Lorne, Xander and Halliwells
Lorne sat by Faith's bed, holding her hand again, watching the young girl struggle for her life. It all seemed so familiar. But then he had been in this position a few months ago, the only difference was that was in LA and now it was in Tulsa.
"Don't give up, sugarplum. You'll make it through, I can tell."
Xander opened the door and walked into the hospital room, closing the door behind him. "I came as soon as I heard."
Lorne shook his head. "Third coma?"
"Yeah, getting to be a habit." Xander shook his head and sat on the other side of Faith's bed.
"Do the others know?" Lorne asked.
"Piper does, I assume she's telling Paige and Phoebe as we speak. I guess." Xander took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
As if on cue, Piper, Paige and Phoebe orbed in. "We came as soon as we could." They hovered around Faith's bed worriedly.
"What can we do?" Piper asked, he voice hoarse as though she'd been crying.
Xander shrugged. "I don't know. Paige, can you heal her?"
Paige nodded. "I can try." She stepped closer to the bed and lifted her hands above Faith's face. Nothing.
"What's wrong?" Phoebe stepped forward.
"I don't know, it's not working."
Lorne figured it out. "The damage isn't just physical, sweetcheeks, it's mental. Faith has to win this out on her own."
"I don't understand." Paige looked confused.
"Physically, she's gonna be ok. She went through an ordeal with Glory, and yeah, that could leave any normal person in a coma from just that. But it didn't, because she's the Slayer and she's stronger than most. But obviously all the pain and hurt Faith's been carrying around with her for years has finally gotten to her." Lorne gestured at Faith's fitful sleep.
"So... what does this mean, she won't wake up?" Xander asked.
"She might and she might not. Whatever demons she's fighting in her head, she has to beat before she can come back."
"Will that take a long time?" Piper sat on the end of her bed.
"I don't know. How many demons does she have?" Lorne frowned, remembering what he saw when he read her.
"Too many." Xander shook his head. "Dammit, I knew... this is all my fault."
Phoebe reached out and patted his hand. "No, it's not."
Xander nodded. "Yeah, it is. Back in Sunnydale, we all... we all turned on her, never gave her a chance. And now... now we're all gonna pay for it."
Faith
Faith could hear voices in the distance and she was trying to hard to open her eyes. But she couldn't. All around her was darkness and within the darkness, pain. Her entire life was flashing before her eyes and it wasn't pretty.
*But you deserve this.*
*Who is that?* Faith called worriedly.
*An old friend.* The voice replied, getting louder.
*Who?* Faith was desperate. She had to wake up. *Boss?*
*Guess again, F.* The voice wickedly laughed and a figure appeared in the darkness.
*B?*
*That's right.* Buffy now stood in front of her, dressed in white. Faith looked at herself and saw she was dressed in black.
*What's happening?*
*Don't know, don't really care. All I know is that you seem to be suffering.*
*You're not Buffy.*
*Aren't I? Maybe not now, but I was once.* Buffy reached out and grabbed Faith's hand. *So come on.*
Faith watched as everything changed around her. She saw herself as a little girl, doing her homework when he mom burst in. *No...*
*Yes.* Buffy nodded. *Afraid so. Remember this day?*
Faith shook her head. *No. I won't. I won't do this.* But she had to watch as she, as a child, was abused, verbally and physically. Then suddenly, that was gone and Faith was leaving school. People were jeering at her, throwing things and calling her a loser. She recognised this day, later on, she'd be called as the Slayer.
*It's special, isn't it? The day you're called. I didn't want it, at first, but then... then I liked it.*
Faith nodded, too numb to speak. *Why am I seeing this?*
*Don't know. All I know is that I was sent down to guide you through it.*
*Why you? What makes you so special?*
*Coz we're alike, girlfriend!* Buffy laughed, imitating Faith, then turned serious. *My guess is that I'm the closest person to you. I uderstand you better than anyone else. You know that, Faith. You've said it yourself.*
*So, what's the deal, I watch my life, say 'ooh, I'll turn that around' and then I'm outta here? COz, B, I have a date on Saturday that I do not wanna miss.*
Buffy laughed. *You don't learn, do you? This isn't about you. Well it is, but the point is, you get to see your life through our perspective. When you came to Sunnydale, you get to see what we felt for you.*
*Why? Why is that so special?*
*Because you'll know.*
*Know what?* Faith felt herself getting angry and she wanted to hit something. Hard.
*You'll know we didn't give up on you. You turned your backs on us.*
*But I already know that! I screwed up, ok, I know this, but you have no idea... no idea what I felt or what I went through!*
*Boo hoo! Gee, cry me a freaking river Faith. I gave you so many chances, but it never worked, did it? You just wanted to hurt us.*
*That's not true... I never...*
As Faith watched the scenes of her life play out in front of her, she realised that what Buffy said was true. She screwed up. Big time. And now she was paying the price.
Lorne, Piper and Xander
Lorne watched as tears seeped out of Faith's closed eyes. "This is like when she took orpheus."
"What's happening to her?" Piper asked.
"I... my guess is that she's fighting. Fighting for her life..." Lorne trailed off and began to sing to her.
"Under my feeling under my skin
Under the thoughts from within
Learning the subtext
Of the mind
See creation how where defined
Da da da da da da da da da da da da
Seems I'm lost in my reflection
Da da da da da da da da da da da da
Find a star for my direction
Da da da da da da da da da da da da
For the little girl inside who wont just hide
Don't let me see mistakes and lies
Let me keep my faith and innocent eyes
My innocent eyes..."
Xander shook his head. "She'll make it, she will."
Faith
"I'm not about to give up on her, Giles."
"Then I'd say she stands a chance."
*No.* Faith turned to Buffy. *You gave up on me straight after that!*
*I never gave up on you, never. You turned on me, remember?*
*No, you were cold and distant after that. So where was this wonderful support, B? Where was it?*
*You can't fight me, Faith. You can't fight this, because this is your life, so get used to it.*
*You're wrong. You drove me to this.*
*You can't fight what you are!*
*How would you know what I am? You think that seeing glimpses of my life, you're suddenly an expert? You suddenly know what I went through, what I felt?*
*I know what you felt because -*
*Bull! Don't give me that crap, because you know what? I don't buy into this anymore. What's the real deal here?*
*There is no 'deal'. You have two choices. You can watch your life, see what you did wrong, accept responsibility and then die for it, or you can remain here in limbo.*
*I don't want either of those choices. I want to live.*