Chapter 2
SunnyDale~
Xander, Vicky, and Giles pull in to town late in the afternoon. They head to the Magic Box to meet with everyone. They find Tara, Willow, and Buffy in the shop. Willow is behind the counter working the cash drawer while Buffy and Tara are sitting at the table reading demon books. They look up to see who entered the shop and all have smiles across their faces.
"Lex your back," came the shout from the read head.
"Bout time you got here. Most of us are on pins and needles here. So is that the new Slayer?" Giles and Xander both nod to her. "Hey Vicky I am Buffy and welcome to the Hellmouth. It is nice to have you here even if it isn't one of the safest place for us."
"L-l-lex it is great to see you again. I am glad you are back."
Xander turns to Giles, "You didn't tell them. With all your watchery ways I though you would have told them. Sneaky watcher."
"Sorry but it is your story to tell. I just said you and Vicky were coming back and we should be there in a few days."
"Well Xander are you going to tell them or just stand there with that smirk?"
The three girls look from Vicky to Lex.
"It is Xander again. I don't have the power of the Hyena anymore. I still have some kicked up senses but the strength is gone from me. So like where is the rest of the Scoobys?"
"But we saw with Glory. You have to have the power then to do that. How can you not have it?"
Xander's eyes shifter from brown to amber. "He doesn't but I do. My name is Alpha. I would be the Hyena spirit given awareness. I know everything he knows but I am separate from him. He picked up the knife but I killed Glory. He went to the Zoo but I came back from it. Faith's death triggered something in us and separated the personas. Laughable Xander and Alpha," the eyes shift back to brown, "Wicked I know. Took some time to get use to it. So about everyone else."
Just then the door to the Magic box open and in walked Amy. She looked to Xander and ran to him giving a hug. "It s great to have you back. Faith talks about you all the time and she was so lonely while you were gone."
"Thanks Amy. Sorry I didn't drop by my last time in town but it wasn't a good time for us all."
"Don't worry about it." She lets go of the hug and goes to the counter. "If you want Willow I will take over from her and the others can go hang out."
"Thanks Amy. We can all go to Giles place then from there we can head up to the Bronze later to hang out." With that they all left and talked about the past few months with adventures and the bringing back Faith. Later at Giles, Xander gets Willow to talk outside with him for a bit.
"So Xander what do.." The smack across the face was unexpected. It wasn't hard enough to knocked her down but she could feel the heat from the strike and look at Xander and saw angry brown/amber eyes as if they were fighting for control. The amber won out.
"What do you think you are doing? She died, our mate was dead and you pull her out of the ground for no reason what so ever. My god Willow you are not god and she didn't need to be resurrected. Damn it Willow this is why you have to be careful what you do with your power. Why Willow, what in all that is reasonable made you think to bring her back."
"You left us again. You left and you weren't coming back. I could feel your pain while you walked away that night. It hurt me so much. We had to do something and she isn't a zombie or anything. She is perfectly normal. She is just depressed missing you. We asked her and she keeps telling us she can't remember were she was. She remembers the tower and Doc but that is it." Tears fall down her cheeks.
The brown returns to his eye "I am sorry Willow. You shouldn't have done it to her. I spent months getting over her and maybe moving on. To find out she wasn't dead the entire time but stolen from her final rest. We swore to each other that if we were ever turned we would not let the other one run around. We would stake them as soon as they got out of the grave. No curses no anything. Just a quick death to end it. I hope you know what you have done." Xander then pulls Willow in to a hug and holds her while she cries. They clean themselves up and head back in to the house.
"... and then when I turn around my towel falls off and I shut the door quickly. Xander practically ran out the room after that." All the girls and Giles are now laughing at the story.
"This coming from the girl that gets clothes ripped off by zombies. Beside I had to get the lounge to start my day. I could have stayed." Xander tries to defend him self weakly.
"You keep telling your self that Suga. You might actually believe it. So we going head to this Bronze place soon?"
"Yeah I guess we can." They head towards the door when Xander stops and looks towards it waiting for something to happen. The door slowly opens to reveal Faith in her normal sexy attire.
"Xander your back. Amy told me you guys were here and.." The rest was cut off as Xander ran forward and pulled her in for a big hug.
"I missed you so much, I didn't know you were back. I sorry. I love you so much. I." Xander stops and looks down at Faith as she smiles back up to him. His eyes shift to amber as a stern gaze falls across his face. Everyone can sense the mood change in the room but are unsure what is going on. Alpha turns back to the group, "Faith and I are going to have to postpone this get together tonight. Buffy you mine if we head back to your house for now. We have some things to discuss with his mate."
It was Vicky that was taken back by the comment. No one has spent the time with him that she has an understanding something is not good and she is worried about it.
