Disclaimer: The characters, settings, ideas, and events that have appeared on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" belong to Twentieth Century Fox, courtesy of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.
That weird feeling
The silence in the graveyard was so think it could have been sliced with a knife. Buffy scanned her surroundings and gripped her stake tightly. She knew there was a newly risen vamp out on the prowl, and she was ready to kick its ass.
The only problem was that she had to find it. She knelt down and focused on her hearing. Where was he, damn it? Her head swung around quickly to her left. She could hear rustling in the small undergrowth surrounding the cemetery. Rustling meant that something was there.
Cursing once again the bright spark who decided to plant so much foliage in the area, she stared at the moving leaves and stood up. She quietly made her way up to the bushes and plunged the stake into the thicket. The vampire let out a small groan before he burst into dust. A hand gripped her shoulder and she spun around.
"XANDER!" Buffy yelled, holding the stake an inch from his chest.
"WHOA! Don't tell me we're going through THAT phase again?"
"Sorry…DON'T DO THAT!" Buffy screeched punching Xander's shoulder with a bit of slayer force behind it.
"OW!" Xander clutched his shoulder and looked around.
"Anymore vamps?" he asked, still holding his bruised shoulder.
"Nope, I got around three tonight, I think it's time to head home and make for bed." Buffy replied, pushing her stake into the waist band of her pants.
"Quite a good idea. I'll walk you home, I need to talk to you about something." Xander nodded, twisting his head, indicating to Buffy to take the lead.
"Shoot." Buffy replied as they made their way out of the graveyard and headed for her house.
"Well, it's about Spike." He began carefully. "I don't feel comfortable with him being in the school basement. I mean I know he has a soul, but the craziness kind of dilutes the trust."
"I know Xander, but what am I supposed to do. He's good now. He may be crazy, but…look, we'll figure it all out when Giles gets here... He'll know what to d…" Her sentence was broken off as she was jumped on from above by a large demon. Xander jumped backwards, and watched in horror, unsure of what to do.
The demon knocked the slayer to the ground, but she quickly jumped up and assumed a fighting stance.
"Oh, and this night was heading towards being a letdown concerning the slayer factor." she quipped smartly.
The demon stood up straight and its 7 eyes focused on Buffy. It was tall, lean and had a red skin tone that made it look like it was made out of bloody red marble. Four horns protruded from its head. Two smaller ones at the front and two massive ones from the back. It lunged towards Buffy but she sidestepped and it grabbed Xander by mistake.
Buffy let out a yell of vengeance as the demon dared to touch her friend. She grabbed its arm, prepared to tell it off severely before kicking its ass, but as soon as she touched that red marble skin, she could feel a burning electrical sensation through out her own body, and considering Xander's scream, he was going through the same thing.
Buffy gathered enough strength to punch the demon in the face. It fell back, and let go of the two friends. Buffy grabbed for the dagger that she had strapped to her leg. She thrust down sharply with the dagger, sliding it home between the demons rib cage. Giving a final shudder, she watched as the thing died.
Pulling the dagger free, she wiped the blood off it and onto her pant leg. Holding a hand out, she helped Xander get up. He leaned on her slightly and muttered, "Wow, I'm all tingly."
Buffy nodded and said, "Yea, I know what you mean." as she lead the two of them home.
*****
Buffy woke up and yawned. She stretched out her arms and massaged the back of her head. But her hair… it was short. Her first thought was 'MY HAIR HAS BEEN CUT!' The phone rang. Buffy, disorientated, quickly picked it up.
"Hello?" She said, then paused, starting slightly. Since when did she have a manly voice?
"Xander, sorry about calling on a Saturday, but we need to know what's happening with the plans for the swimming pool at Sunnydale High." the caller said in a rushed voice.
"What?" Buffy replied, again noticing that her voice sounded like Xander's.
"The plans. For the pool."
"Uh, you hav rech-ed Ming Chow's Chinese resteraun, you want kit-tie wif fly lie?" Buffy quickly said, putting on her best Asian accent, which for some reason came out sounding like she was chocking on an enormous bread stick. Knowing that he would leave her alone if she offered him a house trained pet as food, she was relieved with his reply:
"Oh, sorry, wrong number." The person said quickly, and hung up.
