Dreams and Ideas

by Shadow Master

These are a collection of fanfic crossover ideas that my admittingly warped imagination has come up with. For the most part this is to satisfy the plot bunnies but if you see a drabbleshortetc that you think deserves to be made into a full fanfic let me k

5. A Shift in the World

"A Shift in the World: The Rebirth Avalanche"

BtVS/FF7

(Season 4 in BtVS. After the conclusion of FF7)

"So Wills what's the verdict?" Xander asked with rapt attention as he waited for his best friend to relate to him the results of the test he had just finished.

To this question the red haired wicca was a little torn since on one hand she had to deal with a blonde Slayer who was looking at her friend to side with her and on the other hand she had her best friend since pre-school. Both of them were looking for her to deliver the results and declare them the winner the bet that had been made almost three weeks ago. It had begun simply enough with Buffy bringing home her first serious test from her psychology class. The Slayer had been completely upset both with how hard the test had been in the first place and how poorly she did despite an honest effort at studying. She had passed the test at least but only just barely and had been bemoaning how unfair it was for Professor Walsh to give them such a hard test to first year students. In the beginning both he and Willow had been sympathetic and had done their best to cheer their friend up at the Bronze. While they experienced some success on that front the Slayer was still annoyingly determined to rant about the unfairness of university life. Eventually it had gotten so bad that he had snarked at her that she was exaggerating the difficulty of the test and that given two weeks to study he could ace it completely. From there things had devolved into a variation of 'can-cannot' with him being the former and the Slayer being the latter. Eventually he had gotten tired of the argument, if it could indeed be called that with neither side putting evidence to support their case forward, he had decided to make her a bet. He would borrow her psych books and spend the next two weeks straight studying the chapters that the class had gone through thus far that term. At the end of the two weeks if he managed a B+ or better then he would be given free reign to choose Halloween costumes for the gang this year. When Buffy had mentioned that they weren't required to wear costumes or even go out this year since there was no kiddie chaperon program at UC Sunnydale. He had countered with the fact that there would most certainly be Halloween parties going on both on and off campus run by university students. Heck! Fraternities and maybe a few of the sororities would likely be having parties with an open door policy to just about anyone within a certain age range. When he, reluctantly, commented that maybe that teacher's assistant she had been talking about could join them he wasn't sure she'd take the bait. Much to his not surprise that had apparently clinched the deal and so they shook on it.

Now here they were, two and a half weeks later, waiting for Willow, who had been chosen to mark the test, to reveal which one of them had one the bet. Needless to say she probably knew she would likely get yelled at one way or another and once he saw her 'Resolve Face' appear he knew the results were forthcoming.

"Well after some thorough checking and heavy scrutiny of the test and the answers both multiple choice as well as short answer there was only one grade I could give this test." Willow said so officially that it was obvious she was trying to build up suspense, "A-!"

"What?" Buffy exclaimed as she repositioned herself so she could look at the test herself which Willow had been holding in such a way so as to make it impossible for anyone but her to see.

"YES! TAKE THAT BUFF'!" Xander crowed as he did a mini-Snoopy dance to celebrate his winning the bet.

"B-b-but t-that…! H-he couldn't have!" Buffy stuttered as she looked over the test for any sign of a mistake in the marking using her own test results as a reference.

Xander of course didn't notice since as far as he was concerned it was far more interesting to revel in his victory than waiting for Buffy to admit defeat. After all despite the fact that her marks were lower than Willow's in high school (heck everyone's marks were lower than Willows as far as he knew) they were easily above his own. While he did get high enough marks to graduate from high school it was only by the slimmest of margins. That was the untold reason why he hadn't tried to go with Buffy and Willow to UC Sunnydale along with the decided lack of sufficient funds for tuition. After all if he could just barely scrape by in high school level studies then how was he going to handle the university workload that Buff and Willow had to deal with. No he decided that rather than make himself look more stupid by trying to hack it at university life and fail he'd go straight into the workforce. True a university degree would open a lot of doors in terms of jobs it wasn't absolutely essential for a bachelor like himself to support himself. Given the low property rates and rent fees thanks to the demons it was surprisingly cheap to get a place as well as all the other essentials. Not so cheap that he could survive on a minimum wage job but low enough that if he applied himself he could manage well enough. Still to be able to do so kick ass on a test that the Buffmeister, the Slayer herself, had to struggle with just to get a passing grade was a complete rush!

"Looks like you lose Buffy." He said trying to reign in his smugness since it was not wise to anger a Slayer, "I'll stop by yours and Willows dorm room with your guys' costumes Halloween morning. Until then I think I'll let you guys squirm trying to figure out what I'm going to choose for each of you guys. Oh and let Oz as well as Riley know as well just so they don't get blindsided completely."

"What?" Buff and Willow exclaimed at the same time but for entirely different reasons.

For Buffy it was the simple fact that he wasn't going to tell them what costumes they'd be wearing that got her mad but for Willow she was more afraid of the look on her best friend's face. Unlike Buffy she had known Xander since they were both five years old and as such knew him as well as she knew herself more or less. The look her friend had on his face right now was a special one that she had only seen a handful of times and each time it meant trouble not only for him but for whomever he was aiming it at. The last time she had seen it on his face was when he had managed to convince both her and Jessie it would be so funny to slip blue dye into the Chase family swimming pool. It was when the Chase family had first moved into town and so Cordelia's parents had decided it would be a good idea for their daughter to invite all the kids in her class to her birthday party. Needless to say after seeing their own daughter as blue as Smurfette neither she nor Jessie and especially not Xander were ever invited back and thus the feud between Cordy and the three of them began. Remembering that day and the consequences a bad feeling began to form in her stomach and she just knew that nothing good could come of the look on Xander's face.

I just hope it doesn't get me and Buffy expelled in the end! She thought to herself as she tried to reassure herself that everything would be fine.

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One Week Later, Halloween Morning, Saturday

Outside Zack's Costume Store

The day is finally here and MAN won't the gang we surprised when they see their costumes! Xander thought to himself as he got out of his pick up truck, Times like these I wish I had enough spare cash to afford a camera just so I can snap a few pics of their faces when they open the bags.

It had been a difficult week when the stress of the job was added to with at least one member of the gang asking him every day for at least a hint about what their costumes were going to be like. At first it was simply a question that came up in conversation but then it evolved into the gang asking outsiders or new members to pop the question to him before finally finishing Thursday and Friday with bribery. It had been tempting, six boxes of Twinkies from Willow and an invitation to a scantily clad slumber party from Buffy, but in the end he managed to stay strong despite the devil on his shoulder calling him an idiot. After the two young women had left in defeat he came to the conclusion that they were just trying to trick him especially Buffy since he knew the raincoat incident in high school was still considered a secret on pain of death thing with her. As for Willow he was reasonably certain that she would have gotten him the six boxes like she promised but when he thought of the gang in the costumes he'd selected he knew the looks on their faces would be worth twice the amount of Twinkies she was offering.

Entering the store he could see that there were already quite a few other residents of Sunnydale making the last dash for a suitable costume before nightfall but not as many as he would have thought there would be considering the quality costumes. Then again the store was pretty new, only a few months old, so most likely not many people had heard of it yet or knew of its superiority to Party Town. After all while Party Town had high quality stuff it was mostly just the traditional Halloween get ups like vampires and witches. In Zacks though the costumes were not only good for a place that just opened but also the selection was to die for. Not literally of course. In fact he decided to forget he just thought that considering what town he was in and what he did with the gang at night. Whatever! In any case the costumes here were great and were more centered on popular TV shows, movies, cartoons, Anime and books rather than the clichéd outfits of Halloweens past. It was here that he had spotted the costumes he wanted on display when he had left the gang to look for their outfits and the moment he saw them he asked the owner of the store to put them on layaway until his paycheck came in on Thursday. Fortunately the guy seemed all too willing to put the six costumes in back for him and while it was probably because of the profit the guy would make he still asked Giles if he had heard of any chaos mages coming into town recently. It had been a bit tense when the Watcher had asked him why he wanted to know but when he reminded G-Man about Ethan Rayne Giles understood that the Zeppo was just being cautious. It took half the day and a weird funky spell but eventually the Watcher was able to promise with the utmost certainty that not a hint of chaos magic could be detected coming from Zack's shop.

