Date written: Thu 22 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: Hello, and welcome to the next part of the mini-theme thing. And mustn't forget, thanks as always to all who have read and reviewed so far! Thank you in particular, The Doctor, for your suggestions - I really do like the idea of No. 47, but he's been done before in a fanfic at the XanderZone (before the movie came out) and so has John Connor, I think that one's at TtH. As for the Predator idea, unfortunately, that's been done too - one of my beta readers informed me about that story, possibly at INAP, where in the end Xander sends a signal to the Yautja before he goes completely feral and then he leaves Earth with them for good - go figure. Anyway, onto this story - I was tempted to actually turn Xander into a real cat for this one, and Nodakskip has supplied a lot of scenarios over the years over what a puma or some other jungle cat would do to Sunnydale, after it was unleashed by the spell. But then I thought, if Xander's taking Cordelia's place in the grand scheme of things, then he's gotta do that all the way and be the 'normal' one for the night. Thus, I came up with this after watching one of the few BtVS season 7 episodes I actually enjoyed viewing, way back when!
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 22: Cat: Halloween costume switch # 2
Somewhere on the streets of Sunnydale, California
October 31st, 1997
The forces of destiny had screwed up, and four very special teenagers had not dressed up in the Halloween outfits Fate had planned for them according to the original cosmic design. There were a number of higher beings who were very upset by this, but it was too late to do anything about it now; the power of the Roman god named Janus had already changed three of the four teens into their costumes, so basically the deed was done and not even they could rescind it.
Tonight, Xander Harris had dressed up as the Cat In The Hat, by Dr. Seuss. Buffy Summers had gone trick o' treating as the female soldier known as Private Benjamin, Willow Rosenberg had chosen an 18th century noblewoman gown as her costume, and Cordelia Chase had put on a white ghost outfit.
"You look ridiculous wearing that," Judy Benjamin said to Xander with a sardonic smirk, as he was wearing a gift costume that he'd gotten from the store known as Partytown. The former Slayer looked at the tall, red and white striped hat, the red bow tie, and the fake cat whiskers before she added, "What the heck should I call you, anyway? Oh, I know, how about the cat who looks fat?"
"Hey!" Xander yelped automatically, he was very sensitive about how the Halloween costume had given him a bigger waistline.
"I, I don't understand," Lady Willow was almost hyperventilating. "Where am I? Why is this woman dressed like a man, and carrying a musket...and why are you dressed as a feline?"
"I'll explain everything, but right now we gotta get off the streets!" Xander told her, grabbing the noblewoman's arm. "Buffy, follow me – and keep an eye out for any demons on our tail!"
The blonde fired off a few rounds from her automatic weapon, to scare off a couple of monsters that had gotten a bit too close for comfort. "The name's Judy Benjamin. And I just want you to know that when the time comes, that explanation had better be good..."
Xander didn't waste time on a reply; he just took off for 1630 Revello Drive, clutching Lady Willow's hand the entire time. Along the way, they ran into the Cordelia ghost, who ordered Xander to pick up Miss Chase's dead body and take it with them. Grumbling the whole time, Harris did so; and after they arrived at the Summers house, he sent Cordelia to the library to recruit the Watcher named Rupert Giles to solve tonight's little disturbance.
The ensouled vampire named Angel soon showed up at the house, and helped Xander keep an eye on the possessed women. At least until Giles finally figured out that his old 'friend' Ethan Rayne was the one responsible for the chaos spell, and the British man put an end to the whole nasty business. This involved almost beating Ethan to death, but then needs must as the devil drives – and Giles wasn't all that reluctant to resume his former 'Ripper' mindset.
After the evening was over, to the casual observer it might have seemed that there were no significant consequences thanks to the Halloween costume changes. Nothing of cosmic importance, anyway. After all, there had still been a soldier, a cat, a ghost, and a noblewoman despite the changed roles of the four teenagers involved.
But the butterfly effect can be funny like that; a tiny, almost miniscule bump in the road can later lead to your car breaking down in the midst of an emergency...
