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A minion of a dark power seeks to visit an injustice on Anya. But what goes around, comes around this time, thanks to Faith.
Title: Paying It Forward (The Ain't Gonna Happen, X Remix)
Author: Jedi Buttercup
Disclaimer: Characters from B:tVS are property of Joss Whedon, etc., etc.
Rating: T/PG-13
Spoilers: Set during B:tVS 6.16, "Hells Bells"; slightly AU
Notes: Written for Round 7 of the Circle of Friends remix. Original story: Ain't Gonna Happen, B by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eilandesq. Because what-comes-next stories, fix-its, and taking crack seriously are all my jam... I couldn't resist. Set during 6.16, "Hells Bells".
Summary: A minion of a dark power seeks to visit an injustice on Anya. But what goes around, comes around this time, thanks to Faith. 1800 words.
Faith had marked the old guy with the umbrella coming into the lodge as trouble the second she'd laid eyes on him. Weather-beaten white-haired dude in a tan trenchcoat, scoping the crowd like he was looking for someone? Practically straight out of central casting.
Then again, half the bride's side pinged her Slaydar even worse, and at least mister murder mystery didn't have horns or tentacles. Anyway, whatever his thing was, he was off limits until after the wedding. That was the deal; until the minister said 'man and wife' and all the presents had been opened, nobody preyed on the humans, and she and Buffy didn't indulge in any pre-emptive Slaying. After the wedding might be another story, but until then, especially since she was one of the guests herself-- Anya might have been pleased enough with 'the dividends' to invite her to the wedding, but not as one of the bridal party-- Faith had been asked to live and let live.
It wasn't the most fun she'd ever had in formal wear, but it wasn't that bad; she'd have looked pretty washed out in radioactive green anyway, and she'd really enjoyed the look on that blond vamp's face when he realized just who he was talking to. The chip thing must have stuck, if he was still hanging around the Scoobies two years after she'd met him as Buffy. That, or the bleach really did damage brain cells. Seemed like Sunnydale was chock full of little ironies like that, lately.
Faith let her eyes track over the rest of the guests, double-checking to make sure no one was taking advantage of the mix and mingle to stir shit up... well, except for Xander's dad at the bar, and that was so not her problem. Anyone that tried to break the neutrality, she'd deal with to keep 'em from ruining Anya's big day; she owed Demon Girl that much for helping come to her rescue a few weeks before. The Xan-Man's family, though? Not her circus, not her monkeys.
The inner door of the lobby finally opened, and the crowd started drifting that way; Faith caught a glimpse of Xander himself peeking out, not the scrawny eager guy he used to be but still pretty damn fine in a tux, before the guy in the trenchcoat drew her attention back to him again. He'd perked up pretty much the second Xander appeared, then starting pushing his way through the guests, which seemed low-key suspicious; the groom's side might be mostly trainwrecks, but they didn't need any demonic genes to be the lowlifes of the party. And then the guy pulled Xander aside and reached into a pocket-- and that definitely was her problem. Guardian variety perv or demon on a mission, either way, she wasn't the self-designated bouncer that night for nothing.
"I thought you might need convincing," the guy was saying as she approached, a glowing purple orb in his hand.
"Hey," she interrupted, dropping a hand on the stranger's shoulder. The glowy thing might or might not be the equivalent of what the guys who'd broken her out of prison had brought with them, but the 'thought you might need convincing' thing was bringing on flashbacks of Watcher goo and strap-down tables regardless. Without Anya, Buffy, and Queen C, they might have succeeded in seriously screwing with Faith's self-image, and far be it from her to let something similar happen to a guy who was important to all of them.
"If anyone needs convincing, how 'bout you try it on me first?" she snarked. "You do anything to her boytoy at this stage, I don't think the bride's going to be very happy."
The guy looked startled at her intervention, but strangely enough, not all that worried; he looked her up and down for a moment, eyes lingering on all the usual assets, then frowned and curled his hand a little more tightly around the orb. "I'm sorry, Miss...? This doesn't really concern you; it's a family matter."
"Miss? Excuse me?" Faith's eyebrows shot up. Couldn't the guy tell what she was? He couldn't be any more obviously a demon to her senses; had he been in another dimension all his life or something?
"Miss?" Xander echoed her-- with even more disbelief in his tone. "You mean you don't recognize her? God, I knew that many blows to the head couldn't be good for me." Then, as the old man's face creased in incomprehension, Xander's voice grew a little sharper: "Or, maybe that means you aren't me after all, huh? Because I refuse to believe there's a me out there who's that forgetful."
"What, this guy was saying he was you?" Faith glanced between them. Cliché, much? Personally, she didn't see it though; even if time travel was a thing, the stranger's ears weren't the same, his nose was too pointy, and he was enough shorter than Xander that stooping over wouldn't cut it. But most of all--
"Not unless you turned into a demon at some point, X. Or maybe started bleaching your hair," she added with a smirk, thinking of Buffy, William the Fangless, Anya, and most of all the highly irritated Seer who'd organized her rescue. "The evidence ain't all that conclusive."
