Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing, especially the characters in this story. I'm merely borrowing them for the pure pleasure of messing with their lives.

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"I have to tell you, I really hate this part." Buffy's scathing tone had a fearful edge. The darkness was the kind that made you feel you had slipped off the edge of the universe, that perhaps you no longer even exist. Only the pressure on her hands that was the presence of her two companions gave her the sense that she was not coming apart, floating all alone in the void, and so she clung to them tighter than ever. She hated her own weakness, and hated even more that she was feeling reliant on those she held responsible. Most of all she hated that they were currently taking the forms of her two best friends, because it made it that much easier for her to start to depend on them the way she did the real Xander and Willow, and that would be a bad mistake. She was certain it would be. Well, almost certain.

"We're here with you, Buffy," Willow's voice floated around her, as comforting as a blanket. *Thing Two,* Buffy thought to herself fiercely. *Not Willow!* "We're almost there, hang on."

"Hang in there, Buffster," Xander said softly in her ear, and she glared in his general direction.

"Don't call me that, you're not Xander!" The last came out more harshly than Buffy had intended, and she felt one of the hands start to slip from hers. "No, don't go, please!"

"I won't go, Buffy." The voice was quiet, but the hurt around the edges of it made Buffy's heart hurt. She remembered that tone from when she had turned her friend down for the Spring Fling. Funny how that memory had stuck with her all these years.

Dim light hit Buffy's eyes again, and she took a moment to adjust. Looking at her companions again, she was not really surprised to see their appearance had changed again. Although still Xander and Willow, they now resembled her friend’s current forms. They both wore tunics and pants that were a dingy gray, almost colorless. Their own complexions and hair, especially Willow's, seemed impossibly bright against these new clothes.

"Where are we?" she asked, looking around at the clearly institutional setting.

"Just outside Los Angeles," Thing Two volunteered, squaring her shoulders bravely as if about to face some great danger.

"This is where Faith is," Thing One told her, his brown eyes still looking at her with an injured look that was pure Xander. She had to look away guiltily as she processed what he had told her.

"Faith...we’re coming to see Faith. Why are we coming to see Faith?" The two simply turned and started walking down the corridor, Buffy following close behind.

"Remember, Buffy, from here on what we’re showing you are events that are not fixed. They can be changed. But if things remain as they are in this world, these events will come to pass," Willow's voice echoed eerily in the corridor.

"By things remaining as they are, you mean my not agreeing to be the Slayer again." Buffy's flat tone indicated it was not a question, but they treated it as one.

"Well, that's the main thing of the things. There could be other things, but the thing that you said is the thing we‘re here about, not those things, whatever they are," Thing Two Willow-babbled, and Buffy was surprised to catch herself smiling. She managed to wipe it from her face before Xander's face turned back to her.

"It's really the only thing, but I think you already know that." He gave her a small lopsided smile when she nodded in return.

"Well, yes, it is, but I didn't want to put all that pressure on you, Buffy, I mean, you need to make your decision without being forced," Willow's clone said hesitantly.

"Ummm, kind of why we're here, not so much to put pressure on her, but to show her the consequences, and so on and so forth. Bit late to start trying to shelter her from the truth now," Xander's voice held a mixture of exasperation and amusement.

"I know that!" She huffed at him in annoyance, then shrugged helplessly. "But in this form I can't seem to help myself. Buffy, I'm not supposed to but I want to protect you," The wide green eyes filled with affection looked just like her friend's, and it took all of Buffy's willpower not to reach out and hug the girl.

"It's okay, just show me what you have to show me." They had reached the inside exercise area of the compound. It was surrounded by a cadre of armed guards, and the women inside were clearly marked as inmates by their brightly colored workout uniforms, but Buffy thought it was actually pretty nice. Most of the equipment seemed fairly new. She glanced around and almost immediately spotted the other Slayer. Faith had her eyes closed and was working up a light sweat doing pull-ups on a high bar that was high enough that her feet were dangling over their heads. Buffy noted that the others were giving her a wide berth, and speculated to herself that the rogue Slayer's reputation had preceded her. Either that, or she had used her Slayer abilities to jump directly to that bar and they knew better than to mess with someone who could do that.

