*****

He watched a bit uneasy as Willow set up her witchy stuff. Since the disaster with the My-will-be-done spell, Giles had made her practice with small spells until she developed the right feeling for magic. So tonight it was his turn to host her while she was doing her learning magic thing. "So, what are you doing tonight, Wills?"

She bounced excited. "I found this ability-transfer spell. It is so neat! I can use it to copy and transfer abilities from one thing to another! Look, I have brought these roses and some stones and then I can...." Xander tuned her out, he understood only a fourth of what she was speaking anyway, so why bother with listening to all the details? He had to admit that it was impressive to watch her copying the ability of the stone and transfer it to one of the roses, making it as hard and solid as the stone, but when she tried to copy all the abilities and the outlook of the next rose, to transfer it to another stone, he lost interest, switched on his TV and started to zap.

***

Cordy's vision had been simple this time, a hooded figure being attacked by three vamps in a nearby alley. It should have been an easy job. What Angel didn't expected was the hooded figure pointing at the vampires, shouting "Fireball", in an awful familiar voice. A ball of flames engulfed the vamps, burning them to ashes in a seconds time. The figure straightend his shoulders and made a move to went on, when Angel snapped out of his shock. "Hey," he called out to the figure, "wait a moment." The figure whirled around.

For a moment both were staring at each other. Angel was trying to figure out, why the other seemed so familiar. He was sure he had never seen a creature like this.

The hooded beings eyes were far too big for a human, they seemed to dominate his face. A face he couldn't say much about, for most of it was hidden behind a simple clothmask. The eyes themselves were blue as sapphires, the few bits of skin he could see were of a lighter bluish color and the strands of hair that fell into the strangers face were of a light metallic violet color. But the voice had been familiar... The moment was over before he could come to a conclusion. The creature started to run again, running away from him, Angel realized. And finally he was able to place the voice. "Wait! Xander!" But the strange creature Xander had become was already gone.

***

"...he's alive, thank Goddess he's alive..." Willow was crying when he told her what he had seen. Angel had called her, because she was Xander's best friend. If anybody knew what had happened with Xander, it would be her. "Yes, Willow, he's alive. But he is changed and I need to know why and how." Willow started to sob. "It's my fault, it's all my fault."

*** flashback ***

The stone didn't transform into a stone rose. It simply stayed the same. Willow almost shouted in frustration, then she wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead. Magic was always exhausting to her. She looked to see what Xander was doing... he was watching an Anime. Something with a small redheaded sorceress, a not so bright swordsman and another being called chimera. Absentmindedly Willow started to compare the characters to her reality.

Buffy, Riley and Angel? Or her, Xander and Oz? She shook her head, banishing her thoughts and started the spell again. But her spellfocus had been influenced by her thoughts and instead of the stone and the rose, Xander and one of the Anime-characters were making the transfer.

*** end flashback ***

The being that once had been Xander stared into the flames of the small fire he had made. It wasn't much, but more than enough for him. His new form wasn't as affected by the weather as his old, human body. He looked down at his hands, at the small rocks embedded into his stony skin. A solitary tear slid down his face. He never had wanted to be special like this, had wanted for a normal human life, but fate and Willow had squashed that dream into tiny bitter pieces.

*** flashback ***

The spell hit him and he started to scream as his body was forced into a new, unknown form. God, what was happening to him? It hurt, it felt like his skin was ripped away from his body. A howl of agony echoed through the small basement as his body finished its transformation. He fell to the ground, panting hard, as the magic released him from its clutches. "ooohh, my head...," he muttered to himself and rubbed his forehead. Then he stopped in shock, stared at his hands, at his blue hands, his blue stone-hands, blue stone-hands with small dark blue rocks embedded into the skin. He dashed to the bathroom, to the mirror, already knowing what he would see. Yet still he screamed when he faced his reflection.

