(no subject)
Title: Not Today
Fandom: Buffy
Word count: 1497
Warnings for violence, threats of sexual violence
What if Kendra and Buffy had traded places?
“No.”
Kendra’s words carried an air of finality over them as she shut down Buffy’s idea. The Chosen One had asked Kendra to stay behind and protect her friends while she went off to kill Angel, the vampire who was about to bring the literal Hell to Earth. Giles, Xander and Willow stared at her, but Buffy was unimpressed.
“Kendra, I don’t have tim-”
“You love him, don’t you?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ve-”
“You love him, Buffy. It hurts to lose those you love. It hurts even more to be the one to kill them. Let me go instead.”
Buffy stared at Kendra for a minute, her resolve wavering, her mind flashing back to her time with Angel. Kendra stared back, her determination and plan clear. Buffy broke away first, and stared around Kendra.
“He’s smart. Smarter than any monster you’ve ever dealt with. Stronger, too. He goes with his fists first, lots of power, but he swings too far. When he knows you’ve got the upper hand, he’ll start to talk to you. He’ll remind you of the time he saved my life while patrolling, the time we walked through town on Christmas, the late nights spent talking about school drama and fate and food. Don’t listen to him.”
Kendra nodded. She put the sword sheath she had received from her watcher around her waist, and picked up a collapsible crossbow. She began to walk out the door before suddenly turning around and passing a wooden stake to Buffy.
“His name’s Mr. Pointy. Perhaps he can help you.” Kendra said, a bitter smile across her face.
“Mr. Pointy? Kendra, when this is all over, you’re going to spend a few hours with Will and I in a Toys R’ Us.” Buffy lied.
They stood awkwardly facing each other for a second, and if any other woman had been in front of Buffy, she would have reached out and hugged her goodbye. Instead, they nodded and left to face each other’s nightmares.
***
When Kendra walked into the graveyard, hooded and silent, she was glad to see that it was empty. Hundreds of corpses surrounded her, but she could only sense one monster. She circled the tombs, occasionally grazing one with her fingertips, until she was certain that Angelus was following her.
“You know, it isn’t safe for a little girl to be walking around this time of night.” The vampire taunted, ignorant of who was ahead of him and what she was doing with her hands.
Kendra spun around and shot her crossbow, but Angelus instinctively somersaulted ahead so that he was only a few feet away from her.
“It’s not safe for a creature like you to be around anytime.” Kendra retorted, noticing in the back of her mind that banter was the only area of slaying that Buffy had an advantage on her.
Angelus’ eyes widened when he saw who he was dealing with. He reached out to grab her throat, but she sidestepped, dropping her crossbow to unsheathe the blessed sword at the same time. When Angelus realized his opponent wasn’t a human, he took a step back.
“You’re joking, right? This is the other slayer? God, maybe I should kill Buffy a few more times until we get one who doesn’t look like she dresses herself based on what Barbie’s wearing.”
Kendra took a step forward and slashed at his shoulder, but he flicked the sword aside with the flat of his left hand. Angelus tried to punch her in the gut with his right hand, but Kendra ducked and kicked him in his abs, throwing him into a tombstone.
Kendra turned around and ran, reloading her crossbow until she heard a sucking noise as Angelus suddenly uplifted the monument. When Kendra realized what he was planning on doing, she jumped behind another tombstone. The Slayer was a few seconds too slow, and Angelus threw the tombstone, nicking her right ankle.
Kendra stood up and saw Angel sprinting towards her. Out of breath, she dropped her crossbow and had Angel charge her, flying in with a fist. Kendra blocked it with the palm of her hand and tried to get him away for a second with a blow to his chest, but he punched at the same time, resulting in an awkward fist bump that broke both of their hands.
Without as many nerves as her, Angelus was able to respond first, rearing back and kicking her in the face. Kendra tried to stay on her feet, but when she hobbled backwards, she ran into a gravemarker. Her legs gave out from beneath her, and she landed on her knees, looking as though she was in prayer. Angelus quickly kicked her in the face, and her nose gushed out blood. Kendra could tell it was broken.
Maybe this time it will heal right, she thought, trying to leap back up until Angel put both his hands on her shoulders. He pushed her roughly to the ground and jumped on top of her thighs, holding her biceps down with both of his arms.
Kendra thrashed around, trying to get this worthless waste of space off of her. He pretended as though she were grinding with him, oohing and aahing.
“God, Kendra, with your only friend’s boyfriend? Oops, did I say friend? I meant corpse.” Angelus taunted, an insufferable smirk sparking his face as he revealed a new tidbit of information.
Kendra’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “Tell me what you mean, or when I kill you, it will be by hand.” Kendra said, temporarily forgetting all of her fear with concern for Buffy.
“Did Slayer School forget to teach you logic? I used to think they couldn’t have made a worse choice for the Chosen One then Buffy, but boy, you sure proved me wrong!” He said, lifting up her arms only to throw her hard down into the dirt.
