Disclaimer: I do not own anything, it all belongs to other people, but I can still dream, can I?
I don't own BtVS and neiter do I own Ragnarok Online... well except for the littl' character I have created, that's mine, mine, all mine (mwahahaha)
Despite this being a Halloween fic, this is not a part of my Halloween Drabble series.
Why? Simple: It is too long to be a drabble.
Goetterdaemmerung.... Sunnydale Style
Simone of the Zordiak
He watched the children rummaging through his shop with a bored expression on his face. Children these days didn't seem to be very creative with their costumes. Monsters, demons, witches, everything had to be full ready to be worn, without the loving touches of a home-made costume, nothing they could be proud of, nothing that needed their own imagination. It was sad... and boring. Yet tonight would be anything but.
An older boy stepped to the registry, dumping an interesting assortment of items on the counter for him to ring up. Ethan frowned a bit, there was a red high-closed robe with golden accents on the throat and wrists, a longhaired cobaltblue wig, a richly decorated belt in Viking style and a similar necklace, a green and yellow wizard hat, a pair of sunglasses, lots of costume jewels in different colours and forms, a ring with an eye-sharpened sigil, a fake dagger, a small square shield of sorts and a short beige overcoat. It looked like a wizard of some kind, but for the first time this evening, Ethan had no idea who the boy wanted to display.
He had just started to ring up the boys purchase when two girls stepped up next to him, each of them dropping a similarly puzzling load.
The red-head girl had chosen a green robe with white and yellow accents in kimono-style, the same type of short beige overcoat and the square shield as the boy, a ornamental golden tiara, like they were part of his princess packages, an assortment of costume jewels, a pair of black gloves, a simple brooch, a pair of fake
studded knuckles and, and this surprised him the most, a gold-colored staff that was topped by a large ornamental cross in Nordic design.
The other, blonde and younger girl had voted for an open-styled robe in a simple black, a dark-brown overcoat that looked like a cape, a black clothmask that would cover the mouth and nose of the girl, a simple white bandanna, a longhaired white wig, costume jewels, black gloves with a fake fur trim, a ring with a
blue stone and two differently looking fake daggers.
The boy paid for his purchases and waited until Ethan was done with the items of the girls.
Ethan watched them go, a grin on his face. He had no idea what they would become, but he had a feeling that it would be good.
-o--o--o-
Xander looked at his final prop with a critical eye, before he moved the costume jewel a tiny bit more to the left side, nodded and then glued it on with superglue. Finished. Finally.
He had started to work on the staff about half a year ago and now finally he was done. It was a masterpiece.
The staff had been craved out of ashwood and was about three feet long. One side ended in a sharpened spike, for even with Giles saying that Halloween was a big no-no for vampires, you could never know and he had no deathwish, he would not go out unarmed after dark. The other end he had taken advance on a large natural knotting in the wood, had hollowed out and then craved it into short 'fingers', that looked a lot like claws. Between the claw-fingers he had glued a glassball, about as large as his fist that he had bought cheaply in the Magic Store, a shop he was now suspecting, was selling more than the esoteric and new age junk... well you could never know on the hellmouth.
Of course he had sanded the staff to a smooth finish, before he had started craving runes into the wood, he hated the thought of splinters in his palms. Since he had started craving stakes for nightly patrols, he had learned to appreciate a well sanded stake.
Where was he? Oh yes, the runes.
He had taken a lot of time and care to select the right runes for his staff, he wanted it to be absolutely right and had done a bit of research in Giles old books. His fingers slid over the craved lines, Ansuz, Kenaz, Algiz, Mannaz, Eihwaz and Hagalaz, six runes standing for wisdom, protection and similar positive aspects and the sigils of three Nordic gods, Baldr, God of light and wisdom, Odin, the great All-Father and Vidar, God of independence, solitude, and freedom. Those were the perfect symbols for his arc wand.
He had used silver lack-paint to partly fill out the lines he had craved and had covered the entire staff with a protective finish. Now, that he had glued on the fake jewels, the work of half a year was done.
Xander put the staff aside, not wanting to ruin it in the last moment and fished for the belt, superglue and costume jewels readied, he started to prepare the rest of his costume. Tonight he wanted everything to be perfect.
-o--o--o-
Dawn frowned for a moment as she looked at the items laid out before her. Something was missing, the final kick of the costume. Hmmm... not the bandanna, the white triangle she had attached to it was perfect. Actually, every article she had prepared was perfect, but still, something was missing and it irked her. But she didn't had the time to worry about it, she had to dress up or she would miss the fun.
-o-
"Dawnie?" Her sister poked into her room, just as she adjusted the brown capelike overcoat, 'Manteau' her inner voice corrected and she felt like rolling her eyes at her Xander-sounding inner voice.
