Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.
Buffy was in the training room furiously punching the training dummy before she punched its head off as she panted out heavily, sweat forming on her forehead and soaking into her tank top.
"By my count it's fourth one now."
Buffy turned to see Dawn enter with Willow as Buffy sat down on the bench and took the bottle of water and drank, while she picked the towel, wiping the sweat off her face.
"This is all my fault. I did this." Buffy sighed. "Now I have to fix this."
"I think you're beating yourself up too much over it." Dawn said. "Desperate times, desperate measures. I think you did what you could and tried your best under the worst of circumstances."
"Maybe so. But still…" Buffy sighed as she looked outside the window. "After Angel called me about Dana… I realized that I should've thought more through what we did back in Sunnydale. I never asked for this and then I forced millions of young girls into fighting a war they had never asked to be part of and I may have given powers to people who shouldn't have it. We beat the First Evil, but at what cost?"
The idea of thousands of girls as unhinged as Faith or deranged as Dana with Slayer powers sent shivers down her spine. She had activated every Potential in the world but there was no pattern to it, so for all she knew, for every Slayer fighting the good fight just like Buffy, Faith and the Slayers the Scoobies had recruited, there may as well was another unhinged Slayer using her powers for their own personal gain.
"Hey, you're not the only one who messed up. I did the spell. I activated all the Slayers. We all screwed up. Now we'll have to find a way to live with it and make things right." Willow pointed out.
"Isn't this why we're doing this? So that we can make up for our mistake?"
They turned to see Faith enter.
"Look, as someone who's been there, don't kick yourself. That doesn't help. All you can do is make the best out of a bad situation. And look around." Faith gestured around. "You didn't only create Slayers fighting evil, what you're trying to do is form a family here. Look around. Look at how many of them have we brought together, especially you. The collateral damage and unintended consequences shouldn't diminish what we've accomplished here."
"You make it sound so easy and simple." Buffy sighed as she stared outside the window and Faith sighed.
"But we both know it never is that way." Faith said as she took a breath. "You wanted to make a change, it didn't mean the world was ready for it. You made a mistake for which the whole world might be paying the price right now and you can't take living with it, but there's no escaping the fact that you screwed up big time, B. You need to accept and deal with it. Then maybe you'll find a way to be free."
Buffy knew Faith had a point. She just wished there was an easy answer for all of it.
"Wow." Dawn said, her, Willow and Buffy looking at Faith impressed.
"You've come a long way." Buffy said.
"But we still got a long way ahead of us to go, don't we?" Faith pointed out.
Before Buffy could respond, Xander entered. "Hey. We may have a lead."
Buffy and Dawn followed Xander, while Willow stayed behind with Faith.
"Thank you." Willow said.
"For what?" Faith inquired.
"What you said." Willow explained.
"Ah, it's nothing. I've done guilt-tripping before." Faith said. "And as someone who's been there, dwelling on what might've been never helps. Accept your mistakes and find a way to do better in the future. It may never be enough, but one day it may balance the scales."
Willow smiled at Faith appreciatively as they stared at each other and neither one of them knew who made the first move but next thing they knew, they were holding each other by their shirts, pulling them to each other as they kissed, for a moment forgetting about everything around them.
"I sent a message to Riley, he confirmed that few days ago at least three military outposts had been ransacked by women, one of them matching Simone's description." Xander said as they met in the briefing room, with Xander showing the footage of the Slayers led by Simone attacking the soldiers and stealing guns, while Buffy was disturbed by the brutality they were showing, beating the guards to a pulp before Simone picked a gun and shot one of them in the head, executing him.
Buffy and Willow winced at seeing the gunshot, instantly flashing to when Warren had showed up with a gun at Buffy's garden, wounding Buffy and killing Tara.
"Andrew wasn't kidding. That girl's nuts." Buffy said.
"Which is why we gotta find her before she does too much damage." Faith said before they heard the door slamming as Andrew burst in.
"And that is where I come in." Andrew said cheerfully and everyone refrained themselves from groaning and rolling their eyes as they turned to him. "Prepare yourselves, mon frère and frère-ettes, guess who's got a lead on one Simone Doffler?" He gestured to himself. "Whaa-a-a-t up?" He said, popping a 'p', expecting them to laugh but no one was amused.
