There was silence in the clearing that the four supernatural beings occupied
"Wait. Wait one moment! You told me that I had a choice to die for Buffy, giving her my strength and regaining my place of honor in the Slayer line. Now you are trying to tell me that I have to fight her to the death when, let's not forget, the first two times I tried to take her on, she kicked my ass! And now, just when we find out that she wasn't even close to using all the power that she has you want me to enter a fight that I know I won't survive. Tell me, how is that supposed to make me want to fight her?"
The female turned back to face the other three and opened her mouth to speak when she was cut off by Buffy.
"There is not going to be a fight. I won't allow it. None of you here know my true strength because I don't even know my true strength. I refuse to kill Faith just so that some "balance" will be righted again. I'm not a murdered, and I sure as hell am not a gladiator. I won't kill her. You can find another way to test my strength, but I won't do that."
The male Oracle was gaping at her. He looked like Buffy was the first one to tell him "no". "HOW DARE--"
"Hush Brother. That is enough. She is right. It is not fair or righteous of us to ask, or even order, a Warrior to face a battle when there is truly no hope of survival. She has proven that she has courage and honor by willingly making the choice to give up her life and her powers so that the Eldest will survive the coming trials. There is nothing left for her to do. There will be no fight, and that is the end of the discussion. She will be stripped of her powers, powers that will be sent on to the next Potential so that she will have a better chance of helping the Eldest in the coming battle. The Rogue's life will lie in the hands of others. If she is found worthy, she will live with no knowledge of the world that was once her haven. Her memory of this life as a warrior will be nothing more than a bad dream. That is the final decision. Do you agree to that Rogue?"
The other three were staring at the female Oracle, awed by the sudden power that she seemed to exude. Even her own brother was awed and cowed by the force of her voice and the amount of certainty behind it. Buffy and Faith were both unknowingly thinking that the female held the real power. It was then that Buffy made the connection.
"You were a Slayer. And judging by your brother's incredible pompous and arrogance, he was your Watcher wasn't he?" Buffy's voice came out firm and without doubt in the graveyard that they occupied.
The female Oracle said nothing. She merely smiled. Buffy was just about to ask her when she was the reigning slayer when she was silenced by the sweeping gesture made by the Slayer/Oracle's arms.
"This hallowed ground that we are standing on, this oldest of graveyards, is the resting-place of Slayers. This is the most hallowed and holy ground that you will ever walk. This is the final destination of slayers, their place of rest, their reward for fulfilling their destiny. There are no dangers here, no demons that need to be slain, and no prophecies that must be made whole. Just peace and quiet. It is where you will come to rest. It is where you will take the place of power at the very center of it. It is where you will take the throne as strongest of Slayers. The throne as Queen. That is your destiny. I said that this is a resting-place for Slayers, and it is. But as you know, you've never really followed tradition, and now you know why. This is where everything has led you. This is the ultimate place. This is where you belong. And when you reach it, there is nothing that you won't be able to do. Another has never held the power that you will wield. And it no one else will ever be able to wield it. You are the culmination of hundred of thousands of Slayers, and in truth, you are the beginning of the end of Slayers. Each Slayer after you will be less powerful, and in time, there will be no Slayers at all, and Slayers finally will be nothing more than myths, whispers of a time long pass, of a time with little hope.
"Your reign as Slayer will change many things. You will destroy many species of demons, and will set forth a change that will last till the end of time. You will be the reason that there is no more need for Slayers. You will change the word, and the way that people live in it."
Buffy knew that the female oracle was indeed a Slayer, there was no doubt left in her mind once she heard the end of the speech. She didn't know what to think when she heard that she would be the downfall of entire demon species and the end of the very slayer line. It was just something that sounded like it came out of a fairy tale, and if Buffy knew anything, it was that her life was no fairy tale.
As Buffy looked at the female Oracle before her, she knew that there was no denying her destiny, even if it was more than the one that she had just gotten used to. Now she didn't have to worry about dying, but now she had to think about how to kill entire species of demons. It just seemed so...outrageous, that she almost couldn't wrap her mind around it. As she thought about all that she had heard that night, she remembered that the Oracles had said that she would lose someone close to her, as a price for being able to defeat this new evil.
"You said something about me losing someone close to me? Who, and why do they have to die when I don't need the power? Is there someway around it? I mean, I don't need the power, so they shouldn't have to die, right?" As she spoke she saw the male Oracle turn and look at his sister. The female was not looking at Buffy, or at her brother, but was looking at Faith, who had been standing off to the side ever since her little outburst.
"Little Slayer, what is your name? Your true name?"
Both Buffy and the male Oracle turned to look at Faith, who was looking at the Slayer/Oracle with wide scared eyes.
"What do you mean? My name is Faith. Always has been, always will be."
Buffy looked from the Oracles to her sister slayer and began to piece together the little puzzle pieces that she had been given so far. Faith's lack of a last name, her recklessness, her total lack of respect, and her unfortunate affinity for the darker side of things. It all started to make sense now that she thought about it.
"The Mayor... He's your real father isn't he? That was one of the reasons that you came here, to Sunnydale. You wanted to meet him. Wanted to see what he was like, and that was why you worked for him so easily. Your name is Faith, but it's Faith Wilkins, isn't it?"
Faith looked like the proverbial deer in the headlights. Her face was frozen in a look of complete horror. The look lasted for only a second, but the other three occupants of the graveyard saw it and knew that Buffy had struck the mother-load of truth.
Faith kept her head up and didn't say a word in answer to Buffy's questions, but didn't deny them either. She knew that to deny it would be a lie, and she was beyond tired of saying, maintaining, and backing up lies. They just took too much time and energy. She just looked at Buffy and the Oracles, waiting for them to say something.
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As the Mayor left Buffy's room despite the protests of the doctors who wanted to make sure that he was not injured from his unexpected flight across the room, and the protests of the security guards who wanted to arrest Angel for violence against a government official, Angel focused entirely on the young human boy that may have just saved his mates life . Angel just stood there, now in complete control of his strength, if not his temper, and wondered how he was going to come to terms with the surprising hidden strengths that his new coven held...
