Date written: Tue 13 Mar 2012

Author: Starway Man

E-mail: theop at hotkey dot net dot au

Disclaimer: The Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar, Kuzui, Fox, WB and UPN (as they then were); I don't own 'em, and I never will. Some of the text is from the various episodes of the show(s), so those parts of the story don't belong to me, either. This fanfic uses part of the plot from Star Trek: Voyager, episode #157 to be precise, which was written by Mike Sussman and Michael Taylor. Anything else you recognize belongs to their owners in question. This work is meant merely for enjoyment, and no profit is being made off of it.

Rating: Overall R, with mostly PG-13 parts.

Symbols: " " denotes speech, ( italics ) specifies thoughts, and # # indicates phone voice.

Warnings: There is some violence, bad language, character death and mention of sexual situations in this fanfic.

Classification: Alternate Universe, Action, Angst, Romance

Author Notes: This story is something I've been working on, on and off, for something close to a year. It originally started out on a very simple premise: 'What would it be like if the Scooby Gang had had a ten-year high school reunion in Sunnydale?' Of course, since Sunnydale became a crater in 2003 that meant the events of season 7 for starters would have to be different, but to my mind that would not be an insurmountable task. But then I realized that ten years was too long a time-span to work with, and so I decided to shorten it to five years. Read on, and you'll eventually learn why...

Feedback: Any and all comments will of course be gratefully received and responded to, so please don't be shy about telling me what you think of this story!

Acknowledgments: My thanks of course to all my beta readers Mr. Mysterious, Greywizard and Nodakskip for all their help in providing ideas when I needed them, and in getting this story finished!

Summary: Xander leaves Sunnydale shortly before Graduation, with the Order of Taraka hot on his heels. Five years later, he gets sent back to the Hellmouth to help prevent the end of all the worlds, everywhere; and he learns that sometimes, you really can go home again.

Title: Shattered

"There's just so much to work through. Trust has to be built again, on both sides...you have to learn if...if we're even the same people we were, if you can fit in each other's lives."

(Tara Maclay, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER)

"Good. Don't worry. I practiced plenty on Cousin Timmy when we were kids."

(Cordelia Chase, ANGEL)

"Live. Grow Stronger. Fight another day."

(Methos, HIGHLANDER)

Chapter One: Actions Have Consequences

Sunnydale High Gymnasium, Sunnydale

June 4th, 1999

Tonight was the night of the Sunnydale High class of 1999 senior Prom.

The senior Prom was traditionally a special occasion, a rite of passage for the high school students who attended it. Thus, the events of this night would play a vital role in the shape of things to come – especially for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But right now Miss Summers was talking with the love of her life, the ensouled vampire called Angel, as she stared deeply into his eyes.

"I didn't think you'd come," Buffy said to her ex-boyfriend, who had recently broken up with her.

"It's a big night; I didn't want to miss it. It's just tonight, though. It doesn't mean that I..." Angel stumbled to a halt, not sure what else to say.

Buffy nodded, she knew why he had ended things between them yesterday. She didn't agree with his reasons, but if Angel wanted out (even though he still loved her with all his unbeating heart), there was no point pretending it wasn't all over between them. "I know. I mean, I understand."

Angel gestured, "Dance with me?"

Buffy accepted graciously, and let him lead her to the dance floor...when the space-time continuum shuddered, and something completely unexpected happened.

"Xander, are you listening to me?" the young woman (and ex-vengeance demon) known as Anya Jenkins demanded, as she saw her date for tonight staring at Buffy and Angel; who had started dancing together.

"Huh? What?" Alexander 'Xander' Harris dragged his attention back to Anya guiltily.

"You're not even paying the slightest bit of attention to me, are you? You're totally focusing on the Slayer and that sexually desirable, dark-haired vampire she's dancing with," Anya said with undisguised exasperation in her voice.

"Well, gee – I guess maybe after hearing all those stories of you killing and mutilating guys over the last thousand years, that kinda made me wanna focus on something else," Xander replied tactlessly.

