The Death of Innocence

by Dafmeister

Copyright © 2005

Dafmeister@hotmail.com

Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: The Buffyverse is owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox and a bunch of other people who aren't me. No infringement of copyright is intended blah blah blah…
Distribution: The Mystic Muse http://mysticmuse.net
Ask and Ye shall receive.
Feedback: Have you ever heard of a fanfic author who didn't want all the feedback they could get their grubby little paws on?
Spoilers: Bad Girls, Consequences, Doppelgangland.
Author's Note: Huge thanks to Kaz, beta extraordinaire.
This story is a "what might have been" for Doppelgangland. When I originally had the idea for this story it was going to be a nice little kink-fic. Over time, however, it turned into something rather less pleasant, involving child abuse and sexual violence. Consider yourself warned.
Pairing: Willow/Faith

Summary: Willow realizes some horrible truths about Faith.

There was a sudden hammering on the apartment door. Faith cursed, jabbed at the pause button, and flung the controller down on top of the Playstation. Muttering threats at whoever had interrupted her, she stalked over to the door. Yanking it open, she found one of the mayor's vampires, Lenny or Louie or something, standing in the corridor. "What?"

"We got a problem with the hacker." The vampire looked nervous, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

Faith didn't bother hiding her smirk of pleasure at his discomfort in her presence.

"Can't you losers handle anything by yourselves?"

"She's at home, and it looks like she's staying put for the night. Boss wants her dead by dawn, so…"

Faith snorted her annoyance. "So I have to drag her ass outside 'cause you and your lame-ass crew let her get past you."

"Just get her outside." The vampire growled, summoning some backbone from somewhere. "We'll take it from there."

Faith snatched up her jacket and stepped out of the apartment. "Whatever. Let's get this over with."

As she turned away down the corridor, something smashed into the side of her head. She staggered into the wall, senses reeling as her knees buckled. She forced her head around in time to see the vampire's arm come down again, the length of pipe in his hand striking the top of her head, laying her flat out on the cold floor.

As she lost consciousness, Faith glimpsed a flash of red hair.


"Go, I-I'll catch up." Willow turned back toward the library, leaving the others to go on without her. Pushing through the swing doors, she leaned over the counter, groping underneath for the tranquillizer rifle. She was suddenly grabbed from behind, cold fingers covering her mouth. Her fumbling hand touched the butt of the rifle and she desperately tried to get a firm grip, but couldn't hold on as she was yanked backwards. The rifle dropping to the floor behind the counter, clattering on the tiles.

"Alone at last," the eerily seductive voice of her vampire double whispered in her ear. "Come on, I've got a surprise for you!"

Willow made a desperate grab for the cross on the counter, but the vampire caught her arm almost before it had begun to move. One hand muffling Willow's cries for help, she dragged the struggling redhead out through the stacks and into a waiting van.


Huddled in the back of the van, Willow desperately wracked her brain to think of a way out. Her double was sitting propped up against the partition separating them from the cab, gazing at her with a lascivious smile on her lips, the dark lipstick a stark contrast to her bloodless skin. Trying to keep her voice steady, Willow asked, "What do you want with me?"

"Your little friend Anya told me you could get me back to my world, but I kinda like the idea of the two of us here. I think we can have some fun together, if you come around to my way of thinking."

Willow shuddered at the idea, and couldn't keep a tremor out of her voice. "Where are we going?"

"I told you, it's a surprise." The vampire's voice took on a teasing note. "You don't want to spoil it now, do you?"

The van rumbled to a stop, and moments later, the vampire that had been driving opened the side door. "We're here."

Willow's twin took her by the arm and none-too-gently hauled her outside. Pausing for a moment by the driver, she said, "Get back to the Bronze and tell the others to have some fun."

"You're not coming?"

The vampire turned to look at Willow with a predatory smile. "I have more important things to do."

"Uh, boss? Me and the guys were kind of hoping for another round with-" A leather-clad arm shot out, the hand clamping over the driver's mouth and smothering whatever he had been about to say.

