Title: Falling Toward Apotheosis
Rating: R
Author: Banquo
Email: banquo@fanfiction.net
Summary: Xander and Faith have returned home after the events of "Leaves of Grass" but all is not as it seems. Dark dreams and plans set into motion allude to the danger that waits beyond the horizon.
Disclaimers: I own nothing except the story and all the characters I create in between. Buffy and all character related there in belong to Joss and Mutant enemy. While the concept of Immortality and all characters pertaining to Highlander belong to Panzer-Davis.
Archive: Go right ahead! Just email me a link where you plan on archiving my fic.
Though this story can stand on its own there are references to my first story so I strongly recommend that you read my first story "Leaves of Grass" which can be found at www.fanfiction.net search for the title and it will appear on the top of the list. Or you can go here directly to get to the story.
My apologies to all of you who have waited patiently for the next installment of this fic, I've have a bit of writers block right now and I have not been able to continue with this story at all the past few weeks. Nonetheless I've this chapter to share with you all.
Chapter 4: Shadows and Hidden Evil
.
Giles, Willow, Tara, Dawn and recently returned Riley are gathered at the Magic Shop.
Riley had been out of town on military business. The government, discovering Professor Walsh's true motives for the Initiative, decided that it needed to recoup its losses suffered at the hands of the Adam project. Riley being one of the last of the surviving ranking officers, the government had recalled him for a full debriefing and re-instatement of his military clearance, not as a soldier, but as an advisor to the supernatural, his input vital to the re-establishment of the Initiative as a unit used to contain and combat supernatural forces on American soil.
However once he heard what had happened to Buffy he had dropped all he was doing and caught the first flight out of Virginia to Los Angels and drove to Sunnydale. Giles had assured him that Buffy would make a full recovery but it would take another day or two before she would be to optimal performance levels.
That said the entire group assembled at the Magic Shop at the request of the Watcher, stating that they need to find out who or what was behind the attack and how exactly it was carried out.
"Well we know that the attack was magical in nature." Tara says.
"And from the looks of it there was some very powerful magic involved." Will adds.
"Yes the counter spells that we all tried to invoke were all very powerful spells and none of them had any visible effect on the attacking spell whatsoever." Giles says.
"So what else do we know?" Riley asks the assembled group.
"We know that someone helped us." Dawn says.
"Not necessarily Dawn, we cannot be sure of the intervening power's motives, it may have been that saving Buffy was just a coincidence and that the real target was the spell casters themselves."
"True, the power did seem to cause a energy feed back sending the power back up the energy lance."
"Then there is Buffy's explanation." Dawn tells them.
"And that would be?" Riley asks.
"That Xander's spirit came and helped stop the attack."
"Giles, could there be any merit to that theory?" Riley asks now in full strategic mode.
"Yes but it is a very remote one. Willow explained to me later that they had visited Xander's grave earlier that day."
"So it could have been her mind associating things while under attack?" Riley asks not really expecting an answer. "So what other avenues of research are open to us?"
"Why would someone attack Buffy?" Dawn asks.
Giles removes his glasses to clean a smudge off of the lens. As he rubs them with his handkerchief he says, "It could be a number of reasons but the only reason someone would single her out is the fact that she is the Slayer."
"But the question is why was she attacked? Because she is the Slayer or because she is the Slayer?" Tara says.
Riley with a confused look on his face looks at Tara. "Exactly do you mean by that?"
Willow interjects saying, "I think I know where she is going with that one. Buffy was singled out either because she is the Slayer and has power that can be exploited, or."
"Or she was singled out because she is the Slayer and has the power to stop something from happening." Dawn finishes.
"So which one is it?" Riley asks the group.
Replacing his glasses onto the bridge of his nose Giles says, "That is why we are going to research."
.
She could feel them, the others. They were out there, somewhere. Their presence sings in her mind and reverberates through her body.
She needs to find the others; she needs to stop the pain in her head, to stop the voices.
Each voice screams at her, telling her what to do. Telling her to fight, to survive, but one voice stands out in her mind. One voice dominates above all the shrill screaming voices, when it is present all the other voices seem to lull, giving her a brief reprieve from the chaos. When the one voice appears the other voices follow in concert with it, like a conductor the other voices follows its lead and tempo, gaining so much strength that she can't ignore them.
The Voice has returned now and is telling her to find the others, to kill them.
There can be only one.
It is the only truth she could recognize since leaving the ruins. It is the only thing the Voice tells her that she believes, there can be only one.
But how can she find them? They feel distant, out of her reach, how will she go to them?
The Voice whispers in her mind, guiding her. Willingly she follows its directions. She tried to resist the Voice but was only rewarded with pain every time she contradicts its will. She finds herself walking on the side of the road. She hears a car pull up on the opposite side of the road.
She turns to face the car as the window opens. Peering inside the car she sees a man eyeing her body. Her first reaction was to turn away in disgust, but the Voice has another idea.
She can feel her mouth turn up in a smile as saunters across the road, she says to him, "Hi."
The man doesn't even bother with pleasantries as he says to her, "You need a ride?"
She hears her voice lustfully say to him, "I defiantly could use a ride."
Grinning the man presses a button on his armrest and she hears the door unlock.
"Then why don't you hop in?" He says leering at her body.
"Thanks." She tells him with smile while opening the door. Getting in and closing the door she asks the man, "So where are you headed?"
"In to the city." He tells her as his hand rests on her knee.
She reaches over with her hand and begins to play with his hair. "Really? Anyone expecting you?"
"No, I can be a few hours late if need be." He tells her not understanding what is about to happen.
"Good." She says with a smile. Suddenly she grabs the back of his head and violently twists it. The sound of bones and cartilage breaking sings in her ears as she snaps his neck.
Pushing the limp body out of the car and onto the side of the road she slides into the drivers side of the car. Leaning out of the door she reaches into his pocket and pulls out his wallet. The Voice tells her its plan as she starts the car and pulls onto the road, the tires kicking dirt and gravel onto the body of the dead man. It tells her how to find the others, how she will go to them and ultimately how it is up to her to kill them.
There can be, after all, only one.
.
Methos and Faith were going over what had happened to her as Xander and Cassandra walk into the kitchen with some food. They had been at this for a better part of the day and were no closer to a solution than they were when they started.
"Faith I'm going to need a little more if we're going to get to the bottom of this," Methos tells her. "Is there anything, and I mean anything, that you can remember about the attack that could help us find who or what would want to hurt you?"
"I already told you Adam, I was in the workout room practicing when it hit me. Other than blinding pain there isn't much else I can tell you about it."
"But there has to be." He says, trying to push his point.
"Adam, why don't we take a break for now?" Cassandra asks him.
He looks from Faith to Cassandra and then to Xander, who only shrugs his shoulders. Sighing Methos sits back in his chair and rubs his eyes.
"Yes, I suppose that would be the best plan of action right now."
"Good, because this food isn't going to stay warm forever you know." Xander tell him taking out a few take out boxes and some bread for the bags he had carried inside with him.
"Great, I'm starving!" Faith tells him as she gets up and walks over to Xander to see what they had bought. "What did you guys get?"
"I think I smell.Italian?" Methos asks no one in particular.
"Give the man a prize!" Xander says in his best game show host voice.
"What do I win?"
"Pene Rustica." Cassandra says placing the box in front of Methos along with her own.
Methos' eyes almost gleam as he opens the box and inhales the aroma of the food within. Looking up and eyeing the box in front of Cassandra he asks her, "What did you get?"
"The same. I haven't had this in a long time so I decided to indulge."
Xander hands a box over to Faith and says in an almost passable Italian accent, "And for the lady we have bow tie pasta, sun dried tomatoes, diced mushrooms in a light cream sauce."
"You certainly know your way to a girls heart don't you?" Faith tells him before picking up a fork and taking a bite of her food savoring the flavor. "Mmmmm, have I told you how much I love you?"
Her eyes are closed as she makes the comment so she misses the look that falls on Xander's face for a split second. However Methos and Cassandra do not.
The look lingers on his face for a moment longer before he says jovially, "You're only saying that now. Why do you wait until I get you into the training room? Then we'll see how you really feel."
Playfully punching Xander on the arm Faith says, "Bring it on, Xand, bring it on," before taking her food and taking it to the table where Cassandra and Adam are sitting.
Xander follows her to the table with his food carrying a plate with the bread on it. Opening his box he digs into his salad, enjoying the taste of the greens and chicken.
"So find anything interesting while we were out?" Xander asks in between mouthfuls.
"Unfortunately, no." Methos answers
"Did you expect to find an answer in a few hours?" Cassandra scolds.
"Well I at least thought we'd make some head way. We've made no progress whatsoever."
"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, I'm partially to blame for our lack productivity, I can barely remember anything after the initial attack." Faith answers.
"No is placing blame on you, child," Cassandra tells her. "You were attacked in an incredibly violent way, none of us expect you to have perfect recall. Isn't that right Adam?" She stresses the last sentence enough that Adam is able to understand her meaning.
"Of course, most people are complete blanks after such a traumatizing attack. You should consider yourself lucky."
"Thanks, I think." Faith answers as she stabs a piece of chicken before placing it in her mouth.
"If it helps Adam, I thought that the entire experience was very draining. I have never felt so weak after an attack." Xander tells his mentor before scooping another bite of salad into his mouth.
Faith is about to say something in agreement with Xander when he rises his fork indicating that he has something to add to his previous statement.
"I take it back." He says and continues to chew, trying to free his mouth of food so he can speak coherently. "I've never felt so weak after an attack, with the exception of a Quickening, if you want to call that an attack."
"I can't relate with the Quickening part, but every part of my body ached and barely had the strength to sit up after I woke up."
Methos nods while chewing his food, deep in thought. "You know, that might be the angle that I've been looking for. I'll check up on it and see what I can find."
Changing the subject to get their minds off of their research Cassandra asks, "So how are your classes going?"
Faith immediately smiles. Despite her hard past she has really taken a liking to the dance lessons, "Great! We're going to learn swing tonight, I can't wait."
