Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel the Series and all the characters that appear on the show are the exclusive property of Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt, The WB, UPN, Mutant Enemy, Inc. and any one else with a legal binding claim to the shows and/or characters. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author's Note: A big and special thanks to everyone who's been leaving such kind feedback. You have no idea how much is helps keep me going. A shout out to Jeff, too, for getting this party started through his own amazing fic.

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Part Fourteen: Wheel of Fortune

The beast gave a short, throaty laugh. Xander gulped as he drew his sword, holding it shakily out in front of him. As usual, nervousness helped him find his tongue.

"You know, after the business with Buffy, I thought you were all through with the body switching deal. And this is kinky even for you."

"Xander, Xander, Xander," Faith's head reproved. Her tail was swishing impatiently. Xander felt light-headed. "You know, this isn’t going to be as much fun if you don't learn to think. You don't get it."

"What?" he asked.

"I'm not Faith." The creature smirked with satisfaction as Xander tried to process that news. The carpenter turned knight felt cotton-headed, like he had taken a dose of cold medicine.

"Okay...that's good...ummm..." Xander trailed off. The Not-Faith laughed again, the sound so like the fallen Slayer it made him shiver.

"Who am I?" she prompted.

"That's the question, yeah. Or actually...no offense intended, but what are you?"

"Even better," she smiled in approval. "Usually I'm the one posing the questions, but what the hell, I'm in a good mood. I'll humor you for now. I'm a sphinx."

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The sandstorm subsided as suddenly as it had sprung. For a few moments an observer would have seen nothing but dunes swept clean of any trace of life. Then a hand burrowed up through the sand, followed by another. Shortly thereafter Angel, Giles and Spike had completely dug themselves out of the sand and brushing themselves off.

"Xander!" Giles shouted. There was no response, no sign of any other presence in the freshly shifted sands. Three knights exchanged worried frowns.

"If he’s still buried...he could be anywhere," Angel said.

"What do we do? Start digging around in this lovely sandbox?" Spike added.

"We wouldn't even know where to start," Giles lamented.

"We can't give up," Angel said tersely.

"No one's giving up, mate. But I'm open to suggestions as to what we do now," Spike said seriously. For a moment there was silence as each pondered the options, still hoping to see Xander crawl out from under a dune. Then Giles suddenly snapped his fingers.

"That better mean you've finally got a plan," Spike growled.

"I believe I do," Giles said dazedly. "Ummmm...it seems I recall a spell, to locate someone that's lost."

"This another one of those weird memories that aren't memories, Giles?" Angel asked curiously. Giles grinned at him.

"Actually, I picked this one up from Willow and Tara. I do run a magic shop, after all."

"Let's get on with it then, before the boy's stopped breathing," Spike said.

Giles closed his eyes and focused, beginning the incantation.

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"A sphinx? Like the tourist attraction?" Xander asked. The sphinx flapped her wings in annoyance.

"No, that's an Egyptian sphinx. I'm what you would call a Greek sphinx. God, they don't teach nothing in those schools, do they?"

"Setting my woefully poor education aside for a moment, why do you look like the homicidal Slayer who was my first...?"

"Baseman?" she asked mockingly. "Look, it’s simple. I look like Faith. I talk like her, and I even think like her. But I'm not her.”

“Oh, okay,” Xander replied, then confessed, “nope, I don’t get it.” The sphinx laughed at that, flapping her wings hard enough to make Xander put up his shield to ward of the sand blowing into his face.

“You’re not really supposed to. I’m a sphinx; being mysterious? Kinda in the job description. Don’t tax your brain, kid, you’re gonna need it. Cause Faith and I do have something kinda important in common."

"Do I even want to know?" Xander asked glumly.

"The desire to kill you," she said, suddenly dead serious. Xander gulped and nodded fatalistically.

"I gotta tell you, not an shocking revelation."

"The difference is, I want to devour you," she said, brazenly sticking her tongue out, licking her lips and then wagging it at him mockingly for a moment. Xander didn't think this could get much more disturbing. And besides...

"Not so sure that's a difference."

