SquidgeWorld Archive

(This is original creative material copyright Chris Kenworthy, based on characters that he has no right to owned by someone else blah blah biddy blah...)
Author's note: The gang is stuck in a dimensional limbo, Buffy and Xander are together, and Queen Kaliya has brought Darla and Luke back. That's all you need to know for this one I think.

Prolog

"I'm off!" Xander called out as he put on his jacket.

"Where?" Giles asked redudantly. "Who's going with you?"

"No-one" he declared. "I'm just going all of the two blocks to Cordelia's to see Buffy, and I don't think I really need an escort or a caravan for protection. Limbo's as quiet as the grave."

"And don't you think that's when you should be most careful?" the ghost asked with a trace of a chuckle in his voice.

"I'll see you later, Giles," Xander said, shaking is head, and walked out the door.

As he walked up the street, he tried to put the worries out of his mind. There was nothing out here... he'd been on enough patrols with Buffy to know that. Of course, they did run into vampires that first time...

And then there was the dragon...

No! Xander shook his head. He wasn't gonna give into that. The dragon had been the only one, and it was dead. And the vampires were all hiding in that copy store, not daring go out lest they meet the wrath of Buffy.

Still, it was spooky, and at first he thought the prick in his neck was just the mother of all goose bumps.

But it wasn't. It had weight... it was hanging out of his skin... Xander's hand reached up to investigate the area. A small dart came away in his hand, its tip glistening with blood at the tip and, slightly further away, the blood blended into something green and sticky.

Xander whirled around. About thirty feet away, a gorgeous blonde stood, her red lips still pursed together as she took a hollow tube, a blowgun away from them.

Not just any gorgeous blonde. Darla. A vampire. A very old, skilled, and dangerous vampire.

Xander's first instinct would be to run towards Darla and hope against hope to defend himself against her. His second instinct was to run away as fast as he could.

His third instinct wasn't really an instinct, because that was to fall flat on his face as the anaesthetic compound overwhelmed his system. But that was what he ended up doing.

* * * *

He woke up, opened his eyes, and stared at the Bronze's ceiling for a few seconds. Somehow he knew that it was the Bronze's ceiling; knew it unshakeably, though he had never before paid any attention to the underroof of his favorite nightclub.

He soon realized that he was tied, no, manacled across a stone altar. There had never been a stone altar in the Bronze before, so he figured that the change had been made by his captors.

"He's awake," a deep voice rumbled. Xander awkwardly craned his neck up to see who it is, and groaned. The dull face of the musclebound vamp Luke glanced impassively at him, then back across the room.

"Good," Darla's voice answered. "Now I get my chance to boast about the plan before I put into action."

"I wouldn't give in to that temptation," Xander babbled. In a faraway corner of his mind, he realized that he still hadn't completely thrown off the effects of the drug. "Just ask Auric Goldfinger. James Bond will always break out of that table just before the laser touches him."

Darla laughed. "Perhaps, but you are no James Bond. And I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to boast of this plan to anyone after I've completed it, so it must be before.

"What are you gonna do?" Xander's mind raced with plots so dire they would even kill Darla herself. "You gonna destroy Limbo?"

She laughed. "In a way, though that isn't the beauty of the plan. I found this spell among the notes of that fool Kaliya. As I understand it makes the Hellmouth easier to open."

Xander thought about that one. "Uh, so? What does that do? You can't exactly open the hellmouth right now."

"Oh, but that's the beauty of it; I don't have to," Darla bragged. "The spell is retroactive; it will change the results of earlier attempts to open the Hellmouth. Thus changing my own history and that of Sunnydale in such a way that Limbo never even comes into existence! All that your precious Slayer accomplished will be undone before she is even born, and we'll be able to kill her long before she becomes a threat!"

Xander's face screwed up. "I'm sorry, I don't really follow. These paradox plotlines are always so confusing, don't you find? If you could just run over it one more time, it'd be such a big help."

Darla smirked. "Oh, sure, for you, I could do that. Not! After all, the time is rapidly approaching." She turned to her huge partner. "Ready, Luke?"

Luke nodded silently, handing her a long knife. "Great Mystos, hear our prayer," Darla intoned. Xander realized for the first time that both vampires were wearing flowing black robes. "Facio oris d'abyssus erumpo plus facile recessus inpridem."

"Accept this offering of purest blood, spilled from on and within the gateway," Luke said solemnly. "Let it stand as a marker of our devotion and determination."

"Whoa, whoa?" Xander said. "Offering of purest blood? I don't like the sound of tha--" He was cut off by a ringing slap from Darla.

"Let it be done now as I have asked," Darla called out. "Fiat!"

