Title: Legends No Longer

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: Up to Gift in Buffy.

Rating: R

Disclaimer: Do not own Buffy. I would buy her and Tara but I am broke.

Summary: AU. In a Post-Apocalyptic world where Demons control half of the Americas, two warriors with a legendary past they would rather forget but never can get an opportunity to fix things from the beginning.

" " denotes speech, ' ' denotes thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Buffy? Don't wanna be late for your first day!"

Buffy instantly shot strait up in bed at the sound of her mother's voice. Her mother who had been dead for over ten years.

"What the hell?" she whispered to herself as she looked around the room, partially filled with boxes.

It was her room from when she first moved to Sunnydale, fifteen years ago. Jumping up she looked at herself in the mirror. She was sixteen again, admittedly in slightly better shape than she had been the first time around. She stared for more than a few minutes at her left shoulder, which had been a mass of scares and missing flesh but was now smooth and unbroken skin.

'A way to restore this world.'

The words from the white place echoed in her head.

"A second chance, from the beginning."

She quickly got dressed in dark cargo pants and a dark long sleaved shirt and ran downstairs, wanting to get to school to see if her Xander was here as well. After getting a ride in to school with her mother, who had asked her not to get kicked out, she searched the crowd for Xander, hoping to see her Xander rather than a brightly clothed, teenage Xander.

"Missing Arudius?" a voice whispered in her ear.

Buffy spun around and saw Xander, dressed like she was and having the deep pain in his eyes that she saw in the mirror. She ran her hand slowly up and down his face, tracing the now nonexistent scar, with a large smile on her face.

"I missed your smile." She said, honestly.

He smile grew into a full blown grin as he laid his hand on her left shoulder and felt unbroken skin rather than the rough scaring he had always blamed himself for.

"And I missed yours. But I won't miss the anguish in your face before I gave you the pain meds, or the dumbfounded look after on a bad day." Xander admitted.

"Or the stump." Buffy added.

They stood there for several minutes, revealing in the return to health of the one they had spent so long with, the one they depended upon, the one they loved. Needless to say the school community was speechless. The great loser, Xander Harris, know throughout the universe for his appalling taste in clothes, and suspected colour blindness, was not only dressed in cool dark clothing but was also making time with a similarly cool, and stunningly gorgeous, petite blond girl who may, or may not, be the new girl. Suddenly the whole dating acceptability chart suffered a major shift, as Xander Harris became a desirable date, with double points for not only having a girlfriend but also having one that no one knows but actually exists.

Willow, somewhat miffed that her bestest friend who she had known since forever and secretly had a crush the size of the Mid West on, was paying so much attention to a girl he could not possibly know, and in public, walked over to Xander to see what was going on.

"Willow!" Xander and the girl said at the same time and the both gave her a crushing hug.

"Uh, air." Willow gasped.

Buffy was ecstatic. Everyone was alive, Willow, her mom, Giles, and her shoulder was fixed but, most importantly, Xander was better, he had no scars, he had his leg. Everything was right.

"Ah, Xander? Who's this? What are you doing?" Willow said.

Buffy's grin dropped from her face for a second, before she remember that none of her friends, except Xander, would remember her as their friend.

"Well, the first answer is easy. She's Buffy." Xander said with a lopsided grin.

"That's how you're going to introduce me? 'She's Buffy'. You are pathetic Alexander LaVelle Harris." Buffy admonished.

"If I'm pathetic, why do you hang around me? And nothing else describes all the wonderful aspects that are you." Xander said.

"Whoa. Nice save." Willow muttered under her breath, before clearing her throat. "Xander?"

"Right. Well, get Jesse and meet us in the Library at lunch and we'll try to explain." Xander said.

"Um, Kay." Willow said hesitantly, before heading into the school.

"Right. Now we got to talk to Giles, and probably Jenny Calendar if she's here yet." Xander began as they walked slowly towards the school.

"Maybe warn Oz off about his cousin. What about Cordy? Include her?" Buffy added.

"I don't know. Not just yet I think." Xander said before suddenly pulling up short. "Tara!"

"Oh shit. She's still with her bastard family." Buffy remembered.

"Ok, deal with harvest tomorrow. Get Tara away from her family." Xander said, starting a mental list.

"Look out for uber bad guys who weren't around last time." Buffy added remembering the comments of the white whisper.

