The Archer

Xander, Faith, Buffy and Joyce walked into the library. Buffy was mainly focused on herself. She didn't know what was going on and it made her feel so…useless. She hated that feeling. She wanted to feel important, to feel like she had something that no one else had. Then, Faith had come. She had reacted with automatic anger, of course. It was justified before with Kendra, mainly because during their first meeting, Kendra had tried to kill her. Now, Xander also had something that made him different…and a better fighter than her. This really messed up her reality of things. The only person who should be a better fighter than her was Angel, and that was only because he was her boyfriend. Instead, Faith was a threat to her position and Xander now seemed to be more like a combination of himself, Oz, and Angel. He must be possessed.

Giles cleaned his glasses with renewed furor as he finished his tale about the Cruciamentum. Xander and Faith were standing by his side, giving him their support. Joyce was sitting in a chair, clutching her chest. She looked as though she were about to have a heart attack. Buffy, however, was just staring at him, a look of pure rage on her face.

Xander and Faith both struggled to overcome the anger that they felt. Buffy's rage at Giles was, though it had justification, overwhelming. It made both the Slayer and the archer long for violence in the most vicious forms. Such is the curse of heightened senses.

"You were going…" began Buffy, "To drug…me?"

"Yes," whispered Giles, "If I didn't, then…the Council would have me killed, along with your friends and your family. They would probably even erase your memory, make you a…tool, as Travers would say."

Buffy didn't even appear to take the information in. Instead, she rose from her seat and walked up to Giles, glaring at his face.

"If you ever approach me or my family again," she growled, "I'll slaughter you."

She then walked up to Xander and he, unlike Giles, did not shy away from her gaze.

"You knew?"

"I found out, yes," he said.

"…What were you going to do?"

"I was originally going to simply stop it. Then, Giles told me what would happen to the whole group if it was stopped. So, I decided to find an alternative."

"…You would have let him go through with it?"

"I have no doubt in your abilities, but I'm not stupid. I would have…rigged it, so to speak. I would have ensured that you succeeded without the Council's knowledge. And I still will."

"I'm not going through it," the Slayer whispered, "I can't trust any of you. You were going to rob me of my powers, Giles? Well, now you don't have to. I'm done. I quit."

"You can't quit, Buffy," said Giles, "You've tried that twice before…look at the results."

"Yeah. More death and torment. You've got her now, she's enough. Plus, there's this bozo here, playing copycat to both Oz and Angel. Let those two deal with it."

"I think that's a wonderful idea," said Xander as he and Faith walked back to the desk and sat down, "After all, as you said, we have Faith. And I am a good fighter. We should be able to clean this town up in, oh say, a month?"

"Not even a month, X," said Faith, "Maybe just two weeks. It wouldn't be too hard. I mean, Buffy might have had an impressive track record before, what with Lothos, and the Master, and Angelus, but now that she wants to hand the torch over…I say we simply let her quit. What with her lack of whining, maybe things could go easier. What do you say, Giles?"

Giles had to resist the urge to smile. He had caught on after Xander's speech, and now he knew what to say.

"Oh, I love the idea," he said, "I mean, if Buffy is willing to forsake her friends, family, and six billion people just to prove that she is in charge here, then I say, let her. We should be able to handle it easily."

"Stop it," shouted Buffy, "Just, Shut Up! You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Why not, Buff," asked Xander standing up, "I mean, we had it all worked out. We would have allowed no danger to come to you or anyone else, and the Council would have let us all live. No one would have gotten killed or harmed, I would have seen to that, but since you want to just leave us to deal with the mess, just like before, we can handle it now. I mean, we have a more than capable Slayer, an extremely intelligent Watcher right here, a talented Wicca on her way to being a full-on witch, a werewolf capable of tracking things, and then there's me with my arrows and weapons…I think you're pretty much not needed. So, just go ahead and go! Go! Leave your friends and your family to do the job all by ourselves without any help from you! Go on and forsake us! Send us a postcard from Hawaii while you're at it!"

Buffy had to resist the urge to cry. Here was her best-friend, the donut-guy of the group, telling her to get out of dodge because she's not needed. She'd defended this town for nearly three years all by herself…

Wait…that's not right. On her first day, she'd needed their help to defeat Luke. Then, she'd needed them to defeat Catherine Madison, she wouldn't have been able to defeat the Master if it hadn't been for Xander and Angel, or even for Giles, Cordelia, Willow, and Miss Calendar for defending the library while she fought the Master.

Buffy had always known that she was needed, but now that that fact was being challenged, she came to a startling revelation. She had only fought because she had to fight, and even then she had run from it, a total of three times now. Once because she didn't want to lose anything else, even if it meant the end of humanity. Another time because a book had said she'd die. And then this time, because her friends were trying to find a way to get her through the test without her dying and without anyone else dying. She had betrayed them, not the other way around. She'd turned her back on the people she'd cared about, just because the chips were down. Buffy still knew she was needed, but now she realized that she'd abused that need.

Stifling a sob, she spoke.

"I…I'm sorry. I know I've been a bitch to you for no good reason, but…It's just so hard."

