Chapter One: First Loves
"Err, she's what?" the red-haired girl asked as she blinked dumbly at the three witches in front of her. They were all in long robes with their hoods over their heads and their faces looking down at the ground as if there was something extremely interesting there for them to observe. Willow Rosenberg was looking at the three of them in awe. Her eyes were wide open as she stared upon the faces of her three apprentices.
"Dead," one of them said, her voice low.
"As in…dead? Like—gone forever dead?" Willow asked, still not completely getting the picture.
"Well—kind of." Another witch said looking up at her. "She was cursed to death." The girl said looking quiet guiltily at Willow.
"So not necessarily gone for forever, per se?" Willow said, her heart feeling quite a bit lighter than it had earlier.
"Excuse me?" asked the remaining girl. She was much younger than the other three. Willow scrunched her face and scratched her head at the three of them.
"C'mon kids! Pay attention to the lessons I teach you!" she sighed. "And would someone please look at me in the eyes?" The three girls shifted in their places but none of them looked up at her. "Okay, someone told you about Dark Willow, huh? I bet its Andrew. I'm going to turn that boy into a toad." The youngest girl, Jasmine, let out a small laugh and then cleared her throat. "Oh, c'mon!" The three girls finally looked up at her. "There you go!" She gave them a small smile and they all smiled back at her.
"So—what are you going to do, Ms. Rosenberg?" Jasmine asked with her hands behind her back. Willow closed one of her eyes and thought for a moment.
"Well—what happened? I mean—you're absolutely sure it was a magical death yes? Because if it wasn't—" Willow gave them a stern look and Jasmine immediately held up her hands.
"I swear it was!" she said. "It was Cassidy, Ms. Rosenberg. She—cursed Kennedy." This bit of information took Willow aback.
"Cassidy?" she asked. "Really?" Willow frowned and let out a groan. "So she's working for the Dark Side?" Jasmine let out a small laugh again. "What you laughing about, Jazz?" Willow asked looking at her intently. Jasmine immediately looked back down at the ground. "Kidding! Why is everyone around here so scare of me?"
"Nothing, m'am. It's just that you said 'Dark Side'. Sounds like Mr. Wells is finally getting to you." Jasmine said with a small smile on her face as she continued looking at the ground. Willow let out a chuckle and shook her head.
"Okay, let's get back on topic here. I leave for like two days to train and Cassidy turns evil and cursed Kennedy to death? My girlfriend?" Willow said, trying to get everything out in the open. "That's what happened?" Jasmine nodded her head. "Great. Well I just got to find a spell to bring Kendoll back and—"
"Actually," said Melody, the eldest and most talented of the three young witches. "It's not that simple." Willow stood looking at the girl, unmoving. Melody was a pretty girl, although her extremely low voice made it hard to truly appreciate her beauty.
"Go on," Willow said, impatient. Melody nodded and took in a deep breath. She looked over at Jasmine and, the least talkative of the three, Kristen. They both didn't look back at her.
"Well—Cassidy did a specific curse. You kind of have to find her to know how to reverse it so that you can bring Kennedy back to life." Melody said with a frown. "And we don't know where she went." Willow covered her face with her hands and let out a sigh.
"Great. You know—when I find Cassidy...I'm going to so kill her." Willow said with a roll of her eyes. "And I'm pretty sure I meant that literally." The three girls stood looking down at her for some time before Jasmine took in a deep breath to talk.
"She joined a Slayer rebellion fraction." Jasmine said quite fast. Willow let out a few weak laugh-cry hybrids and hung her head low. Great. She waved her hand and a portal cracked open to the side of the room. The three girls took a few steps back in surprise.
"Follow me," Willow said as she stepped through. Jasmine was the first to go after her, followed by Kristen and Melody. The other side was Scotland, Buffy's headquarters. They were in the command chamber with Slayers running around busily. Someone waved to Willow and she waved back without looking at them. The four witches made their way out of the room and up a few flights of stairs. Willow knocked on Buffy's door twice. The door to her room opened, but inside wasn't Buffy. It was a young Asian girl with short jet-black hair tied in a strange fashion. She looked at the four girls in surprise.
