The End of the World
Pairing: Faith/Robin
Word Count: 832
Spoilers: Chosen and everything up to it
Summary: Where do you go when you're standing at the end of the world?
Notes: For the LiveJournal Multifandom1000 "Endings" challenge.
Faith stands at the window and stares out at the gathering dusk, wondering what they all do next, where they go from here. They changed the world today, activated every Slayer all over the world, defeated the First, saved the world. Again.
Well, again for Buffy and the other Scoobies. Faith never saved the world before, and the fact that she did this time is one of the biggest changes of all. The road to redemption might be a rocky path, but she's beginning to feel that, at long last, she's got her feet under her, is well on the way to atoning for her crimes.
She also knows that her journey hasn't ended yet, even if all her milestones have crumbled to dust, even if she has no idea where she belongs now.
She can't go back to Boston, could never go back there, not after her childhood, not after Kakistos… the name alone still makes her shudder.
Nor can she go back to L.A, even if Angel, the one person who's always believed in her, is there. She knows he'd welcome her back, would help her out, but she thinks that maybe it's time for her to stand on her own. Besides, even if she did go back there, the LAPD surely have warrants out for her re-arrest by now, and a small cell with three squares a day seems to have lost its appeal lately.
And she can never go back to Sunnydale, because Sunnydale doesn't exist anymore, is buried at the bottom of a crater, sign and all. All of them - Scoobies, Slayers and everyone else - are officially homeless, refugees from a natural disaster, that's what the motel guy called them anyway, and Faith doesn't know where they're going to end up, knows only that most of them will go their separate ways.
She's standing at the end of everything she's ever known, and she's terrified.
She's also lost in thought, and she jumps when two large, warm hands land on her shoulders, spinning around, only relaxing when she finds herself looking into Robin's eyes. "Sorry," he says, holding up his hands. "Didn't mean to startle you."
She attempts a smile, which fades rapidly when she looks him up and down, sees how awkwardly he's moving, the fine lines of pain etched on his face. "You should be in bed," she tells him, which makes him smirk, raise an eyebrow in what's an unmistakably suggestive response, and she rolls her eyes. "Sleeping," she adds firmly, and he shrugs, sliding his arms around her waist.
"I woke up," he tells her. "Got lonely. Saw you over here." She looks down, one hand reaching up to finger the material of his shirt, torn by the Bringer's sword. She's seen more than her fair share of blood in her lifetime; it's never made her stomach roil like this before. "They look like some pretty serious thoughts."
Now it's her turn to shrug, with an attempt at a smile that doesn't get anywhere near where it needs to be. "Nah," she whispers, turning in his arms so that she's looking out that the growing darkness once more, and she thinks that he'll let go of her when she turns, but he doesn't.
If anything, his grip on her tightens, and she feels his head rest against hers. "You can talk to me Faith," he tells her gently.
It surprises her when she hears her own voice, and dimly the thought comes to her that he surprised her once in the bus; he really shouldn't be doing it again. But still she speaks, in a voice she barely recognises as her own. "It's just… everything's different now, you know?"
She feels him nod, but she doesn't turn around, because it's easier not doing this face to face. "I know."
"I mean… I guess it sounds stupid, but… where do you go when you're standing at the end of the world?"
"I don't know," he tells her, and she swallows hard, feeling a pang of disappointment that's sharp as any sword, because he's a teacher and a principal and he's supposed to have all the answers. Disappointment is pushed aside though, when he moves, coming around to stand in between her and the window, so that instead of the world outside, all she can see is him, and she thinks she likes this view better.
"I don't know where we go from here Faith," he tells her, his eyes not leaving hers. "But wherever we end up… we're in it together. Right?"
Somehow, the words are just what she needed to hear, and she smiles, leaning up to brush her lips against his. "I can handle that," she says, her arms sliding around his waist, resting her head against his shoulder and closing her eyes, letting herself forget about the end of the world, her world, and all that that implies.
After all, sometimes an ending is really a beginning in disguise.