Chapter 14: Father and Son Talk - Slayers

A/N: totally screwing with Slayer lore in this chapter.

Challenge: partially to answer a forum request/challenge by DeepBlueJoy for a story with a 'person of color' as a main character – who doesn't die immediately.

Warning: not especially nice to Faith, but not bashing.

Thanks to my betas: zigpal and AerynSpeedleCaine.

Disclaimer: BtVS and AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

Robin's apartment

Bernie's casual comment knocked Robin out of his brooding. "Wait! Who's Faith?" he demanded.

"When Buffy died, a Slayer named Kendra was Called. Then Kendra died a year later, which Called Faith." Bernie could see Robin practically biting through his tongue to avoid interrupting the 'lecture' again, so he uttered the phrase which told the younger man this part wasn't a lecture, "Just talking here."

Breathing a sigh of relief that he wouldn't get chastised again, Robin blurted out, "What about all that Chosen One stuff you told me about?"

Chuckling at the betrayed tone in the boy's voice, Bernie shrugged his shoulders and remarked flippantly, "Well, turns out it isn't as exclusive as we first thought. This isn't even the first time when there were two Slayers."

"What?" was Robin's expected explosion.

"Given how often Slayers have 'near death experiences', I'm a little shocked it doesn't happen more often," Bernie replied thoughtfully. "This is the first time that it's happened since modern communication has been involved though," he explained.

Understanding now that Bernie hadn't knowingly lied to him, Robin was still confused by something. "Then why-?" he started to ask.

Bernie knew what he was going to ask so he cut him off to finish the question, "Does the Council keep saying that crazy line about 'one girl in every generation' bull? Even without having concurrent Slayers that statement is blatantly false. If it weren't, when a Slayer died, the world would be without a new Slayer for several years. Anyway, in answer to your question, they didn't realize it."

That was hard to believe. "These people record everything – including when their Slayers have their cycles – how could they not realize it?" Robin demanded.

"Oh, it was recorded alright," Bernie assured him, "but since there was no way to communicate easily, the Council didn't receive notice of a new Slayer being Called sometimes for weeks or months. And usually by that time one or both of the Slayers involved had already died permanently. When they got the Watchers' Diaries for both girls, they assumed the overlap was due to some misunderstanding. Never had the two Slayers met before. That's the way it kept going until Buffy. When she out-lasted Kendra, a team of WiTs* decided to do some research on the matter. That's when they found proof of two concurrent Slayers before."

A wild thought occurred to Robin as he thought what that could mean for the fight against evil. Then he remembered the organization his adoptive father used to work for and had to inquire, "They didn't want to try creating an army of Slayers by temporarily killing the new girls? Not that I'm suggesting it, mind you, but it sounds ruthless enough for some of them."

Sighing in anger because Robin didn't know how close to the truth he was. "And you're right; there was a debate about doing just that. However, they didn't want to risk the Slayer line by manipulating it." Seeing that Robin was about to ask why – geez, the boy could be just as inquisitive now as he was when he was five, only the questions were harder to answer sometimes – Bernie explained, "The Seers warned them that if anyone deliberately changed the Slayer line before the end of days, there would be grave consequences. Only at the right time could a Slayer army be created."

"That sounds ominous," Robin said, shuddering at the thought of what would need an army of Slayers to fight.

"Indeed," Bernie agreed with a nod of his head. "When pressed, the Seers explained that it wouldn't be the Watchers who Called the army, but someone else. Then there were some descriptive warnings mentioned that made the Watchers back off the idea completely."

Biting back the growl that always came to his voice when talking about his mother's 18th birthday, Robin bit out, "But isn't the Cruciamentum the same as manipulating the line?"

"The Council doesn't see it that way. Besides, you know that getting rid of a 'tradition' is far more difficult than trying something untested," Bernie pointed out, making Robin nod in understanding. He was reminded on the totally off-topic story of a newlywed wife who cooked a roast for her husband.

When her husband saw her cut the end of the roast before putting it in the pan, he asked why she did that. Her response was that her mom did it that way. He wanted to know why, so they called her mom to ask the same question and her response was the same…her mom did it that way. So they called Grandma to ask the question a third time. Her reply had the husband rolling with laughter. 'My pan was too short to fit the whole thing.'

Sometimes traditions were stupid.

"I'm glad you cheated with Mom," Robin told his mom's Watcher with bright eyes.

It wasn't a topic they discussed often, but Robin knew the story anyway; both what was written in the official Council diaries and Nikki's own words about that blasted test. "I have no idea what you're talking about! It was purely coincidence that I wrote notes to myself explaining the test in detail and that I wasn't to tell Nikki or we'd both be 're-educated' by the Council. How was I to know that she would find them?" Bernie asked with too wide and innocent eyes.

It had Robin laughing, which was the older man's intention all along. "'Cause you did such a fine job of hiding the notes on her pillow," he pointed out with a smirk.

"Yes, well… If we might get back to the matter of Faith?" When Robin nodded, Bernie continued, sharing the information he got from his friend in archives, "She was a bit of a loose cannon even before she arrived in Sunnydale; got her Watcher killed with her recklessness."

"How?"

Bernie took a deep breath to gather his thoughts, then began, "There was a master vampire by the name of Kakistos causing trouble. Faith's Watcher told her to steer clear until she could research his habits, weaknesses, the usual thing we do. Faith decided she knew better and went after him on her own." He paused to choke back his anger at the young girl, remembering that she was just that…a young girl. It was highly doubtful that Faith intended to get her Watcher killed.

Once he was calmed down, he continued, "She fled to Sunnydale for Buffy's help after her Watcher was killed in front of her. When there was an accident and she killed a human, Faith panicked. I doubt she would have described it as such, but that's what she did. And you see, Faith is the second type of Slayer – driven by her instincts, but ignoring her training. For her slaying was a thrill. The Slayer before her – Kendra – was the opposite way. She relied only on what she was trained, ignoring her own thoughts…if she had any. She was the first type; the Council's favorite kind. They view slaying as a sacred duty."

"And Buffy?" Robin asked, wanting to know more about the beautiful blonde that had him tied up in knots. Neither of the types seemed like a good way to be.

Bernie saw something odd in his boy's eyes. This seemed almost personal to him, but he only met Buffy the night before so what could have happened between them – other than Robin staking Spike to rescue her? If he didn't know better, he'd almost think Robin was smitten with the girl. He carefully watched for Robin's reaction as he uttered, "She was like your mother. They are the third type; those who mixed training with instinct and become formidable Slayers – both to demons and to the Council." Sure enough, there was relief and pride in the boy's eyes at hearing Buffy compared to his mother. Interesting…

Robin's grin was less than friendly as he commented, "I see, the Council doesn't like them because they aren't as easily controlled."

"They aren't controllable at all," Bernie answered with a snort. "With them, all a Watcher can hope for is to be her partner, not her master. The real reason the Council doesn't like them, however, is because they have a tendency to change their Watchers. Which is why I believe there is more going on with Rupert than meets the eye."

A/N: *Watchers-in-Training. Next…Father and son discuss Giles and Watchers.