CH 15: Oreg from Dragon Bones by Patricia Briggs (read it!)
Less Than Whole
He was down to a few measly dollars. His idea of a soldier had pretty much flopped. He had some cardboard boxes, two packs of aluminum foil and a pair of rollerblades to his name. Oh, and two bucks. How that was supposed to help he had no idea.
A bit of glimmer at the bottom of the bin caught his attention. It was a sword, but like anything he was used to seeing. Instead of a sweep is was one straight edge, no curve at all to the blade even at the tip. If it had been sharp he'd bet he could have pulled the split-the-falling-hair trick easily.
Suddenly remembering a movie he checked the price of the sword. Two dollars.
Perfect.
"Xander! That's quite a suit you've got there."
Behind his homemade helmet he tried not to blush. Even though he'd done his best he still felt like he was sticking out like a sore thumb.
"Thanks Mrs. S."
"Isn't that the sword master from that new movie that came out?"
Xander's eyes widened as Mrs. S, Joyce, referenced pop culture and got it right on the first try.
The Hostess temple might be getting a revamp!
The aftermath of Halloween was wild. Buffy with the French and Willow with the unintentional fazing out, though apparently Oz had appreciated that last full moon. He was SO not asking questions on that one!
The others thought he had just kept the sword skills, and boy had he! But he'd kept something else too.
The warrior he'd dressed as was a twin, half of a much greater whole. The warrior's other half was still alive where or whenever he was.
But Xander's was gone, dust in the wind.
It was slowly killing him. Not the sharp spike that would have put him out immediately, but the constant calling that would never get a call back would burn him out eventually.
He'd fight for as long as he could, longer than any of their lives, and keep fighting until he finally went out.
Until then he'd keep calling for his brother, never expecting but always hoping for that faint call back.