See Part One for disclaimer and details. Well, that's it folks, after about 6000 hits this one has come to an end. Hope you all liked it, or at least didn't actively dislike it, and I just wanted to thank everyone again who's reviewed and emailed me about the story. Feedback, I crave it like you wouldn't believe. Anyway, enough with the author comments, let's get on with the show...
Part Eight: It's The End of The World...Again?
Sunnydale Memorial Hospital, Sunnydale
May 18th, 1999
Xander left Faith's hospital room after checking on the girl who had often saved his life. She was now awake, if badly injured, but that good old Slayer healing would no doubt be kicking in and do its job, and soon enough she would be fit to be discharged. Not far away, Willow wasn't seriously hurt but, since she had suffered a head injury, the doctors insisted on keeping her under observation for a while. So with Oz hovering around her like a second shadow, Harris wasn't too worried about her anymore.
Wesley, on the other hand, was in pretty bad shape. Spike had nearly drained him completely, and it was only the fact that the Watcher was too damned stubborn to die which had kept him alive during the ride between the library and the hospital. Still, poor old Wes was now in a coma, and the prognosis didn't look good.
( Someone should call his family over there in the land of bangers and mash, ) Xander thought to himself absently. ( I'd do it myself, except I don't know who the hell to even get in touch with. Maybe Giles will know? Yeah, I better give him a call. )
The male Slayerette thought about Spike as well on his way to the hospital lobby, reminding himself to keep an eye out for the vampire. Given how it was a public building, and the bad guy could easily come in to finish what he'd started at the high school. But Harris needn't have worried: William the Bloody had unexpectedly encountered some stray Eliminati who hadn't been at the warehouse yesterday, and who had heard what had happened to the rest of their group thanks to the demon grapevine.
Thus, the black Dodge DeSoto and its solitary passenger were right now departing Sunnydale for the third and possibly final time.
( Kinda weird, ) Xander mused to himself as he walked along. ( It's all ended up almost exactly how it was this time last year. Library got attacked by a vamp, and the new Slayer came out the loser in that fight. The Watcher's hurt bad. Willow's in the hospital, Oz is with her. Cordy's around, but Buffy's missing. Ditto Angel and Giles. As for the annual impending apocalypse...oh dear God! Please don't tell me I just totally jinxed myself! )
Xander arrived near the front doors of the hospital to find Cordelia talking to someone on the phone. She said her goodbyes as the buxom brunette noticed her boyfriend approaching her, and they briefly kissed. Not one of their usual passion-filled kisses, just something to show how glad they were to see one another safe and well.
"Hey," Cordy said, leaning into his embrace.
"Hey. Who were you talking to just now?" Xander asked, stroking her hair.
"Willow's mom. She and her dad are on their way over here." Miss Chase disengaged herself from Xander's grasp and asked, "Is Willow gonna be okay?"
"Yeah," Harris nodded. "So's Faith. It's Wesley who I'm worried about."
Cordelia shook her head. She had always been mildly attracted to the roguishly handsome Watcher, but never done anything about it, thanks to love and Wesley's somewhat abrasive personality. "You think those people who are coming from England might be able to help him?"
Xander shrugged, he hadn't considered that. "Maybe. I hope so." Then he said, "Cor, you still got that mojo ring which Spike had on?"
Miss Chase fished it out of her pocket. "Here. Xander, you can have the personal pleasure of smashing it. I'll pass; I'm still trying to repress how gross it was to have to touch that cold dead hand of his!"
Xander took the Gem of Amara, but instead of looking for something with which to destroy it, he just stared at the green stone carefully before putting it away in his own pocket. "Not yet, I...I've got the funny feeling that it might come in useful, somehow. Don't ask me why or how, I just do."
Cordelia was willing to trust in her boyfriend's instincts. "If you say so."
At that moment, Michael the warlock came in through the doors with a convulsing Amy in his arms. "Help! I need a doctor!" he yelled as loud as he could.
An intern named Ben approached at once. "What happened?" he demanded.
"She, she collapsed. A-a-and then this started happening," Michael babbled. "Amy's in trouble, you gotta help her!"
A nurse came over with a gurney, and the intern helped load the teenage witch onto it. Ben took out his pocket light and tried to check Amy's eyes for a response, as the nurse tried to keep the thrashing girl still. The intern didn't like what he saw, though. The nurse started taking notes for Ben while Amy was wheeled into the emergency room, "Pupils are unequal and unresponsive-"
"What's that mean?" Michael demanded, as he, Xander and Cordelia followed.
