Giles, Buffy and Willow looked up as an irritated Xander Harris burst through the door of the library. He continued watching while the young man kept grumbling to himself. After a couple of minutes of this Willow decided to ask her friend what was bothering so much. "Xander, could you stop for a minute and tell us what's bothering you." At this Xander looked up at his friends and after a physical effort to calm himself, answered. "It's just the stupid English class. Don't they know I have more important things to do then reading some stupid book and making a book report. There's graduation, the mayor, training the students and making a bomb. I don't have time to read a book and make a book report." "Oh, is that all?" Buffy said. "Why don't you just do what I'm going to do. Take a fantasy book about vampires. With what we know about them a book report should be a piece of cake." After questioning himself about why he hadn't thought about that himself a twinkle returned to his eyes. "Buffy, have I ever told you're my hero", he said before racing for the fantasy section of the library." "Just stay away from Dracula, that one's mine!" Buffy yelled after him while a grin appeared on her face.
In the fantasy section Xander was quickly going through book after book not really finding anything. Then suddenly he came across a book that looked more like it belonged in Giles his private collection than in the fantasy section of the library. He decided to ask Giles about it after remembering the last problem they had with old books and internet demons. After returning to the table he asked. "Hey G-man, what do you know about this book?" and showed him the book. "Xander!, How many times have I asked you not to call me that? And why do you ask?" "I asked because it looks more like it belong in your collection and because I know how dangerous books can be, I decided to make sure." At this Giles finally takes a look at the book an reads the title: Destroyer of Prophecies.
"Ah yes, I do remember this book. It did once belong in my collection as a book of prophecies. After reading it though and some conversations with the council and some other experts we decided it was fake. I don't remember the exact reasons, but it we decided it looked like someone came across the other books of prophecy and mixed and match to his or her own desire as well as add some of his or her own." Giles explained. "So no harm if I use it for my book report?" Xander asked just to be sure. "No, go ahead. You may just enjoy it." Giles responded.
This being said the group decided to go back to work, preparing for the mayor's visit at graduation. After several hours they decided it was time to going home, eat and prepare for patrol later that night.
After arriving home Xander decided to after hours they made in the library it was time for relaxation. He turned on the television and started to skipping through channels in search of something to watch. After doing this for ten minutes without any success, he decided he might as well go to his room and start on his book report, before meeting Buffy later for patrol.
After retrieving the book from his backpack, he laid down on his bed and started reading.
The Saviour of Man shall begin on his path after meeting the enemy of the undead, The Chosen One. He will claim his path after losing his brother of the mind and soul while helping The Chosen One in her duty.
His try at love and lust will be marred by the predator insect.
His skills and strength after will grow as his they are tested by the laughing earth spirit. His friendship with the crying tree and The Chosen One will be tested. The one who watches will help return control and will know the truth.
* Whoa, if I didn't know any better I'd think this book was about me.*Xander thought. * Giles would have said something or is this what he meant when he said I might enjoy the book? Nah, it's just a coincidence.*Xander decided and returned to the book.
The saviour's first major personal victory will come defying the codec. With the assistance of the ensouled one with the face of an angel he will turn The Chosen One into the Chosen Two and thus assist the destruction of the old imprisoned evil.
* OK, that does it! Tomorrow I'll go to Giles and demand an explanation, because this a bit to much coincidence for my liking. If this is G-man way to get back at me for calling him G-man I want to know. If it isn't I want him to tell me whose idea it is playing this trick on me and than I'll have some planning to do. If it is him though, I have to say I underestimated him. * With that thought Xander closed the book and set about preparing himself for the nights patrol.
The next morning before classes Xander strolled into the library and went straight to Giles's office. "G-man, you and I have to have a serious discussion about that this book." Xander said as he put the book down on Giles' desk. "Why? Is there some the matter with?" Giles inquired. "OK, G-man I need to know here. Why did you say I'd enjoy, this is some trick of yours right. You thought by doing something like this you could get back at for calling you G-man right? Knowing how I hate prophecies concerning Buffy, you and your watcher pals thought it funny to creating a fake book of prophecies about me right, right?" "Xander, what in the blazes are going on about? What book of prophecies are you talking about and why would I make one about you?" Giles asked looking puzzled.
Seeing the look on the watchers face Xander knew it wasn't a trick from Watcher and decided to take another route to his questioning. "Ok I start over. Giles why did you and your colleagues decide this book was fake? I need to know the exact reason, because if this isn't some kind of trick from something hellmouthy is going and we really don't need that right now." "As I said yesterday Xander, I don't remember the exact reasons but the general opinion was that some of the so-called prophecies were clearly some things that would never have a chance of happening." "You mean like the slayer having a support team or something like there being two slayers. Things like that right, Giles?" "Now that you mention it Xander that does sound familiar. What are you getting at Xander?" Giles asked while getting interested in the teenagers' idea.
"Giles do me a favour and read the first couple of paragraphs and tell me what you think?" Not seeing the point Xander wanted to make, but interested in seeing where the boy was going, Giles said down and read the paragraphs. "Ok Xander I've read them. What did you want me to see in them?" "What?!! Giles are you telling me you didn't see anything familiar in those paragraphs?" "Well I did find some similarities with what's been happening to you, but those are just coincidents. Xander surely you realised that?" "OK Giles, different question. Do you know what my name means?" "What does that have to do with anything, Xander?" "Giles please just tell me if you know what the name Alexander means." Xander begged. "Ok Xander, Alexander means protector of man, sometime Saviour of mankind but I guess you know this already?" "Yeah growing up with Willow will do that to a guy, but do you see point now Giles? Substitute those saviour of man references with my name and those paragraphs look like a lot more than mere coincidents. Seeing as one of the reasons I'm helping Buffy is that nobody else ever has to go through what I did with Jesse being turned. Or that reference to my Hyena possession and the one who watches helping me with that as well as knowing the truth about me not remembering anything, not to mention my date with Mantis Lady. But the real eye-opener is me having a hand with the calling of the second slayer. What do you think Giles?"
After taking of his glasses a cleaning them, Giles finally stated. "I'll have to do some research and make a few calls. You don't mind leaving to book here while you to class and I do some research, do you Xander?" Giles then started to go through some papers looking for the numbers of people he'd need to call to unravel this new mystery. "Since I counted on you saying that, I don't mind. But do me a favour?" Xander said and as Giles looked up he finished. "Don't tell the girls until we've found something." When Giles nodded his agreement Xander left his office so Giles could get started, just as the bell for first period rang.
Five minutes after the bell for lunch break rang, Xander walked back into the library with a paper bag in his hand, to see what Giles has been able to find out. After seeing him in his office on the phone with a lot of paper spread around his desk Xander smiled. * I knew G-man would be so wrapped up in this, he'd forget to eat. Good thing I remember to bring donuts and bagels. After all, I have to be nice to the person getting me out of being one of the prophesied ones. Good to too, that the girls decided to go to the cafeteria so Giles and I won't be disturbed if he can't get me out of this. *
Seeing as Giles was still on the phone when he entered the office, Xander just opened the bag and placed the donuts and bagels on the desk. Deciding that since he was being nice, he might as well get something to drink to go with the food, he left the office to look for someway to make some tea. When he returned with the steaming cup, Giles was just finishing his call and hanging up to phone. Only after doing this did Giles register that there were suddenly donuts on his desk and that Xander was standing in the door with a cup of tea.
"So Giles, found a way to get me out of being one of the prophesied ones yet?" Xander inquired just a little bit too eager. Hearing to tone of Xanders' voice, Giles smiled mentally have just figured out the reason behind the food and the tea. "I take it, this is your incentive to me to expedite my effort in doing this." Giles said as gestured to his favorite donuts, the bagels and the tea. "Ok, maybe a little. But also because I figured that since I put you to work on a problem concerning me ….. Well lets just say knowing you I figured you'd get so caught up in to work and forget to eat, so I brought some along." Xander said smiling. "But being nice aside, what did you find?"
"Unfortunately, not that much. Although from some of the other entries I've read so far the chances of them not be about you seem to be getting smaller. I have some acquaintances working on it though." "What other entries. I pretty much stop reading after the calling of the second slayer with the help of Angel." "In that case I think it would be wise to go through some of the entries together since there is at least one that is unclear to me. By the way, where are the girls." "No need to worry there G-man they're in the cafeteria, we won't be seeing them." "In that case, let's get started." Giles said while grabbing his notepad.
"Ok, here we go. First we have your love finally setting the sun worshiping sacrifice to rest can only be about Ampata." "What ?!! That was in there, maybe I should read that before I go on my next date." "Xander, I hardly think this book was written to better your love life." "He, I'm not the one who wrote about it." "Be that as it may, I'd like to continue if you don't mind." "Continue ahead, my good man." Rolling his eyes at that Giles continued. "Next we have, his knowledge of the art of war will increase due to the interference of a worshipper of Chaos. I think it is safe to say that describes your Halloween experience." "Yah think?"
