A/N: YAHF for the Buffy-verse, this time Crossed-over with Dishonored.

"Any side effects from last night?"

"I'm pretty sure I aced my french exam."

"No longer walking through walls."

The two who'd previous spoken turned to the male of their trio, who'd been mostly silent to this point. He looked contemplative and serious. He also appeared as if he hadn't managed to get a full night's sleep either.

"Xander?" Willow asked tentatively.

"Well… I've learned to cherish those I care about and not taking them for granted, the importance of research, thinking through my actions and living with the consequences and that there are fates far worse than death," Xander listed off grimly.

"Who did you go as?" Buffy asked bewilderedly, "You never really did get the chance to explain."

"I really hadn't intended to go as a specific person and the person I had in mind was a bit different from who I became," Xander explained.

"How so?" Giles asked.

Xander looked to be choosing his words carefully. "You've read 'The Man in the Iron Mask', haven't you Giles?"

"Yes..." Giles replied, uncertain where Xander was going with the nonsequitor, but was willing to hear the young man out.

"It was a favorite story of mine growing up," Xander stated. "That's where I got the idea for my costume from- a man wrongfully imprisoned, immersed in a plot to overthrow the crown, who did his best to serve his kingdom. I got some help from some of the local geeks to help me with the mask to give it a steam punk- retro-futuristic- twist, grabbed a hand crossbow from the book cage and bought the sword from Ethan's and I was set."

"So you became a version of Philippe?" Giles asked in a concerned tone.

Xander shook his head. "That was more or less what I intended, but he was not who I became."

"Last night you said your name was Corvo," Willow stated.

"Corvo Attano," Xander replied. There was a sadness in his voice combined with his melancholic attitude that was worrying all three of them. "Royal Protector to Empress Jessamine Kaldwin, Empress of the Empire of the Isles- a kinder, more trusting woman you would never meet."

"I take it this tale does not have a happy ending?" Giles inquired.

"That kinda depends on where you end and begin the story," Xander told him. "A lot of his early life was a struggle: low class man who worked hard to become more than he was, who eventually became a guard in a foreign land- Royal Protector at that- who gained the heart of the most wholesome, captivating woman he knew, only to watch helplessly as she was murdered, their daughter, Emily, kidnapped and him being promptly charged with treason and regicide- imprisoned and tortured for six months, only for a group of crown loyalists working against the Lord Regent- former Spymaster to the Crown, to rescue him with the intent of rescuing Emily and restoring her to her rightful place as Empress, only to be betrayed by them as well as they, like the Lord Regent, only wished to use Emily as a puppet ruler and to push through their own agenda. No matter how everything led up to that point, I manage to save Emily regardless, although the potential outcomes are vastly different."

"I?" Giles asked.

Xander shook his head. "I gotta two for the price of one memory download and am having a bit of difficultly separating him from me. Everything up until Jessamine's assassination is the same, however, after that, everything I remember goes in two widely different directions- one in which Corvo goes on a roaring rampage of revenge against those who have wronged him and my daughter and another where he chooses the path of vengeful justice where he, strangely enough, doesn't kill a single person, but I still manage to bring down both the usurpers and the loyalists in a variety of non-lethal ways sentencing them all to fates worse than death- in both cases, influencing Emily into what type of Empress she would become."

"Intense," Buffy stated.

"Yeah, and I don't think I'm gonna be rid of those memories anytime soon considering what I found magically branded on my hand this morning," Xander replied grimly as he held up his left hand which possessed a black symbol on it.

"Dear lord!" Giles exclaimed as he started cleaning his glasses. "Is that…?"

"The Mark of the Outsider," Xander confirmed.

"The who?" Willow asked.

"Dunno, that was just what the guy who put this on my hand called himself," Xander stated. "Giles?"

"I'm afraid I don't know much about him myself, though rest assured I'll be looking into collecting every bit of lore on him we can get our hands on," Giles replied.

