|
|
“But why didn’t you tell me?” Buffy complained for the umpteenth time. They were all in Buffy’s hospital room—Giles had insisted they go to the emergency room for Buffy’s broken rib, though she had protested. Slayers healed faster than other people, but not that fast, Giles had said. Willow and Angel had agreed with him. So Buffy had to wait until the doctors were done to hear the full story, and she had not been patient.
“I told you, I wasn’t allowed to. Don’t ask me why, all I know is I wasn’t supposed to say anything. I guess it was because it’s pretty easy to listen in to a computer conversation,” Willow repeated.
“Maybe for you,” Buffy said. “Oh well, I give up. Just because I thought we were best friends doesn’t mean that—”
“We are best friends!” Willow exclaimed. “I’m sorry!” Buffy grinned good naturedly, and shrugged.
“It’s forgotten. What about your kids? I’ve never heard of a Watcher with children. Though since Giles isn’t a big talker, I could have missed a lot,” Buffy said teasingly. Giles looked up at hearing his name with a confused expression. Buffy rolled her eyes and looked back to Willow for an answer.
“It’s perfectly all right to have them actually. They’re not coming down until everything’s more settled though. You know, until Alethea gets the hang of it. I don’t want to endanger them unnecessarily,” Willow explained. The black haired girl scowled.
“I wouldn’t endanger your kids!” she exclaimed.
“I know, but I just want everything to settle down a bit,” Willow explained. The new Slayer sighed and looked back to Jon, who she was busily getting to know. It looked as if the semi-Slayerettes wouldn’t be out of a job, and would probably even be promoted at the rate Alethea was getting to know them. She was new to town, so she didn’t know anyone else yet anyway.
It was strange thinking of someone else being the Slayer. Someone else choosing their very own Slayerettes. Buffy wasn’t quite comfortable with the idea yet. There'd been Kendra, of course, she Buffy had still been the Slayer then, Kendra had just been . . . extra. Alathea was going to be the one and only. She sighed and turned to Willow and Giles.
“Tell me again why this isn’t an insult to my fighting ability?” she asked. “ ‘Cause this could get seriously ageist very quickly. I might have to sue.” Willow looked extremely alarmed and hastened to explain.
“Every three or four years there’s a girl born with the potential to be a Slayer. That is, a girl that’s a reincarnation of another Slayer, in a manner of speaking. When the last Slayer dies, whichever of these girls is in the right age area—about fifteen to seventeen—gets the full power of a Slayer, and—”
“Wait a second,” Buffy interrupted. “So you’re saying that just because I was the right age when the last Slayer died I became the Slayer? It could have been someone else if she’d died a few years later or a few years sooner? I could have led a normal life?” Buffy’s voice had escalated to a very high, loud level, but Giles hurriedly tried to calm her down.
“I-it’s not quite that simple. You see, only one of the girls born in each generation is . . . is MEANT to be the Slayer. The others are . . . rather a safety net, in case something goes wrong. And if there WAS only one girl, the current Slayer could find out who it was and would then know when she was going to die. This way . . .”
“It could be anytime,” Willow finished. “But the problem here was that you’ve lived longer than most Slayer’s. While I think that’s an incredible thing and not a problem, it does create some dilemmas. While you’ve been Slayer you passed by Kendra, who SHOULD have been the Slayer. Remember when the Master was supposed to kill you?” Buffy shuddered. It was not a pleasant memory.
“When he DID kill me, you mean?” Willow nodded, then went on.
“Well Kendra became the Slayer then. She was supposed to be the next Slayer. You sort of messed up the plan. In a good way, of course, but it still got a little wacked.”
“I WOULD have given up my job to Kendra,” Buffy said. "And why didn't I know all this before? Was it in the Slayer handbook?" Willow shook her head.
“You couldn’t, remember? Though it seems like you should have been able to. When Kendra died there was another girl who was supposed to be the next Slayer.”
“So I could have given it up to her?” Buffy asked. Willow shook her head again.
“You were still alive so she didn’t actually become the Slayer like Kendra did. You would have had to die to make her the Slayer. Well, since then you’ve passed through a bunch of other potential Slayers. None of them have been the real thing though, so it didn’t really matter. But Alethea IS the real thing, we’re sure of that, and she had some task that she has to do. But to do it, she has to become Slayer now, so she can have some experience and be prepared for whatever it is ahead of time,” Willow explained.
“So your retiring me because I should have died a while ago?” Buffy asked. Willow grimaced at the choice of words, but nodded eventually.
“Sort of like that. I mean, Alethea has full Slayer power even though you’re alive and that’s sort of a minor miracle. We have to pay attention. You aren’t mad, are you?” Willow asked. Buffy regarded her with amazement.
“Mad? MAD? I get to retire and you think I’m going to be mad? Believe me, Alethea can have it. You just have to assure me that this isn’t a dream and I’m not going to wake up,” Buffy said, grinning wildly.
“It’s not a dream,” Willow assured her.
“I’m really free?” Willow nodded. Buffy leaned over and kissed her.
“Thank you Will.” And then—suprising everyone—she kissed Giles’ cheek. “Thank you Giles. For everything. For not giving
up on me in disgust a long time ago.” She turned to Angel, who had a long bandage across his forehead and right cheek. “Thank
you. Just thank you.” Angel walked over from where he leaned against the door and took her hand. She squeezed tightly and he
squeezed back. For the first time in forever it seemed like, Buffy was really and truly happy.