Halloween and a Half - Chapter 2

Halloween and a Half

Disclaimer – I don’t own and of the characters from Buffy or Ranma 1/2

YAHF – Convinced by Willow to try a different costume, Xander now has to deal with a gender-shifting curse, assassination attempts, crazy martial arts techniques and a chaos mage who decides to stick around to enjoy the fun.

x-X-x

The mirrored door of the bathroom cabinet above the sink shut with a click, revealing the bruised reflection of one Ethan Rayne, worshipper of Chaos. He carefully ran his tongue over the swollen inside of his mouth and double-checked the rather large bruise. He rubbed his sore jaw, being extra careful in avoiding his swollen lip and smirked through the ache.

“What a wonderful night.” he chuckled.

Despite the fact that the fun had ended quicker than he had anticipated by good old Ripper, he had succeeded in what he had set out to achieve, one night of pure, undiluted chaos. Oh, and proving that dear old Rupert was not as nice as he pretended to be, icing on the cake, so to speak.

Ethan paused in his thoughts as he found one of his teeth wobbled a little when prodded.

“Quite a right-hook you have still, Ripper.” he grinned and quickly winced as the muscles in his face pulled on the bruised area of his jaw.

Ethan turned away from the mirror and crossed the bathroom. He switched the light off and exited back into the flat he was currently renting. It was a nice flat, one bedroom, bathroom and an open-plan living area and kitchenette. Quaint was how he would describe it. You might have thought, being a chaos worshipper, his flat would be untidy, yet he kept it very neat.

He pulled open a cupboard in the kitchenette and took out a wine glass, and then shut the door. He moved on until he stood before the little wine rack and pondered which bottle to open in a victory celebration. He settled for a nice red.

With a glass in one hand and the bottle in another, Ethan wandered over to his comfortable chair. He put the glass and bottle on the table by the chair and then crossed over to the windows to open the blinds. Looking out he could see the sun was just peeking above the horizon.

He took a moment to watch the city slowly coming to life, watching the people who drifted through their sad little lives without knowing the forces that surrounded them. If only they knew. There would be panic, chaos, fun.

With a snort, he turned from the window and flicked the television on to catch the morning news. He half-listened to the female newsreader describing last night's fun as a simple gang attack. That was hardly original, and yet, it seemed to work. He chuckled lightly as he dropped into his chair and poured himself a glassful. Leaning back, he relaxed and wondered who was covering up all the supernatural activity in the city. Whoever it was, they had power.

As he took a small sip from his glass, a knock came from the door. Ethan swallowed the wine and wondered who it could be. His first thought was maybe Rupert had found him, but quickly dismissed it. The knocking repeated, this time louder and more urgent.

With a growing frown, Ethan pulled himself from his chair and quietly crossed the flat towards the door, still holding his glass. He came to a stop by the door and took a careful look through the spy hole. Nothing. His frown deepened as he straightened up. He began to turn away, putting it down to kids, when another three quick knocks went off on his door.

Ethan carefully looked through the spy hole again. Again, there was nothing.

He braced himself for trouble as he reached for the door handle and wrapped his fingers around it. He counted to three and carefully cracked the door open so he could stare out through the gap. He saw nothing. Ethan pushed the door further open and poked his head into the corridor. He looked left and then right. There was nothing at all unusual outside his flat.

Slowly and with growing foreboding, Ethan pulled his head back inside and shut the door. Very odd, he thought, chewing lightly on his tongue.

“While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.”

It took all of Ethan's considerable experience with supernatural beings and willpower not to flinch as the male voice spoke with a light singsong behind him. Taking a very controlled breath, the chaos mage slowly turned around.

It was a demon. He knew that instantly, although he was not sure what type. In fact, it looked like one of those fantasy elves. Its face was long, thin, pale and pretty. Large pointy ears poked out through its long flowing blonde, almost silvery hair. Medieval styled jester pants and curly shoes, complete with funny little bells and a really, really, disturbingly bright Hawaiian shirt. It also was floating in the air, crossed legged across from his chair.

Ethan blinked, more at the strange outfit than the floating being.

“Nice place you've got here.” the demon or elf whistled as it slowly rotated in mid-air, taking in the flat.

“Y…yes. It…is isn't…it?” Ethan replied nervously and took a swig from his glass. He quickly began wondering how it had gotten past his wards. He had been careful. In fact, anything supernatural in origin should have tripped his protections and warned him before it got close enough to knock on his door. This meant this thing was powerful.

“Oooh wine!” the demon exclaimed and swiped the bottle from the tabletop. “You don't mind?” and without letting Ethan reply began to guzzle down the entire bottle. Ethan watched on in surprise and a little despair as the expensive wine disappeared from the bottle.

“Ahh. That hit the spot! Hic!” the demon stated and then began staring at a spot to Ethan's side. The chaos mage slowly turned to look over to his side with growing concern when he noticing the demon staring to his right. There was nothing there.

“Those liars.” the demon stated. “I don't see no stinking pink elephants.”

“Yes. Well. That would be a figure of speech.” Ethan remarked, edging towards the door.

“Why are you rushing off?” the demon materialised by his side and slapped a hand on the chaos mage's shoulder, startling Ethan.

“Err…” Ethan began scourging his mind for an excuse or escape tactic.

“You and me, we need to talk Ethan. You don't mind me calling you Ethan. No. Good!” the demon babbled as it led him away from the door while draping its arm over his shoulder in a friendly manner.

“Talk…about?” Ethan prompted, trying to hide his nervousness.

“Why, what else? About what you did last night!” the demon smiled.

“Ah.”

“You see…” the demon squeezed Ethan's shoulder, hard, making him flinch as its tone became menacing. “There are a lot of unhappy…people…wanting blood, yours precisely.”

“Ah. About that…” Ethan winced.

“Don't interrupt!” the demon growled. Its eyes flared. “Do you have any idea what you did?”

“I…”

“You used the local excess energies of a Hellmouth to give your little spell a massive boost! It rent through the barriers of the universes and pulled beings and essences into this reality! In a single night you distorted this world and let in things that should never exist here!”

Ethan began to panic, as the demon grew angrier at each word. It removed its arm from Ethan’s shoulder and grabbed the front of his shirt, dragging him to his tiptoes and showing a far greater strength than its thin arms would indicate. It leaned in close, their noses almost touching.

“The carefully laid out plans of both sides have been disrupted by your petty little fun!”

“Listen! The spell had a fail-safe. Once it ends, everything goes back! I made sure!” Ethan sweated.

“Oh, it would have. Had you not pulled in a living curse from a dimension so bizarre you cannot imagine it. A swirling vortex of pure, unrelenting chaos that that refuses to be predicted or controlled. Everyone and thing that has a stake in this world has had a proverbial monkey wrench thrown into the works. They are going insane trying to figure things out. How to minimise the damage. Who to blame…” the demon grinned evilly at the unsaid threat.

Ethan swallowed in fear as the implications for his wellbeing sank in, as did the Titanic in the ocean.

“It was brilliant!” the demon patted both of Ethan's cheeks and laughed jovially. The demon zipped away, floating around the room like a piece of paper on the wind.

