This Place and Time

---------Disclaimer: I own nothing. Joss, king of everything, owns these characters.---------

Part 1

Xander awoke to pain. His ribs felt broken and bruised, something he was sure wasn't an exaggeration. Muscles felt sore, everything felt broken. He tried to move only to notice his wrists bound in shackles above his head. He hung suspended above hard concrete floor, wrists painfully held by tight shackles that protruded from the ceiling above; and the tips of his toes barely touching the ground below. At that point, he noticed he was in some type of cell.

After the immediate shock wore off, he began to assess his situation. Where and why was he here? This place looked familiar, but he was in too much pain and it was too dark.

"HELP!"

He shouted as loud as he could, but his throat felt sore and rasp. His yell couldn't have been more than a whisper. He could taste faint amounts of blood in his saliva. 'How long have I been here' he wondered.

Thoughts that Buffy and Willow where on their way to save him gave him a bit of hope. After all, Buffy always showed up in time to save the day, didn’t she? Not to mention that Willow would know that something was up when he didn't call her or visit; they communicated in some way with each other almost everyday. She was his best friend after all.

'Why haven't they found me by now then'. The thought traveled through his head. He had to have been here for at least a day or two. And yet he wasn't safe. Maybe this was it. Maybe this time he'd finally be killed, and the Hellmouth would claim yet another victim.

"You up yet boy?"

The voice clicked immediately to his brain.

"Angel?", he asked in almost a whisper.

"Guess again, boy."

His eyes widened and dilated in terror. At the start, he thought it was Angel. He didn't care how or why the vampire was there, but he
thought he was going to be safe. He was dead wrong.

"Angelus.”

"Give the boy a prize, He finally gets it right", Angelus said coldly, walking into a sliver of light that gleamed into the cell.

What was this exactly? All Xander could think was that he was going to die. Angelus’s tone was colder than he had ever heard him before. Angelus usually presented himself in a relaxed manner, never nervous, never stiff, and always playing his mind games. A much friendlier side of insane.However, this time he was just stiff and silent. Angelus loved to hear himself talk. As a matter of fact, he never shut the hell up, but he was silent. The long silence tormented Xander. Angelus stared at him as if he could see through him. It completely unnerved him.

Finally Angelus made a move. He stepped to the door of the cell and slowly opened it. Once he was in, he shut the metal gate behind him. Then even more slowly he approached a bruised and bleeding Xander until they stood almost nose to nose.

"You know I've had about a day to think over what exactly I'm going to do to you boy."

So Xander was right. He had been here about a day.

"But I'm still at a loss. At first I was just going to kill you quickly and painlessly. After all a good boy should get a reward."

' What the hell is he talking about,' Xander thought.

"But Nah. That would be to easy. Then I thought of torturing you for endless nights and days until your body finally gave in to sweet oblivion."

Xander's eyes widened at that thought. The pain was already almost too unbearable. Knowing that Angelus could make this pain last so much longer made him struggle weakly against his bonds.

"Then I thought I might keep you as my personal Xander slave. You'd like that. wouldn't you boy? Being my little slave? Doing whatever I want as I make you bleed and beg every night for me to take you."

Xander struggled a little bit more against the bonds. He almost felt like crying, but he wouldn't give the sick fuck the pleasure of seeing him break.

"But I've come up with a better idea. One that I think will satisfy me immensely."

Xander didn't know what to do. He stopped struggling and stared into Angelus' deep brown eyes.

"I'm going to keep you, boy. As my childe,* forever*."

Angelus shifted into game face. Just before he sunk his fangs into Xander's neck, he muttered "Thanks for setting me free my boy."

As the realization hit Xander, he let the tears fall freely. Memories flooded his mind. It was his fault. It was all his fault that Angelus was free, and everyone was going to pay because of him.