Chosen: A New Beginning

[charmingangelC]

This is the first of a mini-series following Faith's life after BtVS. There may be some indiscrepancies about a few things because I'm more familiar with Angel than BtVS, but please bear with me. I know this first part is a little short, but the next part will be longer, I promise! Hope you all like it, comments are appreciated!

~Cate xox

CHAPTER 1

"Hey, ugly!" Faith the Vampire Slayer called to the vampire standing slightly ahead of her.

He had been about to attack two girls when he heard her calling. His fanged head swiveled around to face her.

"Slayer"¦" he growled.

"Yep, that's me. Now that that's out of the way"¦" Faith flung herself at the blood-sucker. Her leg lashed out at him in a wickedly strong roundhouse kick. Out of the corner of her eye, Faith saw the two girls hurrying past the entrance to the alley, oblivious to the battle only a few feet away. The vampire, noticing Faith's momentary distraction, hit her hard with a swift uppercut to the face. She staggered backward.

"Oh, now it's on." Faith muttered, touching her bleeding lip lightly and raising her stake.

*********************​

"Did you hear something?" Candace "Candy" Rodriguez asked her twin sister, Cameron, as she glanced around quickly.

"Nope. Why?" Cameron answered.

"It's nothing, I just thought I heard yelling." Candy told her, tugging her light blue sweater a little tighter around herself and picking up speed. The usually free-spirited sixteen-year-old had been tense all night.

"You're imagining things, Candy." Cam said, tossing the keys to their Mercedes up in the air. As they fell back down, Cam tried to grab them again, but they slipped though her fingers, and right into a sewer. "Damn."

Candy sighed as she took out her penlight and knelt down next to the sewer. She knew that Cam never would because it would mean dirtying her new jeans. Candy located the key ring with the little flashlight and concentrated on it. Then, she held her hand out and the keys zoomed into it. Candy stood up and handed the keys to her sister, who had, unlike Candy, actually passed her driver's test.

"Thanks!" Cam said brightly, opening the driver's side door and hopping in. "But I could have done the same thing, you know."

"Yeah, but what if you got your nice new pants dirty?" Candy asked, brushing off her own jeans before getting in the car, too.

"The horror!" Cam gasped.

The two girls dissolved into giggles pulled headed for home.

 

[charmingangelC]

CHAPTER 2

Faith flopped onto her messy, unmade bed. The sun had risen only minutes before, but she was tired as hell after a night of heavy slaying. It seemed that a large portion of the local vampire population had wanted to have a go at taking her out. Not that any of them had come close to succeeding.

"Stupid evil things. Why can't they just go stake themselves?" Faith muttered to herself as she pulled the pillow onto her head. "Because that would make my life easy." She said, answering her own question. "Okay, my resolution when January rolls around? Stop talking to myself."

Moments later, she fast asleep. Or as asleep as a slayer could allow herself to be.

*****************************​

"Okay, deep breath." Candy said to herself. She looked down at the outfit she'd chosen for her first day at Woodbury High. Her legs were clad in a pair of long, slightly tight, faded jeans. On her upper body was loose, off-the-shoulder, light pink sweater that matched her pink and white Baby Phat sneakers and complimented her dark hair, which was loose around her shoulders, and olive skin.

"˜Gotta admit,' Candy thought, "˜I look pretty damn hot. Watch out, Woodbury, here I come.'

"Here we come." Cam corrected, stepping up next to her sister. "And, conceited much?" She added in a light, teasing voice. Cam was wearing tight black, hip-hugging jeans, a short sleeved, dark blue body suit, and a pair of black Vans. Perched on top of her hair, which she wore in a high ponytail, was a pair of sunglasses. The twins had very unique styles and personalities, although they tended to have same friends. The girls linked arms and walked up the stone steps and in the front door.

Twenty minutes later, they were seated on the uncomfortably hard chairs in the principal's office. The name on the door was Doctor Lawrence. He was enthusiastically lecturing them on the rules of the school they were now expected to follow, what with them being new and all. Candy was so bored that she began seriously contemplating telekinetically dropping the large bookcase on the man in front of it, just to shut him up. She glanced at Cam's face and followed her gaze to the bookcase. Cam was thinking the same exact thing. Candy smiled ever so slightly before returning her gaze to the rambling principal. Luckily, the bell rang at that same moment. Dr. Lawrence jumped at looked at the clock.

