Title: Just Short Of Peace
By: Cheddar
Rating: PG-!3
Summery: Xander is running away after Hells Bells and is forever falling just short of peace. That is until he meets some immortals who are hell bent on giving him peace. Just not the kind he wants.
Note: This is the second chapter. This story is a Buffy/Highlander crossover set post Hells Bells for Buffy and Richie never died on Highlander. (AKA: just general information needed. As in who the characters are and what their histories/relationships are.) I own Ace and Delmar as far as I know.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot which is self-admittedly trite. I'm sorry but I had to write it no matter how bad it was.
Distribution: Just tell me where you're putting it.
Feedback: Please give me your honest opinion on this. Key word "honest". That means more than superficial reviews that just say great story (although I'm not opposed to them;-}) but tell me why you like/dislike it. Thank you.
*
Ace was bored. The cars all began to look the same after a while and on the outskirts of the tiny California town, nothing ever happened. Some times he and Delmar would go in town and stir things up but for the most part they just stayed here. But right now he wanted to be anywhere else. He wanted to go to Rome or Paris to see the sights.
But for now he'd have to wait until they made some money. Being immortal sure sucked if you had no money to go anywhere. Would he be stuck in this hell hole his whole life? Damn that was shaping up to be a long time. His teacher, Delmar, always said that immortal life was more than traveling. It was about getting heads. "You want the prize. See that's where we're different. I don't want it but you do." Ace wasn't sure he got it but he figured he'd get it some day.
But did he really want that prize? To be able to say you killed that many? He hadn't taken any heads yet and a part of him wanted to in the worst way. Delmar said it was the quickening but Ace hadn't been able to test that. There were no immortals anywhere near here and here was where they were going to be for the foreseeable future.
Just then Ace noticed the faint raising of dust slowly coming up the road. Delmar stepped out of the shadowy shop wiping his hands on a cloth that was just as oily as his hands. The older man looked at him then squinted his eyes off into the distance.
"I think you're about to get your first head boy." Delamr said it without a flicker of emotion in his voice and Ace began to wonder what he meant. He should have known that his teacher never did anything without a reason. Like him for example. The only reason he was alive instead of dead at5 Delmar's hands was because evil old Delmar wanted some one as ruthless as himself to take over for him. But since they were broke, they hadn't really gotten anywhere. But this might be his chance.
"Don't call me boy," Ace said with a slight smile.
Delamr ignored. "It's pre-immy. We'll have to kill it first." And he went back inside without another word.
Ace just stood there on that dusty little yard. Delmar would want him to do it. To kill this poor kid who was probably not even gonna know about any kind of supernatural stuff. He almost felt sorry but his eagerness to please his teacher overwhelmed that. So he set to work. But he kept his eye on the slowly approaching swirl of dust down the road.
*
You know, it just had to do this to me now. Out here in the middle of no where, my car has to die on me. But with all the dirt on this road it must happen a lot because some wise person had put a carrepair stop just up a head. Oh thank the gods for wise idiots who want to live way out here!
So I got out and decided to push the car the few feet to the car place. There was a guy out front working on another car. As I plowed my way over, he watched me. He just watched me like a little old lady looks at fly before she sends her crossword puzzle crashing down on it. Or at least that's what my grandmother used to do.
When I hit the driveway, the car guy came over. His shirt had his name on it. ACE was embroidered on it in red letters. Ace. It suited his sandy blond hair and dusty brown eyes. It suited the car guy. "What seems to be the problem?" He asked.
"It just sort of died on me."
"Yeah that happens a lot around here." What was this? Some two-bit movie with no budget and no script? Must have been.
"Let me go get the guy who owns the place and we'll take a look." I nodded and he went inside.
I was left alone on the dusty car yard watching a dust devil strike up and burn itself out. It was sure taking them a while. My years on the Hellmouth made me begin to get suspicious. 'Come on Xan man. You have a right to be wary of people.' I told myself. So I waited calmly for a minute or two. That's when it got to be more and more like some bad movie.
