The witches, the Nemesis and a bunch of Slayers.

The vampires were surrounding them. Seena knew she could save hers and Faith’s ass with an Impyro spell, and they would all end up in dust, but what’s the point? Beating them up to death was so much funnier. And unwinding. So she waited for the first vampire to attack. She plunged her head in the creature’s chest and ripped off her dead heart. One look on her left, and she saw Faith fighting like a fury...as always...like Faith, period. The Nemesis remembered that day in the warehouse, when the two of them had fought side by side for the very first time. They fought the same, they were the same. Dirty, wild, and careless. The only difference was that they weren’t fighting for the same side anymore. More vampires were coming, it seemed like the whole dead population of LA was out for a snack tonight. Seena killed three vampires, and twice more came.

“It’s getting old...” she muttered, put one knee to the ground and touched it with her hands. A circle of fire enwrapped her and immediately killed the closest vampires around. The majority ran away after that, but a few stayed. Seena caught the last one in her sight by his hair, put her other hand around his neck and beheaded him. Through the cloud of dust, she saw Faith in trouble with two vampires. The Nemesis hold still a few seconds.

‘I have to save her, she’s my friend...she was...’ Finally, she decided to intervene and the vampires burst into dust. Seena walked towards Faith whose back was turned to her and put her hand on the slayer’s shoulder. Faith spun around and punched the girl in the face. The Nemesis barely moved and punched her back. The blow made the slayer fall.

“Ouch! And even double ouch!” she said rubbing her cheek and looking down at her numb fist. “Why did you hit me?” She exclaimed.

“Cause you hit me first!”

“I thought you were a vampire!”

“Do I look like a vampire?” They were quarrelling childishly.

“Have you looked at yourself in a mirror lately? Cause you know, the black eyes, not really trendy those days...or maybe you’re planning on marrying Marilyn Manson?” Seena stared down at Faith with a quizzical expression. Finally she extended her hand to the slayer to help her standing up. Faith took it with a huge grin on her face. She flicked off the dirt of her pants and watched Seena. The brunette couldn’t read the girl’s face.

“Come on, let’s go somewhere, have a beer, get girls, and have fun!” The older girl said cheerfully.

“You know I can’t.” Seena replied with a neutral tone.

“Don’t tell me you’re still underage, your birthday was a month ago!” Faith tried the humorous cord, knowing perfectly what Seena really meant.

“Stop this F! We’re not friends!”

“Only my friends call me F.” Faith objected and raised her eyebrows. There was a pause. “I’ve never given up on you.” The two brunettes locked eyes. “It’s been six fucking months, See! Six months I’ve spent looking for you, trying to contact you. So I’m not gonna let you go just like that!”

“Why? What do you want from me?” The young girl lost her temper.

“I can help you: I know what it’s like to be on the other side, and I can bring you back! I promised myself I won’t let you down!” Faith took a step ahead, but this time Seena didn’t move. She was silent for a moment, like lost in her thoughts.

“You wanna help?” Seena came closer and frowned. “Then go home. Take a knife and rip the lovebirds’ throats. Bring their corpses to me so I can watch them rot and enjoy the show.” She sounded deadly serious.

“You don’t want that...” Faith shook her head.

“No...” The girl sighed and paused. “I want to be there when they die!” She finished with a sardonic smile and vanished.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow was looking for Hermione everywhere. She wasn’t at the library, or with the slayers, not even in the witchcraft room. When the redhead had woken up that morning, she was surprise to find an empty spot next to her. Finally, she found the young witch in the garden, sitting Indian style, touching the grass. Willow watched her for a while. Her lover looked deep in thoughts. She pulled her hand away to reveal a wild rose that had emerged from the earth. Hermione grazed the flower and sighed. Willow’s face darkened when she was a tear rolling down her cheek. She knew exactly what the young girl was thinking about, or rather who.

‘I’ll never replace her...’ She kept on watching the girl, who picked up the rose and smelled it. Willow felt a mixture of sadness and anger invade her. She decided to leave. Hermione was still focusing on the rose when suddenly, the flower consumed itself and fell into ashes in her palm.

“Hey!” The witch heard a cracked voice behind her. She turned her head and saw the Rogue slayer walking towards her.

“Hey” Hermione replied.

“I need a favor.” Her tone wasn’t compliant or asking.

‘I should have know it wasn’t just a courtesy visit.’ The young witch thought, then she sighed. “What do you want?”

“I need you to take me to Harry.”

“Why?” Hermione frowned.

“’Cause I need him.”

“Why?”

“Just do it okay!” Faith tensed.

“Wow, it’s surely the best way to ask someone a favor!” Hermione snickered.

“Look, maybe you’re living your lil’ love thing in happiness, but I want my friend back, the one you fucked up so much she drowned into darkness to forget you. And that just because you were too selfish to even give her a chance. Now please, take me to Harry.” Faith’s voice had remained calm all through the speech, and it had hit the right spot in Hermione’s heart. The young witch looked down and remained silent.

“Okay...” she whispered after a moment.

“Now.” Faith approached and put her hand on the girl’s shoulder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seena entered Sigma’s office with a stern look. Her boss was on the phone. When he noticed the girl, he pointed at the armchair in front of his desk.

“Yes, Ambrosia, it’d be a pleasure. Yes! Goodbye!” The demon hung up. “So, how did it go? I thought you’d report right after your mission...”

“He doesn’t have the amulet. Said Janak had it. I killed him.” Seena replied. Obvisouly, Sigma didn’t like that answer. He frowned and lit a cigarillo.

