Disclaimer: Don't own anything.
Author's note: I'm glad that there has been some attention that came to this story. I want to make a brief announcement to those reading this and say that this story could potentially turn into a series of them, which is something I've noticed I've been doing. So I ask that all of my readers bare with me as I do my best with the stories that I'm working on. Also, for anyone who is a fan of the buffyverse who had an issue of the commentary made on the balance between good and evil, the reason for this is that the commentary was someone forming the logical conclusion to the line of thought that there is a balance to good and evil, which is that not only do the proverbial scales would be equal, meaning neither good nor evil loses or wins. And by extension, that would mean that for whoever the good guys take out, some of the good guys must die for the sake of 'balance' despite the fact that evil is playing to the endgame. As for the Powers That Be, for anyone who kept up with the comics, they let the Twilight crisis happen as a means of 'evolving the universe' despite their champions being used and all of humanity being wiped out. Considering these guys' claims of working for the greater good, they've shown that this is far from the case. Anyway, I've ranted enough, for this chapter, so sit back and enjoy this next installment to Jonathan's path to power.
Restview Cemetery
Jonathan stood next to a large tombstone that held a cross on top as he waited for the man that called himself whistler to show up. However, he felt that this could only turn out either very oddly given the way the day had gone, or very badly. But then if he was lucky and this guy tried to kill him, he could at least fight back with his strength. He couldn't stop himself from shivering and breathing heavily as he could've sworn that the weather was slated to be much warmer at night.
"I must be freaking nuts to think this was a good idea. Who the hell thinks it's a good idea to meet in a cemetery?! I wish it wasn't so cold," the short teen said to himself.
"It's not cold out tonight. And you'd be surprised at the freaks that come out at night in this town," Whistler said, snickering at his own joke, while Jonathan turned to him. Whistler stopped snickering as he took a good look at the kid he was supposed to be helping.
"If it's not cold, then why am I shivering so much? And my asthma shouldn't have kicked in, I walked here!" Jonathan said.
"You really want to know? You want me to shatter this illusion about your hometown to tell you why you're here?" Whistler asked, making sure the kid knew what he was getting into.
"YES! Why do you think I'm out here at ten in the middle of the night?!" Jonathan replied as he began losing his patience. Whistler smirked as he saw that the so-called midget in front of him had more nerve than most people would think.
"Fair enough," Whistler said as he looked at the grave behind the boy. Whistler pointed past Jonathan and the teenager looked on in shock as he saw what was a male teenager rise from the ground. The vampire was halfway through with his upper body showing but stopped. As Jonathan took a good look, he saw that the dead body in question had what appeared to be a hideously deformed face. He saw the pronounced eyebrow ridges, and teeth that seemed elongated for some reason.
"Hey, can somebody help me out? I think my foot is stuck on a root or something. This is really uncomfortable," the creature said. Whistler let out a breath and stepped up to the creature. With a grab and a yank, the creature was freed.
"Thanks, I really appreciate it. Unfortunately for you, it'll be the last thing you ever-" the creature was cut off as Whistler grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
"Listen up kid, this thing right here is what you know as a vampire," the man said.
"It's a-a vampire?! You're kidding. He looks like he just stepped out of a b-movie. Are there cameras around here? IS this a prank from one of the jocks?" Jonathan said, as he tried to rationalize what he was seeing. Whistler shook his head and let the vampire go.
"Listen up, you don't want to tangle with me. But the kid over there is fair game. Good luck killing him," Whistler said as the vampire went off to attack the easier prey.
Jonathan saw the vampire approaching and immediately ducked down. As the creature tried to tackle him, it missed and would've tripped over Jonathan. Except the human teen came back up and lifted the vampire, causing it to flip over him and land on its back. Jonathan turned back to the creature on the ground and looked around hoping to find something to fight it with. The minute he turned to Whistler, the man threw a silver broadsword at him. Jonathan managed to catch it and swung, catching the vampire in a clean sweep across it's neck. As the head rolled off, the creature turned into ash and dust before it's body crumbled, followed by an odd scream. Jonathan looked at the sword in his right hand and noticed that it was three and a half feet long, and appeared stainless, with the hilt of the sword being in the shape of a cross.