*** end flashback ***

"So you are telling me that you transformed Xander into the living version of an Anime-character?" Angel asked in disbelieve. A small sob was his only answer. "It.. it was horrible...," Willow was on the edge of bursting into tears again, "when I heard him scream, when I saw what had happened... but I couldn't undo it... there is no way to undo it. I searched and searched, but nothing helped. And then the Initiative came, wanting to take him away, and he ran... and it is all my fault!" Willow was crying again. Angel didn't know what he could say, should say, but he was saved by Cordelias urgent shout. "Vision!" "Willow? I have to go. Cordy had a vision. I'll call later OK?" "ok." Willow said meekly and let him end the call. "Cordy, what did you see?" Cordelia rubbed her hammering temples. "The same guy that got attacked by the vamps... he's in a warehouse and there are soldiers..." "The Initiative," Angel muttered.

***

There was no way out. He was backed into a corner, desperately trying to find a way out. They had guns this time, guns that could perforate his stone skin and his shield wouldn't hold any longer. Sure he could cast an offensive spell, but to do that meant to drop his shield and then he would be taken out in a matter of seconds. There were simply to many of them. He needed something do distract them.

"Well, what do we have here?" A voice behind the soldiers said, causing them all to turn around. That was it, that was the opening he had needed. He let the shield drop and started to cast. Something simple, something offensive, something to distract but not lethal. "Flare Bit!" Satisfied he watched as the soldiers were hit by the balls of light. It wouldn't last long, but it would be enough. He raced to the person who had helped him - Angel - then turned to the next wall. "Dam Brass!" With grim relief he watched as the hole appeared into the wall. A sound behind him told him that his time was running short. He grabbed Angel's hand and started to run, through the hole and into the alley.

***

Whatever Xander had become, he was strong, stronger than Angel and faster as well, Angel noticed as Xander raced through alleys and shortcuts, stopping only when Angel stumbled with exhaustion. Xander looked around and only when he was satisfied that there was no one close by he relaxed. "Xander," Angel started and saw the youth tensing as if he had forgotten his presence and was now remembered that he wasn't alone. One hand reflexly reached for his sword... Xander was carrying a sword?!.. before he forced himself to relax again.

"What happened? Why are they after you?"

Xander closed his eyes and without saying anything he slowly removed the hood and the clothmask. Angel gasped as he saw what had happened to Xander. His skin was of a light bluish color, around his eyes and along his jawline darkblue/green stones were imbedded into his skin. His ears were long and pointed and his hair was longer and seemed to consist out of thin metal wire.

"Oh my God!" He couldn't suppress the whisper. Xander opened his eyes, his sapphire colored eyes with the slit pupils. Demon eyes. Pained eyes.

"Yes, you can say that." Xander murmured bitter. "That's exactly what I thought when I saw myself in a mirror the first time."

Abruptly he pushed the hood back into place, but left the mask down. "Giles and Tara tried to help me with glamour-spells when they found out that there was no reversal for what Willow did, but their magic ... well it was reflected by my body. So unlike you I'm doomed to look like this forever." Xander sighed and slumped against the closest wall. "I'm so tired of it. I mean I'm in this body for only a few weeks and already I'm so sick of it. Everywhere I go, people are starring at me. And not only humans, but demons too!" He buried his head in his hands, obviously exhausted.

Angel didn't know what he should do, he knew why the powers wanted him to protect Xander, but he didn't know how he could help the distraught teen. Unsure of Xander's reaction, he held out his hand in an unthreatening gesture. Xander looked up at him and for one dreadful moment it looked like his own hand was going to his sword, but then he took the offered hand and stood up. Accepting Angel's unspoken offer of help.

*****
Part 2:

When Angel entered the office, a hooded and masked being in tow, Wesley was instantly alarmed and tried to unsuspiciously grab his ax. Only to drop it again when he saw the look of bitter disappointment and hurt in the beings eyes. He didn't know how he knew it, yet he somehow had the feeling that he hooded being wasn't a threat, but someone they had to help.

