Chapter 3

AN: Just so you know, when the event happens, the chapter will split into four separate POV's, one from each person involved, so don't be too surprised. Also, all of the individual POV segments will end at the same point.

AN2: Prior to the spell, there will be some ripping into people's character and psyche, but please, it is not bashing – it is a building tool meant to help them later on in the chapter. Please, be patient with it.

(One week later)

Things, as they say, had finally come to a head as the rift that had started growing just a week before had grown to almost encompass the entire group – first it had been Buffy sniping at Xander about his 'programming' and his methods, that he could at least TRY to feel sorry for the vampires when he staked them, but that had gone very badly as Xander, quite calmly, told her that he was not capable of feeling sorry for them and then went on to say that, regardless of how much she whined and complained, he was not going to be able to ever do everything that could make her happy. He went on to say that he was the X-1000, a Cyberdyne Industries model T-1000 Terminator that had been retrofitted and upgraded for the hunting and eradication of all things demonic, and regardless of the fact that he had a human mind in his processors, he was what he was, a Terminator – feeling sorry for the entities that he killed was not within his capabilities.

Buffy had then accused him of being no better than a vampire, or any other demon, and that brought Aura into the mix – Willow had been sniping at Aura for her growing closeness to Xander over the past weeks, on how Xander acted more …. Human around Aura than he did around Willow, his best and oldest friend, and Aura had shot back that with the way that Willow had been treating Xander, like he was some pity case or some science experiment, she wasn't surprised that Xander didn't want much to do with her. Willow had taken offense to this and had snapped that at least SHE was human and not some kind of freak, which had put Aura both near the brink of tears and an almost homicidal rage as she bit back that she never WANTED to be a mutant, let alone a female Wolverine and all that it entailed – she had the oddest urges to smoke cigars and drink rotgut whiskey, to chase after spoken-for redheads, to ride Harleys into the latest of the night and start bar brawls with the local demon populations just for the sheer hell of it; she had even gone so far as to pop her claws and screamed, "And do you fucking THINK I wanted THESE?"

Giles had stepped in at this point, hoping to calm the nerves and tempers of everyone and had, quite plainly, asked the girls, Willow and Buffy, to stop acting like little girls and to try and see things from the points of view of both Xander and Aura – neither were, technically, normal (or in Xander's case, human) anymore and both were having to learn how to deal with it, much like Buffy had been forced to learn to deal with being a Slayer and with all it entailed. Buffy at least had the good grace to look ashamed at that point, but Willow had not been deterred, so Xander had spoken up at that point and reminded her of all of the times that she had been picked on for being so much smarter than the entire class, and to think what that would have been like if he had not been there to help shield her from it with Jessie's help.

This, of course, brought up the crux of Willow's dilemma – she had always been the smartest of the group, well, of the students anyway, but two facts she was not receptive of now was that Aura, as having been possessed by Wolverine, knew things that she did not, that she could not, and that Xander was, for all intents and purposes, the perfect student. He was essentially a computer on the highest level, he could retain massive amounts of information and could recall it letter-perfect at the slightest whim, and due to that fact his grades had not only taken a massive leap, but he was also being considered for the Academic team after not only correcting the Chemistry teacher in class, but going so far as the finish ALL of his classes and being skipped up to the Junior year of school. All of this, the closeness to Aura, the leap in grade, and the acceptance of his new-found brilliance by the others in school made Willow feel more alone that she had been in a very long time – her Xander was leaving her behind, even if he didn't mean to, and the little world she had built up around herself was slowly starting to fall apart around her.

That's not to say that she had it easy, though – she, Jenny Calendar, had been officially dumped by one Rupert Giles, librarian and stuffy Englishman, just because of her ancestry; he had tried to get past it, she had to give him that much, but in the end he had told her that, after some of his dealings with the Romany in London back when he was a teen, there would be no chance for them to have a relationship. She had asked questions about which clan had wrong him and what they had done, but she had been crushed to learn that her own Clan, the Kalderash, had not only betrayed Ripper in the past, but they had been part of some rather unsavory deals that had gotten innocent men, women and children killed; she had held out hope until that morning when, upon the other teaching staff leaving them alone, he told her, point blank, that he was going to start seeing Buffy's mother – this had been a crushing blow to her and had almost made her want to swear off men all together, but that decision had been tabled when Xander had walked by and handed her a stack of data CD, each of which held pieces of programming. He had made her an offer that he would provide her with the base programming for certain items that, under no condition, could ever reconstruct SKYNET, and if he did this she would have a company started in her family name in order to get funds together, saying something about securing his financial independence without resorting to developing weapons that humans had no reason having; she had accepted and so far things were looking good.