What a load off my mind that was especially considering who I plan to dress up as tonight. He thought as he moved to the cash register where the owner was helping a customer, I don't think I could handle being him for a night much less stay sane with his memories afterwards.

"Hey Xander! You here for the costumes?" Zack asked after handing the customer her change.

"Yep! Is everything ready to go?" he asked eagerly as the anticipation was beginning to rise inside of him.

"Sure we can go in back and get them as soon as you hand over the money." Zack replied in a friendly but 'money up front' kind of way.

Reaching into his back pocket he took out the envelope that he had put the amount of money he needed into after cashing his paycheck. It had been quite a bit but luckily had enough money left to handle rent and groceries after this. He just wouldn't be able to indulge in any junk food for the next two weeks but hey that was what tonight was for after all. He'd totally pig out and use the sugary goodness from tonight to hold him over until the next paycheck was handed to him. Sliding the envelope with the cash in it over to Zack he watched the guy pick it up and then thumb through the bills inside clearly wanting to check to see if it was all there. This annoyed him quite a bit since it was pretty much the same as the guy saying 'can this deadbeat son of a drunken asshole really pay' to his face. Not that he could exactly blame the guy given the reputation that the Harris family had but the way he saw it he was nothing like his parents and didn't deserve to be treated as such.

"You don't have to worry. It's all there." He said trying to sound neutral but given the look on Zack's face he could tell some of his annoyance had come through.

"So it is." Zack said as he took the cash out and put it into the register, "Don't take it the wrong way kid but I gotta make sure no one rips me off so soon after opening. I got debts that need to be paid so every cent counts. Can't afford too many 'discounts' if you know what I mean."

"Yeah whatever. Let's just get the costumes I paid for alright." Xander said as his mood stayed sour despite Zack's reasons for his behavior.

"Tell you what. To make it up to you I'll give you that costume that was unavailable when you came in last time." Zack said as he led the way to the back room, "I was holding it in reserve for someone else but the guy hasn't shown up yet and doesn't sound like he will before closing time. So since it's a part of the set you're buying I'll give it to you free of charge. How does that sound?"

"But I only need six costumes." Xander stated as his annoyance gave way to neutral confusion.

"So give one of your friends a choice rather then just sticking them with one." Zack suggested as he looked about the room for Xander's order, "After all there's always the chance that the one of them won't be able to fit in the costume you give them. 'Sides which all it'll be doing here is gathering dust. Might as well try to put it to good use right?"

"I guess so." Xander replied as he watched Zack zero in on one particular grouping of bags and props in the far right corner of the room.

"You need any help getting these out to your truck?" Zack asked as he handed the Zeppo the first bag along with an absurdly long katana.

"Naw I should be able to handle it myself." Xander replied as he took the large bag and sword from Zack, "My trucks parked out front so I don't have that far to go anyway. What could happen?"

Of course if Xander had been a little more thoughtful of his choice of words rather than thinking about who he was going to show the extra costume to he might have remembered that it was never wise to say something like that on the Hellmouth.

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Walking Away from Manheim's Magic Shop, Roughly the Same Time

"So do we have everything?" Jonathan asked as the three of them walked back to the van with their respective armloads of magical ingredients and talismans.

"Let's see: hair of Loki check, essence of Proteus check, therieanthrope blood check, tears of Circe check, Qora claws check, Janus bust check and Nagas fangs." Andrew replied as he checked his own load and what the others were carrying, "Yep we have everything! Heck we could probably cast the spell three times with what we bought."

"That's the whole point." Warren said as if it should have been common sense, "Why get the powers of just one super villain when we can get the power of three super villains? If we play our cards right there won't be a being on the planet capable of stopping us."

"We'll be like gods!" Andrew declared with excitement as his eyes started to sparkle with the things he could do with that kind of power.

The others shared in the blonde member of their team in daydreaming about what they'd do once the spell was complete. It had started out simply enough a month ago when they had been sitting in Warren's basement trying to decide what to do with their lives. It had been a cool enough with them doing what most teenagers do during the summer months but when September came around they had to think about their futures. All of them had pretty high I.Qs but unfortunately due to several 'incidents' involving magic or the demonic there was always something that caused places like M.I.T to send rejection letters. For Jonathan it was the whole 'rifle in the bell tower' thing and even though he had gone up there to commit suicide people still thought that was an excuse and that he had really gone up there to start shooting at people. In any case it wasn't the sort of incident that universities or other bastions of higher learning smiled on when looking at who to admit and who to reject.

For Andrew his lack of acceptance letters could be traced to his brother Tucker who had unleashed a pack of hellhounds to kill people at the Prom. While no one actually used the word 'hellhound' the older Wells brother was charged with illegal possession of dangerous animals and cruelty to animals once they saw the movies the hellhounds had been subjected to while caged. It hadn't led to any prison time for the elder brother but the legal fees and fines had been enough that Tucker had been shipped off to his Uncle's home in New Jersey and Andrew without the money to pay even the lowest tuition fees.

As for Warren it all boiled down to a case of his deadbeat dad leaving him and his mother a week after graduation taking everything of value with him. Left with only his mother to support the two of them university and college became an impossibility since they barely had enough money to put food on the table. Even his illegal hacking of bank accounts didn't give him enough money to meet half of the costs of going to university.

That left all three of them with no way of going in the direction they had wanted to academically and that brought them to Warren's basement. Talk of the things that caused them to be excluded from the college set eventually caused Warren to have a brainstorm. He remembered the Halloween night in their third year of high school when they had gone out trick or treating only to get caught up in the chaos of certain people turning into their costumes. Fortunately they had managed to make it to the school and lock themselves in a classroom where they'd be safe for the rest of the night. For the most part they had just went into denial like everyone else the next day and went on like nothing happened. Now two years later Warren had gone on a torrent about how such a spell could be used to their advantage. From there the basic outline of their master plan had been made: find out what spell was cast and find a way to make the changes stick minus the fictional character's spirit. They'd get all the power and knowledge of the characters they dressed up as without the second mind trying to take control.

It had taken awhile and a few timed distractions to get into the place that used to be "Ethan's" and cast the spell of revelation that would show them exactly what the Brit store owner had done. It had taken a few moments to sift through the layers of previous owners and a few vampires that had squatted in the place when it had been abandoned but eventually they got what they wanted. From there until just a week ago it had been an exhaustive research session to find out how to modify the spell to meet their needs as well as negate any negative side effects. Fortunately they had managed to trick, buy or manipulate owners of various spell and reference books into loaning the volumes to them for a period of time. Several times it had gotten them so frustrated and angry that at least one of them had contemplated killing one of the others but eventually it all panned out. The modified spell wasn't pretty but all their research and 'polite inquiries' said that it should work like they wanted. Of course Jonathan was a little worried considering that some of their sources of information considered humans 'food' or 'trash' but both Warren and Andrew were certain that they had gotten the truth.

Today was the day though and hopefully by this time tomorrow they would possess powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. They had already picked out their costumes, which were waiting back at Warren's place, but they had to hurry since they had quite a lot of set up work to do.

"Yeah! We will rule over the land with iron fists! We'll destroy anyone who gets in our way! We'lllooooops!" Andrew declared grandly but then found out why it was important to watch where you were stepping especially when one's arms are full.

