Vision in White
Anya
It was already too late but they didn't know - Anya wasn't one of them any more. They were trying to talk her down off a ledge after she already jumped. Assuring her they were still her friends, they promised they wouldn't defend him. But then they did. Anya wasn't after their friendship, though, she just needed a few little words from them.
Echoes
Xander's Dad ordered another drink. He raised the glass to Xander's Mom. The way Xander's parents looked at each other seemed familiar to Dawn. But whenever she tried to figure it out, all she could see was Buffy's face when they were younger.
It was when they were still in LA. Buffy was extra quiet and she glared at Dawn if Dawn wasn't quiet too. Their parents were somewhere in the background not talking. If they were talking, Buffy would turn up the TV, and Dawn couldn't hear them. Other times Buffy brought Dawn into her room, shut the door and turned on the radio.
That's why Dawn only half remembered that look. But she knew she would figure it out if she put her mind to it.
Dawn, the little meddler, just couldn't help herself.
"But the fake, old Xander and the vision. It must have looked so real," Dawn attempted. Anya didn't let her finish her pitch. She had already gone through all the arguments in her head.
"He was a foot too short, Dawn. If Xander really loved me, he wouldn't have believed it," she said and hung her head. Then she sighed. Dawn was her best bet and she got nothing from her except sympathy.
For Better Or For Worse
Willow cringed. Xander ignored the noise of his parents fighting. It was the first time Willow had been at his house. It was messier than hers. It smelled funny. There were stains on the carpet. And there was yelling. She was glad when she left. She said, "Bye Mr. Harris. Bye Mrs. Harris. It was nice to meet you." But they didn't hear her high, little voice.
Anya knew that Willow was a long shot. But Willow babbled like a fountain - who knows what she might say. Willow sure didn't.
"His parents. You saw them. It's what he's seen all his life. It was real to him," Willow told her.
"When he walked out on me and left me standing there, he knew it wasn't real," Anya said. Willow's eyes got big and pitying. But no wish.
Indelible
Xander's parents were embarrassing him again. And on his wedding day. Buffy's parents were never that public. Cold smiles and polite conversation around company. But Xander's parents were still together.
Buffy remembered Dawn's face across the dinner table. Just the two of them. Mom and Dad weren't speaking to each other again. Mom only gave Buffy and Dawn their dinner. She didn't eat, and she didn't offer anything to Dad. Buffy ate quickly and went to her room. Dawn whined and asked questions. Knowing that Dawn wasn't really there didn't make any difference. Buffy couldn't erase her out of the ugly, old picture.
"But by then it got inside his head. It was all he could see," Buffy tried to explain. But Anya saw it for what it was.
"No, he saw me, Xander looked at me, and he said to himself, 'I don't want to marry her'," Anya summed up. Instead of a wish, Buffy made a little, sad face.
Anya
Anya walked to the magic box angry, kicking at things in her path. Stupid litterbugs. And what kind of friends won't even wish painful, puss filled boils on your ex?
A voice in her head tried to make her see their side. His side.
"It's not about you, Anya. You stopped being Anya the moment you changed into that dress. You became that woman in white, the doorman to his personal hell."
She told that voice to shut up.
