Chapter 54: Halloween

Sunnydale High School

Kids were being dropped off by the dozens, screaming and shouting and waving their trick-or-treat bags as they stampeded into the building. Inside, the hallways swarmed with fierce little demons and goblins, while students valiantly tried to separate them into manageable groups.

Principal Snyder was leading a small group of children over to Dawn. As she quickly scanned their eager faces, she couldn't help noticing that there was a vampire among them. "Here's your group, Summers." He gave her his usual sneer. "No need to speak to them—the last thing they need is your influence. Just bring them back in one piece and I won't expel you."

Leo frowned at the man. "No need to talk to my daughter that way, sir," he said.

Snyder glared at Leo and walked away.

"Thanks, dad," Dawn said as she smiled at him and Wyatt. She knelt down in front of Wyatt. "Ready to go, little brother?" Wyatt nodded excitedly. She then turned to the other kids with a smile. "Hi," she said. "We're going to have fun and gets lots of candy."

Streets of Sunnydale

As Dawn's weary group returned from a house, she couldn't help noticing not only Wyatt's dejected expression but the other kids as well. "What'd Mrs. Davis give you?" she asked them, concerned.

"Yeah, toothbrushes," Leo said shaking his head. "Why would anyone bother to do that on Halloween?"

"I wonder that myself, dad," Dawn admitted as she and Leo herded Wyatt and the kids together and steered them down the sidewalk. "Let's hit one more house. We still have a few minutes before we've got to get back." She then looked at Leo. "Then when Buffy gets here, we can go out on our own as a family. Even go hit up mom at the gallery."

Leo smiled and nodded.

Ethan's Costume Shop

In the back room of the shop where Dawn, Willow and Xander had gotten their costumes. A black-hooded figure was kneeling before a row of black candles, reciting an incantation.

"Janus, hear my plea." Ethan Rayne, the proprietor of the shop, spoke the words, but he spoke them in Latin. "Take this night as your own. Come forth and show us your truth."

Streets of Sunnydale

At the house on the corner, kindly Mrs. Parker came to the front door, smiling and handing out candy to the group of giggling monsters. Willow waited patiently for them at the end of the porch. The wind was starting to pick up, and the chill in the air had grown noticeably sharper. She huddled into her ghost sheet, wishing she'd dressed warmer underneath.

"Trick or treat!" the children shouted.

"Oh, my goodness," Mrs. Parker beamed at them. "Aren't you adorable!"

Ethan's Costume Shop

Ethan picked up the statue, his hands leaving bloody prints upon the stone. His face dripped with sweat, his body trembled feverishly. And then, again in Latin, he chanted, "The mask is made flesh. The heart is curdled by your holy presence. Janus, this night is yours!"

Streets of Sunnydale

Dawn and Leo ushered Wyatt and the kids quickly down the block. A sudden gust of wind sent a shiver down Dawn's back. She stopped, frowning.

"Dawn?" Leo said looking at his adopted daughter in concern.

"Something doesn't feel right," Dawn answered.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At the house on the corner, Mrs. Parker was looking down at the plastic pumpkin in her hands. She shook her head in utter dismay.

"Oh, dear," she mumbled. "Am I all out? I could have sworn I had some candy left."

Ethan's Costume Shop

Suddenly the candles went out. The only light now was the one emanating from the hideous statue, casting a sickly green glow through the shadows.

Ethan lowered his hood. A satisfied grin spread slowly across his face. "Show time," he whispered.

Streets of Sunnydale

Mrs. Parker looked down at the trick-or-treaters clustered around her. Miniature demons, vampires, gargoyles, and witches—they were all staring at her and at her empty candy container.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Monster," Mrs. Parker sighed, playing along. "Maybe I—"

She never got to finish her apology. Without warning, a slimy green hand caught her by the throat and yanked her forward. As she tried desperately to scream, she could see that the hand belonged to the make-believe gargoyle.

Except he wasn't make-believe anymore.

Where a costumed child had stood only seconds before, there was now areal gargoyle. As horribly real as the rest of the creatures swarming over her porch.

Willow couldn't believe what was happening. "Let her go!" she cried, trying to reach Mrs. Parker.

A horned demon deliberately blocked her way. As the demon turned and attacked the gargoyle, Mrs. Parker was finally able to break free and scramble inside to safety, locking the door behind her.

