Title: The Monster's Alphabet

Author: alliterator

Summary: A series of vignettes, from Adam to Zookeeper. Spoilers for all seven seasons.

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine; everything belongs to the great and power Whedon.

The First

Takes place post Season 7's "Chosen."

"Beyond sin, beyond death... I am the thing the darkness fears. You will never see me, but I am everywhere. Every being, every thought, every drop of hate --"

- The First in Amends

As the bus drove away from the crater that was once known as Sunnydale, Buffy looked back and thought, Good riddance. Sunnydale was her home, the place where she had met her best friends, but it had also been her worst enemy. It was the town, with the Hellmouth underneath it, which had attracted every manner of vampire and demon. And now the Hellmouth was closed for good.

Buffy stretched out her arms and legs on the uncomfortable bus seat and yawned. Almost dying again really took it out of her. She looked back at the crater again and saw swirls of wind and dust before she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

When she opened her eyes, everything was dark. She stood up and her eyes tried to get adjusted to the darkness. She reached out her arms and felt a rock wall. She felt the wall slope upwards and she realized that she was in a cave.

Suddenly, she could see a light in the distance, a fire blazing. She walked towards it slowly, not knowing what to expect.

When she saw Her, she knew this was just a dream. She was writing on the stone walls with chalk, Her dark skin painted with war paint, Her fingernails jagged. The First Slayer.

"Why am I here?" Buffy asked.

The First Slayer kept on drawing with the piece of chalk. Buffy came closer.

"What am I doing here?" Buffy asked.

The First Slayer kept on drawing upon the wall. Buffy approached and tried to examine the chalk drawing. There was a girl – Buffy was pretty sure she was the Slayer – who was holding on a sword with one hand and a curved knife in the other.

"What does it mean?" Buffy asked.

The First Slayer suddenly turned her head and glared directly at Buffy. This swift motion surprised Buffy and she stepped backwards, but the First Slayer was fast and reached out and caught her shoulders, propelling her onto the ground.

In a raspy growl, She said, "It is forever. It is eternal. Accept it."

And then Buffy woke up. She squinted because of the bright overhead light.

"Buffy," she recognized Giles's voice, "thank god you're awake."

"We knew you'd be okay, Buffy." Xander's voice.

"You gave a scare there for a while." Faith.

Buffy looked around, the blurry figures coming clearer, and said, "What happened?"

Dawn came forward. "You passed out in the bus. The doctors said you lost a lot of blood and if we hadn't gotten you here on time, you might have died."

Buffy lifted her hand and brushed Dawn hair. "You know that wouldn't have stopped me." Dawn smiled.

"Well, I'm sure you need your rest," Giles said, "and all these people in here can't really be helping." Buffy's vision finally cleared up enough so that she could see all the surviving Potentials… now Slayers were inside her room. "So out, let's all get out and let Buffy rest."

All the Slayers left and only Xander, Willow, and Giles were left in the room. "Thank you," Buffy said. "And what I'm going to ask is strange, but can you also leave too?"

"Don't you want some company?" Willow said and Buffy knew she was thinking of how she had pushed away any friendship these last few weeks.

"Yes," Buffy said. "I'd just like to be alone for a few minutes. Just five minutes, please."

Xander and Willow looked at each other. "Sure," Xander said and he and Willow left.

"I'll be right outside," Giles said and exited too.

As soon as they were gone, Buffy, with great pain, got up from her bed. She clutched her stomach where she had received the wound and felt stitches through the thin hospital gown. She was in pain, but she knew what she had to do.

"I'd knew you'd come here," she said.

"I'd never left," a voice said from behind her. His voice. "I've always been watching you."

Buffy turned around slowly and saw him, looking the same as always, blond hair, black duster. "Ironic. You using that image when it was him that really stopped you."

"Nothing can stop me, Buffy," it said, morphing into a mirror image of Buffy. "I am forever. I am eternal."

Buffy looked at it with a blank face and then smiled. "I know." That seemed to shut it up; it didn't have a response to it. "I know what you are and I know you won't ever go away. But I do know a way to stop you."

"I told you," the First Evil said, "nothing can stop me. I am Evil, pure and absolute."

"But I'm not," Buffy said. "I'm… well, not human, but close enough that I have a soul and a conscience and can choose between good and evil like everyone else. But for the longest time I would never admit I had an evil side to me. I did things I could never take back, I treated by friends badly, but I never admitted to having evil within me."

"Is this going somewhere," the First said, "or am I going to have to kill you to shut you up?"

"I admit it now," Buffy said. "I have evil within me. I have since I was born, since I was called as a Slayer."

"Yawn," the First said. "Wake me when this speech is over."

"You're a part of me," Buffy said and suddenly the First was silent. "You'll always be a part of me, a part that I can never open up for fear of hurting someone. But I can admit to having it."

"What are you yammering about?" The First was fading now.

"If you are the total embodiment of evil and I have evil within me," Buffy said, "then theoretically, I can control you. By accepting the darkness within, I can defeat you."

The First was fading even more now. "You can't defeat me, little girl. You don't even understand what I am!"

"Maybe not," Buffy said, "but I understand what I am." And then the First completely vanished and Buffy was left alone. She collapsed back on the bed and Giles came rushing in.

"Buffy," he said, "I heard you talking. Is everything all right?"

"Everything's fine, Giles," she said. "It's gone. It's really gone."

"Yes," Giles said, "yes it is. Now get some rest." He tucked her in and she fell immediately asleep, not troubled by dreams at all.