Hittite language in the curly braces.
Sunnydale Sheraton Resort and Spa, 10 AM
The telephone in his room rang, and one of the masseuses working over his body paused to reach over and answer it.
"Mr. Harris' suite, how may I help you?" the young woman asked. Getting an answer, she turned to Xander, "Mr. Harris, a young woman named Willow would like to speak with you." He nodded and reached over without leaving the table.
"Hey, Wills, what's up?" he asked.
"I'm getting a massage."
"You and Elizabeth were both invited."
"I'm not interested in talking to Giles right now, I'm thinking brunch."
"Then I'm going to steam, swim, have a back and skin scrub and oil, and have another massage."
"Just a towel, why?"
"In about half an hour."
"No shop talk. How many?"
"Just you and her? I'll reserve a table. See you then." He handed the phone to the masseuse. I have two guests for the rest of the afternoon, can you have the desk increase accordingly? Thank you."
'Spartacus, you old bastard,' Xander smirked, 'You Romans knew how to relax when you had money.'
After the Reset, Xander decided to try the Greek Warrior costume, and maybe add some other languages on the research side of things. Giles knew Classical Greek, and a few other ancient literacies, but fluency and tonality were lacking. And who knows, maybe one of these times he'd run into an early slayer or watcher and get the 411 on how things got started.
Entering Ethan's store yet again, he held up money before the man could grimace at him.
"I'd like something of a Greek Warrior," Xander explained, and remembered Manco's horse, "A horse-riding guy would be best. Giles seemed to think them under-rated, so I thought I'd surprise him with something more specific."
"Do you have a horse?" Ethan asked pointedly, "And is this an indoor event?"
"No, and it's a patio party," Xander sighed, lying, "With historically dressed professors and such, guys in tweed." Ethan finally made the Giles connection.
"That wouldn't have been Rupert Giles, would it?" the chaos mage enthused, delighted when Xander nodded. "We go way back."
"So, think you could help me out?" Xander asked.
"Yes, indeed, my boy" Ethan replied, "Yes indeed, it's just a matter of...time."
Forty minutes later, Xander left the shop in full attire, more authentic than he'd expected. For some reason, though, Ethan hadn't had the shield to the headdress Xander had spotted on the wall the Reset before. On the way out the door, Jonathan Levinson bumped into him, and headed into the store. He didn't hear Jonathan trying to return the Alexander the Great costume that didn't quite fit.
Alexander strode down the hall, feeling like the king of the world his costume was supposed to suggest. His route differed slightly from normal, so he missed the opportunity to thump Larry again. With ten minutes to spare, he led his group of kids out a little early, running into Jonathan Levinson leading his group of students out at the same time.
"So Xander," the miniatures warfare enthusiast gushed, "Nice Early Bronze Age horseman's costume. What do you think of mine?"
"Nice, what, basically the same?" Xander replied as they guided their trick-or-treaters down the street.
"Yeah, I was going as Alexander the Great," Levinson replied, "but when I tried to exchange it before coming here, he suggested just a few changes and he actually had a real sword." The young man flourished said weapon.
When they'd dropped off the kids after a successful Xander-led candy-looting, Jonathan tagged along with Xander when he suggested getting burgers at the Sunnydale Café. Xander drove, and they'd arrived across
town in a fairly quick amount of time. Xander reached into the vehicle and grabbed the horse statuette, wondering if it would change like before. Jonathan on a whim, thinking of the deposit on his costume, did likewise. They reached for the door when the change hit them. Xander smiled at the thought of Alexander the Great, tough he noticed a flash like static electricity igniting between himself and Levinson.
The man picked himself off the ground, the thundering headache was just like the first he'd felt after meeting on of his kind, but somehow familiar...Caspian? But he'd been sent to that village to exact tribute. It wasn't like his brother to return early. Late from exterminating a nuisance, but never early.
Caspian, what are you doing... Xander's possessor asked peevishly, then stopped, looking at 'Caspian' and he strange surrounding, as the different-appearing man stood up and looked him in the eye. The headache cleared. Who are you, and where's Caspian? he demanded, drawing his sword.
