-'Eye of the Beholder.'-

Pairings: a little angst for right now, something more substantial later.

A/N: This is the continuation of Enter Sandman and Sad But True. Xander must remember that spells don't work exactly right on him, where before they were annoying, now could be catastrophic.

A/N 2: God knows you can't write more unless you get reviews.

A/N 3: Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Bolo, Layce, hatten, Nodakskip, Rob, hell anyone and everyone. And nonamemonkey, thanks for the spectacularly long review. Constructive criticism is very much appreciated; I'll try to keep the transitions smoother and the details flowing. I'm gonna try to finish 'Pirates of the Hellmouth' before posting more of this story, hopefully, it'll be done by (ironically) Halloween or so.

Disclaimers: I don't own anything relating to Buffy, Angel, or Metallica.

Timeframe: S2 AU "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered."

Dedicated to the ones you can't save, and to the ones you can.

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A newly risen vampire in Sunnydale was having a bad day.

Xander grabbed the vampire by the neck threw it into a tombstone. "I mean how could she?"

A _very_ bad day.

After the incident at the Bronze, Xander decided to take a lesson from Buffy and let out his frustrations on the undead. He went home and changed into his patrol clothes, or as he called them, his 'nighties', consisting of dark tan khakis, navy blue shirt, and black jacket. He looked at the downed vampire before continuing. "I worked my _ass_ off trying to buy her that locket and she just fucking dumps me on VALENTINES DAY!"

The fledgling got up and shook his head. "Women suck man, if it wasn't the vamps that got me, my girlfriend would've put me in the ground sooner or later."

Xander looked at the vampire and nodded his head. "I thought she might actually care for me."

The vampire tried to punch Xander in the chest. "Women are like that."

Xander dodged to the side and kicked the vamp in ribs. "I know, I just wish that she would actually know what its like to feel."

The vamp snorted and landed a punch to Xander's face. "Good luck buddy."

Xander's eyes glowed yellow and he smiled at the vamp. He pulled out a pistol and shot its kneecaps out. The vamp fell to the floor screaming in agony. Xander walked over and readied his stake. "Thanks, you've been very therapeutic." He dusted the vamp and walked out of the cemetery.

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Xander walked through the halls of Sunnydale High school the next day wearing his usual Hawaiian shirts and blue jeans. A boy patted him on the shoulder as he passed by. "Dude, way to get dumped."

Xander shook his head. He could handle the looks, the points, and the laughs; he just didn't want anyone's pity. He looked up and saw Buffy coming the other way. 'Well, maybe _someone's_ pity.'

Xander grabbed Buffy's hand and stopped her. "Hey, Buffy, you will not believe..."

Buffy ripped her hand away and looked at him. "Can't talk right now. Angel."

Xander nodded and walked with her. "Do you need help?"

Buffy shook her head and waved him off. "It's alright."

Xander watches her walk towards the library, and started to walk after her. A group of girls passed around him, staring and giggling at him. He exhaled and watched them go. A few steps further along he heard Harmony. "Gee, Xander, maybe you should learn a second language so that even more girls can reject you."

Xander turned around. "Nah, I just need to save a couple of dollars, then I'm sure I could pay for your services."

Harmony gasped and walked briskly away. He walked along the hallway seeing more people just staring at him. A moment later he noticed Amy in a light green sweater heading toward the stairs in front of him. He looked back for an instant and then rushed over to her.

"Hey Amy."

Amy looked at him. "Hey Xander, I heard about what happened with Cordelia..."

Xander looked around quickly before pulling her into an empty classroom. "Yeah, good to see you too. You're a witch."

Amy's eyes widened as she glanced around and smiled nervously. "No, that, that was my mom, remember? Its me, Amy, I don't do spells or magic."

Xander shook his head. "I saw you working that mojo on Mrs. Beakman. I have nothing against witches. Will is a witch. Ms. Calendar is a witch, see, good witches. But working spells so you don't have to do homework, methinks that's not very good. Now what I need is for my good little witch friend to do me a favor."

Amy held onto his arm and glared at him. "Maybe Mrs. Beakman was being nice."

Xander kept on talking. "Now a bad little witch friend who doesn't do me a favor, well..."

Amy growled. "AARGG, that's just...mean."

Xander smiled and sat her down. "You know Amy, blackmail is such an ugly word for such a pretty girl."

Amy looked confused for a second. "You think I'm... wait, I didn't say blackmail."

Xander smiled. "Yeah, but I'm blackmailing you, so I thought I'd bring it up."

Amy sighed and folded her arms. "What do you want?"

