A place of white light and little else surrounded him.
"Alexander," a man in dressed in what looked to be a green leotard covered by leaves said, a woman in a similar autumnal outfit next to him. "We would like to ask a favor of you."
"Oh?" Xander responded noncommittally, "Am I going to be passed from Being to Being from now on?"
The women gestured, creating a setting in which there were several stone seats next to a small stream, large trees giving the definition to create a sense of relaxation and intimacy.
"Please sit, Alexander, we merely wish to talk," the woman politely iterated, "You will be free to resume your Journey should you decide not to assist us."
"Alright," he responded, looking around him at the scene in which they congregated, "But start with telling me who you are?"
"We are known by many names," the woman continued, "but you might know us best as Aesir or Valar."
"I kinda meant your individual names, Lady Valar," Alexander replied with a little amusement on his face to show friendliness. He watched the mini-drags fly over and land on the Aesir, who smiled.
"You have excellent taste in companions, Alexander," the man smiled, "I am Frey and this is Freya. It's nice to see these little gals away from their home world, are you planning a colony on your Earth?"
"With only two initial families, would that be possible?"
"Oh yes, simply by coming into contact with us, we're able to Bless them and grant each offspring the genetic purity of its own lineage, so the little ones can then cross-breed for the next dozen or so generations before they start to waver or degrade. So if you'd like…"
"As long as it doesn't commit me…"
"No, we do this as a gift to them, not you," Freya replied, "Though we would hope it will encourage you to consider what we propose."
"That much I'll go along with, Lady Freya."
"In that case, it is done," Frey replied, "And what we hope is that you'll agree to cast some spells in four dimensions that are in your future by a few years, ones that will redirect dark energies from destroying those worlds and your alternate selves."
"What will the energy be used for?" Alexander interrupted.
"Good question," Freya remarked, "In one the Castle of a Vampire known as Dracula will teleport into Sunnydale through the use of the darkest of Chaos magic, and in this key 'trunk' line, it will lead to feedback that instead of allowing the closure of the Hellmouth three years later, will blow open all three rifts to three different Hells."
"Okay, I understand that one."
"Not entirely, because other lines will have likely branched off previously, so it would happen in those as well."
"Ah, okay?" Xander nodded, "What else would I do in that line?"
"Well, as we'll be bringing you into that world at dawn, you'll have until midnight to cast the spell," the male replied, "So do what ever you think is appropriate."
"Does the spell eliminate the castle?"
"No, it merely redirects the Chaos energy, and all magical energy within ten miles, into cleansing everything in that area of Chaos and Darkness, and sealing the other rifts permanently."
"Cool, but will the castle itself remain?"
"Yes, but nothing evil or unliving will remain. It as the center of the spell will be pristine and clean in all ways."
"Do I have an alternate?"
"Yes you do."
"Okay, in the other three lines?"
"The same thing, basically," Freya replied, "though instead of the castle we're having you cast it on the site of an old temple on Kingman's Bluff. At a point in the future, a powerful magic user will attempt to end the world's suffering by ending the world."
"What will the spell do?"
"It will randomly alter the first living victim to be able to use the magic as their own, all of it due to the spell being of the Light."
"Okay, so those four are good."
"Yes, and the other four lines will be a variation on the Halloween theme," the male Valar revealed, "In one of them it will be a simple Halloween, but we need you to sneak in and change part of a costume you're local self will be wearing; there will be two vengeance demons who will hand you what you need. In the other three, two years later, we want you to cast two spells, the first is going to turn your local self and the Watcher, into their costumes, which you'll help them select, and the other will redirect one minute of the Hellmouth's energy into a bolt of blessed lightning to destroy a building of some particularly corruptive demons in Los Angeles. You'll be arriving around five, but don't cast the LA spell until around eight."
"Any other side effects?"
As our powers are diminished, it is difficult to see other than to tell you the Hellmouths don't open, but it should mean fewer instances of large-scale demonic attempts at world apocalypse."
"Okay, so eight total lines?" Alexander stressed, and received nods, "And this is important. No one else is going to interfere with my returning to my family?"
"No, they aren't in tune with mortal matters or those where the Natural and Unnatural conflict, Alexander," the male Valar said, "And since all eight of these lines are critically placed in respect to others, your efforts will actually have a great effect on many worlds in the balance."
"Yes Alexander, thank you for what you've done already, this work will be in hopes of tipping the balance to Light in nearly a hundred critically placed dimensions."
"Do I get to keep whatever I have with me, like Janus did?"
"Indeed yes, as we don't want to cause too much discomfort for your colony of little Alaspinians. And you'll have twelve hours in these lines, starting at around four in the afternoon."
"Alright, let's start with the costumes first, then we'll worry about the magic-only ones."
Alexander found himself outside of the Harris house at around two in the afternoon. He at first wasn't sure which line he was in until two females in human form walked up to him and handed him some clothes.
"You're the vengeance demons?" he asked, getting frowns.
"Justice demons, because no matter what it's deserved."
"Out of curiosity who are you two?"
"Oh, I'm Halfrek, I deal with wishes of abused children, and this is Anyanka, Patron Saint of Scorned Women, best and bloodiest at the trade."
"Oh, Hallie, you say the nicest things."
"It's true, though."
"Go on, really, go on."
"O-o-o-kay, thank you," Alexander said, "But I guess I should get these inside. Bye."
The evening went well enough, though the groupings were different than in his own world, the local Xander going with the Wells boys and Amy instead of the Scoobs. Deciding to make the most of his time here, and minimize interference on his part, he stole the Harris car and drove to Los Angeles, and found that the building he'd glimpsed while talking to the Valar seemed to belong to a bunch of lawyers.
"Hmm, no real loss I guess, demonic law firm," he mused as the magic whisked him away to the next line, car and all.
Author's Note: The local story and consequences can be found in Wishes, Worlds and What-Nots.