Fury by SLynn
Notes: Yeah, it's been awhile. I think I've gotten over my massive case of writer's block. Thanks for reading.
Chapter 13: Together
"…she may have doubted you but I never have…"
She was still going on and on. Xander could hardly hear her anymore. Doubted he'd heard a word she'd said. All he wanted right now was to wake up and have this all behind him. His mind wanted to rationalize. It wanted to believe it wasn't true. Maybe it's all just been a horrible, horrible nightmare.
But he knew that it wasn't that it couldn't have been. He'd told Buffy so himself. He did this, no one had made him. It was real. It was happening.
Unable to stop himself Xander found himself on his knees retching. The only notice Constance took of him was to step slightly to her left, but otherwise she continued on with her speeches.
"…just like I planned. Her face, did you see her face? I knew she'd react like that, just knew it…"
Xander still wasn't listening. His head throbbing clutched between his hands as he kneeled on the floor at her feet.
"…we'll show her. We'll show all of them. Next time won't be nearly so easy, but I know you can do it."
"Next time?" he asked. That he had heard. That had struck him hard.
"Don't be silly, of course there will be a next time," she said with her condescending smile.
"No."
"What did you say?" She sounded shocked and angry, her sweet voice filled with venom and suddenly much louder then before.
"I said no. I won't do it again. I don't know why I did…"
Xander's voice had started off strong but trailed off at the end. He still didn't understand it, couldn't understand why. Mostly, he didn't want too."Listen to me," Constance said calmly as she leaned down to look him in the eye, "you did this. You said it yourself. I wasn't there and I didn't make you. It was all you. And you already know why. You didn't love them. You hated them and with good reason. They were awful people Xander who got what they deserved. We both know that. After everything they put you through? Were you expected to put up with it forever? No. No one could."
Constance slowly placed an arm around his waist and helped him to sit back up on the cot. Despite himself he found that listening to her was almost soothing. As if her words could justify his actions, not make him forget, but make the memory of it seem righteous.
"Xander, I've chosen you because I can see what you're capable of. No one else does, but I do. Together you and I are going to rule this world, but first there are things you must put in order. Certain wrongs you have to right. And there are a lot of people who have wronged you. Before I can trust you completely to be with me you have to prove yourself. Can you do that?"
Buffy was outraged. Giles and Willow had finally decided to fill her in on everything. Considering the additional warning received via Tara, they felt they could no longer wait or hold back. Something had to be done. Now.
"How?" She stammered, "How could you even consider it? And how could you not tell me? This is insane. You're not seriously thinking about it, are you?"
No one spoke. They sat huddled around the Summer's family dinning table, Joyce included. Only Dawn had been left out, Giles feeling she was a bit too young for this discussion.
Buffy looked at each of them in turn, waiting to be answered.
"Buffy please, this isn't what anyone wants," Willow finally put forward.
"So you believe he did this? That's he's responsible?"
"Regardless of what I believe, after what you've said, I do believe he's dangerous." Giles answered, "And what's more, I think we should warn Anya, and all of Xander's acquaintances."
"Unreal, completely unreal. So the answer is to avoid him then kill him?"
"Buffy, the Fates said…" Willow started.
"I don't care what the Fates said. How do you know that's not just another mind trick of Constance's? How are any of us to know what's real and what isn't?"
There was a sudden knock at the door.
"Excuse me," Joyce said getting up, Buffy following a bit behind. Despite her believe that Xander wasn't attacking people on his own, she wouldn't put it past Constance to try something here.
"Can I help you?" Buffy heard her ask someone just outside her home.
"I'm here to see Buffy. I have information for her about our mutual friend."
It was a man's voice, but not one she knew. Joyce turned and looked at her oldest daughter and Buffy came forward to see who it was.
"Hello Buffy," the older man said. "I am very glad to see you once more. A lot has happened in the short time we've been apart."
"Do I know you?"
He was a complete stranger to her. He was probably getting close to seventy, and had Buffy not been a slayer, she would have thought he was just some harmless old man who might be a bit soft in the head. But living on a hellmouth, you never could trust in things like that.
