Since I was away from internet access for a while (holiday) I have released two chapters together in PART I and Part II

I hope you enjoy this extra-long chapter as well as the conclusion to the Retribution story arc. And yes, I'm now trolling you with the chapter titles

Chapter Forty-Five: Retribution Part Nine – Harmony Burns Xander

PART I

The Present Day

"Did you know that I never thought that my mind would look like a bunch of rooms? To be fair, I never spent much time thinking about what my mind, what my innermost thoughts would look like but still… You'd think I might have seen that coming, it being my mind and all. Sadly that wasn't all I failed to see coming during that little trip."

~o~O~o~

Earlier that week

Lena Marcus

"Lena Marcus," read Dawn glancing at the nearest door, "Who is she?" Xander shuddered.

"Don't ask," he said, "Seriously, don't ask. You are so better off not knowing."

"Aw, come on," wheedled Dawn, "I wanna know." Despite his protestations, she reached for the handle and opened the door. She was greeted by the sight of an extremely pale young woman with jet black hair holding a boom box (playing Forever Young – loudly, very loudly) over her head swinging it back and forth.

"Look, Xander!" she yelled in a strong Manchester accent, "I'm playing our song!" Xander shook his head incredulously.

"We never had a song!" he shouted back, "And even if we did have a song it sure as hell wouldn't be this song!" She frowned and switched off the music.

"Well now you're just being difficult," she said petulantly.

"Who the hell is she?" Dawn asked in a staggered tone of voice, "An old girlfriend?"

"Yes." "No." Both Lena and Xander answered her question at the same time. Lena looked hurt.

"How could you say that?" she demanded, "After all that we went through together?"

"We were together for less than two days," he replied irritably.

"Yeah," she agreed, "Except that those two days were kind of repeated on an endless loop so we were really technically together for a few years." Xander groaned in frustration and slammed the door in her face.

"You were right," said Dawn calmly, "I was better off not knowing."

"Can we please move along?" asked Fred/Hendall plaintively, her Texan accent getting stronger by the minute, this voice is really starting to grate my nerves. Grate my nerves?! That does it! I'm changing." She shimmered and morphed into Joyce Summers.

"Change that form now!" hissed Xander angrily.

"What's wrong dear?" the not-Joyce asked him kindly. Xander wasn't looking at her. He was looking past her, at Dawn who already had tears beginning to form around her eyes.

"Mum?" she whispered.

"Change back!" repeated Xander. Hendall nodded and shifted back into Fred without complaint.

"Sorry," she said to Dawn, "I didn't think of that. That was mean."

"Come on," said Xander, "Let's just do what we came here to do." They were silent for several minutes as they walked down that seemingly endless hallway.

"You know," said Hendall, "It is funny just how many people in your head that you have that you don't like thinking about. Why is that I wonder?"

"I have a complicated life," said Xander non-committedly, "I meet a lot of people. Sometimes they die, sometimes they aren't what you thought they were and sometimes they just up and leave. Why would anyone want to think about stuff like that?" Dawn spoke up after her lengthy period of silence.

"Okay," she said, "I have to know. Who was that Lena person? And what the hell did she mean about being together for years? You weren't gone for that long. In fact, now that I think about it; you weren't gone long enough to have done all that stuff that you said you've done and still spend four months at Wolfram & Hart."

"Well I met her right after Africa," he said, "This was when I was… Well, after Anya I… I wasn't in what you would call a good place emotionally. I wanted to be someone else. So, I went to the one place on Earth where I could actually do that."

"Where?"

"Transylvania," he said, "I went back to Dracula, and I let him take me over, this time entirely. I was his manservant again. Except, this time, I wasn't the only one on hand. He had this groupie with him this time; Lena Marcus. So it was the three of us for a while. Now someone like Dracula obviously has enemies and, also obviously, most of them could never take him or even consider taking him in a fair fight so one of these enemies decides to do the next best thing. Remove him from play. They put him, and by extension us, in a continuous forty-eight hour time loop. We experienced the same two days for a very long time. Eventually he found a way to escape it and he also released me. He said that there was something that I was supposed to do. All that pain, all that anger and all that self-hatred just came flooding back to me. Except this time it all happened at once." His tone remained even but Dawn could see his clenched fists tremble slightly.

"Sorry," she said, "I didn't know. I didn't mean to… bring it all back."

"It's my own damn fault," he said in response, "I was the one who ran away. Sooner or later we all need to accept responsibility for our own actions." He turned back to Hendall. "Okay, do you have any idea on how to speed this up?" he asked. She shrugged.

"It's different for each mind," she said, "I haven't any idea how your mind works and your Miss Burkle has no idea on how this spell works." She narrowed her eyes as an idea occurred to her. "Hmmm," she mused thoughtfully, "What about…?" She closed her eyes and transformed into someone who had deep knowledge of magic but also boundless reserves of empathy and an understanding about how peoples' minds worked.

~o~O~o~

Location: Wolfram & Hart Training Room

"Hey Fred," said Spike. He was practically shining with joy as he entered the room.

"Spike," she said happily by way of greeting, "I didn't expect to see you today. Where have you been and why are you in such a good mood?"

"I came clean to Buffy," he said, looking like he was about to start floating, "I told her how I felt about her and she said that she was willing to give us a try to see if there was anything there." Fred smiled and affectionately punched him on the shoulder. After he extracted himself from the wall and she finished apologising profusely she smiled and said, "I told you that it would work out alright." He smiled at her like a boy who had just successfully asked out the girl of his dreams… which he really kind of was if you thought about it. He held up a trembling hand.

"Look at me," he exclaimed, "I'm bursting with energy. I want to run a marathon or fight off a whole army or something like that."

~o~O~o~

"Is this form acceptable?" Hendall asked in one of the most beautiful voices that either Xander or Dawn had ever heard. They both nodded in response.

"Yeah," he said softly, "That will work."