"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." Buffy muttered in a low voice. "Oh Jesus. What the hell is going on?"
*****
"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." Xander said as he stood in front of the mirror, and saw Buffy looking back at him.
"I have now officially become crazy. Stupid demons, stupid apocalypses. I have turned senile before my 60th birthday."
A knock came at the door shocking Xander out of his observations.
"Buffy? Can I come in?" Xander heard Dawn say.
"Uh no. I have…small pox." he said quickly, hating the squeak that his female voice gave. He could have sworn he passed that stage in the last year of high school. Apparently, with senility came stupid squeaky voice - ity.
"Small pox? Isn't that, like, extinct?" Dawn replied through the door. He could practically see her out there wit her hands on her hips, and her foot tapping with irritation.
"Uh…yes, but I met a small pox demon last night…and it leaked all this gross yellow and green puss on me, and now I have it." Xander improvised, twisting his fingers in the hem of Buffy's night shirt.
"EWW!" Dawn exclaimed loudly. Steps were heard as the young girl rushed rapidly away from the door. "Buffy, stay there. Don't move. I'll go get Willow."
Xander could hear the footsteps fade down the hall and let out a sigh. What the hell was he going to do? Was he crazy? Coz if so…hey, he had boobs to grope. And they were Buffy's boobs, no less. His reflection gave a little smile, and Xander felt slightly better about the situation.
*****
"Willow, oh my god, something's happened!"
"Xander? What?" Willow said holding the door open, looking at Xander standing in on the front porch.
"It's not me. I mean it IS me, just not Xander me, it's Buffy me."
"…what?" Willow looked at the young man in shock. "Xander, have you been eating pixie stiks again? Because you know…"
"No Will, it's me, Buffy, in Xander's body." Buffy said, interrupting the young witch.
"WHAT!? How?…WHAT!?"
Buffy looked at Willow through Xander's eyes.
"Xander and I got attacked by a demon last night that did a weird electrical thingy and now I'm in Xander's body." Buffy said in a rushed voice, pleading with her eyes for Willow to believe her.
"So that's Xander in your room, looking like you?"
"Yes. He's probably in shock." Willow gave a small grin and held the door open. Giggling slightly, she said "Well, let's go check on the young man then shall we?"
They ran up stairs and opened the door to Buffy's room. Willow froze, her eyes bugging out slightly at the sight in front of her. Unfortunately for Xander, Buffy just kept on moving.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" Buffy screamed.
Xander let go of the nightshirt quickly and looked up with a guilty expression on his face.
"What?" he asked, trying desperately not to blush. Blushing was such a girly thing to do after all.
"You were checking out my boobs! My shirt was up, and your eyes were on my boobs!"
"Well, technically they're not YOUR bo…"
"XANDER!"
"OK! I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. I mean they were there, ya know?" he muttered, throwing his arms in the air and pouting slightly.
Willow looked from one to the other with a slight grin on her face, which she quickly wiped off as Buffy was looking at her, with hells fury in her eyes. Willow coughed and tried to look sternly at the young lady in front of her.
"Buff… Xander. No more looking at your own… HER boobs. We have some research to do. Let's go troops." And with that, the young Wicca turned and left, allowing the stupid grin on her face to shine through once more. This was just too good to believe. Much better than that small pox story Xander tried to pull off on Dawnie.
*****
Oz knocked on the front door and waited. He had no idea why, but being back in Sunnydale just brought back the light. He knew Willow had gone to bat for the other team, but it no longer made him angry. He was a mellowed guy who loved a witch…but was no longer in love with her.
He smiled slightly as he came to the conclusion that, in truth, he was ok with just being friends. He no longer wanted more from Willow, because that which she was already giving him was enough. The door swung open and Willow grinned.
"Hey there Oz, come in, we have a bit of a…situation."
"Apocalypse?" Oz replied in his passive voice.