Angel gestured towards a chair and the being sat down, then pushed the hood back and removed the mask. Wesleys jaw dropped. He never, in his entire life, had encountered of read about a demon or creature like this. What kind of demon was that? Which species did it belong to? The watcher part of him was fascinated with the concept of a new race of demons, while the hunter part of him tried to make out the weak spots of the creature before him.

"Can I bring you something?" And wasn't there worry in Angel's voice? "Coffee," the being said in a familiar voice, "this body practically thrives on coffee." And Angel went to find some coffee, while Wesley sat on his chair, stunned and not believing his own ears, as he finally made the connection between the familiar voice and the unfamiliar creature in front of him. It couldn't be, yet it looked like it was true.

"Alexander Harris," he stated in disbelieve. The Xander-creature looked up sharply and he could see one hand twitching towards the sheathed sword, but then the hand relaxed as Xander recognized him.

"I should have known that you're somewhere around here, Wesley," Xander muttered, more to himself than to the ex-watcher. "Should have known it." Then he shook his head like he was shaking of bad memories and leaned back in the chair, closing his eyes. "You were as unable to let go and step back as was I. You finally have seen the evil first hand and now you can't stop fighting it. Just like me," he snorted, "look what that has done to me." He waved towards his new physique and then opened his eyes again, pining down Wesley with one icy stare. "Do you want know who did it, do you? It wasn't any of the evil things we've to deal with day in, day out. No wizard, sorcerer or evil demon, nooo, it was my best friend, the only kindergarten-friend I have, that is still alive.... Willow did this. She was practicing magic, a simple spell, a nothing-can-go-wrong-with-it spell. And it turned me into *THIS*!"

Xander had jumped up from his chair and was now pacing through the room. "Ohh, she was remorseful afterwards, so sorry, she said. But no matter what she tried, Giles tried, Tara tried, this spell can't be broken. I'll look like this for the rest of my life, of eternity! And they can't help but stare at me, they look at me and see a freak!" He slumped back into his chair, which creaked dangerously under his weight. "They are afraid of me now. Afraid of what I have become, afraid of what I can do now. And then the Initiative found out about me, wasn't too hard actually, you can't hide blue stone skin that easily. And the underground, can't forget about the lovely underground of our 'beloved' hometown. Try to hide what you are from demons with lots of extra senses.... you know, the vampires in Sunnydale now warn their fleges about me, since some of them lost their fangs when they tried to bite me." Abruptly Xander stopped talking, as if he had said everything Wesley had to know.

A few minutes later Angel came back with the coffee and both men watched silently as Xander practically inhaled the brew.

Angel couldn't help but look at the teen. Xander had always been the most human one of them, the one without the special powers, but also the one who held them all together. He had been the one who had found humor in every situation and had shared it with the others, he had been their hope and the reason why they fought. And now he was sitting here, bitter, physically changed beyond recognition and he could only guess what kind of mental damage had been done to him. Angel felt a burning headache coming closer, how would the Sunnydale group survive without their heart? And what was this business with the Soldiers, the Initiative? He realized that he had been drifting away mentally and forced himself back to the topic at hand, back to Xander. Xander, who was starring back at him now. Angel winced soundlessly as he noticed the hard look in the boys eyes. Before the change, Xanders eyes had been open and friendly, true windows to the boys soul. And what a beautiful soul the boy had. It had driven him almost in sane with envy.

To come into the library or the Bronze, only to see a human with a soul that pure, that innocent, that happy. It always reminded him of what he had lost, what he could never regain, no matter how many people he helped. Now the path to the beautiful soul was blocked. Walled up behind eyes no longer brown, but a sapphire blue and as hard and cold as the crystal itself. And Angel couldn't help but mourn for the beauty that was lost to the world now, the beauty of one innocent soul.

