Title: Back to the Hellmouth - STA 1

Author: C-Man

Disclaimer: You can't sue me, I'm broke! Ha! But I still don't own these characters. In fact, I stole the story concept too, so I own nothing!

Rating: PG-13, I think

Summary: The Harvest is coming, and Xander wants to make it a more bloodless affair...

Spoilers: Extensive for "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and "The Harvest"

Distribution: Hey, get your grubby hands away from my fic!!! Actually, I could care less. Want? Take. Have.

Feedback: Absolutely. It's like a drug. [email protected]

Notes: This is a direct follow-on to my the Prologue of the "Second Time Around" series

... - thoughts

* * * * * - time passes

Chapter III - New/Old Beginnings

January 5, 1997

10:45 PM

Harris Residence

The complete blackness of Xander's vision was replaced by a less pervasive darkness as his eyes adjusted to their new surroundings. Blinking a few times, he realized he was laying down, with a blanket pulled up to his chin. The room he was in was dark, with rays of light from streetlights wafting in through a window. Xander sat up in the bed and surveyed the room he was in. Clothes strewn everywhere, assorted other junk on the floor and the dresser on the other side of the room, and posters of mid-90s music stars plastered on the walls. This was what his room looked like years before.

Remembering his conversation with Whistler, Xander jumped out of bed and searched for a calendar. One was hanging above his bed. Miss January 1997 stared back at him, and he knew that he hadn't just had a really psycho, crazy dream. It was real. He'd been sent four and a half years back in time.

Convinced, Xander got back in bed and started planning. Tomorrow, he would 'meet' Buffy. How was he going to handle that? He remembered that when Buffy first came to Sunnydale, she was trying to get away from her destiny. If he just told her he knew who she was, she'd just avoid him. Maybe just letting events take their course was the best course of action. No. This whole thing is about me changing things for the better. I've known Buffy for years now. I can get her to change her mind about abandoning her calling, instead of circumstances forcing it on her. Who knows? That could save a few lives

Now, how am I going to present my information? Xander wondered. Maybe he could just tell them he was from the future, and he'd been sent back to help them. Xander figured that would be the easiest path. After all, any lie he told would have to last four and a half years. If his friends caught him in a lie, they may not trust him when world-saveage became an issue, and that could be bad all around. So, the truth looked like the best option. Sure, he wouldn't tell them everything, but they'd understand that some things needed to be kept secret until the time came.

That aside, Xander turned to the big picture. The three tragedies he had to prevent. Angel losing his soul, Faith going bad, and Buffy being turned. The last two he couldn't do anything about for years, but the Angel thing he could start on now. Whistler said that Angel was only meant to help the Slayer, so that's what he'd make sure happened. Buffy could not fall for him. How to do that? Buffy herself had known that her relationship with Angel was unhealthy and doomed to failure, but that hadn't stopped her. But ... she hadn't known that Angel was a vampire until several months after she'd met him. By that time she had already fallen in love with him, and, well, love is blind. So, he'd have to reveal Angel for what he was in the very near future, and Buffy would put all romantic ideas of him out of her mind. If all else fails, I can tell them about the curse's escape clause and hope they believe me

Another way to keep Buffy and Angel apart was to turn Buffy's attention elsewhere. Which is where I come in Xander already knew that Buffy was capable of loving him, and she hadn't changed too much in the years he'd known her. She was more world-weary, but her generally upbeat attitude hadn't changed. It had wavered after the disintegration of two major relationships, but she always recovered. The reason nothing ever happened between us until the end was because there was never a good time. There was always a significant other in the way, or one or the other were recovering from a failed relationship. That, and the first impression I gave her was of goofy, Xander-friend-guy. Well, that's gonna change come tomorrow With that, Xander ended his planning for the night, and drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.

* * * * *

January 6, 1997

8:30 AM

Sunnydale High School

Buffy Summers slowly strolled up the walkway leading into Sunnydale High, taking in the cheerful atmosphere around her. It would be nice to make a fresh start in a place completely oblivious to her troubled past. There was no one here who had any idea of the destiny that she carried with her, the destiny she was trying to leave behind in the charred remains of her old high school's gym. With any luck, Sunnydale would turn out to be the quiet, non-threatening town it seemed to be.

