Setting Things Right by Anime Ronin
Summary: There are some things that cannot be abided by in the grand scheme of things and in those instances a person is selected to go back and to set them right. Naturally, in this case, it is one Alexander Harris who is chosen to do so.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, so deal with it.
Author's Notes: I didn't watch S7, so don't bite my head off; I think that things could have gone better in the early going if a certain Vampire Layer (and no, I did not miss-spell that) had done their job the first time around, so I'm changing things a great deal. More to the fact, I like the potential that Jenny had and, more so, that Xander has as the quiet hero / hard ass / assassin of demonic entities – my story, my rules.
AN2: Okay, to answer some of the reviews that I have gotten, and man, there are a nice amount that keeps my muse happy: First off, sorry C/X-ers, not this time around because of whom I have planned for X in the somewhat-near future. Secondly, as to how his bullets killed the demons, well, I'm following the episode (I think), and I'm not sure how that really happened – don't worry, he'll come up with some cool demon killers later. Third, yes, they were real demons that were attacking Dawn, no, I won't explain just yet how he knew they were real demons and not kids caught up in the spell, and yes, he will feel responsible for Ethan's death but deal with it/explain it/justify it in the next chapter. Fourth, Xander's missions from TPTB won't always be what most people would consider good – regardless of that fact, there are certain things in their world that MUST happen, and sometimes sacrifices must be made in order for what is good for the majority to happen; sorry, but that is the way I see it. Buffy will tear into him about this once or twice about these decisions but will be surprisingly told to shut up by a few surprising sources (they can see how much these decisions are starting to get to Xander and take his side of things). Fifth, I know this chapter went quick, but later on I'll probably re-write it to add in more than a few things (explanations mostly) and I'll take things at a slower pace for chapters to come – oh and if I get something out of order as far as episodes go, TELL me, but don't flame. Sixth: To JWolf – I see Xander's merging with the Hyena and Soldier as more of a Balance – if you've taken any Psychology, you'd remember about ID, EGO and SUPEREGO, or in this case, HYENA, SOLDER, and XANDER, who is the balance of the two spirits. Granted, before hand he was more like a 'take it as it comes but then change it', or more towards the Hyena side, but now with Soldier in the mix, he'll be more centered, a blend of the two spirits but less goofy (except where Dawn is involved and when annoying Giles – a leopard can't change all of it's spots, or in this case, a hyena). Sadly, for Faith to show up, and she will, Kendra will have to die and regardless how both I and Xander feel about this, his new bosses need for this to happen, so it will ... but not without some SERIOUS retribution and maybe a touching grave-side scene while decked out in his hardware on his way for said retribution. Joyce will not change much save for learning about demons and such – and if I take this story into the later seasons SHE WILL NOT DIE FROM THAT TUMOR OR ANEURYSM AFTERWORDS. Sorry, had to vent there. Finally, the whole Dawn's costume bit was inspired by a picture next to my computer of a friend of mine from high school when we had a costume party – Jenny (yes, the originator of the SDG: VD) went as Sailor Jupiter and that is that is that).
AN3: A note to all Spuffy and Spike-centric people out there – please, I liked Spike before the whole S6 fiasco, so let us remember him as the Big Bad he was rather than the raping, nutless wonder that he became. I would rather shoot a rapist rather than to give them a trial, but that would be a waste of a perfectly good bullet that could be used on someone more deserving, like a murderer.
Okay, venting over and on with the Fic!
Chapter 2 -- Just Because It Had To Be Done Doesn't Mean I'm Cool With It
Xander found himself in his new condo the next morning, still dressed in his fatigues after having made a quick, but successful, run to the Sunnydale Armory, sitting in an over-stuffed chair and watching the sun rise over the cityscape. It was for moments like this that he liked to hunt Vampires, but more importantly, he was watching the sunrise because he could not get to sleep the previous night – last time around it was because of the Soldier's memories, which would have best been called a mixture of Glory, Platoon, a healthy dose of Saving Private Ryan, which he had seen just before Graduation, and Full Metal Jacket all stuck in a blender, liquefied and then condensed for his viewing pleasure – but this time it was the fact that he had been forced to kill Ethan Rayne the night before to keep him from pulling a stunt like that ever again. Sure, on paper an in his own mind Xander could see the rationality of it all, but it wasn't his mind or the paper that was keeping him up, it was his memory – the smell of the cordite, the crack of the bullet as it sped through the air, the color of and spray of the blood as the fatal bullet hit, the STENCH of the blood, the solid thud that only a dead body hitting the floor could make, all of those things kept replaying through his mind.
The sun made it's presence known with a blinding ray of light cresting the cityscape that was Sunnydale and Xander forced himself out of his chair, removing his clothes to hop into the shower. Even as he walked past the mirror in the bathroom a few minutes later, he caught a glimpse of his own face and wasn't surprised at the haunted look in his eyes – he'd seen it before on numerous occasions and would, no doubt, see it again before his new job was over. Shaking himself slightly, he crawled into the shower, turned the water on as hot as he could stand it and stood in the spray, hoping against all hope that he could wash away some of the guilt and figurative blood on his hands even as he washed.
+++
Xander walked into the Library dressed in a rather subdued combination of dark jeans, a pair of black sneakers, a dark t-shirt underneath a jacket he had found in his new place's closet (as were most of his clothes – he had yet to find any of his favorite Hawaiian shirts) and walked over to where both Buffy and Willow were excitedly telling Giles about what they remembered and what happened to them while they had been under the influence of the spell the previous night. Buffy looked slightly sheepish was Willow brought up the whole car/demon bit but then looked over as he set his books down on the table, smiling as she did – Xander automatically smiled back but from the look on her face, he could tell that she could tell that something was wrong, but was going to let it slide for the time being.
Willow finished her story and then turned and pinned Xander with her look / glare that immediately told Xander that a) he was in trouble and b) she wanted answers, "And you, Mister, where were you last night when all of this was gong on? We were supposed to be watching the kids and you disappeared and I had to deal with Lady Buffy all night by myself and ... what's wrong, Xander?" [Sorry, my Willow-babble is not up to date]
"Yes, Xander, you look, quite frankly, like death warmed over," Giles put in somewhat helpfully as Xander tried to think up of a story on the fly, but decided to go with what had once been the truth.
