Fic Commentary: I Am What I Am (64/67)
Another single installment. Only three more to go!
No spoilers in this one. Oh unless you consider spoilers to be spoilers. In that case there are spoilers, but otherwise, no spoilers.
Chapter 35: No Weapon Forged (Never Again) - With Commentary
Can't choose between two possible titles? Then don't! Laziness wins again!
Buffy sat on the floor of the library, one hand holding onto her aching head, the other held against the floor to steady herself. Looking up, she could see Xander braced behind a large, curved shield. Powerful orange bolts of energy cascaded against it, echoing thunderously with every strike. Each bolt was diffused against the shield, deflected around it to form a kind of protective bubble around them.
Xander's face was set in grim determination, his jaw clenched and his fingers gripped tightly around the straps of his shield. Faith was kneeling beside Buffy, but her head was turned to face him. They were shouting at each other.
*We have a plan?* Buffy thought to herself, shaking her head again to try and regain her composure. The Judge hit harder than perhaps anything she'd ever fought. One punch and she was still attempting to get the cobwebs out of her head. *Since we do we have a plan?* she thought again, this time purposefully asking the question.
*Since he started getting suicidal,* Faith thought back. The dark-haired girl looked down at Buffy, giving her a meaningful look. *So start thinking fast.* Faith and Buffy are both doing what they did in the Interludes, only now they're doing it together. Basically, they're making sure Xander never gets TOO stupid.
*Oh.*
Buffy blinked several times. She was feeling pretty stupid. Xander's speech to the Judge had them both so psyched about using their weapons on him that they'd moved without thinking. Now the Judge knew he couldn't be harmed even by the likes of Companion or Double T. That left them cowering behind the shield that had apparently formed out of Cleaver II.
She didn't even have Companion with her. It had flown across the library at the explosion of energy when she'd struck the Judge, and the flowing demonic energy prevented her from being able to go retrieve it. Companion might not have been able to help against the Judge, but at least she'd feel better if she had it. Faith at least still held Tommy, though Tammy was imbedded against the far wall.
If she had Companion, she and Faith wouldn't be forced to converse through the minimal link that always kept up. At least with the full link she could have someone to help her think, to help her plan. She wasn't always so good at planning, but Faith was. The younger girl had a basic sense of strategy that Buffy admired. They could try and come up with something using the minimal link, but the effort required would make it much more difficult.
Xander's face suddenly contorted in pain, and he screamed, eyes shut tightly as he continued to brace against the impact of the energy. Forgetting her own sense of dysphoria, and banishing the dizziness she felt, Buffy quickly turned his attention to him.
*What's going on?* Faith thought, and Buffy could feel the slight edge of panic through the minimal link. Buffy reached out a hand, grabbing Faith's shoulder to steady herself as she stood. Faith helped her up quickly, and the two stood crouched behind Xander.
Buffy sniffed and frowned. She smelled something. Something wrong.
Xander's fingers were smoking.
"Oh my God," she whispered. Whether or not Faith heard her, the other girl could feel Buffy's shock.
*We have to do something,* Faith thought. *What can we do!?*
Buffy's head whipped around, spotting Companion lying against the step that led to the stacks. She'd never actually been able to do this at her command before. Had, in fact, only had it happen once. She reached her hand out as far as she could without breaching the protective bubble, and then called for Companion.
The wink of white light was lost in the frenzied fury of the orange energy, but both Faith and Buffy spotted it when Companion appeared in Buffy's hand. The link surged open between them, and all at once, neither was quite so alone. Information passed at the speed of thought, and each calmed the other's panic.
No weapon forged. It swirled from Faith's mind to Buffy's, back and forth a thousand times in less than a second. The options were weighed, the risks were calculated, and the plan was decided.
It was a slaughter!
Derrick Levinthal had never seen anything like it in his three years as a vampire. Six people were laying waste to over fifty vicious and powerful vampires. This was supposed to be simple and fun. The Slayer might have been some trouble, but even the Slayer couldn't handle fifty vampires swarming her at once. That was the plan. Take down the Slayer first, then they could have their fun with the others. And if the souled vampire happened to get dusted in the process? Oops.
Only that's now how it had gone. The Slayer had teleported - teleported! - behind the initial swarm Not quite, but to him that's what it looks like., and was suddenly tearing into them, a silver and red blur as her sword flashed from body to body. Four of them were dust inside the first three seconds.
Then the redhead had lifted her hands and the whole group of them had been pressed backwards by a powerful but invisible force. The girl's hands continued to glow with a soft globular pink energy, not allowing any more than four vampires to bunch up at any one time. She was using some kind of magic against them! Now this use of Willow's magic is kind of important, because I think originally if Willow had been trained by Jenny and Giles at this point in the show, she'd be using her magic very differently. We'd see her lobbing fireballs or trying to telekinetically throw vampires around.
But because Willow has been forced to learn about restraint, subtlety, and a whole host of other things thanks to her doubled core, she thinks more about her actions before she does them. If she starts tossing out fireballs or something similar she's going to get taken down quickly. They probably all will. But if she can use her relatively meager (at this point she's got more raw power than Jenny and Giles, probably putting her on part with what we saw from Tara in S4, although with more training than Tara had) to keep the vampires from bunching up, then that may make all the difference.
They all were. They all were!
The souled vampire had a sword made of pure fire, and wherever he struck one of his brethren exploded into flames. With their natural fear of fire, the vampires were already doing their best to avoid Angel and his flame sword, but even keeping your distance didn't help when he could send fireballs chasing after you! Derrick himself had barely escaped being engulfed in flame when he jumped behind his old girlfriend/victim Stacey Castle. He'd kind of miss her, but hey, better her than him. Oh those wacky vampires and their relationship problems.
Derrick had wound up with three other vampires he rolled with sometimes. Gary, Nails, and a guy everyone just called Grunt, since that's about all he ever did If that's how we're naming people then from now on you may all call me Laze-about-uselessly., except for the wild screams of excitement whenever he was tearing into some young girl's neck.
"This is fuckin' crazy!" Nails yelled over the sound of someone's scream. "Look at this shit!" he held up his arm. A hideous smoking gash ran over it. "That old bastard cut me with that pointy sword of his! It burns like a motherfucker!" Ahem. Language, Nails? What a potty mouth.
"Better than burning for real," Gary snarled. The four of them were taking a mild breather while the rest of the swarming mass of vampires distracted the band of demon fighters. "Angelus has got himself a flaming sword."
There was another scream, and a fat vampire named Tally came hurtling towards them. Derrick raised his arms to protect himself, but Tally was sent bouncing off to the side the moment he got too close.
"Shit!" Nails cursed. "You see that? That redheaded bitch is keepin' us from teaming up!"
Grunt grunted. Who did not see that coming?
"That's what we gotta do," Gary said, peering past the madness of the battle. "If we can take down the witch, then we can rush the Slayer. Then the rest'll be easy pickings."
"What are you, crazy?" Derrick screeched. "Tally just got his ass sent into orbit from the old guy casting some electricity shit at him!" While Willow has more raw power than the others, she doesn't have a weapon to help boost her abilities, meaning that for the moment, Giles and Jenny are better spellcasters for offensive magic. Actually they'd probably be better at support stuff too, but then they wouldn't be able to actually use their weapons offensively, which is more useful than defense since Willow can handle the stay-apart spell.
"Shut up!" Gary yelled. "You'd rather deal with Angelus or the Slayer now?"
Derrick glanced up. Gary had a point. Angelus and the Slayer were both causing so much havoc that it seemed unreal. In fact, Derrick kind of wondered if the fact that they all had to stay spread out wasn't actually keeping them from all being slaughtered en masse by the two of them.
"Fine," Derrick spat. "We rush the witch, then." All of this is really in anticipation for Oz wolfing out and destroying these guys. Oz is cool. Let us never forget it.
While Angelus, the Slayer, and the older guy with the pointy sword were actively fighting back against the horde of vampires, the other four stood in the center of the melee. The witch stood with her arms raised, glowing softly and occasionally gesturing powerfully, causing vampires to nearly explode away from each other. Beside her stood a short, weenie-looking kid Sorry, Jonathon. holding an ornate staff. He did little in the way of fighting, but every so often he would point the staff at the Slayer or the old guy, and green lightning would seem to shoot into them. Derrick couldn't figure what he was doing, but it couldn't be good.
Another man was behind her. Aside from the witch, he was the only one unarmed. He didn't seem to be doing anything but occasionally dodging the few vampires that got close, but for the most part the protective circle of the witch's magic and the three sword wielders kept him safe. The one time a vampire did manage to make it through the line, the man threw one quick punch, and Derrick thought that, for only a moment, the guy seemed to be covered in blue spikes.
The last one not actively fighting was a short guy with dyed blue hair. He stood in front of the witch, arms at his side, silently watching. He'd yet to make a move, although the few times a vampire got close, he stepped protectively in between it and the witch. Oz is the Samurai who never uses his weapon until he absolutely needs to. He's standing on front of Willow with the absolute focus of his entire being on the thought that nothing is going to get to her without getting through him first. He's just waiting for anyone dumb enough to try. I don't think he really knows what he's going to do, but somewhere in that animal self of his, he knows to stand guard over her.
