When Did That Happen?
Sarah Shapiro
Disclaimer: I own nothing, 'cuz if I did Buffy, Angel, Giles, etc. would be happy.
Author's notes: This takes place during the summer, after season two. Pretend Angel took the arm away to a remote region of the world and that the soul thing never came up and never will. All e-mail goes to scwlc@yahoo.ca. Also, points to those who can identify all the episodes involved.
Summary: Chaos happens when everyone in Sunnydale starts to physically flashback to time when they were turned into somthing paranormal (kinda). Anything else gives it away.
It was a normal day in Sunnydale as Cordelia Chase walked down the street towards her boyfriend's house. Well, as normal as things ever got around there. As she walked along the row of houses Cordelia could see all the things that went on every day in Sunnydale that elsewhere would have drawn attention. Little things, like Amy Madison, tossing the garbage onto the the curb to be picked up by the garbage collection truck. That in itself was not strange. The fact that Amy was doing so without laying a finger on said bags, or even walking to the curb was strange. But it was one among many things that the people of Sunnydale had a major blind spot about.
Cordelia sighed. Ever since the weirdness going on around her had impinged on her conscious thoughts, she had become less and less popular. By the time school had ended for the summer things had reached a point of all-out warfare between her and the once-Cordette Harmony. The battle lines had been drawn with entire school divided between Cordelia and Harmony. Cordelia's boyfriend, one of the official school freak's best friends had somehow gained support from the football and swim teams. That had backfired with the female following but had, however, helped with much of the male population.
Even the faculty had become involved. Willow, as the token nerd of Cordelia's side of the battle, had extra pull, due to her position of de facto staff member. She had been subbing for Ms. Calender during the last month of school while the technopagan computer teacher recovered from her . . . extracurricular activities with Giles. The teacher's pet aspect combined with the unofficial (and slighly illegal) faculty position, had gained the (officially nonexistant) support of both teachers and geeks.
The nerd's support had also been useful as she was the second coolest of the freak set, with the coolest being the freak's freak Buffy Summers. Willow had been something of a loser just a year and a half ago, but exposure to Buffy, the Vampire Slayer had altered her. Willow had gained in both self confidence and fashion sense. After all, Buffy had all the hallmarks of a truly popular teenager. Good looks, wit, style, and a well off family.
Her lack of a good placement in the school's hierarchy was more due to a lack of effort than anything else. Cordelia was certain that if Buffy had put time into her makeup and social life she could have blown both the May Queen and Harmony out of the water. The world would have ended and everyone would be dead, but Buffy would have been at the top of the teenage pecking order.
Abruptly a weird feeling passed through her and Cordelia stopped dead in her tracks. *Great,* she thought *Just the way to start summer vacation. Another Apocalypse.* She shook her head sternly. *Just because a lot of stuff has happened doesn't mean that anything is going to happen right now,* Cordelia told herself firmly as she started walking again, at an increased pace, to Xander's house.
Just as she reached his front door the world vanished. Cordelia screamed in panic and hoped that someone would hear.
Someone did hear.
Xander was sitting in his room fiddling with his guitar and wondering for the gazillionth time if Cordelia was planning on showing. He heard her cries and dashed to the front door. He yanked it open and saw Cordelia at his front door screaming for all she was worth.
He also saw that there was nothing else out there, figuratively speaking.
"Cordy? You okay?" he asked. Quite frankly, anywhere else he would have made a crack about her apparent fear of nothing, but being the Slayer's sidekick had taught him that frightened people in Sunnydale generally had good reason to be scared.
"Xander? Ohmigod, where am I? What's going on? Why is it so dark? I . . ."
He cut off the panicked flow of words, "Whoa! Slow down Cordy! You're on my front porch, and I believe that we were here to do whatever it is we do." Xander said, startled and extremely concerned by Cordelia's panic. He had rarely seen her this scared, and at times she had been the calmest of the Slayerettes. True, it had been due in part to her total cluelessness when it came to facing evil, but this was still worrisome.
Then he saw her eyes.
Normally brown, they were now blue. A shade of blue that no normal person's eyes would be. It was incredibly pale. Her pupils had almost completely disappeared into her irises.
Xander grabbed his girlfriend's arm and, warning her about the stairs, he guided her to the car parked in the driveway. "Cordy, either you've just taken an obsession with fashion too far or something majorly Sunnydale is going on."
"Wait!" Cordelia dug in her heels, "Xander, what . . . where. . . where are we going?"
"We're going to see Giles. Now."
Buffy and Willow were having a girl to girl chat about 'girl stuff'. Willow was sitting on her best friend's bed staring at the other girl with a mixture of delight and weirded-outness. Buffy was sitting across from her on a chair, so deeply involved in recounting her adventure of the previous night she wouldn't have noticed a bomb going off in her general vicinity (or so it seemed).
" . . . And then Angel began to do all sorts of stuff which I won't say Will, but oh god it was just incredible! One day he's not even in town, and the next he's kissing my-"
"Buffy that's . . . that's . . . " Willow said wanting details, just not those details, but stopped here as she had no idea how to continue that sentence. She decided on another tack. "So are you guys doing anything tonight?" Buffy grinned in response. She looked so much happier now that Angel was back.
Willow smiled back, remembering the first chat they had had on the topic of Angel, and considered briefly how much those conversations had changed since the days of the Really Annoying Gorgeous Tall Guy. Angel was now the standard which the other males of the Slayerettes had yet to reach. So mysterious, so romantic, so dedicated to Buffy, so unbelievably sexy and handsome, and smart too! And to top it all off as Cordelia often added, he could dress. To be fair of course, Xander and Giles were not the poster children of hip style, and Oz was the only person Willow knew who could carry of the whole, 'Oz' look.
How Cordelia, Willow, and Ms. Calender envied Buffy's good fortune. At least in the man department. It wasn't that Willow was unhappy with Oz, It was just that sometimes she wished she could enjoy some of the tingly experiences she had heard so much about from Buffy.