"Didn't sleep at all last night, guys. I'm not sure, but I think those fatigues I had on were used and whoever once used them saw some heavy combat back in Vietnam." He took a breath and let it out slowly, "Every time I closed my eyes last night, I kept hearing gunfire, explosions, people shouting and," he paused, trying to get control of his stomach, "I remember everything this guy did, saw, smelled, heard and it's making me sick." Okay, so much for only part of the truth.
Willow, true to form, gasped and seemed to teleport across the table and began to try and crush the air out of him while Buffy looked stricken and Giles looked as if someone had just killed the Queen mum; after a few minutes of fighting off an overly-attached Willow, a well-intentioned Buffy and several questions from Giles, Xander screwed up the courage and looked over at Giles, "G-Man, let me ask you a serious question – if while under that spell, somebody did something rather illegal, could or should they be held accountable for what the spirit in charge did?"
"First of all, don't call me that, and secondly would I be correct to assume that this has something to do with what I found in Ethan Rayne's shop when I went to break the spell?" Both Buffy and Willow looked somewhat lost at what was going on, but Xander ignored them and focused on Giles, who looked somewhat sick now.
"I remember what happened, even I couldn't stop him – Giles, you gotta believe me when I tell you that he just wanted to break the spell, honest. Rayne wouldn't and the Soldier ... persuaded him to talk and got bullshit answers, several of them."
"Xander, I saw the body. Ethan was an insufferable prat when it came to admitting that he was to be held accountable for his actions, but if what you say is true, I am not sure that you or this Soldier could be rightfully held accountable for his death." Both Willow and Buffy gasped, but both men ignored them, "Now what exactly do you remember about the incident."
Xander took a breath and let it out slowly, the memories of what happened coming up tot he surface of his mind, "Soldier ordered Rayne to break the spell, Rayne refused, and Soldier put a bullet into his right femur four inches above the knee. Rayne refused to answer again and Soldier put another round in the right shoulder, near the collar bone, and then told Rayne that the next shot would be, quote, in the heart, lungs, liver, or whatever was available while point the gun at Rayne's crotch." Giles winces sympathetically as the girls gasped – Willow turned beet red and Buffy turned a pasty white, "Rayne told him, Soldier put a bullet into the bust of Janus, spun and shot Rayne ... and that's all I remember. Next thing I know I'm watching the sun rise in a condo near the University and there's a note saying the place is mine." Xander felt lower than a snake's belly for lying to them right to their faces, but none of them were mentally capable of dealing with what he was doing or what he had done
Buffy was the first to regain the power of speech between her and Willow and her face twisted into a look of revulsion, "You KILLED him? How could you, he had a soul!"
Xander barked out a sharp laugh that held no amusement whatsoever, "Buffy, don't try and sell me that shit, okay? A soul doesn't preclude being able to do evil – if you want proof why don't you ask Willow about her grandparents and those nifty little tattoos on the insides of their left arms. Besides, I didn't kill Ethan, the Soldier did, and rightfully so now that I think about it – he caused that chaos last night, got a lot of people killed in case you hadn't seen the paper this morning, so whatever the Soldier did to him, he probably deserved worse."
Buffy looked over at Willow, who's face had gone pale at he mention of her grandparents and the tattoos, and then looked back at Xander, "How can you say that? Okay, I'll admit that Hitler was evil, but just because-" Buffy started to rant, but Xander cut her off.
"The Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Jeffery Dhamer, Charlie Manson, Ten Bundy, The Spanish Inquisition, The Salem Witch Trials, do any of these starting to sound familiar, Slayer?" Xander stood up knowing what he was about to say was a gamble, but a necessary one, "Or how about we get to Angel? I've read a few of Giles' Watcher Chronicles and do you want to know what they said about him? Trust me, Buffy, he was no Saint; he earned a title that not even Hitler earned, but I'll leave it to Giles to tell you about that. So bye, I've got class to get to." Xander grabbed his book bag and made for the door, listening to Giles cleaning his glasses, and then went through them, almost running over Ms. Calendar in the process, "Sorry, Ms. Calendar."
"See me after school today, Alexander." Her voice brooked no argument, "We have something to discuss and I assure you that it may not be good news for a certain Vampire you and I know of." She then smiled sweetly at him, patted his cheek and went into the Library where a small war had started between Giles and Buffy over just whom Angel used to be – and this war was rapidly escalating into an all-out character assassination of a certain bottle-blonde Slayer.
Xander watched as she left, rubbing his cheek where she had patted him and smiled, remembering just how beautiful Jenny Calendar had been and then wiped the smile off of his face at the memory of just how she had died and how very little had been done to avenge that death. "Not this time, and never again."
+++
Throughout the day, Xander worked on something that had been nagging at him ever since the spell had been broken the night before – how in the hell would normal bullets kill vampires and demons? Sure, he figured that a tracer round, seeing it was essentially a tiny flare, would work in a pistol or a SMG, maybe even an assault rifle, but those were not cheap and sometimes you needed a bit more substance to carry through the thicker skins of certain demons.
The previous night at the Armory he had procured a MK23 MOD0 USSOCOM with a suppressor, tactical holster and ten magazines of .45-caliber ammunition, a tactical Kevlar vest, some flash-bang grenades, a suppressed UMP chambered for .45 cal and ten magazines to go with it, but he needed something a little more long-range in case he needed to snipe at somebody, not to mention if the Judge showed up, so that meant either a LAAW or an AT-4, both of which would be a royal pain in the ass to sneak off with. Still, it was a good start with what he had gotten the night before and it would hold him for a while. As far as ammo went, he had the idea of getting a priest to bless the ammunition, but then that would start to raise a few questions after a while.
All thoughts turned to the situation at hand as Xander opened the door to Ms. Calendar's classroom about ten minutes after the final bell rang; he had been avoiding both Buffy and Willow all day and, quite frankly, neither of them were worth the diversion, cloak and dagger bullshit. The caller of the meeting sat behind her desk, absently grading several papers as she looked up and Xander forced his heart to stay down where it was supposed to be and his blood flow to keep north of the equator – she was still as beautiful as the last time he had seen her before she died, "You wanted to see me, Ms. Calendar?"
