BtVS/DC Universe Fanfiction
Disclaimer: - I don't own anything apart from the crazy, crazy idea. And that is what this is. It's crazy. BtVS belongs to Joss and the good people at Mutant Enemy.
DC own the rest.
Plot: - Being exiled from your home Universe isn't supposed to be easy. Becoming an Arcosian Planet Killer is no picnic either, so how the hell is Xander supposed to save the DC Universe… Wait, he's supposed to save it?!
The Fourth World
Chapter One: - Hook, Line and Sinker
The Great Hall of the PTB
They watched as all of their plans continued to unravel before their eyes; the tapestry was always changing now, threads coming apart at the seams. Events unfolding differently than what the Powers had originally envisioned. They knew what was the cause of all this; the single event that threatened everything they had wrought for ten millennia. It was the resuscitation of the former Slayer, Elizabeth Anne Summers. They also knew who the cause of all this change was. One Alexander (don't ever mention the middle name) Harris.
A boy who in no certain terms told destiny to go fuck itself. And it's horse as well.
"This is intolerable. Everything is coming apart thanks to the actions of that child." The lead power said to its fellow powers. "We need to get rid of him now…" The great being trailed off as he moved time forward within the Scrying Pool he and the others were looking at. "See. Do you all see?" He asked as he pointed towards the changes as they happened. "Even the events we had foreseen on Halloween are different now." He finished before looking around at the gathered beings.
"He was supposed to dress as a soldier, but now, he chooses the form of the Arcosian!" The Power exclaimed.
"What can we do?" Another Power asked. "We are forbidden to interfere by his laws. It is his Tenant. We cannot impose our will upon the mortals. We are charged with maintaining the balance. We cannot alter free will."
"I know our laws!" The lead Power shouted. "Do not presume to tell me of what we can and cannot impose." He finished, cowing the outspoken Power into subservience. "There is another force at work in this." The lead Power said as he stretched out with his senses. A moment later he discovered something similar. Something he hadn't felt for an age. "I sense the hand of Chaos in this. This is Janus's doing."
"You're damn right it is." A melodious two – toned voice spoke out through the air. A column of grey mist suddenly appeared off to the side of the Scrying Pool and out of the mist, a two headed being dressed in black and gold Greco – Roman style armour stepped forth into the vast great chamber and revealed himself for the scowling Powers to see. "Thanks to that mortal's act of defiance against Prophecy, my power has been restored to what it once was." One of the faces had spoken.
"I can see the patterns shift and swirl, the course of time bend and breaking off into new and unchartered waters…" The other face broke out into a maddening smile. "I see doors opening that had been locked away and left to gather dust for eternity. That boy, that child, as you call him, has honoured me more than any of my other Worshippers have. And he isn't even a worshipper. But he is the very embodiment of Chaos." The God began laughing much to the annoyance of the Powers. "Now isn't that the rub? Heh, for that alone, I decided to reward him with power." Janus finished, his arms spread wide.
"You jeopardise our plans for this world… The balance must be…" The Powers began to speak, but Janus interrupted him.
"Oh, you bet I do! The balance, bah!" Janus spat back. "You mean your balance. It is just a pathetic attempt on your part to keep this infernal war of yours in check." He bellowed. "Your plans, hah! I have seen what your plans were for your champions and the mortals…" Janus started as he rounded on all of the higher beings. "I decided to intercede…"
"YOU HAVE NO AUTHORITY!" Lead Power raged.
"I HAVE ALL THE AUTHORITY I NEED, POWER!" Janus raged back as the very large and spacious room seemed to shake in response to the very sudden feeling of power that the God and the higher being exuded; as he closed the distance between him/herself and the leading Power. "I have his authority to act." The two faced being hissed in the Power's face as he gestured with his right arm upwards. The Powers knew who Janus was referring to just by the inflection in his voice as he referred to the being he was acting on behalf for, they just couldn't believe it. "Do you know what Chaos is, Power?" The god asked. It is change, he responded before his opponent could speak. "Chaos is my realm, my right. It is my bread and butter." He stated to them all; telling them that every change that the child made to their ordered tapestry of fates unravelled the threads even further. "That boy's actions strengthen me…"
"Your actions doom the Earth and the entire Universe. The Arcosian would destroy everything at a moment's whim." The Power said. "He would serve their cause without realising it."