"I'm Caspian," the possessor of Jonathan Levinson declared, clearing his blade for a fight, then noticed the feel of his body, looking surprised. What is this magic? Tell me your name and how much did you pay that witch Cassandra to place me in this...soft body? At this, Caspian's opponent also noticed the changes to his own form.
Who do I feel like to you, Caspian, the possessor sneered in annoyance, then after a moment, I'm Kronos, you idiot! I'm in the same situation. At least we have our horses. Caspian looked at him a moment, and sensing his brother's quickening, sheathed his sword. A car went buy, startling both men.
It appears wizards and their devices are commonplace wherever we are, brother, Kronos noted, Let us cross into that wooded place across this strange road and consider our moves from there. They mounted their horses and made good time. They made it most of the way across one of Sunnydale's largest cemeteries when eight black-clad swaggerers approached them with the arrogance born of petty thuggery. The horses started stepping back slightly, the two horsemen bringing them into line. Kronos smiled at Caspian, who returned it to the approaching thugs' confusion.
Just a small pack of demon-corpses, Kronos laughed, Not even the challenge of turok-hans. Save one for the chase if you can. The vampires' eyes yellowed and faces changed, when to their shock, the horsemen charged them swords out and battle-screams rending the night. Hooves of trained horses slammed into the bodies of the demons, swords swinging left and right. Laughter of two human throats clashed with the screams of dismembered vampires, horses guided by voice and knees, as swords in each hand cut their swathe. Six minutes later six were dusted and two wounded vampires were driven back, mauled, into animalistic flight from greater predators.
Kronos, a challenge!" Caspian called out as he drew up, the love of the fight upon him, A virgin of beauty or man's weight in copper for every ten we kill tonight, a beef for every armed man that troubles us, and minus fifth-part for each extra kill of anything else! Kronos nodded, but decided to make Caspian work for a change.
"Demons like those little ones over there only count a third as they're no real kill, minus a fifth-part for stopping to rape something, but double for each shop torched." Caspian rolled his but smiled ferally. Two of the Four Horsemen rode again.
The horsemen galloped after the fleeing demons, through the streets and down an alley and into the back of a building. In followed the charging horsemen, slowing to duck and guide their steeds effectively. A table with six demons and a box of felines was tipped completely over by the desperate undead, the sound of freshly-shod horses in the next room causing the occupants to scurry to their feet. First one horse pushed, not into but through the room and into the tavern proper, Kronos choosing to finish the hunt and leave the room to Caspian.
Caspian slammed the side of his steed into two demons, crushing under-foot another as he cut the trapped and stunned demons heads off in seconds. Of the other three, one made it out the back door to immediate safety as the other two remained transfixed, but only for moments.
Kronos charged hard and fast into what he saw as the main chamber of demons ahead of him. The human caterer-to-demons ducked behind his counter of wood, creating a channel of death. Onward sped Kronos through the bar, his right arm decapitating the three seated there at this early hour (It had opened ten minutes previous), the few other demons scattering into each other as he continued out the door after his original prey.
The demons sighed with relief, the bartender peeking over the counter when a second screaming horsemen charged through, again, wreaking death from the rising demons, three more meeting their end.
Kronos hacked the first of the two down as it ran through a crossing of two roads where vehicles of flashing light milled about over some form of town insanity. Up and over at vampiric speed raced the demon over and atop first one police vehicle, then another. Followed closely by one, and then another horseman, the police ducked low, stared silently at each other, shook their heads and went back to the accident scene they understood. Angel watched as Harris and another school student, guided their horses after a hundred-year-old vampire named Jackson, with a skill and in a manner he'd not seen matched in his two and a half centuries, Harris having easily severed the head from a seventy-year-old butcher of a vampire that followed a real master named Demuerte from Corsica. The sheer blood-joy on both teen's faces caused an actual shivering throughout his form. 'I better get a hold of Buffy and then Giles about this.'
Demuerte lost all cohesive thought as he ran screaming form the elementals pursuing him in human form. No one had pursued Demuerte, but the eyes of death promised by the two terrified him, he was running away at forty kilometers per hour, and still they pursued. He ducked through a demon bar, and they pursue. Spike. He'd heard William was in town to kill a slayer. He'd get to Spike. At the least, he'd get away while these Horsemen had to cut through Spike and his minions. Ah, pass the school and the business district, then to the warehouse district. Maybe he could even lose them at the school and find a sewer to hide in.
