Dawn was jumping up and down in joyous excitement, something that was in short supply in recent days. As usual, Xander was the source of her happiness. "Go Xander! Yes!"
His concentration unfazed by Dawn's enthusiasm, Xander continued to direct his attacks at the enemy starships. A small sheen of sweat appeared on his brow as he moved the controls in precise, measured motions.
A small crowd began to gather around, drawn by Dawn's shots of encouragement. They watched and cheered in unison with each enemy destroyed. "Oh my God Xander, you're going to break the record!" Soon after that last outburst, everyone in the arcade had surrounded Xander's console.
Wave after wave of enemy fighters were annihilated by Xander's fire. And as each wave met their end, Xander's score continued to climb higher. After a few more precious minutes, Xander reached the final opponent, the enemy mother ship. As the ship loomed larger on the screen shouts of encouragement were added to Dawn's, so much so that the background noise of the other abandoned machines were lost to the din.
After a few last close calls, the mother ship was no more. Cheers of congratulations came at Xander from all sides as the screen told all present that Xander was now the top scorer.
Minutes passed, and the excitement in the arcade over Xander's victory passed into memory as the patrons returned to their games of choice. As they walked out of the arcade, Xander put his arm around Dawn's shoulders. "Thanks Dawnie for coming with me. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't get away from Slayer Headquarters for a while. That place is downright depressing."
Dawn beamed up at Xander, her face slightly flushed because of their contact. "It was my pleasure Xander. You were awesome in there!"
Xander shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, beats worrying about the First. It feels good to do something normal, something I'm good at outside of work. And it's even better because it's spent with my favorite Summers girl."
Dawn's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I thought Buffy was your favorite Summers girl."
Xander hugged her close with his arm. "Well that's before some monks decided to give her a really cool sister."
Dawn had nothing to say in response, so they continued walking to Xander's car in a comfortable silence.
Meanwhile, the arcade console welcomed the newest player vying for Xander's top score with: "Greetings, Starfighter. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Kodan Armada."
The next day, Xander was at the construction site consulting with the architect when one of the electricians walked up with a message. "Hey Xander, you got someone out front asking for you."
Xander looked up worriedly, because of the First, an emergency call could come at any time. "Is it one of the girls?"
The electrician laughed. "You wish. Speaking of that, don't you know any ugly girls?"
Xander tilted his head. "Come to think of it Todd, I don't. Anyway, who's the visitor?"
Todd shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me. He wouldn't give his name, but it's some creepy looking guy in a fedora."
< Damn it. Since when does Whistler visit the Normal Guy? > "Thanks Todd, you better hurry up now or you'll be late clocking in."
Todd laughed again. "Good thing I've got an in with the foreman. I hear that he's pretty understanding."
Xander quickly finished up with the architect and walked to the site entrance. Sure enough, a man was standing there in a trench coat and fedora. "I hear you're looking for me." The man turned around, and Xander was somewhat surprised to see that it wasn't the Balance Demon, but instead a wrinkled old man. < Not Whistler, but definitely someone I've never seen before. >
"Ah my boy, you're not an easy one to find. You are, I presume, Xander Harris?" The old man extended his hand for Xander to shake.
"That's the name. What did you mean I'm not an easy one to find?" Xander looked suspiciously at the man whose name he still didn't know.
"Well my boy, it took quite a bit of legwork to find out who the local Starfighter champion was. And after that it took a bit more to find the man himself."
Now Xander was completely confused. "Champion? All I did was beat the high score at the arcade. How does that make me a champion? And how did you know the high score had been beat?"
The man chuckled good naturedly. "My boy? so full of questions. I'll do what I can to answer them. First off, the high score on the Starfighter machines are set so insanely high that only the best of the best will ever beat them." The man's eyes seemed to twinkle in the sunlight. "Is it so farfetched in these days of personal data assistants and wireless networking that an arcade console can't automatically notify the creator when the high score is topped?"
Xander thought about it for a second, and nodded. "I suppose not. So what is it you want? And besides that, who in the hell are you?"
The man grinned broadly. "Well Xander, can I call you Xander?" At Xander's nod he grinned even brighter. "Excellent. Well had you come along a few years earlier, you would have been designated the world champion immediately and without question. But, in these days I've determined that a competition should be held. All of the regional Starfighter champions are to gather and compete against each other to be Earth's? umm, the World Champion. And you my dear Xander Harris, are the regional champion." The man took the fedora off in a small salute and then held it to his chest. "And to answer your second question, the name's Centauri."
"Centauri huh? Not the oddest name I've heard of, but it's up there. So when and where is this championship?"
