"She...she is dead?"

"Yes. I'm sorry."

Kendra dropped the sword. She had gone off to look for...something. Looking at the dead body, she forgot exactly what she'd been looking for. Buffy had been left to guard the library. And now...well, now she was gone.

Dead.

For the second time.

Giles looked at her, not sure what to do. "Should I call Mr. Zabuto?"

Kendra thought for a moment. "Take care of your Slayer. Then we will talk."

She finally remembered what she'd been looking for.

Angelus.

Sword clashed against sword. Swift movement, deft strokes...it was a real fight, something Kendra had trained all her life for.

"Now that's everything, huh? No weapons... No friends... No hope. Take all that away... and what's left?" Angelus taunted.

Kendra slid the sword between his ribs, piercing the heart. "Penance."

Xander never really looked good in black. Nor did Willow, or Joyce, or even Giles.

They were the only ones who attended the funeral, other than Kendra. But Kendra watched from a distance. It was not her place, she felt, to be there amongst Buffy's friends, Buffy's family.

It was not right that she sent Buffy's love to hell, while Spike's love sent Buffy to Heaven, for truly a Slayer such as Buffy would go there.

So, she would pay her penance for leaving Buffy in the library.

She would make things right.

"Spike, I see clouds covering all my pretty stars..."

Spike shook his head. Drusilla was rambling again. How Angelus had taken it he'd never know. She was truly insane.

And, just maybe, so was he. He lived with and loved her, after all.

"Love, maybe it's nothing."

Her stomach rumbled a bit. "Oh, Spike, I'm hungry."

"Then lets feed," he said, getting up from the divan and giving Drusilla feed. "Let us feed."

Kendra watched. Kendra waited.

And then Kendra struck.

She lopped off Drusilla's head with the sword before she began to feast, causing the head and body to crumble to dust.

She raised the sword and pointed it at Spike. "Now, things are almost right. Almost."

Spike took one look at her and fled, tears starting to sting his eyes.

She would pay for this...

"What do you know about Kakistos?"

Kendra had cornered the new Slayer in her room. "I know he killed many people close to you. I know he is here. I know he is hunting you."

Faith ran a hand through her dark hair. It took a moment for her hand to reach the end of the strand. "So why do you care? Everyone's always saying 'Buffy this' or 'Kendra that' and I'm sick of it! I don't need your help!" She went to turn, but Kendra gripped her arm.

"You do need my help. And I will give it to you, freely. But you must trust me."

"Oh, like Buffy did?"

Kendra slapped Faith, hard. "I berate myself every day. I pray that I can only do half as much good as she did."

Faith brought a hand up to her stinging cheek. "So you're not perfect?"

Kendra laughed. It was one of the few times she had in a long time. "No where near it."

Faith smiled slightly. "Maybe we will get along."

"Hey, Slayer! You know, I wasn't expecting company. Give me a minute and I'll have the place tidied up for you. "

Faith and Kendra waited. They needed the Books of Ascenscion, badly. "We need them yesterday, you know," Faith said, crossing her arms.

"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying," the demon said, shaking his head. "Here they are." He pulled a box out, handing it to Kendra. "Check. They're there."

Kendra opened the box, looking at them. "Yes, these are the books."

Faith handed the demon an envelope. "Here's the money, now get out of Sunnydale."

The demon grabbed a packed suitcase and bolted out the door. Faith smiled.

"What?" Kendra asked.

"There isn't any money in there." Faith continued to laugh until Kendra joined in, laughing just as hard.

"I'm not crazy, and I know that you probably don't approve, and my watcher's too far away, I mean, he could— but this day is about family — my real family — and I would like you to be the one to give me away."

Kendra sat on Spike's lap. The vamp was chipped, and Kendra was in love.

Wesley looked at her like she really was crazy.

"You are crazy."

Everyone turned to Faith as Faith shook her head. "Kendra, you were all set to kill him when you saw him back in town. And now...you want to marry him?"

"And you say this like it's a bad thing," Spike said.

Faith shook her head. "Kendra...it's got to be a spell. Giles, Wesley...say it's a spell." She turned her head upward and said, "Please, let it be a spell..."

"We implore thee, admit us, bring us to the vessel, take us now." Willow finished the spell and hoped it worked. With the chaos around them at the Initiative complex continued...

"Where's Faith?" Xander asked, opening his eyes.

"Probably..." Giles began, but a shout of "Slayer!" from Spike answered their question.

"Out saving her boyfriend, Captain Cardboard," Cordelia muttered.

"Let's hope the spell worked," Willow said, wishing she could see how the fight between Kendra and Adam was going.

"Dawn doesn't care what my Watcher... You just have no idea how much I wish I were an only child these days." Faith looked at Kendra. "Is Wesley okay?"

Kendra looked at Riley. "Would you find out, please?" she asked. Wesley had finally become comfortable with his Slayer and her friends and sister, and now he was getting painful headaches.

Riley kissed his girlfriend's forehead. "Yeah."

"Thank you," Kendra said as he went back to the phone in The Magic Box. She turned her head in time to see Dawn carrying a broken vial.

"Was there anything in it?" Faith asked.

"Well..."

Anya yelled. "Where's the vial of unicorn blood? Oh...my...god...DAWN!"

"I didn't know what it was!" Dawn protested. "Honest."

"When we get back home," Faith said, grabbing Dawn by the arm and taking her back to the cleaning supplies. "There's no way in Hell I'm letting Anya clean this up since it's your mess..."

Kendra shook her head, a small smile on her face. The smile faded as she looked at Riley. "How..."

"It's gotten worse. It...it's cancer."

"Riley! Riley!"

Faith ran after the helicopter, even after it had flown away, so far away she was on the edge of the woods.

Kendra watched as Faith sank to her knees, sobbing. She didn't want her to hurt, not like this. There was enough for her to worry about, with Wesley being in the hospital...Wesley, who was her mentor and her father-figure.

It just wasn't right.

Kendra was reminded of how similar this funeral was to Buffy's, except that there were more people. Joyce, who had taken Kendra, Faith and Dawn in as her own; Xander and Anya, huddled together in the rain; Cordelia, crying softly and being comforted by Willow and Tara; Spike and Giles, stoic as always.

Faith had done what Kendra had done before; she watched. But there was no one to fight against, no one to claim revenge against.

Kendra knew, tonight, she would forgo her training session with Spike and join Faith at Wesley's grave, so Faith could say goodbye with someone she trusted.

"I know you'll never love me. I know that I'm a monster. But you treat me like a man. And that's... Get your stuff, I'll be here. "

Kendra started to walk up the stairs of Joyce's house. How long had he felt that specific way? He'd never said anything. In fact, she'd felt he liked Faith, in that way.

Kendra shook her head. Dawn was in trouble. Dawn, who wasn't really Faith's sister. She was in trouble.

And they were going to save her.

But first..."Spike?"

"Yes?"

"I do love you. If something happens tonight, to you or to me, remember I love you."

Spike smiled as he met her on the stairs, bestowing a single kiss on her lips. "I'll remember that."

"And give my love to my friends. You have to take care of them now. You have to take care of each other."

Dawn had told Kendra what Faith had said before she jumped. And Kendra remembered that as she went to yet another funeral.

This one...this one hurt the most.

She held Dawn to her, waiting for the service to end. To go back to Spike and have him hold her while she sobbed all the pain out of her body. And then she'd let Dawn do the same. They needed it.

Now she was the only Slayer. The Council said they would call no more Slayers. So she had to protect Sunnydale until she died.

She carefully laid her rose on Faith's casket. She remembered everything that had happened from the moment she found out Buffy had died.

And it wasn't right.