Choke Point
----------------------------------------
In the following days, Xander and Cordelia struggled to come to terms with the aftermath of that fateful afternoon. They still met up, held hands, chatted, and bickered about inconsequential things, but their time together was now tainted with a sense of impending loss. The couple often clung to each other, and if the mood struck, made love with desperate intensity, as if trying to hold onto something slipping away. Cordelia called it the slowest breakup in history. Every passing day felt like an erosion of their physical intimacy, a gradual diminishing of the passion for each other they had once shared. Despite the weeks of heartache and uncertainty, the pair came out relatively unbroken, with a friendship that fondly remembered the chaotic yet intimate love between them.
When Kendra arrived from her majestic country of Jamaica to bring dire news about Acathla, Xander knew he had to act fast. He went to the museum, intent on destroying the statue, but as it often happened in the time braid, Fate had other plans. The stone demon must’ve been stolen en route, and since Xander owned the mansion on Crawford Street, he wasn’t sure where the vampires had taken it. In the meantime, he stuck close to the stunning ebony Slayer whenever possible.
Though Kendra was clearly anxious with his proximity—likely due to their night together months ago—Xander couldn’t shake the feeling of danger looming just around the corner, and wanted to be ready for any fatal threat Fate had in store for her. To that end, he presented the beautiful Slayer with the freshly forged Ordermír.
As the Scooby Gang researched ways to stop Acathla in the library, Xander walked in with a black case in hand. “Kendra,” he called out, getting her attention. “Despite the totally horrible and completely unpredictable reason for your return, I’m glad you’re here.” The beautiful Jamaican blushed and cleared her throat, leading Xander to think, ‘She definitely remembers our night together.’
“Evilness on the Hellmouth is pretty standard, though,” Buffy quipped.
“No,” Cordelia declared, turning to Buffy. “You have to say it like, ‘Evilness on the Hellmouth? No, cuz that never happens.’ With sarcasm and a little attitude.”
Perplexed, Buffy asked Cordelia, “Are you seriously coaching me to speak as offensively as you?”
Leaning back in her chair, as if defeated, Cordelia sighed before muttering, “I just don’t see it.”
“See what?” Buffy asked in growing confusion.
As Xander set the black case on the center table, he couldn’t help but feel a swell of affection for Cordelia for the way she watched over him. She was completely wrong about his supposed future with Buffy, but it made him feel happy that even if they weren’t dating, she still watched out for him, and that brought a smile to his face. Likewise, he also didn’t see the connection between Angel and Cordelia, and felt the urge to beat the vampire into shape. The same old thoughts began swirling in his mind, questions he’d asked himself a thousand times before.
‘Why couldn’t it be us?’ he wondered. However, weary of the same question, his mind easily answered, ‘You mean besides her ascension into a Higher Being in four years? Your connection together is based on shared trauma that you take out on each other. It’s not healthy, and once that’s gone, so is the connection.’
Xander’s expression changed to one of sadness—which Cordelia mirrored—as they both knew, deep down, that their relationship wasn’t meant to last.
‘Fuck, I hate this,’ Xander mentally yelled, as he opened the weapon case for the dark-skinned Slayer.
Inside, nestled in the thick foam padding, lay Ordermír in a black sheath. Kendra looked from the fine weapon to Xander, who nodded with a smile and said, “I hope you don’t mind. I named it Ordermír.”
“…Ordermír,” Kendra repeated, gazing at it in awe.
With grace and ease, she picked up the sword and removed it from its sheath, the metallic sound ringing through the library. In her hand, the Slayer held a CuMai Damascus Crusader-style double-edged sword. Xander had used a billet of 1095 and 15N20 steel and layered it with copper, creating a black steel with golden star patterns and silver edges. The star pattern he’d forged the blade in was the same one he’d used for Buffy’s Slaymore, giving it a holy effect and an affinity for killing vampires. Additionally, the guard was a silver alloy, and the pommel was engraved with a Crusader cross. Kendra couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride and admiration as she held the weapon, knowing that Xander had crafted it specifically for her.
