Fic: From London to….where?
Summary: Xander Harris does a bit of dimension jumping.
Rating: 15/R/whatever equivalent is
Feedback: If you would be so kind.
Distribution: If you want it, for some reason, then let me know first.
"Xander, please, for the love of god, tell me in good, sane, clear words what happened"
The question from Giles is a very valid one.
The answer is, sadly, very long, very terrifying (for me), and slightly tragic.
"Better take a seat Giles, put on some tea, have some scotch at the ready. This is going to take a long time".
----------
To say that Xander Harris was in a good mood would be the understatement of the century. Well, other than a headache caused by the previous night anyway.
After spending the past three years finding slayers in Africa, he had finally seen his friends again. Those three years were spent with little or no contact with them, the majority of the places he went to made him pretty much unreachable.
But eventually he had requested a week to come to England, and then sent several E-mails to several people asking them to do the same.
All of them answered with one big yes, and that was why he had spent last night in one of London's many pubs sharing a drink (or 10) with Buffy, Willow, Giles, Dawn (thank god for the British drinking age) and even Faith had come with them. The time was spent catching up, telling tails of the exploits over the past three years (except Buffy and Dawn, whose exploits involved clubs in Rome) and generally having a good time. Or at least that is what he remembered.
Note to self he thought Faith CAN drink me under the table, and I should never say otherwise. Then again I wouldn't put it past her to cheat. Yeah she probably slipped something in my drink.
And so this was why he was in such a good mood, while walking to the nearest aspirin-seller before he made his way to the council.
Well that was the plan anyway he thought worriedly, as clouds formed overhead at an unnaturally fast rate. The clouds got steadily thicker, allowing almost no light to get through. Thunder sounded from the clouds as the streetlights turned on, reacting to the sudden darkness.
His attention was drawn away from the sky when he heard another crackle of thunder. But this one didn't seem to come from the sky, this one seemed to come from the ground.
Barely a meter in front of him, the concrete pavement started forming steadily expanding circular waves, as if it were made of liquid. Xander watched in amazement as the ground was seemingly sucked downwards into a bright white light as a portal opened right in front of him.
And if he hadn't been so fixated on that, he would most likely of stepped back a number a paces, the same amount it would take to get to the council HQ and tell them a portal is opening up in the middle of London.
Unfortunately, he was too amazed to back away. The fact that the portal was steadily expanding registered too late for him, and he was sucked through, the portal sealing itself behind him and the sky returning to its natural state.
The only sign that there was ever a portal, was the fact that 2 square meters of the pavement was unusually clean.
----------
"Oof!" Xander yelped as he hit floor.
I so did not need that right now he thought rubbing his sore head.
After adjusting his eye patch slightly, he unsteadily got up on his feet, fighting down the nausea of being sucked through an (what he assumed was) interdimensional portal.
The first thing he noticed when he looked around was that it was most definitely not London. He was in a forest of some type. This normally would not bother him, he had spent three years in Africa after all. It was what he could hear that bothered him.
Because he was in the middle of what looked to be a very lush forest, and there was complete silence.
He frowned at this, and looked towards the sky. The trees were blocking his view of the sky, but judging from the orange tint to everything, caused by the small amount of light getting through, it looked to be around sunset.
Okay I am in a forest in the middle of who knows where, I'd better find a way out of here before nightfall. He thought, and from his previous observation, it didn't look like he had much time.
And so he began walking.
----------
His mood had changed drastically over the past few hours. Or what he assumed was a few hours, his watch and cell phone didn't seem to be working. He had gone from a very happy mood, to slightly nauseous, to tired and pissed off. The humidity and heat in this forest did nothing to help his mood either. He should have gotten used to it in Africa, but it just got to him sometimes
He was also concerned, but not just because if his current situation any more. The other concern was the fact that everything still had the orange tint, which meant if his theory was right, it had been sunset for far too long.
Which meant that something of the supernatural kind of weirdness was happening, or he hit his head a bit too hard.
Either that or Faith really had put something in his drink last night.
He breathed a slight sigh of relief as he saw what looked to be the end of the forest. He quickened his pace, anxious to get out of the forest and hopefully find somewhere that had air conditioning…or at least a bottle of water.
When he passed the edge of the trees, he halted so fast he skidded a few yards.
Now that is definitely not air conditioning he thought as he took in the view in front of him. Well now I know why the walk felt weird was his other thought as he noted that most of the things in front of him were lower than him, meaning the forest was on a downward slope.
But that was the least of his worries. The orange tint was not the light from a sunset. It was the light created from fire. Very unnatural fire. Very unnatural fire that seemed to be swirling and spiraling inwards, towards some sort of center that he couldn't see yet. The fact that this fire was what made up the sky was the biggest shock of them all.
Okay, first of all, find out where the hell I am he thought as he began walking towards a small village he could see in the distance. It wasn't anything much, just a gathering of houses and what appeared to be a church.
It seemed that the forest he had come out of was the only source of life, because the ground he was walking on was dry, hard and completely devoid of life.
Least I know where the heat's coming from he thought as he looked up to the flame covered sky. He quickened his pace, anxious to get to the village that was getting closer far too slowly. He quickened it further as he saw a human skeleton in pieces barely a few meters to his right.
His anxiousness was only increased as he noted how deserted the village seemed to be. He tried to ease this feeling by rationalizing that no-one would want to be out in this heat, especially given the fire streaked sky above. But it did little to get rid of the feeling.
He wandered about the village none the less. There wasn't much of interest here. Just like his previous observation, houses and a church, the top of which he could see above the houses despite his close proximity to them.
