I found myself incapable of writing a BTVS with only one BTVS character. I hope no one minds too much!

Chapter 2: Becoming Friends

*****A Month Later*****

Xander kept busy at the Commonwealth because there weren't that many men who weren't in the army that could fix all the things that he could fix. In his spare time, he built furniture. He had a few teenagers he was apprenticing in the evenings and Saturdays for a few hours. It was ironic the skills this new dystopia world needed most where the skills he thought were the most worthless back in Sunnydale.

RJ and two of his friends approached him as he was going into his shop.

"Hey, Xander!" RJ hollered.

"Hey, RJ," Xander said back, giving him a wave.

"Xander, my dad said that you used to be in the army," RJ's friend Tony said.

"Well, you know when this place was forming, everyone was sort of in the army 'cause we all fought," Xander said.

"He said you killed a lot of walkers," Tony said. "And your girl. She was magical."

"That she was," Xander said, smiling. "My best friend Willow was the most powerful witch alive. But there were too many walkers."

"Witches and magic are real?" RJ asked, his eyes wide.

"They used to be," Xander said, looking sad. "Not seen much of it anymore."

The other friend with them Xander didn't know, but he scoffed. "I don't believe in magic or witches," he said.

"I don't believe we've met," Xander said.

"That's Zane," RJ said.

"Well, Zane, it's okay. You don't have to believe in magic," Xander told him. "It sucks that you are growing up in what I'd call a hellscape, which is bad since I grew up in an actual hellmouth."

"What's a hellmouth?" RJ asked.

Since there wasn't TV or movies anymore, Xander enjoyed spinning tales for the kids. His teenage apprentices thought he was half crazy, so his stories were rarely repeated. He enjoyed sounding as outlandish as possible. It thrilled the kids and gave him something fun to do. Also, there was a healing freedom in talking about his home.

"It's a doorway to a hell dimension. The one on Sunnydale, California where I was born and raised was particularly strong, and it was always attracting all kinds of hell beasts and vampires, who were always trying to open it and destroy the world," Xander said. "When I was fifteen, I met the most beautiful girl in the world, a vampire slayer, who was called to fight the forces of darkness. She had superpowers and was stronger than vampires, able to sense evil, use any weapon, healed really fast, and could just kick ass."

"What was her name?" RJ asked. He couldn't wait to tell his sister.

"Her name is Buffy," Xander shared.

"Is? She's still alive? Why isn't she in our army killing walkers?" Zane scoffed.

"Well, I don't know if she's alive, but I'd like to believe she is," Xander said. "She and her army of sister slayers—I'll tell you how they came to be another time—where in England when the world fell apart. As tough as she is, I know she is still out there fighting the good fight, saving what humanity that she can."

"I hope so," RJ said.

Tony looked at the clock on the wall. "Hey, I gotta get home before I get grounded. Cool story, Xander," he said. The boys turned to leave, waving goodbye.

Xander heard them arguing about whether or not Xander was just telling a story or if it was true or not.

He smiled.

*****England*****

Dawn had finally translated the ancient scurrying spell a month ago and had all the ingredients ready. Although she wasn't the witch that Willow was, she had discovered a few years ago that the key essence inside of her allowed her to be a fairly passable witch. One of the oldest witches there were with them when the world went to shit told her about a druid scurrying spell that would allow a person to locate and spy on another. She and Buffy were dying to know if Willow, Xander, and Faith were still alive in America. Communications being cut off was the very worst thing. Buffy and Dawn were on one of the last flights into the UK from Italy before all the airports were shutdown permanently.

Buffy was excited. "Are you ready?" she asked.

Dawn nodded. "I got it all," she said.

They were very lucky. Giles was home when the outbreak hit the UK, so he was never exposed. Buffy never let him go on runs or risk him in any way. The girls patrolled killing zombies instead of vampires and demons since they fled the planet just a few months after the world went to hell. They did lose Robin and Andrew as well as Kennedy within the first six months. Buffy didn't know what she would do if Willow was gone. Did she really want to know? It was almost better believing she was alive out there.

"It's better to know, right?" Buffy asked.

"We have to know," Dawn told her.

"You're right," Buffy said.

"You haven't started without me," Giles said, appearing.

"No. We were waiting," Dawn said.

"Are you looking for Willow first?" she asked.

"I think with her being a witch, she will be easiest to find," Dawn said.

"I agree," Giles told her.

They waited while Dawn did the spell, and they looked over her shoulder into the large bowl of water. The spell was working because the water, which acted at the conduit, had already turned into a mirror.