And she thrust the knife into Xander's chest, guiding it unerringly to his heart, and gave a precise twist. Xander's body jerked just once and then lay still, unbreathing, as his blood poured out all over the altar.

Part 1

A brief sensation of hurtling through starry darkness suffused his entire being for a brief moment and then... and then Xander was standing on a grassy hill, watching the sun set.
The sun? He wasn't in Limbo, then, because there no sun ever shone in that deserted interdimensional pocket. And how could he be anywhere at all? Darla had killed him. He had felt his own heart stop. This made no sense at all.

Hey, what's going on? a voice inside his head asked.

A voice in his head? Well, any port in a storm. I have no clue in the world what's going on, he thought back as clearly as he could. Who are you?

I'm Sanford Harris Emerson, and that's my body that you just took over, the thought came.

Really? Oh, I'm very sorry... I didn't mean to. I was dying, being killed rather, and all of a sudden I was here.

Oh, okay, it's dead spirit possession. Good enough. Any idea what you have yet to accomplish before heading off to the afterlife and giving me my body back?

Xander thought a moment. Making sure the world doesn't get taken over by vampires?

What? You're much, much too late for that, my friend!

Huh?? Xander was confused for a second, then it all fell into place. You mean that vampires already took over the world, maybe about sixty years ago?

Well, making a pretty good war out of it at least. I'm doing sentry duty here, set up to cry warning if a vamp squad or demon comes out of the Hellmouth tonight in this direction. Of course, if they do, I probably won't make it, but the Resistance will have a chance of containing them.

Never mind that, Xander told him. He was starting to work it out. Darla's spell had worked, and history had changed. His ghost, (or something,) had crossed over into the new timeline, to this Sanford guy, who was possibly an alternate-history-relative of his or something... a possible descendant of his grandparents? Is there a Watcher in the resistance? Or anyone who's good at research and figuring weird stuff out?

Yeah, Sanford's reply came. But you can't just leave my post...

If we can talk to your expert, all this might get undone. Where is he?

Sanford's thoughts led him over the hill, away from what remained of Sunnydale in the distance. As he walked, Xander saw dark tents all around him for a second, but they weren't really there, so he shrugged it off. Voila the residence of Terrence Giles.

Giles? Xander headed over. A man, who looked remarkably like the Giles he knew, was standing in front of a painted circle on the ground, near a small hut. He was clasping an ornate wooden staff in both hands, and chanting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Again that starry darkness, and Xander was wandering through some sort of camp, at night. These were the dark tents he had seen earlier. Sanford? he thought. Are you still there? I mean, am I still with you?

How do you know my name, foul spirit?

Uh, okay. He was still with Sanford, but Sanford didn't remember him. Which meant... could his ghost have jumped back in time? What's the date?

March the tenth, nineteen ninety-seven, by the old calendar. Why??

The date of the Harvest, in his timeline, and more than a year ago. He hadn't asked the date on his last jump, but it seemed likely he had gone back in time. I'm a dead spirit, trying to save the Earth from the vampires, he told Sanford. Is Terrence Giles near?

Quickly his host directed him again to the man who looked so much like the Giles Xander had known. "So, you're a ghost?" he asked. "The ghost of whom?"

"Xander Harris, someone who probably was never born in this timeline."

"Another timeline?"

"Yeah, one in which the vampires and demons weren't such a serious threat... yet." He could tell by the look on his face that Giles didn't believe him. "I saw you, in a future time. Casting a spell with a chant and a staff and a mystic diagram."

Now Terrence Giles was interested. "Could you sketch the diagram?" Xander did so, as best he could remember. "The strengthening spell," Terrence muttered. "I've never told anyone about it, haven't half started the enchanted staff that would be necessary." He gestured to a corner of his tent, were a rough staff of wood lay.

"So," Xander pressed. "Do you believe me?"

"To a certain extent," Terrence said. "But I don't understand what I can do."

As if on cue, another image flashed in front of Xander's eyes. A young woman, wearing a simple and pretty but very old-fashioned dress, a brimmed hat, and carrying a leather clutch handbag. She looked rather like Buffy, but Xander realized that it was the style of dress was most important now. He had had a flash like that before jumping back to this time period, and now...

"I believe I may be about to jump back to 1937. While I'm there, I might be able to stop the Master from opening the Hellmouth and stop," he gestured around, "all this. But I'm pretty sure I can't do it alone. Terrence, are you connected with the Watchers?"

Terrence Giles' mouth dropped open again and he nodded. "I'm a minor Watcher myself. Why?"

"Do you have access to the diaries? I need to know who was the Slayer in 1937; where she and her watcher were when the Hellmouth was being opened. Hurry; there may not be much time."