The Slayer blushed slightly, "Yeah. Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Y'see, I want to arrange this really romantic evening. Y'know, candlelit dinner, music-"
"Smoochies," Willow said with an envious smile. "I take it you want help with ideas and organisation."
"Well not just that. I want it at his place so that in the morning when we uh . . . um well you know." Buffy said flushing.
Willow did know. Sorta. At least she knew in that she knew what Buffy was trying to say, but she didn't know from experience. Again she cursed Oz for being so slow in the smoochies department.
Buffy stood up and stretched, "Will, I've got some stuff to show you. I just want your help picking out the right thing to wear tonight. I'll be right back." She grabbed some stuff out of her closet and left the room to change, leaving Willow alone with her thoughts.
*Oh well. I wonder if can talk Buffy into lending me some of her clothes for my date with Oz tonight. Maybe . . .* Willow didn't finish her thought as she lurched to her feet. She felt so strange- like she was leaving her body or something. Then she couldn't breathe.
"Buffy! Buffy I . . . " Willow heard her voice growing fainter and began to freak. "BUFFY! I can't . . . " Her voice trailed off as she collapsed. Her last thought was that she was really cranky this had to happen the day she had a date. Then everything went black. She lay on the floor as her heart made one last desperate attempt to work. Then it stopped.
Buffy was in the bathroom changing when she hear Willow's call. Unconcerned she shouted back "Just a minute!"
"BUFFY! I can't . . . "
The fear in Willow's voice made Buffy forget about the dress she had only partially on. Buffy dashed out of the bathroom and back to her bedroom to find Willow lying unconscious on the floor. Buffy dropped to her knees next to her friend and frantically checked for a pulse, breath, anything that would indicate that Willow was still alive. Nothing.
"Ohmigod Willow! Wake up!" Buffy flipped out. Her mind was a blank. Never once had she thought she would find herself sitting next to Willow's dead body.
Something moved, and before Buffy's startled eyes Willow stood up. Her body stayed right where it was.
"Oh. My. God." Willow said her voice stunned. "I cannot believe this happened again! If Ethan is in town I will kill him myself!" Willow's stunned look was immediately replaced with anger.
"Whoa, Will slow down. When did-"
"Remember Halloween Buffy? Remember the guy who changed you into an 18th century girl, Xander into a soldier and me into a ghost? Well I'm a ghost again!"
"Okay. Fine. We'll just go to the library and talk to Giles. Maybe he can tell us what's going on." Buffy was determined to help her friend. Besides, this was Sunnydale. Willow's ghostly condition was probably only the beginning. "Um . . . What should we do with your body?"
After a collective exposition, Willow was reading a book with Cordelia's assistance. The cheerleader, blind the way she had been lthe previous year during that whole witch-who-wanted-to-be-a-cheerleader incident, turning the pages for Willow who, being a ghost and therefore insubstantial, could not. Oz, Xander and Buffy doing what for them passed as research sat at various points around the room. They had started off with Willow and Oz working together, but Cordelia had insisted on helping so here they were. Giles was concerned and upset and Jenny knew that he only got that way when he couldn't find anything about the latest demon or ghoulie they faced within his numerous books. She sighed and got up from the computer for a moment and walked over to him.
"Rupert, you have to take a break. Just a quick one. Clear your head."
"I have to find this Jenny, what if the next thing is more serious? What if it incapacitates Buffy? We can't afford that." Giles was insistent.
"You're not going to get anything done if your brain has fizzled out Ripper."
A silence filled the room.
Giles' head snapped up "What did you say?" he said slowly with exagerrated enunciation.
"She just called you 'Ripper'." Oz said looking puzzled, "Why did she call you Rip-"
The werewolf stopped as he looked at her. Jenny Calender's face was now a hideous demonic mask with small blue spots and a series of lumps and grotesque bulges marred her pretty face.
"Eyghon, how . . . Angel's demon destroyed you," Giles stared into the face of his possessed girlfriend, sounding almost faint. "How did you survive?"
"Ripper, insanity does not suit you. What are you talking about?" The demon smiled at his ex-follower vastly amused.
Suddenly a groan erupted from behind them as Oz dropped to his knees and exhaled sharply "No! It's not possible!" he gasped, "It's nowhere close to the full moon and . . . daytime-" He dropped to his knees and the others watched in fascinated horror as Oz began to transform.
Cordelia's panicked cry cut across the room, "Guys what's going on? What happened to Ms. Calender? And Oz? Xander? Someone?"
Cordelia's panic shook Buffy into action. As Oz stood up, now furred and fanged, he lunged toward the Slayer. Buffy faked left and dove to her right as the wolf leaped forward to smash headfirst into the book cage. Buffy, taking advantage of the effects of that headfirst slam into a solid object, grabbed a length of rope from inside the weapons locker, and using it as a lasso (and thanking her lucky stars it had been left like that from her last training session), she managed to get Eyghon temporarily under control. She turned back to the werewolf who was already recovering from his self-inflicted concussion.
"Xander, Giles, make sure that she can't get out of that but be careful!"
"Buffy," Willow broke in alternately watching the fight and keeping Cordelia from having hysterics "The dart gun! Then at least we don't have to worry about Oz."
Buffy, busy trying not to get bitten or scratched by the wolf, didn't respond but started working herself toward the locker again. Giles' shout disrupted her concentration and a smack from Oz's paw sent her flying. "Buffy don't get the gun! If Eyghon takes possession of Oz in his current state there's no telling what could happen."
"Great so what am I going to do-" Buffy began as she picked herself up. She got her response as Xander, in a valiant if as usual pointless attempt to tie the animal up in chains, leapt on Oz's back. He was thrown across the room and slammed into the opposite wall for his troubles.
Buffy didn't wait to see if he was all right, but leaped onto the werewolf's back herself and proceeded with much difficulty to tie it down and get it contained in the book cage. Oz struggled for a moment, but it was no use. Buffy had done her job well, and he wasn't able to move an inch.
