TITLE: Slayer's Knight 13 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 TRAP IS
SET. Beowulf
cocks his head, as he smells the scent of his mate. He looks confusedly from
Faith to the blonde girl before he asks. " You are a Slayer?" Buffy now looks confused. " Xander
it's me Buffy. Please tell me you know me?" " Would that I could Slayer Buffy but I know you
not." He bows then turns to Faith. " We must build the defenses
higher and better. And send Torrance to the highest point and tell him to stay
alert. " He looks at the blond and the redheaded girl. " Warn him if
he so much as thinks about the females I'll kick him so hard he'll have to take
his helmet of to pi... relieve himself." Faith grins and tells him." No need to
fear Beowulf I think he knows after the last time." She holds his hand and
Beowulf draws her close and runs a hand through her hair. " Would that we
were alone." Faith smiles then notices the death glare from Buffy. She
looks puzzled then moves off to do her duties. Buffy turns Beowulf. " No listen Xander I've had just about
enough of this as I'm going to take!" Beowulf shakes his head. " Who
the hell is this Xandar? " Buffy
remembered something from their past and smiled as she lent into him. " If you're nice I promise not to hit
you over the head with a desk this time." She held her neck to his face
and whispered. " That's not fear you can smell Xander this time it's pure
100% love!" Beowulf's
mind was jolted with visions of chasing this girl and pinning her to the floor
before kissing her. He shook his head and told her. " Enough of your
magic! I have work to do before nightfall!" He stormed off and Buffy had
thought all was lost until he stopped and watched Dawn as she ran up to Buffy.
He places a hand to his cheek and a finger followed the scar down to his lip.
She was sure he was about to ask Dawn something but another knight began to
talk to him. Dawn looks at Buffy's face as she watches the dark knight walk
away. " Who was that Buffy?" She sees the way the knight walks and an
image of Xander pops into her head. She looks aghast at Buffy. " My god!
How can it be?" She turns
towards the shelter." I don't know but I think some one else
does!" MAIN LOUNGE. Faith
is filling in the Initiative personnel in the fine art of battling the Wendol.
When she finishes she says. " I wondered how long it would take you to get
up the nerve." She turns and finds Buffy standing there glaring at
Faith. " Well if I
waited for you to come to me we'd all be a long time dead!" Faith made to
move away but Buffy slapped the wall just in front of her. " Why?"
Her looks change, softens, " Why didn't you send a message or find some
other way to let us know?" Faith looks at her. " Why
should I? Hmm? You and you're so called friends!" She made to move away
then stopped. " I was told how you all treated him! Even when he was
hurting you all ignored him and know you want me to give you a second chance to
kill him only this time maybe forever!" Buffy was about to carry on when Dawn walked up to
her carrying a crying Joyce. " Buffy I think she wants you. " Buffy
cradled her baby and, gently, rocked her from side to side making baby noises
at her. Faith
grinned. " So someone finally got you." She looks, enviously, at the
scene." I'm glad one of us got the chance to have the whole deal B. So
who's the lucky guy Angel or Riley?" Buffy looks
Faith in the eye." Xander." She moves the baby to a more comfortable
position as she falls asleep. " Only he was taken from us before he knew I
was pregnant." She almost begs Faith. " Can't you see why we ... I
need him back?" " I'm sorry... I didn't know." She
grins at her. " Kinda happens when you're out of the loop for 5-10 ya
know." She looks at the baby then tells her. " I'll try my best but
be warned the Healers told me if he remembers too much his body will go into
shock. Something about the soul remembering the death of the body and going
into shock." Buffy nodded. " We'll take it easy and one step at a time I
promise." Faith checks her watch. " I have to go..." Faith turns
so Buffy can't see the tear forming in her eyes. Buffy grips her arm. " Faith...
Thanks for this and everything you can do to help." "
Aw it'll be 5x5 B just wait and see." Faith shrugs. " First of all we
have to deal with the uglies out there but Wolfie... I suppose I better stop
calling him that know, Xander has kicked they're ass before and he will again.
No one's else can even come close to defeating them." Beowulf tests
the defenses and shakes his head. " This'll never hold!" He looks at
the building they are to defend. " I want all the sandbags you have."