With his right foot getting snagged on some bags that were set on the ground next to a pick up truck the youngest Wells son yelped in surprise throwing his load of ingredients into the air on reflex in order to free his arms so that he could stop himself from falling. In this he succeeded as he grabbed a hold of the back end of the truck in time to push himself back into an upright position. The down side to this though was that the spell ingredients that had been thrown into the air had no one to catch them and they knew it. So they decided to make the screw up total by dumping every last bit of themselves from their containers or bottles onto the bags that Andrew had tripped over. Each and every one of the ingredients got sprinkled/dumped/poured liberally over the entire collection of bags making quite a mess. For a moment it looked like Warren might start tearing Andrew a new one for dropping all of his expensive spell components but that changed when they saw who was coming out of the costume shop. One Xander LaVelle Harris, former Sunnydale High School classmate and known friend of one Buffy Summers. While they didn't know the whole story about Buffy and her friends they did know that they were the resident white hats of Sunnydale. This was a problem because if Harris got word back to Summers about what they were planning it was all over. She'd show up and start tossing them around like pint sized Jawas before they could get their power ups and toss her around like Miss Piggy. In that moment they had two choices: a) they could try to cast a spell on Xander to make him lose his immediate short-term memory or b) they could make a break for the van and hope that Harris couldn't identify them. The first was within their power and didn't require any ingredients to perform but it carried the risk of bringing Summers here to investigate what could have erased her friends' memory. If she came here she might ask around at Manheim's Magic Shop and figure out what they were up to in time to stop it. After all the three of them were frequent enough visitors to Manheim's that the owner would be able to give Buffy all the info she needed. That left option two as the only half decent choice and so without further debate Warren Mears, Andrew Wells and Jonathan Levinsion ran for the black van as fast as their feet could carry them.

With a screech of tires they sped out of the parking lot as fast as they could leaving the male founding member of the Scooby gang wondering what was going on and how hard it would be to clean up the costumes.

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In Front of the Summers Family Home, One Hour Later

If I ever catch the three twerps in that van I'm going to find the most disgusting pile of crap I can find and bury them in it! Xander thought to himself as he got out of the truck and reached for the two bags he'd need as well as the props that went with them, If it hadn't for the fact that there was a Laundromat nearby the costumes would be completely ruined.

He had only left the costumes unattended for a minute while he helped Zack dig out the last few props from beneath the pile of boxes in the back room. It couldn't have been more than five minutes and despite the lethal nightlife crime in Sunnydale was actually less than what one would expect for a town this size. Made sense when you took into account that most of the best hideouts in town were already occupied by vamps and demons. Any crook looking for a place to hide from the cops had a four in five chance of walking into a vampire lair and becoming some bloodsucker's mid-day snack. So imagine his surprise when he exited the store to see three guys roughly his own age running away from the back of his truck, diving into a van and laying down some serious rubber in getting out of the parking lot as fast as they could. At first he had thought that the three unknown's had stolen one of his costumes but when he raced around to where he had dropped the outfits he found out that the truth was far more disgusting. From one side to the other, from one end to the other, the group of costumes and props that made up the Halloween costumes he had chosen for the gang were covered in unknown powders and substances. The only saving grace for him was that because of how the costumes were positioned in their bags and the narrow opening of said bags only a specific section of the costumes got hit. Still he had decided not to take any chances and went directly to get them all cleaned before any stains or smells had a chance to set in. It had taken the rest of the cash he had on him making him glad he had gotten the necessities like rent and groceries out of the way before coming for the costumes. By the time the last outfit came out of the dryer he was thankful to see that while you could see a couple of dark patches on the costumes they could be explained away as part of 'the look'.

Picking up the two that he figured would suit Dawn best and that she'd get a kick out of wearing he tucked the oversized throwing star under his arm and headed for the front door. After a quick knock he waited wondering who'd answer the door first considering it was a Saturday morning. If someone had knocked on his apartment door on a Saturday morning he'd either still be asleep or in front of his twenty-inch TV watching cartoons. In both cases he would be inclined to ignore the person until they went away and only answer if the person talked or kept knocking for more than five minutes. In this case it wasn't the home of an independent bachelor he had to consider but the home of a single mother and her high school attending daughter. That meant that Dawn was likely either still in bed or watching cartoons with Joyce probably in the kitchen or down at the art gallery doing paperwork or something. Personally he was hoping that Mrs. Summers was at work because he wasn't crazy about seeing her reaction to the costumes he was going to let Dawnie pick from. After all they probably didn't have enough fabric by a mother's standards and while one would make sure certain unmentionables were covered the shorts were so short that Dawn-patrol bending over would probably cause the seat to rip.

It only took a minute but eventually the door whipped open to reveal Dawn wearing a tank top and sweats combo which he presumed was her basic sleepwear and an attempt to get away from the 'Alladin' pajamas she used to wear to bed.

"Xander!" she exclaimed before wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.

Normally he would have returned the hug but given that his hands were otherwise occupied holding bags and keeping the extra large shuriken from falling to the ground he just stood there waiting for her to release him. After three minutes of nothing but hugging he decided that he'd better speak up before the neighbors caught sight of them and started to ask questions.

"Uh, Dawn, mind letting me go and inviting me in?" he asked as casually as he could, "After all standing out here with you in your jammys like this can't be good for our health especially mine if one of your neighbors tells your mom about this later."

This had the desired effect of getting her to release him but the smile on her face told him it was more her own choice than fear of the neighbors.

"Don't worry. If Mrs. Jamison tells on us I'll just tell Mom that the old bag lets her dog do her business on the front lawn." Dawn replied as she stepped aside to let him inside, "And if Mr. Perkins says anything I'll just remind him that he should close the blinds in his room when he gets up in the morning. Those two are the only real busybodies in this neighborhood so it's pretty much keep those two quiet and everything else takes care of itself."

"O-kay. Gotcha!" Xander said almost mechanically as he tried to figure out how someone a little over halfway through high school could be so sneaky.

Then again he figured that with Buffy as a big sister and Joyce as a mother Dawn would have had to be pretty inventive perhaps even evil if she wanted to get her way with either of them. Sorta made him wonder what sort of blackmail material she had on him but as soon as his imagination began manufacturing possibilities he shut it down and decided he so didn't wan to know. Following the youngest Summers girl into the living room where apparently she had been watching cartoons he plopped both bags and the tire size throwing star on the couch. Looking at the two bags and knowing what was inside he felt he had an idea which one the Dawn-meister would choose given what she said at the front door. It fit so perfectly and thankfully he had made sure to get a rough idea from Mrs. Summers about both Dawn and Buffy's measurements earlier in the week so both of the outfits would fit either sister. Of course he had originally just been there for Buffy's measurements but when he had explained the situation to Mrs. Summers she had 'requested' that Dawn be allowed to tag along. Of course it had looked and sounded more like an order but he figured that it was not a good idea to say something like that to a woman holding a butcher knife. He still had no idea how he was going to explain this to Buffy and the others but he'd fall off that bridge when he came to it.

"Alright Dawn-patrol! We got two costumes for you to choose from so you can join the gang for a night of sugery goodness." Xander said as he took the outfits out of the bags and set them on either side of the couch so the taller but younger Summers girl could get a good look at them, "First on the left we have the costume of an elite female ninja who also happens to be the heir to a throne. She's got a smart mouth that could put Buffy's to shame in five seconds flat but has is something of a klepto. On the right though we have a gal who is second in command of a major resistance/terrorist group determined to bring down a corrupt corporate empire. So which one will it be?"

Dawn stood in front of the two outfits with a look of careful consideration on her face but he knew it was just an act because he doubted any high school student carefully considered anything they did where fun was a possibility. Then again it was clothes they were talking about here and if there was one thing that women universally debate to the point of being anal was 'what to wear'. He knew this from the few times that he had been dragged along by both Buffy and Willow on an expedition to the mall for new 'first week of classes' clothes. True he had been lucky enough to avoid that this year since he didn't get back from his brief cross country trip but he could still vividly remember the shopping trips that came before. Those trips were minefields for guys both because of the unique female gift to be able to tell 'sea blue' from 'sky blue' and the difficult question 'does this outfit make me look fat'. Needless to say that moments like those were some of the few moments when making sure your mouth was full could save a man's life.

"This one!" Dawn said as she picked up the costume that he hadn't expected her to go for and the one he currently thought was going to get him killed later.