***
UC Sunnydale, Sunnydale, California
October 14th, 2002
Five years after that night of chaos, it was evident that the seeming-small variations in destiny had resulted in quite a far-reaching ripple effect, at least in terms of the life of Xander Harris.
Because he had never become a soldier that night, many things that should have happened to the young man simply didn't.
For example, during junior year Buffy had been the one to come up with the idea of using a rocket launcher against the Judge, instead of him. During senior year, the boy named Jonathan Levinson had been the one to stop the zombie named Jack O'Toole from blowing up the school, instead of him. During the freshman year of college, the man named Riley Finn had participated in the über-Slayer enjoining spell instead of him. The year after that, the vampire named Spike had been hit by the pherula gemina device of the demon Toth instead of him.
Granted, some things hadn't changed; like leaving his bride Anya Jenkins at the altar. And one VERY significant thing Xander had done was save the world when Willow had been ready to destroy it, during one of the worst apocalypse seasons ever a few months ago.
As Xander opened the door to a frat house where a mass murder had taken place recently, he saw his ex-fiancée touching the wall where blood had spattered it. He said to her, "I thought I might find you here. Have you forced yourself to look at the bodies yet?"
Anya, who had again become the vengeance demon Anyanka and who was responsible for the dozen or so corpses littering the frat house, just turned to stare at him. "What do you want?"
"I want to help you," Xander said as sincerely as he could to the woman, because he still loved her despite the demon makeover eight months ago; and he knew that she was no longer the man-hating evil – thing she had been for a thousand years.
Anyanka just sighed and turned away, thinking of her recent conversation with Willow. "Everyone is being so considerate today. Makes me think I should've started slaughtering people weeks ago."
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything I did to you. Everything I put you through," Xander said sadly, trying to reach through to her.
"Thank you, now I'm all better. Thank goodness you got here in time," the demoness said sarcastically.
"I don't think you understand, this isn't an intervention. Buffy's coming to kill you," Xander said desperately. Both he and Miss Summers had learned from Willow that Anyanka was the one who had unleashed that killer Grimslaw demon to grant a vengeance Wish. And less than ten seconds later, the Chosen One had decided that she had to slay the person responsible for the death of all those frat boys.
"She's coming to try," Anyanka scoffed at her ex's warning.
"What, did everybody have their Crazy Flakes today? You guys are friends. How can you talk like this?" Xander felt like his whole world was tearing apart.
"Because I have a job to do. And so does Buffy. Xander, I know you're just trying to help. But ever since you learned that I became a demon again – deep down, you must have known that it would come to this, sooner or later. Didn't you?" Anya asked as she hit him with her most direct stare.
Harris wanted to deny that with all his heart and soul, but just then Miss Summers arrived, sword in hand. "Buffy, get out of here!" he ordered her.
"Get out of my way, Xander." Buffy didn't even look at him, as whenever she went into Slay mode her embarrassingly normal friend almost literally became part of the furniture.
Anyanka went into her demon face, when it was obvious Harris had no intention of obeying Buffy's orders. She said angrily, "Get out of her way, Xander!" The vengeance demon then backhanded him aside, and Harris fell to the floor as the battle started.
Cut, slice, thrust, parry and then Buffy lunged at her opponent with the sword, even as Anyanka pushed her off. "I'm sorry it's come to this, Anya."
"You're apologizing to me? What fight are you taking part in? Or is this like one of your little pop-culture references I don't get, 'cause I'm a vengeance-"
At that moment, Buffy lunged forward again and stabbed the demon woman directly in the heart with her sword. The Slayer was moving on pure instinct as the weapon rammed its way through Anyanka's chest, and her adversary's voice was cut off at once in a gasp of pain.
Xander finally regained consciousness and looking up from the floor, he saw his ex's current condition. "Anya!"
Her face suddenly morphed back into human, as Anyanka gasped for air and opened her eyes. She looked down at herself and muttered, "I'd forgotten how much swords through the chest hurt." The 1100-year-old woman pulled it out, and breathing heavily she said, "You should have known better, Buffy. It takes a lot more than that to kill a vengeance demon."
