Author's Note: Back!
"What?" said Buffy, Oz, and Xander at the same time.
"That's just what it says here," Willow protested, showing them the page. "I didn't make it up!"
Buffy grabbed the book, and stared at the printed words. Sure enough, there it was, in black and white. Under no circumstances should the Doctor ever be allowed near Miss Elizabeth Anne Summers. Buffy flipped to the front of the book. It was published in 1550. She had been mentioned, specifically, by name, in association with a time-travelling alien she'd only just met, nearly 500 years before she'd been born. Buffy skimmed the article once more, her head analyzing the information she had gathered about her new acquaintance, but every time she tried to put the pieces together, she just got more and more confused.
"Okay, why?" asked Buffy.
"He must have mentioned you to the Watchers Council," said Willow. "Like, when he went back in time."
"Yeah, got that," said Buffy. "What I mean is, it says here that he's the master of all lies. Okay, so he lied to me. Why?"
"To win your trust and then stab you in the back," said Xander. "That's why most demons lie."
"Then why did he tell me there was no goodness left inside of me?" asked Buffy. "Does that sound like something you'd say to gain someone's trust?"
"Well, maybe he was just, you know, slipping a little on his disguise," proposed Willow.
Buffy shook her head. "You didn't see it," she said. She looked over at the book again. "Something is wrong with that book. Something's wrong with… with all of this. The Doctor, he's got a soul. I could feel it. He cared about what happened to me. And when he said stuff, it just felt… right."
Willow, Xander, and Giles all exchanged looks over Buffy's head. "Magic voice," they agreed.
"It wasn't a magic voice," said Buffy. "That's not why he got to me. He just… made me think. I mean, he's right. I never got a choice. I had to become the Slayer. Destiny and stuff. But think about it. Maybe, if I'd gotten that choice, I'd be different. Maybe I'd be better than this."
"This is precisely what the Doctor's famous for back in the United Kingdom," said Giles. "Destroying young minds. He kidnaps human girls from their homes, with the promise of making them better. But when they return — if they return — they are changed. Altered. Their friends say they hardly recognize them anymore."
"You think he's bewitched Buffy?" asked Willow.
Buffy could feel anger flaring through every cell of her body. "He didn't bewitch me," she snapped. "He just made me think."
"Yeah, so think about this," said Xander. "Not human. Bringer of Darkness, Destroyer of Worlds, killed ten billion people."
"Rumored," muttered Buffy.
"Point being, you find evil guys, you slay them," said Xander. "That's pretty much what being the Slayer means."
"I don't kill creatures with souls," said Buffy.
"Well, but you killed Angel, and he had a soul," started Willow, but when she noticed Buffy's death glare, she added, quietly, "sorry."
"Willow's got a point, though," said Xander. "Soul or not, you slay the bad guys."
"And where does it end?" Buffy demanded. "One day, I'm killing demons without souls. Next, I'm killing aliens with souls. How long before I move on to human beings?" She stopped herself. "Oh, my God," she muttered. "That's just what the Doctor told me last night."
Xander gave her a proud smile. "See? Evil guy. Brainwashing. Slayer time."
Buffy held her head in her hands. She didn't say anything. This was all making her incredibly uncomfortable. That conversation, everything the Doctor had said to her last night — it shouldn't keep bothering her like this. But the Doctor's words just kept popping back into her head when she least expected it. Was Xander right? Had she been brainwashed? She didn't feel like she had. She'd been hypnotized by the Master, before, but this didn't feel like that. No, Buffy decided. this wasn't brainwashing. It was more like… she'd heard the words before. Like she'd always known they were true.
Except…
At the end. When the Doctor had looked at her as if she'd been the monster. What had he thought she'd done? What had made him lose faith in her? And why did this matter so much?
Because even though she'd just met the Doctor, even though she didn't know him and had been trying her hardest to kill him, she wanted him to believe in her. She wanted him to tell her she was right, that what she was doing was justified, that she was saving the Earth. And it shouldn't bother her this much that an evil villain type like the Doctor thought she was no good.
She was about to ask something more, when she thought she saw something moving out of the corner of her eye. She turned, but there was nothing there. Okay. That was weird. Sort of like last night. But there was this feeling in her head, now, too — not Slayer senses, but something else, something confusing. She closed her eyes and focused her mind, and the feeling went away. She had to stop pushing herself like this.
"Are you okay, Buffy?" asked Willow.
"Yeah, just tired, is all," said Buffy. She looked over at Giles. "Giles, those other Slayers, did the Doctor kill them?"
"Pardon?" asked Giles.
"You said every time a Slayer sees the Doctor, she dies," said Buffy. "Was he the one who killed them?"
"Well, actually, no," said Giles. "Not directly. But then, with a time traveler, it's always a little hard to tell what he's caused and what he hasn't. In general, though, he's considered more of a harbinger of death. An omen of evil. It's said that wherever the Doctor shows up, trouble follows."
Buffy knew that saying far too well. It was what people always said about her.
"I've got to think about this," said Buffy, gathering her school books.
"Buffy, I really don't think you should get involved," said Giles. "I'll ask Faith to fill in for you, tonight."
Buffy glared at him. "Oh, no, you don't," she said. "I'm doing this one myself."
"You know what the book said," said Willow. "He's not just going after the Slayer or anything. He's going after you, personally. If he does come back, you're going to be his primary target."
Buffy stood up. "Then it shouldn't be that hard to find him, should it?"
And with that, Buffy walked out of the library. She was going to find this Doctor herself, without help, and when she did, she was either going to assist him, capture him, or kill him. She just didn't know which.
