Genesis

A/N: Well I'm back again, I'm so proud I've managed to update again *pats self on back*. I have to say thank you to everyone who has taken the time to review whether here or by email. i know I've said this before but it really does mean so much that people take the time just to send a quick message of appreciation. I am not worthy of your Praise but I will take it meekly. I thank you once again.

Well this is only another short update, but i am getting back into the writing spirit so this story lives on.

I hope you enjoy, and take the time to review at the end.

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Chapter 36
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She was running, but running where? She didn’t recognise her surroundings, trees everywhere, the undergrowth was damp under foot. The trees were opening into a clearing and beyond that she could see a road, pushing her way through the long grass she approached the deserted road.

She felt strange, as if she was not really her there was something different, something unusual but she could not put her finger on it. Her senses were reeling, smells came from every direction, each one specific and clear, from the sweet smell of the damp grass to the bitterness of the asphalt surface of the road. She could even distinguish scent trails, both old and new, this is what seemed strange to her, yes even with Slayer powers her senses were much more advanced than a normal human but she had never had this level of intensity.

It almost scared her, but she felt a sense of comfort throughout her, as if this is how things are supposed to be. As if decades of civilisation had taken its toll on the Slayer, the natural senses and powers forgotten over time, discarded, superfluous to requirements. Maybe this is what the council was really afraid of, the pure natural Slayer, the primitive, the uncontrollable.

The force of the blood pumping through her veins made every cell in her body react with power, each step sure and positive. She could hear the heavy thud of her heart beating erratically in her chest, she heard each breath enter and exit her body.

Without even realising she had continued on her journey, as if being drawn towards something, or was she following something? She didn’t know, but somehow she knew that she had to keep going.

She sensed a presence with her, but couldn’t actually locate it, there was someone or something following her. Following her, yet she felt a strange sense of belonging to whatever or whoever was there, she wasn’t afraid, once again she felt comforted by the presence, knowing that she wasn’t alone that something was there along for the ride, ready to protect her, she felt like she had a guardian angel with her, even though she had given up on that idea a very long time ago, but somehow that’s what feeling this presence gave her.

Following the road but keeping to the undergrowth she and her companion continued on their journey. The road was steep and winding, off to the side she could hear the fast flow of a river rushing its way across rocks and fallen trees and from the direction of the flow she was definitely heading upstream. The trees began to tower over once again, but she continued, still not knowing where she was heading just knowing that she had to keep going.

Finally she reached the brow of the hill she had been climbing, looking far off into the distance there was something, something of importance, she couldn’t make it out, she focussed as hard as she could knowing that this was the reason she was here, this was what she came for.

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Cordelia had made her way to the roof knowing that that was where Buffy would be. Silently she stood admiring the still form in front of her, she felt a sense of awe when she was in the blondes’ presence, not that she would ever let on anything about that, no Cordelia Chase never awed anyone. Smiling slightly to herself she moved closer to the sleeping Slayer.

Noting the tiny frame she remembered back to the first time she saw the girl, well the young woman in front of her. Back in High School they had both been completely different people to who they are now, if you had told Cordelia that by the time she was twenty three she would have blinding visions showing her the most horrific demon attacks, fighting along side a vampire or the fact that she would given birth to one of said demons whose plan was to take over the world, she would have laughed in their face.

But she remembered back to before Buffy had arrived in Sunnydale, there had always been a silent knowledge of things that go bump in the night, but it was as if the whole town had been conditioned into ignoring it or to continually pass things off to gang related incidents. Then Buffy turned up and within a short space of time there were people willing to fight back, it had been time to take their town back, or at least put up a fight for their town, and even though Sunnydale was no more Cordelia had felt a sense of achievement for the people who had actually survived.

Life had never been normal in Sunnydale and the ex-High School Queen felt a pang of guilt at the way she treated Buffy in the beginning, well how she treated them all, acting as if she was better than them when all the while they had been out there fighting to keep her town safe, even though the odds had always been stacked against them they continued to fight, never willing to just give in.

