Date written: Sat 3 Oct 2009
Author: Starway Man
E-mail: theop at hotkey dot net dot au
Disclaimer: The Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar, Kuzui, Fox, WB and UPN; I don't own 'em, and I never will. I also do not own any other characters from any television shows, movies, comics, videogames or literature that I might use. This work is meant merely for enjoyment, and no profit is being made off of it. Some of the text is from various TV episodes or movies or comics or videogames or literature, and so does not belong to me of course.
Rating: Overall R, with mostly PG-13 parts.
Symbols: " " denotes speech, ( italics ) specifies thoughts, and # # indicates phone voice.
Main characters: Xander, ensemble
Warnings: There is some violence, bad language, character death and mention of sexual situations in these stories.
Author Notes: A couple of years ago Night Hunter MGS (a.k.a. Matt) wrote an awesome series of stories called "31 Days of Xanderween" (http://www .fanfiction .net/s/3813208/1/31_Days_of_Xanderween), where he published one Halloween fic for each day of October. I was inspired enough to want to do my own version of the concept, and he has graciously allowed me to use his idea for this series of fanfic stories.
Author Notes 2: Thanks to everyone who's sent in reviews and feedback so far. This story actually came about due to a posting on the XanderZone which Nodakskip told me about a while ago. I don't know who it was by, or when it was posted, but this story is dedicated to that individual.
Acknowledgments: My thanks of course to Matt for allowing me to dabble with his original idea this way. Also, my deepest gratitude to all my beta readers – Francis Eugene, Greywizard, American Soldier and Nodakskip – for all their help in getting these stories finished on time!
Classification: Alternate Universe, Angst, Crossover, Romance, YAHF
Summary: Thirty-one versions of Halloween, Xander-style. Fic-a-day series.
Title:31 Days of Xanderween Part Deux
***
Story 3: Greater Than The Sum
Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale, California
October 30th, 1997
Looking at it in retrospect, everything could be summarized with the last stanza of that old poem written by George Herbert in 1651: 'so it is a kingdom was lost. All for the want of a nail'.
Of course, in this case there wasn't any nail to speak of: but it wouldn't have been wrong to say that everything would have turned out very differently, if Xander Harris hadn't had the bright idea of asking Jonathan Levinson for help with choosing his Halloween costume that afternoon.
"Uh, why are you asking me for again?" Jonathan said in his reedy and nasal voice. "I mean, wouldn't it be easier for you to ask Buffy or Willow? 'Cause everybody knows how you three hang out together like all the time, Xander."
"Yeah, and that's the problem right there, Jonathan. How am I ever gonna get Buffy to notice me as a man, if I can't stop her from thinking of me as 'one of the girls'?" Xander asked, his mind recalling a rather painful conversation during sophomore year.
"Oh. So Buffy's not your girlfriend? Willow either?" Jonathan asked, looking puzzled. "I mean, the latest rumour in the Dungeons & Dragons crowd is that you're secretly dating them both, and playing them off against each other."
"Really? Oh, that's..." Xander looked pleased for a moment, before reality set in. "Hey! That's my friends you're talkin' about!"
"Uh, no offence. I'm just telling you what I heard," Jonathan backed off slightly, mostly due to the fact that Xander was a lot bigger than him.
"Okay, whatever," Xander exhaled, deciding not to think about that for now. "Anyway, like I said I need ideas. Can you think of anything for a good Halloween costume?"
"I take it anything from the comic oeuvre is out?" the nerd asked tentatively.
"Not planning to dress up as Batman, if that's what you mean," Xander scowled. "I already know someone that Buffy's interested in who's all tall, dark and broody that way, and believe me – I have NO intention of being compared to him!"
Jonathan shrugged. "Well, you wanna be a hero or a villain in order to impress the girl? Like, the Joker always had Harley, and Superman had Lois Lane..."
"Huh, I...I don't know. I just don't know, Jonathan," Xander mused. "I mean, do you think I should maybe try to be a combination of both?"
"Not many people like that which I know of," Levinson shrugged. "Of course, you've always got people who were good, then evil, and then good again. I mean like Hal Jordan from Green Lantern, or-or Captain Picard and Locutus from Next Generation..."
Xander's head snapped up, recalling the night six months ago when he had saved Buffy's life after she'd been drowned by the vampire known as the Master: and how, not long before that had happened, he had actually called the Watcher named Rupert Giles 'Locutus of the Borg'. Making a decision, Harris started discussing with his short acquaintance the best way of dressing up as one of the best Star Trek villains ever conceived by Gene Roddenberry and his staff of Hollywood scriptwriters.