Thus Jenny found herself sitting next to Xander, absently tapping away on her own laptop and going over some program code while he, just as absently, made pointers and 'suggestions' on what to do to the code, where to reinforce it and where to weaken it – he was a sweet kid, even before he had become any techno-geek's wildest dream, and she could tell that he was doing his best to cope with the situation he was in, but she could also tell that it was starting to get to him, most of the time when he was in a situation where he had to be around the monster, Angelus, who went by 'Angel' now. The first time, it had been completely understandable by any and all, even Buffy, when Xander had almost gutted the vampire, but since then he had done that three more times and it had gotten to the point that Buffy had asked the monster to not come around when Xander was there, just in case 'the glorified toaster blew a circuit' – Xander had shot her a glare at that point that made Jenny wonder just what he was capable of doing even as the fingers of his right hand tapered down into long, semi-rigid talons over a foot long.

"Jenny?" Aura walked over to her and had her workbook in hand, "Are you okay?"

Aura watched as the older woman, perhaps the coolest teacher she could ever remember having, blinked at her somewhat owlishly, "What are you talking about?"

Aura shrugged a little, "You seem … down."

Jenny just shrugged, going back to her lap top, "I'll be alright, Aura, it will just … take some time."

"He is a fool." Both females looked over at him as he reformed his hand as it should be, flexing his fingers slightly, "He is allowing past dealings with a different clan cloud his judgment enough to lose a beautiful woman – it is … illogical."

Jenny heard Aura's blood pressure go up as she felt a slightly smile form on her lips at his words, "Humans, males mostly, are most often illogical, Xander."

Xander's face scrunched up for a second and he then frowned, "I do believe the correct phrase to use here is … Hey!"

Aura giggled slightly at Xander's comment – he'd come a long way n the past month, a long way towards becoming as human as he once was, but she could still see where he was having trouble, in areas like emotional expression, humor, even but slowly he was coming along. As it was, she walked over and put her hands on his shoulders, squeezing lightly, "Don't worry, Xander, we'll keep you and still love you even though you're male."

His neck bent around at an unnatural angle to look up at her, at which point he blew a raspberry at her.

It was at this point that the Library doors opened again and in walked the other half of the group formerly known as the Scoobies – Rupert looked at Aura and Xander but pointedly ignored her, Willow glared at Xander while Buffy glared at Aura, the threesome (… no, EVIL thought! Bad, BAD thoughts) of Slayer, Watcher and hacker sat across from them and it was Willow who started things off, "Xander, we're going to try a spell to make you normal again." Before anyone could say anything else, Willow went on, "This … THING that you are now, it isn't you, Xander, and I think I've found a spell that will bring you back."

Xander, for his part, only arched an eyebrow at Willow, well, he did once he turned his head back around, "Oh, really? Who will be casting the spell, Willow? More importantly, what are the consequences?"

Willow growled at her possibly-former best friend, as the jury was still out on that subject, "Giles will be, and there's only a slight chance that the spell could go wrong."

Xander just gave her a look and repeated, "More importantly, what are the consequences?"

Willow snapped her Resolve Face on at Xander, "It doesn't matter!"

Xander merely arched an eyebrow, "Maybe not to you, as I highly doubt YOU will be the one paying the price if the spell does not go well." He then looked at Giles, who had a somewhat worried look on his face, "What are the consequences of the spell being miscast?"

"W…well, the tome was not specific on that respect, Xander," Giles managed to get out, seeing exactly where this was going – he was both highly irritated and proud at the boy for being able to shoot down an idea like this with just a single question and answer given, "But to be perfectly honest with you, the chances of it working are … moderate, at best."

The last sentence hung in the air like a big, fat 'duck' over a pond full of men in hip-waders and raised shotguns – it was Aura who finally gave the signal to open fire, "Oh, HELL NO!" Feathers rained down as the reasoning of the entire argument was blown out of the sky, repeatedly, "That's it? Your best attempt to make Xander human is basically a 'maybe, maybe not'? How DARE you try this shit with his life," Aura went on, turning her gaze to Willow, who shrank back immediately, "especially YOU, Willow."

