Disclaimer: I'm poor. I own nothing.
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Chapter 1: Ritual
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Diana woke with a start. Her chest heaved as she gasped and she took several deep, steadying breaths to try and get her heart back under control. She felt a wetness on her cheeks and swiped her palms across them to wipe away the tears she knew were there.
After she collected herself Diana threw off the covers and stepped onto the cold floor. There would be no more sleep this night.
It had been like this for a week now. The dreams haunted her every time she closed her eyes. The lack of sleep was beginning to wear her down, but that wasn't the worst part. No matter how hard she tried Diana could not remember a single image from the dreams. No sight, no sound, not even a smell; no sensation at all remained.
The only thing she was left with in her waking hours was profound feeling of loss she couldn't explain; a pain more intense than any she had ever experienced before.
Diana made her way over to her dresser and leaned heavily on hard wooden surface as she watched her reflection in the mirror.
This time the dream was different. There was still no memory left behind, but as she stared into her own bloodshot eyes a single word came unbidden to her lips. "Alexander."
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She had felt it for months now. Ever since the most active Hellmouth was destroyed and took the town above with it. A new power was born that day. Unleashed, or perhaps unsealed.
It took time to track it down; a little side project that took time away from her other goals, but it had been so worth it in the end. There was much potential in this one. A half Kryptonian body with the blessings of the Mini-Gods? Ohhhh what it could do with that!
The worst part of it had been the waiting. Whatever had been hiding its existence hadn't been undone all at once. More along the lines of cracked. As the cracks grew, more and more of the beings true strength came through. Now the wall was so damaged it was ready to crumble. Or be blown apart. It was ready to become its newest host.
Sure the previous host had been willing, and it angered and disappointed her that it would not accept it once more, but an opportunity like this doesn't come along every day. It was simply too great to pass up. This being was going to be hers.
Yes, a new Power was awakening, and she shivered in anticipation.
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It was midday when Xander Harris left his tent. He raised his hand to shield his remaining eye from the afternoon sun and took a long pull from his canteen.
After six months of searching the African continent for Slayers Xander had been ready to head back to London for a much needed break. In fact, he had been in a bar waiting for the bus that would take him to the airfield when he first heard the rumour. Scattered stories coming out of a remote region about a young girl with the speed of a cheetah and the strength of a lion.
A slayer.
Xander had questioned the men he overheard and had a map out planning his route before he realised what he was doing. He shrugged it off though. After six months what's a few more weeks, right?
It wasn't until he reached the village that Xander began to think that maybe he should have gotten on that plane after all. Apparently the village wasn't overly fond of visitors. The weapons they pointed his way were something of a hint to that.
Then something weird happened.
The local shaman made his way through the armed and hostile crowd that had formed around Xander. The elderly man was small and thin and Xander towered over the man by well over a foot. Then, with shocking speed, the Shaman reached up and tightly grasped Xander's chin and roughly pulled him to eye level. For long minutes the man just stared deeply into his eyes and Xander had never felt so exposed. It was like someone was peering straight into his soul and judging his worth.
Then, slowly, a wide smile formed on the Shaman's face. Xander wasn't sure who was more surprised, the villagers or himself, when the Shaman bade him welcome. It was hard for him to suppress a shudder when the Shaman called him 'The One Who Sees' before going on to say that 'The Light of the Gods' would always be welcome in their village.
Xander still wasn't sure what that meant. Hell, he wasn't even sure if he translated it correctly. He was no linguist; just learning what he could out of necessity.
"Xan-Dar!" a voice called out, pulling him from his thoughts.
He turned to see a young girl making her way down a hill towards him. Though the Shaman's words made sure no harm would come to him, Xander could tell he still was not going to be all that welcome in the village. Not wanting to cause any trouble Xander made his camp a little ways off. Close enough to train his Slayer, but far enough away to be out of sight and out of mind.
"Alba," he said in greeting when she was closer. When he had found out what her name meant he spent a good while chuckling to himself. Wild rose. If there was a more fitting name for a Slayer Xander couldn't think of it.
After she stopped a few feet in front of him Xander spoke in her native tongue, "Good butterfly, Alba."
From the way she was giggling that didn't come out as he planned. He was proven right when she replied, "Good morning Xander."
Xander bit back a groan at the subtle emphasis on 'morning'. How did he make that mistake? The words weren't even similar and he had used the simple greeting before. He blamed lack of sleep and his only just learning the language as the cause. At least when it came to the Shaman and Alba's family he got points for trying to learn their language. Even if he did butcher it.
"Afternoon really," she added and Xander hid a wince. Normally he had her up and training before the sun had even thought about rising.
"You deserve break," Xander told her slowly, carefully thinking about the words he was using. "Three demons last night. Good work."
