, Faith couldn't help but feel abandoned and she recognized that only Buffy alone had the power to make her feel that way. A large part of her resented how easily the blonde seemed to be able to move her attention from one person to another. When those eyes found you, you felt like you were the center of her world. When she moved on, she ripped a large part of you with her and you never felt warm again until she noticed you once more. It became an addiction and Faith was starting to go into withdrawal.

****

Buffy was definitely getting back into the groove of things; the groove she'd been dancing to before Sayersville, before Faith came back. And that entailed spending time, all her time, with Riley. Sometimes, if she closed her eyes, she could almost pretend that everything was still the same but she was disappointed each and every time she opened them back up again and realized life wasn't that easy. It was a messy, tangled affair at best and it didn't always work out how you thought it would. She thought she'd finally found someone she could spend the rest of her life with, short as that might be. She thought it'd be a great change of pace to finally date a "normal" guy that wouldn't turn homicidal or psychopathic at the drop of a hat. But somewhere along the line, she'd revised those thoughts. For the last week or so, she'd tried making it work, refusing to give up on a relationship that still meant so much to her. But she knew, and Riley was suspecting that their relationship was coming to an end. There was a distance yawning between them that only grew wider and steeper the more they pushed themselves towards each other. The moment it officially came to an end was ordinary enough. Riley turned to her, their eyes met, and even unspoken, they knew. They did speak, of course. Just as a formality and before they parted to go their separate ways, Riley made a comment about Faith that made little sense to Buffy. It was something along the lines of "I hope she knows what she has." Before she could ask him to elaborate, he was already walking away. Mulling it over as she walked to Giles' apartment, she couldn't help but feel saddened by the end of something she'd always look back at as a special time in her life.

Riley was probably one of the nicest people you could ever hope to come across but what they had just wasn't enough to sustain much more than a friendship now which begged the question of how it had progressed to this. It wasn't that long ago that they were so in love that the rest of the world faded away when they were together. What had happened?

****

So what had happened? Not only had Buffy not been around lately but the nightmares were leaving her spent. Waking up in a cold sweat, still reeling from snippets of half-remembered images and cries were becoming commonplace to her. She had no idea what went on when she closed her eyes, surrendering to inevitable slumber but whatever happens causes her to wake up abruptly in the middle of the night, trembling from trying to hold in the scream at the back of her throat. It'd become so bad that Faith was afraid to go to sleep anymore. That's right, she was afraid. She hadn't slept well for the last five days. When the rest of Sunnydale's population, human and otherwise, were going off to their respective beds or crypts, she was chugging mugs of coffee, walking aimlessly around town because she didn't want Giles becoming suspicious. But the worst part was that she knew she couldn't keep this up much longer. Even a slayer had to sleep sometime. Stumbling over the curb in the sidewalk, she gave herself another couple of hours before she either gave in or passed out. Whichever way, she'd be asleep and the nightmares would start all over again. She was already shaking at the grim prospect.

****

Buffy arrived at Giles' apartment and the first words out of her mouth weren't "Hi Giles" or "How are you doing Giles?" No, the first question from her mouth was "Where's Faith?"

Heaving a self-pitying sigh, Giles replied, "Hello, Buffy. It's good to see you too. Faith is out."

"Where?"

"I'm not sure."

"How long has she been gone?"

"Several hours."

"And she didn't say where she was going?"

"No matter how you phrase the question, the answer is still no. I don't know where she's gone...Actually, if you do see her, you might want to talk to her. From the little I've see of her this week, she doesn't look well. And since she seems to relate to you the best..."

"She's sick? Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" Buffy asked accusingly.

"I didn't say she was sick, merely that she seems preoccupied and tired."

"Sorry, it's just that I want to know when there's anything wrong with her. She's my responsibility."

"It's good that she has someone that cares for her so."

