Chaos Theory : ReKeyed

by PitViper

This is a BtVS, NGE, SG1, SW, ST, LotR, Halo crossover. Based on the Halloween costume episode. Very AU. The Key's spell goes both forwards and backwards in time… what happens when it interacts with Ethan's Halloween?

3. Blue Hair and Red Eyes

Chaos Theory – Re-keyed. Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Neon Genesis Evangelion/Stargate SG-1/Star Wars/Star Trek/Halo/Lord of the Rings Crossover...

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Title: Chaos Theory: Re-keyed
Rating: PG - Language and Violence.
Genre: Crossover
Author: PitViper
Date (Part Three): 2007-04-29
Summary: This is a BtVS/NGE/SG-1/SW/ST/LotR/Halo crossover. Based on the Halloween costume episode. Very AU. The Key's spell goes both forwards and backwards in time… what happens when it interacts with Ethan's Halloween?

Disclaimer: I don't own it, wish I did. I'm not making any money off of it – so please don't sue me. BtVS is the property of Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. Neon Genesis Evangelion is the product of Gainax and ADV Films. Star Wars is owned by George Lucas. Stargate SG-1 belongs to Double Secret Productions and Sci-Fi channel. Lord of the Rings is the property of J.R.R. Tolkien and his family. Halo is owned by Bungie. Star Trek is the property of Paramount Pictures (Who obviously understand nothing about Gene's vision of the future). And others not yet mentioned. In general – odds are that it's not mine and I don't own any of it.

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Chaos Theory: Re-keyed
Part Three: "Blue Hair and Red Eyes…"

Giles was prepared for the eventuality that something terrible would happen. He kept duplicates of just about everything, and was not completely unaware of his habit of polishing his glasses when concerned about events surrounding him.

So it was of little shock value when the librarian went to his office and emerged with another pair of glasses, which were already undergoing the same treatment that the previous pair had endured for several months. The polishing proceeded at about twice the pace as he was previously maintaining – simply because the level of this problem was so much greater.

But before Giles could gather the wherewithal to produce coherent sound in the form of the English language, Jack spoke: "Um… excuse my ignorance, but I'm taking it that this 'Lilith' is a bad thing?"

"Yes!" Giles muttered forcefully at the same time that Dawn squeaked out a rather meek "no."

At this, Doctor Daniel Jackson, having been unconscious for several hours, suddenly woke as though he were simply rising from a light slumber. His semi-coherent "woah" brought the members of SG-1 running.

Giles simply affixed Dawn with a stare. "Young lady, just what the bloody hell were you thinking? Dressing up as… as… that on a Hellmouth!"

Dawn turned defensive, and her wings extended by instinct, making her look far more menacing, "Maybe I'd have chosen something else had I known this was a Hellmouth." She quietly informed the librarian, her tone of voice completely out of sync with her posture.

Giles' expression became softer. "You mean you didn't know?" He looked over at Buffy, "Your sister didn't tell you?"

"Hey, Giles, you were always saying that Slayers were meant to be 'One lonely girl against all the evil in the world.' No support, no backup, nada." Buffy defended herself, and then quietly added, "She's just a kid… younger than I was when this schick was slapped around my neck. She didn't need to have the burden added to her shoulders."

Dawn seemed to relax at this, although she did take a little offense, "Buffy, don't-cha think that maybe because you're all super-girl against the things that go 'grrr' in the night that maybe your family might need to know what's going on?" She twisted her head slightly, "Especially considering that, before tonight, your family wasn't super powered?"

Buffy almost growled, "When I tried to tell mom and dad, they stuffed me in an asylum."

"Oh… so that's why they did that." Dawn said thoughtfully, her wings wrapping around her body again. "Still, though, just because you didn't tell us doesn't mean that's going to make us invisible to the bad guys. Like, hello? We're still your family."