"What—" Willow mumbled. "What's—"

She tried to back off the porch. She felt dizzy and weak and strange. Stumbling, she gasped for breath. Her eyes grew wide with terror. The next instant she fell to the ground, her body limp and lifeless beneath its sheet.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

For an instant Dawn felt dizzy as she fell into Leo's arms.

"Dawn?" Leo said worriedly.

"Who is Dawn?" Dawn asked when the dizziness had passed. She looked up at Leo in confusion. "I'm Lady Elizabeth of Kensington, sir!"

"Dawn," Leo said suddenly very worried about the answer he was about to get. "What year is this?"

Dawn thought a moment. "Seventeen-seventy-five, I believe. I don't understand. Who are you?"

"I'm your adopted father," Leo answered as a frown creased his face. He looked around and found Wyatt was next to him. He knelt down next to his son. "Go find your big sister. Go find, Buffy," he ordered as his son orbed out. He looked around to see the whole neighborhood was in chaos.

From every street, sidewalk, and corner came shrieks of terror, car alarms, cries for help, sounds of running, howling, the shatter of breaking glass. The air was thick with panic and the smell of fear.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

As hysterical children raced past him for cover, Xander turned in confusion and immediately de-shouldered his plastic machine gun. For a split second he felt a peculiar dizziness throughout his whole body. Staggering a little, he tried to keep his balance, then just as quickly felt the dizziness leave him, clearing his head once more.

His posture went ramrod straight.

He raised his gun.

Not the plastic gun he'd held only a moment ago, but a fully functional M-16 machine gun.

Xander didn't even look surprised. His demeanor now was all military, his jaw set, his eyes like steel.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In front of Mrs. Parker's house, Willow felt herself sit up. She still felt peculiar, not quite herself, but at least the awful dizziness had gone. She stood slowly, trying to remember exactly what had happened. And then she looked down at her feet.

"Oh. Oh my God . . ."

She was still lying there on the porch.

Or, at least, her ghost was.

Willow stared at the ghost sheet, at the lifeless form that lay beneath it. And then she looked down at her own clothes.

The Willow standing here was wearing a miniskirt and halter top—the rocker-babe costume that Dawn had picked out for her. But the Willow lying there wasn't moving at all—in fact, the standing Willow could see her own boots submerged in the sleeping Willow, as though the two of them were still precariously connected.

Willow's voice was barely a whisper. "I'm a…I'm a real ghost."

Machine gun fire sounded behind her. Willow turned to see Xander backing across the street, surveying the area in silent panic.

"Xander!"

As joy and relief swept through her, Willow raced over to her old friend. But to her dismay, Xander whipped around and pointed his gun straight at her. "Xander, it's me. Willow!"

Xander eyed her suspiciously. He cautiously lowered his gun. "I don't know any Willow," he said.

"Quit messing around, Xander," Willow pleaded. "This is no time for jokes."

Xander's stare was cold. "What the hell is going on here?"

"You don't know me?" Willow peered earnestly into his face, but there wasn't a hint of recognition.

"Lady, I suggest you find cover."

"No, wait!" Before Xander could walk away, Willow stepped in front of him. But instead of stopping him as she intended, an incredible thing happened.

She felt Xander pass right through her.

Pass right through and step out from her other side.

Willow gazed down at herself in disbelief. She was trembling from the contact, a rush of pure physical pleasure enveloping her from head to toe. "Ooh," she breathed.

Xander, on the other hand, freaked out. Spinning around, he raised his gun and pointed it at her again. "What are you?" he demanded.

"Xander." Willow raised both of her hands where he could see them. "Listen to me. I'm on your side, I swear. Something crazy is happening. I was dressed as a ghost for Halloween, and now I am a ghost. You were supposed to be a soldier, and now, I guess, you're a real soldier—"

"And you expect me to believe that?" Xander snapped.

Before Willow could answer, a little vampire emerged from the bushes, growling at them. Immediately Xander took aim.

"No!" Willow yelled. "No guns. That's still a little kid in there."

"But—"

"No guns. That's an order. Let's just get—" She broke off, spotting something down the street. "Dawn! Leo!"

Dawn was indeed coming toward them, stumbling along the sidewalk in her eighteenth-century gown followed by a very obviously concerned Leo. At once Willow ran to meet the duo, leaving Xander to grudgingly follow.

"Dawn, Leo, are you both okay?" Willow asked as she approached them. She heard another menacing growl from the bushes—only louder this time—more like a roar. Behind them, the little vampire had been joined by a very large demon, and the two of them were heading this way.

