*****
Xander sat in a chair in the library blankly staring at the book Giles had laid out in front of him, so he could help with the current research on The Harvest. For all intensive purposes it looked as if he was reading the book. And had been since school ended 20 minutes ago.
He wasn't.
He was talking to Glyndaf about staking Jesse and the upcoming battles to stop the harvest.
* You are doing well Xander. He is pleased by your struggle against the infected. He realises how difficult it was for you to destroy your friend. He is rewarding you greatly* Glyndaf smiled up at Xander as he spoke. The boy was showing great potential. His offerings of battle to his master over the years had been but small victories, yet many. But the offering of the destruction of an infected to Him, was a great offering indeed, especially from one so young. And if the information the watcher was correct, he was about to get the chance to offer Him the destruction of a prophecy. There were very few offering better than that.
"How?" Xanders reply was quiet, not wishing the others to hear him talking supposedly to himself.
* That is for the Master to decide but it is all ready happening, I can see His touch all over you. * Xanders eye's widened under his glasses. What if it was something visible? He didn't want the slayer finding out. He quickly got up and made for the nearest toilets, they had a mirror. He could check himself out there. Three steps from the library the pain hit him like a sledgehammer, putting him on his knees. He struggled to his feet and started off again, crouched due to the pain, realising how little time he had before his reward took place.
Willow saw his collapse through the swinging library doors.
*****
Xander crashed through the bathroom doors, still half crouched from the pain. He would have sworn his bones were on fire, and his muscles, and organs, and skin, and hair. He stumbled up to the wash basin and stared at his reflection. His red dotted eyes blazed back at him, his glasses lost in his rush to get here. He couldn't see anything different, but the pain hadn't stopped yet. Suddenly several parts of his body screamed agony at him. His forearms and elbows, his hands and his shoulders. The pain it was so intense, he'd never felt anything like it before.
His knees gave way and he slid down the basin to end up sitting at its base, he gave a soft cry of absolute pain before curling up in the fetal position and lying on the cold, filthy bathroom floor.
The pain slowly began to fade.
*****
Willow bent down and picked up Xander sunglasses off the floor. She looked around for any sign of him but there was nothing to see.
She was definitely worried about him. It wasn't just like Xander to bolt from the room like that. Or for that matter be floored for no apparent. She was worried about him. He'd just been forced to kill their closest undead friend. That had to be screwing with his mind. God knows it was scaring the crap out of her. She was worried about him. He was now, sad to say her only friend. Sure, Xander may have been popular with a lot of kids, even if he wasn't friends with them, but that didn't mean it rubbed off on her or Jesse, and she'd only just met Buffy..... And then there was the fact she loved him.... She was worried about him.
A soft cry caught her attention from up the hall. She rushed up to were she thought she'd heard the sound but didn't see from which throat the cry was torn. She glanced about, looking for anything, she spotted the guys toilets just as a small moan came slipping past its door.
'Maybe Xanders got the runs?' It's amazing what thoughts cross your mind when you're stressed.
Willow gave a small knock on the door.
"Xander are you in there?" another moan "Are you alright? I'm comin in OK?" She was hoping for a refusal but it didn't come. She cracked the door open slightly, not wanting to embarrass her friend if he was indecent for any reason. She couldn't think of any reason he would be, indecent that is, but decided to err on the side of caution anyway. Plus she didn't want him knowing she'd seen him indecent if he really was indecent.
Xander lying semi conscious on the floor pushed all thoughts of decent and indecent out of her head and she rushed in to his side. She skidded to her knees at his side and started shaking him by the arm.
"Xander, Xander! Come on Xander talk to me" her voice was panicy .
"Willow?" Xander croaked.
"Oh thank god! Xan you just lie here, I'll go get help" she was about to break for the door when she felt Xanders firm grip wrap around her arm.
"No! I.. I'm all right... Just help me get out of here."
"But Xander, your hurt, you need help!. I'll go get Giles" She slipped her resolve face on. Xander saw it and cringed slightly.
"Look Will, you can take care of me, it's not much. Just please don't tell them. Please just this once?" It was the closest to pleading she'd ever heard from Xander. Her conscience and feelings waged war within her, all brought live to the world via Willows face. It showed she wasn't really happy with her final decision.
"Fine, but you've got a bit of explaining to do."