“Excuse me?” Ethan blinked, as the atmosphere became light and friendly once more.

“Fantastic! Stupendous! It rocked!” the demon returned to its cross-legged floating pose and placed both its hands onto its knees. Leaning forward he continued to speak. “You my boy have caused the whole history of things to come to be thrown out of whack! Everything is in complete, total and lovely chaos! I tell you, watching all those pompous beings run around like headless chickens…brilliant!”

“Well, I don't like to blow my own trumpet.” Ethan stated slowly, testing the waters so to speak.

“Oh please! Blow it as much as you want. You deserve to.” the demon grinned.

“It was rather good wasn't it? Mr?” Ethan grinned as well, gaining confidence that he was not actually going to die, or worse.

“Mr. Goodfellow. You can call me Robin by the way.”

“Ahh. Not a particularly imaginative alias, I must say. Robin.”

“Names have power Ethan.” Robin smirked. “You should know that.”

“Yes, yes. Like Rumplestiltskin.” Ethan nodded sipping at his glass again.

“How did you know my real name?” Robin gasped, backing up in surprise.

“You're kidding…” the chaos mage responded by almost dropping his glass.

“Yep!”

The pair shared a quick chuckle while Ethan approached the floating demon.

“Have a seat Ethan old boy.” Robin indicated to Ethan's comfy chair. “We need to chat.”

Ethan sat down, still slightly wary of the demon and placed his glass on the table. Robin floated himself down so they were at the same level while Ethan placed his palms together and rested his nose against his fingers in a contemplative pose. He waited for the so-called Robin to begin.

“First things first Mr. Rayne. Congratulations, you have impressed us. Chaos that is. It is very rare a human does this as most of you lot are idiots or power hungry fools who get themselves killed long before they even cause any real chaos.”

“The follies of youth.” Ethan nodded in understanding.

“You, you're different.”

“Well, I don't like to brag…”

“You're a coward.”

Ethan blinked and deflated. “Err…”

“You run at the first sign of things going pear shaped.”

“…well…”

“You’re a lying, manipulative bastard.”

“…”

“But, that's what makes you different! You worship chaos. You cause it. However, you don't get involved directly. It's clever; you cause chaos by a proxy. Even last night, you achieved marvellous chaos but it wasn't by your own power.”

“I do try to please chaos.”

“And you did. Last night, you brought over one of Chaos' favourite playthings.”

“I see.” Ethan thought for a moment. “Then, I take it…you had a hand in keeping it here? After all, the spell should have ended.”

“Heh. Heh. Well, we couldn't just let this opportunity go! And therein lays our dilemma.” Robin leaned closer. “We can't just let the powers take away this opportunity for fun. They'll try to eliminate the boy before she grows into his power.”

“Go on…”

“This boy will grow powerful. In time, strong enough that they can't remove her from the game, but right now, he's vulnerable. Fortunately, her chaos will make it hard for him to be pinpointed exactly. They won't find her right away, which is where you come in Ethan.”

Ethan frowned at the hidden meaning and wondered why Robin kept changing gender pronouns when he talked about this person.

“I am chaos' willing servant.” he replied carefully.

“Excellent.” Robin pulled out a photograph from mid-air with a flourish and passed it to Ethan. He took it and examined the person on it. His eyebrows rose.

“I know this boy. He's a friend of the Slayer…” Ethan stated and remembered the other girl's words in the store the day before. “The avatar of chaos indeed?”

“Precisely; how can we not let this opportunity for fun pass us by?” Robin grinned in anticipation.

“You want me to get close to the boy. Guide him. Allow him to reach his full chaotic potential.” Ethan stated guessing chaos' intent as he placed the photograph down.

“No. We want you to test him. Challenge her. Make him grow.” Robin stated. “We need it done without her knowing…you see if he knew she'd fight us…and with his potential…she may resist us. Screw up the fun etcetera. This is where you shine Ethan.”

“I see. I’m to manipulate him into what we require without his knowledge. What are the rules?” Ethan picked up his wine glass and leant back in the comfortable chair, relaxing.

“Ethan my boy, what's the first rule of chaos?”

“There are no rules.” Ethan smirked back.

“Do as you wish.” Robin said with a nasty smirk that displayed his teeth. He once again pulled something out of mid-air. It was a thick brown envelope. He placed it on the tabletop and pushed it towards the chaos mage. “We've made some arrangements that we think you'll find most…amusing.”

x-X-x

Xander awoke slowly from a series of strange dreams he could not fully remember. Only a feeling that he had been fighting for something remained as he became aware of a weird, somewhat ticklish sensation across resting across his cheek. It felt almost like he had some hair covering his face. He frowned at the odd sensation and with a supreme effort of will, cracked an eye open.

He saw a loose pigtail, loose from a rough nights sleep, laying across his cheek and hanging over his mouth. How'd and whose is that? Xander wondered before memories of last night came flooding back. Oh, yeah, I was a girl because of some spell and I still have the hair…

Xander snapped violently awake and sprang up into a sitting position. He quickly patted himself down; making sure certain appendages were and weren’t there. With a relieved sigh that everything was in its normal place, he fell back to the bed ready to drift back to sleep.

Just as he was about to close his eyes the alarm clock began beeping.

“Damn you, unholy nemesis of sleep!” Xander exclaimed forcing himself to get up. He knocked off the alarm and stood up. With a tired yawn, he stretched out, before scratching the back of his head. He frowned as he realised his hair was still too long. “Gonna need a haircut to sort this out. Stupid spells.” he muttered exiting the room.

He headed towards the bathroom, pausing to glance through the half open door into his parent's room as he passed. Both were sleeping a drunken sleep. They wouldn't be up until later, which would give him time to sort his hair problem. Thank god. He did not want to try to explain that.

Once in the bathroom he shut the door behind himself and locked it, then turned on the shower, quickly avoiding the cold spurt that always came first and stripped while the water warmed. He used the toilet and brushed his teeth to remove the taste of morning-mouth and hair while he waited for the water to warm.

He undid the pigtail and then stared at himself in the mirror. “Okay…now I know I don't suit long hair.”

By this time, there was a small amount to steam building on the mirror and he climbed into the shower. Xander soon found out that long hair took more shampoo to clean. As he was rinsing off, there was a banging noise from the shower and the water suddenly cut out.

“Huh? What the?” Xander stated tapping the dripping showerhead. He tried the control valve, turning it one way and then the next. “Oh come on…” Xander tried it again. Another bang rumbled through the pipework before cold water sprayed out drenching him.

“Gah!” Xander shrieked and reached for the controls only to miss as if the shower controls had moved away from him. He almost stumbled in shock, but with a second attempt, he managed to adjust and switch the flow off. He leaned against the controls, teeth chattering from the surprise cold shower and waited to see whether his scream of surprise had wakened his parents. When no abuse came his way, he relaxed.

“Stupid shower!” Xander snapped and hugged himself to warm up when upon a sensation of touching something that shouldn't be there made Xander freeze up again. This time not because of cold water. He looked down, fearful of what he was expecting to see and saw a pair of perky breasts, although that was probably to do with the cold.

