Slaymore

A hot and sweaty Xander was hammering into a bright orange steel bar to its predilection. He hadn’t even noticed it was evening, he was so focused on his work. Two-thirds of the guys at the shop were gone and the last few were cleaning their stations, finished with their metalwork for the day. Xander didn’t have to leave. In fact, none of the boys of Wild Dinks had to leave, however, most of them had families and were eager to see their kids. Seeing them happy to go home always made Xander wonder about his own parents, and why they chose the bottle over their son. He couldn’t shake the melancholy feeling, but focused on his work nevertheless.

The young forge master was listening to the red-hot material he was hammering into shape with precision strikes while thinking of the runic magic that could house his next piece. It’s the same supreme focus Eitri had when he forged with his brother Brokkr. Only now, the teenager understood that the material Eitri was working on all that time ago, couldn’t be the same material he worked on now, thus, Xander couldn’t hammer the billet in the same way. How he approached the material in front of him was key to success, as if it was a living thing and had a say in what it wanted to be.

Xander couldn’t ignore the material anymore, and after finishing an excellent Excalibur-style sword, he felt much more confident in how magical his constructs had become. Xander just knew his weapons were magical, weak magic, but magic nonetheless. As the teen aligned the length of the red-hot billet with his right eye to check the typography of his strikes, he was interrupted by Angel.

“Xander,” the teen heard behind him.

He turned to the tall vampire, who gestured his handsome head to the side, informing Xander he’d be outside. The teenager casually nodded, then set the billet on the rack to cool. Conners raised his eyebrows in questioning, as if to ask if everything was alright. Xander reassured the big softy with a smirking nod before grabbing his notebook and walking out to the front of the building.

The young master smith was writing the level of folds and what rune he was on as he asked the stoic vampire, “What took you so long?” Xander had left a note on Angel’s door to come test a new weapon days ago, but Angel never showed up. The teen was going to test it himself if the vampire stood him up again. He looked up from his notebook as he voiced, “I finally have a decent sword-”

Xander lost his voice at the surprising sight of Giles, Willow, Oz, and Buffy standing behind Angel. Willow rushed ahead of everyone to give her oldest friend a powerful hug around his middle. She smooshed her cheek against his chest, overwhelmed with happiness to see him again.

“Will, I’m dirty,” he told her as he kept his dirty hands from her bright, fluffy sweater.

He was still in his forging gear; a black bandanna for the sweat, gray long sleeves, black cargo pants, boots, and his leather apron. Willow didn’t seem to mind as she continued hugging him. Giles nodded at him from beside Angel, Oz stayed by his van, and the silent slayer stayed back, watching. From her stern and sullen expression, it was clear the gorgeous blonde was against coming here; against seeing him. Though Willow stopped hugging Xander, she stood right beside him as Giles and Angel explained why they were there.

“While I’m pleased to see you doing well,” Giles began. “We’re sadly pressed for time, so I’ll come straight to the point. Angel has informed us you’ve been working on magical weapons-”

“Which I couldn’t believe,” an impressed Willow exclaimed, eying Xander with bubbling admiration. “Since when have you been studying magic-” Giles cleared his throat, prompting Willow to finish, “Which we can totally talk about later… if we don’t die, I mean.”

Xander knew they were there because of the Judge. In the previous long loop, he would’ve died by the humanity-burning demon if not for Spike and Drusilla’s request to torture him in order to shatter Buffy’s mental state before battle. Thinking of Buffy’s extraordinary six words to him, Xander realized their plan would’ve worked if not for the time braid. It made Xander think he had to get this loop right… he had to get out.

Pretending not to know, the teenage weapon-smith asked, “What’s going on?”

Giles took a step closer to emphasize, “We are facing an enemy of great peril, and Angel has led us to believe you have a weapon that can- w-well, if not defeat it, then give us a fighting chance; give Buffy a fighting chance.”

Xander looked past them at an irate and silent Buffy. Even stoic, she was alluringly picturesque. He always knew the beautiful blonde would do everything that was needed to save lives. However, he never thought he would be a substantial burden she would have to suffer through to complete her mission. It made him feel like a villain of Buffy’s, as if disagreeing with her was more than enough to merit being disregarded.

