Striking

by pari

AU post-"Not Fade Away"

Rated: PG

Disclaimer: props to Joss Whedon; no profit to me

Spoilers for the above; Warnings: herein there be rare-pairing-ness, and just a dash of slash (skip the first two paragraphs, and the occasional use of an s- word, and you won't even know it.) I'm not sure why I write anymore. Things pop into my head and I put them on paper...or something. Feedback, as always, would be appreciated.

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Xander Harris prided himself in the state of his newly-out-of-the-closet love life. His romantic relationships with men hadn't proved nearly as disastrous as his relationships with women.

Mostly because Xander hadn't had any "relationships" with men. Yet. He was working on it; starting by acknowledging the attraction to himself, when he felt an attraction to someone, and then considering telling that someone how he felt. He knew Wesley Wyndham-Price probably wasn't the right place to start, but... Damn. What the hell was LA putting in its drinking water?

"The force of the blast should flush them out of the building. Then we can pick them off from here."

"Yeah. Right. If by pick them off you mean fight for our lives and hope we get lucky."

Okay, so LA hadn't changed Wesley all that much. He was still the same, skinny English ass he'd always been. So damned certain of himself - so frickin smart. Even when he was being unbelievably stupid.

The ex-Watcher (...demon hunter...sorcerer...whatever...) turned his dark, blue eyes in Xander's direction, and the other man swallowed.

Not that taking on a whole pack of Uk'nau demons was stupid, per say. And if it was, then Xander wasn't sayin'. Wesley was still a cocky, English ass, yeah. He was still sorta skinny. Sorta - beneath a lotta lean muscle and leather.

But "Percy" Price, the mini-Giles, he was not. The name "Percy" just didn't fit a man who wore more weapons than limbs to use them with. Giles had made Angel's team disarm as soon as they'd showed up at the old Brownstone where the Slayerettes were housed. Xander couldn't decide which had been funnier - the look on Giles's face as Wesley had emptied his arsenal on the front lawn; the way Buffy had stuttered as Angel had asked why Wesley was traveling so "light," or the very-nearly girly screech Bri had let out when Wesley had turned on her with a sidearm. Then he'd blown the brains out of the Uk'nau that had crashed their party and was standing just over Bri's shoulder.

"Well. We could enter the Uk'nau's lair blind and hope we make it past the threshold," Wesley replied, as if suggesting a perfectly reasonable alternative.

Right. So "funnier" wasn't exactly the word. Wesley was smiling that same slight, secretive smile he'd had on his face while Spike had complimented his aim, and Angel had stepped over the body of the Uk'nau that had been about to eat Brianna. Like Angel saw his in-office bookworm shoot things in the head all the time and didn't think anything of it.

The smile had snapped Xander out of the stupor he'd slipped into when he'd caught himself thinking, 'Wesley... That Wesley! He's that Wesley!' A moment before he'd been thinking: 'Nice.' Stubble and edge and a nice set of shoulders... When Angel had spoken to Wesley by name Xander had thought he'd slipped into another dimension. No Wesley he knew was sexy and scary at the same time like this one.

"Yeah. So blasting 'em out is a good idea," Buffy contributed to the conversation. It was the three of them on this side of the abandoned warehouse where the Uk'nau were hiding. Angel, Spike, and Robin had taken another side; Faith and Kennedy and that lawyer guy, Gunn, had taken a third. Giles and Willow were blocking the rear exit out of the warehouse with spells.

"I'm glad you approve."

Sexy/Scary Wesley was kinda subtle. Xander could never tell whether he was being sarcastic, serious, or if he just didn't care either way.

Whatever Buffy would have said to that, her mouth snapped shut when the three of them became four.

The god-king Giles said had destroyed her "shell's" soul, and then had saved Wesley's life - transferring half of her Old One powers to him - was stalking around the warehouse towards them with that creepy gait of hers. Her blue hair glowed in the streetlights.

"The Watcher says his spells are ready. We may kill the Uk'nau now and resume our search for the dark wizard."

Angel and co. had come to Cincinnati for reasons of their own. It just so happened that they'd showed up in time to help the gang rid themselves of an Uk'nau infestation. Uk'nau demons weren't all that big a deal, on a scale of one-to-First-Evil. They weren't too smart; rarely got hungry. But they were big - and traveled in big numbers. And had this wacky, Slayers-can't-sense-em aura. Wouldn't hurt to have a couple of vampires, a demon-hunting lawyer, a borderline-psycho ex-watcher and his pet god-king lend a hand in the extermination.