"What do you know?" Buffy asked. "Is this 'Outsider' someone I can slay?"

"Even with what little I know," Xander said, "I'm pretty sure that answer's a big 'no'."

"And even that is likely a huge understatement," Giles added. "From what I remember about him, he is just what he calls himself, an outsider- a higher being beyond the comprehension of mortals and, perhaps, most deities, with no allegiances to either heaven or hell and doesn't appear to be bound by their rules either. Who he was and what he is, is often a topic of debate amongst scholars and despite his penchant for interfering in mortal affairs, it is extremely rare that he does so."

"Is there any way we can get the mark off?" Willow asked in concern.

"Short of amputation, chances are slim we could actually remove the mark," Giles informed them. "And even that may not work as, as Xander informed us, it was magically branded onto him. Meaning fully removing the mark may result in damaging Xander's soul."

"Yeah, that's something I'd like to avoid," Xander stated. "Besides, the mark isn't exactly harmful. If anything, it's pretty darn useful to have."

"How so?" Giles asked.

"Corvo had this mark," Xander informed The Watcher. "That guy… He was just plain awesome. In a straight up, fair fight between him and the Buffster, while I'm pretty sure she'd win, she'd definitely have to work for it, despite him being a regular human and even then I wouldn't count him out. In a not-so-fair fight, while I'm pretty sure Buffy could put up a decent fight, my money would be on him and that's without the mark. It made him even more of a bad-ass than he already was because it added all sorts of powers and abilities that were beyond human norms."

"How so?" Giles inquired.

Xander raised his hand and looked as if he was concentrating. Both Buffy and Willow noticed the mark glowing before Xander blinked out of existence only to reappear across the room.

"Whoa!" Buffy and Willow exclaimed.

Xander grabbed onto a nearby bookcase to steady himself.

"Are you all right?" Giles asked in concern.

Xander smile weakly at him. "Yeah, it just takes a bit outta me. I might still be Corvo mentally, but I'm a bit flabby by his standards and that was just one of the most basic powers."

"Would you be open to a bit of training?" Giles offered.

Xander's tired smile widened. "If you didn't offer, I was gonna ask. There's definitely a difference between using these abilities and using these abilities."

Buffy frowned. "That didn't make any sense."

"What he means is that it is one thing to be able to have the ability to access Corvo's skills and powers and another thing entirely to be able to use them effectively, particularly in a combat situation," Giles translated.

"Why didn't he just say that?" Buffy complained.

"I kinda did, Buffster," Xander replied as he returned to his seat. As he sat down, he let out a big yawn. "It probably doesn't help that I didn't get a whole bunch of sleep last night."

"Nightmares?" Giles inquired.

Xander nodded. "Not as bad as they could have been. I mean, six months of torture leaves an impression, but the physical pain he endured wasn't nearly as bad as the emotional pain of watching Jessamine murdered and Emily kidnapped while being able to do nothing to stop it. I know I'm not him but..."

"Subconsciously you still think you are," Giles finished for him.

"I'm sorry Xand, if..." Buffy began to apologize before being interrupted by Xander.

"Hey, hey now, none of that!" Xander interjected. "Whatever that Ethan guy was in town for, given how widespread the chaos was, I doubt he was here targeting you specifically. So we'd have gotten caught up in this whether we were involved with you or not. If anything, being your friend is a blessing, as we know exactly what happened, who did it and how, if not knowing exactly why he did what he did. Besides..." Xander said with a fond smile. "Despite all the bad stuff that happened to him, the memories of Jessamine and Emily more than make up for it, considering everything he did, he did for them and I got a lot of cool skills in the process. Net gain." He sighed sadly. "Honestly, the only thing that really sucks about last night for me is the fact that I miss them both, a lot, even if neither of them were ever real. After everything was said and done, Corvo still had Emily, but for me, my little girl's gone too."

"W-What was she like?" Willow asked hesitantly.

