"So who are you?" Buffy and Myles were walking down the main deck together.
"I, am part of the Irish Samurai dynasty. My father is one, as well as a watcher. Every man in my family has been one since the beginning of time. We fight evil in its many forms. Demons, vampires, humans."
"Wow!"
"No, I think I should say wow about you. I mean, the slayer! That is pretty awesome."
"You know?"
"Yeah, I mean, since my dad is a watcher. That's why he came up to you the other day. He and Giles are friends, brothers-in-law actually.
"But Giles isn't a samurai, and he's not Irish, he's English."
"Family by marriage. My mother."
"Wow! Wait so you and you're father know I'm a slayer? Is that the reason, you're hanging out with me?" Myles laughed at Buffy's face.
"No. I mean, I know you're the slayer. But I was the one who asked to be introduced to you. My dad just wanted me to skulk behind the scenes and kind of guard you."
"Oh!" Buffy smiled. "But I'm not the slayer. There's another, Faith, back in Sunnydale."
"Oh, I know! But according to the council, my dad, any other humans and any demon I've heard talk about you, you are the slayer!" Buffy's face brightened.
"Really?" Myles laughed.
"Yeah, really!"
"You know what this means?" Buffy stopped and grabbed Myles's shoulders.
"You're in the running for slayer of the century?"
"No!" Buffy's smile faded. "Dracula was right!" When he heard this, Myles's face fell.
"What? What do you mean?"
"Well Dracula, came to Sunnydale a few years ago, and he kind of said something."
"Like what?"
"Well, like there was more power in me then I knew. That I was filled with darkness, and he could show me, teach me."
"No, Buffy. Dracula was only telling you lies. He only wanted to change you for his own pleasure." Buffy looked up at Myles, her face filled with pain.
"Because, as a vampire, I would be more powerful, evil and invincible then ever before. I'm sorry Myles, I just need to alone right now." With that, Buffy let go of his hands and walked away from Myles.
"Buffy..." But she was gone.
* * * *
Angel heard knocking at the door. *It can't be Cordy or Wes, they took their keys!* Angel opened the door and was surprised to see Buffy's friend Myles, standing outside.
"Hi!" Myles's face was blank, his form looming.
"Hello." Angel had no idea why this boy would be here. All he knew for sure, was that he felt an intense jealousy rise up in him. "Come in."
"Thanks." Myles walked into the living room, Angel followed him. "I kinda got the impression from meeting you, that you and Buffy are close."
"You could say that." Angel stared at Myles, trying to figure out what was so strange about him.
"I know who you are, and I know who she is."
"What?"
"You are Angelus, scourge of Europe. She's the vampire slayer."
"You got me there."
"I just don't know what the connection between you two is."
"Your point being?"
"Care to share?"
"Not really, but I am sensing you aren't going to leave unless I do!" Angel sat on the edge of one of the chairs. Myles stayed standing, his face eerily blank. "It started back in 1996, when I was a...wreck on New York.
"I fed on rats, stayed hidden in alleys. I ran from demons and humans alike. One demon in particular wouldn't give up, Whistler. I'm sure you've heard of him if you've heard of Buffy and me?"
"I've...bumped into him a couple of times."
"Whistler showed me her, on the day she was called. On the front steps of her high school, I saw her friends, Merrick her first watcher, her heart. He said that I had a choice, I could stay where I was or, I could go to Sunnydale and help her, Buffy. Obviously, I choose the latter."
"Obviously."
"When I met her, I mean came face to face, I was amazed. She seemed so confident, strong, graceful, especially since she was so small."
"The tiniest of the slayers yet."
"Yeah. It started out, I was cryptic warning guy, and then one night, I happened to be in the right place at the right time. Buffy gave me shelter, and the next night, she discovered I was a vampire."
"How?"
"What?"
"How did she find out?"
"We kissed, but it brought out the demon in me. The passion in it. We tried not seeing each other, but that didn't work. Eventually we stopped denying the truth. We loved each other. As Giles put it, it was rather poetic, a vampire and slayer in love."
