Thanks to Anime-Ronin, Lochar, Morrolan, Darklight and Brutal2003 for reviewing.
Lochar: Have no fear, Spike will be dusted.
Dreamlight: Sorry that it's taking to long to get to the FFX bits - I tried something new; rather than dropping the character in the crossover world as fast as possible, I set out to have a decent amount of buildup first. When I cross two universes, I make the 'crossover' not exist in the 'real' world, unless it's a Halloween fic (in which event, I don't have much choice. ;-) So the Scoobies will never have played FFX, because it doesn't exist as a game. I'm hoping to make this as original a take on FFX that I can - which is going to revolve around 'filling in the blanks' rather than rewriting FFX with Xander in the place of one of the main characters (something I've sworn to avoid doing ever) Glad you are enjoying this, though. Thank you. :-)
Brutal: I'm not exactly a Spike fan, either. He was cool as the 'Big Bad' but less than worthless, IMO, once Season 2 ended.
-
The fight was not going well, for the side of goodness. Buffy was almost senseless, barely managing to stand without aid, and Spike wasn't much better. All his vampiric healing seemed to be concentrating on setting his broken nose. The Slayers in Training, however much Buffy maligned them during training, were not holding out too badly against the Bringers that had engaged them.
When Caleb entered the fray – apparently getting bored of watching others have all the fun – the fight turned the other way.
Kennedy, too focussed on her fight with a Bringer, completely missed the blow that sent her flying across the room and into a rather solid wall.
"Kennedy!" Rona disengaged from the Bringer she was fighting, and headed toward the dazed girl. "Look out!"
Caleb grabbed her arm as she went past. "Oh, I think you should pay attention to your own advice, girl! You have your own problems to worry about." Rona tried to twist out of his grip, but it was like a vice.
"Let GO of me!" Rona screamed in frustration, fighting all she could. Caleb smirked and twisted, Rona's now injured scream almost covering the sound of bones snapping. He flung her, via the broken arm, into the unsteadily rising forms of Buffy and Spike. Spike luckily dodged, but Buffy wasn't quite so fortunate. The flying form of Rona caught her full in the chest, and took her down, her head landing on the flagstones with a loud crack.
A nearby Bringer seemed to sense an advantage, and raised a knife to plunge into the unconscious form of Rona sprawled on top of the alpha Slayer.
It was to be disappointed.
Coming from out of nowhere, a crossbow bolt impacted in its face, almost somersaulting it over with the force of the blow.
Looking to where the bolt came from, Caleb smiled. Xander and Faith stood there, Xander with crossbow in hand. He deadpanned, "Hi honey, I'm home," as Faith charged in. Xander threw the now useless crossbow at a charging Bringer, and dove in after her. "Y'know, we should have tried those explosive bolts!"
Caleb watched impassively. "There are more of you." His face split in a grin, "How enjoyable." Blocking Faith's first strike, he cuffed her round the head before kicking her down.
Having dealt with the only Bringer within range, Xander looked about. "Buffy!" Running to her side, he lifted Rona off her gently and put her down. He slapped her face gently, trying to walk her up.
He succeeded.
"Uh... Spike...?" Buffy's voice was groggy. But then, seeing that she'd been given a not inconsiderable concussion, it wasn't to be unexpected. Her vision cleared, and it wasn't Spike holding her. "...Xander?"
"Yeah Buff. You OK?"
Buffy say up. "Where's Spike?"
Spike slugged a Bringer in the face, and then kicked another in the groin before elbowing the now curling up Bringer in the back of the head. It went down hard and didn't move further. "I'm right here, ducks." His voice was stressed, but had the undercurrent of lust in it that a fight always brought out. "Hey, Droops... stop fannying around and give us some 'elp 'ere!"
Buffy leapt to her feet and rejoined the fray, leaving Xander kneeling next to Rona. He checked her over, before moving back into the fight himself.
While this was occurring, Faith was trying to hold her own against Caleb.
To be fair, she wasn't doing too badly. Of course, the fact that he shrugged off her best blows as if they were nothing more than a gnat bite probably had something to do with the fact that she was losing.
Not quickly, but slowly and surely losing.
The other problem was that she had to keep avoiding his strikes: getting hit by a punch with roughly the power of a pile-driver would really put a crimp in her day.