"Yes, and that's just typical of you unfaithful males! You always have your eye on what you can't have, instead of what you DO have. It's ridiculous!" Anya said vehemently. "You don't even want to be here with me, do you?" Her eye caught another couple dancing not far away. "I bet you'd rather be dancing with that Cordelia girl instead!"

Stung by the accusation Xander turned his head to see his ex-girlfriend, Cordelia Chase, dancing her handsome, young, English date, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. He then turned back to his own date and said, "Look, Anya..."

"I mean, you spent how much money on her dress? And I'M your date for tonight, not her!"

( That's it! ) Something abruptly snapped inside Xander's mind, and he quickly dragged Anya off the dance floor. A rather nasty conversation ensued, as Harris started lecturing Anya about how she was always saying that all men were slime – but he did something good for an ex, and needlessly got criticised for it?

"HOW DARE YOU?" Anya exploded and slapped him across the face, hard. She then stormed off in the direction of the punch bowl, as Xander just stood there – listening to the not-so-discreet snickers of his classmates.

( Screw this, ) Harris thought to himself grumpily, as he saw Willow and Oz staring at him in surprise. Not wanting to deal with his best friend and her boyfriend right now, Xander made his way out of the gymnasium without looking back.

( This is just typical, isn't it? ) Xander thought to himself angrily, as he walked through the school hallway. ( God, I bet things couldn't possibly get worse right now... )

"Hey, dorkhead, wait up!"

( Of course. I just had to taunt Mr. Murphy like that, didn't I? ) Xander sighed quietly in resignation, before he slowed to a stop and turned around to wait for his fast-walking ex-girlfriend to catch up to him. "Cordelia? What do you want?"

"To talk to you, of course! I saw what happened with the ex-demon girl just now, practically everyone in the entire gym must have seen it. What the hell did you say to her to get her so upset?" Cordelia demanded to know.

"Nothing. Doesn't matter, anyway," Xander stonewalled at once.

The Chase girl eyed him carefully and, just this once, decided to tactfully change the subject. "Alright, question two it is. Why'd you buy me this dress?"

Caught off-balance, Xander hesitated before replying, "Well, I – you deserved it after what happened regarding your parents, and I..."

"What?" Cordelia demanded, frowning.

"Look, Cordy, despite everything that's happened this year – I don't hate you. And I know I already apologized for it at least sixty or seventy times, but I'm sorry how it all got totally screwed up with Willow-"

"Don't," Cordelia cut him off, placing a hand on her stomach where the scar from that iron bar was an ugly souvenir of that awful night. "Please, just...don't. At least not tonight, okay? Let's talk about something else."

"Like what?" Harris asked.

"Well, I don't know. YOU think of something!"

Xander shrugged. "Can't really think of anything right now. Well, apart from how I hope to hell my parents and my uncle Rory aren't gonna be too sloshed, by the time I get home from this shindig..."

Cordelia then had an idea, as she brought a metal flask out of her purse – one that had some cheap booze in it, courtesy of Mrs. Chase's attempts to cope with the concept of abject poverty and a jailbird husband. "You want a sip?"

Xander immediately declined, and watched as his ex chugged down some of the flask's contents. Cordelia then said giddily, "Wow! Boy, that sure hit the spot!"

"Are you sure you should be drinking that?" Harris asked in concern. He'd been worried that Cordelia might turn to drugs and alcohol ever since her family had lost all its money, and the princess had become an overnight pauper.

"Don't worry," Cordelia said, with a slight slur in her voice. "I can hold my liquor..."

Xander had his doubts about it, but he knew that trying to take the flask away from Cordelia would only result in another girl slapping him in the face tonight. So he kept her company and tried to dissuade his ex from drinking too much booze, albeit with little success.

"Oh, I feel gooood," Cordelia grinned foolishly a short while later. She was almost swaying from side to side, as she staggered down the school corridor. "Wheee, it's like a ride! It's fun!"

"Yeah, but Mr. Hangover will be visiting you tomorrow, so I think it's time we put this somewhere else," Xander said firmly, snatching the flask away from her and quickly placing it in his nearby locker, slamming the door shut.

"HEY! Give that back!" Cordelia said crossly, not to mention drunkenly.

"I will tomorrow, I swear," Harris promised her.