Xander starred at the vampire that was starring at him. His fingers twitched as he suppressed the impulse to throw the coffeecup at him. He hated it now, people starring at him. It reminded him of his status of an outcast, belonging nowhere, not with humans, not with demons, homeless and hunted. Memories started to bubble up inside him, memories of torches and pitchforks, of screaming people and swords and blood, so much blood. Ruthless he squashed the memories, forcing them back into the dark edge they had crawled from. "Willow did this?" Wesley asked carefully, as if he was a dangerous untamed beast, that he didn't want to anger. Xander nodded. "How?" the ex-watcher simply asked.

"Willow had been in a rather depressive mood since Oz left town. So one night she decided to get rather drunk and then she did a spell. A My-will-be-done-spell. That day she blinded Giles, almost wed Buffy and Spike and turned me into a demon-magnet. When we finally found out what had happened and got everything back to normal, Giles made Willow practice with small, harmless spells until she would get a feeling for magic. So that night I hosted her when she practiced with an ability transfer spell she wanted to use at some stones and roses. I don't know what went wrong, but suddenly I'm in pain and my head hurts like hell...

"I should have known that you're somewhere around here, Wesley," Xander muttered, more to himself than to the ex-watcher. "Should have known it." Then he shook his head like he was shaking of bad memories and leaned back in the chair, closing his eyes. "You were as unable to let go and step back as was I. You finally have seen the evil first hand and now you can't stop fighting it. Just like me," he snorted, "look what that has done to me." He waved towards his new physique and then opened his eyes again, pining down Wesley with one icy stare. "Do you want know who did it, do you? It wasn't any of the evil things we've to deal with day in, day out. No wizard, sorcerer or evil demon, nooo, it was my best friend, the only kindergarten-friend I have, that is still alive.... Willow did this. She was practicing magic, a simple spell, a nothing-can-go-wrong-with-it spell. And it turned me into *THIS*!"

Xander had jumped up from his chair and was now pacing through the room. "Ohh, she was remorseful afterwards, so sorry, she said. But no matter what she tried, Giles tried, Tara tried, this spell can't be broken. I'll look like this for the rest of my life, of eternity! And they can't help but stare at me, they look at me and see a freak!" He slumped back into his chair, which creaked dangerously under his weight. "They are afraid of me now. Afraid of what I have become, afraid of what I can do now. And then the Initiative found out about me, wasn't too hard actually, you can't hide blue stone skin that easily. And the underground, can't forget about the lovely underground of our 'beloved' hometown. Try to hide what you are from demons with lots of extra senses.... you know, the vampires in Sunnydale now warn their fleges about me, since some of them lost their fangs when they tried to bite me." Abruptly Xander stopped talking, as if he had said everything Wesley had to know.

A few minutes later Angel came back with the coffee and both men watched silently as Xander practically inhaled the brew.

Angel couldn't help but look at the teen. Xander had always been the most human one of them, the one without the special powers, but also the one who held them all together. He had been the one who had found humor in every situation and had shared it with the others, he had been their hope and the reason why they fought. And now he was sitting here, bitter, physically changed beyond recognition and he could only guess what kind of mental damage had been done to him. Angel felt a burning headache coming closer, how would the Sunnydale group survive without their heart? And what was this business with the Soldiers, the Initiative? He realized that he had been drifting away mentally and forced himself back to the topic at hand, back to Xander. Xander, who was starring back at him now. Angel winced soundlessly as he noticed the hard look in the boys eyes. Before the change, Xanders eyes had been open and friendly, true windows to the boys soul. And what a beautiful soul the boy had. It had driven him almost in sane with envy.

To come into the library or the Bronze, only to see a human with a soul that pure, that innocent, that happy. It always reminded him of what he had lost, what he could never regain, no matter how many people he helped. Now the path to the beautiful soul was blocked. Walled up behind eyes no longer brown, but a sapphire blue and as hard and cold as the crystal itself. And Angel couldn't help but mourn for the beauty that was lost to the world now, the beauty of one innocent soul.

