Xander frowned as he walked the corridors, the drab greys, blues and browns of the decoration seemingly at odds with the vibrant colours of the Green Lanterns he kept seeing patrolling the area or working on something or other.
He'd already switched back to his casual clothes, now just dressed in a pair of combat pants and a t-shirt with a loose open shirt over the top he was feeling a lot more comfortable. People seemed to either look at him in awe when he was in his uniform or immediately either stand to attention or quickly freeze when they saw him. Any of the reactions he'd seen so far were definitely not what he wanted while trying to relax, so he'd decided to wander around for a bit incognito so to speak.
It was night now, so the city seemed a bit quieter. The main command room he'd already walked through seemed pretty deserted, only a few technicians seemed to be around, pottering through various computer systems and working on various screens.
'So far the future wasn't turning out all that bad.' Xander thought to himself as he slumped against some railings on a catwalk that overshadowed the main room where the Stargate was housed. For the life in him he couldn't figure out exactly what Oma had sent him here for though. This future world seemed to be doing alright for itself, admittedly it still had its share of problems, but it was a far cry from the earth he had left a day or so ago.
"Peaceful isn't it?"
Xander smiled as he looked around to see Sam coming towards him, her usual combats and black t-shirt gone now and replaced with a full blue dress uniform. "Hey, nice to see a face I recognise here." He nodded as she smiled back at him.
"There are a few of us still around," Sam smiled as she leaned over the barrier next to him. "The old gang." She nodded at the fancy technology of the Stargate that was housed here, a far cry from the old one they used at the SGC back in his day. "Though truth be told, there isn't much for us to do anymore, with the Corps and..."
"The Goa'uld gone," Xander finished off darkly. "I... I just don't understand."
"Mister Giles told me," Sam frowned as she turned to look at Xander. "We've had our own fair share of adventures with time travel over the years. It's just a change that it isn't one of us in the hot seat this time."
"It's weird," Xander said, trying to put his thoughts into words. "Seeing all this, hearing about all the things I've... we've done. The good and the bad. Half of the people here look at me like I'm..."
"A legend?" Sam continued for him after a few moments pause. "It's to be expected, With the system lords gone, the Jaffa were finally free. The planets subjugated by the Goa'uld started finally talking to each other and creating alliances. After Jack left the SGC, this place, well, we use it all more for tourism now than any real military objectives."
"See, now that's just weird," Xander paused, looking down at the Stargate. "Yesterday, this was all top secret; the world was quite happy getting along without aliens or any of the rest. Now, it's just so different."
"It took a while," Sam explained. "I won't lie to you, there were more than a few bumps along the way. It's still a work in progress, but with the help of the Asgard and others like the Tollan, we've made some great strides."
"But at what cost?" Xander asked, deep in thought about what could have caused him to go off the rails like that and slaughter the Goa'uld. They were the aliens hell-bent on the enslavement of earth, and responsible for countless millions of deaths, but there was still a part of him that said that murder, or in this case genocide, still wasn't right, regardless of what the Goa'uld did to deserve it. "What happened, to me I mean, Giles said I was possessed or something."
"I wasn't there," Sam said softly. "I can only tell you what happened afterwards, but as far as I know, the first reports came in from Teal'c."
"Teal'c?" Xander smiled, thinking of how the large Jaffa and his father seemed so close back home. "He's still around?"
"Sure," Sam nodded with a smile. "He's normally down in the temple at this time, or in the cafeteria."
"The temple?" Xander asked with wide eyes. "I know this place is big, but is there anything it doesn't have?"
"Bottom floor of this building," Sam smiled as she gave him directions. "He got out of the infirmary a few days ago, so he's probably doing some light training knowing him."
"Sounds like T," Xander grinned as he pushed himself off the railing and moved to one of the balconies to the side of the room behind him. "So, who was the lucky guy?" He asked, nodding to the simple gold band on her wedding finger.