"You have affection for this form don't you?" she asked, "Both of you cared for her a great deal."

"Yes we did," said Dawn, "I loved Tara, we all loved her."

"She was always the best of us," said Xander, "She was cruel or selfish. She never stopped trying to help, she never stopped caring." He paused before continuing. "She was what we wanted to be, what I wanted to be." He looked at Hendall. "It's a good choice," he admitted, if somewhat reluctantly. "So what now?" he asked. She pursed her lips thoughtfully.

"You need to organise your thoughts a bit," she mused quietly, "You were shot, that was obviously a very traumatic experience for you. I want you to think about your emotions. Concentrate carefully on a particular emotion." He closed his eyes and their surroundings momentarily went dark. When the light returned the entire layout had changed and they were standing in a medium sized circular room with a door every metre. Each door was labelled with words like Joy, Rage, Fear and other descriptive words for different emotions. Dawn took a step forward towards the door marked Joy and pushed it open.

She could hear singing. It was slightly muffled by the walls and the sound of running water but it was unquestionably the voice of Tara. She could see Willow, Riley, Buffy, Joyce, Anya and herself all sitting at the kitchen counter of her old home in Sunnydale. The singing that she could hear was coming from the upstairs shower.

"Rock and rollin' riding,

Out along the bay.

All bound for Morning Town,

Many miles away."

She remembered this. This was right after the incident with Adam the Initiative. They had spent the previous night staying up late watching poorly dubbed Japanese action films and none of them had woken up until long after one in the afternoon. Tara had gone upstairs to have a shower in order to fully wake up and apparently was unaware that the acoustics in the house were rather impressive. Willow was looking up with a look of complete and utter adoration on her face. She really had loved her. Xander and Riley had apparently come to a disagreement on whether or not Batman could beat Green Arrow and were now wrestling to prove their point. Dawn was certain that Riley was going easy on him by virtue of the fact that Xander was not dead. Anya looked horribly concerned when Riley put him into a headlock and shoved him into the kitchen counter but everyone else, Xander included, laughed at his misfortune.

"Okay, okay, that's enough," said Joyce, clearly stuck between amusement and maternal concern. "Boys," she said half sternly, "I'd like to have my kitchen somewhat intact come nightfall."

"All Harris has to do is admit that Bruce "Whiney about all his rich boy problems" wouldn't last a second against the awesomeness that is Green Arrow."

"Never," said Xander, "I will never surrender." They were all interrupted by Tara's arrival into the room. She was wrapped up in a light blue bathrobe and her hair was still damp from the shower.

"Do I want to know?" she asked in amusement, her right eyebrow raised.

"Probably not," said Xander, retreating for the safety and comfort of Anya's embrace. "It's guy stuff, very macho, very hush-hush." Anya wrapped her arms around him and massaged him around the neck.

"I thought that you were very brave," she said in a matter of fact sounding voice, "Even if you did just have your ass handed to you by a vastly superior fighter."

"Oh thanks," he scoffed before pulling her into a lingering kiss.

"You kids keep it PG," Joyce called out to them.

"What is this?" present day Dawn asked. She looked at Xander who was watching the scene unfold with a look of pure, undiluted longing. His hand was outstretched towards the scene as though he wanted to reach out and grab it. "It's…" He swallowed before continuing. "It's my day," he said as emotionally as anyone could ever be. "That was the best day of my life," he said wistfully. She suddenly realised just how private this was and that she probably did not have the right to intrude on something so intimate.

"I'm so sorry," she said suddenly, "That was… I shouldn't have done that."

"It's okay," he said, his eyes misting slightly, "If there was ever a part of me that I wanted to share with somebody else it would that." He shook his head as if he could physically clear his thoughts with the motion. "Come on," he said, gently closing the door, "We should try some of the others." Dawn nodded and looked around. There was something bugging her but she could not put her finger on it. What was wrong? Ah, there it is. One of the doors stood out. It was positively covered with chains and dead bolts.

"Xander?" she asked, "If these doors are supposed to represent your emotions; why does that one say Faith Lehane?" She walked over as if to open it but to her shock Xander roughly grabbed her and dragged her away from it.

"Don't. Even. Touch. It," he hissed, "That door stays shut." She had never seen an expression like that on his face. It was a twisted combination of rage and fear. "Were the locks and chains not enough to indicate that that door stays shut?" He suddenly let go of her arm and took several steps away from her. He looked at his hands in horror as though he was shocked that he could do something so awful to Dawn. "I'm sorry," he said, "I shouldn't have lost control like that but… Please trust me, you don't want to see what's on the other side of that door."

"Why?" she asked. When there was no response forthcoming, "What did she do?" she pressed, "I know that she was no angel but…? I've seen inside your head, there's bad stuff but nothing that makes you like… well, that. So I think she did something pretty bad even by her standards. What did she do to you?"

"Don't ask," he said in a tone that did not invite further discussion. "Please don't ask."

"Okay," she said, letting the matter drop faster than Angelus dropped puppies into a fire. Tara/Hendall watched the pair curiously.

"Is there a problem?" she asked them.

"No problem," he said quickly, "Just a small…" He looked up and smiled darkly. "Of course," he said quietly. He closed his eyes and another door appeared in the wall.

Xander Harris.

"How did you do that?" Dawn asked.

"This is my head," he replied, "I get it now; everything you see is me. I just have to will it so." He opened the door and walked inside. "Okay," he said, "I didn't see that coming."

~o~O~o~

The Present Day

"Why was that such a good day for me? I really don't think that I could give you a definite answer. There were so many things that were good about just the two minutes that Dawn saw. I think that the main thing was that everyone was there and we were happy. Anya, Joyce and Tara were alive, Riley was still around, I was at a great point in my life professionally and socially and… Well, that's about it.

"Isn't that enough?"

