Chapter 154: Hells Bells
It had been a week since Piper and Leo had agreed to give Buffy and Dawn a month to sort out their feelings. And even after a handful of dates they were still not any closer to an answer. Of course they considered they could be over thinking things, after all love came from the heart not the head.
They were on their sixth date of the week at Payson's P5, dancing. They danced together, much to the staff's shock. After all the staff of Payson's P5 had never seen their owner and her sister dancing so closely.
The smoke from someone's cigarette blew right into Buffy's face, and she coughed.
"Do you wanna head home?" Dawn asked.
Buffy tossed her hair as the next song started. "No, I'm good."
Dawn put her hand on Buffy's chest, hands splayed out across the shimmering blue fabric, stilling them both. "Buffy, it's fine. Besides the way your employees keep looking at us, word could get back to Phoebe and Paige. And we're not ready yet to tell them, remember?"
Buffy nodded.
As they walked into Buffy and Piper's shared office at the back of the club, Dawn asked, "Did you have fun?"
Buffy smiled as she leaned in and kissed Dawn. "Yes," she said. "Dawn, I've been thinking. Maybe we don't need that month."
"Maybe," Dawn agreed. "But are we ready to tell them?"
"I don't know," Buffy said as she and Dawn flamed out.
The next day Dawn, Buffy and Willow stared in horror into Buffy's bedroom mirror at their reflection of them wearing hideous chartreuse bridesmaid dresses with puffy sleaves..
"Buffy, Dawn ... it's hideous. My god look at its arms!" Willow whispered.
Buffy nodded her head, screwing up her courage. "I know. But it's my duty, I'm Buffy the bridesmaid."
"Duty-schmooty. I'm s'posed to be the best man. Shouldn't I be all Marlene Dietrichy in a dashing tuxedo number?" Willow asked.
Dawn shook her head. "No, cuz that would be totally unfair."
"Dawn's right," Buffy agreed. "We all must participate equally in the cosmic joke of bridesmaids-dom."
Willow gave her reflection a glum look. "Maybe if I ask Anya I can still go with the traditional blood larva and burlap. I mean, she was a vengeance demon for like a thousand years, she'd know all the most flattering ... larvae." She glanced again at the dress and shook her head. "What was she thinking?"
"That has been my question," Dawn said as she moved over to Buffy's bed to put on her shoes.
"I think Anya's way too stressed to think right now, what with Xander's relatives and her ... demons ..." Buffy explained.
"Ohmigod, last night," Willow said. "That rehearsal dinner. It was a zoo without the table manners. And I bet it got worse after we left."
"I can't believe everyone is buying the story that Anya's people are circus folk," Dawn said. "The thing with the tentacles, what's he s'posed to be, Inky the Squid Boy?" She laughed slightly.
"And Xander's family, I haven't seen 'em that bad since my bat mitzvah," Willow said. "Did you see how much they drank?"
Buffy nodded. "Kinda. Mr. Harris threw up in my purse."
Just then the door opened as Anya walked into the room, wearing only a bathrobe. Seeing Buffy, Dawn and Willow in their dresses her eyes go wide as she clutched her hand to her mouth.
The trio shared a nervous look wondering if Anya was as horrified as they were?
"Oh. Oh. You three look so beautiful," Anya said as she pulled them into her arms and hugged them. "This is the happiest day of my life."
Later at the Bison's Lodge, Willow wrestled with veil-like length of white tulle, swathing it around a bison's head. "There we go ... tuck that there and let's see, maybe one little flower here ..." she said as she inserted a flower into the meringue of tulle. "And voila! Loveliness ensues." She climbed down from the step ladder she was on to admire her artistry. What d'ya think?"
Dawn smiled. "Its sweet. In sort of a macabre, dressing up dead animals in funny costumes way. But sweet."
"Yeah," Willow said as she set the step ladded aside. "Isn't it pretty here? I didn't know a Bison's Lodge could be so swelegant." She put her arm around Dawn as they walked through the main room of the lodge.
"I thought Xander and Anya couldn't afford flowers," Dawn said noticing the arrangement of flowers.
"Giles sent 'em. Aren't they gorgeous?" Willow said.
Dawn nodded as they stopped to smell the flowers. She quietly slid one out to give to Buffy later. "Yeah. I wish Giles was here."
