Date written: Sun 11 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: This story is dedicated to Jon-Erik Hexum, who died way too soon in life. And thanks, as always, to everyone who has sent reviews and feedback!
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 11: Voyager!
Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale, California
October 30th, 1997
"HARRIS!"
Xander Harris felt the big meaty hand on his shoulder turn him away from the damned soda machine, and as soon as he saw who had called out his name the young man grew slightly nervous. His companion was no one to be messed with, after all.
"Hey, Lar. You're lookin' Cro-Mag as usual. What can I do you for?" Xander asked.
Larry Blaisdell, the junior football team quarterback, just stared at him for a second. "You and Buffy, you're just friends, right?"
Xander took a moment to think of the beautiful blonde vampire Slayer whom he was in love with. "I like to think of it less as a friendship and more as a solid foundation for future bliss."
Larry either didn't get it or didn't want to get it. "So, she, she's not your girlfriend?"
"Alas, no," Xander sighed as he thought to himself, ( Much as I hate to admit it, Buffy only has eyes for a brooding creature of the night that preys on naïve teenagers... )
The quarterback looked over at the Summers girl as he walked around Xander. "Do you think she'd go out with me?"
"Nah," Xander shrugged. "The Buffster's already got a boyfriend. Well, sorta."
"Yeah? Who?"
"Uh, he's an older guy, don't know him that well myself. I know Angel hangs out at the Bronze, and um, he looks as if he's somewhere in his twenties," Xander said, which technically was nothing but the truth.
( Damn. Never mind, I guess it was worth a shot, ) the hulking football player thought to himself in disappointment. Larry was still a teenager after all and didn't care to mess with older guys outside school. He could kick ass, but preferred that it be people just as old or younger than him. "Well, thanks anyway Harris."
"You're welcome, Lar." Xander started banging on the soda vending machine again.
Larry paused before hitting the machine in a particular place, and a diet Dr. Pepper rolled out of the machine at the bottom. "Score!" he said proudly, grabbing the carbonated drink.
"Uh, Larry? That was sorta mine, I mean I just put a dollar in there?" Xander pointed out the obvious.
"Ah, relax," Larry said, putting his hand on Xander's shoulder again as he steered the male Slayerette away from the machine. "Tell you what, I'll make it up to you. You're takin' part in that Halloween escort thing tomorrow night, right?"
"Yeah," Xander grimaced, not looking forward to having his evening filled with looking after little kids as they went about sleazing candy from the town residents.
"Well, so am I," Larry said as they continued to walk. "And thing is, I'm dressing up as a pirate this year. So I'm gonna need me a crew, right? That's why you should dress up as a pirate too, and hang out with the in-crowd for once in your life. What do you say?"
***
Sunnydale High School Library, Sunnydale, California
Later that day
"Buffy!"
Caught in the act, Buffy Summers yelped, "Giles! Hi!"
"Excellent, I'm glad you're here," Rupert Giles said, not noticing his Slayer's nervousness. "I-I just wanted to talk to you about tomorrow night. As it should be, uh, calm, you might work on some new battle techniques."
Buffy, who was just glad that her Watcher hadn't figured out her mission to sneak into his office and 'borrow' some of his diaries in order to find out more about Angel, shook her head. "You're beginning to scare me, Giles. You need to have some fun in your life."
Willow and Xander, who were both there thanks to the snowball effect of Harris never getting into a fight with the Chosen One over Larry this morning, simply stared at their friend as Buffy gestured to them to go get what they'd come here for. Willow shook her head, too frightened, but Xander gamely squared his shoulders and ventured into the lion's den.
Giles was totally unaware of the violation of his sanctum sanctorum and told his charge, "Fun? I'll have you know that I have very, uh, many relaxing hobbies."
"Such as?" Buffy wondered in honest perplexity.
"Well, um...I enjoy cross-referencing," Giles came up with rather feebly.
"Do you stuff your own shirts, or do you send them out for it to be done professionally?" Buffy asked facetiously. Then she and Giles heard a noise as the clumsy Xander bumped into something in the librarian's office.
"What was that?" Rupert asked, turning around.