"His association with The Chosen One will endanger his life by one who is many, a member of an ancient order." "They just had to remind me of that episode didn't they. Although the time alone with Cordy wasn't bad, well some of it anyway." "The incarceration of The Chosen One he will avert using his investigating skills." * That's Ted taken care of, wonder what Buffy would say if she had know about this. Maybe if she had, she wouldn't have tried to push me away so much. Ah well, to late now anyway. *
"The plans of the returned Scourge, the undead Seer and the killer of slayers past will require his acquired skills in order to save the day from the one who can not be destroyed by weapons forged by man." "Giles, I've gotta say, I really whi… Well I'm not going to say the W-word, but you know hat I mean. If we had this book before we might have been able to stop the whole mess with Angelus." "Yes, quite." Giles said looking downcast. "Heh, you know I didn't mean anything by that. How were you to know some American teenager would make it possible for there being two slayers. Just like me, you probably stopped reading after reading that, since there's only ever been one slayer at a time."
"Thank you, Xander. I have only two more entries to go through with you. I must admit though that the second of those has me a bit puzzled." "Well then go ahead, I can probably tell you what it is, seeing as someone decided to write down my life." "Right, this first one is quite clear actually. Now where is it again? Ah there it is. The savior's unique relation with magic will teach him the sharpness of Cupids' arrows." "They just had to put that in there didn't they?!! Probably my dumbest mistake ever and they just had to write it down! I'm really starting to hate these guys here Giles. You really have to find out who wrote this thing; so that when I come across one of their descendant I'll know whose butt to kick."
"If you're quite through, I'd like to have your input on this final entry, at least for now though." "Sorry Giles. Yes, I'm through. It's just that I hate really hate this stuff. Go one with that next entry." Well then, the next entry is this. The Scourge and Savior shall meet and the Savior's hart, courage and determination shall save the ailing Chosen Ones' live once again. As I have no idea what this is about or even when, would you like to enlighten me?"
Looking embarrassed Xander answered. "You remember when Buffy was in the hospital with that flu. I figured, knowing what a sick puppy Angelus was, that he'd try something while Buffy wasn't at her best, so I waited for him. And when he showed up, I stared him down." "Tell me you were armed or at least had some backup." "I didn't have time for that. I had to be sure to be there before he showed up." "You faced one of the most viscous vampires ever and you weren't even armed?!! Lord you truly watch over fools." "Heh, I resemble, I mean resent that remark."
Sighing, Giles removed his and pinched the bridge of his nose. After putting his glasses back up, Giles looked at Xander. "I was going to suggest this anyway, but after acquiring this last bit of information I'm afraid I am going to have to insist. Xander, I want to start seriously increase your training. Now I don not just mean having you spar with Buffy more often. I mean really training you how to defend yourself. I will start doing the same with Willow and Oz. I really should have done this sooner. Knowing how dangerous this fight can be, I should have prepared you more." "It's alright Giles; you had Buffy to worry about. Besides you weren't trained deal with a stubborn group of American teenagers." "That's still no excuse for not making sure you could handle yourselves." "Ok, ok, you've convinced me. I don't know how you're going to convince the others though. You know how they are about Willows' magic and Oz' status as a werewolf." "Just because Willow can do magic, doesn't mean she should not be able to defend herself physically. Casting spells takes time, time in which an opponent can close enough to make the spell obsolete. As for Oz being a werewolf, it might make more resistant and more difficult to kill, it still doesn't make him a fighter. Against a skilled fighter those things do not mean a thing. If they still object, we can always say that in preparation for the ascension we want to be sure everyone is safe, since Buffy will most likely be occupied with the Mayor." "You know, I think that just might work but I think you should include Cordy as well." "Of course."
"Now getting back to you. I think we should try to determine the aftereffects of the two possessions. Since to book mentioned them and also made mention of some of it, I think it best to develop them to their full potential." "Err, Giles? Not to be negative or something, but when the hyena was in control I wasn't exactly a nice guy. I'm not sure I want to repeat that." "I don't think we will have to worry about that. As you yourself just said, last time the hyena was in control. This time you're the one in control. Also to book only mentioned your skills and strength. Nevertheless you are right, we should tread carefully when exploring the effects of both your possessions. And we can start tonight while the others are patrolling. Now I think it better that you prepare to go to your next class as lunch break is almost over." "You're right, I'd better prepare for another boring English class. Argh!! Now I have another reason to hate those. Now I'll have to find another book for that stupid book report." With that Xander stomped out of the library, leaving Giles with his tasks, donuts and now cold cup of tea. As Giles sat down behind his desk he heard the bell ring signaling the end of lunch break.
That afternoon after classes, the Scooby gang gathered in the library to discuss patrol arrangements and to further finalize their plans for the Ascension. When everyone was gathered around the central table, Giles stood up.
"Before we continue looking for ways to stop the Mayor, I have something to say. Since we have not been able, as of yet, to find a way to stop the Mayor before the Ascension takes place. I want to start training Willow, Oz, Xander and Cordelia in hand-to-hand combat. Now before you start saying anything, I want you to hear me out."
With that Willow and Buffy sat back down and prepared to listen. Oz being Oz, hadn't even moved a muscle. Cordelia wasn't looking all that happy, but figuring that Giles at least included her for once, decided to let him speak his peace. Xander being the only one who had expected this, looked almost as laid back as Oz.
"The reason for wanting to train you is this. Considering the situation we are going to be in, there are going to be a lot of innocents, parents, teachers and students. This means that at lot of different things will be going on and we might lose sight of each other. Seeing as almost all of us will be playing a leading role, I want to be sure you can handle yourselves. Since Buffy will be occupied with the Mayor, she will not be able to keep an eye on you and there will most likely be at least one moment in which you'll be on your own. As for Willows' magic, casting spells takes time. Time you may not have if the situation is going to be as hectic as I expect. And no offend to your skills Willow, you simply do not have the skill or the arsenal to make sure your spells will not hurt any innocents. Trying to accomplish that will only take more time, in which one of the Mayors' underlings may get to you."
Looking at Willow, Giles saw that the redhead was at least considering his words and was trying to figure out what to decide.
"As for Oz, while your status as a werewolf does increase your physical skills, a trained fighter will still be able to take you out of the fight if not permanently then at least temporary. Considering you will most likely be in the thick of the fight, I think it wise to increase your fighting as much as we can in the little bit of time we have left."
The only sign of Oz taking Giles' words for consideration was the smallest of changes in his facial expression.
"Cordelia, even though I have to admit to not really taking you into consideration in some of our previous situations and considering your probable desire to be as far away from the fighting as possible. I also what a brave young lady you are. I know that if push comes to shove, you will be in the middle of things trying to keep your fellow students from harm. As such I want to give you the best chance possible of pulling through, because I for one would hurt if anything should happen to such a fine young lady."
At this Cordelia looked at the older Englishman and fought back a tear caused by the sentiment she heard in his voice. Deciding to continue before anyone could start to say anything, Giles prepared to move on to his next target, namely Xander. Xander in the mean time was impressed with Giles' arguments. Figuring that the others would have a hard time saying no the extra training. Having already decided to start training, Xander was looking forward to see how Giles would be selling his need for extra training.
"Since our plan, as it is, will depend largely on Xander remembering enough details and skills from his soldier possession. My hope is that helping his body remember its fighting skills, this will trigger his mind to also start remembering all that it had learned. And as Xander will be in charge of the rest of the students, we will need to have his tactical and command skills to be at their best. Also as we all know, Xander, like Cordelia, will not allow an innocent to get hurt while he is able to do something about it, he will need his fighting skills. Before any of you say anything, remember this. The Mayor has been ruling this town for close to a century, as such he is well connected and he should know our group and thus the way we operate. Add Faith to this and he has an even better view of our capabilities. And if he knows, his minions know. So it will be fairly certain that they will concentrate on subduing our efforts to stop their master."
After several moment it Buffy who decided it was time to break the silence.
"And what will I'll be doing while train these guys?"
"Well, I assumed you'd be helping me train your friends. If that is not to your liking however there is always some research that you can take care of."
That statement earned him one of Buffy's famous death stares. It however wasn't as effective as usual since the other had to do their best not to start laughing.
"Seriously though Buffy, I will need your help. That is of course if you all decide you actually want the training." Giles said looking over the others at the table.
This time it was Xander to answer first.
"You know me G-man. Anything to help me kick more demon butt and make sure they don't use me as their personal punching bag is ok with me. One question though. I'm not going to be Buffy's punching bag now, am I?" Looking at Buffy as he said this, he couldn't stop the small shiver down his back as he saw a mischievous smile appear on her face.
"While it will be true that most likely you will be getting better acquainted with the mats in the gym at the hands of Buffy. It will be focused on developing your skills not Buffy's ability to toss you around. And you will probably spend more time training with me and each other, than go against Buffy." Giles explained to Xander and the rest of the group.
Looking at the table, one could see some kind of silent communication happening between the people sitting there. As it appeared that they finally came to a decision, it was Willow who made it known to the Watcher.
"Ok Giles, we've all agreed that learning how to better protect ourselves is a smart think to do. However we do have some question. First, when are we going to start? Second, how will it affect our research and patrolling?"
