Paragon
Xander Harris took stock of his situation. He was walking along with Willow and Tara, which was fine. Better than fine, really. They were walking down a deserted path on the UC Sunnydale campus. Also fine.
Then came the not so fine bits. Like the fact that it was fast approaching midnight, which isn't exactly the safest time to be out and about in Sunnydale. That wasn't too bad, though. What really made him nervous was what was going to happen when they arrived at their destination.
"Okay," he said, causing Willow and Tara to turn their heads his way. "Break this down for me again."
"Shoot," Willow said.
"This is a new Wicca group you're talking about, right? Not the one full of nitwits where you met Tara?"
"Right," Willow answered. "We just started meeting last month."
"And they're all for real?"
"They're not actual witches," Tara answered, "but they all believe in magic and want to use it to help other people instead of themselves."
Xander nodded. "Sounds like our kind of people, then, yeah. So, you really think this ritual is going to work?"
Willow shrugged. "We hope so. We're trying to do some good with it, so being near the big, bad Hellmouth might mess us up. And most of the others have never actually cast a spell before, so that could be a problem. And we had to pretty much make up the whole ritual ourselves, too, so we're not sure it'll work even if we get everything perfect. And..."
Xander cut her off. "You're not exactly filling me with confidence here, Will."
Tara laughed. "In that case, I won't mention that we had to guess at the ingredients, too."
"Yeah," Xander said, smiling at the blonde witch, "I appreciate your not mentioning that." When Tara smiled back, he went on, "These would be the ingredients you picked up in Vegas with Giles?"
"Yes," Tara said. "Mr. Giles got us a good price with a distributor he knows."
"Great," Xander said. "But I still think it would've been cooler if you guys had gotten married by an Elvis impersonator."
"Xander!" Willow scolded. She stopped walking and held out her hand. "Give me your arm."
Xander and Tara stopped, as well. "Don't wanna," Xander said, pulling away from her and pouting.
"Xander! I told you what would happen if you mentioned the Elvis marriage again. Take it like a man, why don't you?"
Xander sighed and held out his arm. Willow hit it.
Hard.
"Oww!"
"You deserved it, you big baby," Willow said. "I told you and told you! 'Don't mention the Elvis marriage after Tara comes back,' I said."
"Yeah," Tara said, dabbing at her eyes. "I asked Mr. Giles, but he said no. It's a sore subject for me."
"Yeah!" Willow cried, glaring at Xander. "See? I told... Wait, what?!" she demanded, whirling to face Tara.
"Damn you, Xander," Tara said, her voice full of a fairly good approximation of outrage. "Damn you to hell!"
Willow and Xander stared at her for a moment. Then Xander started clapping.
"Bravo!" he said. "Nicely done, Tara."
"Thank you, thank you," she said, with a graceful curtsy.
"Seriously," Xander went on, "that was great."
"It was pretty good," Willow was forced to admit.
"You really think?" Tara's smile lit up the night.
"I really think," Willow assured her, then pulled her close for a long kiss.
Behind her, Xander's face split into a wide, leering grin.
Without looking, Willow reached back and hit him.
Hard.
"Owww!" Xander cried. "Dammit, woman, what was that for?!"
Willow took her time ending the kiss, then turned and glared at Xander. "You know what it was for."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Xander declared.
Willow continued glaring at him. Tara favored him with a smirk.
"You were leering," Willow accused.
"I never!" he insisted.
Willow gave him The Look.
"Maybe a little," Xander admitted. "But," he rallied, "I wasn't really leering. I was smiling about how much you two obviously love each other."
Willow and Tara considered this. Xander smiled hopefully.
"Okay," Willow said.
"Yeah," Tara agreed. "I think we can accept that answer."
"Great," Xander said. "Now, how about an apology?"
"Don't push it, buster."
"Yes, ma'am."
They resumed walking.