After all it was written into a mother's genes that any sort of sexy clothes were forbidden where their daughters were concerned and Buffy would have similar opinions about her 'kid sister' wearing an outfit like that. Though personally he thought that Buffy might be just a teensy bit jealous of Dawn in the looks department. After all Dawn was taller than Buffy by a good few inches and though he'd never say this out loud had the potential to be quite jaw dropper as far as the guys were concerned. Of course any of his own thoughts in that direction were immediately and ruthlessly suppressed by 'she is barely a teenager' and 'she is Buffy's sister' thoughts. Now if she had been born Buffy's twin sister or maybe even slightly older cousin it would be a completely different story but as long as she was younger than him as well as related to the blonde Slayer she was off limits. So the 'always be my little girl/sister' way of thinking combined with the 'that involves entirely too little fabric' sentiment would make for an explosive combination later tonight unless Dawn managed to sneak out of the house and come up with a convincing reason to keep Buffy from dragging her home the second they saw each other.

"You sure?" he asked as he made an attempt to save himself from any potential blame for her choice of Halloween costume, "You know both your mom and Buffy are going to freak if they see you in that."

"Yeah! Won't be great!" Dawn replied as she held up the sleeveless sweater/shirt part of the costume that was cut so the wearer's stomach would show, "Besides don't you think I'd look great in it?"

"You'd definitely look unique." He replied figuring that the response he picked was the safest answer he could give especially if Dawnie used it in her argument with Buffy later.

"Want me to try it on? Just to make sure it fits alright?" she asked with a strange look in her eyes that sent a shiver up his spine for some unknown reason.

"Well you can check to see if it fits but I have to drop off the rest of these costumes to the rest of the gang ASAP just in case there's a size problem." He replied as casually as possible.

"Okay." Dawn said sounding disappointed that he was leaving so soon, "See you tonight then?"

"Sure thing. We'll be hooking up at the Espresso Pump." He replied as he grabbed the other costume and its prop, "Be there around six thirty 'kay! Bye!"

With that he was out the door and on his way to his next stop.

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Buffy and Willow's Dorm Room, One Hour Later

"Well guys and gals your costume critic is here with your outfits for this evening!" Xander said in his best Bob Barker voice, "Please keep in mind that I have personally hand picked who will get which costume and my decisions are final."

Looking about the room he could tell that not everyone was happy with the way he phrased that but still seemed willing to hold up their end of the bet. Buffy was willing because despite her bouts of 'holier than thou' with her status as the Slayer she was a decent enough person to stay true to her word once it was given. Willow was playing along no doubt because she trusted him and because she felt a certain obligation as the blonde Slayer's friend to share the humiliation/fun. Oz was being the loyal boyfriend as far as could be told by the look on his face but aside from that Xander had no clue what was going on in the guitarist's head. As for Riley he was carefully neutral in how he was taking this but the Zeppo knew that could change once the costumes were handed out. In which case it would probably be best to get him out of the way first and then move onto the others.

"Okay Riley here's your costume." Xander said as he picked up the bag with the blonde wig sticking out of it along with the oversized sword, "I know it looks funny but this guy is a totally kick ass fighter and a former member of an elite combat unit known for accepting only the elite of the elite into their ranks."

Riley seemed to take this in stride and after taking a few practice swings with the sword to get a feel for it grinned to show he was happy with his outfit.

"Oz, you were pretty hard to choose for seeing as how I don't know what goes on inside that head of yours." Xander said as he handed the musician the appropriate bag with an extendable rod sticking out, "So I figured having you dress up as a guy who likes to speak his mind and is fairly easy to read might help me with that."

Oz didn't even look in the bag so Xander took that as a sign that he was cool with everything.

"Willow with you there were only a few characters to choose from and since two of the three have already been assigned you'll be getting the third." Xander explained as he brought over the second last bag and the extra large shuriken, "It might not be your traditional ghost costume but I think you'll like it. She's the heir to throne and a highly skilled ninja to boot. Her only real flaws would be her smart mouth and the fact that she's something of a klepto but I think the costume will look good on you."

His best bud since pre-school didn't look thrilled at the idea of dressing up as someone with 'want, take, have' impulse issues but it didn't look like she was going to make a big deal of it.

"Finally we came to you Buffy. When I thought about which costume would be best for you I couldn't help but get a major flashback to Ethan's store and you saying that Halloween was 'come as you aren't' night." Xander said as he took the last bag along with the staff with weighted ends over to the blonde Slayer, "This character was something of a spiritual person who was thoughtful and optimistic with a knack for keeping the team together when it looked like it might fall apart. Also while this staff may not look like much you can build up some wicked momentum thanks to the weights on the ends."

Buffy frowned at this but took the staff and after giving it a few twirls (with a little 'amateur' thrown in so as not to tip Riley off that she wasn't a normal university gal) she gave him a grin that told him 'it would do'.

"Well if you guys are happy I think I'll take spin by Giles' place and see if… uh… he needs any help setting up for the trick-or-treaters." He said fumbling mid-sentence as he realized that he had almost spilled the beans in front of the T.A.

"See you at the Espresso Pump then?" Willow said as she realized what the situation was and made a move to aide him in his escape.

"Sure. Say around sevenish?" he asked as he looked at his watch.

"Sevenish it is then." Buffy said voicing the unanimous vote of the group.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Giles' Apartment, Noon

"So G-man! The sitch still the same or should I call of Halloween?" Xander said as he walked right into the Watcher's place without so much as a knock.

"N-no nothing new thankfully. I checked with all of my local sources and skimmed through the relevant books for any prophecies but there is nothing to suggest that something will happen tonight." Giles replied as he walked out of the kitchen with twin bowls of Halloween treats, "And don't call me that infernal name."

Xander just grinned at the G-Man's response glad to know that he could still get the Brit with that after all this time. Still he was glad that Giles' sources still declared Halloween baddie and spell free. It had been something that he had started a year after the costume chaos caper with that Rayne guy and had decided to make it a tradition. Every year about a week or two prior to All Hallows Eve he would have Giles sniff around for signs that someone was planning a repeat of the chaos mage's spell or something worse. After all while Halloween might be considered by the world at large as being a complete snooze fest for the demonic and undead that one stunt with Ethan prove that there were exceptions to the rule. Add to that the fact that they were on a Hellmouth and the odds of something happening to ruin an otherwise peaceful evening meant a better than fifty-fifty odds that something would happen. So he figured that forewarned was forearmed and all that so any advance warning of something hellmouthy happening would be of the good.

"Cool. So you gonna welcome the little rugrats aux natural or are you gonna get dressed up?" Xander asked before grabbing a handful of treats from one of the bowls as Giles walked by.

"Not overly no. I have a sombrero and poncho that should suffice for tonight." Giles replied patiently apparently deciding to not even bother trying to reprimand the Zeppo for helping himself to the candy.

"Giles, Giles, Giles! I'm happy that you actually decided to put some effort into getting into the spirit of things but trust me when I say that a tweed wearing British cowboy won't cut it tonight." Xander said shaking his head in wonder at how someone who was supposed to be smarter than him screwing up such a simple thing, "Fortunately for you I have just the thing to solve the problem."

Before the Watcher could say anything for or against the young bachelor's statement Xander ran back out the door and returned with what looked like a metal pole with a machete stuck to the top as well as the costume bag Zack had given him for free. He hadn't looked in the bag but he figured that if it was anything like the other costumes, which had been on display when he had spotted them, then it should fit the Watcher well enough. Plus as long as he had the outfit he might as well put it to good use and it was most definitely a step up from the spaghetti western outfit Giles had intended to wear.

Giles looked a little confused as his mind was no doubt trying to figure out who exactly the young man intended to have him dress up as tonight. Given that the Watcher seemed to be stuck fifty years or more in the past the Zeppo knew there was no chance in the world G-Man would be able to figure it out. If the man wouldn't go near a computer then there was no way he'd know about the cast of characters that this outfit came from.