"Sure thing Will" Xander seemed to be getting better before Willows eyes, as he gave her a small grin. Though she did admit that wasn't hard if you're found curled up on the bathroom floor.
She bent down and grabbed hold of his shirt and arm, trying to lift him up. Xander did most of the work though, grabbing hold of the sink and hoisting himself up. He grimaced slightly as she put his arm over her shoulder and helped him out of the toilets into and empty classroom next door. She sat him down on one of the desks.
"Don't move till I get back" He gave her a small nod and she rushed out of the room to get her first aid kit from her locker.
Xander sighed and stared down at Glyndaf.
"What happened? What was with all the pain?"
Glyndaf looked annoyingly pleased.
* You have indeed been blessed! * The little messenger smiled wickedly, running his forked tongue over his little sharp pointed teeth * The master has given you new weapons to continue your fight and what marvellous weapons, and new armour to protect your still soft body *
Xander gave himself a little look over, the only thing he saw was bruising.
"Where?" His little friend walked over and grabbed a hold of his hands and held them up in front of him.
Xander glanced at his hands, instantly seeing the change. His knuckles had little patterns on them, small eight pointed stars could be seen on them with a small four sided triangle protruding out of the centre of each that formed a sharp spike on his knuckles when he clenched his hands into fists.
"Cool"
* They are his symbol * Glyndaf then clenched Xanders fist tight and twisted them side ways. Xander felt, what felt like his skin peeling, although it felt rather pleasant, just above his elbows. Glyndaf pushed Xanders arms towards him.
Two black curved bones shot out the back of Xanders elbows, almost skewering him. He quickly snatched his arms out of Glyndafs hands, shocked. The curved bone blades didn't go away though.
"Holy shit" he glanced down at his blades. They were coloured a dull black and looked really sharp, on both sides. They were just shorter than his fore arms so were about a foot long and curved around so that when he straightened out his arms the sharp points touched the back of his shoulders, and when he bent his arms they stuck straight out like an extension of his forearm. Each blade was about and inch high but only 5mm thick.
Xander suddenly heard Willows footsteps echoing quickly down the hall.
"Shit! How the hell do I get rid of them?! And what the hell am I gonna tell Willow?" His voiced had changed to a panicked hiss.
Glyndaf reached out and seized Xanders hands again, tightened them into fists again but twisted them the other way this time then pushed his arms back, all the while telling Xander...
* Just tell her the truth! Willow won't do anything that would get you harmed! Or reveal your secret...She loves you too much. You could even ask her to join you in the worship of Him. *
Willows footsteps were getting louder.
"What?! I don't want to drag her into an eternal battle, I don't want her hurt. She's not strong enough anyway"
* You think she's safe now that she knows what's out there?! At least under his watchful tutelage she will learn how to defend herself. And don't sell Willow short! She has other strengths He admires...... And at least you wouldn't have to do it all alone *
*****
Willow entered the room, First aid kit in hand, to find Xander looking down at the floor. A most thoughtful, almost sad look on his face.
"Xander are you alright?" Physically he was looking alot better, though large dark bruises were appearing all over his body. She was worried about his feelings.
"Yeah Will, I good" He looked up at her, steeling himself for what he was about to tell her. She came closer and grimaced at the size of the bruises forming on his arms. She placed a hand on one of the larger visible ones, Xander placed his own on top of that. Willow looked up at him.
Xander kept his eye's closed.
"Willow I've got something to tell you... but first I gotta know, you trust me right?"
"Ofcourse I do? Why?"
Xander paused gathering his thoughts.
"Will, you've heard me say 'For Him' after a fight right? Haven't you ever wondered what I was talkin' about? Or who I was talking about?"
"Well you've usually been helping someone out, I just thought you were talking about them..... It wasn't them you were talking about was it?" She looked down at him a worried frown prominent.
"No, I was dedicating the fight.. my victory.... to Him.. to my God."
"Xander, no offence but dedicating something to God isn't a thing you really need to stress over.."
"Not that God"
"OooKaaay"
"I don't know my Gods name, I only know that he wants me to fight, and for my victories he rewards me"
"Xander.... do you hear voices? In your head? Telling you to hurt people? If you do... please don't hurt me." Willow was starting to look a bit worried but she said the last bit kind of jokingly. Still.... she threw a glance at the door.
"Well I hear voices, but they're not in my head..." His hand gripped hers slightly harder "...But they haven't told me any lies." He tilted his head up and looked at her in the eyes.
