The universe was pure blazing agony, mixed undiluted with overwhelming rage.
At that final moment, it was ALL he knew. Then the pain and the anger receded, as the peaceful nothingness tried to claim him. But for some reason he fought against it, and desperately resisted the tempting solace of oblivion.
After a time, the emotions had faded so that they were the merest shadows of what they had once been, like the memory of a memory. How much time it had taken, he did not know; it could have been centuries, or millennia, or eons. For that matter, he no longer even knew who he was, or why he was doing this; there was only a dim self-awareness, and the knowledge that he could not rest, that he had to do SOMETHING.
All at once, he felt the disturbance in his shadowy existence. It might have been the sound of someone being ripped apart by a giant monster. Or, possibly, just the noise of a man being mugged for his sneakers. It was impossible to say, really, but whatever it was, it had caught his attention, it most definitely had.
Suddenly, the universe started up again.
The cemetery in Los Angeles was peaceful that night, no vandalizing kids or angry demons in sight. In one section, two graves lay side by side, undisturbed.
Suddenly, strange noises started to come from the one on the left. They continued for a while, and then a hand shot up from underneath the earth. Not the rotting flesh of a zombie, or the vampiric claw of the undead; just an ordinary human hand, which was soon joined by an ordinary human body, as it dug its way out of the grave.
A crow landed on the gravestone. It was a huge black bird, with sharp claws and a wicked beak, and it stared at the man who had recently joined the world. Cawing angrily, it tried to get his attention. Looking at it, he just snarled and tried to hit the bird off the grave marker. Then he read the names chiseled onto the adjacent headstones: ALEXANDER LAVELLE HARRIS. CORDELIA CHASE.
Suddenly the man's body jerked, as if in intense pain. He did not understand, all he could do was think, < My name is Xander Harris. My name is Xander Harris. My name is... > He started to rip off the rotting clothes he'd been wearing, as if they had started burning him. When the Crow took off in flight, he followed like a puppet on a string, still trying desperately to figure all of this out.
Far away in another part of the country, a young woman was asleep in her bed. Her body was as stiff as a board, and she was dreaming.
Buffy Summers, the vampire Slayer, had had this dream before. It had been a while, but she recognized it for what it was. She and her friend Willow Rosenberg were sitting in their college dorm chatting, along with their other friend Xander Harris. It had been the last time they had seen him alive.
"Come on, Xander, cheer up!" Willow was saying. "You've been, like, mopeville city ever since you and Anya were over."
"Hey!" said Xander in indignation. "I do not mope. I occasionally act solemn. And every now and then, I try to do an impersonation of our good buddy Giles..."
The two girls briefly stared at each other, and then back at him. "You're moping," they said in unison.
Xander shrugged, as if admitting defeat. "Okay, ya got me. My life sucks right now."
Buffy came over and put an arm on his shoulder. "Come on Xan, it's not that bad! You just gotta do something to get your mind off her. Something, I don't know, different. Come on, it's Friday night, like it's time for something wild!"
Xander looked at her hopefully. "You wanna do something together?"
She looked at him apologetically. "Sorry, Giles wants me over at his place and then I gotta patrol."
"Willow?"
The other girl also looked apologetic. "I got a huge wicca coven meeting tonight. Hey, oh, you could come!"
"No thanks!" said Xander immediately. "I still have nightmares about what happened that time with Amy, and Cordelia's locket, and all those hordes of women howling for my blood!"
Willow blushed, as SHE had been one of those bewitched women. Even though it was Xander's fault for trying to cast a love spell on Cordelia, Willow couldn't forget the fact that she had gone after Xander with an axe. Trying to change the subject, she said, "Oh, I wonder how Cordelia is doing these days?"
Buffy shrugged. "I dunno, last I heard she was still in LA trying to get her big break in the acting business."
"Didn't she have a birthday last week? Gee, and I didn't even send her a card..."
Suddenly Xander leapt up. "I got it!!!" he yelled.
Buffy and Willow recoiled in concern. "What exactly do you got?" the Slayer asked cautiously.
"What to do this weekend! Grab a car, head to LA and give her a birthday surprise!"
Buffy and Willow looked at each other in concern. Willow said it for both of them, "Xander, like, are you sure that's a good idea?"
Xander gave a broad grin. "Why not? What could possibly happen?"
Unable to move, she thought, < What could possibly happen? Oh Xander, you should have known better than to tempt fate like that living on the Hellmouth... > The dream shifted, and Buffy relived the funeral of her two friends. Angel, her vampire lover who had employed Cordelia Chase as his 'Gal Friday' had sent word to Rupert Giles, the Watcher for the Slayer. Buffy, Willow and Giles had just made it to LA in time for the service.
