TITLE: Slayer's Knight 8 AUTHOR: STEPHEN HOWE
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DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss! He created everything! Set in season.6.Some spoilers but mostly AU. Xander has discovered his destiny only to have it ripped away from him. Dawn is still here .Set just after the battle with Glory THE MAGIC BOX It had been two months since Xander's death and Faith's disappearance. With the victory over Glory overshadowed by the death of her lover Sunnydale sank back into it's routine of 'normal' violence. The odd Vampire or demon had shown up and was quickly illuminated by the combined forces of the Scooby's and the LA Gang. Wesley had told Giles that someone should return to LA to aid Gunn and the others in their battle to keep LA free of night crawlers. Giles, Cordelia and Angel stood by him as he entered the cab. Cordelia tells him. " Now don't forget to tell Dennis to feed my fish and water the plants while I'm gone? And tell him I miss him." She hugs him the wipes away a tear." Don't forget to research about the next opening of this Hellmouth. I know it all ties in with His return." Wesley looks her in the eye and sighs. " Cordy it's natural for you to refuse to believe he's gone. You loved him. Hell you probably still do, but you have to let him go." Cordelia touches her head and grins." You're forgetting my little gift from Doyle. I saw him." She shuts her eyes and concentrates." He's wearing a strange black uniform and has a scar." She draws her finger down from her right temple down to the corner of her mouth." It kinda makes him look sexy. But he's terribly pale Faith tells him to go back and the rest of them will take care of the Wendol but he shakes his head and then kisses Buffy before he moves forward." Wesley and Giles both begin thinking at the mention of the Wendol. Giles says. " I think I've heard of the Wendol." Wesley nods. " Yes there was a report shortly before I left England that they had been sighted shortly before the outbreak of war in the Urals." He checks his watch. " It's too early to check my sources at the Council but I will get onto them as soon as I can." Angel tells them as Wesley drives off." I know of the Wendol and if they've been seen that means there's enough of them that they don't care anymore." The three move inside and sit as Angel tells them. " It was when I was first turned and we left the master Darla and I did a 'tour ' of Europe until we hit the area the Wendol ruled. " he shook his head." Let me tell you we booked our Asses out of there quick smart. These things are like the evil version of the energizer Bunny!" Usal escorted Buffy from the training room and heard the name. " I too know of the Wendol." Giles turned to see him holding Dawns hand as he guided the Summers sisters to their chairs. " Please we may need all the help we can." " The knights have a record of encountering them on three separate occasions." He tries to think back to his studies. " It's all a bit fuzzy but if you want to know I could always contact them?" Buffy glowered at him. " I want nothing to do with them! As far as I'm concerned they don't exist!" She suddenly cupped a hand over her mouth and raced for the toilet. " Damn!" Dawn tells them. " She's been like that most mornings for the past week now. Is it some kind of Slayer thing?" Cordelia lets the information sink in then asks Usal. " So how soon can you contact the Knights?" " My father calls me every Tuesday at 9 so I could ask him tonight. " " Ask him about Faith too. It seems strange she vanished with the knights and yet we've heard nothing from her. " Angel asks him. THE PATROL. Buffy walked through the Cemetery with her head bowed watching her feet shuffle through another night in Sunnydale's un-dead zone. Two vamps walked up to her. " Hello there. Don't you know it's not safe to walk here at night?" Buffy looked up at them. " My advice to you would be to run as fast as you can?" She moved into her stance and pulled out a stake. " You really have to be totally stupid to pick me tonight!" The two undead make their move on her and Buffy takes out all her frustration on them before she drives the stake into their hearts. She looks up at the sound of clapping. Spike walks into the pool of light. " Nice moves princess." Buffy wipes away a tear and tells him. " I told you to leave Spike!" He looks sad. " I did pet but then I heard Xander..." His voice broke at the mention of his name. " I knew you would be hurting so I thought I'd offer my condolences and a shoulder to cry on. First Angel then Riley, Joyce and now Xander. You've lost a lot of loved ones Buff. " He held out his arms as he comforted her. " Shh. Don't cry my love Spike's here." He felt her sob into his chest and he planted a kiss on her head. " Let it all out my love." He stroked