For notes warnings and disclaimers see chapter 1
Chapter 32: Marked for Death
(Giles's POV)
I'm staring at the thing almost as if it were some sort of poisonous animal... which, come to think of it, in a way it kind of is. I got the delivery late last night, it wasn't unexpected but it was still an unpleasant reminder of what I'm about to have to do. I've known this day would come for a very long time and I've literally been counting down the days for months but that doesn't mean I'm ready... far from it.
In these past few months I've grown closer to my girls and to Joyce than I ever thought possible but now I am being put in a position of having to betray one of them to keep them safe. I hope Buffy will understand, I hope she will be able to forgive me someday but I fear that the damage I'm about to inflict on our relationship will never really heal.
I've been ordered to start the injections, I've been notified of the details of her Cruciamentum and the whole thing fills me with dread, especially because it is clear that Travers doesn't want her to live. Ever since Buffy's return I've had a sense of imminency with regards to this test and as a result I've spent countless hours studying the few Cruciamentums that have been carried out in the past couple of centuries. There haven't been many, but even with as few examples as I've been able to investigate, a rather disturbing pattern has emerged.
The first thing I noticed is that the slayers who have lived to see their eighteenth birthday have been few and far between... even more so than I had originally expected them to be. I mean, I've known all along that slayers' lives are unusually short and brutal but I had never fully realized that there have been over three hundred slayers called in the last two hundred years alone and of those only seven have made it to their eighteenth birthday. The thing is that even among those who have lived that 'long' there have been some noticeable differences.
In all I've read the details concerning seven tests and five of those dealt with slayers who were basically described as trouble by the Council's standards, slayers who were in the habit of thinking by themselves and refused to bend to the Council's every whim. That is remarkable, especially considering that it means that out of seven slayers who lived to see their eighteenth birthday only two were good little puppets and that only serves to make the outcomes of those Cruciamentums even more dramatic.
Of seven slayers tested only three actually managed to survive... and of those who did survive there was just one in the group of those who were deemed to be too independent by the Council.
At first I tried to convince myself that it was just a coincidence but seeing how I wasn't willing to bet Buffy's life on my wishful thinking I decided to take a closer look at the old journals and I am now convinced that the results of those tests were anything but a coincidence. Upon closer scrutiny I found an explanation for those different success rates among both groups and it was an explanation that was deeply disturbing: of those seven slayers five were forced to face master vampires while the other two were locked up with newly risen fledges.
The thing is that of the ones who were forced to fight master vampires only one -Nikki Wood, a New York slayer in the seventies who had a rather unusual history and was eventually killed by Spike- managed to survive. From what I've read about her a couple of facts do stand out. The first thing that caught my attention was the fact that she was called unusually late, when she was seventeen, but that was not what made her situation so special, what made her so unique. The most remarkable thing about Nikki Wood was that she was the first slayer in well over a hundred years to have a child of her own by the time she was called. In the old days, when it was not uncommon for women to get married when they were fifteen years old or so, slayers with children were rare but not unheard of, however in the past hundred years that situation has changed dramatically. The point is that I suspect that the fact that she actually had a child may have been the determining issue of just why Nikki managed to survive in spite of the Council: unlike most other slayers she had a very good reason not to give up.
The thing is that Nikki Wood was the only slayer to survive the Cruciamentum against the Council's wishes... and now Buffy will be expected to go against Kralik, a dangerous and deranged vampire that is well over one hundred years old. I guess I should be flattered that the Council has her in such high regard but I'm not. Even if she were going in at full power it would not be an easy fight and sending her in there defenseless is inconceivable... luckily she won't be alone.
Under normal circumstances it would be a confrontation that would be unlikely to end favorably for the slayer, the odds would be stacked too heavily against her, but this time around Travers made one mistake, just as I had hoped he would: he forgot that these are not normal circumstances. He ordered me to start the injections and he ordered me not to help her, to let Buffy go on with her normal slaying routine even when the serum's effects make themselves known... and I intend to do just that.
I will encourage Buffy to keep up her normal routine but what Travers failed to take into account is that Buffy is not the only slayer so she rarely, if ever, patrols alone... in fact I couldn't order her to go out alone without making her suspicious, especially if she's not feeling well. As the time comes for Buffy to face Kralik, Faith will be watching her back, just like she has been doing ever since she arrived here in Sunnydale.
There is nothing I can do to prevent the Cruciamentum from taking place, I know that much. The Council is ruled by tradition and that tradition dictates that a slayer who reaches her eighteenth birthday must perform in that damned test and there's no precedent for a Watcher refusing to administer the test... luckily there is no precedent for the presence of a second slayer during a Cruciamentum either so, seeing how I haven't been told to keep Faith away, there is no protocol that keeps her from interfering. She is a slayer and by helping Buffy she would only be doing her duty, after all, Kralik is a vampire and Faith is a vampire slayer, getting rid of him is as much her duty as it is Buffy's.
The problem is that I fear the Cruciamentum will only be the first step in a rather long battle we are going to have no choice but to wage against the Council. Over the past few months I've grown disillusioned with the organization I've served most of my adult life and I will no longer bend to their will and I know neither will Buffy and Faith, but I don't see them relinquishing control over the girls willingly either and I know that if they can't control us they'll almost certainly try to destroy us. That's what this Cruciamentum is about, that's what it's always been about. Going by the records of the last seven tests, the Cruciamentum is nothing but a thinly disguised mechanism for them to get rid of those successful slayers they can't control, for them to trigger the calling of a new, more malleable girl... and if the new girl is not more malleable than her predecessor, well, it doesn't really matter because, after all, slayers don't live long.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Author's note: okay, lame chapter, I know, but I did need a fast forward and this seemed to do the trick.
