gen_storyteller

Title: 10 Moments in the lives of The Chosen Three
Author: bakatulip
Words: 1000
Characters: Buffy, Kendra, Faith
Rating: PG
A/N: An AU look at season 3 if Kendra hadn't stayed dead. Special installment of 10 moments for

still_grrr 's Bring Out Your Dead month, prompt Kendra.

i.
“Hello, Sam? It’s Rupert. Well, er- I’m calling to let you know that Kendra is awake. We had quite a scare. The doctors said her heart stopped for almost a minute… Yes… it was quite a shock for us as well.
…
No.
…
Actually, it may be in the best interest of many if she remains in Sunnydale for the time being.
…
Buffy Summers- well, you see… she’s… missing. Having Kendra here may… yes, my thoughts exactly.
…
Ah, well I have extra room at my flat… yes… Thank you, Sam. I will keep you aware of any changes here in Sunnydale.”

ii.
“I swear I heard something that time,” Xander spun, pointing to the bushes. “Right over there.”

“Wait here.” Kendra said, raising her stake as she stepped slowly towards the bushes, watching the leaves shudder.

About to make her move, she frowned when a cat jumped out of the bushes and ran off into the night. She looked back at Xander with a slight glare.

He shrugged, hunching back in submission, “Sorry. Just jumpy since Buf-” he cut himself off.

“Buffy left.” Her voice cracked through her stoic façade as she started walking.

Backpedal. “Not that you’re not a great slayer.”

iii.
Kendra gave up resisting when the others tried to drag her to The Bronze to unwind, but the Scoobies gave up trying to get her to drop slay mode. So while they basked in teenager-dom, Kendra scanned the dance floor.

Without a word she got up, drawing her stake from underneath her jacket as she made a bee-line for the door. By the time Buffy caught up, she was stakeless and staring at the brown-haired girl kicking serious vampire ass.

Wiping the vampire dust off her hands, the brown-haired girl approached them. “Buffy? Kendra?” She pointed to herself. “Faith.”

iv.
Faith lined up her shot and sank the 3 ball on the corner pocket before coming up and leaning on her stick. Kendra circled the table to take her shot.

“Ever notice it’s like we don’t exist?” Faith asked.

“What do you mean?” she struck the cue ball sloppily, she was never really a game player.

Faith sat down on the pool table. “You. Me. Just cause Buffy got called first, we’re like runner-ups in the Slayer pageant. They only need us if the actual Miss Sunnydale can’t fulfill her duties.”

“We’ll never be her.” Kendra said, “We share that.”

v.
Faith froze, saying over and over how she didn’t know. She looked around wildly as if searching for something to scapegoat. She didn’t know. It wasn’t her fault.

Buffy fell to her knees, telling him he’d live, but when she saw the blood flowing freely from his body, she froze as well. They’d taken a human life.

Kendra looked over the body, studying the damage. She grabbed Buffy by the shoulders and pulled her to her feet. The loss of human life is saddening. But they’re slayers, at war with evil, and war would not be war without civilian casualty.

vi.
Kendra glanced at the living room’s inhabitants.

Angel stood in the corner, arms folded over his chest.

Giles sat at his desk, cleaning his glasses. “Dear, lord.”

Buffy leaned against the kitchen counter. “Are you sure you heard right?”

“Faith is working for The Mayor.” She said. “And they want Angelus.”

“That’d explain why she was-“ Angel began then glanced at Buffy then the floor. “you know… never mind.”

“If she’s working for him, she has information.” Buffy said. “And we need to get it.”

“By any means necessary.” Kendra concurred.

Giles slid his glasses back on, formulating a plan.

vii.
“If they sent you to give me the It-Doesn’t-Have-To-Be-This-Way talk, you can shove it, jungle girl.” Faith said, turning her back for the last time on the Sunnydale Motor Inn with Kendra at her heels.

“I came here on my own.” She said, grabbing her hand. “To help you. We’re slayers. All of us. Same calling. Same destiny. It’s part of you. You can’t fight it.”

“Not fighting it. Fighting you.” And without another word Faith spun, taking Kendra’s arm, dislocating it and pinning it behind her back. “And you know what? You’re really not that much of a threat.”

viii.
“The blood of a slayer,” Buffy told Kendra tossing her an axe, which she snatched deftly out of the air with her good hand. “Sure you can fight with just one arm?”

Her eyes focused intently on the weapon before turning her gaze to the blonde. “We kill her? To save a vampire.” Her words were slow, as if trying to force them to make sense. “But she’s one of us.”

“She might be a slayer.” Buffy said. “But only so much that her blood will cure Angel. She’s not one of us. Not anymore.” She tugged on her jacket.

ix.
It was over.
Faith felt the white-hot pain scorch her as the blade of her own weapon penetrated her gut.
It was over.
She looked down at Kendra’s lifeless body, which was draped over the roof’s edge, her stomach sliced clean open by her axe and Faith’s hand.
It was over, but she wasn’t going to let Buffy win.
She looked down to the alley, where a flatbed truck rumbled along the street.
It was over.
Faith managed to snare Kendra’s arm, dragging her down with her as she went over the edge.
It was over. But Buffy had lost.

x.
Since the beginning of time there was one.
Then there were two.
And then there were three.
It was a system out of control that couldn’t sustain itself.
There was only supposed to be one, and there she was standing over the casket, looking with mild disgust at how peaceful Kendra looked. Buffy leaned down, placing a small stuffed unicorn under her arm.
First there were three.
Then all this happened.
There was one left standing. One slayer. One girl in all the world.
As they lowered the casket into the ground, Buffy’d never felt so alone in her life.