Nox

In the first dozen loops, Xander simply disappeared. As a student and a friend, he gave no explanation or warning for his disappearance. He dressed as a professional tailor for Halloween, stopped coming to school, stopped meeting the Scoobies, and stopped calling them. Despite the tailoring knowledge gained, this route never made it past the week-loop. Not only was cutting his friends off cold turkey terrifyingly lonely, but either Giles or Willow would die looking for him, forcing Xander to loop back. If they didn’t die, he still wouldn’t be able to stand up to any of his friends, promptly resetting him. After so many failures, the time looper decided to disappear gradually.

Of all the routes to escape the day loop, Xander developed more of a plan using the Jenny route than any other. However, using the Casanova costume wouldn’t explain the high level of skills he’d eventually display. The Navy SEAL route would’ve been the next best one since that costume could legitimately explain away any problematic questions his friends had. Ultimately, Xander needed to approach Jenny, and the Casanova costume offered more opportunities there. As a solution, the Casanova mental pattern advised using both costumes and lying about it.

Xander told his friends he’d dress as a Navy SEAL and pick his costume up later, but when he went to Jenny’s computer room, he was dressed as Casanova. As ever, the professional charmer, seducer, and liar turned the beautiful woman on with his extensive understanding of arousing the female body. Unlike many men, Casanova masterfully navigated the labyrinth of what made even a respectable woman like Jenny unlock and unleash her erotic desires, regardless of her ethics. By the end of the night, Xander and Jenny were tumbling in her bed, and she had a series of mind-bending orgasms before they fell asleep.

The following day, Xander’s plan began and he walked a path he’d only read about in comics. He practiced speaking in a deeper tone of voice all the while buying and selling the scratchers from the same gas station for quick cash. The influx of funds bought the sixty-million winning Powerball lotto ticket, a sewing machine, and the junkyard 84 Suzuki GS400. Xander made his deal at Wild Dinks, retrieved the Du Lac Cross and the Glove of Myhnegon, and finally ordered the parts he’d need to rebuild his scrambler once again.

In the week-loop, Xander applied for his California ID, exercised like a madman, warned Buffy about Ford, then subsequently involved Angel when she didn’t believe him. On the night of the lottery drawing, Xander made a better deal with his parents than he had before. In addition to getting a million per year for five years, the house paid off and under his name, he also told them to buy the abandoned Crawford Street Mansion and put it under his name as well. The Harrises met with real estate agents and lawyers to push through the property contracts and his emancipation as fast as humanly possible. Finally, before the week was up, he told Buffy off for not believing him more.

In the month loop, the first task to deal with was the Mark of Eyghon. Willow figured out how the demon transferred from body to body and Xander told her to get Angel. He saved Buffy from Ethan’s tattooing, then helped save Jenny from the body-snatching demon. After a solid day of prepping his billets for Dreadnought, Hellguard, and Slaymore, Xander went to the shaken teacher’s apartment and comforted the woman all night. Come morning, Xander feigned understanding when Jenny insisted their relationship remain strictly platonic.

A week before Kendra’s arrival, Xander decided to keep much about his capabilities to himself. For his plan to work, he would need a clear level of separation between himself and his friends. Thus, he suggested nothing about a second Slayer to his friends. He didn’t inform them about smithing at Wild Dinks, and not unlike before, he didn’t tell them about his parents leaving Sunnydale. The raven-haired teen continued to workout his forever-young body, gild two percent of the Du Lac Cross’s gold onto metallic threading, forge his magical weapons, and prepare his bike for the incoming parts he ordered; all without telling his friends.

Instead of the Norse runes Xander typically used, he prepared Odin’s Ring with the runic characters he couldn’t recall learning. Somehow, he now knew an additional twenty-eight runes that hadn’t come from Eitri, the Avalonians, or Merlin. The master artificer also knew the ethereal forces they influenced: from elemental forces to transformation, to protection, to intuition, to needs, luck, manifestation, knowledge, and more. Though Xander knew some characters didn’t work well with others, he knew these mysterious runes were much more in tune with magic than the ones he had learned from the costumes. He wasn’t sure if they were part of the advertising spell Willow casted for his soul, but the knowledge was the kind of god-tier legendary characters he knew had a lot of potential; like for his clothes.

