Wishverse

Rising to her feet Buffy looked at the three men before her. One minute she was on her way to Giles with her boyfriend Riley to check into her former watcher about patrol and now she was here on the grass on someone's lawn. How did that happen? When did that happen? "Riley what's going on? Did we get attacked? Did I miss something?"

"How do you know my name Mrs?" Riley barked back at the girl still feeling uneasy after having himself be scattered into a cloud of dust.

"How do I know your name?!" Buffy repeated raising her eyebrow at her boyfriend. "I've known it since day one did you hit your head of something?" She asked concerned but Riley stepped away from her regarding her with suspicion. Seeing this act hurt Buffy and confused her even more. She looked at Riley then Giles who looked like he had gone several rounds with a demon and was only not slowly rising up to Xander who was dressed in all black and was totally confusing Buffy. There was some feeling about him, some strange edge about him that was causing her slayer instincts to react. She couldn't put her finger on it which was weird plus what was he even doing here? Last she heard from Willow he would be busy with Anya no surprise since they were pretty much joined at the hip these days. Buffy slowly tore her gaze from Xander and regarded Giles curiously. "What's going on here? I was just on my way to your place when I found myself here." She looked suspiciously at Giles. "How did you get here ahead of me?"

"Buffy Summers," Giles said recognising the girl who stood in front of him. It can't be! She was killed over a year ago. Defeated by the Master but now she was standing in front of him looking more than a little angry.

"Okay! If this is the fun new 'confuse Buffy' game, can we please play later?!" Buffy snapped never happy not to get answers or be left out of the loop.

Alexander looked around but there was no sign of Faith. An uneasy feeling gripped as the last he saw of her she was at the mercy of the Master. She could still be there for all they knew. Ignoring the blonde who was still glancing at him in a wary manner he crouched down to Giles. "Where's Faith!?" Did your spell get her out?" He asked the Englishman desperately.

"Faith?" Buffy asked even more confused. "Why are you asking about Faith?"

Not replying to Buffy Giles instead answered Alexander's question. "No, the spell got her out of it I am sure of it!"

"Then where is she," Alexander demanded but Giles was at a loss to answer.

"We have to get off the streets we are too exposed here," Finn interrupted the two men.

"Not without Faith!" Alexander snapped back at the man who looked like he wanted to challenge that statement and more.

"Hello!" Buffy waving her arms up in the air. "You still haven't told me what we are all doing here! And how Faith is involved in all of this! Did she wake up is that it?" Buffy asked all business. Faith hadn't been easy to take down and Buffy wasn't looking forward to a rematch despite feeling confident that she would still come out on top.

Alexander looked in her direction and seemed to notice her clearly this time. "Hey...I know you." He said pointing at her as he placed her. He lowered his hand and looked at her bewildered she was the one who staked him. But Giles always made clear that she had died… so what was she doing standing in front of him?

Giles sighed softly, fearing that he was in for a LONG night. However, he didn't have an explanation handy, so he decided to wing it. "Well, Um… B- Buffy… You see… it's rather a long story and I think we should get inside…" He, of course, wasn't doing a very good job at winging it, which didn't matter anymore as Buffy had shifted her attention elsewhere.

Alexander frowned when he noticed her gaze alternating between looking at him and looking over his shoulder. Her eyes grew wide at what she was looking at beyond him and he turned to see what had her attention. Behind him was a parked car and there was a reflection of all of them in the car window… all but Alexander who as a vampire did not cast any reflection. "Xander tell me you're making a horrible, horrible joke and that you will never try to be funny ever again," Buffy groaned and he could feel the tension in her voice. She looked coiled and ready for action at the mere sight of him.

"Look…" he began slowly raising his hands slowly to show he meant no harm. But it was no good she took off running. This was all too much for her, too strange but yet familiar. Something was wrong. Nothing made sense.

Xander was gone and this demon was his replacement. A look of horrified realisation dawned on Buffy's face. These weren't the people she was familiar with, the ones she trusted and loved. These were strangers from a strange land. Something terrible was happening and she was right in the middle of it. Edging backward Buffy raced away, away from the men left standing there calling her name, away from the strangers wearing her friend's faces. She just had to get away. This was all too much for her. All too real but also all too much like a nightmare. It was dark but for some reason felt darker than she was used to. The streets were empty, shops boarded up she noticed as she ran faster through the streets, being pushed by an unseeing force that she had learned to trust. She had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. She simply had to know, had to see it for herself.

