Disclaimer: Don't own anything.
Author's note: I appreciate all of the support for the story, and I'll continue to give it to my readers. In response to my guest reviewer, all I can say to you is that someone like Whedon can say he's setting out to do one thing with the show, but if you look at the show objectively, it's not exactly as it seems. In my creative writing classes, we've learned to look at every story we workshopped in an objective light. Looking at it one-sided doesn't really help anything, if you're a serious writer. At any rate, with some spring-boarding from Starway Man and Oxnate, this will be a serious change in canon for this story, at least for the good guys. So sit back and enjoy the latest installment.
Dormer Residence
Sunnydale, California
Late May, 1998
Jonathan was relaxing after helping Diana, Marie, and the two girls unpack their belongings. He realized that sooner or later that the meeting with Xander's friends would be inevitable. He looked to the older woman as they had talked about what exactly he would say about his jump into power. He had thought of telling the librarian about how he just seemed to change with with the possibility that he was born with the potential. Diana agreed with the idea as she herself had done some research on individuals who had gained powers that seemed rather impossible.
"So when would you like to meet with him?" Diana asked him. Tara and Faith looked over at the young man who helped them waiting for his reply.
Jonathan stayed silent before he replied, "I guess we can do so later. Better we do this now than later."
Diana nodded in agreement as she was hoping to meet with her compatriot and the other slayer. The council had informed her of what had gone in Sunnydale but she and her charge were busy with the infestation of vampires led by Kakistos. The group rested for a little while longer before they left, with Tara telling her mother they'd be back.
Giles Residence
Giles answered the door after the third knocking. As he opened it, he was surprised to see Jonathan standing there with a brunette woman who appeared to be dressed in a similar manner as a watcher, as well as a dirty blonde standing with him.
"Uh, M-Mr. Levinson, yes?" he said.
"Yes. I was hoping you'd be able to talk with us," Jonathan replied.
Giles stepped aside to allow them entry. Diana and Faith stepped ahead of Jonathan as they understood it to be a sign that he wasn't directly inviting them in but making sure that they weren't vampires that could easily attack them.
As Jonathan and the ladies entered, he was surprised to Xander, Willow, Cordelia, and Oz sitting on the couch.
"Hey...guys," Jonathan said with a half-hearted wave.
"Hey yourself. Where were you? We wanted to talk you about what happened on the last day," Xander said as he stood up. However, the joker of the group didn't fully approach as he recognized a similar aura from Jonathan that Ambriel seemed to give off. The shorter young man's wasn't as intense but it still made Xander a bit wary.
Jonathan swallowed a bit before he replied, "Sorry. I had some...stuff to take care of."
"So we can see. If you don't mind, who are your friends here?" Giles asked.
"Allow me Mr. Giles. I am Diana Dormer. A watcher such as yourself. This is my charge Faith Lehane," the woman said as the dark brunette stepped forward.
"I-I'm Tara. T-Tara Maclay," the young witch said. The scoobies introduced themselves before Giles jumped in.
"Ms. Dormer-" Diana cut him off.
"Diana. Please."
"Er, yes. Diana, I take it Faith is the potential that you were keeping watch over?"
"She's not just my charge. She's also the slayer. Just like your charge, Rupert," Diana replied with a sly grin.
The other scoobies had their mouths drop from hearing this until Xander jumped in, "You're Kendra's successor."
"Sorry, what?" Faith said as she turned to Xander.
"The girl before you. Her name was Kendra. She...she died fighting. That bitch Drusilla killed her," Xander seethed. Faith was taken aback by his response as she had never met anyone who this sort of reaction to vampires.
"Don't take it personally. Xander's hated vampires ever since...ever since Jesse died," Willow replied feeling the memories of her late friend beginning to weigh down on her. She and Xander had not talked much about Jesse since his death but his memory still stung the both of them.
"I get it. I don't blame him," Faith said, having seen just how nasty vampires could get.
"If I may, Rupert, where is your charge? I thought she'd be here," Diana said. She saw the uneasy glances that the scoobies traded and knew something was wrong. "She is here, isn't she?"
"No. She's not here in Sunnydale," Giles said with a sigh.
"She left?" Faith spoke up feeling confused.
"Yeah. After what happened a few days ago, she left town. We don't know where she is," Xander said a bit wearily. Cordelia looked strangely at him while Willow looked a bit annoyed.