"Ah yes, good of you asking? Since today is Thursday, I was going to suggest we start this weekend. Since if access to school we can use the school gym. After that I figured that twice a week, more if you so desire. The days not spend for training can than be used for research and group patrols. Buffy unfortunately this will mean that on those training days, you will not have the support of the others during your patrol. Since the training will not be as exerting to you as it will to the others, I think you'll still be able to patrol. You might want to contact Angel and ask him to assist you if you so desire. If you come across him you could ask him if he would be willing to help with the training. Despite everything else he is, he is an accomplished fighter and could do well in helping the other prepare. Now if that is all we can back to work. I have one change to tonight's patrol though. I would like to keep Xander here, so he and I can look in how best to jog his soldier memories. So tonight's patrol will be Buffy, Oz, Willow and Cordelia if she wants."
Being satisfied with the answer the group decided to indeed get back to work. Later when they decided to split for dinner and end their research session, Cordelia excused herself and mentioned that she wouldn't be there for patrol.
That evening after Buffy, Willow and Oz had left for patrol, Giles went get the book and the notes he had made concerning the new entries he had read.
"Xander, since I still have some phone calls to make concerning our work on the book, I would like it if you went trough to book. While you're doing that, you might want to check my notes and see if I missed anything and maybe add to them."
"Ok G-man, you're the boss."
As Xander grabbed the book, Giles returned to his office in order to make the phone calls he hadn't got to during the day. Back at the table Xander started reading.
While his infiltrations skills, the savior's humanity will be threatened. To rescue of his humanity as those of the rescued innocents will require a cleansing of the life giving fluids.
After checking to see if anything needed to be added to Giles' notes. After finding that, as he expected, nothing needed to be added, Xander continued reading the book.
The savior's sense of duty to his cause will conflict with his loyalty to The Chosen One and his lifelong friend when they face the Scourge for their final conflict. For the sake of humanity, duty must win over loyalty to safe the day."
As he expected when looking at the notes, Giles had several questions. Deciding that it would take to long to write down an explanation, Xander simply made a mental note to be prepared for the questions when Giles returned. He wasn't too worried about the watcher's reaction. If anyone would understand his reasoning, it would be Giles. That decided, he returned to the book.
The departure of the Chosen One will test his determination to his chosen path. With the assistance of the Watcher, the Lycanthrope, the Witch and his Love, he will defend the innocents living on the mouth of hell until the return of The Chosen One.
Seeing no reason to check the notes as this entry was pretty self-explaining, Xander kept reading.
While being ousted by The Chosen One, The Savior will save the life of The Dark Slayer from the sisterhood. After losing his innocence to the Dark Slayer, he will defend the defenders of The Mouth of Hell from the decaying undead.
* Uh Oh, gonna have to do some fast talking to get me out of that mess. * Xander thought. His thoughts were confirmed when he saw the number of questions Giles had written down on his notepad. While doing this he also noticed that Giles had just three more entries he'd written down. Xander decided to tackle those three entries in one go.
The savior's attempt to stop The Dark Slayer's descend into darkness will fall on deaf ears. The attempt of the one with the face of an angel will fail at the hands of the junior watcher.
* No wonder Giles tossed this into the fantasy section. This isn't a book of prophecies. This is someone taking snapshots of my life and putting to on paper. I'm just glad they didn't write that Angel sorta saved my life here. *
Subterfuge to discover the plans of the ancient town ruler will endanger his life when he appears at the wrong place at the wrong time.
* I'd almost forgot about that. Guess I don't own him one for saving my life from Faith after all. *
The Savior's skills as a warrior and as a leader to his peers, as well as his knowledge of destruction will be key in saving the day from the ancient town ruler's journey's end.
* Guess that brings us to the here and now, and considering this isn't the end of the book, I'm guessing we'll pull through this. I wonder if we should tell the other about this, since it at least gives us the beginning of a plan. I'll just have to wait till just comes back and see what he has to say. *
As Xander sat at the table waiting for Giles to return he started thinking about what else he would need to discuss with Giles. He figured that after Giles' questions about the book, they'd probably try to figure what remained from his possessions. He also started to wonder if Giles could get another copy of the book, so he could check what the future had in store for him, without disturbing the research about the book. He figured since the book had already given him a small idea about how to handle the Ascension, it might help prepare for future situations. And since the author apparently also took an interest in his love life, he might avoid some bad situations there as well. Just because the book had them in it, didn't mean they had to come true. After all it wasn't called Destroyer of Prophecies for nothing. Having nothing else to do, Xander sat back and waited for Giles to reappear.
Fifteen minutes later Giles finally came out of his office and sat at the table. He grabbed his notepad to see what Xander might have added after reading the book. Finding only his own handwriting he decided to ask Xander about it.
"Xander you did go over my notes didn't you? Because I can not find any additions."
"Yes Giles, I did. The reason I didn't add anything was that the entries I could add anything to, would take to long to write down. As for the others, there was nothing to add since your notes said it all."
"I see. In that case we had better start with those that needed adding. Let's see, which one was first again? Ah yes, the find against Angelus during the Acathla episode. It says you had to choose between duty and loyalty to Buffy and I presume Willow. Would you care to explain what that meant, exactly?"
"Basically it means, I lied. Just before I came in to get you and Buffy went of to face Angelus, she asked me if Willow had wanted me to say anything to her. I knew Willow was going to try the soul restoration spell again, and that's what she asked me to tell Buffy. When Buffy asked, I told her Willow said to kick his butt."
"Might I ask why you did this?"
"Buffy has already shown to have difficulties separating Angel from Angelus. This time she was finally starting to see that even if the had the same face, they were to completely different people. I wasn't going to screw that up and send her in there and be of her game again with what was riding on her stopping Angelus. As for Willow casting the spell. Willow had already tried the spell while she was in good health and prepared to do spell, and she failed. Now she thought she could do while just coming out off a coma? I didn't think so. And even if she did manage to pull it of, who said she was going to pull it off in time to stop Angelus from opening Acathla? As it turned out, even with Buffy going full-out at Angelus she barely managed to defeat him. I don't think we'd be sitting here if I'd told her the truth."
While Xander was going through his explanation, Giles was busy adding to his notes. While listening to the boy, he found himself agreeing with him and thought he should tell him so.
"I see. I have to say I agree with your decision concerning this. You do realize though that should the girls find out about this they'll assume you did it for different reasons. Reasons such as jealousy? We all know you have or should I say had feelings for Buffy."
"I'll admit I had feelings for Buffy. I still do, they're just not romantic feelings anymore. Besides I was with Cordy, any feelings I still might have had were overruled by my feelings for Cordy. And even if I wasn't with Cordy, I wasn't going to risk the world on the of chance that Willow managed to pull of the spell and have Buffy be able to stall Angelus long enough for the spell to take effect. If that would have cost me their friendship, I still wouldn't change a thing."
See that as far that, as Xander was concerned, the matter was closed and having nothing to add, Giles went back to his notes to find the other case he wanted to ask Xander about. Finding the right notes, he started to question Xander about them.
"I presume you losing innocence to Faith is a reference to you sleeping with her."
"Giles, you know a gentleman doesn't kiss and tell."
*Especially if that gentleman is kicked out of the room in nothing but his boxers afterwards. *
"And while I am no gentleman, I don't either. In my defense however, you know my brain tends to go on vacation when a beautiful, strong woman shows an interest in me. And Faith definitely falls into that category. Add teenage hormones to that and my chances of saying no are almost non-existing. Seeing how things turned out it would have been better if I turned her down, maybe then she would have believed me when I told her I was her friend after Finch's dead. I guess we all failed her in the end."
"Yes quiet. What I meant to ask was, how did you defend us, what's this mention of decaying undead and what the bloody hell were you doing out anyway?"
With that Xander gave a recap of what had happened during the night the sisterhood of the Jhe decided to try and open the hellmouth and how he managed to prevent them from being blown up.
Amazed at the determination, even though he had seen signs of it before, and grateful for the stubbornness of the boy, Giles was busy cleaning his glasses in an attempt to order his thoughts. Having finally done so he started to speak.
"It appears the decision to try and have remember your soldier memories just became even more important. If you had had them during that period, you might not have needed the zombie to dismantle the bomb. That and the last entry about dealing with the mayor in the book, shows that we might need the soldier experience with demolitions."
"About that last entry, Giles. Do you think we should tell the girls about and if we do, how are we going to hide me being prophecy boy now?"
"Since we are still looking for other ways of dealing with the mayor, it might be best if we develop this as a plan B. We'll see how to present it to the others should the need arise, later."
"Ok, now if we're finished with the book, I have a couple of questions."
After receiving a confirming nod, Xander continued.
"Is it possible to get another copy of the book. I'd like to take one with me on my road trip if we survive graduation that is and I don't want to stop your research by taking it without you having another one. Second, any luck with the phone calls."
"I think I should be able to have another copy delivered. As to the phone calls, I have had a little bit of success. It appears that the council decided to do some research into to book after all. However without any real leads they haven't had any real success deciphering it, they did however find some other references to the book and are currently looking into that. Because of the time difference I haven't contacted them yet. Concerning your training in order to jog your memory I've also had some success. It appears the former trainer of the Watcher retrieval teams had a falling out with the Council about treating the Slayers as tools and decided to leave. He and I are old acquaintances. He offered me some me ideas on how to start your training and since he is now living in the US is willing to further your training, if you so desire. I also asked some people to find out anything about your unique relation with magic, as book the book called it."
