Disclaimer: I don't own anything Buffy, Marvel, or anything that I added as an Easter Egg or reference.

An: I had A LOT of trouble with this chapter. It rewrites the episode "I only have eyes for you". It contains a relationship between a teacher and student. In the 90s this stuff was… Not okay, it was never okay, but it was more socially acceptable than it is now. Now we recognize this for what it is: grooming, pedophilia, etc. So, this has been very difficult to write in a way that does not say their relationship is okay, while still keeping to the spirit of the episode. I hope I did alright.

Chapter 08 – Visiting the Ghost Roads

"You!" Cordelia Chase cried, stomping angrily toward the current target of her ire. The school was mostly empty now that the people attending the play had escaped the attacking demons. Xander had rushed out as the last of the demons fell, carrying an injured Jenny Calendar, Giles close on their heels. The other teens stayed behind for a short time to clean up any signs of the demons before separating to go home. Once Jesse was alone, Cordelia chased him down, stopping him in the now moonlit hall of the school. "You saved my life… again."

"Yeah, I seem to do that a lot. Maybe you should stop nearly getting yourself killed."

"If you and your loser friends stop dragging me into your craziness, maybe I will."

"But what fun would that be?"

"Fun? You think this is fun?"

Jesse shrugged, "more fun than homework."

Cordy stared at him for a moments before nodding, "that is true."

"Also, I have to fight." His voice became hard, "My mom and sister live in this town. Vamps already took my dad; they aren't getting them too."

The cheerleader's look changed, this time looking at him with more interest and deeper understanding, "you really have changed, haven't you?"

The boy shrugged, "Kinda had to, given everything."

She looked him over, clearly debating before nodding in confirmation, "Let's go."

"What? Where are we-?"

"I'm hungry. You're taking me to dinner."

-oOo-

When Jenny's eyes opened, her head felt like it was full of cotton, and she could swear she was staring up at the roof of a car from a prone position in the back seat. She blinked and found she wasn't in a car, but in a hospital. She could hear the beeping of machines and smell the acrid scent of disinfectants. She was momentarily confused before the details returned to her. The monkey demons, the summoning circle, and the fire. The pain. She grimaced and reached up to where the damage was, only for a hand to grab her arm.

"Don't. They put some cream on the burns, but they haven't wrapped them yet. You shouldn't touch them."

She saw Boros sitting by her bedside, a look of anguish on his face. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a dry rasping sound. Boros turned and picked up a cup of ice chips, gently setting one on her tongue to help moisten her throat. After allowing a moment for the ice to melt, she tried speaking again. "What happened?"

"I'm sorry. You've been hurt and it was my fault. I got distracted while fighting the monkeys. With my level of power, I could handle stuff like that easily, but that would be boring, so I don't go all out. I don't use all my abilities. And that's why you got hurt. I should have done better. I could have put up a forcefield barrier to stop you from being hit. You shouldn't have even been there! I should have kept you away."

"Not your fault." She rasped. "I knew what I was getting into."

Boros leaned forward, laying his head against Jenny's hip. "Why must you be so selfless? Why won't you just hate me like you should."

"Because I can't. Despite what you think… I will never hate you."

He sighed before standing from his seat, "Things would be easier if you could hate me. Then maybe I would be able to let you go."

"Does that mean you'll do it? You'll make me like you?"

"I can't!" He insisted, his voice rising, "I won't! You have no idea what you are asking!"

Her voice raised in response, a sense of urgency in her words, "Then show me! I'm not going away!"

He sighed and moved to the door, "I need to go."

As he walked away, he could hear her voice following him, "You may be immortal, but you can't avoid this forever!"

He walked the halls of the hospital for a while, arguing with himself. Jenny nearly died and he could prevent it if he put her into the machine. A healing factor would go a long way to keeping her alive, but it would also extend her life nearly indefinitely. He felt guilty for letting her get hurt, but then also felt guilt for thinking about going back on his stance. It seemed like there was no path here that didn't lead to suffering.

He was pulled from his inner debate by a pained cry coming from nearby. He thought about leaving it to the nurses but decided to act when he realized the sound was coming from the pediatric ward. Before he could move toward the door, it smashed open, the bloody body of a man with long slashes across his chest tumbling out and falling prone to the ground. Xander stepped closer only to be struck by an invisible attacker. He stumbled back, caught by surprise, but remained standing. Reaching out with his telekinesis, he could feel a humanoid being in the hall, it's appearance like that of a human male, but clearly not. It was a demon wearing a bowler hat with a heavy overbite and fang-like teeth jutting up from its lower jaw.

