A/N I'm extremely proud of this chapter. To me it has one of the best fight scenes that I've ever written. Also thanks for the few people who are reviewing my story, at least somebody cares.
Also say goodbye to the Hyena and the Soldier.
Chapter 7
Fighting Spirit
As Xander made it down from his room ready to go to school, he saw the little girl Dierdre and Sheila at the breakfast table eating. Before he made his presense known he took a good look at Dierdre. She was a small little thing. She kind of reminded him of Dawn.
Besides her looking physically fine, he looked at her face. Even though she was smiling, he could see in her eyes that she was in pain (emotionally and mentally), pain that he was used to having. She also strangely enough looked like Kendra a bit. Kinda like a mini version of her.
Then he looked over at Sheila who was also smiling. There was no sign of the emotionally distraught woman from last night. Now sat the image of a strong woman. Or that's what she want's people to think. Xander thought to himself. I know all about burying your true feelings.
Putting on a smile of his own he walked fully into the room.
"So how are my favorite girls this morning?" Xander asked as he put his backpack on the floor.
"Xander!" Dierdre screamed as she latched herself onto him, giving him the biggest hug she could muster. 'Just like Dawn.' Xander thought to himself.
Smiling down at her, he returned the hug.
"I tink somebody has a crush." Sheila teased earning a blush fom Dierdre. Letting go of Xander she sat back down at the table and started back eating.
"Please have a seat Xander and get somethin' to eat. I'll drive you to school in a few minutes." Sheila said as she handed Xander a plate. Doing what he was told Xander ate his food and got a twinkie as a reward. After that Sheila dropped Xander off at school and took Dierdre to social services.
Sheila wanted to keep Deirdre but the social workers didn't want her to at first. After Deirdre explained that she had no family left and that she was growing attached to Xander and Sheila, the social workers decided that she could stay with them. To celebrate the two went shopping.
When they got home (they were gone all day and it was almost time to pick Xander up from school) however an old lady was waiting at the door step. Recognizing immediately who it was Sheila went to her and started talking. When Dierdre asked who she was Sheila told her to go inside and try on her new clothes. Being obedient she did so.
Later on Sheila came upstairs with a mug of tea and gave it to Dierdre, who drank it. When she did she fell into a deep sleep.
School was a virtual blur to Xander. Surprisingly enough the highschool looked exactly like Sunnydale High. The kids however were very nice. That was however until he met a girl that reminded him very much of Cordelia.
She even had the patented Cordettes with her as an entourage. Except that the girls name was Dominique. At one point in the day he had actually called the girl Cordy (they had a class together.) Taking it as an insult, she threatened to have some of the jocks beat him up. That was until he lied and said that Cordy in american means beautiful.
Beyond that confrontation Xander had a fairly good day. Waiting outside for his ride, Sheila finally shows up. For once she is totally quiet and looks guilty about something Xander noted.
As they walked into the living room Xander saw an old lady sitting on the couch. Never one to be rude he walked up to her and introduced himself.
"Hi my name is......"
"I know who you are boy." The old woman said in a gravely old voice. "Please sit down."
Xander looked at the woman strangely for a moment and then he looked at Sheila.
"Don't worry Xander, dis is de woman I told you about. De one who could help you with your problem."
"Okay." Xander said a little skeptically as he sat down. 'Something's just not right here.' Xander thought to himself.
"I can sense dat dare's a very powerful beast inside of you boy. Dare's also a great warrior inside of you as well."
"Yeah.... I mean yes ma'am." Xander said nervously. He really hated talking about this stuff.
"About a year ago some shaman possessed me and a few others with the spirits of hyena's. And this past halloween an old enemy of a friend of mine's put a spell on my costume that turned me into a soldier for the night." Xander explained.
"Ahhh and you wish to rid yourself of these spirits?" the old woman asked.
"Yes ma'am." Xander said grimly. "The nightmares are becoming to much."
"I see." the old woman replied as she stroked her chin thoughtfully. "I can't rid the spirits from your body. Only you can." the woman explained.
"Me. What can I do?" he asked.
"You have to fight the spirits off yourself. Dat's the only way to be rid of them for good."
"Okay. But how can I do that?"
"I can do a spell dat will take you into the boundaries of your mind. Dare you must defeat de spirits, in order to restore balance to your soul. Do you tink you can do dat?" The old woman asked. Xander just nodded.
"Good now move dat table." the woman ordered.
After Xander moved the table, the old woman took out a big bag and started to set up. She took out chicken's feet, a skull, candles, and she drew a pentagram on the living room floor. After Xander layed down in the middle of the pentagram, the old woman cast what looked to be dice but were actually small bones, onto the floor and started chanting.
