Prologue:

Moving with grace, an ease that only comes from age that is challenged by her face, she moved quietly among the tombs, headstones and mausoleums; her hands running over the decaying stones languidly. The silver moon peaked through the leaves, casting shadows as she leaned into the trunk of an old, gnarled tree. The darkness wrapped itself around her, covering every inch of her being. She was hunting, a black panther looking for the kill that will give her release. Her eyes preyed on the slayer, grinning as the slayer slammed her stake into the vampire's chest, snarling at the cut in her arm. Her movements were intoxicating. She watched the Slayer make her way out of the cemetery, smiling as the Slayer turned around, looking straight at her through the darkness. A deadly gleam reached her eyes as the Slayer paused before turning, swiftly leaving the cemetery. She pushed off the tree, disappearing into the darkness as her single word hung in the air, "Slayer" .

Chapter 1: Something Old

"Willow I'm home!" screamed the young blonde as she walked through the door. She took off her coat, revealing a six inch slash on her upper arm. She flinched at the material brushed over it.

"Hey Buffy…Oh my god what happened?" said the red-head running up to her friend.

"Don't worry Willow, the vamp I was fighting didn't like following the rules of staying still as I killed him. He pulled a switchblade on me, but no worries. Mr. Pointy got to meet him" Buffy bantered as Willow led her to the living room. They sat down on the couch while Willow looked at the cut. Another girl came into the room, eating popcorn.

"Nice cut Buffy" she said between mouthfuls.

"Thanks Kennedy but I would say the vamp is worse off". Kennedy chuckled, but was silenced by Willow's glare.

"Buffy could have been seriously hurt" she said, checking Buffy over to see if there were other wounds.

"Don't worry Will's, no serious injury to me" Buffy said, putting her hand on the redhead's arm.

"And its not like she can't take care of herself baby, she is the original chosen one after all. Dying two times makes this cut look like that nasty paper cut you had last week" Kennedy said, running her hand through Willow's hair while finishing off her popcorn.

"That was an evil hexed paper cut" Willow muttered as she reached under the coffee table for the spare med kit. Buffy and Kennedy smiled at her.

"You are so cute" Kennedy said kissing the top of her head. Buffy smiled at the young couple.

"So Buff, is there any big bad in Sunnydale that wants to take over the world today?" Willow said nonchalantly. Buffy frowned for a minute,

"Actually while I was fighting knife-boy, I felt something" she said, watching Willow get out the suture kit. "Yea you were feeling that knife going into your arm" Kennedy said, plopping down on the easy chair. Willow glared at Kennedy, "What did you feel?" she asked.

"I don't really know, it felt….old". Willow looked up from the wound, "You mean like the feeling you got when you fought Glory?" Kennedy sat up quickly, remembering the memories Willow shared with her during that battle. Buffy shook her head,

"No it was older, like the First older" she said, a chill rippling through her body. Willow and Kennedy cast worried look at each other.

"Does that mean that the First could be back?" Kennedy asked, the trepidation dripping from her voice.

"To tell you the truth I think this is older. You know how the First is supposed to be the first evil; this was almost like the thing that created the First" Buffy said, confusion reflecting in her eyes. Willow furrowed her brow, "How could you tell all this?"

"I don't know. It was like the information just flowed into my head just now. Or it could be the drugs that you just gave me I'm not so sure" she joked. She did not want to make the red-head worry so much now that her girlfriend was a slayer as well. She put her hand on her forehead, blocking out the other two as she was flooded with the memories of the battle against the first.

They ended up destroying the new high school, which was almost poetic justice in her mind. She was flooded with all the screams of the potentials turned slayers dying at the hands of the Turok-Han's that flooded from the hellmouth. Suddenly the sounds were drowned out by a voice, "I never would have guessed that you would succeed in defeating the First Evil", the voice said, a hint of humor reflected in its tone. "Who are you?"Buffy asked, looking around for the source of the voice. "Don't worry slayer. You'll find out soon enough." "Wait!" Buffy called, but the voice was gone.

"Buffy?" Willow's voice busted through the fog. She shook her head and looked around the room. Kennedy had moved next to her on the couch, a look of concern on her face.

"What did you say Will?" Buffy asked, running her head.

"I was just telling you that I was done stitching your wound, but you looked like you were far away. What happened?" Willow asked putting the med kit back under the table. Buffy shook her head and smiled.

