Buffy Summers and Benjamin Sisko share so many similarities it actually hurts me to think about it.
by virtue of forces and circumstances well beyond their control, they end up in a part of the universe far, far away from everything they've ever known. they have a loved one with them, their only tie to the life they had before. there are pieces of themselves missing already. why does it have to be like this?
turns out there are some ancient, primordial higher powers demanding their fealty and protection. they're not so sure about all this mumbo jumbo about vampires/prophets until they're experiencing it themselves and suddenly the fate of the entire universe rests on their shoulders. but she's just a girl. a daughter, a kid. he's just a man. a father, a son.
they'll have some guidance. the support of people who have lived their whole lives waiting for this moment. and the support of a rag tag group of friends they're pretty sure signed up way too fast for all this shit. but they're theirs. and they're not going anywhere. but ultimately, there will be things they must do alone. things that require them to be exactly what those higher powers designed them for.
being the Slayer is hard. being the Emissary is hard. being someone people rely on, even unwittingly, means making choices you never wanted to make. means doing things that make you so excruciatingly nauseous you think you'll die and knowing, with some sick conviction, that they have to be done. because no one else can or will do them.
it means interacting with people you'd rather punt into next week. into the next universe.
making sacrifices that don't feel like yours to make.
watching people you love die. watching people you hate die. watching people you'll never know die. facing loss after loss after loss and feeling like you'll never see the light at the end of the tunnel.
loving more deeply than you ever thought possible and being afraid to hold that love for fear it might be ripped away from you for just existing.
it means betrayal. it means giving up parts of your own agency for the good of others.
it means never being able to live, to just exist, just for yourself.
