:rant: Okay I finally got pissed off with twisting the Hellmouth, the mods were being Anal about my story and the 'lack' of crossover in it. As I tried to explain to them, it's a freaking story, it takes development first before the crossover becomes full. 'sighs' from now on no other stories will be posted there until the person who came up with those stupid rules relaxes them a little bit. Sorry to anyone who was following what I wrote there. :end rant:

A/N the spell used in this chapter is written with the author's permission. This chapter is a tribute to 'Hunter', which is written by Psyckosama. This is the other story that inspired this one, a nightmare of the futures past written by S'TarKan is the first.

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And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder: One of the four beasts saying: "Come and see." And I saw. And behold, a white horse.

Twice Lucky

The Scarlet Witch

Chapter 3: The Sound of Thunder

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"My, oh my." Ethan looked over the assortment of crap lying on the counters in what had been dubbed 'Willow's workshop.' On the desk were bits of wires; pieces of computers; hell, even pieces of guns and various weapons that Ethan failed to name. He was certain he'd seen a great, honking rocket launcher. He saw a head and cringed.

"Oh, that's Ted." Ethan grimaced as she rolled it over and he saw the rather dead-looking eyes. "Don't worry, he's a robot."

Ethan relaxed slightly. "What are you doing with a robot's head?"

"Trying to replicate the programs imbedded into his system. I'm also learning how to make another one."

"Good grief, why would you want to do that?"

Willow smiled. "Other than the obvious, we can use him for infiltration, combating vampires and, as he looks of age and even has a passport and everything, we can use him to buy stuff that we can't legally purchase."

Now that was cunning, he had to admit, and he was impressed. He had hopes for this bunch of nancies. "Interesting, so Ripper tells me you want to become a witch?"

"Yeah," Willow said nodding. "Why do you call him 'Ripper?'"

"A long story in Ripper's past that I'm certain still haunts him to this day. If he's chosen not to tell you; well, that's his problem, not mine." Willow shrugged and let it drop.

"Fair enough…"

"I think we'll work on a bit of basic chaos for the moment, and then onto the more difficult stuff later." Ethan smirked at her sulking look. "Don't worry, we'll get to the interesting stuff later. Firstly, though, I want to see how you test on a few things."

Ethan handed her a list. "This is a list of items I would like you to fetch. When you're done, meet me at my house and we'll start preparation on the spell."

Willow nodded, pocketed the list and went back to picking apart bits of junk. Ethan left her to her business and went back home for some much-needed coffee.

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Xander practically twitched as the smell of about twenty pizzas came floating into the room; his face lifted up, his nose flared and his stomach growled, right on queue.

Ethan started handing out boxes and gave two to Xander, who took them gratefully, opened one and started digging in. Ethan's eyebrows shot up when he saw Xander take a large bite out of one triangle. The youth grumbled happily and finished off the slice.

"You gonna share some of that?" Xander shrugged his shoulders and lifted the box off the closed one, letting Faith take it. The Potential then shared it with Willow, who was happily babbling to Jenny Calendar about something or other.

It was an odd group, this lot. So many of them crowded into one place: a demon who hadn't found her lot yet, a witch-in-training and a Potential, desperately seeking answers.

Then there were the obvious leaders: the self-centred Slayer and her rather odd choice of clothes; a cheerleader, dumped in the middle of a war that had been raging between mankind and the forces of darkness; the fallen Watcher, who had dared to dream; and the youth, Xander, who went out of his way to be normal.

That was a conundrum in itself: the youth didn't go out hunting with the others. He did his course work and, from what Ethan could make out, mainly stayed at home. The kid was skilled though - possibly military, maybe Marine. He couldn't be sure.

The kid walked liked a Marine, and held a certain air of confidence that a child his age shouldn't have. When he thought no one was looking, Ethan was certain that he could see the hundred-yard stare. He'd have to think about it. He sighed, finished his bite and handed the rest of the box to the said kid. Xander smiled and nodded his thanks, then dumped the rest into his own box.

Boy, did he have an appetite…

Ethan grinned at his own humour.

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Willow had gone to the Magic Box, looked over the list with a raised eyebrow and gone about placing each object into the shopping basket. When she was done, she went over and placed it on the counter. The woman behind the desk started checking it and put the items into a bag; an owl sat on a perch behind her and hooted happily.

The woman brought up the bill and Willow gave her the appropriate amount. After a few moments, she left he shop and started making her way towards Ethan's house.

Once there, the door swung open and a smiling Chaos Mage stood in front of her. He waved his hand and showed her into the living room.

"Ah, excellent," Ethan nodded, as he rummaged through the contents of the bag. Ethan went to the cauldron in the kitchen and started chopping up the contents, poured in a mixture of water and started boiling it. When it was boiling, he sprinkled something in and it went 'poof.' He then took the photo of Larry, which had been one of the requested items.

He wrote Larry's name on the back of the photo, then dropped it into the cauldron and started stirring while humming a tune. When he was done, Ethan picked up a notepad and handed it to Willow to read. Arching an eyebrow, she gave it back.

He then dropped another photo that Ethan had gotten from a scrapbook - one of fourty-niners - into the same pot.

He then spoke the magic words:

"By Cupid arrow and Aphrodite's will
Bind them to my chosen as if by seams
Let not their heart, nor soul be still.
He shall find no rest in his dreams"

Grinning viciously, Ethan stirred the pot once more. A plume of pink smoke rose up and he waved it away, pronouncing the spell finished.

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The next day at school, Xander couldn't help but notice that Larry had a big, shit-eating grin on his face. Xander strolled up and arched an eyebrow.

"What's up?"

Larry chuckled, "Had a good dream last night…"

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There was also an assortment of other things that went unnoticed by the rest of the world. Willow and Ethan helped Xander dismember a puppet who wanted to put them all on stage; went through an exorcism at the school, which had been highly unnerving; and, for some reason, woke up a child in a comer. Although Xander had never fully explained it to her, she got the gist that it was important.

As they walked through the school, chatting about various events of the past week, she kept getting the impression she was being watched. Although she couldn't put her finger on it, something was in the school. That much, was certain.

After school, she met up with Ethan, who began talking her through the spell that he wanted to use for Halloween. He'd already opened the shop and began walking her through the various costumes.

"How about a ghost?" Ethan rolled his eyes, "What? It's traditional."

"It's also bloody boring…"

"Yeah, but think of it this way," Willow prompted. "When your spell turns me into my costume-"

"Ah," Ethan beamed. "We'll make a chaos mage out of you yet."