NEW ORDER

By DarKade

Warnings:

Major Character Death, angst, violence, gore, sex, lesbian relationships

Author's Notes:

This fanfiction simply shuffles the order that the Slayers are called, and as a result events spin out in wildly different directions from the show. Each chapter takes its name from the coresponding episode in order from season one, but not the events. I build a theme from the name, and thread it into the story.

This story was revised on 23 October 2019. Worth a reread?

Comments are most welcome! (but please don't post spoilers for the twists. XXX)

Prologue

She is dead.

She is.

She is dead and everything is out of order.

And it is like the world within you shatters into a thousand, thousand shards. Chaos. Razor raw, raking at your insides, crashing jagged. The pieces fall where they will.

Everything is wrong. Everything is out of order.

This is not how it is supposed to be.

Giles! Help her!

You wonder why he stands there, cold and still. His eyes downcast, his hands fisted at his sides.

God damn you Giles, do something.

Cold is seeping into your legs and you realize it is her blood. Pale throat slit wide open; irreversible, unholy. She was gone long before you got here and you know it. But still, you beg...

Put it right. Put it back. Help her.

Help me.

You keep screaming until your sobs rob you of your voice and the only sensations left is that cold, wet on your knees and his firm hand on your shoulder. You hate him for his kindness to you.

She is dead, Faith. Kennedy is dead.

And she is.

And everything is out of order.

You are alone again.

Sometimes when you close your eyes you can feel them. All your ancestors flowing back and back into the past. The Slayers fallen. Countless faces. Countless battles. Countless deaths. It took you a while to realize that you will one day be just that. A single face in another girl's dream. Another link in that chain of loss and horror. Faith Lehane, The Vampire Slayer.

You never thought you would meet the girl that would replace you. But the world is out of order because of you.

You asked her once. Both drunk and bloodied from battle. Can you see me when ya dream that dream, Ken? You know the one. Can you see me?

Yes. I see you. I see you drown in that well of blood. Kakistos standing over you. Is that what you want to hear Faith? I see your limbs spasm and I feel it too, like all the others stretching back and back. I feel it all. I can't breathe. I feel his teeth at my throat. Your throat. The piss running down my leg. I feel you die. You are the first face I see in that dream.

You nod. Kendra is the first you see. The Werewolf's jaws crushing your throat. Her throat.

Her name was Kennedy. Just Kennedy. A Smug, condescending brat. Daddy's little rich girl turned rebel. Everything you never had just handed to her.

Of course that's just the story you told yourself. She was more than that. Driven from her family, cast out for her differences only to die in some hell hole town, throat slashed through. Alone and penniless. Just one more face in the chain.

Nicky to Rhona. Rhona to India. India to Kendra. Kendra to you. You to Kennedy. And Kennedy...

And Kennedy...

Well...

You wonder if the chain is now broken because of you. Because that is what you are, isn't it?

Broken.