It had been two weeks since his love, and his reason for life, had jumped from the tower. Fourteen days of training till his very soul bled, fourteen nights of taking out his anger and frustrations on Sunnydale's night crawlers. Three hundred and thirty six torturous hours spent harassing Willow, Tara and Giles into bringing her back all for nought. His fingers run along the grooves cut into the marble tombstone. "Beloved sister... If only you had let me tell them then I could have 'salved their questing minds' as Giles would say." He remembers the meeting he had overheard earlier on that night... Willow glares at Giles. "And I tell you there's more to it than infatuation Giles! Its as if he died when she did." Her eyes mist over with the beginnings of yet more tears. "If we don't stop him then one morning we will find his body in some god damned cemetery. If we're lucky that is cuz God forbid he gets turned and comes back as his worst nightmare!"
Giles tries to console her as Tara hugs her lover."
Its best we leave him to mourn in his own way. "Giles continues." Mourn? "Dawn yells at him." Mourn! For pity's sake Giles you're only interested in his actions and as long as he rids the night of the demons that haunt them you couldn't give a sh..oot! "Willow speaks, hesitant in case she's shouted down once more." We could.. "All eyes turn to her." We could always try to revive her? "Giles shook his head." NO! "He looks from one to the other and looks exasperated as he takes his glasses off." How many times must I tell you? The dark arts are not to be fooled with, the consequences of your actions are far beyond anything any of you could imagine. "He places his glasses back on his nose and berates them like an angry father." Buffy is dead! It was her choice to sacrifice herself and I say we let her decision rest with her in the grave!
Xander shook his head and left the backroom, his disgust at their inability to act on the one chance they had, that he had of ever seeing his love again sickened him worst than any Demon ever could. He took the sword from the rack and slipped it into its sheath on his back. Lately the only satisfaction he could get was fighting the demons of the night. Xander's finger tips traced the name on the stone. "B U F F Y A N N E S U M M E R S. Born..." He grinned as he remembered her telling him. "That's one thing you'll never know Lavelle!" His smile froze when his gaze travelled to the other date. "Died... Died too fucking soon!" His fingers played with the ring she had given him when she said yes. His ears pick up the snapping of a twig and he grins as he picks up his sword. "Oh you really have bad timing dead boy Jnr!" He turned to find four pairs of yellow eyes trained on his every move. The main vampire moved forward. "Oh I beg to differ Harris! I think our timing is just fine." He nods behind Xander as his grin widens. "Yours however has just run out!"
Xander grins and he sighs. "Are you going to yap or fight cuz I'm getting all tingly listening to your voice Spike! I think it must be love." Xander deliberately draws his sword slowly from its buckler allowing the sound to echo through the night. He throws the scabbard to the ground and twists his neck till it pops. "Tonight is a good night to die...Or to live." He shrugs. "To tell you the truth I don't really give a damn any more." Xander loops the sword through the air on either side of him, swapping it from hand to hand as he loosened up. Spike snorted. "That supposed to impress me boy?" Xander holds the sword up high and to his right, the point of the blade pointing to Spike as his free hand motioned for the vamp to attack. "Nope just dust your foul ass!" First one then another of Spikes crew attacked and Spike fumed at his men. "What did I bloody tell you morons?"
He motioned with both hands to the remainder. "All at once you frigging morons!"
Xander swung the sword from right to left, jumped and landed behind the two as their bodies turned to dust. "Two down Dead boy junior." Spike growls. "And many more to come Droopy!" Unseen by any of the combatants a black vortex opens and a small oriental man steps through and peers from left to right until he sees the battle. "Ahh! Thank you ancestors this one may suite our purpose!" He stood, bowlegged and watched the young man as he went through his nightly routine of mayhem and death. "Yes there is much hatred in this one, but it is hatred of being alive while his love is not!" He rubs his chin and then smiles. "Yes I believe Valeria will find the change in Conan very remarkable." He waives his hands and a silver book appears, he flips through the pages. "Alexander.." He looks bemused. "What kind of a name is this?" He reads on and his eyes widen. "He was the beloved of a Slayer. Hoom chin wa! Valeria will be even more impressed that one of her kind found love with a mortal in her final days!"
He shook his head as if answering someone. "No! First we see if he survives this then we give him the opportunity to live the life of a true hero! Even if only it is his soul that lives it." The small being watches in amusement as Xander takes down all but Spike then sits down next to a grave. "Well Buff what do you think love? Wax his ass or just put him back in the wheelchair?" He cocks an ear then grins. "Oh you're so mean!" He stands up and shrugs to Spike. "Sorry pal but what she wants she gets." His hand goes behind his back and returns with an old. 45 Colt Government issue. He thumbs of the safety then calmly lifts the gun over his head and lowers it slowly, bringing the front bead in line with the rear sights. "Ten, nine, eight..."
Spike takes the hint and begins to run, zig zagging through the tombstones cursing Xander's name at every twist as he runs at full speed. "One! Here comes da judge!" His finger squeezes and then the hammer is released hitting the firing pin and sending a copper jacketed killer Spikes way. "Say hello to my little friend!" He flicks the safety back on as he sees Spike grip his back and fall to the ground and returns the gun to his holster. He swiftly turns and points the sword at the stranger. The wizard holds out his hand. "You have no need to fear me young warrior I mean you now harm."
Xander stares at him for a brief moment then sheaths his sword. "You should be careful around here old man lest you lose your head!"
The Wizard laughs. "I come from a time where these creatures were the least of our worries." He sees Xander brush the debris of the battle from Buffy's marker. "You loved her very much Alexander and you wish to join her?" Xander looks at him and sighs. "Jeez pops what gave me away?"
The wizard smiles. "I have an offer to make. In my time a great warrior lays dying,a fact we cannot yet allow to be made true. I offer you the chance to put history back on it's proper course for unless Conan defeats Thulsa Doom the world as you know it will never come to exist!"
Xander shrugs. "Maybe it doesn't deserve to exist...Without her in it?" The wizard shakes his head. "Do you think so little of her? Hmm? To allow all she had fought for to be wiped away because you mourn your loss?"
Xander turned, his anger beginning to build once more. He jabs at the stranger with the point of his finger.
"You don't know her! So just shut your damned mouth before I rip it from your face!"
"What if I were to promise you that you could join her when this adventure is over, when Conan's soul is strong enough to return to his body?"
Xander stopped walking away from him and asked. "You have the power to do this?"
The wizard nods. "You can join her in Valhalla if it is your wish, or she could rejoin you in your world."
A tear rolls down Xander's face. "I would kill the world to make that so!"
"No need to kill the world... Just one little snake will do." His fingers narrowed to indicate the size of a small snake. "Then you may join her."
Xander rubs his small chin as he thinks of a better exchange. "You are a wizard, a master of time and space yes?" The wizard nods and Xander smiles. "Then I will do this on one condition...."