He was beginning to think he should just knock on doors until he found someone willing to take him in. But as this thought entered his head, he saw what appeared to be a tavern. From a distance it didn't look any different from the rest of the houses, slanted roof, flat walls. The only thing that made it different was the open door and the sign on it saying 'The Grygon Inn". A strange name, but he walked towards it anyhow.
And when he opened the door, he wished he hadn't.
----------
"Ugh" Willow groaned out loud as she woke up "I forgot I'm a lightweight" she grumbled as she climbed out of bed and staggered to the bathroom.
After completing her morning rituals, and getting the taste of stale beer out of her mouth, she made her way to the council. I Stupid Giles requesting a 10 o clock meeting /I she thought sleepily as she opened the door to her rented apartment, descended to the lobby and went out the main entrance.
Adjusting to the sudden light from outside she made her way to the nearest shop, praying to anything that they had aspirin. Or possibly morphine.
If this were a few years ago she would have just used magic to rid herself of hangover. But she knew better than to use magic in that way these days.
She paused suddenly as she felt something. She didn't know what it was, but it was there. It was like seeing the exhaust fumes of a car that had just sped past, except feeling it more than seeing it.
Deciding it was probably just some low-level spell, she continued her journey to rid herself of headache.
----------
The eyes that met Xander as he opened the door to the tavern were not friendly ones.
Mostly because they weren't human eyes. The tavern was filled completely with demons, all of varying types. Some looked vaguely human, some looked so grotesque they made him flash back to nausea, some looked kind of funny. Laughter was the last thing on his mind though.
"Well what do we have here" one particular demon, red and scaly with yellow eyes, said amazingly in English as it got up from its seat and strolled toward Xander "where's your mark human?" it asked with a sneer. Kind of like Cordelia talking to a geek back in high school, except without the nice face and body.
"Um, mark?" he asked, confused as to what he meant.
"He must be one of them" it said, addressing the rest of the 'patrons' in the bar, some of which standing as the demon spoke. "We haven't seen the likes of you roaming around alone in nearly half a decade. You must be really stupid"
"Well lots of people have said similar things" he babbled as several more demons began to rise from their seats, looking the very opposite of friendly. "But there's one thing I can do better than you. Run"
And he did exactly that, he ran. As fast as his legs would carry him. He looked back exactly once, and that was all he needed to see the tavern patrons tearing out of the bar to chase him. Xander was not as bad at fighting as he used to be. In fact his time in Africa had taught him a lot about fighting. Vampires and most demons (even when he was slightly outnumbered) weren't much of a problem for him anymore.
But he was no slayer, and taking on a bar full of demons with no back up and no weapons would be akin to putting a shotgun in his mouth and pulling the trigger.
Except the shotgun would leave a prettier corpse.
It took him a moment to realize he was running towards the church. He didn't really know why, it just seemed like a kind of sanctuary.
He jumped over the small metal fence that surrounded the church grounds and barreled through the large oak door that was the entrance to the church, bolting the door behind him.
He sat, back against the door, for several minutes while he caught his breath and waited for the pounding to stop. The room he was in was small, with another door opposite him, which obviously led to the main part of the church. The pounding eventually stopped, and deciding that he was best checking for another way they could get in, he walked through this other door, noticing the pounding on the door had stopped. .
If walking into the bar was bad, this was worse. Much worse.
Desecrated didn't even begin to describe the state of the church. Xander wasn't much of a religious man, and he was no stranger to scenes of a horrible nature, but this was enough to turn even his stomach, even after Africa.
The huge crucifix at the head of the church was turned upside down, with (what used to be) a beautiful young woman nailed to it, also upside down. Her blood leaked down to what he assumed was the altar, which contained a book and several unlit candles. The main floor was covered in body parts, from limbs to organs and bones. Men woman and children of all ages were nailed to the walls, their faces showing clearly that it was not a quick death.
He felt so sick he couldn't even move for about a minute. Before he pushed it aside as best he could, much like he did when seeing some of the worse off areas in Africa, and made his way through, being careful not to stand on any parts and breathing through his mouth so he didn't vomit from the stench.
Eventually he found the back entrance, a small black wooden door that was contained blood palm prints indicating clearly that some of the people had tried to escape.
He opened the door slowly, peaking out to check for any threats. Namely the demons that were chasing him previously.
When he found no threat, he frowned slightly, but stepped out despite the strangeness.
And when he stepped further, still there was nothing.
He didn't much like this, but he started a light jog away from the church.
"We knew you'd come out"
That is all Xander heard, and then pain.
----------
The first thing Xander noticed when he began his slow awakening was that the floor was cold and hard. Well most of it, his head was on something soft and warm, it was a rather odd feeling. He opened his eye, thankful that he could still feel the familiar touch of his eye patch, and noticed it was almost pitch black in the room. He saw a small amount of light on what he assumed was a wall. His vision was bleary so he wasn't sure what it was, looked to be a torch.
He tried to sit up, abandoning the softness of whatever his head was on, before stopping the attempt and groaning at the pain in his ribs. "What the hell happened to me" he said to the darkness..
Suddenly a gentle pair of hands pulled him back to whatever he was on before.
"Shhh" a soft, female voice cooed "rest, you took quite a beating" the voice said.
Xander looked up to see the face of a rather stunning woman. Her skin was pale, contrasted by her dark brown, almost black hair. Soft hazel eyes completed her look and it was then that Xander noticed she was kneeling on the floor and it was her lap that provided the softness he noticed earlier.
"Where am I?" Xander asked.
"You're in the holding cells. It's where we go for them to decide what they want out of us"
"What do you mean 'decide what they want'"
"Exactly as it sounds" a new voice, male, said "you'll either be food, a slave or" Xander swore he heard the man shudder "you'll go to the mines. If your brave enough and try and escape enough times they'll think you're not worth the effort and just kill you".
