Title: Inverted Triangle (3/?)
Author: Cyclone
Feedback: Please be gentle.
Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.
Rating: I'm gonna go say PG-13.
Spoilers: Up to Help, but it starts after Same Time, Same Place.
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to the almighty Joss. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Summary: Love on the Hellmouth is never as easy as it seems.
Author's Note: This fanfic includes B/X, W/X, B/W, and a sprinkling of T/X. Oh, and some B/X/W too. What can I say? I like love triangles.
* * *
"Alatheia, Aphrodite, hear me," Willow intoned.
"Reveal to me the truth of the heart," she lit the candle.
"Show me the heart's desire of these whose images appear before me," she laid the photograph in front of her. It was a picture from years before of the three of them -- Buffy, Willow, and Xander -- during that trip the zoo, taken just before Xander had been possessed by the hyena.
"Yield no falsehood. Reveal in truth, the heart's desire."
* * *
Willow sighed as she started the walk home. The spell hadn't worked.
She had found the Magic Box deserted, still destroyed, a testament to her own destructive handiwork.
Just seeing it had made her shudder.
But she had shoved those disturbing thoughts to the back of her mind. She had had more important things to worry about... like finding out where their hearts really lay.
Apparently, Anya had decided not to risk the unstable structure to rescue the supplies still trapped within, but that hadn't been a problem for her.
But the spell hadn't worked. She had seen no vision, was no closer to learning who really loved whom.
With a yawn, she shuffled into the Summers home and headed toward her bedroom. The spell -- even though it failed -- had taken quite a bit out of her, and she wasn't about to risk the temptation of drawing on the Earth's energy for something that a good night's sleep would fix easily enough.
She undressed and slid into bed. Her tired mind, already half asleep, didn't quite register the fact that it was already occupied.
* * *
Anya pondered her situation.
Being a vengeance demon wasn't as fulfilling as it was before. Her mind kept straying off the job.
She could quit, destroy her power center, become human again.
But did she want to?
She didn't know. She didn't know she was -- who she'd be -- if she did. She needed to talk to someone... she needed to talk to him.
* * *
"Mmm..." Xander shifted sleepily. He flung his arm over the bed... and encountered an obstacle. "Mmm?" he queried, his mind still fuzzy from sleep.
*Okay,* he thought, his hand exploring his bedmate. *Warm. Good. Not vampire. Feels human.* He felt his hand cup around something he easily recognized, and he nodded to himself, *Yup, definitely human. Definitely female. Good. Not demon. Nice, verrry niiice...*
Now if he could just remember who he had gone to bed with last night.
He felt the woman next to him shift and snuggle against his chest, and he smiled.
But his smile faded as synapses began to fire. He opened his eyes, blinked against the dim but still blinding morning light, and as his eyes adjusted, he wondered whether he should panic or celebrate.
* * *
"Mmm..." Willow moaned as she felt fingers caressing her breast, then gasped as she felt the hand slide down her front toward her nether regions.
She shifted and rolled over. Who was it?
It took a moment for her foggy mind to recognize the person next to her, and she blinked in confusion, "Buffy?"
"Morning," the blonde said, before leaning forward and kissing her.
* * *
"Mmm..." Buffy moaned into the kiss.
It was a good kiss. A _really_ good kiss. The person kissing her pulled back, and she stifled a yawn.
Something was wrong with this, but she wasn't awake enough to figure it out just yet. Maybe if she saw who it was...?
With that thought in mind, she ratcheted her reluctant eyes open and saw...
"Xander?"
"That be me," he said with a grin.
"What are you doing here?" she asked dumbly.
"Well, I _was_ kissing you. Something wrong, Buff?" he asked, concerned.
"Yes. No. Maybe. Hold on. Lemme wake up first," she mumbled as her brain, dazed from both sleep and the kiss, tried to process the new information.
Her eyes went wide, and she got up. She shot him a look and said, "Get dressed. Something weird's going on."
