Latter Days
Author: enigmaticblue
Rating: PG-15
Disclaimer: I don’t own most of these characters, and I don’t make money off the ones I do. So there.
Summary: Set post-Chosen.
After the Slayers are activated, the balance between good and evil is
disturbed, and the Scoobies are flung to the far corners of the world
to
respond to the crisis. In the midst of all of this, will they be able
to keep
their relationships strong? Or will they be divided by circumstances
and torn
apart by fate? Follows my short story Yesterday.
A/N: Remember how things went after
Chapter 15:
“…Buffy told me what you were doing and said I should let you know if we needed any help. I don’t know what to tell you. If there are friendly demons in the area, I haven’t met any. We have our hands full with the ones that keep coming after the girls now that our location is generally known. The rooms are filling up, though, so if you have any ideas, I’ll take whatever help I can get…” ~Excerpt from an email from Xander Harris to Spike
Xander had sparred with Buffy in the past, with
and without
the puffy suit—at least, he’d held the
punching bag
for her. He’d never sparred with a Slayer full out with half of his
peripheral
vision missing.
Thankfully, most of their girls were only half
grown, and
barely trained, so he could still keep up. Mostly.
Nàtali danced on her
toes in
celebration of her hit, and Xander took the moment to rap her lightly
on her
ribs. “Pay attention, kiddo,” he warned her. “Make sure the demon is
dead
before you start dancing.”
She nodded, serious again, gripping her staff
tightly.
“Ready.”
“Good job, Nàtali,”
Miles called.
“Xander, could I see you for a moment?”
Xander passed his staff off to Corey. “Take over?”
“Sure thing.” She took
it from his
hands. “Have fun, big guy.”
He followed the older Watcher out the training
room door,
leaving the sounds of sparring behind them. “What’s up?”
“You had asked me to look into the vampire’s
suggestion,”
Miles began.
Xander winced. Miles hadn’t been happy about his
request,
and he’d made that very clear. “It’s Spike, Miles. He has a name.”
“Xander, he’s a vampire.”
“He saved the world.” Xander wasn’t Spike biggest
fan, but
he wasn’t going to withhold credit where it was due—and Spike was one
of them.
No one knew what those final days in Sunnydale had been like except
those who
had been there, and Spike had been there.
And Xander hadn’t forgotten that Spike had been
the one to
save his other eye.
Miles sighed. “I realize that, Xander. Give an old
man his
due; I’ve been fighting vampires since long before you were born, and
now I’m
being asked to trust one.”
“If you can’t trust him, trust me,” Xander
replied. “I’ve
gone through the fire with him.”
“Very well. Then, for
you, I will
say that there is a demon clan in the area that may prove helpful.”
Miles shook
his head. “They aren’t particularly bloodthirsty, but I don’t know what
you’d
want their help with.”
“Guard duty?” Xander suggested. “Or even help
finding
Slayers. You remember what nearly happened in the
He and Corey had nearly been killed by a band of
guerrillas
while trying to retrieve the most recent Slayer,
and
extra muscle would have come in handy. There were simply some areas of
the
continent where even demon hunters couldn’t go lightly.
“Point,” Miles admitted reluctantly. “I will
contact them
for you if you’d like.”
“Can you arrange a meeting for me?” Xander wanted
to do this
himself, although he couldn’t have said why. Normally, he didn’t want
much to
do with demons, but what Spike had said made a lot of sense. Beggars
couldn’t
be choosers at this point, and they needed all the help they could get.
Miles nodded, looking reluctant. “I’ll do what I
can.”
“I’d appreciate it.” Xander put a hand on the
older man’s
shoulder. “It’s a different world we’re living in now, Miles.”
Miles’ eyes looked off into the middle distance.
“Yes.
Sometimes I don’t even recognize it.”
Xander could relate to that statement.
~~~~~
Corey watched Xander gear up from the doorway of
his
bedroom. She wondered how long it was going to be until he accepted the
fact
that she was right there, and completely
into him.
Then again, given what she knew of his history, she understood his
hesitance.
“I’m going with you,” she announced.
“I think it’s better if I go alone.” He didn’t
look at her
as he secured the knife sheath on his belt.
She snorted. “Don’t be stupid, Xander. If you go
by
yourself, and they try something, you won’t have a prayer of getting
out
alive.”
“Are you doubting my
abilities?”
“I’m saying that you’ve been drilling it into the
girls’
heads that they should always have backup, and that you shouldn’t be
immune
from that general rule.”
He turned finally. “I don’t want to risk you. If
something
happened to both of us—”
“That’s why I’m going—to make sure nothing happens
to either
of us,” Corey returned. “And Whit and Miles will be on standby. I don’t
think
there’s anything else we can do, Xan.”
His shoulders drooped, and Corey knew what kind of
battle he
was fighting. Xander couldn’t protect everyone, however; he knew that,
but he
sometimes needed the reminder. Considering how many friends he’d lost,
Corey
didn’t blame him.
