Chapter Twenty-Six
P3,
San Francisco,
California.
As the rest of the group realised that Xander and Angel were about to 'spar', they stopped their own practise in order to watch. Only Cole and Leo had actually seen what Xander was truly capable of, so they were the only ones who weren't showing any concern about what was about to happen, only professional interest and maybe a little anticipation.
The half demon knew that neither himself nor Xander had gone all out during their sparring session a few days ago, neither one wanting to risk pressing their ability to control their blows, but from what Cole had seen he had little doubt that Xander would have bested him, and he didn't consider the young man's status as 'The One Who Sees' as a contributory factor.
Leo also knew that Xander was definitely a worthy opponent for anyone in the room, and was gaining confidence with every moment that passed that they would indeed be witnessing the end of The Source tonight. Before Xander came into their lives, Leo had never truly thought that Piper and the others would defeat The Source, although he had always believed that they would live full lives. The prospect that they might be able to live full, normal lives had never been more than a pipe dream, but now because of Xander he felt more and more certain of it.
The four sisters looked apprehensive about what was about to happen, not because they didn't have faith in Xander's abilities because they most certainly did, but because he was going up against a vampire that used to be part of a group so vicious that they had earned themselves the title 'The Scourge of Europe'. Cole may well be a demon, but he had proven himself to them as trustworthy, whereas Angel hadn't. Because of that, they were concerned that Angel may take advantage of the situation and try to cause harm to their friend. If he did that, he wouldn't live long enough to brag about it.
Cordelia, Gunn and Wesley were more worried for Xander, as while they had been told of his new status and had recently seen an example of his power, they had all seen Angel battle against almost impossible odds and emerge victorious. Gunn and Wesley both knew that Xander was not without ability, but they couldn't see him being on a par with a warrior of Angel's calibre.
Cordelia was a little less concerned for her ex boyfriend than the other two, as she had seen the expression that was currently on Xander's face before and knew that it meant that Xander was both prepared for what was about to happen and determined to be the victor, and Xander's willpower was by far his greatest weapon when wielded properly. She was more worried about their sparring session escalating into a full out battle, and that one or both of them would get injured or worse, which given their still unresolved issues wasn't an unfounded fear.
Willow, Tara and Giles were the most worried about the situation, but for different reasons. Willow, despite everything she had seen and heard, still couldn't see past who Xander used to be to see who Xander was now. She had been trying ever since Xander had told them he was going with Cole to San Francisco, and yet every time she thought that maybe she was making progress, something would happen and she would revert back to type.
What Willow had tried earlier today was a prime example. She shuddered as she thought about what might have been had Xander not withstood her initial attack, which was the only way she could describe her actions, an attack. While her spell had been meant to purge his body of foreign presences, her emotional control had been less than exemplary, downright lacking in fact, and because of it she had nearly killed her oldest friend. She now doubted that they would ever get back the closeness that they once had, but as long as he didn't cut her out of his life completely she would be happy.
Tara had heard about what Angel had done during his time in Sunnydale, both with and without a soul, and was worried that one of the few men she felt comfortable enough to be around to consider a friend would get hurt. She wasn't as blind to Xander's fighting abilities as the others seemed to be, and had actually been witness to him in battle against vampires before, so her worry was more emotionally driven than due to a lack of faith in him.
Xander would always act as 'rear guard' as he put it while they were on patrol, which meant that Buffy and the others often missed the times he had fought and staked a vampire that had tried to sneak up on them from behind. She would normally be at the rear of the group herself and had therefore seen how he had been able to quickly and efficiently despatch a vampire without the others even realising he had done anything.
Xander had made her feel accepted within the group in a way the others couldn't understand, because he treated her just like he did the others. He saw her as his friend, not Willow's girlfriend, and for that Tara could never thank him enough. She hoped that he still considered her a friend, which given the way he spoke to her before was a strong possibility. She still needed to apologise for going along with the others and not informing him of Dawn's true origins, and hoped that he would give her the opportunity to do just that.