"My, word! The time just flew, didn't it? I'll just have Miss Crosta escort you to your first class." Lawrence told them hurriedly. He rushed to the door and beckoned the woman seated at the desk, in front of a computer. She came over and looked expectantly at Lawrence.

"Miss Crosta, would you kindly escort Candace and Cameron Rodriguez here to their first class?" he asked

"And that would be?" Miss Crosta inquired.

"Yes, sorry, girls, what does your schedule say?" Lawrence asked.

Both girls consulted the yellow papers in their identical hands.

Cam said, "Algebra," at the same time that Candy said, "Geometry."

The twins traded identical looks of horror. Then, they directed their gaze at the principal.

"We requested to be together." Cam said her voice full of fury.

"Well, according to your placement tests, Candy belongs in Geometry, while you, Cam, should be in Algebra." Lawrence answered, wringing his hands nervously.

The sisters quickly compared the rest of their schedules to see if they had any of classes separately. To their immense relief, they had everything else together. They thanked the principal and strode out of the office. Miss Crosta led them down an empty hallway.

Candy turned to cam and whispered, "So, we've gotta keep our powers under control during Math, got it?"

Cam nodded. "Oh, yeah. Remember what happened the last time we were separated for too long?"

Candy closed her eyes and nodded. Her mind's eye conjured an image of garbage can rising up and tipping over, seemingly of its own accord, right onto the head of the hottest, and snobbiest, guy in school. That had been the result of Candy losing control. Then, at the same time, only a few feet away, she pictured a lunch tray flying up and coating his girlfriend, Sarai, in the cafeteria's version of lasagna. The work of Cam.

"Gotta say, that was great. We didn't even plan it!" Cam said.

"Yeah, it was awesome." Candy said smiling brightly. She'd never much cared for either of those two classmates, especially not after Brad and Sarai had embarrassed them in front of the entire football and cheerleading teams.

"Girls!" came a sharp voice. Both heads snapped up and looked in the direction of the voice. Miss Crosta was standing several feet ahead. She beckoned to them with her finger and they hurried forward.

"Candy, you go in here." Miss Crosta said, pointing to the door in front of her. "Cam, this is your room.â She added, indicating at the classroom right next door to Candy's.

Candy and Cam exchanged good-bye/good luck hugs before entering their respective classrooms.

 

[charmingangelC]

CHAPTER 3

As Candy entered her new classroom, she noticed that her knees were shaking slightly.

"˜Stop it!' she ordered herself. "˜Why should you be scared? You were freaking cheerleading captain back at Johnson High!' So Candy put on a brave face, walked to the front of the room, and handed, Mr. Marks, her transfer slip.

"Well, well, well! A new student! Fresh meat!" Mr. Marks said jokingly, only no one laughed. "Okay, Candace, take a seat over in the corner, next to Jess," he said, pointing at a seat situated beside a drop-dead gorgeous blonde who wore a big smile on her face.

Candy quickly walked over to it and sat.

"Hi!! I'm Jess De Carlo." Jess introduced herself, "You're Candace"¦?" she asked, wanting to know Candy's last name.

"Rodriguez." Candy supplied before adding, "And it's Candy."

"Awesome name!" Jess exclaimed, chewing on a piece of bubble gum. "These are Nikki Lawson," Jess indicated to an extremely beautiful red head, who twinkled her fingers at Candy, "and Carla Masters." A cute girl with wavy brown hair smiled brightly as she rummaged through her bag for something. Seconds later, she produced a stick of bubble gum, which Candy accepted and popped into her mouth.

"Ladies!" Mr. Marks called. "The idea for me to teach and you to pay attention."

The four girls faced front. Moments later, Jess slipped Candy a note.

Candy cast a wary eye at Mr. Marks, who was busy writing something complicated on the board. Satisfied that she wouldn't get caught, Candy unfolded the paper and read:

One of the girls on the cheer squad broke her leg and she's out for the season. I think you'd be perfect for her spot. And as captain, my opinion holds a lot of weight. What do you say?