"If you're sure we can trust this guy, we could look into it after graduation. About the council, you're not gonna tell them about me are you. Because I don't feel like being their guinea pig."
"I would never do that. Now if you don't have any other questions I suggest we do some research on the Ascension before the other return from patrol."
"I know Giles, and your right. We'd better started on looking on how to stop the mayor."
With that the two grabbed some books and started researching.
That Saturday morning Giles and Xander arrived early at the school in order to get everything ready before the others showed up at and to discuss some points of aftereffects of his passions. So while they were preparing the gym, they discussed Xander's possessions.
"About your Hyena possession, what side effect have you noticed, besides remembering everything that is?" Giles asked as he placed another mat on the floor.
"Well, I noticed that I'm a bit faster then I used to be, but that can just be the result of having fought vampires for about three years now. That's probable also the case with the amount of damage I can take. Being tossed around for three years cold make you get used a lot more then you usually do. The thinks I'm certain about though are an increase of my senses and I seem to heal faster than I used to. Not as fast as Buffy, but still faster than normal." Xander replied, doing the same.
"What about your soldier possession. What have you retained from that?" Giles asked in order to get the right information to pass on to his contacts as to how best to train Xander.
"In the begin, almost everything. Now though it's mostly basic training stuff. I can take a couple of different guns and rifles apart pretty quick. Putting them back together takes longer though. I know militairy procedures, I know how to make a bed according to army regulations, I can march with the best of them and I can spit shine your boots extremely well. Fighting skills, I don't remember. I know he knew a lot of them, but I don't remember them."
"Well, the reason we're here is to increase those fighting skill and hopefully have them trigger your other memories. From what my contacts say, that is as good a way as any to try and accomplish this." Giles said reassuringly.
"I just hope they're right. I could handle this when I was just the normal guy. I didn't have to be that good of a fighter. It was enough if I could just distract the bad guys until one of the fighters could get to them. I don't think that will be the case with me being prophecy boy now. So what are you gonna teach us anyway? I don't think what you teach Buffy will work for most of us."
"You are quit right it's not. Since Buffy's physical strength is equal or greater than that of the vampires and demons she usually fights, her training is focused on using that strength. As you and the others do not have that advantage, we'll be concentrating on the more defensive martial arts. Since those use your opponents' strength against him, I think those are more suited to you. I'm thinking of using Tai Chi for warm up and down. For the main stuff I was thinking of Aikido. And at the end, just before graduation, I was thinking to top it of with dirty fighting according to Ripper. I'm also going to try a train you to fight as a real team. As it is now, you tend to get into each others way, regularly."
With that they ended their discussion and continued to prepare the gym for the arrival of the others.
Fifteen minutes later they had just finished when Buffy, Cordelia, Willow and Oz entered the gym together. After Buffy informing them that Angel would also be showing up the decided to wait for him and to make sure al windows were blinded so it would be safe for the vampire. When he showed up five minutes later, Giles had the group start stretching.
When they finished stretching, Giles lead all but Angel in a half hour of Tai Chi. Buffy off course got the hang of it quickly and copied Giles' movements almost perfectly. Cordelia also did remarkably well. Apparently dodging teenage boys and cheerleader practice helped a lot. After Xander stop concentrating to hard on copying Giles and just let the movements flow, he found that the moves came easier to him. It appeared that even if he didn't know the moves, his body did. Oz had some difficulties, but nothing that couldn't be overcome. Willow having never been physically inclined had the most trouble with performing the moves and almost decided to quit several times. Only Giles' arguments that the Tai Chi at least could be of help to her spell casting by helping her improve her concentration and focus, stopped her. To ensure she would also continue with the Aikido, Giles reminded her that with a better physical condition, the amount, strength and difficulty of her spells could grow as well.
After their warm-up Giles showed them some Aikido takedowns and had them pairing off. Buffy against Cordelia, Oz against Angel and Xander against Willow. After several minutes of this Giles showed them a different exercise and had them pair off again. That was also the time Buffy decided to ask him why he had never showed her these moves before.
"Giles? Why is it that you never taught me these move before? They could have been useful during patrol."
"The reason I haven't is that you strength wise you are on equal footing with vampires. As such it hardly ever occurs that your overpowered, like normal humans. So teaching you how to use an opponent's strength against himself wasn't that important. That and studies of the way slayers fight have shown that you prefer to go with strength instead of finesse. However is you wish to include this in your regular training, I will oblige."
"Hey, if it helps me take out vamps faster and not exert myself to much, definitely."
With that they got back to the exercise and that's how they continued the rest of the day and the rest of the time they had before graduation. During that time Buffy, Cordelia and Xander had almost mastered Giles' teachings and Oz and Willow became real proficient. In Xander's case this was due to a case of relearning more than learning something new. During that time Giles's had also noticed Xander's speed was greater than just that of someone who had gotten used to fighting opponents faster then him. His endurance was also greater than normal. While Cordelia, Willow and Oz were exhausted and the end of a training session, Buffy and Angel of course showed no effect, he was just a little winded. This fact of course didn't go unnoticed by the others, but was quickly dismissed by him and Giles by saying that hanging around with Buffy must have helped. Even though the group in general wasn't affected by the Sunnydale condition of dismissing strange thinks, it was more orientated to the big problems. As far as small, insignificant problems concerned, it still had an occasional effect on them and did in this case. The fact that graduation was just a couple of days ahead might have helped as well. That and the fact that they had just finished the lessons on dirty fighting according to Ripper. And boy, were they glad Giles had brought out the training dummies for that lessons.
As for the research about the book, no real progress had been made. Giles did order another copy of it though and expected it arrive just a couple of days after graduation. Xander had decided to cut is road trip short and take Giles' friend offer of training after he found that Giles' lessons really helped him. Since he wanted to be ready for anything the book could throw at him, he would need more training. And why ignore someone who was offering to do what he wanted anyway. So Giles had made an appointment for Xander to meet his friend somewhere in the middle of June. This gave Xander the opportunity to have close to four weeks for his road trip, in which he at least could meet some of goals concerning his voyage of exploration of America.
Several days after the graduation Battle, Giles, Buffy, Willow and Xander were standing in Giles' living room, ready to sent Xander off on his road trip.
"So remember we want presents when you get back or if you don't find anything pictures will do. And don't forget to call." Willow said with Buffy nodding along to show she agreed with the redhead.
"I'll try, but knowing my cash flow I don't if I'll manage. And yes I'll keep in contact. Now I've got to get going if I want to make my first stop before nightfall and find a decent place to sleep." Xander replied, while walking to door.
Giles was waiting at the door and when Xander arrived he stepped outside with him and handed him a package.
"Here is your copy of the book. It arrived late last night. I also included some other things you might need on your journey. As to your meeting, my friend said that anywhere in the third week of June would be fine. His contact number is in the package. He said he expected you work for him as compensation for the training he'll give you. He also mentioned that working for him might help you with your little problem." Giles said with a sneaky smile.
"What problem?" Xander asked nervously, as had seen Giles'smile.
"Why, your problem with beautiful strong women showing interest in you of course, my boy." Giles answered, his smile getting wider.
"Giles? What have you gotten me into? Xander asked, getting even more nervous.
"You will find out when you meet him. Now weren't you in a hurry to leave?" Giles said, not answering the question.
Seeing that he wouldn't get anything out of the former Watcher, Xander decide not to worry about. He had four weeks before, meeting Giles' friend. He was going to enjoy those weeks and worry about what Giles had done later. As was getting into his car, the girls also appeared outside ready to wave him off. With them waving him of he set course for Las Vegas.
His travel plans for the four weeks, was to visit Vegas, The Grand Canyon, Salt Lake City, Yosemite National Park, San Francisco, making a quick stop at LA before going to Oxnard and meet Giles' friend to continue his training.
He had put away some money to try and win some money in Vegas and hopefully increase his spending money, if he lost he'd still have enough to continue his trip. If anything serious happened he could always get a temporary job. The Grand Canyon was on his agenda because he figured that you couldn't take a road trip in this part of the country and not go and see the Grand Canyon.
Salt Lake City, because he wanted to try some snowboarding in the place where the 2002 winter Olympics were going to be held. Even if it was spring, he figured there would be still be somewhere he could do some snowboarding. He had always wanted to try snowboarding, but since Sunnydale wasn't exactly to best place for that, he had taken up skateboarding. Since he hadn't done any skateboarding since meeting Buffy, he was going to make to most of his time in Salt Lake City.
Yosemite he was going to use to try and train his Hyena senses as well as see if he could trigger some of the soldiers' survival training. San Francisco was just for fun. LA because he had decided to tell Angel the truth about his part in sending him to Hell. He had figured that if he was going to be prophecy boy, sooner or later he might need the vampire's help. In that case it would be best if they had laid any problems between them aside, instead of them coming out at the worst possible times. With that on his mind he turned on his radio and settled in for the drive to Vegas.
Xander was tired when he drove onto the parking area of the motel he would spend the night. The drive to Vegas had been tiring, the search for a cheap motel before dark even more so. He had only just succeeded and already saw the sun beginning to set. Xander was looking for to an hour or two of sleep, before exploring the Vegas nightlife.
One of the good things of having some of the soldiers' abilities return, was the ability to fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow and to wakeup wide awake in a moments notice. The downside of that was the tendency to wakeup before the crack of dawn. Only by combining these abilities was he able to sleep in at least a little.