"Very well. You know me very well," he said smiling a very grandfatherly smile. "May I come in?"
"No," Buffy said instinctively, "What do you want?"
Giles had now entered the living room, wondering what the delay was and stood listening with Joyce.
"I am not a vampire my dear, its midday and sunny out. Truly, you needn't be afraid."
"Answer my question."
"I've come to help you. To help myself in truth. We are all in this together. The Fates likely didn't warn your friend of that. They don't care much for me, or my kind. Typically we fall outside of their realm, being what we are. But that is not the case now. Not at all."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't you? Well, if I could come inside I could explain it all. Standing and talking in this manner is rather undignified."
His eyes shone as he spoke. Buffy paused for a moment and then pulled the door open letting him in.
"There's a good girl," he said stepping forward and nodding to Joyce. The old man settled himself into the easy chair.
"Rupert, please get the other two, they should hear this as well. And Dawn dear, come sit on the couch, you'll find you hear better in the same room as the rest of us."
Giles a bit surprised to be addressed by name did as he was asked just as Dawn came out of the basement where she'd obviously been eavesdropping and sat beside Buffy on the couch.
As soon as everyone had gathered, the man again turned to Buffy.
"Do you know me now dear?"
Buffy said nothing but shook her head.
"I hadn't counted on that. I assumed you would. But there are a lot of things I hadn't counted on. It seems I have begun to outlive my usefulness," he said with a laugh, "It happens to the best of us."
There was a silence that followed, and then the old man looked at them as if he was going to cry.
"It is so good to see you all. I feel like we are friends. I feel at home here. She filled my own thoughts with so few good things, but he at least had a few. He was different then her normal prey."
"Zothos," Buffy whispered in disbelief.
He smiled at her.
"So you do remember me after all."
"Why are you here?" she asked, "You left. And what's with the…" She cut herself off, thinking it might be rude to continue with 'old man body' but he smiled and even laughed a bit as if he knew what she'd almost said.
"I am here because I can be no where else. Constance had a much stronger hold over me then I had ever realized. Listen to me; had as if she still didn't. She has us all you know."
The weight of the words struck them all.
"This is her real game you know. The suffering. The agony. She lives for it. Feeds off of it."
"Then you don't know what to do either," Buffy said hopelessly.
"No, I know what must be done. But I, like you, can not bring myself to do it."
"You mean…"
"We must restore the order of things as they were before."
It was the first time Xander had gotten a good look at his surroundings outside of his room. As he'd guessed, they were near the water. He'd seen the ocean from a window, the only one not blacked out. And today he'd seen sunshine.
Xander had been surprised when Constance had asked him to follow her from the cell. She'd never done that before. Never asked him to do anything before; just commanded. They'd gone down a hall and two flights of steps and into a basement.
Two steps into the basement and Xander stopped. Something about the room, it was little more then one big room, was completely wrong.
Constance stopped right in the middle and turned around slowly.
"There's nothing to be afraid of honey. Not while you're with me."
Xander took a few more steps and glancing around, rubbed his eyes. Maybe it was just the light playing tricks on him, he really hadn't seen the sun in so long it was possible, but he thought he'd saw the walls move.
"I'd turn on the light, but they don't like that," Constance said with a just visible wicked smirk.
Now he knew he hadn't imagined it. Looking as close as he could without moving closer, Xander examined the walls. They were pulsing. Seething and oozing. Bubbling and black.
"What is it?" he found himself saying.
"A little something I brought back with me. They're my helpers."
"How? Is it alive?"
"In a way. They won't hurt you. Trust me."
Xander took a few more steps into the room. He tried not to look at the walls, but found that he couldn't help himself."
Constance just stood there, watching him.
Suddenly Xander felt his head start to ache. His heart began to race and his mind exploded with thoughts both terrifying and familiar. The next thing he knew Constance was standing over him.
"Better now?" she asked with her ever smiling face.
Xander, surprised to find he was lying on the floor, didn't answer. His head was still throbbing a bit, but nothing like it had before.
"What happened? What are those things?"
"Let's just say, they're from out of town."