Mark of Eyghon

Xander woke up to his blaring alarm. His hand smacked the obnoxiously beeping clock into silence before inhaling the sweet aroma of pine and rosemary. The pleasant scent put him at ease in his comfortable bed, and after ten long seconds, his eyes snapped open in realization. Looking around his bedroom, the sight before him was of a clean and organized room. Everything was in place and alphabetical order, from his clothes to his movies.

He hopped up on his bed, ready to yell but refrained, locking his cry of glee in his throat. Until he was certain he made it past the week-loop, he wouldn’t celebrate. Slamming his door behind him, Xander rushed outside, greeting the bright morning sun, and swiped the morning paper from the concrete floor. Tearing off the plastic wrap, Xander quickly glanced at the date, and slowly grinned broadly. A pleasurable shudder buzzed up and down his spine as he read Friday, the 7th of November.

Xander was simultaneously ecstatic and eager to cry. He could feel the rim of his eyes heat up before howling in his driveway like an old western cowboy in a saloon. Every inch of Xander’s body was crackling with energy. He was so thrilled, he ran back inside and couldn’t help but shadow-box in the smelly living room of his home. His jabs were clean and precise snaps of his fists, giggling in joy all the while. Not even his stone-sober parents could bring him down that morning, and he gave his mother, who smelled of booze, cigarettes, and perfume, a hug before rushing to school.

It was a sunny and crisp morning and Xander enjoyed how beautiful the day was shaping out to be. On the way to the bus stop with a skip in his step, the dandy Xander was verbalizing plans for his future. “Body. That’s gotta be step one; gotta work out like crazy,” he sporadically spoke. “But I can’t forget the sword, or Mjölnir. I gotta make a magical weapon, too. Those two are at the top of the list.”

On the bus, Xander thought to himself, ‘But I haven’t made the deal with Pete this time. I either need to do that today, or figure out if I can buy my own equipment.’ As the bus drove the students to school, Xander wondered if he could afford all the equipment he would need to forge weapons at home; forge, anvil, grinders, and hammers, among many other items. He sold all but one of the scratch-offs during the week and wondered if he earned enough for everything he needed to get started.

‘Exercise regiment, home smithing shop setup, make a sword or hammer, and what else?’ He asked himself. ‘Tell Buffy and Willow about their futures?’ Xander was hesitant to pull the trigger on that revelation. Though he wanted them to be aware of the pitfalls ahead, he also worried about the effect. He needed to know if there was a month loop or not. Rocking the boat before he had an obvious answer made him second-guess the obvious answer of telling them. At the sight of his friends sitting on the benches outside, Xander concluded there was no rush to tell them. He could decide later.

Under the bright sun on a beautiful, cloudless day, Buffy was as radiant as ever in his eyes. She wore a colorful dress that reached mid-thigh, and round sunglasses that covered up to her eyebrows. Willow looked cute in her jeans and striped red shirt. Judging by their expressions, he knew they weren’t talking about Angel, which only added to the brilliance of the day.

When he heard Willow giddily reply, “Cuz, with the ziti,” Xander asked, “What are you two talking about?”

Since he was standing, Buffy looked up to answer, “Just having a quick game of Anywhere But Here.”

Xander nodded in clear understanding. Though he’s been to a lot of places and lived out a few of his fantasies, the teen answered with his standard, “Amy Yip at the water park slide.” It was still a fantasy of his, as he never went to China when he was in the time loop.

Deadpanned, Willow pointed out, “Xander, you never come up with anything new.”

“That’s cuz I’m not fickle like you two,” he cheerfully returned. “I’m constant in my affections. Amy Yip… at the water park slide.”

As the girls wondered if Giles ever had a wild youth, Xander lamented all the beautiful women he never got to sleep with, Jennifer Connelly being at the top of his list. ‘Labyrinth, Career Opportunity… If only,’ he thought longingly. ‘If only…’

Upon entering the school with his friends, they came upon their favorite librarian. The raven-haired teen asked the librarian, “Giles, my man, did ya bring that 500?” Though Xander normally sold the thousand dollar prize scratch-offs he bought at the gas station for seven hundred dollars, he couldn’t ask Giles to pay the same as strangers. To him, the watcher firmly qualified for the friends & family discount.

