Xander gasped for air as he made it to the landing and glared at the suit wearing demon that had just cut Dawns hands.
Forcing the remaining energy into his limbs Xander jumped into an elite spin kick at his enemy.
He blamed it on the exhaustion that he succeeded in the jump but merely slammed into Doc as the demon turned towards him and sent the demon screaming off the tower.
Gasping for breath again Xander looked off the tower as the demon impacted and exploded like a watermelon on the ground.
Turning to the young Summers Xander watched as she took another step towards the edge. "Dawn stop, what are you doing." Xander shouted as he jumped towards her as Dawn took the final step towards the hole in the sky.
Willow watched in horror as Dawn and Xander tumbled off the tower before impacting the growing hole in the sky.
With a final bright pulse the hole closed with a slight pop, leaving Xander's 'Lucky' shirt to flutter to the ground alone.
Xander looked around the landscape in confusion, the long open planes of yellowed grasses where dotted randomly by sparse tree's leaving little shade and almost no cover.
"You just couldn't leave me alone could you, you just had to go and ruin my vacation by getting yourself killed." A voice growled at him as Xander spun around in search of the speaker.
Seeing no one Xander began to worry. "Who are you, WHERE AM I!" he shouted as he felt a presence approach.
His answer came in the form of an insane cackle he remembered distinctly from the many years before.
"Does that answer your question?" the voice was laced with false humor as Xander desperately tried to calm his heartbeat.
Nodding to the empty land Xander swallowed before replying. "Yeah, this is a nightmare." Xander said as a mist grew up before him and slowly took the shape of himself.
Cackling again the Hyena paced around Xander slowly. "Nightmare? Yeah, I guess that's one way of seeing it. An eternal nightmare, No pack, No queens, No food or water, NO HUNT!" the last was screamed in frustration as the hyena lunged towards Xander with a snarl. "Or you could call it Hell, Purgatory, Limbo, Hades any of them work." He snarled again before continuing to pace around the host.
Watching the creature that had possessed him Xander allowed himself to calm down. "So why are you here?"
Spinning on him again the hyena Cackled before calming down. "Me? I was always here, YOU are here because you got yourself killed." He said before shacking off the insanity and tacking a deep breath to calm down, you seriously fucked up boy. You were never supposed to go into the portal." He growled as he paced back and forth ahead of Xander. "Now instead of her going to heaven you went and threw her into the middle of a war and managed to get yourself killed in the process."
Xander stared in shock as the words sunk in. "Are you telling me I'm dead?"
Yelping frustration the hyena spun around before turning back to him. "I've already told you that twice, YES! You are dead." He said and waited for it to sink in before he continued. "But that doesn't have to be a permanent problem." Nodding at the confused look The Alpha pointed skywards. "The immortal ones decided that since you brought this about that you should be the one to fix it, as such they…" he paused as he swallowed the bile that rose in his throat. "Ordered me to convince you to let me have control of your body until you where healed enough to take over again, then you get your body back and I get a new one."
The last thing the Hyena expected was for him to start laughing.
"Something funny boy?" he growled as Xander wiped a tear away and looked him square in the eye.
"Yeah, the though of me actually letting you have my body seems very humorous right now." He said before getting very sober. "Listen to me very closely, NOT. A. CHANCE. IN. HELL!" he shouted before taking a step back. "I still have nightmares about what you did last time."
Alpha shrugged and smiled at the young teen. "Then I'm sorry to say they have to sanction you." He said and the smile grew decidedly evil as Xander looked confused. "THEY. ARE. GOING. TO. KILL. YOU!" he shouted back before shrugging. "Either you give me your body, or yesterday you have a nasty accident and are splatted by a drunk driver, your not there to fight glory, Willow goes into a coma, Buffy sacrifices herself to close the portal and Dawn dies from blood loss on her way to the hospital."
Xander stared at the absolute confidence of the Hyena for several seconds before coming to a decision. "Three rules." He said and waved of the others growl. "This is being as easy as I can you worthless mongrel, I've had nightmares about what you and your 'Pack' did back then so you sure as hell better follow these rule to the letter." He snarled before continuing. "Rule one, NO eating humans. Rule two, NO killing anyone innocent… and rule three, you protect Dawn with your worthless life." He grated out slowly as he tried to ignore the voice in the back of his mind screaming in outrage.
A low rumble on the horizon answered for him as the Alpha was sucked from the landscape leaving Alexander LaVelle Harris alone.
