Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing, especially the characters in this story. I'm merely borrowing them for the pure pleasure of messing with their lives.
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The group stared at each other in shock and dismay. The revelation that the Xander they knew and loved had been somehow sent to the past while infected with the disease that had almost destroyed the human race had everyone on the verge of panic.
"He'll spread the epidemic that much sooner if no one figures it out..." Buffy cried.
“Yes, and why would they...at that time, A-amy was still a rat...” Giles stammered. The minion was eyeing them all with an infuriating air of amusement.
“Pitiful humans, thinking your could ever triumph over Menckar! He is more powerful than you could ever comprehend...but soon we will no longer be troubled by your infestation...”
“Yeah, blah blah blah, sing us a new one,” Buffy said harshly. All eyes turned to Willow.
“Willow, you said there was a spell...could you switch the Xanders back?” Buffy spoke the thought they all shared aloud. Willow tilted her head, thinking hard.
“I think Tara and I could, if we did it together...” she trailed off as the minion began to laugh derisively. Willow looked like someone had just punched her hard. “Oh my goddess...not Tara...” The shapeshifter nodded, clearly pleased with her dismay.
“Menckar took your witch. So easily fooled, you humans. He would not leave such things to chance. And you had best beware, little witch. Your own people will stop you.”
“Great. Demons that like irony. I hate that.” Xander groused. The news that his future self was in the past, and possibly dying, was understandably not sitting very well. He looked at Willow and Giles’ stricken faces, and felt his anger growing exponentially. “Tell me why? Why me?” The minion only laughed again, until Lili did something Xander couldn’t see and it started choking.
“Please don’t cooperate, it would ruin my fun,” Lili hissed, and Xander was again reminded of Faith. “I’d much rather kill you.” The minion at least no longer seemed inclined to laugh.
“Why switch me with my future self? If Menckar could affect time travel, why not just send one of these minions back with a big vial of Houdini flu to do everyone in,” Xander asked. The others all shook their heads, looking down as they pondering the situation. Just as Giles appeared about to speak, Buffy’s head shot up. She locked eyes with Xander, and he realized he had never seen her that terrified. He also knew what she was going to say before she said it, because he knew of only one thing that could put that kind of fear in her.
“Oh my God, the children! Tara’s with the children!” Willow quickly touched her sleeve, seeming to Xander to be listening to something. Everyone else seemed to be watching her with tense expectation.
“What’s she doing?” he asked.
“She’s calling the house,” Buffy answered tersely. Xander shook his head gingerly. This was another one of these strange future things. After a moment Willow mirrored his action, her already pale face now ashen.
“No answer.” They immediately made a beeline for the exit, Lili continuing to drag along the minion to the surprised looks of the nurses and patients in the corridor. Willow’s spell had bound the shapeshifter from changing into any other form, and it seemed to be finally panicking.
“Free me! My master will triumph, you will know devastation...and you will not know the destruction, but you have been its creators...”
“What does that mean?” Lili asked, the frustration clearly sounding in her voice.
“There is no end to the power the Master wields. All has been done as he has foretold. His victory is at hand, no one can stop-” At Giles’ quick nod, Lili twisted the neck of the minion, and it fell dead at her feet. She kept moving quickly with the others, never missing a step.
“That was probably rash, Lili, but...” Giles’ voice was raw with pain, and Willow put her hand on his arm, her eyes tearful but still holding hope.
“Tara is still alive, Giles...I can’t explain how I know it, but I do. If she’s still alive, then Amy probably is too. We’ll get them back...and we’ll destroy him once and for all.” They were piling hastily into the van, with Giles barely waiting for the doors to close before screeching off towards Buffy and Angel’s house.
“We have to save Xander, too...my Xander!” Anya added in a trembling voice, her fear for her children making her shake all over. Xander put a reassuring arm around her shoulder.
“Hey, it’s gonna be okay...we’ll get there in time. The kids will be fine...and we’ll get me all switched back where I belong, too.” He cupped his hand under her chin and forced her to look him in the eye. “You’re just so beautiful, Ahn,” he whispered in soft amazement. “If being your husband is what my future holds, trust me, I’m not gonna miss it. Will can get it done, I know she can. She’s got so much in the witchy powers she won’t even break a sweat!” Willow looked at him mournfully.
“I don’t know, Xander...the...the...it was right, I can’t do it, not alone. We have to get Tara back, and Amy...we have to do that before we try to change you back.”
“But...and I’m not sure how else to put this...but do we have time? If the other me is sick...” Anya suddenly gasped, her eyes somehow horrified and distant at the same time.
“You were sick...I remember...we were quarantined after the accident...”