"Yup, Faith is a natural at this. I think that her Slayer enhanced powers include natural dancing abilities and rhythm." Xander says to his Cassandra.
"What he failed to mention is that he's still having a little trouble with the mambo."
Methos grins as he says, "Xander you know at least three martial arts and several forms using dozens of weapons and you're having a little trouble shaking your hips?"
"Hey, in my own defense I've never come across an opponent who would be subdued by the hypnotic movements of my hips!"
"But the mambo?" Cassandra asks him, "It's such an easy dance."
"If it's so easy why don't you do it?"
Cassandra looks at Methos who nods and gets up and walks into the living room. Faith and Xander look on curiously as Cassandra stands up with a smug look on her face. Suddenly from the other room a steady Latin beat flows into the kitchen.
Methos appears in the doorway with a theatrical pose staring down Cassandra. He raises he hand to her and simply says, "Senora? May I have this dance?"
Cassandra fanning herself with an imaginary fan demurely curtsies, taking his hand. At the moment of contact Adam pulls her into a loose but firm frame and begins to move to the rhythm of the music. Their dance is fluid and full of complicated turns and transitions. One moment they are facing each other, the next they are spinning on the floor, each acutely aware of each other and their surroundings.
Faith simply smiles watching the two ancient immortals dance to the music. Xander on the other hand looks at them with disbelief.
"Were you guys dance champions too?" he says with sarcasm.
Cassandra looks at him after a double spin and says, "Yes, in '72."
Methos spins and pivots on a foot holding Cassandra close before looking at his young protégé, "So was I but in '74."
Faith laughs at the look on Xander's face when he hears that particular piece of information.
Exasperated Xander asks them, "Is there anything you guys haven't done?"
"I'm sure there are." Methos tells him.
"But we've done all the fun things already." Cassandra says with a smile.
Faith only smiles as the three immortals banter, she looks on at the two happily dancing on the floor with each other as another song begins in the background. Adam and Cassandra are the closest things she has ever had to parents and she cherishes the fact that she is able to participate in their lives. Sometimes she wishes that she knew more about her real parents, who they were, what they were like, she didn't even have a picture of them.
The council had found her after she was put back into the orphanage she had ran away from two years earlier. She was doing well in the streets of Boston looking out for herself, not worrying about anyone else, it was freedom that she had never known in the orphanages and half-way houses she was put into by the system. But fate, or in her case the police, had caught up with her when she was trying to boost a car. They put her back into juvee for a couple of months before putting her back into the orphanage. The next week the council found her, the rest, is history.
Breaking her out of her reverie she feels something tugging on her arm. Looking up she sees that Xander had stood up and was trying to gently pull her to her feet.
"Would you like to dance?" He asks her.
Faith nods and smiles following Xander to an open space on the kitchen floor to dance on. Falling into Xander's arms as he begins to lead she automatically follows. Her movements dictated by his lead. As she dances with Xander she looks over at Adam and Cassandra still dancing, enjoying each other's company.
Faith smiles and thinks that maybe her family is out there, her blood relatives, but her real family has been the people in this room. Adam and Cassandra her parents and Xander.and Xander.
Faith is caught by surprise at her hesitation when trying to classify her relation to Xander. He wasn't a brother, she knew that much, it was closer than that. He was like her.boyfriend? The moment the thought appeared in her mind she felt a warmth and assurance flush over her. That accompanied with Xander's arms wrapping around her as they dance causes her to sigh.
There would be more time to explore those feelings later, she thought to herself. Right now she just wanted to enjoy the moment. Forgotten for a brief moment were yesterday's attack, research and everything else. All that really mattered was herself and the people she called family dancing to music, enjoying themselves.
She learned that she had to cherish these moments because being the Slayer meant not knowing when moments like these would happen again. She had already lost so much time while in a comma, she wasn't about to miss out on any more time.
.
Travers is absolutely livid as he screams at the gathered members of his team, "What do you mean you cannot find her! She's one girl, on foot for Gods sake! How can you not know where she is?"
"She killed all the Watchers present at the site so no one could tell us in which exact direction she went. Mrs. Fletcher was only able to tell us that she ran into the wood." One of the young Watchers answers.
"When we were able to get Watchers on site we were able to find her tracks entering Skell Wood. We followed them as far as we could go. After that we did a blanket search of the wood." Another young Watcher says to him.
"Well obviously she is either NOT in the wood or your search was compromised and something was overlooked." Looking at the gathered Watchers he realizes that someone is missing. "Where is Masterson? I told you all to be here to report your findings, I will not tolerate tardiness!"
As if on cue Masterson enters the room clutching a folder in his hand. "I apologize for my tardiness." He begins only to be cutoff by Travers.
"You better have a good reason for being late Masterson. You have no idea how grave our situation is." Travers tells the young Watcher coolly.
"I do have a good explanation." Masterson tells him holding up the folder. Opening it he hands all those present a packet of papers. "The first page is a police report from a town nearby Yorkshire, a man was found dead on the side of the road, his neck broken." He flips to the next page and continues, "Here is another police report from another town about a break in, a house was robbed and its occupants were killed."
"Masterson, I fail to see how this helps us in our locating of the delta Slayer." Travers tells him impatiently.
"Bear with me sir," Masterson says to his superior. "I did some checking and it seems that a large purchase was put onto the credit card on the dead man three hours after his estimated time of death. A purchase made online from Virgin airlines. I was able to find out that the purchase was made from an IP address that corresponds from address range of the ISP that the family in the house subscribes to."
"Use her majesties English please Masterson, not your damn techno-babble." Travers tells him.
"Sorry, it seems that whoever killed the man, used his credit card to buy a ticket online to fly to the United States." Flipping to the next page he points out the picture to those present. "Some of the things missing from the house are some clothes, a few valuables and a suitcase. If you look at the picture on the page you'll find something interesting."
Looking down on the page all the Watcher look on in awe as Masterson continues, "That picture was taken from a security camera in Hethro."
The picture is of a young woman in business suit her hair up dragging a suitcase as she walks through the terminal. Looking closely they realize it is the missing Slayer.
"Damn! How could she have done this?!" Travers yells at his team. Seeing that they are at a loss for words he faces Masterson, "When did her flight leave?"
"This morning. Her destination was New York."
"Was?"
"Yes, I'm afraid that her flight was early and landed at JFK an hour ago."
"Get a team together, book a flight on the Concord. We're following our Slayer to New York. Alert the New York office. I want to be on that plane as soon as possible." Travers barks out as the Watchers scramble to get the tasks done. "I want to have her under Watcher control by the end of the week."
.
"Rupert, I'm doing fine now, really I'm okay." Joyce tells the Watcher in her kitchen.
Giles is standing in front of the stove stirring in ingredients for a soup. "That may be, but I want you to rest as much as possible."
"So you are you going to make me dinner for the next week or two?"
"I hoping I would be having dinner with you for longer than that," he says to her with a grin, "however until I think you'll be okay by yourself I'm going to have to shower you with attention."
With a dramatic sigh she answers, "I guess I'll have to find a way to survive the pampering you're giving me."
"Yes, I'm sure you're just hating every moment of it."
"I don't know how you're going to put up with my every whim." She tells him suggestively.
Giles turns down the heat on the stove and faces her.
"Every whim? Now that may have some implications." He says with an easy grin.
"I assure you it does."
"And just what sort of impli."
At that moment a cell phone rings interrupting their banter. Pulling the offending piece of technology out of his pocket he asks Joyce, "Tell me again why is it I bought this horrendous thing?"
"In case one of the kids needed to get a hold of you or if one of your customers and contacts needed to call you with important information."
The phone rings again in his hand as he replies, "Yes, that was why wasn't it?"
"You better answer that." She tells him nodding towards the phone in his hand.
"Very well then, but I expect you to tell me what kinds of implications you mean." He tells her before answering the phone. "Hello?"
"Rupert?" The voice on the other side of the line sounds a bit hollow, but Giles recognizes it almost immediately.
"Julian! How are you doing?" Giles smiles as he speaks into the phone a bit loudly.
Joyce can't help but smile at the way he is speaking into the small device, though incredibly intelligent and well learned he is still adverse to most forms of technology.
"Don't talk so loud Rupert! You nearly popped my eardrum!"
"Oh sorry. Is this better?"
"Much, thank you."
"So Julian, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?"
"Travers is heading stateside Rupert."
"He's coming here to Sunnydale? Hasn't he already learned that Buffy won't."
"He's not going to Sunnydale Rupert. Travers and his team boarded the Concord an hour ago and are bound for New York."
"Julian, that ritual you told me about, when did it take place?" Giles asks closing his eyes hoping that his assumption is wrong.
"Two days ago, but from what I understand the ritual was a failure."
"How so?" Giles asks his heart sinking at Julian's confirmation of his fears.
"Travers didn't return to the council with a Slayer. My understanding is that Travers is on his way to New York to intercept the Slayer he tried to call."
"He didn't have the vessel when he performed the ritual?"
"On the contrary, he did, but she was able to escape. At the cost of several Watchers' lives."
"So he called a third Slayer, without any qualms or heed for the current Slayers' well being only to have activated an insane Slayer?" Giles asks his friend, his anger seething.
At Giles' words Joyce looks at him with worry. He and Buffy had told her about Quentin Travers and the Cruciamentum. If this man was responsible for endangering her daughter's life once again, Council or not she was going to help take him down.
"I'm afraid so Rupert."
"Buffy was attacked not too long ago, I had assumed that the Council might have been behind it, but now I know."
"I'm sorry Rupert." They both here a click on the line and Julian tells his friend hurriedly, "Sorry Rupert, I must go now."
"But I have a few more questions!"
"No there's no time, watch yourself Rupert. Whatever is happening, it's not going to be good."
"I will. The same goes to you."
"Cheers."
"Cheers."
Giles removes the phone from his ear and pushes the button hanging up the call. Pocketing the phone he turns his head towards Joyce.
"Rupert? What was all that about?"
"It seems the Council was behind the attack on Buffy."
"What?!"
"There was a ritual involved, one that would call a new Slayer. It seems that there is a side effect to the ritual though." He says grinding his teeth.
