Chapter 17

Honor Her

A/N: Chapter seventeen of the series. I apologize if anyone liked Kennedy's character. I have never liked her and the way she was portrayed.

Disclaimer: All belongs to Joss Whedon and the parties involved in airing the shows. Original characters are mine.

Feedback: Sure, whatever.

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The Watcher's Council

December 2017

Giles heard the news and his heart ached once more.

His eyes sought his children. The young teenagers who'd become his family. The three of them had anxious faces and could sense something was wrong. Buffy was the first to gasp and sat down quickly, her legs quivering beneath her.

"Kennedy." She whispered. "She's gone, right?"

Willow covered her mouth with her hands and instantly turned to Xander for comfort.

"Yes." Giles sighed, standing up from his chair and heading towards the War Center. "Did you feel it?"

"Just now." She replied.

Giles heard the sadness in Buffy's voice. He placed his hand on her shoulder and offered a sympathetic smile. He wanted to say something to ease their pain, but he'd learnt the hard way there were any words. There just weren't any words.

"This may be part of the Senior Partners' first strike." Buffy said. "This could be the sign we were all waiting for."

"Don't know about it." Giles replied, sitting at his battle station. "From what Wesley said, there were no demons around."

"What?"

Giles remained in silence, typing slowly. The Locator Screen changed and a list with the names of every slayer and watcher appeared. He scrolled down and stopped at Kennedy's name. With slow and almost monotonous moves, he changed the status from 'active' to 'deceased'.

"A vampire killed her." Giles finally spoke, standing up from his station. "Fortunately, it didn't drink from her or defiled her body."

He sat down in his chair again and asked Ms. Granger to locate Kennedy's parents.

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Cleveland, USA

December 2017

"Rupert Giles asked us to stay in hiding until the magically empowered females can teleport us and the corpse back to London."

"The corpse had a name." Wesley replied, looking up at Illyria as she hung up. Still kneeling down in front of Kennedy's body. "Her name was Kennedy Joanna. Use it."

He once again stared at the body and felt the thing feeding off the pain and violence still in the air. He rubbed his eyes and ran his hands through his hair. He hated the way the thing made him feel every time he was around hostility and death. He spat, feeling his throat dry and sick satisfaction.

'Such contradictions.' He thought. 'I feel sorry for this dead slayer but am getting off on her death.'

"Did you listen?" Illyria asked, and for a moment her voice was so much like Fred's, to which he cringed. The thing leapt and cried for her. Wesley took deep breaths and stood up.

"I heard." He answered, softer than ever, feeling too tired to be rude to her. "Did you feel something odd? Before we found her?"

Illyria leaned her head and seemed to ponder the question for a moment.

"Yes." She replied. "Old power. Diluted, somehow."

Wesley nodded.

"I have something to ask of you." He said, looking at her eyes. She seemed surprised by the eye contact, missing entirely since the time she'd held him as he died.

"I won't go back with you." He said. A strange grimace crossed her face, but she quickly covered it.

"Why not?"

"There's something else I must do here." He answered.

Illyria nodded, unsure of why she understood.

"Very well." She seemed to want to tell something else, but she looked away, having brought down by harsh words too often.

"I will take care." Wesley said. "I'm not that hard to kill anymore."

She nodded and he reached behind, taking the knife he always carried with him. The exact same knife that had taken his life years ago, using it to cut the palm of his left hand.

"Why...?"

"My blood." Wesley said, as he let it drop around him. "It's not clean. It will interrupt the teleport spell."

"Couldn't you have called them and...?"

White light shone above them, as Wesley smirked.

"Not much time." He said. "And I'm sure they wouldn't understand."

Illyria nodded again, went to kneel before the slayer's body and picked her up. She looked one last time at Wesley before the light shone brighter and covered them completely. When the light disappeared, he found himself alone in the cemetery, his blood burning around him.

Wesley didn't like what he was about to do, but he didn't have any other choice. He let the thing take over, wanting it to guide him to the source of power he and Illyria had felt before.