"Please, you gotta give us some room," the nurse said, trying to move the onlookers away as Ben was joined by a doctor named Isaacs.
"What have we got?" the resident asked at once.
"Convulsions, breathing problems; maybe some sort of anaphylactic shock," Ben replied, attempting to get the struggling Amy to calm down. He said to the nurse, "Get me two cc's of nortropine-atropine, calm her-"
Just then, Amy's body almost broke in half from one final spastic heave before the female corpse collapsed limply back onto the gurney. Ben desperately tried to resuscitate the young woman, but it was too late for him to do anything other than call out the time of death.
"No! No-no-no, she's not dead, she can't be!" Michael screamed out, attempting to get to his beloved.
"I'm sorry, son," Dr. Isaacs said sympathetically, holding the male teen back as Ben closed Amy's eyes and gestured to the nurse for something to cover her up. "I'm so very sorry. But there's nothing more we can do-"
"No. Maybe you can't do anything, but I can!" Michael shouted, turning around and walking away.
Xander and Cordelia, shocked and horrified after witnessing their classmate's agonized painful death like this, hurried after him. "Michael?" Xander called out.
"WHAT?" the warlock snarled as he turned around, then he calmed down a bit upon seeing who it was approaching him. "Sorry. What is it?"
"What exactly are you planning to do?" Cordelia asked somewhat fearfully, after seeing the guy's expression.
"What do you think? I'm gonna make Rack pay for what he's done," the male teen replied with a frightening intensity. "He knew what was happening to her, he must have! But the goddamn bastard still took Amy's money and did whatever she wanted! No way does someone like that get to live after Amy chokes to death on all the magic he filled her with!"
"You're gonna kill him?" Xander asked carefully.
"I don't know. But I'm gonna give it my best shot," Michael replied savagely.
"Uh, but I thought this guy was like some kind of super-powered Merlin or something?" Cordelia asked, recalling what Michael had said the library earlier. "It sounds to me like you're planning to commit suicide!"
The warlock lost all interest in the conversation, figuring these two were just wasting his time. "Let me put it this way, Cordelia. How the hell would you feel if it was Xander laying dead on that gurney right now?" Michael snapped, before rushing off as fast as he could. His body somehow appeared to blur as he went out the front doors of the building.
The Harris-Chase duo ran after him, but as soon as they got outside the hospital they found that Michael had disappeared. After making their way back inside Sunnydale Memorial, Xander said to his girlfriend, "You stay here, okay? Call Giles, and tell him what's happened to Wesley and the others. I'm gonna call Tara. From what I heard, I'll need her to find that magic place Michael's headed to. Thing is, I don't know for sure what's going to happen if those two guys decide to throw down, but I betcha it'll be something nobody's going to enjoy finding out."
Cordelia looked very dubious about the plan, but proceeded to do what her beloved asked anyway.
Mobile location, downtown Sunnydale
A short while later
Just like ten months ago, Rack was restlessly prowling around in his private quarters, thinking about what to do.
He could feel pain and death, which meant that someone he'd once been involved with was now stone cold. That would normally be enough to make him edgy, but there was also a new power surging through Sunnydale now, Rack could feel that as well. A force empowered by grief and rage. He'd never felt anything quite like it before, but he mystically knew that it was out for blood.
Rack suddenly went still. The magic dealer then only just managed to dodge in time as the door to his inner sanctum was blasted off its hinges by a telekinetic strike. Michael could subsequently be seen standing in the doorway, his eyes as black as night and his voice as cold as the grave.
"Hello, Rack."
"Hello yourself, kiddo," the man said in reply, no sign of the slight nervousness he felt visible on his face. "Quite an entrance. You've never heard of knocking?"
"Sorry. It must be that whole Amy dying situation that's making it hard for me to be concerned about the little things right now."
Rack stared at the boy very carefully as he came all the way inside. ( That explains a few things. Might have to be a little cautious here. ) "When you first came to me, you were just a pathetic geek out to save his own ass from the local bullies. But look at you now, all juiced up like this. Makes me proud of my abilities, I have to say."
Michael didn't take the bait. "Did that whole 'Amy is dead' thing just go completely over your head, or what? Because I never thought of you as being thickheaded before, Rack. And I don't believe you are now, either."
