Title: The Awakening of All
Author: CaliaDragon
Fandom: Buffy, NCIS, The Sentinel, Numbers, Stargate Universe
Pairing: Xander Harris/Graham Miller, Tony Dinozzo/John Sheppard, Rodney McKay/Ronon Dex, Daniel Jackson/Jack O’Neill, Willow/Oz, Faith/Spike, Riley/Sam Finn, Buffy/Angel, Rupert Giles/Ethan Raine, Timothy McGee/Miko Kusanagi
Summary: When Wolfram and Hart open a portal to hell in LA, Xander comes back and finds himself coming online during the battle. In the aftermath, he meets Tony DiNozzo and saves the man’s life. In doing so he finds a new mission, a mate, and a new enemy.
Part: 18/?
Word Goal: 51,861 I started writing this a ways back and decided to make it my personal project for NANO.
Word Count: 1,786/29,492/51,861
Content Rating: R just to be safe
Warnings: Character Bashing, Permanent Injury(Xander’s Eye, Tim’s Leg), I hate Ziva. Blood and death, Magickal Manipulation, Xander being Xander. Sex and Bonding. Abby is an asshole, but not really. Mind Control.
Author’s Note: I’m getting closer to the end of my first arc now.
When the group finally made it back to the hotel that was acting as the temporary headquarters for the Slayers Council, the Sentinel and Guide Center, and the Hunters Council it was to the announcement that all of the Evil Demons, or ED as they were called, had been gathered and burned.
The groups were now trying to decide on the next course of action, beyond protecting the Good Demons, no one wanted the GD to suffer for what the ED did. There was also the fact that some humans had colluded with the invaders and they needed to be punished for what they had done to help along the invasion.
Apparently, no one was sure what to do with their prisoners in this situation. Xander shared a look with Graham and then looked at Tony. “Well, you were right about what they would want to do next. Maybe you should talk to them about what we discussed on the way here.” Graham told Tony. “It was your idea and I think it is a good one,” Graham added.
“What idea is that?” Special Agent Don Epps asked from his place beside Special Agent David Sinclair.
“We treat them like terrorists, that makes it an FBI issue because let’s face it this was an act of terrorism and more people would have died if the Council hadn’t been prepping for the invasion and had gotten people to back them up. Most of the local groups refused to believe until it was almost to late. Many died because of these assholes and some of those deaths are on the local governments so we treat these people the same way we would any terrorist.” Tony’s words had them nodding in agreement.
“We’ll need to talk to the bosses and to the President to confirm, but you’re right they do need to be treated like terrorists.” Don Epps said with a solemn nod. “As for the locals, a lot of them are still trying to get over the fact that we had an invasion from another realm and I’m not going to lie, I’m one of them. This time two weeks ago I thought all of this was make believe.” Don said as he rubbed his forehead.
“Yet you showed up to fight when you learned it was real, some of the people in charge stayed in their offices cowering in the dark. I’m not going to blame them for the most part, some are simply paper pushers with high clearance, but the cops, the local feds and some not so local got their asses in gear and made it to LA to fight off the ED.” Xander said quietly, “But some didn’t get involved because they wanted the ED to win, they also deserve to be charged in relation to the invasion. It’s going to take a while to fully find everyone who had part in the invasion and that means that the Justice Department and the FBI will need to work together. At least that is how I see it.”
“A lot of people aren’t going to agree with you or with an American citizen being prosecuted as a Terrorist.” Giles pointed out, “However it turns out.”
“They did it with the Oklahoma City Bombing and no one complained about that. People are going to need targets, if we give them the bad guys they may not go after the peaceful demon communities or after the other peternatrual beings on this realm.” Buffy said with a frown over to where Xander sat rubbing his forehead.
“In the long run it doesn’t really matter what we think or say or plan, it goes down to the President and the rest of the Washington group. Things are going to be hard for awhile and some people are going to hate no matter what we do to lessen the impact,” He paused and sighed.
“Other than Giles, Blair, and Jim we aren’t the big guns in the rule making world. Most people aren’t going to care that their neighbor fought to keep them safe, all their going to care about is that their neighbor is really blue or hairy and came from another realm.” Xander said quietly, his face tight with bitterness.
“People are going to die and there is nothing we can do to stop that. People are going to riot, rape, and pillage and we can’t stop that either. We can only keep doing what we’re doing and hope that it is enough.” Xander sighed again and stood up and walked away before anyone could say anything else to him.
