Title: Transformations
Rating: PG-14 give or take a few years
Spoilers: I reserve the right to claim that just about anything from the first three seasons is fair game.
Summary: Just the usual. Something decides to use Sunnydale as a playground and turn the scooby gang into scooby snacks but what's up with Xander?
Disclaimer: This is a fictional story. Joss & ME own the characters, I own nothing and make nothing from this story. In other words; Don't want them. Don't need them. Couldn't afforded them if I did.
Note - thoughts
Chapter Five
Giles, Oz and Willow sat in silence as Buffy finished telling them about her dreams.
"..and then he just stepped into the path of the magical beam, protecting the kids," Buffy finished, feeling both physically and emotionally tired. The others just stared at her, not knowing what to say.
"What occured after that Buffy?" Giles asked when Buffy didn't continue.
"I don't know," Buffy shivered slightly as she hugged herself. "The last thing from the dream was..." Buffy looked up at Giles with tears in her eyes. "Xander was in so much pain Giles. I-I've never felt anything like it."
Buffy looked up at her friends. Willow had a lone tear falling freely down her face as she was held by Oz, who had an almost compassionate look on his ussually stoic face. Giles was simply waiting for her to continue.
"That's all Giles. Everything went black after th..." Buffy was cut off by the sound of glass shattering above them. A large black bird suddenly flew into the room from the upstairs bedroom. As the bird slowly circled the room, it let out a high pitched shriek that threatened to deafen everyone in the room.
Oz managed to catch Willow who had tipped forward, oblivious to everything except the pain that had blossomed in her ears. The young werewolf gritted his teeth from his own the pain that was assaulting his sensitive ears while gently sitting down on the floor, cradling Willow in his lap. Giles also fell to the floor in pain but Buffy stood where she was.
Instead of submitting to the pain, the Slayer instead, mentally pushed it off to the side as she scanned the room for a weapon. Seeing a large wooden chest in one corner, Buffy rushed over to it. Without thinking, Buffy grabbed the lid, yanking it completely off and tossed it to the side. Inside she found several weapons ranging from small knives to larger throwing axes.
Buffy grabbed a weapon and turned slightly, with one hand behind her back, and followed the bird with her eyes as it circled around the room. With the unerring accuracy of her calling, Buffy raised her hand, revealing a long silver dagger, and threw the blade. The bird, having no time to react, was quickly pinned to the far wall, through the neck. It struggled briefly to free itself but then stopped moving at all.
Satisfied for the moment, Buffy moved over to check on Giles. He appeared to be a little disoriented but nothing that truly worried her. A quick look at her other friends told her that they were in pretty much the same condition.
Buffy surveyed the room. Nothing was damaged except the wall that the bird was stuck to. As Buffy stared at the bird, a chill ran down her spine. Wait a minute. That thing came from.. Buffy whipped around, her attention focusing on Giles' bedroom.
"Xander," Buffy whispered as she ran up the stairs.
* ~ * ~ *
Xander's body felt like one giant bruise as he picked himself up off the floor. He gently shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs from his mind. Through the pain he was feeling, an image of a large black bird crashing through a window flashed in his mind's eye. Xander pivoted around, looking for the bird but instead found the man that the bird was carrying.
Xander was a little shocked at the man's physical appearance. Standing before Xander was a bald, thin man. The man's face had several long scars; two ran along each check that ended just below the ear while two extended from the bridge of his nose, over each eye and stopped just above the ears. The only other distinguishing feature of the man was his height, which was less than five feet tall.
A voice in the back of Xander's mind kept saying that he should know this man but he didn't know from where he could have met this man.
"In the name of my MASTER, I demand to know where you have hidden my Sheba."
Xander looked confused at the man, who held a small crystal globe about the size of a baseball, in front of him. "What are you talking about?"
The man's face darkened. "You know what you took from me." The man stepped closer, a look of intense hatred on his face. "My MASTER may have forbidden me from destroying you but I can still hurt you. Where is Sheba!"
Sheba? Xander just stared at the man. Xander didn't know what the man was taking about or why he looked familiar.
"I don't know what this Sheba is but you shouldn't threaten my friends. It tends to make me angry."
A wide smile broke out on Xander's face. "Buffy."
* ~ * ~ *
Buffy didn't understand what exactly was going on. First a bird attacks them downstairs and now this guy is threatening Xander. A very much awake Xander. That thought brought forth a genuine smile from Buffy. She hadn't wanted to worry anyone but she was really scared when Xander wouldn't wake up and now that he was, Buffy felt some of the tightness in her heart loosen up a bit.
Taking in the sight of her bare-chested friend, Buffy was reminded of the last time she saw him like this. It was when he went undercover to check out the swim team but this time, Xander had a large, circular white area in the middle of his chest. The sight of the circle dug up several images from her dreams of what Xander went through. Buffy knew that she needed to talk to Xander but first, this guy needed to be taken care of.
"I don't know what this Sheba is but you shouldn't threaten my friends. It tends to make me angry."
"Buffy." Buffy took a glanced at Xander, his genuine smile warming her heart.
The man between them turned to her and sneered in contempt. "You do not concern me girl. This boy has stolen some property of mine," the man turned back to face Xander. "and I want it back now!"
"Look, I don't-" Xander tried to explain but was cut off.
"Do not lie to me. I can feel her presence in this room. Now where is she?!"
