Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 22

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Xander and Fitz share what they know about the current situation.
Word Count: 1,230
Rating: K
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS.  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

            "Great.  Um, how to explain..."  There's a lot going on, and it's all a bit weird...but then, this guy had summoned some sort of weird thing with tentacles, so he should at least understand a bit better.  "Okay, first of all, I'm friends with the Vampire Slayer.  She's the one girl in the world born to fight vampires and other things that go bump in the dark, and when one dies another is called to take her place.  Except Buffy—that's my friend—figured out how to call all of them at once, so no Slayer ever has to fight alone again.  We train them, or at least warn them that their lives might be a little more interesting than most."  That probably wasn't completely necessary, but explaining the circumstances was helpful.  Maybe.  "And then everyone else—we all just kind of hung around and were her sidekicks.  The Scooby Gang.  We've been fighting things since we were sixteen.  Well, some of us were sixteen; that doesn't apply to everybody—"  Okay, actually, that's probably enough backstory for now.  Not that Fitz doesn't look interested.  He does.  And astonished.  But he's trying to explain what's currently going on.  "Anyway, we kind of collect artifacts.  We're trying to keep the dangerous ones out of the world, where they can cause trouble.  And we ended up with a certain Stone Mask..."

            Fitz interrupts, and then looks somewhat guilty for doing so.  Xander wouldn't have given it a second thought, but waves him on anyway.  "Mother told me about that, if it's the same one.  It can convert normal people into vampires."

            When it's the other way around, he has no problem interrupting the same.  "That would explain the horrible feeling I had about it, and the weird dreams."  He shudders slightly.  "Anyway, it got stolen, which is even worse now that I know what it does.  And they thought I'd taken it.  I thought...I dunno, some random thief, or maybe some practical joke, or something?  Maybe I was just hoping, because I knew it wasn't.  Someone inside took it, and framed me for the theft.  They wanted me out of the way, so if I showed up again, or got in contact, our thief might react in a way that was of the bad.  Of course, if they didn't know, that'd also be a problem, but Dawnie sounded a little more on edge, so I'm guessing they've figured out something's going on..."

            Fitz is frowning.  "All right, then, what exactly do you expect to do from out here?"

            Xander sighs.  That is the problem, really, isn't it.  "I'm...I'm not sure.  I can't really investigate from here.  It'd probably be easiest to figure out the culprit from there, but that's out of the question.  Still, I don't intend to just sit around here, either."

            The Brit sits on the floor patiently.  "Well, we could try a little deduction or induction—wait, you probably haven't read..."

            "I've seen the show.  Though I have no idea what 'induction' is."  He vaguely remembers it coming up in a class, but he definitely wasn't paying attention at the time.

            "Inductive reasoning is actually what dear Mr. Holmes used.  Observation, experience, and the like, from which you can draw a conclusion, but it isn't a certainty."  Okay, that made a lot more sense than when Mrs. Franklin had been talking about it.  At least, he thought it'd been her.  It was hard to tell.  He'd probably been asleep for about half the classes.

            "I think I'd probably be better at practicing it than knowing all the technical names of these things.  I'm a fan, Jim, not a college graduate," Xander admitted, rearranging himself to be more comfortable.  They might be here a while.  "Yes, I know your name isn't Jim."  Of course this guy wouldn't get TV references.  Did he even own a TV?  He probably did, secretly, like Giles.

            Fitz blinked, but didn't question.  "Well, is there any question that the thief and the one who framed you for the theft are one and the same?"

            "..." This was something that couldn't be answered right away, no matter how obvious the answer seemed.  Without evidence, they probably couldn't rule anything out completely.  Or being at the scene, but, again, that was out of the question.  "Well, if we're going with the Perry Mason thing, there's probably still a small lingering question, reasonable doubt, but...not much.  It's true that if they were the same person, they'd be the best-placed to cover up their own crime."

            "Right."  Fitz seemed delighted with the thoroughness of the logic so far.  "That would be the most likely case, correct?"

            "I...yeah, probably."  Of course, other possibilities existed, but they were going with probabilities or something here, right?  "My friends would be better at this," he admitted with a sigh.  He's no Giles, for instance, and Willow would probably be pretty good at this, too.

            "Then they would probably at least entertain the conclusion you came to, correct?  And these...Slayers.  They can take care of themselves?"  He can see what Fitz is up to, but he can't quite give up the constant concern for his friends.  Even though, for the longest time, he was the most useless one.

            "I'm more worried about the younger ones," he admits.  Of course, he's the last to make any kinds of assumptions.  Everyone could die.  Some of them have nearly died, while some just have died, but...it wasn't a given that everyone would survive.  But out of all of them, the ones with the least training were the most vulnerable, so...yeah, he can admit he's concerned about them.  "I personally recruited some of them..."

            He's brought back to reality by a smack on the head.  "And how exactly did you feel when I felt you weren't experienced enough to be able to deal with situations yourself?"

            Or the humiliating way the Scoobies treated him at times as the un-powered one.  Xander laughs, then shakes his head.  "Stop having good points!"

            "Never," Fitz responds, but he's smiling.

            "So..." Xander hesitated, but it was a question that needed to be asked.  "What are these things we were using to fight?  Pretender and...okay, that sort of makes sense, but what's juice from a lotus, anyway?  Is it nummy?"

            Fitz chuckled and shook his head.  "I honestly have no idea.  It just felt...right.  Like I imagine Pretender's name came to you.  And you ask the hardest questions.  It's a simple concept, but...difficult to put into words."  He pauses, thinking.  "They're...the manifestations of our fighting spirit, I guess."

            "...Pretender is a part of me?"  That feels...right and wrong at the same time.

            Fitz shrugs.  "And unfortunately, they're...somewhat difficult to just train with.  Use of your Stand is instinctual, and you only learn new uses through combat.  I've had Lotus Juice for longer than you, but..."  He shrugs again, and Xander catches a short-lived flame of agony and hate in the green eyes.  "Having a Stand is passed down through family lines.  I get mine from my mother.  And you probably do too, right?"

            "Definitely not my dad," he agrees.  He realizes that, to some extent, it really didn't matter who the thief had been, because they were out of his reach now.  His friends were the ones who had to deal with that, at least at the moment.  Which means that...  "What next?"