Title: Decisions

Pairing: Kennedy/ Original Character

Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Rating: PG (unless otherwise specified)

Summary: An old friend returns from a distant past, but what lies in store for the gang when she returns?

Notes: I do not own the characters featured in this story, however I do own two Original Characters; Nicole and Ashley. I do not own the series either, rather Joss Whedon does. I did rewrite this after I read it again; I can’t believe I used to write like I did.

“Tell me why you did that!” Kennedy’s voice loudly rang throughout the lecture hall; anger blatantly laced within her voice. She stalked towards Amy, the intent of retribution clearly within her mind, but she was stopped when Amy used magic to propel her across the hall floor.

“Fools, you’d think that they’d learn never to mess with magic,” Amy smugly smirked as she watched as Kennedy pulled herself up off of the floor. Now, the look of anger on Kennedy’s face had faded into irritation when she realized that she was going to have trouble defeating another witch.

“Tell me, why did you do that to Willow?” Kennedy asked more gently, hoping she could get Amy distracted long enough to attack her, or at least get her to relinquish the spell she had on Willow. Amy was ready to answer, but it seemed another person wanted to answer for her.

“It was a Penance Malediction spell; she cursed her to live her past-for killing Warren and nearly destroying the rest of the world.” Amy and Kennedy looked around the lecture hall to find the source of the voice. Kennedy feared that another foe had come in, but she forced herself to remain cool despite the reality that was starting to unfold in front of her. She looked over at Amy and saw the questioning and fear that started to dwell on her features as well.

“Who’s there?” Amy called out, believing that it would coax the other person from their concealed position. She looked around, hoping to be able to see the other person, she used her magic to further her sight, but she still found no one. Kennedy remained cautious of her surroundings; she had no weapons to protect herself.

“So help me if it’s a two against one battle,” Kennedy breathed, feeling her heart beat relentlessly against her chest.

“What, you don’t remember me?” The person called out, remaining hidden. The two women on the lecture hall floor looked around, wondering what was happening.

“Who the hell are you? Get down here, now!” Amy hollered, wanting to know who was out there with them. She wanted to know if this person was a threat or another feeble being.

“I’ll see to it that Willow returns back to her original self,” The person confidently stated. Amy began to feel her patience run, but, nonetheless, she put up an invisible barrier around herself for protection.

“Who are you?!” Amy cried out from frustration.

“Oh come on Amy, you casted a spell on me because I knew about your affiliations with the darker side of life and you made me suffer because of it,” The person replied back, recalling a previous moment in time that seemed to have struck the witch. Kennedy looked over at Amy and saw the expression on her face; she appeared to have seen a ghost.

“N-No, it can’t be,” Amy stammered, noticing a shadow on the floor of the lecture hall. She looked up and saw a person jumping from the beams and somersaulting straight to the floor, half-kneeling with their gaze on the floor. Kennedy looked at the person standing in between her and Amy; the person wore a fedora hat over the dark brunette hair, shirt, jeans, combat boots, fingerless gloves, and a leather long jacket, all in black.

“Of course it’s me, I never stopped looking for you when I managed to get rid of your spell,” The person stated, standing up and pulling out the two swords strapped on her back and linking them to the swords strapped around her waist, creating a version of the “Ronin Double-Bladed Sword.”

“N-Nicole, you’re alive,” Amy breathed, the colour on her face disappearing. Out of quick thinking, she ran away from the other girl.

“Oh no you don’t, you’re not running away from me again!” The person, Nicole, called out, dropping one of the double-bladed swords, as she waved her now free hand at Amy. The witch found herself hitting an invisible barrier, leaving her unable to get out. By now, Kennedy had no idea what to do. She could only watch the exchange between the two and the thought of whether or not Nicole was a friend or foe stayed at the back of her mind.

“Holy… crap,” Kennedy breathed, watching as the taller girl turned towards her. Nicole retrieved the sword she dropped and made her way to the potential slayer. Kennedy looked past the other girl and saw Amy quietly chanting; an ever-growing ball of fire appearing in the palm of the witch’s hand. The fireball suddenly began to fly towards them and out of instinct, Kennedy jumped towards Nicole, knocking her to the floor.

“Ugh!” Nicole grunted as she hit the floor square with her back with Kennedy on top of her. She quickly rolled them over, making sure that Kennedy was still okay.

“Damn it,” Kennedy breathed, feeling a burning sensation on her calf. She shut her eyes, trying to drown out the pain. Nicole pushed herself off of the floor and knelt beside Kennedy, frustration building within her.

“Damn it is right; you nearly impaled yourself with my swords,” Nicole muttered, looking at the burn on Kennedy’s leg. “It’s only a minor burn, but it isn’t minor enough to keep me from taking you out,” Nicole stated, looking towards Amy. She stood up and grabbed one of her double-bladed swords, stalking towards Amy with a furious look about her face.