"Hey," Xander said, pointing at the man. "I'm not lying. I have no idea of who you're talking about. Hell, I don't even know who you are."
The small man grunted disgustedly. "I am Rysak," the man said as if he expected Xander to recognized the name. Xander and Buffy shared a blank look between them then they turned to the man and together said, "Who?"
Rysak muttered a curse in a language that Buffy didn't understand. "Fine. Feign ignorance if you want but it will not help you." Rysak raised the crystal ball above his head with one hand and pointed at Xander with the other. Instinctively, Buffy kicked high, connecting with the man's raised hand and sending the crystal ball flying over Xander's head.
Xander watched it pass over him and then looked at Buffy with a grin. "Thanks."
Before Buffy could reply, Rysak twisted around in an attempt to backhand her. Buffy easily avoided the swing by stepping backwards but her reaction gave the Rysak the freedom to reach inside his jacket and pull out a small rectangular mirror. He held it up to Buffy.
"Thanks but I already have a mirror," Buffy said. "Of course with the constipated look on your face, I can understand why you wouldn't want to look in a mirror."
Rysak just snarled and dropped the mirror to the floor. To Buffy's surprise, it landed on it's edge but didn't fall over. Instead it grew larger until it was the size of a small door. The mirror's surface turned black, then the color changed to a dark green.
"What the-" Buffy was cut off when a small figure shot from the dark mirror and slammed into her. The impact sent her stumbling backwards and she fell over the railing. Buffy heard Xander scream her name as she landed on the hard floor behind the couch.
Looking up, Buffy saw what appeared to be a small child looking down at her from the top of the stairs. It couldn't be more than four feet tall but the creature's head was bigger than it should be compared to the rest of the body. The nose was huge and hung over a mouth that was filled with crooked and broken teeth. Buffy tore her gaze from the creature to check on her friends. Oz was helping Willow to her feet and Giles was headed to the stairs.
A high pitched laugh rang out as the creature vaulted over the railing and dropped down on one end of the short table in front of the couch. The one end crumbled under the force of the creature's landing tipping the rest of the table up at an angle. The creature giggled and grabbed the edge of the table top and yanked it free, tossing it over it's shoulders.
The large, flat piece of wood landed on top of Giles, pinning him to the floor. A second one of the creatures appeared at the top of the stairs before jumping down on top of the wood covering Giles. Knowing that there was a body under the wood it was standing on, the creature started jumping up and down.
"Buffy!" Giles yelled. "A little-" THUD "Help-" THUD "Here-" THUD "Please!" Anything else Giles said was lost as the creature's jumping increased in speed.
Buffy reached out and grabbed the creature by the back it's neck. She lifted the creature up and threw it against the far wall. The creature hit the wall so hard that it's impact left a deep impression. Buffy stared in shock at the unexpected damage. I didn't throw it that hard. It briefly reminded her of the vampire she fought the previous night. She remembered how far she had kicked the vamp away from her and the amount of damage her kick had caused it. Buffy didn't think much of it at the time but she knew that wasn't normal, even for her.
"Buffy!" Oz yelled, shaking the Slayer from her thoughts.
Looking at him, Buffy saw him holding up a disoriented Willow while pointing upstairs. Buffy watched as three more creatures left the bedroom and jumped down to the floor.
* ~ * ~ *
Relieved of the extra weight, Giles was able to pull himself out from under the ruined table and took in the scene around him. Willow and Oz had cornered the creature that Buffy had thrown across the room while the Slayer herself was occupied by four more of the creatures.
Giles' Watcher training compelled him to step back from the fight and study the creatures themselves. His eyes widened as he adjusted his glasses. Trolls?! But these are smaller than what the texts describe. Maybe these be offspring of Trolls. That might explain the difference in size but do they share the same attributes of increased strength and superior regeneration abilities? Giles was snapped out of his thoughts when Buffy screamed, "Giles! What are these things?!"
The ex-Watcher focused on the fight before him. "They appear to be some sort of Troll." Despite the fighting occurring in his home, Giles' mindset shifted into a lecturing mode. "Now Trolls are reported to be eight or nine feet tall so whether these have been altered or if this is what their young look I don't-"
"Giles!" Buffy cut him off in mid-sentence. "I didn't ask for a biology lesson. I need to know how to kill these Moles?!"
Giles shook his head. "That Trolls, Buffy." Giles attention was momentarily distracted by the large bird pinned to his wall by a dagger. He turned to ask Buffy about the bird when he saw that she had located one of his axes. "Buffy, please be careful that you do not-" Buffy, caught up in the fight, ignored Giles as she swung the axe in a series of arcs that resulted in her cutting an arm off one of her opponents. "- dismember any of them." Giles finished with a sigh.
Buffy stared in shock at the Troll's shoulder. Slowly over a matter of seconds, a new arm started growing at an alarming rate to replace the one that she cut off. "Uhhh..... Giles?" she asked, dodging a new attack.
"I was trying to tell you that they can regenerate lost limbs and body parts." Pointing at the arm on the floor. "See, even the severed limb is trying to build a new body." Giles grabbed a book of matches that was laying in the scattered mess on the floor. He lit a match and held it close to the arm. Almost immediately, the arm caught on fire and was quickly reduced to an unrecognizable charred lump of flesh. "The only way to kill a Troll is by fire." Giles was going to continue when a loud sound of shattering glass erupted from upstairs.