Xander lashed out with a wave of telekinetic force, smashing the creature against the wall. It scrambled around before regaining its footing. It retaliated with its claws which Xander sidestepped before stabbing outward, his hand extending and sharpening into a blade, impaling the creature. It thrashed in silence, its eyes extending out of their sockets as if reaching for Xander.

"Ew." He muttered, before reaching up and clamping his free hand onto the top of the creature's head. He snarled and squeezed, the demon's cranium crumpling under the superhuman force Xander could impart. There was a sickening 'squelch' sound and the monster fell limp, the strange eye tentacle things swinging freely upon its face. "Again. Ew."

The immortal man sighed and adjusted his grip on the still invisible creature before dragging it away. He'd have to find a place to dump it.

-oOo-

Getting out of the hospital was faster than Jenny expected. Siobhan had come to visit her and brought with her a terrible smelling yellow paste that caused her burns to heal far faster than normal. Jenny was worried that it would draw attention, but the younger girl had waved off her concerns, saying that people tended to explain away things that didn't fit within the rules they set for how the world worked. The paste did its job far better than she had expected, numbing the area it was applied to while repairing the damage before her eyes. Unfortunately, healing the burns didn't prevent her chest and shoulder being covered in nasty scars. She stood in front of her bathroom mirror carefully running a hand along the rivulets of melted flesh that was once her pristine skin. It was unnerving to know how close she had come to dying, all because some idiot teenager thought it would be a fun prank to summon demons. Sighing heavily, she pulled on a loose-fitting silk button-up blouse before stepping out into the living room. Sitting on the couch was the red-haired girl, daughter of The Immortal.

"He can be an idiot sometimes." Siobhan stated, continuing their conversation from the hospital, "He's been around so long, he thinks he knows what's best for everyone. It's my job to remind him he's still human. It's kind of yours now, too. And he needs it. He's been alone for too long; he needs people to remind him that he doesn't know everything."

"It's so infuriating!" Jenny cried, throwing herself down onto a cushy armchair. "He's so sure that I'm going to end up hating him."

Siobhan nodded, "He's been through so much. He's lost so many people in his life, it's understandable that he doesn't want you to go through it too, but that doesn't make what he's doing okay. He's being such an ass. You have the right to decide for yourself."

Jenny chuckled, "If I talked about my family the way you talk about him…"

"He would be the first to agree with me. After all, he's the one who taught me that everybody makes mistakes. Even him."

"Good lesson."

"What are you going to do?" Siobhan asked to which Jenny shrugged.

"What can I do? Return to school tomorrow. Continue to show him I'm not going anywhere."

And that's exactly what she did. As the days went on, Jenny decided to let the subject drop for the moment, showing her determination through actions instead of words. Xander didn't visually respond, but then, she knew he was a master of his body. He wouldn't have any tells if he didn't want to. She reminded herself never to play poker with him.

Nearly a week after her stay in the hospital, her constantly churning worries about Xander were pushed aside when she witnessed a student nearly shoot another. She was muddling her way through a stack of student assignments when she heard shouting coming from the hallway outside her classroom. Stepping out, she saw a boy pointing a gun at a girl.

"Love is forever. I'm not afraid to use it, I swear! If I can't be with you..."

Jenny tensed, about to move forward to try to prevent what was going to happen, when a shout of 'hey!' sounded from nearby. She watched as Buffy charged at the gun wielding teenager and quickly disarmed him, the weapon skittering away. Jenny's eyes went wide as the gun almost seemed to… evaporate. It just sublimated into the air and was gone. When Buffy started to berate the boy for the weapon, he seemed to have no idea how he got it or where it came from.

"He had no idea?" Xander asked the next day, having come to her classroom upon her request.

"No. Given how it vanished, it might have appeared the same way."

He sat, deep in thought, before nodding, "Probably. Until we know more, we'll need to be extra vigilant. These things tend to get worse before they get better."

-oOo-

The next morning, Jenny was on her way to class when Buffy approached her, a cold look on her face. "Hey."

"Hi."

The blonde stood in silence, avoiding the teacher's gaze. Finally, the older woman spoke, "Uh, is there something that... Did you want something?"

"Look... I know you feel badly about what happened, and I just wanted to say... Good. Keep it up."

Jenny sighed internally, not the slightest bit surprised that the younger girl was lashing out at her, blaming her for her boyfriend having left, "Don't worry, I will." She turned to walk away when the girl held up a hand.

