Two months later:
Rupert Giles took off his glasses and started to clean them with one of his linen handkerchiefs. He was leaning against the check-out counter of the library looking at the remains of the Scooby gang. Two months ago, he would have been the first to say that Xander Harris was not a vital member of the team. The boy had no special skills, no talents. Yet the boy's disappearance with Angelus had proven just how wrong he had been.
His Slayer was functioning but not with anywhere near as much effort as she used to be. She was sluggish and imprecise. Without a radical change in the very near future, he was looking at losing his Slayer to one of the random Hellmouth occurrences just because she didn't have the heart to fight anymore.
The Slayer blamed herself for her inability to deal with Angel. Xander, a mere mortal, had to do her job when she failed. Xander had succeeded where she failed and if weak Xander managed to take down Angelus when she couldn't, how could she protect Sunnydale from the demons she faced on a daily basis? The guilt was causing her to lose confidence in her slaying abilities and it showed.
Giles turned his speculations on the other female member of the Scoobies.
Willow.well, Willow was worse. Xander had been her best friend. With Jesse gone, Xander had been the only one to really know her. They had been friends for as long as she could remember. She was convinced that if only she had been able to spell cast quicker, Xander would not have had to sacrifice himself dealing with Angelus. She had felt her spell take hold and knew that Angelus had turned back to Angel, just not in time for it to make a difference for Xander's sake.
She had spent weeks studying magic books, hers and Giles', to find what she could have done differently. She was convinced that Xander was still alive and that she would be the one to find him. However, as time went by, she was slowly losing that hope and it was slowly killing her spirit. If they didn't find proof soon, one way or the other, Giles was afraid that they would lose her. Whether to the chaos magic that had almost claimed him and had claimed Ethan, or to her own hand, he wasn't certain. He didn't even know which idea scared him more.
The silence in the library was shattered when Oz burst through the door. Oz had, surprisingly, been a great help in keeping the three sane. While he had cared for Xander, Oz just didn't have the emotional tie to the boy as the rest of them. He had seen Xander's sacrifice for what it was and admired him, but was able to move on. This gave him the ability to deal with his devastated girlfriend and the ability to make Giles' face the inevitable.
Giles' head snapped up at the intrusion and barked, "What is the matter?" in his very annoyed, proper English accent.
Oz just stood there, panting, for several seconds. He finally blurted out, in a very non Oz manner, "The mansion. Lights. Xander. Angelus. Go!"
At "Xander" everybody focused intently on the young man. "Xander?" Willow's voice rang out through the library. "You saw Xander!?"
Oz had managed to regain his voice by this time. "I was doing my usual patrol past the Mansion. I was almost past when I thought I heard something come from the house. As I got closer I could see lights flashing. They looked like nothing I've seen before. I got close enough to look in the window and." his voice tapered off.
"What!" The exclamation came from two different corners. Buffy got up and started rummaging in the weapon's room, grabbing a sword, an axe and making sure she had several stakes and other vampire killing devices on her. Willow got up from the table she had been sitting at and stalked over to her boyfriend. "What did you see?" she demanded.
"Xander. Angelus. I think." he trailed off, his face unreadable.
"What do you mean, you think? You know what they both look like."
Oz continued, seemingly not hearing the girl speak. "The lights were swirling in the middle of the room. They went faster and faster until something fell. The lights had gotten so bright that you couldn't see anything in the room anymore. I turned away; it hurt to look in. When it faded enough to see, I turned back and on the floor, in a heap were two bodies. Men. I didn't see both their faces, just the one that was turned towards me, but I know I recognized the other. But Xander.he's.changed. Older, harsher." Oz paused and took a deep breath. He didn't know what had gotten into him. He never talked this much, but what he had saw scared him. Never had he seen someone change so much in so little time. Xander's face was scarred and spoke of things no one should ever see.
Buffy chose this moment to break in. "Okay, I'm going over there, I'll tell you what I see when I get there. I'll take care of the problem." She got up and started walking towards the double doors.
"No!" Giles' and Willow's voices blended together. Giles' spoke first. "You will not go there without us. It could be dangerous and you have no idea what you're facing." Taking his life into his own hands, he continued. "You couldn't fight off a fledgling, much less a master vampire like Angelus. And you've certainly shown that you can't handle him. If Xander is as bad as Oz described, I have doubts you could handle him as well. We will be going with you."
Willow just nodded. Giles had put to words what she wanted to say. Even if Buffy thought she could go there without her, she'd follow anyway.
