See part 1, 2, or 3. They all more or less say the same thing, so don't worry about it.
***
Principal Snyder wasn't having the best of days. Buffy Summers had seen him last night, and that was the first time anything like that had happened. The Harris boy shouldn't have been there, unless he was set upon killing his own mother, and the young vampire had been much too upset to have had that mission in mind. Snyder was sure of that, and had the purple bruise where Harris had choked him as proof. Summers was a threat, more so than she had been before, and if Harris was still hanging around her and her trouble- making group, he was a threat as well.
"Put that back!" he yelled at two kids who had ripped a poster down from the wall. "Teenagers..." he mumbled, resuming his steady walk through the school. If there was anything that could take his mind off his problems, it was yelling at children.
He turned a corner, and was surprised to see Buffy Summers standing there, with her hands on her hips.
"Principal Snyder, may I please talk with you?" she asked, her voice as sweet as icing.
"Not now, Summers," he started to walk away until the girl grabbed his shoulder.
"Well, it's kind of urgent," she said, her voice still sweet, but her eyes gleaming with determination. "We should talk in private. You don't want to make a scene, do you?"
Snyder sighed. "Of course not. We'll go to somewhere private."
"We'll go to the library."
* * *
Mrs. Harris opened the door to find one familiar face and two strange ones.
"Oh, you've come back for the furniture, how nice. Where's your wife?"
"Wife?" Xander asked, surprised.
"Oh, I'm sorry, girlfriend..."
"Actually we were just friends, and she's busy. These are some other friends of mine I brought to help move the stuff."
"Oh, well, come in, Mister..." Mrs. Harris stopped, and rubbed her head. "I'm sorry, I can't remember your name."
"Alex Rosenburg," Xander answered quickly, glancing at Willow. "We'll just start moving now, if that's all right."
"Of course, Mr. Rosenburg, call if you need anything." Xander's mom headed back towards the living room, where she picked up a book. Xander gazed at her longingly, then shook himself out of it.
The threesome made their way down the hall, and entered Xander's room.
"This is gonna take awhile," Oz said, surveying the mess.
"It won't be too bad," Willow said, already opening a suitcase. "With the three of us, it should go by pretty quick."
They set to work, gathering anything they saw. Xander said that he would organize and trash stuff later, so they weren't picky. Willow and Oz conversed much during the hour they were there. Xander barely said a word.
* * *
Snyder sat down in one of the wooden chairs around the library table. Buffy and Giles sat facing him on the other side. They sat in silence for a moment, discussing in low voices indeterminable things.
"What do you want to know?" Snyder interrupted. "I'm not planning on sitting in this library all day with you two whispering to each other."
Giles turned to the principal. "How much do you know?"
"About what?"
"Don't play dumb," Buffy said, rising from her chair. "I saw you at Xander's house. You did something to his mom. Because Xander was changed."
"I don't know what you're talking about..."
"How much do you know about this area?" Giles interjected. "How much do you know about the Hellmouth, the vampires, and the demons?"
"Vampires?!" the small man feigned surprise. "You must be..."
"If you don't start talking, I'm gonna let Xander do whatever he feels like with you," Buffy said, her eyes glinting with anger and frustration. "And I'm positive that won't be pleasant."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
* * *
Alone, Xander took his Everclear band poster down off his wall. It was the last thing in the room; everything else had already been taken down and loaded into Oz's van. His room was bare, the only things left behind certain pieces furniture he didn't need. Willow walked in quietly, trying not to disturb him.
"It sure looks lifeless, doesn't it?" Xander asked, still staring at the now clean room.
"It does," Willow said, walking to him and putting her arms around him. "Oz is out in the van, whenever you're ready to go..."
"I'm ready now, it's just, I've lived here my whole life. I don't think I've moved that desk in seventeen years. It's weird to be leaving it all."
"I know," Willow let go of him, and turned back toward the door. She put out her hand. "Let's go. The sooner you leave, the easier it'll be."
Xander looked around the room for a last time, then took Willow's outstretched hand. Silently, they left the familiar room for the last time.
* * *
"Nothing's working," Buffy said to Giles in a hushed whisper. "I don't think he's gonna tell us anything. I'm seriously considering beating the guy up. Can we do the good cop, bad cop thing?"
"'Good cop, bad cop thing'? I don't believe I've ever heard of that..."
"Sorry Giles, pop culture reference, I'll try to remember next time. But what else can we do? He's not talking, and we've been here for more than an hour! It's killing me!"
"I don't know, threaten him some more..."
"I've been threatening for thirty minutes! I'm tired! Can't I just follow through on some threats? Like stuffing his head into a microwave?"
"I do believe that would be a bit drastic, Buffy."
They both looked up at the sound of the library doors swinging open. Willow, Oz, and Xander all walked in, and stopped short when they saw the principal sitting in their headquarters.
Willow glanced at Xander to see his reaction. His eyes were already gold. "Xander, please try," she said. She could tell he was fighting it.
"Push, push, push," Xander whispered to himself. His eyes momentarily flickered a darker gold, trying to turn brown , but were bright gold again within a second.
Snyder stood up quickly, obvious fearing what Xander might do to him. He doubted Buffy would stop the vampire so quickly this time around.
"Gee, Principal Snyder, what's wrong?" Buffy asked, her eyes cold and her tone sarcastic. "Why would you be so scared when Xander came in?"
"You wouldn't dare, Summers. You would be expelled in a second."
"Wanna bet? I'm sick of you and your stupid games. I'm not afraid to make good on an earlier promise. I don't lie."
"I'm not telling you anything."
Buffy sighed, but couldn't help smiling. She walked over to Xander. "Xander? Sic 'im."