Turning to the teenager, Giles stuttered, “Uh, ah, no. My apologies, Xander.” He seemed a bit distracted, but added, “It, uh, m-must’ve slipped my mind; After the events of last night, I should say.”

Lightly shoulder-checking Buffy, Xander asked the librarian, “Anything we should know about?”

“No, no, it’s all sorted,” Giles replied, though looking away, and a smug Buffy looked at Xander in a teasing way. As he rolled his eyes at the beautiful blonde, Xander wondered if he should believe Giles. He couldn’t be sure if this was something or not and his Old-Man memories didn’t cover this. At Buffy’s locker, the watcher turned to his slayer and said, “Now, Buffy, we should meet tonight at the hospital. They’re receiving a shipment of blood.”

“Ah, vampire meals-on-wheels,” she casually jested.

“We’ll meet at 8:30. Don’t be late,” he sternly added.

Exhuming confidence in her head slant, she asked, “Have I ever?”

“I’ll refrain from dignifying that with a response,” Giles said, mostly to himself.

Jenny walked in and greeted everyone casually, in a manner that left no suspicion she spent a sex-fueled night under Xander losing herself to multiple body-bending orgasms a week prior. She was masterful at compartmentalizing that sordid night between them and treating the teenage boy like any other student. The sly woman gave nothing away and often stood much closer to Giles, as well. Though it bummed Xander out sometimes, he knew she couldn’t pick a better man than Giles.

Jenny stopped next to Giles and greeted, “Morning, England.” Giles stammered with something of a smile before the computer teacher turned to Willow and asked, “Are we still on for tomorrow?

Willow simply nodded before Xander asked, “What’s tomorrow?”

“Computer basics for a couple of students who have fallen behind,” the beautiful teacher answered.

Xander has had more than enough school to last a lifetime. Not to mention, he has the memories of becoming fairly proficient with a computer in his adult life. He couldn’t wait until computers and virtual reality completely revolutionized the world once again. The teen couldn’t stop shaking his head sadly every time he saw the eight-foot-long handset cord for his house’s LAN line.

“Poor schlubs,” Xander replied, shaking his head. “Having to give up vital free time like that-”

“I’ll see you there, Xander,” Jenny interrupted, with humored brown eyes.

Turning to him, Buffy teased, “You got a little schlub…” while pointing at her lip, insinuating his own. Xander conveyed an eye-squinting expression that said, Ha, Ha, Not Funny, and it only made her smile wider.

After mentioning Cordelia’s attendance in the Saturday morning session, Jenny asked Giles to walk her to her class, to which he happily obliged.

“Can’t you just picture them together?” Willow asked her friends as they watched the adults walk away. Before, Xander would’ve said they were a twosome of cuteness, and in a way, he still believed that, but there’s more to consider now than ever before.

The teenage time looper sat in classes for the rest of the day and tried not to think about how weird it all felt. Sitting for an hour, drowning under a droning voice that said nothing he cared to hear. School always felt like a waste of time to Xander, but now that he had a clear direction—a purpose—in life, he felt the waste of time twice as hard. The novice weaponsmith knew what he wanted to do, and sitting in class, learning about subjects he knew for a fact he wouldn’t get any significant use out of. Nearly all of his classes were only delaying his ambitions. That was the crux of his anxiety in class. He had so much to do—especially if he wanted to wield Mjölnir—and not enough time to do it in.

Aside from exercising, it would take Xander at least three weeks to perfectly forge the runes between each layer of folds one stroke at a time. ‘ᚾᚨᛉᚱᛟ: need, power, God, protection/defense, heritage/possession. Five characters, like, twenty-two strokes total, which have to align perfectly at the end. And I won’t even know if it worked until after it’s done… fuck me.’ Sitting in History learning about the origin of handwriting, an impatient Xander mentally yelled, ‘Come on! I need to get out of here!’

After working out in the school’s weight room, Xander’s first stop was Wild Dinks. After showing Pete how well he could work all the equipment in the shop—the forge, welder, and sander, specifically—Xander managed to once again bribe the short owner into letting a minor work there for a few weeks. Though he had to pay for material and borrow safety equipment, Xander began forging and didn’t stop heating and hammering metal until nightfall.