Magically altering what Xander wore when he fought the evil of the night was why he wore a tailor’s costume for Halloween. Using the Du Lac Cross’s gold-gilded thread to weave and embroider a specific rune scheme into the tactical jacket, black military pants, beanie, and black & gray camo scarf, Xander could potentially change into his gear, no matter where he was, in seconds. Rather than carrying his demon-fighting clothes on him or stashing them somewhere preemptively, the new runes in his head could make it so that he could use Odin’s ring to summon his stealth outfit upon command. He wasn’t sure if it’ll work, but it was worth trying. Until he was successful, Xander would have no other choice but to change like normal.

Along with the unknown runes floating around in his head, Xander also knew that the process of forging them into the metal required much more than just etching. In order for the runes etched and inlaid with gold to function at the highest level of power, Xander would have to etch them on steel that had one of seven complex pattern welds: Feather, Weave, Triangle, Ladder, Bubble, Firestorm, and Star. Each pattern weld produced a different result, which meant Xander had to forge the billet in such a way—folding, cutting, and re-stacking—that it would create a specific pattern down to the core of the steel. That pattern would act like the veins of the rune etched into the fuller of the blade, empowering the entire blade.

Of the seven patterns, Xander chose the feather pattern because it was nearly as powerful as the firestorm pattern, but much more flexible. Working in front of the intensely hot forge, the immense knowledge made a flabbergasted Xander gasp, “this is fucking nuts,” several times throughout the work.

Using the steel from the Glove of Myhnegon, Xander began drawing out the white-hot billet, then cut it in half. The cut portions welded together would create a straight line. Crushing the corners of the red-hot steel would curve the line. Flattening the ends of the bright metal turned the curved line into patterns of Cs. Cutting the lengthened bar and re-stacking it changed the pattern from Cs to crushed Ws. Xander purified the metal in an amethyst crystal solution with every re-stack. The diligent weaponsmith cut the billet up and re-stacked it three more times, refining the W into thinner patterns. It wasn’t until he split the white-hot billet in half did the thin W pattern become a feather pattern. The new process required double the amount of steps than he did before and Xander had to be extremely careful not to mess up. However, he knew the end result would be well worth the extra work.

Since the start of the week loop, Xander had followed the instructions to perfection, and just before Kendra’s arrival, he finished the new and improved Odin’s ring using the spare material from Dreadnought’s unfinished head. The ring in his hand was a flat-styled, acid-black finished, feather-patterned steel ring he engraved with Celtic knots. Xander rushed from Dinks to the workshop in his garage for the next part. Holding the grayish-black ring in the palm of his hand, he recited the invocation, which also changed from the Norse one that Eitri knew to what he suspected was either Hebrew or Aramaic.

His mind voiced, ‘To the disciple, from souls to dust, as we face our battles, may divinity grant us grace and greatness. Remove the barriers, and become godly.’ However, his mouth spoke, “לתלמיד, מנשמות ועד עפר, בעודנו מתמודדים עם קרבותינו, ה' יתן לנו חסד וגדלות. הסר את המחסומים, והפוך לאלוהי.”

Instantly, the blackish ring in his palm glowed blindingly bright, and pure white light nearly engulfed him completely. Xander’s eyelids couldn’t even keep the pure illumination out until he buried his face in the crook of his left elbow. The ring felt so hot, he was scared it would get too hot to hold, but it never did. After several moments, the light finally receded, then disappeared. The grayish-black ring felt warm to the touch, and when he leaned in close, it hummed.

“Tossing the prime directive right out the window,” Xander gasped in awe as he slipped his new Ring of Power on his right index finger.

Far more quickly than Xander was expecting, all the aches his muscles felt from working out all week were gone. Either the ring numbed the full-body pain or the microscopic tears in his muscle fibers healed rapidly. Flexing his muscles, Xander felt stronger, and due to the rapid repair of his aching body, immediately thought of the possibilities. The dark-haired teenager could achieve Olympic-level strength in a matter of weeks. Various types of flesh wounds, physical fatigue, and pimples could be taken care of in the same hour. Serious injuries would likely take a day or two, but Xander may not even need to go to the hospital again, which was such a weight off his shoulders.