Kronos laughed, this prey hadn't a clue as from whom it fled, and now it ran into an area of well-gardened manor houses, unlikely to find refuge. He could tell, however, the Caspian grew bored with the occasional mini-demon as he sought to keep up. Finally, Kronos drew out and strung his bow, keeping two arrows at ready.
"Spike!" Demuerte screamed out as he saw the other vampire and his minions approach a house. The vampire burned away even more of its energies in plight to reach the numbers of the Aurelius vampire.
Spike turned in surprise at the sound of his name being screamed this night, seeing Demuerte, a bloody good killer he'd not last seen since the Fall of Poland in '39...and two horsemen riding close behind, hunting the vampire like Sioux after a bison. The tableau froze him in place for a minute, in which he saw an arrow pierce the heart of Demuerte and heard the sound of two minions dusting after the whistling sound of arrows in flight past one's ears. One of the minions sent into the house with the mini-demons had grabbed the slayer from the house and reached the street. The mini-demons now only numbered six.
"Get them!" Spike ordered his six other remaining minions, "Kill them!" The minions charged forward as Spike and the minion raced away in demonic visage, the dark-haired former slayer screaming for help and mercy.
Angel and Cordelia followed a ghostly Willow to the front of the horse, where they briefly paused to see the encounter between Horsemen and demons, Angel charging after the captured and screaming Buffy.
Two minions threw knives and leapt upon the fronts of the charging horses, wounding the animal and seeking to separate rider from horse. Both minions turned to dust, but Kronos' horse suffered a tear to an artery and went down hard, causing Kronos to flip through the air, tumbling through the demons and damaging several until his neck snapped as it hit the mailbox post, with many tears and such across his torso.
Willow and Cordelia both screamed in horror as 'Xander' met his death, and Jonathan rode through the mini-demons, hacking and hoofing them into dust for the next few minutes, reducing the foes to four vampires as Caspian's horse finally gave under the attacks, and the Horsemen landed afoot with blood on his arms and blue lightning sealing his wounds. The four vampires paused, then charged, only to suddenly have Kronos rise up behind them and eliminate all four in the space of seconds. He looked around, then saw the young women. Staring at them and around he spoke.
"Where did the white-haired vampire go, women?" Kronos demanded, "My amusement eludes me." To Caspian, wandering over, "Do you understand this tongue, brother?" Caspian shook his head to indicate he did not understand. How about now?
Yes, I understand, Caspian responded, Where is the white-topped vampire
"Where?!" Kronos demanded, reaching for a knife, "I'll not ask again."
"He's probably going to head straight that way!" Cordelia pointed in the direction of the warehouse section of town, "That's where they always seem to be." Kronos looked her over, making her feel very uncomfortable. He turned to his brother.
Let's go. That thing cost us two mounts. We may be afoot, but the game is not over. They turned and left.
Thirty minutes, two minions, six mini-demons and two 'soldiers' later, Kronos was rearmed with modern weaponry and using two AT-4s, blew up the main water tower, flooding the small business along Main Street, and the police station entrance. Caspian laughed wildly as they kept going. They'd spotted a dark figure pursuing their prey, firing into it twice with little effect, and the occasional glimpse of their prey-vampire. They'd managed to use up two magazines as and four arrows to ensure the vampire had a single minion at the end.
The white-haired vampire found himself caught in a space between buildings. No way out, the slayer passed out from hysteria. Angel faced off against the two.
"Just let her go, Spike, and I'll let you walk," Angel told him, It's the only way."
"I kinda find that hard to believe, Angelus," Spike retorted, "and besides, I like the odds right now. "
Two arrows into the face of the minion holding the slayer, caused the undead being to drop her and writhe back in surprise and agony. Another Arrow dusted the minion. Kronos and Caspian walked into the street light of the alley, drawing steel.
"It's time to die, vampire," Kronos stated, "Though I believe the other one your age was a far better entertainment." Turning to Angel, "And you have ten minutes to grab your noisy wench and be off before we start to hunt the both of you." Angel's eyes went wide as he grabbed Buffy and ran.
Angel's vampiric hearing picked up Spike's screams for two minutes and three blocks before he passed out of range.