"Me too," Willow agreed. "And I'm sure he'd much rather be here than fighting that nasty demon—"
"Da-e-mon. In England it's daemon," Dawn corrected.
Willow nodded. "Daemon, too right. But Giles' got responsibilities. And so Anya and Xander have flowers. And flowers. And more flowers. Ooh, it's going to be so pretty!"
In one of the side rooms Buffy helped Xander as he got dressed. She diligently tried to wrap a too small cummerbund around his waist.
"Is it too small?" Xander asked.
Buffy shook her head. "Nah."
"It fit when I picked up the tux. How can it not fit now?"
"It'll fit," Buffy said straining to make it fit.
"Aw man. What if it doesn't? What if I can't wear my cummerbund and the whole world sees the place where my pants meet my shirt? That can't happen Buffy! I must wear das cummerbund!" Xander said.
"And ... so ... you ... SHALL," she as she hooked the back of said cummerbund.
"You did it?"
Buffy nodded. "Slayer strength."
"And I've been meaning to cut back on the habit-forming oxygen," Xander joked.
"You look really great, Mr. About- to-get-married. You're glowing," Buffy said as she began tieing his bowtie. She gasped suddenly. "Omigod, Xander Maybe you're pregnant!"
Xander smiled. "Or maybe, I dunno ... maybe I'm just happy."
As Buffy heard that tears welled up in her eyes.
"Teary," Xander said noticing the tears..
"Oh, good teary," Buffy said as she smiled.
"Happy teary? Not frustrated with bow tie teary?" Xander asked.
Buffy nodded. "Yes. Happy. Happy for you. I can't tie this! Hey, isn't your best man supposed to do this?"
"She said she had something important to do," Xander said.
Out in the main room Dawn stood with Xander's Uncle Rory who stood next to one of the female caterers. "Look who agreed to be my date for tonight!" he said.
"I'm really supposed to be working," the caterer said. "I'm one of the caterers..."
"Hush, hush. No woman of mine has to work. All you have to do is sit pretty and laugh when I tell a good one. Tell her what a funny guy I am, Dawnie," Uncle Rory said as he looked at Dawn expectantly.
"Gotta go. Enjoy the wedding," Dawn said as she walked away. She made her way through the crowd coming face to face with D'Hoffryn, who was beaming with pride and held a wrapped gift.
"Hymen's greetings!" he said.
"Hymen's greetings," Dawn replied.
"Ah you must be one of the Halliwell witches," D'Hoffyrn said. "Only they and maybe Ms. Rosenberg would know about Hymen, the God of Matrimony! His Salutations upon you! May the love we celebrate today avoid an almost inevitable decline!"
"Yeah, I'm Prudence Halliwell," Dawn said. "But you can call me, Dawn."
"Well, Dawn, I brought a gift. I suppose there's a table ..." D'Hoffryn said as Halfrek stepped up beside him, wearing a bridesmaid's dress.
"You must be Halfrek," Dawn said. "Anya told us you would be standing beside her also as a bridesmaid."
"Please! Call me Hallie, we're practically family now," Halfrek said.
Dawn rolled her eyes. "Mmmmm. Neat," she said as she took the gifr from D'Hoffryn. "I can put this on the table—"
"Careful, it's ..." he started.
"Fragile?" Dawn asked.
"Squirmy," D'Hoffryn corrected.
Dawn looked down at the air holes in the box. "Alive?"
"Quite."
"Piper!" Dawn yelled as Piper came over to her. "I need you to freeze this. Till we can find a safe place to secure it."
Piper nodded as she waved her hand and froze whatever was in the box.
"Ah, you must be Piper Halliwell," D'Hoffryn said. "It is a pleasure to meet you."
"And you," Piper said. "Let me guess, D'Hoffryn?"
"You know me," he said as he smiled.
"We looked up all the demons that were on Anya's guest list," Piper said. "We wanted to make sure there would be none that would try to end the world during the ceremony or kill the human guests."
"A sensible precaution," D'Hoffryn said. "Come Halfrek." He led Halfrek away from Dawn and Piper.
Before Piper and Dawn could do something with the box Spike and an unknown girl walked up to them.
"Spike." Dawn frowned. If her hands hadn't been full with the box she might have powered up a energy ball.