* ~ * ~ *
Xander watched helplessly as more creatures came out of the mirror. His heart lurched when Buffy was pushed over the railing but he had to trust that she would be alright because he had his own problems at the moment. This 'Rysak' kept demanding for him to return what he had supposedly stolen. Ignoring the little man, Xander concentrated on finding a way to stop that mirror from belching out more of the creatures.
Shortly after Buffy dropped from sight, Xander felt dizzy for a second and fell to one knee. As he tried to shake dizziness off, Xander noticed that laying off to the side was the crystal globe that Buffy had kicked out of the man's grasp. Picking it up, Xander held the glass ball behind his back as he stood up and backed up until the back of his legs brushed against the bed. "What is this Sheba that you think I stole?"
Rysak's features darkened. "Do not insult me, human. You know what you took from me during your fight with my Master. This will be the last time I will ask," Rysak drew a thin, metal rod that was almost as long as Xander's arm. "Where is Sheba?"
I fought with his master? That tickled a memory in the back of Xander's mind. A memory of an animal's mouth clamping down on his arm, also someone was screaming and there was an overwhelming fear. Shaking the memories off, Xander leaned against the bed, laying a hand on a pillow. Xander knew he had to get past Rysak and an insane grin formed on his face as an idea came to him.
"Ya know something Rysak? Your master must be pretty pathetic if your the best he has to send after me." Xander taunted, hoping the man would get angry enough to make a mistake. "And as for what I stole from you," Xander's voice took on a harsh tone "I destroyed Sheba."
Rysak snarled at him and raised his hand with the palm facing Xander. A dull, yellow light surrounded his open hand that pulsed brightly before releasing a bolt of yellow energy. Xander picked up the pillow from off the bed and tossed it at the oncoming energy bolt. The pillow was destroyed in a bright flash of light, catching Rysak by surprise. With the little man distracted, Xander threw the crystal globe he had hidden behind his back, at the mirror.
The moment the globe touched the mirror, both exploded into a shower of multi-colored glass, sending out powerful shock waves that slammed the smaller man into one of the walls while pushing Xander through the room's only window which, fortunately, had been destroyed earlier when Rysak arrived.
Flying through the air, Xander landed hard onto the concrete sidewalk several feet away, almost rolling into the street. Xander's arms and back were covered in scrapes and scratches from sliding across the sidewalk and Xander thought that he had felt one or more of his ribs had snap during his landing. For a few seconds, which felt like hours, Xander couldn't move. Then a tingling feeling spread through his body, growing very intense before slowly fading away.
Xander slowly got to his feet and, even though he knew that his ability to heal had increased, carefully checked for any serious injuries. Not finding anything wrong, except for the mark on his chest, Xander idly ran his fingers along the edge of the circular area of white skin. Xander was still staring at the white area on his chest, deep in thought when he heard new screams coming from Giles' home.
* ~ * ~ *
Rysak moaned softly as he regained consciousness. He could feel that several of his ribs were broken along with his right leg from the pure force of the explosion. Rysak looked around finding himself alone in the room. Shifting slightly to relieve the pressure on his ribs, Rysak scanned the room for the small crystal orb.
Coming across a large pile of broken glass, Rysak cursed the boy for throwing the orb at the mirror thereby destroying both magical items. But how was he going to tame Sheba without the artifact. He didn't have the power to himself and he could tell that she was near. "But without the Control Orb, that means..." Rysak couldn't complete that sentence as the sound of a low growl gripped him in terror.
Unable to make any sound, Rysak whispered a silent no as he watched a large black cat materialize out of thin air and slowly pad it's way towards him. It's eyes glowing a dark, angry red.
* ~ * ~ *
Fire? That word repeated endlessly in Willow's mind until a loud sound of shattering glass startled her. Xander! Turning her attention back to the fighting, Willow pictured in her mind's eye, the position of each Troll in the room. She then imagined a line extending from her to each Troll and then connected all the Trolls to each other. Then she uttered a low level spell that she mainly used to light several candles at once. It wasn't a powerful spell but since she saw the amputated arm consumed completely from a single match, Willow thought that the simple spell should be strong enough.
The effects of the spell was almost instantaneous as all the Trolls imediately burst into flames. Both Giles and Buffy were shocked and stared blankly as their opponents simply burst into flames. Howls erupted from five mouths that was cut off sharply as each Troll was consumed by fire, leaving smoldering piles of burnt flesh.
The fires were contained to just the Trolls' bodies and left only small burn marks on the surrounding furniture.
"Uhh Giles?" Buffy squeaked, letting the axe fall from her hands. "Did you do that?"
"No I didn't," Giles focused on Willow. "Why don't you ask Willow," Giles balefully glared at the Wiccan hacker. "who the impulsive person was that was responsible for the spell that nearly gave me a bloody heart attack."
"Giles, I-"
Just then the front door smashed open startling everyone. The young witch instinctively imagined the line again extending from her to the person by the door and recast the spell. Opening her eyes, Willow was horrified when she realized a second too late that her spell's target was her best friend, Xander.
* ~ * ~ *
Xander stumbled a little when, just inside Giles' doorway, he felt a powerful wave of heat flow through his body. His temperature rose considerably causing him to break out in a sweat but, as fast as the wave came over him, it was gone leaving Xander feeling energized. Regaining his balance, Xander stared at the carnage in the room and wrinkled his nose at the smell of burnt flesh. Before Xander could ask if everyone was okay, he was hit by a redheaded torpedo.
