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Author's Chapter Notes:
There's a mention of you-know-who in here, though not by name...and which name is still a mystery...
Chapter 5

“What?!” Buffy exclaimed.

“Buffy, is everything alright?” Joyce called from the kitchen.

“Yeah, Mom…Mrs. Blackwell just told me some startling facts, that’s all.” She turned back to the woman who’d apparently been responsible for turning her life topsy-turvy.
“You. Explain, now.”

“Buffy…your Watcher and the souled vampire were allowed to know about the prophecy of the Master’s rising ahead of time because they were supposed to prevent your death. Now, because you were gone such a short time, your Slayer essence would have remained a part of you even as the new Slayer was called. The essence, the very power that makes the Slayer capable of what she does, would have been split, making both of you incomplete. To maintain the proper balance, we made sure the full essence went ahead to Kendra, as it was supposed to.”

“I wasn’t supposed to die then?” Buffy murmured, shocked. Lillian laid a comforting hand on Buffy’s.

“No, dear, you weren’t, but that doesn’t matter now. I’m here because we have an offer for you. We don’t have much time before your mother comes back in the room, so I want you to take this book and read it over, and I’ll be in touch with you. There’s a number on a card inside.”

“What’s in it?”

“An overview of our history and what we do. If you read the book, I think it will become clear why I’m here today. Now, don’t look so shell-shocked, dear. Your mother’s coming back.”

“Here we go! Fresh lemonade, and I even had some shortbread cookies around. So, Mrs. Blackwell…now that you’ve gotten to know Buffy a bit better, do you think she’ll fit in well with your program?” Joyce asked.

Lillian looked at Buffy, sitting next to her. “I think she will.”

“Wonderful! We’ll have to work out a schedule around cheerleading practice and games, assuming you make the squad, Buffy.”

“I still have to get through Hell Week, Mom…and I have competition…”

“So what?” Joyce said proudly. “You were really good at it at Hemery. It’ll be just like riding a bicycle.”

“Thank you so much for your hospitality, Mrs. Summers, but I really should be going. So many to see before my day is through…” Lillian stated.

“Oh, of course. Please, take a cookie with you for the road.”

“Buffy has my contact number for when she’s read through the literature. No pressure, though. There are many ways to serve the community.” Mrs. Blackwell shook hands with both of them, and took her leave.

Joyce wrapped her arm around Buffy’s shoulders. “I think this is going to be a good year for you, sweetie,” she said affectionately, and placed a kiss to Buffy’s temple, before heading into the kitchen to start dinner.

“Heh…with my luck? We’ll see…” Buffy muttered to herself. She went up to her bedroom to start on her homework.


After dinner, Buffy excused herself to go back up to her room, saying she wasn’t done studying. Joyce didn’t question it, thrilled that Buffy was applying herself this year. Once up in her room, Buffy closed the door, and sat down at her desk to open the book Mrs. Blackwell had given her. The actual cover under the jacket was unmarked, the book smelling old. She flipped through the yellowed pages to the start of Chapter 1, and started to read…
~+~
Hours later, she’d nearly finished it, and her mind was reeling. The book started with how the Slayer had been created – there had been the essence of a demon in her? – then went on to chronicle every Slayer’s most notable feat and her cause of death, cross-referenced with Watcher’s Journals once the organization had started keeping them. There were many personal notes from the Guardians about this Slayer or that Slayer, and what had made her so uniquely special. These attributes were too personal to have all been made up, like they knew each girl, intimately. Buffy was willing to bet that if she started going through Giles’ history of Slayers on record, everything would match up, and she could probably educate him in a thing or two.

Buffy had gotten as far as the 1950s when she felt she needed to stretch and move around a bit. Her bedtime wasn’t for another hour, so she went downstairs to grab some of the cookies and a glass of milk, and went back to her room to continue reading. Getting to 1977, she noticed that for the first time, the same vampire’s name was the cause of a Slayer’s death again. There was actually a vampire out there somewhere that had killed two Slayers? The thought sent shivers down her spine, and she thanked whoever was listening that she no longer had to face that kind of opponent. What was even more shocking was that the Slayer had a son! Buffy couldn’t imagine trying to raise a child at the same time as following her calling. The dates showed that the girl had been pregnant before she was Called, and gave birth after becoming a Slayer. The boy was only five when his mother died. She wondered if he possessed any of the Slayer’s traits?