"Shush! No ruining the surprise. Go. Now." Willow tried to break free while the vampires' attention was elsewhere, but the cold fingers around her arm simply tightened their grip, holding her in place.

The driver got back in the van without a word and drove off, while Willow was pulled into an abandoned building, which she recognized as having housed a nest of vampires until a few weeks earlier, when Buffy and Faith cleared it. The harsh yellow glare of the streetlights fell on the undisturbed wreckage of their battle, the usual squalid disarray of a nest given a new layer of chaos by that brief frenzy of violence. The broken glass from the front windows crunched under the vampire's boots as she dragged Willow to the door of a back room and flung her through. Willow collapsed to her hands and knees in the darkness; the small amount of light that penetrated that far into the building was immediately cut off as the vampire entered the room and closed the door behind her. The air stank of sweat, blood, and fear.

Willow scrambled away from the door, brushing past something warm and yielding in the middle of the room before running headlong into the far wall. Momentarily stunned, she dropped to the floor, huddled in a corner. Over by the door, the vampire laughed.

"Surprise!"

She flipped the light switch. Willow flinched from the sudden glare reflecting off the dirty white walls of what had once been a small office. After her eyes had a moment to adjust, she looked up and gasped.

"Oh my God! Faith!"

The Slayer was hanging naked from the ceiling, her arms held above her head by the chains around her wrists, more chains securing her ankles to the floor. Her clothes were scattered across the floor where they had been torn from her. She was covered in bruises and small cuts; blood still seeped from a split lip. The left side of her face was so swollen that her eye was barely visible. At the sound of Willow's voice, she slowly lifted her head, trying to focus her good eye on the source of the noise. A shadow of disbelief fell across her face, along with a flicker of hope.

The vampire stood beside Faith, running her eyes over the discolored curves of her body. "Do you like her?"

"What are you doing to her?" Willow gasped.

"Kitten's been naughty." The vampire began walking in slow circles around the abused girl, tracing her fingertips over the wounds with a subtlety that seemed obscenely sexual. "Slayer's aren't supposed to work for the bad guy, are they?"

"What are you talking about?" Willow's voice was tinged with panic, her eyes held captive by the helpless Slayer.

"Kitten's been going to see the Big Bad Mayor, haven't you?" Pale fingers toyed with Faith's tangled hair, as though the vampire were stroking a pet. "She told him you were getting into his computer, so he sent some vampires to kill you." Resting her chin on Faith's shoulder, the vampire looked down at Willow. "They found me instead. They're mine now."

"No. No, no, no! You're lying!"

"Am not!" The vampire chanted. "I'm not lying, am I, Kitten?" She wound her fingers into Faith's hair and jerked her head back so Willow could see her face fully. An agonized gasp fell from Faith's battered lips, but she didn't say a word. She didn't need to; the flash of guilt in her eye was all the confirmation Willow needed. The redhead backed hard against the wall, confusion, betrayal and anger fighting for control of her. Faith slumped in her chains, the guilt submerged in a rising wave of terror.

The vampire released Faith's hair with a dismissive flick of her wrist and stalked over to what was left of a desk in one corner. "Yes, Kitten's been very, very naughty." She picked up a coil of electrical cord, wrapping one end around her hand. "And naughty kittens have to be punished."

A leather-clad arm flashed out, the cord whipping across Faith's bruised ribs with a crack that resounded in the confined space. The Slayer jerked in her chains, the vampire's delighted gasp a counterpoint to Faith's cry of agony, which was cut short as the next stroke fell across her shoulder-blades, then another on the back of her thighs. Livid red welts blossomed on her skin, darkening to purple where they crossed bruises that were already a deep purple-black. Faith writhed in her bonds under every blow, tears of pain trailing across her discolored cheeks and fresh blood welling from her lip as she bit into it to keep from screaming. Willow was left crouching in the corner, paralyzed with shock at Faith's betrayal and horror at what she was seeing.