“What are you going to do, cut me up with your swords?” Amy mocked, noticing the unchanged expression on Nicole’s face.

“That’s the intent!” Nicole growled, forcefully striking one end of the sword at Amy, which in turn was halted by the barrier. She heard the smug laughter coming from the witch, but it didn’t faze her, but made her smile.

“You can’t break this barrier, you have to have some magical relation,” Amy stated, not bothering to notice the growing smile on Nicole’s face.

“See, that thing called a blade, will cut through that thing called a body,” Nicole retorted back as she kept the force steady against her sword.

“You don’t know any magic to break past this,” Amy confidently said.

“Are you sure about that?” Nicole asked, half-smiling as she stepped back to split the double-blade sword in her hands into two individual swords.

“Give up?” Amy questioned, sending another ball of fire towards her opponent. Nicole was ready to deflect the shot, but Kennedy jumped on her once again and this time she was burning on her arm.

“Kenn, you really have to stop doing that unless you can heal yourself,” Nicole sighed, rolling themselves over once again. She picked up one of her swords that lied near her and started to murmur a chant. The sword in her hand started to glow from the handle all the way to the tip and it started to make Amy nervous.

“What are you doing?” Amy started to tremble as she felt an unfamiliar force that radiated from the sword. The blade of the sword had a blue light pulsing all around it, while blue orbs of light orbited around Nicole’s wielding hand.

“Something I should’ve done when I had a chance. I showed you mercy then, but now… mercy is no option,” Nicole briefly explained, charging towards Amy; sword pointed towards the witch. She watched as Amy attempted to reinforce her barrier that protected her, but it only made her smile.

“You are not passing through!” Amy cried out, watching the sword come ever closer towards her.

“You will fall!” Nicole shouted, striking her sword down the witch. Out of shock, Amy blankly stared at her foe as she felt the cold steel cut through her so easily. Both she and Nicole heard the surprised gasp from Kennedy, but they ignored her, remaining focused on them.

“You learned magic?” Amy questioned quietly, as she felt her life force starting to drain away from her. Nicole looked at her with sympathy that was interlaced with pity and nodded.

“You should have trusted me back then, maybe we could’ve avoided this,” Nicole breathed, pulling her sword out of Amy. No blood was left on the sword, and no blood began to rush out of the attacked young woman; the only thing to rush out from her was guilt and sadness.

“I’m sorry…” Amy whispered, before collapsing towards the floor. Instead of hearing a thud as she fell to the floor, a silence occurred. Her body disappeared into thin air, leaving Nicole and Kennedy alone.

“So am I,” Nicole murmured, looking at where Amy had stood not so long ago. She slowly turned around and looked over at Kennedy, noticing the stunned and frightened look on her face. The pulsing blue light around the blade of the sword began to fade away as well as the bright blue orbs of light around her hand. She replaced the sword back into one of the four sheaths strapped around her before walking towards Kennedy, extending a helping hand.

“Uh…” Kennedy pushed herself away from the other girl, finally remembering that she had no idea as to whether or not Nicole was friend or foe.

“Kennedy, I’m not going to hurt you; I’m not here to diminish what’s left of the slayer line. What might actually hurt you would be those burns on your arm and on your leg,” Nicole assured, moving closer towards the other girl.

“How can I trust you? How do I know that you’re not the First?” Kennedy retorted back, watching as the other girl flinch at the mention of the First. Nicole sighed and picked up her other swords, dismantling them and putting them back into their individual sheaths.

“If I was the First, I wouldn’t have bothered killing Amy; she isn’t a threat unless she was trying to defeat ‘me’. Besides, I would’ve killed you right on the spot if I was the First; no need to help you. Theoretically, I should simply be able to wipe you all out, but I’m not the First. Take it or leave it,” Nicole explained, turning back to Kennedy as she buried her hands into her jacket pockets, pulling out two bandanas; a black one and a white one.

“You could be toying with me,” Kennedy shot back, watching the taller girl sigh.

“Whatever floats your boat, but you need to be looked after or those burns may become something your humanly body can’t handle. Besides, you need to get Willow out of her state of disillusion,” Nicole replied back, kneeling down in front of Kennedy, wrapping a bandana over each burn. Kennedy furrowed her brow at the other girl.

“How do you know Willow?” Nicole chuckled and helped Kennedy up, immediately teleporting her back to the Summers’ backyard, alone.

“I’ll see you around Kenn,” Nicole’s voice rang in the air. Kennedy looked around and found the owner of the voice gone, but the owner of her heart in front of her. She quickly ran over to Willow, helping her get through the spell.