On his way back home, Xander felt grimy from a long day of working in the hot metal room, but he was content. It was proof he was moving forward. Things like watching cartoons, old TV shows, playing video games, and reading comic books for nine hours a day felt impossible now. Xander was desperate to make certain he wouldn’t be sent back if he reached another barrier, and he couldn’t do that playing around anymore. He pondered all night on what-ifs as he stared at the clock until 3:01 in the morning, when he finally went to sleep.

For a Saturday morning class on computers, Xander found it odd for Cordelia, and himself, to be only two juniors in need of extra lessons. He pondered how possible that was as they walked into the computer lab. Xander noted Cordelia sitting next to him. If he didn’t have his future memories, he wouldn’t be conscious of that. At the moment, however, he wondered if she felt an ease around him despite how often they traded verbal blows. Casanova would say their chaotic dynamic would make a great foundation for a passionate love affair.

Upon entering the classroom, Xander didn’t have the chance to use the computer to research forging equipment and prices. Buffy interrupted their class before it even began to ask Jenny about Giles. The slayer explained that he missed their meet-up at the hospital, and when she went to his house; he appeared to be alone and drinking alcohol. To picture a messed-up-looking Giles drinking, surprised and worried both Willow and Xander. Buffy asked Jenny if she knew anything.

When neither Jenny nor Willow could offer any insight, Xander informed the slayer, “This might be a shot in the dark, but we did see a body two nights ago.” The golden-blonde slayer turned to him with clear worry in her expressive bluish-green eyes, likely wondering if Xander was right. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it’s got something to do with that,” he finished.

Only then did Cordelia curiously consider, “I wonder if that’s why detectives were talking to him yesterday.”

“Detectives?” Buffy repeated, mildly irritated. When Cordelia casually nodded, Buffy shook her head, and asserted, “That’s it. I’m calling him.” When she left, Xander was eager to follow, however, Jenny gave him a stern teacher’s look while pointing to his chair.

He begrudgingly sat back down while mentally rebuking, ‘I could be older than you, you know!’

It wasn’t until they heard the muffled sound of windows breaking and a crash coming from the library ten minutes later that drove them to race over and see what the commotion was. Bursting through the double doors of the library, Xander quickly observed Ethan, Buffy, and Philip. Philip looked like a half-completed zombie and was fighting Buffy while Ethan looked on in fear from the check-out desk. Though zombie Philip seemed to pack a punch, it moved slowly, allowing Buffy to dodge all of its swings as she back-stepped toward the cage.

At the sight of the new arrivals, Ethan moved to make his escape when Buffy yelled, “Don’t let him get away!”

Feeling his body brighten with fond memories of Achilles’ combat ability, Xander grabbed Ethan’s arm. The Englishman tried to push the teenager off him, but the experienced teenager easily grabbed the other arm, rotated his own body, pulling Ethan with him, and effortlessly flipped the adult over his shoulder. The Englishman grunted as he landed hard on his back, and Xander was shocked by how bad he felt about that.

Looking down at the wincing man, arching his back to relieve the pain, Xander felt his own sense of unease sweeping over him. Despite being an evil agent of chaos, Xander couldn’t deny he owed a lot to Ethan. The time-imprisoned teen couldn’t be where he was or learn what he had without the British man unknowingly helping him. Out of everyone Xander knew, Ethan has helped him the most.

When a loud growl from zombie Philip snapped him out of his thoughts, Xander rushed toward Buffy as he yelled, “Cordy, if he gets up, kick him!”

The decomposing corpse led a wide swing with a forward step. Buffy’s forearms took the brunt of the powerful punch, but it sent her back against the cage with a loud metallic banging. Philip may be slow, but he clearly packed a punch. Xander gripped the backrest of the nearest chair and wrecked it over the corpse’s durable back. It barely phased Philip. The zombie turned to the teen boy and stalked toward him, but Xander didn’t move. He stared it down because he knew Buffy’s plan. The moment the strong zombie was in front of the open cage door, Buffy kicked the dull creature into the metal cage before Xander quickly locked it.