It was exceedingly unfortunate that Jonathan suggested Xander get some grey face paint and a plastic skull-cap from Ethan's Costume Shop, the new place on Main Street which had been getting a lot of rave reviews lately...
***
Somewhere on the streets of Sunnydale, California
October 31st, 1997
As the chaos magic flooded into him, that which had been Xander Harris became one of the most dangerous and fearsome creatures to ever walk the earth. Namely, a real-life Borg; a member of the race of cybernetic beings from the Delta quadrant of the Milky Way galaxy.
According to television and movie lore, the Borg were enhanced 'drones' of multiple species, organized as an interconnected collective; the decisions of which were made by a hive mind comprising trillions of members. This process was due to the presence of nanoprobes in the Borg bloodstream or circulatory fluid, microscopic machines acquired from "Species 149" that act to rewrite cellular DNA, linking all members of the collective through a cortical transceiver and maintaining the life-support functions for each drone.
In the case of Xander Harris, though, the nanoprobes did something they had never been designed for: obey Ethan Rayne's magical directives, and create a traditional Borg within Xander's physical form despite there being no collective to suppress his individuality.
( One. One. One, ) the drone automatically counted, finding itself isolated and alone. Examining its organic mind and all the memories contained within it, the drone thought to itself, ( I am not Locutus of the Borg. Locutus is merely a fictional construct, and irrelevant. I am currently the only member of the collective, and therefore One of One. )
At that moment the Borg drone, exhibiting a genuine ashen, greyish skin coloration instead of the body paint Xander had utilised earlier tonight, became aware of a red-haired female humanoid running towards it. "Xander! Xander!"
One of One said emotionlessly, "You are Willow Rosenberg of Species 5618. The Borg collective will be created on your planet, and we will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. You and your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."
"What? Xander! Stop playing around, this is no time for jokes!" the ghost girl said in exasperation. "Look at what's happening all around us, we gotta find Buffy!" Willow gestured around to all the chaos currently taking place.
"Buffy Summers is irrelevant." A flickering cone of light came out of the drone's ocular implant, scanning Willow almost to the molecular level. "Non-corporeal life-form detected. Threat assessment minimal, ignoring Willow Rosenberg."
Willow's eyes went wide as saucers as she finally realized the situation. "Oh my God, Xander, you...you really did become Locutus of the Borg?!"
One of One ignored her, striding off. The nanoprobes within its bloodstream were already augmenting the drone's body, in preparation for something called the "Royal Protocol": that is, a course of action to create a Borg Queen from a female Borg. Well, as soon as he created a female Borg by assimilation anyway. It was a standard fail-safe procedure when cut off from the collective, and One of One had already decided who the new Queen was going to be.
Thus, in a matter of moments, the Borg creature had found the possessed form of Buffy the vampire Slayer. Someone who had dressed up as an 18th century noblewoman tonight, and had been transformed by the chaos magic just like Willow and Xander.
"A DEMON! A DEMON!!" the noblewoman screamed in fright at the sight of One of One, before turning around and running as fast as the frilly red dress she wore would permit. The Willow ghost looked torn for a moment, before deciding to follow her.
The cyborg did not run, it simply marched after them impassively. Unlike humans, One of One would not get tired and the drone knew it would acquire its target eventually, once the female ran out of energy from the exertion of running like that. Before that happened though, the drone heard another female scream and paused to take note of what was happening around it.
( Female humanoid, designation Cordelia Chase of Species 5618. Assimilate into the collective, ) One of One decided then and there. Plotting an intercept course, the Borg drone quickly took care of the creature chasing the cheerleader, considering Jo-Jo the Dog Face Boy something unworthy of assimilation – in accordance with the Borg's twisted notions of 'perfection'.
"Oh my God, Xander, is that you? Hey, what have you done to yourself? That costume looks way more authentic than it did at school a few hours ago!" Cordelia exclaimed, staring at her Borg companion.
"You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile," One of One said dispassionately, before extending a pair of tubules from its hand and injecting its nanoprobes into Cordelia's neck, directly into her bloodstream. Immediately, the victim's skin pigmentation started turning grey with visible dark tracks forming within moments of contact.
"HEY, YOU DWEEB!" was the last thing Cordelia Chase ever shouted, as the first of the new Borg was born in Sunnydale tonight.
***
Calax Research and Development Corporation, Sunnydale, California
November 1st, 1997
Xander Harris came to slowly, gradually, only to find himself strapped down onto what appeared to be a long table of some sort. It was at that point that all the memories of last night came hurtling back into the fore of his mind.