Faith's eyes shot open at the same moment Buffy's Slayer senses kicked into overdrive. Faith dropped to the floor in a slight crouch, looking warily about her, and Buffy unconsciously moved in as if to watch her back. Thing One's grip on her arm stopped her, and his small headshake reminded Buffy that she couldn’t help even if she wanted to. She scanned the room and quickly located the source of the familiar sensation of trouble. She also noticed that the guards seemed to have all vanished, and her alarm intensified.

"That girl, she's some kind of demon," Buffy said pointing at a woman that stood easily seven feet tall, her prison uniform straining to cover her formidable stature. Her appearance was generally humanoid, but her eyes were glowing red and Buffy had the uneasy feeling that the short black spikes covering her head weren’t the punk hairdo they appeared to be. As if by an unseen signal, the other inmates moved wordlessly as one to the far side of the room, leaving Faith and the gargantuan demon prisoner facing each other.

"Hello, gorgeous," the demon growled, her voice sounding like a blender filled with small pieces of metal. Faith didn’t wince but merely nodded, crouching in a combat-ready position, her eyes alight in anticipation of the coming battle. The demon threw a few punches at Faith's head, which Faith easily dodged. Faith gave her opponent a cocky smile.

"You can do better than that, can't you, Ginger? Cause as much as I'm enjoying the dance, I'd much rather fight," Faith taunted. With a low roar the demon moved in to grab the dark-haired Slayer and met a dip of her shoulder instead. She found herself flying through empty space, landing against the far wall with a bone-jarring thud. Buffy grinned and suppressed the urge to whoop with delight. Faith simply nodded with satisfaction, grabbing a towel from a nearby bench to wipe off the sweat still gleaming on her brow from her workout. "Don't suppose whoever hired you told you, but you aren't the first girl to get this gig."

"Don't matter, gorgeous, I never lose. You're gonna die, Slayer," the demon snarled, springing to her feet and circling Faith again. The Slayer made a show of sighing dramatically.

"Funny, that's what the others said, too, before...and well, lookie here." Faith ran her hands over her body in a provocative, almost obscene way. The demon growled and closed in more cautiously this time. Faith gave her a mocking smile. "Back to the dancing, Ginger? Funny thing is, I'm feeling the beat, but I think I'm supposed to be getting beat, and that's not happening, is it?"

The demon hollered and made another clumsy charge. Faith almost laughed as she stepped nimbly aside to evade it, planning to kick the woman in the backside this time for being stupid enough to try the same tactic. This time, however, the artless rush was actually a trap. With unbelievable speed the demon grabbed Faith and threw her to the ground, landing on top of her and pinning her arms over her head. Faith bucked fiercely, growling, but was unable to throw the heavier woman. She blinked in shock as the glowing red eyes looked down at her in triumph.

“How about now, gorgeous? Is this better for you? I know it‘s better for me,” the larger woman cooed, extending an unnaturally large tongue to lick the sweat from Faith’s neck. “Oh, so salty! Honey, you’re gonna be the best meal I’ve had in fifty years!” Faith managed to get a hand free and reached up to grab hold of the demon’s hair, even as Buffy shouted a warning that couldn’t possibly be heard.

“No, don’t!” Faith’s cry of pain confirmed Buffy’s fear. That was not hair. Faith drew her hand back in front of her face, gaping at the small dots of blood beginning to drip from her hand and the angry red welts surrounding them in alarm.

“What the hell...what are you, bitch?” The demon laughed, a grating sound that caused Buffy and her companions to wince.