"God, what is with you tonight?" Cordelia demanded, staggering a little as Xander rushed to support her. "You're acting like such a big ol' fuddy-duddy! Like you're Giles junior or something..."

Xander instantly cringed at the comparison to the stuffy and uptight British librarian who used to be Buffy's official Watcher, but all he said to Cordelia as they walked away from his locker was, "I think we should get you some black coffee or something, it'll help you sober up."

"I don't wanna sober up," Cordelia sniped at him. "I want...I want..."

"To lie down? We can go to the library..."

"NO!" Cordelia said vehemently, her voice extremely slurred. "It's my senior Prom, Xander! And I'm..."

"What?"

Without warning, Cordelia burst into tears as she slowed down and finally stopped moving. "It's my senior Prom, and I'M BROKE! After tonight, there's gonna be no more shopping sprees in Los Angeles, no more vacation trips to Aspen...just a dreary, pathetic existence trying to get by as a stripper, or a porno actress – or maybe even a hooker, if things get that desperate-"

"HEY!"

Cordelia was surprised to find Xander grabbing hold of her and giving her a soft shake. "None of that's gonna happen, y'hear me? The Cordelia Chase I know would never let a little thing like losing all her money prevent her from grabbing life by the balls, and squeezing until she clawed her way back to the top where she belongs! Seriously, have you forgotten? You can do anything you want, once you set your mind to it!"

"I can?" the brunette asked uncertainly, her head swaying from side to side.

"Well, how else could the one and only Queen C have dispatched all the pretenders to her throne, for lo these many years?" Xander asked with a slight smile.

"Hey, yeah, you're right! You're absolutely right; I CAN do whatever I want..." Suddenly, her eyes latched onto something familiar and Cordelia haphazardly dragged Xander across the corridor. "And right now, I wanna go in there!"

Xander inadvertently gulped as he saw the utility closet where he and Cordelia used to make out during the early days of their relationship. Given the location, and how intoxicated she was, the young man was able to make an accurate guess about what his former girlfriend's intentions were. "Uh, Cordy, I don't think so..."

"Why not?"

"Well, for one thing, you're totally smashed," Xander said as diplomatically as he could.

"I don't care! It's my damn senior Prom! Like I heard Angel tell Buffy a few minutes ago...it's just for tonight!" Cordelia drunkenly tried to pick up where they'd left off before the rebar, but Xander turned her down – one, because they were here tonight with other people, and two, she really didn't know what she was doing right now.

"Well, is this just a totally Kodak moment or what?"

Xander immediately froze, hearing that scornful female voice. He then turned to see Faith the Vampire Slayer – once ally and friend, now enemy and turncoat – sneering at him with a soulless vampire at her side. "Faith, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Well, that's the thing, stud – I was feeling kinda bored tonight," Faith drawled, before she moved with Slayer speed and held a knife to Cordelia's throat, dragging her away to the side. "So I decided to check out the library, see what I might find. Anyway, I was just about to leave – when you and the Prom Queen show up! Then I started thinking, who better than you to help me out with my boredom problem? 'Cause you've done it before, remember?"

"Xander, what's she talking about?" Cordelia gasped, feeling Faith's knife digging into the soft flesh of her throat.

"Uh-uh-uh, no questions from the stuck-up snob," Faith said merrily, relishing the expression on Xander's face as she said that. "Lemme explain; we're gonna play a little game."

"What kinda game are you talkin' about?" Xander demanded, his tone of voice now arctic in nature.

"Hey, I thought you'd never ask! See, Xander, I know you have this thing about protecting women above and beyond everything else; that whole 'Sir Galahad' white knight complex you got goin'. Doesn't matter that just about all the women in your life can kick ass better than you can; well, apart from the cheerleader here," Faith told him, gripping Cordelia tighter.

"So here's your chance to finally play hero, Harris. You and my boy over there are gonna throw down," Faith gestured with her head to the growling undead not far away. "You win, your girl gets to live. You lose, I'll slit her throat open from ear to ear."