Xander screamed before slapping her hands over her mouth as she remembered about parents. She waited, listening out for the annoyed shouting and abuse. When it never came again she relaxed, then went ridged in fear as it dawned on her she was a ‘she’.

Xander was out of the shower and before the mirror in a flash. She stared as the cute face of ‘girl him’ stared back with a shaken expression. Her damp hair hung darkened but still a bright red, a shade of red that was normally only achievable by hair dye, and framed her face in thick wet strands. She absently noted she suited long hair.

“No. No. No. No.” Xander muttered shaking her head. She shut her eyes. “The spell is over. The curse was broken with the hot water…”

Xander snapped her eyes open again. Still a girl.

“Oh God…”

Xander turned away from the mirror wide-eyed and held a hand to her mouth. This was bad. Bad bad; not just a little bad. This was end of the world bad.

“Think Xander. Think.” she muttered and tried to come up with a way to undo this. “Hot water!” Xander realised and slapped a fist into her palm. Xander quickly turned on the hot-water tap and let it run. She stuck her hands under the running water and waited for it to warm, and waited, and waited. Xander shut off the flow with an annoyed sigh.

“No hot water?” Xander mumbled as the water refused to heat. “Oh this is just unbelievable!” she shook her head in frustration and the alien sensation of long hair flapping around her head made her remember about it.

“My hair…I need to do something about it…but what?” Xander muttered studying her reflection as she ran her fingers through the damp tangles. Grabbing a comb Xander went about trying to comb her hair into some resemblance of style. “Ow. Ow. Dammit, this hurts.” she grumbled under her breath as she combed it as best as she could. Getting it as good as she would or was willing, Xander put the comb back and found the discarded cord that had kept her hair in the pigtailed style.

Xander held the cord between her finger and thumb and studied the thick black material. If she didn't know better she would have sworn it was a thick hair of some kind.

“No way am I trying to make a pigtail.” Xander told her reflection as she used the cord to tie her hair back into a rough ponytail instead. “There. At least it's out of my face.”

Spinning around she grabbed a towel, used it to quickly dry herself off and then wrapped it around her waist. She then went to open the door and just as she was about to grab the handle, she paused thinking that she was missing something. Then it dawned on her as she looked down.

“Boobies.” Xander giggled and then slapped herself. “Focus idiot!” Xander sighed in annoyance at being so easily distracted before grabbing a second towel and wrapping it over her shoulders. She held it closed over her chest with one hand to hide the recently developed distractions. “This is…too much.”

She unlocked the door and slowly cracked it open. Looking into the landing, she saw the coast was clear of any parental units. She did not find the idea of trying to explain to them why there was a strange girl in their house appealing. Xander quickly slipped out the bathroom and rushed down to her room. She flew inside and shut the door before leaning back against it, breathing heavily.

“What am I going to do? Oh God…school.” Xander slowly slid down until she sat on the floor. “Calm it Xander.” she told herself. “Get dressed. Get downstairs. Get hot water. All will be right with the world.”

Xander dragged herself back up and attempted to finish drying off without touching anything 'he' hadn't woken with that morning. It took a bit longer than usual as she kept flinching as her hands roamed places that hadn't existed the morning before. Hmm, these are kinda nice. Xander thought, cupping the recently developed breasts. She suddenly became aware of what she was doing.

“Stop it!” Xander hissed at herself slapping at her own hands. “Stay focused!”

With renewed vigour, Xander grabbed clothes from her draws and got dressed. She finished dressing before turning to stand before the mirror and examined herself.

“I look like…someone's girlfriend trying on her boyfriend’s clothes.” Xander groaned at her reflection, dressed in baggy, oversized clothing. “If anyone sees me leaving like this…I'll…get a reputation of sleeping with a cute girl…hmm? Maybe…Ah! Stop it! Damn my treacherous mind!”

“Screw this! I'm getting the hot water.” Xander stated quickly exiting her room. The landing was clear again and she hurried down the stairs holding her pant legs up and still almost tripping once over her own feet. Once she got down the stairs, she headed to the kitchen.

“Clear.” Xander sighed in relief as she poked her head around the door. Inside she grabbed a clean bowl, opened the fridge, took out the milk and placed them both on the counter. Then she reached for the cupboard door above the kitchen tops with the cereals in. She missed, as she was a lump shorter than her birth form.

“Oh man, I'm tiny!” Xander complained, as she had to get on her tiptoes to reach the knob. Once the door was open, she had to stretch to reach the boxes. Her fingers caught the nearest box and knocked it over. The box was unfortunately for her, open, and began spilling the contents all over her and the floor. Xander swore as she tried to unsuccessfully, rescue the cereal that poured out. Giving up quickly on the idea of grabbing the cereal out of the air as it rained down on her, she dragged the box out and slammed it on the kitchen top. Then she looked down at the mess on the floor, pieces of cereal fell out of her hair as she did so.

“Well, isn’t this fun…” Xander groaned, picking cereal from her hair. She flicked them into the bin with surprising precision, one after another. Not that she paid any attention to the achievement. “What else can go wrong?” Xander muttered picking up handfuls of cereal that she might be able to rescue as it had piled on the kitchen floor. She dropped some in her bowl and poured milk over them. The rest she quickly brushed them into a pile with her hands and collected as much as she could, before dumping the handfuls of wasted cereal into the bin.

As she turned away from the bin, she saw the kettle and remembered the hot water.

“Ah ha! Kettle, I have never been so glad to see you.” Xander exclaimed joyfully as she picked it up and carried it to the sink. She filled it and then carried it back. Xander plugged it in and flicked the switch. A loud pop and a bright blue flash lit up the kitchen for less than a second.

“Yowch!” Xander yelped, dragging her hand back in shock. Her fingers were stinging like crazy. “Ow. Ow. Ow.” she hissed waving her singed fingers in the air and then sticking them in her mouth and sucking on them. After a moment, the stinging faded and she took them out to examine the damage. They looked a little pink but otherwise fine.

“This is bad.” Xander stated as she noticed the little LED clock on the cooker had gone off. She nervously reached for the kettle's switch and flicked it again. Nothing happened. She turned, rushed over to the light-switch and flicked that on. Again, nothing happened. The kettle has shorted out the entire house. How was that possible? Xander thought.

“Seriously world! What have I ever done to you?” she groaned and put her head in her hands. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she was hungry too. Xander quickly grabbed a spoon, picked up her bowl of cereal, and began eating.

After the first spoonful, Xander became aware of how surprisingly hungry she was. All too soon, she found her bowl empty as she spooned spoonful after spoonful into her mouth in a rapid succession. She was still hungry. Xander grabbed the box of cereal again and poured a second bowl. That too soon vanished. Followed by a third.

Xander reached for the box again and blinked in surprise as she found it empty.

“Where'd it all go?” she muttered dropping the empty box. She was still hungry but a thump upstairs distracted her from the feeling. “Uh ho. Parental units waking up.” Xander shot out of the kitchen and towards the front door. She grabbed her sneakers, put them on, and found they were at least two sizes too large now.