"What was what?" Buffy asked desperately, getting in his way.
"I heard something-"
"I didn't. Oh, Giles, I almost forgot!" Buffy urgently tried to get her Watcher's attention. "Um, Ms. Calendar said that you were a babe!"
Rupert stopped dead in his tracks, and turned slightly to see the teenage girl squirming. "She said what?"
Acting meek and uncertain Buffy replied, "Well, she said that you were a...h-hunk of burning...something or other. So, whaddaya think of that?"
It was patently obviously the Englishman didn't know what to think of that, since the beautiful Computer Science teacher was someone he had been developing feelings for lately, but this was like a bolt of lightning straight out of the blue. "Uh, I...I don't, um, uh...a burning hunk of what, exactly?"
"Look, you know how disgusting it is for me to even contemplate you grown-ups having smoochies, but...I think you should go for it." With her enhanced Slayer hearing, Buffy had heard Xander come out of the office and so she knew it was time to start wrapping this little charade up.
Giles said hesitantly, "Buffy, I appreciate your interest, but..."
"But I've overstepped my bounds. It's none of my business, I know that." Buffy started stammering, "What was I thinking? My God! Shame, shame. I gotta go!" The tiny blonde quickly stampeded out of the library, Willow and Xander having already long since departed.
Giles was honestly not sure what to make of the conversation just now. "A babe?" he asked himself. Then he smirked to himself, as primal male ego surfaced in his character for once. "I can live with that..."
Outside, Buffy quickly found her friends and said, "Whew, that was close. Xander, did you get it?"
"Well, uh, I thought he was gonna come in and bust me, y'know, so I sorta just grabbed the first thing I saw on G-man's desk, and then I kinda ran for it..." Xander babbled helplessly.
"XANDER! This book isn't even in English!" Willow exclaimed, after grabbing the tome from his hands and examining it carefully. "There are no pictures inside it either!"
"Hey, I'm sorry! Tell you what, Will, the next time we try to commit a felony against a member of the teaching faculty like that, YOU can be the one to sneak into Giles' office!" Xander said to her in annoyance.
"You mean, I went through all that for NOTHING?" Buffy said in dismay as Willow gave the book back to Xander. "God, Xander, sometimes I think you can't do anything right!"
Harris was getting pretty tired of his girls ragging on him this way. Instead of thanks for putting his ass on the line that way, they were criticising him instead?
( What the hell, maybe I WILL join Larry as a pirate tomorrow night, ) he thought to himself obstinately, as destiny took an unexpected left turn.
***
Somewhere on the streets of Sunnydale, California
October 31st, 1997
As the chaos magic saturated the entire town, a number of things happened. First, all the people who had bought their costumes at Ethan Rayne's costume shop changed into whoever or whatever they'd dressed up as, thanks to the chaos mage's curse. Second, all the children and adults possessed by demons and monsters instantly went on a rampage, hunting down any of the normals in sight.
In the case of Xander Harris, though, something rather odd happened. He had kept the book he had stolen from Giles' office on his person tonight, figuring that he would return it after the evening's trick o' treating was over. But the presence of the book – a book of Slayer prophecy – warped the chaos magic into something unexpected, creating a costume persona for Xander out of a TV show that had lasted barely one season during the 1980's.
Phineas Bogg shook his head, disoriented and confused. ( Where am I? )
The Voyager, a member of a group of humans who travelled back and forth through time to help correct history whenever it went wrong, had no idea where he was, or when, or even what was going on. He quickly looked around for the boy named Jeffrey Jones – a young orphan who had joined him in his travels, not long after Bogg's graduation from the Voyager Academy – but he was nowhere to be seen. ( Damn it, kid, where are you? )
Instinctively, Bogg reached for his omnichron, or omni for short. It was the device used by Voyagers to travel back and forth in time. Shaped like a small brass pocket watch, Bogg quickly found it in the back of his pants; it had been created by tonight's chaos magic to go with the Halloween costume persona, namely a 17th century pirate plucked out of his own time and trained to be a Voyager.