"The attack on Buffy?"
"Precisely." Giles says leaning against the kitchen counter. Joyce gets up and is about to comfort him when Giles explodes with anger.
"Those arrogant bastards!" he yells slamming his hands into the counter tile. "Calling a third Slayer! A third one! And doing a ritual of such proportions without researching the possibilities!"
It was then Joyce saw Rupert do something she had never seen him do before: babble.
"Of all of the stupid, irresponsible."
"Rupert."
"They could have destroyed everything!"
"Rupert."
"Not to mention the powers they must have called forth to even attempt such a thing!"
"RUPERT!"
The sudden burst of sound startles Giles to attention. Realizing what just happened Giles stammers out an apology.
"S-s-sorry Joyce its just th-that I can't believe that the council would try."
Joyce promptly shuts Giles up with a kiss. Pulling away and seeing that he is dazed for a moment, Joyce tells him, "I understand how you feel, but screaming an yelling in my kitchen won't help any."
Sighing and pulling her into his arms Giles says into her hair, "I know, I know. Its just that the thought of something happening to Buffy or Dawn, or any of them makes me."
Pulling away slightly she looks up at him, "Afraid? Helpless? Tell me if I'm getting close here?"
"Well, I was actually thinking mad with anger, but I guess those would work as well." He says with a small grin.
"So now we know why and what it was that happened, so what do we do about it?"
"We'll wait for Buffy to get back to tell her, I'm sure she'll be thrilled to hear that the Council is responsible for what happened to her."
"And after that?"
"I'm not sure. We don't have much to go on, we only know that Travers is in New York nothing else about his plans or where this third Slayer is."
"Nothing to research then is there?"
"Aside from the ritual? I don't think so. Julian is the only one who would be able to get me any more information on what is going on inside the Council, aside from him I've been pretty much blacklisted from the rest of the Watchers."
"You two are good friends?" She asks him warily, knowing about what he had done with other friends from his past.
"I assure you he is nothing like Ethan. He was my partner in crime when I pulled the freshman prank at the Academy. We were caught, but the prank itself made us legends." He tells her with a wistful smile.
"You'll have to tell me about that sometime."
"I will, but not until after dinner." He tells her sternly.
"But what about the Council?"
"It can wait until Buffy gets home. Until then there is nothing we can do."
"Fine. So what do you want to do then?"
"Well for a start why don't we discuss certain implications?" He tells her as he pulls her closer to him.
"Implications? What about dinner?"
"I'll let it simmer for a bit, it should be fine." He tells her gently pushing her out of the kitchen.
.
Julian Griffith walks quietly between the stacks of books in a small corner of the great library. Even though his main job was not research his academy days had taught him to be self-sufficient. The way the new Watchers were coming out of the academy, they were all specialized. If they were trained for a specific purpose they would be only able to do that job and nothing else. The focus of cross training had faded away long ago. The only ones that were trained in all the fields were those from the older classes or the field watchers.
Even then the field many of the field Watchers had specialties as well. Giles and himself had come from the old school. Their skills were well rounded, so it was a great surprise when Julian threw a dagger into the shadows and took off running. At least it was a surprise to the young Watcher waiting in the shadows to ambush him.
Julian ran deeper into the stacks, hoping to loose them between the maze- like pathways. Using the skills at his disposal he listens to the footfalls as they chase after him, four of them, probably more.
Turning sharply and ducking behind a stack he forces his breathing to be slow and quiet even with his blood pounding in his ears.
He had heard stories of the Council taking out what they thought as security threats but he had thrown those ideas by the wayside. James Bondish in his mind to be reality, but apparently he was mistaken.
But what had he done? He wasn't working on any sensitive materials or anything like, the only thing he had done today was talk to Rupert.
That was it! He had told him about the ritual and Travers, could that be why they were after him?
Julian wasn't about to stand there and wait for them to tell him why. Listening intently as the footsteps grow more and more quiet Julian slowly rises to his feet and backs away hoping to double back and loose them. He just needed enough time to get to his flat and regroup.
At least that was the plan when a fist came crashing into his face knocking him down. His vision was still swimming in front of him when a foot caught him in the ribs cracking a few. He could feel his breath being forced out of his lungs.
He was vaguely aware of the other footsteps growing ever closer to his position. He wasn't sure if his unknown assailant was the one who called them to his position or if it was his own cries of pain that had signaled them. Whichever it was, they were coming, and fast.
Damn! He was having problems breathing in. One of his ribs must have punctured his lungs. Turning on all fours he coughs and watches as blood splatters on the floor in front of him.
Most definitely a punctured lung. He doesn't have much time to dwell on it as another foot comes up and hits him in the gut. He flips over like a pancake from the force of the kick. Landing on his back he can feel his ribs sear with burning hot pain, reminding him of his injuries.
It was then that the other found them between the stacks. Turning his head he sees a pair of feet come to a stop by his hand. One of the feet disappears from his line of sight, only to come crashing down violently on his hand breaking bones and skin with a sickening crunch. Screaming cradling his broken hand close.
"You should have kept you nose out of other people's business old man." A voice tells him.
He doesn't get a chance to respond to the voice as a booted foot connects with his head causing the room to spin into darkness. He isn't able to witness as the others continue to beat on his prone form. He doesn't hear his bones break. He cannot feel the pain as it surges through his body. He isn't able to witness his blood splatter onto the surrounding books or as it oozes out around his body taking his life with it.
.
Xander's arm lifts as he shifts his weight to the left and then shuffles to the right. Rocking back on his left foot he springs forward spinning quickly to face the opposite direction. He continues to move, recalling the movements he had burned into his memory with as he flows across the floor. A stream of perspiration trickles down his temple, he had been at this for almost three hours his body was growing tired but he continued to push on.
Looking up he sees Faith as well. She had been at it for as long as he and still she looked as beautiful as ever. She throws him as easy smile as they come to the end of their exercise.
"You two are progressing faster than any other pair I have ever taught before!" Melanie says to them as they walk over to where their bottles of water wait for them at the side of the room.
"Thanks." Xander says after taking a swig from his bottle. "But I think that Amanda has a lot to do with how good we look." He says smiling at Faith.
"Thanks Harry, but I think that you are over-exaggerating a bit. Don't you?" Faith tells him.
"Actually," Melanie interjects, "A dancer is only as good as their partner. Fred Astaire was great dancer but along with Ginger Rodgers they were magical."
"I guess you're right." Faith answers. "Well we'll see you Thursday, okay?"
"I'll be here!" Melanie says brightly. "See you then!"
"Bye!" Xander says to her on their way out.
They walk to their car talking excitedly about their latest lesson.
Xander watches her as she talks, a smile on her face. He is glad to see her smiling and having a good time once more, despite the horrible attack on her earlier in the week. Despite their efforts though they still haven't been able to figure out what or why it had happened. Methos had told them to be wary but not to worry about another attack to happen. According to Cassandra such magical attacks took hours even days to perform and took an incredible amount of skill power to carry them out. More than likely
"Lindy-Hop is hard, but I think I'm getting the hang of it." She says.
"Me too, but so far out of all the dances we've learned I like this one the best." He tells her, "That and Tango."
"Tango?" she asks him quizzically.
"Oh yeah. Have you ever seen Scent of a Woman?"
"The movie with Pachino in it?"
"That's the one."
"Parts, not all of it though."
"You poor depraved child." Xander says to her stroking her hair as if she were a little girl. "Scent of a Woman is one of the all time greatest movies ever made! WHO-WAH!"
"So what does that have to do with the tango?"
"Well there is this scene where Pachino tangos with this girl and. never mind you'll have to just watch it and see. It's one of the best scenes in the movie. Well anyway, ever since I saw that scene I've always wanted to learn how to tango."
"All this from a scene in a movie?"
"Not just any movie, Scent of a Woman! WHO"
"Wha. I get it. I guess I'll have to watch it."
"You've got that right. I just so happen to own a copy on DVD so you can watch it in all it's glory!"
"I can't wait." She answers him sarcastically.
Xander looks at her and sees right through her sarcasm. "Just you wait, you're going to love this movie."
"Don't tell me you want to watch the movie tonight do you?"
"Why? Its not like you have much planned for tomorrow do you?"
"No it just that I thought I would turn in a little early." Faith doesn't finish her sentence as she begins to look around her.
Seeing her sudden change in demeanor Xander instinctively reaches for his sword. "What is it?"
"I'm not sure." She says slowly, turning slightly trying to focus on the source of the feeling. "But it's close."
"Vampire?"
"That's the thing," She pauses as she turns again searching for whatever it was that she felt, "I can't tell."
Pulling out his sword he asks, "What do you mean you can't tell?"
"Just that, I can't tell. But there is definitely something out there."
As if on cue a vampire rushes out from the shadows to tackle Faith to the ground. Xander sword ready watches as the two forms struggle on the pavement. Seeing that he can't strike the demon with his sword without harming Faith he tosses it aside before joining in fray.
Xander pulls the vampire off of Faith and throws it into a pile of trashcans. The vampire gets up quickly ready to face it's new opponent. Xander blocks the blows as they come at him feeling the force behind each and every strike. If he traded blow for blow with the vampire he knew that he wouldn't last very long. In fact he was pretty sure he would get beaten to a bloody pulp. Fortunately for him though he didn't plan on fighting long enough for that to happen.
Stealing a look behind him he sees that Faith is up and ready with a stake in hand. Just as he turns his head to face the vampire again he just sees its fist come at his head. He is able to roll with the punch, deflecting much of the strength behind the punch. As he crashes down to the floor he can see Faith take his place in the fight.
She ducks a punch and counters with a quick kick just below the vampire's kneecap. The reaction is almost immediate. The vampire's scream of pain coincides with the wet crunch of bone and cartilage. In most cases this is something that would incapacitate a man.
Vampires however, are not men.
The vampire continues to fight despite the pain and its now skewed balance. Xander watches on as Faith presses her advantage. He had no worries about Faith dispatching her opponent. Even on a bad day she could take down any vampire.