"Demons, they used you to get to her. Being together caused problems."
"Something like that. On Buffy's 16th birthday, we slept together, but it destroyed us. My curse, one moment of true happiness would take my soul away."
"Buffy's the trigger?"
"Yes. As Angelus, I tortured her. Not physically, but emotionally, her and her friends. I killed the only woman her watcher ever loved. Finally Willow was able to give me my soul back, but it was too late. I had opened the vortex of Acathla, but Buffy knew what she had to do. Moments after I got my soul back, Buffy plunged a sword into me and sent me to hell."
"Why'd she do it?"
"It was a choice between me or the world. Buffy chose the world, because she loved me more than humanly possible.
"I spent two hundred years in hell, the earth's equivalent of two months. During that summer, Buffy ran away to L.A., but she came back, to deal with her future and her past. Just when she finally gave me up, I was sent back. No one knows why, but the main idea is that my job wasn't done."
"Did she accept that?"
"What do you think? No, I did my best not to accept it with her. We tried to be together, but it couldn't work. Finally after a lot of prodding from the enemy, Giles, her mother and my own mind, I broke it off. I told her I was doing what was best for her, but she hated me for it. We tried to stay away from each other, while we fought our last demon, but I was injured. The only way to save me was a slayer's blood. She tried Faith, but only ended up putting her in a coma. Buffy made me drink her, but that was the last of out love.
"We will always love each other, but we can't, not the way we want to."
"So..."
"So...?"
"What now?"
"Nothing. Buffy and I are over, we can never be together."
"Unless the curse becomes permanent."
"The fates will never let that happen."
"Miracles can happen."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. Look the reason I came here was to find out if you could help Buffy."
"What do you mean?" Angel stood up, he started to get worried.
"When we were talking early, I..." Before Myles could finish, Angel rushed him, pushing him against the wall.
"What did you say?" But Myles pushed Angel off as if he were nothing.
"I only said that she was the slayer."
"What?"
"You should know, with all the demons you beat up and kill. Buffy is the slayer. There has been no other like her, before, or will be after her. She is the strongest and longest-lived slayer. She fights with her heart and mind, not just with her strength."
"Tell me something I don't know."
"How about the fact that know one understands her." Angel's head snapped up, a hurt look on his face.
"That's not true." Myles rolled his eyes, and turned around as he laughed.
"Right, you know her so well. That's why you're always doing what's best for her?"
"Well...I..." Angel was unsure of what to say, but then stood up eye to eye to Myles. "You think you know her?"
"Yeah, I do." Now it was Angel's turn to laugh. "You've known her what less then 10 hours and you're her soulmate now?"
"No...at least not yet." Myles's face stayed grim. "I know her, because I am the same as her."
"What's that supposed to mean? Are you a slayer?"
"I am an Irish Samurai, part of the long O'Malley dynasty, the only living Irish warriors." Angel, a little shocked at first, calmed himself down before he responded.
"all right, you have credentials. But if you know my history so well, you would know that you aren't the only living Irish warrior."
"Technicalities my friend, you are a champion."
"Higher then a warrior. And wait, Buffy is also a champion."
"Not quite. A champion is of higher honor then a warrior, yes. But Buffy is a warrior, not a champion."
"How do you figure that?"
"The powers-that-be named you their champion, they didn't also pick Buffy. There is a difference between a champion and a warrior. A champion is a chosen fighter for a specific purpose..."
"Have you ever heard of a slayer?"
"A warrior is a fighter who was already a fighter. They are never picked. It is preordained for them, for their destiny. NO one can alter a warrior's destiny, not even the strongest evil or good. Every single thing that happens in a warrior's life happens for a reason. An example would be that you left Buffy for a reason, you not leaving would never have happened, it never existed." Myles stared at Angel who stared back at him. Neither moved until Myles turned and left, leaving Angel to think about what had just happened.
