Title: Emerald Spark (13/?)

Author: Cyclone

Feedback: Please be gentle.

Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.

Rating: Just a little bad language.

Spoilers: Anything and everything.

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Summary: After Halloween, everything changes. Sequel to Blackest Night. Part one of Emerald Flame.

Author's Note: Okay, y'know, the reason Blackest Night was originally a one-shot was because I saw only two ways to expand on it: Green Lantern Xander and Future Knowledge Xander. Both of them had already been done and done well by others, and I didn't want to retread ground already covered, so I intended to leave it as is.

Then I got this idea.

Jenny Calender, aka Janna Kalderash, sat on the suitcase and forced the zipper shut. She took one last look around her modest apartment, then sighed.

"So, that's it?" came a disdainful voice from the door. She whirled around in surprise.

It was Xander. He was leaning against the door, arms folded. He straightened up and elaborated, "You've failed your mission, and now, you're just going to leave? Is that it?"

"What do you care?" she glowered at him.

"I don't," he said bluntly. "But Giles does, and I very much care about ol' Ripper. He's been like a father to me, in both my lives."

"Is that what this is all about?" she snorted. "When Angel lost his soul, it became pretty obvious no one wanted me around, not even Rupert."

"You know that's not true."

"Maybe," she hedged, "but you obviously don't want me around. Ever since Halloween, you've been giving me the cold shoulder."

"Can you blame me?" he demanded, stepping forward. "You knew! You were here to make sure that damned curse wasn't broken! That was your whole mission here, and you blew it!" He got in her face and snarled, "When I told everyone after Halloween, you could've backed me up. You could've kept all this mess from happening. Now, Buffy's heart's practically been ripped out, Giles feels betrayed, and we're short one vampire who used to be on our side!"

"Is that what you think?" she whispered. "You think I knew about the clause? About how the curse could be broken?"

"It's why you're here to begin with, isn't it?"

She shook her head, "I didn't know. I was just supposed to keep him from being happy, to keep them apart. I thought it was to make sure he suffered. My clan didn't see fit to tell me until the night it happened."

Xander felt most of his anger drain away.

Most of it.

"So, instead of stepping up and trying to make up for it, you're just gonna slink away in disgrace," he snorted. "Yeah, real admirable."

"You think I want to go?" she snorted right back with a bitter chuckle. "I failed. I failed miserably, and people died for it, including my uncle. This was one of the most important tasks for my clan, and I failed. Do you have any idea what's waiting for me there?"

"So don't go."

"But... my family-"

"To hell with your family," he said. He paused and amended, "Not literally, mind you. It's that kind of mentality that got us into this mess to begin with." He shook his head and said, "You don't want to go, so don't go. It's as simple as that. You're a grown woman. You can make your own decisions. And if they have a problem with that, we've got the most powerful weapons in the universe with which to make it stick."

"What?" she looked at him in confusion. "What weapons?"

He blinked, "You mean you weren't there when... no, you wouldn't have been, would you? Um, awkward."

"What are you talking about?"

"Let's just say that what was used to take out the Judge will work just fine against your family, and it won't kill anyone if we don't want it to."

"So, are there any other future events we should be aware of, Xander?" Giles asked, holding up a notebook and pen. They were gathered in the library, sans Buffy, who had excused herself for patrol when Xander arrived.

Xander shook his head, "Not for a while, really. There isn't much that happened over the next few months that wasn't caused by... waitaminute, waitaminute, waitaminute. Where's Oz?"

"Oz?" Willow frowned.

"Yeah, Will," he nodded. "You know, your boyfriend?"

"I have a boyfriend?"

"Umm..." Xander blinked at her, "...yeeesss. You invited him to Buffy's surprise birthday party... didn't you?"

"Um, nooo..." the redhead shook her head.

"Oh," Xander blinked again, then shook his head. "Okay, what else did I miss while I was out?"

"Uhh," Faith broke in, "wouldn't that be something you'd have to tell us? We can't tell you what didn't happen if we don't know it was supposed to." She frowned, "Can we?"

"No, I guess not," Xander deflated. "Okay, has Ted shown up yet?"

