See Part 1 for Disclaimer and other information
Part II: Reunion
Department Of Homeland Security, Seattle, Washington. August 17th, 2004
Two Homeland Security agents named Tom Baldwin and Diana Skouris were discussing the situation, as they examined the recorded interviews of their share of the returnees. Diana said musingly of the 4400 people who hadn't aged a day since their abduction, "So for them, no time has passed..."
Tom was a much more results-oriented kind of guy, though. "So between you and me, what do you think happened to them? Where do you think they've been?"
The brunette woman, who was ex-CDC, was naturally unwilling to speculate on something so important with so little data. "I don't know. But there had to have been some kind of intelligence behind it-"
Tom goaded her, "Was it the Hand of God? Or the hands of little grey men?"
"I'm not discounting anything. Here look, here's an interesting one..." Diana said, as an image of Maia appeared on the computer monitor in front of them. "This is Maia Rutledge. She was the first one to disappear, as far as we can tell. And she's eight years old, only she was born in 1938..."
Then the female agent switched screens, and two side-by-side images of Xander and Cordelia appeared. "And, personally, I think these two are even more interesting..."
"Who are they?" Baldwin asked.
"On the left – Cordelia Chase, 17 years old. On the right – her boyfriend Alexander Harris, age 18. They both disappeared from Sunnydale, California; only, he was taken approximately five months after she was, during February 1999-"
The male agent had heard of the town that had turned into a big sinkhole last year, even if he'd been at his comatose son's side for over three years now. "Did you say Sunnydale? As in THE Sunnydale?"
"The one and only. And it seems that Harris had quite a rap sheet back there, according to the Sunnydale PD's records; before he vanished, he was linked to various gangs in that otherwise sleepy little town – ones that apparently liked to get high on PCP, of all things. It also seems that Ms. Chase's parents didn't like him; they blamed Harris for their daughter's disappearance, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if they made his life difficult – before the kid finally disappeared himself," Skouris finished up.
Something was bothering Tom, though. He thought of his son Kyle and his nephew Shawn, and the night his sister's firstborn had been taken whilst the cousins had been alone together at Highland Beach. "I don't get it. Why take the girl first, then the guy months later? Why not just take 'em both at the same time, and be done with it?"
"Who knows?" Diana shrugged, unable to guess of course what had happened with those zombies that night. "But it is interesting to note that as far as we can tell, those two are the only returnees that knew each other, before they all came back..."
"Well, it could be just a statistical coincidence," Tom shrugged.
Diana simply stared at her partner. "I don't believe in coincidences. Statistical or otherwise."
The Quarantine Area. The same time
The 4400 returnees were mostly just hanging around, either reading or watching TV or whatever they could think up to do in order to pass the time.
Since, for the past three days, no one had been willing to answer their questions directly. Everything they had learned regarding this strange new world they now found themselves inhabiting, had come from either the idiot box or the various censored magazines they had been supplied with.
Their period clothing had been taken away, and all of The 4400 were now dressed in the same drab yellow shirt and brown trousers issued to them by the government. And oddly enough, Xander found himself really missing his Hawaiian shirt, as he relentlessly looked for Maia.
That little kid wasn't at all like the others in this place; Xander already knew that for sure. The brownish-blonde child was definitely a psychic of some kind, and Harris had the feeling that she'd been successfully avoiding him up until now, in between all the interviews that everyone here had been undergoing.
As Xander reached the centre of the Quarantine area, he heard someone say over the loudspeaker, "Shawn Farrell, report to Interview Room One" and noticed a male teenager head off towards one of the glass booths. The former Slayerette then decided to take a break from the Maia hunt and sat down at the same table a black man was seated at, quickly noticing the copy of 'Time' magazine that the guy was reading.
Which had the cover title, "The 4400: Who Are They?"
Richard Tyler, former captain in the U.S. military and Korean war combat pilot, looked up to glance at the new arrival. Xander said simply, "Hey. Whatcha reading?"
Tyler shook his head. "Stuff I honestly couldn't have ever believed possible, back in 1951..."
Xander winced in sympathy; he knew that for those of The 4400 who had been gone for decades, the year 2004 would be a real culture shock. He guessed he was lucky, well – luckier than most, that he'd only been away for half a decade. "I'm Xander Harris, class of '99..."