Sam just laughed and ran her hand through her now long blonde hair. "You'd never believe me." She laughed as he smiled back at her. "Go on, there's no one around."
"I'll see you around," Xander smiled as he hopped up onto the railings and sat there for a moment. "Not Giles right?" He smiled wider as she laughed at him before closing the doors. Xander just shook his head for a moment before pushing himself off the railings and slipping into a freefall down the side of the building for a moment before correcting his descent with a blazing green glow.
"Teal'c?" Xander shouted as he started walking through the corridors of the lower city, it was different down here, there was less of a military feeling and a more relaxed feeling flowing through the city, a peaceful feeling. There were large candles held up by stone statues that lit the way, along with the various lights that were dimmed in their usual places. "T? You around?" He shouted again, slowly making his way down the main hallway to where he could see two large doors at the end.
"A temple," Xander mumbled, trying to think this all through in his mind. The complexity of what had been built here still astounded him, it seemed there was a place for everyone here, warrior, military, scientist, they were all working here quite happily along with the Corps he had built somehow along the way.
"Teal'c?" Xander shouted again, coming up to the doors he could hear some sort of fighting going on inside, the noises sounded familiar but for the life in him he couldn't actually figure out where he knew the sounds from. "Teal'c?" He shouted one last time before pushing open the doors and striding inside.
The sight that greeted him stopped him dead, the emerald energy that had been crackling along his arms and fists quickly died away as the shock of what he was seeing flooded into him and he finally pieced together the noises he had heard with the weapons that the two warriors in the temple were sparring with.
"Xander Harris," Teal'c slipped back from the sparring session and bowed towards his opponent before bowing towards Xander deeply. "I was not aware you had returned."
"Uh, yeah," Xander said weakly, trying to find his footing in this new strange setting. "Uh, Teal'c... Um... You're sparring?"
"Indeed," Teal'c intoned with a small smile. "As I often do with Master Windu." Teal'c bowed his head slightly at his opponent; a slightly smaller coloured man came forward and bowed deeply towards Xander.
"Master Ion," Master Windu smiled as he bowed. "It is a pleasure to see you again."
"Uh, you know you're sparring with light sabres right?" Xander asked, a bit in shock to see the two purple blades clashing in the middle of a temple.
"Why would I be sparring with anything else?" Teal'c asked, the question seemed to hang in the air for a moment, the absurdity of Xander's statement seemingly at odds with the past that had already been written for him.
"Sorry, yeah, right," Xander shook his head as both Teal'c and Master Windu deactivated their light sabres as they moved to their water bottles which were stored on one of the many benches in the temple.
"You are still looking for what you seek," Master Windu intoned before he took a large gulp from his water bottle. "But you have already found the answers you were looking for."
"Are you alright Alexander Harris?" Teal'c asked, looking over at Xander with his patented stare as he quenches his thirst.
"Uh, no, not really," Xander frowned as he walked over to where Teal'c and Master Windu were wiping the sweat off of themselves now. "This is going to sound strange..."
"You are not the Xander we know," Master Windu said with a smile. "I had already come to this conclusion." His revelation caused Teal'c to raise his eyebrow by nearly a clear inch as Xander looked even more surprised.
"Yeah," Xander shrugged as he flopped down next to where Teal'c was stood. "Different time, same place." He smiled as Teal'c looked at him for an explanation. "I'm not your Xander, or not yet anyway, not for about another ten years by my reckoning."
"Yet you will be one day," Master Windu smiled down at him. "What you see here, all around you, is the will of the force, one you will one day see for yourself."
"So, I can't change this? All that I've seen, been told. It will all come true no matter what I do?" Xander asked, staring up at the Jedi Master for some wisdom. "And how the hell am I here talking to a Jedi Master anyway, you're from a movie, how the hell were you two fighting with light sabres, did Sam make them for you or something?"
