When Hecate met Xander

Disclaimer: I don't own BTVS, the book Fimbulwinter, or any Greek gods.

Chapter One

After they escaped from the collapse of Sunnydale the gang went first to LA. They parked the bus outside the Hyperion Hotel and all of them went in. Buffy had been hoping to find Angel but finding Cordelia and the firm's wealthy backer, David Nesbitt, was probably better in the short run.

After being introduced and finding out they had just defeated the first evil and closed the Sunnydale hellmouth he said, "I thank you for saving the world. I'm not just saying that either. I'll pay for the healthcare several of you seem to need and offer you one of my houses. It's got 30 bedrooms and sits on twenty-five acres so it's got both room and privacy."

Giles smiled at him, "Thank you for that most gracious offer. I should eventually be able to take charge of the council and use their funds for our group but that might take several months. As you have noted we are all somewhat battered and many of us require a medical professional of some sort."

David nodded, "Well let's start with that. Cordelia call my secretary and tell her to send transports here to take a dozen people to the hospital and to send someone along to pay the bills." He turned back to Giles and Buffy, "All of you that don't need a hospital trip can grab a room at this hotel and stay as long as you like for free. Once everyone is healed up you can move to the house I'm giving you.

Buffy asked, "Is it in Ohio? You see the Sunnydale hellmouth was the only fully active one but there's also one in Cleveland. Since it's the only other one in North America we'd like to be reasonably close."

"None of my residences are in Ohio but I can check to see if I own any hotels in Cleveland," he replied. He pulled his phone and walked off making a call.

Xander was one of the people taken to the hospital. The doctors cleaned and dressed all his wounds and told him they could do little about his missing eye except prescriptions to prevent infection and provide some pain relief.

When he saw a woman appear in a flash of light he thought the painkiller was making him hallucinate. "Alexander Harris, I am Hecate and I have need of you," the woman said.

"Why would I hallucinate the goddess of magic?" he asked himself out loud.

She replied, "You are not hallucinating me and I shall prove it." She waved a hand and the effect of the painkiller was gone from his system. "You are now no longer affected by the chemicals and here I remain. And because I have researched your personal history I know your next question will be 'how do you know I'm a goddess'."

Xander winced and nodded, "Yeah."

She waved both hands and everything froze but the two of them. The clock on the wall, the tv program, his watch, all frozen. He no longer heard any noise from outside the door either.

Xander said, "Okay, lady. That was a pretty good trick. You are obviously a being of power. If I grant, for the sake of argument, that you are who you say you are then what do you want?"

"I want your assistance and I'm willing to negotiate a price," Hecate said. "I am present in several universes. On one earth I have only one follower left. In that world Odin attacked Zeus and started a war of Pantheons. The Greek pantheon lost. Only I, Aphrodite, Hestia, and Prometheus survive. Hestia and I are free and have been keeping our heads down. Aphrodite was captured by an Aesir and brought back to Valhalla in chains. Prometheus stays bound where Zeus put him."

Hecate walked over and sat on Xander's bed, "In time the Aesir fell to fighting amongst themselves as I had hoped and now they worry more about each other than looking for me or Hestia. Loki has unleashed the Fimbulwinter and the start of an ice age is creeping over Europe. I can act without being hunted down by the full might of the Norse gods and I find that I must. I have one follower left and she is in peril. She is alone except for her girlfriend in an isolated house in Northern Europe. They are running out of supplies after a cold summer and with the approach of fall wolves, goblins, and trolls grow bold."

"I doubt I could be much help as I am," Xander said. I've never been more than human and now I'm handicapped, bruised, and extremely exhausted."

"I can fix that," Hecate said. "All of that. If you agree to help my follower then I shall heal you, restore your eye, and the energies of the void between worlds shall fill you with energy. Not only shall you gain enough energy to equal a good night's sleep but you shall gain magic."

"Hold on there," Xander said. "What sort of magic? Most sorts of magic go awry around me."