She looked puzzled for a moment, blinked a couple of times and took a few steps back, Xander let her hand go, not willing to hold her against her will. But he looked at her sadly as she backed away from him in fear. He should of suspected this, with that has happening in the last few days... It was a big thing to ask her to accept.
"Xander... what's wrong with your eye's?"
"It was a gift, from Him. I got it after I staked that vamp the other night... you know when we lost ......... You believe me don't ya Will? You saw my eye's before than, you know they weren't like this before?" Xanders voice was full of sadness and desperation. Willow felt suddenly guilty that she would ever think Xander would hurt her. Seeing how worried he was about how she felt about something just proved he was still the same old Xander. She stepped back up to him.
"I believe you Xander" She did. Full heartedly.
He gave her a beaming smile, grateful for her acceptance.
They were both silent for a while, neither knowing what to say.
"Did it hurt? Did it hurt when your eye's changed?"
"Actually I hadn't known it had happened until they were pointed out to me. The only time it ever hurt was today"
"Thats why you collapsed?"
"Yeah"
"Some reward"
Xander had to grin at that "yeah"
"Uh, Willow, there was one more thing..."
"Hmmm?" she looked at him thoughtfully.
"My 'God'... he knows about you.... which is nothing bad, but now... now that we know about vampires and demons and stuff. If you ever want to learn how to fight, to protect yourself or get, you know, revenge.... We could always do this together. He...he says that you've got strength... lots of it.... and that he'd help you bring it out, to learn how to use it..... if you really wanted to."
"Xander, you know I'm Jewish, and.. and me strong? I could barely help you into this room"
"It isn't like that. You don't really have to give up being Jewish, you just, fight for him is all. And you do have strength; it's just not that kind of strength. And hey, you're the only person in school that could ever stare me down. Thats gotta count for something "
Willow looked at Xander. Thinking it over. Did she really want what he was offering? Strength? To learn how to fight? She knew she was angry now, wanted revenge for Jesse, but what about later? Would she be able to stop? Would she just walk away from all this... this save the world stuff? Would she be able to live a normal life? Xander seems to have so far, but what about later in his life, or hers if she chose to? She would be doing it all with Xander... they would share something just between the two of them.
She really didn't know what to do.
"I'll think about it" she re focused her attention on Xander to see him giving her the most grateful smile she'd ever seen.
"That's the best I could of hoped for.... And Willow, thanks for not bein weirded out. You're a true friend." That caused Willow to blush.
"Come on, let's see if we can fix you up." Xander gave her a nod and she came back to look at the bruises on his arms. They were tender but seemed to be fading already. She rubbed some cream with a name Xander couldn't pronounce into them, saying they would heal faster now.
"Alright show us the ones under your shirt"
"What ones?"
"Xander Harris you are a horrible liar, Now show me those bruises!"
"Ohhh you just want to see me with my shirt off" Xander teased knowing full well what Willows reaction would be.
"Ahh no, I mean yes, cause I need to see all the bruises and no because I'm not all smutty and such and it's not like I haven't seen you with your shirt off before and no I wasn't spying it just happened that the camera was pointing that way and dad made that many copies not me he just gave them to me" She blushed very deeply, coming out of babble mode as Xander pulled his shirt off, chuckling all the while.
His chest was a mass of bruises, all seeming to follow the structure of his bones. On the plus side they seemed to all be fading rather fast.
"Hey Will, get with the rubbing of the cream all ready"
"Oh HA HA not a chance" She passed him the tube of cream before glancing at his sides.
"Ahhh Xander... when did you get tattoos?" Willow was staring at one of his shoulders but on the other was an exact copy of the tattoo she was staring at. Both were the 8-pointed star with the pyramid in the middle, and even as Willow watched the star seemed to spin around the pyramid.
"Umm, I guess just now. You know with the reward thingy" Xander shrugged.
"Do you know what they do?"
"Umm.." Xander looked to Glyndaf.
* Right now your guess is a good as mine. His work always serves a purpose. They'll probably be used with another gift down the line *
"... right now, they just look pretty, but somewhere down the line they'll probably be used with another gift."
"Oh" she was staring in fascination. Just below the symbols on his shoulders the tattoos began again. They flowed down the back of his neck before swirling out to just passed his shoulder blades, just before curving back to his spine where they curved and flowed around and down the centre of his back, finishing at a point just before his pants line. "You know, there's more on your back"
"Huh, really?" Xander was just about finished rubbing the cream in.
