Faith wasn't sure how long she'd been knocked out for, but the pain was excruciating when she managed to open her eyes. Her addled senses could vaguely make out Buffy fighting Vera—since Julie hadn't jumped in she figured it had only been a few moments. Before she could even try to shake off her disorientation and clear her head, Julie walked over to her and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her to her feet.
"What's the matter, Faithy? One blow and you KO on me? Aren't you supposed to be a Slayer?"
"Fuck you," she said through clenched teeth, ignoring the pain as best she could as Julie let go of her.
The ground still shook beneath their feet and she blinked away the tears that stung at her eyes, struggling to see just what was going on. Laura and Henry were still chanting softly, the ground shaking in time to every word they spoke. She still gripped the axe tightly in her left hand, but with the ground shaking and her head spinning, she couldn't quite get it together. Julie circled her, chuckling softly as she looked her up and down.
"Looking a little worse for the wear there, Faithy. Pity. We've barely even gotten started here. You are still too late, unfortunately. In a few minutes, dear mother and father are going to have the seal open."
"Faith!" Buffy groaned out as Vera sent her flying across the basement and into a stack of wooden boxes.
Anger overtook pain and exhaustion, adrenaline finally cleared her muddled head, and she lunged for Julie. The axe was knocked from her grip as Julie kicked it away and threw a hard right hook that sent her flying backwards and into the hard concrete wall. She reached for the knife strapped to her leg and unsheathed it quickly as Julie lunged for her. She took a swipe at her, both their eyes going wide when the skin on Julie's shoulder was sliced open.
"Now, Faith!" Buffy yelled out as Vera pulled her out of the pile of broken wooden boxes. "You have to do it now!"
Faith groaned as she tried to grab her axe, knowing the knife was nearly useless in this fight. Julie was taken aback, clutching at the wound on her shoulder as she shouted at Henry in a foreign language. She went after Julie again, using every bit of strength she had left. She could just feel Julie getting weaker with every blow but she couldn't stop trying to look over at Buffy and Vera as they both struggled to get the upper hand. She knew should be concentrating solely on Julie—after all, Buffy had proven many times that she could handle herself, but this wasn't their normal everyday type of situation.
The ground stopped shaking for a few moments and it gave her half a second to throw Julie to the ground. She ignored the leer Julie gave her as she straddled her, grappling with her and finally pinning her hands to the floor above her head.
"Fancy another go, Faithy?"
"You're dust, bitch."
"You wish. You seem to forget that the Gem of Amara protects me."
Faith captured her wrists with a single hand and then jammed her finger into the wound in her shoulder, causing Julie to let out an anguished scream. "Oh yeah? Looks like it doesn't work anymore," Faith chuckled as she twisted her finger again, causing Julie to let out another scream.
"You bitch! What did you do?"
"Nothing," Faith replied as she pulled her stake out of her back pocket and pressed it against Julie's chest, not quite ramming it in just yet. "Seems like this spell you guys did that took down the barrier made everything—what's the term I'm looking for here?—fuck up. And now you're fucked."
"Not as fucked as you two are going to be," Julie said through the wicked laughter that came out of her mouth and just wouldn't stop.
With a sudden burst of strength, she shoved Faith off of her and they were both on their feet in seconds. Henry and Laura were chanting louder now and the ground began to shake more violently. Faith gripped the stake in her hand as she threw a hard punch at Julie just in time to see Buffy use her axe to sever Vera's head.
"Oh hell no," Julie screamed as she ran towards Buffy, pure anger flashing in her eyes, anger so strong even Faith could feel it just at the edges of her soul. "I'm going to fucking kill you, you bitch!"
"Faith, we need help," Buffy shouted at her as she ducked out of Julie's way. "Faith!"
Faith didn't listen to her as she strode over to Julie, grabbed her by her wounded shoulder, and shoved her back. "This is between you and me, Julie."
