Disclaimer: You know the drill. I don't own any of the established characters from any of the shows mentioned here, they all belong to there respective owners. I'm not making any money of off this, or off anything else actually, so suing me would just be a huge waste of everybody's time.
Notes from me: Ok. So I tried this in 2004, and I think I had a good thing going. I had five chapters all written and ready for uploading, I was feeling positive about the fic, reviews were good… and then I had a break in and my computer was stolen.
Anyway, its now 2006, I have a new computer, absolutely no social life, no steady income, grey hairs, and I'm only 22. The obvious thing to do is finish the Fic, no?
UPDATE!!!! AHG! I got myself a lovely 'lil virus a few months back, and had to format the computer. Luckily I could just copy my past chapters from and past them into Word. Pity I only remembered that after rewriting three chapters. Ok, so here it is again, this time with slight changes for easier reading
Well, as mentioned by Andrew, the Scooby's had split up and gone to different parts of the world, I'm presuming to look for new slayers, and it was mentioned that Xander was in Africa. And since I'm in Africa, South Africa more specifically, I thought Id venture into the world of fan fiction after lurking for a couple years. This will be a crossover with Angel, but we won't see them for a little while. I will most probably bring it all together and tie in to Angel's finale. Oh, one more thing. Since SA (South Africa) has eleven official languages, and different dialects through out the country, I will add an whenever another language is being used, as it would be too convenient for all the slayers to be English speaking.
Summery: In an effort to reach more slayers around the world, Xander is sent to South Africa to recruit a number of slayers. It sounds easy enough… and that alone should tell you things aren't going to go smoothly.
Blood and Sun
By StephenDA
Chapter One:
It was going to happen again. He could sense it beginning; feel its destructive power building up inside of him.
"No. No, not again!" He thought, stricken with fear.
He placed his hand on the wall in front of him for support, hoping it would be quick this time, and less violent.
"Ohh crap!" He spluttered, as an explosive force ripped through him.
"Sir? Sir are you ok?" Came the timid voice of the flight assistant through the door of the restroom.
"Yeah, yeah, Just peachy thanks." Xander replied. Under his breath he cursed her and the airline but mostly he cursed Giles for buying him a Business Class seat, and by default, giving him access to the seafood platter that was turning him into the human vomit machine.
"He planned this, I know he did." Xander muttered as he washed his face and mouth, feeling a little better.
He opened the door to find the short, plump flight attendant who had been looking after him since he first felt the onset of the "seafood madness" as he had duded it. She looked worriedly at him and pressed two tablets into his hand,
"Take these and try and rest, we will be landing in five hours, maybe you can sleep the rest of the way." She said hopefully.
"Hmm, I doubt that, but thanks."
Xander strode over to his seat and dumped himself in it, very un-businessman like, earning a few scowls from the surrounding passengers.
Oblivious to the glares of distain that were been thrown at him, Xander reached under his chair and pulled out his briefcase, and looked at it for a second.
'Guess I should read up on my mission" He muttered.
He knew basically what needed to be done, but since Giles has started rebuilding the Watchers Council, as well as looking for slayers, he was quite preoccupied and found it easier to send people out on their missions via memo than in person. He was, after all, in Europe once more.
Opening the case was something he had been putting off for the better part of the twenty two hour flight from America to South Africa, partly because the seafood madness took away any hope of focusing on the little number locks on his briefcase, and secondly, when else was he going to be in the Business Class section of an airplane again? He wanted to enjoy himself a little.
"Yeah, right." He thought, "Live the experience, Travel the world and throw up till your head explodes." He thought in his best infomercial voice.
In side the briefcase was a small dictionary of South African dialect, which according to Giles was a little complex and could be confusing to Xander at first. There was a narrow but thick envelope which, apon further inspection, Xander was pleased to find was filled with money, One thousand South African Rands, and a further thousand in American Dollars. It also contained a debit card with a slip of paper baring his pin number.
"Better remember this." Xander thought, and slipped the number into his shirt pocket after reading the number over a few times.
He then took out a larger envelope, and opened it.
"My Mission, should I choose to accept it..." Muttered Xander.
He pulled out about six sheets of paper, and settled in to read. At once he noticed a lot of big words undoubtedly put in by Giles just to scare Xander, so he skipped to the next page, which was much easier on the eyes, or in his case, eye.
"Hey Xander, I took a look at Giles's first page, and thought It might be a good idea to give you a little abridged version of my own..
Basically, what you have to do is:
Meet up with Giles's friend (who is an ex-watcher I'm told.) in South Africa, He should be there to meet you at the airport.
Gather up as many slayers as you can with him. We have some info on them thanks to that little spell I did with Giles, but remember its mostly just names and general locations, so you will have to look around a little.
Convince them to come back with you so we can train 'em up, and pair them with a new watcher. (We should have enough new recruit watchers by the time you get back.)
Now, Xander, this is the most important part of all, OK? Here it is. Bring me back some cool souvenirs!
Good luck, I'll see you soon.
Willow.
Xander couldn't help but smile.
"Thanks Will."
Xander packed away his case, and had just settled down to try and sleep, when he felt a little bout of madness welling up.
"Outta the way people!" He yelled making it to the restroom in only four giant leaps.