"Nothing Will, like I said before it must be the medicine".

"Are you sure Buffy, you really spaced out there for a minute" Kennedy said tilting her head towards the oldest slayer. Buffy shook her head and stood up, checking the wound for tightness.

"Good job Willow, I think that I am just going to hit the hay, maybe I was hit harder than I thought" she said, smiling at them.

Both Kennedy and Willow got to there feet, watching the slayer as she went upstairs. Kennedy took Willow's hand, feeling the concern and worry coming from her mate.

"She'll be okay Will. She just hasn't gotten over losing that many potentials and Spike during the last battle" she said, leading her downstairs to their basement apartment.

"I know Ken; I was hoping that she would get a break with all the potentials becoming slayers. Guess we are going to have to call Giles and Xander. I think they went to get a new slayer in southern Asia" she said sitting down on the bed.

Kennedy crawled behind the witch, massaging her shoulders and neck. "It might not be anything serious Will, why don't we just wait and see. Giles and Xander are going to be back in a week. What's the worst that could happen in a week?" she said, gently lying Willow down on the bed.

Willow laid on her side as Kennedy held her from behind. Willow's mind raced with the possibilities of what could happen in a week on the hellmouth. She waited until she heard her lover's breathing become slow and steady; she gently eased out of her arms and went to her desk. Opening her laptop she started to research what little information Buffy was able to give. "At least we knew what the First was, but how can we find something older than that?" she muttered to herself, looking at all the topics that arose during her search. She realized that it was going to be another long night.

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Buffy gently peeled herself out of another pair of destroyed clothing. "I wonder how many pieces of clothing I have actually gone through in the past eight years?" she pondered to herself as she looked over her naked reflection. Her body was mapped with scars, some old some new. She gently traced the ones on her chest and stomach. The scars continued onto her back, criss-crossing over her shoulder blades all the way down to her back. Thin pale lines crossed over her eyes. She thought back to the demon that gave her those marks, its hands were razors. "Lucky shot" she muttered, walking into the bathroom that adjoined her room.

It used to be her mothers room, but after she died two years ago it became hers. She ran a bath, careful not to get water on her newly stitched arm. She gently lowered her sore body into the warm water. She was only 25, but she felt like she was 40. "The price you pay for being a slayer" she thought, resting her head against the back of the tub. Her mind wandered over her life, a habit she has picked up on since she first became a slayer when she was 16. She thought back to when she was little, when her parents were still together and her dad would keep his promises. Merrick's face flashed into her mind, her first watcher, and how he died protecting her. The never-ending apocalypses she's lived through, and all the ones she hadn't.

Her hands were idly tracing each scar as each memory flooded her mind. She ran her hand over the only scar that wasn't given to her by a demon, the bullet hole right above her heart. The tears flowed down her face as she thought of Tara. "Why did the bullet miss my heart but hit hers?" she thought, more tears racking her body. All the people that she has lost over the years, and she is still standing, she was supposed to be dead, but instead she is still here, going out everyday and still risking her life. And now there was something else out there that could break the little peace that she has been able to find after the battle with the First Evil. She wiped the tears from her eyes and started to clean the blood and dirt off her body, careful not to touch the newly stitched wound. She stood up, the water cascading off her lithe body. She dried her hair and wrapped a towel around her body. She wiped down the mirror and brushed her teeth and hair. She walked into her bedroom, her hand falling across the bathroom light as she dropped the towel in the middle of the floor and climbed into bed, the cold sheets raising goosebumps across her naked body. She sighed as she laid her head on the soft pillows, pulling Mr. Gordo closer as she closed her eyes, waiting for her nightmares to come.

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The moon filtered through the trees, hitting the figure hidden in the branches. Her black trench coat hung below her, swaying in the breeze, as she sat there, watching the naked slayer climb into bed. The moon hit her face, glowing off the pale skin. Flecks of emerald sparkled in her golden eyes. She sat for hours, watching the nightmares plague the Slayer in her sleep. She closed her eyes, the images racing through the Slayer's mind flashed across her eyelids. She didn't open her eyes again until the first rays of sunlight broke into the sky. She stood up on the branch, softly leaping towards the window sill. She landed silently, her eyes shifting back to the Slayer as she began to toss into consciousness. She laid something down on the window sill, preparing to fall back away from the ledge. She quickly drew a heart with a stake through it before falling backwards, disappearing before her body hit the earth.