Xander starred at the vampire that was starring at him. His fingers twitched as he suppressed the impulse to throw the coffeecup at him. He hated it now, people starring at him. It reminded him of his status of an outcast, belonging nowhere, not with humans, not with demons, homeless and hunted. Memories started to bubble up inside him, memories of torches and pitchforks, of screaming people and swords and blood, so much blood. Ruthless he squashed the memories, forcing them back into the dark edge they had crawled from. "Willow did this?" Wesley asked carefully, as if he was a dangerous untamed beast, that he didn't want to anger. Xander nodded. "How?" the ex-watcher simply asked.

"Willow had been in a rather depressive mood since Oz left town. So one night she decided to get rather drunk and then she did a spell. A My-will-be-done-spell. That day she blinded Giles, almost wed Buffy and Spike and turned me into a demon-magnet. When we finally found out what had happened and got everything back to normal, Giles made Willow practice with small, harmless spells until she would get a feeling for magic. So that night I hosted her when she practiced with an ability transfer spell she wanted to use at some stones and roses. I don't know what went wrong, but suddenly I'm in pain and my head hurts like hell...

... and this is how it's happened," Xander closed his story, leaning back into his chair, mentally exhausted from unearthing so many painful memories.

The others looked at him in shock. "You have the other one's memories?" Angel finally asked. It sounded a bit familiar to him. To wake up with a new set of memories, memories of horrible misdeeds in his case, that were haunting him forever.

"Yes, I have." Xander stated. "I remember his childhood, he was happy then, his parents loved him, unlike mine. He was six when he witnessed their deaths, when they were slaughtered in front of his eyes. His grandfather took him in. He was a priest, a legend and the child wanted to make his grandfather proud of him. Yet nothing he did was enough and the priest barely noticed him... until he needed a new leader for his personal army. You see, the priest was blind and he was looking for a mystical cure for his eyes. He turned the teenage boy into this creature, a chimera, one third golem, one third mazoku and one third human. Then he made the boy submit to his will, trained him and finally sent him out to slaughter anyone who stood in his way." Xander stopped his story, fighting with memories that were not his own.

"And he did it, for a long time he was his grandfathers marionette, controlled, punished, beaten. Then she came. His ray of hope, a small hotheaded sorceress with the appetite of twelve men and spells that could destroy the earth. She and her companion, they freed him, and when the priest, overwhelmed by a powerful demonlord, tried to destroy the earth, they killed him, cutting his last ties to his past. For a while they traveled together, defeating evil things where ever they went, looking for a way to reverse his condition and making some other friends along the way. He gave up his search for a cure when the highest god of their world, the Lord of Nightmare, personally told him that there is no way to reverse the spell, not without destroying the Multiverse. Then he simply traveled with his friends for knowledge, new spells to learn, new books to read. But unlike him, his friends aged. He had been made immortal by his insane grandfather, eternal by the hands of LoN, for saving her creation. His friends died, one by one, leaving him alone, scorned by the world. And that is all I got from his memories. It is more than the Anime, Mangas or Novels ever told, but they are his memories." Xander looked up. His eyes were traitorously wet and while they still looked at him silently, one lone tear rolled down his check, only to solidify midfall and to land on Angel's desk with a small 'plink'.

*****
Part 3:

Wesley looked up from the book he was pretending to read, as Angel finally climbed up the last stairs from his basement apartment, where he had brought the distraught chimera-teen, to allow him some rest and privacy.

"How is he?" He asked the worried looking vampire.

"Asleep, finally," Angel rubbed his temples, trying to relieve a little of the stress that seemed to have moved in permanently. "He has to have been through a lot in the last time. He wouldn't go to bed before he had drawn three different wards around the bed itself and several others thoughout the room. And when he finally laid down, he practically collapsed, falling asleep at once." Angel looked up and Wesley could see just how worried the vampire was about his 'guest', he'd never seen that kind of worry etched in his face before... not even when the poison of the Major had swept through his system.

"He's not taking this very well, is he?"