There had been a pitiful number of mourners present; Xander's parents were not there, and neither were Cordelia's. They'd been so angry about that. Cordelia's mother was hospitalized for her Epstein-Barr disease, undergoing experimental treatment with the new EBNA-1 vaccine; but the other three could not even be located.
After the priest had finished the service, something strange happened. Always before in the dream, the coffins were lowered into the earth, and it was all over. But now, Buffy suddenly heard the sound of a bell ringing. Not the soothing sound of church bells, this was an ominous clanging that she'd only heard in old movies. Sort of like...a village bellringer, in the time when Angel had been human.
Suddenly the sunlight disappeared, dark clouds appearing out of nowhere. She then heard the voice, with a pleading sound to it: "Bring out yer dead! Bring out yer dead! For the luvva Jaysus, bring out yer dead!"
Then Xander's coffin started to tremble and shake. The top half of the lid suddenly flew open, and Xander sat up. His face was almost unrecognizable; it was milky-white in color, with black lines drawn around his eyes and lips, like a horrible Halloween mask. He looked at her and said, grinning, "Fire is the Devil's only friend..."
Buffy gave a soft scream and jerked upright in her bed, her heartbeat still racing. She reached over to the phone beside her on the table, and frantically dialled a number from memory.
"Hello?" Rupert Giles sounded groggy on the other end.
"Giles, it's me," said Buffy urgently.
"Buffy?" he said in incredulity. "D-do you have any idea what..."
"I know what time it is!" she yelled. "Get dressed. We gotta get to LA, right now!"
Xander Harris, or at least the person who had BEEN Xander Harris, stumbled to a stop somewhere in an alley in the back streets of Los Angeles. He was half-naked, exhausted and still unsure of anything besides his name. The Crow alighted at the top of the wall he was leaning against, waiting for him to recover.
As Xander tried to get his breath back, the strangest thing happened. All of a sudden he could see himself, as if from a great height. Looking up, he saw the Crow staring at him, and he realized he was seeing through its eyes. He understood he was bound to this creature and it to him, in ways he did not yet comprehend and possibly never would.
Suddenly he saw two men approach him, through the Crow's vision. He turned around and saw them with his own eyes, just as they saw him.
"Well, what do we got here?" said one of the homeboys as they approached. "I say, Christmas is early this year!"
The other man look at Xander in contempt. "This asshole don't look like he's got a thing on him!"
The first man pulled out a knife and grabbed Xander. "Gimme what ya got, man, or I'll slice open your face!"
Xander's stomach would have heaved out its contents, if he'd eaten anything. Images crowded into his mind; visions of the man holding him committing countless crimes, rape, murder, theft, you name it, he'd done it. With a mindless scream of rage, he grabbed the man and almost faster than the eye could follow, threw him to the other side of the alley.
The man hit with a sickening CRUNCH! and then collapsed to the ground, his neck twisted at an impossible angle. His companion yelled in anger, and pulled out a .45 handgun and shot Xander twice point-blank, before running off into the night.
Strangely, the man did not fall down and die; instead his face changed, becoming the black and white mask Buffy had seen in her dream. Staggering about in a daze, his wounds soon healed and he just blindly followed the Crow, as it flew off and led him towards his destiny.
Angel, the vampire with a human soul, arrived at the graveyard where Cordelia and Xander were buried. Today was the anniversary of their deaths, and he had brought flowers to commemorate that fact.
Making his way to their graves, he reflected on how much he missed them both. To this centuries-old being, the lives of the two mortals had lasted barely a brief moment, during his own cursed endless existence. Yet they had still touched his life deeply, and he knew that the other members of the Scooby Gang missed them too.
Suddenly, his keen eyesight detected something amiss. Arriving at his destination, he saw Xander's disturbed grave, and for a moment felt the fury that was heir to his demon's being. < Whoever did this is gonna pay... >
But then, he noticed the footprints that would have been invisible to mortal eyes, leading away. He frowned and thought to himself, < What is this? Xander couldn't have risen, it's been a year...and besides, I never saw any sign of a vampire feeding on him... >
He sighed, trying to put aside the guilt of not being able to prevent their deaths. Following the trail as best he could, he eventually found the dead man in the alley and investigated the crime scene.
Seeing a trail of blood leading away, the vampire decided to follow it, but then he suddenly stopped. His sense of smell was keen enough to know, that something about this blood was just plain WRONG.
Touching it with his fingertip and then bringing it to his lips, Angel tentatively tasted the blood and then immediately spat it out in disgust. The vampire had tasted tainted blood before, for example that spiked with steroids during the time he had lost his soul in Sunnydale, but this was a thousand times worse. Recovering himself, he continued on with the chase.
Xander arrived at an apartment building he didn't know, but nonetheless felt - familiar. Not knowing why, his feet led him to one of the abandoned apartments, the door covered with old yellow tape labelled CRIME SCENE - DO NOT CROSS. Making his way in, he stood in the empty room, wondering why he was here.
