Live Through This

"Live Through This" is the first story arc of Angel & Faith, the comic book series which coincides with Buffy Season 9. The first issue was released on August 31, 2011.

Part 1 (Issue #1)
We open with a memory from one of Giles' journals. Giles is magically doing battle with a demon who is possessing a little girl. During the battle, Giles ponders to himself the question that people seem to frequently ask him, concerning as to why he doesn't have children. Determining that "other people's children are quite enough," Giles selflessly sacrifices an important part of his life in order to anchor a spell to bind the demon until he can completely vanquish it. After promising the girl's mother, Anne, that he would return, Giles then discusses the unspoken purposes of the Watcher's files, saying that "So, that when the end comes for me, others might have the information they need to take up the burden. May God have mercy on their souls."

The flashback transitions to Faith and Angel, who are now fighting the same demon. While Faith is telling herself that Angel can do this, Angel is doubting himself. However, once the demon says something about Angel's "master," meaning Giles, Angel vamps out and bites the little girl in order to convince the demon that he was killing its host so that it would leave. Faith and Angel then start hacking away at the demon until Angel destroys its brain--consequently causing the sacrifice that Giles made to spill out and bathe Angel in the memory of the day that Giles fell in love with Jenny Calendar.

Angel becomes overwhelmed and has flashbacks of when he killed Jenny as well as when he killed Giles himself. But the demon is dead and the mother and child come back into the room. Angel and Faith tell Anne that the job is done, and Angel apologizes for biting her daughter and explains why he had to do it. Anne assumes that Giles sent them, stating that she knew that he wouldn't just forget about her and her situation and while Angel hesitates, Faith confirms this. On the way from the house, Angel feels bad telling Anne that they were sent by Giles, but Faith tells Angel that it was right thing to say, for the mother's sake. Faith then questions as to why Angel was catatonic one minute, being read the Watcher's Diaries by her, and in the next minute, he's in his "helping the helpless" clothes. She then asks Angel if he's going to go spacey again now that the job that roused him from his catatonic state is over. He says no, but heads home, telling her that she's got places to be.

A young British woman named Nadira is attacked while walking in the street. Nadira, who is a Slayer, defends herself and nearly stakes her attacker who turns out to be Faith testing her reflexes. They head to a club together, and Faith coaxes her to talk about the death of her squad. Nadira's story is told through a flashback: a brother/sister team of humanoid demon people are massacring the Slayer team with weapons of energy and eye beams of green light. They're called Pearl and Nash, and they seem to love what they do, and are supervised by Twilight, who does nothing to stop them. Nadira says that she almost died and that Willow found her and healed her. She didn't tell Faith about it before now because she'd heard things about her relationship with Buffy, and Buffy's relationship with Angel. Nadira has mixed feelings about Buffy, acknowledging that she's probably already been punished enough, but can't forgive Pearl, Nash, or Angel, and wants revenge on them all.

Elsewhere, Whistler is doing his famous speech at a bar to someone unseen. He exclaims that he's about maintaining balance, and that because Earth has been cut off from the mystical dimensions, he can't contact The Powers That Be, his precognitive abilities are gone, and that it's Angel's fault&mdash;for blowing off what Whistler told him. He asks his audience to help him because the world still needs to evolve; it's dead but doesn't know it yet, and someone needs to do a lot of ugly damage to save them all. Whistler says that it won't be easy, and they'll probably have to go up against Angel. He hands a beer to someone whose hand is drenched in blood. It's Pearl and Nash who have appeared to have massacred all of the patrons in the bar. The duo accept Whistler's proposition for the sake of bringing in the next stage of evolution and getting payback on their old boss.

Back at Giles' flat, Angel and Faith are arguing about what Nadira told Faith. Angel says that he did enlist Pearl and Nash as a part of his plan to bring the bad guys together and focus them so that Buffy could stay strong. He was doing it, he says, to keep the world from going to Hell like L.A. did (which apparently no one remembers but him). Angel explains that Pearl and Nash are the spawn of a demon and human woman, and that the two worshipped Twilight as a god, having been told by their mother that they were the "Adam and Eve" of the next step of evolution. Angel says that he tried to keep Nash and Pearl contained, but couldn't because they feed off pain. Angel then reveals that there were times that he was more under Twilight's influence than others, which affects his memories of those times. However, when Faith offers up an excuse that it wasn't him, he claims the fault is still with him because he didn't ask the questions he should have or take whatever chances he had to think about what he was doing. He tells Faith that he was weak, and claims that he has more death on his conscience than Angelus ever did.

Faith tells Angel that it's nice of him pick up the ball for Giles, but that he has to stop obsessing over every detail of Giles' life if he wants to take his place. Angel replies that he could never take his place... But he is going to bring Giles back to life.

Characters

 * Angel
 * Faith
 * Giles (Flashback/Memory)
 * Whistler
 * Nadira
 * Pearl
 * Nash
 * Jenny Calendar (Memory)

Previews
Live Through This Pt. 1

Trivia

 * In Issue 1, Angel tells Faith that he is the only one who remembers the events of the fall of Los Angeles even though it was made clear in the last issue of Angel: After the Fall, that all the citizens of L.A. remember their time in Hell. However, it may be that the citizens of L.A. gradually forgot what happened as a result of returning from Hell since Angel does say "And no one remembers now... but i do".