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Jacen Solo (galacticsaviour) wrote in parabolical,
@ 2009-10-18 20:10:00

Entry tags:

jacen solo, xander harris (future plot)

Who: Jacen Solo and future!Xander Harris
What: Xander betrayed him. Jacen wants words.
When: 18th October, the day after the rescue
Where: The cell where Xander is
Rating: TBD
Status: In progress

He had taken the night to calm down. Part of him had wanted to tear next door in a rage, to shout and threaten the man who had put his family had risk, who had so horrendously betrayed them all to their enemy. But that man had once been his friend and so for his sake, Jacen waited a night, letting his wife and daughter calm him down. He wasn't worried so much for himself, it would take more than anger to shift him from the Balance he currently walked, but out of respect for his friendship with Xander, he made himself wait until the temptation to Choke him was gone.

It was still early morning and Jacen had only actually had one coffee when he kissed his still sleeping wife and slipped out of their suite. He kept his presence open in the Force to stop her from worrying as he used his security clearance to get into the building next door, aware that the systems would log him moving from the Hyperion to the other area to prevent anyone else from thinking he had disappeared again.

Kidnapping was a Solo trait, it was fair that many might assume something like that again if they didn't know where he was.

He walked over to the werewolf cell that held Xander, watching him from the shadows for a few moments before he stepped into the light.

"Xander."

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battleworn
2009-10-19 04:05 am UTC (link)

Fingers wrapped around the bars within the cage he was being held captive, Xander kept his head bowed as he stared off blankly at the floor. He had been waiting for his moment. The wrong move, someone slipping up the right way, and he would make his escape. In the meantime, he was hanging low. Keeping to himself, trying not to draw in too much attention. It was what any clever prisoner did and Xander had very much learned how to become one over the years. Part of the process was watching and waiting. Learning the routines of those who watched over him, figuring out the lay of the land. He had at least one of those two down, now he just needed to find the perfect opportunity to escape.

He was thinking it all over quietly before someone stepped out from a corner of the room that he had not been focused upon. Lifting his attention from the floor, Xander turned to look at the approaching figure.

His heart nearly stopped when he realized who it was.

"How did you get out?"

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galacticsaviour
2009-10-19 01:14 pm UTC (link)

Before, Jacen had kept his Force senses closed around this version of Xander, trusting him not to betray his friends. Now, even with the man behind bars, Jacen refused to repeat his mistake.

"My friends helped me escape. Myself and Sam Winchester both," he stepped closer to the bars, his face expressionless as he suppressed the rage he felt at the betrayal. More than anything he wanted to know why. Why Xander had betrayed them, why he had changed so much that friendship meant nothing to him now. Along with the fury that his family had been put in danger, there was also the deep sadness that his friend had become so bitter.

"You had to know that they would." He half shrugged, for him it had never been in doubt that the Winchesters and the Hyperion would rescue their own. It was how they all worked after all, loyalty above all else. Xander, it seemed, had forgotten that.

"I thought we really should have a talk."

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battleworn
2009-10-21 01:16 am UTC (link)

Xander should not have been surprised. The second he let that information slip, he should have known that they would find a way to get to the others. That didn't keep them from retrieving Faith and Buffy and Kendra, even if Xander had a sneaking feeling that they would figure out how to if they kept him trapped in here for too long. What would happen then? How would he get them out of here if they lost his trust in him? How was he going to convince them to leave?

Xander didn't need to worry about those things. He couldn't now, not when he was standing face to face with a Jacen that, as he well knew, was not so pleased with what he had done. Why would he be? He had betrayed him. Thrown him to the dogs like a meaningless piece of meat.

It was for a good cause. Least it had been, so long as it didn't get screwed up.

"I suspect this is the part where you start asking the questions. Oh, Xander, how could you? Whyever did you do it?" He kept his fingers wrapped around the bars as he stared out at Jacen unflinchingly. Bring it, Solo.

