Forgotten Conscience - Chapter 39: Chapter 39
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Faith's POV
"Now let's hear about this slayer prophecy."
She's very determined, and somehow, I think it's because she's trying to help me.
"Well when we considered the idea that it was a slayer prophecy, I decided it was a good idea to look in The Codex and I found something rather odd."
Odd?
"What was that?"
Mr. Giles looks over at me for a second and... I don't know, I don't see the hint of anger I see in everyone but Buffy.
He doesn't look angry but I don't think he's happy I'm here. I guess you could call it confused.
"I found it refers to the prophecy written in The Book of Karameth..."
"So? What's so weird about that?"
"Well it's the only one."
"Hun?"
She took the words right out of my mouth.
"It's the only reference in The Codex."
"Again I say hun?"
"Buffy this book has existed almost as long as the slayers. It contains every slayer prophecy ever written by man, demon, and everything in between. Not to mention a number of non-slayer prophecies."
"But this prophecy gets its own section in the slayer library."
"Exactly..."
"All right, so what do we know about this Book of Karmadeath?"
Karmadeath? That's so cute. Why is that cute?
"Karameth Buffy, Willow has had some success in that area. Willow?"
Willow glances over at me with this angry glare.
Okay, I dunno if that's a bad thing because of the prophecy or just in general because she hates me, uh-oh, no time to worry about that.
"Well, according what I could dig up... The Book of Karameth has been around for a while, rumors say that it contains a lot of powerful magics and apparently a number of prophecies..."
Prophecies?
"You mean prophecies like this 'Two into one' thing that these vampires hate so much?"
I get another angry look.
Okay maybe I'll just shut up and let her talk. I don't want to give her any more reasons to hate me.
I look over at Buffy and she's already looking back at me. She sorta half smiles at me for a second with worry and then her face changes to a weird look before she goes back to her friends.
Okay um, what?
"Do we have the book?"
"No, over the years there have been a number of references to it appearing places with no discernible pattern but it hasn't been seen in over a century. The last reference to it was somewhere here in North America..."
"But let me guess, we have no idea where."
"Not for the moment, no... but we're working on narrowing it down."
"Good, okay good so we're making progress. You guys keep working on that and I'll hit the streets with Faith and see what I can dig up before I start helping her remember her training."
"All right..."
"Before we go though, any word on Adam?"
Who's this Adam guy?
"Not a word, there haven't been any sightings since... well since..."
"Since Faith came back..."
Whoa wait a second. This might not be a good thing.
"I hope you're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you Xander?"
"Well you have to admit, it can't just be coincidence that a big powerful killing machine goes into hiding right after your little slayer sister makes her reappearance in our lives."
Buffy's my sister? No... no, we don't look anything alike. I wouldn't be feeling the way I do if we were sisters. He said we were slayer sisters, not actual sisters.
"Xander she is NOT part of Adam's plan. She's been in a coma since before Adam existed."
Apparently this Adam guy isn't a very good guy. I don't like where this is going though.
"But this might be part of that vampire cult's plan."
"I said it before Xander and I'll say it as many times as I have to, to get it in your head. Faith is NOT part of any evil plans and even if she was she wouldn't remember anyway... SHE HAS, AMNESIA!"
She keeps defending me. I really shouldn't let her keep doing that. I can't let her lose friends over me. They're fighting again, I should say something. This isn't going to end well if I don't.
"So you keep saying."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
I can't let them keep fighting like this, I should say something, or do something.
"It's just... there's no real way for us to know that she really has amnesia but you've just gone ahead and accepted it like it's no big deal. It's like you're trying to forget what she did to us, like you tried to do with..."
"Don't you dare bring him into this."
Yes... I should definitely say something.
"Hey, um..."
"I'm sorry to have to be the one to say it but..."
"Then don't..."
"HEY..."
They turn and look at me.
"Look, I know you all don't trust me and... from what Buffy's told me about the things I did I wouldn't blame you, and I'm sure there are all sorts of things that I did that I don't know about that would make you hate me. But I promise you, if you guys find out I'm a willing part in some evil plan to hurt Buffy, or anyone else... I won't fight you. I'll give up. I'll surrender. And I'll do whatever you think is right, okay?"
