Thanks to Majin Gojira, Jeff, Ckk, Sepharih, Zeon, JWolf, Demented Mite, Dracowar, Holy Knight and SotF for the reviews, the feedback is appreciated. And yes, I screwed up Master Chief does have a name my bad.
Majin Gojira: Yeah I know which I why I said AU, Halo came out earlier.
Ckk: Yeah but you have to remember that the grunts and elites are kids in costume, so it would be tough to fight then without killing them.
Dracowar: Let's say after Halo but before Halo 2, partially because I wouldn't want to ruin the game for anyone and partially because I haven't finished it yet. He's wearing the Mark VI suit.
SotF: Don't spoil it for anyone! No this isn't the Arbiter but he will make an appearance later, along with friends...
Anyways that's it so on with the story!
Chapter 2
Master Chief and Willow ran side by side through the town. They turned a corner to see a dark haired Buffy screaming as a pirate approached her, leering menacingly. Master Chief/Xander raised his SMGs and prepared to fire when Willow shouted, "You can't! Remember, he's a pirate now but that's really just a guy in a costume!"
He hesitated for a second, and Cortana took the time to add, "She might be right. Maybe just knock him out." Chief nodded and picked up a rock, then hurled it at Larry the Pirate, hitting hit in the back of the head. Larry made a funny face, then dropped to the ground, out cold.
"Thank you, sir knight!" Buffy cried, running up and embracing Chief/Xander. "Your armour is most peculiar, what country do you hail from?" She asked, examining the green armour.
"We need to get her out of here!" Willow ordered. "Come on, we can take her to her house, Buffy's house, whatever."
"We need to re-think our strategy for dealing with these monsters." Cortana said, earning a strange look from Buffy.
"A woman warrior?" She asked, both puzzled and shocked.
"No she just lives in my head." Chief/Xander replied. "And I agree. I can't just throw a rock at an Elite."
"Let's just get to Buffy's house." Willow said. "Maybe we won't run into him."
----------
Chief/Xander opened the door and escorted Willow and Buffy in, then turned around to take a final look outside before closing it. "Wait!" A voice shouted. A young brunette in a catsuit ran in then slammed the door shut behind her.
"Cordelia!" Willow said. "You're not a cat! You're just under a spell, it looks like..."
"Like what?" Cordelia asked. "Do you see me meowing and drinking milk from a saucer? Have you guys noticed that most people out there have turned into their costumes? Speaking of which, who's the tin can?"
"This is, was, Xander. Now he's Master Chief, you know, from Halo?" Willow explained.
"And me." Cortana added.
"Yes, Cortana is in the suit too." Willow amended. "She's an intelligent computer program. Look, stay here. I'm going to get Giles, maybe he has some idea what's going on. Xan- Chief, try not to shoot anyone. Remember, under the little demons there are kids out there."
"I'll do what I can." Chief/Xander promised. "Who's Giles?"
"He's a friend of ours, hopefully he can help us out." With that Willow turned and ran through the nearest wall.
Chief/Xander quickly turned his guns on the stairs, where a figure was silently coming down them. "Don't move!" He ordered.
"Xander? It's me, Angel." The figure replied.
"He's not Xander right now, he's Master Chief." Cordelia explained. "Willow's a ghost and Buffy's a noblewoman, everyone has turned into their costumes."
"Oh." Angel replied simply, looking down at Buffy, who was cowering on the couch, trying to choke back tears. "This isn't good."
----------
"Giles!" Willow shouted as she emerged from the wall of the library. "Help!"
Giles appeared from behind one of the stacks. "Oh, hello Willow. Dear lord, what are you dressed as?"
"Giles, everyone has turned into their costume! Buffy's a noblewoman and Xander's Master Chief and Cordelia's, wait, Cordelia didn't change." Willow said, pondering her own words. "But she bought her costume at Partytown. Most people went to a new place, Ethan's."
"What was the name of the man running the store?" Giles asked sharply.
"Ethan, Rayne I think." Willow replied. "Why?"
"Get back and help Xander and Buffy." Giles ordered. "I think I know what is going on."
----------
"Uhh, Chief, I think we have a problem." Cortana said. "I'm picking up a couple of Covenant radio transmissions from down the street. Looks like our position's been made."
"Not good." Chief/Xander said. He turned to look at Cordelia and Angel. "Stay with her," he said, gesturing to Buffy. "I'll deal with them." Chief/Xander opened the door and walked into the night.
"Shouldn't we go with the knight with the muskets?" Buffy asked, alarmed. "I'd really prefer to stay with the man with the muskets!"
----------
Chief/Xander walked out onto the street and looked south. Standing in front of an intersection were eight grunts, all doing their best to growl menacingly, and one very tall, very angry looking Elite clad in the gold armour of a fleet commander. He roared loudly then activated his energy sword, nearly cutting in half one of the careless grunts.
