Date written: Fri 16 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: I have to admit, 1978 was very good year and some excellent movies came out of Hollywood back then. The original film called 'Here Comes Mr. Jordan' was good too, of course, but for me, the Warren Beatty movie is what truly inspired this story. Anyway, my thanks as always to everyone who's sent feedback and reviews, please keep it coming.
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 16: Hello Mr. Jordan
Sunnydale High School Library, Sunnydale, California
October 30th, 1997
Xander Harris was, to put it rather bluntly, an outcast. Too much like a jock to fit in with the school nerds, and too much of a geek to fit in with the popular crowd, he existed on the fringes of the high school hierarchy; someone who had only two friends in this world: Buffy Summers and Willow Rosenberg.
( I gotta learn to stand up for myself, ) the boy thought to himself firmly, as he paced back and forth in the empty library. That idea was pretty much a given now, thanks to Buffy deciding that she had to defend him against Larry Blaisdell, the football quarterback who had been about to beat Xander to a pulp in the student lounge today.
( I gotta get a Halloween outfit for tomorrow night that makes a statement to both Larry and Buffy... ) Harris then thought to himself rather despondently.
Suddenly, Xander had an idea.
***
Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale, California
October 31st, 1997
Larry was feeling like he was in a pretty good mood today. Okay, Buffy Summers had utterly rejected him, but there were plenty of other fish in the sea; and it wasn't like she was all that hot-looking, either. Plus, it was certain she wouldn't always be there to stop him from kicking the ass of that wienie who followed her around like a love-sick puppy.
Speaking of which...
"Where's your bodyguard, Harris? Curling her hair?" Larry sneered, as he came up to Xander from behind. He suddenly frowned at the costume the wimp was wearing, grey sweatpants and tracksuit top plus a golden trumpet held in one hand. "Who the hell are you supposed to be dressed up as?"
"Joe Pendleton, starting quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams – before they moved to St. Louis two years ago," Xander replied, relishing the look of momentary confusion on Larry's face. "You DO know who that is, right, Lar?"
"Of course!" Larry spat out, even though that was a bare-faced lie: the high school quarterback had never heard of the man, even though the Rams used to be one of his favourite NFL teams. That, of course, was due to the fact that Larry had never heard of the 1978 movie, 'Heaven Can Wait'.
"One of the best damn arms in the whole League!" Blaisdell then declared firmly, hoping to bluff his way past the fact he had no idea who Harris was talking about.
"Superbowl material, yeah," Xander tried to hide a grin. "Well, 'scuse me – I've got my squad waiting for training and all..."
"Huh?" the young man dressed as a pirate asked, before recalling that Xander wasn't part of the Sunnydale Razorbacks in any way, shape or form. "Hey! Harris, you cut that out!"
But it was already too late for that, as Xander left him behind with a huge grin on his face.
***
Somewhere on the streets of Sunnydale, California
Later that night
When the chaos spell took place not long after sunset, for all its victims it was like being hit with the mystical equivalent of a freight train.
Ethan Rayne, the owner and proprietor of Ethan's Costume Shop, had just finished incanting a spell empowered by the Roman deity known as Janus – something designed to turn everyone who had bought a costume at his store into whoever or whatever they'd dressed up as. In the case of Xander Harris, that worked both ways: he not only became the fictional football player known as Joe Pendleton, but he also became a ghost – as Xander's physical body crashed to the ground, dead.
"What the hell-?" Joe looked around in surprise. He could see himself on the ground, or at least someone who looked like him from the back – Xander's face wasn't visible. The spirit stood there for a moment, and then he started watching parents and children around him running in all directions. He saw things being thrown and windows being broken, as creatures that looked like demons started running amok on the street.
( Where am I? What's going on? ) Pendleton asked himself, as he tried to remember what the heck he was doing here.
Unfortunately, he failed. Joe's last memory was of leading the LA Rams to victory in Superbowl XIII within another man's body, and of his spirit guide, Mr. Jordan, removing all knowledge of his past life; thereby leaving him behind to actually BECOME the quarterback known as Thomas Jarrett, and putting him back on his predestined path in life. Something that instantly made him want to be sick.