"I know. The mortals have a saying for moments like this: Cool, huh?" The God asked, grinning manically.
"You're insane." The former cowed Power said out loud as she found her voice to speak out against Janus.
"Sanity is overrated, little Power." Janus responded looking at the female Power who spoke. "Order comes and goes on the wings of birds. Your version of order is no different. It is only Chaos that endures. Ever shifting, ever changing…" He/She trailed off as the two faces of Janus spoke as one. It was a few moments as he let that little bit of his/her wisdom sink into the collective Power's heads before the two faced God sobered up. "Besides there is method to my madness." He said to their entirety.
Another Power, One who wore a flaming effigy of a flower above her left breast spoke, garnering the Chaos God's attention. "You, method? Don't make us laugh, Janus." The female Power spoke. "What madness are you pertaining to, Chaos God?" When Janus turned to address the Power that had spoken out, he grimaced as he spotted the woman. Glancing at the effigy as it flames danced, Janus could make out the shape of the flower she adorned herself with. This Power, Janus knew, liked to change her name on a whim often taking the names of the effigies she wore. He'd heard all about her, but never had the pleasure of meeting her, and that was how he liked it. Until now. The effigy was a representation of the flower…
"Jasmine. I speak of Nekron." He said shocking some of the Powers into silence; the rest had begun a screaming match as they vied to be heard over the other voices in the great hall. Janus stood in the centre, turning in a circle as he observed the Powers That Be, afraid. "I speak of Nekron, Powers." Janus bellowed, silencing their collective screaming, repeating that dread name of the black Lord of the Dead. "I speak of him and his black Pantheon of Sorrows. I have foreseen their return."
"J – Jokes are not your forte, Chaos God." Jasmine shakingly said. Janus could hear the fear in Jasmine's voice, and she was right to fear it. For it meant that her plans for creation and her rebirth were threatened.
"I am not joking. I leave that province for my cousin, Loki." Janus said seriously. "We all remember what Nekron and his Pantheon did to us during the dark times. The Gods that he and his ilk consumed and turned against us." The God began. He told the gathering he had sensed the Dark Beings power universes away. Some of the Powers scoffed at the God, clearly disbelieving that the two faced deity could sense anything of the sort whilst they didn't.
You lie, a few of the Powers shouted at the God. "Liar! Deceiver!" Other's bellowed at the Godling, unwilling to even consider the possibility of Nekron and his Pantheon returning. Ignoring the string of insults and profanities the Powers continued to sling at him, Janus stood there next to the Scrying pool looking into it and seeing his new favoured mortal arriving at the high school with the Slayer and his friend as they collected their groups of children for Halloween.
"I speak the truth! I have seen it. Chaos can perceive the future and it has seen Nekron's return." Janus pressed on. "Here…" He said. "Even now as we stand here in your great hall bickering about what I have done to the boy, Nekron gears himself for his return to the Universe's with a War of Light. His brethren, Lady Styx, Onimar Synn and the Trans have already begun their own crusades in the name of their black Lord. They have taken advantage of the disturbances wrought by the Prime boy and his displaced ilk. Disturbances that are far reaching…" Janus turned away from the pool and observed the Powers.
"See as Onimar Synn leads his undead army across the scorched ruins of Thanagar. Seeking the secrets of the Rannian Zeta Beam Technology from Saardath." Images of the golden clad Demon God, surrounded by his army appeared in the open space by a wave of Janus's hand. The Powers watched and despaired as Synn and his Zombie army laid siege to Saardath and his allies. "Do you see, Powers, do you?" Janus asked them all. "Is any of this seeming familiar to you? An army of the dead at the beck and call of a Soul Eater…" The Chaos God trailed off as he didn't give them time to answer; indeed, he wasn't really seeking one. He knew they remembered the evil that was Onimar Synn.