Angel's head shoot up and for one short moment Wesley could see untamed fury in his eyes. "Wes, think, dammit! In a matter of seconds his entire life has been changed completely. Drastically! One moment he's a normal human boy, the next he is a being like no other. It's not like he became a vampire, no, that would have been easier to him. Vampires look human, they have their culture, their clans and families, a place in the demon-world! And what has he? Nothing! There is no other one like him! He is the ONLY one! And he will be around for a long time. Didn't you listen? He said the other one was truly immortal, eternal. That means he, too, will NEVER die!" Angel forced himself to sit down behind his desk, his hands leaving deep marks in the arms of his chair. "I know that one day I'll die, all vampires die sometime. We're not really immortal, just hard to kill. Like any other demons. And that is good because I don't think anybody is made to live forever. Everything dies Wes, humans, demons, gods... one day the sun will explode and the entire earth will die..., but not him. He will live on! Forever! Have you any idea what that truly means? No, I think not!"

When Angel finally stopped Wesley was speechless. He had never thought about the problem from this kind of perspective, but was Angel had said was quite horrible in its own means. Never to die, really never... it was a dream and for most people thankfully one that would never come true. But Xander... Xander would never die now. And as Angel stormed bock down the stairs to his sleeping guest, he left Wesley behind him, still without words and deeply in thoughts about all the consequences for the changed teen.

***

It looked like Xander was in the middle of a nightmare when Angel entered the room. The teen was whimpering, shaking his head and muttering words... in Japanese. Now Angel knew a lot of languages, yet Japanese wasn't one of them. But he did knew that the longdrawn 'iie' Xander screamed before he finally woke meant as much as 'no'.

***

Xander woke in an unknown bed, in an unknown room and for the first few seconds his panic rose to new highs, before he felt and recognized his own, still undisturbed wards. Safe, where-ever he was, he was safe. With that knowledge in mind, he scanned the room, stopped as his eyes encountered his host.

Angel met his gaze squarely. "Nightmares?"

Xander nodded. "The worst. When I'm awake I can distinguish between my memories and *his*, but when I sleep it all becomes one." One big and ugly nightmare about being alone and despised and hunted, but he didn't told Angel about that, he didn't want the vampires pity.

Fragments of his recent nightmare slipped into his mind. Willow, wielding an ax, like on Valentine's Day, but instead of a mob of angry girls, she was leading a mob of villagers, pitchforks and torches wielding villagers that wanted to kill him. Buffy with a sword, Giles with a ball of deadly magic in his hands, Oz turning into a wolf and pouncing at him. And then they fell. One by one. Killed by a glowing scythe that flashed in front of a bloodred nightsky. The last to fall was Willow, she died with a look of pure horror on her face. And then a hooded being walked towards him, a hooded being carrying a bloodied scythe. A few feet in front of him the other had stopped, had made the scythe vanish into thin air and had pushed back his hood. It had been then, that he had woken up, screaming. The other ones face... it had been... he couldn't remember it anymore. He knew it was important, yet his mind was completely blank. He shook his head, trying to shake away the last lingering memories of his dream and yet he couldn't help but remembering the towering figure who had killed all those that were trying to kill him.

***

Maggie Walsh was getting annoyed. And when Maggie Walsh was getting annoyed, heads started to roll, figuratively and literately. This was the fourth unsuccessful attempt to catch the blueskinned creature! That was unacceptable! An entire troop of her best soldiers, unable to catch one single hostile! She was pacing up and down in her office, still fuming over the failed attempt. It should have been simple. An entire troop of trained soldiers against one creature. True, the creature had displayed several rather unusual abilities, like his speed and the ability to generate forcefields. The creature was strong, well trained in the material arts and seemingly rather intelligent, but the simple mass should have brought him to his knees. Instead, it had been her soldiers, who had been left behind. She was so angry! This creature was what she had searched for, had wanted. An undefeatable being. The ultimate soldier. But it should have worked for her, should have been hers to command! Instead it was running away from her, was fighting for its own freedom.