As the candles flared with a brilliant red light Xander passed out.
Inside Xander's mind
As Xander finally came too, he opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a desert. Standing to his feet he began to walk around. Looking down at himself he see's that he's wearing all black.
"Hello, is anybody here!" he yelled. Only his own echo answered him back. As he walked by a small puddle of water, the wind suddenly picks up. As he blocks the sand with his hand, he looks up at a hill, and see's a man walking down from it.
The man was tall and wore all black leather. His long duster bellowed in the wind like a cape as he slowly walked down the hill. The sun was shining so bright that Xander however couldn't see his face.
"So you finally decided to show up?" the man asked in an unmistakeable voice. As the figure came fully into view, from the glare of the sunlight, Xander finally saw his face. Xander was staring face to face with himself. Only this version of him had pitch black eyes like ink and he seemed to carry himself more as a predator.
"The Hyena." Xander muttered to himself.
"Very perceptive of you, Xander." the Hyena spirit said to him as he stopped about ten feet in front of Xander.
"You know, I've been waiting for so long for you to slip up. Just one time and then I could take back over your body." The Hyena spirit said with a sneer. "But I'm so glad you're here. Now I can kick your ass and just take over your mind."
"But I thought that Giles said that you were gone?" Xander asked. The Hyena spirit just smiled at that.
"He was half right. Most of the spirit of the Hyena was vanquished, but part of me hung on in the back of your mind, just hoping for the day when I would get to take over. Hmmmmm.... Giles. Now there's a man that would have been a good pack leader. I'm sure in his day he was an Alpha. Speaking of leaders after I had of made Buffy my mate I would have came after Giles so I could kill him. Then I would be the Alpha Male."
"Don't talk about my friends like that!" Xander shouted. The Spirit then gave Xander one of his patented lopsided grins. It was slowly baiting Xander into it's trap.
"Speaking of Buffy I don't know what I saw in her. Sure she's powerful, but she's so scrawny, now Kendra there's a true woman. Sure she's rough around the edges, but after I insert.... myself in her, I'm sure I could make her into a new woman."
"That's it!" Xander screamed as he ran at the Hyena full speed. He struck out with a rainbow kick, that the Hyena smoothly slid under, then dropped down to the ground and did a leg sweep on him, only for the spirit to jump over his attack.
As Xander get's to his feet, the Hyena takes Xander by his arm and does a judo throw on him sending him into a large puddle of water.
"Not bad, boy." the Hyena said with a smile.
"How can I fight like this?" Xander asked totally confused as he stood up out of the water. The cool liquid soaked his all black clothes through and through. Making his clothes cling to him. Whenever he tried to fight along side Buffy he could never do moves as he just did.
The Hyena just looked at Xander and shrugged. "Hey this is your mind, whatever you say here goes."
Xander closed his eyes and began to wish real hard. The Hyena then let out a harsh laugh.
"Very funny boy, but you can't wish me away in this world. You either have to kill me or.... let me take over. Now come on!" it shouted as it ran towards Xander.
Xander did a flying cartwheel to avoid the spirits attack. As Xander did a few punch combo's, which the spirit blocked on it's arm and forearm, the spirit grabbed him and both of them rolled into the puddle of water and began to wrestle with one another.
Standing to it's feet, the spirit ran at Xander and tried to do a flying dropkick on him. That was until Xander grabbed his leg at the last minute and flipped the spirit onto the ground. Chest heaving and overall tired from fighting Xander stood there in a fighting stance.
"I see you have alot of fight left in you." the Hyena spirit said as he stood to his feet. "But will it be enough?" It asked as it raised it's hands skyward and dissappeared.
"Wait what are you talking about?" Xander asked as he ran forward.
"Hurry we have to finish de spell." The old woman said as Sheila took out the Hunter's mask and layed itnext to Xander in the pentagram. She really didn't want to do this to Xander but it was the only way. Every since her husband died she had been heartbroken and was willing to do anything to get him back. Even doing voodoo.
That's why she decided to be a sponsor for the student exchange program. So she could bait a kid to Jamaica, get her old friend to do a soul spell on the kid, so it would call forth the spirit of her dead husband and put it into the kid.
What she wasn't expecting however was Xander. She was in a way falling in love with him. Not as in boyfriend girlfriend falling in love, but like a mother and son or a sister and brother love. Xander was cute, funny, and he was in pain. The same kind of pain she was in when she was young.
Taking one last look at the grimacing face of Xander, she joined hands with the old woman and started chanting over Xander.