~o~O~o~

Earlier that week

Location: Wolfram & Hart – Angel's Office

Wesley paced back and forth before Angel's desk. "A van ran him down," he said, "He got up and walked away... unharmed." Angel ignored him and stared at the Reilly family still standing out in the lobby.

"How'd they find us?" he asked quietly.

"Police officer mentioned our name, said we might be able to help," Wesley replied, unsure of what was the cause of Angel's distress.

"We're not taking the case," he replied firmly.

"Why not?" Wesley demanded, more confused than angry. Angel sat back down at his desk.

"Because with everything going on, we don't have time to deal with small stuff like this," he said evasively.

"Small stuff?" fumed Wesley, "This is what we do... or what we're supposed to do. They need help. And they seem like good people."

"All the more reason to get them out of here," said Angel, not looking him in the eye, "We know what this place does to good people."

"Fred is alive," said Wesley simply, "We can take whatever this place throws at us. Remember when we were back at Angel's Investigations? We did stuff like this all of the time. I know we're now working on a bigger scale but I'm not ready to let go of the smaller stuff. Not yet."

~o~O~o~

"So my innermost subconscious is the Bat Cave," said Xander, "Who knew?"

"Those tanks are really starting to creep me out," said Hendall. Around the chamber were several glass cases, each one containing a familiar looking figure. Some were younger, some were older but each form was unmistakably that of Xander Harris. They were all as still as corpses. If Xander was disturbed by the multiple hims he was doing a fantastic job of hiding it. He frowned as he looked at one labelled 2002.

"God I put on weight," he said, "Good thing I slimmed down a bit." One of the Xanders looked different from the others. He was pale, he was dressed very differently (all black leather) and he was also conscious and banging away at the glass case (labelled Wishverse) that contained him with a look of pure wrath contorted his normally handsome features. Xander peered intently at the case, his nose almost touching the glass. "Hello you," he whispered in a dangerous voice, "Get comfortable coz you're not leaving." The trapped Xander glared at the real one. He then looked at Dawn with an expression that could only be described as hunger. The look chilled her to her core. While staring at her with unblinking eyes he slowly licked his tongue across his teeth.

"Who is he?" she asked curiously, fighting the sense of revulsion in her gut.

"He's me," Xander replied cryptically, "That's the thing; everything you here see is me."

"Then why are you…" Her voice trailed off momentarily. "Why is he… different to the others?"

"You remember how Anya lost her powers?" he asked. She nodded, wondering just where he was going with this. "Well she lost them when she granted a wish that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. In that reality… I was that. I was a vampire. I asked her to show me what I had been once. This was after that musical incident. Asking her was a mistake. In that world I was… Well, I don't know if I was as bad as Angelus but to be fair he had a few hundred years on me. I was definitely a close second and with more time I – he might have even been worse." He tapped the glass. "Asking her was a mistake," he repeated.

"You really are strange," Hendall observed, "Has anyone ever told you that?" Both Xander and Dawn had almost forgotten that she was there with all of the strange things that they had seen that day. The corners of Xander's lips tightened although Dawn was unsure if it was with a smile or a grimace.

"They never really stop," he replied, "Ah-ha! Here we are. He walked down to where the Batmobile would be if this really was the Bat Cave. Instead of a jet black semi tank was a ruined Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R. It was littered with bullet holes and stained with blood. Dawn didn't have to ask who the blood belonged to. He patted the ruined metal frame sadly. "She was a good one," he said fondly, "Angel got me another one but she's just not the same. You never forget your first." He closed his eyes and once again their surroundings darkened. When the light returned Dawn could see another Xander riding the motorcycle, furiously charging after three trucks down a deserted motorway. Suddenly the trucks stopped their retreat and turned around to face their sole pursuer. Real world Xander touched Dawn on the shoulder. "I got too into the chase," he said, "And I think that they did as well. It took them a while to realise that they were being chased by only one moron as opposed to multiple." He turned around. "It's okay," he told the two ladies, "I know how it ends." Sure enough the gang opened fire and Xander was struck down. Real Xander walked past his wounded form without so much as a glance and looked at the shooters. There he was; tall, youthful and long white hair that reached past his shoulders. Even his eyebrows and eyelashes were the colour of fresh snow. He was smiling serenely as if he was watching a Disney cartoon (most likely Beauty and the Beast as no-one in the world can watch the ballroom scene without smiling and tearing up just a bit) as opposed to the near execution of a Wolfram & Hart employee. "Gotcha you son of bitch," Xander growled triumphantly, "You're not getting away this time."

~o~O~o~

Harmony cradled Xander's unconscious body in her arms. He and the two ladies had been out for at least twenty minutes. Gunn attended to Dawn, making sure that she was breathing and that there was a pulse. He didn't really know what else to do. He saw Harmony's miserable expression and was fairly certain that he could guess the reason for her melancholy exterior. "Hey," he said kindly, "You shouldn't listen to what that old lady said. You and Xander are good and I know you wouldn't hurt him."

She didn't look convinced by his words.

~o~O~o~

"So how do you do all of this?" Dawn asked Hendall curiously, "How does the spell work?"

"Well," she replied in the soft voice Tara had always reserved for Dawn, "Can you see this gemstone that I'm wearing?" She reached for a simple silver necklace around her throat and showed it to the younger girl. At the bottom of the chain was a cloudy coloured gemstone about the size of an eyeball. "It took me a very long time to track this down. It acts as a conduit to the ether. The ether is a combination of everyone's inner thoughts and feelings. Xander's presence draws his memories towards us like a magnet." Her face suddenly contorted with rage. "Who the hell was this girl?" she demanded angrily, "Was she always this stupid when it came to her secrets?"

"Tara wasn't big on secrets," said Xander, "She thought that they came with too high a price."

"Then she was a fool," Hendall snapped.

"You didn't know her," he replied evenly, "Now how do we get out of here?" He looked around with an expression of distaste on his face, "I've had enough of this place." Hendall recovered her composure and nodded.

