yours until (btvs | buffy/faith)

[fiachairecht]

yours until. buff the vampire slayer, buffy/faith. slayer dreams can't stand lies. 365w, rated t. for anaraine in monthlysupergo's fic or treat 2018.

"Hey girlfriend."

Faith's pressed against the window again. Buffy doesn't have to turn around to see her, doesn't even have to look up. Faith's cold grey skin and hot bloody mouth will look the same as they always did, healing scars and smeared Toast of New York lipstick.

Of course, Faith's mostly-dead in a hospital and it's Buffy's dreaming mind that's left to fix her up, like she couldn't do in life. But dreams don't change, at least not Slayer dreams. Not til Buffy understands where she's gone wrong.

"Hey girlfriend."

Buffy slams her textbook shut, grits her teeth. She's gotten past thinking about fairness, at least some of the time, but this — surely it wasn't fair that ghosts, too, could follow her into dreams?

Faith isn't a ghost yet, for all she smiles like one as Buffy finally gets up, walks over to the window and presses her hand against the shut glass.

"You're never leaving," she says, and it comes out like an accusation. She leaves out the part where she knows damn well Faith couldn't be here without an invitation, even something as simple as Buffy's acknowledgement that she was still a Slayer too. "Why don't you ever leave?"

"And leave you alone?" Faith's head tilts, unnaturally far, and Buffy shivers. Only a dream — but Slayer dreams were rarely just that. "All alone to face little sister's coming? I don't think so."

"You know what I think?" Faith shrugs, but Buffy barrels on anyway. "I think you don't want to be alone either. I think you're scared. I think you want to come back and this is the only way you know how."

Faith's laughter is too loud to be coming from beyond the window. "Nah, B. I'm not weak like that. Not anymore."

But she's fading away, and her avoidance is worth any admission. Slayer dreams can't stand lies.

The glass shattering is a surprise, Buffy's fist swinging out before she knows she's made that choice. But she's not at all surprised that Faith is gone by the time the glass finishes falling, or that she wakes up with the blood on her knuckles smeared in the shape of a kiss.