crack_van | Nothing Goes Away by Thistlerose (Teen and Up)

Well, it's been a pleasure driving the Buffyverse van this month. Here's one last rec for the road.

FANDOM: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER / ANGEL: THE SERIES
PAIRING: Gen
Length: 1224 words
Author on LJ: (?)
Author Website: Thistlerose

Why this must be read: Faith has lived a pretty amazing life in fanfiction. To many, she's more interesting than Buffy, with her reluctantly-taken road to redemption and general badassery. In this post-"Chosen" one-shot, she ends up doing her thing in New York City, wondering why only certain parts of her past haunt her. It's a solid, straight take on where she might have gone after Sunnydale collapsed into a crater, and well worth a quick read. (There's also a bonus, non-annoying appearance by Connor.)

Anyway, the ghosts.

Cordelia's one of them. It must have something to do with becoming one of the Powers That Be, or being used by them, or whatever happened to her, because they meant almost nothing to each other when they lived in Sunnydale, and Faith barely even saw her when she went to LA to help Wes and the others get Angel's soul back in his body.

(Did they have anything in common? Besides a problem with Buffy's Little Miss Perfect act, and a brief – and totally out-of-nowhere – thing for Xander Harris?)

Whatever, she's sure caught a glimpse of Cordelia the other night, as she was running past one of those palatial apartments on Park Avenue. She paused for like a second – vamp wasn't gonna get far, even if he did make it over the wall, into the park – but Cordelia was gone like a tendril of smoke on a windy day. The velvet-jacketed doorman gave Faith a dubious look, and she was off again.

(She dusted the vamp, then wandered around one of the ponds, where some kid's abandoned toy sailboat was bobbing in the dark water. She told Lorne about that, said it was one of the saddest fucking things she'd ever seen. He patted her hand and made her a cup of chamomile tea.

Nothing Goes Away