Title: Xander Harris: Year One (Chapter Five)

Author: Randall Stone

Disclaimer: All characters are belong to someone else.

Summary: Some are born to destiny. Others make their own.

Notes:
Spoilers: S1-4

Continuity changes: Hopefully everything will be explained in the
text. One note- Veruca tragically stepped in front of a bus the
day before she was going to be turned into a werewolf, so Oz will
be hanging around.

We have now left the Season 4 continuity. Only events described
or referred to directly in this fic should be assumed to have
occurred.

Category: B/X, a little B/R early on
Rating: PG-14- nothing worse than what's on the show.


*****

Xander groaned as he gradually regained consciousness. He
experienced a brief flash of disorientation before he recognized the
living room of his apartment. With that, it all came rushing back
to him. The vampires, his injuries, the spell...

The spell! What on earth had it done? Xander suddenly realized
that he wasn't feeling any pain from his injuries. In fact, when
he checked them over it almost looked like he had never been hurt
at all. That kind of healing spell could come in handy- but for
some reason Xander got the feeling that he shouldn't mess around
with magic any more.

As he was checking himself over Xander saw something shiny on the
floor in front of him. Picking it up, he saw that it was a silver
ring in the shape of a serpent eating its own tail. The serpent had
a very dramatically black stone for an eye.

If Xander had learned one thing from reading comic books for over
ten years, it was that this had to be some kind of magic ring. But
what did it do? Only one way to find out. Xander slipped the ring
on his right ring finger.

Nothing happened.

The Green Lantern had some kind of magic ring, didn't he? Xander
tried making some palm thrusts in what he imagined would be an
energy blast shooting pose. Nothing.

Maybe some kind of spidey strength? Xander walked into his extra
bedroom, where he had set up a mini gym with some equipment
scavenged from an area yard sale. The bar was still loaded for the
bench presses he had performed this morning. He grabbed the bar
and...

"Goddamit! Ow! Note to self: in the future try not to throw your
back out testing for super strength. Wait a minute, my voice..."

Xander's voice sounded different. He could still tell that it was
his, but it sounded like everything... soft... had been removed.
Suddenly suspicious, Xander ran to the bathroom to check himself in
the mirror.

"Well hello handsome."

Xander looked at the mirror, then down at himself. He was still
wearing his t-shirt and jeans from the day before. But looking back
at him from the mirror was- well, 'apparition' wouldn't be too
strong of a term to describe it.

It was approximately Xander's height and build, but dressed almost
entirely in black. Black boots, black pants, black shirt, and
a black cloak that seemed to swirl even in the still air of his
apartment. The lower half of his face was hidden by a red bandanna,
and his nose had lengthened into a beak like appendage. His eyes-
his eyes had been transformed into two glowing red slits almost
completely hidden by the black fedora that was pulled down over his
head.

On a hunch, Xander walked out and switched off the living room light
before walking back to the mirror. He could see that as he stepped
into the shadows cast by the hallway wall he disappeared almost
completely.

"Oh yeah, this definitely has some possibilities."

---

Willow sighed happily as she sipped at her hot cocoa. Let Buffy run
around all night going to campus parties- she was happy right here,
with her music going, a good book in one hand and a warm drink in
the other. Sure, the book might be assigned reading for Professor
Walsh's class, but did that mean she couldn't enjoy it? She was
just settling into Nietzsche's _Thus Spake Zarasthustra_ when she
was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Who is it?"

"Pizza delivery." A Texan drawl came through the door.

"Pizza? I didn't order any pizza." Willow set down her book and
drink and walked over to the door.

"It's from a Daniel Osbourne."

"Oh, how sweet." Willow opened the door, only to be confronted
with the sight of... "Spike! What are you doing here? You don't
have any pizza."

"Sorry Red. Just dropping by to give the Slayer a little farewell
present before I skip town."

"Farewell present? We didn't even know you were here."

