Faith awakens in a strange room in a strange bed. Her eyes adjust to the dark as she sweeps her eyes around the room. Finding a lamp she turns it on to get a better look at the room. The furniture is brand new, it looks as if has been barely used. Walking to the window she tests it to see is if it will open. It does easily but looking out the window she is on the second floor of a house with no easy way down. Her legs feel weak so jumping is out of the question.
Suddenly she can hear voices filtering through the door. "She should wake up soon." A male voice says, it is English like Giles.
"Should we go and check up on her?" a female voice says.
"No let her rest. She'll need time to adjust." Another male voice says. There was something about the voice though that was familiar.
Looking up from the door she comes face to face with a mirror that she didn't notice was there before. But the face that looks back at her is different. Her hair normally a dark brown now is streaked with gold and moving up closer to the mirror she sees that her brown and gold eyes are gone and are replaced with green ones. She punches the mirror in horror screaming out. She hears the rush of footsteps up the stairs. Backing away to the corner where the floor lamp she had turned on stands she grabs the tall lamp and readies herself for what will come through the door.
The door opens and a man and a woman walk in carefully. The man is the first to speak, "Put the lamp down, we don't want any trouble."
"Trouble! Trouble! What the hell did you do to me! What is this some kind of life swapping brain washing thing?" She yells at them.
"No it's not that, just calm down and we'll explain." The woman says soothingly.
"And what did you do to my hair! Or my eyes!" She yells. As they move closer to her she brandishes her weapon forcing them to back, "Back off! You don't know who you're messing with so you better just back..."
"Let me talk to her." The other voice says from the hallway. The other two move away as the other figure walks through the door.
Faith drops the lamp in shock as she gets a good look at the man standing in front of her. He shows no signs of apprehension or fear as he approaches her. His hair is shorter, his shoulders are broader but his eyes, his eyes are the same.
"Xander?" She whispers. "Is that you?"
"Yes Faith, its me." He says with a small grin. She give out a small cry as she falls into his arms, her head against his shoulder, tears flowing down her cheeks. Just as she did the first time. Xander looks over his shoulder and motions for the others to leave the room. Hearing the door close behind him he pulls Faith away from him and looks her in the eyes and simply says to her, "I forgive you."
"Xander, what's going on?" Faith asks him, "My hair, my eyes..."
"Let's sit down Faith. I have something to tell you. You might not believe it at first but what I'm going to tell you is the truth. Okay?"
"Sure." She says uncertainly.
With that Xander begins his story. He won't tell her about their relationship, if he found her once he'll find her again, but for right now he just wants to have her in his life. So he'll make the same offer to her as he did before and like before he'll follow the path that their relationship naturally takes. He remembers the promise he had made her that morning, that if they beat what ever it was they were facing, he would never leave her alone. He would keep that promise, even if she didn't remember making it with him.
At one point of his story Xander remembers one time when Adam handed him a book to read. "Walt Whitman?" He asked him, "Poetry?"
"Yes Xander, poetry." Pointing at the book.
"Leaves of Grass." Xander reads carefully.
"It is a book about loyalty, patriotism, love, loss, nature, and journey. It is the story of a man's journey through life. It's a good book."
Now Xander can see that a chapter of his own life has just finished and a new one is just beginning. Just like that Xander faces the unknown unafraid, and confident that his destiny will lead him down the right path, a path full of loss, loyalty and love. A path on which he gladly continues the journey that is his life. Looking up at Faith he cannot help but smile for his journey will be an interesting one to say the least.
…
I would like to thank all of you who have supported me as I wrote this story. To all those who provided reviews and feedback thank you for helping to fuel my addiction to writing. Just because this story is finished doesn't mean that I still don't want feedback. Loved it, hated it, suggestions for the next story? Send me feedback! I love hearing from all those who have read my work. Hearing how others view the story is very important to me as an author to see if I was able to get my vision across, so please send me your feedback and opinions. I worked very hard on this story and hope that it was enjoyable for all those who took the time and effort to read it in its entirety. I really want to include Dawn in the next story so if any one who could help me getting more information on her as well as the story surrounding her and Glory I would really appreciate it. I'm going to take a short break from this alternate universe to help work with some other projects I have promised to help others with but you can definitely expect more from this universe and me in the future. Just below these notes is a little teaser for what you can expect from the next installment. Enjoy and good reading!
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Flames surround him as he looks around. Buildings burn to the ground, cars over turned and sideways are engulfed in flame in the middle of the dilapidated street. Bodies lay dead in the street arms legs and even heads missing. Blood pours from the bodies running down the street and into the gutters, the blood falling down the storm drain. A broken fire hydrant spews water into the street. As he walks down the street he looks at the bodies. Some of them wear police uniforms, others wear the tags of television stations. Women, children and men's bodies lie prone before him. Behind some of the bullet-ridden windshields of the cars sit individuals staring out with glassy eyes, unmoving.
Xander looks up and can see a helicopter trying to move in and get a closer look at the scene below. Xander watches as he raises his arm and takes aim with a gun, firing at the junction where the rotary blades meet. Xander can feel a smile play on his lips as he watches the blades suddenly stop rotating forcing the craft to plummet into a building igniting into a ball of flame.
He can hear the sounds of approaching sirens behind him. Replacing his gun in the holster he pulls out a small device as the police cars move come to a stop at the mouth of the street the officers stepping out using the doors of their cars as a shield. Smiling he pushes a button on the small box in his hand the buildings to the left and right of the police barricade change into towering infernos as they explode, catching the police cars and the officers in the blast killing them all instantly.
Turning he sees a figure step out from behind the smoke, she is deceptively small but he knows better as he addresses her. "Buffy! So good to see you again!"
"Harry? Why are you doing all this?"
"Harry? Are you talking to me?" Xander says sarcastically. "I know you couldn't possibly be talking to me."
She can see the look in his eyes, unfocused, wild and she finally understands, "You're insane."
Laughing out loud he answers her, "Insane? You are the one calling me someone that I am not."
Trying to buy time in order to come up with a plan, "Then who are you?"
"Alexander LaVelle Harris." He says simply. The pure look of shock on her face is soon replaced by horror as she sees that whoever he was has pulled out a gun. With a cold smile he depresses the trigger. The hammer falls causing the gunpowder to explode within the shell casing. As the bullet is propelled from the gun with a flash the chamber slides back ejecting the empty shell.
The bullet hits her squarely in the chest knocking her back falling to ground unmoving. From his position Xander holsters his gun. Looking at the prone figure of the blonde Slayer he says, "Pity. I always thought she would put up more of a fight."
Xander walks over to where his motorcycle awaits. He smiles as the stolen Suzuki GSX 1300R Hayabusa starts. The four-stroke, liquid cooled engine exploding with sound drowning out all the other sounds on the street as he rides away. Within seconds he is gone leaving the body of the young woman he once called friend behind yet another body strewn about on the street already filled with so much blood and gore.
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That's it for now. Tell me what you think!