Unfortunately fifteen minutes after had laid his head down and hand dozed off, a nearby scream woke him. With a stake in hand he concentrated on his hearing waiting to see if the scream was an isolated incident or if someone might need some help. When he heard a second scream , he grabbed his coat and set off in searching of whoever was in trouble. His coat had his usual patrol kit in it, consisting of several stakes and bottles of holy water. Just because he wasn't on the hellmouth didn't mean he would be caught unprepared.
Although he was prepared for vampires he hoped it wasn't anything supernatural he would be dealing with. If it was humans he was going to have to deal with, he knew he could deal with a small group. The training Giles had given him as well as his sparring sessions with Buffy and Angel had showed this.
When a third scream sounded he was just a couple a feet from the alleyway it came from. Walking into the alleyway he saw a group of five men surrounding two women and a sixth member standing back a little, just watching. Xander decided to make his move before.
"Is this a private party, or can just anyone bust it up?" Xander asked in as tough a voice as he could manage.
Hearing his voice the men surrounding the girls looked up surprised and stared at him. The guy standing alone just observed him quietly. Xander figured him to be the leader, a fact that was confirmed when he opened his mouth to address Xander.
"What if it is and you do you think you are?" the lone guy said, still observing Xander with a critical eye.
"Me, I'm nobody. I'm just hear because I don't like guys who can't figure out that when a lady says no, she means NO." Xander said nonchalantly. He was getting weird vibes from the leader. They reminded him of what it felt like when he was facing vamps. The really weird thing was that he only got that feeling from the leader and not any of the other gang members. Since he had never known vamps to go out hunting with humans along for the ride, he dismissed that option. He'd still keep an eye on him though, but first he had to try and get some guys away from the two women. So far he hadn't been able to get a good look at them. He just hoped they weren't hurt.
"So how do you want this to go down? You want to start with me or do I need to take out your flunkies first?" Xander asked, trying to look bored trying to indicate that the choice didn't matter to him.
"Oh I think it best if I let them have a little fun?" the leader answered confidently.
"So what are guys waiting for? GET HIM! If you make it quick I might grant one of you that wish you guys wanted."
At that three of the gang members rushed Xander. When the first one of them started to take a swing at him, Xander was amazed at how slow they moved compared to the things he usually fought. This however didn't stop him from dodging the move and use one of the Aikido moves Giles had taught him to spin the goon around a couple of times, before dropping him to the floor and knocking him out with one punch.
While Xander was on his knees after having punched the first goon out, a second tried to kick his head in. Xander deflected the kick upward while immediately following it op with leg sweep bringing the second gang member down hard. Another kick to the head took the second gang member out of the game as well.
Seeing how fast Xander had taken out his buddies, the third guy got cautious. The leader however got furious at shouted at the other to gang members to get involved.
"What are you two waiting for?! Get in there! Those bitches won't be going anywhere, so get him!"
With that the two remaining thugs shoved the women aside. One of them however had pushed so hard that the woman he had been holding tripped and hid her head hard enough against a garbage container to knock her out. The other woman was beside her immediately to check on her and thus making her unable to watch the rest of the fight.
Xander in the mean time had taken out the third goon and was waiting to take out the other two before seeing what the leader would do. Having seen how easily Xander had taken out their friends, they decided to rush him together and hoped they'd be able to take him out that way. Xander easily dodged the attack and even managed to grab hold of one and forcing him into his buddy hard. He followed that up with a kick to legs, focusing on the knees. After all, as Ripper would say, an enemy who can't stand up properly can't fight properly.
Returning his attention to the other thug, Xander deflected a punch. Faking a punch to the head, Xander surprised his opponent with a hard hit to the gut, followed by a knee to face knocking him out. A side kick to the head of the other thug left just the leader.
"Look like I'll have to take you myself." The leader said while pulling out a switchblade.
Seeing the switchblade made Xander watch the leader extra cautiously. This was the reason why he was barely able to dodge the vampire fast strike of the leader. Being prepared for the leader speed now, Xander was able to dodge the next trust, grab the wrist and twist it enough to disarm the leader and smash into the wall. Not being happy about disarmed so easily the leader took a mad wing at Xander, only to be smash into the opposite wall.
Seeing that the leader was still able to fight even after having been smashed hard into a wall twice, Xander was starting to wonder what he was up against.
"What are you? You should at least be a bit groggy after those to hits, so what are you?" Xander asked.
"Guess the secret is out, might as well go full out then." The leader said before vamping out.
"Great, you're a vamp. So what's the deal with hanging around with a human gang?" Xander asked while readying a stake.
"Since you're going be dead soon anyway, I guess I can tell you." The vamp said confidently.
"After I was turned I decided to get a quick bite from my old gang. When I got there our rivals were attacking them. Deciding my old gang wasn't going anywhere I took my bite from the rivals before pounding them into the ground. My old gang only saw the pounding part and decided to crown me as their new leader and asked if I could teach them how I did that. I figured, why not. This way I'd have my own gang to keep a look out for me during the day and which I could drain or turn whenever I wanted. Guess now the time to drain you." The vampire explained.
"Ha, if Angelus was afraid to fight me, what chance do you think you have?" Xander asked smirking.
"You've faced Angelus?" The vampire asked surprised.
"You'd be amazed who you meet living on the hellmouth and fighting alongside the Slayer." Xander said.
"You're from Sunnydale?" the vampire asked a lot less confident.
"Yep, so how about we finish this?" Xander asked.
With that the vampire took a swing at Xander's head, only to not find it as Xander had ducked for a leg sweep. Getting up quickly to vamp tried another swing. A knee to the gut and being smashed it a wall for the third time was his reward.
"That the best you got?" Xander taunted.
Enraged to vampire pushed of from the wall and charged at Xander. Sidestepping the charge Xander spun around at planted his stake in vamp undead heart through the back dusting it.
Since the human members of the gang were still out cold, Xander went to look if the two women were alright.
"Are you two ladies alright?" Xander asked, while getting his first real look at the women. When he did he had to shake his hit to a) make sure he wasn't seeing double and b) make sure he wasn't dreaming, because what he saw, were to identical blue eyed blond knockouts. When he was sure what he saw was real, he couldn't stop staring and his brain turned to mush. As such he hadn't seen the startled way the blond looking after the other looked up at him.
Seeing that he was the one that had come into the alley to help them and not one of the gang members, she relaxed.
"I'm ok, but my sister needs help. Could you help take us somewhere where someone can take a look at her Mr..?" She said.
"…ander, …..is ..ander… …ow….r.. eautiful." Xander mumbled.
"What did you say? I didn't get that" she said.
".. said……ander, …..is ..ander… …ow….r.. eautiful." Xander repeated. His brain still wasn't working correctly as he continued to stare.
Despite the situation and due to the fact that she saw her sister waking up not looking too much worse for wear, she started laughing.
"What's so funny?" her sister asked groggily.
"Nothing, just the fact that the guy that took out those six thugs without sweating just turned into a bumbling pushover after one look at us." She replied.
Looking over at Xander and seeing his expression, her sister couldn't help laughing as well in spite of the throbbing pain in her head.
It took their combined laughter for Xander's brain to register that it still had work to do and making Xander come back to his senses so he could answer the first blondes' original question.
"Eh, sorry about that. As I was saying my name is Xander. And I have a first aid kit at my motel room not far from here if you want to take a better look at your sister. I promise I won't try anything. If you want I can escort you wherever you were going after we take a look at your sister. Or you could call cab if you're more comfortable with that. What do you say?" Xander said sincerely and finally making sense.
"Hi, I think we'll take you up on your offer concerning the first aid kit. Could you help me with my sister here? By the way, I'm Jennifer and she's Jessica." The first blonde said after she stopped laughing.
"I think I can do that, just follow me to my room." Xander said, and moved to help Jessica to her feet.
After a few steps it became clear Jessica was still a bit too much out of it to walk correctly, so Xander decided to just pick her up and carry her to his motel room.
"So do you often save damsels in distress?" Jennifer asked as they were walking.
"You could say that. You see I got this little problem. I can't just standby when someone needs help. Used to get me in real trouble before I learned how to defend myself." Xander answered.
"Well I appreciate it, as I'm sure Jessica does."
"She sure does." Jessica said enjoying the safe feeling being carried in Xanders' arms.
"Hey, I just realized I only saw five guys lying around. What happened to leader? I hope he's not going to be sneaking up on us." Jennifer said.
"Don't worry about him. The only thing I saw of him was the dust he left behind as he ran when he saw what I did to his goons." Xander told them. He figured it best if they didn't know about the things that go bump in the night. Being the victims of some human hoodlums would be stressful enough without throwing in the super-natural.
Some more small talk passed between them before they reached Xanders' motel room. After putting Jessica down for a moment so he could open the door, he led the two blondes in. Moving towards the bed to get the first aid kit he gestured for them to take a seat. After retrieving it he moved to Jessica a started to tend to her.
While he was doing that, Jennifer cast a look across the room. Seeing Xanders' full duffle bag and the general state of the room, she got curious and decided to try and find out more about their rescuer. She hoped it might reveal a way they could thank him properly, even if he had said that it wasn't needed. She knew her twin would be thinking the same thing.