"Oh, wait. Um... he misses you. He doesn't say anything, but I know he does. And I don't want him to be lonely. I don't want anyone to."

A deep guilt overcame Jenny. She felt terrible knowing that, while Rupert was thinking about her and missing her, she hadn't thought about her relationship with him since Xander opened his world to her. At this point, she couldn't deny it to herself any longer. She wanted to be a part of that world. Now she had to figure out how to tell the other man.

-oOo-

Jenny sighed as her eyes skimmed a page of computer code, spotting multiple errors. It was not one of the better ones written by her students and it was her job to correct it and give it a grade. She looked up from her computer and checked over the students hard at work in front of her. They were all tapping away on keyboards, some better than others. She leaned back in her chair and took in the room, watching them attempt to utilize what she's been teaching them. Before long, the silence filled only by the monotonous typing sounds lulled her into a calm state, leaving her mind susceptible to influence. Her eyelids became heavy and slid closed, only to snap open a moment later, Jenny knowing better than to fall asleep in front of a room full of teenagers. When her eyes opened, she immediately knew something was wrong. She was no longer in her own classroom. The computers were gone, leaving the students sitting at smaller desks. Their style of dress had also changed, looking like something out of the Fifties. At the front of the room was a teacher she didn't recognize.

"Don't forget, your assignments are due on Friday, class." The woman was saying. The students started to stand up and gather their belongings, getting ready to leave. Jenny looked around, fascinated to find that none of them responded to her presence. Two girls passing so close they nearly bumped into her didn't even look her way as they giggled about who they were taking to the Sadie Hawkins dance. The girls were carrying brightly colored flyers, which caused Jenny's eyes to go wide when she saw they were dated 1955. She didn't know why she was in the past or how she had gotten there, but as she looked around, she noticed something odd. She could see the teacher and the few remaining students clearly, but the edges of the classroom were blurry, almost like there was a wall of fog surrounding them. Within moments the last of the students were gone, except for a single teenage boy wearing a letterman's jacket who stepped up to the teacher and held out his completed assignment.

"Thank you, James. How are you enjoying that book I loaned you? The Hemingway."

Jenny immediately picked up on some odd tension between them. The teacher took the offered assignment, their hands touching for far too long.

James smiled, "I like it. Very much. It's honest."

"Yes, it's, um... it's based on a true story, actually. He fell in love with his..."

They fell silent, their hands dropping as the door opened. Jenny's vision blurred and she blinked, finding herself back in her computer class when her eyes opened. She looked around in confusion. Everything was just as it had been before her impromptu trip to the past, the students hard at work on their assignments… Mostly, anyway. There was one student playing minesweeper and thinking she wouldn't notice. Chuckling to herself, she stood up to remind him what he was supposed to be doing.

-oOo-

On the other side of the school Xander was sitting in a different class, bored out of his mind while the teacher was droning on about The Great Depression reciting mostly correct information. There was a certain romanticism about the events shown in the media and the things that were taught in lessons. The problem was that it wasn't the kind of thing that could be taught, it had to be experienced.

Glancing up at the teacher who had started writing on the blackboard, Xander quirked his head. In big letters across the board, the teacher had written 'Don't walk away from me bitch!' The man stuttered, clearly embarrassed, and quickly erased it while the students laughed. Xander, however, was staring at the now empty board with his eyes narrowed. Things were getting weird.

They got stranger still after classes ended. Xander was standing with Buffy and Jesse while the teen was depositing his books into his locker, when an arm reached out from within and attacked him. The boy flailed and cried out in shock as his friends grappled with the appendage.

Once free, they hurried to the library to report the events to Giles. The man was understandably surprised. He decided, and Xander privately agreed, that the signs suggested the presence of a poltergeist. They discussed the events for a bit longer before breaking for the night. After leaving, Xander split off from the group and headed to Jenny's classroom where she was waiting, knowing that he would come by after the meeting.

"I had a vision." The woman said excitedly as soon as he entered, stopping him in his tracks.

"You had a what now?"

"A vision… or… or some kind of dream? During class, I was suddenly in nineteen fifty-five. I think I saw a student having an affair with his teacher."

Xander quirked an eyebrow, a sarcastic smirk on his teenaged face, "and you identified with a teacher crushing on her student?"

"Shut it." She muttered, not looking at him while blushing brightly.

Xander snorted before returning to the subject at hand, "the people you saw must be related to what's going on, it's too much of a coincidence otherwise. We should see if we can get a hold of a yearbook from '55. It may provide more information."