"Call it a hello and goodbye gift then. That's not important. The
important thing is-" Spike grinned. "How would you like to live
forever."

---

"The perimeter is secure, sir. The students bought the cover
story."

"Good work, Hans." Riley was glad that was finally hearing some
good news.

"Thank you, sir. Jose is watching the entrances. The only civilian
left in the building is-"

"Willow."

"You know her, sir?"

"She's in my psych class."

Riley was standing along with Hans, Graham, and Forrest in the
common area of Stevenson hall, out of sight from the hallway in
which Spike was standing. The men were dressed in their
'undercover' clothes. Black suits, white shirts and black ties.
Sunglasses completed the outfit. They were unable to carry their
blasters openly- only Hans, with his considerable bulk, was able to
conceal one beneath his suit. The rest of the men were armed only
with hand held stun guns that required contact with the hostile to
have any effect.

Hans removed the blaster from its hiding place and handed it to
Forrest, as he was the best shot. Forrest accepted the blaster and
took a quick peek around the corner.

"He's still talking to her. Should I take the shot, sir?"

"Negative. Our number one priority is to conceal the existence of
the Initiative."

"But what if she invites him inside?"

Riley fixed Forrest with a steady glare.

"Our number one priority is to conceal the existence of the
Initiative."

"Understood, sir."

---

"This whole wing is closed down for what?"

"Fumigation, miss."

"At ten o'clock at night?" Buffy glared suspiciously at the man in
front of her.

"Emergency fumigation."

"Look, I just need in to get my books." Buffy stepped forward and
accidentally on purpose tripped to fall against the man. As he
helped her up she made sure that the ring on her index finger- the
one with the cross on it- brushed up against the man's bare skin.

"Sorry miss," he said as he helped her up, "Nobody is allowed in
for the next hour. It wouldn't be safe. Most of the kids went down
to the Student Union Building. Maybe you can borrow books from one
of them."

Buffy stepped back and thought. Apparently this was something weird,
but not demonic. And Willow was the kind of person that would take
her homework with her when she was kicked out of her home. Waving
goodbye to the man in the black suit, Buffy turned and walked toward
the SUB.

---

EARLIER THAT NIGHT

Xander watched the vampire beneath him. He knew that with his
merely mortal sneaking abilities he would have difficulty taking the
undead by surprise. That was why he had been hiding in a tree in
the middle of the cemetery since before sunset.

Deciding that it was now or never, Xander slipped his ring over his
finger and jumped down from the tree.

---

Bert Johnson was an average graduate from Sunnydale High. Letterman
in football and soccer, regular occupant of the dean's list, and
undead. He wasn't feeling particularly hungry, so he was just
hanging around the graveyard. He wasn't looking for trouble tonight.

The first inkling he had that trouble was looking for him was when
he heard the laughter. Part crazed and part demonic, it seemed to
be coming from everywhere around him.

Bert spun around wildly, finally spotting a figure advancing towards
him out of the shadows. Bert immediately started backing away.

"Hey man, I don't want any trouble."

The figure's only response was another peal of laughter as it
continued to advance.

Bert continued to retreat until he caught his foot on an exposed
tree root, falling unceremoniously to the ground. He looked up at
the creature looming over him.

"What are you coming after me for, anyways? I don't mess with any
of the big guys around here."

The figure paused before responding.

"Evil seeds bear bitter fruit."

Bert was about to ask for some elaboration, but was interrupted when
the figure plunged a wooden stake into his heart.

If Bert had been around to see it, he might have been a little
irritated to see the figure remove a ring from his hand, revealing
the very ordinary looking Xander Harris. He probably would have
been irritated to see Xander spreading his ashes around with his
foot. He definitely would have been irritated at hearing his final
eulogy.

"Sweet."

---

"What? No, I don't want to live forever! Well, maybe in a
hypothetical not dying sense, but definitely not with you!"