Everyone sorta half stares at me, thinking about what I just said.
Oh good, a horribly uncomfortable silence is exactly the response I wanted. But at least I said something. They don't have to hate Buffy so much.
Buffy, mercifully, breaks the silence finally.
"See Xander? It's gonna be okay. Now we have more important things to worry about. Willow, have you figured out what those herbs do?"
"Yes, well sorta, I mean, yes and no."
Yes and no?
"Yes and no?"
She took the words right out of my mouth.
"Well, according to my research, it's some kind of obsession spell..."
They put some sort of obsession spell on me?
"What kind of obsession spell is it?"
"We're not sure... we've never seen this kind of obsession spell, anywhere."
"Okay, so what do we do?"
"Well I'm working on a way to break the spell but in order to stop a spell like this I'd usually need to know what the trigger is."
A trigger?
"Okay, any idea what the trigger could be?"
What does she mean what the trigger could be? Isn't that why we went to Riley.
"Well it could be any number of things..."
Or it could be just one thing.
I shift in my stool and look over at Buffy.
"It could be set to go off during an important battle or just before it. For all we know she could be programmed to go off at a specific smell, taste, or even a sound. We just can't know for sure."
I glance over at Buffy.
Yes there is.
"Is there any way for us to stop the spell?"
"Like I said I'm working on a way to break the spell but without the specifics on what the trigger is. Did Riley find anything?"
Yes, he did.
"Not really, he says they're still analyzing the results."
What is she saying? We already got the results.
"Gotcha..."
"I'll let you know as soon as we figure it out."
What does she mean as soon as we figure it out? She should just tell them.
"All right I believe we've covered everything."
"Right... so Faith and I will go see what we can find out and then I'll do a quick patrol before bed..."
She lied to them.
"... and I'll start Faith's retraining tomorrow."
She gets up and I decide to get up too.
"You guys will let me know if you find anything else."
"You know we will Buff."
"Thanks, I'll see you all later."
She puts her hand on my back, gently leading me toward the door. We leave Mr. Giles' place and all I can think is...
She lied to her best friends.
"Now let's hear about this slayer prophecy."
She's very determined, and somehow, I think it's because she's trying to help me.
"Well when we considered the idea that it was a slayer prophecy, I decided it was a good idea to look in The Codex and I found something rather odd."
Odd?
"What was that?"
Mr. Giles looks over at me for a second and... I don't know, I don't see the hint of anger I see in everyone but Buffy.
He doesn't look angry but I don't think he's happy I'm here. I guess you could call it confused.
"I found it refers to the prophecy written in The Book of Karameth..."
"So? What's so weird about that?"
"Well it's the only one."
"Hun?"
She took the words right out of my mouth.
"It's the only reference in The Codex."
"Again I say hun?"
"Buffy this book has existed almost as long as the slayers. It contains every slayer prophecy ever written by man, demon, and everything in between. Not to mention a number of non-slayer prophecies."
"But this prophecy gets its own section in the slayer library."
"Exactly..."
"All right, so what do we know about this Book of Karmadeath?"
Karmadeath? That's so cute. Why is that cute?
"Karameth Buffy, Willow has had some success in that area. Willow?"
Willow glances over at me with this angry glare.
Okay, I dunno if that's a bad thing because of the prophecy or just in general because she hates me, uh-oh, no time to worry about that.
"Well, according what I could dig up... The Book of Karameth has been around for a while, rumors say that it contains a lot of powerful magics and apparently a number of prophecies..."
Prophecies?
"You mean prophecies like this 'Two into one' thing that these vampires hate so much?"
I get another angry look.
Okay maybe I'll just shut up and let her talk. I don't want to give her any more reasons to hate me.
I look over at Buffy and she's already looking back at me. She sorta half smiles at me for a second with worry and then her face changes to a weird look before she goes back to her friends.
Okay um, what?
"Do we have the book?"
"No, over the years there have been a number of references to it appearing places with no discernible pattern but it hasn't been seen in over a century. The last reference to it was somewhere here in North America..."
"But let me guess, we have no idea where."
"Not for the moment, no... but we're working on narrowing it down."
