And now, the story continues.
An Eternal War
Chapter Nine
By IceWing (icewing@one.net)
Carefully, he opened the door to his basement apartment and helped Faith down the steps. She was leaning heavily on his shoulder as the descended. At the bottom of the staircase, Xander quickly glanced around, hoping that nothing extremely embarrassing was laying out in open site. "Sorry about the lack of five star accommodations, but my casa es su casa."
Faith smiled at him as he helped her to the couch and she sat down. Actually collapsed would be a better description. "Thanks Xander." She looked down at her hands, then back to his eyes. "Thanks for everything. You stood up for me back there. Not many people would have done that, especially after what I've done to you." She looked down again.
Xander stopped his frantic tidying of the basement after a couple seconds of silence and dropped on the couch next to Faith. He could tell she was hurting right now, but this kind of thing was not his specialty. A moment later, he lay his hand on hers and squeezed gently. "Faith. You remember how we talked all that time? How we talked about being there for friends? Well, you're my friend. And so I did what I felt needed done to keep you from getting hurt. In this case, it meant standing up to some people who I thought were my friends. And possibly getting my ass kicked if things went south. But I promised you that I would be there for you and I meant it. As long as you need me, as long as you want me by your side, to watch your back, I'm here for you." He wrapped his arms around her, and could feel the silent sobs that were wracking her frame. "Faith? What's wrong? I'm here for you I've got you. Nothing is going to hurt you right now. Trust me."
In response, she wrapped her arms around him and cried. A few moments later, she looked up at him through tear filled eyes. "You promise you won't bail on me Xander? That you won't betray me like every one else has? Don't say all this, don't make me promises you won't keep."
"Faith, upon my soul, I will not betray you. You and me, we'll watch each others backs and be there for each other, deal?"
The distraught Slayer sniffled back tears. "Deal."
Seconds became minutes, then hours as the two exiles held each other close, as day became dusk, then dusk became dark. They held each other not as lovers, not as soul mates, but as two people who have nothing left in the world and were desperate to know that someone, anyone would be there for them in their darkest hour. They held each other as friends.
Back at the park
Oz came back down the hill to where Buffy and Willow sat in silence. "They're gone" Oz paused for a moment, looking as close to uncomfortable as his expression would allow. "He let the air out of both of our back tires We're not going anywhere till we get the spares on."
Willow stopped staring at the woods and looked at Oz. "Why? Why would he choose Faith over us? How could he talk to us like that? What gives him the right?!?"
Oz decided silence was the best answer. Even after two years, he and Xander didn't really know each other that well. Not that surprising when you figure that the only thing they had in common was Willow, and most people didn't really like hanging out with their girlfriend and the guy you caught her kissing when she was supposed to be going steady with you. But that was the past, and this the present. And in the present, there was a flat tire on each vehicle that needed taken care of before they could really do anything. "Buffy. Keys." Spoke Oz in his trademark monosyllabic manner.
The severely depressed Buffy dropped her hand to her purse and fished out her keys before tossing them weakly to Oz. He caught them then went back up the hill to begin the unenjoyable task of jacking up the van and jeep, then putting on the spares. 'Well at least he didn't slit the tires, that would have been worse. All this really did was slow us down Which, of course was exactly what he wanted to do.'
Harlequinn sat quietly in the study of the house he had leased. His eyes were closed as he silently drew a whetstone across the ancient blade which lay on his lap. The wheel has come almost full circle. Darkness was on the horizon. Beside him, a small figure winked into existence.
"Heyas Bossman," spoke the small manlike creature. "The boyo you was havin me keep tags on done hooked up with some Powered chica and ditched the gals and dat lupine and done scrammed to his pad. Fells asleep on de couch dey did. Snugglebunnied and everything. What's you want me to do next, bossman?"
"Go back and observe. But stay out of the house itself. Those two deserve some privacy. Just keep me informed of where they are" The small creature nodded and winked out of existence. That was the problem with summoning city spirits The damn things always spoke in slang.
Eyes still closed, he sighed. Why did things always have to get some complex. Just for once, why couldn't things actually get easier? Bad enough the turncoat to deal with, but now there was going to be strife within the group just when they needed most to be unified against what was going to be placed in their way. "Shit!" he cursed. Glancing at the clock, he picked up the phone and dialed.
"I'm listening," spoke an extremely gruff voice from the other end of the connection.
"It's me. How far out are you guys? Things are getting as rough and we may need to move up the time table a touch."
"36 hours or so. Sis had to pick up some items from one of our caches for these kids of yours. I hope they're worth what we're giving them, old man. If not" The speaker let the sentence trail off in silence.
"They are. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Good travels my friend."
"Be careful old man." And the phone clicked off.
'Well,' thought Harlequinn. 'Now it gets interestingJust like that Chinese curse Hmm, that sounds good. Wonder if any of the Chinese restaurants in this town deliver."