Terrence hurried. "You're very much in luck, Mister Xander Harris," he said, after a few minutes with his nose in a book. "Melissa, or 'Missy,' Robinson, the Slayer of the time, and David Patton, her watcher, were in Los Angeles at the time the Hellmouth was opened. They were staying at a Heaven's Gate motel."

"Okay," Xander said. I should be able to look them up when I..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"... get there," Xander finished lamely, realizing that he had jumped again. He was sitting behind a desk in a modest office. Once again, the voice within his head commanded his attention.

What the flyin' whoop is going on?

It may be a bit difficult to explain, Xander thought awkwardly. My name is Xander Harris, and I've come from the future to stop a terrible disaster that's about to happen.

Harris? You wouldn't be trying to fool me, would you? I'm Harris, Mister Alfred Harris.

Then you might be an ancestor of mine, Mister Harris. That seems to be how these things work.

WHAT things?

Dead spirit possession. I'm pretty new to it too.

You're dead?? Get out of my damn body!!

I wouldn't if I could, mister...

Because of this so-called disaster?

Yes. The world, or at least America, will be overrun with vampires and monsters, and it all starts right here, in Sunnydale, probably soon. Xander paused in thought. This IS Sunnydale, right?

Yeah, Alfred's thought come back. Vampires? That's poppycock.

They're all real, Xander insisted mentally. By the time we're done, you'll have seen them for yourself. Now, I need to call Los Angeles, look up a...

Have Fiona do it, Alfred said. We've got to leave for dinner in a few minutes.

Fiona?

My secretary. Xander got up and walked out the door, which led into an outer office. Sitting at the desk here was the girl who looked like Buffy that Xander had seen earlier, wearing the same dress. She was working at some letter or another on a large manual typewriter.

"Uh, Fiona?" Xander asked.

"Yeah Al?" She looked up at him, smiling with exactly the same bright smile that Buffy had. Xander lost track of everything for several seconds, and only when her face resumed a serious expression was he able to try to remember what he had been about to say.

"Uh, uh, I need you to try and track down someone for me," Xander said. "David Patton, at the Heaven's Gate motel in Los Angeles."

"Sure boss," she said. "What shall I tell him?"

"Uh..." Xander had no idea. Well, if in doubt, try the truth. "Say that I want to talk to him about vampires, that's it's critically urgent, and that if at all possible he and Melissa should come to Sunnydale as soon as possible.

"Vampires?" She peered critically at him. "Did I hear that right?" Xander nodded. "Uh, okay. Say hi to Becky for me."

"Uh, sure," he said to her. Who's Becky? he asked Al silently after the other had directed him out the door.

Rebecca Corder, he said. My fiancee.

Your what?? Xander thought without thinking about it, as it were. How could this Alfred be marrying someone else when a perfect girl like Fiona was right there in front of him?

Part 2

Shut up! Alfred thought at him. Just because you're in my body doesn't give you a say in my life. Becky's the one I've picked, and that's that.
Is Fiona seeing someone else? Xander pressed. Is that it?

Alfred paused, perhaps considering. I don't know... there's been a gentleman hanging around, but I don't believe they're courting yet.

Then why don't you... Xander broke off in mid-thought as the waiter showed him (showed them?) to the table. Once again a face took him by surprise, for the elegant young lady already seated at the table looked quite a lot like Cordelia!

* * * *

I wonder if it's not a coincidence, Xander thought to himself as he started back from the Corders', (to whose door he had escorted Rebecca at Al's suggestion,) back to the office. So far, he had recognized three people from his real life in the past. Maybe it was a side-effect of the possession, making these people look like the ones he knew when they were nothing alike. Maybe.

Two things he could tell about Rebecca Corder, though; she had the sophistication of wealth, and she was quite beautiful. (He could depend on the waiter's reaction for that last point if he couldn't trust his own perceptions.) So is that why you picked her? he sent to Alfred before realizing he was going to. For her money and her looks? She's richer than Fiona, I can tell; is she prettier?

Shut up! Alfred thought loudly. Fiona is great, I know this. That's why I hired her, that's why she's one of my best friends. But I don't feel that way for her.

Xander couldn't even conceive of that well enough to come up with a response.

* * * *

Fiona had indeed been able to find and reach Mister Patton, and on hearing the message, he had agreed to come up to Sunnydale. It was now just after four in the afternoon, (they had put in a boring day of attending to Al's business,) and the Watcher was expected at any time. Whether the Slayer was coming too was less certain, Patton hadn't said anything to Fiona about 'Melissa.'

Suddenly a knock rang out on the office door. Xander whizzed over past Fiona to open it. Two people stood at the door, a man and a young woman... Xander shook his head as the faces from his own life taunted him again. The man looked like Principal Flutie, and the girl like Willow!

"Mister Harris?" the man asked. Xander nodded, noticing idly that he truly was mister Harris, as much in his own right as Alfred was.