"That was before Buffy's birthday," Tara replied.

"Uhh, what about the mind control eggs?"

"After Ted," Giles answered.

"Okay, okay," Xander muttered. "What was next? Uh, Ms. Calendar's still alive -- just saw her last night -- so that obviously hasn't happened yet..." He looked up, "Crap. Full moon's this week, isn't it?"

It was a meeting of like minds. They had talked about forming a club before, but this was the first true club meeting. They had refrained from doing anything remotely official out of respect and concern for Xander's welfare as he lay in a coma from the gut wound he had mysteriously received that night so long ago.

But now he was okay.

The first official meeting of the We Love That Big Dumb Poopy Head Club was in session.

"S-so, what now?" the Vice President Tara Baxter nee Maclay asked, looking around for suggestions.

"Okay, so, he's an idiot," Treasurer Faith Lehane shrugged. "Subtle hints don't work. Obvious hints don't work. Climbing into his bed wearing nothing but a smile doesn't work. Trust me, I've tried."

"You WHAT?!" President Willow Rosenberg blurted out.

Faith waved it off, "It was when he was in that coma. I was hoping it would wake him up. Way I figure it, if we're gonna get him, we should get our lesbo groove on and invite him to join in. I'm willing to share, and no straight guy can resist hot lesbian action."

The other two stared at her, jaws dropping.

Author's Note:

Deliciously ironic, yet totally in-character, wouldn't you agree?

"Buffy," the voice echoed through the silence of the cemetary.

The Slayer stopped dead in her tracks at the voice from behind. "You have nothing to say that I want to hear," she declared.

Behind her, Xander flinched. He'd been expecting that sort of reaction, but it didn't make it any easier. "Buffy, I'm telling your mother about the ring."

"What?!" She spun and stalked up to him, "Not enough you kill my boyfriend, you've got to ruin my home life too?!" Her hands came up, halfway reaching for his throat before stopping, clutching the air in throttling motions.

"Your mother's been given custody of me," he said quietly, ignoring the implied threat. "I'm not going to tell her about the whole Slayer thing, but I'm not going to hide my responsibilities from her either."

"Shut up," she said coldly. "Just... shut up. Tell her whatever you want, Xander. I'm beyond caring now." She clenched her fists and whirled away, barely able to keep herself from breaking his face.

"I know how you must feel right now, Buffy," he called out. "Believe me, I understand."

"How?" she retorted over her shoulder. "How could you possibly claim to understand?! You killed him! If you knew how I feel right now, why did you do it?!"

"Because I've been there!" he snarled. "Because you shoved a sword through my fiancee's heart!"

That stopped her in her tracks, and she turned back around again, "What? When?"

"Four and a half years after you did the same to Angel and sent him to hell for a hundred years," he answered bitterly. "Four and a half years after Willow cast a spell for your boyfriend that led to her nearly destroying the world."

"Wh-what?" she sputtered, stepping back.

"The spell that gave Angel his soul was a curse, Buffy," he reminded her, stepping forward relentlessly. "Vile, dark magic, crafted for vengeance and fueled by hate. It was made to make him suffer, and suffer he did. And suffer he would if we did it to him again. More than that, it corrupted Will, slowly but surely, and she nearly destroyed the world before it was all over."

"N-... no," she shook her head. "You're wrong."

"Am I?" he asked, tilting his head. "Think about it, Buffy. How many vampires have you killed? Dozens? Hundreds? And you enjoyed it, didn't you? Imagine if all those vampires had been humans instead. Imagine having that much blood on your hands, never being able to see the sun, doomed to watch everyone you care about age and die... and never being able to find happiness without unleashing the monster that did that again. Imagine living that kind of life for a possible eternity. That's what Angel would have faced... was facing. Which is better? That? Or a quick, clean dusting when his soul wasn't even around to feel it?"

"Xander, I..." she hesitated, "...I just... I can't..."

He looked at her sorrowfully and sighed, closing his eyes.

"Let me tell you about a woman named Anya Jenkins."

Author's Postscript:

Some pretty heavy dialogue there.