"Despite what you might be thinking no it's not a Captain Ahab outfit." Xander said in order to stop the older man's train of thought before it could pick up speed, "You know how you said once that all you wanted to be was a grocer or a fighter pilot growing up? Well this guy was an aircraft designer, engineer and the first person on his planet to make it into outer space. Add to that that he could kick some serious ass with this spear thing and this outfit makes your Clint Eastwood one look like a cheap stained tuxedo."

While for a moment it looked like the Watcher would take exception to the comment about his attempt at a Halloween costume eventually G-Man took the bag from Xander to have a peek inside. After a few moments of barely recognizable looks of examination and scrutiny as well as one last look at the pole-machete-thing Giles eventually sighed and took the offered costume in acceptance. Smiling with victory for a moment, happy to have made some headway in bringing Giles into the late twentieth century, he quickly banished the smile when it looked like it might make G-Man reconsider.

"Well with that out of the way I'm gonna head back to my place to catch a quick snooze before hooking up with Willow and the others later." Xander said as he popped a few of those sweet and sour Aspirin candies into his mouth, "Maybe we'll swing by later. See ya G-Man!"

With that he zipped out of the apartment closing the door behind him before the Watcher could say anything to the effect of 'no it is not necessary for you or the others to visit later and see me in this atrocious costume'. He figured if he didn't give the Brit time to voice his objections Giles would just have to accept that it was going to happen whether he liked it or not. He also felt safe in assuming that Giles wouldn't change his mind about ditching the Eastwood costume for the newly proposed alternative. A certain glee ran through him when he pictured how the entire gang would look later tonight and made a note to get a group photo to remember the historic moment by.

After all it's not like I'm ever going to get them to agree to something like this again. He thought as he got into his truck and headed home.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Warren's Basement, 4:00p.m.

"Do you think he recognized us?" Andrew asked as his eyes darted in a quick glance towards the basement windows facing the street.

"For the last time NO!" Warren snapped as he continued to set out the costumes they had picked out for the first successful casting of their modified spell.

It had been like this off an on all day since the three of them had almost been spotted by Xander Harris outside some costume shop. Off and on like an annoying five year old fiddling with the light switch just because it annoyed everyone else in the room. The only time that Andrew had stopped asking the question was when he had to do his part in drawing the diagrams on the floor for the spell. Warren had been tempted to just tell the moron to leave and come back at seven when they'd be casting the actual spell but unfortunately Wells was the only one among them who could read the magic books properly. It was the way that their team worked: he was the techno-genius, Jonathan was the magic guy and Andrew was the book nerd. With all of them pooling their talents they'd made this plan work and in just three hours they'd finally be rewarded for their all night research sessions. Right now though he was becoming seriously tempted to knock the idiot unconscious by 'accident' and then dope him up until it was time for the spell. Unfortunately he had yet to think up a convincing and convenient way to do it that wouldn't look suspicious to Jonathan. So that meant, for better or worse, that until they succeeded in casting the spell and gained the power they desired he would just have to put up with the annoying asshole.

After my power up though I won't need these two losers anymore. Warren thought as he began to apply the necessary ingredients to the costumes, I'll have more than enough power on my own to do whatever I want! After all no one short of Superman could stand up to this guy in the comic books or the cartoon series.

True the costumes that Jonathan and Andrew picked out would make them powerful as well but nowhere close as powerful as he would be. Still they would make good minions and enforcers to stamp out any opposition to his desire to rule the world. Then again given the egos of the people his 'partners' were going to become it was possible they'd get it into their heads that they could defy him or even kill him.

I'll probably have to make an example of at least one of them to make it clear to the other one what a bad idea it'd be to defy me. He thought as he finished with one ingredient and moved onto the next, Given who they're dressing up as I'll make it Jonathan. His character might technically be the more powerful of the two but he'll be harder to keep under control than Andrew will be after the spell is broken. After all his character already submitted to one dark master so why not have him do it again.

"You don't have to be so snappy!" Andrew complained as he backed away a few steps, "I'm just saying that if Xander told Buffy she could be on her way right now."

"We got the ingredients this morning! If Xander did think something was going on that Buffy needed to know about she would have been here hours ago." Warren replied as he restrained the desire to smack the blonde boy, "Now go back to drawing the diagrams for the spell and make sure you get the one beneath the bust right. We can't afford to have that teleportation spell mess up and shatter Janus too soon."

"Alright! Alright! Sheesh!" Andrew said as he went over to where the different colored chalk was and did as he was told.

Despite the way that he had said it he was telling the truth when he said that screwing up the teleportation spell would be bad. According to the research they had all done the spell to make the costume changes to their beings permanent the magic would have to remain in effect for at least an hour. It would take that long for the necessary changes to happen and then be rendered permanent by the modified portion of Ethan's chaos spell. Given that at least two of the three person's they be transformed into would have the necessary skills and abilities to trace their displacement to the bust of Janus it was crucial that it be elsewhere before their altered selves could regain their senses. At the same time though it would be required to give their costumes an idea of what was going on so that the bust would be destroyed and the spell brought to an end. Andrew and Jonathan had taken care of that by constructing what looked like a mini hologram generator that looked like it belonged on the set of Star Wars. In truth it was a heavily disguised talisman that they used to record a three dimensional recording, almost identical to a holographic projection, which not only would feed their alternate selves a bullshit story about their current predicament but also the only way they could return to their respective homes. With a little luck, as well as the obscuring wards placed around the 'beam in' site, it would take them an hour or more to locate the bust and destroy it. True with the sort of power two of the three costumes possessed it would be well within their power to lay waste to all of Sunnydale immediately rather than search for one stone head. However all three of them were reasonably certain that wouldn't happen since the two costumes that could cause such devastation were more efficient in how they did things. They preferred to deal with things efficiently and with some finesse just to show how far above the common folk they were in power and style. That being the case it would take them a while to search the entire town and by the time they found the bust of Janus the time period specified would easily be expired.

If only we could have found some way to make sure Buffy and her crew of weirdoes crossed the path of our costume-possessed selves. Warren thought as a slightly unhinged smile appeared on his face, It certainly would be interesting to see them get crushed beneath my boots. Ah well! Gives me something to look forward to after the spell is broken.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Xander's Apartment, 6:00p.m

I don't know if this looks cool on me or if people are going to think I dressed in drag for Halloween. Xander thought to himself as he looked at his fully costumed self in the bathroom mirror, I mean the sword is wicked cool but these boots go a little high and the wig is definitely a little feminine.

Still he had to admit that when he compared his reflection to the picture that had come with the costume he looked like a perfect match for the character. Every item of clothing was in its proper place as prescribed by the picture and every prop was present and accounted for near as he could tell. It had been a little difficult in some parts figuring out what went where and why but eventually he got everything right. The most difficult part was getting the sword to stay on its hook while at the same time making sure he could take it out and wield it if necessary. The character he was dressed as didn't have a sheathe for his sword like you'd expect, it just hung at his side in the game, so the costume designer must have decided to compromise with the hook. It fit nicely through the slits in the hilt guard but wasn't a pain to unhook.

Well too late to make a fuss. I have to get to the Espresso Pump in time to meet Dawn and work up a feasible story to feed Buffy so she doesn't break every bone in my body. Xander thought after checking to make sure that the sea green contact lenses were on right, Definitely one of those times that it pays to plan ahead.

With that in mind he left the bathroom and after picking up his keys as well as his wallet left his apartment bound for the Espresso Pump. Along the way he could see that a lot of other Sunnydale natives were on their way out for trick or treating of their own in a variety of costumes. Some outfits he spotted right away as coming from Zack's store by their look and the fact that they weren't generic vampire or witch outfits. Walking down one street he saw one high school guy wearing an excellent Dante costume from the "Devil May Cry" videogame. The guy gave him a thumbs up approval and with is trademark lopsided grin he returned the thumbs up before continuing on his way. Remembering how many people had been in the shop when he had picked up the costumes for the gang and figuring that there had been a steady flow of customers all week he had a feeling that Zack shop would soon be THE place for costumes. Wouldn't matter if it was Halloween or just a random costume party throughout the year because everyone would know that between Party Town and Zack's Costume store the latter one is the place to go to for quality goods.

