Fic: Repercussions, Reactions and Retaliation prologue

Title: Repercussions, Reactions and Retaliation

Author: The Bear!

Spoilers: None really, this is in the Triadverse AU and follows The Please Trilogy and The Triad Trilogy

Pairing: Willow/Buffy/Tara primarily, but other Scoobies are hooked up as well.

Summary: With Glory defeated, things should quiet down for a while... shouldn’t they?

Warnings: NC17 over all (Prologue is angsty, but pretty clean)

Disclaimer: If I owned ‘em, they’d have to show it on the Ecstasy Network.

Author’s Note: I know, I know. It’s been forever! Well, I’m still writing, it’s just slow going. Sorry ‘bout that.

========== BtVS ==========

Prologue

Xander Harris was tired. He rubbed his eyes and looked up from Willow’s laptop, his eyes traveling the austere room without finding anything of interest. ‘Why the hell did deadboy even have a dining table in the first place, it’s not like he ate...’ Xander thought.

He was seated at the long, heavy table in what would have been the formal dining room when the mansion had human inhabitants. The table and chairs were the only furniture in the room, which was otherwise completely bare of any adornment. ‘Maybe it came with the place...’ he thought. ‘It’s not like he did any decorating in here. Not that he did much in any of the rooms. I guess stark and empty is better for brooding.’

Xander looked at the time on the computer screen, as he had been doing almost every thirty seconds for the last half hour. ‘Just a couple minutes now... Every hour, on the hour; Giles said they’d log on every hour and wait five minutes for us to check in. With Willow and the other three asleep, I totally spaced it!’ he berated himself, too tired to work up much more than mild self-recrimination. ‘He’s probably freaking out, not to mention poor Dawn and Mrs. Summers; wondering if we survived, wondering if they have to worry about Glory any more... jeeze, now I feel really guilty!’

He looked out the archway into the main room of Angel’s mansion, knowing that just out of his line of sight was the couch on which Faith was sleeping. He had spent some time earlier watching the dark haired Slayer sleep, trying to avoid Morpheus arms himself. ‘She looks so different asleep,’ he thought. ‘Younger, more peaceful... not such a tough girl really. Not that I’d ever say that to her when she’s awake!’

Xander’s face broke into a melancholy smile as he remembered carrying Willow into the master bedroom, ‘Poor Will, she looked tired even while she was sleeping. Buffy barely made it in on her own power... I knew she was tired when she let Angel carry Tara in for her. I bet they sleep late tomorrow.’

The computer beeped at him, breaking him out of his daze. He looked down to see a message box asking him if he wanted to join a video conference with username Dustyoldbooks. ‘I still can’t believe Willow stuck him with that name!’ Xander thought with a chuckle. ‘She did warn him; he should have learned how to set up his own username! I wonder if she made his password something embarrassing?’

Shaking his head at his wandering thoughts, Xander clicked the ‘yes’ button and was immediately rewarded with the worried face of Buffy’s Watcher filling the conference window.

“Xander! Thank God! Good Lord, man, we’ve been waiting for hours!” The tired Scooby could see annoyance warring with relief in the Watcher’s face. “Is everyone alright? Were you successful? Where is everyone?”

“Yes, yes, and sleeping,” Xander answered with a wry grin at the normally stolid Brit’s agitation. “Good to see you too, G-man,”

Giles blinked several times, seeming at a loss as what to say. After a moment, he took off his glasses and rubbed at his face as though fatigued. Xander was unable to stifle a yawn of his own in response.

“Everyone’s alright then?” Giles asked again.

“No injuries for the home team,” Xander said, forcing a smile onto his face.

‘Which isn’t the same as everyone’s alright...’ the younger man thought, once again repressing the turmoil that had his guts churning.

“Cordy, Gunn, Wes and deadboy all went back to LA, Faith’s racked out on the couch and Buffy, Willow and Tara are in bed... sleeping for once,” Xander explained.

A hint of a grin came across Giles’ face at that observation, though he made no comment on the subject. “So, th-the enjoining spell worked then?” he asked.

“Plan worked, world saved,” Xander quipped. ‘I actually feel pretty good about that...’

“Glorificus?” Giles asked in a deceptively mild tone.

‘That would be the part I feel less good about...’ Xander thought miserably. “It went down just like you thought it would,” he said quietly.

“She retreated into her human host?” Giles asked.