"Something Slayer-y?" he asked, rising from the bed and reaching for his pants.
"Uhh..." she uhhed as she stared at his... then she shook herself back to her senses. "Possibly."
After they were both dressed, she stormed out the door, "Willow!"
Without waiting for an answer, she opened Willow's door... and stared. Her face twisted in disgust, "Oh, God, Willow! The Buffybot?"
The blonde on the bed sat up and glared at her, "Excuse me?"
Willow, sitting next to her, whipped her gaze between the two Slayers, staring at the alternately, clearly confused.
"Hey, what's going on... here?" Dawn blinked at them, awakened by the ruckus. She too looked between the two blondes, then asked, "Uh, which one of you's the Buffybot?"
"She is!" both of them insisted, pointing at each other.
Dawn nodded slowly, then said carefully, "Okaaay. Umm, I'll be going to school now."
With that, the Key-turned-human made a dash for the stairs.
* * *
Xander headed for the door. He had to get to the Summers home as soon as possible. There was something here that was just not... connecting.
Not that he was complaining or anything like that.
He opened the door and was surprised to see someone standing there, about to knock.
No, of course the situation wasn't complicated enough.
"Anya?"
"Hello, Xander. I need to talk to you."
"Um, this _really_ isn't a good time, An. Can it wait?"
"No, it can't."
"Fine," he said. "We'll talk on the way to Buffy's. There's something kinda odd going on."
"And you still haven't told me what that is," a certain redhead complained from behind him.
Anya raised a curious eyebrow.
"All right. We'll talk at Buffy's."
* * *
Xander stormed through the front door of the Summers home... and froze, staring.
He looked over his shoulder at the two women behind him, then looked forward again.
"Okay, what's going on?"
* * *
Two Buffys, two Willows, two Xanders, and one Anya sat around the Summers dining table.
"Okay, so we're all real," Buffy -- the one who had woken up with a Xander -- said. "No robots, no evil alternate vampire versions."
"Right," Xander -- the one who had woken up with a Willow -- nodded.
"And we know which three of us are from the same world -- this world, right?" Buffy-who-woke-up-with-Xander continued.
The were various nods and sounds of agreement all around.
"But what brought you three here, then?"
"Yeah," Xander-who-woke-up-with-Buffy nodded, "I mean, who would want to make two of each of us?"
"I can think of a few reasons," Anya said, eyeing the two Xanders speculatively.
"An!"
Her gaze dropped as she muttered, "It's one of those things, huh?"
Willow-who-woke-up-with-Buffy raised her hand timidly, "I, um, I think it might be my fault?"
Eyes turned on her, and she blushed, "Well, um, when I... this whole... love triangle thing... I tried to cast a spell last night... t-to find out who we really loved. To 'reveal in truth the heart's desire.' I guess I made our heart's desire true. Or something like that."
They thought about that for a long moment, until something occurred to Willow-who-woke-up-with-Xander, "Hey, Xander?"
"Yeah?" chorused the two Xanders.
Willow-who-woke-up-with-Buffy shook her head, "This is going to be too confusing. We need something to call you three until we can get you back."
They looked at each other, then Buffy-who-woke-up-with-Willow spoke first, "Well, I can be Anne again."
Xander-who-woke-up-with-Buffy scowled, "Don't even think about calling me Lavelle. Alex'll do."
They looked at Willow-who-woke-up-with-Xander, who blushed and shook her head, shrugging nervously. Xander -- as opposed to the newly-renamed Alex -- smiled, "How about... Rose?"
She smiled up at him, "I like it."
Xander returned the smile and said quietly, "I thought you might."
Anya, Buffy, and Willow all felt a stab of jealousy and regret.
"So, Rose, what did you want to say?"
"Well, um, don't you have work today?" she asked.
He shook his head, "Nah. This whole mess here... Tony told me to take a few days off, clear my head, sort this out."