"How do we get past the Slayer and Angelus?" Derrick asked.
Gary frowned and looked over. "Look, see when that group goes to hit her? That other group's goin' after Angelus at the same time. We let them take the hit, and slip through to the middle while they're doin' that."
"Hey, good idea," Nails grinned, his fangs gleaming.
Grunt grunted.
"What about that guy with the spikes?" Derrick asked.
"What guy?"
"That guy in the cheesy leather jacket," Derrick said, pointing at Doyle. "Saw the dude grow spikes."
Gary growled. "Probably a Brachen demon. I dated one last year. They're fuckin' pushovers, just got a little strength, is all."
As if to add truth to his statement, two vampires broke through the line and tackled into Doyle. The spikes emerged and he managed to throw one off, but the other kicked him hard in the face. Doyle staggered back, and swung a wild punch that hit the air. It was clear he wasn't much more than a brawler, and not a very good one at that.
Derrick grinned. "All right, easy pickin's."
"On three," Gary said, waiting for the other groups to attack. "Ready? One. Two. Three!"
The four of them sprinted forward, just close enough to the other groups that Derrick could feel the odd repelling force seem to scrape against his arm as they did. Nails yelped and ducked a fireball sent forth from Angelus's sword. The Slayer was too busy dusting two vampires in rapid succession to notice the breach.
The witch did notice them, however, and for a second fear flashed across her face. The glowing energy around her hands faded slightly, and the sounds of the battle intensified as the repelling force suddenly weakened. They were down to perhaps thirty-five vampires now, and the three sword wielders were taking the brunt of the action.
The Brachen demon was still struggling to get away from the other vampire that had made it through, so it was only the three teenagers in the middle. The shortest one with the staff yelped and jumped backwards, behind the witch and the kid with the dyed hair.
Grunt jumped forward, and the kid stepped to his side to match him. Grunt grinned down at the short teenager, laughing wordlessly. He was nearly half the size of Grunt, and lacked the latter's powerful build.
"Just get her!" Nails screamed, wary of wasting any time. The four of them rushed forward, and the redhead yelped and stepped backwards.
Snikt Oz is cool. Wolverine is cooler. Yet Oz is so cool he knows to steal from Wolverine. Don't think about it too long or your head will explode.
Grunt roared as the claws pierced his stomach. He was pulled off his feet and sent barreling back out towards the first ring of the battle. Nails whirled on the spot, and then his eyes went wide.
The kid that had been standing silently seemed suddenly very hairy, his arms and legs elongating slightly. He let loose a growl that turned into a roar, and suddenly he was upon them.
Slashing and tearing, Oz ripped away at the three remaining vampires, his unnamed-claws obviously channeling some portion of his werewolf blood. He howled and plunged his claws into Gary's neck, tearing his throat open and dusting the group's leader instantly. Then he sprang towards Nails, swiping across his chest before hacking off his arm. Nails screamed in pain and fear, a scream cut short when the claws raked across his neck and turned him to dust as well.
Derrick, no fool himself, turned and ran for his (un)life. In his panic, he forgot about the Slayer. She, however, had not forgotten about him, and as he raced back past the outer circle, he never even felt Honor's Grace bite through his neck, ending his demonic life.
Cordelia groaned and blinked her eyes open. The air was musty, dank and cold. She sort of recognized the place. It was the factory where Spike and Drusilla had holed up while they were still alive. She was slumped in a chair, but aside from the pain in her jaw, she seemed okay.
This scene was in my head forever. From the first moment I came up with Subtlety and its powers, I knew this scene was coming, or more specifically the end where Skip looks at her tattoo and Cordelia just grins at him.
For me, a lot of coming up with a story idea is coming up with a few "cool" scenes. Hell, all of Crisis on Infinite Hellmouths came from wanting to see Gargoyle-Xander interacting with Zeppo-in-Mind Scoobies. Slay Hard came from the idea of Angelus laughing at a bunch of demons who underestimate Xander. This story was a lot more scenes strung together and originally just started with the idea of Xander waking up in Sunnydale on Halloween after dying, but many of hte other scenes helped to form what it became.
So this is one of those scenes. It was in my head from almost the very beginning. The trick was just in getting there. A lot of any story is planned out, a lot of it is simply going-with-the-flow, and some of it is a pillar upon which the rest of the story is held up. This is, silly as it may seem, one of those scenes. Not for any storytelling reason, it's not that important, but just because this is one of those scenes that drove me to write. It made me grin just to think about it, as goofy as it may see, and so I wanted to see the story get to this point. The same is true for many other scenes, but for some reason this one sticks out in my mind.
I suppose Faith killing Kakistos was another one. If I bothered to look through my notes I'm sure I'd see others.
Perhaps when it's over I'll tell everyone which scene all of See Noir Evil is being written for. Hint: We're not up to it yet.
And as a little sidenote to this topic, another kind of strange thing is when I write a story to get to a certain scene but then never get to it because the story has evolved in another direction. That's another reason why I think it's crazy for an author to claim a story was completely planned out ahead of time. You can't plan out everything. Sometimes the story just needs to go where it goes.
Although I'll be kind of disappointed if I never get to the See Noir Evil scene that I have in my head, I'd have to live with it if the story just didn't want to go there.
Recalling the lessons of her Teacher, she quickly took stock of her surroundings, extending her sense outward. There was another presence in the room. She could hear soft breathing, and the nearly silent crunch of grit as whoever it was shifted their weight. As her vision focused and adjusted to the shadowy interior of the factory, she could make out a vaguely human shape standing at the other end of a long table.
She quickly went through a mental alertness exercise, and recalled that her last experience was fleeing from the Judge with the others. Then she'd suddenly come awake here. What had happened?
"Hey," said a friendly voice. "Don't be scared. I'm here to protect you."
She frowned, and realized she really wasn't scared. She also realized that Subtlety must be in tattoo form, because she had sensed that whoever had spoken hadn't lied. Nonetheless, she didn't let herself relax. Cordeia's entire exchange here with Skip is a good example of why she can't rely on her truth-detection abilities completely. Skip doesn't lie to her much here, although he eventually does enough for her to realize he's evil. If he was just a little smarter he could have probably convinced her he was legit. After all, he really does want to protect her, and she really will help to bring peace to the world. In a manner of speaking, anyway.
"Protect me from what?" Cordelia asked. She stood up, a little shakily at first. Her jaw throbbed, but she could feel it gradually fading away as Subtlety helped her to heal.
"Short term? From the Judge. Long term? Anything else. You're very important."
A truth, a lie, and a truth. She frowned. "Who are you?"
"Oh me? My name's Skip," he stepped forward, and Cordelia's eyes widened. "Don't let the look fool you. I'm here to help."
"Well help me later," Cordelia said. "I've got to go help my friends."
"Your friends are dead," he said. "They got attacked by vampires. No way they survived."
She took a step backwards. He was telling the truth. Sort of. Another problem. Just cause he's telling what he thinks is the truth is no guarantee it actually is the truth, although Cordelia does seem able to sense that he's not telling her a cold fact, just what he perceives.
"They're dead, or you just assume they're dead?"
Skip shrugged. "Same thing. Even the Slayer can't beat fifty vampires. That's why I stepped in to help you. We couldn't risk losing you."
Another truth, another lie, and another truth. "You'd be surprised what the Slayer can do."
Skip shrugged. "Maybe. You want something to eat?"
She shook her head. "No. I'm leaving."
He moved forward, faster than she anticipated. His large hand gripped her upper arm, not painfully, but powerfully nonetheless. "Sorry, I can't let you do that. You could get hurt."
"So could you," she growled. She lashed out with a kick to his stomach, but he caught it easily with his free hand. Cordelia is absolutely no match for Skip unarmed. She's nothing compared to him.
"Hey, come on. Don't be like that. I've been sent here to help you. Think of me as your guardian angel."
"If you don't let go of me, I'll be thinking of you as the head I keep on a stick." Not an idle threat. Where do you think Skip's head wound up?
He let go of her, but it was clear he wasn't about to let her go. "Come on, why don't you sit down? We just need to lie low for a day or two until this whole Judge thing blows over."
"You were with him," Cordelia suddenly recalled. "You're the guy that put him back together!"
"No no, you got me all wrong. I didn't put him back together. I don't know who did that. I was just pretending to be on his side so I could get to you."
Lie.
"Really?"
"Yeah, of course. It's the only way I could be sure to protect you."
"Why do you need to protect me?" she wondered. This was confusing. He'd put together the Judge, but he was telling the truth about protecting her.
"You're special," Skip explained. It was another truth. "You've got a real destiny, and it's my job to keep you alive so you can do it."
"What destiny?"
"Save the world," he replied. "Bring peace and order to all."
She frowned. He was telling the truth. "How am I supposed to do that? I'm a cheerleader, not the messiah." She's really not much of a cheerleader anymore. I wonder if she'd even want to join the team next year after all she's done this year. I guess she probably would. It'd be good use of her athletic abilities.