Rack shrugged slightly. "What can I say? Your girl wanted more from me than she could handle. It happens. But once she was ripe, her time was quickly past." Rack moved forward slightly. "You came here 'cause you wanted something?"
"I want lots of things, Rack. Amy alive again, for example." Michael's hands started glowing with power. "But right now, I wanna find out just how good your little upgrade really was. And whether or not the stuff I've learned on my own since then is gonna cut the mustard."
"You want a piece of me, blackberry?" Rack's hands also started crackling with magical energy.
Michael's grin was suddenly a grotesque and horrible thing to witness. "I want to take a little tour."
The magical clash of the titans started as Rack's lair became a battleground, bright lights and crashing noises easily seen and heard outside in the waiting room as most of the remaining customers finally ran for it. The few who were too out of it to notice just slipped further into their stupor and either ended up as collateral damage, or never had a clue later on what had happened all around them.
Not far away, Tara could feel the battle taking place as she and Xander hurried along. "We're too late, it's already started!"
"Damn it," Xander cursed. "I really hope Michael doesn't get himself killed!"
They arrived at the invisible lair just as the conflict finished. Tara and Xander subsequently went in after bracing themselves for the worst. The witch felt like she had just stepped into a sewer the moment she crossed the threshold; the dark magic here almost made her physically ill.
Harris noticed her expression and asked, "Tara, you okay?"
"Let's just find your friend and get out of here," Miss Maclay replied, sickened by the very nature of this place. "The sooner, the better."
But as soon as they ventured into Rack's private chambers, both man and woman were treated to a sight they'd never been expecting to see. Rack's corpse was floating in mid-air, and slowly ascended to the ceiling. Then Michael opened his eyes and he greeted them with a manic grin, "Hi, welcome at Rack's. Unfortunately he can't see you today."
"Michael?" Xander asked in disbelief. There was no longer any trace of makeup or lipstick on the other teen's face, and his eyes were completely jet-black. Before, he'd almost looked clownish; now, the guy just looked extremely menacing.
"The one and only," the victorious warlock replied. "Now, you'll have to excuse me. I'm gonna be busy for the next few minutes resurrecting Amy."
"What?" Tara demanded, completely flabbergasted. "You, you actually have that kind of power?"
"If all I wanted was a zombie, sure. With the rites of Uurthu for example, all I'd need is a pair of chicken feet, some fresh blood and the right star alignment to raise her. But that's not what I want, sister. I want the real deal. Hell, I want for none of this to have ever happened. I just want Amy safe and happy, and I'm willing to do whatever I have to in order to achieve that," Michael said zealously.
"What exactly are you-" Tara started to say.
"The Belial siphon spell."
Miss Maclay's eyes went wide, but Xander beat her to the punch upon hearing Michael's words. Wesley had explained everything about that spell to them a while ago, after all.
"ARE YOU COMPLETELY NUTS?" Harris yelled at his former classmate.
"I'm not nuts, Xander. I've never been more sane in my entire life," Michael replied.
"He's right, you can't do this!" Tara said desperately. "You're risking the lives of six billion people if you do that spell-"
"I don't give a damn anymore about that," Michael said simply.
At that moment, Xander didn't know what to do. He knew himself for what he was, and he'd accepted his own limitations a long time ago. Alexander Lavelle Harris believed himself to be the sidekick in this business, and while he didn't exactly like it – nobody likes merely being the doughnut fetcher – he knew that it was his job to hold the fort until the super-powered types came to save the day at the last moment.
Except this time Xander knew how, apart from Tara, he was completely on his own. Buffy, Faith, Willow, Oz, Cordelia, Wesley and Giles – all of them had no idea what was about to happen here and, besides, they were all either injured, absent or out of town. Not even Deadboy was around now to help him out.
For her part, the blonde Wiccan could tell that words weren't going to be enough anymore; they never were with the newborn fanatics like Michael. So she resolved to settle this the magic way, and incanted a binding spell. "Vincire!"
Green magic sprang forth from her hands, but Michael easily blocked it with a counter-spell of his own. Looking at his opponent, the young man ignited a fireball in his right hand like he'd done during Prom night.
Tara Maclay, just over 18 and a half years old, died screaming in agony as Michael tossed the fiery projectile at the Wiccan and it completely consumed her body and soul. Afterwards, there was nothing but a burn mark on Rack's floor to indicate that Tara had ever existed.