"The exit should appear soon enough," she said, "We have to pass through a few more rooms first."

"Should?" he replied skeptically.

"This isn't an exact science!" she said irritably, "We have what we came for, your subconsciousness knows that so the exit should reveal itself after a few more doors." He rolled his eyes.

"Whatever," he said, "So what? Do I just pick a door at random?" With that Dawn reached for the nearest door.

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce

Most of Dawn's memories of the former Watcher were that of a stuffy British man with a penchant for stiff looking suits. The sight that greeted her did not exactly mesh well with her preconceptions. Wesley Wyndam-Pryce was grinning like an idiot, wearing a football jersey and tossing a ball around. "Come on!" he cried jubilantly, "We can get a few plays in." Xander quickly slammed the door shut, his face shining red with embarrassment.

"Hang on," said Dawn, her eyes very wide, "Do you see Wesley like an older brother… figure… thing?" Strangely enough Xander had apparently gone temporarily deaf and was incapable of answering her question.

Harmony Kendall

Xander's hand hovered over the handle momentarily. He swallowed nervously and opened the door. The first thing that he noticed was the room. Right down the middle was dividing line that split the room in half right down the middle. One half was painted black while the other was white. Xander and Dawn entered the room and were standing on the white half when Harmony revealed herself to them. She was standing over on the black half of the room completely naked with an expression of ferocious lust covering her face. "Come here," she beckoned to Xander, her fingers stretched out towards him. When he said nothing in response she angrily stalked over to him, crossing the line from black to white in the process. The second her foot touched the white she shimmered and changed. She was now clothed, wearing the white sleeveless top and blue jeans that she had worn in the other dimension. The passion and presence suddenly evaporated from her the instant she crossed the threshold and she collapsed but Xander caught her before she could hit the ground. "It hurts," she sobbed into his chest, "It won't stop." He wrapped his arms around her and could feel her heartbeat under her chest.

"Shh," he crooned softly, rocking her backwards and forward, "It's gonna be okay." She shook her head.

"No it won't," she replied tearfully, "It will never be okay."

"We have to go," said Hendall, "The exit clearly isn't here."

"Give me a moment," said Xander without taking his eye off the sobbing woman in his arms.

"She's not even real!" Hendall exclaimed in exasperation.

"She is to me," he replied calmly, not giving her any more attention than she deserved. He kissed the Harmony figure on her forehead. "I know it hurts," he said softly, "But it hurts because you care, because you're a good person." He looked her in the eye. "And I love you for that." He released her and closed the door behind him. "Come on," he said to the others, "We should try some of the other doors."

"You're an idiot, boy," Hendall muttered under her breath just loud enough to be heard by the others, "She will burn you."

"You don't know her," Xander snapped, tired of hearing Hendall's insults and slights against Harmony.

"She doesn't have a soul," Hendall retorted.

"And look at what she manages to do," Xander said, "She has managed to do so much without it through sheer willpower. I'm not that strong, you saw the proof of that just minutes ago."

Dawn Summers

Dawn looked to Xander and then the door. "Do I want to know what's inside?" He shrugged.

"It's your choice," he said enigmatically, "I won't stop you." She nodded, made a decision and opened the door. What she saw… confused her. She saw herself sitting at a table doing what appeared to be school work. The Dawn figure looked up at the others and smiled warmly before continuing her work. She turned back to Xander.

"I don't understand," she said, feeling very confused, "Why am I different to the others? No confusing metaphorical stuff or anything like that?" He smiled at her, looking like the boy she had known in Sunnydale.

"I know you, Dawnie," he said simply before continuing on his way.

"Whoa," she said to herself. She had forgotten what a great smile he had.

~o~O~o~

The Present Day

"Dawn Summers is probably the one person that I understand better than anyone. Better than Harmony, Wesley or even myself. She is simply a good person who wants a normal life but puts it on hold for no reason other than the fact that she want to help other people.

"I think that makes her extraordinary."

~o~O~o~

PART II

Earlier that week

2004

Xander, now used to the routine, opened the door without hesitation. "Didn't we just do this?" he said to no-one in particular. They were all once again in the Bat Cave that represented what was behind Xander's door.

"There's something different about this room," observed Dawn. As it turned out she was actually quite right. Although it was not immediately noticeable there was a subtle difference in the aesthetics. The lighting was dimmer and the ruined bike was nowhere to be seen. That wasn't all; something was bugging Dawn. There was something really noticeable that she should have picked up on but for the life of her she could not figure out what it was. Xander was looking at the tanks containing the various hims and suddenly stopped when he came to the end of the row, a look of genuine, undiluted fear on his face. He turned to Hendall.

"What is this?" he demanded. No, it was not a demand, it was almost a plea.

"What's wrong?" Dawn asked, her earlier nagging feeling forgotten. She walked over to him and then was struck dumb when she saw the source of Xander's distress. "What is that?" she asked, "I don't understand. How can that be there?"

"Well that sucks," was all Hendall would say.

"You do not get to sat that!" shouted Xander pointing an accusing finger at her, "You tell me what that thing is doing there!" She shrugged.

"Like I said," she answered, "We're in the ether; there is no concept of time here. You could see anything from your past or – in this case – your future."

"You didn't mention that before," he said furiously. He knew it was not her fault but he had an overwhelming urge to be angry at someone and since she was someone she fit the bill perfectly.

"I didn't think that it would be relevant," she responded, shrugging again, "I mean, how could I? You're young; I just wouldn't see it coming." She looked past him and pointed. "Oh look at that," she said humourlessly, "There's the exit." Sure enough just behind them was a door that resembled an emergency exit complete with the florescent green exit sign on the top. Xander nodded and tore his eyes away from the horrible sight that had captivated him.

"You're right," he said in a trembling voice, "We… We have what we came for. Can you cast the locator spell?"

