Fic: Souls, Slayers... and a Scythe???

Author: mkcrl120

Disclaimer: All the characters mentioned in this story belong to Joss Whedon or Mutant Enemy or some other people. I own nothing and wrote this just to get it out of my system.

Summary: Set two weeks after the events in Explaining Africa 3

Authors Notes: I have no clue about Africa. Which is probably always a good place to start writing a story. So if details I've used for place names, and tribal names and whatever are wrong then just (correctly) assume I have no idea what I'm doing.

Rating: 15 by English standards (mainly for language)

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Chapter 6a:

Xander was worried. Faith had been gone for over half an hour now. The others had recovered enough to be ready to move, should it be necessary. 'Can't see a fucking thing!' He thought to himself. 'Don't know if it would have been much clearer when I had two eyes, I mean, I lost an eye, the other one wasn't damaged in anyway. Surely it should be just as good as it was.'

His mind kept flashing back to the number of nightly patrols he'd done without any problems during his high school years. 'But they were mainly outside,' he figured. 'Going into tunnels and caves wasn't an experience I'd actually had that often.' He thought about the first few times he'd gone into a the tunnels. Both times were when the Master was around. 'Once to save Jessie and once to save Buffy,' he thought. 'Pity we failed the first time. And both times I was actually been led by someone with better vision than me.'

Thinking of Jessie sent him into a more depressing train of thought. Of all the people that they'd failed to save over the years. 'It's quite a list. Sure. I can say I wasn't best friends with most of them, but I often wondered if the others even recognised them.' He thought about the number of vampires he'd recognised over the years, people he'd been friends with in his childhood, others he simply recognised as sharing a few classes with, even some that had made his life hell as he'd gotten older. 'So why didn't any of them get a chance to be ensouled. Sure when Jessie was turned we didn't even know that Angel was a vampire, but the others over the years, especially those that came after Willow had successfully given Angel a soul. Why hadn't any of them deserved a second chance? God, the only vampire we ever considered ensouling was that alternate Willow, and that was only cos we figured it was the real Willow. The only reason we didn't try it was that it was Willow who'd performed the spell, and no-one knew where she'd kept it.'

Kicking the ground in annoyance, 'Why couldn't Jessie have survived for a little bit longer?'

Movement from Amy caught his attention. Turning so he could what she was staring at, he looked deep into the gloom. 'Nothing.' he thought. 'So what got her so spooked?' Then he heard it, the occasional thud. 'Something's out there. And just as we're slayerless.'

"Get ready." He ordered.

Amy stood several feet to his rightt, brandishing a stake as well as any non-slayer he'd known. Roger was to his left, a quick glance showed him being more nervous. The stake was still firmly grasped in his hand though. 'Don't lose that.'

Xander regretted Roger been out of his line of vision for the time being. 'Dammit,' he thought, 'having a blind side when you've got two non-combatants with you is a really bad plan.' Unable to decide if it would be better to have them in sight, with him risking being blindsided or relying on them both to cover his blind spot, he decided to keep with the current situation. 'Just gotta keep moving my head between the two of them; rely on them to spot anything in the distance, I'll be there to cover whichever one spots something first.' More noise in the distance, now Amy seemed to be getting restless.

'Damn Watcher training, if she was never going to be a field watcher then she didn't even get the crappy level that Wesley had. Probably learnt everything in a well lit gym.' Turning to check on Roger, he was pleasantly surprised to see Roger scanning the dark properly. Being aware of, but not being distracted by any of the noises they heard. Deciding Roger was the safer person, he turned back to capture Amy in his field of vision. More noises from the dark. 'Wonder if Faith's ran into any trouble? Maybe all the noises we're hearing are just the results of Faith facing off against some creature. Dammit, Dawn mentioned that Spike had to face physical battles down here, while I don't believe Faith would be stupid enough to accept the challenges directly, it could be possible that whatever Spike and other wishers have had to face simply live down here.'

"Thud!"

