A/n:Well what'd you know. I actually got the little bugger down sometime this century. Sorry for my incredibly bad, bad, bad horrible updating speed. What can I say -I'm not dependable for shit, I just talk a good game. ;-) Well, bygones and all that. This my lovelies is the next installment of Rewind, kid. Hope you'll enjoy and thank you from the bottom of my devious little heart for all of your kind critique and your patience with me, I love you all very, very much.

Do the lies haunt you tonight?

Their blackness seeping through your soul

Screaming in uncaring silence

Think blood will make you whole?

Do your deeds taunt you tonight?

Those thousands of mistakes you let be

because you couldn't dare to face them

Think blood will set you free?

Then you've entered purgatory

where the walls are unbreachable

Where no one will show you mercy

and freedom seems unreachable

Welcome to purgatory

Where no one will hear you scream

Where your cell's been made for you

And your rescue's but a dream

Does the future daunt you tonight?

Doomed to watch the liquid sands

run through the hourglass of regret

Think blood will wash your hands?

Then you've entered purgatory

where the walls are unbreachable

Where no one will show you mercy

and freedom seems unreachable

Until you forgive yourself…

/Enter Purgatory

"That's one way of putting it."

Whistler leaned back against the backrest of the couch and seemed to settle in for a longer conversation.

"How do you know Xander?"

"We had a very long chat tonight at my apartment, an extremely interesting conversation you would say and should the whole thing be true which I figure that it is, more or less. It would seriously screw with the Powers' plans."

The Balance Demon nodded.

"Let's hear it then. The short of it for now, if you don't mind."

Angel faked a casual shrug.

"Basically, he's from the future."

He smirked at the confusion he anticipated from the demon, but what he got was a deathly pale face and lips set to a thin line.

"Fuck."

Whistler seemed to sink into himself as he leaned back in the couch and buried his head in a slightly shaking hand supported by the armrest.

Angel was confused and he didn't like that. This was not the reaction Whistler was supposed to have to such an incredible revelation. He frowned.

"He said you weren't supposed to know about it. That it was a full rewind, so how come you're not confused?" The last bit came out with the slightest hint of a growl, but there was no scent of fear from the Balance Demon any longer. Not hint of any emotion really, damn it, that wasn't fair how he could close down on everything like that.

Whistler rubbed both his hands over his face and sighed heavily.

"He's right in a way. I have no memory of that, a full rewind means no time travel is possible between the two realities because the future in mind simply ceases to exist. I did however know that there was a possibility that something like this might happen in the future. I hoped, really hoped that it wouldn't, but…as they say, shit happens."

His eyes looked tired as he gazed upon Angel with a much more serious and openly watchful expression than the vampire had ever seen before. It was almost like a whole new person was emerging from behind that tacky seventies' pimp mask. A serious one, an old one and now was the time that Angel remembered that for all of the times that Whistler had seemed to defer to him he was still a millennia old demon.

Angel found himself sighing as well, his anger had suddenly evaporated leaving a resigned weariness in its place.

"So it's true then?"

Whistler raised an eyebrow.

"Of course it's true, Only question is whether or not the boy came back right or wrong."

"What do you mean, wrong?"

"I mean as in evil or heavily messed up."

The frown replaced itself once more on Angel's features as he thought back on his meeting with Xander. Could it be? No, no it really couldn't. He shook his head to reaffirm that thought as he spoke it aloud.

"I don't think he did. He seems alright. Just very tired and a bit stressed out. Less stressed than you would figure someone to be after just having woken up in the past, but then again if he'd been fighting this war for eight years, seven of them right on the Hellmouth itself…"

"He's probably already dealt with more heavy shit than you can imagine." Whistler completed the sentence with a thoughtful nod.

"I need to meet with him. I assume he's asked for me?"

Angel's frown deepened.

"Yes he has, that's one of the reasons why I'm here, to bring you to see him, if you can…"

The last was said as an afterthought, there was after all the issue with the Powers being in the know or not.

"We could go right now actually, the sooner the better."

"So there's no one you need to see before we go, to…confer with?"

"No."

A decisive shake of his head. And that was a surprise: after all, not that Angel was exactly in the know with things like that, but it sounded to him like making a full rewind of the universe demanded that you have some pretty powerful friends especially if your were going to do it behind the Powers' backs. If that really was the case, Whistler could have lied to Xander or just simply be mistaken.

"Did you lie to him?"

Whistler shot him a look.

"About what?"

"Anything, everything, the powers knowing about it."

"I don't know Angel, anything's possible, but I highly doubt it. I won't know until I hear his story though."

"Yeah, why's that?"

It was Whistler's turn to shrug.

"Sometimes you lie to your friends to protect them and sometimes you lie to your enemies to protect your ventures, it's all in the intentions as I'm sure you know."

Angel snorted.

"The road to hell. Yes, thank you, I've heard."