"C'mon love, it'll be fun. I'll take you out of this hellhole, show
you the world."

"No. Aside from my not dying policy, I'm with Oz now. Plus, I'm a
witch."

"That's no problem. Dru's not the easiest girl to get along with,
and we were together for a century."

"No, I mean-" Willow held her left hand up where Spike could see it,
but it was out of sight of anybody in the hallway. "Inciendre."

A two inch diameter ball of fire appeared in the air just above her
hand. Spike jumped back in alarm. Willow was gratified by his
reaction, and glad that he didn't know that this was about all the
fire she could produce on short notice.

"So look, you should just get out of town before you really tick
Buffy off. Wait, you already are leaving- why are you leaving?"

"The government's after me."

"Why would the government be chasing you?"

"I dunno." Spike was eyeing the ball of fire in her hand nervously.
"Guess the last batch of body parts I sent 'em was defective."

"Body parts?"

"Yeah, demon, mostly." Spike paused to think. "Y'know, I thought
that Polgara arm was going off."

---

Forrest glanced around the corner again.

"Still there, sir."

"Damn it." Riley leaned back against the wall to consider his
options. Finally he stood. "I'm going in."

"Sir! I-"

"I'll try and draw him out. Cover me."

With that, Riley walked around the corner and down the hallway.

---

"Spike, I can't believe-"

"What? I'm a vampire, Red. I've got all those bodies lying around
anyways, no need to let them go to waste."

Willow was trying to think of a reply when she saw Spike turn his
head away and look down the hallway.

"You!"

---

Riley held out his hand. "Let's talk about this-"

"Talk? I'll give you bloody talk!"

Spike ran forward, grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher off the wall
and slammed it into Riley's gut. Riley doubled over, gasping.
Spike raised the extinguisher over his head to deliver the killing
blow when he saw Forrest taking a bead on him from down the hall.
Spike held the extinguisher in front of him as a sort of shield.

When Forrest's shot hit the extinguisher it exploded in a cloud of
carbon dioxide, filling the entire hall with a blinding fog.

---

"...and by the time I looked out my door again, they were all gone."

"All this while I was down at the SUB?" Buffy was floored. "I
guess college is a bit different from high school after all.

---

Rudy was feeling pretty good as he entered his crypt. The body of
the coed that he was carrying under his arm would be enough to tide
him and his three buddies over for a couple of days.

Rudy was in such a good mood that he didn't notice the shadowy
figure that followed him inside.

"Hey guys, dinner's he- oof." Rudy's body suddenly dissolved into
dust. Two of his friends looked up from their card game.

"Rudy? Rudy man, what happened?"

The only response they received was a haunting laughter echoing off
the walls.

"What the hell?"

One of them got up to look around. When he turned back, his friend
was dust.

"Damn it, what's going on?"

More of the laughter, and then a voice spoke out of the darkness.

"Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of Sunnydale?"

The vampire spun around and saw a terrifying apparition. He froze.

"I do." The thing almost seemed to smile at him as it plunged its
stake home.

The only remaining vampire in the crypt was Todd. Todd was more of
a minion vampire than anything else. He didn't like thinking for
himself, and he wasn't very good at standing up for himself. Right
now he was staying very, very quiet, and hoping that the thing
wouldn't come after him.

That hope was dashed when he heard something clearing its throat in
front of him.

"Hello there."

"Um, hi. Please don't hurt me."

"Do you want to see tomorrow?"

Todd could only nod.

"Then here's the deal..."

---

"So the hostile got away."

"Yes sir."

Riley was standing at attention in Schultz's office.

"And did some damage to your team."

"Yes," Riley coughed, and winced. "Sir."

"And the girl?"

"Saw nothing, sir."

"Well, that's something. Get yourself checked out by medical.
After that, you're off for the night." Schultz smiled at him. "I
hear you have some papers to grade."

*****

End of part 5.

--Randy