"You said it was important," Patton stated, swinging the door closed beind himself and the young woman. He fixed Xander (or Alfred, or whatever,) with a pointed stare. "What's the story?"

Xander considered where to begin, conscious of Fiona standing next to him. Well, he might as well try to convince her at the same time... she could be useful if they were actually to stop the Master. "This may sound very strange, even for someone of your..."

"What is it?" Melissa (at least, he hoped it was Melissa,) prompted him impatiently.

"I have come from the future to stop a disaster." Fiona gasped. "Not Alfred Harris. I'm the spirit of Xander Harris, possibly a descendant of his, who somehow ended up in his body."

"Uh, hmm," Mr. Patton considered, quite obviously unsure what to make of this. "What disaster is this?"

"A very powerful vampire is going to open a dimensional portal here in Sunnydale. We're at the site of a..."

"Dimensional nexus," Patton finished. "Yes, I know. And you know that he suceeded, because you lived in the world that followed that victory?" He sounded quite skeptical. Beside him, the mysterious Melissa stared at Xander even more doubtfully.

Xander explained his story in more detail, growing up in the kinder, gentler Sunnydale, finding out about vampires and demons when Buffy Summers had first come to town, how she had stopped the Master from rising at the Harvest and they had killed each other a few months later. How he and Willow, and later the others, had shared her adventures, how they had been drawn into Limbo, and how the strangely reborn Darla had taken him prisoner.

"It's quite a story, I'll give you that," Melissa said when he finished. "But rather obviously you can't prove any of it. How can you expect us to believe you? For all we know, you're a very imaginative warlock, using inside knowledge of the Slaying game and a fantastic story to lure us into a trap."

"So there really are vampires and warlocks?" Fiona asked her incredulously. Melissa and Patton nodded back at her.

"I can't prove it..." Xander began to admit.

"You don't need to," Patton said. "I believe you." Melissa whirled and stared at her Watcher. "Well, I do. I'm not sure why, but it rings true. For one thing, prophecies relating to these matters have already begun to surface. And I doubt an evil warlock would be able to get such a convincing feel for what it's like to struggle for the side of good."

"Okay, whatever," Melissa muttered with a mildly offended sigh. "But if this is a trap and we both get killed, it's your fault David."

"In that event, I will happily assume the responsibility," Patton remarked with an amused smile.

Melissa ignored him. "So, what do we do now?"

Xander couldn't resist anymore. "First, you confirm whether or not you really are Melissa, the vampire Slayer," he told her.

"Oh, yeah, sorry." She blushed in that same way that Willow did. "Call me Missy, nice to meet you, Xander."

"Well," Xander said, returning to thoughts of plans, "The first thing we need to try and figure out is where the Master's plan will go down, and how much time we have. Fiona, have there been strange murders reported in the press lately? Very bloody, wounds on the throat??"

Fiona stared at him for a moment. "Yeah, you know th-- oh, right. I can't quite get used to the idea that it's not you, boss."

Now it was Xander's turn to blush. "Oops. Al's in here too; I guess I didn't think to ask him."

Patton cleared his throat for attention. "I'm very much afraid we have little time. According to the solar astrological cycle, tonight would be the most auspicious night to open the nexus."

"Uh-oh," Xander muttered. "What time is he likely to do it? Midnight??" Patton nodded. "Okay, then the next step is to find the church that it would happen in. I could tell it by sight, I suppose, but I don't know what its name was. Or where, though it may have been near where the school or the Bronze are now."

"We can find all the candidates on a map, and eliminate all the ones that are still around, on ground level that is, in your time," Fiona said, brightening slightly as she got the hang of what was happening.

"Let's get started," Xander told her, smiling. "Patton, would there be any way to disrupt the ritual artificially? So that the Master still gets trapped?"

"Maybe. I'll have to consult my references..."

"Wouldn't that mean the earthquake still happens?" Missy asked. "Do you have any idea how many people would die in a quake like that? I'm here to save lives, not sacrifice them."

Xander turned to look at Missy. "And how would you save them, then?"

"Simple," the young Slayer replied grimly. "Dust this Master."

"And what if you can't?" Xander shot back. "The world gets taken over by the demons. Trapping him is safer."

Missy just turned away from him with a snort.

* * * *

"It just isn't there!" Xander flared as they came back into his office. Twilight had just passed into the dark of night, and he and Fiona had visited each of the seven candidate churches she had identified, in decreasing order of likelihood. None of them had the distinctive ornate features he remembered of the Master's lair.

"Relax, Mister Harris," David Patton counseled him southingly. "We'll find it yet. My own research on the disruption spell is very nearly complete. Perhaps the answer will manifest on its own if you divert your mind. Is there anything else you could tell me about the future? I realize it may be disruptive to the future you remember, but I can't help but think of the advantage we might gain in the never-ending fight with your perspective.