She slowed down as she saw her mother's house up ahead. Her old house the one she had lived in for three years until earlier when she had moved to the dorms in college. She looked at it carefully, very wary looking for something out of place. It looked the same, the same flowers, the same paint on the walls but the car was different. Please no! Buffy thought as she came up to the house the adrenaline pumping through her along with dread. She looked in the house and saw an older couple. A couple she had never seen before, with furniture she had never seen before inside her mother's home. She

"Who the hell are you two?" She barked at them. "Where is my mom?!"

"What the hell?" The man said turning to find Buffy standing in his hallway.

"Careful Frank it might be one of those people you read about!" The woman said looking at the blonde stranger in fear.

"Where is my mom?!" Buffy repeated looking around for any sign of Joyce. Nothing in the house resembled her mother not in fashion or personality. Everything was different. Nothing was in the right place. Not the coffee table, the chairs, the couch nor the people!

"Mrs, I don't know where she is!" Frank stated. "We've lived here for over three years! No get out of my house!" He said trying to sound commanding but really, he was scared as he had heard of plenty stories about this town and how dangerous it was at night.

"Maybe she is on PCP! Pat the book club is always saying that is what the people in this town are on!" Frank's wife suggested.

"For the last time I don't really care what Pat thinks!" Frank muttered shooting his wife a look. He was not found of his wife's overly peppy, friendly confidante and her theories about this town. Frank's wife merely shrugged back before they turned to Buffy.

Buffy was frantic and almost feeling like she would breakdown. Her mother was gone. It was all so different. Everything her friends, her old house, her life… it was all changed, and she didn't know why. She backed slowly out of the house unable to process what was happening. Something was wrong. Way wrong. She felt a rush of emotions from being distraught, sad, distressed, angry to being scared. The last one was a feeling Buffy never enjoyed nor was able to handle. She was always the one that couldn't be scared as she was the slayer. The person everyone looked to for answers and strength. But right now, there was no one looking at her for answers. Right now, she was on her own.

XXXXXX

Buffyverse (takes place after A New Man)

Faith pulled her stake back and nodded curtly as the vampire dusted. Only her second one on the way to Giles's place, that was a lot less than usual. Usually with the vampires having the run of this town she could dust many as they tended to hunt in packs but instead, she picked up only a couple of strays. Still, she wasn't complaining as she was already stressed at having to walk across town to get back to Giles. Whatever magic he had used the guy needed a map to make sure that wherever he was transporting people was close by. Opening the front door, she stormed into the room. "Thanks for a lot, G!" She muttered darkly. "Next time we do that be sure to hand out the pass out the bus tickets first!" Yes, it was petty, but she was in a petty mood. Giles was usually cool, and he and Alexander had kept their bargain at keeping her alive, but man was she fed up and felt like giving the Brit a piece of her mind. But then she saw the people in the room who were looking at her in fear and shock almost like she had stepped beamed down from alien planet with a giant ray gun.

"What the hell?" Xander said from the couch where a strange woman sat next to him.

"My word," Giles said muttered in fear staring at Faith.

"Whoa," Willow remarked getting up from her seat and backing away from where Faith stood.

"Everybody get back and arm yourselves!" Giles barked an order at his fellow occupants. They scattered to every direction desperate to put some distance between themselves and Faith which caught Faith by surprise. In his teaching and training of Faith, Giles had underlined the importance of sizing up one's opponent looking for strengths and weaknesses rather than just jumping in headfirst to battle armed with a stake and a mean right hook. While Faith didn't always obeyed any order or teaching Giles gave, she still had a healthy respect for the man as a leader to listen. And right now, it was interesting to watching this group all react. Giles for example moved to where a crossbow was placed against the wall, the red head had her arms outstretched and was muttering something quietly to herself like that was going to do something and while Alexander had leapt off the couch and positioned himself before Faith and the other random girl who Faith had never seen before. Also, what was up with Alexander and that brightly coloured shirt?! She didn't have time to ask as he started throwing books at her. "Hey! Quit it!" She yelled at him.

"I thought you said she was at the hospital?" the girl asked Alexander from behind him.

"I thought she was!" he said panicked tossing another book at Faith who dodged looking at him like he had gone crazy. She felt herself pushed off the ground by some unseen force and landing against the front door.

