Disclaimer: I own none of these characters so please don't sue me.
Email: vince92079@yahoo.com
Rating: R
Category: Action-adventure, Angst
Setting: It's pre-season 7 Buffy and pre-season 4 Angel. Basically everything that happened in the series happened. Willow went nuts and got a free trip to Europe for punishment. Angel is still sleeping in the bottom of the Pacific thanks to Connor.
Author's Notes: This is basically a Xander centered story but there's going to be several characters from Buffy and Angel involved in this.
Summary: *WIP* (Pre-S7) Buffy and Dawn go missing setting a chain of events in motion that signal the end of the world. The Powers that Be give Xander a chance to stop it but the outcome may be worse than anything he imagined.
= Xander's comments
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Ch 1 - Oedipus Harris
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"You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe." -- Marcus to Franklin in Babylon 5:"A Late Delivery from Avalon"
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In Room 261 of Sunnydale Hospital was a patient brought in earlier suffering from severe injuries and shock.
Though the man, identified as Alexander Harris seemed to have miraculously recovered from his physical injuries. His mental condition was a different story. After several outbursts he had to be sedated and restrained.
The nurses had noted tonight he seemed strangely subdued and had stopped constantly walking into his room.
Xander looked exhausted and just stared at the ceiling.
Just when I think things can't get any stranger in my life somebody always proves me wrong. Granted I don't have any special abilities or talents like everyone else but I'm beginning to think I really am special. After all how can somebody like myself survive this hellhole for six years?
It's safe to say there's definitely an apocalypse coming. For some strange reason fate made me the guy to try and stop it. Not Buffy or Angel just regular Xander.
The worst part is I screwed up. I had a clear-cut plan on what to do and I can't even do that right. There's only one person who could've stopped this.
Stop that line of thought right there. I know that's what you're thinking and it's not me. Though I do appreciate the vote of confidence.
I sound upset don't I? Well lets see: Buffy and Dawn are missing, the world's about to end and I'm losing my mind so yeah everything's just freakin peachy.
It's like that movie Fight Club. Welcome to my hell, I am Jack's mental breakdown.
See I've been used. Everybody's been stringing me around doing what they want me to do and for some strange reason I keep jumping through the hoops. I don't know why I keep doing it. But I have figured out this much. When I get relegated to a gopher roll an apocalypse shows up. Think about it: I got pressed into donut runs when the sisterhood of Jhe tried to open the Hellmouth. Spike gives me the speech about being the Slayer's groupies three years ago and a bunch of demon tried ending the world with Word of Valois. And now this. Well it makes sense to me.
Everybody seems to want to do what they want without even taking my opinion into account.
So what do I want? I want nothing better than to get a baseball bat and crack it over the head of every single life form that's been messing with me lately.
Not that I'm a vengeful person mind you but everyone has his or her breaking point. I hit mine about 23 minutes ago. Of course that's kinda obvious with the blood shot eyes, the restraints I'm tied up with and the general look of insaneness on my face.
And it wasn't even because somebody's tried to or threatened to kill me three times in the last two days.
Now everybody else is going off to fight the major battle I was supposed to do. Problem is I know things they don't, things I couldn't tell them and I'm not sure but it could make a big difference in this.
But I digress…I think this is a little too far ahead so I'll elaborate. I can tell by all the confused faces you guys all have no idea how I ended up like this. Well it took a little while to get to this point but I'll do the best I can.
It all started about two days ago…
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It was close to midnight as Buffy was training her sister in the art of slaying. For the past three months she had Dawn everything she knew and even thought Dawn didn't have the abilities of a Slayer she seemed to be doing as well Buffy could hope.
They had finished off the nightly patrol, which had ended in front of the magic box.
"So looks like things were pretty dull tonight." Dawn said.
Buffy walked off the sidewalk into the deserted street. "Yeah too bad. I was almost hoping for something. Anything."
Dawn didn't say anything.
"Dawn?"
She turned around and was met with horrible sight. Dawn was knocked out with blood pouring out of a cut on her forehead. Standing over her in the dark alley was a huge silhouette. When it walked out onto the sidewalk it was the last thing Buffy expected.
"Adam."
The demon hybrid could sense the fear in Buffy's voice. "Hello Slayer. Miss me?"
He looked almost the same from the last time Buffy had fought him. The only differences were a large open wound where she had ripped out the uranium power cell and a broken Polgara skewer on his left hand.