"Can I help you?" the girl asked, looking strangely at them. Willow peaked into the room.
"I'm looking for Buffy." Willow said, fixing her shirt. She's cute, Willow thought. The girl scratched her head and leaned in towards Willow.
"She's out on a mission. And anyways," the girl said. "She doesn't stay in this room anymore. We switched. She said she liked the view in mine better. I don't know."
"Right," Willow said with a frown. "Are you a Slayer?" The girl nodded her head and extended her hand.
"I'm Satsu." She said with a smile. "I'm sort of new. Only been here a couple of months."
"Satsu," Willow repeated. She sounds familiar. Willow tried desperately to search through her head how she had heard of that name. It hit her. "Oh! You're Satsu!" she said with a grin. Satsu tilted her head and gave Willow a confused look. "I'm sorry. I've heard the girls talking about the Battle at Mount Solomon or something like that." Satsu's face fell and she gave Willow a small shrug.
"Yeah," she said. "Something like that." Willow had also heard that Satsu had had to kill her lover during the battle. It was said that Satsu's girlfriend, who had also happened to be a Slayer, was turned into a vampire. Willow gave Satsu a sympathetic frown and placed her hand on Satsu's shoulder.
"Well, I got to go find Buff." She said, looking deep into Satsu's eyes. "But it was really nice to meet you, Satsu."
"It was nice to meet you too—"
"Willow,"
"Willow." Satsu said with a nod. Satsu closed the door as Willow and the three girls left. Willow snapped her fingers and they were back in the command room. Xander Harris was standing on a raised platform with his arms behind his back. He was saying something to a Slayer and then he turned to look at the four of them.
"Will!" he shouted, jumping off the platform and throwing his arms around her. "My, God! It's been so long!"
"I miss you, too, Xan." Willow said with a smile. "I need Buffy." Xander let out a small sigh as he looked at the three girls behind Willow.
"Don't we all, Will? Don't we all?" Xander said and he pulled something out of his pocket. "This is a web-cam-like device. It's two-way only. I gave Buffy one before she left but—Buffy being Buffy, I doubt she'll know how to pick up." Xander clicked something and then he gave it to Renee who immediately hooked it up to the computer. Buffy's face flashed up on the over-sized screen in front of them.
"Am I on?" Buffy asked looking extremely close at the camera on her end. "Hello? I'm on right?"
"Way too close there, Buff." Xander said taking a few steps back. "I can see your pours. Not very becoming."
"Ew," Buffy said moving away. "Better?"
"Yep," Xander replied. "Will here needs to talk to you." Buffy squinted her eyes and then her face lit up.
"Hey! It's Willow! I haven't seen you in so long!" Buffy yelled. "I would give you such a big hug right now if I wasn't on the other side of the world!"
"You know I can be there instantly, right Buff?"
"No!" Buffy yelled. "Don't do that." She said with a cough.
"You are so busted, sister." Willow said with a grin on her face. "You're with Angel aren't you?" Buffy shook her head and then she nodded.
"Okay, maybe. Kind of. Not really. It's complicated, Will." Willow and Xander both let out a laugh and shook their heads.
"It's always complicated with you two." Willow said. "Okay so I had this witch under my command. Her name was Cassidy. I left to do some training and when I came back my other apprentices told me that she had turned dark and I need to find her. Anything you can do for me? " Buffy made a face at all of them and then nodded.
"Xan, why don't you lend Will our three best Slayers?" Xander threw up his hands in protest.
"No can do, Buff. All our experienced Slayers are out." Buffy let out a frustrated sigh.
"Then lend her three decent ones. I don't care. I got to go, guys. I'm sorry. Do you think you'll have this under control without me, Will?" Buffy asked. She looks anxious to go back to Angel.
"As Faith would put it, Buffy: five by five."
Satsu was trying to fall asleep when she heard loud knocking upon her door. Satsu let out a groan and got out of bed. She felt her way through the dark room and found the doorknob. She opened the door and looked outside. Xander, Willow, the three young witches, and two Slayers were standing outside her door. She looked at them blankly. What the hell? She observed the two Slayers and recognized one of them.