The growling body banged against the unyielding steel mesh, making Buffy and Xander take a step back. Xander wondered if the steel cage could hold it when the decaying face of Philip made him smile. Nodding to the monster in the cage, a snarky Xander couldn’t stop himself from asking Buffy, “Oh, hey, Buff. Isn’t that the dead guy we saw Thursday night?”

Buffy rolled her eyes at his sarcasm before admitting, “Yeah, okay, weirdness abound. Happy?”

When Ethan tried to run, Cordelia kicked him to the ground again, causing the monster to turn its glare on Ethan. Xander elaborated in Buffy’s stead. “More like I was right.”

Slumping her shoulders, the gorgeous girl asked, “Do we really have to do this right now? There’s a dead guy looking at Ethan like he’s the last Oreo.”

Smirking, he continued teasing, “Come on, say it. That’s how teamwork makes the dream work.”

Buffy rolled her eyes before sighing and capitulating, “Fine, you were right. Now, can we please deal with the walking corpse?” Xander snickered and nodded.

Groaning from the ground, Ethan managed a casual smirk as he asked Xander, “How was the Casanova costume, young man? Meet any single ladies that night?”

“He was a scumbag and a liar, actually,” the teen boy retorted before adding, “I want my money back.” But Xander didn’t mean it. He wished he didn’t feel so indebted to the Englishman.

With an amused grin, Ethan replied, “Shame that. I imagine it would’ve been fun waking up with someone’s wife. Or should I say in?” Fascinated by the possessed corpse, Jenny moved opposite Xander to inspect the growling creature.

After taking a seat a few feet away from a prowling Philip, Ethan explained to the group that the possessed corpse in the cage was an old friend. A bang of the double doors interrupted them when Giles rushed into the library. He wore grey slacks and his beige dress shirt was unbuttoned and rolled to the elbows. As Giles surveyed the scene, he was panting and looked weary. It was especially off-putting for Xander to see such a stable figure in his life resemble his parents.

Spotting Philip in the cage, Giles was saddened and afraid as he slowly remarked, “Oh, Philip.” At the sight of a smirking Ethan, Giles rushed to the man and roughly gripped the back of his head by his hair and forcefully yanked back as he coldly asserted, “I thought I told you to leave!”

Huddled around the cage, Giles’ behavior scared everyone more than Philip did. They had never seen Giles so angry, and the scene spurred memories of Xander’s own father after too many drinks. The old friends glared at each other while the concerned teens and Jenny watched in silence. Ethan goaded Giles into admitting his past, taunting the haunted man with, “Come now, Ripper. Tell them. Tell them what’s coming or I will.”

When the watcher was reluctant to speak, a concerned Buffy demanded, “Giles!”

Any answers they might’ve heard was interrupted by the undead Philip breaking out of the steel cage. The powerful swing of the metal mesh door hit Jenny in the head, sending her to the floor unconscious. Noting Buffy’s immediate reaction, Xander instantly grabbed Cordelia to move her away from danger. Buffy lunged forward, using the momentum to add more super-powered force to her kick. Her foot landed center-mass and everyone heard the crack of its ribs breaking. The slayer landed a series of powerful kicks to Philip’s head, and Buffy only stopped when it dropped to its knees.

Before everyone, Philip landed on his back, spasmed and grunted on the floor, then turned into a smelly blue slurry beside the unconscious Jenny. The unconscious teacher’s hand twitched a bit around the blue goop.

“Jenny,” Giles called, rushing to her side, lifting her in his arms.

“Where’s Ethan?” Buffy called, and Xander was surprised by how quietly the warlock could sneak away. Buffy ran outside to catch him as Giles attempted to wake Jenny.

To Xander’s surprise, his Old-Man future memories fired up at the sight of the blue goo. While he held Cordelia, he recalled nothing more than a flash of a monster-like Jenny being choked. It was horrifying. Xander desperately tried to recall any detail, no matter how small, but he couldn’t. Eying the unconscious teacher, he didn’t know if the problem was resolved or ongoing. Cordelia stepped away from him as if offended by his touch, but it didn’t bother Xander as he watched Giles hold a woozy Jenny. Xander wondered if there was more to come.

When Buffy returned, she demanded Giles explain what was going on; practically begged to know, “What’s the Mark of Eyghon?”