"Then what are you waiting for?" Julie asked, laughing as Faith took a swing at her. "Kill me! Isn't that what you're supposed to be doing right now?"
"Buffy, we need Willow here now. She's the only one who can close the seal."
"But—"
"Get her here now, B! I'm gonna finish this bitch off and when I'm done, those two are next."
Buffy scrambled up the ladder, leaving Faith down there alone. She was guessing there was less than a minute left before Julie was invincible once again, but she didn't worry for one second that Faith couldn't take Julie out. She was weak and growing weaker by the second, the clock was ticking as Henry and Laura continued chanting.
"What...are...you...waiting...for?" Julie grunted between the hard blows Faith threw at her. "Kill me!"
Faith was caught by her fist square in the jaw and she spit out the blood as the anger flowed more freely through her. It was like a drug and it gave her a rush like no other. She knew now wasn't the time to try to suppress that anger and try to keep that darkness inside of her away. She could use it to her advantage and she knew she had to do it now.
They fought for those last precious seconds, trading blow for blow until Faith finally had her pinned to the ground. Julie blew her a kiss before Faith rammed the stake through her heart and watched as she crumpled into a pile of dust beneath her.
"Juliet!" Laura screamed, breaking out of the trance she and Henry were in. "What did you do? What did you do?!"
Faith glared at her, watching as Henry struggled to hold her back as Laura pulled out a dagger from the bag near her feet. She wiped the blood from her split lip and bent down casually to pick up her axe from the floor. Over and over in her head she had to remind herself that Henry and Laura, as human as they seemed to be, weren't. For a witch and an immortal, Laura was quick, but Faith was quicker.
"You think you and your family would have figured out by now that we're just that much ahead of the game here," Faith chuckled as she swung the axe at Laura and instead of blood, she vanished into a pile of dust. "Are you kidding me? Aren't vampires supposed to be the only ones to turn to dust?"
"All joking aside, Slayer," Henry growled as he took a few steps towards her. "You think Juliet was the only one in our family who had a piece of the Gem? I'm assuming that little tidbit of information never reached you."
Henry proved at that moment to be much quicker than Faith expected him to be and he grabbed her axe and placed the handle over her throat as he shoved her up against the wall. He was stronger than she expected him to be too and she struggled to breathe as she tried to push him off of her.
"All my Juliet wanted was her soul back, we all did. We were going to close the Hellmouth as soon as we got what we've been striving to get for years now. Funny," he chuckled as he pressed a little harder, "it was the witch who found the spell."
"Willow?" Faith choked out as she held onto the handle of the axe and tried to shove Henry away from her again to no avail.
"Yes, Willow. Too bad you'll be too dead to thank her for us."
"Funny, I thought you were supposed to be the good guy."
"Me?" Henry laughed coldly. "Afraid not, Slayer. It's such a pity those gut instincts of yours have been dead wrong, isn't it? Oh yes, I do believe you also thought at first that Sam was the bad guy, and you were oh so wrong about that, weren't you? Well, mostly wrong—he's not exactly a good guy either. Always looking to make a quick buck, but he pays his pawns well."
Faith felt her lungs just bursting for air and the excruciating pain in her head from where Julie had hit her before wasn't helping her stay too conscious. She closed her eyes, willing away the pain enough to gather the energy she knew she possessed to get Henry off of her. She sighed out in relief when she heard Buffy come back down the ladder and opened her eyes in time to see the other Slayer force Henry away from her. Giving up on fighting them, he instead scrambled away toward the seal.
"He's a—"
"Faith," Buffy said shakily as she held her up against the wall to keep her from falling to the floor.
"He's a vampire," she whispered as she brought her hands up to her throat. "Just a few seconds left, B."
The seal began to open as Henry knelt near it, now completely ignoring them as he chanted quickly and loudly, determined to finish what he had started. Buffy let go of Faith and ran for him. Within seconds a hard swing of her axe decapitated him and he crumbled to dust as Faith slid down the wall to the floor, clutching her neck and struggling to breathe.
