Title: Walk the Crimson Road (2/??) Author: Tim Williams Rating: TV-14 or so. Violence. Pairing: Buffy/Xander, a few hints at others Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, etc. Even the ideas are probably things I've read and half forgotten. Joss owns Buffy, Xander, and crew. Distribution: Take my fanfic! Please! Also try, if you're looking for past parts, etc. http://www.angelfire.com/tn/twillia/buffy/bufindex.html Feedback: I'm totally obsessive compulsive about checking my mail for feedback. Please help me with my problem? ;) Spoilers: Late season 4. If you know who Adam is, that's about all there's going to be. It's kinna nonspecific. Summary: Sequel to Carve the Crimson Road. The cat's out of the bag. Author's Notice: Yep, Carve the Crimson Road is over. I should have done (8/8) on it since I knew I was probably going to cut it there, but I didn't plan on starting this one the way I'm going to, so... Well, the tone shifts some, but this story continues the same continuity as the last. And I'm keeping the POV stuff :) Anyway, feedback good, fire bad. Or is it beer? *** "John?" "Yeah." He looked confused for a second, but then went on as if nothing had happened. "I'm sorry it took me so long to find you, but there was no name attached to your file. You were rushed here before anyone in Sunnydale had a chance to recognize you." Sunnydale? "Sunnydale?" "Your home town." Oh. "Oh." "We've been trying to find you and Buffy for almost a week now." "Buffy?" I raised an eyebrow curiously. "You remember her?" "Yeah. Little girl with blond hair." I indicated her height with one hand. "She's eighteen." "Oh. I don't remember her being a day over six." "You shouldn't be able to... you didn't meet her until she was a teenager." "Oh." "Listen, Xander, we're still looking for her, do you remember anything about what happened?" "I'm drawing a blank, except..." "You remember?" "In the dreams, Buffy has an Uncle Adam. She loves him very much." "You're having dreams?" "Yes." "Tell me." *** My name is Xander which is short for Alexander. Why don't I go by Alex? That's a good question. Or Alexander, even. "Xander" just screams out "I'm trying to be different" and stuff. Maybe I was... I am that kind of person. I'm nineteen years old and live in Sunnydale, California. Sunnydale isn't like other towns. Sunnydale is on top of a Hellmouth. A Hellmouth is, like it sounds, a mouth that opens on Hell. I live there and I fight demons and vampires and all sorts of bad things. Well, Buffy fights them. I mostly cheer her on. At least, I did, until I got this disk thing in my wrist. But the disk is different now. Before, it was gold and covered with sigils. Giles has a rubbing. He didn't bring it with him. He does have a few pictures. There is one of me, looking good in a tux. Senior pictures, he said. From high school. There's one of Buffy, too. It's the same girl, just a lot older. She's pretty. I would like to meet her. In high school, I had a best friend named Willow. She had red hair. I called her Wills. That explains something, at least. Together, we stand against the darkness. That's how he put it. I don't believe him. How can we fight things that are twice as fast, twice as strong as a human? Do I believe in vampires? I don't remember. *** They released me. Giles was ready to take me into his custody, and the hospital was all too happy to get rid of a large expense they might of might not be able to collect on. My parents would receive a bill, they said. We're driving back to Sunnydale tomorrow. First, we're going to visit a friend. To help me remember. Her name is Cordelia Chase. It's a pretty name. It suits her. She is pretty. My crutches make it hard to get up the few steps to her office. She works for a detective. I hope he doesn't mind us dropping in on his secretary unannounced. *** "Angel Investigations, we help the... Xander?" "Cordelia?" "Xander? What are you doing here?" I couldn't tell if she was angry or happy or something in between. "I don't really know." "Then why... Oh, Giles!" Giles was still outside. I don't know why, but he was acting nervous. "Is ah... he here?" "He? Oh, you mean Angel, no, he's out with a client." "During the day?" "You know, underground type meeting." "Ah..." I don't know what they were talking about. "So, what brings you two all the way out here. And what's with the four legged look?" I looked down. Did she mean the crutches? "I don't remember." "Cordelia, can I speak with you for a moment?" "Oh. Alright, then, just have yourself a seat over there. There's some coffee, but it's not very good." "Thank you." They talked in the hall for a few minutes. Not too long. I tried the coffee. Terrible. Gratefully, I sank into one of the seats and waited. A few seconds after I'd situated myself, the door to the inner office opened and a hawkish young man in a white suit stepped through. Angel? He didn't look like an Angel. "Oh, Xander." Does everyone know me? "Hi." "Whatever brings you here?" Again with the British accent. "Dunno." The door opened and I was saved from having to explain that I didn't know who he was, nor who I was, for that matter. Cordelia and Giles walked in and started talking to the other guy. I didn't pay much attention to what was going on. This was supposed to be a side trip to remind me of my past, but there wasn't anything here that helped. Don't get me wrong, I felt like I should know these people. I felt it strongly, deep in my bones. But I didn't. I couldn't place them. Their names were just words. Their faces were just faces. It was like listening to a foreign language television program. You know that you don't understand it, but somehow, you're convinced if you just turn it up a little, you'll get it. Words floated by that seemed like I just needed a little more volume, a little more context, to understand. The only thing I still knew was the name Buffy. And the face of a girl I had known, but at an age at which I could not have known her. I was adrift in a world with only one thing as my anchor. Buffy. Idly, my right hand traced the patterns of the disk, keeping itself occupied.