"Note to self, time paradoxy as a 3,500 year old tired genius is not to be repeated lightly," Alexander muttered to himself, "And I so don't need this Assyrian drinking and whoring song running around my head."
He turned around, and realized it was an ice cream truck some distance away producing the 'music,' before changing to some other annoying tune.
"Only in Sunnydale," he said, shaking his head he sat down on a bench a moment and noticed some changes in Sunnydale. Many of the stores seemed to have put heavy bars over the doors and windows, heavy shutters, and other precautions taken.
Noting that his clothes weren't too out of line, he made his way into the costume shop, noting the 'Everything Must Go' banner and wondering how this might be different as well.
The door chimed, and the occupants within gasped as they saw him. The taller man froze as the other grabbed a sword.
"Get back!" Ethan ordered Xander, waving the sword at him as Giles finally regained composure, "Rupert?"
Xander reached in and brought out the Janus amulet as he set down his bag.
"I'm human, from another dimension," the young man told them, then grimaced, "And I take it in this world I'm supposed to be dead…or undead?"
"H-how do we know you're telling the truth?" Giles asked hesitantly.
"It's still daylight out, I have a complexion," he listed off, then moved extremely fast, kicking the sword out of Ethan's hands and not following up, "And I haven't killed you just now. Uh, you have a cross I could touch? Oh, wait, I have one with me."
"Hmm, no burning, nope, must be human, G-Man," the young mountain of muscle mused, "Now, can we exchange information, I might be able to help you."
"Well, um, I suppose, and please don't call me that."
Xander opened the blinds and let the sun shine brightly within the store.
"Well, let me ask? Costumes that possess people, maybe make Chaos redress the evil in this town?"
"Y-yes, how did you know?" Giles asked, regaining his composure.
"Ethan does it in every world I know of in which magic exists, Giles, and Janus has me 'experiencing' different lines because of a general threat to our section of the multiverse. All I have to do is make sure the costume spell goes off according to plan, and hang out. In my original world I dressed up as a man who repeats the same twenty-four hours over and over again, and with Ethan's costumes, I have some Capability in Magic and the Mundane. So tell me of your world, succinctly, and maybe I can help you out tonight. Oh, I know about Hell Mouths, Slayers and Watchers and such."
"Go ahead, 'G-Man,'" Ethan nodded with a smirk at Giles, who began his tale from arrival in Sunnydale.
"I came to this town to assume the dual role of high school librarian and Watcher to a Buffy Summers, but for whatever reason, her family moved to Cleveland instead of Sunnydale. In the Spring semester of this year, an old vampire named 'The Master' was freed from his imprisonment under the ground during a ceremony called the 'Harvest.' Some time during these first few days, you and your paramour, Willow Rosenberg were turned and quickly rose through the hierarchy of the Master's service after another vampire managed to defeat and destroy two particularly gruesome leftenants of the Master, named Darla and Luke."
Pausing to gather his thoughts, "The Master took over the Bronze, a local teen hangout, as his base of operations, and while painfully paring down the population by night, the chaos in the aftermath of the Mayor's murder and that of the City Council meant no effective response on an official level has been realized. The general impairment of awareness the Hell Mouth seems to afflict upon the populous seems to have reinforced the tendency to believe it a 'gang problem' spilling over from LA."
"And you're hoping that the costumes will do what?"
"Make for one night the population able to defend itself and take a toll upon the Master and his minions. Your counterpart is particularly vicious and takes great pleasure in torture."
"Okay, how about you get me three Orbs of Thessula, and a list I'll provide you," Xander told them, starting to write it out, "And we'll need a couple of Highlander Immortal costumes, I'm thinking Cassandra and Duncan Macleod, then a fire truck. How many helpers do you have?"
"Five in all, all students at the school, and the computer teacher," Ethan provided, "But they should be by any time now to outfit themselves. Do you have any ideas?"
"Jedi Masters or Highlander Immortals, so that any residual effects will be quite beneficial once I'm gone. Something close enough to your own personality or outlook that it would linger."
"Yes, I see, something permanent, perhaps extra magic into the costumes," Ethan considered as the door opened. Oz, Nancy, Larry, Amy, Jenny and Jonathan came in and stopped in shock at uber-Xander.
"I'm not him, guys," Xander told them, "Giles?"
"Uh, quite, all of you please come in," he told them, and they were given the five-minute version of Xander's tale.
"S-So you're proposing to restore souls to two vampires, then turn them human using the Highlander costumes?" Jenny responded, "Then what's the third orb for?"
"In case we drop one, Jana Kalderash" he deadpanned, then smiled, "and if anybody else we know is in there that needs restoring."
"You have this kind of power, Mr. Harris?" Ethan asked, intrigued, and the others also looked at him.
"We were able to do it in one of my Resets, and I was a Necromancer, and we were able to accomplish it. So we'll try it as soon as possible, then I've also become a Sorcerer, but that really only helps boost the power."
"So is there anything else?" Giles asked, holding up the list as he watched the large young man sort through his belongings.
"No, that should be it," he said, "now I'm thinking of ways to ensure your 'victory' tonight."
"Anything on my side of things, Mr. Harris?" Ethan asked, hoping for a masterpiece of Chaos even if it was on the side of good.
"Yeah, I need a Darth Vader costume, no mask, a Stargate staff weapon, a Dune still suit and crysknives, a Sliders timer," Xander listed off, "and a big name tag that says Doyle, the one that is the friend of Janus' helper."
"Really?" Ethan responded, not able to place the combination.
"Yeah, I'm dressing as the man I told you about who was going through the Resets with me, so I can draw on his memories and experiences from those Resets."
"Interesting, alright," Ethan agreed, turning to the young people who'd started to gather their own costumes, "I'll gather it up for you."
"Oh, Ethan?"