"The mines?" Xander asked as he felt himself drifting away again.
"Rest" the female voice repeated, he felt more compelled to listen this time.
----------
"Where the hell is Xander?" Buffy demanded quietly from her seat on the table "just because he's got a hangover doesn't give him an excuse to skip this, we're all hangover"
"Quite" Giles muttered from his seat, taking a few aspirin tablets with some water.
"Yeah but B, he was in a contest against me, gotta give him that" Faith commented, not many would dare do that, fewer still would be able to last as long as he did.
"I'll call him" Willow said, reluctantly getting up and going for the phone.
----------
For what seemed like hours Xander had drifted in and out of sleep. The woman (he still hadn't learned her name) had kept her position cradling his head in her lap. He still didn't know where the man was, when he did briefly wake up his vision was too blurred to see much of anything.
But when he woke up this time, it was because a voice that was most definitely not friendly, and most definitely not human.
"Humans!" it bellowed "the decision of you will be made in the next few hours, you wont have to wait much longer"
Xander plainly heard the grin in the demons voice, and was pretty sure it had only told them that to give him more of a headache.
Unlike the last few times he woke up, he stayed awake this time. After taking a minute to get his bearings, he slowly got up, feeling the very familiar pain of his head, and also familiar pain of what it was like when someone had pounded his ribs. The woman didn't move from her position and kept a hand on his back, helping him to a seated position on the floor.
As he took a look around, he confirmed an earlier observation that the light on the wall was a torch after all. The room he was in was a cell, about 15 square foot in length and breadth but only about 7 foot high. There was no window and one of the four sides consisted of bars rather than wall. He and the woman were in the far right corner while the man sat dead opposite him. There was another cell opposite the one he was in, but there wasn't anyone in it. There was a corridor between the cells, and the only reason Xander could even tell it was there was because of the faint glow that showed there were more torches down the corridor.
"I don't suppose you two could tell me what is going on here? Or maybe even your names?" Xander asked.
The man merely looked at him strangely, as if Xander was supposed to already know that.
"My name is Anna" the woman started "his name is Carter" she said indicating to thee man in question. He was a large man, quite muscular, and just as pale as the woman, if not more so. His head was completely shaven and Xander thought he looked kind of like a bouncer.
"Okay, I'm Xander, and once again, what's going on?".
"Have you been living in a cave or something?" the man, Carter, asked.
"I'm not from around here"
"Wouldn't matter were you are, it's the same all over the world" Carter looked at him strangely as he said this, and then locked his eyes on the floor.
"Like I said, I'm not from around here" Xander said simply.
Anne looked at Xander's back strangely. The concept of moving between dimensions was one she had studied before she was captured. Of course it was to everyone in the world given that was exactly why the world was in such a state.
Seeing that odds are this Xander wasn't from this world, she started to tell him.
"It started about a decade ago" she started, and Xander turned towards her to listen more carefully. "Before that, there weren't many demons in this world. And there were groups of people that fought against these demons. But one of these fighters got desperate while fighting something really bad, no-one knows what it was exactly. He decided to try and boost his strength by summoning the spirit of a higher demon"
"Crap" Xander commented, that was never good.
"Yeah. Anyway the spell got totally out of hand and the demon kind of possessed him"
"Kind of?" Xander asked.
"Well it wasn't so much a possession, more like controlling his actions. It gave him strength all right, which is why no-one could stop him when he did the worst thing he could really".
"What did he do?" Xander asked, suddenly very interested in this story.
"He made a portal" she gestured upwards "did you see the flames in the sky" at Xander's nod she continued "that's all a part of the portal. They swirl towards the center, which is where he came through. I've never seen it, not many people have, or they haven't lived to tell about it. The demon happened to be very powerful, pretty much a god. His name is Nasultura, basically used to rule the 8th level of hell. Legend has it he tried to usurp the devil himself, so he was cast out.
It came through in a city called Los Angeles, the place is in ruins. The parts that have been rebuilt are only there because the demons rebuilt it for their own purposes. Once it had some more of its army through, it started on the rest of the world. I don't know long it took for the world to be totally taken over, but I don't think anything could have stood in its way. Most people were killed, some used as slaves, and some used as food" she looked at the floor.
"Jesus:" Xander said, it was all he could say really. It was then that the city name caught his attention. just what the hell is this place anyway? An alternate reality?
"How could you not know about this?" Carter asked, locking his eyes on Xander suspiciously.
"Like I said I'm not from around here. On my world, the humans are still pretty much the dominant species. I was one of the people that fought the demons that were there. I was on my way to get some painkillers when a portal opened up right in front of me and sucked me through. I wound up in a forest. Walked out of it, obviously. I came across a village and went to it looking for water or anything really. I went into a tavern and was met with a bunch of demons that chased me through a church" Xander stopped for a few seconds, remembering the slaughterhouse he had witnessed.
"You saw inside a church?" Carter asked quietly, already knowing the answer.
"Yeah" Xander replied.
"Poor bastard. I've only heard rumors about what they do in churches, I don't even want to know if they're true".
"Odds are they're true. Anyway I got out of the church, they must have knocked me out or something because next thing I know I'm here"
"Not so long ago I would have locked you away for that story. But these days ill buy anything" Carter said, before his eyes resumed they're position staring at the floor.
"I have a question" Xander said, remembering something "the demons asked me where my mark is, what did they mean by that?"
