Calling for Help

Author: Hawklan
Beta: Inachis. Many thanks to you again.

Disclaimer: BTVS was created by Joss Whedon, DSA (Das Schwarze Auge; I think outside Germany it was called Realms of Arcania or 'The Dark Eye') was created by Urlich Kiesow (may he RIP) and a few of his friends. After several sales on the rights I have no clue who currently owns it. This story is just for fun, no profit is made from it and suing me won't bring you much, except an old red Honda Civic and a PC with several years on its "shoulders".

Note: This is my response to Challenge 6430: RPG Character Insertion on TTH, which I read this fine morning and was just intrigued by. I hope that you, Grymstalker, will like it as well as everyone who has read it.

Summary: My response to Challenge 6430 on TTH: Xander is in trouble and Faith calls for help, and gets more than she bargained for.

Chapter 1

(Sunnydale, California)

He was speechless and couldn't believe it. After all he had done for the group they told him that he was no longer welcome. As the 'normal' one he was apparently a danger to all of them and so they had thrown him out. Granted, he wasn't too surprised about this event. He'd seen it coming for a long time now, what with the attitude Buffy and Willow had had towards him the last couple of weeks. What had hurt was that all the others had agreed with them without giving a damn about everything he had done. The only one who hadn't agreed with them was Faith and that was probably only because she wasn't there.

He had looked at them all for a few moments and then without saying a word he turned around and left the library. Which led him to be sitting here on the park bench, thinking. Without him noticing time ran by and the sun went down with him still sitting there unmoving, deep in thought, even though that was never a good idea, at least not in Sunnydale.

"Oh Fred, look what we have here. A meal sitting on the bench, waiting for us," a vampire with long red hair told a second one who stood directly beside him.

"Yes George, it can't get any easier. Let's grab a bite," the vampire called Fred replied.

At that the vampires noted the young man on the bench looking up at them. "Fred, is this meatbag really looking at us like he's bored?" Getting no answer, he turned to gaze at his companion. "Fred?" but instead of an answer he saw the astonished look on Fred's face and as his hand shot up to the stake in his heart, he turned to dust. In disbelief George looked at the young man and yelled, "YOU KILLED MY BROTHER YOU DAMNED MEATBAG, YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT!"

With those words he jumped at the young man, who had dropped a small hand crossbow and now only held a cross and a stake in his hands. Enraged, the vampire ignored the pain the cross gave him and with a hard strike against the humans' right hand, the stake went flying into the bushes.

The hand to hand fight was a short one, because the simple truth is that a normal human isn't fast or strong enough to fight a vampire at close quarters. And so the young human went down after he received several deep wounds from the vampire's claws.

Just as the vampire was going to bite the young man to drink his blood he heard a yell, "XANDER! NO!" Looking up he saw a young brunette woman running towards him. Grinning, he said. "Don't fear bitch, you're next." But suddenly he felt funny, like he was burning from the inside. Surprised, he looked at the young man under him who had used the distraction and plunged a stake into his heart. He saw the young man cough up some blood and heard him saying, "You won't get any of my girls." Then George turned to dust, just like his brother did before him. The young man coughed up some more blood and went still.

+R+

Faith couldn't believe it. They had really thrown him out… those idiots. Sadly, by the time she reached the library Xander had already left the bunch of idiots behind him. She quickly gave them all a piece of her mind, yelling at them a lot and reminding them about a lot of the things Xander had done for them, asking them how they could have be so stupid to hurt Xander like that by throwing him out of the only family he had. After she was done yelling at them Willow broke down crying and Giles looked quite ashamed of himself. Only Buffy couldn't come down from her high pedestal and so Faith just shook her head and with a last parting shot of "Idiots", she turned around and left the library to search for Xander. Just after she had left the building Willow joined her, still crying and the two looked in all the usual places, but couldn't find their friend.

"Faith…it's getting dark and we still have no clue where Xander is. I'm scared," Willow said.

Faith nodded and replied, "Yes, that's not good, but you should have thought about that before you ripped his heart out."

At that comment Willow started crying again, but nodded. "Yes, you're right. I thought it was best for him and didn't think about what it would do to him. I should have known better. Let's hurry."

They continued their search, only now under light of the moon and the street lights, until Faith stopped Willow with an outstretched arm. "I sense vampires ahead of us. It might be nothing, but you never know."

Both quickly hurried into the direction of the vampires, with Willow falling a bit behind.

From the distance Faith could see three people and one of them turned to dust while she was still running at them. Then she witnessed the short, but brutal combat and as the young man went down with the vampire over him, she finally recognized him and yelled. "XANDER! NO!" Putting on a bit more speed she saw that Xander had used the distraction her yell gave him and the second vampire became a pile of dust as well.

