Date written: Sun 9 Mar 2008
Authors: Starway Man and Nodakskip
E-mail: theop at kew dot hotkey dot net dot au, Nodakskip at aol dot com
Disclaimer: Anything regarding Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel belongs to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar, Kuzui, CW, and whoever else it is these days; no copyright infringement is intended, and no money is being earned from this story. Those parts of the fanfic taken directly from the various episodes belong to the writers who scripted them. And anything else mentioned that's subject to any form of copyright belongs to the owners in question.
Rating: R
Warnings: Some violence, character death, bad language and sexual references are present
Main characters: Xander, ensemble
Classification: Action-Adventure, Alternate Universe, Angst, Romance
Acknowledgments: Thanks to Buffyworld for the transcripts used in writing this story, as well as our beta reader Francis Eugene. Seriously, dude, it's called going above and beyond, and it's much appreciated.
Summary: Xander gets possessed by someone who Giles knew back in his 'Ripper' days. And this DOES have consequences during the first half of season 2.
Title: Trial By Fire
X: "You can't just go 'librum incendere' and expect..."
R: "Xander, don't speak Latin in front of the books."
(Xander Harris and Rupert Giles, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER)
Chapter One: Bad To The Bone
Sunnydale High School Parking Lot, Sunnydale
October 29th, 1997
5:05 pm
Alexander LaVelle Harris had had quite a few interesting adventures since starting his junior year of high school.
There had been Parent-Teacher Night, where he had been held in a headlock and offered to the vampire named Spike as a free meal. A female foreign exchange student calling herself Ampata had turned out to actually be a life-sucking Inca Mummy girl instead, almost killing him as well as his best friend Willow Rosenberg. There had also been an incident with a demon reptile-worshipping cult at one of the local fraternity houses. His classmate and arch-nemesis Cordelia Chase had dragged Buffy Summers, the Vampire Slayer, to a Crestwood College frat party where they had both been drugged and chained up as virgin sacrifices for the creature called Machida. Xander had followed them there, and spent most of the evening being humiliated in almost every way imaginable.
But the worst indignity of all was his parents, after hearing what his teachers had had to say about him, forcing him to become more involved with school affairs. An opportunity had just become available, and so he'd been drafted as the varsity cheerleaders' equipment manager.
"God!" Xander shouted out for all the student body to hear. "What the hell do you three even have in here?"
"Just the little things," Harmony Kendall replied with a grin.
"Yeah, well, I can see now why Mark quit," Harris commented as he groaned and lifted the enormous equipment bag into the back of the minivan. "One down, five to go..."
Harmony just patted him patronizingly on the back. "Buck up there, Harris. You have every guy's dream job after all!"
Xander glared back at her. "And how is that?"
Harmony looked at him like it was obvious. "Why, you get to work with the most beautiful girls in the entire school!" She turned away and left, giggling at his grumbling protest.
Girls Locker Room, Sunnydale High
A few minutes later
"How's Harris doing?" Aura asked Harmony, as the black cheerleader fastened her bra.
"Great, I'm surprised to say," Harmony admitted as she took off her yellow cheerleader sweater. "He's still constantly complaining, but I don't think he'll spaz out like Mark did."
"Good," Aura replied, slipping on her street clothes. "And God, that has to be the last time we ever let a freshman be our equipment slave!"
"At least we have some decent eye candy this time," Harmony said, with an upraised eyebrow. "I can't believe that dork actually has a body like that! I wonder why he hides it with those eye-searing clothes."
"He must need those muscles if he hangs around Buffy Summers," Aura figured. "She's in a gang, right?"
"Has to be," Harmony answered absently, stripping off the rest of her clothes for a shower.
"And what are you two gossiping about?" Cordelia asked, coming in from the shower block and wearing nothing but a wet towel.
"Our new slave and eye candy," Aura told her with a smile. "Cordelia, I have to hand it to you. How did you know he had a chest like that?"
"Oh, I got a preview last week," Cordelia said as she started putting on her clothes. "You know the mansion across the street from me? The one they can never sell?"
"Yeah?" Harmony replied, not seeing the connection.
Cordelia grinned. "Well, it seems the realtor is a friend of his mom's. So he hired Xander to mow the lawn, because it so totally needed it. It was like a jungle over there." She looked over to her friends and said conspiratorially, "It's like ten in the morning and I hear this lawnmower going, breaking into my doctor-prescribed beauty sleep. I look out my bedroom window so I can yell at the subhuman goon responsible, I mean really...and then I see the most salty slab of meat this side of Kansas pouring a bottle of water over his head and bare chest. I mean, those shoulders! And those abs! Now that, girls, was my kinda entertainment. Very drool-worthy!"