"Well..." Suddenly something occured to Xander. It might be sheer foolishness to tell him, but, "Actually, there is something you may be able to keep from happening. Queen Kaliya, the one who drew us into Limbo, has a vampire bodyguard named Michelle. I believe that she was a Slayer, and that she was active in France during the early 1940's, during Wo... during a war. She'd be alive now, possibly in training, yes?"

"Uh, yes," Patton said. "I believe I know of her. Only ten years old now, but quite a promising candidate. Do you know any of the circumstances of her defeat, and, er, change?"

Xander racked his brain for a moment. "Yeah, I think so. Kaliya made her think there was a demon operating across the spanish border, tricked her and trapped her."

"Okay," Patton said. "I'll try to make certain Michelle and her watcher are warned."

"Say, I had a thought," Fiona said, coming up towards the two men with a respectful nod. "We were only checking churches whose names you didn't remember. What if the church got rebuilt after the quake? Then you'd know the new building, under the same name."

"Oh, of course!" Xander said, slapping his forehead with his hand. "That has to be it!"

Part 3

"Okay, yeah, this is it," Xander confirmed as he studied the Sunnydale Second Episcopalian Church. "And there's an hour and a half yet to midnight. Is there anything we can be productively doing until then?"
"I'll begin preparing the disruption spell," Patton said. "Aside from that, I propose we take cover and wait."

"You're not gonna disrupt the spell," Missy insisted. "I'm gonna stake that sucker."

"Well, if you can, fine," her watcher said. "I'll still prepare the spell, as a backup."

"You can't let her fight him!" Xander insisted wildly. "This vamp is too dangerous, too strong. And he can control minds. She could die..."

"That's a risk every Slayer takes, Xander," Patton reminded him. "You have to know that by now. Missy's gonna have to fight him anyways - he'd be able to counter my spell instantly if something doesn't keep him occupied. If she can kill him, great, though even that might set off the earthquake. Otherwise, I cast the spell and we get out of the bulding ASAP."

"Okay," Fiona said.

"No," Xander decided. "Sorry, Fiona, but you don't belong here. You have to go now."

"What?"

"I'm doing this for your own good, and for Alfred's. He'd never rest easy knowing that you'd died if we could have prevented it, and neither could I. You've been a great help; I'll never be able to thank you enough for all you've done, but it's too risky now. David and Missy are in the business of fighting this kind of fight. I'm here on a mission. But you..."

"Hey, I understand," Fiona said. "Good luck, of course." She kissed him briefly on the cheek and took off.

* * * *

Sounds alerted them. "It's showtime," Xander muttered as he struggled to his feet. Missy sprang out of hiding next to him.

But Patton held them back. "They'll be ready for a fight, or a hunt, or something at this point. Wait until the ritual's started."

"And the earthquake is primed to go?" Missy said sourly.

"It's the only way." From where they had secreted themselves, they had a good view of the stage area, where the ritual would probably be enacted, without being noticeable unless someone knew exactly where to look. Soon Xander saw them - Darla, Luke, and the horrible Master. He had expected more of them, a couple dozen vampire acolytes to chant mantras, perhaps, but there were quite apparently only the three of them.

They set to work preparing the space with dispatch. Darla set up ornate brass lightstands and ignited the many candles upon them, which burned with an unmistakeably sulfurous stench. Luke took a container of what looked like dark reddish paint and marked a pentagram with it on the floor, inscribing various strange letters and symbols around it. For his own part, the Master merely sat off to one side, in a chair apparently meant for the reverend or chief deacon, studying a leather-bound volume he had brought. Soon the preparations were completed and the three vampires took places about the pentagram, the Master at one point, Luke and Darla at the two opposite him.

"Ad-eracomm, Ad-eracomm," Luke called out in his rollingly deep voice. "As the stars align for our purposes this night, we come unto the Mouth of hell. The witching hour draws nigh."

"Iniiri ablati corno samala nont," Darla continued. "But we come not as witches, asking the powers beyond to grant our requests."

"Never that!" the Master roared out. "No, I ask for nothing I am not prepared to do myself!"

He pulled a blade from a scabbard at his belt, a short sword, and cut it into his own wrist. "With this I shed my blood, and the blood of each one on whom I have fed. Blood there is here, of kings and princes, sages and holy men, wizards and witches. With this most fitting sacrifice do I open the mouth of Hell!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!!" Missy called out. Xander started - he hadn't even realized that she had left the hiding place.

"Get ready on that spell, man," Xander whispered to Patton.