Buffy snapped to her feet, "Hey, lay off of her, Aura! She just wants her nice, NORMAL friend back."

Aura didn't even flinch, "And what about you, Buffy? You're willing to risk Xander's life on a 'maybe'?"

"THAT," Buffy stated with a pointed finger to Xander, "isn't Xander – it's a machine who happens to look like Xander."

Aura snarked back, "Oh, just like that pathetic excuse of a vampire that's sniffing around you all the time happens to look like a human that died over two hundred years ago?"

"Angel isn't pathetic, he's just scared of what that psycho may do to him," Buffy said quietly, dangerously even as Xander stood up.

"Oh, so I'm a psycho now? Maybe I should have left you for dead in the Master's Cave." This time the 'duck' was strong, lean, flying like a bat out of hell over that very same pond and all of the hunters were out of ammunition.

"Angel couldn't give me CPR, Xander," Buffy said, her voice shocked and even a bit confused. "He can't breathe, remember?"

"Then how does he speak?" All eyes turned to Jenny, who was closing her laptop, "The intake and expulsion of air is quite necessary to speak, Buffy, and as he HAS spoken before, he must be able to breathe, at least on some level." A second missile-like 'duck' broke the sound barrier this time over the pond, even as the hunters reloaded.

"This isn't about Angel," Willow said suddenly, the breeches on the metaphysical hunters snapping shut as yet another duck came overhead, "it's about Xander and getting him back to normal."

"Again I ask what happens if the spell doesn't happen correctly? More importantly, Willow, what would happen to ME … or do you even care?" Yet another 'duck' was blown apart, duck salsa chunky-style, but Xander wasn't finished, "Though I could ask why, if we're going to make people normal again, you aren't at the top of the list?"

Aura picked up where he left off, having been around for one of Buffy's 'it chose me' spiel, "Yes, Buffy, why not make yourself normal again? Or is the spell not that powerful? After all, if it can make a 'machine' into a human again, surely it can get rid of a little spirit like the Slayer essence."

"I … I …" Buffy groped for words even as Aura sat back down with a smile on her face, which made Buffy see red even more, "Well, at least I am human, unlike you miss comic book wonder."

Aura snarled and leapt at Buffy, but a liquid metal hand lanced out and held her in place around her torso, "If you had the slightest CLUE what it was like to be me, you'd never wish it on your worst enemy, Slayer!"

Buffy sneered at Aura, "Right back at you, Aura."

Xander just rolled his eyes as his internal sensors suddenly popped online, reading a very odd energy reading that suddenly began to encompass the whole room, "Girls, please stop fighting – this is not the time for it."

Willow snapped to her feet, "STOP ACTING LIKE YOU DON'T HAVE EMOTIONS, XANDER!"

With Aura still in hand, he snapped to his feet as well, mimicking her voice, though in a more moderated tone, "Emotions aren't easy for a THING, Willow! If you think dealing with this is easy, try it from my point of view."

Even as he finished ranting at Willow, his sensors spiked again, this time almost maxing out as his eyes flashed green and light filled the room … then darkness.

AN: Okay, people, here comes the somewhat confusing part – it's going to switch to the individual POV's for most of the rest of the story. You have been warned.

(Willow)

…

…

… Initiating Start up …

… Checking memory files … memory files in tact …

… System check … system check complete – system resources at 99 percent …

... Checking personality matrix … WARNING: new personality matrix detected; sealing sensitive memory files.

… Activating basic functions…

All of this flashed before my eyes as they snapped open and I sat up – something … was wrong. EVERYTHING is wrong – first off, I'm looking at my own body, which is currently unconscious approximately 1.4 meters in front of me. Pulse rate 63, blood pressure 123 over 84, blood oxygen level 98 percent … and where was all of this coming from?

I suddenly stand up and look down, realizing what and who I was looking at – my hands are larger, more worn, and so is my body … and how can a guy think with that … that THING hanging down between his legs? I'm not in my body. … oh, god, I'm in Xander's body, but … why can't I feel anything? I should be shocked, terrified, even mortified, but … nothing – I can't feel anything.

