Azure Halloween

Summary: Crossover with something of my own invention Halloween fic. Things will never be the same again for Xander.

Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Fox Interactive and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement intended. Anything not recognizable as someone else's work most likely belongs to me. Mitts off.

Warning: Some parts of this chapter are rather graphic at nature. No blood and guts or lemon/lime or the like but you still might want to prepare yourself if you're the easily disturbed type.

Chapter 8

The beginnings of the ritual seemed to consist mainly of Willow chanting in a low voice, occasionally broken by Oz and Cordelia waving talismans of some sort in patterns and speaking short sentences in a languages Xander couldn't understand. Occasionally Giles would chant something in a language that sounded hoarse on the throat and throw handfuls of something on a small brazier, releasing a cloud of pungent-smelling smoke.. After a second helping of the stuff Xander had retreated to a chair in the shadows near the ritual far enough to keep the fumes from messing with his sensitive sense of smell. He could feel power building up slowly in the circle; it made his spook radar tingle oddly- not light, not dark, more like.. potential to be anything if given enough time and energy.

Buffy had decided- against both his and Giles' better judgement- to split the Scoobies into two, joining Kendra in an attempt to scout out the warehouse they thought Acathla was being held. That had been an interesting argument right until Buffy had snapped and taken an imperious tone.

"Enough! We don't have enough time here for second guesses here. Willow, you're staying here. Try to bring Angel back. Oz, Cordy, Giles, I want you to help her. Xander.. just try to stay out of the way."

Xander made an half-amused half-indignant rumble in his throat. 'Stay out of the way'.. General Buffy was so focused on regaining her vampire lover she failed to even notice the changes in him. He wasn't sure whether he should be insulted or impressed with her loyalty.

Willow raised her voice; her words gained a hard demanding edge. Xander sensed a swirl in the energy of the circle, washing against his senses with a dull tingle. It wasn't until he closed his eyes for a second he realized a dark presence gathering nearby. They'd thought the warehouse had been a trap- it had been. For them.

His eyes snapped open instantly, his body immediately poised for combat. Power rushed through his body in a hot wave. "Willow!" He rumbled.

Willow flinched mid-syllable. There was a sharp snapping sound like a whipcrack and a puff of purple-green smoke formed above the brazier for a moment.

Xander held back a wince. Thankfully the repercussions for breaking the ritual hadn't been particularly.. spectacular. "Vampires," he growled when Willow gave him a questioning look. "At least a dozen approaching from the north and northwest. Cordelia, you have to get out of here."

Giles blinked rather owlishly. "Xander, how did you-"

"Long story.. far too long." There was a large leathery bag at his feet; Xander unzipped it and revealed a two-foot long piece of silver and ebony steel as Willow headed for the weapons cabinets and returned with swords, axes and crossbows. When she wordlessly offered one to him he just gave a serrated grin. "I brought my own, thanks, Wills."

He hefted the Stormhammer and felt it thrumming in his hands. Three pairs of eyes paused to stare at it as he swung it through the air, feeling the grip properly, and an arc of energy snapped between two thorns.

The library door creaked and slammed open; Xander snarled and hurled the mace.

I#I#I#I#I

If the vampires had thought they'd be surprising a group of helpless humans they were sorely mistaken. As the first vampires rushed into the room the Stormhammer spun through the air and out of the room, plowing its way through the vampire pack with a series of startled grunts that ended abruptly into poofing sounds before disappearing into the corridor behind them. Judging from the resounding crash of metal and shattering glass he'd managed to hit a vending machine. Before the dust had the time to settle Xander bared his fangs in an expression that might have been a rather evil grin and held his hand out in a beckoning gesture.

"Thrall!"

Most of the vampires had had the brains to duck and cover as the mace has torn its way though their ranks. A few had been stood up but most of them quickly ducked back down as there was a clatter of metal and the Stormhammer spun through the air back into his outstretched hand, dusting several more vampires in the process. He spun the weapon in his hands with a seemingly lazy twirl, trailing dust and sparks to the air. As he took a few running steps forward and swung at the nearest vampire (the mace flaring into a blue-white light, the vampire disintegrating rather than exploding into dust) he heard the twang of crossbows as the other Scoobies joined the fray. He could feel the bolts whizzing past him but knew to trust their aim.