"Hey!" Xander objected, pointing a finger in her direction. Then he shook his head, turned to the old guy, and pointed his finger again. "I mean, hey!"
"Yeah, c'mon, grandpa," Faith taunted. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
Somewhere in the background, she thought she heard Mr. Harris making a spectacle out of himself again, and Buffy intervening; Anya was still in the back rooms somewhere getting her glitz on; and Cordelia was back in LA, chasing a vision. Faith was on her own. But she could handle it; there was only one this time, not the group that came for her, and turning this guy's supplies back on him didn't look like it would take that much effort.
The dude started to throw his shoulders back, like he was going to shrug off the trenchcoat, but Faith lunged and got the orb out of his hands first, thrusting it in front of his face like he'd started to do to Xander.
The orb cast a purplish glow over the guy's forehead; he froze in place for a long moment, and then gasped, recoiling away from them as his human guise dropped in favor of his real face. Demon-him was much taller, with grey skin, spikes on his head, and beady little yellow eyes; no wonder he'd come in disguise, he would have stood out even in this crowd.
"No, no, send me back," he blurted. "I deserved it! It doesn't matter how much you paid to get me out of there so I could have my vengeance-- it won't be worth it!"
Paid? Faith had been poised to throw down as he started changing form-- but she froze at those words, glancing over her shoulder toward the rows of guests. She was just in time to catch another demon with a scraggly beard and backswept horns getting to his feet; a demon girl with a wrinkly face Faith had heard Anya greet as 'Hallie' was glancing between Horn-Dude and Xander's attacker with a shocked, betrayed expression.
A-hah. "Tie this one up," she said, then cracked her knuckles and went to take on the other one. The first one's cringey behavior had been a let-down, but this looked like it could be interesting.
Several long minutes of brawl later, Buffy had joined in, and Anya had emerged from the back to cheer them on, unsurprisingly gorgeous in a sleeveless white mermaid gown. Hallie had joined in on their side, making up for the lack of Cordelia as she helped corral the demon lord who'd taken it upon himself to sabotage Anya's wedding, and Xander had even gotten in a good punch or three.
"Wow," Faith said as she surveyed the result. There were two grey-skinned, yellow-eyed demons sitting back to back on the floor now, courtesy of Hallie's wish for D'Hoffryn to 'see what it was like'; both had been knocked out, and the purple orb crushed to a glittery powder sprinkled all over them. Someone had looped the flower girl's crown over the first demon's neck in an improvised garrote, and the big green rosette off Buffy's dress had been stuffed into D'Hoffryn's mouth like a gag. "That's the most excitement I've had since you guys rescued me. Who knew weddings could be this much fun?"
Hallie wrung her hands as she stared at her transformed boss. "I knew you were his favorite," she said bitterly, glancing toward the bride.
"But you're the one he brought," Anya replied soothingly, patting her friend's arm. "So what does it matter? Put them both back where that one came from, and then who's to know D'Hoffryn didn't retire-- voluntarily or otherwise? How do you think he got to be a demon lord, anyway?"
"You really think I could be the Lady of Arashmaharr?" Hallie replied, perking up. "Oooh, then I could have favorites. I could even reinstate you! You can't seriously want to stay on this plane.... Can you?"
"....You sure you don't want me to kill 'em, guys?" Faith interrupted, gesturing with the club she'd improvised out of a statue.
Anya looked torn, but Xander shook his head firmly. "No; I vote we go with Ahn's plan. Why go for the kill when you can go for the pain? Isn't that his deal? Just imagine the look on his face when he wakes up tasting his own medicine."
Anya brightened, beaming at him. "You do understand," she said. Then she turned apologetically to her old friend, and moments later Hallie and the other two were gone.
Buffy dusted off her hands, then eyed the scattered guests and pushed back to the front of the crowd to maid-of-honor things back on track. Anya abruptly started fretting about Xander seeing the dress too soon, and Xander ignored the relatives commenting snidely on the interruption to affectionately talk her down. Faith saw Dawn on the sidelines, giggling behind her hand to a tentacle-faced teenager; and the witches finally emerged from the back, apparently too caught up in each other to have heard the chaos.
Faith smirked to herself as she noted their flushed cheeks and flirty gazes. Too bad she hadn't had a chance to pick up anyone since she got out. But hey, was that William the Bloody over at the doorway?
She grinned, then began edging toward the doors herself. "Leaving now."
Everything seemed under control here now, and a good throw-down with a vamp who couldn't kill her sounded like just the palate cleanser to finish off her day.
