Disclaimer: Joss, WB, UPN et al. own Buffy. George Lucas, Lucasfilm, LucasArts and others own Star Wars. Michael A Stackpole owns the X-Wing and I, Jedi novels. I do not.

Title: Sunnydale Jedi: Chapter 12

Author: Paradigm Shifter

Rating: PG-13 again, people.

Pairing: Err… Xander/ Buffy (finally here, folks)

Feedback: Please, I beg.

Thanks: All my reviewers. You know who you are.

Continuity: General season 5 (Dawn)

Crossover: Buffy / Star Wars. Old Republic.

*

Xander stopped the car outside of the Hyperion hotel, and opened the door. Buffy looked at him across the car, and frowned at him, before opening her mouth… and quickly shutting it again.

"You're not going to have a fight with Angel, are you?" Buffy asked nervously.

Xander leaned back inside the car, and smirked. "As long as he remains civil, so will I Buff."

Dawn looked at the two of them. Despite Buffy's obvious disapproval of this little adventure, there seemed to be some sort of undercurrent running between the two of them. It freaked her out. Xander was hers since the entire group disbanded after Buffy's death. She wouldn't let him be taken from her again: not like he was when he vanished.

He had been gone a minute, two at the most; but he came back… changed. It wasn't right. Something had happened, and despite all of Xander's reassurances, Dawn wasn't sure that it was for the better.

Her brooding ended as Xander opened the door and grabbed her hand, pulling her out as if she was nothing more than feather light. He smirked at her as he reached in a pulled out all the stuff she had had in the back of the car with her.

He paused when he gripped her rucksack. That was where she had hidden that artefact. The one Xander seemed scared… or at the very least wary of.

"Everything alright, Xandman?" Dawn tried to remain chipper, but couldn't help but think that he was going to take it away from her. It was hers. She found it.

Xander shook his head violently, as if to clear it. "Yeah, Dawnie. I'm fine. Just… thought of something…"

Dawn looked at her bag pointedly. "Can I have my rucksack, please?" She tapped her foot on the tarmac for emphasis.

Xander looked blackly at her, then at the bag. "Oh. Yeah… sure, here ya go."

"Thanks." Dawn trotted off to the door of the Hyperion, following her sister.

Xander looked up at the sky. "Wherever the Hell you are, Yoda… I could sure use some help…" tapping his hip, to assure himself that his light-saber's were still attached, he hoisted the remaining bags and slammed the door shut.

*

"Xander."

"Deadboy."

Not the most warm welcome ever, but given the history between the two men, an understandable one. All that was necessary was said in those two words: that they both respected the abilities of the other; that they did not want to fight at a time that may be crucial. That, despite their differences, they were willing to work together.

"So… what brings you to LA?" Angel decided to get the niceties out of the way, so that they could get what they needed done, and gone again.

Xander started to speak, but Dawn butted in. "Wolfram and Hart have the new Slayer. Spike got her. He's working for them." Simple, direct; telling all the information that was needed.

Angel looked at Buffy. "And you brought Xander and Dawn along on a rescue mission?"

Buffy looked at the ground. "Uh… no. Xander and Dawn brought me."

Angel looked non-plussed for a second. "Come again?"

"Crystal's my friend." Dawn announced. "I don't want Spike to hurt her. That's why I came." She looked at Xander. "That and Xander doesn't trust me not to open a portal to a world that makes the Antarctic look like the Costa del Sol." She pulled a moue at Xander as she said this.

"I died, Angel," Buffy said quietly. "I was… while maybe not in Hell exactly, in a… not good place. I don't want to be left alone, and neither Xander or Dawn think that it's a good idea anyhow."

"But…" Angel wondered, "if you're not going into Wolfram and Hart, who?"

Xander coughed to himself, and Angel's attention was drawn to him. "You?" Angel asked incredulously. "You might have been able to face down Angelus, boy, but these people aren't going to back away from a fight!"

Buffy frowned. "Xander faced down Angelus?"

Xander shook his head quickly. "Let's not get into this now, Buffy. We haven't got time."

