Xander looked around. The place was... white. Lots and lots of white.
"Where am I?"
"Heaven, I guess you could call it," a familiar voice replied.
He turned, "Leo?"
The handyman smiled. "Yeah, it's me."
Xander's eyes narrowed, "You never were just a handyman, were you?"
"You catch on quick," Leo said, his smile broadening. "I'm a Whitelighter. Sort of a guardian angel for good people like you. Why do you think I was always around when you needed someone to talk to?"
"Okay," Xander nodded. He could accept that, though he wondered just why he, of all people, would deserve a "Whitelighter." He was no hero. "But what am I doing here? I didn't die, did I?"
"Actually," Leo tilted his head to the side, "you kind of did."
Xander paled, "How?"
"Come on, did you really think you'd survive a direct hit to the head from a troll hammer? The Elders chose to send you back immediately so you could keep your cover, but we brought you up here now to give you a choice."
"'Cover'? 'Choice'?"
Leo smiled, "They want you to become a Whitelighter, Xander, like me."
"Me? Why?"
"Because you're a good man," Leo said. "You're a good listener."
"Okay," Xander said, "but what does it mean, to be a Whitelighter?"
"You were my charge, Xander," Leo said, "and what I did for you, you'll do for your new charges. If you refuse, you get to continue on into the afterlife, but if you accept, you go back down there and guide your new charges, giving them the emotional support they need when they need it, like I did for you."
"And my charges will be...?"
"I can't tell you that," Leo shrugged. "I don't know. The Elders just wanted me here to explain what a Whitelighter is." He suddenly paused and tilted his head, as if listening to something, "I have to go."
Leo vanished in a sparkle of blue and white.
"Whoa."
"Alexander Harris," a robed figure stepped into view. "Do you accept?"
Xander thought for a moment, then nodded, "Yeah, I do." He couldn't turn his back on someone who needed him.
"And that is why you were chosen," the Elder said, as if he'd read his thoughts. Xander could almost swear he sensed a smile hidden in that hood.
Xander blinked and sucked in a breath as he felt the power and knowledge flow into him, and he suddenly knew what being a Whitelighter meant, what his powers and duties were, and what was forbidden.
And who his charges were.
Xander frowned, "Dawn? Why would she need a Whitelighter?"
"You will learn that in due time, Whitelighter," the Elder said. "Now go, attend to your duties."
Xander nodded and orbed back to Earth.
Well, the thought was bugging me. I mean, a troll god hammer that could put a serious hurt on Glory doesn't even give a concussion to a mere mortal like Xander? Doesn't fly, IMO.
--End Transmission--