'That was definitely nearer.' Xander thought to himself. Re-adjusting his own grip on the knife, quickly checking on the others he figured there was nothing he could do for them til whatever it was was actually visible.

"Yarrghhh." He heard Roger say to his left. Turning quickly he noticed Roger had now left the spot he was on. Reaching behind him, he quickly grabbed Amy's arm and dragged her along in the direction Roger was last seen. 'Not losing two of them.'

Moving about twelve feet further past where Roger had been standing, he saw Roger standing there holding his left forearm. There was no stake in either hand. 'What the fu..?' Xander thought to himself.

"You okay?" Xander asked.

"Yeah... saw some movement in the dark and went to attack." At Xander's glare he added, "Should have called first I know, but thought if I was quiet I could get the drop in it."

"On what?" Amy asked. "What was it?"

Roger pointed to the figure behind him.

"Hey, don't blame me Cyke. I was walking up to you guys, when Britboy here leaps at me."

"Faith?" Xander asked, 'sounds like her, but can't make her out from this distance.'

"Yeah." She said, moving close enough to be made out in the gloom. Xander sighed, he could feel Amy physically relax next to him. 'Yep, adrenalin's been pumping all right.'

Amy moved over to Roger, "What happened?" She said, examining his arm.

"It's okay, just bruised a little." He replied.

"Faith?" Xander asked.

"He leapt at me, using his stake in a stabbing motion. Wrong height to get a heart stab, by the way. So I caught his hand before he hurt anyone, most likely himself."

"You didn't need to squeeze that hard."

"I didn't, I just used changed my grip to make him lose the stake, when he lashed out with his free hand." She stopped and turned to fce Roger, nodding once. "Good one by the way, nearly caught me by surprise. I raised my arm to block the blow and he's been holding his since."

"I caught her across the forearm instead of with my fist... it's like hitting an iron bar."

"Stop whinging, it's not like I hit you back."

"Anyway," Xander said changing the subject, "Find anything?"

"This place is like a fucking maze. But I can't find anyway past the wall."

"It's in the middle of all this? Somewhere inside the rock."

"I don't know... kept getting disorientated. I swear sometimes the vibe changed direction. Between it and the various tunnels and so on, I swore I was completely lost."

"You came from the opposite direction you went. You sure you haven't just circled this thing."

"That's the thing... I was against a wall over there." Faith pointed to the direction she'd just arrived from, "but I was getting the vibe from the wall over there." She indicated the wall facing opposite the one he'd expected.

'Huh?' Xander thought. Although he couldn't actually see the wall, he understood what she was trying to say. 'But that makes no sense.'

"It was only cos I noticed you guys that I came back. The vibe I've been following. It's as confusing as the rest of the cavern. I say we leave it for tonight and come back tomorrow, preferably with torches and some sort of map system."

"A map system?"

"Anything... hell writing on each wall that we walk down would be useful."

"Well, Roger's injured anyway. So let's regroup and do this tomorrow. That way those that don't want to come don't have to."

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About an hour later

'Finally, fresh oxygen.' Faith thought, as they could see the end of the tunnel led to the beach.

Walking out of the entrance, they all began to stretch and look around them. Faith turned around to take another look at the cave that wasn't a cave. Walking to her right, but keeping the cave entrance in sight at all times she was amazed to see that it remained a cave entrance. She was now about thirty feet from where they'd originally spotted it.

Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and counted to ten. Opening them the cave entrance had been replaced by a rock face. 'That's just so fucking cool.'

Turning to face the others she discovered that they had found their jeep. But Samson's car was still parked nearby. "He waited for us?" She shouted out.

"No-one here." Roger called back.

Jogging over to them, she took a look in the car for herself. 'Not asleep on the back seat either.'

Xander had been checking out their jeep. "Nothing missing. So it doesn't look like anyone was here. No other tyre tracks either."

After checking for Samson's car keys and finding none, Faith glanced around at the ground herself. "So what the fuck happened?"

