Prophecies Suck II – All Or Nothing

Chapter Two - Family Reunion

Xander watched Angel and the others for a moment, keeping himself out of phase to ensure he isn't spotted, waiting for them all to be present before he made himself known to them. In particular, he was waiting on his ex-girlfriend Cordelia to make an appearance.

There had been another reason he had decided to got to Los Angeles first instead of Sunnydale, and it was to do with the visions Cordelia was receiving from his colleagues, and Jasmine in particular before she went off in a huff, were slowly killing her.

Humans weren't meant to get the visions that she did, as the human mind was not wired correctly to receive them, and the trauma that they cause on her mind each time one is sent to her is cumulative, and over time it would cause permanent and fatal brain damage. Xander would not allow that to happen if he could help it, but convincing Cordelia to let him help would not be the easiest thing in the world, but compared to some of the other things he would have to achieve in the coming days and weeks it would be a breeze.

He continued to observe the gang for a while longer until they were all present in the Hyperion lobby, and then materialized in front of them all. Given everything, Xander couldn't help but have a little fun at their expense.

"Hi guys, I'm back!" he greeted them cheerfully, making it look as though he'd just gone to the shops instead of the great beyond. Six shocked and bewildered faces greeted him in return, the deafening silence after his announcement making Xander kick himself for not bringing a camera.

Angel was the first who managed to get his power of speech back, mainly because he'd had more experience in dealing with the unexpected than most. "Xander?" he asked, still unsure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

Xander performed a very theatrical bow to the Fang Gang, hamming it up to the extreme. "Yes Angel, Alexander Lavelle Harris at your service," he replied, finding that he couldn't stop himself from grimacing at the mention of his middle name, even if he were the one to say it.

Cordelia was the only one to have noticed, and started to believe that it really was him, knowing all about the revulsion he had for his middle name, as she would use it whenever he had gotten particularly annoying. Not even the best impersonators in the world could have gotten that right, and that small action served to calm her down somewhat.

Angel was less trusting than his friend, although given what had happened the last time someone from his past came back from the dead it wasn't all that surprising, and looked to Gunn and Wesley, who in an unspoken agreement moved toward the weapons cabinet.

Seeing this, Xander put his hands up in a placating gesture in an effort to calm them down and not do something foolish. He had no intention of harming them, but if they came at them he couldn't be assured of their safety when he defended himself.

"Hey now," he said warily, more for show than anything else, as even before his death nothing they could have thrown at him would have done anything, "before you go and start grabbing the weaponry and go all 'kill first, ask questions never', I'm not here to harm anyone. I'm still me, the Xander you knew before, I'm still a good guy."

"How?" Cordelia managed to ask, her mind finally working enough for speech, although it hadn't come out as articulate as she would have liked.

"How am I here or how am I still a good guy?" he asked in return, milking the situation for all it was worth.

"Both Dweeb Boy," she snapped, her annoyance overriding her shock.

Instead of getting wound up by the insult, Xander actually smiled warmly at his former girlfriend and verbal sparring partner. "You have no idea how much I missed that," he told her happily, "while Michael and Peter have a wicked sense of humour, nothing quite beats a genuine 100 Queen C insult.

Cordelia preened for a moment before remembering what they were talking about. "Stop stalling and answer the questions."

"To answer your eloquently phrased questions, it seems that even when I die I don't get to relax and I'm here to help you out."

Faith by now had gotten over her initial shock of the re-emergence of the original Slayerette and stepped protectively in front of the others, getting right up in Xander's face in true Chosen One style. "How do we know that you're telling us the truth and not just here to try and kill us?"

"What is it with Slayers and their suspicious minds?" he asked rhetorically with a sigh. "Faith, with all due respect, if I wanted you dead, you would be."

Faith snorted in a very unladylike manner. "And what could you do?" she retorted, her tone indicating she didn't think much of him as a fighter. "You weren't all that hot before you bought the big one, and I doubt you got better after you died." Faith was surprised when everyone but her and Fred burst into laughter, and it took several moments for them to calm down. "What's so funny?" she asked/demanded, never liking it when she wasn't in the loop about something.

"You know you keep asking us who took Wolfram & Hart out of commission a while back?" Gunn asked in reply, seemingly at random.

"Yeah, and you always dodge the answer, what's that got to do with it?"

Xander answered her question before anyone else could. "I was the one that took them out Faith. I was the one that anchored Angel's soul, and I was also the one that took out the big bad in Sunnydale last year, who if you hadn't heard was a Hell Goddess no less. So I died in the process, but the bitch died first so it still counts damn it."

"Even if all that's true, it still doesn't mean you're on our side now," Faith retorted.

"I could probably talk until I'm blue in the face and not make a difference, but if Cordy takes the time to look," he said, causing the woman in question to do just that, "she can confirm just how on the side of light I am."

After making that statement, Xander stood there calmly and waited for Cordelia to see what he wanted her to. After a few seconds, a shocked and awed expression appeared on her face for the second time in a few minutes.

"He's telling the truth guys," she told them, her voice taking on an almost reverential tone.

"How can you tell Cor?" Angel enquired, a split second before Wesley who shot him an irritated look.

"It seems that my visions allow me to sense good guys," she explained to the gang, "and Xander is definitely one of them. He's one of the Powers That Be! They're the ones that send me the visions in the first place!"

"You're absolutely right Cor," Xander said, smiling once more now he could see the others backing down, "I got signed up not long after I died. To cut a long story short, The Creator decided to put me in charge of cleaning house up there."

Finding out that their friend/comrade in arms was now basically Angel's boss made the gang lapse into shocked silence once more time. This time it was Wesley that came round first, his intellectual curiosity overcoming his shock.

"I thought that the PTB didn't recruit, that they simply were?" he enquired, having never heard of someone being recruited as a Power in all of his research.

"Between having more power than most beings that take the up elevator," Xander began to explain, "and some other things that I won't go into right now, The Creator decided it was the least She could do."

"Why are you here? That's not to say we don't want you here," Wesley quickly added, realising that slighting one of the Powers would not be wise for ones prolonged existence, "it's just that normally Cordelia would just get a vision if the Powers wanted us to prevent something."

"You're right, normally you would," Xander agreed. "The problem is this particular situation calls for a more… hands on approach I'm afraid."

"I may be new to this but that doesn't sound good," Fred, who before then had remained silent, which wasn't all that unusual, commented.

Xander smiled sadly at her. "It never is but you'll get used to it, eventually." his face lost the smile and gained a grim expression. "I'm afraid to say that there's another prophecy."

As soon as he said prophecy, Faith started pacing and throwing her arms around. "Uh-uh, I don't want to be a part of no freaking prophecy! You can keep me out of it."

"Hey," he snapped, some of his anger over the whole situation rearing its head, "I don't like this anymore than you do Faith; don't forget that the last prophesy I was in cost me my life. Do you really think I like not being with the woman I love and all of my friends? Do you think I liked feeling my life slip away, not knowing where I'd end up for the rest of eternity?"

"Doesn't seem like you did badly out of it, becoming a Power and all," she commented, her voice far more subdued than before.

"Oh yeah, death is such a wonderful experience, I wish I could do it every year," he replied sarcastically. "Of course you benefited from my demise though; you would still be in prison if I hadn't convinced the others to give you another chance."