Turning the corner he saw no one, much less Dawn in costume, waiting for him at the Espresso Pump which made him wonder if she had gotten caught by Mrs. Summers leaving the house. A possibility considering that while Buffy had managed to sneak out of the house numerous nights for her patrolling of the graveyards and other slayage related duties Dawn was nowhere near as stealthy. If Joyce had indeed caught her youngest trying to sneak out while in costume then he could probably expect a serious lecture followed by 'mother glare #7' before being sent on his way. That of course would be followed by at least a week of probationary observation before things might return to normal between him and the Summers family. Another possibility was simply that he was early and that Dawnie would be along in a few minutes perfectly safe and sound. After all Giles had said that there was no Hellmouthy badness scheduled for tonight, right? Then again that was what the G-Man had said the morning prior to Ethan's little chaos spell and he remembered well what that night was like.

Stop being so pessimistic Xan-man! He thought to himself as he tried to think more positively, It is just like the old saying: if you think you're going to fail then you will. Just keep believing that this will be an honest to god quiet night and it will be.

"Looking good Xan!" said Dawn's voice from behind him and sounding more than a little playful.

Turning around he prepared to deliver a bit of witty quipage of his own but the instant his eyes settled on Dawn Summers his mind went to instant blue screen of death. Standing before him was most certainly not the kid sister of Buffy or the young teen he had hung out with when she was alone at home. Starting from the top, as that would be safer for him, was the wig of long dark brown hair that reached down past her… well… past her waist. It was perfectly put on and even had the trademark dolphin tail curl at the bottom like in the game. The contact lenses she had on were just the right shade of brown to match what her character had in the game but he had a feeling it had taken her a few painful tries to get them in right. Next came… well… the shirt although it looked like it could easily be called a halter top given that it was sleeveless and stopped about an inch and a half below her chest. That last bit he figured had to do with the fact that she somehow had managed to grow two bra sizes since he had seen her this morning. It could simply be that she had wanted to more closely match the picture of her character but a growing chill in his spine told him otherwise. Going on down he came the to the skirt part of the costume and was slightly worried to find that it was a good inch shorter than he remembered asking Zack to make it. The character Dawn was dressed up as wore a mini-skirt that ended just below her butt and that made sense when you took into account that her specialty was hand-to-hand combat. However when he had first spotted the costume he knew that none of the girls would consent to wear it unless changes were made to the length of the skirt. After all if the one that wore it bent over everyone within eyesight would know exactly what type of underwear the wearer wore. So of course he immediately asked Zack if he could make it longer somehow which led to a strip of black cloth of a shade that matched the costume's skirt being sown into the bottom. One could see that the added cloth did not belong to the costume if you looked closely but to the common stranger walking by it would be undetectable. Right now though he could tell that the strip had been removed and the skirt restored to its original length.

Buffy is going to kill me! He thought as he could easily imagine what the blonde Slayer's reaction would be in half an hour when she saw her little sister, and that's if I can convince her that Dawn changed the costume without my knowledge or consent!

Deciding he might as well continue the visual assessment so he could at least know the cause of his impending dismemberment. The dark red boots she wore had thankfully remained unchanged looking just as durable and combat ready as they had when he had laid out the costume for Dawn earlier this morning. Last but certainly not least came the metal gauntlets and elbow pad to complete the outfit. He could tell that they weren't plastic or even cheap metal made to look good but actual battle ready stuff that would take a sledge hammer to put a dent in. Kinda surprising considering that the costumes were usually just meant to look good rather then work like the real deal. Sort of implied that maybe Zack knew a little more about what went on in Sunnydale then most of the local inhabitants.

I think I'll spin by Zack's later tonight and see just how much he does know about the nightlife hereabouts. Xander thought as he brought his eyes back up to Dawn's safe as it was the only safe place to look, If nothing else it'll give us a source of swords and stuff in case we need them.

"Ditto Dawn-patrol." He replied as casually as possible given what the youngest Summers was wearing, "So how many boxes of Kleenex do you got stuffed under that shirt?"

"One and a half." She replied promptly as thought it was perfectly ordinary for a woman to pad her bra to make her chest look bigger.

Not that I know one way or another if women do that of course. He thought to himself suspect honesty. After all that would imply that I've gotten farther than second base with any of my previous dates and given that most of them were only interested in killing and/or eating me I can safely say I barely made it to first nine times out of ten.

"Reasonable. Now how about we come up with a way to keep your sister from blowing her top when she sees you because I was hoping to make this a pain free night." He said in a perfect imitation of her 'it is perfectly normal' tone of voice, "Personally I'm leaning towards the 'unfortunate accident with some spaghetti sauce' mixed with 'forgetting washing instructions' before ending with 'did not look in a mirror before leaving the house'. Do you think she'd buy it?"

"Not one bit Xander." Came the ice cold voice of a blonde Slayer who should not have been there for another thirty minutes, "Now would you care to tell me why my little sister is here and why she looks like she belongs either on a street corner or on American Gladiators?"

Times like this I almost wish someone would cast that stupid costume-becomes-real spell Xander thought as he turned to see the entire gang behind him dressed in their costumes, because I could really use Sephiroth's ability to vanish into thin air at the moment.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Dawn Summers' P.O.V, Same Time

Oh great! She's here! Dawn thought to herself as she took in Buffy looking at her as though she was running around in her underwear, And I was hoping for a few more minutes of watching Xander trying to keep his eyes above my shoulders.

After all it had been her objective from the moment she had first started to think about guys in a romantic kind of way to have Xander look at her as something other than 'the little sister of Buffy'. She had made some progress in that he didn't treat her like a kid but rather as one of the gang but that had been last year and she felt it was time to take things to the next level. That was one of the main reasons she had chosen the Tifa Lockhart costume rather than the Yuffie one when Xander had come around in the morning. While both costumes would've looked good on her the Tifa one she knew would leave her love interest totally non-verbal when he saw her in it. She had easily found the added fabric at the bottom of the skirt and had carefully snipped it off since she didn't want anything to interfere with her plans tonight. Of course she had a pretty good idea why it had been added and while she wanted to blow Xander's mind she did have some decency in her. Instead of her usual underwear she had grabbed an old pair of her sister's spandex biking shorts and once on her she simply rolled up the legs so that they wouldn't stick out from underneath the skirt. True it was somewhat uncomfortable but a little discomfort was a small price to pay for the look in the Xan-man's eyes that she could tell he was ruthlessly trying to suppress.

Looks like phase one of 'Operation: Halloween Seduction' is a success. She thought to herself as she heard Xander trying to keep her bottle blonde sister from pummeling him, Now if I can keep my sister from dragging me home and chaining me to my bed I can move onto phase two which will definitely be interesting.

"How could you let her wear that? In fact what is she even doing here?" Buffy asked in a voice that made it clear she was not happy.

"First of all I made sure to tell the guy at the store to make it more decent looking but apparently Dawn didn't like the alterations." Xander said quickly trying to sound like he wasn't frightened of the glaring Slayer, "As for her being here… well… after I won the bet I went by your place to get your measurements from your mom so your costume would fit. I had to explain everything before I she would give me said measurements and when she found out we were all going around in a group she said that Dawn would be tagging along. Apparently there's a big thing going on down at the art gallery tonight so she needed someone to keep an eye on Dawn-patrol here."

Dawn nodded to confirm the story even though she didn't like the fact that he brought up her Mom's opinion that she needed a babysitter. She was fifteen years old for God's sake! She was of the dating age and at least she was after someone with a frickin' pulse unlike her oh so superior sister who had been in love with a walking corpse at her age. As for her costume it was not much more revealing than the outfits Buffy wore so her big sister had no leg to stand on in that area. It all came down to one thing: she was the youngest in the family and as a result was automatically seen as someone who needed to be handheld as well told what to do because she couldn't possibly know what was best for herself. Her mother she could forgive because it was typical maternal behavior and thus was both accepted as well as unavoidable. With Buffy however she had hoped and expected at least a little understanding seeing as how big sis was fifteen not too many years ago. But NO she has to try to be mini-Mom and get on my case the second our real mom lets up!

