Date written: Sun Jun 3 2007
Author: Starway Man
Emails: theop at kew dot hotkey dot net dot au
Feedback: As they say, it's the coin of the realm. So please tell me what you thought of it.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to Nodakskip, Francis Eugene and Greywizard for beta'ing this fanfic, and all the input in terms of ideas and plot development. And thanks to Buffyworld too, for the transcripts consulted in the writing of this story.
Category: AU, Action, Adventure, Angst, Romance
Disclaimer: And it was written that the Lord decreed high from exalted Heaven, "be fruitful and multiply" (by using Joss's TV show for your own fanfic purposes). And so I did, hoping that no one would sue for copyright infringement as it was all just for harmless non-profit fun. As always, those parts of the story that are more or less taken from the episodes obviously belong to the writers in question. All references to the Belial siphon spell from the BtVS novel "Apocalypse Memories" belong to Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz. The mentioned characters Diana Dormer and Sensei Kanno are from the BtVS novel "Go Ask Malice" and belong to Robert Joseph Levy, likewise Lupe the maid from the BtVS novel "The Deathless" belongs to Keith R. A. DeCandido.
Rating: R
Main characters: Xander, ensemble
Warnings: There are some very adult concepts mentioned in this fic, including sexual references, bad language, violence, addiction, suicide and character death.
Summary: Tara Maclay meets Xander Harris during the summer of 1998. Many things turn out differently during his senior year of high school.
Title: A Matter Of Time
"Witches can't be allowed to alter the fabric of life for selfish reasons. Wiccans took an oath a long time ago to honor that."
(Tara Maclay, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER)
"But somewhere, people all forget what a mess youth is. It's a time of magic all right, and there is nothing more unreliable or annoying than magic."
(Lorne, ANGEL)
"O God! Put back Thy universe, and give me yesterday."
(The Silver King: Act 2 Scene 4, 1907)
Part One: Any Witch Way You Can
UC Sunnydale, California
July, 1998
Alexander or 'Xander' Harris got out of the van belonging to his friend Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne, and looked around the community college campus. It was summer vacation, but there were still a few students walking around here and there. The 17-year-old boy glanced at them with only slight curiosity: they weren't why he was here today.
Xander's little visit to UC Sunnydale was due to the girl known as Buffy Anne Summers, the vampire Slayer. She who was the Chosen One, called upon by the higher powers to defend the world from the forces of evil. Two months ago Buffy had run away from Sunnydale to God only knew where, after averting the apocalypse involving the demon known as Acathla.
After the conventional 'missing person' procedures had turned out to be a complete bust, Harris had inevitably figured that magic was the best possible tool to help him find Miss Summers. The young man knew that without the teenage guardian of the Hellmouth, the vampires were out there killing and turning people every night, so he had to find the runaway Slayer and bring her home.
Xander had briefly toyed with the notion of asking his friend Willow Rosenberg to do a locator spell, or whatever the mojo was called, to find the missing Buffy. But at this critical fork in the road, he decided against that idea.
Instead, Harris had talked to the young woman named Amy Madison, an apprentice witch who had once cast a love spell at his urging. Despite their bad history (due to the blackmail factor and the love spell backfiring incredibly badly), Amy had suggested Xander check out the UC Sunnydale Wicca Club after admitting her own efforts to find Buffy Summers had failed.
A few moments after getting out of the van, he heard someone say, "Xander? Is that you?"
Harris turned to see a familiar male face staring at him. "Jonathan?"
"Yeah," the short, geeky-looking Mr. Levinson replied in that distinct nasal voice. "What are you doing here?"
"Uh, looking for the campus Wicca Club. I, um, I hear they meet on Tuesdays," Xander explained somewhat lamely. Even though they knew each other, the two weren't exactly close and Jonathan wasn't a member of Buffy's inner circle of friends; therefore, Harris felt uncomfortable confiding anything Slayage-related to the other teenager. But he knew he had to say something and it was usually best to stick as close to the truth as possible.
Jonathan could feel Xander being selective with the truth, but since he was even more of a social outcast than Harris was he quickly shrugged it off. "Yeah, me too. I mean, not that I'm a warlock or anything. I, um, I'm just gathering information for a story that I'm writing. For the Sunnydale High school newspaper. After senior year starts up," Levinson babbled to his classmate.
Xander just stared at him. "So, are we gonna do this?" Jonathan asked timidly.