"Ow." I look over and see Jenny helping Aura to her feet, both of them looking none the worse for wear even as Giles helps Buffy to her feet. Jenny looks at me and asks, "Xander, what's wrong? What happened?"

"Unable to comply," comes from my mouth unbidden. "Subject 'Xander' not recognized."

Jenny frowned at me, "Xander, this isn't funny."

"Subject 'Xander' not present – personality matrix … compromised." She couldn't stop the words even as they came out of her mouth, in fact she could barely control her arms as she made to shrug, "Personality matrix … 'Willow' … engaged." She felt her body lurch slightly and she grabbed the table as she did fall forwards this time, "AYE!"

(Aura)

"Ohhh, that's smarts," I mutter to myself even as I slowly opened my eyes – it didn't hurt so much as it smarted, but that wasn't the case as I slid out of the chair and onto the ground to control my stomach. Something wasn't right – my body feels … off, stronger, yet weaker.

I look down at my hands and notice that they're white, not hurting and depressingly thin, and I feel like crying as I notice that my chest has shrunk – from my position, though, I can see … me, or at least my body, on the ground and doing it's best to wake up. All of this takes about two seconds to process in my brain even as Mr. Giles comes over to try and help me up, "This fucking sucks."

"I say, Buffy, language like that that isn't called for," Giles says to me as he takes me by the arm and hoists me up.

I open my mouth to tell him I'm not Buffy, but Xander quickly gets up on the other side of the table, looking more blank than usual – over the past few months I've learned to decode his facial expressions, kinda like that guy who plays guitar for the Dingoes, Oz, but Xander's face now … it was totally blank as it looked down at Willow's body.

"Ow." I look over to see Jenny helping my body as my body asked, "Xander, what's going on?"

"Unable to comply, Subject 'Xander' is not recognized." I can feel my cheeks grow cold as the implications of the words hit me – from what Xander had told her, if he were to ever 'shut down' for any reason, he would restart in the mind of the T-1000, but after a few minutes his own self would come back into control. If this was happening, though … then something was wrong, seriously wrong.

Jenny frowned at Xander, "Xander, this isn't funny."

"Subject 'Xander' not present – personality matrix … compromised." I watch as his body jerks a few times and he speaks again, "Personality matrix …'Willow' … engaged." I blink in astonishment as his body fell forwards and he caught himself with an, "AYE!"

(Buffy)

First thing that came to mind was pain – I hurt, all over, in places that I haven't hurt since before I became the Slayer … a Slayer, now that I've died once and Called a new one – Xander was right, I guess, that going to the Master's Lair on my own was a bone-headed move. I'm just glad Angel … whoever it was who brought the other, got down there.

Next thing I noticed was that my chest felt weird, heavier, and like I wasn't wearing a bra – by no means was I Cordelia Chase in that department, but I wasn't flat chested. As I opened my eyes and looked over at myself on the other side of the table, I had to admit that I was quite proportional to my body size. Ha, I used a big word like 'proportional' …

…

Hold on a cotton-picking minute – why is my body over there and I'm over here? Why was my body over there and getting up on its own and I'm still here on the ground? … Why in the hell do my arms and hands hurt like this?

I felt a pair of hands on my arm and then felt them pull up on me, I pulled my feet under me and was assaulted by pain, "Ow." Okay, reality check number three – I was taller now, and heavier, and … and my hands hurt – several thing clicked all at once so I looked over at Xander and asked, "Xander, what's going on here?"

Xander just gave me this blank look as Giles helped my body up, "Unable to comply – Subject 'Xander' is not recognized." His voice was more mechanical than normal and it sent a chill down my spine, just like he had the first time I saw him dust a vamp – since then, the ease it had come to him, well, it was pissing me off more than anything, and any damage he took he just absorbed and hit back harder. It wasn't FAIR! Xander never asked for any of this … and now he's … he's … he's not even human! Yeah, he was smarter, faster, stronger and all, but … he wasn't Xander anymore.

Once I was situated on my feet, Jenny growled, "This isn't funny, Xander."

Xander, just as mechanically as before, raised his arms slightly as if to shrug, "Subject 'Xander' is not present – personality matrix … compromised." His body jerked several times and I was shocked to hear, "Personality matrix … Willow … engaged." I surged forwards as his body fell with an 'AYE!', but stopped when it caught itself – I could tell that this wasn't going to be fun.