“I’m disappointed.”

“Look, if you have a problem-”

“Calm down!” The demon interrupted her with a low voice. He could feel the Nemesis’ power growing with her anger, and didn’t want to lose his control over her. “Where did you go afterwards?” A cigarette appeared in front of the girl.

“Vampires, a bunch of them. Took my time to unwind a little.” Seena answered and Impyroed the tip of the fag. Sigma nodded.

“You haven’t met anyone in particular?”

“No...” the brunette lied, looking straight into his eyes.

“I’m planning on invading the Academy.” Sigma waited for a reaction on the brunette’s face. “We need to get rid off the Slayers. For good.” He paused. “Do you have a problem with that?”

Seena’s brain was racing, but her heart was thwarting any thoughts she was trying to figure out.

‘I can’t let that happen...Yes I can! I don’t care about them!...Or maybe I do. What if they die? She deserves to die, both of them, from my hands. I hate her...I hate her so much...Don’t go there Seena, she broke your heart, she killed every part of you. You should give her payback. She betrayed me...she stopped loving me. I didn’t...’

“No.”

“Will you lead the troops?” Sigma asked.

“Yes.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Faith arrived at Number 12, Grimmaud Place, she completely felt out of space and time. London was definitely not Los Angeles. Hermione led her to the front door of the Blacks Mansion and knocked at the door. A tall man with long dark hair and brown eyes opened. He looked classy, freshly shaved, was wearing trendy clothes and was about forty years old to Faith’s rough guess.

“Hello Sirius!” Hermione cheered.

“Hello Hermione! It’s good to see you!” The wizard hugged her. “Who’s your friend?”

“We’re not friends!” Both girls replied at one go. Sirius frowned but skipped it.

“Harry’s in his room. You know the way!” Sirius moved away to let the girls in.

“Yes, thank you Sirius.” Hermione turned to Faith. “Follow me and don’t touch anything.” The slayer nodded and let the witch lead the way. They reached Harry’s bedroom and knocked.

“Come in!” A familiar voice replied from the other side.

“Hey!” Faith exclaimed, and her eyes met Harry’s. The boy stood up, with a sad look on his face. Quickly, the sadness turned into anger at the sight of her friend, or rather former friend, who was standing next to the slayer.

“Hello..” He replied coldly.

“Harry, look!-” Hermione began, but she was immediately cut by the boy.

“Why are you here?” He was speaking to Faith.

“I need you in LA, can you come with me?” Faith asked. “You’re the only one who can help me get her back, Harry.” It was the first time the two wizards had ever heard the brunette speak with so much despair. Harry was caught in his thoughts for a minute, then turned to Hermione.

“Go home, Hermione. We don’t need you anymore.”

“Can’t we even talk about it?” Hermione exclaimed. She could feel her cheeks getting wet.

“And what do you want to talk about?” Harry shouted.

“You know I never wanted this! It wasn’t supposed to end like this!” Hermione shouted back.

“Why did you do it then? You ruined everything! You destroyed the only person you loved and who loved you back. And what for? Some little fling for another witch?”

“You think I don’t know I made a mistake?” Hermione screamed to the top of her lungs, she was now crying her eyes out. “I’ve lost my greatest love, my best friends, and every person I care about hates me because of what I did!” She burst into tears and everything was silent. Suddenly, Sirius rushed into the bedroom.

“Is everything alright?” He asked, breathless. “I heard screams.”

“Yeah, Sirius, everything’s fine, thanks.” Harry reassured his godfather.

“Okay. Well, I’m downstairs if you need me.” He left the three of them alone and shut the door behind him.

“You’ve never done anything in the last six months to fix this.” Faith crossed her arms. “You’re still sleeping with Willow, I even hear you say ‘I love you’ to her. So I’m not buying all that Mea Cultra shit.”

“Culpa...” Hermione corrected Faith, out of habit.

“Faith’s right...Do you still love her?” Harry asked with a softer tone.

“I’ve never stopped! Look...” Hermione paused to regain composure. “That night when Willow kissed me, it was spontaneous! I’ve never wanted it! We were in the middle of chaos, it had been a while things were not working well with Seena. It was a mistake! Then Seena was captured. What you don’t know is that I tried to get her back, to locate her. When we all got back and ... when...”

“She gave you what you deserved...” Faith muttered.

“Yeah. I saw in her eyes that she was completely gone. It wasn’t like what happened at Hogwarts, Harry. The Seena we all knew, the two sides of her we’ve witnessed, it’s beyond that!”

“I agree. Though I’ve never seen the Evil like, really Evil Seena, I met her in the graveyard two days ago. She was just...cruel and cold. Like soulless.” Faith nodded. “But we can still bring her back.”

“How?” Harry looked up at the slayer.

“I don’t know. Just showing her we’re here. But she ain’t gonna forgive her” She pointed Hermione. “She wants her dead.”

“Her human side...” Hermione whispered. “We have to reach her human side to get her back. That’s how it worked the first time.”

“Yeah but that’s the reason why she’s there in the first place... I mean, it’s because of the hurt that she turned to Evil.”

“Then what?” Harry was getting frustrated.

“I guess we should just-” Faith was interrupted by her cell phone. She picked it up. It was Buffy. “Yeah...What?” Her face changed, and the two wizards knew something bad had happened. “We’re coming, hold on!” She put back the phone in her pocket. “The Academy is under attack!”

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a couple more before the end