-----
Sunnydale, California. May
15, 1998
Two
days later, the girls called Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg and
Cordelia Chase came out of the local teen hangout known as the Bronze,
late at night. And a few minutes later, a dejected Xander Harris also
came out and followed them.
The
Slayer had been cleared of the bogus murder charges against her, after
her friends had made their statements to the police about what had
happened in the school library that day. And she had been staying at the
house of her Watcher, Rupert Giles, after her mother had told her not to
come back home if she left that night to stop the apocalypse.
After
the soul restoration thing Angel had almost staked himself, but Buffy
had somehow talked him out of it. In addition, Xander’s lie – that
Willow had said to kick Angel’s ass, instead of she was going to do the
ensouling spell – was found out, the day after the battle at the
mansion.
Which
never would have happened, if Buffy had sent Angel to Hell and split
town like she’d been destined to do.
After
the shouting died down...Xander’s girlfriend Cordelia immediately dumped
him, and the other two girls were similarly convinced he’d done it out
of jealousy, and wanted nothing more to do with him.
And
now, just to make his week complete, an anonymous bloodsucker suddenly
attacked the boy. “HELP! BUFFY! VAMPIRE!” Xander yelled, as he fought
for his life.
Fortunately the three women came running, and the Slayer quickly staked
the evil demon. The male teenager started to say, “Thanks...” as Buffy
checked him for bite marks.
“He’ll
be alright,” was all that the blonde girl said, as the Chosen One looked
at Cordy and Willow. Then she straightened up, and started walking away.
The redhead and brunette looked a little uncertain, but quickly followed
after her.
And
then the vampire called Lenny, a minion of Spike that would have taken
part in a brawl at the local magic shop months later, came out of the
bushes. “How are you doing tonight, bloodbag...” he said towards Xander.
The
pleasantries over, he attacked the 17-year-old high school kid – quickly
tearing a nice chunk of Xander’s throat out.
Then a
miracle took place; Lenny somehow exploded into dust.
Disbelieving, Xander looked up to see Angel staring down at him – and
then he passed out cold.
~~~~~~
Xander
Harris woke up in Angel’s mansion, terrified and disoriented. “Where-?”
The
ensouled grandchilde of a bloodsucking monster called the Master
appeared and said calmly, “Xander, relax. You’re safe.”
The
human couldn’t help it – he flinched away from this vampire that, above
all others, he had despised with all his might. The other male noticed
and said wearily, “Look, if I was still evil, would I have bothered
stitching you up like that?” he pointed.
The
boy felt his neck and collar, and the bandages there. “Mind if I ask why
you did it? 'Cause, let’s be honest here – soul or not, we pretty much
hate each other...” he said slowly.
Angel
nodded. “True. But as you’ve learned recently, the truth always comes
out – sooner or later. And I didn’t want to be dusted by your friends,
if I’d just let you die...I get the feeling Giles would just love an
opportunity to hunt me down, not that you could blame him after what I
did...”
Xander
asked abruptly, “How’d I get here?”
The
former Angelus shrugged. “Carried you. You were unconscious, remember? I
couldn’t just leave you on the street...”
Xander
then thought of what had happened with Buffy, Willow and Cordelia. “You
mean like they did?”
The
vampire was uncomfortable. “I, uh...”
The
teen looked at the undead former Irishman. “I owe you my life?
Okay, it’s official – I’ve died and gone to Hell.”
Angel
gestured again, “No, you’re alive – and you’ve got the scars to prove
it...”
Xander
refrained from touching the fang marks again, falling back onto using
humor as a defense mechanism. “Wonder how I’m going to explain this one
away? I know – I met a woman who didn’t know the meaning of the words,
‘love bite’?”
The
demon with a soul was quickly getting exasperated with the boy; but that
was something, now that Angel thought about it, which was an almost
welcome return to normality. “Xander...”
“Buffy
left me there to die.”
The
vampire didn’t have a chance to say anything to that, as Xander
continued, “I mean at that range, she had to have sensed that
damned bastard in the bushes...”
Angel
said quickly, “Not necessarily. If a Slayer’s not focused, it’s easy
enough to-”
“Sure,
right.” Xander cut him off. “Well, anyway, thanks for saving my life,
Deadboy,” he grunted, as he started to get up to leave.
The
souled vampire couldn’t prevent it, he scowled viciously. “Don’t call me
that...”
By
this point, the young man didn’t care enough to take notice. But when
Angel came closer, Xander flinched away again. The 245-year-old vamp
sighed and said, “Sit. Rest. Sunrise will be here in a few hours, you
can leave then. There’s no point tempting fate twice in one night...”
Xander
shrugged, his eyes apparently devoid of expression. That kinda worried
Angel – but after everything that had happened lately, he couldn’t bring
himself to care that much. Turning away, the vampire decided to
take his own advice and went off to bed.
~~~~~~
After
sunrise, Xander left the mansion; he went home, and took a good look
into the mirror. And with everything that had come to pass during the
last three days, the boy decided then and there that he definitely
needed to make some changes in his life.
The
young Mr. Harris talked to his parents, and then telephoned his Uncle
Rory; eventually, arrangements were made for him to spend the summer
with his favorite animal-stuffing relative. The former member of the
Sunnydale High swim team then briefly visited Giles to say goodbye,
grabbed his suitcases and left on the first bus out that afternoon.
When
the rest of the Scooby gang got together at the library that night,
Willow was worried over the fact she hadn’t been able to contact her
childhood best friend all day. “Giles, have you seen Xander?”
“Um,
yes,” the high school librarian replied vaguely, busy looking at an
ancient book. “Today, just before he left town for the summer...”
“What?
Why didn’t he say anything to me?” Willow asked in surprise. Buffy and
Cordelia acted like they didn’t care, but were secretly listening to
every word.
“You
didn’t know?” Giles said in utter confusion.
“Would
I be asking if I did?”
“Good
point,” Oz the werewolf said, in his typical short amount of words.
The
Watcher for the Slayer simply shrugged, and even though Rupert made a
mental note to look into the matter, the various issues related to
Slayage and patrolling and other crises kept him far too busy.
Angel
might have been able to tell him what was the what, but obviously these
two were not going to get together for anything less than stopping
another apocalypse now; not after the way Angelus had tortured him...
Chapter 4