( Oh my God – I can't believe Mr. Jordan did that to me! I know he said that everything happens for a reason, but that's going too far... ) Joe thought to himself.
"Xander! Xander – what, oh my GOD!" Joe heard a young woman scream almost directly in his ear. He turned around to see the girl named Willow Rosenberg point frantically at the body near their feet, "You're down there, and yet you're up here as well? You're...you're a ghost like me!"
"Who's Xander?" Joe didn't get it. Then he stuck his hand through Willow's incorporeal form, to confirm her status. ( Well, I guess it's nice to have company again during this sort of thing. ) "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Joe Pendleton, and you are?"
"I'm, I'm Willow Rosenberg, but Xander – do you really not know me?" The girl was gazing at him with a terrified look on her face.
"Who's Xander?" Joe asked again, beginning to get annoyed.
Just then, a monster roared from across the street. Unlike events in a world where Xander Harris had dressed up as a soldier, there was nothing Joe Pendleton could do to prevent the creature from coming towards them; and as the demon advanced, one of its clawed feet landed squarely on Xander's dead head, squashing it like a grapefruit.
Immediately, the ghost who thought he was Joe Pendleton began to fade away, until there was nothing left of Xander Harris to see in the chaotic Sunnydale night.
"XANDERRR!!" Willow screamed hysterically, staring at her friend's desecrated corpse in sheer horror.
Of course, that was almost nothing compared to what happened later on – when Buffy was brutally murdered by a demon, Cordelia Chase was mauled to death on the street by the monster chasing her, and a vampire found Willow's comatose body lying on that porch and drained her of blood completely, causing her ghost to fade out of existence as well.
***
A higher dimension way-station
A time meaningless to mortal minds
Within a white, cloud-like environment Xander Harris was walking along with his escort, still clad in his grey Halloween costume and carrying his golden trumpet. The young man was thinking that this was a very lifelike dream as he glanced at the man next to him.
"Hey. Uh, who are you?" Xander asked politely.
"I'm your escort, Mr. Harris. Please, let's not dawdle, we're running somewhat late today as it is," the man said, not bothering to look at his charge.
( Ah, right, I'm dreaming that I'm Joe Pendleton and that I'm actually the leading actor in the movie. Well, cool! I can't wait to tell Willow and Buffy about this after I wake up! ) "Right. So, do I get to meet Mr. Jordan before we get to the plane?"
The escort frowned, turning to face Xander as they walked. "How did you know the name of my supervisor?"
"Never mind that, dude, I'm dreaming. Why spoil all the fun with the whole meaningless exposition thing?" Harris sent a beaming grin to his escort.
The heavenly messenger just kept frowning, as they reached the end of the line. "Mr. Harris, I need to explain before you proceed any further. Now, this is not your ultimate destination-" the escort started to say.
"-it's just a way-station," Xander said at the same time as the escort, still grinning. "I know, pal. I'm supposed to get aboard that plane, which is actually just a representation of my mind, and it'll take me where I'm supposed to go next. And now, this is the part where I say there's been a big mistake, and you bring Mr. Jordan to talk to me, and we get this whole thing straightened out, right?"
The escort frowned again. ( What's going on here? ) he wondered, before he quickly came to a decision on what to do. Which was to pass the buck as soon as possible, just like any earthly flunky would have done.
"Please wait here, Mr. Harris," he said. "I need to go talk to my supervisor." With that, the escort walked off a little further down to the front of the line.
"Xander? What are you doing here?" Buffy's confused voice distracted the young man, as he whirled around and saw the beautiful blonde heading straight towards him in her noblewoman outfit, along with her own escort. "You've never been in my dreams before..."
"Your dream? Sorry, Buffster, but this is MY dream," Xander felt the need to correct her. "And believe you me, this is way different to the usual ones I have...where you're wearing nothing but a lime-green bikini, and finally ramming a stake into Dead Boy's chest-"
Buffy instantly slapped him, an angry look on her face. "If I wasn't dreaming, Xander, I would be SO pissed off at you right now!"
