The Immortal Musician was confused at finding himself in what seemed to be an American town on a Halloween obviously gone awry. Moments before, he distinctly remembered passing out in Amsterdam with two of the loveliest young women he'd been with in nearly a month.
"How did I get here?" he asked, not expecting an answer.
"No idea, bub," the hairy young man next to him responded, getting up off the ground, "But since you're as confused as I am, I guess you're not responsible."
"Thanks for the lack of blame, but do you have any idea of what we should do next?"
The doors opened as if on cue, several others stepping out of the building against which the hairy man leaned. A sharp-eyed woman with a streak of white in her hair stepped forward, an older man at her side making eyes at her.
"Mate stop staring," she admonished with amusement as she noticed the two men standing outside, their scents familiar to her, "Greetings, cousins." 'Logan' and Alexander looked at each other, the former aware of the hyena and wolf scents in the air, and the Immortal figuring it was a cultural affectation.
A willowy red-headed teen stepped out of the library before any could breach the silence anew, "Logan, I'm happy to see a familiar face, who are your friends?"
"A question I'd very much like answered," a shorter blonde teen girl asked, her eyes promising death, her hand holding a cylindrical object at the ready.
"Emperor's Hand, stand down," a deep 'English' voice directed, a man in dark robes and a cylindrical object in his own hand at the ready, "I feel only equal confusion in them, not deception, though I note that the two of us are not in our original bodies."
"Lord Vader?" the girl responded, feeling his Force presence but despite confusion activating her light saber. With a gesture of his hand he simply deactivated it and to her greater surprise summoned it to his other hand.
"Anakin Skywalker, once again…daughter?" he replied, ending with a smile, "No, the wife of my son."
"How?"
"I have decades more experience in The Force than you, daughter," he replied, handing her back her weapon, "Though why we are at a place so permeated by the Dark Side…"
"Excuse me," the large Immortal asked the red-head, "Any idea where we are?"
"Sunnydale, California," she replied with a slight frown of concentration, "And there seems to be quite a bit of violence going on."
"Anything we need to take care of Red?" Logan asked, then realized that he'd gone to school in Sunnydale before going into the service.
"Lots," she said, "Are you okay?"
"I'm from Sunnydale, Jean, part of my memories are returning, slowly, but this might have been home." He paused a few seconds, "Vampires are real in this place, and that's all I can recall."
"Vampires?" the Immortal grimaced, "How tiresome. Count me in, as you Americans say."
"What are these vampires?" Anakin asked, Mara nodding her desire for information as well.
"Um, demon-possessed corpses which thrive on the dark energies you seem to have noticed?" Logan told the man in black, who stared back uncertainly, "They act like the person the body belonged to, but exist to murder and create more of their kind. Unnatural."
"Then let us be about it, and we'll figure out a solution afterward," the Immortal Musician sighed, "I could use a beer about now."
"And I wouldn't turn aside couple cups, myself," the older man next to the dark-haired woman admitted hopefully.
"You and me both, bub. You and me both."
Author's Note: Even though I have a lot of unfinished story lines, I'm thinking in spite of many popular characters being used lately, of pursuing this soon. The idea of Ethan slowly becoming Buffy's Uncle-Mentor-Force Trainer-secondary father figure has appeal, with Xander and Giles conducting 'research' that has Willow and Jenny rousting them from bars to help save the world, might be a bit different from the usual. Like competent seat-warmers at Cheers. While I have a thin outline, if I do have follow through, be prepared to pile up suggestions.
"Wow, that was actually a good trip," Alexander murmured, then realized he was sitting in the school library, a startled Giles and confused Xander looking up at him. Alexander looked up at the clock and windows, and realized for some reason there was only fifteen minutes until the spell would be cast.
"I'm a Xander from a parallel dimension," he told them as he reached into his big bag, "And in just under fifteen minutes, Ethan Rayne will cast a spell converting people into their costumes. I've been sent by Janus to make sure your world and others will survive the experience."
"Xander, you will dress as an Immortal Mozart, it's over-sized for you, but gain two hundred years of language, sword and music skills and memories. I'll also revive the Hyena abilities without the badness if you hurry. Please, no interruptions," he directed as he stripped down most of his outfit, "Mr. Giles, it's Captain America for you. I know, the indignity, but I'm hoping the soldier skills will be retained afterwards, as well as the near-slayer levels of strength. Get to it."
He used the Jedi mind trick a couple of times, to reinforce compliance, and realized he had just enough spell ingredients for this last Xander-spell.
He just managed to cast it as the two doubting males finished changing and the Chaos magic flooded the room, getting a boost from the Hellmouth.
"Herr Mozart, Captain," he addressed the two recovering men, "Are you alright?"
"Yes I am," both answered and began dusting themselves off when time stopped.
"Ah, Alexander," Janus said looking more like Q, Starfleet uniform and all, "We're pretty much done, a few of my other aspects had managed to pull themselves together and take care of three other lines."
"So, what now?"
"Oh, I guess just go and end Ethan's spell, then I'll send you back to our family."
"Thank you."
"Well, you've earned it, and I did promise it, Alexander, but it's always nice to hear a thank you."
Time resumed.