Xander just stared in disbelief, first at where Tara had been standing and then at Michael. "What, what did you just..."
"Hey, she started it," Michael defended himself. "Now look, Xander. I like you, and I get the feeling that under different circumstances, we really could have been friends. But I don't want any more interruptions, and I could do with a little pick-me-up. So try to look at it this way; pretty soon, none of this will have ever happened."
Xander backed away as Tara's killer came closer. It almost felt like a lifetime ago, but suddenly the memory of Wesley's prophecy earlier that night surfaced in the male teenager's mind. Given everything that had happened lately, Xander finally understood that psychic's words, and he felt the creeping horrors run down his spine. ( Oh, God, oh no, oh crap... )
Then he couldn't move anymore, at a gesture from the warlock. "Michael, listen to me-"
The guy slammed his palm through into Xander's chest, and started to take what he wanted. When Michael was done, Harris was still alive and conscious but he collapsed to the floor, his legs unable to support his weight any longer and the rest of his body feeling as though it was frozen solid. He was only able to bear silent witness as Michael began his spell preparations, after magically downloading the required information into his mind.
Xander watched helplessly as Michael drew a sacred circle, and placed a photograph of Amy from his wallet inside it. The warlock then lit three white candles, and knelt down directly across from Xander.
( No, ) Harris wanted to yell. ( Don't do it! You'll kill us all! )
"I call on the elements of the universe," Michael intoned, beginning the spell. "Fire. Water. Earth. Air. Remove the harm done by your servants. As we gave you the moon, you give us the sun. As we gave you winter, you give us summer. As we gave you illness, you give us health. As we gave you darkness, you give us light. As we gave you death, you give us birth. Remove the harm done by your servants."
He repeated the incantation twenty-one times. All the while, Xander felt himself getting worse from what Czajak had done to him, his body slowly but surely starting to shut down and die. But like his first primitive ancestor that had come out of the ocean struggling to breathe, Harris never gave up; he desperately tried to move and stop what was about to happen.
Finally Michael said, "So mote it be!" The candles went out, and the male teen looked excited. "I think it's working, we're about to go back-"
The entire world stopped, for one timeless second.
"Kcab og ot tuoba er'ew, gnikrow s'ti kniht I," were the next words out of the warlock's mouth as, like a movie reel running in reverse, the Belial siphon spell began to do its job. Slowly at first, but then faster and faster with each new spin of the wheels of time.
According to the prophecy Robson had relayed from England it was, unfortunately, impossible that Michael would end up getting what he wanted; i.e. never to have taken Amy to meet Rack that night.
That whole thing about bringing about the end of man...possibly the sun would never burn hot in space and life on Earth would never be born, if the spell progressed into the past for billions of years.
Or maybe some other disaster would befall humanity, like the Old Ones never getting thrown out of this reality millions of years ago.
Perhaps the Judge would be successful in separating the righteous from the wicked six hundred years ago, and burn down everyone who possessed even an ounce of humanity.
Or, perchance, the knight who originally slew Acathla would be just a shade too slow at the critical moment.
It was impossible to predict, really. This particular roll of the cosmic dice by definition simply could not be predicted by anyone or anything.
History began to completely unravel – until for some unknown reason, everything abruptly came to a screeching halt mere minutes after the spell began.
Mobile location, downtown Sunnydale
A frozen moment in history
Xander remembered.
He was in some sort of strange blurry environment, Rack's magic den all around him but somehow out of focus, kind of like a bad photograph. He still remembered everything, though: Rack's death, Tara's murder, Michael doing that spell of his to try to bring about a new future with Amy alive and well; he remembered it all.
( What's happening? ) Harris thought to himself in confusion. Xander slowly started to get up off the floor, no longer affected by what Michael had done to him. ( How come I can still- )
Before the young man could complete that thought, the air in front of him became visibly disturbed, almost like when Balthazar had killed the Mayor months ago. A demon subsequently manifested itself, but it looked unlike anything Xander had ever seen before. It had a human body, but with talons instead of feet, and a man's head with the horns and ears of a bull and the tusks of a boar around its mouth.
"You can see me now?" the demon asked, his eyes focusing on Xander. Then he nodded, "Of course you can. You're the one who sees everything, after all."
"Yes," the creature nodded again upon seeing the human's expression. "That prophecy was meant for and about you. You are the whipping boy raised by mongrels, even though that label doesn't really mean anything to you the way it might have."