He held out his hand, and the black man born in 1922 Missouri shook it after a moment of hesitation; marvelling again at how some attitudes sure had changed, over the last 50 years. "Richard Tyler. Pleased to meet you."
Xander gestured to the magazine, "Anything interesting?"
Tyler shook his head. "Most of it, I still can't wrap my head around. I mean, almost as soon as the war ended in Korea, another one started up in Vietnam? Men actually walked on the moon, during 1969? Then a President nearly got impeached, there was a war in Afghanistan, Operation Desert Storm took place, and yet another war happened in Kosovo? And there's also reference to something three years ago called September 11, whatever the hell that's supposed to be..."
Intrigued at that one, Xander leaned forward to have at look at the story personally; when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and exclaimed, "Maia! I've been looking for you..."
"I know. But I'm not the one you really want to find," the little girl said calmly, staring into Xander's eyes.
"What do ya mean?" Harris asked, confused.
The orphan girl whose parents had died decades ago said nothing; she just took hold of Xander's hand, and led him away to another part of the Quarantine area.
( If this is some sorta trick... ) Xander quickly spotted a young blonde woman talking to a brunette, who had her back to him. He then glanced down at Maia, "Why'd you bring me here?"
"Because this is where you'll find what you've been looking for," she replied simply, before turning around and walking away.
The blonde – Lily Moore – noticed him just standing there, and stopped talking to her companion. And when the dark-haired female turned around to see what all the fuss was about...Xander's heart almost stopped beating.
Because right there in front of him was the one and only Queen C – his girlfriend, Cordelia Chase, live and in person!
For a moment, he just stood there and gaped. Xander Harris couldn't believe that the girl he had been looking for, for nearly five months, was now right in front of him...
For her part, Cordelia just gave a delighted squeal and rushed over to hug him. "Xander! You're here too? So, where the heck have you been for the last three days...?"
Then she stopped, as she noticed the strange stare Harris was giving her. "What? What is it? Why are you looking at me like that, you dweeb?"
The almost-unconscious insult was enough to blast the last fragments of doubts away, within Xander's mind. He was now CERTAIN that this was his girl; no one else knew how to get under his skin like that, in an instant...
"Cordy. It's REALLY you!"
So saying the male Scooby grabbed her tightly, and plunged his lips onto hers with ferocious strength. Cordy was surprised at first; but then both teenagers just furiously started making out, not giving a damn who was watching.
And as Lily figured this was her cue to exit stage left, many of the returnees just stared at the latest bit of excitement to come into their lives.
Because this sure beat watching Barbara Yates on TV, any day of the week...
Conference Room, Department Of Homeland Security, Seattle. September 30th, 2004
A meeting was taking place, and Agent Skouris for one couldn't believe what she was hearing. "We're letting them go? They've only been back six weeks. It's too soon!"
Her boss named Dennis Ryland said simply, "Well, the Ninth Circuit court of appeal has upheld the lawsuit by the ACLU on behalf of the families. We don't have a legal right to hold them..."
He didn't know about the covert influence of the Watchers Council in generating that verdict, of course. And as the people gathered started discussing foreigner 4400 repatriation, Ryland said, "Well, wait a minute. We're not kicking anybody out. Whoever wants to stay, can stay. As far as American citizens go, whoever leaves will get whatever assistance is required, to get their life back on track. Medicare, unemployment, rent vouchers, vocational training..."
Diana said at once, full of disbelief, "Vocational training? We need to isolate these people!"
Tom glanced at his partner, somewhat annoyed at her attitude. "They're not virus samples, they're human beings-"
Dennis decided to put an end to the bickering. "The order's been given. We're letting them go."
The Quarantine Area. The same time
As the blue steel doors were opened up to finally allow egress to the outside world, the majority of The 4400 eagerly ran for it – to finally escape the cloying confines of their involuntary prison.
The notable exceptions being Maia Rutledge, and Xander Harris.
The little girl sat on a table, as she stared at Xander. Over the last month or so many of the returnees had noted how these two seemed able to almost have entire conversations without talking to one another, but none of them had ever mentioned it to their 'case officers'.
Some things, The 4400 knew instinctively not to talk about.
