~~~
Chapter 3- Xander
~~~
I watched the sparse trees sweep by as the bus drove on, my head resting against the glass of the window. I still couldn’t believe that the battle was over; the First was gone. There would be no more long speeches, painful injuries, annoying chatty girls or sleepless nights. It was over, and we were leaving Sunnydale behind us to start anew.
Then why did I feel so miserable? I knew. I was alone. I had left Anya behind in the school to perish alone, just as I had left her at the alter after allowing that stupid demon to convince me that I couldn’t make Anya happy. And so I had made Anya miserable for the last year of her life. And now she’s gone, and all I have are the memories.
And what memories they are. I found myself smiling as I remembered the times we shared over the years. Her embarrassing comments about our sex life had always brought a smile to my face, although more to keep face than humor. Her witty but blunt remarks that said what everyone had been thinking but had been too afraid to day aloud had been helpful more than once. And most importantly, I remembered her ability to make me feel like the luckiest man alive.
I hope she’s happy.
I didn’t want to think about Anya anymore, so I pushed all thoughts of the blonde to the back of my mind. Not to be forgotten, just...reserved until I was alone and could grieve properly.
My thoughts moved onto the hospital we had just left. The whole group had stumbled into the foyer, most of us bleeding and bruised from head to toe. Most of the young girls had been attended to first, with them having the most serious injuries and then the rest of us were patched up. Once everyone had been cleaned up the staff’s inquires had come in a barrage of questions. Giles and Buffy had been the only two who had answered. They had spun a tale about being in charge of a boarding school on excursion in Sunnydale. Apparently, we had been visiting a motel when it had suddenly caught fire, and most of us had been lucky to escape. The Sunnydale hospital had been full, leaving them to only one other option, and that was to drive out to the hospital they were currently in.
I had been surprised when they actually bought the ridiculous story, but then again I shouldn’t have been considering the stuff that people in Sunnydale had refused to see. I grinned when I thought about the shock that they would get when they discovered that Sunnydale didn’t even exist anymore.
"What are you smiling about?" Buffy asked, the side of her lip curling.
"Nothing," I replied. "Just the look on Giles’ face when you told the nurse that story."
Buffy laughed, and I felt the knot around my heart loosen just the smallest bit. Laughter hadn’t been a large part of Buffy’s life over the years, last year especially, and to hear her laugh so freely made me want to join her.
"Hey Giles," Buffy called, walking over to lean on the dashboard beside the steering wheel. "How much money do we have?"
Giles opened the glove compartment and retrieved a wad of cash. He threw it to Buffy, who caught it and flicked through it.
"’Bout three hundred. Should be enough."
"For what, may I ask?" Giles questioned, shooting a quick glance at Buffy as she squinted out the window.
"You’ll see," she replied cryptically. She pointed to a growing smudge on the horizon. "Is that another town?"
I looked in the direction she pointed and saw nothing, but I didn’t have the enhanced vision of a Slayer.
"Yeah, it is," Willow replied. "Small, only about two hundred people live there, but it’s got a supermarket and a few shops. Why d’ya want to know?"
Buffy smiled, and sat back in her seat.
"No reason, but Giles, can you pull over when you get there?"
"Uh, sure. How long will you need?"
"Only twenty minutes," she answered, still smiling her silly grin.
I exchanged an amused glance with Willow. "Uh, Buffy?" She turned to look at me, raising her eyebrows questioningly. "I know I regretted this question last time I asked it, but would you care to let the rest of us in the know?"
"Nope, can’t do. You’re just going to have to wait."
Half an hour later we pulled up outside a small diner. We trundle off the bus and tramped inside, drawing curious gazers from the locals. We filled three booths and because no one felt that they could stomach any food we only ordered drinks. I sipped at my coke, watching the girls exchange stories about their first lovers.
I watched Willow take a sip of her mocha, then lie back into the plush red leather and close her eyes. I knew she was thinking about the magic inside her, the power she possessed. I had overheard Kennedy telling the girls and Andrew about Willow’s spell, and as I realized that Willow had finally defeated the darkness inside her I felt the knot in my heart loosen another notch.
I turned to see Giles pay the bill and walk back to the table, again reaching for his glasses and again realizing that they were no longer there. Good old Giles. Over all the years he still had the one habit that reminded me of the first day of school in 1997, the day that started me rest of my life.
I stood up as he approached and pulled Willow out with me. Giles sighed and glanced at the girls and Andrew. "I hope that whatever Buffy is doing she does it soon, because with another few minutes these girls are going to refuse to get back on that bus."
"Don’t worry, Giles," Buffy said as she pushed through the doors. She raised her voice and said, "If they don’t want to leave soon that means we don’t have to share the bags of junk food currently residing on the back seat."
I had never seen so many girls- and one boy- empty a café so fast. In less than twenty seconds all that remained was several empty glasses. Faith and Wood exited the bathroom, both smiling smugly and holding hands.
I raised my eyebrows. Faith...holding hands? With a guy? One guy? I think she took the new beginnings to heart. I was happy that she finally found something solid and stable, something that I knew she had always craved but been too scared to go after. Well, I was happy for them.
As I hopped on the bus, I saw that the girls had gathered at the back. Dawn and Buffy held up a blue sheet, blocking the girls from view, and tied it to the windows. Buffy threw me a bag and I caught it as it hit me in the chest.
