Title: Knight Fall (1/?)
Author: DarkDyer
E-mail: DarkDyer@aol.com
Rating: PG-14
Summary: Another Prophecy looms over the Scooby Gang and Xander is keeping secrets, with the help of.,.,., Angel?
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Joss, they're just dancing to my music.
Distributions: Ask and ye shall receive.
Authors note: Welcome to the first installment of my first fan fic. If you like it please bug me to finish it, My mind wanders often. If you don't, uh, what was I saying? Oh yeah, feedback-good, silence-maddening.
Xander's hand paused just before striking the door before him, and he let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"Relax man, how hard could it be?"
He gathered himself and then knocked. When there was no reply he glanced down the hall out the window-taking note of the sun, as it made it's final descent behind the horizon.
"C'mon, you got to be in there." at that Xander began a rhythmic assault on the door.
He was soon rewarded with the sounds of a door opening, just not the door he was knocking on. Xander turned to see a short balding man, who, for some reason beyond Xander, appeared to be slightly irritated.
"Hey buddy," the man scowled, "Ya trying to wake the dead?
He looked at the man and started to chuckle," Well, actually,.,.,"
His reply was interrupted when the door he had been knocking on slowly swung open, revealing only darkness.
"Xander?" asked a groggy voice.
He looked back at the other man and shrugged, "Sorry buddy, duty calls." Then he slipped through the door and disappeared into the shadows, leaving the man to shake his head swearing as he closed the door.
Xander made his way through the dark apartment without hitting a single stick of furniture, unfortunately, the step down into the sunken living room was a bit of a surprise.
He got back to his feet muttering, " Hey Deadboy, for those of us without vamp vision, do ya think we could get some light in here?"
**click**
Xander was unprepared for the sudden response, and spent the next couple of seconds blinking the light out of his eyes, then turned to find Angel standing next to a small fireplace.
"What are you doing here Xander?"
Xander grinned, "What, I can't stop by to see my favorite demon?"
The vampire didn't bother to answer that.
"Alright. I'll spill."
Xander looked around for something to sit on, and then realized why he hadn't hit any furniture. Sparse would have been an understatement worthy of Oz. The only furniture in the room was a chair and a table with a lamp on it.
"Do you mind?" asked Xander, motioning to the chair. " It's been a long day."
Angel nodded and watched the boy move to the chair, noticing a very slight limp. "Probably tripped over something on his way up." he thought.
After sitting Xander made a show of looking about the room. "Nice place, who does your decorating?"
"You know Xander, I'm a little hungry when I first get up, so if you could get to the point." The irritation was evident in the vampire's voice, as was his meaning.
"Point taken. All right, here it goes,.,., there is another prophesy, the worlds gonna end unless we save it, and I'm here to give you a ride to the big show."
Angel had forgotten just how much Xander irritated him, and he was fairly certain that strangling the boy would be immensely satisfying. Sometimes having a soul could be a real drag.
The sudden danger to the one person he had ever loved, other than himself, brought him to full attention.
"Is Buffy all right?"
"The last I heard, she's fine."
The vampire looked at Xander in confusion before recalling something he hadn't really paid attention to at the time.
" That's right, Cordelia said you had gone, how did she put it? Walk around."
"That's walk about, fang boy. You know there are other things to do at night, besides stalking young teenage slayers, ya never heard of midnight movies?"
"So did you come here to insult me, or worse, show me your vacation slides?"
Xander actually chuckled at that. "Here I thought it was Angelus who had the since of humor."
Never one to pass up an opportunity to put Xander in his place, Angel grinned evilly, doing his best Angelus impression. He had expected the boy to cringe, maybe whine a little, or possibly even run. What he did not expect was a loud **thunk** as a small shaft of wood slammed into the wall an inch from his head.
With his grin now gone, and his mouth and eyes open wide, he turned to look at Xander. The boy returned his look with a cold stare, his arm raised and some kind of mechanism strapped to his forearm. "It must have been hidden by his shirt." he thought.
"I missed on the off chance you were making a very bad joke."
Angel looked from the boy to the projectile now lodged in the wall. He pulled it from the wall with a small grunt and examined it closer. 4 inches long hard wood with a metallic base.
"Why the grooves?"
" Puts a spin on it, like a rifle, makes it very accurate inside thirty feet." Xander pulled back his sleeve to reveal his new toy, which was mounted on a leather wristband on his forearm.
"Looks complicated."
"Not really, spring loaded, compressed air for propulsion. A friend I met on the road whipped it up for me."
" How many shots?"
Grinning Xander replied " That's for me to know, and you to worry about."
"Right," Angel walked over to Xander and handed him back the bolt. " So why did you agree to give me a ride? We aren't exactly buds."
Xander seemed to think things over before he answered," When I talked to Wills, she didn't want to go into much detail, but what I did get out of her, well, it worries me."
As Xander spoke Angel looked his guest over, the boy looked tired, like he hadn't slept in a long, long time. And the slight limp from earlier, it all raised one question after another. There was also a familiar scent in the air.
"Why do I smell blood Xander?"
Xander replied in a very cold voice," Wishful thinking."
"Uh huh," The boy won't talk about that, lets see why he's here. "Well then, you're worried and you want to see me. Again, why?"
"Well the part that has me worried, it's between you and me, and I want it to stay that way, all you have to do is be yourself, cryptic boy, until we find out what exactly is going on."
"What could possibly be between you and me? I am all out of secrets, and I really don't want to go there again."
Xander was silent as he stared at the vampire, this made Angel rather uneasy, the boy was never silent, he appeared to be experiencing some inner struggle, when he did speak it was so low that if Angel hadn't had supernatural hearing, he might have missed it.
"How much do you remember from when Angelus was back?"
Angels first reaction was anger, but from Xander's expression he could tell that the question was asked, not to goad, but simply because the boy had to know. Angel suddenly found speech very difficult, eye contact painful, his answer was forced out in a voice thick with pain.
"Everything, I remember everything."
Xander stood up with a wince. "That's what I was afraid of." he said, as he made his way to the door. Opening the door he turned to look at the vampire. "On our way home I need you to do me one little, miniscule favor."
"What would that be?"
"Forget he ever called me the White Knight."
Angel looked at him like he was crazy, "Why would that matter."
"I'm not really sure, but I didn't want you blurting anything out until we are sure of the situation, it might be absolutely nothing."
"But."
"No buts, c'mon we're burning moonlight, and as much as I would like to be on the road at sunrise, I don't think I would be Mr. Popular if I showed up with you in the ashtray."
Xander walked out of the apartment, leaving Angel standing there trying to figure just what the hell was going on here. Suddenly Xander stuck his head back into the room.
"Well Fang boy, are you coming."
Angel sighed and followed Xander into the night.