"For the looks of this place, I'd say we caught you at an awkward moment." She said.
"Not really, I only just checked in when I heard your scream, so I didn't really have a change to do anything." Xander answered while still tending to Jessica.
"That not what that bed tells me. From the look of it you were trying to get some sleep and you left in hurry." Jennifer said looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Ok, you caught me. I was trying to get some sleep. The drive here and the search for a motel had wiped me out. But when I heard your scream I went to investigate." Xander answered.
"Well, I'm sorry we disturbed your sleep. But I'm glad you showed up when you did though. So what were you planning to do in Vegas?" Jennifer said looking sorry and happy at the same time.
"Well after graduation I decided to go on a road trip. This is actually my first stop. I was hoping to get lucky at one of the casinos and maybe raise my spending money." Xander told them.
"Shit that reminds me; I'd better call work and tell them we won't be coming. Could I use your phone?" Jennifer asked.
"Sure go ahead, by the way as far as I can see Jessica here is going to be fine. You might still want to go to a doctor though, just to make sure." Xander replied while making room so she could make her call.
While Jennifer was busy on the phone, Xander decided to have a talk with Jessica.
"So what is it you two anyway?" Xander asked.
"We work in a casino. Jen is a dancer and I'm a dealer at the black jack or poker tables." Jessica replied. "If you want we could show you around. It's the least we could do for you saving us. How long are you visiting anyway."
"As I told you, no thanks are necessary. And I'm staying for about a week before going to my next stop." Xander told her.
"In that case we'll be showing you around the sights." Looking over at her sister and seeing her nod, she continued. "And we're not taking no for an answer." She said firmly.
Look at her and then look at Jennifer who had just finished her phone call, he knew he wasn't going to be able to get out of it. Having been in this situation before with Willow and Buffy, he just accepted defeat. Besides he wasn't really sure that he wanted to get of it. There were worse things then being showed the sight by two beautiful women. Those two beautiful women being twins made it even better.
"Ok, since I can see you two mean business, I accept. Now is there anything else I can do for you lovely ladies, drive you to a doctor, escort you to your place or call a cab, just say so." He finally replied.
"That won't be necessary, a friend of us in going to pick us up in a minute and help us from there, but thanks though." Jennifer said, while smiling victoriously. "When she arrives will go so you can get back to getting some rest and we'll call you tomorrow to make plans about sightseeing."
Having nothing else to do for the moment, they returned to small talk while waiting for the girls' friend to show up. When she finally arrived, they said goodbye and promises to call him around noon tomorrow were made. After they left Xander felt too wired to go back to sleep. He knew that if he really wanted to, he just had to lie down and he would be of to dreamland to moment his head hit the pillow thanks to the soldiers' training. Nevertheless he decided he might as well do a little unpacking and then see what was in the pack Giles had given him. So after getting the essential out of his duffle bag and putting them away he grabbed the package and went to sit on the bed.
Opening it, he found the book, an envelope and a twin set of sheathed knives. Taken out the knives he saw they had crosses on the handle as well as on the blades themselves. The blades also had some kind of inscription that he couldn't make out. He also found them well balanced, making them good for throwing and stabbing. Placing the knives back in their sheaths, he decided to open the envelope to see if Giles had written down some explanation for the knives.
When he opened the envelope he not only found a letter, he also found about a thousand dollars in cash. Deciding to leave the money for now, he started reading the letter hoping for an explanation.
Dear Xander,
Please accept the knives as gift. As you have already seen, they are well balanced and have a special inscription. They are made of silver, and the inscription is a strong and unusual blessing, increasing their strength and making it unable for evil to even touch them. According to legend, a demon fighter used them during the time of Alexander the Great. It has been written that they are as effect as stakes when facing vampires. It is also written that any wound they inflict on a demon would be extremely painful to said demon and would not heal easily.
Considering what I read in to book about your road trip, I thought they might be of use to you. I somehow also had the feeling that they were meant for you somehow. About the entries about your road trip, I did not get the feeling that you would encounter anything you couldn't handle adequately without the knives, but why take changes.
As for the money, I know you would never accept it if had tried to hand it to you personally, so I did it this way. I know you have saved enough for your trip and whatever you have planned for it, but it's never wrong to have a little extra just in case. Feel free to do whatever you want with it. If you decide not to use it, know that it is a gift and as such it would be bad matters if you tried to give it back to me.
Good luck and have fun on your journey,
Rupert Giles.
* That sneaky Watcher. This is twice he pulled one over on me. First whatever would happen in Oxnard and now the knives and the money. I'll have to find a way to pay him back. And what did that book have to say about my road trip. I'd better check before I get some sleep. * Xander thought after reading the letter.
So after grabbing the book and paging trough it to find the right page he started reading.
During his journey of exploration, the Savior will face several trials. The ones will be upon his arrival in the city of chance. While there others will test his improved skills.
At the end of his visit to the monument of nature and the strength of water, a native holy man will set him on his way to achieve an inner balance between the different aspects of himself.
* Great even away from the hellmouth I have to fight vamps. I just hope it won't happen when I am out with Jessica and Jennifer. I guess I'd better start taking those knives with me. If I'm going to have to fight vamps while I'm here, I might as well test what they can do.* Xander thought to himself.
"And what does a priest have to do with gaining some kinda inner balance?" He asked himself out loud. "Guess I'll find out when I get to the Grand Canyon."
With that Xander closed the book and started to get ready to finally get some sleep. Before he drifted he remembered he was supposed to call one of the gang to tell him he had arrived safely. Deciding he could call Giles in the morning and to tell them he was alright and thank him for the gift at the same time, he finally drifted off. As he started to sleep his sub-conscience was going over the fact that he'd be fighting several vampires during the week as well as be shown the sight of Las Vegas by a beautiful said of twins. The other his sub-conscience was going over was, how the hell could a priest bring him an inner balance.
All this was giving him several various interesting dreams while he slept. It would be very interesting indeed to see what the next week would bring.
As Xander was driving towards The Grand Canyon's South Rim, he was going through the events of the last week in his mind. After having called Giles the next morning and had gotten a very worried Willow instead he had spent a very enjoyable day and evening with Jessica and Jennifer. That evening he had also met the twins' boyfriends and they had been very grateful he had been around to save their girlfriends. He had been a little disappointed that the twins had boyfriends, but then again I wasn't looking for romance. I when he thought about, it would be very unlikely that two women as beautiful as they were would be single.
The end result had been that instead of having two guides he now had four. While the twins showed him the standard sights, their boyfriends showed him some that might be a bit more of interest to men. He had also visited the casino the girls worked at and had enjoyed himself immensely. Not only had he been able to increase his spending money for his trip by eight grand, he had also enjoyed the show in which Jennifer was performing as well as her invitation to meet him backstage to meet some of her fellow dancers and friend.
As for the money he had been up ten thousand dollars but then the management decided to change dealers on him and Jessica had taken over. Her presence as well as the small talk they engaged in caused him to lose the extra two thousand before he realized it. When he did he had decided to quit while he was ahead.
The backstage visit after show had been one of the best moments of his life. If he died now, the memory of that night alone would be enough to keep him happy no matter where his soul would end up. The dreams he had had about the girls locker room at school, were noting compared the reality of his backstage visit. Seeing all those women, all beautiful and all in a different state of dress was enough to make him think he had died and gone to heaven. The fact they all hugged him to thank him for saving their friends was just icing on the cake.
All this good luck of course didn't go unpunished as had had to fight several more vampires during that week. The plus side of those fights though was that he gained more confidence in his own skills and that he found out that his new knives worked even better than advertised. He had seen several of the vampires screaming their lungs out with pain after he had cut them in the leg or somewhere else with his knives. He also had the scare of his life when during one particular fight had lost his grip on one of the knives after staking a vampire due to another vampire smashing into him. He had feared the knife would dust with the vampire as he was used to with the weapons they usually used to kill a vampire. When, after the fight, he found it still lying there still as good as new, he thanked whichever god was powering the blessing. Although he knew Giles would have understood the situation, he didn't want to see the look on the face of the Watcher should he have lost such a priceless possession.
The one thing that still bothered him though, was that he still couldn't figure out how a priest would be able to help him gain an inner balance. An annoyance that was increased by Giles' statement of going for it, if his guess about what it meant was right. And a guess that the Watcher just wouldn't elaborate on. He was becoming a little bit annoyed with the Watcher's sneaky behavior and promised himself he would get his own back on the Watcher.
One good thing about his phone calls with Giles though was that the Watcher's contacts had been able to get some more information about his power. More precisely they had found the reason why he and magic generally didn't really mix. It appeared that for any spell with him as a central part of the spell to work properly, it had to be cast by at least two people. Even then those two had to be skilled relatively well for it to work, that is unless he somehow lend them a hand. The reason his possessions had worked was because he hadn't been the focus of the spells, and that's why his magic defenses hadn't worked. The reason the love spell went haywire was because he had been a large part of the spell. Because he didn't know about his powers his automatic defenses perceived it as a threat and that's why they had interfered. That the end result would turn out more dangerous than the original intention had not been taken into consideration.
