Chapter Ten - "Origins"

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Barad-dur

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Decked out in the black dress Melek had delivered to her - the "gift" from Sauron - Buffy quietly followed her human captor through the dim, cold maze of corridors of Sauron's Tower. In addition to being given new clothes, she'd been treated to a bath. The funk of more than a month of isolation in the cell had vanished but not the other telltale signs.

Her eyes were still slightly bloodshot, her skin was almost as pale as a vampire's, and her usually trim physique had suffered as well. So did her Slayer strength. A tussle with a couple of grotesque Orcs when she'd been taken for a bath revealed that little fact to her. She was a regular person now, something she'd always wanted to be since her first Watcher told her she wasn't like everyone else.

Soon, Buffy came to a stop when Melek did; she took in the décor of the place he'd brought her. It wasn't anything amazing. Like everything else in Mordor, it lacked color, sufficient light and exuded a horrible feeling of hopelessness. The mighty torches suspended along the walls cast their eerie glow over the only standing object in the room.

Buffy narrowed her eyes at the structure as Melek stepped aside while gesturing with a hand for her to move forward. She gave him a quick side-glance, noting that smirk which resided now on his face. Her eyes slowly traveled up the black monstrosity. It looked sort of a like a large chair but something about it was ... strange.

"Where are we?" she finally asked, her voice reverberating a little in the cavernous room. She pointed to the chair then added to Melek, "And what's that? I never took Sauron as a tree hugging kind of wanna be world dictator."

"Perhaps you should take a closer look, Slayer. Not everything is as it first seems to the eye," he answered. He took her by the arm and brought her closer to the object. "Behold, the throne of Sauron. The place from which he will rule all of Middle-Earth." He looked down at Buffy, their eyes meeting before he added, "For the rest of eternity."

Buffy lifted her head and concentrated on the throne of Sauron once again. Soon, her eyes adjusted to the torchlight in the room and the chair began to tell its secrets. The eerie glow filtered through the many cracks of the contents of the throne; light that showed her what truly stood before her. Skulls, human skulls, skulls of beings that appeared to be human along with various bones - arms, legs, hands, feet - it all made up Sauron's throne.

"You see, Slayer," Melek said as he saw that she realized what it was fashioned from. "This is what becomes of those who are foolish enough to challenge the Dark Lord. So many have tried. And all have failed." He moved closer to it, his expression one of pure pride and admiration. "And, soon, your friends will become one with it. Well, two of them, at any rate."

Buffy raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought you said my friends didn't have a care for me?" She folded her arms across her chest when Melek turned to her. "Seems to me that you've screwed up your little mind trick you tried to play on me, pal."

"Have I?" He pretended to mull it over then he approached Buffy, leaving only a small space between them as he looked upon her. "You haven't yet discovered the reason why you're here, have you? You didn't heed my advice, then, or else you would have."

She glared at him but found herself becoming lost in his deep, black eyes. It was impossible for her not to at times. "Okay. So I'm not ready for the next round of Jeopardy! Why don't you educate the masses, then? Tell me what Sauron wants with me. My blood? My body? My soul? My declaration of loyalty to him and his pointless cause?"

Melek's hand slipped gently around to the back of her neck then he less than gently jerked her closer. His lips grazed her left ear as he spoke in such a calm, almost seductive, tone. "The world does not revolve around you, Buffy," he explained. "It was never you my master desired to have in his possession. But you, most assuredly, would lure the one whom he truly does desire ... "

Buffy stood in Melek's grasp, petrified. Not of the man but of what he'd told her. [It was never me. Why didn't I figure that out? How could I have been so stupid?] Her eyes closed and her heart sank in her chest. [It's who he wanted the last time. The "fire maiden". He wants Willow.]

The pieces fell together. The night she was taken, it never struck her how Xander and Willow miraculously arrived in time to see her kidnapping. Sauron had a plan and he made it happen. He wanted to draw Willow to Mordor and turn her to his side.

"Your silence suggests one of two things: you understand or that you do not," Melek murmured. "Do you understand?"

Buffy pressed her lips together as tears welled up in her eyes. She sniffled but resolved to not cry, especially not in front of him. "Yes, I understand now," she whispered.

He smiled then placed an emotionless kiss to the side of her neck. "Good."

She shoved him back with all the Slayer strength she could summon. "That doesn't mean I'm going to let it happen, though, jerkoff," she snarled. "A friend of mine won't fall into Sauron's hands. I won't allow it."

He laughed, truly amused at her. "The greatest of Elves have faced my Lord and failed. What makes you think you'll succeed where they could not?"

"Those Elves weren't me," she evenly replied. Her gaze narrowed hard on him. "I'm the Slayer."

"Oh yes! That you are!" He clasped his hands together, almost like he was happy she'd reminded him of that fact. "The Slayer. What is the Slayer, Buffy? Have you ever given it any pondering, the reason for your very existence? Why the Valar would curse the world with a creature such as yourself?"

"Curse?" Buffy stepped back from him. "What do you mean by that? And, yes, I know why I'm here. It isn't a curse. Into every generation there is born a Slayer. She is the Chosen One -" Buffy was cut off by Melek's laughter. "What is so funny about that? I'm here to fight creeps like your Dark Lord Sauron. And, when I need to, jerks like you."

"Is that the story your so-called Watcher told you, Buffy?" he asked, still chuckling as he approached her once again. "Is that a pretty poem he created to mask what you really are?" He seized her by both wrists to stop her from backing away. "What evil you carry inside of you? The evil that is as much a part of you as the ... "good"?"