"What the hell is going on here?" the angry voice of Cordelia Chase intruded into the conversation, distracting Xander from the shock of being slapped like that. He suddenly got a very bad feeling in the depths of his stomach, as Cordy shooed her escort away and strode in his general direction.
The brunette girl, who was still wearing her leopard-like cat outfit, joined Xander and Buffy and said, "What are you two doing in my dreams? As if I don't suffer enough from you people while I'm awake and at school!!"
"Uh, guys? Hi," Willow's timid voice appeared out of nowhere, as the redhead came out of the white fog with her own escort, who placed her in position behind Cordelia and then walked to the front of the line of people to join his colleagues. "Will-will somebody please tell me that I've been dreaming lately, a-and that I'm gonna wake up from that nightmare of seeing you all get killed just now?"
"WHAT?" Xander, Buffy and Cordelia all said in unison. "Willow, what are you talking about?" the blonde Chosen One then demanded. "Man, if this is a prophet-y Slayer dream, then I really have a bone to pick with the people who send 'em to me!"
"Excuse me just a moment," the middle-aged gentleman in a suit and tie broke into their conversation, as he came over to the teenage quartet. "I take it you're Alexander Harris?" he asked in Xander's direction.
"Hello, Mr. Jordan," Xander replied weakly, the lead ball in his stomach now threatening to give him an ulcer. "That IS your name, right?"
"Well, one of them at least," the man looked confused for a moment. "How did you know that?"
"Yeah, Xander, how DID you know that? And hey, why is it that none of this actually seems surprising to you?" Buffy demanded.
Xander abruptly noticed that they were the last ones left in line; the rest of the passengers had all boarded the plane by now. "Mr. Jordan, I'd like to request a check-out for all four of us, if that's okay? The names are Alexander Lavelle Harris, Buffy Anne Summers, Cordelia Rose Chase, and Willow Danielle Rosenberg." The young man was almost literally grasping at straws here, as he gestured to his female companions. "When are we all officially due at this way-station? Because I'm really hoping there's been a big mistake, and we didn't all die during Halloween."
"Oh dear God! You mean, that wasn't just a bad dream?!" Willow shrieked at once. "Xander, you mean I-I really did see your head get splattered all over the street, a-and Buffy really got her heart ripped out?"
"No..." Buffy looked green, suddenly recalling that.
"No, no, this isn't happening!!" Cordelia said in denial, memories of that Sasquatch feasting on her flesh suddenly filling her mind. "I am NOT dead! I still have way too much to do in my life! I don't accept this, no way!"
"Mr. Jordan, everyone else is aboard," one of the escorts reported to the supervisor. "Sir, may I suggest-"
"I want an official ETA on Alexander Harris, Buffy Summers, Cordelia Chase and Willow Rosenberg immediately," Mr. Jordan interrupted his minion, staring hard at Xander.
"Sir?" the heavenly messenger looked confused. "They're right here, their estimated arrival time has already passed..."
"Just do it," Mr. Jordan's tone was one that didn't countenance disobedience.
"Yes, sir." The escort went over to a red telephone. He punched in some numbers, and then appeared to go white with shock. "Uh, sir? I think you better take this personally, it's one of the Powers themselves..."
This time Mr. Jordan was the one to go pale. He grabbed the phone and said, "Yes?" He listened for a few moments. "I see. Very well, I'll do my best...yes, thank you, sir. Goodbye." He looked over at the heavenly messenger as he hung up and said, "Let the others depart to their final destination, I'll be taking over this case personally." He went over to rejoin the Scooby Gang, "I take it that you alone know what's really going on, Mr. Harris?"
"Okay, that's it! I want to wake up RIGHT NOW!!" Cordelia yelled, glaring at Mr. Jordan. "What do I have to do, like, pinch myself a zillion times?!"
"Miss Chase, all of you – look at me and listen very carefully to what I have to say. This is not a dream," Mr. Jordan said slowly and cautiously. "Life has a certain quality all its own, a certain feeling if you will. So do dreams. Deep down, you must know by now that this is not life, and it seems I must inform you that this is not a dream, either. This place is-"
"-what comes after life and after dreams," Xander said in perfect synch with Mr. Jordan, quoting from the movie. "Face it, Cor. You're dead. We're all dead, and our souls are here to be sorted to their final destinations. Game's over; as in do not pass Go, and do not collect two hundred dollars.