"What's.... what's going on?" a tiny voice asked sleepily from the top of the stairs. Startled Sheila knocked over a bottle of red powder, which fell onto the Hunter's mask and some went on Xander himself. Opening her eye's Sheila looked up and saw Dierdre at the bottom of the stairs wiping the sleep out of her eyes.
'Damn, I should have put in more of dat sleeping potion.' Sheila silently cursed to herself as she put on a smile for Dierdre.
"Nothin's going on sweetie." Sheila lied. "Now go back to bed and I'll be up to check on you in a few minutes."
"Oh... Okay." Dierdre said as she walked back up stairs. With Dierdre gone Sheila started back chanting, never noticing that she had spilled the potion.
As Xander blinked a couple of times the scenery suddenly changes. Now he's standing in a middle of a jungle.
"Xander." a voice said gravely and sing song like as it began to laugh maniacally. "Xander." it said again as it again started to laugh.
As Xander started to turn, to see where the voice was coming from, he stumbles on an uprooted tree branch. Falling on his ass, he feels something beneath him. Looking down he see's that it's a land mine. With only seconds to spare he jumps into the air as the mine explodes. The force of the blast sent him flying in the air about twenty feet, where he lands hard on the ground.
The voice that was calling out to him, then laughs even crazier.
Jumping down from a tree, the soldier stands up and aims it's assault rifle at Xander.
"You know boy, till this day you still amaze me." the soldier spirit of Xander said. He was wearing full on commando fatigues and just like the Hyena spirit he had pitch black eyes.
"I live to please." Xander replied wincing as he stood to his feet.
"Yeah I know. Is that why you're still playing the lap dog to the slayer?" the soldier spirit asked.
"Hey I do plenty of things..... I ..... I help out." Xander said trying to defend himself.
"Oh yeah, you go out and get the donuts...... ohhh I'm so scared." the soldier said shaking in his combat boots. "When the hell are you going to stand up and use the abilites that were given to you? Never." the spirit answered for Xander.
"You're still hiding like a little girl behind your precious Buffy. Maybe your father was right about you. You ain't nothing but a little faggot."
"Are you ready to fight now?" Xander asked, clearly angry.
"As you wish." the spirit said as he started to fire his rifle at Xander. With super-speed and reflexes Xander dodged the bullets and hid behind a tree. As the soldiers bullets ran out he dropped his gun to the ground.
"I think it's time for a little hand to hand." it said as Xander walked from behind the tree.
Jumping into an easy fighting stance, the two charged each other. Both of them did forward flips as they came within a few feet of each other. As Xander blocked a southpaw from his counterpart, he lashed out with a sidekick that connected with the soldiers ribs.
"Not bad. Not bad at all." the soldier said holding his ribs. Xander then was hit with a spinkick that connected with his jaw. As the two exchanged a series of punches and kicks, the soldier grabbed Xander by his leg and clothes-lined him, sending him to the ground. Xander layed on the ground like a folded up accordian as the soldier stood menacingly over him.
"Is that all you got soldier." the spirit growled. "Get up!" he shouted as he hit Xander on one of his legs. Angered Xander did a fancy spinning move and got back to his feet. With a satisfied look on his face the soldier took out a huge combat knife and charged Xander.
Kicking off the base of a tree Xander did a rainbow kick, that knocked the knife out of the soldiers hand and sent him realing to the ground.
"That was very impressive." the soldier said as he stood to his feet. "Now let's see if you can face your toughest challenge." Xander blinked a couple of times already tired of the fight, as the Hyena spirit seemed to blink into existence and stood beside the soldier.
"You know boy." the Hyena started. "Me and soldier boy were talking and we decided that we could share one body. The problem is we just have to get rid of you." he said with a menacing smile as the two began to walk towards Xander.
That was until they stopped and gasped. Before Xander knew what was going on, two bloody fists were sticking out of the Soldier and the Hyena's chest. As their now lifeless bodies fell to the ground it was revealed that a powerfully built black man was standing behind the two.
Xander looked at the black man hard and long, before it clicked into his mind who he was. Before he could say anything, a large swirling vortex opened.
Knowing that it was a way out Xander began to run towards it. But as he looked beside him he noticed that the black man with dredlocks was running beside him. Increasing his speed he ran towards the vortex.
Xander's eye's snapped open and he looked around the lavish living room. Then his eyes focused on two women standing over him.
"Husband?" Sheila asked with a smile on her face.
"No my dear." Xander said in a cultured voice. "My name is Akin Bembola."
TBC....
Please review........... At least give me five reviews for this chapter I worked really hard on it.
