Title: The Lesson
Author: Sweetdoggie (stirling_summer@yahoo.com)
Pairing: none
Rating: FRT
Summary: Lessons are learned
Spoilers: None
WARNING: VERY VIOLENT!!! Don't say I didn't warn you!

Disclaimer: No permission has been granted to use the characters. They are owned by their creator, Joss Whedon, Twentieth Century Fox, UPN, WB, and Mutant Enemy. This story is non-profit and is intended solely as entertainment. No copyright infringement is intended.

Kennedy was at it again. Pushing. Always pushing Buffy. The two girls hated each other and had since before Sunnydale had fallen into a crater. Buffy, as senior, had tried to leave the younger girl alone, but Kennedy wouldn't allow that. The younger Slayer thought it was about dominance and that every time Buffy backed away from a confrontation, it meant that she was afraid of Kennedy. Buffy was actually trying very hard not to kill her. Giles feared that if Kennedy kept pushing, she was going to find out the difference between a Slayer of eight years and a Slayer of three months.

Buffy was irritated to the point where she knew one more second in Kennedy's presence was going to be the last straw. She walked away, hoping the younger girl would have the sense to leave her alone, but Kennedy chose to pursue her. They were on the school grounds and Buffy had been supervising the new Slayers during their practice sparring bouts. Kennedy was riding one of the new girls very hard and Buffy told her to quit it.

“Why don't you make me, you coward!” The younger girl had sneered. “You don't have the guts. You're all talk, Buffy. I'm not afraid of you and you know it.”

Unfortunately for Kennedy, she had chosen to push the confrontation at a time when Willow was on the other side of the globe. Buffy had held back for the sake of their friendship, but she had had enough. She turned to face the younger girl.

“You think I'm afraid of you?” Buffy asked her. “Little girl, I've held back because your lover is my oldest friend. But you know what? Willow isn't here to save your ass today.”

To say Kennedy was surprised was an understatement. She had thought that Buffy would never retaliate against all the verbal taunts and sneers she'd thrown at her. Looking at the older Slayer, she felt a sudden frisson of fear. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea, after all. Well, she thought, squaring her shoulders, it was too late to back away now. Besides, this confrontation had been a long time coming and she was going to use it to show that she was the dominant Slayer, not Buffy Summers.

The new Slayers formed a circle around the two contestants. They wouldn't interfere. They too realized that something needed to be done to resolve this situation. Kennedy threw the first punch.

Buffy sidestepped the younger girl's attack and countered with a blow that sent Kennedy flying backward about ten feet. Buffy was on her before she regained her feet. The beating that followed was severe and punitive in the extreme. Kennedy wouldn't be walking away from this one. Buffy beat her till the bones of her face were crushed, she broke her ribs and her knees and dislocated both shoulders. By the end of the one-sided battle, Kennedy could only lie there and moan. Buffy finished her off with a kick that broke her pelvis. She stood looking down at the battered hulk that used to be a young girl. “Don't piss me off again, Kennedy, or you'll look back at this lesson with happy memories. Do you understand me?” Buffy waited for an answer. When it didn't come, she kicked the girl again, breaking her thigh. “It's not going to stop till you answer me, Kennedy.”

“I understand,” Kennedy managed to get out of a mouth that had only shards of broken teeth left in it.

“Good. If I ever catch you pulling your dominance crap on anybody, ever again, you will be so very sorry. Now, I'm going to let the girls take you to the infirmary. You are going to stay there until you are healed up. I'm forbidding you phone calls and you will be isolated until further notice. When you're healed, we'll talk about your punishment.”

Kennedy blacked out as she was lifted onto a stretcher. Giles met the girls at the door and looked the fallen slayer over carefully. “Take her away,” he said softly.

He went out and stood at Buffy's side. “I wondered how long you would tolerate her antics,” Giles said.

“Well, I guess we found out, didn't we?”

“Willow is going to be very upset about this.”

“She doesn't need to know right away. Kennedy took a beating, but it wasn't anything she didn't earn. I told Willow before she left that this day was coming. She wasn't happy, but she promised that she wouldn't do anything about it.”

“Do you think Kennedy has learned anything?”

“Don't know. I hope she's learned some caution, but I doubt it. As soon as she's healed up, she'll start her bullying again. I don't like what I have to do, Giles. I wish there was some other way, but the truth is, Kennedy has to be broken. And it may need to be permanent.”

“We could station her elsewhere...”

“This isn't about her needling me constantly. I don't care. I do care that she's hurting the other girls. She goes after the weak ones, the ones with insecurities. She's a bully, born and bred, and that's a very bad combination for a Slayer. We have warned her repeatedly. She won't listen to you and she doesn't respect me at all. When Willow says something to her about it, she says it's because she's the best and that we're jealous and ignores her. That can't go on.”

He sighed. “No, you are right. I just wish there was some other way.”

“We've tried the other ways. From now on, Kennedy learns that her behavior will lead to beatings. I'm hoping that pain will teach her something.”

“What if it doesn't?”

“Then we pull her teeth permanently. You have the stuff, right?”

“I do.” His voice was grim.

~*~

Willow came back from her trip two weeks later, not surprised to find Kennedy still in recovery. She had known the beating was coming and known it was more than deserved. She'd tried to warn her lover that she was laboring under a misapprehension. Buffy wasn't afraid of Kennedy. Buffy wasn't afraid of anything anymore. When Kennedy wouldn't listen to her or to anyone, then her beating became inevitable. Buffy had promised not to kill her and that was as good as Willow could hope for.

Most of Kennedy's teeth had been removed to make room for the new ones still in the regrowing stage, but her broken bones were mending, even if she couldn't walk yet. She greeted Willow with a litany of complaints against Buffy and how she had been treated. Willow simply stopped in the doorway and stared at her.

