The characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Kuzui, Sandollar, and David Greenwalt Productions, 20th Century Fox, and whoever else may have a hold upon them. The situation is wholly mine, and I do not mean to infringe upon any copyrights. I borrowed them. I intend on giving them back, but not before I have my fun. Don't sue me. Nobody's paying me to write this… and I really need the cash, too…
Author's comments: This fic is inspired by another story written by saone called A Dream is a Wish Your Demon Makes - a series. Permission was given to post this story.
"I'll bring the chips and dip," Xander said to Willow as they walked together through one of Sunnydale High's hallways.
"Cordelia's bringing that."
"What? Since when does Cordelia… Help?"
Willow laughed. "Since Buffy saved her from the egg demons."
"Oh, right. Still wondering why one demon would attack another bigger, nastier demon."
Willow snickered.
Giles came towards them smiling cheerfully, and there was an air of excited glee about him Xander thought found endearing and worth poking fun at.
"Good morning! Is everything in order for the party?" Giles asked.
Xander smiled and said, "Absolutely. You ready to get down, you funky party weasel?"
Giles looked mildly annoyed for a moment before his attention was drawn to something behind Xander Willow.
"Ah! Here comes Buffy. Discretion is the better part of valor."
Buffy was coming downstairs and heading their way with Ms. Calendar by her side.
"Hey, Buffy! Ms. Calendar!" Willow greeted them.
"Hi, guys."
"Good morning," Ms. Calendar said with a slight nod.
"You all right, Buffy? You seem fatigued," asked Giles as the group walked towards the student lounge area. The five of them sat and squeezed around one of the empty tables.
"Rough night. I had a dream that Drusilla was alive, and she killed Angel. I-It just really freaked me out."
Xander felt Willow look at him when Buffy mentioned Drusilla killing Angel. He'd told her about the dreams he had of Drusilla torturing Angel to death, and how they still kept him awake most nights. Willow reached under the table and held his hand. Xander kept a straight face but gratefully clung to her hand.
"You fear it was more of a portent?"
Buffy shook her head. "See, I don't know. I don't wanna start a big freak out over nothing."
"Still best to be on alert," Giles said. "If Drusilla is alive it could be a fairly… cataclysmic state of affairs."
"So many words! Couldn't you just say, 'we'd be in trouble'?" Xander said.
Giles turned his stare at Xander. "Go to class, Xander."
After getting the response he wanted Xander let go of Willow's hand and rose from his seat.
"Gone." Xander spread his arms out and said, "Notice the economy of phrasing: 'gone.' Simple. Direct."
"Go. Now."
Xander grinned and sauntered away.
Angel had to give it to Xander, the kid knew how to be evasive. They had been sharing the same space for almost an hour while the decorations were being put up, and Xander managed to elegantly dodge Angel whenever they came within five feet of each other. Xander was so smooth about it, Angel was sure no one else in the room noticed. It really was impressive.
Curiosity sometimes got the better of Angel, especially when he and Xander happened to be in the same general vicinity of each other, which was rare these days. Angel sniffed the air, picking out Xander's scent easily from Buffy's, or Willows and Xander smelled… interesting. Angel had always noticed Xander bathe more than most young men his age, even more than the boys with girlfriends. Angel chalked it up to Xander having friends who were girls, and because he had a crush on one of them. Recently, beyond the standard bar soap and cologne, Xander smelled odd when he was near Angel. Xander never smelled angry anymore, and he didn't exude his usual musk of pheromones when he was with Buffy… or Willow… or Cordelia.
Xander smelled like desperation. Angel knew the scent well; he'd raised it enough of his past victims to recognize its pitiful pungency. But he didn't know what to make of the boy's despair.
Angel fleetingly thought Xander might have feelings for him. He vividly recalled how relaxed and peaceful Xander had been after… After. Angel remembered the way Xander's heart stuttered when he realized the curse was gone. But since that night, Xander behaved the way he did before the enamor curse upended their lives and displayed little to no affection towards Angel.
Xander didn't express any resentment either. He stopped needling and name-calling Angel, at least to his face, but then Xander rarely acknowledged his presence anyway. He also never missed an opportunity to leave a room whenever Angel entered it.