Xander, not expecting this reaction from his best friend, suddenly found himself sandwiched between Willow and the wall behind him with the impact knocking the wind out of him. "Willow?"
The girl in question had her arms wrapped around him and was crying as she babbled incoherently. Xander could only make out 'you're okay', 'sorry', 'spell' and 'forgive'. Looking at everyone over the top of Willow's head Xander could see the relief in each of his friend's faces as they looked at him.
Even the normally expressionless Oz had a serious look of relief, which actually scared Xander. A masochistic voice inside of Xander grumbled, If Oz is happy enough to show this much emotion then it's safe to say that I can expect things will definitely go down hill from here.
But what really confused him right now was the girl attached to his side. Xander didn't understand why she was being this emotional but he tightened his arms around Willow all the same, offering whatever support she might need. A second later Xander felt another set us arms wrap around Willow and himself.
"I'm glad you're okay Xander," Buffy said softly before stepping back. Xander could feel Willow nod her head in agreement with Buffy.
"Willow?" Xander gently shook the redhead in his arms. "What's wrong?"
Pulling away, Willow just shook her head and flashed a large smile at him as she wiped away her tears. "Nothing. I'm just happy that your okay," Willow thought that she had seriously hurt Xander with that spell and that had scared the hell out of her. She remembered feeling the spell's energy leave her and head for Xander but somehow, something stopped it. What that 'something' was, Willow really didn't care. She was just happy that she didn't hurt Xander.
Xander stared at his oldest friend as she went to hug her boyfriend. He could tell, by now, that he had just been exposed to magic and from the way Willow was acting, he suspected that she had something to do with it. Xander was about to ask her when he noticed that Giles were staring at him, or actually at his chest. Xander remembered that he didn't have a shirt on and he started to feel a little selfconscious under the ex-Watchers scrutiny. He was about to ask where his shirt was when he noticed his bags sitting on the floor by the couch. "My stuff!"
Xander made a beeline for one of his bags and began rummaging through it. Xander found a white t-shirt and quickly put it on as Giles walked up to him.
"Xander?" Giles tried to get the young man's attention.
"Yeah Giles?"
Giles waited until Xander looked at him before continuing. "How did you get outside?"
"Flying lessons," Xander said absently. "Oh by the way, where your window ought to be, you have a nice hole now."
"What?" Giles nervously removed his glasses. "Are you telling me that you broke my window?"
"No, it was broken before I was thrown through it," Xander defended himself.
Xander's comment about being 'thrown' broke through the happiness that Buffy had surrounded herself in and reminded her of their friend's attacker. "Wait a minute. Xander, what happened to the guy upstairs?"
"I don't know. You didn't see him?"
Buffy shook her head.
"Hopefully he's gone but I guess that we should go up and check." Xander let Buffy lead the way to the stairs when his face lit up as he remembered something. "At least I did stop him from letting more of those mini-monsters loose."
Buffy stopped and turned to face him. "How?"
"Remember that mirror?"
"Yes," Buffy replied.
"Let's just say that I have seven interesting years to look forward to."
"What mirror?" Giles asked.
Xander ignored Giles. "Did you see a bird come through here?"
"Big? Black? In serious need of a breath mint?"
"Well I didn't get close enough to check it's breath but yeah."
Buffy nodded.
"Did you get it?" Xander asked. Buffy pointed behind him. Xander looked over his shoulder and saw that the bird was pinned to the wall with a dagger. "Very nice."
"Thank you," Buffy said with a slight curtsy.
Giles tried to ask again. "What mirror Xander? Buffy?"
"Did you find out who 'Sheba' was?" Buffy asked, deciding it was her turn to ignore Giles.
"Nope but he sure went crazy when I said that I had destroyed it."
Giles coughed loudly, out of frustration, in an attempt to gain their attention.
Buffy turned slightly towards Giles. "Maybe you should drink some tea Giles. That cough sounds horrible."
Giles didn't bother to respond to her jab. "Xander, I have a great many questions and -"
"And I'm sure they're very good questions." Xander interrupted Giles. "But right now I want you to be a good boy and behave your auntie Willow while Mommy and Daddy go upstairs and see if the bad monster is still in your room."
Buffy barely found the strength in time to stifle a batch of giggles that bubbled up from inside her. She had to turn away because the combination of the shocked look on Giles' face and the mock serious expression on Xander's made her want to just roll on the floor in laughter.
Willow was shaking in silent laughter herself as Oz held her in his arms. The banter between Buffy and Xander reminded her of the times she spent listening to them make fun of Giles during high school and, until now, Willow never realized how much she missed that.
Leaning back into Oz's arms, Willow could see a small smile curve her boyfriend's lips. Willow impulsively kissed him on the cheek, feeling more content than she had all summer. During the last couple of weeks Willow had felt like something was missing and now that Xander was back, it was like she found it again. Willow did have her own questions for Xander but they could wait. She was just glad that he was here and that he was okay.
Willow pulled out of her boyfriend's embrace and stepped up beside Giles. Seeing the irritated look on the older man's face as he watched Buffy and Xander start up the stairs, Willow patted his back comfortingly. "We better go after them. Who knows what trouble they'll get -"
Willow was cut off when a scream erupted from Giles' bedroom. Before anyone could move, a large black cat bounded out of the room and stopped at the top of the stairs. Growling menacingly, the cat's head swiveled around, eldritch energy leaking from it's red eyes like smoke.
