Author: mkcrl120
Disclaimer: All the characters mentioned in this story belong to Joss Whedon or Mutant Enemy or some other people. I own nothing and wrote this just to get it out of my system.
Summary: Set two weeks after the events in Explaining Africa 3
Authors Notes: I have no clue about Africa. Which is probably always a good place to start writing a story. So if details I've used for place names, and tribal names and whatever are wrong then just (correctly) assume I have no idea what I'm doing.
Rating: 15 by English standards (mainly for language)
Chapter 14a:
Unknown location
Tu'ron followed as the demon-tamers led the creature into the cave. Faith noted with interest that it had already healed from the injury inflicted on it earlier.
Brouhm smiled reassuringly at her. Tu'ron responded in kind, Faith however was far too curious about what was going on. Scanning her surroundings it looked like a simple cave, rock walls that seemed natural. 'Not that I'd have any clue otherwise unless it was all right angles and doorways.' The ground was covered in a small layer of sand, Faith idly wondered how deep it was. 'From the protruding rocks scattered around the place, I'd say a few inches tops.' She guessed, wishing she could instruct Tu'ron to kick at the floor and confirm her estimates. There was one other thing nagging at the back of her mind. 'Where the fuck am I, and why does this feel so familiar..?'
Tu'ron turned to where Merkak was attaching to chains to rings secured in the rock floor.
Once they were happy that they secured the creature, the demon-tamers began to bring out all manners of things. Tu'ron looked on in a mixture of curiousity and apprehension.
Finished with their tasks, Merkak and Brouhm disappeared down a small tunnel.
Leaving her alone with three people she didn't actually know. 'Finally she's as freaked as I am.' Faith thought.
She was instructed to stand on the rock face between the two chains. Tu'ron walked over, standing bare foot upon it, then turned to see the group. From this new vantage point, Faith suddenly realised why the whole thing felt familiar.
The largest of the men came up to her. "Well done little one. It'll soon be over, feel free to pray to any gods who watch over you."
Tu'ron crouched down, closed her eyes and quietly whispered a promise to her departed parents that she would do everything she could to avenge their deaths and make them proud of how she used the gift they provided to her. Then she spent a few moments in silence.
When she opened her eyes back up and stood, Faith felt she was rewatching a movie for the second time. 'Except that last time, I missed the first few acts and hadn't realised there were supposed to be subtitles.'
"Now we must begin." The more overweight of the group stated. The two men at the rear of the room, bringing various objects forward and arranging them in specific orders.
"First we must neutralise your defences so that you can willingly accept the gifts we bestow upon you."
Tu'ron responded as she had been instructed. "I take these gifts in order to defend my people."
'No less freaky this time round.' Faith thought as she went through the motions again.
The man returned with a jug. "This liquid will allow you to absorb the gifts quicker and with less pain."
Tu'ron accepted the jug and drank deeply. Swallowing as much as she could. Faith noted that while it mostly tasted fruity, it had a slightly bitter aftertaste.
One of the men from the back came forward and attached the chains Merkak had prepared to her wrists.
The larger of the men returned carrying a disgusting looking soup that Faith remembered well.
"For the strength of ten men, I present you with entrails of the Chan'kth."
'This is gonna be disgusting.' Faith thought as the ceremony continued.
Outside the apartment
Amy gasped as she saw Shote attempting to fend off the large demon. 'Heavily muscled, brown skinned, unintelligible, some sort of tusk like protrusions in the mouth.' She noted as many characteristics as she could while the creature continued to batter powerful hammerlike blows onto the shield Shote had somehow erected.
She could see the signs of stress on his face as each blow landed.
"He's a magic user." She breathed out needlessly.
"Thank God," Roger commented. "I was worried he was some sort of witch... or what's the word... warlock."
Amy barely acknowledged that other than to look away in disgust.
"What..?" Roger asked. "They're evil, aren't they..? I read about that in one of the earlier journals."
Amy looked lost for a minute, mind flicking automatically across all the journals she'd provided him with. "Catherine..?" She asked after a few seconds.
"Yeah. That was her." Came the instant response.
"What about his best friend Willow..?" Amy asked. "He probably won't like you calling her evil."
"Doesn't matter!" Roger shouted at her. "How do we help Shote..? I mean, what is that thing..?"
And here was where Amy was struggling. Her mind had been running through every demon she could recall, knowing that she was restricted to very little information about this beast. 'Nothing matches!' She wanted to scream in frustration. 'The only ties this thing has to anything, is when Slayers have gone in the box and it's been released. How can we know so little against something with such obvious if unknown connections to the Slayers..?'
"I don't know what it is." Amy conceded at last.
"I don't care." Roger countered. "How do we kill it..?"