"What will be will be," Master Windu smiled down at Xander. "The future is what it is, if you try and change it, is there any guarantee that it will be any better than the one you face now?" Master Windu bowed before moving to leave the two. "As I said, you have already found your answers; you must now just learn to find the questions to match the answers you already have."
"And what questions are those?" Xander asked as he stood up to say goodbye to the Jedi Master.
"No one can answer that question for you." Master Windu said with a smile as he bowed to Teal'c and then to Xander. "Be at peace Alexander, the future will work out, and you will save many lives."
"But..." Xander started to argue before he was fixed with a glare from Master Windu.
"You will save many lives," Master Windu reiterated before continuing. "But the journey you must make is your own path. You are not the savoir of Alderaan, not yet, but I know you will be, I see that already."
"Alderaan?" Xander asked, his mind rushing to fill in all the knowledge he could from that name. By the time he had looked back to the Jedi Master, he found himself alone in the temple with Teal'c. "Alderaan?" He asked, staring at Teal'c for an explanation.
"A fearsome battle," Teal'c nodded slowly. "An honourable victory, you and Buffy Summers saved an entire world from destruction."
"Teal'c, come on," Xander frowned as he stared at the light sabre that was now clipped on to Teal'c's belt. "Light sabres I can accept, I mean Sam could have probably cooked them up for you or something. Master Windu, maybe a Jaffa master or something, I don't know. But Alderaan? Me and Buffy saved Alderaan from the Death Star? That's out of a movie Teal'c, it didn't happen."
"I was there," Teal'c intoned. "The events unfolded just as predicted in the movies produced on this world. Master Windu believes that it was some sort of force prediction made to bring you to that dimension."
"Another dimension?" Xander frowned, as if he didn't already have enough dimensions upstairs to deal with, with all the people there from various dimensions, he supposed finding one where Jedi were real wasn't actually that much of a stretch. "You mean the Star Wars universe; it really exists out there somewhere?"
"Indeed," Teal'c nodded slowly. "A dimension that we have visited together."
"But..." Xander shook his head, trying to take all this in. "Teal'c, sorry man, this is just a bit too much. After hearing about everything and seeing all this, it's just all so big, so major. I'm just a normal guy trying to do what's best, there's no way I could have done all these things that people are telling me I did."
"They only speak the truth Alexander Harris," Teal'c bowed. "And while it is true, you are a man, you are also much more than that, as has already been told to you."
"You think I could do it all?" Xander smiled. "Again I mean?"
"If you did not do it, then we would not be here having this conversation." Teal'c explained simply. "The world is a better place; the galaxy is safer because of you and the Green Lantern Corps. These are things you helped accomplish. If you do not believe that these things are possible, then why are you fighting for them in the first place?"
Teal'c question hung in the air for a moment as Xander slowly took in what he had said. "You learn that from Master Windu?" Xander asked with a smile. "The Jedi wisdom bit?"
"No," Teal'c bowed slightly with a twinkle in his eye. "From you." He said with a ghost of a smile as he sat down next to Xander. "You have affected a great many people; those people touched others, and so on. You have done a great deal of good Alexander Harris. Do you believe those are the answers you seek?"
"No," Xander shook his head with a smile. "I think Master Windu was right, you both were. I needed to know if this was the right thing, building the Corps and all."
"And you have found the answers?" Teal'c asked, staring at Xander stoically.
"Yeah," Xander smiled back. "It's going to be tough isn't it?" He asked with a half smile.
"Nothing worthwhile is ever easy," Teal'c answered simply. "It is the journey that makes us who we are though."
"I guess," Xander nodded. "Thanks Teal'c," Xander smiled as Teal'c bowed his head slightly. "You want me to tell you all this, about the Jedi and the lightsaber, you know, when I get back?"
"I do not believe that would be wise," Teal'c said softly. "The future is written, but fluid. I would not wish to change events from the set path, even though I believe that they will happen as they once did."
