Into the Dark

Author: Nu-klear <nu_klear[at]yahoo.com>

Disclaimer: Btvs is owned by Joss and Mutant Enemy. See end of part for the rest

Feedback: Yes, Please in the name of all that's good give me some feedback!

Summary: A delay and a few slight changes can have many severe consequences... (Sorry about the lame summary but it was the best I could do without giving away anything.)

A/N: well I hope you all enjoy this... I just wish I knew where I came up with this one.


Chapter 1

< She's not going to make it... > Xander thought, his insides turning to ice at the sight of the vortex that was slowly beginning to grow from Acathla's mouth as Buffy struggled with Angelus. He had gotten Giles to his car but hadn't been able to bring himself to leave, as he was pretty sure it wouldn't matter where they were if Buffy couldn't stop Angelus.

Suddenly the master vampire knocked the sword from her hand and backhanded her hard, knocking her to the ground. As the former vampire with a soul stalked towards his lover giving the standard 'Big Baddy's gonna win' speech Xander picked up Buffy's sword, came up behind the monster and swung at his neck.

Angelus was so sure of his victory and so intent on rubbing that victory in the slayer's face that his first warning of the danger come up behind him was the whistling sound the sword blade made as it cut through the air. Even being able to move nearly four times as fast as a human, Angelus barely managed to keep his head attached to his shoulders. However, while he was fast enough to keep the sword away from his neck he was not able to completely block the blade, merely knock it off course. So instead of slashing through his neck and ending his miserable undead life, the sword's new course combined with Angelus having moved in his attempt to block the attack left the vampire with a bloody slash from the bottom of his jaw to the bridge of his nose.

Xander winced at the vampire's screamed curse as he stumbled, losing his balance because of the force behind the missed swing of the sword. He had just regained his footing when a crushing force gripped his good hand. Looking up Xander found himself looking into the bleeding and disfigured features of Angelus' sneering demonic face.

"So snoopy, you thought you had what it takes to stop me? Don't make me laugh!" Angelus snarled as he suddenly twisted the boy's wrist and shoved the blade of the sword Xander was holding through the young man's own abdomen. "This is for trying to kill me..."

Xander clenched his eyes shut and gritted his teeth against the pain as he fought the scream rising in his throat, determined not to give the son of a bitch the satisfaction. Xander forced his eyes open just in time to see the fist rushing towards him to slam into his head and send him flying across the room.

"And that is for cutting up my face!" Angelus yelled then smirked in satisfaction as the airborne body of the young man that had dared to get in his way, slammed into the stature of Acathla... then stared in wide eyed disbelief as the vortex folded in around the young man like a magician wrapping a watch in a hanky and disappeared. The sword the young man had been impaled on, sticking out of the demon's side, was the only sign of what had happened.

Buffy stared in wide eyed shock as the vortex closed around her friend, only coming out of it when Angel started screaming and yelling curses at the top of his lungs. After a few seconds of this Angel seemed to notice she was still there and started towards her with a murderous look in his eyes. Buffy quickly got to her feet and fell into a defensive stance. A few feet from her something seemed to pass through him, his eyes glowing bright red for a moment before he dropped to his knees. An endless second later he looked up at the slayer through tear-filled eyes and whispered in a sobbing voice, "Buffy, what's going on?"

*****

At that exact moment in another dimension a young woman hummed to herself happily as she watched the water tower fill her train's reservoir. When the gauge read full she pulled the rope to turn off the water and turned the spout to the waiting position. She had just finished washing her hands at the smaller faucet at the bottom of the tower when the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. A second later a swirling vortex opened above her, dropping something into the water troth beside her which caused her to shriek as she was splashed from head to toe with water.

As she was getting over the shock of being doused with water, the young woman cautiously checked to see what had decided to drop in on her and blinked in surprise. Laying on its back in the small amount of water in the left in the troth was a young man, with a serious looking wound that was still bleeding.

"Oh no, please don't be dead..." the young woman put a hand to his neck; finding a pulse she picked up him up and ran for her train. "Don't worry, I'll get you to some help."

*****

Xander groaned in pain as he came awake; his stomach hurt, his jaw hurt, hell just about everything hurt. Opening his eyes he looked around, even though his eyes didn't seem to want to focus right he could still tell that he wasn't in a hospital, his room or in any room he could remember from any of his friends houses.

"Oh, you're finally awake... I was beginning to worry the doctor was wrong and you weren't going to pull through." The voice was feminine and sounded happy, if a little surprised, and worried. "How do you feel?"

"Terrible..." Xander muttered and slowly turned his head and looked in the direction the unfamiliar voice was coming from, trying to get his eyes to focus on the blurry, but definitely female, form crossing the room, wincing as spike of pain shot through his gut when he accidentally tried to lean forward to see the approaching figure better. "Who're you?"

"My name is Felicia; now hold still, I have to check your bandages again." Xander opened his eyes as he felt a hand pulled the blanket down to his waist and a weight settle on the bed beside him, then blinked at the young blue-haired woman with catlike ears; he hoped she was just wearing some kind of body suit that made it look like her body was covered with a swirl pattern of fur. She was currently removing a thick bandage from his abdomen as a long cat tail flicked behind her.

Xander swallowed when as she studied his injury; she bit her bottom lip in concentration, which made it quite obvious that she had a set of long, very sharp-looking canine teeth.

"Well, everything looks okay on this side, now I need to check your back," Felicia said as she re-attached the bandage and slid her hands under his shoulder and hip to gently roll him onto his side, only to have him yelp and look at her wide-eyed.

"Why do you have your hand on my butt?" Xander asked, his voice squeaking as he felt what he assumed to be 'claws' lightly press into his skin.

"I need you to turn on your side so I can check the bandage on your back and if you try it on your own you might re-open your wounds and bleed to death on me." Felicia said, then smirked and winked at him as she rolled him on his side with the ease of someone with a lot of practice. "And given the amount I had to pay the doctor to get you patched up I would rather not have that happen now that you're starting to look better."

"How long have I been here...?" Xander asked nervously as he felt her messing with something behind him, then realized he had no idea where here was. "And where am I anyway?"

"You're on my train and we are on the outskirts of the city of Brena..." Felicia trailed off then chuckled as she realized something "Hey, I just realized, I don't even know what your name is."

"My name is Xander." Xander reviewed his memories; the last thing he remembered was Acathla's vortex opening and Angelus hitting him for trying to kill him. He had a good idea of where he might be and, with a sinking feeling, asked, "And you wouldn't happen to be able to tell me how I could get back to Sunnydale or maybe even just back to California...?"

"Sunnydale... California..." Felicia repeated thoughtfully as she gently lowered him onto his back again then looked down at him apologetically. "I'll check my maps but I don't think I've ever even heard of either of those places."

"Thanks, anyway." Xander said weakly, smiling thankfully up at Felicia before she turned and walked away. She was nearly to the door when Xander caught himself watching the way her hips swayed as she walked and quickly began to study the ceiling of above his bed. The moment he heard the door closing which signaled her departure Xander sighed. < Great, now I'm checking out cat women... now all I need is a utility belt, cape and cowl. > Xander groaned as the pain the giggle-fit that that thought caused lanced through his abdomen.

TBC…

*****

Disclaimer continued: Night Warrior: Darkstalkers' Revenge is own by Capcom, Viz Video, and Pioneer (or at least all of their names are on the box)