Faith didn't seem to like the thought that she was helped with her early release. She went right up to him and started poking him in the chest with her finger following each word. "I got out all by myself! I didn't need any help from anyone!"

Xander grabbed her hand and she's shocked to find that she was unable to get out of his grasp. "You got out because you made the right choice Faith, plain and simple. If you hadn't protected those guards during that riot, your powers would have been stripped and you would have spent the rest of your life behind bars. Yes, you got out by yourself, but only because I gave you the opportunity to prove you deserved it."

Xander released Faith's arm and she took a few steps back. She was silent for a couple of seconds and when she did speak it was barely above a whisper.

"You did that?"

"I arranged for the prison riot, yes," he told her, his own voice softening. "I needed to prove to the others that you had turned over a new leaf and was ready to get back in the game. I stuck my neck out for you; I'm glad my 'faith' was justified."

Cordelia groaned at Xander's attempt at a joke. "Your jokes haven't got any better."

"You can't improve on perfection Cor," he retorted. "By the way, as I'm down here, I thought I would help sort out your vision problem."

"What vision problem, I can see fine," she said in confusion.

Xander rolled his eyes. "Your 'other' vision problem Cor. Every time you get a vision from one of us you get a rather bad headache don't you?"

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know," she said snarkily.

"They're killing you," he told her bluntly, knowing that nothing less would do.

"What!" the whole gang screamed, making Xander thankful he was dead.

The entire Fang Gang were now aiming death glares right at him. If those stares were lasers he would be a pile of one-inch cubes now. "Hey now, don't shoot the messenger! I did just say I was going to fix it didn't I?" Xander ignored the rest of the group and focussed his attention on Cordelia. "Humans don't have the physiology to have the types of visions you are getting; every time that you have received on, it has caused brain damage. If you continue to get them as you are, eventually the damage will be irreversible." He could see Cordelia about to ask a question and got in there before she had a chance. "Doyle got the headaches but not the brain damage as he was half demon."

"How can you help?" Cordelia asked immediately.

"That depends. You have a choice to make; I can either remove them or make them painless."

"What's the catch?" she asked immediately.

"Always straight to the point," he said fondly, "that's what I like about you Cordy. Well that and the thing you did with your tongue…"

"Xander!" she squealed, flushing slightly.

"Sorry," he told her, his tone indicating he wasn't sorry in the slightest. "To make sure the visions cause you no further pain, I'll have to make you less human."

"You want me to be part demon like Doyle!" she screeched.

"Have you forgotten who I work for now? Do you really think that She would make you part demon? If we did make you part demon," he explained, "you would still get the headaches as Doyle did, because you would be getting them from the other side so to speak. You would actually become part 'higher being'. It would just be enough to stop the pain, although there would be a couple of other advantages as well. Before you ask, no one but the Creator knows what they'll be, and She's not telling. This sort of thing has never been offered before, and if I hadn't been up there, it wouldn't have been and you'd have been given a different choice and not enjoyed the consequences of either one."

"What if I choose to have them removed?" she asked.

"I'd remove them, no questions asked," he told her simply. "The downside would be that there wouldn't be a replacement, which means that Angel would lose his link to us and have to do things the old fashioned way. The choice is ultimately yours; I won't try to sway you in any way, not that I could if I tried," he added wryly, "and whatever you do decide I'll support you on it 100"

Cordelia paused to think for a moment before saying anything. "How long are you here for? It's not that I'm unhappy to see you; I just want to know how long I have to decide. I'm not sure how many more of these headaches I can handle."

"Don't worry about the headaches," he told her, "as you won't be getting any more visions until you decide. Anyway, why would you get visions telling you what the Powers want you to do, when there's one three feet away from you? By the way, do you realise that you're the first one who has actually said they're happy to see me?" he told her, having the nerve to pout a little.

"Of course we're happy to see you man," Gunn told him quickly, finally stepping closer, "it's just that we never expected to again." Once he was close enough, the two performed an overly intricate handshake.

"Hey, I understand completely Gunn," he assured him, "it must have been a shock to the system. In answer to your other question Cor," he said, turning to her, "how long I'm here depends on how long it takes to stop the bad guys from destroying the world and invading the celestial plane."

Once more shocked faces greet him. It was actually starting to annoy him a bit, given that this wasn't exactly their first encounter with apocalypse level news.

"You are joking?" Wesley asked hopefully.

Xander sighed. "I only wish I were Wes. That's what the prophecy I mentioned earlier is about, and once again I'm smack dab in the middle of it. Have I told you all how much I hate prophecies?"

"Well shit," Gunn said succinctly, "they really like to screw with you don't they? I mean I haven't known you long, but you've already been shafted twice."

"You have no idea Gunn, and it's three times as far as I'm concerned." He could see that both Cordelia and Wesley wanted to ask more, so he put a hand up to stop them. "I know you all have questions, and I'll answer as many as I can, but I really need to talk to Angel for a couple of minutes first." He turned to the man in question. "Can we use your office?"

Angel looked at Xander for a moment before nodding. "Sure, follow me."

Angel and Xander headed off to his office, Xander ensuring to shut the door behind them and put up a quick silence spell to ensure that nobody, namely one Miss Chase, could listen in.

"What's wrong Xander?" Angel asked once they were inside.

"Nothing beyond what I already told you," he assured the former cursed champion, although given what he had told them wasn't very comforting, "I just wanted to thank you for taking care of Buffy and the other after I died."

"There's no thanks necessary Xander," Angel told him with a dismissive wave of his hand, "I was pleased to help out."

"I know, but I wanted to say it anyway. There's something else I need to tell you, but I don't know how to bring it up."

"Just tell me."

"Okay, but I doubt you'll be happy about," Xander warned. Knowing that it would be best to just bite the bullet, he once again went for brutal honesty. "The Shansu prophecy has already been fulfilled; you rejected it."

"What are you on about?" he asked, confused.

"You remember when you faced that Mohra Demon and you became human?"

Angel nodded. "Yeah, although I'm surprised you do."

"I reviewed everything that had happened to you when I got up there, including things that had been reversed. Anyway, after you became human, you went to the Oracles and asked them to change you back."

"I did that because I couldn't protect Buffy as a human, but the prophecy talks about me stopping an apocalypse. How can that have anything to do with the prophecy?"

"Although it wasn't due to an averted apocalypse," Xander explained, "you hadn't long before been part of stopping Wilkins 'ascension', and add to that the fact that you had been given your humanity, the PTB decided that the prophecy had been fulfilled."

As soon as the implications sunk in, Angel began to throw things around the office in a rage, Xander managing to dodge whatever came his way. He did nothing to stop him, as Xander knew he would feel similarly if the roles were reversed. When Gunn and Wesley came in to see what was wrong, Xander simply gestured that everything was fine and they left, albeit reluctantly.

"I'm sorry Angel," Xander told him sincerely. "The other Powers didn't actually want me to tell you, as they thought that you would stop fighting the good fight if you knew."

"And you don't?"