"Sure Xan. Alpha ,sorry, just make sure Dawn isn't home if you guys start anything. We will call before we head back."
Alpha and Faith walk out of the house. His eyes haven't shifted back to brown. Faith is starting to get worried. She has never seen this out of Xander.
"Xander what's going on."
Alpha turns his head towards Faith with a glare that cause the temp to fall. "My name is Alpha. Right now your Xander s trying to understand what is going on. I know what is and I am taking care of it. He needs some more time. But don't worry I am sure he will get his act together." The walk the rest of the way to Buffy's in silence. Faith is scared that Alpha and Xander know something. They couldn't have found out this fast. They haven't even had a chance to run in to Spike. She knows Dawn doesn't have the chance to talk to him. Buffy's house appears in the distance as they make their way towards it. Soon they are on the porch and Faith unlocks the door and they both enter with Alpha shutting the door hard. Faith turns to him and watches in fascination as his eyes change from amber to the brown color she has loved for years.
"Care to tell me how long it has been gong on?"
"What do you mean?"
"DO YOU CARE TO TELL ME HOW LONG IT HAS BEEN GOING ON?" he screams.
Faith backs away from him. He never yelled at her before with this much anger in his voice. "X this can't be what it seems. Can you tell me what you are talking about?" She hopes it doesn't involve Spike.
"Why do you smell like Spike and Sex. One or the other I could understand. Both lead me to one conclusion and after discussing it with Alpha on the way here I won't kill you yet if there is a reason good enough to be FUCKING him. I know we talked long about Buffy and Angle and right now I am not liking what has become of you."
Faith just stares at him as her hopes come crashing down on her. "It hurts to be here. I was happy I was content I had my child with me. She was so beautiful. I remember it so well. God Xan it is hell here. Just knowing what I lost. I felt something with him. It wasn't great and it is over but it was something. I came back empty and you weren't here. He said you left me and weren't coming back. I needed you here. I shouldn't have slept with him but I (smack).." Faith was knocked to the ground.
Xander stood over her looking down on her with disgust and anger, "I shouldn't hit you but right now I am at a lost of what to do. I am going out. Pray I don't find out anything else about you. When I calm down we are going to have a long talk. You better be able to face the group because they will find out all of it." He turns around and walks out of the house. Faith lays on the ground a defeated soul. She cries for her lose. And for a fleeting moment feels something. She feels her heart breaks as Xander walks away.
SunnyDale~
Xander, Vicky, and Giles pull in to town late in the afternoon. They head to the Magic Box to meet with everyone. They find Tara, Willow, and Buffy in the shop. Willow is behind the counter working the cash drawer while Buffy and Tara are sitting at the table reading demon books. They look up to see who entered the shop and all have smiles across their faces.
"Lex your back," came the shout from the read head.
"Bout time you got here. Most of us are on pins and needles here. So is that the new Slayer?" Giles and Xander both nod to her. "Hey Vicky I am Buffy and welcome to the Hellmouth. It is nice to have you here even if it isn't one of the safest place for us."
"L-l-lex it is great to see you again. I am glad you are back."
Xander turns to Giles, "You didn't tell them. With all your watchery ways I though you would have told them. Sneaky watcher."
"Sorry but it is your story to tell. I just said you and Vicky were coming back and we should be there in a few days."
"Well Xander are you going to tell them or just stand there with that smirk?"
The three girls look from Vicky to Lex.
"It is Xander again. I don't have the power of the Hyena anymore. I still have some kicked up senses but the strength is gone from me. So like where is the rest of the Scoobys?"
"But we saw with Glory. You have to have the power then to do that. How can you not have it?"
Xander's eyes shifter from brown to amber. "He doesn't but I do. My name is Alpha. I would be the Hyena spirit given awareness. I know everything he knows but I am separate from him. He picked up the knife but I killed Glory. He went to the Zoo but I came back from it. Faith's death triggered something in us and separated the personas. Laughable Xander and Alpha," the eyes shift back to brown, "Wicked I know. Took some time to get use to it. So about everyone else."
Just then the door to the Magic box open and in walked Amy. She looked to Xander and ran to him giving a hug. "It s great to have you back. Faith talks about you all the time and she was so lonely while you were gone."
"Thanks Amy. Sorry I didn't drop by my last time in town but it wasn't a good time for us all."
"Don't worry about it." She lets go of the hug and goes to the counter. "If you want Willow I will take over from her and the others can go hang out."
"Thanks Amy. We can all go to Giles place then from there we can head up to the Bronze later to hang out." With that they all left and talked about the past few months with adventures and the bringing back Faith. Later at Giles, Xander gets Willow to talk outside with him for a bit.