"You'll find her," Diana said.
"Quite," Giles said. The gathered group got down to discussing how the hellmouth was experiencing a lull in demonic activity as it did the previous summer. Once the group had gotten to know each other a bit, everyone decided it was time to go home. However, Faith decided that she would escort Xander and Cordelia home before she rejoined Diana and Tara.
The three walked silently down the street towards Cordelia's house when Faith spoke up, "So what's Buffy like?"
"She's alright...if you like weirdo girls who fight monsters and stuff. No offense," Cordelia said beating Xander to the punch. Faith smirked at the cheerleader as she wasn't offended at the least. She'd heard worse from other girls but she could tell with Cordelia, it was a bit different.
"Ever the honest one, Cordy," Xander threw in with a smirk. The cheerleader smiled brightly at her boyfriend.
"So you don't like her very much?" Faith asked.
"I don't dislike her. But sometimes it's just tough to be around her when she gets all 'I'm the slayer, I'm the boss'. It's even worse when you're one of the people that don't have powers," she said with sadness. Xander wrapped an arm around her shoulders knowing full well what she was feeling, even if things had become different for him now.
"Why did you guys stick around then?" Faith replied.
Xander looked out onto the street as he thought about why he stuck around for the blonde. "Because someone has to watch her back. She's one person, not God."
"Always about Buffy," Cordelia muttered, but Faith could still hear it.
After dropping Cordelia off at the Chase manor, Xander and Faith walked away and were later passing by one of the many cemeteries. Faith looked to the young man when she noticed the rather serious look on his face.
"So, stud, you wanna tell me what that little speech at G's place was about?" she said.
Xander stopped as he felt himself ready to dump all of his emotional baggage with what he had been feeling over the last week. But he let out a few deep breaths before he looked to the other slayer.
"I'm angry about a lot of things. Right now, I'm angry that Buffy left us high and dry. I could understand that what she went through hit her pretty badly, and that's putting it mildly. But...she didn't think about the rest of us."
"What happened?" she asked. Xander went about telling her the exploits that involved Angel, and the events that led tot he loss of his soul and him being sent to Hell. At the end of the story, Faith could see that there was something that Xander would not directly speak of.
"You had feelings for her," Faith said.
"Keyword being 'had'. I'd still protect her with my life. But I just wish she'd do a bit more thinking than just jumping in at the first chance," he replied.
"Were you ever jealous of Angel?"
Xander's expression darkened at the mention of the Scourge of Europe before he replied, "Before I found out he was a human, I was jealous. He's the typical brooding, dark, bad boy straight out of some dumb romance novel. Then to find out he's a vampire after what happened with Jesse...none of us can afford to trust him. And what happened this year only proved that."
Faith looked at him with her eyes shining with curiosity before he continued, " I get that Cordy gets annoyed by me being so overprotective of Buffy and of Willow. I can be a bit much I will admit. But Cordy isn't always there for the times where Buffy is close to getting killed because she goes charging in or because Willow didn't have any particular skills or powers just like I was. I've seen firsthand how often everyone is close to death because of demons. And because of Angelus, we were closer than any other time. If I can do something to keep my friends and family and this town safe I will."
Faith would've never believed it if she didn't see it. But as Xander was making his speech, she could see a faint glow of an aura surrounding him, which was only clear because it was nighttime.
"Uh, X, you're kinda glowing," she said making Xander look at himself. He looked back at her in surprise before he muttered, "Damn."
"So you've got your own little superpower too?" Faith said fearfully. She wasn't sure why, but the display was causing her great fear.
"You could say that. You wouldn't believe me if I told you how I got it, or what I could do," Xander said with a slight grin.
"You'd be surprised," Faith threw back when another thought came to her. "You do know why the girls looked at you funny right?"
"You mean what I said about Buffy leaving? Truth is, I'd rather tell the truth than try to blow smoke up anyone's ass. The truth is, Buffy and Angel's relationship spelled disaster. If Angel was some human with superpowers, I would've backed off. But this is a guy whose soul is in control of a demon-possessed corpse. And that soul can go under the wrong circumstances. It took powerful magic to forcefully anchor it, and it can take powerful magic to undo it if someone wanted to. And even his soul doesn't make him purely good as Buffy seems to think. We've ran into some guys who were human that were ready to skin us alive."