The four of them watched as the monsters got closer.

"I sent, Wyatt, after Buffy," Leo said. "Dawn doesn't even know who she is."

Xander scowled. "This could be a situation."

"Leo, what do we do?" Willow asked desperately.

"Buffy's house isn't far," Leo suggested. "We might want to get off the street."

Without warning a demon jumped Dawn from behind. She simply screamed and batted at it with her fingers. Leo spun Dawn away as he looked at Xander. Xander then stepped in, butting the demon with his rifle until it gave up and ran off.

Xander turned solemnly to Leo and Willow. "I suggest we get inside before we run into any other—"

"Demon!" Dawn shrieked. "A demon!"

Leo, Willow and Xander whirled to defend themselves. Bewildered, they saw only a car driving toward them along the street. Dawn promptly dived into Leo's arms, shrinking against him and hiding her face.

"It's not a demon," Willow tried to explain. "It's a car."

"She doesn't know that, Willow," Leo said. "For her this is the late seventeen hundred."

"Oh," Willow said. "Makes sense I guess since apparently everyone turned into their costumes. Myself included."

"What were you?" Leo asked looking Willow's costume over.

"Ghost. These were the clothes I had on under the ghost sheet," Willow said. "Now let's do as you suggested and get inside while we wait for Buffy."

"Someone call for me?"

They turned and saw Buffy and Paige holding onto Wyatt's hands.

"We have a problem," Leo said. "Everyone apparently has turned into their costumes."

"Okay," Buffy said. "You guys get to the house. Paige and I will go see Giles."

Summers Residence

A short time later Leo, Wyatt, Dawn, Willow and Xander piled through the back door into the kitchen. Safe for the time being, Xander locked up the house, then stood at the window to keep guard. Dawn's eyes wandered over the countertops and appliances, totally overwhelmed by the mysterious objects around her.

"I think we're clear," Xander announced.

"Joyce!" Leo called. And then, when no one answered, "She's not here. I hope she wasn't wearing a costume."

"Where are we?" Dawn asked.

"Your house," Leo told her.

There was a violent pounding on the front door. Startled, they froze for an instant, then began moving through the house, Leo and Xander in the lead, Willow and Wyatt close behind, Dawn trailing. In the dining room, Dawn and Wyatt stayed behind, while Leo, Xander and Willow bravely continued on.

"Don't open it!" Willow warned Xander.

Xander hesitated. "It could be a civilian."

"Don't open it!" Leo ordered as the pounding stopped. "What is your rank, soldier?"

"Private First Class," Xander answered.

"I am Corporal Leo Wyatt," Leo said.

"Sir!" Xander said as he snapped a salute at Leo who returned it.

"Go watch the windows for now," Leo ordered as Xander crossed to a window to look out.

"Corporal?" Willow asked.

"My rank during World War II. I may have been a medic, but I still held a rank," Leo answered as he looked around. "Where are Wyatt and Dawn?"

Leo and Willow found Wyatt and Dawn in the dining room. Dawn was staring at a picture on the mantel. The picture was of Leo and Piper, holding Wyatt and Chris, with Joyce standing between Buffy and Dawn.

"This," Dawn whispered as Leo approached her, "this could be me."

Leo bent down and picked up his son. "It is you, Dawn," he said. "You don't remember anything?"

"No, I—I don't understand any of this, and I..." Dawn hesitated, studying the photograph once more. "This is some other girl; I would never wear this..." She was whining now, and rambling, dangerously close to tears. "This low apparel," she pouted, "and I don't like this place, and I just want to go home!"

"You are home!" Leo told her as he guided Dawn toward a mirror in the foyer. He and Wyatt stood there beside Dawn. "You see it don't you, Dawn? That we are three of those in that picture?"

Dawn began to cry. The pounding started again. Terrified, Dawn shrieked.

"She couldn't have dressed up like Xena," Willow grumbled.

A demonic hand smashed through the window beside Xander's head. The thing grabbed at him, but Xander managed to jump back just in time.

"Not a civilian," Leo observed.

Xander gave a curt nod. "Affirmative." He stuck his gun out the window.

"Over the head, soldier," Leo ordered.

Xander nodded. There was a short burst of gunfire, then they heard the demon scampering away.

Then they heard a terrified scream. It came from somewhere outside, and as Xander peered out the window again, his muscles tensed for action.