The Crow arrived, flying in through a broken window, after Xander had dressed himself in some abandoned black clothes from the closet. Man and bird stared at one another for a few moments. The Crow knew it was time, and deepened their mental link. Cawing sharply, it dissolved the barrier separating Xander from his memories.
The human started screaming, plunging back and forth across the apartment. Holding his hands to his head, he slammed off the walls, his yells disturbing the other inhabitants of the building. Lashing out, Xander punched his fist through an old mirror, and then later watched in astonishment as the blood disappeared and the wound healed without a trace.
The memories threatened to destroy him, the Crow could see that. He would be unable to hurt himself physically, but mentally, well, that was another matter. It felt his joys and pains, victories and heartaches as they crashed down all over him. His childhood, his high school years. Willow. Buffy. Giles. Angel. Anya. Cordelia.
The Crow watched, as he buried the bulk of his memories and somehow kept his sanity intact. If it had been human, it would have let out a sigh of relief. It had been a close call, but then it always was; the souls that the Crow brought back to avenge the wrongs done to them could never be at peace, because of the pain and anger. But this one had had such a lousy life as well, and it had been SO close to losing the human to madness.
Xander stopped moving, and examined the last memory he had...
He stood outside the door of the apartment, trying to summon up the courage to knock. Finding the place hadn't been difficult; although Cordelia had only recently moved in here, he'd had directions and the building was pretty prominent from outside on the street.
Inside, Cordelia Chase was sitting around watching TV. It was after midnight, and now Saturday morning, but here she was just watching TV. Thinking about her life, she wondered. An acting career that had yet to get her anywhere, a job with Angel with the occasional dangers and none of the perks of a SWAT team assignment, and a love life whose most recent highlight had been a boring date with a jerk. Where did she go wrong?
She couldn't help thinking back to the past, when she had been rich in Sunnydale, the most popular girl in high school, and decent guys had been lining up to go out with her. Then all of a sudden, a memory of Xander Harris appeared in her mind...
He was someone she'd known since kindergarten. Most of her life, she'd thought him a loser with a capital L. As a sophomore he had actually proclaimed himself king of the cretins, and commanded all lesser cretins to bow before him. But when they'd discovered each other's bodies, dear Lord, he had been a great kisser. He was someone she'd belittled and ignored, then loved, then hated, then made peace with before they had both left Sunnydale High after graduation. < WHY... >
A sharp knock on the door brought her back to reality. She got up and answered it, getting a shock when she saw Xander standing there. He was holding out a gift-wrapped present, with a goofy nervous grin on his face. "Happy Birthday, Cordelia," he said awkwardly.
She wasn't quite sure what to say, so she took the present and gestured for him to come inside. "Come in..." Locking the door, she turned and faced him. "Thank you for this, Xander."
The man seemed somewhat anxious and babbled, "I hope you like it, I'm sorry it's a week late, I would have come except for the job, I don't know if..."
"HOLD IT!" she interrupted him. Slowly smiling, she said, "It's good to see you, Xander."
He smiled back, like she'd just made his day. "Good to see you too."
She unwrapped the present; it was a tiny gold cross, with a silver chain. "Xander, it's beautiful!" she exclaimed as she put it on.
Xander grinned his doofus grin again. "Glad you like it, Cor."
The old 'friends' then sat down and started to catch up on things. After some wine, the talk moved on to other matters, but Cordelia knew Xander well enough to realize he was hiding something. "What is it, Xander?"
"Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
"Wrong? With me? What could possibly be amiss, in the life of Xander Harris?"
"I know you," she said forcefully. "Spill the beans, Research Boy."
Xander looked trapped. "Nice place you have here, Cor. Definitely. Need some help redecorating? Y'know, you're talking to someone known as Mr. Hands here nowadays."
"Yeah, right, I remember when we were in the utility closet and your hands used to..." Cordelia paused. "Of course. Woman trouble."
"Hey!" Xander looked insulted and caught at the same time. He got up, and so did she. "So...what if it is?"
Cordelia laughed. "You are so never gonna change."
Xander said indignantly, "That is wrong. Big, fat, spanking wrong. It's a slap in the face to my potential as a man."
Cordelia laughed even harder. "Jerk!"
Xander was angry now. "Bimbo!"
This made Cordelia mad. "Hey!" After a moment, she said, "Fine! I hate you!"
Xander walked closer and responded in kind, "Yeah, and I hate you!"
"Idiot!"
"Moron!"
"Dweeb!"
"Ho!"
Nearly nose to nose, suddenly their bodies came together and they were kissing like there was no tomorrow. Eventually Cordelia pushed him away, and both of them were breathing heavily. "What was that?" she asked in shock.