"Oh, c'mon, Faith – you think I don't know how you'll kill Cordelia anyway, even if I do win this little contest?" Xander asked, trying not to panic the way that Miss Chase was doing. "If you want me to play ball, I need something better than just your promise to play fair. 'Cause quite frankly, your word doesn't mean shit to anyone, anymore – except the Mayor, maybe."

Infuriated, Faith nonetheless abruptly let Cordelia go. "Fine, this bitch gets to walk while I watch you die!"

"Cordelia, run!" Xander roared at his former girlfriend, before launching himself at the vampire.

Rushing off to get Buffy and Angel, Cordelia – having sobered up a lot after that knife had almost pierced her jugular – did not have time to see the fight between the vampire and the human begin. But Faith did, and she watched in pleasure as Xander began to get the living crap beaten out of him by his opponent.

Unluckily for Faith, though, Buffy and Angel had started searching for Xander at Willow's behest almost immediately after he had walked away; and so, just a few seconds after the fight began, the blonde Slayer and the former Angelus showed up and ruined all her fun.

( God damn it, ) Faith cursed, as Angel took on her minion – well, the vampire actually worked for the Mayor, but whatever – and Buffy came straight for her. So the brunette Slayer grabbed the bloodied and battered Xander and put the knife to his throat, before the blonde Chosen One could do anything to stop it. "Hey there, B. Enjoying the Prom?"

"Let go of Xander, right now," Buffy growled at her nemesis, as Cordelia finally arrived on the scene again.

There was an explosion of dust, as Angel finally took care of the soulless bloodsucker. Faith noted that, and began backing away towards a nearby window whilst keeping a firm grip on Xander. ( Gonna have to play this one smart... )

"Just don't do anything stupid, blondie," the dark Slayer warned her mystical sibling. "You don't want to get your boy here even more damaged than what he already is, now, do you?"

"Buffy, GET HER!" Xander shouted, despite the knife pressing against his carotid.

"You got a death wish or something, Harris?" Faith asked in annoyance, as she continued to drag him along.

"More like wantin' to see how well Slayer healing can cope with a bullet right between your eyes," Xander hissed at her furiously, as he was still pissed at Faith for threatening Cordelia's life just now.

"Them's fightin' words, stud. Y'know what? Now I'm looking forward to our next encounter. Betcha cutting out your heart is gonna be more exciting than the seven minutes we spent in bed together-!" Faith said in a rush, before shoving Xander aside and diving through the school window, the glass shattering and falling to the ground outside as the renegade Slayer made a quick getaway.

"Damn it! She's gone," Buffy cursed, looking out through the window for any sign of Faith, but seeing none.

"Xander, you all right?" Angel asked, as he hauled the co-founding member of the Scooby Gang up off the floor.

"Fine," Harris grunted at the undead guy – someone he had never really liked or trusted when he had the soul, and someone he'd absolutely loathed when Angel had been without one. ( Just what I need, concern from the friendly neighborhood vampire... )

Xander then saw Cordelia staring at him. "Cordy? What's wrong?"

"Is it true? Did you sleep with that, that SKANK?" Miss Chase demanded furiously, the old feelings of anger and betrayal surfacing as she recalled that evening when she and Oz had caught Xander and Willow making out together.

"Yeah, but it was months after we broke up, and Faith tried to kill me not long afterwards," Xander replied, figuring that there was no point in lying about that and he was too battered and bruised to try right now anyway.

Cordelia just glared at him, before turning around and leaving.

"Oh yeah, this is turning into the best Prom night EVER," Xander said sarcastically, heading for the library to clean himself up a little as Buffy and Angel quickly brought up the rear.

Manners residence, Los Angeles

The same time

The evil lawyer named Holland Manners surveyed the assembled crowd in his basement, and smiled in deep satisfaction as the wine tasting party got underway.

Holland worked for the Los Angeles branch of the widely-known (at least in supernatural circles) law firm called Wolfram & Hart. It was a company staffed mostly by humans but run by a trio of very old and very evil demons known as the Wolf, Ram and Hart. The middle-aged lawyer had long since sold his soul to the so-called Senior Partners – but as demonstrated by the party tonight, the money, the power and the fringe benefits were...not inconsiderable.