"Yeah.. Actually, they look pretty cool."
"Bonus" Tattoos weren't phasing Xander much. Not compared to the blades in his arms anyway. He handed the cream back to Willow before hopping up. He looked a lot better, normal almost, though the bruises were still there. When he pulled his shirt on you couldn't see them though.
"Here. You'll probably need these," said Willow, handing back his dark sun glasses " But I don't understand why you don't wont Buffy and Giles to know about your gifts. You could probably help them fight and all"
"Buffy would probably kick my ass if she saw me like this. You know, she's the slayer! Killer of weird things!" Xander explained as they headed back to the library.
"Missing operative word here! VAMPIRE slayer"
"Yeah but you heard what Giles said before. She'd probably go "demon, Kill it!""
"You don't know that!"
"I'd rather stay ignorant. Better safe than sorry" Xander said just as they went through the library doors. They almost ran into Buffy as she came looking for them.
"Hey I was wondering where you guys got to. I was just about to come find you guys"
"Just needed to talk about a few things." Xander covered.
"Oh"
"Jesse" Willow put in. Her face showing all the hatred she had shown before. Buffy gave her a sad look.
"Listen, me and Giles could probably handle the rest of the research thing if you two wont to head back home. You know, have a bit of a rest before tonight. We could meet up here again, around six?"
"Sure thing Buff." Came Xanders gloomy reply. He hadn't wanted to be reminded of Jesse.
"You sure you guys want to help tonight... you really don't have to. In fact I'd rather if you didn't. I don't want to see you guys getting hurt."
"We'll be there..." Started Xander
"...Whether you want us or not. Tonight's for Jesse." Finished Willow earning a look from both Xander and Buffy, though Xanders was a lot more encouraging.
"Well.... I wouldn't want anybody else with me" Buffy saved, giving them a smile.
"See you tonight Buff"
"Yeah, bye Buffy"
They wandered back out the library towards the entrance of the school. On the stairs out of school..
"Xander?"
"Yeah Will?"
"We'll do it together?" She took his hand in hers and smiled up at him. It took a lot on her part to do that.
"Yeah Will, We will"
Xander sat in a chair in the library blankly staring at the book Giles had laid out in front of him, so he could help with the current research on The Harvest. For all intensive purposes it looked as if he was reading the book. And had been since school ended 20 minutes ago.
He wasn't.
He was talking to Glyndaf about staking Jesse and the upcoming battles to stop the harvest.
* You are doing well Xander. He is pleased by your struggle against the infected. He realises how difficult it was for you to destroy your friend. He is rewarding you greatly* Glyndaf smiled up at Xander as he spoke. The boy was showing great potential. His offerings of battle to his master over the years had been but small victories, yet many. But the offering of the destruction of an infected to Him, was a great offering indeed, especially from one so young. And if the information the watcher was correct, he was about to get the chance to offer Him the destruction of a prophecy. There were very few offering better than that.
"How?" Xanders reply was quiet, not wishing the others to hear him talking supposedly to himself.
* That is for the Master to decide but it is all ready happening, I can see His touch all over you. * Xanders eye's widened under his glasses. What if it was something visible? He didn't want the slayer finding out. He quickly got up and made for the nearest toilets, they had a mirror. He could check himself out there. Three steps from the library the pain hit him like a sledgehammer, putting him on his knees. He struggled to his feet and started off again, crouched due to the pain, realising how little time he had before his reward took place.
Willow saw his collapse through the swinging library doors.
*****
Xander crashed through the bathroom doors, still half crouched from the pain. He would have sworn his bones were on fire, and his muscles, and organs, and skin, and hair. He stumbled up to the wash basin and stared at his reflection. His red dotted eyes blazed back at him, his glasses lost in his rush to get here. He couldn't see anything different, but the pain hadn't stopped yet. Suddenly several parts of his body screamed agony at him. His forearms and elbows, his hands and his shoulders. The pain it was so intense, he'd never felt anything like it before.
His knees gave way and he slid down the basin to end up sitting at its base, he gave a soft cry of absolute pain before curling up in the fetal position and lying on the cold, filthy bathroom floor.
The pain slowly began to fade.
*****
Willow bent down and picked up Xander sunglasses off the floor. She looked around for any sign of him but there was nothing to see.