"Like you to meet my date," Spike said.
Dawn glanced at Piper and back at Spike. "Hi. I'm Dawn and this is Piper."
"Uh-huh," the girl said as she shook Dawn's hand.
"So, yeah. Anyway, that's my date. She's with me. My date for the wedding," Spike said.
Dawn rolled her eyes. "You're lucky Spike I am holding this box. Or I would electrocute you in front of all the guests."
"I think that is Dawn's way of saying get out," Piper agreed.
In the side room Xander, now fully tuxedoed, twirled for Buffy's approval. "How do I look?" he asked.
"Let's see. We found your shoes and your fly is zipped up. I'd say you're ready to get married," Buffy said. "You're one of the decent ones, Xander. This couldn't have happened to a better guy." She grabbed him in a bear hug. "Alright, into the breach with you."
"Okay, breach me," Xander said as they headed toward the door. "Now, let's go over the checklist one more time. Number one?"
"Don't let your dad near the bar," Buffy said as they exited into the hall.
"Check. Number two?"
"Don't let your mom near the bar," Buffy said as Dawn and Piper approached them.
"Hey Xander," Dawn said as she held up the box. "There somewhere we can put this, where it can be locked up, safely?"
"Why," Xander asked.
"It's got something from D'Hoffryn in it," Piper said. "And whatever is, is alive. I currently have it frozen. But I can't do that all day and watch you get married."
"Uhm yeah, the last room at the end of hall is a storage closet. We might have to replace whatever is in there if it gets loose. But that's better than it getting loose in the middle of the crowd," Xander said.
"By the way Buffy," Dawn said. "Spike may or may not be out there. He brought a date thinking he was invited. Piper and I told him to get lost."
"I better go meet and greet," Xander said as he continued down the hall.
"Oh yeah, go. I'll just be a sec," Buffy said.
Dawn handed Piper the box who continued down the hall. She then leaned in and kissed Buffy. "It's okay, baby," she said. "You're in love with me, remember? I'm giving you what he never could."
Buffy smiled. "Thanks, Dawn, I just needed to be reminded of that."
In the Main Hall Xander was in the middle of a chaotic pack of well-wishing relatives.
"Alexander, do you realize that the usher sat us in the third row?" Mrs. Harris asked.
"Mom, I'm sure it was a mistake—" Xander replied.
"Excuse me?" said an old man as he approached.
"Say Neph, have you seen the photographer? I've got a ... proposition for him—" Uncle Rory said.
"I really need a word with you—" the old man said urgently.
"Now Anya decided not to have us in the processional and that's fine, but the third row—" Mrs. Harris said.
"Please. You have to listen to me!" the old man said as he pulled Xander aside roughly.
"Hey ..." Xander said annoyed.
The old man looked Xander square in the eye. "Don't get married today. It's a huge mistake—"
"Yeah right, well thanks for the advice, Uncle ... help me here."
"Uncle—? No ... You don't recognize me, do you?" the old man asked. "But why would you? Time hasn't been kind to us, has it?"
"I'm sorry. I don't—" Xander said apologietically.
"It sounds crazy, I know, but you have to believe me—" the old man said. "I'm Xander Harris. I'm you."
"What do you mean, You're me?" Xander wondered.
"I'm you," the old man replied. "I'm you from the future."
Oh, from the future!" Xander said with a shake of his hand. "For a minute I thought you were a nutball but now that—"
"Please. Listen to me," the old man said desperately. "I found a way back so I could warn you. To tell you—"
"Hey, hey. Take it easy. Everything is going to be okay," Xander said. "I swear I told that kid not to serve drinks before the ceremony." He looked over to the bar area and saw sees his father, three-sheets to the wind, hitting his drink with a fork.
"A toast! A toast!" Mr. Harris said.
"But they're not even married yet. You can't make a—" a tentacle demon said.
Mr. Harris glared at the tentacle demon. "I paid for this wedding and I can make a toast if I want to."
"Look! I can prove it to you," the old man said drawing Xander's attention back to him. He pulled out a mystical-looking glass orb from his pocket. "I thought you might need convincing. Come on. Follow me."