"Well shoot me, Stuff me, Mount me." Xander muttered as he looked around at the empty place. After a moment he shook his head slowly. "It's a good thing I like the quite."
Xander felt the impact of the steel/clay roofing tiles shatter as he impacted the roof and tore through before crashing to the floor in a heap.
The last thing he heard before slipping off into darkness was the sound of approaching feet.
He knew she was there; they had met so many times before.
On the rock ridge on a cool day she had swept the heat away with a gentle breath, and brought warning of trouble as she ran before the storm. She had been the method he had scented out his prey, and found when his enemy's stalked him, she was after all. The Wind.
His eyes snapped open as he heard the door open, sitting up from the pillow Xander looked around carefully before he spotted the small distortion in the air.
Growling Xander turned toward the distortion before backing off the bed. "What are?"
At his question the distortion shifted to that of an elderly woman as she watched him in concern.
After several moments she smiled simply. "I am an Aereon, one of the last of the few Elementals."
Growling Xander shook his head as he tried to clear some of the ringing in his ears. "Okay that explains… nothing, where the hell am I?"
Aereon looked at him oddly for a second before responding. "Don't you even know the planet you are on?" she asked and took his disgusted look as answer "you are on Helion Prime."
Xander glared at the comet as it slowly drew closer. He felt the darkness closing around him as the hairs on the back of his neck started to rise.
"That's them you know." A voice stated matter of factly as Xander spun around with a snarl.
The Balance demon just shrugged and lay back on the bed with a smug look on his face. "Name's Singer kid, you might have known my Gandpaps, Whistler." He said as Xander stared at him for a moment before stepping towards him.
"Well that's all well and good… Singer was it?" he asked cheerfully before his face fell. "And why the FUCK should I keep you alive right now." He snarls as he grabbed the balance demon and yanked him up off the bed.
Staring in terror at the eyes slightly glowing with a green tint he tried desperately to drag air into his lungs, pulling in as much air as he could he responded as the steel band masquerading as a hand kept the oxygen from entering.
"I… know… w-where the key… the key is." He gasped as he fought against the dark spots creeping into his vision.
Considering it for a moment Xander loosened the grip slightly and allowed oxygen to flow back into the demon's lungs.
"Speak quickly or die slowly." He growled as the demon sucked in the air greedily.
Coughing as he tried to keep the air in his lungs Singer Decided that keeping a 'Trump' card would only end in pain.
"The Powers said that when it's time you're to go to the 'Winged Viper' it's a bar on the east side of the city." He said pointing in the general direction of the bar as he tried to placate the being in command of his oxygen supply.
Looking in that direction for a moment Xander turned back with a sneer. "Why should I go there and why would the bastards that be give me a simple instruction like that instead of being cryptic like they always are." He said tightening his hold until the balance demon started to turn a bright blue color before relaxing his hold again.
Gasping for air for the second time Singer pulled sweet oxygen into his lungs one breath at a time before responding. "They wanted to make sure you got there and the oracles said something about you not following the rule of 'Don't EAT the messenger' all that well so they said to be as direct as possible." He wheezed out as the green eyed person glared for a few seconds before shrugging.
"You said 'When its time' what time would that be." He said a second before his attention was drawn to the window by a wailing cry of an air raid siren as it started in the further parts of the city and quickly approached before being drowned out be the incessant chatter of Anti-Air and Anti-Orbital cannons in there futile attempt to stave off the approaching invaders.
Smiling against the pressure Singer shrugged. "That would be your cue kiddo." He whispered before lunging out of Xander's hands and jumping into the safety of the shadows.
Looking in the direction the balance demon disappeared to, Xander silently swore to break the demons kneecaps next time he saw him.
Walking out to the balcony again Xander silently watched the lights as the new threats added their firepower to the mix.
//And his ankles and his elbows and his wrists and his jaw…// he promised before taking a running jump from the balcony towards the closest building on his way east.
Xander watched from his perch as the armored figures ran through the broken street in a formation that resembled something from before the advent of gunpowder.
//Dumb Fucks// he swore as a concentrated ambush from the defenders wiped them out.
Xander was still watching as the small plasma ball launched from the lead staff and floated in the air for a moment before exploding.
When his sight cleared the streets were crowded with necromonger soldiers as they picked up where the last patrol had died.
Slipping down He walked over to the staff before smiling. //Maybe there not so dumb.// he said before slipping into the shadows and continuing on his way.