A Lecture Hall at UC Sunnydale, Shortly Afterward (March 2003/Tuesday Fandom Time)

[brat_inslayage]

If she'd had time to worry about it, Kennedy might have resented the fact that she had no backup here, but the disastrous reaction to Willow's new look (including a lot of people freaking out about the First being back, until Buffy punched Willow-who-looked-like-Warren in the face and realized she'd actually made contact) had been interrupted by Spike collapsing in the corner, clutching his head. Something about his chip misfiring, if she'd been hearing the talk around the house correctly, and anyway Willow had insisted on taking care of things herself, because this wasn't anything more than some kind of glamour she could undo.

Kennedy, naturally, had slipped out of the house after her and left the others to deal with Spike; it had taken her a while to track Willow down, at which point she flat-out refused to be deterred from tagging along. When Willow said that maybe the UC Sunnydale Wicca group might be able to help with their magical problem, Kennedy had expected something more like the Fandom Magic Reserves, not...

Whatever the hell this was. It seemed very nice and spiritual and everything, nothing wrong with that, but not what they needed. Awkwardly fitting in a not-comforting way that they'd ended up here-- knowing that Willow had met Tara at one of these group meetings was awkward enough-- and found everyone meditating with glowing crystals around their necks. Which, okay, not slamming anyone's lifestyle choices, but how was this going to be helpful? Worse and kind of creepy that one of the members, a girl named Amy who immediately rubbed Kennedy the wrong way, seemed to have some kind of bad history with Willow.

"You think she knows what she's doing?" Kennedy asked in an undertone, leaning over to talk to the girl sitting beside her.

"You got a better idea?" Considering that Vaughne was the leader of the UC Sunnydale Wicca group, that wasn't a reassuring answer, but nothing about this had been reassuring so far.

So really? Watching Amy and Willow sit cross-legged in the middle of the lecture hall stage with yet another glowing crystal? Not helping Kennedy feel any better about the situation, especially when she had to remind herself that somewhere inside that unfamiliar guy whom she really wanted to punch and worse for what he'd done was the girl she'd really come to care about.

"Give back the form the soul requires," Amy's voice carried softly across the hall to where Kennedy and Vaughne were sitting, the rest of the group clustered in the rows behind them. Not exactly how Kennedy had expected her first brush with college life to go. "See that the balance is put right."

The crystal glowed brighter, but that turned out to be a bad sign: Vaughne had to hold Kennedy back when Willow yelped and dropped the crystal like it had burned her. Also a bad sign: Amy pulling back in alarm and asking if it had worked, because duh.

Even worse was hearing Willow yell, in Warren's voice, "No it didn't, you dumb bitch!" just before slapping Amy, and that was so unlike the girl she'd gotten to know that Kennedy didn't let Vaughne stop her from jumping to her feet this time.

"Willow!" she burst out, equal parts alarm and warning, and it was incredibly unnerving to see the very Warren-like look of rage melt into terror that was unmistakably Willow despite the unfamiliar features.

"No, I didn't," she sputtered in protest. "It wasn't me. It was Warren!"

Oh, they were in the shit now.

***

"Dammit!" Kennedy slammed a fist into Willow's magical barrier again and watched it ripple but not give way, then grimaced and shook her stinging hand. Once, a long time ago, she'd recited a spell to undo a barrier something like this, but it had been clumsy and uncertain, like wielding that giant SOLDIER sword Zack gave her without even the passing familiarity of understanding weapons. Besides, she'd stumbled over the words then, and wouldn't even remember them now, and she knew just enough about magic to know that she wasn't going to try and bluff her way through that. (Which would assume that this barrier was the same kind of spell, and she wasn't doing that either.)

It had to be desperation, because god knew this had never worked before, but she pulled out her phone and tried to dial Karla. Not her first go-to witch, granted, but under the circumstances calling Tara would be the worst idea ever, and...

The call didn't go through anyway, which was just as well since Kennedy had barely hit the Call button before realizing that explaining things to Karla wouldn't be any less messy.

Shit. Shit shit shit, she was completely on her own here to deal with the kind of problem she'd always left to more qualified parties, didn't know how to handle...

And had to, for Willow's sake. Willow might have thrown that barrier up and run off, blurting out something about how she was actually becoming Warren, not just looking like him, but if that was meant to warn Kennedy off it was so going to backfire. No way in hell was she about to abandon that girl now, even if Willow was trying to keep her away. They'd left Raven to her own devices and her own pain once, and look how that had turned out.