Depending on the amount of magic now residing in the ring, Xander could plead for more strength than he ever had before—possibly to the level of a Slayer or a demi-god like Achilles, but he couldn’t be sure. It was enough to know a higher degree of strength would be there when he needed it. The Sherlock within would have him test the limits immediately, but Xander was more concerned with the finer points of his plan.

The teen walked to the old mirror in his garage. Starting with the new rune for Need, Xander concentrated on a great need to lengthen his hair, and in ten seconds, his black locks grew half an inch. Tugging on the longer hair, the gleeful boy hummed to the heavens in pure delight.

“HHHUUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!”

Xander knew this power would be incredibly helpful for his new plan of getting out of the time braid. He turned off the light in the garage, and in complete darkness, Xander concentrated on needing to see in the dark, and almost instantly, blobs of grayish shapes turned to lightly colored objects he could see in detail: the half-done scrambler, the tools neatly organized on the wall, his workbench, buckets, ladders, machinery, propane tanks, his crucibles and forge. Turning the lights back on, he returned to the mirror and played with his eye color; changing them from brown to blue, green, gray, black, then back to brown. He removed the acne from his face and unwanted body hair from his back, shoulders, neck, legs, and a few other areas…

…Areas that gave him an idea for another test.

Running up to his bathroom and locking the door behind him, Xander dropped his pants and methodically inspected his respectable 5.9-inch member. It wasn’t big, wasn’t small, wasn’t thick, or thin, and the crown didn’t appear remarkable compared to the men in porn. Xander’s penis was quite simply all-around average. Fortunately, what he lacked in size, he more than made up for in technique. Nevertheless, the raven-haired opportunist wasn’t stupid enough to refuse enhancements if the option was there.

With a deep breath, Xander concentrated on a great need to be longer. After several seconds of a vibrating prickling sensation—sharp enough to make him hold his breath and curl his toes—Xander’s eyes widened at the result and he couldn’t help snickering, “Holy Hakuna Matata!”

Xander was in the bathroom for hours, magically sculpting his pleasure pole to erotic perfection. Circumference, diameter, length, even testicle size, he thought about every aspect of his cock and how effective every enhancement could be, regardless of position. Inspecting his fuck stick in the end—8 inches in length, 6.5 in circumference, and a more prominent crown—Xander could dominate the adult entertainment industry. Not that this specific alteration was relevant to the disguise he’d be wearing, but to know how heavy he was packing was a sizable confidence boost.

Xander slept with Kendra when she came to Sunnydale because he saw no reason not to. He had the house to himself now. The Jamaican beauty would return to her country soon, and most importantly, she kept dying at the end of the school year. He hadn’t been able to save her a single time, which was aggravating. Xander reasoned that if the gorgeous Kendra was doomed to die yet again, he would make certain she—at the very least—knew the pleasures of a woman. Dying young without ever truly living simply felt more wrong than using his knowledge to sleep with her.

Since Kendra was a virgin, he didn’t need more than his regular size and technique to blow her mind, but as a Slayer, she was far stronger than him. He was aware she held her strength back, but if she lost focus for even a moment, she could accidentally break his bones during climax. Xander needed strength, flexibility, and durability to truly meet her physicality, and with his new ring, he could do that unlike ever before. Kendra was a quivering mess by the end, though still gone by morning.

The next day, rather than wait for Giles’ call, Xander called him earlier than usual, and told him he would check Buffy’s house for her. Xander and Cordelia met the worm guy, ran into the basement, vigorously kissed, then escaped much quicker than before. He didn’t worry about doing anything different because his plan would start the moment he had all his tools.