Just as she and a few moments later a panting Willow behind her reached their friend, they saw him cough up some blood and then Xander went still.

Willow fell down beside her friend, wailing, while Faith stood stock still for a moment, not believing what happened to the only boy or better, young man she felt more for than the lust she normally knew. After she overcame the shock she knelt down beside Willow and quickly checked Xander out. "Holy fucking gods….He's still alive, just barely! We need help," she yelled.

+R+

(Somewhere else)

A huge man dressed in a dark black robe sat on a throne made out of the bones of some huge creature and seemed to be musing about something. Suddenly, his head jerked up and he looked like he was listening to something. After a second he mumbled, "Interesting." He concentrated on something for a bit and then said "Interesting," again, more forcefully this time.

He mused about what he had seen for a while, then looked up and called out, "Marbo, I need you." Only moments later the shape of a beautiful young woman with raven black hair that fell quite far down her back appeared before the throne. "Father," the young woman said as she knelt before him.

"Stand up child, I have to show you something," the man on the throne said and with those words, he stood up and went to a basin filled with a dark fluid which was held in midair in the claws of two stone ravens.

Marbo quickly got to her feet again and followed her father to the basin. "What is it, father?" she asked the dark shape beside her.

"Something interesting and I have decided to intervene. Here, look," he said and then waved one hand over the dark liquid in the basin. Suddenly, the liquid brightened up and showed Marbo the whole live of one Alexander Lavelle Harris.

A while later she looked at her father and was quiet for a few moments, "That is really interesting and I understand why you're interested in helping him, but we can't interfere on this world unless we want to break the old accords."

With a smile which would force every mortal to run as fast as he could, her father replied, "You are quite correct and that is why I called you. After all, there is such a funny thing called a loophole."

The man explained quickly what he meant to his daughter and then with laughter the woman disappeared out of his realm and with a "Good luck Alexander," the man turned to other things, having done all that he could in this case.

+R+

(The tavern "Zum freundlichen Elfen" in Oblarasim, Aventurien)

He stood tiredly behind the counter of his tavern and looked around with a smile. Like every evening, the tavern was filled up quite well with not a free table left and a few bards performing on the stage. He always enjoyed it when he actually had the time to work here because it was really relaxing for him and not as boring as the endless town council meetings or the same endless meetings with the Mage Academy.

What he enjoyed the most here in the tavern were the nights when the patrons asked for tales of his adventures, from years ago. He always loved to tell them to the people, because then he could remember his old friends from those days. Sadly, now he was one of the few still alive, which was one of the downsides of having elven blood. Human friends died far too early, but he still cherished the time he had had with them. Sometimes, he couldn't believe that it would be 20 years next week since they had defeated Borbarad and most of his forces. This day also meant, for most of them, the end of their adventuring days. He himself needed the time to heal from all the horrors the fight against that damn halfgod had subjected him to and so he had drowned himself in working in his tavern, being the mayor of this settlement and teaching in the Mage Academy he had founded 30 years ago. In the last few days he had started to feel the old fidgetiness again though, which had always sent him on the road before and so he packed all he needed for a nice little bit of travel. He had stepped down as major just this morning and placed the tavern in the hand of his son Corwin and his old friend Praiphex.

Speaking of the same, he just saw his old friend entering the tavern. If he remembered right, Praiphex would celebrate his 50th birthday in a few weeks, but he still looked fitter than a lot of men half his age, but that was one of the benefits of teaching in his warrior academy and enjoying doing it.

"Ready for your travel, old man?" Praiphex said as he stepped to the counter.

"I am. I will leave in the morning and see what I can find, excitement wise," the man replied. He quickly filled a glass with a dark fluid and then lit it and put it in front of his friend. "Here Praiphex, one 'Premer Feuer' for you, for old times."

"Thank you Sam. Ahh, I still remember the fun times with Khona as we enjoyed this drink many a time on our journeys. Damn, I wish I could go with you, but…," Praiphex said.

"Don't Praiphex. You have a beautiful wife and quite a lot of kids. Besides, you enjoy the life at your academy too much," Sam replied.

Praiphex just nodded in reply and after he quickly downed the drink, he said, "Thank you for the drink and I will see you when you get back. Just don't stay away too long or I might not be on this world any longer when you return."

Sam smiled a bit sadly as he saw his old friend leave again and then gave his place behind the counter to one of his serving maids to go pack a few more things he might need on his travels.