Xander shrugged. "I just felt you deserved to know; what you decide to do now is completely up to you. But to answer your question, I didn't think you were fighting for your humanity anyway. You fight because it's the right thing to do, at least now anyway," he couldn't help but add, remembering the less than willing participant Angel had been when he first arrived in Sunnydale, "and getting your humanity was always just a bonus, a big bonus I admit, but a bonus nonetheless. Anyway, with the spell I used to anchor your soul, in a few decades you'll be able to do everything that a human can, more or less, without losing your strength and speed, which was the reason you became a vampire again in the first place."

That managed to calm Angel down, and he dropped heavily into his, relatively untouched, chair. "I just hate that they, you, manipulate everyone so much."

"If I were one of them I wouldn't be down here fixing their problems," Xander retorted, taking offence to that. "Believe me when I tell you that I have no intention of playing to their tune, and as I've been put in charge there's nothing they can do about it anyway."

"You're not the average Power are you?"

"I think they're beginning to see that," Xander replied with a smile, knowing that a lot of his plans were not popular with his colleagues, "but I think that's part of the reason She did it. Of course the main reason I got this job is because I got screwed over by them as well."

"What do you mean?"

Xander's shoulders slumped and he leant against the, now broken, desk. A feeling of sadness was coming off him in waves as he remembered what they told him. "One of the first things they told me when I arrived was that I was capable of killing Glory without needing the Sword of Avalon. I didn't need to die, but because of that prophecy I didn't consider anything else. The Powers created the prophecy to remove me from the playing field, as I was messing too much with their plans. I should have realised it myself when I was able to cut Glory with the sword before it was activated, but by that point I had resigned myself to the fact that I had to die."

"That's what you meant by being screwed over three times," Angel realised. "I'm surprised you're helping them."

"I'm not helping them, I'm helping you. Anyway, if the world goes, Buffy goes with it; I died hoping she'd get to live a long and happy life, and I'm going to make sure that happens if I have to die a thousand times over to accomplish it."

Angel said nothing, he simply nodded in understanding. He then realised that Xander was there in LA rather than in Sunnydale.

"That being said, why is it that you came here first?" he asked. "I would have thought she would have been the first person you'd want to see."

Xander nodded in agreement, but Angel could tell that something was troubling him. "Believe me she is, but I'm not sure how she is going to cope with me being back, only to leave again one way or the other soon after. Another reason is that I'm not sure if I'll be able to leave again if I see her too soon."

"I understand," Angel told him, and for once Xander knew it was the truth. If there was one thing they always had in common, it was Buffy. "This prophecy you're here about, does it go into any details?"

"I tell you it's the vaguest prophecy I've ever read," Xander said in annoyance, "and I've read a fair few; 'The creature of darkness that becomes a Power for light will become the catalyst for a war to end all wars. He must team with the Champions of Earth to combat the forces of darkness that threaten the world and the Celestial plane.' Have I mentioned how much I hate prophecies?"

"Gunn is right; they really do like to screw with you don't they? I guess that both Faith and I are 'Champions of Earth'?" Angel enquired, already knowing the answer.

"So are Buffy and the others in Sunnydale. There are actually quite a few around the world, which makes a lot of sense if you think about it, and I'm going to have to get them all together before we can begin getting ready. Luckily I'm still the owner of Savox Industries, so getting them all here won't be too difficult."

"Why don't you just summon them here magically?"

"If I were still a demon I probably would," Xander admitted, "but doing so as a Power would raise alarms with the bad guys, not to mention that I need for them to join up willingly; whisking them away from their homes without warning or permission wouldn't exactly be the best first impression I could make. Either way there is a need to be careful; we don't want to show our hand until we have to and, the other side already have the advantage."

"Getting back on topic," Angel said quickly as he realised something, "I don't think you can delay seeing Buffy and the others Xander. Ten will give you twenty Cordy is already ringing them and telling them you're here."

The moment Angel said that, Cordelia barged into the room and stood right in front of Xander, not looking the least bit happy.

"What's up Cor?" Xander asked, fearing the answer.

"Why didn't you tell us you hadn't contacted Buffy?" she demanded angrily.

"I haven't been on earth for very long," he replied feebly, the words sounding hollow to his own ears, "I've been pretty busy."

"That's no excuse!" she snapped at him. "Buffy and the others are on their way and they're pissed!"

"That's just great," he sighed, "all I need is a Buffy bomb to deal with. I'm guessing that there'll be a Willow bomb and a Dawn bomb as well. I guess I don't need that ride Angel," he told the former vampire with a soul, "but I'll still need backup so I can try to explain before they try to rip me to pieces."

"You need it you got it," Angel told him immediately.

"Thanks," he responded gratefully.

"You better give me those 'higher being' powers before they get here then," Cordelia said to Xander, "in case you're incapable of doing it afterwards."

"So you've decided to keep the visions then?"

"They're kind of my thing," she replied with a shrug, although Xander could tell they meant a whole lot more to her than that, "and they help us help others. I would be selfish to ask for them to be removed."

Xander walked over and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "No one would think differently if you did Cor, and if they did they'd answer to me. You weren't given a choice about receiving the visions, but you do have a choice about keeping them."

Cordelia smiled gratefully before responding. "I've made my choice, I want to keep them."

"OK then it'll only take about a minute to fix. You ready?"

Once he saw Cordelia nod in readiness, Xander reached out and laid his hands against her temples. After a moment, a soft white glow began to emanate from his hands and then transfer over to Cordelia, whose head and then body became enveloped by the glow. After a few seconds the glow pulsed brightly and then dissipated, and Xander stepped away.

"All done," he informed the pair with a smile before turning his attention to Cordelia. "To make sure that it's worked, I'm going to send you a vision," he told her. Although he knew that it had been successful, Xander knew that she would worry unless he proved it to her.

"I'm ready," she told him immediately, already feeling better than she had in a while, with no sign of a headache.

Xander nodded and immediately sent her a memory of them in a broom closet together during High School. It was the only thing he could think of at short notice, that and the fact he wanted to annoy her a little. Once the vision was over she slapped him on the arm, although he could see she was slightly flushed, which probably meant that she didn't just see what happened, she felt it as well.

"Hey you perv!" she scolded him, but with little to no heat to her voice.

"I never said it would be an important vision," he told her with a grin. "Did it hurt?" he asked seriously.

"Not physically," she replied, looking at him gratefully for a moment before the scowl came back, "but the mental scars will be there for a long time."

"What did he send you?" Angel asked, his tone suspicious.

Both Xander and Cordelia could see the barely hidden jealousy showing on Angel's face and hid smiles. Cordelia decided that telling him exactly what the vision was of would only makes things worse, so she just gave him the basics.

"Just a memory of High School," she told him dismissively before turning her attention back to Xander. "Thank you for fixing the visions," she said gratefully.

"I'm glad I could help," he replied. "When we have time I'll help you work out what your other powers are, but I have hurricane Buffy to deal with first. I'm guessing that Buffy will be driving, so they'll be here in about 90 minutes, major road accidents not withstanding."

"Why don't we go back into the lobby and I'll introduce you to Fred," Cordelia suggested, "and then we'll think of something to keep you relatively intact when Buffy gets here."

Not having anything better to do, and feeling bad for not introducing himself earlier, Xander nodded in agreement and the trio left Angel's office and joined the others in the lobby. Cordelia then steered him to the shy looking brunette, whose demeanour reminded him a low of Willow before she got into magic.