"There aren't details of how it was stopped, merely that it was... in fact the most detailed information we have is that it was bested in battle by William the Bloody."
"Who..?"
Amy sighed, "The vampire... Spike."
"So Faith probably could have killed it then..?" Roger asked quickly, at her nod he concluded. "Do we have any better plan than simply shooting it..? Cos if not I think we should start before it cracks Shote's shield."
"No." Amy replied simply, drawing the crossbow in her hand as she did so.
Firing off the first shot, it embedded itself in the creature's leg, attracting it's attention.
"Shit!" Roger shouted, stepping in front of her as she reloaded.
She heard a nearly deafening boom, as Roger's shotgun attempted to blow chunks out of the creature.
Looking past him she could now see that while it had been successful in blowing away some pieces of the creatures skin, the beast wasn't bleeding and didn't appear to be harmed.
It was at this point that a flash of yellow attracted their attention and suddenly Shote's protective dome doubled in size and knocked the creature a few feet away as it did so.
Dropping the shield, Shote moved over to them while it was down. "Stay behind me, chose your shots carefully. This thing might be unkillable."
"It was killed by a vampire!" Amy responded, as if that settled the argument.
"We don't have any handy." Shote finished, Amy noticed him begin to prepare again as the demon rose to it's feet.
The cave
"You show them the first Slayer's entire life..?" Xander repeated what he'd been told in disbelief.
"Not exactly." Brouhm answered, "And I'm not sure if we could do that."
"You said-"
Brouhm quickly interrupted. "They live the first Slayer's entire life. They see it all, through her eyes, just like I did when I received her memories."
"What if they make different choices..?" Xander asked, trying desperately to get his head round the concept.
"They don't get to make different choices, they just get to live her life as she did. View it from inside her head as it were." Brouhm informed him. "It was our most successful attempt at showing the Slayers why they were what they were. Forget the council, forget anyone telling them who they had to be. We found a way to show them why the first Slayer chose this path, and what life was like when the demons still had partial control of this world."
"And no-one wants to return to a demon-controlled world." Xander finished for him, resting his head in his hands. Massaging his temples lightly he asked the question he'd been wondering since he'd got here. "Why me..? Why trust me with any of this..?"
"I told you." Brouhm replied immediately. "I trust you. Probably more than I trust any Watcher that I know of."
"But why..?"
"I've seen you... through Buffy's eyes, through Kendra's eyes, through the eyes of some of those who were recently empowered. They all trusted you."
"I think you missed Faith off that list unless it was intentional, and as for Buffy... we've had some strong words in the past, I doubt the picture's quite as rosy as you're making out."
"Faith hasn't died." Brouhm reminded him. "And although the newer Slayers didn't know the full story there, or with Buffy really... they got the impression that both trusted you at their side."
"New Slayers haven't died eith- oh god, you're talking about the ones that did aren't you..?" Xander soon realised. "The kids we failed... how could they trust us, we led them to their deaths."
"Yes." Brouhm stated factually. "I'm talking about the ones that died. But you helped keep them alive for far longer than they would have survived without you. Many of which are still alive and fighting by your side."
Xander didn't change his expression.
"And as for Buffy." Brouhm began before Xander could. "I saw her life up until the Master killed her, there was nothing there but admiration for standing by her side." Brouhm waved off the next interruption. "I don't know the full story, but I saw glimpses through the eyes of Kendra and the others. Yes, you sometimes argued with her... and when you did you were merely offering a different perspective, sometimes you were right sometimes she was... but you made her at least consider the alternative. Advice is something the Watcher was supposed to provide. She'd have respected your willingness to stand your ground, even when you were in the wrong... if she didn't do that, then she wasn't the same girl whose memories I received a few years ago."
"I don't need the pep-talk." Xander said tightly before allowing himself to relax a little.
"Feels like a lifetime since then for me." Xander confessed, allowing his shoulders to sag a little at the thought of the journey he'd been on since meeting one Buffy Summers. "Why tell me any of this..?" Xander asked, "It's not like I was thinking of quitting, I'm stuck here for the long haul."
"I told you, because so far you're the only one I've been able to tell." Brouhm stated, "And there are some things you need to know."
"What else could you possibly throw at me..?" Xander asked, 'Now that's a stupid question. Never ever challenge the universe in that way, you always lose... man have I learnt nothing from television.'
"You know that what Willow did recently, empowering all the Slayers... it's never been done before..?" Brouhm queried. "So even I don't know what the new rules might be."
Xander shrugged in response. "Yeah, we're trying to figure them out now... though until we start to get hard evidence in any way, it's something I'll be leaving to the eggheads."
"There are other things too." Brouhm confessed, Xander thought he looked less confident now, as if unwilling to share what was on his mind. "One in particular involves you greatly."