(Xander)

Zzzzzzz …. Zzzzzzzz …. Zzzzzzz

"AYE!" snort huh? What the hell?

LUB-DUB. LUB-DUB. LUB-DUB.

Holy … a heart beat? Wow, been a while since I had one of those.

…

Hold on one damned minute here – body check: head? Check. Arms and legs? Check. Breasts? Check … and now we shall enter into a lovely little thing I like to call 'freaking the hell out'.

"GAH!" I'm suddenly on my feet and my hands are flashing over my body, "What the HELL is going on?"

"That's what I want to know," Buffy snaps at me even as my hands run over the breasts on this body and down to the slim, tapered waist. It's then that I notice my hands are smaller, paler, more dainty … oh, crap.

Even as Buffy snaps at Giles for answers, I'm busily digging through a purse that's right next to me and quickly open a compact with a mirror, looking into it – there, staring back at me, is a green eye and a red eyebrow. Oh, double crap, "This isn't happening."

"What isn't happening, Willow?" I look over at Jenny and I can feel tears starting to gather in my eyes.

"I'm not Willow, Jenny … I'm Xander."

(AN: Okay, back to normal, shall we? Well, okay, what passes for normal for my writing …)

She blinked at Willow, "What?"

Willow waved her hands in the air, "I'm not Willow, Jenny! It's me, Xander."

It had finally happened – the poor, dear girl had finally cracked, "Willow…"

Willow's eyes narrowed, "Posey's." Jenny blinked hard at 'her' as 'she' went on, "Your favorite flowers are Posey's, you love a good hot curry but you can't stand the taste of a bland tea – you've been dying to go to another Metallica concert for ages but can't go because you're stuck here in Sunnydale watching Angelus."

Willow blinked, though it was in Xander's body, as her own body that had Xander in it went on to tell Jenny about all kinds of things that she herself never knew, things that apparently only Xander knew, well, Xander and maybe Aura. After all, the three of them had been inseparable ... just like she and Xander had once been.

Jenny walked forwards, dumbfounded at some of the things that 'Willow' had listed, things that she knew only Xander and Aura knew, and then turned to 'Buffy', "Who are you?"

"Aura." She smiled at Jenny and then turned to Xander-in-Willow's-body, looking 'him' up and down, "Gotta say, Xand, red hair on you looks good."

The red-haired girl-with-a-guy's-mind gave her a pained look, "Please, Aura, no jokes – I'm kinda freaking out here." Said person began to stalk around in her skirt and growling, "I mean, Jesus, I'm kinda missing some vital equipment here, Aura!"

"Well, trust me, if this is what you feel like all of the time, I'd rather have my own body back." The T-1000 with Willow's mind spoke in a monotone voice, also stalking around, "How do you stand it, Xander? No emotions, no … no control?" (AN: last time, I swear – from here on out, we're just going to use the name of whoever happens to be in charge of the body; it's getting too confusing even for me)

Xander stopped and smirked at her, feeling a rush of pure ruthlessness for a change, "What's wrong, Willow? Can't deal with it? Oh, wait, that's right," he went on, turning to Buffy, who flinched back, "I'm a thing. I don't HAVE feelings."

Buffy winced at Xander's words and the venom in them … then winced in pain at the memory of the things she had said about him – she'd been so hateful to him over the past weeks, saying things like that, and now he was throwing them back into her face from Willow's body, "Xand … I'm sorry."

She saw the cool gaze from those green eyes, the frosty smile on his lips, and knew this wasn't going to go away so easily, "Pretty words, Buffy … but pointless. No, our friendship … it's over." No vampire, no demon, no action hurt her as much as those words could have, words that brought tears to her eyes, but he wasn't through, "I hoped that after your whole little dance at the beginning of the year, my little threat to you, that you'd start being the girl I knew last year, the one I actually liked being around … but I guess all of that's gone straight to hell, just like our friendship. You want that friendship back?" Xander walked around the table and glared at her from about six inches down from her, "Earn it." With that, Xander, in Willow's body, stormed out of the Library.

Silence reigned for several minutes, nobody saying a word, but finally Aura spoke, "Well, I guess he's feeling better now. Kinda surprised he didn't try and gut my body there."

