Revelations In White Light

Author: Anime Ronin

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Summary: Challenge/Story Idea from SwordofChiyun that involves Xander getting kicked out of Scoobies after Graduation and revelations of his real father and shades of his mother's family's past.

Crossover: Yes, with Charmed and some hints of Hercules.

AN: This takes place in the second half of Season 4 – Initiative and ADAM are gone.

AN2: Another fairly short chapter – sorry.

Chapter 6 – By Dawn's Early Light

{Two days after last chapter –Xander's living room}

"Are you SURE that Aphrodite has nothing to do with this, Ares?"

The god nodded, "Kid, she wants you for herself for some reason, and she doesn't like to share – somebody, or several somebodies, up there are messing around with the minds of the ladies down there and you seem to be their target."

He smiled as the kid's shoulders slumped, "Why me?"

Ares shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine, though it all appears to be heading towards you ... loosening up, as it were. I mean, if it were me, I'd be all for what those two offered you yesterday." He grinned as Xander went blood red in embarrassment – the two Whitelighters had been more than a little obvious about what they wanted to do to him the previous afternoon, most of it involving a great deal of sweating and primal instincts.

"They're my friends and colleagues, Ares – I DON'T like people messing with their minds like that." Ares smiled as he saw the kid's face harden into a stone mask and he saw more than a little fire enter his eyes – it was a look he had often seen on the faces of his Generals in days long past and, if things went according to plan, he would see in days to come as soldiers were led to the field with him in mind, "Find out who's behind this, if you could, and tell me – I want to have some rather pointed words with the individuals involved."

Ares smiled, well, smirked, as he rarely smiled, "Will-do, kid." Orbing out of there, he went directly to Olympus and landed right in front of his sister, "Discord, we need to have a little chat."

The leather-clad goddess of the same smiled brightly, "And why would that be, brother?"

"Because you're about to piss off the one person we can't afford to piss off – the kid knows someone is messing with the heads of those two Whitelighters and he's starting to take it personally. You and I both know that won't end well, especially if he finds out you and the others are behind it."

"What about Aphrodite?"

Ares shook his head, "You know she wants him for herself – he knows that too after I told him, but that leaves a very short list of people up and around here who are willing to do this kind of thing. Get Cupid, Hestia, that idiot brother of mine, Strife, and yourself on a leash, sister – if he comes up here, it won't be for tea and cakes."

Discord pouted, "But brother, we're just trying to get him to relax a little. I mean, Cupid already hit that lesbian Wicca, Tara, but she seems resistant to it, Faith, who already loves him, and the mother of the former Slayer, Joyce, a few times, and he can't risk it anymore!"

"Then tell him to stop! Let the arrows wear off and start again after he gets us the Golden Fleece back in a few months – we need him as much as he needs us." With that said, Ares went back to his viewing rock and watched as Alexander laid down for a nap, not knowing that he was about to have two guests, "I hope you know what you're going to be in for, kid."

{Back at the house}

He knew it wasn't Jenny or Sonja as soon as the body pressed to his side – Jenny had a scent of spice to her and Sonja of honey, and as both of them had been confined to San Francisco until something was found out as to why they had tried to do what they had planned yesterday, that left only a handful of possible females. When the other heat pressed against his side, he knew who it was immediately without using anything but his nose – Faith always had a subtle scent of leather and musk about her, and that was on his right, so who was it that smelled of wildflowers on his left?

"Boy toy? You awake?" He cracked an eye open and looked at the raven- haired Slayer, who smiled prettily at him, "You okay today?"

"Tired." He opened his other eye and was surprised to see Tara there, a content smile on her lips and her eyes closed, "What?"

Faith smiled, "Well, see, I got Tiger over there to admit to herself that MAYBE you might be on the level and to give you a try, you know, as a friend. She likes girls because of her brothers and her father – kinda like yours and mine."

He didn't even think about it as his arm slipped around Tara's shoulders and she shrank into his side a little, causing him to growl slightly. They stayed that way for several minutes until she poked her head up and pecked him slightly on the cheek, blushing furiously afterwards and sinking her head back down to hide.

"Tiger, if you're going to kiss him, do it like this." Before he could protest, Faith was laying into him and did so until oxygen became a very serious issue, which was about thirty seconds later, which caused them to part almost explosively, "See? Like ... that."