"It's time for you to go," Maia said suddenly, breaking the silence.
Harris moved so that he was at eye level with the little girl. "No funny remarks about my shirt?"
Maia giggled, despite herself. "No."
"You gonna be okay with the Griffins?" Xander suddenly asked, worried about his young friend's new foster parents.
"Are you gonna be okay without Cordelia?" Maia answered the question with one of her own.
Xander sighed, as those memories weren't fond ones.
It had been a joyous reunion between the two crazy kids at first, as Harris had openly rejoiced at getting his girlfriend back. Granted for Cordy, their five months apart had never existed; and she'd been confused, if appreciative, regarding Xander's happiness...
But things had changed afterwards. They'd had no privacy at all, and the duo's infamous tempers had reasserted themselves. No doubt they'd amused their fellow returnees with their antics, but the point of no return had come – when Xander had been forced to admit that he'd slept with Faith the Vampire Slayer.
Someone the former cheerleader had never even met...
Cordy had been incensed and screamed out, "YOU CHEATED ON ME?" It didn't matter at that moment that to Xander she'd been missing and presumed dead for months, and that it had only happened once; there had been only the stinging sense of betrayal, and Ms. Chase had not been reluctant to let her dumbass boyfriend know how she felt about that at all.
And so Xander had lost all sense of judgement and told the cheerleader how her parents had blamed him for her disappearance, and sent good old Detective Stein around that night – and why.
Unable to believe it, Cordy had instantly slapped his face and told him that they were through, before storming off in the opposite direction.
"I'll live," Xander answered Maia's question, as he focused back on the present. "I still wanna make sure you're going to be okay, though."
Maia reached a tiny hand up, and Harris instantly grabbed it. "Xander?"
"Yeah?"
"I'll be okay, mostly. And you really do have to go. Just...beware of the wolf, ram and hart, once you leave here."
Xander didn't get it. But he didn't have time to ask any more questions, as an SP guard came over and asked him to please move to the disembarkation area, if he was gonna leave Homeland Security today.
Still, as Harris walked off to join the others queuing up to receive their ID cards and other paraphernalia, he risked one final look back...
And Xander almost shivered at the expression on Maia's face, as her eyes sadly tracked him heading for the doors.
Department of Homeland Security foyer. Five minutes later
Cordelia fidgeted more than a little with her placard, which contained her ID number. She was somewhat nervous about seeing her parents again, as it had been over six years since they had last talked to each other...
Lily, the returnee who'd had the bed next to hers, came up to the female teen and gave her a comforting smile. "Looking forward to the big reunion?"
"Yeah, I guess," Cordelia replied. "But it's definitely not going to be the same as it once was, I'm sure!" she added with her usual brand of tact.
"Why do you say that?"
Cordelia ticked off the points in order, "I'm still 17, and my parents have lived the last six years without me. So have the rest of my friends! My old hometown is gone, along with all my stuff, not to mention I'm no longer with-" the brunette girl cut herself off, abruptly.
Lily just gave her friend's hand a squeeze. "I'm sure it'll all work out with you and Xander, somehow..."
"What? What makes you think that I still want that, that...DORKHEAD!" Ms. Chase exclaimed heatedly.
"I know all the signs, I AM a wife and mother you know," Lily said with a sly grin. "Brian and I used to drive each other crazy too, sometimes. That's how I know that you still love that guy. And that you want him back..."
Cordy refused to acknowledge that, though. She and Lily then talked for a while longer, before the older woman bade her farewell and walked off to say goodbye to Richard Tyler, who had also become a close friend.
Quite a while later Xander walked up the stairs, long after the Chases had yanked their daughter away from the Federal building in a private limo; for in this world, no IRS audit had stripped them of their riches, thanks to the machinations of Skip and Jasmine.
He started pondering his next move. His parents had disappeared, and no one was sure if they were alive or dead – not that that really mattered all that much to the guy, given the way they'd treated him before he'd disappeared. And Xander had been informed by his contact officer that Willow would be coming to pick him up, but he couldn't see her anywhere in the crowd.
He had no way to know she had been inexplicably delayed by fate, and a flat tire. Regardless of that though, the former class clown had to admit he was a bit nervous; after all, what would Willow be like now, given how over 5 1/2 years had elapsed since that night he'd vanished?
