|
|
Part 1
Xander wasn't aware of much after he fainted, just catching bits and pieces of things as he swam in and out of consciousness. When he came to at last, even before he opened his eyes, he was aware of several voices talking over him. Plus, his head felt funny, constricted somehow, and, reaching up, Xander found it to be covered with some sort of gauzy material.
"Hey," said a musical feminine tone to Xander's immediate left, interrupting the other two in the background. "He's waking up." After that was silence, and the young man blinked his eyes open, waiting until his pupils adjusted to the light. But once he saw who the three people around him were, he immediately wished he was back in sleepland.
For starters, the melodic-voiced blonde to his left wasn't even supposed to be alive, or at least in existence. He had only met her, although informally, a few times, but there was no mistaking her face. It was Darla, the vampiress who had killed one of Xander's best friends years ago.
The panicked young man shifted his gaze next to Ethan, who merely stood there eying him curiously. Then, Xander looked on to the third person, who much to his surprise, was Cordelia Chase, snob queen of Sunnydale. What was she doing hanging out with an ultra-evil bloodsucker and a voodoo-priest wannabe, Xander wondered. Personally, these weren't three characters he would throw together in the same room.
"Where am I?" Xander asked, eying all three of his companions warily.
Cordelia took a few steps towards him, looking worried. "Alex?" she asked, reaching over to stroke the side of his face, then stopped herself. "I'm sorry... I know you're not him," she said, mostly to herself. "So, let's start with, who are you and what were you doing in my husband's car?"
Xander's eyes widened in confusion; the last he had heard, Cordelia was still very much single. "Your husband?" he asked hesitantly.
"Yes," Cordelia said, starting to get angry. "Just whose car did you think you were driving? And if you don't answer in the next two minutes, I will call the police and have you arrested for auto theft!"
Ethan stepped forward at this, putting his hands around Cordelia's arms in an attempt to comfort her. "It's okay," he whispered to her. "We'll find Alex. I promise."
Darla looked over at her two comrades, having just performed a quick telepathic probing of Xander's thoughts. "Well, you won't find out from him," she said solemnly. "He's just as confused as we are." Looking at Xander, she added, "No one here is going to hurt you. Just tell us what happened, how you came to be here."
Xander contemplated this a moment, then decided he had nothing to lose by doing so. It surprised him that Darla hadn't yet made a move to bite him thus far.
"My name's Xander Harris," he started, choosing to keep to the basics. "Earlier this evening, I learned some disturbing news that could potentially put an end to my marriage... I was driving to an old hangout when I crashed. And when I woke up, I found myself in someone else's car... I don't know how I got there or where this Alex person is."
Darla exchanged a nervous look with Cordelia and Ethan, then focused back on Xander. "Your wife... Who is she?"
Xander swallowed nervously, then answered, "Willow... Willow Rosenberg."
For some reason, the mention of that name got Darla totally rattled. She stood and began to pace the room, then stopped and focused on Cordelia. "Either he's insane or he's one of them," Darla said. "And I don't get either impression... Plus, I don't see him and Willow having a relationship, considering the way she is now."
Xander cut in. "Someone want to tell me what's going on?!?" he asked impatiently. "Why is the prospect that I'm married to Willow so hard to fathom?"
Darla was all too ready to reply, but Ethan stopped her, silencing her with a single gesture. Taking a step closer, he asked, "Tell me about your Willow. What's she like?"
Xander lay his head against the pillow, lost in the memory of his wife. "She's sweet, modest," he answered gently. "Totally caring towards other people. In fact, she's about the most loving person I know."
Ethan paused. "Xander, I have a few more questions for you, and I want you to answer as truthfully as possible. For starters, you know who the three of us are, right?"
Xander nodded. "Darla is a vicious vampire who I thought was dusted three years back. No offense," he said, the last comment directed to the blonde vampiress. "Cordelia is a newly made vampire, who turned from being evil to being good for complicated reasons. And you're a Black Arts practitioner who enjoys causing havoc for my friends and I."
Cordelia threw a glance at Ethan. "Could he be any further off the mark?" she asked in annoyance. "What planet is he from?"
Ethan looked back at her. "I don't think the question is what planet, but rather what dimension." Seeing Cordelia's confused expression, he added, "It would appear that our friend, Xander, here and your husband, Alex, may have switched places in each other's universes."
With that, Ethan turned back to Xander, fixing him with a serious gaze. "I'm going to be blunt. This is not your world, and we're not entirely sure what brought you here or how to get you home. But, in the meantime, I will bring you up to speed." Ethan sighed deeply, then continued, pointing towards Darla. "First off, our blonde friend here is on our team. She was cursed with a conscience by a gypsy tribe nearly a century ago and turned good as a result."
Xander rolled his eyes. "I've heard that one before," he muttered under his breath.
Ethan went on as if Xander hadn't spoken. "And to understand exactly who Cordelia and I are, you would first have to become clear on what a vampire slayer is."
Xander interrupted. "I do," he said aloud. "I mean, I've known one or two where I'm from... She's the one girl in all the world who is destined to fight vampires. In fact, where is Buffy? Is she part of your gang?"
Ethan raised an eyebrow at this, clearly interested. "There is a slayer in our world, but it's not Buffy Summers. She was killed some years back by... Well, all you need to know is that Cordelia is the slayer, and I'm assigned to be her Watcher."
Xander wasn't given a chance to react to this startling tidbit, as Ethan continued on. "She met your counterpart in this world, Alex, in college, when he was engaged to Willow... Some things went awry, Willow was... was, um, killed, and Alex and Cordelia got married shortly after. He's known of her role and would often be there at her side to help her fight. Which is part of the reason she's survived as long as she has."
"What makes you think I'm Alex?" Xander asked. "Or that he and I are essentially the same person?"
Cordelia spoke up at this. "Because you look exactly like him, except that Alex is distinguishable by a scar that runs along the right side of his face. He got it on the same day we lost Willow, in a fight with a vampire known as Angelus."
"Angelus?" Xander asked in disbelief, feeling a chill. "I know him in my time... Only he was cursed instead of Darla, and he goes by the name, Angel, now."
Darla snorted. "Figures," she muttered.
Ethan shook his head. "This isn't good," he said fearfully. Turning to Xander, he added, "We'd better pray that Alex doesn't run into either Angel or Willow in your world. The results could be catastrophic."
"Why?" Xander pressed. "What could happen?"
"Alex could kill him," Darla answered. "He's been storing a lot of anger inside since Willow... Angelus was the one who murdered her, and Alex has never been able to forgive that. If he should run into Angel in your time... Well, I think you'd be without one good vampire when you returned..."