"It shall be sorcery that you shall gain as well as the ability to learn wizardry," Hecate replied. "Sorcery is instinctive so you shall have no trouble using it unless you lack imagination or will and I do not believe you lack either. Indeed I think you already have a touch of fire sorcery. While you travel betwixt here and there you need but think of what magics you would wield and they shall come to you. The void has more sorts of magic than you, or even I, can imagine and sliding between worlds is a known way to pick up sorcery. The longer you think on a type the more power over it you will have but you should spread that out to at least two or three if not more. Use will also grow your ability once you are there."

"Okay," Xander said. "Assuming I agree, what exactly do you want me to do for your follower and her girl? And what is her name and description so I can recognize her."

"I will give you her name and description once you agree," Hecate said. "As for specifics of your help, I want you to get them safely south far enough that crops can still grow even if in a greenhouse and snow does not lay upon the ground all year long. I wish you to bring her girl who is a follower of Hestia with her and, if at all possible, help any recruits to my cause that my follower may make along the way."

"You say the Norse are fighting among themselves in Europe," Xander said. "Do they wander the land with the humans or mostly stick to godly realms? And what about outside of Europe? If we make it to Asia or Africa, are we safe from them?"

"They rarely show in the lands of men," Hecate replied. "And even then it is most likely to be a demigod on a mission or quest to prove himself or herself. Such are noticeable as they look like humans but are generally a foot or more taller than average and extremely good looking. No, unless you get between one and its objective you shan't run afoul of any gods. Goblins, trolls, wolves, giants, and men will be your foes." She shrugged, "Should you be an unlucky sort you might run into some larger monster. But the three of you have a good chance to make it south unnoticed by any save hungry beasts and wandering bands of marauders. Keep heading south and keep your wits about you and you should be fine."

After some thought Hecate added, "Their battles should be contained to Europe but other continents have other gods and I can't say what conditions are there. Probably better than civil war but it's unknown and I may not be able to reach you there."

"Can we call on you for help?" he asked.

"You can call upon me to report progress or request advice but only in the most dire of circumstances will I interfere significantly," Hecate replied. "I am trying to stay unnoticed and anything more than occasional advice will make that impossible."

Xander nodded, "I accept. Tell me about your follower and her girlfriend."

Hecate said, "Her name is Cerise and she is slender and of average height. Her hair is black and her eyes are brown. Her girlfriend is named Avila. Avila is taller than Cerise but only by a few inches. She has blonde hair and blue eyes and a rather curvy figure."

Hecate said, "I have an important question to ask you. I know you have been fighting demons and vampires but do you believe that only humans are worthy of life? If I tell you that her girlfriend looks human but isn't and never was but is a good person who only fights to protect herself or loved ones is that enough for you to treat her like you would a born human?"

Xander nodded, "Yes, I will. I'm not prejudiced against non-humans as long as they are willing to get along with us."

"Good to hear," Hecate said. "Now for my part of this bargain. She made a few gestures and Xander was fully healed. She replaced his missing eye and healed all wounds, new and old. His scars vanished as old injuries were repaired and he was brought to peak health. "Bon Voyage," she said and sent him through the rather thin walls of reality in this universe and made sure he would land in front of Cerise. Then she disappeared as well.

When Buffy came in a minute later she saw only his clothes left on the bed and his IV draining out onto the floor.

Xander was falling through the multicolored cloud of energy that was the interdimensional medium. He muttered to himself, "Think of what magics I would wield is what she said. Well she sort of suggested fire too." He thought of fire, setting fires, throwing balls of fire. "Okay, next I want healing. If I can't pull a Wolverine then I want healing spells." He spent a while thinking of what he knew of first aid and all he knew of biology and anatomy. Thinking out loud he said, "Might want a way to buy things and a different offensive spell." He thought about pulling gold and silver from the ground and then decided on telekinesis or some sort of gravity control. He fondly imagined moving things without touching them for a while. "She mentioned them being low on supplies and far from anywhere so I should add food magic if I can." He imagined food growing out of the ground, wheat, corn, oats, then all the vegetables he could remember. Then he thought of nutrients and precious metals and decided earth magic should help with both so he concentrated on it. Next he pictured the periodic table. It appeared surprisingly clearly in his mind's eye. He wasn't sure it would help but decided it couldn't hurt.