Maybe another way would be more successful? From the very tiny bits of information the captured hostiles had given her on that creature, it had been seen with the civilian band of "demonhunters" that had blown up the highschool in the summer. Maybe it had more than help them? In all the reports on that creature, non of the other hostiles had ever mentioned it socializing with them. Maybe it was socializing with those humans? It was a possibility, a remote possibility, but still, she could work with it. So if the creature was in a social relationship with that group of humans, how would it react if she threatend one of them? She mentally played through several scenarios before she sat down and smiled. The creature, although ruthless with other hostiles, showed no signs of violence towards humans, until personally threaten. It was intelligent and had obviously no other social contacts but those humans. It would be easy to capture one of them to be hold hostage until the creature was hers.

***

In a place, where time and space where absent, three beings were watching all the events slowly unfolding. Nearly all the persons were in the right positions now and they knew that once started, there was no way of stopping it until it came to its own end.

"He is not ready, yet." A woman with ever-changing skincolor stated. Her voice was like the wind in the woods, the branding of the ocean waves and as pure and deep as the untouched earth. Her hair was like grass, like seafoam and like falling autumn leaves. Her face was timeless, but her eyes spoke of great age and wisdom.

"No, but he will have help." The only male started. He was parching up and down in front of the scying mirror, like restricted energy waiting to explode. A wave of his hand changed the displayed images, showing the chosen people who would aid the One. The males figure didn't shift, he was comfortable with the skin he wore. He was tall and tanned, with black, curly hair and a beard. He wore black leather, pants and a vest and sheathed at his side was a sword that had once lead entire armies.

"He will be ready when the time is right. He was born to be ready." The last female stated as the image in the mirror returned to one badly sleeping man-child. She was tall and willowy and golden. Nobody had ever seen her eyes, that were hidden behind bangs of golden hair. "My little one," the woman whispered, touching the mirror gently, "my chaos-child."

*****
Part 4:

Sometimes being a seer for the Powers really sucked. You don't get paid, you don't get working credits, all you did get were those brain-crushing headaches with pictures, called visions by those who didn't knew it any better. They were absolutely killer to any attempts of normal life and in the pharmacy everybody was calling her at her first name. So to say that Cordelia was not happy with her last vision, was like asking if the ocean was a little damp today.

At least the Powers were "nice" enough to wait until she had parked her car, she shuddered at the idea of having a vision while driving on the freeway. But if the Powers didn't stop sending her visions about those soldiers and the hooded figure she would personally seek them out and pummel them to death with her extra large bottle of aspirin. Cordelia sighed as she tried to recall any details. The soldiers, the hooded stranger, a yummy looking man in leather, a really freaky creature that looked like a patchwork-demon, Willow and Giles.... wait! Willow and Giles?!? That meant Sunnydale. Cordelia groaned. It looked like another trip to the Hellmouth was in order. God, she hated those trips, they made Angel more broody than normal... something she hadn't believed possible until he had come home from his last trip.

She sighed and then climbed the few stairs to Angel's office. He had to know about the last vision the Powers had "graced" her with.

***

Angel was at his wits end. So far, Xander had woken up screaming three times, every time refusing to tell what had shaken him and his screams, his screams before he woke, they were slowly tearing Angel apart.

Right now, Xander was sleeping again and Angel had sought a little bit of peace in his dark and quiet office... Wesley had gone home to his own apartment, he surely had enough to think about for now and Cordelia had wanted to go shopping, so the chances were rather good that she wouldn't come tonight.

"Angel! Why are you sitting here in the dark?"

Ooops, he guessed he had underestimated Cordelia a bit. He had been so sure that she wouldn't find the time to come here with all the shops she could go to.

"Come on, Angel! I got one of those annoying vision-type-things. We've got to find to strange hooded being. The soldiers are still after him and now there is this female Frankenstein-Lady with her mad creation, and Giles and Willow are in danger! Dammit I so don't want to go back to Sunnydale!"

"What?" Sometimes he really needed a translator for Cordy. All he had understood so far, was that the soldiers were still after Xander, but what was that bit about Sunnydale and Willow and Giles? What about the Frankenstein-Lady? Nothing made sense. Angel sighed, there went his peace and quiet. And of course in this moment a scream pierced the air. Xander had another nightmare.

