Guardian Xander

It was a dark night in the sleepless town. In the alleyway between two buildings, a strange, bright flash and a small clap of thunder signaled the opening of an energy portal. From this portal a young man stepped. Dressed in a royal purple and white bodysuit with armor plating over it, boots with shin guards, gauntlets, a helmet, shoulder pads and a cape, he was truly a sight to see. His helmet had a crown embedded in to it and a tail of demon hair that went down to the small of his back. On his left arm was a huge shield, in his right hand a 4-foot long broadsword. He started to look around and, seeing that he was in an alley, tried to figure out what was going on.

'Where in the hell am I?' He thought, 'Looks like Sunnydale.' He stepped out in the open and started to look around. People were dressed in costumes and were getting ready for the big night. Looking at his right gauntlet, he saw on his portable GPS the current date and time. It was October 29th, only a couple days before Halloween. However, it was 2009.

He was about to leave the alley when someone stopped him. It was a young man in a T-shirt, jeans, skater shoes and shades on his head, instead of over his eyes.

"Cool outfit dude!" the skater said. "Where did you get it?"

"Through war." the armored man said and started to walk away. He then leapt up in mid-stride and landed on a building. From there is was a simple hop, roof to roof, all the way to the high school. Naturally, it was difficult for people not to notice him.

"It can't be!" a Caucasian woman gasped.

"He's alive!" a dark-skinned man said.

"I thought he was dead." an Asian woman asked.

"LONG LIVE THE KING! LONG LIVE THE KING! LONG LIVE THE KING!" a group of people started chanting.

"OUR KING WOULD NEVER ABANDON US!" a young man shouted.

Hearing the cheers and words that they were shouting, the armored man was naturally confused. 'King? Computer: cross reference California with the word 'king'.' he thought as he continued his roof hopping.

[Accessing: Los Angeles Kings, NHL hockey team. The LA King, NHL guardian (deceased)] the information came back into him into his mind.

'Cause of death?' he mentally asked.

[Cause of death: Was crushed when a building owned by Darren Dark was destroyed.]

'These people must see me as this guardian.'

[Affirmative.]

'Great. We'll have to deal with this later. Stick with the location of the high school.' He thought as he continued on to the high school.

Once there, he slowly walked in still with his sword drawn and shield at the ready. He cautiously walked to the library and push open the door. Just then he had heard voices inside.
"I just wish Xander was here." one of the voices said. The voice was female and he heard a lack of confidence to it.

"You and me both Willow," said another female voice. "You and me both." Her voice was a bit more confident, but there was the sense of longing in it.

"He's in a better place now." Said a third voice. It was English and somewhat cultured, which made him think the man was older.

That was when he walked out in to the open, causing the two teenage girls and the older man to gasp.

"My word, who are you?" the older man asked.

Willow, being a hockey fan(1), recognized him almost instantly.

"He looks like he could be a really good mascot for the LA Kings." She said.

He smiled and slightly nodded his head.

"Yeah, so I've heard." the knight said.

But as he said that, the fatigue from travel and fighting suddenly caught up to him. He dropped to his knees, the entire room shook as if from a small quake as he did. Then he fell face first to the floor as the pair of young women ran right for him. They slowly turned him over until he was on his back.

The older man came up and quickly looked at him. "The armor appears to be about Mid-11th century in appearance, I should think."

"Now's not the time Giles!" the blond-haired woman said as she the red-haired girl, went over the mans head trying to figure a way to remove the helmet to help him breath better. The redhead found a couple of buttons that unlocked the helmet, making it easy to pull off of him. However, when the group saw the face of the young man, the redheaded girl dropped the helmet, her body starting to shake as tears fell from her eyes.

"No, it can't be." the red haired girl said. "It just can't!"

"My god," Giles gasped.

The blond woman was crying as well, as a single word was utter from her mouth.

"Xander."

TBC

Note: 1. Yes, I know she's not a hockey fan. Before you burn me, I'd figure Willow would know something about this