"What the hell?!" Jonathan said.
"Not bad. A little more practice and you'll be a real fighting machine in no time," Whistler said.
"I killed a vampire. I just killed a vampire! In what world does this ever make sense?" the teenager said.
"You're about to find out in three, two, one," Whistler said.
"Jonathan?" Willow said as she spotted her classmate, with Oz rolling her in the wheelchair.
"Willow. Hey, what are you doing out here? It's not exactly safe out tonight," the short teen said.
"I think she could say the same to you. So why were you out here?" Xander asked as he came up behind them with Cordelia in tow.
"I was uh..." Jonathan trailed off as he looked around and noticed that Whistler had disappeared.
"Just taking a nice stroll. Nearly got mugged," he commented. His three classmates looked at each other before Cordelia approached and grabbed his arm.
"Come with us," she said, dragging him away.
Sunnydale High Library
Giles listened to the other members of the scoobies tell him about catching Jonathan dust the vampire in the cemetery. Jonathan, for his part, looked around nervously, as if trying to will himself invisible. Giles flicked his sight over to the shorter teenager as he was curious as to how they could have missed the possibility of having a potential ally. Giles was pulled out of his thoughts as Xander finished explaining.
"So what do we do now Giles?" Xander asked.
"Well, we'll have to keep an eye out for him and get him up to speed," the watcher said.
"Oh great. Babysitting another dweeb," Cordelia said, causing Xander to glare at her. The queen of the high school actually felt a bit of shame at her comment and his look.
"Let's talk to him first before we do anything else," Giles said. The group approached the shorter teen and he looked as though he wanted to run for his life.
"It's alright Mr. Levinson. We wish to help you understand your powers and what's happening to you. First, when did this new feat of strength occur?" the older man asked.
"Today actually. I just felt this rush and the next thing I know, that jerk just went flying," the young man replied. Giles seemed confused by the reply and looked to the others.
"I see. Well, if you ever manifest any other abilities, you can come to us, and we'll be here to help. Anyway, it's been a long day and you all should head home," Giles said. Jonathan grabbed his sword and left with the others. Giles wanted to say that he would be better off leaving the sword there but thought that a weapon wouldn't be a bad idea.
Levinson Residence
As the scoobies dropped him off, Jonathan entered his house. He would've tried sneaking up to his room if not for his parents being out of town on some business or other. As he entered the kitchen for a late night snack, he spotted Whistler rummaging through the refrigerator as if he lived there.
"How the hell did you get in here?!" Jonathan yelped.
"You've already seen that I'm not exactly normal. So it's kind of pointless asking. Say, your folks got any beer in this thing?" the man asked.
"Why are you here? Especially since you ditched me and left me to be interrogated," Jonathan said.
"Because you needed to know who you will be working with," Whistler replied.
"Work with? What makes you think I'm going to work with them? They look like they wanted to get rid of me," Jonathan replied.
"They don't want to get rid of you. I'm afraid these guys have a rather serious complex of thinking they're the only ones who can protect this town. That vampire you saw earlier was not the first nor the last one that shows up. You ever hear about folks dying from accidents with barbecue forks?" Whistler asked with a serious face.
"Yeah. It never made sense that so many people...oh don't tell me..." Jonathan trailed off.
"Yup. Vampires were what caused those deaths. But I'm afraid that there's a lot more than you would ever have believed," Whistler explained.
"Like what?" the teen asked.
"The world is older than you know. Contrary to what the Watcher's council would tell you, the first supernatural beings on earth weren't demons. They were angels. You know about the rebellion in Heaven and Lucifer's fall. What you don't know is that the war continued after he fell. Long after Adam and Eve were exiled from Eden, and after they and their children populated the world, the fallen surfaced on the planet. They were called Old Ones because they had lost the beauty that came with their divinity. After they enslaved most of mankind, they decided to fight back. At one point, three warlocks kidnapped a girl around your age and stole a demon's power to force it into her. This gave the world the vampire slayer, which is what Buffy is. Since then, this group known as the "Powers That Be" have capitalized on anyone who would prove useful to helping maintaining the so-called balance between good and evil. The slayer is one such weapon. And those three guys made what's called the Watchers Council," Whistler explained.
