Date written: Sat 31 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: Well, here it is, folks; the end of the line. Happy Halloween to everyone out there! It's been a fun ride, but I swear, I am NEVER doing anything like this again. Anyone who tries it, you'll see for yourselves why! Totally pooped here as I'm writing this, I kid you not. Anyhow, I hope you've enjoyed these YAHF stories, and thanks for all the feedback and support over the past month!
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 31: Alpha And Omega
Somewhere on the streets of Sunnydale, California
October 31st, 1997
It was a scene almost straight out of the movie 'Pleasantville', to be honest: children trick o' treating during All Hallows' Eve, enjoying themselves and just having a bit of fun for the evening.
Even though this was Sunnydale, the town completely infested with demons and vampires, the monsters had taken the night off tonight the way they did every year. And so, everyone was able to enjoy this very popular holiday whose roots lay in frightening away evil spirits.
Well, almost everyone.
"Where's your costume?" one very belligerent little boy asked the young man called Alexander 'Xander' Harris, who was wearing what appeared to be ordinary street clothes. "What are you supposed to be dressed up as?"
"Look, kid, if I show you – will you promise to just concentrate on sleazing all the candy you possibly can tonight?" Xander asked, trying to keep ahold of his temper.
"Okay," the child nodded, that sounded like a good deal to him.
( Here we go, ) Xander thought to himself wearily. He was getting rather tired of explaining who he'd dressed up as, and for a moment he wondered whether listening to the idea of his new friend Oz yesterday had truly been the right course of action.
Still, it was too late to wonder about that now. Xander opened up his jacket and showed a nametag label stuck onto his Hawaiian shirt, the ultimate two-dollar costume bought at Ethan's Costume Shop yesterday.
"That's cheating," the little boy said in disappointment, as Xander closed his jacket.
( First Snyder, now this little brat. Man, next year I'm really gonna have to go with something different! ) the young man thought to himself. Then he pulled himself together, after all – it was Halloween, and Harris had a job to do this evening.
"Maybe, kid, but a deal's a deal. So you gotta concentrate on the trick o' treating from now on, okay?" Xander asked.
"Fine," the little boy huffed indignantly, before he ran to catch up with his friends.
( Finally, ) Xander thought to himself, as he escorted the children to the next house. ( Maybe now I can get some peace and quiet around here... )
A few minutes later, as the group began to head back for Sunnydale High, a cold wind started to blow down the street. The air itself began to start crackling with invisible magical energy, and as the chaos mage named Ethan Rayne completed his spell in his costume shop, a number of things happened.
One, Ethan died at once from attempting to turn Xander into his costume.
Two, the Roman god named Janus empowered the spell as his high priest had supplicated for him to do, before he, too, died screaming from the mystical backlash over what he'd done.
Three, the physical body of Xander Harris exploded outwards into a million pieces before quite a number of different things and people appeared in quick succession.
A huge burning bush.
A white-haired old man with a cigar, resembling George Burns.
A woman in a long flowing dress, who looked like Alanis Morrisette.
An African-American gentleman in a white suit, who appeared to be a dead ringer for Morgan Freeman.
Then there was a huge explosion of light that blanketed the entire town, and the entire world changed.
***
Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale, California
November 1st, 1997
"What the heck happened last night?" Buffy Summers wanted to know, as she and her friend Willow Rosenberg stood around whilst her Watcher, Rupert Giles, was on the phone speaking to someone in England. "I mean, I was walking around in my noblewoman outfit, when all of a sudden it's like night turned into day! Do you have any ideas, Will?"
"Nope, not me," Willow shrugged helplessly. Then she looked around, "Hey, where's Xander? Have you seen him this morning?"
"Uh-uh," Buffy shook her head. "I haven't seen him ever since yesterday, when he was being yelled at by Snyder. Oh, I was meaning to ask – who was that guy Xander was talking with, y'know, before we all left the school?"
"You mean Oz? Uh, he's a senior, and he's in a band," Willow nodded. "I don't know all that much about him, except Cordelia's currently dating his best friend, Devon."
"Speak of the devil..." Buffy muttered, as Cordelia Chase came storming into the library. "Cordelia, what a surprise to see you here on a Saturday..."
"Was that an attempt at sarcasm? Oh, spare me. Buffy, you couldn't even come close to competing with me for the title of 'bitch of the year'," Miss Chase said scornfully. "Now where in the hell is that dweeb Xander?"
"Why do you ask?" Willow demanded, her hackles instantly rising.
Before Cordelia could explain Giles came out of his office, looking grim. "Buffy, Willow, Cordelia. I-I'm glad you're here – there have been quite a number of...developments, I guess you could say, ever since last night."
"Like what?" the blonde Slayer demanded.
"Every single scroll of prophecy the Watchers possessed has crumbled into dust. Uh, e-every seer they know of is currently completely devoid of precognitive ability too. Even, even a-a number of prescient demons imprisoned within the Council's dungeons have started screaming about how they've gone completely blind," Giles supplied.
"About the, um, the only good news is that the Council's enemies have been similarly afflicted," he added after a moment's consideration. "Even that evil law firm Wolfram & Hart, for example, i-it's effectively been cut off from its greatest weapon. I-I-I'd say that behind closed doors, there is great chaos erupting just about everywhere in the world."