Come, shadowborn, Skye rumbled in his head. Come to me, nightspawn, come and die again!

"Thrall, xanth'auch'na.. Thrall'e'gar, cthol'na, thrall'ar'kess'ahar!"

He didn't pause to wait. He charged, fangs gleaming, the Stormhammer pulsing in his hands.

"En'nach Dachar! En'nach Sseramach'a'Xanth!"

I#I#I#I#I

As Xander tore into the vampires with an unnerving ferocity Giles and Oz advanced with a sword and an axe respectively at hand, more than little confused by this Xander that was so different from what they'd been used to. Willow raised her crossbow and took out one of the vampires with a well-aimed shot, careful not to aim at Xander. Xander bellowed something that sounded like a combat challenge and struck with his mace, sending two vamps flying and dusting one at the spot. There was something.. alien in the way he moved, Willow realized as she reloaded her crossbow. Every step he took, every swing he made was filled with a kind of deadly grace that belied his mass and strength. It reminded her strongly of a the way a large cat moved, every seemingly lazy movement charged with barely-concealed charge ready to explode into action. When Xander wasn't fighting it felt like an aura of carefully concealed violence; when he did fight it was just plain scary.

Something creaked behind her. Suddenly there was an enormous crash that shook the floor beneath her feet, quickly followed by another accompanied by the sound of splintering wood. Her eyes widened. Hadn't Xander said he sensed them in the north and northwest?

"The fire exit! They're breaking in through the fire exit!"

I#I#I#I#I

Xander let loose a rumbling snarl and clobbered a vampire over the head with the hilt of his mace. It collapsed, leaving just enough room for an effective swing that left a second vampire screeching as several ragged parallel gouges in its chest smoked and spread a thick stench of burning flesh around it.

"The fire exit! They're breaking in through the fire exit!"

"Blood of the Dragon, how many are there?" Xander growled.

Dozens of vampires were now little more than bloodstained ashes on the library floor but dozens more were swarming through the library doors, their combined presence sufficient to completely swamp his less human senses, a thick feeling of death and corruption cloying the air around him.

Danger!

Power pulsed and surged beneath his skin, flowing through him and into his weapon with every swing he took, the mace crackling and thrumming in his hands. He was practically tasting the vampiric taint in the air, relying on instinct and his Xander-sense rather than sight.

Danger! Danger! Death! Darkness!

Instinct had him tearing his way through the dead hordes, leaving behind a swath of dusted or maimed vampires. The power was a maelstrom of energy whirling within his soul and around him, invisible streams of something reaching out through the walls and ceilings into the skies above.

Blood! Shadow!

Something shone through the darkness of the vampires' presence, a dim light that approached and brightened until it burnt its way through them like a holy flame. The hordes around him were torn between two directions as he carved a bloody path through them. For one moment he was fighting alongside that something that burnt with a light that pulsed with the shadows.. then it passed him, heading for the other half of the library. Something within him pulsed for a second with something like.. acknowledgement? Respect?

Danger! Danger! Kill! Kill!

Xander fought like a man possessed, ripping through undead flesh with fury and enchanted steel. A burning rage surged through his veins, lending further strength to his blows. His shirt was torn, blood seeping slowly from scratches and slashes that didn't even slow him down. The normally pale skin of his arms was turning a purplish-red as more blood was pumped into the limbs to keep up with his bulging muscles.

Outside the dark clouds were gathering above the school as the wind picked up. The air felt thick and heavy like just before the storm even as the first droplets of water hammered against the roof.

Inside Xander hammered his opponents with the Stormhammer, resorting to his fists and stake when the vampires finally managed to rip the mace away from him. Mere touch of the blessed weapon scorched them but they still managed to keep it away from him even if he tried to call it back to his hands. When the battered fire escape door finally broke down he turned and faced the advancing vampires with a menacing snarl, his eyes alight with a feral glow.