"So Xander what do.." The smack across the face was unexpected. It wasn't hard enough to knocked her down but she could feel the heat from the strike and look at Xander and saw angry brown/amber eyes as if they were fighting for control. The amber won out.
"What do you think you are doing? She died, our mate was dead and you pull her out of the ground for no reason what so ever. My god Willow you are not god and she didn't need to be resurrected. Damn it Willow this is why you have to be careful what you do with your power. Why Willow, what in all that is reasonable made you think to bring her back."
"You left us again. You left and you weren't coming back. I could feel your pain while you walked away that night. It hurt me so much. We had to do something and she isn't a zombie or anything. She is perfectly normal. She is just depressed missing you. We asked her and she keeps telling us she can't remember were she was. She remembers the tower and Doc but that is it." Tears fall down her cheeks.
The brown returns to his eye "I am sorry Willow. You shouldn't have done it to her. I spent months getting over her and maybe moving on. To find out she wasn't dead the entire time but stolen from her final rest. We swore to each other that if we were ever turned we would not let the other one run around. We would stake them as soon as they got out of the grave. No curses no anything. Just a quick death to end it. I hope you know what you have done." Xander then pulls Willow in to a hug and holds her while she cries. They clean themselves up and head back in to the house.
"... and then when I turn around my towel falls off and I shut the door quickly. Xander practically ran out the room after that." All the girls and Giles are now laughing at the story.
"This coming from the girl that gets clothes ripped off by zombies. Beside I had to get the lounge to start my day. I could have stayed." Xander tries to defend him self weakly.
"You keep telling your self that Suga. You might actually believe it. So we going head to this Bronze place soon?"
"Yeah I guess we can." They head towards the door when Xander stops and looks towards it waiting for something to happen. The door slowly opens to reveal Faith in her normal sexy attire.
"Xander your back. Amy told me you guys were here and.." The rest was cut off as Xander ran forward and pulled her in for a big hug.
"I missed you so much, I didn't know you were back. I sorry. I love you so much. I." Xander stops and looks down at Faith as she smiles back up to him. His eyes shift to amber as a stern gaze falls across his face. Everyone can sense the mood change in the room but are unsure what is going on. Alpha turns back to the group, "Faith and I are going to have to postpone this get together tonight. Buffy you mine if we head back to your house for now. We have some things to discuss with his mate."
It was Vicky that was taken back by the comment. No one has spent the time with him that she has an understanding something is not good and she is worried about it.
"Sure Xan. Alpha ,sorry, just make sure Dawn isn't home if you guys start anything. We will call before we head back."
Alpha and Faith walk out of the house. His eyes haven't shifted back to brown. Faith is starting to get worried. She has never seen this out of Xander.
"Xander what's going on."
Alpha turns his head towards Faith with a glare that cause the temp to fall. "My name is Alpha. Right now your Xander s trying to understand what is going on. I know what is and I am taking care of it. He needs some more time. But don't worry I am sure he will get his act together." The walk the rest of the way to Buffy's in silence. Faith is scared that Alpha and Xander know something. They couldn't have found out this fast. They haven't even had a chance to run in to Spike. She knows Dawn doesn't have the chance to talk to him. Buffy's house appears in the distance as they make their way towards it. Soon they are on the porch and Faith unlocks the door and they both enter with Alpha shutting the door hard. Faith turns to him and watches in fascination as his eyes change from amber to the brown color she has loved for years.
"Care to tell me how long it has been gong on?"
"What do you mean?"
"DO YOU CARE TO TELL ME HOW LONG IT HAS BEEN GOING ON?" he screams.
Faith backs away from him. He never yelled at her before with this much anger in his voice. "X this can't be what it seems. Can you tell me what you are talking about?" She hopes it doesn't involve Spike.
"Why do you smell like Spike and Sex. One or the other I could understand. Both lead me to one conclusion and after discussing it with Alpha on the way here I won't kill you yet if there is a reason good enough to be FUCKING him. I know we talked long about Buffy and Angle and right now I am not liking what has become of you."
Faith just stares at him as her hopes come crashing down on her. "It hurts to be here. I was happy I was content I had my child with me. She was so beautiful. I remember it so well. God Xan it is hell here. Just knowing what I lost. I felt something with him. It wasn't great and it is over but it was something. I came back empty and you weren't here. He said you left me and weren't coming back. I needed you here. I shouldn't have slept with him but I (smack).." Faith was knocked to the ground.
Xander stood over her looking down on her with disgust and anger, "I shouldn't hit you but right now I am at a lost of what to do. I am going out. Pray I don't find out anything else about you. When I calm down we are going to have a long talk. You better be able to face the group because they will find out all of it." He turns around and walks out of the house. Faith lays on the ground a defeated soul. She cries for her lose. And for a fleeting moment feels something. She feels her heart breaks as Xander walks away.