Before things went too much further, he sat up and shook his head, in hopes of clearing the healthy amount of lust that the kiss had brought out of the woodwork – Faith had always had that kind of effect on him and she knew it too, "Faith, what's with the sudden interest?"

She smirked, "Boy toy, I'm always interest in you, remember? I mean, game on, four times in two hours that one night? Day-yum!"

He stood up as several pieces of the puzzle came together, "I'll be right back – I need to see a goddess about a murder." Without giving them the chance to stop him, he orbed himself to Olympus, which was a little further than he was used to, and after a few moments of breathing exercises to regain some energy, he walked amongst the Greek pantheon and quickly found the one he was looking for, "Aphrodite, we need to have a talk."

The blonde in nearly-see-through pink silk and lace lingerie smiled brightly and patted the divan next to her, "Sure thing, cutie – you ready to turn yourself over to me, then?"

"No, I want to know what's going on down there with all of the weirdness and the girls – the last time something like this happened I had all of the women in Sunnydale baying for my blood."

She nodded, "I remember – I powered the spell, remember?"

"And this time?"

She shook her head, her blonde tresses flailing back and forth for several seconds and she smiled, "Sorry, cookie, but not this time – whoever is doing it, though, is subtle, and in case you haven't noticed, subtly isn't exactly our normal thing."

He groaned and sank his face into his hands – with Sonja and Jenny alone, it was kind of amusing, but with all of his friends, save Giles, who was the only male around, suddenly hitting on him in the past few days, it was no longer funny, "Any clues as to who or whom is doing this?"

She shrugged, "Several, but nothing that I can tell you, toots. Sorry." She suddenly smiled and leaned into his side, her lips close to his ear, "You know, seeing as you're already here, I do need some ... company, so if you don't mind."

"Gotta go." He orbed, regardless of how tired he felt and how alluring the offer was, to Joyce's house, where Buffy and Willow, thankfully, weren't home. He landed on Joyce's bed and fell back, utterly exhausted, too tired to really think for several minutes, and when he was able to, his thoughts drifted to Buffy and her training, which he was overseeing.

Since his little stunt a few mornings before, she had been awake and dressed for training by 0545 every morning, not wanting a repeat of the pot- banging and shouting he had used to wake he up with before; she wasn't the Slayer anymore and she appeared to accept that as she delivered what he demanded and, when more was asked for, she did as good as she could – she wasn't so winded after their daily dozen and could actually breath at the end of their runs, but she still couldn't run correctly, using all of her body to do so, and that would come back to haunt her when he started adding weighted packs tomorrow morning.

"Xander?" His head snapped up and he saw Joyce standing in the doorway of her room, clad only in a pink terrycloth robe, with a confused look on her face, "Why are you in here?"

"Had to bail out of a rather ... embarrassing situation, Joyce. Sorry." He sat up and was relieved to see that she didn't appear to be effected, but that relief faded as her confusion turned to a smile tinged with more than a little sex behind it and she walked into the room.

"Don't feel sorry at all, Xander – you're welcome in my room anytime." Her hands went for the tie and neck of her robe and he orbed directly to his armory, all of the humor he had ever felt at the situation vanishing and being replaced with anger – Joyce was, for a time, his mother-figure, the Alpha female of his Pack, and now she appeared to be acting weird too. Whoever was doing it had just crossed over the realm of good fun and mild annoyance – they'd just made it personal.

{Olympus}

"Congratulations, Discord – you and the others have officially pissed him off." Ares looked at the small collection of gods and goddesses and smirked, "At least I won't go down with you guys."

Discord looked over at Cupid, who shrugged, and then back at Ares, "Can't you talk him out of it, Ares? I mean, it was all in good, clean fun!"

"Until you brought Joyce Summers into it, Discord. I mean, Tartarus, even the Fates know better than to mess with her, and that was before Alexander." He looked back at the viewing rock and saw his young warrior arming himself for bear, strapping on pistols, knives, armor and his family's sword, "At least he's going to give someone a fighting chance, then."

Discord gulped, Strife began to panic, Hestia merely fainted by Cupid looked supremely confident, "All we have to do is to remember that river in Egypt is our friend – denial."