At the school, Xander was just in time to help Buffy deal with the policewoman that would shoot up the hallway. While the Order of Taraka assassin focused on killing Buffy, Xander threw a chair as hard as he could at the policewoman’s head, knocking her off her feet. Though bleeding from a nasty gash at the back of her head, the dazed woman still escaped. In the library, Xander officially met Kendra before the Scoobies discovered Angel was taken by Spike and Drusilla.

Xander had wondered how Spike would heal the weakened Drusilla without the Du Lac Cross. The vampire restoration ritual in the Du Lac manuscript could only be decoded using the cross and he had already melted the sanctified gold for the rune work in all his weapons. Xander wasn’t sure how they would decode the manuscript without it, but Xander had learned long ago when a door was closed, a window was opened, and Spike or Drusilla would figure it out. As such, the Scoobies still rescued Angel, and Drusilla’s strength was still restored.

The following morning, Xander talked to Kendra about weapons she favored, her shyness, and her training. He wanted the lovely & shy girl to have more fun in life, and explained the benefit of reading people better. Then Xander gave her his number so he could yell at her Watcher. Mr. Zabuto was doing a grave disservice to his Slayer, and if he didn’t correct her training, Kendra might die, yet again.

Later that day, Xander meandered through school conflicted about the path he should take with Cordelia. Keeping an eye on the stunning girl during class or in the halls, he’d wonder if starting anything sexual with her benefited his plan or not. The mega-popular girl was always embarrassed by him in the beginning, and if something intervened—whether himself or magic—they always broke up for good. He was certain she was the best girlfriend he could ever have, but that felt like the ceiling of that relationship. Xander decided to remain friends once again, but, yet again, the aggravating girl hoodwinked him into being her geek vaccine. Walking out of the closet, the exhausted teen simply rolled his eyes and went with it.

Using Odin’s ring to keep him awake, Xander spent all the free time he had—day or night—intricately etching the new, more powerful, runes into the feather-patterned steel head of Dreadnought. He then inlaid sanctified gold from the Du Lac Cross into the etched characters to compound the power of his battleaxe. The patterned lines on the surface of the axe head—that travel throughout the Myhnegon steel—interconnected to each of the five runes in the scheme like veins connected to the heart, pumping energy throughout the body. After weeks of tedious and nerve-wracking work, Xander finally had the newly forged Dreadnought back in his hands.

In the privacy of his garage, Xander hadn’t expected the invocation to be far more blinding than when he activated Odin’s ring. Despite wearing a black blindfold, pure white light engulfed him so completely, he was forced to heal the partial blindness it caused. Xander’s three-foot battleaxe, with pattern welded holy steel, vibrated in his grasp like it was absorbing an entire lake of magic. Dreadnought was far more powerful than ever before. It was as near to indestructible as possible, could only be wielded by one with a soul, rapidly healed his injuries, and provided additional strength for him to easily wield the heavy weapon. However, Xander felt it could do more.

The master Artificer not only used the Glove of Myhnegon in the steel, but added the rune character for Element. Though he shocked himself the first time, Xander was absolutely jubilant to learn his battleaxe now had an affinity for lightning. However, even more amazing than that, when Xander wished he could walk around with it in public without causing an uproar from teachers or police, it listened. Xander’s stunning Dreadnought became invisible, making the hormonal teenager nearly cream his pants.

The pleasure shooting through him buckled his legs and made his knees feel like wet paper. He was in a trance, admiring his weapon despite it being invisible. Even if he set it down, Xander didn’t need to see it to know where it was and pick it up. He could throw it, and without touching it, make it invisible at any point. Xander could now keep his weapon latched to his bike or clipped to his back-holster and no one would be the wiser.

The weekend Xander met Ted at Buffy’s house, he—along with Willow—had been invited to stay for dinner, but kindly declined to stay. His scrambler needed to be done if his plan was ever going to start, so Xander spent the next two nights assembling his all-terrain motorcycle to completion. Proudly gazing at his mint stealth scrambler—with its toothy, off-road wheels, custom exhaust, and supercharger—the sweaty and tired teen nodded to himself.

With appreciation, he voiced, “Alright. Let the games begin.”