“You were supposed to be first, we were going to start small, work our way up the ladder, so man was I surprised to see you here! I thought you’d want to stay behind and protect the humans, but I guess you knew you were best being a tragic loner. Or was it loser? Either way, the Scooby Gang’s going to be either dead, horribly tortured or dying within a few minutes.” He monologued, slowly moving closer.
“Maybe I don’t need to kill you” Angelus whispered into her ear, gazing at her neck. Kendra froze for a minute, knowing what he intended to do.
“Wouldn’t that be the ultimate tragedy? The Slayer becomes the Slain. The hunter becomes the hunted.” Angelus bit down on his lips, hard enough to draw blood, slowly moving towards Kendra’s lips.
“Enjoy your last few seconds of humanity, Kendra. I sure wish I had.”
Watching the monster close his eyes as he moved towards her mouth, Kendra fought to remain calm. Her body was exhausted, from the journey here and the fight when she arrived. Knowing that she couldn’t throw him off of her, Kendra looked around, remembering Buffy’s advice to improvise and be creative.
A few inches to her left was an old, wooden cross. She stretched her forearm as far it could go, getting her middle finger around it. Kendra pulled it as hard she could, ignoring the splinters and blood, until she knocked it over and it landed on her face.
Angelus kissed the cross before leaping back, lips burning. Glad to have the use of her arms back, Kendra batted him across the face with it, enjoying the burn mark on his face. As he was stumbling backwards, Kendra grabbed him by the side of the head and bashed his face into her knee. When he went to jerk back, she grabbed his arm and threw him to the ground. Stepping on his back, the Slayer grabbed his forearm and pushed on his elbow, listening to the bones crack. She then pulled him up by the broken arm, dragging him along like a stuffed animal to where the sword had been dropped.
She picked it up and laid it across his neck. As the panic in his eyes rose, he began to throw up memories, hoping that Kendra would be naive enough to believe she could bring him back.
“Kendra, I saved Buffy’s life, we went and broke up a nest, we bot-“
“That was not you, Angelus. That was Angel. He was someone. You are nobody. You are nothing.”
As Angelus tried to get up, Kendra put her boot on his chest, lifted the sword up, and decapitated him.
“You certainly were not as special as you thought.” Kendra said, dropping the bloodstained sword across the pile of dust as she turned around to run back to the high school.
***
SO I kinda like this fic. But I worry about the clarity! Can you guys see what I see? As always, concrit and crit and even just plain hate is welcome :D
Fandom: Buffy
Word count: 1497
Warnings for violence, threats of sexual violence
What if Kendra and Buffy had traded places?
“No.”
Kendra’s words carried an air of finality over them as she shut down Buffy’s idea. The Chosen One had asked Kendra to stay behind and protect her friends while she went off to kill Angel, the vampire who was about to bring the literal Hell to Earth. Giles, Xander and Willow stared at her, but Buffy was unimpressed.
“Kendra, I don’t have tim-”
“You love him, don’t you?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ve-”
“You love him, Buffy. It hurts to lose those you love. It hurts even more to be the one to kill them. Let me go instead.”
Buffy stared at Kendra for a minute, her resolve wavering, her mind flashing back to her time with Angel. Kendra stared back, her determination and plan clear. Buffy broke away first, and stared around Kendra.
“He’s smart. Smarter than any monster you’ve ever dealt with. Stronger, too. He goes with his fists first, lots of power, but he swings too far. When he knows you’ve got the upper hand, he’ll start to talk to you. He’ll remind you of the time he saved my life while patrolling, the time we walked through town on Christmas, the late nights spent talking about school drama and fate and food. Don’t listen to him.”
Kendra nodded. She put the sword sheath she had received from her watcher around her waist, and picked up a collapsible crossbow. She began to walk out the door before suddenly turning around and passing a wooden stake to Buffy.
“His name’s Mr. Pointy. Perhaps he can help you.” Kendra said, a bitter smile across her face.
“Mr. Pointy? Kendra, when this is all over, you’re going to spend a few hours with Will and I in a Toys R’ Us.” Buffy lied.
They stood awkwardly facing each other for a second, and if any other woman had been in front of Buffy, she would have reached out and hugged her goodbye. Instead, they nodded and left to face each other’s nightmares.
***
When Kendra walked into the graveyard, hooded and silent, she was glad to see that it was empty. Hundreds of corpses surrounded her, but she could only sense one monster. She circled the tombs, occasionally grazing one with her fingertips, until she was certain that Angelus was following her.
“You know, it isn’t safe for a little girl to be walking around this time of night.” The vampire taunted, ignorant of who was ahead of him and what she was doing with her hands.
Kendra spun around and shot her crossbow, but Angelus instinctively somersaulted ahead so that he was only a few feet away from her.
“It’s not safe for a creature like you to be around anytime.” Kendra retorted, noticing in the back of her mind that banter was the only area of slaying that Buffy had an advantage on her.
