Wednesday, November 5th
Jenny, Drusilla, Buffy and Willow were sitting and sipping coffee when Angel, Giles and Xander showed up to give them rides back to Jenny's and talk a while. The men heard laughter across the food court and spotted them, Dru having four or five different expensive coffee drinks in front of her; it looked like taste-testing. As the three reticent males started over, Xander noticed four Jocks, Larry with a duffle bag, and Jonathan Levinson being harassed but curiously enough not by Larry. Xander veered off and a moment later came up next to Larry, vaguely remembering a civil discussion with him during the Halloween incident, and decided to go for broke.
"Well, Centurion, we meet again," he said in low-class Roman, "Are you participating or still considering your path?"
"Oh, um, uh, sorry, John, I mean Xander," the usually-offensive football player responded in kind, then switched to English, "I…hey guys! Let Levinson go, I think I saw a security guard radioing for back up." The other Jocks sneered at Jonathan, but were unsure of Xander, who wore a white tunic with many embroidered crosses with dull-silver edging, and a large Celtic-style cross in front. Larry looked over at them, "Hey guys, I just remembered I'm supposed to talk about tutoring with my new tutor, so I'll catch you tomorrow?"
Xander showed his surprise at Larry's statement as the Jocks left one way and Jonathan raced off in the other.
"So Larry," he addressed the larger youth, "I'm guessin' you wanna talk about the other night?"
"Yeah, it's kinda strange, and I don't really know what or why…" he said, looking concerned but gesturing to a food court chair for Xander to join him, "But I remember on the way home some 'really ugly dudes' threatened to have me for dinner." He started to unzip his duffle as Xander nodded along.
"Yeah, they're why so few of us make it to graduation," Xander commiserated, "So what happened next?
"This is what happened next…" the young man replied quietly as he pulled a six foot spear, more of a sharpened staff, from his bag.
"Isn't that?"
"Yeah, and when I smacked one of them in the chest with it, he screamed and started smoking."
"Then what?"
"I ran like Hell…you kidding?"
"That's probably the smartest thing you could have done," Xander responded with a laugh, which Larry joined, letting out a lot of pent up tension.
"So what're you going to do now?" Xander asked with a sad smile as he watched Larry put the Spear back in the long duffle.
"I figured after the advice you gave me, him, the other night when he had similar problems, you might still be able to give me some advice."
"You know I'm not him right?" Xander replied, only to have Larry pointedly look at the cross and tunic, "But I can listen and help where I can."
"Why are you being nice after the way I've treated you?"
"Because you're not acting that way now and I'm remembering the conversation 'we' had. In regards to that, how he turn out?"
"Pensioned the servant off, married the girl and had ten children, all of whom lived healthy lives and was finally baptized on his deathbed by Peter."
"That's great, Larry, a happy ending for someone."
"Yeah…but were those guys, when I started in with the Spear they winced and held back."
"Uh, vampires and other demons would tend to do that."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Lots of 'em?"
"Especially in Sunnydale, it's sitting on a closed gateway to Hell."
"And these guys come into our town and eat us and nobody does anything about it? What's with that? Is that the weird vibe I've been getting when I don't have this thing with me?"
"We're not sure, but did you ever go to Sunday school or anything?"
"Not for a long time, why?"
"Well, Larry, that's a holy weapon you have there, the Spear of Longinus, and in your hands it probably works even better."
"Oh, why?"
"It was used in mercy, for good, and not out of hate or anger."
"So you library guys…"
"Are the supernatural neighborhood watch of Sunnydale and tell no one because we don't want to end up in the crazy house."
"Oh, I, uh…"
"You don't have to sign up, Larry, just promise to be the way you are now, not how you've been, and it'll be less confusing."
"You're confused about this? I thought you did this all the time?"
"Larry, the guy I dressed as wrote about the Apocalypse…"
"I see your point…"
"Go home, get some rest, hide that in your closet, not the euphemistic one John and Casca discussed, and figure out what you want to do in life."
At that moment Larry looked over his shoulder and nodded to a group of six leather-coated guys eying the rest of Xander's group, "Two of those were guys from Halloween."
"Okay, head home, the gang and I'll handle this," Xander said as he got up and started moving purposefully to intercept the vampires before they could surprise the group. He met them halfway, noting in the corner of his eye that Buffy and the others were just noticing, and chairs pushing back, when a large blur raced by him toward the clustered enemies, surprising all concerned.
"Die monsters!" Larry shouted as he held his spear horizontally and crashed into them at full force. He actually knocked three of them across their throats and grazed the face of another, causing them all to smoke and scream in pain as two of them tumbled back and over the railing.
Xander shrugged off his surprise and ran forward, choosing to pray the twenty as he pulled out a stake and lunged forward at the confused undead. Two dodged a wide swipe of the stake, the distraction it was, and the closest into a direct grab by Xander, who shouted 'Out Demon!' and spinning toward the other as the one dusted. Larry had rolled along the railing and managed to catch another vampire in the cheek with the end of his Spear, disturbing its attack, while shrugging off a glancing blow from another.
Xander semi-spastically let go of his stake and grabbed two more, causing their dusting before finishing the psalm. Larry stabbed first one of his downed opponents in the stomach, then swiped another across the throat as it pushed up his Spear and tried to grab Larry's own throat, the chest to chest contact pressing the Spear into the vampire's quick moment of demise. Anti-climactically, Angel dusted the last vampire that stood gaping at the end of his nest.
Gasping for breath, Xander and Larry helped each up as the others approached.
"Thanks for the save, 'Centurion,'" Xander smiled in Latin, to receive a mock salute.
"We live to serve, 'Padre,'" Larry replied in kind, then seriously also in Latin, "I'm not really up to this…but if you really need the extra help…call me, Oh, and 'Padre'? Thanks."
"Xander what was that all about?" Willow asked in shock, waving her hands around as the others showed up and Larry headed off, "And since when are you and Larry friends."
"The Apostle and the Centurion met during Halloween, a bit of extra Ethan Rayne fun," Xander smiled, "But some how like me, it stayed with Larry and we were talking about it when these folks were about to charge you."
"What was that in his hand, Xander?" Angel asked, "And why did he call you Padre?"
"He was the Soldier of Mercy, Liam," Drusilla quietly answered the question, "A good Irish lad like you should remember at least the Easter story?"
"B-but how?"
"Same way I have what I have, Ang—Liam."
"What about the Padre remark?"
"He was making a joke about my attire and what I'd dressed as," he smiled as Willow explained to Buffy what it all meant.
"So's he going to help us?" Buffy asked, "At least we should get the spear thingie."
"No!" Angel, Dru and Xander exclaimed together, the others nodding to Xander, "In his hands it's a gift, and one he has to freely wield, to have the effect it does. If anyone else used it, it might work, but not nearly as much, Buff. And the fact that He might have decided to leave it in Larry's hands is not our decision to thwart."
"Oh," she said, then really understood who 'He' was, "OH!"
"Yeah, Buff, don't mess with that level of decision," Xander joked.