"Xander Harris I would like to introduce you to Winifred Burkle, Winifred Burkle I would like you to meet Xander Harris."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Fred greeted him shyly, her head dipping a little which caused her hair to fall in front of her face.

Xander leant down and kissed the back of her hand, causing Fred to blush wildly. Neither Wesley nor Gunn seemed to be too happy with her response, and began watching the pair like hawks.

"The pleasure is all mine, I assure you," Xander told her, cranking up the charm, "I've seen what an asset you'll be."

"So you're one of the Powers That Be?" she asked unnecessarily.

"Guilty as charged milady," he replied with a little bow.

She blushed a little more at the comment and now both Wesley and Gunn were giving Xander death glares, their jealousy plain on their faces.

"What's it like?"

"I don't feel that different to before, except for the whole being dead thing of course," he responded with a shrug. "I always did my best to look after the ones I care about, and this allows me to do it more effectively."

"Don't you ever think of yourself?"

"Of course I do, but primarily my happiness comes from knowing that the people I love are happy. You'll be glad to hear that you now fit into that category."

The blush deepened on Fred's face at his words. The death glares coming from Wesley and Gunn intensified to match.

"You love me?" she asked, her eyes wide.

Xander finally caught the glares that he was receiving from both of Fred's would be suitors, and realised that he needed to tone down the charm a little and to reassure the pair that there was only one woman he would ever, could ever, feel that way towards.

"Not in the way you think I mean," he told her seriously, his eyes flicking over to the two men, "Buffy is the only woman that I am in love with. You are, however, a part of the family as far as I'm concerned. I saw how you helped everyone out in Sunnydale when you were all there, and I can never thank you enough for that. I can also see that you are a good person, and that Angel and the others like you. Even Faith likes you," he added with a grin, "and that is a difficult thing to achieve."

Faith came over and slapped the back of his head for the comment, and had to shake her hand out a little afterwards.

"I heard that!" she snapped.

"And?"

"Just saying is all," she grumbled.

Xander sighed as he noticed that she had taken his comment to heart. "You know I meant nothing by it Faith, it's just that you've never been one for letting people in. It's good to see that you've changed your opinion on that."

"Well I had a lot of time to think in the joint, and I realised that I needed to trust people more. You helped me start on that road by the way; you were the only one in the Dale that tried to be friends with me just because you wanted to. Sorry for trying to kill you by the way," she added quickly, having always found apologising for the things she'd done difficult.

"Don't worry about it, you wouldn't have been able to anyway," he told her.

"And why is that?"

"Because before I died I was a pureblood Savox demon," he replied, pretty much expecting what her reaction would be.

"What!" she shouted.

"I said, before I died I was a pureblood Savox demon," he repeated.

"You've got to be flipping kidding me! I slept with a demon?"

"Could you say that with a little less disgust in your voice please?" Xander said, his tone hardening a little. "I actually enjoyed myself that night," he confessed, although to Faith that wasn't much of a confession, "apart from when you kicked me out of your room before I even had a chance to get dressed of course."

"I just cannot believe that you were a demon," Faith said with a shake of her head, as though she hadn't heard a word he'd said.

Angel decided to step in to the conversation, thinking that she would accept it faster if he corroborated Xander's story.

"He's telling you the truth Faith, and it was just as much of a surprise to all of us I assure you. By the way I've just ordered some food; it should be here in twenty minutes."

"How come you kept it quiet Xand?" she asked him, ignoring Angel's comment about food even though the growl in her stomach told everyone she heard him.

"The reasons I kept it a secret are many and varied," he told her, not really wanting to get into all of that again, "but that doesn't really matter anymore seeing as I'm dead now."

The tone in Xander's voice made it clear that that part of the conversation was closed, something that was understood by everyone. Even if they hadn't understood, there was no chance they wanted to piss off one of the Powers by continuing.

"I get that you don't want to get into it and your right, it doesn't really matter now anymore. Hey I was thinking," Faith said as she realised something, "if you could have gotten away from me any time you wanted, why didn't you?"

"I knew that you were living on a knife edge and needed help," he began to explain. "If you were going to let rip on someone I was the safest choice, being practically indestructible and all, so I came to confront you. I was hoping that I would get through to you before you went too far."

"You were starting to get through to me near the end," she confessed. "I'm not sure which way I was gonna go, Angel came in just before I made my decision. I'd like to think I wasn't going to go through with it but I'm honestly unsure."

"It was probably a good thing he turned up when he did really. If you hadn't have stopped yourself I would have hated killing you, seeing as you were my first and all."

Hearing that, Faith's, and everyone else's, eyes nearly popped out of their heads. It took several seconds before she was even able to speak again.

"You telling me that you would have killed me?"

Xander looked at the ground for several seconds before he lifted his head and looked Faith in the eyes and responded. "Yes, Faith, I would have killed you. Believe me when I tell you it would have been one of the hardest things I would have had to do, but there was no way that I would have let you live if I thought you were going to be a danger to Buffy and the others." He turned away from her and the others and closed his eyes. "I made that mistake once in my life; I wasn't going to do it again."

Everyone could hear the pain in his voice as he talked, which was a far cry from the Xander that always had a hint of humour in his voice no matter the circumstances. Momentarily forgetting that he just told her he had been willing to kill her, Faith gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"What are you on about X?"

Xander was unable to speak, his throat becoming tight. It was almost as though his body was fighting his mind over whether to explain or not. He knew that most of them had to have guessed what it was about, but they had never spoken it aloud and they didn't feel right doing so now. The only person that truly understood what Xander was on about, who had his own demons, pardon the pun, to fight concerning that time, decided to say it for him.

"He's talking about me," Angel told her and the rest of the group. "Xander could have killed me at any time when I lost my soul, but he didn't."

"Why didn't you?" Faith asked, not in a demanding way like he had expected, but in a purely curious tone that enabled him to answer.

"I knew that if I did, Buffy would never have talked to me again, and that was something that I wouldn't have been able to live with," he replied. "It still isn't, but if I had the decision to make again, I would choose differently; my happiness isn't worth the pain everyone went through."

Xander noticed the guilt that flowed over Angel's face as he remembered that time in his life, and went over to him. "I'm sorry I brought it up Angel," he told him regretfully. "We all know that you weren't responsible for the things that happened, Angelus was, and he's gone now and won't ever be coming back. If anything I'm the one responsible…"

"If I'm not responsible then neither are you," Angel retorted firmly, cutting in before Xander could get on a roll, "but we both know that saying it and believing it are two very different things. I may not have had any control over what happened, but I still have all of the memories of what Angelus did, not to mention how he felt. I still can't look Giles in the eye, and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to."

Faith was watching the two of them interact and got a confused look on her face. "How come you're all buddy buddy?" she asked the pair. "Last time I saw you two together, you hated being in the same continent, let alone trying to console each other."

"We cleared the air on a lot of things the last time I was here," Xander explained. "We just had no reason to keep hating each other anymore."

"He doesn't even call me DeadBoy anymore," Angel went on with a little smile, "I never thought I'd say this but I kind of miss it. Anyway, it was Xander who anchored my soul and killed the demon inside, so it was pretty difficult to keep hating him after that."

"It's a little redundant me calling you DeadBoy now don't you think, seeing as I'm no longer among the living myself," Xander pointed out.

