In '5x5' and 'Sanctuary', we saw an emotionally exhausted Faith surrender herself, first to Angel, and then to the authorities. They were great episodes... but I disagree.

True, Faith had reached a point where she could no longer go on with her life, not her life as it was, at any rate. However, she didn't need Angel to 'save her'.
We all have it in us to save ourselves.

This story is about Faith's search for the strength within herself, her struggle to come to terms with the darkness around her as well as the darkness within. It's a grim, bleak, and somewhat nasty tale, but hey; this is Faith's life we're talking about. This novel is fully compatible with my other Faith stories, but at this point I'm diverging from the shows. In a slightly alternate universe, Faith doesn't make it to Los Angeles before running into trouble....