“I told you already. I’m the one whose gonna be your death, Slayer. But then, you know that, don’t you? And by the way, the Council sends its regards.” At that Faith closed her eyes almost serenely, a single tear running down her cheek the only sign of her suffering. Buffy, on the other hand, whirled on the being in Xander’s form.

“The Council? The Watcher’s Council? That’s what she means, isn’t it, because I don’t think the Dairy Council’s drumming up a lot of milk drinkers by killing them!”

“The Watcher’s Council wants another Slayer,” Thing One responded, never taking his eyes off of Faith’s form, while the Willow double had turned away, unwilling to watch. “Faith’s stuck here, so she’s no use to them, plus as far as they’re concerned, she’s a lost cause. Everyone’s given up on her, as I’m sure you already know.” Buffy bristled at the implication of his words, but the quiet reply came from his counterpart.

“Not everyone.” Sounds of commotion from the outside corridor followed by screams from the inmates who had until that moment been watching the fight in almost surreal silence diverted Buffy’s attention towards the entrance. A blur in black came barreling into the room and made its way without delay towards the demon still straddling Faith on the ground. As he drew himself up to full height and sliced downward with the broadsword, Buffy felt like she couldn’t breathe. She whispered his name so softly it wasn’t even audible to her own ears.

“Angel.” The head of the demon flew across the room and the inmates scattered to avoid being hit by it. Splatters of viscous green blood flew about covering Angel, Faith and anything nearby equally. For the first time Buffy was grateful for the shield that kept her from really touching anything here, because it worked both ways. Angel roughly pushed the headless corpse off of Faith and reached down to gently touch her face. Faith’s eyes fluttered open, equal measures of pain, shock and confusion in her expression.

“Angel, how?” He reached down and grasped her left arm to pull her to her feet, noting how she was cradling her right hand to her chest.

“Cordy. Vision. I’ve got to get you out of here.” Faith laughed brokenly, still wincing at the pain radiating from her hand.

“Um, in case you’ve forgotten, stud, this is max security. You can’t break me out without getting dusted.” She swayed dizzily, and Angel reached out and grabbed hold of her, holding her up to keep her from falling. “Don’t matter much now...my dance partner had some kind of poison hair, and I got a good handful. I can feel it, Angel. It’s gonna take me out of here. Those bastards won.”

“No, Faith, it’s not deadly, just nasty. But you will die if I leave you here, the Council’s won’t stop, they want you dead, and I’ve already lost...” The haunted look in his eyes told Faith what his mouth suddenly could not. Her mouth was suddenly dry and her voice was hoarse when she spoke.

“B...B’s gone.” He nodded curtly, avoiding her gaze and getting a better grip on his broadsword. He waved it threateningly at some of the other inmates who seemed like they might approach them. “Did they kill her?”

“No, it was a god...there’s no time to explain.” Comprehension dawned in Faith’s eyes as the pieces of her personal puzzle slipped into place.

“No new Slayer?” Again he gave just a quick head shake, half-walking, half-dragging her towards the entrance.

“What? No new Slayer was called? When I died?” Buffy looked angrily back and forth between her companions. The two looked at each other before nodding back.

“We told you before, the circumstances which created two Slayers were Twilight Zone-y.” Buffy tilted her head at the Xander double. Buffy smiled ironically, although she didn‘t find any of this amusing. This whole adventure was total Rod Serling for her.

“You actually said ‘unprecedented,’ but you were running around as Giles then.” She turned back to Angel and Faith, watching the vampire’s gallant and ultimately doomed attempt to escape with the Slayer play out. Willow’s look-alike reached for her hand and continued to speak to her as they watched the pair be surrounded by guards and Angel surrender his sword. Buffy actually allowed the contact, again astonished at how reassuring it was.

“When you died this time, it would have been impossible for us to call another Slayer. It may not seem like it, but there are laws, rules, governing everything, including this. Like your laws, they sometimes have loopholes. Two Slayers at the same time ended up being one of those loopholes, which has since been closed. We can never again have two Slayers, unless...”