"Kitten wanted to kill my new friend." The cord cut across Faith's breasts, drawing fresh blood from an earlier cut. The vampire's eyes flashed at the sight and she pressed her lips to the wound, sucking greedily at the soft flesh, one had slipping inside her bodice to caress her own breast. "Why did Kitten have to be so bad?" The vampire's hurt tone perfectly matched the pout on her lips. "She's so pretty, we could've had so much fun." The cord flashed high into the air and slashed down onto Faith's cheek. The metal tip struck within a finger's breadth of her good eye, splitting open the skin almost to her jaw-line so that blood poured out over her cheek. The vampire giggled, scooping up some of the blood with her finger and licking it off as she began to circle again, every few seconds lashing out to raise another bloody welt on Faith's skin.

Willow forced herself to move, to stand and begin looking around the room for something, anything, that could help her. Surely, somewhere in the debris there was something

The cord lashed into Faith's back a final time and then hung limp in the vampire's hand, the end slick with blood. The vampire stared at it for a moment, then tossed it away. "Time for Kitten to go to sleep." She shifted her face into its demonic form and sank her fangs into Faith's neck. The Slayer struggled feebly in her grasp, but the vampire easily kept control, her hands slowly wandering over Faith's naked body, caressing the skin that she had been tormenting seconds earlier.

Willow's eyes focused on a splintered sliver of wood, sitting in the wreckage of a cupboard. Emotional control, emotional control…move, damn it, move!

A dead hand slid between Faith's thighs, thrusting into her in a grotesque parody of lovemaking as the Slayer's blood drained away. Suddenly, the vampire shuddered, relaxing her grip, lifting her head to stare at Willow in shock. For a moment, yellow eyes stared into green, then the vampire crumbled to dust and ashes.

Willow slumped against the wall, drained by the effort of the levitation spell. After a moment to catch her breath, she moved across to Faith and began trying to free her from her chains. Luckily the manacles had simple locks, within the range of the very basic unlocking spell she knew. As soon as her arms were freed Faith collapsed on the grime-encrusted floor, curling herself into a fetal position as though expecting to be attacked again. After a moment's consideration Willow decided to leave the chains around her feet in place for the time being, and went in search of a phone.


Buffy snatched up the handset on the first ring. "Hello?" Her voice was frantic.

"Buffy, it's me."

"Willow!" Everyone in the library let out a sigh of relief and stopped their search preparations. "What happened? Where are you? You didn't catch up with us, but the vamps had already started feeding so we had to deal with them and the other you wasn't there so we were all so worried and-"

"Buffy! I'm okay. I'm sorry, and I'll explain everything, but the other me's gone and I need your help. I need you to come pick me and Faith up. Get Giles to drive."

"You're with Faith? What's going on?"

"I'll explain later, I promise, just hurry, please?"

"Okay, where are you?" She's okay, she's okay, thank you God! The wave of relief washing over Buffy was so intense that she barely heard the address Willow gave her. "Got it, we'll be right there." Buffy put the phone down and turned to the others. "Willow's okay. She's with Faith, she needs me and Giles to go get them, but she's all right."

"Are you sure?" Xander and Oz asked together.

"Yeah, she sounded pretty freaked, but she says she's okay, and the vamp her's dead, so I think we're clear for tonight. Come on, Giles."


When Willow got back, Faith was still curled up on the floor. As Willow knelt down beside her, the Slayer flinched, covering her head with her arms. As gently as possible, the redhead removed the chains from her ankles and covered her with a relatively clean blanket she'd found in the wreckage of the nest. Picking up a fragment of what had been Faith's shirt, she held it against the bite on Faith's neck, trying to staunch the flow of blood.

"Why did you do it?" Willow jumped at the sound of her own voice in the silence; the question had run through her mind so many times that she'd barely been aware she was speaking aloud. Faith didn't reply, didn't give any sign that she'd even heard Willow speak. She simply lay there, shivering. Willow knew she should be angry, somewhere deep in side she was angry, but sitting there, looking at the broken Slayer in front of her, she couldn't bring herself to feel it. "I'm sorry."

A car stopped on the street outside. Doors slammed, and footsteps crackled on the glass. "Willow?"