The dry humour earned him an amused look and a smile. Huh. That was weird; he hadn't seen Whistler smiling in a long while. Not since their last parting before Angel headed for Sunnydale. He hadn't remembered missing it so much.

"You weren't supposed to."

His head shot up fast enough to almost pull his neck.

"You read my mind!"

Whistler gave a little apologizing shrug.

"Yeah well. Ready to go? You'll have to excuse me, but I don't think we should be speaking to each other about this any more before we're safely at Willie's."

Angel frowned. He didn't like this. It was all above his head and that did not sit well with a master vampire. Then again he couldn't really blame Whistler for being secret and circumspect. Whatever was going on here it was sure to be big, bigger than apocalyptic if he read Whistler right and if that were the case, well. He could be patient. For a while anyway.

"Fine then. Let's go. I've got a car out front."

They rose from their seats and headed out.

Angel was pleasantly surprised as he stepped out into the club that the…person…now on stage actually could carry a tune and quite well at that. Very well, he could actually feel tears start to form in his eyes and with a quick look around he could see that he wasn't the only one touched by the words and the haunting melody. He just hoped Lorne was still communicative enough to see them leaving. He didn't have to worry though he saw as Whistler approached the anagogic demon speaking quietly. The green demon nodded at something and then locked eyes with Angel and nodded once more. The look clearly said that there were no hard feelings on his side and Angel found himself smiling and nodding back. It felt good to smile and as the haunting words on the stage changed to include a note of hope as well he could feel his heart lift just a little bit. It was going to be ok. Somehow. He could feel it.

As they left the club and stepped out under the big roof shielding them from the direct light of the Californian sun Angel blinked as if a fog had suddenly cleared, or was that descended on his mind? Quizzically he turned his eyes at Whistler who just smiled.

"That was a S'k'lovina you just heard perform. Feel honoured, they don't come out often to sing like that."

"It felt like he, she?" Angel frowned.

"It."

"Oh, well it felt like it was speaking to me somehow."

Whistler nodded.

"Then it probably did. Where's the car?"

Angel gestured and a black limousine started up its motor and slid up to them, fitting neatly between the outer poles and where they were standing, effectively placing itself so that Angel wouldn't have to suffer one shred of sun.

For some reason he almost felt like Whistler was rolling his eyes at him, but he ignored the feeling. Hey, the windows were sun proofed!

Whistler snorted and Angel scowled. Well they were damnit and so what if he liked his creature comforts, it'd get them where they were going and they wouldn't have to worry about cops stopping to question them about the tinted windows. So there. Satisfied with his own rationalization Angel waited for the chauffeur to open the door for him before stepping into the car. Realizing as he slid into place on the black leather seat that he wasn't even fooling himself any longer. Oh well then, fuck it. He was man enough to admit that he liked being pampered, it didn't happen nearly often enough these days and he missed it. Who the hell wouldn't?

Whistler sighed contentedly as he too seated himself comfortably.

"Everybody needs a little luxury now and again Angel," he muttered before going quiet and closing his eyes.

Angel felt his tense shoulders relax at those words, huh, so he felt like he needed approval from Whistler, that was…new. Mentally shrugging off the perplexity of it all he ordered the driver to wake them as they arrived in Sunnydale and then he promptly went to sleep.

Xander returned from his shower in the Sunnydale High School locker room grateful for the time spent by himself. Only two days back in the past, but the strain on his psyche felt unbearable. He didn't know how to act anymore, what to say, what to do, who to be. Already he had regrets about how he'd handled things or rather people. What he'd told his friends, what he'd told Angel. The last part had really been a gamble and he knew it. Reckless. He'd just needed to vent so badly and Angel was the only possible alternative for turning to. It didn't mean it had been a god idea though. Sure it felt good right now and he was pretty sure Angel would do his best to help with the situation but as always there was that damnable curse to remember. The curse was still there and that meant that there was always a chance for Angel to revert back to his old form. A moment of happiness could come in different ways and there was also magic and drugs to consider. Before…to be honest Xander could have taken Angelus if he had to, but now. He was at a disadvantage and should Angelus rear up his ugly head, with all the information he'd now been given, well things could go from bad to apocalyptic in no time. Xander wished he was a religious man, wished he had some deity he could pray to and be heard, but l he could do was hope, hope that he'd done the right thing. Hope it would all be alright in the end.

Without really noticing Xander found himself back in the library, seated on the floor in a meditative position refocusing his eyes at Giles as the older man was walking towards him.

"I dare say you seem a bit pensive Xander. Is there anything further you would like to discuses with me today?"

Xander smiled.

"I've got a lot of stuff on my mind Giles. Why don't you take a seat here with me and let's talk a minute ok?"

Giles raised an eyebrow and the once again all too familiar tone, but acquiesced easily enough.

