AN: Reposted chapter Three adding in Siobhan's last name (in the scene when she introduces herself to Buffy). It was a name I always intended to have her use that somehow got removed.

AN2: Repost to fix error Omission/Admission at end of chapter. Thank you AssemblerManiac at TTH for catching that.

/Telepathy\\

Chapter 10 – Confronting Causality

Jesse brushed himself off, having fallen off the rickety crate after seeing the girl fly across the room and crash through a wall, only to walk back out unharmed. Somehow, whatever had been done to her in that tube had given her superpowers. It was the dream of every comic book fan, yet Jesse was terrified. Who was the person wearing Xander's face and what was he up to? There was no way that was really his best friend. If the real Xander had somehow found a way to give people superpowers, Jesse would have been the first to know, because there was no way Xander would have hidden it from him.

Regaining his post atop the crate, he watched as Ms. Calendar stepped into the tube and underwent the same process Siobhan had, falling asleep while breathing in the white mist. Was she too about to gain powers? Jesse could only hold his breath in suspense.

-oOo-

Jenny's eyes opened and she squinted at the light. She was lying in the mutation chamber, having just undergone the process. Looking around, she had a sense of… something. A presence, or more precisely, lots of presences. She looked around in confusion, trying to figure out what she was feeling.

"What's happened?" Siobhan asked, noticing the way she was inspecting her surroundings, "did something go wrong?"

"I don't know. I feel like there's something… something I can't quite see." The presence was becoming… more physical? She couldn't put to words exactly what she was feeling, but it was almost like they were more real. Squinting at the ceiling, she could almost hear muttering, like someone talking on the other side of a thick wall. She looked at the others in the room with her and, while she didn't feel anything from Xander, she was picking up the slightest hum of vibration emanating from the girl.

"I think you are feeling people's minds. I don't know what your range is, but don't forget that we are in the middle of a town full of people. I'll block your mind for now," the presences she was sensing faded away, leaving her feeling like her ears had been packed with cotton, "but you'll need to learn to do that yourself. I can train you in the use of your powers, at least the ones I myself have. I would suggest we go to the savage lands. For you to learn control, I'll need to drop the temporary barriers I am projecting around your mind. It would be best if we did that far away from people."

-oOo-

Jenny sat cross-legged in a grassy field across from Xander who was speaking softly, walking her through the steps needed to forge a mental barrier. His words were soft, soothing, as he led her in meditation. She had not realized her mind was as chaotic as it was until she tried to focus it on a single task.

"Imagine a solid structure, like a castle wall or a bank vault… Something that you know to be impenetrable. You're going to picture that wall surrounding all your thoughts. It needs to be unbreakable."

The first hours were spent learning the basics of telepathy, Siobhan joining them partway through.

She was experienced in meditation, having learned the basics of occlumency, the magical art of organizing one's mind to protect their thoughts against intrusion. The girl wasn't magical herself, but the mental training involved taught her not to project her thoughts outward for any passing mind reader to hear. Those skills would be valuable in learning to control her new abilities. Her physical skills were simple for her, as her strength was simply a greater version of something she could already do. Manipulating light, however, was going to take time and practice.

Sunday night, they exited through the vanishing cabinet so Jenny could be exposed to human minds before she had to return to work. If she had any hope of making it through the day, she needed to be sure she could block out all the minds that she would be exposed to. In her opinion, the last thing she needed was to be inside the mind of a teenaged boy much less a school full of them. Shortly after exiting the vanishing cabinet, she began to feel a sort of itch in the back of her head. She didn't think much of it at first, until it began to grow stronger, until she began to hear voices. It was as if there were people talking in another room, though she couldn't make out what they were saying.

"Focus on your barriers, make them strong."

She shut her eyes and went over the steps to reinforce her mental wall. It was more difficult now than anytime over the past few days. The voices were increasing in volume, and she could feel them crashing against her defenses, causing it to crack. It wasn't long before pressure began to build behind her eyes, a tension headache caused by the constant bombardment. It wasn't pleasant, but she would have to learn to live with it if she wanted to ever leave the house again.

She rubbed her forehead, "Is it supposed to hurt?"

"At first." Xander said, "You're using muscles you've never had before. You'll get stronger with time and keeping your barriers up will become second nature. Until then, you'll just have to power through." She spent another hour reinforcing her mind before they left the house and headed into Sunnydale's commercial district. It was getting late and while many of the shops had closed, there were still many that were open and active. As they got closer to people, the voices assaulting Jenny's mind grew louder and harder to hold back. She grimaced, once more renewing her focus. Somehow, the wall that she created to protect her mind now had cracks across its surface. Xander had warned her that this would happen, but to actually see a change in something that only existed in her imagination was still very strange. Then again, she'd seen the astral plane, it was a very real place, so it shouldn't surprise her that her newly constructed telepathic barrier was physical in some way.