“We’re going to come through this,” she insisted.
After a moment, he stood straight again. “Yeah, we
are.
Let’s see what these guys have to say.”
Corey wasn’t entirely comfortable with this idea;
she had
been trained from very early on to kill demons without asking
questions. She
had never before been concerned about whose side they were on, maybe
because if
a demon was trying to kill you or destroy the world, there wasn’t a lot
of
question. Now, however, things were different. If they were going to
make
allies with demons, they had to make tough decisions.
Could they be trusted, and if
so, how far?
What kinds of demons could be trusted, and if they made friends with
one clan,
would that necessitate making enemies of another? In general, humans
and demons
didn’t mix, and there were good reasons for that.
There were far too many unanswered questions for
her peace
of mind, but that was the world they lived in now.
Corey stood next to Xander in the center of the
plain that
the demons had chosen for their meeting. It was close to the school,
which she
wasn’t comfortable with, but as their location seemed to be common
knowledge,
it probably wouldn’t do any harm.
“Aren’t they supposed to be here by now?” she
whispered to
him.
He glanced over at her. “Yeah, but I’m not going
to tell
them that they’re late.”
She snorted. “I wouldn’t suggest it.”
Scanning the horizon again, Corey saw no one,
although she
knew that Miles and Whit weren’t too far off. They remained hidden, but
within visual
range, in case they were needed. As she scanned the horizon again, she
suddenly
noticed three figures in the distance, approaching rapidly.
If she hadn’t known better, Corey would have
thought that
they were Masai warriors, but there was
something
inhuman in the way they moved. They seemed to be jogging at a steady
pace, but
they covered the distance much faster than seemed possible.
The demons moved so quickly, in fact, that they
were
standing in front of her and Xander much sooner than she’d been
prepared for.
There was a long moment of silence as they stared at one another.
Miles had said that the demons were known as Oribi, and that they generally shunned human
contact. There
was little to set them apart from humans, although their skin was a
shade of
brown she’d rarely seen before, and they each had light colored circles
around
their eyes.
Although the Oribi
were visually
striking, Corey still thought that they could probably walk down the
street of
any major city without drawing too much attention to themselves. Not
that Corey
blamed them for wanting to avoid people; she wasn’t a big fan of them
herself
sometimes.
“You requested a meeting,” the center Oribi
finally stated.
Xander nodded curtly. “We would like to make an
alliance.”
He spoke formally, which the situation seemed to call for. The Oribi’s expressions were such that it seemed
like they
would appreciate that kind of tone.
“Why?” The demon looked skeptical—or that was
Corey’s
interpretation. “You wish to kill my kind.”
Xander shook his head. “No. We want to protect
ourselves. If
you don’t threaten us, we don’t have a problem with you.”
The Oribi shook his
head. “We have
nothing to share with you.”
They turned as one to go, and Corey burst out,
“What would
you like from us?”
Her words stopped them cold. “There is nothing you
could offer.”
“Why wouldn’t you want an alliance?” Corey
demanded. “You
like this world; you need it as much as we do.”
They turned again to face her, dark eyes brilliant
against
the white of the circles around their eyes. “What is it that you are
saying?”
This time, the one on the left spoke, and Corey
thought that
perhaps she had been intrigued. “We’re trying to make sure the world
doesn’t
become uninhabitable for all of us. Without everyone’s help, the entire
world
could be lost.”
“What you ask is difficult.” The Oribi
who had spoken to her said. “We do not make pacts with humans.”
“Don’t think of it as making a pact with us,”
Corey argued.
“Think of it as making a pact with your children, to preserve their
future.”
She knew she’d hit the right note when she saw
their faces
soften. “What is it you require?”
“We need help gathering the young ones,” Corey
admitted.
“They’re often in areas where it’s too dangerous for us to go, and
there are
assassins coming after us. We want to protect them, and we want to help
you. Is
there anything that we can do?”
The female Obiri
considered her
question. “We will discuss this and let you know.”
They were gone before Corey could even ask for
their names.
As soon as they were out of even supernatural earshot, Xander spoke.
“Okay,
you’re handling demon contact from now on. How did you know to say all
of
that?”
Corey shook her head. “I don’t know. I just said
what I
would have wanted to hear if I was in that position.”
“That seems to have done the trick.” Xander put an
arm
around her shoulders and squeezed her tight. “Great
job,
Corey. Really. If we can get some
help from
them, we’ll have a better chance at getting the girls to safety without
getting
killed.”
She smiled shyly. “They haven’t
agreed to the deal yet.”
Xander shook his head. “They
will. It’s just a matter of time.”
~~~~~
Whit didn’t know what to think
about the latest developments. He understood why they were contacting
demons to
help, but he’d been raised to believe that the only good demon was a
dead demon.
“What do you think about this?” he asked Miles, watching as the demons
disappeared into the distance.
They moved inhumanly fast; it
disturbed him. Demons were different, strange—other. Whit didn’t see
how they
could possibly trust them.
