Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow

Previously:

Once Kara had left, Jack stood and wandered over to the kitchen window. He could see Faith and Buffy training his slayers, the heart and soul of what the Council stood for. He was proud of all of them and knew that when the time came, they would defeat the First. He just hoped that time wasn't rapidly approaching. There was a lot more work to be done before the final battle and they had only grazed the tip of the iceberg.

Chapter Forty-Nine:

Kennedy was officially bored. She had been assigned the task of babysitting the recuperating witches, which basically amounted to bringing them food every couple of hours and making sure they didn't try to perform any spells that would further drain their power. It had been a day and a half since the spell that changed all of the potentials into official slayers. Though the witches were making good progress, they still had a long way to go. It was nearing three o'clock in the afternoon. In an hour, Joyce would be returning from the gallery and then Kennedy could go home.

Faith was at the Magic Box training with Giles while Buffy was in class. Jack and the other potentials were meeting with other Council officials in order for the girls to learn the ways of slayer hood. Dawn was in school, Xander was at work, Anya was at the Magic Box as well, Spike was napping at home, per usual, and Kara had disappeared sometime earlier without a word as to where she was going. She had a habit of doing that and though Kennedy worried about her while she was gone, Kara always came back before night fell. Kennedy suspected the older slayer went to the cemetery to talk to Callum, but she didn't know for sure; Kara never talked about where she went.

Sighing, she wandered into the living room and plopped down on the couch. Flipping on the television, she began channel surfing through all of the hideously horrible daytime television shows. Finally settling on an old episode of Passions, she propped her feet up on the coffee table and leaned her head back on the couch, resting her eyes. Willow and Tara had fallen asleep upstairs not long ago and Kennedy found herself feeling quite sluggish as well.

She was just drifting off into the sweet oblivion of unconsciousness when someone knocked on the door. Groaning, she pulled herself to her feet and walked over to the door. Pulling it open, she stared in shock at the person standing before her, finding herself unable to speak. "Cat got your tongue, darlin'?" Caleb asked, smirking. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to come in. Got some business with you dirty, little girls," he said, before reaching out and slamming the door open. Grabbing Kennedy by the throat, he easily tossed her into the wall.

Her head snapped back and white dots exploded in front of her eyes. Struggling to her feet, she kicked Caleb in the midsection as he approached, successfully winding him. She tried to turn to run up the stairs, but Caleb grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back. She didn't have any weapons and the only place she knew to look was the chest in Buffy and Faith's bedroom. Squeezing his arms around her, Caleb tried to crush the life out of her. Pain shot through her stomach, and Kennedy could feel her ribs breaking from the pressure.

Snapping her head back, she caught Caleb in the face. The bones in his nose crunched satisfyingly and he dropped her. Falling to her knees in front of him, she desperately tried to catch her breath, only to find that she couldn't. Caleb laughed, wiping the blood away from his face. "Well ain't that a convenient position you've found yourself in," he said mockingly. Grabbing her by the hair, he pulled her to her feet and drove his fist into her side.

Screaming out in pain, she felt her already broken ribs pressing against her flesh, threatening to break through. "That's right, scream for me," Caleb whispered. With one swift motion, he rammed her head into the wall. Blood covered her face, leaving an imprint on the white plaster. He continued beating her head in until she stopped moving and slumped in his grasp. Then he let her body fall to the floor. "They just don't make slayers like they used to," he muttered.

He turned to face the stairs, surprised to see the two witches standing at the top of them. "I really wouldn't do that if I were you," Willow muttered, her eyes turning dark with anger.

"I would leave," Tara said calmly. Though the witches weren't at full strength, Caleb could feel their power pushing at his mind. Stepping back, he chuckled to himself.

"As you wish. But I'll be back to kill every last one of you bitches," he snarled before turning and calmly walking out of the house, wiping the blood on his hands off onto his pants.

"Kennedy?" Willow said, grabbing onto the handrail of the stairs and slowly walking down. Just emanating power had zapped her strength. She felt like a feeble, old woman clutching onto the handrail, but each time she stepped, her legs would tremble from the exertion. Behind her, Tara did the same. They reached the bottom of the stairs and rushed over to Kennedy as fast as they could. Cradling the young slayer's head in her arms, Willow closed her eyes and tried to sense the girl's life force.

At first, she couldn't sense anything but murky darkness coming from the girl, but then, a small light flickered in her mind. "She's alive," Willow said suddenly. "Call an ambulance."

Struggling to her feet, Tara left to find the phone. "Hang in there," Willow said, wiping Kennedy's bloodstained hair from her face. "You're gonna be okay. Just hang on. You can't leave her like this now," Willow muttered, in reference to Kara. "She needs you."

.............................