Paying more attention to the injured Jenny, Giles sternly told his slayer, “This is not your problem, and as your Watcher, I’m telling you in no uncertain terms: stay out of it. Now, I must take Jenny home.”

As Xander watched the adults slowly exit the library, he felt a longing for Jenny’s home, or more specifically, her bed. Or anyone’s bed at this point. He’s had so much sex since he first discovered Casanova that going over a week without such a satisfying release felt crippling. It made him fear he was developing a dependency problem. After the double doors closed behind Giles and Jenny, Buffy decided to help Giles, anyway.

She ordered, “Willow, I want you to find out anything and everything you can about the Mark of Eyghon. Xander, how do you feel about rifling through Giles’ personal files?

“I feel pretty good about it,” he replied.

Nodding, she said, “See if you can shed some light on what’s going on.”

Stepping forward eagerly, Cordelia asked, “What about me?” Buffy was surprised the vain Queen Bee was still there. Appearing shockingly genuine, she added, “I care about Giles too.”

“Fine, work with Xander,” Buffy quickly assessed.

Wincing as if she smelled something bad, Cordelia replied, “Well, when I say ‘care’, I mean-”

“Cordelia,” an impatient Buffy interrupted.

“Okay, okay,” the popular cheerleader voiced as she joined Xander in Giles’ office.

Xander went through Giles’ effects with Cordelia. Being alone in a room with her, Xander was paying more attention to her than snooping. He was surprised by how stimulating holding her had felt. It could’ve been the adrenaline from Philip breaking out of his steel cage or his teenage hormones, but holding her felt too tantalizing. Like many things with his magically gained memories, knowing a thing and experiencing it in person truly made all the difference.

‘Maybe I should try,’ he thought. Tuning into his Casanova mental pattern, Xander looked through meticulous files as he casually mentioned, “You must really care about Giles if you’re willing to work with me.”

It was so quiet in the room, his voice startled her. She turned to him a moment before returning to her snooping and indifferently returning, “What can I say? I’m the most caring-est person out of all of you social outcasts.”

Her arrogance was so offensively astounding, it nearly made him forget he was trying to connect with her. Though he couldn’t keep the sarcastic, “Classy,” retort from his lips, Xander took a deep breath to settle himself. Cordelia could get under his skin better than anyone. Patiently, he teased, “Nice legs, by the way.”

Automatically, she smiled, cheerfully replying, “Awe, thanks- Wait, what?”

Taken aback by his comment, she turned to him and he assuaged her suspicious expression with a relaxed smile. “When you kicked that Ethan guy back down, and put your foot on his back… way nice, Cor.”

“Oh… thanks,” she eventually replied. Xander paid more attention to his prying than her, but he could tell his compliment made her do a mental double-take. Clearing her throat, she saucily retorted, “You didn’t do so bad yourself… for a dweeb.”

Irked, Xander hotly dropped the files on the desk. He didn’t care about the future anymore and broke the suave approach to clap back, “You couldn’t just leave it at the part that makes you sound, oh, I don’t know, like a decent human?” The pair continued to bicker as they searched, but Xander couldn’t say he hated it. A small part of him actually had fun trading verbal blows with her. They were like a title match of heavy-weight insult artists.

By sunset, Willow explained to Buffy, Xander, and Cordelia what this demon was. “The Mark of Eyghon was a ritual mark associated with Eyghon the Sleepwalker and worn by his initiates,” Willow read aloud. “Those tattooed with it shared a psychic link with Eyghon, allowing the demon to track them, and others bearing the mark. The proximity of Eyghon caused the mark bearers to experience flash-like visions when sleeping.”

It wasn’t until the genius redhead mentioned how the demon transferred from victim to victim, whether they were dead or unconscious, did Xander remember, “Jenny was unconscious.”

Knitting her brows, Cordelia slanted her head as she asked, “Since when do you call her Jenny?”

The teen boy didn’t let his mistake show on his face as he retorted, “She made me spend my Saturday morning in school… with you. I can call her whatever I want.”

Buffy went to the library’s phone and called Jenny’s home first. When there was no answer, she tried Giles. She looked confused when no one picked up, then immediately, the concerned girl hung up before rushing toward the exit of the library.

Xander called, “Buffy, wait! What is it?”