Ares gave the winged god a pitting look and shook his head before looking back at the rock, and frowning at what he saw, "Leo?"

{Armory}

"What in God's name is going on, Leo?"

Leo looked at his son with sympathy and shook his head, "Nothing you need to worry about, son – other things have that particular honor right now."

"Oh, fuck, now what?"

Leo grimaced at his son's choice of words, given his current predicament, and smiled wanly, "The Elders have a job for you in Houston, Texas; a natural witch and her daughter need protection and we in the Council can't ... officially ... be involved. Her ex husband is a dark wizard and wants to sacrifice the baby, so we want you to protect her until midnight tomorrow evening, a whole day and a half." Leo handed over the location of the witch and a photo, "Be careful, son – this wizard is dangerous."

Xander looked up at him and grinned, "So am I, Leo." With that said, Leo watched Xander orb away and sighed, "Ares, what in the Creator's name are you and your siblings doing up there?" Even as he asked the question, Leo felt a sudden surge of power and something hit his mind like a Mack truck, making him pass out as he stumbled and fell.

{Houston – Southeast, near I-45 and 610}

{AN: I lived in Houston most of my life – most of these places exist, some of them don't}

Monica Tomas looked at the young man who materialized right in front of her, clutching her baby tighter as he shook his head to clear it and adjusted his leather duster to the mid-December chill (all 60 degrees of it). He was tall, maybe six feet, with dark hair, dark eyes, a slightly weathered complexion and she could feel the power pouring off of him in waves as he walked closer, "Monica Tomas?"

"Who wants to know?"

"Call me Xander – I've been sent to help by some friends." He looked around and saw that nobody else was present in the corner of the supermarket that they were in, "I've been told your ex wants you baby for a sacrifice and I've been sent to stop him."

Monica was not a particularly religious woman in the sense of believing in an all-powerful God – she was a witch, a natural one at that, and believed in he Goddess to protect her and her child, and she was not picking up anything deceitful off of the young man as she approached, "And what are you?"

He shrugged, "I was once a Whitelighter, but apparently my bosses don't like the use of Deadly Force, so they technically fired me. I work free- lance now – good guy, just for whoever can pay me."

She drew back and hissed, "A MERCENARY!"

Again he shrugged, "I've been called worse – look, let's get someplace less public so I can give you the low-down, okay?"

"I need groceries and my baby needs diapers."

He sighed, "Fine – I walk with you and hold the baby while you get your things, or if you don't rust me, the other way around." She only passed him the cart in response and led the way, holding her little girl, who had slept through the entire thing.

To his credit, though, he was kind of cute, and he knew his way around a store as he picked up things that, while not exactly the best brand, were good and saved her money, something that was in short supply as of late. He was carrying weapons, a mark against him, she could tell by the way his coat hung and how he grabbed for the inside of his coat when a man approached her and she thought that he might be after her baby, but he was also acting like a calm, cool professional, another mark for his side. By the time they hit the checkout isle, Monica decided that whoever 'Xander' really was, he was on the level.

It was a short walk to her place, a tiny one-room apartment that wasn't much, but it was a roof over her head and nobody asked questions of who she was or what she did for a living. As soon as she was inside, Xander put down the groceries and pulled out a pistol, screwing a silencer on the end of it and checked everywhere before pulling the shades and locking the door, never putting the gun away while she changed her daughter, "So, how old are you?"

"I'll be twenty in about six months, ma'am."

She felt herself go white, a great feat as she was sporting the natural dark skin she got from her Hispanic mother's family, "Twenty? Dios, how old were you when you ... died?" She could place the feeling she got off of him now – he was a Whitelighter, or had been one.

"I was born one, and I was a Whitelighter for just over five months, technically." He laid the gun on the table and began to put away the groceries after looking around for a few seconds, "So, what can you tell me about your ex?"

"That bastard wants to kill my baby!"

He gave her a look, "First off, duh, that's what I'm here to prevent – secondly, keep your cool so you don't use your powers in anger. Now, what else can you tell me about your ex – habits, ego, education, what?"

"Alejandro grew up here in Houston, down near Pasadena, and was in a gang until he was in high school, when he dropped out and started into drugs and magic, black magic." Monica ran her fingers through her curly hair as her daughter kicked happily, bare from the waist down but clean, "He's a perfectionist and never lets anything get in his way."