No matter which way she turned, the mist was there. Willow was getting concerned. This had started out as a typical dream. Studying, sharing a milkshake with Oz, some more studying. But then things has gotten weird. The room she had been in had faded away, replaced by this impenetrable fog. She had tried waiting, but that got boring after a few minutes. Walking didn't really seem to get her anywhere, so she had. 'Ouch!' She rubbed her shins and looked to see what she had run into. A picnic table. The mist was clearing. Over there were some swings. After a moment she recognized this as a park she and Xander used to go to years ago
"What was I, chopped liver?" Asked a voice from behind her.
Willow turned about calmly, then yelled happily and ran to the form that was standing there "Jesse? Is it you?" She abruptly stepped back, remembering where she lived.
Jesse sat down on the top of the picnic table. "Yeah, its me, Willow. In the, well, I'd say in the flesh, but not really the case anymore, is it?"
Willow moved in and hugged him again. Jesse responded in kind, got up and began to pace as the Wicca sat down. "Willow, we were buds for quite a while, weren't we" Willow nodded, not really sure what to say. "Quick question before we get too much into things Name the person most important to you." Without hesitation, Willow responded that Oz was the most important person in her life. "Well, see that's part of what I am here to talk to you about." Jesse paused for a moment, then resumed his pacing. "Wills, I have to ask you, what does friendship mean to you? What do you think describes friendship?"
"Well, its about being there for your friends, even if its not easy for you. It's about being, well a good friend. Listening when the other person is hurting and doing what you can to help. It's hard to describe."
"Ok, so that's your definition of being a good friend. Then let me ask you this. If someone ignored you, treated you poorly, like Cordelia did for example, made lots of insensitive remarks and in general acted like an insufferable prig, what would think of that person?"
"That they were a jerk and that I don't like them"
"Well, now you know how Xander is feeling towards you and Buffy."
Willow recoiled as if she had been slapped. "Jesse, don't say things like that! It's a lie. Xander would never feel that way towards us.."
"And why not, Willow? You, yourself said that he's not the most important person in your life. And even if you felt that he was, what difference would it make. You and Buffy and Giles, you have all excluded him, ignored him and generally treated him like crap. You pushed and pushed. Willow, Xander is like an old oak tree. The winds can be blowing at near hurricane force winds, and it will just stand there, not moving, not yielding. An icon almost of strength and stability as chaos surrounds it. But what you and the rest of them did, it took away the dirt from the roots of that magnificent oak over a period of months, then with one massive push, knocked it clean over. Now, Buffy and Giles and Oz, I don't know them well enough to really make any kind of judgement, other than they were blind to what was going on in front of them. But you, Willow You should have known better. He would have done anything for you. He's risked his life time and time again, and you didn't even notice that the guy you've been best friends with since you could walk was dying inside. All it would have taken to fix things was for somebody, any one of you, to reach out to him again like you used to. That's all he needed, for somebody to reach out and be there for him in the same way that he was always there for everybody else. But nobody cared Willow. Not his supposed best friend, not the woman he had fallen for, not the man he looked up to as the father he should have had. You knew that his parents were useless and didn't care for him at all. You knew that he had nobody. That's why he was always there for you and me, why the musketeers were so tight. Because he thought that if he was there for us when we needed him, that we in turn would be there for him when he was in need. That's why he was the one who held the scooby gang together. Did you know that I was one of the reasons that he threw his lot in this fight in the first place? He felt he had let me down by first letting me get turned, then by staking me. He told me that Willow. Did you know he came and talked to me almost every week from the time I died? By talking to me, even if I was dead, he felt like he was there for me, even though he beat himself up over my death. And in turn, I have watched out for him since that day. Because he is my friend, Willow. I owe him for what he did, staking what used to be me so that I could rest. And for that, and everything we had together prior to that, I am going to be there for him, in any way that I can be."
"Jesse, we're friends too."
"Are we Wills? I used to think so too. But since I died, how many times have you even mentioned my name, or even thought about me? You moved on, and that's good. It's part of life. But you also ignored the guy who stood by you time and time again. And for what? Because he wasn't able to cast spells or have super powers. Xander's magic was of the heart, and now you've lost that. I'm sorry for you Willow. But you and your other friends messed up pretty bad here. Now, in addition to fighting against the bad guys, you have to try and make right something which you destroyed through sheer apathy. I don't envy you or Buffy what you have ahead of you. For the first time I can remember, I think you have something to do which you're going to fail at." Jesse looked her in the eyes, sadness in his. As he started to fade from sight, he spoke once more. "Prove me wrong Willow. Fix it and re-earn his friendship. Or your world will be worse than you really deserve."
Tears in her eyes, Willow watched as her once friend faded from sight and was gone again.
End Chapter 9