“I tried to warn you, Kennedy. We all tried to warn you, but you wouldn't listen. Have you learned anything from this?”

“It isn't fair! I know I'm better than her!”

Willow looked her over noting the broken bones and the missing teeth. “I'd say not, Kenn.”

“You always take her side!”

“Because she happens to be right about this. Buffy left you alone for months, but you wouldn't quit bullying. If you start up where you left off, you're going to end up in here again.”

“She won't take me down twice.”

“Kennedy, she could take you down in her sleep! Why won't you learn?”

“I'll show you! I'm the best, not her.”

Willow shook her head and walked away before she sadly reported the conversation to Giles. “She's going to try again, Giles. I think we need to remove her Slayer powers.”

“Buffy said she's willing to keep, um, disciplining her...” Giles said with some diffidence.

“It won't work. She's already planning her next fight with Buffy. She hasn't learned anything.”

Giles sighed. “I hate to do this.”

“I know, but she really isn't what we need or want in a Slayer. I'm sorry I ever took up with her, but she wanted me at a time I didn't even want myself. I owe her for that.”

“Willow, she's been repaid ten-fold. You have stood by her when she had alienated everyone else by her actions. Do you want to tell her?”

“No, we need to do it soon, but not till she's more healed up. I want her to regrow her teeth completely and let her bones mend some more.”

He nodded. “All right. I'll start making preparations. She should be nearly fully healed in a week or so.”

While Giles made his preparations, Willow made her own. She hated to do this, but she was going to wipe Kennedy's memories. She would forget about being a Slayer, about being Called, about ever being a Potential. She would forget the Scoobies and Buffy. And most sadly, she would forget Willow.

Giles walked into the infirmary a week later. “Hello, Kennedy. How are you feeling?”

“I'm nearly well. I'm going to take that bitch down next time. She won't get the jump on me again.”

“I was under the impression that you threw the first blow,” he told her.

“She had it coming. I'm a better Slayer than her, Giles. I earned this! She just fell into the job and doesn't even want it anyway.”

He sighed, decision finally made. “I've decided that you need to do some meditation exercises, Kennedy,” he told her, avoiding the subject of Buffy's dedication to the cause. “As long as you are bed-ridden, you might as well put your mind to use. This will strengthen your bond with your Slayer gifts.” He knew offering something that would make her more powerful would be attractive to the young girl. He held up a large blue crystal.

“Now, I want you to search for the flaw in the gem. Do you see it? Look closely into the flaw.” He kept his voice low until she was under deep hypnosis. Taking a syringe from his pocket, he injected her with the chemicals that would begin weakening her powers. The mix was similar to what had been used on Buffy at the Cruciamentum, but not exactly the same. This mixture created a permanent loss of the Slayer powers. It was useless on any girl who had already undergone the Cruciamentum but would drain the strength from Kennedy within a day at most.

“When you wake, Kennedy, you won't feel any different, do you understand?”

“I understand.”

“Very good. You may wake now.” He moved the crystal away from her locked gaze.

The girl looked sort of dazed. “I think I might have slipped off to sleep there for a minute, Giles.”

“Well, that's to be expected with your injuries. You had a very bad beating. I'm not surprised if you tend to fall asleep.”

“I didn't get a beating. It was a fight. And Buffy cheated!”

“Oh, really?” He asked, maintaining his temper with difficulty. “And how did she do that?”

“I wasn't ready! She tricked me.”

“Again, I must reiterate that you threw the first punch. If you weren't ready, why did you do that?”

She looked away and wouldn't answer him. He stood and put away his crystals. “You get some rest.”

He walked back to his office with a heavy heart. She wasn't going to take being deprived of her Slayer powers well, but after the conversation he'd just had with her, considering all that she had already gone through, he realized that he was doing the only thing possible. The old Council would have executed her with no more compunction that putting down a rabid dog, not because she was bad at Slaying, but because she was hopelessly stupid. A Slayer who couldn't learn when the lesson was plain was a liability. Best to eliminate her and start again. By removing Kennedy's Slayer powers, he was saving her life. The first master vampire she ran across would have killed her with her idiotic “I'm the best” attitude.

Kennedy slept for most of the day, surprisingly tired after her meditation session with Giles. She felt feverish and ill. Willow came and stood by her bedside, stroking back her hair. “It will all be over soon, Kenn. You'll feel better soon, I promise.”

With eyes glazed with fever, Kennedy watched Willow set up a circle for some sort of ritual. She watched her lover light candles. Watched as her hair turned white and began blowing around her face. “Forget, love. Forget it all. Forget and be healed.”

Kennedy's eyes closed and her last conscious thought was that whatever Willow was doing, she wished she'd stop. It was sort of creepy.

Ten minutes later, Giles opened the door and looked inside. Willow was sitting on the side of the bed, weeping.

“Is it over then?” he asked gently.

“I took her memories. Everything related to being a Slayer. When she wakes up in the morning, she won't remember anything.”

“I have arranged for her to be taken to an infirmary in the city. There will be nothing left for her to associate with us.”

“Did we do the right thing?” the redhead asked, eyes swollen with tears.

“You know we did. She may not have her memories, but she has her life, her health, her sanity.” Giles patted her on the shoulder. “Come away now. They are ready to move her.”

Willow watched her lover leave her, alive, but unknowing. She remembered Buffy telling her once that Slaying took everything. She hadn't understood then, but now, Willow knew what her friend had meant. It had taken Oz, then Tara, and now Kennedy. And the worst of it was, it was by her own hand, just like Buffy having to kill Angel to close Acathla, she had ripped Kennedy's mind and memories apart to protect the Slayer line. Willow watched until the car carrying Kennedy turned at the bend of the road and drove out of her sight. Lesson learned.

END