"Yes, Alexander, please have a seat and I'll get right with you." Xander sat as she was asked to and waited while she finished her work before standing and smoothing out her ankle-length skirt and then her blouse. She looked at him and smiled before sitting on the edge of her desk and crossing one ankle over the other, "Tell me how much you know about ... Angel."
"Angelus, a Master Vampire, roughly two hundred and fifty years old, sired by Darla in Ireland while stumbling out of a bar after a fight. A ruthless bastard, by all accounts, and he earned the title 'Scourge Of Europe' while he, his sire, his childe Drusilla and her childe, William The Bloody, tore their way across the continent from Scotland to China. Roughly at the turn of the century," he went on, doing his best not to smile at the look of shock on her face, "he fed off of the favored daughter of a Romany group of gypsies and was cursed by that Clan with a soul that would be in place until he experienced a moment of true happiness. The Clan name was Kalderash, just as you are not Jenny Calendar, but Janna Kalderash of the Clan Kalderash. Is that enough information for you, Ms. Calendar, or would you like for me to tell you how he was basically useless for the next eighty years and recruited to be a Champion by the Balance Demon Whistler in Times Square, shown the image of Elizabeth Summers and instantly fell in love with her?" His hard-fought battle against the smirk ended as she gaped like a fish and he smirked smugly as she collected herself.
"You know a great deal, Xander," she said rather coyly, "and to tell you the truth had I not looked at your aura I would be forced to ask you just how you know what it is that you know."
"Why Ms. Calendar, I didn't know you were into Voyeurism." He chuckled as her face flushed a brilliant pink color before she got back in control of her emotions, "Alright, I'll bite – what does my aura say about me?"
"That you are a man out of time, have been touched by a higher power the likes of The Powers That Be, and that your little story about how the 'Soldier' was the one who killed Ethan Rayne last night was made of whole cloth." She smiled for a minute, then frowned, "So why are you here?"
Xander smiled and grabbed his cell phone, punching in *69 and calling Lex, as he had been instructed to do in the smallish instruction manual that had been in his packet of things. "Lex? Xander. JC knows about what I did and ... yes ... are you sure you want to do that? Very well, I'll tell her what she needs to know." Xander shut his phone and smiled at the slightly bewildered Techno Pagan, "Sorry, but I had to get authorization to tell you that yes, I am from the future and I have been sent back to make certain changes that, in my time, would have doomed our world forever, and no, you cannot tell anybody, not even your Clan." He stood up from his desk and walked over to where she was seated, a slightly dazed look on her face before he leaned in and whispered into her ear, "Sufficed to day, you staying alive is one of those changes, Jenny. That is the reason I told Buffy what I did, and that is the reason that if Angelus loses his soul, we need to get it back to him as soon as possible – for some odd reason, he's important to the future and I am not allowed to kill him just yet." He pulled back and she shivered slightly before looking at him and smiling brightly, "Be well, Ms. Calendar."
"Please, outside of school time, call me Jenny." She looked around conspiratorially and then leaned in to within an inch of his ear, "And by the way, do Rupert and I ever get together?"
Xander pulled back and smiled sadly, "I could answer that, but I think you know what will happen if I do tell you, Jenny. Still, there is no harm in trying," he gave her one last smile and a wink before spinning around and walking out of the room and once he was sure she wasn't behind the door directly, groaned, "Damned Hyena senses. Nobody should ever smell that good and not be wearing any perfume."
+++
Back at his condo, Xander sank down into his plush chair and sighed, listening to the radio as it pounded out beat after beat of Metallica's 'Of Wolf And Man'; his new choice in music is one he completely blamed on Oz, or would blame on him, because while on patrol the werewolf / musician would sing to the songs of Metallica while searching for new vamps to rise and it was only natural that after such exposure that Xander himself check out those songs on the CD's. There was something about this one particular song that seemed to set both Oz and Xander at peace – the former believing that it had to do with being a werewolf and the latter believing that it was one of the few ways his inner Hyena could be safely released.
The sudden knocking on his door shook him out of his reverie and made him cautiously answer the door, the suppressed SOCOM in his away hand while looking through the peephole, which revealed a small light-brown haired young woman's head bobbing to some music along with the face of one Joyce Summers. Xander paled and shoved the SOCOM into the back of his jeans, pulling his shirt over it before opening the door, "Mrs. Summers, Dawn Patrol, what brings you two here?"
The older Summers woman smiled, "Well, Buffy is studying at the Library tonight and I have a flight to catch, so I was wondering if you could watch Dawn until Buffy comes by to pick her up in a few hours."
"Of course, Mrs. Summers – no problem at all." Xander looked down at Dawn and smirked, "Hail, Sailor Jupiter, and welcome to my humble abode."
Dawn glared up at him; "I thought we both agreed to never bring that up, Xander."
"Play nice, children," Joyce chided lightly, doing her best to hide her smile.
"We will, Mrs. Summers. I put away all the knives and guns out of reach of our little Dawn Patrol," he ruffled the younger Summers' hair, got glared at by said young woman and smiled. "She's as safe here as she is anywhere in Sunnydale."
"Very good, Xander. I shall see you two later," she called, turning and going for her car while Dawn hefted her book bag and walked into the condo, whistling as she saw and liked the new digs.
"Very nice, Xand-man. Who'd ya kill for this?" Dawn set down her bag and started to rummage through it for some homework.
"A guy named Spike, a few demons and a few more to be named at a later date," he quipped back to her out of reflex, but then caught her as she froze while rummaging through her bag. "Dawnie, are you alright?"
"So I wasn't dreaming last night, was I? About the three demons you shot and me really being Sailor Jupiter, I mean." She looked over at him and begged with her eyes for the truth, knowing that he would tell her if she turned 'The Eyes' on him for long enough.
Xander groaned and his resolve to withstand 'The Eyes' vanished like a bribe in the Philadelphia PD (c. late 1970's), "Yeah, Dawnie, those were real demons, and not some poor kids that got iced while in costume and having the bad taste to attack you." He sighed and then jerked his head up, "Hold it, how long have you known about demons, Dawn?"