"There's an entire bookcase of yearbooks in Snyder's office." Jenny pointed out.

Entering the administrative space was simple for a shapeshifter of Xander's skill, even though taking on Snyder's appearance made him feel a bit queasy. Once inside, he stepped up to the bookshelf Jenny had described, only to pause when a single book slid from the shelf and fell to the floor. He studied it for a moment waiting to see if anything else happened. When nothing did, he lifted the book telekinetically and inspected it. Unsurprisingly, it was the exact book he had been looking for, the class of '55. He formed a deep pocket within his torso and slipped the book into it before exiting the office. Once back in Jenny's classroom, it didn't take long to identify the people from her waking dream.

"That's her." The woman stated, pointing at a full-page spread of a woman named Grace Newman, before turning the page and stopping at a picture of a student named James Stanley, "and that's him."

"It doesn't say much about them, other than they died.' Xander noted, flipping through the book, "Now that we have their names, we can check old newspapers. There should be an archive at the Sunnydale public library."

Jenny stared at him blankly for a minute before scoffing slightly, "… Or I could check the internet."

Xander facepalmed, "Right, sorry. Compared to how long I've been alive, the internet is a relatively new invention. I'm still not used to it."

With a snort, the teacher accessed her computer and began searching for news articles from '55. It took a little while, but they eventually found a story about a murder/suicide. "I was right. According to this, it was rumored they were having an affair. She tried to break it off the night of the Saide Hawkins dance and he shot her, then shot himself."

"It's not a poltergeist," Xander realized, "It's a death echo."

"A what?"

"A death echo is a ghost who is stuck playing out it's death in a repeating cycle. It sounds like this teacher is reliving her murder." His eyes narrowed as he tried to work things out, "To be able to affect the world around it like a poltergeist… it must be far more powerful than normal. Probably a side effect of being a ghost on the Hellmouth."

"What do we do about it? I think I have the instructions for an exorcism in one of my books."

"Exorcisms are exceedingly dangerous. I think we can-" The sound of a gunshot rang out from nearby, interrupting whatever Xander was about to say. He was on his feet in a moment, moving toward the door before Jenny was even aware of what she had heard. Xander altered his appearance, changing into Boros as he pulled the door open and ran out into the hall. Mapping his surroundings by reaching out with telekinesis, Boros 'saw' three people nearby. One was standing on a balcony on the second floor, a second lying on the ground below, while a third was moving toward them from further down the hall. Boros forwent walking, choosing to instead fly up the stairs, his feet only touching down when he reached the landing. Before he could move further down the hall, he spotted Giles charging at George, the school janitor, tackling him bodily to the floor. The gun in the man's hand slid across the floor and dissolved, just as Jenny had described.

"What's going on?" George asked, looking around in confusion.

"What's going on?" Giles snarled disbelievingly, "You just shot a woman."

Boros stepped up, placing a hand on the Watcher's shoulder, "Rupert. Leave him be."

"Boros?" surprised, Giles climbed to his feet, "What are you doing here?"

As if to answer his question, Jenny caught up to them, looking around and taking everything in, "What happened here?"

"Jenny? What-?"

"I was… grading papers, when I heard the gun shot." She looked between the two men, seeing the question clear in Rupert's eyes, a question that Jenny knew she would need to answer. For the moment, however, she focused on the custodian who had a look of horror on his face, having realized the strange waking dream he'd been having about shooting a woman had been real. "Did he…?"

"Yes." Boros replied, "He was possessed."

"Possessed?" Giles questioned.

"By a death echo." He looked at Jenny, "Though some of this still doesn't make sense. I think we're missing something." Giles' eyebrows raised at seeing The Immortal speaking so casually with her. Clearly, they knew each other, something which surprised the man. Boros reached out and pressed the tips of his fingers to the man's temples, gently gripping his head to stop the tremors that had begun as it truly hit home what he had done.

"What are you doing?" Giles asked.

"I'm going to erase his memories of all this. I think this man has suffered enough. It's not his fault what he was forced to do, and he doesn't need to remember it." Giles looked like he was going to protest, but it was too late. George slumped unconsciously to the floor. "I'll leave him with a vague memory of a person in a ski mask attacking him and knocking him out."

Giles looked unsure, "You can just… alter his mind? Do you have that right?"

"Would you rather me leave him tormented by the memories of doing something he had no control over? This is far more humane."