She noticed a dark-haired boy leaning against the wall next the school entrance, intently scrutinizing her. The corners of his mouth were slightly upturned in a small smile. Buffy thought she saw a look of recognition in his eyes, and she suddenly realized she was staring right back at him. She shook her head slightly and walked by him, his eyes still on her. What was that about? The strange thing was that while he'd been watching her, she didn't just feel like a piece of meat, like when most other guys leered at her. His gaze had almost seemed gentle and inquisitive, instead of filled with lust. Again she shook herself out of her thoughts, wondering why she was having such thoughts about someone she'd never even met.

Xander had decided when he got up this morning that taking his skateboard with him would just be tempting the fates to repeat his first encounter with Buffy. No running into a steel railing this time.

As Buffy had walked by him, he'd noticed her unconsciously staring at him and decided that that boded well for him. He'd never been stare-worthy in her eyes when he'd first met her. I am more mature now, on the inside if not the outside. That's probably what she's looking for in a guy. Angel had a good two centuries of maturity under his belt. If you call a century of killing followed by a century of brooding 'maturity'

"Hey, Xand, what's with the duds?" Xander was snapped from his reverie by the voice of his childhood best friend, Willow Rosenberg, looking much different from the last time he'd seen her. Her short wavy hair was replaced by long, straight red locks. Her demeanor was also very different, much more withdrawn and introverted.

"Just my regular post-holidays wardrobe, Wills," he said with a lop-sided smile. He was dressed a lot differently than sixteen year old Xander usually was. A black long sleeved silk shirt with matching jeans covered his lanky body. All part of his master plan to improve his first impression on Buffy.

Xander noticed that Willow also appreciated his wardrobe choice. He wasn't used to her noticing that anymore. Not since she'd 'switched teams,' so to speak. Of course, in this Willow, lesbianism was probably the farthest thing from her mind, and her Xander-crush the first thing. That was another thing that worked against me and Buffy. If she had any feelings for me in the beginning, she pushed them to the side because she didn't want to hurt Willow. I wonder if Oz is around...

"You all right, Xand? You seem kinda quiet," Willow asked with a concerned look. Xander realized he'd just been standing there while he'd been thinking; and deep thinking wasn't something Xander Harris was famous for. Time to get back into character.

"Hmm? Na, I'm OK. Just thinking I could use some help with math, study buddy," Xander said with a smile.

"Uh, which part?" Willow asked.

"Pretty much the math part. So, whaddya say? Tonight, after school? There's a shiny nickel in it for ya."

Willow nodded. "Okay. You should check out 'Theories in Trig,' it's a really good study aid."

"Check it out? From the library?"
Willow smirked at her friend. "That is where the books live."

"All right, I'm there," Xander said, enthusiastically pushing away from the wall and heading into the school, with Willow at his heels. He thought ahead to what was about to happen, and nearly tripped over his own feet at the realization. Jesse!! I can't believe I didn't think about Jesse until now! He's supposed to die tonight! Well, this is test number one: save your best friend.

Walking through the entrance, Xander saw his long dead friend walking up to them. He fought the urge to pull Jesse into a bear hug, and just greeted him with a wide smile. "Jesse! What's the what?"

Jesse smirked at him, and simply said, "New girl."

"Oh, yeah! I saw her. I think I'll have to unleash the ol' Harris charm on her."

Willow didn't look particularly happy with that. "I heard she transferred here from LA. Her school burned down, or something."

Jesse's eyes lit up, as if he'd just heard the best idea on earth. "Well, it was a good arson if it caused New Girl to move here. She's pretty much a hottie."

"Down, boy! I saw her first. I got dibs on Bu-, uh, her," Xander caught himself in time; he wasn't supposed to know her name yet. Not quick enough, though. Jesse and Willow exchanged a glance.

"Buh-uher?" they asked with curious glances.

This was going to be a long day.

* * * * *

9:00 AM

SHS Main Hallway

This is going to be a long day Buffy thought as she stepped out of the principal's office. Her meeting with Principal Flutie had started well enough. He'd seemed to be totally forgiving of her past transgressions, but that was before he'd actually read her permanent record. And found out she'd burned down her school gym and been expelled. The meeting had gone downhill from there.