"Nope, kind of a bit more…weird."
"Weird? Sounds like something to pass the time."
Willow closed the door behind him and they walked together into the lounge room where Buffy, Xander and Dawn were sitting.
"Hey guys."
"Hey." Everyone replied synonymously.
"So what's happened?" Oz asked, looking around the room.
"Well…" Xander began "Me and Xander were attacked by a demon last night." Oz, who usually could hold a serious face forever, stared at Xander in disbelief. Xander had quite obviously gone mad. Willow, noticing this said,
"Oh, no, that's Buffy, not Xander." Pointing at Xander. They had all gone crazy. Wow, a lot had changed in Sunnydale since he had left. Oz smiled nervously and began looking for an escape route, as living in LA had taught him that craziness usually led to homicidal rage. Willow sighed and grabbed Oz's hand.
"Look, Buffy is in Xander's body and Xander is in Buffy's body. There's been a mind switch." Oz sighed with relief and looked at his hands, trying to think of what to say next.
"Ok, well what do we do about it?" He said looking up at Willow. As their eyes met, he could feel the pain she was going through. He knew she would have to use magic to reverse the effects, and he knew that she was deathly scared of going vein-ey.
They had talked about what happened a few months before, when Tara had died. He knew she had been sent to England, under Giles' care to learn to control her powers. He held her hand and mouthed the words 'I trust you'. A tear formed at the corner of Willow's eye, and it slid down her cheek.
Buffy watched the small interchange with a smile on his lips. Standing, and tugging on the bright shirt that he had found to wear, he said loudly "Well it's time to go into research mode."
*****
"Ooo! I got it! It's a Verder demon!" Dawn exclaimed, looking up at everyone proudly. The others in the room turned to look at the teenager, waiting for her to read out what she had found.
"It switches people's minds using a electro magnetic shock, that magically transfers one person electro-magnetic brain activity to another's and vice versa."
"Right…" Buffy replied, the knowing look on his face seeming strangely out of place. "So how do we undo this Vader's weird mojo working?"
"Verder." Dawn said sternly.
"That's what I said." Buffy replied defensively.
Dawn looked back at the book and replied.
"Well, it says here that in order to reverse the process, we need the blood of the demon, an Orb of Arathak Friedyz, and a witch has to perform the ritual." She looked up at Willow as she said the last bit, seeing the small cringe on the red heads face.
"Where do we get a crystal of Aretha Frankiln?" Buffy asked.
"Arathak Friedyz." Dawn said, grinning. She knew quite well how to push Buffy's buttons.
Buffy rolled his eyes and looked at Willow. He could see Willow's hesitation in using her magical powers.
"Will…?" Buffy asked cautiously.
"Uh, well, I'll call Anya, she could know how to get one, seeing as she owned the Magic Shop, and the blood of the demon, well we need to find another one somewhere."
"Ok," Buffy replied, "I'll go patrol and look for the demon, while you guys take care of the rest."
"Wait, Xan… Buffy. Do you still have your slayer powers." Willow asked carefully. "I mean, you're in Xander's body now, not your own. And he doesn't have any major demon fighting powers."
"Hay!" Xander exclaimed, her blond head shaking at the red haired witch. "I resent that remark!"
Buffy smirked, and looked down at herself. "Don't worry Will. I tried it out at Xander's place. I still have them. Oh, and Xander?" she said before turning for the door. "That's an impressive ah… comic… collection you have under your bed."
*****
Buffy walked through the trees, looking for a hole in the ground. Dawn had read up on the demon, and found out that they live in woods, in burrows, much like moles. "Or hobbits!" Buffy shook her head at the memory of a hobbit happy Dawn, and kept on looking. As Buffy came to a big rock, he fell into what he had been looking for.
A large hole, hidden from view by the trees and rocks surrounding it. Any tramper or hiker could fall in this way, without knowing the hole was there. After all, the demons had to get their food somehow.
*****
Buffy looked around. It was a dimly lit cave that led down, deeper into the earth.
"Well, at least the demon cliché of a dark, dank abode lives on." Buffy muttered.
