Buffy sprinted into the common room with Riley only a step behind. Through the crowd, it was impossible to see what was going on, but the rhythmic yelling told her that the football jocks were responsible. She stormed through their ranks into the arena that was the focus of their cheers. One of Dale's followers was being held face down in the icebox by two gigantic freshmen. Two others had pinned his legs, and were shoving a large wooden cross into his underwear. Lifting the gasping, desperate boy from his suffocation, one of his tormenters pulled him close and laughed into his terrified eyes. "Where's your messiah now, huh?" he bellowed, drawing a resounding cheer from the crowd.
"Well, he's busy at the moment, so he asked me to fill in".
The boy turned towards her voice, allowing Buffy's hook to connect with his jaw with twice the force. Everyone in the room heard the joint pop. Before her first victim dropped to his knees, Buffy had already kicked a leg-holder in the chest, knocking him into his companion, both of them sprawling into the crowd. The other drowner leapt for her, wild with drunken rage. He swung at her with both of his huge arms, but she ducked inside his grasp like lightning and with a single, sharp motion, broke his nose with her open palm.
Buffy looked around her for more challengers, fists still clenched. There was only silence. Friends silently dragged the injured away to apply ice and tissues to their broken faces. Buffy relaxed her combat stance, her breathing already back to normal.
And then Riley was beside her. �OK,� he said, commandingly. �What happened to religious tolerance here, people?� He stared at the crowd implacably, and only a few could meet his gaze. �I think we all need to just calm down a bit. Relax. And that goes for all of you. Dale? You tell your boys to tone down the evangelism, or you�re all gone, OK?�
There was a moment of silent assent.
�This is a party. Drink, eat, be merry. And no more fighting. Or else.� Riley underlined this threat by simply looking down at the girl at his side. Buffy suddenly became aware she was being used as a smoking gun and tried to recover with a desperate coy smile and a hair-flick. The crowd only continued to stare nervously as they departed. �OK,� she said, grabbing Riley�s arm. �I think our work is done here� she said, embarrassed, and dragged him from the spotlight.
In the background, Giles and Willow watched as Buffy, Riley and Xander bent over the bullies� victim, making sure he was unhurt. Nervously, Willow tugged at Giles' jacket to get his attention. "Giles.�am I�did I do something wrong?"
He turned to face Willow and stared down at her kindly. "No, absolutely not. You mustn't ever think that, Willow." He smiled and tilted his head, remembering. "In fact, in all the years I�ve known you, I don�t think you�ve ever actually done something wrong�"
"But - but you just don�t think I�m Watcher material, huh?" she asked, meekly.
"No, I never - Willow, I - I think that you are an amazing girl - uh, woman, with, with incredible potential. I believe that your intellect and your powers will take you wherever you might wish, to places you can�t even imagine. And should you, someday, decide that what you wish is to be a Watcher, then, then I will support you in that as well, however I can. You would be a great asset to the Council.� Giles paused, and looked at the gangly young man whom he had chosen. �Probably much more so than Xander," he added, on reflection.
"But - "
"I chose Xander, of the two of you, because I believe that right now, the Council needs someone like Xander. And because, right now, I believe Xander needs something like the Council."
"Oh" said Willow, still sad. "Well, yeah, I guess it would be good for Xander. But you know, just because we're all at college now doesn't mean we have our lives all planned out either."
"I know. Believe me, I know how confusing this time of life can be for you. But it seems to me that you have found a path to follow, Willow - in your magic."
"What has that got to do with anything? You know magic, and you're a Watcher"
Giles blushed. "Truthfully, a mere dabbler, compared to you. And to be frank, Willow, the Council frowns on having serious practitioners of magic among their ranks. They consider them too....unpredictable. And it's going to be hard enough already for my nomination to be accepted."
"Oh" Willow said, still downcast. Giles gently touched her arm.