"Yes Mr. Harris?"
"You'll be dressed as Methos from Highlander tonight. I believe you have enough in common to where you'll retain much if not most of his memories and experiences."
"Hmm, very well, I can see what you mean."
"Oh, you and Rupert and your friends need to remove the Marks on your arms, as that particular entity will be coming after all of you within the next week or so."
"Oh," Ethan managed with a gulp, "I'll write that down. Anything else?"
"Yeah, I want you to add, just before the 'seize' part of the spell, 'and with your helper Alexander in his costume of his friend Doyle be that Doyle for this spell' alright? I need a certain skill set and he had it."
"Simple enough," Ethan agreed, "Anything else?"
"No, I have to meditate, and will attempt to take on the visage of my friend to anchor the magic more firmly."
"Almost a 'dress as your self' costume?"
"Exactly."
Xander was surprised when a fire truck quietly show up at the Bronze almost to the minute after the soul spell was cast from across the street. Xander moved first, absently noting that a chaplain seemed to be continually blessing the truck and the firemen as he raced by. He had a minute or so before the front of the building could safely be tread by vampires, and five minutes before the soul spell was due to go off.
Avoiding the firemen, half dressed as Jedi and half as Immortals, he seemingly from thin air drew his Sword of Iron-Grip, small stone blazing, and used Will and Force to blow the door and a good five feet all-around it, splinters flaming inward at the most impatient minions.
Alexander reached out in the Force, 'rusty' as he was and felt for an echo of himself, about fifteen in and under the solid door itself. Smirking at his old luck, he was surprised not by a shout of rage further in the place, but by a scream as a red blur sought to prevent his vampire counterpart from harm.
"You'll not take him!" a distraught Vamp-Willow cried, "Not him."
"I'm hear to save him and you, Willow," Alexander responded quietly as the firemen started spraying the now-reacting minions into confused retreat, "Now that your souls are restored. Hurry, put this costume on and help me get his on, as we can restore your humanity and kill the demons in you if you hurry.
The Scooby Gang rushed in and took up the task of lifting the door and stripping Vamp-Xander. The firemen kept back and drove away Nest's vampires, and were moving toward the cages when Xander stopped them.
"Wait!" he shouted, and leaving the others behind, concentrated in the Force to see there were three humans alive and…the ensouled vampire Angel. "Angel! You okay Dead-Boy?"
"Huh? Do I know you?" the vampire asked, feeling Power rolling off the mountain of a man.
"I know you, hurry, get a costume on and I might be able to make you human again!"
The vampire mustered all of his energy in spite of his many wounds and moved as Xander indicated.
"Get costumes in here fast! These people need every help we can give 'em!"
Scoobs and firemen moved quickly, simply attaching various ornaments, light sabers, or Immortal swords to the victims, hoping as Xander used Words of Healing on the three vampires as Angel was half-dressed as Connor Macleod, Vamp-Xander was unconscious but dressed as Immortal Xander, and Vamp-Willow was dressed as Immortal Willow. The Chaos magic swept over Sunnydale and caused the dropping of the depleted fire hose and the wavering in the costumed.
The Master reveled as the Chaos flooded through him and beyond, and with his immediate entourage retreating out the back of his conquered lair, rallied the demonic minions again.
"My Children!" he hissed loudly, "To the Hell Mouth!"
Alexander Harris of the Clan Giles awoke, the nightmare of the last several months coming back sharply as he gasped a life breath once more. At his side, holding his hand was Willow, his wife in all except the words and bans. Her eyes mirrored the deep sadness in his own, but at least they were free of demons.
"Wills?" he quietly asked as those around them looked about in confusion, "Is it really us again?"
"Yes, though we seem to be more than we were before," she responded, eyes tearing from joy as well as the shock of what they'd been, "And our hearts beat again, Xan."
Connor Macleod had no idea what the hell was going on, but it felt like the Gathering itself with the number of Immortals in one place. Looking around, others seemed equally confused, but amongst them were Jedi, light sabers and all, and they prevented the few initial outbreaks of swordplay.
"Maybe I should just go back to sleep," he muttered, feeling his body finish healing from deep wounds, "It's a wee bit simpler."
"Yer tellin' me," Doyle responded next to him, beweaponed in a mix of previous costumes, "But this is the Hell Mouth, and we should be on guard against vampires and the like, I think."
"Ach, that's all I need, a bunch of no-doubt Sassenach bloodsuckers to annoy me," the Immortal responded, "Any idea how I got here?"
"Same as the rest of us, since I don't remember how I got here."
"If you could all come here, please," a Jedi Master called out from the top of the fire truck, "I have a note that seems to explain our situation." This caught everyone's attention and they carefully gathered around him.
"We were brought here to cleanse the town of the evil that permeates it, the animated corpses, vampires, whatever they are, and those who prey upon the innocent," the man informed them, "I am Qui-Gonn Jinn, Jedi, and I have several copies of the town map, in a few different languages, to hand out." He handed them out.
"I think that the Hell Mouth needs us to keep the world from endin' and as I know something about it," Doyle stated, "I volunteer for that duty."
"You feel of both Light and Dark, Jedi," Qui-Gonn Jinn stated, "Could you identify yourself."
"Yes Master, I have been on both sides, but am no longer of the Dark Side, and my name is Doyle."
"Very well, I believe perhaps we should all transit to this Hell Mouth, a Dark Place, and plan from there. Everyone, be on your guard, especially against the Dark and Unnatural we are warned against."
"Hey, Willow?"
"Yeah, Xan?"
"I have these new thoughts that that man is Rupert Giles, head of Clan Giles."
"Yeah, I feel his Quickening, and something else, almost as pure, but different. I think we should do what he says."
"Okay. Willow?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you?"
"I love you, too."
"Thanks."