"Bit's right, y'know?" Spike added from his chosen corner of the library. "I didn't take advantage of your family, but some two-bit git with a few brain cells left to rub together just might. And it ain't just the demons that could do that. Big thing about the Slayers is that they're all alone, taken from their families at a really young age – but sometimes those Watcher blokes use the family against the slayer. To most of the world, your mom and sister are just tools. There were a few decades after I was first turned that the slayer, once she turned eighteen, was required to slice the throat of her own mother, in order to prove her loyalty to the Council." Spike swallowed after that, "Then they'd off the slayer anyways… claiming that since she took a human life she was no longer pure. Real reason, I think, was that the slayer was getting too old for them to control, and if the Cruciamentium didn't solve the problem, this was their excuse to off her anyways."

Giles looked a bit like a kicked puppy. He wanted to sputter and deny that the Council would stoop so low… but he couldn't. The Council was all about control of the Slayer. Being on the inside insulated one from the way they operated. It's easier to assume that those above you knew better and that it was a duty to uphold the values of the Council. Of course, the whole thing had started out noble enough at the beginning thousands of years earlier… but somewhere along the lines the balance had shifted, and the Watchers became a tool not to support the slayers, but to bind them to the Council's will. 'I'm just another cog in that machine,' he lamented in his own mind.

Still, though, Giles knew there were more important things to be done, "Right… We'll consider the secrecy of the Slayer at a later time. Right now, though, we have to figure out how much of this… Lilith is still present in Dawn."

Dawn looked up at him, "She's not the one in your histories, Giles. She was an Angelic, an administrator for a Colony world: A leader and sometimes a warrior. She fought to defend life, not just to take it. She wasn't the first whore, and she certainly didn't give birth to the vampires. At least the Lilith I went as didn't.

"The only thing she did was spend millennia trapped inside of a sabotaged construct, her soul stuck in the core, and her construct body nailed to a giant red metal cross." Dawn continued. "It's a bit different from Evangelion, and probably way different from whatever Lilith may have existed here. Don't forget: The victors write the history. And I know for a fact I didn't win."

Giles' eyes narrowed, "And just how do you know that?"

"Because part of me is Rei Ayanami," Dawn inserted with ease. "Rei was taught everything about the history of her world, from inception to their current history. Some supposed she had no knowledge of her true origins. But blood always calls to blood. She always knew what and who she was. But until tonight, that knowledge was never filled by the actual experience. She knew of the myths surrounding her soul – and, in the end, she knew that they were wrong."

Just then, Jack returned to the group, with Carter and Teal'c supporting a very disoriented and now white-haired Daniel Jackson. "Well, campers. It looks like we're going to be sticking around for a few more days. Maybe a bit longer."

The Scoobies all frowned at this. Buffy was the first to speak, "The military doesn't need to be sticking their snouts into this."

Giles agreed, "The Mystical and the Military worlds rarely work well together."

"In simple words," Xander started, "'Boom,' is the usual result when the military starts poking into things beyond their ken." He remained silent after this, as his memories of Anakin and the Master Chief showed him in Technicolor glory just how bad things could be, even with the best intentions.

"Hey, take it easy guys; we're all in the same boat." Jack said. "Danny has been possessed by Gandalf. Teal'c is twirling lightsabers like a Jedi Master, and I'm running around in Mjolnar armor. Assuming that the changes we've seen have stuck to even just half the people who were costumed by this Chaos Mage," He shoved a thumb back in the direction of the caged Twi'lek, "then we have to figure out who's who amongst us so that we don't accidentally let loose more than the evil we've seen so far tonight."

"Those possessed by Palpatine and Darth Vader will pose a significant threat." Teal'c added sagely. "However, there are others who may have dressed as Jedi or Sith, but who do not wish to fall to darkness." Teal'c glanced at the platinum blonde former vampire. "We must ensure that they receive the proper training and understand the dangers of falling to evil."

Daniel shook his head before gesturing to Sam that he was alright. "And we have to keep in mind that this is a place of powerful magic. My knowledge and experience with Gandalf has opened my eyes to the power of this place. How many mages were born tonight? How many telepaths? What could happen if one of these people were to be influenced or subverted by the darkness that permeates this place?"