"Monique," she said. She hadn't seen Monique, who was a novice Slayer the last time she encountered her, since they sparred a few months back before the Battle at Mount Solomon.
"Hey, Satsu." Monique said. Monique was a very young girl, probably sixteen or so. The other Slayer was a bit older, around eighteen.
"We can do introductions later, Satsu. Right now we got to brief the three of you. I got a mission I need you three to take care of. You up to it?"
"Mission?"
"Yes," Xander said. "Why don't you get changed and we'll meet you in the briefing room in ten?" Satsu nodded her head and closed the door. She went into her restroom and stripped herself of her pajamas. She turned on the water and stepped in. Satsu felt the tension in her body being released as the hot water hit her skin. She combed back her hair and her mind began to drift. I haven't been on a real mission since I've joined the Organization. That wasn't true. Satsu had been on missions before. But they were smaller, less important ones. And she had always had Buffy by her side, telling her exactly what to do. Buffy was something of a Godsend. She was something like Julia…
Satsu turned off the shower immediately at the thought of her dead girlfriend. She closed her eyes and tried to control her uneven breathing. She hadn't truly dealt with Julia's death. Ever since she comprehended Julia's passing, Satsu had surrounded herself with things to do, people to talk to, and missions to go on. She had never sat alone and thought about it or even talked about it with anybody. The pain and grief that came with it was too much for her to bear. Satsu put on her clothes, tied her hair up so that her annoying bangs wouldn't hit her eyes anymore like it used to. She looked over at Julia's katana that was leaning against the wall.
The briefing room was located exactly two stories under the command center. It was large room with a high ceiling and a long wooden table in the middle of it. It looked a bit funny with only seven people. Satsu made her way towards them and took a seat next to the other Slayer. Xander stood up.
"Okay, so let's start the briefing." He said. "Willow has a rouge witch on her hand. One that's joined up with a fraction of rouge Slayers. We don't know what they want or what they're going to do. We don't care. Your job is to squash them before anything bigger happens."
"Squash them?" the Slayer next to Satsu asked. Xander nodded his head as he folded his arms behind his back.
"Yes, Priscilla, that's exactly what I want you to do. Go in and take them out."
"As in kill?" Priscilla asked, looking at Xander intently.
"Did I say kill?" he asked. "Do whatever's necessary to stop them from building a larger army." Priscilla fell silent and sat down lower in her seat and Satsu touched her hand under the table. Priscilla looked over and Satsu gave her a kind smile. Satsu mouthed "It's okay," and Priscilla smiled back at her.
"Our main target," Xander said clicking a button. A picture popped up on the large screen behind him. "Is Cassidy Williams," Satsu observed the amazingly good-looking girl in the picture. She was a kindly looking girl with long brown hair. She reminded Satsu quite a bit of Julia.
"She's pretty," Satsu muttered and Priscilla smiled at her.
"She is," she said. "Not my type though." Satsu looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. "I'm straight."
"Really? I had no idea you people existed." Priscilla laughed. Xander cleared his throat and both Satsu and Priscilla fell silent, still smiling.
"Anyways," Xander said. "She's our main target. She is to be captured alive. Anyone else—do what you must. Willow is in command of this squad. Briefing over." Satsu looked around at the other people in the room. They were all girls on the mission. Just like always. Willow stood up after Xander had left the room.
"So, alright girls." Willow smiled at Satsu from where she stood and Satsu couldn't help but blush a little. "So I tried a locator spell. Didn't work out. I didn't expect it to, anyways. I trained Cassidy well. So we're going to have to look for them the old fashion way."
"Old fashion way?" Monique asked. "You mean like a wild goose chase?" Priscilla let out a scoff and Monique spun around to look at her.
"Someone funny, Prissy?" Monique asked with an annoyed tone. Priscilla shrugged apathetically.
"Just your enthusiasm is always appreciated." Monique stood up and glared angrily down at Priscilla.
"Just because you use to be able to bully me around and now I can stand up for myself doesn't mean you have to be a little bitch." Monique spat angrily. Satsu stood up and placed a hand on Priscilla who was about the lung toward Monique.