+R+

(A few days later somewhere on the road south from Oblarasim, Aventurien)

'Ahh, it's good to be on the road again,' Samuel thought as he had just found a nice little off the road place to make a camp for the night. He was a few days on the road now and had only spent one short night in their neighbor town of Gerasim before continuing his journey. Now he was walking through the Green Plains and could already see the foothills of the Salamander Stones on the horizon. He planned to cross over them in the next few days, but for now it was late, and he settled down after starting a small campfire and brewing himself some tea. Suddenly, he felt a small change in the air pressure around him and then out of nowhere, there sat a beautiful young woman at his fire with him. "Hello Marbo, long time no see. You are still as beautiful as ever, but that isn't really a surprise, is it?" Samuel said to the young woman.

Marbo smiled at the half-elf before her and then said, "Hello Samuel. It's nice to see you again after, what is it for you mortals? Twenty years?" Seeing Sam nod she continued, "But you can probably guess I'm not here on a social visit. My father has a request of you."

Samuel looked up and with a smirk he asked, "Your father has a request of me? Of someone who doesn't even pray to him or his eleven brothers and sisters? Why not one of his children of the night or one of his priests?"

"There are several reasons why, but the main one would be that you are the only one able to fulfill his request."

"Then it is just as well that I was actually looking for some adventure. So, what can I do for the God of Sleep and Forgetfulness?" Samuel asked the goddess before him.

"You still remember the time you and some of your friends stumbled through an old portal in the ruins of the sand elves?"

"Yes, we were transported to a strange land called Los Angeles. That was one of the strangest adventures we ever had. Don't tell me I have to go there," Samuel replied a bit pleading.

The goddess smiled at him and then replied, "No, you don't have to."

Samuel looked at her with relief at first and then said, "I sense a 'BUT' in there."

"Indeed. Los Angles isn't actually a land as you said. It's only a city and you would have go to a smaller town just near it."

In astonishment Samuel listened to what the goddess and her father had planned and once she had finished after over an hour, he nodded in agreement. "You do know that it will take me quite a while to reach the old portal by normal means?" he said to the goddess.

Marbo just nodded and reached her hand out to Samuel, who after taking it felt quite dizzy for a moment. Looking around, he saw the very portal they had talked about just moments before.

He nodded to the goddess in thanks and then mumbled something very quietly. Only a second after he stopped a loud 'wuuushhh' was heard and suddenly a pool of water stood in the huge portal. Just as he prepared to step into the pool the goddess called out. "Wait a second Sam. I nearly forgot. Take this amulet, it will bring you to the young man after you step trough."

Samuel took the amulet and pulled it over his head. With a deep breath he stepped through the portal.

+R+

(Colorado, deep inside Cheyenne Mountain, SGC)

"Unauthorized Offworld Activation," blared out of the speakers, which made Jack spun around quickly. After all, the Gate had just shut down after he and his team returned from PX-242A1.

"Colonel O'Neil, are you expecting visitors?" the voice of General Hammond came from the speakers out of the control room.

"No, Sir," Jack quickly replied.

Looking at the gate technician on duty the General asked, "Any IDC or other communication?"

"No, Sir," the young woman replied.

"Then leave the iris closed Sergeant," the General ordered.

"Yes, Sir," the woman replied. Just at that moment the iris started to glow and then a man, dressed in an outfit you would except to see in a fantasy movie, stepped through it. Before the guards or SG-1 in the gateroom could react, the man suddenly vanished after a small amulet around his neck glowed for a moment.

"What the hell was that?" the General bellowed through the speakers.

"No clue, Sir," Jack replied and that started a long work session for Carter and everyone else on the base.

+R+

Samuel blinked after he stepped through the gate. Unlike the last time, the area behind the gate was full of people dressed in strange clothing, but before he could say anything the amulet he had just got from Marbo started to feel warm and then he felt a short moment of dizziness again.

This time he appeared under the night sky and just a few meters before him he saw someone lying on the ground with two women around him. The dark haired one had just yelled: "Holy fucking gods….He's still alive, just barely! We need help."

He stepped a bit closer and as the woman spun around in a ready stance with a piece of wood in her hands, he said, "I'm no god, that's for sure, but I can help."

Add. Disclaimer: Stargate isn't mine either. I think Gekko Inc or something called like that owns it.

A note to Grymstalker: As you wished I started a fic where I integrated a char out of my RPG times. In this case Samuel is a half-elf Level 22 (which is high end for 'The Dark Eye) which had settled down after he and a lot of friends had defeated a dark wizard/half god after several years of adventuring before that. The other guy Praiphex is one of my chars as well. He is a former mercenary Level 18 who settled down in the same town as Samuel and then founded a Warrior Academy there.