Bogg frowned as he stared at the omni's inner control panel, which featured a small display of the Earth surrounded by associated control dials for selecting the target time and space. The omni also had two indicator lights – one red, one green – to indicate whether the flow of history was right or wrong. A flashing red light meant history was incorrect, and a steady green light meant that history was as it should be.
Unfortunately the red light was currently flashing furiously, which could only mean trouble. Then Bogg saw the readout for when and where he was.
( California, 1997? This is impossible! The omni's only able to take me as far as 1970...oh man, don't tell me the damn thing's malfunctioning again?! ) Phineas groaned to himself.
Putting away his temporal transport apparatus, the Voyager ignored the chaos all around him for a moment as his hands found something else in his pockets. Bogg's eyes went wide, as he recognized the Voyager Guidebook; something Phineas thought he had lost ages ago.
( What the hell? Where did this come from? ) He flipped through the book, seeing the Voyager logo as well as the inscription 'Time Waits For No Man'. ( Have I...have I been dreaming for the last year, or what? )
"Xander, Xander!" Bogg spun around to see a redheaded teenager in a sexy outfit racing towards him. "Are you okay?"
The womanising time-traveller automatically turned on the charm, as he smiled at the female stranger. "Oh, baby, where have you been all my life?"
Unfortunately, the girl only looked annoyed. "Xander, quit messing around. This is no time for jokes!"
"Who's Xander? And what's going on around here?" the Voyager asked, after figuring the rock 'n roll groupie wasn't romantically interested in him. Phineas briefly looked around before saying to his companion, "For that matter, miss, who are you?"
"What? It's me, Willow!" the red-haired girl said vehemently, but then her face fell when she finally understood the situation. "You don't know me?"
"Never met you before in my life," Bogg replied, again looking around briefly. "Uh, you haven't seen a kid named Jeffrey Jones anywhere around here, have you? Dark hair, about yea high, roughly thirteen years old – you couldn't miss him..."
Unfortunately, Willow had no idea who Bogg was talking about. "No, Xa – look out!" she screamed, pointing at a monster heading their way. "Follow me!"
Bogg wasted no time sprinting after the girl, even as his jaw dropped down at watching her go straight through a parked car of all things. There was no time for questions, though, and so he just kept running.
( Man, WHAT is going on here?! )
***
1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale, California
A short while later
Phineas stood discreetly in the background, as he watched the 18th century noblewoman babble incoherently to the ghost or whatever the hell she was. He had obeyed Willow's orders and brought the black-haired female here, instead of following his initial impulse to take her back to 1775 where she obviously belonged.
But now, Bogg was starting to question just WHY Willow was insisting that Lady Buffy belonged in the here and now.
"Where are we?" the noblewoman finally asked, starting to wander around the house.
"This is your place," Willow replied, wondering just what to do in order to fix this mess.
"It most certainly is not!" Lady Buffy snorted in disdain. "Are you so feeble of wit as to think I would not know my own demesnes?"
Willow looked like she wanted to bang her head against the wall. "Buffy, listen to me! Please, try to remember who you really are..." She pointed at a photo of herself, Xander and Buffy all posing together in a group shot. "Look at this, it's a photo of you and me and Xander. Doesn't that ring any bells for you?"
"No! I, I don't understand any of this! Uh, uh, this...this isn't me, this is some other girl!" Lady Buffy put the picture back down after examining it for a moment. "I would never wear that, that low apparel, and I don't like this place, and I don't like you, and I just wanna go home!"
"Well, that can be arranged, milady," Bogg said courteously, before checking his omni; it was still blinking red. "But unfortunately, we can't leave just yet. I'll let you know when it's time, okay?"
"Thank you, kind sir," the noblewoman sent Bogg an honest smile of gratitude and a small curtsey. "My father will no doubt reward you handsomely."
"Xander, what do you think you're doing?" Willow said in exasperation. "I already told you, Buffy isn't who she thinks she is! She's the vampire Slayer, she's just been possessed by her Halloween costume tonight – the same as you! Please stop encouraging her delusions!"