"Oh."
Anya shook her head irritably, "I'm leaving."
"What?" Xander blinked. "But, An, what was it...?"
"Forget it," she shook her head adamantly. "It wasn't important."
She held a tight grip on her feelings, but it was obvious to her that he'd moved on.
Or perhaps, not moved on at all.
Xander loved Willow, more than he could ever love her.
* * *
Buffy called in to the school, letting them know she wouldn't be in today, and the six of them engaged in a timeless Scooby Gang tradition -- a research party.
* * *
"You really love him, don't you?" Willow asked quietly.
Rose looked at her and nodded, "Of course. He's Xander, and I'm Willow. It's like a law of the universe. Xander loves Willow, and Willow loves Xander." She looked at her local counterpart curiously and asked, "Are things really that different here?"
"I thought they were," Willow replied sadly.
* * *
"Okay," Anne said, with no small amount of annoyance, "can you quit that?"
"Quit what?" Buffy asked.
"Giving me that look. You know, the same look I -- we -- gave Willow when we found out about Tara."
Buffy winced, "Ah, well, it's just... I like guys. A-and seeing you... serious identity issues here."
"Uh huh," Anne nodded. "Guys. 'Cause, y'know, it always worked out _so_ well with guys."
"Hey, I..."
Anne shook her head, "When Oz left, Xander still hadn't come back. He was the only guy I could really count on, and he didn't come back. Me and Will... we bonded, let's just say. We were there for each other."
"Xander didn't come back?"
"No, he didn't," Anne's head dropped. "I think... I think he might be..."
Buffy reached over and gave Anne a comforting hug. She seemed to be giving a lot of them lately.
* * *
"Buffy, huh?"
Alex smiled, "Yeah."
"Why?"
"Why not?"
Xander shrugged, "I mean, I know I love her, but... I haven't loved her like that in a long time."
"You sure about that?"
He had no answer.
* * *
Author's Postscript:
More surprises are on the way, so hang on tight.
Author: Cyclone
Feedback: Please be gentle.
Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.
Rating: I'm gonna go say PG-13.
Spoilers: Up to Help, but it starts after Same Time, Same Place.
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to the almighty Joss. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Summary: Love on the Hellmouth is never as easy as it seems.
Author's Note: This fanfic includes B/X, W/X, B/W, and a sprinkling of T/X. Oh, and some B/X/W too. What can I say? I like love triangles.
* * *
"Alatheia, Aphrodite, hear me," Willow intoned.
"Reveal to me the truth of the heart," she lit the candle.
"Show me the heart's desire of these whose images appear before me," she laid the photograph in front of her. It was a picture from years before of the three of them -- Buffy, Willow, and Xander -- during that trip the zoo, taken just before Xander had been possessed by the hyena.
"Yield no falsehood. Reveal in truth, the heart's desire."
* * *
Willow sighed as she started the walk home. The spell hadn't worked.
She had found the Magic Box deserted, still destroyed, a testament to her own destructive handiwork.
Just seeing it had made her shudder.
But she had shoved those disturbing thoughts to the back of her mind. She had had more important things to worry about... like finding out where their hearts really lay.
Apparently, Anya had decided not to risk the unstable structure to rescue the supplies still trapped within, but that hadn't been a problem for her.
But the spell hadn't worked. She had seen no vision, was no closer to learning who really loved whom.
With a yawn, she shuffled into the Summers home and headed toward her bedroom. The spell -- even though it failed -- had taken quite a bit out of her, and she wasn't about to risk the temptation of drawing on the Earth's energy for something that a good night's sleep would fix easily enough.
She undressed and slid into bed. Her tired mind, already half asleep, didn't quite register the fact that it was already occupied.
* * *
Anya pondered her situation.
Being a vengeance demon wasn't as fulfilling as it was before. Her mind kept straying off the job.
She could quit, destroy her power center, become human again.
But did she want to?
