"I'm back, baby!" -Bender Bending Rodriguez.

That's right loyal readers, I have returned. I know most of you have probably given up hope, but I have not and will not give up on this until it is completed (And that includes the planned sequels), that I promise you. Those who come to this story from the old version, I am sorry to say that this new version IS NOT a Ship Of The Line story. That is something I had to get rid of for the sake of the plot.

NEW CHARACTER IDENTITY: I like to select famous people to visually represent my characters so you readers can picture them the same as I do. Therefore... the man introduced in this chapter is portrayed by actor Ian Somerhalder.

Disclaimer: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" trademark and copyright 20th Century Fox Television, Mutant Enemy, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television, and Dark Horse Comics, Inc. At this point, Disney (not me) owns Jean Gray and all things Marvel. And finally, all things Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling and Warner Brothers studio.

Summary: YAHF. After Xander's Halloween costume takes him away from Sunnydale, he returns home with knowledge, training, and experience the likes of which no demon could match. Given who he has become, nothing will ever be the same. I am sorry to say that this new version IS NOT a Ship Of The Line story. That is something I had to get rid of for the sake of the plot.

No M/M slash, there will be F/F relationships along the line of what was in Canon Buffy, but nothing graphic. No Lemons or graphic sex scenes.

Chapter 01 – Halloween Causality

Consciousness was a fleeting thing for Jenny Calendar, awareness coming and going in fits. The first thing that registered with her was the familiar rocking of a car in motion. Slowly looking around, she found herself in the back seat of a vehicle that was being driven by a man with short messy dark-brown hair, broad shoulders, and a five o'clock shadow across a sharp chin. Next to him sat a person who she couldn't see because they were wearing a gray sweatshirt with the hood up over their head.

"What are we going to do with her?" The passenger asked softly, surprising Jenny with the fact that it was definitely a woman. Her eyes flicking between the two strangers and she knew should be panicking about the fact she was likely being kidnapped, but her thoughts felt sluggish and her head felt like it was full of cotton. She tried to move, only to feel a sharp pain from the side of her neck. Reaching up cautiously, she found a large bandage covering a portion of her exposed flesh, it's presence causing the previous events of that night to return in sharp relief. The last thing she remembered was being possessed by her Halloween costume. The fictional character that had been in control of her body had taken her to the far side of town, forcing her to walk back to her apartment once the spell ended. Unfortunately, Sunnydale was a town built on a Hellmouth, a literal gate to a demon-dimension. It's not the safest place to be after dark and, because on this night her luck decided to turn, it wasn't long before she was attacked by a vampire. She remembered getting pinned to the wall, a sharp pain at her throat... and then nothing until waking up here.

"We can take her to the library." The driver stated, answering the girl's question, "That's where everyone will be meeting after tonight's events." He looked back at Jenny, their eyes connecting even as he spoke with a tone of curiosity. "That costume really did a number on her. It's way too soon, she shouldn't be awake yet."

Unconsciousness swept her mind away once more, only waking again as she was being pulled from the vehicle and leaned up against a building. Her head was swimming and by the time she managed to open her eyes the car was already pulling away. Now alone with the male stranger, she watched in amazement as his body seems to almost ripple and transform, his appearance changing. One moment he was a grown adult dressed in dark clothing, the next he wore the visage of a student from the high school that she was familiar with, that of Xander Harris. "I know you are confused right now." He spoke softly as he carefully shifted her prone body into a more comfortable position. "I'd like to say this will all make sense soon, but you aren't going to remember any of it, so there's really no point in explaining."

The confused woman didn't have time to work through his statement before her eyelids once more became overwhelmingly heavy and she was unable to prevent them from sliding shut. An unknown amount of time later, a voice drew her out of the mist that seemed to be clouding her mind. "Hey, Mrs. C, Mrs. Calendar, are you okay?"

Awareness slowly returning, Jenny looked around in confusion, trying to figure out where she was and what was happening. She attempted to move, only to feel a sharp pain from the side of her neck. Reaching up cautiously, she found a large bandage covering a portion of her exposed flesh, it's presence causing the previous events of that night to return in sharp relief. The last thing she remembered was being possessed by her Halloween costume. The fictional character that had been in control of her body had taken her to the far side of town, forcing her to walk back to her apartment once the spell ended. Unfortunately, Sunnydale was a town built on a Hellmouth, a literal gate to a demon-dimension. It's not the safest place to be after dark and, because on this night her luck decided to turn, it wasn't long before she was attacked by a vampire. She remembered getting pinned to the wall, a sharp pain at her throat... and then nothing until waking up here.

Her eyes flicked to the teenager who was currently standing over her in the hope that he would have some answers. "Xander? What's going on?"

"I don't know. I found you here on my way into the school." She looked around and realized he was right, the building she was leaning against was the main entrance to Sunnydale high school. Shifting forward, the boy took hold of her arms in a surprisingly firm grip and helped her to her feet. She had to prop herself against the building for a moment to let the vertigo pass before reaching up to pull off a red wig that had been part of her Halloween costume, strands of which had fallen across her face.