"Alright Xander." He said as seated himself comfortably on the floor. Something that the original 16 year old Xander would never have expected in that once upon a time, but having known Giles for years now he knew that he was far from the stuffy librarian image he wanted to project. Well not far from it perhaps, he was a librarian after all and fond of all things dusty and old, but that wasn't all that he was. Xander wondered idly at how the older man was reasoning acting this way with Xander now. He'd never let them see him like this before, like something other than, well…British.

"I haven't been completely honest with you Rupert."

Giles nodded.

"No I except that you haven't. Are you going to be now?"

"I'll do the best I can."

"To tell the truth?"

Xander faked a casual shrug.

"I wasn't going to tell you, not this much, not yet. But I figure it might be for the best. Better to tell you now while we're alone, being…who you are you have the best chance of understanding. First of all I just want to repeat that I'm not here to cause trouble for you or Buffy, that's the furthest thing from my mind."

Giles frowned.

"Go on."

Xander closed his eyes for a moment to center himself. If he was going to do this he would have to make it good. Then he simply got into 'the zone' as he used to call it, the place where you just did what your were gonna do. It was a place of zero compromise, no anger, no fear just simple determination. Like Yoda said -do or do not, there is no try. In the zone there was no try, you just did it, took the plunge and learned to swim.

As he opened his eyes again, his mind was calm, his eyes looking straight at his old mentor for a moment before drifting.

"It's not the easiest thing in the world to be something that you're just quite not. To put on a mask that's so close to reality that it's almost hilarious, because at the same time it's just so fucking far away that it might as well be a different reality. Harder still to live in one reality just to get shipped off to the next when your work is finished. Really difficult to adjust to a new scene where the players are so different, but the game is still the same. That's how it is with me. I'm me, but not quite the me of yesteryear. Wearing a mask that's not quite a mask, but not quite reality. I don't think you know about wish demons at this stage, do you?"

"At this stage?"

Xander waved loftily with a hand in answer.

"Never mind, just some alternate future stuff."

He stopped for a minute and when no answer was forthcoming he raised an eyebrow to prompt the watcher into giving one.

"Well?"

Giles looked…bemused.

"I can't say that I do other than that you mention wishes in our earlier talk."

Xander nodded. He'd wondered about that the other time around. Wondered how many secrets Ripper was hiding, but maybe Anya just wasn't one of them after all.

"There are lots of different types, some grant wishes to children, others to scorned lovers, others still you have to fight to get what you want. All of the can fuck you over if you're not careful, genies too. They're all slippery. They're under the rule of the demon lord D'Hoffryn. Not really evil, not really good though sometimes they do a world of good and sometimes they do a shitload of evil. Most times, they just really fuck things up. They're a bit under Janus' wing, their pet creatures in a way. Wreaking havoc, opening windows while the door hasn't yet closed. Stuff like that. Chaotic beings, but necessary of course, in their own way. You know some about chaos, right?"

Giles swallowed and nodded a bit hesitantly.

Xander wondered what he looked like, what he sounded like being able to draw that sort of response from the former demon summoner, but he supposed that wasn't really important right now.

"Yeah, of course you do. You don't have to hide it from me, y'know. I'm the one who sees after all. I know a lot more than you can hide on a good day. Know more than you might really wish to on a bad…" He mused.

"Wish demons've got a lot of power under their belt. They can open doorways to possibilities you see. Alternate realities, other dimensions. They've pretty much got a free reign of things once they get a wish. Well, as long as it doesn't destroy the universe or something like that. Of course there are ways of turning stuff back together the right way. One of the most obvious being to summon the demon in question and snatch away their necklace. The thing that lets them use their powers. But that's beside the point. There's actually a reason I'm telling you this. You see I am the Xander of this dimension, but for the past seven or eight years I have lived another life. Fighting a war against the darkness in a place not too unlike this one. Most of the time, I was as close to hell as you can come without actually being in a hell dimension. I fought together with a few people and sometimes I fought alone. We were a team. I called us the Scoobies after the tv-show, because of what we dealt with. It was a joke with serious undertones. We were like family for the longest while."

Here Xader choked up for a moment and blinked fiercely to banish the tears from his eyes.

Giles was looking slightly pale where he sat, but composed still.

"But that changed. In the end, we became estranged. Fighting the darkness, it takes a toll on all of us. After one of the hardest won Apocalypyses so far, we drifted apart. We needed a break. That's when D'Hoffryn came to me and offered me another chance at life. To return to the life I had had to left behind when the fight called me for the first time. He and another demon."

Giles frowned and Xander smiled softly.

"Not all demons are evil Rupert, you should know that. Most just want to live their lives."

"Yes well." Giles cleared his throat. "It is not a popular view among the watchers. Though you are quite correct of course."

"Of course. Now as I said, I was offered a chance to come back here and help save this world from destruction. So that's what I plan to be doing. It's a bit hard for me right now though, I need to rearrange my thoughts to once again fit with this world. I'm used to being a 23 year old carpenter slash warrior slash counselor. The White Knight, the One Who Sees. Now I am 16 year old Xander Harris with a math exam the coming week. Can you imagine? "