After the metaphorical proof of concept, they returned to their camp in the savage land so she could sleep away from the relentless mental assault. The next morning, they entered the world, Xander and Jenny going by her apartment so she could prepare for work. They rode together to the school in a beautiful four-door jaguar, one of many high-end cars in Xander's garage. He slipped away before they reached the entrance so no one would see a student in a car with a teacher, something that would raise too many questions. After parking, Jenny spent a minute reinforcing her mental barriers against the projected thoughts already bashing against it, before entering the school. She had a long day ahead of her.

-oOo-

As the day progressed, it became more difficult to shore up her defenses. Hour upon hour of minds hammering against her own took a toll, leaving her short tempered and on the brink of snapping at her students. As the final class of the day ended, she popped her third pair of tension headache reliever pills before leaning back in her desk chair and rubbing her temples. Once the room was empty, she stood and headed for the library, knowing that's where Xander would be. As soon as she entered, she sighed in relief. The pressure against her mind faded away, blocked out by Xander reinforcing her telepathy with his own. Feeling lighter than she had all day, she strolled over and nodded at the librarian who stood at the head of the table.

"Good afternoon, Rupert."

"Ah, yes. Hello, Ms. Calendar." His voice was strained, clearly still uncomfortable in her presence. "What brings you by today?"

"Just… checking in, seeing if there's anything Boros needs to know about."

"Fortunately, no. Outside of nightly patrols, it has been quiet." He looked to Buffy, "Did anything out of the ordinary occur last night?"

The girl shook her head, giving a colorful description of the demons she had fought. None of them sounded particularly world-endy, as the girl would say. After she finished her tale, he nodded and looked around the table, smiling at his students, "unless there is anything else, that seems to be it for today. All of you have a good night and enjoy a well-deserved night off."

There was loud shuffling as the teens all gathered up their belongings and headed out, Giles leaving with Buffy. As the library emptied, Xander grinned at Jesse, "Getting out early. Want to hang out?

Jesse jerked in surprise, before glaring at the person that looked like his best friend, "not with you."

"What?"

Jesse cursed himself for talking without thinking. He looked toward the door, noticing that Ms. C was waiting there, blocking his exit. Knowing it was too late to back out, he barreled forward and hoped he got out of this alive, "I know who you are. I know you aren't Xander."

"What are you talking about? What do you mean "I'm not Xander"? Who am I, then?"

"I think you are that Boros guy. Buffy said you could control your body, alter it at will. Somehow, you are using it to look like Xander. Where is he?" The teen demanded, his voice suddenly full of anger, "Did you kill him?"

"Dude, it's me, Xander. You've known me for-" He stopped speaking suddenly, turning to look at Jenny who had moved closer without Jesse realizing.

/Tell him the truth.\\ Her voice spoke in his head, sounding across the connection he held in place to reinforce her telepathic barriers, /He's your best friend.\\

Xander stared at the woman for a long moment before sighing. She wasn't wrong, the thought of returning home to his friends had been his sole motivation for a very long time. Now, he was on the brink of either cementing that friendship or losing it forever. "Can you give us a moment? I'll meet you outside." She nodded and left the library, Xander sighing and turning back to Jesse, taking a moment to gather his thoughts before speaking, "I am Xander. Halloween night I was sent back in time. I kept the powers of the person I dressed as, which is the only reason I am still alive today."

"You really expect me to believe that? Xander dressed as a soldier for Halloween."

"Not originally. The first time, I dressed as Apocalypse from the x-men cartoon. I was upset because I nearly got in a fight with Larry but was saved by Buffy. I was pretty insecure back then and it hurt my ego, so when I went to the costume shop, I compensated by getting a costume of the most powerful character they had. The reason you don't remember it that way is because, while I was in the past, I changed something. What I did altered the timeline so that this time, the version of me that was in Sunnydale dressed as a soldier."

The boy knew Xander better than just about anyone, and studying the person in front of him, he didn't see any sign of deceit, "You're serious about this."

"Yes. I know it's a lot to take in, but it's the truth. You've been my best friend for a long time. I know I should have told you sooner, but I've protected these secrets for so long, it's second nature now."

"So… so you are Xander, just… some Xander another timeline. Or universe, or whatever. What happened to my Xander? The Xander I grew up with? The one who dressed as a soldier?"

The shapeshifter flinched just the tiniest bit before shaking his head. His voice was slightly flatter as he spoke, his emotions suppressed, "I don't know, I'm sorry."

"I- I can't handle this right now." Waving his hands in a warding off gesture, Jesse grabbed his bag and nearly ran from the room, Xander not looking away from the spot his friend had been standing. He felt a hand take his own, gently squeezing his fingers. He looked over at Jenny.

