Miles Militis Candidus

Summary: In the aftermath of the battle with the First, one man dedicates his life to fighting the forces of darkness throughout the world. This is the story of those crusades.

Miles Militis Candidus is latin for White Knight.

Chapter 3 - The Decision

"You what!" screamed Willow. "But, Xander, you're a guy. You don't want me to change you into a woman do you?" asked Willow somewhat fearfully.

"Nope, I'm happy being a guy, with my, uh - guy parts." said Xander.

Willow blushed heavily at Xander's comment, and her face was still red when she began talking half a minute later.

"Look, Xander, I don't know if I can do that. What you're asking is complicated and a little dangerous. There may be a very good reason why all Slayers are female. I don't know what it would do to you." said Willow after some thought.

"You mean, other than make me stronger and faster?" said Xander with a gleam in his eye. "Well, lets research this. That should give you an idea how serious I am about this Will, that I'm willing to volunteer to research without an impending apocalpyse looming over us. Oh crap, I sounded like Giles just then didn't I?"

"No stuffy accent though, so overall not too bad. Let's research this just for now, but I'm not saying yes or no until we have more info!" said Willow forcefully.

"Yes Maam" said Xander and saluted at the same time. They both stood up and Xander hugged Willow.

"You know I love you Wills. Please, think it over - I'm really serious about this" said Xander.

"Oh I love you too Xander. I just don't want you getting hurt you big lump" said Willow, and kissed Xander on the cheek before leading the way out of her room.

Wolram and Hart - later that afternoon

"So you're here to do some research?" asked Wesley.

"That's right" answered Willow.

"But you don't want my department's help?" continued Wesley.

This time Xander answered. "Let's just say that we want to keep this between ourselves. We're going to be researching any possible side effects of Willow's spell to turn the potentials into Slayers."

Willow was impressed. Normally Xander couldn't get away with telling any fibs, you could read it too easily in his face. 'He must really be serious about this' thought Willow.

"Yes, I see. I realise that you would want this kept quiet for the moment." said Wesley as he beckoned Willow and Xander forward and explained how to use the source books he had on his desk.

A couple of hours later and they had searched through several hundred years of Watcher Diaries, as well as other historical volumes containing tales of the Slayer through history. Not once was there any reference to a male slayer, or anything resembling a male slayer. Willow looked up and was about to suggest that they take a break, but looking over at Xander made her think twice. He was still ploughing through the 1500's Watcher Diaries (in English) and the concentration etched on his face made Willow bite her tongue and get back to her own research.

Later still and Willow heard a "hmmm" from Xander as he read through another medieval tome called forth via the source book.

"Xan? Have you found something?" asked Willow.

Xander handed over his book. "Have a read of this Will and tell me what you think" asked Xander.

Xander waited patiently while Willow read and then re-read the relevant passages. Finally she looked up at him with surprise and said "Geez, who would have thought huh?"

"Yeah, pretty freaky stuff. What does it mean for me though?" asked Xander.

"Well at least it means the Slayer essence can exist in a male body. That's definitely a start" replied Willow. "But this girl was already a Slayer when she was turned into a man. We still need more info."

"Then more info we shall find" said Xander with gusto.

It was late at night when Xander finally looked up again and said "We'll have to continue this tomorrow. Buffy and the others will be back from the concert soon, and I don't want to raise any suspicion just yet." said Xander.

"What are you going to do tomorrow, Xander. Send everyone to Disneyland?"

Xander smiled conspiratorially. "Leave that to me" and picked up the phone.

The Next Day

Willow woke from a deep sleep to find Kennedy had snuggled up next to her without her even realising. "Morning sleepyhead" said Kennedy, her eyes sparkling with amusement at Willow's early morning confusion.

Down in the kitchen, Buffy, Dawn and Xander were eating breakfast. Xander took a spoonful of cereal and turned to Buffy, "Hw wth the cnct Bffy?"

"Huh? Xander do you have to talk with your mouth full?" asked Buffy in her mothering voice.

