Unknown Factors (Book One)

Ch.26: A twinkle in your eye

    Due to unforeseen injuries Buffy had sustained during her last fight on patrol, Riley and the guys had to take over patrolling for a short while. I would have gone with them, but Pops needed me at the shop with him. 'They'll be fine, Riley's an ex-commando, and the guys have gone patrolling loads of times.' I kept telling myself to try and relax.

  "Here's another one. Early 18th-century Slayer." Pops said while setting down his coffee. He, Buffy, and I were currently doing research on the previous Slayers. The older man then rose to his feet as we looked at him.

  "Good. Let's hope she'll be more helpful than this last one." Buffy sighed. There were old books spread out everywhere as we were looking for some answers to Buffy's questions.

  "Why? What does it say?" Pops asked as Buffy closed the book and dropped it on the counter.

  "Same as all the others. Slayer called, blah, blah. Great protector, blah, blah. Scary battles, blah, blah. Oops! She's dead." Buffy replied. "Where are the details?"

  "Yeah, can't they be more specific than just saying stuff like, 'killed in the line of duty'?" I set the book I had down.

  "Details?" Pops furrowed his brows while looking back into the book. "Well, it says this Slayer forged her own weapons." Giles brought the book over to let Buffy see it.

  "Gotta love a gal with an anvil." She said. "But where are the details of the Slayer's last battle? You know, what made that fight special? Why did she lose?" Buffy's hands moved as she talked.

  "You didn't lose last night, Buffy. You just-"

  "Got really close." The Slayer finished for him.

  "Which means you can still fight another day." I looked at her.

  "Yeah, but I slipped up, Giles." Buffy looked from me to Pops. "I've been training harder than ever, and still I-" She cut herself off while looking away. "A-And there's nothing in any of these books to help me understand why. I mean, look. I realize that every Slayer comes with an expiration mark on the package. But I want mine to be a long time from now, like a Cheeto." Buffy sort of pouted. "If there were just a few good descriptions of what took out the other slayers, maybe it would help me to understand my mistake, to keep it from happening again."

  "Yes, well, the, uh, the problem is...." Pops began as he took off his jacket. "That after a final battle, it, uh, it's difficult to get any, um- Well, the-the Slayer's not- She's rather, uh-"

  "It's okay to use the 'D' word, Giles."

  "Dead, and hence, not very forthcoming."

  "Well, why didn't the Watchers keep fuller accounts of it? The journals just stop." Buffy flipped some pages in an open book.

  "I-I suppose if they're anything like me, they just found the whole subject too, uh...." Pops trailed off.

  "Unseemly." Giles looked at Buffy. "Damn. Love ya, but you Watchers are such prigs sometimes."

  "Painful, I was gonna say." There was a silent pause. "But you're right." Pops stood up. "The accounts of the final battles would be very helpful, but, uh, there's no one left to tell the tales."

  "Well, not all of them." I said while looking up from a book. "But at least two."

  "What?" Pops raised a brow.

  "Spike." Buffy and I said at the same time since she caught on to what I was talking about.

~

  "Ow! Wait. Not 'ow.' Are you feelin' all right, Slayer? This stuff usually hurts." Spike looked confused as Buffy was pinning the vampire's face to the concrete pillar. Buffy gave me a look, and we switched spots. "Okay, ow, that hurts!"