Cordelia's wolfish man-eating grin was as big and bright as the new day, her eyes glazing over as she recalled the vision. The other girls were hanging on her every word as Miss Chase shook herself out of it to continue the story. "Then he turns around and wipes the hair out of his face, and I see that it's Xander-freakin'-Harris! My jaw hit the floor so hard, I tell you, it must have registered on the Richter-scale."
Aura shook her head to break away from the yummy mental image. "All that buried under all those god-awful baggy clothes. It should be a crime!"
"Well, I guess now it's obvious why you got Mrs. Nelson to draft that dork as our temporary helper," Harmony told her best friend.
Cordelia looked back at Harmony. "You're going to see the sophomores tonight, right?"
"Yeah."
Handing her a slip of paper Cordy said, "They have an assignment. I got Xander's shirt size, make sure they get some tighter shirts for him."
Outside the locker room
A little bit later
Xander was getting a drink of much needed water when he heard someone yell out, "Harris!"
Xander's head snapped up at the angry shout. "Principal Snyder," he said as the small man stormed over to him. "What can I do for you, sir?"
"What do you think you're doing on school grounds at this time of day?" the little man demanded. Looking at the nearby door the principal arrived at his own answer. "You were putting a video camera in the girls' locker room, weren't you?!"
"What?" Xander asked, shocked. "No! I was-"
"Oh, I smell an expulsion coming on! You make me sick, you perverted little..." the principal growled at him, only to be cut off.
"No, it's okay, Principal Snyder!" Cordelia's voice called out as the door opened. "He's with us."
Snyder looked at her with annoyance. "What? What are you talking about, Miss Chase? I know for a fact he's not one of your crowd."
"Mrs. Nelson made him our new equipment sla-manager," Cordy quickly corrected herself. "So he has to be at practice, which just got finished like twenty minutes ago."
The principal was rather upset he couldn't get Xander on this one, but when he remembered the clipboard in his hand Snyder smiled. "Fine, then. While you're here, you can both sign up for Halloween night."
"What?" Cordy squealed in dismay.
Snyder handed her a pen. "The school's volunteer safety program. I need volunteers."
"But I have a party to go to tomorrow night!" the high school princess said hastily. "At the Mayor's house. My parents said I totally have to be there."
"The Mayor?" Snyder said a little nervously. "Well, that's different." The evil little troll grabbed the pen back and then turned to Xander. "But I'm sure that you of all people aren't going to be attending the festivities, Harris."
"Well, Principal Snyder, sir, I actually had plans as well-"
"They don't matter. The program's only from four 'til six, you'll have plenty of time later for tossing eggs, keying cars, bobbing for apples or whatever pathetic thing it is you were going to do on Halloween." In the face of Snyder's authority, Xander reluctantly signed. "Now don't forget, costumes are mandatory. I expect to see you wearing something decent tomorrow night, or else you'll be in detention for the rest of your natural life!" Snyder stormed away.
Dismissing the school commandant from his thoughts, Xander glanced at Cordy. "You're going to a Halloween party at Mayor Wilkins' place?"
Cordelia instinctively put on her haughty mask. "Attend a gathering of geriatric charity cases? As if! My parents are going, but I've got my own party to go to. I'll make up an excuse and leave after we get there."
"Right. Well, thanks for helping out, y'know, with the expulsion thing," he said grudgingly.
"You're welcome, I suppose. So what are you gonna dress up as, anyway?"
Harris shrugged. "I've got a set of army surplus fatigues at home. I'll pick up a toy rifle or something to complete the look."
"Lame-o," Cordelia curled up her lip at him. "Look, I know it'll be a challenge for you, but try to think of something a bit more original than just being G.I. Joe, okay? Oh, please, what am I saying – you certainly can't afford to burn out the two working brain cells you've got left. Ask Giles or your two loser friends to help you pick something out. After all, you don't even sneeze without their permission, right?"
Xander glared at his female nemesis as she walked off, hips swaying. But he was also a teenage guy, so even as he loathed her Xander couldn't help checking out her incredible-looking ass. ( One day, one day – ack! No! Focus! )
Sunnydale, California
October 31st, 1997
5:45 pm
Xander was in a fairly good mood as he started to shepherd his sugar-hyped little kids back to the school. The costume he had on had a lot to do with it, as well as the reactions of Cordelia Chase and her herd of sheep earlier on.