Buffy nodded, and just as Angel was about to speak again, Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn marched through the door, covered in slime and having a heated conversation about how Cordelia should have ducked if she thought her dress was so valuable.

Cordelia stopped dead as she saw her ex. "Oh, look guys. It's the Zeppo."

Xander smiled ruefully. "Hi, Cordy."

Cordelia nodded, glad that she seemed to have settled the matter, smiled widely and launched herself at Xander, engulfing him in a hug.

Much to the disgust of both Summers' sisters.

Dawn stepped up to the Seer. "Hey, let him go, Cordy! He needs to breathe!"

Cordelia smiled harder, hearing the jealousy in the teen's voice, and broke the hug, stepping away from Xander as if it was the hardest thing in the world to do.

She grinned. "Looking good, Xand. Although that isn't difficult. You've done some working out, if I'm not mistaken."

Xander grinned back. "Kinda had to, Cordy. Liked the welcome, although…" he looked down at his now slimed clothes. "I'd've settled for a handshake."

"Where's the fun in that?" Cordelia asked.

Angel coughed. "The Slayer?"

Xander had the good grace to look embarrassed. "Oh, yeah… right. Crystal. Need to get her back."

Wesley frowned. "Is she missing, then?"

Xander's grin vanished. "Yeah. Wolfram and Hart. And Spike."

Wesley paled, and Cordelia's eyes widened. "How are you going to manage that?" Gunn asked in amazement. "They don't just let anyone walk in! Angel's a no-go, seeing as how they have vamp alarms. But none of us are exactly… welcome there."

Xander's eyes hardened. "You don't have to go. I just want somewhere safe for Buffy and Dawn, seeing as how they 'insisted' that they come… I'll do this myself."

Cordelia's opinion of Xander may have improved since the fluke, but she still looked him up and down slowly. "You and what army, Xand? That building is impenetrable."

"Nothing's impenetrable, Cordy."

Cordelia shook her head. "Says you. We, on the other hand, know different."

Angel spoke, his voice heavy, "Wolfram and Hart are a terror, Xander. You can't just go in there and ask nicely… you wouldn't even walk out again. You need a plan. You need help."

"I work best alone. Others get hurt, I can't help them." Xander spoke of his one 'mission'; what was considered to be a blue-milk run, but in fact turned out to be as much a test of his at-the-time new abilities as any he had ever faced, bar the battle with Dooku.

"It's suicide, Xander!" Angel might not have liked the boy… man, he corrected himself, but he didn't want to see him die. He made eye contact with Wesley and Gunn, and the two moved to restrain Xander. He was obviously not playing with a full deck any more. If he had been close to the new Slayer, before Buffy was brought back, Angel could understand it.

Wesley's hand fell on Xander's shoulder first. "Xander," he spoke calmly, soothingly. "We understand how difficult this must be for you… loosing the Slayer is never easy… I remember how I felt when Faith went bad…"

Xander turned round to face him, eyes blazing. "This is nothing alike!" He fought to calm himself, visibly loosing his anger as he succeeded. "Faith went bad. Crystal has been captured! By Spike! SPIKE! And he will be dust by the time I have finished, and Wolfram and Hart nothing more than a bad dream!"

Angel came out from behind his desk, and Dawn stood between him and Xander. Dawn spoke quietly. "What, I ask, do you think you're doing?"

"Xander's needs rest. He wont listen to reason." Angel told her.

"Xander is in perfect control. You don't know what he can do, now."

Xander stepped around to observe the verbal battle between the two and a half century old vampire, and the sixteen year old.

"Now?" Angel asked with a perplexed expression.

Dawn shrugged, and looked askance at Xander. "They might as well know…" she said.

Xander shrugged back. "I don't mind. I can even demonstrate."

"When Buffy was… missing… I started experimenting with heavy duty Portal stuff… trying to get her back, any way I could." Dawn sighed; she didn't like this. "I found this new one, one day, and it had a… reaction… to Xander."

"Reaction?"

"He got sucked in. it would have been pretty funny if it wasn't so terrifying… he looked like Superman as it was sucking him into the portal, and he's trying to hold on to the wall… but he vanished into the portal, and it then closed up again."