Centauri handed Xander a card. "I'll get back with you on that. A few more regions have yet to report a winner. But, I have enough champions already to make me feel comfortable that the final winner will be the best the world has to offer if they don't report in by weeks end."
Xander sighed heavily; with everything that was going on, there was no way that he'd be able to get away for a competition, no matter how much he wanted to go. "Mr. Centauri, as much as I'd love to participate, there's almost no way I'd be able to get away for an extended period of time."
Centauri nodded in understanding. "Before you turn me down Xander, I want you to know that the competition will be held in Los Angeles, and should only take a day, two at the most. And the tournament champion will claim one million dollars as his or her prize." Centauri smirked. "And you my boy, I've got a good feeling about you. I think you could be the best. You might even be better than the last winner. And I'm sure you could use a million dollars couldn't you?"
Xander thought it over. The million dollars would go a long way towards feeding and housing all of the SiT's, and would take the burden off of him financially since nobody else was bringing in any money. "I'm in. Just let me know as far in advance as you can."
"Will do my boy, you won't regret taking Centauri up on his offer. I guarantee it." Centauri looked at the card in Xander's hand. "Make sure you hold onto that. Not only is it your only way to contact me, it's also your ticket into the tournament."
"I will Mr. Centauri. And thanks." Xander shook his hand again.
"No my boy, thank you, if my feeling about you is right? Well, anyway, good luck." His business concluded, Centauri walked away and climbed into a very impressive looking sports car.
< Well, if his car is an indicator of anything, this guy might just be legit. > Xander took a moment to look over the card. < Rylos Entertainment and Recruiting? What a weird name for a video game company. >
The first person Xander ran into once he reached 1630 Revello Drive was, of course, Buffy. Lately, her greetings were more of a list of things that needed repair instead of a simple hello, or God forbid a hug. Today was no different. Apparently, from what Xander could gather from Buffy's ranting, during a sparring match, Faith used a little psychological warfare to get Buffy angry and take her off her game. Mission accomplished.
Xander followed Buffy down to the basement to view the damage first hand. He whistled as he surveyed the scene, mentally calculating what he'd need to do to fix things. <They never just break something... Noooo, they have to break the shit out of something.> From what he could gather, Buffy had completely missed Faith's head with a kick, and proceeded to put her foot straight through one of the support beams in the basement. <Slayer rage, gotta love it.>
Hoping to lighten the situation, Xander joked, "Was it at least one of the beams you tied us to last year? Because if anything deserved some breakage, it'd be one of those beams."
Unfortunately, his joke only served to anger Buffy further. Her face squnched up, her eyes narrowed, and a shiver went down Xander's spine as he actually heard her teeth grind. <Okay. Joking didn't work, let's try blunt honesty.> "In all fairness Buffy, Faith had a point."
With the look that statement inspired, Xander thought he could see the aneurysm forming in Buffy's head. "What the hell do you mean Faith had a point? She was purposefully baiting me! I let her back into my home, and this is the thanks I get? She's up to her old tricks again Xander, and I won't stand for it!"
Xander smiled tolerantly. "Maybe she is, and maybe she isn't. But the point is, do you honestly think the First is going to leave on the kid gloves, or spare your feelings in battle?" As Buffy's 'I Am The Law" face started to melt into just a frown, Xander felt it safe to continue.
"Your history with Faith is just one avenue the First could use of a dozen or more Buffy. God help us if the First decided to play the Angel card." Buffy gave Xander a warning glare. "But that's beside the point, the way you are right now, if the First decided to play on your emotional vulnerabilities it'd be both good and bad."
"Good and bad how?"
"Good because it'd make you angry. And you're like the Hulk Buffy... The angrier you get, the stronger you get. But it's bad, because you get sloppy Buffy. Your anger blinds you. We've been fortunate in the past, we haven't really had to deal with any Sun Tzu's on the Hellmouth. Until now, that is."
Xander paused for a breath, and tried to gauge what effect, if any, his speech had on Buffy. <Crap. Defensive Buffy. I might as well just be talking to myself now. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound.> "If Faith can angry up your blood that badly, especially when you know she's just trying to get a rise out of you, then what are you going to do when the First really gets going? As much as Faith knows what buttons to push, how much worse are the First's attacks going to be? It's not called the First Evil for nothing you know."
For as long as Xander had known Buffy, he was still unprepared for the outburst he was about to face.
Buffy's lips pursed into an angry pout as she moved her hands and arms about in what Dawn referred to as "Buffy's Angry Arms". "It must be really easy to offer advice from the cheap seats Xander. You don't, can't, and never will understand the burden that I suffer! I'm the one responsible for everything! I can't quit, I can't give up, nor can I ever have a hope for a normal life!" Buffy breathed in and out through her mouth as Xander just gawked at her, his eyes wide.