Giles wasn't worried about Xander at all, at least not physically anyway. No, Giles' concern for his young charge was for his mental and emotional wellbeing. The young man had gone through a great deal the last few days, and with his uncharacteristic display earlier when he had removed his and Willow's ability to talk, Giles feared for Xander's state of mind.
If Xander's emotional state was as fragile as the former Watcher feared, then it wouldn't take much for him to snap; in fact all it would probably take was one lucky blow from Angel to land and Giles could see the boy going too far and ending the vampire's existence. While that particular scenario wasn't exactly displeasing to Giles given his own dislike for the vampire, he knew that it could signal the beginning of a downward spiral for Xander, one he feared his surrogate son might not survive unscathed.
Joyce was concerned for Xander like a mother would for a son, knowing the history the two soon to be combatants shared, but had complete confidence in him. She hadn't been witness to Xander in battle situations before, but she knew that he would never willingly put himself into a situation where he might get hurt or worse unless lives were on the line. Until Buffy was safe and sound, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that he would not risk himself unnecessarily, which meant that Xander must have an ulterior motive for what he was about to do, and she was secretly looking forward to seeing what it was.
Dawn too was confident that Xander would be fine, and was simply looking forward to seeing her man putting on a show. She'd never liked Angel, and had been completely unable to see what her sister had seen in him, especially in comparison to Xander, so she wasn't bothered about what would happened to him. She did know that if Angel hurt her man in any way, she'd get all of his blood blessed by a priest.
It didn't take Xander long to notice that that he and Angel had attracted an audience, and realised that this was the perfect opportunity to put everyone's doubts about how well he handle himself to rest, which was made all the sweeter as it meant he got to kick Angel's ass to do it.
He had begun to feel a little guilty concerning his actions earlier on in the day, especially with the way he had treated Giles and Willow, but the hurt and anger he felt concerning the way they had treated him first prevented him from saying anything. Xander had never believed that he could act so callously to people who, despite everything, he cared for, and yet he had done so without a second thought, and had not reversed the spell even after Joyce had taken him to task for it.
Xander could easily blame his actions on stress, but he had never been one to want to make excuses for his actions and he wasn't about to start now. He would apologise eventually, it wasn't in his nature to do otherwise, but that wouldn't happen until they had worked out their differences concerning everything else first.
Xander's thoughts turned to his soon to be opponent as he prepared himself for their match. He still didn't like Angel, and he doubted that he ever would, but Xander recognised the fact that the ensouled vampire did a lot of good work in LA, so he didn't want to cause him any permanent or serious damage that would infringe on that.
He did, however, want to get back at him for knocking him out Senior Year, when Angel had been pretending to be Angelus in order to get information out of Faith. Xander had been very lucky to have regained consciousness as quickly as he had, given that lying in the middle of the street, at night, on the Hellmouth, was not conducive to a man's health. It was yet another example of his friends withholding information from him 'for his own good' and it biting him in the ass, or the jaw to be specific. He might not have held such a grudge over the incident had Angel made some sort of apology, but neither he nor anyone else even seemed to care.
To that end, he intended to make an example out of Angel, and he would do so without using too many of his newfound abilities. He could easily defeat Angel with the powers he now possessed, a simple flame spell like the one he had downloaded into Paige's head would reduce his opponent into nothing more than a pile of ash, but Xander didn't want to become dependant on his new abilities, especially as they would be next to useless when facing the Source. He'd also seen what happens to people who become too dependent on their powers, and didn't want to become like that.
Using only his enhanced strength and speed would make things harder for him, and he would run the risk of injury, but Xander was still confident that he could best Angel, especially given the fact that the vampire was obviously feeling overconfident about what the outcome would be.
The two fighters began to circle each other, neither one wanting to be seen by their audience as the aggressor, before they both surged forward at the same moment and began trading blows.
A few minutes in, it became apparent to those that were watching that the pair were evenly matched, neither one able to get the upper hand over the other, all except for Cole and Leo, who saw something very different.
"He's holding back," Leo said to his unlikely friend and ally.
