Author's note: My first submission :) Reviews and constructive criticism welcome! Buckle up... this is just the 1st chapter of a very long ride with all your favorite BtVS characters and a few new ones. Enjoy! -CH

Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the product of Joss Whedon, not I. I don't own any sort of rights whatsoever to BtVS or these characters, nor do I write/post this story for anything more than the sheer, non-profitty fun of it all. Should anyone wish to make their own tale based from my bits here, feel free. Just make sure you credit me for the idea, Joss for everything else and don't make a penny off it :)

Synopsis: Something is happening to the slayers, and evil knows it. In the face of waning power, the slayers valiantly take the fight to a new dark power that has risen, all the while trying to learn the true origins of their power so they can reclaim their strength. But the forces of evil sense the weakness; they know the time to strike is now and they don't hold back...

Cleveland.

Well, specifically Eastlake, but still, close enough for her to get a whiff of Lake Erie combined with industrialized smog. She'd been there before, but this time the smell was just bad, reminiscent of rotting fish being grilled over a coal fire. Of course, it had been three years since she was stateside. Maybe she just forgot what American industry smelled like.

"And people think Southern California's all smelly," she said, stepping out of her X brand rental car, face twisting up in disgust at the odor.

Across the street was the pseudo hospital she'd come to visit; little more than a converted school in a quiet part of town, but the Slayer's Council specialized in low key. Granted, a complete hospital for a single unit was a bit much even for the Council, but this was one of the bigger units, and Cleveland was certainly one of the rougher trouble spots in the world.

And the world was certainly changing for the worse. Just how worse would depend on the intel she gained from this unexpected visit.

The noises of urban Ohio surrounded her as her boots clicked across the damp, gloomy pavement. Cars, trains, jets, thunder. It was quite warm and humid for a mid April night; a spring thunderstorm had rolled through as she approached the outskirts of town and the lightning still danced in the distance. Her own thoughts mirrored that dance; everything from omens to myths, apocalyptic warnings, anything and everything she'd read about Gaia and balance. Everything's connected, she thought, mentally hearing the words in Giles's British twang. She sensed something different about this assignment from the beginning though; something dark on the horizon and something even darker that she somehow felt responsible for. In the nine years since the destruction of Sunnydale she'd left behind her fears and doubts about her abilities. She'd learned to follow her instincts, to trust them. Yet as she approached the front door to the Council's secret hospital, her instincts were screaming at her from all different directions, most of them telling her to run away.

Then again, seeing an old flame could sometimes have that effect.

She stopped at the door, catching her reflection in the darkened glass. Hair, makeup, blouse, slacks, all check. And then she focused on the top button of her blouse, clasped shut. Oh no, she thought, suddenly panic stricken, stomach in her throat. This could be a disaster! To button or unbutton? Unbutton? How many? All business or kinda sexed up? A little eye candy or slutsville? For several agonizing seconds she stood frozen, facing an unknown quantity and scared silly over it. Finally she gave in to the buttoned format; a throwback to her conservative self and a reminder that she was definitely in town for business, and the stakes were too damned important to risk a carnal trip down memory lane from a gratuitous flash of cleavage.

She casually tossed the front door open, fiery red hair catching the breeze and whipping majestically through the air, hazel green eyes sparkling in the dark. There may have even been a little magick involved with it... she'd grown to love making a jaw dropping entrance and sometimes when she was trying to impress, magick just... happened.

Of all the places in the world, she thought as she surveyed the surroundings. The hospital staff—caught unaware—acknowledged her presence with immediate recognition and quick snaps to attention. All the places in the world, and Kennedy has to pick the crumbiest urban hellmouth around for her assignment.

"Willow?"

Kennedy sat bolt upright, despite the heft of the bandages around her midsection. If there was pain associated with the movement she didn't show it.

Willow turned to the doctor who'd led her to Kennedy's room and dismissed him, then slowly pivoted back to regard the raven haired slayer, a thin, meek smile spreading from cheek to cheek as she took an awkward seat by the bed.

"Hey," she said clumbsily. "How are ya?"

Dumb, Willow. Really dumb.

"What are you doing here?" spoke Kennedy, her eyes nearly as big as her jaw-dropped mouth.

Willow stuttered for a moment, completely frazzled by the meeting which she'd been imagining in her head for the past week.

"Well... I-I; Giles thought it was best if I came out here. Talk to you myself, see what happened."

Kennedy didn't miss a beat. She locked eyes with Willow.

"Now why don't I think that's the whole story?"

Willow's head was spinning, and suddenly she was back at Sunnydale High, facing down Harmony or trying to get Xander to notice her.

"Well... I uh..."

She resisted the urge to magically dip into Kennedy's thoughts and studied her eyes instead. They were fierce, full of confusion and pain, but also of love.

C'mon girl, pull it together.

"Yeah, well... I wanted to come too," she said finally, digging deep for a confidence boost. "It's important to figure out what's happening, a-and...well... I wanted to be the one to, ah... be the one."

Kennedy accepted the answer for what it was. Her gaze softened a touch and she carefully leaned back into her reclined hospital bed.

"So you wanted to come," she spoke in a gentle voice tinged with the physical pain of her injuries. "It's nice to know that you wanted to see me. Really. But did you ever consider that I didn't want to see you?"

It had been three years since their breakup, but the words still tore at Willow's heart.