"Beautiful, like her mother," Xander said while smiling subconsciously. "Bit of a tomboy though and she was a complete daddy's girl, even though I was never officially acknowledged as being her father."

"Why not?" Willow asked confused.

Surprisingly, it was neither Xander nor Giles who answered.

"She was royalty and he wasn't even nobility," Buffy stated. "It wouldn't matter how good they were together or how much in love they were, he wasn't good enough for her."

"Looks like you got a bit more than an easy 'A' in french class," Xander pointed out with a small grin.

"Not that it's actually useful outside of this discussion," Buffy countered.

"I dunno… Years down the line, you might find yourself rubbing elbows with the influentially rich and famous and who knows, maybe the knowledge of how a hierarchy like that may come in handy," Xander argued.

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "I'm not likely to survive until graduation, let alone long enough to be 'rubbing elbows' with anyone like that."

"If I have anything to say about it, your heart will still be beating long after mine stops," Xander said looking Buffy straight in the eye. Buffy broke eye contact first, shivering, though not in an unpleasant way, at the message implied in that statement. She wasn't sure how to feel or respond to a statement like that- though fear and desire were amongst the top contenders and she wasn't sure about how she felt about that either. Meanwhile Xander's gaze shifted to Willow. "Either we all make it to old age, surrounded by our children and grandchildren, or I do everything in my power to make it a reality for those I love." Willow flushed at the declaration and smiled shyly at Xander, ducking her head down in an attempt to not show him how much his words affected her. Xander's grin became a bit teasing. "And G-man, even though you're already old, I suppose that includes you too. All of you guys are like family to me."

"I…" Giles stuttered at the unexpected declaration.

"Spending half the night dreaming of Corvo losing his lover and daughter, with all the emotional baggage that comes with it, I figured it was best to let you guys know how much you all mean to me," Xander explained.

None of the three of them had any idea of how to respond to the serious, rather surprising and surprisingly mature declaration of love, platonic or otherwise, from the usually joking, insecure and immature teenager.

'Time to test out my limits,' Xander thought as he closed his eyes. Before anyone else could speak up, he blinked himself out of the library, leaving three awkward feeling friends behind.

Xander stood lone on the upper level of the Bronze contemplating a great many things when he instinctively felt, rather than heard, a familiar presence approach from behind. "I wondered if you were gonna track me down."

"Had a patrol with Buffy, but it didn't seem like her head was in it tonight," Angel commented, hiding his surprise that Harris had detected him.

Xander nodded. "Did she fill you in on what we all talked about this morning?"

"She tried, but I'm not certain I fully understood. Something about an outsider?" Angel replied.

"The Outsider," Xander corrected, showing Angel the mark. He then briefly explained how his being Corvo for an evening, combined with The Outsider's interference, had changed him. "I also let Buffy and the others know how much I care for them. Not that it changes things, as she's already chosen you, but I figured she needed to know."

Both Xander and Angel were surprised by the lack of bitterness in his tone. The two maintained a brief companionable silence.

"I don't hate you like I used to," Xander spoke up, surprising Angel. "I still don't like you and I think you're all wrong for Buffy, given what you guys are, but... I don't hate you anymore."

Angel nodded. "That's not unreasonable."

"Things around the library are probably gonna a bit awkward for a while," Xander stated. "I damn near passed out after teleporting outta there. I know for sure that I blanked out a few times."

"Are you getting at something," Angel inquired neutrally.

Xander hesitated. "Just wondering if you wanted to help me train a couple days per week, at least until things become a bit less awkward."

"That sounded painful," Angel said with a slight mirthful grin.

"Don't be an ass," Xander said, looking away from Angel. Embarrassed at having asked Angel for help.

"You know you can't avoid them for too long," Angel pointed out.

"Yeah, I know, and while I think it was a good thing to get that off my chest, deep down, that part of me that is still that insecure teenager inside of me is still worried that I messed things up by telling them that," Xander reluctantly admitted.