For the next few minutes, Xander meticulously detailed the exceptional properties of Ordermír, emphasizing its supernatural sharpness, indestructibility, and the boost it would give her healing abilities, which was a priority for him. Buffy chimed in and exalted the strengths of her own magical weapon, easily killing vampires and drastically improving her combat capabilities. Kendra listened astutely, like a student sitting in the front row of a classroom, eager to learn.
Xander then demonstrated how Kendra could summon her weapon, just as he and Buffy could with theirs. The dark-skinned Slayer watched intently, her expression, one of pure amazement. The look of gratitude on her stunning face was staggering, and Xander couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride. It was as if she’d never received a present before, and this one meant the world to her.
In that moment, Kendra forgot her shyness around men and threw her arms around Xander in a tight embrace. He was taken aback by the strength of her hug, and feared for the integrity of his ribs and begged his ring to heal him so as to not interrupt her overpowered display of gratitude. As she pulled away, Xander couldn’t help but feel a pleasant warmth in his chest, but before his heart could consider another girl, he knew he wasn’t ready to start anything right after Cordelia. Being in the same room was difficult enough, as he often found himself longing to hold her in his arms again.
While the Scoobies were researching everything they could about Acathla and the nefarious manner by which Angelus, Spike, and Drusilla might utilize the world-ending demon, Jenny finally finished recreating the Soul Restoration ritual. The plan quickly changed to restoring Angel’s soul, and with his help, locate the demonic statue so they could destroy it. As in all previous loops, the soul restoration ritual worked best at night and right above the entrance of the Hellmouth, which was located right below the library.
As the hours ticked by, Giles, Willow, and Jenny meticulously prepared the ingredients and arranged the symbols necessary for the Soul Restoration ritual, their focus intense and unwavering. Meanwhile, Xander worked diligently to fortify the library, ensuring that every entrance was secured and reinforced. Kendra assisted him—Ordermír on her hip—with the heavier impediments like lockers and vending machines. Buffy, meanwhile, was on the other side of town, dead set on her mission to lure Angelus out of hiding while Jenny performed the curse.
This moment was one of the most crucial choke points in the time braid. For whatever reason his brain couldn’t fathom, moments like the return of Angelus, the reawakening of the Judge, the tragic tale of the poltergeists, and Kendra’s death were notoriously difficult for him to completely prevent. However, unlike previous loops, Xander was far more centered, and he felt a renewed sense of determination because of it. His weapons were stronger and his faith—his hope for a better outcome—burned stronger than ever before.
Once the clock struck midnight, Xander thought to himself, ‘The moment of truth.’
Buffy was on her way to meet Angelus, drawing him away from Acathla and the others, while the soul restoration ritual was ready on the table. Xander, armed with Dreadnought, was stationed at the entrance of the library, scanning the hallways for any sign of a threat. Kendra remained close to the others as Jenny performed the spell on the library table, but Xander also insisted Oz, Giles, and Cordelia carry weapons—a spear, a sword, and a crossbow, respectively.
As Jenny began chanting, “Este scris, această putere este dreptul poporul…” Xander enhanced his hearing to listen for any signs of intruders. Considering how many vampires always showed up—which generally depended on how strong he was—Xander expected a large force to equal his and Kendra’s combat skill with magical weapons. However, Xander hadn’t expected the handful of footsteps headed in his direction.
The footsteps grew closer and louder, jumbled together, but they didn’t sound like many. Xander stepped out of the library, and walked down the hall toward the sounds as they stopped at each barricade. He heard the banging and clattering of objects being removed and chains being broken, and figured roughly five people were headed in his direction, which made no sense to him.
With a squinted expression, a confused Xander asked himself, “Why five?”
Slowly, he approached the rectangular window of the barricaded door, and spied Spike walking straight toward him with a pair of henchmen on either side. Though there were only five, Xander’s eyes widened with fear. His back stiffened at the sight of the approaching vampires, and he clenched his battleaxe tightly before running back to the library.