"Unless I happen to be wrong, by some kinda miracle?" Harris asked without much hope in his voice.
"No, or rather – not completely," Mr. Jordan replied, seeing the blonde, the redhead and the brunette openly gaping at their male friend. "I've just been in contact with the Powers That Be, Mr. Harris. Apparently, there's been some sort of error; the official arrival times for all of you were, in order of appearance, May 8th, 2001 for Miss Summers. March 23rd, 2004 for Miss Chase. January 19th, 2006 for yourself. And finally, June 6th 2202 for Miss Rosenberg here."
"Okay, I've heard just about enough of this," Buffy said roughly, refusing to believe any of it any longer after hearing the ridiculous assertion that Willow was supposed to die two centuries from now. The female warrior said roughly, "Mister, I don't care if I'm having a Slayer dream or not – if I don't wake up soon, I'm gonna make this your own personal nightmare!"
"Wait, please, Mr. Jordan – lemme handle this," Willow cut in at once, seeing the dark expression on the older man's face. She turned to her Slayer friend and said, "Buffy, think it through. How can this be a dream? Do you remember going to bed and falling asleep? Because I can remember watching you die on the street, just a few seconds after Xander got killed by having his head smashed apart. Don't you remember our last conversation? You called me a 'wanton strumpet', a-and you were acting like a noblewoman from 1775," Miss Rosenberg insisted.
"For a few moments, I was Joe Pendleton, that guy from the movie 'Heaven Can Wait'," Xander added in a haunted tone of voice. "And Willow, you were a ghost as well."
"Yeah. Even if I don't get why I ended up here, what happened to my body..."
"It was in fact drained of blood by a passing vampire, Miss Rosenberg. All of you were turned into your Halloween costumes by a chaos spell – apart from you of course, Miss Chase," Mr. Jordan explained, glancing in the ex-socialite's direction. "According to my information, Mr. Harris, you didn't choose the Halloween costume that you were originally destined to purchase at that point in your life, due to the nature of chaos interfering with probability and outcome. This in turn led to the deaths of all four of you, due to a series of events which has...well, simply put, it's resulted in a terrible disruption of the cosmic balance."
"Wait a minute, are you saying that all this is MY fault?" Xander asked, eyes wide.
"Well, duh! How could it be anything other than that?!" Cordelia said snippily. "Typical, you stupid dork. Even when you're not trying, you still manage to screw things up for everybody!"
"Why are you even here, Cordelia? Shouldn't you be headed down south in the direction of a warmer climate, so to speak?" Xander shot back, a sliver of venom in his tone.
"That's enough, both of you," Mr. Jordan interrupted the insult contest. He was starting to get annoyed from the teenagers' antics, something that hadn't happened in nearly ten thousand years. "This is no one's fault, so kindly cease and desist from the bickering."
Buffy was looking sick, still finding it hard to believe that she was dead – again. "Uh, can't you just send us back? You know, put us back in our bodies, and we all pretend this whole thing simply never happened?"
"I'm pretty sure that's not an option," Xander said at once, looking at Mr. Jordan. "If I had to guess, the best you can do is that thing of putting us into the bodies of other people that are about to die, right?"
"Indeed," Mr. Jordan nodded, no longer surprised at how much Xander seemed to know about the system here.
"Why?" Cordelia demanded. "Why can't I just be me again?"
"I don't have a head, Buffy doesn't have a heart, Will doesn't have any blood left, and you...well, I'm willing to bet that however you finally bought the farm, it didn't exactly leave your body intact," Xander wisecracked.
"SHUT UP, Xander! God, how is it that even after I die, I still can't be rid of you? What am I, cursed?" Miss Chase ranted.
"I said, enough! What we need to focus on is fixing what's happened – as quite frankly, the earth will be destroyed without all four of you present to play your parts," Mr. Jordan snapped.