"How the hell did you come back? You should be a rotting corpse!"
"You'd think so but your damage to my systems was easily replaceable."
"Yeah right. And I suppose somebody just ran down to Radio Shack and picked up a nuclear battery?"
"You'll find out soon enough."
"Not really. I killed you once. I'll do it again." She threw herself at Adam with every attack she could think of.
"When you defeated me it was because of a spell that made you practically invincible." Adam was blocking and dodging all off Buffy's attack with little effort. "This time you have no spell and no help."
He punched her in the face with enough force to kill any normal person. Buffy fell to the ground using all her willpower to keep from passing out from the blow.
Adam picked up Buffy by the hair. "I would sooner snap your neck than do this but my…associate feels you're worth more to us alive."
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In all the dimensions of the universe there's one that contains the omnipotent forces known to good and evil alike as The Powers That Be.
Their intentions and goals are unknown to most beings. There are a select few however, ones that have achieved a higher existence and are thus pressed into services for the Light.
One of these higher being is a recently ascended power known as Cordelia Chase.
The Powers were caught off guard by her unbending desire to keep ties with the world she had just left and attempt to interfere in it.
They had hoped she would outgrow these unwanted tendencies in time.
They didn't know Queen C like her friends did.
"It's coming. You can sense it too?"
She was in one the small corners of this dimension with another girl, another like-minded individual who couldn't ignore what was happening on one of the Power's favored worlds.
"Yes. It's about to start isn't it?"
"Yep another joyful apocalypse in Sunnyhell and we have to avert it."
"Cordelia how are we supposed to so that? If the Powers know we're directly interfering…"
"We won't." She interrupted. "Besides we're not breaking the rules. We're just…bending them. My ex down there, let's just say that his habit of sticking his foot in his mouth is going to work to our advantage."
"Cordy don't make me do this. Remember in this world I'm dead!"
"I know! And I wouldn't ask you to do this if there were some other way but you know as well as I do that if we don't do something to help out all of them down there will be wiped out. Now I'll pop in from time to time to help as much as I can but you're gonna be running the show from up here."
She looked down trying not to accept this. "Fine I'll do it."
"Great!" Cordy looked relieved. "Good luck!"
With that Cordelia disappeared. Her friend looked down into this world. "Okay. Guess there's nothing to do but wait."
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Now I thought that summertime meant a quid pro bono with bad guys that nothing major ever happens this time of year. So I assumed I could pretty much relax and not have to worry about all the evil and otherwise Hell-mouthy things in Sunnydale.
I was wrong.
Sue me.
Anyhoo here's where it all started...for me at least. I had just finished the major construction work on the new high school. I was raking in the cash and my boss gave me the next week off for the great work my crew did.
I hadn't seen Buffy or Dawn in a while. Or any of the others for that matter. See I work days and Buffy was teaching Dawn the finer points of slaying at night and thus while I worked they slept and vice-versa.
After Willow's little rampage Giles took her to England to try and get some control over her abilities. I've talked with them a few times but they're way out in the middle of nowhere to be alone so I'm not trying to bother them much.
Seeing my oldest friend go nuts like that scared me. More than you could possibly imagine. So even though I miss Wills I know this is for the best.
Spike disappeared before Tara died and I can't say I'm too heartbroken he's gone. Not much more to say about that.
As for Anya...well I'll get to that part in just a sec.
I was winding down after that last workday at Fat Rick's. It's a bar down on Main St kinda close to the Magic Box. It's your basic bar with a pool table, darts and most importantly beer. Everything a young man needs to forget about the world. Trust me on this one forgetting about Sunnydale takes *alot* of booze.
"Hey nice shot man!"
"Thanks dude!"
I was spending most of the night playing pool. The guy I'm playing with is Oz. Yeah I know what you're thinking. It's probably something like: But Xander didn't Oz leave town three years ago? Well he did but this summer he decided to stop down for a visit.
He found my place and the first thing he did was give this long drawn out speech about how he had accepted Willow's relationship with Tara and wanted to just catch up what's been going on in Sunnydale.
Oz probably said more words in that twenty-minute span than he did in our entire senior year. Then I told him what had recently happened. How Tara died causing Willow to go postal and nearly destroyed the world. Wanna know what his response was?
"Whoa…"
Oz you're a pal and it's nice to know some things never change.
Him coming back was perfect timing at least to me it was. See I was getting pretty damn lonely with everyone else busy and at least now I could hang out with a good friend. Cause let's face it's better to have a friend around than be alone.