"Magic type?"

"Power-based, and he's not shy about using it in crowded areas. He likes to run his mouth a little and gloats a lot when he scores a hit – do you really think you can stop him?"

He tossed her the diapers and she put one on the baby, "If he comes here, we'll find out. What's her name?"

"Diana Marisol Tomas and she's also a witch – telekinetic, so keep an eye on your keys, she likes keys."

Xander smiled a little, "Don't they all. What about you?"

Monica shrugged, "A little mental persuasion, nothing much – I walk a fine line between the light and dark."

"We all do." He reached over and ticked Diana's tummy, causing the girl to giggle and kick her legs a little, "She's beautiful."

"Thank you."

They sat in companionable silence for a while, watching the basic cable that the apartments provided but he would occasionally check the windows and orb away for a few seconds, but come back and nod that all was well; she learned that he'd grown up on La Boca Del Inferno, the mouth of hell, and had been fighting vampires since fifteen, but while he had been a Whitelighter, he was no saint. All in all, had it not been for the guns, Monica was sure that she would have liked for Xander to stay around, especially with how well Diana responded to him, always giggling and cooing while only occasionally trying to steal his keys.

In a flash, though, things changed as her door was kicked in and Alejandro stood on the other side, wearing a huge grin, "Miss me, baby?"

{Olympus}

Ares chuckled darkly, "Oh, this ought to be good."

{Apartment in Houston}

His suppressed pistol came up and he drew a bead on the man's forehead, "Alejandro, I presume?"

"And you are, vato?"

"Alexander, but please, why be formal? Call me Xander." He stepped over in front of Monica and a now-wailing Diana, "Why don't you do us all a big favor and leave now – I won't let you get Diana and you didn't bring enough men to go through me to take her."

Alejandro smiled and flung both hands at him, staggering him with a weak telekinetic wave, "Homie, I can control magics you can't begin to believe – do you really thing that pop gun is going to stop me?"

"No, but this will." He orbed just behind the wanna-be and kicked him in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground before bring his gun up and pressing it against his temple, backing his thugs away, "Monica, get Diana and come over here – we're leaving." Monica quickly gathered her things and the baby before joining him, "This is your one warning, Alex – don't come after her." With that said, he orbed the witch, himself and the child to the other side of town and put them next to a bus stop, "Do you have any family he doesn't know about?"

"No, he knows them all."

Xander cured, "Fuck! Alright, you're coming with me." He grabbed her and orbed back to the house, or rather, he tried to, but something blocked him and they only got to the city limits, "Perfect – just perfect."

"What's wrong?"

"I'm being blocked by a higher being, or a lower one – either way, we're confined to the city limits." He reached into his jacket and grabbed his cell phone, hoping his intended call would go through as he dialed.

"Hello?"

"Aunt Piper, it's Xander. Is dad there?"

"Xander? What's wrong?"

"I'm being blocked – I can't orb and my temporary charge's ex is on our ass. Where is he?"

"In a Council meeting – I can't feel him and I get the feeling you're on your own."

"Thanks." He closed the cell and sighed, "Goddamnit! Will NOTHING go right on this mission?"

"Dunno, vato," said a voice from behind him as he instantly orbed with Maria and Diana in tow to the other side of the city, landing them inside of a football stadium with 'Abshire Stadium' and a large twelve-point buck on the ground.

"Let's move – I don't want him to be able to pin-point us."

{Olympus}

Ares grinned even as Discord groaned and Hestia growled, "This is going to be a long day, kid."

{Houston}

Unbeknownst of Ares' prediction, Xander proved him correct – for the next 20 hours he orbed himself, Monica and Diana to a random location for several hours, allowing himself time to rest and Monica to change Diana or feed her, before they came to rest near what smelled to be a beer brewery in east Houston, Budwiser, according to the sign, in an abandoned house that was moderately defensible, but had a magic shop nearby. After a quick trip to said shop for components, Xander brewed up several minor protection potions that would mask their presence for eight hours, at most, before needing to be re-applied to the perimeter of the house.

"So we're safe?" Monica held her slumbering daughter, who had actually slept through most of the ordeal, and looked decidedly worn out.

