News

By James Carmody.

Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the property of Joss Whedon, and I will not accept a single cent until I have a written legal contract with him, which I do not yet. This is for enjoyment, of myself and everybody else. There will also be a crossover with the Bible, of which I don't own either, but a slight one only at that.

Characters/Pairings: Jacqueline Kennedy Martinez/Willow Danielle Rosenberg/Alexander {Xander} Lavelle Harris (NOT romantic or sexual- these girls are trying to save his life)

Summary: Takes place just after Caleb has mutilated Xander by destroying his right eye during the battle in the Winery that Caleb's people ambushed them in, and takes the route of these girls trying to get him to the hospital. Main setting is the Sunnydale Hospital where his eye was patched up (particularly his hospital room). This is a decent story, as well as a gentle one.

Author's Notes: Religious belief is important to ontology, a branch of metaphysics, and that has quite a bit to do with this tale. Various characters differ in belief and degree thereof- as here as in real life. Characters beliefs are as follows: Caleb: very fallen cleric in the Catholic Church (officially, but in belief- gone over to effectively worshiping evil, and the Evil One), Xander: Anglican (Episcopalian), Willow Rosenberg: Fallen Jewess (she's badly astray at this point in her life), Robert Martinez (Kennedy's deceased Watcher and foster father- now a ghost) devout Roman Catholic (organization: Knight of Columbus- will be remembered and mentioned), Kennedy Martinez (nickname: Jackie): fallen Catholic. This is done so you fans can attempt to roleplay in this storyline if you wish- I welcome it, so long as it's decent. Please read, review/comment, and enjoy.

Chapter 1.): Emergency Room.

Chapter 1 Author's Notes: In addition to previous Author's Notes, various other beings, namely spirits will show up from time to time in this storyline- mainly by 'telepathic communication' (temptation- either to be good or bad), but also in other means. Kennedy in my stories also has close ties to her foster daddy, and regularly communicates with him by writing letters to him in her Journal regularly about her daily life. He was also her Watcher, but as not only that but her homeschool teacher and Daddy, they had a very close bond- she may have crying fits from time to time thanks to his death. This story deals with the interrelationship between the Abrahamic Religions and the Proper interplay between them- please enjoy. [text] means telepathic speaking.

The battle had been an utter fiasco- they'd rushed into the winery in the vineyard, only to find that the entire place had been turned into a trap! Then *he'd* entered the fray, just when they'd been outmatched and it had started to show. Oh, the fellow had *looked* like a friendly and helpful priest, but his actions had betrayed the Roman Collar he wore, of that Kennedy was certain- the way he had so coldly snapped Molly's neck, then stabbed another of the girls with her own knife. "Then he went after me!" Kennedy thought in shock, if Alexander Harris hadn't gotten them to retreat they'd all be dead! "That man had far too much strength for a mere priest." Kennedy thought to herself- her heart was still doing jumping jacks in her chest- she was so terrified "What had he done to get so much strength, not to mention brutality?!" One thing's for certain, Caleb had some serious skeletons in his closet, and ones that he didn't even want Christ Jesus to find out about, but if he remembered any of his Catechism, he would know that He already knew what Caleb had done- and to His employees in that rather brutal night!

Somehow they had managed to pry Xander from Caleb's grasp and make their way back to the vehicles, but there Kennedy, Willow, and Xander broke off from the others- the rest headed to the home at 1630 Revello Drive, whereas that little trio headed to the Sunnydale Hospital. Xander didn't want to do much of anything, he was pretty out of it from the pain of having his right eye punctured by Caleb's left thumbnail, and was so out of it he didn't even want to think- if he'd thought about it he'd have thought it exceedingly odd. Willow telepathically controlled Kennedy's driving as she sat in the back holding the man she'd begun to see as her brother, and she was seated directly behind Kennedy- who at this point was driving like a maniac at what looked close to eighty miles per hour, and directly toward the Sunnydale Hospital to get him patched up.

