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)
Chapter 10a:
Xander was still falling backwards as the swirling mass of blue surrounding him suddenly seemed to disperse and dropped him unceremoniously onto the ground.
"Oooof." was the only sound he uttered as the wind was knocked out of him.
He lay there for a few seconds as he got his breath back. Opening his eye he was shocked to discover a bright blue sky overhead instead of the ceiling of the apartment they'd been renting.
"Okay... my fault." He admitted to himself, dragging himself to his feet.
Taking stock of his new surroundings he quickly summarised that there were no familiar landmarks. 'Must be in the same place Buffy was.'
Glancing towards the horizon, he figured he was still in Africa. 'But when in Africa..?' He asked himself, wondering if he truly had travelled back in time.
Looking around for the group that Buffy had coined the Shadow Men, he was quite surprised to see the portal still present merely a few feet away from him.
Quickly stepping back a few paces further away from it, he waited to see if any of the others were going to arrive.
After a few moments he lost patience with this and moved closer to the portal. 'If they hit me coming through, they hit me.' He figured as he scrutinised it closely. 'The portal looks different from this side.' He noticed, trying to force himself to describe how it was different. It was at this point he was able to identify something else that had been nagging at his mind since his arrival. 'And what's with the light here..?' He silently wondered to himself, as he scanned the surroundings; the desert, the sky, a cave over in the distance.
Ignoring it for the moment he returned his attention to the portal. "SHOTE..? AMY..?" He shouted, doubtful that they could hear him from wherever he was.
"Buffy said she could hear chanting." He mused aloud, "but I don't think I've heard anything at all since my arrival."
Looking around he quickly located a rock and tossed it into the air. It landed on the sand with a small 'pff' noise.
"So I'm the only thing around here that can make a noise..?" He asked aloud again, making sure he filled the silence that was freaking him out slightly.
"HEY, ancient Slayer-creating dudes!!!" He shouted desperately to the skies. "Come on, you were on a coffee break when Buffy was here."
"Wish this place echoed." He muttered to himself.
Turning back to the portal, he stared for a while before retrieving his rock and heading in it's direction.
"On the bright side this isn't a demon." He shouted at the portal on the offchance his friends back in their apartment were able to hear all the ranting he was doing. Then he casually threw the rock underarm directly into the portal.
The portal remained the same and he heard a distinctive 'pfff' on the other side.
He stepped towards it but then caught himself in time. 'That's how you got into this mess idiot.' Stepping around the portal he soon confirmed that the rock had passed harmlessly through it.
"Sure... normal ordinary Watcher-type people and rocks are fine." He ranted. "But Slayers, demons and me... no. We get randomly transported all over the place."
"At least the Slayers and the demon could use the whole 'Exhange student' thing in their defence!!!" He screamed again as he spun around in frustration.
Stopping and blinking to doublecheck what he thought he'd seen. 'Yep... there's definitely some dude running over towards me.'
Remembering Buffy's report about being knocked unconscious, chained up and then threatened with demon essence his hand automatically went to his hip.
And grasped at nothing.
'Dammit.' He thought to himself. 'Was I holding it..? Or wearing it..?' He desperately tried to remember as his eyes scanned the ground where he had landed. A brief glance up showed that the stranger was probably less than forty metres from him now.
Resigning himself to the fact that he'd somehow lost his crossbow, he reached back with his hand to where he knew he had a stake strapped his shorts. Again, his hand grasped at thin air.
"Dammit. I had weapons!" He shouted as the man slowed his run, approaching him more carefully now that they were only a few feet apart.
"Weapons, why do you need weapons..?" He heard from somewhere, somehow accompanied by another voice.
Looking closely at the tall African facing him, he examined him more closely this time. "A crossbow to be exact." He stated.
The other man began to speak, the words completely foreign to Xander. He was sure he could make out at least one phrase that sounded like 'Badne Yar Oon'. But he found himself distracted as the translation came at the same time. "There are no crossbows here." The part that freaked Xander out the most was that the translation appeared to be occuring inside his own head. And it was his own voice that was narrating it.
"That's just freaky." He commented aloud.
Again the response came. Shorter this time, but no more intelligible. And again his own voice read over the sound of the other. "What is?" Xander found his attempt to lipread a different language while listening to both that language and his own internal voice translating it for him a little too much to deal with.
"This translation thing. I know I don't know Sumerian... or whatever it is you're speaking." Xander explained. "So how do I know what you're saying..?"
"I'm not speaking Sumerian." Came the response. "I could, I suppose."
He idly contemplated whether he was understanding the conversation at all or whether his own brain was betraying him and simply making it up. Although not completely discarding the possibility it didn't ring true to him.
'Kay... so we're at a standoff - wouldn't say we exactly trust each other.' Xander reasoned to himself as he noticed the short staff in the man's left hand. 'And he's armed and I'm not.'
Foreign words spoke out, again the translation was practically instantaneous. "I do not understand how you can be here." Came the response, followed by a question. "Only a Slayer can be here."
"Wrong genitalia." Xander gestured to himself with a broad wave of the arms that travelled the length of his body. "I've got an outie and not an innie."
The man began to respond, but Xander stopped him before the translation got as far as "If you're refering to your sex-"
"This is giving me a headache." He informed the other person.
"I can speak English if you prefer..?" The man offered.
The change in tone made Xander sure that this was the man's real voice and not himself doing a translation.
"Is this easier for you..?" He repeated.
"Much. Thanks." Xander nodded across gratefully. "How was all that working..?"
"That was Inafey."
Xander quickly located the familiar sounding word. "I've heard of that. The first language, eh..?"
The man smiled back at him, "Yes."