"Certainly seems that way," the half demon replied, "especially given that he fought far better against me when we fought. What I don't understand is why, apart from the obvious that is."
"He's waiting for Angel to go all out," Giles commented, surprising the two men as neither one had heard him move closer to them. "Angel believes that Xander is already going all out against him, and is currently waiting for Xander to tire. I believe he hopes to 'knock some sense' into him and make him see that he is not ready to go up against the Source."
"Don't take this the wrong way," Leo began, "but before now you haven't shown much confidence in Xander's abilities."
"You're right, I didn't," Giles agreed, the regret he felt over that almost a tangible thing that the men could see, "but these past couple of days I have begun to re-evaluate what I know about him and have come to the conclusion that there is little that Xander cannot do once he has put his mind to it."
"It looks like Angel has lost his patience and wants to end it now," Cole noted, causing the other two men to refocus on the fight before them.
Angel was indeed losing his patience. He knew that Xander had to be at the very limit of his ability, but he had not yet been able to significantly breech his defences. In fact Xander had somehow been getting in as many hits as Angel had, both showing small cuts and bruises, which the vampire found both surprising and annoying. He had believed going into this that he would easily overpower the boy and show him that he was not ready for what was to happen, but that had most definitely not been the case so far.
It had been that more than anything else that had eroded his patience and forced his hand, as he needed to prove that Xander wasn't ready for what was going to happen before the boy managed get in a lucky strike.
Morphing into his vampiric visage in the hope that it would distract him, Angel charged at Xander and knocked him down, going to kick him in the stomach as he fell. It wasn't normally the type of move he would use, kicking a man when he was down, but he had to show Xander that when it came to a life or death situation there were no rules.
Xander had been waiting for Angel's patience to run out, knowing from experience that it wouldn't take long, so when he went game face and knocked him down he was ready for him. Rolling through the fall, Xander managed to dodge the kick Angel had sent his way, a little surprised that he would follow up so quickly, but also pleased as it meant that he could fight dirty too. That's not to say that Xander wasn't going to fight dirty anyway, as he was, it just meant that the vampire couldn't now accuse him of cheating after the fact.
He allowed Angel to get in close and then head butted him, finding some small measure of satisfaction when he heard the vampire's nose break. Angel staggered back and reverted to his human face, feeling extra pain as his nose transformed back to normal, and didn't notice the fist coming his way until he was too late to block it. The pop of his jaw dislocating reverberated throughout the club, as did the crack of his right kneecap when Xander kicked it out, dropping the vampire down onto his injured knee.
Angel wasn't down for long, managing to stand up again despite the pain, only to feel a much greater pain when Xander kicked him full force between the legs, dropping the demon once more to the ground. This time, Xander followed it up with a kick to the head, which laid Angel out onto the floor, and then another to ensure that the vampire wasn't playing possum and was indeed unconscious.
Xander knew that he'd been lucky, as Angel was normally a more worthy opponent, but his underestimation of his abilities had made him over confident and that had been his downfall. Xander had learned almost from the moment he'd been thrust into this world that you should always treat every opponent as though they are the most dangerous individual that you've ever faced.
"Do you understand now Willow?" Xander asked his friend, who was looking at him slack jawed. "I'm more than capable of defending myself, and I do not follow any rules to do so."
"You didn't have to use your new abilities to prove your point Xander," his redheaded friend said finally, the shock of seeing her childhood friend take down Angel with relative ease wearing off slightly.
"I didn't," he replied, standing back from Angel as he heard him begin to come around, "all I used were the enhanced strength, speed and agility the monks gave me as a side effect to their spell, which depending on what timeline you use I've had either several years or several months. Everything I just did I'd been able to do well before I came to San Francisco."
"Why didn't you tell us about this before?" she asked, feeling betrayed in spite having no ground to stand on in that matter.
"Why should I have?" Xander asked in reply, his tone showing what he thought of her question. "To have you accept me? To be allowed to play in your sandpit? I wanted you to accept me for who I am, not what I can do, but you've proven time and time again that such a hope was foolish." His expression became blank, just like it had done when he told Buffy to go home. "Once I've dealt with the Source, and we've found a way to kill Glory, I don't want to hear from you unless it's a world-ending event."
