SOMETIMES THE ONLY ROAD YOU TAKE IS THE DARKEST || July Catch-All

[slayerskiss]

Who: Faith Lehane + Assorted CR
What: Faith is haunted, bares her fangs, deals with the consequences of her actions.
When: July 5th-13th catchall.
Where: Clockhouse, Cobra Kai.

Content Warnings: Grief, violence, torture, suicidal ideation, Buffy The Vampire Slayer Making Murder Weird Since 1997, TBA.

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[slayerskiss]

[Although it regenerates, the wound in Faith's stomach still bleeds out it's sickly blood, the kind that ruins the sheets and stains her shirt. She was injured, even before this. She was hurting, and heart-broken, and she was pleading desperately for it all to be over.

So when Jessica arrived, of course she saw it as a way out. It's always a way out. When people come at her for revenge, their wounded heart on their sleeve, she doesn't heal it, she just goads them further. Hurts them just a little bit more.

Tell me, how do I make it better? It's a silent plea, to Ange, to Buffy, to Angel.

So when Ange approaches, there's only two words she croaks out beneath the tears that she hadn't realized were falling.]

...I'm sorry...

[The wound is stitching together, but she's still bleeding out.]

[entreats]

[ Ange won't deny she has her own bias in this situation. She does mean that she's doing this for Jessica's sake too, that's definitely part of it, but there's also the fact that's highlighted by Jessica saying why does she matter more than the people I care about. And that's the fact that of course Ange cares more about Faith's life than Sayo's life in the first place. She doesn't know what happened, whether Faith really killed Sayo and why, but..

Ange can't really feel any hurt at the thought of Sayo dying, while she is very much concerned about Faith's state in this moment. But that's only natural, right? Of course Ange is going to care more about people who have been kind to her than those who have caused her hurt.

She shoves the thought aside though. Sayo doesn't matter in this moment. Ange doesn't even see her as part of this equation. She's just trying to help Jessica before the other makes a huge mistake she'll have to live with for the rest of her life, and she's trying to save Faith from dying. She's concerned about Jessica, now sitting there and crying, but that's something she can solve in a moment. If she doesn't solve Faith's situation right now, then--

Then she'll die. Ange can tell as she approaches the latter. Faith is starting to look so weak and pale, and Ange knows a dying person when she sees one. She grabs the other's hand, uncaring if there's some specks of vileblood on there that burn away at her own hand, and holds it tightly. ]

Idiot.. [ The word is mostly mumbled. ] Why did you let her do that to you when you know it's just going to hurt you both..?

[ It's not like Ange doesn't get it. She and Faith talked about it before, after all.. their respective suicidal ideation, and everything accompanying it. Ange knows it's got to have been in play here too, and that just makes it hurt even more. Because she knows this isn't right. Faith dying here isn't going to make anything better. It'll just make things worse.

As Ange squeezes the hand even harder, she starts to sound choked up. ]

I can't let you go..

[ And that desperation is what changes into magic. Without Ange realising it, or even consciously doing anything, her hand holding Faith's is starting to glow golden. The light seems to spread from Ange towards Faith herself, and the other will feel something changing - or, no, something closer to reverting, as golden butterflies start to fill up the room, enough so for even Jessica to see between her tears if she raises her face. Even though the wound stitched itself together, it's like it opens again, only then to fade completely. The blood everywhere disappears as it returns to its original place inside Faith's body.

A moment later Ange looks significantly more tired than a moment ago, but any physical traces of the stabbing ever having happened will be entirely gone on Faith by the time the light and the butterflies fade away. ]

[snakesdonthavelegs]

[ It's unavoidable, isn't it? No matter how much people try to be good, it's inevitable that they'll focus their kindness on those they know, and will be reluctant to help or even be concerned for those that have hurt them. And Sayo has hurt Ange so very much.

Jessica's violent rage was about more than revenge. It was a scream of defiance against her own powerlessness, in the face of a world that alternated granting her and stripping her of her dignity. The embers of it remain, but at least for now it has weakened into exhausted despair at the fate that toys with her. She rests her head against her knees, not looking up at her cousin or the girl she almost killed. But she can feel the magic working, like a tingle against her skin, as Ange miraculously closes the wound she inflicted. Still she simply draws her knees up, not wanting to see either of them right now. ]