Skip shrugged. "I don't know how it works, I just know that you'll do it."
A lie.
"Do you know Whistler?"
"Who? Never heard of any Whistler."
Another lie. She frowned deeper. "The Judge, he's going to kill my friends if the vampires don't, right?"
Skip shrugged apologetically. "Yeah. Sorry."
"But you didn't put him together?"
He shook his head fervently. "No way. Scout's honor."
That was all she needed to know. "I'm leaving."
She turned to go again. Once again he grabbed her arm. "Sorry, I really can't let you. It's dangerous out there."
"Yeah, you know what?" Cordelia said, eyes narrowing at him. "I really don't care. You're a lying, evil demon, and if you don't take your hands off me, you're going to be a dead, lying, evil demon."
"Hey," Skip smiled good-naturedly. "Where's that coming from? I'm on your side!"
Lie. Super italicized lie with you're-so-dead-now action!
"Now come on," Skip said, pulling her back a little. "I don't want to have to force you to stay, but I will if you make me."
"Is that so?" she growled.
"Yeah," he said, smiling disarmingly. She glared at him with a deep scowl. Then he frowned and leaned forward. "Hey," he said, peering at her face. "When did you get a tattoo?"
Cordelia grinned wickedly, and light flared in the room. It's appropriate that as a cheerleader Cordelia is about to BRING IT ON.
*Even if this works, it might not work,* Faith thought worriedly. Faith is not good with the sense-making sentences.
*It's going to work. It has to work,* Buffy replied. *Just concentrate.*
*Easy for you to say. You get to lie down and rest. I'm the one doing all the work,* it was a nervous tease. She knew from experience that it was Buffy's strength that aided her.
*We're doing it together,* Buffy said. *We have to help him. I don't know how he's still holding on.*
Xander was screaming non-stop now. His entire arm was smoking and sizzling, and the edges of the shield were beginning to glow red-hot. Yet at the same time, his fingers were not horribly burned and scarred. When she looked closely, it seemed almost as if they were in a constant state of burning, healing, and then burning again. His screams were horrible, and she was in awe of the fact that he was still holding on. Through the haze of orange, she could see the Judge grinning triumphantly. He knew he was winning. Interesting way for us to see Protector's powerful regenerative ability. Kind of a curse for Xander at this point since he's suffering from the constant sensation of being horribly burned over and over again.
*Let's do this thing,* Faith thought darkly. *And B?*
*Yeah.*
*If it doesn't work, tell Xander that, you know...*
*It's going to work.*
Faith nodded. Then she stood up a little taller, her head bowed just slightly beneath the bubble of protection. She held her hand out, and willed Tammy to return.
The magical weapon shuddered from its position deep in the wall, and suddenly sprang free, sending swirls of orange energy streaming around like pinwheels as it flew back towards her. It smacked into her open hand, and she closed her fingers around the hilt. It was slightly warm.
*Step one,* she thought. *Now time for step two.*
Buffy nodded and held Companion to her chest, trying to recall how she'd woken up that first time. She lay back on the floor, trying to ignore Xander's screams of agony. She closed her eyes and focused with every aspect of her being.
Faith closed her eyes as well. They needed help. They needed to help Xander. They'd tried this so many times before, and never gotten it to work, but this time they both flat-out refused to fail. This was the only thing they could think of. It was going to work. It had to work.
Buffy's mind swirled with Faith's, their spirits dancing up and down their connection a billion times a second. Faith kept her mind focused on one thing and one thing only. Help. It was what she'd been thinking that night.
Her fingers gripped Tommy and Tammy, her knuckles turning white with the strain. The connection opened wider and wider, thoughts and feelings mixing as the two tried to force the connection they had first experienced.
*He's going to die,* they both thought at the same time. *Xander's going to die.*
White light burst forth from Companion, encircling Buffy in a cocoon of glowing brightness. Ah-ha! How fortunate that it was revealed earlier that Buffy is protected by a glowing bubble when she links with Faith so as not to become vulnerable to humanity-burning lightning shot forth from an ancient demon! Fortunate indeed. At the same moment, without an instant of delay, Faith's eyes snapped open. In her mind she could see her, just like the first time. The warrior girl, smiling knowingly as she held Companion in her hand. Buffy was with her, joined and connected as they'd experienced only once before.
*No,* they thought as one. *He's not.* Oh hell yeah.
(sorry. I got excited.)
Faith could feel the incredible power of the Slayer spirit and Buffy's own willpower combined with her own. There was no way they were going to let Xander die. There was no way the Judge was going to win. She looked down at Tommy and Tammy.
No weapon forged.
Her hands seemed to move slowly, inexorably towards each other. At first it was impossible to hear the low humming sound, but it rose in pitch quickly, soon sounding out over the cacophonous blasts of the Judge's assault. Tammy and Tommy trembled in her hands, and then suddenly seemed to jump towards each other.
She brought her hands together quickly, and had to turn her head as the white light exploded outwards, engulfing the room in pure blinding brilliance. Even the Judge staggered back a moment, covering his eyes and halting his barrage of energy. Xander nearly stumbled forward with the loss of the constant pressure against his shield. So I've said before that Buffy and Faith are not soulmates, nor are they two halves of the same soul or anything like that. I've been kind of thinking about it more and what I'm starting to think of it like is that they're almost consecutive souls. They were right next to each other on the production line, so to speak, and so they just kind of fit together.
Of course, that's just my interpretation today. I reserve the right to change my mind in the future.
But for right now what we're seeing is Buffy and Faith channeling their connection through their weapons and then using that strange energy that connects them to form something stronger than the both of them. Something that may very well be built out of the pure energy of their combined souls. That, my friends, is a true weapon against evil.
"What is this?" the Judge rumbled, sneering at them. Faith felt Buffy's strong presence within her, bolstering her confidence and lending her strength. In her hands she held the waraxe, formed of pure white light. It hummed softly in her hands, occasionally crackling with a spark of energy. Faith looked up, and then stepped away from Xander and the protection of his shield.
"Faith, no!" Xander croaked, his voice hoarse and raspy. He leaned against the shield to keep his balance, and seemed barely able to stand.
The Judge grinned. "You are a fool twice over, little girl."
Then he raised his arms and let the humanity-burning energy fly. It twisted and snaked towards Faith. She raised the waraxe against it, and there was a heavy booming resonance as it struck the head of the ax, absorbing into it and harming no one.
The Judge took a step back even as Faith stepped forward, bathed in the combined strength of her and Buffy. She held the ax in both hands. The Judge shot off another blast of energy, and this time the boom shook several books off the shelf, but again it was absorbed without trouble.
She closed the distance quickly. The Judge, not sure exactly what he was dealing with, took no chances. He rushed forward, swinging a powerful fist at Faith's head. Faith's arms came up, blocking the blow with a heavy thud. She snapped her elbow at his face, and the Judge staggered back with the blow. She hefted the ax, and glared at him.
"I-I can be harmed by no weapon forged!" he bellowed, sounding more as if he were trying to convince himself than convince her.
Faith looked down at the ax. "No one forged this weapon. No one forged Unity." While it's mostly named Unity for obvious purposes, there is a tiny aspect of it that is a nod to Lori Bush, a light of B/X when it seemed there was only darkness to cover the fandom.
"Kill you!" he roared, jumping towards her. Faith and Buffy swung the ax as one, the hissing, crackling white energy of the blade sinking deep into the Judge's side. He gasped, stopping dead in his tracks. Unity began to hum stronger, nearly shaking free of Faith's grip. The Judge looked up at her with shock in his eyes.
"Not...Possible," he gasped. Then Unity flared, and he screamed in pain and terror. White light encompassed the room, and a deafening crack of thunder preceded a powerful gust of wind, causing her hair to whip about her head. When it was gone, and she could see again, the Judge was gone. Destroyed utterly.
She held Unity for a long moment, reveling in the joyful feeling of the complete connection. Buffy's spirit surged with hers, combined for a strength neither could hope for alone. She closed her eyes and let Unity dissipate, bringing her hands apart as Tommy and Tammy returned. She slipped them into her holster, and was mildly surprised that the connection seemed able to hold for a few moments. Faith and Buffy stepped towards Xander, kneeling beside him.
"Are you okay?" they asked together.
Xander was shaking slightly, and looked up at her. "Faith?"
She smiled. "Half right."
He was still gripping the shield. She carefully stroked his arm, examining it. There was no sign that it had been burned. Yet she could still smell the burning flesh, and the shield was still fairly hot to the touch. He shuddered slightly at her fingers on his skin, and looked at her with questioning eyes.
"Are you okay?" she asked, both aspects of her self desperate for the answer.
He nodded slowly. "I think so. I-I guess I got some regeneration with this thing too."
She smiled. "I'm glad."
Xander glanced to the white cocoon of energy behind him. "Buffy's in there?"
"And here too," Faith said, putting her hand to her chest. The much more important spot. "For another few moments. It's fading slowly this time."
