XDH Chapter 7

[madimpossibledreamer]

This chapter was written before anything else, and I definitely enjoy it.  The genderbend feels good in this one, and I like writing Giles.  (I wanna write more of Giles' Detective Agency, but my class is starting up this week, so we might be stuck with prewritten for a while.  Fortunately, I have a lot of those.  Keeping my fingers crossed that I'll continue to be able to write Shadowed Suspicion, at least until the volume ends.)
~Dreamer~

Main Points:
Buffy/Devil May Cry Halloween Crossover, Buffy AU
Chapter Summary: Giles thought he broke the spell.
Word Count: 2766
Rating: T

           Giles might have expected a number of people to be in the library before school even started, but Alex wasn't one of them.  At least she wasn't reading, or he might have begun to suspect that another apocalypse was approaching.
           She was asleep, head placed against the table, softly snoring.  A single page fluttered with every breath.  It appeared she'd fallen asleep here, in her Halloween outfit from last night.  Alex hadn't even bothered to take the wig off.  She must have been exhausted after the day's events.  The girl...actually looked quite peaceful, which was a drastic change from her usual, hyperactive state.  (He entirely suspected that she was allowed to imbibe far too much in the way of sugar on a regular basis.)
           He decided to place his briefcase in his office before waking her up, but he heard her voice as soon as he was out of the room.  "G-man?"
           "Alex, I thought I asked you to stop calling me that."  He caught himself.  Maybe he shouldn't be scolding her when she'd just woken up.  "Are you unhurt?"
           The painful smile that crossed her face as she propped up her head on one hand lit the obviously intended warning signs in his head.  "That would depend on your definition of 'unhurt'."
           "...No wounds."  He crossed to sit opposite her.  This was serious.  (He shouldn't clean his glasses at the moment, though.  He might miss some crucial clue.)
           "Then, nope.  Absolutely nothing."  The amount of 'moping' in her expression hadn't changed, so yes, there was something more at play.
           "Alexandria.  What happened to you?"  Playing these games of rhetoric was all fun and everything, but depending on the problem, he didn't have time for it.  He was rather fond of her, and oddly enough understood her better than the other girls.  Perhaps it was just that her mindset was more like a male's than a female's.
           She sighed, a worried expression crossing her face.  "Okay, I'm gonna be honest.  I'm a little scared that your reaction isn't going to be, y'know, of the good.  But I really should tell you, so..."
           Giles felt it was his turn to sigh, so he did.  "I won't be mad at you, although I might be scared for your safety or sanity in certain cases."
           Alex shook her head, for once entirely serious and not making a joke out of everything.  "I wasn't talking about you being mad.  I was saying...well, I don't want the sort of reaction that most people have to the X-Men."
           As much as she felt he probably wouldn't get that reference, he wasn't as out of touch as that.  He'd enjoyed a comic or two in his day, and in fact still did.  The difference between him and the uncultured was that he did not merely enjoy them to the exclusion of everything else.
           He leaned forward, trying to convey every ounce of sincerity.  "I won't overreact.  I will at least have a discussion with you about this, whatever it is, but I can't do that if you're unwilling to share anything."
           That earned him one of her dazzling smiles she'd occasionally favor people with.  "O-Okay."  She let out a heavy breath, then stared down at the table again.  "Everyone changed back, right?"
           He'd hoped she'd get to the point, but it seemed she was really nervous about whatever revelation she had for him.  "Yes.  I found the source of the spell that changed everyone and managed to undo it."
           The look she fixed him with was not one he was used to, especially from the group of children whose care he had generally been entrusted with.  A shrewd understanding filled those...blue eyes?  She must be wearing contacts.  Odd her eyes hadn't begun to redden after so long wearing them.  And she also understood that he was more than he'd presented himself as, which was something he hadn't intended anyone to learn this early.  "We may or may not have a conversation about how you managed that, depending on how you react to this next bit."  Another puff of breath.  "I...I didn't change back."
           His first thought was that was impossible.  He'd smashed the bust; the spell had been broken.  He knew for a fact it had worked when Ethan had been horribly torn up about the affair and begun to curse.  "Are you..."