"A slayer!!" the Master said calmly, glancing over at her and then back to the pentagram. A dark swirling something was beginning to manifest in the middle of it. "Seize her," the Master Vampire told his aides.

But Melissa anticipated better than they did. Luke reached the Slayer first, and she lifted him by shoulder and knee, ducked down, and threw him into the choir benches, using the giant's momentum against him. Missy then sprung forward towards Darla's ankles, knocking her down, pressing a silver cross against her leg, and tossing it up the loose pants the vampire wore. Darla writhed on the floor as she tried to get rid of the artifact that was burning her tender skin.

Missy was already moving towards the Master, drawing a stake out of her shirt. The king vampire sighed in exasperation, turned away from his precious spell, and swatted her in the face as she approached. The impact of that offhand blow staggered her.

"Do it!" Xander hissed at Patton, and jumped out of the hide-hole himself. First thing to deal with were the attendants, who were starting to recover. He fumbled open his vial of holy water and spilled some on Luke, and kicked Darla in the face and the ribs. "That's for killing me," he muttered to himself. Then he raced out to where Missy was fending off the Master.

He had grabbed her by the head and shouler when Xander reached them and tossed the rest of the holy water on the Master. The ages-old vampire screamed and stumbled. Missy brought out her stake, but the Master struck with his forearm, knocking the weapon out of her hand.

"Eretrus Luxor!" David called, now standing outside the hide-hole. "Run!" he called to them, and began sprinting for the side door of the stage himself. Missy and Xander followed, with the Master, Darla, and a howling Luke in close pursuit. David led them down a winding stairway, through a reception lounge, and to the church's back door. Xander hustled through it and slammed the door.

A second later, it opened, the Master glowering from behind it. But his glower turned to fear as he realized that the church was already sinking into a giant hole in the ground...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giles broke in the back door to the Bronze. Willow hurried in, but Giles had to shake Xander a moment as he shook off the sensation of time-jumping. Oh, no, where, or when, was he now? He hurried into the club, and Giles brought up the rear.

A horrible scene greeted him as he entered. Luke was standing up on the stage, the body of a young woman at his feet. "The Master is rising, the Master is rising!" he was chanting. Buffy was standing on a pool table, a long wooden cue in her hands, but she seemed uncertain what to do about him.

Oh, no! This was the night of the Harvest, and it looked like the Master's plan was succeeding. Of course - just because he had trapped the Master underground in 1937, that didn't change the effect of Darla's spell. Making the Hellmouth easier to open - and by opening it on the night of the Harvest, the Master could still free himself and end the world. Idiot!

Well, First things first. As Giles and Willow started to hurry helpless prisoners out the back door, Xander realized that getting Buffy back into action was a bigger priority. Maybe it wasn't quite too late to stop the Master by stopping his Vessel. "Dust him, Buffy!" he called out loud.

That was all Buffy needed. With an enthusiastic cry, she somersaulted down off the pool table, ran three steps across the open floor, and flipped up onto the stage, still holding the pool cue. The other vampires looked to see who had spoken, and Darla, standing next to Jesse, who was holding Cordelia, headed towards Xander.

Uh-oh. That meant trouble. Acting on many-years-gone memory, Xander reached for his pants pocket, and surely enough found a small stake there. Darla came at him with a snarl and red-hot anger in her eyes, but Xander used everything Buffy had taught him... which she hadn't yet taught him, wouldn't teach him for more than a year, in that strange not-a-place place they had come to call Limbo. He still remembered what Buffy had told him all those years ago, now only earlier this day: "There's no we. I'm the vampire slayer, and you're not."

And he really didn't have time for all this. Just defending himself against Darla was taking all of his attention. He could see things happening all around him; Buffy struggling against Luke, Jesse biting at Cordelia's neck, scratching a cut into his own chest, and bringing Cordelia's lips towards it... Giles was being restrained by two vampires, one on each arm, and another was closing in on Willow. But he had no energy to do more than look at all of these other situations, not even to cry out, so desperate was his fight.

All of a sudden, something happened that was so remarkable that EVERYTHING stopped. A soft blue radiance began to shine through the floor of the stage, getting slowly brighter. Suddenly a whole opened up, leaking whitish-blue light everywhere, and a figure rose out of it and stepped onto the stage. A man, no, a vampire. The Master.

"Like the lamb to the slaughter," the vampire king said, a strange quality of power in his voice. He looked directly into Buffy's eyes, and she didn't look away.

"No!" Xander called out, realizing what this meant, but Buffy couldn't hear him or couldn't respond. She just stood there, as the Master Vampire stretched out his disfigured hand, stroked one talon-like finger along the curve of her throat, and then bit deeply into it, his fangs driving unerringly for the carotid vein. Buffy Summers' lifeblood spilled out, and The Master greedily drank every drop, catching her toned but light body as it wilted into unconsciousness.

