Chapter 2. Under Your Spell.
"Ohmigod! Can't breathe…" says Willow as she collapses to the floor.
Xander jerks back like he's just been hit by something. He bends over slightly, looks down, and lowers his toy rifle. Slowly he straightens back up and surveys the scene around him. He raises his rifle again and cradles the fully automatic M-16 in his hands. He shoulders the weapon and spins around, scanning for a target. When he doesn't immediately find one, he takes the rifle from his shoulder and holds it ready.
Willow is on the porch and then she gets up out of her body and looks down at it. She's only wearing her sexy outfit now without the sheet.
"Ohmigod! I'm a real ghost!" She hears an automatic rifle fire and turns to look. She thinks that it might be Xander. She runs out into the street and comes up behind him. "Xander!" He spins around and points his M-16 at her. "It's me, Willow!"
"I don't know any Willow," Xander says.
"Xander, quit messing around. This is no time for jokes."
"What the hell's going on here?"
"You don't know me?" Xander lifts the rifle away from her.
"Lady, I suggest you find cover. It's not safe and put some clothes on." Xander starts walking past her. Willow gets in front of him.
"No, wait!" Xander walks right through her. They're both surprised by the experience. "Oh!" Xander turns around and points his weapon at her again. She turns to face him. "What are you?"
"Xander, listen to me. I'm on your side, I swear! Something crazy is happening. I was dressed as a ghost for Halloween, a-and now I am a ghost. And you were supposed to be a soldier, and now I, I-I guess you're a real soldier."
"You expect me to believe that? Sounds like nonsense." A monster appears across the street, growling. Xander points his rifle at it. It runs away. Willow jumps in front of him.
"No! No guns! That's still a little kid in there!"
"Step out of the way!"
"No guns! That's an order!" He lowers the rifle. "We just need to find…" Willow sees Buffy wandering about. "Buffy!" She runs across the street over to Buffy. Xander follows. "Buffy! Are you okay?" The monster is back with a friend and they both roar as they approach the three. Xander shoulders his M-16 again and takes aim.
"This could be a situation."
"Buffy, what do we do?" Buffy faints and falls to the ground. Xander scares the kid monsters away as Willow goes to Buffy's side. Willow helps Buffy up as she begins to come to. She looks at them, with a strange expression and Willow realizes that Buffy is not Buffy. Now she begins to worry. There are demon children loose in the town and no Slayer to protect the people.
"I suggest we get inside before we come across anything…" Xander suggests.
"A DEMON! A DEMON!" Buffy screams. She gets behind Xander. "A DEMON!" A sport utility vehicle comes driving down the street, with its headlights on.
"That's not a demon. It's a car." says Willow.
"What does it want?" asks Buffy in an innocent voice, still holding on to Xander's shoulder.
"Is this woman insane?" says Xander looking at the beautiful lady grabbing his arm.
"She's never seen a car," replies Willow.
"She's never seen a car?"
"She's from the past."
"And you're a ghost."
"Yes! Now let's get inside."
"I just want you to know that I'm taking a lot on faith here. Where do we go?" Willow thinks.
"Where's the closest... We can go to a friend's." They head to the Summers house and enter from the back door. Xander opens the door and scans the room.
"It's clear," says Xander. He closes the door as the girls enter the house.
"Okay, we gotta figure things out and who am I kidding, we need Giles."
"What are you rambling about?" asks soldier Xander.
"Never mind. You two stay here and no shooting. I'm going to get some reinforcements." Willow goes through the wall and the noble woman, Buffy, freaks out as she sees her go through.
"Maam, I've seen stranger things in the field. Keep calm."
"This is strange," says Buffy in an accent. "I don't understand this place and these monsters. It is different from my home."
"Don't worry, lady. You'll be safe here."
"I am scared. You promise you'll protect me?"
"Don't be and I will." Xander hears the door and looks out the window. It's a bunch of monsters. "We should get to lower ground." Xander pulls Buffy with him over to the basement.
Outside, Cordy is running for her life away from some hairy monster and Angel on his way to Buffy's, helps her out. They quickly run the opposite way of Buffy's house.
Willow and Giles are figuring things out of how people are turning and they can only conclude to one thing, Ethan's costume store. Giles knows that name and they head over to the store. They find in the back room some kind of roman god bust. Giles tells Willow to leave and that he would handle this, which he does with violence. He beats up Ethan and he enjoys it, until he tells him how to reverse the spell.
Back at Buffy's, Xander and Buffy are calm and quiet. Willow returns, but doesn't find them. She checks outside and assumes that they headed outside.
"You must be a noble man," says Buffy to Xander, who keeps scanning the area, especially the windows.
"Nope." Buffy moves over to him.
"I'd hope you were."
"Why?" Buffy grabs his arm and turns him over to face her.
"Cause I could do this." Buffy touches his face and kisses Xander. He puts his arm around her, still carrying the gun in his right hand and not letting it go.
Giles finally finds the way to reverse the spell and he grabs the roman god bust in the middle of the room and breaks it to a million pieces.
Xander and Buffy pull out of the kiss and look at each other. Buffy's eyes widen and she walks over to the stairs. She touches her lips for a second, then heads up the stairs. Xander rolls his eyes and heads upstairs as well.
Everyone else has been turned back and they all head back to Buffy's. Angel and Cordy walk into the house and behind them is Giles and Willow.
"Where is Buffy?" asks Angel. Buffy walks down the hallway and pulls her wig off. Angel sees her and hugs her. He then begins to wonder why she was dressed like that. Cordy rolls her eyes. Xander walks right behind Buffy and glares at her.
"Well, at least everyone is okay," says Giles.
The next day, Xander is at his locker and when he slams it closed, there is Buffy behind it. Xander is surprised to see her.
"Can we talk?" says Buffy. Xander nods his head. Willow sees them from down the hallway and wonders where the two are going. She suddenly bumps into a small guy, with orange hair and all his papers fall onto the floor. Willow helps him out and she loses sight of Buffy and Xander.
They head over to a table and sit down. Buffy looks down at the table for a second and then faces Xander, who drops his satchel on the table. He looks at Buffy, with a serious expression.
"I don't know where to start," says Buffy. "I knew this would be weird if it ever happened."
"That's beside the point, Buff," says Xander. Buffy licks her lips and takes a deep breath.
"First, I hadn't realized how good it would feel. I kind of sound stupid." Xander grabs her hand.
"No, you don't." Buffy smiles at Xander.
"It's a stupid excuse to say that we were under a spell, but maybe we can give a try." Xander's eyes widen at her last words.
"Really?" Buffy nods her head and squeezes his hand tighter. "What about dead boy?" Buffy laughs at the nickname that he has for Angel.
"He'd be upset, but I'm gladly giving him to Cordy since she wants him so bad."
"You didn't tell her that he's a vampire?"
"Yeah, I did, but she didn't believe me. So, it's a little surprise from me to her."
"You are bad, Buffy, real bad."
Larry then walks into the lounge, where they are sitting. He sees Xander and Buffy at a table holding hands.
"Hey, Harris," says Larry. "Why don't you let the lady go?"
"You know what, Larry," says Xander. "I just got one thing."
"What's that?" Xander stands up and looks at him straight in the eyes. He then punches him in the nose and he falls back against another table. Buffy gets up and is surprised that Xander finally stood up for himself and didn't get pummeled. She goes up to him and grabs his hand.
"Does it hurt?" says Buffy.
"Like hell," says Xander. "Son of…ouch."
"Lets get you some ice, Mr. Macho Man." She kisses his hand and Xander smiles. Then she kisses his lips and suddenly he doesn't feel any more pain.