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Disclaimer: The Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and WB Network; Rysher, Davis and Panzer Productions own the Highlander universe; no infringement of copyright is intended; yadda yadda yadda. No profit will be earned as a result of this work (like that needed to be said).
Author's Note: Thanks to AleXander’s transcripts for much needed references. Also, it’s my first attempt at BTVS fan fiction, so that should be warning enough.
Part 1
12 A.M., June 21, 1999
Angel looked around at his temporary home, wondering why on earth he had decided to come back to Sunnydale. After the attempted ascension and the death of the mayor Richard Wilkins III, he had left for LA, but he just couldn’t stay away. He hated to admit it, but he missed Buffy Summers, the vampire Slayer, too much.
All of a sudden there was a bright light, and Angel tried to shield his eyes from it. When he could see again, he felt an unfamiliar emotion — fear. Standing in front of him was the image of Jenny Calendar, and it was an understatement to say that she looked angry.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. “You ARE the First Evil, right, and not the ghost of Christmas past?”
“I’m here to correct a mistake, you fool. You are of no more use to me,” she hissed at him. “You failed to kill the Slayer, and you failed to kill yourself. On this night of the solstice, let your soul begone!”
Angel would have tried to protest or run, but another incredibly bright white light filled the room. When it was gone, the First Evil had vanished, and so had the human soul of Angel. All that was left was the unconscious form of Angelus — the demon, the soulless vampire who did not just feed to live, but lived to feed on the blood of mortal man.
The high demon D’Hoffryn was sitting at the altar in his dark chapel, staring at his visitor. “You cannot be serious,” he said in disbelief.
“You bet your ugly backside I’m serious,” said the demon known as Whistler. “This is an emergency here. The First Evil wasn’t supposed to put the old whammy on our boy Angel, and the big guy’s plans are now totally out of whack. If she really was a broad, I’d be thinking a serious case of PMT...as it is, everything’s gonna end up in serious crapola if we don’t do something fast!”
“Your concern for the lower beings is irrelevant to me,” D’Hoffryn said dismissively.
“Yeah, fine, whatever. Just get her here, and then we can get outta your hair.”
D’Hoffryn looked at him curiously. “I’ve known Anyanka for a long time. She was a fool to let herself be robbed of her powers, but that doesn’t remove over a thousand years of experience. Just what makes you think you can force her to carry out your plan?”
Whistler just grinned. “Hey, I don’t force anyone to do anything. You just gotta get 'em angry enough, and they’ll do what you want without you having to lift a finger.”
D’Hoffryn gestured and thought, < He’s an imbecile to think of giving her back her powers. But if nothing else, this should be worth watching just to see what she does to him. > The demon murmured a spell of incantation, and the ex-demoness appeared in a blaze of light.
Anya looked around in puzzlement, then in awed comprehension. She stared at the two demons and said, “Why am I here? By all the pestilent gods, who summoned me?”
D’Hoffryn looked at her in disgust. “I did. My companion here wanted to talk to you.”
Anya looked at his companion. “Who are you? Apart from being someone with a really bad taste in clothes, of course.”
Whistler said enigmatically, “Name’s Whistler, toots. Wanted to meet ya, in order to settle a bet I got going with my old buddy here.”
She looked puzzled. “What are you talking about?”
“Well, let’s just say we’ve been keeping an eye on ya, on account of you’ve been kinda buddy-buddy with the Slayer and her friends. Especially that Xander guy, huh? You got a thing going for him, maybe?”
Anya looked enraged. “You’re out of your mind! For a thousand years I wielded the powers of The Wish. I was the matron saint of scorned women, and I brought ruin to their unfaithful husbands and sweethearts. I hate all men!”
“Yeah, sure,” Whistler said, smirking. “Like a friend of mine once said, doll, methinks you doth protest too much.”
Anya looked even angrier. “If only I still had my power center, I’d show you what I...”
Whistler gestured, and a green light glowed around her throat. Anya looked stunned, as she saw her necklace. All of a sudden, she changed back to her demonic form, and stared at Whistler. “Why did you...?”
Whistler just shrugged, still smirking. “Part of the bet, toots. Now why don’t you go find this Xander kid, and start making with the smoochies? You know you want to...”
“Never!” Anyanka screamed. “I’ll be back to take care of you, after I deal with him!” She then vanished in a blaze of light.
