Soul Illusion

Chapter 5.

Xander went from fast asleep to wide awake instantaneously. The room was silent and the bed was empty. It took a moment to occur to him that he hadn’t been in bed when he’d gone to sleep. Ok so technically, he hadn’t gone to sleep, he’d blacked out. Either way, he was in a cold warehouse when it happened. He didn’t need to ask how he got there though. Just thinking about it provided him with the answer, Angel had scooped him up in his arms and carried him back to the SUV, he’d cradled him in his lap all the way back. Then he’d sat with him until Spike had forced him to rest, eat or shower.

He wondered how he knew that? The answer provided itself clearly in his mind, //because you know everything//

Ordinarily, this revelation would have raised more questions and confusion in him. Instead he acknowledged it as truth; there was no flash of panic or fear, just knowledge. His mind was decidedly uncluttered considering he was supposed to know everything. He smirked, ok, so it was all there but he had to want the information for it to come to him.

He slipped out of bed, very aware of his growling stomach. He’d been out of it for a week. Although, in reality he’d not been out of it at all, there had been things going on inside him that had required him to pay attention. And then there were the things that had needed doing for the Poltaling people, the ones who had sent an ambassador to beg his help. He’d done what he’d had to whilst in his healing sleep, he wondered if healing was the right word for it. He decided it wasn’t but couldn’t quite come up with the correct one. It was like his body had gone into a state to prepare itself for who he was to become. //Like a butterfly in a cocoon// His mind supplied. A transforming sleep then, he reasoned with himself as he pulled on his black silk outfit.

Xander pulled open the door to head downstairs. He knew that Angel was downstairs talking to the others. He knew because when he wondered where he was, the answer gave itself to him. He was fairly sure he could get used to being a know all, he would just have to remember not to wonder what a surprise or a present might be. He wandered down the stairs feeling alive and well rested. He was ready for what he would face, he already knew that what Angel was talking to the other’s about wasn’t going well.

He could hear their voices drifting up the stairwell to him now. He could clearly make out Chase’s petulant tone.

“But you saw it… how can you deny that something has infected him. He’s possessed or something.”

“I’ve already explained this to you. Nothing has infected, possessed or taken over Xander’s body, he’s not a demon, he’s not evil and he’s not dangerous to us.” Angel sounded irritated, like this conversation had been repeated over and over for some time.

The brunette human realised that it had, //5 times// his mind told him, //and this time it’s been going for over an hour//

He rolled his eyes wondering why Chase was like this. The answer made his foot falter in mid-air. He shook his head. //That can’t be right// but the answer came again and elaborated.

He descended further down the stairs and could see them all now, another realisation occurred to him; when he looked at the others they were surrounded by colours, what could only be described as auras. //That’s exactly what they are, they represent the person’s very essence//

He smiled as he saw Angel’s, it was equal parts a brilliant white and the darkest of blacks, twined tightly with threads of glittering red. Spike’s was almost the same except it seemed much more energetic and the occasional flash of blue. Then his eyes fell on Greg’s and he gasped loud enough that the two with super hearing turned towards him, causing everyone else’s gaze to follow.

“Hey guys.” He said brightly and bounded down the last few steps into his waiting Master’s arms. “Missed you.”

Angel planted a light kiss on his forehead, there were a couple of snickers but there was also a snort of disgust. Xan’s eyes were drawn towards the source, Chase. He tensed in the strong arms that held him.

The dark-haired vampire could tell something was up with his, pet. His scent was disturbing and his posture had gone almost rigid when he’d looked around. Angel followed his gaze and frowned, wondering why Chase could cause such a reaction.

Xander felt utterly nauseous. His hand came up to his mouth as he fought down the urge to be sick. “Get him out of here.” He told them, while pointing at the blond who’d caused the reaction. “Just get him the hell out of here.” He repeated before he ran for the kitchen.

Angel followed him into the seclusion of the room and waited patiently while Xan shakily poured himself a glass of water.

“What was that?” The vampire asked when he determined that his boy had calmed himself sufficiently.

Xander shook his head. He didn’t know how to start, and it seemed for all his knowledge it couldn’t help him with that. “He’s evil.” He blurted.

Angel waited patiently for him to continue. “His soul is black…just all black, there’s no light in him at all. He’s pure evil.”

“But he’s human.” The vampire’s brow furrowed, his brown eyes looking thoughtful. “And he fights alongside us.”