Xander nodded to Giles, then dug into his pocket under his leather apron for keys. He turned and walked back inside. They followed Xander into Dinks as he walked to the weapon’s cage where everyone in the shop secured their finished pieces behind lock and key. After removing the heavy padlock from his locker, he opened it up to reveal three pieces inside; an axe, a short-sword, and a double-edged sword. Astonished, Willow and Giles leaned in and were clearly amazed by the undeniably professional-looking weapons.

Xander couldn’t help but smile as an astounded Willow gasped, “Did you really make those?”

The proud Xander nodded before he picked up his Excalibur. Overall length was 40 inches, 32 of which was extremely sharp razor edge. The guard and pommel were made of zinc alloy with silver and gold plating. Xander gripped the professionally wrapped, dark leather handle and unsheathed the sword to show the polished sharp blade to his friends. It wasn’t a weapon a God, or even a demi-God, would brave dangerous quests to attain, but a knight might.

Astounded, Willow ogled the sword as Giles stated, “My word.”

Angel voiced, “That’s new.”

“Yeah, finished it a few days ago,” he answered the vampire with a prideful grin.

Xander walked past them to extend the weapon to the intended master of the blade, Buffy. Although she’s strong enough to use any weapon, he was always conscious of her body size when making the legendary double-edged blade. He leveled the sword parallel to the ground and presented it to her without a word. The beautiful blonde eyed him a moment, then shook her head before taking the handle and rotating it up.

The blade shone with a glint of white, like a frosted over weapon reflecting morning light off its metal. As quickly as the light came, it then disappeared, making Xander’s smile widen. Due to his acquired memories, he knew the brighter the light, the stronger the indication of magic inside, and this construct was his best yet.

Xander admitted to Buffy, “I’m not sure what it does- if it does anything unique, I mean. It’ll likely be stronger than normal weapons. I’d be surprised if it broke or even chipped, and I doubt it’d lose its edge. Other than that, I don’t know exactly how it’ll help, but it’s the best I got.”

Willow covered her mouth with her hand as she stared at the sword adoringly. Then she turned to her best friend before exclaiming, “Xander! The illumination is a commonly documented indicator that a magical reaction actually took place! Upon reacting with the master of the blade, it either hums, dims, disappears, or produces light! That’s amazing!”

“Y-yes, quite impressive,” Giles agreed, eying the weapon in his slayer’s hand.

A stern Buffy turned to Xander, her expressive greenish-blue eyes displaying hints of gratitude, grief, anger, and stubbornness. She then nodded to him before turning to Giles. As they left the room, Xander locked up his locker before chasing after them. They were nearly to Oz’s van when Xander caught up and asked, “What’s going on? Where are you-”

Buffy turned and abruptly cut him off with a sharp, “No.” For her first word to him in weeks, it felt like a blunt slap in the face. She stepped forward and asserted, “Thanks for the sword, really, but you don’t need to know.” A little softer, she added, “It’ll be dangerous enough as it is.”

In defiance of Buffy, and because he’s gotten to spend time with the teen smithy, Angel told Xander, “It’s an ancient and legendary demon called the Judge.”

Buffy turned to Angel in surprise, clearly upset he would involve Xander, but the tall vampire said nothing else.

“B-Buffy’s correct, I’m afraid,” Giles gently informed Xander. “It would be best if you remained out of harm’s way.”

“Giles, I live in Sunnydale,” Xander emphatically reminded the wise watcher. “Pretty sure this entire town is deep into harm’s way.”

“No weapon forged can kill it,” Willow explained to her childhood best friend. Willow looked to Buffy, who just shrugged, giving the redhead leeway to add, “But Angel told us what you’re doing, which really, it’s just amazing- Anyway, we’re hoping this’ll work.”

Since stopping the Judge was one of Old Man Xander’s finer moments of playing a pivotal role, Xander knew what he had to do. And paying Spike & Drusilla back for torturing him again was a happy bonus. Xander scratched his chin as he mumbled, “No weapon forged…” Then he asked the group, “Wouldn’t that include Slaymore?”