The teenager had decided to abandon his plan of being a soldier for the night. Instead, he had raided his closet for a decent pair of black jeans and his cleanest white tee, and borrowed a 1970s leather jacket from Giles. At Ethan's Costume Shoppe, while Buffy had picked up her noblewoman's dress and Willow her ghost outfit, he also picked up a nose ring. Looking very much the rebel without a cause when he showed up at the school, Xander was pleased to note Cordelia's initial sneer was replaced by an admiring smile she wasn't successfully able to hide before she turned away.
As Xander walked behind his group of rug rats, he suddenly felt a cold wind blowing down the street. Hellmouth survivor that he was, Harris slowed down and looked around, instinctively knowing when something wasn't right. The next moment, the magic rushed out from the shop on Main Street and all over town those people that had bought their costumes from Ethan Rayne began to change.
Raw agony blistered Xander's nerves as the magic burned through him. The pain and the power built up until, with a piercing scream, he bent over, trying not to puke his guts out. The magic latched onto his soul as Xander's body was transformed by the spell empowered by the Roman god Janus. A new magical core was being created at the very depth of Xander's being, as a new persona took control of the corporeal vessel.
On the skin of his left arm, just below the elbow, the mark of Eyghon materialized as the spell completed its job.
Randall looked around in stunned disbelief. He was dead, he knew he was dead. Because he had lost control of Eyghon. The sleepwalker demon had fully manifested and taken over his body after the group had summoned the evil thing tonight and then...and then...
Randall choked, bile rising up his throat as he remembered the axe removing his head from his neck. The young Englishman then somehow managed to calm down and not lose it completely. Incredible as it seemed, somehow he was alive again!
"Xander? Xander!"
The name meant nothing to Randall. He looked around though, and saw a redheaded streetwalker heading his way through all the chaos and pandemonium, and so Randall automatically turned on the charm. "Hullo, luv. Who are you, then?"
The female teenager looked annoyed. "It's me, Willow. And why are you talking like that?"
"You're an American," Randall said in surprise. He briefly looked around at the upper-middle class suburban American surroundings, ignoring the screams of all the running people. "Where the fuck am I?"
"What? Oh my God, stop it – this is no time for jokes!" Willow scolded him, feeling scandalized by his use of the f-word.
Randall sneered at her. "So what time is it then, you uppity little tart? What do you charge for a decent shag anyway, I'm guessing quite a few quid an hour?"
Once she translated the British slang, Willow would have gone red if the chaos magic hadn't turned her into a ghost. "Oh, you are so gonna be sorry for that later, mister!" She stood in front of him, "Listen to me, we need to find Buffy!"
Randall was still confused and growing increasingly annoyed with his companion, so he tried to brush past her and instead walked right through her. "What the bloody hell? You're a ghost!" the possessed form of Xander Harris shouted.
"Yeah, I know, everyone's turned into their Halloween costumes!" Willow replied, coming closer towards her friend. "I mean, I dressed up as a ghost, and now I am one. You...uh, wait – Xander, if you're affected as well..." Realization finally hit Miss Rosenberg. "Oh God, you don't even know who you are, do you?"
"The name's not Xander, and I know bloody well who I am," the young man snapped in a perfectly natural North London accent. "It's you I don't know!"
"Okay, okay, listen to me," Willow started to say nervously. "My name is Willow, Willow Rosenberg, and we're currently in Sunnydale, California-"
The wheels were quickly turning in Randall's mind. He looked down at his jacket, and then at the young-looking hands sticking out of it. He instantly knew this wasn't his body. ( Possession? It must be. That means...I really am dead, this is just something temporary. But who summoned my spirit back? And oh, shitty death but I'm in the body of a bloody Yank! )
"-and something crazy is happening okay but I'm on your side I swear and oh this is so really bad we need the Slayer we so need to find Buffy right now!" Willow babbled in his ear. Randall was surprised she managed to get all that out in one breath before he reminded himself the ghost girl didn't actually have any breath to start with.
"Half a mo', luv. Did you say Slayer? As in the Vampire Slayer?" Randall remembered what his friend Ripper had told him about once when they'd gotten high together.
"You know about demons and vampires?" Willow seemed astonished.
Randall didn't reply, he'd just seen a monster appear from across the street and decided to run for it. Willow followed him, and before long they came upon the possessed form of Buffy Summers.
"A demon! A demon!" the brunette 18th century noblewoman shrieked, hiding behind Randall at the sight of a sports utility vehicle driving slowly down the street.
"That's not a demon. It's a car," Willow explained to the frightened female.
"What does it want?" the noblewoman asked.
"Is this woman completely cracked or what?" Randall looked fed up, already mentally dubbing Buffy as "Lady Useless". He didn't care too much for ghosts either, so he was good and ready to leave both his female companions behind right now.
