Xander stood on the sidewalk in the Sunnydale night, scratching the back of his head in puzzlement, not sure at all where to start on finding the answers to his sudden change of identity. His face brightened as a thought suddenly struck him: *Giles!* That Watcher could certainly offer an helpful suggestion or two, delivered in his classy British accent, once Xander finally managed to convince that man his caller wasn't playing some kind of practical joke on him, announcing he was Xander Harris while speaking in someone else's voice on the phone.

*Right,* Xander nodded to himself in relief. Find a phone, call Giles at his apartment, and set up a research party there or at the high school library, while also gently breaking the news to the Englishman concerning a few other minor things, like the wizard Mayor of Sunnydale, Hyena, and about last Monday, when Xander had missed lunch and sneaked into the library to swipe Giles' tuna fish sandwich. Hey, if that man had actually wanted to keep his meals out of the hands of starving high school students, he should have found a better hiding place than the top of the furthest bookshelf at the back.

Not really paying attention to the fact that he was sniggering to himself in a remarkably hyena-like cackle, Xander started to head down the street, away from the demon still sleeping on the sidewalk. After a few steps, something caught Xander's eye, a small object resting upside-down on the front lawn of a house. *Oh, so that's where it was,* he thought vaguely, as Xander stopped by this and then bent over to pick up Grandpa Harris' hat that had fallen off earlier during all the excitement.

In the middle of this action, Xander abruptly froze as he drew in a deep breath through his nose. After a couple of moments, Xander straightened up while absently putting on the hat and at the same time wondering what that oddly-familiar smell was. The mild breeze was blowing towards him from back up the street, where the demon was lying on the ground…

Xander slowly turned around and he consideringly eyed that small, sleeping fiend. Now that he was actually paying attention, the fur wrappings the demon was wearing also seemed kind of familiar, like he'd seen them before not all that long ago- Xander's thoughts instantly broke off in absolute horror as he stared at the dozing demon, and then he dashed forward in a frantic run that ended in a skidding halt by the unearthly being. Staring down at the resting creature, an appalled Xander had his stomach sink right down to his wingtips when he finally identified the attire the demon was clad in to be exactly the same as the Halloween costume worn by one of the kids in his charge tonight.

Trying not to be sick again, Xander couldn't avoid thinking the awful question, *Was he eaten, or-*

"Hey! What're you doing there?"

Xander's head snapped up, as he stared at the man standing in the open front doorway of his house and looking out at the other man at the sidewalk, next to something very strange lying on the ground. Not surprisingly, the first thing through Xander's mind was the exasperated snarl, *I really don't need this!*

Without actually thinking about it, Xander's left arm shot out to point directly at this onlooker, and his field of view abruptly changed, as his sight shifted from material into mystical, with the entire scene now appearing as if there was a faint, glowing mist in the air. Seemingly of their own volition, his mouth spoke a single word, "Forget!" At the same time, the mist hanging in the air right in front of his fingers pointing at the man now churned, as if by an unexpected gust of wind, and then this disturbance in the haze now shot directly at the witness, to splash against that man's face.

An aghast Xander then had his vision change back to normal, with the mist completely disappearing, just in time for him to see the householder's face turn slack, as that person now stepped back and gently closed the front door, with the last thing Xander noticed before this being the absolutely blank gaze of the man he'd just bespelled.

His left arm was still pointing at the shut door, and Xander now hastily dropped that limb to his side, all while disbelievingly muttering to himself, "Sunnydale Syndrome… I saw and used Sunnydale Syndrome! So, Mayor Dick had something to do with-"

By his feet, a sleepy growl was uttered.

At that specific moment, Xander was approaching his breaking point, so that young man could be truly forgiven for instantly leaping straight up in his panic and also uttering a little-girl shriek of pure fright, all while his head achieved the twenty-foot mark at the apex of his Hyena-powered jump.

Coming down to nimbly land on his feet, Xander promptly pointed his right hand at the prone demon, ready to blast away with the mojo stuff to the max, yessir, if that loathsome creature of the night tried anything. No, wait, maybe his left hand would work better. He hastily dropped his right hand and pointed with the other at the abominable minion dwelling in the darkness. Nah, go back to the right hand. No, the left. Um. How about together?

As he held his trembling hands ready for action, aiming both at his target, this vile miscreant from the lower depths of hell burped, sighed with relief, and continued its siesta. In contrast, Xander shuddered with disgust, and he lowered his arms, glaring at the demon. The teenager moodily wondered if there was a way to find out what had happened, even if he wasn't all that enthusiastic-

*Scry.*

"Which means what?" growled Xander under his breath, not caring if he actually offended Wilkins or whatever in his head that had just uttered that comment, to then next in reaction to Xander's surly inquiry, provided several definitions of that word. While he certainly had no interest right this second in predicting the future using a crystal ball, Xander's mood perked up slightly at learning about magical scans.

Cautiously following the directions provided in his mind, Xander lifted up the sleeping demon from the ground by a spell that left it limply dangling in a vertical slouching position in mid-air. Still maintaining the first spell, Xander now cast another that caused a faint blue glow to develop around the demon and right after, the outer form of this creature faded, to reveal a ghostly image of a sleeping child at the inner core of the being.

