The Archer

Xander gave Faith a hug as he left the house.

"If you need me," he said, "Call me at the school. Call Giles. His number's on the coffee table and there's a payphone not too far away. Or just come to the school."

"'Kay," she said, "Bye, X. See you tonight."

"Have good visions, Faith."

Xander parked his car and got outside. He was dressed in desert camouflage, a tight black shirt, his arrowhead necklace, and his regular necklace. He also had on desert combat boots. All and all, he looked good. He wondered what havoc today would bring.

As he got out of his car, the first thing he noticed was someone heading his way. Cordelia was coming, obviously to provoke him into a new fight over what he did. Xander, however, knew what to do. As she came forward, she stopped in mid-stride. She was clearly unused to him looking good.

"So," she said, "The boy wants to pretend to be a man."

Xander didn't say anything, didn't do anything, just leaned against the car door with his arms folded underneath each other. He didn't have a smile, or a glare, or any facial features. Cordelia was beginning to freak out.

"Or maybe Oz," she said, "At least he's got Willow. You couldn't even keep her after you cheated with her."

Xander let the blow take effect on him, but didn't bother to show the pain. He deserved pain for what he did, and he was getting it. However, he also knew that he didn't deserve forgiveness. He didn't want it. Now, he just accepted it. Xander turned away from her and reached into the back seat. He pulled out a bouquet of flowers and handed them to Cordelia. She looked at him like he was insane, which might be true, but took them anyway.

"I'm not asking for forgiveness," he said slowly, "I don't deserve it. All I'm asking is that you move on with your life. You deserve more than I have to offer. Go out there, live life to the fullest, and enjoy yourself. You deserve that."

Xander smiled once, then walked up to the school. He could feel her confusion, pain, and arousal burning his back as he walked away. It felt good…and bad all at once.

Xander walked up to the library doors and looked inside before he went in. Oz and Willow were sitting next to each other, holding hands. Willow and Buffy were talking with each other, probably about Angel. Strangely, Xander no longer felt animosity towards the souled vampire, just a little bit a nausea when he thought about what the two did that made him lose his soul. Giles was sitting on the table, odd for the Watcher, and he was reading a book, odder still, a non-demon book.

Xander walked inside and set his books down on the table. He nodded in greeting.

"Hello, Xander," said Giles, "How was your vacation?"

"Enlightening," answered Xander.

"'Enlightening,'" asked Buffy, "What, did you buy a new lamp?"

"Yes," said Xander, "But the light burned out, so I had to buy a new bulb."

Buffy was about to ask him what else he did, but she stopped once she got a good look at him. Gone were the baggy shirts and pants. Now, he was dressed in baggy camouflage pants and a tight, black shirt that did nothing to hide muscles she had no knowledge of. 'When did he get buff,' she wondered. She compared him to Angel. For the first time in her life, she didn't know which one she'd choose if she didn't know either of them.

Willow's eyes were glued to Xander. She had seen him without a shirt on before, when he was on the swim team. Her mouth had been like a desert then, but now her whole body was like a steam bath. She wondered how he got them. He couldn't have done that just over the holidays. She looked over at Oz and, despite his emotionless mask, she could tell that he didn't like the attention he was receiving from her. She sent him a smile and he returned it.

Xander watched, and felt, the emotions come into play as he sat on the table. All in all, Buffy's was the most surprising. He had never believed she had ever considered him even once. Instead, her aura was showing affection; affection that was directed at both him and Angel. It was surprising. Still, today was a day of amends, not to steal Buffy from Angel. He made eye contact with Oz and said with his eyes to walk outside. Oz, being accustomed to eye communication, nodded. The two walked outside, ignoring the comments of their friends. The two stopped just outside the library and, once again, made eye contact.

"Oz," he said, "I know you probably hate me, and I deserve it. It's my own doing what happened. I want you to know that…you have my blessings. I have a part of her that you can't touch. We all know that. But, I'm not gonna force her to choose between me and you. You'd be better for her. So, I want you to have her. You two deserve each other. You complete each other. And I know you'll never do anything to release my wrath."

Oz looked him in the eye and Xander could feel that his wolf-like friend was searching his aura as well. Finally, after nearly two minutes of searching, Oz smiled and nodded.

"She loves you," he said.

"She loves you more," responded Xander.

"Thanks."

"It's the truth. Take care of her, Oz. And if you ever need any help deciding where to take her, or what to get her, or anything, I'm there for you. I may not stand a chance at getting Cordelia back, but you two got a good shot at something…and I'm gonna do anything I can to see it through."

Oz said nothing, but extended his hand. Xander shook it.

Willow and Buffy shared a look as the two came inside. Before, Buffy could feel the anger coming off of Oz, though she couldn't see it on his face, but now…it was all gone. Friendship was there now. The two had built a bridge where there was once a river. Oz wordlessly drew Willow into a hug and Willow, though somewhat surprised, hugged him back.

"What h-happened," asked a confused Giles.

"Truce," was all that Xander said.

Xander was sitting in the library during break, reading a book. The day had gone pretty good, considering. Snyder had called him into the office about five minutes after the muster sheets had been collected. That had been one interesting meeting.

Flashback:

"So," said Principal Snyder, "We think we can skip over a week of school and then return after the winter break, do we?"

Xander remained silent.

"Speak, boy!"

Xander remained silent.