"I'm sorry. I thought that would go better."

Xander shut his eyes, pushing the pain away, "You see now why I didn't want you to become like me. Because we lose everyone in the end."

Jenny sighed, not wanting to discuss that topic right now. Instead, she pulled him toward the library doors, "Let's go. I'm taking you home."

When they arrived back at Xander's palatial estate, they went inside, the immortal man leading the way down a set of stairs into the basement, a part of the house Jenny hadn't seen before. They turned left after exiting the stairwell and strode down a long hall, ending in an area that was located below the master bedroom. Xander opened a set of thick heavy wooden doors into a sprawling cavern. It was surprisingly cool inside, which was necessary to sustain the endless rows of glass bottles filled with alcohol. It was the biggest wine cellar she'd ever seen, which wasn't really a surprise given everything else she'd witnessed so far.

They walked the aisles, Jenny's eyes skimming the bottles, some of which were older than the country they were currently in. Finally, Xander stopped moving, taking one of the bottles off a shelf and passing it to her. "Chateau Lafite Rothschild, seventeen eighty-seven."

He started walking again, Jenny following while cradling the two-hundred-year-old bottle of wine. They stopped by a rack near the door. These bottles were all identical, filled with golden-colored liquid. The top rack partially empty, the next in the row being quickly grabbed by Xander before turning to leave the basement. They settled into the family room, Xander grabbing two glasses from a cabinet. He poured himself a shot of the golden liquid, which he quickly swallowed before opening the wine and pouring a glass. He set it in front of Jenny and gestured at it before pouring himself another shot. She picked up the proffered drink and sniffed the liquid, enjoying the rich smell. She then watched Xander down another shot.

"What are you drinking?"

"This is Ogden's Old Firewhiskey. It's brewed by a wizard in England. It's imbued with magic, one of the few things that affect me, can get me drunk. Given my biology, regular alcohol doesn't have any effect on me." He poured two shots this time, passing one to Jenny. She lifted the glass to her nose and let the scent wash over her. While it did smell a bit like whiskey, the strongest notes were that of smoke and burning wood. Her eyebrows raising in curiosity, she lifted the glass to her lips and imbibed the magical drink. While not unpleasant, it felt like liquid fire as it ran down her throat. The burning caused her to cough, small puffs of smoke coming from her mouth. Xander snorted, the closest he could get to a laugh while in such a dark emotional state.

Returning to the wine, the best she had ever tasted, she watched as Xander continued to down shots of the Firewhiskey. "Did you know that me and Jesse met in fourth grade? When we were kids, we would try to outdo each other by playing pranks on people. I tended to take things too far, and it was only thanks to Jesse that I survived into high school. When he died… it became my reason for fighting evil."

While she hadn't known that the boy had died in Xander's original timeline, it made sense given everything she had learned, "What happened to him?"

"Same as what happened here. He got picked up by Darla the first night after meeting Buffy. The difference is, at that time I didn't have the powers I do now. He died, got turned into a vampire. I staked him. I watched the demon wearing my friend's face turn to dust." Xander downed another shot, "Through the ages, I got involved in many important historical events. No matter what I did, I couldn't prevent things from happening, I couldn't alter the past. The timeline is self-correcting, what happened… happened and can't be changed. At least, not without powerful intervention… apparently. Of course, I didn't know that at the time. Still, I couldn't just sit back and let him die without even trying to save him. So, imagine my surprise when it worked, when my involvement allowed him to escape Darla without dying. I only recently found out that Janus himself allowed that change as… you can call it recompense, for all that has happened to me. Of course, altering the past can have unforeseen consequences. It's like dropping a stone in a lake, it ripples outward causing more changes down the line. I knew this was a possibility, but I went ahead with it anyway. Even if he now hates me, at least he's alive."

Xander threw back another shot, the alcohol beginning to have a strong effect on him. He chuckled, leaning his head back on the headrest of his chair and began speaking, telling stories of his childhood with Jesse, the teacher and newly created mutant listening raptly while sipping her wine.

-oOo-

The next day was the longest of Jesse's young life. He couldn't find it in himself to focus on what his teachers were saying, knowing that his best friend was out there, alone, somewhere in the world. It was the only thing on his mind, which was why he was caught off guard after leaving the last class of the day when he moved toward his locker, only to find the imposter standing in his path. They stared at each other for a moment, not speaking, before Xander held out a manilla envelope.

"I found him." Seeing the confused look on Jesse's face, he clarified, "Xander. The… other Xander. Just like me, he was thrown into the past Halloween night, although he ended up in a different time and place than I did. I called in a few favors to get his records."