No, he wasn't worried about Faith's ability to kill the vampire. He was more worried by the movement in the shadows behind her. Moving to pick up his sword his suspicions are verified as another form moves out of the shadows making its way to where Faith and the vampire were fighting.
Clutching his sword in his hand he runs to intercept the form before it can reach Faith. As his shoulder connects with the form with a loud thump Xander can tell instantly whatever it is, it isn't human. Since vampires essentially are the dead bodies of humans reanimated he also rules out the possibility that this new adversary is a vampire.
Hitting the ground and rolling away from his opponent Xander comes up with his sword in ready position. Glancing over his shoulder he sees Faith dispatch the vampire with a quick jab to the heart.
Xander takes a good look at his opponent and sees that it is definitely not a vampire. The armor like plating around its body and wicked looking claws definitely ruled out that possibility. It looked vaguely familiar, probably something he had run across while researching the prophecy of the week with Giles. So faced with an enemy with unknown powers and strengths Xander does the only thing that comes to mind.
"You're an ugly one aren't you?" He tells the demon getting a low menacing growl for his humor. "What? Have you actually taken a look at yourself in the mirror?"
The demon's growl turns into a roar as he rushes at Xander claws withdrawn and slicing through the air. Xander lets the demon attack a moment longer while he tries to assess the situation.
So far no magical attacks, no ranged attacks either. So far so good, now the only hard part is trying to find out how to kill it. Xander thought to himself as he continued to dodge the demon's attacks. Experimentally he lashes out with his sword just enough to cut the demon the edge of his blade.
The results of his experiment as better than he had expected as he sees the angry slash mark against the dark hide of the demon. Xander ducks another swing of the demon's claws and counters with a swing that he has used so many times in practice as well as in real life. The killing blow, some call it, or the final blow. No matter what you call it, it is the unmistakable cut used to behead your opponent.
It is a movement that meant death to all who were on the receiving end of it. For the demon, its meaning is no different as its head is separated from its shoulders. Has this been an immortal the body would have slumped to the ground with a surprising lack of blood as the quickening would have cauterized the wound.
However this was a demon, and demons do not have quickenings. The result is a flood of green ochre drenching him as the body falls to the ground at his feet.
Faith watches as Xander beheads the demon and is subsequently drenched by the demon's blood. She watches Xander for a moment waiting for a reaction of some sort but instead Xander continues to stand still frozen in the position after dealing the killing blow.
Tentatively Faith walks up to the still form of Xander, making sure not to touch any of the green blood, perhaps there are some magical property to the blood that freezes people in place.
"Uh.Xand?" She asks him.
When she doesn't get an answer she tries again, "Xand?"
Thinking that he is frozen in place she begins to panic. She can't touch him, if the blood is what caused this then she can't afford to get any of it on her or she would be frozen as well. She is about head for the car to get the cell phone when Xander drops his sword.
"Xand? XAND! Snap out of it!" She yells at him.
As if finally noticing that she was there Xander turns around and looks at her curiously. "Faith?"
"Xand? You okay?" She asks carefully, not knowing what kind of effect the demon blood would have on him.
"Do you have any idea how gross this feels? You get doused in demon blood and you tell me if you're okay or not." Xander says trying in vain to wipe away the offending liquid.
"Well better you than me." Faith jokes.
"Ha ha." He answers flatly.
Walking over to him she picks up his sword and holds it away from her, careful to keep the blood from dripping on her. She is about to make another comment when she sees the look on Xander's face. Before she can react Xander pulls her to him, hugging her closely. She is about to return his embrace when she feels her clothes sticking to her. She tries to pull away but Xander just holds on to her all the more.
"Xander! You're getting that crap all over me!" She exclaims
"You know what they say, misery loves company." He says into her ear.
Faith's only reaction to Xander's comment is to laugh. It is a sound that warms his heart and causes him to laugh right along with her. Both now wet and dripping with green goo the sheer strangeness of the situation finally got to them.
"You know," Xander says between laughs, "if we had been any other two people this would have been just too weird."
"But instead we're the weird ones who find this too funny." She answers him with a smirk
"Come on, let's go home. I really need to get out of these clothes."
"And because of you so do I." She retorts. Xander gives her a curious look. For moment she sees something flash across Xander's eyes. They were almost.wistful. Seeing that look causes her heart to beat faster.
Chuckling Xander sheaths his sword. Holding out his hand to her he says, "We make an interesting pair don't we?"
"That we do." She answers taking hold of his hand, allowing him to lead her back to the car both of them chuckling the entire way.
As they walk away from the scene neither of them see the shadow hiding in the darkness watching their retreating forms.
.
Quentin Travers sits in the posh offices of the New York headquarters of the Watchers in Manhattan. For all intensive purposes the offices look just like the others that occupy the surrounding buildings. To the outside world these offices house one of the many stock brokerages in the area.
Travers and his team had arrived in New York a few hours ago. The New York Watchers offices had been notified of their arrival and were there to pick them up. Meeting the highest-ranking Watcher in the area Travers and his team quickly setup a search pattern hoping to catch the rogue Slayer before she could exit the city.
That had been hours ago. As teams of Watchers began to systematically check into headquarters Travers' patience steadily began to wear thinner and thinner. As the hours passed each team reported with no results. New York is a huge city and as time continued to pass by so did Travers' window of opportunity.
"Quentin, I think that it is time to throw in the towel." Mr. Meyers, head of the North American Watchers, tells his colleague.
"We can't, we have to find her! You don't know what is at stake here. Have your men search again. Obviously they must have missed something" He tells him.
"No I don't know what is at stake here but I do know this: It take runaways less time to disappear in this city than your Slayer has had. The chances of finding her now are slim to none."
"But she is the Slayer, her instincts will eventually have to take control. She'll go out on patrol she'll try to hunt demons. Without our direction she'll be sloppy, giving us a trail to follow right to her."
Meyer's only reaction to Travers explanation is to shake his head and chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Travers growls.
"The fact that you keep measuring the capabilities of this Slayers against the expectations you have in that head of yours."
"What are you babbling about Meyers?"
"Don't you get it Travers? This girl isn't like anything that you've encountered before, hell she isn't like anything the Council has encountered before! She has already killed humans, and used their belongings to buy a plane ticket to the States! You have severely underestimated the abilities of this Slayer and now you're playing catch up!"
"I will not stand here and listen to this!" Travers says completely taken aback.
"Well you're going to have to because if you're going to get any help here state side you'll have to deal with me! It is your own pride and narrow- mindedness that allowed her to escape. You better rethink a few things if you actually plan to catch this one Travers."
"Well what do you suggest?" Travers says daring Meyers to come up with an idea .
"We talk to the man who has the most experience with dealing with alternative Slayers."
"No! We will not."
"If you hope to gain any insight on this one Travers you better get over yourself and your petty grievances with this man. If anyone knows how a Slayer thinks it would be Rupert Giles."
.
Xander is running through the stacks of a library of some sort, something is chasing him.
Ducking behind one of the stacks he hears as his pursuers rush by. Why were they chasing him? What did they want?
Getting up quickly he turns only to be met by a fist slamming into his face. As he falls he can feel his body protest as his assailant continues the beating kicking him in the ribs. He can hear them crack and the rush of pain numbing the side of his body as he falls on his back.
He tries to get to his feet, coughing up blood, as the others finally find him. They join in and continue to beat him. He can feel bones break as they crush his hand. He sees his blood splatter on nearby books as one of them viciously kicks him in the head.
His eyesight swimming he looks up and can barely hear one of his attackers say to him, "You should have kept you nose out of other people's business old man."
Xander realizes that he is standing once more but this time he is an observer to the actions. He watches on as the group of men continues to kick, punch and attack the prone body of the man, who only moment ago was Xander.
Xander looks on as he can recall some of the memories of the old man. They were Watchers! He was a Watcher! Why would they attack their own kind? What could they have gained from attacking an old man?
Xander watches as one of the men prepares to kick the man again. Not able to take more of it Xander rushes to the side of the old man and fends off the attackers. At least that is what he tried to do as he felt a barrier of some sort stop him from reaching him in time. One of the attackers kicks the old man once more in the head causing it to violently twist to the side, this time however his head stays that way at an odd angle.
"I think that it was rather poetic don't you?" A voice says behind Xander
Turning around he sees the form of the Master grinning at him.
"You did this? I don't even know this man and you killed him!?!" Xander is livid, he could never watch idly as others suffered, it was just his nature.
"You were their Xander my boy, I didn't do anything. I nudged a few things here, suggested a few things there and presto! Instant homicide! I thought it was rather poetic myself."
"Poetic! Poetic! He was an innocent! He had nothing to do with us, or me for that manner!"
"Ah, but you know someone who knows someone and all that. Anyway, no one is really ever innocent; we all have our own sins and pasts to atone for. I just helped with his penance."
"You had no right!"
"Do I? I think I have all the right in the world! Or this world at least, he who has the power.oh well, maybe next time you'll understand where I'm coming from. I do hope you enjoyed this little show, the next one will be even better. You can count on that. Sweet dreams Xander"
The Master's voice booms with laughter as he watches the group of men walk away from the body of the old man. Looking at him Xander does all he can to not throw up. The man is barely recognizable. His jaw hangs slack on his face obviously broken, with bones protruding from his skin.
"NO! I WON'T LET YOU! DO YOU HEAR ME! I WON'T LET YOU!" Xander screams as he falls to his knees sobbing.
Xander's eye flutter open and he bolts upright in bed. He can feel the streaks of tears he had cried while sleeping. Something is happening to him and what frightens him the most is the fact that he has no idea what it is.
.
Again, I'm sorry that it's taken so long to get this out but I am having some major writers block. Please review; tell me what you think so far and what you hope to see. Hopefully something will shake my brain loose and I can continue writing this piece in a timely fashion. Anyway in the mean time I've started work on another story, completely separate from the 'Leaves' continuum, but it will be a crossover, F/X and an AU. So it won't stray too far from my main themes, but it is a different animal nonetheless. So thanks all of you for reading and reviewing, leave your email if you review I will write back I promise.
