Chapter Text
Exchange
by Caliadragon
caliadragon@gmail.com
Xander Harris was perfect for what the Powers had planned, they needed him in their parallel dimension his doppelganger had been killed six months earlier and without him present there was no longer anyone to act as backup and demon knowledge for their slayers. Unlike their female slayers in The Knight's realm, their male slayers got along quite well and were in fact, more often than not, lovers.
However, all of the Watchers were dead and there was no one to help guide them. Because of this they needed to take The Knight to guide their Slayers to which demons were dangerous and which demons were unharmful and merely wanted to live in peace.
The battle with the First had not happened in the parallel realm, simply because the senior slayer had only been dead for a few minutes. Because he had not been brought back with a dark and broken ritual there was no opening for the First to get a foothold in that dimension. However, some how all of the Watchers were destroyed and the slayers were called which meant that there was no one to help the pair train the younger slayers. Xander would act as a guide and voice of reason when they began to fall into the violence and hopelessness of a slayers life.
The fact that he was younger than both of the senior slayers would mean that they would also want to protect him. With the intervention of the Powers, Xander would have the combined knowledge of the Watchers, yet still have the compassion and love of the slayers that he had developed fighting and training with so many.
The only problem was that transferring him to the other realm would mean deaging the Knight and stripping him of several layers of magicks and bindings that had been placed on him over the years. To do this they had to have the young man's permission.
Kendra the second slayer that he had met was chosen to be the emissary of the Powers in this matter, she would go to him and explain what was happening; hopefully she could get his permission and cooperation in saving the other realm.
Kendra looked at the sleeping man and felt her heart tighten, she had always liked Xander, he had treated her well and was not threatened by her the way Willow and even Buffy had been. He had been funny and sweet, yet still respectful to her and her ways. Now though slaying had taken its toll on Xander's body. He was badly injured from the latest demon and without taking the deal that the Powers were offering would probably be dead within months. It hurt her to see him like this.
"Xander," she called, her accent adding an exotic spin to his name.
When Xander opened his eye he was shocked to see Kendra at his side, when she touched him tears filled his haunted eyes. "I'm so sorry I failed you." He whispered, broken and tired.
"You never failed me, it was my time." She told him gently before leaning down and kissing his cheek. Xander smiled at the gentle touch and sighed happily. Xander had loved Kendra from the moment he met her, in Kendra he had seen someone cheated from a normal life and someone who was still incredibly innocent. He had wanted to protect her and be there for her to help her find who she was meant to be. Dru, ordered by Angelus, took that from him and only added to his hatred of vampires as well as a growing distrust of magick and those who used it for their own gain. Only his life time of love for Willow had kept his trust in her strong, until she had finally lost her way and destroyed the last bit of trust he had in her when she tried to destroy the world. He hid it well, and he still loved her, but he would never trust her again.
"Xander, the Powers have sent me to you to ask for your help. They know that you have given up a great deal for the slayers, but there are more who need you, in a world different than this one. You would regress to age of eighteen; you would get back the eye you lost as well as your legs. You would have all of the magick used against you removed. Lastly, you would be given the knowledge of the Watchers of that realm, you would be the only Watcher there as in that realm they are all dead. The Slayers there are men and are married. That realm is almost the complete opposite of ours, but you would be given a new chance and they would have someone to take care of them." Kendra made sure he knew the benefits and made sure he knew that the other realm was very different from what he was used to.
"Buffy and Willow, do they know?" Xander asked weakly. Since he had been attacked saving three slayers from an Orctain'et demon the two women had been extremely uncomfortable in his presence. They visited him, but it was rough on all three of them as the two were so wary of upsetting him that nothing important was ever really said. Dawn, Giles, Andrew, Faith, and Robin were the only ones really comfortable in his presence and even they had a hard time dealing with his massive injuries. All in all Xander was ready to pass on, he had no use here any longer and hated that they had saved him and left him to this crippled and pain filled fate.
"Here everyone will believe that you have finally passed on. You will be free of this life and able to start over." Kendra promised.
"Then I'll do it, I need to be useful or I need to die, I can't go on like this." Xander told her weakly. Kendra smiled and kissed his forehead. The world shifted and turned, when it righted itself Xander was standing in a marble hallway looking at two stunning people, a man with dark hair and green eyes and a woman with white hair and black eyes. The man was short, with a tight compact body and a full sensual mouth, his dark hair was long and braided hanging over his shoulder. There was something faintly familiar about him, but Xander wasn't sure what it was. To Xander he felt primal and comforting. The woman was also small and delicate looking, she mirrored the man in looks and feel, but Xander recognized her for what she was. This woman was what the essence of the Slayer looked like. He could remember meeting her in her primal state, but this was who she was meant to be, which meant that the man was the representative of her in the other realm, he was who the slayer essence was drawn from.
"Hello Child," the man and woman spoke as one.
"Hello Father, Mother." Xander greeted respectfully, while part of him thought that the Powers chose well, first by sending Kendra to him and then by sending the first slayers of each realm to greet him and be the ones to bring on the change. Xander was deeply devoted to the slayers and had continued to fight with and for them when anyone else would have left them to their lot in life.
The pair stepped forward and touched his forehead giving Xander the information he would need to exist in the new world as well as removing the rest of the taint left to him by a lifetime living and battling evil. They each kissed him, placing their blessings upon him and sending him to the other realm.
When Xander opened his eyes once more he was standing in front of a group of men and teenage boys. To his surprise he recognized several of the people there and two who were familiar to him as one of them was the reason he lost his legs to the demons after his slayers. The man who chopped off his legs and the man whose hand he was holding stepped forward and smiled at him. "Hello Xander, the Powers representative told us you were coming." The man he didn't know said. "My name is Ryan Wolfe and this is my husband Dean Winchester. Welcome to Miami, our home sweet hellmouth."
end