Title: White Knight, White Light, Part 6 - Explanations

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. I have tweaked the timeline a bit to suit my own purpose, so there.

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.

While Xander "rested" and contemplated his future, the others were downstairs, draped over various furniture and trying not to stare at the new guy, while avoiding eye contact with each other. They were all a little taken aback by the night's events, not just Xander dying and then not dying, but also with their own actions.

"So, what you guys did out there tonight, that was pretty impressive, scary, but, impressive. Reminds me of my misspent youth." Adam said, unable to leave well enough alone. He couldn't explain to himself why he felt the need to stir up the group, but he did.

"What do you mean?" Dawn asked.

"They told you about closing the hellmouth?" Adam continued when Dawn nodded, "Did they tell you about the utter destruction that preceded that?"

Dawn and Lorne and Fred turned to stare at their friends and family.

"We gave evil a beat down, nothin' to it." Gunn said.

"Yeah, cause you guys coming back covered in blood and other various demon goo, really screams, nothin' to it." Fred said.

"We were understandably upset, and we had no way of knowing that Xander would revive. We….vented our anger on the demon population." Wesley said, in his proper British way, trying to pretend that he didn't have smears of said 'goo' covering him from head to toe. "In fact, we have no way of knowing if Xander would have come back had Tara not… done what she did."

"How exactly did this evening's events remind you of your misspent youth?" Giles asked, deflecting the conversation back on the immortal. He had never been accused of being stupid.

"Well, in my early days, my companions and I had a right time of it, ruling the known world, leaving destruction in our wake. We were an apocalypse waiting to happen." Adam said, with forced relish.

"Ruling the known world?" Anya asked, impressed.

"Exactly how far back are we talking, mate?" Spike asked.

"How old are you?" Faith asked.

"He's old, very, very, very old. My guess would be thousands of years old." Tara said quietly.

Adam was taken aback. He didn't see a way out of this without revealing who he really was. They were fairly good at keeping secrets themselves. But, could he trust these people? Especially the watchers? Would they report back to their own council, his identity?

"If I tell you how old I am, it doesn't leave this room." Adam said, his tone leaving no room for argument.

The group chorused their agreement.

Adam knew that telling them the truth would go a long way in either gaining their trust or earning their disgust.

"I'm over 5,000 years old. I'm not sure the exact age, they weren't much for record keeping back then."

"Good Lord."

"Oh my."

"Wow."

"Crap, that's old."

"Shite."

"Shit."

"Oh, My Lord. You are him aren't you?" Wesley asked.

"Him?" Several of the group asked.

"Methos, the oldest known immortal. Rumor has it that you are just a myth." Giles supplied, in awe.

"Well, I sort of encouraged those rumors, if not originated them. If no one believes you really exist, they aren't going to be shopping around for your head." Adam/Methos admitted, not really surprised that the watchers knew of him.

"Your Death!" Anya exclaimed.

"Huh?" came from several corners of the room.

"One of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They terrorized the known world, starting wars, raping, pillaging there way across the continent." Wesley supplied.

Several of the room occupants grabbed weapons.

"I haven't done that in a very long time. It is not a time in my life that I recall with real fondness. It is the past, quite literally, ancient history. It is not who I am now, nor will ever be again. I am not used to revealing this much of myself to anyone, much less a group of strangers. I only do, to stress to you that I am more than capable of training and helping to protect your friend." Methos said gravely.

The room grew quiet, not sure if they should trust this man or slay him for the evil acts he committed. Surprisingly, even to himself, it was Spike who spoke up in Methos' favor.

"Well, it's not like some of the people in this room aren't trying to out grow a past they aren't proud of. And it's not like you lot haven't forgiven worse, more recent acts." Spike said.

"You'll teach him? Not just to kill, but to survive?" Buffy asked. "I mean, if most people believe you're a myth, you must be pretty good at lying low, right. Teach him that. Don't make him a killer, make him a survivor. Make him a really, really, really old guy."

"He'll still need to know how to fight in the Game, play by the rules. Just to keep his head." Adam said.

"What exactly are these rules? Xander's never been one for following rules and abiding by ancient prophecies." Willow said.

This caused the group to chuckle, with shared and private memories of Xander's various thwartings of ancient writings and rules.

"Well, you have to know the rules before you can break them, don't you? Plus, there are some that you can't break, the consequences for doing so are…unpleasant." Methos gave a slight shudder at that. This caused pretty much everyone else present to shudder themselves; after all, what the hell scares Death?

"Like what?" Fred asked, hesitantly.

"Well, there is the no fighting on Holy Ground rule. Then there is the….."

The group listened intently, as Methos proceeded to explain the rules of the Game, as best he knew them. Every one of them wanted to know as much as they could, to help their Xander in any way they could.