Epilogue: A New Day

Faith's eyes snapped open to find that the world around her was filled with light, and as she pulled herself up to her feet, she quickly discerned that she was no longer on the roof of Kakistos' warehouse, or Boston even if the Ancient Rome-esque pillars that were holding up the ceiling of the massive white room she now found herself in were any indication.

With a shaky hand, she lifts the bottom of her shirt to find that her stomach is once again undamaged and smooth before dropping it and turning in a slow circle as she surveys her surroundings.

Finding the room to be unoccupied aside from herself and no noticeable exits anywhere around her, she frowns and shakes her head in annoyance.

"Great." She mumbles to herself. "If this is what heaven is supposed to be, I want my deposit back."

"Oh this ain't heaven lass, they ain't quite ready for you yet." Someone says from behind her and slowly she turns to face the origin of the voice, finding a man standing a couple yards away from her. "They do, however, have a place reserved for you when it comes that time."

"W-who are you?" She asks, confused as to where she is and what she's doing here if this wasn't heaven.

"Name's Whistler." The man says, tipping his hat to her before removing it as a show of respect, before he answers her unasked questions. "Place don't really have a proper name, it's sort of a rest stop between life and death."

"Why am I here?" Faith presses, something about the man hauntingly familiar to her, as if they'd met in another life or something.

"Because the game has changed." Whistler replies, his gaze locking with hers with an intensity she couldn't quite describe. "The course of events of the past few days is far from what should have been."

"Meaning?" Faith demands with slight irritation, not having the patience for such vagary on the best of days.

"You were always meant to kill Kakistos, but the where, how and when have diverged from that which was foretold."

"I don't understand."

"Well that's two of us sweetheart." Whistler replies with a shrug. "I didn't create the rules, I'm just an… enforcer of them. If you need someone to blame for the offer that I've been authorized to make to you by order of the people upstairs, well you can lay that at the feet of Alexander Harris.'

"What is this offer?" Faith inquires tentatively, unsure if she's going to like what she's about to hear.

"There are two paths ahead of you, my dear. Both come with their own trials and sacrifices." Whistler intones, his voice a bit heavy. "On the one hand, you can remain the slayer and have the constant threat of vampires and demons seeking you out, whether or not you continue to fight the good fight; and on the other hand, you can walk the path of mankind's next evolutionary step and define your own destiny. Either road has repercussions of it's own, but in this instance, the Powers that Be have decided to leave the choice up to you, but they do need an answer now so that certain things in the world can be rectified should you choose to remain a slayer. Two is one thing, but three… well that is too many, for the time being at least."

Faith stares at Whistler for a couple long moments, thinking over things in her head before she comes to a decision.

"What if I refuse to make a choice?" She asks, feeling a bit rebellious that these people, whoever it was that Whistler was talking about, deemed fit to play with her life in such a way.

"Then they will make it for you as they've done all along." Whistler answers honestly and she gives a grim nod.

"Can I still hunt vampires if I choose not to be a slayer anymore?"

"You can, though why you'd want to is quite a mystery, innit?" Whistler says as he pulls out a pack of cigarettes, taking one for himself before offering one to Faith, who takes it and tucks it behind her ear. "They're offering you your life back, to make of it what you will. If it was me, I'd take them up on it."

"Okay." Faith says, giving another nod, as it becomes clear to her what her choice will be. "I want out. I don't want to be a slayer anymore."

"Figured as much." Whistler replies, giving her a small smile. "You did good kid, keep at it. We'll be needing you down the road either way."

"So what happens next then?"

"Well that's on you, really. For once, destiny doesn't really factor into the equation." Whistler answers with a shrug. "I would imagine the place to start first though, would be waking up. You got a couple friends missing you something awful."

"Wake up? How exactly do-" Faith is cut off mid-sentence as the world around her explodes with light and for the briefest of moments, she can feel herself freefalling amidst the blinding white.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

"I think she's coming around." Faith heard Monet say before her eyes flew open and she snapped up into a sitting position on her cousin's couch in his South Boston home.

"Welcome back Fay." Her gaze shoots to her cousin, standing just a couple feet from her with a bandage wrapped around his head and staring back at her with a look of relief on his face. "Had us worried for a bit there."

"What happened?" Faith asks, a bit disoriented following recovery from her most recent 'death', but then shakes her head as James opens his mouth to speak. "No, nevermind. I remember."

"Did you get Kakistos? Monet said that the roof was burning pretty bad when she found you up there and brought you back." Tabitha asks, dropping onto the couch next to where Faith sits a moment later and the former slayer turns to look at the blonde for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah." Faith confirms, a smile tugging at the edges of her mouth, before an overwhelming feeling of lethargy fills her and she lets out a yawn as it hits her that she'd not had any proper sleep since this whole thing started four days ago. "It's over, he's gone."

As she says this, she reaches up to brush her hair back, and her eyes go wide as she pulls an unlit cigarette from behind her ear, and holds it before her for a moment before grabbing James' zippo off of the coffee table before her and lighting it up between her lips.

"So what happens now?" Monet asks from where she'd taken up residence in the chair on the other side of the table, fixing Faith with a look of concern.

"I don't know." The ex-slayer replies, not having an answer for such things as she takes a heavy drag from the cigarette. "Alls I know is that I'm free… And I really want to have a good long sleep."

A snort of amused laughter comes from her cousin, and he speaks again. "That's something I think we can all embrace."

Faith doesn't speak again, she just takes another long drag from the cigarette and stubs it out in the ashtray before leaning back into the couch and closing her eyes as a full smile finally forms upon her face.

[i]If I leave here tomorrow,

Will you still remember me?

Well I must be travelling on now,

Cause theres too many places i got to see.

If I stay here with you girl,

Things just couldn't be the same.

Cause I'm as free as a bird now,

and this bird you cannot change

and this bird you cannot change

and this bird you cannot change

Lord knows I can't change...[/i]

Not the End, but a New Beginning…

Note: Thank you to the following people who took the time to review or recommend this story.

Allen Pitt and Syed from FFnet

JediKnight, Raxadian, MaxGSandeman, JaCee, Kevinn, Jormunguard, Sandi, Philister, CAPTskip, BrinLondoFive, and Ltlconf from TTH

Hope to see yah all continue to follow with the sequel, coming VERY soon, and until next time, much love from your friend The Stoner Guru.

PEACE OUT.