She was rummaging through her bag, looking for her class schedule, when she bumped into someone, and she lost her grip on it. The bag landed with a thump, and its contents spilled out. "Oh! Sorry," she said to the girl she'd bumped into, who muttered an 'it's okay' before continuing on with her boyfriend.

Buffy looked at her scattered belongings with dismay, and bent down to pick them up. She sensed someone in front of her and looked up to see the dark-haired boy from earlier crouching down to help her.

"Can I help you?" he asked carefully; a little too carefully, she thought.

Buffy smiled at him. "Thanks."

As they gathered up her books, he asked, "So, I haven't seen you around before. You new in town?"

"Um, yeah. Just moved here from LA. I'm Buffy," she replied and stood when her bag was refilled.

"I'm Alexander Harris, local funnyman and dispenser of tasteless jokes, extrodinaire," he said with an exaggerated bow, at which Buffy giggled. With his lop-sided grin on, he added. "But you can call me Xander."

Buffy smiled widely. "Well, joke-guy, maybe I'll run into you again."

"I'd like that, Buffy," he said with a grin, and caught sight of something else on the floor. Bending down, he picked up the wooden stake that had fallen out of her bag, the one she kept there out of habit. Uh, oh.

"Uh, here's your wooden stake," he said handing it to her. "Can't be too careful with all those vampires running around at night, huh, Buff?"

Buffy was slightly surprised at Xander's correct assumption, but then snapped out of it and laughed nervously. "Vampires, yeah, that's it, ha, ha. Nah, i-it's for, uh, self defence. Yeah. Pepper spray is just so passé."

Xander smiled. "Whatever you say, Ms. Summers." And with that he walked away.

Buffy was perplexed again by the dark haired boy. He talked like he actually believed in vampires. Was there something more to this town than meets the eye? She took out her schedule again, and started walking to her first class, but stopped in her tracks as something else struck her. How did Xander know my last name?

* * * * *

9:45 AM

SHS Library

After her first class, History, ended, Buffy had been taken aside by Sunnydale's resident rich bitch, Cordelia Chase, and explained the rules of the school. Namely, who to hang with and who to avoid like the plague if you wanted to be with the 'in crowd.' It almost made Buffy shudder to remember that she'd been so much like that before she'd learned she was the Slayer. After that, maintaining social standing had really dropped down her priority list. The enforced change of attitude had to be one of the only good things to come out of her destiny. The rest of it pretty much sucked though.

After finally getting rid of Cordelia, Buffy pushed open the doors to the school library. The place looked deserted.

"Hello," she called out as she continued inside. "Is anybody here?" Buffy walked over to the circulation desk and saw a newspaper opened on it. Glancing over it, she saw a story declaring 'Local Boys Still Missing,' and an associated picture, which was circled in red pen. She was about to start reading when she was tapped on the shoulder. Startled, she spun around and came face-to-face with a middle aged, sandy-haired man dressed in tweed. "Oh!" she exhaled when she saw him. "Anybody's here."

"Can I help you?" the man asked in a British accent.

"I'm looking for some, well, books. I'm new."

The Brit's face registered recognition, and he said, "Miss Summers?"

"Good call! Guess I'm the only new kid, huh?"

"I'm Mr. Giles, the librarian. I was told you were coming," he said as he walked behind the counter.

Something about his tone made Buffy uneasy, but she continued with her cheery facade. "Great!" she looked down at her book list. "So, um, I'm gonna need 'Perspectives on 20th Century-"

Giles interrupted her while reaching under the counter. "I know what you're after." He grinned and pulled out an big, old book and put it on the counter for Buffy to see. In gold letters on the cover was written 'VAMPYR.'

Buffy almost groaned as she realized what was up. British guy decked out in tweed with books on vampires. The guy was a Watcher! Just when she thought she'd escaped her destiny, someone was here to try and make her accept it again. She decided to play dumb and maybe he'd leave her alone.

"That's not what I'm looking for," she said in an even tone.

"Are you sure?" Giles asked.

"I'm way sure," Buffy replied.