Another wave of his hand and the image changed to that of a darkened room. The Powers could make out a large table situated in the middle of the room and they could see something moving and shifting on the table; the image changed and zoomed in on the table and the collective saw a terrified young alien girl lying down, a look of absolute terror and fear marring her young features as she looked at her distended belly. The child was restrained by her arms and legs. "And do you remember her?" Janus asked as he pointed to the image of the distended belly.
It moved. The young girl's flesh rippled like waves on the surface of a body of water and she began screaming as she contorted in pain. Giving birth is always painful, but this, the Chaos God thought as he watched on; this wasn't birth, this was an obscenity. It was a mockery of the creation of life being perpetrated by the black lord's feminine cohort. Thankfully, the sound did not travel through the image. The belly rippled again and this time, the impression of a clawed hand revealed itself before it lowered and settled but the Powers could still see the girl screaming in agony.
The clawed hand appeared again and this time it was joined by another as they then moved under the surface of the girl's flesh until they ripped through the belly and a shower of alien blood and viscera flew out of the large wound. Janus observed as some of the Powers turned away from the scene, the Lead Power showed disgust but he still watched as the seemingly irrefutable evidence of Lady Styx's rebirth drew to a conclusion.
"The girl is only sixteen years old. An innocent; with dreams of following in her father's footsteps and becoming a Healer. Of one day marrying her fiancée and raising a family." Janus intoned, watching as the dark, ghastly feminine form of Lady Styx stood up from the girls remains covered in the girl's blood and scraps of flesh and viscera, reborn. Her yellow eyes flashed as she stared down at the dead face of her 'mother'. Raising a clawed hand, the dark Goddess given form, ran her clawed finger down the dead girls face before the evil figure scowled and ripped the girl's face off.
"Now…" He trailed off as the black skinned Goddess threw the girl's face to the floor and walked into the surrounding darkness.
And the image changed once more. "And let us not forget the Trans…" Janus began.
"Enough!" The Lead Power shouted and Janus turned to regard the being. The Power's features showed no emotion whilst some of his fellows were the polar opposite. "So this was your answer? That child… It is madness." He spoke.
"Yes, it is..." Janus said. "But it is madness born out of necessity…" The Lead Power stared wide – eyed at him/her.
"Necessity?! By turning the child into HIM?! What you propose; and I know your intent; it is madness, Chaos God." The voice of the Lead Power travelled throughout the great hall, deafening the other Powers as their leader continued to berate the two – faced being. "Frieza would destroy the Earth as soon as his consciousness supplants the boys and takes control of his body."
Janus scowled this time, hearing this, this was the one thing that he had insisted upon, but only if the Powers were aware of it and if they agreed to it. The Power saw the scowls on his two faces and knew that he had touched upon something that could solve this problem.
"Too true. This is why I am here, Power."
"Godling?"
"Exile…" Janus said. "As soon as the spell that my Chaos Mage will cast on Halloween takes effect, cast the child out of this reality and into the Fourth World..."
"Absolutely not!" The Power stated vehemently. "The Trinity shall defeat them…"
"The Trinity?" Janus asked. "In case you've forgotten, Power, but the Trinity have made the journey to Nekron's realm before. The Kryptonian died battling the Doomsday Beast." Janus said as he conjured images of Superman's first battle with the monster. "Even he isn't immune to Death's touch." He said as the image then changed to that of Wonder Woman. "Even the Amazon had succumbed to her own death before she became the Goddess of Truth in the Olympian Pantheon."
The image changed again for the final time, this showing the Dark Knight as he fell before his Bane, broken and defeated. "And let us not forget the Batman." Janus gestured. "He died temporarily on a doctor's operating table." The image changing to the prone form of Bruce Wayne, battered and broken as his doctor, Shondra Kinsolving tried to bring him back to life.