Willow jumped to her feet and went over to the doorway, relief filling her. "In here, Buffy."

The older Slayer ran over and practically leapt onto her friend, hugging her even more fiercely than she had earlier that night. Giles managed to restrain himself this time, but his joy at finding her was plain to see.

"Oh God, Will, I thought I'd lost you again." Buffy could feel the tears on her cheeks and she didn't care. "Twice in one night isn't funny!" She blinked the tears from her eyes and caught sight of Faith, lying under the blanket. "Oh my God, is she…?"

"She's alive. Pretty beat up, and some…other stuff. I think we should get her to the hospital. Maybe I should have called an ambulance, but I wanted you guys here, and-"

"It's okay, Will." Buffy picked Faith up as gently as she could and carried her out to the car.


"Is she going to be okay?" Buffy asked as the doctor approached them in the ER waiting room.

"Given the beating she's taken, Faith is in remarkably good shape. There's no sign of any internal injuries or bleeding, and if there are any fractures they're too small to show up on the X-ray. Physically, at least, she's going to be fine."

"Physically?" Giles asked with a frown.

The doctor nodded. "She's clearly still in shock after what's happened to her, barely responsive. Some of that's down to the medication we've given her for the pain, but it's going to take a while for her to get over this."

"Can we take her home?" Willow put in.

The doctor thought for a moment. "I don't see why not. We've dressed her wounds, given her painkillers, a tetanus shot and some antibiotics, what she needs now is rest and time for her body to heal itself. As long as there's someone to keep an eye on her, I don't see any reason to keep her here."

"We'll take care of her." Buffy assured him.

"Good. I'll go and get the discharge papers ready."

"Uh, guys? Where are we going to take her?" Buffy asked once the doctor had gone.

"My house." Willow said, her voice quiet but firm. "My parents are out of town, I don't want anyone else involved tonight." She forestalled the questions with a raised hand. "Guys, please, just trust me, okay?"


"Okay, Will, explanation time." Standing in the Rosenberg's immaculate kitchen, a mug of tea in her hand, Buffy looked intently at her friend.

Willow took a deep breath and began. "Well, okay, you know I went back to the library, right? I was going for the tranquillizer gun, I figured we could use it on vamp-me, but she was waiting for me.

"In the library?" Giles' voice was outraged – no matter how many times the library was attacked, he always took it personally.

"Yeah. She must've come in through the stacks. She dragged me out the same way, into a van she had waiting with one of her vamps driving. They took me to the nest, and she sent the vamp back to the Bronze – I guess you guys dusted him."

"If he was there, he's toast," Buffy confirmed.

"Good. Anyway, she hauled me into that back room, and there was Faith, hanging from the ceiling. She'd already been beaten, by the other vamps I guess, I'm not really sure. Vamp-me started hitting her with this piece of wire, saying she'd been naughty, she needed to be punished. She was…touching her, too, g-getting off on it. Eventually, I guess she got bored and started feeding on Faith. I managed to levitate a piece of wood and stake her with it. Then I called you."

"Good Lord…"

"Yeah." Buffy shuddered at the images Willow had provided. "God, I wish we knew where she came from. Why did she go after Faith after setting up that thing at the Bronze? And why did she want you there?"

"Faith's working for the Mayor." Willow said, her voice dropping almost to a whisper.

"I beg your pardon?" Giles said in astonishment.

"Faith told him I was hacking into his computer files, so he sent some vamps to kill me. They found…her instead. That's where she got her gang from."

Giles looked at her intently. "How do you know this?"

"She told me. Vamp-me told me."

"No, no, she was lying." Buffy said emphatically. "Faith wouldn't do that, she's not that crazy."

"It's true, Buffy." Willow's voice dropped almost to a whisper. "I could see it in her eyes, Faith's I mean, I could see the guilt. She was terrified that I'd just let her be tortured to death because I knew."

There was a crack of china breaking. Buffy dropped the remains of her mug and stormed out of the kitchen, her face distorted with rage.

"Buffy, wait!" Giles was on his feet in a moment, but Willow was ahead of him, hard on the Slayer's heels as she burst into Willow's bedroom.