"So long as you care about them, that feeling doesn't really ever go away," Angel admitted. "Every night I go out to meet with Buffy I can't help but wonder if that is going to be the day she's wised up about being with me."

"I'm finding it really hard to dislike you," Xander said sourly. "Doesn't feel right."

"The feelings mutual," Angel reluctantly agreed.

Both frowned.

"Dead boy."

"Annoying child."

Silence.

"Training tomorrow afternoon?"

Angel nodded.

"I'll see you then."

"Harris…"

Xander paused as he began to leave.

"Be careful out there."

"You too… Angel..."

The two promptly went their separate ways.

"So other than a teleportation ability, what else can you do?" Angel asked as he slashed at Xander with his short sword.

Xander parried the blow skillfully. "Not sure. I've tried a number of things Corvo could do, but they wouldn't work, so I'm guessing that since I'm not him, my magical skill set will be different."

"Not an unreasonable assumption," Angel acknowledged as he parried a strike from Xander. "Any idea how you'll find out what your actual skills are?"

"Training and using them in real life situations is my best guess," Xander replied. "From what I remember, that's how he gained a lot of his skills. I'm getting better at my teleporting and the more I use it, I've noticed that it works a bit differently from his Blink ability." He lashed out at Angel again.

Angel blocked and countered. "How so?"

"Aside that it feels different from how I remember it felt when Corvo used it, I also don't require line of sight to use it," Xander replied as he recountered. "I haven't really tested it yet, but I think I've got a greater teleportation range than he had. At least I no longer feel like I'm gonna pass out whenever I use it."

"How are you getting along with the others?" Angel inquired.

"Buffy hasn't told you?" Xander asked as he dodged and weaved around Angel's attack and had to block it's follow-up.

"Pretend she hasn't," Angel replied.

"Still a bit awkward," Xander stated. "Though I'll admit that's mostly on my end."

"Why?" Angel asked with a raised eyebrow and a quick jabbing strike that was batted away by Xander, who then slashed at him.

"I'm constantly having to fight off the urge to protect them constantly. Not so much Giles, but Willow, Buffy and, strangely enough, Cordelia definitely," Xander stated.

"You've always been protective of them," Angel noted.

"Not like this," Xander disagreed. "I think Corvo's memories of losing Jessamine and Emily are affecting me more than I originally thought they were."

By wordless, mutual agreement, they stopped for a break. "You're afraid of something similar happening to them."

"Yeah, and I'm really afraid of what I might to or try to do if something actually does," Xander admitted. "The murderous version of Corvo was brutal, but even the non-lethal version was pretty ruthless when dealing with his enemies."

"Enemies who murdered the woman he loved and kidnapped his daughter while framing him for it," Angel pointed out. "Even without the political intrigue involved, that's not a good situation, even in modern society, let alone a medieval one like he lived in."

Xander shivered. "I still have nightmares about it. Of course it's not always Jessamine that's killed in front of me while Em is being taken. Sometimes it's one of the girls while the others are being kidnapped and all I can do is watch while it happens, helpless to do anything about it. Sometimes it's nasty little conjurations that didn't even happen to Corvo, like the Lord Regent or sometimes Ethan Rayne, taunting me while I'm being branded with hot pokers or hung from a ceiling and flogged viciously, while they tell me about… Things… Happening to them while I'm locked away in some dingy dungeon all because I was too weak to be of any use to them."

Angel looked concerned. "Have you tried talking to them about it."

Xander scoffed. "Like they'd understand."

"No, they probably wouldn't, but at least they'd know what was going on with you," Angel told him.

Xander shuddered. "They don't need those sorts of nightmares."

"Well if not Buffy or Willow, what about Giles?" Angel asked. "He might not have witnessed anything like you've been going through, but he's seen his share of darkness. He's experienced it too."