After an afternoon of mini golf with Ted, the Summers, and Willow; they dropped Xander off first. He waved goodbye before entering his home and changing into his covert tactical gear—wishing the entire time to magically summon them one day. Dressed in black tactical pants, stealth boots, a hooded tactical jacket, a black & gray camo scarf that covered his neck, nose, and mouth, and a black beanie under the hood of his jacket, Xander hopped on his scrambler and roared the engine to life. He latched an invisible Dreadnought on the metal clasps of his motorbike, then took off into the night.

Through the power of Odin’s ring, Xander made his eyes glow whitish blue, making everything easy to see as he rode to Buffy’s neighborhood. The sharp contrast of two glowing eyes in the middle of his black and camo-covered face made identifying him that much harder.

Since the Order of Taraka assassin had killed the previous owner of the house across the street from Buffy, it was vacant. He squatted there and waited for Ted, Joyce, and Buffy to return from dropping Willow off. It wasn’t long before Ted parked his car in the driveway and the three went inside. When the hyper-realistic robot left, Xander decided to begin embroidering the rune array he hoped would work into a practice shirt. The teen warrior spied on the Summers’ home for the next two nights with no success—practicing his needlework the entire time—but judging by the way Buffy was getting more annoyed by Ted at school, he knew it would happen soon.

On the third night, his enhanced ears heard a faint scream from within the house that sounded like Joyce. He tossed his half-embroidered linen, and rushed across the street with his very visible Dreadnought. He heard faint tumbling, like someone falling down the stairs, then a desperate cry from Buffy’s mom. Taking a deep breath and lighting his eyes to a bluish-white, Xander steeled his nerves before kicking open the front door.

‘Note to self, offer to repair their door later,’ Xander thought.

The loud breaking of the door frame startled a panicked Joyce, who was at the foot of the stairs crying over Ted’s motionless body. At the top of the stairs, Buffy reacted quickly to a strange man dressed in black holding a battleaxe entering their home, jumping from the second floor to land in the hallway with ease. The alert Slayer grabbed her mother’s arm and pulled her behind her to defend her.

Xander clipped Dreadnought to his back and ignored them to kneel beside Ted’s supposed dead body. He knew it was a machine and not, in fact, ‘dead,’ but he had to prove to the blonde ladies that it was only playing at being dead and still operational. Xander grabbed its neck, making Joyce yell, “No!” However, Buffy held her back. When it didn’t move, Xander squeezed Ted’s throat with supernatural strength, called upon through his ring. The robot must’ve sensed the danger to its life functions, and suddenly opened its eyes.

Xander felt the slight vibration of hydraulic fluid move before Ted attempted to grab the highly experienced fighter. The warrior in black dodged the hand coming as he unclipped Dreadnought from his back and lopped the arm off cleanly at the elbow in one fluid movement. With enhanced strength coursing through him, Xander swung his axe, targeting Ted’s neck. However, the robot caught it with his other hand.

With a small smirk under his camo scarf, Xander triggered his weapon’s lightning, sending thousands of volts of electricity through its hand. The machine shook as it was being fried and a terrible hum escaped his mouth. Only when its eyes melted and smoke escaped its ears and nose, did Xander end the lightning. Pulling his weapon away, the machine dropped to the wood floor with a heavy THUD.

Xander turned to the stunned women, and Buffy focused on his face. Dressed in black, with glowing bluish-white eyes, Xander stared at his long-time friend, and she stared back with an expression of focus and concern, but not of familiarity. Buffy didn’t recognize him, and while it was unlikely that she would, it still disappointed him a little. Though curious if any of his friends would, it made him fall into the role of a stranger that much easier, like playing a villainous role in a movie.

Buffy snapped out of her confusion to finally ask, “Who are you?” Then, looking at the robot trembling sporadically on the floor, she demanded, “And what did you do to him?”

Using the ring to alter his voice to something deeper, yet resonating smoothly, Xander looked down at the machine and answered, “Ted Buchanan—the real Ted Buchanan—was an inventor from the 1950s.” Kicking the bionic arm toward Buffy, he continued, “He created this robot of himself before he died. Since then, it’s been drugging and kidnapping women using cookies laced with dematorin. The address to his bunker is on this piece of paper,” he told them, lifting a piece of white paper from his breast pocket. He tossed it on the floor before adding, “You’ll find bodies there.”