He made his way down and came to an open room. A green glow was illuminating the space. Buffy noticed that there were three weird sculptures that were coming out of the walls. He slowly walked up to one and noticed that it in fact, was one the demons he had been looking for.
He took the axe from off her back and swung the blade cutting off its head. Surprised that it had been that easy, she smiled slightly.
She stopped smiling, however, when the head began to wail. The two other demons began to stir.
Buffy quickly collected the blood from the severed neck and prepared himself for battle against the two others. One jumped at him and he was flung back against the dirt wall. He sprung back, kicking it in the chest. As the second one came for him, he spun around and punched it with the back of his hand. No words were exchanged, but you could see from the looks on their faces that they were surprised that a mere mortal, and a man at that, was showing the skills of their best warriors.
If they hadn't known better, they would have said he was the slayer. Demon two stumbled back and rammed into the first one. They both fell on the ground and Buffy raised the axe and brought it down, cleanly removing both their heads in one clean swipe. Wrenching the blade from the welt it had made in the stone floor, she patted the pocket with the blood in it, and began to climb the wall out of the cavern.
*****
Willow began to chant, and followed the instructions that were written in the book. Buffy and Xander were both sitting in outlined circles that were linked with a line of salt and various herbs that Willow has mixed, with the Orb of Artharak placed in the centre of the line.
Willow was facing the rest of the group, Dawn especially, as she had requested a front row seat for this. Buffy was to Dawns right, and Xander to her left. Or at least, their minds were. The bodies were opposite to these directions. It was confusing as hell (Did she have a sister, or a brother now?) but Dawn was loving it.
Xander put the weirdest expressions on her sisters face, and the dance he had tried to do earlier was hilarious. If Buffy had known what the man was doing in her body, she would have a fit. It was a good thing she was out when this had happened. It was also a good thing that Dawn had had the Summer family camcorder ready. The best proof is photographic evidence, after all.
Grinning slightly, she watched as Willow reached the climax of the spell, and listened to a whooshing sound that could be heard. A blue light began to glow from Xander's body, and a green light from Buffy's. The two lights began to surround them both, like a force field that was attached to the circles they were sitting in. Both of the lights shrunk down and formed small orbs. They ran along the line of salt and herbs, from opposite ends, and met as they collided with the Orb of Artharak.
They both exited from the Orb in opposite directions from that which they had entered and zoomed into the bodies of the two friends. The blue light flew straight for Xander's heart, while the green went straight for Buffy's head. Their eyes glowed a strange bright light, and the whooshing sound ended.
They both opened their eyes and grinned, rolling shoulders, and peeping down shirt collars. A muffled 'Damn' could be heard from Xander, but was ignored in favour of listening to the outraged yell from Buffy. "You dressed me without any underwear?!" Dawn shouted with laughter, and even Oz had trouble keeping a straight face.
Xander went bright red, and tried to splutter a response.
Willow sighed with relief, watching her friends with a happy grin. The spell had been a success. She had not felt a tingle of evilness creeping over mind, and her friends' minds were occupying their correct bodies. The entire thing had worked perfectly. The Wiccan was incredibly happy.
Suddenly, her Xander shaped friend lifted his head, his spluttering about the lack of Buffy's underwear ending sharply as his eyes narrowed in her direction. Shocked at the sudden change in him, Buffy and the rest of the group watched with no small amount of trepidation. Never had they seen him so serious looking. With a shout of, "Window! Brick!" Xander launched himself at the young woman whose body had recently occupied.
Knocking her to the floor, Buffy was about to lay down a verbal assault when a brick flew threw the window, and landed directly where she had been sitting. Looking up through wide eyes at the man who had pushed her out of harms way, she joined the others in another rendition of 'Goldfish Theatre'. Xander stood up, looking slightly uncomfortable. The others stood up, still looking at him. Willow with shock, Dawn with awe, Oz with… an Oz like expression, and Anya with fury. About to yell at him for putting her precious Orb of Artharak in danger, she was cut off when Buffy asked, "What the hell was that Xander? How did you know that a brick was coming?"