"Well, I'm just getting started," Miss Summers replied, just as Anyanka came at the Chosen One with the sword.
Buffy threw a stool at her, knocking her enemy off-balance. She fell to the floor, dropping the sword. Buffy grabbed it and straddled Anya's prone form, preparing for another double-fisted stabbing; this time, through the head.
"NO!" At the last moment, Xander pushed Buffy aside so that the Slayer missed.
"Damn it, Xander! Stop trying to save me!" Anyanka yelled angrily, even as Miss Summers glared at her male friend for his actions and they all got up off the floor.
Lightning bolts flashed in the room out of nowhere, knocking everyone down again. After the smoke cleared, the vengeance demon lord named D'hoffryn became visible, he was just standing there serenely. He saw everyone looking at him and said, "Oh, please, don't mind me. All of you, continue with whatever it was you were doing."
"What are you doing here?" Buffy demanded, standing up and grabbing her sword. She'd met the demon lord during Xander's wedding debacle all those months ago, and that was how she knew how he was Anya's supervisor in the evil wishing business.
"I talked to your friend, Miss Rosenberg; she asked me if I could help with the current situation. And by the way, if you're thinking what I think you're thinking, Miss Summers? There's no point, I'd be gone before you could complete the first swing. Ah, Slayers – always acting as if they can solve all their problems just by hacking away at them with sharp objects," D'hoffryn smirked.
Unfortunately, the Slayer essence – in combination with the remnants of being a soldier for Halloween five years ago – made Buffy take the road less travelled. She instantly swung at D'hoffryn with all her strength, but true to his word the demon lord vanished with another light and smoke show – leaving only a nasty burn mark on the carpet.
"Excuse me, Buffy? If you're done trying to murder my boss, I believe we still have some unfinished business here?" Anyanka asked in a rather sarcastic voice.
"Yeah. You're right." Buffy then punched Xander hard to the face to get him out of her way, and the battle resumed. The fighting continued for a while, with the conflict appearing fairly even; or Anyanka appearing to have the slight upper hand. But then she was thrown onto the floor, and as she started to get up, Buffy swung her sword with a perfect coordination of hands, shoulders and hips.
"NOOOO!!!" Xander screamed in agonized horror, as Buffy chopped Anya's head off.
There was very little blood. As the headless corpse collapsed to the floor, the demon body melted into green goo, somewhat reminiscent of the demon Eyghon back in high school. Still screaming, Xander fell to his knees before the remains of the vengeance demon, scrabbling at the pitiful remains of his lost love.
Buffy dropped the sword onto the floor, devastated by the hideous act which her Calling had forced her to carry out just now.
***
Outside Elmhurst Cemetery, Sunnydale, California
October 20th, 2002
Willow and Buffy's little sister, Dawn, sat in the car after Xander got out and left them behind. He had ordered them to stay put for a while, to give him at least five minutes alone at Anya's grave. Neither girl had wanted to do that, but the black look on his face had convinced them that, for once, Xander's wishes were not to be denied.
"I still can't believe what's happened," Dawn said, shaking her head. "I just...I don't...how could Buffy DO something like that? Didn't she know what kind of effect it would have on Xander?"
"She knew," Willow said sadly, looking out the window. "Buffy's the Slayer, Dawn. I'm sure she knew what the consequences would be right from the start, but she still did what she had to do. I'm just sorry I couldn't think of anything other than asking D'hoffryn for assistance! A lot of help he turned out to be!"
"Do you think Buffy's, like, in danger from him now?" Dawn suddenly got a worried look on her face. "'Cause Anya was sorta one of his favourite demons, right?"
"Your sister can take care of herself," Willow sighed, still looking out the window. "Besides, D'hoffryn is the pragmatic type, he wouldn't try something like that. At least, not while he's still hoping that I'll join his little family and take Anya's place one day."
