A/N A lot of canon obviously is no longer a possibility in this fic, Cordelia isn't making a wish that results in another timeline that is destroyed with Anyanka's power center, Angel left town so the First won't be haunting him, Joyce finding the dead kids/demon episode only resulted in one interesting thing, Joyce asking Buffy if she actually thinks things are better in Sunnydale with her here. Interesting question given the whole Angel/Angelus situation resulting in people dying who might not have died without Buffy's choices. But aside from that, a pointless episode and of course Buffy's eighteenth birthday. The Cruciementum as it appears in the show is just plain stupid and sick and in the fic I just finished I explored a competent Council and how they would do an intelligent version that was designed and proved helpful. Giles is working on being more responsible and competent so I see no need to go over old ground again in regards to the Cruciementum, so none of those will be happening in this fic.

But that still leaves Anyanka who very definitely wanted her power center back at this point and was denied it by D'Hoffryn. Most people assume an alternate Willow was brought across from the last place Anyanka's power center was because Willow helped cast the spell, but I've read a few fics where someone else came across and there's a way to make that happen in Magic, since Magic is about more than words and power, it's emotion and will and intent and imagination, so another person from another reality is possible based on what the castor is thinking and feeling at the time the spell is cast. And while Willow is naive, there's no way Anyanka would get her to help with any spell in this fic, so Anyanka needs another Magic user and I've got one in mind, but I wouldn't call her naive.

######

"Cordelia, how are you doing?" Amy Madison asked the one time Queen of Sunnydale High School, a girl who'd given up her popularity to date the boy she wanted to, only the lose him to Sunnydale. "Unlike your former sheep, I understand what Sunnydale statistic means and I'm well aware that Xander was actively working to fight after dark menaces. And that you've helped too."

Cordelia carefully schooled her face before turning around to face Amy thinking, 'Damn, we should have thought of this! Some people know what's going on around here and Amy's one of them. And she's known Xander and Willow almost as long as I have, of course she's going to be concerned!'

"Amy, meet me outside, we need to talk." Cordelia decided she wasn't going to outright lie or get creative with the truth, Amy could handle the truth and deserved to know. "During lunch, okay? We can talk then."

Amy looked concerned and then slowly nodded as she understood what Cordelia wasn't saying, there was something more to the story that wasn't being made public. "By the bleachers? It's far enough away that no one should hear us."

"That works." Cordelia moved away heading for class and knowing she'd have to let the others know later that Amy would be in on Xander's secret. Later, during lunch she made her way out to the bleachers and found Amy waiting for her.

"Please tell me Xander wasn't turned and Buffy had to dust him?" Was the first question Amy had.

"No, but something has happened to him. Did you know Buffy got involved with a vampire? One under a curse that gave him a human soul?"

Amy gagged as she heard that, having had her own soul forcibly transferred into her mother's body by her insane mother, something that still gave her nightmares, that question was horrifying to hear. "No, I didn't. Did the curse break?"

"Yes, last January and there was a lot of drama and Willow some how redid the curse because she thought it would help Buffy. But it didn't go into effect until the demon part had activated a portal to a Hell dimension. To save the world Buffy had to send him, soul and all, to Hell."

Amy looked like she was going to vomit and who could blame her? An innocent soul in Hell?

"Somehow he came back and she hid him from us, Xander saw them together and we all confronted her about it. She and Xander started arguing and Buffy made a wish. Turns out there was a vengeance demon nearby and she granted the wish."

"What was the wish?" Amy dreaded the answer.

"For Xander to know what it's like for Angel, a vampire under a curse."

Amy was swallowing hard now, trying to keep bile down. "She turned him into a vampire?!" She hissed angrily.

"The vengeance demon got creative, she made him a fictional kind, what Xander's calling a techno vampire. He still needs blood, but bagged blood works just fine and he's not dead and hasn't lost his soul. But he's also immortal and locked at one age, forced to live and stay 25 years old, possibly for centuries. And it's too late to reverse it, we summoned the demon to try to undo it, but it was too late. So he is a Sunnydale statistic, just not the normal kind."

"His life is turned upside down because of this." Amy was pissed, yes Xander had blackmailed her into doing that revenge spell on Cordelia, but she could have said no and she'd both wanted to try the Magic and felt bad for him getting publicly dumped like that. And she had known him for years, he was a good guy who stood up to bullies and had helped her out back when she'd had a weight problem.

He didn't deserve this.