"Hey—!"

Before Leo or Willow could stop him, he raced out the front door.

"Surely he'll not desert us?" Dawn fretted, her voice bordering on hysteria.

Out in the darkness, Xander had located the source of the screaming. Cordelia was running frantically down the street, her costume torn, her hair a disheveled mess. There were scratches on her face. Several yards behind her a huge hairy creature was relentlessly catching up.

Xander headed toward her. Cars had been abandoned in the streets, and shadowy figures were still running in the distance, some of them on the prowl, others fleeing for their lives. As Xander reached her, Cordelia screamed and tried to fight him off, before suddenly realizing who he was.

"Xander?"

"Come inside," Xander ordered her. He didn't have the slightest idea who she was. He rushed her toward the house. He practically threw her inside, slamming the door behind them.

"Cordelia!" Willow exclaimed.

"Another student from your school, Willow?" Leo asked as Willow nodded.

Cordelia looked supremely irritated. "What's going on?"

"Okay," Willow hurried to explain, "your name is Cordelia, you're not a cat, you're in high school, we're your friends—well, sort of."

"That's nice, Willow," Cordelia cut her off. "And you went mental when?"

"You know her?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, lucky me. What's with the name game?" Cordelia asked.

"Does she know?" Leo asked looking at Willow who nodded. He looked back at Cordelia. "I'm Buffy's biological father. Let's just get that out of the way first. Apparently, there is a spell on some of the costumes. Take Dawn for example she believes it's the late seventeen hundred and Xander believes he is an army soldier."

"That would explain JoJo the dog-faced boy who attacked me," Cordelia said.

Sunnydale High

Alone in the library, Giles was immersed in his book catalog. He was used to the silence in here, especially after school hours, so when the faint screams and sirens sounded in the faraway distance, he lifted his head and frowned.

Then he remembered. Of course, it was Halloween. Screams and sirens would be the norm tonight.

But had that noise just then been something else? A stranger, softer sound—one much closer by?

Again, Giles looked up, pausing to listen, thinking perhaps he'd imagined it.

Slowly he turned from his work.

He didn't hear the sound at all now. Still, he supposed it wouldn't hurt to investigate—

He was turning around when Buffy and Paige orbed in in front of him without warning. He jumped back, arms flailing, knocking into shelves and sending books flying in all directions.

"Sorry," Buffy said sheepishly. She and Paige went on to tell him what they had found out. Now the three of them were surrounded by piles and piles of books. Looking for something—anything —that might give them a clue as to what was happening this wild, unforgettable Halloween.

Buffy gazed at Giles in frustration. "I don't even know what to look for."

"Let's review what we know," Paige said.

Giles nodded in agreement. "At sundown, everyone became whatever they were masquerading as."

"Right," Buffy said. "Xander is a soldier, Willow is a ghost, and Dawn is an eighteenth-century girl."

Giles took off his glasses. He stared blandly at Buffy and Paige's outfits. He raised both eyebrows. "And your costumes?"

"Angel," Paige said.

"Fairy," Buffy added. "But we didn't get ours at the costume shop that Dawn, Willow and Xander went to."

"Which means you two didn't change," Giles hmmed. "Do you know where Dawn, Willow and Xander got theirs?"

"I can find out, I hope," Buffy answered as she pulled out her cell phone and dialed.

"Summers Art Gallery," came Joyce's voice from the phone.

"Mom," Buffy said. "It's Buffy. I need some information. Where did Willow, Xander and Dawn get their costumes?"

"A new place called Ethan's."

Ethan's Costume Shop

"Hello?" Giles called softly. "Is anyone in?"

Not that they'd really expected to find anyone inside Ethan's Costume Shop at this late hour. The store was dark, seemingly deserted, and yet Giles, Buffy and Paige entered easily through the front door.

Together they moved slowly through the main room. Costumes were strewn everywhere. Masks lay about on the floor and countertops, like so many severed heads. Almost at once Paige spotted the altar and the ring of black candles, the golden statue—its hideous, evil face, the glowing green eyes...

"Giles..." Paige said. "Buffy."

Giles and Buffy came up behind her, following the direction of her stare.

"That's Janus," Giles said. "A mythical Roman god."

"First the Titans and the Greek gods. Now the Roman gods," Paige said shaking her head.

"So, what does it mean?" Buffy asked.