"He could have got bored waiting and gone to a bar or something?" Roger suggested.

Amy checked her watch, "It's quarter to four. I don't think any are still open."

"We didn't turn up for several hours, and he left his car because he was drunk?" Roger added.

"Not everyone lives like you." Amy responded.

Roger held his heart, and faked a mock wound.

"So what do we do?" Faith voiced what everyone was thinking.

"We drive along the beach and see if we can spot any sign of him." Xander responded.

'He looks a little guilty.' Faith thought. 'But Xander was with us the whole time. Well the others anyway. What the hell is up with him?' "Shotgun" she called.

Xander drove them down the beach, they'd left Samson's car where it was to remind themselves where both the cave entrance was and where they got onto the beach.

Faith was hanging out the window looking for any signs of life. After about ten minutes they turned around and drove the opposite way. Having arrived back at the car, they did the same in the other direction. 'We must have covered maybe fifteen miles of coast in all,' Faith figured. 'And still no sign.'

"Dawn'll be in a few hours," Amy said. "Maybe it'll be easier to sleep for a bit and check for him in daylight."

"Agreed," Roger said. "I need a few hours sleep."

"Okay, we'll head back to the hotel." Xander said, and turned the car to return to the town.

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They arrived back at the hotel about twenty minutes later. Once they entered they soon seperated off. Only being able to book two twin rooms, which unfortunately had been on two different floors, Faith and Amy got off the elevator before the others did. Saying goodbye, they walked over to their room.

Amy unlocked the door and moved over to the bed she'd selected earlier. Opening the window again, "Why didn't they leave it when I opened it before?" she grumbled to herself.

"No idea," Faith responded, throwing herself onto the other bed.

'Forgot about Slayer hearing.' Amy thought as she returned to her own bed. The room was considered an ensuite, but Amy doubted the presence of a toilet and a sink really justified that. 'How can it have no shower or bath?' Amy thought to herself.

She opened her bag and selected a large t-shirt and shorts to sleep in. Pulling her shirt off she was shocked when suddenly Faith whistled behind her.

"Where the fuck have you been hiding them beauties?" Faith called from the other bed.

Amy quickly slid the other t-shirt on. Carefully removing her bra while still wearing the t-shirt, she then climbed into bed. Choosing to remove her shorts and underwear under the covers. Putting the fresh shorts on, she slipped the worn items back into her bag.

Amy watched as Faith simply kicked off her shorts and removed her t-shirt. Wearing only knickers underneath, Faith then collapsed on the bed. "So... where have you been hiding them then?"

"What?" Amy asked reluctantly. Faith still hadn't bothered to get under the covers, seemingly prefering to sleep face down on top of it.

"Your tits girl. What do you think I was talking about?" Faith asked, raising her head to look at her.

"I'm just not... I'm..."

"If you want Xander to notice you then you should reveal a little skin."

"Want Xander to notice me?" Amy wondered where Faith had gotten that idea.

"Yeah... you know. You watch him like a hawk girl. If you don't want a piece of cyclops, then what do you want?"

"It's not like that. It's not."

Faith raised her eyebrows.

"Xander's... Xander's well... how can I put this?"

"Just spit it out. Unless of course you're a swallower."

Amy gulped and decided to confess, "Xander's what I want to be."

"Eh? I take it you don't mean one-eyed and male?"

"No... it's just... When I was growing up among the Watchers. The ones who did field duty always seemed to exciting. They got to go out in the field and they got to look after a Slayer. You understand me?"

"Not really, first time I heard about a Slayer, they were telling me I was one."

"Well, with my parents being against the idea of me going into field work. I studied the existence of demons in the hope that they'd notice how useful I could be. Maybe I couldn't be a field Watcher, but maybe I could work alongside one. Let them be the ones to look after and train the Slayer, I could fill them both in on what they faced. It wasn't uncommon for Slayers to be assigned more than one Watcher in the past."

"So you wanted to be a Watcher? What's this got to do with Xan?"