"Faith, I..." He swallowed, taking a deep breath. "What happened?"
"No weapon forged," she said with a slight grin. "Unity wasn't forged. It was," she paused, closing her eyes. "Created."
"I don't understand," he said, staring at her eyes.
She smiled. "Now you know how we feel."
"I-I thought we were going to die," he whispered. "I thought I was going to watch you die again."
She wasn't sure if he meant Faith or Buffy, and in that instant, it didn't matter. She felt tears sting at her eyes, and she stepped closer to him. She shook her head. "Never, Xander. Never again."
Then she put her arms around him. Xander's grip on his shield went limp, and it clattered to the ground. He sank against her, unable to hold himself up anymore.
"I can't ever lose you again," he gasped. "Never again." And finally, blessedly, Xander is able to let his guard down. He's finally unable to shoulder the burden silently and stoically, and he can retreat to the comfort that these two incredible people offered him so selflessly in the original timeline.
In many ways this is where Xander completes his personal journey and begins on a new one. His decades of life as an obsessive warrior against the darkness is coming to a close. A new life is being offered to him, one where he may be able to move beyond the almost manic obsession to fight the darkness, to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders and attempt to do it all on his own.
The Xander we've seen throughout the Chapters is almost a regression on his part, which is ironic considering when we're first introduced to him he seems like he's so much more mature than he had been. The truth is however that Xander regressed after Buffy's death, he began to take more and more of every burden onto himself, emotionally as well as physically, until he reaches the point where he's slamming a knife into his own heart in order to protect Faith's soul.
All throughout the Chapters we see a Xander who is unable to really relax, unable to stop constantly fretting over what could happen, what might happen, what did happen, and so much more. He's always going off into tangents in his own head in anticipation of what might come. He flies off to Boston to find Faith with hardly a discussion with anyone else. He locks himself away for two months while he builds the weapons. Giles tries to point out to him that he's letting his life pass him by while he's so busy trying to protect everyone from what might happen, but after that brief moment Xander hasn't really gotten the message.
So while it seemed for so long like the Interludes were the journey of Xander from well-meaning but bumbling into the hardened warrior we see him as, we now kind of see that the Chapters are Xander's journey back from the hardened warrior and a little more into the Xander we all know and love - as we'll see in the next few chapters and the Epilogue, especially the next chapter which is almost purely a fluff piece of Xander spending good quality time with his friends and not spending inordinate amounts of time worrying about the future.
Decades of grief and anguish bubbled forth, and Xander sagged against her, burying his face in the crook of her neck and sobbing quietly. It was as if he had finally allowed himself to admit just how badly it had hurt him to lose them. He finally let loose his fear and worry that he might someday have to live through that again.
"Never again," he would mumble every few moments. "Never again."
A few moments later, the connection finally faded, and Faith was once again simply herself. Buffy sat up slowly, and without hesitation slipped her way into the embrace. Faith and Buffy both held the man who had pledged his undying love to both of them, comforting him as he finally allowed himself to admit just how much he missed them. They were both silent as Xander's carefully held calm and confidence of the last four months was swept away.
He clutched at them both, and they held him tightly back. Neither had ever given much though to Xander's future, not in this way. They both knew that he'd survived past them, but neither had really thought about what that meant for him. Neither had ever fully realized the extent of his caring for them. For the first time, they both realized the utter grief and pain that Xander had suffered through, and the overpowering love he carried for them both.
It was as frightening and wonderful an experience as they had ever felt, either of them. For four months, Xander had been a carefully controlled, confident leader. Always thinking ahead, or at least trying to. He was always in control of himself, and at times seemed larger than life. Bigger and better than they could hope to aspire to. An adult in every sense of the word, distant and apart from them.
All that washed away as his inner fear was spread before them. It was at that moment that they realized Xander was just like them. Just as unsure of the future, just as frightened of what might be. It was that moment that they realized Xander cared for them both more than anything in the entire world. And that maybe, just maybe, they both felt that way about him too.
They didn't think about what that meant. They didn't think about what it would mean for the three of them, or what it would mean for the future of their relationships. For that moment, all they cared about was allowing Xander to finally believe.
For four months, Xander had been coasting. Never letting himself fully believe that Faith and Buffy were truly alive. Never letting himself believe that maybe he wouldn't lose them again. For four months he'd been working desperately to make things better, so that they would both live. And despite it all, they had just been faced with the possibility of death all over again.
"We're here," Buffy whispered. "We're here."
Xander laughed and he cried. Finally letting himself believe that his greatest wish had actually come true.
Caught in the embrace of Faith and Buffy, Xander would not have been at all surprised if Rod Serling would step out from behind the stacks, and calmly inform him that he'd died back in that small room when he plunged the knife into his chest. That this was heaven, because he was back with his girls.
Rod Serling didn't show up, and the echoes of pain in his hands told him this wasn't heaven. It was Sunnydale. It was the Hellmouth. The mystical hotspot that was the center of demonic activity for the world.
Xander sniffed, smiled, and gave them each a kiss on the cheek. "I love you guys."
"Love you too," they both murmured. He knew it wasn't quite the same kind of love, but it was enough for him. There's that good old Xander self-loathing. Truth is they probably do love him that way right now, but Xander's too emotionally drained to even consider the possibility, and I doubt Buffy and Faith are fully aware of their feelings anyway.
"I wish I could stay here forever," Xander admitted. "But Ethan's running around out there, and we need to regroup the others and figure out what we're going to do next."
"Next?" Buffy frowned. "What next?"
"The Powers just failed. Next time, they're going to send someone more powerful."
"Just another ass to kick," Faith said, shrugging. Xander grinned at her and rolled his eyes.
The double doors suddenly burst open. The three of them, still embracing each other, turned with a startled look.
Cordelia Chase strode into the room, a gigantic sword dripping in gray blood held in one hand. In the other she held what looked suspiciously like the head of Skip the demon. She stopped in the entranceway. She looked around before settling her gaze on the trio.
"The Judge?" she asked.
"Vaporized," Xander said tiredly.
"Cool," she grinned, her dazzling smile spreading onto her face. She slammed Skip's head down on the counter. "I beat mine too." Another scene that was in my head forever. Cordelia marching into the library with Skip's bloody head and then slamming it triumphantly down on the table in a gesture that is fully and gloriously Cordelia Chase. WHAM! "I beat mine too." *Cordelia Chase Grin*
Xander grinned, and looked from Faith to Buffy. Then he said in a tone of mock-secrecy, "Best Student I ever had."
Cordelia grinned and nodded. "Damn right." She took a deep breath and let it out. "So. What's next?"
Bright red light suddenly illuminated the room. There was a flash, and a thump.
Whistler lay on the floor of the library, face down, naked, and smoking slightly. He groaned and turned his head.
"That hurt like hell," he groaned. Then he passed out.
"Cordelia," Buffy sighed. "You just had to ask, didn't you?"
Cordelia shrugged and frowned at the former Balance Demon.
Xander rolled his eyes, and then reluctantly removed himself from between Buffy and Faith. He stepped over to what had once been Cleaver II, and picked up the large shield. For the first time, he examined the front. The shield was a brilliant, flawless white, with a stylized red heart embossed on the front. Within the heart was a depiction of a hammer and an anvil, forming a cross. Xander raised an eyebrow at it. Another mystery.
He slipped his hand into the strap, noting the easy way with which he held the shield. His hand felt fine now, and didn't look or feel at all like they'd been constantly burned and quickly healed over and over again.
"Where'd you get that?" Cordelia asked.
"Good question," he said. "Used to be Cleaver II."
"Used to be?"
"Yeah," he replied. "The name doesn't really fit anymore."
"Cleaver II turned into that?" Cordelia asked in disbelief. "I didn't know you could make magic shields."
"I can't," Xander said. "I've never seen something like this before."
He snorted. Already he'd seen these weapons do things that he'd never seen before.
"So you still gonna call it Cleaver II?" Faith wondered, surreptitiously wiping her cheek when she thought no one was looking.
"No," Xander said. "I guess not. I was thinking about maybe calling it-"
"Protector," Cordelia, Faith, and Buffy said together. Xander raised an eyebrow at all of them.
"I hope that was just coincidence, Student. It's bad enough with the two of them connected."
"Hey!" Buffy exclaimed, good-naturedly.
Cordelia shrugged. "Just seems to fit."
Xander nodded thoughtfully, hefting the shield. It was nearly as tall as he was. "Protector, huh?"
The three of them nodded. Stop doing that!
"Right then," he said with resolution. "Protector. Good name for a shield."
Then he sighed, lowered his arm, and turned to look at Whistler. "We better get him some clothes before the others get back. Willow's likely to have a heart attack at a naked guy passed out in the middle of the library."
"Then what?" Cordelia wondered. "Ethan said the Powers would try harder the next time, right?"
"Yeah," Xander sighed. "He did." He pulled off Protector and placed it on the table. "We can question Whistler when he wakes up, and if the Powers want to try something else..."
