Immortal Knight

Author: pixel
Title: Immortal Knight
Chapter: 3/? Return Of The Knight
Pairing: Xander/?
Rating: NC17
Feedback: always welcome
Concrit much appreciated and possibly needed
Disclaimer: Anything you recognise is still owned by Joss et al ~ anything new is mine.
Warnings/Squicks: character death, light BDSM, slash(well duh), violence
Beta(s): don’t have one
Distribution: hell, if anyone wants it, take it. Just drop me a line so I can take a look.


Authors Notes: This is a Highlander/BTVS/Ats crossover, my knowledge of highlander is a little sketchy as they only showed a couple of seasons on terrestrial tv here in the UK, so I maybe drawing on fanon more than canon. Post chosen and mid season 5 Ats. I know some people have said that being immortal would mean that Xander’s eye would have come back, but this is my world and I’m making it so it didn’t. I think that immortals can heal any wound but I never saw one regenerate a missing body part, and I think that Caleb actually destroyed the eye, so it wouldn’t grow back.

A Knight’s Tale


Cassandra drew back from Xander’s arms and took a good look at him. “Alexander, what the Hell happened in Sunnydale? One minute you’re calling me and telling me that everything’s fine and the next thing I know you disappear for weeks and then the whole damn town is destroyed and you show up here.”


“Things got a little nuts back in the Dale, beyond the usual weirdness.”


“A little nuts? The town is gone Alexander, that’s more than a little anything.”


Xander looked around the room, he knew that he’d have to tell Cassandra everything that had happened, but he didn’t know the other people in the room, he could tell that two of them were Immortals, one of them so powerful that Xander had felt his presence over a block away. What he didn’t know was if these men knew anything about the Hellmouth, Cassandra obviously wanted answers but Xander needed to know how much he could say in front of these strangers.


“Cassandra,” the voice came from the older of the two Immortals, “Why don’t you give the boy a chance to catch his breath before you start the interrogation.” Seeing Xander bristle at the word boy, Methos just laughed, “I meant no offence young one, but compared to me, everyone is a child. I suppose we should introduce ourselves, I’m Methos, the brooding one over there is Duncan Macleod and this is our host Joe; and you, I presume are Cassandra’s Alexander.”


Xander saw by the reactions of the others that they hadn’t expected Methos to reveal his true name, Cassandra had spoken of the ancient Immortal and how he tried to keep his identity hidden most of the time, to avoid the attentions of head hunters. Realising that Cassandra wouldn’t ask him to reveal his secrets in front of people she didn’t trust, Xander began to talk. He told them everything that had happened in the past year, the First, the Bringers, Caleb and the potentials. When he got to the part about the fight in the vineyard, Cassandra’s eyes widened in horror, as she realised that the eye patch Xander was wearing was to hide a real injury, and the others looked shocked at the matter of fact manner in which he dismissed his loss.


His own eyes became full of tears as he recounted the final battle and had to tell them about Anya’s loss, he wound up his tale by saying that he’d finally decided to come to Cassandra because his friends didn’t need him any more. Buffy had decided to move on with her life and was trying to live like a normal girl in Rome. Willow had rejoined the Devon coven and was studying ways to control her magic and Giles was busy in England rebuilding the Council.


Cassandra heard him out, listened as he talked of the battles and the dangers he’d faced; then, when she was sure he’d told her everything, she began to talk, her voice at first deceptively calm. “The First Evil was freed and in Sunnydale. Funny how that slipped your mind when we talked. I remember you telling me about football players with magic jackets, the vampire who got his soul back. You told me all about how Anya had chosen to be human again and about how you went on a date with another crazy woman. I heard about Dawn’s grades and Buffy’s new job and how Willow was coping with her magic better and had found someone new.


Not once did you mention that you were all in a fight against the most powerful evil force in existence, what you thought that I wouldn’t be interested in the fact that the world was facing destruction? Did it never once occur to you that I might have been able to help? How could you be so incredibly stupid, Alexander? You could have been killed.


“Cassandra, it wasn’t your fight, it’s not like we hadn’t faced an apocalypse before, it’s practically a yearly occurrence on the Hellmouth.”


“And what exactly happened to the Hellmouth?”