"Xander, you don't really mean that do you?" Willow asked from the floor, her knees having given out when he'd closed off to her emotionally.
"Can you give me one good reason why I should have anything to do with you that is relevant to now and not five years ago?" Xander asked coldly in reply, keeping his emotions under control with ruthless efficiency.
"What do you mean?"
"I would say that it was about five years ago that your image of me froze, along with the reasons why we were friends. Can you give me one good reason why I would want anything to do with you based on who we are now?"
Xander had to wait for his answer when he felt rather than saw Angel charge at him, the vampire hoping to use Xander's distraction to his advantage, and now that he felt that he'd proven his point, Xander saw no need to limit what powers he used. With a wave of his hand, a wall of green flame erupted between himself and the vampire, and while Angel had seen that the flames had been harmless the last time he'd seen them, he knew better than to tempt fate and stopped in his tracks.
"I won't apologise for knocking you out Deadboy," Xander told him bluntly, "because you never apologised for knocking me out during your sting operation against Faith, but I do consider us even. Also, while I appreciate your… concern, I am more than aware of what I'm up against, far more than anyone else on the planet. One more thing, you ever come at me again with your game face showing and I will stake you, soul or not."
Xander turned back to Willow, leaving Angel surrounded by the flames for the time being, and saw that Tara was hugging her while she rocked back and forth with her arms wrapped around her legs. While outwardly he kept his emotionless expression in place, inwardly his heart lurched at the redhead's broken expression, and at the fact he no longer considered her his friend. It was a moment he never thought would happen, not while he had anything to do with it, which he no longer did.
He couldn't help but feel disappointed that she'd been unable to think of anything, despite that fact that he hadn't expected her to. For as long as he'd known her, Willow had never found a puzzle that or question that she couldn't solve or answer, and there had been a small part of him that had hoped it was still true.
It wasn't.
"Xander," Giles said tentatively, still wary since his last experience of Xander's new power, "I know that things between us seem untenable, and I freely admit that a lot of your anger is more than justified, you have gone through a gambit of trauma over the last few days, and to make decisions while still processing all that has happened might not be the best solution."
"In other words, you want me to wait until you've had a chance to convince me that I'm wrong."
"Certainly not," the older man denied vehemently, knowing that Xander was too smart for such an action to be successful, and feeling a sense of shame that he had considered it albeit briefly. "I am more than aware that you cannot be persuaded to do anything that you do not want to do, not that I would want to have to convince you. I would much prefer you to choose of your own free will to maintain contact with us. All I ask is that you withhold final judgement until after everything has been settled and you are able to take the time to come to a conclusion that isn't coloured by unresolved emotions."
Xander hated to admit it, but Giles had a point. While he doubted that his decision would be all that different no matter how long he waited, he knew that to make a decision while he wasn't firing on all cylinders would only lead him to have doubts after the fact. Of course, then there was Buffy…
"Alright, I'll hold off on any decisions, but that doesn't mean that I have to take any bullshit from you, Willow or anyone else for that matter. I have damn well earned your respect and will no longer tolerate anything less."
"I res…"
Tara, who wisely placed her hand over the redhead's mouth, cut off Willow's comment. She loved Willow dearly, but when it came to Xander it was as though she had a subconscious desire to incur his wrath.
"Agreed," she stated forcefully to Xander, surprising him.
"Thanks Tara," he replied warmly, thankful to her that she prevented Willow from saying anything further. She'd already dug a hole deep enough to reach the centre of the Earth, she didn't need to dig any deeper.
He knew that he should feel some animosity towards the auburn haired witch, as she had kept Dawn's origin from him, but he didn't. He knew Tara, and while he felt a little disappointment that she hadn't come to him, he knew that she had been in a difficult situation where no matter what she did she would be wrong. It wasn't up to her to tell him anyway, it had been up to Buffy, Giles and Willow.