Looking confused at the Slayer's denial, Giles picked up the book. "My mistake," he said and bent down to put it away. Seeing her chance to escape, Buffy quickly made her way to the exit. When he straightened up, Giles found an empty room and the library doors swinging shut.

* * * * *

11:45 AM

SHS Quad

After a couple more mind-numbingly boring classes in the morning, Buffy made her way outside to have lunch. The day was too sunny and calm to be wasted in a cramped and smelly cafeteria. Looking around the quad, Buffy spotted Willow, the shy girl that Cordelia had made fun of, sitting alone on a bench in front of a low wall. Deciding to try and make at least one new friend today, Buffy made her way over to the redhead. "Uh, hi. Willow, right?"

The girl looked up in surprise, as if she'd never expected to be talked to. "Why?" she blurted out. "I-I mean, hi! Di-did you want me to move?" she asked meekly.

Buffy smiled down at her. "Uh, why don't we start with 'Hi, I'm Buffy,' and, uh, then let's segue directly into me asking you for a favor," sitting down next to Willow, she continued. "It doesn't involve you moving, but it does involve hanging out with me for a while."

Willow looked confused. "But, aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?" she said, as if the two concepts were antithetical.

"I can't do both?" Buffy asked.

"Not legally."

Buffy sighed loudly, and explained. "Look, I really wanna get by here, new school, and ... Cordelia's been really nice ... to me ... anyway, but, um, I kinda have this burning desire not to flunk all my classes, and I heard a rumor that you were the person to talk to if I wanted to get caught up."

Willow suddenly got excited at the prospect of a new friend, even if they just wanted her to help study. "Oh, I could totally help you out! Uh, if you have sixth period free we could meet in the library?"

Buffy cringed. I soooo don't want to see that Watcher there "Or not. Or we could meet someplace quieter," she said, then suddenly realized that didn't make any sense and continued. "Louder," Nope, that's not right, either "Uh, that place just kinda gives me the wiggins."

Willow nodded sadly. "Oh, it has that effect on most kids. I love it, though, it's a great collection, and the new librarian is really cool."

Mention of the librarian/Watcher got Buffy's attention. "He's new?"

"Yeah, he just started. He was a curator at some British museum, or, or The British Museum, I'm not sure. But he knows everything, and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies and am I the single dullest person alive?" Willow finished tamely.

"Not at all."

Movement behind her caused Buffy to turn and see the smiling face of Xander Harris while he sat on the wall behind them. She felt herself tense up at the arrival of the mysterious young man. Her unease shot up even more at his greeting. "Hey, Buffy! What's stakin', uh, shakin'?"

She could tell that that line was staged for her benefit. Okay, first he stares at me when I walk up to school, then he talks about vampires like its no biggie, and now this 'stakin' remark. He knows something She was jarred from her deliberations by Willow's voice. "Huh?"

"I said, Buffy, this is Jesse," she said indicating a shorter brown haired boy standing in front of them, "And I guess you already met Xander."

"Uh, yeah. I ran into him before classes this morning," Buffy said uncertainly.

"So," Xander started. "what's the Buffy Summers story? We want to hear everything. Turn ons, turn offs, deep dark secrets that cannot see the light of day?"

Buffy tried to evade. "Gee, everyone wants to know about me. How keen."

"Well in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it town like Sunnydale, new students are, like, front page news," Jesse said.

"I'm really not," Buffy pressed, and was actually relieved when Cordelia walked up and interrupted their conversation.

"Are these guys bothering you?" Cordelia asked Buffy, regarding the little group with contempt. Only Jesse seemed happy to see her, and he started inching towards her.

"Uh, no!" Buffy replied automatically. Her tension regarding Xander aside, she'd rather talk with them than receive popularity advice from some stuck up prom queen.

By this time Jesse had sidled up next to said prom queen. "Hey, Cordelia!"

Rolling her eyes, Cordy scoffed "Oh, please," and turned back to Buffy. "I don't mean to interrupt your downward mobility, but I just wanted to tell you that you won't be meeting Coach Foster, the woman with the chest hair, because gym was canceled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker."

Uh, oh. I've got a bad feeling about this. "What?" Buffy asked. She glanced at Xander, and saw that he was in a similar state of curiosity.

"What are you talking about?" Willow put in.