"How did you find her anyway?" Xander inquired.
"Not her. Nisha. One of our recruits who came with her. I checked in on some demon activity and one Ragna spider demon in Milan got on my radar. We got some reports about attacks on banks, military bases and such and bandit gang of women roaming the festive Italian countryside, forcefully evicting people from their homes, one of them matching Simone's description. Not a pretty sight, pretty vicious and cruel. And Nisha kind of stood out, since, well, take a look at this." Andrew said, handing Buffy a photo of a woman caught in some webbing in the woods.
"That's Nisha?" Buffy asked and Andrew nodded.
"My best guess is she got caught in the Ragna demon's trap." Andrew said.
"How come she's not…" Xander began.
"…a snack for Shelob already? Ragna demons keep their prey alive for 36 hours before feeding, so we've got time, but we gotta hurry, ay-sap." Andrew said.
"OK, so that settles it. We're going to Italy." Buffy said.
"Buffy." Xander gestured as he and Buffy went aside as he lowered his voice. "You sure you want to go out in the field with Andrew of all people?"
"Hey, first of all, I've got no intention of going alone, even though we're already stretched a bit thin." Buffy said. "And second of all, I'll make sure he won't screw anything up this time."
"It's not that that I'm worried about." Xander said. "We're already shorthanded and while I think you should get some backup…" He trailed off and Buffy sighed, realizing what he meant. They were already stretched thin enough with the Slayers searching for Simone, which left Buffy with the people she would trust the least.
Kennedy was in a handstand pose on a log, training like how Giles had shown other girls as she closed her eyes, trying to focus, when Buffy entered and tapped on the doorsill, causing for Kennedy to be distracted as she fell down and grunted before she looked up and saw Buffy and glared, realizing she was the cause of her losing focus.
"Hey!" Kennedy snapped.
"Now you know how it feels when things don't go your way." Buffy smirked.
"Did you come here to mock me or do you want something?" Kennedy grumbled as she got up.
"We've got a task to do. Simone went rogue and ransacked our armory and took with her some of our recruits." Buffy said and Kennedy tensed. Even though there was no love lost between Buffy and Kennedy, even Kennedy was disturbed by how extremist Simone was, so she could already tell this was serious. "We may have a lead and I need a small group of people with me. For now it's recon only, but things could get ugly easily. Can I trust you to put your feelings aside for the sake of the mission?"
While Kennedy was tempted to talk back to Buffy, she had enough common sense to know this was bigger than any petty grudges and while she was sulky and distant after Willow had broken up with her, when it had become clear to Kennedy that she was missing Tara, considering how often Willow was muttering Tara's name in her sleep, which angered Kennedy that she could never replace her, she knew that lashing out about it wouldn't help her case at all as she took a deep breath. "When?"
"In an hour." Buffy said and Kennedy nodded as she began packing up. "And one thing."
Kennedy sighed and rolled her eyes. "I know. I know. Take this seriously—"
"No, not that. We're bringing Andrew with us." Buffy said.
Kennedy looked like if she wanted to slam her head on the wall repeatedly as her jaw hung open. If this was a cartoon, it would drop on the floor and then bounce right back up.
Later
Buffy, Kennedy and Andrew were approaching the customs at the airport, with Kennedy having headphones on with the music player running on her phone, while Buffy took a deep breath, having to endure Andrew's unending rambling.
"…unless the crystal in lightsaber is made of kryptonite, then, sure, a Jedi could totally kick Superman's ass, unless Superman would just use heat vision to slice the Jedi's hand off, but why would a Jedi fight Superman in the first place? Duh! They are on the same side!"
Kennedy turned up the volume in her phone, listening to music loudly, while trying to drown out Andrew's voice as she groaned and rolled her eyes, while Buffy closed her eyes and tried to focus, remembering Giles's training as she did her best to ignore Andrew.
"…so, yeah, the Sarah Connor Chronicles were fine, but c'mon, at least give Arnold a cameo or something, but not the CGI Salvation did, since that was so stupid."
Kennedy was banging her head on the cushion on the seat in the airplane, trying hard not to lunge at Andrew and throttle him as she clenched the handles of her seat, imagining crushing Andrew's throat, while Buffy was reading the magazine, while occasionally looking at the clouds outside the window, ignoring Andrew.