"How about we all take a breather for a moment, huh?" Satsu said with a smile. "Just calm down." Priscilla let out a noise and sat back down. "Monique," Satsu said. "Take that new found confidence and shove it at the enemy, okay? Instead of your teammate." Monique sat back down and looked away.
"Geez, what crawled up her panties?" Satsu whispered at Priscilla. Priscilla shrugged her shoulders and crossed her arms.
"The girl's been letting killing that super-vamp Maxwell get to her head." Priscilla said.
"Oh you heard about that?" Satsu asked and Priscilla nodded her head. "Yeah, she seems a lot more erm—angry?"
"You're telling me." Priscilla said shaking her head.
"Okay, now that we've gotten that strange outburst out of the way." Willow said with a shake of her head. "How about we talk about some game plans?"
Note to self: Satsu: very cute, Priscilla and Monique: don't play nice with each other. I need to find a way to make this team work. We got to find Cassidy quick. I miss Kennedy. I really, really miss her. She's been the only thing keeping me sane since…well since Tara. God, Tara, baby, I miss you so much…
"Ms. Rosenberg?" Satsu said in a low quiet voice. "Ms—"
"Call me Miss again and I'm going to turn you into a newt." Willow said. Satsu took a few steps back and Willow broke into a laugh. "I'm totally kidding, honey." Satsu smile and scratched her head.
"What's a newt?" Satsu asked and Willow shrugged her shoulders.
"You know, I have no idea. All I know is Giles used to say it a lot. He's—" Willow began but Satsu broke her off.
"Buffy's Watcher, right?" Satsu said and Willow nodded her head.
"Yeah." Willow said surprised. "You know him?"
"Buffy talks about him all the time." Willow pointed at the couch and Satsu sat down. She yawned and stretched her arms, her shirt tightening around her form. Willow coughed and looked away.
"I got nice paintings." She said, admiring her own decorations. Satsu let out a knowing chuckle and adjusted herself in the seat.
"Buffy talks about you all the time, too." Willow opened her eyes wide and crossed her legs.
"Oh, really? About my abilities or my other thing?" she asked with a look.
"Both, both." Satsu said with a nod. "Yeah—"
"Well, she's told me all about you, too." Willow said. "You're everything she says and more." Willow was sure Satsu blushed at that and she smiled to herself. "So what are you doing here, Satsu?"
"Oh, right. Um—I'm not too sure Monique being on our team is the greatest idea. I know we leave in an hour and everything but—"
"Look," Willow said, cutting Satsu off. "You're in charge of them. I can't have them bickering and fighting the whole mission but I also need them. Every single other Slayer that's left on this base are amateurs. Renee could go but she's Xander's." Willow stopped for a moment. "I saw the way you handled them today. You're exactly who I need. Looks like you've had experienced with leadership before?" Satsu shrugged her shoulders.
"I guess I used to be sort of the head of a team. We kind of broke off though." Willow nodded her head.
"Well, anyways, I need you to take care of them. I got other things to worry about—like how to bring my dead girlfriend back to life." Willow said with a frown. Satsu let out a small laugh and looked down at the ground. Willow kept her eyes steady upon Satsu and after some time Satsu finally looked up at her. "Personal question but—how many serious relationships have you been in, Satsu?"
"Two," Satsu replied instantly. Willow nodded and then shook her head.
"I'm sorry if I'm crossing any boundaries."
"No, no." Satsu replied. "Not at all."
"So one of the serious relationships is with the girl from Mount Solomon?" Satsu nodded her head.
"Julia," Satsu said. "She was—well she was my first love." Tara's face seemed to appear in front of her as Willow shifted in her seat. "And she's dead."
"I guess you and I have a lot in common." Willow frowned. "My first love died too." Willow leaned back upon the couch and closed her eyes. She hadn't talked about Tara much to anyone. Even Kennedy had had the short, censored version of her true feelings about the love of her life's murder.
"I'm sorry," Satsu said, leaning forward. "I truly mean that." Willow gave her a smile and shrugged.
"So your other serious relationship. Who was that lucky girl?" Satsu let out a laugh and shook her head.
"We leave in ten minutes boss," she said. "We should save story time for story time."