The book stopped at 1985, so she assumed a new volume was in the works with updated Slayer info. One thing she didn’t understand, yet, was why so many Slayers had ‘Cruciamentum’ marked as their cause of death. Flipping to the back, she discovered a brief glossary of terms for words in other languages. Her eyes widened at the definition for ‘Cruciamentum’. Would Giles have subjected her to this if she were still a Slayer on her 18th birthday? And the practice’s true nature was to get rid of Slayers who didn’t tow the line? Dear God… Buffy wanted to throw the book away and declare it lies, but something in her gut told her it was the truth. She knew the Council wasn’t overly thrilled with her methods, but she never would have suspected how greedy for power and control they really were. This was the big defense against Evil? There had even been accounts of Watchers that were ordered to kill their charges when the inexperienced Slayer wasn’t learning fast enough. If the Council deemed you too weak and unworthy to handle the job, they arranged your death so a new girl could take your place, and they seemed to always know where the new girl was.

Giles had said that she had somehow slipped through the cracks. Merrick, too. She had to wonder now if the Guardians had purposefully shielded her from being found as a Potential. Buffy could admit, alone and in her heart of hearts, that she had always been a little too trusting of people. If she was being completely, brutally honest, she could see herself being brainwashed like all those other girls had been when they were so young, and she would have followed their orders to her death, just for the acceptance that came with being told “good job”. Well, she couldn’t deny the truth of men, now. She even wondered if she could trust Giles…and if it would be wise to share the book with him. She’d have to talk to Mrs. Blackwell before she made that decision.

Mentally exhausted from all these revelations, Buffy hid the book under her bed, and got ready to sleep. She didn’t know what the Guardians might want with her now, but she was willing to listen and find out.


Monday, September 7th, 1997…

Week Two of school. Yay. Buffy’s hand floundered blindly to turn off the alarm. She groaned and threw the covers off her head, rolling out of bed and staggering to the shower. She hadn’t slept well, crazy dreams based on the book dancing through her head most of the night. Well, it felt like most of the night.

She was almost out the door when Joyce reminded her to take her workout clothes for cheerleading practice after school. After running back up to her room and down again, they hurried off to Sunnydale High so she wouldn’t be late.

Buffy snuck into the library during lunch, knowing that Giles would be in the faculty lounge with Ms. Calendar. She had made notes of random things to reference from the Slayer Almanac, as she had dubbed it, and started fact checking. She hastily put her notes away when she heard Giles coming, just before the bell rang.

“Buffy?”

“Hey, Giles. I was just using the quiet space to do some studying, since I’ll have less time after school today. Gotta get to class!” She hurried out, feeling safe that she hadn’t left any evidence of her snooping.

Giles shook his head, and resumed his work cataloguing new inventory.
~+~
“Summers! Hurry up and change! You’re late!” the cheerleading coach bellowed, when she entered the gym.

“Sorry, I know! Mr. Whiteman wouldn’t let us out until he’d finished his lecture.”

“Very well. Just hurry up and get out here.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

‘God, this day was a Monday,’ Buffy thought, lacing up her sneakers. She tossed her clothes into her backpack and ran back into the gym to take her place. ‘Crap, they’re already half through the choreography’.
~+~
“Well, how was the first day of practice, honey?” Joyce asked, when she picked Buffy up.

“Hell. I hurt everywhere, including places I didn’t think I had. I’m dying for a hot bath. And, I got yelled at for being late because my last teacher held the class late so he could finish his lecture. And the guy is so boring!”

“Well, there’s lots of ice cream in the freezer to soothe your troubles. Would you like Chinese food tonight?”

“Mom, you’re the best.”





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