Ace and another guy both exited the dark shop and the first thing I saw was the swords they both held. The guy I didn't know was a tall man with black hair but it was covered in dust from the road. He leered at me from his higher height (Is there such a thing?) and I felt myself backing up. Damn. I didn't even do anything and they were already trying to kill me.
The tall man was on me in the space of a second. He pinned my arms to my side and flipped me over so my stomach was on the car. My back was compleatly exposed and his arms held me tight. Shit. "Get over here, boy. You remember what I taught you?" I really didn't want to know what Ace had been taught. I wanted to get the hell out of there. Even if I had to walk.
I felt the cold pinprick of pain as the tip of the sword pressed into my back just over my heart. It sped up. "Well, get on with it." The man holding me said. Then everything happened at once.
The sword flew up cutting my back deeply and nicking the back of my head. The hands that held me dropped and their owner screamed in pain. I fell to the ground next to him. The sword stuck out of his heart. He was dead but I didn't have time to think about it. Looking up I saw that Ace stood over us with the other man's sword held loosely in his hand. That's when I passed out.
When I woke up, I was in the hospital laying on my stomach. A nurse was near-by checking all the vital functions. Then the pain washed over me and I let out a groan. She looked back at me. Through my drug induced haze she looked a little like Tara with the long brownish hair and soft features. But it wasn't her.
"Sir? Can you hear me?" I gave a nod but regretted it when the pain got worse from the movement.
"Where am I?" I croaked.
"You are in the hospital. Your friend brought you in. Do remember what happened?" I shook my head because it hurt less to do that than to talk. "He said you two were practicing with some swords and you got cut. Do you remember that?" Another nod. So that was his cover. What about the body. But the Tara look alike just kept going. "You're going to be just fine. Your sister's here. You should be able to go home in a few days. It wasn't that bad. Now you should get some sleep." And she injected something into my IV. It was at work before I could ask about this sister I had suddenly acquired.
A week flew by and I had compleatly forgotten the non-conversation about my so called sister. I was feeling much better and was way past ready to be on the road once more. So on the day he was to check out he packed away the pillows they'd given him in the bag that had appeared in his room one day. He put on the pants and tank from his tux and put the rest in the bag. The hospital staff insisted on wheeling him out and he signed the papers finding that it'd all been paid for to his surprise. But he didn't want to question it. When he asked about his car the nurse laughed. "Don't be silly. You couldn't drive like that. Your sister is here to pick you up. There. Got everything?" And then it hit him. He didn't have a sister. Well, unless you counted that still born his mom'd had... But no... there was no sister.
But he no time to think about it. They were out side and a woman with very short blonde hair was helping him into the car. I sat uncomfortably in the front seat of that little red car as she ran around to get in.
The drugs they had given me had wiped me out. I know that other wise I would never have gotten in a car with a strange woman. It was like something out of a abominable movie where she would lose that happy friendly exterior as soon as we pulled away but as I sat marveling at how much my life resembled a horribly predictable movie, I realized that I had no where else to go. No car and no desire to go back, so I sat there waiting for her to do what ever to me. Damn those drugs.
I felt more than a little lost as she climbed in and turned to me with a bright smile on her face. And as we pulled away to a course of "Bye, Xander!"s, her smile didn't even fade as she said: "Hi! I'm Amanda."
I nodded. Amanda. A name that I stored away in my drowsy mind. I opened my mouth to ask what was going on but she seemed to be able to stay one jump ahead. "I just saw what happened out there with the sword guys. Figured you could use a hand. So, here I am."
A million things raced through my mind. I wanted to ask what she was doing way out there at that time. I wanted to ask why she'd stooped to help a stranger. Why she'd take him under his wing like this. "Why are you helping me?"
"We've all been there at one time or another." Her happy facade drained for a moment leaving her bare and stripped of all her innocent defenses leaving in its place a pale frightened little girl who's been left alone in the dark. But it was only a flash. Gone too soon to take any real notice of it.