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London, England

The Watcher's Council

December 2017

Light erupted in the Council's Sub Level 4.

Illyria appeared in the middle of it, carrying Kennedy in her arms, her face solemn with respect.

Buffy took a step forward and looked at Illyria's eyes. She nodded, and handed the body of the fallen slayer to Buffy. The slayer looked at Kennedy's face, so peaceful. She noticed bruises in her face, unable to heal before her death. A large gash in her forehead meant the slayer had been unconscious at the moment of her demise, and Buffy thanked God for small favors.

Willow, Giles and Xander stood at her side, not knowing what to say.

"She needs to be cleaned." Buffy said. "I won't let anyone else see her like this."

Willow placed a hand on Buffy's shoulder.

"I'll help." She whispered. Buffy nodded and both walked away.

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Dublin, Ireland

December 2017

Dawn was about to go apeshit.

On the other end of the line, Ms. Granger was trying to explain the absence of Giles, Xander, Buffy and everyone else in there. Dawn took deep breaths and tried to cool down.

"I'm telling you I have life or death info, and I need to talk to Giles right this moment!"

"At the moment, Mr. Giles, his son, Ms. Rosenberg and Mrs. Summers are quite busy, please do leave a message and I'll make sure they'll..."

"What could be more important right now!"

"A slayer died." Ms. Granger replied. "I am telling you this because you have Alpha clearance, Ms. Summers, but I shouldn't have to."

"Oh." Dawn said, feeling a bit stupid for pressing matters. "I'm truly sorry, but I really must talk to any of them."

"Can't it wait a few minutes?" Ms. Granger continued. "As you know, there are certain ceremonies slayers follow almost religiously."

"I'm aware." Dawn replied, gritting her teeth. "But what I have to say could avoid more deaths, so please, forgive me for being rude and insensitive, but I need to talk to Buffy immediately."

Ms. Granger remained silent. She'd known all the members of the inner circle of power and she could recognize the urgency in Dawn Summers' tone.

"The coven has used plenty of magic." Ms. Granger said. "But I'll arrange your immediate transport back here."

"Make it twenty minutes ago, please." Dawn countered. "You have to tell them war has already begun."

"I beg your pardon?"

"From what I learnt and now a slayer dead, I can only assume the Senior Partners are about to attack." Dawn changed her tone. "We may be hours away from war."

"We'll have you here by the hour." Ms. Granger replied. "Are you alone, Ms. Summers?"

"Connor and Annie are with me." Dawn answered.

"Very well, stay where you are, in a few minutes you'll be teleported home."

Dawn said thanks and Ms. Granger hung the phone. In the thirteen years she'd worked with the Council she had never heard Dawn Summers so agitated.

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Buffy looked around and saw very few slayers around.

All gathered in SL 4, the giant room was designed to function as a training field, a refuge or a place where slayers gathered. At the moment, it functioned as a giant chapel, where the slayers were together to pay their respects to a fallen sister.

In the middle of the vast room, a small shrine lay surrounded by candles, the only light in the room. The slayers were armed and had painted their faces as the First Slayer had.

In the shrine, Kennedy's body rested, cleaned up and dressed in a white gown. Her hands together held a stake firmly in them. A cross shaped necklace on her, meant to protect her in the afterlife.

All slayers stepped forward and kissed their sister's forehead and said goodbye. Every slayer in the Council paid their respects, until it was Buffy's turn.

She approached Kennedy and, as the other slayers before her, kissed her forehead.

"Farewell, sister." She softly said. "We mourn you, yet know we'll meet again someday."

She turned around and faced the other slayers.

"W lost one of our own today." She said, her voice booming throughout the room. "Another slayer will rise, to take her place among us."

She gave one last look at Kennedy and smiled.

"This slayer rests now." She continued. "We can only hope we'll rest one day like she does, and join her in the afterlife."

She raised a sword in the air and stared at her slayers.

"Kennedy Joanna Collins was a slayer!" She screamed. "Remember her and fight for her!"

All slayers screamed and raised their weapons in the air, a sign of respect for their fallen sister.