“Slaymore?” Willow asked.

He smirked at his best friend and assured the girl, “Oh, come on, Wills. You know me better than that. I’d have to revoke my geek card if I didn’t give my sharp stabbing stick a name.” Buffy examined the sword, fitting its moniker in her mind, then nodded in approval as Xander continued, “I did a decent job with Slaymore, but it’s not exactly legendary status. And again, I don’t even know what all it can do. Somebody was supposed to test it days ago,” he added, looking sternly at Angel.

“Been pretty busy preventing world-ending calamity and destruction,” the vampire casually retorted.

Rolling his eyes, Xander returned, “Excuses, excuses.” He shoulder-checked Willow lightly, pointing his thumb at Angel as if to say, ‘can you believe this guy?’ Willow restrained her smile as she smacked his shoulder to be serious.

“We’ll take our chances,” Buffy told Xander before turning to leave.

The others followed and Xander asked along the way, “Where’s it going down?”

Buffy stopped and turned. Impressively fast, the slayer was in front of the forge master before strongly asserting, “You’re not coming, Xander!”

He eyed her just as sternly and declared, “Yeah, I am!” Face-to-face, he told her, “You think I’m gonna let you hack away at this guy with a toothpick and just hope for the best? I started doing this because I wanted to be your weapons guy, Buff. I wanted to help you fight, even if I couldn’t always be by your side to do it. And I don’t care if you hate me right now. I’m still going to be there for you. So… just tell me where you’re going, so I can help.”

Stern Buffy—Slayer mode Buffy—looked deeply into the steadiness of his brown eyes, conveying their own unyielding resolve. Giles, Oz, Willow, and Angel watched the pair locked in a battle of wills. While normally they would all accept Buffy’s lead when the stakes were at their highest, Xander wasn’t willing to concede this time. Unbeknownst to them, he’d been in this situation many times before, and despite his admiration of her, and her leadership, he refused to back down now. After several silent seconds, Buffy deflated a bit, and without a word, turned her back on him, walking toward Oz’s van.

In her own moment of defiance, Willows blurted, “Sunnydale mall,” and Buffy looked at her in mild betrayal. The redhead’s eyes conveyed an apology in return.

Xander immediately told them, “Just hold out for the next forty minutes.”

“Why?” Willow asked.

Rushing back to Dinks, he yelled over his shoulder, “Because not all weapons are forged!”

Rushing into the main office, Xander grabbed the phone and called Cordelia. He told her to speed her way over to the shop, adding, “I need your help.” Before running to the showers, he finished with, “And wear something slutty… I’m dead serious… No! Not the little black one. That’s my favorite.”

After she picked him up, they sped to the nearby army base Xander had visited on many occasions. Though it had been a long time since he’d been back, or wore the Soldier costume for Halloween, Xander recalled most of the details of the base and personnel; the location of the four guard towers, the garage, admin, HQ, Mess Hall, Officer’s quarters, barracks, and most importantly, the armory. Xander had Cordelia drive past the base to a patch of road generally used for drills. Cordelia parked her BMW near the north gate, then Xander picked the bolt locking the gate before they entered together.

“Security here is always a joke,” Xander lamented.

Far more anxious than him, Cordelia voiced, “Who am I supposed to be again?”

“You’re supposed to be a girl,” Xander teased. “Think you can handle that?”

Cordelia smacked his shoulder, momentarily forgetting how nervous she was. The night rain made it easier for the pair to sneak around soldiers undetected. Cordelia was wearing a lustrous silver jacket with a matching headband, a crimson red blouse with a low neckline, tight dark jeans, and black boots. Xander wore his black cargo pants, a gray thermal Henley, a khaki jacket, and boots. Holding her hand, Xander led them down the length of the building to the front access of the armory.

When they reached the armory entrance, an authoritarian voice behind them called out, “Halt!”

Xander turned to the guard on duty. Though he was Xander’s height, the soldier was wider, with bigger muscles. As the guard walked toward them with his M16 leaning against his shoulder, the barrel pointed up, Cordelia gripped Xander’s arm nervously.

The guard demanded, “Identify yourself right the hell now.”

