Disclaimer: All Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: the Series characters
belong to Joss Wheadon and Mutant Enemy. Like so many others, I'm just
playing in his sandbox.
Author's Notes: I heartily apologize to BloodyMiri, MadRog, Kantarya, and
all the other fic writers who helped inspire this story, and inspired the
various Buffys, Spikes, Willows, Xanders, Anyankas, and Taras who collide
in this mess I'm working on.
"I am most put out with you, Xander Harris, but I feel that just this once, I will actually intervene, and grant you your wish. Been quite a while since I've done any field work, one of the prices of success, I suppose, all the desk-work."
Xander looked up at the chief Vengeance Demon, confusion warring with disbelief in his head. Faith jumped up and pulled a stake, shouting for him to back off or die.
"Dear girl, so much like your sister Slayer, that pitiful chunk of dead tree cannot kill me. I am D'Hoffrynn, Lord of Arash'Maharr, the realm of Vengeance." D'Hoffrynn smirked in amusement at the dark Slayer.
"He's right, Faith, Vengeance Demons can only be killed if you destroy their talisman, first." Xander groaned.
"And MY talisman IS Arash'Maharr, It would be very difficult for the young lady here to destroy an entire dimensional plane. But amusing to watch."
"Just WHAT is going on down.here..?" Buffy asked, as she, Willow, and the brigade of Slayers came rushing down the stairs.
"Ah, good to see you once more, miss Rosenberg, and you as well, miss Summers. How is your sister?"
"In trouble, as usual. What do you want, D'Hoffrynn?" Buffy scowled.
"Well, that's not very nice, miss Summers, I was just trying to make polite conversation while I grant young mister Harris' wish." The blue-skinned entity actually looked rather hurt.
"You made a WISH around him, Xander? Are you nuts?"
"HEY! I didn't know he was there, he just popped in right after I said it!"
"Said what, exactly?" Willow asked.
D'Hoffrynn smiled, and said in an exact imitation of Xander's voice, "I just wish we all could have the chance to sit down and talk with ourselves, see what things could have been if we'd just made other choices along the way, or had different circumstances, so we could see what we were doing wrong, and what we could have done right. A chance to see what we can change now, to stop all this."
Faith looked goggle-eyed at him. "Dude, that's just creepy."
"Why, thank you, child." The Vengeance Demon said, looking rather pleased at the inadvertent compliment.
"Whoa, you said, 'Wish granted', exactly HOW did you grant my wish, D'Hoffrynn?" Xander asked.
"Simple, my dear mr. Harris. The full length mirror in your room is now a portal to the Magic Box. In there, I've arranged for a number of the doors to open to alternate realities, parallel universes where each of you made different conditions, or others made other decisions that altered choices each of you would have made. There you can talk amongst your other selves, in order to sort things out for your reality here."
"The world Without Shrimp. Anya talked about this, with me, Wills, and Tara." Xander said quietly.
"Indeed mr. Harris, at times you are not nearly as dense as you try to act. At times, I'm almost glad you almost became my Son-In-Law.""
Willow blanched and whispered Tara's name, causing Kennedy to glare at her and move to the other side of the mass of girls in the living room.
"Wait, wait a minute, the Magic Box was destroyed when the Hellmouth collapsed, that's' not going to be of much use to us." Buffy stated, poking a finger at D'Hoffrynn.
"The Magic Box in THIS reality was destroyed. The mirror portal leads to another Magic Box. One where Sunnydale isn't a gaping crater. Or isn't yet, this store is located three years in the past."
The realization slowly sunk in, and Buffy, Willow and Xander slowly sat down on the couch. Three years ago.where Tara, Anya, and Buffy's mom were still alive.
TBC.
"I am most put out with you, Xander Harris, but I feel that just this once, I will actually intervene, and grant you your wish. Been quite a while since I've done any field work, one of the prices of success, I suppose, all the desk-work."
Xander looked up at the chief Vengeance Demon, confusion warring with disbelief in his head. Faith jumped up and pulled a stake, shouting for him to back off or die.
"Dear girl, so much like your sister Slayer, that pitiful chunk of dead tree cannot kill me. I am D'Hoffrynn, Lord of Arash'Maharr, the realm of Vengeance." D'Hoffrynn smirked in amusement at the dark Slayer.
"He's right, Faith, Vengeance Demons can only be killed if you destroy their talisman, first." Xander groaned.
"And MY talisman IS Arash'Maharr, It would be very difficult for the young lady here to destroy an entire dimensional plane. But amusing to watch."
"Just WHAT is going on down.here..?" Buffy asked, as she, Willow, and the brigade of Slayers came rushing down the stairs.
"Ah, good to see you once more, miss Rosenberg, and you as well, miss Summers. How is your sister?"
"In trouble, as usual. What do you want, D'Hoffrynn?" Buffy scowled.
"Well, that's not very nice, miss Summers, I was just trying to make polite conversation while I grant young mister Harris' wish." The blue-skinned entity actually looked rather hurt.
"You made a WISH around him, Xander? Are you nuts?"
"HEY! I didn't know he was there, he just popped in right after I said it!"
"Said what, exactly?" Willow asked.
D'Hoffrynn smiled, and said in an exact imitation of Xander's voice, "I just wish we all could have the chance to sit down and talk with ourselves, see what things could have been if we'd just made other choices along the way, or had different circumstances, so we could see what we were doing wrong, and what we could have done right. A chance to see what we can change now, to stop all this."
Faith looked goggle-eyed at him. "Dude, that's just creepy."
"Why, thank you, child." The Vengeance Demon said, looking rather pleased at the inadvertent compliment.
"Whoa, you said, 'Wish granted', exactly HOW did you grant my wish, D'Hoffrynn?" Xander asked.
"Simple, my dear mr. Harris. The full length mirror in your room is now a portal to the Magic Box. In there, I've arranged for a number of the doors to open to alternate realities, parallel universes where each of you made different conditions, or others made other decisions that altered choices each of you would have made. There you can talk amongst your other selves, in order to sort things out for your reality here."
"The world Without Shrimp. Anya talked about this, with me, Wills, and Tara." Xander said quietly.
"Indeed mr. Harris, at times you are not nearly as dense as you try to act. At times, I'm almost glad you almost became my Son-In-Law.""
Willow blanched and whispered Tara's name, causing Kennedy to glare at her and move to the other side of the mass of girls in the living room.
"Wait, wait a minute, the Magic Box was destroyed when the Hellmouth collapsed, that's' not going to be of much use to us." Buffy stated, poking a finger at D'Hoffrynn.
"The Magic Box in THIS reality was destroyed. The mirror portal leads to another Magic Box. One where Sunnydale isn't a gaping crater. Or isn't yet, this store is located three years in the past."
The realization slowly sunk in, and Buffy, Willow and Xander slowly sat down on the couch. Three years ago.where Tara, Anya, and Buffy's mom were still alive.
TBC.