"Yes, Buff?"
"Willow and Xander are here and Xander says that he has something for you."
Dawn stormed down the stairs, only to stop short at the sight of her two comrades in this scheme.
Xander was wearing the blue wig, the long hair pulled in a high ponytail and two strands of hair were framing his face. On his head he wore the wizard hat and high on his forehead was a pair of sunglasses with a single teardrop shaped costume jewel on the bridge. His short overcoat allowed her to see the design he had placed on his robe with black electric tape, a six-pointed star in a circle. On his left arm he wore the shield and in his right hand he carried 'the staff'. Dawn had seen it several times before, but now it was breath-taking. So much work. All for one night. In the richly decorated belt he wore, his second weapon, the fake dagger, was visible. Around his neck he wore the necklace in Nordic style and a simple pair of boots completed his outfit. At the boots, the shield, the dagger and the overcoat, he had glued teardrop shaped costume jewels in different amounts.
The results were fantastic.
Willow's get up was not less breath-taking. She didn't needed to wear a wig, her hair was red already, but she had combed and plaited it in a strict single braid. On her head she wore the tiara and the tips of her ears were pointy, like those of Mr Spock. Her robe hadn't needed ornamental adjustments, but didn't looked less stunning than Xanders ensemble. Her fake studded knuckles were attached to the kimono-belt of her robe and she proudly held the long cross-topped staff she had tastefully decorated with costume jewels in her black gloved hands. The gloves she had decorated with golden ornaments in eye-form and runes. And her short brown overcoat was closed at her throat with a simple, gemstone brooch.
Like Xander, she had put teardrop sharpened costume jewels on her articles of clothing and other assorted items.
She looked regal in her gear, if not for the nervous smile she displayed.
"Hi, Dawnie," Xander smiled at her.
"Hi Xand', Willow, you two look so, so... wow!"
"Thanks Dawnpatrol, but you didn't look too shabby either."
"Yeah," Dawn twirled around so that both could see the full effect of her costume, "but I feel like something is missing and I don't know what."
"I know what, Dawn," Xander said with a serious face.
"Do you remember two weeks ago, when Willow and I went to the AniCon in L.A.? I told you that we both had found some awesome stuff for our costumes? Well Willow found those marveouls ears you can see her wear today and I found something good as well, but then I decided to do with the sunglasses, because, well you know my motto in the game and I thought it would fit better. And so I have something that would be fitting for you."
He held up a clear plastic baggy he had hidden behind his back.
Dawn squealed. "Angel Wing Ears! You bought Angel Wing Ears! You are the bestest, Xander!"
With Willows and Xanders help, the fake winglike protrusions were soon attached to Dawns ears and when she looked into the mirror she knew that this was 'it', the final missing ingredient of her costume.
The white wig was bound into a topknot with a simple black cloth. Blending into the white of the hair was the bandanna, the white triangle sitting in the middle of her forehead.
The two snow-white angel wings poking out at both sides of her head added to her seemingly innocent image. An image that was abruptly destroyed by the black clothmask covering her mouth and nose. Her dark clothes added to the lost innocence look, the gloves, the two daggers and the heavy furcovered boots completing her costume, a lot less elaborate than Willows and Xanders, but fitting for the character she wanted to display.
"Ready to go?" Buffy was standing at the door in her elaborate princess dress, but somehow her costume paled against the costumes worn by her friends and sister, for you could see the work and care the three had used to make their get ups, while her dress showed no traced of individual additions.
"Yes, Princess Buffy, we don't want to let Snyder wait for us, do we?" Xander grinned and hefted his staff. Dawn's smile was hidden behind her clothmask, but it was still there.
This was going to be a fun night.
-o--o--o-
She was laying the cards, humming a children's play song from the last century.
"The kitten will become a hunting cat tonight, playing mousie games with bright claws. Rhhwarr, all glittering and sharp, watch the little mousies run, no place to hide, dead are the mousies, dead dead mousies tied up with a string."
She turned over three cards, the Hermit, the Mage and the Hanged Man."
"The little tree will burn brightly, burn but not be burnt. Burning Dru, burn, no more Drusilla, burnt to ashes by the ash."
Three more cards were turned, the Highpristess, Temperance and Strength.
"The light will hide tonight, thousand faces, but none is real. Keylight dances, like dustmotes dances little light and we fall down."
Again he nimble fingers turned three tarot cards, the Star, Justice and the Chariot.
"That's nice pet, but tell me about the slayer. What will happen to the nasty slayer tonight, my wicked plum."
Dru giggled and turned to her doll.
"Miss Edith says the slayer will be all fluffy and weak tonight."
A card was set down. The Lovers.
"All for the wicked Angel-beast, that stole our daddy away."
