Chapter Text
A Prince Among Toads
by Lucinda
She was awake, and everything was whole, working again. She'd healed from... there had been a fight with a blonde girl... Buffy? Faith felt so confused. How had she ended up in a hospital? Where was she even at? Which way did she take to get out of here? Her thoughts felt fuzzy.
Eventually, she stumbled her way out of the hospital, her mind clearing as she kept moving. Had there been drugs in that IV? Something to keep her out cold? Got to get home, get some real clothing, find out what's going on...
But home didn't help. Her apartment had been trashed, the windows broken, her furniture gone, the kitchen empty... Dust and cobwebs had gathered in the corners, and the place had a funny smell, a combination of dust, animal musk, and something bitter that she couldn’t name. Thank God there were still a few things in the closet, and the emergency stash that she'd tucked up the vent was still there. She felt so much better with clothing on. But Dick would never have let her place end up like this...
Something must have gone wrong with his Ascension. That could only be bad for her. He'd been the only person that had really cared about her in this place... well, him and B's mom. But Joyce would be alright, she had people to make sure of that, and B would be furious if she even suspected that Faith had been near her mom. She had this sudden flash of memory, B glaring at her, the knife that Dick had given her glittering in the streetlights as it plunged towards her stomach, burning pain as her body went cold and she fell backwards… No reason to stick around here, she could grab some weapons to go with the cash, and get out of this miserable town. Go somewhere else, somewhere that she would be the only Slayer, the only hero... It sounded good.
She hit a sporting goods store, grabbing a duffel bag, a couple good knives, an axe, a crossbow, and the entire stock of wooden bolts, maybe three dozen in all. And a leather jacket. After that, she caught a bus ride, heading home. Back to the East Coast, where she knew there was a call for a Slayer, and she wouldn't have to worry about competition.
Slowly, she made her way back to the area that she had grown up. Not the direct route, just in case someone was trying to follow her. She made trips north, and occasionally more southernly. There was even the occasional doubling back if she got a particular feeling about a place, and this one time when she’d just had to get a better look at some gorgeous mountains. The view had been amazing. Honestly, she wasn’t in any real hurry to go back to the place that she’d spent her youth in.
It hadn’t been the happiest of pasts, but it was hers, and she wouldn’t be in the shadow of any other Slayer. Faith would be the hero, the savior, the focus of attention. Nobody would be looking at her like a second rate imitation… And she could mourn for Dick. Yeah, he may have been a bad guy, but he was the closest to a father that she’d ever had. Got to look hard for that silver lining… and hope that it wasn’t really just tin foil.
Of course, the almost leisurely trip had a few side benefits. She’d regained most of her memories and sorted out the confusion, and had her muscle tone back. Maybe she wasn’t in top shape yet, but there had been a lot of improvement compared to the way shed felt after waking up from an eight-month coma. She still shuddered to think about it. Would she have ever woke up if she hadn’t been a Slayer? Would she have even made it to the hospital if she had been a normal girl? Faith was afraid both answers would be no.
But there was a downside to being back out, on her own. She had no watcher, no resources to figure out what the hell some nasty thing she bumped into was, nobody to help patch her up if she got hurt. She’d never been quite this alone since she’d been Called. Before, she’d had Melissa, her Watcher. But Mellie was gone now, killed by Kakistos. And it wasn’t like she could just call up the Council and ask for a new Watcher. They’d probably have a few objections to the whole hanging out with a guy who aspired to near invulnerable demon hood. Not that they’d been very good about trying to help her, she was nothing to the Council. Just the current in a long line of Slayers, kill one and get a new one, all interchangeable and disposable. She almost wondered if the Watchers other than Mellie and Giles could even remember her name… Well, there had been that other one, Wesley Windy-Price, or something like that.
Which was why she was in a foul mood when she arrived at the Meyerston Cemetery. The only good thing was that there weren’t the same teeming hordes of vamps and demons that showed up in Sunnydale. Granted, the ones here tended to be smarter, but sometimes the sheer numbers could wear you down. Probably the whole point of bad guys having armies of minions anyhow. She could hear the sounds of a fight.
She drew a stake and a knife, moving towards the fight quickly. Best be ready for anything, and there was no guarantee of vamps. She was almost relieved when she found that yes, it was vamps. Four of them were trying to catch... well, she wasn’t quite sure what the other guy was. His skin had a sort of green cast, and he kept making these impossible jumps… she wasn’t even sure that she could jump like that. But hey, nothing said that she only had to save humans from the baddies. Faith jumped into the fight, staking one vamp in the back before the others had quite figured out that she was there.
She’d just started to enjoy the fight when the last vamp was suddenly pushed forward, impaling himself onto the stake. His ashes fell away, revealing the greenish guy standing behind him. He had brown hair, and big dark eyes that were full of questions.
“Could I get an answer if I asked what the hell just happened?” His voice didn’t quite sound local, and there was something slightly off, as if something wasn’t quite put together quite the same as a human’s.
Faith slid the stake and knife back into her jacket, wiping the dust from her hands. “Vampires. You don’t see quite as many here on the east coast, but… those were definitely vamps. Stake in the heart, fire, beheading. Holy water and crosses burn them.”
“Here I thought vampires were just fiction.” He shook his head, rubbing at his arm. “What else is real that isn’t supposed to be?”
That stopped Faith for a moment. If he was asking what else was real, did that mean that greenie wasn’t some sort of not so hostile demon? “Well, there’s magic, werewolves, all sorts of demons some of which are real nasty characters… which brings up the question what are you? I was sort of thinking maybe some type of demon on account of the green and jumping, but…”
“I’m a mutant, not a demon.” He looked part way between offended and afraid.
Faith grinned, everything making sense now. “A mutant… huh. That explains that then. Lot more fuss about mutants over on this coast too. You might not want to go spending too much time in the cemeteries, there might be more vamps in the area.”
“I find it a bit disturbing that you can talk about vampires as if it’s an everyday occurrence.” He made a sort of stretching motion, and his back made a few popping noises. He looked at her, seeming a bit uncertain of himself. “uggh. I guess I should say... thanks.”
Faith had the oddest feeling that she’d just bumped into someone as lost as she was. “Hey… do you need a place to crash for the night? There’s a second bed at my hotel room, and I got a shower…”
He looked surprised, as if he couldn’t quite believe the invitation had been extended to him. Still, he picked up a duffel, one similar to her own, but a good deal more worn and dirty. “That would be good. I’m Mort.”
“Faith. Come on, let’s get back to the hotel… then maybe I can have you help me figure out what’s been going on the past few months.” She smiled, starting back towards the hotel.
“You hadn’t heard? About the Mutant Registration proposal, Magneto, any of that? Where have you been, in a cave somewhere?” He sounded astonished as he glanced at her, actually pausing in his walk.
“A coma, actually. For the last eight months.” She scowled, not liking the thoughts of how she’d spent her time before that. Faith didn’t even realize that her hand had touched the scar, a tiny reassurance that she was feeling better, that it hadn’t opened up, wasn’t bleeding. Logically, after nine months, there was no way that would happen, but shed only been awake for one of them.
“Right… that would do it. It’s a long story.” He sounded a bit quieter, as if he hadn’t quite expected that sort of an answer. One hand raked over his hair, as if trying to sort his thoughts from the outside.
“I got time. Plenty of time... well, enough time for that anyhow.” Faith smiled a bit, thinking about the contrast. She didn’t have anything to keep her from a long explanation, but the odds were good that she’d never see twenty. Yeah, it was just… incomparable, the life of a Slayer.
End part 1.