Eventually Oz and Giles were overwhelmed and knocked unconscious. Xander still fought even against hopeless odds, forcing his opponents to pay dearly for every inch he had to let up. Finally the seemingly limitless vampires were down to twelve of their number before they managed to subdue him enough for one to close in for the bite.

The last thing he saw before he felt a tearing pain on the side of his neck was a pair of vampires advancing on Willow.

Prrrotect..

The darkness claimed him, Willow's desperate call echoing in his failing senses.

I#I#I#I#I

"Xander!"

Willow felt like screaming as her oldest friend slowly slumped against the vampire behind him, the four vampires hanging on his arms letting go. His skin was quickly turning a ghastly white, accompanied by a sickening slurping noise from the vampire that was nearly holding him up now.

This can't be happening! Xander! No!

I#I#I#I#I

He was floating in darkness surrounded by the most beautiful music he had ever heard. A wordless chorus of angelic voices raised in ultimate praise and joy washed over him.

"Wake up.."

"No.." he murmured. The darkness was warm and soft. He was safe here.

"Open your eyes.."

The voice was tempting, a clear melodic female voice that almost sounded like the speaker was singing even if she was just speaking. The song around him intensified, calling to him..

"Wake up.."

Slowly, reluctantly, he opened his eyes. The song around him intensified and he was temporarily blinded for a second by the sudden brightness. When he finally got his vision back he found himself looking down into a pair of eyes colored the deepest, clearest emerald he had ever seen.

Serena smiled up at him, her pearly white teeth lighting up her delicate face. She must've been standing on her tiptoes; even if he was leaning slightly forward their faces were only half a foot apart. She smelled like the crisp chill wind of a frozen winter morning, with a faint underlying scent of herbs and something musky.

For one moment he could only blink stupidly. Then the memories rushed back to him, the ritual, the vampire swarm..

"Willow!" Xander snapped straight up. "Where.." He took in the knee-deep layer of opaque mist boiling on the ground and the light that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. "Where are we? What are we doing here? I have to get back- Willow!" The side of his neck was itching furiously now but he didn't dare to touch it in case he found something there.

Serena smiled sadly at him, placing her slender left hand on his armored wrist. He realized suddenly that he was wearing the same ensemble he had used on Halloween.. and that Serena was holding a long staff in her right hand, the top forking into two wicked-looking foot-long spearlike prongs roughly at the height of her head.

"Try to calm down.." Her voice rang like crystal bells, "..You can't go back now."

"Not many can return from the Void" A strong voice rang out from behind him. Xander spun around and couldn't help gawking. The voice had been Skye's but the figure standing before him was suited in a suit of heavy full plate armor painted deep glossy black like the starless night, intricately decorated with shining silver. The familiar silvery amulet depicting a winged serpent was attached into the left side of the chest plate, looking for all the world like it was a solid part of the cuirass. The front of the helmet was shaped into an elongated demonic snarling mask of silver fangs and black steel, golden eyes glittering faintly behind the dark eye-sockets permanently squinted in a fierce glare. Two pairs of horns curved up and behind from the top, adding a good eight inches to his already considerable height and a pair of finlike protuberances fanned out from where his ears would have been under the helmet. Some kind of sigil gleamed silver from the left pauldron, a curved triangular shape like a talon and three narrow lines converging near the base like an arrow, resembling the wingtip of a bat.. or a dragon. The end of a familiar silver-and-black handle could faintly be seen poking up from behind the left pauldron.

"Where are we? Why are we here! Give me some answers!" Armor or not, Xander was very close to let his fists do the questioning.

The ruby eye of the serpent glittered and flashed. "Calm yourself. The Void is a kind of.. in-between-state. We-"

YOU ARE HERE TO BE JUDGED, MORTAL.

The voice had no source, no direction; it echoed through the darkness and shook every cell in his body with pure energy. The chorus blossomed around them into a soaring crescendo as an incredible wave of power washed over him. The darkness before him split horizontally and opened, revealing a massive eye glowing in all the hues of the rainbow.

"Father."

"My Lord."

He heard a clatter of metal from his right and a shuffling noise from his left side as Skye and Serena, respectively, kneeled before the eye. Xander squared his shoulders and stood his ground even as a part of him wanted nothing more than curl into a fetal position and whimper in horror.