Jenny turned to Rupert, "What caused this? How can we reverse this, Mr. Giles?"

Giles was caught flat-footed – the revelations that had been made in the past few minutes, the emotional outburst, and the hateful nature of what Xander had just done … all of it filled him with shame as he felt his inner Ripper howling at him in laughter. Here he had, in the past few weeks, helped alienate one of the reasons that Buffy was still alive to this day and two of that person's compatriots, just because of something that none of them had any control over and an accident of birth on Jenny's part. "I … I am not sure."

Buffy took this point to scream as three razor-sharp bone claws erupted from the back of her right hand, and then screamed again as the same happened to her left hand, blood dripping from them as she stumbled back into the closest chair, tears now streaming down her face.

She watched as Giles and Willow, albeit the latter a bit jerkily as she didn't have a lot of control of her body at that point, ran to go check on Buffy, but neither she nor Aura moved – it wasn't that she didn't feel bad that the Slayer was in pain, she did feel bad about it, it was just … well, given that it was Aura's body that Buffy was in, Jenny knew that this would happen sooner or later. "How long until you think she figures out how to pull the claws back in?"

Aura just shrugged and looked down at Buffy's body, "How can she stand it? I mean, yeah, she's fit, but … there's nothing there!" She gave Aura an arched look and Aura flexed one arm, "I can feel the power in the arm, but there's no muscle there to back it up. It defies everything I've learned about strength."

Jenny just shrugged, "Chalk it up to the Slayer essence – I doubt that she's having any kind of an easy time with your body, Aura, so don't expect for it to be any different for you."

"Ah!" Both looked over in time to see Willow, in Xander's body, fall to the ground and land with a SPLAT, and watched as the mimetic poly-alloy body of the Terminator began to writhe and shift form from human to something that looked like half-melted plastic, all the while with Willow doing her level best to get back upright.

Finally, about three minutes of that, Willow managed to get upright, and her borrowed brow was furrowed in concentration, an act that made Buffy, whose claws finally snapped back into her arms, asked, "Willow … what's wrong?"

There was a slight growl from where Willow was, "I can't control this body! THAT is the problem." Slowly, she raised one arm and began to try and manipulate the fingers, with varying degrees of success, "I don't know how he does this – it's hard."

Jenny smiled, "Well, look at it this way, Willow – if he has such a hard time controlling the body, why should he have any kind of time to work on the emotions aspect of your little rant?" Willow looked up at her and she went on, "After all, even with all the practice he's had, he still has problems with his body – maybe emotions aren't as easy as you would think?"

The blank look on Willow's face slowly faded away into a shocked look after several seconds, "But … I feel guilty."

Aura jumped in at this point, "Probably, yes, but Xander's told me that while some emotions come easily, others don't – for example, he can't feel pity." She turned and looked at Buffy, "THAT is why he was able to take that telepathic vampire out – it's not that he was being a cold person, he just COULDN'T feel bad." She then sat down with a frown, though, "Sometimes, I think he's had it harder than all of us combined."

(Elsewhere)

His knuckles … Willow's knuckles throbbed even as Harmony's unconscious slid down the tiled wall of the bathroom, her eyes rolled up into her head and Xander relished in the feeling – he had gone to the one place he figured he could get some privacy to think, but Harmony, whom was just leaving cheerleading practice, had started in on whom she thought was Willow. Xander had actually ignored Harmony for several minutes before the faux-blonde had made several comments about himself and Willow and what they had supposedly done when they were alone, going so far as to even call Willow a slut – by no means was he one of Willow's biggest fans at that point, but the pot calling the kettle black was just too much as … well, he reacted, hence Harmony's current condition.

He went back to where he had been, inside of the bank of stalls (honestly, the guys were getting gypped in the bathroom department, even though he didn't need to use those facilities anymore), put down the lid of the toilet and sat down, propping Willow's head up with her hand like the classic Thinker statue – it'd taken a few minutes and some general exploration of Willow's body to actually get used to lacking the extra parts he had grown so attached to, and with the things that he'd figured out in the time before Harmony's appearance, he was more than a little glad he was born a guy. How could girls even think with all of those extra hormones and body parts inside of themselves?

He heard the door open again and someone walk in, sigh, and call out, "You know, if you're going to knock her out, at least have the common decency to stick her somewhere she wouldn't be missed."