“His phone’s out of order,” she yelled just as she ran out of the library. Xander called for her to stop, but she didn’t. Instead, he turned to Willow, and as he began following after Buffy, voiced, “Try to find out how to beat it. I’ll call if anything.”

Willow and Cordelia quickly got to work and Xander chased after Buffy, but the slayer was much too fast for him to catch up to. Xander ran for twenty minutes towards Giles’ apartment. When the sweaty teen finally made it to Giles’, he was heaving out his lungs and Buffy was already running down the street away from Giles’ front door.

Strained legs rushed to Giles as the teen noticed the broken door of the watcher’s apartment and the finger bruising around his throat. Clearly, something strong tried to strangle him. Heaving deeply, Xander had to lean against the wall as he asked, “Where’d… she go?”

Gazing in the direction his slayer ran toward, Giles wearily asked, “Why are you here, Xander-”

“Oh, just tell me!” the sweating teenager snapped, making a weary Giles turn to him. Xander reminded the man, “I ran all the way here! And I told you we should’ve investigated this that night. The least you can do is tell me where Buffy’s going.”

A moment of silence passed before Giles nodded and answered, “She’s going to help Jenny.” It confirmed to Xander that Jenny did, in fact, get possessed by Eyghon and was likely the one who tried to strangle Giles.

Empathetically, Xander reassured the man, “We all will, Giles. Where’d Buffy go?”

“After Ethan, I imagine,” the frazzled Englishman replied. “But I cannot be certain where.”

Sherlock’s mental pattern reminded him of what Ethan said and the teen guessed, “Probably his costume shop?” When Giles blinked in surprise and turned to Xander once again, the teen boy asked, “What? He said the lease wasn’t up yet.” Giles nodded and Xander started toward the shop’s direction as he voiced, “Call Will. Tell her where we’ll be.”

Xander ran toward Ethan’s Costume Shoppe, mentally wishing he had his Dodge Viper. When he finally reached the shop, the familiar main room was bare of costumes but still had boxes, racks, and mannequins. More importantly, Xander saw Ethan over a restrained Buffy. She was tied face down to a table whilst he tattooed something on her neck. Without delay, Xander ran in and kicked the back of Ethan’s knee, interrupting the evil man and dropping him to one knee. Xander smoothly gripped his throat and shoved him away from the table Buffy was strapped to. Ethan hit the floor and rolled backward onto his feet.

“Hello!” Buffy yelled. Her face was strapped to the table, facing downward and unable to see him. She called out, “Who’s there? Giles?!”

The Englishman stood up, and at the sight of Xander standing between his blonde prey, he smiled in his dashing, yet evil, way. Ethan raised his fists, threatening to fight if he didn’t move. In all the loops Xander’s suffered through, the lanky teen rarely fought humans. His combat diet comprised mostly of vampires, monsters, and demons. But Xander could tell right away that Ethan had some fighting experience.

‘A boxer’s stance,’ Xander thought, evaluating the man’s weak points. ‘Good form too.’

Ethan launched forward, launching a combination, one-two punch. Xander was surprised by how easily he slipped and bobbed the combination. Xander was quicker than the fully grown adult and effortlessly dodged the cross Ethan followed his combination with. From the wider stance of the dodge, the teen effortlessly maneuvered back like a pendulum and counter-punched the older man cleanly in his jaw, turning his knees to jelly.

Ethan used the nearby glass counter to hold himself up while he recovered. Chuckling as blood began streaming down, he huffed, “I see Giles has been teaching his students.” Ethan tried to stand under his own power again, but Xander didn’t feel threatened at all. “How admirable. But I cannot stay, boy. Leave now or I won’t hesitate to kill-”

Xander sucker-punched him in the face before his own one-two combination to the solar plexus and liver. Ethan dropped to the floor, struggling to breathe. Looking down at the groaning man, pitifully holding his sides, Xander once again felt terrible for hurting the man who unwittingly helped him out so much.

‘It’s not his fault he didn’t know he was helping me,’ he mournfully thought, before Buffy interrupted his thoughts.

“Xander?” she called out. The teen rushed to the table and untied the steel bicycle wires strapping her to the table. Once she was free, the alert girl saw Ethan groaning on the floor, and with a confused expression on her face, she asked him, “Uh, what did you do?”