Finally, after five painstaking hours in the air since reading up on what he was supposed to do, Xander's plane landed in the Cape Town international airport.
Xander hobbled of the plane clutching his briefcase, tightly, and made his way to the large bus that would transport him to the main area of the airport.
It was a ride that did nothing to alleviate his poor stomach's condition, and he was a lovely shade of green at the end of the journey.
Luckily there was no problem for him at the luggage area, and picked up his two bags quite quickly. He started to look around for Giles's contact, and began to wish he had read through Giles's letter a bit more thoroughly, as he realized he had no idea who he was looking for.
"Hmmm, better look for a description of the guy in the briefcase." Xander said out loud, as he sat down on a bench.
"There's a guy in your briefcase?" A young voice with a strange accent asked him.
"What?" Xander asked, looking around, and then he saw her, a girl of no more than 15 sat next to him. She was so small; he hadn't noticed her sit down next to him. "Huh? Oh, no I... Never mind."
Xander went back to digging around his briefcase when another voice to his left said,
"This him?"
Xander turned and saw the same girl sitting and staring at him, but somehow she looked a little different, older, and a little taller.
"Ja" Came the first voice.
Xander turned and did a double take, then realized...
"Oh! Twins."
"Isn't he a sharp one" the taller girl remarked sarcastically in a language Xander didn't understand. "Are you sure it's him?"
"Of course it's him, do you see any other one eyed Americans around here? And don't be such a cow"
"Riiight. I'm gonna get going now." Xander stood up and began to walk away when the younger girl jumped up and grabbed his arm.
"Xander, wait. Barker sent us; we're here to fetch you."
"Huh? Who's Barker, and how'd you know my name?" Xander asked, feeling confused and a little nauseous.
The taller girl stood up, rolling her eyes.
"Hello? Barker? Our Watcher? Didn't you get a briefing or something? We've been expecting you. Come on, the car is waiting." And without saying another word, she strode of towards the doors leading outside.
"Don't mind her, since we were called she's been walking around with her head firmly lodged up her own... well, she's been full of herself, lets just leave it at that." The smaller girl remarked.
Xander smiled, and picked up his bags.
"Well, you know who I am, so you are?"
"Oh, sorry, I'm Jana, and the Ice Queen down there is Amelia."
"Well, it's nice to meet you. Jana" Xander said, shaking the girl's hand.
"So, twin slayers, that's interesting. How did, um, Barker, find you?" Xander asked as they made there way to the exit.
"Oh, our family has known we were potentials for a long time, and Barker kept an eye on us, even though he said he wasn't part of the watchers anymore. Well, he wasn't until your friend Rupert phoned him a few weeks ago anyway."
"Rupert? Oh, Giles, right. Sorry, I hardly ever hear anyone call him buy his first name. So, where are we going?"
"To his home. We've set up a little camp there for slayers. Barkers very rich, and spends most of his money and time on finding and training new slayers. He also found a coven of talented witches, and persuaded them to join us in looking for more slayers."
"Really? Well, that'll lessen my work load, let's hear it for Barker." Xander said.
As they stepped outside, Xander found himself been led to a very big and very expensive looking jeep.
"Wow, that thing is friggen huge! What kinda car is it?" He asked Jana as they got near it.
Jana was about to answer when another voice, this one with an accent even more alien to Xander, answered him.
"This, my maat, is a custom made, Multi- purpose, bad guy kill'in, monster crushing beast of a machine."
Xander looked to the driver's seat, and saw a girl of about nineteen, sitting lazily at the wheel. Her shoulders were framed by a mass of dreadlocked hair, and she had an air about her that seemed to scream "Slayer".
"Howzit man? Name's Jo-Anne, But you can sommer call me Jo, ok?" She said to Xander so speedily he just stared at her.
"Um, I have no idea what you just said. If I could go cross-eyed, I would be right now."
Jo and Jana just laughed, and he and Jana climbed into the back seats, Amelia, who was already seated and had her seatbelt in place, with her arms crossed impatiently, turned and glared at Xander.
"She said her name is Jo-Anne, but you can just call her Jo, Ok? Really if you're going to stay here, make an effort to understand the locals, OK?" She huffed.
At this Jo turned around in her seat and shoot a piercing stare at Amelia, followed by -
"Listen here, you spoiled brat, I don't need you to bloody translate for me, Ok? And watch your manners, from what I've heard, he was helping to save the world while you where still being spoon fed by your nanny! "
And then she turned to Xander, who cringed in expectation of a similar tongue lashing.
"Ag, sorry man, I forget sometimes it's hard for Americans to get the way I speak... Sometime this week I'll give you a lesson in Suid Afrikaanse Taal, Ok?"
Xander smiled, "Sure, thanks."
Then as Jo started the car and pulled out, cutting off two taxis behind her, Xander turned and whispered to Jana,
"What's Taal mean?"
Ok. Nothing too exciting, but a little set-up is always a good place to start don't you think?
Just to help you guys out a bit, here is a little language key for the first chapter.
Taal – Language
Howzit – an informal greeting used everywhere in South Africa. Pretty much just made up of "how is it going?" Easy no?
Bru – Sorta like the American Bro. same meaning basically, just comes from the Afrikaans word for brother.
Maat – Afrikaans version of the English "Mate". Both versions are used fairy extensively here in South Africa.