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From the other end of the bar. A drunk, red haired vengeance demon was getting sloshed.
"Another drink."
"Miss that's your fourth shot of Everclear!"
"Just give it to me!"
She downed the shot the bartender gave her and stared at Xander. "Yeah that's right Xander I'm looking at you! You no good wedding running…something!"
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That incredible drunk redhead at the bar slurring with the insults is my ex-fiancée Anya. I got scared and ran off on our wedding day. Hey it wasn't totally my fault! Would it make you feel any better if I said I still feeling guilty as hell about it? Well I am. She was already drunk when Oz and I stopped in. So I just figured I should leave her alone we'll just keep to ourselves for the night.
Of course I forgot Anya gets *really* strange, even more than usual, when she was plastered.
"So Oz enjoying your extended tour of hell yet?"
"Guess so. No offense man but I'm almost happy I left when I did. Buffy and Tara were killed. Everybody else went through a lot of angst the last two years."
"Tell me about it. You got to leave, in that I envy you to no end."
"Why don't you get out of here too? I mean Xander haven't you ever wanted to just leave and not worry about coming back?"
That was a really good question. For six years I never really answered it. Then again I didn't put much thought into it either. Of course having a few beers causes you to get slightly buzzed and not worry about what you say. Anybody could tell you that. Opening my big mouth...I guess that was first mistake. So as I was lining up the eight ball in the corner pocket I said:
"You know what I want? I wanna know before hand when the demon shows up on my wedding day and the Uber-geeks try to kill my friends and all the other crap they try to do so I don't get strung around for months feeling like a moron."
"So you're basically wishing to see the future?"
"Yeah that'd be nice. Ah but I guess
I'm just ranting. Hey you wanna get
outta here? Call it a night?"
"Sure."
Little did I know a certain vengeance demon had heard my little rant. By now Anya's head was spinning around. She managed to hear me and not knowing any better in a drunken haze muttered "Granted." A second later her head hit the bar and she passed out.
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She couldn't believe it. It had worked just like Cordelia said it would.
She got ready to do her part. "Okay Xander, be careful what you wish for."
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A few steps before Xander made it to the exit his head started spinning.
He found himself standing in a dark cave. He looked and saw a scared Dawn a couple of feet to his right.
"Xander? What did you do?"
He noticed Dawn was looking at something in front of him. Buffy was sprawled out on the ground, blood was pouring out of a large cut in her midsection.
It was then that realized he was holding something. He lifted up his right hand to show the sword he was carrying. One that was covered in blood.
He dropped it with a look of sheer horror.
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"Hey man you okay?"
Xander snapped out of whatever haze he was in. He looked around and attributed his little hallucination to a head rush.
"Yeah I'm fine."
"You sure?" Oz asked after they walked out of the bar.
"Trust me man I'm fine."
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From an alleyway in the darkness, a recently souled vampire was watching Xander and Oz walk away.
"It's coming. It's coming to destroy us all. It's coming and…and I better make sure my bags are packed."
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The rest of that night wasn't any better for yours truly. As soon as I fell asleep I started having a particularly memorable nightmare.
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Xander was in front of the Magic Box. He was scanning the area. Finally he walked into the alley behind it and saw blood everywhere. It had looked like slaughter had occurred here.
He looked down in a puddle of blood and pulled out a gold necklace.
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Xander and Oz were now both in the ruined Magic Box. In front of them was a robed figured who had appeared out of nowhere.
"Where are they?"
"What? No sarcastic monologue? Mr. Harris I'm hurt! You had no idea how much I was waiting for a fellow comedian to engage with! Add to the fact I could probably kill you in a heartbeat you really don't want to make me upset."
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He was back in the dark room. It was exactly the same as the first time he saw it. Xander saw the panicked Dawn questioning him and Buffy laying motionless and bleeding to death on the ground. And again he was holding a blood-covered sword.
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Xander had sweat pouring down his face as he jerked awake in his bed. He looked around for a few seconds and realized he was just having a nightmare. He quickly walked into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face.
He looked in the living room and saw Oz sound asleep on the couch.
"Man that was freaky. I have got to lay off the extra spicy chicken wings that late at night."
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I didn't go back to sleep that night. Every time I closed my eyes I kept thinking back to that nightmare. I guess it's a good thing VH1 still had it's Up All Night Insomniac Music Videos.