Looking up bewildered at the redhead it seemed that the whole arms and muttering combo had a purpose. "Who the hell are you?" Faith asked looking at the stranger. This was twisted if Giles was recruiting more people to their team, he should have at least had the decency to tell her about it.

The man in question was gripping his crossbow tightly while aiming it at her head. Motioning for the others to get behind him he kept his distance to Faith wise at what she was capable of. "Faith?" Giles asked cautiously. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?! I live here! What's with the psycho intervention?" Faith yelled back at him still on the floor. "Did that teleportation spell mess with your heads of some shit?"

"Teleportation spell? What is she is talking about?" Willow asked Giles who looked equally confused.

"It's possible the coma may have caused her some confusion," he muttered back to the redhead.

Hearing this thanks to her slaying hearing Faith was enraged further as she slowly rose up. "Coma!? I've not been in a coma! I've just had my ass kicked by that great white vamp you all bang about, thrown across town thanks to your magic and had to walk back here!" She looked for Alexander for answers, but he looked clueless and scared. None of this made any sense Alexander was a man of purpose, her backup, her partner in this war but at moment he looked world's away from that. "You're not Alexander," Faith said looking at Xander, sounding almost accusatory. Only Faith didn't seem angry, she just seemed disappointed. She kept looking at him with those eyes that didn't belong on her.

"No, I'm Xander," the male replied looking at her confused.

It felt kind of like a punch to the stomach. "Alexander," Faith reminded him again. "That's your name's Alexander." She looked at him her eyes searching for something. "What happened to you?" Faith asked with pity in her eyes but at the same time she clenched her fists. This tighten Giles's grip on the crossbow with his finger hovering over the trigger.

Not liking the look that this brunette was giving her man Anya spoke up. "Hey! Take those beady eyes and look elsewhere!" She said wrapping an arm around Xander. The action was clear hands off! Causing Faith to frown at that.

"Anya!" Xander hissed at his girlfriend. "Let's not make her mad, okay?"

"But Xander! She is looking at you in a weird way!" Anya whined.

"What is wrong with you guys?!" Faith said once again to Giles and Alexander. "I'm gone for like an hour and everything just gets flipped upside down!" She was getting frantic with tears threatening to come any second now getting back to her feet. The pain of realising that her world had changed was stronger than her desire to keep it to herself. Strangers were in her house; Alexander had been replaced by his goofy twin and her own watcher was holding a crossbow to her head. "Please someone tell me what's going on!" She said fearfully. But the answer she received was a tranquilizer dart in the arm. Looking up appalled at the redhead she muttered "bitch!" before falling down to ground unconscious.

"What?" Willow asked, an innocent expression on her face, while Giles, Xander and Anya all stared at her somewhat uncertainly as she stood with a tranquilizer gun in her hands having taken advantage of Faith's distraction of Xander to fish it out of Giles's weapon's cabinet. "She was clearly emotionally unstable even worse than last year! This way we are all safe!"

XXXXXXXX

Wishverse

"Despite searching for most of the day, I can't find any evidence that such a spell that would bring back a previous slayers from the dead to have ever existed," Giles said, sighing as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Trust me if such a spell existed the council would know." Alexander nodded and was struck with just how tired the other man appeared. It was only when he thought about all that had happened in the last twenty-four hours that she realized they were all being run ragged. It was less than a day ago that they'd fought a massive battle against the Master and his small army of vampires. Now they were frantically searching for Faith and dealing with the arrival of some blonde slayer in her place. The teleportation spell had already drained the former watcher, but a night of research had now left the man looking like he would fall over.

"So, if it's not a Scooby Doo spell? Then what is it?" Riley asked shortly from where he stood. He was tired and fed up having been sent out to look for this blonde newcomer but despite driving round all night looking for her he had come back with nothing.

"She mentioned that things were different, that everything had changed," Giles began quietly in deep thought almost to himself.

Alexander saw where the man was going with this. "Cordelia, some girl from high school" he explained seeing agent Finn's look of confusion at the name. "I remember finding her on the street at night. She just started talking about the slayer completely out of the blue."

"Yes!" Giles confirmed his mind connecting the dots. "She knew things! She knew about the slayer, her name… Buffy! She couldn't have known that! She also wore a necklace belonging to a demon named Anyanka, the patron saint of scorned women. She grants women wishes… I came to the conclusion that Cordelia had made a wish which had changed everything in this reality or possibly even created this one."