"Yeah. Yeah, lead the way," Xander nodded, as he started to follow the dark-haired nerd after waving farewell to Oz and the rest of his friends.
Richmond Hall, UC Sunnydale
A short while later
Xander stood near the doorway and stared at the fourteen young women sitting on the floor, all of them humming in unison. He ignored Jonathan at his side, who was frantically scribbling notes. Harris was trying to decide who, if any, of these practitioners to approach for help.
The humming finally stopped and one of the club members said, "We come together, daughters of Gaia, sisters to the moon. We walk with the darkness, the wolf at our side through the waterfall of power to the blackest heart of eternity." She paused, opened her eyes and stared at the others. "Hey, I think we should have a bake sale!"
( What? ) Xander thought to himself in surprise, as all the other girls in the circle seemingly woke up as well. ( A bake sale? )
One of the gathered femmes said, "Well, I don't know..."
"Come on! You guys like a bake sale, right? I mean, we need money for the dance recital, and you know how I do a really empowering lemon bundt cake," the first girl said eagerly.
"I think the most important thing is the Gaian newsletter. We need to get the message of blessing out to the sisters, y'know? Also, who left their scented candles dripping all over my women power shrine?" another woman piped up.
( I don't believe this, ) Xander thought to himself in disgust, as the club members started to chatter amongst themselves. ( Is that all they're interested in? These wannabe's wouldn't know how to do a spell even if the magic got up and bit them on the ass! I'm obviously wasting my time here. )
He turned to go, but mistakenly trod on Jonathan's foot. The little man yelped in pain, which got the attention of the Wicca gathering. "Excuse me, but what are you two doing here? This is a private meeting!" one of the females said snootily.
After apologizing to Jonathan, Xander stared at her, and the so-called Wiccan instinctively shut up at his expression. Harris said cuttingly, "Well, I was looking for a witch to do a locator spell for me. Y'know, to help me find a missing friend. Too bad you guys are more interested in food and dancing."
"Hey, that's not true! We're all about female empowerment! And we have a bacchanal coming up!" the brunette club member riposted.
"Good for you," Xander said dismissively. "But in the meantime, I need me the real deal." He turned around again to leave.
"Do you have a personal item of the missing person, a-and a scrying crystal?"
Xander swivelled to stare at the young woman who had hesitantly spoken up. One of the other girls frowned at the shy blond, "Tara, what are you talking about? You know, stereotypes are not very empowering!"
Tara Maclay, a new arrival to UC Sunnydale, simply blushed and looked down. The only reason she had ever joined this club was that it was the same one her mother had once been a member of, and Tara had been hoping that the relaxed atmosphere would allow her to make friends with like-minded people. Even though that hadn't happened so far.
The other club members started talking about witch-hunts and prejudice and Eurotrash and whatnot, but Xander paid them no heed. The one who saw everything somehow knew that this 'Tara' person was the woman he'd been looking for today.
Rocket Café, UC Sunnydale
Ninety minutes later
"So basically, that's the situation. Look, you think you can help me or not? I mean, I don't have much money, but whatever I've got – I'm willing to spend it in order to find Buffy, and bring her home where she belongs."
Tara looked at the guy sitting across from her at the table within the dining hall. Xander seemed sincere, but Miss Maclay's experiences with the men in her family – not to mention the belief she would become a demon on her 20th birthday – made her more than a little reticent to get deeply involved with him. "Well, l-locator spells are kinda tricky. I, I've heard that the best results are u-usually achieved with a blood sample of either the p-person you're looking for, or a c-c-close relative. Is that a problem?"
"Yeah," Xander groaned. "I mean like I said, Buffy's gone, and I don't wanna approach her mom about something like that. Who knows how she'd react, Mrs. Summers still totally blames herself for her daughter running away."
Tara shrugged. "Well, what about h-hair samples, or skin, or something like that?"
Xander shook his head. "The last witch I went to, this girl named Amy Madison? She didn't have any luck with those sorts of things. Not that I was around personally at the time of course, 'cause magic and me..." Xander shuddered. "Well, let's just say we don't get along. Seriously. Especially in the love spell department."
Miss Maclay's interest was piqued, despite her initial distrust. So she made her decision. "Bring me what you can, this is where my dorm is." Tara scribbled down an address on a napkin before handing it over to her companion. "I can't guarantee anything, but I'll do whatever I can to help."