By this time Cassandra’s voice had become tight with anger and Xander knew that he really shouldn’t push her, but he couldn’t help himself, “We blew it up and shut it down.”


“You blew it up? You…. You… I can’t believe …” Cassandra went on at length, Xander was pretty sure she was berating him for not telling her what was going on, but as she was switching from one language to another at dizzying speed it was kind of hard to tell. The tone of voice was all too familiar though, a sort of exasperated frustration, that Xander had heard often from Giles.


He looked at the other men, Duncan was wearing a look of disbelief, it was obvious he hadn’t dealt with the mystical world much and was having a hard time believing Xander’s story. Joe seemed worried, like he knew better than most the consequences of the events in Sunnydale, and he seemed to be reassessing his initial opinion of Xander. Methos on the other hand just looked amused, he was watching Cassandra work herself up into a rage and was barely restraining his laughter. Xander winced as he recognised a couple of seriously vicious Summerian swearwords and decided he might as well get comfy, as it didn’t look like Cassandra was going to wind down any time soon.


He settled into one of the sofas and reached out an arm to snag Methos’ drink, knocking it back in one swallow. Seeing the others look at him with surprise, he just said, “What? I need it more than you do. She’s got quite a temper.”


Methos grabbed a bottle and an extra glass and returned to the table, pouring himself and Xander another drink, “That’s quite a talent you’ve got, I haven’t seen Cassandra lose it like this in centuries.”


“She’s not stopping any time soon, is she?”


“Nope, one time I got her so mad, she yelled at me for six hours straight.”


“Crap, so what did you do to get her that angry?”


“A long story for another time. She’s not really angry,” Xander raised an eyebrow in disbelief, “Ok she’s angry, but not at you, not really. She’s just realising she could have lost you and that she never knew how much danger you were in.”


“I get that, but she seems to have so much invested in me. It doesn’t make sense, I mean I know that Immortals take students and that the relationship is close; but Cassandra seemed so desperate to find me when she showed up in Sunnydale; and my being here is obviously important to her, but she never said why it matters so much. We came to be good friends when she was in the Dale, but it’s not like I’m family or anything, I don’t understand why my death would affect her so much. I mean, she must have lost so many people over the years, what makes me different?”


“She didn’t tell you?”


“Would I be asking if she had?”


“You are important Alexander, and not just to our Cassandra; but the story is hers to tell, not mine.”


“Do you think you could lay off the Alexander’s, no one ever calls me that, it’s Xander.”


“Alexander is an old and noble name and you’re never going to get Cass to shorten it.”


“Fine so Cass won’t do it, but you guys could.”


“Xander just doesn’t sound right to me, simply not fit for a student of mine. I’ll settle for Alex.”


“A student of yours? I came here to train with Cassandra.”


“And she thought you’d be better off with me.”


“Do I get a say in this?”


“Well you could always try and get Cassandra to change her mind. Watching you attempt to talk her round should be entertaining at least; it isn’t going to change a thing though, you’re ass is mine for the foreseeable future.”


“You’re not in any way kidding are you?”


“No, Cassandra never does anything without a reason, and she thinks you need me.”


“Let me guess, the reason is part of that thing you won’t tell me about.”


“Methos, you never take students.” Duncan’s voice shocked, “None of this makes any sense, that ridiculous story about the end of the world and demons. How can you take it seriously?”


“Duncan, you’ve lived for over four centuries, how can you not know about demons? They’re all around us and you’ve no right to question Alex’s story.”


“He’s right Duncan,” Joe spoke for the first time, “Watchers have always known about the mystical world, there was a whole organisation, that shared our name, and kept watch over the demons. I heard they’d been attacked, but we never found out who was responsible.”


“It was the first, it sent Bringers to London and they blew up the Council headquarters. It wanted to destroy the Slayer line. Only a handful of Watchers survived, those who’d been out of the country, and all their records were lost. It almost cost us everything, if Giles hadn’t managed to get a few books out before the attack, we might never have been able to figure out what was going on.”


“So you’re really telling me that the fate of the world is in the hands of one teenage girl? You know how insane that sounds?”


“You know what Macleod, who the hell are you to judge? It’s not like Buffy or any of the others ever asked for the job. They were chosen by the Powers; and they have to sacrifice everything to the fight, they deserve a little respect. Anyway it isn’t just one girl any more, there’s thousands of Slayers now.”