"Yes," she affirmed, "I can give you a name, address and personal information. What you do with that is up to you."

"Alright," he said, "Let's go." Dawn grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Xander," she said desperately, "You can't… We have to –" He cut her off.

"No," he said, "We don't tell anyone anything about this. Bury it. I'll deal with it when it comes but the others do not find out about this. Am I clear?"

"Xander –"

"Am. I. Clear?"

"Okay," she finally relented, "I won't tell anyone. But you should." They walked over to the exit when he suddenly stopped.

"Wait here," he said urgently, "There's something I have to do. It won't take a minute." He rushed out of the room and back out into the hallway. "Okay," he said to the hall, "This is my head so you're gonna do what I want. You know who I need to see." Every single door but one shimmered and vanished and the walls closed in so that the room was now much smaller, no bigger than an office.

Joyce Summers

Without the slightest shred of hesitation he stepped forward, opened the door and entered the room. She looked up and smiled warmly as soon as he entered the room. She was sitting on a couch in the living room of the old Sunnydale home. "Hey," he said softly.

"Hello Xander," she said kindly, "Did you need Buffy? I think she's somewhere upstairs…"

"No," he said quickly, "I actually came to see you. I just… I-I just wanted to say thank you." She looked puzzled at his words.

"For what?" she asked curiously.

"For you simply being you," he answered, "I didn't really think about it until I saw Hendall turn into you earlier but… Most of the adults in my life were… Well, they were disappointing to say the very least. You were not. You were just… there. You listened if I had a problem; you cared when no-one else would. You were the most human… human that I ever knew and I loved you for that." He wiped away a tear that was starting to form around his eye. "Just thank you for being the one parental figure that didn't walk out on me." He shook his head. "Oh stop it," he said to the tears that were sliding down his face.

"Hey," she said gently, "It's quite alright. I'm always here if you need me." She hugged him and for a single instant Xander bought into the lie. He pretended that she was not an echo in his memory and that she was actually there. She broke the hug and looked at him. "Now I'm quite certain that you have some work to do," she said faux sternly, "You should probably get to it." He grinned despite the tears.

"Any tips?" he asked when he got to the door.

"Be yourself," she replied instantly.

"I was hoping for something a bit more concrete and a little less ambiguous," he said.

"I don't think it's ambiguous," she said in response, "There have been so many Watchers and soldiers and any idiot can be lucky enough to be born a Slayer. Be the one thing that you are best at." She smiled at him again. "Be Xander." He grabbed the door handle and was going to walk out when a final thought occurred to him.

"By the way," he said, "Is this really you saying this or is this just all in my head."

"Of course it's all in your head," she answered, "I'm not sure why that wouldn't make it real though."

"Goodbye Joyce," he said before gently closing the door. The hall returned to its proper size and he walked through the doorway labelled 2004. He walked past the tanks without looking at the end of the line and found Dawn and Hendall standing at the exit. "Come on," he said, "We have work to do." Without any further ado they left his head.

Dawn had been right earlier; there was something wrong with the room. Something was missing. However, given what she had seen at the end of the tanks it had entirely slipped her mind. Had she been allowed to focus it might have come to her attention that the tank marked Wishverse was in fact empty. Due to the emotional upheaval that Xander had just gone through the normally airtight security in his head were momentarily disabled.

A Xander Harris duplicate emerged from the shadows. Now free of the glass prison, he could feel his hunger returning to him.

Blood.

He craved blood.

But there was not any there. He walked to the end of the row of tanks, curious to see what could have inspired such a reaction out of the trio. When he saw what it was he hissed in fear.

"Oh that's not good," he said to the empty room, "I need to get out of here before that happens or I'm dead." He tried the exit but the door refused to budge. "I'm gonna need something a little bigger." He looked around and smiled as something occurred to him. "Oh that is a good idea. That is a very good idea. Where is it that he's got Faith locked up?" He walked out into the hall and left the grave stone.

It was a very simple grave; just a simple slap of stone, nothing fancy or showy. The words inscribed onto it were quite interesting though. It was they that had drawn the fearful reaction from the group.

Alexander Harris

Friend, Comrade and Champion

1981 – 2004

He found her

~o~O~o~

The Present Day

"Did I find out anything interesting about me personally in my head, you ask? Nah, not really. I just spend most of my time thinking about boobs and fast cars."

~o~O~o~

Earlier that week

It had now been almost forty minutes and Harmony was really worried. There was still a faint pulse and small, shallow breaths coming from him. All she could do was continue to hold him in her arms. She was about to suggest to Gunn that they should call the San Francisco branch of Wolfram & Hart when suddenly Xander catapulted upwards (narrowly avoiding head butting her) and took in a huge gulp of air. He looked up at her and grinned. "Hey gorgeous," he said, "What's new?"

~o~O~o~

Location: Wolfram & Hart Training Room

Fred's jubilation at Spike's news dimmed somewhat when she realised something that should probably have occurred to her much earlier. "Hang on a moment," she said carefully, "Isn't Buffy leaving at the end of the week?" He could see where she was going with her question and nodded.

"Yeah," he answered, "Uh… She asked me to come with her. You know, back to Europe and help out with the Slayers."

"Oh." She was completely taken aback by his statement. "What did you say?"

"I said yes." She smiled sadly and then (carefully) hugged him.

"I'm gonna miss you," she said

"Likewise. Just thank you for everything that you've done."

~o~O~o~

Location: San Francisco

Holiday House

Xander checked his watch while sitting in the living room with the others. "Okay," he said, "It is now just past midday. We'll head out at quarter past four and should get to the warehouse just before five. Sunset is just after six so we'll want to get them when the vampires among them are at a disadvantage." He then looked at Dawn. "Seeing as this is a capture not kill mission," he continued, "I have called the local Wolfram & Hart branch for assistance. They will be offering equipment and manpower and will help bring them in. Is everyone clear on the plan?" he asked to the group collectively. They all nodded but Harmony looked worried about something. He gave her a small nod indicating that they would speak before it started. "The Wolfram & Hart security team will be here at three-thirty so we should probably get ready for them." He clapped his hands together and said, "Go team," in a dispassionate tone of voice. While the others left, Dawn stayed behind almost hesitantly.