"Some guy was stuffed in Aura's locker!" Cordelia exclaimed.

"Dead," Buffy said, a statement, not a question.

"Totally dead! Way dead!"

"Not just a little dead, then," Xander joked. He had a contemplative look on his face that belied the comment, though.

Annoyed at Xander's 'interruption,' Cordelia sneered, "Don't you have an elsewhere to be?"

Jesse tried his luck again. "Y'know, if you need a shoulder to cry on, or just to nibble on..."

Everyone ignored him. "How did he die?" Buffy questioned.

Cordelia shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know."

"Well, did he have marks?" Buffy asked before she could stop herself.

Cordelia's face scrunched up in disgust. "Morbid much?! I didn't ask!"

Despite her common sense screaming at her to let it go, Buffy decided she'd do a little investigation. "Um, I gotta book. I'll, I'll see you guys later," and she beat a hasty retreat, catching a knowing look on Xander's face as she walked away. She had a feeling he knew exactly what she was up to.

The others watched Buffy walk away and Cordelia wondered out loud, "What's her deal?" Xander knew, of course. He'd watched Buffy's reactions to his not-so-subtle allusions, and decided he'd had enough fun for today. The next time he and Buffy were alone, he'd tell his story. Well, no time like the present, is there?

"I'm gonna take off too, guys. Gotta get that book of Wills' from the library." Xander said, getting up to retrieve his bag, then heading toward the school. When he noticed his friends not watching him anymore, he redirected to follow Buffy.

Buffy walked up to the back entrance to the school gym, and saw that it was chained shut. Looking around, and seeing no witnesses, Buffy quickly grabbed the chain, and broke it in half with her preternatural strength. Quickly entering, she made her way to the women's locker room and found the body covered in a sheet. Slowly withdrawing it from the boy's head, Buffy was greeted with the sight of the two tell tale bite marks on the side of his neck. "Oh, great!"

Vampires in Sunnydale. Why me? she thought as she made her way out of the locker room, intent on telling Watcher guy about it and then getting the hell out of dodge. She was stopped, however, when a familiar figure stepped into the locker room doorway. It was Xander, examining the chain she'd broken to get inside.

"Well, someone has sure been eating their Wheaties," he said, motioning with the broken chain.

Buffy snapped. With a growl of frustration, she grabbed Xander by his shirt and pulled him into the locker room. Dragging him to a bench, she pushed him down to sit on it and put her hands on her hips. "All right, funny guy! I'm sick and tired of you dropping your little hints around me. I've been having a bad day, and my patience has been worn down to nothing. You are going to tell me how you know who I am, or I am going to get violent!" she said, impaling him with a glare the whole time.

To Buffy's further frustration and anger, Xander answered by bursting out laughing. She was about to grab him and bash his head into the wall a few times when he held up his hand and sputtered out between chuckles, "Hold it, Buff. Always with the 'hit first, ask questions later,' huh?" She continued toward him menacingly, so Xander finally stifled his laughter. "OK, OK. I'm good," he said, then took a deep breath and launching into his explanation.

"Well, the short version is that I'm from the future, and have known you for almost five years." Buffy's face scrunched up disbelievingly, so he continued. "But from the look on your face, the long version will be required. Essentially, I'm twenty year old Xander Harris in sixteen year old Xander Harris' body, and I'm here to make sure you succeed in carrying out your destiny by using my knowledge of events to come. I know what is going to happen because I spent the years 1997 to 2001 helping you out in all the vampire killing and world saving of those years."

Buffy was speechless. A million thoughts ran through her head, ranging from That's impossible to Cool to Huh?. "How?" she finally asked, which she decided would be the easiest question to ask.