"Judged? For what?"

TIME PASSES FOR ALL THAT LIVES.

ALL THAT EXISTS HAS ITS GIVEN TIME.

YOUR TIME HAS COME.

Xander scoffed. "What interest does the Scion of Time have in a lowly human? I'd have expected angels and haloes, not the Lord of Ages."

I AM OLDER THAN TIME, OLDER THAN LIFE, OLDER THAN ETERNITY.

I COME FOR ALL MY CHILDREN AND SERVANTS.

ALL THAT LIVES AND DIES COMES HERE.

I JUDGE ALL THE SOULS THAT PASS HERE.

"I'm not one of your servants, Elder One." Oh, what the heck. Might as well go out with a bang.

The deep dark pupil narrowed ever-so-slightly. Within the darkness a cloud of dust and gas gathered, swirled and solidified into a blazing star.

YOUR SOUL IS BOUND TO THE SPIRIT OF ONE OF MY CHILDREN.

YOU HAVE SPILT BLOOD IN MY NAME.

YOUR BLOOD HAS BEEN SPILT IN SERVICE TO MY NAME.

THAT IS ENOUGH.

"And more blood shall be spilt if I cannot return! My friends could be dying right now!"

The remains of the cloud formed into spheres of rock around the star, spinning around it in an intricate dance.

YOU HAVE PASSED HERE COUNTLESS TIMES BEFORE.

COUNTLESS LIVES FAR GREATER THAN YOURS HAVE PASSED HERE.

IT IS THE WAY OF ALL THINGS.

WHY SHOULD YOU BE DIFFERENT?

"The Undead you so hate are about to feed my world to the demons! They will shatter your precious Balance!"

White, green and gold spread onto one of the planets, thousands upon thousands of generations of evolution growing and dying in a time it took for him to take a breath.

THE BALANCE TURNS BOTH WAYS.

IT EBBS.

IT FLOWS.

IT WILL RESTORE ITSELF.

"At the cost of billions of lives, souls consumed by the hordes of the Hellplanes!"

WHAT DIFFERENCE DO YOU HOPE TO MAKE, MORTAL?

The star spun around and around, shrinking all the time until it was too bright to look at. The planets around it cooled and died before his eyes.

"What difference I can! I will not give up, I will not abandon my loved ones! Not now, not ever! 'Til the stars dim and the moon shatters, 'til the sun fades and winds die, 'til the end of Life, Time and Eternity, 'til Death and beyond in Rebirth we hunt, we protect, we destroy!"

For one moment that stretched into eternity silence filled the void around them. The white star spun around faster and faster until suddenly it collapsed into a tear blacker than the emptiness around it and devoured the worlds it had given life to. Slowly the eye rotated to lock its gaze first upon Skye, then on Serena before swiveling back to him.

YOU DESIRE TO REENTER THE MORTAL REALMS.

AND WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE IN RETURN?

"No price is too high!"

WOULD YOU BECOME MY SERVANT IN YOUR WORLD? WOULD YOU FIGHT THE CREATURES YOU HAVE ALWAYS FOUGHT NOW IN MY NAME?

"If it would save my friends, I would!"

WILL YOU HUNT WHAT I ORDER YOU TO HUNT?

"Yes!"

WILL YOU PROTECT WHAT IORDER YOU TO PROTECT?

"I will!"

WILL YOU DESTROY WHAT I ORDER YOU TO DESTROY?

"Yes!"

WILL YOU HUNT THE POWERS OF DARKNESS WHERE YOU FIND THEM?

"Yes!"

WILL YOU PROTECT THOSE WHO CANNOT PROTECT THEMSELVES? WILL YOU PROTECT THOSE WHO WILL FEAR YOU, THOSE WHO WILL HATE YOU FOR WHAT YOU ARE?

"I will not back down!"

WILL YOU DESTROY THE REMNANTS OF THE FIRST ONES AND THOSE TAINTED BY THEIR FILTH WHEREVER YOU MAY ENCOUNTER THEM?

"Yes!"