"Long enough," she admitted, walking over and burring her face into the middle of his chest, wrapping her arms around him and starting to cry about what she had seen the night before. Xander returned her hug and began to comfort her, holding her up and whispering soft words of solace as the radio began to play another of Metallica's hits, 'Hero Of The Day'. [Note: Dawn's not 11-12 in this time, she's 13-14, which will explain the poll at the end of the chapter].
+++
How long they stood there was anybody's guess but another knock at the door broke them apart, the younger of the two wearing a stain in the color of blush on her cheeks as Xander checked the peephole again. Had he been looking at her when he pulled his SOCOM, he would have seen her turn white as a sheet, but he was more interested in the pair of people outside that he didn't know, "Dawnie, stand back." Flipping the safety off, checking the chamber and, seeing a round in place, thumbing back the hammer, he cracked the door open, "Yes, may I help you?"
"You Xander Harris?" The speaker was tall; maybe a shade less than six and a half feet, looked Caucasian, in his early to mid thirties, and spoke with a pronounced British accent while looking for the entire world like David Bowie. His companion was maybe a decade his junior, almost an exact replica save for a few inches shorter and only slightly less threatening.
"Maybe I am. Who are you?"
"Michael, he's David, and we've been sent here by your superiors to ..." Michael's voice trailed off as the door was flung open and the suppressed business end of the SOCOM was leveled at his left eye. "Is this necessary?"
"I answer to one person, and if he wanted me to talk to you he would have contacted me." Xander felt his heart rate pick up a tad and adrenaline start to flood his entire system, but kept frosty, "Now, why don't you tell me whom you really work for."
"The Council, mate," the other of the two, David, said in a broad Cockney accent. "We're looking for Rupert Giles and we figured you'd be able to tell us where the old boy was."
"And if he was not so inclined to tell you his current location? Provided that we even knew it?" Dawn chipped in her two cents from behind the door, making all three guys sigh in exasperation.
"Then we would be forced to find the high school and check the Library," Michael stated.
"Who's the bird ya got back there, mate? She a hottie?" David, Xander could tell, was the master of tact, but also not stupid because his hands came up in surrender when Xander aimed the SOCOM at his 'crown jewels', "Whoa, mate! No need to be touchy."
"I'm babysitting her, and she knows what happens in Sunnydale after dark, boys. And if you must know, she will be fully hot in four or five years." Xander, unable to see Dawn, could feel her grin grow so large her face could split. "Now, if I tell you where he is, you for get this place and it even existed, right?"
"Of course," Michael said immediately while David nodded quickly, the SOCOM not having left it's earlier target and, quite frankly, he looked nervous as hell.
"Check the library," Xander said after a second, pulling the SOCOM back into the doorway. "Good evening, gentlemen, and don't break your promise of forgetting – I'd hate to have to hunt the both of you down to just expend two bullets a piece into your skulls." That said, Xander shut the door on them as the sun began to sink below the horizon.
+++
Dawn and Xander played numerous games of cards that night, some of them Xander lost on purpose, but several of them made him thank whichever deity watching that they weren't playing strip poker because she would have had him out of his pants and in boxers alone before he started to catch her cheating. They talked back and forth over why he had the gun and how he had gotten the apartment (she alluded to the fact that she knew or had guessed about his home life) – both times he fed her a cock and bull story and she seemed to believe it; in fact, it was almost midnight when the knock at his door came and Dawnie was out cold on his couch, covered in a blanket from his linen closet.
After a peek and without preamble, he opened the door and raised his SOCOM, finding Angel's surprised face and Buffy's shocked one on the other side, "Deadboy, Buff, what bring you to my place? Any yes, this is a real gun, loaded with hi-explosive rounds, and they are, quite possibly, very deadly towards vampires."
"W-we're here for Dawn," Angel managed to stammer out, going paler than normal while Buffy started to look annoyed.
"She's asleep on the couch, you two. I'll drop her by in the morning at your place, Buff."
"No, wake her up now."
Both Xander and Angel looked at Buffy like she had lost her mind, "Are you suicidal, because I am not going to wake up a female member of the Summers family from a sound sleep." He stepped out of the way, inviting neither of them in, which meant that Buffy walked in and Angel was forced to stay outside as she went to wake up Dawn.
"You killed him, didn't you." At Xander's blank look, Angel clarified, "Spike, I mean."
"Target of opportunity," Xander lied easily as the youngest Summers woke up in a rather surly mood, kicking her older sister blindly in the shin.
"Dru has been heard from one end of the Sunnydale sewers to the other, screaming about how her 'Kitten' killed Spike." Angel looked at Xander, very much aware that he had not put away the SOCOM, "You realize she will come after you, right?"
Xander winced as Buffy was kicked in the stomach by a still-slumbering Dawn, before retaliating with a pillow to Dawn's face, "Then I'll kill her too. Be advised, Angelus, I know she's your childe, but that doesn't mean that because you have a soul that I trust you. You ever lose that soul and I'll make sure you understand just how bad of an idea it was to lose that soul." Xander looked at Angel, who had stiffened at the use of his 'real' name, "And despite what bottle blonde over there might say, I'm not jealous, just cautious."
"Damnit, Dawn, we're leaving, now!" Both Xander and Angel looked over to see Buffy trying to drag Dawn off the couch by a leg, but the younger Summers was kicking the older one wherever she could. Neither male would get near the altercation – it was a) part of The Code, and b) actually kind of funny to watch The Slayer being foxed by her younger sister.
"Hey, that's my couch you're destroying, Buffy."
"Then tell her to let go!"
"I was asleep, you cow! You hate it when I wake you up, and I hate it even more. Besides, we both know you're just going to moon over Angel instead of making sure I'm asleep anyway."
"Am not!"
"It hasn't stopped you the last three times, has it?"
Both Xander and Angel sighed, knowing that the argument that was starting would be one that went on for a long time ... but that didn't make Xander invite Angel in regardless.
End Chapter 2
AN Quick Poll – by reviewing (one per person, please), whom should Xander start dating in the early going? Your choices are Willow, Jenny, Joyce, or a random female character who will be killed by Angelus. No Buffy or Dawn votes, please.
