Angel and Faith
Angelus walked into the room, waving a package in his hand happily. He looked over at Faith, her body brusied and battered, and went over and pulled the blanket off her. She shivered in the sudden draught as she opened her eyes slowly.
"Morning Faithy!" he exclaimed, holding up the package again.
"What..." Faith stopped, wincing in pain. Over night, most of her cuts had closed, a perk of the Slayer regenerative capabilities. But unfortunately, her bones hadn't healed.
"I have some things for you." Angelus bent down next to her bed and held up a CD.
Faith's eyes straned to see what it was. "Un...der...neath?"
"That's right! The new acoustic CD by your little boyfriend's band. Oh wait, that's right, he's not anymore." Angelus grinned with a gleam in his eye as he put the CD on. He flicked it to track 4. "I thought this one might really hit home. Dear old Zachary sings it... it's kinda relevent to what happened with you two, isn't it?"
Zac's soulful voice came from the small speakers of the CD player.
'This time I'm going to breathe a bit
Walking on down the road...'
Faith turned her head away from the sound, hoping to block it out.
Angelus cocked his head to the side. "So I wonder how the tour is going. I wonder how Zac's going in general. What with the new baby and all."
Faith clenched her teeth and closed her eyes.
"Faithy? The new baby... very cute. Nyx and Zac's kid. Called Saku. Zac's quite enchanted with being a father. How come you were never able to give him a kid? Suppose it doesn't really matter... not now anyway. Unless... maybe a kid would've been the thing to keep you guys together."
Silence.
"Faithy, the silent treatment? How old are you?"
Faith bit her lip to try and stop the tears from coming. Zac had another kid. Oh why wasn't she surprised? Why did she care? She wasn't with him anymore. It didn't matter.
"Now... Zac's been a busy boy since your break up. I'm almost proud of him... well, I would be if I didn't want to kill him so much."
"Don't you dare," Faith said, her voice cracking.
"You're talking again, are you? Well here, I have some pictures... of Zac, his kid, some of the girls he's been sleeping with." Angelus picked the photos up from the ground and held them up for Faith to see.
Faith closed her eyes.
Angelus slapped her hard across the face. "I didn't say you could do that, Faithy. For that, you'll have to be punished. How about I go and kill Zac?"
"You leave him the hell alone," Faith said, her voice deadly calm. "I mean it, if you touch him, I will kill you."
"How? You'll just lie there?"
"Screw you."
"Oh another offer? You offered me that once before, remember? Besides, I have no intention of hurting Zac... unless of course, you misbehave. You're mine now, Faithy, and if you be naughty, he'll pay the price."
"I'll kill you if you go near him."
"Mmmhmmm, somehow, I'm not that threatened by the big bad Slayer anymore." Angelus waved as he turned the CD onto repeat. "Enjoy, pet."
Somehow, being left alone was worse than having Angelus there with her. Now that she was alone, she was trying as hard as she could to block out the sounds of Zac singing on the CD. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she relived the memory of Zac thinking she was in a relationship with Isaac.
"Go away Faith. I hope I never see you again!"
Faith felt more hot tears pricking at her eyes. He didn't love her anymore, but she still loved him, she loved him so much it was physically hurting. Her broken bones, the cuts and bruises, they were nothing but a dull thud, in comparison to the pain she was feeling with the loss of Zac.
Zac lay next to her, kissing her head and neck softly.
"I love you," he whispered.
She'd screwed it up. As usual. The first time she'd found love - EVER - and she'd gone and messed it up. She should've told Zac when it first happened, not waited for the right moment... and not told Ike. That was possibly the worst thing out of the whole mess, she'd split the two brothers up. Because Ike wouldn't tell Zac what they were talking about, and Zac wasn't going to believe that they were just talking normally.
"Faithy?" Angelus's voice drew her out of her thoughts and she was almost relieved. After all, talking to anyone was better than going insane inside her own mind.
Faith turned her head to see him, just as he turned the CD off. She almost breathed a sigh of relief.
"Guess what!" Angelus said in excitement.
"I don't know, what?" Faith replied softly, playing along to his game. Whatever it was.
"Guess who I just killed?"
"I don't know."
"Well that's not a guess. Ok... who has short light brown hair?"
"That could be anyone on this half of North America," Faith said dryly.
"Brown eyes and brown hair?" Angelus pressed.
"My answer still stands," Faith replied.
"Plays the drums in a band with his brothers?"
Faith drew in a short, sharp gasp. No...
"Was, up until this morning, on tour with his family? Until I ripped his heart out, of course." And on that, Angelus held up a heart. It wasn't Zac's, but she didn't know that. This news, of course, would break her spirit.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Faith screamed, trying to struggle against her restraints, broken bones forgotten.
Angelus grabbed Faith's shoulder's roughly and slapped her cheeks a few times. Faith fell silent and stopped moving. He held the heart up and pointed to a little tear he'd made in it. "See, you did break his heart."
"I hate you," was Faith's answer, as she turned her head away from him.
"He was very brave, if that makes you feel better. He didn't scream... at first. And I'm sure he died thinking about you."
"Leave me alone," Faith said through clenched teeth.
"Naw, can't do that, Faithy. Besides, I thought you might like to have a reminder of Zac... always. So here's his heart..." Angelus set the heart on the stool beside her bed.
"Go away, just go away!"
"I'll be back later, Faithy. But first..." Angelus switched the CD back on. "Have a good day..."