The girl sat on the wooden seat of a swing that was tied to an enormous tree just outside her home. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail with a few loose strands framing her face. In her hand she held a high school diploma. Something she'd never thought to hold. Life had been far from easy, what with her family life and with her training…she hadn't thought school would really factor in at all. Let alone that she'd actually pass. As she traced the name - Kennedy Lee Deverell - she wondered what the future would hold.
The diploma wouldn't really mean anything, most likely. She would continue with her training just in case she should ever be called, which wasn't likely. People of her…profession - if it could be called that - tended to be called at a younger age and seldom made it to eighteen - her age now. It only meant that now there was nothing to distract her from her fight against evil. School was no longer an issue and she could devote all of her time to the things that her Watcher demanded of her.
Her parents had been against it from the start. From the time he came waltzing into her life when she was six and revealed that he was her Watcher and was there to teach her how to be a Slayer should she be called. Her parents had flat out refused to let him take her anywhere. They didn't believe this Slayer business and couldn't fathom that their daughter would be required to learn such unseemly things as fighting and such.
He had to be content with allowing her to remain living at home and teaching her whenever her parents were away or whenever she could sneak away for a while. While this lasted for several years, it wasn't good enough for him. Having a life on top of his training was too much of a distraction.
Her parents didn't agree with this either, having considered the training unnecessary and a waste of time. Not something a proper young lady should do. And they so wanted Kennedy to be a proper young lady. She attended finishing school and all of the functions of proper society in London. She met all of the important people there, people who could keep her in high standing and keep her well known.
One of those important people had been a beautiful young woman by the name of Lauralee Duvall. The woman was gorgeous. Tall, blonde, perfect figure, and a personality to go along with it. Lauralee was beautiful all around. She was kind and generous and the kind of girl who attracted many a wealthy man. But, it wasn't only the wealthy men she attracted, and it wasn't the wealthy men who caught her eye. It was one particular wealthy WOMAN.
Kennedy had instantly been head over heels for the woman. She believed she was in love and that they should never be separated. She was completely devoted to whatever the woman wanted to the point of almost telling her everything about her past. Even the things she was to reveal to no one. The details of her training and her Watcher and what she really was…those were the things no one else was to know.
But, Lauralee…Lauralee was everything. She was worth any risk. She was worth the times of skipping training, of skipping out on functions her parents wanted her to attend. She was worth the wrath of her Watcher when he discovered just what was distracting her from her duty.
And he did. He discovered that his potential Slayer was sneaking around to see a woman who she believed to be her soul mate. A woman who she believed she was going to marry. A woman who was such a huge distraction that it could one day be fatal.
He had gone to her parents. He never really did that, but he felt that he needed their help in this matter. He needed to get Kennedy away from this Lauralee and needed to do it now. Though the parents were okay with the engagement, they were finally convinced to help him. He had convinced them of the gravity of the situation and the importance of taking their daughter away completely. Perhaps even out of the country.
They hadn't even given her a chance to say goodbye, just whisked her off to America where she'd spent the last three years living and training with her Watcher. Where she'd spent the last three years completing high school and earning the piece of paper she now held in her hands.
This piece of paper meant a lot to most girls. It meant possibility of college, careers, families…a life. But for Kennedy, it was just another piece of paper. Her future wasn't that of normal girls. SHE wasn't a normal girl. She was a Potential Slayer. A Potential savior of the world. A Potential super hero. But Potential didn't mean shit. She was too old to be the next Slayer called and it would all be for nothing.
Dropping the paper on the ground at her feet, she headed back to the house with slumped shoulders. The noises within practically stopped her dead, but reflexes took over and she was at a full out run by the time she reached the front door. Down the hall and toward the sounds of a struggle. The sight within the huge library was enough to paralyze anyone.
The men with no eyes, in black robes. The men with knives and all types of hidden nasties. The men who all seemed to know she was there whether they could see her or not. The men who focused so entirely on her that they didn't notice the man occupying the room with them.
The robed men went after her with a vengeance, whatever the reason, their purpose seemed to be to kill her. She was good at defending herself, but not nearly good enough against so many. It looked like her worries for the future were moot as she was going to have no future.
But then he was there. The Watcher who'd been the bane of her existence for so long. The man who she'd done everything in her power to disobey and annoy. The man who had been more like a father to her than her own father. He was there and he was distracting them. He was sacrificing himself in the hopes that she might escape.
His one command to her was 'Run!' And she did. But not before seeing the sacrifice he'd made. Not before realizing that it had been to protect her. That he had died so that she could live. And not before realizing that it should have been the other way around. It was her that was supposed to make the sacrifice for the greater good. It was her destiny and she'd run from it.
She'd run without knowing where she was going or what she was going to do. The future that had been so unclear now looked bleak. But, the one place he had always said to go was in California. There was no way she could go home, so that looked like the place to go.
California. Sunnydale, California. Home of the Slayer. Home of the Hellmouth. And maybe…just maybe, it could be home of another not so normal girl as well.