Title:

Disclaimer: Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and FOX own everything…

Except Sage (she's my character!)

A SMALL NEW ENGLAND TOWN

It was a stormy late summer evening outside; rain blasting everywhere, thunder bellowing into the night, threatening to become a raging fall Nor'easter that would ravage the area. Sage was used to all of this, however, having lived in New England suburbia her whole life, and did not wake because of it. Something else troubled her sleep this night.

She was fighting creatures she'd only ever seen on TV and in her nightmares. Suddenly, the whole cavern started to cave in and she had to run out of there. She stopped and told a vampire she loved him but he did not believe her. This she did not understand. She finally ran out of the cavern and into a collapsing school building. She got out of there as fast as she could; chasing a school bus that she knew contained loved ones and salvation. Finally she reached the bus and hopped onto its roof. She then awoke with a thud as she fell off her bed

Sage had been having the same dream every night that summer. Now it was nearly time for college to begin. She had had a strange summer; often dreaming of killing things and the world ending. All of this confused her, yet she felt like she might somehow be connected to these things. Secretly, she felt it was real. She never told her parents she thought her dreams were portents. She knew they would have her sent to a shrink; or worse, locked up in a crazy house. Yet, somewhere, deep inside of her mind, Sage felt that all of the stuff she had seen and felt in her sleeping hours were real, true events that had taken place. Truthfully, she didn't want them to be real, because the women in her dreams faced so much pain and suffering that she hoped they didn't exist. She felt for these women with a sense of kinship she hadn't attempted to understand. Demons and vampires and monsters and apocalypses were stories; fables that you knew were just some old dude's attempt to keep all the little children from drinking and partying.

Or so she thought.

ENGLAND

Willow awoke from her trance instantly. Buffy and Faith, however, took a little longer to get back to consciousness. They were new to meditation and Willow had been doing this for years. But what they were doing here was quite necessary. They were locating slayers that they created, gave strength to, all over the world, and Faith, Willow, and especially Buffy were the three women who could sense each one awakening into their power, even if the actual new slayer didn't realize what had happened to them yet.

Being the originals, Faith and Buffy had a connection to the slayer line that the rest of the slayers didn't have yet; might never have. They were 'one' before there were 'many.' Willow made the many. She used the essence of the slayer to free Buffy from her burden as sole protector of the world and come into her new role as leader, teacher, and plain-old Buffy.

Faith never felt the burden of the 'one,' but she was more than willing to help the new Council and the Coven find those who did not know what they were and help them become strong, independent women. She might not know a whole lot about being a teacher but she was willing to learn and Buffy and Willow were right there with her, helping her become a good leader.

"Hey B, did you sense her?" Faith interjected into the silence.

"Yeah, she's not a baby this time. We were so young…" Buffy replied, a little calmer than Faith.

"Maybe she even knows… what she is, ya know?" Faith wondered. She didn't really know until she was told. 'How could someone believe in all of this unless they see it for themselves?' She thought.

Willow interrupted them, "She doesn't know. Actually, I think she knows about you two. She's probably having the dreams of past and present slayers' experiences. She doesn't realize her power yet though. Also…. hmmm… I think she's empathic as well… I will have to contact Lorne… he was born to be an Empath… Well going to Massachusetts won't be so bad, eh?"

"We can go to Salem… They have really good supplies there and I've always wanted to go there and peek around a bit."

"B, you okay?" Faith asked Buffy, who was looking a little off-put.

"Oh, I was just remembering… When I could read people… It almost drove me crazy… I wouldn't want that to happen to this girl."

"No, Buffy, I don't think that would happen. She was probably born with the gift and it wasn't prevalent until she was activated as a slayer. I think she begun by having the dreams early in the summer, and her gift as an empath came later. If I am correct in my assumptions, she probably developed her slayer strength within this week. It seems new to me." Willow had learned so much about the slayer power that she was able to predict things like this. Plus, she read a whole lot.

"Faith, Willow, are all three of us going? She's not crazy like Dana was… I think I could actually send Andrew without the team of slayers; and Dawn, of course? So maybe Dawn, Andrew, and hmm… you Will. You could maybe get Lorne to go with you. It won't be a fighting mission and we know that's why he left Angel. Plus he'd get to meet a slayer/empathy combo. He'd probably be into it. We'll have to let Giles pick her a Watcher. He gets all British when we make all the decisions for him."

"Okay B. I'll call G-man, let him think he's the boss for a few minutes." Faith walked out of the room.

"So, what do you think Will?" Buffy had grown to rely on her friend's opinion; after all, she was a goddess now.

"This girl… she will be a strong slayer. And I also think she'll help you out a lot. For some reason I see her pulling a Freud on you and working out that whole Spike-Angel-cookie dough situation."

"What, with her being an empath? Nah. Really?"

"Where is Spike, by the way?" Willow asked, knowing Buffy knew the answer.

"He's in my room, probably waiting to hear all about the new slayer. I am still so mad at him for not coming to me last year when he returned! Why can't I be angry with him and tell him to bugger off!"

"Hmmm… maybe he's the one you should finally pick… after all he IS human now…" Willow pulled the friend trick on Buffy like this all the time…

"Wait! How about you tell Kennedy you saw Oz the other day!"

"But, hey, you didn't tell us about Angel at first! You snuck around and stuff!"

"But I didn't have a girlfriend already. And are you and Oz sneaking around?"

They started grabbing the pillows used as chairs and hitting each other; being kids again.

Then Xander poked his head in, "Faith said Giles is sending Andrew and Dawn over, and he's coming too for a short meeting." And he left with a laughing smile on his face.

"Now if we can just get Faith to admit she's in love with Xander, we'll be all set." Buffy said in a huff as Willow aimed the pillow at her face.

END of Chapter 1

Author's note: I might extend this chapter I'm just working out the plotline in my head. Now it's not my first story but it's my first fic. I've ever posted. So please feel free to leave suggestions and criticism!