"Where are we going?" Not that I really cared. The compass was pointing north and that meant it wasn't Sunnydale.
"Up north. A friend of mine lives in Seacouver. Figured we'd go there." I nodded. There was something about this woman that struck me as not quite right but another part of her made me trust her compleatly. Maybe it was the look in her eyes. So much like Buffy's were and like Willow's had become. Like my own. Like she'd seen far too much of life and far more of it than the few lines on her face showed.
"So, what's in Seacouver? Any sights to see?"
"Not really. My friend owns a dojo. Do you work out or anything? Might help you recuperate."
"Some times. I some times work out." Did fighting the forces of evil count?
"Hey, I never caught your name," she said. It was a lie. She'd signed me out of the hospital and heard as they called my name when I left. She knew but she wasn't admitting it. Maybe she was right. We've all been there...* She somehow knew I was running away from something and the best way to do that was to break with it entirely. Beginning with a name.
"Alex," I told her. It rolled off my tongue easily. It was something close enough to my own name that I would still feel comfortable with it. But it still, it seemed another person entirely which was what I needed. I said the word softly to myself. "Alex." And so, for all intents and proposes, Xander Harris was killed by the man with the sword in a dusty parking lot. Alex was getting up from the dust and walking away. A few scars added to his body but nothing more major than that. What was left of my past lay in that dust which would be stirred about by the next gust of air and scrambled beyond recognition. Fare-thee-well Sunnydale. May it be that I never see you again. But memories are never that easy to bury. You can run for years and miles, but they always catch up to you in the end.
TBC?
Thank you so much to every one who reviewed. For those of you who told me how much you love Xander, go read the stuff by Scb047. It's all about Xander and very well written. It's not a crossover but It is my favorite thing on the web. I'm trying really hard to make this different from the usual "Xander' finds out he's immortal and goes and lives happily ever after with either Duncan and Co or the scooby gang." Not gonna happen here.
By: Cheddar
Rating: PG-!3
Summery: Xander is running away after Hells Bells and is forever falling just short of peace. That is until he meets some immortals who are hell bent on giving him peace. Just not the kind he wants.
Note: This is the second chapter. This story is a Buffy/Highlander crossover set post Hells Bells for Buffy and Richie never died on Highlander. (AKA: just general information needed. As in who the characters are and what their histories/relationships are.) I own Ace and Delmar as far as I know.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot which is self-admittedly trite. I'm sorry but I had to write it no matter how bad it was.
Distribution: Just tell me where you're putting it.
Feedback: Please give me your honest opinion on this. Key word "honest". That means more than superficial reviews that just say great story (although I'm not opposed to them;-}) but tell me why you like/dislike it. Thank you.
*
Ace was bored. The cars all began to look the same after a while and on the outskirts of the tiny California town, nothing ever happened. Some times he and Delmar would go in town and stir things up but for the most part they just stayed here. But right now he wanted to be anywhere else. He wanted to go to Rome or Paris to see the sights.
But for now he'd have to wait until they made some money. Being immortal sure sucked if you had no money to go anywhere. Would he be stuck in this hell hole his whole life? Damn that was shaping up to be a long time. His teacher, Delmar, always said that immortal life was more than traveling. It was about getting heads. "You want the prize. See that's where we're different. I don't want it but you do." Ace wasn't sure he got it but he figured he'd get it some day.
But did he really want that prize? To be able to say you killed that many? He hadn't taken any heads yet and a part of him wanted to in the worst way. Delmar said it was the quickening but Ace hadn't been able to test that. There were no immortals anywhere near here and here was where they were going to be for the foreseeable future.
Just then Ace noticed the faint raising of dust slowly coming up the road. Delmar stepped out of the shadowy shop wiping his hands on a cloth that was just as oily as his hands. The older man looked at him then squinted his eyes off into the distance.