A wry grin touched his lips, "You mean like the boy's locker room, if the rumors are true?" He walked out and came face to face with Buffy's body, "Hey, Aura."

She smiled at Xander, "Hey – so, how does it feel to be a girl?"

"I plead the fifth," was the prompt answer she got even as they both went over and grabbed Harmony's body, dragging it into the next stall.

When they were done with that, Aura gave him a pout, "Why?"

"Because I'll invariably say something about the hormones and extra body parts in a woman's body that will get either Willow's body or mine thumped, hard and repeatedly." He was rather proud of his diplomatic answer, especially when Aura nodded Buffy's head.

They were quiet for several minutes as they both sat against the sinks, but Aura broke that silence, "So, what's it like to feel emotions again?"

He shrugged, "It's nice, don't get me wrong, but … it's not me. Willow's the one feeling emotions right now, or rather, her body is – I'm just along for the ride."

Aura gave him a side-armed hug, easily controlling Buffy's Slayer strength, "Don't worry about it, Xand – we'll find a way to work this out. If it is any consolation, though," she went on, "Willow's having a bitch of a time controlling your body, and I think she's starting to see just how much of a problem you have with it."

He nodded, though there was a frown on his face, "Somehow I doubt that this is going to help things." Aura gave him a look and he went on, "She'll see how she's been acting recently and practically smother me to help assuage her conscience."

Aura nodded, remembering some of the times she had seen Willow blow up at Xander in junior high and how she had smothered him and Jessie later on, "What about Buffy? I know she's dealing with my body now, but do you think she'll forgive you?"

He gave her a look, "Why would she need to forgive me? If anything, it's the other way around, Aura."

It was her turn to give him a look, "You came down on her pretty hard, Xander – some of it was Kosher, but some of it … you crossed a line, saying she'd need to re-earn your friendship."

Xander shrugged Willow's small shoulders, "It's a free country, so you can think what you want – she's been a real bitch to me over the past few weeks, all because of something I have had no control over, and I've finally had enough of it." He stood up then, "Okay, I've cooled down enough – let's get out of here before Harmony wakes back up."

Aura looked down at his … actually Willow's swollen knuckles, "I think you broke something, Xander."

He flexed the hand and savored the pain, "Yeah, I know."

(Later)

Giles was pouring over the small mountain of books he and Jenny had drug out of the back of the weapon's cage, while Jenny was busily performing small rituals to figure out whom was to blame for the situation they were in, both Buffy and Aura were having a light spar off to one side, while Xander was busily demolishing a box of Twinkies and Willow KNEW they were going straight to her thighs. She could admit that, even after a little more than an hour in Xander's body, she'd probably do the same thing, but after he had apparently broken a bone or two in her hand after knocking Harmony out.

She looked over at Buffy, who was busily rearranging Aura's shirt, "I still don't understand why you didn't wear a bra today."

Aura just smiled in Buffy's body, "Well, I did … but never around Xander." Willow felt her eyes widen and cheeks burn even as Buffy stopped in mid-move, allowing Aura to tag her in the gut with a kick, knocking Buffy back on her butt.

Buffy was back on her feet in seconds, dragging Aura and herself further off to the side so they could speak privately; once there, Buffy let go of Willow and glared at Aura, "What do you MEAN 'never around Xander'?"

Aura just sighed and gave Buffy a pitying look, "Buffy, you may not have noticed, but Xander's a guy, and he's cute."

Buffy narrowed her eyes, "I know."

"Then is it so improbable that someone of our superior gender may, in fact, find him intriguing and want to gain his attention?" Both girls gave her an odd look and Aura arched one of Buffy's eyebrows, "What?"

Willow semi-whispered, "Aura … Xander's a machine now, not a human."

Buffy didn't pull her punch, however, "He's not even human."

Aura gave Buffy a look, "Oh, and Angel is?"

Buffy snarled, "Leave him out of this!"

Aura gave her a flat look, "Oh, so it's okay for you to have a relationship with a vampire, but it's not okay for me to try and pursue one with Xander?" This brought Buffy up short even as the trio heard Giles mutter 'oh good Lord', making them all turn and look at him, Aura asking, "What is it?"

