No Future for You, Part II

Plot

Faith remembers her fight with Buffy back in the days of the Mayor.

How they first became friends. How she opened up a little and revealed something about herself. Then everything went down the drain and they hurt each other. Maybe they will find a way to forgive each other, but it would never be the way it was before, Faith thinks – because the pain does not go away; it only fades.

In the end it is better to go through life alone. Live and learn – or almost die and learn.

Present: Faith, in her evening gown, is outside Lady Genevieve’s estate. Giles speaks to her through her earpiece and asks whether she can hear him. Giles wants to help her. She is to keep conversations to a minimum, and he reminds her that she is only to take out her target as quickly as possible. Giles knows this must be hard for Faith, but afterwards her Slayer days will be over and she can… Faith pulls out the microphone and throws it into the flower beds. She has enough voices in her head already, she says.

At the entrance she is asked to go through a security check. Faith just says: if they call that security! Daddy (the Viscount of Avalon!) would have let her go to a market better protected – not that she ever had to do servants’ work.

Faith is judged to be unarmed and allowed through – only to be asked for her invitation a metre further on. Faith gets worked up: do they really think she would wave some cheap piece of paper around? She demands to be let in before she has this impudent servant sent back to the gutter he was mistakenly taken from. The tactic works, because it is taken for aristocratic quirks.

Faith has beads of sweat on her forehead and tells herself to pull herself together. After all, the G-man says she will be doing the world a huge favour if she kills the chick. Faith pulls one of the two stilettos out of her hairdo. She has done worse things without batting an eyelid, so why is she trembling so much, Faith wonders.

From above, the warlock Roden and two of his demonic helpers watch the spectacle below. Lady Gigi is behaving like a snobbish teenager. Meanwhile Roden is watching Faith. Somehow she makes him nervous. So he orders his demons to keep an eye on her, and if she so much as curtsies too casually at the introductions, they are to take her out.

Meanwhile in Scotland: Willow is talking with Dawn. Dawn is annoyed because everyone thinks her size has something to do with her maybe having had sex, so everyone wants to give her the birds-and-bees talk. Willow says nobody is lecturing her. It is just a fact that none of Willow’s spells can help Dawn shrink like a jumper in the wash until she knows exactly what happened and what mojo her lover used. And speaking of clothes, Willow wants to know whether Dawn has been wearing the same clothes since she… blossomed. Dawn says that as long as “plus size” is not redefined, everyone will have to live with it. Willow promises to get Dawn back to normal size as soon as Dawn tells her what spell Dawn’s other half used while they were… together. Dawn, who until a moment ago was raiding a cherry tree, sits down on the ground and looks very sad. Willow is worse than Buffy, she thinks. Why is everyone so sure it is Kenny’s fault? Because he is a thricewise, Willow says, half asking. As a Jewish lesbian witch she is sensitive about ready-made characterisations too, but not all clichés are wrong. Dawn tells Willow she does not understand. Kenny was the only one on campus who treated her like a friend and not like a walking pair of breasts. Willow comforts her and says the boys like her for her legs, not her “boobies”. That cheers Dawn up. She wipes away her tears and tells Willow she has missed her, only the truth is… Willow is called away. Renee says Buffy wants to talk to Willow about the castle’s defence system. First Willow makes clear once again that she does not want to be called Ms. Rosenberg, or she will turn whoever does it into a little goat. Besides, she double-checked the protection spells this morning. Renee answers that Buffy specifically asked for “computer-nerd Willow, not broomstick Willow”… Willow had completely forgotten that they also installed radar stations because of the threat from the military. But Willow says this only helps them see them coming. What do they do once they are there? Whatever it takes, says Dawn.

England: Faith is out on the balcony, smoking. This is it, she thinks. As soon as she has put out the cigarette she will go in and do the job. Maybe she will smoke the rest of the pack first. Behind Faith someone asks for a cigarette. Faith gives a snippy answer, then turns round and sees Genevieve standing there. Sure, she says, and holds out the pack. Genevieve says she just had to get out of there. They are all such hypocrites she would like to slit her wrists. Faith knows what she means. Genevieve says she is only doing this for her tutor; otherwise she would rather see the Amy Winehouse show in Shepherd’s Bush. Faith is thrilled! She loves her music! Genevieve says she likes all the songs that can make her cry while everyone else is dancing. Gigi introduces herself – even if it is probably obvious who she is. Faith introduces herself as Hope Lyonne. Gigi thinks she may have met her parents at one of those dreadful receptions and asks about them. Faith replies that her dad might as well be a ghost and her mom is a sloppy drunk. Gigi asks whether they might be sisters. Who knows, Faith answers, slowly drawing the stiletto from her hair – maybe in another… Faith is yanked upwards. Gigi is shocked. What the…, Faith begins. Gigi screams at the demons to let her go, the idiots! Faith is not so keen on that when she looks down and sees how high the beast has already carried her. The demon bites Faith. She has an idea: she slams her head backwards, driving the half-drawn dagger into the demon’s eye. While Faith fights the demons, she thinks that she would really like Giles at her side now – but she had to push him away like every good guy who was ever a little nice to her. Then she tells herself that only people who believe they are going to die think like that, so she had better clear her head fast! She covers the stone demon’s eyes, and it crashes to the ground. Faith finishes the demon off, and number two is already flying towards her. Faith jumps aside so that it smashes to pieces when it hits the ground. She sees that much – then she passes out. Genevieve and Roden are standing beside her, and Gigi’s comment is: “Bloody hell.”

Later: Roden is talking with Gigi. He practically begs her to get rid of Faith. Genevieve refuses. She says Hope is not one of the usual inferior gutter girls but a Slayer – and blue-blooded too. The purpose of the little soirée was to identify possible threats that could stand in the way of her coming coronation, and a simple banker’s daughter is hardly that. No threat, Roden rages – she literally turned his boys into rubble! Yes, after they attacked her unprovoked – and besides, Hope (Faith) was brilliant. Gigi could use someone like that at her side. She asks Roden to trust her: she and Hope (Faith) are on the same wavelength. After one cigarette she already wants to make her her best friend, Roden doubts; she does not even know Hope (Faith). Genevieve silences him, because Faith is coming round – which she has actually been doing slowly during the conversation.

At first Faith does not know where she is. Gigi calms her, introduces Roden and explains that he is from Belfast (though she should not hold it against him). Roden wants to say something, but Gigi simply interrupts him. She helps Faith sit up. She tells her that all this must be confusing for her. She is not an ordinary girl but part of a line of very powerful people. Oh really, says Faith. Genevieve explains that she is not talking about nobility or anything like that, but about an ancient power that she, Hope (Faith) and many other girls have tapped into, so to speak. Roden has told her, Genevieve says, that she is destined to lead most of these girls, so that they can take their rightful place at the top of this pathetic society… after she has destroyed the woman who still stands between her and this plan. She wants that woman’s place as queen. Queen, Faith asks, horrified. She wants to kill Elizabeth? No, says Gigi, and opens a wall cupboard. Inside is a collection of photos of Buffy, who is apparently under surveillance. On one of them the twilight symbol has been painted in red, and the picture is pinned in place with a dagger. Not Elizabeth, Gigi explains, pointing at the pictures with a smile.