“Damn it.” Xander grumbled as she rushed outside as best she could with shoes that tried to slip off with every step. She had to concentrate not to trip and seeing a few people walking about began to feel very self-conscious. She almost expected people to start pointing and laughing at her. At the back of her mind she knew that was unlikely, but the feeling persisted as Xander made her way over to Willow's house.

 Soon she stood on the porch and rang the doorbell. She began to wring her fingers and look around in nervousness. The door opened and Willow's mother looked out at her.

“Yes?” Mrs. Rosenberg inquired with a slight scowl as she took in the strange and badly dressed appearance of the girl on her porch.

“Hi. Mrs. Rosenberg.” Xander waved forgetting he was a she.

“Do I know you?”

That drew Xander up short as her mind tried to figure out what was wrong. Then she realised. Willow's mother would not know who she was like this.

“Ah…sorry. Err…we've not met.” Xander stumbled over her words thinking quickly. “I'm a friend of Willow's. A new friend. I need to see Will…I mean…We were going to walk to school together.” Xander babbled while continuing to wring her fingers and finished with an uneasy smile.

Willow's mother scrutinised Xander for a moment before she turned to head back inside. “I'll call her down.”

“Did I just babble?” Xander's grin slipped from her face and she knuckled her forehead. Dope!

The door opened again and Willow poked her head out apprehensively. She was dressed in her unflattering dungarees with the multicoloured striped jumper. It took her a few seconds to figure out who the short redhead who was on the porch was. Willow's eyes widened.

“Xander!” Willow exclaimed before remembering her mother was behind her. “Er's friend.” she corrected herself. “You? You're a girl…again. I mean! Duh, of course you're a girl. Why wouldn't you be a girl? It's not as if you're a guy with a curse that changes you into a girl. No siree…” Willow paused as she realised she was digging herself in deeper.

“Willow. You're babbling.” Xander remarked.

“Oops.” Willow grimaced and glanced back at her mother who watched on with a frown. “I'll just be a minute, mom.” she nodded and stepped outside so the door would shut.

Outside, Willow looked Xander up and down with a wide-eyed look of horror. “Oh God, Xander…”

“Yeah. Still cursed.” Xander muttered.

“Xan…”

“Look. Don't say it.” Xander stopped her. “I've had a rough morning and I haven't even gotten to school…yet.” Xander sighed. “Wills, can you get me some hot water?”

“S…sure.” Willow swallowed her upset and continued to stare.

“Willow, please.” Xander drew out the last word, almost whining.

“Right! Right! I'll go…be right…hot water. Got it!”

Xander sighed and sagged as Willow rushed inside and soon the recently cursed boy began to pace slowly. Okay, first part of plan, getting hot water under way. Xander thought. Next stop, Giles. Then cure. Easy peasy.

“I got it!” Willow exclaimed bursting out the front door and startling Xander from her thoughts. Willow presented a cup of hot water to Xander, who studied the cup for a moment before cautiously dipping her fingers into the hot liquid.

“Thanks Wills.” Xander stated as the taller boy replaced the short girl instantly. Xander grimaced, as he had to adjust his clothes. “I'm so never getting used to that.”

“Why are you still…um…cursed?”

“I dunno. I seem to be a curse, stroke, demon magnet. Or something.” Xander grumbled.

“Um, I'll just grab my things.” Willow disappeared inside again. She soon came back out and the pair set off for the school in silence, Willow shooting worried and guilty looks whenever she thought Xander was not looking.

“You know what?” Xander broke the uneasy silence.

“You're planning revenge to get back at me cause I deserve it getting you all cursed?”

“What? No!” Xander waved his hands. “Well, a maybe a little.”

“Hey. Hey. Joke.” Xander exclaimed as Willow hung her head.

“You're not mad? Not even a teensy bit?” she looked back up and indicated with her fingers a tiny bit.

“Well yeah I'm mad. But not at you. I mean, how could any of us know that Ethan guy was going to do a wacky spell. So, it's not your fault. Anyway…what I was going to say, before someone went into I'm all guilty, punish me now mode, was I can't believe I'm wanting to get to school!”

“But that's not weird. I like school.”

“No offence Wills, but you're weird.” Xander joked. Willow pouted. “Seriously though, I need to get this fixed and as much as it pains me to admit it, Giles and research are my best shots. There I go again. I want to do research! Urg!” Xander shuddered and Willow giggled.

“Xander.”

“Yeah?”

“Why were you a girl? I mean, why did you need hot water from me?” Willow wondered.

“Now that's a funny story. Well, not exactly funny. Okay, I was taking a shower and suddenly boom the hot water went off and wham! I find I'm a girl again…” Xander glanced around making sure nobody nearby was paying them any attention.

“Didn't you try the hot water taps?”

“Yeah, after I finished freaking.” Xander admitted. “Seems like what went wrong broke the boiler. The hot water tap was un-hot.”

“Oh…”

“So I tried the kettle. You know, boil some water…and I nearly get electrocuted to death as it blows all the fuses in the house!” Xander waved his arms around.

“Oh gosh! Are you okay?”

“Yeah. It made my finger's sting, but I'm fine.” Xander reassured his best friend. He held the fingers up and wiggled them to prove it. “See all accounted for.”

Willow looked unconvinced but didn't say anything. She had a niggling feeling in the back of her head that this was familiar for some reason.

“It's like somebody is out to keep me a girl or something.”

“Don't be silly Xander. That's…” As they walked past one house, the sprinklers on the garden burst into life and sprayed water all over Xander reactivating the curse. Xander set her jaw in frustration as the sprinklers knocked themselves off seconds later, leaving Xander a damp girl and Willow untouched.

“…not possible…” Willow trailed off.

“Somebody hates me.” Xander glared up at the sky.

x-X-x

Entering the school was proving to be a daunting task to Xander in 'his' current condition; being a girl that was. Fortunately, on one level, Xander realised nobody would recognise her, but as she got to the steps that led up to the main entrance she grew more and more nervous, until she froze up, convinced everyone was staring at her.

“Willow. Everyone's watching me.” Xander hissed sounding more than a little paranoid.

“No they're not Xan…I mean Ranko.” Willow reassured, as nobody seemed to pay them any extra attention.

“Ranko?” Xander repeated slowly, turning mechanically towards Willow and blinking in confusion. She looked at Willow as if the other girl had just grown a second head. “What is a Ranko?”

“Well…I thought you needed like a codename or something.” Willow explained. “You know, so nobody knows who you are. Because, it would be weird to call you Xander as you're obviously not Xander. I mean you are! But you aren't…”

Xander continued to stare.

“…and erm, Ranma does that in the manga…so I just thought…”

“That I should have a secret identity?” Xander finished. She paused letting the idea peculate. “Hey, that's not a bad idea actually. A secret identity. No one will know.” Xander brightened. “Yeah! I can do this!”

“Hey guys how's it gooooinghomygod! Xander!” Buffy came bouncing up to them and drew up short as she realised Xander was a girl again. The Slayer stared in surprise while Xander sighed.

“Okay. No one apart from us three will know.” the cursed boy stated with finality.

