Unbidden

The Lore of a Demonic Pretension

Summary: (Will be a post Chosen/NFA) After discovering of the plans that the Circle of Black Thorn had in mind, Buffy became slightly disturbed- especially at the thought that Angel was a part of it all. After running him and the vampire known as Spike, whom she had believed to be dead (well, non-existent since he was actually undead), on a wild goose chase she was unable to confirm the worst of her fears. The only way to quell her thoughts and sleepless nights would be to arrive in LA herself and pick a side in the apocalyptic battle. Mishaps, enemies, old friends, angst and pain await the readers of this untimely tale. The question begs, however... what side is really the good side?

Prequel: Yeah there was a prequel to this, but it still needs a bit of tweaking- I apologize for the horrendous state it MAY be in at the moment, but oh well... it's life. It's called Surrender it All. You don't need to read SiA in order to understand this story, and anything mentioned in SiA may be referred back to in a little note for your convenience (although it may save you a couple -GASP-s and -HUH?-s along the way). Happy reading!

-This is set right after The Girl in Question and does NOT follow the comics.

Spoilers: Pretty much, if you have not seen all of BtVS/AtS you may be able to survive through this story but I have a question- WHY HAVEN'T YOU? heh. Spoilers in this fic can ruin just about any season for you, since I have a tendency to make webbed-references to many different episodes throughout my drabble. If you're afraid of figuring something out that you may not know yet, this is not the story for you to read.

Notes: So this plot has the potential to go virtually anywhere. The pairings will not be listed on the basis that, well, I have not decided those yet. I like to stick as close to cannon as possible, but you never know... I cannot stress enough how important the input is from my audiences. You guys keep me motivated, give me useful suggestions, and make me smile (well, or fume, but usually the smile-factor is more dominant).

Disclamulation: I own no character that you are able to recognize. Joss does. I do not own Sunnydale, its inhabitants, the Hellmouth, or any other related indicia. The plot is my own, as are a couple random things and character(s). This is strictly-not-for-profit. Entertainment only. You wanna use it? Cool. Give me credit and please tell me. Thanks.

Beta: Danielle. You make life great.

Chapter One: A Bajillion Reasons Why

5/5/04 Africa- Lagos, Nigeria 07:44:22

"Wake up, Xander... you can't stay in here and dream forever. Besides, your dreams are peculiar and mildly disturbing." Anya held a clipboard in her arms and she was staring down at it as if inspecting it for something in particular.

"Anya?" Xander struggled to sit up in bed, terrified at the being before him, "Y-You're alive?"

"Of course not, stupid. I died, remember?" She cocked her head to the side, "You know, there was me... and Andrew... and then there was this Bringer," Her voice seemed to drift away in careless thought as she heaved a sigh, proceeding with the rest of her explanation casually as if it were an everyday occurence, "... oh, awful pain... a flash of light..." She nodded in affirmation of the broken tale she had just explained, "-I went towards the light." After the explanation, she looked back down at the clipboard, her face screwing up in a confused expression.

Xander could not believe his ears. Or his eyes, for that matter, "You went towards the-"

"Are you gonna dig soon?" Anya cut off his inquiry and asked her own question in a demanding manner (only characteristic to herself).

"Dig? Wha?... Anya, why are you here?" He demanded of the figure that had suddenly sent his heart racing helplessly.

"I was looking through your personal belongings... I wanted to find something incriminating..." Her voice became all the more thoughtful, as if the next suggestion was some brilliant idea of hers, "like blackmail. For later. When you do something brainless, and I feel like getting back at you..." She placed her hands on her hips after folding the clipboard under her arm and just stared at Xander with frustration, "When are you going to dig again?"

Xander shook his head, "I don't..."

"I mean, come on... it's not my fault you... you stopped seeing things o-or... that you tried to push away your friends. Just because it was Buffy's stupid idea to pair me with Andrew doesn't give you license to hate."

"Stopped seeing things? A-and it's not Buffy's fault!" Xander's voice cracked slightly when he offered her a quiet response. It was not what she had said that had got him worked up, he definitely did not blame Buffy for the death of Anya, but just the reminder of the event seemed to trigger an unexplainable sadness. Having something like that brought to his supposedly 'stable' exterior was something Xander would rather not admit to. He was supposed to be the support, the level-headed one... the guy that told everybody else that 'it would be alright.' He never felt that he would be the one needing the moral support.

"Maybe you should start digging again. You look sexier that way," Anya suggested, turning around now and beginning to walk away.

"What? Anya- wait!" Sure, she had a one-track mind at times, but Anya was not really making any sense. Not as far as Xander was concerned.

Anya froze at the tinge of desperation in his voice. She heaved a sigh and turned around once more to face him, looking helpless and distraught as ever. Anya shook her head, "I can't help you, Xander," she affirmed with a hint of depression hidden behind her voice, "You have to do this on your own." With that, Anya turned back around and Xander stared hopelessly in disbelief at her receeding and fading form. Was it really her? Was it really Anya?

Then he was brought back to the bitter realization of what happened to be real life. An alarm resounded through the entire room, screaming in his head to get up, he had work to do. "That... was so strange," Xander muttered to himself, walking over to ready himself for yet another day. She was so real. It was time, however, high time that Xander made things right. There were fences to mend and grudges to set aside, but something was coming. They would need each other in this upcoming struggle. He knew what he had to do, sort of... but getting it done, however, that was a whole different story. Luckily, he now had a slayer on his side for once. Not that it was not like Buffy was never on his side- but this one... she was different. She fought with everything she had and drew her strength from the depths of his words and the core of his knowledge- his determination.