That weird feeling
The silence in the graveyard was so think it could have been sliced with a knife. Buffy scanned her surroundings and gripped her stake tightly. She knew there was a newly risen vamp out on the prowl, and she was ready to kick its ass.
The only problem was that she had to find it. She knelt down and focused on her hearing. Where was he, damn it? Her head swung around quickly to her left. She could hear rustling in the small undergrowth surrounding the cemetery. Rustling meant that something was there.
Cursing once again the bright spark who decided to plant so much foliage in the area, she stared at the moving leaves and stood up. She quietly made her way up to the bushes and plunged the stake into the thicket. The vampire let out a small groan before he burst into dust. A hand gripped her shoulder and she spun around.
"XANDER!" Buffy yelled, holding the stake an inch from his chest.
"WHOA! Don't tell me we're going through THAT phase again?"
"Sorry…DON'T DO THAT!" Buffy screeched punching Xander's shoulder with a bit of slayer force behind it.
"OW!" Xander clutched his shoulder and looked around.
"Anymore vamps?" he asked, still holding his bruised shoulder.
"Nope, I got around three tonight, I think it's time to head home and make for bed." Buffy replied, pushing her stake into the waist band of her pants.
"Quite a good idea. I'll walk you home, I need to talk to you about something." Xander nodded, twisting his head, indicating to Buffy to take the lead.
"Shoot." Buffy replied as they made their way out of the graveyard and headed for her house.
"Well, it's about Spike." He began carefully. "I don't feel comfortable with him being in the school basement. I mean I know he has a soul, but the craziness kind of dilutes the trust."
"I know Xander, but what am I supposed to do. He's good now. He may be crazy, but…look, we'll figure it all out when Giles gets here... He'll know what to d…" Her sentence was broken off as she was jumped on from above by a large demon. Xander jumped backwards, and watched in horror, unsure of what to do.
The demon knocked the slayer to the ground, but she quickly jumped up and assumed a fighting stance.
"Oh, and this night was heading towards being a letdown concerning the slayer factor." she quipped smartly.
The demon stood up straight and its 7 eyes focused on Buffy. It was tall, lean and had a red skin tone that made it look like it was made out of bloody red marble. Four horns protruded from its head. Two smaller ones at the front and two massive ones from the back. It lunged towards Buffy but she sidestepped and it grabbed Xander by mistake.
Buffy let out a yell of vengeance as the demon dared to touch her friend. She grabbed its arm, prepared to tell it off severely before kicking its ass, but as soon as she touched that red marble skin, she could feel a burning electrical sensation through out her own body, and considering Xander's scream, he was going through the same thing.
Buffy gathered enough strength to punch the demon in the face. It fell back, and let go of the two friends. Buffy grabbed for the dagger that she had strapped to her leg. She thrust down sharply with the dagger, sliding it home between the demons rib cage. Giving a final shudder, she watched as the thing died.
Pulling the dagger free, she wiped the blood off it and onto her pant leg. Holding a hand out, she helped Xander get up. He leaned on her slightly and muttered, "Wow, I'm all tingly."
Buffy nodded and said, "Yea, I know what you mean." as she lead the two of them home.
*****
Buffy woke up and yawned. She stretched out her arms and massaged the back of her head. But her hair… it was short. Her first thought was 'MY HAIR HAS BEEN CUT!' The phone rang. Buffy, disorientated, quickly picked it up.
"Hello?" She said, then paused, starting slightly. Since when did she have a manly voice?
"Xander, sorry about calling on a Saturday, but we need to know what's happening with the plans for the swimming pool at Sunnydale High." the caller said in a rushed voice.
"What?" Buffy replied, again noticing that her voice sounded like Xander's.
"The plans. For the pool."
"Uh, you hav rech-ed Ming Chow's Chinese resteraun, you want kit-tie wif fly lie?" Buffy quickly said, putting on her best Asian accent, which for some reason came out sounding like she was chocking on an enormous bread stick. Knowing that he would leave her alone if she offered him a house trained pet as food, she was relieved with his reply:
"Oh, sorry, wrong number." The person said quickly, and hung up.