He looked up, glancing to each of them in turn. "Then we'll just have to be ready for them."
No spoilers in this one. Oh unless you consider spoilers to be spoilers. In that case there are spoilers, but otherwise, no spoilers.
Chapter 35: No Weapon Forged (Never Again) - With Commentary
Can't choose between two possible titles? Then don't! Laziness wins again!
Buffy sat on the floor of the library, one hand holding onto her aching head, the other held against the floor to steady herself. Looking up, she could see Xander braced behind a large, curved shield. Powerful orange bolts of energy cascaded against it, echoing thunderously with every strike. Each bolt was diffused against the shield, deflected around it to form a kind of protective bubble around them.
Xander's face was set in grim determination, his jaw clenched and his fingers gripped tightly around the straps of his shield. Faith was kneeling beside Buffy, but her head was turned to face him. They were shouting at each other.
*We have a plan?* Buffy thought to herself, shaking her head again to try and regain her composure. The Judge hit harder than perhaps anything she'd ever fought. One punch and she was still attempting to get the cobwebs out of her head. *Since we do we have a plan?* she thought again, this time purposefully asking the question.
*Since he started getting suicidal,* Faith thought back. The dark-haired girl looked down at Buffy, giving her a meaningful look. *So start thinking fast.* Faith and Buffy are both doing what they did in the Interludes, only now they're doing it together. Basically, they're making sure Xander never gets TOO stupid.
*Oh.*
Buffy blinked several times. She was feeling pretty stupid. Xander's speech to the Judge had them both so psyched about using their weapons on him that they'd moved without thinking. Now the Judge knew he couldn't be harmed even by the likes of Companion or Double T. That left them cowering behind the shield that had apparently formed out of Cleaver II.
She didn't even have Companion with her. It had flown across the library at the explosion of energy when she'd struck the Judge, and the flowing demonic energy prevented her from being able to go retrieve it. Companion might not have been able to help against the Judge, but at least she'd feel better if she had it. Faith at least still held Tommy, though Tammy was imbedded against the far wall.
If she had Companion, she and Faith wouldn't be forced to converse through the minimal link that always kept up. At least with the full link she could have someone to help her think, to help her plan. She wasn't always so good at planning, but Faith was. The younger girl had a basic sense of strategy that Buffy admired. They could try and come up with something using the minimal link, but the effort required would make it much more difficult.
Xander's face suddenly contorted in pain, and he screamed, eyes shut tightly as he continued to brace against the impact of the energy. Forgetting her own sense of dysphoria, and banishing the dizziness she felt, Buffy quickly turned his attention to him.
*What's going on?* Faith thought, and Buffy could feel the slight edge of panic through the minimal link. Buffy reached out a hand, grabbing Faith's shoulder to steady herself as she stood. Faith helped her up quickly, and the two stood crouched behind Xander.
Buffy sniffed and frowned. She smelled something. Something wrong.
Xander's fingers were smoking.
"Oh my God," she whispered. Whether or not Faith heard her, the other girl could feel Buffy's shock.
*We have to do something,* Faith thought. *What can we do!?*
Buffy's head whipped around, spotting Companion lying against the step that led to the stacks. She'd never actually been able to do this at her command before. Had, in fact, only had it happen once. She reached her hand out as far as she could without breaching the protective bubble, and then called for Companion.
The wink of white light was lost in the frenzied fury of the orange energy, but both Faith and Buffy spotted it when Companion appeared in Buffy's hand. The link surged open between them, and all at once, neither was quite so alone. Information passed at the speed of thought, and each calmed the other's panic.
No weapon forged. It swirled from Faith's mind to Buffy's, back and forth a thousand times in less than a second. The options were weighed, the risks were calculated, and the plan was decided.
It was a slaughter!
Derrick Levinthal had never seen anything like it in his three years as a vampire. Six people were laying waste to over fifty vicious and powerful vampires. This was supposed to be simple and fun. The Slayer might have been some trouble, but even the Slayer couldn't handle fifty vampires swarming her at once. That was the plan. Take down the Slayer first, then they could have their fun with the others. And if the souled vampire happened to get dusted in the process? Oops.
Only that's now how it had gone. The Slayer had teleported - teleported! - behind the initial swarm Not quite, but to him that's what it looks like., and was suddenly tearing into them, a silver and red blur as her sword flashed from body to body. Four of them were dust inside the first three seconds.
Then the redhead had lifted her hands and the whole group of them had been pressed backwards by a powerful but invisible force. The girl's hands continued to glow with a soft globular pink energy, not allowing any more than four vampires to bunch up at any one time. She was using some kind of magic against them! Now this use of Willow's magic is kind of important, because I think originally if Willow had been trained by Jenny and Giles at this point in the show, she'd be using her magic very differently. We'd see her lobbing fireballs or trying to telekinetically throw vampires around.
But because Willow has been forced to learn about restraint, subtlety, and a whole host of other things thanks to her doubled core, she thinks more about her actions before she does them. If she starts tossing out fireballs or something similar she's going to get taken down quickly. They probably all will. But if she can use her relatively meager (at this point she's got more raw power than Jenny and Giles, probably putting her on part with what we saw from Tara in S4, although with more training than Tara had) to keep the vampires from bunching up, then that may make all the difference.
They all were. They all were!
The souled vampire had a sword made of pure fire, and wherever he struck one of his brethren exploded into flames. With their natural fear of fire, the vampires were already doing their best to avoid Angel and his flame sword, but even keeping your distance didn't help when he could send fireballs chasing after you! Derrick himself had barely escaped being engulfed in flame when he jumped behind his old girlfriend/victim Stacey Castle. He'd kind of miss her, but hey, better her than him. Oh those wacky vampires and their relationship problems.
Derrick had wound up with three other vampires he rolled with sometimes. Gary, Nails, and a guy everyone just called Grunt, since that's about all he ever did If that's how we're naming people then from now on you may all call me Laze-about-uselessly., except for the wild screams of excitement whenever he was tearing into some young girl's neck.
"This is fuckin' crazy!" Nails yelled over the sound of someone's scream. "Look at this shit!" he held up his arm. A hideous smoking gash ran over it. "That old bastard cut me with that pointy sword of his! It burns like a motherfucker!" Ahem. Language, Nails? What a potty mouth.
"Better than burning for real," Gary snarled. The four of them were taking a mild breather while the rest of the swarming mass of vampires distracted the band of demon fighters. "Angelus has got himself a flaming sword."
There was another scream, and a fat vampire named Tally came hurtling towards them. Derrick raised his arms to protect himself, but Tally was sent bouncing off to the side the moment he got too close.
"Shit!" Nails cursed. "You see that? That redheaded bitch is keepin' us from teaming up!"
Grunt grunted. Who did not see that coming?
"That's what we gotta do," Gary said, peering past the madness of the battle. "If we can take down the witch, then we can rush the Slayer. Then the rest'll be easy pickings."
"What are you, crazy?" Derrick screeched. "Tally just got his ass sent into orbit from the old guy casting some electricity shit at him!" While Willow has more raw power than the others, she doesn't have a weapon to help boost her abilities, meaning that for the moment, Giles and Jenny are better spellcasters for offensive magic. Actually they'd probably be better at support stuff too, but then they wouldn't be able to actually use their weapons offensively, which is more useful than defense since Willow can handle the stay-apart spell.
"Shut up!" Gary yelled. "You'd rather deal with Angelus or the Slayer now?"
Derrick glanced up. Gary had a point. Angelus and the Slayer were both causing so much havoc that it seemed unreal. In fact, Derrick kind of wondered if the fact that they all had to stay spread out wasn't actually keeping them from all being slaughtered en masse by the two of them.
"Fine," Derrick spat. "We rush the witch, then." All of this is really in anticipation for Oz wolfing out and destroying these guys. Oz is cool. Let us never forget it.
While Angelus, the Slayer, and the older guy with the pointy sword were actively fighting back against the horde of vampires, the other four stood in the center of the melee. The witch stood with her arms raised, glowing softly and occasionally gesturing powerfully, causing vampires to nearly explode away from each other. Beside her stood a short, weenie-looking kid Sorry, Jonathon. holding an ornate staff. He did little in the way of fighting, but every so often he would point the staff at the Slayer or the old guy, and green lightning would seem to shoot into them. Derrick couldn't figure what he was doing, but it couldn't be good.
Another man was behind her. Aside from the witch, he was the only one unarmed. He didn't seem to be doing anything but occasionally dodging the few vampires that got close, but for the most part the protective circle of the witch's magic and the three sword wielders kept him safe. The one time a vampire did manage to make it through the line, the man threw one quick punch, and Derrick thought that, for only a moment, the guy seemed to be covered in blue spikes.
The last one not actively fighting was a short guy with dyed blue hair. He stood in front of the witch, arms at his side, silently watching. He'd yet to make a move, although the few times a vampire got close, he stepped protectively in between it and the witch. Oz is the Samurai who never uses his weapon until he absolutely needs to. He's standing on front of Willow with the absolute focus of his entire being on the thought that nothing is going to get to her without getting through him first. He's just waiting for anyone dumb enough to try. I don't think he really knows what he's going to do, but somewhere in that animal self of his, he knows to stand guard over her.
