Title: The Wish - 2/?
Fandoms: Chronicles of Riddick/Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Pairing/Characters: Riddick/Xander, Buffy, Willow, Giles, Cordelia, Angel, Oz, Faith, Aereon, (Past) Buffy/Angel, (Future) Angel/Cordy.
Chapter Rating: PG (NC-17 eventually)
Chapter Wordcount: 2824
Spoilers: Parts of BtVS S1 & S2 mentioned. Entire Pitch Black/Chronicles of Riddick series to be safe.
Warnings: AU, violence, language, angst, temporary character death, permanent character injury (not our boys), character bashing (can't help myself, not a big fan of Buffy and Willow's just a byproduct), M/M explicit sex, bottom!Xander, Furyan!Xander, mating, D/s elements, bloodplay (however, it will be fairly mild), size different/size!kink, mentions of future mPreg.
Notes: This is an AU for both fandoms so some canon events have been changed or rearranged. If you see something that happens that is different from canon, don't be alarmed, it's just the author treating canon like her bitch. *g* As usual, this story is not beta'd, so any errors you find I am sorry... This sucker has only the benefit of self-editing which isn't always fool-proof.
Summary: After Xander confesses to lying to Buffy about Willow doing the gypsy curse when Angelus tried to bring Acathla to Earth, Buffy and Willow aren't able to forgive him. Buffy is angry and filled with rage when Xander saves her from a vampire he gets accidentally staked by her and it changes everything. What follows is a wish granted, a transformation, a mating, Buffy gets the beat down of all beat downs, an arrival of something truly evil and an ending that's just another beginning.

Chapter Two: The Upgrade

Xander opens his eyes and he's standing in a massive room that's kinda depressing; the walls are made of black marble... carved into huge human bodies that look as if they are slowly dying, their bodies withering and decaying as they cry out in eternal torment. It's not a happy place and he's not exactly thrilled to be dreaming about it. And he knows he's dreaming, he can't figure out why, but he does.

"You're not what I was expecting…" Growled a voice from behind him, the deep voice sending shivers down Xander's spine as he whipped his body around, taunt and ready for an attack.

Xander's surprised by how fast his body moves, by how easily it whirled around as if it was the most natural thing in the world. He's even more surprised by the man standing not two feet away, looking at him with an appraising eye and a smirk on his lips.

The man is gorgeous personified. Tall… maybe 6'2", massively build with muscles that have their own muscles, a shaved head that just makes Xander finally understand the phrase "bald is sexy" and strange dark eyes that are almost all pupil that briefly glint an odd glowy silver in the light. He looks dangerous and has an aura of carefully restrained violence that is both hot and slightly terrifying. But no matter how much Xander just knows instinctively how dangerous this man is and how easily he could kill Xander without a moment's notice… Xander just as instinctively knows that the man would never hurt him.

"You were expecting me?" Xander asked, confused and feeling like he's missed something important that he should know but doesn't.

"Yeah, been waiting a long time for you, Xan." His voice does things to Xander's body that should be illegal… sending shivers down his spine, making little Xander practically sit up and beg for attention. The man takes in a deep lungful of air, his nostrils flare and his pupils dilate even more as he smirks, the grin is all teeth and feral promise that makes Xander's body flush in arousal even more. "Can't wait much longer or I'm comin' for you, Xan… supposed to be by my side when shit hits the fan."

Xander's heart speeds up and he takes a step closer to him. "What do you mean? Who are you? Why am I dreaming of you, this place? Matter of fact, where the hell am I?"

"I'm The Riddick, this is Necropolis… killed the old Lord Marshall after he killed Kyra… got this place, these things for my trouble… keep whatcha' kill." The Riddick growls and stalks closer until he's standing right in front of Xander, his face pressed into the curve of Xander's neck. He takes a deep breath and Xander just knows he's breathing in Xander's scent and pushing his own back out and onto Xander's skin… scenting him, mixing their scents together. "What's coming isn't gonna' be pretty, but you and me… we're gonna' have a good time beating the hell out of it until it begs for death."

Xander shivers again, this time in excitement… his body strumming tight with the promise of violence and a good fight. "Didn't say why I'm dreaming of you though…"

The Riddick pulls back from scenting his neck until his eyes meet Xander's, the pupils flaring bright and silvery as he looks at Xander like he's starving. "'Cause you're mine, Xan, and I'm yours."

