Chapter One: Another Chosen One
My life has always been complicated. I somehow always knew I was different. But on the morning of May 22, 2001, everything changed. You see, I was asleep in my home of Halesberg, Virginia when I was awakened. I don't know why or what awoke me, but I sat up, feeling a little weird. I glanced over at the clock to see the time: 8:09 in the morning. But you see, four time zones behind me, there was a girl. She was pretty: blond hair, green eyes, slender, and graceful. I now know the event that changed my life started in a one-Starbucks town named Sunnydale in California. So, you see, in Sunnydale, the time was 5:09 AM. I closed my eyes and tried to lay back down, but my back wouldn't go down. It stayed stiff, and in my mind, I saw the events that were occurring in Sunnydale. I saw a flash as I watched a young girl my age with brown hair chained onto a high tower, a drop of blood falling from her body. With a flash, a huge cloud of weird light was made. The blond girl helped the chained girl go and helped her limp toward the actual tower, stating, "Go!"
The girl that was once chained said, "Buffy, it's started." I watched as the blond girl, which I had figured her name was Buffy, as the other one had called her, turned to see the cloud, growing larger, shooting lightning out of it. Buffy turned back to the girl as the girl said while she cried, "I'm sorry." Was it her fault? I wondered to myself.
Buffy replied, "It doesn't matter." The girl tried to run past her, but she grabbed her. "What are you doing?"
The girl replied, "I have to jump. The energy."
Buffy then told her, "It'll kill you."
I watched as the two girls stared at each other. The girl said softly, "I know. Buffy, I know about the ritual. I have to stop it."
What ritual? What is going on here? my mind wondered.
Buffy then said, "No."
The tower then started to shake and they stumbled to stay on their feet. "I have to," the girl stated. "Look what's happening." I watched in horror as a dragon flied out of the portal. The girl continued to jabber, saying, "Buffy, you have to let me go. Blood starts it, and until the blood stops flowing, it'll never stop. You know you have to let me. It has to have the blood."
I watched as Buffy looked like she had just realized something. She said, "Death..." Suddenly, I heard a voice in my head saying "is your gift." She frowned and turned as the sky grew lighter as the sun was trying to rise, while the sky started to get all holey. I watched as she looked peaceful and turned back to the girl, staring wide-eyed.
The girl cried, "Buffy... no!"
Buffy looked at her and said, "Dawnie, I have to."
Dawnie whimpered, "No!"
"Listen to me. Please, there's not a lot of time, listen," she then took Dawnie into her arms as started to cry. "Dawn, listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you. But this is the work that I have to do. Tell Giles...tell Giles I figured it out. And, and I'm okay. And give my love to my friends. You have to take care of them now. You have to take care of each other. You have to be strong. Dawn, the hardest thing in the world...is to live in it. Be brave. Live. For me." With that, I watched in my head as she turned and ran off the platform, diving into the cloud. The cloud disappeared and I watched as Dawn sobbed. But before the cloud ended, I watched as Buffy was in the portal. She turned to where she was facing me and stated, "You're next. Do a good job... don't die, like me." I had just seen these two girls for the first time and one had already died! But after she stated this, I felt a strange surge go through my body. I didn't see the event anymore and my eyes opened. I couldn't go back to sleep, not after this. I thought maybe, just maybe, it was a weird dream and ignored it. But soon, I found out that it wasn't. A couple days later, a woman approached me. She introduced herself as Crystal and sat me down. She then started to talk to me.
"Tori, (That's my name, by the way.... Tori Giles) do you remember May 22nd?" she asked.
"Yes, of course. It was only a couple days ago," I replied.
"Well..." she started. "A death occurred that day on the other side of the country. It happened in Sunnydale, California to a girl named B-"
"Buffy?" I finished, remembering the strange dream.
"You had a vision, didn't you?"
"A vision?" I repeated. "I don't believe in visions."
"The girl you saw was, in fact, Buffy Summers. You see, Buffy's not your average, everyday girl. She's a superhero. Now, before you start to say I'm crazy, hear me out. You felt a kind of... surge go through you after she died, did you not?" she inquired in a nosy way.
I nodded, saying, "How did you know that?"