As she rode, the redhead considered doing a spell to ease Xander's pain, she knew his hurt was intense, but she also knew he'd not appreciate it if she went sorceress (and thereby Dark) while trying to help him to recover from the bodily damage he'd suffered. The drive to perform a spell was intense in the heart of the redhead, especially when she felt his pain- through some kind of mental link she'd established- she didn't know when- with him. Willow wanted to cry about all the pain he's suffering right now. [Faster, Kennedy, I don't want Xander to get infected- he may already be.] [I'm going as fast as I can without freaking risking passing the turns, he'd not like that, would he, Love.] Kennedy responded, stressed out about what was going on with Xander's health, and the catastrophe they'd fled from in that fight. [Willow] Kennedy asked [where'd Caleb get so much strength?! That guy's just plain unnaturally strong.] Willow was silent, both in her PM responses and her words. "Just get us there." she whispered to her lover.

Willow'd held Xander's head throughout the ride, in a sort-of hug, and he was in severe pain throughout the entire time, but fear of hurting her loved ones in the car with her was what kept her from unleashing the "sorceress prisoner" she kept inside her heart throughout the ride. "After all, she'd probably turn on Xander and attempt to rape Kennedy- knowing what I know of myself" Willow thought to herself "that's exactly what I'd do if I were to go evil again!" Willow knew her evil self quite well, and didn't want to let that evil woman anywhere near her loved ones, again, ever again- and she also knew deeply that Kennedy and herself had no small degree of lust for oneanother too, and she DIDN'T want to let that out, and if Kennedy said "No!" for Any reason, when Dark! Willow wanted to 'cuddle', she'd most likely force herself on her! It was the darkness in Willow's heart that scared the redheaded fallen Jewess more than Anything else today!

When they arrived at the hospital, about twelve minutes into the drive, Kennedy didn't bother to park in the parking lot, she parked right in the drop-off circle, got the door for her lover and the fellow they both had started to see as their "brother", and headed immediately to the door to open the place up to let her friends in. Meanwhile, Xander's head was in so much pain that Willow had to help him walk, but he insisted on staying on his feet, as his dignity was intact- despite the severe blow he'd suffered to his bodily functions.

During the transit, Willow had been severely tempted to use a spell to heal Xander, but when she'd telepathically suggested that to him, he'd been so adamant against it that she'd declined- his words/thoughts were along the lines of "NO! I know now what that stuff does to you, and won't have you putting that filth in your heart, not for me or anybody! I am terribly sorry, Willow, that I didn't see it when I pushed you into using to try to get us out of that trap that that wish had gotten us into... I should never have done that." he messaged her as if he were talking to his steroid-addicted sister, and rightly so, for this magic that Willow had been indulging in had exactly the same effect on her that steroids would have; they made her strong but stupid or foolish. Willow kind of grinned at that protective affection she could detect on his part- even now, when the price of being a type of a savior was becoming increasingly and sadistically clearer and clearer to him, he refused to allow her to take in drugs to eliminate his pain. "That's love." Willow thought to herself- realizing such yet again, that no matter what may happen, he'd still have her back,,, even if it meant fighting with her (and against her) to the death!

Interestingly, due to her new gifts (one of them being telepathy); Kennedy picked up on this message. And when she did, she smiled grimly. "But if he doesn't make it to the hospital soon, he may die of a brain-infection, or go nuts completely" the Latina thought to herself.

Previously Kennedy and Willow had stayed up late into the night talking about family histories, and it turned out that Willow's a mix of German and Jewish, and whereas Kennedy was of "Black Irish" ancestry, descended from the survivors of the Spanish Armada. Now they were trying to save the life of a man whom they'd grown to love as their brother- albeit their bond was that of lovers, not sisters. This could, and probably would cause a fight between them, but they'd declined to fight about it.

One look at the injured fellow told the medics immediately why these people were here, but one of the staff had to insist that they move their vehicle, and they'd take Mr. Harris from here to deal with what he needed to have done.

It was instantaneously agreed that Willow'd stay with Xander until the medics needed him alone for the operation, whereas Kennedy headed over to move the vehicle to a different part of the parking lot.

As Willow heard the medics talking in hushed tones after putting Xander under with anesthetic, she started to tear up- he'd been so hurt, and so gentle to her too. The redhead chewed her bottom lip with worry; she certainly didn't want him to die. Falling back on her training from her early childhood, and behaviors she didn't really recall, she resorted to the only petition she could: prayer. "Oh, Yahweh," she begged, "don't let him die. I know I haven't been the most obedient of daughters to you: making out with girls and the like, but please don't let him die." she begged over and over again, not knowing if it'd work. She hadn't been a good girl, but she couldn't continue to think of existence without her oldest friend.