"How do we get past the Slayer and Angelus?" Derrick asked.
Gary frowned and looked over. "Look, see when that group goes to hit her? That other group's goin' after Angelus at the same time. We let them take the hit, and slip through to the middle while they're doin' that."
"Hey, good idea," Nails grinned, his fangs gleaming.
Grunt grunted.
"What about that guy with the spikes?" Derrick asked.
"What guy?"
"That guy in the cheesy leather jacket," Derrick said, pointing at Doyle. "Saw the dude grow spikes."
Gary growled. "Probably a Brachen demon. I dated one last year. They're fuckin' pushovers, just got a little strength, is all."
As if to add truth to his statement, two vampires broke through the line and tackled into Doyle. The spikes emerged and he managed to throw one off, but the other kicked him hard in the face. Doyle staggered back, and swung a wild punch that hit the air. It was clear he wasn't much more than a brawler, and not a very good one at that.
Derrick grinned. "All right, easy pickin's."
"On three," Gary said, waiting for the other groups to attack. "Ready? One. Two. Three!"
The four of them sprinted forward, just close enough to the other groups that Derrick could feel the odd repelling force seem to scrape against his arm as they did. Nails yelped and ducked a fireball sent forth from Angelus's sword. The Slayer was too busy dusting two vampires in rapid succession to notice the breach.
The witch did notice them, however, and for a second fear flashed across her face. The glowing energy around her hands faded slightly, and the sounds of the battle intensified as the repelling force suddenly weakened. They were down to perhaps thirty-five vampires now, and the three sword wielders were taking the brunt of the action.
The Brachen demon was still struggling to get away from the other vampire that had made it through, so it was only the three teenagers in the middle. The shortest one with the staff yelped and jumped backwards, behind the witch and the kid with the dyed hair.
Grunt jumped forward, and the kid stepped to his side to match him. Grunt grinned down at the short teenager, laughing wordlessly. He was nearly half the size of Grunt, and lacked the latter's powerful build.
"Just get her!" Nails screamed, wary of wasting any time. The four of them rushed forward, and the redhead yelped and stepped backwards.
Snikt Oz is cool. Wolverine is cooler. Yet Oz is so cool he knows to steal from Wolverine. Don't think about it too long or your head will explode.
Grunt roared as the claws pierced his stomach. He was pulled off his feet and sent barreling back out towards the first ring of the battle. Nails whirled on the spot, and then his eyes went wide.
The kid that had been standing silently seemed suddenly very hairy, his arms and legs elongating slightly. He let loose a growl that turned into a roar, and suddenly he was upon them.
Slashing and tearing, Oz ripped away at the three remaining vampires, his unnamed-claws obviously channeling some portion of his werewolf blood. He howled and plunged his claws into Gary's neck, tearing his throat open and dusting the group's leader instantly. Then he sprang towards Nails, swiping across his chest before hacking off his arm. Nails screamed in pain and fear, a scream cut short when the claws raked across his neck and turned him to dust as well.
Derrick, no fool himself, turned and ran for his (un)life. In his panic, he forgot about the Slayer. She, however, had not forgotten about him, and as he raced back past the outer circle, he never even felt Honor's Grace bite through his neck, ending his demonic life.
Cordelia groaned and blinked her eyes open. The air was musty, dank and cold. She sort of recognized the place. It was the factory where Spike and Drusilla had holed up while they were still alive. She was slumped in a chair, but aside from the pain in her jaw, she seemed okay.
This scene was in my head forever. From the first moment I came up with Subtlety and its powers, I knew this scene was coming, or more specifically the end where Skip looks at her tattoo and Cordelia just grins at him.
For me, a lot of coming up with a story idea is coming up with a few "cool" scenes. Hell, all of Crisis on Infinite Hellmouths came from wanting to see Gargoyle-Xander interacting with Zeppo-in-Mind Scoobies. Slay Hard came from the idea of Angelus laughing at a bunch of demons who underestimate Xander. This story was a lot more scenes strung together and originally just started with the idea of Xander waking up in Sunnydale on Halloween after dying, but many of hte other scenes helped to form what it became.
So this is one of those scenes. It was in my head from almost the very beginning. The trick was just in getting there. A lot of any story is planned out, a lot of it is simply going-with-the-flow, and some of it is a pillar upon which the rest of the story is held up. This is, silly as it may seem, one of those scenes. Not for any storytelling reason, it's not that important, but just because this is one of those scenes that drove me to write. It made me grin just to think about it, as goofy as it may see, and so I wanted to see the story get to this point. The same is true for many other scenes, but for some reason this one sticks out in my mind.
I suppose Faith killing Kakistos was another one. If I bothered to look through my notes I'm sure I'd see others.
Perhaps when it's over I'll tell everyone which scene all of See Noir Evil is being written for. Hint: We're not up to it yet.
And as a little sidenote to this topic, another kind of strange thing is when I write a story to get to a certain scene but then never get to it because the story has evolved in another direction. That's another reason why I think it's crazy for an author to claim a story was completely planned out ahead of time. You can't plan out everything. Sometimes the story just needs to go where it goes.
Although I'll be kind of disappointed if I never get to the See Noir Evil scene that I have in my head, I'd have to live with it if the story just didn't want to go there.
Recalling the lessons of her Teacher, she quickly took stock of her surroundings, extending her sense outward. There was another presence in the room. She could hear soft breathing, and the nearly silent crunch of grit as whoever it was shifted their weight. As her vision focused and adjusted to the shadowy interior of the factory, she could make out a vaguely human shape standing at the other end of a long table.
She quickly went through a mental alertness exercise, and recalled that her last experience was fleeing from the Judge with the others. Then she'd suddenly come awake here. What had happened?
"Hey," said a friendly voice. "Don't be scared. I'm here to protect you."
She frowned, and realized she really wasn't scared. She also realized that Subtlety must be in tattoo form, because she had sensed that whoever had spoken hadn't lied. Nonetheless, she didn't let herself relax. Cordeia's entire exchange here with Skip is a good example of why she can't rely on her truth-detection abilities completely. Skip doesn't lie to her much here, although he eventually does enough for her to realize he's evil. If he was just a little smarter he could have probably convinced her he was legit. After all, he really does want to protect her, and she really will help to bring peace to the world. In a manner of speaking, anyway.
"Protect me from what?" Cordelia asked. She stood up, a little shakily at first. Her jaw throbbed, but she could feel it gradually fading away as Subtlety helped her to heal.
"Short term? From the Judge. Long term? Anything else. You're very important."
A truth, a lie, and a truth. She frowned. "Who are you?"
"Oh me? My name's Skip," he stepped forward, and Cordelia's eyes widened. "Don't let the look fool you. I'm here to help."
"Well help me later," Cordelia said. "I've got to go help my friends."
"Your friends are dead," he said. "They got attacked by vampires. No way they survived."
She took a step backwards. He was telling the truth. Sort of. Another problem. Just cause he's telling what he thinks is the truth is no guarantee it actually is the truth, although Cordelia does seem able to sense that he's not telling her a cold fact, just what he perceives.
"They're dead, or you just assume they're dead?"
Skip shrugged. "Same thing. Even the Slayer can't beat fifty vampires. That's why I stepped in to help you. We couldn't risk losing you."
Another truth, another lie, and another truth. "You'd be surprised what the Slayer can do."
Skip shrugged. "Maybe. You want something to eat?"
She shook her head. "No. I'm leaving."
He moved forward, faster than she anticipated. His large hand gripped her upper arm, not painfully, but powerfully nonetheless. "Sorry, I can't let you do that. You could get hurt."
"So could you," she growled. She lashed out with a kick to his stomach, but he caught it easily with his free hand. Cordelia is absolutely no match for Skip unarmed. She's nothing compared to him.
"Hey, come on. Don't be like that. I've been sent here to help you. Think of me as your guardian angel."
"If you don't let go of me, I'll be thinking of you as the head I keep on a stick." Not an idle threat. Where do you think Skip's head wound up?
He let go of her, but it was clear he wasn't about to let her go. "Come on, why don't you sit down? We just need to lie low for a day or two until this whole Judge thing blows over."
"You were with him," Cordelia suddenly recalled. "You're the guy that put him back together!"
"No no, you got me all wrong. I didn't put him back together. I don't know who did that. I was just pretending to be on his side so I could get to you."
Lie.
"Really?"
"Yeah, of course. It's the only way I could be sure to protect you."
"Why do you need to protect me?" she wondered. This was confusing. He'd put together the Judge, but he was telling the truth about protecting her.
"You're special," Skip explained. It was another truth. "You've got a real destiny, and it's my job to keep you alive so you can do it."
"What destiny?"
"Save the world," he replied. "Bring peace and order to all."
She frowned. He was telling the truth. "How am I supposed to do that? I'm a cheerleader, not the messiah." She's really not much of a cheerleader anymore. I wonder if she'd even want to join the team next year after all she's done this year. I guess she probably would. It'd be good use of her athletic abilities.