"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." Buffy muttered in a low voice. "Oh Jesus. What the hell is going on?"
*****
"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." Xander said as he stood in front of the mirror, and saw Buffy looking back at him.
"I have now officially become crazy. Stupid demons, stupid apocalypses. I have turned senile before my 60th birthday."
A knock came at the door shocking Xander out of his observations.
"Buffy? Can I come in?" Xander heard Dawn say.
"Uh no. I have…small pox." he said quickly, hating the squeak that his female voice gave. He could have sworn he passed that stage in the last year of high school. Apparently, with senility came stupid squeaky voice - ity.
"Small pox? Isn't that, like, extinct?" Dawn replied through the door. He could practically see her out there wit her hands on her hips, and her foot tapping with irritation.
"Uh…yes, but I met a small pox demon last night…and it leaked all this gross yellow and green puss on me, and now I have it." Xander improvised, twisting his fingers in the hem of Buffy's night shirt.
"EWW!" Dawn exclaimed loudly. Steps were heard as the young girl rushed rapidly away from the door. "Buffy, stay there. Don't move. I'll go get Willow."
Xander could hear the footsteps fade down the hall and let out a sigh. What the hell was he going to do? Was he crazy? Coz if so…hey, he had boobs to grope. And they were Buffy's boobs, no less. His reflection gave a little smile, and Xander felt slightly better about the situation.
*****
"Willow, oh my god, something's happened!"
"Xander? What?" Willow said holding the door open, looking at Xander standing in on the front porch.
"It's not me. I mean it IS me, just not Xander me, it's Buffy me."
"…what?" Willow looked at the young man in shock. "Xander, have you been eating pixie stiks again? Because you know…"
"No Will, it's me, Buffy, in Xander's body." Buffy said, interrupting the young witch.
"WHAT!? How?…WHAT!?"
Buffy looked at Willow through Xander's eyes.
"Xander and I got attacked by a demon last night that did a weird electrical thingy and now I'm in Xander's body." Buffy said in a rushed voice, pleading with her eyes for Willow to believe her.
"So that's Xander in your room, looking like you?"
"Yes. He's probably in shock." Willow gave a small grin and held the door open. Giggling slightly, she said "Well, let's go check on the young man then shall we?"
They ran up stairs and opened the door to Buffy's room. Willow froze, her eyes bugging out slightly at the sight in front of her. Unfortunately for Xander, Buffy just kept on moving.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" Buffy screamed.
Xander let go of the nightshirt quickly and looked up with a guilty expression on his face.
"What?" he asked, trying desperately not to blush. Blushing was such a girly thing to do after all.
"You were checking out my boobs! My shirt was up, and your eyes were on my boobs!"
"Well, technically they're not YOUR bo…"
"XANDER!"
"OK! I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. I mean they were there, ya know?" he muttered, throwing his arms in the air and pouting slightly.
Willow looked from one to the other with a slight grin on her face, which she quickly wiped off as Buffy was looking at her, with hells fury in her eyes. Willow coughed and tried to look sternly at the young lady in front of her.
"Buff… Xander. No more looking at your own… HER boobs. We have some research to do. Let's go troops." And with that, the young Wicca turned and left, allowing the stupid grin on her face to shine through once more. This was just too good to believe. Much better than that small pox story Xander tried to pull off on Dawnie.
*****
Oz knocked on the front door and waited. He had no idea why, but being back in Sunnydale just brought back the light. He knew Willow had gone to bat for the other team, but it no longer made him angry. He was a mellowed guy who loved a witch…but was no longer in love with her.
He smiled slightly as he came to the conclusion that, in truth, he was ok with just being friends. He no longer wanted more from Willow, because that which she was already giving him was enough. The door swung open and Willow grinned.
"Hey there Oz, come in, we have a bit of a…situation."
"Apocalypse?" Oz replied in his passive voice.
"Nope, kind of a bit more…weird."