(x-posted tocircle_of_friends & AO3)
circle_of_friends.A minion of a dark power seeks to visit an injustice on Anya. But what goes around, comes around this time, thanks to Faith.
Title: Paying It Forward (The Ain't Gonna Happen, X Remix)
Author: Jedi Buttercup
Disclaimer: Characters from B:tVS are property of Joss Whedon, etc., etc.
Rating: T/PG-13
Spoilers: Set during B:tVS 6.16, "Hells Bells"; slightly AU
Notes: Written for Round 7 of the Circle of Friends remix. Original story: Ain't Gonna Happen, B by
eilandesq. Because what-comes-next stories, fix-its, and taking crack seriously are all my jam... I couldn't resist. Set during 6.16, "Hells Bells".Summary: A minion of a dark power seeks to visit an injustice on Anya. But what goes around, comes around this time, thanks to Faith. 1800 words.
Faith had marked the old guy with the umbrella coming into the lodge as trouble the second she'd laid eyes on him. Weather-beaten white-haired dude in a tan trenchcoat, scoping the crowd like he was looking for someone? Practically straight out of central casting.
Then again, half the bride's side pinged her Slaydar even worse, and at least mister murder mystery didn't have horns or tentacles. Anyway, whatever his thing was, he was off limits until after the wedding. That was the deal; until the minister said 'man and wife' and all the presents had been opened, nobody preyed on the humans, and she and Buffy didn't indulge in any pre-emptive Slaying. After the wedding might be another story, but until then, especially since she was one of the guests herself-- Anya might have been pleased enough with 'the dividends' to invite her to the wedding, but not as one of the bridal party-- Faith had been asked to live and let live.
It wasn't the most fun she'd ever had in formal wear, but it wasn't that bad; she'd have looked pretty washed out in radioactive green anyway, and she'd really enjoyed the look on that blond vamp's face when he realized just who he was talking to. The chip thing must have stuck, if he was still hanging around the Scoobies two years after she'd met him as Buffy. That, or the bleach really did damage brain cells. Seemed like Sunnydale was chock full of little ironies like that, lately.
Faith let her eyes track over the rest of the guests, double-checking to make sure no one was taking advantage of the mix and mingle to stir shit up... well, except for Xander's dad at the bar, and that was so not her problem. Anyone that tried to break the neutrality, she'd deal with to keep 'em from ruining Anya's big day; she owed Demon Girl that much for helping come to her rescue a few weeks before. The Xan-Man's family, though? Not her circus, not her monkeys.
The inner door of the lobby finally opened, and the crowd started drifting that way; Faith caught a glimpse of Xander himself peeking out, not the scrawny eager guy he used to be but still pretty damn fine in a tux, before the guy in the trenchcoat drew her attention back to him again. He'd perked up pretty much the second Xander appeared, then starting pushing his way through the guests, which seemed low-key suspicious; the groom's side might be mostly trainwrecks, but they didn't need any demonic genes to be the lowlifes of the party. And then the guy pulled Xander aside and reached into a pocket-- and that definitely was her problem. Guardian variety perv or demon on a mission, either way, she wasn't the self-designated bouncer that night for nothing.
"I thought you might need convincing," the guy was saying as she approached, a glowing purple orb in his hand.
"Hey," she interrupted, dropping a hand on the stranger's shoulder. The glowy thing might or might not be the equivalent of what the guys who'd broken her out of prison had brought with them, but the 'thought you might need convincing' thing was bringing on flashbacks of Watcher goo and strap-down tables regardless. Without Anya, Buffy, and Queen C, they might have succeeded in seriously screwing with Faith's self-image, and far be it from her to let something similar happen to a guy who was important to all of them.
"If anyone needs convincing, how 'bout you try it on me first?" she snarked. "You do anything to her boytoy at this stage, I don't think the bride's going to be very happy."
The guy looked startled at her intervention, but strangely enough, not all that worried; he looked her up and down for a moment, eyes lingering on all the usual assets, then frowned and curled his hand a little more tightly around the orb. "I'm sorry, Miss...? This doesn't really concern you; it's a family matter."
"Miss? Excuse me?" Faith's eyebrows shot up. Couldn't the guy tell what she was? He couldn't be any more obviously a demon to her senses; had he been in another dimension all his life or something?
"Miss?" Xander echoed her-- with even more disbelief in his tone. "You mean you don't recognize her? God, I knew that many blows to the head couldn't be good for me." Then, as the old man's face creased in incomprehension, Xander's voice grew a little sharper: "Or, maybe that means you aren't me after all, huh? Because I refuse to believe there's a me out there who's that forgetful."
"What, this guy was saying he was you?" Faith glanced between them. Cliché, much? Personally, she didn't see it though; even if time travel was a thing, the stranger's ears weren't the same, his nose was too pointy, and he was enough shorter than Xander that stooping over wouldn't cut it. But most of all--
"Not unless you turned into a demon at some point, X. Or maybe started bleaching your hair," she added with a smirk, thinking of Buffy, William the Fangless, Anya, and most of all the highly irritated Seer who'd organized her rescue. "The evidence ain't all that conclusive."