"You bitch! Get up! I'm going to kill you!" Buffy's voice became a snarl as she advanced into the room. Faith barely reacted, staring blankly at her from where she sat on Willow's bed, still wearing the scrubs the hospital had given her.

Willow darted around the incensed Slayer and stood blocking her path. "Leave her alone, Buffy."

"Get out of my way."

"No."

"I can't let her get away with this."

"She won't, but I won't let you hurt her."

"It's not your choice."

"Get out of my room, Buffy."

"Willow-"

"Now!" The look of shock and betrayal on her friend's face was like a knife in Willow's gut, but she held her ground.

"Do as she says." Giles said from the doorway, his voice low and hard.

Buffy reluctantly backed off, only to round on the pair of them as soon as Willow closed the bedroom door behind them. "What's wrong with you guys? How can you just let her lie there after what she's done?"

Giles glared at her. "This isn't the time for summary judgment, Buffy. Need I remind you of what happened when Wesley tried it? I wouldn't be surprised if that's what drove her to the Mayor in the first place."

"How do you know she wasn't working for him before that?" Buffy's voice was contemptuous.

"We both know Faith isn't the most accomplished liar, Buffy." The watcher replied. "Do you really think she could maintain the pretense for that long?"

Buffy seemed to deflate. "I guess not. I just don't get it, Will. How can you stand to have her here?"

"It's my fault she's hurt." Willow said simply.

"No, Willow, whatever that creature did isn't your responsibility."

"Yes it is, Giles. I brought her here."

There was a moment of stunned silence, and then Buffy found her voice. "What…how…when?"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Willow responded defensively. "I was feeling really pissed off after the whole dog-geyser-person episode, and then that new girl Anya showed up and asked me to do a spell with her – by the way, guys, we really need to take a good look at her – so I said yes. She said she'd lost her grandmother's necklace, and she wanted to create a temporal fold to get it back." Seeing the look on Giles face, Willow pre-empted him "Relax, Giles, I'm way ahead of you on the whole 'not fooling around with the dark arts' speech, okay? Anyway, I think Anya lied about the spell. It wasn't a temporal fold - it went into some kind of hell-dimension. It was like Sunnydale, but everything was wrong. I was a vampire, and I think Xander was too. Oh, and the Master was alive…anyway, we were supposed to pour this sand onto an image of the necklace, but I got some on my hand, so I think we pulled the other me through instead of the necklace."

Giles was shocked into silence. Buffy, however, was unimpressed. "So what, Will? Are you saying that makes you even, somehow?"

"No, I'm not. What I did was an accident, but that doesn't mean I'm not responsible. Look at her, Buffy. It's like she's…broken, I guess. I can't just leave her like this."

"What are you intending to do?" Giles asked.

"I'll look after Faith for tonight. We can decide what to do about the Mayor thing tomorrow."

"Okay, but I'm staying with you."

"Buffy-"

"No arguments, Will, you're not going to 'Resolve Face' your way out of this one. I don't care how beat up she is, I'm not leaving you alone with her."

"I agree." Giles stated firmly. "It's too dangerous for you to be here alone with her. Whatever's been going on, Faith is clearly unpredictable. She would only need to lose control for a moment to do terrible damage. I think it might be best if both of us were here."

"I don't know, Giles." Buffy said doubtfully. "I know you can hold your own, but she's still a Slayer. If it's just me and Will, I only have to worry about one person."

Giles nodded reluctantly. "I see your point. Just…call me if anything happens. I don't think I'll be getting much sleep tonight anyway. And for God's sake, be careful."

The two girls watched silently as the Watcher drove away, then Buffy turned to her friend. "We'd better go check on her."

"I'll do it, I-I think it might be better if you stayed out of sight for a while."

"Willow! I can't protect you if I'm not there!"

"You saw what she was like, Buffy. She's terrified of you."

"Which proves she's not stupid."

"Buffy! I'll be careful, okay. I'll leave the door open, I won't get too close."