"You're the other one, aren't you? The Chosen... Two. One light; one Dark. The Cain to her Abel," He parried a knife thrust, and twisted her wrist causing Faith to let go of the blade. "No offence to Cain, of course." Manoeuvring Faith into an arm lock, Caleb smirked down at her. "So easy, is it not, little whore?" Faith snarled and kneed Caleb in the crotch, tearing her arms free of the hold as he loosened his grip in pain.
Faith was breathing hard, but still found breath to growl, "Never was much for the good book." Moving to strike him across the face, Caleb grasped her wrist and wrenched it behind her viciously.
Forcing Faith to her knees, Caleb sneered at her. "Oh, it has its moments. Paul had some good stuff. Genesis was... odd. Heroes become Demons... 'the Nephilim were on the earth. They were the heroes, the men of renown.' Chapter six, verse four. Odd that later they became rampaging, raping giants bent only on the destruction of men."
"I'm supposed to care?" Faith choked out. Caleb's hold was not comfortable.
"Of course you're not, whore." Caleb replied smoothly, "Some of Revelations was appropriately... prophetic. The ramblings of a madman on his deathbed, but there is rarely anything without some grain of truth in it somewhere..."
"I'm happy for you. Really I am," Faith gasped the words out, half sneer and half torture. Caleb pushed her forward violently, nearly wrenching her shoulder from its socket, and walked round her, tutting in disappointment.
"But then, I like to keep things simple." Pulling back a foot he blasted Faith hard in the ribs, lifting her off the floor and across the room. "Good folk." Caleb dodged a sword slash from Chao-Ahn, one of the potentials, and twisted it out of her hand, "bad folk," reversing the blade, he thrust it through her belly, before grasping her by the neck, "clean folk... dirty folk..." With a squeeze and a twist, the life left Chao-Ahn's eyes as her neck broke.
Seeing the death of another one of her sister potentials, Molly charged, heedless of the danger. "Nooo!"
Caleb stopped his pacing and turned to the charging girl. He leered at her. "Yes!"
Buffy turned from her fight against three Bringers, leaving Spike to finish them off. She headed for the doorway – the one exit from what had become a graveyard, "Xander! We have to get them out of here! We've got to retreat!"
At Xander's disbelieving look, she scowled. "Do it!" He had not been arguing with her, it was more pure astonishment that she accepted that this was not going to go the way she wanted.
Molly's charge was brought to an abrupt halt as two Bringers barrelled into her, pinning her in place. Even struggling as she was, the Bringers waited impassively for Caleb to approach.
"My dear misguided little harlot... what you fail to take into consideration is that everything has its appointed time. And your appointed time..." He paused, seeming to savour the moment, "...is now."
One of the Bringers gripped Molly's hair and yanked her head back, while the other plunged a knife into her throat. As Caleb turned to the rest of the room, the Bringers released her, letting her collapse to the floor, blood flowing out from the knife wound even as she clawed at it pathetically. The room seemed to have suddenly frozen, each person there watching the Preacher. "What can I say? I work in mysterious ways... they also happen to be fairly straightforward."
Buffy, one foot on the bottom step out of the cellar, let out a roar and charged Caleb. The anger behind her blows was powerful enough to stagger him, and one neat spin kick later, he was mimicking what he had been putting them all through: flying across the room.
It didn't look too easy, though.
More sort of... painful.
Spike threw one of the Bringers fighting him into the others, and grabbed Buffy's arm. She was standing there, panting hard with anger and exertion. "Come on, we're leaving!" He pulled her away.
Amanda rushed over to the unconscious form of Rona, dropping her sword and calling, "Need some help here!"
Buffy looked at Rona's body. "She's dead." She turned away.
Spike walked up to Amanda and Rona, and picked up the unconscious girl. "No she's not, pet..." He headed back for the exit, Rona's senseless form in his arms.
Xander turned as Faith stood up next to him. "What about Kennedy?"
Faith turned to look. "She's there!"
Xander and Faith ran over to the unconscious Kennedy, Faith lifting her easily and running for the exit.
Xander got caught by Caleb.
"Ah, ah, ah! Where do you think you're going? You've cost me my fun!"
Xander kicked at the hand round his ankle. "Let go of me, preacher man!"
Standing, Caleb looked at the horrified stares of the remaining combatants clustered round the exit, and then back to Xander. "You're the one who sees everything, aren't you?"
Xander could only watch the hand as it reared back. Caleb smiled. "Let's see what can be done about that, then."