"Hold up, did you just say that Xander anchored your soul?" Faith asked, forgetting that Xander had already said that. "I never thought you were good with the magic?"

"That was what I needed everyone to believe. In actual fact I am quite adept at magic, although most of my skills aren't actually my own, but are inherited from my family."

"Why did you do it?" she asked, meaning anchoring Angel's soul.

"I wanted to ensure that Angelus never got out again," he told her, and given what he'd just said that made a lot of sense to the dark haired Slayer, "and I thought that Angel deserved to have a little happiness as well. I had also made a promise to Angelus that when he died I would be there, and I was."

"You've got some sort of White Knight complex haven't you?"

Xander and Angel looked at each other and shared a small smile.

"You wouldn't be the first to say that."

Fred decided that this would be a perfect chance to get on to a less depressing topic, and re-entered the conversation. "Xander, what is 'He' like?"

"I'm afraid that we have to sign a non-disclosure contract when we get up there," he told her tongue in cheek. In actual fact there was no ruling about describing exactly what The Creator was like, but to try and explain it to someone who was still alive would be futile, so those that come down to Earth prefer not to try at all. "No one gets to know until they should know," he went on, "unless 'She' decides to grace us with a visit of course."

"Does 'She' do that often?"

"Only when the urge to play Skee-Ball is too great," he replied with a shrug, remembering what he had been told about Her last trip.

"What?"

Xander waved his hand dismissively. "Nothing, don't worry about it."

"I don't know about you," Faith said as she became more animated, bouncing on the soles of her feet, "but all this heart to heart bullshit gives me the need to fight something. Feel up to a bit of sparring Boytoy?" she asked with a smirk.

"It might be a good idea," he replied with a smirk of his own, "it's been a few months since the last time I kicked a Slayer's ass, and it might as well be yours than anyone else's."

"Just so you know I won't be holding back," she warned, still not truly understanding how capable Xander was.

"You shouldn't," he told her seriously, "I could take Buffy down in two seconds flat."

"I don't want to know about your kinky ways BoyToy."

"Do you ever bring your mind out of the gutter?" he asked with a smile, thinking that he'd probably say something similar.

"Do you ever stop smelling like one?"

Before she knew what was happening, Faith found herself flying through the air. Just as she prepared to land, she suddenly found herself in Xander's arms, who looked down at her with a shit eating grin on his face.

"Have a nice flight?"

He dropped her to the floor and then backed away a few paces, taking up a simple fighting stance.

The grin on his face really pissed Faith off, and she began to lose her cool. "Man, am I going to enjoy kicking your ass!" she yelled.

Faith had barely finished her sentence when she charged at Xander full tilt, hoping to catch him by surprise. The surprise was hers when he sidestepped her with ease, barely even looking in her direction.

"I see the joint has made you rusty," Xander goaded, knowing all the right buttons to push.

Faith growled low in her throat and charged him again. This time Xander didn't even bother to move and allowed her to hit him with a thunderous right hand, which caught him square in the jaw. If Xander had been anyone else he probably would have been writhing on the floor in pain, but the only pain that was being felt was by Faith, who was shaking her hand.

"Shit Xand, are you made of granite or something?" she asked incredulously, having never impacted against as solid as that before.

"No, although I'm not entirely sure I'm flesh and blood either," he admitted with a slight frown of confusion. "Don't forget that I'm dead."

As Faith approached him again, this time more slowly, she suddenly got a gleam in her eyes and at that moment Xander could tell exactly what she was going to do. When she got within striking distance, she sent her foot up with terrifying speed between his legs, her intention to get him in the one place that no man could withstand, but as he foot was about to make contact, Xander's body suddenly became translucent, and her foot went straight through him. The momentum of her kick overbalanced her, and Faith fell to the floor in a heap.

"How did you do that?" she asked in surprise and embarrassment, having never been shown up quite so spectacularly in a fight before.

"I'm one of the Powers That Be, Faith," he told her smugly, "we can do just about anything, unless 'She' decides otherwise. Even before I was dead that wouldn't have affected me, as Buffy tried something similar. So," he went on after a moment as he helped her get up, "you still have an urge to kill something?"

"Yeah actually," she replied, eyeing him warily, "but I think I'll just do a late patrol after eating; there's less chance of getting permanent damage that way."

"The only thing I would have damaged was your pride," he told her honestly, not wanting her to think he would have harmed her, "because as a rule I don't beat up friends. What just happened, a good lesson to learn though Faith; never underestimate your opponent, as that's the quickest way to an early grave in this gig, and you don't always get a second chance to realise that."

"I hear you," she replied soberly, knowing that he had indeed taught her a lesson, one she wouldn't soon forget.

She hadn't found many things that could take her in a one on one tussle, and those that could had to fight damn hard to do so, as Buffy would reluctantly attest to. To have someone so easily defeat her, even if it was only a sparring session her pride told her, made her realise that she wasn't unbeatable.

Shaking her mind of those less than cheerful thoughts, she turned her attention to Angel as her stomach growled again, louder this time. "Hey Fang, where's the food?"

As if on cue, the deliveryman with the take out knocked on the hotel doors, where Angel went and paid him while Faith and Fred snatched the food away and started rummaging through the multitude of boxes to see what Angel ordered.

Soon, the whole gang were all getting stuck into the food, Xander and Angel doing so for show, and talked amongst themselves about everything and nothing. The only thing they didn't talk about was the fact that the Sunnydale gang would soon be arriving, headed by an angry Slayer who didn't have the greatest of track records when it came to allowing rational thought to get in the way of hitting something.


Eighty-seven minutes and fifty-six seconds after Cordelia's phone call, Buffy and the others burst into the hotel like a horde of wild animals, which given the looks on a couple of their faces wasn't exactly an inaccurate description. Even a blind man could tell that there was an extremely pissed off slayer in the vicinity, and for once it wasn't Faith.

"Where is he!" Buffy demanded loudly the moment she stalked inside, looking around like a tiger on the hunt, with Xander as the prey.

Xander, along with everyone else in the room, could hear the unmistakable 'I'm going to kick your ass' tone in Buffy's voice that always preceded the aforementioned ass kicking, so he decided to stay hidden in Angel's office for the time being, as he wasn't not ready for a Buffy bomb just yet, which he knew would explode upon sight of him.

Angel decided to take a stab at trying to diffuse the situation, hoping that his former girlfriend wouldn't take a stab at him in return. "Before you start Buffy," he began as he came out of his office, not allowing her time to say anything more, "you need to understand that Xander had only been here a few minutes when Cordelia rang you. He hadn't had a chance to contact you as we were all trying to come to terms with seeing him again ourselves."

Although it was a worthy effort, there was no chance of cooling down the inferno disguised as Buffy Summers just yet, and the words washed over her. "And why did he come here first instead of coming to see me, to see his family? What makes you all more important?"

Annoying Buffy had always been fun for Cordelia, and seeing the jealousy radiating off of her was almost too much to bear, but before she made a rash, but funny as hell, comment, she managed to realise that they needed to calm her down a little so they could start to talk about the coming battle.

"He came to help me with my visions," she said as she too made her way into the lobby, closing the office door behind her. "They were slowly causing me brain damage, as humans weren't meant to have them. He was given permission to make me part 'higher being' to stop the pain, and to reverse the damage already done. You know that Xander can't stand idly by if he can help someone out, and if he hadn't, the visions would have eventually killed me."