Xander's mouth dropped wide open at seeing this, to then abruptly close and widen into an ecstatic grin when he recognized that kid as one of his charges Snyder had stuck with him hours ago back at the high school. In his relief, Xander started to babble, "So, how'd he get in there, and can I do something to get him out?"

*Transformation spell.*

Blinking at this information from Wilkins' memories, Xander tentatively muttered, "Like…me? Like I became the mayor? Him and me, we were transformed into our new bodies? But…why? Oh, never mind! How can I change us back?"

*Scry.*

Beginning to feel a little worried, Xander tried the scanning spell again, with a bit more power as directed. When he'd finished, the fur wrappings of the demon's costume suddenly blazed with eldritch energies, pulsing and throbbing in waves of strange colors that made Xander's eyes hurt until he hastily looked away and toned down the spell. When he carefully glanced back, the costume seemed to be unchanged, leading to Xander's quick demand, "What the hell was that?"

*Chaos magic.*

"Oh. Is that of the bad, or of the good? Yeow!" Xander yelped the last word, as a torrent of information poured into his mind. "Just give me the Reader's Digest condensed version!"

*Either. Both. Neither. Chaos has its own rules.*

If it had been possible, Xander would have then given his own brain a very suspicious stare. It seemed as if there had been the faintest trace of snarkiness in that reply. Vowing to think that over later, Xander took a deep breath, and commanded, "Well, anyway, let's do the mojo and change us back!"

There was a dead silence in Xander's mind.

After several anxious moments, a horrible feeling overtook the teenager, who managed to force out a question through suddenly-stiff lips. "Did Wilkins know how to use Chaos magic?"

Still no response.

"Show me any spells you have about Chaos magic!"

A minute later, a mature man was stomping around on the sidewalk while whacking hard the side of his right leg with the yanked-off hat clenched in his right fist and irately muttering to himself, "Yeah, like it was gonna be that easy! You're on the Hellmouth, buster, the place known far and wide as 'Never-give-Xander-Harris-a-break-land!' Gaaaahhhh!" At that last furious outburst, Xander now threw the hat to the ground and gave it a good kick, sending it flying into the night. As he glared after his discarded headgear, the high school student ground his teeth together for several moments, until warning twinges in his mouth gave notice of overstressed dental work.

Aggrievedly letting his jaws relax, Xander tried to think of something to distract himself from going into a real tantrum. Morosely cramming his hands into his pants pocket, the man looked down at his outfit, with his attention suddenly caught by a stray thought. *Hey, is there something about my costume that changed me, like that kid's costume changed him? I didn't pay all that much notice to what he was wearing before, but I think it was some kind of monster character, and I did dress up as the Mayor…* Becoming a bit calmer at this new line of consideration, Xander pulled his right hand out of a pocket and thoughtfully rubbed his chin, managing to ignore how differently this felt.

Making a quick decision, Xander then once again called up the scanning spell from his mind. Looking down at himself, Xander didn't see anything odd as he cast the spell upon himself. Frowning, the teenager upped the power of the spell a bit more, only to watch in shock as the sash with the word 'MAYOR' on it that he was wearing abruptly radiated the hurtful glow of Chaos magic.

"Ack! Ack! Getitoffoffoff!" babbled Xander as he frantically tore off the sash and tossed it away as hard as he could. Panting, the young man watched the sash flutter onto the lawn next to the sidewalk, until he then hastily brought up both hands to his features, rapidly touching his face in a sudden hope that was promptly dashed, as Xander still felt the older countenance of Richard Wilkins under his fingers.

Glumly looking at where his purchased strip of cloth on the ground yet shone from the dangerous enchantment, something else caught Xander's eye, from what he was wearing on his upper body. Glowing through the jacket was the faintest gleam of Chaos magic in the vicinity of that coat's front inner pocket. An anxious Xander quickly pulled open his jacket and thrust his right hand into that same pocket, to pull out what he'd just remembered was there, nervously holding this small object in his fingers.

As he stared at the business card of Richard Wilkins III illuminated by a spell of disorder, a very boggled high school student tried to make sense of things. *That kid's costume got the Chaos mojo, so it changed him into a demon. I got that sash to show people I was the Mayor, so that must have been what changed me. But…why is ithis/i showing off that bad mojo? I've had it for years, and it didn't do anything before! Not even last Halloween!* At that last thought, Xander's eyes narrowed, as he examined that bit of strangeness further.

*I…got the sash at that new costume shop. That kid got his costume from somewhere, and I can't ask him about it, where he got it. But…everything else I was wearing-* (Xander abruptly looked down at Grandpa Harris' formal suit) *-I got from home. This card is the only other thing I had on me from when I went to that new costume shop!* Feeling very pleased at working things out, Xander sent into the night a beaming grin over his cleverness, until his delighted expression abruptly shifted into one of absolute horror, as he finally remembered something else.

Earlier, Buffy and Willow had brought their own Halloween outfits from the same shop run by that creepy English guy, who was probably the one responsible for making people change into their costumes. His friends were unsuspectingly wearing their holiday garments of a noblewoman and a ghost, right now.