"Faith, baby?" Buffy whispered as she knelt down next to her and gently cupped her face, turning her so Faith would look at her. "How bad are you hurt?"
"Head hurts like a bitch," she chuckled softly, trying to force a smile to reassure her she'd be okay. "Where's Willow?"
"She's coming. She'll be here real soon. Kennedy took out the other two vamps outside."
"Brats got some wicked skills after all."
"It's open?" Buffy whispered as she looked over at the seal as the ground stopped shaking and the seal opened up completely. "Oh god, we've got to get out of here, Faith."
"B, just—give me a minute here."
"Guys?" Willow called out as she approached the basement doorway.
"It's safe, Will! Buffy replied the muttered under her breath, "as safe as it can be considering there's a doorway open to Hell."
Buffy checked the gash on the side of Faith's head and it wasn't until she moved away the hair that Faith really felt the pain. Whatever Julie had hit her with had been more than just a fist. Faith could feel the warm blood trickling down her scalp now and Buffy pressed the palm of her hand against the gash to try to stop the bleeding.
"Fuck that hurts."
"It doesn't look too deep," Buffy said as she moved to sit down next to her. "We need to get out of here now, Faith."
"What about Willow?" She asked as she looked over at Willow climbing down the ladder. "Can't be too safe for her to be here alone."
"I can handle myself," Willow said as she walked over to them. "How badly are you hurt, Faith?"
"S'nothing," she shrugged as she pulled Buffy's hand away from the side of her head. "Just a little scrape."
"Can you close it?" Buffy asked Willow as she pulled out a spell book from her bag. "Will?"
"I can, I just need a little bit of time. Also? A little scared of what might come up outta there," she said as she pointed to the seal. "A little might be an understatement here."
Faith groaned softly as she reached up and placed her hand over the wound and watched as Willow tentatively approached the open seal. Buffy stayed right by Faith's side, checking her for any more injuries.
"B, I'm fine," she whispered as Buffy reached up and wiped away the blood that trickled from her split lip.
"As soon as I get you home..."
"You're gonna play nurse?" Faith asked, chuckling when Buffy just rolled her eyes. "Could get ya one of those sexy little outfits to go with the whole act too."
"Faith, stop," Buffy hissed as Willow looked over at the two of them and laughed quietly. "God, I can't believe you'd be thinking about that—wait, of course you'd be thinking about that. How could I ever doubt that for a second?"
"Lots going on today," she shrugged as Buffy slipped her hand into Faith's. "Happens."
"Guys?" Willow said as she placed a few candles around the floor by the seal. "Can you save the talk for after I do this spell? You do want the Hellmouth closed as soon as possible, right?"
Buffy and Faith just nodded their heads slowly as Willow began to light each candle, chanting softly under her breath as she did so. Faith turned to look at Buffy and smiled as Buffy let out a soft sigh. For a minute there they seemed to forget all the dangers that were there as long as the Hellmouth was open and all they could focus on was each other. They forgot what could happen if Willow couldn't close it in time, if the portal got out of control and sucked the both of them in.
"Did you know that Henry was a vampire too?"
"No, but I should've," Faith replied quietly. "Instinct's been thrown off since we got here. Then again, my instinct's never been all that fuckin' good, I guess."
"Don't say that. We got here just in time because of you."
"Barely."
"Guys!" Willow snapped as she looked right over at them. "Quiet, please! Thank you."
"Bitchy witch," Faith muttered under her breath and Buffy stifled a giggle as she tried to help her to her feet.
"Are you going to be able to fight if anything comes out of there?"
"Yeah," Faith nodded as she bent down to pick up her stake and her axe. "Ready and waitin', B."
She grabbed on to Buffy as the ground began to shake again, a little less violently than it had before. Faith could hear the commotion of a fight above them and then the sound of a window shattering followed by Kennedy cursing loudly. She and Buffy both began to make their way over to the ladder, but before they could get there they were both suddenly sucked back by a force that knocked the wind out of them. Faith tried to grab onto something, but there was nothing but the dusty concrete floor.