"Primarily, it represents the division of self." His eyes went anxiously from corner to corner. "Male and female. Light and dark—"

"Chunky and creamy." Ethan's mocking voice was terrifyingly close. "No, sorry. That's peanut butter." He stepped out from a shadow, smiling at Giles.

Giles stared back at him; his own face tight with shock. "Buffy, Paige," he said firmly. He stepped in front of them, never taking his eyes off Ethan. "Get out of here. Now."

"Not happening," Buffy said. "After all, if this guy is the one responsible for making my sister forget me. Then I owe him a world of pain."

Giles glanced at Buffy and Paige. Technically he couldn't force to leave. Not when he they the power of teleportation. So, he reluctantly nodded.

"I take it you know him, Giles," Paige said noticing the way the two men were looking at each other.

"Yes," Giles answered. "His name is Ethan Rayne."

"Hello, Ripper. What, no hug?" Ethan taunted Giles. "Aren't you happy to see your old mate?"

Giles remained composed. "I'm surprised I didn't guess it was you. This Halloween stunt stinks of you."

"It does, doesn't it?" Ethan replied proudly. He picked up a Halloween mask, rubbing his fingers almost lovingly over the surface. "Not to blow my own horn, but it's genius. The very embodiment of 'be careful what you wish for.'"

"It's sick," Paige returned. "It harms the innocent—"

"Ah one of the famed Charmed Ones," Ethan said glancing at Paige. "Saw your return from the dead on the news not too long ago." He glanced at Giles. "Heard you were not only working with the Slayer but the Charmed Ones. Do they even know what you're capable of?" And then something seemed to dawn on him. "But they don't, do they?" he realized. "They have no idea where you come from."

Buffy and Paige glanced at each other. "What Is he talking about?" Buffy asked.

Instead of answering Buffy, Giles got in Ethan's face. "Break the spell, Ethan," he demanded, advancing slowly. "Then leave this place and never come back."

"Why should I?" Ethan threw back at him. "What do I get in the bargain?"

"How about a Guardian's power," Buffy said a she turned and fired a telekinetic blast from her hands at a nearby mannequin destroying it. She turned back toward Ethan whose eyes had gone wide.

"Now that is an interesting twist," Ethan said in surprise. "A Slayer who is also the Guardian of Pandora's Box."

"As I believe Buffy said earlier," Paige said. "She owes you a world of pain for your spell causing her sister to forget her. So, you have a choice. Pain or not."

"Ooh. You're scaring—" Ethan's words exploded inside his mouth.

As Buffy fired another telekinetic blast, this time at Ethan himself, his unfinished sentence oozed out across the floor with his blood.

Giles stood over Ethan calmly. It was a frightening calm, a lethal calm. "You can either tell us how to end the spell or I can let Buffy beat you to a bloody pulp."

Ethan began to laugh. "Say pretty ple—" he began, but Buffy fired off another telekinetic blast at Ethan's side, leaving him gasping for breath. "Janus," he finally managed. "Break the statue."

Buffy, Giles and Paige turned toward the statue. Immediately Paige grabbed it and threw it against the wall. And then, as the statue shattered into pieces, they turned back again to Ethan, who was gone.

"Ah come on," Buffy pouted. "I wanted to make him bleed some more."

Summers Residence

Dawn came out of the bathroom. Dressed in comfortable sweatpants and tank top, she looked like herself again as she paused in the doorway of Buffy's room. Her face was scrubbed clean; her hair was brushed and shiny, hanging soft about her face.

"Hey, Buffy," Dawn said looking at her sister and Paige who were cuddled together on the bed. "Ta-da." She struck a pose. "Just little old twentieth-century me."

"Hey, Dawnie," Buffy said as she smiled at her younger sister. "All back to normal?"

"Yeah," Dawn sighed. "Of all the things we've been through. This has been the worst. Even worse than Ted. I knew what was going on. Could see through my eyes but had no control over my body," Dawn said with a sigh.

"It's over now, Dawnie," Buffy said. She got out of bed and moved over to her sister and hugged her. "Good night."

"Night, Buffy," Dawn said as she turned and headed for her room.

Buffy sighed as she closed the door and looked at Paige. "How much trouble am I in?"

"None," Paige answered. "Am I thrilled you used your powers on him, no. But he wasn't an innocent either. Who knows what problems his spell would have had after Halloween was over and people hadn't reverted back? In this instance I think the use of your powers was justified."