Giles couldn't actually disagree with that, as much as he wanted to. He watched as The Immortal did… something to the man's mind. As much as the strange being had helped his slayer he still did not trust him. Seeing his familiarity with Jenny made him dislike the man even more, although he would never admit to that publicly. He stepped away from Boros as if trying to distance himself from actions that he felt were distasteful, instead moving to stand by Jenny. He spoke softly while glancing over his shoulder at Boros, "It seems like we are going to have a long night."

The woman nodded, "We'll probably need to contact the police."

"Rightfully so." Giles replied, "Perhaps once this is over, would you care to join me for a meal?"

Seeing the hopeful look on the man's face, Jenny sighed regretfully. She began ringing her hands and looking at the floor, refusing to make eye contact with the man whom she once thought she was in love with, "I'm sorry Rupert. I wish I could tell you how sorry, but what we had has passed. I know that I hurt you, and while I can't go back in time and change that, I hope that you can one day forgive me."

The man had the look of absolute shock upon his face. He wouldn't have been more surprised if someone who had slapped across the face with a large fish.

"I know you hoped we could work things out and honestly, so did I, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. It seems that life can veer off in unexpected directions."

As she said that, her gaze turned toward Boros, causing a suspicion to form in his mind.

"I'm not going to ask if we can still be friends, I know that's not fair to you. However, given that this is the Hellmouth, I hope that we are still able to work together as professionals. Boros has a depth of knowledge that would be very valuable in the fight against evil. I know that you don't like him very much, so I will volunteer to act as a sort of go-between. I will attend Scooby meetings in his stead and act as his voice when his knowledge would be useful." Out of the corner of her eye she saw Boros frown, but he remained silent, not commenting upon her crazy idea. Rupert also frowned, clearly not liking this in the slightest.

"I, uh… I'm not sure if that is a…"

"But I am," Boros stated, turning to face them, "I do have many responsibilities that keep me busy. Having someone to act as my voice in these situations may be best."

Rupert shifted on his feet while attempting to come up with a viable reason to disagree, but unable to find one, he had to accept what the immortal was proposing. He nodded in resignation, "well then Ms. Calendar, I guess I will see you tomorrow."

He walked away, leaving Jenny and Boros to deal with the aftermath. The immortal sighed, "I guess it's up to us to call the police, although… it's probably best if they don't know I'm here."

-oOo-

The next day, the situation became even more chaotic. Xander was sitting with his friends at lunch when the poltergeist-like effect stuck again. One moment everyone in the cafeteria was enjoying lunch, the next, people's food had been replaced by live snakes. Understandably there was running and screaming as students attempted to get away from the attacking wildlife. The school was soon abandoned, and the building closed for the day as animal control officers attempted to wrangle the many snakes that had somehow made their way up from the sewer, or so the cover story said. Classes canceled, Xander met up with the others in the library, joined shortly after by Jenny in her new role.

"Ah, yes, um… Hello Ms. Calendar." Giles stuttered, cleaning his glasses once again.

"What's she doing here?" Buffy asked, disapproval clear in her voice.

"She uh, she is here representing The Immortal. After last night's events, he requested that she be here acting on his behalf."

"I didn't know he had a say here." Jesse commented, quirking an eyebrow while studying the teacher closely. He was still trying to piece together what he knew about her, Boros, and the strange way that Xander had been acting.

"He doesn't, however I feel that keeping an open channel with him is safer for all of us. This way, we have some idea of his plans instead of having no idea what he intends to do."

"What was he doing here last night?"

"That is a good question." Giles commented, looking at Ms. calendar, "it seemed that the two of you were discussing our current situation? He said that the custodian was possessed?"

"Yes. What we have been seeing is not a poltergeist. It's the ghost of a teacher that was killed in 1955. The ghost has been causing people to replay the events of her death. Boros calls it a death echo."

The bespectacled man was confused, "Death echo? I've not heard of such a thing."

"Neither have I, but then Boros is far more knowledgeable than either of us."

"Perhaps, but if it is a ghost then we can perform an exorcism. That should be enough to force the spirit to move on."

"No. I suggested the same thing, and he insisted that exorcisms were too dangerous. I believe he has a better way to deal with this."

Giles sighed but capitulated, "if someone of his power believes he can deal with it then perhaps it is best that we leave him to it." He looked around the table taking in everyone who had gathered, "I guess that's it tonight. Have a good night, everyone."