Rating: R
Author: Banquo
Email: banquo@fanfiction.net
Summary: Xander and Faith have returned home after the events of "Leaves of Grass" but all is not as it seems. Dark dreams and plans set into motion allude to the danger that waits beyond the horizon.
Disclaimers: I own nothing except the story and all the characters I create in between. Buffy and all character related there in belong to Joss and Mutant enemy. While the concept of Immortality and all characters pertaining to Highlander belong to Panzer-Davis.
Archive: Go right ahead! Just email me a link where you plan on archiving my fic.
Though this story can stand on its own there are references to my first story so I strongly recommend that you read my first story "Leaves of Grass" which can be found at www.fanfiction.net search for the title and it will appear on the top of the list. Or you can go here directly to get to the story.
My apologies to all of you who have waited patiently for the next installment of this fic, I've have a bit of writers block right now and I have not been able to continue with this story at all the past few weeks. Nonetheless I've this chapter to share with you all.
Chapter 4: Shadows and Hidden Evil
.
Giles, Willow, Tara, Dawn and recently returned Riley are gathered at the Magic Shop.
Riley had been out of town on military business. The government, discovering Professor Walsh's true motives for the Initiative, decided that it needed to recoup its losses suffered at the hands of the Adam project. Riley being one of the last of the surviving ranking officers, the government had recalled him for a full debriefing and re-instatement of his military clearance, not as a soldier, but as an advisor to the supernatural, his input vital to the re-establishment of the Initiative as a unit used to contain and combat supernatural forces on American soil.
However once he heard what had happened to Buffy he had dropped all he was doing and caught the first flight out of Virginia to Los Angels and drove to Sunnydale. Giles had assured him that Buffy would make a full recovery but it would take another day or two before she would be to optimal performance levels.
That said the entire group assembled at the Magic Shop at the request of the Watcher, stating that they need to find out who or what was behind the attack and how exactly it was carried out.
"Well we know that the attack was magical in nature." Tara says.
"And from the looks of it there was some very powerful magic involved." Will adds.
"Yes the counter spells that we all tried to invoke were all very powerful spells and none of them had any visible effect on the attacking spell whatsoever." Giles says.
"So what else do we know?" Riley asks the assembled group.
"We know that someone helped us." Dawn says.
"Not necessarily Dawn, we cannot be sure of the intervening power's motives, it may have been that saving Buffy was just a coincidence and that the real target was the spell casters themselves."
"True, the power did seem to cause a energy feed back sending the power back up the energy lance."
"Then there is Buffy's explanation." Dawn tells them.
"And that would be?" Riley asks.
"That Xander's spirit came and helped stop the attack."
"Giles, could there be any merit to that theory?" Riley asks now in full strategic mode.
"Yes but it is a very remote one. Willow explained to me later that they had visited Xander's grave earlier that day."
"So it could have been her mind associating things while under attack?" Riley asks not really expecting an answer. "So what other avenues of research are open to us?"
"Why would someone attack Buffy?" Dawn asks.
Giles removes his glasses to clean a smudge off of the lens. As he rubs them with his handkerchief he says, "It could be a number of reasons but the only reason someone would single her out is the fact that she is the Slayer."
"But the question is why was she attacked? Because she is the Slayer or because she is the Slayer?" Tara says.
Riley with a confused look on his face looks at Tara. "Exactly do you mean by that?"
Willow interjects saying, "I think I know where she is going with that one. Buffy was singled out either because she is the Slayer and has power that can be exploited, or."
"Or she was singled out because she is the Slayer and has the power to stop something from happening." Dawn finishes.
"So which one is it?" Riley asks the group.
Replacing his glasses onto the bridge of his nose Giles says, "That is why we are going to research."
.
She could feel them, the others. They were out there, somewhere. Their presence sings in her mind and reverberates through her body.
She needs to find the others; she needs to stop the pain in her head, to stop the voices.
Each voice screams at her, telling her what to do. Telling her to fight, to survive, but one voice stands out in her mind. One voice dominates above all the shrill screaming voices, when it is present all the other voices seem to lull, giving her a brief reprieve from the chaos. When the one voice appears the other voices follow in concert with it, like a conductor the other voices follows its lead and tempo, gaining so much strength that she can't ignore them.
The Voice has returned now and is telling her to find the others, to kill them.
There can be only one.
It is the only truth she could recognize since leaving the ruins. It is the only thing the Voice tells her that she believes, there can be only one.
But how can she find them? They feel distant, out of her reach, how will she go to them?
The Voice whispers in her mind, guiding her. Willingly she follows its directions. She tried to resist the Voice but was only rewarded with pain every time she contradicts its will. She finds herself walking on the side of the road. She hears a car pull up on the opposite side of the road.
She turns to face the car as the window opens. Peering inside the car she sees a man eyeing her body. Her first reaction was to turn away in disgust, but the Voice has another idea.
She can feel her mouth turn up in a smile as saunters across the road, she says to him, "Hi."
The man doesn't even bother with pleasantries as he says to her, "You need a ride?"
She hears her voice lustfully say to him, "I defiantly could use a ride."
Grinning the man presses a button on his armrest and she hears the door unlock.
"Then why don't you hop in?" He says leering at her body.
"Thanks." She tells him with smile while opening the door. Getting in and closing the door she asks the man, "So where are you headed?"
"In to the city." He tells her as his hand rests on her knee.
She reaches over with her hand and begins to play with his hair. "Really? Anyone expecting you?"
"No, I can be a few hours late if need be." He tells her not understanding what is about to happen.
"Good." She says with a smile. Suddenly she grabs the back of his head and violently twists it. The sound of bones and cartilage breaking sings in her ears as she snaps his neck.
Pushing the limp body out of the car and onto the side of the road she slides into the drivers side of the car. Leaning out of the door she reaches into his pocket and pulls out his wallet. The Voice tells her its plan as she starts the car and pulls onto the road, the tires kicking dirt and gravel onto the body of the dead man. It tells her how to find the others, how she will go to them and ultimately how it is up to her to kill them.
There can be, after all, only one.
.
Methos and Faith were going over what had happened to her as Xander and Cassandra walk into the kitchen with some food. They had been at this for a better part of the day and were no closer to a solution than they were when they started.
"Faith I'm going to need a little more if we're going to get to the bottom of this," Methos tells her. "Is there anything, and I mean anything, that you can remember about the attack that could help us find who or what would want to hurt you?"
"I already told you Adam, I was in the workout room practicing when it hit me. Other than blinding pain there isn't much else I can tell you about it."
"But there has to be." He says, trying to push his point.
"Adam, why don't we take a break for now?" Cassandra asks him.
He looks from Faith to Cassandra and then to Xander, who only shrugs his shoulders. Sighing Methos sits back in his chair and rubs his eyes.
"Yes, I suppose that would be the best plan of action right now."
"Good, because this food isn't going to stay warm forever you know." Xander tell him taking out a few take out boxes and some bread for the bags he had carried inside with him.
"Great, I'm starving!" Faith tells him as she gets up and walks over to Xander to see what they had bought. "What did you guys get?"
"I think I smell.Italian?" Methos asks no one in particular.
"Give the man a prize!" Xander says in his best game show host voice.
"What do I win?"
"Pene Rustica." Cassandra says placing the box in front of Methos along with her own.
Methos' eyes almost gleam as he opens the box and inhales the aroma of the food within. Looking up and eyeing the box in front of Cassandra he asks her, "What did you get?"
"The same. I haven't had this in a long time so I decided to indulge."
Xander hands a box over to Faith and says in an almost passable Italian accent, "And for the lady we have bow tie pasta, sun dried tomatoes, diced mushrooms in a light cream sauce."
"You certainly know your way to a girls heart don't you?" Faith tells him before picking up a fork and taking a bite of her food savoring the flavor. "Mmmmm, have I told you how much I love you?"
Her eyes are closed as she makes the comment so she misses the look that falls on Xander's face for a split second. However Methos and Cassandra do not.
The look lingers on his face for a moment longer before he says jovially, "You're only saying that now. Why do you wait until I get you into the training room? Then we'll see how you really feel."
Playfully punching Xander on the arm Faith says, "Bring it on, Xand, bring it on," before taking her food and taking it to the table where Cassandra and Adam are sitting.
Xander follows her to the table with his food carrying a plate with the bread on it. Opening his box he digs into his salad, enjoying the taste of the greens and chicken.
"So find anything interesting while we were out?" Xander asks in between mouthfuls.
"Unfortunately, no." Methos answers
"Did you expect to find an answer in a few hours?" Cassandra scolds.
"Well I at least thought we'd make some head way. We've made no progress whatsoever."
"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, I'm partially to blame for our lack productivity, I can barely remember anything after the initial attack." Faith answers.
"No is placing blame on you, child," Cassandra tells her. "You were attacked in an incredibly violent way, none of us expect you to have perfect recall. Isn't that right Adam?" She stresses the last sentence enough that Adam is able to understand her meaning.
"Of course, most people are complete blanks after such a traumatizing attack. You should consider yourself lucky."
"Thanks, I think." Faith answers as she stabs a piece of chicken before placing it in her mouth.
"If it helps Adam, I thought that the entire experience was very draining. I have never felt so weak after an attack." Xander tells his mentor before scooping another bite of salad into his mouth.
Faith is about to say something in agreement with Xander when he rises his fork indicating that he has something to add to his previous statement.
"I take it back." He says and continues to chew, trying to free his mouth of food so he can speak coherently. "I've never felt so weak after an attack, with the exception of a Quickening, if you want to call that an attack."
"I can't relate with the Quickening part, but every part of my body ached and barely had the strength to sit up after I woke up."
Methos nods while chewing his food, deep in thought. "You know, that might be the angle that I've been looking for. I'll check up on it and see what I can find."
Changing the subject to get their minds off of their research Cassandra asks, "So how are your classes going?"
Faith immediately smiles. Despite her hard past she has really taken a liking to the dance lessons, "Great! We're going to learn swing tonight, I can't wait."