Whistler glanced at his companion, and D’Hoffryn looked back at him. “Not bad,” the high demon admitted grudgingly. “Your plan might just work, after all.”
Whistler no longer looked amused. “It better, old buddy,” he said absently. “For all our sakes, it sure as hell better.”
Xander Harris was lying on the bed in his hotel room, watching something on TV late at night. Since graduating from high school, he had thought about joining the army, but then he decided that he needed to experience more of what life had to offer, before he enlisted.
Thus, he had decided to go on a journey to “find” himself, but he’d quickly discovered that camping out alone in the woods got pretty boring. He’d eventually ended up in Seacouver, about 20 minutes away from Sunnydale up the interstate highway.
He remembered wandering along the streets, and eventually finding a martial arts dojo. Intrigued, he’d gone inside and met Duncan MacLeod, the owner of the establishment. “Hello? Anyone home?”
The Immortal turned to face Xander. He’d felt a telltale pain in his head even before Xander had come through the door, and thought, < Someone’s coming. > The Scot gave Xander an appraising look, and replied, “How can I help you?”
Xander shrugged. “I dunno really, I was just passing through and I saw your sign outside. Thought I’d check out your place, see what it can offer me.”
Although Duncan showed no change of expression outwardly, on the inside he was somewhat amused. < He’s a pre-Immortal alright, one with an attitude. I can’t wait to see what the training will do to his cockiness. > The Highlander replied, “What’s your name?”
“Xander Harris.”
“Well, Mr. Harris – may I call you Xander?”
“Go ahead.”
“Thank you. I consider myself a good judge of people, and I’d say you’ve got potential. But I don’t think you’ll want to train here.”
Xander blinked. “Why not?”
“Your attitude sucks.”
Xander started to grow angry. “Hey, I don’t have to listen to this!”
Duncan chuckled, which just made Xander madder. “What are you laughing at?”
Duncan replied amusedly, “You. And, your inability to control your emotions.”
By now, Xander was furious. He took off his backpack and his jacket and said to the Highlander, “Come on, let’s see what you’ve got!”
Duncan simply shrugged. “All right, I promise not to hurt you too much.”
Xander spat, “Don’t do me any favors!” He charged the Immortal, who simply stepped out of the way. Cursing, Xander tried to deck him, but always failed; either his punches were blocked, or he was too slow, or else Duncan didn’t appear to feel anything when his blows struck. Finally, MacLeod hit him with a reverse roundhouse kick, which sent him sprawling to the floor.
Xander saw stars. When his head cleared up a little, he saw Duncan standing over him, offering his hand to help him up. Still a little dazed, he accepted it and got unsteadily to his feet.
Duncan looked at him and said, “We’ve got to work on your stamina, first of all. Leave your stuff in one of the lockers, and get dressed in a T-shirt and sweat pants. I’m taking you on a little jog.”
Xander looked at him in a stupefied manner. “Huh?”
Trying to be patient, Duncan said, “We’re going for a run. What part of that didn’t you understand?”
“You mean you’re gonna train me??”
“Let’s just say, I now want to see what you’re capable of.”
As the weeks passed, Xander grew fitter, and Duncan began teaching him how to fight properly. They began with the basic martial arts, and as Xander began to grow more proficient, the Highlander also started to teach him how to use a sword.
One night when Xander had done well, Duncan decided to end the training session a bit early and take his newest student out to relax and unwind. They went to Joe’s Place, and Xander spotted a hot-looking girl at the bar and immediately went to hit on her.
Duncan just smiled wearily to himself, and sat down to talk to Joe Dawson, the owner and his personal Watcher. “Evening, Joe.”
Joe stopped wiping the bar, and replied “Hello, Duncan,” He looked at his friend closely, and then glanced over at Xander. “What’s the story with your young friend?”
MacLeod decided to play innocent. “He’s just a new student at the dojo.”
Joe looked at him disapprovingly. “Don’t try that routine on me, my friend,” he said warningly. He rubbed at the tattoo on his arm, which signified his affiliation with the Watchers, an organization that kept tabs on the Immortals. “I know that look. He’s a new one, isn’t he?”
Duncan grimaced and grunted, “No. Not yet. Look, Joseph, just leave him alone, okay? He doesn’t know he’s going to become Immortal, and with this sort of thing ignorance really IS bliss. He’ll find out the truth soon enough, God knows...”
