The One Who Sees
By Vinya
"I'm gonna do what any man would do about it. Something damn manly."
Xander to Larry
Chapter 8
They had taken another ten minutes before Xander had completely managed to calm himself enough to clear his mind. The memories hadn't quite faded, but they were gone enough that he could pretend they didn't exist until Halloween. Then the discussion had begun.
"Well," Willow had started, "We know he's going to go on a road trip- we could use that as a memory."
"Graduation? Presuming we live that long of course…"
"Fighting the master," Giles interrupted Buffy, "We know that you'll all go up against him again."
"Presuming," Buffy started again, "We live long enough."
"A first girlfriend?" Angel started, trying for the more simply approach, after seeing what the last attempt had done to their friend, "Moving out?"
"We're looking for things that'll turn me dark," Xander had interrupted, "We should be goin' for the down and nasty." -not that he wanted to know the down and nasty, but he wanted to be dark even less. "We don't have to use something specific, do we Jon?"
Jonathan had shook his head. "No. Say, if you wanted to see if you just ever had to stand alone, without your friends beside you. All you have to do is think of that- and those are the times that the darkest things will happen to you, when you're alone."
Nobody asked how he knew that, and they sat back to try again.
Angel sat back down in the circle, and before he knew it they were once again immersed in his memories.
It was weird- he had fallen into the memory easily, but what he hadn't been expecting was to see himself. He was there, in the middle of the street, talking to Harris about something important…
"What's going on?" He heard Buffy ask.
"We're here. I mean, memory Xander, and a memory me. We're- whoa!"
"What's wrong?" Willow asked, scared.
"I grabbed him… I think it's some sort of plan. I grabbed him by the neck, and I'm dragging him, but he doesn't seem that scared. Just pissed. We're heading towards the school."
"What's there?"
It was almost like putting the memories on fast forward- once second he was at least four blocks from the school, the next second he was standing in front of the front doors, watching as…
"William."
"What?"
Not sure of who asked the question, Angel returned, "William the Bloody- a childe of mine I hadn't seen in years. He's going to be in Sunnydale within tops two years."
And he was ripped out of the memory.
Xander was standing above him before he had even opened his eyes properly, his eyes wide open, and his face red with anger. The girls all jumped to him, trying to find out what was wrong with him this time, but he simply shoved them off. "He," Xander ground out, pointing to where Angel still sat, "He offered me to him! He offered me to his frickin' vampire buddy! Like a gift!"
"What?"
Giles was looking decidly pissed now too, and ready to explode. "What do you think you were doing?"
All Angel could think to say was, "I don't know. After all, it's not like it's even happened yet.
Xander gave him a long stare, still angry. Fuming mad in fact.
"Forget this," he finally said, "If this is what my future is going to be like, I don't want to know. Let it happen- and if you guys are gonna' turn on me so many times that I really actually want to kill you, then I say let it happen. Nobody will get what they won't deserve.
"You don't mean that Xander," Willow replied quickly, stepping between Xander and the door, "This is important! You know it is! Let's just do this, quick, okay? For me?"
Xander paused, gave her a long look, and sighed.
"Fine," he muttered, "But from now on, we're doing the memories I want."
To Be Continued