"Let go!" she hissed as she tried to wriggle out of his grasp. It was useless. Sauron had kept her weak for this very reason. Control. She gasped when Melek slammed her up against the base of the throne.

"It survives through her bloodline, the evil of the first," he continued, his eyes locked with Buffy. His body kept her pinned in place. "It trickled throughout Middle-Earth as though it were a plague. A plague, Slayer. That's what you are, a plague that spreads a darkness over the innocent. I suppose I cannot place the blame upon you solely. In ways, you are a victim of your own lineage."

Buffy's mind races as Melek's rapid fired all of this information at her while he applied pressure to her, almost smashing the very life out of her. He was clearly incensed by it on a personal level.

"My lineage?" she gasped. Her eyes met his once more. That hatred and the pain of being unjustly wronged had returned to them. She always thought of Faith - she had the same look in her eyes when she and Buffy confronted one another on that rooftop. It seemed like a million years ago now.

"The disease of the First travels through her progeny, her female progeny, so by that grace I was spared the poison of that curse." He loosened his grip on the blonde as he regained control over his rage. "It was the decision of the Valar when they created her."

She stared at him, dumbfounded. If what he said was true, then Slayers were sisters in more than just terminology. And if it were true, then why had no Watcher come for her mother? Why had Joyce not been called? Why was Buffy the lucky one to be tapped after the death of the Slayer before her? Or perhaps her mother wasn't the direct descendant of the First. No, Joyce had to be. Melek said it only passed to the female progeny.

Then another revelation struck her. Melek has said he'd been 'spared'.

"You had a sister who was a Slayer," she quietly said as she gazed deeper into his eyes. [That explains it - all of it. Why he thinks he knows so much about me. It's because of her.]

"Yes." His voice was strained as he fought for control. The hatred burned in his eyes once more. "The curse reached far beyond the North and into Khand, where my people dwell. We ally ourselves only with Mordor and swear allegiance only to Sauron."

"I know," she murmured. She recalled another man from Khand - Rauko. He was the minion of Sauron who so relentlessly pursued the gang the first time in Middle-Earth.

"Katil, my sister, was as loyal as any other member of my family; we were held in such high regard by own people, and by Lord Sauron. She was unwavering in her loyalty until she awoke one morn and declared Mordor, and all those who served it, as her enemies. She'd been chosen to protect the innocent from Sauron and his evil." Melek swallowed hard. For the first time since Buffy'd met him, she detected sincere pain in his voice. "She left. And disgraced the family name."

Buffy vaguely recollected a story Elenya had told about the Slayer before her, the one who'd visited Elenya in her dreams to tell her who she was. Elenya had said the girl was raised in a land where darkness ruled, but chose to serve as Slayer despite it.

"She had to do it," she told Melek. "It was her duty to accept the responsibility. And I'm sorry your family swore allegiance to the wrong friggin' side and that Katil's decision disgraced you. Life's a bitch. And then you die," she added in a much harsher tone.

Melek yanked Buffy away from the throne then backhanded her so viciously, the Slayer found herself face down on the cold floor with warm blood trickling down her chin. As Buffy propped herself up on her elbows and lifted her head, she saw Melek, a long knife drawn, bearing down on her. She threw up a hand, a futile gesture to ward off a knife-wielding psychotic, and she yelled in pain and fear as he seized her wrist then pulled her to her feet.

As he drew back his knife for the killing blow, Buffy closed her eyes and prepared herself for her fate. It was her time, she guessed. It would also appear to be her only way out of Mordor. Perhaps if she were dead Sauron would never get his claws into Willow.

Melek's knife never reached its intended target. He felt a force seize him by the wrist and he struggled against it.

[I need the Slayer alive,] the chilly, disembodied voice of Sauron echoed in Melek's mind. [She is important yet.]

A moment later, Melek's fingers opened and the knife clattered onto the floor.

Buffy glanced from the knife to Melek who now lowered his arm. What had made him stop? It surely wasn't pity. Definitely not love. She didn't believe the man was capable of the emotion.

[Sauron.] That was the only answer.

Sauron's control over his servants was extremely potent. Simply being out of her cell wouldn't secure her a path to freedom. He knew what thoughts people had in an instant, it seemed. She would have to play her cards a different way.

Melek, frustrated he couldn't deal with the Slayer in the manner he pleased, hurled her against the base of the throne. She "oofed" loudly, her hands grasped tightly to the bones of some poor bastard in order to keep herself upright. She looked over her shoulder, eyes wide and fearful of what this psychopath may try next. The next time, Sauron might not stop him.

[Tell her,] hissed Sauron's voice in Melek's mind. [Tell her the truth about what she is. She may be of use.]

Buffy glanced from Melek to the knife that was evenly spaced between them. [If I get it, what can I do? Kill him? Even so, I won't be able to stroll out of here.] She swallowed hard and met Melek's gaze. The man wiped the back of his hand over his mouth as he glared at her.

She gripped the bones tightly and waited for Melek's next move. What was he waiting for? Was Sauron still in control? Her eyes settled on the knife once more, very briefly. [Kill him, Buffy. It's your only chance. The only way out.] She shook her head and blinked. Now where the hell had that thought come from?

"We'll finish this later," growled Melek finally breaking the silence between them. With that, he left the throne room. A pair of snarling Orcs took up guard positions once he was gone.

And, again, Buffy was alone.

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End Chapter Ten