"So, keep it to myself?" Xander quipped, this time travel thing was definitely starting to give him a headache. The past is the future, the future is today, it was all unwinding in his head as he tried to get his timeline straight again.
"I believe that would be the best course," Teal'c nodded. "It was nice to see you again Alexander Harris," Teal'c bowed slightly. "I will look forward to seeing you again soon."
"I'll see you first," Xander quipped. "Or before, whatever." Xander grinned as he focused on the name of the Ancient that had sent him here. "I'm ready to go Oma Desala." He said with a smile as he nodded to Teal'c slightly as a show of appreciation.
"Did you find what you were seeking?" Oma asked, causing Xander to look around and after a subtle white flash he once again found himself in the coffee shop.
"Yeah," Xander nodded, finding himself feeling a lot more assured than he had been when he had first sat here barely a day ago. "But you knew what I was looking for all along right?"
"If you immediately know the candlelight is fire, the meal was cooked a long time ago." Oma said with a soft smile.
"Uh, right," Xander frowned, that was worse than some of the Zen riddles that he and Willow had played with as a child. "And in English?" He quipped, looking at the woman for answers.
"Your home is waiting for you," Oma said with a smile as she nodded to the open door on the other side of the cafe, causing Xander to immediately flick his eyes over to it, and when they returned to where Oma had been, he found himself alone in the building.
"You know, that woman is really starting to bug me," Xander frowned as he got up, smirking slightly as he grabbed the 'Radus Coffee' mug from the table as he stood and made his way over to the doorway. "But I'm taking the mug." He grinned as he looked around the empty cafe. "Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to be the last time I see this place," Xander muttered, taking one last look at the coffee shop before walking out of the door.
"Whoa," Xander muttered as he looked around, he'd walked straight out of the door of the Ancient coffee house, but now he was on earth. It looked to be the right time from the things he could see around him. He was literally outside his front door, or Giles' front door where he was staying, the only thing that seemed out of place, freakishly so, was the fact that it was day time, but the area around him showed none of the signs of destruction that had marred Sunnydale the last time he had been here.
"Xander?" Giles asked in surprise as he walked down the steps into the courtyard in front of his house. "My god Xander, where have you been?" He asked, looking at Xander for a second before striding over and enveloping him in a hug.
"Whoa G-man!" Xander almost shouted, wrestling himself out of the hug. "Giles, what gives? I mean, I know I've been gone a day or so, but, well it's a long story, seriously long, about a decade or so I think." He grinned as Giles looked at him in puzzlement.
"Xander, no one has seen you for nearly a month," Giles said slowly. "Not since the battle with Ethan."
"Ethan?" Xander asked in confusion, looking down and noticing the yellow ring on Giles finger. "Giles, you'd better be joking right, the battle was only a few days ago..." He paused for a second, thinking about where he had been for the past day or so. "Oma," He muttered softly. "God damnit, she couldn't just put me back where I was supposed to be?"
"I'm sorry, what are you talking about?" Giles asked, growing concern now showing on his face.
"Like I said G-man, it's a long story, seriously." Xander muttered as he frowned, trying to put this all together in his head. "I seriously need to get it all straight first though," He paused for a second, thinking about what he had seen and been told in the future. "But I think you need to know Giles, all of it."
"Well then," Giles smiled softly as he pulled out his key to the front door. "Please, do not spare the details."
"Not yet," Xander frowned. "Like I said, it's confusing. Time travel and all that," Xander smiled as Giles looked at him in shock. "Yeah, seriously, like I'd make something like that up," Xander grinned wryly as he walked through the doorway and Giles closed it after him.
"I... I see," Giles stuttered as he started to clean his glasses. "Faith is in her room, I believe you should see her before you, well, do whatever you are planning on doing. She has been quite; upset shall we say, in your absence."
"Sure thing," Xander grinned as he started jogging up the stairs. "I've missed her too, god this is weird, seriously, no time at all has passed for me. It was yesterday that I saw you all, well, not yesterday for Faith and Buffy because they were off somewhere with my dad."