( You're the one who's obviously deluded, Red, ) Bogg thought to himself snippily. ( Whatever the heck you are, anyway... )
Just then, a loud female scream was heard outside. Not an unusual occurrence for Sunnydale, and especially tonight, but still it was something for the white hats to be concerned about nonetheless. Bogg went to the front door, looked outside and then rushed out like a knight in shining armour to rescue the damsel in distress.
As the door slammed shut Lady Buffy cried out, "Come back! Please, do not desert me!"
"Uccch," Willow muttered to herself. "Well, if that's not setting feminism back over two hundred years, I don't know what will..."
"What was that?" the noblewoman asked, turning to the ghost.
"Nothing," Willow said, rolling her eyes. "Don't worry; I'm sure the big strong man will be back to protect you at any moment..." And sure enough, Phineas soon returned with the young woman named Cordelia Chase, who was dressed in a leopard-like cat outfit for Halloween.
"Okay, that was weird," the Voyager said to himself, after encountering that Sasquatch outside.
"I'll say! What's going on around here?" Miss Chase demanded of the room in general.
"Okay, your name is Cordelia, you're not a cat, you're in high school, and we're your friends. Well, sort of," the ghost said with a rapid burst of communication.
"Ah, never mind her. All I want to know, baby, is where have you been all my life?" Bogg once again tried to put the moves on the latest beautiful woman to cross his path this evening.
"What's that riff about? You're not, like, trying to come onto me, are you Xander? Because that would be über-strange behaviour, even for you," Cordelia observed as she backed away in disbelief. Even though, deep down, she felt that her childhood enemy cut a rather dashing figure in his pirate garb.
"Xander? The name's Phineas Bogg," the Voyager said uneasily, starting to wonder if something really was wrong if yet another person was calling him that name tonight. Checking his omni, he was gratified to see the indicator light was finally showing a steady green, obviously he'd helped history get back on track by saving the brunette beauty's life just now.
"Ah, milady, it's time. If you'd care to tell me where exactly home is, I can take you there at once," Bogg offered to the noblewoman.
"What?" both Willow and Cordelia said at the same time in confusion.
"York, England, kind sir," the noblewoman sighed in relief. "My family's estate on Blake Street, to be absolutely precise."
Bogg adjusted his omni for the right destination within the space-time continuum, after which he grabbed Lady Buffy's shoulder...and then they were gone in the blink of an eye. One moment the Voyager and the noblewoman were standing in the living room, the next moment they simply weren't.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Cordelia shrieked, looking around for her missing classmates wildly.
Freaking out herself, Willow had utterly no idea.
***
Blake Street, York, England
October 30th, 1775
Lady Buffy screamed, as she and Bogg plummeted out of the sky and landed ker-splat in the middle of the dirty and dusty road. Fortunately, it was late at night and no one saw the time travellers arrive out of a portal to the future.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" the noblewoman screamed as she got up, rubbing her aches and pains as she headed for the sidewalk. For his part, Bogg got up without complaint: he was far more used to the hard landings associated with the job.
"Err, the cosmos, milady," the Voyager said uncomfortably, figuring it must have been a shock to the woman in question to fly along the arch of the universe that way. He still didn't know how or why she had ever wound up in the 20th century, but he figured it didn't really matter now. "Unfortunately, it was the only way to bring you home. I mean, here we are," Phineas gestured around at the 18th century world.
Buffy, still possessed by her Halloween costume persona just like Xander despite the lack of chaos magic, simply let out a sigh of relief at the familiar surroundings. In the noblewoman's mind, the pain and fear just now more than made up for arriving where she thought she belonged. So Lady Buffy drew herself up haughtily and said, "Thank you for escorting me home. But that will be all, so kindly withdraw from my presence forthwith."
( Well, that's gratitude, ) Bogg thought to himself cynically, as he followed her whilst checking his omni. This was a green-light time and place, so he relaxed slightly. ( Still, never mind; as long as everything's back to normal, I can live with that. )
"Err, I can't help recalling something about a reward, milady?" Phineas asked mostly as a parting shot, as he got ready to resume his Voyager duties. Bogg was still worried about Jeffrey Jones, and figured he should drop by 1982 to make sure the kid was safe where he belonged.
Assuming, of course, that the orphan boy actually existed and Bogg's omni could take him that far forward in time now. One assumption being false and the other being true, unfortunately.
