Title: Destinies Revealed.

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: Series 1 of Buffy up to Prophecy Girl.

Rating: R for some Extreme Violence.

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy. I would buy her and Tara but I am broke. This story is inspired by 3D Master's fic Chosen To Destroy. I'm playing in his sandbox with his permission.

Summary: When Buffy dies during Prophecy Girl, the rest of the Scooby Gang begin to grow into their own destinies. Inspired by 3D Master's fic, Chosen To Destroy. Warning Character Death!

Distribution: If you want it, just ask and tell me where you are putting it. Thanx.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giles stepped forward, dressed in his usual Tweed suit, however his mood was sombre as he began to speak.

"When I first met Miss Summers, she had just walked into the Library looking for a book she needed for school. My first impression of her was a self absorbed young woman whose only interest was clothing and hairstyles. I am glad to say she proved me wrong. Miss Summers was a compassionate and dedicated young woman. While she may have gotten in trouble with authority for fighting, if you dug into the matter, you would always find that the under-riding motivations behind her actions was invariably the protection of others.

"Buffy's light attitude and appalling brutalisation of the English language, while at first an annoyance, soon became a familiar and welcome addition to the Library, one which will be sorely missed. I've found over the long years of my life, that this world is like an ocean. One minute you can have clear skies and calm seas, while the next the storm clouds roll in, the waves kick up and all our lives become a struggle. Miss Summers was never one to shy from the storm, often calling 'do your worst' into the darkness and willingly bearing the onslaught so that others may ride the calm waters. Unfortunately this time the sea was to rough and her free spirit was overcome by the darkness which swamped her. I can only hope that when my own time comes to face the swell that I can cry out and face the crashing waves so that others may ride calm waters."

Although the bright sun shone down upon the small gathering and the beautiful Southern Californian weather made for a cheery day, the people held heavy hearts as they stood around the grave of Buffy Summers. Only seven people had attended the burial of a Hero, a Slayer. There was the priest; Giles, who had just delivered the Eulogy; Miss Calender; Mrs Summers; Willow; Xander and Cordelia. The tombstone was simple marble, with the inscription:

Buffy Summers,
1981 - 1997
A light in the darkness,
That guides us on.

Mrs Summers was sobbing, the kind of low sobbing that came after the energy to properly cry was gone but the pain was still as strong as ever. Willow was crying hard on Xander's shoulder, who was staring at the grave with eyes almost void of emotion, as if he was almost dead inside. Giles looked on with the resignation of one who had buried too many people, but the hurt in his eyes showed that this one he really cared about. Jenny Calender and Cordelia were not crying but they did have pain and grief in their eyes, while the priest looked on, a detached observer whose only regret was having to perform a service for one so young. As the funeral broke up, Xander gave the still crying Willow to Giles and went to intercept Mrs Summers.

"Mrs Summers." He said.

"Hi, um, Xander, right?" Joyce Summers asked.

"Yeah. I'm sorry about Buffy. I wish I could have gotten to her in time." Xander said quietly.

"I'm sure you did all you could. You couldn't have fought off a whole gang." Joyce said, referring to the cover story that they had given her.

"Look, Mrs Summers, I don't want to sound callous, but you need to leave town." Xander said.

"Excuse me." Joyce said, truly shocked.

"Look, more is going on here than you realise. If you don't want to join Buffy soon, then leave. Don't make her sacrifice meaningless." Xander said, his voice full of the emotion that had been lacking from his eyes earlier.

"What are you talking about?"

"Please, don't ask. Just go somewhere far away and live your life. Do it for Buffy, please." Xander pleaded, before turning and walking away.

********

A few weeks had passed since Buffy's funeral, finding Xander, Willow and Giles in the library. Gone were Xander's outrageous clothing, instead he only wore black, and right now he was angry.

"What?!?" he growled.

"The Council has ordered me back to England." Giles replied.