Joe nodded. “Okay. But you know the news won’t stay quiet forever.”
“I know, I know.”
Joe looked at Xander appraisingly. “You know, Duncan, he reminds me a lot of...” before he suddenly cut himself off.
Duncan looked pained. “It’s alright, Joe, you can say his name. Richie Ryan. Killed by yours truly. And before you ask, no, I’m not doing this to atone for what I did to my friend after that business with the demon. Xander knows about it, in fact he’s had a lot of experience himself, with vampires and demons alike.”
Dawson looked stunned. “How’s that again?”
Duncan simply smiled. “We’ve talked a lot. He’s from Sunnydale. The fact that he survived living on the Hellmouth, even with the protection of the Slayer, is pretty amazing. Some of the stories he also told me about the Slayer’s Watcher were...”
Joe interrupted him. “Hold it! Vampires? Hellmouth? Slayer? And most importantly, WATCHER?”
Duncan couldn’t help laughing. “It’s a long story. Get me a drink, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
Xander was pulled out of his flashback, by the sound of knocking at the door. Although he didn’t feel like talking to anyone, he got up and answered it.
When he opened the door, he was utterly surprised to see Anyanka standing there, in her human form. She in turn stared at him and said, “Hi, good to see you. Can I come in?”
Getting a grip on himself, he muttered “Sure,” and gestured for her to enter. After she had done so, he closed the door and turned to face her again. “I wasn’t exactly expecting to see you again, y’know.”
Anya looked pained. “I know. You must all hate me, after the way I bailed out on you guys back then.”
Xander shrugged. “I don’t, but I doubt you’re the most popular person back in Sunnydale because of how you ran away like that. By the way, how’d you find me?”
Anya hesitated a moment before replying, “I ran into someone I knew, and made a few enquiries. So, Xander, what happened after I left?”
Xander grunted. “We survived. The mayor got what he deserved. Oh yeah, afterwards Angel and Cordy left for LA, Willow and Oz went off touring with the band, and Buffy kept on doing her thing with Giles.”
Anya looked at him closely. “Is something wrong? You sound upset.”
Xander looked away. “It’s nothing.”
She came closer. “No, it’s not. If you need someone to listen, I’m here.”
Xander seemed to sag. “It’s – it’s Jesse.”
“Who?”
“Jesse. He was my best friend, before he became a vampire and I killed him,” Xander said bitterly. “No one remembers him now, except me.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I got a call from my parents today. Seems that Jesse’s last surviving relative died in an accident, and he left some of Jesse’s things to me in his will.” Xander started to pace, no longer looking at his companion. “It really bugs me, y’know? He would have been 18 in a few weeks. He didn’t deserve what happened to him. If I had a chance to do it all over again, from the day I first met Buffy, I swear I would make things different. I wish I could just have that chance to...”
He broke off as he suddenly stared at Anya – or rather, Anyanka. The demon. She was grinning at him. “Done,” she said in her demonic voice. A bright white light seemed blanket everything, and he knew nothing more.
Xander was lying on the ground, as he slowly regained consciousness. He became aware of sounds and images, as he slowly got to his feet.
He looked around. It was Sunnydale – in fact, it was Sunnydale High. He would have known his old high school anywhere. < How the hell did I get here? > Then he looked around at all the activity. < And when did they rebuild the school anyway? Last time I saw this place it was a smoky hole in the ground. >
Then he saw something he tried very hard not to see, because he was afraid that it meant he was losing his mind. Principal Flutie – a man who had been dead for years, killed and eaten by hyena spirits.
Mr. Flutie stopped as he noticed Xander staring at him. “Is there a problem here?”
Xander just shut his eyes and shook his head, hoping it would all just go away. “You are not there. I am having a nervous breakdown, after living in Sunnyhell too long!”
The principal merely looked exasperated. “Not another one! First that transfer from Hemery named Buffy Summers, now you? I swear, you kids these days have GOT to stop taking those recreational pharmaceuticals...” he kept talking to himself as he started to walk away.
Xander didn’t try to stop him. He was rapidly becoming convinced that all of this was real. He suddenly remembered his conversation with Anyanka. < Ohhh shit... > Then he searched himself. Sure enough, there it was; the stake that Buffy had dropped, on the first day he met her, so many years ago.