"As I got older I noticed that the active Watchers really weren't that better than I was. I mean training wise. They obviously had different skill sets to myself. I'd learnt fencing as a kid, and I could beat some of the people being considered for getting assigned to a Slayer. It seems they were learning how to teach these subjects rather than actually being taught to use them in battle. 'The Slayer is the weapon, the Watcher guides and teaches her' and all that."

"Yeah, Wes was like that when he first arrived. Giles was different. Saying that, Wes turned out well once he'd got out from under the Council's control."

"Well, I never wanted to do that. I couldn't send someone in to somewhere I wasn't willing to go myself. I wanted to be better than that, that was the main reason I first left the Council. I just couldn't see a future in it for myself."

"You could have worked to be better. You didn't have to follow in their footsteps you know."

"Rupert Giles got fired for doing exactly the sort of thing I would have hoped I'd done. That practically guaranteed their was no place for me... but when I was called back, and learnt that Giles was the most senior field Watcher. Well to be honest it gave me hope."

"There's a but coming isn't there."

"But he didn't have all the control he needed to make a difference. He's only in charge of the field Watchers, he has no real influence on those that don't work for him."

"I thought Giles was in control of everything."

"It only seems that way, cos of where you fit into it. You're a Slayer. He's in charge of all Slayers, that seems a little weird when you say it out loud. He also has the responsibility of all major hotspots. He's only getting a free rein on things as there's no one to contradict him. But should they manage to find a replacement I wouldn't think for one second they'd try."

"I'd like to see them. All the Slayers think he's the big boss. I don't think they'd listen to anyone else. They all defer to me, Buffy or any of the Sunnydale lot really. And we definitely wouldn't listen to some bookworm on a powertrip."

"But even with Giles trying to rebuild the field Watchers, he's still relying on others to train them. And these others are the same ones that were doing the training before. I'm not even sure he's realised that."

"I think G'll surprise you. He'll be aware of their game, guess he's building his side and moving them into position before he makes a challenge though."

Amy stared at her in disbelief.

"Chess. Wes taught me some of the basic concepts, not on a chessboard or anything geeky like that, but how to actually run an army. And that's what G has this time, an army. It's not him, a Slayer and some kids versus the council anymore. And I don't think they've quite realised that."

"Yeah, but anyway, as I read about the exploits in Giles's journals. I realised they were the people I wanted to be. Brave; like Xander and always willing to help a friend. Smart; like Willow and using information to aid the group. Calm; like Daniel and being in control at all times. I know I didn't seem it, when we almost attacked you earlier, but at one point I was actually glad of a chance to prove myself."

"Don't worry none. For your first time you did pretty good. You kept your position and were willing to follow the more experienced person. Anything else is just details. One thing you gotta realise is though, regardless of whatever the tales from the hellmouth led you to believe about the group there. That doesn't exist anymore. If we can help it, we don't need to risk Watchers lives or our friends. We got a lot of Slayers for that, and we're better designed to take the punishment. Say you're right and the Scoobs were the best of the old ways. What you gotta ask yourself is how you can be best for this new world we're in."

"We don't know how long this new world will last. It could be that once all the newly called Slayers are dead then we go back to the old world."

"That's all well and good and honestly too deep for this time in the morning, but you gotta think differently. There will be hundreds of Slayers during your lifetime. Whether it continues with loads forever then you need to find where and how the field Watchers best fit in with the new world. Or maybe that'll change as you hit middle age and so do most of us and we're back to one or two Slayers fighting the fight again. In that case you need to find out how to improve on the Scoobs so that when that happens those Slayers will be given the best help that they can. And that's how you can help G. Let others concentrate on the big picture and the future of the Slayer line, you concentrate on the future of the Watcher line and how it best helps, cos I reckon no-one's looking into that."

Faith climbed under the covers and tried to get comfy. Pretty soon she'd dropped off to sleep.

Amy lay there and thought about it what had been said.

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End chapter 6a:

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