He tried to speak but was unable to do so. ( Can you hear my thoughts? ) Xander mentally asked, recalling that part of the prophecy. ( Who are you? )
The demon leaned back his head and laughed. "I have had many names over the millennia, boy. Matanbuchus, Meterbuchus, Belhor, Beliar. But you know me as Belial, the creator of the siphon spell." He saw Xander's face and laughed once more. "Yes, THAT Belial. The demon lord of pride and arrogance, the fallen angel whose domain includes hostility, confusion and lust. And considering what you've been up to for the last few months with your woman, it's not surprising how you're not exactly pleased to see me."
( What do you want? Whatever it is, don't expect me to- )
"You think you can pit your will against mine, boy? I induced the Egyptian sorcerers Jochaneh and his brother to oppose the Hebrews you know as Moses and Aaron, over three thousand years ago. I fought St. Francis of Paola during the 15th century, and lived to tell the tale. I even control the element of earth, with dominion over all earth elemental demons."
The demon laughed yet again. "Compared to all that, what are you apart from an ant with all the best intentions in the world?" Belial asked in genuine amusement.
( A human being with free will, ) Xander shot back, determined not to be intimidated by the creature before him.
"Yes, yes, so you are," Belial said with a gleeful expression. "It's no wonder therefore how both sides hate you so much."
( What? )
"Listen to me carefully, boy. Your actions over the last three years have not gone unnoticed. You disrupted a scheme that was initiated over ten thousand years ago, a setup that was forever altered when you twinned the Slayer line. Both the higher powers and the lower beings couldn't believe it at first how an insignificant worm like yourself actually affected the Grand Design, but the results spoke for themselves. Who knew what else you might accomplish? To use an analogy, they all felt that you were like a thermonuclear device that needed to be disabled, disarmed, and thoroughly dismantled. Courtesy of an ignored and ignominious death in Africa, some years hence."
( I don't believe you, ) Xander thought steadfastly. ( Why the hell would I ever want to go to Africa? )
Belial almost howled with laughter this time. "Do you really want to know how much of a joke you would have become, barely a few months from now? You ought to get down on your knees and thank me for creating that spell, boy. Because otherwise you would have lived out the rest of your short and miserable life lacking any shred of respect from your friends, not to mention losing your tactless female companion as well. Why else do you think you were pushed into the arms of that redheaded witch?"
( No. That was just a stupid mistake that I made on my own. Nobody pushed me into anything, ) Harris refused to accept what he was 'hearing'.
"Believe that if you want, boy. But I alone am immune to my siphon spell, and that's how I know for a fact that in the previous timeline, a very different sequence of events took place after the night of that love spell. In essence you forgot your current woman completely after she left you, and you moved on to someone else. A love cursed from the start, and deliberately engineered to trigger your downfall before and after her mortal death," Belial explained delightedly.
( If you know the future, then I've got a question for you, ) Harris deliberately put aside the concept that he might have lost Cordelia forever back then, trying to stay calm. ( Assuming that Michael didn't do it, and I really kinda doubt he did, who originally performed that damn spell of yours – and why? There's a lot of people apparently who've been trying to find the answer to that. )
"A good question, boy. But all I'll say is there were quite a few candidates and situations to choose from at that time. One of the Slayers wanted to save her sister from an untimely death. The vampire with a soul desired to resurrect the woman he loved. The witch you call your best friend couldn't bear to lose yet another lover as well as yourself. All of them had the means, the motive and the opportunity; so essentially, what does it matter who actually performed the deed?"
( Why are you really telling me all this? ) Xander suddenly wanted to know. He honestly didn't want to think about the implications of everything he'd just heard, if this demon wasn't a liar. ( I'm not on your side, so what do you get out of this whole explain-y deal? )
"Hmm, another good question. But you should know that given the constantly increasing levels of pride, arrogance, hostility and confusion in this world, it's only a matter of time before it becomes mine," Belial said smugly. "And so, boy, it behooves me to make sure that the world doesn't end before I'm ready to claim it. Thus, since your vampire friend will now fail to follow the path laid out for him and leave his cursed Slayer..."
The demon did the big dramatic pause thing. "I have to make a Champion out of you."