“Let me guess. My agreeing to be the Slayer again, that’s another loophole you’ve found.” Buffy watched as the guards roughly separated Angel and Buffy and held them with guns to their chins as the warden approached. A tall imposing woman with shockingly white hair, she held command of the room without any apparent effort.

“Yes,” the being that was Willow’s double agreed in a whisper. Together the three observers saw the unfolding events in silence. The warden walked up to Faith, motioning to the guard to remove the gun from her face. She held the girl’s chin in a firm but oddly gentle grip.

“You again. This is the fifth time this month you’ve been involved in trouble in here, Wilkins. You remember what I promised you would happen if this kind of thing happened again.” Faith’s eyes widened and she shook her head violently as the warden released her face.

“No, Warden, please, don’t! I’ll go nuts in there,” Faith begged tremulously, palpable fear coming off her in waves. Buffy frowned, wondering what sort of threat could reduce Faith to a quivering mass.

“You’ve left me no choice, Faith. As of now, you’re going to be in complete solitary for the duration of your stay here. We have your accommodations already arranged, and no one, not even a guard, will lay eyes on you until your first parole hearing.” Faith’s knees buckled and she collapsed, weeping.

“She’s hurt, she needs medical attention,” Angel interrupted hastily, then dropped his gaze as the warden’s icy glare was fixed on him.

“I know what she needs, young man. As I know what you need,” she leaned in closer to him and murmured in his ear, “and what you are, vampire.” Angel’s eyes widened, and he met her gaze in shock. She shook her head at him wearily and gestured towards the guards that held him. “Escort our young criminal friend to the front, a police unit is waiting for him.” They nodded and went to comply, but she held them up with a stop gesture. She coolly addressed Angel once more. “You’ve got a lot of things to answer for, not the least of which is trying to break an inmate out of my prison. I guarantee you won’t be trying that again.” She leaned in closer, and spoke at a volume she knew only vampire hearing would perceive. Because of their unique situation, Buffy and her escorts could hear her as well. “This is the only way I can keep her safe, trust me. No one will harm the girl in here again. I know you have questions, Angel. Talk to Kate.” She looked him in the eyes again, seeming satisfied despite his lack of expression that he understood.

Buffy nodded to herself, the pieces of this puzzle beginning to fit as Angel was led away to the sound of Faith’s frantic screams for him to stay. She turned to the two beings accompanying her again.

“Faith is safe now, and that means there’s no Slayer out there.” The two nodded, Willow’s face in particular showing her relief at Buffy’s seeming comprehension. Buffy looked back at Faith, throwing the guards off of her with her superior strength and trying to run after Angel, only to fall to a tranquilizer dart shot by the warden herself.

“You’ve got it, Buff. You understand. The Chosen One needs to be protected. She can’t protect mankind now.” The Willow clone was bouncing with excitement. Buffy looked back at Faith’s still form being carried away under the warden’s watchful gaze and shook her head adamantly.

“But...you really don’t need me. I mean, the Slayer isn’t the only one fighting evil anymore, it‘s like a growth industry. There’s Angel and Cordy and...other people...here. And Sunnydale has the Scoobies, and Giles...they won’t give up. I would have been dead a long time ago if it weren’t for them. And, I mean, Willow’s got all that witchy magic, and now Tara’s better. Between the two of them, and Spike, they can hold down the fort until a new Slayer is called, right?” The two beings looked at each other and sighed heavily.

“Looks like we need to make one more stop before you make your decision, Buffy,” Xander’s brown eyes met Buffy’s and she involuntarily shivered.

“Why don’t I like the way you said that. Where are we going now?” She held out her hands this time for them to grasp, dreading the upcoming journey back into the dark.

“Back to Sunnydale. Once you’ve seen what’s coming, what will happen without you, then you can make your decision.” The sound of Willow’s voice wavered, echoing and fading as they vanished.

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