Xander staggered to his feet and looked around the room. The odds of finding a solution to the mess had just fallen drastically. Ms. Calender, currently the only person able to do research on the computer was out of commission, Cordelia had been reduced to turning pages for Willow, and Oz, another of the so-called research assistants was also out of the picture.
"Great. Now Ms. Calender has joined the dark side again and Oz is probably incapable of doing anything besides chasing his tail. What are we gonna do?" Xander asked, his wisecracks, as always, hiding his abject terror.
"I suppose Willow could take over the computer research, and Xander, you and Buffy-" Giles began.
Cordelia broke in her voice dripping with annoyance, "Okay, pathetic-much? Willow can't touch anything how is she supposed to do research? And Xander, being the complete doofus that he is isn't any help anyway and we all know that Buffy is like so not good at the research thing," and Cordelia, all insensitivity aside, had a point.
"First of all 'hey' I am not a doofus any more than you're concerned with anything beyond the latest idiot trend. And second, what's your great plan huh?" Xander demanded to cover up his pathetic excuse for a comeback.
"You and Willow work together to do that computer thing, and Buffy walks me home since I'm no use here, then gets Angel, and they come back to the Library to help with research." Cordelia explained her plan as though speaking to a small child.
Giles was only partly listening. "What I don't follow is how this is happening. It's not Oz's 'time of the month' as Willow puts it , and Angel's demon destroyed Eyghon." He paused, "Is it possible that this is all unrelated?"
Buffy spoke up, "Giles, it's almost like stuff that's happened before is happening over again. I mean Cordy was blinded by Amy's mom, and Willow was a ghost at Halloween this year, and we all know Oz is a werewolf, and this Eyghon thing," Buffy paused trying to organize what she was saying into coherence.
"It's like a really bad flashback episode of The Addams Family," Xander broke in. "Maybe the Hellmouth is out of new material and is filling in time without doing a repeat season. Hey if we're like the A-"
"Xander you may be on to something!" Giles turned around speaking over his shoulder as he began to rummage through his books for relevant volumes, "Willow, see if you can find anything on this . . . uh . . . flush-"
"Flashback," supplied Buffy
"Thank you, flashback phenomenon, and Buffy-"
"Yeah?"
"Take Cordelia home and get Angel will you?"
It was after dark by the time Buffy started on her way to Angel's before anything else happened. She was walking by one of the many Sunnydale cemeteries when she decided to take a short cut through. There was a risk of delay due to unexpected slayage, but she was willing to take it if there was the possibility of an apocalypse.
She stopped and looked around her to make sure that no one would see her, and then easily vaulted the wall avoiding the spikes on top. She landed silently on the other side and took off, weaving between the grave markers. It was quiet and Buffy glanced about nervously expecting something, hoping in fact for a quick scuffle just to ease her nerves a little. Something to take out her tension on.
"Come on Buffy you have to stay calm and whoa they say the first step to insanity is talking to yourself. Chill, okay? It's not like you'll run into the Master or anything." Buffy was about to continue her monologue when a chillingly familiar voice spoke.
"Really Slayer I thought better of you. Who can ever really be rid of me?"
Buffy whirled around feeling slightly sick to her stomach. Standing beside an empty grave was a man dressed in a leather suit that Buffy had been sure she had seen the last of. His hideous face, bald head, and yellowed fangs sending waves of terror through her.
The Master.
"How . . . how . . . you're-"
"Dead? Slayer, because you fear it I am free." He smiled calmly, waiting. Waiting for the words he knew she had to say.
"No! You're not . . . this is a dream!" Buffy's heart was thudding in panic now. Where was Angel when she needed him?
"A dream is a wish your heart makes - This is real life." His hand shot out and grabbed her by the throat. Buffy was paralyzed. She could barely breathe. "What are you afraid of Slayer?" he asked, a smirk on his gruesome face, "How about being buried alive!" As if to punctuate the last word he threw her into the grave. Into a coffin which slammed closed as she hit the bottom.
Buffy screamed and pummelled the lid. It was no use. She was trapped. As she heard the dirt hit the cover she screamed again. "No!"
Her last thought as her air ran out was that this was a really sucky piece of deja vu.
Angel headed into the school. Buffy wasn't home and when he had gone over to Willow's she hadn't been home either. He had already been by the Bronze and there hadn't been any sign of the Scooby gang. The next logical choice was the library since it was more than likely, now that the recreational possibilties had been exhausted, they were researching the latest demon the Hellmouth had thrown at them.
He walked down the hall thinking of everything that had happened in the past two years. Things that he would have said were impossible two years ago. He had fallen in love. And not with just anyone, he had fallen in love with the Slayer. Beautiful, sweet, witty, sexy, smart, Buffy Summers. Of course, the fact was that falling in love with her was easy. He had seen that half of the young men around her were in love with his lover (His lover). What was shocking was that she was in love with him. He could never understand what she saw in him. He was an ancient, undead, vampire monster with more blood on his hands than anyone currently living. Unliving was another story.
But last night! Last night she had given herself to him completely. Angel's errant mind began to recall in exquisite detail the entirety of the previous evening's encounter. How he had run into her as he hurried home. The way that first kiss in six months had felt and how they had somehow made it back to his place without being arrested for indecent behaviour. The way she had looked flushed lying there smiling that way he knew was just for him, the skin against skin-
Angel's thoughts were interrupted as he ran into an extremely worried Xander emerging from the boy's washroom.
"Oh look if it isn't Dead Boy," Obviously not worried enough to leave off the wisecracks and insults, "So you're finally back. Unfortunately. What happened? You decide to hand over that arm to some of the fang gang to get back early?"
Angel sighed inwardly. He had forgotten about one of the major down sides to dating Buffy, one Alexander Harris. The boy didn't trust him. Not that Angel blamed him, the fact of the matter was that of all the group, Xander was the one Angel felt he understood best. The vampire had never quite followed the way the others just accepted him with so much ease. Angel knew that had he been in their shoes he never would have fully trusted himself. Xander's jealousy, another emotion Angel was well acquainted with, and his mistrust were things that Angel understood. On the other hand the boy could be so irritating sometimes.