"Hey!" Xander objected, pointing a finger in her direction. Then he shook his head, turned to the old guy, and pointed his finger again. "I mean, hey!"
"Yeah, c'mon, grandpa," Faith taunted. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
Somewhere in the background, she thought she heard Mr. Harris making a spectacle out of himself again, and Buffy intervening; Anya was still in the back rooms somewhere getting her glitz on; and Cordelia was back in LA, chasing a vision. Faith was on her own. But she could handle it; there was only one this time, not the group that came for her, and turning this guy's supplies back on him didn't look like it would take that much effort.
The dude started to throw his shoulders back, like he was going to shrug off the trenchcoat, but Faith lunged and got the orb out of his hands first, thrusting it in front of his face like he'd started to do to Xander.
The orb cast a purplish glow over the guy's forehead; he froze in place for a long moment, and then gasped, recoiling away from them as his human guise dropped in favor of his real face. Demon-him was much taller, with grey skin, spikes on his head, and beady little yellow eyes; no wonder he'd come in disguise, he would have stood out even in this crowd.
"No, no, send me back," he blurted. "I deserved it! It doesn't matter how much you paid to get me out of there so I could have my vengeance-- it won't be worth it!"
Paid? Faith had been poised to throw down as he started changing form-- but she froze at those words, glancing over her shoulder toward the rows of guests. She was just in time to catch another demon with a scraggly beard and backswept horns getting to his feet; a demon girl with a wrinkly face Faith had heard Anya greet as 'Hallie' was glancing between Horn-Dude and Xander's attacker with a shocked, betrayed expression.
A-hah. "Tie this one up," she said, then cracked her knuckles and went to take on the other one. The first one's cringey behavior had been a let-down, but this looked like it could be interesting.
Several long minutes of brawl later, Buffy had joined in, and Anya had emerged from the back to cheer them on, unsurprisingly gorgeous in a sleeveless white mermaid gown. Hallie had joined in on their side, making up for the lack of Cordelia as she helped corral the demon lord who'd taken it upon himself to sabotage Anya's wedding, and Xander had even gotten in a good punch or three.
"Wow," Faith said as she surveyed the result. There were two grey-skinned, yellow-eyed demons sitting back to back on the floor now, courtesy of Hallie's wish for D'Hoffryn to 'see what it was like'; both had been knocked out, and the purple orb crushed to a glittery powder sprinkled all over them. Someone had looped the flower girl's crown over the first demon's neck in an improvised garrote, and the big green rosette off Buffy's dress had been stuffed into D'Hoffryn's mouth like a gag. "That's the most excitement I've had since you guys rescued me. Who knew weddings could be this much fun?"
Hallie wrung her hands as she stared at her transformed boss. "I knew you were his favorite," she said bitterly, glancing toward the bride.
"But you're the one he brought," Anya replied soothingly, patting her friend's arm. "So what does it matter? Put them both back where that one came from, and then who's to know D'Hoffryn didn't retire-- voluntarily or otherwise? How do you think he got to be a demon lord, anyway?"
"You really think I could be the Lady of Arashmaharr?" Hallie replied, perking up. "Oooh, then I could have favorites. I could even reinstate you! You can't seriously want to stay on this plane.... Can you?"
"....You sure you don't want me to kill 'em, guys?" Faith interrupted, gesturing with the club she'd improvised out of a statue.
Anya looked torn, but Xander shook his head firmly. "No; I vote we go with Ahn's plan. Why go for the kill when you can go for the pain? Isn't that his deal? Just imagine the look on his face when he wakes up tasting his own medicine."
Anya brightened, beaming at him. "You do understand," she said. Then she turned apologetically to her old friend, and moments later Hallie and the other two were gone.
Buffy dusted off her hands, then eyed the scattered guests and pushed back to the front of the crowd to maid-of-honor things back on track. Anya abruptly started fretting about Xander seeing the dress too soon, and Xander ignored the relatives commenting snidely on the interruption to affectionately talk her down. Faith saw Dawn on the sidelines, giggling behind her hand to a tentacle-faced teenager; and the witches finally emerged from the back, apparently too caught up in each other to have heard the chaos.
Faith smirked to herself as she noted their flushed cheeks and flirty gazes. Too bad she hadn't had a chance to pick up anyone since she got out. But hey, was that William the Bloody over at the doorway?
She grinned, then began edging toward the doors herself. "Leaving now."
Everything seemed under control here now, and a good throw-down with a vamp who couldn't kill her sounded like just the palate cleanser to finish off her day.
(x-posted to
circle_of_friends & AO3)