As soon as Kennedy had parked her car, she rapidly walked into the hospital to find her friends- and she spotted her girlfriend seated on a chair near the operating room, with her eyes wet from crying! Kennedy's heart ached- badly, first the utter fiasco in the vineyard, and now Xander's injuries on his face- this was getting to be too much for her and her friends! "Let me see him!" Kennedy demanded at the doorway, as an orderly physically held her back- and as he struggled to restrain her from getting into the operating room, he informed her that if she does enter, he's likely to get infected and turn out worse... this calmed Kennedy down somewhat- she didn't want Xander hurt- and storming into a sterile environment would likely endanger him- but she still hurt for him.

As Kennedy's heart broke about being unable to help Xander, she started to cry, and Willow picked up Jackie and, sitting down in the chair near the doorway she had been seated in, Will placed Jackie on her lap, sideways, and held the crying Latina firmly so that poor Kennedy could calm down- this day was simply too much for her, and Kennedy was responding to her burdens by sobbing to herself as her lover held her in her lap. Willow spent the next few hours snuggling with Jacqueline on her lap- who was quietly crying about what had happened and her fears.

[Kennedy] Willow messaged [there's a chapel I saw when you were working with the car- trying to find a place to park and then come in, there's little we can do here, why not go there and try to get help for Xander?] Willow telepathically messaged Kennedy, trying to give her something she could do to help her friend and the man they regarded as their brother- also figuring that since Kennedy was crying about feeling useless and helpless, thereby unable to help another she wanted to help... she should do something. Will was drawing on her classes in Psychology and Human Behavior from College she had so enjoyed.

[Okay.] Jacqueline said, between tears in a telepathic message [Sorry about sitting on you, though.] Kennedy continued as she got up from her girlfriend's lap and proceeded to walk to the chapel to beg for help for Alexander Harris.

Willow got a smile on her face, and responded "Who was it that pulled who onto whom?" she replied to Kennedy, as a means of saying "You weren't assaulting me, I gave you myself to try to cheer you up." and as she said this, Willow had a smile on her face that was friendly and somewhat loving.

When Kennedy arrived in the Chapel it was dark in there, there was a small area where the Eucharist was in, with an alter made of white marble and a Tabernacle, a Communion Rail, and a few places for statues of Saints. Kennedy first worried that she wouldn't be accepted back- after what she'd done, but the Slayer remained herself that she hadn't come here for her own benefit, but the survival of her friend.

Taking a place in about the fourth pew from the rail, on the left side as she faced the Alter, as the entire chapel had no more than about twelve rows of pews, Kennedy knelt down and tried to pray, but she found herself doing more crying than praying right now.

It was then that something weird happened: a fellow in a black outfit wearing a Roman Collar silently walked up to the altar, knelt down and, making the sign of the Cross in front of the Tabernacle with his right hand, acted like he was about to celebrate Mass. Jackie was not so certain, she'd been out of it for several years as of yet, but she was pretty certain that not only was this not in the schedule right now, but also there were only two people in here, or so she could tell- just her and this mysterious Priest- whom she did not know, but something was definitely odd about. She wanted to laugh at him for his oddness, but she was also too frightened, as she was in a currently fragile state- spiritually speaking- to want to speak up. In short, she knew she had misbehaved, and didn't want to draw any more attention to herself than she could avoid. Unfortunately: she had been noticed by this fellow, who was currently ignoring her while He planned His next move in her regard.

"Please don't let him die..." Kennedy whispered, thinking she was begging this mentally only, but in fact she had said it out loud, and only realized it shortly thereafter when this mysterious Priest first disappeared in a flash of light, then immediately reappeared seated next to her in the pew she was currently in!

Jacqueline was simply terrified, to say the least! Her first thought was "This fellow's the First!" and she was in panic mode in her head! She was rapidly entering combat mode- fearing that this entity was going to do something worse than what Caleb had tried to do to her and her friends- to say she was terrified would be just about the biggest understatement in all of existence! Kennedy was just about scared out of her wits by this occurrence. She wanted to run away, but knew that would be useless. She wanted to fight, but how do you fight a pure spirit? She had no idea how to do that, and somehow she knew she had to, for she was in very real mortal danger- worse, her immortal soul was in that danger, or so she thought!