Xander could see the teenage girl's chest swell with pride and he smiled. The three demons had been tough and Alba had done well taking them down. There was still room for improvement, but for only a few weeks training she was doing amazing.
Too bad his reason for her break had been total crap.
It was the forth demon Alba hadn't seen that kept him up, just laying there thinking, all last night and all morning. Or, more accurately, what he had done to that unseen demon.
Something had felt off to him for months now. Ever since Sunnydale collapsed really. It was barely noticeable at first. Something he could write off as his imagination even. That changed over the last few days. He couldn't ignore this anymore.
"Training," Xander said simply as he led Alba to a small clearing next to his camp.
The Slayer dropped into a fighting stance, loose and fluid. Xander was no expert on martial arts, but even he could see the stance was flawless. Not to mention perfect for the quick and graceful strikes the teenager preferred.
As Xander dropped into his own stance, one more closely resembling a boxer, he came to a decision. He would have to call home for help. A normal man shouldn't be able to match the strength and speed of a Slayer.
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Diana sat at the large table in The Watchtower's briefing room. She wasn't alone, though she may as well have been. Lost in her on little world she was not going to be great conversation to anyone. Fatigue wore at her body while thoughts of her intense, unremembered dreams plagued her mind.
It was half an hour until the League's general meeting but she just needed to be somewhere other than home. She though a change of scenery may help her focus. It didn't.
Black Canary was there, but she seemed to sense Diana wasn't up for small talk and left her be. Instead Dinah went over everything they needed to sort through to make sure the meeting went smoothly.
Diana was grateful for that.
She barely noticed when the door opened and someone else walked in. Only half paying attention as they exchanged greetings with Dinah.
"You look like hell Clark," she heard Dinah say, obviously to the newly arrived Superman.
"Hi Dinah. I'm doing fine, thanks. And you? Great."
"Are you alright?" Dinah asked the uncharacteristically snippy Superman.
Clark sighed. "Sorry, I'm fine. I just haven't been sleeping well. I've been having the strangest dreams lately. At least I think they are."
Now that got Diana's attention.
"You think they are?" Dinah questioned.
"I don't remember-" Clark said before he stopped and sighed again. "It's nothing. They're only dreams."
"Do not dismiss dreams. They can be portents to what is or could be." The three heroes turned to see a man in a white turtleneck and dark dress pants floating above the floor. He wore a blue cloak held together by a large gold chain and a matching fedora on his head.
"Stranger?" Superman said. "What are you doing here?"
"A new power has awoken. Young and unknown, even unto itself. Darkness seeks it for its own, but the 'Light of the Gods' must not fall."
The man waved his hands and a fold out map appeared on the table, a single burned dot marred its surface. Then he swept his white eyes between Clark and Diana.
"Go to Africa and perhaps you will unravel your dreams as well."
With that, The Phantom Stranger, faded away.
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"What do you mean 'he's not here'?" Xander asked, speaking into the satphone. The sun had set hours ago, but over in London it was around dinnertime.
"A date? Really?" Xander said with a grin. "Go G-Man!"
He shook his head. "No, its fine. I'll try again tomorrow."
He rolled his eye. "I'm sure you could but I'll wait for Giles."
Taking the phone away from his ear as the person on the other end kept arguing, Xander closed his eye and took a deep breath. After he opened his eye he brought the phone back up.
"Look, Kennedy," he interrupted. "It's important, but it's also personal. Tell Giles I'll call him tomorrow."
He hung up before she could get another word in.
"I've yet to figure out what Willow sees in her," he said to nobody in particular.
Xander stood and made his way to where he stored his weapons. It was night but still early by his standards. There was still time to take Alba for a quick patrol.
He had barely left his camp when he heard it, a slight rustling in the wind that had nothing to do with the local wildlife. It was on pure instinct that he flung himself to the ground.
A ball of crackling purple energy flew through the air he had just been in and impacted a few feet in front of him. Dirt and grass exploded outward, showering him.
Xander rolled onto his back, pulling a weapon as he did. He wasn't going to limit himself with Buffy's dislike for guns. He emptied the entire clip of his pistol into the creature in front of him.
Unfortunately the long, billowing hooded black cloak completely hid the figure inside. It made it hard enough to hit even without it blending into the black of night. If any of his shots connected the thing didn't care.
The cloaked thing was moving in fast, there was no way he could get away in time. Xander did the only thing he could think of. From his position on the ground Xander surged upwards, a knife in hand, and aimed at what he hoped was the thing's heart.
He would keep on wondering as the cloaked figure twisted away and gripped the hand holding the knife. At the same time its other hand came within inches of his face. Xander saw it glow purple.
Then there was pain.