Hugs and kisses,

Jessie

Candy was elated. She looked up at Jess, who had been waiting expectantly for her answer and nodded enthusiastically. Jess grinned back and turned her attention to something else. Candy, meanwhile, sat back in her chair. She had been so mad when her and Cam's guardian had made them move right after Candy made cheer captain, for no real reason. She remembered the arguments that seemed to shake the entire house. In the end, Candy hadn't really had a choice in the matter and they had moved to a small, yellow house on Monroe Avenue. Now, Candy would have a chance to at least be on the squad. She couldn't be happier.

~*~

Cam opened the door of her Algebra class and strode to the front of the room. Her new teacher, Miss Dillon, took her transfer slip and directed her to a seat at the back of the class. Cam flopped into her chair, well aware that all eyes were trained on her. She just stared straight ahead, still pissed that she and Candy had been separated. Now she couldn't have any fun during Math class. All because of that stupid balancing act their powers played. At a very young age, the girls had known enough to keep their powers secret from everyone, even their parents. They had also learned that their powers were interconnected. When the two sisters were together, they had perfect control over them, but when they were separated for a period of time, the powers went haywire if they tried to use them or didn't maintain strict restraint over them. It sucked.

Cam was busy sulking and not paying attention when she felt a dull poke in her back. She ignored it. Whoever it was poked her again, harder this time. She whirled around, ready to lash into whoever it was. The culprit was a pretty Asian girl with pink and orange streaked jet-black hair dressed in black leggings and a black leather jacket.

"What's your damage?" Cam hissed.

"Excuse me! I didn't mean to interrupt the princess." The girl whispered back fiercely.

Cam sighed. "Sorry. Why the hell were you poking me? There. Was that better?"

The girl smiled and said, "Much. I'm Shayla. And you're"¦?"

"Cam Rodriguez." Cam answered.

"I like your name. Is it a nick?" Shayla asked.

Cam thought for a minute before realizing that "nick" meant nickname. "Yeah," she told Shayla. "My full name is Cameron."

"Coolio." Shayla said. "Where ya from?"

"L.A. I went to Johnson High."

"Awesome. A big city girl. Listen, lata, I'm going to meet my friend at the Bean Box. It's a coffee shop. Wanna come with?" Shayla asked, taking an instant liking to Cam.

"Sure thing." Cam told her. The way she figured it, her and Candy could spend some quality time together, getting their powers balanced and whatever, then she could motor down to the Bean Box. "One problem. I have no idea where the Bean Box is." Cam said with a smile.

"No problemo. I'll hook you up with the directions in the quad during lunch." Shayla told her, returning Cam's smile.

~*~

Faith tossed and turned all over her pale blue sheets. She was having the nightmares. One of the "gifts" bestowed upon the Slayer.

Two pretty, dark haired girls, twins. They looked familiar somehow. They were being attacked"¦killed. The vampires and demons were after them. They were everywhere There was nowhere to run. No place the girls could hide.

They were so scared"¦

Faith awoke with a start, breathing heavily. After a few moments, she realized she was drenched in a cold sweat.

"˜I have to help those girls.' She told herself. "˜God, they were so scared, I could feel it.' Faith was sitting there, wondering why she, of all people was assigned to help these twins and who could possibly be after them. They weren't Slayers. That much she knew. If they were, she'd have sensed it. But still, there was something different about them. Something"¦supernatural.

Faith jumped out of bed and tugged the first jeans a shirt she could find. Then, she raced out the door of her apartment and straight to the building's storage room to find all those books Giles had given her after they'd beaten the First. "˜Maybe there was a prophecy or some other s*** that's messing up these girls' lives.' Faith thought.

6 hours later

Faith looked at her watch and saw that it was 3:00.

"Damn, I gotta meet Shay at the Bean Box in an hour. And I still gotta shower, dammit!" Faith said out loud, sticking the books back into boxes and lifting them with ease. "Okay, seriously got work on this talking to myself thing." She added before shutting the storage room door and hurrying back to her apartment, softly singing, "Oh, damn, oh damn. I'm gonna be late, oh damn, oh damn," as she went.

When she realized what she was doing, Faith stopped, shook her head at herself in disgust, and entered her apartment.