"What's the matter?" this man asked her, detecting her tears and knowing of her fear- there was just something about his approach that made her open up to him and spill her story to him- she told him about how she had to physically attack Caleb to save Xander, about the incident in the vineyard- how her friends had been lured into an ambush, about the deaths of her fathers- one right after the other, or so it appeared in her life, and about her situation- she didn't know why she was spilling all this info, she just felt she could trust him. He first listened, calmly, and then surprised her with this answer: "You did not do wrong in attacking Caleb, for you did what you did to stop an evil act from happening. If you had stricken him to respond to a criticism of misbehavior of any kind, that would be different... but Caleb has betrayed his calling and his flock- even slaughtering them himself for the wolves to feed upon. He is a traitor and a rebel, worse than that, he's become the worst kind of sorcerer that any priest can become- as he's willingly given himself over to the Devil- and for what? He already had a lot of power- furthermore: he has now no sense of what Christianity is all about- regarding his attitudes on women- My students! He assaults my students and butchers them and then calls himself My disciple! That man's a heretic!" This fellow stated- now Kennedy was confused: was this man Christ Himself? She had to ascertain. She put it to the back of her mind for the time being, to try to get the full story from him first.

Then the oddest thing in this day right out of the twilight zone happened, this fellow started laughing in a very friendly voice. "He read my mind!" Kennedy realized, feeling profoundly violated! Now she was angry! Her next thought was along this line "Read my mind, will he?! I'll show him!" she thought, scared and now entering berserk mode- permanent rage mode! She really really felt trespassed against about this matter, and the Latina didn't like that!

What she wanted to do was to punch this priest right in the face for reading her mind like that, but something else was off in this odd encounter that reminded her of science-fiction novels she liked to read at about ages 11 and 12- no real human can naturally read someone else's mind, so how could he do that? She realized- and thereby realized that something was indeed off about this encounter. "There was definitely something different about this priest, and I'm going to find out what it is!" Kennedy thought to herself, as she decided to put into practice all of her fun reading hobbies of detective work.

All of this had happened in less than five seconds from this mysterious priest's apparition to her to this event, and then something occurred that threw a monkey wrench into the mix of gears and knocked everything askew: this fellow then spoke up to her "No, kiddo, I'm not the First, as you call him, or it... I've been around quite a bit longer than he has- and well do I remember his fall from grace."

Now Kennedy was completely confused: all she could say as she looked at this man in shock was "Huh?" her entire hypothesis had been not only turned on its head, it had been blown from existence! If this man was not the First, he'd have to be something else- or more precisely someone else, and whom- she had no idea!

"Lucifer, or as you know him as "the First", his fall was the fruit of extreme arrogance." this fellow was saying, meanwhile Kennedy could only think "How does he know all of this? Is he God?" she wondered, recalling briefly the previous parts of the conversation "He might be- the approach might apply, but I seriously doubt that he is: I barely believe anything about the next life anyways anymore- but this is exceedingly odd!" Kennedy stumbled about as this lesson continued.

The mysterious priest was still speaking to her, and said "For a creature to try to write moral law is the proverbial Pandora's Box- it opens all array of wickedness and immorality, for if we creatures define moral law: the result is that everyone who does so becomes his or her own little god- and multiple gods cannot co-exist- not without serious fighting." he stated, then continued "Anyone can discern moral law, but to write it is something entirely different." Then he stated "Hence, whatever we decide is moral- it is moral, so therefore there'd be no moral at all!"

"I begin to see." was what she said- more curious than ever before, and starting to cheer up a bit from her crying quietly about her friend's hurt.

Author's Notes End Chapter 1.): Can you guess who this mysterious cleric is? Other clues in the next chapter should reveal it beyond a shadow of a doubt! Hint: he's anything but evil.

Yep, that's the crossover, and it'll be made clearer in the next chapter!

Have fun with this story, and I welcome your replies to my works- please tell me what you think!

Oh, for those who do recognize the clues: there's no blasphemy in this: I just haven't truly revealed him, so it's a small "h" for his identity, but once his identity is revealed- it'll be a capital "H" for the first letter of Him that deals with that fellow- as an example.

Please, oh please: read, review/comment, and enjoy.