ARE YOU WILLING TO BECOME ONE OF MY CHILDREN AND LOSE A PART OF WHAT YOU CALL YOUR HUMANITY?

"Anything for my friends!"

WILL YOU LEAVE BEHIND THOSE YOU KNOW TO SERVE ME?

For one moment Xander faltered. "I cannot leave behind those I love! What good is power with no-one to protect?"

The pupil narrowed again, completely focused on him. Xander stared defiantly into it, refusing to budge an inch.

THE PRICE IS SUFFICIENT.

ARISE, SCHAA'ZOR OF CLAN DEATHWING.

Schaa'Zor- the Wing of the Storm..

Skye stood up with a ring of steel against steel and pressed his armored hands onto Xander's shoulders. Instinctively Xander reached out and wrapped his arms around Skyes' to place his own hands on his thick metal pauldrons. Their eyes locked, shining gold against shining gold; and somehow something else seemed to overlap Skye, an outline of something older and larger than he had imagined but still vaguely knew in the deep recesses of his mind. For one moment the mask twisted and bared silver and ivory fangs at him in an expression that could have been a smile as golden slitted eyes shimmered behind the eyeslits. He could feel his power rising within him, Skye's energy rushing to meet it.. and the two collided and twined together, melding and becoming not a combination of the two but something beyond the sum of their parts. Power flowed through him, roared in his veins and sung with his soul as the voices of the Children of Dachar rose around them to greet their new brother. The power embraced him and consumed him and all around him the deep voice like thunder given form echoed and rumbled through the darkness.

THE BARGAIN HAS BEEN MADE.

THE PRICE IS SUFFICIENT.

THE PRICE HAS BEEN PAID.

AWAKEN, MY CHILD, AND EMBRACE THE GLORY THAT IS YOUR BIRTHRIGHT.

ARISE, DACHAR STORM PALADIN!

I#I#I#I#I

Thunder cracked outside, a deep rumbling boom that shook the foundations under her feet. Suddenly Willow felt like the very air had come around her; a thick, metallic feel permeated the room, her hair suddenly feeling like it was moving on its own and trying to stand up. The vampires advancing on her paused for a moment, confused by the sudden change in the atmosphere..

Then the lights flickered and the vampire still holding Xander in a twisted embrace suddenly exploded in a brilliant flare of blue-white light, a sizzling outline of an afterimage composed of blue lightning lingering for a second before fading away.

Thunder rumbled again and Xander sunk down on his knees with a tortured moan, hands barely holding him in a kneeling position. Then he screamed, his back arcing backwards, chest thrust out and arms spread to the side, screamed a horrible piercing cry of agony that tore trough her heart. The windows shattered outwards, hurling crystalline shrapnel into the night; and as the howling wind tore into the room and kicked up swirling clouds of fine vampire dust a horrid white-blue light seemed to ignite and radiate from under his skin, glowing through his eyes, nostrils and mouth like he was filled with nothing but the luminance. She could see every one of his teeth outlined black against the glow, could see the horrible gaping hole in his neck and the scratches and slashes on his chest and arms, the light leaking out of them like through cracks in a nightshade.. and before her eyes lightning seemed to crawl over and around the wounds, flesh and skin reknitting itself over the damage.

Thunder shook the building and the scream dropped several octaves into a beastly roar like no human throat was ever made to produce, a call of pain, fury and power that awakened instincts in Willow left over from billions of years ago, from the time the first ancestors of Humans were little more than mice scurrying at the feet of the gigantic creatures that ruled the Earth. She wanted to run, to hide and tremble but could not move a muscle, transfixed like she was watching a trainwreck happening with her own eyes. The vampires fared little better; they cowered and edged away from Xander, completely forgetting about her for the time.

There was a sudden sick crack as if bone breaking that made her shiver followed right by a second one. Something in Xander seemed to twist and stretch beyond description, a disgusting wet ripping sound she had never heard before but somehow recognized as the sound of living flesh tearing and reforming that would haunt her nightmares for weeks to come.

It visibly began with his hands. Suddenly his little fingers seemed to shrink and atrophy in a matter of seconds, the remaining fingers strengthening and thickening. His skin was receiving a decidedly blue tint when the entire lower half of his face suddenly bulged outwards with a sickening bony crunch, the nose melting into the upper lip and leaving only a pair of narrow slits for nostrils.