Xander snorted quietly, “Being human doesn’t mean you’re automatically good. Look at my father.” He stopped that train of thought before he could say too much. “He fights with us, but not on our side.” He told him, trying hard to explain that which he knew but didn’t really understand himself.

“If he doesn’t leave then I’ll kill him.” He said quietly, taking another sip of his water.

“What?” Angel stepped close to him, using a finger to lift the boy’s chin. His tone was gentle when he spoke. “Explain this to me, little one.”

“It’s what I am, what I’m meant to do, Master. My purpose is to return the balance to the light. At the moment evil is winning, ideally good and evil should balance out, but its gone wrong and to restore that balance I must turn it towards the light. By eliminating evil.” He held up a hand to prevent the protest he knew was about to come. “Human or demon it doesn’t matter, what matters is what’s in a person’s soul.”

At that moment the door burst open and an irate blond human stormed in, followed closely by Spike, who had apparently been trying to reason with him rather than physically ejecting him.

Without moving a muscle, Xander sent Chase flying backwards through the air. “I said get him out of here.” He bit out.

It was taking all his effort not to eliminate the darkness that he saw; so much effort that the hotel began to shake. There were shouts from the other room that there was an earthquake but Angel looked at his boy and knew what it really was.

“Spike, get him out of here, now!”

The door swung shut behind Spike as he launched himself after Chase and dragged him from the building.

Angel wrapped his arms around Xander, the building was still shaking periodically and he whispered soothing words, trying to calm his, boy. His power was an unknown quantity to them, they’d had no idea what to expect, and he still didn’t know totally what he was capable of. All that mattered at that moment was his human burrowing his face into his neck and holding onto him like his life depended on it. He could smell the saline from his tears and held him securely.

“Shh, pet. It’s going to be fine. We’ll work things out together.”

The rumbling building settled, finally. Xander gave a hiccup and there was a minor tremor, but it settled straightaway. He pulled slowly back and wiped at his face with his sleeve.

Angel stroked his thumb across a tearstained cheek and smiled encouragingly.

“Sorry, I feel stupid.” He couldn’t understand why he was crying. Here he was probably one of the most powerful beings on the planet and he was crying. //*The* most powerful// His own mind supplied. And ok so there was a chance he could get fed up with being a know all.

“You’ve no need to, you’re going through some big changes.” He ran a hand through soft curls and smiled. “You’re not alone in this.”

Xander smiled sheepishly and nodded. “I know.”

The door opened again and Spike stuck his head around, “He’s gone. Never liked that bloody wanker. Everything ok in here?”

“Thanks, Spike. Yeah, it’ll be ok. Your boy needs you, you should go look after him.” Xander nodded and smiled at him.

“My boy?” The blond menace scowled.

“Greg. Go on…go to him.”

“He’s not…” His scarred eyebrow rose as something dawned on him, “Bloody hell.” Then the bleached blond head disappeared.

Xander chuckled and realised that Angel was just looking at him. He shrugged and turned to the fridge, intent on making himself a feast to replenish his empty stomach. He hummed softly while he worked, fully aware of the vampire behind him.

Angel leant against the counter, watching his boy and waiting for the babbling to start. He needed some clue as to what they should expect from him. He felt like he was being ignored and that didn’t sit well with him. He shifted slightly and folded his arms across his chest.

“I know.” Xander said, without looking round, “You’re waiting for some kind of speech, something that will make everything clear. But I’m not sure where to start with it all.”

“What are you capable of, pet?” Angel asked. “The earthquake thing was impressive, how far would that go if you let it?”

He looked over his shoulder at the vampire, “I could flatten an area the size of California.” Xander answered.

Angel was still trying to comprehend his boy’s words, when Xander’s eyes flashed from brown to blue and he stopped what he was doing. That was an interesting point… the colour changed seemed to occur when he was tapping into his power.

“What is it?” A concerned tone entered his voice as he noticed the change in body tension.

“A feeling.” He set his knife down and headed to the door. “Remind me to put up wards.”

They’d just entered the lobby when there was a shimmer followed by a portal opening. Everyone stopped and looked at it, nervous about what would come through this one.

Xander knew, before the being stepped out, he knew that it would be human in appearance, but that looks could be deceptive. He knew the language it would use and he knew exactly what it wanted. He kept all this to himself as he looked at the being.

The being’s eyes scanned quickly around the room and settled on Xander. He stepped forward and bowed.

“My Lord. My name is Kantiil. I come from Eltranthia.”

Xander nodded, understanding the words, even as everyone looked blankly at him wondering what the series of clicks represented.

