Smells Like Teen Spirit
Summary: One thing changes on the path back home for Xander. Begins at the Zeppo episode.
ҲҲҲ
Xander sighed to himself as he walked up the stairs to the main hall. He could hear Jack downstairs, quietly muttering to himself. He knew that things wouldn't end that easily. Still, he was too tired to care about the future. All he wanted to do was sleep for a while.
He paused as he reached the doorway, thinking to himself. He had just had sex…he had stopped Jack and his buds from blowing up the school…on the night that the Hellmouth had opened…he knew that beast anywhere…if they'd succeeded…
All of a sudden, the sheer reality of what he had done came to him. He felt his knees go weak and his stomach churn. He…the Zeppo…the Donut-Boy…had saved the world.
He shook himself clear of this thought. For all he knew, the world was still doomed. No matter what his friends thought of him, he was bound by his own set of standards to help them. It wasn't for honor, glory, or even recognition…it was simply because he couldn't not help them.
He gripped Katie in his hand, having liberated the blade from Jack, and the axe rested on his shoulder as he walked upstairs. He approached slowly, as he could hear the sounds of battle outside. It was now or never.
Moving quickly, Xander opened the door and examined the hall. There were no demons present, but he could hear the sounds of their roars in the distance, echoing off the halls. He ran through the halls toward the library, knowing that time was probably not on his side. As he came to the hallway that led to the library, however, he could ran into three demons, each of them moving swiftly towards the library. He was behind them, so they hadn't seen him yet.
Formulating a plan that he would later describe as 'utterly stupid,' he tucked Katie into his belt and whistled loudly, getting all three demons' attention. They turned to him, roaring out in rage at him.
"Yo, She-Bitches," he shouted out, "Let's boogie!"
Two of them came at him immediately, while the third stayed back. He walked into the first one, driving the blade of the axe into her abdomen. He swiftly backstepped, letting the axe remain inside the first demon, then withdrew Katie and let the second demon ram into him, driving the blade deep into her ribcage and into her heart. Within a moment, she was dead, and he swiftly ripped the blade out of her, rising up just in time to meet the third one. She barreled into him without much care, and the two clawed at each other as they rolled to the ground. They rolled to a stop, with her on top of him, and Katie positioned at an angle that he couldn't work with. Sighing, he did the first thing that he could think of: he headbutted her.
Blinking away the pain that came from that act, he saw that she wasn't even winded. Sighing, he decided to do something else…he bit her on the nose. The demon back off for a moment, more due to sheer shock than pain, giving Xander just enough maneuverability to jam Katie deep into her side several times. She stuttered for a moment, coughing up some blood that thankfully missed his head by an inch, before relaxing as she died. He quickly pushed her off, and got back to his feet, retrieving his axe as he did so. He sighed for a moment, catching his breath as he made sure he was alright, before turning back to the library. Five more demons were there, looking into the library in what he could only describe as confusion.
Not even a second later, though, a body literally flew out of the library, sliding along the floor as it landed, heading back down the opposite hall. The five demons followed it with their eyes and seemed to communicate with themselves for a moment, before two of them headed into the library while the other three went after the body. Xander moved quickly, rushing after the three, figuring that whoever it was would need help.
He came down the hallway, finding that the person was struggling to their feet as the demons surrounded them. Taking advantage of their ignorance to his presence, he swiftly ran down the hall, raising the axe as he did so, and imbedded it into the skull of the nearest demon, drawing the attentions of the other two. He quickly drew out Katie again as the next demon rushed him, and he tried to run into her with the blade, but she saw it coming and dodged, grabbing his head with her hands and flipping him onto his back. She was on him in a second, but he raised his legs up, blocking her deftly as she leapt onto him. He pushed off with his legs, sending her into the wall. He made it to a sitting position when she came back at him, but this time he was ready. As she drove herself into him, he raised his blade up, embedding Katie deep into her stomach. She flipped over him as the blade entered her, swiftly coming out in a splatter of blood. She groaned out for a long moment before Xander came to her, raised Katie over her head, and drove it down into her eye socket, destroying her brains.
He sighed to himself as he came to grips with reality, turning to look around as he did so. Just his luck, the very person he had come to rescue was the very person he had rescued earlier that very night.
"Well, hello, stud," Faith said sultrily to him, wiping the dust and blood off her jacket as she did so, "Didn't B give you the night off or something?"
"Something like that," Xander said as he came to his feet.
"Well, can't have that happen again," Faith said as she looked around, before settling her gaze on him, "That's twice you saved my ass, X."
"Well, it is a nice ass," Xander said without thinking, stiffening up as he realized what he had just said.
Faith, though, simply laughed at him and made a show of looking at her own backside, before turning to him and saying, "Thanks! I thought I might be having a bad ass day."
"Think nothing of it," Xander meant to say, but before he'd even gotten to the 'nothing,' a blinding white light came through the library, forcing both Slayer and Zeppo to block it out with their hands. All of a sudden, the demonic cries from the library came to an end.
"Looks like the party's over," Faith said, "That spell just kicked in."
"Great," Xander said, gathering up Katie and placing it in his belt, "Look, since the fun's over, can you do me a great big favor and not tell anyone you saw me?"
"What, why," Faith asked, completely shocked by his request.
"The reason why they wanted me out was cause they didn't want me to get hurt," Xander informed her, "The last thing I need is to be grilled and chewed out about not following orders or something."
Faith thought about that, realizing that he was probably right. While she and B had had their issues in the past, she knew that B wouldn't outright try to lay down the law, but with Xander…
"No problem, stud," Faith said with a small grin, "But, you gotta tell me what you were doing tonight. You look like you've been through Hell and back since you left my place."
"Left isn't the word, Faith," Xander remarked, a bit of snark in his words, "'Kicked out' is the phrase you want."
"What, did you really think you were gonna stick around for some post-coital cuddling and talk," Faith asked, semi-disgusted, "C'mon, X, it was just a quick screw to relieve my tension."
Even though he'd figured that was what it was, it still hurt to hear it. Sighing, hardening his heart, he nodded and said, "Glad to know I meant that little."
"Oh, c'mon, quit being a whiney bitch," Faith said, her disgust growing, "Don't act like it wasn't good for you!"
"Of course it was good for me," Xander said, turning to walk away, "It meant something to me. It meant nothing to you, though."
"Ah, c'mon, don't be this way," Faith said, feeling oddly hurt by his words, "X!"
He walked on, not bothering to turn around.
"Alright, fuck you, then," Faith shouted after him, "Fuck you!"
Xander walked on, the need for sleep outweighing his desire to turn around and shout back. Faith stared after him for a long moment, before sighing and turning back to the library, figuring she could help out with the cleanup before going back to her apartment to get some rest.