Cassandra abruptly broke off from her ranting and pacing, stopping directly in front of Xander she demanded, “Thousands of Slayers, something else you forgot to mention.”


“Ooops! The First was going to unleash an army of Turok Han and we were kinda out of ideas. Buffy found this scythe, it was an ancient weapon tied to the Slayer line. Willow used it to activate all the Slayers. Every girl that had the potential to become a Slayer, got the power.”


“You said that Willow had stopped abusing her gifts, that kind of spell would take a phenomenal amount of power, far beyond even the most experienced witch.”


“We didn’t have a choice, it was stop the First or kiss the world good-bye, that took a priority over Willow’s issues with the mojo. Anyway it worked, Willow channeled pure light magic to make the spell and from what the coven could tell, it purified her; washed away all the taint from the dark magic she used.”


“It was an incredible risk, if she’d lost control she could have gone over to the First.”


“She didn’t and it’s over now. I know you were worried Cassandra, but there was nothing you could have done. You know you couldn’t stay on the Hellmouth without your Quickening being tainted.”


“You know Cassandra never explained exactly how you were able to avoid that fate. We’ve been watching Immortals for centuries and any time one spends more than a few weeks in the vicinity of a Hellmouth, they go crazy. How did you manage to survive?”


“I’d really rather this didn’t go in one of your files, but I guess it couldn’t hurt to explain. After I died the first time, I needed to find out what I was. Usually people who come back from the dead in Sunnydale are demons; but I didn’t feel evil. I did wander if Willow had somehow done it with her mojo, I got hit with so much power that day, I didn’t know what it might have done. I tried to do a little research on my own, but wasn’t getting anywhere fast, then one day I cut myself at work and saw the little blue sparks as I healed. I knew I couldn’t just leave it, so I called an old girlfriend of mine, I figured anyone who’d lived as long as she had, would probably have seen something like it before.”


“How old was she?” The curiosity was evident in Methos’ voice.


“Eleven hundred or so, human and demon.” Ignoring the shocked looks on their faces as they dealt with the fact he’d dated a demon, Xander continued, “I was right, she knew what I was immediately, seems she’d had dealings with some Immortals six hundred odd years ago in Greece. She knew all about us, the Game, the Quickening and what the Hellmouth could do to me. At first I thought I’d have to leave, but we were able to persuade an old friend of hers to grant us a wish, Hallie made it so the taint wouldn’t affect me and their boss let them get away with it ‘cos he was grateful that I’d stopped the world from ending.


He tried to take it back later on, when Anya turned her back on him and his powers, he blamed me for corrupting her with humanity, but by his own rules there was nothing he could do to undo the wish. I wouldn’t like to risk getting close to a Hellmouth again now, with Hallie and Anya both dying in Sunnydale, I’m pretty sure any protection I had is gone too.”


Methos was only half listening to Xander, instead he was busy muttering to himself, “Six hundred years ago…greece…demon…Anya…..Anyanka! You’re talking about Anyanka, do you have any idea what that evil witch did to me?”


“You’re the Immortal she cursed, oh god I don’t believe it. You really must have pissed your girl off.” Seeing the looks of confusion on Duncan and Joe’s faces Xander explained, “Anya was the patron saint of scorned women, she turned up to grant them wishes so they could get revenge on unfaithful men.”


“So what did she do to our ancient friend?” Duncan sounded amused at the idea of Methos getting into trouble over one of his women.


“Alex, don’t you fucking dare! Don’t forget whose student you’re going to be for the next few months.”


“Come on old man, don’t you want to give your friends a good laugh?”


So ignoring the threats from his new teacher, Xander told the story about how Anya had punished Methos, it had been quite creative even for her, but the highlights had included fifty years of impotence, certain parts of his anatomy turning luminous green every time he got turned on and an unfortunate tendency to throw up violently any time a woman talked to him. By the time Xander was done, Methos was issuing dire threats for the months to come and everyone else was laughing uncontrollably. They talked and drank and laughed long into the night, getting to know and trust one another. Cassandra sat back and joined in the fun, knowing how hard the next few months would be, she could allow Alexander this last night of freedom. She could explain everything in the morning; right now she was just happy that Alexander was here and that, for now at least, he was safe.

tbc…..