“I think this is one of those
times when we are forced to make choices we wouldn’t otherwise make,”
Miles
replied slowly, lowering the high powered rifle from his shoulder.
“Do you think that this is
actually a good idea?” Whit asked incredulously.
Miles shook his head. “I honestly
don’t know, lad. Perhaps it will turn out for the best.”
“But you don’t think it will.”
“I don’t know,” Miles repeated.
Whit let out a frustrated breath.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“What would you like me to say?”
The older Watcher turned to face him. “That we
shouldn’t be
trusting demons?”
“Yes,” Whit burst out.
Miles smiled. “I can’t tell you
that. There is very little in this world that is either
black
or white, good or evil.”
“Then how will we know?” Whit
gestured to the horizon where the demons had disappeared. “How can we
possibly
trust them?”
He smiled gently. “Whit, lad, you
can’t trust humans either. There were and are many who would side with
evil to
promote their own gains.”
That wasn’t exactly news to him;
Whit knew that humans were anything but perfect. It was just that there
seemed
to be far too many hard answers, and far too few easy ones. Just once
he wanted
a bright line rule, some way to know for sure.
Whit was smart enough to know
that such a thing wasn’t possible.
“What do we do?”
Miles handed him the rifle and
picked up his cane. “We do our best, Whit, my boy. That’s all anyone
can do.”
Whit was silent, not responding
to that piece of advice. He knew that Miles wasn’t being condescending,
nor was
he treating the question lightly, but it didn’t satisfy. When they
returned to
the school, he called out to Xander, “Do we need anything from town?”
Xander gave him a sharp look, but
shrugged. “We could probably stand to pick up a few things. Check with
Corey for
a list.”
“Can I go, too?” Emily asked. “I
have some letters I want to mail.”
Xander glanced at Corey, who
shrugged. “I don’t see why not. You two stick together, though.”
“Of course,” Whit replied,
grateful that Xander was letting him go off with Emily after what had
happened
last time. Granted, those had been very different circumstances.
He slid behind the wheel of the
Land Rover with a sigh of satisfaction. Whit had been driving since he
was
twelve out in the country. His parents had taught him, and Whit’s
memories of
those times were brilliant.
Being back behind the wheel
brought some of that back.
“I guess my dad won’t be the one
teaching me how to drive,” Emily said as she climbed into the passenger
seat
with Corey’s list and her letters.
Whit glanced over at her. “Why is
that?”
“Because they’ll probably go back
to the States after this year, and I’m staying here,” she responded.
“Dad told
me that in his last letter.”
“I thought they were
missionaries.”
“They are.” Emily sighed. “Dad’s
blood pressure is really high, and my siblings are in the States. Mom
doesn’t
understand why I’m here, and I think it would be easier for her if I
was on the
other side of the world, you know?”
“She’s got to be proud of what
you’re doing,” Whit objected. “You’re fighting evil. That’s more than
most ever
do.”
Emily shook her head. “That’s not
how she sees it. Dad understands, but…”
“It’s weird, huh? Getting
immersed into this world?” Whit asked. “I mean, I’ve grown up in it,
but it has
to be strange suddenly being here.”
“Yeah, pretty much.” Emily
sighed. “I just wish that she didn’t think that what I have is evil.”
“Why would it be evil?”
“Because I see
things, awful things.” She forced a smile. “Let’s talk about
something
else, okay? I want some time just to be me for a while.”
“You got it,” Whit replied. “Is
there anywhere you want to go?”
“Is there a bookstore?”
“Yeah, Em. I wouldn’t mind browsing a little.”
Whit smiled,
happy that this, at least, was simple.
~~~~~
Xander stood in the doorway of
Corey’s makeshift office, watching as she worked to balance the books.
They had
a budget, although Giles was fairly free with the money, as long as it
was put
to good use. A lot of the girls had come to them with little but the
clothes on
their backs, and Nàtali hadn’t even had
shoes that
fit.
They had quickly established that
he was not well suited to be in charge of balancing the checkbook.
“Hey.”
She looked up and smiled at him. “Hey yourself. Did Emily and Whit get back yet?”
“Just a few
minutes ago. They both looked pretty pleased with themselves,
and Emily
had about half a dozen books.” Xander shook his head. “I think a few of
them
were for the other girls to share.”
“She’s a good girl.” Corey leaned
back in her chair. “You didn’t come in here just to tell me that.”
Xander shook his head. “No, I
didn’t. I’ve been thinking.”
“Has it been so very difficult
for you?”
“Very funny,” he replied, nearly
losing his nerve. “Look, do you want to have dinner with me sometime?”
Corey’s eyebrows went up. “We have
dinner together every night.”
“You know what I mean,” Xander
said, ready to turn and run.
She grinned at him. “Sorry, I had
to give you a hard time.”
“So, would you have dinner with
me?”
“Of course.”
Her smile was brilliant, and it made his stomach flip. “I’ve been
waiting for
you to ask.”
Xander felt as though his life was about to begin again.