"You see, you, like Buffy, are not a normal girl. You, too, are a superhero. You're a Vampire Slayer, as she once was. One girl in all the world, a chosen one, one with the skills to fight the vampires, demons and the forces of darkness, to stop the spread of evil. You were chosen next. You see, Buffy was a vampire slayer, The Vampire Slayer. She had already died, so there is another. Her name is Faith, but Faith killed a man and is now in prison. So, because Buffy is dead and there is no one to protect the world, another was called. You are the next Slayer," she said.
"Ok, where are the hidden cameras?" I asked, looking around. "Cause I've gotta be on some kind of show. It's not funny, you know, walking up to innocent little girls just to get ratings on a cable show. I-"
"Oh, there are not cameras, Tori. This is all very real. You have been called to slay the evil in this world and I'm your watcher. Now, we must get started on your training, but I guess I must prove it to you..." she looked around to find a heavy rock on the ground. It must've weighed at least a ton by what it looked. "There. Go pick that rock up."
"Are you crazy?" I told her. "There's no way I can pick that u-"
"Just try," she said. So I walked over and picked it up to discover it was as light as a feather. "Now, pick up this bench. Only a Slayer would have this strength."
I began to believe her, and as I discovered, slaying vampires and demons was fun. I was fourteen then and ready to save the world. But the visions continued. I witnessed as Buffy was brought back from the dead and as Willow, a friend of Buffy's, tried to destroy the world. I actually started to leave for Sunnydale when I saw that, but the same voice that had said, "is your gift" told me that it was not time for me to leave for Sunnydale yet. So, during those next two days, I kept having visions of the events in Sunnydale concerning Willow until Xander, another one of Buffy's friends, stopped her. I was having visions during lunch, while in the car, sleeping, and in school. It was a nightmare. Then, the First started to come back. Crystal taught me everything she knew about the First when I told her what was happening in Sunnydale. But when she found out that the Watchers' Council had been destroyed, she left to help build another. After she left, the Bringers came after me. They wound up killing my mother in an attempt to kill me. I wound up killing them all but one. I had never met my father, and was only left with information that he was British and his name was Rupert Giles. My mother told me that he didn't know about me because they broke up before she found out she was going to have me and decided not to track him down to tell him. I only had a picture of him, where he was in his early thirties. This was when I started to pack to go to Sunnydale. I knew I had to be there when the First finally came after Buffy and her friends, and I couldn't wait around for that stupid voice to tell me when I should go. I got my drivers license early and put my things in my new Ford Escort. I was at my last day of school when I had a vision in the middle of English of Faith coming to Sunnydale. I watched, and so did my class, as words written in blood appeared on the board: IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO GO.
"It's about time you tell me that!" I exclaimed aloud.
The teacher turned. "Tori, there is no reason to get that excited about the deaths of Salem."
She turned to see the words and gasped, screaming as more was written: THE SLAYER NEEDS YOU.... AND SO DOES YOUR FATHER.
"My father? What do you mean? Who are you? Give me some answers!"
YOUR FATHER IS IN SUNNYDALE. I AM THE FIRST SLAYER. MY PURPOSE IS TO GUIDE THE SLAYERS AFTER ME. YOU MUST GO. IT IS YOUR TIME TO JOIN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE FIRST EVIL.
"What is happening?!" cried my teacher as I gathered my things and left the room. "Where are you going?!"
"To Sunnydale.... to find Buffy and my father," I told her.
I put my things in my Escort and drove off. It took me two weeks, but I was finally in California. I had the radio blasting (Destiny's Child's "Survivor" was playing) and I was singing at the top of my lungs when I drove by a sign that read "Sunnydale: 5 miles." I looked ahead to see a bus in front of a huge crater. I drove up to see a group of people standing near the crater looking in. They turned and I recognized several faces immediately. I got out and walked up to them, saying, "Buffy Summers... hi. I'm Tori Giles. I'm the Slayer called after you."
She looked at a man that looked quite old as he looked back at her, replying with a British accent, "I'm sorry, Buffy, but I wasn't told about another Slayer."
"Maybe she was called after Red did her mojo on the Scythe," a girl I recognized as Kennedy said, cuddling up to Willow.
"No! I've been a Slayer for two years! I was fourteen when it first happened. I'm sixteen now." I turned to the man with the accent and said, "You're Rupert Giles, aren't you?"
