The Archer

Time-Set: Season Three; Before 'Amends.'

Xander quickly checked his room for anything he missed. He had gathered up all his most important possessions. He had his axe, his bows, his arrows, his guitar, and his clothes. Oh, and his country music along with a CD boombox. He knew that Dom's house didn't have electricity, but she did have three car batteries that she used to power her laptop. She connected them to some outlets that she had made herself.

Xander got his stuff together and carried it out to the car. As he finished packing it up, two bodies came out of the house.

"What the Hell are you doing, you worthless bitch," shouted his father.

"Guess they're not passed out," muttered Xander.

"Get back inside the house," shouted his mother.

"Not gonna do that, mom," he said.

"Excuse me," said his father, "What did you just say?"

"I said that I'm no going to go back inside, dad. I'm moving out."

"Like HELL you are," he screamed, "You're mine and you do what I tell you to!!"

"Not anymore, dad," he said, "I'm eighteen and legally an adult. I have a place I can move to and I will go there. There is nothing that either one of you can do or say that will stop me, so you can just walk back inside and leave me the Hell alone."

Both his parents stared at him, then his father wordlessly walked back inside. He came out a minute later with something in his hand. He walked over to Xander and handed it back to him. Xander stared at it. It was a picture of Xander and his folks on his seventeenth birthday…the first time that his parents had ever celebrated his birthday…the first time that anybody had ever celebrated his birthday.

Xander, for the first time since that day, smiled at his father. He wordlessly gave his father a hug, and his father returned it. When they broke apart, he looked Xander square in the eye.

"Alexander," he said with a sober voice, first time ever, "I know that your mother and I haven't been the best parents to you. I know that I've…hit you so many times that you've probably got brain damage. I also know that that's so that I don't go out during that time and…pick a fight with someone else. You've saved both our lives before, and we both know that you fight the darkness. That's another reason why I've been so hard on you recently. I wanted you to be tough enough to survive in that world. I…no, we are very proud of you, boy. If I could have had the child of my choice, it would still be you."

Xander felt himself choke up as he listened to his father's testimony. He felt his eyes tear up slightly as he remembered all those times. It was hard to accept, but the words rang true in his heart. He extended his hand to his father, and his father shook his hand. When he let go, he turned to Xander's mom.

"Do you have something to say," asked his father.

She sneered and walked down to her son.

"Have a good life," she said, "And try."

She turned and walked back inside. His father turned back to Xander and shook his head.

"You know the number, right," he asked.

"Yeah, Dad. I…love you guys. I'll miss you."

"We will, too, son. Oh, by the way…nah, it's not important right now. Go on, Xander. Call us every now and then."

"Will do, Dad."

Xander hopped into his car, waved goodbye to his dad, then drove off. For the first time in his natural life, Xander felt like…a human being.

Xander sighed as he surveyed his new home. The house had two stories, the first floor and a little goat room in the center of it. A spiral staircase led to it. Everything in the house was made of wood, and nothing, aside from the bed, had cushions or mattresses, and the one on the bed was extremely thin. The living room was also the library, and it housed three bookcases full of books on meditation and the secrets of the earth. It was filled with information that would make Giles want to buy the house from him. The other spaces on the walls were filled with weaponry from the orient and the Dark Ages. The den had a wooden couch that was closer to a church pew, a coffee table, and was surrounded by art. There were three suits of armor there, one from China, another from England, and one American Ranger uniform from World War II. Dom never liked war, but she said that World War II was the war that created Earth. It also had another bookshelf filled with how to create weaponry of all styles. Xander remembered using those books to create his first bow, which he still had, and his first quiver of arrows, which he still had. The study was filled with his two bows and was covered with every quiver of arrows he had…which totaled up to nearly seven hundred and thirty arrows. Xander had taken each and every quiver to church and had a priest bless it, then put a bit of magic on the tip. It would kill a vampire easily. The kitchen, which you had to open a hidden door on the left side of the den to get to, was a simple room with a furnace pit and a cauldron suspended from chains above it, and a sink. The only modern tool, aside from the car batteries and laptop, that she had was indoor plumbing, which she used sparingly. There was mainly vegetables in there, but Xander would go out and buy some meat. He respected Dom a lot, but he couldn't survive without a steak every now and then. The bedroom, which was right next to the study, held his bed and a skylight window. The room was filled with paintings by Dominique, and most of them were of her and Xander practicing. There was one, however, that touched Xander especially. It was a painting of a castle underneath attack by their enemies. There were swords being flung, arrows being shot, and lava flowing from the castle. The thing he liked about it was the flag on the castle. It was the American flag, but there was a golden dagger amongst the stars. It was what Dominique believed America represented: the courage and responsibility to fight for those in need at any cost.

The room that Xander liked the best was the goat room. It had six windows, but the walls and windows were all covered by mirrors. There was only one lamp suspended in the center of the room. The only air in the room would come from the trapdoor that led back downstairs.