Xander suddenly smiled at the Wiccan, a heartfelt gesture that almost seemed to light up the room. "Thank you, Miss Maclay. Really, this means a helluva lot to me. So I'll see you later tonight, say around seven-ish?"
Tara couldn't help it, she smiled back at Xander. "Okay. See you then."
Watchers Council Headquarters, London, England
The next day
Quentin Travers was an extremely worried man.
Well past his fiftieth birthday he was not yet the head of the Council, although his intellect and stature had made him a trusted confidante of the current big boss, and it had put him in line for the throne in roughly another two or three years. As such Quentin had been one of the first to hear the news yesterday, the news that had gotten the entire organization into almost a complete uproar.
"Ah, Wesley, right on time. Come in and have a seat, we have things to discuss."
The younger Englishman adjusted his glasses and his immaculately tailored suit before sitting down. Quentin noted with approval how his former protégé had finally learned how to act properly in the presence of his superiors; namely, doing what he was told without giving his betters any lip about it. "Now then, I take it you've heard the rumors?"
"Who around here hasn't?" Wesley Wyndam-Pryce replied. The pompous young Brit knew better than to openly sneer at Travers, but the tone of his question still got the message across.
Quentin ignored it. "Then I shan't bore you with the details. But to put it bluntly, the seers have confirmed how a Belial siphon spell has been performed at some point in the future, undoing God only knows how many years of history in its wake. It's now your job, along with a number of other Watchers being sent out into the field, to determine the details regarding who, why, when and where. Once you have your answers, you'll inform me at once. Is that clear?"
Wesley did not immediately reply. Like all Watchers, he knew the Council had expressly forbidden anyone ever using that spell, as the Belial siphon was the ultimate bogeyman with regard to both white and black magic. Everyone who was anyone knew that once the magicks were unleashed by the spellcaster, there was no way to control just how much of the past would be erased in order to create a new future.
Whoever had performed that spell up the line had gambled with humanity's very existence, as the Belial siphon literally could have undone...everything. Right now, the entire universe could have been just a loose collection of protons and electrons floating aimlessly in a dark void, if anything had gone wrong with the casting.
"A question if I may," Pryce said, quickly focusing. "Is there any time limit to the assignment?"
Travers nodded. "You have six months, starting today. I expect weekly reports as well. Now hop to it, boy, you've got a lot to do and not all that much time in which to do it."
Hiding his true feelings behind an expressionless mask, Wesley just nodded once before he got up and exited the room.
Mobile location, downtown Sunnydale
The same time
The magic dealer known as Rack restlessly prowled around in his private quarters, thinking about what to do.
Like many other magically oriented types in the world, he had felt the Belial siphon's impact almost like a psychic scream in his head when the wheels of destiny had changed direction. The warlock suspected that all the major players were now making a big fuss about what had happened. What that meant for him personally, Rack wasn't sure: there was a chance this would all just blow over soon and then life would go back to normal.
Then again, there was always the chance that some bigwigs would come to town and end up interfering with his business, which would not be good for his bottom line.
Finally, Rack decided to forget about it for now and think about what to do tomorrow. So he walked out of his personal chambers and stared around the waiting room. The area looked fairly run-down with some old sofas and chairs, and a number of young people who looked like they were all strung out on drugs. "Who's next?"
One of the girls present got up and said urgently, "Rack, Rack, it's my turn!"
The young man next to her glared at the female teen with open contempt. "No way, I was up next!"
"Bull! I've been here for hours!" The girl then turned to the magic dealer. "Please?"
Rack grinned. "Ladies first," he said simply as the male teenager sat down in a huff. Rack then led the girl into his private chambers. "So what'll it be?"
"Everything you've got." The girl suddenly seemed pathetically eager to get her fix.
"Oh, now that'll cost you-"
"Here! Take it. And I can get more. Just please, give me what I need to make the pain go away!" The girl threw money at Rack like it was toilet paper.
Rack smiled as the magical sparks erupted from his right hand. "As you wish, kid." He almost touched the girl's chest, then the magic flowed out of his hand into her as the girl's eyes went black. The female slowly levitated upwards, a look of ecstasy on her face from the spell Rack had just performed, as the man decided to lay down on his sofa.
Rack counted his money and then put it away, never once looking in the direction of his customer who was now writhing in delight. It mattered little to the warlock that this teenager's life was on the road to ruin thanks to his handiwork; he'd already been paid for services rendered, and there was another one born every minute.
TBC...