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December 9, 2000
The Scooby gang sat disconsolately in the waiting room. Buffy couldn’t help but remember how they had all been in the same place not so long ago, waiting for word on her mother. She prayed that the news about her best friend came back as well.
Tara had her arms tightly around Willow. The red-haired witch hadn’t stopped crying since they had first received the news. Buffy wanted to talk to her, but there was nothing to say, really. Not until they knew more. She raged against the stupidity of it all...after years of facing countless dangers, plunging headfirst into a fight that he neither had the skills nor natural abilities to win and emerging relatively unscathed, a stupid accident might...no, she wouldn’t allow herself to even think it. Xander would be fine. He had to be fine. He had to be.
Dawn was sitting straight up, her face pale and drawn. Buffy sat next to her and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. She knew her sister was going through as much as she was...plus the recent run in with Glory and discovery that she was the Key had to be weighing heavily on her mind. Dawn looked at Buffy and gave her a thin smile, the smile of a girl who had seen too much. It made Buffy want to weep fresh tears just seeing that look on her sister’s face.
Giles was desperately trying to calm a hysterical Anya. Ever since she had received the call none of them had been able to understand what the girl was talking about. Something about warnings and dreams and bunnies and vengeance. Now she was simply sobbing on Giles’ shoulder, mumbling Xander’s name in between her hitching breaths. Giles was holding her awkwardly, but his expression was as grave as Buffy’s own. He was deeply worried about the young man.
Buffy saw Ben approaching from the room where they had taken Xander and brightened. At least a friendly face was coming to give them the news. Ben was frowning, although he did give Buffy a slight smile as he got closer. The clear concern etched on his face made all Scooby hearts sink.
“Ben, what’s happening? How is he? It’s been hours!” Dawn asked the question, her desperate concern for her longtime crush making her unwilling to wait for one of the others to question the intern. Ben gave her an affectionate glance.
“Well, there’s some good news...there’s no real sign of serious head trauma, no sign of concussion at all...it’s funny, from the way witnesses described the accident, and from the bruising and contusions, we really expected head trauma.” Ben was really speaking to himself more than to the others, but his attention snapped back at Anya’s frantic question.
“He’s alright...that’s what you’re saying...he’s going to be fine,” Anya said in a little voice, still clinging tightly to Giles’ arm. Ben looked at her with a puzzled look. Buffy felt her body tense. She instinctively knew really bad news was coming.
“There’s a complication. Xander had a fever when they brought him in. We’ve got him on antibiotics, but it won’t go down...and he hasn’t regained consciousness. Without head trauma, we don’t know how to account for that. He’s been mumbling something about someone named Amy...does that mean anything to you?”
“You’ve got to be...I’ll kill him! And this Amy, whoever she is!” Anya went rapidly from concern to anger, with Giles’ arm bearing the brunt of the pain. He extricated his violated limb as carefully as he could.
“Anya, Amy‘s a rat, remember? My p-pet rat?” Willow admonished, faltering over the description of the witch turned rodent. Giles turned to the doctor.
“You say he just suddenly developed this illness...could it be an infection of some kind?”
“That’s the strangest thing...all the signs we’re seeing seem to indicate that Xander’s been sick for some time, yet you say he showed no symptoms before now, and I mean, I saw him, he was fine,” Ben said, again thinking out loud. “They’re moving him into quarantine until we figure out what it is we’re dealing with...and we’ve contacted the CDC, they’re sending people to Sunnydale.”
“CDC...you mean the Center for Disease Control,” Tara said suddenly. The others turned to her, surprised to hear her speak. “You think it’s contagious.”
“We don’t know what to think...but for right now, we need to isolate anyone who’s been in contact with Xander Harris for the last 48 hours, and that means all of you.” The Scoobies all eyed each other in dismay as an unseen observer chuckled.
“Her Magnificence will be interested in this news...the Slayer in quarantine, unable to protect the Key. The Most Supple and Pleasing Glorificus will be most delighted!” Murk faded into the shadows. His goddess would assume her rightful form soon, and he would be the one to give her the information that would help her find her Key. He truly felt this might be his best day as a minion.
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June 19, 2011
The van came to a screeching halt in front of Buffy’s house, but no one moved. Everyone was staring into space with that remembering look that Anya had had, except for Lili, who simply looked confused. Looking up at the house, Xander saw that the door was wide open and his heart leapt into this throat. He climbed over Willow to get out of the van, throwing the door open and running from the van.
“Come on, people, no time for this...we have to make sure that the...” Xander trailed off as he entered the house. There was no sign of the children. No toys, no cribs, nothing. There was no sign that the children had ever been there at all.
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