Angel looked at Xander. "How long were you gone?" He knew the horror of having spent a century in hell, and then coming back to discover less than a year had passed.

Xander looked bored. "A year, maybe a bit more."

Dawn butted back in. "This is my story, Xand."

Xander smirked. "Sorry."

Dawn shot him a mock angry look. "Anyway… when he fell back out of the portal, which opened up not a lot longer after it had closed, he was all burnt and dressed funny. He had radiation burns. He'd been 'gone' less than a minute, although I was panicking way too much to actually count the time…"

"Radiation burns?" Wesley asked.

Xander nodded. "Yeah. I was in the middle of a nebulous sector that had massive radiation levels. I barely survived."

Wesley looked worried. "You say it like you were in space. How is that possible?"

"Because I was." Xander shrugged again. This was water under the bridge to him, but the others might need to know.

"What sort of clothes?" Cordelia asked, pinning down what she considered to be the central point.

Xander smiled. "I doubt you'd like them, Cordy. Although I did bring them with me. I'll have to change into them, now, because these are distinctly…" he held up one arm to his nose where the slime was. "… pungent."

Buffy sat down heavily. "Well, I'm sorry, but this is too much for me. I know that you told me some stuff, Xand, but this?"

Xander moved to the bags. "How about those of us that need to change," he looked playful daggers at Cordelia, "change, and we can get back to this."

Angel nodded reluctantly, and four of the seven people moved out of the room.

Xander paused at the door. "Deadboy?"

Angel looked up at Xander, his weariness with that name clear. "Yeah?"

"What room?"

Angel shook his head. "Turn left, up the stairs, second of the left."

Xander nodded. "Right. Thanks."

*

Xander stepped out, completely at ease with his Jedi robe. His light-saber's were still concealed, but were easy to access if he needed them. No point in giving the Angel crew any more things to worry about that absolutely necessary.

Although, if this went as he thought it might… he would be giving someone a first hand view of a sparkling golden blade.

Dawn looked at the doorway as he walked through. "You fixed them."

Xander nodded. "Yeah. Can't have burn holes in them, can I?"

Dawn shrugged. "Like, 'em, Xander. Look good on you."

Xander paused for a second. Was Buffy's younger sister commenting on his clothes? Was she, in fact, flirting with him? He shook the thought from his mind. No. Of course not.

Xander sat on the edge of Angel's desk, much to the dismay of the souled Vampire. "Mind if I sit here, Angie?" Xander asked rhetorically.

Angel looked even sicker at the new nickname than he had at the old one. "Deadboys' fine."

Xander just grinned widely at him.

*

Cordelia stepped through the same door that Xander had come from, expecting to see Wesley and Gunn already in the room. The two, however, had decided that five's company, seven's a crowd, and had discretely vanished. Angel smiled, when he realised what they had done.

Looking Xander over critically, Cordelia smirked. "Well, I can see where you went: obviously to some monastery somewhere. The monk look is soooo not you, Xand."

"These are the robes of a Knight, Cordelia." Xander's tone was terse, showing that he had no time for people putting down what he considered to be extremely important.

"Night? What, you sleep in them?" Cordelia tone was sharp, but held no real malice in it.

Xander sighed. "No, Cordy."

Angel spoke quietly. "He meant Knight. With a K, Cordelia. As in 'of Old'."

Xander laughed. "Definitely 'of Old' Deadboy. Although not in the way you think…"

"Huh?" Cordelia asked.

"The Order has existed for close to 20 millennia, Cordelia. Twenty. Thousand. Years. That is no joke."

"The Order of what?"

"The Jedi Order spans worlds, and systems. They are the protectors, the Guardians, if you will, the enforcers. The final judge. The Arbiters of Justice."

Cordelia snorted in a most unladylike fashion. "They sound like a jumped up police force."

"Anything but, Cordy. Anything but. We protect. We protect the weak from the strong. Those who are incapable of surviving against impossible odds, we aid. One such situation has recently been… half dealt with. Unfortunately, it isn't ended yet."

Angel leaned forward in his chair. "You make it sounds as if you are so much more than a simple group of people with a common mindset."