"How, exactly?" Willow demanded. "I also wanna know, how the heck was I originally supposed to live for over two hundred years?"
Mr. Jordan contemplated that for a moment, and then said, "I think it'll be easier if I simply showed you." He paused. "This is what your life would have been like, had you not died earlier this evening." He snapped his fingers, and then Willow went rigid for a few moments.
And then she screamed.
Actually, that was putting way too mildly. Willow shrieked and screeched and yelled so loudly, the entire way-station trembled at her outpouring of grief and pain.
"Willow?!" Buffy, Xander and Cordelia shouted, trying to maintain their balance as the cloud-quake somehow shook their entire surroundings. Harris eventually made his way over to his childhood friend's soul and grabbed her tightly, which finally made Willow calm down; at least, enough for the quake to subside.
The redhead was still shaking her head though, muttering, "No, no, no..." without stopping. The young woman's mind was overloaded by the memories of two centuries worth of life, of all the good and evil she would have accomplished under different circumstances.
Moving on from Xander; cheating on her boyfriend Oz; discovering her soul mate Tara; helping save the world from Glory; nearly destroying the world after Tara's death; the mass Slayer activation; Twilight; losing her new girlfriend Kennedy; delving into dark magicks again before a time-travelling Buffy killed her during the 23rd century – everything.
"Miss Rosenberg? Miss Rosenberg!" Mr. Jordan's voice cut through her frantic thoughts of denial. "Please try to focus, or else I will have to remove all that information within your mind immediately."
"Willow, what's wrong?" Buffy stepped forward to her best friend, and was both hurt and surprised when Willow instantly jumped back, dragging Xander with her. "Willow?"
"Later," Willow said in a haunted tone of voice, unable to explain anything right now. "Much, much later..."
***
1420 Truman Drive, Sunnydale, California
February 16th, 1998
The witch known as Amy Madison began to prepare a magic spell in her room as, unbeknownst to her, the invisible souls of Willow and Mr. Jordan looked on. The red-haired girl had had a lot of time to get used to her memories of what would have been, and so she was now more-or-less functional again. She wasn't exactly happy, granted, but at least she could think straight once more.
Willow looked sadly at her former classmate, before turning to face Mr. Jordan. "Why Amy? She's my friend, Mr. Jordan, or at least here and now she still is – before she eventually turns her into her mother. Why does she have to die?"
"It's her time, Willow. It's her new destiny," Mr. Jordan replied, no longer using her surname when addressing her. He had done the same for Buffy, Cordelia and Xander as well, before they had finally been placed into the bodies of Amanda Bell, Holly Charleston and Mashad Bolling – before the memories of their past lives had been erased by the heavenly being. Mr. Jordan added, "There's a reason for everything. There's always a plan-"
"Yeah, sure there is," Willow interrupted angrily. "A plan where my friends suffer horribly and die young, while I hang around for two centuries as an evil, crazy, skanky 'ho. It doesn't matter that Buffy, Xander and Cordy don't remember who they were anymore, and that I won't remember being Willow Rosenberg in a few minutes either; just as long as the 'big picture' remains intact, right? Four lives for over six billion others, a-anyone can do that math!"
Mr. Jordan didn't reply, he simply gestured as Amy's spell exploded in her face and the blonde witch collapsed to the ground. Within moments, the body rose up again with Willow now in the driver's seat. She looked in the mirror and said, "Huh. I can still see myself? I wasn't expecting that..."
"That's because you're still Willow Rosenberg, at least for now. But once I've gone, you'll be Amy Madison and resume your own path..." Mr. Jordan said slowly, trailing off as he started looking up. "What? I don't understand, I..."
Willow looked puzzled, as she saw Mr. Jordan start to fade away. "Mr. Jordan? What's wrong?"
"I must say, this is utterly unprecedented...goodbye, Willow..." was the last thing the man managed to say, before he disappeared from sight completely.
Willow waited for her memories to disappear, for her to take over Amy's life and become the blonde witch completely. But nothing happened. Willow waited and waited, but she could still remember everything; and then there was a knock on the door.
"Yeah?" the female teen called out, still trying to guess what was going on here.
