STRANGE DAYS
Chapter 28
See first chapter for disclaimers.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know this premise has been done to death, but it's a quick and easy way to blend two of my favorites. If you have any comments or preferences, please don't be shy. RandR.
Smallville & Justice League Unlimited
And now…
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and ?
FOR WANT OF AN APPLE
Ethan hadn't seen it coming. He really hadn't. The accessories scattered around the shop were meant to be used as precisely that, accessories to full costumes already on display. While he had realized that cash-challenged customers might get creative with the props, he had never anticipated this. British or not, he hated that show.
"I really must insist," the person who had been Xander Harris said in a pleasant voice, a smile on his face. "Oh come now. Surely you realized that using chaos magic would someday come back and bite you. The entire point is that it is uncontrollable, unpredictable." His bantering tone dropped away and he favored the magician with a look that made Ethan feel an inch tall. "How do I stop this? Tell me."
"And if I don't? What do you think you can do to me?" Bluster was all he had to fall back on. There were potential remedies, but the man he faced now seemed to see straight through him.
"Nothing will happen to you, Ethan. I will see to that. Nothing will ever happen to you again." The nature of the threat had to be admired, a calm detached part of the sorcerer's mind noted. It was clear enough to be perceived as a threat and vague enough to allow the recipient's imagination to run wild with the possibilities. Ethan Rayne had an excellent imagination.
"The bust of Janus in the back room; shatter it. The spell will end."
"Thank you," his uninvited guest offered with a tip of the white Panama hat he wore before turning and heading toward the back room. Ethan couldn't allow it. To end the spell prematurely would have disastrous consequences, at least for him. To deny Janus the fun he had been promised would make him very angry. As a rule, Ethan tried not to anger his god.
As quickly and quietly as he was able, he reached into his jacket for his knife. A stinging blow to his hand sent it flying. The other hadn't even turned around. Now he did, though, and favored Ethan with an irritated look. "You should have considered the consequences before you began," he said as he reversed his grip on the umbrella he carried and snagged the chaos mage's ankle with the handle, sending him crashing to the ground.
The bust of Janus would have appeared quite ordinary to human eyes, but Xander hadn't dressed as a human for Halloween. Frowning in fierce concentration, he examined the intricate web of energies surrounding the statue. Yes. Smashing it would be sufficient to end the spell, but there would be consequences. Memories would linger for some. Young children would remember committing vicious crimes as monsters. Some of Sunnydale's frailer citizens might suffer permanent psychological or even physical damage. And while he was a firm believer in the resiliency of the human mind and spirit, there was no need to put them through that. Well, not all of them anyway.
Xander Harris, he mused, was an intriguing individual. A young man of remarkable potential, even if he rarely used it, that would, he felt certain, go on to do great things. "Especially if he has a bit of help."
The one who had temporarily supplanted Xander wasn't at all sure of his own nature at the moment. Was he from another universe? Was he a product of belief made manifest? What the natives of this Earth called chaos magic was tricky stuff, and there was no way to answer those questions definitively or to know what would happen to him when the spell ended. His own remarkable mind had allowed him to hold on to Xander's memories while the other victims of Ethan's prank had been suppressed completely, and that made all the difference. Xander's uninvited guest quickly came to a decision. Putting two fingers to his lips, he gave a piercing whistle.
The subject of the summons responded instantly, roaring into existence right beside him. A few minutes' work ensured that the spell's damage would, for the most part, be negated. Only one affected person would remember, and carry the consequences. "That's that," he told the bust. "You're done here Janus." Placing the tip of his umbrella against the statue, he shoved.
OOOOOOOOOO
Two months later, Xander still wasn't sure what to make of the experience, or what he had gained from it. Hidden just beyond the perceptions of Sunnydale's residents was, quite likely, the most remarkable machine in the universe, and it was his. There was so much that could be accomplished with it and with the other gifts he'd been given. The knowledge was the most crucial. He never would have been able to figure it out on his own. He doubted that even Willow could have done that. The knowledge and memories he had acquired did not overwhelm him, which was something he found odd, given the incredible life experience of the person he had dressed as. Instead, the knowledge was there for him, to be accessed at will. He suspected that the other had arranged it that way, though he didn't understand how.
There was still a lot to work out before he attempted even a small experiment with the device, but the new knowledge had already been useful. He had headed off two potentially disastrous events. Eyghon had been easily dispatched when Xander recognized its nature and Ethan's intentions, and the eggs handed out for the class project, while close enough to fool most of the students, had clearly not been laid by a chicken.
Just dealing with crises in Sunnydale would keep him busy, he quickly realized, and the knowledge chafed. There was so much more out there. The delay didn't cause him too much fuss, though. The one thing he had plenty of was time.
THE END