But Angel hadn't been too happy about the deal Giles struck up. Meaning he'd gotten as nasty as any of the Scoobies had seen him, sans Angelus. And each member of his crew had reacted just as negatively to Giles's you-scratch-ours-we'll-scratch-yours approach. Gunn had been giving them all the silent treatment; even Spike was being quiet and distant (which, surprisingly, hurt). Wesley had walked out of the room while everyone was hashing out the details ('...help us with this, Angel, I can help you locate the wizard. If mine is the only copy of the Giorban text you seek, it may be your only chance at defeating his anti-location spells...") And whatever he'd said to Giles later, while they were alone... Xander knew there was more to their very own Watcher-man than they'd thought when they were children. Giles could be scary, too. But after he'd talked to Wesley... He'd looked scared. Xander couldn't imagine what the younger Englishman could have said to get that sort of reaction.

The god-king had reacted most negatively of all - although she hadn't been as upset as the others. She'd just been annoyed.

She'd lifted Giles by his throat as Buffy and Kennedy had tried, ineffectually, to stop her, and Angel had tried to stop Buffy from trying.

"If you die, the text will be ours, and we will seek no longer," Illyria (as Angel and the others called her) had said.

Giles might have died if Wesley hadn't come back and talked her down. Apparently Wesley was the only one Illyria listened to.

"Patience, Illyria," Wesley was saying now. "If you'd killed him, we'd have had to come back here and take care of the Uk'nau eventually."

Again, Xander wasn't sure if Wesley was being serious, or just trying to get a rise out of him and Buffy.

It worked really well, either way.

"Can we kill demons now?" Buffy snapped, eyes narrowing at Wesley and Ms. Blue. She hefted the axe she'd had resting on her shoulders and nodded towards the warehouse before them. "Or are you two gonna stand around here flirting all night?"

Buffy'd always had a weird perception of romance. Then again...

Wesley smirked at her, then nodded - in a mockery of consent. And when Illyria stood beside him, he took her left hand in his right, entwining their fingers.

Xander frowned. "So how does this work, anyway?" he asked, lightly. "You said we were supposed to blast 'em out. I don't see anybody carting explosives our way. You gonna magic 'em up?"

Wesley opened his mouth to answer, but Illyria beat him to it. Apparently, the god-king was tired of small-talk. She turned so that she and Wesley were back-to-back, their linked hands facing the warehouse.

"Yes," she said simply.

Then she and Wesley rose their clasped hands and aimed them towards the building.

"You may wish to-"

Wesley's warning disappeared in a flash of the blue light that was suddenly radiating from his and Illyria's fingers and striking the warehouse. The light reflected off of every window in the building, and Xander and Buffy had to drop their weapons, covering their eyes to avoid the painful glare.

There came the sound of earth shaking, plaster crumbling - glass shattering and bricks bursting of their own accord. And amidst it all there were the inhuman shrieks of the Uk'nau - enraged or terrified, Xander couldn't tell which (though, obviously, he hoped it was the latter).

Through the din, Xander heard Wesley begin to speak again.

"-shield your eyes," he finished finally.

"Gee, thanks," was Buffy's muffled reply.

"You are welcome," Illyria told her in a monotone.

Xander opened his eyes, blinking furiously. He straightened - not having realized he'd doubled over - and rubbed at the slightly reddened skin on his face. Then he nearly jumped.

Wesley was standing right in front of him. His blue eyes were glowing now, too - the same, icy blue as Illyria's.

"Alright?" he asked, unexpectedly.

Xander blinked again, for an entirely different reason.

Over Wesley's shoulder he could see that Buffy had rehoisted her axe, and that the warehouse was now nearly crumbling in on itself. The walls were half-standing, half-fallen, and riddled with holes. Dust and smoke wafted out of every crack. Wesley and Illyria had done that with their own two hands?

"I'll live," Xander said, on autopilot.

Illyria strode past the two of them, on a path to the first of the Uk'nau to lurch out of the warehouse.

"We will see," she said.

"She's a real barrel of laughs, isn't she?" Buffy quipped, heading for the next Uk'nau to emerge.

Wesley raised a brow at Xander, but turned without another word. Xander watched as he raised his hands into the air, blue fireballs the size of small boulders forming in his palms. Illyria was punching holes into her Uk'nau with her fists. Buffy was dodging and slicing at hers with her axe.

Xander hefted his own weapons - a smaller-sized, double-ended axe for each hand - and headed into the fray.

That whole 'acknowledge and consider' thing could wait.

- end -