Not my best, but I did want to end this WIP. Hope it's passable.
Sunday, November 2nd, 1997
Lex, Starburst and Sunburst walked into the Bronze and the volume of conversation dropped as Xander dropped a twenty on a waitress' tray and asked her to seat them at her best table. People seemed to shift aside almost subconsciously as they moved through the place, the popular kids floored at the new royalty of Sunnydale High. Cordelia, dressed even more toward perfection than before, emphasizing mature confidence over tight attraction, achieved both effects, as did both of her table mates that she'd dressed for the night.
At first very few of the denizens of the establishment had recognized the new Xander Harris, as Willow and Cordelia had drawn the attention of the male population and the curious and envious females.
Harmony and Amber as they approached the table, recognized that the man that had saved them the other night was sitting at the table, and that he was Xander Harris.
"Harris!" Harmony exclaimed in shock, "You look great!"
"Um, thanks, Harmony, hi Amber," he responded with some surprise of his own, expecting a tirade of some sort, "I'm glad to see both of you made it home safe the other night."
"Thanks Xander," Amber smiled slightly as Harmony nodded agreement, then gave him a quick peck on the cheek, "That was really scary, and thanks." At that she grabbed Harmony's arm and pulled her back to the herd, leaving the young triad to themselves.
"What was that about, Lex?" Cordelia asked, "I don't remember any pirates."
"A bunch of pirates jumped them and Amy, before you two found me at Willy's, so I guess they're glad I got them out of the alley."
An hour later, they were about to leave the place, having danced, talked and generally enjoyed themselves. Buffy and Angel had stopped by for a few minutes, but as the former vampire was already trying to alter his sleep patterns toward the normal, he seemed a bit off before asking Buffy to escort him home.
Angelus' encounter with Spike and Drusilla had brought down the house. Even though he was in human form, the demon was able to increasingly strengthen the body without damaging. Spike had come in with complete disbelief, but a quick smack to the head with a board had knocked unconscious the century-old vampire as Angelus and Drusilla went into the back for round two of re-acquaintance, emerging only when the sun went down and Angelus' need for 'play' happened to converge.
"Ah, Dru girl, how 'bout we go to the kiddy bar and get us a bit of an appetizer?"
"Mm, Daddy's worn his little girl out," she stretched, "bring me something back?"
"Sure, Dru lass, it just might be a while, I'm feeling picky tonight," her sire smirked as he tossed the healed but unconscious Spike around for his jacket, "Ah, William, I didn't think you'd mind the loan of your jacket."
Xander, Willow and Cordelia left the Bronze, and made their way down the street toward the car, careful not to get too close to the alleys when they saw a rather poorly dressed Angel around, a black leather jacket over what looked to be a mixture of clothes and part of his Halloween costume.
The new human swaggered toward the three, something in Xander not liking a certain something about the Irishman.
"Hey Angel," Xander greeted as he held the door for the girls to start getting in, "What happened to your clothes? IS Buffy okay?"
"Well, as far as I know she is," the individual in front of them shrugged, "Just thought I'd find a bite to eat before headin' home."
"Cool," Xander replied as Willow got into the vehicle, Cordelia preparing to follow, "Let me know if you need help with anything."
The young man let his hand just brush the coat out of the way and let it find one of his Colts just out of Angel's view.
"Well, now that ya mention it," the 'man' smirked, and moved fast but not with vamiric speed toward Xander, "You could—"
A shot rang out as Angelus was just throwing a fist at Xander, taking the demon in the right side. A large painful hole opened, though with the yellowish eyes shining, no mercy could be shone to Buffy's boyfriend. The punch thrown by Angelus barely glanced off Xander's jaw, most of the force taken out by the first shot. Xander fired again, this time due to the press of flesh, taking the demon in the lower gut and male area.
The scream of pain and rage shattered the night, Angelus knocking the gun aside as he got to his feet. Xander hit him in the face once and grabbed at the jacket collar from behind, but Angel chose to squirm out of the coat and race into the darkness to recover from what were usually nuisance wounds at best.
By the time people meekly investigated, Alexander Harris had recached his weapon and started up the car.
"We need to talk to Giles right away, Xander," Cordelia directed as Willow looked out in shock where 'Angel' had disappeared, "We need to make sure Buffy's okay."
An hour later a confused Buffy entered the library, an unwounded Angel at her side. Willow and Cordelia picked up crosses and crossbows as Xander drew both Colts and aimed them at the man.
"Xander! Put the guns down!" Buffy exclaimed, hands out, "Why are you pointing them at Angel?"
"Ask him what he was up to in front of the Bronze an hour ago, and just step away, Buff."
Willow and Cordelia inched to the right in an attempt to flank the Slayer as Jenny and Rupert remained neutral for the moment.
"He was with me the entire time guys, so what's the deal here?"
"An hour ago?" Cordelia asked, "Because we saw Angel acting like a demony human that Xander had to shoot twice."
"What!" the human Angel exclaimed in surprise, "It wasn't me, really, I was with Buffy."
"I-I think we should all sit down and regain our calm," Giles stressed, "And try to determine what exactly is going on. Now, I assume, Angel, the clothes you're wearing are the ones you've worn all night?"