"I'm already living on borrowed time, most, if not all, Slayers don't live to be anywhere near my age! There's no retirement plan here Xander, Slayers don't get a 401K. We just get a tombstone. If we're lucky." Buffy leaned against the nearest wall, her face showing a mix of both anger and sorrow. "It's easy to talk about tactics and psychological warfare when nobody's relying on you, when you don't have a destiny!"
Xander began to get angry himself, the rage building up behind his eyes, but Buffy was oblivious to that. "You can leave all of this behind anytime you want! You even get to have a normal job! So don't tell me about strategy and keeping myself under control. It's not your right! You haven't earned it!" Having said her peace, Buffy huffed off in a storm, headed for her room.
As Xander pondered over Buffy's outburst, he felt the card that Centauri gave him grow heavier in his pocket. In fact, the more he thought about what Buffy had said, the angrier he got. His knuckles began to turn white with the clenching of his fists. Prideful much, General Buffy? Xander uncharitably thought. I guess fighting by your side for these last six years doesn't count for much when I don't tell you what you want to hear. Xander shook his head in frustration as he shoved his hands into his pockets. Six years, and she hasn't learned a damn thing.
He felt the card in his pocket, his fingers rubbing over the embossed letters, his eyes focused on the door Buffy had just slammed. Before he could stalk after Buffy, or do something equally as rash, he felt a pair of soft arms surround his waist and stomach from behind. Soon thereafter, he felt a head press itself just between his shoulder blades. Xander was going to ask who was there, when he noticed the soft scent of lavender in the air. Only one person wore that, and it had always flattered him that she wore it just because he liked the smell.
Placing his arms over hers, he sighed, and mentally gave up on the yelling match with Buffy. Relaxing, he greeted his hugger. "Hey Dawn."
She smiled against his back, pleased that he knew her by scent alone. #Of course, that was the point. And, like I told Buffy... All bets are off, if Xander was single, once I turned 18.# Dawn smiled wider as she just snuggled against Xander's warmth. #Lucky for me, Xander's single, and I'm 18 as of two months ago.#
"Buffy's wrong you know. You can't leave the fight either. The only difference is, she was drafted, and you volunteered. It takes a lot of courage to take on a fight that you didn't ask for, and even more courage to take on someone else's fight because you choose to." She sighed against his back, thinking about how similarly they've been treated by Buffy lately. "Sometimes, the special people, the people with powers, can't see how special we normal people are. They're blinded by the fact that we don't have powers, and can't contribute in the same way that they do. But, I see things too Xander, and I'm so glad we've got you on our side."
Xander turned around and engulfed Dawn into a hug. He bent his head forward slightly and kissed her on top of the head before tucking her under his chin. What Xander wanted to say was, "Damn, looks like I no longer have the market cornered on insightfulness. Looks like I have to excel at carpentry again." But, what Xander actually said was, "Man you smell good."
Xander blushed as Dawn looked up and gave him a dazzling smile. "I'm glad you noticed. A woman likes to be appreciated now and then."
Xander couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't get him killed by some member of the household, so he just pulled Dawn back into a hug, noticing, and not for the first time lately, how well she fit into his arms. "You really are the superior Summers sister. Accept no substitutes." Stroking her hair slowly he added, "Are you sure that the monks made you from Buffy? Because you're so much like your mom… and Tara."
He felt her tense slightly in his arms as he mentioned Joyce and Tara. #Way to go Idiot Jed. Why don't you just go out and kick some puppies while you're at it?# Xander hoped to lighten the mood a bit with a joke. "Plus, there's the whole you being a morning person thing. Have you seen your sister first thing in the morning? Not a good sight to behold. You always seem to wake up daisy fresh."
Stifling her sniffles, Dawn appreciated the attempt at levity, but appreciated the comparison to her mom and Tara even more. #Well, unlike Buffy, I had an impression to make. Couldn't let my future husband see me with bed hair and morning breath, it just wouldn't do.# "Well, I've always said that a girl wakes up like the man she wants to attract."
Xander laughed heartily. "So Buffy was always waking up for a guy on the wrong side of the bed."
Dawn's eyes twinkled. "Angel. Spike. Need I go on?"
He shuddered. "Nope, no reason to make good old Xander give himself an ice pick lobotomy." Grudgingly, at least subconsciously, Xander let Dawn go. He looked her straight in the eye now, his face serious so that she'd know he truly meant what he was about to say. "You're going to make someone very happy Dawn."
As he moved past her to walk into the living room, Dawn was mesmerized by how his ass looked in his work jeans. #Yes sir Xander Harris, I'm going to make you very happy. I guarantee it.#