Just like with Richard Tyler, it was still hard for Xander to wrap his head around some concepts. Like the idea that high school was over for the Scooby Gang, and had been for years.
That Willow was now nearly half a decade older than him.
And that according to the calendar, he himself should be 23 years old now...
It made the young man want to scream in righteous anger at those who had abducted him, and the other 4,399 people he had just spent six weeks with. WHY? What possible reason could the Roswell aliens, or whoever the hell was responsible, have had for effectively stealing 4400 lives this way?
As the crowd thinned out even more Xander wandered out the front doors in the general direction of the bus depot, still looking for his red-haired best bud, when all of a sudden – an unmarked van pulled up, and three humanoid-shaped mercenary demons got out to grab the former Scooby.
Richard Tyler was stunned, the black man having spotted his friend in the area – and unable to believe what he was seeing. "Xander?" he called out.
One of the demons instantly started spraying the area with sub-machinegun fire, upon hearing that. Richard dived out of the way, but a nearby Homeland Security agent was hit in the chest – and died instantly, the blood drenching the ground as it streamed out of the bullet-ridden corpse.
Vaguely, Tyler saw Xander getting taken after being knocked out with the butt of one of the weapons. As the van roared away, people nearby started screaming or trying to get under cover; and as a phalanx of agents started pouring out of the Homeland Security building, Richard noticed that they were all armed and appeared eager to shoot at something – or someone.
Survival instincts, ingrained after a lifetime in Missouri where Negro fire-bombings and beatings of the black man were an all-too-common event, served Captain Richard Tyler well. He disappeared down the street as fast as he could, before anyone could get any funny ideas about shooting at him...
Conference Room, Department Of Homeland Security, Seattle. An hour later
A meeting was taking place, in the very same room where earlier that day Ryland had announced that the returnees were being let go. "All right, talk to me. What have we got?" Dennis demanded as he strode into the room.
"Returnee Number 1,218; Alexander Lavelle Harris. Apparently got himself shot at and kidnapped, right outside our front door," an Asian man named Chen supplied helpfully.
"The kid's file does mention gang-related incidents. Could be some old enemies of his came looking to settle former grievances," Diana injected.
"Great," Ryland muttered. "What else?"
"Seattle PD is still looking for the van. Whoever did this obviously wasn't going for finesse, so wouldn't surprise me if it was stolen – either today or yesterday," Tom added in his two cents.
"What about the witnesses? We got any descriptions from them, regarding the perps?" Dennis demanded.
"They must still be in shock or something, because several of them have reported that the gunman had, and I quote, 'a deformed and inhuman face'. Well, it's either that or the gang member was high on PCP," the agent called Sid shrugged.
"Look, I don't need to tell you people that all this has made us look utterly incompetent, and that it's got the potential to be the mother of all flare-ups," Ryland looked around at all the members of his team. "As it is, I'm going to be dodging microphones and trying to explain what happened to HomeSec DC. So I don't care what you have to do – but find these people and find Alexander Harris, right the hell now!"
Somewhere in Seattle, Washington. Half an hour later
Xander woke up, after a bucket of water was tossed into his face. He found himself painfully shackled to a chair, and quickly saw that a beautiful woman was staring at him in utter fascination. ( Oh, boy. Just my luck, she's gonna turn out to be a life-sucking Inca mummy girl, or a Preying Mantis Lady... ) "Who are you? Why am I here?"
"My name is Eve," the newly-reinstated female liaison to the Senior Partners replied. "And I work for the law firm of Wolfram & Hart-"
Xander looked at her at once, remembering Maia's warning. Eve noticed and dropped the act for a second, before smoothly resuming her spiel. "I'm sorry we had to meet under such unpleasant circumstances, Mr. Harris. My employers aren't usually so...abrupt...in these matters, but since we only learned about the prophecy less than two hours ago-"
"Oh, terrific. And there's ALWAYS got to be a prophecy! Am I right or what?" Xander interjected, unable to help himself and remembering what had happened the night of the Prom, back in sophomore year.
Eve just raised an eyebrow. "Yes, well, be that as it may – I'm afraid that ever since what happened with Angel a few months ago, our sources aren't what they once were in this dimension."