Xander swallowed and replied "Yep, sorry. It's part of my early morning charm" at which Dawn tried to stifle a giggle but failed, and received the Buffy glare as if to say 'don't encourage him'.

"I asked how was the concert?"

"Oh is that what the mwf mwf mwf was?" said Buffy smiling but shaking her head. "It was awesome. She has so much energy, she could be a slayer. Or maybe a singing demon like the one you summoned, but female" continued Buffy, seeing Xander cringe.

"Yeah, plus with all the hot dancers" said Dawn.

Dawn, looking at the surprised look on Xander's face, asked "What?"

"You thought the dancers were hot?" asked Xander

"Yeah, sure. Some of them were too skinny, but there was a really toned black guy and he had.."

"Oh I get it!" said Xander. "She had male dancers this time."

It took a second before Dawn realised what Xander had been thinking. "You thought I was into females?"

"Well Dawnie last time she toured she only had female dancers. And then I started thinking if you were into girls and perhaps you wanted to invite a few friends over and..."

"And if you finish that sentence Xander Harris I'm going to slay you" said Buffy only half seriously, while Dawn swatted Xander on the arm while on the way out of the kitchen.

Dawn turned and waited until Xander had taken another mouthful of cereal before she spoke. "If I was into girls, do you think I'd let you watch?" said Dawn in a tease as Xander spat his food all over the kitchen table.

"Ohh gross!" said Buffy before she started laughing.

Xander turned to Buffy with a pleading look "That's just not fair and you know it!"

While he got a rag to clean the table, Xander recalled his conversation with Giles the previous night...

"Hello"
"Giles, it's Xander"
"Xander, is there a problem?"
"No, but Willow and I are just researching that spell she did to activate the Slayers. Making sure that there aren't going to be any side effects later on"
"That's an excellent idea"
"Well thank Willow, it was her idea, I just thought I would let you know what we are up to"
"Good, have you come across anything of note yet?"
"Nope, but we will be continuing tomorrow, so I'll let you know if we find anything"
"Excellent. Tell Willow well done. Bye-bye"
"Bye Giles"

As he was wiping down the table, Xander turned to Buffy "Buff, Giles has asked Willow and me to research the after effects of the spell Willow did. Are you busy today or can you help?" asked Xander in an innocent voice.

"Oh geez Xand, I'm sorry. I need to, uh, well Dawnie and I have absolutely NO clothes, and so we'll need to go shopping today to get that sorted, and also...."

Xander put a hand on her shoulder. "It's ok Buff. Willow and I have got it covered" said Xander with a smile.

Just then Willow came into the kitchen and was taken aback as Buffy quickly made her excuses and left in a hurry.

Willow turned to Xander "What was that all about?"

"Oh nothing, I just invited Buffy to our research party. She made some lame excuse about having no clothes and she won't be seen for the rest of the day."

"Xander I'm surprised, you really are a man of many talents" said Willow with a grin.

Later the same day - Wolfram and Hart

Xander looked up "Anything yet Will?"

"Nope" said Willow, and closed her book. She looked over at Xander and asked "Xander, are you really, really serious about this? I mean have you thought through the pro's and con's. This could turn you into a demon magnet." Willow, looking at Xander's face, continued "Alright, stupid analogy. You already are a demon magnet."

"I've decided I'll do the spell for you" said Willow.

"You have?"

"I've seen you researching for almost two full days without a break. That's enough to give me a major wiggins by itself."

"Thanks Will, for agreeing to do the spell, not for the wiggins. So, now we just need to work out how to actually do it."

"Pffft. I knew that five minutes after you first mentioned this. It shouldn't be hard at all. I just wanted to make sure you were serious about this" said Willow with a straight face. "There is one complication though"

Xander, not liking the sound of that, asked the question anyway "And that is?"

"Well because you don't have the potential inside you to be a slayer, you'll need to 'borrow' it from a current slayer or potential" answered Willow.

"and in English that means what, Will?"

"It means you'll have to have sex with a slayer"