Xander was no less affected. "Uh, a major case of déja vu?"
"XANDER!"
"Okay, okay."
She started pacing around. "No. No, I am not gonna do this! No, no way in hell!"
Her companion was confused and said, "What exactly are we talking about again?"
Cordelia whirled to face him. "THIS! You, me, us! Every time I see that scar you caused me to have I..."
Xander looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry about all that, sweetheart, I really am. I gotta - I apologize like times infinity and I swear, I'd never..."
She interrupted him, "Never what, Xander? Hurt me again? Ha! You've got like, like a James Bond syndrome with women! To think I actually lo..." she cut herself off.
Xander moved closer to her, astonished. "You loved me?" he asked. Cordelia said nothing. He said timidly, "Cordy, would it make any difference if I said I think I loved you too? That maybe - we belong together?"
Cordelia was shocked again; she had never expected to hear those words from Xander, not given their history. But suddenly they were in each other's arms again, their mouths firmly pressed together and it felt like Heaven...
Suddenly the door burst in, and three men and a female vampire came in. Xander and Cordelia broke apart, the boy pushing the girl behind him, just before he was shot twice with a silenced pistol.
Cordelia screamed, before she was grabbed and silenced by two of the men. Xander struggled to get up, to defend her against them. "You hurt her, it'll be over my dead body!" he shouted.
One of the men came over, and casually stabbed him close to a vital organ with a knife. He crawled towards Cordelia, yelling, "What's going on, why the hell are you doing this?"
Two of the men changed positions with the girl. The new man came up to Xander and said with a sneer, "Hell is right on target, boy. You read the Bible? Revelations 6: 8, 'And I beheld a pale horse, and the name of its rider was Death, and Hell followed him close behind...'"
The female vamp grabbed Xander by the neck and hoisted him off the ground. He struggled, but was unable to break free; in fact, it was a miracle he had not yet blacked out from the blood loss.
"Cordy!" he yelled. He could only watch as one of them injected something, a white substance in a syringe into her neck, and the other two quickly stabbed her much like they had done him.
He lowered his head, and spit into the vampire's face. She got pissed, and called over one of the men. "Do your little trick," she instructed him.
The guy grinned, and took out a flask of liquid spirits. Taking a deep gulp, he then withdrew a Harley-Davidson cigarette lighter. Xander's eyes went wide at the last moment, as he realized what would happen. Spitting out the booze, the man ignited the alcohol almost directly in Xander's face.
He was briefly aware that now the three humans were holding him; his ruined eyes could just barely make out the female vampire's tongue tasting the blood from Cordelia's wounds. Then the men took him to the window and threw him out, without bothering to first raise the glass; he fell a number of stories onto the sidewalk, D.O.A. yet not...
Angel had heard the commotion as soon as he'd entered the building, and made his way to Cordelia's old apartment with inhuman speed. Upon entering, he found a man clutching his head and rocking back and forth in agony. He said simply, "Who are you?"
The man turned around, and if Angel had been human, his heart would have stopped beating. It was Xander Harris - or at least, he thought it was. "Xander?" he asked carefully.
The man stared at him in silence. Slowly, as if he didn't quite remember how to speak, he said, "Angel?"
The vampire took a step forward, but Xander immediately took a step back. "Don't..."
"It's okay," Angel tried to reassure him. "Are you all right? How did you get here?"
Xander shook his head. "I don't..." Suddenly, there was something he had to know. "Cordelia?"
The vampire shook his head sadly. "She's gone, Xander. So were you - it's been a year..."
"A year?"
"Since you both died."
Xander tried to digest that news. "Am I a vampire?" he asked in fear and horror.
"No!" Angel immediately assured him. "I don't know exactly what you are..."
"Likewise."
Angel walked over to him, and this time Xander didn't move back. He just looked at his undead companion and asked, "What happened?"
Angel looked away, his shame evident, unable to look his friend in the eye. "A year ago, the two of you were murdered right here, where we're standing. They never found out who did it - I've been looking nonstop, I swear, but it's like no one knows anything about it! Just another pointless mystery in LA. Cordelia hung on for 26 hours, but I'm sorry, they couldn't..." He leaned over and place a hand on Xander's shoulder.
The effect on Xander was instantaneous. He SAW the whole thing through Angel's eyes, the police, the ambulance, 26 hours of Angel sitting with Cordelia so that she wouldn't die alone. He ripped himself away, yelling, "NOOOOOO! DON'T - TOUCH - ME!"
Angel moved back himself, stunned. "What was that?" he said in a shocked voice.
Xander choked out, "You stayed with her. Every moment."
The vampire stammered, "How the...you can't get into my mind, a vampire's thoughts don't..."