"Get changed," she ordered. "You’ve got ten minutes."
I opened the bag and gazed at the contents stupidly.
"Pray, what has she done now?" Giles asked, and I could hear the helplessness in his voice.
"You don’t want to know," I replied. "You don’t want to know."
Five minutes later, after many squeals, giggles and chatter, Buffy emerged from behind the sheet. Giles, Andrew, Robin and I were already changed and she came out, dressed in an old fashioned green dress that reminded me of the bewitched pink one she wore for Halloween those many years ago. As usual, she looked stunning, if not completely insane.
"Everyone ready?"
There was a chorus of ‘yes’ then the drape was removed. There was a moment of silence before the bus erupted into hysterical laughter.
The girls were dressed in an assortment of outfits. Dawn, I saw with amusement, was draped in a bright red shawl, a floral print ankle length skirt, an orange head wrap and wore large golden hoops on her ears. She was the perfect picture of an old-fashioned gypsy. Faith was wearing a short hot-pink skirt and a black strapless top. Her hair was tied on the side and her legs were wrapped in leg warmers.
The other girls wore dresses, skirts and tops of all shape, sizes and color, and the overall effect was extremely bright.
I looked at Andrew, dressed in a wizard’s robe and hat, then at Giles’ Men in Black rendition, complete with sunglasses. Robin looked hilarious in his sailor’s suit and I saw Faith’s eyes widen with appreciation, just as his did when he saw her.
Willow sauntered over to me in her Barbie outfit, which consisted of a swish pink skirt, a cute pink top and a large pink hat with a huge flower perched on top.
"Who are you meant to be?"
"Well, Barbie," I said, grabbing her hand and twirling her around. "I’m the Xander Harris of 1994. Don’t you remember me?"
She glanced at my outfit and blinked, then burst out laughing. My green and yellow Hawaiian shirt was huge and dangled over my orange pants. It was nearly the replica of an outfit I had worn to school on the first day of high school. From that day onward, my social status had been doomed.
Buffy jumped into the driver’s seat and reached beneath it. She pulled out a bottle of champagne and a box of wineglasses.
"Today we are going to celebrate!" she yelled. "So, welcome to the official Scooby Bus Party!"
There was a huge cheer and the radio was turned on. Once everyone had a glass of champagne- including Dawn and the minors, on the basis that it was there only one- the dancing began. Buffy remained in the front and pulled the bus onto the road, which had me worried for the first few minutes, but after having a few more glasses of champagne promptly forgot about.
It felt good to just dance and forget that we had just stopped an apocalypse. I found myself surrounded by a bunch of teenagers, and laughed cheerfully as I was persuaded to do the Snoopy dance. It elicited more laughs and I finally slumped into a seat, tired out. I glanced at Buffy, who kept sneaking looks over her should and laughing with the others.
She was the most unselfish, noble woman I have ever met, and ever will. She has given everything she had, even her life, for others, and now, after being beaten down time after time, she had risen again and thrown a party. A party to help the others move on, to help the others realize that life would keep going. And she just sat at the front of the group, driving us forward and closer to the rest of our lives.
A true hero.
And suddenly, I know what I was meant for. Caleb had said that I was the one who saw everything, and that’s what I was going to do. I was going to find the Slayers, the ones who had been called with Willow’s spell, and I was going to help them, watch over them. I was going to get them through the hardships and pain that come with slaying, and I would make their job a bit easier.
My future didn’t seem so bleak anymore. I had a purpose, a goal in life, and again I’m hit with the realization that my purpose had been with me the whole time. I had always helped Buffy, and I was going to help others just like her.
I was going to give them something no other Slayer before Buffy had ever had. I was going to give them the hope of living.
~~~
I started the engine and watched them through the rearview mirror. I smiled, happy that they had all enjoyed my surprise. I had thought of it as soon as I realized that we could stop in the next town, and I had been experiencing overwhelming feelings of celebrating since our victory. Hence, the absolute insane party that was currently raging in the yellow school bus.
I heard Dawn laugh and turned around to see Xander twirl her around. It was an unusual sight; Dawn was happy and carefree, and Xander was genuinely enjoying himself. Since the accident with Caleb, he had been trying too hard to act as his normal, dopey, joking self. However, I could see, as I’m sure everyone could, that it was only an act. To see him doing the Snoopy dance, surrounded by the others, made another smile pull at my lips.
I had smiled more in the last few hours than in the last few years. It was hard to believe that only a few hours ago we had been fighting for our lives, when we were dancing and partying like there was no tomorrow. Again, I smiled at the thought that there would be a tomorrow, and I planned on sleeping through it.
A shiver passed through my body as I thought of sleeping in Angel’s hotel. I instantly disregarded that line of thought because I knew that it would lead to sleeping in Angel’s room, then sleeping beside Angel, then not even sleeping at all... No, I stopped my thoughts before they reached a point of no return.
I forced my focus back to the road and felt a small twinge of pride at how much I had improved my driving skills. I knew that it was mainly thanks to the lack of a scary evil looking over my shoulder, and I was no longer worried about protecting my friends. Because they weren’t in danger anymore, and I intended to keep it that way.
Well, for a week, at least.
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