Quirking his dark brow, Xander replied, “What? I wasn’t supposed to hit him?”

“Oh, no,” Buffy recovered. She grabbed the steel wire typically used to prevent bike thefts and readily approved. “By all means, hit away.”

She was tying Ethan up as Xander told her, “I tried to tell you we should wait and come up with a plan. Snakes like Ethan obviously do anything they have to, to save their own skin.”

Touching the half-finished tattoo at the back of her neck, Buffy nodded as she replied, “Okay, yeah, but if I hadn’t rushed out like I did, Giles would already be dead.”

Nodding, Xander elaborated, “I’m just saying, you could stand to listen to me a little more.”

The silence between them extended for several moments. Buffy seemed deep in thought before she kindly expressed, “I don’t think you’re a joke, Xander.” It was clearly regarding the night he stood up for himself. It made Xander wonder if that was the key to getting out of the week-loop. If it wasn’t, then he had no clue what else the key might be.

Skeptical about how genuine her words were, Xander replied, “Maybe not a joke, exactly… But sometimes, it’s like you guys don’t even-”

The door of the entrance burst open then, startling the teenagers to alertness. Demon Jenny walked into the store and she looked monstrous. The sight of her face’s thready, ripped skin, barely containing the growing dark-blue demon within, was painful to stomach and accept. Jenny was important to the Scoobies, and it was obvious what would happen if they didn’t help. She’d die and turn to blue goo like the others. It made Xander think about her death at Angel’s hands and hope she makes it through this.

Monster-Jenny made a beeline for Ethan and Buffy leapt in front of her. Unlike Philip and the women Eyghon had possessed before, within Jenny’s body, the demon had the telekinetic ability to send Buffy flying with a sweeping wave of her arm. Xander was forced to watch the slayer being thrown to the farthest end of the room and smash into the wall before dropping to the ground.

Despite his heart aching to know if she was alright, Xander forced himself to prioritize Ethan over Buffy. Not eager to repeat Buffy’s strategy for fear of looping back, Xander let monster-Jenny grab Ethan by the neck whilst he grabbed the mannequin by the door. The incredibly strong woman was lifting Ethan by the neck when Xander leveled the six-foot plastic figure and used it as a battering ram to smash into Jenny’s side. Ethan dropped to the floor, gripping his neck while Xander lifted the mannequin overhead for another strike.

Jenny quickly raised her palm, and before Xander could react, he was blown back. All the air in his lungs was kicked out of him by what felt like a car hitting him in the torso. Xander didn’t fly far; only half the distance Buffy had, and the nearby dry-wall broke apart on impact, catching him. The dizzy teen hit the floor and knew his disoriented body would need a few seconds to recover.

Ethan tried to run, but Jenny caught his arm and tossed him onto the glass counter like a rag-doll. Ethan’s back broke through the glass display counter and Jenny neared for the kill. Xander wanted to stand, but his muscles refused to do anything but throb and feel a stabbing pain. Peering over to the far side of the store, he could see Buffy making her way upright, but he didn’t think she could reach Ethan before Eyghon killed him.

Ethan yelled, “Please! Spare me! SPARE ME!” She grabbed his throat, nevertheless. “HEELP- KEH!!”

Her grip’s squeeze would’ve likely killed him if Giles hadn’t stormed through the front door of the shop and tackled Jenny from behind. They fall to the floor, but rather than fight her, Giles was calling for Jenny to fight the demon within. At the sight of Giles being strangled, both Xander and Buffy hastened desperately to run toward their dear friend and mentor. Angel, Cordelia, and Willow burst through the entrance as well, and of all those that wanted to save Giles, the strong, fast, and uninjured Angel reached Jenny first.

Angel forced Jenny as far away as he could before the possessed woman began fighting him, after which he wrapped his hands around her neck and tried to strangle the life out of her.

“Jenny! You’re killing her!” Giles yelled, trying to rush to her, but Willow held him back.

“Wait,” the redhead voiced. “Trust me. This is going to work.”