"BUFFY!!" Xander called out, agonized. He almost welcomed it when the starry blackness between timeframes claimed him once more.

Part 4

When the stars cleared, Xander was back in Willow's house. A part of him only wanted to break down and cry, but he clung to the hope that somehow, something could still be done to change Buffy's death. After all, he was time-travelling now. Anything was possible, wasn't it?
Okay, future me, he thought, What did I miss? There was no response. Why? Was it something to do with the fact that he was now in his own body? That could be it - his past self might have different memories, but it would be the same spirit as his, the same soul. He hadn't tried talking to himself at the Harvest; things had been happening too fast and he hadn't seen any good need to - Xander remembered the Harvest himself.

Well, if this was his own body and his own brain, presumably he could remember with it for himself. Okay, brain, let's start off slow. What's the date today? June the second of 97, the answer came back, much less focused than mental contact with his past hosts, but good enough to get the job done, it seemed. This is the day the Master rose in his own timeline - would it have any special significance this time?

Okay, next question. What's happened since the Harvest? Now his brain let loose with a chaotic volley of thoughts and images. Cordelia as a vampire, standing next to Jesse, both looking down from a rooftop and laughing as horrible demons roamed the streets. Buffy's head, mounted on a spike at the city hall, a grisly monument to the Master's victory. A giant preying mantis biting off the head of Blaine Mol, Vanessa Bateman trying to fend off a sword that was slashing at her without any visible hand guiding it...

"Hey, Xander! What's..." The voice was Willow's, and Xander was so glad to find something even faintly comforting, that one friend at least had not been taken from him, that he simply turned around and swept Willow into his arms for an enthusiastic hug.

"Oh, my god, Willow. Thank god at least you're okay." But as he drew her away and took a better look, he realized that it wasn't quite the Willow he knew. Her hair was longer than he had ever seen it before, and she wore a black hooded robe and dramatic, vaguely gothic makeup. "What happened to-" At Willow's confused look, he decided that it was better to start from the beginning.

"I'm not quite the Xander Harris you know, Willow. I come from an alternate timeline, where recent history was quite different, and my spirit has been timetravelling through several timelines and timeframes, back to 1937 and forward to here. What's been going on? How goes the fight against the demons, you know?"

Willow looked at him strangely for a moment, then apparently decided to humor this strange query and seek confirmation at the same time. She locked a hand around his wrist with a remarkably tight grip, and answered his question as she walked him over to the stairs. "Things aren't going well. The Master and his forces are cracking down on the Resistance, taking out our useful people one by one. At the same time, he's extending his sphere of influence to other cities - Los Angeles, San Fransisco, Las Vegas. You don't remember any of this?"

"Kind of," Xander hedged as they proceeded down the stairs. "I can dredge the memories out of this brain, but I can't organize them; not yet, at least. Is the Hellmouth still open?"

"The Master opens it every full moon, letting demons through only if they agree to serve him or can pay for passage. That way, he stays in control instead of getting left behind by the Old Ones." Willow led him into the dining room, where Giles, Vanessa, and several people he didn't recognize were gathered.

"Hi, Vanessa," Willow told the older witch. "Xander says he's been possessed by himself from another timeline. Can you see if you can find anything to corroborate that?"

"Did you come at the Harvest too?" Giles asked him as Vanessa came over and started waving something in the space around him.

"Yeah, how did you..."

"You were behaving quite unlike yourself at the time, and couldn't seem to remember it afterwards. You fought better than expected against Darla, too."

Xander shrugged. "Just doing what I could think of to stop the Harvest. I didn't make it. And I let Buffy die."

"You knew Buffy Summers longer, in your timeline?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, uh, she was my-" a trace thought broke him off. Had he and Willow gotten together in this timeline? If so, it would not be helpful to tell her that he was dating Buffy. "She was a good friend." Xander looked around at the room. "Is this the whole resistance?"

"No, we've got a few people out on missions," Vanessa told him. "Especially Kendra, of course, our one best weapon."

"So Kendra's here full-time now? Yeah, she would pretty much have to be," Xander said to himself. "Is Oz on board?"

"Who??" Willow asked him.

"Uh, another friend. Would have been in his junior year, guitarist, hung around with Devon Hamblin?"

Willow shook her head blankly. "I think he was killed," Giles said softly.

"I have detected signs of time-magic in you, Xander," Vanessa mentioned.

"Is there any way you can go back in time again, and stop all of this?" Willow asked out loud.

"I don't think so," Xander said. "I'm going forward in time, and I don't have any idea what could make me bounce again. But, Vanessa... could you send someone's spirit across timelines, like I have been?"

