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Note: This article is about the the Slayer. For other uses, see Fray.

I'm just one girl. No big hero, no protector of justice, not even a bona fide one-hundred-percent Slayer.
―Melaka Fray[src]

Melaka Fray was a Slayer activated in the 23rd century. She grew up in the slums of Haddyn[2] and exploited her abilities to make a living as a thief, putting her into conflict with her older sister, the Haddyn Police Force sergeant Erin Fray. Upon learning of her destiny as the Slayer,[3] Melaka fought lurks to save her community and the world,[4] and she discovered an enemy in her twin brother, the vampire Harth, who had inherited the psychic abilities of a Slayer in her place.[5]

Melaka first met Buffy Summers when the 21st century Slayer time traveled to Haddyn,[6] being in opposite sides in a fight to preserve the past or the future.[7] Melaka joined forces with the Scooby Gang in the battle of the Reckoning,[8] which allowed Mel, Erin, and the pet demon Gates to return to a better future, forged by the survival of the Slayer line.[9]

Biography[]

Early life[]

Melaka Fray grew up in Versi, a ghetto-like district in the city of Haddyn,[2] with her older sister Erin and older twin brother Harth.[10] As a teenager, she discovered that she possessed enhanced physical abilities but decided not to question it, rationalizing that she was simply "good at stuff."[3]

Harth Melaka flashback

Harth and Mel at fourteen.

Due to her family's poverty and low social status, Melaka was forced to go "grabbing" for food, a behavior her sister disapproved. At the age of fourteen, she took Harth with her on a grab, when the twins were attacked by the lurk Icarus.[11] Melaka tried to fight Icarus off, only to be thrown off the building's rooftop, while the lurk fed on Harth, killing him.[10]

Melaka survived her fall, despite early indications of spinal injury, and Erin blamed her for Harth's death. The two sisters parted ways, with Erin joining up with the laws, while Melaka continued her life of crime.[10]

Calling[]

By the age of nineteen, Melaka was a professional thief, often hired by a radie named Gunther to steal expensive artifacts. She looked after a local Versi girl named Loo, whose parents were often unable to afford the girl's medication.[2]

One day, a Watcher came to her,[2] but at this point the Watchers Council had been reduced to a group of zealous fanatics,[11] so he killed himself in front of her.[2] Afterward, Melaka was approached by the demon Urkonn of the D'Avvrus, who told her that the lurks were ancient demons known as "vampires," and that she was destined to fight them. At first, Mel was reluctant to accept or even believe that she was the Slayer, especially as she had never experienced any of the dreams Urkonn described. However, after coming across a lurk while on a job for Gunther that reminded her of Harth's death, she agreed to train with Urkonn.[3]

Fray-081

Unprepared, Mel encounters Icarus.

While fighting vampires, Melaka came face to face with Icarus and and became paralyzed in fear by the sight of her brother's killer, forcing Urkonn to jump to her defense. After recovering, she decided to use Gunther to track down Icarus, but learned that he had betrayed her to the law, claiming his intention of protecting her. As Erin and Haddyn Police Force took her sister away, they were attacked by a group of lurks, who kidnapped Melaka and took her to their master: Harth.[10]

Harth revealed to his sister that, as her twin, he had received her Slayer dreams and was aware of vampire history. When he was bitten by Icarus, he knew that the only way to survive was to ingest their blood, thus becoming one of them. Due to his dreams and knowledge, Harth had become leader to the lurks and was determined to bring back the Old Ones. After the shock of meeting her supposedly dead brother, Melaka escaped and went after Erin to tell her of what happened. Erin refused to believe her, so Melaka returned home and rejoined Urkonn, where she discovered Loo's lifeless body inside her apartment. This motivated her to wage war on the lurks, as revenge for what they had done to her loved ones.[5]

MelakaScythe

Melaka rallies her community against the lurks.

Melaka returned Loo's body to her parents and Urkonn granted her the Slayer weapon to aid her in the upcoming battle. Her attempts to unite the community of Versi against the lurks were initially ignored, but when she began hunting the lurks herself, she made her neighbors realize the threat they were.[4] This attracted the attention of Icarus and he went after Melaka, but before they could truly face off, Erin crashed her flying car on top of him as revenge for murdering her brother.[12]

Melaka led a small group of people, including members of the law, against an army of lurks, while Harth attempted to unleash the Old Ones on Earth. She succeeded in defeating the Neauth, but her brother escaped, claiming that things were not over between them. Afterward, Melaka confronted Urkonn, informing him that she had figured out he was the one who murdered Loo. Urkonn claimed that he needed to do whatever he could to motivate her against the lurks, so Melaka slayed him, doing it quickly for considering Urkonn a friend.[13]

She returned to her old job as a thief, but continued fighting lurks and preparing for anything else which came her way.[13]

Discovering her past[]

I am the only one in the world... but I am not alone.
―Fray[src]

Gunther sent Melaka on a "special" grab, one he believed she would enjoy. Opening a chest, she was confronted with a "spider-monkey" demon creature (whom she would call Gates), which stole her Scythe and led her through Haddyn to a building containing the Watchers Diaries. Reading about the lives of past Slayers, Melaka came to the conclusion that, although she was the only one of her kind in existence, she was not alone.[14]

B8-16-00b

Melaka and her Slayer predecessor Buffy Summers.