They had all come along way since then, they had all grown up, maybe too quick. They had all seen many tragedies in their short life, and each one had lost someone they loved, some had lost more than others. Cordelia remembered back to when Buffy’s mother had been alive, the woman was amazing she accepted so much and she loved her daughters no matter what, she had even accepted that Dawn was formed of some kind of cosmic energy and even knowing it she never once thought of Dawn as anything more than her own daughter, conceived through love and into a loving family.

A small whimper brought her out of her thoughts, focussing once again on the blonde in front of her she noticed that she was dreaming. She watched as the blonde’s face seemed to illustrate her dream, there was a look of shock followed by a look of confusion. Cordelia kneeled down and placed a gentle hand on the blonde’s shoulder being careful as not to startle the Slayer she gently shook her bringing her back from her slumber.

“Huh, what?? Where??” Buffy was disorientated, blinking a few time to clear her head, she focused on the tall brunette in front of her.

“Hey Buffy, sorry to wake you but its time.” The ex-cheerleader informed the blonde.

“Time… time oh shit! How long have I been asleep?” Buffy stood quickly and began to make her way back down to the main house.

“Uh I would say not long enough Miss Grouchy pants!” Cordelia said with a smirk.

“Shut up Cordy.” Buffy said as a matter of fact not really in the mood for one of Cordelia's games.

There was something in her head, a memory of some kind but she couldn’t place what or where. Trying hard to remember, she had been dreaming, yes that’s it, had she had another Slayer dream? She thought as hard as she could but there was nothing, she just remembered the feelings she had, safe, comforted, powerful, but she couldn’t remember any details. She would have to talk to Giles about this, she knew that whatever it was it was important.

The two quickly descended the stairs and made their way back into the library where the rest of the gang had been researching. On entering the library everyone stopped what they were doing and all focus was on the petite Slayer.

“I’m fine guys, now lets get on with this location spell.” Buffy answered the question running around the minds of those in the library.

“Ah yes, well then, um, Willow would you like to start?” Giles asked taking off his glasses to clean them.

The redhead stood from her research position at the large table and began to pick up all the things she needed for the spell. This location spell was going to be different to the others she had done, for this one she was going to use the Scythe.

There had been more research done on the Scythe over the months they had been settled. Some of the SIT’s had taken it on, like a mission to find out all they could on the ancient weapon. They had come across quite a few interesting facts, one of them being that the Scythe could be used to locate the existing Slayers.

Even though Willow had tried to use the Scythe to locate more New Slayers and hadn’t had any luck, other than of course finding out the next true route the Slayer line would take. She still hadn’t told anyone what she had seen that day, but now was not the time to worry about that, she had to help find Faith.

Clearing her mind of everything Willow set about preparing the spell, she set out different herbs in a formed pattern, then placed the Scythe on top. Sitting Indian style in front of the arrangement Willow closed her eyes.

Once again there air seemed to shift around her, yet no movement could be felt. The Scythe started to glow emitting swirls of smoke into the room, the smoke circled around weaving in all directions as if trying to find something. Willow sat motionless her eyes still closed, she could sense everything that was happening, in her minds eye she could see the smoke rising and falling in it’s own unique rhythm as if dancing to music only it could hear.

The smoke then seemed to be slowing, becoming dense as it began to lazily move back towards the Scythe. Finally the smoke descended covering the Scythe, wrapping the ancient form in its blackness. Just as it seemed that the smoke was about to rest it surged upwards then turned and headed straight for the witch.

Willow felt the breath leave her body as she was hit with the power emanating from the smoke, she was almost knocked backwards but held her position. This was the part she had been waiting for, she had to control the power inside her. She had to let it direct her to Faith without losing control or she may be lost forever.

The redhead had not specified the dangers in using this spell, as she knew that Buffy would not have let her try it. She was calling on powers that had never been seen before, powers that enabled her to see things, follow things, find things, but if she lost control of that power it would take over her mind, only allowing her to see what it wanted her to. She would be lost forever in her own mind the power of the Scythe controlling her every thought.