"Willow, close it now!" Buffy shouted as they were both pulled into the seal and encased in complete darkness in seconds.
Faith reached out, dropping the axe and her stake as she grabbed onto nothing but air. She found it hard to breathe as they fell down into the darkness, the portal from what she could guess. She felt Buffy grab on to her and hold her close as the darkness opened up into bright orange light and they fell through the sky. Faith looked down, wondering if they were falling to their death, and all she saw was what looked like water below.
Any other things running through their minds suddenly took a back seat to simply surviving the fall. Buffy let go of her just before they hit the warm, muddy water. Faith surfaced quickly, sputtering as she tried to catch her breath and looked around for Buffy frantically, trying not to panic when she didn't see her.
"Buffy?" Faith yelled as she treaded the dirty water, looking around for Buffy as she also looked for any sign of land or even a boat around her.
She looked up to the sky, the once bright orange flow now just ever so faint. The air was sticky and hot, the smell of blood and fire filling her nostrils as she tried to take a deep breath. She saw Buffy surface about twenty feet away and she swam over towards her, every muscle in her body aching as she swam against the hard current. Buffy looked deathly afraid and it was the first time Faith had really seen that in her.
"B, you okay?"
"Been better," she coughed as she turned around a couple of times. "Where the hell are we?"
"That dimension...the world between worlds, maybe. Fuck if I know, B."
"We need to get out of here," Buffy said as they felt the current pulling at them. Buffy reached out for her, holding onto her hand so they wouldn't drift apart. "Something tells me this isn't just water."
"I don't see anything around here, B. We're pretty much fucked."
"We're not," she said, pulling Faith a little closer to her as they both treaded to keep their heads above the water. "The fight we just had, now that was fucked. You get the feeling it just went...too quickly? Why is it everything happens too fast to process it?"
"B? You're freakin' out. We'll be okay," Faith said, trembling a little and not entirely sure if she believed the words coming out of her own mouth.
She pulled her in for a quick kiss, breathing heavily as Buffy pushed her away. "Faith, how can we be okay? We don't even know where we are. We're stuck floating in this poor excuse for water with no land in sight. How the hell are we going to be okay?"
"We got each other," Faith whispered. "As long as we got each other, we'll be okay, won't we?"
"Did we switch personalities instead of bodies this time?" Buffy asked, laughing softly as she stared into Faith's eyes. "I've never seen you so calm before."
"I am far from fucking calm right now, B."
They said nothing more as they floated for what felt like hours, letting the current take them wherever it would take them. Faith tried not to think at all about anything, finding it too suffocating with the thoughts in her otherwise pounding head. After what seemed an eternity, she spotted the faintest outline of land ahead of them. She let out a sigh of relief, nudging Buffy and motioning for her to look ahead instead of up at the sky as she had been for the last while.
They began to swim for the shore, both all too eager to get out of the warm, pungent water that smelled more and more like dirt and blood with every minute that passed. Faith felt like crying with relief as they reached the rocky shore, even though her lungs were about to burst from the wave of heat that washed over them. Buffy laid on her back on the smooth rocks, practically sobbing as Faith crawled to lie next to her.
"God, it's fucking hot as Hell," Faith groaned as she sat up to look out over the water. "Think that's where we're at?"
"This isn't Hell."
"Can't be too sure about that, B."
"No, this isn't Hell. Believe me when I say that I know that this isn't Hell, but it's close."
"So, what are we, like…dead?"
"No," Buffy said as she reached out and pinched her leg. "If we were dead, it wouldn't have been like that."
"Right. You would know."
"We're not going to start fighting again, are we?" Buffy asked, rolling her eyes as she sat up next to Faith. "God, I really hate it when we fight, but its different now it's like we're actually a..."