"HEY, NEWSFLASH!" Xander screamed. "I'm not exactly the Zeppo anymore, buddy, I was as dead as you are!"
Angel asked, still in shock, "What ARE you?"
Suddenly the Crow shrieked its call, fluttering its wings and staring at Xander. Both men stared at it, and Angel said, "A crow?"
Xander said slowly, "We're like a package deal. What I lack, I think he makes up for. And where he goes, I follow."
Angel looked thoughtful, starting to get over his shock. "A crow. I remember..."
"What?"
Angel looked away, then said, "It was a story my father told me. A long, long time ago, before I became...well, I thought it was just something to scare me out of my drinking. He said people once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the Land of the Dead. But sometimes, something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it, and the soul can't rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the Crow can bring that soul back - to put the wrong things right."
"I gotcha," Xander said. "Anything else?"
"Just that I should stay as far away from them as possible, because that soul wasn't meant to help the living. Not only would it be invulnerable to harm, it had a destiny of vengeance that would destroy anyone that got in its way."
"Thanks," Xander said. He headed over to the window, and Angel asked, "Wait - how can I help?"
Xander turned and said, "You've helped enough. I think you've done what you were meant to do."
"Xander?"
"Yeah?"
"What's gonna happen?"
Xander stared at him, and Angel didn't like the expression on his face at all. It was too much like the look of an undead killer. Someone like himself. "I'll put the wrong things right. I'm gonna find the people who did this to me and Cordy."
"But how --?"
"Don't worry about it." Xander gestured at the Crow, "I'm guessing he's gonna take care of that part."
Angel was now definitely worried. There was no sign before him of the wisecracking teenager, who had so often annoyed the vampire; this person was a shell, a screaming, shrieking soul filled with grief and fury. He greatly feared the price that the plan would take on the young man's sanity; killing was evil, sometimes necessary but still evil, and no one was in a better position than him to understand that. "Buffy and the others will want to..."
"DON'T INVOLVE THEM!" Xander shouted. Angel moved back in surprise. Facing him, Xander continued, "You think I want them to see me like this?! This is...I'd prefer them to think I was dead than this...this freak show!" He then dove out the window, and the Crow quickly followed, wings outstretched.
Angel rushed over and looked out, but there was no sign of them. He sighed, realizing that things were now beyond his control.
Later, after the sun had come up, a car arrived at the cemetery. Buffy, Willow and Giles got out, and quickly headed over to the graves of their friends. They were both angry and afraid when they saw what Angel had seen.
"Buffy, a-are you sure..." Giles began.
"Yeah!" Buffy snapped. "Xander's up and about. We gotta find him."
"You think he's a vampire?" Willow asked in fear.
"I don't see how - A-angel said last year..."
"Giles, we gotta go see him," Buffy interrupted firmly.
"Yes, of course," and the two of them headed back for the car. They stopped, when they noticed Willow wasn't coming. "Will?" Buffy said softly.
Willow didn't look at them. "You guys go, I'll catch up."
Giles looked nervous. "Willow, that's not a good idea..."
Willow said plainly, "It's daylight, Giles, and it's LA, not Sunnydale. I'm probably safer in here than out there. I just...I just want to spend a little time here, that's all."
"Okay," Buffy said, understanding her friend's pain. "You've got your cell phone, you'll just ring when you're ready?"
"Fine," and the three parted company.
At the same time not too far away, a nameless man was busy looking at an old woman. She was moaning in pain, on the floor of a room with black walls and a satanic altar. "Tell me!" he ordered.
"No..." the pitiful creature groaned.
"Speak!"
As always, she was unable to resist. "The destroyer will come for you," she said feebly.
"No!" the man denied. The woman started bleeding from her mouth, and looked like she was dying. The man understood. "One last thing. Who is to be your successor?"
"NOOOOOO!" she screamed.
"I can end it now, or you WILL suffer," he promised her in a tone of evil. "All I need is the name and location."
The woman kept screaming and mumbling, and passed out. The man looked at her in disgust. "Useless witch," he grumbled. He then turned to the other occupant of the room, the female vampire that had helped kill Xander. "We may have a problem. I want you to investigate..."
The Crow glided through the overcast skies of the City of Angels, and guided Xander to his killers one by one. Avoiding people by moving along rooftops and alleys with superhuman speed and agility, he found them and got his revenge.
The man who had injected the drugs was the first found by the police, overdosed and stabbed with his own syringes. On his chest, they also found an image of the Crow, drawn by someone tracing out a precise pattern using the drug lab's cocaine powder. A warning...
Later, they found the second victim, the man who loved knives, dead of multiple stab wounds with his own weapons. This time, they found the drawing of the Crow on the wall of his whorehouse, with the killer using the dead man's blood for his message.