The city of Lagos was a more relieving escape from the once homey city of Sunnydale. It was larger, yes, and surprisingly more developed than he had expected when he had been given his charge. Either way, it had been his home for the past year after the defeat of The First's armies and the Turok-Han. Lagos still was a town of problems, however. The city was not too big on the tourism practices, yet did quite well as far as business was concerned. The city held a dangerous reputation, however. What the people did not know, though, was the actual cause of the danger. Xander did. As did the slayer he had been charged with here in Lagos, Kumani. With steadfast endurance and an unfaltering fist, she was able to defeat everything thrown at her. She fought with such fierce fury, that it was no wonder her name was the uncanny parallel to the word 'Destiny.' She knew where she belonged and where her place was as a slayer and boy, she knew how to fight.

...It was months ago, actually. The fight with Buffy. Xander had been able to tolerate the fact that Angel had went all monopolistic and settled his deadboy ass into the seat of a multi-million-dollar corporation that had access to virtually all that was evil on the entire planet (and alternate universes to boot). In fact, the man even thought he had done a splendid job in keeping his mouth shut, grudges and feelings to himself, and shying away from the subject. So he kept off the subject that in any way had anything to do with Angel. The Immortal was where she crossed the line.

The young man looked painfully older than his current age of twenty-three due to the many fights, brawls, toils, and tortures that he had endeavored to get this far. None of the pain he had encountered, none of the hurt or the experiences, however, had ever caused him to lose faith in his friends. He stood strong through both thick and thin, even stuck by them on the ups and downs and the roller-coaster that led the Scoobies to bury a few friends and allies along the way. It was harder than he cared to admit, yet never once did he ever complain that his teenage years (and everything that followed) had been ripped off by the forces of evil. He would do it all over again if he had to. Xander froze abruptly when a knock at his door haulted his morning ritual. Opening the door to reveal an elder englishman in a brown suit, Xander immediately knew there was trouble. There was no reason they would send a watcher to him in person unless there was some kind of grave danger.

"Alexander Harris?" The man adorned in tweed stood at his door with an unwavering and stiff air of urgency, "We have a situation."

"Oh God."

----

Buffy sat in the apartment hugging her knees. She was alone again. The apartment was a mess and, despite Andrew's consistent ploy to purge the apartment of all the candles and anything that even remotely reminded her of her own isolation or her previous faux-obsession with the Immortal, the Slayer still managed to find a bound leather book and run her fingers across it sadly. Inside it held everything that she had tried to hide from the world, every feeling and every explanation of the harder battles she fought. The dimly lit apartment seemed to cheer her up, regardless of the fact that it was bright and sunny outside, she preferred the indoors. Everything was falling apart and she did not quite understand why. Dawn was around, occasionally, but she was busy getting educated or usually hanging with Giles which, Buffy always quipped, could not possibly be healthy for her vocabulary or social habits. There was next to no time for sisterly bonding anymore. Dawn was growing up, becoming a more accomplished woman than Buffy ever felt she herself could ever become- even before her shoulders bore the weight of the world across them. But everything has been ripped from her. Her future was 'The Chosen One.'

Her best friend and the most outstanding wicca of them all, Willow, had left to go and deal with matters that really just caused Buffy's head to spin. The coven had her working like crazy lately. Willow willingly bent over backwards to their every beckon and call, and rightfully so. There was a sore spot that the witch got undeniably angry whenever the subject was brought up, and that was an occurence and supposed brawl between her and Kennedy. What had happened that fateful night was still a leaf left unturned. Buffy would not admit it, but Willow's hesitation to talk to her sliced deeper than she cared to admit. She wanted in on her friends' lives... not isolation from them.

Andrew had been living with them for quite some time now and Buffy had to admit... he may be a nerd but at least he was all in good company at times. Today was different, though, she could feel it. He just walked in the door from his date with two rather formal looking women. He offered the slayer a quick once over and sighed, "Rough day?" At her nod, the boy shook his head, walking into the apartment and shutting the door quietly, as if the noise from slamming it would have woken the dead.

"Xander called," Andrew mentioned casually, "I did what you said and told him you died again. He got kinda pissy."

Buffy raised a questioning brow at the young man, as if offering him to spill the truth. "Andrew, don't lie to me."

"Fine fine... He was very intimidating and demanding and I didn't exactly know what to tell him soooo I told him you weren't here and that you wouldn't be back for a while and maybe if he wanted to leave a message that maybe I'd kinda see if it'd hopefully get back to probably Buffy o-or someone important but he didn't seem too thrilled with that answer. He kinda made it clear he wanted to talk just to you..."

Buffy sighed, defeated. Who was she kidding? She herself had severed the ties with Xander... what seemed like forever ago. Things had not been right between them for months, so why now was she so surprised to hear that perhaps he had called to say he was still alive? To say he still cared? "Do you know where Dawn is?" Buffy inquired, looking up with hopeful eyes.

"Uh, nope- she didn't say. I know something that'll cheer you up!" Andrew smirked, resting a finger on his chin for a few moments before pointing it up in the air in triumph and briskly walking towards the DVD player. "Luke Skywalker and-"

"Not Star Wars," Buffy said while lying her head, defeated, on the end of the couch. "Ever wonder what it would have been like if I never came back? If I died for real- f-for good... for once?"

Andrew glanced over at the slayer who had recently become more of a friend to him since he had moved in to reduce the apartment costs. When in Rome, rent did not come cheaply, and the new Watcher's Council was still working on reforming in order to better serve the current slayers on Earth. He rose from his position before the stack of DVDs and walked over to Buffy, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Sometimes I do." He paused only briefly before adding continuing. "Those are my nightmares," Andrew said simply with a hint of wisdom behind his eyes that she would fail to catch for lack of meeting his eyes.