"Mr. Harris, if you do not respect me, then I shall be forced to up the punishment…although, by school policy, I can suspend you right now."

Xander remained silent.

"Fine. You are hereby expelled."

Xander remained silent.

"I want you off school property in five minutes."

Xander smiled.

"Alright," he answered as he stood, "You win, Snyder. Wow. You sure showed me. I'm eighteen, I own a house, and I'm loaded, and now I don't even have to go to school anymore. This has just been a hard month on me. You surely did show me. Now I don't have to live with the pain of high school. That just…makes me wanna laugh!"

Xander grabbed his books then started out the door, only to be pulled back in due to Snyder's yelling.

"Maybe I…misjudged my chosen method of punishment. If you find school so…painful, then perhaps your chosen punishment should be to remain and serve detention with me."

"Yeah…ugh, that doesn't really tie in well with my schedule, Snyder. So…I don't think I'll be showing."

"If not, then I'll exp-…"

"You can't do anything, Snyder. I don't live with my folks anymore, I won't show up for detention, and expelling me will only free up my time."

"…Get out."

End Flashback:

Xander smiled fondly at the memory. That hadn't been the best part of the day. That had been during history class…where the teacher was just moving into World War II.

Flashback:

"Now," said the teacher, "Who can tell me what the Axis powers were?"

Only two hands were raised. One was, of course, Willow and the other, more surprisingly, was Xander.

"Mr. Harris, I don't believe I've ever seen your hand raised before. What's the answer?"

"The Axis Powers," replied Xander, "Were a group of nations, specifically Germany, Japan, and Italy who were allies due to their needs. Both Germany and Italy were ruled by fascist dictators, specifically Hitler and Mussolini."

"Excellent. While you're being responsive, could you tell me which country invaded Ethiopia in 1936?"

"Italy, who easily conquered the area and turned it into Italian East Africa."

"On what date did the German Armies invade Poland?"

"September 1st, 1939. Britain and France declared war two days later on Germany."

"Which puppet government was set up in France by the Germans?"

"Vichy France."

"Which major operation took place on November 8th, 1942?"

"Operation Torch, the first Allied offensive operation on the European-North African theater. Their objective was the port of Casablanca."

"I saw that movie," said Cordelia, "Really boring."

End Flashback:

Xander smiled as he remembered the looks of shock on both Willow's and Buffy's faces. That had been worth it. He sighed and returned to his book. Then, he heard footsteps come his way. He didn't bother to look up as he sensed who it was.

"Hi, Giles."

"Oh," said the British man, "I didn't see you there. How are you, Xander?"

"I'm doing good, thanks."

"Good. What are you reading?"

"Meditation techniques."

"Oh. Are you thinking of taking up meditation?"

"I'm already doing so."

"Oh. How do you like it?"

"It's extremely…intense."

"Really. I always thought that meditation was meant to calm you down."

"Don't I seem calmer now?"

"Yes, that is true. But, when you say intense, you mean…"

"Violent. I've had some very disturbing visions."

"Really? Do you believe they're prophetic?"

"Extremely."

"Really."

Giles was fascinated now. He forgot what he was doing and took a seat next to Xander.

"Can you tell me," he asked, "Or do you not remember?"

"I remember," said Xander, "Look, I'm going to tell you some stuff and I don't want you to tell anyone else, got it?"

"Of course, Xander. I'd never betray your confidence like that."

"Fine. See, do you remember-"

Twenty-eight minutes and seventeen seconds later:

"…and after last night's vision quest, I decided that Faith should remain at home and pursue her vision quests on her own."

"And these visions? Are they all as violent as you say?"

"The vast majority, yes."

"Xander, you're experimenting with something dangerous here. These three spirits could end up betraying you."

"Except they can't. The soldier is one hundred percent loyal to me, the hyena and vampire would betray me in under a second, but both of them seem to like me. Plus, hyena hates vampires, all of them, and if it weren't for the fact that if one of us were destroyed, then all of us would, I don't think either of them would hesitate to destroy each other."

"A fair point, Xander. However, it is still dangerous and could drive you insane."

"I know, but it's a risk I'll have to take. The damage is done. There's no back tracking now."

"So, why did you neglect telling us this information earlier?"

"If Buffy found out that I have super powers, and I wasn't a witch or an ensouled vampire, what would she think?"

"…Demonic possession."

"Exactly. And she'd convince Willow to perform a spell to exorcise the demon and, poof, bye-bye Xander."

"So, we don't tell Buffy."

"Not unless you want to dig a hole in the ground for me, then one for her."

"Why her?"

"Faith is basically on wits end because of the visions. If she loses me, she'll go off the postal. And I wish to God that I could be full of myself, but I'm not. It's the truth, even she's admitted it."

"I must admit, I am proud of the way you're handling her. I would be less trusting, to be honest."

"Well, maybe you wouldn't if you'd paid some attention to her."

"…True. I should have done more for her. She was living at the Motor Inn by the interstate?"

"Yeah."

"I spent a night there once. Horrifying living conditions! Why didn't she tell us?"

"She felt she deserved the worst of everything."

"That's not right. She deserves more than that."

"And she's got it. She's meeting me at the Bronze tonight. Why don't you join us and we'll talk?"

"I'd like that, Xander, I'd like that a lot."

"Good. Then, after that, we can talk about that little test coming up for a birthday present from the Council."