Xander raced to the bathroom, and examined his face in the mirror. There was no doubt about it, he looked younger than he remembered. He then sped out and found a copy of the school newspaper in the trash; today was March 10, 1997.
Xander was stunned. He wasn’t sure what to do at all. Then he remembered, it was nearly lunchtime, and they were all supposed to meet in the quad today. He hurried off to find his friends.
Buffy Summers and Willow Rosenberg were having lunch, when Jesse came up to join them, throwing his bag down. “Hey!”
“Hey,” said Buffy and Willow.
Willow said, “Buffy, this is my friend Jesse. Jesse, Buffy.”
Jesse asked, “Great to meet you. Have you guys seen Xander? We were supposed to meet up, but he was a no-show.”
Willow replied, “Sorry, I haven’t seen him.”
Buffy asked, “Who are we talking about again?”
Jesse grinned. “Willow’s boyfriend.”
“Jesse!” The grinning boy ducked as Willow threw a pencil at him. He said simply, “Hey, Will, I told ya, he’s gonna find out how you feel one day. And you guys are MADE for each other.”
Just then, Xander came up and joined the group. Although he tried not to show surprise, he couldn’t help it – the sight of his best friend, who had been dead for over two years, and his other two best buds as sophomores was a bit more than he could handle. Basically, he almost lost it.
Willow looked at him in concern. “Xander, what’s wrong?”
Xander looked at her. She looked so young, so innocent. They all did, damn it – for the first time in his life, Xander felt OLD. Even though he was in his sixteen-year-old body, something about him suggested he was different, and the others felt it too. They couldn’t understand it, but Buffy in particular had a serious case of the wiggins.
“We’ve gotta talk,” Xander said seriously. Then he turned to Buffy. “I also wanted to return this,” he handed her the stake.
“Oh, right,” Buffy said uncomfortably. “A-a-actually it’s for self-defense. Everyone has them in LA. Pepper...”
“Spray is just so passé, yeah, Buff, I remember,” Xander interrupted her, looking off to one side.
Buffy was growing even more nervous. “How’d you know what I was gonna say?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Xander said cryptically. “We have to get to the library. G-man has to hear my story too, so I may as well wait till we’re all together. It’ll save time.”
All of a sudden, Cordelia Chase appeared, addressing Buffy. “Are these guys bothering you?”
Buffy said, “Uh, no!”
Willow added, “She's not hanging out with us.”
Jesse went and stood next to Cordelia. “Hey! Cordelia!”
Cordelia sneered at him. “Oh, please!” Turning her attention to Buffy, she added, “I don’t mean to interrupt your downward mobility, but I just wanted to tell you that you won't be meeting Coach Foster, the woman with the chest hair, because gym was canceled due to the EXTREME dead guy in the locker.”
Buffy was shocked. “What?”
Willow was no less affected. “What are you talking about?”
Cordelia seemed happy to elaborate. “Some guy was stuffed in Aura’s locker!”
Buffy stated rather than asked, “Dead.”
Cordelia agreed, “Totally dead. Way dead.”
Jesse said to Cordelia pleadingly, “Y’know, if you need a shoulder to cry on, or just to nibble on...”
Buffy interrupted him. “How did he die?”
Cordelia put on her disinterested gaze. “I don’t know.”
Buffy had to ask. “Well, were there any marks?”
Cordelia looked at her strangely. “Morbid much! I didn't ask!”
Buffy looked at everyone, and noticed that Xander in particular was staring at her. Almost as if he knew something the others didn’t. “Um, I gotta book. I’ll, I’ll see you guys later.” She grabbed her things and left.
Cordelia stared after her. “What's her deal?”
Xander looked at her with resignation. “That conversation was so déja vu. God, Cordelia, I’d almost forgotten what a complete bitch you could be, back in these days.”
Cordelia stared at him, stunned. “How dare you say that to me, you LOSER...”
Xander wasn’t interested. “Save it already. Or else maybe the IRS is gonna get an anonymous phone call, about what your father gets up to.”
Cordelia started to look nervous. “What...”
Xander cut her off, oblivious to the stares of his two friends. “Man, we REALLY don’t have time for this. Willow, Jesse, we gotta see Giles, right now. Get to the library.” As his friends went off in bewilderment, Xander couldn’t help adding before he left, “By the way, Cordy, don’t ever date anybody named Kevin. It’s the least you could do for the guy.”
“What?” But it was too late, and he was gone.