Well not tonight! She thought to herself as she kept the determined look on her face, Tonight I am going with them and sticking close to Xander and there is nothing she can do to stop me!

Buffy looked like she was about to say 'it seems I will have to bow out of tonight's fun guys' but was stopped by her cornbread boyfriend Riley.

"It's no big deal Buffy. We'll just to make sure that at least one of us sticks close to her at all times." Riley said trying to make it sound as though Dawn's presence would in no way interfere with their having a good time, "As long as she doesn't go off on her own and is careful around the drink table she should be fine."

While she didn't like the way Riley phrased things she was grateful that he was on her side of things. If at least one more person from the Scooby gang supported her coming along then the odds were good that Buffy would reluctantly cave and not drag her back home.

"It'll be cool. I know most of the guys doing the music for the parties." Oz said with his usual stoic expression, "I'll check with them to make sure no one spiked the punch or anything. No problem."

Yes! Let's see her try and drag me home now! Dawn thought to herself while reigning in the majority of her glee so only a little of it showed up on her face.

Looking at the face of Buffy Summers it didn't take a master of observation to see that the Summers stubborn streak was fighting against the rational reasons and support that had been given. Like every woman in the Summers family she was genetically inclined not to give up until she got her own way. Unless of course one happened to be outnumbered in which case either compromise or defeat were the usual outcomes. Eventually though the eldest Summers child let out a sigh of defeat but still remained stubborn enough to give her a stern glare.

"No accepting drinks from strangers, no going anywhere with strangers and if I see you trying to pick up a guy or pretend to be in university you are so grounded." Buffy stated firmly leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that she meant every word, "Agreed?"

"Agreed." Dawn replied with a slight frown in order to cover up the victorious glimmer in her eyes.

After all even she knew better than to trust strangers and had seen plenty of movies with scenes about what can go wrong at a party. She'd make sure to only drink or eat what the others did and even then keep it to a minimum. Besides she'd be sticking as close to Xander as she could the entire night in order to catch him in her web of feminine wiles.

What's the worst that could happen? She asked herself mentally.

Of course if the rest of the Scooby gang had heard that not only would they have agreed that they had just be assured something Hellmouthy tonight but that it would seriously not be of the good.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Warren's Basement, Five Minutes to 7:00p.m.

"Is everything ready?" Warren asked as he finished putting on the knee-high blue boots that went with his costume.

"Yep! All the drawings have been drawn and all the ingredients have been mixed and put where they're supposed to be." Jonathan replied as he straightened the helmet on his head for what had to have been the twentieth time.

"Then let's get this spell started for the hour is upon us." Andrew said wearing what he claimed was a costume that George Lucas would be using in a future movie.

"Knock off the 'wise old sorcerer' routine and get into position!" Warren snapped as he stepped into the arcane circle that was meant for him.

It was time for him to finally get the tools he'd need to achieve his destiny and he'd be damned if he'd let one or both of these two assholes screw it up. Making a fist with his almost elbow length gloves he could almost taste the power he was about to receive just as he thought he could hear the sounds of conquest in the air. Soon he wouldn't be some loser living out of his mother's basement earning minimum wage and hanging out with guys that barely ranked as losers. By the time the week was out he'd have crushed all resistance in this town and once he had some time to create and outfit an army with the technology his character knew about he would conquer this world. From there anything would be possible including perhaps galactic conquest. Maybe he'd even take up his character's ultimate quest and see if he could find the elusive equation himself.

It'll be something to help me pass the time between conquests. He thought with a sinister inner smile as the other two members of the triad stepped into their own arcane circles, Right now though it's time to focus on the spell and nothing else.

"Alright, remember the sequence of the ingredients and make sure we chant in unison." Jonathan said before closing his eyes to center himself, "Even with our research this spell is a jury-rigged half planned modification of another spell intended to call on the power of a very real god. The potential backfire this could have if we screw up will not be pleasant."

Looking each other in the eye, as if to make sure they were all committed to seeing this through, they nodded once before commencing with the spell casting.

"Janus, evoco vestram animam. Exaudi meam causam. Carpe noctem pro consilio vestro. Veni, appare et nobis monstra quod est infinita potestas." They chanted in unison as they each took one ingredient and began to draw symbols onto the bust of Janus.

Carefully and with the utmost precision they did their work, using brushes designed for incredibly fine painting, until the last of drops of solution were emptied from the bottle's in each of their hands. Putting the empty bottles back down they each picked up a bowl containing a finely ground powder that appeared to have come from two separate sources.

"Persona se corpum et sanguium commutandum est. Vestra sancta praesentia concrescet viscera. Janus! Sume noctem!" the three of them did chant as they sprinkled the contents of their bowls first on themselves and then on the bust itself.

With these final words and ingredients administered the darkness was hurled away by an explosion of light as every symbol, whether it be on the bust or on the floor, lit up with a pure white light unlike anything mankind could ever produce. With a pulse of energy a ripple of energy flew outwards from the bust of Janus like the shockwave of a multi-megaton nuclear explosion. However no damage was done to the basement, the house or the surrounding area at all. Nevertheless that did not mean that all who lived would be spared death and destruction this night because while the spell itself did no harm the three beings who now stood in the basement would likely do that themselves. Where Andrew wells once stood there was now a warrior who had lost all sense of good and evil with only two most important people in his life to give him any stability at all. Where Jonathan once stood a man who had firsthand witnessed how evil and twisted the human race was capable of behaving and this caused him to swear to himself never again would he allow that holocaust to happen again. In place of Warren Mears though was a being that was as far above the other as they were above germs and the power contained within his blood red eyes was such that all save the gods would fear it.

So great was the potential evil in these three beings that the delicate balance between the light and the darkness actually shifted a bit in favour of those damned for all eternity. However as the balance is a state of existence grudgingly agreed upon by both sides the imbalance towards evil now requires that added good be created to balance things out. The form this equalizing source of good would take would be random though and only those with absolute rule over both evil and good had any idea whatsoever. Even they however could be surprised and tonight they would be as surprised as either of them had ever been since their conflict began.

Tonight everything changed.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

On the Other Side of Town, Approaching Sunnydale U Campus

One Minute Prior to the Spell Taking Effect

"Alright Xander. How about you give us some names and some info on these costumes?" Willow asked as they all proceeded to the frat house where Oz had helped to set up the sound system.

"Okay. You Willow are Yuffie Kisaragi princess of the Japanese-like country of Wutai and a materia hunter." Xander replied trying to sound like Giles explaining the latest demon or prophecy, "Your country was defeated by the evil army of the Shinra Electric company and lost the source of its fame which was materia. Being young an ambitious Yuffie decides that she is going to scour the world looking for all the materia in order to restore your homeland to its former glory. Yuffie has attitude and a smart mouth that sometimes gets her in trouble but she's a pretty good person at heart."

This was met with a smile from the brown wig wearing wicca as it sounded like her character was overall pretty good except for the klepto problem Xander mentioned earlier in the day.

"Buffy you are Aerith Gainsborough a girl who has lived most of her life in the lower levels of the techno-city of Midgar." Xander explained switching to something sounding a little more like Dumbledore, "What isn't revealed until later is that she is the sole surviving member of a race called the Cetra who were a nomadic people and very in touch with the spirits of all living things. It's because of her that the rest get involved in a quest to save the planet. Remind you of anyone?"

Buffy gave him a short glare at that last comment but nevertheless could see the similarities between herself and Aeris. Both of them were rare and had the responsibility of saving an entire planet. Of course they were also similar in that they had both died trying to protect everyone but thankfully he had been able to send death packing unlike Cloud with Aeris.

"Oz you are a member of Shinra's investigation division called Reno. While he might seem laid back and lazy he's actually pretty good at his job and takes pride in what he does. He's also never seen without his partner Rude who is pretty much the tall silent type who leaves the talking to Reno." Xander explained once again shifting his impersonation type to Lieutenant Commander Data, "He's a qualified helicopter pilot and his favourite weapon is that shock baton that came with the costume. I know it sounds like Rude would be more your type but I figured it be nice to have you go as someone who was your exact opposite rather than your personality twin."