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galacticsaviour
2009-10-21 01:32 am UTC (link)

Jacen's dark eyes met Xander's stare, just as unflinchingly. Somehow the scowl that was threatening was just pushed back and his face kept the calm, blank expression he had worn when he came in.

"Considering you exploited my friendship with you to hand me over to Wolfram and Hart, I think I'm entitled to ask a few questions," his voice was low, little above a growl. It was not the first time Jacen Solo had ever been betrayed by a friend, but it had been a while. He had forgotten quite how much the sting of it lingered.

"Let's start with what you have possibly thought you had to gain from this. Why you ever thought that Eve could be trusted to fulfill her part of the bargain." Like transporting the Slayers to Russia. Freaking Russia in the early winter when they were dressed for Los Angeles weather. Hardly what Jacen would consider safe by any means.

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battleworn
2009-10-21 06:47 am UTC (link)

"Why not?" He pushed away from the bars and turned to pace. He truly did look like an animal in a cage, stalking back and forth across the length of the area. "I've said it over and over again, but since you obviously feel like you've gotta come all the way to hear what I've told everyone else to you, then that's fine." He turned to look at him directly, hands folding behind his back in a military stance.

"I didn't have a choice. I've heard the alternatives. I've heard about how I had every option in the world that wasn't this act of betrayal, but it wasn't enough. Preparing everyone, trying to convince Sarah to give me more time after she already knew that we had so many people here who needed it? Not. Good. Enough. Spare me the lecture and just nod your head and skip on to the next question, Jackie."

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galacticsaviour
2009-10-21 10:26 am UTC (link)

Jacen just managed to resist the urge to slam Xander back against the wall, to yell, to scream, to make him feel exactly how angry he was. The use of the nickname also stung bitterly, to hear something that was a joke with his friend twisted so much.

"I wonder what Russia is like this time of year," he responded, almost conversationally, a fake relaxed tone in his voice. "I've only read about it of course, I find some of the history of this world to be fascinating, characters like Stalin for example. But I imagine it would be cold, freezing in fact. It was one of the main problems the German army had during the war when they tried to invade. Trained soldiers, prepared for the environment still froze to death."

As he spoke he paced around, every part of him seeming casual until he reached the bars, and stood only inches away, glaring hard. "So, really, it's a wonder that three Slayers dressed for California weather even survived being transported to a dungeon in the middle of nowhere in freezing Russia. Or didn't you know that? Didn't you know where your partner in crime transported your friends?"

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battleworn
2009-10-22 08:33 pm UTC (link)

"They were out of the way," was the immediate response. Xander turned his back to Jacen. "Eve promised that they would be safe. I assumed that included their living conditions." He put a hand to the wall and leaned forward, head bowing thoughtfully. Not a sign of weakness, only that of which displayed his exhaustion for the conversation. "Beside the point, you've cleared underestimated those friends of mine. They're Slayers. They were built to handle things that normal people can't."

The cold, as bad as it was, happened to be one of those things, he was sure. He felt sorry for what it was that they must have gone through, but Xander would not voice that fact out loud.

They were safe, he reminded himself. Nothing else mattered. The weather was a little bit off. That was all.

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galacticsaviour
2009-10-22 08:46 pm UTC (link)

"They could have been killed," Jacen snapped in return, glaring angrily at Xander's back when the younger man turned away. "They nearly were because you trusted Eve to keep her word. Extra Slayer abilities or not, they nearly died because she was never going to keep her promise."

That was the worst thing, the idea that he had been sold out by a friend because of the word of something like Eve. She wasn't trustworthy, would never be trustworthy, and yet the promise had been enough.

The act of furious Sith Lord broke and Jacen became visibly more agitated, letting his emotions creep through. "You know if you had just asked me, asked if I would offer my life to protect them, I would have. If you'd asked Sam if he would die to protect his girlfriend, he would have. But you went behind our backs and trusted Eve over your own friends. Why?"