He walks over to the main doors." I want a redoubt here about eight feet
high with steps inside. We keep the bulk of our men in here and fall back by
numbers. Then when the Wendol try to scale the redoubt." Riley grins. " They pop their heads up
over the top and surprise! One more corpse." Lars nods. " I told you
he's good!" Graham tells them. " The men are beat!
And you expect them to build this before dark?" Beowulf
nods and places his hand on Graham's shoulder. " Keep them well fed and
working hard! It'll take their minds off the coming battle. But no alcohol till
after the battle okay?" "
Yeah Graham just remember Beer Bad." Riley and Graham begin laughing but
suddenly other memories come flooding into Beowulf's head...... No more beer
for Buffy! Beer Bad Buffy ... Time to say bye." The golden haired girl
waves her hand. " Bye!" Then she staggers out......He's in a room
with her and she tells him. " MMM... Boy smell nice." She sniffs his
neck and he has to fight the urge to push her on the bed and... " Hey!
" Riley snaps his fingers. " Sorry but for a moment it looked like
you were zoning out on us." Beowulf
grins. " Sorry it's just you guys could bore G-man to sleep. " He
stops and looks funny. " Who or what is a G-man?" He shakes his head.
" Never mind... Lack of sleep I guess." Graham
leans in and asks. " Should we tell Buffy he's starting to get flashes of
memory?" Riley whispers to him.
" Yeah but I just hope he stays like this till after he defeats the Wendol
and we're all safe and sound." TOP OF THE MAIN BUILDING. Beowulf is standing with Angel as they
scan the tree lines until Angel asks him. " So I guess you must know these
creatures pretty well.. The way you deal with them I mean. " Now Angel could
see him up close he knew Beowulf was Xander and he also knew he had to do
something to get him back with Buffy. Angel had moved on from her but he still
wanted her to lead a happy life. Beowulf shrugged and told him. " When we
were told they had been seen near the Tunguska Hellmouth I decided to study up
on everything we had on them. Then after a few battles I had them pegged down
and the Knights deferred to me on them." He grins." After our first
victory they treated me like a homecoming hero." Angel
shook his head. " Why do you still doubt yourself? You are the only person
I know of to have defeated the Wendol! That is not a small thing to do." Beowulf looks from the tree line to
Angel." There are a lot of people that would argue with you Angel. We lost
a lot of people forcing the Wendol back into the Hellmouth then sealing it. If
I had done my job properly you, and your people, wouldn't be in this
situation." Angel turns him around and
motions around him. " This is not your fault Harris! Those creatures
killed your men and attacked this place not you! You saved far more people than
died and if I know you then the bulk of these people will owe you their lives
at the end of the day!" Angel sees he's starting to crack the thin veneer
holding back Xander's memories. " I remember once you had to threaten to
kill me unless I took you to an enemies liar to save the woman we both loved.
She loved me then as she loves you now but I know she longs for your return
more than life itself!" Beowulf has a flashback of facing down this man in a hospital as
he defended his injured mate. Only the girl wasn't his mate then." He
shakes his head in confusion. " All this is interfering with my line of
thought. But I promise you ,if we survive, I will be asking you more about my
past." Beowulf looks around the green and pleasant University
grounds. " It seems a nice place to live, to leave all the killing and
settle down to live my remaining years in peace and solitude, a good woman at
my side and children under foot." Angel nods then picks up on his off the cuff
remark. " Remaining years? It is a nice place, once you get past the whole
'evil dead out there' things, but surely you must have a long time before your
end?" " I wish I did my
friend, there is much I wish to do but the healers have told me when they
brought me back that they cannot create life but merely blow on it's embers to
bring life back. " He grips the railing and looks down until he sees the
woman he had been thinking of ever since his return. " There is so much I
wish I had time to do but they say my life depends on what God returned me for.
I fear once the Wendol are crushed and no more so will my purpose, and my
life." Angel
looked down and saw who Xander was looking at and smiled before the sound of a
distant horn reminded him of their situation. " Have you thought on why
they let us survive?" Beowulf shook his head
and yawned then stretched." No I've been occupied with the defenses. Have
you?" Angel
nodded." What if they knew you would come if they attacked here? What if
they could trap and butcher you and your men here?" "
Then they would have someone else take our places." " No! You are the only one to have defeated them. To
bring you down would instill a sense of invincibility in them that would
encourage them to try and retake this world." Angel grips his shoulders.
" You are the reason they attacked! It's your head they want on a pole as
they kill and pillage this world!" END OF 13