"Yes, do I know you?" he replied.
I gasped. "You... know about this stuff?"
"Yes, very much. I'm a Watcher."
"You're a Watcher?! How come you weren't assigned to me? Then I.... and Mom coulda...seen you one more time..." a tear strolled down my cheek. "But you don't even know who I am..."
"Who are you, exactly?" he asked.
"Do you remember Cassidy McGregor?" I asked him, hoping he would.
"Yes, she was an old girlfriend of mine. I broke up with her when the Watcher's Council called me to train some watchers," he replied.
"How long ago was that?" I said.
"Seventeen years ago," he stated.
I looked at him. "So, hmm.... lemme get this straight. Seventeen years ago, you slept with her, and then ran off, not even waiting to see if she got pregnant. Then-"
"Whoa...." Faith started, getting it. "Giles' got a kid? And she's a Slayer? Damn."
"I've told you, I'm the Slayer. When Buffy died in 2001, and you were too busy doing time for killin' a guy and going all psycho, they had to find somebody to stop the vampires, not knowing Willow was gonna bring Buffy back. So, who'd they pick? Me. I was the Chosen One. Yes, I am the daughter of Cassidy McGregor, and yes, Rupert Giles here is the father."
"Are.... are you sure?" he asked, crouching down to the ground.
"Yes, I'm quite sure. Very sure. Mom say's she's never been with anyone else."
"Yes, yes, she told me that back then, too... I wish I knew what to say to you, uh, Tori, but.... I don't know. I mean, you're sixteen. I've had a daughter for sixteen years and... your mother couldn't tell me?"
"She didn't know where you ran off to, so she couldn't. You left no trace," I told him. I then looked over to the crater and said, "Wasn't that Sunnydale? I haven't had a vision in the last two weeks, so can somebody tell me what happened here since Faith came to town?"
One by one, they told me the story. The battle at the Hellmouth, the bomb, Caleb's ending, and even Spike's ending.
"Spike's dead?!" I cried. "But... you two were supposed to get together!"
"Uh... not really," she replied.
"Come on... it was inevitable," I argued.
"Whatever," She said, moving on. "So, where do we go from here?"
I watched as some of the group looked around.
"That phrase isn't the same without Anya," Xander said.
"What happened to Anya?" I asked.
"She... passed in the fight," said Andrew, piping up.
"Wow.... I'm guessing you guys are referring to the last number you guys did when that demon.... I think his name was Sweet... came to town, huh?" I replied.
"Yep," Xander said. "That was fun... except for the spontaneous combustion caused by singing songs."
"Easy for you to say, you summoned him," Dawn put in.
"And don't forget Tara..." Willow said, holding Kennedy tighter.
"What?" Kennedy asked, confused.
"I think they went through a singing phase, Les," Faith told her.
"Yeah, don't call me that. I got Slayer strength now and kinda feel like kicking your ass," Kennedy replied.
"Ooh, bring it on," Faith said. "But do it another day... I'm a little tired from that dumb-ass fighting we were doing."
"Whatever," Kennedy told her. "You're still getting you're a-"
"GUYS!!!" Buffy cried. "Shut up. Ok, we're all tired, and fighting is the least of our problems." She turned to me and asked, "Now, where'd you come from?"
"Halesberg, Virginia," I told her. "I've been driving here a full two weeks."
"Virginia. Okay. Do you have a big house? Big enough to at least house all of us?"
"Yeah."
"Great. Guys, load the bus. We're setting up camp in Halesberg." As they all headed towards the bus, she looked at me and said, "We need to stop at the nearest store and get some supplies. Snacks, bandages, alcohol to take care of wounds, things of that nature. Do you have a cell phone?" When I told her yes, she continued, "Okay. I'll need your cell phone number. Probably a smart thing if someone rides with you." After I gave it to her, she ran up to the bus. I heard her say, "Dawn, I want you to ride with Tori. Keep her company. When we get somewhere, you can either come back onto the bus or ride with her again."
She just got done leading these people through a battle and she's jumping into leading them again, I thought. Dawn joined me, sitting next to me, and we started to drive behind the bus, never to come back to the now crater-like Sunnydale again.