Faith knew Buffy couldn't say it. Either that or she was trying to figure out the right words to say. Wherever they stood with their relationship should be the last thing on their minds, but it wasn't. It was front and center, demanding every ounce of attention it could grab on to. Everything would always come back to it being about the two of them and wherever their relationship stood at the time. No matter where they were, what kind of fucked up situation they found themselves in, it'd always end up the same way.
"Actually a what, B?"
"Uh...a couple?" Buffy offered, shrugging as Faith stared over at her.
"Right, cos we're together now," Faith smirked as she put her arm around Buffy's shoulders. "Feels kinda weird."
"Weird?"
"Y'know, you and me," Faith said softly. "Never thought it'd ever happen and now that it has, feels like I need to be pinched to make sure I'm not dreamin'."
"You want me to pinch you?" Buffy laughed as she shook her head before resting it against Faith's shoulder. "What are we going to do, Faith?"
"You can start by pinching me."
"No, I meant about being stuck here. What are we going to do? We can't stay here."
"'Less ya learn how to fly, B, we ain't gettin' back up there," Faith said as she pointed to the orange sky. "Oh—you meant from right here, didn't ya?"
"Can't be too safe out in the open when we don't even know what's out there."
Faith sighed as she looked around, knowing exactly what Buffy meant. They weren't safe there sitting out in the open. Who knew what could be out there lurking and just waiting for the right moment to attack. Neither of them had any weapons on them and Faith cursed under her breath for not holding onto her axe. It was too late to worry about that now, though, and she laid back on the rocks, pulling Buffy down with her and closing her eyes as the heat became nearly unbearable. Wherever they were, she had faith that Willow would get them out and bring them home. It was just a waiting game now.
****
Kennedy found Willow kneeling by the seal, sobbing uncontrollably and clawing at it, her fingers bleeding freely as a result of her frantic efforts. She pulled her up from the ground, trying to calm her down as she looked around the dank, dark basement.
"Where are Faith and Buffy?"
"Gone!" Willow cried. "They're gone!"
"Gone where, Will?"
"The portal, they...I couldn't close it fast enough and it pulled them in!"
"Shit," Kennedy muttered as she struggled to hold Willow up. "We got another problem, Will."
"What?"
"I've..." she groaned as Willow fell to the floor on her hands and knees. "Whatever just happened, I lost my strength, Will."
"You..."
"I don't think I'm a Slayer anymore."
Willow looked up at her with wide eyes and blinked away her tears as she got to her feet. "You...you aren't a Slayer? What?"
"When the ground stopped shaking I felt it. It felt like it just was sucked out of me. Hit me like an invisible wall."
"Oh goddess, this is not good," Willow whispered as Kennedy led her over to the ladder. "We need to tell Giles what happened and fix this. We need to get them back."
"We need to get out of here first," Kennedy said as she let Willow climb up the ladder first. "It's almost dark and I can't protect you like I should be able to."
Willow was sobbing uncontrollably the entire walk back to the house. Kennedy kept pulling her onwards to keep her from stopping for too long. The sun had completely set by the time they reached the front door and Willow collapsed to the floor as soon as they'd walked over the threshold. Kennedy left her there and ran to the kitchen, shaking uncontrollably as Giles looked up from reading the evening paper.
"We got a problem, Giles. A major problem."
"A problem?"
Kennedy sighed as she grabbed the paper from him, knowing he had no idea what had happened. For all he knew, they'd all just left the house. Nobody had told him what was going on and that they were going after Julie and her family to try to stop them from opening the Hellmouth.
"Buffy and Faith are gone."
"Gone?"
"Gone," she said firmly as she fought back her own tears. "They got sucked into the portal inside the Hellmouth. They are fucking gone, Giles! We need to get them back. Now."
"You went after them? Without informing me?"
"Faith just...she took off! We had no other choice but to follow her!"
"Where is Willow? Did she close the Hellmouth?" Giles asked as he stood up, visibly shaking as he tried to remain calm.
