TITLE: Slayer's Knight 10 AUTHOR: STEPHEN HOWE
E-MAIL: sh01@bigpond.com.au
FEEDBACK: Sure.
DISTRIBUTION: Ask and ye shall receive!
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 COMING STORM. It was another morning in Sunnydale and as
the town began to wake from a peaceful nights rest Giles waited at the Magic
Box for the Buffy bot to return from it's nightly patrol of the Hellmouth. He
smiled as he realized how much easier this Buffy was when compared to it's real
life counterpart." You know one could get used to this. You just wind her
up and set her off then when she finishes you turn her off before she becomes
too annoying." Willow arrived with a cup
of Starbucks coffee for Giles along with a Danish. " So any sign of our
girl yet?" She asked as she handed over his ritual morning coffee. He checked the clock as the sun rose and told him she should be back by
now." I think we may need to search this time Willow." Willow nods then says. " Buffy
looked better yesterday... At the ceremony I mean." Giles
nods." They do say that time heals all wounds but I fear the way he
went... Without her being able to see him one last time or say their farewells
has affected her deeper than I would have thought possible." Willow places a hand on his. " It's called closure Giles. And
I'm pretty sure it's something we all need." She looked off into the
distance. " He was the heart and no he's gone I think the heart has gone
out of us all." She looks at her coffee. " Tara and I ... We want to
leave before we loose someone else." Giles
nods. " Well with things so quiet and nothing coming up in the Codex you
would be fools not to." He looks at her. " I'm sure Buffy and Dawn would
understand." " Yes but would he?" Her eyes begin to mist up at the
memories of her childhood friend come flooding back. "Willow, he
would be the last person to want you to stay if you don't wish to." He
checks his watch. " Come on we'll have a search for her then I'll help you
break the news to everyone else." They
started out at the last cemetery on Buffy's tour and worked backwards until
they came across the wreckage of several cars. They searched for any signs of
survivors but found none and when they went to check the nearby houses they
found them vacant as well. Vacant that is except for one house that backed onto
the old High school. Willow came running out and threw up into the bushes while
Giles checked the remaining rooms. He came out carrying Mr. Pointy and cursing the night."
Well we don't need to look for Buffy any more." Willow sucked
in some fresh morning air before she asked him. " Were they all like the
ones we found in the front?" Giles nodded as he knelt to examine a foot
print in the soft soil." Yes I counted over twenty bodies, not including
the Buffy bots, and all had their heads removed." He measured
the indentations then took a small camera from his pocket and photographed it.
Willow looked very pale as she tugged on his jacket. " We should get out
of here before the police arrive." But Giles points to two patrol cars
parked haphazardly behind her. " They already know." Willow and Giles make their way to the cars and find all the
electric circuits melted. Giles picks up an empty pistol as Willow tells him.
" All the electrics are fried in both cars." He holds up the gun and
points to the spent cartridges scattered on the ground. " It looks like a
small war happened here." She turns to him. " What could do
this?" THE MAGIC BOX. Buffy throws a severed hand onto the table and Angel picks it up. " This is no boating accident." He
examines it then sniffs it. " It's also not human." Usal tells them.
" The Wendol have arrived." He places the body part back on the
table. " We should inform both the council and the Knights of this." Buffy takes her
child in her arms and shakes her head. " We tell them nothing! I'll not
let those assholes set foot on the same soil Xander walked on!" Giles
asks. " Where did you find it?" " Next to the headless body of a cop.
It looked like he shot it off with a riot gun that looked more like a
pretzel." She stroked Joyce's back as she walked her up and down the
store. Cordelia makes a face
at the hand. " From the way everyone was talking I'd have thought the
police would have called in for support all ready." Giles rubs the bridge
of his nose. " Dear God not the Initiative again!" Usal begs Buffy." Slayer Buffy please
hear me out." He stands up." I beg you by all that I hold dear,
please let me inform my father before it's too late. Having read the journals
you too must surely know that once these creatures get a foothold they are
almost impossible to defeat!" The gang hears the
doorbell's jingle and Tara enters the shop followed by several men in black.
" I think it may be too late all ready." She tells them as a familiar
person enters the room. " Hello Buff. Long time no see." " Hello Riley. You're looking better." Buffy tells him as she moves Joyce to a
better position. He looks
at the baby and grins. " I see you've been busy too." " Yes WE have Riley. I hope you got over your...Addiction?"