Xander burst through the double doors and yelled, “Stop! Stop! Stop!”
They were all shocked to see him so panicked, almost as if they’d gotten used to him being calm and collected. Xander rushed up to them, shaking his head at Jenny, and the concerned woman stopped chanting.
“What is it?” Giles tried to ask.
Rather than answer the Watcher, Xander yelled at Kendra, “Check the emergency exit!”
The Slayer rushed to the library’s rear exit as Willow declared, “Xander?! We can’t stop now. Buffy’s meeting Angel-”
“Now! Now! Now!” Xander yelled over her, trying to get them all to move toward the rear exit.
Willow and Jenny hastily pushed all the ritual’s necessary items to the center of the cloth that was laid on the table and wrapped it all up in a makeshift sack before being directed toward the emergency exit.
Suppressing her growing anxiousness, Cordelia called, “Xander?” as he shoved them all forward.
While his hyper-sensitive ears listened to Spike and his goons breaking down the last barricade, Xander barely paid attention to Giles when he asked, “What’s happened? What’s the threat?”
“It’s Spike!” the frustrated teenager answered, wondering how many more seconds they had before the worst was upon them.
Shoving them all to get moving, all Xander cared about was exiting the library and running to safety. He only stopped focusing on Spike and driving them forward when Kendra returned. She was supposed to be removing the cabinets and bookcases blocking the emergency exit, but his skin went cold when the alarmed girl looked at him and shook her head. They stopped at the sight of her concerned expression, informing Xander she was smart enough to look through the small window above the door first.
‘Spike’s got the back covered too,’ he thought.
“Kendra, what did you see?” Giles asked.
“Two men waiting outside with-” she began to answer as Xander scanned the room and saw the only refuge they had a chance of surviving in.
Without hesitation, he pushed them all toward Giles’ office, yelling, “In! In! In!” Kendra lifted a large cabinet over her head—ready to barricade the door—as he desperately shoved them inside. Before closing the door, he ordered, “Stay low, and don’t come out till either of us tells you.”
Cordelia, her voice trembling with worry, asked, “W-Why? What’s going on?”
Gazing at her, it pained him to answer, “They brought guns.”
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
Her eyes widened in fear as he closed the door and Kendra dropped the large metal cabinet in front of the door for their protection. With his friends safely squirreled away, Xander ran toward the entrance just as Spike and his goons kicked open the double doors, all of whom were armed with M16 semi-automatic rifles—the same type he had always stolen from the army base. The smirk growing on Spike’s face easily told Xander vampires didn’t need an invitation to get on base and steal them, but he wasn’t going down without a fight. Before the enemy could raise their long-ranged weapons, Xander threw Dreadnought with all of his enhanced strength.
The razor edge of the battleaxe buried itself several inches into the tiled floor in front of them as the much-too-exposed Xander darted for cover. As the first series of loud gunfire rang sharply throughout the room—whizzing past him as he ran to the bookshelf against the wall—the raven-haired teen activated the lightning magic in his weapon, sending millions of volts through the floor and up and down the weapon. The gunfire stopped abruptly as electricity ripped through the tiles. But as he ran face-first into the wall—denting the drywall from the impact as he sought cover behind the width of the bookshelf—Xander felt a sharp pain pierce his left shoulder.
“GGGghhhhrrrmmm,” Xander groaned in pain.
Grimacing through the waves of agony, Xander gritted his teeth as he peered over the edge of the bookshelf. His vision blurred a little, but he still peeked at Dreadnought—sticking up from the ground—and shocking anything conductive within a five foot radius. The tiles popping off the ground like popcorn were, likely, not conductive and exploded from the magnitude of electricity flooding out of his weapon; however, the cement underneath certainly was, and the supercharged footing kept Spike and his men back. Additionally, if they moved too close to Dreadnought, branches of electricity would shoot out and shock them, providing an added layer of defense.