Another advantage of his magic resistance also meant that unless the wielder was extremely powerful or there indeed were two of them, it would be very hard to kill him using spells targeting him specifically. Add to that the fact that any spells that could hurt him would have to be fairly powerful and that those spells worked differently depending on what kind of magic one used. It meant that just having two magic users targeting him didn't necessarily mean they would be succeed, unless they knew exactly what they were doing. If the two practiced the same kind of magic though, he would be toast.
While all this was going through his head, he had been passing several road signs directing him to the South Rim as well as some of the Indian reservations in the neighborhood. Suddenly after passing yet another road sign he pulled over and started banging his head on the steering wheel.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid. I am such a moron!" He shouted to himself while he continued banging his head. When after several minutes he stopped, he leaned back and sighed.
* No wonder Giles was so smug.* he thought. He should have figured the book didn't mean a Christian or Catholic priest. It specifically said a native holy man, and not just holy man. The book probably meant some important Indian shaman or something. He should have figured this out long ago, because on deciding what to do on his road trip, he checked what preparations he would need to make, when he visited the Grand Canyon. He had come across several mentions of the different Indian village in the neighborhood, so he could really kick himself for not figuring this out sooner. After he had calmed himself, he got back on the road and continued on his way. He did make a mental note to ask about any Indian holy man in the neighborhood before he left for Salt Lake City.
A short time later Xander drove onto the parking lot from which he could take a shuttle bus to the Information Plaza. At the Information Plaza he checked if his reservation for a half-day whitewater rafting was still ok, which it was. He also paid his entrance fee as well as for his camping permit and for the one night he'd be spending here.
After his realization, Xander had changed his plans during the remainder of his drive here. He figured the shaman would probably need quite some time to do whatever he was going to do. So since he was on a tight schedule he would skip the extra days of hiking and camping he had planned and just go see the shaman sooner. Hopefully his schedule wouldn't be upset too much and he wouldn't have to cut some of his visit short.
After getting his permits, he went to the village market place to get some better hiking and camping gear. Although he did have his own tent and sleeping back with him, he figured that since he did earn some extra spending money in Vegas, he might as well use it the get some better gear. It wouldn't just be useful here, but also in Yosemite.
As the time for the whitewater rafting was still a couple of hours away, Xander grabbed his new gear and went in search of a good spot to make camp and view to sunset and sunrise the next morning. When he had found an ideal spot about two hours, he quickly set up camp and had quick bite after finishing. Remember his promise to the girls about picture, he grabbed his camera and took some pictures of his camp and the view of the Canyon. He marked to spot from where he had taken the shot of the Canyon. He was planning to take some more pictures from the exact same spot at sundown and sunup so the girls could see what the view was like at different times of the day. Checking the time, he saw it was time to head back for the whitewater rafting and prepared to have some fun.
When Xander returned to his camp just an hour before sundown, he was exhausted. He was even too tired to eat. The only thing stopping him from going to sleep was the promise he had made himself to take the picture at sundown.
The next morning found Xander practicing his Tai Chi in wait of sunrise so he could take his pictures. He had eaten some Twinkies before starting in an effort to concur the nervous feeling he had about meeting the shaman. The Twinkies however didn't have the desired effect so he decided he might as well do some training and maybe the Tai Chi would work. What was making him nervous was that he didn't know what to expect assuming the book meant that he'd meet the shaman here and that his change of plans hadn't messed things up.
When sunrise arrived he took pictures, broke up camp and began his one-hour hike back to the information plaza. There he immediately went to the first information desk about the nearby Indian reservations. When he arrived he found two young Indian men standing there ready to answer anyone's questions. Deciding to just get it over with he stepped up to desk.
"Hi, this might sound like a crazy question, but you wouldn't happen to know if there's some kind of Indian holy man in any of the reservation around here, would you?"
The answer to his question wasn't anything he expected, because as soon as he had finished his question, one of the young men let out a groan and started to frown while the other started to really grin and hold out his hand. The frowning one then reached for his wallet, slipped out a twenty and handed it over.
"Eh, what's going on?" Xander asked, looking confused. "I didn't mean to offend you or anything."
"It's alright." The smiling one said. "It's just that we've been expecting you and we had a bet about when exactly you would show up. I won. Oh, by the way my name is John and his name Thomas."
"Nice to meet you. You've been expecting me? How did you do that? I didn't even know I was going to do this until a couple of days ago." Xander said, still looking confused.
"It's like this. About a week ago our shaman called for us and told us to expect someone about two days from now, asking questions about him. He also told us to take that person to him as soon as possible. Then yesterday I suddenly said that that someone would turn up today. Since we've known him that's the first time he ever changed the date of one of his prediction. That's way we made a bet. I figured the new date would be correct, Thomas thought it would be to original date." John explained.
"Ok, but that still doesn't explain how he knew I'd be coming and how he changed the date the exact day I changed my mind about asking about this." Xander said.
"Kid, that's something we stopped asking about along time ago, when we were still kids." Joe said, looking over at Thomas who shook his head in agreement. "So kid, you ready to go to the Havasupai Reservation."
"I guess so. How much for the permits?" Xander asked.
"Kid, since our shaman is expecting you, you're considered our guest and everything has already been arranged for you, so no charge." Thomas said. "Now before we go take the helicopter to the reservation, I have to ask you to hand over any weapons you may be carrying. We don't allow them on the reservation."
"All my weapons are in my coat over there, except for these to knives." Xander said, while placing his coat and the knives on the information desk. "I don't really care about the weapons in my coat, but does knives were a gift and they have a very special meaning to me. If anything happens to them I'm going to be really pissed off."
"We understand. Don't worry, your weapons will be coming with you in a safe box. It's just that we don't allow anyone we don't know to carry a weapon on the reservation." John said trying to reassure Xander about his weapons. "So if you're ready we can go." He said, indicating the way to the helicopter pad.
After a short flight they landed about a mile away from the village and hiked the rest of the way. When they arrived at the village John went ahead to inform the shaman and the tribal council of their arrival, leaving Xander in the meeting hall.
When John returned, an older man accompanied him. The older man was wearing a faded pair of jeans and a Metallica T-shirt.
"Xander. I'd like you to meet our shaman James TwoEagles. James this is our guest Xander Harris." John introduced the two.
"Hello Alexander, I've been expecting you." James said.
"Hi, I've got to say you don't look anything like I expected and how did you know my real name and how did you know to expect me?" Xander asked.
"Let me guess, you expected me to wear some moccasins, feathers and a mask. If it'll make feel any better you can always call me Cunning Fox. As to how I know your name. Let's just say I know quite a bit about you. Now however isn't the time to go into that, maybe we can talk about it a bit later?" James replied, smiling.
"Ok, we'll leave that for later, but I do want to know how you did all that. So now that we're both here, what exactly are we gonna be doing and how will that help me." Xander asked.
"First we are going to pay our respects to the tribal council and than you and I are going to do some camping together. When we're there we'll deal with your problem and I'll tell how we'll continue. One more thing, when we're before the council let me do the talking. If anything should come up that you have questions about, save them till later and I'll do my best to answer them later." James said with a serious expression. "So if you're ready, we can get started."
With that the walked over to the building where the Tribal Council held its gathering. When the walked in the seven members looked up and waited for them to take their places.
"I see your guest is here, James. Are you sure this is the right person, that he really is ally to the Slayer?" The leader of the Council asked James, while getting a confused look from Xander.
"He is, his aura and the weapons he was carrying confirm this." James replied.
"In that case I think we had better let you and young Alexander go on about your business. As you have said, he probably doesn't have a lot of time to learn what you have to teach him before he must continue on his journey." With that the leader of the council gave them permission to leave.
Outside Xander was full of questions and decided to at least get some answers.
"Ok, I can deal with me having to be here for some reason, I'm even ok with you knowing my name. But what was all that and what do you know about me and the Slayer?" Xander asked slightly frustrated with everything and not knowing how to handle it.
"I see you're not denying knowing the Slayer." James said. "I assume you're familiar with slayer dreams and the fact that slayers have been around for quite a while." Seeing Xander confirm his statement with a nod, James continued.
"We here have known about the slayer for a long time, we've even had some of them chosen from our tribe. The members of the tribal council have always known about demons and others of their kind. Living in harmony with nature as we used to, it's hard not to. The tribes' shaman has always the closest connection to this. As such I also have prophetic dreams similar to those of the Slayer. That's how we knew about you." James explained.
"Ok, that explains that, but what did he mean about me not having a lot of time to learn whatever it is you're going to teach me?" Xander questioned.
"What he meant, was that we're aware that you wanted to see a bit of the US before going to harder part of your training to be the Savior of Man. It was his way of telling me not to use the long way of explaining and take up too much of your time." James told him.
"Ok, so what are gonna do now?" Xander asked grinning.
"Now we're going to do some hiking to the spot where I can teach you what you need to learn to achieve an understanding between you and whatever's remaining from your possessions. Oh and your weapons will be returned to you. You most likely won't need them, but it's better to be safe nonetheless." James said.
With that they set for the edge of the village where Xander was given his weapons back just as James had promised and where Xander could collect his camping equipment. With Xander having collected is stuff they went on their way.
During their walk James asked Xander some questions about his possessions and his feelings about them. He had to know if Xander's feelings towards his possessions might interfere with what he was planning.