           She laughed, a somewhat dry laugh that could easily be confused with a cough if he hadn't seen the pained amusement on her face.  In response, she pulled on the wig, which didn't come free.  "I mean, it's me mentally.  But everything else is pretty much as it was when I changed.  My hair's white.  I kind of scratched up my eyes last night, trying to get out the contacts which no longer exist.  And they kind of healed in less than an hour.  The swords and guns are still completely non-prop-y, and I've been able to DT.  And I kind of still have all of the memories.  And Dante's still sort of in my head, only now he's the passenger and I'm not sure he's all there."  She paused, then pulled a face.  "It was not.  And would you please stop calling me 'kiddo'..."  She realized Giles was there again and smiled sheepishly.  "Sorry, I keep talking to him.  And yes, I know I'm going to have to stop that, because if I don't everyone will think I need to go to the loony bin.  Not that that isn't a possibility.  But I kind of don't think I'm actually crazy, so..."
           He then began thinking about magic, and all the things that could cause magic to go wrong.  "Does this 'Dante' you masqueraded as have any magic of his own?  It could have interfered with the process."
           She shrugged.  "Um, not really.  Unless you count the fact that he's half-devil."
           That definitely caught his attention.  "Half-demon?"  Luckily, he still had a small vial of holy water in his pocket, just in case this turned out to have been a supremely bad idea.
           Alex began waving her hands around half-panicked, trying, he assumed with a touch of wary amusement, to indicate a cease-fire.  "He's a good half-devil, G-man!  He's a demon hunter, after all.  And he does try to save people and stuff."
           "And you're sure he won't hurt people?"  An important point, in this line of work.
           "Hurt humans?"  Her voice lowered a little, enough that he could tell it wasn't just her talking.  Although whether consciously or unconsciously, it was too difficult to determine at the moment.  "They wouldn't put up enough of a fight.  Now, get a really good demon and you can have a pretty exciting fight."  She noticed the look and immediately added, "Uh...yeah, and it's also kind of wrong.  I'd say 'some of my best friends are humans' but that just sort of comes off as weird."
           He nodded, trying to process the revelations.
           "I'd love tea, thanks." 
           He had to blink again.  He hadn't said anything about that out loud, had he?  He thought he'd check, just to be sure.  "Dante didn't happen to have telepathy among his powers, did he?"
           She grinned again, although her smile looked a little tired and frayed at the edges.  "No, you're just an Englishman in a situation that got really weird."
           He couldn't honestly argue with that.  He didn't particularly want to leave her on her own, but as she showed every indication of napping while the water boiled in his office, the decision was fairly easy.
           Just the smell of the lovely Earl Grey was enough to clear his mind a little, and a few sips also did wonders for his mental acuity.  He did hear Alex beginning to talk to herself again in the other room, and so decided he wasn't going to take his time about it any longer.  He poured her a cup and carried both into the room.  He could ask how she took her tea later.  "You were arguing with...Dante about something as I came in."  
           "Here, take it!"  She practically flung a sword, sheath and all, in Giles' direction.  The sudden annoyance, coupled with the slight violence, was enough to make him a little nervous, but he wasn't about to admit to it.  Better to not put her any more on edge than she already was, whatever the cause.
           "You're very insistent about that.  Is there a particular reason, Alex?"  He placed the cup carefully in front of her on the table.
           Despite her earlier words, she ignored the cup, pulling the red leather coat tighter around herself, as if cold and/or scared.  "Because it was giving Dante the heebie-jeebies, and I really don't want to part with it which just made him more nervous.  Dante doesn't do nervous."
           "Did he mention why?"  He might as well try to get as much information out of this as possible.
           "Not really.  He just said he didn't like the feel of it, and I'm not just talking about the weight or the way the hilt fit in his...my hand.  Although for all I know it mentioned something and he just doesn't want to tell me because he's protecting me for some reason or another."  At the incredulous look, she elaborated, "Demonic weapons have a habit of talking to Dante.  When they're not trying to kill him."
           "D-demonic?"  He quickly placed it on the table, away from them both, which made her giggle at him.
           "It's not like it's one of those swords that's going to immediately try to possess you or something.  Most Devil Arms are actually fairly okay.  If anything, this particular one's like the One Ring.  The more you use it, the more you open yourself up to its influence.  And you don't want to let it go.  The others are fine.  He just didn't like that one."  She actually sounded knowledgeable on this subject, although given the situation, he supposed it shouldn't be too surprising.  She paused, then continued.  "I know it sounds weird, but it's true.  I mean, you have to keep in mind that they are the spirits of demons, and may have their own agendas, but as long as you watch out for something like that, you should be fine.  Besides the fact that being half-devil actually makes you less susceptible because you know what they're up to."
           "Alex."  His voice was firm again.  "How does Dante know all of this?  Who is he?"