Then only darkness.
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When Xander came to he noticed something. Well, two somethings actually.
First was that he hurt. A lot. Nothing new there really.
The second was that he was bound to the ground with heavy metal chains emblazed with strange runes. Unfortunately, nothing new there either. He had his fair share of pain and chains back in good old Sunnyhell.
He tested his bonds, not really expecting much, but he would feel rather silly to have just lain there if he could have just slipped out of them. It would have been a nice surprise really and he did get one, just not what he was hoping for.
"Ahhrrggg!" The second he pulled on them a shock of energy ran through his body. It felt like his blood was on fire. After what seemed like an eternity the pain subsided and he was left wide-eyed and breathing heavily. "Okay, not doing that again."
"You're awake," a decidedly female voice said and Xander turned his head to see the cloaked figure putting the finishing touches on the large arcane symbols painted on the ground around him. She stood and made her way towards him, the hood still hiding her face even when she stood directly in front of him in the moonlight. "Good."
"Is this the part where I beg for my life? I'm not above it you know."
She ignored him as she bent down and tore his shirt open.
"Wow! Wow! Getting a little fresh there lady?! We just met!" Xander exclaimed and tried to squirm away. All he got for his trouble was another blood boiling shock. As he recovered he spoke in exasperation. "Why do they always want to mate with me?"
"I have no desire to use your body for pleasure," the cloaked woman told him as she drew more symbols, this time on his naked chest. "I have other designs for it."
"Well that doesn't sound good at all."
"You have no idea the power you possess do you?" she asked rhetorically. "No, I suppose you wouldn't. You are only just awakening. Now the seals shall be broken and your body will belong to my Master."
"Master?"
"Eclipso, The Wrath of God. He shall return through you and the world will tremble!"
"Now I really don't like the sound of that."
"Silence!" she spat and pulled a palm sized diamond out of her cloak. It was the deepest black Xander had ever seen, almost as if swallowed, or perhaps repelled, the light around it. She placed the diamond in the centre of the symbols on his chest. "Normally the Black Diamond alone would be enough for a possession, but this is a special case. Under some circumstances Lord Eclipso can be ejected from his host. With this ritual nothing can separate you, only death."
Then the woman began to chant in some language Xander couldn't even begin to identify and the diamond started to glow an eerie purple. Then his world erupted in a pain far beyond anything the chains had provided.
Yet even through the pain he was somehow aware of everything around him.
Over the increasing volume of the cloaked woman's chanting and his own screams another sound rang through the night. There was a sharp snap just before the broken pieces of an arrow hit the ground.
"Well damn," a red clad archer Xander recognized as the Justice Leaguer called Red Arrow swore. "There's some sort of force field."
Then there was a blur of activity as he, along with Superman, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, and Batman threw everything they had at the barrier. A part of his rapidly fading awareness wondered why most of the Justice League was here. Another part was simply glad they were.
Absently he thought he heard Batman say something about hating magic and calling someone named Zatanna right before a black blur took form in front of the magic field.
A young woman stood glaring at the cloaked woman. Her costume was tight black from one hand to the other, coming down in one seamless piece ending in a skirt that barely covered the essentials. A yellow lightning bolt adorned her chest, which was fitting from the magic energies that danced around her like living lightning.
"Eclipso!" she yelled as she brought her fists up in a double-handed grip. "After how you used me did you really think I'd let you come back!?"
Her fists came down hard enough to send out a shockwave that shook the nearby trees. The magical shield didn't even waver. That didn't stop her however, and she let loose with barrage of strikes at the barrier.
Xander heard Red Arrow ask, "Is that Mary Marvel?"
"Looks like her," came the reply from Black Canary.
"She's a little less… perky than I remember." Red Arrow winced Mary as took to the air, her body crackling with mystic power, and charged at the field. "And angrier."
Mary hit the barrier with a thunderous boom, and ricocheted off into the dirt. Glowing purple cracks appeared in midair, a marked weakening of the otherwise invisible shield. Mary stood with a satisfied smirk on her face.
The cloaked woman stopped chanting and turned to the interloper. If one could see her face Xander imagined it would be covered in shock. "No," she spat.
"Oh yes!" Mary said as the mystic energy around her gathered in her palms. She thrust her hands out and sent a blast of power into the field. Xander's world was filled with white. He would probably be in a great deal of pain if he weren't already writhing in agony.
When the light was gone so was the pain, replaced by a glorious numbness. Through blurred vision Xander saw the scowl on Mary Marvel's face and the absence of the cloaked woman, but that didn't matter. The only thing he cared about was the absence of pain and the merciful darkness pulling him under.
As awareness finally left him Xander could have sworn he heard Wonder Woman call his name.
