Title: Episode X-IV: A New Force
Author: DhampyrX2
Genre: Halloween remix, the sequel to Halloween, Episode X(ander)
Series: Xander: Twilight Lord of the Sith
Rating: PG-13, just to be safe
Summary: Here's the beginning of my 'Xander: Twilight Lord of the Sith' sequels.
Timeframe: Surprise/Innocence
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Don't sue me, I'm poor.
Author's Note: This chapter is kind of an Epilogue/Interlude meant to tie up the aftermath of 'Innocence' in my new little universe. I'm going with the consensus I've received, and so 'A New Force' will cover most, if not all, of the rest of Season two of BtVS.
Master Yoda, head of the last full incarnation of the Jedi council once said, "Fear is of the Darkside. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hatred leads to suffering."
Alexander Harris could happily attest to the first two from recent personal experience. Now, he hoped to use his hatred, properly channeled, to bring about the third...to Angelus, anyway.
His mind wandered to the night they fought the Judge, and the aftermath, as he tried to psyche himself up for what he needed to do.
FLASHBACK
"Buffy! Are you okay? What happened to Angel? Did you you know?" Willow asked, mimicking the motion used to stake a vampire, as she called out to the recently arrived Slayer.
"...no. No he got away. But I'll get him eventually." Buffy replied morosely.
Xander knew better, between her pain, and the thoughts screaming out of her head for any force sensitive trained enough to pick up thoughts, but careless enough to think his shields didn't need to be a priority right now without other Jedi and Sith around, could see her replaying the scene over and over again in a continuous loop.
She...she let him go. She left him there, defenseless and ready to be staked, with just a kick to the nuts. She let a vampire once called the 'Scourge of Europe' walk without even a warning? Damn it that Force forsaken son of a Hutt is so bad I don't even feel sympathy for him getting a kick to the family jewels, and the damned /Slayer/ lets him go because she has issues after she caused this by /screwing/ him? How could she? That bastard tried to kill Willow for Force's sake! he raged in his head.
Still he knew better than to act out on his anger here, even if the though of Force choking a little sense into her bleach addled brain did creep into the back of his head for a second. Instead, he nodded non-commitally, and commented, "Next time, right Buff?"
"Yeah, next time." she agreed, still in a daze. "How about Dru? Did you blast her?" she asked on auto pilot.
Xander let his anger in his own inactions creep into his eyes as he ground out, "No. She got away. I...I had a shot, but then she started with all this crazy babble about Deadboy and you and I...I just didn't pull the trigger fast enough. She was gone before I could finish her off." To which he added a mental, Not that I actually /shot/ at her like ay sane person would, or anything.
Buffy nodded sadly at that, as if sympathizing with Xander's feelings as Giles said, "Yes, well her weak times being cared for by Spike aside, Drusilla has been known to be quite crafty and dangerous over the years, so missing her on your first try is hardly something to feel upset over, Xander. You should feel proud of your accomplishments tonight, instead."
"Yeah, we saved the world, again." Willow said peppily, trying to lighten the falling mood.
"And thanks for not leaving any pieces, Xander. I so appreciate a clean up duty without icky demon parts left to actually touch." Cordy added with feeling.
"Yeah." Buffy and Xander both commented quietly, but for totally different reasons.
END FLASHBACK
Xander's face was lit up a purplish white as he sneered and hurled Force Lightning into the specially designed receptor unit his Master had built for him. All his sabers, four training blades of two green and two yellow, as well as his full powered red and blue lightsabers sat in their charging ports, gathering the harnessed power.
Xander felt an odd sort of freedom, as he hurled out all the hate and anger at himself, Buffy, Drusilla, and Angel take physical form and fly out of his hands. His Force Lightning exercises were purging the rage so effectively, it was almost miraculous. It also showed him just why Vader had disliked using Force Lightning.
For someone like the Emperor, who was oily and black to the bottom of his corrupted soul, the technique came easily. Darth Sidious had hated everything, and only took joy or pleasure in the pain and suffering of others. Vader, by contrast, was simply very angry with the world around him. If Vader used too much Force Lightning, he would burn out his rage, thereby losing the edge that made him the (falsely named, for Palpatine was the true Master) Dark Lord of Sith. Anakin needed his anger to function as Darth Vader.
And so, as the last of his rage was spent in the ultimate form of venting, Xander fell to his knees, feeling much more centered about everything. After a few minutes to catch his breath, the you Padawan struggled to his feet, and stumbled over to the concrete slab he had placed the charger on, and checked the readouts for the various power levels. His face broke into a grin that threatened to beak his head in half at what he read.
They were full. All six masterpieces, the joint effort of he and Master Anakin both were ready for their final tests. Xander was giddy, as he picked up each blade, and lit it with a familiar 'Snap'. 'Hiss'. 'Vhmmm'. sound the reverberated through the CRD test lab he was working in that night.
Finally, after a battery of tests on each blade, checking for everything from possible shorts, to heat bleed off in the actual light beams, to the comfort of the grips, Xander was satisfied. He then turned to look at the four blocks of steel he had levitated into the room over the course of the last three weeks, as he forced his bull head to accept the fact that the phrase "size matters not" was more than a funny potential pick-up line for Yoda to use in a bar.
With a manic grin, he walked calmly up to the first block of metal, with both his true lightsabers clipped one to each hip. He pantomimed a memory of his Master's of Yoda once he reach the first steel block, and held his right hand gently out and away from his body. He then used the Force to slowly guide his blue, Jedi, lightsaber into his hand. The moment the cylinder reached his palm, he closed his hand, activated the blade, and leapt into a flurry of attacks. Sparks flew left, right, and center as Xander reduced the block of steel to tiny pieces in a matter of minutes.
Once he was done playing, he thumbed off the blade, and replaced it at his hip. He paused to wipe the sheen of sweat he had developed from his brow, before he walked to the next block. That one he attacked with a savage fury, using his red bladed saber. As with the blue, the lightsaber passed its test with flying colors, as he reduce the steel block to much smaller, more oddly shaped pieces.
After another pause, this time including a bathroom beak, and a moment to eat a couple of Twinkies, Xander attacked the other two blocks with both blades at the same time. This demonstrated two things to him. One, he needed more physical training, as he finished far more winded than he felt he should have been. The second thing was that training droids should be his next priority. He had almost finished with his first remote, but he needed at least five, plus a couple of droids capable of wielding lightsabers themselves, to work out how sloppy his techniques were.
"This is going to be a lonnnng couple of years to get up to snuff." he muttered to himself, before closing up early for the night. He wanted to get a bath before getting a few hours of real sleep instead of just a catnap and some meditation. He felt he had earned it.
It should also be noted that the pride in his accomplishments Xander felt only increased when an idiotic vampire accosted him on the way home that night, only to get beheaded as Vader had showed him how to do on Halloween. A flash of red, and a familiar humm was the only thing the undead fiend registered before it was so much ash.
END PART FOUR