"I heard they cast Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor and Arnold will return, so I'm really hyped…"
Italy
Kennedy was sleeping in the backseat with earflaps on to ignore Andrew, while Andrew was driving the car with Buffy riding shotgun as she sighed, having to endure Andrew's rambling.
"And really, I was skeptical about Casino Royale, since the original was good but then Daniel Craig became my new favorite James Bond—"
"Wait." Andrew suddenly got her full attention as Buffy looked at him in surprise. "You said 'Daniel Craig.' I dig him." She said adoringly.
"I know, right? So gritty and real." Andrew nodded.
"Yeah! And that scene where he runs down the rooftops and cranes? I've done that too and I was still scared for him!" Buffy said worriedly.
"Right! I know! Gritty, real and vulnerable!" Andrew nodded.
"And those swim trunks. Hello, daddy. So hot!" Buffy said.
"Yeah… I'm not sure how to respond to that." Andrew said lamely as Buffy laughed, not believing she was relating with Andrew of all people.
"Who would've thought we'd be geek-bonding?" Buffy asked.
"I know." Andrew nodded. "And what do you think of Pierce Brosnan?"
"In what? Mrs. Doubtfire?" Buffy asked.
Andrew mock-gasped and mock-glared at her. "How dare you!"
Buffy and Andrew both laughed out, while Kennedy was sleeping, oblivious of them bonding.
The car parked outside the woods as Buffy turned to the backseat and shook Kennedy gently. Kennedy groaned softly and stirred, rubbing her eyes as she woke up.
"We're here. Get ready." Buffy said.
Kennedy nodded before she managed to recover as she yawned and got up, now fully awake as they went out of the car and Andrew pulled out his phone.
"The readings say it's this way." Andrew said.
"It's kind of weird that Simone kicks things up a notch almost a year after Slayers become global and it's not like everyone is Slayer-phobic." Kennedy pointed out.
"Not really. Once the Slayers became a worldwide thing, she saw an opportunity and took it. People become wary increasingly to the point of paranoia, which the likes of Simone takes advantage of. They'll either right away use their power to beat you into submission or seem docile and harmless at first and then strike, when you least expect it and never see them coming. They put you on the ground hard to put themselves on top, make sure everyone knows they'll get away with anything as long as they have the power and no one can do anything about it or is too scared to." Andrew said.
"How do you know for sure?" Buffy asked.
"I've got experience with bullies growing up, I know how people like them think." Andrew said and Buffy and Kennedy nodded, seeing his point.
They went deep into the woods and were at the valley, when they saw Nisha suspended above with steel wires ensnaring her.
"What is the webbing made of?" Kennedy asked.
"Steel and iron. That's why almost no prey escapes the Ragna demons." Andrew said before grinning at Nisha. "Looks like we've got ourselves in quite a jam, Nisha."
"How about if you put me down, since when I get out, I'm gonna slam my foot on your ass so hard—"
"'Thank you, Buffy, for the daring rescue.'" Buffy said sarcastically. "'You're welcome, Nisha.'"
"Whatever. Just get me down before it comes back." Nisha snapped.
"What comes back?" Kennedy asked before they heard clicking and turned around and saw a giant spider march in. "Ah. Looks like Shelob is here for a snack."
"How do we fight a Ragna demon?" Buffy wondered as she and Kennedy prepared themselves before they saw Andrew pull out what looked like a whistle and the Ragna demon retreated, while Nisha fell down from the webbing.
"How did you do that?" Kennedy asked.
"You didn't know?" Nisha inquired. "Ragna demons have been extinct for a millennia. But someone spent months in Italy performing genetic experiments to breed them back into existence." She glared at Andrew as Buffy and Kennedy whirled on him.
"You bred a dangerous demon and lied to me about it?!" Buffy snapped as he looked sheepish.
"I didn't lie. I said Nisha was caught in Ragna demon's trap. I never said where did the trap come from." Andrew clarified and both Buffy and Kennedy looked like they were going to rip him apart with their bare hands.
"Why, you little—" Kennedy snarled, when they heard soaring in the air and looked up to see an RPG sailing towards them as their eyes widened.