"What?!" the former Key demanded in astonishment. "Uh...Willow, you're not thinking of accepting, are you? Because, because Buffy would probably end up killing you too! God knows how close she came to doing that back in May, after Tara-" Dawn abruptly shut herself up, cheeks flaming.
"After Tara was killed and I tried to destroy the world. You can say it, Dawn, I won't hold it against you. The Goddess knows how much Anya reminded me about all that before she died last week," Willow said as she finally turned back to face her best friend's kid sister.
"She did? Oh," Miss Summers replied, looking troubled. "Well, Anya always did love to speak her mind about everything, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised." Then she looked out the window. "I'm worried about Xander. We should go catch up with him, don't you think?"
Willow shook her head. "Not yet. Give him another few minutes."
"But-"
"Dawn? Please don't push, not on something like this," Willow told her as nicely as possible. "The first time I visited Tara's grave, Xander gave me the space I needed. That's why I – we – need to do the same for him now. Trust me, it'll only make things worse if we try to butt in before he's ready to talk to us."
Dawn grew even more upset when the redhead insisted that the younger woman stay in the car until she'd had a chance to talk to her friend alone, but eventually Miss Summers gave in and Willow left the vehicle. She walked a short distance, and soon caught up with her oldest friend.
As soon as she joined Xander, the red-haired witch said simply, "Hey."
"I was actually expecting you and Dawnie to show up a while ago," Xander said without looking at her. His eyes were fastened on the simple memorial marker he had erected after the police investigation into the supernatural murders had been closed – without finding the culprit, of course, the way it always happened around here. "You must have given her the old Resolve Face treatment, huh?"
Willow almost winced at how well her oldest friend knew her. "Yeah."
"I'll bet you that Dawn snuck out of the car ten seconds after you left, and that she's eavesdropping on us right now," Xander added, his eyes still on Anya's marker as Willow whipped her head around. "I still don't know how Dawnie managed to talk you into letting her come to this place today, Will. Probably isn't healthy for her; the poor kid has been to so many graveyards, she's lost so many people in her life so far – her mom, Tara, even Buffy too for a while – it's amazing that Dawn hasn't gone as nuts as...well, you know."
Willow flushed at that, correctly figuring that she would never live down her past actions. "What about Anya? I'm sure Dawn will miss her too, just like me-"
"Please don't insult Anya's memory that way, Willow," Xander cut her off as gently as he could. "I've had some time to think about it, and I've come to the conclusion that apart from Tara, maybe, nobody in our little social circle was ever really her friend."
"That's not true!!" Willow immediately protested.
"Oh, I'll grant ya that Ahn was tolerated, and even made to feel welcome for my sake, but once she and I were through – when did you ever hang out with her, Willow? When did Dawn ever hang out with her? Tara had a coffee date with Anya once or twice, but as far as I know, that's it," Xander said sadly. "May as well face it, all of Anya's friends were demons. You remember her best friend, Halfrek? She actually visited me last night. Asked me to make a Wish, too, to avenge Ahn's death – to kill Buffy, or hurt her, or strip her of her Slayer powers or whatever."
"She did? Uh, but you didn't wish for any of that – did you?" Willow's eyes were suddenly very round and very huge.
"No. Only wish I made was for her to bring Anya back to life as a human. Colour me surprised when Demon Girl finally admitted that she couldn't do that, her powers simply didn't work that way," Xander said cynically. "Afterwards, I told her to just leave me alone, before D'hoffryn finally showed up and dragged her away. Last thing I need is to get any more involved with the demon stuff, before I hit the road."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Willow didn't quite get what Xander was saying.
Straightening up, Harris finally turned to face the closest thing he had to a sister. He said to her, "I'm leaving Sunnydale, Willow. I already talked to my boss at work, and he was pretty understanding about it. He even lined me up a new job with some friends of his at a company in Denver, after I told him I couldn't stay in this town anymore."
"You're LEAVING?" Willow yelped. "But, but-"
"But what, Willow?" Xander's eyes bored into hers, the same way they had done months ago on Kingman's Bluff. "You were seriously expecting me to stay here, the place where Anya died? The place where Buffy killed her, and I couldn't do a damn thing to prevent it?"