"Yup, Faith is a natural at this. I think that her Slayer enhanced powers include natural dancing abilities and rhythm." Xander says to his Cassandra.
"What he failed to mention is that he's still having a little trouble with the mambo."
Methos grins as he says, "Xander you know at least three martial arts and several forms using dozens of weapons and you're having a little trouble shaking your hips?"
"Hey, in my own defense I've never come across an opponent who would be subdued by the hypnotic movements of my hips!"
"But the mambo?" Cassandra asks him, "It's such an easy dance."
"If it's so easy why don't you do it?"
Cassandra looks at Methos who nods and gets up and walks into the living room. Faith and Xander look on curiously as Cassandra stands up with a smug look on her face. Suddenly from the other room a steady Latin beat flows into the kitchen.
Methos appears in the doorway with a theatrical pose staring down Cassandra. He raises he hand to her and simply says, "Senora? May I have this dance?"
Cassandra fanning herself with an imaginary fan demurely curtsies, taking his hand. At the moment of contact Adam pulls her into a loose but firm frame and begins to move to the rhythm of the music. Their dance is fluid and full of complicated turns and transitions. One moment they are facing each other, the next they are spinning on the floor, each acutely aware of each other and their surroundings.
Faith simply smiles watching the two ancient immortals dance to the music. Xander on the other hand looks at them with disbelief.
"Were you guys dance champions too?" he says with sarcasm.
Cassandra looks at him after a double spin and says, "Yes, in '72."
Methos spins and pivots on a foot holding Cassandra close before looking at his young protégé, "So was I but in '74."
Faith laughs at the look on Xander's face when he hears that particular piece of information.
Exasperated Xander asks them, "Is there anything you guys haven't done?"
"I'm sure there are." Methos tells him.
"But we've done all the fun things already." Cassandra says with a smile.
Faith only smiles as the three immortals banter, she looks on at the two happily dancing on the floor with each other as another song begins in the background. Adam and Cassandra are the closest things she has ever had to parents and she cherishes the fact that she is able to participate in their lives. Sometimes she wishes that she knew more about her real parents, who they were, what they were like, she didn't even have a picture of them.
The council had found her after she was put back into the orphanage she had ran away from two years earlier. She was doing well in the streets of Boston looking out for herself, not worrying about anyone else, it was freedom that she had never known in the orphanages and half-way houses she was put into by the system. But fate, or in her case the police, had caught up with her when she was trying to boost a car. They put her back into juvee for a couple of months before putting her back into the orphanage. The next week the council found her, the rest, is history.
Breaking her out of her reverie she feels something tugging on her arm. Looking up she sees that Xander had stood up and was trying to gently pull her to her feet.
"Would you like to dance?" He asks her.
Faith nods and smiles following Xander to an open space on the kitchen floor to dance on. Falling into Xander's arms as he begins to lead she automatically follows. Her movements dictated by his lead. As she dances with Xander she looks over at Adam and Cassandra still dancing, enjoying each other's company.
Faith smiles and thinks that maybe her family is out there, her blood relatives, but her real family has been the people in this room. Adam and Cassandra her parents and Xander.and Xander.
Faith is caught by surprise at her hesitation when trying to classify her relation to Xander. He wasn't a brother, she knew that much, it was closer than that. He was like her.boyfriend? The moment the thought appeared in her mind she felt a warmth and assurance flush over her. That accompanied with Xander's arms wrapping around her as they dance causes her to sigh.
There would be more time to explore those feelings later, she thought to herself. Right now she just wanted to enjoy the moment. Forgotten for a brief moment were yesterday's attack, research and everything else. All that really mattered was herself and the people she called family dancing to music, enjoying themselves.
She learned that she had to cherish these moments because being the Slayer meant not knowing when moments like these would happen again. She had already lost so much time while in a comma, she wasn't about to miss out on any more time.
.
Travers is absolutely livid as he screams at the gathered members of his team, "What do you mean you cannot find her! She's one girl, on foot for Gods sake! How can you not know where she is?"
"She killed all the Watchers present at the site so no one could tell us in which exact direction she went. Mrs. Fletcher was only able to tell us that she ran into the wood." One of the young Watchers answers.
"When we were able to get Watchers on site we were able to find her tracks entering Skell Wood. We followed them as far as we could go. After that we did a blanket search of the wood." Another young Watcher says to him.
"Well obviously she is either NOT in the wood or your search was compromised and something was overlooked." Looking at the gathered Watchers he realizes that someone is missing. "Where is Masterson? I told you all to be here to report your findings, I will not tolerate tardiness!"
As if on cue Masterson enters the room clutching a folder in his hand. "I apologize for my tardiness." He begins only to be cutoff by Travers.
"You better have a good reason for being late Masterson. You have no idea how grave our situation is." Travers tells the young Watcher coolly.
"I do have a good explanation." Masterson tells him holding up the folder. Opening it he hands all those present a packet of papers. "The first page is a police report from a town nearby Yorkshire, a man was found dead on the side of the road, his neck broken." He flips to the next page and continues, "Here is another police report from another town about a break in, a house was robbed and its occupants were killed."
"Masterson, I fail to see how this helps us in our locating of the delta Slayer." Travers tells him impatiently.
"Bear with me sir," Masterson says to his superior. "I did some checking and it seems that a large purchase was put onto the credit card on the dead man three hours after his estimated time of death. A purchase made online from Virgin airlines. I was able to find out that the purchase was made from an IP address that corresponds from address range of the ISP that the family in the house subscribes to."
"Use her majesties English please Masterson, not your damn techno-babble." Travers tells him.
"Sorry, it seems that whoever killed the man, used his credit card to buy a ticket online to fly to the United States." Flipping to the next page he points out the picture to those present. "Some of the things missing from the house are some clothes, a few valuables and a suitcase. If you look at the picture on the page you'll find something interesting."
Looking down on the page all the Watcher look on in awe as Masterson continues, "That picture was taken from a security camera in Hethro."
The picture is of a young woman in business suit her hair up dragging a suitcase as she walks through the terminal. Looking closely they realize it is the missing Slayer.
"Damn! How could she have done this?!" Travers yells at his team. Seeing that they are at a loss for words he faces Masterson, "When did her flight leave?"
"This morning. Her destination was New York."
"Was?"
"Yes, I'm afraid that her flight was early and landed at JFK an hour ago."
"Get a team together, book a flight on the Concord. We're following our Slayer to New York. Alert the New York office. I want to be on that plane as soon as possible." Travers barks out as the Watchers scramble to get the tasks done. "I want to have her under Watcher control by the end of the week."
.
"Rupert, I'm doing fine now, really I'm okay." Joyce tells the Watcher in her kitchen.
Giles is standing in front of the stove stirring in ingredients for a soup. "That may be, but I want you to rest as much as possible."
"So you are you going to make me dinner for the next week or two?"
"I hoping I would be having dinner with you for longer than that," he says to her with a grin, "however until I think you'll be okay by yourself I'm going to have to shower you with attention."
With a dramatic sigh she answers, "I guess I'll have to find a way to survive the pampering you're giving me."
"Yes, I'm sure you're just hating every moment of it."
"I don't know how you're going to put up with my every whim." She tells him suggestively.
Giles turns down the heat on the stove and faces her.
"Every whim? Now that may have some implications." He says with an easy grin.
"I assure you it does."
"And just what sort of impli."
At that moment a cell phone rings interrupting their banter. Pulling the offending piece of technology out of his pocket he asks Joyce, "Tell me again why is it I bought this horrendous thing?"
"In case one of the kids needed to get a hold of you or if one of your customers and contacts needed to call you with important information."
The phone rings again in his hand as he replies, "Yes, that was why wasn't it?"
"You better answer that." She tells him nodding towards the phone in his hand.
"Very well then, but I expect you to tell me what kinds of implications you mean." He tells her before answering the phone. "Hello?"
"Rupert?" The voice on the other side of the line sounds a bit hollow, but Giles recognizes it almost immediately.
"Julian! How are you doing?" Giles smiles as he speaks into the phone a bit loudly.
Joyce can't help but smile at the way he is speaking into the small device, though incredibly intelligent and well learned he is still adverse to most forms of technology.
"Don't talk so loud Rupert! You nearly popped my eardrum!"
"Oh sorry. Is this better?"
"Much, thank you."
"So Julian, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?"
"Travers is heading stateside Rupert."
"He's coming here to Sunnydale? Hasn't he already learned that Buffy won't."
"He's not going to Sunnydale Rupert. Travers and his team boarded the Concord an hour ago and are bound for New York."
"Julian, that ritual you told me about, when did it take place?" Giles asks closing his eyes hoping that his assumption is wrong.
"Two days ago, but from what I understand the ritual was a failure."
"How so?" Giles asks his heart sinking at Julian's confirmation of his fears.
"Travers didn't return to the council with a Slayer. My understanding is that Travers is on his way to New York to intercept the Slayer he tried to call."
"He didn't have the vessel when he performed the ritual?"
"On the contrary, he did, but she was able to escape. At the cost of several Watchers' lives."
"So he called a third Slayer, without any qualms or heed for the current Slayers' well being only to have activated an insane Slayer?" Giles asks his friend, his anger seething.
At Giles' words Joyce looks at him with worry. He and Buffy had told her about Quentin Travers and the Cruciamentum. If this man was responsible for endangering her daughter's life once again, Council or not she was going to help take him down.
"I'm afraid so Rupert."
"Buffy was attacked not too long ago, I had assumed that the Council might have been behind it, but now I know."
"I'm sorry Rupert." They both here a click on the line and Julian tells his friend hurriedly, "Sorry Rupert, I must go now."
"But I have a few more questions!"
"No there's no time, watch yourself Rupert. Whatever is happening, it's not going to be good."
"I will. The same goes to you."
"Cheers."
"Cheers."
Giles removes the phone from his ear and pushes the button hanging up the call. Pocketing the phone he turns his head towards Joyce.
"Rupert? What was all that about?"
"It seems the Council was behind the attack on Buffy."
"What?!"
"There was a ritual involved, one that would call a new Slayer. It seems that there is a side effect to the ritual though." He says grinding his teeth.