Several minutes went by, but they didn't see Willow on the water. Buffy reached over and grabbed Giles' hand. After twenty minutes, Dawn admitted defeated. "She's gone," she said flatly. The water turned back to plain water.

Buffy's eyes filled with tears. "Maybe the spell didn't work. Look for Faith," she said. She couldn't bear to know that Xander was gone, too.

Dawn nodded and searched for Faith. Immediately, the water went translucent, and then they saw her. She was training with several slayers still in Ohio.

"She's alive!" Dawn exclaimed in relief. "There's Rona! I knew they were too tough to die!"

"Thank God!" Giles replied.

Buffy started sobbing, however. Dawn released her magic and turned toward her.

"Willow is dead, Dawn. You spelled worked, so that means Willow is dead!" she pointed out, her voice breaking.

Dawn realized the truth of that and allowed herself to mourn her friend. Neither said what they both knew. They would look for Xander another day because they could not bear knowing that he, too, was gone from the earth.

*****Two Weeks Later*****

Judith had heard from her brother Xander's story about girls that fought monsters and finally worked up her own courage to approach him. RJ stopped by his work every few days, and Xander would tell RJ another story, which he would eagerly run home and repeat to his sister. Judith had to know if he was just spinning stories to entertain a young boy or if there was any truth to the tales.

She opened his shop's door, and he was working on something new. "What's that?" she asked.

"Hello, Judith," he said, smiling. "How have you been?"

"Very well, thanks," she said. "Why is that house so small?"

"This is called a Doll's House," he said. "You haven't seen one before?"

"No," she said, looking at it in fascination.

He opened it up, showing her the little rooms. "It was found on patrol by one of the guys, and it was a bit busted up, so I was fixing it. Thought it would make a gift for some special girl's birthday or special occasion. I have been whittling some little dolls," he said, showing her the tiny people. "I just have to paint them."

For the first time in her life, Judith felt the burning desire to want something very badly. "I bet it will cost an awfully lot, huh?" she asked.

"I hadn't decided yet," he said. "Do you think girls will like it?" He held back his grin because he could tell that she very much wanted it and was working hard to keep from touching it.

She nodded. "I think it is the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen," she admitted.

"Well, ask your uncle to come talk to me, and I will see if we can work out a deal," he told her. "I won't put it up for sale until he does."

Her eyes got wide. "Really? You won't?" she asked, stunned.

"I promise," he said, now smiling.

She turned to run to find him.

"Judith, why did you come in to see me?" he asked.

She remembered why she came and turned back around. "Oh, I just wanted to ask you if those stories about your vampire slayer friend Buffy are true," she asked.

Xander stopped smiling and gave her an intent look and then nodded. "Yes, they were. My town was really on a hellmouth, and my best friend Jesse was killed by a vampire when I was fifteen when Buffy moved to town. They turned him into one, and I had to kill him when he tried to kill me. Of course, I didn't really try to. He mostly was knocked into my stake that I held up as protection. I don't usually tell people that part," he shared.

"Slayers are always women? Can I be one?" she asked.

"You could be a potential right now and be called to be one when a slayer dies," he told her. "When Buffy was sixteen, she died for a minute. A vampire drowned her, but I revived her. That split the slayer line, and Kendra was called. When Kendra was called, Faith was called. She was alive when the world went to hell, and I hope she is still kicking ass in Ohio."

"So your friend Faith would have to die before I could be one?" Judith asked, looking upset.

"No," he said. "A few years ago, we were fighting this really powerful evil, and Buffy found this ancient scythe, and my magical friend Willow worked a spell to activate all the potential slayers in the world. That means there are hundreds of slayers in the world right now. When one of them dies, another is activated. Of course, so many are dying due to the zombie apocalypse. Slayers were immune to the virus, but they can be turned if bit, was the last I heard before all communication was cut off."

Judith had her mind full when she went home to tell Daryl about the doll house.

Daryl listened to her repeat all Xander had told her with a frown. He didn't like tall tales or fairy tales. The world was hard enough without filling the kids' heads with ideas of real superheroes.

"The Doll House is the most wonderful one in the world, Uncle Daryl. Will you go see Xander and find out how much he wants for it? Maybe I can work for it? Help him in his shop after school? RJ would like the Doll House, too!" she assured him.

"I will definitely be talking to him," he said.

A few days later, he stopped by Xander's shop after his shift, saying goodbye to Rosita.

"Hello," Xander said, smiling at him in welcome. "What can I do for you?"