"But – I need you," was the only thing Willow could think of saying.
"For what? Saving the world if you ever go black-eyed badass again? Sorry, Will, but right now, the way I'm feeling – I'm not sure if you didn't have the right idea all along back then," Xander said, shaking his head. "What the heck, maybe it would have been better if you HAD killed me in cold blood that day. At least, then I wouldn't have had to watch Buffy slay the woman I loved last week."
"Don't say that! PLEASE don't say that!" Willow cried out, her eyes beginning to become shiny with tears. "Xander, listen to me, don't go. We, we can get through this-"
"How? A book club? A movie night? Or a black magic resurrection ritual, maybe?" Xander interrupted, his mild tone not detracting from the severity of his words. "Been there and done that for all those things, I'm afraid, and as I recall none of it ever worked out too well." He leaned forward and gave Willow a hug. "I know you're only trying to help, and I appreciate that – I really do. But I simply can't stay here anymore, Willow. Put yourself in my shoes for a moment; what I am supposed to do if I ever run into Buffy again? Just say hi, and pretend that what she did in that frat house simply never happened?"
"I know you don't want to hear this, and you have a right to be pissed at her right now – but Buffy's a complete mess thanks to what's happened, and Dawn's really worried about her. So am I," Willow confessed. "Killing Anya and losing your friendship-"
"You're right, Will. I don't want to hear it," Xander cut her off with a blank, emotionless look on his face. "Just like I'm sure that you didn't want to hear about Warren's feelings, after he killed Tara that day." He exhaled, ignoring the stunned and hurt expression on Willow's face. "What, am I wrong about that? I miss her too, Willow. I may not mention Tara very often anymore – but she was my friend as well as your soul mate. So I hope that wherever they are right now, Anya and Tara are having fun gossipping about magic, or fashion, or singing gargoyles or whatever."
Xander turned around and walked back towards his car, as Willow collected Dawn – who had indeed been eavesdropping behind the bushes, and had heard the entire conversation – and both women sadly followed after him.
***
The Brooks residence, Sunnydale, California
October 25th, 2002
The last few days had passed almost as a blur to young Mr. Harris. There were a number of arrangements to be made before he could leave Sunnydale; Xander was a grown-up now, and no longer that class clown who had dressed up in a ridiculous Cat in the Hat costume. He'd had to ship the majority of his stuff to Denver, arrange new accommodations in the city, transfer his bank account to a new branch in Colorado – all the things that a normal adult human had to do when relocating to a new home, which had nothing to do with the demon world.
But there was one other thing he had to do before he left, which didn't quite fall into the category of the mundane. That was why he had come here, and why Xander stared around with a look of disbelief on his face as a tall and rather ungroomed young man got him a beer.
"So, Harris. You're in construction, huh? That's awesome," the man said.
"Yeah," Xander said carefully, finally tearing his eyes away from all the knick-knacks and lace in the basement apartment. Before he had moved out of his parents' home, HIS basement accommodations had looked nothing like this. "Gonna be leaving Sunnydale soon, actually. But before I go, I was kinda hoping to talk to you about your little brother."
"R.J.?" the guy named Lance Brooks asked in surprise. "Is there, like, a problem? How's he doing at the old alpha mater?"
"Good, from what I hear. It's just – I know a girl that might be going out with him, she's like a sister to me and I was kinda wondering if she..." Xander trailed off, not sure quite how to phrase Dawn's behaviour recently. The brunette sophomore throwing herself at the new quarterback of the Sunnydale High football team like a love-struck fool had made Harris worried, in addition to Willow's belief that the sixteen-year-old girl might be under a love spell.
Lance misunderstood what Xander was trying to say and replied, "Right, you want to know if R.J.'s a good guy. Truth is, he's the best. Following in my footsteps.
"Well, apart from how I used to stick chewing gum in your hair," Brooks belatedly apologized. "Sorry about that, by the way."
"Water under the bridge at this point, Lance. I heard R.J.'s a pretty popular guy, football team and all that?" Xander asked.
