Chapter 3: Kennedy Gets Hers
Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help... DawnDreamer, zigpal, AshDawnSoulmates and Chrislover. And a special thanks to asreal from for inspiring me.
Warning: Some swearing is going to be present.
Recap: The punishments for breaking the Tribunal's sentence have started with Willow.
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Kennedy came to as she and Willow arrived in Sunnydale, surrounded by Buffy, Giles, the coven leaders and Buffy's new friends. Willow used the powers she got from those two guys in New Orleans to take Buffy's Slayer powers and give them to her.
Immediately afterward, a group of Bringers and Turok-Han attacked the house. Even with her new abilities, Kennedy was only able to take out a couple of the mutilated monks before everyone in the room was captured and dragged to the Hellmouth.
There the Bringers began to sacrifice everyone with a ritualistic bloodletting to bring the First into this plane as a corporeal being. When the spirit searched the underground room for the right person to possess, it zeroed in on Buffy. Even though she didn't want to be possessed, Kennedy was insulted that it didn't pick her. After all, she was the one with all the power now.
Or maybe it had to pick the weakest person and now that was Buffy. That thought cheered her up considerably. But her delight was short-lived as the Hellmouth started to shake and pieces of it fell away. It wasn't simply opening this time; it was becoming a completely open doorway to the hell dimensions.
Just when she thought all hope was lost, time froze. Then she saw the Bringers and Turok-Han fall where they stood, instant piles of dust. Next, the Hellmouth didn't simply close; it vanished entirely. Those that were still alive looked around for their rescuer.
Buffy/The First walked over to the fallen Giles and cried over his body. When her tears hit him, his wounds healed up quickly and he took a sudden gasp of breath. Then that Edward guy from the coven ventured a guess, "Umm…Buffy? Is that you or the First?"
Her eyes – which had creepily turned totally black when she was taken over – were now a breathtaking mix of gold and silver before they returned to her natural color.
"It picked the wrong person to mess with, I guess, Edward. Why it wanted me, I don't know, but we had a little 'talk' in the dreamscape with Sineya. She and I decided that we didn't like it messing with the people that we loved. And even though she always screamed about Slayers being alone, she learned to love the same people that I did. So we booted it out, but not before we took what power we could to fix most of what it broke."
"Oh my dear girl," Giles murmured lovingly, "I should have known you'd never truly be powerless. Even when others try to take it away from you, you still manage to find the strength to save the day."
She smiled sweetly at her former Watcher. "But now it's time for the rightful Slayer to take over," she announced as she waved her arm at a blank spot in the room.
Faith appeared with Amanda, obviously confused as to where they were. "Uh, B? What's going on? Last thing I knew, I was doing some late night training of Lil D and the wannabes with Spike at your new place."
Buffy informed her sister Slayer, "Willow came back to take my powers and give them to Kennedy. We were captured right after that and brought here so the First could possess me and open the Hellmouth for good."
She looked at the others before commenting dryly, "Okay, so either we're all dead and this is some whacked-out version of heaven or one of y'all was able to put the smackdown on the Big Bad."
The elder Slayer chuckled, "Turns out Sineya and I don't like sharing my body with anyone else. And even though Kennedy received the powers of the Slayer, Sineya's spirit stayed with me. So we evicted the First and took care of his minions…and for good measure got rid of the Hellmouth."
"Don't forget that you saved Rupert as well," Katherine reminded her.
Buffy exclaimed, "Never! Personally, that 's the part I'm happiest about."
"Not that this isn't a great chick flick moment, but why are Amanda and I here?" Faith asked.
"Because the mantle of Slayer has to be given to the rightful girl," Buffy announced.
Faith ducked her head, figuring that she was about to lose her powers now. Oh well, she knew she deserved it after all she had done over the years.
Buffy held one hand out towards Faith and the other in Kennedy's direction. The younger brunette fell to her knees as the pain of losing the powers racked through her body.
Faith looked into Buffy's eyes as she felt the surge of strength coursing through her. "Why?" she gasped when it was over.
"Because you are the rightful Slayer, Faith," the blonde answered, as if it should have been clear to everyone.
"But you--" the 'new' Slayer started.
"…Have served my time," Buffy finished. "It's your responsibility now. All that's left for me to do now is to get rid of this extra stuff from the First. I don't want to give it the chance to corrupt me."
"Not possible," two figures declared in unison. It was a man and a woman dressed in what looked like togas and they were covered all over in white and blue markings.
"Who or what are you?" Giles inquired cautiously.
"We are the Oracles, lower being," the man snapped impatiently.
"Hey! Watch the tone, mister!" Buffy snarled, shifting to stand between them and the others.
"My apologies for my brother," the woman intoned calmly. "We are not used to talking to normal mortals. If we speak to one from this realm, it is at the very least, a Champion that approaches us." Seeing the angry look in the young woman's eyes, she rushed on, "Not that the Watcher isn't worthy in his own way. But he is a helper, not a Champion. Do you see the difference?"
"No offense taken, I assure you, Madame Oracle," Giles answered, hoping to dispel his Slayer's wrath. He followed it up with a pleading look in her direction, which she accepted with a sigh.
"So what's the what? How can you say it's not possible? Power can always corrupts," Buffy added suspiciously.
"Maybe for a mortal. But you are no longer a mortal anymore," the male Oracle said pompously.
"Huh?" Her eyes glittered dangerously.
"Brother, please let me handle this. You are only angering her further." He nodded, looking like he was actually…pouting? "What he means to say is that by overcoming the First, you have turned into something more."
Buffy nodded, but clearly not in agreement or understanding. "And again I say, 'Huh?'"
She smiled at the petite Warrior. "You have been transformed into a Power," she clarified with a bow of respect.
"A big world of no on that! No way am I going to be one of those worthless Pains That Be!" she railed.
The male Oracle's eyes widened in fear as he stepped away, worried that he might be included in whatever retribution was certain to befall this ungrateful child.
But the female simply laughed. "That's what they expected you to say.…Actually that was much milder than they expected from you."
"They aren't offended by B's little speech?" Faith asked, curious what the hell was going on.
The female answered, "A little hurt maybe, but they certainly understand her feelings. Fortunately, she will follow a different set of rules than they do. They are strictly forbidden to directly interfere in any way. But because of the manner in how she got her Power status, she is allowed to involve herself – as long as she doesn't abuse the leeway given to her by helping out too often."
Buffy began to smile. "You mean that I'm actually a Power That Does?"
The Oracle responded with her own smile, "Simply put, yes. And to think it wouldn't have been possible, but for the selfishness and incompetence of those two," she finished, pointing to Willow and Kennedy.
Kennedy looked around at the others one last time before the room grew dark.
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A/N: Big time warning for the next chapter! It is sexual in nature. If you shouldn't be reading it, there will be a more in-depth recap in the chapter after that which should give you the jist of what happened without being too graphic.
A/N2: Next…Xander's little problem.