Luckily, Phineas took an extra moment to make sure his Guidebook was still there, which was why he saw the noblewoman stiffen at the sight of the building known as the York Assembly Rooms. "Is everything alright, milady?"
"This isn't my home," Lady Buffy said in confusion. Which wasn't actually surprising since all the memories in her head were fictional ones, created by Ethan's chaos magic. And now that the noblewoman was where she mistakenly believed she belonged, the inconsistencies were finally showing up.
"What is this? I recognize the street, I know where I am but, but this isn't..." the noblewoman gestured helplessly.
Bogg frowned, and stuck out his arm for Lady Buffy to grab hold of. Gratefully, the noblewoman let him escort her inside the dance hall and social activities building. But once inside the York Assembly Rooms, Lady Buffy let out a gasp of horror as she and Bogg passed the vestibule.
Because a soulless vampire was snacking on one of the servants, draining her dry of blood and letting the corpse fall to the floor.
Angelus – a vampire sired in 1753, yet already a legend in the twenty-odd years he had walked the earth as a soulless monster. He took one look at Buffy, wiped his lips of blood and said to Bogg in his Irish accent, "Pretty lass ye got there, lad. So how's the gentleman o' fortune trade workin' out for ye?"
Phineas Bogg's eyes were almost bulging out of his head, as the Voyager had no idea what was going on. He couldn't even guess what Angelus was, as the TV show character simply could not entertain the concept of vampires – given his lack of real-world knowledge. He just backed away, yanking Lady Buffy along, and got out his omni for them to get to somewhere (and somewhen) safe.
But with vampiric super-speed, Angelus sprang upon them.
Bogg only just had time to press the button on the omni before all three disappeared.
***
1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale, California
October 31st, 1997
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Cordelia shrieked, looking around for her missing classmates wildly.
Freaking out herself, Willow had utterly no idea of what was happening. But just then, Angelus, Lady Buffy and Bogg appeared just below the ceiling and fell down hard to the living room floor. The ghost shrieked herself and got out of the way as Angelus arose, a snarl visible on his game face.
"Angel?" Cordelia asked, eyes wide. ( Oh my God, he really IS a vampire!! )
"Where in the name of Satan's deeper-most Hell am I?" the vampire demanded, feeling as out of place as Lady Buffy had done just a short while ago. Then Angelus's eyes widened, as he saw a sight near the kitchen door which he hadn't seen in 22 years.
Namely, someone with his face staring right back at him. "What the-?"
The 244-year-old version of the vampire, Angel, had no idea what was going on. But vampires could sense other vampires, soul or otherwise, and so he could feel the other demon as a primitive reflection of himself. And there was the sight of his own face, which quickly decided the matter for him.
"Where did you come from?" Angel demanded with his American accent, which instantly annoyed Angelus no end.
"Never mind that, old man," the younger vampire said with that jarring old Irish accent. "Where are we? And what's that funny smell coming off of ye?"
"You can't be here – this is impossible," Angel said, eyes narrowed. "And that'd be Liam's soul you're smelling, boy."
"You'd be smart not to call me that, if ye know what's good fer ye," the soulless vampire grunted, even as his guts contracted in horror. Angelus was smart enough to have already figured out the gist of what had happened, who and what Angel had to be. "Where's Darla?"
"Dust, NOW!" Angel shouted as he noticed Bogg about to smack Angelus on the head with a table lamp, going for the moment of maximum distraction. The Irish vampire began to turn around, but it was too late: he ended up out cold even as the lamp shattered in half.
"Find something to tie him up with, Xander," Angel ordered, as he began to drag his younger self to a chair.
( There's that funny name again, ) the Voyager thought to himself in annoyance, even as he began to obey orders. ( Damn it, what is going on in my life right now? )
***
Sunnydale High School Library, Sunnydale, California
Later that evening
The chaos spell was over, as the Willow ghost had gone to the school to find the Watcher and Giles had eventually tracked down Ethan Rayne, beating him up until the mage had revealed how to stop the spell. Thus, everyone had gone back to normal...but there still remained the pesky problem of how to deal with the 1775 version of Angelus, who was now locked up within the book cage.