( OH MY GOD, NO! ) Xander was instantly freaked out at all the horrors he remembered from the previous evening. ( PLEASE, PLEASE, LET IT ALL BE JUST A BAD DREAM! )
"Xander Harris of Species 5618."
Harris turned his head slightly upon hearing the flat, atonal female voice, and almost vomited at what he saw. Cordelia Chase was standing before him – but it wasn't the Queen C he knew and loved to hate. For one thing, she was now dressed in a black leather jumpsuit; and for another, she was completely bald and her skin just as grey and ashen-coloured as his had been last night.
He didn't even have to think about it, Xander instantly knew that this wasn't Cordelia anymore. This was no drone either; this was a Borg Queen, in all her glory.
"How many?" Harris managed to croak out. "How many people have been assimilated ever since last night?"
"Not many. It took some time for the royal jelly to enable me to fully take over the collective's activities. But that will be remedied soon enough," the Borg Queen said her robotic, semi-inhuman voice, and then she smiled in a way that truly sickened the former drone. "After Ethan Rayne was assimilated, I knew that you would need to be properly taken care of. The magic spell used to turn everyone into their costumes was designed to end at dawn. And the collective cannot afford for its plans to be disrupted, while there are still so few members present."
"Why?" Xander demanded. As said, he still had all the costume persona memories from last night. "Why are we having this conversation? I know how these things are done, I should be either assimilated or dead right now. What do you want from me?"
"It is true that under normal circumstances, you would have been re-assimilated as soon as the chaos spell wore off. But I am able to learn from my predecessor's mistakes; we both know how much Jean-Luc Picard kept fighting against that Queen, even while he was Locutus. Because he had the one thing that I plan to deprive you of; hope," the female Borg said with an air of finality.
"And how do you plan to do that?" Xander asked, knowing it was futile trying to play games.
The Borg Queen simply smiled that satanic smile again, as two drones – Xander's flesh crawled as he recognized the Borgified features of Rupert Giles and Jonathan Levinson – dragged a pair of bodies into the room. Xander's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked upon the corpses of Buffy and Willow.
"I ordered it to be done. Because there was no place for those two within our collective," the Borg Queen said casually. "Even as drones they would have been too much of a disruptive influence. Therefore I killed them, and both bodies will now be recycled to harvest their organic components."
( Oh dear God forgive me, what have I DONE?! ) Xander thought to himself in horror, blaming himself for what had happened whether it was the right thing to do or not. An abyss of despair threatened to swallow him whole, for his best friends were now dead and soon there wouldn't even be any bodies to bury.
"Cordelia hated me even worse than she always hated Buffy and Willow; we had a history that went back all the way to kindergarten. So why not just kill me and be done with it, like you did them?" Harris asked in a hollow, dead tone of voice. The will to fight had already been drained, just as the Queen had known it would be.
The Borg female actually laughed. "You are far more valuable to me than they ever were – One of One is the progenitor of the Borg collective, after all. That is why your genetic material – and Cordelia's – will be used to create the first generation of incubated Borg drones, once the ranks of the assimilated have been filled properly."
Just for a moment, Xander thought he heard the ghost of Cordelia Chase talking as the Borg Queen deliberately altered the pitch and tone of her voice, "How's becoming a daddy that way sound to you, Xander?"
Revulsion was the last thing young Mr. Harris ever experienced as the Borg Queen came over and injected him with the same nanoprobes that had been injected into her less than twenty hours ago.
"One of One, Primary Adjunct of Matrix 001. Welcome back."
***
Somewhere in a higher dimension
April 5th, 2063
Things had changed a great deal ever since a certain Halloween night back in the 20th century, when a scourge far worse than any demon or vampire had been unleashed upon the living earth.
The Borg collective had assimilated various individuals under the Queen's direction – slowly at first, but then with ever-increasing frequency as the need for concealment grew less and less. There had been hurdles to overcome, and a concerted attack that had almost destroyed the collective in its infancy; but in the end all the obstacles had been annihilated, and the earth's population had stabilised at approximately nine billion.
No vampires, demons or humans; rather, all Borg. A pseudo-race that, even now, was looking to spread out amongst the stars, assimilating into the hive mind all those that they deemed worthy and exterminating those that they did not.
One of the Powers That Be, the individual that would have been known as 'Jasmine' in a very different timeline, sighed as she heard the final pronouncement upon the mortal plane from the leader of her people: "It is finished. There is no more good, no more evil. Through no action of our own, the balance is finally secure."
***
Next: Story 4 - Be Careful What You Wish For