She had caught the power raging through her and started to follow it, scenes ran through her mind at high speed, buildings, roads, parks, everything flowed to her, each location a flash before the next appeared. She felt dizzy not knowing how long she could hold on, blood had started to seep from her nose, her face was screwed up showing that the red-head was in pain, she was struggling to hold on.

Then all at once it was calm, Willow slouched to the floor, the breath once again leaving her body. The air in the room became very still, not a sound or movement could be detected. The Scythe lay still on top of the herbs as if nothing had happened, the only thing to show that a spell had just taken place was the slumped body of the witch.

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Kennedy was pacing back and forth in the hallway, she was worried, no in fact she was scared. They had all been told not to enter the room while her girlfriend had been performing the spell, but when so much time had passed she couldn’t wait any longer. She had burst through the closed door to find the body of her lover slumped on the ground.

Now she paced the hallway, Willow had been taken up to her apartment and was now being cared for by Buffy and Ami. Buffy had forcibly removed from her the apartment, as she had been panicking and threatening to do untold damage to things if Willow was not going to be ok.

Buffy had tried to calm her but it was no use, so she was now pacing back and forth. Dawn had been sent out to join her, but all Dawn had done was sit with her back resting against the wall. She had sat in silence watching the animated tirade that was the brunette. Dawn had considered more than once at how much like Faith Kennedy really was, there was the feisty no one can mess with me attitude, but there was the underlying calmness, the side that very few people had the chance to see.

Not only was Kennedy worrying about her lover inside the apartment, not knowing what was happening to her, was she ok, would she survive? These were all questions running through Dawn’s own mind, so she knew they would be ten times worse for the new Slayer. But every now and then Dawn was catching Faith’s name thrown into the torrent of verbal expletives, realising once again that there was more to the ranting than just Kennedy having one of her moments, Dawn’s mood became quite sombre once again.

There must be more they could be doing than just sitting around waiting for something to happen, there had to be more research to be done, and why weren’t Angel and Spike out looking for Faith, it was dark already, they were wasting time.

“Kennedy would you stop with the pacing!!” Dawn exclaimed while standing abruptly.

“Huh! Wha…” The young Slayer turned to face the taller brunette.

“I said stop with the pacing, neither of us are helping any out here, come on lets go back down and see what else can be done.” Dawn said taking the lead toward the elevator.

“I’m not leav….”

“There’s nothing we can do, now come on.” Not taking no for an answer Dawn began to pull Kennedy with her towards the elevator. “I’m sure Buffy will let us know if there’s any change.” She continued trying to calm the brunette.

“Ok, but if there’s anything, any sign of anything I’m back up here ok.” Kennedy said forcibly. She wasn’t happy about leaving Willow, she had not been impressed when she was ejected from her own apartment, but could see that she was not helping and that she was causing a problem for the others. But that didn’t mean she had to like it.

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When they returned to the library it was to a scene of solemn calmness, Anya was currently comforting Xander. Willow was of course his best friend, they had been through so much together and since the ‘episode’ as they refer to it, they have become so much closer. Both had been astonished at how much power their love for each other actually had, after all, all the strength in the world could not stop Willow, but the love and commitment shown by Xander had been the breaking point for her.

Spike was standing quietly over in the far corner, his mind seemed to be elsewhere, while Angel and Cordelia sat on the couch together, neither of them realising how close the actually were. Giles and Wesley ever the watchers sat at the large table, each with an ancient looking tome in front of them, but on closer inspection neither seemed to be reading them.

No one in the room seemed to notice the new arrivals until Dawn cleared her throat.

“Ah, Dawn, Kennedy is there any change?” Giles enquired about the redhead.

“No Giles, there’s been no change, she still hasn’t woken.” Dawn answered dejectedly.

“There has to be something we can do?” Kennedy started to rant once more.