Willow stifled a scream and gagged. There was a series of rapid cracking noises like a firecrackers as his teeth seemed to split and multiply to occupy his now-too-long jaws, leaving behind rows of half-an-inch-long fangs. It looked like his flesh was squirming beneath his skin, bones shattering and reshaping themselves, muscles and organs stretching, melting and regrowing into shapes they were never meant to be.

His fingertips split, something sharp protruding from the bleeding marks and hardening into long black hooked talons. His skin was now entirely blue, blue like the deep calm ocean or the cold clear sky right before the evening, shining like polished glass. His spine suddenly extended behind him, forming a muscular coil that squirmed and jerked like an azure snake with its head cut off.

Then there was a sick wet ripping noise of tearing flesh and cloth and a pair of arms so thin they could have been called skeletal tore through his back right below his shoulders; Willow screamed as the fingers twitched and jerked, the bones stretching into impossibly long and thin shapes as muscles grew and coiled along the structure. The thumbs hardened and stiffened until they were nothing more than eight-inch-long curved claws, a thick webby membrane growing between the fingers, hardening into a leathery surface dark as the stormy skies.

A creamy white layer like bones taking the form of small shields grew onto the flesh of his chest and stomach, vaguely resembling those old Roman armors with the breastplate adorned with impossible abdominal and chest muscles; there was a sudden sound like glass shattering and a serrated crystalline diamond pattern appeared on his blue skin, shimmering and glittering in the eerie light. His ears shrunk and were replaced by a pair of fanlike structures, thin membranes supported by five bony quills; and long, curved bone-white spikes ripped through the changing skin on the top of his head, a dual row of at least eight horns that trailed from above his eyes, now situated more towards the sides of his head, towards the back of his head where his formerly short hair was turning into a wild mane of coarse black strands. The tip of his new limb- tail, a hysterical section of her mind sobbed- grew itself a stingerlike tip of bony spikes that gleamed wickedly, twin rows of serrated bony plates running along the spine.

With the last changes his torso and limbs seemed to bulge with still-growing muscles until what was left of his shirt and trousers tore apart and slid off like pieces of shed skin. The light flickered out from his mouth and eyes, stray streams of electricity arcing between horns and along scales, crackling along fingers tipped with two-inch-long razor-sharp curved ebony black talons.

Then he opened his eyes, solid gold with narrow slit pupils, and the creature that had once been Xander Harris stood up and gave challenging roar, spreading its vast draconic wings, lightning surging between the fanged jaws and along the scaly snout. The thunder roared along with it and Willow could see only one word reflected in those eyes, the pupils glowing with a horrible crimson fire of their own.

Kill! Kill!

I#I#I#I#I

Cliffhanger! I'm evil, I know. To quote one of my favorite songs: "This dance- Will hurt like Hell.." As I'm writing this I'm about one page into chapter 9, so you shouldn't have to wait that long.

Review Responses:

Harry2: Whoa, a review for every chapter! Thank you very much for reading this, I'm glad you've enjoyed it!

M. Kearney: Thank you very much! It's good to see people like my work- I aim to entertain. Skye is my first original character and probably the most well-thought-ought of them (right along with Serena, though she rarely gets as much attention). I've been trying to keep Xander as much in-character as possible while slowly sliding him more towards Skye's disposition.

Shinigami-chan: :chuckle: I'm glad to see you likes my work. Thankyou very much If I remember correctly the '-chan'-postfix means either 'little', 'girl/woman', or some combination of the two. So 'Shinigami-chan' could mean either 'Little God of Death', 'Goddess of Death', or 'Little Goddess of Death'. ..Okay, knocking it off with the lecture-mode. Sorry.

KujasUltimate: Thank you!

Destiny's Dragon: I intend to. Thank you for reading!

Dogbertcarroll: Now that gave me an idea.. I'll have to see if I can use it, if you don't mind? Thank you for your review, I'm glad to see you like this.

Thank you everybody! See you all in the next chapter!