Graham immediately stood and followed his mate, while the others stared after him in stunned silence. “Xander,” Graham called gently and let out a relieved breath when Xander held out a hand to him. “What is, what did you see?” Graham asked as he pulled Xander into a hug.
“Riots, murder, the talking heads in the world breathing fire and brimstone, persecution, basically people turning into hate filled mobs. So many people being hurt for no reason that makes sense.” Xander told him, his voice breaking at the end.
“Okay, I can understand that, but there will also be people who fight to protect, there will be people that join with their neighbor, who will make friends with them, who will feel safer knowing that they have our people on their sides.” Graham told him as he hugged Xander close. “Things will work out Xander, I know they will.”
Xander dropped his head on Graham’s shoulder and closed his eye for just one moment. “It just got to me finally, all those people died when they could have been helped out of the area if more had come out to fight instead of cowering in their safe offices and homes.”
“I know and I agree with you, they should be punished, but most won’t be punished and most won’t care that they aren’t going to be put in prison for their actions. We can only do what we think is right and move ahead of the people who will try to stand in their way.” Graham told him, he could feel his mate’s despair and wished their was something he could do to help Xander.
Being a Seer had changed Xander dramatically and so had being a father, the visions were usually pretty awful and Xander saw the big and the little picture when it came to his visions. Most they could work to stop, but there were just as many that they simply had to show up and hope that their numbers were high enough to hold off the enemy and win.
The invasion had been the worst vision for Xander to date, he had actually had a seizure it had lasted for nearly two days and when Xander came out of the vision he was changed once again, his drive to stop what was coming overruled everyone who wanted to keep to the shadows, who wanted to protect their secrets rather than do anything to truly help fight the invasion.
Xander had made enemies and friends when he steamrolled ahead, even Buffy had been pushed back by Xander’s will when she wanted to keep Angel and Spikein the backround due to her own personal feelings. Xander and Buffy had gone nearly a month without speaking a word to each other and it was Buffy that finally broke and apologized for trying to tell him how to feel or act when it came to his visions.
Xander had had five visions since his first about the invasion, then he had a vision about the Star Gate program and one about Atlantis. Those he had shared with everyone, but he had kept silent about two of his visions and Graham wondered about them.
“I need to talk to you about my visions and about what I’ve kept to myself. You are my mate and deserve to know what is coming.” Xander whispered in his ear, Graham nodded and they headed to their room.
Once inside Xander turned on the white noise generators and sat in the chair by the window. Graham sat across from him and waited. “The Wraith are all Guides that were corrupted by the infection that made them. The ones that hatch are also Guides, but they can’t use the energy of the Spirit Plane so that’s why they eat people’s souls. It’s why Sheppard nearly died and was almost turned into one, but because he is so strong he would have had the ability to do a hell of a lot of damage.”
Graham blanched, “We can’t tell anyone that they are corrupted Guides, it would destroy the morale of the City if they knew that they were killing a Guide everytime they killed a Wraith.”
“Exactly, plus they might try to use it as an excuse to ground all Guides on the City and in the program. We can’t let that happen to John and Rodney and the others on the City.” Xander said with a nod and a tight frown.
“The other vision I had showed a world where Atlantis rested on the waters, but people lived on the land, in fact there were cars and trucks on the land and roads. It looked like we were there as permanent colonists and it was the Council, not the military that ran the town, despite the fact that there were people from the program and the military living in the town. There were also demons working with us, healers, and crafts people living there, most were from earth, but a good part were from the Pegasus Galaxy.” Xander told Graham a slight smile on his face.
“We had a home Graham and it was full of happiness, chaos, and children. Lots of children. Some were friends of our kids and some were our kids. We had kids from Earth, teens and young children that were adopted by people from this galaxy. I think they were street children or children with gifts. I want that to come true, I want a safe place for us and this world was it, “ Xander told him reaching out to catch Graham’s hand.
“I want that too Xander, more than I can even say.” Graham said in a voice choked with emotion. He pulled Xander over and into his arms. The pair sat holding each other close.
“When I had the vision I thought you were just there in my house as a friend, but now I know I’m blessed because I have you as my mate and my lover forever.” Xander said as he gently kissed Graham.
When they broke apart, Graham smiled brightly, “Forever sounds just right.”
caliadragon 