The last human took a while for the Crow to find; but eventually Xander saw him walking into his house that afternoon, with a look of satisfaction on his face. When his enemy kicked in the door, the man took one look at the Halloween mask face, and emptied a whole gun clip into his opponent. Xander just smiled, the bullets barely affecting him now, and knocked his adversary out with one punch.
The human found himself tied up in his car when he woke up, and saw Xander splashing fuel everywhere. He tried threats, he tried pleas, he tried bribes, but Xander didn't appear to even notice that he was talking. Realizing that he was going to die, the man started mumbling passages from the Bible, which got Xander's attention.
Finishing up his work, he finally said to the man through the window of the vehicle, "Revelations 6: 8."
The captive looked up at him, hope briefly flaring. "And I beheld a pale horse..."
Xander interrupted him, "One year ago last night. A man and a woman. You, the vampire and two others." He reached out and touched the man, experimenting; Xander found that he could send as well as receive, and they both relived that night, to his sorrow.
The man's eyes went huge, as he suddenly recognized Xander. "No...no...no..."
"I used to love country music," Xander said, wondering why he was doing this. He hadn't even spoken to his other victims, apart from the grunts in battle. Perhaps it was because this needed closure, of some sort. "Yeah, it was the music of pain. There was this one line from a song I always remembered, it went something like..." he hesitated, "fire is the Devil's only friend. Wish I could remember more, but I guess being dead will do that to you..."
"Please...please..."
Xander suddenly thrust his face close. "Give him my regards when you get down there," he hissed. Then he turned around, and left without looking back, igniting the fuel on his way.
Blubbering uncontrollably, it was almost a relief when the garage exploded and his life was over. The police helicopters that soon came to investigate were easily able to see the huge, fiery outline of a bird, burning outside the remains of his house. A crow...
Willow woke up, not knowing where she was. Suddenly it all came back to her; she'd been in the cemetery, and some man had knocked her out...
She looked around, and saw the black walls and the altar. She was chained to the floor, and understood that she was in big trouble. Suddenly she heard a moan; it was the old woman who the nameless man had called a witch. "Who are you? Where are we?" Willow asked urgently.
"No...they found you...I'm sorry, I tried not to tell them..."
"Never mind!" Willow interrupted. "How do we get out of here?"
"We can't," the other woman groaned. "This room is enchanted, our wicca magic won't work in here..."
"How'd you know I was a witch?" Willow asked in confusion.
"I saw you in a vision. I'm dying, you're my replacement..."
Willow tried to comfort her. "My friends will come, they'll rescue us!"
"NO!" the other witch said. "If they come here, they'll die. Death is our only escape."
"But you..."
"I'm 30 years old," she continued, not noticing how shocked Willow was. She looked more like 80. "Been here for five years, I think...he captured me, just like he did you. I sat here with an old-looking witch, just like you're doing with me...she said to me then, like I'm saying to you now, 'Look at me, 'cause this is your future'."
The horror was almost overwhelming. Willow asked, "How?"
The old woman handed her a pill. "Addictive, they bring the visions he wants..." she gurgled. "Kill yourself if you can!" Then she keeled over and was still.
A door opened, and the nameless man and the female vampire came in. The man examined Willow's predecessor, and snorted in disgust. "She's dead. Get her out of here."
The vampire said nothing, but obeyed his orders. After they were gone, the nameless man crouched close to Willow. "I'm assuming she told you?"
"I won't help you!" Willow said defiantly.
The man looked bored. He took a pill, grabbed Willow's head and eventually stuffed it down her throat. Willow tried to resist, but to no avail. The man demanded, "Tell me what you see!"
The drug overwhelmed Willow, and the man slapped her. She shouted, "XANDER!" before passing out.
The man looked worried for a moment, and started to lay his plans...
Darkness had fallen, before Xander found the last of his targets. The female vampire was in the furnace room of an abandoned warehouse, destroying the witch's body as ordered. Suddenly she sensed she wasn't alone. "I know you're here. Show yourself."
Xander obliged, stepping out of the shadows. The Crow watched, settled in a corner. The vampire moved, faster than he'd anticipated; her game face prominent, she fastened her fangs onto Xander's neck. She started to drain him, but immediately backed off and spat out the blood, staring at him in horror.
Breathing heavily, Xander moved, as did she. They fought, but she soon discovered it was a battle she couldn't win. The physical injuries she inflicted healed very quickly, and her bloodsucking talents were useless. Eventually, Xander pinned her down and was about to stake her when she cried out, "Wait! I have information!"
"Not interested. Get ready to see your three friends in Hell."
Suddenly she recognized him. "YOU? Listen to me...we were just the hired muscle! The man you really want is still out there...let me go and I'll take you to him!"
Xander paid no attention; bringing down the stake, she exploded into dust.
