By Danii
Summary: While
helping Giles sort through some of his old things, Xander finds a large statue
of a monkey that the Watcher lets him take home. However, this monkey has a little secret hidden in its golden
body…
Disclaimer: I
own no one. It is all owned by
really brilliant people (who occasionally go insane, but that’s all right) who
are not me, and who will never be me. Someday,
maybe I’ll be one of these nuts…I mean, geniuses, but for now I am but a
peon working with borrowed materials.
Distribution: Put
my name on it and tell me where it is. But
if you want this, I gotta bridge to sell you…
Rating: PG
Note: This is
a crossover. However, I’ll let
you figure out what it is crossed over with in the first few parts. I’m sure that the fans of the other thing will know almost
immediately…
Feedback: Please…I’m
so starved for it…
NOT BETA READ
"What the hell is this?"
Giles didn’t even turn to look at Xander’s latest find from the large pile of junk sitting on the floor in front of them. He’d heard the phrase far too many times for him to have any interest.
However, the Watcher knew that should he not answer, the young man would continue to pester him until he did, and Giles was quite aware at how good young Mr. Harris was at pestering. He had made it not just a science…but an art. An art he enjoyed practicing on him most of the time.
When he finally did look over to see what Xander had picked up, Giles was surprised to find that it was a rare item he had sort of been looking for in that don’t-really-care-if-I-find-I-or-not kind of way. It was the way he looked for most things when they weren’t needed to stop the end of the world.
It was a monkey. A large, golden monkey covered in what Giles had always thought had to be very real-looking crystals. Xander was observing it closely, but the sight of it made the Watcher sigh.
"It would be a monkey, Xander…" he said tiredly.
The young man rolled his eyes. "Duh. What I meant was, what is the SIGNIFICANCE of the monkey? Why is it here with all of this majik stuff?"
"Supposedly, it’s a rare treasure from an island called Pulau Pulau," Giles told him, "The sacred idol of the Wallawalla Biing-Banng tribe which had it’s roots there or some such. Very mysterious."
Xander’s eyebrow rose with a look of skepticism. "Wallawalla Biing-Banng tribe? Jeez, G-man, if you didn’t want to tell me about it, just don’t answer."
Giles didn’t understand. "What do you mean?" he asked, then added, "And don’t call me that again please."
"Sure." The young man said, answering both with one word. "This is the sacred monkey of the Wallawalla Biing-Banng tribe from the island of Pulau Pulau…yeah right, Giles, really original."
"I’m quite serious…" the former librarian said as he pulled off his glasses to clean them of the dust that had accumulated there during their work, "They even say that the island’s greatest hero died saving that monkey from the French Empire…"
"Great." Xander remarked with a smirk, "I’m holding a dead man’s shiny monkey…and didn’t that sound nasty."
"I wouldn’t think so…" Giles answered, a bit of annoyance in his tone, "But then again, your mind can be places that mine just refuses to even look at."
"Thanks."
"Don’t mention it."
Xander gave him a lopsided smile to let the Watcher know that he was just kidding around and understood that he was too. Though rather different, the young man and the former librarian were rather good friends. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t poke fun at one another.
Yet after giving Giles the look, Xander just stared at the monkey. He was so intense in his examination of thing that Giles decided that the young Slayerette would find much more use for it then he ever would. Besides, he didn’t intend to have such a god-awful looking thing in HIS store. So he said:
"You can have it if you like is so much, though I don’t think the metal or the jewels are real…"
Xander, his eyes confused then happy, smiled his thanks then said them out loud.
"Thanks, Giles. It’ll look great in the new apartment."
And the Watcher sighed, wondering what other wonders of bad taste would soon gravitate to the young man’s new home. So he had no choice but to sigh again.
##
Xander was whistling.
It wasn’t an uncommon thing for him to do. At least, now it wasn’t. Now, in his new apartment, he was so happy that often he couldn’t help but whistle. He was out of there. Out of the stupid basement.
And, he thought to himself as he placed it on one of the shelves in what he had designated as the living room, I have a new little golden monkey.
Sure, he knew that it wasn’t gold. Sure, he knew that it didn’t have REAL rubies and emeralds and such. But it was pretty, it shone brightly in the lights of his apartment, and he had a feeling that Anya would like it a lot. She liked shiny things.
"Yeah, it’s junk, Harris…" he said out loud to himself, "But it’s your junk in your home, and it’s really pretty junk."
^Junk^
Xander jerked around, spinning quickly as he tried to find out who had said the word, because it certainly hadn’t been him…or so he thought. But after a minute of nervous scanning, he figured that it was just his imagination or something.
^I didn’t lose my life for JUNK^
"Ahhhhhhh!" shouted Xander, not caring if he sounded like a girl or not. He spun even faster, this time certain that someone had spoken.
^This happens to be a very important artifact, buddy-boy!^ The voice said with a great deal of annoyance, ^I mean, do you know anything about this at all?^
"No" Xander answered. Then he realized something. The voice, while having an entirely different sound and tone to it, was not coming from anywhere around the room or outside it.
It was coming from him.
At least that was what he thought, which was confirmed when he tried to hold his hand over his mouth to see if his lips were moving.
^Awe, get off kid!^ came the voice out of his mouth angrily, ^I’m not gonna shut up, so don’t try it! No one shuts me up but the boss man himself!^
"And the boss man would be?" Xander asked, now a bit more calm. At least the guy didn’t’ sound evil.
^Why the president of course, you little dolt!^ said the voice from his lips again, twisting his jaw into a sneer, ^Who would be Thomas Jefferson, but I’m kinda assuming he’s dead now, right?^
"Yeah, you’d be right…" Xander answered, still freaked but taking it amazingly well. It wasn’t every day a dead guy who had worked for Thomas Jefferson started talking through his mouth defending a gaudy golden monkey from some island that sounded like a TV show’s version of an island paradise. But it wasn’t the strangest thing he’d ever encountered either. Yet one question did bother him
"So, who are you exactly?" he asked, trying his best to be polite to the spirit within him.
^The name’s Jack Stiles…^ the voice said smoothly, ^Known on the isle of Pulau Pulau as The Daring Dragoon.^