"True enough," the sphinx agreed after a moment's consideration. "Here's the deal. I ask you a riddle, you solve the riddle, I go away and you're golden. You don't answer, you get it wrong, let's just say dinner's on you. Or dinner is you."

"Great. So until I answer the riddle wrong, or time's up, or whatever, you can't eat me?" Xander queried. The sphinx grinned.

"Those are the rules," she admitted. Xander took a deep breath, trying to clear his still fuzzy head.

"Okay, so this is a brain thing. I've got a brain. Will always said I'm smarter than I think I am, and she’s usually right, which is good. And I've read every Batman comic featuring the Riddler...okay, I'm ready."

"You’re sure?" the sphinx asked coyly.

"Yeah."

"Okay...but there‘s something you should know first." The sphinx stretched its body, fully extending its razor claws as it looked at him lazily.

"What?" Xander‘s misgivings about this situation were growing exponentially right as they were confirmed.

"I don't play by the rules," she said as she pounced. Xander backed up rapidly but she still plowed into his chest and threw him onto his back, landing on top of him with a twitch of her tail. Only his chain mail armor and the shield he instinctively held up to protect himself kept her from slashing his stomach and shoulders.

"Hey! What about the riddle?" Xander shrieked, but the sphinx paid no attention to him. Instead she looked over her shoulder, as if there was someone behind her that he couldn't see.

"I was just playing with my food!" she whined, then sighed, jumping off of Xander's prone form with an annoyed flapping of her wings. "Fine, I'll do it your way. S‘long as I get to eat him in the end."

"Great. I've got a homicidal sphinx that's half Faith and half Sybil, and no backup. This couldn't get much worse," he groaned, remaining on the ground and checking himself for bleeding wounds. When the sphinx looked down at him with a mad smile, he sensed he might have just jinxed himself. The smile was gone as quickly as it appeared; instead she took on an air of otherworldly solemnity as she recited the riddle.

"Name the place where there is no time before now, no yesterday before tomorrow; where answer precedes question, speech precedes thought, and before is after and after is before."

Xander stared at her blankly for a long moment.

"Could you repeat the question?" he stalled. She laughed, and then made the sound of a buzzer.

"Time's up! I'm sorry, you don't win our grand prize of getting to live, but here’s your lovely parting gift of getting eaten!" she finished grandly. Xander readied himself as she leapt towards him.

"Wait!" Xander cried. He was already rolling away, having anticipated her pounce. The sphinx landed on the ground with a disappointed growl. "Give me a second," Xander demanded, a note of desperation in his voice as he kept rolling.

"But I don't wanna. And I don't hafta. So I'm not gonna," the sphinx with the Slayer's face taunted Xander. He had his back to her when she recovered and sprang from a new crouch, intending to land on his back. Instead he rolled back towards her at the last minute, his sword drawn and at the ready. The sphinx screamed as the sword deep into her leonine chest, trying to grab hold of the sword and pull it out but unable to get a grip on it. Xander knew it was a killing blow. He crab-walked out from underneath the twitching body. As soon as he was free he stopped and lifted his head, watching noxious black blood pour forth with a shudder. The sphinx gave one last shiver and then lay still. After a moment Xander collapsed, letting his head hit the ground with a thud. Taking quick stock of himself, he knew he was shaken but unhurt.

"Thank God that's over, because I don't think I was gonna get that-"

"Hello, lover. Miss me?" came the familiar voice from behind him.

"Gah!" Xander did an impromptu somersault, gaining his feet and whirling around to see the sphinx grinning at him, her tail twitching in amusement. He looked back to where the body had been and saw nothing, not even the blood that had spilled. His head whipped back to the sphinx, grinning with pleasure over his confusion. "You! But I...we...you..."

"Yeah, you killed me," the sphinx said with affected boredom, "but you can't kill me. Cool, huh?"

"Not really. The word that actually comes to mind is, really not fair!" Xander exclaimed as he jumped back from a lazy swipe of her paw, realizing after the fact that she hadn‘t extended her claws. Her grin broadened, looking even more grotesque with her glowing empty eyes.