"So what does that mean for us?" Willow asked in confusion.
"It, uh, means that we're on our own," Giles said with a sigh, as he sat down at the table and everyone joined him. "It also means that both sides a-a-are effectively fighting in the dark – the battle between Good and Evil is, is now on an entirely different playing field.
"And, well, God only knows what the end result will be."
***
A place completely outside of space and time
Giles doesn't know that I'm currently watching him and all my friends, and he can't hear me as I start chuckling over his last comment. And even if he could, there'd be nothing he could do about it. No doubt that he and they will look for me for a while, but soon enough, the search will be abandoned in the face of more pressing matters, and the Scooby Gang's lives will continue on without me.
I know that, because I know everything now.
I see everything, and in a way, I AM everything.
All the different possibilities, all the paths not taken, all the different forks in the road.
I've also learned that when one is omniscient, one must take care not to unduly influence lesser beings, but that doesn't mean completely abandoning the people I love.
Still, even as I watch Giles, Buffy, Willow and Cordy talking in the library, my eyes and ears take in images and sounds from other times and places.
I see the Colonial Marine standing tall and proud, leading his squad to victories against their enemies, both present and future.
I see the sailor leaving on a ship to sail around the world as a 'road trip', his red-haired girlfriend deciding to postpone her own plans for college to go with him.
I see the faithful drone attending to his Queen as the stars themselves scream in despair, and life is stultified everywhere in that universe.
I see the libertine taking liberties with a number of women, and learning just how fast female teenagers can make him run.
I follow the traveller's path as he slides his way in and out of the various realities, lost and trying to find a way home as he and his wife travel around the infinity of a multi-dimensional universe.
I see the former alien, struggling to survive in a world where humanity has ceased destroying its own planet with its unsustainable habits.
I watch the mind-controlled slave doing all the right things for all the wrong reasons, trapped and awaiting the day of release from his bondage.
I follow the Jedi Knight and his Padawan, as they travel far and wide to find others like them, in order to establish an Order that would totally violate copyright law.
I see the cyborg living in the mountains, communing with nature before encountering those with abilities not unlike his own; and his finally brokering peace between two different branches of sapient life.
I see the doctor and his blonde Slayer, the first woman he ever truly loved, living and loving and fighting and dying together.
I watch as the time-traveller, forewarned of all that is to come, creates a new world despite all the attempts of the lower beings to stop him.
I see the former space commander and his mate, her face upturned in an expression of utter joy as she finally gets everything she ever wanted.
I monitor the one-eyed criminal, as he marries the younger woman with an ancient crush in a country far below the equator.
I see the porn company executive spreading his seed amongst all those women, before some faulty protection drops him head-first into the realm of fatherhood.
I see the former priest and his friends mourning the loss of two of their own in a graveyard, as a former Slayer tries to deal with the enormity of what she had to do in order to save the world.
I watch the football player excel at his chosen profession, never knowing that he inhabits a body not his own; until the time finally comes when his soul will remember all its past lives.
I examine the wizard who can almost see everything like I can, guiding his friends in their never-ending battles with his foresight as the First Evil glares furiously at him.
I observe the immortal genie enjoying a lifetime of freedom with a Watcher, a Slayer and his would-have-been girlfriend, before returning to his lamp to await the three wishes of his next master.
I see the policeman upholding his vow to serve and protect, becoming a detective at record speed despite his youth and wrong place in time.
I watch the latest scion of a family of adventurers, his veins filled with blood deadly to any vampire, walk the earth with a brunette Slayer at his side.
I see the former nobleman guarding an infant's life with his own, finding new friends and a new purpose to replace the ones from before.
I follow the ordinary man, the construction worker who once dressed up as a cat, as he abandons his home after the death of his beloved and forges a new path in another part of the country.
I see the spirit medium whispering to the ghosts and lost souls he alone can perceive, even as the ones he left behind mourn over his loss.
I see the musician and former cavalry officer develop his new talent, joining a band containing a werewolf and travelling around the country after high school, to enjoy fame and fortune and quite a number of groupies.
I listen to the part-demon empath, as he and his new bride continually scream at each other after a drunken night both would gladly prefer had never happened.
I watch the comic superhero live out his fondest childhood fantasies, before fathering a new race of physically superior beings in that universe.
I see the half-insane killer, the solitary man launching a crusade in the name of those who would simply use him as a tool, something to be utilised and discarded as they see fit.
I scrutinize the haunted torture victim, with a unique perspective on both the opposite sex and the undead things he despises, drifting aimlessly until he's forced to help save the world.
I see the thief and former con man working as a detective alongside his comrades, and often enjoying a long hot shower with the woman who shares his bed.
And I watch the necromancer as he fights alongside the Slayers and saves countless lives during his high school graduation ceremony, a wild card that Richard Wilkins was never even remotely expecting to encounter.
I observe all these things and more, my mind memorizing and categorizing them. For beyond any and all doubt, I am now the one who truly sees everything, as that fallen priest said during one battle I really prefer not to think about.
I am Xander Harris, the Alpha and the Omega, my own beginning and my own end.
Forever and always I shall be here, watching over all those who I love.
And in the end, isn't that the only thing that anybody can truly do to the best of their ability?
Finis
(...or, is it?)