They all knew the only wish Buffy could make at this point, so there was no argument when she made her final wish. The lamp vanished from Buffy's hands with a pop and a puff of smoke.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

Xander found himself in an oddly shaped room with golden reflective walls and a large bed covered in cushions taking up the whole of the floor. It took him only a few seconds to realize he was in the lamp. Collapsing lifelessly onto the bed he frowned as he felt something hard beneath the pillow his head was on. Reaching under the pillow he found a small book written in his new native language entitled 'Bending the rules over and violating their spirit; A servant's guidebook.' Even as angry and depressed as he was he was still curious enough to open the book and begin reading it. In less than a minute his mood began to improve and by the time he'd finished several hours later he'd regained some hope.

With a snap of his fingers his new home changed into his familiar bedroom and he regained his former appearance. Genies were allowed to alter the inside of their lamp to suit themselves and that simple rule was easier to violate than a drunken nymphomaniac. He wasn't free by any means, but his slavery was a lot more comfortable than he thought it would be. He was still pissed at Buffy for trading away his freedom and humanity for a shot at resurrecting Angel when he'd already told her it wouldn't work, but it wasn't the unforgivable sin he'd considered it to be just moments before.

He could hear his mom downstairs vacuuming the living room and sense the Hellmouth's influence like the faint stench of burning tires. With a wave of his hand he cleared his house of the Hellmouth's tainted energies.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

Giles tried to comfort the crying teens, but he had no idea what to say, Xander was gone and no amount of tears were going to bring him back.

Cordelia entered the library and found Giles awkwardly patting Buffy and Willow on the back while they cried their eyes out. Rather than ask, 'Who died?' since this was Sunnydale, she asked, "What happened?"

"I turned Xander into a slave for all eternity!" Buffy wailed.

"Where's dorkboy?" Cordelia asked Giles.

"He's a genie of a lamp…somewhere," Giles explained.

"So find the lamp and wish him free!" Cordelia ordered.

"There's no telling where the lamp is," Giles replied. "There's no guarantee it's even in this dimension."

Cordelia dropped into a chair, shocked at the entire situation, and the fact that she cared. "You can't mojo some way to find him?"

"Items of such power are protected against divination," he replied.

"Who's going to tell his parents?" she asked.

"It's not like they'll care," Willow cried. "All our lives all we had was each other."

"I-I suppose I'll have to say something," Giles said. "Do you happen to have the number?"

"And I'd call the dweeb why?" Cordelia asked, unaware of how shiny her own eyes were or the quaver in her voice.

"I-I have it," Willow said wiping her eyes and stumbling towards her backpack.

"I'll call," Giles said softly.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

"Xander, phone!" Jessica yelled, before returning to cooking.

Xander hurried to pick up the phone before his dad could get on the line and say something offensive, which he was unnaturally skilled at, even when sober. "Xander speaking," he said as he switched it into a cordless phone on its own line while his mother's back was turned and ran back upstairs.

"Yes it's me," Xander said.

"No, I'm still enslaved. I managed to make my house the inside of the lamp, but that just means I'm trapped here in-between masters."

"No I have no idea how they are because I'm trapped here."

"No I couldn't," Xander growled. "If I look out the window do you know what I see? I'll tell you what I see; I see the metal walls of my prison!"

"You called me!"

"Yes, that's right. I'm trapped like I'm in a roach motel and I can't even send up a signal flare."

"They can enter and leave at will, it's just me trapped here."

"Everyone but Buffy or Angel."

"Because I'm still pissed."

"Give me a couple of years."

"I have all eternity."

"Fair? Is it fair that while she gets to eventually rest in peace I'll be a slave to whoever finds my lamp till long after the human race is dead and gone?! You seem to have missed the memo so let me repeat it for you, I'm a slave for all eternity!"

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

"I'll let them know," Giles promised.

"I told you what his parents were like," Willow said quietly not having paid attention to much beyond the fact that Giles had been arguing over the phone in his office.

"Xander managed to twist the rules so the inside of his lamp is his house, but he can't leave," Giles explained.

"I can see him?!" Willow demanded tears forgotten.

"But only you," Giles quickly prevaricated. "He's still upset and not ready to deal with anyone else."

"I'll walk you there," Buffy offered.

"I need makeup!" Willow said suddenly.

"What?" Giles asked confused.

"And the slutty Halloween outfit," Willow said.

"Makeup and something from your closet altered to slutty," Buffy corrected her.

The two girls vanished out the door looking like they were prepping for battle.

"What just happened?" Giles asked.

"Cornered prey," Cordelia replied.

Typing by: The Last Primarch!