She heard the clatter of crystals from the lecture hall-- someone must still be inside. Maybe these campus Wiccans weren't the same caliber of witch that Willow was, but maybe they could at least break this spell and get her out.

Amy	It was just Amy left, as it turned out, packing up the last of the group's paraphernalia into a box. That could be a stroke of luck; Amy struck her as the only one of the group who knew anything useful.
Kennedy	Kennedy cleared her throat. "Where'd they go?"
Amy	"They took off," Amy replied matter-of-factly. "That was a little too creepy, even for us."
Kennedy	She was pretty calm about it, Kennedy couldn't help noticing. Kind of like she'd taken it so in stride when a strange guy claiming to be a friend of hers had shown up. Something was a little off here, huh? More than a little; Willow was out there somewhere, freaking out and acting completely unlike herself, and it made Kennedy more than a little sick to think about her being trapped forever in the body of a murdering little shit, becoming the guy who'd killed Tara, having to live with that--
Amy	"You're really worried about her." It must have shown on her face, given Amy's observation. Kennedy shot Amy an irritated look-- she didn't need that condescending pity, thanks. As Kennedy went back to staring at the door, Amy went on, undeterred and still with the patronizing: "She's going to be fine. She's strong, and she's dealt with a lot worse." She gave Kennedy the kind of deliberate, assessing glance that Kennedy was a fan of giving other people, just to see if they squirmed, and you know, it wasn't much fun from the receiving end. "Long before she went out and found herself a big ol' Potential Slayer bodyguard, okay? Just have a little faith in her."
Kennedy	Kennedy took a breath to snap reflexively that Willow didn't need a bodyguard, duh, she could handle herself just fine, but... Her eyes narrowed, and she took a step toward Amy, crossing her arms. "I never said I was a Potential Slayer." She would have remembered that; it had been months since she'd had to explain it to anyone who didn't live in Buffy's house and didn't already know what it meant.
Amy	"What? No, I think you did, when you first came in, you--"
Kennedy	"No." Kennedy took another step toward her, definitely suspicious now. "I so didn't."
Amy	There was nothing repentant about Amy's smile, and everything smug. "Oops."
Kennedy	Okay, creeptastic. Kennedy could have punched her, but right now Amy was her best chance at reversing this spell, and if there was anything she'd learned from Dad it was that if you didn't have the ability to get things done for yourself you played nice with the people who could for as long as you had to. "Tell me why you did this to her." Or you played the hardass card: remind them who was calling the shots, make your demands, but keep it civil.
	Civil was going to be a hard sell, especially after Amy waved a hand and sent Kennedy flying across the room and into a bank of seats, painfully. Still, she gritted her teeth, got to her feet, and staggered a few shaky steps toward Amy. "What did you do to her?"
Amy	"What, to Willow?" Amy asked, still smiling, still feigning innocence. Sort of. "Oh, just your standard penance malediction, is all."
Kennedy	For all she'd learned about magic in the past three and a half years, that phrase didn't ring a bell (except for how "penance" pinged her Catholic upbringing in a very not-reassuring way), but then none of the witches she knew would do something like this-- she didn't think so, anyway-- for what seemed like shits and giggles. "And that's evil-magic crazy talk for what?"
Amy	Amy leaned in and almost purred, condescendingly, "I put a hex on her."
Kennedy	Kennedy rolled her eyes. "Please. I'm not a total plebe about the mojo. But why Warren? And why did it happen after we kissed?"
Amy	"Oh." Amy chuckled like she'd just sunk her teeth into some particularly juicy bit of gossip, which didn't assuage Kennedy's desire to hit her. Neither did the way she started slinking closer. "Oh, that's rich. That must've been some kiss. You must be good."
Kennedy	"Answer me!" The usual reflexive bragging about her skills was the furthest thing from her mind.
Amy	"The hex I cast lets the victim's subconscious pick the form of their punishment," Amy explained, looking like she was enjoying this moment of villainy exposition far too much. "It's always better than anything I can come up with. Elegant, you know?"
Kennedy	Always? Did Amy just go around doing this to people whenever she felt like it? "Undo it." It was a struggle to keep her voice halfway steady, especially once the implications began to sink in. "Let her out."
Amy	"Okay." And just in case Kennedy had thought it would be that easy-- "Oh, wait, I forgot: no."
Kennedy	"Why would you do this to her?" That was the part Kennedy really didn't get: who the hell would want to do something like this to Willow? "Do you really hate her that much?" It was a really petty reason, now that she'd suggested it out loud, but it was the only one she could think of.