Angel didn't know why he cared. He should be grateful the kid stopped badgering him and Buffy about their relationship and leave it at that. Still, all the time he and Xander spent together while Angel was be-spelled was not easily left in the past. Especially when that past was barely a month ago.
Angel suspects if Xander had remained hateful the whole time, he wouldn't find himself often smiling remembering Xander. The time he insisted Angel tell him all the dirty jokes he knew—most of them Angel learned from Spike—and then Xander doing the same. Or of the times Xander listened raptly as he told stories about Old Ireland and all the lands he'd been to over the centuries. As well as the strange experience of the electronic games Xander cajoled him into playing.
Despite the situation being out of their control, Angel couldn't deny he'd enjoyed spending time with Xander. The more intimate moments… No. It was better for everyone to just move on.
Perhaps that's what drove Angel's need to discover Xander's state mind: he wanted to know if Xander had moved on.
Was Xander in love with him? Angel couldn't say he knew for sure. He did know if Xander cared about any version of him, it was the be-spelled, love-sick version of Angel. And that guy was gone.
Angel thought it would be incredibly unfair, and sad if Xander suffered after everything he'd done to free Angel and reunite him with Buffy. It was a debt Angel could never fully repay. But if he could ease or comfort Xander in any way, regardless of how difficult that may be, it was a small price to pay. And Angel was willing to pay it.
Xander noticed Angel staring at him a lot during Buffy's surprise birthday party.
Xander knew what was on Angel's mind, and he wanted nothing to do with the man's pity or his gratitude. Xander just wanted to forget the entire mess. He and Buffy were finally back on good terms again, and things were starting to feel like old times.
Except the part when Willow invited Oz to the party. That was new.
It was weird. Willow had a kind of sort of boyfriend. A guy in a band. Usually, a prime indicator of bad news, but the way Oz looked at Willow, Xander was sure Oz wanted to make himself un-equivalently her boyfriend. Despite her innate shyness, Xander could tell Willow was interested in hiring Oz for the role.
New and weird, but also kind of nice.
What was super weird was Cordelia being at the party. What was super-duper weirder was she held mostly self-involved conversations with Willow, Oz, and even Giles, and so far, hadn't deliberately insulted anyone. Though that would almost certainly change if she ever lowered herself to come over and talk to Xander.
It was a cozy little party they had going until Buffy crashed through one of the Bronze's windows and staked a vampire on the dance floor. Willow had to explain to Oz what happened, and Xander had to watch Buffy and Angel make eyes at each other. At least he's mostly jealous of Angel, and not the other way around.
The jamboree really ended when Ms. Calendar lugged in a dismembered demon arm that tried to choke out Buffy.
"Good heavens. Buffy, are you all right?"
"Does that thing have a major grip!" Buffy said as she rubbed her neck.
"W-what was that?" Willow asked.
"It looked like an arm," Oz said.
Angel stared at the ornate box with intense trepidation, and he rubbed his chest in much the same way Buffy massaged her throat.
"It can't be. She wouldn't," Angel said.
"Who wouldn't?" Xander asked.
Angel looked at him and Xander saw the fear in Angel's eyes.
"Drusilla."
"What has Drusilla done?" Giles said.
"I think… I think this arm belongs to the Judge. I thought he was only a myth," Angel's eyes kept being drawn back to the box containing the dismembered limb, "but this thing matches some of the rumors I heard about him."
Now Giles gazed at the box sitting on one of the Bronze's tables with the same level of alarm as Angel.
"The Judge? He, he, he couldn't be killed, yes?" Giles asked Angel with a quiet, awed tone.
After Angel nodded Xander saw Giles Adam's apple working before he went on to say, "Um, a-an army was sent against him. Most of them died... but, uh, finally they were able to dismember him, but, uh... not kill him."
"The pieces were scattered," Angel told them, "and buried in every corner of the Earth."
"So, all these parts are being brought here," Ms. Calendar said.
"By Spike's men," said Buffy staring at Angel. "It is Drusilla."
"She's just crazy enough to do it."
"What happens when she reassembles the Judge?" Willow asked.
"He'll bring forth Armageddon," Angel said.
There was a long moment of silence as everyone absorbed Angel's declaration. Even Xander couldn't think of a way to make an immortal demon with the power to destroy the world even a little bit funny.