"Oh, come on!" Finn muttered shaking his head. "You have been watching too much Star Trek!"

Ignoring Finn Alexander looked at Giles. "So, you think Cordelia came from another reality? And that Buffy is likewise from another reality?" Giles nodded.

"Listen to what you two are saying! You really think that girl was from some different reality?" Finn asked the men in disbelief. He had heard a lot of tall tales since he got here but this had to be a new one.

"It's true," came a voice at the door and the men turned and saw the short blonde slayer standing there at the doorway looking more than a little stressed and frazzled.

"Buffy!" Giles said getting up. "You are alright!" He smiled warmly at her, but she just couldn't return it.

"We've been looking for you all night!" Riley said all business and unimpressed at the girl. She didn't look like much. Way too skinny and small to be a slayer in his view. "Where have you been?"

"Different places everything is different…" She trailed off recalling the muffled screams, sounds of violence and chaos she heard last night while on the streets not to mention the groups of vampires she both saw and faced off with. Sunnydale was never this bad. "This isn't my world." Buffy told them stepping into the house.

"We have come to the same conclusion, Mrs Summers" Giles replied. "Judging from a few of your remarks last night I am guessing you are in some way familiar with us but allow to introduce myself I am- "

"Rupert Giles! A watcher!" Buffy cut him off. "I know that! And you are Riley Finn," she said pointing at Riley before turning to Xander. "And you are Xander!" She finished pointing at the dark-haired man.

Despite being the undead Alexander felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Only a handful of people called him Xander one in particular had given him the name when they were little. How could this girl know that. "It's Alexander," he stated.

"What?" Buffy asked him in confusion.

"My name is Alexander," he all but growled.

Stepping forward keen to not scare Mrs Summers off again and waste any more time looking for her Giles stepped forward. "So, you know us, and you I hope therefor you know that you can trust us and work with us?" He asked and Buffy gave him a short nod after a moment. Whatever reality she had found herself in Giles still seemed to be Giles Taking that as a good sign the British man gestured her to take a seat at his dinner table while he did the same. Weighting her options Buffy sat down as both the other two men Alexander and Riley did the same. "We believe that you are part of a different reality one similar to our own but… altered in others," Giles explained. "Are you familiar with this one in anyway?"

Chewing her lip Buffy wasn't sure if she wanted to pass out information to these guys so freely but she didn't see little choice in the manner. "Yes," she admitted before continuing. "Last year while performing some spell Willow accidently brought her a vampire version of herself to town.

"Willow?" Alexander croaked out stunned causing Buffy to turn to him. He looked shellshocked like he had seen a ghost. Buffy noticed that there was a darker more sombre look on Xander's face or rather Alexander's face. It look like it was a permanent addition to his features far cry from the goofy, lopsided grin that she was more familiar with. This wasn't her Xander. Not the one she knew. This was some twisted version of Xander, dark and angry. "How do you know Willow?" he demanded.

"She is one of my best friends," Buffy said simply as a matter of fact. Alexander sat back feeling like he would either throw up or jump for joy. Willow, his Willow, his best friend she was alive! In some other universe but she was alive! He had to cover his mouth for a moment as he processed what she had just stated before he shook himself alert and focused on what was being said around the table.

"- it seems likely that you like Cordelia Chase a year before have crossed over to our reality." Giles explained to Buffy trying carefully to make sure everyone around the table understood what he was saying.

"How?" Buffy asked keen for answers.

Taking off his glasses and looking a little ashamed, Giles took a breath before he spoke. "I believe it was due to a teleportation spell I was performing at the time."

"Magic!" Riley muttered crossing his arms while shaking his head. "I told you that stuff was going to get us killed."

"Saved your life, didn't it?" Alexander fired back at the other man who glared back.

Buffy frowned seeing the two men lock horns before her but shook it off. "Okay then perform the spell again and I will be on my way. No issues."

"I am afraid it is not that simple," Giles explained.

"Oh no! I've seen Back to the Future and enough of the Twilight Zone to know that I need to be put into my universe as quickly as possible!" Buffy stated firmly keen to get out of this freakshow they called their reality. She wanted nothing more than to be back with her friends and her home.