Not hearing anything from Buffy for a few seconds, hopefully because she was thinking about what was said, Xander decided that this was as good a time as any to make an appearance. That seemed to have been a mistake, because as soon as she saw him emerge from the office, him she rushed over and hit him in the jaw as hard as she could. The fact she did it with a baseball bat did not go unnoticed by the Fang Gang.

The shock of seeing Buffy left him unprepared for the blow and he stumbled back a couple of steps before falling on his ass. Buffy went to hit him again but was intercepted by Angel and Faith.

"That's enough Buffy," he barked loudly.

"Yeah B, you're acting a little crazed aren't you?"

She ignored both of them and locked eyes with Xander, who had by now got back up and whose head could be seen between Faith and Angel.

"You bastard!" she shouted.

"My parents were married when I was born so you're factually incorrect," he told her seriously, "although they had only been married three days when I was born, but that's beside the point."

Buffy completely ignored Xander's attempt at levity, her anger clouding everything. "You die and leave me to cope on my own, and then when you do return you don't even come and see me!" she cried.

"You weren't on your own," he told her soothingly, "you had all of your friends and family around you. I've only been here a couple of hours and as Cor told you, I came here first to help her with her vision problem. I was going to send a guy called Skip," he babbled on, "but because of a situation that's come up I could do it myself."

"Are you telling me that if it wasn't for this situation," she said, spitting out the word situation as though it had left a foul taste in her mouth, "we would never have seen you again!"

"Not until you joined me in Heaven, no," he admitted softly, the look of sadness in his eyes dousing the flames of her ire. "Both you and Angel had unfinished business, a destiny that was unfulfilled, that's why you both returned, although the CPR and healing spell I administered may have helped you a little bit," he added, putting his thumb and forefinger out an inch apart. "I on the other hand had no such luck. Do you really think it was my choice?" he asked her, his voice rising. "If it had been up to me I would have never left, but that choice was taken from me, just like everything else."

Before Buffy had a chance to respond, Xander came out from behind Faith and Angel and stood in front of her, leaving him open to attack. It looked like Buffy was going to hit him again, but instead she ran up to him and pulled him into a vice-like hug, one that he returned with equal fervour. Both Angel and Faith looked on completely confused.

"I missed you so much," Buffy sobbed against his shirt, "you have no idea how much."

"I know exactly how much, as I felt the same way," he replied, whispering in her ear. "I'm sorry I didn't come to see you first; I wasn't sure how you would take my being here. Cordy was telling you the truth," he went on, "her visions were slowly killing her and I couldn't let that happen."

"Hold up," Faith said, causing the pair to look at her, "one second she's using you for batting practise and now you're all lovey dovey? What gives?"

"I was expecting the violence," he admitted, "in fact I'm surprised she didn't use something sharp like an axe to be honest. She just needed to get the anger out of her system, and nothing does that better than trying to bludgeon the cause of said anger."

That comment earned him a smack on the shoulder from Buffy, but she didn't even try to relinquish her hold of him. "Hey, I'm right here you know!"

Anything else that was going to be said went out the window when Xander and Buffy were nearly knocked over again by two missiles, one redhead and one brunette. They soon joined Buffy in trying to crush him with hugs, not to mention trying to drown him in tears. There was complete silence in the lobby for a couple of minutes, both the Scooby Gang and the Fang Gang watching the four with smiles on their faces.

The silence was finally broken by Willow, who lifted her head to look at her childhood friend. "We thought you were dead!" she wailed before sobbing against him once more.

Xander couldn't help but smirk at that comment, as sometimes even the smartest people could say the stupidest things. "I am dead Wills," he reminded her gently.

"What do you mean you're dead," Dawn hiccuped, her voice smothered by his shirt, "you're right here?"

It seemed that Willow was in good company as far as stupidity is concerned, but he let them both off lightly given the circumstances.

"So is Angel," he retorted, "and he hasn't been alive for quite some time. No offence," he added as he looked over at the man in question.

"None taken, after all you're just stating fact."

"What are you then, a vampire?"

"Please," Xander snorted. "How many vamps could take a baseball bat to the head from a Slayer swinging at full strength? Even if I were, Angel and the others would have either dusted me or chained me up so you could dust me or curse me the moment I arrived."

"He's also been gone for months," Dawn pointed out from her nook, "and we know he wasn't turned as we were all there when he…"

She began to cry when even harder as she started to remember the events of that day, but stopped when she felt Xander kiss the top of her head.

"It's OK Dawnie," he told her soothingly, "please don't cry."

"But you died!"

"Yes I did, there's no way I can really lie about that is there?" he said with a small smile. "I know what it's like to lose someone you care about Dawn, but as long as you keep them in your head and in your heart, they're never really gone. Anyway, apart from the whole dying thing I'm feeling pretty good," he added with a grin.

Dawn nodded her head in agreement, and then laughed a little at his unique brand of humour, but was still sniffling.

"Are you staying?" Buffy asked eventually, the question she had wanted to ask from the moment she had laid eyes on him.

The hope in her voice both warmed and broke Xander's heart in equal measure. He wanted to tell her yes so badly, but he knew that lying to her would only make things worse in the end. "I'll be here for a while Buff, but once everything has been settled I'll have to go back. If the situation weren't so unique I wouldn't be here at all, we're not normally allowed to directly interfere with what happens down here."

Buffy nodded slowly and after a moment was the first one to release the death-grip like hold on him. Willow and Dawn kept hugging him, needing that physical reassurance that he was actually there and not some illusion, but relaxed their grip a little. Everyone could tell that Buffy was barely keeping herself from crying her eyes out.

"Why can't you stay?" she asked plaintively. "And what do you mean by 'we'?"

"I'm one of the Powers That Be, Buffy," he told her gently, "which means that I'm bound by rules that have been around much longer than Earth."

It was at this point that Giles made his presence known. "Dear God, Xander, you can't be serious!"

"I am very serious. And you shouldn't take 'His' name in vain Giles," he told the older man.

Xander tried hard not to smile when he saw Giles reach for his glasses to clean them, a sure sign of trouble, only to find he wasn't wearing any. Giles had corrective surgery a month ago to cure his eyesight, and still hadn't got used to it yet.

"Yes, quite," he said flustered, not knowing what to do with his hands. He then looked Xander in the eye and grinned widely. "By the way it's bloody good to see you again."

"You too Giles," Xander replied sincerely.

Giles went over and firmly shook Xander's hand, a slight glint in his eyes. Dawn and Willow finally released him and the two men hug, in a manly way, for a few seconds. Giles had always seen Xander as the son he never had and to see him again was close to overwhelming.

After a moment or two, Giles came out of his uncharacteristic show of emotion and reverted back into Watcher-Mode. "Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I was under the impression that the Powers That Be were not allowed to directly intervene in matters on Earth under any circumstances?"

"As usual you're right Giles, but this particular situation has made it necessary for the rules to change," Xander told him.

Giles was about to ask another question when Joyce came over and kissed him on the cheek, doing the same thing to Xander. "I know that we all want to know why you're here," she told Xander, "and I'm sure it isn't just for a chat, but I think that we can forego that for a while, don't you Rupert?" she added to Giles, smiling sweetly.

