BtVS by Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Doctor Who optioned by the BBC. Stargate by Gekko Productions and others. The several shows/games also used as reference aren't mine.

Reviewer Bill wondered if I'd be bringing in Leela, the leather-clad fighter skilled with ranged weaponry from Doctor Who as Buffy's costume... Cool idea and sorry, but I don't want another DW-costume brought in, for plot reasons. How about a guest appearance by her Futurama namesake? :)

Thanks


Not wanting to cut things too close on his costume, it was the day before Halloween after all, Xander headed to the school library in hopes of running into everybody's favorite Watcher.

Sure enough, he was there long past normal school hours, resting his hand on his girlfriend's arm whenever he wasn't turning a page in one of the books laid out in front of them.

"Ahem," Xander coughed, causing the two adults to snap to embarrassed attention. "Hey, Giles, I was hoping to borrow that scarf you keep in your desk in case of an ice demon. Wait, what is that?" he asked, walking over to the coat rack and the oddly colored piece of clothing that had caught his eye. "Could I borrow this jacket as part of my Halloween costume? Just for one night."

"That's actually my jacket," Jenny corrected. "Sure, why not. It's not really cold enough for me to need it."

"The scarf's available as well," Giles said, his lack of interest in Xander's costume evident.

Xander threw on the coat, noticing it was a bit snug but, considering Jenny Calendar was five inches shorter than him, it probably appeared baggy on her.

He retrieved the scarf without incident and left the library with muttered words of thanks. Once outside, he snapped open the locket and decided that the pattern of the scarf matched up pretty well with the one in the picture.

Yep, Xander thought. Other than my hair - which I'm not touching, I'll be a dead ringer for the guy - whoever he is... My guess is that he's a super sci-fi spy, or at least some kind of hero.

##

The rest of the night and most of Halloween passed fairly quietly. Soon enough, Xander was in his costume leading a bunch of grade school kids on a tour of the best candy-gathering locations in Sunnydale.

Suddenly, a burst of magic spread through town, turning many people into their costumes, while leaving others untouched, seemingly without rhyme or reason. Xander was one of the former group, so his consciousness disappeared from existence, replaced by one that felt much older. Two hearts beat in the new being's chest as he straightened to his feet.

The alien reached inside his jacket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver hoping to determine when and where he was, only to freeze in surprise when he realized that the item that had saved his life so many times had become disabled.

"Great," he muttered to himself as he began to fiddle with restoring functionality to the device, not noticing the Bigfoot approaching from behind him or the several child-size demons about to pounce.

A brown package arced through the air above them.

"Hyeah!" came a great battle-cry as a heavy grey boot smashed into Bigfoot's face, knocking the anthropoid completely off-balance. It only managed to take a few steps before falling down, hard.

The purple-haired owner of the boot caught the thrown package before it hit the ground and a few blaster shots, set to stun, was all it took to chase the possessed children away. "Hi," she said, turning to the alien that had been Xander Harris. "Something tells me you shouldn't be wondering around out here alone."

He stepped forward as if to shake her hand only to push her out of the way and shove the repaired screwdriver into the face of the recovered Bigfoot looming behind her. The creature screamed as if its eardrums had just burst and ran away.

"So, how did you do that?" she asked, peering over his shoulder.

"It's okay," he answered. "I'm an Adventurer."

"That's not a job title," she scoffed. Her bone structure definitely resembled that of one Cordelia Chase, but neither of them was in a position to notice.

"Sure it is," the Adventurer said turning around to pull out his wallet. "Here you go," he said, showing her a card which read:

My name is

Xander Harris

Graduate of the Famous Adventurer's Correspondence School

"Hero of Spielburg"

"Prince of Shapeir"

"I see," she said, blinking her single eye. "Well, Mr. Harris, you're cute, but you seem to be able to take care of yourself, so I'm just going to complete this delivery and get the heck out of here."

"Thanks," he said, taking the time to notice that her package had a Planet Express logo and was marked with the address of 'Ethan's Costume Shoppe'. "Good luck and godspeed."

She smiled, leaned forward to pat his shoulder and then left him, heading down the street.

A broad smile broke across his face. Sex wasn't something he exactly wanted this lifetime, but being liked by attractive women made him feel giddy.

He checked the card one more time before he returning the wallet to his pocket. "Harris, eh? Well, I guess it does sound better than Smith..."

Whistling happily to himself, the Adventurer walked through the chaos-filled town towards the place that the sonic screwdriver and his own enhanced senses told him he'd find a TARDIS, his own way home.

##

Willow wasn't dealing too well with being a shadow of her former self, an intangible one at that, but she felt a burst of joy when she saw her friend fighting in the distance.

"Buffy," she cried running closer, only to watch the costumed Slayer bounce a chakram off a demon's helmeted head, leaving the poor bastard unconscious. "Wait... Xena!"

"I'm sorry, you must have me confused with someone else," the Slayer said, turning to face the ghost. The spell on her costume came with all the skills she needed to function; while it only created memories on demand, it was working fast enough for her not to notice. "My name is Joanna, Warrior Priestess."

"Okay," said Willow, nonplussed. "Just great. So, you're religious? Why don't you fill me in on the latest gossip about the Greek gods while we save the world this time..."

##

"So, we're in the future?" Joanna asked as they walked towards the library, Willow having briefed her on the basics. "It's bright and sort of... flat."

"Yep and let me tell you, cars are a minimal threat, just don't get in their way and you'll be fine."

"So, Willow," Joanna asked, tasting the name. "How'd you die?"

Willow froze in place for a few seconds, before answering. "How could you tell?"

"We passed underneath a bright... metal... lamp pole and a few insects flew through you."

"Ah," Willow said, relaxing visibly. "It's just this Halloween spell. If we break it, I should be back in my body again... Maybe."

"So, you're not here physically? Nothing can touch you?"

"Guess so."

"Good," Joanna said and threw her chakram directly through Willow. The metal disk passed above a large troll that had been approaching menacingly, cleanly slicing through its towering purple mohawk, before ricocheting off a fire hydrant and returning to Joanna's hand. The troll whimpered and ran away.

So did the fire hydrant.

##

"Out of curiosity, where's your body?" Joanna asked as they resumed their walk. "You implied it's somewhere."

"It's in front of someone's house a bit that way," Willow answered, waving vaguely.

Joanna froze in her tracks. "You mean you left yourself undefended?"

"Ouch," Willow said, frowning. "You're right, let's go. I don't think I could die again right now, but a building could catch fire or someone could sniff me out and try a bite... I could walk around for the rest of my life with a large chunk of arm missing... I'd never be able to wear a bathing suit to the beach!"

"Don't panic, we'll get there quickly. Don't be hard on yourself either. You found someone to help and then put saving others ahead of yourself."

"Putting it that way, shouldn't we head to Giles first?"

"No, I like it when my sidekicks can hold weapons."

"Sidekick? Wait, what?"

"Assuming whoever started you on this soul-walk isn't looking and given the right herbs and luck, there's hope of waking you up."


Prompted by mikerich's 'Xander Who' Challenge: - gets a scarf from Giles and a multicolored coat from somewhere. During the spell the sonic screwdriver works and the 'Doctor' detects a TARDIS in one of Sunnydale's cemeteries -