Unbothered, Xander smiled as he returned, “Private Harris, with the 33rd.” Before the guard could even respond, he cut him off, saying, “They’re on maneuvers. I know. I’m on leave.”

He eyed Xander suspiciously as he asked, “You always spend your leave sneaking into the armory?” Then, as if being more concerned with Cordelia, he asked, “And who is she?”

Plastering a bright smile on her beautiful face, Cordelia tensely answered, “Hi. I’m not a soldier.” Turning to Xander, she asked, “Right?”

Xander stepped closer to the guard and confidently explained, “Look, I just want to give her the tour, you know?”

The soldier looked at Xander with some confusion as he asked, “The tour?”

“Yeah, you know the ladies,” Xander suavely insinuated. “They love to see the big guns. Gets ‘em all hot and bothered. Cut me some slack? Give me a blind eye?”

Looking from the enticingly dressed Cordelia to the poised Xander, the suspicious soldier asked, “Why should I?”

As Cordelia gulped, Xander gave the soldier a once-over before asserting, “Well, if you do, I won’t tell Colonel Newsome that your shoes aren’t regulation, your post wasn’t covered-” Xander grabbed the soldier’s M16, rotated it diagonally, then shoved it against the guard’s chest before finishing, “And you hold your gun like a sissy girl.”

Begrudgingly, the soldier smiled a little before telling Xander, “You got twenty minutes, nimrod.”

Xander herded Cordelia inside the armory as he smoothly told the guard with a knowing smirk, “I guess that’s enough for one round.”

The soldier shook his head in amusement before moving on with his patrol. Despite the low light of the armory, Xander walked to the back, straight to the section he needed. They passed crates & cages of weapons, and all sorts of ammunition as a distracted Cordelia asked from beside him, “Okay, what was that?” Though she was curious about Xander, she was also taken aback by the very dangerous weaponry all around her. Cordelia was very conscious of all the firepower surrounding them as she finished asking, “And also, who are you?”

Reading the labels on the crates, Xander casually answered, “Remember Halloween? I got turned into that Navy SEAL?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I still remember all of it,” he explained, as he located the crate. “I know procedures, ordinance, access codes, firearms & tactical training, first aid, close-quarters combat, everything. I know the whole layout of this place, and I can put together an M16 in fifty-seven seconds, while blindfolded.”

Her face morphed from amazed to nervous as she stated, “Okay, I’m impressed, but let’s just find this thing and leave. I’d rather not go to federal prison.” Xander nodded before looking for a tactical weapons-bag to store the gear in. As he grabbed one from the supply room, Cordelia hopped on a crate and observed all the intimidating weaponry as she dangled her feet from side to side. She watched him prep the weapon of mass destruction for travel when she asked, “So, do looking at guns really make girls want to have sex? That’s scary.”

“I guess,” he absentmindedly voiced, adding an assault rifle and ammo for himself before zipping up the large black bag.

Curiously, she asked, “Does looking at guns make you wanna have sex?”

With the heavy tactical bag slung over his shoulder, Xander snorted before asserting, “I’m seventeen. Looking at linoleum makes me wanna have sex.”

She smiled, and they left. Cordelia let Xander drive her Beamer and he raced back to town. He made it back in record time and parked right by the service access of the Sunnydale Mall. With the black bag over his shoulder, the pair ran inside as Xander instructed Cordelia, “Leave the vampires to me. Just help everyone else get out.”

Opening the service door to the middle of the wide walkway, the teenagers walked into chaos. Unconscious bodies were on the floor and many civilians hid behind the counters, pillars, and trash receptacles while terror and violence broke out around them. Most of the fighting was concentrated around Buffy and Angel, while Giles, Oz, and Willow fought vampires together and away from the worst of the danger. Giles would snipe vampires with the crossbow, Oz would stab any that approached them with a spear, and Willow would cast as many light-blue protective barriers around the unconscious bodies as she could.

Twenty to thirty yards away, Buffy was fighting the armor-clad Judge and Xander was happy to note his sword did hurt the big blue demon. Its large hands would attempt to burn the humanity out of her, however, she would use Slaymore or throwing knives to interrupt his killer ability. Buffy could actually cut inches deep into him, however, it wasn’t enough to gravely wound him. Other than growing annoyed, The Judge barely seemed to feel her attacks.