"The attack on Buffy?"
"Precisely." Giles says leaning against the kitchen counter. Joyce gets up and is about to comfort him when Giles explodes with anger.
"Those arrogant bastards!" he yells slamming his hands into the counter tile. "Calling a third Slayer! A third one! And doing a ritual of such proportions without researching the possibilities!"
It was then Joyce saw Rupert do something she had never seen him do before: babble.
"Of all of the stupid, irresponsible."
"Rupert."
"They could have destroyed everything!"
"Rupert."
"Not to mention the powers they must have called forth to even attempt such a thing!"
"RUPERT!"
The sudden burst of sound startles Giles to attention. Realizing what just happened Giles stammers out an apology.
"S-s-sorry Joyce its just th-that I can't believe that the council would try."
Joyce promptly shuts Giles up with a kiss. Pulling away and seeing that he is dazed for a moment, Joyce tells him, "I understand how you feel, but screaming an yelling in my kitchen won't help any."
Sighing and pulling her into his arms Giles says into her hair, "I know, I know. Its just that the thought of something happening to Buffy or Dawn, or any of them makes me."
Pulling away slightly she looks up at him, "Afraid? Helpless? Tell me if I'm getting close here?"
"Well, I was actually thinking mad with anger, but I guess those would work as well." He says with a small grin.
"So now we know why and what it was that happened, so what do we do about it?"
"We'll wait for Buffy to get back to tell her, I'm sure she'll be thrilled to hear that the Council is responsible for what happened to her."
"And after that?"
"I'm not sure. We don't have much to go on, we only know that Travers is in New York nothing else about his plans or where this third Slayer is."
"Nothing to research then is there?"
"Aside from the ritual? I don't think so. Julian is the only one who would be able to get me any more information on what is going on inside the Council, aside from him I've been pretty much blacklisted from the rest of the Watchers."
"You two are good friends?" She asks him warily, knowing about what he had done with other friends from his past.
"I assure you he is nothing like Ethan. He was my partner in crime when I pulled the freshman prank at the Academy. We were caught, but the prank itself made us legends." He tells her with a wistful smile.
"You'll have to tell me about that sometime."
"I will, but not until after dinner." He tells her sternly.
"But what about the Council?"
"It can wait until Buffy gets home. Until then there is nothing we can do."
"Fine. So what do you want to do then?"
"Well for a start why don't we discuss certain implications?" He tells her as he pulls her closer to him.
"Implications? What about dinner?"
"I'll let it simmer for a bit, it should be fine." He tells her gently pushing her out of the kitchen.
.
Julian Griffith walks quietly between the stacks of books in a small corner of the great library. Even though his main job was not research his academy days had taught him to be self-sufficient. The way the new Watchers were coming out of the academy, they were all specialized. If they were trained for a specific purpose they would be only able to do that job and nothing else. The focus of cross training had faded away long ago. The only ones that were trained in all the fields were those from the older classes or the field watchers.
Even then the field many of the field Watchers had specialties as well. Giles and himself had come from the old school. Their skills were well rounded, so it was a great surprise when Julian threw a dagger into the shadows and took off running. At least it was a surprise to the young Watcher waiting in the shadows to ambush him.
Julian ran deeper into the stacks, hoping to loose them between the maze- like pathways. Using the skills at his disposal he listens to the footfalls as they chase after him, four of them, probably more.
Turning sharply and ducking behind a stack he forces his breathing to be slow and quiet even with his blood pounding in his ears.
He had heard stories of the Council taking out what they thought as security threats but he had thrown those ideas by the wayside. James Bondish in his mind to be reality, but apparently he was mistaken.
But what had he done? He wasn't working on any sensitive materials or anything like, the only thing he had done today was talk to Rupert.
That was it! He had told him about the ritual and Travers, could that be why they were after him?
Julian wasn't about to stand there and wait for them to tell him why. Listening intently as the footsteps grow more and more quiet Julian slowly rises to his feet and backs away hoping to double back and loose them. He just needed enough time to get to his flat and regroup.
At least that was the plan when a fist came crashing into his face knocking him down. His vision was still swimming in front of him when a foot caught him in the ribs cracking a few. He could feel his breath being forced out of his lungs.
He was vaguely aware of the other footsteps growing ever closer to his position. He wasn't sure if his unknown assailant was the one who called them to his position or if it was his own cries of pain that had signaled them. Whichever it was, they were coming, and fast.
Damn! He was having problems breathing in. One of his ribs must have punctured his lungs. Turning on all fours he coughs and watches as blood splatters on the floor in front of him.
Most definitely a punctured lung. He doesn't have much time to dwell on it as another foot comes up and hits him in the gut. He flips over like a pancake from the force of the kick. Landing on his back he can feel his ribs sear with burning hot pain, reminding him of his injuries.
It was then that the other found them between the stacks. Turning his head he sees a pair of feet come to a stop by his hand. One of the feet disappears from his line of sight, only to come crashing down violently on his hand breaking bones and skin with a sickening crunch. Screaming cradling his broken hand close.
"You should have kept you nose out of other people's business old man." A voice tells him.
He doesn't get a chance to respond to the voice as a booted foot connects with his head causing the room to spin into darkness. He isn't able to witness as the others continue to beat on his prone form. He doesn't hear his bones break. He cannot feel the pain as it surges through his body. He isn't able to witness his blood splatter onto the surrounding books or as it oozes out around his body taking his life with it.
.
Xander's arm lifts as he shifts his weight to the left and then shuffles to the right. Rocking back on his left foot he springs forward spinning quickly to face the opposite direction. He continues to move, recalling the movements he had burned into his memory with as he flows across the floor. A stream of perspiration trickles down his temple, he had been at this for almost three hours his body was growing tired but he continued to push on.
Looking up he sees Faith as well. She had been at it for as long as he and still she looked as beautiful as ever. She throws him as easy smile as they come to the end of their exercise.
"You two are progressing faster than any other pair I have ever taught before!" Melanie says to them as they walk over to where their bottles of water wait for them at the side of the room.
"Thanks." Xander says after taking a swig from his bottle. "But I think that Amanda has a lot to do with how good we look." He says smiling at Faith.
"Thanks Harry, but I think that you are over-exaggerating a bit. Don't you?" Faith tells him.
"Actually," Melanie interjects, "A dancer is only as good as their partner. Fred Astaire was great dancer but along with Ginger Rodgers they were magical."
"I guess you're right." Faith answers. "Well we'll see you Thursday, okay?"
"I'll be here!" Melanie says brightly. "See you then!"
"Bye!" Xander says to her on their way out.
They walk to their car talking excitedly about their latest lesson.
Xander watches her as she talks, a smile on her face. He is glad to see her smiling and having a good time once more, despite the horrible attack on her earlier in the week. Despite their efforts though they still haven't been able to figure out what or why it had happened. Methos had told them to be wary but not to worry about another attack to happen. According to Cassandra such magical attacks took hours even days to perform and took an incredible amount of skill power to carry them out. More than likely
"Lindy-Hop is hard, but I think I'm getting the hang of it." She says.
"Me too, but so far out of all the dances we've learned I like this one the best." He tells her, "That and Tango."
"Tango?" she asks him quizzically.
"Oh yeah. Have you ever seen Scent of a Woman?"
"The movie with Pachino in it?"
"That's the one."
"Parts, not all of it though."
"You poor depraved child." Xander says to her stroking her hair as if she were a little girl. "Scent of a Woman is one of the all time greatest movies ever made! WHO-WAH!"
"So what does that have to do with the tango?"
"Well there is this scene where Pachino tangos with this girl and. never mind you'll have to just watch it and see. It's one of the best scenes in the movie. Well anyway, ever since I saw that scene I've always wanted to learn how to tango."
"All this from a scene in a movie?"
"Not just any movie, Scent of a Woman! WHO"
"Wha. I get it. I guess I'll have to watch it."
"You've got that right. I just so happen to own a copy on DVD so you can watch it in all it's glory!"
"I can't wait." She answers him sarcastically.
Xander looks at her and sees right through her sarcasm. "Just you wait, you're going to love this movie."
"Don't tell me you want to watch the movie tonight do you?"
"Why? Its not like you have much planned for tomorrow do you?"
"No it just that I thought I would turn in a little early." Faith doesn't finish her sentence as she begins to look around her.
Seeing her sudden change in demeanor Xander instinctively reaches for his sword. "What is it?"
"I'm not sure." She says slowly, turning slightly trying to focus on the source of the feeling. "But it's close."
"Vampire?"
"That's the thing," She pauses as she turns again searching for whatever it was that she felt, "I can't tell."
Pulling out his sword he asks, "What do you mean you can't tell?"
"Just that, I can't tell. But there is definitely something out there."
As if on cue a vampire rushes out from the shadows to tackle Faith to the ground. Xander sword ready watches as the two forms struggle on the pavement. Seeing that he can't strike the demon with his sword without harming Faith he tosses it aside before joining in fray.
Xander pulls the vampire off of Faith and throws it into a pile of trashcans. The vampire gets up quickly ready to face it's new opponent. Xander blocks the blows as they come at him feeling the force behind each and every strike. If he traded blow for blow with the vampire he knew that he wouldn't last very long. In fact he was pretty sure he would get beaten to a bloody pulp. Fortunately for him though he didn't plan on fighting long enough for that to happen.
Stealing a look behind him he sees that Faith is up and ready with a stake in hand. Just as he turns his head to face the vampire again he just sees its fist come at his head. He is able to roll with the punch, deflecting much of the strength behind the punch. As he crashes down to the floor he can see Faith take his place in the fight.
She ducks a punch and counters with a quick kick just below the vampire's kneecap. The reaction is almost immediate. The vampire's scream of pain coincides with the wet crunch of bone and cartilage. In most cases this is something that would incapacitate a man.
Vampires however, are not men.
The vampire continues to fight despite the pain and its now skewed balance. Xander watches on as Faith presses her advantage. He had no worries about Faith dispatching her opponent. Even on a bad day she could take down any vampire.