"No Xander. I actually found a safe place for it to go. And second, don't call me that."
Xander seemed about to respond when he gasped and staggered into the wall. As Angel watched, startled, the boy's head came up and for a moment his eyes glowed, his posture and air changing subtly and totally.
"Xander?" Angel moved forward to give the boy a hand if he needed it, "Are you alright?"
The way he looked at Angel made the vampire uncomfortable. "Sure Angel, I'm fine." Then he laughed.
It reminded the elder man of something although he was unsure of what. The laughter was vaguely reminiscent of the way that Dru would giggle when she was talking to one of her dolls. The thought made Angel even more concerned.
"Are you positive? Because you're acting really oddly Xander."
Xander began to walk towards Angel. Something in his walk reminded the vampire of a hunter stalking its prey. "Of course I'm positive Angel. I'm always fine when I can remove another obstacle between me and Buffy." With those last words Xander moved in on Angel with a series of tightly controlled punches that threw him off balance.
"Xander what do you think you're doing! You can't-" Angel began, confused because even as he said this he realized Xander's strength had almost doubled.
"Can't what? Can't kill you?" Xander laughed again. The same slightly hysterical laugh that had made Angel nervous before. "Please. You're so pathetic with your brooding and your whining. You've always been stronger, Angel, but look who's here to challenge you, freak. You-"
Xander was abruptly cut off as his put downs provided the necessary break in his guard for Angel to get through. He drove his palm straight into Xander's chin snapping the boy's head back, but Xander recovered quickly and swept Angel's feet out from under him. Snarling, Angel's head came up, the face of a handsome young man replaced by the twisted mask of the demon inside him, and he launched himself at Xander.
The boy wasn't there, and as Angel whirled around, realizing his mistake almost too late, he saw a makeshift stake descending aimed at where his back had been. Angel whirled around, knocking the stake out of Xander's hand and was returned with a punch in the stomach. As Xander dove for the stake, Angel took advantage of the moment, grabbing the first thing that came to hand, and brought it down on Xander's head. The desk, which had been left out in the hall by some forgetful janitor shattered, and Xander hit the floor hard.
Angel's face reverted to normal as he looked at the unconscious boy lying on the floor in front of him. *What the hell is going on?*
The vampire shrugged inwardly and began to haul the comatose teenager to the library where some answers might be had.
Willow was just about to go looking for Xander when Angel came in carrying her friend's limp body over one shoulder.
"Ohmigod Xander! What happened?"
"I hit him,"
"With what?"
"A desk."
With that last remark a memory surfaced. Being called a pasty face, and the memory of having had the exact same conversation about a year ago with Buffy.
"Giles!" Willow called.
"What is it, Willow? Is Xander back- oh." the combination of irritation and resignation on Giles's face was priceless.
Willow steadfastly ignored it however, "We're going to need some more rope. Xander's a hyena again."
"Oh dear. There's some in the weapon's locker but I can't see how we're going to get it."
Willow was wondering that too. Not long after Buffy left, Oz had broken free of the chains Buffy had used on him, and had been pacing inside the cage since. Unfortunately this meant there was no way to deal with Xander. If Willow went in she wouldn't get hurt, but she also couldn't pick up the rope and bring it out. If Giles went in he would get hurt. That left Angel. But with Eyghon around they couldn't afford to have any unconscious bodies lying about. Angel was looking at Jenny and curiously asking Giles how in the hell a demon he had killed six months before had miraculously reposessed the man's girlfriend.
That gave Willow an idea. "Angel, remember how we dealt with Eyghon the last time?"
"Yeah," he could see where this was heading. "You want me to put the demon in danger again so it can be wiped out?"
"Yes. That way we've at least temporarily dealt with one problem," Willow noted the vampire's wince and tried to appear sympathetic to the pain he was about to go through, "and we can get some free rope to tie Xander up with."
"Fine. But somebody had better tell me what's going on and what happened to Xander." Angel was getting damned annoyed with having only half explanations. He'd only just returned to Sunnydale and the damn town just hadn't given him a break. "Here we go again," and he grabbed the possessed computer teacher around the neck and began to strangle her. As before, he felt the demon jump to his body. As before, the pain was excruciating. Angel felt like the two demons had changed his body into a battleground.
Finally his demon wiped the metaphorical floor with Eyghon. In the battle's aftermath Angel just lay the floor, wondering why Willow hadn't offered to help him up. Jenny was busy making puppydog eyes at Giles so Angel staggered to his feet and turned to Willow. "All right, will you please tell me what is going on?"
"Well, you see, Angel, we're not entirely sure. Basically we're suffering from what could only be called Hellmouth style flashbacks." Willow paused trying to figure out how best to explain the situation as they knew it. "Like, I got changed into a ghost this afternoon at Buffy's and somehow Ms. Calender got possessed by Eyghon again. Cordelia went blind the way she did when Amy's mom was casting spells on members of the cheerleading squad, and Xander just got possessed by a hyena spirit. Oz is in the cage," she said pointing at the werewolf.
"Wait a minute, these events are happening at random?" Angel asked unsure of the situation, "Is it possible that this is some side effect of the Hellmouth? Some kind of overload of paranormal activity causing the Hellmouth to . . . to-"
"Cause flashbacks," Willow supplied.
Giles stared at them in surprise and said, "You know Angel, I believe you might be right!" He continued "Unfortunately if this is the case then there may be nothing we can do to resolve this problem but wait until the Hellmouth runs out of uh . . . material. The only question is why it would happen now. This does, in fact, resemble a regular occurrence which normally happens, oddly enough, at the turn of the century according to the Christian calendar. Something must have set it off. If only we knew what-"
"Fine. Now that we've figured this out, where's Buffy?" Angel was starting to get concerned. His lover hadn't returned yet, and he hadn't seen her anywhere else.
"I don't know, she was supposed to drop Cordelia off at home and then get you," Giles said suddenly worried, "Someone should look for her-"
Angel was already gone.