She was definitely worried about him. It wasn't just like Xander to bolt from the room like that. Or for that matter be floored for no apparent. She was worried about him. He'd just been forced to kill their closest undead friend. That had to be screwing with his mind. God knows it was scaring the crap out of her. She was worried about him. He was now, sad to say her only friend. Sure, Xander may have been popular with a lot of kids, even if he wasn't friends with them, but that didn't mean it rubbed off on her or Jesse, and she'd only just met Buffy..... And then there was the fact she loved him.... She was worried about him.
A soft cry caught her attention from up the hall. She rushed up to were she thought she'd heard the sound but didn't see from which throat the cry was torn. She glanced about, looking for anything, she spotted the guys toilets just as a small moan came slipping past its door.
'Maybe Xanders got the runs?' It's amazing what thoughts cross your mind when you're stressed.
Willow gave a small knock on the door.
"Xander are you in there?" another moan "Are you alright? I'm comin in OK?" She was hoping for a refusal but it didn't come. She cracked the door open slightly, not wanting to embarrass her friend if he was indecent for any reason. She couldn't think of any reason he would be, indecent that is, but decided to err on the side of caution anyway. Plus she didn't want him knowing she'd seen him indecent if he really was indecent.
Xander lying semi conscious on the floor pushed all thoughts of decent and indecent out of her head and she rushed in to his side. She skidded to her knees at his side and started shaking him by the arm.
"Xander, Xander! Come on Xander talk to me" her voice was panicy .
"Willow?" Xander croaked.
"Oh thank god! Xan you just lie here, I'll go get help" she was about to break for the door when she felt Xanders firm grip wrap around her arm.
"No! I.. I'm all right... Just help me get out of here."
"But Xander, your hurt, you need help!. I'll go get Giles" She slipped her resolve face on. Xander saw it and cringed slightly.
"Look Will, you can take care of me, it's not much. Just please don't tell them. Please just this once?" It was the closest to pleading she'd ever heard from Xander. Her conscience and feelings waged war within her, all brought live to the world via Willows face. It showed she wasn't really happy with her final decision.
"Fine, but you've got a bit of explaining to do."
"Sure thing Will" Xander seemed to be getting better before Willows eyes, as he gave her a small grin. Though she did admit that wasn't hard if you're found curled up on the bathroom floor.
She bent down and grabbed hold of his shirt and arm, trying to lift him up. Xander did most of the work though, grabbing hold of the sink and hoisting himself up. He grimaced slightly as she put his arm over her shoulder and helped him out of the toilets into and empty classroom next door. She sat him down on one of the desks.
"Don't move till I get back" He gave her a small nod and she rushed out of the room to get her first aid kit from her locker.
Xander sighed and stared down at Glyndaf.
"What happened? What was with all the pain?"
Glyndaf looked annoyingly pleased.
* You have indeed been blessed! * The little messenger smiled wickedly, running his forked tongue over his little sharp pointed teeth * The master has given you new weapons to continue your fight and what marvellous weapons, and new armour to protect your still soft body *
Xander gave himself a little look over, the only thing he saw was bruising.
"Where?" His little friend walked over and grabbed a hold of his hands and held them up in front of him.
Xander glanced at his hands, instantly seeing the change. His knuckles had little patterns on them, small eight pointed stars could be seen on them with a small four sided triangle protruding out of the centre of each that formed a sharp spike on his knuckles when he clenched his hands into fists.
"Cool"
* They are his symbol * Glyndaf then clenched Xanders fist tight and twisted them side ways. Xander felt, what felt like his skin peeling, although it felt rather pleasant, just above his elbows. Glyndaf pushed Xanders arms towards him.
Two black curved bones shot out the back of Xanders elbows, almost skewering him. He quickly snatched his arms out of Glyndafs hands, shocked. The curved bone blades didn't go away though.
"Holy shit" he glanced down at his blades. They were coloured a dull black and looked really sharp, on both sides. They were just shorter than his fore arms so were about a foot long and curved around so that when he straightened out his arms the sharp points touched the back of his shoulders, and when he bent his arms they stuck straight out like an extension of his forearm. Each blade was about and inch high but only 5mm thick.
Xander suddenly heard Willows footsteps echoing quickly down the hall.
"Shit! How the hell do I get rid of them?! And what the hell am I gonna tell Willow?" His voiced had changed to a panicked hiss.