"Oh dear Lord." Giles whispered. "A Devilcat."
* ~ * ~ *
Rating: PG-14 give or take a few years
Spoilers: I reserve the right to claim that just about anything from the first three seasons is fair game.
Summary: Just the usual. Something decides to use Sunnydale as a playground and turn the scooby gang into scooby snacks but what's up with Xander?
Disclaimer: This is a fictional story. Joss & ME own the characters, I own nothing and make nothing from this story. In other words; Don't want them. Don't need them. Couldn't afforded them if I did.
Note - thoughts
Giles, Oz and Willow sat in silence as Buffy finished telling them about her dreams.
"..and then he just stepped into the path of the magical beam, protecting the kids," Buffy finished, feeling both physically and emotionally tired. The others just stared at her, not knowing what to say.
"What occured after that Buffy?" Giles asked when Buffy didn't continue.
"I don't know," Buffy shivered slightly as she hugged herself. "The last thing from the dream was..." Buffy looked up at Giles with tears in her eyes. "Xander was in so much pain Giles. I-I've never felt anything like it."
Buffy looked up at her friends. Willow had a lone tear falling freely down her face as she was held by Oz, who had an almost compassionate look on his ussually stoic face. Giles was simply waiting for her to continue.
"That's all Giles. Everything went black after th..." Buffy was cut off by the sound of glass shattering above them. A large black bird suddenly flew into the room from the upstairs bedroom. As the bird slowly circled the room, it let out a high pitched shriek that threatened to deafen everyone in the room.
Oz managed to catch Willow who had tipped forward, oblivious to everything except the pain that had blossomed in her ears. The young werewolf gritted his teeth from his own the pain that was assaulting his sensitive ears while gently sitting down on the floor, cradling Willow in his lap. Giles also fell to the floor in pain but Buffy stood where she was.
Instead of submitting to the pain, the Slayer instead, mentally pushed it off to the side as she scanned the room for a weapon. Seeing a large wooden chest in one corner, Buffy rushed over to it. Without thinking, Buffy grabbed the lid, yanking it completely off and tossed it to the side. Inside she found several weapons ranging from small knives to larger throwing axes.
Buffy grabbed a weapon and turned slightly, with one hand behind her back, and followed the bird with her eyes as it circled around the room. With the unerring accuracy of her calling, Buffy raised her hand, revealing a long silver dagger, and threw the blade. The bird, having no time to react, was quickly pinned to the far wall, through the neck. It struggled briefly to free itself but then stopped moving at all.
Satisfied for the moment, Buffy moved over to check on Giles. He appeared to be a little disoriented but nothing that truly worried her. A quick look at her other friends told her that they were in pretty much the same condition.
Buffy surveyed the room. Nothing was damaged except the wall that the bird was stuck to. As Buffy stared at the bird, a chill ran down her spine. Wait a minute. That thing came from.. Buffy whipped around, her attention focusing on Giles' bedroom.
"Xander," Buffy whispered as she ran up the stairs.
Xander's body felt like one giant bruise as he picked himself up off the floor. He gently shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs from his mind. Through the pain he was feeling, an image of a large black bird crashing through a window flashed in his mind's eye. Xander pivoted around, looking for the bird but instead found the man that the bird was carrying.
Xander was a little shocked at the man's physical appearance. Standing before Xander was a bald, thin man. The man's face had several long scars; two ran along each check that ended just below the ear while two extended from the bridge of his nose, over each eye and stopped just above the ears. The only other distinguishing feature of the man was his height, which was less than five feet tall.
A voice in the back of Xander's mind kept saying that he should know this man but he didn't know from where he could have met this man.
"In the name of my MASTER, I demand to know where you have hidden my Sheba."
Xander looked confused at the man, who held a small crystal globe about the size of a baseball, in front of him. "What are you talking about?"
The man's face darkened. "You know what you took from me." The man stepped closer, a look of intense hatred on his face. "My MASTER may have forbidden me from destroying you but I can still hurt you. Where is Sheba!"
Sheba? Xander just stared at the man. Xander didn't know what the man was taking about or why he looked familiar.
"I don't know what this Sheba is but you shouldn't threaten my friends. It tends to make me angry."
A wide smile broke out on Xander's face. "Buffy."
Buffy didn't understand what exactly was going on. First a bird attacks them downstairs and now this guy is threatening Xander. A very much awake Xander. That thought brought forth a genuine smile from Buffy. She hadn't wanted to worry anyone but she was really scared when Xander wouldn't wake up and now that he was, Buffy felt some of the tightness in her heart loosen up a bit.
Taking in the sight of her bare-chested friend, Buffy was reminded of the last time she saw him like this. It was when he went undercover to check out the swim team but this time, Xander had a large, circular white area in the middle of his chest. The sight of the circle dug up several images from her dreams of what Xander went through. Buffy knew that she needed to talk to Xander but first, this guy needed to be taken care of.
"I don't know what this Sheba is but you shouldn't threaten my friends. It tends to make me angry."
"Buffy." Buffy took a glanced at Xander, his genuine smile warming her heart.
The man between them turned to her and sneered in contempt. "You do not concern me girl. This boy has stolen some property of mine," the man turned back to face Xander. "and I want it back now!"
"Look, I don't-" Xander tried to explain but was cut off.
"Do not lie to me. I can feel her presence in this room. Now where is she?!"