< Finally...it's over, > he thought. Not bothering to leave the sign of the Crow, he got up and walked out. Xander didn't know what was supposed to happen now, but he was tired from the fights, the exertion and the injuries. Tired in spirit as well as in body, for as Angel had foreseen killing takes its toll on the human soul.
There were no regrets, just a desire for it to be finished. The peace of the void beckoned. He slowly made his way back to the cemetery, wondering if he would be reunited with Cordelia now. He did not hurry; after all, he suspected he would soon have all eternity before him.
Buffy and Giles were getting frantic. Willow was missing, and they hadn't been able to contact Angel. Desperate and out of ideas, they headed over to Cordelia's old apartment. As they went in, they saw the vampire staring out the window. "Angel!" yelled Buffy.
Angel turned and looked at them solemnly. "I heard you. No need to yell."
Buffy said, "Where have you been? We've been looking all over for you!"
"Here and there. Things to do, people to see."
Giles said anxiously, "Have you seen Willow? Xander?"
"Willow, no. Xander, yes."
"You saw him?" Buffy asked in wonder. "Is he a..."
"Vampire? No," replied Angel. "He's something...different, from you and me."
"Cut the cryptic guy act Angel, did he come to take Willow? I mean..."
"I very much doubt it. He didn't come back for her, or you or me for that matter. If I'm right, he'll just do the job he was brought back for and then leave. Wait a minute," he suddenly looked at them in concern, "What's going on with Willow?"
"She's disappeared. W-we left her at the cemetery at her request..." Giles started.
Angel didn't wait. "Let's go!" and he led them out the door.
They arrived at the cemetery almost at the same time Xander did. The young man had made it back and collapsed onto his knees at the side of his grave, when his friends found him. "Xander??" Buffy said in shocked surprise.
He groaned, with his eyes shut, "Xander Harris is dead. Let him rest in peace."
"Xander, please, we need your help," Giles said anxiously.
"Xander, it's Willow. Someone took her. I get the feeling it has something to do with you, although damned if I know why..." started Angel.
All of a sudden, Xander saw with the eyes of the Crow again. He saw an office building in the central business district, guarded by a pair of stone warriors with spears, a short way outside the front door of the high-rise. He felt anger, and wild invigoration, burning away his weariness. This wasn't over yet. Jumping up, he told his startled companions, "Come on!!!!"
Blindly following Xander's link with the Crow, they arrived at the stronghold of their enemy. Xander just strode in, with the others close behind. They fought both men with guns and vampires, to get to the penthouse on the top floor, where a nervous deserter had told them Willow was being held.
In the last firefight, a stray bullet injured Giles; it wasn't too serious, but he was out of commission for any more of the battle. They left him outside to guard their rear, and entered the lightless domain of the nameless man.
"WELCOME!" a voice boomed out. "A Slayer, a vampire and a...whatever you are! Welcome, one and all!"
"Where's Willow?" Buffy asked with gritted teeth.
"You can't see her? Forgive me, let's shed a little light on the subject!"
There was a sound of machinery in action, and a section of the black wall retreated to let in the light of the city and a cool breeze. They saw Willow chained on the floor, as the Crow flew in and settled near the altar.
"Willow!" Buffy yelled, starting towards her. Angel held her back though, as the young witch was stirring from unconsciousness. "What have you done to her?" the vampire demanded.
"Oh, nothing much. Let's just say she was made a job offer she COULDN'T refuse."
Xander growled, "Who are you?"
"Ah, the American insistence on names! Why not call me Citizen X? It was a great movie, you know."
"I'd prefer to call you dead meat on a hook," Buffy said with venom. "If you've hurt her..."
"Oh, she'll recover from my little concoction this time. But soon enough, when she's addicted to the stuff..."
Angel put on his game face and rushed forward, growling his vampire's snarl. Citizen X calmly pulled out a gun and shot him several times. Buffy screamed, and rushed over to help her beloved. "Oh, stop whining," the man said to Buffy in annoyance. "He's a vampire. The bullets won't kill him."
Xander stepped forward. "That gun won't help you with me. You can let Wills go, or I can kill you now. Take your pick."
Citizen X looked at him in sudden hatred. "Why couldn't you have just stayed dead? I swear, these days if you want a job done right you have to do it yourself..."
Xander stiffened, remembering what the female vampire he'd eliminated had said. He screamed, "It was YOU? WHY????"
Citizen X had regained his good humor. "Nothing personal, but my little collection of witches have all had visions for the past 2000 years, that one Alexander Lavelle Harris would destroy me. Imagine my surprise when I found out last year, that one of them finally knew exactly when and where you'd be! And by the way? Cordelia Chase was just a delightful bonus."
Suddenly he turned around, and shot at the Crow. With a squawk, it landed near Willow, who by now was fully conscious.
"AHHHHHH!!!!" screamed Xander. He felt as if he had been shot himself. There was such pain...