When they arrived at the clearing Willow had told him about, Xander was surprised to see only three other women there. They were intent on their preparations and hadn't noticed the newcomers yet.
"I thought you witchy women usually went in for larger covens?" Xander asked. He waved uncertainly as the women turned around at the sound of his voice.
"Sometimes," Tara said. "But this is all we have right now. It's hard to find people who are serious about it."
"Right," Willow said. "This is enough for now. Xander, this is Michelle, Skye and Angie. Guys, this is Xander."
"Hey," Xander said. They replied similarly.
Michelle was a tall, dark-skinned woman dressed in a flowing dress. Skye wore jeans and a black t-shirt that matched her hair and lipstick. Angie was a short brunette who seemed somehow familiar. He took a closer look. There was something about her...
"Addrilanne," he said, when he recognized her. Angie blushed.
"Yeah," she said. "That was me. Thanks for saving me and Linda. You didn't have to do that."
"Sure I did," Xander said. "If nothing else, Willow here wasn't about to let me out of it when she found out I had to be naked."
All the women laughed. Xander laughed with them, congratulating himself on breaking the ice. And he hadn't even gotten hit!
"Yeah," Willow said, "that's what it was, all right." Her voice was forced, uneasy.
Xander looked at her in concern, then turned to listen as Michelle said, "You haven't told him yet, have you?"
"Told me what?" he asked, wondering why the girls were all smiling. Except for Willow, who was blushing furiously. "Told me what, Will?" he asked again.
"Well..." his best friend started, then trailed off. Beside her, Tara giggled.
"What has she told you about the ritual?" Skye asked.
Xander shrugged. "Nothing, really. Just that there needs to be a guy involved, that it needs to be out here, and it has to happen within an hour of midnight."
"You really do have to tell him now, sweetie," Tara said gently.
"I know!" Willow said, then sighed. "Okay, fine. You guys finish getting ready. I'll explain things to Xander."
She grabbed Xander's arm and pulled him several yards back down the trail. Tara came along with them. The others went back to their preparations.
"Okay," Willow said, looking at the ground. "Right. Okay." She was clearly mortified.
Normally, Xander would have enjoyed seeing her so flustered. But given that whatever it was that was bothering her was what he'd have to do for the ritual, he couldn't enjoy her discomfort as much as he'd have liked to.
"What's going on, Will?" he asked. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"
"Well," Willow started slowly, "there's something I haven't told you about the ritual..."
"You haven't told me anything about the ritual," Xander reminded her.
Tara laughed. Willow shot her a gentle glare, then laughed herself.
"You're right," she said. "I haven't. And there's a very good reason for that."
"And that reason would be?" Xander prompted.
"Because you wouldn't have agreed if I told you what you'd have to do," Willow said.
"Hey," Xander protested, "you know I'd do anything for you, Will. And you said this ritual might really help people. Of course I'll do it! You thought I..."
"You have to be naked," Willow said, her eyes glued on the ground once again.
"... wouldn't help just because..." Xander went on for a moment, then stopped. "Wait. Naked? Again?"
Willow nodded, blushing furiously. Xander just stared at her.
Tara came to the rescue. "A lot of Wiccan rituals work better if the participants are naked," she said to Xander. "Skyclad, we sometimes call it. When it's just you, nothing man-made or alien on your body, your mind and body are more pure."
Willow was still looking at the ground, still blushing. Xander was still staring at her.
"Also," Tara went on, "it's a great excuse to end the ritual with a big orgy."
That got their attention. "What?" they both demanded, their heads springing up to look at her.
"Just making sure I had your attention," Tara said sweetly. "There will be no orgy," she promised. Or possibly warned. "But you do need to be naked, Xander."
"I don't know about this, guys," Xander said. He moved off to one side and collapsed to the ground. "Why do I have to be naked?" he asked in what he was afraid might be a whine.
Willow and Tara sat down near him. Tara smiled sympathetically, and Willow said, "Normally, you wouldn't. The skyclad thing is usually strictly optional."