SHS Library, 7:40 PM
Half-hour later, Giles received a telephone call as Cordelia and Willow entered the Library. The girls overheard Giles' half of the conversation.
"You're where?!"
"Santa Barbara?"
"Xander and another student did what?"
"Good Lord! Hold on, Willow and Cordelia just came in." The librarian turned to them, "What's going on outside?"
"Everyone's turned into their costumes," Cordelia explained, "Or most of them, anyway? A-And Xander came back to life!"
"He what!" Giles exclaimed, looking at them both in shock, "What did he dress as?"
"I think he was going as a Greek Warrior," Willow said, "But what did the other guy call him?"
"Kronos," Cordelia supplied, "I was so scared when he looked at me it was the only thing I remember except the crazy blue lightning all over him."
"Highlander! Ohmigodthisissobadohmigosohxanderiiii," Willow started to babble in a panic until Cordelia slapped her relatively lightly across the face. "He's War, Giles, and Jonathan's...Caspian, pestilence," Willow panicked.
"Good Lord, are you suggesting they've become two of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse?" the Librarian asked, hearing the phone on the other line drop. He paced with the phone in his hand, "Why didn't you or Corelia change?"
"I didn't get my costume at the same place," Cordelia replied, "Party Town is far more upscale then the new place? What was it called, Willow, Edgar's?"
"Ethan's' the now-recovering red-head corrected, "Some British guy, kinda sleazy."
"Ethan's? Good Lord," Giles responded, then talked into the phone, "Angel, are you still there...did you hear? Stay with Buffy, I'll try handling this myself, good luck."
Most of the older business district was burning, along with four police cars. Mini-demons and bodies of emergency workers littered the streets. Giles made his way afoot to the front of Ethan's shop to find the door ajar. Slowly he crept in as he listened to the screams of his former friend, screams that would make Ripper weep if he were still around.
"How do we keep this spell of yours going, little man?" Kronos demanded, twisting a dagger below the belt and cutting upward slightly.
"The statue...must be kept intact until after dawn," Ethan gasped, "If it breaks before then, the spell is over."
"And there are no other Immortals in this world?" Kronos demanded anew, "Speak!"
"None..." Ethan choked, then died. Giles saw an arm and a foot on the floor, not attached to a body, and nearly missed the next part.
Swish "Gaa—"
"Sorry, Brother, there can be only One!" Kronos intoned as the white mist gathered and sparks started flying and four foot wide bolts of lightning lashed out. The building and costumes caught fire. Thinking fast, Giles shot the Janus statue with his crossbow, shattering it. The Quickening that had begun, fizzled and evaporated, Xander collapsing to his knees. Giles grabbed him, and forced a path into the alley of the burning shop, taking the near-catatonic boy to safety. Calling from a pay phone, he contacted Angel and Willow, letting them know he was bringing Xander back to the Library.
Giles met up with Angel and Buffy as he reached school grounds, the skyline of Sunnydale aflame almost as bright as day.
"How is he Giles," Buffy asked quietly, seeing her Xander-shaped friend weep, sob and collapse anew, "We saw a line of demons fleeing town as we came..."
"Only time will tell if he'll keep his sanity," he responded as they entered the Library, and a shrieking blur of red raced to help set him on the table, "A-And my guess is that somehow the demons found out that two of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were in town."
"How bad would that be?" Buffy asked, unsure.
"They pretty much destroy most of the world the next time they show," Angel stated, "Whenever you hear about Revelations and Judgment Day."
"And Xander and Jonathan went as these guys?" Buffy asked, eyebrows raised, "And where's Jonathan?" Giles displayed a stricken look.
"Not on purpose," Giles replied, "And Mr. Levinson was killed at the costume shop." He explained the situation to them.
"Oh my god," Buffy gasped as she fell back into a chair staring at Xander.
"Pretty close," Willow murmured, but the others heard her, and stared at her for more information, "In Highlander, the light show was impressive, but never as 'thick' as what Giles described. The last Immortal is supposed to maybe become a god, and if it had been Kronos..."
"So a large part of Sunnydale burning in under three hours is actually a good thing?" Buffy asked, failing at a Xander-like attempt at inappropriate humor.
"The world would've burned if Kronos had become a god," Willow responded.
"Wow," Cordelia summarized for them all.