The next card. The devil.
"It will not work, too fluffy for the Angel-beast is the little slayer girl."
The last card. The tower
"But the kitten, the ash and the light will be there and shiny kitty claws will claw you, Rwaaarrr, if you try to play with the fluff. They don't like to share."
She giggled again.
Spike had heard enough. A fluffy slayer was a helpless slayer and if he was careful, he could do away with her tonight, giving him a better chance to get to the poof and to heal his wicked plum.
He went out, not hearing Drusillas next little song, not seeing that she was laying the cards for him.
"Ring around the rosies,
pocket full of posies"
The Wheel of Fate.
"Ashes to ashes"
Judgement.
"we all fall down."
Death.
-o--o--o-
Janus' magic flooded through the streets of the town like an invisible tidal wave, changing those touched by bits of anchoring magic into what they had wanted to portray this night. Chaos was beginning.
Chapter 2
Willow of the Rose, Priestess of Freya, was confused. Just the moment before she had sat near the fire of their camp, sharing the last fruits with her comrades while waiting for the meat to cook over the fire, and now she was here, where-ever here was, in a town she didn't recognise, with squealing little monsters around her.
Threateningly she swung her Grand Cross at them and the creatures squeaked and ran away. She 'hmpfed', little cowards, the lot of them, not worthy of her time.
Now she had more important things to do. She had to find out where she was, how she had gotten here and if any of her companions had also been dumped her.
With the ease that came from countless hours of practice and use, she shouldered her weapon and started to randomly walk into one direction. Some inner instinct that had never lead her wrong before, was telling her that some of her comrades were in this direction. Under her breath she muttered a quick prayer to the One Eyed God, she had the bad feeling that she would need it.
-o--o--o-
Alexander the Blue, often called Xander by his friends and collages, Wizard of Geffen Tower and city, was beyond pissed of. He had been dumped here, in this Baldr-forsaken town and while he had no idea where he was, he had a good idea how it had been done and that him being dumped here had not been the only bad thing the magical force had done. A simple sense spell allowed him to see that the little creatures around him were enspelled human children, a realisation that came almost too late, for he had to raise up a firewall, harming Morning Light in the process. Morning Light, who had been about to claim her first kill for the night.
The assassin yelped in surprise as the fiery wall went up between her and her goal, burning her hands in the process.
"I am sorry, Morning Light. But I couldn't allow you to lay harm on these beings. Someone, some mangy piece of Fenris offal, has enspelled human children to become these beings. They shall not be harmed by us. Instead we have to try and break these enchantments."
His hand vanished into the nothingness that was his personal carrying space, digging for a potion, while Morning Light processed the news that she had nearly killed a human child, which would have been a great crime in the code of conduct of the Desert Shadow Assassin clan. She was shocked how close she had come to commit this grievous injustice, relieved that Alexander had been there to stop her and very, very angry at the one responsible for the children's transformation.
To enspell children like this was an offence against her strict moral codex and she wanted nothing more than to teach a lesson or ten to the one responsible for this crime.
Alexander handed her a slim vial with a yellow-ish orange fluid, a concentrated healing potion for lesser injuries. Thankful she took the vial, removed her clothmask and drank the fluid. The potion worked quickly, she almost could see the damaged skin being replaced by new one. As a test she flexed her fingers, no pain. She smiled and replaced her mask. Now she was ready to hunt down the piece of faeces that was behind this chaos.
"Wait a moment." Alexander was looking down the street, searching for someone. "I think there is at least one of our companions down this street and they are coming here."
"Who?"
"Well, it's neither Wolfkin nor La Cruz and I also don't think that it is Darkstalker, since I can't feel the magical aura of an animal companion, no Falcon, no Pecopeco and no annoyingly cute Lunatic. That means it is either Willow or Argentum. Well, we will see."
He shrugged and turned to look down the street again.
A few moments later he could recognise the magical aura surrounding the coming friend.
"It's Willow."
Morning Light released the air she had not been aware she had been holding until now. She preferred the Priestess over the snobby Blacksmith they had hired for this adventure any day. Willow she knew the longest next to Alexander, both having helped her, when she had been a young novice, fresh from the training centre. Together the three of them were the ground unit for all of their adventures, the others members of the team changed with each of their chosen locations.
"Willow," she heard Xander greet the Priestess, "it is good to see you." Then he told her his findings about the little creatures that were running around in this strange town and Morning Light could see the mix of surprise, anger and relief on her face. Anger, that someone had dared to do such a feat and relief, because she had not yet slayed any of the annoying shrieking creatures. And now she wouldn't.
"We need to know more about this city," she stated to her friends, "We need knowledge about who was able to do such magics and where such a person would most likely hide. A guide, we need some who is local to this town."