Enraged by the electrical impediment, the armed vampires began shooting at Xander and Kendra from where they stood, at the entrance of the library. Kendra jumped behind the reception desk while Xander slammed his head against the wall as bullets tore through the books and wood frame of the shelf. Xander quickly realized the short width of the bookcase was no match for the lead onslaught. Bullets ripped splinters of wood and shredded paper around his face as he pinpointed the nearest area that offered adequate cover—up the stairs and behind another bookcase.
“Over there, boys! Get her!” Xander heard Spike yell.
The respite of gunfire directed at him allowed him to witness the attackers laying heavy fire at the reception desk.
“Kendra!” Xander yelled, but before he could hear a response, they turned their guns on him again.
Xander pushed his body into the wall, but the bullets were tearing through the books and wood, sending paper, dust, and splinters all over him. He feared he’d have to lower himself, which would expose his legs, but then he mercifully heard the shooting stop, followed but the magazine ejection. Thinking they were reloading, Xander quickly took off, running up the stairs. However, one rifle still had a few bullets left, and just as Xander threw himself behind the double-shelved case, his right thigh caught hot lead.
“UUUGGGRRRRHHHH!” Xander groaned, begging his ring for more assistance, and soon, the pain subsided into a dull throb. In a surreal way, he knew he still had two bullets inside of him, causing him to bleed out, but didn’t feel the problem was an emergency worse than vampires with guns shooting at him.
Xander heard one vampire scream.
“You alright, Reggie?” Xander heard Spike yell.
“Y-Y-Ye-Ye-yea-yeah,” the vampire stammered, as if he had very little control of his speech.
Xander commanded Dreadnought to increase the electrical output as he heard the sound of heavy footsteps and grunting. There was a brief fight before the teen heard the distinct sound of sharp steel stabbing through flesh, followed by a scream and more shooting. The raven-haired time looper then heard the worst sound escape Kendra’s lips; a groaning grunt filled with sharp agony.
‘She’s shot!’ his mind instantly thought, knowing that one bullet from semi-automatics might as well be three. He feared the worst, grunting, “No, no, no,” and immediately summoned Hellguard.
The Viking dagger was in his bag on the seat by the long table. Summoning it raised the bag, giving them a sudden target to shoot at as the dagger rushed through the wooden railings and bookshelf to reach his hand, giving them his exact location. Spike and the other three immediately shot at Xander’s location.
Despite the momentary flare-ups of bristling pain, he forced his injured and bleeding limbs to crawl toward the other end of the bookshelf as bullets ripped through everything above him. The thunderously loud explosions of shooting, as bits of paper, sharp wood splinters, and dust rained down on him, were disorienting, but he kept crawling forward until he felt another searing pain stab through his right side and along his back.
“AAGKKH!” he grunted, but held it back. “Mmnnnnnnn! Mmmmnnnmmmmm…”
Kendra grunted in tremendous pain until he couldn’t hear her anymore. He ignored the magically dulled agony of his own three bullet wounds and focused only on getting to her. However, the one plan he came up with that wasn’t suicidal risked her life: wait until they ran out of bullets again and fight them into retreating—all the while hoping Spike wouldn’t die. Fortunately, the long tendrils of lightning erupting from his weapon kept them at bay, forcing them to fire from a distance… but he needed to get to Kendra.
‘Heal, heal, heal,’ he desperately thought, hoping Kendra was healing herself as well.
When the vampires finally reloaded again, Xander pushed himself off the carpeted ground and rounded the shot-up shelf he was behind. With all of his enhanced might, he threw Hellguard to the nearest vampire. The dagger sliced through the air with deadly precision, but the effort it took to throw it like it had been shot out with the force of a cannon sent a fresh wave of agony through him, causing his knees to buckle. Then he felt searing hot metal skim his right shoulder and trapezius, ripping up bloody bits of skin and leaving deep gashes.
Fortunately, Hellguard found its mark and stabbed through a vampire’s forearm as he defended himself from the large dagger. His soulless body was unworthy of holding it up, and immediately the vampire doubled over. As the sweating and shivering Xander took cover, he triggered his dagger’s lightning and fried the vampire to dust, leaving only three. The vampires shot volleys at the hidden teen, shredding the bookcase with a hail of bullets, the splinters of which added more cuts to his face and arms. After five seconds of continuous fire, the vampires finally stopped and an eerie silence descended on the library along with the smoke and kicked up dust.