"Yeah, recently he's blossomed a lot. There was a time I was kinda worried about him, y'know? He was into all this geek stuff. Model U.N., poetry, crap like that." Lance got up from his chair and went to get a photo of him and his sibling, which was fortunate – since Xander hadn't invited Spike to come along on this little fishing expedition tonight. Given his current feelings towards Buffy, Xander didn't know whether he might stake the chipped vampire if he said the wrong thing at the wrong time, and he knew that Dawn still cared about the ensouled bloodsucker – even if it was for some reason that he himself would never understand.
Focusing, Xander accepted the photo Lance gave him. He still wasn't sure about R.J., as he glanced at the photograph containing both Brooks brothers. "When was this taken?"
"Back in my senior year. You were what, a sophomore back then?" the older boy tried to remember.
"Yeah, I..." Then Harris noticed something. "Hey. You're wearing your brother's jacket?" Xander had personally seen R.J. at the Bronze wearing the letterman jacket in the photo, and winning the hearts of his female classmates.
"Oh, no, dude. He's wearing mine, that jacket was with me all the way through high school. I gave it to R.J. when I graduated, right before I started over at Pizza Barn. I'm in the management program, you know," the elder Brooks brother stated proudly.
His suspicions beginning to crystallise, Xander asked, "So tell me, where did you get the jacket?"
"Oh, my dad gave it to me. Made a big deal about it, too. He often mentioned how he met my mom wearing that jacket. She was a former Miss Arkansas, very hot in her day," Lance said helpfully.
Xander immediately stood up after he figured out the truth. "Wow, that's wonderful. Uh, but it's getting late – so I should go."
"Hey, you don't have to take off just yet. I got a rumpus room set up down here, there's air hockey and a mini-fridge. We could party, y'know?" Lance asked hopefully, and it was pretty obvious he was almost starving for any sort of company.
Shaking his head, Xander mentally contrasted the boy who'd had everyone around him practically kissing his ring back in high school, with this loser still living at home and stuck in a dead-end career path. The thought stole across his mind, ( I guess there really is a lot of irony in this world, and then some. )
"Sorry, Lance. But I've really got to motor."
***
Somewhere on the streets of Sunnydale, California
A while later
Xander and Spike walked along the same street where all this had begun five years ago, the night of the Halloween spell. But Harris wasn't thinking about that right now; he was thinking about how Buffy had almost killed the Sunnydale High principal Robin Wood to prove her love for R.J., Willow had almost turned the younger Brooks brother into a girl to get around the whole penis issue, and Dawn had almost committed suicide out of despair that she could never compete for his affections against her big sister. The gang had only just saved Dawn from getting trisected by a freight train, which had almost given Xander a heart attack.
Shaking his head, Xander focused back on the present. As he and Spike walked past an electronics store, the human and the vampire spied R.J. walking down the street alongside a cheerleader on crutches.
"Now, you're sure you understand the plan?" Harris asked.
"I think I got it, yeah," Spike replied.
With a brief nod, William the Bloody and Xander both started running forward. Harris tackled R.J., while Spike yanked the jacket off of him. Then they both ran away as fast as they could, before the teenage jock could follow after them.
What the hell. It wasn't exactly the casino heist pulled off by Ocean's Eleven, but it was just as effective and also a lot simpler to boot.
***
The Harris residence, Sunnydale, California
October 26th, 2002
Not long after midnight, Xander finished packing as the smell of the burning jacket filled his soon-to-be former living room. He noticed how Willow and Dawn were staring at the remains of the cotton-poly blend material with both disgust and amazement, and he tried not to grin in amusement.
"So how are you two doing?" Harris asked his girls as innocently as he could.
"I can't believe that I almost..." Willow shook her head in shame, thinking about all of tonight's events.
"I can't believe I was so – the way I acted, the way I talked to Buffy. God, I feel like such an idiot. All because of a stupid, enchanted jacket!" Dawn almost shuddered in loathing.
"That's the Hellmouth for you, Dawn Giovanni. Live and learn," Harris said to her with a tolerant smile.