Faith could only look at him as the glow persisted, only brightening in response to Xander's feelings. She was surprised that they weren't attacked by any newly risen vampires when they finally reached the Harris residence.
Before Xander went inside for the night Faith called out to him, "If you feel so strongly, why do you stick around?"
Xander looked confused before she continued, "As much as you care, you don't seem to trust them or have faith in them."
Xander looked hard at her, making her feel bad for her choice of words before his expression softened. "It's not that they can't or won't do the right thing. I just wonder if their motivations are really what they say they are at times."
Faith nodded at his reasoning. She had known plenty of guys who were looking to score with her under the pretense of caring about her. She had even known girls to manipulate people into thinking that they were doing something that wasn't wrong when the reality of things were far different.
"Hopefully they might surprise you," Faith said. Xander smiled at her and nodded before he entered the house and Faith returned to her new home.
Faith found her watcher sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea with a stern expression. Faith could only guess at what was being said before Diana addressed her charge, "You sure took your time getting home."
"I was just getting to know Xander. Is that a problem?" Faith shot back.
Diana smirked before she threw back, "Long as he doesn't screw you over in any way, no. Then again, with the way you were looking at him, I'd wonder about who'd want to screw whom."
Faith turned red at her watcher's assessment as she indeed found Xander attractive but didn't voice it. She looked back tot he watcher before she asked, "What's got you so pissed?"
"Quite frankly, I'm more worried than pissed. When I got in, I went over the first set of Rupert's entries in his journal to get a better understanding of Buffy's character. Suffice to say that the girl knows what she's capable of but doesn't quite believe in or accept what she can/has to do."
"You're saying that she doesn't really seem to like being the slayer?" Faith asked.
"Either that or she doesn't like being told what to do with what she thinks she should do. In truth, slayers should be allowed to exercise their power in what they see is the best way to get the job done, which how a slayer can last longer on the field. The problem seems to be that Buffy hasn't quite focused her abilities and she seems to toy with her opponents when fighting."
"So what are we gonna do?" Faith threw in knowing that there would be bad news.
"We'll just have to determine how well she can focus so as to better the chances of survival in this place. But that's not the only thing that has me curious."
"What else could it be?" Faith asked.
"It's about young Mr. Harris. He gave off a similar feeling as Jonathan," Diana said as she sipped her tea.
"You felt it too?"
"Indeed. Whoever visited Jonathan must have visited Xander as well. Things will certainly get interesting around here."
Sunnydale, California
Late August, 1998
Buffy Summers walked through the streets of Sunnydale during the nighttime after she returned back home. She had lived over in Los Angeles for the last few months and found herself feeling lonely and not much better since she left the hellmouth. After freeing the captured teens that were made into slaves in a hell dimension, she returned home to her mother, who was ecstatic to have her oldest daughter back home. Buffy was happy that her mother let her back in after the debacle that was the revelation that Buffy had supernatural powers and fought things that were believed to simply have been stories. After moving back in and some small discussion, Buffy decided to get back into the swing of patrolling the town. She was ready to call it quits when she noticed a figure walking down the street in dark clothes. She silently approached and threw a punch when the figure turned and grabbed her fist in a tight grip.
Buffy was surprised at the man's strength, especially when she looked at his face and saw that it was Xander who held her fist with strength she had never had. She looked into her friend's eyes before she spoke, "Xander."
"Hey Buff. Gotta say, not how I thought this reunion would go," Xander said with slightly widened eyes. Buffy huffed out a laugh and grabbed Xander in a tight hug that normally would have him gasping for air, but he seemed strangely resilient. "I missed you Xan."
"You too Buff."
At that moment, Xander's radio blared out with Cordelia's voice coming through, "Hello, Nighthawk? Come in!"
"Nighthawk?" Buffy asked with a grin at the nickname.
"Yes, it was my idea. It sounded cool," Xander said. He pulled out his radio and responded, "Nighthawk here, go ahead Queen C."
Buffy couldn't help but laugh at the way he addressed his girlfriend when the cheerleader responded, "Me and dark-slayer are all clear. How's your end?"
"All clear. Though I have a bit of a surprise for you guys," He responded with a tone of glee. The radio went silent before Cordelia responded, "Ooookay."