At the bar Mr. Harris continued his drunken toast. "... and to my lovely wife, Jessica. Where are you, honey?" he said as he searched the crowd before spotting her. She frowned, obviously embarrassed. "There she is." He raised his glass. "To my wife. What would I do without you, beautiful?" He smiled warmly. Mrs. Harris who was caught off guard by her husbands sincerity smiled at her husband. While he broke into a mirthless grin. "Well, for starters I probably wouldn't need to drink so much, would I?" He downed his drink.
Mrs. Harris' smile disappeared from her face as she tried to hide how much that hurt.
Mr. Harris grabbed a bottle from the bar and poured himself another drink. "But on the bright side, being married probably saved me from a nasty dose of the clap, so here's to ya."
"Does this jerk ever shut up?" Clem asked.
"He's making my suckers twitch," the tentacle demon fumed.
"And now a toast in honor of the bride's dermatologically-challenged family shrub—" Mr. Harris as the demons grumbled.
"Sit down!" the tentacle demon said as the other demons murmured their approval.
"Hey—HEY! I paid for all of this! You want me to sit down, cough up a couple grand, Squidly!"
The tentacle Demon started toward Mr. Harris with murder in his eyes. "What'd you call me, you drunk piece of—"
"Mazaltov!" Buffy said as she and Dawn swooped in and hustled Mr. Harris away from the bar.
"Hey, what's this?" Mr. Harris asked
"You must be so happy for Xander on his special, once-in-a-lifetime day, Mr. Harris," Dawn said.
Mr. Harris focused on Buffy and Dawn and grinned in appreciation at what he saw. "Nice chassis. What's under the hoods?"
Buffy glanced at Dawn and shook her head. "I could really go for a strong cup of coffee. Hey, let's get you one too."
"Say ... do you own a sorta square, pinkish purse?" Mr. Harris asked Buffy.
Buffy sighed. "I did."
"Thought so. How about the three of us slip into the back room and I show you my—"
"Finish that sentence and I guarantee you won't have anything to show," Dawn growled.
Buffy looked at Dawn wondering when her sister had gotten scary, not that she didn't agree with the sentiment.
In the trophy room the old man and Xander stood in the small an dusty room. The old man extended the glass orb toward Xander as light pulsed within.
"What is it?" Xander wondered.
The old man smiled. "It's magic, very powerful. Look at it. You'll see what I've seen. Feel what I felt."
Xander, curious despite himself, looked as the orb began to emit a bright beam of light onto Xander's head. [1]
Moments later Xander gasped as if he was waking from a nightmare. He looked at the old man who touched his should and he pulled away.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to show you—" the old man said.
"What happened?" Xander asked frantically. "What was that?"
"A glimpse of your future. Harnessed by magic. I'm so sorry—"
"Is she okay? Is she okay? What did I do—"
"Listen. I don't have long here," the old man said. "The spell that brought me back, it won't last. You can change things. It doesn't have to go like this. But you can't marry Anya."
"But—" Xander started to object.
"You'll hurt her less today then you will later. Believe me," the old man said. "Sometimes, two people—all they bring each other is pain."
In the main room most every was ready and waiting for the ceremony to start.
Buffy was about to go get Anya and Xander when she spotted Spike, without his date. She walked over to him.
"Hello, Buffy," he said.
"Hey."
"Happy occasion. You meet my friend?" he asked.
Buffy shook her head. "Haven't met. She seems like a very nice attempt at making me jealous."
"Is it working?" Spike wondered.
Buffy looked at Spike for a moment. "No. Not anymore. I'm in love with someone else, Spike."
"Who?" Spike wondered.
"I'm not going to say," Buffy said as she smiled. "But you and I are done. You can go or stay for the wedding its up to you. But don't think for a second you will ever get to sleep with me again." She turned and walked away from Spike who turned and walked towards his date and then they left.
By the backdoor Xander paced, his hands thrust deep in his pockets.
"I'll say this for the Y chromosome: looks good in a tux," Willow said as she walked up to Xander and began to adjust his tie.
Xander forced up a smile, covering his turmoil over his vision of the future. "Your double X's aren't doing so bad there, either."
Willow looked at him, a bit wistfully. "You're getting married. My little Xander."
Xander smiled. "All growed up."
"It's a good thing I realized I was gay. 'Cause otherwise, hey, you, me and formal wear..."