“Dungarees are cute on a kid, not a nerd Willow.” Cordelia greeted passing by. “Morning Miss Useless. Morning girly man…” Cordelia paused mid-step as the sight registered. She slowly backtracked and stopped to look Xander up and down. “Well, somebody woke up still on the wrong side of the gender divide I see. A little advice. Those clothes, major fashion disaster, on either you. See ya.” Cordelia smirked and quickly left, not wanting to be involved in any more of the weirdness of Halloween.

Xander dropped her head into her hands and groaned not trusting herself to say anything.

“Xander…” Buffy started but Willow interrupted her.

“Ranko, Buffy.”

“Whattie?”

“Use Ranko. It's Xander's secret identity.” Willow explained.

“Xander has a secret identity…Oh I see!” Buffy realised. “I thought the curse was gone?”

“Apparently not.” Xander sighed and began to head up the steps like a condemned man. “It came right back with cold water.”

“Not good.” Buffy stated as she and Willow walked along side Xander.

“Tell me about.” Xander agreed wholeheartedly.

“We really need to tell Giles about this.” Willow said as the three entered the school.

“To the library ladies.” Xander stated and quickly tacked on. “That doesn't include me. The ladies bit I mean.”

“Yeah. Because nobody will mistake you for one.” Buffy smirked good-naturedly. “Oh wait a second. I need to dump this in my locker.” Buffy waved a file.

The group headed to Buffy's locker, Xander keeping her head down and trying to avoid attracting any attention. It appeared to be going well, nobody seemed to pay them a second glance, that was, until while Buffy was putting the file away Snyder appeared. The principal looked over towards them and frowned. He hovered a moment as if in two minds about something.

“Uh ho. Troll alert.” Xander whispered and turned away to examine the lockers, trying to keep out-of-the-way. Hopefully Snyder wouldn't bother him as a girl.

“Ah, there you are.” Snyder said as he walked up to them.

“Principal Snyder. Sir. Nice day isn't it?” Buffy put on her friendly face.

“It was till now, Miss Summers.” Snyder eyed her like a stain. “But I wasn't addressing my least favourite delinquent this time.”

“Oh?” Buffy blinked.

“Umm…” Willow nervously pointed towards herself but Snyder ignored her and placed a hand on Xander's shoulder ignoring the other two. Xander flinched under the contact.

“Now Ranko,” he began speaking in an almost reassuring tone, and all three grew matching expressions of disbelief. “You don't mind me calling you Ranko?”

“Umm…” Xander froze and wondered how she was supposed to respond. This was getting weird.

“Ah, okay. Miss-”

“Ranko's fine.” Xander stated quickly interrupting, not liking the idea of being called a Miss anything.

“I heard all about your condition.” Snyder gently began to lead Xander away from Buffy and Willow. “It must be a hard thing for you to be going through.”

“…I…yeah it is…?” Xander replied unsure what he was seeing and hearing. How did he know? Moreover, was Snyder being sympathetic?

“But I feel I must point out, those two, despite appearances are some of the worst delinquent's in this school.”

“…I…”

“They and their friend Mr. Harris are trouble. It would be best to avoid that one. That boy is trouble.”

“Trust me, we won't be seen together…ever.” Xander stated still confused by this turn of events.

“Ah, we're on the same wavelength. You'll go far here at Sunnydale with that attitude. Your uncle will be proud.”

“Uncle? You know my uncle?”

“Yes. We talked earlier about what happened to you. My advice is, stay away from them. It would be a disappointment to your uncle and me if you would fall in with their ways.”

Xander stared at Snyder in total confusion and thought. My uncle has been here; and he knows about the curse? How?

“Drop by my office for the stuff that your uncle left with me while he got to work.” Snyder smiled at Xander and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Welcome to Sunnydale. I'm sure you'll like it here.”

“Yeah…sure.” Xander said slowly, her brain refusing to work correctly. “…I mean thanks.”

With a pleased nod, Snyder left a stunned Xander standing in the hallway. Buffy and Willow slowly walked up behind her. They stood in stunned silence as they watched Snyder strut off down the hallway.

After a moment, all three of them gaped. “WHAT!?”

x-X-x

Giles hummed a little ditty to himself while he sorted and placed various books back in their correct positions. He was behind one of the large bookcases, hidden from view, when he heard the library doors open and Buffy's voice speaking.

Ah, good. I needed to speak with her. Giles thought putting another book away.

“Obviously he's possessed.” Buffy was saying. “I mean, come on. It's like a total three sixty for Snyder.”

Possessed? Snyder? Giles wondered what she was talking about, it sounded like something was going on. Again.

“Or maybe, it's a spell.” That was Willow. “You know. A make you all nice spell?”

“No way! I still say he's possessed by something.” Buffy again.

Giles finished replacing the last book in his arms and continued to listen in as he moved to let them know he was there.

“You two, are completely wrong.”

Giles paused in mid-step, as he didn't instantly recognise that voice. It was female, but wasn't Cordelia. However, he was sure he knew who it was, but a name or face eluded him.

“He's a pod-person. He's been replaced by an alien.”

“Come on Xander…aliens?” Buffy sounded like she was rolling her eyes at the thought. As if it were too crazy to believe.

Xander? Giles thought in surprise and with a sudden sinking realisation at to what he would see he stepped out into sight.

“Buffy, use Ranko when he's like this.” Willow spoke.

“Hello.” Giles greeted as he stepped into view and took in the three girls before him. His eyes settled on the short redhead girl that was Xander, or at least since last night's excitement. “Oh dear. I see Xander is still of the fairer persuasion.” he turned to Willow. “Ranko?”

“Xander's secret identity.” she clarified.

“I see…the curse?”

“Still here G-man.” Xander stated doing a slow spin to show off her current form. “What Wills forgot to mention is cold water activates the damned thing,”

“Hi Watcher-mine. So, do you think Snyder's been possessed or an alien?” Buffy asked nonchalantly as she sat down at the table.

“Cold…what?” Giles turned to Buffy, thrown by her sudden question.

“Snyder. Alien or possessed?”

“I know you don't like the man-”

“I think it's a spell.” Willow said also taking a seat.

“Spell?” Giles turned to Willow again. He was seriously getting confused here.

“Hello! Guys! Still cursed here!” Xander whined.

Giles suddenly slapped the table, startling the three girls from the sudden loud noise.

“You three! Sit down and talk one at a time!” Giles snapped, his usual calm demeanour gone. Xander quickly sat down between Buffy and Willow, and all three looked at him nervously. Giles took a deep breath and stood before them.

“Very well. Xander first. How? Was not the curse broken with hot liquids?”

“Seems that's only temporary.” Xander began. “Any time I get hit with cold water, poof instant girl.”

“I see. Do you still revert with hot water?”

“Yeah. But I've been hit twice by cold water just within the last hour.” Xander folded her arms as she talked. “Between the shower going wrong and the kettle trying to kill me…I think someone's out to get me.”

“You believe the curse is trying to kill you?” Giles' expression became worried. It was not unheard of to have curses do so. Willow raised her arm.

“Willow, you need not raise your hand to speak.” Giles stated as they turned to her.

“Whoops.” Willow lowered her arm embarrassed.

“Do you know something about this?”

“Well, you see, I just sort of remembered…”

“Willow…” Xander groaned.

“Well, the curse also seems to make you a water-magnet.”