"She did. Giles," Kennedy sighed as she followed him out of the kitchen. "We got another big problem."
"Which is?"
"I lost my Slayer strength."
Giles stopped and turned to look at her, all the colour in his face draining as he took a few deep breaths. "I feared something like this would happen," he said after a moment. "Willow?"
"Oh goddess," Willow sobbed as she laid on the floor by the front door. "This is all my fault."
"This isn't your fault," Giles said softly as he knelt down next to her.
"It is! I was too slow in closing the Hellmouth and when I tried to open it again, nothing!"
Kennedy tried to help Willow to her feet, failing as she didn't have the strength to pull her dead weight up from the floor. She sat down next to her instead and pulled her into her lap, rocking back and forth slowly as she tried to calm her down. Dawn, Xander, and Andrew came down from upstairs, all three of them looking confused as they saw the scene unfolding before them. Giles immediately went to the living room, going through the hundreds of books that lined the shelves.
"What happened?" Dawn asked as she sat down next to Kennedy. "Why is Willow so upset?"
"Buffy and Faith are gone," Willow cried. "They're gone!"
"Gone?" Dawn said, shaking as the tears sprung to her eyes. "They're dead?"
"No," Kennedy said as she shook her head. "Not dead. Stuck."
"Stuck where?"
"The portal inside the Hellmouth pulled them in," Kennedy said softly as she stroked her fingers tenderly up and down Willow's back as her body shook violently with every choked sob that came out. "They fought Julie and the others, but the Hellmouth still got opened. I wasn't down there so I don't know exactly what happened, but..."
"Oh god," Dawn trembled as Xander pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her. "No! They can't be gone! What are you all waiting for? Get them back!"
"We may not be able to," Giles said as he joined them back in the front hallway. "Willow, what spell did you use to close the Hellmouth?"
"The one we...talked about...before..."
"Oh lord," Giles said, shaking his head as he walked over to the stairs and sat down slowly. "Andrew, would you please fetch me the bottle of Scotch I keep on the shelf? I fear I'm going to need a drink."
"Giles, I used the wrong spell, didn't I?" Willow asked as she fought to keep the tears away. "I used the wrong spell."
"We didn't know," Kennedy whispered as she continued tenderly stroking her hands down her back, her sobs becoming less violent and frequent as she took in a few deep breaths. "Will, we'll fix this. We'll get them back. They'll be okay."
"We can't," Giles said under his breath as Andrew came back with the bottle of Scotch. "Since we last spoke of using that spell, I have done some more research. The barrier was a powerful one and I believe the energies released from its dissipation combined most unfortunately with the closure spell itself. What has occurred is a ripple effect, if you will, which has essentially undone all spells ever cast."
"So we just figure out a way to—"
"No, Willow. There is no way," Giles snapped at her as he twisted off the cap and took a couple swigs right from the bottle. "We have nothing. Absolutely nothing."
"How can you say that?" Dawn yelled as she tried to get out of Xander's tight hold. "Find something and bring them back home!"
Giles just shook his head as he took another swig from the bottle and exhaled loudly. Silence fell, broken only by the odd gasp coming from Willow or Dawn as they tried not to cry. Giles handed the bottle to Andrew as he got to his feet and headed straight for the phone in the kitchen.
"They're really gone, aren't they?" Willow sobbed as she buried her face into Kennedy's shirt. "It's all my fault, Kenny!"
"No, it's not your fault. You didn't have a choice. You couldn't close it any faster."
"I could've! They were...talking and...oh goddess," Willow sobbed as she pulled back from Kennedy and furiously wiped at her tears that continued to fall. "They'll be okay. They have to be. They'll be okay."
Kennedy held her close, not knowing what to say or do to calm her down. Dawn clutched onto Xander, crying just as hard as Willow was. Kennedy just looked at Xander, both of them with tears in their eyes and fear of not knowing what would end up happening if they couldn't bring Buffy and Faith back. Kennedy wasn't too concerned about the fact she'd lost her strength. She'd have plenty of time to worry about that after they all figured out how they were going to get Buffy and Faith back.