"No, she, she just doesn't know who she is right now," Willow said desperately. "Come on, we have to find somewhere safe and get off the streets. I know, Buffy's house isn't too far away. Follow me!"
Randall looked to be in two minds about it, but since Willow seemed to know a safe place to go right now he decided to follow her. Picking up the screaming Lady Useless and slinging her over his shoulder, the young man quickly made tracks after the redheaded spectre.
1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale
A short while later
Randall opened the kitchen door with the key they'd found hidden in Buffy's dress and led the two women inside. "Looks clear, luv."
Willow walked in and called out, "Mrs. Summers?" There was no response. "Good, she's not back yet."
"What is this place?" the possessed Buffy asked, looking around in wide-eyed wonder.
"It's your house," Willow said, before turning to Randall. "First thing's first, we need to make sure all the doors and windows are locked. I mean, I'd help, but y'know, ghost and all here..." Willow waved her hand through the sofa.
"I get it, ya little nummy treat," Randall smirked suggestively at her, which again would have made Willow blush if she could have. He turned around and headed for the front door when he heard a female scream outside. Cursing his own curiosity, Randall opened the door and saw a brunette female teenager running for her life from what looked like a Sasquatch.
"SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Cordelia Chase yelled. Her Halloween costume was now torn and ragged, and right at this moment she was honestly wishing she'd stayed at the Mayor's party after all.
Randall cursed again then closed his eyes for a moment to concentrate. He wasn't sure if this would work, since this wasn't actually his body after all. But he figured it was worth a shot. It wasn't that unreasonable to assume his powers had come along with his consciousness for the ride tonight.
Back in 1975, when he had started running with the worst crowd that would have him – Ripper Giles, Ethan Rayne, Philip Henry, Thomas Sutcliff, and Deidre Page – he'd had to prove he had something worthwhile to contribute to the group. Randall's speciality had been fire: pyromancy, to use the technical term. He could summon it but he couldn't control it very well. There was as good a chance of killing the person that he was trying to help as there was of saving her.
( She's dead anyway if I don't do something. And bloody hell, I want to do this one more time while I'm still here in the land of the livin'. )
Randall reached deep within himself, extended his hands, and PUSHED. "Incendere!"
The results exceeded even his wildest expectations.
A huge wall of red fire blasted its way in front of the Big Foot, who only just managed to skid to a halt before it incinerated itself. The flames also just missed Cordelia as well, who screamed as she felt her hair get singed by the red-hot plasma. Still shrieking, the Chase girl saw the body of Xander Harris standing on the porch of the Summers house. With a burst of speed she ran over, yanked him inside behind her and slammed the front door shut.
Randall himself was still too stunned to notice or pay any attention to the ensuing conversation between Willow and Cordelia. The amount of firepower he'd just summoned...he knew he would never have been able to do that when he was alive in England. Either his host body had an ability he'd previously been unaware of, or whoever had summoned him from beyond the grave had greatly augmented his original powers.
Randall finally snapped out of it in time to hear the new brunette girl, dressed in the tatters of a tight-fitting cat outfit, speaking angrily with the ghost. "And another thing, Willow, look at my costume! Do you really think Partytown's gonna give me my deposit back? Not on the likely."
"Here," Randall took off his leather jacket and handed it to her, "You can use it for now."
"Thanks," Cordelia said automatically as she put on the jacket. Then she said, "Xander? Will you please get rid of that damned nose ring, I told you that you look utterly ridiculous with that thing on!"
Randall stared at her, a leer slowly appearing on his face as he undressed the cheerleader with his eyes. "Do I know you then, luv?"
Cordelia was immediately furious with him. "I'm not your 'luv', you dorkhead! And what's with the Teabag Central accent?"
"Feisty one, aren't you?" Randall came forward and Willow knew things were now going to go from bad to worse. "Your friend Xander's not in the driver's seat right now, which is a benefit to all of us, I'm thinkin'. My name's Randall. And before you ask...let's just say I would be the best night of your life, pet. The real question though, and one I'd be most interested in knowin' the answer to, is: would you be the best night of mine?"
Miss Rosenberg moved as fast as she could to forestall the arrival of Hurricane Cordelia. "Cordy, please, ignore him! Look, Xander and Buffy aren't responsible for their actions right now, it's kinda like amnesia – they don't even know who they are." Willow looked around at all three of her friends. "Okay, you guys just sit tight. I'm gonna go get help from Giles-"
"Giles? Rupert Giles?" Randall interrupted in surprise. "Cor blimey, Ripper's here as well?"