"Guess you didn't know?" Citizen X was grinning broadly. "Lemme give you a crash course in Witchcraft 101, and help fill in the gaps. The Crow is your link between the realm of the living, and the Land of the Dead. Now that it's gone to the big farmyard in the sky, it's just you and me." He started to advance to his opponent.
Willow crawled over to where the Crow lay. She picked it up, and saw it was just barely still alive. "Buffy!" she hissed.
The Slayer left Angel and hurried over to her. "You okay?" she asked in worry.
"Yeah! But you gotta heal it - the crow, now, it's Xander's only chance!"
"What..."
"No time! Please hurry!"
In the meantime, Citizen X aimed his gun at Xander and pulled the trigger. The bullets slammed home into his stomach, and Xander waited for the healing to begin. But that didn't happen. Xander knew human fear, as he realized the situation and he started bleeding all over the floor.
"Nothing to say? Big strong silent type, huh?" Citizen X slipped his gun into the back of his pants and began to beat Xander senseless, apparently enjoying every second.
Buffy had been trying to figure out how to heal the Crow, when she realized what her best chance was. She was the Slayer, the Chosen One to fight evil. As such she had fast healing abilities, that she could share with the bird. Her blood was especially potent - it had healed Angel when he had once been poisoned, and should also be able to help the Crow.
Slashing her palm open with a stake, she let the blood quickly drip into its mouth. The Crow had been slowly healing itself, but the extra mystical energy from Buffy's blood vastly accelerated the process. In moments, it was whole again, and started to reestablish the link with Xander.
Xander was dying, and he knew this was the end. His quest for vengeance would remain forever incomplete, and he could never rest in peace, would never see Cordelia again. But suddenly everything changed - he was whole and healthy. Somehow, some way, the Crow's powers were with him again.
Blocking the fist of his enemy, his black and white face thrust up against his tormentor, he said simply, "I'm back." Enjoying the stunned look on his face and grabbing the man's clothes, Xander dragged him over to the window and hurled them both out with a loud yell, not wanting to further endanger his companions or the Crow.
The bird cawed anxiously, and started flapping its wings. Surprised, Buffy let it go, moving back as it sped out the window.
"Buffy, get me outta here!" Willow pleaded. The Slayer quickly complied, wondering what was going on below...
Xander and Citizen X had both gotten up after the fall. Had there been any casual onlookers, they would have been astounded to see they were both stunned but unharmed. Recovering first, Xander decided to end it now. "I've got a present for you," he gasped. "FEEL THIS!"
Clutching the other man's head, he forced him to live Cordelia's torment and his own. Screaming, the man, or demon, or whatever he was pulled away, but Xander grabbed him again and hurled him towards the spear of one of the stone statues. The force of that throw not only impaled Citizen X upon the weapon, but sent him so far along through it his back was nearly touching the statue's hand.
Citizen X screamed soundlessly until he died, his body turning into blue liquid that flowed down all over the statue. Xander felt no satisfaction; in fact, he could barely feel anything. Turning away, he once again headed for the cemetery. A few minutes later, Willow exited the building, and chased after him.
When he got to his destination, Xander could hardly even think any more. His link to the Crow was gone again, and his destiny of vengeance was over. Sitting cross-legged on Cordelia's grave, he felt like he was losing consciousness - till he looked up and saw Cordelia standing there.
She looked beautiful; a heavenly vision in a flowing white dress, totally unlike the last ugly image he'd had of her in Angel's memories. She smiled, raised him up, took him in her arms and kissed him on the cheek. "Hello dorkhead," she sighed softly.
"Hello yourself, princess," he replied. "Do I get any points now, on that thing about dying for you?"
She looked at him, with love in her whole being. "Yes," she said as they embraced.
Willow arrived on the scene just in time to see the two of them do so, and it almost took her breath away. Xander's face was back to normal, and Cordelia looked unharmed and happy. Suddenly the Crow flew right past her shoulder, distracting her; when she looked back, they were both gone.
Running through the cemetery, she was astonished to see Xander's desecrated grave was now freshly packed, showing no sign of disturbance. Suddenly, the rest of the gang also arrived, Buffy and Angel supporting a limping Giles. They, too, were greatly surprised by what they saw and the news of Willow's vision.
Suddenly, the Crow landed on Xander's headstone. It had something in its beak, and Willow stepped forward to see what it was. The Crow dropped it into her hands; it was Xander's birthday gift to Cordelia, her gold cross and silver chain. The bird cawed once, before flying off.
Angel said quietly, "I think he wants you to have it."
As they all stood there silently, Willow thought she heard something; maybe it was just the drug or her imagination, but she was pretty sure that she had heard a sigh. The sound of two souls reunited, and finally able to rest in peace.