The night was long and spent with all of them trying to find another spell to open the Hellmouth just long enough to pull Buffy and Faith out of the portal that led to the world between worlds. It was a valley of lost souls and barely any human being had ever survived there. By the first rays of dawn, they'd only found out about the dimension Buffy and Faith were trapped in. No reversal spells to undo the spell Willow had cast to close the Hellmouth. There was no way for her to find a way to reverse the effects of the barrier spell that had stripped Kennedy of her strength—along with every Slayer activated by the spell Willow had cast on the scythe—and no way to find out how to bring back all the spells ever cast in the world for centuries.
Chaos on earth was inevitable, as Giles had put it. There were just too many spells cast, too many cloaks and barrier spells around the other Hellmouths all over the world. Who knew what the fallout with the rest would be like? He'd spent most of the night on the phone, contacting the few remaining members of the Council, trying desperately to find some answers. Any answers seeing how no matter where they looked or how hard, they found nothing that would help them.
Kennedy helped Willow to bed and laid there next to her, finally allowing a torrent of tears to fall. Willow was still crying, a little less now, but the tears just never stopped. From the way everyone was acting, it was almost as if Buffy and Faith had died rather than being sucked into the portal and trapped in a dimension that wasn't quite earth and wasn't quite Hell. Kennedy couldn't—no, she didn't want to imagine what it could be like for them there. From the books Giles had found on dimensions like the one they'd been sucked into, it came pretty close to the proverbial worst nightmare.
The world they were trapped in had much more in common with Hell than with their own reality. Kennedy felt an empty space in her heart, the space that had been filled by her friendship with Faith and by having Buffy around and a part of her life. The void was stronger, deeper in the others, but it didn't mean she didn't feel the loss also.
Even as she laid there, trying to fall asleep next to Willow, she could hear Dawn in her room crying as Xander tried to calm her down and assure her that no matter how bad it seemed right then, they'd find a way no matter how long it took. She could only faintly hear Giles on the phone, yelling at whomever he was talking to. He was as distraught as Willow, frantically searching for answers that just weren't there. Kennedy closed her eyes tightly, feeling the hot tears burning past her eyelids as Willow snuggled closer to her.
About an hour passed before Dawn knocked on the bedroom door, not saying a word as she and Xander crawled onto the bed with them. They just needed to be surrounded by their family in a time where they felt completely helpless, lost, and alone. Much like Buffy and Faith probably felt where they were. Kennedy had no doubt in her mind that they'd fix this, that they'd fix everything, and that they'd bring them back home where they belonged. They needed them now more than ever. Andrew stood in the doorway, looking uncertain as Kennedy lifted her head to look over at him. She flashed a small smile as she motioned for him to come into the room and he joined them on the bed. It was much too snug a fit, but none of them seemed to care.
They all fell asleep eventually, none of them paying attention to the wailing sirens that filled the air, the fires that burned blocks away, or the people who screamed at each other after every gunshot that rang louder and closer. Chaos had erupted, just as expected, but in the safe haven of Willow and Kennedy's bedroom, they felt as if nothing could touch them past the pain they felt over having lost Buffy and Faith.
And in the faintest moments between consciousness and sleep Kennedy saw flashes of Buffy and Faith, covered in blood she somehow knew wasn't their own, clinging to each other, trying to control their fear of being in a world so alien and hostile that not even a Slayer would be able to sleep soundly.
She wished she'd been down there with them, just for a single fleeting moment. She wanted to be there with them, suffering wherever they were suffering. She didn't want to go back to being just another normal, useless human being. She wanted the power and the strength to flow through her body once more. She wanted to save them even if she didn't know how. Family was everything and in the end, she and the others would do everything to save the ones they loved. Absolutely everything and anything.