"Hey," Xander said, pointing at the man. "I'm not lying. I have no idea of who you're talking about. Hell, I don't even know who you are."
The small man grunted disgustedly. "I am Rysak," the man said as if he expected Xander to recognized the name. Xander and Buffy shared a blank look between them then they turned to the man and together said, "Who?"
Rysak muttered a curse in a language that Buffy didn't understand. "Fine. Feign ignorance if you want but it will not help you." Rysak raised the crystal ball above his head with one hand and pointed at Xander with the other. Instinctively, Buffy kicked high, connecting with the man's raised hand and sending the crystal ball flying over Xander's head.
Xander watched it pass over him and then looked at Buffy with a grin. "Thanks."
Before Buffy could reply, Rysak twisted around in an attempt to backhand her. Buffy easily avoided the swing by stepping backwards but her reaction gave the Rysak the freedom to reach inside his jacket and pull out a small rectangular mirror. He held it up to Buffy.
"Thanks but I already have a mirror," Buffy said. "Of course with the constipated look on your face, I can understand why you wouldn't want to look in a mirror."
Rysak just snarled and dropped the mirror to the floor. To Buffy's surprise, it landed on it's edge but didn't fall over. Instead it grew larger until it was the size of a small door. The mirror's surface turned black, then the color changed to a dark green.
"What the-" Buffy was cut off when a small figure shot from the dark mirror and slammed into her. The impact sent her stumbling backwards and she fell over the railing. Buffy heard Xander scream her name as she landed on the hard floor behind the couch.
Looking up, Buffy saw what appeared to be a small child looking down at her from the top of the stairs. It couldn't be more than four feet tall but the creature's head was bigger than it should be compared to the rest of the body. The nose was huge and hung over a mouth that was filled with crooked and broken teeth. Buffy tore her gaze from the creature to check on her friends. Oz was helping Willow to her feet and Giles was headed to the stairs.
A high pitched laugh rang out as the creature vaulted over the railing and dropped down on one end of the short table in front of the couch. The one end crumbled under the force of the creature's landing tipping the rest of the table up at an angle. The creature giggled and grabbed the edge of the table top and yanked it free, tossing it over it's shoulders.
The large, flat piece of wood landed on top of Giles, pinning him to the floor. A second one of the creatures appeared at the top of the stairs before jumping down on top of the wood covering Giles. Knowing that there was a body under the wood it was standing on, the creature started jumping up and down.
"Buffy!" Giles yelled. "A little-" THUD "Help-" THUD "Here-" THUD "Please!" Anything else Giles said was lost as the creature's jumping increased in speed.
Buffy reached out and grabbed the creature by the back it's neck. She lifted the creature up and threw it against the far wall. The creature hit the wall so hard that it's impact left a deep impression. Buffy stared in shock at the unexpected damage. I didn't throw it that hard. It briefly reminded her of the vampire she fought the previous night. She remembered how far she had kicked the vamp away from her and the amount of damage her kick had caused it. Buffy didn't think much of it at the time but she knew that wasn't normal, even for her.
"Buffy!" Oz yelled, shaking the Slayer from her thoughts.
Looking at him, Buffy saw him holding up a disoriented Willow while pointing upstairs. Buffy watched as three more creatures left the bedroom and jumped down to the floor.
Relieved of the extra weight, Giles was able to pull himself out from under the ruined table and took in the scene around him. Willow and Oz had cornered the creature that Buffy had thrown across the room while the Slayer herself was occupied by four more of the creatures.
Giles' Watcher training compelled him to step back from the fight and study the creatures themselves. His eyes widened as he adjusted his glasses. Trolls?! But these are smaller than what the texts describe. Maybe these be offspring of Trolls. That might explain the difference in size but do they share the same attributes of increased strength and superior regeneration abilities? Giles was snapped out of his thoughts when Buffy screamed, "Giles! What are these things?!"
The ex-Watcher focused on the fight before him. "They appear to be some sort of Troll." Despite the fighting occurring in his home, Giles' mindset shifted into a lecturing mode. "Now Trolls are reported to be eight or nine feet tall so whether these have been altered or if this is what their young look I don't-"
"Giles!" Buffy cut him off in mid-sentence. "I didn't ask for a biology lesson. I need to know how to kill these Moles?!"
Giles shook his head. "That Trolls, Buffy." Giles attention was momentarily distracted by the large bird pinned to his wall by a dagger. He turned to ask Buffy about the bird when he saw that she had located one of his axes. "Buffy, please be careful that you do not-" Buffy, caught up in the fight, ignored Giles as she swung the axe in a series of arcs that resulted in her cutting an arm off one of her opponents. "- dismember any of them." Giles finished with a sigh.
Buffy stared in shock at the Troll's shoulder. Slowly over a matter of seconds, a new arm started growing at an alarming rate to replace the one that she cut off. "Uhhh..... Giles?" she asked, dodging a new attack.
"I was trying to tell you that they can regenerate lost limbs and body parts." Pointing at the arm on the floor. "See, even the severed limb is trying to build a new body." Giles grabbed a book of matches that was laying in the scattered mess on the floor. He lit a match and held it close to the arm. Almost immediately, the arm caught on fire and was quickly reduced to an unrecognizable charred lump of flesh. "The only way to kill a Troll is by fire." Giles was going to continue when a loud sound of shattering glass erupted from upstairs.