Giles blushed a little at the public show of affection but quickly nodded in agreement. Xander was happy that Joyce and Giles had finally gotten together, another thing that his death helped to happen. His dying had brought home to both of them how short life really was, and that they should grab every chance at happiness available.

Once they had professed their feelings to one another, they started to worry about how Buffy would take the news. Those worries were unfounded when she hugged both of them and told them how happy she was for both of them. She did tell them that if she found them in a compromising position that she would need to be committed again immediately so she didn't rip Giles' balls off. He had fallen silent for a full two hours before he gave her his word that she never would.

"No one would agree with you more than I would Joyce, as I'd like nothing more than to catch up with you all, but I'm not really sure how much time we actually have."

"How bad is it Xander?" Tara asked him, smiling widely at the young man.

Xander went over and hugged the blonde Wicca strongly for a few seconds before kissing her on the top of the head and releasing her. "One word explanation; prophecy."

A collective groan immediately came from the Scooby Gang.

"You really have the worst luck don't you?"

"Like you wouldn't believe Tare," he agreed, "like you wouldn't believe. Have I told you all how much I hate prophecies?" he asked them all rhetorically.

"You're not the only one," Buffy agreed strongly, "I particularly hated the last one we were involved in."

A tear rolled down her cheek and Xander, after hugging Tara again, went over and pulled her into a hug to comfort her, kissing the tear away.

"The problem started when I was recruited to become one of the Powers That Be."

"I can imagine that there were a few that weren't too happy that a demon was made a Power," Angel commented. "I honestly didn't think we could even get there."

"Neither did I," Xander admitted, "but it has happened before, the last one was several thousand years ago so I was told. You're right that there were one or two that disagreed with Her decision. However once She made it clear who the boss was they towed the line, mostly. Our problem comes from the other side. Quite a few of them see me as a 'traitor to the cause', and they feel that the balance has shifted too much and they need to take action. We only found out about this when a prophecy appeared in the celestial archives. They have teamed up with Glory's second in command with the intention of destroying Earth, and then they're vying for the celestial plane."

"What do you mean Glory's second in command, I thought that we got all of Glory's followers?" Giles asked.

"So did I. It seems that Doc, that's his name by the way, stayed in the shadows and was only going to show himself when he was to perform the ceremony to send them home. It seems that he isn't too happy we killed his goddess and prevented him from ever going home and wants some payback."

Before any more questions could be asked, Buffy decided to cut into the conversation. "Before we start going into full blown work-mode, I want to talk to Xander alone for a while."

"Of course," Angel agreed immediately, "you can use any of the rooms on the third floor."

"Keep your mind out of the gutter Angel," Cordelia berated him.

"I meant that they could speak privately up there, not anything else," he replied with a roll of his eyes. "Anyway, you must have a dirty mind as well if you thought I was being rude."

"Not to begrudge you two from having another one of your now famous quarrels, although the ones I had with Cordy were far superior," Xander said interrupting the pair before they could get started, "but I think that Buffy and I will take you up on your offer Angel. When we come back down I'll tell you what we need to do, if you're willing of course, free will and all Jazz."

Xander grabbed Buffy's hand and the two made their way upstairs to the third floor and went into the first room they came to. As soon as they closed the door, Buffy jumped into his arms.

"I love you," she whispered into his ears as she snuggled against him, revelling in the fact that he was here and wasn't another of her dreams.

"I love you too," he whispered in reply, "always have and always will."

They stayed that way for several minutes, just basking in the feel of one another. Eventually Xander gently lowered Buffy to the floor, and noticed as a tint of sadness appeared in her eyes once more.

"You're not staying are you?" she asked, hating the fact that she already knew the answer.

"I'm not allowed," he told her in reply, his tone indicating just how devastated he felt. "Once we've dealt with the horde, I'll have to return to Heaven and continue my duties as a Power. Believe me when I tell you I don't want to," he told her earnestly, "staying here with you is all I can think of, but I have no choice."

"How long?"

"Honestly, I haven't a clue. It'll take time to get everyone we need, then more time to prepare for the upcoming battle."

"Then we better make the most of the time we do have," she said decisively, determined not to waste any further opportunities. "You do realise that we've never even kissed."

"That thought had crossed my mind a few million times a day," he said with a little grin.

The pair moved towards each other slowly, Buffy reaching up on tiptoe to put her arms around her neck while Xander's instinctively wrapped around her waist. Their mouths slowly moved closer to each other, until they were mere millimetres apart…

"Guys! There's someone on the phone for Xander!" Dawn yelled from the stairs before they heard her footsteps as she retreated back to the safety of the lobby.

'Does the entire universe like fucking with me!' was the thought that both of them had at the same time, knowing that the moment was lost.

"I just can't catch a break can I?" Xander moaned with a sigh. He'd only given the number to one person, and they wouldn't have called unless it was urgent, so he knew he couldn't just ignore it like he dearly wanted to.

Buffy equalled the sigh and leaned her head against his chest. "Neither of us can." She moved her head back and fixed Xander with a piercing look. "Before you leave, you will give me that kiss."

"If I have my way I'll be giving you a lot more than that," he told her with a leer, his voice husky.

The blush that appeared on Buffy's cheeks, coupled with the impish like grin on her face, warmed Xander's heart.

Buffy sighed again and then reluctantly released him. "We better go downstairs."

Xander simply nodded, kissing the top of her head, and then held out his hand to her. Once her hand was in his, they made their way back downstairs, finding everyone looking at them with wide grins on their faces, and the pair knew that they'd just been had.

"There was no one on the phone was there?" Xander asked, already knowing the answer.

A devilish grin was securely plastered on Dawn's face as she shook her head. "No, I just didn't want you two getting up to anything naughty."

"Before I leave we will be having a conversation young lady, count on it."

The tone in Xander's voice told her exactly how he was feeling towards her at the moment, and she realised that she may have been a bit hasty with her idea of a joke.

Joyce sent Xander a glare indicating she didn't like the way he spoke to her youngest daughter, but said nothing as she knew how she would feel if their roles were reversed. She also knew without a shadow of a doubt that Xander wouldn't hurt a hair on Dawn's head, his actions a few months ago proved that to her and everyone else.

"Right," Xander began with a sigh as he indicated for everyone to find a seat, "now that we're back down, I'll tell you what is going to happen. The battle, no, the war we are facing will be too much for us to fight alone, so I shall be bringing other Champions in from all over the world to help."

"I hope you don't mind my asking Xander, but who?" Giles asked.

"Well, I suppose the ones you'll be most aware of are the Halliwell sisters and their Whitelighter."

A high-pitched squeal suddenly pierced the air, actually shattering the chandelier hanging in the lobby and caused everyone to dive for cover.

"I get to meet the Charmed Ones! I get to meet the Charmed Ones!" Willow sang happily, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

A moment later, Willow began running around like a headless chicken, Tara trying but failing to calm her down as she began to hyperventilate. After enjoying the show for a few more seconds, the rest of the group resumed the conversation.

"Who are the Charmed Ones?" Dawn asked, not knowing what the big deal was.

"They are the three most powerful natural born witches in the world," Xander told her.

"Natural born witches?"

"It means that they have been witches from birth, like Tara, as opposed to Willow who is a practitioner."