Sarah Shapiro
Disclaimer: I own nothing, 'cuz if I did Buffy, Angel, Giles, etc. would be happy.
Author's notes: This takes place during the summer, after season two. Pretend Angel took the arm away to a remote region of the world and that the soul thing never came up and never will. All e-mail goes to scwlc@yahoo.ca. Also, points to those who can identify all the episodes involved.
Summary: Chaos happens when everyone in Sunnydale starts to physically flashback to time when they were turned into somthing paranormal (kinda). Anything else gives it away.
It was a normal day in Sunnydale as Cordelia Chase walked down the street towards her boyfriend's house. Well, as normal as things ever got around there. As she walked along the row of houses Cordelia could see all the things that went on every day in Sunnydale that elsewhere would have drawn attention. Little things, like Amy Madison, tossing the garbage onto the the curb to be picked up by the garbage collection truck. That in itself was not strange. The fact that Amy was doing so without laying a finger on said bags, or even walking to the curb was strange. But it was one among many things that the people of Sunnydale had a major blind spot about.
Cordelia sighed. Ever since the weirdness going on around her had impinged on her conscious thoughts, she had become less and less popular. By the time school had ended for the summer things had reached a point of all-out warfare between her and the once-Cordette Harmony. The battle lines had been drawn with entire school divided between Cordelia and Harmony. Cordelia's boyfriend, one of the official school freak's best friends had somehow gained support from the football and swim teams. That had backfired with the female following but had, however, helped with much of the male population.
Even the faculty had become involved. Willow, as the token nerd of Cordelia's side of the battle, had extra pull, due to her position of de facto staff member. She had been subbing for Ms. Calender during the last month of school while the technopagan computer teacher recovered from her . . . extracurricular activities with Giles. The teacher's pet aspect combined with the unofficial (and slighly illegal) faculty position, had gained the (officially nonexistant) support of both teachers and geeks.
The nerd's support had also been useful as she was the second coolest of the freak set, with the coolest being the freak's freak Buffy Summers. Willow had been something of a loser just a year and a half ago, but exposure to Buffy, the Vampire Slayer had altered her. Willow had gained in both self confidence and fashion sense. After all, Buffy had all the hallmarks of a truly popular teenager. Good looks, wit, style, and a well off family.
Her lack of a good placement in the school's hierarchy was more due to a lack of effort than anything else. Cordelia was certain that if Buffy had put time into her makeup and social life she could have blown both the May Queen and Harmony out of the water. The world would have ended and everyone would be dead, but Buffy would have been at the top of the teenage pecking order.
Abruptly a weird feeling passed through her and Cordelia stopped dead in her tracks. *Great,* she thought *Just the way to start summer vacation. Another Apocalypse.* She shook her head sternly. *Just because a lot of stuff has happened doesn't mean that anything is going to happen right now,* Cordelia told herself firmly as she started walking again, at an increased pace, to Xander's house.
Just as she reached his front door the world vanished. Cordelia screamed in panic and hoped that someone would hear.
Someone did hear.
Xander was sitting in his room fiddling with his guitar and wondering for the gazillionth time if Cordelia was planning on showing. He heard her cries and dashed to the front door. He yanked it open and saw Cordelia at his front door screaming for all she was worth.
He also saw that there was nothing else out there, figuratively speaking.
"Cordy? You okay?" he asked. Quite frankly, anywhere else he would have made a crack about her apparent fear of nothing, but being the Slayer's sidekick had taught him that frightened people in Sunnydale generally had good reason to be scared.
"Xander? Ohmigod, where am I? What's going on? Why is it so dark? I . . ."
He cut off the panicked flow of words, "Whoa! Slow down Cordy! You're on my front porch, and I believe that we were here to do whatever it is we do." Xander said, startled and extremely concerned by Cordelia's panic. He had rarely seen her this scared, and at times she had been the calmest of the Slayerettes. True, it had been due in part to her total cluelessness when it came to facing evil, but this was still worrisome.
Then he saw her eyes.
Normally brown, they were now blue. A shade of blue that no normal person's eyes would be. It was incredibly pale. Her pupils had almost completely disappeared into her irises.
Xander grabbed his girlfriend's arm and, warning her about the stairs, he guided her to the car parked in the driveway. "Cordy, either you've just taken an obsession with fashion too far or something majorly Sunnydale is going on."
"Wait!" Cordelia dug in her heels, "Xander, what . . . where. . . where are we going?"
"We're going to see Giles. Now."
Buffy and Willow were having a girl to girl chat about 'girl stuff'. Willow was sitting on her best friend's bed staring at the other girl with a mixture of delight and weirded-outness. Buffy was sitting across from her on a chair, so deeply involved in recounting her adventure of the previous night she wouldn't have noticed a bomb going off in her general vicinity (or so it seemed).
" . . . And then Angel began to do all sorts of stuff which I won't say Will, but oh god it was just incredible! One day he's not even in town, and the next he's kissing my-"
"Buffy that's . . . that's . . . " Willow said wanting details, just not those details, but stopped here as she had no idea how to continue that sentence. She decided on another tack. "So are you guys doing anything tonight?" Buffy grinned in response. She looked so much happier now that Angel was back.
Willow smiled back, remembering the first chat they had had on the topic of Angel, and considered briefly how much those conversations had changed since the days of the Really Annoying Gorgeous Tall Guy. Angel was now the standard which the other males of the Slayerettes had yet to reach. So mysterious, so romantic, so dedicated to Buffy, so unbelievably sexy and handsome, and smart too! And to top it all off as Cordelia often added, he could dress. To be fair of course, Xander and Giles were not the poster children of hip style, and Oz was the only person Willow knew who could carry of the whole, 'Oz' look.
How Cordelia, Willow, and Ms. Calender envied Buffy's good fortune. At least in the man department. It wasn't that Willow was unhappy with Oz, It was just that sometimes she wished she could enjoy some of the tingly experiences she had heard so much about from Buffy.