"Waf ish fit?" Willow looked over at Xander, who had her mouth stuffed with the last Twinkie, even as they all got to the table – she'd be working out for a MONTH getting all of that to go away.

"With the exception of Xander, you're all guilty of this happening." The girls looked at Jenny, looking both somewhat angered and betrayed, and Jenny went on, "You were all born in the month of January, correct?" The girls nodded and she went on, reading out of the book she had been reading out of for the past hour, "Upon a given day, should a Witch, a Slayer and a Warrior be born they shall be linked for all time – should they be born within the same lunar cycle they shall also be linked, but with a price. Should they all hold one thought in mind at once and wish it to be so, for the time span of a quarter day shall the wish be granted." Jenny marked the page and closed the book, smiling, "As I've started teaching Willow how to be a Wicca, Buffy is a Slayer and Aura is, by rights, a warrior, along with Xander having been born in November, this is one of the few possibilities that does not include a mass orgy and ritual sacrifice … unless you three have been having orgies and not inviting me."

All three girls exploded into massive blushes … well, Buffy and Aura did, while Willow's poly-alloy jaw dropped to the floor with a splat – Xander started choking in Willow's body as a piece of Twinkie was inhaled into the lungs and Rupert merely removed his glasses, muttering 'good Lord'.

Several minutes later, Jenny was still smiling as her little joke finally petered out as Buffy, in Aura's body, stopped blushing, but she went on, "Still, there is no way to speed up the process."

Willow snarled slightly, "Joy."

(Later)

Willow squealed in joy as she ran her hands over her body again, "I'm back!"

Buffy was shivering in delight as her hands went over her arms and glee, "Me too!"

Aura looked slightly less enthusiastic as she popped her claws with a slight grimace, "Yeah, me three."

Xander, though, had an oddly serene look on his face as he morphed his hand into the braided whip and then back into a hand that sported claws like Aura's, "All present and accounted for."

Jenny sighed even as Rupert went to go clean up a few things, but she then looked at Xander, who's normally-blank face was even more blank than normal; he'd been human again for a while, completely human (albeit in the wrong body) and now he was a machine again – she wondered just how badly he was truly feeling as he went off from the group again to be alone.

"So, Willow," Buffy said with a smile on her face, "how's it feel to be normal again?"

Willow put her hands on her stomach, looking vaguely green as she looked for a place to sit, "I think I'm going to be sick."

Aura paid none of this any mind as she tracked after Xander – she felt bad about his situation, she really did, and she was also thinking about Buffy's words; he was a machine and she was a human, albeit a mutant, and by no means would any relationship they happened to fall into (well, fall or for her to somehow talk him into) be considered 'normal'. As easy as it would be to call Buffy on the same thing, she was still right.

As she got out of the Library, though, all thoughts of romance left her mind as she noticed Xander standing off to one side of the empty school hall, his arm extended and, in his hand, he held a dark-skinned young woman with braids in her hair off of the ground by several feet; even as she rushed over, Aura could hear him ask in that damned emotionless tone, "Who are you?"

"My name be Kendra de Vampire Slayer, demon!" Aura stopped in amazement as the girl, Kendra, spat this information at Xander, who merely arched an eyebrow and slowly lowered the girl to the ground.

"I am no demon, Kendra," Xander said even as Kendra rushed forwards and sank a stake in where his heart would have been. The chunk of wood slid in effortlessly and remained even as Xander slammed a projection of his body into Kendra's own chest, knocking her both back and out of wind, allowing Xander to continue, "I am far beyond being a simple demon, Kendra."

Aura reached him and pulled the stake out of his chest, letting Kendra see the hole left there begin to close and fill in with liquid metal, "Xander, what have I told you about playing nicely with others?"

He gave her one of his patented half-grins as his body reformed completely, "To make sure Buffy and Willow never see me clubbing the not-nice ones over the back of the heads?"

She rolled her eyes, even as Kendra got to her feet somewhat unsteadily, "No, not that."

Before Xander could answer, though, Kendra spoke up, "What … what are you?"

Xander looked at her and, with all the confidence that a machine was able to put into its voice, said, "I am a Terminator, Slayer."

AN: Okay, folks, for the foreseeable future, that is the end of this story due to the fact I want to work on a few others. What do you think? Suggestions, comments and reviews of the non-flame variety are welcomed – peace.