Spike and Angel’s battle to the death nearly gave Xander a heart attack. The blond vampire and a few of his men were fighting Angel at the same time, and the insanely nervous Xander was repeatedly praying, ‘Please don’t kill each other. Please don’t kill each other. Please don’t kill each other.’

Fortunately, Angel used his magical sword to its peak performance. It took weeks, but after enough practice, the handsome vampire could make the blade as close to invisible as possible upon command. Fighting against a sword was lethal enough without it being a barely visible one. Despite his advantage in battle, Angel was surrounded. Attacking from one direction, left him open from another, and the calculating Spike capitalized. Angel was constantly on the defensive, and every second of their fight made Xander panic he’d loop back.

The one threat Xander hated the most was Drusilla. He noticed her stalking Buffy as she fought the much larger Judge. She was clearly attempting to throw Buffy off her game by feigning attacks or interfering when she saw an opening, which would allow the Judge to try and catch her. Setting aside all of his fears and emotion, Xander observed the field of battle efficiently, tactically, and planned accordingly.

With purpose, Xander rushed to a cell phone stall in the middle of the pathway, Cordelia right on his heels, then leaped over the glass display. As he laid the large black bag on the counter, Xander first prepped the big gun as he ordered Cordelia, “Go ahead and start helping others.” At her concerned nod, looking at all the surrounding chaos, Xander voiced, “And Cordy?” She turned to him as he loaded a magazine into the receiver of his M16 with an audible CLICK, pulled the charging handle to load the rifle, and assured her, “Don’t worry. I got your back.”

His smile eased her, and with a stiff nod, she placed her trust in him and ran. The vicious vampires that Giles and Willow couldn’t control peeled off to chase Cordelia and the civilians she was helping to get away, but Xander jumped on the island table in the middle of the circular stall, aimed at the vampires after his girl, and mentally blocked out all distractions. Oddly, the mall fell eerily silent in that moment, then Xander squeezed the trigger. Repetitive explosions rang our as ammunition ripped through the air, striking all the ears in the room as bullets burrowed deep into vampire organs.

Everyone saw Xander then standing on the cellular kiosk table, but the teen didn’t let it bother him. A dozen rounds in less than three seconds dropped three vampires and alerted the entire food court whose side he was on. Fanged monsters rushed him, and it wasn’t a comforting sight, but helping people put a smile on his face. Before anything else, Xander quickly peered through the sights and lined the most important target.

Buffy had put her entire strength into blocking the Judge’s punch with the indestructible Slaymore when she suddenly felt Drusilla behind her. Bracing for a rear attack, she was instead shocked to hear the explosive rapid fire followed by an ear-piercing scream. Drusilla dropped to the floor with two bullet holes through her right shoulder blade and another one in the right side of her chest. A concerned Spike split off from his fight with Angel and rushed to Drusilla’s aid as he ordered his men to kill Xander.

From atop the island counter, Xander was firing three rounds into every vampire that came near him like a combat specialist. Marking them and dropping them in less than two seconds added up quickly. Splatter trails of blood stained the white floor and columns, however, the growling vampires didn’t stay down. They’d scream in pain and writhe on the floor, but Xander would have to tap them again if they tried to rush him again.

As Xander swiftly reloaded a second magazine, Giles and Willow were helping Cordelia escort as many innocent lives out of the wide mall walkway as possible while Xander drew many of the blood-sucking demons to him. With less than fifteen rounds left, Xander switched to semi-automatic as the Judge kicked Buffy center-mass. Even if Slaymore took the brunt of the punt, it still sent the slim slayer flying toward Xander.

Angel rushed to her side when Xander called out between bursts of gunfire. “Buffy!” She looked at him as he continued to fire single rounds into vampires. Xander nudged his head toward the other military weapon on the glass counter, an M72 LAW shoulder rocket launcher, and called out, “Hope you like your birthday present!”

Without thought, she rushed to the rocket launcher and gazed at it with surprise. Angel was taking care of the vampires, holding the wounded & angry demons at bay with his magical sword, to give Buffy enough time.