"That's three words. And that’s not how this works. You answer or you die. There is no door number three." Now she extended her claws in a showy manner and Xander steeled himself for a fresh attack. At the same time he was reviewing the strange riddle in his mind, trying to make sense of it.

*No time before now...that sounds like some kind of heavenly dimension or something. Giles would know...Giles isn't here...okay Xander, think! Where do questions precede answers? Oh, on Jeopardy! Will was always good at Jeopardy. Especially if it was a Science or History category...I was only good if they were talking about comic books, and how often did that happen? Okay, off-topic there. I don’t think it’s Jeopardy. They have to answer really fast, but I wouldn't say speech precedes thought, I mean how could they, they'd get them all wrong, right? Oh, and I think she's gonna kill me now-*

"Yikes!" Xander screamed as he narrowly dodged the claws of the sphinx again. The familiar Faith-like mouth had opened wide enough that time that he had been able to see the unusual sharpness of her teeth. "Oh yeah, she's gonna eat me," he moaned. "And where the hell is the cavalry?"

A small blue light buzzed past his face, startling him. From the way the sphinx coiled back and growled, he knew she had nothing to do with it. *Great, now I have to worry about fairy attack.*

"What the hell?" he heard to his right. He turned, relieved beyond belief to see Angel taking in the sight of the sphinx with a nonplussed expression. Spike arrived a second later and gave a low whistle.

"There's a classic," he said, oddly excited. "You alright, Junior?" A loud splash behind him made him turn around. Giles had run directly into the pool, which fortunately was only about a foot deep. The Watcher waded grumpily out then spotted the sphinx.

"Good Lord," he said, "Is that-?"

"It's not Faith," Xander offered breathlessly. "It just looks like her. Also, it's planning on eating me." As if to punctuate that remark, the sphinx flapped its wings and flew at Xander. The boy barely ducked the charge, enduring a tear to his jerkin instead. At this rate he was going to end up in tatters, and not just his clothes.

"It really looks like Faith," Angel said, seeming to be transfixed in amazement.

"Yes, but that's not important," Giles said in a testy voice. "Is that a sphinx?"

"Of course it's a sphinx," Spike said with a wondering look. For a second the nerdy youth who had spent his days with his head in the classics had come to the fore. "Straight from Oedipus, I'd wager. Asked you a riddle, did she?"

"Yes," Xander said desperately, dodging another playful blow by the sphinx. "And then I killed her, but she came back, of course, because nothing bad ever stays dead. She plans to eat me, but she says she won't if I give her the answer. Of course, she also lies."

"That‘s true. I do," the sphinx said agreeably, nodding to the new arrivals in acknowledgement. "Took you guys long enough to find us, thanks." The knights came closer, preparing to take on the sphinx to save Xander if necessary.

"Ah, yes, if it's the same riddle as in Oedipus, the answer would be-" Giles started to pontificate.

"Man," Spike interrupted. "The answer was man." Giles glared at the vampire, who ignored him. Xander dodged another lively charge and shook his head.

"I don't think that's it," he said. "This riddle's looking for a place."

"No help from the peanut gallery," the sphinx said suddenly, and all three other men grabbed hold of their throats. They opened and closed their mouths but no sound came out. They started jerking their bodies, and Xander realized their feet were frozen as well. The sphinx smiled. "Don't worry. They'll get their chance at it. Just as soon as I'm done with you."

"Name the place where there is no time before now," Xander yelled. Giles reached out and hit both vampires on the arm and they froze, listening intently. The young carpenter continued, "No yesterday before tomor-raaaah!" The word became a scream when the sphinx swept down and bit his hand. He scrambled away from her again. "Answers precede questions, speech precedes thought. Before is after. After's before."

Out of the corner of his eye Xander could see Giles was making emphatic body movements. That told Xander the Watcher knew the answer to his conundrum. When the youth snuck a quick glance in Giles' direction, he saw the man holding his hands together, palms up, and opening and closing them. He could see Angel and Spike nodding and doing the same thing. They were all mouthing something he couldn't make out.

"What the hell?" he said. The sphinx got close enough to him to slash him on the cheek, getting his full attention once again.