"They mark the slaves, the food, and the mine workers differently so they can distinguish between them" the woman said. "Usually they burn it in them with a fire poker, but sometimes they cut it, and when the scar starts to fade, they do it again. Slaves to the demons higher in the ranks get symbols tattooed on them"
Xander nodded, that made sense, in a sick demon-y kind of way.
"What are the mines?" Xander asked.
"You don't wanna know, man. I'll tell you if you get sent there, otherwise you don't want to know" Carter said, interrupting Anna before she had a chance to answer.
Xander nodded, unsure of what else to do. The three cellmates went into an uncomfortable silence, all of the anxious to find out what was going to be done with them, and Xander also trying to think of a way out.
----------
Willow was worried. She had tried Xander's hotel number, his cell phone, and he hadn't answered to either. Willow, and the others sitting with her, were beginning to suspect something had happened to him.
Buffy and Faith had gone over to the hotel to see if he was there, she and Giles were preparing for a locator spell in case they didn't find him there. Dawn was frantically pacing in the room next door, the only reason she could tell because she could see her shadow blocking the light from under the door as she went past each time.
She jumped slightly as her cell phone began to vibrate.
"Hello?"
("Hey, its Buffy, Xander's not here so try that locator spell. Oh and…tell Giles he may be getting a small bill sometime soon…Faith kinda kicked the door down")
As she heard the click of the phone hanging up, the words hit home. Xander really was missing. The bill Giles was about to get was not her problem.
And so she began gathering her ingredients, dispassionately telling Giles he would be paying for a new door.
----------
Xander stood in between Carter and Anna outside the cell they had been held in for however long they had been in there. A demon that looked vaguely human, except crimson red in color, walked past them, and back repeatedly, eyeing each of them on each pass.
Xander was tensed ready to fight, he knew he probably wouldn't have much of a chance, not with his current injuries, but he'd be damned if he was letting some demon kill him without a fight.
Granted it would be a very short fight, but a fight anyway.
The demon paused for the first time in front of Carter and began to feel his upper arms, his chest, then his legs. He then walked to Xander and repeated the action, then again with Anna. Having done that, he stood about a meter in front of Xander, about to address them all.
"I have made my decision" the demon commented, his voice was oddly human sounding "you" he pointed to Carter "are going to Lord Artendies, as a slave"
Xander noticed that Carter seemed slightly relieved at this. But then given the way he talked about the mines earlier, it wasn't really a surprised.
"You two" the demon addressed both himself and Anna, grinning all the while "are going to the mines. I wish I could be there to see you, but I would rather be burned alive than be down there. Now return to your cells. Some guards will give you your marks and escort you to your places soon" and with that the demon locked the cell door behind them as they entered, and walked away.
No-one said a word as they waited for their escorts. Xander was confused, he didn't know what these mines were but he sure didn't like the sound of them. Anna's expression was one of pure fear, he had a feeling that she knew exactly what they were in for. Carter was looking at them both with an expression of sympathy on his face.
"You think you could tell me about these mines now?" Xander asked Carter.
Carter was about to answer when six large demons opened the door to their cell. Their skin was jet black and scaly, their eyes deep red. Their faces looked like a cross between a pig and dog with no fur. Their chests and legs were covered in heavy scale armor and helmets on their heads, and they brandished nasty looking swords, with nastier looking whips on their belts.
The separated into three groups of two, each pair on each of the prisoners, and escorted them out of their cell and down the corridor.
----------
"Dammit!" Willow cursed lightly as the spell didn't work for the 5th time.
This was one of many types of locator spells that she had tried over the past 4 hours, this particular one was the most reliable she knew about. This was why she had tried five times, and the best the spell could tell her was that he was alive.
"Nothing yet?" asked a worried looking Dawn, sat away from Willow so she didn't interfere with the chalk circle around her.
"No, I don't think there's another spell I can try" Willow said sadly.
"Okay" Buffy said 'we're going to have to find him the old fashioned way. Giles, you used to live in this place, so find any contacts you have and see if any of them has seen Xander. Dawn, you stay here in case he shows up, no arguments! Faith, me you and Willow are searching the streets. Split up and search every inch of the town if we have to. And Giles if you can spare anyone in the council to help with the search, that will be great. Okay people lets go"
And with that everyone went to carry out their tasks.
----------
Xander and Anna were led into what looked to be a large cargo elevator in a warehouse, the door more like ones you would see on a large garage or loading bay. Next to it there was another one with demons unloaded various steel cube shaped containers off the elevator.
The mark they had received wasn't anything particular intricate. It was simply an M in strange font surrounded by a circle. He guessed it was for the stupider demons to recognize and that was simply all he could think of. It was painful though, they had used a heated steel stamp to do the job and oh boy it hurt.
Carter had separated from them a little while back, two of the demons going with him. Before he left he had wished them both good luck, saying they would need it, before one of the demons ordered him to be silent. This left him, Anna and the four demons that consisted of their escorts. Xander now had a very bad feeling about this. From the expression on Anna's face, Carter's short goodbye and the fact that even the elevator seemed designed to be as menacing as an elevator could be, he knew he was not in for a good time.
The elevator started with a shudder, and it seemed to be descending quite quickly.
"I hoped you enjoyed your last breaths of fresh air humans" snarled one of the demons, its voice more like a growl "because you will never see daylight again"
Xander's bad feeling intensified further. He looked to Anna and she had that same fearful expression as she had for a while now.
Xander said nothing as the elevator shuddered to a halt and the door opened to reveal a huge cave like corridor. Directly in front of the two elevators were two sets of rail tracks leading down the corridor and round the corner to a place were he couldn't see yet.
The demons led them along side the tracks and round the corner. At the end of the huge tunnel he could see the glow of what appeared to be fire, but that wasn't what bothered him.