“Like what Kennedy, none of us knew the extent of that spell and what damage it could do. Willow kept that well and truly hidden from us all.” Wesley said quite curtly, after all Willow should have told them of the dangers, she had been trusted to research the spell on her own, after all she still wasn’t quite over her ‘episode’ anything could have happened.

“She would never do anything to hurt any of us, not anymore.” Kennedy replied approaching the ex-watcher.

“How can you be so sure, she turned on them all before.”

“Because I know and trust her, maybe you should learn who to trust, you always get it wrong don’t ya!” Kennedy’s hands were becoming fists as she stalked toward the once docile watcher.

Angel had been watching the exchange, he knew how Wesley could be, opening his mouth before he actually thought about things, thinking that he was the authority on all things good and evil. But in actual fact he was as Kennedy had stated the one to get it wrong most time.

Standing from his position on the couch he stepped in front of the angry Slayer not allowing her easy access to Wesley.

“Out of my way Angel, he needs to be taught some things.” Kennedy said not backing down an inch, she was frustrated and angry but mostly she was upset, she had finally found the person she loved more than anything and it was possible that that person was going to be taken away from her.

“No Kennedy if you want to fight Wesley you have to come through me first.” Angel stood a little taller puffing out his chest trying his best to look menacing.

“Not a problem.” Before he could register what Kennedy had said she had swung and punched him straight in the face.

“Woohoo go girl.” Spike called from the corner, he liked nothing more than Angel getting his comeuppance. “Beaten by a girl huh Peaches.” He taunted.

Rubbing his jaw where Kennedy had hit him Angel smirked. “That all you got Slayer?”

Kennedy felt the rage inside her as she was mocked by the Souled vampire, the blood was pumping in her veins, she lashed out once more, this time her fist was caught by the vampire who spun her quickly. He held her close to him, her back against his chest, but she was ready for him. With a gigantic force she flung her head backwards, her head making violent contact with his nose.

Taking the opportunity she had created Kennedy used it to her advantage, she stepped out and swung Angels arm around, this time he was facing away from her, she pushed him forward and he stumbled just about keeping his footing.

Kennedy went to follow up with a flying kick, but Angel had turned in time to deflect her foot knocking her off balance. Flipping herself back onto her feet they began to circle each other again, neither of them willing to back down, not yet anyway.

Angel knew that this is what Kennedy needed, she was after all a Slayer, and Slayers needed to hit out at things, even Buffy had taken the opportunity when needed, she hadn’t always been the quiet silent type that the others had seen, for Angel as well as Spike had seen the ‘other’ side to Buffy’s Slayer, especially when upset or out of control.

The others in the room had begun to gather round, each of them needing the distraction, and well none of them brave enough to interrupt the fighting pair. Spike watched carefully, he was impressed at the way the young brunette was fighting, he hadn’t seen such natural ability since Buffy yet Kennedy had a rawness to her, a lot like the way Faith fought, he could see a perfect mix between the two styles, flawless movement yet a style of her own.

Xander was watching to, he knew what Angel was doing and he was grateful. Kennedy would probably do something stupid otherwise, like go out on her own to find some vampire or demon to slay and end up in a nest she couldn’t handle. Xander had seen plenty of times what emotion in fighting could do, sure the adrenaline pumping gave the fighter more power, but allowed them to be more careless, taking chances they wouldn’t normally take.

Angel had swung at Kennedy with a few punches that had hardly connected, she was fast that much was for sure, upping his game a little he sped up on his attacks. Swinging from left then right, kicking jumping spinning until he could see the Slayer begin to tire.

Just as they were slowing down, Cordelia screamed grabbing her head. She was having a vision, Angel stopped what he was doing and with lightning speed he was at her side. His arms instinctively wrapped around the ex-cheerleader comforting her, waiting for her to come out of the vision.

“Oh my God Faith.” Cordelia exclaimed when she was able to focus.

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TBC

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Yeah I know another cliff hanger... but what can I say I gotta keep you interested.... you ah... you are interested right??? *bites nails*

I'll update as soon as possible
Thanks everyone