He had garnered some measure of closure with Buffy during his second bout of prolonged unconsciousness, although he was holding out judgement until he saw her in the flesh and she proved that it had indeed been her, but he still needed to do the same with the other two. He doubted that he would ever get complete closure with Willow, as she didn't seem capable of seeing things the way they truly are, but he had seen signs in Giles recently that he might with him.
All of that, however, had to be put onto the back burner for the time being, as rescuing Buffy and destroying The Source were the more pressing concerns at the moment.
"Okay," he began, drawing everyone's attention to him, "I suggest we get back to preparing for tonight, especially if we want to see tomorrow." He turned to Angel, who had finally calmed himself down, and willed the flames away. "Want to try sparring again, only this time purely for training purposes?"
"Fine," the vampire replied, "but I doubt I'll be up to much for a while."
Xander noted that Angel was still injured and felt a momentary flash of guilt for inflicting it, before squashing the feeling. No matter what good he might do, Angel was first and foremost a demon and he would never allow himself to feel bad about whatever pain or injuries he might inflict on one. He didn't feel that way with Cole, as he is as human as he is demonic, not to mention that he chose to fight evil of his own free will, as opposed to Angel who only began to do so after prodding from another demon call Whistler.
Despite his feelings, Xander did need Angel at his best tonight, so he decided to see if he could rectify that.
"This might hurt," he told the ensouled demon as he willed a ball of green energy to his hand and tossed it towards him.
Angel considered moving out of the way when he saw the ball travel towards him, but he knew that Xander wouldn't kill him until after Buffy was safe and trusted that it wasn't something that would cause him further injury. As it came in contact with his body, the ball increased in size until Angel was encased within a green glow, before the glow seemed to seep into his body. Angel felt extreme discomfort at the sensation, but not outright pain, and was able to remain silent until the process ended, leaving him feeling as healthy as an animated corpse could feel.
"My word," Wesley breathed, "you have the power to heal?"
"Firstly," Xander replied, "it isn't that special, as Leo can also heal. Secondly, I didn't actually heal him, at least not in the convention use of the word. I simply infused his body with energy similar to the one his demon uses to keep the corpse from rotting, essentially giving it a booster shot to push his own healing factor into overdrive."
"Fascinating."
"If you say so," Xander allowed, not finding it all that wonderful himself, "but I would prefer to use it the way it was intended."
"Which is?" Angel asked, having a sneaking suspicion what it might be and shivering unnecessarily at the thought.
"Using it at its full power and seeing the demon literally torn apart trying to absorb the power into themselves."
"That's abhorrent," Willow stated with disgust.
"So are demons, so it works out nicely." Xander was quickly tiring of the conversation, which he deemed to be nothing but a waste of time, and decided to bring everyone back on track. "Okay, lets try this training thing again shall we?"
Hyde Street Harbour,
San Francisco,
California.
Glory walked off the yacht wiping the blood of the last of the crew from her hands, happy to be finally on dry land. Had she know how many people it took to sail a yacht, Glory wouldn't have killed so many of them so soon, but their annoying mortality grated on her nerves and only their screams of pain had been able to mollify her. However, because of her cull of the herd, it had taken longer than she had wanted to return to shore, and she'd taken it out on the remaining survivors and things had gotten a little… messy.
There was something that had begun to ease her anger; her Key was close by.
When Glory had discovered those pesky monks plans to hide her Key from her, she had been enraged to discover that they had sent it to the California Hellmouth. Being the most active Hellmouth on Earth, it had been able to mask her Key's signature, not to mention that pesky Slayer and her little cohorts. Not that Glory was concerned about whatever pitiful attempts they would make to stop her from returning home, but she was growing tiresome of having to kill the vermin that lived on this planet to get what she wants when they should be bowing and scraping at her feet and presenting her Key on a silver platter.
Starting to feel that her time on this hunk of rock would soon be over, she began to focus on the energy of her Key, looking forward to returning to her domain where she was treated the way she was born to be treated; like a god.