'If it's a burden, do I really want it..?' Xander mused to himself, 'But what if it gives us a headstart on something we haven't thought of..?'
He took a deep breath and then chose to make a initial reaction before he could talk himself out of it. "Just hit me with it."
Brouhm nodded, apparently impressed with him.
'Glad someone is.' Xander thought. 'Probably wouldn't be if he knew how much of my decision making was done riding on pure adrenalin and stupidity.'
"When Buffy died the second time I wasn't aware of it." Brouhm began carefully. "Her memories didn't come here, and the Slayer lineage had already been passed on."
"So it did reside with Faith." Xander finished for him. "I can be right about something. Though it's now going to look like you simply told me."
"There have been Slayer overlaps before, when they've been brought back shortly after death." Brouhm replied. "But there's still only one line." Brouhm paused to let that sink in.
"The problem is when she was resurrected the second time." Brouhm continued.
"It was only CPR the first time." Xander informed him.
Brouhm smiled at him in such a way, that Xander wondered if the story of Buffy's first death and subsequent return had somehow made it to some of the Slayers since that time.
"There had been too much time from her death til before your witch was ready." Brouhm stated.
"Willow isn't exactly my witch." Xander responded coldly, not liking the avoidance of her name, especially considering how much knowledge he knew Brouhm had about their group.
"Resurrecting Buffy was a problem, but not that great a one if the gods she called upon were willing." Brouhm stated. "The problem was resurrecting a Slayer after so long."
"Buffy was the Slayer." Xander immediately responded, before thinking about earlier conversations. "No Faith was. You confirmed it."
"And I'm guessing you needed Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Brouhm replied. "But that came at a price."
"What..?" Xander asked in confusion.
"She had to make agreements with darker forces to allow Buffy to regain her powers." Brouhm answered. "Agreements that certain forces were willing to barter for."
"She had a problem with the darker arts." Xander defended his oldest friend, "We know that, and she's over it now."
"She'll never be truly over it." Brouhm stated coldly before conceding. "But she has got it under control, the other Slayers could see that when Amy arrived and tempted her."
"So what's the problem..?" Xander asked, desperately wanting to end this particular part of the conversation. "If you tell me Willow is gon-"
Brouhm quickly dismissed the idea. "She is at no more risk now than she has been, and I'm sure that a 'What If' situation regarding Willow's been playing on everyone's mind." Xander unfortunately wasn't able to hold a true poker face to that accusation. "Good, she had the power but not the knowledge or wisdom that ought to go with it. It's not her that the threat came from."
"I swear if your next phrase involved Buffy then..." Xander left the threat unfinished, not sure exactly how he could inflict any pain on a person trapped inside a Scythe for several millenia.
"The price was the creation of another Slayer... or something similar." Brouhm confessed.
"Why would... an evil Slayer, that's the threat..? An evil Slayer..?" Xander visibly relaxed. "We're coming up with situations to explain what we might need to do should-"
Brouhm interrupted with something unexpected. "This Slayer would not be part of the line you see before you."
'An entire line..?' Xander glanced around at the room, they were still in the section where Brouhm was going to be sacrificed by his wife. Xander gestured to the opening leading to the first section of the cave. "You said there was only one line."
"I said all Slayers you knew were part of this one." Brouhm corrected him. "Although I felt the magics of both Willow's spell and the other's here, I did not know what either meant. At least not til the other Slayer died."
"So she's dead..?" Xander asked, really confused by this current threat that had apparently already been taken care of.
"Part of me wishes it had been someone else to stumble in here." Brouhm confessed looking sadly at Xander. Waving his hand, he made part of the cave dissipate and led Xander through it. "Brace yourself, this is something I'm not sure you're ready for."
Xander blinked as he walked through the wall that now seemed more cloudlike in substance than anything else. 'This is a very weird feeling.' He thought to himself. 'Whereas of course falling through a portal and talking to someone from the dawn of time is just a typical day on the job.'
As they walked through to the other side, Xander realised they were inside a church, Xander noticed through the stain glass windows that it was apparently night time.
"On the day you resurrected Buffy Summers. Someone else became empowered with similar gifts." Brouhm explained.
Xander's remaining eye flicked around the room, trying to locate anyone likely to have been Slayered.
But the room was completely empty.
Except for one man kneeling in front of an altar.
A man dressed as a priest.
From his frozen gesture Xander guessed he was challenging whatever diety he happened to believe in with a raised fist.
Xander walked between the pews, heading towards one of the side aisles, refusing for the moment to get near him.
Even in this bad lighting, he thought he recognised the man's general build.
As he levelled himself off with the kneeling priest, he confirmed his suspicions when he saw the man's profile.
The profile of the man that blinded him in one eye.
"Caleb."
End chapter 14a