Willow looked confused. "Ripper?"
"Were you talking about Rupert Giles or what, you dense little twit?" Randall snapped impatiently, completely forgetting Cordelia.
Willow looked annoyed at the name-calling, despite her own words to Cordy just now. "Yeah, he's Buffy's Watcher. You know him too?"
"Ye – oi, wait a minute, he's a Watcher now? What's the date?" Randall asked as Cordelia looked at him strangely. As soon as he heard the answer, the pyromancer looked like he needed to sit down. "Oh, bloody hell..."
"What's the matter with you?" Miss Chase demanded.
Randall stared at her. "I just learned that I've been dead for twenty-two years, luv. When I was alive and kicking in London Town I'd reckon that you lot hadn't even been born yet." He looked around, and made a decision. "Tell me where Ripper is, I'll go find him."
"No, it's better if I do it. Ghost here, remember? You need to stay here and keep Xander's body safe, all right? Please, Mr. Randall," Willow practically begged him. "I just don't want Xander to get hurt, okay?"
Cordelia rolled her eyes. ( Pathetic much, Willow? Why don't you just get down on your knees and declare your undying love for him, already? ) The brunette girl didn't know why that thought suddenly bothered the heck out of her, however.
Randall silently assented and Willow disappeared through the wall, just as Angel let himself into the house and the Halloween night started to become a lot more tumultuous.
Ethan's Costume Shoppe, Sunnydale
November 1st, 1997
8:00 am
The spell was over now and things were just starting to go back to normal on this sunny Saturday morning.
Last night, after arriving at Buffy's house, Angel had been lucky to escape being dusted as Randall quickly figured out what he was. Fortunately Cordelia had been there to vouch for the vamp, and the English rebel inhabiting Xander's body had reluctantly acquiesced to her wishes. Later there had been a rather tense episode when the Lady Buffy ran off into the night after seeing Angel's vamp face. Angel, Cordelia and Randall had soon found the noblewoman, after which they then had to escape from Spike's little hunting party.
Not long afterwards, the chaos spell had been broken and Buffy had kicked Spike's ass before he ran for it. Giles had found his old running mate Ethan, and beaten the crap out of him until the wizard had confessed that to end the spell one only had to smash the bust of Janus. Ethan had quickly run for his life while the Watcher had been distracted doing exactly that.
Giles was now back in the costume shop looking for his former partner in crime. The librarian walked in through the front door, noting with a frown how the shop was empty and deserted. Rupert then walked over to the main counter and looked around. He saw a note propped up on another counter and went over to it.
"Be seeing you," Giles read the note out loud.
"He's not here. I've already looked."
The Council operative whirled around in surprise. "Xander? What are you doing here?" In the ensuing silence, Giles frowned at the intense look the male teen was sending him. "Well?"
Xander shook his head, a damning and accusing expression on his face.
"Xander, for heaven's sake-"
"I'm curious. Were you ever going to tell us just what you were like during the Seventies, 'Ripper'?" Harris abruptly snarled.
Giles stepped back, worried and concerned. "What, what are you-"
Xander flung the leather jacket at the librarian and said scathingly, "Thanks for the loaner. Wanna hear something funny? I bought a fake nose ring off that asshole Ethan in here two days ago. Just to complete the look, y'know?" Harris yanked his shirtsleeve up and exposed the mark of Eyghon on his left arm, which for some reason hadn't disappeared when the spell was over. "Just my luck, the jacket's former owner decided to inhabit my body when your old buddy decided to do his mojo last night. Randall's sorry he missed you, by the way...old chap."
"You, you..." Giles couldn't find the right words. He stared at Xander with a combination of horror and disbelief.
"What, Giles? Did I remember everything after the possession was over? You bet your ass I did, British man. I remember Randall's life as perfectly as if I'd lived it all myself. His parents, his childhood. All of it. Right up until the moment you and your gang of lowlifes killed him," Xander spat out in disgust. "I can honestly say I really don't have the words to thank you for all the nightmares you've just given me."
Giles couldn't help it, he reached for his glasses and started polishing them. He knew he had to talk fast and honestly with this youth if there was to be any chance of salvaging their friendship. "Xander, despite what you may think, I...I'm not like that anymore, I'm not..."
"You're not what? You're not glad that you killed Randall in time to save your own ass after the wards were breached that night? You're not happy remembering the high you always got from summoning that damn sleepwalker demon into yourself? I can't believe how I actually used to look up to you," Xander said darkly as he turned around and headed for the door.
"Xander, wait!"
But it was too late, he was gone.
TBC...