Xander watched helplessly as more creatures came out of the mirror. His heart lurched when Buffy was pushed over the railing but he had to trust that she would be alright because he had his own problems at the moment. This 'Rysak' kept demanding for him to return what he had supposedly stolen. Ignoring the little man, Xander concentrated on finding a way to stop that mirror from belching out more of the creatures.
Shortly after Buffy dropped from sight, Xander felt dizzy for a second and fell to one knee. As he tried to shake dizziness off, Xander noticed that laying off to the side was the crystal globe that Buffy had kicked out of the man's grasp. Picking it up, Xander held the glass ball behind his back as he stood up and backed up until the back of his legs brushed against the bed. "What is this Sheba that you think I stole?"
Rysak's features darkened. "Do not insult me, human. You know what you took from me during your fight with my Master. This will be the last time I will ask," Rysak drew a thin, metal rod that was almost as long as Xander's arm. "Where is Sheba?"
I fought with his master? That tickled a memory in the back of Xander's mind. A memory of an animal's mouth clamping down on his arm, also someone was screaming and there was an overwhelming fear. Shaking the memories off, Xander leaned against the bed, laying a hand on a pillow. Xander knew he had to get past Rysak and an insane grin formed on his face as an idea came to him.
"Ya know something Rysak? Your master must be pretty pathetic if your the best he has to send after me." Xander taunted, hoping the man would get angry enough to make a mistake. "And as for what I stole from you," Xander's voice took on a harsh tone "I destroyed Sheba."
Rysak snarled at him and raised his hand with the palm facing Xander. A dull, yellow light surrounded his open hand that pulsed brightly before releasing a bolt of yellow energy. Xander picked up the pillow from off the bed and tossed it at the oncoming energy bolt. The pillow was destroyed in a bright flash of light, catching Rysak by surprise. With the little man distracted, Xander threw the crystal globe he had hidden behind his back, at the mirror.
The moment the globe touched the mirror, both exploded into a shower of multi-colored glass, sending out powerful shock waves that slammed the smaller man into one of the walls while pushing Xander through the room's only window which, fortunately, had been destroyed earlier when Rysak arrived.
Flying through the air, Xander landed hard onto the concrete sidewalk several feet away, almost rolling into the street. Xander's arms and back were covered in scrapes and scratches from sliding across the sidewalk and Xander thought that he had felt one or more of his ribs had snap during his landing. For a few seconds, which felt like hours, Xander couldn't move. Then a tingling feeling spread through his body, growing very intense before slowly fading away.
Xander slowly got to his feet and, even though he knew that his ability to heal had increased, carefully checked for any serious injuries. Not finding anything wrong, except for the mark on his chest, Xander idly ran his fingers along the edge of the circular area of white skin. Xander was still staring at the white area on his chest, deep in thought when he heard new screams coming from Giles' home.
Rysak moaned softly as he regained consciousness. He could feel that several of his ribs were broken along with his right leg from the pure force of the explosion. Rysak looked around finding himself alone in the room. Shifting slightly to relieve the pressure on his ribs, Rysak scanned the room for the small crystal orb.
Coming across a large pile of broken glass, Rysak cursed the boy for throwing the orb at the mirror thereby destroying both magical items. But how was he going to tame Sheba without the artifact. He didn't have the power to himself and he could tell that she was near. "But without the Control Orb, that means..." Rysak couldn't complete that sentence as the sound of a low growl gripped him in terror.
Unable to make any sound, Rysak whispered a silent no as he watched a large black cat materialize out of thin air and slowly pad it's way towards him. It's eyes glowing a dark, angry red.
Fire? That word repeated endlessly in Willow's mind until a loud sound of shattering glass startled her. Xander! Turning her attention back to the fighting, Willow pictured in her mind's eye, the position of each Troll in the room. She then imagined a line extending from her to each Troll and then connected all the Trolls to each other. Then she uttered a low level spell that she mainly used to light several candles at once. It wasn't a powerful spell but since she saw the amputated arm consumed completely from a single match, Willow thought that the simple spell should be strong enough.
The effects of the spell was almost instantaneous as all the Trolls imediately burst into flames. Both Giles and Buffy were shocked and stared blankly as their opponents simply burst into flames. Howls erupted from five mouths that was cut off sharply as each Troll was consumed by fire, leaving smoldering piles of burnt flesh.
The fires were contained to just the Trolls' bodies and left only small burn marks on the surrounding furniture.
"Uhh Giles?" Buffy squeaked, letting the axe fall from her hands. "Did you do that?"
"No I didn't," Giles focused on Willow. "Why don't you ask Willow," Giles balefully glared at the Wiccan hacker. "who the impulsive person was that was responsible for the spell that nearly gave me a bloody heart attack."
"Giles, I-"
Just then the front door smashed open startling everyone. The young witch instinctively imagined the line again extending from her to the person by the door and recast the spell. Opening her eyes, Willow was horrified when she realized a second too late that her spell's target was her best friend, Xander.
Xander stumbled a little when, just inside Giles' doorway, he felt a powerful wave of heat flow through his body. His temperature rose considerably causing him to break out in a sweat but, as fast as the wave came over him, it was gone leaving Xander feeling energized. Regaining his balance, Xander stared at the carnage in the room and wrinkled his nose at the smell of burnt flesh. Before Xander could ask if everyone was okay, he was hit by a redheaded torpedo.
Xander, not expecting this reaction from his best friend, suddenly found himself sandwiched between Willow and the wall behind him with the impact knocking the wind out of him. "Willow?"