His hand was poised, ready to gouge out Xander's eye. A voice halted the proceedings.
"Caleb! Stop!"
The First Evil stepped out of the shadows and regarded the tableau.
It was dressed as Buffy. Turning to regard Caleb, it became the image of a woman none of the Scoobies had seen before. It was obviously one that Caleb knew, however, with the way he suddenly went poker faced. "I thought I told you never to use that form!"
The First looked itself over, "What, little ol' me?" The voice had a heavy Southern twang, laced with sugar and honey.
Caleb didn't answer. Buffy, Faith, Spike, Kennedy and Amanda were frozen to the spot, watching the scene in fascinated horror.
"I thought I told you, that this one," the First gestured at Xander, "was to be left alone!"
When Caleb replied, he sounded like a pouty child. "He spoiled my fun, so..."
"And is that ANY REASON TO SPOIL...!" The First cut off its roar of rage and looked at the Scoobies speculatively. "They don't need to know my plans... and neither do you, Caleb. All that matters is the one who sees..."
The First became Jesse's image again, and turned to Xander, who was still held fast by Caleb. "You shall become my Avatar in another time, my beautiful White Knight..." Jesse's voice was a whisper in Xander's ear. His eyes widened.
Buffy snarled. "We found our traitor!" She advanced, but was blocked by a wave of Bringers. They were not set on fighting her, merely stopping her from getting any closer. "How could you? You piece of..."
The look of hatred in her eyes made Xander want to curl up into a ball and cry. "No. No, I'm not a traitor! It's playing you! It's playing your own fears against you!" He struggled in Caleb's grip, and broke free, only to be caught by the same wave of Bringers that Buffy was caught in.
As he got nearer, she lunged at him, "Traitor!"
Spike moved forward, and pulled her back from the throng of Bringers, who stayed where they were. "Droopy, if I ever see you again, you're dead meat!"
Faith was just standing there, shaking her head. No, Xander wasn't the traitor. With the abilities of the First, either no one was a traitor, or all of them were. Anyone who allowed themselves to be played by the First was its spy. Either that or anyone the First played was a spy. So Buffy and Willow and Angel and Spike were the spy's, because the First could be them. She moved her mouth, drawing breath to speak, but the First spoke first.
"Yes, isn't that delicious, my lovely little Slayer? The one among you that you trusted the most is the one to cause your defeat. A work of art, I think you would agree..."
Xander moved his mouth silently, but the First had just dug him his grave. If he did survive this – seeing that he was trapped on the wrong side of a hell of a lot of Harbingers – Buffy and Spike would see him spitted and roast like a pig. That was the nice way to go, too... he was sure Buffy could talk Willow into cursing his soul for all eternity or something like that: or better yet, let Spike vamp him, then curse his soul back.
Xander collapsed into the Bringers, who dragged him back to the First.
Buffy sneered at him. "Let him stay with his master, then. We're out of here!" She turned and headed up the stairs, Spike and the potentials on her heels.
Faith looked at Xander for a long moment, flicked a look to the Bringers as if debating her chances, then turned and followed.
-
Xander was now chained to the wall, Caleb staring at him moodily – almost as if he resented Xander's presence. Bringers were watching from the shadows, ready to do their masters bidding at a moments notice. The First itself, however, was standing inches from Xander's face, still in the form of Jesse.
"Your friends disappoint me, Xander. I would have thought they would have tried to rescue you, rather than condemn you to – for all they know – death."
Xander remained stubbornly silent; his eyes locked with the Firsts ethereal ones in defiance.
"Still, I cannot help but to admit that it makes things a lot easier for me. I need you. I need you for the future... because I have seen more than this pathetic time here. Long after your precious Buffy is dead – long after the Slayer line has been extinguished from the planet – I will still be. I'll still be here... wreaking havoc and generally making life a misery for all the 'good' people of the world. Of course, there will be a whole lot less once you've got through with killing them all..."
Xander looked away.
The First leaned closer, so close that Xander could feel the chills of its nonexistent lips moving on his cheek as it spoke. "Yes, you do my bidding in the future... it's so delicious... the backbone of my most stubborn opponents, and you work for me! I love it!" The First chuckled, before pulling away.
"There is no way..." Xander growled out, "that I will ever fight on your side!"
The First leaned closer again. "You're so sure? You certainly sound it! But trust me, at the moment of your greatest triumph... that will be the time when you sell me your soul."
"No. Never!"