"But it's not that easy," Giles sighed. "The teleportation spell I used is risky, very powerful and very dangerous. It requires a lot of power and careful chants of it's words. I don't even know how I brought you here in the first place! I perform it on a whim and who knows where you might end up! I need more time to study the text and understand what occurred that caused you appear before us… plus there is no way of knowing what recasting the spell might do to Faith." He finished slightly worried for his charge. He could only pray that the universe she was in was far safer than here.

"Faith? What has Faith got to do with all this?" Buffy questioned.

"She is the slayer," Alexander stated looking at her uncaring. "She works with us and was with us when Giles performed the spell but now… she is missing."

"Faith is the slayer?" Buffy repeated.

Riley nodded. "The one and only… you died last year so they tell me." He said gesturing at both Giles and Alexander.

Buffy looked like she had just taken a hit in the face sensing that there was a lot both sides needed to explain Giles stood up. "Perhaps we require a history lesson… I shall boil the kettle." He announced despite suspecting that Buffy Summers like the two men in the room didn't drink tea.

XXXXXXX

Buffyverse

"Willow, you really must learn to override your impulses and take a moment to evaluate the situation before reacting impulsively," the former librarian admonished the redheaded Wicca, as he carried an unconscious Faith over and sat her down on a chair.

"Uhh Giles, you remember Faith, right?" Willow asked him as she watched him lift one of Faith's eyes to check for a reaction, then continue to check her pulse and other vital signs. "Nasty, rotten, backstabbing, stomp-you-into-the-ground-literally, can't-be-trusted-under-any-circumstances, turned-to-the-Dark-Side, Evil Slayer Faith. Who, I remind you, threatened each of us with serious violence numerous times!"

Giles sighed as he listened to Willow's rant as he lifted one of Faith's eyes to check for a reaction, then continue to check her pulse and other vital signs. The young woman was clearly not over the events of last year. "I remember Willow," he almost snapped at her before turning to Xander and Anya. "Ropes back of the closet," he told the pair and they nodded going to get them. Before long they had Faith tied up tightly to the chair and were keeping a respectful distance from her.

"What was she talking about?" Xander asked the group. He had been unnerved by the way Faith was looking at him. Faith never looked at him well once when they were… together but after that made it clear that any connection, he thought that they had shared was all in his head. Yet the way her eyes were searching his earlier it was like she was searching for a bond or something stronger.

"I don't know," Giles frowned. The woman seemed to enter his flat as if it was commonplace, like it was nothing out of the ordinary, like the events from the previous year her fall from grace and involvement with the Mayor didn't take place.

"It could be a trick!" Willow suggested not one to trust Faith. "A way of confusing us then kill us."

"Not really her style though Will," Xander replied. "Why all the act? Why not just kill us?" Willow frowned as she didn't have an answer to that.

"Maybe the coma scrambled her brains?" Anya offered cheerfully. "She was talking like she was from some crazy town."

Giles's narrowed at her as he considered her statement. There was something there, something… about that. But before he could continue with that line of thinking his door was once again burst wide open. This time by Riley Finn, Buffy's current boyfriend. "We have a problem! Buffy's gone!" he said desperately.

"I knew it! I knew it!" Willow cried out almost jumping for joy. "You see I knew she was up to something!" The redhead snarled pointing to the unconscious dark slayer. "Faith shows and Buffy disappears! That cannot be random!"

"Perhaps," Giles sighed turning to Riley. "Tell us what happened."

"We were coming here to check in with you but all of sudden the wind picked up like in a storm I covered my eyes for a second when I looked up, she was gone." Riley explained to the group. "There wasn't any vampires in the area I checked and no demons either. Look Buffy always told me that if she ever was in trouble to come to your guys."

"Oh, that's nice! No pressure then!" Anya said in a carefree manner smiling at Xander.

Choosing to ignore her Riley stepped formal in full on Commando mode. "I already got teams scoping out the area but so far, they came up with nothing."

"Keep your men searching the area," Giles instructing the military man who nodded "tell them not to overlook anything any clue, anything out of place, anything they think might be trivial… believe me nothing is trivial in this town. Willow and I will attempt to do research however I must confess that a strong wind and a disappearance isn't much to go on." He grimaced to Willow who moved to a bookshelf and picked out a few books to make a start.

"Don't you have more resources than just a few books?" Riley questioned. "She mentioned you were part of some big organisation can't they help?"

