Faith Lehane is crude but effective (faithinthedark) wrote in parabolical, @ 2009-12-17 22:04:00 |
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Entry tags: | faith lehane |
Who: Faith Lehane and her first 'ghost'
What: Faith gets a reminder of the past.
When: December 17th, just after sunset
Where: Her room at the Hyperion
Rating: Mid-highish. Implications of possibly disturbing themes.
Status: Complete unless someone at the Hyperion wants to tag in.
It had been a great few days, what with everything that had gone on, but now it was back to the normal life, and patrols and demon slaying. And besides, Faith liked the routine. She appreciated the offer to cover patrols from Kennedy, and more than planned on taking her up on that part of her gift some time, but with nothing else planned for that night, using them then would have just been a waste.
The last rays of sunlight had just disappeared behind the horizon as Faith wandered up to her room at the Hyperion, intent on grabbing some of the good weapons before heading out on patrol. As she opened her bedroom door, she froze, her Slayer senses going onto high alert before she had even turned on the light. There was something there, in the shadows of her room.
"Who's there?" Her tone was sharp as her right hand closed into a fist, her left seeking the switch for the lamp. Even if she wasn't armed, she was still more than capable of causing considerable pain to whoever it was who had dared enter her personal space without permission. But who would dare? Anyone who knew her knew to let her have her privacy, and surely the security at the Hyperion could not have been compromised. As her fingers finally found the switch, the room was filled with light and Faith gasped, shock causing her to freeze where she stood.
Dark brown eyes that were the mirror of hers stared at her, lips that curved into a painfully familiar smirk. "Hello Faith."
It took the Slayer several long moments before she could find the ability to speak again, her throat dry as she croaked out just one word. ".....Mom?"
Sinead Lehane, known to many back in the day as simply 'Sin', leaned back in the chair in the corner of the room. In so many ways she looked like her daughter, the same features and at one time the same curves. But a life of alcohol and heroin had left her hardened and far too thin, the scars of several track marks decorating her inner arms. She looked just how Faith remembered her, right down to the bitter sneer on her face.
"It's been a long time," Sin commented, with a casual shrug as though it was an every day occurrence for long gone relatives to turn up in hotel bedrooms.
"Nearly ten years," Faith murmured, moving more into the room, but still keeping her back to the wall, keeping as much distance between herself and that- she refused to think of it was her mother- as possible. "You died."
"Yes, I did," Sin agreed, her gaze never leaving Faith even as the younger woman moved. "Not exactly what I had in mind for my long term goal, let me tell you."
"You had long term goals?" Faith retorted, almost without realizing it, the old habit of being sarcastic at her mother coming back like an ingrained instinct. How many times had they done this, this deep hatred of each other. Faith's shoulders shook slightly, the rage she had always felt towards the woman coming back stronger than ever. Everything she had done, everything she had allowed to happen. Faith had never once wept over her mother's death. Hell, she had actually smiled the moment she had identified the body, found days after she had taken the fatal overdose of tainted heroin.
"Once upon a time," the sneer on her face grew. "And then I had you and bye bye my life. You cost me everything, you little bitch. My body, my freedom, my men. And for what? An ungrateful brat who will never amount to anything."
Faith actually laughed, a harsh sound in the back of her throat as she broke the eye contact. She knew what she should have been focusing on, how this was even possible, how Sin had gotten in without the alarms blaring all over the place, why the Powers or the Partners would even want to bring back a washed up whore like her anyway. But as it was she couldn't help but respond to the barbed comments, glaring at the ceiling rather than the woman in front of her. "You know, if you'd told me that a few years ago, I might have actually cared. But now? When I'm here? You picked the wrong way to try to get at me. Surprising really, you used to be so good at it. Guess you're out of practice, Mom." She spat the name out as though it was an insult, shifting her gaze to look back at the woman.
Who was silent for a moment before she stood up, walking over to Faith, getting close enough that Faith could smell her, the combination of scents mentally sending her right back to her childhood, the too sweet mixture of cheap perfume, vodka and cigarettes. "Why, because you have this little family now?" The disdain in her voice was clear. "You really think you can just shut the past away? Boston is in your blood, girl, and you're going to have to deal with that one day. You can run, but sooner or later your past is going to catch up with you and when it does, I want you to know something." There was a pause as Sin waited for Faith to look her right in the eye. "I'm going to be laughing my fucking ass off."
Faith's jaw clenched as she glared at her, her own dark eyes glinting dangerously, a look she'd learned not fighting demons, but back in Boston, back when guns and gangsters were her life. "Go back to hell," she ground out through gritted teeth. "My life is here. Boston doesn't get to have me any more."
She could have sworn she only blinked, just for a second, but when her eyes opened again, Sin was gone. The scent of the vodka still lingered in the air, a hint that she hadn't just imagined the whole thing. Part of her wondered why she had just known this wasn't The First, back from the Hellmouth and getting taunty again, but this had just felt different. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she let herself sag slightly against the wall, her mind reeling from the encounter. Had it even been real? Somehow?
Only one way she could check anything. Without bothering to turn off the light, Faith all but ran to where the security system was housed, the advanced computers that she only barely understood anything of. Chewing on her lip slightly, she eased into the chair, calling up the logs for the last hour, all the comings and goings of the residents of the hotel, all the magical signatures that were in the building, even the presence of Annie, the ghost. Everything was normal. Just... normal.
So what the hell had just happened?