Skip shrugged. "I don't know how it works, I just know that you'll do it."
A lie.
"Do you know Whistler?"
"Who? Never heard of any Whistler."
Another lie. She frowned deeper. "The Judge, he's going to kill my friends if the vampires don't, right?"
Skip shrugged apologetically. "Yeah. Sorry."
"But you didn't put him together?"
He shook his head fervently. "No way. Scout's honor."
That was all she needed to know. "I'm leaving."
She turned to go again. Once again he grabbed her arm. "Sorry, I really can't let you. It's dangerous out there."
"Yeah, you know what?" Cordelia said, eyes narrowing at him. "I really don't care. You're a lying, evil demon, and if you don't take your hands off me, you're going to be a dead, lying, evil demon."
"Hey," Skip smiled good-naturedly. "Where's that coming from? I'm on your side!"
Lie. Super italicized lie with you're-so-dead-now action!
"Now come on," Skip said, pulling her back a little. "I don't want to have to force you to stay, but I will if you make me."
"Is that so?" she growled.
"Yeah," he said, smiling disarmingly. She glared at him with a deep scowl. Then he frowned and leaned forward. "Hey," he said, peering at her face. "When did you get a tattoo?"
Cordelia grinned wickedly, and light flared in the room. It's appropriate that as a cheerleader Cordelia is about to BRING IT ON.
*Even if this works, it might not work,* Faith thought worriedly. Faith is not good with the sense-making sentences.
*It's going to work. It has to work,* Buffy replied. *Just concentrate.*
*Easy for you to say. You get to lie down and rest. I'm the one doing all the work,* it was a nervous tease. She knew from experience that it was Buffy's strength that aided her.
*We're doing it together,* Buffy said. *We have to help him. I don't know how he's still holding on.*
Xander was screaming non-stop now. His entire arm was smoking and sizzling, and the edges of the shield were beginning to glow red-hot. Yet at the same time, his fingers were not horribly burned and scarred. When she looked closely, it seemed almost as if they were in a constant state of burning, healing, and then burning again. His screams were horrible, and she was in awe of the fact that he was still holding on. Through the haze of orange, she could see the Judge grinning triumphantly. He knew he was winning. Interesting way for us to see Protector's powerful regenerative ability. Kind of a curse for Xander at this point since he's suffering from the constant sensation of being horribly burned over and over again.
*Let's do this thing,* Faith thought darkly. *And B?*
*Yeah.*
*If it doesn't work, tell Xander that, you know...*
*It's going to work.*
Faith nodded. Then she stood up a little taller, her head bowed just slightly beneath the bubble of protection. She held her hand out, and willed Tammy to return.
The magical weapon shuddered from its position deep in the wall, and suddenly sprang free, sending swirls of orange energy streaming around like pinwheels as it flew back towards her. It smacked into her open hand, and she closed her fingers around the hilt. It was slightly warm.
*Step one,* she thought. *Now time for step two.*
Buffy nodded and held Companion to her chest, trying to recall how she'd woken up that first time. She lay back on the floor, trying to ignore Xander's screams of agony. She closed her eyes and focused with every aspect of her being.
Faith closed her eyes as well. They needed help. They needed to help Xander. They'd tried this so many times before, and never gotten it to work, but this time they both flat-out refused to fail. This was the only thing they could think of. It was going to work. It had to work.
Buffy's mind swirled with Faith's, their spirits dancing up and down their connection a billion times a second. Faith kept her mind focused on one thing and one thing only. Help. It was what she'd been thinking that night.
Her fingers gripped Tommy and Tammy, her knuckles turning white with the strain. The connection opened wider and wider, thoughts and feelings mixing as the two tried to force the connection they had first experienced.
*He's going to die,* they both thought at the same time. *Xander's going to die.*
White light burst forth from Companion, encircling Buffy in a cocoon of glowing brightness. Ah-ha! How fortunate that it was revealed earlier that Buffy is protected by a glowing bubble when she links with Faith so as not to become vulnerable to humanity-burning lightning shot forth from an ancient demon! Fortunate indeed. At the same moment, without an instant of delay, Faith's eyes snapped open. In her mind she could see her, just like the first time. The warrior girl, smiling knowingly as she held Companion in her hand. Buffy was with her, joined and connected as they'd experienced only once before.
*No,* they thought as one. *He's not.* Oh hell yeah.
(sorry. I got excited.)
Faith could feel the incredible power of the Slayer spirit and Buffy's own willpower combined with her own. There was no way they were going to let Xander die. There was no way the Judge was going to win. She looked down at Tommy and Tammy.
No weapon forged.
Her hands seemed to move slowly, inexorably towards each other. At first it was impossible to hear the low humming sound, but it rose in pitch quickly, soon sounding out over the cacophonous blasts of the Judge's assault. Tammy and Tommy trembled in her hands, and then suddenly seemed to jump towards each other.
She brought her hands together quickly, and had to turn her head as the white light exploded outwards, engulfing the room in pure blinding brilliance. Even the Judge staggered back a moment, covering his eyes and halting his barrage of energy. Xander nearly stumbled forward with the loss of the constant pressure against his shield. So I've said before that Buffy and Faith are not soulmates, nor are they two halves of the same soul or anything like that. I've been kind of thinking about it more and what I'm starting to think of it like is that they're almost consecutive souls. They were right next to each other on the production line, so to speak, and so they just kind of fit together.
Of course, that's just my interpretation today. I reserve the right to change my mind in the future.
But for right now what we're seeing is Buffy and Faith channeling their connection through their weapons and then using that strange energy that connects them to form something stronger than the both of them. Something that may very well be built out of the pure energy of their combined souls. That, my friends, is a true weapon against evil.
"What is this?" the Judge rumbled, sneering at them. Faith felt Buffy's strong presence within her, bolstering her confidence and lending her strength. In her hands she held the waraxe, formed of pure white light. It hummed softly in her hands, occasionally crackling with a spark of energy. Faith looked up, and then stepped away from Xander and the protection of his shield.
"Faith, no!" Xander croaked, his voice hoarse and raspy. He leaned against the shield to keep his balance, and seemed barely able to stand.
The Judge grinned. "You are a fool twice over, little girl."
Then he raised his arms and let the humanity-burning energy fly. It twisted and snaked towards Faith. She raised the waraxe against it, and there was a heavy booming resonance as it struck the head of the ax, absorbing into it and harming no one.
The Judge took a step back even as Faith stepped forward, bathed in the combined strength of her and Buffy. She held the ax in both hands. The Judge shot off another blast of energy, and this time the boom shook several books off the shelf, but again it was absorbed without trouble.
She closed the distance quickly. The Judge, not sure exactly what he was dealing with, took no chances. He rushed forward, swinging a powerful fist at Faith's head. Faith's arms came up, blocking the blow with a heavy thud. She snapped her elbow at his face, and the Judge staggered back with the blow. She hefted the ax, and glared at him.
"I-I can be harmed by no weapon forged!" he bellowed, sounding more as if he were trying to convince himself than convince her.
Faith looked down at the ax. "No one forged this weapon. No one forged Unity." While it's mostly named Unity for obvious purposes, there is a tiny aspect of it that is a nod to Lori Bush, a light of B/X when it seemed there was only darkness to cover the fandom.
"Kill you!" he roared, jumping towards her. Faith and Buffy swung the ax as one, the hissing, crackling white energy of the blade sinking deep into the Judge's side. He gasped, stopping dead in his tracks. Unity began to hum stronger, nearly shaking free of Faith's grip. The Judge looked up at her with shock in his eyes.
"Not...Possible," he gasped. Then Unity flared, and he screamed in pain and terror. White light encompassed the room, and a deafening crack of thunder preceded a powerful gust of wind, causing her hair to whip about her head. When it was gone, and she could see again, the Judge was gone. Destroyed utterly.
She held Unity for a long moment, reveling in the joyful feeling of the complete connection. Buffy's spirit surged with hers, combined for a strength neither could hope for alone. She closed her eyes and let Unity dissipate, bringing her hands apart as Tommy and Tammy returned. She slipped them into her holster, and was mildly surprised that the connection seemed able to hold for a few moments. Faith and Buffy stepped towards Xander, kneeling beside him.
"Are you okay?" they asked together.
Xander was shaking slightly, and looked up at her. "Faith?"
She smiled. "Half right."
He was still gripping the shield. She carefully stroked his arm, examining it. There was no sign that it had been burned. Yet she could still smell the burning flesh, and the shield was still fairly hot to the touch. He shuddered slightly at her fingers on his skin, and looked at her with questioning eyes.
"Are you okay?" she asked, both aspects of her self desperate for the answer.
He nodded slowly. "I think so. I-I guess I got some regeneration with this thing too."
She smiled. "I'm glad."
Xander glanced to the white cocoon of energy behind him. "Buffy's in there?"
"And here too," Faith said, putting her hand to her chest. The much more important spot. "For another few moments. It's fading slowly this time."