"For now." He took off his duster and rolled it up into a pillow before taking Diana from Monica, "Get some sleep, we still have 16 hours to go before you and she are safe." Monica nodded and laid down on the floor and instantly fell asleep, so he looked down at Diana, who had just woken up, "Looks like it's you and me for a while, kiddo."

Diana giggled and cooed for several moments before she tried to use her powers to grab the car keys in his pocket – he didn't stop her and let them dangle over her for several minutes, the reflecting light and slight jingling causing her joy and excitement, but then put them back into his pocket before yawning and falling asleep herself. His phone took that point to go off.

"Go."

"Xander? Piper; Leo's told me why you can't orb out."

"And that would be?"

"The demon that wants the sacrifice has a barrier around Houston that allows people in, but doesn't let them out and Whitelighters are generally powerless there. How are you holding up?"

"Well enough – Monica and Diana are out cold and I have a protection and cloaking spell up for about six more hours before we move again." He absently jiggled Diana, who made a noise in her sleep as he spoke, "Any ideas on just how this guy got the demon to power him?"

"No clue, but then again, most of the magic users down in that part of the country are hard to track, due to the large number of inactive Hellmouths and natural magical barriers."

He winced – great, more than one Hellmouth to deal with, "Thanks, Piper."

"Is she cute?"

"Huh? Monica's alright, Piper."

"The baby, doofus."

He looked down at Diana, who was sleepily opening her eyes, "Gorgeous, but she has this thing for keys."

Piper chuckled through the phone, "Talk to you later, kid."

He put away the phone and looked back down at Diana, who was now more awake than before, "What?" The baby cooed a little and he shrugged, "Well, you are gorgeous, you know." She giggled and kicked a little and he sat down, "Looks like we're stuck here for a while, Baby D – know any good stories?"

{6 hours later}

Monica yawned and held her daughter while Xander poured the last of the potion around the house again before taking her place on the ground, pistol in hand and one eye open as he relaxed a little; he had told her why they couldn't orb out of town, which really depressed her, but then stated that they were more than halfway there – ten more hours to go and they would both be safe ... for the time being. She knew he meant it to be comforting, but the thought of someone else coming after her child didn't exactly fill her with confidence.

She and Diana played the past few hours back in her mind over a special mother/daughter mental link they had and she was heartened that Xander had not let Diana go once and had even encouraged her to use her powers in a constructive manner. She blushed lightly at some of the connotations of the phone call, but also of his conversation with Diana afterwards – he may have been a mercenary, but he was cute and good with kids, "I wonder if he's single?"

"By choice rather than lack of options, Monica." She gasped and looked over at Xander, who still had one eye open and gun in hand, but he was now smiling, "I really don't need to sleep, remember?"

She blushed as Diana began to giggle, causing her to look down, "Traitor."

{Olympus}

Ares looked over at Aphrodite, who smiled innocently at him, and he shook his head disgustedly – would they NEVER leave the kid alone?

{Houston}

Like cold molasses being poured out of a jar, the hours slipped by and Xander found himself becoming rather restless – he was out of concealing potion and had already moved himself, Diana and Monica to far east Houston, across the Ship Channel, to Galena Park, and from there to far west Houston, near the clubs on Richmond, and it was nearly midnight now – 11:49, to be exact, and he was hoping that the next eleven minutes would go faster so he could get the hell out of there.

"Are we safe yet?"

"Not for another ten minutes forty three seconds, which is fifty seven seconds less than the last time you asked me, Monica – I am not trying to sound rude, but be quiet."

She nodded nervously as Diana kicked out a leg and gurgled slightly, "Sorry, I just want this day to be over."

"You and me too, honey." Xander spun and put two bullets into an ephemeral body that was Alejandro, who smiled and looked where he had been 'shot', "Nice grouping, man. Shame you work for the other side."

"Do us a favor and just leave them alone, Alejandro – you get to keep your ass I one piece, I don't have to worry about being shot, it's a win-win situation."

The ephemeral body became more solid, "No can do, chief – if I don't deliver the brat, the demon takes me instead."

"Figures you'd get caught by that clause – never make a deal with demons." Experimentally he put a bullet into the body again, but this time instead of going straight through, the bullet slowed greatly and barely made it out, "Well, well, well, it looks like you aren't as go-through than you want. Let me guess – you personally have to make the sacrifice?"

