Thanks again to everyone who reviewed, and thanks for pointing out Buffy was seventeen when she slept with Angel so she would be closer to eighteen now. I'm sorry to everyone who wanted Chris to get hurt during the fight, but there's going to be plenty of other fight and he can't go through them all uninjured. Now on to the story.
They arrived at the cemetery about ten minutes before sundown. Buffy scanned the graves noticing the three they were here for were close together.
"So what Do we do now?" Phoebe asked.
"Basically we wait." Buffy said sitting on a headstone. "You never told me what you guys were doing at the cemetery last night."
"Oh, We were just burring the Lazarus demon, after you vanquish it you have to burry it in a cemetery or it will just rise again." Phoebe explained. "What about you, how'd you know about that guy?"
"I sort of found him dead yesterday." Buffy began. "I was out walking around and stumbled into a Vamp nest in an abandon warehouse, After I dusted them I found a couple bodies and called the cops anonymously. Then looked in the paper to see where they were buried and well you get it."
"What about the other victims, were they not turned into vampires?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't know, Their families did my job for me so to speak. Gotta love cremation, it solves the whole turning into a vampire problem. " Buffy explained.
"But why were you even out there, I thought You 'quit'" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah, I know, Chris already used that psychology on me. I guess I can't quit, Not really anyway. Their may be another slayer and yeah, I can leave the hell mouth in her protection but, I can't stop being the slayer. It's kind of like you guys can't stop being witches." Buffy replied.
"Actually we were given the chance to once." Phoebe began.
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.
"The Angel of Destiny came to us after we vanquished the Source, he said we fulfilled our destiny and gave us the choice to stay witches or give up our powers for good and live normal lives." Phoebe explained.
"And you said no." Buffy asked surprised.
"Well, being witches is part of who we are. It's not always fun and brings a lot of danger into our lives but, we couldn't turn our back on who we were." Phoebe replied. "Don't you like being the slayer?"
"It's complicated, don't get me wrong the slayer package is cool, and I enjoy a good fight but, it's different than your situation." Buffy replied.
"How so?" Phoebe asked.
"Well, you know the prophecy, the one girl in the world spiel. And I guess that's why. You're a witch and, even if you stopped being witches there are still lots more out there fighting the good fight. I get that your like the most powerful good witches of all time but, your not the only powerful witches out there." Buffy explained.
"But, your not the only slayer anymore." Phoebe reminded her.
"Yeah but, two against millions isn't exactly great odds either." Buffy replied.
"But, you two aren't the only ones fighting 'the good fight'. There's lots of others out there like us doing our part." Phoebe replied.
"I know but, there's no out for me ever. I mean other than dying." Buffy said.
"We wont stop fighting till we die either." Phoebe began.
"You don't get it." Buffy cut in. "Didn't Leo explain how the slayer thing works?"
"No. We just read about it in the book." Phoebe answered.
"You see a slayer is called usually when she's about fifteen, don't ask me why I don't know, anyway she fights until her death and then the next slayer is called." Buffy explained.
"Yeah I know that." Phoebe replied.
"No, I don't think your following me. What I mean is a slayer only lasts a few years hell, most never see eighteen. I go out every night, fight vampires and demons stop apocalypses, save the world but all it takes is one vampire or one demon, one wrong move and I'm gone, another girl takes over and the process repeats. I'm a footnote in battle against evil, living through the accounts of my battles my watcher kept. It's going on three years since I've been called and noone knows if I'll have a fourth." Buffy explained.
"That's not fair." Phoebe exclaimed. Sure being witches put them at risk but, from what Buffy said being the slayer was basically a death sentence.
"Life's hardly ever fair." Buffy replied. "You want to know why I punched Leo?" She asked.
"Because of your boyfriend." Phoebe replied unsure of how she would respond.
"That's part of it." Buffy began sadly. "Do you know how the first slayer came to be?"
""No." Phoebe replied.
"The men in power chained a girl down and used their power to painfully give her the heart of a demon, so she could fight the demons off for them, because they were to weak or to scared to do it themselves." Buffy explained. "It didn't matter that she would die, just like it doesn't matter to them now. Kendra is dead, I'll die, the other slayer, Faith, will die, but they don't care because there be another and another after her. As long as evil exist so will the slayer, they say that a lot. It's almost comforting but it's not true. In the end I'll just be one of the thousands of girls bearing the title who have died."
"I don't know what to say." Phoebe replied honestly. There were no words of advise or hope she could offer.
"Looks like we have company." Buffy said leaping from the headstone ready for another fight.
I know in the show, Buffy doesn't find out how the first slayer was made until the seventh season. But, for my story I decided to make her know already.