As Xander set put all his stuff together, Xander decided that he would do some meditation. He put on some country music (never meditate without it) and went up to the goat room. He lit the candle and locked the door, then turned off his watch. He settled himself into the most comfortable position, listened to the dulcet tunes of the music, smelled the incense from the candle, and let his mind wander. For an hour, he guessed, he let his mind wander. As he did so, he began to see things. He saw his friends. They were…in pain. He saw fire and brimstone, lightning. He saw fog and a catacomb. He saw…a creature with many forms, but none of them were alive. He saw the dead as they rose from the ground, fire consuming the high school. He saw…a snake, a huge snake rise in front of the full moon and roar. He saw, and felt, death.

When Xander awoke, he gasped for what breath he could. His visions had been so vivid, so destructive, that he could not even understand where he was at first. He panicked for a moment, then calmed down. He breathed as slowly as he could, tried to regain control of his body, but failed. He felt his body convulse, then struggled to attempt to gain control. Finally, after nearly an hour of convulsing, he regained control of his body. He struggled to his feet, opened the trapdoor, put out the candle, walked down the stairs, then fell to the ground.

When he woke up, he looked at the clock. It was seven thirty in the morning. Fortunately for him, it was a…

"Oh, shit," said Xander.

He started to get up, but felt his head become light. He fell down to the floor again. He tried once more, but again felt his body give out on him. The visions had taken a toll on his body. Xander stopped moving. He remembered when he had fallen into the vision, because he had to turn off his watch. He remembered that it had been six forty-five on Saturday night. According to the battery operated clock he had on the coffee table, it was six thirty-three on Monday morning. Xander had been trapped in that nightmare for over twenty-four hours. Without any hesitation, Xander got up…and fell back down.

Nearly two hours later, Xander finally managed to get to his feet. He limped over to the front door, then thought about what he was going to do. He couldn't possibly drive now, and the nearest phone was…he had no idea where the nearest phone was. Finally, Xander made his decision. Instead of resisting the vision, he would have to embrace it. Xander walked slowly back up to the goat room, lit the candle, shut the trapdoor, then let himself fall back into the vision.

For nearly one full week, Xander remained trapped within his vision. He journeyed through the world that he knew; the world of evil. He found things that he couldn't imagine, things that he'd never heard of, and…experienced things that he'd never realized could be experienced. There were so many things that he felt and heard and saw…to him, a minute was a year. His mind unlocked secrets that he never knew were there. He unlocked the warrior of the jungle, the Vietnam veteran. He trained with the soldier, learned how to fight like a soldier. Then, he experienced his memories. He went through basic training, went through Para-training, and went through the four-and-a-half years that his soldier spent in Vietnam before he was killed by a Viet Cong vampire.

Then, he went to the savannah. He felt the longing of the hunt, the call of the wild, and the lust of death. The beast that humans called the hyena rampaged through his mind, taught him how to track and how to scare his prey. It taught him how to see, how to feel…It taught him how to sense the world around him, on the three plains of existence that humans could travel to: the living plain, where Xander was now; the dead plain, where the dead reside; and the plain in between, where the demons and vampires and all things mystical exist. He could feel the earth, and it fueled his being. He felt his mind, his body, and his spirit become stronger as the hyena left him.

Xander could not see where he was now. Then, he heard a scream. He opened his eyes and came face-to-face with…himself. But there was something wrong, something he couldn't recognize. Then, the face in front of him morphed. It changed into the image of a vampire. Xander wondered when he had ever been a vampire, but then the answer became clear to him…as he saw the vampire's memories. This vampire was brought to his world by Anyanka, the patron saint of scorned women. She had blessed Cordelia with a wish, and she had wished for Buffy to never have come to Sunnydale. Xander saw the events of that wish and felt true fear. This was the world that would have been. The world that could have been. It frightened him.

Then, the vampire took him. He felt his face change, felt the absence of a soul, felt the need for the blood. He felt the seductive call of the vampire, and Xander wanted so much to simply allow himself to be pulled into it. But, he could not bare it. He fought the essence inside him, fought the demon. The demon put up a struggle, but it was quickly losing. Xander's spirit, strengthened by both the soldier and the animal. It parted the waters before Xander, forced the demon into a state of near death. It collapsed onto its knees, a clear signal of surrender. Xander could feel its plea. It was willing to give itself to him in exchange for its existence within his body. It had been torn away from existence when the power-center was destroyed, but now that Xander had rediscovered it, the vampire wanted back…and he would gladly serve a being of good in exchange for his existence. Xander knew that, if he agreed, the demon would betray him, but so would the hyena, no matter how much they said they wouldn't. The soldier and Xander himself would be overcome by the hyena, but the vampire was an enemy to all three. The animal and the soldier would be extremely preoccupied in controlling the vampire, so that would allow Xander to have complete control over his body. The hyena hated vampires and, thus, would never agree to work with him. The soldier was loyal to Xander, just as he was loyal to his country when he was alive. Xander made his decision: he would allow the vampire a meager existence within his body. Immediately, he felt the change as the vampire rose and stood behind him and the other two spirits. There were no voices, only instincts. The hyena and the vampire both screamed 'kill,' but the soldier said 'kill when necessary,' and Xander said that as well.

Xander felt his mind, body, and spirits meld into one. He was in the meld, in the thick of all three realms. Xander slowly numbed his mind and allowed his body to come out of its trance.