"Oh. What's a Whitelighter?"

"All natural born witches are assigned a guardian angel, or Whitelighter, to guide and protect them," Xander explained, his brow furrowing for a moment as he wondered why Tara didn't have one, and made a note to find out. "I will need to go to San Francisco to get them personally, as they are recovering from a tragedy at the moment and I need to go carefully with them."

"Who else will you be getting?" Joyce asked, finding it odd that she never thought that there were other people out there that did the same as her daughter.

"I won't actually need to get them all here, as some will find themselves heading to us in a week or so, and others would be noticeable by their absence." Xander suddenly realised something and turned to Angel. "Angel, I need to warn you that Blade will be coming. If I had a choice I wouldn't call him, given that he doesn't play well with others, but we need everyone we've got."

Angel's face paled at the news, which shocked those that knew as little to nothing eve made him react like that.

"Shit," he replied succinctly, shocking everyone further and earning him a look from Joyce given that Dawn was in the room. "I hope that he'll at least listen before trying to stake me."

"It might be wise to have Faith between you two just to be on the safe side," Xander suggested, and then wondered just how the half-vampire would do against a Slayer.

"Who is this Blade, and why would he stake Angel?" Buffy demanded instantly.

"Blade is half vampire," Angel explained, deciding it would be best if he were the one to do so. "He has all of our strengths but none of our weaknesses, apart from the thirst. He is also known as the Daywalker. The reason he doesn't like me, or to be specific Angelus, apart from the fact he'll sense me as a vampire, is that Angelus is the sire of Deacon Frost. Frost turned his mother while she was pregnant with him, making him what he is today. He's known as the best at what he does, and all he does is kill vampires."

"I can see how that would be a problem. Can't you just give him orders not to kill Fang?" Faith asked Xander.

"I would if I thought it would do any good. Blade isn't known as someone who follows orders. If Whistler were around he could probably control him, at least enough for Angel to explain the story before he kills him. Trouble is he was taken hostage by some vamps to keep Blade busy. I have someone on it at the moment, but I'm not sure what state Whistler will be in at any rate."

"Hey!" Buffy exclaimed suddenly. "I just realised that you said that Faith should get in the way. Why not me as well? Are you saying I can't protect him?"

Xander quickly took a step back from her, noticing the fire behind her eyes. "Of course not, I'm crazy not stupid. I was kind of hoping that you and Dawn would come with me to San Francisco, if Joyce doesn't mind of course," he added looking at the lady in question.

That quickly extinguished the anger that was beginning to rise in Buffy, replacing it with excitement, as she had never been to San Francisco before. She instantly looked towards Joyce with a pleading look in her eyes; she knew that she didn't need her mother's permission to go, but that didn't mean that she didn't want it.

"Why would I mind," Joyce said frankly, "as far as I'm concerned the safest place on Earth for either of my daughters to be is wherever you are."

Xander suddenly found the floor fascinating, as well as anywhere else that Joyce wasn't, finding it difficult to look into her eyes due to that compliment. "I'm not quite sure what to say to that."

"There's no need to say anything Xander," Joyce assured him, "your actions say all that needs to be said." Joyce then went over and kissed him on the cheek, something that caused him to blush. "Thank you for saving my daughter Xander. I wasn't able to tell you before, what with you dying."

Xander couldn't help but laugh at that, Joyce wasn't known to find humour in death, but since her own brush with it her viewpoint had been changed.

"All part of the service. I wasn't going to let anything happen to one of my girls."

"Possessive much?" Faith said with a snort.

"Jealous much?" he replied in kind.

Seeing that a row was soon going to develop, Joyce decided to cut it off at the pass. "When will you be leaving?" she asked Xander.

"As soon as possible; the sooner we get everything arranged the longer we have to prepare for the coming battle. I've arranged for the company jet to be prepared and ready to fly and it's now just waiting for us to get there."

"How come we aren't just going via Air Xander like before?" Dawn asked, having liked it the last time.

"The longer I can keep under their radar the better it is for all of us," he replied before turning to Giles. "I've gone over the details of the prophecy with Wes and Angel, so if you could confer with them Giles and try to work out some specifics that would be a great help."

"Of course, I'll do whatever I can."

"Of that I have no doubt," he assured him before his face turned pensive. "You may not agree to this, but I was going to suggest that we unbind your powers."

Confused looks crossed the faces of the Scooby Gang, Joyce asking the question they all wanted to know. "What is he talking about Rupert?"

Giles looked a little hesitant as he explained to everyone. "I've talked briefly about my 'Ripper' days in my youth, but what I didn't explain was that I was actually a rather powerful mage. I abused that power, Eyghon being the major example, and the only way I was allowed to join the Council was to have my powers bound. I am still able to cast some simple spells, but that is only a fraction of what I am capable of. I'm not entirely sure it would be a wise course of action Xander."

Seeing the way his suggestion had affected Giles, Xander made sure that he knew he was under no obligation. "The choice is yours Giles, I will of course abide by your decision. Just know that you do have the option available to you, and I wouldn't have even suggested it if I thought anything bad would come of it."

"I will consider it," Giles told him, and Xander nodded as he knew that was the best he would get at the moment. "In the meantime I will help with researching the prophecy. You said that you needed us to research the specifics, I take it that the prophecy is rather vague?"

"Not only that, it's also open ended. It only talks about the fact that a battle will occur, not what the outcome will be."

"I would have thought that would be a good thing, right?" Buffy commented.

"It's definitely better than it detailing our failure that's for sure, I just hate that there are so many unanswered questions."

Seeing his frustration, Wesley walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "We shall endeavour to have some answers for you by the time you return."

"I know you will. Wills, would you and Tara start researching on defensive spells; shields, barriers, healing, anything that will be useful."

"I take it that means we won't be on the front lines?" Willow asked with a slight frown.

Xander went over to Willow and Tara, bringing them both into a loose embrace. "It would take you two far too close to the black arts for my comfort; we don't need you being corrupted by the darkness halfway through the battle. The Charmed Ones are better suited to that type of magic, as they were born with their power."

"I don't like the fact were being side-lined," Tara told him firmly.

"You won't be, far from it in fact. You two will be the medics, along with Leo and a couple of others. We're too smart to think that we'll get away unharmed in this, or that we won't need any medical assistance. Don't forget that medics go wherever there are wounded, including the front lines."

"You three better get a move on if you want to get to San Fran at a reasonable hour. I'll even give you a lift," Angel offered.

The realisation that they're leaving now reminds Buffy of an important, well at least to her, point. "We don't have any clothes!"

Xander tried not to laugh at the look of pure horror that appeared on Buffy and Dawn's faces.

"Don't worry, we'll sort all that out when we get there," he assured them. "Hey Angel, you sound like you're trying to get rid of us?"

"I wasn't going to say anything but now you've mentioned it…" he trailed off with a small smile.

"Yack it up DB."

"DB?" Angel repeated, confused.

"I can't call you DeadBoy anymore so I decided on DB," Xander explained.

Angel shrugged off the new nickname. "It's better than Fang anyway."

"Hey!" Faith cried, indignant.

"Time's a wasting, lets hit the road," Angel said quickly, noticing the look in Faith's eyes.

Buffy and Dawn hugged Joyce and the others goodbye and followed Xander and Angel out to the car.