"Good, okay good so we're making progress. You guys keep working on that and I'll hit the streets with Faith and see what I can dig up before I start helping her remember her training."
"All right..."
"Before we go though, any word on Adam?"
Who's this Adam guy?
"Not a word, there haven't been any sightings since... well since..."
"Since Faith came back..."
Whoa wait a second. This might not be a good thing.
"I hope you're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you Xander?"
"Well you have to admit, it can't just be coincidence that a big powerful killing machine goes into hiding right after your little slayer sister makes her reappearance in our lives."
Buffy's my sister? No... no, we don't look anything alike. I wouldn't be feeling the way I do if we were sisters. He said we were slayer sisters, not actual sisters.
"Xander she is NOT part of Adam's plan. She's been in a coma since before Adam existed."
Apparently this Adam guy isn't a very good guy. I don't like where this is going though.
"But this might be part of that vampire cult's plan."
"I said it before Xander and I'll say it as many times as I have to, to get it in your head. Faith is NOT part of any evil plans and even if she was she wouldn't remember anyway... SHE HAS, AMNESIA!"
She keeps defending me. I really shouldn't let her keep doing that. I can't let her lose friends over me. They're fighting again, I should say something. This isn't going to end well if I don't.
"So you keep saying."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
I can't let them keep fighting like this, I should say something, or do something.
"It's just... there's no real way for us to know that she really has amnesia but you've just gone ahead and accepted it like it's no big deal. It's like you're trying to forget what she did to us, like you tried to do with..."
"Don't you dare bring him into this."
Yes... I should definitely say something.
"Hey, um..."
"I'm sorry to have to be the one to say it but..."
"Then don't..."
"HEY..."
They turn and look at me.
"Look, I know you all don't trust me and... from what Buffy's told me about the things I did I wouldn't blame you, and I'm sure there are all sorts of things that I did that I don't know about that would make you hate me. But I promise you, if you guys find out I'm a willing part in some evil plan to hurt Buffy, or anyone else... I won't fight you. I'll give up. I'll surrender. And I'll do whatever you think is right, okay?"
Everyone sorta half stares at me, thinking about what I just said.
Oh good, a horribly uncomfortable silence is exactly the response I wanted. But at least I said something. They don't have to hate Buffy so much.
Buffy, mercifully, breaks the silence finally.
"See Xander? It's gonna be okay. Now we have more important things to worry about. Willow, have you figured out what those herbs do?"
"Yes, well sorta, I mean, yes and no."
Yes and no?
"Yes and no?"
She took the words right out of my mouth.
"Well, according to my research, it's some kind of obsession spell..."
They put some sort of obsession spell on me?
"What kind of obsession spell is it?"
"We're not sure... we've never seen this kind of obsession spell, anywhere."
"Okay, so what do we do?"
"Well I'm working on a way to break the spell but in order to stop a spell like this I'd usually need to know what the trigger is."
A trigger?
"Okay, any idea what the trigger could be?"
What does she mean what the trigger could be? Isn't that why we went to Riley.
"Well it could be any number of things..."
Or it could be just one thing.
I shift in my stool and look over at Buffy.
"It could be set to go off during an important battle or just before it. For all we know she could be programmed to go off at a specific smell, taste, or even a sound. We just can't know for sure."
I glance over at Buffy.
Yes there is.
"Is there any way for us to stop the spell?"
"Like I said I'm working on a way to break the spell but without the specifics on what the trigger is. Did Riley find anything?"
Yes, he did.
"Not really, he says they're still analyzing the results."
What is she saying? We already got the results.
"Gotcha..."
"I'll let you know as soon as we figure it out."
What does she mean as soon as we figure it out? She should just tell them.
"All right I believe we've covered everything."
"Right... so Faith and I will go see what we can find out and then I'll do a quick patrol before bed..."
She lied to them.
"... and I'll start Faith's retraining tomorrow."
She gets up and I decide to get up too.
"You guys will let me know if you find anything else."
"You know we will Buff."
"Thanks, I'll see you all later."
She puts her hand on my back, gently leading me toward the door. We leave Mr. Giles' place and all I can think is...
She lied to her best friends.
End of Forgotten Conscience Chapter 39. Continue reading Chapter 40 or return to Forgotten Conscience book page.