In the distance he could here what sounded like a metalwork factory, except there were screams and the occasional roar sounding in the distance. The tracks seemed to slope downwards at the end of the tunnel, and he shuddered as he thought what he was now in for.
The demons appeared to be leading them to the edge of the tunnel, but instead turned and led them through a small doorway in the rocks that made up the cave.
The entered into a small room filled with metal crates containing pickaxes and various other tools designed for manual labor. The demons halted and handed a pickaxe to Xander and a large sledgehammer to Anna. Xander took it with confusion on his face. Anna did with resignation.
"These are the tools you will be using, if you loose them, you'll be working with your bare hands for a day, or whenever we feel like getting new ones for you" one of the demons snarled, and then led them through another steel door into a much larger room.
The sight that greeted Xander shocked him.
The room was huge, it was like looking into the Initiative for the first time but without the pit full of experiments and the humans there weren't in good condition.
They were on a walkway and from that viewpoint Xander could see the amount of guards on the upper levels, all brandishing varying weapons. Most of them head crossbows or simple bows, but the occasional one actually had a rifle.
The guards on the ground were either standing to the side brandishing swords or marching lines of humans in various directions, whipping them if they slowed down. Some of the humans were carrying steel boxes, similar to the ones saw earlier but not quite as big. They were heading in one direction, while the ones that weren't carrying anything were heading in another.
The guards led them over the walkway, which ran right above the center of the room. The humans down there all had various injuries, he didn't see a single one unscathed other than himself and Anna, and he had a feeling that wouldn't last too long. The injuries varied from bruises and bloody hands to gaping wounds and whip marks, it was almost enough to make him sick.
Once across the walkway they entered another steel door and came to a kind of security checkpoint. The were two doors, one behind a steel counter with a demon the same as the guards behind it, the other was a large gate with an electric lock of appropriate size.
There's no way anyone would get through that without permission Xander thought.
"Aren't you gonna check us for weapons?" Xander asked as they came to a brief stopped.
The demon hit him with a ruthless backhand that knocked him to the floor.
"Never talk without permission human, you will do well to learn that, I only went easy on you because you're new, you wont get such mercy again" the demon growled.
As Xander got up he briefly considered using his pickaxe to kill the demons and get out. The idea quickly vanished, the strength of the demon 'going easy' was enough, there were five of them in the room and he doubted they'd go easy on him if he tried to escape.
Two of the demons then grabbed he and Anna, one demon on each of them, and held them still. Xander struggled briefly, until one of the others backhanded him again. The one behind desk got up, and it was then that Xander noticed it was carrying a fire poker. Oh shit he thought as it advanced on him. The demon held Xander's arm out with one hand, and pressed the hot metal to his arm. Xander screamed in pain, but it was only brief. The thing that worried Xander the most was that Anna didn't make a sound when they did the same thing to her. She seemed to have totally shut down.
He observed the burn mark. This must be what they were talking about as he looked. It wasn't anything special, it was simply an M in a circle. Xander wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer but it didn't take him long to figure out what it stood for.
The huge door in front of them opened and the demons led them through. They descended some stairs, and went through another large steel gate at the bottom. After the gate the corridors were slightly less rocky, and more like steel walls and ceilings with some slight electric lighting.
They passed several doors along the way, until stopping at door number seven, said number imprinted on the front of the door.
The entered the door and inside was what looked to be barracks. It consisted of about 16 beds, each one with a small trunk in front of them., and another door at the opposite end of the room.
"This is where you'll be sleeping" said one of the demons "through that door is where you'll eat. You will return here later" it said, before leading them out of the rooms and down the corridor.
Anna had not said a word since they got here, Xander noted, and when he looked at her he noticed her expression had gone from fear filled to absolutely terrified. He locked eyes with her a moment and sent her a brief small smile, which he hoped looked like a 'don't worry we'll get out of this somehow' smile, but from the lack of change in her expression he doubted very much that it worked.
As they neared the end of the corridor, Xander felt himself get hotter. A part of him just knew they were about to enter the cavern from where the glow was coming from, but the rest of him didn't want to believe that just yet.
The corridor had gotten wider as they progressed along it, by now it was about 20 foot wide and the gate they were now approaching was maybe two or three feet less than that.
Xander began to go from worried to outright scared as the gate began to open and the sounds he had heard earlier reached his ears, this time louder. Anna was visibly shaking by now.
The cavern was massive, even more so that the previous large room he had been in, except this was nothing like the initiative, this was just a huge cave. Everywhere people were either digging into the rocky sides or being marched and whipped by the demons. The room was lit only by the vats of what appeared to be molten metal in the center of the room and it was more than adequate. The heat was so intense that Xander started sweating almost immediately, as did Anna despite her almost deathly pale color.
Xander looked to his right as he saw a steel door embedded into the rock, his attention drawn there by the intense screaming he heard from inside.
"That is the punishment room" one of the escorts snarled as it saw where Xander was looking "just do as you're told and you wont find out what happens in there"
They were led further into the cavern, passing people who looked exhausted, some were either coughing or actually collapsing.
As they reached one of the rocky sides of the cavern, they were shoved violently.
"Dig" his escort said simply, before all of them walked away.
Anna began almost immediately, using her hammer as best she could.
"You're new here, right?" a man next to Xander said very quietly.
"Yeah"
'My names Allen. What you're looking for is metal ore. Don't worry, this metal is mystical in nature so you'll know it when you see it. Now just don't talk, keep digging, and you'll do fine. And whatever you do, don't disobey any of their orders, trust me its not worth it" Allen said, a haunted look coming to his face.
And with that, Xander dug.