Xander wakes up abruptly from one moment to the next, his eyes snapping open as he vaults up from his bed his hand gripping a stake tightly. His eyes scan the room around him as his heart pounds a beat he doesn't understand, that's both foreign and familiar at the same time. It's too fast, a raucous thump-thitty-thump-thump-thump when it should be a slower thump-thump thump-thump. Xander frowns because the world around him feels off; he feels off, but he can't figure out exactly why.

He smells the usual dankness of his basement-turned bedroom and its way more pungent than usual, smelling like mold, death and decay festering right under his nose. He hears the sound of his parents arguing up above him, the argument over whose turn it is to go out and get the booze, but it sounds like they're yelling right into his ear. He feels the vibrations of a jackhammer at the construction site a street over where they're building a new apartment complex, the vibrations sending his body into a tense lock of limbs as if holding them tight enough will make the vibrations stop vibrating through every cell of his body. He sees a tiny little bug crawling across the floor twenty feet away, the unbelievably tiny brown spots on its back are as noticeable to his eyes as a big pink elephant in a white room would be.

It's all so much; too much and he crowds himself into the corner, covering his ears and closing his eyes; shutting the world out with every fiber of his being. Time seems to slow down after that with Xander getting stuck in his own mind and body, his ears hearing too much, his nose smelling too much and his eyes seeing too much. And then, like a miracle, the flare of his senses going into overtime is at once easier to handle… he still sees too much, hears too much, smells too much, but it's like in an instant his body and mind have become used to it.

Xander breathes a sigh of relief as his body relaxes and his mind calms, the dream he woke from filtering through his mind as he's finally able to find some semblance of normal again. The dream is so real it's like a memory; he remembers the sounds of his voice echoing off the black marble walls, he remembers the warm and spicy scent of The Riddick, he remembers the growl of his voice and the shivers it caused… he remembers their conversation, every single word. He may not be a genius, but he knows something's different, that he's different in a way he can't even describe. Most of all, he knows that something bad is coming and that whatever happened to him is Fate's way of tipping the scales in humanity's favor.

He can't say why he knows all of this or how, but he just does and some instinctive response in him is telling him that it's right, he's right… that for the first time in his life he's exactly what he's supposed to be.

XH/RR

Xander made it to school on time for the first time in a very long time that morning... the cause, he'd managed to make the mile walk to school (that usually took him about 20 minutes) in just under 4 minutes; he wasn't even breathing hard when he got to the school, let alone the fact that he knows he hadn't pushed his new body anywhere near its limits. Rather, he felt invigorated and pumped up, ready to go another ten miles and maybe keep on going.

He's let his senses expand on his run, smelling the surrounding city as he made his way to school. He could smell the stench of death and decay that seemed to be everywhere in a town overrun with vampires. He felt the pull of the Hellmouth from the moment he woke up, growing stronger the closer he got to the portal. But, it was a pull that wanted to devour him rather than entice him. He could feel the evil, the darkness that was steeped into every inch of the Hellmouth and the deathly promise of what lay inside it. He didn't like it, that was for sure.

Making his way to the library, (even months after Buffy basically kicked him out of the Scoobies, he still went to the library on autopilot), Xander pushed open the doors and smiled at Giles.

"Hey G-Man, what's the what?"

Giles sighed and pulled off his glasses, giving them a cursorily look before he began wiping them with a handkerchief. "Must you persist in calling me that, Xander?"

Xander grinned and hopped up onto the library counter with a deftness he hadn't had the day before. Shrugging, he said "It amuses me, so yes I "must persist" calling you it."

Giles rolled his eyes and returned to sorting books. "It's good you came in, I was going to have a student find you later on anyways. A prophesy has been made regarding the arrival of a demon of immense power who shall bring on the apocalypse... requiring all of us to begin researching and preparing for this event. I hope I can count on you to be here?"

Xander bit his bottom lip and worried it between his teeth. "And, what does the great and all powerful Buffster have to say about this?"

"She knows personal squabbles are immaterial to the battle against the forces of evil. She is the Slayer, she will do her duty." Giles said forcefully as she walked away with a cart full of books to shelve.

"Did you tell her that?" Xander chuckled uneasily.

"Yes, she knows you are coming this evening and I have told her to behave."

Doing her duty as the Slayer was one thing, but when it came to Buffy being mature about the things she didn't want to do was a whole 'nother enchilada. Xander saw a lot of passive-aggressive attitude in his future and probably a few "unintentional" bruises to go with it. Though come to think of it, Xander was a little curious to see just how his new senses and abilities would stack up next to that of the Slayer.