Amy	Amy must have thought it was petty too; she sighed, spread her hands. "This is not about hate," she countered in a tone that might have been trying for benevolent, higher ground, whatever, but just sounded like a parody of all of the above. "It's about power." ...oh. Put in those terms, Kennedy thought she got it. Power, social status, those things she could understand. "Willow always had all the power," Amy went on. "Long before she even knew what to do with it, it just came so easy for her. The rest of us? We had to work twice as hard to be half as good." She nearly spit that part out, the resentment in her voice broadcasting clearly and her face twisting into a mask of anger to match. The scary part was, Kennedy really got that: she and the other Potentials trained their asses off every day, and had it thrown into their faces almost as often that they didn't have those Slayer powers. Hell, she'd been resenting that every day for most of her life. "But no one cares how hard you work." Amy wasn't done yet. "They just care about cute, sweet Willow. They don't know how weak she is! She gave in to evil, stuff worse than I can even imagine. She almost destroyed the world, and yet everyone keeps on loving her?"
Kennedy	Why not? I do. What a hell of a time to have that realization. Kennedy went a little bit still with surprise when the thought hit her and clamped her jaw shut on the retort she wanted to make.
Amy	"So what's wrong with having a little fun, huh? Taking her down a peg or two?"
Kennedy	"Fun?" Kennedy bit out the word, incredulously, and nearly exploded when Amy offered a casual nod of confirmation. "She's disappearing, fading away into that-- that creep, and you think it's fun?"
Amy	"It was just a game," Amy said coolly, up in Kennedy's face now. "It's not my fault if she's losing herself."
Kennedy	Just a game. Just stupid, petty revenge. No, Kennedy wasn't a Slayer and maybe she never would be, but that didn't mean she was going to try and take Buffy down for having what she didn't; two years of living and fighting alongside other people who had abilities she didn't had taught her how to make the most of what she did have. No, maybe Tara had never had the raw power that Karla did, but she'd never tried to tear the other girl down for it as much as it had frightened her at times. Yes, maybe Raven had tried to destroy the world, but there was too much to love about her anyway. Yes, Bobby had power that some people would give anything for, power that made most of his world fear him-- and he didn't want it, because he understood the kind of burden it could be. And here Amy was, trying to hurt Willow in the worst way possible out of a fit of idiotic jealousy, or at least that was how Kennedy saw it. Everything Kennedy knew about power, she'd learned from her friends in Fandom, the ones who had it and the ones who didn't. Everything she knew about magic, she'd learned from Tara, who was at the core of this whole messy situation in the most heartbreaking way. Tara would never have approved of this, and her friends would've had choice words to say, too. But she couldn't argue that point; she didn't have the words for it, and she was so furious now that she couldn't have formed them even if she had them. No more trying to play nice. Negotiation time was way over. All she had was who she was, and that half blind overconfidence that made a really good bluff sometimes. "I'm gonna stop you now, you know." With what, exactly? She hadn't figured that out yet. All she knew was that she had to help Willow. Not because she wanted to get into Willow's favor, not to prove how badass she was, not so she could be the knight in shining armor, save the day, win the girl. Not even for the simple, practical reason that they needed the power Willow possessed if they had any hope of surviving this thing. Just because Willow was hurting, and it hurt Kennedy to know that, and-- always driven by her passion when it came down to it-- helping the people who mattered to her was what she did.
Amy	"Hey, I'm not the bad guy here," Amy drawled, and before Kennedy could counter that claim, went on, "But I wonder where he'd be right about now, hmm?" She snapped her fingers, and everything around Kennedy twisted and went white.

[[nfi/nfb, ooc okay, 2 of 3. adapted from btvs 7x13, "the killer in me," and not actually a preplay, just coded like one to vaguely justify the ridiculous number of screencaps i have from this scene...]]

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[[GO, KENNEDY, GO SAVE YOUR GIRL!!!!]]

[nookiepowered]

[I REFUSE TO READ PART 3 AT WORK EVEN THOUGH I ALREADY DID BECAUSE HAHA PREPLAY CHEATER BECAUSE I WILL NOT BAWL DAMN YOU.]

[brat_inslayage]

[[YEAH WELL MAYBE I'M FOILING YOUR CHEATING WITH MY EDITS THAT YOU CAN'T SEE AND IT'S NOT GOING UP UNTIL AFTER I GET HOME ANYWAY SO NYEAH.]]