"So you speak Inafey." And the other man's negative head movements, Xander continued. "Doesn't matter. I didn't get it last time either."
"Inafey is the language of thought." The man informed him. "You have to think before you can speak."
"I'm guilty of not doing that a lot." Xander joked.
"I mean as a species." The man returned in a deadpan tone. "All creatures capable of at least some conscious thought are making their first steps into the language of Inafey."
"Right-" Xander began, then glanced back to the portal. "Is that thing two-way..? Cos I've got a couple of people back home that would be far better than me at this conversation."
"I don't know." The man answered. "None like you have ever been here before."
"Great. Setting new ground." Xander muttered, as he considered just diving through the portal. 'I'll either land on the sand, or in the apartment... or knowing my luck, somewhere far far worse than this."
"You need to be touched by a Slayer to come here." The man commented. "And even then you shouldn't be able to converse with me."
"Touched by a... I haven't... I mean there was one time with Faith." Xander bumbled, confused by the new information.
"Faith..?" The man asked in a confused tone as he paused as though trying to remember something. "I don't mean it like that." He continued. "Losing your virginity to Faith isn't anything like what I was referring to."
"Well good... wait, what..?" Xander went wide-eyed as his brain caught up with the information he'd just recieved. "I... How did you know about that..?"
"You are Xander Harris." The man seemed to accuse.
The apartment.
Roger blinked as he watched Xander fall into the portal both Shote and Amy had passed straight through.
From his vantage point he could see Faith preparing to dive after him.
"WhatAboutTheDemon?" He blurted out, relieved to see her coming up short of the portal's entrance.
He spotted both Shote and Amy step back away from the portal, trying to get some distance between themselves and any possible attack.
"Right - Demon." Faith appeared to reluctantly agree. He noticed her stand poised ready for anything.
After a few moments with no activity the group started to exchange glances.
"Where's the demon..?" Faith voiced the question the whole group was asking.
No-one responded for a while. "Wasn't the portal supposed to close..?" Amy asked.
"And this book was gonna go blank too." Roger stated, pointing at the text that was now in English.
"The Exchange has not yet taken place." Shote summarised for everyone.
Meanwhile, in the desert.
"And you know my name...?" Xander asked.
"I thought you'd be taller." The man stated, before his face spread in a wide grin. "You always seemed taller."
Xander raised his eyebrows, getting even more lost now.
"It's good to speak to someone else." The man confessed. "I've only been able to communicate with one person for several thousand years. And it wasn't anything like this."
He regarded Xander with a curious look. "How did you get to be here- no. Sorry." He paused, seemingly waving the question off. "You are the visitor... or guest if you will. Do you have any questions you would like to ask me..?"
Xander paused to think about the many questions Amy would ask if she were here. Questions Giles would hate him if he didn't ask. Unfortunately in the here and now, his own curiousity outranked the other questions in terms of importance. "What's your name and how do you know me..?" He heard himself day.
"My name is Brouhm."
"Brahoom." Xander repeated.
He was quickly corrected.
"Brouhm."
"Barom." He tried again.
"Brouhm." The other man repeated.
"Ba-row-hm" Xander attempted more carefully.
"Close enough." Brouhm responded with a smile. "As for how I know you. First you need a better understanding of who I am." He stated as he started to walk in the direction of the cave.
"I guess you're one of the people that created the Slayer line." Xander said as diplomatically as he could.
"I think that one was obvious." Brouhm agreed.
"Where are the others..?" Xander asked. "My friend was here a while ago and sh-"
"I felt her enter this realm." Brouhm answered, "but it was not me she communicated with."
"Okay." Xander accepted that for the time being.
"She, like yourself, also did not do what was expected of her." Brouhm glanced sideways with a look. "But I have my suspicions as to why that was the case with Buffy Summers."
Xander nodded, turning to face Brouhm again he noticed the man deep in thought.
"She communicated with others." He stated aloud, as they apporached the entrance to the cave.
"The other Shadow Men." Xander answered before he could stop himself, he gave Brouhm an apologetic look.
Brouhm shrugged. "As good a name as any other." Then he continued. "But I did not know that they could do what they did either."
"Talking to Buffy..?" Xander asked, "Or the show and tell part."
"Both." Brouhm replied. "The offer was the largest surprise."
As they approached the cave, Brouhm led him inside. "Before I tell you about me, I must tell you about those your friend met."
Xander watched as Brouhm gestured to inside of the cave. Seemingly lit from a hole at the top.
Inside were three other men, dressed similarly to Brouhm. Near one of the edges of the cave stood a young girl. One that Xander recognised as the First Slayer.
All four seemed to be frozen in time. 'Like statues.' Xander thought to himself, 'But real-er than anything you'd find made from stone or wax.'
"This is the girl who would become the First Slayer. It was the combination that lived inside her that you would have had to be touched by." Brouhm commented. "Which unless you are a Slayer, I don't understand how..?"
There was a pause as if Brouhm was waiting for him to respond.
Xander did so, his eyes never leaving the girl whose expression seemed to be more of defiance than fear.
"Are you a Slayer..?" Brouhm asked again.
"I don't see how I could be." Xander responded automatically. "But I did have a freaky dream about her once."
"How long ago..?" Brouhm questioned immediately.
Xander considered not responding, but he desperately wanted to hear the rest of the story. "Years ago now." He finally answered.
"No matter then." Brouhm waved it off. "Unless more time has passed than I thought."
"More time..?" Xander looked confused.
"Irrelevant... if time had passed then you would either know or I would assume that I would."
"I'm lost." Xander admitted.
"Don't worry, I'm going to explain it all to you." Brouhm informed him with a smile.
End chapter 10c