Xander fidgeted uncomfortably. "Uh, well, y'see, I, um ... died in August 2001, and this is my 'second chance,' as that guy I talked to put it. I guess someone up there took pity on me and my sucky life." Buffy still wore a confused expression on her face, and Xander went on. "OK, things about you I couldn't possibly know if I'd just met you. Uuuuuuh-ehh!" he exclaimed in triumph. "You just moved here from LA because you got expelled from your old school when you burned down the gym to kill a bunch of vamps that had invaded a school dance. The same night you fought a Master vamp named Lothos, who had killed your first Watcher, Merrick, and dusted him by setting him on fire then staking him with a Number 2 pencil. You have a stuffed pig named Mr. Gordo. Um, you're measurements are-"

Buffy decided enough was enough and hurried to cut off the overly-knowledgeable young man in front of her. "All right!! I believe you!! No need to give me my..." she trailed off. "Never mind," Xander had a wide grin on his face. "So, you're here to help me 'fulfill my destiny,' is that it? Just one problem with that. I'm not the Slayer anymore, OK? I quit," Buffy finished, emphatically.

Xander stood up from his bench and met Buffy's unflinching glare with his own, softer gaze. It was a little disconcerting for Buffy to have someone she barely knew looking at her with such understanding and caring. "Buffy, I know that you hate the generally crappy conditions that come along with the responsibilities of the Slayer. God knows, that's been one of the constants of your attitude in the time I've known you. You hate the fact that you can't have friends without exposing them to your dangerous life. And you blame yourself for not protecting them if something goes wrong. No one has ever, or I doubt, will ever, take away that world-on-your-shoulders mentality you've got going on, so I'm not even gonna try. But I can tell you that the friends you make here will be there for you through thick and thin. And they, and you, will survive, and, if I have anything to say about it, be happy." Xander finished with a reassuring smile.

Buffy stood in open mouthed shock at Xander's dissection of her innermost fears. She had never really articulated them to anyone, not even in her own mind, but despite that she knew he had spoken true. She'd lost most of her friends when the burden of being the Slayer was pushed upon her, and those few that remained either were killed or left behind when she was expelled and moved to Sunnydale. All in all, since being Chosen, her life had gone downhill. Now, here she was, being told by Xander that her life was going to get better, and that he'd do everything he could to guarantee it. It was easy for her to see in his sincere eyes that he was a true friend. Or something more? she wondered to herself. His eyes also seemed to shine with something beyond mere caring and friendliness. She'd never seen that kind of look from a guy before. I'll think about this later she promised herself.

Finally, Buffy started when she realized her thoughts had gotten really off topic. She'd just lost herself contemplating the emotions behind the welcoming brown eyes she had been staring into for God-knew how long. Xander blinked abruptly when Buffy broke out of her trance as well. They grinned sheepishly at one another before Xander spoke again. "Uh, yeah. Well, anyway, another reason to not swear off Slaying is the fact that Sunnydale is the last place a Slayer should come to retire."

Buffy remembered the blood-drained corpse she'd originally come here to see, and put two and two together. "Great. So, what, Sunnydale's like, vamp central or something?"

Xander smiled knowingly (of course) at her. "Something like that," he said, glancing toward the locker room exit. "I'll explain later, when I have G-Man to fill in the blanks in my memory." Off her confused look, Xander clarified. "Oh. Uh, Giles ... the new librarian slash Watcher. Any of this making sense?"

Buffy groaned at the thought of seeing the Watcher again. "Great. Just what I need. Another stuffy Brit telling me what to do," she said as Xander led her out of the room.

"Don't worry, Buff. He's not so bad. You'll see," Xander promised with a smile.

* * * * *

12:15 PM

SHS Library

The library seemed empty when Buffy and Xander pushed the doors open and sauntered in. Buffy called, "Hey, Watcher boy! Where are ya?"

Giles walked out of his office when he heard Buffy's voice, but hesitated when he saw Xander with her. "Uh, Miss Summers, w-w-what came I do for you?"

"Well, there's this dead guy in the gym with two little holes in his neck, and all the blood drained from his body. Weird, huh?"

Xander saw Giles considering that, and then looking at Xander in trepidation. "I-I don't know what you mean, Miss Summers."

Xander decided to put in his two cents. "Well, Giles, we were thinking a vampire killed him." He tried to suppress a grin when the Watcher's eyes almost popped out of his head at his statement. The look soon turned to anger, directed at Buffy.

"You told him!?" Giles said, indicating Xander, "Keeping your identity secret should be one of your-your paramount concerns!"

Before Buffy could reply in righteous indignation, Xander spoke. "Actually, Ripper," he said, emphasizing Giles' moniker from his rebellious college days, which elicited another look of shock on the librarian's face. "She didn't tell me, I already knew. I know a lot of things, actually," he finished with a mischievous grin.