Melaka and Erin teamed up to track down Harth. In one attempt to find him, they hijacked a moving van and discovered a lurk, who they interrogated about Harth's whereabouts. The lurk revealed that Harth had teamed up with the Madwoman — Willow Rosenberg —, who spoke in riddles and was very powerful.[6]

Mel and Erin headed back to Mel's new home, the apartment in which she discovered the Watchers' Diaries, to find out the mysterious woman's identity. Erin met Melaka's new pet, Gates. Melaka read about a building she believed there were answers to find Harth. Erin dropped her on the building rooftop and left her to a fight an oncoming demon. Melaka and the demon fought, but the demon was then replaced with Buffy Summers, a Slayer from the 21st century.[6]

During the fight between Buffy and Melaka, they discovered they were both Slayers and trusted each other. Melaka took Buffy to Gunther, who got them researching the possibility that Harth was behind Buffy's arrival. While on patrol, Fray was accosted by Willow, who led her to attack Buffy, only to Harth then attempt to do the same. Willow had told Fray that Buffy returning to her own timeline would erase Fray's, but told Harth the opposite, that it would be erased if she didn't return.[15] Fray fought to keep Buffy from crossing the portal to the 21st century, and Willow stood in the way, only to let Buffy kill her before passing through. Fray and Erin, thankful, noticed their continued existence.[7]

The Reckoning[]

In the 21st century, the Scooby Gang were informed about dark forces merging in San Francisco, while Wolfram & Hart was coordinating an attack against Willow's empowerment center and its Slayers, and the demons and humans behind this were all getting intel from a vampire from the future — Harth. Buffy and her allies then organized a confront against him, but were overpowered and ran away from the battle, then regrouped to plan how to face someone who already knew what was going to happen. For this, Buffy recalled the resources of the Watchers Diaries in Fray's library; then, uniting Willow's magical knowledge, Illyria's time travelling powers, and Dawn's portal abilities as the Key, the Scoobies sought Melaka in the 23rd century for help.[16] The incomplete tales of the future narrated a bleak destiny to each of them, but they vowed to find a way to save the world, and convinced Melaka, Erin, and Gunther to follow them into their past to stop Harth's plan.[8]

B12-02-00b The Reckoning

Melaka and the Scooby Gang.

The battle began and eventually Buffy and Willow cast a Slayer power spell, to give her the collective powers of all active Slayers. However, Harth jumped in, using the staff owned by one of the Shadowmen to steal the power for himself, gloating that he'd use the power to kill them, then return to his time and conquer it.[17] Harth proceeded to overpower the combined might of Buffy and Melaka, gloating that he now intended to stay behind and conquer the world, shaping the future in his own image. However, at that moment, his body began to break down under the strain of his power, which Buffy and Melaka used to their advantage to stake him with the scythe. As he dusted, the Slayer powers flowed back to their previous owners, while also bestowing Melaka with the Slayer memories she had lacked for so long.[9]

The event of the Reckoning caused a change in the timeline, in which Melaka's future was replaced with the continuity of the Slayer line. Moreover, after witnessing the dystopic version of Haddyn, Willow's empowerment center, largely composed by Slayers, began steering their work towards preventing it. As such, when Melaka, Erin, and Gates returned to the 23rd century, they faced a completely different future. They went after Gunther in his home, but he did not recognize any of them. Wandering the streets, Melaka and her friends were eventually welcomed by a group of four Slayers, who called her "sister Fray," and explained that the Watchers Diaries described how she and her allies had saved the world, which helped the Slayers forge a much better future than the one she came from. Extending her hand to Melaka, they said no one knew her in this world, but they wanted to, and she would always have a home and a family there.[9]

Powers and abilities[]

MelakaStrength

Melaka using her superior strength.

Melaka was a Slayer and possessed the physical powers of one, which included superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes, durability, and accelerated healing.

Notably, she was activated without the usual psychic powers of Slayers, such as prophetic dreams and the inherited memories of previous Slayers,[3] as these abilities instead went to her brother Harth. She believed that this made her special, as she had not inherited any traditional Slayer fighting techniques, making her unique and unpredictable. Indeed, during their confrontation, Buffy had difficulty predicting Mel's fighting patterns.[7] After her brother's death though, she gained the Slayer's psychic powers, as well as the memories of past Slayers, both whom he possessed prior to his demise.[9]

Melaka was also an accomplished thief. Her usual weapons included a ray gun and the mystical Mʔ.

Gallery[]

Behind the scenes[]

Appearances[]

References[]


Preceded by:
Unknown, eventually Buffy Summers, Faith Lehane, and many others
The Slayer
23rd century
Succeeded by:
None, timeline replaced
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