Buffy just stared at her Watcher. He had never talked to her that way before. Still stunned, she watched as her friends and mentor loaded up on patrolling gear and then walked over to the doors were she was still standing.
"Alright, Buffy, let's go." Giles led the way out the door and to his car. It would be crowded, but they could all fit and it'd cut a significant amount of time off of traveling. The teenagers piled in and waited for him to start the car. The trip didn't take very long at all and was made in silence.
Once there, they all piled out and stood staring at the Mansion that had housed Angelus. They all had bad memories associated with the building and it would take a great deal of effort to overcome. None of the group dared to look at each other. After a few minutes, Willow started up the walk to the front door. Looking over her shoulder, she asked, "Well? Are you coming or not?"
Giles, Buffy and Oz quickly caught up with the young witch and they were soon at the door. It was slightly ajar, and Buffy took the lead and pushed it in the rest of the way. "Which way, Oz?"
Oz just pointed and they all walked in that direction. When they reached the door to the room, Buffy once again took the lead. She opened the door slowly and gasped. On the floor in a tangled heap were her ex-boyfriend and Xander. They were still out from whatever had brought them back. Fully clothed in dark leather, both men seemed to be the embodiment of pain and suffering. Xander had grown several inches and his hair was longer than he normally wore.
Giles recognized several pieces of weaponry the boy-no, man as he certainly wasn't a boy anymore--wore in easily accessible spots and thought he saw blood stains on his shirt. Angel was laying next and on him, wearing a similar outfit. He too, was outfitted in various pieces of armament and it looked as if they had been recently used. What shocked everybody the most were the collars that adorned both men's necks. Made out of leather and steel, they seemed to have been grown into place.
In the time it took for the four to take in the site that lay before them, Xander started to stir. He moaned in pain and started to untangle himself from Angel. When he freed his hands, he brought them up and cradled his head. After a few minutes, he looked up and made eye contact with Giles. His eyes widened and an "Oh shit" escaped before he began to wildly look around. He got to his hands and knees and started shaking the vampire lying next to him.
"Angel, get your ass up now!"
The Scoobies watched, eyes wide and mouths open, as the man they knew as Xander tried to wake his most hated enemy. What the hell had happened since they last saw their friend?
Rupert Giles took off his glasses and started to clean them with one of his linen handkerchiefs. He was leaning against the check-out counter of the library looking at the remains of the Scooby gang. Two months ago, he would have been the first to say that Xander Harris was not a vital member of the team. The boy had no special skills, no talents. Yet the boy's disappearance with Angelus had proven just how wrong he had been.
His Slayer was functioning but not with anywhere near as much effort as she used to be. She was sluggish and imprecise. Without a radical change in the very near future, he was looking at losing his Slayer to one of the random Hellmouth occurrences just because she didn't have the heart to fight anymore.
The Slayer blamed herself for her inability to deal with Angel. Xander, a mere mortal, had to do her job when she failed. Xander had succeeded where she failed and if weak Xander managed to take down Angelus when she couldn't, how could she protect Sunnydale from the demons she faced on a daily basis? The guilt was causing her to lose confidence in her slaying abilities and it showed.
Giles turned his speculations on the other female member of the Scoobies.
Willow.well, Willow was worse. Xander had been her best friend. With Jesse gone, Xander had been the only one to really know her. They had been friends for as long as she could remember. She was convinced that if only she had been able to spell cast quicker, Xander would not have had to sacrifice himself dealing with Angelus. She had felt her spell take hold and knew that Angelus had turned back to Angel, just not in time for it to make a difference for Xander's sake.
She had spent weeks studying magic books, hers and Giles', to find what she could have done differently. She was convinced that Xander was still alive and that she would be the one to find him. However, as time went by, she was slowly losing that hope and it was slowly killing her spirit. If they didn't find proof soon, one way or the other, Giles was afraid that they would lose her. Whether to the chaos magic that had almost claimed him and had claimed Ethan, or to her own hand, he wasn't certain. He didn't even know which idea scared him more.
The silence in the library was shattered when Oz burst through the door. Oz had, surprisingly, been a great help in keeping the three sane. While he had cared for Xander, Oz just didn't have the emotional tie to the boy as the rest of them. He had seen Xander's sacrifice for what it was and admired him, but was able to move on. This gave him the ability to deal with his devastated girlfriend and the ability to make Giles' face the inevitable.
Giles' head snapped up at the intrusion and barked, "What is the matter?" in his very annoyed, proper English accent.