"Kennedy, please. I didn't come here to open old wounds-"

"Well yeah," said Kennedy laughing, holding the heavily bandaged section near her waist. "Cause you know, I'm doing just fine in the wounds department..."

Willow was teetering between a familiar, Kennedy-Willow combination of hurt and anger, but resolved to not let this meeting turn into a disaster.

"Look, if you want me to leave, I'll leave. I call Giles, tell him to send someone else."

Silence filled the room for the briefest of moments, and Willow thought she saw a touch of regret in Kennedy's big brown eyes. She moved a little closer to the bed, found her confident voice and continued:

"When we heard what happened—when I heard what happened—I knew it was time to seriously start looking into the slayers as a whole. But I was also scared to death for you."

Kennedy toughened back up a bit, but not quite enough to conceal the kindness ebbing inside her.

"Well, I'll be fine," she said, pouting lips and all.

Willow flashed a weak smile. "Yeah, I know you will. And despite what happened, between us, all of that, well... it's not like I stopped caring about you, or worrying about you."

"I know Will, we've been through this already." As Kennedy spoke, resentment brewing from the past three years finally pushed its way to the surface. "I know the story 'cause hey, heard it before. 'Kennedy I love you but you're dangerous. Kennedy I love you but I you're too reckless. Kennedy, you mean so much to me, but I can't stay with you." Loved me so much but I was too flawed for you. So hey, thanks for the kind words."

Willow stood up and bolted for the door, anger and pain replacing guilt and sorrow. She'd hoped three years had been enough time. She should've known better, and now their personal problems were interfering with the bigger issue at hand.

"I'm sorry Kennedy. This was a bad idea, I'm glad you're ok, but I'll get someone else—"

"No Willow, no. Don't leave. I'm sorry."

Two words Willow often said but seldom heard, and no two words could've grabbed her harder. She turned to face Kennedy; eyes listening to every word her ex said.

"Look-- I don't-- I mean... you caught me by surprise here! Give me a little something Red." Kennedy's voice was cracking ever so slightly, alternating between frustration and confusion. "We've hardly talked in three years... and the way it all ended; I mean, it just hit hard you know? I'm still trying to figure it out."

"Me too," said Willow in a tone sad enough to make tears cry.

The two strongest women in the world shared a long overdue moment of hopeful silence for their lost relationship. It had been a rough three years all around, but both women knew it was time to step beyond the differences that shook them apart. Kennedy understood just as well as Willow that there was a definite reason for her unexpected visit aside from mending fences. Not wanting to continue the emotional hurricane, Kennedy made the first move towards the business at hand as Willow returned to her bedside seat.

"I'm not sure what's going on Will. I shouldn't have taken this hit."

Willow secretly agreed, but moved on to her planned speech anyway.

"Well, I mean, these things happen. I remember back in Sunnydale when a vamp got the better of Buffy. Wasn't a super vamp, just a vamp."

Kennedy shook her head.

"This is different though. He didn't really get the better of me or anything. It's like he was just... I don't know... faster than I was. Stronger even. No... not stronger than me. Like I was weaker than him."

Willow looked worried. It wasn't the first time she'd seen or heard this from a slayer in recent months. Many of the younger, less experienced slayers were getting injured and even killed in the line of duty, falling victim to seemingly run of the mill foes. But to hear the same thing from the Council's number one slayer...

"How do you feel now?"

"Anxious," said Kennedy almost immediately. "A little pissed off. And actually, kinda naughty. Seeing you isn't just bringing back bad memories you know."

Kennedy threw her trademark sly grin to Willow, and suddenly she regretted leaving those buttons on her blouse alone.

"I mean, how are you feeling, health wise," returned Willow, face nearly as red as her hair.

Kennedy took a few moments to consider the question while prodding the deep stab wound above her left hip. She shook her head.

"Something isn't right, unless it's just a fact of life for an aging slayer. I've been laying in this hospital for a week; I feel tired and the hole in my side isn't even close to healing yet. And the patrols, they've been getting harder for awhile now."

Willow closed her eyes. This wasn't good.

"Well, if it makes you feel better I don't think it's just you. Rona's unit down in Brazil lost three slayers a couple weeks ago."

"Three? At one time? Why wasn't I told? Was there a major uprising or something?"

Willow shook her head no.

"And that's not all. One of the newbies is still layed up, full of cuts and bruises that aren't healing any better than yours. And she's only 17. Certainly not facing middle aged slayer-dom."

This time the silence had nothing to do with mending fences. Both women sensed something unprecedented was happening to the slayer line, and if something wasn't done soon there wouldn't be a slayer line.

Willow reached for Kennedy's smooth hand, and for an instant their painful breakup, the arguments, the disagreements, the endless battles, the past three years of barely a sentence between them, none of it existed. For an instant they were just Kennedy and Willow; full of life, love and power... ready to take on the world.

But it was only for an instant, a snapshot in time. Willow brought them back to reality.

"Kennedy, I-I don't know exactly what's happening, not yet. But I'm going to find out."

"Will, I think we both already know what's happening. You don't have to pretend with me."

Willow locked eyes with Kennedy, and within them she saw something she'd never seen before: fear

"I'm not pretending," she said, still struggling to actually come out and say it. "What I-I mean is, I'm going to find out why..."

She let the sentence trail off, too upset at what it meant not only for Kennedy but the entire world.

Even Kennedy, the hardest, toughest, most brash slayer of the bunch couldn't bring herself to admit that she—and the entire slayer line—were apparently losing their powers.