"If the Elite wasn't there we might be able to take out the grunts without killing them." Cortana reasoned. "We either need to take him out of the fight or get him away from the others."
"I can't see a way of doing this without eliminating the Elite." Chief/Xander replied. "I guess we'll have to call it acceptable casualties."
Before the conversation could continue, four of the grunts armed with needlers opened fire. Chief/Xander dove behind a car parked on the street as a hail of purple quills trying to track him slammed into the side of the car. In return he grabbed his SMGs and popped up, laying down a field of suppressive fire. The SMGs crackled loudly, perforating the din of the night with a sound dangerous enough that the area around them suddenly fell silent. A veritable wall of lead flew towards the group of Covenant, however due to the distance and the lack of accuracy on both the Chief's hasty aim and the weapons themselves, none of the Covenant members were hit with anything more than grazes. It did, however, drive the grunts to a more covered position.
Meanwhile Spike had decided to make use of the diversion to plan his attack on Buffy. Though he could not enter the house, his makeshift minions certainly could.
----------
Angel quickly found himself surrounded by a group of three foot high demons. He hit and flung them away, trying to be careful to pull his punches a little, but was quickly overwhelmed by the numbers. He used one of the demons to knock another couple away, then got to his feet and showed his game face, hoping to intimidate them a little. The reaction was not quite what he was looking for.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Buffy screamed, fleeing from her seat out the open door.
"Cordelia get her!" Angel shouted, batting away one of the tiny demons. "She gonna get herself killed!"
Cordelia took off after the noblewoman, and before long caught up to her in an alley. "Buffy! It's okay, relax." Cordelia said.
"That man was, he was a vampire!" Buffy exclaimed fearfully.
"Angel's a good vampire, he would never hurt you." Cordelia soothed. "Now let's get back to the house for we run into trouble."
"Too late." Called Spike, stepping from the shadows with his game face on. Cordelia and Buffy spun around to find that they were surrounded by small demons. "This certainly in an interesting night." Spike proclaimed, moving towards the whimpering noblewoman. "The Slayer's been reduced to a simpering princess, the redhead is a ghost, and-"
"And Xander is Master Chief." Cordelia interrupted with mock bravado. "You might want to leave us alone or you'll have to mess with him."
"Last I saw he was hiding behind a car from a horde of aliens." Spike replied offhandedly. "I don't think he'll be bothering us." With that he moved forward and grabbed the now screaming Buffy.
----------
Master Chief crouched behind the quickly deteriorating Pontiac. "You know, I think I've had it with this no killing stuff." He said.
"What are you going to do?" Cortana asked. "You can't be considering killing nine kids."
"No, just one." Chief replied. "That Elite is a fleet commander. Take him out and the rest will scatter." With that, the Chief grabbed his only grenade and hurled it over the car into the mass of Grunts. They quickly scattered, but were knocked away by the blast. Chief used the time to emerge from hiding and charge towards the Elite, quickly bringing his guns to bear and firing. The Elite charged, but before he had taken five steps his shields were gone and he was knocked on his ass. Chief/Xander moved in the finish the job.
----------
"How do I stop it Ethan?" Giles asked again, kicking the chaos mage in the side again.
"Smash the statue." Ethan gasped. Giles quickly looked and saw the statue of Janus, then grabbed it and raised it over his head. "I did more than just have a little fun." Ethan said, stopping Giles. "I opened a small doorway, smash that statue now and it may never close."
Ignoring the man, Giles threw the statue at the ground and watched as it smashed into hundreds of pieces. Little did he know he had just saved one life and in a way, created another.
----------
Spike looked around at his minions, who had suddenly turned back into crying children. Willow, who had stepped into the warehouse not a minute ago, smiled and gestured for Spike to look behind him. Spike turned around to see a very agitated looking Slayer staring back at him. She leveled him with a punch and smiled. "It's good to be me."
----------
Xander stared down at the Elite, or at least what was an Elite not five seconds ago. Now Warren Meers was nervously staring down the barrel of the submachine gun in Xander's armoured hand. He lowered the weapon and looked around. Behind him lay a group of children dressed as grunts, some of them crying for their mommies while others looked angry that they didn't have any candy. Down the street a Pontiac Grand Am had been reduced to little more than a frame and wheels, and there was damaged property everywhere.
Xander started walking back to Buffy's house when he was shocked to hear a voice in his ear. "Everything changed back." Cortana said. "So why am I still here?"
End chap 2
Hope you guys liked this chapter, thanks again for the reviews. And again for those of you waiting for The War to End All Wars, sorry but I got sidetracked writing this, I promise Monday by the very latest, should be up Sunday though. Thanks for reading and please leave a review!