"Welcome, everyone," Holland informed the collection of lawyers and other Wolfram & Hart personnel. "Now the Senior Partners have informed me that they are very, very pleased with the work our division has been doing. Things have been progressing nicely in Special Projects, and are even ahead of schedule, I might add. So I would be remiss in not extending well-earned praise to the three members of our team who have made this possible: Lilah Morgan, Lee Mercer and Lindsey McDonald."

Manners lifted up his wineglass and toasted his legal protégés; "To Lilah, Lee and Lindsey."

Everyone drank and some also murmured a soft, "Hear, hear."

Lilah said graciously, "Thank you, Holland." Lindsey and Lee likewise muttered their thank-you's, before Lilah set her empty glass on a passing wine steward's tray.

Holland went on, "Now, it's no secret that our work is but one small element in a much larger, greater plan – a plan which the Senior Partners have been working towards since the end of the Primordial Age, the time of the Old Ones themselves. There will be briefings on the subject matter next week, especially the material concerning the one and only vampire with a soul named Angelus. But for now, everyone, please relax and enjoy yourselves."

The guests started mingling the way people at parties do, sipping their wine and chatting away. But Lilah, who was dressed in a severe business suit tempered only by her mid-thigh length skirt, headed straight for her mentor. "Nice basement, Holland."

"Thank you, Lilah. As a matter of fact, this place was originally a bomb shelter in the Fifties. My wife and I had it converted, as wine has always been my passion," Holland nodded, enjoying another sip of his Château Léoville-Barton 1973.

"Mine has always been serving the interests of the Senior Partners," Lilah said demurely, as Lindsey and Lee joined them.

( Yes, I'm sure, ) Holland thought to himself in amusement as his trio of minions tried to jockey for position and curry his favor. ( No doubt you'll go far, Lilah my dear, just like your two competitors. Well, if you don't all kill each other first... )

1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale

June 5th, 1999

"I don't believe it. I thought for sure you and Angel would have gotten back together, after he showed up at Prom last night!"

Willow's exclamation did absolutely nothing to soothe Buffy's broken heart, and the Slayer starting sobbing uncontrollably.

"Oh God, Will, it-it feels like I've been gutted like a fish or something," the petite blonde sniffled, in between sobs. The conversation with Angel in the library after Faith had made her getaway had hurt Buffy even worse than the break-up in the sewers the other day.

( Oops! Oh, no, she's crying! Why did I have to bring up Angel? ) Willow silently berated herself, as she scrambled to hand Buffy a tissue and think of a way to distract her friend at the same time. "So...uh..." the redhead started with no real direction in mind, before blurting out the first thing that popped into her head. "Faith! Um...last night, did she say anything about the Mayor's Ascension, o-or anything?"

"No. Least not to me, and Xander didn't mention anything, either," Buffy replied shakily, as she glanced up at Willow and then looked away to hide her breakdown. It didn't take her long to regain some of her self-control, though, and the Chosen One soon wiped away the last of her tears.

"Y'know, Buffy...what happened last night must have been REALLY scary for Xander. I mean, fighting that vampire, and then being Faith's hostage? If that were me...again..." Willow trailed off, sounding very small all of a sudden, and shuddered as she recalled what had happened that night with the Box of Gavrock. "Cordelia must've been totally freaking out, too, with the way she just took off!"

"Can't say that I blame her. Last night, Faith almost killed her first," Buffy said with an empty look on her face.

The two girls continued to talk, eventually coming to the conclusion that if there were two people who were not cut out for this sort of life, it was Xander and Cordelia. Willow said, "I mean, nowadays Cordy only comes to the Scooby meetings for Wesley, anyway!"

Buffy wasn't so sure. "You should have seen Cordelia's face last night, after she found out that Xander had slept with Faith. My opinion, she's probably just using Wes to try to make Xander jealous."

"Really? I thought...no, never mind," Willow said hurriedly, figuring that Wesley was probably too old for Cordelia, anyway. "But what are we gonna do...especially about Xander?"

At that moment, Buffy made a vital decision that would affect not only her own future, but that of Sunnydale itself. Choice and chance combining to create a different fate both for her, and this town built upon the mouth of Hell.

TBC...