Oz of course seemed to develop a slight frown at being cast as one of the bad guys but then nodded in acceptance of Xander's reasons before saying his trademark 'cool' response.

"Riley you are the main hero of the story Cloude Strife who is an ex-member of Shinra's elite commando group called SOLDIER. When the game starts you have officially been hired on by a group of terrorists/rebels called AVALANCHE to help them shut down Shinra's draining of mako energy from the planet." Xander explained with his best General Hammond voice, "You act like a typical professional mercenary most of the time but you're a decent enough guy who won't refrain from saving someone in need even if they can't pay you."

Of course Xander refrained from telling the teacher's assistant that Cloud was a major head case with a problem in telling reality from fantasy for the majority of the game. He thought it was a pretty funny pairing, putting the T.A of a psych class and a guy who needed serious therapy together, but kept his laughter to himself.

"And who am I supposed to be Xander?" Dawn asked grabbing his left arm in an attempt to get his attention but oddly enough wasn't letting go once she had it.

"You Dawn are Tifa Lockhart hand-to-hand combat expert and second in command of the terrorist/rebel group known as AVALANCHE." Xander replied in his normal voice as he had run out of people he was good at imitating, "You're the lead female protagonist in the game and a childhood friend of Cloud Strife. She's bright and optimistic and always tries to keep the group thinking positive thoughts no matter the situation. She also has a deep hatred of Shinra after an incident involving one of their celebrity generals resulted in the destruction of her hometown as well as her father."

Dawn smiled when he told her that Tifa was the lead female character and he knew it was likely because it allowed her to get one up on her older sister. The youngest Summers then looked at her sister and gave her some kind of look that caused the blonde Slayer to look like she was ten seconds from changing her mind about letting her little sister join them.

"Who're you supposed to be Xander?" Willow asked as she tried to figure it out for herself by looking at his costume.

"Well Willow you can just call me—" was as far as Xander got before something slammed into him with all the force of a tsunami causing his world to go black faster than a turned off television.

Had he been able to remain aware longer he would have seen that everyone else in the group had felt the blow too and were dropping like puppets who just had all their strings cut at the same time. However that was not the end of it but the first in a chain that would spread further and effect more permanent changes than the ones who cast the spell could have ever foreseen. For there was one crucial element present for this spell that was absent when the chaos mage Ethan Rayne cast his spell two Halloween's ago. Two years ago one Dawn Summers had gotten sick the day before Halloween and thus was forced to remain at home rather than go trick or treating in the costume her sister had gotten for her. As such she was unaffected by the spell which turned Buffy into a witless noblewoman, Xander into a soldier and Willow into the ghost of a good time. This time however, thanks to her mother's job and the clumsiness of one Andrew Wells, she is wearing a costume that is a part of the spell cast this night. It is however her unique heritage, her hidden past, that will truly be responsible for the changes about to occur throughout this dimension and mayhap beyond. For she is the Key made flesh, a source of arcane power that has existed almost since the beginning of creation, capable of great good or terrible evil depending on the circumstances. In this instance through the efforts of Andrew, Jonathan and Warren to make the changes wrought by the spell permanent in flesh, in mind and in soul have caused the chaos magic to touch the energy of the Key within Dawn Summers with unheard of consequences.

In a flash of emerald light so bright it could easily have been seen from orbit an arcane shockwave rippled outwards from the epicentre that was Dawn Summers. Like a rolling wave it flowed over the Earth changing, transforming, shifting things which did exist into that which now did and would be so forever more. Once the changes to the Earth were made one would have expected the wave of energy to terminate but instead it merely reshaped itself before expanding outwards into the galaxy itself.

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Los Angeles

The city of Angels they once called it.

One of the biggest cities in America and like all big cities it had a dark underbelly the local government and local tourist bureau would rather you not know about. What most people don't realize is that there had been even darker underbelly to the city, a demonic community, that only a few people know about much less do anything about. Some chose to make a stand against the demons that would prey on innocent civilians and families while others saw more profit in making back alley deals with them. In any case it wasn't the safest city in the world and has more often than not been called a war zone in the more deteriorated sections.

That was how it had been before the wave of emerald energy washed over it changing everything in ways no one could have foresaw.

In place of the normal city it had once been was a place that looked more like a city from ancient times. Surrounded by a thick and sturdy steel wall twenty stories high with only small garage door openings at the base to allow people in or out was the Los Angeles people now knew and would think had always been there. Inside this protective wall there were two levels that comprised the city and these levels were broken up into eight sections all array around a central point. Sadly there was also a specific arrangement for who lived where with the upper elite living on the plate that gave access to the sun while the less fortunate were forced to live down below in the dark. This arrangement was not the design of the United States government but rather a single multi-national corporation that was an empire unto itself.

It was the Shin-ra Electric Power Company.

A relative unknown until about fifteen years prior when they discovered a new source of energy that they claimed to be the cleanest ever discovered by mankind. Within a year they became the single most powerful company in the world with contracts from every major power on the planet. With this kind of power and influence at its disposal Shin-ra decided to found a city of its own in California, USA to serve as a symbol of its power and technological greatness. Thus was founded the city of Midgard, a city constructed on the former site of Los Angeles, regarded by the majority of the world as a model for them to follow and a sign that Shin-ra was on the cutting edge on all fronts. While those who lived in the city would disagree with that statement, as would any outsiders who came to visit, Shin-ra made sure that only the positive responses reached the world at large.

It is the center of their power base, the place where all their ambitions are born, and the place where they may one day meet their end.

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The Earth

All over the world transformations like the one that altered Los Angeles into the technological city Midgar occurred. In some cases these alterations changed established cities like Manhattan only in one area where Shin-ra's private harbor and security base Junon appeared. In others areas that had once been free of the mark of mankind were now popular tourist attractions like the island of Costa del Sol spread out over the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. Again and again places were changed to suit the new world that was being integrated into the one that came before with no perceivable pattern to what degree the changes would be. The mining town of Corel, the native American village of Cosmo Canyon, Wutai and countless other places sprung up out of nowhere and as far as the world at large was concerned they had always been there.

A new world community had been formed.

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On a level only theorized or glimpsed at by mortal beings changes were being made there as well that the entities in charge of those realms were at a loss as to how to stop or even contain. One such change was that the natural field of magic that had once enveloped the Earth and could be tapped into if one knew how was reduced to half its former strength. At the same time the rivers of molten rock and metal that once made up a large portion of the inner Earth was changed completely transmuting into a mass of spiritual energy that fluctuated between being liquid and being energy depending on its proximity to the surface of the Earth. It was with the combination of the natural magic that had been taken from the surface and this planetary plasma that materia appeared in the world. Green, red, yellow and blue materia now existed of which some was easily obtainable while others were only available to the military and societies elite.

It also on a spiritual/metaphysical level altered the manner in which spirits both entered and left the world whether those spirits belonged to people, animals or plants. Where before the spirits of these various living things would ascend into heaven or phase into another dimension entirely the changes enveloping the planet changed that. Now when an entity in possession of a spirit of any kind died that spirit was absorbed into the mass of energy that now occupied the space once occupied by molten rock and metal. As well whenever new life was about to be created an amount of spiritual energy proportional to the size of the life form about to come into being was released from the soul energy mass within the planet. Needless to say it was drastically different from how things had been done before and those beings that governed over the higher realms as well as those who ruled over the lower ones were most upset by this turn of events. Countless years of planning and numerous agendas were now rendered completely worthless. Add to that fact both sides were still scrambling to obtain a full grasp of the situation along with problems both imminent and long term and the thought of one pimp clothes wearing balance demon summed it up admirably.

What a MESS! Whistler thought to himself as he looked up at the PTBs situation board which at the moment looked like it would overload at any moment from the sheer number of problems popping up all over the place.

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