Xander calmly walked to Snyder. The principal yelped and backed away, up the stairs, and into a corner. Xander came to a stop a foot away from Snyder.
"That's a nasty bruise ya got there," the vampire said, looking down at the older man's neck. "It looks lonely. But that's okay, it'll have some friends in the next few minutes."
Xander's features twisted as he grabbed Snyder and violently threw him across the room. He slammed into one of the bookshelves. The principal moaned, and Giles sucked in a breath of air at the sight of books falling to the floor. Xander took hold of Snyder's neck with one hand, and lifted him up, holding him a couple of inches off the ground. He let out a low growl.
"You don't have to tell us anything," he said, his voice almost gruff. "I'm enjoying this, and I wanna get to the *really* good part.
"The part where I kill you."
Snyder began breathing heavily, panting even, and Xander could hear his heartbeat quicken.
"All right, okay, I'll tell you whatever you want to know. Just put me down. Don't kill me..."
Xander looked at Buffy, who nodded her head. The vampire dropped Snyder, and he immediately collapsed to the ground, sucking in air and rubbing his neck. Xander walked down the stairs, and sat in one of the chairs. When his face returned to normal, Willow sat down beside him.
Buffy and Giles fetched Snyder from the stacks, and brought him down to sit at the table. The principal went hysterical when they offered the seat next to Xander.
"I-it looks like Principal Snyder has developed a-a bit of a phobia of Xander," Giles said, raising his eyebrows.
"You broke him, Xand," Buffy said, a smile crossing her face.
"And it was such fun, too," Xander said, smiling. He noticed Willow glaring at him. "Not fun, actually, it was terrible, really cruel. I never should have done it."
"Will, it was for a good cause," Buffy said, patting her best friend on the shoulder.
"I'm just used to you doing all the fighting, Buffy, not Xander."
"I'm a vampire slayer, I kill vampires. Xander's a vampire, he kills..."
"People? We should consider it his sacred duty from now on?"
"No, Willow, that's not what I meant..."
"Maybe, but that's what it came out as." Willow stood up. "I need to get out of here."
Xander watched her leave, then got up to follow her. Buffy nodded no.
"Buff, I gotta talk to her." He nodded towards Principal Snyder, whom Giles was questioning. "If you need anymore Piggy-bashing, come get me."
* * *
Willow stood alone in the darkened hallway, which was void of students in the hours after school. She let a single tear roll down her pale cheek. Seeing the library doors opening, she turned away from them. She knew Xander would come out after her, it was the way he worked. She thanked God that it was still a habit of his.
"Willow, hey," Xander said, reaching out to catch her arm. "Look, I'm sorry..."
Willow turned to face him. "No, you don't need to be sorry, it's not your fault. It's me..."
"Will, you always do that. It's not your fault, it's never your fault. We just really need to talk...to try to straighten this out."
"I just have a problem with you being a vampire, okay? I can't help it..."
"C'mere," Xander put his arm around her and they slid down to the floor. "I know, it's not going to be easy to get used to, but, we gotta, it's gonna be this way for a long time."
"You think I don't know that?" Willow let the tears fall freely now. "You're my best friend, and now you're a vampire, and I just don't like it..."
"None of us do, Will..."
"You certainly seem to be enjoying it. I mean, you're you, but you're like a eighty-twenty you. It just scares me when you change..."
"Will, I'm sorry. I swear, I'll try harder to keep it down next time."
She looked at his all-too familiar face, and reached out to hug him. They embraced for a moment, then let go. Xander kissed her gently on the forehead.
"Maybe you should go home," he said. "It's been a long day for you."
"No, I need to stay here and make sure you keep your promise."
Xander smiled, and led her back into the library. Upon entering, they found an enraged Buffy yelling at a confused Principal Snyder.
"You mean that's *it*? All that threatening, for *nothing*? You kept us here for an hour just for *this*?!"
Giles put his hand on Buffy's shoulder. "Buffy, please, y-you are being quite harsh..."
"I have the right to be harsh! Why are you so calm?! You should be pissed too!" She spun around as Xander tapped her shoulder. "What?!"
"Um, what happened?"
"Principal Snyder's secret, um, wasn't all Buffy hoped and dreamed it to be," Giles said, taking off his glasses and wiping them with a handkerchief.
"It was jack!" Buffy cried. She pounded her fist on the table in front of Snyder. "There has to be more to it!"
"What was it?" Xander asked.
Oz pulled Xander and Willow aside, as Buffy continued her interrogation of Snyder. "All he said was that he was protecting Sunnydale. Y'know, if everyone knew about the vamps, they'd pack up and leave, and Sunnydale would be dead. He said he was just protecting it from getting out."
"That's it?" Willow asked, surprised. "No wonder Buffy's so mad."
The three turned back to Buffy and her raging fury. "Then why were you always picking on me, then? *I'm* the one protecting everyone!"
Giles gave Buffy a stern look.
"Protecting?!" Snyder rose from his chair. "You were spreading the trouble! You were there every time something happened, you were in the middle of it. If it weren't for you, this town wouldn't have any problems!"
"Except the vampires and demons and Hellmouths that open under school libraries!!!" Buffy screamed. Snyder looked genuinely startled, and turned to walk out of the library, being careful to stay a few feet away from Xander. At the door he turned to face the group.
"I've told you what you want to know. I'd *appreciate* it if you'd stop causing problems for this town, Summers." The principal walked out of the library.
Buffy let out a frustrated "grrrr!" and plopped into a chair, banging her head on the table. "I can't believe that was *it*!"
"I am sorry, Buffy..." Giles said. "Perhaps next time there shall be more conspiracy to it."
"Ugh..."
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