"Hey, who's the dark slayer?" Buffy asked with a furled brow as they walked. Xander smiled while continued on before replying, "You'll see."
Giles Residence
Xander and Buffy arrived at Giles front door and waited for him to answer as the young man knocked. After a moment, the door opened revealing the watcher who was not dressed in tweed, which threw off the blonde slayer.
"Buffy..." Giles said.
"Hey Giles," she replied. The older man stepped aside and allowed them in which they accepted. Inside the living room, Buffy was greeted with the sight of her friends while also shocked to see Jonathan, two girls, and two women that she had never met.
"Hello. I'm Diana Dormer. I'm a watcher. And this is Faith Lehane. The slayer." Diana said with a fairly clipped tone. Xander was a bit nervous about the way Diana spoke to Buffy but calmed down when Buffy ignored it.
"I'm Marie Maclay, soon to be Jensen. This is my daughter Tara," The other woman said.
Buffy waved lazily as she didn't quite understand what was happening. She finally looked over at Jonathan who was dressed very differently than what she remembered.
"Jonathan why are you here? Don't get me wrong, it's good seeing you but why?" Buffy asked.
"It seems Mr. Levinson has been experiencing some supernatural occurrences involving his increased strength," Giles said before the shorter teen could speak.
"Yeah. He managed to toss around one of the jocks at school," Cordelia jumped in. Buffy eyes widened as she got a good look at the classmate she didn't normally associate with when she felt an aura that she didn't normally get from him. She looked over to Xander and felt the same. She wasn't sure what was happening but she was curious.
The group decided to get into discussion about what had happened over the summer. Jonathan, Xander, Tara, and Faith had been a tremendous help with added power and skill. Buffy was surprised, to say the least, that Jonathan and Xander were able to hold their own and even kill a number of vampires and demons especially within a short amount as Faith and herself.
However, more than a few times, she had caught Jonathan using magic to enhance or protect the others with strength and energy barriers. She was more surprised to see Xander shooting bursts and blasts of light while also setting the vampires on fire with a touch. She had tried speaking with Willow and Tara about whether or not there was something off about the two. Willow was not able to ascertain what happened. However, Tara was able to inform her that Jonathan had gained extensive training in his magical prowess, yet he and Xander seemed to have come into contact something that the dirty blonde could only describe as holy. Buffy couldn't believe that there was something that like that appearing to them, which made her wonder why it never appeared to her.
Three months later...
Sunnydale High School Library
Jonathan sat with Xander, Willow, Oz, and Faith as they watched Buffy outline a plan to win the votes for homecoming queen. The short young man had to hold back a grin to keep from laughing as he looked at the two best friends watching the blonde in a mix between boredom and anguish. Faith on the other hand looked completely bored having to listen to her sister slayer. She was reminded of the girls that she used to go to high school with, some of whom made it a point of reminding Faith of lower economic status. She could see that Buffy was different from those girls but still felt that there was a bit of that attitude there.
Minutes later, they were joined by Amy Madison who smiled at Jonathan, making him smile back. The others, especially Faith, took note of the two's interaction. She smiled as the two chatted about what they were going to do for the weekend, which included being each others dates for the big dance. Faith continued to look at the group, with her gaze lingering on Xander, when Cordelia walked in. The brunette cheerleader walked over to Xander and gave him a kiss before addressing the rest of the group. Faith couldn't help but look downcast at the relationships among the group. Willow had Oz, Jonathan had Amy if they could make the leap, and Cordelia had Xander, whom Faith had been developing a crush on. Even Buffy had Scott Hope before he dumped her for being distracted, whatever that meant. She figured she'd suck it up and find some cute guy to snuggle up with for the night.
The Bronze
The homecoming dance was in full swing as the high school students had a good time dancing with each other. Near the center of the dance-floor, Faith was dancing her heart out. She had a good two days since Buffy and Cordelia went on their campaign to be the reigning queens. She had managed to slay a few vampires and demons with Xander's help and now she was able to enjoy blowing off some steam, and maybe getting some action before the night was out. She occasionally looked out between her drooling fans and would see the rest of the group enjoying themselves as best they could. Eventually, the music turned to slow-dancing and Faith moved off the floor.