Giles stammered for a few moments, trying to form a coherent statement, and finally succeeded with, "Who are you?"

Xander smiled back at the flustered Watcher. It was a sight he had rarely seen. "Xander Harris, G-Man," he said, hoping for a 'don't call me that' from Giles. Unfortunately, the older man was still a little out of it, so he continued. "I've been sent by the, uh ... I guess you could call them the 'Powers That Be,' to help out the Buffster here," Buffy gave him a strange look at the use of his old/new nickname for her, "and save a few lives that weren't the first time around."

"T-the first time?" Giles asked, curious.

"Oh, right. I'm from the future, but I died and now I'm getting a chance to set things right. Lucky me."

If anything, Giles looked even more confused, while Buffy was getting impatient. Xander decided to get down to business; that would calm the Watcher down. "Look. It's a little too complicated to explain right now, so why don't we get down to business, namely saving the world tomorrow." That outta get their attention

It did. They gave him incredulous looks, followed by one of understanding on Giles' face. "There have been signs of late pointing to a profound mystical upheaval in the near future," Giles started, getting into professor mode. "though I haven't been able t-to discern when precisely it will occur and what will happen."

"The Mouth of Hell is going to open," Xander said simply. "unleashing Hell on earth and all that jazz."

Giles eyes widened again. They really are gonna pop out of his sockets if he keeps doing that "Good Lord! You're certain?"

"Like I said, I've lived through this before," Xander said, and was about to continue when a frustrated Slayer spoke up for the first time in a while.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, getting their attention. "Hi there, guys. Can we have some back story for the peanut gallery, please? And keep the supernatural mumbo-jumbo to a minimum."

Giles took off his glasses and wiped them with a handkerchief, a sure sign to Xander that he was about to launch into a long-winded lecture, so he interrupted the Watcher. "The long and short of it, Buffy, is that Sunnydale is built upon a gateway to a horrible demon dimension. That's the Hellmouth, and it gives off oodles of mystical energy that attracts all sorts of unspeakable creatures of the night from all over the place to good ol' Sunny-D. Which is why Sunnydale has such a big vampire and demon population, as you'll see. Right now, the big boss man of the underworld in Sunnydale is this centuries-old vampire who calls himself the Master. Fortunately, he's trapped underground in a mystical prison at the moment, and that's what keeps the Hellmouth closed. Understand?" he asked the Slayer. She nodded slowly. "OK, now, tomorrow night is the Harvest, Giles' mystical upheaval-thingy. The planets are aligned, the time is right and all that. The Master can designate one of his minions as his 'Vessel' and every soul he consumes during the Harvest will go straight to the Master. Once he gets enough souls, he can break out of his underground prison and then the Hellmouth will open, and turn the world into a living hell, and I do mean that literally."

Giles looked impressed at Xander's exposition, and Buffy looked a little nervous at his message. "So, how do we stop it? We obviously do, right? Or you wouldn't be here," she pointed out.

"Pretty easily, actually. Just kill the Vessel and the Master goes back into limbo and the world is safe for another week. In fact, we might even be able to preempt it tonight if we can find and dust, uh, Duke, or Luke, or something. I don't know. I'll know him when I see him. He was the Vessel last time. I don't know if the Master can just pass it on to another minion, but Luke was the toughest one."

Buffy nodded again. "So where can I find him?"

"There's this crypt in a graveyard by the Bronze where you fought him last time. But he kinda showed up by accident that time. I don't know why he did, and I don't know if he will tonight. Besides, there are gonna be a couple of the Master's other minions trolling the Bronze for food tonight that we need to take out first." And therefore save Jesse and Willow. I'm a genius Xander thought.

Before the conversation could continue, the bell rang to end lunch hour. Xander picked up his bag from the floor and heaved it over his shoulder. "In case I don't see you again today, Buff, let's meet at the Bronze, say sevenish, and I'll give you some more details if I can remember them," Xander said, walking toward the exit, then he stopped, and threw over his shoulder, "Wear something nice." And he pushed through the swing doors, leaving a dazed Watcher and Slayer behind. Smiling all the way.

End III