"No cheating," she said in a singsong voice. She pounced again and this time Xander was pinned.

"I'm not. I wasn't..." Xander stammered as she leaned down and licked the blood from his face. She gave a quick yowl of victory as Xander desperately tried to figure out what his friends had been trying to tell him. *Prayer? A church? No, it was like folding something. Or closing something...a book! A book? What book? No time before now...no yesterday before tomorrow...Before is after...In what book is before after and after before...that's it!*

"A dictionary!" he screamed as he felt the sphinx's teeth graze his cheek. The sphinx froze, then abruptly pulled away with a yowl, her tail flicking in agitation and disappointment. At that moment the others were freed from her spell and came running to Xander's aid, but it wasn't necessary. The sphinx shrugged her massive lion's shoulder and took flight.

"Bygones, lover," she called as she rose swiftly, becoming a mere speck in a matter of minutes and then disappearing altogether.

“That was different,” Angel said, before turning to Xander with concern. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, Xander, are you badly hurt?” Giles asked.

“The boy’s still standing. He’s alright. He beat the sphinx,” Spike said with a grin of appreciation. “I was betting he was gonna be eaten.”

Xander looked down at himself, moving his limbs gingerly. Other than his shredded jerkin and the cut on his face, he was in pretty good shape; just a bit battered and bruised.

“I’m good,” he said as he lifted his gaze to his friends, noticing that things had shifted behind them. He pointed straight ahead from where he was facing. “And I’m guessing we’re supposed to go that way.” The others followed his finger and saw that there were sandstone walls now in place in all directions except for one, with a path leading to a clearing and a large tent. They shrugged and headed down the path, jaded at this point of the exercise.

Xander trudged wearily the last few yards to the tent. He felt mentally and physically beaten, and now he was facing an unknown challenge for Buffy’s life. It was the most important thing he had ever done, and he could feel the old panic setting in, the sense that he was doomed to fail. He tried to steal himself against it...and then he saw Buffy and it fell away completely.

Buffy had looked more and more lovely each time they had seen her, but now she was truly a goddess. The gown she was wearing was still medieval in style, but sleeveless in deference to the heat. It was fashioned out of a golden cloth that captured the sun and shimmered with her every move, making her literally glow. Her hair was down except for several small braids that were fashioned in the back to pull it away from her face. She smiled at him.

“Knew you could do it, Xan,” she said softly. Xander grinned back, fighting down the lump in his throat.

“Had to do something right sometime,” he said. She frowned at him.

“Don’t do that. Don’t put yourself down, ever. I don’t like it when people put down my friends. Makes me want to kick their ass,” she said, finishing with a lopsided grin. He nodded, relaxing a bit. She might look divine, but this was his friend. This was Buffy.

“Duly noted,” he said. She cocked her head at him and waited. “What?” he shrugged, puzzled. He heard a loud collective sigh behind him and looked back to see the others glaring at him like he was an idiot. When he looked back at Buffy she made a gesture with her head, jerking it downward. Realizing what she was waiting for, he bobbed his head, kneeling in front of her.

“Who seeks the Heart of Kefa?” she asked.

“I do,” he responded, the urge to say something sarcastic as far as it had ever been from his thoughts. She nodded.

“Leave your weapons here. Bring only the truth. Follow when ready.”

“Yeah, right. We don’t have that long to wait,” he muttered to himself. “Right behind you, Buffy,” he called to her as she disappeared into the tent. He looked at his friends for one final moment, his eyes asking questions he couldn’t voice. Giles cleared his throat.

“You’ll be fine, Xander. Just be honest,” he said softly.

“And don’t forget why you’re in there,” Spike added gruffly. The younger man nodded then ran into the tent. The other three sighed and settled down. With no distractions they were free to wallow in the memories of their own challenges without interruption. Though not a word was spoken between them, it was a long time before they drifted off to sleep.