"Technically I was fired, so my interaction with the Watcher's Council has been limited," Giles replied. "Plus, that is a group that would put limited effort into truly finding Buffy." He muttered darkly before continuing. "Why waste resources finding the slayer when you can put more resources on looking for the next one. Trust me they would mark her off as dead long before I ever will."

"But you think that she is, okay?" Riley asked the older man in hope.

"There is no body, no sign of her therefore there is hope," Giles stated firmly. He wasn't about to give up on that hope until he was standing in front of a body and that would not be happening.

"Ummm excuse me what about Faith?" Xander asked pointing to the girl who was tied up.

Giles regarded the slayer for a moment before turning to Xander and Anya. "Go to the hospital I want you to check on something."

"Oh no! I know I look," Xander exclaimed. "You've got an idea what's going on."

"I have a theory," Giles stated.

"Well good to see you still remember your training at Vague University," Xander quipped a little frustrated at the non-answer.

"I would like to get a confirmation first before I explain further," Giles replied and the young decided to leave it at that.

XXXXXX

Wishverse

The mood in the apartment was bad Buffy decided. She couldn't really expect nothing less. She had a history lesson of a pretty bleak and dark world which made her revaluate her own. While she thanked the heavens for her friends for their support and knew deep down for all the many mistakes as the Watchers Council made over the years, they got it so right when they chose her watcher to train her, she always thought that she had gotten handed a bad deal with the slaying gig. To hear of a world where she did not exist that was falling apart without her almost made her feel full of… pride. Like she had actually made a difference. It was always a debate in her head, was the endless patrols and battles actually making a difference in the long run? Was she actually making an impact in the long run in the struggle against good vs evil? Hearing about some of the gory details about the battles and long years couldn't help but raise up her ego but then she listened and recalled the details of what had happened in this reality, and she felt sick for feeling such pride.

That petty little part of her deep inside was dancing back and forth, clapping its non-existent hands together in glee feeling smug that without her the world would clearly go to hell. And I'm just a terrible person Buffy thought to herself. Shaking off that feeling or at least deciding to deal with later. She felt guilty that her own life now seemed far less complex in comparison. She was nineteen-year-old college Freshman with a blossoming relationship with her boyfriend whose counterpart had left already eager to check in with his people to plan their next move. It wasn't lost on her that this Riley seemed colder and all business with little interest in personal relationships.

Glancing at Xander or it would seemed Alexander as he preferred to be called who was sitting away from her looking paler even for a vampire. He had taken the news of Willow's life pretty tough. It was difficult to establish from looking at whether he was sad or happy at hearing about Willow being alive and her life as a budding Wicca. The change in him was very bizarre. The Xander she was used to was always an open book, but this was far version had the kind of hardness on his face that came from experiencing life in all of its pain. "How did you bring him back?" She asked Giles who was sitting away from her while still keeping an eye on the vampire.

Giles looked up from his tea where he had been gathering his thoughts having learnt about the other reality and its pleasures and wonders compared to this hell. Buffy noted that he seemed more tired and frayed than her Giles. "Via a spell… a very complex, powerful, and dangerous spell I was warned that if it went wrong, it would almost certainly wipe out every living thing in a 100-mile radius." He replied.

"And you casted it anyway?" Buffy asked him in disbelief.

"Have you seen whole occupies the neighbourhood?" Giles replied getting up to move to his kitchen with his empty mug.

Buffy scowled following him. She didn't like his almost casual attitude at basically toying with a spell that sounded like playing catch with a bomb. "So, you just what casted it? Damn the rules or the consequences? It you and everyone around here gets killed who cares!" She said watching him put his mug in the sink.

"Sometimes in this job one is required to take risks," Giles put it simply.

"Oh, don't me that!" Buffy snarled at him recalling the many lessons and words of training that her own watcher had given her about being smart and prepared. Who was this man and where was her mentor she knew? One thing that she had always believed that definitely separated Giles from most Watchers was his compassion; while most Watchers were ruthless and fanatically devoted to their mission to the extent that they were willing to sacrifice people and perform unethical deeds, Giles truly did care for Buffy and her friends. So, to see such a blatant and casual disregard to order from the man she held in the highest regard was painful. "You have always told Willow that magic is dangerous and not something to just do on a whim and yet here you are just opening some book and picking the most dangerous spell to cast! What is going on here? Resurrecting Xander! Using dark magic to give him a soul! What is the matter with you? How can you justify all of that?!"