Buffy looked as though she was going to argue, but saw it was pointless. "Okay, but if I hear anything suspicious I'm coming in hard and fast, got it?"

"Oh yeah. I'm not forgetting who she is, Buffy, but I saw what she went through, what that Vamp-me did to her, and I just don't want to put her through anything more tonight, you know?" Receiving a reluctant nod in reply, Willow quietly opened the door to her bedroom and slipped inside, leaving Buffy hovering in the darkened corridor.


Faith still hadn't moved when Willow re-entered the bedroom. Willow went over to her dresser and opened one of the drawers. "You want a night-shirt or something?"

"I thought you were supposed to be the smart one, Red." Faith spoke for the first time that night. "You bring me here, knowing what you know, and now you're coming in here alone?"

"Buffy's just down the hall."

"Yeah, I know." Faith replied, picking up a pencil from Willow's nightstand and turning it over and over in her fingers. "Still, I'm thinking I could ram this through your heart and be out the window before Saint Buffy makes it in here."

Willow froze for a second. "You'd do it, wouldn't you? After everything that happened tonight, you'd do it?"

"Why not? You think I owe you something? You think I care?"

Willow sighed, shaking her head. "Drop the tough-girl act, Faith, it won't work any more. I've seen you helpless, hurt, terrified. You're just like the rest of us."

"Not giving me reasons to let you live here, Red."

"Do it!" Willow snapped. "If you're going to try something, just get it over with, for God's sake. Spare me the posturing."

Faith's grip on the pencil tightened, the wood giving way with a muffled crack. Faith stared at it for a moment, then her shoulders slumped, her head dropping.

After a moment, Willow sat down on the end of the bed, suddenly unsure whether she was keeping her distance for her benefit or Faith's. "Faith, are you okay?" She could see Faith's lips forming an answer, but the words didn't come. "Faith? I can't hear you."

"Why…" The Slayer's voice was a dry, muted whisper. "Why didn't you let Buffy hurt me?"

"You've been beaten up enough for one day."

"But I betrayed you! I sent those vamps to kill you!" For the first time since her release, Faith actually seemed alive. "You're supposed to punish me! I'm bad! Why aren't you angry with me?"

"Oh, I'm angry all right." Willow's voice hardened, her eyes narrowing as she glared at the girl on her bed. "I'm angry, and betrayed, a-a-and disappointed. I just don't want you to get hurt any more tonight."

Faith's head lifted, revealing a face wet with tears that had soaked into the dressings on her wounds. She was breathing in short, ragged gasps. Her head began to shake, flicking from side to side with abrupt, almost convulsive movements. "No, no, please no…"

Willow had expected a reaction of hope, maybe confusion, but not this. "What's wrong?" She moved closer to the trembling Slayer. "Faith-"

Faith's hands shot out, locking tightly around Willow's arms.

"Hurt me!" The dark eyes seemed to burn with desperate fear as Faith's fingers dug into Willow's skin. "Please, hit me, punish me!"

"Faith, stop it, let go of me!" Willow struggled helplessly.

Faith's knuckles were white as she clung to Willow's arms. "Please! Don't make me do it, please don't, punish me, beat me, I'm bad, please…" Her voice cracked, tailing off into inarticulate sobs as Willow finally managed to pull free of her weakening grip.

Staggering back from the bed, Willow stared at the weeping Slayer in shock. "Faith, what is the matter with you? No-one is going to hurt you, don't you get that?"

Faith's expression crumbled from fear to despair. Choking back another sob, she slid off the bed and knelt on the floor at Willow's feet, quickly pulling the nightshirt over her head, leaving her tortured body naked.

Willow was paralyzed with shock, and it wasn't until Faith took hold of the hem of her skirt and began to lift it that she was able to react. "Faith, what are you doing?"

"You didn't hurt me." Faith said, her voice hollow.

"Yeah, but what's that got to do with my skirt?"

"I have to make you happy now." Willow's skirt was now bunched around her waist and Faith's fingers were reaching for her underwear.

"Okay, stop it!" Willow grabbed Faith's wrists and jerked the Slayer's hands away from her, barely aware that she should be surprised to have succeeded. "What the hell are you doing?"