Summary: There are some things that cannot be abided by in the grand scheme of things and in those instances a person is selected to go back and to set them right. Naturally, in this case, it is one Alexander Harris who is chosen to do so.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, so deal with it.
Author's Notes: I didn't watch S7, so don't bite my head off; I think that things could have gone better in the early going if a certain Vampire Layer (and no, I did not miss-spell that) had done their job the first time around, so I'm changing things a great deal. More to the fact, I like the potential that Jenny had and, more so, that Xander has as the quiet hero / hard ass / assassin of demonic entities – my story, my rules.
AN2: Okay, to answer some of the reviews that I have gotten, and man, there are a nice amount that keeps my muse happy: First off, sorry C/X-ers, not this time around because of whom I have planned for X in the somewhat-near future. Secondly, as to how his bullets killed the demons, well, I'm following the episode (I think), and I'm not sure how that really happened – don't worry, he'll come up with some cool demon killers later. Third, yes, they were real demons that were attacking Dawn, no, I won't explain just yet how he knew they were real demons and not kids caught up in the spell, and yes, he will feel responsible for Ethan's death but deal with it/explain it/justify it in the next chapter. Fourth, Xander's missions from TPTB won't always be what most people would consider good – regardless of that fact, there are certain things in their world that MUST happen, and sometimes sacrifices must be made in order for what is good for the majority to happen; sorry, but that is the way I see it. Buffy will tear into him about this once or twice about these decisions but will be surprisingly told to shut up by a few surprising sources (they can see how much these decisions are starting to get to Xander and take his side of things). Fifth, I know this chapter went quick, but later on I'll probably re-write it to add in more than a few things (explanations mostly) and I'll take things at a slower pace for chapters to come – oh and if I get something out of order as far as episodes go, TELL me, but don't flame. Sixth: To JWolf – I see Xander's merging with the Hyena and Soldier as more of a Balance – if you've taken any Psychology, you'd remember about ID, EGO and SUPEREGO, or in this case, HYENA, SOLDER, and XANDER, who is the balance of the two spirits. Granted, before hand he was more like a 'take it as it comes but then change it', or more towards the Hyena side, but now with Soldier in the mix, he'll be more centered, a blend of the two spirits but less goofy (except where Dawn is involved and when annoying Giles – a leopard can't change all of it's spots, or in this case, a hyena). Sadly, for Faith to show up, and she will, Kendra will have to die and regardless how both I and Xander feel about this, his new bosses need for this to happen, so it will ... but not without some SERIOUS retribution and maybe a touching grave-side scene while decked out in his hardware on his way for said retribution. Joyce will not change much save for learning about demons and such – and if I take this story into the later seasons SHE WILL NOT DIE FROM THAT TUMOR OR ANEURYSM AFTERWORDS. Sorry, had to vent there. Finally, the whole Dawn's costume bit was inspired by a picture next to my computer of a friend of mine from high school when we had a costume party – Jenny (yes, the originator of the SDG: VD) went as Sailor Jupiter and that is that is that).
AN3: A note to all Spuffy and Spike-centric people out there – please, I liked Spike before the whole S6 fiasco, so let us remember him as the Big Bad he was rather than the raping, nutless wonder that he became. I would rather shoot a rapist rather than to give them a trial, but that would be a waste of a perfectly good bullet that could be used on someone more deserving, like a murderer.
Okay, venting over and on with the Fic!
Chapter 2 -- Just Because It Had To Be Done Doesn't Mean I'm Cool With It
Xander found himself in his new condo the next morning, still dressed in his fatigues after having made a quick, but successful, run to the Sunnydale Armory, sitting in an over-stuffed chair and watching the sun rise over the cityscape. It was for moments like this that he liked to hunt Vampires, but more importantly, he was watching the sunrise because he could not get to sleep the previous night – last time around it was because of the Soldier's memories, which would have best been called a mixture of Glory, Platoon, a healthy dose of Saving Private Ryan, which he had seen just before Graduation, and Full Metal Jacket all stuck in a blender, liquefied and then condensed for his viewing pleasure – but this time it was the fact that he had been forced to kill Ethan Rayne the night before to keep him from pulling a stunt like that ever again. Sure, on paper an in his own mind Xander could see the rationality of it all, but it wasn't his mind or the paper that was keeping him up, it was his memory – the smell of the cordite, the crack of the bullet as it sped through the air, the color of and spray of the blood as the fatal bullet hit, the STENCH of the blood, the solid thud that only a dead body hitting the floor could make, all of those things kept replaying through his mind.
The sun made it's presence known with a blinding ray of light cresting the cityscape that was Sunnydale and Xander forced himself out of his chair, removing his clothes to hop into the shower. Even as he walked past the mirror in the bathroom a few minutes later, he caught a glimpse of his own face and wasn't surprised at the haunted look in his eyes – he'd seen it before on numerous occasions and would, no doubt, see it again before his new job was over. Shaking himself slightly, he crawled into the shower, turned the water on as hot as he could stand it and stood in the spray, hoping against all hope that he could wash away some of the guilt and figurative blood on his hands even as he washed.
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Xander walked into the Library dressed in a rather subdued combination of dark jeans, a pair of black sneakers, a dark t-shirt underneath a jacket he had found in his new place's closet (as were most of his clothes – he had yet to find any of his favorite Hawaiian shirts) and walked over to where both Buffy and Willow were excitedly telling Giles about what they remembered and what happened to them while they had been under the influence of the spell the previous night. Buffy looked slightly sheepish was Willow brought up the whole car/demon bit but then looked over as he set his books down on the table, smiling as she did – Xander automatically smiled back but from the look on her face, he could tell that she could tell that something was wrong, but was going to let it slide for the time being.
Willow finished her story and then turned and pinned Xander with her look / glare that immediately told Xander that a) he was in trouble and b) she wanted answers, "And you, Mister, where were you last night when all of this was gong on? We were supposed to be watching the kids and you disappeared and I had to deal with Lady Buffy all night by myself and ... what's wrong, Xander?" [Sorry, my Willow-babble is not up to date]
"Yes, Xander, you look, quite frankly, like death warmed over," Giles put in somewhat helpfully as Xander tried to think up of a story on the fly, but decided to go with what had once been the truth.
