Work Text:
New Beginnings - Sacrifice and New Life
by CaliaDragon
caliadragon@gmail.com
Fate, Destiny, whatever you want to call it had a habit of biting you when you least expected it to. Many say that fate is what you make it, that you create your own destiny. Those people never dealt with what he did and they never met slayers, vampires, watchers, and witches. They never watched as the people they loved stepped into roles they had no wish to live. They did not close a hellmouth, nor did they watch those same people throw them away for being normal. They did not watch classmates die and come back as monsters without souls and with an unending need for blood and mayhem.
Xander Harris was a harbinger of change and a challenger of prophecy. He was an important fighter for the light, even when he was not fighting, as now. Xander's life ended on a night with no one around to save him and no friend around to cry over his body. It was one year to the day that the Scoobies defeated the demonic hybrid that the military built that he was taken. Xander was on his way home from work, looking forward to nothing more than a cold soda and a hot sandwich. He had no friends waiting for him and no girlfriend, at nineteen Xander lived a solitary and wandering life. Xander had finally done what the others wanted him to do, he left the hellmouth behind. They had another witch, Faith, a unit of ex-commandos, and Anya to help them fight demons and evil.
Xander kept in touch with Cordelia Chase, ex-girlfriend and touchstone, in LA to make sure she was still alive and with Joyce, mother and best friend, in Sunnydale, but even then it was mostly sporadic contact and usually through postcards, email and letters. Xander traveled a great deal. He never stayed in one place to long, he was constantly seeking something. When he left the hellmouth behind he left behind the purpose he gave himself at the age of 14. He still occasionally fought demons, but only when there was no other way to stop them from killing.
Tonight he was tired from a long day building hand carved furniture and just wanted to rest. Instead of getting his rest he found the end of his life looming when a group of men swarmed him as he was getting out of his car. He fought well, but the numbers on the side of his attackers made the fight go in their favor and Xander was knocked unconscious. His last conscious thought was not for himself, but for Joyce and Cordelia and how much he would miss them and how angry they would be for him not taking better care of himself.
The men who attacked him were not men; they were in fact humanoid demons. They had been assigned by the Dark Powers to take the Knight Who Sees and bring him to a temple where he would be sacrificed to keep the balance of the battle on their side. It did not matter that the Knight had left the hellmouth behind. It was only a matter of time before he was drawn back into the main fight and when he did he would save the future Seer for the Champion. This could not be allowed to happen. The Dark needed him gone and the light had to allow it to happen, though they had their own plans. The Knight would aide that plan, though the Dark would not know until it was far too late. They mourned the loss of the Knight as he had worked on their behalf and lost many loved ones in the process.
As Xander was being prepared for sacrifice for the games of the Powers, Seers across the planet were driven to their knees, all of them screaming his name. People that worked with those Seers, people with psychic powers felt the power of those visions. Warriors were confused, those with power were helpless, and there was no way to get to Xander in time to save him. The visions made that painfully clear, what was worse was that the visions showed them what would be lost, and the Darkness that would come because of his loss. Yet, even as a sacrifice Xander was saving the very people that the Dark Powers did not want saved.
The visions were so strong, showing what would happen with Xander gone, that the people having those visions immediately made plans to go to the hellmouth and to LA. Two brothers were put on a path that would save the life of one and the soul of another. An undying witch and her companion/advisory made their way to the hellmouth, a young witch needed taught and another needed training. A boy and his best friends headed that way with the boy's godfather, a werewolf who needed to help one who had no mentor. Their combined powers and alternate way of using magick would be of great help. A pack of ancient and powerful abilities decided to send the Packs favored son and Voodoo man to the hellmouth to aide. As another kind of wolf and as one who had magick he would be able to aide in a way that no one would expect.
