Chapter4:
° Disclaimer still in the prologue.
°The dialogue between Giles and Buffy in the first part was directly taken from episode6.
After dealing with Lance; Kyle and Xander continued with their plan, and tried to make Willow and Buffy took notice of their behaviour. For a moment it was like nothing changed, Willow was still lusting after Xander's new behaviour, he was still insulting her and Buffy continued to take Willow's side; even though she was used and manipulated by Willow. For a slayer she was totally clueless and that was what made her so weak against the witch's power. She was too confident in her force, she never searched to use her brain and that was the biggest mistake you could do with Willow. In fact she was being played, like a little girl would play with her doll.
Well it wasn't Xander's problem; he wasn't responsible for her stupidity, but what was frustrating him was the lack of reaction. It was to the point of him going to spell it for them, if they continued to ignore the change. They needed Giles for the spell and if Willow didn't go to him soon; their plan had a risk to fail. Finally it took them two weeks to make Buffy and Willow realised that something was going on, but only one day to resolve everything.
On that one day; Xander was going to try one last time to make them see before going to Giles himself, when he saw Buffy going in the direction of the library. A glimmer of hope lightened his eyes as he followed her. Once at the library's door he silently entered the room and went to hide behind the bookcase nearest the table where Giles was sitting, to listen to their conversation.
"So Xander has taken to teasing the less fortunate?" Giles asked without raising his head from his book.
"Uh- Huh" replied Buffy, not happy by the lack of attention from Giles.
"And, there's been a noticeable change in both clothing and demeanour?" He asked again. "Yes." She answered frustrated as he was still reading his book.
"And, well, otherwise all his spare time is spent lounging about with imbeciles." He continued finally moving his eyes to look at hers.
"It's bad, isn't it?" she asked him completely sure that Giles would see the danger of Xander's new behaviour. After all she was the slayer;, she was the one that saw those sort of things.
Giles dramatically sighed and answered. "It's devastating; he has turned into a sixteen-year-old boy; of course, you will have to kill him."
"Giles, I'm serious." Buffy whined.
Xander wanted to laugh but seeing as the situation wasn't evolving like he wanted; he decided with the help of Mayaeb to pass to planB. It was time for Mayaeb and Draith to take controle, Kyle and Xander wouldn't be able to do what was needed; not without the merging. Mayaeb had explained it to him, for now they were two entities distinct and that made him too human for what was coming. He didn't possess the animal instincts necessary; they were still Mayaeb's, so she had to take control. She assured him he would understand when the merging was completed and he trusted her.
Reaching for her link with Draith and knowing that the gang was with Kyle she asked him to join her to Herbert's cage. Herbert was the new mascot for the Sunnydale High Razorbacks team. They had had a good laugh when the principal presented him to the students, after all Herbert being a pig and a pig was all but scary.
Entering the room they saw that Kyle and the others were already there, Draith and him must have felt that they would act on planB and stayed in the proximity of the room. The gang was already surrounding the cage their eyes glowing green as he felt himself moving to join them. He was beginning to feel nervous when Kyle's soul was sent to his, leaving the control of Kyle's body to Draith.
Xander could sense Kyle's nervousness as well as his, but saw himself being embraced by Kyle in an offer of comfort. The last thing they heard as they were cut from the scene, were the terrified squeals coming from the pig.
At that same time, the conversation in the library was continuing with an exasperated Buffy. "There is something supernatural at work here; get your books! Look stuff up!"
"Look under what?" Giles asked her exasperated as well. "The evidences that you've presented me with is sketchy at best."
"He scared the pig." Buffy answered him. "Well, he did..." she insisted at his incredulous look.
"Buffy, boys can be cruel. They tease, they prey on the weak; it's a natural teen behaviour pattern." Giles told her impatiently.
"They prey on the weak. I've heard that somewhere before... Xander has been acting totally wiggy ever since we went to the zoo. Him and Kyle and all those guys, they went into the hyena cage; oh God, that laugh..." Buffy thought aloud.
"You're saying that, uh, Xander's becoming a hyena." Giles asked her.
"I don't know. Or been possessed by one? Not just Xander, all of them." She told him beginning to understand what was going on.
"Well, I've certainly never heard of, uh..." Giles said as he was asking himself if there was more to it than Xander being a teen.
Just at that moment Willow came into the library. "Herbert! They found him, dead and eaten; Principal Flutie's freaking out." She told them.
Buffy turned to him smirking nastily. "A teen huh?" He ignored her and went to his office in search of his books; he had better things to do than being insulted by a blond brat.
After the Herbert 'incident' as Xander like to call it he told the rest of the gang to go back to class and went to the library to see if planB had work like they had been hoping. Seeing as the three of them were sitting at the table and immersed in the books; they must have been successful.