"Judith said you had the most wonderful doll house in the world," he replied.

Xander laughed and showed him the doll house in question and the figurines that he had painted. Somehow, he had painted them to resemble the Grimes family. The mother was dark-skinned with long dark hair and the dad white with light brown hair.

"Is that RJ and Judith?" Daryl asked, picking up the small boy figurine.

"I know. I am totally playing up the cute factor, but Judith is a girl," he said. "I have a weakness for strong girls."

"So I've heard," Daryl said, giving him an annoyed look. "Why you fillin' the kids' heads with your bullshit stories?"

Xander was a bit surprised at the man's clear anger. "What's with the anger? It's just harmless stories of my life. It is fun for them. God knows RJ and his friends aren't ever going to know about Wi-Fi or TV the way we did or Saturday morning cartoon or even comics unless they find a few copies," he said. "Don't they deserve some fun?"

"It's not fun. It's lies," Daryl told him with a glare.

Now Xander was getting annoyed and straightened. He was about two inches or so taller than Daryl, and he used his height advantage to step into Daryl's space. "You don't have to right to call my life story lies," he said. "You don't know me. You don't know what I've endured or what I've fought for, the things I've seen or what I've lost."

The men spent a long moment staring at each other and finally Xander stepped away, breaking the spell. He turned back to the doll house. "If you want the doll house, I'll give you a good deal for it," he said.

Daryl was surprised that the man was being so nice but worked out a deal. A week later, Xander came to dinner, bringing the doll house.

A speechless Judith answered the door.

"You brought it? It's mine?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"I did," Daryl said. "It's yours. I expect you to share it with your brother, of course."

"Come on, RJ. Help me set it up in our room," Judith told him. The apartment was small, so they didn't have their own room but shared one. The two kids insisted on carrying the doll house with Judith holding one end of it and RJ the other.

"So what are you cooking?" Xander asked.

"Rabbit," Daryl told him. "Caught them at the end of patrol with Rosita."

"Cool. Been a while since I had rabbit," Xander said.

"So how did you lose your eye? RJ said you told him a mean man poked your eye out," Daryl said.

Xander laughed. "That was the kid version," he explained. "The truth was there was this insane man dressed as a priest who was killing potential vampire slayers, girls who had the potential to be called and empowered to fight monsters like my best friend Buffy. He killed several and was trying to kill Buffy when I jumped in front of her. He called me the One Who Sees and stuck his thumb through my eyes, so he literally poked my out eye."

"Oh, God," Daryl said with a grimace. "I bet that hurt." He had decided to not question the existence of vampires or whether or not his friend Buffy was a real vampire slayer. Maybe the guy was speaking in metaphors. Daryl didn't know him well enough yet, so he wasn't going to push the issue. So for, Xander was gifted and generous with his gifts and kind to the kids. Both went a long way with Daryl. If he believed in ghosts and all that other bullshit, Daryl wasn't about to judge any more than he did Gabriel for his unwavering belief in God even after the world had gone to hell.

"More than anything," Xander said, looking grim at the memory.

"This was before the fall?" Daryl asked.

Xander nodded. "Yes, about three years before," he said. "We were in Sunnydale, California, my hometown then. Buffy was in Italy the last I heard. She might be in England now. I hope she is because that's where Giles is. He's like our father figure, our mentor. A lot older."

"We had one of those or two really—Dale and Harold—in our group," Daryl said. "They both died. Dale by a walker but Harold by an evil man."

"Don't you hate that the world's gone to shit and we still gotta deal with assholes bent on stealing, killing, and spreading their assholeness around?" Xander asked.

Daryl laughed, nodding. "I really do," he said. "I should tell you about Negan and the so-called Saviors."

Xander listened as Daryl told the tale of his brother Rick's battle with the Saviors as he finished cooking dinner. It was clear to Xander that the kids' dad was a lot like Buffy. When the kids came in to eat, they asked him for a story.

"Well, how about I tell you about the time, Giles' old pal Ethan, who worshipped the god of Chaos, came to town and opened this Halloween shop," Xander began. "And we all got turned into our costume."

The kids listened eagerly as Xander shared his story, and Daryl decided it was harmless fun.

"And that's how I learned how to get into a nearby army base. I kept some of the memories of the soldier," Xander said as he finished the tale. "It came in handy when our mayor turned into a giant snake at our graduation, and we needed to get some C4 to blow him up."

Daryl finally laughed. The guy was clearly a bit nuts.

*****Chapter End*****

I hope you enjoyed this update! Reviews and comments are always appreciated! Thanks!