He rolls up his sleeves and shows her. "
Right after I left here I found there was no longer a need. " He smiles at
the baby. " So who's the lucky guy?" He nods at Angel, surprised to
see him standing in the daylight that spilled into the room. He puts two and
two together and comes up with Angel. " So Angel I see you got over your
fear of daylight." Dawn
glares at Riley. " If you must know it's Xander's and my best advice to
you is not to make some smart assed remark or there are several people in this
room that would take great joy in ripping you a new.." "DAWN!" Buffy warns her sister. "
That's okay Buff. I'm sorry about Xander. I heard it on the grape vine. "
He stares at the floor." I always knew he'd end up with you but I always
thought it would be for ever." Buffy's eyes begin
to mist over. " So did we but the fates decided otherwise." She wipes
her eyes then asks. " So to what do we owe the honor of your presence?" Riley shrugs. "
We needed all the info we could get on these creatures and Giles was the best
source I knew of." Giles tries to hide
a grin before telling him. " Well at the moment our only source comes from
the Knights and well.... They want to know what's going on and we were just
deciding whether to tell them." Riley realizes the one
they were arguing with would have to have been Buffy. " Look Buffy I know
it must be hard for you to ask for help from the very people that killed
Xander..." Willow and Tara speak at the same time. " He isn't.."
Tara bows to Willow and she grips her hand. " He isn't dead. At least our
spirit guide can't find his soul amongst the dead. She's searching the un-dead
and possessed before searching this realm." She moves to Buffy. " I
was going to tell you sooner but things got way out of hand." Buffy is almost white
the color draining from her." So if he's not dead then." Usal looks confused. " But if he
didn't die then why didn't my father tell me." " And why didn't he come back to
me...Us?" Buffy asks Willow shrugs then Tara tells her. "
There are some older forms of healing magic's that may have certain side
effects. Loss of memories prior to the bodies death and rebirth are not
uncommon." Buffy sits and hugs her daughter. " So he may live but have
no memory of Me.." She kisses the babies crown. Tara
nods. " But our guide will know more by tonight." Riley tells them. " By now the
Mayor is telling everyone that there's a toxic gas leak and that the town has
to be evacuated for everyone's safety so we can at least cut down the number of
potential casualties." CASTLE OF THE KNIGHTS. Faith is starting to recover from her wounds thanks too Beowulf's
ministrations and her slayer powers." She grins at him as she sees him begin
to nod off in a chair. " Not keeping you up am I wolfie?" She
moistens her lips with her tongue. " Though there's nothing I wouldn't
give to try!" Beowulf grunts awake then looks over at her
and the way she looks at him jolts his memory. He sees her in a cheap room as
she strips off and begins to undress him. He turns bright red." Good to
see you finally woke up! I was tempted to let them bury you and be done with
it!" She begins to sit up
but grimaces and he growls at her. " If you break open your wounds so help
me I.." He stops running his hand down her bare back as he checks her
wounds, realizing she might be embarrassed about letting a male see her naked
form he stops. " I'll get one of the females to...." She places a hand on
his chest. " Really Beowulf! You may not remember that night but I sure as
hell do and you didn't miss seeing anything the last time!" He slumps down
into the chair and holds his head. " I remember flashes of us together
but.... It's all so hazy." She grins and peels the blanket down from her chest." Don't
worry as soon as the stitches come out I'll steer Ya round the curves
again!" Before he can say
anything he sees a ghost like apparition appear at the foot of her bed. His
mind tells him he knows her but he cannot remember her until she speaks."
Hello Alexander there's a lot of people very worried about you." He tilts his head and is about to ask her who she is when the door
bursts open breaking the spiritual connection. A page rushes in." Sir
Beowulf come quickly to the main hall Lord Manfred wishes to speak with you
urgently!" Beowulf shakes his head to clear it of the vision before motioning the
boy out. " I'll be back Slayer Faith." SUNNYDALE. It
was almost dark by the time the government troops had the main hall secured and
the remaining people guarded within. Giles is reading the sheets of information
that Manfred had faxed him when Buffy sits next to him. " Just how did the
government know to have all this ready in time Giles? I think there's something
they're not telling us." He looks
up from his studies. " I just hope all this is enough to hold them
off." He whispers to her." I haven't read all of it but it seems that
these Wendol are almost invincible! It took so much manpower and killed so many
of the combined forces that it sent the western world into the dark ages!"
Willow kneels next to Buffy. " Joyce is awake again Buff and
I don't think she likes this place." Willow glances around her. " Not
that I like it too much myself!" She sees the look Giles gives her. "
Oh it's not just me Tara, Cordy and Angel are freaking out too!" The group turns to the sound of a snort. " We have the place
surrounded by the best men in the military supported by the most modern
equipment your tax dollars can buy. We got infra red, ultra violet, sound, movement
in fact every type of detector there is and they're coupled up to automated
defense systems the likes of which only James Cameron could dream up." Buffy glares at him. " And your point
is?" He grins nervously. " So how come when
you're supernatural friends say they got a bad feeling about this place I get
the shakes?" They hear a thump, then a whine and the lights flare up then
flicker out. Willow says. " God I just hate it when I'm right!" END
OF 10