The teenagers looked around in confusion before beginning to gather their belongings. One by one they shuffled out of the library, Xander leaving while talking with Jesse. Jenny delayed before leaving, appearing as if she wanted to speak to Rupert before giving it up as a lost cause and exiting with everyone else. As everyone was heading out the door Giles spoke up one more time, "Willow, can you please remain for a moment?"

-oOo-

Returning to her classroom, Jenny was joined shortly after by Boros, Xander having slipped away after his friends separated. "Well… That was awkward."

"Was it?" Boros asked, dropping bonelessly into a chair near her desk, "I didn't really notice."

The teacher sighed and rolled her eyes, "of course you wouldn't. So, what's this plan of yours to deal with the ghosts?"

"We have to help it move on, to let go of whatever emotions anchor it here. As I've said, death echoes are trapped reliving their final moments. Normally, it's extremely difficult to break them out of their loops, but I know how to do it. I'll need to go into the Astral Plane and speak to the ghost while it's outside of its loop."

"The Astral Plane? Like in the comics?"

Xander nodded, "The Astral Plane is a place where all minds and spirits are connected. It goes by many names. I've heard some call it the Ghost Road, or the Nevernever. When someone's death is especially painful and emotional, it can leave an imprint of them on the Astral Plane. The ghosts you are familiar with are imprints that have managed to use the material the plane is composed of to create a form that lets them manifest here. You would recognize that material by the term 'ectoplasm'."

"I'm aware of the Astral Plane from the comics, but I didn't know it was a real place. I would love to see it."

Xander debated for a moment before nodding. He gestured to the chair behind her desk, which sat empty while she had been excitedly pacing about, "Get comfortable."

Once seated, he pressed the tips of his fingers to her temples before closing his eyes. Seeing this, she did the same. She held her breath for a moment in expectation, before the sudden feeling of falling overtook her. She threw out her arms, waving them wildly as her eyes snapped open. She was surprised to find herself no longer in her classroom but instead standing on a street that disappeared off into the distance. Surrounding them was nothing but bare rocky terrain and a mockery of the high school she was used to. The building was physically twisted, as if it was made of rubber and some giants had played with it. The walls were discolored and rotted, chipped and decayed by age and disuse. It looked like something out of the mind of a horror writer.

/While rather creepy, this is not unexpected.\\ Xander commented, his voice sounding without sound. Turning, Jenny saw that he was standing beside her, his appearance that of himself in his early forties. He was almost… Insubstantial, she could see the terrain behind him through his body as though he weren't solid. Looking down at her hands, she saw that she was the same. She could see the blacktop street through the flesh of her arms. /Welcome to the astral plane, or at least a small corner of it. Parts of the plane can be changed, altered by the minds that reside within it. It seems that this portion has become a twisted version of the school.\\

/And we're see-through because…?\\

/We're not physical. We are in the realm of thought, and we are telepathic expressions of our minds, that I have projected into this place.\\ He started to walk toward the school building, Jenny following. Movement here was strange. Pushing with her legs seemed to move her forward, yet the 'ground' beneath her feet felt soft and like she wasn't really gaining traction against it. As they approached the school building, she saw it was far more decrepit than she had thought. The front doors hung partly off the hinges, windows were cracked or broken, and the walls were crumbling, filthy, and covered in black mold. Xander easily pushed the loosely hanging doors aside, giving them access to the interior. Inside was even worse than the exterior. Beyond the decrepit appearance, there was an overwhelming smell of rot, and the sound of dripping water could be heard echoing from somewhere out of sight.

They moved cautiously, not sure what to expect. It wasn't long before music drew their attention to a classroom, a twisted recreation of the band room at Sunnydale High School. The room contained two people, each standing nearly a dozen feet apart with their backs to each other while swaying slowly to the music.

Xander nodded, /It's not just one spirit, it's two. Their pain and guilt is keeping them in this self-made hell reliving their deaths. They have to let go of the emotions keeping them here.\\

/How do we get them to do that?\\

/By talking to them.\\ He quietly pushed open the door of the room and stepped inside, Jenny following behind him. At first the spirits ignored them, lost in the lonely dance, until they got close.

In unison, they both looked up to glare at the interlopers.

GO AWAY!

Jenny heard the words even though the spirits before them didn't seem to speak. They were booming and the emotions behind them seem to have a physical effect on the world. The building around them shook, the walls rippling. Jenny felt like she was struck by a physical force and was propelled back, thrown off her feet. When she reached the wall behind her, it offered no resistance, allowing her to pass right through it easily. The last thing she saw before her vision was blocked was Xander turning toward her and raising his arm. She flew across the hall completely unaffected by gravity and passed through the opposing wall into a large empty classroom. Part way through that room she suddenly jerked to a stop and began slowly floating back the way she'd come, passing once more easily through the walls. As she reentered the music room, she understood that it was Xander who had stopped her expulsion and was pulling her back. Once she was by his side, she was set gently back upon her feet. She noticed the two spirits had once more turned away from them and resumed their dance.