"You didn't hurt me." Faith repeated, as though that explained everything.

"And you think that means you get to attack me?"

Faith gazed up at Willow, her face uncomprehending. "You wouldn't hit me. That means I have to make you happy. That's the rule. When I'm bad, I get punished or…" She broke off, her hands twitching in Willow's grasp.

Understanding began to dawn in Willow's mind, followed immediately by horror. "Are you saying you think you have to…please me?"

The dark head nodded slowly.

"Oh God, Faith, no…" Willow dropped to her knees, letting go of Faith's wrists as she did so. "No, that's wrong. Why would you think that?"

"But Mommy and Daddy always said-"

Fighting back a wave of nausea that threatened to overwhelm her, Willow gently stroked Faith's back, away from her face. "What did they tell you, Faith?"

"If I'm bad, and I'm caught, I get punished, or I have to earn forgiveness."

Willow's last reserve of anger at the girl drained away, and she wrapped her arms around Faith's shoulders, holding her close. "No, Faith. They were wrong, no one should ever make you do that if you don't want to."

"But-"

"They were wrong, Faith."

"They were?" A sliver of hope crept into Faith's voice.

"I promise." Willow tightened her embrace. Faith slumped against her, crying freely for the first time, clinging to her as though afraid she'd be carried away. Over Faith's shoulder, Willow saw Buffy standing in the doorway, her face deathly pale, the track of a single tear on her cheek. A moment later, she disappeared into the shadows.

After a while Faith's sobs subsided, her breathing becoming more regular. Willow carefully put the nightshirt back on her and helped her onto the bed. Physical and emotional exhaustion had taken their toll, and within minutes, Faith was asleep. Willow lay beside her for a few minutes more, then quietly slipped from the room, in search of the friend she knew was waiting.


"Oh my God…" Buffy flung her arms around Willow as soon as she entered the kitchen. The young witch hugged her back fiercely, trying to rid herself of the chill that had settled in her bones.

"I can't believe it." Willow's voice was barely audible. "All this time she's been trying to hide from…How could we not have known something was wrong, Buffy?"

Buffy shuddered. "We didn't want to know, Will. No one does, not that. And she always seemed so strong, so secure, but inside there's this frightened little girl."

"I guess what happened tonight took the mask away." Willow looked back at toward her bedroom, rage and disgust almost overwhelming her. "God, Buffy, my whole life I wished I had someone else's parents. I mean, even when Xander's parents were drunk and fighting and yelling at him, I always thought 'Hey, at least they notice you', and now I'm all 'Count your blessings, Rosenberg'."

"Yeah."

"We have to help her, Buffy, I don't care what she did."

"We will, I promise. And I'm going to have a very long talk with Giles and Wesley."

Willow was shocked by the raw anger in Buffy's voice. "What do you mean?"

"She had a Watcher, Will, for years." Buffy's eyes burned. "All that time, this was going on, and they didn't do a damn thing. There'd better be a damn good reason, or I'll…"

"Buffy, don't do anything stupid, okay?" Willow's voice was plaintive. "Promise me."

"But…" Buffy knew her friend was right, but she hated it. "I know, I know, I just can't believe they'd let this happen."

"Maybe they didn't know?"

"Yeah, right…" Buffy snorted at the idea. "Look, Will, can use your phone for a minute, please? I really need to hear my mom's voice right now."

"Of course." Willow replied, understanding. "Say hi for me, okay?"

"Sure." Buffy practically ran for the lounge.


Faith stirred as Willow sat down on the bed again. Dark eyes fluttered open, widening in panic for a moment as she realized Willow was no longer beside her. Gazing up at the redhead, she whispered, "Please don't go."

"I'm not going anywhere." Willow moved to sit against the pillows, placing her hand reassuringly on Faith's shoulder. The traumatized Slayer huddled close to her, tears beginning to fall again, soaking into Willow's sweater.

"It's okay, Faith. You're safe now. They can't hurt you again. I won't let them."

The End

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