"But not this time?" Xander asked, not looking at her.
"No," Willow said, shaking her head. "You can't have anything on you for this one. No clothes, no jewelry, not even something like contact lenses. Which you don't wear, I know. I'm just saying."
"Why, though?"
"Because we need just you, Xander. Nothing else. Just you."
Xander shook his head, uncomprehending. "What are you talking about?"
"The spell's all about you," Willow said. "We designed it with you in mind."
"Again, Will, what are you talking about?"
Willow started to speak, but Tara put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.
"You're confusing him, honey. You have to remember to start at the beginning."
"The beginning would be nice," Xander agreed, earning a smile from Tara and a glare from Willow.
"Fine," Willow said. "The beginning. Okay. We're doing a protection spell."
"On me?" Xander asked.
"No, on the whole campus. We'd love to do it on the whole town, but there's no way we can manage that kind of power."
"What does it do? Will it stop vampires from attacking people, or something like that?"
"We wish," Tara said. "Nothing that powerful, unfortunately."
"Right," Willow said. "It's more like it'll influence people. Make them less likely to do something bad."
"Something bad like attack people?" Xander asked.
"That's what we're hoping for," Willow replied. "But maybe not. It might not have enough power to stop a vampire who comes to campus already planning to hurt someone. We're hoping it'll be able to stop people who aren't already dangerous from doing stuff that would hurt someone."
"Like drunken frat boys getting into a fight, you mean?"
Tara nodded. "Or drunken guys hitting their girlfriends. Or worse. It was Michelle's idea. She works at the peer counseling hotline, and some of the stuff she's helped people through would break your heart. The spell is more to keep normal people from hurting each other than for vampires and demons."
"Right," Willow cut in. "Vampires and demons are already magical, and they're really focused on hurting people. We don't have enough power to change that, although if we're lucky the spell might help a little bit. But this is more aimed at protecting the students from each other. And from themselves. We're hoping it'll keep people from driving drunk, too. Stuff like that."
"That sound really powerful," Xander said slowly, choosing his words with care. "Do you think you guys are up to it? I mean, I thought the more powerful the spell, the more likely it is to mess up?"
To his relief, Willow wasn't offended by the question. "Normally, yes," she said. "We could probably pull off a spell this powerful if we were careful, but you're right that it would be risky. Especially on the Hellmouth."
"This spell is different," Tara went on. "We designed it so that if it doesn't work, nothing will happen. Like a fail-safe."
"Yeah," Willow said. "It's not going to turn bad, no matter what. That part of the ritual is longer than the actual spell, and we had Giles look at it to make sure we got it right. The way we've got it worked out, either the spell will do what we want, or it won't do anything at all. So what do you say?" she asked. "Will you help us with it?"
Xander looked into Willow's eager, hopeful eyes. It was clear that she very much wanted to do this, but he still didn't understand.
"Why me?" he asked. "I still don't understand why you need me here."
Willow nodded as if she'd expected the question. "We need a focus for the spell. It's going to affect everyone on campus - we hope - but we need to use just one person as the center of the spell. And we need it to be a guy, since it has to affect everyone. We can symbolize the women on campus, but we need a man, too. And most of the things we're trying to prevent are done more often by men than women. So we need to have a man at the center of the spell, and..."
Xander cut her off, his voice flat and cold. "You need me because you think I'm the kind of guy who would do all that stuff?" His face was a stony mask.
"What?" Willow asked, completely bewildered. "No!" she yelled as she understood what he'd said. "No, Xander, we need you because you would never do anything like that! I know you're not that kind of guy. That's the whole point!"
Xander felt his anger dissipate like smoke in the wind. He still didn't understand what the hell Willow was talking about, but it was clear that she wasn't thinking the way he had feared. Which was very good to know, even if he still didn't know what was going on.