"Is anybody else gonna have cake?" Cordelia asked, piercing the quiet that had filled the Bronze.
"It is imperative we get the arm out of town before Drusilla can reassemble this creature," Giles said finally.
"Angel," Ms. Calendar said.
Buffy shot a confused look at Ms. Calendar. "What about Angel?"
Ms. Calendar looked at Angel and said, "You have to do it. You're the only one that can protect this thing."
"What about me?" Buffy asked.
"What, you're just gonna skip town for a few months?"
"'Months'?"
"She's right," Angel said. "I gotta get this to the remotest region possible."
"But that's not months," Buffy protested.
"I gotta catch a cargo ship to Asia, maybe trek to Nepal…"
"You know, those newfangled flying machines really are much safer than they used to be."
"I can't fly. There's no sure way to guard against the daylight. I-I-I don't like this any more than you do, Buffy. But there's no other choice."
Xander had been invested in Buffy and Angel's conversation until they did that annoying 'there's no one else in the world but us' thing. The thing when they stood so close together, they might as well be doing the Lambada. The Forbidden Dance! Xander tuned them out and joined Cordelia at the pool table with the cake.
"Hey, leave some for the rest of us!" Cordelia said.
"Like you need the calories. A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips, sweetheart," Xander said in a sing-song voice.
"Excuse me? The hell you just say to me?"
Xander's plastic fork full of cake halted in front of his open mouth. He understood too late he touched the third rail of stupid things to say to a girl like Cordelia Chase. He rapidly stuffed two quick bites of cake into his mouth.
"Mmmm mmm mmm hummm mmawahmmma hmmmhmmm!" Xander garbled around the sugary goodness of cake and frosting.
Cordelia's right eyelid twitched as Xander ducked his head and scurried away. Grateful to have escaped with his life.
Once everything was decided, Ms. Calendar volunteered to drive Angel and Buffy to the docks so Angel could catch a boat to Timbuktu, while the rest of them stayed back at the Bronze. When Buffy came back alone and explained Spike's minions got away with the arm, they all headed to the library for some heavy-duty research on how to fight The Judge.
"When Giles said slaughtered armies, I was thinking a couple of platoons, a battalion, maybe. They sent divisions after this guy!" Xander said to Willow.
The Judge. Xander wasn't impressed by the name. It was so incredibly boring, and more than a little pretentious. He only started to appreciate the trouble Mr. Judge-y posed after Giles said The Judge had Superman's heat vision.
"Right? Scary stuff," Willow said.
"Still nothing on how to stop The Judge?" Giles asked when he joined the pair at the checkout counter.
"I got nada!" Xander replied slamming his book shut.
"Me neither. But we'll keep looking!"
"No. You three should get some rest. School starts in a few hours."
"But what about Apocalypse Pending?" Willow said.
"There's nothing we can do now. Let's wait until Buffy and Angel return then we can come up with a comprehensive plan."
"If you say so," Willow said.
"Xander, go bring Cordelia out from the stacks."
"Right. If I don't come back, she murdered me, and I demand to be avenged."
Xander found Cordelia dozing against one of the shelves with a book on her lap.
"Cordelia."
She didn't stir.
"Hey, Cordy!" Xander said a little louder.
Cordelia snapped awake and blinked angrily at Xander.
"What do you want, dweeb?"
"Time to go home and bathe in the blood of virgins, or whatever it is you do to freshen up."
"If I bathe in virgin blood, why would I leave you untapped?"
"So funny. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here."
"Are we really not going to keep looking for a way to stop the un-killable demon?"
The unexpectedly lost expression on Cordelia's face softened his natural predisposition to mock her at every opportunity.
"This Judge character got taken out once, he can get taken out again," Xander said with a bit of unearned confidence.
"How? No weapon forged by man. That's a big hurdle."
"And don't forget he wasted an army."
"Not like we have an army to waste."
"Whoa."
"What?"
"Whoa. Whoa! I... I think I'm having a thought." Cordelia gasped dramatically and Xander chose to ignore her. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a thought. Now I'm having a plan."
"I feel safer already."
Xander tilted his head at her. "Again. You don't have to go home...just get the hell out of here."