"You mustn't feel as if you failed at something. I am very impressed by what you've already accomplished. And if you continue your studies, I forsee a much greater path for you than simply being a Watcher."
Willow looked up for the first time, intrigued. "Like what?"
Giles was distracted as the boy threw off Buffy�s ministrations and ran from the room.
"Remind me sometime, Willow," he finished, "to lend you my biography of
Catherine the Great..."
�Brother Michael! Brother Michael!� Dale called wildly, chasing the departing boy out the door and down the front steps.
�Leave me alone, Dale� he said without stopping.
�Don�t leave! You can�t leave! If you leave, then the persecutors have won! Do you want that?�
�I said leave me alone!�
�Michael, remember you duty to God! You must walk through the fire for His name! Come back!�
�Go to Hell� Michael spat and walked away into the darkness. Dale stood and stared angrily after him until he heard the doors open and another boy skip down the stairs to join him.
�'Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake.�� Dale turned his head. �Matthew, 24, 9� he explained. �Persecution, Paul. We have been persecuted once again, just as Christ foretold.�
�Yeah...�
�But we will not lose heart, Paul? No. We will keep fighting. In the fire of persecution, the sword of our holy mission will only become stronger.�
�er, Dale��
�Oh, I hadn�t forgotten Riley�s�little speech.� Dale spat the words. �We must indeed take care to be more subtle, but we must never be silenced. Do you remember the saying that a man must be friends with a Jew for a whole year before he can mention Jesus Christ? We may not have a year, but we can go and do likewise.�
�Right.�
�And meanwhile, Brother Paul, I have other plans� he said calmly, taking a few steps away from his companion and slowly drawing the glass bottle from his pocket, unseen. �The sinners have been revealed to us, but now it is time for us to reveal them to themselves. For only when we make them see the stains of their sins, will they turn away from them��
�er, Dale�� Paul asked, nervously. �You�re not going to do anything�big, are you? What about Buffy? She�ll kill you if you try to start, um, a prayer circle or...something.�
Dale turned, palming the bottle, and smiled. �Don�t worry, I won�t do anything�silly like that. Now go join the others� Paul gave his friend a final worried glance, then nodded and ran up the stairs. �And don�t worry about Buffy!� Dale called after him, with a laugh. �I have a feeling she won�t be bothering us again tonight��
�So, back to my room?� Buffy offered, picking up another beer.
�Well, I�m keen to get back to the yelling and the bitching� said Xander. �This little interlude has given me time to think up some really clever comebacks.�
�No shouting� said Buffy. �I promise.�
�Well, I might sit this one out, if that�s OK� said Riley, casually kissing her hand.
�But - �
�No, I don�t think you really need me. I know nothing about the Council and I�m sure you guys can sort this out without me. It�s really between you four anyway.�
�Actually, count me out too� said Willow.
�Wil? What�s the matter?� asked Buffy, concerned.
�Nothing�s the matter. I just don�t think I need to say anything else. Xander, now, if you want to go and be a Watcher, then, well, I guess I�m OK with that. I may not think the Council are the nicest people on Earth, but you did once date Cordelia so, you know, not going to start questioning your judgement calls now. And well, if you don�t want to be a Watcher, then I�m OK with that too. Things will just go back to how they are.�
For a moment, everyone just stared at her. �What?� she asked, brightly.
Xander put his hand on her shoulder. �Wil, you�re my best friend. You know that?� he said, then turned and led the way down the corridor.
Watching the three depart, Willow smiled to herself. �Yeah,� she sighed, �I know��
Colin picked up two empty plastic cups and headed for the punch bowl. The two cups of punch trick was just what he needed to break the ice with the depressed-looking brunette in the corner. With his eyes on her, he walked straight into Dale at the bowl. �Hey, sorry man!� he apologised. Dale turned around quickly, his hands in his pocket. �No harm done, my son� he said. �I�m finished here - it�s all yours. Enjoy.� He handed Colin the ladle and disappeared through the crowd. Colin messily filled his cups, spilling more than he caught as he kept taking quick glances to make sure his target had not been approached by anyone else.