The Slayer blushed slightly, "Yeah. Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Y'see, I want to arrange this really romantic evening. Y'know, candlelit dinner, music-"
"Smoochies," Willow said with an envious smile. "I take it you want help with ideas and organisation."
"Well not just that. I want it at his place so that in the morning when we uh . . . um well you know." Buffy said flushing.
Willow did know. Sorta. At least she knew in that she knew what Buffy was trying to say, but she didn't know from experience. Again she cursed Oz for being so slow in the smoochies department.
Buffy stood up and stretched, "Will, I've got some stuff to show you. I just want your help picking out the right thing to wear tonight. I'll be right back." She grabbed some stuff out of her closet and left the room to change, leaving Willow alone with her thoughts.
*Oh well. I wonder if can talk Buffy into lending me some of her clothes for my date with Oz tonight. Maybe . . .* Willow didn't finish her thought as she lurched to her feet. She felt so strange- like she was leaving her body or something. Then she couldn't breathe.
"Buffy! Buffy I . . . " Willow heard her voice growing fainter and began to freak. "BUFFY! I can't . . . " Her voice trailed off as she collapsed. Her last thought was that she was really cranky this had to happen the day she had a date. Then everything went black. She lay on the floor as her heart made one last desperate attempt to work. Then it stopped.
Buffy was in the bathroom changing when she hear Willow's call. Unconcerned she shouted back "Just a minute!"
"BUFFY! I can't . . . "
The fear in Willow's voice made Buffy forget about the dress she had only partially on. Buffy dashed out of the bathroom and back to her bedroom to find Willow lying unconscious on the floor. Buffy dropped to her knees next to her friend and frantically checked for a pulse, breath, anything that would indicate that Willow was still alive. Nothing.
"Ohmigod Willow! Wake up!" Buffy flipped out. Her mind was a blank. Never once had she thought she would find herself sitting next to Willow's dead body.
Something moved, and before Buffy's startled eyes Willow stood up. Her body stayed right where it was.
"Oh. My. God." Willow said her voice stunned. "I cannot believe this happened again! If Ethan is in town I will kill him myself!" Willow's stunned look was immediately replaced with anger.
"Whoa, Will slow down. When did-"
"Remember Halloween Buffy? Remember the guy who changed you into an 18th century girl, Xander into a soldier and me into a ghost? Well I'm a ghost again!"
"Okay. Fine. We'll just go to the library and talk to Giles. Maybe he can tell us what's going on." Buffy was determined to help her friend. Besides, this was Sunnydale. Willow's ghostly condition was probably only the beginning. "Um . . . What should we do with your body?"
After a collective exposition, Willow was reading a book with Cordelia's assistance. The cheerleader, blind the way she had been lthe previous year during that whole witch-who-wanted-to-be-a-cheerleader incident, turning the pages for Willow who, being a ghost and therefore insubstantial, could not. Oz, Xander and Buffy doing what for them passed as research sat at various points around the room. They had started off with Willow and Oz working together, but Cordelia had insisted on helping so here they were. Giles was concerned and upset and Jenny knew that he only got that way when he couldn't find anything about the latest demon or ghoulie they faced within his numerous books. She sighed and got up from the computer for a moment and walked over to him.
"Rupert, you have to take a break. Just a quick one. Clear your head."
"I have to find this Jenny, what if the next thing is more serious? What if it incapacitates Buffy? We can't afford that." Giles was insistent.
"You're not going to get anything done if your brain has fizzled out Ripper."
A silence filled the room.
Giles' head snapped up "What did you say?" he said slowly with exagerrated enunciation.
"She just called you 'Ripper'." Oz said looking puzzled, "Why did she call you Rip-"
The werewolf stopped as he looked at her. Jenny Calender's face was now a hideous demonic mask with small blue spots and a series of lumps and grotesque bulges marred her pretty face.
"Eyghon, how . . . Angel's demon destroyed you," Giles stared into the face of his possessed girlfriend, sounding almost faint. "How did you survive?"
"Ripper, insanity does not suit you. What are you talking about?" The demon smiled at his ex-follower vastly amused.
Suddenly a groan erupted from behind them as Oz dropped to his knees and exhaled sharply "No! It's not possible!" he gasped, "It's nowhere close to the full moon and . . . daytime-" He dropped to his knees and the others watched in fascinated horror as Oz began to transform.
Cordelia's panicked cry cut across the room, "Guys what's going on? What happened to Ms. Calender? And Oz? Xander? Someone?"
Cordelia's panic shook Buffy into action. As Oz stood up, now furred and fanged, he lunged toward the Slayer. Buffy faked left and dove to her right as the wolf leaped forward to smash headfirst into the book cage. Buffy, taking advantage of the effects of that headfirst slam into a solid object, grabbed a length of rope from inside the weapons locker, and using it as a lasso (and thanking her lucky stars it had been left like that from her last training session), she managed to get Eyghon temporarily under control. She turned back to the werewolf who was already recovering from his self-inflicted concussion.
"Xander, Giles, make sure that she can't get out of that but be careful!"
"Buffy," Willow broke in alternately watching the fight and keeping Cordelia from having hysterics "The dart gun! Then at least we don't have to worry about Oz."
Buffy, busy trying not to get bitten or scratched by the wolf, didn't respond but started working herself toward the locker again. Giles' shout disrupted her concentration and a smack from Oz's paw sent her flying. "Buffy don't get the gun! If Eyghon takes possession of Oz in his current state there's no telling what could happen."
"Great so what am I going to do-" Buffy began as she picked herself up. She got her response as Xander, in a valiant if as usual pointless attempt to tie the animal up in chains, leapt on Oz's back. He was thrown across the room and slammed into the opposite wall for his troubles.
Buffy didn't wait to see if he was all right, but leaped onto the werewolf's back herself and proceeded with much difficulty to tie it down and get it contained in the book cage. Oz struggled for a moment, but it was no use. Buffy had done her job well, and he wasn't able to move an inch.