As she looked out, she could see Jonathan and Amy dancing closely together. She could see the feelings they were trying to hide. She looked over at the bar and saw Tara was having a conversation with a honey-blonde girl. She turned and found Willow and Oz slow dancing, while the redheaded girl looked over Xander and Cordelia. Faith knew that there was something between the two best friends (fifteen years of friendship having that effect). While Willow seemed to be torn with the way she looked at Xander and back to Oz, she could also see that Xander was having a hard time trying to deal with everything.
She managed to gleam the fact that Xander and Willow seemed to have something going on but no one else knew. She decided that whatever happened, she'd simply let it play out.
One week later...
Xander and Jonathan decided to take on the patrols for the week to give everyone some time to themselves. It became apparent that everyone was dealing with some kind of baggage, which wasn't helped by a watcher named Gwendolyn Post who came to town. The boys learned that Tara was seeing a girl named Sandy Weissman but had become scared as it was her first relationship. Cordelia seemed have been spending less time with the group, and by extension Xander. Meanwhile Buffy had been fairly distracted while Willow was acting strange. Faith being outside looked on and shared her concerns with Jonathan earlier in the week.
"So are you going to tell me what's been going on with you guys?" Jonathan asked as he held his long dagger. Xander looked back ready to take on whatever would come their way, as he didn't want to talk about what was bothering him in the first place. "Not really. Not much to tell anyway."
"You sure? With the way Willow was looking at you, I'd say you guys are pretty deep into each other," Jonathan shot back.
Xander looked at Jonathan with annoyance in his eyes. He felt that was lucky so far that no one had caught on to what was bothering him and Willow lately. Ever since their kiss the night of the homecoming dance, he found himself more confused than ever. He truly cared for Cordelia and had been seeing sides of her that no one else ever did behind closed doors. She had more depth than anyone could truly see and she had given him a glimpse. But he and Willow had history, which was why he could now understand her feelings. He did for her what others didn't do.
Before he could say anything in response, he felt something coming for them. "We should save it for later. We've got company."
A tall half-breed demon with green skin and small horns on it's head approached them carefully, taking off the ax on it's back. Jonathan stepped forward with his dagger in hand when he asked, "Who the hell are you?"
"Lagos," the demon said in response.
Xander came up beside his friend and said, "Why are you here?"
"The glove of Myhnegon," Lagos replied with a sneer. Jonathan flicked his dagger, which had a long rod that extended from the handle. The blade of the dagger split down the center, and with the cylinder in the blade still in place, and the split blade becoming single-edged blades attached to the cylinder. Xander looked on a bit jealously until Jonathan tossed him the sword that Whistler gave him.
Lagos took the ax from behind his back and charged at them, until Xander jumped in and swung the sword at him. The two weapons clashed as the ax was nearly bent from Xander's strength and the heavenly material that made the weapon. Lagos backed off before he was struck in the face by Jonathan. The shorter teen grabbed his staff and slammed the balded end on the ground, launching a wave of silver/white fire at the demon. Lagos couldn't avoid the fire and was horribly burned. Xander finished him by stabbing the sword into the equivalent of his heart.
"Well, that was weird. He didn't seem like much of threat," Xander said to his companion.
Jonathan looked at the dead creature while he mused. "I know. But maybe the glove would've made him more dangerous."
Xander went to say something until he sensed something else in the area. Xander ran off to go find it and kill it with Jonathan chasing after him. The two stopped when they were in front of a mausoleum with the door opening. Jonathan shortened his spear back to it's dagger form and hid with Xander behind one of the larger tombstones. They peeked over to see the intruder coming out. Jonathan took a look at the man and felt a sense of familiarity. Xander, however, completely recognized man and began to feel anger well up within him.
"Angel!"
Author's note: For anyone thinking I'm bashing, as I've said before, this is simply an objective look and objective realistic approach to the characters. Putting characters on pedestals never really helps any development for a television show, because then it becomes justifying everything a character does, even though it wouldn't be right. Characters who makes mistakes and can admit to them are more realistic. But characters who make mistakes while everyone blows smoke in their heads, while not helping them understand what was wrong is just glorification. That's why I've been saying for any fans to look at things objectively rather than just blindly following it. You won't find yourself disappointed later on. Also, to my guest reviewer, I hope this can satisfy you until the next update. Because things will seriously spiral downward for someone pretty soon.