Xander chuckled. "What do I want? I want, for _once_, not to be the freaking buttmonkey. You and me, Amy..." he looked out the door window to see Cordelia walk by with Harmony, "we're gonna cast a little spell."

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Amy nodded understandingly, "So you don't want a love spell."

Xander shook his head. "Not exactly. She doesn't love me, fine. She doesn't care about me, fine. I can live with that. All I want is for her to feel what I felt. I want her to go through the same hell she's been putting _me_ through. Like a simple empathy spell or something. It's like kharma, what goes around, comes around."

Amy considered it for a moment and then got up. "Well, empathy spells aren't that tricky." She grinned at Xander. "And because its Cordelia, I might not feel that bad about doing it." She sighed and walked over to him. "Still, I'll need something of hers, a personal object, but something connected to you, like a picture or a gift."

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Xander waited in the hallway for her. He knew that she had cheerleading practice and would be getting out about this time. They used to meet just down the hall and to the left. The janitor's closet. Hell, for the past few weeks, every time he walked past the corridor, he'd have a huge guilty grin on his face. Several times Buffy or Willow had to slap him upside the head just to bring him back to reality. Now, every time he saw it, all he wanted to do was just crawl up into it and die. He sighed and looked at his watch. 'Five more minutes until practice lets out.' All he had to do was just wait by her locker. He saw Cordelia come out from a corner. He had a slight smile as he watched her walk down the hallway in her cheerleader uniform, with her head a magazine. His smiled dropped when she picked her head up and spotted him. She spun around and started to hurry the other way.

Xander growled and sprinted around the corner to catch up and pass her. He spun around to stop her in her tracks.

Xander held a strait face. "Oh, come on, don't flatter yourself. I'm not gonna make a big scene. I just want the necklace back."

Cordelia stared at him in disbelief. "What? I thought it was a gift."

Xander tried to keep his anger in check, but felt the low growl escape his throat. "No. Last night it was a gift. I worked long and hard to pay for it, and since it doesn't hold any value for me, I figure I can just hand it back, after all, I kept the receipt."

Cordelia's eyes widened in shock. "You kept the _receipt_?"

Xander's eyes narrowed. "I _kept_ the _receipt_."

Xander didn't mean for the venom in his voice to come out, but he needed to rush this along.

Cordelia stammered. "You're pathetic!"

Xander clenched his mouth. "Come on, I'm not gonna add to the Cordelia Chase castoff collection. I don't think there's any room left between the jocks, the frat boys, and half the state. Besides, after I worked so hard to save up for it, I might as well have something to show for it."

Cordelia glared at him. "It's in my locker."

Xander crossed his arms. "I can wait."

She gave him another look, and then walked over to her locker. Xander stepped to the side of the hall and leaned against the lockers several lockers infront of her.

She opened the locker and glanced over at him to see if he's looking. "Excuse me!"

Xander glared at her. "What?"

"Turn around, I don't want you knowing my combination."

Xander sighed and turned around. Satisfied that he wasn't paying close attention, she leaned in behind the locker door, and reached under the collar of her blouse. She pulled the necklace and pendant out. She sighed and stared into her locker mirror for a second to make sure there were no tears.

"Done yet?"

She closed her locker, stepped over to him and handed him the necklace.

Cordelia slipped back into venom mode. "Here. It's a good thing we broke up. Now I don't have to pretend I like it."

Xander felt the remaining embers in his heart snuff out as he walked away. Before he turned the corner he yelled back at Cordelia. "Pretend to like it, or pretend to like me?"

The cheerleader felt a few tears roll down her face before walking out to her car.

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Xander sat down at the lab table and handed the locket to Amy. "So that's it, no big ceremony, no holding a candle and sitting bare-chested and cross- legged on the floor inside a large red symbol on the floor with three red vertical stripes are painted on my chest."

Amy gave Xander a confused look and shook her head before setting up the lab beakers containing several potions. "No, this is just a simple empathy spell. No half nakedness." Xander faked hurt. "Sorry Xander. It loosely ties some of your soul's excess energy to another person, but how do you know about the ritual to invoke Diana, the goddess of the hunt?"

"You know what my friends and I do right?"

Amy nodded as she sat down opposite him.

Xander gave her a smirk. "Well, we research a lot of occult and spell books, and there is no way any guy I know wouldn't look up a love spell if he had the chance."

Amy chuckled and looked at the necklace in her hand. "You know Xander I think that Cordelia was nuts." She stood and put a hand on his shoulder as he got up. "It's a beautiful necklace."

Xander turned to leave and gave her a soft smile. "Keep it when you're done. It should go to someone with a heart."

Amy smiled sweetly before going back to setting up the spell.