“Oh. So water is just going to leap out at me? All the time?”

“It is a curse Xander.” Giles began lecturing. “Curses are generally not meant to be a nice thing. If the trigger for your transformations is water then it does make sense that the curse would actively bring you into contact with said liquid.”

“Um, sorry.” Willow meekly apologised towards Xander.

“Not your fault. Remember.” Xander told Willow, before turning back to Giles. “So what can I do? Can you find a cure?”

“I'll begin looking right away. I have a few darker books on curses that may be of help, but for now, all I can suggest is to use hot water and try to avoid cold. Willow. Do you have copies of these…comics, which Xander's curse is from?”

“No. But I do know where I can get them on the internet.”

“Good. If you get me them I'll try to learn all there is about this curse, fictional or not, and cross-reference with the books I have here, and hopefully, we can figure something out. Now, Buffy. Your question?” Giles turned to Buffy.

“Snyder was nice to Xander.” Buffy stated. “Totally possessed.”

“Was Xander a girl?”

“Well, yeah.”

“So our charming Principal did not know it was Xander, and that is strange how? I mean, aside from Xander's gender.”

“Come on Giles! Snyder. Nice? Not in the same sentence.” Buffy rolled her eyes at Giles’ denseness.

“Well, I'll admit it is going against his normal character-”

“He called me Ranko.” Xander butted in.

“Excuse me? Oh, I remember. Ranko is the name Xander is using as a cover when he’s a girl.” Giles nodded. Then it dawned on him what they meant. “You mean to tell me, Principal Snyder knew of your made up name?”

“Yeah. It was mucho weird.”

“Like totally.” Buffy agreed.

“It gave me the wiggins.” Willow supplied.

Giles sat down, took off his glasses and began polishing them deep in thought. “Did he do anything else unusual?”

“He was sympathetic about my condition. Oh and apparently, my uncle had talked with and left my stuff with Snyder.” Xander answered after a short pause.

“Your stuff and uncle?” Giles prompted.

“No idea on the stuff G-man.” Xander said, causing a frown to appear on Giles' face at the G-man nickname. “And my uncle? I really want to know how he knew.”

“Yes. Yes. So do I.” Giles replaced his glasses. He leaned back in his chair and tapped the table thoughtfully. “You are right, this is suspicious.”

“See, told you. Possessed.” Buffy grinned triumphantly.

“I still think it's a spell. Or the spell from last night still doing stuff all spelly and spell-like.” Willow argued.

“Pod-person.” Xander stated with finality.

“Well, whatever the cause of this is, we need more information before we jump to far-fetched conclusions.” Giles stated in full watcher-mode. “Xander, I suggest you visit Snyder and get these effects that he thinks are yours. I'll begin researching the curse.”

“What about us?” Buffy asked indicating herself and Willow.

“For now, go to class.” Giles stated flatly.

“But! I want to go with Xander and slay Snyder when he turns out to be possessed by a demon.” Buffy protested.

“If Principal Snyder turns out to be a demon then you can. But for now, Buffy, this problem is affecting Xander and we have nothing more to go on. Until we know exactly what we're dealing with, I suggest caution.”

“Spoilsport.”

x-X-x

Xander, back in his birth form, stepped into the waiting area before the Principal's office. He hated this place and it's uncomfortably stiff wooden chairs that must be designed to make you squirm. Xander double checked himself to make sure he was normal and took a deep breath.

He knocked on the door.

“Come in.” Snyder's snide tone answered shortly.

“You wanted to see me?” Xander poked his head inside the lion's den.

Snyder's face went into a deep frown.

“Mr. Harris…I wanted to see you like I want haemorrhoids.” Snyder snapped.

“But…”

“Is there a problem? Or should I find you one?”

“Err…okay…sorry to bother you…Sir.” Xander backed out and shut the door. He stood there confused. What the hell? Was I dreaming that…wait a minute. I don't think he knows after all…maybe.

Xander quickly crossed the room to the water dispenser. He hovered, thinking how crazy it was that he was going to change willingly. With a glance about to make sure no one was around, he turned it on and stuck his hands underneath the flow. He became a she.

Xander adjusted her oversized clothing, making sure it wouldn't fall off or cause any other embarrassment. Once done, she crossed back over to Snyder's door and knocked again.

“Come in.” Once again, Snyder's voice called out, sounding snider if that was at all possible.

Xander opened the door and for a second time slowly peeked inside.

“You wanted to see me?” she asked carefully.

“Ah! Ranko. Come in.” Snyder stood up and indicated for her to enter. He even smiled.

Xander entered the room slowly and watched Snyder with trepidation. She shut the door quietly behind her and waited to see what this episode of the Twilight Zone was going to do next.

“Are you okay? You didn't run into that delinquent Harris outside did you?” Snyder asked noticing how nervous the girl before was.

“No. There was no…one but me outside.”

“Good. Good. That boy is trouble.” Snyder nodded. The Principal then reached down by his desk and pulled out a smallish plastic bag. “Here you go. This is the stuff your uncle dropped off for you.”

Xander took the bag from Snyder carefully, as if it were a live animal with large teeth. “Um…Thanks.”

“No need to thank me Ranko.” Snyder told her. “Now, I do need to get some work done here. So if you could just run along.”

“Sure.” Xander turned to leave. She mechanically left the room.

“Such a nice girl. Not at all like Summers or her groupies.” Snyder stated after Xander had left the room.

Outside the room, Xander stood for a while deep in thought.

This is weird. Beyond weird. Okay, Xander…Snyder seems to think I'm two people. That's good. Snyder hates me. Meh. Snyder seems to like girl-me…urgh! Won't go there!

“Okay, let’s see what we have in the bag.” Xander opened the plastic bag and peered inside. The first thing she saw was a small stuffed panda toy.

“You're kidding.” Xander said picking out the toy and turning it around to examine it. It seemed to be a totally innocent and normal black and white teddy bear. The little label sown into the bear's bottom stated it was made in China.

With a frown, Xander stuffed the bear under one arm and checked what else was inside. There was a wooden box. Taking the box out and examining it revealed it to be intricately carved with strange patterns that never seemed to repeat. As Xander brought it closer to get a better look, the patterns seemed to swirl and for a second she swore she saw a demonic face. Then it stopped, returning to randomness, leaving her wondering if it had just been a trick of the light.

Xander shook the box lightly. It rattled indicating something was inside. She then spent a minute trying to find the opening to no success.

“Okay…creepy box that doesn't open. Yeah, I think I've seen enough Hellraiser to know this is going straight to Giles.” Xander put the box gingerly back in the bag and pulled out the final object. It was an envelope, addressed to Ranko.

Xander thumbed it open and took out the letter inside. She began reading the small neat script.

'Mr. Harris, I hope you'll forgive me for not meeting you face to face, however I'm a tad rushed to get things sorted out. I would guess by now you've figured out that the spell from last night has had unforeseen side effects for yourself. You see, mixing magics, especially chaos based ones, is dangerous and unpredictable.'

“No kidding.” Xander snorted.

'I was made aware of side-effects early this morning and must take responsibility for the dangerous situation you have been placed in.'