“Rocket’s already set,” he had to yell as he spaced out the last three rounds for the Judge, to keep him from setting their humanity asunder. Buffy hopped on the counter and did as he instructed. “You’re locked and loaded. Just put it on your shoulder, aim, press the red button, and say bye-bye Jolly Blue!”

At the sight of the blonde slayer with a metal cylinder on her shoulder, The Judge titled his head in confusion and asked, “What’s that do?”

Buffy squeezed the wide red trigger, and no more than a whooshing second later, the missile met the Judge and exploded from the center of his chest outward. The sound was louder than shooting an assault rifle by their ears and the shock wave of heat and pressure could be felt even thirty feet away, like being pelted by a wall of hot air. The smell of burning demon meat filled their nostrils as the bright ball of orange & yellow flames gave way to black smoke and blue chunks of the demon splattering in all directions.

When Buffy lowered the rocket launcher to admire her work, Xander casually joked, “Hope you liked the color.”

Turning to her friend, she eyed him for a moment before a small smile graced her face and replied, “They didn’t have bubblegum pink?”

“Salmon pink,” he continued the joke in all seriousness. “But I know how much you hate that one.”

“If it’s not bubblegum, it’s not pink,” she adamantly professed.

Her smile broadened, and he couldn’t deny it warmed his entire body like nothing else. He smiled back before jumping down. He extended his hand for her, but at the sight of Angel walking up to them, she simply jumped down on her own. Xander repacked the weapons and stated, “I should get these back.”

Buffy nodded as she said, “Right.”

When the beautiful slayer extended Slaymore to him, Xander shook his head before asserting, “It’s yours.”

With nothing more to say, he swung the duffel bag over his shoulder and left to find Cordelia. On the drive back to the base, the gorgeous cheerleader made certain Xander knew he was coming back to her house. Xander didn’t need to ask why. He just smiled in eager anticipation.

Back in her bed, Cordelia was incredibly intense that night. His strong arms wrapped around her waist, allowing him to slam into her as hard as she wanted, thrusting deep into her young love tunnel. She hugged his neck, begging in his ear for more, her large breasts rolled as their glistening bodies rutted together in mutual ecstasy. Again and again, Xander’s cock filled her soaking tight vagina until Xander felt Cordelia quiver, then orgasm; a long, heart-stopping explosion of ecstasy that detonated in her core and spread from head to toe and back. After his own climax, the pair of lovers rested.

When Xander asked her about the rough sex, Cordelia couldn’t deny how excited she was watching him shoot the assault rifle atop the kiosk, bringing down the vampires who tried to kill her, and saving innocent civilians. “It was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” the heaving and sweaty girl sweetly admitted.

Panting next to her, he joked, “Not bad for a dweebo, huh?”

“Mmnn, I guess you have your moments,” she said before kissing him goodnight.

Though it was late, and Xander was tired, he left her bed. If he wanted Cordelia to eventually tire of him, he couldn’t risk getting too close with the loving embrace of cuddling after sex. Come morning, Xander was casually walking the halls of Sunnydale to his first class of the day when Willow happily ran to him and hugged him around the middle. Buffy willingly walked up to him as well, which nearly felt foreign. She was silent as he hugged Willow back, but Buffy didn’t appear angry at the sight of him anymore.

She nodded in greeting, dislodging a silky strand of her golden hair, then told him, “Come on. Giles won’t shut up about your sword. I think he’s ready to adopt you.”

“He wants me to skip class to talk about weapons?” Xander asked, aghast. “He really does love me.”

Once in the library, Willow and Giles had a lot of questions about Slaymore that he wasn’t completely prepared to answer. The blade was in the middle of the center table with opened books surrounding it, and clearly, the bookish pair had been studying it. After they asked how he made it, Xander hoped they accepted a slight variation of the truth.

“I just thought since magic existed, there should be magical weapons,” he started telling his friends, spinning his tangled web of half-truths. “Then I thought it wasn’t fair that Buffy didn’t have one.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Buffy asserted with a stern nod.

The three listened as Xander continued saying, “She’s gotta kick all sorts of demon tail with her bare hands, a stake, or regular weapons.”