"Angel?! What was that?!" Without really waiting for an answer Cordy stormed down the steps to his apartment. Angel followed as fast as he could, yet Cordelias headstart was too big. And so Cordelia stormed unstopped into his apartment, activating all of Xanders careful drawn wards, ripping Xander out of his last nightmare, alarming him to an intruder. He screamed and instinctively called an attack-spell to his hands. Cordelia came running into Angel's bedroom and came face to face with a strange, blue-skinned creature with red-glowing fireballs in its hands. Cordy screamed.

Xander, still caught in the last vestiges of his nightmare, reached out to throw the deadly attack when Angel fell into his arm.

"Xander, don't! That's Cordelia!"

Xander staggered back, then blinked away the last remains of sleep. His eyes widened as he finally recognized his "intruder". Abruptly he canceled his spell, then he started to shake. He had nearly killed a friend! Cordelia, his former girlfriend! And he had almost killed her. If Angel hadn't interfered, Cordelia would have been ashes now. His shakes became stronger, stronger and faster, until he curled himself into a fetal position, rocking back and forth in a fast, steady rhythm.

Cordelia was still standing at the same spot, everything had happened so fast, she couldn't really comprehend it. One moment she was looking death into the eye, death in form of a blue being with red-glowing hands, the next moment the same being had curled into a tight ball, rocking back and forth and whimpering softly. And then she realized something else: Angel had called that being Xander. He had told him only her name and the blue guy had canceled his attack. So how many people she knew that were called Xander and knew her? Only one. Only one, but he should be in Sunnydale... he should be human.

Slowly she crouched down next to him, stretched out her hand to touch him. His hair had been soft once, she had loved to run her hands through it during their make out sessions. Now it was hard, stiff wire with rather sharp ends. His skin was hard to her touch and cold. It felt like a polished stone, one of those that had lain years in a river, being polished by the water and small specks of sand. Perfectly smooth.

"Xander? Is that really you? Oh my god, is that really you??"

***

"That doesn't look so good," the male one commented the scene in the scying mirror. "I think we should interfere."

"You are always so quick with the interference, Ares. Stay back. Wait. Watch how it all comes to completeness."

"Gaia, we've waited for so long. We have almost lost him three times. Three times, Gaia!! And even one time had been once too often. If Hades hadn't refused to take his soul, he would have been dead at his father's hands. So he spent an entire summer in the hospital, wishing he *was* dead. Then the business with the hyenas. You sent the spirit of the matriarch to him, or he would have been eaten before the four possessed ones had left the hyena-house. And then of course, Halloween." Ares shook his head. "I still wonder why they didn't realized that only those, who had worn a full costume of the wizard, had been targeted by the spell. If I hadn't gifted him, he would have been dead, as well as the slayer." Ares shook his head at that memory. "What I meant is, that we've already interfered several times. And now they really need our help. They need to know what is meant to happen and why."

The golden woman stepped forth. "You will go. Alone. You will talk to them. But you won't help them otherwise, yet. That time hasn't come now. And Ares, don't tell him of his heritage, yet."

Ares nodded and vanished in a bluish flash of light.

Gaia turned towards the golden woman. "Is that really wise to sent him now? He is rather impulsive and tends to be overprotective."

The Lady of Nightmare turned back to the scying mirror. "He is right, they need knowledge to survive this. And it is better for him to go to them now. He is better suited to prepare them for the knowledge of our existence. We tend to frighten the mortals more than him. In his heart he's more like them then we are. And of course he had that thing about family. He always wants to stay close to all his children."

Gaia tilted her head. "Then he will have a blast now. How many of them are related to him?" Laughter sounded in her voice.

"Several. The slayer of course, they are all his girls, but there are others as well. Everything will be unveiled at the right time. You shall see." And L-sama smiled, her mysterious smile, that told of many secrets known only to her.

*****