Instantly Xander asked, "Angel? Tall, dark-haired, brooding vampire sorta guy?"
The woman was interested. "You know him?"
"Yeah, you could say that," Xander replied, quickly wondering what Deadboy's part in all this was.
"Now that's curious. I wonder why Files and Records was missing that information..." Then Eve pulled herself together, and struck the most attractive pose she could. "Wolfram & Hart is interested in hiring you, Mr. Harris."
"For what?" Xander asked in disbelief, having figured Eve's game out the microsecond she'd started it. "I mean – what the hell would I do at a law firm? In case you don't know, I never even finished high school..."
Eve brushed that aside. "Oh, it's what you might call a full-service law firm, Mr. Harris. Anything our clients need or want, we supply..."
"Cut the crap and get to the bottom line, lady," the warrior for the light said in sudden disgust. "What's your little prophecy about? And why did you kidnap me, already?"
Eve dropped the act again, this time for good. "The file on you was absolutely spot on, I see. You'd never willingly work for the firm, like Angel did..."
Xander was confused at hearing that, and just stared at the evil woman. Suddenly, the entire world around him seemed to freeze – and Harris tried to get loose, but his efforts were all for naught. He was secured too tightly to the chair.
Suddenly the world started up again, as Xander noticed Eve staring at him. "How the hell did you just do that?" she demanded, unconsciously backing up. ( There was nothing in Harris's file about this sort of ability... )
"Do what?" the guy asked, not knowing what Eve was talking about.
She gestured, "Your entire body just sort of...blurred...for a second..."
Seeing his confusion, Eve then told the three demons present, "I've decided not to take any chances. Kill him, and then get rid of the remains – discreetly."
The demon mercs smiled and got ready to do it, as Xander's struggles to get loose proved to be completely futile. But then a huge explosion occurred, as all the walls collapsed inwards...
Xander got knocked out again – but not before he got a glimpse of Faith's older-yet-unmistakeable face.
Location unknown. An hour later
Xander woke up again, trying to ignore the thumping huge pain in his head. And thus it took him a few moments to realize that this time, he was on a plane; one that he would learn soon enough was one of the Council's private jets, heading for Cleveland.
Harris looked around, and was initially thrilled to see the Scooby Gang; Faith, Buffy, Willow, Oz (who had never left the group after the events of 1999), Giles, and some other people he didn't know. Granted, the familiar ones all looked much older than he remembered, especially the Tweed Man; however, this was still his family, the boy was certain of it.
But then the young man noticed how he was still tightly secured to a chair, and said uncertainly, "Guys? What the hell's going on? Why am I chained up like this?"
Buffy Summers, the one-time love of his life, asked simply, "Are you the real Xander Harris?"
He made eye contact with her, and during that moment – 'The One Who Sees', who had never even heard that label in his entire life – felt the full impact of being missing for the last five years like never before. And he instantly knew that this person was not the blonde Slayer he'd known in high school.
Buffy Summers was years older now, as said. But she was much thinner and looked a lot more careworn, too. And Xander was stunned at how cold she was acting, here...there was almost no sign of the schoolgirl who had instantly captured his heart with her winning smile and casual punning during the Slayage, over seven years ago.
"Buff? Of course it's me..." Xander instinctively turned towards Giles. "Hey, G-man? You can tell that I'm really me – right?"
The British Watcher looked at him in amazement. "Good Lord, but I haven't heard that blasted nickname in years..." He turned to the werewolf present. "Oz?"
Daniel took a long sniff to double-check his earlier assessment. "His scent's definitely the same. And it sure sounds like him, so I'd say he's the real deal."
Buffy snorted, "Well, I should hope so! We lost two Watchers getting him out of there. I wouldn't want their deaths to be for nothing!" She then turned towards Rupert, "Let's talk..."
So saying, Slayer and Watcher retreated to the back of the cabin, well out of earshot. But Xander was still stunned at how his friends were acting. "Willow?" He struggled with the chains for a moment. "Aren't you gonna let me loose, now?"
The witch looked embarrassed. "I'm sure Buffy will give us the okay in just a moment..." Suddenly, she broke out into a huge smile. "Oh my God, Xander, but it's really you! You're, you're really back!"