/Please don't do that again.\\ Xander stated, the threat audible in his mental voice. /We know what happened to you. We have come here to help.\\

Grace stopped dancing and looked at Xander. YOU CAN'T HELP. I DESERVE TO BE HERE. I LIED TO HIM. TOLD HIM I DIDN'T LOVE HIM. HIS ACTIONS WERE OF MY MAKING.

/You can't blame yourself for what happened.\\ Xander stated, blatantly lying to the ghost. Teenagers aren't exactly known for making well thought out decisions. Grace was the adult as well as in a position of authority over James. The power dynamic alone would have been so unbalanced as to make any relationship between them a terrible idea. This wasn't the first student/teacher relationship he had seen blow up in the worst way. Still, if he wanted to succeed in exorcising these two spirits, he couldn't make them angry.

I HAD TO LET HIM GO. HE THOUGHT WE COULD BE HAPPY BUT IT WOULD NOT HAVE LASTED. THERE WERE TOO MANY DIFICULTIES, TOO MANY THINGS HE WOULD HAVE HAD TO SACRIFICE FOR ME, I COULDN'T LET HIM DO THAT.

Xander nodded, /I more than any understand what it's like to not want to burden the person that you… to take away their chance at a normal life. You did what you thought was best. I'm sure he doesn't blame you.\\

IT DOESN'T MATTER. HE'S GONE AND I'M ALONE. Grace's words were said with sadness, before she turned back to her lonely dance.

Xander sighed and turned, looking to where Jenny was speaking to the ghost of James. /It's time to let go. You've suffered here for a long time.\\

I DESERVE IT. I KILLED THE WOMAN I LOVED.

/You did something terrible; I can't deny that. I can't imagine the guilt you feel. The pain of what happened has trapped you in a loop, reliving the event again and again with other people taking up the roles of you and Grace. You are hurting people.\\

The ghost of the young man stopped dancing, continuing to stare at the wall for a moment before finally looking at Jenny, I NEVER MEANT TO HURT ANYONE.

Jenny nodded at James, /I know, and it's time that you moved on.\\

I CAN'T. WHAT I DID CAN NEVER BEEN FORGIVEN. GRACE IS GONE.

He hung his head and turned away again, oblivious to the look Jenny sent to Xander. /They can't see each other, can they? They each don't know the other is there.\\

/No, it seems they can't. But we can fix that.\\ Xander raised his arms, focusing intently on bending the reality they existed in. Jenny became dizzy as the walls folded, the floor stretching. The spirits were moments away from facing one another for the first time in centuries when the astral plane suddenly shook violently, the very ground under their feet rippling like water. Xander lost his telepathic grip on the world, the building snapping back to its original shape. In unison, the two ghosts looked at the humans, matching snarls on their faces.

YOU ATTACK US!

They lashed out with another telepathic wave, this one far more powerful than the last. Jenny was knocked off her feet, her vision going dark. She jerked sharply and fell backward, spilling out of her chair. She was back in her body, in her classroom, now sprawled on the floor. She looked up to see Boros standing from his own chair, moving quickly to help her stand.

"What happened?"

"I don't know." Boros replied, his eyes flicking around the room as if seeing something she couldn't. He moved toward the door only to stop when the floor shook, a tremor moving through the ground beneath their feet. They shared a look before Boros opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.

A retched moan echoed throughout the building, seeming to come from everywhere around them at once. After taking in their surroundings, Boros moved quickly, Jenny following on his heels. They soon reached the central stairwell, where they found Willow and Giles standing on the midfloor landing. There were candles on the ground, wicks still drifting smoke, and the scent of sulfur in the air.

Boros snarled furiously, "What did you do?!"

"We- We did the exorcism."

"Why?! We told you it was too dangerous!"

"But… but it worked!" Willow insisted, only to receive a glare from Boros.

"No, it really didn't." The sound of insects buzzing proved he was correct as a massive swarm of wasps began to spill from every opening, space, and crevice around them. Boros shoved outward with a telekinetic wave, clearing a path through the bugs. "Run!"