Xander hugged Willow close to him.
"You know how much I love you?" she asked.
"Mmm... 'bout half as much as I love you?" Xander said
Willow broke the hug and smiled at him. "Ready for the long walk?"
"Um... can you give me a sec? I want to go over my vows," Xander said as Willow kissed him on the cheek.
"Take your time. Not like they can start the wedding without you," Willow said as she walked off.
Moments later in the main room the string quartet began. Buffy quickly made her way down the hall to the Anya's room and knocked on the door before peeking in. "Are you ready, Ahn?"
Before Anya can answer, Buffy felt herself yanked back out to see Dawn and Willow standing in front of her as Dawn closed the door.
"He's gone. Xander's disappeared," Willow said.
"What! Xander's gone? What do we do?" Buffy asked.
"Willow and I are going to look, we're going to find him. And you're going to stall," Dawn said.
Buffy nodded as Willow and Dawn left and she poked her head back in Anya's room. "Sorry about that. Uh, it looks like there's going to be a little delay."
"Why? What's wrong?" Anya asked.
"Nothing, nothing. Just, um, the, uh, minister! He's got to go perform an emergency ... C-section and, uh—"
"A C-section?" Anya asked skeptical of Buffy's lie.
"Oh yes, he's a doctor as well as a minister. He's like, half-minister, half-doctor. A mini-tor. Not, of course, to be confused with a minotaur! Because he's all man, this minister-doctor man, no bull parts, whatsoever," Buffy said as she scrambled for an explination.
"Uh-huh," Anya said.
"So anyway, it oughta just be a couple of minutes."
"Okay," Anya said as Buffy closed the door. She looked to Anya. "Okay, this is the last time. Ahem. I, Anya, want to marry you, Xander, because I love you and I always will. Before I met you, I was, like, a different person. Not even a person, really."
Somewhere on the streets Xander walked alone, thinking to himself.
"Xander!"
Xander turned and saw Dawn. "What's wrong," she asked.
Xander let out a sigh. He didn't question how Dawn had found him, having a teleportation power would have made it easy after all. He just began to tell her what the old man had shown him.
At the lodge the guests started to get restless.
Karen, an asthmatic ten-year-old, pulled on Cousin Carol's sleeve. "I'm bored."
"It's a wedding, honey," Cousin Carol said. "We're all bored."
"...and I can't figure out why there's no food, does she actually want us to pass out from hunger?" Hallfrek said.
"Something's wrong, I should ... something's wrong," D'Hoffryn said.
Buffy walked up the aisle to alert the minister of the delay when the string quartet began to play. Embarrassed, Buffy bent down her head and waved her hands, telling the crowd as she passed: "No, no ... This isn't It ... It's not what you think..."
As she passed by, Cousin Carol dabbed her eyes. "Beautiful."
Across the room, a warty demon smiled and waved kindly at a restless Karen.
Buffy reached the minister and, covering the microphone she whispered into his ear telling him what was going on. He nodded. She headed back down the aisle and the eager string quartet starts to play the recessional music.
As things began to get out of control Mr. Harris headed to the bar and things began to spiral even more out of control.
Cousin Carol, Piper, Phoebe, Buffy and Paige observed the chaos as Karen stood next to them, her mouth on her inhaler, huffing.
"Buffy, you gotta do something!" Cousin Carol said.
Buffy headed to the front and commandeered the microphone. After a lame joke or two and warty demon juggling while doing a bit of soft shoe at the same time. The crowd seemed to become appeased.
"So what is the holdup?" Paige wondered.
Piper sighed. "No one knows where Xander is. Dawn and Willow went out looking for him."
"What?"
Piper, Phoebe and Paige turned and saw Anya standing behind them.
"Xander is gone? Xander is missing? WHAT DO YOU MEAN XANDER IS MISSING!" Anya shouted.
Suddenly, the room was silent as everyone turned to look at Anya.
And then everything got worse, a whole lot worse. Fighting broke out between Xander's family and the demons as each blamed the other for the failed wedding.
Tara herself found herself pulled into the fray. "Ow! Ew!"
Buffy jumped off the stage and attempted to keep the peace. She pulled a human and demon apart... "Hey, break it up!" But her attempt to well break it up was met with an wayward punch.
