Found
Cleveland, Ohio
Faith is out on a regular patrol. The demon activity has suddenly spiked and seems to be centered on this particular part of the city. She has been going through each and every warehouse. A sudden noise from the lower level of the warehouse she is patrolling catches her attention. When she finds what had made the noise she is surprised. Angel is lying in the corner on the floor unconscious. Faith runs over and kneels beside him.
“Angel?” she asks, but receives no reply. She looks him over and finds various injuries adoring his body. She tries again to get a response out of him, but is still met with silence. She stands up and pulls out her cell phone.
“Robin? ...Yeah I’m fine…I need you to come down to the warehouse district with the car. I’ll see you soon, Bye.” Faith talks into the phone and then hangs up. She turns around to check on Angel and is met with the tip of his broadsword pointed at her throat.
“Hey, Big Guy.” Faith greets.
Angel doesn’t respond.
“So what have you been up to? From the looks of it you’ve been on the receiving end.” Faith tries again.
“What are you doing here?” Angel asks.
“Well, if you haven’t noticed I’m a Slayer so I’m slaying.” Faith tells him sarcastically.
“Why here?”
“Well for your information this place is on a Hellmouth and there’s been a lot of baddies making noises around here lately. If you wouldn’t mind movin’ that thing away from my throat, it’s not very social.” Faith tells him.
“If you know where I am then it won’t be long before the others find me.” Angel says to himself, lowering his sword.
“Angel, what are you talkin’ about?” Faith asks.
“Don’t play stupid, Faith. It doesn’t suit you. I have to leave.” Angel says and starts to limp away.
“Wait.” Faith says and grabs his arm. “You’re not goin’ anywhere until you tell me who ‘they’ are.”
“You really don’t know?” He asks and she shakes her head. “But, why not? I would think that if the council wanted me then they would have had everyone looking for me.”
“Angel, what are you talkin’ about…you know what never mind you’re comin’ with me and then you can tell me what’s going on and why you look like hell.” She told him and dragged him out of the warehouse to wait for Robin. A few minutes later Robin showed up with the car and Faith manages to convince a skeptical Angel to get in the car.
Faith’s Place
“Now that we’re here. Tell me what happened to you.” Faith told Angel as she wound gauze around his abdomen.
“How much do you already know?” Angel asks as he leans forward so she could wrap the gauze his back easier.
“Not much. After we closed the Hellmouth we all sort of went our separate ways.
From what I heard most of the slayers followed Giles and Buffy to Europe. Aside from that we don’t really talk much. So back to my question, what’s up with you?” Faith told him. Angel then proceeds to tell her what has happened in the past year.
“…then after the battle the only one that I found alive was Spike, and I mean literally alive. I guess he deserves it…I mean he’s the real hero after all. I heard the slayers before they were in the alley so I ran. I knew they didn’t trust me and I figured that now that Spike was human he would be okay.” Angel finished. Faith had finished bandaging Angel and they now sat on the couch.
“So that explains why you didn’t trust me when I found you, but the fight was months ago. Why are you so beat up?” Faith asks.
“The remainder of the army the Senior Partners sent after us has been following me since then and if it isn’t them then it’s the slayers that are trying to hunt me down.” Angel tells her.
“So you’re just Mr. Popular. Who would’ve guessed?” Faith says.
“Yeah.” Angel replies.
“Well, there’s a spare bedroom upstairs. You can stay her for awhile. I mean no one from the council ever shows up and I can deal with the demons while you recover.” Faith suggests.
“Yeah, okay.” Angel agrees.
Several weeks later
Angel is upstairs still recuperating while Faith and Robin prepare for patrol. There’s a knock at the door and Robin goes to see who it is. Robin comes back into the room after checking who it was.
“Buffy’s here.” Robin told Faith.
“What? Why is she here? Is she alone?” Faith asks.
“No. Should I let them in?” Robin says.
“Who else is with her?”
“Giles, Andrew, and Willow.”
“This isn’t going to work out well. If we don’t let them in they’ll think something is wrong. I’m going to go up and check on Angel. Give me a minute then let them in.” Faith tells him. She heads upstairs while Robin heads for the door.
“Hello, Robin how have you been?” Giles asks when Robin opens the door.
“Good. It’s quite a surprise to see you all here.” Robin says as he ushers everyone in and into the living room.
“We noticed that there was quite an increase in demon activity over here and decided to come and see if you needed any assistance.” Giles tells him.
“Well it’s been okay. Nothing that we can’t handle.” Robin tells him.
“Where’s Faith?” Buffy asks.
“Upstairs getting something.” Robin tells her.
Faith comes into the room.
“Hey, B. How’s it going?” Faith greets.
“Pretty good. How ‘bout yourself?” Buffy asks.
“Can’t complain.” Faith responds.
“So you want some company on patrol?” Buffy asks.
“Sure.” Faith says.
They all leave moments later.
Cemetery
Everyone is fighting a pack of demons and seems to be winning. The leader of the group starts to retreat but not before saying, “You can’t protect him forever slayer, we’ll get him.” He directs at Faith and then leaves with the remaining members of his group.
“Him? Who’s ‘him’?” Willow asks.
“I have no clue.” Faith responds and turns away. “Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I think it’s time to call it a night.”
Faith’s Place
Everyone is settled in the living room.
“Faith, where is your bathroom?” Willow asks.
