InsaneJournal

Xander scowled at the new information gotten from Shannon about the vineyard and continued scowling as he looked over the blueprints Willow had managed to hack off the Internet. With her beside him, he went over them furiously, trying to figure out some way to get in without killing everyone.

“It’s a death trap,” he finally growled, sinking into a chair. Scrubbing a hand across his face, he continued, “We go in there, especially with the potentials, we’re practically condemning them all to death. At least if there was something in the school, we’d have a better idea of things.”

“So what?” asked Willow. She then leaned forward, peering worriedly at him, and asked, “Have you been sleeping?”

Xander grunted and replied, “Not much.”

“You should.”

“I know, Wills, but I can’t. Not when there’s so much shit to do!”

Willow sighed and touched his arm, saying, “You don’t have to do everything, Xander.”

He started to angrily protest that then laughed, sagging into the chair. Smiling at her, he said, “You’re right. Damn, you’re right. Ugh.” Dragging a hand across his eyes, he stood up and frowned at the blueprints. “Whatever we do, we can’t take the potentials in there. You have to tell them that.”

“I will,” she promised. “Now you go and get some rest. Please.”

“Always scolding me like a mother hen,” said Xander warmly, moving his chair so he could lean over and hug her.

“You need it,” said Willow, hugging him tightly.

“Yeah, I do.”

He briefly kissed her cheek then headed upstairs towards his room, Willow watching his every step until he disappeared. Then she looked towards the doorway as Faith entered, the Slayer immediately asking, “He’s upstairs?”

“Yes,” replied the witch breathlessly. “Everything’s so hectic!”

Faith smiled and touched her shoulder briefly, saying, “We’ll get through this. Now…what’d he say about the vineyard?”

“It’s a death trap and to not take the potentials in there.”

“No girls…okay. So, me and Wood.”

“Just the two of you?” asked Willow.

“With Fangs out, you need Spike here to help protect the girls,” said Faith seriously. “Seems crazy but…he really has been a help.”

“He has…but, Faith…”

“I’ll be fine, girl, don’t worry.”

Willow bit her lip then said, “You had better be. The last time you got hurt…”

“I remember,” breathed the Slayer. “Trust me, I’m not intending on dying anytime soon.”

“Good. Be careful.”

“Always,” said Faith over her shoulder as she went to go find the principal. Willow sighed and sank back down into her chair, frowning at the blueprints splayed across the table. Leaning forward onto them, she cupped her face in her hands, and muttered, “What are you hiding?”

---

“We have to get that thing from down there,” insisted Faith as Xander frowned at her. “Whatever it is, it’s powerful and something he’s deliberately keeping from us.”

“Okay, okay,” said Xander, “but we wait two days.” He ran a hand wearily through his hair and continued, “I’ve been neglecting sleep. By then I should be okay.”

“You’re sure?” she asked, stepping worriedly forward.

“Positive.”

Faith smiled and said, “Okay. Now go get some more sleep.”

Xander grunted in response and closed his door but she heard him collapse back into bed through it. Smiling, she turned back towards her room and found Wood at her door, bandaged and looking nervous.

“Hi,” she said softly.

“Hey,” he murmured. “Er…Faith, I…”

The Slayer chuckled darkly and opened her door, pulling him inside before kissing him. “Shut up, Robin,” she hissed with a smile and jerked him towards the bed.

Down the hall, Xander lifted his head and smiled sadly as he sensed the two of them. His heart ached all at once with the loss but he was happy at the same time.

Faith had found someone as mortal as herself.

Sighing, he pulled his senses back in, wrapping them around himself, and sank back into sleep wearily.

---

“You can’t beat me!” crowed Caleb/the First. Xander, blood streaming from a gash on his forehead and into an eye, smiled ferally in response and lunged forward into a blur of motion. Spike followed him with a roar but Caleb easily flicked him aside with the back of his hand.

But the movement allowed Xander to appear in the air behind him and swing around, catching the preacher in the jaw with a kick that could dent steel. The man went flying and crashed into the wall of the room, slumping to the floor for at least a moment.

“Get that fucking thing!” snarled the vampire.