"Yeah – don't shoot me again or I'll rip your head off."

Xander shrugged, putting the gun away, but orbing behind the mage again and slamming his foot into the upper back of the mage, shoving his semi-solid body forwards before orbing back in front of him and snapping off a hard left jab – right cross combination punch that flung the mage back a little further and mashed his nose flat, "See, I didn't shoot you."

The mage got back up and snarled several oaths about Xander's parentage before rushing forwards, completely forgetting about his magics, and actually scored several very quick punches and a kick that pushed Xander back, "I'm gonna make you bleed, white boy."

"I've been told by bigger, better and more evil than you, wet back, so bring it." (AN: I'm ½ Mexican myself – no disrespect intended) Xander blocked another shot to the head and countered with quick jab to the bread basket followed up by a head butt to the severely-mashed-but-healing nose of Alejandro, mashing it back down and causing the mage to howl in agony.

The minutes ticked by as they went back and forth, Alejandro becoming more and more solid as they did and weaker and weaker, not using his magics at all as they went at it like Crypts and Bloods, but the entire time Monica was screaming and Diana was wailing at the encroaching darkness of the room.

"You can't stop him, White boy. He's invincible!"

"First off, that's White Knight, and secondly, I've taken out supposedly invincible people before and guess what? They're all dead." He slammed his foot into the groin of the mage, who gaped and slid to the ground as off in the distance he hear a bell begin to strike the hour and felt a massive surge of power, "Oh, shit."

"I have come to take my meal, mage." It wasn't a dark, deep, malevolent voice that spoke, but rather the kind of voice you expect to hear from one of the kids on Barney and the kid looked like one too.

"You're kidding me, right? A Barney kid?"

The being shrugged, "Guy, he IS the incarnate of evil, remember?" The kid, a young white male with blonde hair and blue eyes, looked over at Diana, who wailed more as Monica clutched her daughter closer, "So, I guess you're not just going to hand her over, then."

Xander looked at his watch and saw it was 11:59 and fifty-four seconds, "Sorry, but I would have to say ... no. Nothing personal, you understand."

The being shrugged, "Of course not." It looked over at Alejandro, who was half-standing at that point and smiled, "So I guess you get to take your daughter's place, Alex. How fun!" He raised his hand and the pair of them vanished even as several people began to orb into the room.

"Harris?" Two guardians walked over, both of them armed, and the first one nodded, "We're here to take over until a Whitelighter is assigned to Diana."

Xander nodded, "Cool." He looked over at Monica and Diana, who had quieted down, and walked over, putting away his weapons as he did, "You guys are going to be okay, right?"

Monica smiled and nodded but Diana began to fuss again, so the mother handed her over, "I think she likes you."

"Then she's a bad judge of character, then." He held the baby and looked into her dark eyes as she quieted down, "Honey, I'm gonna have to go – trust me, you can do a lot better than me to hang around with." He was oddly sure that she looked more than a little petulant at the idea and he sighed, "Look, if I can, I'll come around and checkup on you, okay?"

"Bugh!"

"Don't take that tone with me, young lady – you may steal keys, but you're not too old for me to take over my knee." She looked a little contrite about it but merely kicked her legs as he handed her back to Monica, "I'll give you a call in a few days, Monica – keep her safe." She nodded and he looked at the Guardians and then left in a shower of white lights.

{Sunnydale}

Xander looked around at the living room and frowned – something wasn't right; something in the air was different and he wasn't sure what even as the front door opened and he heard Faith come in, talking to somebody.

"Let me tell ya, D, he's wicked cool, but don't cross him 'cause he's not afraid to push back."

"Bus is he cute, Faith? You never told me that." The voice was youngish and female, with the same Boston inflections on the words that Faith had, and directly behind him, "Never mind – if his butt looks that good, the rest of him must be great." She was thing, but had some muscle to her, and while she had a fine look to her face, almost elfin in nature, her highlighted brown hair was as unruly as Faith's with slight waves and curls in the bangs.

"Hey ya, boy toy, meet Dawn, Baby D ... my sister."

AN: Dun, dun, DUN! Dawn as Faith's sister – who couldn't see that one coming? This will take it to the end of season 4 and next time we'll start with Season 5. R&R, please – AR.