David Bowie "Heroes"
Title: We Could Be Heroes(7/?)
Rating: R-ish
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Timeline: Season 2 Halloween onward
Pairings: Most canonwise, Xander/Faith
Crossover Material: Assassin's Creed
Spoilers: General BtVS and AC ending information
Summary:
After Halloween, Xander finds himself with the knowledge of the
assassin Altair Ibn La-Ahad and the decision to either use these new
skills to help his friends or not. But not everyone is very happy with
that arrangement...
Giles smiled as the car – a '70's two-door hardtop Toyota Celica with a black paintjob – pulled up and Xander stepped out of the driver's seat. As Faith slid out of the rolled down passenger window, he heard the young man say, "Door's stuck," in explanation as he arched an eyebrow.
The youth then surprised the former Watcher by handing him a set of keys that Giles eyed curiously as a card within a plastic cover was attached to them.
"The keys to my apartment," explained Xander, "and directions." At the older man's look, he added, "I'd rather have you keep an eye on it than anyone else. We cleaned out the fridge and took most of our stuff but left the furniture and locked it up tight behind us."
"Why keep it?" asked Giles.
"If yah need us to come back," replied Faith as she leaned against Xander's side, her arm sliding around his waist. "'Cause we ain't stayin' in that shithole of a motel. The manager's a sleaze I'd love to stick my foot up the ass of."
The man winced at the reminder of where the young woman had been staying previously then blinked as Xander handed him a card.
"What's this?"
"Cellphone," replied Xander. "So you can reach us whenever you need to. And we'll come running back if you need us here."
"I know." The former Watcher reached into his coat then and pulled out a thick envelope, holding it out to the youth. Dark eyes stared at it and the six thousand dollars within then lifted up to his face.
"G-man…"
"Consider it payment for all you've done these past three years," said Giles warmly. "I know we have you to thank for a lot of things, son."
Xander blinked then took the envelope slowly, saying, "I feel bad about taking this… Its from your own pocket…"
The man laughed at that. "My own pocket? Son, I told Wesley if he didn't give me that money from the Council's own accounts, I'd give him a beating to rival the one you gave him. And I made sure to go into great detail about it."
Faith grinned at that and said, "Yah ain't so bad, G. And c'mon, X, we need to split."
"That we do," agreed Xander. He then pulled away from her and abruptly enveloped the former Watcher in a hug, which the man gladly returned. "We'll keep in touch," promised the young man as he pulled away.
"See that you do," said Giles as he watched them walk back towards the car. Smiling sadly as they climbed back into the vehicle, he lifted a hand in a wave as Xander revved the car's engine then pulled away. The sight of both of them waving at him as they drove off to Lord knew where made him feel both happy for them and tired.
Sighing, he looked down at the key in his hand and the card with the cell phone number on it.
But they'd come back.
"So where we going first, X?" asked Faith as she reclined in the passenger seat of the Celica.
"I figured stop off in LA for a few days," he replied as he reached out to fiddle with the knob on the radio he'd updated the car with. It had been the only thing he's replaced in it since buying the car from his uncle other than the fresh paint job and new seat covers. "Sound alright?"
She grinned and stated, "So long as I got my bud, I'll be five by five."
"Returned to bud status already? You wound me, woman!"
Faith stuck out her tongue at him then said, "Shut it, ACDC's on."
Xander laughed at that then cranked up the volume on the radio as they roared through Sunnydale, the lines of Highway to Hell blaring through the car's speakers. He glanced aside at Faith, who was bobbing her feet in time with the beat, her mouth softly singing along to the words. Slowly she got louder then was belting out along with the song in a voice not quite meant for singing.
He loved it anyway though.
"I'm on a hiiighway to Hell! On the highway to Hell! Highway to Hell! I'm on the hiiighway to Heh-ell, yeah!"
With a laugh, Xander asked, "Highway to Hell, is it? That what we're on?"
"Always with me, lover," she replied during a pause then launched right back into the song. As it ended a few seconds later she frowned but then a grin spread across her face as the first notes of Dirty Deeds sounded. "Hell yeah!"
Shaking his head, Xander turned his attention back to the road. Though he couldn't help glancing aside every few minutes at his companion who was so enthusiastically singing.
Yeah, he definitely liked where his life was going now.