"I'm okay." She insisted, "I'm alright."

"Good. We should get inside, Giles will probably be able to tell us what happened tonight."

Once she was stable on her feet, Xander led the way into the building and toward the library, where they found four other teenagers sitting at the main study table.

"Xander!" Cried a scantily-clad red-haired missile as she leaped from her chair before speeding across the room, only to slam into his chest hard enough to knock him back a step. The girl was wearing a low-cut red top that showed a surprising amount of bare stomach, along with a short black leather skirt, sheer black stockings, and boots. It was a look that was very much unlike her. At least the torrent of words that poured from her mouth reminded him that this was still Willow Rosenberg, the girl he had grown up with. "I was so worried when everything went wonky and there were vampires and you disappeared and I thought they brought you back to their lair and you were dead or... or turned and they were drinking you like a smoothie and then you would come back to eat us all and we would have to kill you and oh it would be so terrible!"

"It's okay, Will. I'm alright." He replied after she ended her torrent of unedited thought. As soon as Willow released him from her dire grip, he turned to the rest of the people who had gathered here. "Hello, everyone!" Immediately, he was pulled into a second hug, this time by the blonde vampire slayer Buffy Summers. She wore a frilly red and pink mock-up of a Victorian-style evening gown that had a square neckline, which was in opposition to the more revealing costumes worn by the other girl.

"Man, am I glad to see you are okay." Jesse McNally said as he stood from his place at the study table, his costume having seen better days. He was dressed in a military uniform that looked like it had seen combat, splashes of blood and bits of vampire dust still clinging to the material. "I was worried I'd have to find a new best friend."

Seeing the teenager alive and well made a wide smile spread on Xander's face, before he snorted, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You'd be stuck as the only guy among a group of girls... oh the tragedy."

"Don't even think it dweeb-boy." Cheerleader and self-proclaimed 'queen of the school', Cordelia Chase demanded from her seat across the table. "Your dirty fantasies wouldn't happen if you were the last guy on the planet, let alone in this room."

"Oh yes, thank you for that." Replied Rupert Giles who, when not viciously protecting the collected works of literature as the school librarian, acted as the watcher assigned to train Buffy in the ways of vampire slaying. "Good to know I rate one of the girls, as it were."

"Don't worry G-man," Xander laughed, "you only don't count because it's the nature of a teenager to avoid thinking about a parental figure like that."

"Yes... Quite." The older man replied with a slight smile, surprised at the boy's emotional insight. "Mrs. Calendar? I suppose you got caught up in this too?"

"I did," The self-proclaimed 'techno-pagan' stated, holding up the red wig. "I was Jean Grey as the Phoenix." Seeing the man's blank look, she clarified. "She's a character from The X-men." The continued blank look prompted her to sigh and roll her eyes, "You really need to read something that was printed after the invention of the light bulb, Rupert. She's a superhero in comic books. Marvel, specifically. A telepath and telekinetic."

"So what happened?" Xander questioned, drawing attention away from the Watcher's lack of pop culture knowledge, "Why did we all become our costumes?"

"Ethan Rayne happened." The librarian replied.

It was a name Xander instantly recognized from Giles' past, but as he wasn't supposed to know that, he made himself appear confused. "Sorry, but who's that?"

"He's the guy who owes me money." Cordelia complained while pointing out a wide tear in her skin-tight cat costume, "There's no way that Party-town will give me my deposit back."

"He's the guy who ran the costume shop," Willow added, ignoring the cheerleader's rant, "He cast the spell that turned us into what we dressed as."

Giles nodded in confirmation, "He is a Chaos mage of ill repute. He called upon the Roman god Janus to empower his spell. Fortunately, I was able to track him down and put an end to the effect. Speaking of which, where did you go after the spell ended?"

"I wanted out of the costume as quickly as I could, so went home to change," Xander lied smoothly, "The whole thing really freaked me out, being trapped in the back of my own head as someone else ran around in my body. Sorry for worrying you all."

"It is understandable, just next time please let us know that you are safe before running off."

He nodded. "I will."

"And next time, don't leave us to take care of all those brats on our own," Cordelia demanded.

"Yes Queen C, as you wish Queen C." Xander replied, his voice dripping with snark.

"Quite." The tweed-wearing man muttered again. "Mrs. Chase's issues aside, have you noticed any left-over side effects from tonight's madness?"

Jenny's response was a simple shake of her head, while Xander's mind flashed back over an internal debate he had been having for a very long time. They were his friends and he wanted to tell them the truth, but he knew that between Buffy's 'slay it first' mentality and how much Willow worried about him, there was no way he could... at least not yet. They weren't mentally prepared to accept what had really happened that night. He'd have to lie about having abilities far beyond the average human. They'd want Giles to find a way to undo it and everything he knew about magic told him it would probably kill him. At least Jesse would think it was cool and would probably be upset it hadn't happened to him as well. Still, he would have to slowly adjust his actions so that, if they ever learned the truth, they could accept him for who he was now. Until then, he would have to pretend to be the same person they had always known. He smiled at his friends and spoke. "No, nothing at all."