"Thanks," she said awkwardly, "For saying you won't kill them." He nodded, now feeling deeply uncomfortable being alone with her. She had been inside his head, she knew what was coming.

"No problem," he said.

"Look, about before –"

"Forget it," he said harshly, "This isn't the time."

"But what if you… You know," she said, her voice trailing off.

"If everyone thought like that," he said, "No-one would ever leave the house."

"Look," she said in a trembling voice, "I just got you back in my life… I can't lose you again. You're my best friend and I don't want you die." She took no notice of the tears that she was shedding. He nodded at her words.

"I don't want to die either," he said, "But… Not today. I am not going to die today. Now if you'll excuse me," he got up, I need to…" He nodded in Harmony's direction. A look of understanding washed over her face.

"Okay," she said, "But we're not done here."

"Understood." He walked over to his girlfriend. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I don't think I'm going to be all that useful to you," she said sadly, "If it's before sunset then I'm just as vulnerable." He pressed his forehead against hers.

"I know," he said, "But… It's the best plan I can think of. Look, I-I have to ask you this…"

"If you're asking me to stay out of this," she said firmly, "You can forget it."

"I had to try," he said gently, "You know that."

~o~O~o~

The Present Day

"His name was Sabastian Crane. He was twenty-six years old and had been born and had grown up in Brisbane, Australia. He came from money, went to all the best schools and did… well; whatever else it is that rich people do. Then it all went wrong in the mid-nineties when his mother's company collapsed. He doesn't show up again until 2002 when he is arrested in New York for an aggravated assault charge. The charges were later mysteriously dropped mere hours after his arrest. This was followed by a rape charge, then a drug dealing charge and an attempted murder charge. Again, all charges were dropped just as mysteriously.

"A psych profile done on him at fourteen years of age suggested that maintaining emotional control was the most important thing to him and that he displayed borderline sociopathic tendencies and what he did to that girl's kitten was downright disturbing.

"The psych profile wasn't off in the slightest. You remember those hostages he took back at the beginning? They were all killed the second he completed the jump out of L.A. Their fingers were cut off and all of their teeth were missing. Just one more reason to hate the bastard.

"This year he came into a leadership position of the Hell's Angels (the most clichéd sounding gang name ever… of all time), a gang of both humans and supernatural creatures. This organisation had operations all over the east coast. He had been in L.A. for several months until Wes and I barged into his world and he retaliated by shooting me and breaking my bike.

"Hendall's locator spell had revealed all of this information and more. She had given me a device that looked just lick a wristwatch with a compass in place of a clock. Instead of pointing north it would point in his direction if he felt like running.

"The shooting of me I could forgive, understand even, but the bike? For breaking that irreplaceable work of art the bastard had to pay and I didn't mean in a monetary sense.

"Ever since that incident on the SR1 he had been living in San Francisco with a base of operations in a warehouse near the Golden Gate Bridge.

"I now had three things that I didn't have before; a name, an address and, more importantly, allies."

~o~O~o~

Earlier that week

This is Sebastian Crane. He is a young man and has accomplished more than many ever will in his short life. He is brilliant, handsome and charming. He has lost much but he has also gained much. He has been confident, cocky, and prideful yet he has also been desperate, anguished, and sorrowful. However, the one thing that he has never been is surprised.

He won't be able to say that anymore.

~o~O~o~

Sebastian Crane was in an uneasy mood and did not know the reason why. He looked down at his workers hoping that the sight of the wheels of his empire moving might shake the cloud hovering over his head. They were packing stock into a large truck's semitrailer that was bound for L.A. By all rights he should be ecstatic; he was finally the top player in San Francisco, he was dealing more Orpheus than he had ever done in Los Angeles and was still rolling in cash from the truck heist from the previous week. Everything was coming up roses… so why could he not shake that bad feeling that had been plaguing him all day?

His question was answered when a small cylinder shaped device smashed through a necro tempered glass window. Production stopped and everyone paused to look at it. A mere second after it touched the ground, the device extended and exploded into a huge, looming cloud of smoke. As if that was not enough excitement for one day, the main doors of the warehouse were slammed in and several men clad in body armour (resembling S.W.A.T. gear) stormed into the building. Several vampires were immediately reduced to ash as the now no longer filtered sunlight poured into the increasingly crowded warehouse. Realising that retreat was the better part of valour, Sebastian (along with his two fearsome human bodyguards) sprinted for the truck and climbed into the driver's seat. Despite the fact that the doors to the semi-trailer were still open, he put his foot down onto the accelerator and drove straight through the closed garage doors, uncaringly condemning several more of his vampire employees to a fiery death. He didn't know who these intruders were and quite frankly he did not care to stick around long enough to find out.

True to Dawn's request, all of the human gang members were being subdued through non-lethal methods and were restrained and herded off into the centre of the warehouse. Dawn kicked a young human in the gut and he charged at her with a chain and tazered a tough looking biker chick, dropping her instantly into a writhing mess on the floor. She looked around at the chaotic scene before her eyes. She heard the sound of an engine roaring and looked up just in time to see Sebastian smash through the garage doors.

Sebastian smashed his hand into the steering wheel, a rare explosion of emotion clouding his usually impeccable mask of control. What the hell had just happened? Who the hell were these people? They weren't cops but none of the other gangs would ever be equipped like these guys so…

Hang on.

His peripherals picked up something in his side view mirror. Weaving in between the traffic was a motorcyclist. Sebastian could not help but feel a sense of déjà vu. He had done this before.