"I will put the coffee on," Giles frowned. "I can tell this will be a long talk."
"Later Giles," Xander smiled as he reached the top of the stairs. "Much later." He said softly before knocking gently on Faith's door and pushing his way inside.
The kiss was full of passion and fire, he'd barely made it in the door when he arms were around him at a speed he could barely catch with his eyes and her lips captured his as they both fell to the floor.
"Hey," Xander grinned up at her from where they'd fallen, a goofy grin on his face as she kissed him once more before pulling back.
"Hey yourself boy toy," Faith grinned back at him. "Where the hell you been, we've been going crazy looking for you."
"Around," Xander smirked as Faith mockingly glared at him. "Seriously, it's a long story, something straight out of Star Trek I'm sure. Giles is just putting some coffee on; I think we're going to need it."
"Alright," Faith said, smirking as she wriggled down against him, not one to ever leave a situation like this without getting at least a little something out of it. "But afterwards, I want a bit of time, just you and me." She sent him a sultry smile before grinding down on him once more and making sure he knew exactly what she meant.
"Gurgle flurp..." Xander blurted out, his brain unable to process the fact that Faith was now quite happily straddling him and her grinding was definitely causing the reaction she wanted.
"Later," She smirked down at him, leaning down to whisper in his ear. "And I'll make damn sure I make you scream more than 'gurgle flurp'." She grinned and with one last wriggle on his lap she jumped up off him and bounded downstairs with more energy than she had had in the past month.
"That woman..." Xander trailed off as he watched her jog down the stairs, a happy smile on his face as he stood back and looked around; it was home, home at last. "Buffy," He smiled, then with two consecutive emerald flashes he changed into his costume and teleported out of the bedroom.
"Slayer!" The vampire hissed as he faced off against Buffy, the three other vampires flanking him and moving off to surround her.
"That's what they say," Buffy quipped, twirling a stake in her hand as she stepped backwards so she could keep all of the vampires in view. "So, these books you ripped off?"
"I'm not telling you anything blood bag!" One of the other vampires snarled at her.
"Blood bag? That's original," Buffy said while rolling her eyes. "Come on, Giles needs those books, we can either do this the easy way..."
"Or the hard way," Xander finished the quote as he lent against a tomb stone behind the vampires, a green flash signalling his presence to the group.
"Xander!" Buffy breathed out in shock.
"The green death!" Two of the vampires exclaimed at once before taking off into the darkness.
"Leave them," Buffy shouted, "This one's the one we need." She said, pointing to the one that had called her a blood bag.
"Like that's an issue," Xander grinned, firing off two emerald blasts towards the retreating vampires and catching them both clean in the back where they screamed for a moment before turning to dust. "So, answer the questions." He said, turning back to the two remaining vampires.
"Wh... what questions?" The lead vampire stuttered out, finally catching on that he wasn't actually anywhere near the biggest fish in Sunnydale tonight.
"The books, where are they?" Buffy asked, stepping forward while holding her stake menacingly.
"Back at the warehouse," The second vampire answered without hesitation while the leader seemed to flounder for a minute. "We... we were keeping them for insurance."
"Insurance against what?" Xander asked, walking forward to stand next to Buffy. "And don't try and run, you saw what happened to the others."
"No way man," The second vampire blurted out. "I ain't that stupid."
"Good," Buffy said firmly. "Now, answer his question."
"The... The Mayor," The leader vampire answered, causing both Buffy and Xander to turn their attention back to him. "He wants them... don't know what he's planning, but it's big. He's the one you want to stay away from."
"The Mayor," Xander asked with raised eyebrows. "As in The Mayor of Sunnydale, or is this some sort of freaky nickname thing for another demon?"
"Mayor Wilkins," The vampire reiterated. "He's been planning this, like forever. We just wanna survive, get the hell out."
"Out of Sunnydale?" Buffy asked, a bit surprised that they were getting this much information out of the two vampires.
