Title: White Knight, White Light, Part 4 – Scary Women
Author: Xanfan
Rating: R/NC-17 for violence
Pairing: Xander/Angel
Summary: Slash Xander means more to the Scoobys than they could possible imagine, and when something happens to him, chaos ensues. Crossover with Highlander.
Spoilers: Anything in Ats & BtVS is up for grabs, but I have messed with the timeline a bit.
Warnings: CHARCTER DEATH and Violence and slash.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Words in Italics indicate thoughts.
Last time:
Adam quickly assessed the situation and turned to face the person he knew would probably understand most, "Xander, if the scariest, strongest woman you know told you to go help someone, on threat of the kind of torture Angelus would have gotten queasy at, what would you do?"
Xander looked at Adam intently. "The scariest woman you know?"
"Absolutely." Adam said, without hesitation.
"I would nod, say thank you for my orders and hightail my butt to my destination." Xander said, with utter seriousness. "Hey, I deal with some pretty damn scary women everyday. I'm no dummy."
"Hey!" Was chorused by most of the females in the room, while the men nodded their understanding and agreement.
"Who's the scariest?" Anya asked, at the same time Dawn asked hopefully, "Am I scary, too?"
This Time:
Xander looked over all of the women, gauging their reactions.
"Dawn, you are a teenage girl, there are few things in life scarier than that." Xander replied.
"Anya, you know so many ways to emasculate a man, it is not even funny." Xander said to her.
Xander hesitated, not sure if it was one of those, 'does this outfit make me look fat' questions, but, he answered anyway, "But, I would have to say, the scariest woman in this room is…..Cordelia."
All of the women shouted at once, except for Cordy, who was not sure if she should be offended or proud. She chose proud, and started preening.
All of the men in the room, while in disbelief that Xander had actually answered that question, all thought for a moment, then nodded their heads in agreement.
The ladies eventually stopped shouting, the noise level eventually coming back to normal.
"Why is she the scariest?" Buffy asked huffily, she was the freakin' slayer for Gods sake, why wasn't she the scariest.
"Yeah, why her?" Faith asked, her thoughts going along the same line as Buffy's.
The other women nodded their agreement, except for Tara, who hid a smirk, by bowing her head, so her hair would fall over her face.
"Cordy doesn't have superstrength or demonic powers or magic. Cordy doesn't need it, she can rip you to shreds with just her tongue. Also, she's way inventive and took an online college course that discussed torture techniques throughout the ages, for fun. And to help her think up new threats. You cannot tell me that doesn't make for one scary ass woman." Xander explained.
The whole room froze; worried that Cordy would be offended. The other women all silently agreed with Xander, the men had no need, they already had agreed with him.
"Xander, you didn't mention that I got an 'A' in that class and that I already used some of the threats on Angel and he paled, or got even paler." Cordy said with a proud smile, not in the least offended by the truth.
"So, is your seer as scary as our seer?" Xander asked Adam.
"Well, it might be a tie; of course, mine has seen most of those torture techniques first hand, if not participated. But, she is not as verbally profound. Also, I try not to call her 'my seer', that would just piss her off." Adam replied with a smirk.
Everyone in the room took a moment to digest this piece of information. That must be one scary woman.
"I take it she is an immortal as well?" Giles asked.
"Yes." Adam said simply.
"So why do you need to train the whelp?" Spike asked, despite himself.
"Well, the term immortal is a bit of a misnomer, we can be killed. The only way to really kill us, is to take off our heads. Some believe, that in the end of times, there will be only one immortal left and that person will have such awesome power that they will rule the world. This leads to the Game."
"The Game?" Willow asked.
"Some immortals hunt others to take their heads, so they will be the last one standing. Sometimes, they just do it because they can. When we die permanently, all our knowledge is passed on to the closest immortal, usually, that is the person who took your head. This knowledge is called the quickening. Xander could feel my quickening when I entered the room. It is a kind of an early warning system that makes it so that no immortal can sneak up on you and take your head."
"All that knowledge, passed from person to person, no wonder the last one would be so powerful." Wesley said in awe.
"Yes, well. I am here to train Xander to keep his head."
"You're here to teach me to kill others." Xander said
"If you don't fight back, you will die. In addition to the sword fighting, I'll try to teach you how to survive in other ways. I myself, have survived for a very long time, by not being a target. But, you must be prepared to fight to survive." Adam answered fiercely. "Your friends and your vampire will not always be around to protect you. You must be prepared to do what needs to be done. You and your friends need to realize that. Because, just as you are a target by your association with the Slayer and the vampire with a soul, they will be targets by their association with you. And before you vow to leave them behind, let me tell you, it won't help. If you stayed away from them, or anyone, for the rest of your life, they would still be a target. Better to be with them now and help protect them and the world, than leave them alone to die anyway."
Angel looked at His Boy sadly. Xander would gladly kill or be killed for one of his own, the people he considered family. Would he be able to fight if his own life was the only one at stake?