TITLE: Slayer's Knight 17 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 UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTRE. Buffy is wiping
Xander's brow with a cold damp cloth as Willow takes the thermometer out of his
mouth. She sees the worried look on her face. " What? " Willow tells
her. " 103 and rising Buffy! The damned anti-toxin is not working!"
Buffy looks over to Giles." Why isn't he getting better Giles?" Giles has
one end of his glasses in his mouth as he looks into the microscope. " The
anti-toxin is fighting the virus but it was always meant for a Slayer's
body." Faith walks up to Xander's bed. " Or
blood.... What if B and I gave him our blood?" Giles
replaces his glasses. " It may work but he has a different blood type to
you and that would be worse than doing nothing." " But Giles it should work." Willow
tells him. " Both Buffy and Faith's are close enough to Xander's to run
the risk." She looks at Xander as his breathing becomes even more labored.
Buffy calls out to him " Just do it Giles." Giles looks at both the Slayers. " But the amount he would
require could kill you both! Or at the least keep you out of action for a
while." The two Slayers look at each other then Xander. " Just do it
G-man!" Faith tells him. Giles
shakes his head as he prepares Xander, he almost jumps out of his skin as
Xander grips Giles's arm." Don't you do it Giles! Don't risk their lives
for me." His eyelids suddenly close and he drops back into a deep sleep.
Giles looks over to Buffy and she places the empty hypodermic into a tray.
" I owed him that. Now get on with it!" Giles takes a sample of Xander's blood an
hour after he had infused the blood from both Slayers and was amazed by the
results. " The white cells are adapting the anti-toxin and knocking the
virus for six!" He looked up from the microscope as Faith edged near him
holding a pad against the arm where he had taken the blood from. Dawn and Buffy are sat at Xander's side as
Willow takes his temperature. Willow smiles. " 102 and dropping!" She
feels his forehead. " The clamminess has gone too Giles." Faith grins. " I wonder if he'll have a sudden urge to wear
tight leather dresses?" Tara looks at Xander." Or pants!
Tight black leather pants with...." She sees Willow look at her. "
Well if you can go all gushy about Dracula why can't I do the same for Xander?"
Dawn steps in front of Xander with her arms crossed. "
Because he's mine!" Buffy coughs. " Okay. He's ours." " Dawn what did I say about this?" Buffy asks. Dawn sulks back to her chair. " Okay
he's yours...." Then she mumbles. " Until I'm 18 then bam! No more
miss nice girl." Through a fog of pain and drugs Xander hears Angel enter the room.
" Torrance says he can see the remaining Wendol massing. He thinks they'll
be here before the hour is up." He glances at Xander then at Buffy. "
Is he going to make it?" Giles
nods then rubs the bridge of his nose. " Yes, but he'll need lots of rest
to recover and I fear one of the side effects maybe that he's lost the Hyena
spirit." Faith turns to face Giles. " How do you
work that out?" " Well once he had more Slayer blood in
him than his own I feel the spirit may have been driven from his body along
with the virus." Buffy strokes Xander's head. " Good! I
fell in love with the man not some dog boy!" Angel smiles then he realizes." I guess we can't count on his
help then?" Willow's call throws all thought of the Wendol from their minds.
" Wait a minute! His heart rates increasing ... Oh God no! Please Xander
fight it!" Her voice, and the voice of the others fade and
Xander wakes in a mist-covered valley of green grass and lush countryside. A
familiar voice calls out to him. " Hello Xander." He turns and sees
Joyce. " Joyce! I mean Mrs. Summers." She
grins at him. " I think you can call me Joyce now Xander." Xander is stunned. " But you're.. Ah... Not alive." " Caring for those you love doesn't end with your
death Xander, it lasts for an eternity." Xander nods and looks around." I think I may like it
here... When it's my time that is and now isn't it." "
What makes you so sure it's not?" " Because they need me and I wont let
them down again!" " Even if you're just a normal guy? What
good would that be for the group?" Joyce walked around him." It
wasn't as if you were any good to them before now." Xander gritted
his teeth at her. " I was a use to the group! I helped them, I fought next
to them and I loved them!" " And you died for them but do you think
that will be good enough? Hell I don't think you can even help them against the
Wendol and all you need to do is show yourself." " I'll do more than that! I'll do much
more than that!" Xander shouted as the vision passed. Giles is watching Buffy as
she sits talking to Xander; he shakes his head and turns as Willow asks him. " It didn't work did it?" " It should have, and for a while it did, but.... " He
let out a sigh." I don't know Willow, hell I'm a watcher not a damned
Doctor!" They jumped as the horn blast sounded much closer. Then Riley
came running in. " We need everyone at the redoubt!" He looked at
Xander then at Buffy. " Buffy we need you now." Buffy nods then kisses Xander on the lips." One way
or another I'll see you soon my love." She wipes a tear from her eye and
picks up her sword. " Come on then lets make it quick!" Willow and the
others move into the redoubt and are given halberds and told to stand on the
steps only when told to. Tara looks at the sky." Hey it looks like the
Council might be weakening the barrier." She grins at Willow. "
Maybe..." Then Torrance shouts. " They're coming!" Haroldson
draws his sword from its sheath and turns to Riley. " I wish Beowulf was
here!" Torrance shrugs. " It is a little thing. Some pain then
you're amongst the old ones in Valhalla." Haroldson shrugs.
" I still wish he was here.." He freezes as he sees a pale version of
Xander struggle to take his place in the line of battle. Buffy chokes back a
cry but holds back Willow as she goes to stop him." No Will it's what he
wants." She rips her sleeve from Buffy's grip.
" But he'll die! He can't fight a kitten the way he is!" The tears are beginning to come to Buffy now. " Don't you
think I know that!" She cries out." This is what he wants then by god I'll
see he lasts as long as possible!" Xander stands in front of his men and flicks
off the robe covering his uniform. He staggers slightly then looks up to the
sky. "'Lo there do I see my father. 'Lo there do I see my mother, sister and
my brothers. 'Lo there do I see the line of my
people back to the beginning. They bid me take my place among them in
the halls of Valhalla. Where the brave may
live forever!" Buffy finishes the last part with him as her hand slips
into his and smiles at him." We go together or not at all my love." Xander looks at her and then turns away to
watch the rise as the Wendol crest the small hillock. The leader signals to the
remainder of the beasts then quickly turns to look at the sky. The barrier had
weakened enough to get a full view of the outside world and it could see
helicopter gun ships buzzing around like angry wasps just waiting for the
barrier to collapse. It growled then began to signal the attack but when it saw
Xander standing there apparently unharmed it cocked it's head to one side then
emitted a high pitched squeal, like someone butchering a pig, before pointing
its clawed fist at Xander. He grunted as they set themselves up for the attack.
" Well I always wanted to be the center of attention!" Then the wave of horror swept over the rise
and attacked. END OF 17