"Didn't sleep at all last night, guys. I'm not sure, but I think those fatigues I had on were used and whoever once used them saw some heavy combat back in Vietnam." He took a breath and let it out slowly, "Every time I closed my eyes last night, I kept hearing gunfire, explosions, people shouting and," he paused, trying to get control of his stomach, "I remember everything this guy did, saw, smelled, heard and it's making me sick." Okay, so much for only part of the truth.
Willow, true to form, gasped and seemed to teleport across the table and began to try and crush the air out of him while Buffy looked stricken and Giles looked as if someone had just killed the Queen mum; after a few minutes of fighting off an overly-attached Willow, a well-intentioned Buffy and several questions from Giles, Xander screwed up the courage and looked over at Giles, "G-Man, let me ask you a serious question – if while under that spell, somebody did something rather illegal, could or should they be held accountable for what the spirit in charge did?"
"First of all, don't call me that, and secondly would I be correct to assume that this has something to do with what I found in Ethan Rayne's shop when I went to break the spell?" Both Buffy and Willow looked somewhat lost at what was going on, but Xander ignored them and focused on Giles, who looked somewhat sick now.
"I remember what happened, even I couldn't stop him – Giles, you gotta believe me when I tell you that he just wanted to break the spell, honest. Rayne wouldn't and the Soldier ... persuaded him to talk and got bullshit answers, several of them."
"Xander, I saw the body. Ethan was an insufferable prat when it came to admitting that he was to be held accountable for his actions, but if what you say is true, I am not sure that you or this Soldier could be rightfully held accountable for his death." Both Willow and Buffy gasped, but both men ignored them, "Now what exactly do you remember about the incident."
Xander took a breath and let it out slowly, the memories of what happened coming up tot he surface of his mind, "Soldier ordered Rayne to break the spell, Rayne refused, and Soldier put a bullet into his right femur four inches above the knee. Rayne refused to answer again and Soldier put another round in the right shoulder, near the collar bone, and then told Rayne that the next shot would be, quote, in the heart, lungs, liver, or whatever was available while point the gun at Rayne's crotch." Giles winces sympathetically as the girls gasped – Willow turned beet red and Buffy turned a pasty white, "Rayne told him, Soldier put a bullet into the bust of Janus, spun and shot Rayne ... and that's all I remember. Next thing I know I'm watching the sun rise in a condo near the University and there's a note saying the place is mine." Xander felt lower than a snake's belly for lying to them right to their faces, but none of them were mentally capable of dealing with what he was doing or what he had done
Buffy was the first to regain the power of speech between her and Willow and her face twisted into a look of revulsion, "You KILLED him? How could you, he had a soul!"
Xander barked out a sharp laugh that held no amusement whatsoever, "Buffy, don't try and sell me that shit, okay? A soul doesn't preclude being able to do evil – if you want proof why don't you ask Willow about her grandparents and those nifty little tattoos on the insides of their left arms. Besides, I didn't kill Ethan, the Soldier did, and rightfully so now that I think about it – he caused that chaos last night, got a lot of people killed in case you hadn't seen the paper this morning, so whatever the Soldier did to him, he probably deserved worse."
Buffy looked over at Willow, who's face had gone pale at he mention of her grandparents and the tattoos, and then looked back at Xander, "How can you say that? Okay, I'll admit that Hitler was evil, but just because-" Buffy started to rant, but Xander cut her off.
"The Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Jeffery Dhamer, Charlie Manson, Ten Bundy, The Spanish Inquisition, The Salem Witch Trials, do any of these starting to sound familiar, Slayer?" Xander stood up knowing what he was about to say was a gamble, but a necessary one, "Or how about we get to Angel? I've read a few of Giles' Watcher Chronicles and do you want to know what they said about him? Trust me, Buffy, he was no Saint; he earned a title that not even Hitler earned, but I'll leave it to Giles to tell you about that. So bye, I've got class to get to." Xander grabbed his book bag and made for the door, listening to Giles cleaning his glasses, and then went through them, almost running over Ms. Calendar in the process, "Sorry, Ms. Calendar."
"See me after school today, Alexander." Her voice brooked no argument, "We have something to discuss and I assure you that it may not be good news for a certain Vampire you and I know of." She then smiled sweetly at him, patted his cheek and went into the Library where a small war had started between Giles and Buffy over just whom Angel used to be – and this war was rapidly escalating into an all-out character assassination of a certain bottle-blonde Slayer.
Xander watched as she left, rubbing his cheek where she had patted him and smiled, remembering just how beautiful Jenny Calendar had been and then wiped the smile off of his face at the memory of just how she had died and how very little had been done to avenge that death. "Not this time, and never again."
+++
Throughout the day, Xander worked on something that had been nagging at him ever since the spell had been broken the night before – how in the hell would normal bullets kill vampires and demons? Sure, he figured that a tracer round, seeing it was essentially a tiny flare, would work in a pistol or a SMG, maybe even an assault rifle, but those were not cheap and sometimes you needed a bit more substance to carry through the thicker skins of certain demons.
The previous night at the Armory he had procured a MK23 MOD0 USSOCOM with a suppressor, tactical holster and ten magazines of .45-caliber ammunition, a tactical Kevlar vest, some flash-bang grenades, a suppressed UMP chambered for .45 cal and ten magazines to go with it, but he needed something a little more long-range in case he needed to snipe at somebody, not to mention if the Judge showed up, so that meant either a LAAW or an AT-4, both of which would be a royal pain in the ass to sneak off with. Still, it was a good start with what he had gotten the night before and it would hold him for a while. As far as ammo went, he had the idea of getting a priest to bless the ammunition, but then that would start to raise a few questions after a while.
All thoughts turned to the situation at hand as Xander opened the door to Ms. Calendar's classroom about ten minutes after the final bell rang; he had been avoiding both Buffy and Willow all day and, quite frankly, neither of them were worth the diversion, cloak and dagger bullshit. The caller of the meeting sat behind her desk, absently grading several papers as she looked up and Xander forced his heart to stay down where it was supposed to be and his blood flow to keep north of the equator – she was still as beautiful as the last time he had seen her before she died, "You wanted to see me, Ms. Calendar?"