Glyndaf reached out and seized Xanders hands again, tightened them into fists again but twisted them the other way this time then pushed his arms back, all the while telling Xander...
* Just tell her the truth! Willow won't do anything that would get you harmed! Or reveal your secret...She loves you too much. You could even ask her to join you in the worship of Him. *
Willows footsteps were getting louder.
"What?! I don't want to drag her into an eternal battle, I don't want her hurt. She's not strong enough anyway"
* You think she's safe now that she knows what's out there?! At least under his watchful tutelage she will learn how to defend herself. And don't sell Willow short! She has other strengths He admires...... And at least you wouldn't have to do it all alone *
*****
Willow entered the room, First aid kit in hand, to find Xander looking down at the floor. A most thoughtful, almost sad look on his face.
"Xander are you alright?" Physically he was looking alot better, though large dark bruises were appearing all over his body. She was worried about his feelings.
"Yeah Will, I good" He looked up at her, steeling himself for what he was about to tell her. She came closer and grimaced at the size of the bruises forming on his arms. She placed a hand on one of the larger visible ones, Xander placed his own on top of that. Willow looked up at him.
Xander kept his eye's closed.
"Willow I've got something to tell you... but first I gotta know, you trust me right?"
"Ofcourse I do? Why?"
Xander paused gathering his thoughts.
"Will, you've heard me say 'For Him' after a fight right? Haven't you ever wondered what I was talkin' about? Or who I was talking about?"
"Well you've usually been helping someone out, I just thought you were talking about them..... It wasn't them you were talking about was it?" She looked down at him a worried frown prominent.
"No, I was dedicating the fight.. my victory.... to Him.. to my God."
"Xander, no offence but dedicating something to God isn't a thing you really need to stress over.."
"Not that God"
"OooKaaay"
"I don't know my Gods name, I only know that he wants me to fight, and for my victories he rewards me"
"Xander.... do you hear voices? In your head? Telling you to hurt people? If you do... please don't hurt me." Willow was starting to look a bit worried but she said the last bit kind of jokingly. Still.... she threw a glance at the door.
"Well I hear voices, but they're not in my head..." His hand gripped hers slightly harder "...But they haven't told me any lies." He tilted his head up and looked at her in the eyes.
She looked puzzled for a moment, blinked a couple of times and took a few steps back, Xander let her hand go, not willing to hold her against her will. But he looked at her sadly as she backed away from him in fear. He should of suspected this, with that has happening in the last few days... It was a big thing to ask her to accept.
"Xander... what's wrong with your eye's?"
"It was a gift, from Him. I got it after I staked that vamp the other night... you know when we lost ......... You believe me don't ya Will? You saw my eye's before than, you know they weren't like this before?" Xanders voice was full of sadness and desperation. Willow felt suddenly guilty that she would ever think Xander would hurt her. Seeing how worried he was about how she felt about something just proved he was still the same old Xander. She stepped back up to him.
"I believe you Xander" She did. Full heartedly.
He gave her a beaming smile, grateful for her acceptance.
They were both silent for a while, neither knowing what to say.
"Did it hurt? Did it hurt when your eye's changed?"
"Actually I hadn't known it had happened until they were pointed out to me. The only time it ever hurt was today"
"Thats why you collapsed?"
"Yeah"
"Some reward"
Xander had to grin at that "yeah"
"Uh, Willow, there was one more thing..."
"Hmmm?" she looked at him thoughtfully.
"My 'God'... he knows about you.... which is nothing bad, but now... now that we know about vampires and demons and stuff. If you ever want to learn how to fight, to protect yourself or get, you know, revenge.... We could always do this together. He...he says that you've got strength... lots of it.... and that he'd help you bring it out, to learn how to use it..... if you really wanted to."
"Xander, you know I'm Jewish, and.. and me strong? I could barely help you into this room"
"It isn't like that. You don't really have to give up being Jewish, you just, fight for him is all. And you do have strength; it's just not that kind of strength. And hey, you're the only person in school that could ever stare me down. Thats gotta count for something "
Willow looked at Xander. Thinking it over. Did she really want what he was offering? Strength? To learn how to fight? She knew she was angry now, wanted revenge for Jesse, but what about later? Would she be able to stop? Would she just walk away from all this... this save the world stuff? Would she be able to live a normal life? Xander seems to have so far, but what about later in his life, or hers if she chose to? She would be doing it all with Xander... they would share something just between the two of them.
