Minato, Japan

November 4th, 1997

Ron and Kross battled on the top floor of the Tokyo Tower. They both jumped into the air with a high kick; and when their kicks collided, all of the Tokyo Tower rumbled and shook. People on the lower floors hurried outside, running for their lives...

Kross knocked Ron out of air, and he fell to the carpet with a thud. He was about to kick Ron with his right foot, when the male Slayer rolled out of the way. Kross cursed, "You got lucky with Alduin. He was a weak excuse for a god, like Ares' nephew Strife!"

"I'll show you weak, Kross!"

Strife physically manifested after saying that, and blasted the demon god in the back. Kross fell to his knees, stunned. Ron wasted no time in beheading Kross with the Slayer Scythe, a recent gift from the Guardian of the Slayer line.

"Oooh, yeah!" Strife absorbed the demon god's godhood essence into himself, as Kross vanished from existence.

The God of Skirmishes then decided to use his new powers to seal Tokyo's Hellmouth; so a wave of power blasted out through the Tokyo Tower, destroying all the floors, stairs, elevators and windows. Strife's red eyes glowed with new, powerful energy.

"Thank you for the assistance, Demon Slayer!" He disappeared.

Ron nodded warily. "You're welcome, I guess."

He took a deep breath; Ron had killed two demon gods so far. Plus he'd stopped Kross from summoning the hell dragons from within Tokyo's Hellmouth. He knew it wasn't over, though; there were other demon gods, and other gods as well...

Back in Sunnydale, Buffy dodged the gravestone pieces Willow threw at her. "Willow, stop! You, you don't have to do this!"

"Yes I do! If it wasn't for you, Xander wouldn't be in Tartarus!" the dark witch screamed.

Xander heard her say that, still in his York Morgan disguise. Still, there was no time to correct Willow's mistake; Bellatrix had to be taken care of first. Xander's wand cast an Incarcerous at Bellatrix; saving Faith from the killing curse.

"Thanks for the save!" Faith thanked him.

"So, that muggle girl's friend is a wizard. Damn minions failed me again!" a ticked-off Bellatrix screamed, wanting to kill Jinx and the rest of them.

"I'll take on Bellatrix. Help Buffy!" Xander ordered Faith.

"Are you sure?" the Slayer asked dubiously.

"Never been more sure in my life, go!"

"Good luck..." Faith left her unexpected ally to join Buffy. She noticed Willow's black eyes were burning holes into her sister Slayer.

"I don't want to fight you, Willow!" Buffy said desperately.

"That's too bad, Buff, because I do! Never once did you or Giles help me find Xander. Bellatrix was the one that told me he was in Tartarus. And she's helping me to get him back!" Willow blasted lighting at her.

Faith tackled Dark Willow to the ground, and then punched the shit out of her. "That's no way to treat a friend!" the pissed off Slayer growled.

"Buffy is no longer my friend! I'll bring her to Bellatrix once I'm done with her..." Dark Willow growled back.

"Not on my watch, Goth girl!" Faith grabbed Dark Willow and tossed her away through the air. Right into a tree! Knocking her out cold, but not killing her. Faith then asked, "Where do you find friends like that, B?"

"I wish I knew, Faith," Buffy said with a sad sigh, gesturing towards Willow's unconscious form in disbelief.

Elsewhere the fight between Bellatrix and Xander had begun, once she had freed herself. "Not bad, wizard. But who are you, really?"

"Well, you really want to know? Then take a good look..." Xander said with a grin. He canceled the effects of the polyjuice potion with a spell Merlin had taught him, resuming his true appearance.

"YOU!" Bellatrix screamed in shocked disbelief.

Faith thought he was pretty damn cute, even if she had no idea who he was. Buffy just wondered how in the hell Xander had come back from - wherever he'd been since Friday night. Bellatrix wasn't too happy to see him out of the Underworld, and alive.

"Hades says hi, and that you've been a very naughty girl."

Both Buffy and Faith found that funny; the dark witch did not. Deciding that escape and fight another day with the odds in her favor, Bellatrix was about to vanish - but Xander jumped her. They both disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

"XANDER! NOOOOO!" Buffy screamed. She'd just lost him again. Or so she thought.

Back at the Crawford Street mansion, Xander was on top of Bellatrix and wrestling her. She was about to knee him between his legs when he tensed and rolled to the side, after punching her in the face.

Bellatrix got to her feet. Xander did the same. They pointed their wands at each other. Stand-off time.

"I'm sending you to Tartarus where you belong, Bellatrix."

She chuckled darkly at him. "You're wrong about that, Xander."

"Avada Kedavra!" They both shouted, as green lights shot out of their wand tips. The killing curses slammed into one another, with powerful blast of energy unleashed. Bellatrix was momentarily stunned; she hadn't been expecting that, so Xander used the opportunity to throw the dagger into her heart!

"Curse you, nephew!" Bellatrix screamed out in rage, before she blew up; sending the chaos magic in his old body straight into his new one, making him whole once again

Xander's body glowed with the chaos magic surging through him. He couldn't control it, as he switched back and forth from Bellatrix's body to his own. Kinda like Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, so to speak. Finally, he stabilized as his normal male self; but found himself wearing his aunt's dress and boots.

"Great, I'm wearing this damn dress again!" Xander sighed in annoyance. Then everything went momentarily dark -

"You look great in that dress," the Dark One laughed, appearing in his physical form. He was dressed in golden medieval leather clothes, and long dark brown hair.

"What? How-?" Xander said. "That voice...you're the Dark One!"

"Guilty. And thanks to you, I'm free; I even got my old body back."

The Dark One tossed a dagger to him, and Xander caught it in his right hand. He then saw how it had a name carved into the blade: XANDER.

"What the-?!" He looked at it in confusion.

"I told you I was planning to have you become the next Dark One. You passed the test, Xander. Otherwise, Bellatrix would have been the one to receive this gift."

"Gift? Really?" With a sigh, Xander transfigured his clothes to get *rid* of the damn dress, he'd had enough of that crap to last him a lifetime. "So, are you going somewhere, Dark One?"

"No. And yes. It depends on your point of view."

"So, I'm the new Dark One, since you're going on - sabbatical," Xander slowly cogitated.

"You can look at it that way if you want, yes," the Dark One nodded.

"Man, my life sucks sooo much," Xander complained.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. After all, no one can use that dagger against you, like with the Dark Ones of the past. I made sure of that."

"Great," Xander groaned, before a thought suddenly struck him. "What about Willow?"

"Ah, that one? She is beyond saving, Xander. Bellatrix corrupted her completely, I'm afraid."

"I don't accept that," he said stubbornly. "She's still Willow. I don't care what Bellatrix did to her, I'll find a way to undo it!"

"Good luck with that, boy. Especially since you'll be busy with other things," the Dark One chuckled.

"Like what?" Xander demanded.

"have you forgotten Hades' offer of godhood? Malice will be coming after you to make sure you don't kill that Dark Fairy first," the Dark One told him.

"Oh, crap," Xander groaned.

"Yes. Well, goodbye, Xander; maybe I'll be seeing you again soon. Have fun being the new Dark One. Just remember; you don't have to use your new powers for evil." Then he vanished into darkness...

TBC...