"Get used to it, Buffy," said Faith, "Life's hard. It'll kick you, scream at you, beat you down, and speaking from personal experience, fuck you in every possible way there is. But, what matters isn't what you bring to the table. It's whether or not you're willing to take on this life and stand against it."

"We're all willing to help you, Buffy," said Giles, "All we need is for you to accept that help."

"Please, sweetie," said Joyce as she stood and walked over to her daughter, "We're all here to help you. Let us help you."

Wordlessly, Joyce pulled her daughter into a hug. She could feel the salty tears stain her jacket.

Buffy cried for a moment into her mom, then pulled away. She nodded in response and wiped the tears away. Then, she faced the rest of them.

"…What do we do?"

Xander and Faith walked down the street together, Faith leaning on Xander with his arm around her waist.

"She isn't going to change, is she," asked Faith.

"No," said Xander with sadness, "She almost had it for a minute. She's still convinced that everyone needs her, but now she also realizes that she needs us, too. It's a start."

"Why can't she see how lucky she is? She's one of the only Slayers, maybe even the only Slayer to ever have friends willing to fight alongside her, and she shuns them away, telling them that it's her responsibility. Now, she wants our help only because she'll have to be powerless."

"At least she noticed that she betrayed us, not the other way around. We've almost never betrayed her, and if we have, we've done it with noble intentions. Sure, we'll mess up every now and then; take me with the love spell last year. Every girl in town was after me, wanted me to be their love puppy. I lost Willow a lot that day, and I lost all of Giles's respect, and a good amount of Oz's. Then, I lost Cordelia and Willow to the fluke. But, I admitted my mistakes and tried to correct them.

"I could tell that, at one point, her aura read complete and utter depression. I think that was when she realized just how much she's betrayed us. It was so sad, it made me want to cry. But, almost immediately afterward, she had reaffirmed herself of her need. She hates being a Slayer, but she loves the perks. That's humanity for you. You hate it one minute, love it the next."

Buffy sat with her Watcher later that evening, just getting finished detailing the events of the park. She was still having trouble believing just how much things had changed. She still felt threatened by the new source of power in Sunnydale, and a part of her truly did believe that demonic possession had something to do with it. She decided that one day, soon, she'd try to expel the demon inside him. For now, though, it was useful. It was going to get her off the hook.

It's plan was sheer brilliance, though predictable if you knew his powers. Fortunately, the Council probably didn't even know he existed, much less what his abilities were. She'd let whatever spirit was wearing her skin get her out of the situation, then she'd save her friend. That way, she'd be saving the day and get what she wanted. Then, things would return to normal, when she had the most moral high ground of all.

"Come upstairs," said Xander.

"I've meditated all day, Xander," said Faith as she hung her jacket up, "I want to sleep. Just sleep."

"Not tonight. I need to teach you something or, rather, hyena needs to teach you something."

"What?"

"Remember when we fought in the graveyard that first time?"

"Yeah."

"Remember when you felt something hard push you away from me, but I hadn't hit you."

"…um, Yeah. Now that I think about it, yeah. How'd you do that, anyway?"

"I used my senses?"

"How can you use your senses to knock me over?"

"If you come up here, I'll show you."

Faith glared at him. He knew just how curious she was and now that she was itching to know something, she'd have to know. Sighing in defeat, she climbed upstairs with him.

Xander smiled slightly to himself as he and Faith found themselves inside that familiar field. This time, there was only the hyena there.

"Where are the others," asked Xander.

"Out," said hyena, "We knew you were going to need me, so the other two took the night off. What do you want to learn?"

"Remember what you taught me about the senses and their effects on this realm," asked Xander.

"…She's not ready yet."

"What," asked Faith, "Not ready for what?"

"You're not ready for that yet, youngling," said hyena, "He was ready because of what he's done beforehand. You are still green in reality, though you are coming along nicely. Maybe in a month or so."

"Well, can you at least tell me what it is X wanted you to teach me," asked Faith.

"Sure," said hyena, "It's a method of sensory polarity. Basically, it's telekinesis, only…not through your mind. There are five rudimentary senses: sight, smell, touch, hearing, taste…they can all be enhanced through practice. Well, and pay very close attention, youngling, there aren't five senses. There are eight. Including the five, there's aura sensory, which you both have access to; then, there's perceptive sensory, where you can use your abilities to alter the senses of others, making yourself smell, feel, and even appear differently, so much as you seem invisible. Xander is extremely good at this, as has already been proven.

"Now, the eighth sense is the hardest to come by. I guess the best way to describe it is where you can alter someone else's perception so much that you can even provide pain along the senses. Like, if you felt no sense of touch, would you feel pain? No. But, then you wouldn't feel anything else. Another way to look at it. See, he made you feel pressure go against your body and your body naturally moved backward. It happens every time, unless you know how to use your senses correctly. All that he is doing, that's what every human is capable of. They just need practice. As a Slayer, you've got a huge head start, but…he's got nearly fifteen years on you. Maybe in a month or so. So, what do you want to do for the rest of the time?"

Xander pondered that question, then had a thought. Smiling, he made eye contact with hyena, who nodded in understanding.

"What," asked a confused Faith.

Then, she was in a bar with a pool stick in her hand.