When they came out of the stacks Xander saw Giles had his hand out in the universal sign of 'Stop' as Angel clutched Willow. Angel's hand was around Willow's throat, and her face scrunched in pain every time Angel squeezed. And Angel had his game face on.
"Don't do that!" Xander shouted.
Angel's yellow eyes landed on Xander. He smiled and revealed long, sharp fangs.
"Oh, I think I do that!"
"Let her go, Angel," Giles said.
"Sorry, Rupert. I have to send a message to Buffy."
"Why don't you give it to me yourself?" Buffy said behind him.
Angel spun around with Willow to face Buffy.
"Well, it's not really the kind of message you tell. It sort of involves finding the bodies of all your friends."
Buffy shook her head. "This can't be you."
"Because you know me so well? Sorry, schoolgirl, takes more than a roll in the hay to plumb these depths!"
"Angel, there must be some part of you inside that still remembers who you are."
"Dream on, little girl."
While Angel and Buffy were talking Giles had pulled a cross from somewhere and was slowly creeping up behind Angel.
"Leave Willow alone, and deal with me."
Angel pinched Willow's cheek. "But she's so cute and helpless. Really a turn-on."
When Giles shoved the cross in Angel's face it made Angel hiss and recoil. He pushed Willow at Giles and they fell to the floor in a tangle. Angel darted towards the landing where Xander and Cordelia stood. Cordy yelped and made an impressive leap out the way. Xander, however, didn't move an inch. Angel came to a stop at the foot of the steps, and they stared at each other.
Xander searched Angel's eyes and tried to understand what happened to make him go kill-crazy. But in the few seconds they held eye contact, Xander only saw malice and depravity. And behind those things...
"Nothing," Xander whispered.
Angel gave Xander another wide, gleeful grin.
"Angel!" Buffy cried out.
"Oops! The old ball and chain! Gotta go," Angel said, then ran past Xander and loudly crashed out through the back exit.
"You should've seen her face. It was priceless!" Angelus crowed, prancing around in a tight little circle on the factory floor. Practically preening.
"I'll never forget it!"
Spike frowned at Angelus. "So, you didn't kill her then?" he asked.
Angelus paused and gave Spike a look that judged him an idiot.
"Of course not!" Angelus exclaimed, scoffing at the very suggestion.
"Now, I know you haven't been in the game for a while, mate, but we still do kill people. Sort of our raison d'etre, you know."
Spike's frown deepened when Angelus all but rolled his eyes at his statement.
"You don't want to kill her, do you?" Drusilla said, poking at the glass eyes of Miss Edith. "You want to hurt her. Just like you hurt me."
Angelus sauntered up to Dru and smiled adoringly at her.
"Nobody knows me like you do, Dru," he said and stroked her delicate chin.
Spike could barely control his anger watching Dru shudder at Angelus's touch.
"She'd better not get in our way," he said.
"Don't worry about it," Angelus said leaning in too close to Dru.
"I do," Spike replied through gritted teeth.
Angelus tilted his head back and shouted into the air, "Spike! My boy, you really don't get it! Do you?"
Angelus turned away from Dru and dramatically gestured at Spike and his wheelchair.
"You tried to kill her, but you couldn't." Angelus laughed mockingly. "Look at you. You're a wreck!"
Angelus approached Spike until he loomed over him.
"She's stronger than any Slayer you've ever faced," he said. "Force won't get it done. You gotta work from the inside." Angelus leaned down and put his hands on the armrests of Spike's wheelchair.
"To kill this girl... you have to love her."
More than mildly irritated by Angelus's sermonizing, Spike twisted his lips into a smirk.
"And what about your little boyfriend? Love him enough to kill him, too?"
Spike's smile faded when he saw his dig didn't have the desired effect on Angelus he was aiming for. Angelus licked his lips and shut his eyes almost rapturously as if savoring the very thought of Xander. Spike thought bringing up that Xander kid would raise Angelus's hackles the way mentioning his relationship with the slayer always did, but for some reason, Spike's mockery of Angel's cavorting with Xander had the opposite effect on Angelus.
"Oh, no," he said barely above a whisper, "My sweet Xander, I'm saving for dessert."
Angelus opened his eyes and looked at Spike.
"That's what you do after a satisfying main course."