“State your business.” The brunette requested.

He listened patiently as the Kantiil told his story. When he finished speaking, the ground rumbled slightly under them all, but Xander quickly pulled it into check.

“How dare you?” His words and face where filled with his indignation and rage, that even those who couldn’t understand the language knew that he wasn’t happy. “You come to my home and spout these lies at me! The One who knows all! You would dare to believe you could deceive ME?” His voice rose steadily in volume.

The ground shook again and the portal that had closed behind the being snapped open again. Xander’s eyes were a solid brilliant blue as he sent the Eltranthian hurtling back through it. There was a sizzle of static electricity and the portal closed. The tremors ceased and his eyes returned to brown. Xan turned to his Master as if nothing had happened, suddenly recognising the looks on the other’s faces. He shrugged his shoulders.

“Thought he could tell me a load of BS.” He snorted, “Like I wouldn’t know he was lying. Best of it is, if he’d have been honest I’d have helped them.”

All except Angel were seemingly shell-shocked by the display of power that the human had shown. There was a silent moment, and then Illyria was moving towards him. She went down on one knee and bowed low. The other’s watched with even more confusion.

Xander smiled down at her and ran a hand through blue streaked hair. “Its ok, my child.”

She looked up at him, tilted her head to one side, and then smiled almost shyly as she rose to her feet.

“I’m proud of you, the effort you’ve made, and you’ve done good things.” He told her as he wrapped his arms around her.

After a few moments, where Xander held Illyria tenderly, he pulled back with a smile. “I need to eat.”

She nodded, seeming to pull herself back in line; she took herself off to clean weapons.

Xander knew that the others were all still so incredibly puzzled, but he wasn’t in the mood to explain just yet. He caught Angel’s eye with a small smile and headed back to the kitchen, knowing that his Master was following him.

“Lay lines, that’s the closest I can explain it. There was a convergence under the warehouse, turning it into a kind of energy hub. Its what had attracted the Crghthalx there in the first place. That, combined with you being in danger, acted like a switch on my power. While I was unconscious, it was for my body to realign itself.” He rambled idly as he finished making his sandwich, then hoisted himself up to sit on the counter while he ate it.

Angel nodded, “So your power was dormant, it needed something to activate it. That makes sense.”

“You mean it explains why I was just the zeppo for so long.” He said pragmatically.

“Xander, you were never the zeppo, you were always the heart of the group, the one that held them all together. If it wasn’t for you… Sunnydale would have fallen into the pit of hell before you even graduated high school.”

Xander blinked, he wondered if Angel was just saying that to make him feel better. The answer came back to him that it was 100% the truth. It was why he was The Chosen One. He shrugged to himself and inhaled his sandwich.

“Why did you gasp when you looked at Greg?” Angel asked out of the blue.

Nearly coughing on his last mouthful, a smile formed on his lips. “So beautiful.” He said dreamily. He heard a deep growl and jumped. “No… not Greg… I mean, yeah, he’s good looking, but he’s not you. And have I told you how much I love you. I mean utterly totally crazy in love with you. I was meaning his aura.” He babbled.

“Aura?”

“Remember what I said about Chase, well I can see the essence of a person. His was all black. Greg’s… his is this brilliant rainbow. It was just breathtaking to see it.”

“What does it mean?” Angel asked the question that Xander hadn’t yet had chance to ask himself.

“It means he’s like Dawnie. I didn’t understand when Spike said he wasn’t Human and he wasn’t Demon. But now I know what he meant. He’s made of magic, like Dawn is the key.” Xander explained as the answers revealed themselves to him.

“So he’s a key? To what?” Angel’s brow creased wondering if Greg knew.

“No… he’s more important than that.” The answer that danced in his mind caused him to chew on his lip thoughtfully. “I can move inter and intra dimensionally, so I can not only open a portal and step through into another dimension but I could open one and step through into, say, England. Greg is my anchor to here. With a thought I can return to where he is. It will make sure I don’t get lost out there.” He looked at Angel, seeing the play of emotion on his face. “You’re my mate, my Master, I love you and you’re important to me. Sure Greg is important, but he’s not you. And you couldn’t be my anchor because you have your own destiny. Besides, there might be times I want to take you with me. He can’t go through a portal.”

Xander moved to rest his head against Angel’s shoulder, wrapping his arms around his waist and breathing in the scent of his Master. The vampire nodded.

“I understand, pet, I do.” He kissed the soft curls. “I love you too.”