Now their next step was to make sure that the gang didn't hurt or kill anyone. Mayaeb and Draith had explained to their hosts that when a possessed person wasn't strong enough; they tended to let the hyena have free control. When that was the case the spirit turned totally savage and uncontrollable; the incompatibility between the host and the spirit made the last one crazy and if nothing was done; it resulted in this person hunting human to eat, a real carnage.
As the bell rang the end of their last class Kyle and Xander went in search of the others, but as they were passing by an empty classroom a hand caught Kyle's wrist forcefully and hurled him in. He didn't have the time to regain his balance as he was thrown in the opposite wall. Xander tried to reach and protect Kyle, as he was struggling to get up, but his opponent had already her hand squeezing Kyle's neck. Kyle fought with all his might but she just laughed and banged violently his head against the wall once more. She smirked with glee as she dropped him on the floor unconscious.
"Kyle!" shouted Xander with worry; he was struggling with himself to stay in control as he knew he couldn't show to Buffy that he was slowly but surely becoming stronger than her. Kyle didn't let himself be assaulted for nothing; he had to keep the appearances even if he hated to see Kyle being hurt like that. So he turned back to Buffy and continued the pretence, "Are you crazy? What did you do that for?" He crouched beside Kyle cradling his wrist between his hands and searching for his pulse; only reassured after finding it.
"Oh stop that now! I know that you are not really Xander; that in reality you have been infected by a hyena spirit! So don't try to make me believe that you are worried about Kyle! He's sick, so are you by the way, and I can tell you it was a pleasure to take care of him!" She told him angry that he was ignoring her for Kyle.
Trying another approach, she pressed her body against his and whispered in his hear "I know that you have always been attracted to me and well, in this animal state, I would not mind your attentions… After all Angel doesn't have to know and…"
He pushed her away and interrupted her dryly "Are you out of your mind? I would never be tempted by someone as cruel and selfish as you. I'm not as desperate as you seem to think I am."
Blinded by the rage she felt at Xander's rejection, she grabbed the desk nearest to her and hit him in the back of the head; knocking him out as well.
As he regained consciousness, Xander found himself locked in a cage he knew was hidden in the library with Kyle laying beside him and still out of it. As he looked over him Xander could feel his anger increasing, Kyle had a bump at the back of his head the size of an egg and dark bruises all around his neck where Buffy squeezed it. He knew Kyle would be hurting really badly when he woke up, but there was nothing he could do about it.
As he was going to get up and see to Kyle, he heard Willow, Buffy and Giles coming to the cage. Laying back he closed his eyes and waited to hear what was going on.
"Oh my… What happened here?" Giles asked shock by the state of Kyle and Xander.
"Well we only expected to have to deal with Xander, but Kyle was still with him. So I had to do something; after all they were two against me!" she answered him.
"So what? You went and decided to beat the hell out of them with your slayer's gifts? You know that even possessed, they still are only humans! You could have killed them with your force!" Giles said angrily.
"But Giles" she whined. "They tried to assault me sexually!" At that she turned toward Willow. "I'm sorry but that's the truth and I couldn't let them do it!"
"Maybe; but you could have knocked them out without hurting them so much! My god, Buffy! You strangled Kyle! You didn't defend yourself, you attacked him! There is a big difference here." He told her furiously. Turning to Willow he said, "Willow, you will watch them while I make sure that everything is ready for the spell tonight."
That say he went back to his office to prepare the spell that was in the book he had just found on his desk this morning. He didn't remember having it before, much less reading it but it was exactly what he was searching for. As he reached his desk, he didn't see the look of anger and craziness from Buffy, nor the superior smirk from Willow.
But Xander saw them and was afraid of what they were planning against Giles. He knew that Willow was going to reinforce her spells to manipulate him once more. After all they were beginning to slip but what he feared most was what Buffy was going to do. She had been denied and insulted at the same time and before others; it wouldn't go well with her. She was known to take her anger on Giles when he trained her.
Once he had to help him to the hospital for a broken wrist and sprained ankle for refusing to let her go to the Bronze as she had a patrol to do. At another time he stayed with Giles during the night because he had a concussion after she hit him in the head and he had to make sure he woke up every hour. That time Giles didn't told her that the demon would explode when she killed it and it dirtied her shoes. It was only two examples from a long list of wounds resulting from refusing her something. Buffy was getting out of control and she was going to kill him if it continued, but he would not let it become to that. No one was going to kill his father figure if he could help it; and this night would see to it.
His birthday was tonight and he just knew that the merging would take place at the same time.
It wasn't a coincidence if he was possessed two weeks before he reached his sixteenth, as a Luenor it was the age of maturity. Each Luenor had his own talent, an affinity he had developed since his birth, though every Luenor was blessed with a magical essence which if he understood well, was to merge with them on their birthday.