"Amy? It's time for dinner," said a voice Willow recognized as belonging to Amy's father. "Honey, don't be long, okay? The food will get cold!"
"All right," Willow said hesitantly, as she headed towards the door. Still not sure what was going on, she opened up and said to Mr. Madison, "I'm coming..."
***
Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale, California
February 17th, 1998
Willow sat in the library, all alone. She looked around, wondering yet again just what to do next.
Much to her surprise, she had found she was still herself and not Amy Madison, and so she had come here to discuss the situation with Giles. Unfortunately, though, that plan had proven to be a bust; the British Watcher had returned to England after all of their funerals nearly four months ago, and Angel had disappeared out of his apartment as well. If Willow had to guess, he had gone underground and was probably in LA, as the vampire had quite the upcoming destiny there.
The young woman also had no idea where Kendra and her Watcher would be hiding in Sunnydale right now, either, assuming for the sake of argument that the Council had sent them here to take over Hellmouth guardianship duty.
Thus Willow had no one to talk to and confide in, as 'Amanda', 'Mashad' and 'Holly' currently had no idea who she – or rather 'Amy' – was.
( I guess that doesn't really matter, though; I can become friends with Buffy and Xander and maybe even Cordelia soon enough, ) Willow thought to herself with a frown. ( Assuming, of course, that I don't forget everything anytime soon. Which should have happened by now if it was ever going to happen, right? Mm, I think the best bet is for me to assume that all this is permanent for some reason, and I just do whatever I can to prevent the same mistakes from happening all over again... )
***
Sunnydale Museum of Natural History, Sunnydale, California
May 11th, 1998
Willow waited for Sam Zabuto, Watcher to Kendra the vampire Slayer, to finish examining the rectangular chunk of rock containing the demon statue Acathla. It hadn't been easy getting Sam and Kendra's confidence over the last few months, but in between trying to stop der Kindestod, the poltergeist Jim Stanley, the swim team fish monsters and everything else, Willow had finally managed to get them to begin trusting 'Amy Madison'.
Sam examined the runes on the rock and frowned. His Oxford accent was quite evident as he turned to Amy/Willow and told her, "Yes, it is as you said, Miss Madison. I must call the Council at once, and arrange for this artefact to be sent to England. If this is, indeed, the container of Acathla..."
Impulsively, Willow did a spell – since this was no longer her body, her magical power was greatly diminished but still sufficient for the task at hand – and the front section of the rock collapsed face-down, making a rather loud racket. It was a good thing, therefore, that the museum staff had already gone home for the evening and the night watchman was snoozing instead of patrolling.
"Ooops! Sorry," the witch apologized lamely. Willow kept forgetting that her use of magic in this body was still kinda wonky at times.
Kendra's eyes had gone wide at the sight of Acathla, though. "Dis ting is evil! I can sense it!"
"Indeed," Zabuto agreed, he had recognized the stone demon at once. "This changes everything! Kendra, we must hurry and remove this demon from the museum before sunrise." This was, indeed, a very good thing, since it now meant that the vampires wouldn't have a chance to get Acathla first.
***
City Hall, Sunnydale, California
May 14th, 1998
"What's the meaning of this? How did you three get in here-?" Mayor Richard Wilkins the Third demanded angrily as he rose from his desk in order to confront the Watcher wet works team known as Smith, Collins and Weatherby.
The Council operatives didn't say anything, as they had already been briefed on what to do by Zabuto – who had in turn been informed by Willow of certain facts. The British gunmen simply opened fire and terminated the Mayor's life, before departing the premises at once.
They had a dormant demon statue to transport back to the United Kingdom as soon as possible, after all.
***
The Bronze, Sunnydale, California
October 14th, 1998
Willow watched without much surprise as 'Holly Charleston' won the Homecoming Queen award, the only difference from what she was able to remember from the original timeline was 'Mashad Bolling' being her date. ( Well, what the heck. Maybe Xander and Cordelia can make it work in this life, without me and that evil demon Skip present to screw it up for them. If not, Anya's probably still hanging around here somewhere, after I smashed her amulet last month – I can always introduce Xander to her after high school is over... )
***
Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale, California
February 1st, 1999
Willow ducked out of the way, as Kendra and her successor Faith – a potential Slayer activated not long ago, because of her 'suggestion' that the Council attempt to twin the Slayer line – battled to kill the Hellmouth demon during the semi-annual Sunnydale apocalypse. The blonde witch was far too busy trying to incant a binding spell alongside the Watcher, to wonder what was going on down in the basement...
