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Twice Lucky

Boca Del Inferno

Chapter 6: Moments of Transition

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Xander had been, as per routine, up early jogging; naturally Willow and Jessie had joined hem. Xander was a little concerned, as Angel had not yet arrived from wherever he was, to give him news on developments concerning Faith. He'd met, not that long ago, the blue-skinned demon known as Illyria, and had sent her to help out, in case things went from bad to worse.

Willow was sweating, but happy, as was Jessie. Although the two didn't talk as much, Jessie, he found, couldn't keep up with Willow's hyperbabble. Xander was barely able to keep up with her himself. At the best of times, he was able to improvise, as he had done throughout the years of his past life.

"So, I was looking over the Internet the other day and saw a game called The Cube."

"The Cube?"

"Yeah," Willow nodded as they jogged. They'd picked up pace a lot lately, Jessie able to keep up with them now that he was keener. He'd also gotten a taste, believe it or not, for hard work, which naturally meant hard-earned cash.

"Huh," he looked out at the road and listened as the birds sang their songs. He remembered something about it, but not a great deal.

"Different chambers inside the tesseract also distort gravity, time and space, leading to alternate realities."

"What's the point of it?"

Willow looked at Jessie and blinked, before shrugging her shoulders. "No idea."

Jessie chuckled and kept up the pace. "Who was it made by?" Xander asked.

"Alex Trusk."

Nope, still didn't mean anything. Maybe he'd look it up later. "Meh," he shrugged and they finished the block. Xander went back to his house, showered and dressed, and grabbed his gear for school.

He met up with the trio again when it was time and, after having some breakfast with his mother and a chat with his father, the group made their way to school. It was Jessie who, surprisingly, noticed something different.

"What's with all the people?"

Xander snorted and said, "They go to school here…"

Jessie scowled, "You know what I mean, oh sarcastic one."

Xander saw several of the jocks and decided to get some info. "Hey Larry!"

The young in–the-closet jock jerked his head around and the sound of his name being called. The two had had a long chat, in private, after Xander had threatened, in the nicest possible way, to beat the living crap out of him if he didn't calm down.

"Hey Xan," the group of jocks welcomed the trio. They weren't fully accepted into the 'cool' gang; Xander had no doubt they would probably never be, but they were at least on friendlier terms.

"What's going on?"

"What, you haven't heard?"

The group chuckled. Of course, Xander knew what was going on. He had knowledge they didn't. Larry was quicker to the mark than anyone had given him credit for, knowing something was up with the Harris kid, which was why he laid off him and gave him a little breathing room.

"No, I wouldn't be asking after if I had…"

Larry got it and winked. "There's a new girl in town."

Jessie's eyes lit up.

"Looks like you may be in for a chance, Jessie," the boys laughed; all except Xander, who merely scowled. "Still, she's supposed to be hot, has long blonde hair and, from what I heard, she burnt down the school gym at her last place."

"Which was?"

"Los Angeles."

"Sweet place to hail from," Jessie stated wistfully. Xander could practically feel the testosterone leaking off every male in a five block radius. 'So this is what it's like to be a girl,' he chuckled darkly, as he was grateful that, while he did have hormones, he was old enough (mentally) to be able to ignore them.

"Okay, thanks guys."

"Don't mention it," Larry stated as he waved a hand dismissively. Little did Xander know that as the trio walked up to the main gates, Larry kept a discreet eye on Xander's ass, watching it as the younger, up and coming jock walked with Willow and Jessie. 'He's been working out,' he said with an admiring sigh.

"Hey Lar, remember that hot chick…"

"Yeah, which one? The one with the big…" Larry said as the others hooted at women passing by.

Xander and Willow made their way to the lockers, when Xander spotted Cordellia and grabbed his friend, pulling her up and planting a long kiss on her lips. Willow melted into his arms with a sigh.

The brunette made a disgusted sound. "Will you two please get a room?"

Xander kissed Willow on the cheek and gave her a wink as the 'Cordetts' stomped past. "Why'd you do that?"

"What? I have to give a reason for snogging my girlfriend in public?" He kissed her again, but a little more deeply. Once more, Willow sighed.

"Okay, all is forgiven…"

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

3 months ago

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Well, shit."

Xander had come back from a routine check around Sunnydale and had grabbed takeout on the way home, the smell filled his nose and made his stomach growl. He'd opened the door to his bedroom and stopped when he saw the blue–skinned, and -haired, demon king standing in front of him. Illyria twitched and inclined her head slightly.

"Alexander Harris."

Xander nodded. "You found me okay?"

"Yes."

"Good," he placed the food down on the table and started opening it. The demon narrowed its hard, crystal blue eyes at him as he started shovelling food into his mouth. When he was done, Xander popped a can of beer and flushed it down his cake hole. He turned around and looked the demon up and down. "Was it difficult?"

"No," Illyria stated. "Once I located your temporal disturbance, I was able to follow you here. My powers have grown back at a considerable rate."

"Is that going to be a problem?"

She twitched her head and shook it, "No. I have learned how to control this form. It will not be a problem."

"Good, I've got a job for you."

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Now

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Giles was more than a little disappointed from the response he had received from Buffy; he'd been out of the picture for a while and only received the odd updates every now and then from the Council, but the last time he checked, all was well and she should be ready to receive him.

Problem was, she wasn't.

He'd immediately gotten on his cell phone, damn blasted thing that it was, and had rung the Council, demanding to know what the hell was going on and why she had given him the cold shoulder.

Travis had admonished him and told him to get his affairs in order or he would be replaced, end of subject. Giles had gritted his teeth, grunted at the older man and slapped the Off button with anger. 'Dammit, I need to know!' If he'd been told that Merrick, her first Watcher, had been brutally murdered by a vampire, then he would've used a little more tact; approached her using a different angle, rather than slapping a vampire book on the counter.

No wonder she bloody well ran off.

He sighed as the kettle clicked, signifying that the water was boiled. He made himself a cup using a tea bag. The Yanks didn't have such things as tea leaves, or even Tetlies, not we're a coffee society. The tea bags he was able to get his hands on were crap, to be frank.

"Is that the kettle I heard clicking?"

Giles nearly dropped the cup when he heard the familiar British voice. "Diana?" he asked as he walked around the corner, stopping to admire her frame. She was slender, skinny even; her face pale and, although she looked happy, dark rings framed her eyes, yet a light he hadn't seen in a long time shone in them. The woman's brown eyes looked over the library and then the cup sitting in his hand.

"Milk, two sugars…"

Giles smiled and handed his over. She took it from him, her fingers touching his for a moment too long. He smiled back, feeling the old warmth in the pit of his stomach.

He reluctantly let go, (of her fingers not the cup) and went and make himself a new one. While he was doing that, the female watcher found herself a seat and sat down. A couple of minutes later, Giles joined her.

"So, I hear you have you have a new Slayer?" Giles winced at the amusement in her eyes.