He looked into Willow's eyes. She'd fallen silent after her outburst, but she spoke again when she realized he wasn't angry anymore.
"We need an example, Xander."
"An example of what?"
"Of a good man," Tara said.
"Yeah," Willow said. "A very good man. We need someone who would never do any of the things we're trying to stop. We need someone who can serve as an example of the kind of behavior we want to encourage. We need a paragon, I guess you'd call it. We need you."
Xander thought about that for a moment. He wasn't a hundred percent sure he knew what a paragon was, but he was quite sure he wasn't it. He'd always considered himself to be a pretty decent guy, but something like this was way beyond him. Willow and Tara didn't need him for this. They needed...
"We don't want Giles," Willow said, reading his mind. She'd been doing it so long it didn't even surprise him anymore. "He'd be perfect, too, but he's not our first choice. You're the only person we thought of when we were coming up with the spell. We want you."
Xander looked at her. Looked into her eyes, searching for the truth of the matter. He knew he wasn't the kind of man Willow had described. But Willow's eyes said he was. She believed everything she'd said about him.
Xander thought about that for a moment, basking in the warmth of Willow's opinion of him. He still didn't see how she could be right, but he'd learned long ago to trust Willow's opinion of people. It was hard to believe he could be all she said he was, though.
He looked back into Willow's eyes. She was smiling at him, her expression full of warmth and love.
"Yeah," she said softly. "It's true, Xander."
"Okay," he said, still not quite believing, but wanting her to be right. He wanted to be the man Willow saw when she looked at him, but he still found it hard to believe he could be. Maybe the wanting was enough.
"Okay," he said again. "I'll do it."
Willow sighed in relief, more because she could sense she'd gotten through to him than because he was willing to do the ritual.
"Are you sure I have to be naked, though?" Xander asked.
"I'm sure," Willow said sternly, brooking no disagreement.
"You have to be, Xander," Tara said, smiling as both Willow and Xander seemed startled to remember she was there. "You can't have any outside influences on or around you," she went on. "It's got to be just you. One hundred percent Xander. Otherwise, the ritual might be compromised."
"And we can't have that," Xander said.
"Right," Willow said. "So, no clothes for you."
"Fine, fine," Xander acquiesced. "What about you guys?"
"What about us?" Tara asked, though she had a feeling she knew. One look at Willow, however, told her that her girlfriend had no idea. She hid a smile as she turned her attention back to Xander.
"Will you be naked, too?" he asked.
"No!" Willow said, startled. "No way."
"That's not fair!" Xander cried indignantly. "If I've got to be naked, you should be, too!"
"But we don't need to be!" Willow said. "It's not part of the spell. We're not as important as you. Besides, there are five of us women, so the spell is going to have to sort of average our influence out. Individual differences aren't as important. Since you're the only guy, everything has to be absolutely perfect."
"Okay," Xander said, "one, you're saying all that just to try and confuse me and get me to give in. And two, are you saying I'm only absolutely perfect when I'm naked?"
Willow's face flushed in embarrassment. She started to stammer out a reply, but Tara cut her off.
"Well," Tara said, "I don't know if Willow ever said you were absolutely perfect, but her review of the last time she saw you naked was definitely a thumbs up."
"Tara!" Willow hissed in mortification.
"Really?" Xander asked, drawing the word out to embarrass Willow even further. "Do tell."
"Don't you dare," Willow warned.
"Sorry, sweetie," Tara said. "I think he deserves to know. Not all the details, though."
"There are details?" Xander asked in delight.
"Oh, yeah," Tara told him. "Lots of details."
"And, uh, you're okay with Willow having details about seeing me naked?" Xander asked, suddenly realizing that could be a bad thing.
"I can't believe you two are discussing this," Willow muttered, burying her face in her hands.
"I'm okay with it," Tara assured Xander. "From what I've heard, from Willow, Buffy and especially Anya, any red-blooded woman would be impressed if she saw her some naked Xander."