“You know, I gotta thank you for this one, mate!” Xander heard Spike yell. “Personally, I hate these things. Sucks all the joy right out of killing, it does. And when you’re immortal… Well, all you have left are the little joys of life. But, since you got some mighty nasty weapons of your own, I had to up the ante now, didn’t I?”
They fired another short burst at him and Xander made certain Dreadnought and Hellguard continued flooding the entrance area with destructive electricity to keep them at bay.
To his dread, he heard Spike taunt, “I hate to be a ‘glass-half-empty’ kind of guy, but I think this girl might be dead.” Xander enhanced his hearing, but couldn’t pinpoint Kendra since he heard no sounds coming from the reception desk. The teen gritted his teeth in frustration as Spike called out, “Stay where you are, and we keep shooting until one gets you. I bet that’ll end this nasty clog up of lightning you got here. Then we go in and kill the rest of your friends. Or… you come out now, and we’ll leave your little friends alone; scout’s honor. How’s that sound? Pretty generous.”
Beads of sweat dripping down his brow, mixing with the blood from his many lines of cuts, Xander swallowed before yelling back, “From one motor-head to another… I call bullshit!”
Xander heard Spike snort before returning, “Listen, you’re not really in a position to refuse. We nabbed plenty of rounds and can stay here all night playing a fun game of Shoot the Fishies in a Library. But, in appreciation of your fine taste in bikes, I give you my solemn oath: If you come out now, I’ll only kill the adults. Your friends I’ll turn and take under my wing, and I take quality care of that scrambler of yours. A sweeter deal you will not get, mate.”
Xander had no idea what to do, nor the time to think of a decent plan, so he yelled, “If you really think I’m going to let you kill my friends, you’re crazier than Drusilla.”
“Hey!” Spike yelled. “That was completely uncalled for.”
Despite the flare ups of agony from the bullets still inside him, Xander felt mildly guilty for brining her into the conversation unnecessarily, and the aggravated teen yelled back, “Yeah. My bad.”
“Alright,” Spike replied. “And don’t knock becoming a vampire until you you’ve tried it. It’s a profound and powerful experience. Trust me, your friends’ll feel more alive than they’ve ever had in their entire pathetic lives. And getting turned by William the Bloody will give them instant street cred. I’ve built up quite a resume of kills.”
“How about you come over here and we’ll talk about it?” Xander replied, knowing full well they couldn’t get past his battleaxe.
“I’ll give you to the count of three,” Spike retorted. “One… two… oh, well. Kill ‘em boys- AARGGGGGHHHH!”
Spike screamed, prompting Xander to look through a bullet hole, hoping it was Kendra. As he prayed neither of them died, he witnessed something he couldn’t explain. Spike dropped his rifle and clutched at his chest, screaming in agony, as if a feral creature was clawing its way through his chest.
“Boss?” one vampire—a brown-haired, tan man—suspiciously called, looking at his leader with confusion.
Xander saw the remaining two move closer to Spike as he dropped to his knees, shaking his head like there was a worm slithering around in his brain. The teen truly wasn’t sure what was happening to Spike, but he hadn’t looped back, so clearly the vampire wasn’t dying.
“What’s going on? …Boss!” the second vampire yelled—a straw-haired, short man—reaching out to his struggling leader.
In frustration, the brown-haired vampire aimed his semi-automatic rifle in Xander’s general direction and opened fire. Xander ducked as bullets tore through lamps, windows, and other wooden bookcases, sending splinters flying. The demon was clearly shooting wildly, as no one understood what was happening to Spike.
Suddenly, the gunfire stopped, and the double doors of the library were kicked open again.
The teen heard, “Boss! Where are you-” followed by running, and distant cries of, “Boss!”