“And occasionally, a bazooka,” Buffy happily interjected, making Willow smile.

“It was actually an M72 LAW shoulder rocket launcher,” Xander thought to correct. “We stopped using bazookas in the fifties.”

Growing curious, Willow asked, “How do you know that?”

“Oh, come on, you know I was a soldier for Halloween,” Xander replied. “I still remember most of it.”

Turning to her blonde friend, Willow asked, “Do you still remember being a lady?”

Buffy shivered at the memories springing up before answering, “Do you actively try to remember your nightmares?” Turning to Xander, she jovially remarked, “Seems like somebody lucked out with their costume, though.”

“It helps,” he returned with a smile. “I work out now and I know some pretty sweet combat moves.”

“Truly?” a perked-up Giles asked. “We’ll have to discuss that… though at a much later time. I’m more interested in learning the details of how you, a non-magical, created a magical weapon. They are notoriously difficult to make, even for those who are magically gifted.”

Scratching his head, he answered, “I, uh, well, I looked up a few of the cooler ones, and saw that some of them were made by regular blacksmiths, non-magicals. So I didn’t see why I couldn’t either.”

“And this weapon was based on that premise?” Giles asked, indicating toward Slaymore.

They all looked at the magical sword surrounded by books, modeled after Excalibur, before returning their attention to Xander when he answered, “Yeah. The way I understood it, the sword is like a house, and if you make it just right, magic will sort of move in on its own. I don’t have to do more than announce that it’s on the market.”

“That makes so much sense,” a wide-eyed Willow exclaimed. “The rudimentary process for items of any kind to house magic typically involves many factors that determine how successfully the energy inside can be used and what it can be used for. Successful magical objects like Slaymore can strengthen the user’s ability to perform powerful magics without using much time or effort; on willpower alone!”

Amazed by how excited Willow was, Xander reassured her, “I’m still learning, so, I might be able to make Buffy something even better.”

“Are you kidding me?” the blonde beauty gasped. “You should’ve seen Ugly-Smurf’s face when Slaymore cut into him. It actually burned him. If he didn’t have crazy regeneration, he’d have been minced meat even before you got there.”

Giles dismissed them for the moment, however, they all returned to the library for lunch. Xander had given Willow & Giles a write-up of the Norse runes he used for Slaymore, and they were going over it at the table. To the side of the spacious room, on the steps leading to the elevated floor, Xander and Buffy have a moment of privacy; he leaned on the railing while she sat cross-legged on the step. Xander was sure Willow was giving them time to talk, but it was awkward and silent at first.

Finally, Xander asked, “So… are we okay?”

Their eyes locked a moment before Buffy sighed and honestly answered, “I can’t say I don’t feel anything about the whole thing; especially when I think about Angel… which is, like, all the time… but I do know that I don’t have the right to be angry with you.” With a high level of sincerity in her eyes, she confessed, “And I don’t want to be anymore. I’m sorry I froze you out, Xander. Can you ever forgive me?”

With a small smile, he waved her off as he assured her, “You don’t have anything to apologize for, Buff. You and Angel, that does suck; a big one.”

“The biggest,” she concurred.

“Heaping cosmic-size of suck,” he topped her.

Despite hearing the library doors open, he didn’t want to stop their tender moment of reconciliation. Then everyone in the library clearly heard, “I see she finally let you out of the doghouse.” Giles, Willow, Buffy, and Xander turned to Cordelia as she stopped in front of the slayer and the weapon-smith. Looking between them with an icy expression on her stern face, she crossed her arms like a woman on a mission before continuing. “No more moping around like a sad little puppy. Well, only until you upset the oh-so-great Slayer again.”

“Cor-”

She cut Xander off to heatedly ask Buffy, “So, should we expect a repeat of you dumping your ‘friend’ like dead weight, or is it Willow’s turn next?”

“I’m not dead weight,” the redhead softly said from the center table.

Xander tried again. “Cordelia-”

“Oh, yeah, no,” the cheerleader cut him off again, eying him with irritation. “By all means, jump to her defense after you spent weeks crying over your anvil because her precious wittle feelings got a little ouchy.”