Thus, it was quite lucky that 'Mashad' was there to fulfil his destiny, and prevent Jack O'Toole from inadvertently bringing about the end of the world.
***
UC Sunnydale, Sunnydale, California
September 27th, 1999
Willow weaved her way in and out of the crowd, pausing only briefly to watch the musician named Daniel 'Oz' Osborne perform with his group, 'Dingoes Ate My Baby'. She hadn't gotten involved with him during high school, figuring it would be best to spare him that sort of pain; and besides, she wasn't exactly his type.
There were no questions in Willow's mind regarding her sexuality, nowadays. The witch had just secretly slipped him some information about that werewolf monk in Tibet, and depending on what the female werewolf called Veruca got up to within the next few months, Oz would most likely use it and head for Asia soon.
Willow kept moving, seeing Buffy or 'Amanda' talking to the man named Riley Finn. The cheerleader was now the newly-called Slayer, exactly like Faith had been not all that long ago. Just like with 'Holly' and 'Mashad', Willow had hopes that without the baggage of her former life, Buffy could make it work with Riley; since the Rosenberg woman could remember how happy they had been for a year or so.
If not, there was always Spike – or even Satsu, the Japanese Slayer 'Amanda' might encounter a few years from now, once the Slayer scythe was found.
But all of that meant nothing to her during the next few moments, as Willow finally got a glimpse of Tara Maclay. The blonde woman who had once called Xander a "sweetie"; the only person who had never judged Buffy for sleeping with Spike, and the woman who had died far too soon in the original timeline, just as Willow, Xander, Buffy and Cordelia had done in this one.
( Oh dear God, she's alive, ) Willow thought to herself in amazement, unable to help recalling Tara dying from Warren's bullet that day. ( She really is alive! )
"Hey, Amy!" a male voice said out of the din of the crowd, as Willow turned around to see Xander and Cordelia standing there.
"Hey, Holly! Hey, Mashad!" Willow had finally gotten used to calling these two their new names, despite how she could still see who was really standing there right in front of her. She had long since gotten used to being called 'Amy' though, even if Mr. Madison had grieved the loss of his daughter and left town after Willow had confessed the truth to him.
"Aims! You're looking good tonight," 'Mashad' practically shouted.
"Thanks! How did the football team thing go?" Willow shrieked to make herself heard.
"I made it, of course!" 'Mashad' yelled, looking happy. "First-string college quarterback, standing right here!"
Willow nodded, even though that was the one completely alien thing about the new Xander, at least to her way of thinking: his athletic prowess. She suspected that the leftovers of being Joe Pendleton had remained, despite Mr. Jordan's best efforts to erase them; but if that was so, then so much the better. It certainly beat her friend being stuck in his parents' basement for a year.
"Yeah! Hey, great party, isn't it?" The brunette college cheerleader giggled as her boyfriend tried to tickle her, and 'Holly' slapped his hand away.
"The greatest! Hey, check out Amanda! I think that Teutonic Boy over there is trying to put the moves on her," 'Mashad' pointed at Riley, sounding just like the previous incarnation of Xander – which was always music to Willow's ears.
"Mashad!" 'Holly' smacked him, exactly like Cordelia would have done. "Come on, you big dummy, I wanna dance!"
Willow watched them depart, before heading off towards her own destiny. She knew that there were still plenty of obstacles in the future: ADAM and Glory and the Legion of Dorkness, and maybe even the First Evil; but for the first time in this lifetime, the young woman felt that things might actually turn out all right.
And somewhere up above, Mr. Jordan smiled and nodded, knowing that everything would indeed all work out for the best.
***
Next: Story 17 - The Wizard Behind The Curtain