Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, not even dear Cassie. They are all the products steamed from the imagination and creative genies that is Joss as well as the ME family. Thank you Joss for the story idea to start my first fanfic. Spoilers: This story idea, as well as the character Cassie, is based on spoilers up until ep.7.4 as well as confirmed spoilers. Everything written that is not about Cassie is from my very own imagination, including the end of this chapter.

Authors plea: I need a Beta..Beta me please...

*Oh how quickly ones eagerness can die when your sitting at a desk and staring at a computer screen*, Buffy thought as she tapped her face with her fingers.

It had been two whole weeks since she took the job as an official youth counselor at the new and improved Sunny Dale High, and no activity of any form had occurred. The joy that came out of playing computer games all day and painting her nails several different shades to try to find that perfect color, quickly faded along with the last coat of racy red. Boredom had soon replaced all hopes of saving someone from the trials and tribulations that could be contributed to the every day goings on of high school.

Patrol had been just as non-productive. A fledging or two would appear every now and then, but it would take less than a few minutes before they were dust in the wind. It was if they were laying low for something. What ever it was it had to be big and she would start preparing herself for anything.

A few times last week, she even found herself heading to Spikes old crypt just to see if his wounds from the whole cross incident were healing properly. After all, he did go all *soully* for her. *The least she could do*, she rationalized to herself, was check up on him to see if he was ok. Buffy had seen Clem the other night and he told her that Spike would be moving back in. She was glad Clem would be there to keep an eye out for him, someone needed to.

Right now, all Buffy needed were troubled kids! *Where were all the troubled students? Where were all the teenage mothers, the "Jonathan's" of the new millennia?* Where the heck were the kids she was supposed to be trying to save!? She wanted troubled kids dam it! And no one seemed to need her; it was pissing her off....

"At least at the Doublemeat, I was useful *Welcome to the Doublemeat Palace, home of the great tasting Doublemeat burger*, girl". Now, I'm just *wasting space, no one else probably wanted this job*, girl." Buffy thought to herself.

An abrupt change in the color of her computer screen (apparently from her idle state) made Buffy look up just in time to see the principal walk in with a young girl. Buffy stared at the principal with hope in her eyes. *Could this be the troubled student she had prayed about only minutes before, someone in need of saving?* She wondered.

"Miss Summers, this is Cassie. Cassie has been having trouble concentrating in class lately and I think she would benefit greatly if she could just talk about her feeling with someone.

Buffy eyes lit up as she gave Cassie her friendliest smile and asked her to sit down in the chair in front of her. Principal Johnson nodded to the two and left Buffy with her first *lost soul* of the day.

The girl looked a little older than her sister Dawn. She kind of reminded Buffy of Dawn in the *before I found out I was the Key and could destroy the world* Dawn way, not the *I wanna go out and

slay baddies*, kind of way, of coarse.

The girl's long brown hair plastered her face, covering most of it. Cassie had yet to make eye contact with Buffy but when she finally did, Buffy almost gasped at what she saw in her eyes. Brown, sad pools peeked out from hooded lids. The young girl looked as if she had not

slept in days.

"Well, um..Cassie, Buffy started. Have you been feeling under the weather lately? Do you need to see the school nurse?"

Cassie did not look well at all. Her appearance told Buffy a lot. Like she was sure that the girl had indeed not slept a wink in at least a day or so. The red and hooded eyes gave her away instantly. Buffy recalled a time, shortly after she had "come back" when she too could not sleep. She remembered how hard it was to just get up in the mornings to make breakfast for Dawn when Willow and Tara would have a early class. She remembered how her eyes always seemed heavy, waiting to tear up at the mere mention of summer, her mother, life...pretty much anything made her tear up during that time.

*She was this girl*, Buffy thought to herself once more. She was

Cassie just a mere year before. The main difference was that Cassie had people around her who recognized that something was wrong. The only person back then that even cared to notice was Spike. Spike had been her friend and so much more when she needed him the most. Spike was...

"Can you make it stop, make the voices stop?" Cassie had spoken and stopped Buffy's train of *Spike thoughts* from continuing. She looked at the young girl, and for just a second, a very familiar feeling washed over her. Where had she heard that before? Someone had said those same exact words to her...

"Are you hearing voices Casey, Buffy inquired? What are they saying to you?" Buffy wasn't sure if she was equipped to handle any manic-depressive or schizophrenic types. Her job was to talk, just to talk and try to work out normal, teenage, everyday type problems. She would have to send the girl elsewhere if she was really hearing voices.

"No". Cassie shook her head sadly.

"More like I see and hear things, things that have yet to happened", Cassie explained.

The young teenager now had Buffy's full attention. Any other counselor would have dismissed the girls rambles as gibberish and non sense. But Buffy was also the Slayer and the Slayer had seen and heard enough from living on the Hell Mouth to never dismiss gibberish that could lead to trouble.

"Cassie, what do you see honey. I might be able to help you if you let me know what the voices and the images say," Buffy pressed. "What did you see Cassie."

Cassie lifted her brown eyes once again and looked straight in Buffy's. "You were there. You..you..tried to stop it, bu, but, it was to strong." Cassie staggered.

A tear dropped down the girl's right cheek. Her facial expression grew stronger and her speech hardened with every syllable she spoke after that.

"It was too strong and you could not get to me in time. The Power..the power was too much and it killed me..I died." She let her head fall towards her chest.

I died and you could not save me," she finished in a silent sob.