Instantly Xander smiled, a million memories of childhood friendship appearing in his mind. "Guess so, Wills. Took an involuntary five-year vacation, but now here I am again..." Then he noticed the familiar brunette standing a little way back. "Hey, Faith! I thought I saw you before! Thanks for rescuing my ass from the bad guys, just now..."
The brunette Slayer looked embarrassed for some reason, as she glanced at Robin Wood standing right next to her. "Anytime, stud..." Then the woman looked like she wanted to kick herself at the slip, as Wood glanced at her in sudden suspicion. "Uh, Xand? This is my husband, Robin Wood. Beefcake, this is Xander Harris..."
"Pleasure to meet you at last. I've heard a lot about you," the son of the 1970's Harlem Slayer Nikki Wood said to the returnee, somewhat frostily.
( She's married now? Huh, guess I can forget about that whole date thing, then... ) Xander looked at them both, and correctly figured that Robin didn't know about him and the raven-haired beauty getting it on that night. So he said simply, "Nice to meet you too, I guess. And hey, congratulations on getting hitched to Faith!"
Harris paused for a moment, but then decided to go with his instincts on this one. "Look, Robin, I can guess what you're probably thinking – and just to save everyone a lot of time and embarrassment? Uh, Faith and I slept together once, but that was six weeks ago for me – and nearly six years ago for her. So, bottom line, whatever happened back then shouldn't interfere with you guys' happiness today, right? I'm no threat to you, I swear..."
Wood thought about it, and eventually nodded – deciding to accept that at face value, at least for now. But Willow's face was as red as her hair; in all the time the Scoobies had searched for their missing comrade back in 1999, Faith had never mentioned this! And the dark Slayer just looked at her former lover in amazement. "Guess that's the Xander Harris I remember, alright..."
Suddenly, a female brunette teenager came forward to face the temporally-displaced captive. She was approximately 17 or 18 years old, and had a huge smile on her face. "Hey, Xander. Welcome back!"
Harris just looked at her in confusion. "Er, thanks. But, um, who are you?"
The smile vanished, and a stricken look of horror appeared on the girl's face. "It's me, Dawn!"
"Uh, help me out here? Dawn who?"
Dawn Summers, the Key, just let out a choked sob and quickly ran for the rest room at the other end of the plane. She was not only devastated that the former love of her life had no idea who she was, but this was also her worst nightmare come to pass; that she REALLY hadn't been around, before four years ago...
"Way to go, nimrod!" the guy named Andrew Wells suddenly snorted to Xander, as he ran off to catch up with her.
The returnee just looked at Willow in confusion. "Okay, who the hell is he? And who's that girl too, while we're at it?"
"That was, uh, Andrew Wells; he sorta became an unofficial member of the Scooby Gang, during 2003. And you really don't remember Dawnie, Xander?"
"No," the White Knight said in confusion, not getting it. "Should I?"
Oz looked at Willow, Faith and Robin. "The monks' spell mustn't be working on him. Kinda freaky..."
"Spell, what spell?" Xander demanded. "What is all this?"
Willow leaned down to be at eye level with him. "Xander, look, I know this is gonna be confusing...but you see, Dawn is Buffy's sister..."
"What? When did this happen? Far as I knew, Buffy was an only child...wait, did Mrs. S adopt? And how come she isn't here, anyway? Apart from Deadboy, looks like all the rest of the gang's been assembled..."
The room instantly went quiet; and by quick consensus Willow was elected to explain. "I'm sorry, Xander, but Joyce died over three years ago."
Harris couldn't believe it, even though he of all people knew the risks from living in Sunnydale. "WHAT! How the hell-?"
"Complications arising from surgery, thanks to a brain tumor," Oz supplied in his trademark stoic way. "Nothing Hellmouth-y about it; Buffy and Dawn's mom just passed away alone from an aneurysm. Hit all of us real hard, but there was nothing anyone could have done; and the doctors told us Joyce didn't suffer, at least."
( SHIT! ) Xander cursed to himself, as for a while there the middle-aged Summers woman had felt like more of a mother to him than his own. ( But why wasn't anyone with her, then? If I'd been there, I'd have never let that happen! )
Buffy and Giles then came back from their little conference, and the senior Slayer had storm clouds in her eyes. "Xander, why the hell is my little sister currently crying her eyes out? What did you do?"