"Yes they are, and no blood on them."
"A-and Xander, I believe you described Angel's clothes as looking like those from Halloween, mixed with some other pieces?"
"Yeah, with this jacket here," the young man replied, holding up Nikki Wood's jacket taken by Spike as a trophy, "I'm amazed that I missed putting a hole in it."
Angel looked surprised to see it, and leaned over to make sure, smelling it, "This was Spike's, I can still smell him on it."
"Eww!" Cordelia and Willow chorused.
"Spike's, huh?" Xander considered quietly, "I guess I have a trophy unless the Watcher's Council wants to buy it from me?"
"I'll check and see," Rupert Giles grimaced, "You never know. Could it have been Spike, perhaps with a glamour spell to make him look like Angel?"
"I don't think so," Xander squinted in recollection, "They have different builds and style. Angel's heavier. And the scream wasn't sounding like Spike should have."
"So how would we get an evil Angel and a good Angel, Giles?" Cordelia asked, "And why would the loser one still be wearing Halloween clothes?"
"I-I don't know…"
"What about those weird demons on Halloween?" Willow asked, you know, "the ones that shot Angel with the flashy thing after the other ones got goo on you?"
"Hey, yeah," Buffy smiled, "We took Angel and changed him out of the clothes after that and tossed them; they were seriously of the yuck."
"And not of the disturbing Three Stooges kind either," Xander added.
Three hours later and the Scooby Gang had tiredly but definitely identified the demons involved, which proved fascinating to Giles and Jenny.
"Well, it appears that Toth was the demon, and he used a device called the ferula-gemina to split Buffy, his target, in two."
"Wouldn't two Slayers kick his ass faster?" Cordelia asked, looking up from where she was giving Willow another makeover and instruction session.
"In this case, no," the librarian enthused, "it would split her into Slayer and human, and if you kill one, you kill both."
"So we ended up with two Angels instead?" Buffy asked, "But why isn't the evil one a dead vampire guy?"
"Ah," Jenny interjected, nicely mimicking her boyfriend, "The demons that were brought along to do the killing were Mohra demons, whose blood seems to regenerate extremely quickly. Buffy, Angel, I believe you said that a bunch of it got into Angel via a wound?"
"Yeah, at first it looked bad," Buffy nodded, "but that's when the Ethan spell ended and we pulled Angel from the garbage pile."
"M-My guess would be that if you had stayed a moment longer, you would have encountered Angelus in his also-healed human form, regenerated because of the Mohra blood."
"So how do we get rid of the demon without offing Angel, here," Xander asked, "Because we can't let that bastard run loose for another hundred years."
"Exorcism," Jenny suggested, "How about we get ready for an exorcism, then when we've cast the spell restoring one Angel, we can cast out the demon?"
"Hmm, yes," Giles nodded in agreement and no little affection, "since both bodies are currently alive, w-we should get one human body with a soul and a demon."
"Guys," Willow spoke up, "Do we have to go after Angelus and be in the same spot? Or is there a way that our Angel is the restored one? Cause we might need to get Angel to the hospital; those gunshot wounds were serious and we don't know if there's vampire healing going on."
"An excellent point, but as we have the jacket, I'm sure if we do a locator spell, we'll know where Spike, and presumably Angelus, lurk. So let's gather the spell ingredients and prepare for a fight. Angel, you'll have to stay back as your accidental death would defeat the purpose of going."
It was four in the morning when a hot-wired step van slammed through the doors of the warehouse, four minions crushed into dust beneath the wheels and the doors pressed atop them, crushing skulls. Scoobies raced out the sound of a pair of Colts tore the silence of night as the screams of the vampires signaled a surprise victory as the shots caused enough trauma to allow the slayer to finish off the stunned twelve in only twenty more seconds.
Two crossbow bolts launched at Drusilla instead were deflected in the first case, or passed through the hand of Spike in the second case. The vampire screamed with rage and pulled his paramour from the room toward escape as the blood-covered Angelus seemed to verge on death but had a drained dog next to him, obviously an attempt to feed and regenerate partially successful.
The Slayer moved in and thumped the bastard in the forehead, knocking him completely out. Xander stepped forward with a big knife, causing Buffy's eyes to widen in shock.
"Relax, Buff, I'm cutting the nasty clothes off him. I refuse to dress him, however, but am hoping he wakes up in Angel's clothes and not just naked."
"Thank you, Xander," Angel responded, "I appreciate that. Okay everybody, what do I do?"
"W-well, Jenny is drawing the circle and symbols, and after that, we'll set you next to each other, and she'll end the spell. And then we'll take you to the hospital for a checkup, just to make sure."
Five minutes go by, they move the two look-alikes together, and Jenny ends the spell.
"Let the spell be ended."
Angel waited a moment, looked around, and discovered a single human self was he; and clothes were a definite bonus, "I'm alive. I hurt where Xander shot me, but I'm alive."
"Wow," Cordelia said to Willow, "Do you think that was too simple?"
She received a nod from Willow as a response, as they went home for a few hours of sleep before school would start.