Buffy returned the gentle smile from her watcher but her mind was a thousand miles away. She was torn between waiting here for Faith or going out in search of her, convinced that Faith needed her. Not willing to wait around, Buffy said her good-byes to Giles and headed out the door. Not more than five minutes later, Faith walked in the door. Actually 'walked' was an inappropriate term for the lurching movement she employed. Unaware or downright ignoring Giles' concern, she somehow managed to get to her bedroom and on top of the bed before passing out.

****

She knew as soon as it started that she was dreaming again. It had that not quite real, fuzzy around the edges quality to everything like Vaseline was smeared everywhere. Innocent enough at the start, she was just standing in a room whose familiarity nagged at her. She knew she should recognize it but it was like grabbing at smoke as the answers eluded her whenever she got too close. And that's when the dream took a downward spiral. Images and sounds popping up and going by too fast to follow, only the barest impressions: screams, shouts, blood everywhere. And she couldn't close her eyes to shut it out cuz when was the last time you've blinked in a dream? Exactly. Faith could only hope that she'd wake up soon but she knew she wouldn't.

As with every other time, when she finally did wake, it was on the verge of a scream. Funny how she didn't feel at all rested. Maybe it was the nightmares that scared her shitless all night long. Getting up with the intention of brewing some more coffee for what would probably turn out to be another infomercial watching night, she uncharacteristically stumbled over a chair, illustrating yet again how not herself she was feeling. Unfortunately, the chair happened to be occupied by a sleeping slayer at the time which the jolt promptly woke up.

"What? Faith?" Buffy called out, squinting into the dark.

"Yeah, B. Hold on." Turning on the lights, they both screwed up their eyes at the sudden brightness but once Buffy managed to focus her vision, she let out an audible grasp.

****

Buffy cleaned her up as best she could. She didn't take a hands on approach, rather, instructing Faith to take a shower and change into some clean clothes that weren't soaked through with sweat. Giles hadn't been overstating matters when he said the brunette looked tired. Gaunt and pale could've been added to the list as well. How she failed to notice Faith's condition even though she saw her every night....it was just that she had focused so much on Riley and their relationship, or lack thereof, that all other details escaped her. It was a lame excuse now that she had hindsight on her side but it was nevertheless, the truth.

When Faith walked out of the bathroom door with her eyes half closed, Buffy instantly went to her side, supporting her friend and ignoring the weak protests for self-sufficiency. When they were comfortably seated on the living room couch, Buffy asked in all seriousness when exactly Faith was planning on telling her about her problem.

Faith looked away to stare blankly at the closed TV set before bitterly replying. "You've seen me every night for the last week and I've looked just like this each and every time. So the question here is, what made you notice this time? Did Giles say something?"

Buffy didn't bother denying the accusation. It was all true anyway. "I know I've been preoccupied..." The look from Faith could best be described as droll with the barest tinge of resentment. "But Riley and I have had to work some things out. That doesn't mean I don't care about what's going on with my friends. I'm here now, Faith. What's going on?"

Faith bit her lower lip in a newly acquired nervous gesture that Buffy had never witnessed on the other girl before. "Nightmares...I've been having them whenever I go to sleep so I try not to...sleep that is."

"What are they about?"

Faith shrugged helplessly. "I just know that I never want to go through it again. Every time I go to sleep, I'd rather die. And every time I wake up, I might as well be."

"We'll find a way to stop them."

Faith absently nodded her head, making Buffy wonder if she was heard at all. Kissing Faith's forehead to emphasize the point, Buffy promised again before going off to wake Giles.

A few minutes passed before Faith dimly wondered why Buffy was taking so long in getting back. Did Giles sleep that soundly or had they both forgotten about her already? Trying to collect her thoughts was comparable to building a house of cards on an unsteady table. Just when you thought you had a good base, the damn thing would come tumbling down, mocking you in the face of your frustration. As she tried once again to organize a coherent thought from the jumbled mess in her head while simultaneously fighting the weariness enveloping her like a shroud, a cold whisper of air brushed by her neck, giving her a decided jolt and snapping her awake. Just as suddenly, the TV she'd been staring at so vacantly up to that point flickered on, ultimately coalescing into a picture of a woman...a woman slamming her own head against a brick wall...repeatedly. As disturbing as the image was, Faith couldn't pull her attention away, eyes glued to the display, weariness forgotten.