"Does anyone want to even think about those who became other characters?" Sam asked quietly, "We need to find them: The Kirks and the Picards, the Spocks and the Datas. We also have to find the Khans and the Klingons, and not to mention any Romulans. We're just lucky that the spell changed back those who couldn't survive in our environment – like the Unggoy. Does anyone want to even think about what would have happened to them when their life-support packs were exhausted?"

Xander's eyes lowered to the ground. "Yeah. Jenny Calendar and Williams sisters. They dressed as Evangelion characters. Jenny went as Ritsuko, Carol as Misato Katsuragi, and little Lilly as Asuka Langley Sohryu. And I think Steve Peebles went as Ben Sisko."

Andrew Wells spoke up at this point, his gravely Arbiter's voice resonating in the minds of those gathered – a reminder of all that had changed for those few who had dressed as Sangheili, "I know of several of my friends had dressed in costumes from Ethan's. A young woman by the name of Laura McNeil had dressed as Doctor McCoy. Anika Weiss had dressed as Seven of Nine. Jim McNeil, Laura's brother, had dressed as James T. Kirk. Leonard Gibson had dressed as Spock. I know that Sarah McNeil had gone to a party with Ted Simmons… She was dressed as Motoko Kusanagi, and Ted… well he was dressed as Batou, both cyborg police officers from Ghost in the Shell." He paused for a moment, "And I think I remember Timmy Morgan saying he was going to go as Mr. Scott, and that his older brothers were going to go as Picard, Professor Xavier, and… Magneto. His sisters were going to dress as Deanna Troi and Jean Grey."

Xander's eyes went wide at that, "Jean Grey… hopefully not the Phoenix version…" At Andrew's negative head shake Xander relaxed a bit. "Lets hope that the guy that dressed as Magneto doesn't inherit his hatred of regular humans… not that too many of us qualify for that anymore."

One of the six Sangheili to survive, a young female who had cautiously identified herself as a Brittany Daniels, spoke next in an oddly ethereal voice: "I know my younger sister Susan was going to dress as Rogue. My older sister Lenora went as a female Wolverine. And so did Aura Singh. Robert Thompson went as Mr. Garibaldi. His two buddies, Randall Stephenson and Valerie Harper went as Jeffery Sinclair and Susan Ivannova. Sara Richards went as… as Andromeda Ascendant… an AI from a delayed show based on a Gene Roddenberry concept called Andromeda. Her Fiancé, Matt, went as Captain Dylan Hunt from the same series. Mark Salinger and his wife Rachel went as William Boone and Da'an from Earth: Final Conflict."

"Bloody bastard," Giles mumbled at Ethan, who was sitting bound in the cage. "How the hell did you get all those costumes? Some from shows not even released yet!" Every word Giles heard just made him want to pound the 'sodding git' into a bloody pulp.

"Don't know, Rupert." Ethan sighed, having finally exhausted his examination of his new body. "I got an offer to get me everything I could possibly want on the sly. I assumed that it was some bloke in with the Studios or something. I didn't question where it came from, only that it was cheap and plentiful and good looking."

Jack spoke up at this, "I'm going to call this in to Hammond." Suddenly all the Scoobies were glaring at him again, "Look, either I do this, or the NID comes in here and starts making people disappear. Hammond's good people. I'm going to have him contact some of our 'Friends' to see if they might have some suggestions on reversing the more drastic changes." He looked around, "I'm also going to have him deploy several of our SG teams to scout the town and gather up those who were changed. We'll bring everyone into the school, and find out who's who. Then… Then we'll decide what to do."

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Author's Notes:

Sorry for the long time between updates. As you can see, I'm starting to tie up some of the loose ends I left from the previous story, but opening up more avenues for advancement. Don't worry, though, I'll start getting things on track. This chapter is more exposition, as I'm trying to set the stage for the things that will be happening next.

I am trying to actually keep two chapters ahead of where I'm posting at in the story, and Chapter five is looking to be very long. I'll try to update as quickly as I can, but the muse has its needs and its desires. The story just wouldn't be the same if I had to force it to come out. Pressure is great for making diamonds, not so good for making an enjoyable story.

As always, reviews are welcome.

Later,
PitViper