Xander looked at him, amused. "We are not. All are individuals within the Order, Angel. We work for a common goal… the betterment of the galaxy. We… the Scoobies, that is, never had similar mindsets… but we worked together to do what we needed to do."

Buffy held up a hand, "You keep saying 'we' all the time. Are you a full member, or are you just helping them?"

Xander smiled. No put down. How much Buffy had changed. No longer assuming that he was helpless. "There are many tests to become a Knight. Children with the ability are taken, with their parent's consent, of course… but to be a Jedi is a great honour. Few, if any, would ever refuse. The Apprenticeship… it can take years, or decades. It took me about 8 months. I… was different. Many in the council wanted me killed as an abomination. Four did not."

He smirked.

"Fortunately, one of them has the final say."

Dawn shifted in her seat, wanting to ask a question, but not able to work up the courage. Xander looked at her with a grin. "Yeah, Dawn?"

Dawn's enthusiasm caught him off guard for a second. "Show them, Xander! Show them!"

Angel looked at Dawn's eager face, and wondered just what it was that Xander had to show them. "What is this secret, then?" Angel asked without really wanting to know.

Xander drew a cylinder out of his robe. "This."

Cordelia looked at the rod, and burst out laughing. "THAT's the secret? A metal dildo? Hah!"

Xander's scowl was so intense; Cordelia noticed it despite her eyes being closed from laughing so hard.

"This is a light-saber, Cordelia." Xander spoke with a reverence that disquieted the small group. "The Apprentice constructing his saber is the final test to become a Jedi."

He punched the activation stud, and the weapons one metre blade burst into existence, shocking the unprepared trio of Buffy, Cordelia and Angel. Angel reached for the blade, but Xander quickly snapped the blade off.

"Ah ah, Angie. You touch that, and you're gonna be minus a few fingers. The blade is pure energy… it cuts through anything."

Xander heard a not too well concealed snicker from behind him, and then heard Buffy, Dawn and Cordelia all crack up at the nickname. The first time might have been survivable, but the second? And the sick look that Angel gave Xander was just too priceless.

Xander shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I really need to get Crystal back. You needed filling in, but I may have wasted too much time already." He hid the light-saber back among his robes, turned, and walked out before anyone could stop him.

Angel leaned back in his chair, looking uncomfortably at Cordelia, Buffy and Dawn. "Good luck, Xander."

The three girls nodded.

*

Xander walked purposefully down the edge of the Wolfram and Hart building. He had only one chance to do this: so he had to do it right.

Finally, he found a wall that seemed to be to his liking. It was cloaked in shadow, and not easily visible from the street. Unfortunately, it also had two vampires standing next to it.

Xander frowned. Change that: one vampire, and one human. The vampire appeared to be a drug dealer, or a pimp. One of the two.

He did something he was sure would get him in trouble. Well, if Yoda ever found out, anyway. He delved into the mind of the human, taking his name.

*

The vampire hadn't noticed anyone else nearby. He had already finished his deal with the human, and was currently waiting for the snivelling little rat to shoot up so that he could get his own fix.

He wasn't addicted… no. Vampires couldn't get addicted to drugs any more than they could get a tan. Alone among his compatriots, he liked the taste. Something… vital. Something… thunderous… about a human who was in the midst of a heroin high.

That and as long as you didn't kill them, they just thought that they were coming off when they woke up the next morning pale and shaking. They never realised that it was from loss of blood.

The spectre congealed out of the night itself. A beam of pure, scorching light grasped in its hands, like Zeus and his lightning come to earth.

Then the spectre spoke. "You'd better go home, Stu. And check yourself into a clinic in the morning. I'll be checking."

Stu nodded in a combination of amazement and drugged stupor. "Y.. ye…es sir!" He stuttered as he ran from the wrath of God himself.

The vampire was not so impressed. "You just cost me my meal, asshole!"

"Aww…" Xander sounded sad for a second. "That's too bad. Why not use me instead?"

The vamp goggled. "Serious? Cheers, man!" As he got nearer, Xander lashed out with his light-saber.

The vampire looked frightened for all of a second, before he burst into dust.

Xander shook his head. "No. I wasn't serious."

*