"Weird? Sounds like something to pass the time."
Willow closed the door behind him and they walked together into the lounge room where Buffy, Xander and Dawn were sitting.
"Hey guys."
"Hey." Everyone replied synonymously.
"So what's happened?" Oz asked, looking around the room.
"Well…" Xander began "Me and Xander were attacked by a demon last night." Oz, who usually could hold a serious face forever, stared at Xander in disbelief. Xander had quite obviously gone mad. Willow, noticing this said,
"Oh, no, that's Buffy, not Xander." Pointing at Xander. They had all gone crazy. Wow, a lot had changed in Sunnydale since he had left. Oz smiled nervously and began looking for an escape route, as living in LA had taught him that craziness usually led to homicidal rage. Willow sighed and grabbed Oz's hand.
"Look, Buffy is in Xander's body and Xander is in Buffy's body. There's been a mind switch." Oz sighed with relief and looked at his hands, trying to think of what to say next.
"Ok, well what do we do about it?" He said looking up at Willow. As their eyes met, he could feel the pain she was going through. He knew she would have to use magic to reverse the effects, and he knew that she was deathly scared of going vein-ey.
They had talked about what happened a few months before, when Tara had died. He knew she had been sent to England, under Giles' care to learn to control her powers. He held her hand and mouthed the words 'I trust you'. A tear formed at the corner of Willow's eye, and it slid down her cheek.
Buffy watched the small interchange with a smile on his lips. Standing, and tugging on the bright shirt that he had found to wear, he said loudly "Well it's time to go into research mode."
*****
"Ooo! I got it! It's a Verder demon!" Dawn exclaimed, looking up at everyone proudly. The others in the room turned to look at the teenager, waiting for her to read out what she had found.
"It switches people's minds using a electro magnetic shock, that magically transfers one person electro-magnetic brain activity to another's and vice versa."
"Right…" Buffy replied, the knowing look on his face seeming strangely out of place. "So how do we undo this Vader's weird mojo working?"
"Verder." Dawn said sternly.
"That's what I said." Buffy replied defensively.
Dawn looked back at the book and replied.
"Well, it says here that in order to reverse the process, we need the blood of the demon, an Orb of Arathak Friedyz, and a witch has to perform the ritual." She looked up at Willow as she said the last bit, seeing the small cringe on the red heads face.
"Where do we get a crystal of Aretha Frankiln?" Buffy asked.
"Arathak Friedyz." Dawn said, grinning. She knew quite well how to push Buffy's buttons.
Buffy rolled his eyes and looked at Willow. He could see Willow's hesitation in using her magical powers.
"Will…?" Buffy asked cautiously.
"Uh, well, I'll call Anya, she could know how to get one, seeing as she owned the Magic Shop, and the blood of the demon, well we need to find another one somewhere."
"Ok," Buffy replied, "I'll go patrol and look for the demon, while you guys take care of the rest."
"Wait, Xan… Buffy. Do you still have your slayer powers." Willow asked carefully. "I mean, you're in Xander's body now, not your own. And he doesn't have any major demon fighting powers."
"Hay!" Xander exclaimed, her blond head shaking at the red haired witch. "I resent that remark!"
Buffy smirked, and looked down at herself. "Don't worry Will. I tried it out at Xander's place. I still have them. Oh, and Xander?" she said before turning for the door. "That's an impressive ah… comic… collection you have under your bed."
*****
Buffy walked through the trees, looking for a hole in the ground. Dawn had read up on the demon, and found out that they live in woods, in burrows, much like moles. "Or hobbits!" Buffy shook her head at the memory of a hobbit happy Dawn, and kept on looking. As Buffy came to a big rock, he fell into what he had been looking for.
A large hole, hidden from view by the trees and rocks surrounding it. Any tramper or hiker could fall in this way, without knowing the hole was there. After all, the demons had to get their food somehow.
*****
Buffy looked around. It was a dimly lit cave that led down, deeper into the earth.
"Well, at least the demon cliché of a dark, dank abode lives on." Buffy muttered.