Anya made her way through the crowd. She grabbed a demon by its shoulders and demanded: "When did you see Xander last?"
"Well, I saw him go into the Trophy Room with that guy!" Cousin Carol said as she pointed at the old man that had shown Xander the vision of the future.
Anya pushed her way through the crowd to the old man. "You. You were talking to Xander right before he left!" she said as he smirked and began to move away from her. "What did he say to you? What did you say to him?"
"Really doesn't matter now does it," the old man said. "It's done."
"What's done?!" Anya said as she yanked him back when he started to walk away. "Did you—? If you said something to make him leave ..."
"You'll what?" the old man asked. "Haven't changed a bit. Still as vindictive as ever."
"Do I know you?" Anya squinted.
"You don't recognize me, Anya? I'm not the man I used to be, I know, but they say eyes are windows to the soul," the old man said.
Anya looked into the Old Man's eyes. "Xander. Where is he?!" she asked as the old man sneered and turned away. She quickly grabbed his arm. "You tell me, Old Man! You tell me why he left!"
"Why? He left because of you," the old man said.
"I—I didn't do anything," Anya said.
"Oh, really. What about this?" the old man said as he transformed. His skin peeled away as if molting and something seemed to grow from within, revealing a huge, hideous demonic-looking creature. "You did this. You brought this on!" It let out a blood-curdling shriek as its claws popped out of its finger and it swipped at Anya and missed.
The wedding guests near to the Creature, stop fighting and stare in horror.
"Uh-oh," Clem said.
"Tell me what you did with Xander!" Anya said as she beat her fists against its chest. "What are you?"
The Creature raised a clawed hand ready to strike when it began to laugh as its claws retracted. "You don't recognize me?"
"No! What did you do to him?" Anya asked.
The Creature just looked at her, enjoying the panic on her face. Savoring it. "I've waited a long time for this, Anyanka."
Those further from the creature began to realize what was going on.
"Anya!" Buffy shouted as she began pushing her way through the crowd. But the crowd is thick, she's not making a lot of headway.
"Who. Are. You," Anya asked in a hushed tone.
"Remember Chicago? South side, 1914?" the Creature asked as he looked at her expectantly. Enjoying the moment. Anya is stumped. "Stewart Burns. Philanderer? You think you'd remember. I remember you. But then again, you ruined my life."
"You were ... I punished you," Anya said as she realized what this was all about.
The Creature nodded. "That's right. Some hussie I'd been taking around summons you, and next thing I know, I look like this and I'm being tortured in another dimension."
"I ... I forgot," Anya said.
"Well, I didn't. Every day I remembered and every day I thought about how I would somehow get back here and ruin your life like you ruined mine."
"But how—" Anya said on the verge of tears.
"Black magic. And plenty of time. I practiced and practiced until today. It didn't take much either. I scared off your fiance with just a couple phony visions."
"Visions of what?"
"Your future. Or his nightmare vision of your future," the Creature said.
"The heck with this," Buffy said. She looked around to make sure no one was looking. Everyone's attention was on the Creature and Anya, so she flamed out.
"That's it? That's all you did?" Anya asked as tears started to spill down her eyes.
"Yeah, it was easy. Look at that: you're crying. Oh, I like that!" the Creature said
Buffy flamed in and she powered up a fireball. "I take it this was all about Anya, huh.
The creature popped its claws and shrieked as it attacked Buffy. She threw the fireball knocking it back.
"Piper!" Buffy yelled.
Piper looked at Paige. "We'll explain later, orb."
Paige grabbed both Phoebe and Piper's hands and orbed out and in next to Buffy.
"The Power of Four will set us free," Buffy began to chant as Piper, Phoebe and Paige joined in. "The Power of Four will set us free. The Power of Four will set us free. The Power of Four will set us free."
As the four of them chanted the Creature began to smoke and exploded as it was vanquished.
The crowd clapped at the Creature's distruction.
"How are we going to cover this up?" Paige wondered.
"Carefully worded lie," Piper said.
Just then Dawn orbed in with Xander and Willow.
"Anya!" Xander said.
"Xander!" Anya said.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
She nodded. "I'm ... I'm so glad you're back. It's all lies; what he showed you, it was all made up! He just wanted to break us apart."