"So what do we do with him?" Buffy asked, staring at the prisoner and feeling like he was creeping her out. The fact was that she had never wanted to know what Angelus was like, she had never wanted to think about the evil demon that lived underneath her boyfriend's skin; and yet now, she was learning that knowledge whether she wanted to or not.
"Well, my vote says we just stake him," Cordelia said pragmatically.
"We can't do that!" Willow spoke up at once.
"She's right," Giles nodded. "This...thing...doesn't belong here and now. And if we kill Angelus at this point in his existence, then Angel will most likely instantly disappear as well, and history will be disrupted in ways we probably can't even begin to imagine."
"What do you mean, Giles?" Buffy asked in confusion, not seeing Xander silently agree in the background.
The Watcher exhaled. "Angel?"
"Remember when that girl Marcie Ross trapped all of you in the basement, and flooded it full of gas? Odds are if I hadn't shown up when I did, you'd all be dead right now," Angel said emotionlessly. "Or for another example; take the night the Master drowned you, Buffy. Xander couldn't have found his way down into that underground church in time to save you, not all by himself – as it is, he just barely managed to bring you back from the dead with CPR after we got there. The Master would have brought about the end of the world that night if you hadn't been there to stop him..."
"So the old bat nose is finally dust? Well, glad you did at least one thing right," Angelus said from within his cage, finally giving up playing possum as he rose from the floor. "So what now, old man? Yer gonna find a way to send me back where I belong?"
"No. It's not that simple," Xander said, the former Voyager finally entering the conversation. "The timeline's become way too contaminated – this undead asshole has already learned too much about the future. I'd say odds are he'd find some way to avoid getting cursed with a soul when the time comes."
"Yeah, you're probably right," Angel said, staring at his doppelganger. That arrogant smirk annoyed him, as much as it had annoyed all the vampire hunters who had chased after him for 150 years. "I always was too clever for my own good..."
"We need to wipe out his short-term memory," Xander decided. "Giles, is there any way to do that?"
"Uh, yes, there-there are a number of forgetting and mind-control spells I know of..." the Englishman mused.
"To hell with that! You people aren't doin' magic on me!!" Angelus snarled, showing his demon face at once and rattling the bars of the book cage. "Try it, and I'll rip out yer hearts with me bare hands!"
Buffy just stared as everyone else ignored him, and the Scooby Gang began to put together a plan of action. After they were all agreed on what to do, Giles got out a green crystal and a sample of Lethe's Bramble, and chanted for a moment. Angelus immediately dropped to the floor, out cold and his immediate memory wiped clean.
Angel and Xander subsequently dragged him out of the book cage, and Giles and Willow began to conduct a ritual to send Angelus where he belonged, entreating Eryishon the Endless One to create a temporal fold into which the evil vampire was hurled before he and the portal vanished into thin air.
***
York Assembly Rooms, York, England
October 30th, 1775
Angelus came to slowly, groggily, feeling a female hand continually slap him on the face. "Angelus! Wake up, you fool!"
"Uh...Darla?" Angelus said blearily, not able to remember what had happened to him or his fantastic journey into the future. "Where am I?"
"Somewhere where you'll draw a lynch mob straight to us, if you don't help me get this body out of sight!!" Darla growled at him, very upset. "What happened to you? You fell asleep after draining this insipid fool of a girl? I thought I taught you better than that..."
Feeling like he was sleepwalking or something, Angelus mechanically got up and obeyed his sire's orders. He had the strangest sensation that he'd forgotten something; but try as he might, he simply couldn't remember what.
( Ah, never mind, ) the soulless vampire eventually thought to himself, as he and Darla finally adjusted their clothes and went out to mingle with the rest of the guests for tonight. ( 'Twas most likely unimportant, anyway. )
History had thankfully resumed its proper course, even if there was no green light from a Voyager's omni to indicate that.
***
17619 White Oak Drive, Sunnydale, California
November 1st, 1997
Xander sat leaning against the basement wall of his home, a book nestled on his lap. There was a thousand-yard stare on his face, as well as a feeling of horror in his heart as the male teenager pondered the volume he held in his hands.