She didn't know. She didn't know she was -- who she'd be -- if she did. She needed to talk to someone... she needed to talk to him.
* * *
"Mmm..." Xander shifted sleepily. He flung his arm over the bed... and encountered an obstacle. "Mmm?" he queried, his mind still fuzzy from sleep.
*Okay,* he thought, his hand exploring his bedmate. *Warm. Good. Not vampire. Feels human.* He felt his hand cup around something he easily recognized, and he nodded to himself, *Yup, definitely human. Definitely female. Good. Not demon. Nice, verrry niiice...*
Now if he could just remember who he had gone to bed with last night.
He felt the woman next to him shift and snuggle against his chest, and he smiled.
But his smile faded as synapses began to fire. He opened his eyes, blinked against the dim but still blinding morning light, and as his eyes adjusted, he wondered whether he should panic or celebrate.
* * *
"Mmm..." Willow moaned as she felt fingers caressing her breast, then gasped as she felt the hand slide down her front toward her nether regions.
She shifted and rolled over. Who was it?
It took a moment for her foggy mind to recognize the person next to her, and she blinked in confusion, "Buffy?"
"Morning," the blonde said, before leaning forward and kissing her.
* * *
"Mmm..." Buffy moaned into the kiss.
It was a good kiss. A _really_ good kiss. The person kissing her pulled back, and she stifled a yawn.
Something was wrong with this, but she wasn't awake enough to figure it out just yet. Maybe if she saw who it was...?
With that thought in mind, she ratcheted her reluctant eyes open and saw...
"Xander?"
"That be me," he said with a grin.
"What are you doing here?" she asked dumbly.
"Well, I _was_ kissing you. Something wrong, Buff?" he asked, concerned.
"Yes. No. Maybe. Hold on. Lemme wake up first," she mumbled as her brain, dazed from both sleep and the kiss, tried to process the new information.
Her eyes went wide, and she got up. She shot him a look and said, "Get dressed. Something weird's going on."
"Something Slayer-y?" he asked, rising from the bed and reaching for his pants.
"Uhh..." she uhhed as she stared at his... then she shook herself back to her senses. "Possibly."
After they were both dressed, she stormed out the door, "Willow!"
Without waiting for an answer, she opened Willow's door... and stared. Her face twisted in disgust, "Oh, God, Willow! The Buffybot?"
The blonde on the bed sat up and glared at her, "Excuse me?"
Willow, sitting next to her, whipped her gaze between the two Slayers, staring at the alternately, clearly confused.
"Hey, what's going on... here?" Dawn blinked at them, awakened by the ruckus. She too looked between the two blondes, then asked, "Uh, which one of you's the Buffybot?"
"She is!" both of them insisted, pointing at each other.
Dawn nodded slowly, then said carefully, "Okaaay. Umm, I'll be going to school now."
With that, the Key-turned-human made a dash for the stairs.
* * *
Xander headed for the door. He had to get to the Summers home as soon as possible. There was something here that was just not... connecting.
Not that he was complaining or anything like that.
He opened the door and was surprised to see someone standing there, about to knock.
No, of course the situation wasn't complicated enough.
"Anya?"
"Hello, Xander. I need to talk to you."
"Um, this _really_ isn't a good time, An. Can it wait?"
"No, it can't."
"Fine," he said. "We'll talk on the way to Buffy's. There's something kinda odd going on."
"And you still haven't told me what that is," a certain redhead complained from behind him.
Anya raised a curious eyebrow.
"All right. We'll talk at Buffy's."
* * *
Xander stormed through the front door of the Summers home... and froze, staring.
He looked over his shoulder at the two women behind him, then looked forward again.
"Okay, what's going on?"
* * *
Two Buffys, two Willows, two Xanders, and one Anya sat around the Summers dining table.
"Okay, so we're all real," Buffy -- the one who had woken up with a Xander -- said. "No robots, no evil alternate vampire versions."