“Dangerous? Not good.”

'You'll find with this letter a guide to help you. You should also find the identity that has been setup for your cursed form, which will help prevent your problems of not existing. It took quite an effort on my part to set that up. Your loving uncle.'

“This doesn't sound like something my uncle would write.” Xander muttered. Her frown deepened. This was too convenient. The feeling he had dubbed ‘Hellmouthy’ was currently on full alert.

Xander took the remaining papers from the envelope and unfolded them. They looked genuine, even down to having a picture of his cursed form on the card. He wondered how this had been setup in such a short time.

“Ranko Rayne…The! Hell?!” Xander exclaimed reading the name.

x-X-x

The classroom was abuzz with low conversations from the students with the occasional laugh heard over the chatter while the class waited for the teacher to arrive. Most were quite glad that the history teacher was late.

“Where is she?” Willow wondered asking Buffy. “She's over five minutes late now.”

“Relax Willow; I'm sure she'll be here soon.” Buffy sighed. “Take the time to relax and for once enjoy the none-boredom of history.”

“But Buffy, I was looking forward to today's lesson.”

“Well, you seem to be the only one.” Buffy made a show of looking around the classroom at all the happily chatting away students. “I mean, what's the point of learning about stuffy old guys who have been dead for hundreds of years?”

“Oh I don't know…not all dead guys over a hundred are stuffy right?” Willow said slyly.

“What do…oh haha.”

“Speaking of dead guys, did Angel like the costume?”

“Nah, he said it reminded him of the vapid, boring girls of his youth.” Buffy smirked in remembrance. “He likes exciting, dangerous girls.”

“Aww. He's sweet.”

“He-” The classroom door opened, cutting Buffy's reply short. The class descended into silence as an unfamiliar to most man walked in and stood before them. However, he wasn’t unfamiliar to Buffy or Willow. The two girls stared in surprise.

“Hello class.” Ethan Rayne greeted the class with a twinkle in his eye and a smug grin on his face as his eyes rested on Buffy. “Mrs. Hill unfortunately won't be returning to teaching anytime soon. I will be the temporary substitute.”

“What happened to her?” somebody asked.

“Well,” Ethan drawled. “I'm not supposed to say, but apparently her pet dog spontaneously combusted. A piano fell out of the sky and crushed her car and moments later, her house collapsed from a termite infestation. Her insurance won't pay out for such events and she's being done for fraud.”

“Really?”

“No.” Ethan chuckled. “She didn't have a dog.”

There were a few chuckles as most of the students took that as a joke.

“Now for introductions. I'm Ethan Rayne.”

“Like in the weather?” someone else tried to be funny.

“Quite. I've often been described as unpredictable, just like the weather.” Ethan grinned as if complemented. “Next question.”

“Are you British, Mr. Rayne?”

“No. I'm English. And call me Ethan.” Ethan continued smirking. “But aside from that I'm not one for wearing tweed, drinking tea and poncing around, only know one of those. I think he was a librarian.”

“What are you doing here?” Buffy questioned, almost standing in anger. She restrained herself, just.

“Stand in teacher, Miss Summers.” Ethan climbed up onto the teacher's desk before the class and sat casually. “I can see you have an attentive disorder. In one ear out the other.” That raised a chuckle from the class much to Buffy's annoyance.

“Right, moving on.” Ethan clapped his hands. “Anybody have the notes for this class?” he looked around as nobody volunteered any information. “Miss Rosenberg?” his eyes settled on Willow as he grinned at her in his smarmy manner making Willow very uncomfortable. “I heard you’re quite the bookworm. You must have the notes right?”

“I…yeah.” Willow mumbled as Ethan turned the spotlight away from himself.

“Yeah, you’re a bookworm or yeah, you have the notes?” Ethan questioned and grinned as Willow flushed pink as the class chuckled at her.

“I have the notes.”

After a short pause, Ethan asked. “Well? Bring them here please.”

Willow took out her notes and under the watchful eyes and occasional snicker from the class and took them to Ethan. She handed them over. Ethan hummed and hawed over the notes, occasionally muttering something under his breath. Finally, he looked up at the class.

“Well, this stuff is seriously boring.” Ethan exclaimed to the surprise of the class. “Is this what they’re teaching you about history nowadays?” He suddenly addressed Willow. “You can sit down now.”

Willow hastily retreated to her seat while Ethan began ranting.

“History was never this namby-pamby crap they’re teaching you. It’s about the past, the struggle for survival that led to us in this place and time. Where is the mention of the bloodshed involved? The suffering and joys? The horrors men did? The triumphs? The strife and chaos?”

The class seemed spellbound by his voice, except for Willow and Buffy who stared in growing concern.

“You see, history is the past. Even yesterday was history…” Ethan smirked toward Buffy and Willow. “Now then, for this class I’ve decided. Toss out those worthless notes. I want you all to do a project on something from the past, doesn’t matter what.”

“Can we do something on, like last year’s fashions?” Cordelia asked.

“If it’s the past then yes. Maybe you can get Miss Summers to help.” Ethan continued to grin.

“Yeah, she’s so last year.” Cordelia couldn’t miss a chance to put Buffy down.

“Do try and do something interesting for your project. Be it NASA to the Salem witch-hunts to the history of the Slayer. Be creative. Now feel free to go scarper off to…say the library for your research or just hang around here and ‘chill out’.”

“Best teacher ever.” Somebody stated as the class began to realise this Ethan seemed to be very laid back and had just given them almost a free period.

“This is bad.” Buffy whispered to Willow.

“I know. How are we meant to learn the state approved curriculum if he ignores it?” Willow replied mortified by the thought.

x-X-x

The hallways hurtled by in a blur to Xander as she ran towards to library, dodging the few people in the halls with a graceful but unconscious skill. If she had not been so focused on getting to Giles, she might have wondered how she was capable of such high-speed manoeuvring.

Finally, the library doors came into sight and she slammed into them, throwing them both open with a loud bang and skidded to a halt before a startled Giles.

“Xander! I’d appreciate it if you didn’t destroy the library anytime soon.” Giles grumbled as the surprise of Xander’s exciting entrance wore off.

“G-man, we’ve got trouble!” Xander stalked over to the watcher and waved some papers under his nose. “That bastard’s playing with me!”

“Who?” Giles asked taking the papers from the fuming cursed boy. Giles frowned as he began examining the identification papers and then he swore.

“That son-of-a-bitch!” Giles snarled. “I’ll bloody well kill him!”

“Only after we get him to fix the spell right.” Xander stated. “Then you can kill him.”

“Yes. Yes. We’ll need to find him first. Ethan won’t be easy to find after the trouble he caused last night. Especially as he knows, I’ll be on the lookout for him now. He’s a slippery bastard, and won’t just stand out in the open for us to find.”

Both Xander and Giles were startled as the library doors burst open with a bang for the second time that day.

“Giles! We’ve got trouble!” Buffy exclaimed as she stalked over to her watcher. “That bastard’s playing with us!” A moment later Willow followed into the library.

“Who?” Giles asked with a strong sense of deja vu.

“Who else? That creepy Rayne guy!”