"Fine, go." Xander said in a low, angry voice.

"Xander!" Willow scolded.

"You think I bloody want to go?!?" Giles said, letting some of his alter ego emerge.

"Then why fuck are you?"

"Because, Xander, I have no choice." Giles replied.

"Bullshit. Fuck the Council. Those bastards don't give a shit about the world, they just want the Slayer as their tool so they can feel important."

"Xander! Language." Willow admonished.

"You go to them and you are dead to me." Xander spat at Giles.

"You think I want to dishonour Buffy like this. If I don't go, they'll have me deported. They can ruin lives with the stroke of a pen." Giles yelled.

A heavy silence reigned for a few minutes until a thought hit Xander.

"And Willow can restore them with the click of a keyboard." Xander said with a smirk.

Giles let out a truly Ripperish grin while Willow booted up the computer.

"Let's teach those idiots that it's the Twentieth Century." The redhead said, letting her Hacker skills work their magic in a world of ones and zeros.

********

Xander lead Giles into Angel's apartment. They were there to catalogue all the items to see which they could use, which they could sell and see if there were any truly dangerous items. After the initial unpleasantness with the Council a few weeks ago, Giles and Willow had convinced them that it was beneficial for Giles to stay upon the Hellmouth to monitor the 'altered patterns of the vampiric and demonic communities in order to determine the socio-political ramifications and interspecies dynamics of the various populations when influenced by the influx of mystic energy and the diversity of species in such a close proximity'. The Council had agreed as much out of fear of what Willow could do to them on the computer as in an attempt to look smart, as they did not understand the reason given for Giles to stay. In the intervening weeks, the group had patrolled but Sunnydale was suffering its, soon to be routine, Summer lull, and they had finally gotten around to searching Angel's apartment.

"Sell." Giles said, as Xander showed him some knickknack from Angel's apartment.

Xander picked up a figurine and showed it to Giles.

"Send back to the Council. It can suck your brain out through your nose when activated." The Watcher said, while putting a nice looking axe in the keep pile.

Xander carefully put the figurine in the DDG pile; Dangerous, Deadly and Gross. Opening an ordinary looking chest, Xander found something amazing. Two swords, with long, strait blades only bout two inches wide and a few millimetres thick, with some elaborate designs along the blades. The swords were obviously, event to Xander, of Chinese origin.

'I guess all those kung-fu movies do help,' he thought idly.

He pulled them out of the chest, noticing that one was heavier, with a longer blade and larger hilt, obviously designed for a man, while the other was shorter and had the smaller hilt that more suited a female hand. For some reason Xander felt comfortable holding the larger blade, almost as if it had been designed for his hand.

"Giles, I'm keeping these." He said, putting the swords in a new pile.

"Oh my. Xander, do you have any idea what these swords are?" Giles asked in shock.

"Yeah. My sword and its mate." Xander said without thinking.

"Xander, these swords were made by a Chinese Slayer who forged her own weapons." Giles said.

"Cool, got to dig a chick with an anvil." Xander joked.

"She was killed in the Boxer Rebellion." Giles continued, ignoring the interruption. "Supposedly she had a sorcerer cast a spell on the swords. The smaller, female, one can only be used by a Slayer while the male one can only be used by a Warrior of the Light. Supposedly the male one will be the chosen weapon of the greatest demon hunter of all time."

"Cool. But till this great demon hunter dude comes around and says 'give me my sword or I'll rip your lungs out and use 'em as a hat', it's mine." Xander said, more forceful in his claiming of the weapon than he realised.

A few hours later they left the now abandoned apartment with a crate of DDG items bound for the Watcher Council, several cool weapons and various items to help the fight in town and what would amount to several thousand dollars worth of stuff that they intended to sell. Xander, keeping the swords with him, went home and then broke down, cursing Angel for concealing the female sword, which Buffy could have used in her fight against the Master, and mourning the loss of his friend and love.

TBC.