She really didn't know what to do.
"I'll think about it" she re focused her attention on Xander to see him giving her the most grateful smile she'd ever seen.
"That's the best I could of hoped for.... And Willow, thanks for not bein weirded out. You're a true friend." That caused Willow to blush.
"Come on, let's see if we can fix you up." Xander gave her a nod and she came back to look at the bruises on his arms. They were tender but seemed to be fading already. She rubbed some cream with a name Xander couldn't pronounce into them, saying they would heal faster now.
"Alright show us the ones under your shirt"
"What ones?"
"Xander Harris you are a horrible liar, Now show me those bruises!"
"Ohhh you just want to see me with my shirt off" Xander teased knowing full well what Willows reaction would be.
"Ahh no, I mean yes, cause I need to see all the bruises and no because I'm not all smutty and such and it's not like I haven't seen you with your shirt off before and no I wasn't spying it just happened that the camera was pointing that way and dad made that many copies not me he just gave them to me" She blushed very deeply, coming out of babble mode as Xander pulled his shirt off, chuckling all the while.
His chest was a mass of bruises, all seeming to follow the structure of his bones. On the plus side they seemed to all be fading rather fast.
"Hey Will, get with the rubbing of the cream all ready"
"Oh HA HA not a chance" She passed him the tube of cream before glancing at his sides.
"Ahhh Xander... when did you get tattoos?" Willow was staring at one of his shoulders but on the other was an exact copy of the tattoo she was staring at. Both were the 8-pointed star with the pyramid in the middle, and even as Willow watched the star seemed to spin around the pyramid.
"Umm, I guess just now. You know with the reward thingy" Xander shrugged.
"Do you know what they do?"
"Umm.." Xander looked to Glyndaf.
* Right now your guess is a good as mine. His work always serves a purpose. They'll probably be used with another gift down the line *
"... right now, they just look pretty, but somewhere down the line they'll probably be used with another gift."
"Oh" she was staring in fascination. Just below the symbols on his shoulders the tattoos began again. They flowed down the back of his neck before swirling out to just passed his shoulder blades, just before curving back to his spine where they curved and flowed around and down the centre of his back, finishing at a point just before his pants line. "You know, there's more on your back"
"Huh, really?" Xander was just about finished rubbing the cream in.
"Yeah.. Actually, they look pretty cool."
"Bonus" Tattoos weren't phasing Xander much. Not compared to the blades in his arms anyway. He handed the cream back to Willow before hopping up. He looked a lot better, normal almost, though the bruises were still there. When he pulled his shirt on you couldn't see them though.
"Here. You'll probably need these," said Willow, handing back his dark sun glasses " But I don't understand why you don't wont Buffy and Giles to know about your gifts. You could probably help them fight and all"
"Buffy would probably kick my ass if she saw me like this. You know, she's the slayer! Killer of weird things!" Xander explained as they headed back to the library.
"Missing operative word here! VAMPIRE slayer"
"Yeah but you heard what Giles said before. She'd probably go "demon, Kill it!""
"You don't know that!"
"I'd rather stay ignorant. Better safe than sorry" Xander said just as they went through the library doors. They almost ran into Buffy as she came looking for them.
"Hey I was wondering where you guys got to. I was just about to come find you guys"
"Just needed to talk about a few things." Xander covered.
"Oh"
"Jesse" Willow put in. Her face showing all the hatred she had shown before. Buffy gave her a sad look.
"Listen, me and Giles could probably handle the rest of the research thing if you two wont to head back home. You know, have a bit of a rest before tonight. We could meet up here again, around six?"
"Sure thing Buff." Came Xanders gloomy reply. He hadn't wanted to be reminded of Jesse.
"You sure you guys want to help tonight... you really don't have to. In fact I'd rather if you didn't. I don't want to see you guys getting hurt."
"We'll be there..." Started Xander
"...Whether you want us or not. Tonight's for Jesse." Finished Willow earning a look from both Xander and Buffy, though Xanders was a lot more encouraging.
"Well.... I wouldn't want anybody else with me" Buffy saved, giving them a smile.
"See you tonight Buff"
"Yeah, bye Buffy"
They wandered back out the library towards the entrance of the school. On the stairs out of school..
"Xander?"
"Yeah Will?"
"We'll do it together?" She took his hand in hers and smiled up at him. It took a lot on her part to do that.
"Yeah Will, We will"