Hth
Author at http://gatefiction.com/hth/.
Witness (Buffy/Dark Angel)
Reviewed by Kathryn A on 4th July 2004
Tags: Short Story, Crossover, AU
Characters: Faith Lehane
(42K)
First warning -- rated M. This is, after all, a Faith story, and she's
always been very... forward. And with the mouth of a guttersnipe too. This is
very much a Faith story, AU, where Faith is the oldest Slayer, old enough to
still be around in Dark Angel universe, old enough to have outlived almost all
of her friends. Still going.
She hitch-hikes into town, following a breadcrumb trail of rumors about
the Dark Angel. Just hearing the name makes Faith's heart pound a little
faster, and by now almost nothing does that. In spite of giving it the old
college try, she's gotten jaded over the years. Life doesn't amaze her, front
to back, the way it used to -- just the fact that she's still alive. That's a
little amazing. The rest of it.... On a good day. On a good day, Faith can
still be knocked for a loop by the sheer scope and force of life as she knows
it.
And it's a good day when, after almost six months of no-call, no-show, she
hears that name for the first time: Dark Angel. Young, beautiful, unstoppable.
Righteous. Hero. Oh, yeah. Yeah, finally Jesus Christ, finally. Take me
there.
This is a very introspective angsty piece, cutting back and forth between
memories and present time. With a good older Faith voice and lovely flows of
prose.
There's noise, too, in Seattle. Everywhere, a dull, bass-heavy throb of
music and engines and yelling. It's the sound of a whole city screaming in
anger, Faith thinks, and then she shivers, because it's strange for thoughts
like that, subjective, impressionable thoughts, to come out of her head. They
feel like someone else's thoughts.
But there they are, and there they stay. Seattle roars like a wild thing,
it does not go gently into the post-apocalyptic night, it won't forget what
came before the collapse, it won't forgive anything or anyone. It hates,
purely, more purely than any human ever could.
(Also note that this site warns that it has slash and adult stories there.)