Vanessa considered. "With enough time to construct an appropriate ritual, with access to you while you're time-displaced, I could probably work out how to send someone to an approximately parallel spot, yes. Why?"

Xander took in those conditions for a moment. "Okay, it's worth a try. I'm gonna be skipping forward again, but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be in here at the same moment in time that Darla cast the original spell that started it all, in about a year and a half. If someone else can get sent over, maybe Willow, she could stop Darla and the whole timelines complex would collapse."

"But that's paradox!" Giles said. "How could a Willow from this reality stop the spell if the spell was all that created this reality?"

"It's a gamble, I know, Giles," Xander said. "But it's the only way to get back to the proper timeline that I can think of..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pain lanced through his wrists, and a voice screamed in his head. The wrists were bound by a silver chain... oh, no. He worked his hands up to his face, and felt it. Vampire ridges. Just great.

Die! die! Burn forever in a pool of acid, miserable spirit, a mental voice said, presumably his vampire self. Xander fought to tune it out and looked around. Willow was holding his chain, leading him along.

"Xander? Is it..." she broke off, evidently not wanting to say it and give the vampire a chance to decieve her.

"Yeah, it's me, the human Xander from the other-time," he assured her. "Has Vanessa got the spell worked out?"

"Yeah," Willow said, "but we're being overtaken by the pursuit. I lost all my backup getting you out." Shadows of pain and grief crossed over her face.

"Well, I can run for myself now, so we may beat them out yet," he told her. "Come on!"

They got to their destination without seeing the pursuers, though they heard them behind them. "Where is this? Why are we here?" Xander asked as they pushed in.

"From what we figure," Willow said, "this ruin is what's left of the stationary store that became Kaliya's hideout in your timeline."

"I never told you guys that!"

"No. We've figured out how to scry into the other timeline. We couldn't have done it without that."

"Okay, even given that, why here?" She led him into a cavelike chamber, where Vanessa, Giles, and some of the others he had seen before waited.

"Because we need to be in the same place as our target will be in Limbo," Vanessa said.

"Who... Giles? Why not send Willow, or you?" Xander asked. "Why do we have to take over the vamp-giles?"

"Because both Willow and I are needed to cast the ritual, and we can't do it on ourself," Vanessa said. "You guys are late - we need to get started right now." They arranged themselves quickly, with Giles in the center of a mystic circle, Vanessa, Willow and two others equally spaced around it, and Xander between Vanessa and the warlock to her right.

"Great Mystor, hear our prayer," Vanessa called out, "As Xander has been sent from his own time to ours, so send Giles to that time to save us all..."

"Found you!" a voice called from behind them. Xander turned around to see Vamp-Cordelia walking towards them. Xander broke away and charged towards her, grabbing up a dowel and using it as a spear. She wasn't expecting an attack from him, but blocked and parried. They struggled over the weapon for a minute as the spell proceeded, and then Cordelia drove it through Xander's heart, disintegrating him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Fiat!" Darla called out, thrusting the knife down towards Xander's chest... and dropping it as a bolt screamed into her forarm!

Giles-vamp was at the door, levelling the triple-action crossbow at Darla and Luke. "Unchain him!" Giles said in a voice that left no room for argument. Luke reached reluctantly down and snapped the chains off Xander with brute strength. Xander hopped down off the altar, rushed past Giles and towards the Bronze's door.

"What just happened?" Giles asked in confusion as, presumably, the time-spirit left him.

"You don't know?" Darla asked in utter disgust. "Get him!"

Xander continued running as once again Darla and Luke chased him. He had a head-start, but they were faster than he was and it was a long way from the Bronze to Willow's or Cordelia's. Suddenly he heard footsteps down a nearby alley. It was away from both of the safe houses, but it could be his only chance. Xander rushed towards it, and, yes! "Buffy!" he called in relief.

"Xander!!" she cried out, her face lighting up in relief. "I've been looking everywhere for you..."

"Darla, Lule... right behind me," Xander gasped out.

"Oh, right. I've got Cordy's car. Right down this way." She led the way at a brisk jog.

* * * *

"Do you think it all really happened?" Buffy asked him once they were safe at the Chase's.

"Uh, well yeah," Xander told her. "It didn't happen to end up happening, but it happened all the same. Or something like that."

"But if the timelines are all collapsed, we don't need to worry about it, right?" Buffy said. Xander nodded tentatively.

"I'm just so glad I saved you. You can't imagine what it was like, seeing you die like that."

Buffy smiled uncomfortably, and then tilted her head as a thought struck her. "Well, what about you? You died twice! That has to be some kind of a record."

"No," Xander reminded her. "You've died twice too, once in the alternate timeline, and once for real."

Buffy stared at him, and then broke out laughing. "Yeah, you know, I guess I have, too."