Oh, it's whathisname.

He turned to the two large men sitting next to him.

"Deal with our tail," he commanded them before returning all of his attentions to the road. He just needed to make it out of the city. Everything else did not matter.

Xander gunned the throttle of his as he chased after the truck and the trailer he dragged behind. There was no interference from the San Francisco police as they had been kindly informed to stay the hell away. As he chased after his quarry he could not help but feel a sense of déjà vu. He had done this before.

Well, not exactly this. This time he was not alone.

Harmony

Harmony put her foot down onto the pedal and forced her car onto the main road, running parallel to the truck. On the other side pulled up a much smaller truck being driven by Gunn. Behind the driver's compartment was a one hundred and fifty metre steel tow cable.

Xander

As he swerved past a minivan Xander was suddenly glad that this time he was wearing a helmet. He was quite certain that he had used up all of his luck regarding head injuries. He pulled up alongside the semi-trailer and matched its speed. He risked a brief glance at his surroundings and noted that they were heading for the Golden Gate Bridge.

Gunn

Gunn was going call Harmony via radio to tell her to continue to box him in when he became distracted by something happening on top of Sabastian's truck. A hatch on top of the semi-trailer opened up to reveal one of the bodyguards and – more importantly – a Gatling gun that was now pointed square at him. His eyes widened and he accelerated and swerved ahead to avoid the deadly stream of bullets.

They were now on the Golden Gate Bridge.

His quick move was only a temporary reprieve as he was now directly in front of the much larger and heavier vehicle that was now bearing down upon him.

CRASH!

The truck actually bumped into the back of him. He reached for his radio.

"Harmony!" he called, "I could do with a pick up!" She moved even closer to the truck so that she was not at an easy angle for the gun and inched towards the front.

Xander

Being unaware of what was happening on the other end of the truck (due to his lack of a radio) Xander pulled up right to the back of the open semi-trailer and leaped from his bike. He experienced a brief moment of the illusion of flight before slamming roughly into the floor of the trailer. He immediately rolled to the side but was not fast enough to avoid a face full of steel capped boot. He was lucky that the pieces of the shattered visor avoided his remaining eye. The bodyguard then lashed out with his other foot catching Xander in the chest, nearly sending him back out onto the road. Ignoring the white hot pain around his heart, Xander rose to his feet, tore off his ruined helmet and retaliated with a ferocious right hook to the side of his assailant's head. The punch had no effect other than almost shattering his hand. What was the guy's skull made of?

"Did that do anything to you?" he demanded of the hulking behemoth. The bodyguard shrugged.

"It smarted a bit," he said kindly before elbowing him.

Gunn

CRASH!

The truck slammed into him again but this time it dragged him back with it. Evidently it had snagged onto something. "HARMONY!" he screamed, "Some intervention would be just dandy right about now!" He looked out the window and could see Harmony coming up to him on the driver's side. He could see that she was pointing upwards furiously. Understanding dawned on him and, against his better judgement, he opened his door and climbed onto the roof of the car.

CRASH!

Xander

Xander was slammed into the side of the trailer and briefly saw stars. He forced his unwilling body to stand up and face his attacker. A thought suddenly occurred to him. Oh, why not? All gadgets need field testing. He raised his fist and lashed out once again although this time when the blow connected, the bodyguard actually keeled over in pain. He clutched his gut and saw blood on his hand before collapsing to the ground; stunned and hurt but alive.

"Spring knuckledusters," said Xander proudly, "If it moves, it doesn't."

Sebastian

"Goddamnit!" screamed Sabastian in frustration as he saw the incoming vehicles ahead of him in the distance. He recognised the make.

Wolfram & Hart.

There they were, still finding new ways to screw with him. No matter, he would slam through the car attached to his front bumper and plough through them. His vehicle was simply larger and heavier. He put his foot down as far as the pedal would allow.

Gunn

"Oh what the hell?" muttered Gunn just seconds before he leapt from what was left of his rather tiny truck. The instant he jumped, the vehicle was crumbled under the weight and force of the huge truck, trailing behind it, dragged by the steel cable. He flew through the air before landing on the roof of Harmony's car, only holding on by the tips of his fingers. He opened the back passenger door and quickly climbed in.

"HA!" He jubilantly punched Harmony on the show who couldn't help but laugh along with him. "THAT'S HOW WE DO IT!"

Xander

Seeing the ladder, Xander climbed up and, again using the knuckleduster, hit the second bodyguard in the back of the head, knocking him out and leaving him slumped against the Gatling gun. All that was left for him to do was for him to shuffle along the roof of the semi-trailer and get to the driver's compartment.

That's where Sebastian was.

Gunn's Truck

The ruined shell of Gunn's truck still continued to clang back and forth along the bridge, the steel cable easily supporting its weight. Suddenly it was wedged behind on of the bridge's support columns, remaining perfectly stationary, acting exactly like an anchor. The steel cable continued to unravel but it was going to run out in just seconds.

Harmony

"What the hell is he doing up there?" Harmony demanded, staying perfectly level with the front of the truck. Gunn followed her line of vision and could see Xander carefully making his way across the roof of the truck. Gunn shook his head.

"I don't know," he said, "Keeping on top of things… Oh my God." He could see what was left of his truck slam into one of the support columns. Harmony could see the same thing in her mirror and everything slowed down to a crawl. She knew what she had to do.

"TAKE THE WHEEL!" she screamed.

~o~O~o~

This is Harmony Kendall. She is a vampire, a soulless monster, a demon sent from Hell to feed off the innocent.

She is also in love with Alexander Harris, a man who is none of those things.

She has committed many crimes, many vile acts of depravity but when she is with him it almost feels like they don't matter. She wants to be better when he's around. She doesn't want to be the monster.

However, she does not want to return to her previous ways of being the rich, shallow schoolgirl. There has to be something more to life than just that.