No, he wasn't worried about Faith's ability to kill the vampire. He was more worried by the movement in the shadows behind her. Moving to pick up his sword his suspicions are verified as another form moves out of the shadows making its way to where Faith and the vampire were fighting.
Clutching his sword in his hand he runs to intercept the form before it can reach Faith. As his shoulder connects with the form with a loud thump Xander can tell instantly whatever it is, it isn't human. Since vampires essentially are the dead bodies of humans reanimated he also rules out the possibility that this new adversary is a vampire.
Hitting the ground and rolling away from his opponent Xander comes up with his sword in ready position. Glancing over his shoulder he sees Faith dispatch the vampire with a quick jab to the heart.
Xander takes a good look at his opponent and sees that it is definitely not a vampire. The armor like plating around its body and wicked looking claws definitely ruled out that possibility. It looked vaguely familiar, probably something he had run across while researching the prophecy of the week with Giles. So faced with an enemy with unknown powers and strengths Xander does the only thing that comes to mind.
"You're an ugly one aren't you?" He tells the demon getting a low menacing growl for his humor. "What? Have you actually taken a look at yourself in the mirror?"
The demon's growl turns into a roar as he rushes at Xander claws withdrawn and slicing through the air. Xander lets the demon attack a moment longer while he tries to assess the situation.
So far no magical attacks, no ranged attacks either. So far so good, now the only hard part is trying to find out how to kill it. Xander thought to himself as he continued to dodge the demon's attacks. Experimentally he lashes out with his sword just enough to cut the demon the edge of his blade.
The results of his experiment as better than he had expected as he sees the angry slash mark against the dark hide of the demon. Xander ducks another swing of the demon's claws and counters with a swing that he has used so many times in practice as well as in real life. The killing blow, some call it, or the final blow. No matter what you call it, it is the unmistakable cut used to behead your opponent.
It is a movement that meant death to all who were on the receiving end of it. For the demon, its meaning is no different as its head is separated from its shoulders. Has this been an immortal the body would have slumped to the ground with a surprising lack of blood as the quickening would have cauterized the wound.
However this was a demon, and demons do not have quickenings. The result is a flood of green ochre drenching him as the body falls to the ground at his feet.
Faith watches as Xander beheads the demon and is subsequently drenched by the demon's blood. She watches Xander for a moment waiting for a reaction of some sort but instead Xander continues to stand still frozen in the position after dealing the killing blow.
Tentatively Faith walks up to the still form of Xander, making sure not to touch any of the green blood, perhaps there are some magical property to the blood that freezes people in place.
"Uh.Xand?" She asks him.
When she doesn't get an answer she tries again, "Xand?"
Thinking that he is frozen in place she begins to panic. She can't touch him, if the blood is what caused this then she can't afford to get any of it on her or she would be frozen as well. She is about head for the car to get the cell phone when Xander drops his sword.
"Xand? XAND! Snap out of it!" She yells at him.
As if finally noticing that she was there Xander turns around and looks at her curiously. "Faith?"
"Xand? You okay?" She asks carefully, not knowing what kind of effect the demon blood would have on him.
"Do you have any idea how gross this feels? You get doused in demon blood and you tell me if you're okay or not." Xander says trying in vain to wipe away the offending liquid.
"Well better you than me." Faith jokes.
"Ha ha." He answers flatly.
Walking over to him she picks up his sword and holds it away from her, careful to keep the blood from dripping on her. She is about to make another comment when she sees the look on Xander's face. Before she can react Xander pulls her to him, hugging her closely. She is about to return his embrace when she feels her clothes sticking to her. She tries to pull away but Xander just holds on to her all the more.
"Xander! You're getting that crap all over me!" She exclaims
"You know what they say, misery loves company." He says into her ear.
Faith's only reaction to Xander's comment is to laugh. It is a sound that warms his heart and causes him to laugh right along with her. Both now wet and dripping with green goo the sheer strangeness of the situation finally got to them.
"You know," Xander says between laughs, "if we had been any other two people this would have been just too weird."
"But instead we're the weird ones who find this too funny." She answers him with a smirk
"Come on, let's go home. I really need to get out of these clothes."
"And because of you so do I." She retorts. Xander gives her a curious look. For moment she sees something flash across Xander's eyes. They were almost.wistful. Seeing that look causes her heart to beat faster.
Chuckling Xander sheaths his sword. Holding out his hand to her he says, "We make an interesting pair don't we?"
"That we do." She answers taking hold of his hand, allowing him to lead her back to the car both of them chuckling the entire way.
As they walk away from the scene neither of them see the shadow hiding in the darkness watching their retreating forms.
.
Quentin Travers sits in the posh offices of the New York headquarters of the Watchers in Manhattan. For all intensive purposes the offices look just like the others that occupy the surrounding buildings. To the outside world these offices house one of the many stock brokerages in the area.
Travers and his team had arrived in New York a few hours ago. The New York Watchers offices had been notified of their arrival and were there to pick them up. Meeting the highest-ranking Watcher in the area Travers and his team quickly setup a search pattern hoping to catch the rogue Slayer before she could exit the city.
That had been hours ago. As teams of Watchers began to systematically check into headquarters Travers' patience steadily began to wear thinner and thinner. As the hours passed each team reported with no results. New York is a huge city and as time continued to pass by so did Travers' window of opportunity.
"Quentin, I think that it is time to throw in the towel." Mr. Meyers, head of the North American Watchers, tells his colleague.
"We can't, we have to find her! You don't know what is at stake here. Have your men search again. Obviously they must have missed something" He tells him.
"No I don't know what is at stake here but I do know this: It take runaways less time to disappear in this city than your Slayer has had. The chances of finding her now are slim to none."
"But she is the Slayer, her instincts will eventually have to take control. She'll go out on patrol she'll try to hunt demons. Without our direction she'll be sloppy, giving us a trail to follow right to her."
Meyer's only reaction to Travers explanation is to shake his head and chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Travers growls.
"The fact that you keep measuring the capabilities of this Slayers against the expectations you have in that head of yours."
"What are you babbling about Meyers?"
"Don't you get it Travers? This girl isn't like anything that you've encountered before, hell she isn't like anything the Council has encountered before! She has already killed humans, and used their belongings to buy a plane ticket to the States! You have severely underestimated the abilities of this Slayer and now you're playing catch up!"
"I will not stand here and listen to this!" Travers says completely taken aback.
"Well you're going to have to because if you're going to get any help here state side you'll have to deal with me! It is your own pride and narrow- mindedness that allowed her to escape. You better rethink a few things if you actually plan to catch this one Travers."
"Well what do you suggest?" Travers says daring Meyers to come up with an idea .
"We talk to the man who has the most experience with dealing with alternative Slayers."
"No! We will not."
"If you hope to gain any insight on this one Travers you better get over yourself and your petty grievances with this man. If anyone knows how a Slayer thinks it would be Rupert Giles."
.
Xander is running through the stacks of a library of some sort, something is chasing him.
Ducking behind one of the stacks he hears as his pursuers rush by. Why were they chasing him? What did they want?
Getting up quickly he turns only to be met by a fist slamming into his face. As he falls he can feel his body protest as his assailant continues the beating kicking him in the ribs. He can hear them crack and the rush of pain numbing the side of his body as he falls on his back.
He tries to get to his feet, coughing up blood, as the others finally find him. They join in and continue to beat him. He can feel bones break as they crush his hand. He sees his blood splatter on nearby books as one of them viciously kicks him in the head.
His eyesight swimming he looks up and can barely hear one of his attackers say to him, "You should have kept you nose out of other people's business old man."
Xander realizes that he is standing once more but this time he is an observer to the actions. He watches on as the group of men continues to kick, punch and attack the prone body of the man, who only moment ago was Xander.
Xander looks on as he can recall some of the memories of the old man. They were Watchers! He was a Watcher! Why would they attack their own kind? What could they have gained from attacking an old man?
Xander watches as one of the men prepares to kick the man again. Not able to take more of it Xander rushes to the side of the old man and fends off the attackers. At least that is what he tried to do as he felt a barrier of some sort stop him from reaching him in time. One of the attackers kicks the old man once more in the head causing it to violently twist to the side, this time however his head stays that way at an odd angle.
"I think that it was rather poetic don't you?" A voice says behind Xander
Turning around he sees the form of the Master grinning at him.
"You did this? I don't even know this man and you killed him!?!" Xander is livid, he could never watch idly as others suffered, it was just his nature.
"You were their Xander my boy, I didn't do anything. I nudged a few things here, suggested a few things there and presto! Instant homicide! I thought it was rather poetic myself."
"Poetic! Poetic! He was an innocent! He had nothing to do with us, or me for that manner!"
"Ah, but you know someone who knows someone and all that. Anyway, no one is really ever innocent; we all have our own sins and pasts to atone for. I just helped with his penance."
"You had no right!"
"Do I? I think I have all the right in the world! Or this world at least, he who has the power.oh well, maybe next time you'll understand where I'm coming from. I do hope you enjoyed this little show, the next one will be even better. You can count on that. Sweet dreams Xander"
The Master's voice booms with laughter as he watches the group of men walk away from the body of the old man. Looking at him Xander does all he can to not throw up. The man is barely recognizable. His jaw hangs slack on his face obviously broken, with bones protruding from his skin.
"NO! I WON'T LET YOU! DO YOU HEAR ME! I WON'T LET YOU!" Xander screams as he falls to his knees sobbing.
Xander's eye flutter open and he bolts upright in bed. He can feel the streaks of tears he had cried while sleeping. Something is happening to him and what frightens him the most is the fact that he has no idea what it is.
.
Again, I'm sorry that it's taken so long to get this out but I am having some major writers block. Please review; tell me what you think so far and what you hope to see. Hopefully something will shake my brain loose and I can continue writing this piece in a timely fashion. Anyway in the mean time I've started work on another story, completely separate from the 'Leaves' continuum, but it will be a crossover, F/X and an AU. So it won't stray too far from my main themes, but it is a different animal nonetheless. So thanks all of you for reading and reviewing, leave your email if you review I will write back I promise.