"Yes, Alexander, please have a seat and I'll get right with you." Xander sat as she was asked to and waited while she finished her work before standing and smoothing out her ankle-length skirt and then her blouse. She looked at him and smiled before sitting on the edge of her desk and crossing one ankle over the other, "Tell me how much you know about ... Angel."
"Angelus, a Master Vampire, roughly two hundred and fifty years old, sired by Darla in Ireland while stumbling out of a bar after a fight. A ruthless bastard, by all accounts, and he earned the title 'Scourge Of Europe' while he, his sire, his childe Drusilla and her childe, William The Bloody, tore their way across the continent from Scotland to China. Roughly at the turn of the century," he went on, doing his best not to smile at the look of shock on her face, "he fed off of the favored daughter of a Romany group of gypsies and was cursed by that Clan with a soul that would be in place until he experienced a moment of true happiness. The Clan name was Kalderash, just as you are not Jenny Calendar, but Janna Kalderash of the Clan Kalderash. Is that enough information for you, Ms. Calendar, or would you like for me to tell you how he was basically useless for the next eighty years and recruited to be a Champion by the Balance Demon Whistler in Times Square, shown the image of Elizabeth Summers and instantly fell in love with her?" His hard-fought battle against the smirk ended as she gaped like a fish and he smirked smugly as she collected herself.
"You know a great deal, Xander," she said rather coyly, "and to tell you the truth had I not looked at your aura I would be forced to ask you just how you know what it is that you know."
"Why Ms. Calendar, I didn't know you were into Voyeurism." He chuckled as her face flushed a brilliant pink color before she got back in control of her emotions, "Alright, I'll bite – what does my aura say about me?"
"That you are a man out of time, have been touched by a higher power the likes of The Powers That Be, and that your little story about how the 'Soldier' was the one who killed Ethan Rayne last night was made of whole cloth." She smiled for a minute, then frowned, "So why are you here?"
Xander smiled and grabbed his cell phone, punching in *69 and calling Lex, as he had been instructed to do in the smallish instruction manual that had been in his packet of things. "Lex? Xander. JC knows about what I did and ... yes ... are you sure you want to do that? Very well, I'll tell her what she needs to know." Xander shut his phone and smiled at the slightly bewildered Techno Pagan, "Sorry, but I had to get authorization to tell you that yes, I am from the future and I have been sent back to make certain changes that, in my time, would have doomed our world forever, and no, you cannot tell anybody, not even your Clan." He stood up from his desk and walked over to where she was seated, a slightly dazed look on her face before he leaned in and whispered into her ear, "Sufficed to day, you staying alive is one of those changes, Jenny. That is the reason I told Buffy what I did, and that is the reason that if Angelus loses his soul, we need to get it back to him as soon as possible – for some odd reason, he's important to the future and I am not allowed to kill him just yet." He pulled back and she shivered slightly before looking at him and smiling brightly, "Be well, Ms. Calendar."
"Please, outside of school time, call me Jenny." She looked around conspiratorially and then leaned in to within an inch of his ear, "And by the way, do Rupert and I ever get together?"
Xander pulled back and smiled sadly, "I could answer that, but I think you know what will happen if I do tell you, Jenny. Still, there is no harm in trying," he gave her one last smile and a wink before spinning around and walking out of the room and once he was sure she wasn't behind the door directly, groaned, "Damned Hyena senses. Nobody should ever smell that good and not be wearing any perfume."
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Back at his condo, Xander sank down into his plush chair and sighed, listening to the radio as it pounded out beat after beat of Metallica's 'Of Wolf And Man'; his new choice in music is one he completely blamed on Oz, or would blame on him, because while on patrol the werewolf / musician would sing to the songs of Metallica while searching for new vamps to rise and it was only natural that after such exposure that Xander himself check out those songs on the CD's. There was something about this one particular song that seemed to set both Oz and Xander at peace – the former believing that it had to do with being a werewolf and the latter believing that it was one of the few ways his inner Hyena could be safely released.
The sudden knocking on his door shook him out of his reverie and made him cautiously answer the door, the suppressed SOCOM in his away hand while looking through the peephole, which revealed a small light-brown haired young woman's head bobbing to some music along with the face of one Joyce Summers. Xander paled and shoved the SOCOM into the back of his jeans, pulling his shirt over it before opening the door, "Mrs. Summers, Dawn Patrol, what brings you two here?"
The older Summers woman smiled, "Well, Buffy is studying at the Library tonight and I have a flight to catch, so I was wondering if you could watch Dawn until Buffy comes by to pick her up in a few hours."
"Of course, Mrs. Summers – no problem at all." Xander looked down at Dawn and smirked, "Hail, Sailor Jupiter, and welcome to my humble abode."
Dawn glared up at him; "I thought we both agreed to never bring that up, Xander."
"Play nice, children," Joyce chided lightly, doing her best to hide her smile.
"We will, Mrs. Summers. I put away all the knives and guns out of reach of our little Dawn Patrol," he ruffled the younger Summers' hair, got glared at by said young woman and smiled. "She's as safe here as she is anywhere in Sunnydale."
"Very good, Xander. I shall see you two later," she called, turning and going for her car while Dawn hefted her book bag and walked into the condo, whistling as she saw and liked the new digs.
"Very nice, Xand-man. Who'd ya kill for this?" Dawn set down her bag and started to rummage through it for some homework.
"A guy named Spike, a few demons and a few more to be named at a later date," he quipped back to her out of reflex, but then caught her as she froze while rummaging through her bag. "Dawnie, are you alright?"
"So I wasn't dreaming last night, was I? About the three demons you shot and me really being Sailor Jupiter, I mean." She looked over at him and begged with her eyes for the truth, knowing that he would tell her if she turned 'The Eyes' on him for long enough.
Xander groaned and his resolve to withstand 'The Eyes' vanished like a bribe in the Philadelphia PD (c. late 1970's), "Yeah, Dawnie, those were real demons, and not some poor kids that got iced while in costume and having the bad taste to attack you." He sighed and then jerked his head up, "Hold it, how long have you known about demons, Dawn?"