"Yeah?" Xander asked. "Cool! Wait," he went on, "you said Buffy? Does she talk about it, too?" he asked eagerly.
Tara opened her mouth to reply, but Xander suddenly clapped his hand to his mouth in shock.
"Oh, God," he said. "Anya. I can't do this. She's at that convention in LA. How do I explain when she gets back that you guys got me naked out in the woods? She'd never believe why."
"Don't worry," Tara said. "I asked her last week, when we first started thinking up the spell. "She says it's okay."
"Really?" Xander asked skeptically.
"She didn't exactly have a problem with you getting naked when you went to see Addrilanne," Willow reminded him.
"That's true," Xander conceded. "But dammit, no way can you guys be naked, too. She'd never let me get away with that."
"That's right!" Willow said, a huge smile on her face. "Oh, well. Sorry. You know I'd be willing if it would make you more comfortable, but Anya just wouldn't understand. Darn shame, that," she finished unconvincingly.
"Actually," Tara said with a smirk, "I asked Anya about us being naked, too."
"Why would you do that?" Willow demanded.
Tara looked at her in disbelief. "I've only known Xander a year or so, but I knew he was going to insist we be naked if he had to be. You've known him how long, and you didn't figure that out?"
"She's got a point there, Will," Xander said. "What?" he went on when Willow glared at him. "I gotta be me. What did Anya say?" he asked Tara hopefully.
"She's okay with it, as long as all you do is look."
"No!" Willow cried. "That's... Well, yeah, okay. That does sound like Anya," she conceded.
"Tell me about it," Xander said. "You should see the sites she added to my bookmark folder on our computer."
"Yeah?" Tara asked. "Which sites?"
Willow and Xander looked at her.
"What?" she asked defensively. "I like computers, too."
"Moving right along," Willow said after a brief but pointed silence, "fine. I give in. We can be naked, too. You've already seen me once, right? When you got Addrilanne to zap our clothes off of us, you big jerk."
"Oh, yeah," Tara said. "I've been meaning to compliment you on that one, Xander. That was brilliant."
"Thanks," Xander said with a smile. "I am sort of proud of it."
"You have every right to be," Tara assured him.
"Hey!" Willow said. "Whose side are you on, anyway?"
"I'm on whatever side ends up with you naked, of course."
Willow thought about that for a moment.
"Well," she said, "when you put it that way..."
"I was gonna say," Xander agreed.
"Fine," Willow said. "We'll be naked, too. It probably will help the ritual, when you get right down to it. But just us, okay? Not Michelle, Skye or Angie."
"That's fair," Xander said. "You don't think they'd agree, huh?"
"No, they probably would," Willow said, "but I'm not giving you the satisfaction of seeing all of us in the altogether."
"You're a hard woman, Willow Rosenberg. But fair. It's a deal."
"Great," Willow said.
"So what do we do now?" Xander asked. "Do we have to do anything to get ready for the ritual?"
"Not here," Tara said. "Once you've got your clothes off, we'll have to anoint you. But we can't do that until we get back to the clearing. That's where all the stuff is."
"Anoint me? Like with oils?"
"Yeah."
"There's no rubbing, is there? 'Cause..."
"No!" Willow said. "It's more of a sprinkling than an anointing. From a distance. A very safe distance."
"Good," Xander said, obviously relieved.
Tara rolled her eyes at the both of them.
"Well," she said. "We should get going."
"Yeah," Willow said without much enthusiasm. "Guess it's time to get naked."
"Yeah," Xander said. "Fine. Do we do it here or back at the clearing?"
"Here might be better," Willow said. "Less embarrassing, sort of, and if we're out of our clothes longer there will be even less outside influences."
"Here it is, then," Tara agreed. "Who goes first?"
"Willow," Xander said.
"Xander," Willow said simultaneously.