When he turned to leave, Buffy yelled, “Wait! Who are you!”

Rather than answer her, he sprinted to his bike a house away and drove off. The following day, Xander couldn’t deny enjoying Buffy’s continual speculation about the man in black. He couldn’t help but wonder if this was how Bruce Wayne felt when others would talk about Batman around him. The joyful exuberance of something new and exciting permeated Xander’s entire being, and he could barely contain his smile as he played dumb throughout the day. His friends had no idea the person who kept Buffy from being charged with the murder of Ted Buchanan was right beside them, and it was a hoot.

The only damper to his mood was the first failure of summoning clothes. On the shirt, he embroidered a rune array made of five runes: ܘܥܓܫܡ, or Šin Mēm Gāmal Ayin Waw, which roughly translated to Summon Covering. Since the gold-gilded thread in the shirt was the same gold from his ring, Xander expected the shirt to be summoned perfectly worn on his torso. And though he managed to summon the inanimate material to him, it bounced off of his chest instead. As Xander didn’t have a lot of gold-gilded thread to practice with, he practiced different iterations of the rune array using characters for summoning, covering, on me, upon me, embracing me, dress, and anything else he could think of to be as specific as possible.

Later that night, Xander spotted Buffy and Angel from quite far away. With his enhanced sight and hearing, he quickly learned they were making out instead of patrolling. He rolled his glowing eyes because he could just picture how many times this had happened whenever Buffy went patrolling. Mercifully, Xander heard a vampire sneaking around the lovers, and he briefly considered if the kissing was a strategy to lure vampires, like a false sense of security. However, seeing how fierce Angel and Buffy were making out, he doubted it was a strategy.

Xander prowled patiently near the couple as well as the vampire stalking them for a meal. Using his ring to increase his physical ability, he had such control over every muscle fiber in his body that he made no sound as he moved within striking range. When Xander had enough of the kissing noises filling his ears, he sprinted out of the bushes, making enough noise to cause alarm.

Xander ran past Buffy and Angel directly at the vampire. The demon hissed at him until he saw the large battleaxe in his hand and promptly began running. Perplexed by the abrupt activity, Buffy and Angel followed behind Xander as he sprinted as fast as a bicycle racing downhill. When the teenage hunter felt close enough, he threw Dreadnought at the running vampire and hit it squarely at the center of his back.

“AAEEEEIIIIIIIKKKKKKKK,” the vampire yelled as it fell forward.

The vampire was face down on the grass, but still undead. Xander gripped the handle of his battleaxe and pulled his weapon out. The demon barely had a chance to scream before the young warrior decapitated it with ease. It was dust by the time Buffy and Angel stopped several yards away from him. In his stealth-black, tactical gear, with his glowing bluish-white eyes, Xander turned to the couple and measuredly latched his axe to his back.

“You again,” Buffy called.

Neither of them could help but fixate on the glowing eyes between the black beanie and the black & gray camo scarf covering the bottom half of his face. Angel couldn’t tell who he was either, but to combat the smell, the teen used his ring to give off a sweet smell rather than his natural scent. Again, their unawareness helped Xander feel free to do and say what he wanted without caring about anyone chastising him, because he wasn’t Xander LaVelle Harris. He was a mystery man in a mask with no qualms about calling it like it is, and it excited the time looper like frighteningly little had.

In his deeper augmented voice, Xander coldly asked, “Did you even notice the vampire stalking you, or did you not care that it was watching you tongue each other?” Buffy had the decency to look embarrassed, but Xander suddenly pretended to focus solely on Angel. He tilted his head as if inspecting the good-looking man, then Xander lowered his stance, taking a visible Dreadnought from his back and priming to attack.