"Faith, I..." He swallowed, taking a deep breath. "What happened?"
"No weapon forged," she said with a slight grin. "Unity wasn't forged. It was," she paused, closing her eyes. "Created."
"I don't understand," he said, staring at her eyes.
She smiled. "Now you know how we feel."
"I-I thought we were going to die," he whispered. "I thought I was going to watch you die again."
She wasn't sure if he meant Faith or Buffy, and in that instant, it didn't matter. She felt tears sting at her eyes, and she stepped closer to him. She shook her head. "Never, Xander. Never again."
Then she put her arms around him. Xander's grip on his shield went limp, and it clattered to the ground. He sank against her, unable to hold himself up anymore.
"I can't ever lose you again," he gasped. "Never again." And finally, blessedly, Xander is able to let his guard down. He's finally unable to shoulder the burden silently and stoically, and he can retreat to the comfort that these two incredible people offered him so selflessly in the original timeline.
In many ways this is where Xander completes his personal journey and begins on a new one. His decades of life as an obsessive warrior against the darkness is coming to a close. A new life is being offered to him, one where he may be able to move beyond the almost manic obsession to fight the darkness, to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders and attempt to do it all on his own.
The Xander we've seen throughout the Chapters is almost a regression on his part, which is ironic considering when we're first introduced to him he seems like he's so much more mature than he had been. The truth is however that Xander regressed after Buffy's death, he began to take more and more of every burden onto himself, emotionally as well as physically, until he reaches the point where he's slamming a knife into his own heart in order to protect Faith's soul.
All throughout the Chapters we see a Xander who is unable to really relax, unable to stop constantly fretting over what could happen, what might happen, what did happen, and so much more. He's always going off into tangents in his own head in anticipation of what might come. He flies off to Boston to find Faith with hardly a discussion with anyone else. He locks himself away for two months while he builds the weapons. Giles tries to point out to him that he's letting his life pass him by while he's so busy trying to protect everyone from what might happen, but after that brief moment Xander hasn't really gotten the message.
So while it seemed for so long like the Interludes were the journey of Xander from well-meaning but bumbling into the hardened warrior we see him as, we now kind of see that the Chapters are Xander's journey back from the hardened warrior and a little more into the Xander we all know and love - as we'll see in the next few chapters and the Epilogue, especially the next chapter which is almost purely a fluff piece of Xander spending good quality time with his friends and not spending inordinate amounts of time worrying about the future.
Decades of grief and anguish bubbled forth, and Xander sagged against her, burying his face in the crook of her neck and sobbing quietly. It was as if he had finally allowed himself to admit just how badly it had hurt him to lose them. He finally let loose his fear and worry that he might someday have to live through that again.
"Never again," he would mumble every few moments. "Never again."
A few moments later, the connection finally faded, and Faith was once again simply herself. Buffy sat up slowly, and without hesitation slipped her way into the embrace. Faith and Buffy both held the man who had pledged his undying love to both of them, comforting him as he finally allowed himself to admit just how much he missed them. They were both silent as Xander's carefully held calm and confidence of the last four months was swept away.
He clutched at them both, and they held him tightly back. Neither had ever given much though to Xander's future, not in this way. They both knew that he'd survived past them, but neither had really thought about what that meant for him. Neither had ever fully realized the extent of his caring for them. For the first time, they both realized the utter grief and pain that Xander had suffered through, and the overpowering love he carried for them both.
It was as frightening and wonderful an experience as they had ever felt, either of them. For four months, Xander had been a carefully controlled, confident leader. Always thinking ahead, or at least trying to. He was always in control of himself, and at times seemed larger than life. Bigger and better than they could hope to aspire to. An adult in every sense of the word, distant and apart from them.
All that washed away as his inner fear was spread before them. It was at that moment that they realized Xander was just like them. Just as unsure of the future, just as frightened of what might be. It was that moment that they realized Xander cared for them both more than anything in the entire world. And that maybe, just maybe, they both felt that way about him too.
They didn't think about what that meant. They didn't think about what it would mean for the three of them, or what it would mean for the future of their relationships. For that moment, all they cared about was allowing Xander to finally believe.
For four months, Xander had been coasting. Never letting himself fully believe that Faith and Buffy were truly alive. Never letting himself believe that maybe he wouldn't lose them again. For four months he'd been working desperately to make things better, so that they would both live. And despite it all, they had just been faced with the possibility of death all over again.
"We're here," Buffy whispered. "We're here."
Xander laughed and he cried. Finally letting himself believe that his greatest wish had actually come true.
Caught in the embrace of Faith and Buffy, Xander would not have been at all surprised if Rod Serling would step out from behind the stacks, and calmly inform him that he'd died back in that small room when he plunged the knife into his chest. That this was heaven, because he was back with his girls.
Rod Serling didn't show up, and the echoes of pain in his hands told him this wasn't heaven. It was Sunnydale. It was the Hellmouth. The mystical hotspot that was the center of demonic activity for the world.
Xander sniffed, smiled, and gave them each a kiss on the cheek. "I love you guys."
"Love you too," they both murmured. He knew it wasn't quite the same kind of love, but it was enough for him. There's that good old Xander self-loathing. Truth is they probably do love him that way right now, but Xander's too emotionally drained to even consider the possibility, and I doubt Buffy and Faith are fully aware of their feelings anyway.
"I wish I could stay here forever," Xander admitted. "But Ethan's running around out there, and we need to regroup the others and figure out what we're going to do next."
"Next?" Buffy frowned. "What next?"
"The Powers just failed. Next time, they're going to send someone more powerful."
"Just another ass to kick," Faith said, shrugging. Xander grinned at her and rolled his eyes.
The double doors suddenly burst open. The three of them, still embracing each other, turned with a startled look.
Cordelia Chase strode into the room, a gigantic sword dripping in gray blood held in one hand. In the other she held what looked suspiciously like the head of Skip the demon. She stopped in the entranceway. She looked around before settling her gaze on the trio.
"The Judge?" she asked.
"Vaporized," Xander said tiredly.
"Cool," she grinned, her dazzling smile spreading onto her face. She slammed Skip's head down on the counter. "I beat mine too." Another scene that was in my head forever. Cordelia marching into the library with Skip's bloody head and then slamming it triumphantly down on the table in a gesture that is fully and gloriously Cordelia Chase. WHAM! "I beat mine too." *Cordelia Chase Grin*
Xander grinned, and looked from Faith to Buffy. Then he said in a tone of mock-secrecy, "Best Student I ever had."
Cordelia grinned and nodded. "Damn right." She took a deep breath and let it out. "So. What's next?"
Bright red light suddenly illuminated the room. There was a flash, and a thump.
Whistler lay on the floor of the library, face down, naked, and smoking slightly. He groaned and turned his head.
"That hurt like hell," he groaned. Then he passed out.
"Cordelia," Buffy sighed. "You just had to ask, didn't you?"
Cordelia shrugged and frowned at the former Balance Demon.
Xander rolled his eyes, and then reluctantly removed himself from between Buffy and Faith. He stepped over to what had once been Cleaver II, and picked up the large shield. For the first time, he examined the front. The shield was a brilliant, flawless white, with a stylized red heart embossed on the front. Within the heart was a depiction of a hammer and an anvil, forming a cross. Xander raised an eyebrow at it. Another mystery.
He slipped his hand into the strap, noting the easy way with which he held the shield. His hand felt fine now, and didn't look or feel at all like they'd been constantly burned and quickly healed over and over again.
"Where'd you get that?" Cordelia asked.
"Good question," he said. "Used to be Cleaver II."
"Used to be?"
"Yeah," he replied. "The name doesn't really fit anymore."
"Cleaver II turned into that?" Cordelia asked in disbelief. "I didn't know you could make magic shields."
"I can't," Xander said. "I've never seen something like this before."
He snorted. Already he'd seen these weapons do things that he'd never seen before.
"So you still gonna call it Cleaver II?" Faith wondered, surreptitiously wiping her cheek when she thought no one was looking.
"No," Xander said. "I guess not. I was thinking about maybe calling it-"
"Protector," Cordelia, Faith, and Buffy said together. Xander raised an eyebrow at all of them.
"I hope that was just coincidence, Student. It's bad enough with the two of them connected."
"Hey!" Buffy exclaimed, good-naturedly.
Cordelia shrugged. "Just seems to fit."
Xander nodded thoughtfully, hefting the shield. It was nearly as tall as he was. "Protector, huh?"
The three of them nodded. Stop doing that!
"Right then," he said with resolution. "Protector. Good name for a shield."
Then he sighed, lowered his arm, and turned to look at Whistler. "We better get him some clothes before the others get back. Willow's likely to have a heart attack at a naked guy passed out in the middle of the library."
"Then what?" Cordelia wondered. "Ethan said the Powers would try harder the next time, right?"
"Yeah," Xander sighed. "He did." He pulled off Protector and placed it on the table. "We can question Whistler when he wakes up, and if the Powers want to try something else..."
He looked up, glancing to each of them in turn. "Then we'll just have to be ready for them."