Xander of course asked his own questions, mainly to find out what James knew about him and his friends, exactly. And some to see if James knew anything about the origin of the book, which James didn't.
When James finally told Xander they'd arrived at the place where he was going to teach him, Xander found himself looking at Havasu Falls. Going down to pond at the bottom of the falls they entered a cave in which they would spend most of their time there.
After a bit of rest James decided to start with what he had really planned. He might me able to speed up to process but since the time it took was different for every single person, he thought it better not to waste any time.
"Now Xander what I'm going to try to do is help you find your animal spirit guide." James started to say.
"No offense James, but I already have a hyena running around in my head, I don't think I can control another one." Xander interrupted.
"That's your mistake. You can't control the hyena. The more you fight it, the stronger it will get and the stronger it gets the better it will be able to defend itself from your attempts at controlling it. Sooner or later it would be strong enough that you'd be fighting it permanently and you won't be able to do much else. What you need to do, is to try and embrace it the same way you tried to do with your soldier memories, despite the nightmares that gave you. If you try to do that you will find that you'll gain a lot of more of the benefits. Your animal guide will be able to help gain a balance between yourself, the hyena and the soldier. That way you'll be able to use both of their skills to the best of your ability. However that will take a while to accomplish. What I'll be helping you with is getting in touch with your animal spirit guide and show you ways of doing that without my help." James told him.
"Ok, I just hope it's not another hyena." Xander resigned himself, since some of this had also been discussed during their hike.
With that they moved into a deeper part of the cave, where James build a small fire to which he added some stuff he had brought along.
"Now Xander, what I'm going to teach you is a form of meditation. While you will be able to do this on your own when you continue your journey, I added those herbs to speedup the process. Now get into a comfortable position, this is still going to take a while." James told Xander while getting into a comfortable position himself. When Xander had settled, he continued.
"Close your eyes, take a deep breath and really fill your longs. Now exhale and try to empty your lungs. Now take another deep breath, this time through your nose. While you're doing this image the white diving light of the universe coming into your longs and collecting at your solar plexus. Now when you exhale through your mouth, image all your worries, everything that's been pulling you down leave your body. As they leave your body, you'll feel mind and body starting to relax, you'll feel your muscle unwinding. When you feel totally relaxed, try to image the light at your solar plexus expending through your body until it fills you form the inside out and from the outside in." James spoke in a hypnotic but calm voice.
"In your fight against the darkness, I image you came across references to a humans Third Eye. I want you to concentrate on your Third Eye. As you focus on your Third Eye, imagine you're self at the bottom of dimly lit tunnel going up. Imagine your astral body leaving your physical body and walking into the tunnel. As your astral body keeps moving forward and upward, you begin to see the detail on the wall of the tunnel and the texture of the floor. And just ahead you see the opening of the tunnel. When step outside the tunnel you find yourself on a cliff, looking down you see your home town lying beneath you." James continued. The smell of the herbs was now clearly noticeable.
"Now I want you to step of the cliff, secure in the knowledge that nothing will happen to you. The moment you step off the cliff, your astral body turns into a beautiful bird. As you get the hang of this you turn westward. Imagine the landscape passing below you, the sea, the mountains, rivers, forests and deserts. Imagine your soul flying over the coastline of all the countries that lie westward of where you are and out over the oceans. Now turn your wings a little to the north or south. Whichever feels right for you. As you travel over the water you see in the distance an island. An island large enough to hold a huge volcano, which has a great water fall spilling into a clear pool at its base. Now dip your wings slightly and navigate your way to the edge of that pool. As you step onto the island under a large shade tree, you instantly change back into your human soul form. Look around and feel the soft carpet of moss under your feet, listen to the crashing and soothing sounds of the waterfall, take in a deep, deep breath and smell the fresh floral sweetened air. This is the Kingdom of the Animals. Every animal that has ever existed lives on this island or in the pool of water before you. Now image finding a nice comfortable place and try to meditate there. As you reach a meditative state, I want call for your animal guide and ask it to show itself to you. When you feel ready I want you to look around. The first animal you see, will be your guide. As the animal makes itself known to you, you should greet it. Now it's time for you to get to know your guide. Take as long as you want, learn what it wants to teach you. Ask it how it can help you improve yourself, how it can assist you when you're in trouble. Ask it what its name is, it doesn't matter. Just get to know it. When you're ready thank it for its lessons and for coming to meet you before turning back into a bird and flying back to your body. When you're there you can step back into your body after your astral form returns to its human form. As your astral and physical body become one again, you'll come out of your meditation and remember everything you've learned during it. I'll be waiting for your return." James finished and started to wait for Xander to come out of his meditation.
# Inside Xander's vision quest #
Xander was just starting to look around for his animal guide. What he saw was a big mountain lion sipping some water from the like. Xander being Xander said the first thing that came to his mind.
"Yes! You're not a hyena."
As soon as he said that the mountain lion started looking at him with a critical eye. As the mountain lion continued to stare at him, Xander started to feeling like a little mouse that was going to be a snack for the mountain lion. Just before Xander could start to fidget the mountain Lion spoke.
"I thought Cunning Fox told you to keep an open mind about the Hyena?" The lion asked accusingly.
"He did and I tried, but I can't get over it yet. And why do you sound like Giles?" Xander answered.
"I thought that since you trust the Watcher, I could use it to help ease your nerves. If you want I can always change it. What would you like?" the mountain lion asked changing its voice from Giles to Obi wan Kenobi to Xander's own voice while doing so.
"Use what makes you happy, but please don't use my voice. I have enough trouble with the little voice in my head using it, I don't need to get you two confused." Xander answered.
"In that case I'd better use your voice since I usually the one acting as that little voice." The mountain lion told him.
"You're the voice in my head, boy do I have bone to pick with you. Do you know how much trouble you've put me in over the years? Look who I'm asking, of course you know." Xander muttered. Suddenly something the mountain lion had said struck him. "What did you mean with you usually being the one acting as the little voice in my head, who else using it." Xander question.
"Ok, you probably don't know this, but it's possible for a human to have more than one spirit guide. All those spirit guides have a different kind of influence. I am the strongest and also the closest linked to you, that's why the others usually come to me first so I can try and get their points through to you. Sometimes however the need to and can communicate to you directly and that's when the use the voice. Thanks to your possessions you've gained to more. They decided to keep using their own voice." The mountain lion explained.
"You mean Soldier Boy and the Hyena are here as too?" Xander asked surprised.
"Yes they are. I've told them to stay away for now, but you WILL talk to them before you finish your lesions with Cunning Fox." The mountain lion told Xander firmly.
Looking at the big cat saw it wearing its own form of Willow's Resolve Face. Knowing the power behind such a face Xander knew arguing was pointless. Deciding he might as well go with the flow, Xander settled for getting to know his main spirit guide.
# end of vision quest #
When Xander came out of his meditation three hours later, he found James had prepared some food and was just keeping it warm.
"Great, you made some food, I'm starving. How long was I in there?" Xander asked smelling the aroma.
"Just over three hours. I take it all went well with your animal spirit." James asked while placing some food on a plate for Xander.
"It went ok. I think I got to know him pretty well. I still don't know why you both want me to talk to the Hyena, BUT I will do ask you ask. I think my animal spirit can teach me a lot and since I want to learn I'll do as it tells me. I can believe it's only been three hours though. I feel like I spent a whole day with him." Xander said, taking the plate as James handed it to him.
"That's usual the first couple of times. In your meditative state you can process information at a faster rate and therefore can go trough more of it. Your mind knows this, but hasn't really realized it yet. That's why it feels like you've been there longer. With practice you'll be able better able to realize how much time has passed in the physical world." James explained as he returned to his own plate and continued eating.
While they ate, they discussed what would happen for the rest of their stay. James explained some ways of how Xander would be able to reach the meditative state on his own and that they would be trying some of them to see which way worked best for Xander. He also told Xander they would only leave when they both agreed that Xander could do everything safely and without assistance. They also discussed some things that had nothing to do with their mission here.
When they had discussed what they wanted to discuss and they were getting tired, they started getting their sleeping places in order. They were both ready to get some well deserved rest.
The rest of their stay went pretty much the same way. Xander was able to reach his meditative state with less and less help every time he tried. He did have his talk with both the Hyena and the soldier, while the meeting with the Hyena didn't go real well, the soldier, mountain lion and James helped in getting them to a least be civilized to each other. By the end of their visit Xander and the Hyena still didn't really like each other, but they were able to work together without the need of the mountain lion or the soldier playing referee.
As this level of cooperation was achieved, James could see a difference in the way Xander handled himself. He still was quick with the jokes, but he became more balanced and levelheaded as the continued.
So when they said out to return to the village two days later, it was a more self-assured Xander that left the cave. When the returned to the village, they again went before tribal council. This time to tell them of the success of their journey and Xander thanking them for allowing his presence and their permission for James to teach him.
Leaving the Tribal Council, they found Thomas waiting for them. He was ready to fly Xander to his car, before going to the information desk near the information plaza. Saying a quick goodbye and a thank you to James, they set off.
When they landed near his car, Xander said goodbye to Thomas. Getting in his car, he started the engine, turned on the radio and headed towards Salt Lake City.