"Incoming!" Buffy yelled as they dived to the ground, while RPG exploded upon impact, sending them flying away a few feet.
Kennedy was knocked out as soon as she hit the ground, while Buffy's vision was blurry, though she saw Andrew trying to talk to Simone but due to losing consciousness slowly, she was only able to catch parts of their conversation.
"…it's not too late… just come back…"
"…I'm a soldier… bring about change…"
Buffy heard some grunting and struggle as she saw Andrew trying to fight Simone but the last thing she saw was Simone punching Andrew in the face and knocking him out, when her vision cut to black.
Kennedy. Eugh. Nuff said. In this story she and Willow are broken up, since, Tillow forever! Though Willow/Faith after Faith's arc in Angel Seasons 1 and for and Willow's in BTVS Season 6 had potential and there was a rumor Willow/Faith was planned but was scrapped due to unavailability of Eliza Dushku at the time and we know what the showrunners decided to do after that.
While I dislike Kennedy a little less than most obviously annoying female characters in TV series because she is a bit better and more tolerable in comics and has at most three moments when she deserves to get put in her place, doesn't make her any less horrible in general. In this fic Willow had already broken up with her, since, well, don't get me started on the pairing, especially with Kennedy's advances towards Willow where Willow was clearly uncomfortable with them that screamed 'sexual predator' alarms already and do not get me started on the bed scene and then the fact she fakes being sick while Giles goes out with other Potentials to train them just so Kennedy can be with Willow. Frankly, everytime I rewatch BTVS, I purge out of my mind the scenes with Kennedy after seeing them again, since she was just a spoiled arrogant brat and the way how she pursued Willow screamed 'sexual predator.' In her right mind, Willow would've gotten a restraining order against her but at least they broke up in comics later, even though this pairing never should've existed in the first place, there's a rumor they wanted to do Willow/Faith but scrapped it due to Eliza Dushku being available a bit late and I find Kennedy so terrible I always flush out of my mind most of her appearances in the show, since she's just an annoying self-entitled arrogant brat and a sexual predator, even though she got a bit better in comics and Willow broke up with her eventually.
The bedroom scene with Kennedy's advances towards Willow, when Willow was clearly uncomfortable just sealed it for me, though there are worse female characters in other fandoms I can think of, such as Iris West in The Flash or Lana Lang in Smallville or Rose Tyler in Doctor Who off the top of my head. The only reason I have a bit smaller dislike towards her than most people is she is a little bit better in comics, mainly after Willow breaks up with her, despite that she still has two or three instances where she just pisses one off, doesn't make her any less despicable though and everytime I write BTVS fic, which takes place during or after Season 7, I try to keep Kennedy's appearance to a minimum, since I just don't want to deal with her, unless I want to put her in her place and take her down few pegs one way or another like in some of my one-shots.
Whenever I have to involve Kennedy in my stories, I either give her a reality check and put her in her place and try to deal with her as little as possible or try to write her closer to comic books where she is a bit more tolerable, though after how she pursued Willow, especially during the bedroom scene, she's still horrible. While it is tempting to kill her off as some other writers have done it before, I don't have planned anything that would end with her getting killed off, even though I'd feel no sympathies for her, needless to say she won't appear in the story for too long, since I plan on getting rid of her in the early stage of the story, so that we wouldn't have the displeasure of having to endure her here too much, so she's going to bug off in the next chapter or the other and we won't see her around for the rest of the fic. I'm not planning to kill Kennedy off, even though it's tempting, but I'm sure you're going to love her exit from the story and it's not like she shall be missed *grins mischievously*
What is sad is how annoying and horrible Andrew and Kennedy were in the show, they were a little bit more tolerable in the comics, despite that they would still regress to their patterns at some times, like Andrew screwing things up and the Scoobies having to clean up his mess and Kennedy being less than a brat, mostly, but then being all snarky and bratty again on few occassions, despite mellowing out and maturing a bit, mainly after Willow breaks up with her.
While Willow/Tara will always be OTP for me and will have a special place in my heart, Willow/Faith had some potential after BTVS Season 6, so you can already guess where is this going to go.
So, what do you guys think?
Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this so far.