Forgotten Conscience (girlxgirl) (Book 1)

Musical Stools

John's POV

With Adam on our side I'm sure we'll find a way to kill those god damn slayers. It's only a matter of time.

Someone runs into my office.

"Sir..."

I look up and Dave is standing at the other end of my desk.

"What is it?"

"Sir... we may have located it."

Located it? What the fuck is he talking about?

"Located what exactly?"

"The book, we've located the book."

"The book? Which book are you talking about? There's a few of them in the world."

"The Book of Karameth sir..."

"Karameth? I thought it was lost in the dark ages?"

"Yes sir, but we believe we have located it."

"Okay then, why the hell isn't it sitting right here on my desk?"

"Well sir, we don't know exactly where it is but we believe it to have ended up somewhere in Sunnydale."

God damn it do I have to do everything?

"All right, you keep searching for it. Meanwhile, send our forces watching the slayers to 'distract' them while we search for the book."

"Yes sir."

He turns and runs out the door.

That book is crucial.

Faith's POV

Yeah, it's definitely gotten colder in here.

Buffy walks inside but I stand at the door.

They're looking at me with this cold stare like they don't know what to think.

"Hey guys, how's it...?"

She turns around and sees her friends staring at me in the doorway.

"... Going?"

Maybe I should just go, let her have her meeting with her friends.

"Look, guys, I know it's an awkward situation and we all have things we'd like to say to Faith... but whatever's happening affects her too and whether you guys like it or not, that means she's involved. So can we TRY and get along?"

Oh good that'll make things MUCH better.

Slowly, most of Buffy's friends go back to what they were doing moments before I walked in, everyone but Buffy and that Mr. Giles guy.

"Faith you don't have to stand there like a human doorstop."

"Yes Faith, please come in."

That Mr. Giles guy turns and goes over to an easy chair.

Right, walking... I think I remember how to do that, course I guess no one would blame me if I forgot.

Slowly I start walking into the living room.

What am I doing? I can't sit with these people, they all hate me.

Buffy walks over to a row of stools and picks up two stools. She carries them over to join the group. She sits down on one and then looks over at me, standing a few steps from the door.

"It's okay Faith..."

She pats the stool next to her.

"You can sit here."

Um, okay...

"Thanks."

I start towards the stool and Buffy turns her attention to her friends.

Um... okay talk about my need to get a clue.

I sit down on the stool and look over at her.

Did she want me to sit here because she wanted to sit next to me?

She looks at me and smiles before going back to her friends.

Or did she want me to sit here because she knew no one else would wanna sit with me?

I take a look around the room.

Everyone's trying to act like it's okay but it's not. They don't want me here.

"Okay, so what do we know?"

"Not much, I've been researching the prophecy you mentioned, this 'Two into One'... I've uncovered small references to some sort of joining, a melding of two forces, but like most prophecies there does not seem to be any references to any specifics, such as how or when or even why."

"And the news keeps getting better I bet. What about Wesley? What does he say?"

Right, I forgot about him.

"I left a couple messages but he hasn't returned any of my calls, however we have a theory..."

All these people wanna kill me, I should make a list.

"A theory?"

I should be paying attention instead of worrying about myself.

"Well, Willow did some checking and apparently there's some big buzz in the demon world, something about a slayer prophecy."

"That's great, cause the last time there was a slayer prophecy my life went all peaches and cream."

There was a last slayer prophecy?

"What... what happened last time?"

Buffy turns to me.

"Oh, that was the time I died."

Oh...

"Oh..."

"Wait, what? She remembers?"

That guy who attacked me, I think his name is Xander, stands up quickly.

"Xander..."

I guess my memory's not that bad.

"She remembers about you dying? She got her memory back... quick we have to tie her up before she can get us alone."

I stand up and back away a few steps in retreat.

"Hey whoa, hold up a sec."

He takes a few steps to me and I put up my hands.

"Listen, I..."

"I knew we couldn't trust her."

Buffy steps in between us as he gets a little closer.

"Whoa, overreact much, Xander? She knows because I told her about it a few minutes ago on our way here. So just calm down all right?"

He backs off and goes back to his seat.

"Sorry."

God, tense much? Clearly I need to do something to dial down the tension in the room. I can't have Buffy's friends hate me like this. It's not going to end well.

Buffy sits down on her stool and after a few seconds I do too.

"All right, now that Xander's insanity is over can we please get back to the end of the world?"

"Yes... please... let's..."

"Now let's hear about this prophecy."