"Never say never, my brother," First-as-Jesse said loudly. "I would have myself said that there was no way I could have died. Sunnydale was, after all, a sleepy backend nowhere two hours drive from LA. Then that blonde bitch arrives, and turned everything on its head. Oh, but maybe I shouldn't be giving you a rehash of everything you've already been through? Maybe I should let sleeping dogs lie, seeing that you've lived through it already. Or maybe I should give you another angle to the story."
The First snapped its fingers, more for the look of the thing than for any real necessity. Even when you didn't actually exist, there were certain standards to maintain if you were the Evil.
Xander jerked as images flooded his mind in a rush.
Every muscle tensed, until the First honestly wondered if he was having some sort of seizure. Then they went slack, and Xander fell panting against the shackles holding him to the wall.
Bending down slightly, to look into Xander's half closed eyes, the First-as-Jesse smiled disarmingly at him, "Y'see how it could have been if things had gone differently? Well, that was pretty much my favourite one. There are others... even better than that, but that will always be my favourite."
Xander winced as he shook his head to clear the mental cobwebs out.
The First continued, "I guess y'wanna know why it's my favourite? It's not 'cause everyone dies; no! It's because it's such a beautiful way for it to go. I mean, you don't stake me... even if it was an accident you pathetic shit. I turn Willow... and let me tell you, a vampire witch? Hot stuff... hot stuff! Damn, she could suck the varnish off a table! It's like sticking your cock in a Hoover, man..."
"SHUT UP!" Xander pulled against his chains, hard enough to cut into his wrists. He ignored the sting as the rust from the shackles were ground into the cuts they made. "Don't you DARE talk about Willow like that!"
The First slapped him. "Remember your manners, boy! I can hurt you if I want... and believe me, I want. I showed you I can hit you, so behave! But the best thing? The best thing is your little blonde friend gets turned by the Master... I've never seen a Slayer that was a vampire before... and it was cool. Ripped her Watcher apart... even I was sickened by that little display, trust me. Didn't last too long, though: y'see, Slayer spirit and vampire demon don't mix too well, I guess – even though they are both formed from the Dark – they were constantly fighting in her body, and well, it kinda ate itself up slowly. After a couple of years, she was this pile of goop on the floor, and after that? Not a pleasant way to go, I think. And then? Then came the crowning glory; you, you little son-of-a-bitch..."
"I know what happened." Xander snapped, continuing to strain against his bonds. "You did thrust twenty years of memories into my head in a few seconds!"
The First walked backwards sedately, walking through the debris littered on the floor rather than falling over it. "Oh? You're so knowledgeable; you want to tell me what happens, then?"
Xander bit his lips, and didn't reply.
"You don't want to, do you? You see? That's the sort of attitude that makes me want to hurt you, boy. That 'holier than thou' stare, that arrogant..." The First stopped.
Xander enunciated each word carefully, putting maximum feeling behind each syllable. "Fuck. You."
The First sighed dramatically. "Ah, well, it seems that the glimpse I gave you of a possible past didn't stir you up enough. Well, that's just the way the cookie crumbles, sometimes. Guess I'd better do something else..."
Gripping Xander's head on both sides, forcing his eyes open with its thumbs, the First grinned, now in the form of Willow. "I did love you, you know..." First-as-Willow said wistfully, "if only you'd had the guts to keep going when Oz and Cordelia found us, rather than running after her... lost opportunities, lover."
The memories that the First had implanted were removed even more painfully than they had been put in, and the First let go. "Now, the question is, should I give you back to your little friends... or should I do something else?" The First tapped a finger to its lips, overacting. "I think I'll do something else to you: you're too fun to leave at the minute."
Xander looked up blearily from the pain of having his mind messed with, and saw Spike standing there, sneering down at him.
Again, he fought against the shackles holding him. "You son-of-a-bitch! I'll get you for what you did to Buffy! I'll get you I'll get you I'll GET YOU..."
First-as-Spike merely laughed. "Ah, droops... you're too much fun. I coulda had fun with you, y'know. If Dru hadn't gone an' got 'er knickers in a bunch about ya an' all..."
Then First-as-Buffy was standing there, bruised and beaten, just the way that Xander had found her in that bathroom after Spike had had his fun with her.
-
From about half way through the next chapter, don't expect an awful lot of Buffyverse for quite a while. :)
Reviewing would be great - it would feed the muse, which would result in more fic.