Those essences brought to the Luenor their own talents and experiences; those were complementing perfectly the ones they already developed. They were protector of the balance too and when a Luenor was to come to his majority, they decided if he had been strong enough to retain his neutrality and balance throughout his life without this same life corrupting him and if he was ready to accept the responsibilities that being a Luenor brought on. If they were found corrupted and incapable of protecting the balance, the essences wouldn't merge and their memories of it would be erased. They wouldn't suffer of this; they would just return to their normal life without the knowledge of having the chance to be a Luenor.
But it wasn't the case with Xander, his essence approved of him and loved him; he had never made a difference when saving a life, be there demons, humans, dark, creatures… If they weren't evil he would help them, he hated that because someone was dark or different; they would be pegged as evil. He had waited his sixteenth birthday with impatience; at times as he had been unable to save demons from Buffy who only wanted to contact them for an alliance and peace. He hadn't had the power to go alone against her and Willow but he had been able to saved most of them thanks to a pendant charmed to contain the power of three powerful families of demons. They gifted it to him for saving, healing and hiding their children from Buffy before returning them to their parents. This charm represented the alliance of the clan of…
He came back to the present as a hand shook his shoulder to gain his attention; turning back he looked into Kyle's worried eyes. He smiled softly and tenderly touched the bruised skin on Kyle's neck. "Are you alright? She didn't even try to hold back her force! She could have killed you…"
"Don't worry I'm used to it, that's not the first time and won't be the last that I'm beaten and you know it. I'm fine really; nothing that won't heal with time and Draith helped me avoid the worst."
Xander nodded promising himself that their lives were going to change for the better after this night. He was going to show Kyle what was a real family.
"I know you will Xander, I trust you." Kyle told him with a smile that for once reached his eyes; like he was reading his thought. Though; between Draith and Mayaeb, it was entirely possible. "But we have another problem here; the rest of the gang is free from our authority and at the first opportunity, a carnage will take place. We need to find a way to leave this cage before it's too late." said Kyle searching for a weak spot to destroy the cage.
Xander lost all the colours he had just regained from his unconsciousness and searched as well from his side; as he was going to say something, Buffy and Willow came back from class.
"Ah! Xander you are finally awake?" she asked.
"Yes and it's certainly no thanks to you!" he answered her coldly.
It didn't even upset her; she thought that as the slayer she had the right to settle any demons problem as she saw it. At that moment Xander wasn't her friend, he was a demon she had to stop. And if the spell was to fail she wouldn't hesitate to kill them all. After all she was the one who knew better, she was the slayer.
So trying to have the last word she told him snidely. "You know who I saw being summoned by the principal? And I must say he was furious, someone saw you all going to the pig's cage just before he was eaten; they aren't going to have a good time in his office let me tell you."
"What!" Xander and Kyle exclaimed, but Buffy had already reached the door leaving them alone with Willow.
They tried all they could to make Willow free them from the cage. They explained to her that as the gang was left to themselves and alone with the principal; it would result in a blood bath, a real carnage. That not being controlled, the hyenas were going to hunt and kill their prey in the worst savage way possible. That with them locked up there; there was no one to rein them in.
As that didn't work they asked her to bring Giles to the cage, that he would understand the problem, but she refused as well. She told them he was too busy researching and preparing the spell to loose time with them. She thought that they were lying to her, that all they wanted from her was to open the door and release them. Therefore they would be able to prevent the realisation of the spell.
As a last resort Xander try to charm and lure her in opening the door. She was already attracted to his primal behaviour so it shouldn't be too hard to make her fell for it. What was hard and made him sick was the look of lust in her eyes. It made all his surviving instincts warn him of the aura of danger she was giving off. Kyle was standing at the end of the cage leaving Xander try their last chance, he didn't like it but it was their last hope to avoid a massacre.
It was going well, Willow was moving her hand to open the door when the library's door banged open and Buffy rushed to them. She told them that the principal was found dead and alone in his office. Willow turned back to them a look of anger and hate in her eyes; she felt that she had been played by Xander, forgetting that he told her what was going to happen if they weren't released from their cage.
"Well your new friends had fun didn't they? Don't think you will win; the spell is ready and you won't be able to possess Xander for long! We will win there is no doubt about it! Come on Buffy we need to tell Giles."
With that they took off and went to his office. Being left alone the boys sighed in frustration; it was too late they hadn't been able to prevent it. They were sad not only for the death of the principal but for the rest of the gang too; they were going to have to live with the memory of their kill from now on.
Knowing there was nothing else they could do he looked at Kyle and say; "Now what?"
Author note: As always please review!!! Maybe one day…