A shriek gelled through the air and the three looked at each other.
"Maybe we should help the owner of this voice first." Xander smirked, "If only to free the poor creatures of their annoying voice."
Willow and Morning Light rolled their eyes, that was purely Xander. The Wizard loved to make sarcastic remarks whenever he could. But in this case he was right, maybe they should help.
The three wandered into the direction the scream had come from, each with their weapons ready and primed for a fight. Xander was permanently casting 'Sight' and 'Sense' spells, for this was a strange town and neither of them had liked the surprises it had offered so far.
-o--o--o-
This was not Cordelia's night. First her date had stood her up, then this creepy little creatures had started running around and now she was hugged to death by a weepy, 17th century version of Buffy. A weepy Buffy that had just nearly deafened her with her shriek as she had seen the car driving close by. Cordelia's ears were still ringing. Was this the secret of Buffy's success? Shrieking at the poor vampires and while the demons were trying to regain the equilibrium, staking them? Cordelia entertained the fantasy for a moment before banishing it to the back of her mind. This was not the time to think humiliating things about Buffy Summers. Later, after she had survived this wacky night, she would have time enough.
While she was musing what to do with the, not up to her standards, slayer, three more figure came walking down the streets. Three persons she recognised, but their clothing looked rather strange.
Xander was speaking a few strange words, took a look at the two of them, nodded and turned to his two companions.
"The lady in the dress is under the same spell as the children, the woman in the cat-gear is not enchanted."
Willow and Dawn nodded in response, while Cordelia could practically feel the questionmarks popping up around her head.
Xander turned back to her.
"Excuse me, miss, but are you a local of this town? My friends and I have somehow been brought to these lands, through the means of magic. We require the help of a Wizard of some power, a Sage or someone otherwise well educated in the means of the occult."
"What are you talking about, Xander? Of course you know that I'm a native of Sunnydale. So are you, Willow, Dawn and the cowering wreck that is Buffy Summers, fashion victim extraordinare."
He looked at her with a puzzled expression on his face.
"You know me, miss? I have to admit that I have no idea who you are and neither do I know the streets and houses of this Sunnydale. My name is Alexander the Blue. Wizard and adventurer. I am a local of Geffen, the home of the Magetower and Academy."
"My hometown is Prontera," Willow piped up, talking for the first time since they had met the strange duo of enchanted lady and cat-suit clad woman, "I am Willow of the Rose, Priestess of Freya."
"My name is not Dawn, it is Morning Light, of the Desert Shadow Assassins. I hail from the city of Morroc."
She stared at them. "Oh God, it got you too."
The three looked at each other, Xander casting his spells again.
"If the strange enchantment has been cast upon us, my spell is not finding it. But another mage might be able to uncover the spell."
"Oh great," Cordelia muttered, "now I am surrounded by four nutsies. I can't believe it."
"That might be, miss. But we need to find the one responsible for this enchantment. We have to break it to release the children of this town from the spell. They have been turned into all kind of creatures against their will."
This had to happen, of course, this was Sunnydale after all. She could feel a headache coming. Next year she was soo going to barricade herself in her home, bury herself in a mountain of pillows and would not come out until the night of Halloween was officially over.
But unfortunately, she thought as the whimpering Buffy-Lady hid herself once more behind her back as a loud howl sounded through the night air, she couldn't do so until Halloween next year. And to be able to turn her plan into reality, she had to survive this years chaos.
"The only one with magical knowledge in this town that I know about, would be Mr Giles. He is the librarian of the Sunnydale Highschool."
The three enchanted teens looked at each other.
"Could you please lead us to this librarian? We are in dire need of information and would recompensate you for this service."
Willow's hand seemed to vanish into nothingness and when she pulled her hand back into existence, her fingers had closed around something hard and shimmering. She opened her fingers and Cordelia couldn't suppress a gasp. In Willow's hand laid an emerald, almost as big as her thumbnail, already cut and of deep and flawless green.
Wordlessly she nodded her ok, took the stone and then turned into the direction of the Highschool. She had overheard Giles telling a colleague that he was planing to overhaul the catalogue tonight, so she knew he would be there.
"Follow me," she said matter of factly and started to walk towards the school.
Xander gallantly offered his arm to the shaking Lady and followed the cat-woman, Willow and Morning Light in tow.
Hopefully this Giles person could shed some light onto the situation.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" A stranger stepped out of the shadows in front of them, several of the enchanted children behind him. But while the other creatures were enspelled humans, the strange creature was a real undead. Xander grinned and left the lady in the protection of his companions.
"Excuse me, mister, but who are you and what do you want of us?"
The creature smirked at him. And then his face changed, rippled, formed strange ridges on its forehead.