( Say WHAT? )
"Like the prophecy said, sacrifice is inevitable. In this case, your woman will never have the normal life she craves alongside you and your descendants," Belial replied with what might have been a smirk. The tusks made it more than a little difficult to tell. Then with the small talk over, the demon gestured and the Gem of Amara came floating out of Xander's pocket.
( What are you gonna do with that? ) Harris demanded. He'd forgotten that he had the damned thing, what with everything that had happened lately.
The horned demon didn't answer. He simply concentrated on the green gemstone, which started to glow. Altering its nature somewhat, Belial caused the gem to transfer its affinity to the living instead of the undead. Brighter and brighter the creation of Amara glowed, until it was too painful for Harris to look at it anymore. The floating gem was then released from the confines of the metal ring, which fell ignored to the ground, and the stone quickly embedded itself with cruel force deep into the palm of Xander's left hand.
The pain was excruciating, and Xander screamed in agony even if there was no sound accompanying it to be heard. Then the pain somehow disappeared, as if someone had simply flipped off a switch. ( What- )
"Heed my warning and do not ever attempt to remove the Gem, boy. Because it's become part of you now, just as you have become part of it. I made it such that you'll not survive long without the source of your new invulnerability," Belial stated with an air of self-satisfaction. "Be aware also of how I do not gamble or bluff; such things may be the province of my colleagues Gapp, Asmoday and Vassago, but not myself. And now, it's time for you to go."
( No, wait! ) Xander mentally yelled. But it was too late as Belial vanished, reality altered itself all around Harris, and history resumed once more with the now-altered youth and the blonde witch again confronting the distraught young warlock in Rack's hideout.
"I'm not nuts, Xander. I've never been more sane in my entire life," Michael said, giving the time-traveller a serious case of déjà vu.
"He's right, you can't do this!" Tara said desperately, right on cue. "You're risking the lives of six billion people if you do that spell-"
"I don't give a damn anymore about that," Michael said simply.
Xander knew what was going to happen now. He said, "It won't work, Michael. I mean, it DIDN'T work. You tried it just now, after you went off the deep end and murdered Tara. But the demon who originally created that spell? It stepped in and froze time, we had a pretty lengthy chat in Limbo and then it sent me here. To stop you, I guess. Please, believe me, I'm not kidding."
Both Tara and Michael stared at Xander before the warlock said in sheer disbelief, "You actually talked to Belial? THE Belial?"
"Yeah. It's his spell you're gonna use and he's planning to take over the world one day, so he won't let you do this. Besides, there's a prophecy. Like I tried to tell you before, you do that spell successfully and you end up causing 'the end of man'. So it's over, Michael. You won't get Amy back this way, trust me on that," Xander said pleadingly.
The warlock still looked unconvinced, and just like before, Tara took matters into her own hands before Harris could prevent it. But this time, after the annoyed warlock ignited that fireball in his hand, Xander acted without hesitation.
He grabbed Tara and held up his left hand. The fireball arrived; it hit the invisible shield present thanks to the Gem, and the deadly missile instantly bounced back the way it came.
It happened so quickly and unexpectedly that the young man was simply unable to raise his own shield in time. A column of fire thus incinerated the screaming male teenager, and afterwards Michael Czajak was nothing more than a memory.
"How did-?" Tara started to say, looking at the burn mark on the carpet. Then she stared at Xander, who had let her go by now. "That was you, wasn't it?"
Xander didn't reply, he just stared at his left hand numbly. He'd known it had to be done, but that didn't make it any easier to stomach the fact that he had crossed a line and killed a fellow human being. Even if it was self-defense, as well as to save Tara's life, Harris knew that his friends would never be able to look at him the same way ever again.
Ignoring Tara's urgent questions, Xander turned around and left Rack's lair. He needed to go back to the hospital and check on the wounded. Then he needed to go home with Cordelia, dig out that supply of Scotch Giles had hidden somewhere, and after she fell asleep get drunk to try to forget what he had now become.
Xander also knew that soon enough, he and his girlfriend would be departing their home town. He had no idea that a seer would eventually find them, and his duties as a Champion would begin within the City of Angels. Likewise he didn't know that Faith and her new Watcher would eventually join him, his future wife and their children, after Wesley died in his coma and Buffy, Angel and Giles finally arrived back home.
But Harris already suspected that the inevitable showdown with Belial would eventually result in only one of them walking away alive, afterwards.
Whether it would be the human or the demon, it was only a matter of time until Xander found out.
The End