"I know, but I find it hard to associate him with that sort of life," Xander admitted picking up a bottle of water. "Knowing about his dark past is different from commiserating over it. The teenager in me sees him as this respectable mentor figure and it's hard to equate Giles the mentor with Giles the dark mage."

"I suppose it's easier to talk about this with me since we're not exactly friends and my opinion of you doesn't weigh as much on you as the other's would," Angel stated.

"To an extent," Xander admitted. "But there's also the fact that you're a vampire. You're not exactly evil now, but you used to be and could be again someday if some asshat mage decides to grow a brain and undo your curse, causing us to get distracted from fighting him because we have to deal with you. After getting Corvo crammed in my head, I got the notion that it would be a good idea to actually read up on you and your little posse. Try to figure out what you might do before hand. Nasty stuff. It's easier to talk to you about this crap because you've seen the stuff I have nightmares about."

"I participated in it, reveled in it," Angel corrected.

Xander grimaced. "Not so much you."

"No, and I know that intellectually, but that doesn't mean I don't have the memories as if it were me," Angel verbally countered.

"I understand that feeling better than anyone," Xander replied and then sighed. "It aggravates me how much I miss them, despite knowing they're not real. Can you believe I'm actually jealous of a fictional man because while I have the memories of rescuing my- his- daughter, he gets to be with her and I don't."

Angel frowned. "You still have the memories."

Xander shook his hand in a sort of gesture. "Kinda. They're faded but not like the others. Other than Lady Elizabeth's few skills, I think Buffy's pretty much all but forgotten what she was like- not that she really wanted to remember what it was like to be Lady Useless in the first place."

Xander chuckled a little bit and even Angel cracked a smile in remembrance.

Xander's expression quickly turned grim, however. "Between my not wanting to lose Corvo's skills and Corvo's devotion to his family, not to mention this damned mark," Xander lifted up the hand that possessed The Outsider's mark. "I don't think the memories are ever gonna fully fade away. In a weird way, I don't really want them to, even if that means more nightmares and the urge relax now and again with a cigar and a glass of high end whiskey."

At Angel's questioning look, Xander elaborated. "It was something Jessamine and Corvo did when they were alone together."

Angel nodded in understanding. "Is it difficult for you to remember her?"

"Like do I have a hard time remembering her or are you asking if it's painful to remember her?" Xander asked.

Angel shrugged. "Whichever."

"No and Sometimes," Xander confided. "Not like it was after Halloween. How in the hell Corvo kept it together, I'll never know. I suppose the anger and the hope he'd see Emily again got him through everything but… Up until the day of his execution, they took no chances. There was no escaping the prison, Emily was gone for months and he had no idea where to even begin to look for her and he'd been ritually tortured pretty much multiple times every single day for months. And in all that time… He didn't break."

"Don't be so certain," Angel argued. "You said in one set of your memories he went on a murderous rampage, carving a path of revenge through anyone and everyone who got in his way. Don't forget that in your other set of memories, while he may not have killed anyone, he still sentenced those directly involved in his wrongful imprisonment, murder of his lover and abduction of their daughter to fates worse than death."

"And even without the influence of the demon, could you honestly say you wouldn't have wanted to do the same thing?" Xander asked rhetorically, knowing that under those circumstances, both he and Angel and anyone else really, would want a modicum of revenge, or vengeance, if they had the means and opportunity to do so.

"No," Angel replied with a grimace. "But at the same time, just because he managed to keep it together that doesn't necessarily mean he wasn't scarred by his ordeal and I don't mean just physically. Your nightmares are more than proof of that and you're not even him."

"I suppose, but even if I was an exact match of his conditioning and skill, I don't think I'd've been able to do everything he did," Xander stated.

Angel shrugged. "You'd be surprised what regular humans can do when properly motivated. Revenge is a strong motivator, even if it rarely, if ever, ends well."

"You're not wrong," Xander agreed.