The Voyager Guidebook was no more, that was true enough. It had ceased to be that after the chaos spell was over, and the book had reverted to its previous state – the 'Pergamum Codex'. The book of Slayer prophecy concerning the end times, which Rupert had obtained from Angel around six months ago, and which Xander in turn had obtained from Giles' office.
The only problem, however, was that it was not now as it had been before, a collection of barely comprehensible writings by a collection of fifteenth century seers who'd had no idea what CPR was. The text was in clear, modern English. And it didn't just go up to the May of 1997 as it had done before, either. No, the book now described what would happen to the Slayer line, all the way to roughly two centuries in the future.
Xander studied the book for a moment. Even though it was Slayer-centric, he had found enough references to himself and his friends in there to give him a VERY detailed idea of what was to come.
Billy Fordham. Eyghon. The second Slayer, Kendra. The robot called Ted. The Bezoar eggs. Angel losing his soul. The werewolf named Oz. The Valentine's Day love spell. The death of Jenny Calendar. Der Kindestod. The poltergeist, Jim Stanley. Himself almost becoming a fish monster. Kendra's death, and the Big Lie.
Xander flipped through the pages, not wanting to think about what else he'd read, and what else was in store for him and his friends (and Cordelia).
The third Slayer, Faith. The vampire Kakistos. Mr. Trick. Slayerfest '98. Spike. The rebar. The Wish. The Cruciamentum. The Deputy Mayor. Anyanka the vengeance demon, who was to become the human named Anya Jenkins. Vamp Willow. The Mayor. Faith's coma. Buffy's Graduation plan leading to Larry's death, and Cordelia's and Angel's departure from Sunnydale.
Riley Finn. Spike again. Halloween 1999. The Initiative. ADAM. Faith's awakening, and departure, and self-imprisonment. The Lowell House sex-a-thon. The big Scooby gang fight engineered by Spike. The enjoining spell. Buffy killing ADAM.
Dawn Summers. Glory. Riley's departure. Olaf. The death of Buffy's mother, Joyce. The Knights of Byzantium. Buffy sinking into a comatose state. Her big swan dive off a tower built by crazy people, and dying to save the world.
Buffy clawing her way out of her grave after Willow's resurrection ritual. Buffy singing how her soul was torn out of Heaven. Halloween 2001. Buffy screwing Spike just to feel something, anything, again. The nerd herd. Buffy juggling, during the debacle of his failed wedding to Anya. The confessions outside the Magic Box, after the free porno exhibition on TV. Spike's attempted rape of Buffy, and departure from Sunnydale. Warren shooting Buffy in her own backyard. The death of Tara, the birth of Dark Willow and her fight with Buffy that almost led to destroying the world.
The return of Invisible Willow. The return of the ensouled version of Spike. The First Evil. Buffy trying to kill Anya. Spike's trigger. Principal Wood. The demon girl named Lyssa, who almost bled him to death. The return of Faith. Caleb. The mutiny against Buffy. The "bloody brilliant plan". The Sunnydale crater.
The 1800 Slayers, world-wide. Twilight. Buffy having sex with a girl. Slayers having to go underground, in part thanks to an undead airhead getting her own TV show. The retreat to Tibet. The shocking true identity of Twilight. The end of magic, and the disappearance of Slayers and demons. A vague reference to someone named Melaka Fray, a girl destined to be born centuries from now; the last Slayer to ever wield the Slayer scythe.
( Too much. Man, it's just TOO MUCH for a guy to deal with, ) Xander thought to himself in despair, briefly holding his head in his hands. ( How the hell can THIS be what the future is destined to become?! )
Then Harris stood up, a look of determination appearing on his face.
( No, screw that! ) he decided. ( I may not have my omni anymore, but I still have my Guidebook. Okay, make that anti-Guidebook. And sure as hell, it's not going to turn out anything like this if I have anything to say about it! )
Who knew? It was possible that Alexander Lavelle Harris would succeed in creating a better future for himself and his friends.
History is never certain where a Voyager is concerned, after all.
***
Next: Story 12 - Space Command