"Don't tell me. Mr. Giles is a part of the council, right? No other reason he tried interrogating me. But if these guys are on top of things, what the hell do you need me for?" Jonathan asked.
"You want to know? That little clique of your classmates always come through by the skin of their teeth. And with the blonde call calling the shots, they're going to find themselves in over their heads. And that demon power running through her won't be helping matters. So, they need someone to not only balance them out, but to be the one who can overrule the slayer's decisions. While the Harris kid has the balls to stand up to her, she won't take him seriously because he lacks power, and she's always boiling it down to jealousy he no longer has," Whistler explained.
"I can't exactly do much right now, so how can I fix this?" the teen asked. Whistler smirked as he was waiting for this question.
"Glad you asked," the man said before he grabbed Jonathan's shoulder and they vanished.
Pocket Dimension
Whistler appeared alongside Jonathan in a place that the teen couldn't believe. The area they were in had land that appeared crystalline in nature, with grass and trees actually growing, without signs of decay. As he walked and came to a cliff-edge, he saw that they were on a crystal platform. As he reached his arm out to touch the water beneath the platform, he found that the liquid was much more solid as he laid his palm flat on the surface.
"You like it? I call it the white space. In this place, time is almost nonexistent. You could live here but go back to earth as if you never left. This is the place where you'll be training, or if you ever need to come to for personal training," the Whistler said.
"I still don't understand why I was picked to do this. You've told me that I was chosen to help Xander stand up to Buffy and keep her from getting her and her friends hurt. But nothing else. Why me?" Jonathan asked. Whistler looked to the teenager and sighed.
"All I can say is that we need someone that the forces of darkness won't see coming in any way at all. The group that calls themselves the Powers That Be have made their champions believe that they see and know all, but they didn't. If they did, you wouldn't have lost your favorite computer teacher, and maybe you would've had a wonderful girl. But the valley girl couldn't stomach making the hard decisions to help everyone. But with some training, you'll be one of the people who can do what she can't," Whistler said as he suddenly summoned a silver sword, similar to Jonathan's sword. Jonathan drew his own sword and readied it in an awkward stance. Whistler smirked and charged.
Pocket Dimension
One Year later (Earth Standard Time)
Jonathan swung his sword in a downward curve at Whistler, which was dodged at the last second as his trainer simply leaned to the right. Whistler's blade itself was suddenly engulfed in a red aura with energy crackling around it. Jonathan countered by surrounding his blade with a blue aura with similar effects to the red aura. Their blades clashed as they swung at each other, but Whistler went for a horizontal slash that Jonathan flipped over. Jonathan landed behind his trainer and kicked the back of right knee, making him fall. As Jonathan held his blade at Whistler's neck, other man simply smirked.
"Not bad kid. Not bad at all," Whistler said. Jonathan looked down at Whistler with a steely gaze. While he had not grown any taller, he more than made up for it with a well toned and bulky physique. From what Whistler could see, the boy was barely breathing hard.
"Well, I've had more than enough time to get this right. Still, I hate that I've been gone for so long," Jonathan mused as he thought about what he left back on Earth. It wasn't much in the way of friends. But he still loved his parents.
"Don't worry. You'll be going back soon. Besides, you needed to be here so you could learn how to channel that power properly," Whistler stated.
"Which begs the question of how I could use this power to begin with," Jonathan said with a pointed look to his trainer.
"Every human on earth has always had the power to use the energy of their spirits. The hard part has been in bringing it out. But there in laid a dangerous attribute to it," Whistler began.
"Dangerous how?" Jonathan asked.
"You've already experienced using spiritual power to use what most people would call magic. But for a lot of people, including the little redhead and your friend Amy, the magic they use comes from an external source. Typically the Pagan gods or the Old Gods," Whistler said.