Xander nodded, once again seeing the face in his thoughts. ‘I really could do without reliving this again. And again, and again...’

“And?” Giles prompted when Xander remained silent for several moments.

“I recognized him,” Xander said flatly, forcing his emotion down inside. “It was this intern from the hospital... I remember him from when Mrs. Summers was sick...”

“Xander...” Giles began.

“His name was Ben,” Xander continued, ignoring the older man. “He was... he couldn’t talk, but I could see his lips moving... begging...”

“Xander,” Giles again interjected.

Again, Xander continued, ignoring the interruption. “I almost couldn’t do it... then I had this image... Dawn... Glory... she had this look, like she was looking right into my eyes as Glory...”

Xander squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his hands over his face, trying to erase the images from his mind. ‘God! This is killing me! I... I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to feel...’ The roiling emotions inside him mixed into such a mess that one became indistinguishable from the other. ‘All I’m sure of is that I feel bad, and empty and sick...’

Opening his eyes, Xander focused back on the image of Giles. When he spoke, it was with an intensity that sought to pound his pain and rage and confusion into the older man. “I stuck a knife through his heart and I watched him die.” His breath caught in an aborted sob as he went on, “Then I threw his body on a pile of demons, stuck a willy pete under him, pulled the pin and got the hell out of there.”

‘Words... they don’t... it just sounds like nothing when I say it like that... how do you explain something like this?’ Xander wondered.

“It is a terrible burden that I’ve asked you to bear, Xander. You have to know that I would never have done so if there were another way...” Giles said, his voice ragged and strained.

“I know...” Xander said, fatigue rendering him unable to hide the sadness from his voice any longer.

A strange feeling of resigned despair crept through Xander’s soul. ‘I know he would have done it himself, it’s not his fault... ‘It had to be done, I know that. I just don’t know how to live with it...’

“I have been in your situation myself, Xander; and as difficult as it is to imagine right now, you can get through this,” Giles said in a reassuring tone of voice. “You will get through this...”

“Look, can we not do this right now?” Xander interrupted. “I’m beat. We can go through the details tomorrow, ok?” Xander dropped his gaze down to the keyboard, unable to meet the Watcher’s eyes any longer. ‘Please, G-man. Just drop it,’ he thought, physically and emotionally exhausted.

Though not looking at his face, Xander could detect the disappointment in Giles tone as he answered, “Very well, Xander. Perhaps we could schedule another call tomorrow morning?”

Locking all the difficult and painful feelings into a little mental box, Xander attempted an approximation of his normal, comical demeanor. “Newsflash G-man, it’s already tomorrow morning. How about two-ish, that should give the girls enough sleep...” Mentally he added, ‘and enough time for a little wakeup nookie!’

“Very well, I suppose we could all do with a bit of a lie-in for once...” Giles said, resignation clear in his voice even over the computer. “I will pass on the glad news to Joyce and Dawn, and we shall call in at two p.m. tomorrow.”

“Ok, G-man. See you at two.” Xander said with a yawn and a stretch.

“Oh, one last thing Xander,” Giles said.

“What?” Xander asked, fatigue weighing ever more heavily on him.

“Don’t call me G-man,” Giles said, and then the conference window went black.

Xander was startled into a chuckle as the popup read: ‘Dustyoldbooks has disconnected.’

========== BtVS ==========

“...and we shall call in at two p.m. tomorrow.”

Dawn stumbled back to her room as she overheard Giles ending his conference call with Xander. She had her left hand clasped over her own mouth in order to restrain the sobs threatening to erupt and her right arm was wrapped around her stomach, clutching tightly at the terrible ache she felt.

When she reached the sanctuary of her bedroom, she threw herself onto the bed and buried her face in the soft pillow. Her slender frame was wracked with harsh sobs as she wept.

‘Oh God, poor Xander!’ she lamented. ‘He sounded so hurt!’

For a moment as she had eavesdropped on the call, She’d felt warm affection at the inherent gallantry in Xander’s actions. ‘That just makes it even worse... it’s all because of me. He had to kill that man to protect me!’

After a moment, Dawn began to try to contain her tears, knowing that Giles would be coming in to tell her about Glory’s defeat. ‘It must have been terrible... How am I ever going to make it up to him?’ ’ she wondered as she tried to wipe away the tears from her face.

========== BtVS ==========

TheBear!

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