Willow led the way, Giles following close behind. A scared shout warned Boros that they weren't alone, allowing him to clear a path for Buffy, Cordelia, and Jesse to join them. As a group, they moved as quickly as they could to the exit, spilling out of the building into the quiet night. As soon as they were safe, Boros turned on Giles.

"What were you thinking? I told you the exorcism was too dangerous!"

"Exorcisms are an age-old method for dealing with ghosts. I knew what we were doing."

"Exorcisms are fifty-fifty at the best of times, and that's against a ghost that hasn't been strengthened by the hellmouth."

Giles' eyes went wide, "I- I didn't-"

"You didn't think about that, did you? And even if you had succeeded in exorcising one, I can't imagine the other spirit would have taken it well."

"The other?"

"There are two spirits. Two lovers reliving their murder-suicide."

"I didn't know-"

"No, but I warned you that it was unsafe. You let your issues with me put your charges at risk." Boros turned to walk back toward the school, Jenny glaring at Giles before joining him. They walked toward the building, Xander raising an arm in a pushing motion, telekinetically moving the wasps to create a path they could pass through to reenter the school. "What's the plan? Back to the astral plane?"

"No, that part of the realm we were in has been destabilized by the ritual. It's far too dangerous to go there right now."

"Then what are we going to do?"

"You're not going to like it, but we have to let them possess us. Once they are in our bodies, I can connect our minds together and speak to them directly."

"You're right, I don't like it. Those possessions end with one of the people dead, and you might be immortal, but I'm not. At least… not yet."

Boros ignored the implication at the end of her sentence, instead focusing on the beginning, "I won't let anything happen to you, I promise. Unfortunately, I can't think of any other way to stop this."

Jenny took a deep breath before nodding, "I trust you."

They walked the halls of the school, Boros telepathically opening his mind and reaching out to draw the ghost's attention. It wasn't long until he felt a foreign mind touch his own. He pulled at the presence, even as Jenny spoke.

"You can't make me disappear just because you say it's over."

"Actually, I can." His body said, even as he was busy connecting to Jenny's mind. "I just want you to be able to have some kind of normal life. We can never have that, don't you see?"

"I don't give a damn about a normal life! I'm going crazy not seeing you. I think about you every minute."

Whatever the spirit possessing Boros was going to say next, Jenny didn't hear it. Her view of the school vanished, replaced by an endless blank white space. Looking around, she was fascinated by the complete lack of… anything. There wasn't even a floor beneath her feet. Whatever she was standing on felt solid, and yet looking down, the space seemed to stretch on forever. Turning, she saw Xander in his adult appearance standing nearby, also inspecting their surroundings. "Where are we? This isn't the Astral Plane, is it?"

"No, it's not." Boros looked around in fascination, "We're supposed to be in my mindscape, but we're not. I think… we're in yours."

She was confused by that, "I don't have a mindscape… do I?"

"You shouldn't, this isn't the kind of thing that occurs naturally. It takes training and telepathy to form a mindscape."

Xander turned with an expectant look, Jenny following his gaze. James Stanley was standing across from them, surprised to find himself in this strange place. The teenaged ghost froze as he suddenly spotted something that made his eyes go wide. They were locked upon Grace Newman who was staring back, equally shocked. This was the first time in decades that they had seen each other outside of their death loop.

"James?"

"Grace? But… but I killed you."

The woman reached up, caressing his face, "It was an accident. It wasn't your fault."

"But it was my fault. How could I..."

She shook her head, "I'm the one who should be sorry, James. You thought I stopped loving you, but I never did. I loved you with my last breath."

James hung his head and began to sob, grace quickly wrapping her arms around him and drawing him close, "Shhh… No more tears." He pulled back from her, his eyes glassy. She leaned forward and kissed him comfortingly, their shared pain finally lifting. They separated slightly, both looking at the two people they had been possessing.

THANK YOU, the sound of James' voice echoed in Jenny's head, I LOVED HER WITH ALL MY HEART. THANKS TO YOU, WE CAN BE AT PEACE.

THANK YOU, Grace said in Xander's mind, I WAS AFRAID TO LOVE HIM. I PUSHED HIM AWAY AND IT BROUGHT US NOTHING BUT PAIN. DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID. LOVE IS THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES LIFE WORTH LIVING.

The two spirits looked at each other, pressing their foreheads together. In that moment of peace, they began to glow with a supernatural light that quickly engulfed them. Jenny shut her eyes against the blinding brightness, reopening them to find herself back in the school, standing on a second-floor balcony with Boros.

"Well... that happened."