To be fair to her, Xander is not wholly responsible for this personality shift. She had already felt dissatisfaction with her life many years before he had really entered the picture. She had felt directionless which is why she started taking a night class and why she actually got a legitimate job instead of simply stealing cash from her victims. She wanted structure in her life that the monster in her simply could not provide.

She has never been blessed with genius levels of intelligence but she is smarter than most people would give her credit for. Take now for instance; right now she can see what is going to happen before it happens.

1. Gunn's ruined vehicle is now stuck to a bridge support and is going to act as an anchor for the large truck in front of it.

2. When the steel cable runs out the truck will be jerked forwards in a brief but dramatic fashion.

3. Since the truck is moving so fast, once it is jerked forwards, the motion will most likely force it onto its side, effectively trapping Sebastian.

4. Since Xander is now at the front of the truck, when it briefly jerks forwards it will act as a rudimentary catapult, sending him flying ahead into the tarmac.

5. Since Xander is an entirely normal human being, an impact onto the ground from that height at that speed will most likely kill him.

6. He will need something to cushion his fall.

7. It is still over half an hour until sunset. Leaving the safety of the car with necro tempered glass windows is suicide.

With all of this known to her, there is only one thought that races through Harmony's head…

Not him!

~o~O~o~

Despite the fierce gale whipping about his head, Xander had almost made it to the front of the truck. They were nearing the end of the bridge and he could see the Wolfram & Hart reinforcements racing towards them. He had to laugh.

Sebastian was his.

Unbeknownst to him, the steel cable finally ran out and snapped taut. The entire back of the truck was briefly lifted into the air, propelling Xander off of the roof. Despite the feeling of weightlessness and the massive rush of adrenaline, Xander could still see Harmony's car.

Suddenly, Harmony tore through the roof of the car, her vampire abilities allowing her to make a leap that no human ever could. Now no longer protected by the necro tempered glass the sun was finally allowed to have its way with her. She could feel the flames already start to form as she rocketed towards her target. Her flame engulfed body slammed into him and, despite her senses starting to shut down, she still had enough control to rotate them around so that when they hit the road, her more durable form cushioned him from the worst of the fall. As they skidded across the ground, smouldering bits of Harmony's flesh were torn off her body by the rough surface of the road. When they finally came to a complete stop, they found themselves under the small shadow of an overhead sign. It was offering her some protection but, in all honesty, it merely meant that she would burn longer, the sunlight was so intense.

Screaming in both pain from the flames and the sense of pure fear, Xander ripped of his jacket and threw it onto Harmony's body. Realising that it was nowhere near enough, he picked up her partially covered body and sprinted for the now overturned truck. He laid her down in the shadow it formed and removed his jacket from her.

It didn't look good.

Vampires are extremely durable creatures. They were designed to be able to absorb huge amounts of punishment but this… Her entire back had been scraped off by the road as though someone had applied an extremely tough piece of sandpaper to her. Her entire body was covered with burns and was still continuing to smoke.

He had no idea what to do. He screamed for some sort of assistance and could see Gunn and the reinforcements now running towards him. Gunn's face blanched with horror when he saw what had happened to her but a medical team rushed to her and placed her onto a stretcher before covering her with a heavy sheet. They then loaded her into the back of a van. However, they didn't drive her anywhere.

"What's going on?" demanded Xander, all thoughts of Sebastian Crane forgotten, "Why aren't you taking her anywhere?"

"We're waiting on a helicopter," one of the paramedics informed him, "The damage done to her body is incredibly extensive and while we can stabilise her condition, no-one in this city has the resources to treat her. We're waiting for a helicopter so that we can take her to the L.A. branch where the medical facilities are more advanced. It'll be here in less than a minute."

A security officer walked up to them and said, "You and your associate should go with her. We can finish the clean-up here. Also, you're other friend is on the way." Xander nodded and turned to Gunn.

"As soon as Dawn and the chopper are here," he said quickly, "We get out of here."

~o~O~o~

The Present Day

"The forty minutes it took for the extra fast Wolfram & Hart helicopter to get us all to L.A. is without a doubt the longest forty minutes of my life."

~o~O~o~

Earlier

"Is she okay," Xander looked up from his knees to see Fred rush towards him. "I came as soon as I could." He had been in the waiting room for over two hours as the doctors worked to save Harmony. He shook his head helplessly.

"I have no idea," he said forlornly, "Gunn is still working on all of the paperwork while Dawn is… Somewhere. You know, I can't even remember what it was that she needed to do." Fred put her hand on top of his.

"Hey," she said firmly, "She is going to be okay."

"I have no idea what to do," he said, "They said that it will probably be many more hours until they can say for certain if they can fix her or not."

"How about we just talk?" she suggested, "To keep your mind off what's happening in there. Tell me everything that happened. Start from the beginning."

~o~O~o~

Four hours later

The present day

"… and that's basically everything that happened to us," Xander finished. "You know?" he continued, "This was a good idea, just getting all of this off my chest really helps." Fred smiled gently at him.

"I glad that I could help," she said, "Even though I'm really not that kind of doctor. Although next time I don't think that I need to hear quite so much about your sex life." He chuckled slightly, the first positive reaction from him all night.

"Hey where's Wesley and the others?" he asked finding it odd that Wesley wasn't with Fred.

"Something weird happened while you were gone," she said, "It all involved this kid named Connor…"

~o~O~o~

I hope you all enjoyed this super long chapter and the end of the retribution arc. The Harmony saving Xander thing is something I have had planned since Smile Time. I am so glad to finally use it. I also hope you like seeing inside Xander's mind as that was a lot of fun to write.

The Present Day scenes were also fun to write and if you look back to chapter thirty-seven you can actually see really big hints that it was Fred he was talking to.

Oh also do you want the story to end at the start of the Fall like the show or do you want it to continue on after?

Please review and I'll see you next time.