The scene continued shifting time and again, to a man shoving a gun into his mouth and proceeding to blow his head off, to another man, crying hysterically as he started to rip his own hair out, to a child running wildly through the streets, finally collapsing from sheer exhaustion. The images just kept coming, and Faith inured as she was by violence, couldn't help but feel the first twinge of nausea welling up in the back of her throat. Much to her relieve, the TV eventually shut off but the damage was already done. The pictures she'd been shown would be indelibly branded on her brain for the rest of her life, rearing its head at the most unexpected moments to haunt her with its visceral imprints. She knew then what she'd been having nightmares about, what had been keeping her awake for five days straight. The people might be different from one dream to the next, but the desperation and the dripping trail of sanity they left in their wake was unmistakable. These were the inhabitants of Sayersville, or more appropriately, their ghosts. Buffy and Giles chose that moment to come in, blithely unaware of the breakthrough Faith had just experienced.

Giles was the first to speak. "Buffy filled me in on what you've been going through. I've heard of cases where someone who went through a traumatic experience---"

"Don't psychobabble me, I know what I've been having," Faith interrupted, finally snapping out of her stupor. "It's too bad you missed the show guys. Should've seen it, would've changed your life."

"Faith, you're not making sense," Buffy said with concern.

"You think I can help that? I've slept a total of five hours this whole friggin' week. My body contains more coffee than Starbucks and I just saw 'Good Morning Sayersville' on television--of course I'm not going to make sense!" The outburst seemed to drain whatever energy had suffused her earlier, leaving her slouched over on the couch.

"What did you see on the television?" Giles asked, latching onto the last part of her statement while Buffy went to sit down next to her.

Faith spaced out again, no doubt replaying what she'd seen in her mind and from the looks of it, it wasn't too much fun. "Faith?" Giles prompted again, looking to Buffy for help when the other girl still refused to respond. Buffy shook her head helplessly when she too failed in her attempts to get through. Their initial jubilation from breaking free of Sayersville had proven very short lived indeed for whatever had kept them there in the first place had evidently followed them home.

****

Sometime, during the latter part of the night, Faith's mind slowly emerged from its self-imposed isolation. Blearily looking around, she found Buffy resting on the couch next to her, apparently having fallen asleep. Looking at the blonde then, Faith was once again struck by a single overwhelming thought that always seemed to creep up on her in the more introspective moments of her life. She was totally and undeniably in love with this girl, someone who probably wouldn't or couldn't return those feelings. But what was she supposed to do though? Turn off her feelings like a running faucet? Uh-uh, didn't work that way. As she argued with herself, her hand involuntarily started to reach over to run through those blonde tresses. Staying her hand barely an inch from its intended destination, she snapped it back, frustrated at the lack of control she had, partly because all things Buffy tended to do that to her but mostly cause of the toll of too many sleepless nights combined with the nightmare playing like a marathon in her head.

By now, she'd finally figured out what it was all about. It wasn't fantastical horrors fashioned from the recesses of her mind like she'd first thought, but rather, the individual death scenes of every single resident of Sayersville who hadn't made it through alive. And even though Sayersville was a small town, having to witness every one of its resident's deaths was certainly not a swift affair. If these images continued to haunt her, she doubted she'd end up faring any better than the people she dreamed of. A faint moan from Buffy turned her attention from those morbid thoughts and Faith was once again tempted to touch the sleeping blonde. The desperate need for physical contact overrode her self-control and before she could stop herself again, she had a hold of Buffy's hand. As soon as they touched, she felt like she could breathe again after nearly drowning in a constant state of fear. I could watch her all night, she thought to herself. And that's exactly what she ended up doing.

Continued in Part Three