"I think you're about to get your first head boy." Delamr said it without a flicker of emotion in his voice and Ace began to wonder what he meant. He should have known that his teacher never did anything without a reason. Like him for example. The only reason he was alive instead of dead at5 Delmar's hands was because evil old Delmar wanted some one as ruthless as himself to take over for him. But since they were broke, they hadn't really gotten anywhere. But this might be his chance.
"Don't call me boy," Ace said with a slight smile.
Delamr ignored. "It's pre-immy. We'll have to kill it first." And he went back inside without another word.
Ace just stood there on that dusty little yard. Delmar would want him to do it. To kill this poor kid who was probably not even gonna know about any kind of supernatural stuff. He almost felt sorry but his eagerness to please his teacher overwhelmed that. So he set to work. But he kept his eye on the slowly approaching swirl of dust down the road.
*
You know, it just had to do this to me now. Out here in the middle of no where, my car has to die on me. But with all the dirt on this road it must happen a lot because some wise person had put a carrepair stop just up a head. Oh thank the gods for wise idiots who want to live way out here!
So I got out and decided to push the car the few feet to the car place. There was a guy out front working on another car. As I plowed my way over, he watched me. He just watched me like a little old lady looks at fly before she sends her crossword puzzle crashing down on it. Or at least that's what my grandmother used to do.
When I hit the driveway, the car guy came over. His shirt had his name on it. ACE was embroidered on it in red letters. Ace. It suited his sandy blond hair and dusty brown eyes. It suited the car guy. "What seems to be the problem?" He asked.
"It just sort of died on me."
"Yeah that happens a lot around here." What was this? Some two-bit movie with no budget and no script? Must have been.
"Let me go get the guy who owns the place and we'll take a look." I nodded and he went inside.
I was left alone on the dusty car yard watching a dust devil strike up and burn itself out. It was sure taking them a while. My years on the Hellmouth made me begin to get suspicious. 'Come on Xan man. You have a right to be wary of people.' I told myself. So I waited calmly for a minute or two. That's when it got to be more and more like some bad movie.
Ace and another guy both exited the dark shop and the first thing I saw was the swords they both held. The guy I didn't know was a tall man with black hair but it was covered in dust from the road. He leered at me from his higher height (Is there such a thing?) and I felt myself backing up. Damn. I didn't even do anything and they were already trying to kill me.
The tall man was on me in the space of a second. He pinned my arms to my side and flipped me over so my stomach was on the car. My back was compleatly exposed and his arms held me tight. Shit. "Get over here, boy. You remember what I taught you?" I really didn't want to know what Ace had been taught. I wanted to get the hell out of there. Even if I had to walk.
I felt the cold pinprick of pain as the tip of the sword pressed into my back just over my heart. It sped up. "Well, get on with it." The man holding me said. Then everything happened at once.
The sword flew up cutting my back deeply and nicking the back of my head. The hands that held me dropped and their owner screamed in pain. I fell to the ground next to him. The sword stuck out of his heart. He was dead but I didn't have time to think about it. Looking up I saw that Ace stood over us with the other man's sword held loosely in his hand. That's when I passed out.
When I woke up, I was in the hospital laying on my stomach. A nurse was near-by checking all the vital functions. Then the pain washed over me and I let out a groan. She looked back at me. Through my drug induced haze she looked a little like Tara with the long brownish hair and soft features. But it wasn't her.
"Sir? Can you hear me?" I gave a nod but regretted it when the pain got worse from the movement.
"Where am I?" I croaked.
"You are in the hospital. Your friend brought you in. Do remember what happened?" I shook my head because it hurt less to do that than to talk. "He said you two were practicing with some swords and you got cut. Do you remember that?" Another nod. So that was his cover. What about the body. But the Tara look alike just kept going. "You're going to be just fine. Your sister's here. You should be able to go home in a few days. It wasn't that bad. Now you should get some sleep." And she injected something into my IV. It was at work before I could ask about this sister I had suddenly acquired.