Angelus’ eyes widened when he saw who he was dealing with. He reached out to grab her throat, but she sidestepped, dropping her crossbow to unsheathe the blessed sword at the same time. When Angelus realized his opponent wasn’t a human, he took a step back.
“You’re joking, right? This is the other slayer? God, maybe I should kill Buffy a few more times until we get one who doesn’t look like she dresses herself based on what Barbie’s wearing.”
Kendra took a step forward and slashed at his shoulder, but he flicked the sword aside with the flat of his left hand. Angelus tried to punch her in the gut with his right hand, but Kendra ducked and kicked him in his abs, throwing him into a tombstone.
Kendra turned around and ran, reloading her crossbow until she heard a sucking noise as Angelus suddenly uplifted the monument. When Kendra realized what he was planning on doing, she jumped behind another tombstone. The Slayer was a few seconds too slow, and Angelus threw the tombstone, nicking her right ankle.
Kendra stood up and saw Angel sprinting towards her. Out of breath, she dropped her crossbow and had Angel charge her, flying in with a fist. Kendra blocked it with the palm of her hand and tried to get him away for a second with a blow to his chest, but he punched at the same time, resulting in an awkward fist bump that broke both of their hands.
Without as many nerves as her, Angelus was able to respond first, rearing back and kicking her in the face. Kendra tried to stay on her feet, but when she hobbled backwards, she ran into a gravemarker. Her legs gave out from beneath her, and she landed on her knees, looking as though she was in prayer. Angelus quickly kicked her in the face, and her nose gushed out blood. Kendra could tell it was broken.
Maybe this time it will heal right, she thought, trying to leap back up until Angel put both his hands on her shoulders. He pushed her roughly to the ground and jumped on top of her thighs, holding her biceps down with both of his arms.
Kendra thrashed around, trying to get this worthless waste of space off of her. He pretended as though she were grinding with him, oohing and aahing.
“God, Kendra, with your only friend’s boyfriend? Oops, did I say friend? I meant corpse.” Angelus taunted, an insufferable smirk sparking his face as he revealed a new tidbit of information.
Kendra’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “Tell me what you mean, or when I kill you, it will be by hand.” Kendra said, temporarily forgetting all of her fear with concern for Buffy.
“Did Slayer School forget to teach you logic? I used to think they couldn’t have made a worse choice for the Chosen One then Buffy, but boy, you sure proved me wrong!” He said, lifting up her arms only to throw her hard down into the dirt.
“You were supposed to be first, we were going to start small, work our way up the ladder, so man was I surprised to see you here! I thought you’d want to stay behind and protect the humans, but I guess you knew you were best being a tragic loner. Or was it loser? Either way, the Scooby Gang’s going to be either dead, horribly tortured or dying within a few minutes.” He monologued, slowly moving closer.
“Maybe I don’t need to kill you” Angelus whispered into her ear, gazing at her neck. Kendra froze for a minute, knowing what he intended to do.
“Wouldn’t that be the ultimate tragedy? The Slayer becomes the Slain. The hunter becomes the hunted.” Angelus bit down on his lips, hard enough to draw blood, slowly moving towards Kendra’s lips.
“Enjoy your last few seconds of humanity, Kendra. I sure wish I had.”
Watching the monster close his eyes as he moved towards her mouth, Kendra fought to remain calm. Her body was exhausted, from the journey here and the fight when she arrived. Knowing that she couldn’t throw him off of her, Kendra looked around, remembering Buffy’s advice to improvise and be creative.
A few inches to her left was an old, wooden cross. She stretched her forearm as far it could go, getting her middle finger around it. Kendra pulled it as hard she could, ignoring the splinters and blood, until she knocked it over and it landed on her face.
Angelus kissed the cross before leaping back, lips burning. Glad to have the use of her arms back, Kendra batted him across the face with it, enjoying the burn mark on his face. As he was stumbling backwards, Kendra grabbed him by the side of the head and bashed his face into her knee. When he went to jerk back, she grabbed his arm and threw him to the ground. Stepping on his back, the Slayer grabbed his forearm and pushed on his elbow, listening to the bones crack. She then pulled him up by the broken arm, dragging him along like a stuffed animal to where the sword had been dropped.
She picked it up and laid it across his neck. As the panic in his eyes rose, he began to throw up memories, hoping that Kendra would be naive enough to believe she could bring him back.
“Kendra, I saved Buffy’s life, we went and broke up a nest, we bot-“
“That was not you, Angelus. That was Angel. He was someone. You are nobody. You are nothing.”
As Angelus tried to get up, Kendra put her boot on his chest, lifted the sword up, and decapitated him.
“You certainly were not as special as you thought.” Kendra said, dropping the bloodstained sword across the pile of dust as she turned around to run back to the high school.
***
SO I kinda like this fic. But I worry about the clarity! Can you guys see what I see? As always, concrit and crit and even just plain hate is welcome :D