Only the Good Die Young – Sunnydale

"So… dragons?" Xander asked Giles anxiously; acutely aware of every freshly healed cut and scrape he'd received knocking out the dragon's razor sharp teeth.

"Dragons are one of the races who enjoy free will, just as man does," Giles explained, grateful for the distraction, as he wasn't sure what to do about recent events. "As a general note they tend to be quite powerful, physically if in no other way and extremely long lived."

"And the whole absorbing essence thing?" Xander asked.

"As was previously mentioned, survivors of dragon attacks are extremely rare, however it probably follows the same line as Dragon Companions. Many dragons are frightfully intelligent and develop impressive magical powers, naturally one of the first spells they develop is to shapeshift, as dragons do enjoy their creature comforts and intelligent conversations, and humanoids are a lot more numerous and widespread than dragons are."

"Starbucks and hot tubs" Xander joked.

"Precisely," Giles agreed, much to Xander's surprise. "With great power comes great ego, so having others around to make your coffee or run you a hot bath is immensely satisfying. Anyway, I've drifted off the point. Dragons sometimes develop a fondness for a human they find exceptional in one way or another, and they will intentionally transfer some of their essence to them so they won't die as fast. Being just this side of immortal means they consider us like mayflies."

"OK, and the benefits and drawbacks of this?" Xander asked.

"It has varied greatly from companion to companion in some respects while they share others in common," Giles replied.

"Translation?"

Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them, while considering how best to explain it.

Xander and Kendra watched him intently, waiting for a response.

"Not every person has the same potential, Bach would have been a poor chemist, but he was a brilliant composer. I'm not speaking of skill however, but naturally with a greater potential, skill levels increase rapidly. That is the part I believe varies from companion to companion. The traits that all companions share of course are the basic physical ones, which are increased beyond human levels," Giles explained.

Xander turned to Willow. "Explanation?"

"All racial caps are removed and you gain a dozen levels including any skill bonuses, but your knowledge base stays the same," Willow explained.

"Any physical changes and how big a bite is needed to transfer the whatever?" Xander asked.

"If there were any physical changes the few stories about Dragon Companions fail to note them and all it takes is a slight graze with one of their teeth." Giles chuckled. "Gullible magic users are still being tricked into buying dragon teeth, believing that scratching themselves with one will empower them. For that to work the dragon has to be alive and the tooth less than an hour old."

Willow gasped and clenched her fists, looking over at Xander and Kendra.

Xander caught a whiff of fresh blood and looked over at Willow, who opened her hand, showing an inch long fang that she'd squeezed until it'd pierced the skin.

Willow smiled at him and set the fang, which was slowly turning yellow like old ivory, on the table.

Xander grinned and for once saw Willow for who she was, and not just the sister he'd pretended she was.

Giles saw the tooth, its essence drained and suddenly realized that he'd been looking at all this strictly intellectually, as the reality of the situation hit him. "Kendra, find me tooth!" he ordered as he searched the floor himself.

"Yes sir, Mr. Giles," Kendra said searching for any wayward fangs that had escaped the broom.

"Bless your shoddy housekeeping skills," Giles enthused as he crawled out from under the table with a quarter inch of the tip of a fang in his hand.

"I found one!" Kendra said a second later with similar find.

Giles looked at the pristine white fang in his hand with an almost religious awe.

"Don't just hold it," Xander said, "Use it!" After a moment's pause he added, "And my skills aren't shabby, I was just rushed."

Giles laughed and pushed it into his forearm.

Cordelia had stood at the door and watched unsure of what she should do. Kendra held a fang that was the gateway to the world she'd only really gotten glimpses of before, a world that was terrifying… and one that Xander chose to live in. Cordelia smacked herself in the head. She'd been considering joining him when he was merely human, and not all empowered like Buffy, and now that he was and she had a choice as well, she was hesitating?

"What should I do with this?" Kendra asked.

"We could poke Buffy with it," Willow suggested.

Xander shook his head. "She doesn't want this life, we can't force it on her."

Cordelia shoved the door fully open and marched right up to Kendra and extended her hand. "Well? What are you waiting for, an engraved invitations?"

Kendra looked over at the others who nodded, even if Willow had a frown as she did so.

Cordelia winced, but sighed in relief, proud of her decision and wondering why it had been so hard to make. "Just so you know, if I get scaly skin from this, you're all going to pay."

"Noted," Giles said, clearly amused.

The doors to the library slammed open as Buffy burst in. "I'm not quitting! I may not be the Slayer, but I can still fight!"

"Everyone check the floor," Willow said.

Buffy stared as everyone started searching the floor. 'I was just in the bathroom for a minute,' she thought wondering what she'd missed.

Typing by: AzureSky123