"Long enough," she admitted, walking over and burring her face into the middle of his chest, wrapping her arms around him and starting to cry about what she had seen the night before. Xander returned her hug and began to comfort her, holding her up and whispering soft words of solace as the radio began to play another of Metallica's hits, 'Hero Of The Day'. [Note: Dawn's not 11-12 in this time, she's 13-14, which will explain the poll at the end of the chapter].
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How long they stood there was anybody's guess but another knock at the door broke them apart, the younger of the two wearing a stain in the color of blush on her cheeks as Xander checked the peephole again. Had he been looking at her when he pulled his SOCOM, he would have seen her turn white as a sheet, but he was more interested in the pair of people outside that he didn't know, "Dawnie, stand back." Flipping the safety off, checking the chamber and, seeing a round in place, thumbing back the hammer, he cracked the door open, "Yes, may I help you?"
"You Xander Harris?" The speaker was tall; maybe a shade less than six and a half feet, looked Caucasian, in his early to mid thirties, and spoke with a pronounced British accent while looking for the entire world like David Bowie. His companion was maybe a decade his junior, almost an exact replica save for a few inches shorter and only slightly less threatening.
"Maybe I am. Who are you?"
"Michael, he's David, and we've been sent here by your superiors to ..." Michael's voice trailed off as the door was flung open and the suppressed business end of the SOCOM was leveled at his left eye. "Is this necessary?"
"I answer to one person, and if he wanted me to talk to you he would have contacted me." Xander felt his heart rate pick up a tad and adrenaline start to flood his entire system, but kept frosty, "Now, why don't you tell me whom you really work for."
"The Council, mate," the other of the two, David, said in a broad Cockney accent. "We're looking for Rupert Giles and we figured you'd be able to tell us where the old boy was."
"And if he was not so inclined to tell you his current location? Provided that we even knew it?" Dawn chipped in her two cents from behind the door, making all three guys sigh in exasperation.
"Then we would be forced to find the high school and check the Library," Michael stated.
"Who's the bird ya got back there, mate? She a hottie?" David, Xander could tell, was the master of tact, but also not stupid because his hands came up in surrender when Xander aimed the SOCOM at his 'crown jewels', "Whoa, mate! No need to be touchy."
"I'm babysitting her, and she knows what happens in Sunnydale after dark, boys. And if you must know, she will be fully hot in four or five years." Xander, unable to see Dawn, could feel her grin grow so large her face could split. "Now, if I tell you where he is, you for get this place and it even existed, right?"
"Of course," Michael said immediately while David nodded quickly, the SOCOM not having left it's earlier target and, quite frankly, he looked nervous as hell.
"Check the library," Xander said after a second, pulling the SOCOM back into the doorway. "Good evening, gentlemen, and don't break your promise of forgetting – I'd hate to have to hunt the both of you down to just expend two bullets a piece into your skulls." That said, Xander shut the door on them as the sun began to sink below the horizon.
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Dawn and Xander played numerous games of cards that night, some of them Xander lost on purpose, but several of them made him thank whichever deity watching that they weren't playing strip poker because she would have had him out of his pants and in boxers alone before he started to catch her cheating. They talked back and forth over why he had the gun and how he had gotten the apartment (she alluded to the fact that she knew or had guessed about his home life) – both times he fed her a cock and bull story and she seemed to believe it; in fact, it was almost midnight when the knock at his door came and Dawnie was out cold on his couch, covered in a blanket from his linen closet.
After a peek and without preamble, he opened the door and raised his SOCOM, finding Angel's surprised face and Buffy's shocked one on the other side, "Deadboy, Buff, what bring you to my place? Any yes, this is a real gun, loaded with hi-explosive rounds, and they are, quite possibly, very deadly towards vampires."
"W-we're here for Dawn," Angel managed to stammer out, going paler than normal while Buffy started to look annoyed.
"She's asleep on the couch, you two. I'll drop her by in the morning at your place, Buff."
"No, wake her up now."
Both Xander and Angel looked at Buffy like she had lost her mind, "Are you suicidal, because I am not going to wake up a female member of the Summers family from a sound sleep." He stepped out of the way, inviting neither of them in, which meant that Buffy walked in and Angel was forced to stay outside as she went to wake up Dawn.
"You killed him, didn't you." At Xander's blank look, Angel clarified, "Spike, I mean."
"Target of opportunity," Xander lied easily as the youngest Summers woke up in a rather surly mood, kicking her older sister blindly in the shin.
"Dru has been heard from one end of the Sunnydale sewers to the other, screaming about how her 'Kitten' killed Spike." Angel looked at Xander, very much aware that he had not put away the SOCOM, "You realize she will come after you, right?"
Xander winced as Buffy was kicked in the stomach by a still-slumbering Dawn, before retaliating with a pillow to Dawn's face, "Then I'll kill her too. Be advised, Angelus, I know she's your childe, but that doesn't mean that because you have a soul that I trust you. You ever lose that soul and I'll make sure you understand just how bad of an idea it was to lose that soul." Xander looked at Angel, who had stiffened at the use of his 'real' name, "And despite what bottle blonde over there might say, I'm not jealous, just cautious."
"Damnit, Dawn, we're leaving, now!" Both Xander and Angel looked over to see Buffy trying to drag Dawn off the couch by a leg, but the younger Summers was kicking the older one wherever she could. Neither male would get near the altercation – it was a) part of The Code, and b) actually kind of funny to watch The Slayer being foxed by her younger sister.
"Hey, that's my couch you're destroying, Buffy."
"Then tell her to let go!"
"I was asleep, you cow! You hate it when I wake you up, and I hate it even more. Besides, we both know you're just going to moon over Angel instead of making sure I'm asleep anyway."
"Am not!"
"It hasn't stopped you the last three times, has it?"
Both Xander and Angel sighed, knowing that the argument that was starting would be one that went on for a long time ... but that didn't make Xander invite Angel in regardless.
End Chapter 2
AN Quick Poll – by reviewing (one per person, please), whom should Xander start dating in the early going? Your choices are Willow, Jenny, Joyce, or a random female character who will be killed by Angelus. No Buffy or Dawn votes, please.