"You're saying they're real?" the teenager asked.
"As real as you and I. Anyway, magic users have often relied on entities like the Pagans and the Old Gods to use their magic. Part of the reason is because their intentions went beyond just combat and tactics. Many of them used magic for personal, which is why there are rules for this kind of thing. You yourself have been taught how to manipulate that power to fight the forces of evil. With that, the world and the slayers stand a greater chance for survival," Whistler said. Jonathan noticed that his mentor had used the plural for slayer but chose not to say anything about the slip of tongue.
"So what happens now?" the teen asked.
"We go back. Grab on," Whistler said. Jonathan complied and they vanished.
Levinson Residence
Sunnydale, California
Jonathan and Whistler surveyed the house once they reappeared. The teenager immediately noticed that nothing about the house had changed, except that a few minutes had passed.
"What the hell?! How is that even possible?" he asked the in-human man.
"Like I said, the white space dimension is made to where time is practically nonexistent. Seconds here is equivalent to days. That's the affect of parallel dimensions, as opposed to parallel universes. In case you're curious, take a look in the mirror," the fedora clad.
Jonathan went into the downstairs bathroom and noticed how his shirt, while messy and torn, had also been bulged due to his muscle mass. As he lifted his shirt, he saw that his abdominal and his arm muscles had not only increased in size but were also toned.
"Whoa," Jonathan said.
"That's right. You're now physically stronger than what you were. In fact, you could actually take on a slayer as well as any half breed demon. But as you can guess with mentioning things like the Pagans, there's things much stronger," Whistler said.
"How much stronger?" Jonathan asked.
"They're called the Old Ones. The Watchers Council, who trains the slayer, would have the common man believe that the Old Ones were always separate from the Powers That Be and that they came form hellish dimensions. But the truth is the Old Ones ad the Powers That Be were once one in the same thing, under the banner of the highest power known to man. But because the Old Ones, along with the Old Gods and Pagans still had tenuous grasps on this dimension, well, many humans were led astray as you've read in the holy books," Whistler explained. Jonathan looked on in shock at his mentor.
"You mean angels? They're real?! Just when I thought things couldn't get weirder," the teenager said as he sat down.
"Perhaps. But better you know the truth sooner than later. With that in mind, your first mission is coming up soon," Whistler said.
"At the risk of my sanity, what is it?" Jonathan asked.
"You're going to rescue a couple of ladies," the man said. Jonathan looked at him strangely.
"I'm not kidding. But the thing is, these particular ladies are going to run into trouble not long before Summers comes back to town. They've been led to believe that they are the only ones who are actively doing the slayer duties thanks to the council not telling them that Summers is still alive," Whistler said.
"Wait. If I'm understanding you, Buffy isn't the only slayer person. You hinted that there was more than one. Are you saying that there's another one?" Jonathan asked. Whistler looked to the floor before addressing the teen.
"Here's the rundown, since the Primordium Age, there was only one slayer at a time. The previous one dies, the next girl receives the power and so on and so forth. Last year, Summers had suffered a clinical death. But thanks to Alexander Harris, she was brought back. But because of this, she was still technically dead, and the power was split between her and another girl. The girl was a Jamaican beauty by the name of Kendra. You remember seeing her around career day," Whistler said. Jonathan thought back to when that police officer had taken him as a hostage after she began shooting out of nowhere. He remembered seeing the chocolate skinned beauty with the lush and pouty lips.
"So she needs my help?" Jonathan asked.
"No. She's been at peace in the heavens for a week now," Whistler said sadly. Jonathan's eyes widened at hearing the news.
"She died fighting for what she believed in. Now she's at peace. But when when she died, a girl in Boston about your age had received the power. She's brash, has an attitude, but she's also brave. But she and her watcher need help. That's where you come in," Whistler said.
"Okay. How exactly do you expect me to get to Boston? I live on the West Coast," Jonathan said, thinking he pointed out an obvious flaw.
"Simple. We'll fly."