----------
Dear diary
The demons actually gave me a journal. They do that with most people, apparently they don't like their workers cracking up, so they let them write their thoughts down.
I've been here for what I think is a week now. I can't really tell, but I heard one of the guards say we only get to eat and sleep for 6 hours every day. And that's all in one sitting, you eat, then go to your bunks and sleep. That's how I'm measuring time. Once every week, we get 16 hours to sleep and generally have a rest, they realized too much exhaustion could lower the quality of our work I guess.
That's how I'm finding the time to write here.
Honestly, this place is hell. My limbs are overworked to the point were my joints are starting to turn red. Anna is much the same. We aren't allowed to talk in the mines, but in here we're fine, they rarely come in here. I lost count of the amount of times I've collapsed because of the heat and fatigue, and each time I got I kick in the stomach for dropping and some water to keep me alive.
The stuff we're mining is a metal. I have no idea what it's called. If it weren't for this place I'd consider it cool. In its ore form, its glows bright blue, and when we find it we grab it and pass it to whoever is working the vats, and they throw it in. I don't know how they purify it, but I heard something about magic being involved.
When we aren't digging we are carrying. When the metal cools they put in these boxes that I saw earlier and we carry them to the elevator, the same one that brought us down here. I have thought about trying to escape there but they have at least 20 demons guarding the place when we go there, we wouldn't stand a chance.
I've gotten closer to Anna in the time I've known her. More often than not I'm next to her while I'm working, and we tend to help each other out wherever we can. I worry though, her terrified mood when we came here has gone to resignation, I think she's lost all hope. Saying that she doesn't seem quite as shut down as she did when she received her mark, so I think she's dealing.
I haven't yet lost hope though. I will find a way out of here somehow.
Write more at another time.
----------
Dear diary
Four weeks it's been since I last wrote here. Which makes five weeks here total.
I haven't written in so long because my hands have been too sore to do anything much.
First day of the second week, I lost my pickaxe. And when they told me I'd have to work with my bare hands, they weren't kidding. I spent the day trying to dig at rock with bare hands and they've only just healed to a point were I could write. I got whipped more times than I care to count because of the amount of times I had to stop. I swear one of the guards actually stood behind me for a good few hours or so to make sure I kept working.
Anna and me talk a lot now. It turned out she knows quite a bit about medical practices and she's been the one looking after my wounds since they happened. To be honest I think I'm getting a thing for her, but it could just be the stressful environment. Not like it matters too much, even down here she's out of my league.
She tells me there is a resistance. And that's what the demons meant when they called me one of 'them' in the bar. Those people use magic to get rid of their marks. Either that or they're born there so they never get any to begin with. Anna was born there. She doesn't tell me much about them, she doesn't want to risk a demon listening in, they're pretty much the most wanted thing in this world. Of course my first question was can they get us out of here, the answer was no, they don't even know this place exists, and they're busy fighting a war.
The people I share the room with are damn good people. We're like family down here. We're all we have, and down here that's a great comfort. Sometimes I hear people crying in the night, and there's always someone willing to get up to offer comfort. Every time someone comes back wounded, there is always someone to help him or her out. That never really hit me until a few days ago. One of the younger ones Joshua was killed. He was barely 18, a good kid, if a little naive. Always helped out where he could.
A few days ago he was working on the vats, and he tried to escape. He pushed one of the guards into the vat and made a break for it.
They caught him before he made it anywhere far. One of the guards on the upper levels took his leg off with a rifle, then they dragged him up and lowered him into the vat. They didn't push him they lowered. I don't think there's a single person here who doesn't remember his screams.
After that everyone mourned his death. He had been here a few weeks longer than I had. It really hurt everyone here.
Write more some other time, there's someone else crying, I haven't learned her name yet, but I'm the only one up.
----------
"Buffy, I think you may have to face the possibility that Xander is dead" Giles said from his position at the mouth of the alleyway.
She had been following any slightly possible leads as to were Xander was, as had Willow Dawn and even Faith.
But Giles had talked to them all earlier, and they were all fairly certain that Xander either wasn't going to be found, or didn't want to be found.
They all hoped for the latter, as it meant he was okay, but there was always that nagging feeling in the back of their minds.
"I cant Giles, if I do, it means I've failed him" Buffy said sadly over the corpse of what was a demon.
"I understand Buffy, really, but I think its fair to assume Xander will not be found. All we can do now is hope that he is alright"
Buffy nodded, and began to walk towards Giles. She took one lock at her ex-watchers grief stricken face and broke down crying, Giles embracing her almost immediately, having done similar things with other people earlier.
One of his children was gone, and there was nothing they could do about it.
----------
Dear diary
Ten weeks it's been now and I've lost all hope of getting out of here.
I've looked everywhere and there is no possible escape route. Maybe if a few more people were willing to join in, but everyone is too terrified and in honesty they have right to be.
But even if they did join in, not all of us would get out alive, I don't want to be responsible for that kind of body count.
Both Anna and me are dealing with the place a lot better. We've both developed a lot of muscle lately. We're nothing like Arnold Schwarzenegger but we're a lot fitter than we used to be and can deal with the work a lot better. And you know what, if I didn't know any better id say she was flirting with me, not during work, that's a good way to whipped, just when we're eating.
Thanks to that the place doesn't seem quite as bad. Don't get me wrong, I'd still rather face down an army of Turok-Han than be stuck in this place, it's just a little more bearable. The guards tend to lay off me a little now, apparently they do that to the better workers, looks like the experience with tools I got from working construction comes in handy even down here.
Time to sleep now, I'll try to take less time to write more.
----------
Xander entered the bunkroom, receiving some greetings on the way, and went straight through the door on the other side to, what was loosely called the cafeteria. It really was nothing of the sort, but it was were they ate.