Finally, they were full and he shuffled quickly over to his mark. �Hey there. I�m Colin. Do you want some punch?�
�Why not?� she said, rolling her eyes. �My name is Anya.�
��and I don�t see why you are both so resistant to the idea!�
�And I really still don't see why we care in the first place. The Council are the bad guys. They threw you out, Giles. And now you want to send Xander off to join them?"
"Buffy, I've been in contact with many of my old acquaintances today, and well, to put it simply, the Council is not the Board of Directors. There are many within the Council who don't approve of the way things have become, who are trying to bring things back to the way they should be."
"Yeah, and not every guy in San Quentin is a psychopath, but it's still not on my list of career choices." said Xander, bitterly.
"Now, Xander, that is unfair - "
"Unfair? Unfair?" shouted Buffy, slamming down her bottle. "Giles, they tried to kill me! They left Angel to die! They made you betray me." Giles shuddered as cold guilt washed over him. Buffy softened and touched his arm. "They betrayed you. They betrayed both of us. And you don't owe them anything."
Giles slowly lowered himself onto Buffy's bed, beaten. He stared at the floor for a while before he spoke again.
"Y-you�re right, Buffy. The Council - well, they don�t deserve, well, any of us. Any of you. But it�s not about what I owe the Council. It's about what I owe you."
"What - what do you mean, 'owe me'?"
He looked into her eyes, once again marvelling at the effect this silly little blonde girl had had on his life. "As much as we hate to think about it, Buffy, you are not immortal. Some day, and I pray it won't be soon, but some day a new Slayer will be called. And her Watcher will be appointed by the Council. After everything that has happened to us, with everything we've seen, shouldn't the next Slayer have a chance to have a Watcher who knows the truth? Who isn�t going to blindly follow tradition, who won�t be cowed by baseless authority? Or at least someone exposed to such ideas through his colleagues?"
"So what you're saying is, better a new Slayer gets me, than another tea-drinking Council-pet sissy-boy like Wesley." Xander chewed that over. "I guess that makes sense" he concluded.
Buffy looked at her friend and smiled, lovingly. "Yeah, I think she could do a lot worse"
�Oh God man it still hurts it still really really hurts man ahh Jesus...� The voice came from a face buried under a large ice pack, on top of a body propped up under the sink in the kitchen.
�Dude, I still can�t believe that chick. She was like, The Matrix or something.� The speaker, a thinner but equally muscled boy who was sitting beside him, began mimicking kung-fu moves. �Hoo! Haa! Yaa!�
�Hey, man, will you shut up? She broke my freaking face!�
�Ha ha ha ha. You are such a gimp. You wannanother beer? Or you want to get some more punch?�
�Ah, jus� the beer, man. That punch tasted whack.�
Reaching up into the sink behind him, the thinner boy grasped two bottles and brought them back down. With well-honed effortlessness they popped them and drank in deep, greedy gulps, no longer able to care about the excess foam dripping down their chins.
�Ahhh� A sigh of contentment came from under the ice-pack. �Beer dulls the pain.� There was no reply from his companion. �Dude? Whassup?� the bigger man said, unable to see his friend from under his ice-pack.
�Oh man, I don�t feel too good. Oh God. Oh God.� He began weakly trying to claw himself into a standing position.
�Dude, are you going to hurl? Dude? Oh man, get to the sink, man! Don�t do it on me!"
�Oh God. Oh man. Oh man..� With one hand firmly clamped across his mouth, the skinny boy finally managed to grab the lip of the sink and lever himself upright. The second he saw the sink he relaxed and a gush of vomit leapt from his throat. Behind him, he dimly recognised his companion retching violently on the floor. He was trying to understand why there were flecks of scarlet spattered on the sink, and why the burning in his mouth was getting hotter and hotter.