A week flew by and I had compleatly forgotten the non-conversation about my so called sister. I was feeling much better and was way past ready to be on the road once more. So on the day he was to check out he packed away the pillows they'd given him in the bag that had appeared in his room one day. He put on the pants and tank from his tux and put the rest in the bag. The hospital staff insisted on wheeling him out and he signed the papers finding that it'd all been paid for to his surprise. But he didn't want to question it. When he asked about his car the nurse laughed. "Don't be silly. You couldn't drive like that. Your sister is here to pick you up. There. Got everything?" And then it hit him. He didn't have a sister. Well, unless you counted that still born his mom'd had... But no... there was no sister.
But he no time to think about it. They were out side and a woman with very short blonde hair was helping him into the car. I sat uncomfortably in the front seat of that little red car as she ran around to get in.
The drugs they had given me had wiped me out. I know that other wise I would never have gotten in a car with a strange woman. It was like something out of a abominable movie where she would lose that happy friendly exterior as soon as we pulled away but as I sat marveling at how much my life resembled a horribly predictable movie, I realized that I had no where else to go. No car and no desire to go back, so I sat there waiting for her to do what ever to me. Damn those drugs.
I felt more than a little lost as she climbed in and turned to me with a bright smile on her face. And as we pulled away to a course of "Bye, Xander!"s, her smile didn't even fade as she said: "Hi! I'm Amanda."
I nodded. Amanda. A name that I stored away in my drowsy mind. I opened my mouth to ask what was going on but she seemed to be able to stay one jump ahead. "I just saw what happened out there with the sword guys. Figured you could use a hand. So, here I am."
A million things raced through my mind. I wanted to ask what she was doing way out there at that time. I wanted to ask why she'd stooped to help a stranger. Why she'd take him under his wing like this. "Why are you helping me?"
"We've all been there at one time or another." Her happy facade drained for a moment leaving her bare and stripped of all her innocent defenses leaving in its place a pale frightened little girl who's been left alone in the dark. But it was only a flash. Gone too soon to take any real notice of it.
"Where are we going?" Not that I really cared. The compass was pointing north and that meant it wasn't Sunnydale.
"Up north. A friend of mine lives in Seacouver. Figured we'd go there." I nodded. There was something about this woman that struck me as not quite right but another part of her made me trust her compleatly. Maybe it was the look in her eyes. So much like Buffy's were and like Willow's had become. Like my own. Like she'd seen far too much of life and far more of it than the few lines on her face showed.
"So, what's in Seacouver? Any sights to see?"
"Not really. My friend owns a dojo. Do you work out or anything? Might help you recuperate."
"Some times. I some times work out." Did fighting the forces of evil count?
"Hey, I never caught your name," she said. It was a lie. She'd signed me out of the hospital and heard as they called my name when I left. She knew but she wasn't admitting it. Maybe she was right. We've all been there...* She somehow knew I was running away from something and the best way to do that was to break with it entirely. Beginning with a name.
"Alex," I told her. It rolled off my tongue easily. It was something close enough to my own name that I would still feel comfortable with it. But it still, it seemed another person entirely which was what I needed. I said the word softly to myself. "Alex." And so, for all intents and proposes, Xander Harris was killed by the man with the sword in a dusty parking lot. Alex was getting up from the dust and walking away. A few scars added to his body but nothing more major than that. What was left of my past lay in that dust which would be stirred about by the next gust of air and scrambled beyond recognition. Fare-thee-well Sunnydale. May it be that I never see you again. But memories are never that easy to bury. You can run for years and miles, but they always catch up to you in the end.
TBC?
Thank you so much to every one who reviewed. For those of you who told me how much you love Xander, go read the stuff by Scb047. It's all about Xander and very well written. It's not a crossover but It is my favorite thing on the web. I'm trying really hard to make this different from the usual "Xander' finds out he's immortal and goes and lives happily ever after with either Duncan and Co or the scooby gang." Not gonna happen here.