"Hell yeah!" Both vampires responded at once. "This place is going to hell, literally girl. We're on the fast track out of here; I recommend you do the same."
Xander just turned to Buffy, the confusion evident on his face as he tried to piece together what he had just been told against everything he had seen in the future. "You two are sure about this?" He asked, turning back to the vampires.
"Definitely man," Both vampires nodded. "That's all we know, I swear!"
"Good," Xander nodded, satisfied that they had learnt everything they could from the two, he raised his hand for a brief second before emerald flamed licked around the two vampires momentarily before immolating them both. "The Mayor?" He asked, turning back to Buffy.
"Where the hell have you been?" Buffy asked, ignoring his question as she moved forward and pulled him into a tight hug. "We've been worried about you."
"It's a long story," Xander grinned as he returned the hug before pulling back. "I came to find you so I didn't have to go through it all more than once, Faith and Giles are back at home waiting."
"Let's go then," Buffy said, impatient to find out exactly where Xander had been and what he had been doing all this time.
"What about these books?" Xander asked, reminding Buffy of the reason why she had been out here in the first place. "Giles needs them?" He prompted her.
"Giles and Wesley," Buffy explained. "We heard some demon wanted top dollar for them, but when we tried to buy them; vamps had already gotten to him."
"They're important then?" Xander asked. "'Cause explanations can wait until after if this is gonna be as big as I think, I mean, going up against The Mayor, do we need to form a party or something to stop him getting re-elected or something?" He joked, lightning the mood for a moment.
"Wesley seems to think so," Buffy smiled at him. "About the books, not the party thing." She shook her head in amusement before turning back to Xander. "We knew the vamps were hiding the books somewhere, but we've just been picking them off one by one, or three by three. We couldn't hit their hideout yet."
"Why not?" Xander asked, a bit confused as to why she hadn't just gone in with Faith and cleaned out the entire warehouse using their rings.
"It's suicide?" Buffy said in a 'duh' tone. "There's a couple of dozen vampires in there, not to mention seven or eight demons, that we know of. We couldn't just torch the building in case we destroyed the books."
"So use the rings," Xander answered in the same 'duh' tone. "Thirty or so vampires can't keep up with one Green Lantern ring, let alone two being used by Slayers. It's a milk run, not as if you're trying to stop an asteroid or something."
"The rings haven't worked Xander," Buffy said quietly. "Not since you left. We were out with Jack and Sam, somewhere in space when you vanished. The rings haven't worked since you left us there."
"I didn't leave you," Xander said firmly. "I got sent somewhere."
"Sent where?" Buffy asked, now seriously growing impatient for answers.
"Later," Xander shook his head slowly. "I promise, I didn't leave you. I'd never leave you Buff, you're my hero." He grinned as he watched the shock of what he had said sink into her. "Come on, let's get those books and get back to Giles. The rings should work now; it must have been because I wasn't in the area to keep them charged."
"That's what Willow said," Buffy nodded, accepting his comments. "She said they needed a battery or something, but we didn't have one and you were nowhere to be found."
"I'll look into it," Xander said, frowning as he tried to figure out how to actually create a battery that they could use to keep the rings charged when he was away, he'd seen the giant Central Core that had been created in the future, but that sort of thing was far out of his capabilities for now. "Come on; let's get those books, thirty vamps, easy." He grinned as Buffy nodded at him, holding her ring in the palm of her hand.
"You should be wearing it," Xander said with a smile as he reached out and touched the ring with his gloved finger, smiling as he could feel the ring was fully charged. "It's back up to full power, same with Faith's I guess."
"Let's go then," Buffy said as she broke out into a full blown smile before slipping the ring onto her finger and flashing into her uniform.
"After you milady," Xander grinned, stepping aside for Buffy before watching her take off into the night, her emerald glow lighting up the deserted graveyard. He shook his head for a moment before taking off after her and streaking off into the night.