her hair and moved it from around her neck. " I offered you my love before and I still offer it now. Unconditional and un ending. " " I'm sorry Spike I can't. We can still be friends though." Buffy feels him nibble on her ear and she felt a passion rise in her and burn as he kissed her pulse point. " Never mind. If I can't have you in life you WILL love me in death. " He vamped out and sank his fangs into her neck before she could react. THE MAGIC BOX. Usal hangs up the phone and looks at the others as they hang on his every word. " My father says he will fax you all the information they have on the Wendol but at the moment the Knights have to deal with the Hellmouth in Tunguska. It's reopening." Giles panics. " The Tunguska Hellmouth has reopened?" Willow and Tara look at each other before Willow asks. " Wasn't that where the meteor crashed at the turn of the century?" Giles nodded. " That's what the authorities came up with after the Council and the Knights closed it. The spell they used released the power of several nuclear bombs." Usal told them. " The Knights lost many of their best warriors that day." He touched the medallion around his neck. " They stayed to make sure no demons escaped. Fifty five men died when the spell was released and their names live on in our hearts." He turned to Angel and told him. " Faith is with the Knights." Dawn pushed her chair back. " What! After what they did she's working with them!" Usal shrugged. " She joined them to help close the Hellmouth. Apparently she finds our ways closer to hers than yours." Buffy walks into the research room looking happier than they had seen her for a while. Dawn walks up to her and asks. " So what did he say?" She began to get worried. " Buffy? What did the doctor say about you being ill?" " He said it would pass in a few weeks and that it was quiet normal for a woman in her first trimester." It takes a few seconds for it to sink in then Willow says. " Your first trimester. Ugh Buffy that means. " Buffy looks at her and nods. " Xander and I created a new life before he.. Left." She hugged Dawn. " All this death and grieving and yet a new life will be born in seven months." She rubs her stomach. " A little bundle of joy for when Xander comes back." Giles tries to be diplomatic and tells her. " I'm more than pleased for you and will do anything I can to help you. But both you and Cordelia have to realize from what I saw that night, there was no way he could have survived." Buffy's joy was short as his words crashed through her images of a happy family life.
Just then a dust covered Buffy came into the closed shop, she had a hand clasped to her neck as milky white fluid leaked from the two small holes in there. " What happened?" Giles asked. "Freaking Spike!" She sat down and Willow checked the wound as the Buffybot went into shut down mode." He came out of nowhere all 'SNAGy' on me telling me how he was sad that all these bad things had happened to me then he started the whole seducto mode on my ass! Just as it was working the bastard bit me!" " I bet he got a shock!" Dawn asked her. " Yeah Baby!" She dropped Mr.Pointy onto the table. " Hence the dusty duds." Willow tells them. " Well her self sealing system should have the holes repaired soon and then it's just a matter of topping her up with..." She saw the look on their faces. " Right you don't want to know." She tells Giles. " She'll be ready to patrol again tomorrow." SAINT AUGUSTINES CATHEDRAL. Quentin Travers sat next to Josiah Clarke, the head of the Knights Council, as five new members took their knightly vows and joined the order of Byzantium. Quinten shakes his hand. " I'm glad we have rejoined after 100 years of separation my old friend." Josiah nods and looks at the raven-haired female as she was handed her spurs. " Yes and now we have a Slayer amongst our ranks." Quentin mutters under his breath. " Hope you have better luck than we did!" Before remarking. " Yes, Faith was one of our better Slayers. Just remember she's a loaner." Quentin sees the next knight present himself and several current members cheer him on. He stares at the mans face and tries to place him. " I swear I've seen him somewhere before... Who is he?" The man rises from his knees after the pages have placed the spurs on his boots. Josiah grins. "His old name no one knows, not even he,. All we know is he was mortally wounded and our healers had to use the old magic's to bring him back. What we do know, from his actions since, is that he will be our greatest knight! He has taken the name Beowulf after one of our knights of legend." The knight turns and winks at Faith , who grins back at him, then brushes his long dark hair from his face. Quentin sees a scar running from his right temple to the corner of his mouth. " Damn! " Quentin exclaims. " I know him ... But from where?" END OF 8