"Buffy, I didn't...uh, wait, I just heard about your mom. And I'm so sorry," the man expressed his heartfelt sympathies.
The frostiness thawed a little. "Thanks, I guess...but that's not important right now. Look, where have you been for the last five years?"
Xander shrugged, having often wondered the same thing himself over the last six weeks. "I don't know! See, that's the thing. One moment I'm outside the high school, and the next I'm standing around with four thousand other people as confused as I am, and it's 2004 already...but I'm not a day older..."
Then Ms. Summers turned to her best friend. "Willow – it sounds like his memories have been seriously messed with, apart from the whole time-travel mojo. Can you do some sorta spell on him – I don't know, a truth spell or whatever, so that we can get some answers?"
Xander was instantly in shock, and demanded, "What, are you kidding? Wills can barely levitate a pencil here!"
"That was five years ago, Xander," Giles said at once. "Willow's abilities have...markedly improved since then."
Just then, Andrew rejoined the gang in defeat as Willow stammered, "Buffy, I'm not sure that's such a good idea right now. I mean, put yourself in Xander's shoes – he doesn't know how much things have changed, ever since high school finished! Heck, he probably doesn't even know that the Mayor was the Big Bad back then..."
"Huh? Richard Wilkins was a black hat?" a very confused Xander demanded. "Seriously?"
No one answered, and upon seeing Buffy's impatient stare Willow just sighed, and started chanting the magicks. Xander called out, "Willow, what do you think you're doing? Don't – this is crazy! Not to mention the equivalent of mind rape – damn it you guys, this is pointless! I don't KNOW anything!"
Willow flinched and faltered at that. The bad memories of what she'd done to her dead lover, Tara Maclay, surfacing. Oz noticed her pain and gently took hold of her hand; the witchy woman quickly flashed a smile at him, before the thoughts of what she'd done to her werewolf ex-boyfriend on Kingman's Bluff that day came back with a vengeance.
Giles said in a conciliatory tone, "I'm sorry if this is so upsetting, Xander, but the prophecy we've discovered means that we have to investigate this-"
"WHAT PROPHECY?" Xander almost screamed out loud in frustration, remembering that Eve had also mentioned something about that.
"I'm glad you asked, young one," the 22-year-old Andrew said at once, in his annoying 'academic' voice. "For it was written, that the father displaced out of time would one day beget a son, who would either be the saviour of mankind – or its destroyer..."
"Will you please stop talking like that?" Buffy demanded in exasperation, as Xander was stunned silent all over again at THAT revelation. "Willow, get on with it!"
She quickly did the spell, but then a white light erupted around her head – and Ms. Rosenberg screamed, before she was blasted unconscious by the mystical energy.
Xander was instantly horrified. "What happened!" He struggled with his bonds, "Damn it, let me out of these things! Willow-"
Yet again, everyone ignored him. And eventually the flame-haired woman was roused back to consciousness, as Buffy demanded, "Are you okay? And what went wrong, Will?"
"Yeah, just a little woozy still. And his mind is seriously warded against intrusion, Buff," the witch rubbed her head in pain, smiling gratefully at Oz as he massaged her shoulders. ( Some days, I could almost go back to Boys Town... ) "I guess whoever took him way back when, they made DARN sure no one's gonna be getting inside Xander's brain anytime soon..."
A stressed and frustrated Buffy lost all sense of judgement and released Xander at once, the chains snapping in the face of her Slayer strength, and she grabbed him by the throat – lifting him up off the floor. "That's it. We're talking about the end of the world – I want some answers, damn it! So start coughing up!"
But Harris couldn't even breathe, as he choked and gargled incoherently. "Ghhhh..."
Faith quickly got her sister Slayer to back off, luckily. "Hey, B, enough! He doesn't know squat, and even if he did – Boy Toy can't talk if he's unconscious..."
As Ms. Summers belatedly calmed down and released Harris with a quick apology, and Robin briefly stared at his wife again, Xander looked at Buffy in silent fear and disbelief – as he quickly backed away from her.
And this fact was not lost on any of the other people present, either; as Giles, for one, wondered whether things were now completely and utterly bolloxed beyond repair.
TBC...