"I'm Spike, and I'm here for this tasty piece of fluff hiding behind the skirts of the little red-head... maybe the red-head as dessert as well."
With a simple flick Xander moved his sunglasses down until they were resting comfortably on the bridge of his nose.
"I am sorry, Mr Spike, but I can't allow you to do that."
"And how do you plan to stop me, doopey?"
Xander grinned.
"Tell me, do you know why most Wizards wear sunglasses, even at night?"
Before Spike had time to realise the question Xander had pointed his staff towards him and the lightning bolts that had collected in the orb on top of it raced towards the surprised vampire.
"This is why." Xander grinned as the vampire shrieked and burned to ash.
Willow and Morning Light looked at each other, rolling their eyes. Xander loved to do this.
Cordelia's mouth was wide opened as she watched this casual display of magic.
In Willows arms the Lady Buffy had fainted.
Chapter 3
Oz was driving through the streets at leisurely speed. He had some time to waste until he was expected at the Bronze with the instruments and sound equipment and he knew from experience that if he came to early, he had to do the lions share of carrying and set-building. Oz was quite a brilliant young man, but he was also a bit lazy, so he took his time.
He had just turned left, was only about five minutes away from the Bronze, when he saw something really strange.
Lightning, but not from the sky, not from a cloud, but coming from a person. And this lightning was incinerating another person, who turned to ash in merely a seconds time.
Impossible.
And yet he had seen it.
His foot hit the breaks.
Slowly he opened the door and exited the van.
"Oz? Oz! God, it is so nice to see you. Please tell me you are not gone nuts like the other bozos here!"
Cordelia's voice cut through the silence that had risen after the magical lightning bolts had died down, after the vampire had been turned into as much as dust.
"Cordelia?"
Just what was going on here?
"No, I'm the toothfairy. Of course it's me."
Of course it was Cordelia, nobody else could be this sarcastic.
"God, everyone has gone nuts here. Buffy is a simpering fool, Dawn an Assassin, Willow a Priestess and Xander a lightning firing smartass Wizard!"
"Hey!" The bluehaired male protested, but the cute red-head hit him lightly into the side.
Oz blinked. Magic? At the first thought he would say that this was impossible, but he had seen the bluehaired male, Xander he had been called, throw something that looked a lot like lightning at another person. Another person that had vanished into dust at this attack. So magic might be not so impossible a thesis. And if magic was possible, other things might be as well. He did had heard some rumours at school, but had never really believed them. But with the new information he had to rethink some of his believes.
"Oh."
"Oh? Is that all you can say Oz? Oh?"
He thought about it for a moment.
"Yes."
"Dammit, Oz! You can drive one crazy, do you know that?"
"Yes?"
"Ahhhrrrggg!! I give up. Look, Oz, we need to get to the highschool, the three here need to talk to the librarian. Can you drive us there? I don't trust them to make it without doing some serious damage, specially the lightning-happy bluehaired dolt behind me."
Again Xander protested and again he got hit by the cute red-head standing left to him.
Oz's decision was made very quickly, while he was a bit weary about the trigger-happy Wizard and the smaller white-haired girl, who had been identified as an Assassin, which had not said a single word, was a bit scary in his eyes. Hey, she was an Assassin. Not exactly the most trustworthy of occupations. But the red-head was cute and Cordelia was not someone who was prone to hysterics.
"Okay."
-o--o--o-
Giles was sitting at his desk two boxes of record sheets in front of him, a cup of freshly brewed tea next to them. A stack of books just waiting to be catalogued and soft classical music in the background, yes, Giles loved Halloween, the only night in the year when he could be there for his books.
"Giles? Wohooo, Mr Tweedlover."
He recognised the voice of one of the school's cheerleaders and sighed. Just one night, one night all for him and his books, was that too much to ask?
Obviously it was. As he exited his small office he not only saw the cheerleader, but also five other teens, four them in Halloween costumes. Buffy, Willow, Xander and Dawn. Of course. The fact that his slayer was obviously unconscious was a bit more disturbing, then the interruption of his free night.
The other young man with them, he had seen one or two times before in the library, but he couldn't put a name to the face.
"Hi, Mr Giles. We have a problem." Cordelia jumped right to the heart of the matter, telling him what had occurred so far. "... and that is what has happened."
Giles polished his glasses.
"So Buffy is behaving like she is possessed by her costume... a-and Xander killed Spike with a lightning spell of sorts? And he told you that the children had been turned into demons of sorts and that Buffy is under the same spell, but that he can't detect the spell on himself or his companions? This is quite fascinating, I must say." Horrible, but fascinating.
"Giles! Quit making with the analysis and tell us how to stop this! The brats are deadly, I tell you!"
"Of course, but unfortunately we have no idea how this possession has happened. Costumes possessing their wearers are not a normal occurrence, even on the hellmouth."