Angel wouldn’t let the combative Jenny go, and seemingly sensing its demise, the corpse-possessing demon leaped into Angel’s body. Angel cocked his head back as Eyghon fought his own demon within. Giles rushed to Jenny while Buffy worried for her boyfriend, and Cordelia helped Xander stay on his feet. The gathered all watched Angel shake and jerk sporadically whilst demons fought ferociously within his body. After what felt like an eternity, a white mist escaped the vampire’s body and dissipated in the air above him. Angel dropped to one knee when Buffy rushed to him.

“Angel?” she quietly pleaded, eying him for any sign of harm.

When he smiled reassuringly and nodded his victory, Buffy was so relieved she hugged him desperately. At the sight of them, smiling at each other fondly in a bubble of their own happiness, Xander was achingly jealous. She’d already rejected his confession at the end of their sophomore year, so he knew Buffy didn’t feel what he did. However, Xander knew he was going to have to break them up soon. He couldn’t let Angelus out. Not if he could help it.

Buffy helped Angel to his feet while Giles helped a disoriented Jenny up. Xander was happy with how everything worked out, but was also mildly annoyed. No one was thanking him for anything, and Buffy praised Willow for bringing Angel.

“We already knew the research,” a beaming Willow remarked. “We just needed to figure out how to use it.”

Interrupting their congratulatory mood, an aloof Xander called out, “Ethan’s gone… If anyone cares.” Giles helped Jenny home, Buffy left with Angel, Cordelia reluctantly drove Willow home as they live in the same direction, and the aching Xander walked home alone. He couldn’t ignore feeling miffed about the way his friends overlooked his contributions, however, he was also grateful he hadn’t broken any bones or looped back.

“I really need to get stronger,” he said to himself as he limped home, and all three of the mental patterns agreed.

The next school day, the three friends were talking about what had happened in the hallway when they noticed Giles and Jenny ahead. By her classroom, they silently observed Ms. Calendar be courteous to Giles, but also recoil from him when he tried to reach out. The beautiful woman was clearly not alright after what happened to her, even if she was hiding it well, and Xander thought about that all day.

Later that night, Xander took a bus to her neighborhood and walked to her apartment. After knocking on her door, he waited long enough to become concerned. He knocked again, slightly more urgently, and after several long moments, she finally answered the door. The foxy woman was dressed in her comfort clothes; dark-purple shorts, a white V-neck top under a navy cardigan, and thick navy-blue socks. Though she looked incredibly attractive, Xander was more concerned by the green & silver mug in her hand. The ceramic mug read ‘Probably Wine’ but it smelled more like strong alcohol.

She looked at him through droopy eyes as she slowly said, “Xander.”

“Can I come in?” he asked.

The inebriated woman didn’t open the door wider and only replied with, “Whaa… ahem, what do you want?”

The boy simply answered, “To cheer you up.”

Realizing what that could entail, Jenny looked below the horizon as she attempted to reason, “I… don’t… think we should-”

Xander interrupted by extending his last lotto scratcher worth a thousand dollars to her; the same ticket he was saving for Giles. She focused on the ticket and then at him with confusion, clearly not grasping the offer. Xander explained, “I know a gas station I can buy them at, but since I’m underage, I can’t cash it. You can have it.”

She leaned over to have a closer look, giving Xander a good view down her low-cut blouse. He turned his head as she looked up in stunned surprise. “That’s… That’s a thousand dollars!”

Xander nodded before assuring her, “I know money won’t remotely touch the mind-rape you must’ve gone through, or what you’re still going through…” Taking her free hand, he placed the ticket in her palm as he expressed, “But that right there is the most valuable thing I got. You could get yourself a new dress; have an expensive dinner. I hear the mani-pedi salon on Sycamore is all the rage.”

Staring dumbfounded at the thousand-dollar ticket in her hand, she offhandedly tried to joke, “...Can’t forget shoes.”

“Oh, how could I forget that?” he happily humored. Jenny was despondent once again, likely remembering her trauma, and Xander genuinely expressed, “I’m really sorry you had to go through that.”

She looked at him with emotional eyes—eyes that looked like they might cry any minute—then nodded sternly. Jenny took a long swig from her mug before telling him, “Come in.”

Years of experience and throbbing blue balls harshly threatened Xander not to say a single word that might ruin this opportunity, and he simply walked inside.