"Man, this is going to be an awkward day." Xander said, shaking his head.

********

"All I want to know is are you still Xander?" Willow asked.

Buffy and Xander had introduced Buffy to the gang and the gang to each other, and then had unsuccessfully tried to explain why they were different. Giles was cleaning his glasses, Willow was trying to get her head around the facts, Jenny was looking at them as if she knew something and Jesse just looked lost

"Short answer, yes with a however. Long answer, no with a but." Xander said.

"Huh?" Jesse said. "Bro, what the hell's going on?"

"Interesting you should mention Hell." Buffy said.

"Ok. Here's the condensed version. Vampires and demons are real, and Sunnydale attracts them like moths to a flame because of the Hellmouth. Buffy and I are from fifteen years in the future, from a world where the demons took over. Buffy is the Slayer and we are telling you this because last time round you guys helped, mostly." Xander said.

"I kicked ass? Really?" Jesse asked.

"Um, actually. No. You were killed tonight and turned into a vampire that I dusted tomorrow." Xander admitted.

"Oh. Bummer." Jesse said.

"Don't worry. We'll train you." Buffy said.

"Ok. Here's the deal. Everyone stay away from the Bronze tonight. Giles, break out the weaponry, we need to get ready for the Harvest tomorrow night. Jesse, Willow, I want you to carve stakes and crosses after school, while Buffy and I train for tomorrow night. Giles, concentrate on crossbows and swords, and any guns that Ripper can get his hands on." Xander ordered. "Buff, you going to meet up with Deadboy tonight? He will be a good link to the underbelly. Oh yeah, don't tell the Council. They are a bunch of pricks, you're the exception."

"Yeah. After dinner with Mom." Buffy responded.

"Cool. Janna, tell your uncle that the Scourge is being watched and the curse will not be lifted. You can stay if you want but if you do, you help. Remember, vengeance achieves nothing, and the Romany should know better." Xander told Jenny.

"Come on hero; let's get to class before Flute starts bugging my mom." Buffy said, exiting with Xander and leaving behind a stunned group.

"Alright, back to class." Giles said, and when alone he added, "Good Lord."

********

Buffy and Xander were in the Library getting ready to hit the Bronze and stop the Harvest. Last night Buffy had done a song and dance routine with Angel, as close as she could remember to what happened the first time around. Neither of them remembered everything, both because it had happened fifteen years ago and because the whisper had told them that certain events had to happen and thus they would not remember them.

They surveyed the weaponry on the table in front of them. There were a lot of stakes and crosses that Willow and Jesse had made, a few crossbows with quivers full of bolts, a range of swords and axes, a few quarterstaffs and a half dozen guns.

"Dibbs on the Berettas." Buffy said, picking up the nine millimetre pistols.

"Done, but I get the Katana." Xander replied.

In the end, Buffy had the Berettas, a short sword, a large crossbow, a small axe, a half score of stakes and a pair of crosses. Xander had taken the Katana, the Colt pistols, two large knives, a small crossbow, one of the Desert Eagles, a bunch of stakes and a cross. Willow, Jesse, Jenny and Giles all were loaded up with stakes, crosses and holy water, although Giles had the other Desert Eagle and a large dagger. Buffy and Xander quickly loaded up their weapons for easy access around their bodies and concealed them under a trench coats, that fit in with their dark clothing, while the rest of the group merely hid the items as best as they could in their regular clothing. While in awe of the palpable aura of danger coming from the two of them, no one questioned Buffy or Xander till they each wrote something on a length of Duct tape and wrapped it around their ankle.

"What's with the duct tape?" Willow asked.

"They have our blood type." Xander said absently, testing the draw of the Katana while he was wearing the trench coat.

"Why, bro?" Jesse asked.

"In case we are injured and unconscious." Buffy added as she checked the clip of a Beretta then chambered a round and clicking the safety on.

"Oh." Willow and Jesse said at the same time, totally confused.

"Alright, let's go. We want to set up before they get there. Buffy and I will take up sniping positions to get Luke. When it goes down, get the exits open and the people out. We'll do the rest." Xander ordered.

Buffy and Xander headed for the door with a deadly gait that the others did not try to emulate, they just hurried to catch up.

'Not even Ripper was as dangerous as these two.' Giles thought as he exited the Library.

TBC.