Kara sat on the cliffs overlooking Sunnydale, at the very spot in her world where Willow had once tried to resurrect a pagan temple to end everyone's suffering. She could almost feel the suffering of the world now, looking out over the plagued, struggling town. She didn't understand why the residents of Sunnydale bothered to stay, when year after year they were plagued with vampires, demons, and every number of foul beasts imaginable. Yet, they lingered on, determined to survive and overcome. It was human nature to keep going in spite of overwhelming odds. Kara imagined that was why she was still alive today.

She liked to come up to the cliffs to think. It was a mystical place, surrounded by both the forces of darkness and light. Kara had seen both in her time, been both. She could recall numerous times when she could have done more to help the people around her in the face of destruction, yet, she did nothing, denying the slayer within time and time again. In those days, she had come to know the meaning of evil, of darkness. She discovered that evil could be perpetuated by actions, just as it could by lack of action. There were many kinds of evil in the world. But now, she was determined never to fail in her calling again, never to sit idly by while the world moaned in defeat.

She knew there would be a day when she would have to come to this place for any entirely different reason. When the final battle began, Veronica had told her to come to the cliffs. She didn't understand at first. Coming to the cliffs would mean she would have to leave her friends at the time they needed her the most, ultimately betraying them through her absence. Yet, she understood now. There was something she had to do here, something she had to perform that would change the tides of the battle in favor of the light.

"Sitting up here all by your lonesome?" A voice behind her asked. Groaning, Kara turned to see Caleb approaching her. She froze when she saw him. Blood covered his clothes and hands.

"What did you do?" Kara asked slowly, rising to her feet and eyeing him warily.

"Had a visit with a nice friend of yours. Can't really say how's she doing. Didn't look so good when I left," Caleb said, a wide smile gracing his features.

"Who?" Kara asked, moving forward as they began to circle each other defensively.

"Don't know. Mighty pretty girl though. One of those new slayers," Caleb answered. "But I didn't come here to talk about that little bitch. I came here for you. The First wants you dead."

"Didn't anyone ever tell it you don't always get what you want?" Kara shot back. Caleb's eyes narrowed in anger.

"Hold your filthy tongue," he said, stepping forward. "Before I rip it out of your mouth."

"Go ahead and try," Kara taunted. She was in the mood for a good fight and taking Caleb out was just the thing she needed.

Caleb growled low in his throat before charging at Kara. Sweeping his legs out from under him, Kara launched herself at him, knocking him to the ground. Landing on top of him, she mercilessly began beating him, using all of the strength her slayer powers afforded. Bucking his hips, Caleb managed to knock her loose. He scrambled away, wiping blood away from his mouth. Suddenly, he smirked, and reached behind him, pulling a knife out of his waistband. "I think it's time to try a new trick," he said before charging at her again.

He swung the knife wildly and Kara was forced to jump back in order to avoid being slashed. "Can't just fight me like a man, huh?" She said, avoiding another swing.

She could tell he was getting angry and she knew that an angry opponent was a stupid opponent. Rushing at her again, Caleb slammed his head into her chest, knocking her onto the ground. Kara found herself unable to breathe for a few agonizingly long seconds. Finally, she sucked in a breath. Caleb tried to bring the knife down into her heart, but she grabbed his arm at the last second. They battled for control for several seconds, each barely moving the other before Caleb wrenched his arm free, slashing Kara in the side of the throat in the process.

She could feel blood trickling down her skin and she started to panic. Lifting her knee up, she slammed it into Caleb's chest, hoisting him off of her, and shooting him back through the air. He landed in a heap on the ground several feet away, the knife flying out of his hand and vanishing in the brush. "Shit," Kara murmured, her hand flying up to her wound. It wasn't serious, she could tell from feeling it. But that didn't make it hurt any less.

Both opponents rose to their feet, eyeing each other warily. "This has been fun," Caleb said suddenly, after assessing the situation and deciding it wouldn't end in his favor. "We'll have to do it again sometime." Backing away, he disappeared into the forest, leaving Kara standing by the edge of the cliff, clutching her bleeding neck.

"Bastard," she muttered to herself. Ripping a piece of her shirt off, she pressed the cloth to the knife wound to stop the bleeding. Then she reluctantly began walking back to town, knowing she should cleanse the wound before an infection set in.

Buffy's house was closer, so she decided to go there. Walking up the front steps, she froze when she saw a trial of bloody footprints leading away from the door. Rushing forward, the slammed the front door open, only to find the foyer coated with blood. "Willow! Tara! Ken!" Kara yelled as she began to search the house. Panic swelled up in her heart and she felt like she couldn't breathe. She couldn't lose someone again, not so soon after losing Callum.

By the phone, she found a note written in Tara's flowery scrawl. It was short and to the point, and blood stained the paper around the edges. Lifting it up, Kara quickly read it, her heart sinking in her chest.

"Come to the hospital as soon as you read this. It's Kennedy."