The Dark Powers defeated themselves, and they would lose the people whose lives they played with and would one day manipulate into working with them despite their best efforts to the contrary. The Light Powers and the Grey Powers made sure that Doyle was not blocked from that vision, he knew about his coming death and the plans the Dark had for the Slayers and for Cordelia. He called Sunnydale and he told them, he told Cordelia and Angel and watched as the pair fell apart. Cordelia went mute with rage and shock, Angel seemed to collapse in on himself and buried his face in his hands.
In Sunnydale Willow Rosenberg screamed in pure agony as the rare vision ripped through her mind. The death of her soul mate, the death of her best friend, sent her into a coma that would last for nearly two weeks. When she came to, it would only be the life of her beloved Tara that would keep her alive. This would be one thing that none of the Powers would count on. In the years that followed Willow would destroy every demon that was part of Xander's death, no one else in their group would ever get a chance to kill them. Willow went dark, but never as far as she would if she never received the training from those that were coming to be with her. When Tara died far in the future Willow's power would consume her like a supernova, killing every evil being within a six mile radius.
The demon that had hidden in Sunnydale since the coming of Buffy, who had been acting as a conduit to the Dark Powers guiding everyone in their actions would be found in pieces, between the two Slayers and a devastated Rupert there would be nothing left. This would cause a weakening on the Hellmouth for the Dark for three years. In that time the group would have a chance to train and to be ready for their return.
Buffy Summers would slip into the same magickal coma that Willow would slip into. Because of her healing she would awake sooner than Willow, but it would be days before she could understand what was going on around her. She would become the most feared Slayer in history and when Tara died she followed her seconds later. She would never see Willow's death, but she would not go into the after life alone.
Rupert Giles let the darkness that lived in him slip its leash, he would never return to the man he was before, his own soul mate would return to the hellmouth and to his side. Giles and Ethan would fall together in the battle that would kill Willow, Buffy, and Tara. Janus would destroy the demons responsible and unleash a war of Chaos against the demon god in responsible. The rest of the group would go on and battle the darkness, they would remember and pass on the tales of the core Scoobies and how one death saved and damned them all in one day.
As for Xander he never woke, never felt pain, never felt his death. The Powers though ruthless, could not bring themselves to allow the Dark this last act of pain upon their Knight. They made it so that one of those preparing the drug for Xander made it to strong. He died in peace and unencumbered by the pain and horror that he would have suffered otherwise.
As Xander passed on his Spirit was taken in a gentle embrace. Freya, Goddess of Love and mother of the Norse Gods, was at his side gently and lovingly leading him to his next life. Xander knew he was dead, he knew that he would not be going on to rest, and that Freya and the Old Ones had plans for him.
When they reached the realm that would make up his new life Xander looked at the pair in the room, one of them was in a hospital bed pushing and panting in pain as he fought to bring him into life. "Are they my new parents?" Xander asked Freya.
The Norse Goddess smiled, "Yes, though the man at his side is only an honorary Uncle. Your other father is on his way. An innocent needed him. They will be the parents you always wanted and they will never harm you the way that your last family did."
"My friends and family?" He asked fearfully, he loved them even if they did not want him around any longer.
"Your death saved them in a way the Dark Powers will not be prepared for. They will be safe and Cordelia will go on to have many young sons. All of whom will be like their fathers Doyle and Wesley." Freya told him with a smile.
Xander giggled at the thought of those kids, with Wes' smarts and Doyle's attitude the kids would destroy the dark and drive everyone insane in the process. Freya smiled at the boy's amusement and shared his beliefs. She leaned over and kissed his forehead, he was going to be missed in her realm. She only hoped that he knew how much he had truly meant to those that loved him.
With one last look at Freya he left the last visage of being Xander Harris behind him. As he was about to be born, his other father rushed into the room. The man at his birthing father's side smiled up at his other father and Jim Ellison returned the smile, before taking his mate and Companion's hand. Blair looked up Simon and Jim and was glad that they were both with him for the birth of his child, his son.
He knew that his little boy would be special and that it was only appropriate that his mate and their best friend were there for his birth. Dr. Philips smiled at Blair and together they brought Joel Alexander Ellison-Sandburg into the world.
end