"I'll do it, you babies," Tara said, and stood up. She looked down at the ground, shy despite her bold talk. Before she could think about it, she pulled off her shirt and unhooked her bra. Dropping both of them on the ground, she kicked off her shoes and socks, undid her skirt and pushed it and her underwear down off her hips and to the ground. Only then did she look up.
Straight into Xander's eyes. He was smiling as he surveyed her nude body.
Tara blushed, but didn't move to hide herself. "What?" she demanded.
Xander's smile grew wider. "Nothing. It's just, now I know for sure that Will doesn't love you only for your personality."
Tara's blush deepened, but she smiled back at him. "Thank you. That's the sweetest thing any guy's ever said to me when I was naked."
Xander laughed. Willow faked a glare at Tara and said, "I should hope there aren't many candidates for that particular honor."
"I'm not telling," Tara said. "Now, not to be a nudge, but shouldn't you guys be stripping down? We're almost out of Witching Hour."
"Yeah, yeah," Xander said. "Me next?" he asked Willow.
"We might as well go together," she said.
"Fine by me," Xander said, and quickly divested himself of his clothes. When he was done, he looked up to see Willow standing naked next to Tara.
"You know," he said, as he examined the two women before him, "I'm wondering why I ever had a problem with this ritual thing."
"That's why," Willow said, gesturing to indicate his lack of clothing.
"Oh, yeah," Xander said. "Okay, let's do this thing." He reached down to pick up his clothes.
"Leave them," Tara said. "We can get them later. It's better if we don't even touch anything until the ritual is done."
"Right, then," Xander agreed. "Lead on." He gestured for Willow and Tara to precede him.
Tara started to move, but Willow stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
"There will be no leading," she said. "And there will most especially be no staring at our asses as we lead, thank you very much. We'll all walk together."
"Can't blame a guy for trying," Xander said, as the three of them started walking back towards the clearing.
"Sure I can," Willow said. "I can and I do."
Xander nodded. "Bet you wish you'd gone with Giles after all, huh?" he asked half seriously.
"Never," Willow said, taking his hand in hers and smiling up into his face. "You're the guy for this one, Xander. You're our paragon."
Xander closed his eyes to hold back the tears he felt forming at the love and trust in her voice.
"You know," he said when he could trust his voice, "no matter how this ritual goes, I have to chalk tonight up as a success. And I don't just mean because I got to see two gorgeous women naked."
"Good," Willow said, and squeezed his hand. "Very good."
"But the gorgeous naked women part didn't hurt, right?" Tara asked, taking hold of his other hand.
"No," Xander assured her, "it most definitely did not hurt."
Walking hand in hand with his friends, who also happened to be gorgeous naked women, Xander Harris smiled.
All was pretty damned good with the world.
END
*****************
Author's Note: I realize the spell Willow and Tara and the others were trying to cast sounds a bit vague and far-fetched, but that's the part that was real. Or as real as spells can get, at least.
Breaks down like this. A friend of mine went to Wellsley. At
the time, she was a Wiccan and believed she could cast spells. She's still very
spiritual and identifies herself as a pagan, but I don't think she considers
herself a Wiccan anymore. Not that I really know the difference, mind you.
Anyway, back in '92 or so my friend and her Wiccan group decided to cast a spell
over Wellsley to keep "men of evil intent," as she put it, from coming
onto campus. I'm not sure what the ritual entailed, but how could I pass up
a chance to get Xander, Willow and Tara all naked, right?
The best part, from my point of view, is that another friend of mine, a guy, was dating someone from Wellsley. He went to meet his girlfriend after the spell had been cast but before he heard about it. He reported feeling very strange as he entered the campus. Make of that what you will. He wasn't a man of evil intent, of course, but it's still kind of neat.
So there you have it, the kernel of reality that went into this fic. Every author puts part of themselves and their life into their stories, of course, but this is one of the few times I've been able to use actual events from my life in a fic. Kinda cool, if you ask me.
Pete