Frustrated Cordelia threw her hands in the air and Oz, who had leafed through a rare edition of P. Sprengelmann's "Ghostly possessions, how to recognise them and how to get rid of them" looked up, watching them like a spectator of a tennis match.
"Cordelia," he spoke up, a sudden idea popping into his head, "you said you got your costume at Partytown, right?"
"Yes, of course. I had ordered and paid for it three weeks ago, they make quality work and I had to be measured for the damn thing."
"And Buffy and her friends, did they went to Partytown as well?"
"They, nooo, don't make me laugh. As if they could afford it. No, I think they went to that new shop, the one that had opened just two days ago, it was having opening sales."
"And the name of the shop?" Giles was quite sure that Oz had the right idea.
"Some name, one word, E-something, Ewald, Edmund, Edgar, no... Ethan's! That was it! The name of the shop is Ethan's."
That word seemed to energise Giles.
"Ethan's. Of course it had to be Ethan."
Dawn spoke up for the first time since they had entered the library.
"Where can we find this 'Ethan'?"
The fact that her hands were solidly on her daggers did not went unnoticed.
"No, Ethan is my problem. He is an old colleague of mine who should know better than this. I will deal with him."
He did not saw her move, she was just suddenly there, right in front of him, her daggers pointing at two very sensible parts of his anatomy and her glare, her glare was sub-arctic.
"Listen, librarian. This 'person' has nearly made me break the one oath no Assassin ever breaks. He nearly tricked me into killing an defenceless human child! And for that, he is mine! For that, he is going to suffer, he will wish for death, but death shall be the only thing not given to him. He shall face the wrath of an Assassin wronged and never again shall he cast such spell upon innocent children! Is that clear?"
He gulped, one movement at the wrong time and his life as he knew it would be over.
Before the situation could get really ugly, Oz spoke up.
"I'll drive you."
"You know where the shop is?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Xander and Willow will come with me, you, librarian, can take care of the fluffy Lady. She's quite useless and if I am correct, about to wake up."
The four teens left the library and barely a minute later, the fainted slayer woke up, her behaviour making Giles wish for her to have stayed unconscious for a bit longer. Buffy the modern teen he could stand, but Buffy the 17th century Nobel woman was an entire different story.
-o--o--o-
Ethan Rayne, Chaosmage and troublemaker extraordinaire, was sitting in the small kitchenette of his shop apartment, right next to the open window, enjoying the screams from outside and a pint of real ale.
This evening was a total success. Chaos in the streets, people becoming costumes in a twisted 'be careful what you wish for' way.
It was random, it was senseless, it was beautiful.
Ripper would have enjoyed it with him, but the new version of Rupert, the stuffy watcher, would be beyond himself with worry for what he had done to his slayer.
He laughed.
Then he stopped as he felt several people entering his shop. Was Giles already here? Had he been found out already?
He took a last draft of his ale, closed the window and then, left the kitchenette to find out.
Entering his shop, he didn't found Giles, but four teenagers, three which were wearing enchanted costumes. It were the three children from earlier today, the three who didn't have bought fully finished costumes.
And now he could see the results of their creativity. He felt a weird sort of paternal pride, he had done this, he had called them into existence. The other costumes, they were only blank and random spirits brought into existence for one night, but these three, they were personalities in their own rights, they were true individuals, they were the coronation of his work tonight.
"You are the one called Ethan, are you not?" The white-haired girl looked directly at him.
"Why yes, my dear. Is there something I coul...urrk
-o--o--o-
The first thing Morning Light did after the man had identified himself as Ethan Rayne, was ramming her elbow solidly into his solar plexus, the second thing was placing her trusty Stiletto that way, that one single wrong movement of the slime would result into him becoming an ex-male. She noticed with satisfaction, that he stopped trying to move away from her rather quickly.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Morning Light of the Desert Shadow Assassin clan and tonight you and your magic nearly had me breaking one of the oldest rules of our order!"
Ethan squeaked in panic as the force applied to the knife so close to his most valuable parts increased with the anger of the girl holding said knife.
"I am sorry miss, maybe there is a way for me to make compensation for your damage."
"Oh, there is. Suffer!"
And the violence began.
-o--o--o-
Oz stood in the back, feeling a bit uncomfortable as the young girl displayed techniques with names like "10 ways to skin a Sasquatch" or "The 101 of making Sashimi". He was in a moral dilemma.
On the one hand side he could understand the girl's need for violence. They had stopped once during their drive from the highschool to this shop to dissolve a mob of minidemons. What he had seen there had him nearly loose his dinner. The minidemons had hunted down a trick or treater who hadn't been wearing one of Ethan's costume and who was thus not enspelled. The demons had hunted her, played with the boys mounting fear and had finally killed him. They had been about to eat him when the four teens within the zebra-stripped van had crossed their way.