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battleworn
2009-10-24 02:54 am UTC (link)

"No, you would have sought out some logical and heroic alternative to the obvious solution." Xander turned to face him, looking downright annoyed. "I told them! I told everyone! Leave or die. Did you not see what they had to say in turn? That they would never leave? That they wouldn't let all these innocent people fall because it wasn't right?" Xander marched forward, grabbing onto the bars so that he could lean in as closely as possible to the man at the other side of his cage. "Do you want to know what's not right? Not doing anything at all. Standing by useless - again - while everyone and everything is destroyed!"

Letting go, he pushed back and rubbed at the side of his shadowed jaw angrily. "Tell me you wouldn't have done the same. Tell me, Jacen, that you wouldn't have done everything in your power to keep the people that you care for safe. No matter who you have to cross paths with in order to guarantee that it happens."

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galacticsaviour
2009-10-24 11:45 am UTC (link)

"I did do the same," Jacen responded angrily. "I did, and that path led to Caedus. I used to think like that, that no matter what protecting those people had to happen, no matter what the cost to me or anyone else was. Didn't exactly work out well for anyone." Even Tenel Ka, or Allana.

He wasn't sure what he hoped to gain by coming here, and looking the man who betrayed him in the eye, but he found he couldn't walk away either. Maybe it was sentiment of some kind, but he just couldn't do it.

"Why do you even think that they're not going to do anything? You know they're going to fight, they always do. And with your help they can fight better prepared, fight smarter. You won't have to lose everything again."

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battleworn
2009-10-26 02:00 am UTC (link)

"You're right. And right now? I'm thinkin' that Caedus would have done more good with these people than you ever will." It was a sour call for someone that he had once claimed to be his role model, but Xander was too far gone to care. He was aiming to hurt. That was the sole intention behind the remark delivered and he didn't care if Jacen decided to break into his cage and force lightning him on the spot. It'd leave the very slim possibility of him escaping before Jacen could get his fun lightning going.

...yeah, even Xander knew that one seemed a bit delusional.

"They're not going to do anything right. How about that? They're going to prepare, they're going to underestimate everyone, and they're going to die. Is that what you want?"

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galacticsaviour
2009-10-26 11:52 am UTC (link)

The flare of anger Jacen felt at that statement almost scared him. He leaned in close, his dark eyes flashing with fury. "Caedus would have destroyed everything and everyone in this city without remorse and you know it." He had to know it, Xander had been there and seen some of what Caedus could do. The idea that the insane Sith would help the city was laughable, at best.

"How do you know that?" It was so frustrating, like talking to a wall. "How do you know that with your help they won't underestimate everyone, that with your help they can't survive? Kriff, Xander, the future is not set in stone, why can't you try to help us? What made you stop trusting us so much?"

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battleworn
2009-10-27 12:07 am UTC (link)

"Better to see everyone destroyed than to watch the vampires turn and corrupt them," Xander snapped back, eyes flashing dangerously. Surely he couldn't take Jacen down, but he wasn't going to stand around and let him win this fight. Xander was tired of losing. "Our future is meaningless. It you're not a vampire you're a slave and if you're not a slave you're either one of me or dead!" He sneered slightly, turning to pace the cage again. "But who am I to say that those last two are any different from each other anyway?"

It wasn't about trust. That was not the issue and Xander knew it. "I trust that you'll all do the same, repetitive crap no matter how hard I try to prepare you. I asked everyone to leave, Jacen. What was so difficult about that?"

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galacticsaviour
2009-10-27 09:10 pm UTC (link)

"So this was what, some attempt to kill everyone?" Jacen retorted sarcastically, not even believing that. "The future is never meaningless. Living is never meaningless. Not ever." It actually hurt him to see someone who had once been his friend just giving up like that.

"Where would we go? Let's say you're right and we give up on the people and run, where could we go? If someone isn't here, to make a stand against these vampires then when would it stop? They would spread, surely they would until there was no place left on the planet that was safe. So what would be the point in running?"

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