Then he burst through the walls of the other dimension and landed in front of Cerise. He stood and shook his head a few times, "You called Hecate for a champion?" he asked.

"Yes!" Cerise replied. "My girlfriend and my home are being attacked right now! Can you help?"

Xander nodded, "That's why I was sent." He looked down at himself, "I kinda wish I wasn't naked but I can fix that afterward." He summoned a round iron shield into his left hand and a ball of fire in his right, "Which way to the battle?"

"Follow me," Cerise said and led him upstairs.

Upstairs in the kitchen they found Avila using flying kitchen cutlery to keep a small horde of goblins from entering.

Xander walked forward as Cerise shouted, "We got reinforcements from Hecate. Naked sorcerous reinforcements apparently."

As soon as Xander passed Avila he threw the fireball in his hand at a goblin in the doorway. It set the goblin's leather armor on fire and the goblin ran screaming out into the night. Xander conjured another and strode towards the door.

Cerise drew her twin soul bound daggers and followed behind.

Avila grabbed a carving knife and followed as well. Once outside the ladies guarded his back as he attacked the goblins.

Xander was doing well against the goblin warriors when he saw a troll with what looked like a goblin mage or shaman nearby. He tossed fire at the troll and its fur loincloth caught fire only to be put out a second later with water conjured by the goblin. The goblin threw a bright purple spell at Xander who blocked it with his shield. The outer part of the shield was corroded by the spell.

"Nasty," Xander said. "Let's see if I can do you one better." Recalling some of the soldier memories he had picked up on Halloween Xander coated the outside of the shield with white phosphorus and threw it at the troll.

The troll caught the shield rather than let it hit him and was soon on fire. This time the water the shaman conjured was unable to put it out and the troll ran away screaming. The shaman cursed in an unfamiliar language and looked around. Seeing he was the only attacker still alive he threw another spell at Xander before turning and running.

"We've won," Xander said after dodging the spell. "At least for now. It's time for explanations in exchange for pants. I'm hoping for shoes and a shirt too."

"Okay," Avila said. "I can go find you some clothes that will fit while you talk to Cerise."

"That works," Xander said. "Hecate said my origin should remain a secret but that I should tell you two. I'm from another world. She has a presence in my world too. I helped defend my world against demons. She came to me after I had been crippled in the final effort that sealed off the hole the demons were coming through. She offered to heal and rejuvenate me if I agreed to help her."

"Your world had an open gate to the realm of demons?" Cerise asked.

"It used to," he replied. "A very evil man spent decades widening it. Me and my friends defeated him and eventually closed the gate. It took us seven years. This situation is not nearly as bad though so you don't have to worry. I promised Hecate that I would get you both far enough south that we can grow food, even if it's only in a greenhouse. She briefed me on what we're likely to encounter and I'm sure I can get you through. We should leave today if possible."

"We are pretty far from the nearest town," Cerise said. "It usually takes us eight hours round trip to make our monthly supply run. And that's assuming they will have anything left to sell and are still alive."

Xander nodded, "Okay, I guess that makes morning a better start time. We can spend it getting ready. Once I get some pants that is."

"Avila is a hearth witch," Cerise said. "She can magically alter clothes to fit and should be back soon."

When Avila came back Xander got his promised pants and shirt and Avila even managed to make a pair of her own boots fit him and become of masculine cut.

After hearing the story Avila nodded, "I'm not sure we should sleep but there is much we can get done before morning. If you can use your sorcery to make a sled I can spend the night packing what will keep and making travel rations. Cerise, can you gather what wealth we have and our spare clothes and blankets? And if he makes a sled can you summon something to pull it so we can save our strength and take turns napping?"

Xander had been thinking and said, "I can make a sled. I can even make one that propels itself I think. Let me go outside and work on that while there is still daylight. Once it's too dark to work I can surround the house with stone walls. That should make it safe enough for one night. I still suggest we sleep in shifts though."

"If you can do that you'll deserve your night's sleep," Cerise said. "We'll keep watch tonight if you want to sleep."

"Sounds like a plan," Xander said. "I'll go start on that sled then."