Cautiously, Xander braved peering through the bullet holes and saw that Spike and the brown-haired vampire were gone. The straw-haired vampire gestured to the library, asking, “What about killing- Goddammit!” The frustrated vampire slapped his thigh and began jogging out, bemoaning like a disgruntled employee, “There’s always something with this crew!”
Once the threat had finally subsided, Xander shot to his feet and ran toward Kendra, ignoring the fluctuation of pain his ring was handling. He jumped the stairs, then leaped onto the reception desk, causing more blood to seep out of his wounds and drip on the counter. The sight that Xander was forced to witness turned his stomach and sent a shiver down his spine. Kendra laid on the red-stained tile, with seven or eight bullet holes in her, a pool of blood under her, and she wasn’t holding Ordermír.
Xander summoned Dreadnought and Hellguard to him from the charred-black floor before leaping to Kendra’s side, nearly slipping on the blood. Though he was dizzy from all the movement, he immediately put Ordermír in her hand, Hellguard in the other, and commanded them to do everything in their magical power to save her life. With two fingers to her neck, Xander checked her pulse, and there was nothing.
“…Flatline,” he gasped, his heart constraining painfully. “No, no, no… Not again!”
Xander pressed his joined hands on her chest over her heart, and despite the hot, flaring pain in his arms, he began CPR. Recalling the vague medical knowledge he’d gained from when he’d dressed as a doctor all those years ago, Xander counted every chest compression, knowing that there was a small chance she could be revived as long as he could pump oxygenated blood into her vital organs.
A hundred chest compressions per minute took a lot of energy from the wounded teen, and he was dripping in sweat as he begged all of his magical artifacts to save her—to keep her alive. He ignored the muffled cracking of her ribcage and continued counting well into the hundreds, but Xander didn’t stop.
After they shoved the door open, Giles came out first—sword at the ready—cautiously followed by Oz and Cordelia with their weapons in hand.
“Dear God,” Xander heard Giles gasp.
They looked around, and once certain the threat had passed, Willow and Jenny came out as well.
When Cordelia looked over the reception desk, she exclaimed in shock, “Xander! Oh my God!” and rushed over to Xander’s side. At the bloody state of him and the area, her right hand covered her mouth and her left covered her stomach. “You’re- You’re- You’ve been-” but she couldn’t finish as the Watcher rushed in to help.
Giles dropped to Kendra’s other side as the sweating Xander ignored their shock, gasps, and even their pleas for him to stop. Xander didn’t stop even after what felt like minutes had passed.
‘Come on! Not this time!’ he mentally yelled. He kept doing chest compressions, breathing life into her mouth as Willow and a weary Jenny walked into view. He wasn’t sure why Jenny looked so drained, but he hoped she hadn’t caught a stray bullet as he kept demanding his magical items to, ‘Heal! Heal! Heal!’
Giles placed his hand on Xander’s shoulder, sending a fresh wave of pain through him, as the Watcher stated, “Xander, you must stop. You’ll only worsen your injuries.”
“Come on,” an exhausted Xander groaned, still compressing her chest. “COME ON!”
With a sudden, angry urge to shake her back to life, Hellguard sent out a powerful jolt of electricity, shocking them both. Xander momentarily trembled and the ebony Slayer gasped, coughing out blood as her body convulsed back to life. At the sound of her groaning, labored breathing, Xander felt a surge of relief wash over him to see such a bloody sight. Kendra had a myriad of injuries, but her heart was beating again, and she was gripping Ordermír like a lifeline, tightly and desperately.
Despite his own injuries, Xander’s attention was solely focused on Kendra, as her well-being was all that mattered. However, as the adrenaline and urgency began to fade, Xander felt a wave of dizziness disorienting him. His head felt like it was wobbling in circles, and before he knew it, he keeled over to the bloody floor. He was looking at a blurry ceiling as Cordelia’s beautiful face came into view, her expression one of utter distress, but he couldn’t hear her. He couldn’t hear anything anymore.
As the darkness crept in, Xander’s vision faded until he saw nothing but blackness. He passed out as his body finally gave in to exhaustion, injuries, and a great need to recuperate.