This was nothing new to him, he'd been doing this for 13 weeks now, it was his routine to get food pretty much as soon as he got off work. Much the same as everyone else the bunkroom. He assumed this was pretty much the same as with others. Each bunkroom had a 'cafeteria'. He supposed he should be grateful for that, but the feeling quickly faded as soon as he thought about digging at rock.
"Hey" Anna said to him as he sat next to her.
"Hey, managed to get nearly a ton of ore today" he commented, it was almost like pride, but a little closer to stopping himself from further injury.
"Nice. You're one of their best workers you know" Anna said.
"Why Anna is that jealousy in your voice" Xander asked with a playful smirk.
"Pfft, yeah I'm jealous that you can do better in hellhole" she shot back, and they both laughed.
Despite the hellishness of this place, and despite the none existent hope of ever getting out, they still joked around. Of course both of them were sad and quite frankly feared for their lives half the time. But given town Xander grew up in, and the world Anna grew up in, this was nothing knew to them.
"Well then it could be that you're not getting any while Andy and Carla are going at it like bunnies" he said dryly, earning a laugh from Anna, they had long gotten used to sleeping while a couple was having sex in the bunk room.
"Keep it down, you know they don't allow that down here" she said "And I'll have you know I used to be scared of bunnies you know. One bit me when I was a kid, got over it though".
Anya's memory came flooding back to Xander, the look in his eyes stating clearly that he was still sad about that.
"Hey" Anna softly whispered, noticing the look and placing her palm on his cheek "what's wrong?"
"Nothing" Xander replied "just reminded me of an old friend" he finished, smiling softly, they're eyes meeting for a few seconds before Xander turned away and Anna removed her hand.
Damn, I got it bad Xander thought.
----------
Work continued as normal the next day, digging, carrying, yet more digging, and the occasional whip when one of the demons was bored.
It was nothing new to him or Anna, and frankly the both of them were scared of the fact that it didn't bother them much anymore.
It was now to the point where they looked forward to this time, sitting on their beds and talking quietly, as to not wake the others. The demons had just brought in a few newcomers, and they weren't used to sleeping with noise. Even Andy and Carla had (for now) stopped having sex to allow them to get used to the place as much as they can.
But the conversation was oddly light.
"Okay, something embarrassing" Anna said, they were sharing stories. Well mostly Xander was, Anna loved to hear about a world were it wasn't so bad.
"Well one time, just after I graduated high school, I decided I wanted to see the country, something other than the hellmouth. So I went on a roadtrip. But sadly the car was…well shitty to be blunt and the engine fell out in a place called Oxnard. In order to pay for the damage, I had to get a job" Xander said.
"Where?" Anna asked excitedly.
"A strip club" Xander replied.
"No Way!" Anna exclaimed, then lowered her voice as someone stirred slightly. "You were a stripper??"
"Well not at first. It started just washing dishes, earning some small money to try to pay for the damage. Then one night, one of the male strippers called in sick"
"They made you fill in for him??" Anna asked incredulously.
"Hey, the owner was a female and well versed in the arts of puppy dog eyes, I was helpless to resist" this earned a laugh from Anna, who was covering her mouth in an attempt to avoid making too much noise. "And I gotta say, you know how a thong looks uncomfortable? It feels way worse" Anna laughed harder.
"Oh god" she said between breaths "even without fighting demons you're life was pretty weird" she said as her eyes locked on his.
"Yeah no shit" he whispered, her eyes completely mesmerizing him, as they had many times before.
"Fighting demons might seem not so strange then" her voice had also dropped to a whisper, their faces inching closer together.
"I wi…"
And suddenly their lips were locked in a passionate kiss, her tongue easing into his mouth as he slid his hand up her back. To Xander it felt like heaven, and the feeling was very much returned.
At some point she had moved to lay with him in his bed. There was no sex, just kissing. To them it was not only passion, and perhaps love, but also sharing strength. Sharing comfort. Something this place had a distinct lack of.
--------
The cemetery was no strange place to Giles, Buffy, Willow and Dawn. They had spent many nights there slaying vampire and various other fiends of the night.
But today was different. Today the cemetery was place a tragedy.
This was the memorial for Alexander Lavelle Harris.
The place was packed with people. As soon as Giles had sent the word out, people had started flying in. Slayers that he had trained, watchers that he had helped, all of them were gathering around a simple stone with some writing on it.
'Alexander Lavelle Harris
Brother, Son, Warrior
Hero'
Tears were being shed all over, the speech that Giles was giving merely a formality, everyone here already knew him. Even Faith had cried, she had spent some time working with him, and through her seemingly stone heart she had shed a few tears for her comrade.
Everyone paid their respects, some placing items of sentimental value on the grave. Magical wards set up to protect the grave and the items. This was the councils burial site, including the old council, and if there was one thing they were good for it was making sure the graves of their people remained peaceful.
The ceremony seemed like an eternity, but everyone soon left, some staying behind to say a few final words.
And that was it, the world had deemed Xander Harris dead.
----------
Xander was almost happy today, and if it weren't for the place he was in he was damn sure he would be very happy.
He had spent the previous night with Anna, and he was ecstatic about it. It wasn't anything particularly steamy (although she was a damn good kisser), it was simply laying with her, being with her. He had almost forgot about where he was, about the hell he was living at the minute.
And he would have if the bed resembled something other than concrete, that was something he hadn't quite gotten used to.
The day was spent with secretive looks between him and Anna, and knowing ones between the other people who shared their bunk, but Xander and Anna didn't know this.
Until they retired for the day that was, when he had most of his bunkmates come up to him with words like 'finally' or something along those lines.