Once more he had seen Xander toss around fire and lightening, but this time the teen Wizard deliberately missed his targets, forcing the minidemons to retreat and then to run away.
It was then, that he witnessed the Willow's true power. He saw her stroking the dead boys head, before she placed a blue, softly glowing gem onto the child's chest and resurrected him.
That had been something he had not believed possible and even now, that he had seen it, he had problems warping his mind around the concept.
They did made a detour, bringing the now crying child to the hospital, before they had driven onwards to the shop.
Yes, Oz could truly understand the need for violence, but on the other hand side, by using violence, were they not placing themselves on the same plane as Ethan? Were they as bad as he?
Ethan yowled loudly and Oz winced as he saw the result of the technique called "Old man's fingers".
Willow stepped to the Assassin and placed a hand upon her shoulder. The girl looked up, fury still written on her face but Willow shook her head and the Assassin sighed, walked away from the whimpering form of the Chaosmage, letting Willow place a weak healing spell on him.
The spell took some of his pain, but not enough for him to stand, to walk or even flee.
Oz sighed, he had no idea if they were doing the right thing or not, but he did knew that the spell had to be stopped and the three teens before him were the best solution he had.
Chapter 4
Xander stepped forward, hunching down next to the whimpering Mage.
"The spell, Mage, tell us about it. Or we let Morning Light restart her quest for vengeance."
Ethan had no desire to be used as a demonstration object for the young Girl's need for revenge. He spilled forward all information, all details about the spell he had used.
Xander stood up and joined Willow and Morning Light as they stood around the dual faced bust of Janus.
"Willow?"
The Priestess concentrated, then she nodded.
"The energies are there, they are similar, but not identical to Loki's."
"Loki, eh?"
Morning Light smiled an evil little smile as she twirled her daggers around and then let them disappear.
"Then," she started digging through her carrying space, "let us introduce him to something that can't stand Loki."
And she pulled out a hammer, a large hammer engraved with runes and lightning bolts, a very dangerous looking hammer surrounded by an aura of thunder and ozone.
"Mjollnir," Willow breathed, "Morning Light, don't you think that this is a slight bit of overkill?"
Morning Light smiled, a fake sweet smile, as she started to swing the hammer around.
"You seem to forget, Willow dear, that I -o-am-o- an Assassin. There is no such thing as overkill for me."
And she brought the hammer down on top of the plaster bust.
There was a great flash of white and green energy, it looked like an explosion, but without any sound.
Then, there was silence.
-o--o--o-
Xander was the first who was able to see again, his sunglasses having protected him a bit.
He blinked and looked around. Something was not right, something was niggling at his senses as being wrong, but he couldn't put his fingers on it.
But to be fair, he was a bit distracted by the two different sets of memories he'd found in his mind. Two different sets, where there should be only one. He shook his head, trying to clear his mind. Then he noticed that the others were obviously regaining their sight.
"Willow, you ok?"
"Hmmm."
"And you, Dawn?"
"I think."
"Oz?"
"Yeah."
"And the creepy Ethan guy is not ok, so why bother to ask."
A moan of protest.
Xanders eyes wandered through the shop once more, landing on Dawn.
"Dawn?"
"Yes, Xander?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that this," he pointed at her hands, "was part of your costume."
Dawn looked down at her hands and swallowed.
For in her hands she was still holding the hammer. The hammer with the engraved runes and lightning bolts, whos aura of thunder and ozone was now streaked through with bands of green energy.
They all looked at the hammer in Dawn's hands.
Oz's breathed, "Wow," broke the spell.
Dawn released an "eep" of surprise and out of reflex, let the hammer vanish in her carrying space.
Which resulted in the realisation that they still had their carrying spaces and as Xander called upon his magic, it still answered.
That was beyond wiggworthy.
They went to the front of the shop, looking out of the big window and saw the previously enspelled children removing their masks and other parts of their costumes. They looked around, confused and disoriented, but it was obvious that for them, the spell was over.
So why hadn't the same happened to the tree of them? Why did their costumes leave something behind?
They had no idea and no desire to discuss it here.
One by one they walked back to the more secluded area, where Ethan was still laying.
Xander was the last to return and he looked at the felled Mage with a mix of distaste and pity.
"If we were in Rune-Midgard, that stunt would have resulted in you being sealed away from your magic forever. But we are not there and I am only one Wizard thusly trained, so you will get away with a milder punishment."
He raised his staff and in rapid succession, cast three runes against the Mage.
Merkstave Fehu against his head, Merkstave Algiz against his heart and Merkstave Tiwaz against his entire torso.