In the meantime, Xander was stumbling around in the dark, finding himself vividly reminded of the spook houses Jesse would drag Willow and him to around Halloween. They would scream their way through the blackness, false vampires and mummies and werewolves coming at them from all sides, back when they were still blissfully unaware that those customary monsters were very real, and there were better reasons to scream in the dark. He felt like a monster was going to jump at him any moment, only this one would not be some local high school’s star quarterback having fun by scaring the smaller kids, this would be the kind that ripped your throat out and had it for dinner.

“Oh wait, just did that one. Buffy, where are you?” he called, hating how scared and weak he sounded. Just like Halloween. He could practically hear Jesse laughing in friendly contempt and Willow defending him.

“Relax, Xan,” Buffy’s voice whispered, sounding like she was right next to him. He jumped, startled.

“Gah! You just gave me a heart attack! Where are you?” he repeated.

“I need you to think of the moment you most regret, Xander. The thing you most wish you could go back and change. Something you would do differently...” Xander closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, there she was as he knew she’d been. She almost looked asleep, except he knew she was dead. He saw himself, holding Anya in his arms, frozen in shock. He felt a hand on his arm, and looked down. Buffy looked at him sadly, then pointed at the scene.

“Why?” she asked. Xander glared incredulously.

“How can you even ask me that? You...look!” he said, making a sweeping gesture towards the scene.

“But...you couldn’t have saved me, Xander. You can’t regret not saving me.”

“But I did it before,” Xander whispered. “You died, Buffy. If there was some way I could have stopped that, I would have. I always thought I‘d be able to, after the Master. And then when I couldn’t I made it worse by...” he trailed off, pointing at himself in disgust. Buffy pulled away from him to look closer at the scene, then shrugged.

“I don’t get it.”

“Look at me,” he hissed, and she looked at the Xander from that moment, holding Anya in his arms, staring down at her as the others wept. “I’m not...I didn’t...”

“Cry?” she asked in disbelief.

“No. Feel. I was holding Anya in my arms, and you were lying there dead, and I was...there was just...nothing. No that’s not true. I was relieved, because Anya was still alive. But for you...I stared at my best friend lying dead on the ground and I felt nothing. I did nothing.”

“This one was beyond CPR, Xan. Besides, you were in shock. This isn’t it...we need to dig deeper,” she whispered, and the scene shifted. This time Buffy was even more confused. The scene was the moment they had met in that fateful hallway collision.

“Okay, first you’re not sorry I’m dead, now your deepest regret is meeting me? I’m not taking this personally, by the way,” she quipped.

“No, not the meeting of you. I could never be sorry about that...I just wish I’d been, you know, smoother. That I could have told you right then...”

“Told me what?”

“That I loved you,” he said miserably. “I loved you from the moment I saw you.”

“I thought ‘Can I have you?’ pretty much covered it,” Buffy said wryly.

“Not like that. It was...never mind, it doesn’t matter now,” he said, and the scene shifted again. This time it was later in the same day, and she was talking to Giles in the library, with an unintentionally eavesdropping Xander hidden in the stacks behind.

“If only I’d believed you...” he whispered. “I thought you were both out of your tree. I was so stupid. If I had realized you didn’t sound crazy, but totally, professionally sane, I might have been able to warn him.” Buffy put a comforting hand on his arm.

“Jesse.”

“He was my best friend,” Xander said. “I mean, Will was too, but Jesse was my guy friend, you know? I don’t think a day has gone by since he died that I haven’t missed him.”

“You never said anything. I mean, you hardly ever mentioned Jesse, after...” Buffy said.

“I know. It just...none of you really knew him. Even Will, we hung out together and she was his friend, but he wasn’t...it wasn’t the same for her. I carry Jesse with me everywhere I go. If only I could have...” Xander trailed off, closing his eyes against the strangely fresh pain. Not having talked about this in so long made the ache that much more intense.

“I think we have a winner,” Buffy’s voice said, but she had disappeared. Xander turned in a complete circle, finding himself alone again.

“Okay, that’s weird. What happens now?” The answer came stepping out of the shadows, golden dress sparkling in the light, eyes shining. Xander’s eyes bulged in shock and confusion as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“You step up and claim your prize,” she said before reaching up and capturing his mouth in a deep, passionate kiss.

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