Xander staggered to his feet and looked around the room. The odds of finding a solution to the mess had just fallen drastically. Ms. Calender, currently the only person able to do research on the computer was out of commission, Cordelia had been reduced to turning pages for Willow, and Oz, another of the so-called research assistants was also out of the picture.
"Great. Now Ms. Calender has joined the dark side again and Oz is probably incapable of doing anything besides chasing his tail. What are we gonna do?" Xander asked, his wisecracks, as always, hiding his abject terror.
"I suppose Willow could take over the computer research, and Xander, you and Buffy-" Giles began.
Cordelia broke in her voice dripping with annoyance, "Okay, pathetic-much? Willow can't touch anything how is she supposed to do research? And Xander, being the complete doofus that he is isn't any help anyway and we all know that Buffy is like so not good at the research thing," and Cordelia, all insensitivity aside, had a point.
"First of all 'hey' I am not a doofus any more than you're concerned with anything beyond the latest idiot trend. And second, what's your great plan huh?" Xander demanded to cover up his pathetic excuse for a comeback.
"You and Willow work together to do that computer thing, and Buffy walks me home since I'm no use here, then gets Angel, and they come back to the Library to help with research." Cordelia explained her plan as though speaking to a small child.
Giles was only partly listening. "What I don't follow is how this is happening. It's not Oz's 'time of the month' as Willow puts it , and Angel's demon destroyed Eyghon." He paused, "Is it possible that this is all unrelated?"
Buffy spoke up, "Giles, it's almost like stuff that's happened before is happening over again. I mean Cordy was blinded by Amy's mom, and Willow was a ghost at Halloween this year, and we all know Oz is a werewolf, and this Eyghon thing," Buffy paused trying to organize what she was saying into coherence.
"It's like a really bad flashback episode of The Addams Family," Xander broke in. "Maybe the Hellmouth is out of new material and is filling in time without doing a repeat season. Hey if we're like the A-"
"Xander you may be on to something!" Giles turned around speaking over his shoulder as he began to rummage through his books for relevant volumes, "Willow, see if you can find anything on this . . . uh . . . flush-"
"Flashback," supplied Buffy
"Thank you, flashback phenomenon, and Buffy-"
"Yeah?"
"Take Cordelia home and get Angel will you?"
It was after dark by the time Buffy started on her way to Angel's before anything else happened. She was walking by one of the many Sunnydale cemeteries when she decided to take a short cut through. There was a risk of delay due to unexpected slayage, but she was willing to take it if there was the possibility of an apocalypse.
She stopped and looked around her to make sure that no one would see her, and then easily vaulted the wall avoiding the spikes on top. She landed silently on the other side and took off, weaving between the grave markers. It was quiet and Buffy glanced about nervously expecting something, hoping in fact for a quick scuffle just to ease her nerves a little. Something to take out her tension on.
"Come on Buffy you have to stay calm and whoa they say the first step to insanity is talking to yourself. Chill, okay? It's not like you'll run into the Master or anything." Buffy was about to continue her monologue when a chillingly familiar voice spoke.
"Really Slayer I thought better of you. Who can ever really be rid of me?"
Buffy whirled around feeling slightly sick to her stomach. Standing beside an empty grave was a man dressed in a leather suit that Buffy had been sure she had seen the last of. His hideous face, bald head, and yellowed fangs sending waves of terror through her.
The Master.
"How . . . how . . . you're-"
"Dead? Slayer, because you fear it I am free." He smiled calmly, waiting. Waiting for the words he knew she had to say.
"No! You're not . . . this is a dream!" Buffy's heart was thudding in panic now. Where was Angel when she needed him?
"A dream is a wish your heart makes - This is real life." His hand shot out and grabbed her by the throat. Buffy was paralyzed. She could barely breathe. "What are you afraid of Slayer?" he asked, a smirk on his gruesome face, "How about being buried alive!" As if to punctuate the last word he threw her into the grave. Into a coffin which slammed closed as she hit the bottom.
Buffy screamed and pummelled the lid. It was no use. She was trapped. As she heard the dirt hit the cover she screamed again. "No!"
Her last thought as her air ran out was that this was a really sucky piece of deja vu.
Angel headed into the school. Buffy wasn't home and when he had gone over to Willow's she hadn't been home either. He had already been by the Bronze and there hadn't been any sign of the Scooby gang. The next logical choice was the library since it was more than likely, now that the recreational possibilties had been exhausted, they were researching the latest demon the Hellmouth had thrown at them.
He walked down the hall thinking of everything that had happened in the past two years. Things that he would have said were impossible two years ago. He had fallen in love. And not with just anyone, he had fallen in love with the Slayer. Beautiful, sweet, witty, sexy, smart, Buffy Summers. Of course, the fact was that falling in love with her was easy. He had seen that half of the young men around her were in love with his lover (His lover). What was shocking was that she was in love with him. He could never understand what she saw in him. He was an ancient, undead, vampire monster with more blood on his hands than anyone currently living. Unliving was another story.
But last night! Last night she had given herself to him completely. Angel's errant mind began to recall in exquisite detail the entirety of the previous evening's encounter. How he had run into her as he hurried home. The way that first kiss in six months had felt and how they had somehow made it back to his place without being arrested for indecent behaviour. The way she had looked flushed lying there smiling that way he knew was just for him, the skin against skin-
Angel's thoughts were interrupted as he ran into an extremely worried Xander emerging from the boy's washroom.
"Oh look if it isn't Dead Boy," Obviously not worried enough to leave off the wisecracks and insults, "So you're finally back. Unfortunately. What happened? You decide to hand over that arm to some of the fang gang to get back early?"
Angel sighed inwardly. He had forgotten about one of the major down sides to dating Buffy, one Alexander Harris. The boy didn't trust him. Not that Angel blamed him, the fact of the matter was that of all the group, Xander was the one Angel felt he understood best. The vampire had never quite followed the way the others just accepted him with so much ease. Angel knew that had he been in their shoes he never would have fully trusted himself. Xander's jealousy, another emotion Angel was well acquainted with, and his mistrust were things that Angel understood. On the other hand the boy could be so irritating sometimes.