“You cried?” Willow sadly asked, regarding her best friend fretfully.

“I didn’t-” the flustered teen tired, then focused on an irate Cordelia instead, asking, “Can we please talk outside-”

“Why?” Cordelia challenged. “So you can try to convince me your precious Buffy was only treating you like trash because she somehow cared about you? Because that’s not crazy,” she sarcastically remarked. She glared at Buffy as she asserted to Xander, “You want to see who a person really is? Look at how they treat people when they’re at their lowest.”

Having had enough of the vain girl’s outburst, Buffy stood up and retorted, “Like how you treat everyone like crap?”

“Keyword: everyone. Equal crap for all,” Cordelia shot back. With a strong sway and lean forward, she added, “You and Angel can’t be together. Yeah, fine, real tragedy, I’m sure. But how does that give you the right to just dump a good guy? For weeks! You’re supposed to be some kind of leader or whatever, but all of you would’ve died last night if it wasn’t for XanderAEEKK!!”

Xander picked Cordelia up princess style, loudly citing, “Alright! All this friendly banter is making me thirsty. Cordelia, join me for a beverage?” he satirically asked as he carried the heated girl toward the exit.

In the nearest empty classroom, Jenny’s computer lab, Xander asked, “What was that?”

“Exactly what she needed to hear!” she quickly told him. Pointing to the library behind her, she asserted, “None of you had the balls to say it, so it fell onto me.”

Xander’s hands rubbed his face roughly as he groaned, “God, I hope you don’t think we’d thank you for that.”

“What I do is a thankless job,” she confidently replied, crossing her arms.

Eying her wearily as he reminded her, “You know who else has a job like that? Hint; she stabs blood-sucking corpses with a stick night after night. Buffy saves lives, Cor. Then it turns out she can’t be with the one person she loves the most because it’ll end up killing people. She’s allowed to feel some type of way about that. Her friends understand that, which is why we’re not jumping down her throat over every little thing.”

The way she eyed him was as if she was peering into his soul, then she asked, “...God, she can do no wrong in your eyes, can she?”

“Of course she can,” he sounded, mildly exasperated. “I just see what really matters. There’s a bigger picture here.”

“…You love her,” she hesitated to state.

“Of course, I love her,” he answered, as if that were obvious. “She’s one of my best-”

“Not like a friend!” Cordelia interjected. She leaned closer, observing his every expression as she defyingly continued, “You know what I mean. Are… you’re in love with her.” With a hard face, Xander felt his chest tighten and his neck swell. He couldn’t answer, because he knew it would hurt her, however, that was all the answer the observant girl needed. The beautiful girl took a step back as she shook her head in deep disappointment, then bemoaned, “God… you’re so lame.”

“I’m sorry, Cor-” he tried.

“So stupid!” she interrupted. Palm on her chest, she argued, “You could have…” She didn’t finish her sentence. Having hurt her before, he knew well enough by now and could recognize the pain in her beautiful brown eyes, as well as how she shielded herself.

Her vulnerability was gone in a second, and she asserted, “She’s never going to love you back; as in, ever. Not like how she loves Angel.” Xander was silent. He couldn’t refute it, however, he didn’t want to agree either. Cordelia seemed capable of seeing his small ray of hope and continued, “You can kiss her ass and make her toys for decades, but she’s never going to look at you the way she looks at him. How long are you going to keep pining over someone you’ll never have?”

Xander remembered Buffy’s words when he was dying in her arms and asked if she could ever love him. ‘How could I not when you…’

Though he could believe Cordelia’s biting words, in the stubborn love of his heart, it also felt like he didn’t have it in him to give up on that slim chance, or he’d have no future. Not to say Cordelia wouldn’t be a great partner to be with, because he knew she could be, however, how long before even that relationship becomes complicated? Becomes stale? The loops would truly be torture then.

“I still love you, Cordelia,” he softly voiced. “I think I always have, ever since we were stupid little kids.”

“You’re still a stupid little kid!”

He nodded slowly before finishing, “If you need me, I’ll always be there for you.” Then, the terribly saddened Xander left the stoically pained girl alone.