“Bitch!” hissed Caleb as he got back to his feet. Though the word was horribly distorted thanks to the fact that his jaw was only just hanging on. He made to lunge after Faith as she made towards the ‘thing’ but Xander slammed into him shoulder first, sending the both of them to the floor.

Spike snarled, watching and ready to pounce, as the two grappled and started rolling across the floor.

“You can’t stop this,” snarled Caleb as he ended up on top, his hands around Xander’s neck.

The vampire choked out a laugh and growled, “I…don’t…breathe…asshole.”

With a cold smile, the preacher said, “But you do see, don’t you?” One hand shifted towards one blazing red eye and then paused as it was abruptly flooded with a color more like blood. “What?”

Xander’s arm blurred briefly and, in a crunch of breaking bone and rock, Caleb flew upwards and hit the roof before falling back to the floor. As the vampire rose to his feet, snarling, he spat, “I like my eyes just fine where they are.”

“I can fix that,” said Caleb as he got up slowly. Then he blinked and roared angrily, his face shifting into something monstrous for one brief moment. “NO!”

“Fuck, yes,” answered Faith, a savage smile on her face as she strode forward with a vicious looking scythe in her hands. “Payback’s a bitch, preacher.”

He lunged at her but a swift punch from Xander in the throat stopped that movement in its tracks. Then the Slayer swung the weapon with a snarl of rage and the man collapsed into a bloody heap with his body in two pieces.

A moment of stunned silence passed in which Spike breathed, “Bloody hell,” then Faith sobbed briefly before sinking back against Xander, who hugged her tightly. She fumbled for his hand with one as the other held tight to the bloodied scythe and breathed, “I…I…”

“He was a monster,” he hissed against her ear. “Not human. Don’t think that, Faith. Don’t go there.”

“But…”

“He’s right,” said Spike softly. “One like that…you can’t help that sort. Bloody crazies.”

Faith shuddered, closing her eyes as she sucked in several breaths. After a moment she calmed herself down and looked wearily up at the both of them with a grateful smile.

“Let’s get out of here,” she whispered.

Xander nodded and they walked out together, his arm around her shoulders. Spike cast one look back towards the broken body and shook his head, muttering, “Damn,” before he followed.

Their slow walk back towards the house was broken when Xander twitched and hissed, “Deadboy’s here. At the house.”

“Shit,” muttered Faith, her earlier issue suddenly forgotten. As one the three of them broken into a run, Xander forcing himself to keep pace with the other two.

Angel and Giles looked up in surprise as the trio came through the front door, slowly taking in their bloody appearance and that of the weapon in Faith’s hands. The Watcher blinked then breathed, “Is that…”

“Yeah, this is the thing,” she said. Then she looked at Angel and asked, “What the hell are you doing here? You’re supposed to be holding down the fort in L.A.!”

“I had to bring you this,” said the vampire. He picked up something from the table and held it up, allowing the bit of metal to dangle from the chain it was attached to. “I’m not really sure what it does but its supposed to be worn by someone who’s the Slayer’s champion.”

Faith glanced sideways at Xander, who grunted and snapped, “I’m not wearing any doohickey when I don’t know what it does.”

“That’s that then,” said the Slayer. “’Cause if anyone’d be my champion, it’d be Xander. Thanks for the help, Angel, but we’ll pass.”

Angel shrugged at that and stuffed it back into his pocket with a smile.

“I figured you’d say that but I felt I needed to offer it. And you all know if you need help you just need to ask.”

“Yeah, we know, Deadboy,” said Xander, his voice a bit more level now as the last of the red faded from his eyes. “But, like Faith, said, you should get back to L.A. and hold down the fort there. If we lose here, you and your folks are going to be the next thing this goes after.”

Angel nodded slowly then asked, “What are you all going to do next?”

“Bugger if I know,” replied Spike, earning a glare, but Faith and Xander were smiling at each other. The Slayer looked down at the scythe in her hands and hefted it, remembering just how much the First and Caleb hadn’t wanted her to get it.

“What are we going to do?” she asked softly.

Next to her, Xander’s eyes gleamed and for a moment red overtook the mix of green and hazel again.

“We’re going to go to war,” he answered with a smile that edged on insane.