           She shrugged.  "Well, he's just a fictional character.  I mean, he doesn't even have a game or anything—not yet, anyway, though I think Ethan mentioned something about something in production in Japan.  But he's a half-demon, the son of this bigwig general in the Underworld, the legendary Dark Knight Sparda.  Supposedly this guy forsook his own race to help out the humans, and ended up sealing the portal between the realms or someth...you're awfully quiet."
           He nodded.  Although the language wasn't exact, the story did sound vaguely familiar.  Instead of answering, he entered his office once more to fetch a few books, one of which he was fairly sure the story was contained within, and the others just in case he was wrong about that recollection.  It took a little searching, but he was able to find the relevant passage.  A thought occurred to him, and he turned the book around, pushing it so that Alex could read it.
           She took a few sips of her tea, then shoved the cup aside so she could pull the book closer.  Her eyes scanned the text, after which her head popped up quickly.  "This guy is real?!?"  Her voice squeaked a little.
           "Indeed."  His voice was as neutral as he could make it.  "More than that.  You just read a snippet of history from one of my esoteric volumes."
           She decided to stare at him as if he was completely bonkers.  "Uh, duh.  I do that all the time when we're researching."
           "Not when it's in an obscure demon language, unless you've been hiding something from me."
           She flushed.  Obviously, she hadn't even realized.  "I...uh.  I guess that might come in useful at some point, then..."
           Giles sighed and began cleaning his glasses.  "True.  Your new powers may turn out to be a great asset, but we mustn't forget their source.  One of the major skills you must learn is control over these newfound abilities.  Everything about this Dark Knight says that he was, in fact, a great power for good, although some believed his existence to be a mere legend, hardly based in fact.  Your existence proves that this was not the case, although some of the details of his life may still be in dispute.  Nevertheless, he only overcame his darker nature by an extreme act of will.  While you have inherited some of the skills and some of the will, you are by no means on his level.  You must take great care to not let your own power overwhelm you."
           Alex bit her lip, but managed a half-grin.  "In much more simple terms, to quote Uncle Ben, 'With great power comes great responsibility'."
           Giles considered.  "...Essentially, yes.  Though that is, of course, not the only consideration."  He paused.  "Would Dante be helpful in this venture, and do you think we can trust him?"
           "Absolutely," she answered immediately, then made a face.  "Look, I get that you think it's a bit too dangerous, but we kind of live in the equivalent of demonville here.  I know I'm a kid, but it's not like I've got much of a choice here.  You're off the planet if you think it's a good idea having someone who's just now gotten a bunch of powers wander around with no idea of how to use them.  And if you're going to say anything about me being a girl, I don't care if you're in my head, I will find some way to hurt you.  Especially after you accepting Trish and Lady.  You don't get to be such a chauvinist around here, buster."
           Giles waited quietly, sipping his tea.  It seemed she wasn't going to do much about her habit of talking to the passenger in her head.
           She finally turned back to the librarian, who knew she'd finished talking to Dante for the moment.  "Oh, probably more importantly, I don't think he could have hidden anything from me if he tried.  'Course, he thought I wasn't as aware as I was through the whole thing, but it was kind of like I was in stasis or something.  I knew everything that was happening, but I couldn't do anything.  Now, he probably could, but his character and everything...I kind of figured that out already."  The smile showed exactly how pleased she was with herself.  "He's a trash talker sometimes and goofs off just about as much as I do.  He doesn't have too much sympathy for people who, you know, summon demons to hurt people or make deals for power or whatnot, but he swore he wouldn't kill humans and has stuck by that.  He'll go out of his way and even put himself in mortal danger to protect any innocents in harm's way."
           "Would he agree to train you with my supervision?" he asked quietly.  Taking on even more tasks past his rather already laborious duties, perhaps, but he was a Watcher, and unlike some of the others took his mission rather seriously.  The differences between the way Buffy fought and the many girls who preceded her was enough to give her an advantage against enemies who thought they knew what a Slayer was.  The other Watchers were blind to this (at least, so he hoped).  While it meant they were overly insistent on their tests of conformity and rather disapproving of her as a Slayer, he felt she was doing rather a good job.  Of course, he, too, would occasionally enjoy a little more respect in their relationship, but...Ah well.  One couldn't have everything, and if her unorthodox methods meant she survived longer, he wouldn't mind too much.  He cared about his charges, and would do his best to ensure all of them—not just the Slayer—survived.
           She paused, then nodded.  "Sure, old man.  But are you good for anything else than Watching, I wonder."
           He was slightly taken aback by the change in manner, then realized that the voice was deeper and a good deal more amused.  Alex, apparently, had decided she'd rather let him talk for himself, rather than just relaying messages back and forth, and this was the result.