"They will last for three months. I hope you will learn your lesson. We don't use children for malicious and dark magic, no matter what religion you pray to, no matter how twisted your moral code, children are not to be touched."
He turned away, not watching as Willow cast a great healing spell upon Ethan.
"Leave the city, Ethan. If you remain here 'til tomorrow, Dawn will hunt you down again. And this time she will not be as merciful as she had been until now."
With those parting words, the four left the shop, leaving behind a througoutly traumatised Ethan, who would be leaving the city within the hour. Chaotic he was, but stupid he was not. And the look in the girls eyes had promised pain with a capital P.
-o--o--o-
Giles was already waiting for them. Thanks to Buffy returning to normal behaviour, he already knew that the spell had been broken, but he had lots of questions and the trio sitting at the main table of the library, had the answers.
"It's a longer story, Giles." Xander said and he couldn't help but notice that Xander hadn't even tried to tease him since the teens had entered the library.
"Actually it all began about a year ago. Before we had an idea about the exciting nightlife of our hometown. Willow wanted to teach Jesse and me more about computers and she had promised us a nice reward if we could follow her lessons and learn what she wanted us to learn. It took a while, but finally we were on the level she wanted us to be. Then she showed us our reward. She had made accounts for us at a MMORPG."
"Excuse me, what is a MMOPRG?"
It did sound like a demon of some kind, but he didn't thought that Willow would use demons as a teaching reward... well, you couldn't be too sure.
"A MMORPG, a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Player Game. This particular one is very successful and comes from Korea. People all over the world play it. It is called Ragnarok Online. The rules are quite simple and it is very fun to play. Jesse was the Swordsman of our little group, Willow the Acolyte and I was the Mage. It took a while, but we were able to level up to the higher jobs, Jesse a Knight, Willow the Priestess and me the Wizard.
And then... then Jesse died.
We nearly stopped playing at all, but fate wanted it that Jesse had met Dawn at the day he was taken and had promised her, to introduce her to the game.
Dawn became our new player and to not to be compared to Jesse, she decided on a different career. She became first a Thief, than an Assassin.
We have played ever since that time. Sometimes once a week, sometimes every day, whenever we find the time to do so, because we find it pretty relaxing.
Anyway, about half a year ago Willow, Dawn and I, we went to a R.O. Party in L.A. You might remember it Buffy, Dawn was extra bouncy that week since Joyce had given her permission to come with us.
At the party we me some other players, who had dressed up as their characters and that was when we decided to go as our characters for Halloween.
And as far as we can say now, we remained as our characters even after Dawn broke the spell, we just regained the knowledge of our normal selves. It might have something to do with the way we broke the spell." Xander mused.
"And how did you break the spell?"
"Well Dawn smashed the focus of the enchantment with... come Dawn, show them."
"If I have to," she sighed, but pulled out the large hammer from nowhere.
"Good Lord!"
"This is Mjollnir, the Hammer of Thor. Dawn is the only one of us three who can use it, because of the weapon restrictions of our jobs. The focus of the spell was drenched in Janus energy signature, a signature that is similar, but not identical to Loki's. And Thor can't stand Loki ever since the trickster shaved his wife's head bald. Since the signature was so similar, the hammers intern magic reacted. We think that this created a focal point to the plane of Rune-Midgar, the homeplane of the game."
"But it is only a game," Cordelia spoke up for the first time, "it is not real, so how could a home plane exist?"
"Do you remember Marcie?" Xander asked. "Marcie, who became invisible because the other students believed her to be invisible?"
All, except Oz, nodded.
"Well, Marcie became invisible, because people believed her to be such. Now I ask you, do you have any idea, how many people are playing this game, world-wide and at every time of the day? People, who put a lot of thought into their characters, and then went out, met others, go on quests with them. They create entire biographies for their characters. Can you imagine the power of their belief, their dream, wish, call it however you want it, for Rune-Midgard to be real?"
None of the others spoke and Giles was furiously polishing his glasses as he tried to imagine the force that could turn a game into reality, even on a different plane of reality.
Xander sighed and walked towards the exit of the library.
"Actually Willow, Dawn and I, we wanted to go and practicate at the special Halloween event tonight, but now, everything is more real and I can't play the game at the moment. I will go home and think about the things I have learned today and I would advise you to do the same."
Without a word Dawn let the hammer vanish and followed him, Willow looked at the others, shrugged and then followed them too.
-o--o--o-
The silence in the library continued even after the door had fallen close behind the three and only Oz broke through it when he voiced his opinion: "Wow."
Oz, who was thinking about the cute Priestess, the still active hammer and the fact that he could create an account for this game quite easily. Somewhere he had heard that there was a Bard-class in this game and maybe he should take a further look at it.
End