"No, they would fall before the Pantheon of Sorrows like dominoes as many of our kind once did." The God of Chaos and Change said.
"The balance…" Power began before Janus visibly sighed and turned two sets of narrowed gazes upon him.
"…Would still be unaffected. You want that child dead and gone, I want him to fight. Assist me in this and we both get what we want." The Powers looked intrigued by the suggestion Janus offered. It would effectively eliminate two problems for them: The boy and the Arcosian, and the threat Nekron represented, but still… The Lead Power was hesitant; best to just kill the boy during Halloween, he thought.
"I know your intent as well, Power. Need I remind you that I have his authority? Look at it this way. He agrees with you. The power the boy would wield would shift your balance pretty much in their favour." The Power stared back at Janus and narrowed his gaze; again he still couldn't believe that the Creator would support this endeavour.
Sighing and admitting defeat, the Lead Power spoke. "Agreed." The Power said with a curt nod of his head at Janus. "We will exile the boy and ensure his banishment…" He said suddenly smirking. Janus glared at the being; he knew that smirk wasn't going to be anything good. "But the Powers That Be reserve the right to choose where and when to place him, Godling. That is non – negotiable."
"What?!" Janus raged, showing anger at the absurd idea, on the inside though, the God was cackling like mad as he thought that the Powers had played right into his hands. He knew that the Powers would want this, to look like they were still in control, oh; Janus was indeed cackling and enjoying the moment – maybe Jasmine was right, he was indeed a joker, and he'd pull off the greatest joke on the Powers.
Have to keep the act up. "This is outrageous! Our very existence is threatened by the return of Nekron and you pull this absurd stunt?" Janus shouted angrily. "I have the Creator's authority in this matter…" Janus continued, but the higher being cut in.
"But not the right to dictate terms to the Powers That Be, Chaos God." Hook. "We acknowledge the threat of the Pantheon of Sorrows…" The Power intoned, inside, Janus was beaming as it looked like he was going to succeed. Line. "We will do this, Janus, though we do not agree with your… representative in this matter." Janus did all he could to resist the urge to do that quaint, mortal sign of success, the fist pump as he continued getting one over the PTB. "Thirdly, the child shall be sent to the Fourth World…"
YES! YESYESYESYESYES… Janus crowed internally as he realised that he had indeed got one over on the PTB. "But prior to the time of the third passing of the Godwave. Let him be Izaya's concern." Sinker. The Power finished, thinking that the Chaos God would not be pleased. Oh, he was so wrong because this was what Janus wanted all along… As he tried to visibly school his features into a mask of calm rage, directing his ire towards the lead Power, Janus spoke.
"Fine." He grounded out. His ire turning into a scowl at the collective smirks of the Powers. The arrogant Ass's. "My Chaos Mage calls upon my power. Shall we do this then?" Janus asked; his faces school into rictuses of insensate anger, all to sell the joke. The Godling and the higher being walked over to the Scrying pool as an image of Xander Harris, guised in the image of Frieza's final form escorted his troupe of children. In the image, the costumed teen watched on as his kids employed his technique of bagging extra candy – tears were indeed key. He looked so proud.
"Fellow Powers; join your magic with ours as we banish this pest once and for all." The lead Power intoned as an immense feeling of power suddenly filled the great hall of the PTB and one singular purpose, directed that power towards the Scrying pool and the image of one, Xander Harris.
On Earth – Sunnydale
As Ethan's spell began to work and take effect upon all those wearing costumes bought from the Chaos Mage, Xander watched, one second praising his troupe for use of the tears manoeuvre when he suddenly saw the made up facer of one of his kids beginning to morph into that of the monster he dressed as. Oh, this can't be good, he thought as he backed off as he saw another kid change before his very eyes. And another, and another…
"Hey!" He shouted as most of his transformed troupe ran off. He looked around as the remaining kids turned crazy and either started attacking each other or running off terrorizing the streets. He noticed that a few of his kids hadn't run off and looked frightened. 'They haven't changed, why haven't they changed? I thought Halloween was supposed to be quiet.' He asked himself as a roar from a passing Sasquatch cut through the air as it chased a girl in a Leopard costume that looked a lot like Cordelia Chase.