All three of them were sitting on the floor now. They had run out of anger and fear, and were left with the cold rationality that comes with exhaustion.
�OK,� began Xander, once again. �So, let�s say that Giles is right, that getting someone like me is the best thing for the next Slayer, and for shaking things up. Working on them from the inside. And it�s good for you guys too, because once I graduate I can possibly influence things to get them off Buffy and Faith�s backs. But that still leaves us with one question - why me?�
�I�ve already told you why, Xander� said Giles.
�I know why you think it should be me. I�m just not convinced about the subject myself.�
�Don�t put yourself down, Xander� reassured Buffy. �You�re not stupid and you�re not hopeless. If you want to be a Watcher, you can do it. We believe in you,� she ended, with a silly smile.
�Yeah, but Buff, this is my question - do I even want to be a Watcher?�
Giles stared at him with a raised eyebrow. �Have you got anything better to do?�
Colin was getting desperate. He�d told half a dozen girls about his pro prospects and none of them had been impressed. The last one had just walked off halfway through because she said she felt ill. His ego couldn�t take much more of it. But now he had struck gold.
She was blonde, drunk and feeling the exact same end-of-party panic that he was. They talked, but neither of them were listening; it was merely a device to allow them to look at each other, at each other�s moving lips, and to bring those closer and closer together, and finally they just slid into contact in mid-sentence. Colin tasted cherry lipstick, alcohol and sweet sugar; his nose filled with her perfume. The kiss went on for a long time, rolling, moving, twisting, tongues going deeper as their bodies moved closer and closer, until finally his hands touched her stomach. She grabbed his arms and he snaked up her ribs, to the bra strap, and slowly, infinitesimally slowly, around to the wire, to the cup�
And then she coughed and pushed him away, her tongue curling with distaste. She stared at Colin in confusion and then suddenly, she was gone. Colin licked his lips in dismay, at first not realising that they were coated with a fluid much thicker than saliva.
"Alright then. Alright. Just supposing I want to be a Watcher - what's the deal? Do I have to go to the Watcher's Academy, or is there a home-study course I can take?" Xander suddenly became more serious. "I don't have to DRESS like you, do I?"
"No, Xander" said Giles tersely. "Your, um, �unique� dress sense need not be compromised. You will, however, have to make sacrifices. Nothing in this world comes for free."
"So, what's the catch?"
"Well, first of all, you'll have to study. You may not be stupid, Xander, but you will need to improve your research skills and your knowledge of the occult."
"Study? You mean like, more schoolwork? Dammit, I knew that whole graduation thing was a sham."
"You'll have a trainer to help you with this, of course. To make sure you learn everything a Watcher needs to know. Now, unfortunately, my returned privileges don�t include this one - so someone else will have to be your teacher.�
�But, Ben, I wanted to go with you to Alderaan and learn the ways of the Force!�
Giles stopped for a second. �Oh yes, Star Wars, I see, very good. No, it can�t be me, although I think that might actually be a blessing. For both of us.� Giles added, with a sidelong look at Xander.
�I�m betting you�d snap first, monarchy-boy� said Xander, glibly. Buffy laughed at this, a little too loudly.
Giles ignored them both. �And in fact, it wasn�t easy to find you a teacher at all, because of my status, as, as much as your lack of educational qualifications.�
�Hey! I worked hard for my Ds - I won�t hear you slander them like that.�
�You�ll almost certainly have to take college courses as part of your training. Luckily, I�ve found a Watcher who works at a university. She�s willing to take you on as a student and she�s managed to get you a place for this year.�
�Me? Go to college? Wow. Where? Harvard? Yale? Princeton?� Xander joked.
�Oxford� said Giles, seriously.
There was a very long pause.