"Speaking of which – Xander, be honest. You didn't, you know, think about slipping that jacket on yourself?" Willow had to ask.
"I refuse to answer on the grounds that it didn't fit me," Xander wisecracked.
"I guess we'll never know just who arranged for it to be the subject of a love spell," Willow mused.
"Love spells. People just don't get how dangerous they are," Dawn spoke up, staring at her one-time crush. "Remember what happened when you tried it, during high school?"
"Yeah, I haven't forgotten. Good times," Xander said, recalling that Valentine's Day with a brief grin appearing on his face. Things had been so much simpler back then, and the young man had to admit that in comparison to the here and now – all that almost seemed like the 'good old days'. "Well, gals, I guess that's it. I'm all packed and ready to hit the road."
"So you're really gonna do it? I, I was kinda hoping you'd changed your mind. I mean if you hadn't been here to snap me out of it, Xander, right now Dawn would be..." Willow trailed off.
"Dead," Miss Summers finished up for her. "Not to mention that Buffy would be in jail for killing Principal Wood, and Willow would be making the girl version of R.J. into her personal cuddle monkey. Don't you see, Xander? We need you. Please, don't leave!"
"I have to. Because nothing's changed for me, Dawn," Xander said in order to make his younger friend understand, telling the female teen what she needed to hear and not what she WANTED to hear.
"I gotta make a fresh start in life while I still can, and I can't do that here. Because just about everywhere I look? I see Anya's face, every single moment of every single day. I'm constantly reminded of what I've lost here in Sunnydale, and I'm TIRED of that, Dawn-patrol. It would just get worse and worse as time went on, believe me. God, I'd probably end up just like my father," Xander shook his head. "As soon as I get settled in, you can come to visit me in Denver, okay?"
"Fine," Dawn huffed, before giving him a big hug and then walking out of the apartment to wait downstairs in the car.
"I'm worried about her," Willow cocked her head a little. "I'm afraid that Dawn's gonna have a lot of abandonment issues once she's all grown up. 'Cause you're like the stable male-slash-big brother figure in her life, Xander. This thing lately with R.J., she may have finally gotten over that cute crush she had on you; but no one ever forgets their first love. I know I haven't."
"Yeah, I know," Xander replied, thinking of Anya for the first time without the overpowering need to puke his guts out. He finally let go of all the bad stuff, and focused on the three good years they'd had together. "Come here."
He gave Willow a big hug, and together Willow and Xander took his luggage down to his car and dropped off the apartment keys in the building manager's mailbox. "I promise I'll call every day, all right?" Xander said.
"Well, you better!" Willow gave him yet another fierce hug.
"Hello, Xander."
Harris let go of the redhead at once, his face going expressionless after hearing that very familiar voice. He just stared at Buffy, waiting for her to say something else.
"What are you doing here?" Xander eventually asked, after it became obvious she wasn't going to say anything. "Because if you came to apologize to me for what you did to Anya, Buffy, I don't want to hear it. Not now, and maybe not ever."
"No, I'm not here for that. It's just – I knew you were leaving town for good, a-and I never got the chance to thank you for helping me save Dawn's life earlier on tonight. And I never thanked you properly for saving MY life all those years ago, when the Master drowned me. So thank you, on both counts. For whatever it's worth," Buffy said uncomfortably.
"It's not worth much if anything, as far as I'm concerned," Xander told her frankly. "Goodbye, Willow," the young man then said to the Rosenberg girl, before he opened the car door. "I'll call you tomorrow." So saying, Harris got in and drove off.
( He's never going to forgive me for what I had to do that night, ) Buffy thought miserably, starting to mourn Xander's loss as if he was dead. ( For the rest of his life, he's gonna hate me for killing the demon he still loved with all his heart. )
Both Willow and Buffy watched Xander's vehicle dwindle out of sight as Dawn joined them from the interior of the Summers car, the three females already missing Harris more than they could ever possibly express.
***
Next: Story 23 - Ghost: Halloween costume switch # 3