"Right," Xander -- the one who had woken up with a Willow -- nodded.
"And we know which three of us are from the same world -- this world, right?" Buffy-who-woke-up-with-Xander continued.
The were various nods and sounds of agreement all around.
"But what brought you three here, then?"
"Yeah," Xander-who-woke-up-with-Buffy nodded, "I mean, who would want to make two of each of us?"
"I can think of a few reasons," Anya said, eyeing the two Xanders speculatively.
"An!"
Her gaze dropped as she muttered, "It's one of those things, huh?"
Willow-who-woke-up-with-Buffy raised her hand timidly, "I, um, I think it might be my fault?"
Eyes turned on her, and she blushed, "Well, um, when I... this whole... love triangle thing... I tried to cast a spell last night... t-to find out who we really loved. To 'reveal in truth the heart's desire.' I guess I made our heart's desire true. Or something like that."
They thought about that for a long moment, until something occurred to Willow-who-woke-up-with-Xander, "Hey, Xander?"
"Yeah?" chorused the two Xanders.
Willow-who-woke-up-with-Buffy shook her head, "This is going to be too confusing. We need something to call you three until we can get you back."
They looked at each other, then Buffy-who-woke-up-with-Willow spoke first, "Well, I can be Anne again."
Xander-who-woke-up-with-Buffy scowled, "Don't even think about calling me Lavelle. Alex'll do."
They looked at Willow-who-woke-up-with-Xander, who blushed and shook her head, shrugging nervously. Xander -- as opposed to the newly-renamed Alex -- smiled, "How about... Rose?"
She smiled up at him, "I like it."
Xander returned the smile and said quietly, "I thought you might."
Anya, Buffy, and Willow all felt a stab of jealousy and regret.
"So, Rose, what did you want to say?"
"Well, um, don't you have work today?" she asked.
He shook his head, "Nah. This whole mess here... Tony told me to take a few days off, clear my head, sort this out."
"Oh."
Anya shook her head irritably, "I'm leaving."
"What?" Xander blinked. "But, An, what was it...?"
"Forget it," she shook her head adamantly. "It wasn't important."
She held a tight grip on her feelings, but it was obvious to her that he'd moved on.
Or perhaps, not moved on at all.
Xander loved Willow, more than he could ever love her.
* * *
Buffy called in to the school, letting them know she wouldn't be in today, and the six of them engaged in a timeless Scooby Gang tradition -- a research party.
* * *
"You really love him, don't you?" Willow asked quietly.
Rose looked at her and nodded, "Of course. He's Xander, and I'm Willow. It's like a law of the universe. Xander loves Willow, and Willow loves Xander." She looked at her local counterpart curiously and asked, "Are things really that different here?"
"I thought they were," Willow replied sadly.
* * *
"Okay," Anne said, with no small amount of annoyance, "can you quit that?"
"Quit what?" Buffy asked.
"Giving me that look. You know, the same look I -- we -- gave Willow when we found out about Tara."
Buffy winced, "Ah, well, it's just... I like guys. A-and seeing you... serious identity issues here."
"Uh huh," Anne nodded. "Guys. 'Cause, y'know, it always worked out _so_ well with guys."
"Hey, I..."
Anne shook her head, "When Oz left, Xander still hadn't come back. He was the only guy I could really count on, and he didn't come back. Me and Will... we bonded, let's just say. We were there for each other."
"Xander didn't come back?"
"No, he didn't," Anne's head dropped. "I think... I think he might be..."
Buffy reached over and gave Anne a comforting hug. She seemed to be giving a lot of them lately.
* * *
"Buffy, huh?"
Alex smiled, "Yeah."
"Why?"
"Why not?"
Xander shrugged, "I mean, I know I love her, but... I haven't loved her like that in a long time."
"You sure about that?"
He had no answer.
* * *
Author's Postscript:
More surprises are on the way, so hang on tight.