He made his way down and came to an open room. A green glow was illuminating the space. Buffy noticed that there were three weird sculptures that were coming out of the walls. He slowly walked up to one and noticed that it in fact, was one the demons he had been looking for.
He took the axe from off her back and swung the blade cutting off its head. Surprised that it had been that easy, she smiled slightly.
She stopped smiling, however, when the head began to wail. The two other demons began to stir.
Buffy quickly collected the blood from the severed neck and prepared himself for battle against the two others. One jumped at him and he was flung back against the dirt wall. He sprung back, kicking it in the chest. As the second one came for him, he spun around and punched it with the back of his hand. No words were exchanged, but you could see from the looks on their faces that they were surprised that a mere mortal, and a man at that, was showing the skills of their best warriors.
If they hadn't known better, they would have said he was the slayer. Demon two stumbled back and rammed into the first one. They both fell on the ground and Buffy raised the axe and brought it down, cleanly removing both their heads in one clean swipe. Wrenching the blade from the welt it had made in the stone floor, she patted the pocket with the blood in it, and began to climb the wall out of the cavern.
*****
Willow began to chant, and followed the instructions that were written in the book. Buffy and Xander were both sitting in outlined circles that were linked with a line of salt and various herbs that Willow has mixed, with the Orb of Artharak placed in the centre of the line.
Willow was facing the rest of the group, Dawn especially, as she had requested a front row seat for this. Buffy was to Dawns right, and Xander to her left. Or at least, their minds were. The bodies were opposite to these directions. It was confusing as hell (Did she have a sister, or a brother now?) but Dawn was loving it.
Xander put the weirdest expressions on her sisters face, and the dance he had tried to do earlier was hilarious. If Buffy had known what the man was doing in her body, she would have a fit. It was a good thing she was out when this had happened. It was also a good thing that Dawn had had the Summer family camcorder ready. The best proof is photographic evidence, after all.
Grinning slightly, she watched as Willow reached the climax of the spell, and listened to a whooshing sound that could be heard. A blue light began to glow from Xander's body, and a green light from Buffy's. The two lights began to surround them both, like a force field that was attached to the circles they were sitting in. Both of the lights shrunk down and formed small orbs. They ran along the line of salt and herbs, from opposite ends, and met as they collided with the Orb of Artharak.
They both exited from the Orb in opposite directions from that which they had entered and zoomed into the bodies of the two friends. The blue light flew straight for Xander's heart, while the green went straight for Buffy's head. Their eyes glowed a strange bright light, and the whooshing sound ended.
They both opened their eyes and grinned, rolling shoulders, and peeping down shirt collars. A muffled 'Damn' could be heard from Xander, but was ignored in favour of listening to the outraged yell from Buffy. "You dressed me without any underwear?!" Dawn shouted with laughter, and even Oz had trouble keeping a straight face.
Xander went bright red, and tried to splutter a response.
Willow sighed with relief, watching her friends with a happy grin. The spell had been a success. She had not felt a tingle of evilness creeping over mind, and her friends' minds were occupying their correct bodies. The entire thing had worked perfectly. The Wiccan was incredibly happy.
Suddenly, her Xander shaped friend lifted his head, his spluttering about the lack of Buffy's underwear ending sharply as his eyes narrowed in her direction. Shocked at the sudden change in him, Buffy and the rest of the group watched with no small amount of trepidation. Never had they seen him so serious looking. With a shout of, "Window! Brick!" Xander launched himself at the young woman whose body had recently occupied.
Knocking her to the floor, Buffy was about to lay down a verbal assault when a brick flew threw the window, and landed directly where she had been sitting. Looking up through wide eyes at the man who had pushed her out of harms way, she joined the others in another rendition of 'Goldfish Theatre'. Xander stood up, looking slightly uncomfortable. The others stood up, still looking at him. Willow with shock, Dawn with awe, Oz with… an Oz like expression, and Anya with fury. About to yell at him for putting her precious Orb of Artharak in danger, she was cut off when Buffy asked, "What the hell was that Xander? How did you know that a brick was coming?"