Feeling uneasy, Buffy trailed off as she asked, “Uh, what are you…”

Buffy stopped when Xander jumped comically high in the air, then threw Dreadnought directly at Angel. It was a wild move and unlikely to work, but Xander wasn’t trying to kill him. Both vampire and Slayer dodged out of the weapon’s way, letting the axe pierce the earth instead. Expecting it, Xander released a small amount of electricity into the ground, stunning their nearby feet momentarily before he landed. Letting Dreadnought remain sticking up from the ground, the teen warrior grabbed a stunned Angel by the throat and lifted him up as he removed a wooden knife from the holster.

As expected, Buffy quickly snapped out of it and grabbed his battle axe as she yelled, “Wait!”

Xander turned to her as she swung his axe at him. Angel grabbed his attacker to keep him in place for Buffy, but Xander activated more electricity from Dreadnought, shocking Buffy before Xander buried his wooden knife into Angel’s gut, making the vampire grunt in pain. Xander watched the pain and grimace in the handsome man’s face as he twisted the wooden knife, and wondered why he wasn’t horrified.

Letting go of the knife, Xander called Dreadnought to his free hand and spun it into hitting Angel’s side with the blunt butt of his axe. Buffy finally regained control of her shocked motor functions and attacked the disguised Xander. Though it was Buffy—his friend and complicated ball of feelings—coming after him, as if he were a threat, he only felt more free to be that anti-hero. They met and began trading fast snapping blows. Using the long handle of his axe, Xander blocked what he could and slipped the rest.

When Buffy felt confident Xander would not use the blade of his mighty weapon, she took a strike to the chin to spin and kicked at the side of his body, sending him flying. Xander landed hard and the blossoming pain spreading through him told him a few ribs were broken. As Buffy checked on a wincing Angel, Xander slowly made his way to his feet, accelerating his healing with the magical assistance of his powerful tools.

Despite the red bruise on her chin, Buffy helped Angel to his feet. Holding him around his middle, she yelled at Xander, “What the hell do you think you’re doing!?”

Xander gripped his side as the magic treated his injuries with supreme haste, and with his altered voice, he returned, “I could ask you the same, Slayer!” Standing straighter, he pointed at Angel with his axe as he said, “He’s a vampire! Goes by the name of Angelus, the scourge of Europe.”

With growing irritation, she yelled back, “He’s not like that anymore!”

For several silent moments, Xander played dumb, as if considering her assertion before asking, “What do you mean?”

“He has a soul,” the Sayer in love declared. “He’s not evil anymore!”

Xander was silent as he moved close to them, eying the wincing Angel intently. Xander wanted to have Angel hold his axe and explain how only those with a soul are capable of holding it, but when Buffy became more alert, he didn’t think they’d just accept his word. Still, he tried.

Xander gently raised his battleaxe and explained, “My axe can only be held by those with a soul.” He tossed Dreadnought so it landed in front of the alarmed fighters. “Pick it up, vampire.”

“Why?” Buffy called back. “So you can shock us again? How stupid do you think we are?”

They didn’t make a move, not that Xander cared about their trust. Instead, he leaned more into the mystical. To help allay their skepticism, Xander leaned forward, emphasizing his glowing eyes as he inspected the Angel. Slowly, Xander said, “I see now,” and the tension seemed to slowly ebb away. Leaning back and feeling much better, Xander called Dreadnought to his hand with a CLAP. They clearly took notice of the battleaxe flying into his grip.

The mystery axeman was about to leave when Buffy yelled, “Wait! Who—or what—the hell are you?”

Xander paused for dramatic effect, then casually answered, “A slayer, of sorts. From the shadows of man. Call me Nox.”

“Nox? Really?” Buffy asked with an appalled expression. “How about Not? As in not needed. In case you haven’t noticed, this town already has a Slayer. It doesn’t need an extra pair of glowie eyeballs; which is totally Creep City, by the way!”

Though Xander was laughing on the inside, he rolled his glowing eyes apathetically before telling Angel, “Vampire, I warn you now. If you ever take a human life, I’ll make it my personal mission to end you. Consider this your only warning.”

“Don’t be rude and leave without a warning of your own,” Buffy called out. “Mess with Angel again, and plan on having an extended stay in Sunnydale Metro-General.”

Enjoying the interaction, Xander walked away and didn’t look back.