He didn't really care though. The looks Anna was sending him told him this was going to be a good night, which is something he never imagined in a place like this.
----------
Dear Diary
Its been a whole 15 weeks since I first got here. I would have wrote something sooner, but ive been busy.
Anna and I are most definitely having a relationship…or as close as you can come to it in this place. Never thought I could get this close to another woman after Anya, sure there was a few one night stands with Faith when we needed to blow off steam after a mission (of course this was after I got over being terrified of her) but nothing like this.
This is probably the closest I'll get to being happy in this place.
And it gets better, Anna got a message from her brother. I honestly have no clue how they managed to get it in here, but apparently they managed to found out she was in here. These people look after their own. Anyway apparently they're going to be attacking this place sometime soon. Which will mean getting out, hopefully. Our bunkmates are getting excited over it, they're actually ready to fight when they get here now that they know they may have a chance.
Word spreads fast too, pretty much everyone in the entire place is ready for a fight as soon as this resistance gets here. I have a feeling that with this many people, the demons might just get killed.
I just hope there aren't too many casualties.
----------
This day was no different than any of the others that Xander had spent here. Just digging at the sides of the huge cavern that he was working in. He had noticed the cavern getting bigger, and it was fair to assume that was because of the mass of people digging at it. It didn't ache like it used to. When he had first arrived he ached, whether it be from the manual labor or the skin coming off his hands. But now it didn't, which was a relief to him.
And the discrete smiles and looks he and Anna exchanged did a lot to boost his mood…even if he did somewhat focus on her ass sometimes.
He may be falling for this girl but he was still Xander Harris.
But he was staring at her face now, the two somehow locking eyes while working. Anna couldn't help herself.
"I love you" she whispered, then after quickly checking that no-one was watching planted a quick peck on his lips.
Xander didn't know how to respond, he wasn't sure if it was love yet and she understood that.
He didn't notice Joe gasp slightly. Joe, one from Xander's bunk room, looked to one of the guards on the upper levels and saw him conferring with another, who almost ran down to the ground level to one of the guards.
"Shit!" he exclaimed in a panicked but quiet whisper, to which Xander and Anna turned around to look at him. "You guys gotta get out of here!" he said in the same tone.
"Joe what do you mean?" Anna asked, equally quiet.
Joe looked towards the guard that was now coming towards them, then took his eyes away so the guard didn't catch on to his warning.
"They're coming for you! Make a break for it, you'll stand a better chance than you do here!"
Xander and Anna only looked at him strangely, neither noticing the guard quickly approaching.
"They saw you! You know the rules about that stuff!" Joe exclaimed.
Anna's face reverted to the terrified expression she had when she first arrived, and Xander's drained of anything even resembling color. Both turned around to find a possible way out of this, but it was too late.
Xander didn't even see the punch coming, and he was thrown into the wall as soon as it landed, his head banging painfully on the rock. The demon that punched him quickly grabbed Anna to hold her still as Xander tried to fight the nausea of getting up, but couldn't do it, the blow to his head reigning havoc on his co-ordination.
Joe hit the demon square on the forehead with a piece of rock, the shock of it surprised the demon, causing it to let go of Anna, who quickly ran to help Xander up.
Joe didn't have a chance, the demon had snapped his neck even before he knew it was coming for him.
Xander, feeling marginally better now, reached for his pickaxe, only to have the guard shove it away as more of them arrived on the scene. The guards on the upper parts of the cavern leveling their rifles and bows on Xander and Anna.
There wasn't a single person in the room who didn't want to help them, but they knew that they wouldn't stand a chance and would only get themselves killed. They just hoped the demons had some semblance of mercy for the newly formed couple.
"That" the demon snarled as it wiped some green blood from its forehead "was against the rules. Both your…fraternizing and this idiot's" he kicked Joe's corpse "attack". The demon drew its sword for good measure.
The demon got close to Xander, both regarding each other as nothing more than bugs. Anna clung to Xanders arm, completely terrified, knowing that whatever the guards would do, they wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
"You" it pointed at Xander "are one of our most efficient workers. Because of this, I will show you some mercy" Xander's shoulders sagged somewhat, daring to hope they may get out of this with minimal punishment.
"Kill the girl" the demon roared.
The shot that rang out was deafening. Anna's sudden jerk felt like a sledgehammer to his stomach. He couldn't look at her, already knowing what had happened, but he did anyway.
The shot had hit her directly in the middle of her chest. The wound pouring blood at a deathly rate. Her breathing was ragged, dying from the wound. Xander lowered her gently to the groaned as her legs gave way.
"I'm sorry" Xander choked out, almost breaking down, the mocking smiles of the demons the only thing keeping his composure, he wasn't going to give them the pleasure.
"Don't be" Anna gasped between shallow breaths "you were all I wanted. You gave me it" she said as she used what little strength she had to cup his face in her hand.
Xander didn't register the explosion in the background, nor the gunshots, screams and roars that followed it. He just placed his own hand on top of hers on his cheek. Not one second did he take his eyes off her, not for one single second.
"You…you have to g..go" she gasped out "your only chance. Love you"
"Love you too" Xander said for the first time, the fact that it was during her death saddened him further.
Xander watched as the light in her eyes dimmed to nothing as her hand went limp, the only thing keeping it on his cheek was his own hand, and suddenly he was staring at a lifeless corpse. He kissed the top of her hand and placed it on her chest along side the other one, bowing his head slightly so he could let a few tears slip.
He stayed that way for a few minutes, only now registering the noise of gunfire and screaming, human or otherwise.
And when he got back up, his eyes were the polar opposite of friendly.
End Chapter 1