Oz just stood there, panting, for several seconds. He finally blurted out, in a very non Oz manner, "The mansion. Lights. Xander. Angelus. Go!"
At "Xander" everybody focused intently on the young man. "Xander?" Willow's voice rang out through the library. "You saw Xander!?"
Oz had managed to regain his voice by this time. "I was doing my usual patrol past the Mansion. I was almost past when I thought I heard something come from the house. As I got closer I could see lights flashing. They looked like nothing I've seen before. I got close enough to look in the window and." his voice tapered off.
"What!" The exclamation came from two different corners. Buffy got up and started rummaging in the weapon's room, grabbing a sword, an axe and making sure she had several stakes and other vampire killing devices on her. Willow got up from the table she had been sitting at and stalked over to her boyfriend. "What did you see?" she demanded.
"Xander. Angelus. I think." he trailed off, his face unreadable.
"What do you mean, you think? You know what they both look like."
Oz continued, seemingly not hearing the girl speak. "The lights were swirling in the middle of the room. They went faster and faster until something fell. The lights had gotten so bright that you couldn't see anything in the room anymore. I turned away; it hurt to look in. When it faded enough to see, I turned back and on the floor, in a heap were two bodies. Men. I didn't see both their faces, just the one that was turned towards me, but I know I recognized the other. But Xander.he's.changed. Older, harsher." Oz paused and took a deep breath. He didn't know what had gotten into him. He never talked this much, but what he had saw scared him. Never had he seen someone change so much in so little time. Xander's face was scarred and spoke of things no one should ever see.
Buffy chose this moment to break in. "Okay, I'm going over there, I'll tell you what I see when I get there. I'll take care of the problem." She got up and started walking towards the double doors.
"No!" Giles' and Willow's voices blended together. Giles' spoke first. "You will not go there without us. It could be dangerous and you have no idea what you're facing." Taking his life into his own hands, he continued. "You couldn't fight off a fledgling, much less a master vampire like Angelus. And you've certainly shown that you can't handle him. If Xander is as bad as Oz described, I have doubts you could handle him as well. We will be going with you."
Willow just nodded. Giles had put to words what she wanted to say. Even if Buffy thought she could go there without her, she'd follow anyway.
Buffy just stared at her Watcher. He had never talked to her that way before. Still stunned, she watched as her friends and mentor loaded up on patrolling gear and then walked over to the doors were she was still standing.
"Alright, Buffy, let's go." Giles led the way out the door and to his car. It would be crowded, but they could all fit and it'd cut a significant amount of time off of traveling. The teenagers piled in and waited for him to start the car. The trip didn't take very long at all and was made in silence.
Once there, they all piled out and stood staring at the Mansion that had housed Angelus. They all had bad memories associated with the building and it would take a great deal of effort to overcome. None of the group dared to look at each other. After a few minutes, Willow started up the walk to the front door. Looking over her shoulder, she asked, "Well? Are you coming or not?"
Giles, Buffy and Oz quickly caught up with the young witch and they were soon at the door. It was slightly ajar, and Buffy took the lead and pushed it in the rest of the way. "Which way, Oz?"
Oz just pointed and they all walked in that direction. When they reached the door to the room, Buffy once again took the lead. She opened the door slowly and gasped. On the floor in a tangled heap were her ex-boyfriend and Xander. They were still out from whatever had brought them back. Fully clothed in dark leather, both men seemed to be the embodiment of pain and suffering. Xander had grown several inches and his hair was longer than he normally wore.
Giles recognized several pieces of weaponry the boy-no, man as he certainly wasn't a boy anymore--wore in easily accessible spots and thought he saw blood stains on his shirt. Angel was laying next and on him, wearing a similar outfit. He too, was outfitted in various pieces of armament and it looked as if they had been recently used. What shocked everybody the most were the collars that adorned both men's necks. Made out of leather and steel, they seemed to have been grown into place.
In the time it took for the four to take in the site that lay before them, Xander started to stir. He moaned in pain and started to untangle himself from Angel. When he freed his hands, he brought them up and cradled his head. After a few minutes, he looked up and made eye contact with Giles. His eyes widened and an "Oh shit" escaped before he began to wildly look around. He got to his hands and knees and started shaking the vampire lying next to him.
"Angel, get your ass up now!"
The Scoobies watched, eyes wide and mouths open, as the man they knew as Xander tried to wake his most hated enemy. What the hell had happened since they last saw their friend?