“Upstairs, first door on the left.” Faith responds.
Willow headed up to the bathroom.
“So what have you guys been up to?” Faith asks.
“Nothing much. Rebuilding the Council, gathering Slayers, you know the usual.” Buffy answers.
“Have you heard form Angel lately?” Robin asks. The room is suddenly deathly quiet. Buffy looks confused by the question, while Giles looks angry, and Andrew looks worried. Giles is the first to answer.
“No. Why do you ask?”
“We heard rumors of a big throw down fight in LA, thought Angel might have had something to do with it.” Faith responds.
“Yes their were reports of a huge demon horde...” Andrew starts to explain.
“Shut up Andrew.” Buffy tells him. “Yes, he was in the fight, but I haven’t heard from him since. Nobody knows where he is.”
Upstairs
Willow is walking back from the bathroom when she hears a noise in the room a couple of doors down from the bathroom. She approaches the room carefully and opens the door.
“Oh my…” Willow yells.
Downstairs
Conversation ceases when they here Willow yell and Buffy is at the front of the group making their way upstairs. What they find is Willow standing in the doorway of a room blocking their view.
“What is it Will?” Buffy asks and almost faints when she comes to stand by her friend.
There standing in a shadowed corner of the room was Angel gripping his broadsword.
“Angel?” Buffy asks and walks past her friend into the room, but stops when he raises his sword at her. Faith fights her way through the group and into the room behind Buffy.
“What are they doing here?” Angel asks Faith. “I thought you says they wouldn’t show up.”
“I’m sorry, Angel. I didn’t know they were coming. They just showed up.” Faith says as she approaches Angel.
“I have to leave.” Angel tells her. “They know where I am now. It’s not safe anymore.”
“Leave? Why?” Willow asks.
“You know why.” Angel says as he buttons his shirt the best he can with one hand, still holding the broadsword defensively.
“Angel let me help you.” Buffy offers and steps forward only to be met with a growl.
“I don’t need you’re help.” Angel barks at her. “Not anymore.”
Faith approaches him slowly with her hands upturned. “Angel please think about this. You’re not at a hundred percent yet. You should stay here until you’re healed.”
“No, then they,” he points his broadsword at the group “will come after me and I can’t have that.” He shrugs into his jacket and steps forward, raising his sword. “Not get out of the way.”
Faith moves out of the way only to be replaced by Buffy.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you’re not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.” Buffy tells him.
“B, please just let him go.” Faith pleads. “He doesn’t trust you anymore and I’m not sure I do anymore for that matter.” She turns to the rest of the group. “Any of you.”
In a flurry of movement Angel is past Buffy and out t he window before she realizes it. She starts to go after him only to be stopped by Willow.
“Let him go. He doesn’t want to talk right now.” Willow says. “Lets all go downstairs and talk.” She suggests.
Downstairs
“How long has he been here?” Giles inquired.
“A few weeks.” Robin says.
“Where did you find him?” Giles asks.
“I don’t think that matters.” Faith says. “What I do think that matters is the fact that you all don’t trust him anymore and haven’t for a long time, and that you’ve been hunting him for months.”
“What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t he trust us?” Willow asks.
“Angel says that he made a call when he was still at W&H asking for help. He was told that he wasn’t trusted anymore and to not call again. He also told me about the Dana incident. Nice work Andrew.” Faith tells them.
Buffy stands up and corners Andrew.
“You told him that he wasn’t trusted anymore!” She yells at him. “Why?”
“It wasn’t my idea. I was just following orders.” Andrew tells her. Buffy’s focus swings to her Watcher.
“Why? Why wasn’t I included in this? Why don’t you trust him?” Buffy questions.
“He is a vampire, Buffy. He is the CEO of an evil law firm. We can’t trust him. He is the enemy.” Giles tells her.
“He ‘was’ the CEO of an evil law firm.” Willow points out. “Why did he call for help? Was it the final battle?”
“No something about a demon infecting one of his people.” Giles tells her.
“Who?” Willow asks.
“Fred. It was Fred.” Faith replies. “The demon infected her and destroyed her soul. Killing her and taking over her body.”
“Fred died?” Willow asks and turns her attention to Giles. “You let her die?”
“It is not in the interest of the Council to help evil law firms.” Giles states.
“Fred wasn’t evil, none of them were. You just left them to watch her die?” Willow says as she sits on the couch.
“Now that everybody knows why Angel no longer trusts you guys, what are you guys going to do about it?” Faith asks.
“I don’t know.” Buffy answers.
TBC
Sorry for such the long wait. I had major writer's block on this chapter. Hope you enjoy it. Hopefully the next chapter will come more easily. Please read & review.
|
|
|
|
Rave
Barbie Girl (Becca)
biscuit07
Filmtheory (Jim)
Malice (Jess)
MebbtheScribe (MichaelB)
Reset (Allie)
Shay (Marrisa)
somnambulist29 (Shea)
Stephanie Loss
Wendyness (Wendy)
Questions?Contact Us
|
|
All stories on this site have been archived with the authors' consent. Do not copy these stories for your own uses without the express consent of the author themselves. Buffy the Vampire Slayer TM and Angel TM are © UPN, WB, Fox and its related entities. All photos on the site are © UPN, Fox, Warner Bros, and/or their respective owners. No profits are being made by use of these images.
Powered with the assitance of eFiction.
|
|
|