“Wait? Ethan Rayne? You’ve seen him? Here, in the school?” Giles queried, his voice rising in urgency.

“Oh we saw him alright, didn’t we Willow.”

“Oh yeah. I wish we hadn’t.” Willow admitted.

“Where?” Giles and Xander asked at the same time.

“History class. He’s the stand-in teacher while Mrs. Hill is gone.”

The muscles in Giles’ jaw clenched up as he growled in a un-Giles like manner that the three girls, well two girls and one cursed boy, exchanged wary glances.

“Follow me.” The watcher commanded in a tone that brook no argument.

“Do I have to slay him?” Buffy asked as they walked through the hallways towards the history classroom.

“No.” Giles replied without looking back. “I’ll take care of Ethan, but we may require some muscle to convince him to cooperate.”

“Gotcha. Stand around and be intimidating.”

“What should we do?” Xander asked indicating Willow and herself.

“Nothing. I’ll handle this.” Giles stated turning into the hallway where the history classes were held. “Now listen to me carefully. He’ll try to wind you up. Don’t bite. He’s the type that gets off on getting under your skin.”

“How do you know him?” Buffy asked. She was curious.

“We…were friends once. Suffice to say I’m not proud of the fact and leave it at that.” Giles explained as they stopped before the classroom door. He did not bother knocking and just went ahead and opened the door calmly.

The group stepped into the class and found it empty of aside from one Ethan Rayne who swivelled in his chair to face them.

“Hello Rupert.” Ethan greeted. He made a show of examining the girls. “And you’ve brought the Slayer and her friends.”

“Ethan.” Giles stepped closer to the chaos mage. “I’m surprised you’ve had the guts to show your face after last night.”

“Ah, yes. It was and wasn’t my finest moment.” Ethan nodded even as Giles stalked closer.

“You! You’re the cause of this. Fix-” Xander was silenced by the glare Giles sent her way; it was a very un-Giles like glare that made her take a surprised step back from the intensity.

“Now, now, Ripper. Don’t go scaring my niece.”

Buffy mouthed “Ripper? Niece?” at Willow who looked just as confused.

Giles was now close enough to be invading Ethan’s personal space and the chaos mage was slowly losing the smug look on his face. Before anyone could react, Giles grabbed a handful of Ethan’s hair and hauled him to his feet. With a snarl, the watcher slammed Ethan back against the wall, keeping hold of his hair all the time. Ethan hissed through clenched teeth.

“I don’t know what game you’re playing at but you will fix this mess. Now.” Giles demanded getting right in Ethan’s face. “You will undo the spell on Xander and then you will leave.”

“Or else?” Ethan grinned before Giles yanked his head forward and then slammed it back against the wall. Ethan yelped in surprise and pain as white flashes passed across his vision. Buffy looked on in awe, while Willow and Xander were shocked by Giles’ display.

“There are two hundred and six bones in the human body.” Giles threatened, his voice dripping with menace.

“Ah…yes.” Ethan responded hesitatingly then quickly continued to forestall another bout of head verses wall. “I wish I could undo the spell. Believe me!”

“Try again.”

“Listen! The spell I used would have no lasting effects on anyone, or it wouldn’t have if not for what it brought over.”

“Brought over? What did it bring over?” Giles growled.

“The curse. It’s almost a living entity, a chaotic entity the likes of which doesn’t exist in this dimension.”

“And the chaos magic you used for the spell reacted badly.” Giles guessed.

“Yes, the curse or entity doesn’t like to let go of its victims and somehow is powerful enough it refused to be sent back when the spell was broken.” Ethan explained.

“It’s alive?” Xander asked with a shudder at the thought of some parasitic curse living off her.

“In a manner of speaking. It’s not aware but once it has hold of something…well, you know.” Ethan explained.

“What aren’t you telling us Ethan? You seem to know far too much information about this curse. I’d almost think you had this planned.” Giles tightened his grip much to Ethan’s discomfort.

“Let’s just say, I’ve attracted some unwanted attention from some sort of powerful demon.” Ethan quickly explained. “It was going to kill me-”

“It should have.” Giles stated.

“And the boy.” Ethan indicated Xander.

“Me?” Xander squeaked. “Why me?”

“Because this curse entity is strange and scary to certain powerful beings in this world and demons aren’t known for sitting down and talking through their differences over a cup of tea. It’s kill anything that could be a threat. Now, down to some fast talking on my behalf I managed to save his hide.”

“And I’m sure this had nothing to do with saving your own.” Giles snorted and with a shove released Ethan.

“Yes, well, there was that too.” Ethan agreed with a sickly smile.

“So now what? I’m I going to be attacked by demons?” Xander asked nervously.

“Quite likely.” Ethan said with a nervous shrug.

“What. Did. You. Do?” Giles asked. Each word pronounced with care and anger.

“I made a deal.” Ethan replied and flinched as Giles half stepped towards him before reigning in his anger.

“What deal?” Giles growled.

“Promise not to kill me?” Ethan begged and at the dark looks, he received, swallowed and explained anyway. “I promised to keep the boy out of its way and we would…help kill any of its…err…rivals should they come after the boy.”

“What?” three girls exclaimed while Giles fought back the instinct to throttle Ethan. It would do no good to kill the prat before he told them everything he kept telling himself.

“Is he telling the truth?” Xander asked quietly. Inside she was trembling at the thought of powerful demons coming after her.

Giles stared hard at Ethan before replying. “I believe so.”

“I am-” Ethan piped up and was silenced by multiple ferocious glares.

“Ethan’s many things, few of them good, but he is consistently a coward.”

“Oi!”

Giles ignored the indignant exclamation and continued. “He would make a deal with the Devil himself if he thought it would save his hide.”

“Actually, only a minor devil I was certain I could outsmart.”

“Dude, you suck.” Xander groaned. “So what am I going to do G-man?”

“G-man?” Ethan snickered until Giles turned his patented Ripper glare at the chaos mage.

“If, Ethan is telling the truth…that a group of powerful demons are after you…I’m afraid you’re in a lot of danger Xander.”

Xander paled as the implication set in.

“Don’t worry. We’ll protect you Xander.” Buffy reassured patting her on the shoulder comfortingly.

“Of course you will.” Ethan snorted. “And we’ll be having tea and crumpets for teatime after you kill them all with your magic toothpick you use against vampires. And all will be fluffy bunnies right with the world! These things aren’t your undead mixed-blood leeches but true demons.”

“I’m doomed.” Xander groaned.

“Xander, we only have his word to go on.” Giles stated. “For all we know he’s pulling a fast one.”

“Oh please Rupert. Even if you don’t practice anymore I’m sure you can sense the aura about the boy.” Ethan said with a nod towards Xander.

Giles watched Ethan from the corner of his eyes for a moment before turning his attention to Xander and really studying the boy’s cursed form. As much as he hated to admit it, there was definitely something there, something livelier about Xander than that of a normal person. That was the only way he could describe the feeling.

“He’s right. There is something tickling the very edges of my senses.” Giles admitted while wishing Ethan was wrong.

“Of course I’m right.” Ethan smirked. “And that feeling will draw demons and other nasties to the boy like a moth to a flame.”

End Chapter