The girl in question had her arms wrapped around him and was crying as she babbled incoherently. Xander could only make out 'you're okay', 'sorry', 'spell' and 'forgive'. Looking at everyone over the top of Willow's head Xander could see the relief in each of his friend's faces as they looked at him.
Even the normally expressionless Oz had a serious look of relief, which actually scared Xander. A masochistic voice inside of Xander grumbled, If Oz is happy enough to show this much emotion then it's safe to say that I can expect things will definitely go down hill from here.
But what really confused him right now was the girl attached to his side. Xander didn't understand why she was being this emotional but he tightened his arms around Willow all the same, offering whatever support she might need. A second later Xander felt another set us arms wrap around Willow and himself.
"I'm glad you're okay Xander," Buffy said softly before stepping back. Xander could feel Willow nod her head in agreement with Buffy.
"Willow?" Xander gently shook the redhead in his arms. "What's wrong?"
Pulling away, Willow just shook her head and flashed a large smile at him as she wiped away her tears. "Nothing. I'm just happy that your okay," Willow thought that she had seriously hurt Xander with that spell and that had scared the hell out of her. She remembered feeling the spell's energy leave her and head for Xander but somehow, something stopped it. What that 'something' was, Willow really didn't care. She was just happy that she didn't hurt Xander.
Xander stared at his oldest friend as she went to hug her boyfriend. He could tell, by now, that he had just been exposed to magic and from the way Willow was acting, he suspected that she had something to do with it. Xander was about to ask her when he noticed that Giles were staring at him, or actually at his chest. Xander remembered that he didn't have a shirt on and he started to feel a little selfconscious under the ex-Watchers scrutiny. He was about to ask where his shirt was when he noticed his bags sitting on the floor by the couch. "My stuff!"
Xander made a beeline for one of his bags and began rummaging through it. Xander found a white t-shirt and quickly put it on as Giles walked up to him.
"Xander?" Giles tried to get the young man's attention.
"Yeah Giles?"
Giles waited until Xander looked at him before continuing. "How did you get outside?"
"Flying lessons," Xander said absently. "Oh by the way, where your window ought to be, you have a nice hole now."
"What?" Giles nervously removed his glasses. "Are you telling me that you broke my window?"
"No, it was broken before I was thrown through it," Xander defended himself.
Xander's comment about being 'thrown' broke through the happiness that Buffy had surrounded herself in and reminded her of their friend's attacker. "Wait a minute. Xander, what happened to the guy upstairs?"
"I don't know. You didn't see him?"
Buffy shook her head.
"Hopefully he's gone but I guess that we should go up and check." Xander let Buffy lead the way to the stairs when his face lit up as he remembered something. "At least I did stop him from letting more of those mini-monsters loose."
Buffy stopped and turned to face him. "How?"
"Remember that mirror?"
"Yes," Buffy replied.
"Let's just say that I have seven interesting years to look forward to."
"What mirror?" Giles asked.
Xander ignored Giles. "Did you see a bird come through here?"
"Big? Black? In serious need of a breath mint?"
"Well I didn't get close enough to check it's breath but yeah."
Buffy nodded.
"Did you get it?" Xander asked. Buffy pointed behind him. Xander looked over his shoulder and saw that the bird was pinned to the wall with a dagger. "Very nice."
"Thank you," Buffy said with a slight curtsy.
Giles tried to ask again. "What mirror Xander? Buffy?"
"Did you find out who 'Sheba' was?" Buffy asked, deciding it was her turn to ignore Giles.
"Nope but he sure went crazy when I said that I had destroyed it."
Giles coughed loudly, out of frustration, in an attempt to gain their attention.
Buffy turned slightly towards Giles. "Maybe you should drink some tea Giles. That cough sounds horrible."
Giles didn't bother to respond to her jab. "Xander, I have a great many questions and -"
"And I'm sure they're very good questions." Xander interrupted Giles. "But right now I want you to be a good boy and behave your auntie Willow while Mommy and Daddy go upstairs and see if the bad monster is still in your room."
Buffy barely found the strength in time to stifle a batch of giggles that bubbled up from inside her. She had to turn away because the combination of the shocked look on Giles' face and the mock serious expression on Xander's made her want to just roll on the floor in laughter.
Willow was shaking in silent laughter herself as Oz held her in his arms. The banter between Buffy and Xander reminded her of the times she spent listening to them make fun of Giles during high school and, until now, Willow never realized how much she missed that.
Leaning back into Oz's arms, Willow could see a small smile curve her boyfriend's lips. Willow impulsively kissed him on the cheek, feeling more content than she had all summer. During the last couple of weeks Willow had felt like something was missing and now that Xander was back, it was like she found it again. Willow did have her own questions for Xander but they could wait. She was just glad that he was here and that he was okay.
Willow pulled out of her boyfriend's embrace and stepped up beside Giles. Seeing the irritated look on the older man's face as he watched Buffy and Xander start up the stairs, Willow patted his back comfortingly. "We better go after them. Who knows what trouble they'll get -"
Willow was cut off when a scream erupted from Giles' bedroom. Before anyone could move, a large black cat bounded out of the room and stopped at the top of the stairs. Growling menacingly, the cat's head swiveled around, eldritch energy leaking from it's red eyes like smoke.
"Oh dear Lord." Giles whispered. "A Devilcat."