"I know," Xander said. "That's what Dawn said. But it doesn't matter now."
"We're going to be okay," Anya said.
Mr. Harris looked around at the destroyed room. "I am not paying for this, you freaks!"
And the fight was on again.
Willow found Tara amid the raging crowd and pulled her to safety. "Thanks."
"You okay?" Willow asked.
Tara nodded. "Yeah."
"STOP IT! EVERYONE SIT DOWN!" Anya yelled as the fighting stopped. "The wedding will go on! Now, get in your seats."
Xander pulled Anya out into the foyer.
"You know, it's bad luck for you to see me in my dress," Anya said as she smiled at Xander. He smiled weakly back at her and touched her cheek. "Hey, it's okay. It's all over. He's dead. And it was just smoke and mirrors."
"I know," Xander said again.
"So, we're ready now. Let's go get married," Anya said.
Xander shook his head. "I ... I'm not," he said as Anya looked at him shocked. "I'm not ready. I can't. Ahn, I'm sorry."
"But it wasn't real. What he showed you, it wasn't—"
"I know it wasn't. But—it could be."
"What was it?" Anya wondered. "Was it about me? He wants you to hate me, Xander—"
"It wasn't you. It wasn't you I was hating—" Xander explained. "I've had thoughts, fears before this. Maybe we went too fast—"
"Everyone has thoughts Xander," Anya said. It's natural—it doesn't mean getting married is wrong—"
"I know, I know—but—"
"You're just shaken up, okay?" Anya said desperately. "Just calm down and then we'll start over. Okay?"
Xander looked over at the main room and his gaze falls on his parents. He looked back at Anya. "But we can't start over. If this is a mistake. It's forever. And I don't want to hurt you ..." he said as Anya dropped his hands and shook her head slightly, stunned. "Not that way. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Slowly, Anya walks away from him. Like a sleepwalker. Leaving Xander alone.
After a moment, Xander turned and exited out the front door for the second time that day.
Anya moved to the end of the aisle and stood there as everyone turned to look at her. Dazed, she started to move down the aisle and the string quarter began play the processional for the last time that day.
And as she does so, everyone realizes there will be no wedding. That Xander has left her at the alter.
Later that night at Buffy;'s house; Buffy, Willow, and Dawn, sat in the living room lounging around as they nursed cups of tea.
"Shouldn't we do something for her?" Dawn asked. "Anything!"
Willow shook her head. "She wants to be alone. That's what she wants. Oh god, it hurts my heart to think of her."
"I know. The whole thing hurts my heart," Buffy said.
"I thought they were happy," Dawn said.
Buffy nodded. "They were. I know they were."
"Why did this happen?" Dawn wondered as she looked at Buffy wondering for a brief moment would that happen to them. Would Buffy leave her. She quickly dismissed the thought, it was too depressing to think about.
"I don't know. I mean, I feel like I should be hating Xander. But I can't I just. I just hope he's okay," Willow said.
"I wonder where he is," Dawn said.
Across town Xander walked into a motel room with the night manager.
"Not much to explain here. The air conditioner's bust," the night manager said as Xander nodded. "That's it. Check out is eleven."
Again, Xander nodded as the night manager left, closing the door behind him. Xander just stood there.
At Buffy's house, Buffy sat on her bed as she looked at her sister standing by the window. "You still bummed out about Xander?" she asked Dawn.
"A little," Dawn said as she turned and looked at Buffy. "But I'm also thinking about us. I don't want what happened to Xander and Anya to happen to us, Buffy. I don't want us to not be in love with you. To be swayed by doubts. That's not what I want. I want you, Buffy, forever. Payson Halliwell, I'm in love with you, wholy and completely."
"Prudence Halliwell," Buffy said as she got up and walked across the room to Dawn. "I am in love with you, wholy and completely."
Dawn smiled and kissed Buffy, passionately. Then she led her sister back to the bed, not caring that Willow was just down the hall and might hear.
Author's Note: [1] If you want to see what Xander saw, watch the episode Hell's Bells. I only included the scenes with Xander because it explains what happens, why the wedding is called off. In Last Halliwell I omitted the scenes showing Xander and the old man, instead focusing solely on the Halliwell family. The reader in the start likely did not get what was going on between scenes with the others till the demon showed up to talk to Anya.