�Oxford? In England?�
�No, Oxford, Texas. Of course Oxford in England!�
Xander's jaw hung open with shock. The silence gave Buffy a chance to catch up with what had just been said. �Oxford? In England?�
Xander snorted out of habit, his eyes still unfocussed. �I think we covered that one, Buff.�
�No!� Buffy yelled, sitting up on her knees. �You can�t go to England! Giles, you can�t send him to England!�
�But -�
�He�s my � my Xander! He can�t go to England! I need him.�
Xander snapped out of his reverie. �Er, gee thanks - � was as far as he got before Buffy was hugging him violently. �We need him.� she echoed.
�Buffy, you can�t expect your friends to stay by your side forever.�
�But that doesn�t mean I need to take off to the other side of the world at the first opportunity, either� shot back Xander, angry. �I can�t do that, Giles. I can�t just leave. I have friends here. I may not have anything else, but I have friends.�
�That�s right,� said Buffy, squeezing him once more, then recovering herself and relaxing back into simply leaning against him. Xander tenderly put his arm around her waist in return.
�Xander, do you remember what�s been happening over this last year? You haven�t stopped worrying about the fact that, as your lives drifted apart, you were losing your friends.�
�So what, I should just accept that I�ve lost them and leave the country?� Xander demanded.
�Not lost, Xander. Your friendship with Buffy and Willow - that, I'm very sure, will last forever.�
�That�s right� nodded Buffy.
�But, like it or not, you are moving in different circles now. So you can either stay in Sunnydale, in you basement, and watch them slowly move further away from you, as their studies and careers take them places you simply cannot go. Or you can make the choice to go your own way now, as your decision, and find a path for yourself.�
Xander scowled at Giles but said nothing. Buffy sat up, alarmed. �You can�t seriously be considering this! Giles, didn�t you hear me? We need Xander. He - he�s my sidekick! He keeps me strong! You just said that!�
�I, well, I know - �
�Don�t you remember the ritual we did to stop Adam? I was the body, you were the mind and he was my heart.� Buffy turned to Xander, her face very close, her dusky almond eyes staring deep into his. �You�re my heart, Xander. My courage. I - I need you.�
Xander hugged her again. �I know you do, Buff, I know.�
Giles smiled sadly. �Yes, of course - if our encounter with Adam proved anything, it was that your friends, Buffy, are your greatest resource, your greatest weapon. But they are also human beings, Buffy, and they have to have, well, their own lives. Their own choices. You can�t rely on them to be with you forever.� Giles sighed again, feeling the burden of his words. "And remember, Willow could have gone anywhere after her graduation - she had a choice, and she chose to stay here, in Sunnydale. Xander didn't get that choice - until now."
�I need you,� Buffy whispered in his ear, holding him tighter.
Xander hugged her back, staring over her shoulder at Giles. �I need you too� he whispered back.
Anya coughed again, and spat violently in the bathroom sink. That last drink - whatever it was - had been vile. She felt like she wanted to throw up, but couldn't. She gargled some water and spat again. That seemed a bit better. Shrugging with acceptance, she found her lipstick in her pocket and bent forward to correct the smudging her coughs had caused. She was halfway along her bottom lip when she saw the blood.
It was just a few flecks, sitting on her lips. She licked them away, then saw this had only added more. Opening her mouth, she saw her teeth were tinged in pink. Confused, she poured herself another cup of water and gargled and spat again. The water was bright red. Anya had only been human for a little over a year, and she'd never been injured. She had no idea what was happening to her. But her body was telling her that this amount of blood should not be in her mouth. She spat again. This time, all she produced was thick dark blood that oozed down her chin.
She turned around and went to grab the door but never made it. Her stomach spasmed wildly and the pain was so acute and so sudden she fell to her knees. Her head spun, and all she could think was she had to open the door, she had to find Xander. But she felt if she took her arms off her abdomen, she'd be torn in half.
When the next spasm hit, a gout of blood filled her mouth. She tried to spit it out but it was too much, filling her cheeks, clogging her throat and her nose. When the next spasm ripped through her, she couldn't even scream.