Oz and myself drove over to the Summer's house that morning. We had been looking forward to this for a long time. An entire week hanging out just the four of us. So imagine our surprise when we went into the house and nobody was there.
"Hello? Buffy? Dawn? It's Xander and Oz. We've got ice coffee! Perfect for an eighty-seven degree August morning! Hello?"
They went upstairs to look. Xander peeked into Buffy's room. "She's not here."
Oz likewise looked into Dawn's room. "Neither is Dawn."
Both of them went back downstairs and searched the house. They split up and looked in every square foot of the residence.
Xander met back up with Oz a few minutes later. "They're not here."
"Yeah I checked the machine and there's messages from last night. I don't think they came home after patrol."
"Maybe they got up early? I mean let's not jump to conclusions."
Oz agreed. "You're right. They gotta be someplace."
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"This isn't what I wanted Frankenstein! The girl's practically dead!"
"You said don't kill them. They're still breathing. Why leave her alive? She's too dangerous to just leave like this!"
"Yeah every time an apocalypse comes along she stops it. This way with her already here, weak and under control she won't be able to interfere in this chain of events."
Buffy looked around. The pain shooting through her body was excruciating. She could see Adam talking with another demon on the far side of a dark cave lit by candles. Dawn was tied up next to her looking both scared and relieved that her sister was okay.
"She's awake."
The demon walked over to Buffy. "You're awake. Want some water?"
Buffy didn't even look at the bottle.
"Yeah you're sister did the same thing. Don't make this any harder than it has to be."
"Or what? You'll kill us?" Buffy spat out.
"Me? No way! You have any idea how hard it is to clean blood off this robe?"
Buffy didn't say anything so the demon went on. "See I know this probably inconvienced you kids but I needed to get you two here somehow. So I had ol' Butt Face over there bring you here."
"Whatever the hell you are. I'll stop..."
The demon groaned and put his hands up. "Please! Christ you're just like Angel! I thought it was just part of his tortured soul act. Ugh that settles it! Bad guys are much better talkers. We're better dressers too. Just look how much better Angelus dressed after you boned him."
"I really didn't want to know that."
"Fine. Let's go back to you're little belief you'll win. You can't stop me. You're so weak you can barely stay conscious and trust me you'll stay that way. And all of your buddies aren't here. Well all except Mr. Harris but I have big plans for him."
"Leave him alone!"
Adam finally walked over. "Let me gut her. If anything it will shut her up."
"No. We need her. And like I said the boy's too important to my plan." The demon replied. "Oh let me answer that other question when you asked what the hell I was. For the record the name's Sahjhan. And don't get so self-absorbed in your rep Slayer. I'm not here for you." He pointed at Dawn. "I'm here for her."
Sahjhan waved at Adam. The giant backhanded Buffy in the head and she fell unconscious. The last thing she heard was Dawn's panicked screams.
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We looked everywhere that morning. And when I mean everywhere I'm being serious. Let's just say I hope sometime in the future I can look back and laugh about getting thrown out of a morgue.
We were running out of options. The only place we hadn't checked yet was the Magic Box. It was still a wreck. Willow's attack had ruined most of the building and Anya hadn't bothered cleaning much of it out yet.
"Anya's not here?"
"With all the beer she drank last night she'll probably be recovered from the hangover by Labor Day." Xander told him.
"Good point. So how'd you get in?"
"I have a spare key. Anya gave it to me and kinda forgot about it after we split."
He ran around the corner to the side entrance. As soon as he rounded the corner he stopped and felt sick.
The alley was covered in blood. "Hey over here!" He pulled out a gold necklace that spelled Dawn from a puddle of blood near his feet.
Oz ran over. He took the necklace from Xander and sniffed it a few times. "Her scents all over this"
Xander replied while not taking his eyes off the necklace. "Yeah. This can't be good."
He quickly realized he had seen this before. This was exactly what had happened in his dream.
Xander turned even paler than he already was.
"Xander you okay?" Oz asked.
It took him a few seconds until he said. "No. No I'm not."
One freaky nightmare, right? So much for that theory. Well how would you feel if one of your dreams came true? Not to mention in one of them I saw myself killing my best friend. But I was still ready to put it off as just a coincidence. There were more important things in my mind. Two of my best friends were MIA and I didn't have a clue what was happening. Of course at this point I had no idea who or what happened to them. That was about to change. I wish I knew then of the hell I was about to go through.
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TBC