"No Xander. I actually found a safe place for it to go. And second, don't call me that."
Xander seemed about to respond when he gasped and staggered into the wall. As Angel watched, startled, the boy's head came up and for a moment his eyes glowed, his posture and air changing subtly and totally.
"Xander?" Angel moved forward to give the boy a hand if he needed it, "Are you alright?"
The way he looked at Angel made the vampire uncomfortable. "Sure Angel, I'm fine." Then he laughed.
It reminded the elder man of something although he was unsure of what. The laughter was vaguely reminiscent of the way that Dru would giggle when she was talking to one of her dolls. The thought made Angel even more concerned.
"Are you positive? Because you're acting really oddly Xander."
Xander began to walk towards Angel. Something in his walk reminded the vampire of a hunter stalking its prey. "Of course I'm positive Angel. I'm always fine when I can remove another obstacle between me and Buffy." With those last words Xander moved in on Angel with a series of tightly controlled punches that threw him off balance.
"Xander what do you think you're doing! You can't-" Angel began, confused because even as he said this he realized Xander's strength had almost doubled.
"Can't what? Can't kill you?" Xander laughed again. The same slightly hysterical laugh that had made Angel nervous before. "Please. You're so pathetic with your brooding and your whining. You've always been stronger, Angel, but look who's here to challenge you, freak. You-"
Xander was abruptly cut off as his put downs provided the necessary break in his guard for Angel to get through. He drove his palm straight into Xander's chin snapping the boy's head back, but Xander recovered quickly and swept Angel's feet out from under him. Snarling, Angel's head came up, the face of a handsome young man replaced by the twisted mask of the demon inside him, and he launched himself at Xander.
The boy wasn't there, and as Angel whirled around, realizing his mistake almost too late, he saw a makeshift stake descending aimed at where his back had been. Angel whirled around, knocking the stake out of Xander's hand and was returned with a punch in the stomach. As Xander dove for the stake, Angel took advantage of the moment, grabbing the first thing that came to hand, and brought it down on Xander's head. The desk, which had been left out in the hall by some forgetful janitor shattered, and Xander hit the floor hard.
Angel's face reverted to normal as he looked at the unconscious boy lying on the floor in front of him. *What the hell is going on?*
The vampire shrugged inwardly and began to haul the comatose teenager to the library where some answers might be had.
Willow was just about to go looking for Xander when Angel came in carrying her friend's limp body over one shoulder.
"Ohmigod Xander! What happened?"
"I hit him,"
"With what?"
"A desk."
With that last remark a memory surfaced. Being called a pasty face, and the memory of having had the exact same conversation about a year ago with Buffy.
"Giles!" Willow called.
"What is it, Willow? Is Xander back- oh." the combination of irritation and resignation on Giles's face was priceless.
Willow steadfastly ignored it however, "We're going to need some more rope. Xander's a hyena again."
"Oh dear. There's some in the weapon's locker but I can't see how we're going to get it."
Willow was wondering that too. Not long after Buffy left, Oz had broken free of the chains Buffy had used on him, and had been pacing inside the cage since. Unfortunately this meant there was no way to deal with Xander. If Willow went in she wouldn't get hurt, but she also couldn't pick up the rope and bring it out. If Giles went in he would get hurt. That left Angel. But with Eyghon around they couldn't afford to have any unconscious bodies lying about. Angel was looking at Jenny and curiously asking Giles how in the hell a demon he had killed six months before had miraculously reposessed the man's girlfriend.
That gave Willow an idea. "Angel, remember how we dealt with Eyghon the last time?"
"Yeah," he could see where this was heading. "You want me to put the demon in danger again so it can be wiped out?"
"Yes. That way we've at least temporarily dealt with one problem," Willow noted the vampire's wince and tried to appear sympathetic to the pain he was about to go through, "and we can get some free rope to tie Xander up with."
"Fine. But somebody had better tell me what's going on and what happened to Xander." Angel was getting damned annoyed with having only half explanations. He'd only just returned to Sunnydale and the damn town just hadn't given him a break. "Here we go again," and he grabbed the possessed computer teacher around the neck and began to strangle her. As before, he felt the demon jump to his body. As before, the pain was excruciating. Angel felt like the two demons had changed his body into a battleground.
Finally his demon wiped the metaphorical floor with Eyghon. In the battle's aftermath Angel just lay the floor, wondering why Willow hadn't offered to help him up. Jenny was busy making puppydog eyes at Giles so Angel staggered to his feet and turned to Willow. "All right, will you please tell me what is going on?"
"Well, you see, Angel, we're not entirely sure. Basically we're suffering from what could only be called Hellmouth style flashbacks." Willow paused trying to figure out how best to explain the situation as they knew it. "Like, I got changed into a ghost this afternoon at Buffy's and somehow Ms. Calender got possessed by Eyghon again. Cordelia went blind the way she did when Amy's mom was casting spells on members of the cheerleading squad, and Xander just got possessed by a hyena spirit. Oz is in the cage," she said pointing at the werewolf.
"Wait a minute, these events are happening at random?" Angel asked unsure of the situation, "Is it possible that this is some side effect of the Hellmouth? Some kind of overload of paranormal activity causing the Hellmouth to . . . to-"
"Cause flashbacks," Willow supplied.
Giles stared at them in surprise and said, "You know Angel, I believe you might be right!" He continued "Unfortunately if this is the case then there may be nothing we can do to resolve this problem but wait until the Hellmouth runs out of uh . . . material. The only question is why it would happen now. This does, in fact, resemble a regular occurrence which normally happens, oddly enough, at the turn of the century according to the Christian calendar. Something must have set it off. If only we knew what-"
"Fine. Now that we've figured this out, where's Buffy?" Angel was starting to get concerned. His lover hadn't returned yet, and he hadn't seen her anywhere else.
"I don't know, she was supposed to drop Cordelia off at home and then get you," Giles said suddenly worried, "Someone should look for her-"
Angel was already gone.