A couple of the kids clung to his legs, scared out of their mind as they watched the madness unfolding, Xander was momentarily torn, he had thought about going to help the teen queen of Sunnydale, but then he looked down at the scared kids huddled around his white clad, three toed legs and tail. They were crying, they were scared and Xander knew that Cordelia would have to wait.
"Come on, I'm taking you kids someplace safe." He said as he pried them off of his legs; two of them didn't want to let go, completely afraid as a monster's roar scared them and made them cling tighter to his legs. "Hey, I'm not going to let anything happen to you, c'mon." He said trying to reassure them, kind'a difficult since he had started to feel strange himself.
The Great Hall
"Now, concentrate!" The Lead Power bellowed to the other Powers. "The transformation is upon him!" He finished, too focused on casting a banishment spell with his collective, he missed the smirks that Janus had sported as the Chaos God added his power to the mix.
Sunnydale
As Xander started walking, intent on leading the remaining kids under his protection back to the High School, he was suddenly overcome with great pain. "AAAAHHHH!" Screaming as he dropped to his knees, scaring the backing away kids, Xander missed the arrival of Willow as the Red – Head saw her friend in pain.
"Xander!" She shouted running over to her friend. "What's happening, what's wrong?" She screamed as she tried and failed to help him.
"AAAAHHHH!" Xander screamed; his body was changing and he didn't know why. The Slayer's White Knight was in agony as he felt new nerve endings grow, his bones becoming dense and heavier; his musculature becoming dense, heavy and more defined. The pain increased further as he felt as if he was on fire as nerves formed and grew in the now suddenly real, thick white tail he sported, travelling along the tailbone that was formed because of the transformation and up the boy's spinal column and nestling at the spinal cord as they formed new connections to the boy's cerebellum and cerebrum, relaying the painful sensations to the sensory receptors of his brain. "OH GOD, I'M ON FIRE!"
Willow watched as the tail Xander sported began to twitch of its own accord, flickering about as it moved and flailed about. Willow watched as the kids Xander was escorting clung to a nearby tree as they watched, scared out of their minds, she looked backed at Xander, as he rolled over lying on his back, his face scrunched in agony, eyes closed. Willow gasped. "Xander?" He looked so different… His flesh, white as she stared at the purple gem in his chest as it seemed to fuse itself to his body. Were those his ears, those... bulbous holes?
"Wi – Willow…" He rasped out as he finally heard her timid voice pierce the sensations of pain he was feeling, Xander opened his eyes… And screamed as his eyes stung; The light from the streetlights above him were blinding, making it seem he was getting hot needles poked into his eyes. "Wh – What's… happening to me…?" He started shaking as his voice trailed off as he passed out, finally unable to cope with the changes happening to his body.
"Xander!" Willow shouted in fear; she reached out for him, hoping to provide what comfort she could, forgetting that she couldn't touch him, Willow's hand passed right through his body, freaking her out again as she cried, helpless to help her friend. A strong wind suddenly came out of nowhere. Blowing over trashcans and transformed teens and children, Willow had nothing to fear as she knelt by Xander's side, she ignored the howling, roaring and wailing of unchanged kids and monsters alike as she remained focused on Xander's prone form as trash and refuse began covering the boy. "Xander…" She shouted out over the howling noise of the winds. "Xander, wake up! Wake up!"
No response. As more and more trash covered him, Willow could no longer see her childhood friend and crush's body therefore she couldn't see his body fading away until it was completely gone. "Xander! Xander, wake up, please. Please wake up." She sobbed out. The winds blew the trash away for what seemed like a moment later; Willow hoped to see him lying there, but when the trash had dispersed, there was nothing of Xander Harris left and Willow screamed.
Authors Note: -
Whoa, I'm kind'a psyched about this one. Big plans. Big, big plans.
Read and review and hopefully... enjoy.
Peace.