Jesse looked dumbfounded for a moment before reaching out to take the folder. He pulled out a surprisingly large stack of papers from within, his eyes going wide as he flipped through it. He then looked up at the fake Xander. The imposter's face was stony, no emotion showing as far as Jesse could see. "Um… thanks." He stepped past the strange time duplicate, keeping a wary eye on him until he was out of sight. Once alone, he looked down at the paperwork in his hands and knew he needed to find somewhere quiet to look it over.

It didn't take him long to settle into the empty cafeteria and begin reading through the paperwork. Eventually, he sat back and sighed heavily, running a weary hand over his face. He had no idea what to do. How could he explain this to the others? It would break Willow's heart to find out the boy she'd been in love with her entire life was gone, replaced with some doppelganger. He was so deeply lost in the swirling abyss of questions that he didn't notice the door opening. He was pulled from his thoughts by Ms. Calendar dropping into a seat across the table, an aggravated look on her face.

"I heard you didn't take the news well."

Jesse was surprised, "You know?"

"About Xander. Yeah, I saw him change his face Halloween night. He tried to make me forget but the memories came back."

The teen snorted, "You took it better than I did. How am I supposed to react when finding out that some... impostor has taken the place of my best friend?"

Jenny's eyes took in the paperwork in front of the boy, "So… what, you're thinking that you'd find this other Xander and bring him back to Sunnydale?"

"I thought about it." the boy admitted, "but do I really have the right to do that? I mean look!" He pulled several pages from the file and set them before the teacher, reading off them as he went. "Invasion of Grenada, Beirut, Panama, the Gulf war, Somalia. He joined the Army after getting stuck in the past and built a real career away from the hellmouth. I mean sure, it was in the military, but that's still safer than Sunnydale. And here," He pulled out another document, "an engagement announcement. He has a fiancé. And a house in New York. I mean... do I really have the right to expect him to drop his life to come back and be my friend, pretend that nothing has changed. It has though. He's in his forties. I'm sixteen. We can't just go back to being friends, hanging out at the Bronze and fighting vampires."

Jenny snorted which upset Jesse. "You're laughing at my pain?"

"No. I'm laughing because you already have what you want. There's a Xander sitting in the library right now who wants to hang out with you, go to the Bronze, and do all the things you want to do."

"But he's not Xander!"

"Try telling him that. Do you remember the time at Cordelia's seventh birthday party, Xander bet that you couldn't eat an entire blueberry pie and you won the bet but then you threw up all over her birthday dress? Or the time you distracted the math teacher that made Willow cry so he could put a whoopee cushion on the teacher's chair? You might not think that man out there is the real Xander Harris, but he sure does. I know those stories because he told them to me last night. What you said yesterday hurt him enough that a person who has more self-control than anyone who has ever lived was upset enough to get roaring drunk and reminisce about his childhood. If that doesn't show you that he really is Xander, the Xander that you grew up with, then I don't know what does. He was made immortal and thrown into the past. The one thing keeping him sane was the hope that he could get back to his friends, only to have the person who is basically his brother turn away from him for something beyond his control. I honestly expected better from you, Jesse."

She stood and strode from the room, leaving the teenager speechless. He had a lot to think about.

-oOo-

"I'm going out of town with my parents for a few days." Xander announced at the end of the week, surprising everyone around the library study table.

Jesse glared at him suspiciously, "Since when do you travel with your parents?"

"I know, it's weird. Dad wants to go visit Uncle Dave in L.A." He looked around the table, taking in his friends, "Should only be a few days. I'm sure you can handle the hellmouth without me."

Buffy snorted, clearly not aware of everything he had done since Halloween. "However will we hold off the apocalypse until you return?"

The group soon parted ways, Xander being joined by Jenny Calendar as he crossed the school parking lot. They walked in silence for a few minutes before the woman spoke, "You never talk about your parents."

Xander shrugged, "My dad's a drunk. My mom doesn't do anything to stop him. He walks all over her, treats her like garbage. Frankly, l'm happy to never be around them again. I didn't realize how toxic they were until I was away from them, grew up, and raised children of my own."

"You never think about going to see them?"

"No. When we first came to Sunnydale, Siobhan asked about them, but I refuse to expose her to their vitriol."

"If you aren't traveling with them, then where are you really going?"

"London. Siobhan and I go every year on the anniversary of her parents death to visit their graves. It's important that their sacrifices not be forgotten."

"Its nice that you do that for her."

Xander shrugged, "I don't want her to forget where she comes from. We will only be there a few days, but there are a few spots in the city we always like to visit while we're there. In fact… you should come with us."

"I can't. This feels like its something really personal for you two."

"As much as I fought it, you are part of this family now. There are things I would like to share with you."

She blinked in surprise, not expecting such a heartfelt admission. Before she could stop herself, she had agreed to go.