XH/RR - XH/RR - XH/RR - XH/RR

Riddick wakes from one moment to the next and has his shivs in his hands, the blade of one is impossibly close to the delicate neck of the Elemental that is leaning over his body with a considering expression. Growling in annoyance, Riddick pulls the blade back and rolls off the bed in the opposite direction, his nude body on display for the woman who was the instrument of his current situation as Lord Marshall to a bunch of dead Necros.

"What the hell you doin', Breezy? It's fuckin' stupid to hover over a sleeping man like me."

"You would not have hurt me, the calculations on my death are near absolute and do not occur for some time." Aereon said sagely and floated nearer to Riddick as he began to dress. "You have dreamed of your mate, have you not? You know what is coming?"

Riddick ignored her and the high and mighty tone she used when she knew more than he did… he fuckin' hated that tone. Cryptic bitch.

"The time has come for you to send the Necromongers on their way, to send them to their Underverse and find your way to your mate before it is too late."Aereon says sagely as she floats nearer to Riddick, her body flowing in a non-existent breeze as she moves. "He has awakened and needs your help as the oncoming threat grows closer. It will be your efforts and those of your mate's that turn the tide of the battle, saving humanity and paving the way for the future that is."

Growling, Riddick whirled around and pinned her with a glare that had sent lesser men cowering in fear. "This was your fuckin' plan the whole time, wasn't it, Breezy?"

Aereon smiled an ethereal smile as she floated near him. "The plague known as the Necromongers must reach their fabled Underverse if the universe is to survive... What meets them on the other side of the portal is another matter entirely. I fear the Necros as you call them will be in for a rude awakening when they realize the entry to their Underverse is little more than a "mouth to hell"... A hell dimension where humans, even those with vampiric traits, are little more than a tasty delicacy for the fearsome creatures that inhabit that dimension."

Riddick stared at her for a moment and then let loose a gravely chuckle as he finished dressing. "Damn, Breezy, you're one cold bitch. I like that in a woman."

"I have my moments." Aereon smirked. "You must begin preparations for the journey. My calculations predict that there is a high chance of success of ridding the universe of this plague and you reaching your mate if the Necromongers reach the Underverse within the next 6 weeks. After that the percentage for success begins to fall rapidly, leaving little chance of both requirements happening at the right time."

"What's so important about me getting to this "mate" of mine?" Riddick groused. "I ain't never needed a mate before, I'll do just fine without one in the future too."

Aereon merely raised a single eyebrow at Riddick.

Riddick growled. The swirling ball of emotions that he'd woken up with tucked in under his skin rose up and made itself heard. Riddick tried to ignore the beast within him that latched on to the idea of a mate of his own, something to protect and ravish in equal measure, someone strong to guard his back... someone to call his own. He remembered the startling hazel eyes that sucked him in from the dream; the lithely muscled body that called to him; the smell of citrus, cedar and ash that clung to him and made him smell of pack and home. Riddick wanted to ignore what his senses and his basal instincts were telling him, but he couldn't... Anymore than he could reasonably pretend to want nothing to do with his mate.

"Your mate lives on Earth-that-was... Years into the past. He, along with a chosen few, has been tasked with guarding another Hellmouth and it is from this Hellmouth that a great enemy will emerge. The Slayer, the one charged with protecting humans against the forces of darkness, has strayed from her path... leading to the deadly, but advantageous change that allowed the future to be re-written and mated Furyans to wade into the fray." Aereon said delicately. Riddick could tell she was dancing around something that he wouldn't like, but he let her have her control for now... He'd get the whole truth from her soon. "Before, the outcome would have been devastating to the human population of Earth, but... If the situation is handled delicately and with the right amount of strategic intervention the outcome can be very different. Additionally, that chance of success grows significantly if you pick up a champion of good along the way."

"And what's in it for me, when your precious "humanity" has been saved?" Riddick knew the answer, but hearing it would help to seal the deal.

"A mate and a pack of your own, a fresh start in a time and place where the Killer of Men isn't the most hunted being in the universe. Isn't that what you have secretly longed for since this all began?"

He stood there for a few seconds letting the idea sink in before he turned back towards her. "So, how exactly am I supposed to send the army of walking corpses on their way?"

Breezy gave him a beguiling smile. "I have just the plan you need, Mr. Riddick..."

TBC...