BtVS Ficlet: Slayer Legacy
Title: Slayer Legacy
Fandom: BtVS
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Buffy, Kendra, Giles.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Prophecy Girl, What’s My Line.
Summary: There’s only ever been one Slayer at a time, until now.
Word Count: 540
Written For: Challenge 207: Heir at beattheblackdog.
Disclaimer: I don’t own BtVS, or the characters.
So, turns out Mystery Girl is a Slayer. Kendra the Vampire Slayer, to be exact. She’s Buffy’s successor, in effect her heir, the new recipient of the Slayer legacy.
That’s the way it works and always has, from the very beginning; one Slayer dies and the next is called to take her place, an unending succession of young girls tasked with protecting the world from vampires and demons.
It’s effective, Buffy supposes. According to Giles at any given time there are many potentials, the majority of whom will never be called. More must be born every generation, and most probably get to live out perfectly normal lives. Maybe they’re the lucky ones, never having to learn about the things that stalk the night, preying on humans, never having to sacrifice their teenage years, and ultimately their lives, saving people who have no idea what they’ve been saved from.
When a Slayer dies, all her powers, all her strength, get passed down to the next one, like hand me down clothes, and this time it’s Kendra who gets to wear the mantle of Slayer. There’s only one slight problem: Buffy isn’t dead.
Oh, she was, for a few brief moments, drowned at the hands of the Master, and then brought back when Xander gave her the kiss of life. She’s not complaining about getting a second chance at life, she’s not even complaining about still having her Slayer powers, because if she’d lost them when she died she never would’ve been able to defeat the Master.
She’s a little irked at being replaced though. Honestly, the universe couldn’t have waited five minutes before activating a new Slayer? Sheesh, why’d everyone have to be so quick to assume she was dead for good? They couldn’t give her the benefit of the doubt? Take a moment to make certain whether or not the whole being dead thing was gonna stick?”
Well, thanks to her friends it hadn’t, and here she is, still very much alive, thank you. So now there are two Slayers, which is unprecedented, and how does that even work? Are they supposed to take turns fighting evil? Which actually wouldn’t be so bad now Buffy thinks about it; she might even get to have a normal life occasionally, go on dates, hang out with friends, do girly stuff, even get caught up with her schoolwork. It’s something to think about.
But in the meantime, she has a sort of duty to pass on everything she’s learned to the new girl, because there’s more to being the Slayer than can be learned from a bunch of dusty old books on Slayer lore, and for the first time ever a Slayer has the opportunity to benefit from her predecessor’s experience, which is kinda cool. It’s not just the Slayer legacy being handed down this time, its something far more personal, and in a way it’s kind of an honour to not only meet her own heir but help to shape her.
They got off to a bit of a rocky start, it’s true, but now they’ve gotten to know each other a little bit, Buffy thinks maybe they could become good friends. She’s willing to give that a try if Kendra is.
The End
Fandom: BtVS
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Buffy, Kendra, Giles.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Prophecy Girl, What’s My Line.
Summary: There’s only ever been one Slayer at a time, until now.
Word Count: 540
Written For: Challenge 207: Heir at beattheblackdog.
Disclaimer: I don’t own BtVS, or the characters.
So, turns out Mystery Girl is a Slayer. Kendra the Vampire Slayer, to be exact. She’s Buffy’s successor, in effect her heir, the new recipient of the Slayer legacy.
That’s the way it works and always has, from the very beginning; one Slayer dies and the next is called to take her place, an unending succession of young girls tasked with protecting the world from vampires and demons.
It’s effective, Buffy supposes. According to Giles at any given time there are many potentials, the majority of whom will never be called. More must be born every generation, and most probably get to live out perfectly normal lives. Maybe they’re the lucky ones, never having to learn about the things that stalk the night, preying on humans, never having to sacrifice their teenage years, and ultimately their lives, saving people who have no idea what they’ve been saved from.
When a Slayer dies, all her powers, all her strength, get passed down to the next one, like hand me down clothes, and this time it’s Kendra who gets to wear the mantle of Slayer. There’s only one slight problem: Buffy isn’t dead.
Oh, she was, for a few brief moments, drowned at the hands of the Master, and then brought back when Xander gave her the kiss of life. She’s not complaining about getting a second chance at life, she’s not even complaining about still having her Slayer powers, because if she’d lost them when she died she never would’ve been able to defeat the Master.
She’s a little irked at being replaced though. Honestly, the universe couldn’t have waited five minutes before activating a new Slayer? Sheesh, why’d everyone have to be so quick to assume she was dead for good? They couldn’t give her the benefit of the doubt? Take a moment to make certain whether or not the whole being dead thing was gonna stick?”
Well, thanks to her friends it hadn’t, and here she is, still very much alive, thank you. So now there are two Slayers, which is unprecedented, and how does that even work? Are they supposed to take turns fighting evil? Which actually wouldn’t be so bad now Buffy thinks about it; she might even get to have a normal life occasionally, go on dates, hang out with friends, do girly stuff, even get caught up with her schoolwork. It’s something to think about.
But in the meantime, she has a sort of duty to pass on everything she’s learned to the new girl, because there’s more to being the Slayer than can be learned from a bunch of dusty old books on Slayer lore, and for the first time ever a Slayer has the opportunity to benefit from her predecessor’s experience, which is kinda cool. It’s not just the Slayer legacy being handed down this time, its something far more personal, and in a way it’s kind of an honour to not only meet her own heir but help to shape her.
They got off to a bit of a rocky start, it’s true, but now they’ve gotten to know each other a little bit, Buffy thinks maybe they could become good friends. She’s willing to give that a try if Kendra is.
The End