"I do what I can to win this war," Giles simply stated.

Buffy wasn't having any of that. "So, what does that mean?!" She snapped at him.

"It means if it saves this world then I would rather ask for forgiveness than permission!" Giles fired back tiredly with more than a little bit of anger before he steadied himself and took off his glasses as he felt a headache threatening to come. "I am sure in your universe there were good people willing to give their all for this fight but while in your reality they got back up on mine they didn't. Larry, Angel, Oz, Jenny, and yourself! You all died one by one I watched you and during that time all I did was survive. I needed to go on the offense for once and to do that I needed to break a few rules. Alexander is part of our team, an invaluable ally. He's saved my life more than once, and he's fought side-by-side with myself and Faith as we try to contain the baddies of the Hellmouth. He may be a vampire… but he's also a friend one of few I have left," Giles noted with a hint of sadness.

Unable to listen to anymore Buffy stormed off away from Giles and to his spare bedroom slamming the door. Seeing her storm off and seeing how Giles was in no mood to go after her Alexander decided that he was clearly tagged, and it was his turn to deal with their visitor. Getting up and walking over to where Buffy had gone, when he reached to the bedroom, he knocked on the door. "Buffy," he called out but heard no reply. "Look this isn't easy for any of us. I know it's a lot to take in but it's hard for us too. I just wondered if there was any I do to help…!" He almost fell when the door he was leaning against opened.

Frantically waving Alexander wobbled abit dramatically with his hands flailing but couldn't keep upright and landed face first on the floor. "Now there's the Xander I know," came Buffy's voice and he looked up to see her standing before him looking down at him with an amused and slightly wishful face.

"I take it the version of me in your universe is a klutz," Alexander grunted getting back to his feet.

"Among other things," Buffy replied taking a seat on the bed in the room. "He has a bad habit of getting into trouble and always jumping in the way to help out. But he can always make me laugh."

Seeing how she wasn't throwing him out or telling him she wanted to be by herself Alexander took that as an invitation and entered inside after all it was his room. "So, you and… Xander," he said uncomfortably, "are friends?"

"Good ones," she confirmed. "I mean he has his moments of extreme annoyance more than once or twice, but he's always been there for me when I needed him. He was the first one to learn that I was a slayer when I moved here."

Huh," Alexander considered but still his expression was nothing compared to what she was used to. He was far more restrained and hidden in his feelings. Even the way he moved was different unlike the Xander she was used to who moved without a purpose this one was far more deliberate and fluidly, the mark of someone who had been in combat for years and was always on guard.

"I went to Willow's house last night," Buffy said quietly almost to herself causing Alexander to look in her direction. "After visiting my mom's, I just had to go see her." Taking a moment, she closed her eyes. "I just wanted to see her… but she wasn't there it was just her parents… they are still grieving about her." Aren't we all Alexander thought to himself as Buffy turned to him. "Are you surprised that she is my best friend?" She asked him.

"Of course not, she's Willow." Alexander merely replied offering her a rare smile which she returned.

"But you didn't get Giles to bring her back, why?"

Alexander closed his eyes as not for the first time the vision of Willow haunted his mind. But another part of Xander remembered everything else - Willow in vamp face, Willow laughing while torturing Angel, Willow ripping the throat out of some innocent teenager...They could never go back to what they had before. "No, I didn't," he said simply. "Never. She would not be my Willow. My Willow died a long time ago, and I can never get her back." Buffy nodded recalling how difficult it had been the idea of killing Angel.

She noticed how tense and uneasy Alexander looked. "You're worried about Faith," she summarised by his expression. He didn't say anything but merely tighten his jaw and looked more determined. "You miss her?" Buffy asked carefully.

Alexander just stared down at his hands. "I'm worried about her," he admitted.

"I didn't know you guys were like...You know. Close." Buffy said.

"We've gotten to know each other over the recent weeks," Alexander replied. "Looked out for each other, taken out vamps together. She's a… friend."

"Just a friend?" Buffy asked him with a raised eyebrow. Alexander didn't say anything and couldn't look at her which told Buffy everything she needed to know. "Slayers always did make you hot," she commented with a knowing smile. There wasn't much to say after that.