The Classics

After Cordelia was attacked by a six-foot-tall hairy monster with a large snout, long teeth, and sharp claws, the gang learned they were dealing with a werewolf. Though Cordelia kept the details of being at Make Out Lane last night to herself, Xander didn’t push it. A girl as attractive as her could get any guy she wanted, regardless of the time or place. However, he could see Cordelia was still hurting. If Xander had to guess, she was likely using the other guy to forget about him.

‘This mystery guy who I automatically hate is a rebound and nothing more,’ he told himself with finality. Instead of obsessing over who Cordelia was dating and if the guy even saw her as a person, Xander paid more attention to the damaged BMW.

In the parking lot of Sunnydale High School, the Scooby Gang was inspecting the cheerleader’s luxury car. The hood was caved in from the weight of the muscular monster, and the windshield had a hole where its large, clawing paw-hand tried to reach for whoever was in the passenger seat. There were also paint-removing-claw marks on the side panel and roof of the Beamer from when it gave chase and jumped on the fast car. Looking at the badly battered coupe and imagining the worst, Xander was grateful Cordelia wasn’t the type to buckle under pressure.

Along with vampires and ghosts, a grinning Giles was excited to research the werewolf, or as he called it, “One of the classics.”

Everyone thought it nice to see Giles smile for once, rigid though it was, as he walked to the library. However, unlike his friends, Xander kept his eyes on Oz. If there was one clear memory Xander recalled from his Old Man costume, it was that despite being a werewolf, Oz lived a long and happy life in Tibet with his family. He never once died & resurrected, and he even helped them fight the armies of Twilight.

‘Yup, I’m looking at a werewolf right now… a freakin’ werewolf,’ he thought before the gang walked back inside their school.

In gym class, Xander was pondering different ways of naturally bringing up the possibility of Oz being a werewolf. Asking Larry about his bandaged arm was enough for Oz to voluntarily describe getting bitten by his little cousin, Jordy. In the locker room after P.E., Xander point-blank asked Oz if he could be the werewolf.

Before Oz dismissed it, Xander followed with, “I mean, think about it. You didn’t wake up in a strange place today, did you?” Like a light bulb going off in his head, Oz paused to make connections he hadn’t considered yet. “There’s an easy way to be sure,” Xander continued. “If you’re cool with it, we can just keep you in the cage before the moon comes out tonight. And if you don’t turn, then you’re golden.”

“Can’t say I’m a fan of being caged,” Oz casually admitted. “But the alternative is ripping people apart and feeding on them, so…”

Oz agreed, then the pair told Giles afterward. Later that evening, everyone met in the library to test Xander’s theory. There were mixed reactions after Xander explained why he thought Oz was the werewolf that attacked Cordelia. Willow was in denial, but Oz gently comforted her. He assured his girlfriend that it was only a test, and he didn’t want to risk hurting innocent lives if he was the werewolf. Only then did Willow concede.

Watching the couple, Xander didn’t know how he felt about them dating. When he found out about them, it felt as if he was replaced by Oz the moment Buffy kicked him out of the group. The chill and introspective Oz seemed to fit with the gang in a way Xander couldn’t, making him conscious of how he was treated compared to other men. Oz didn’t have a crush on Buffy, and he dated Willow; exactly the type of setup the girls wanted from a boy in the group. Xander went against that.

After Giles locked Oz in the cage, Willow sulked by the cage door and Xander felt terrible for her. The first guy she dated, and she had a front-row seat to his disturbing transformation into a man-eating werewolf. It’s not what Xander would’ve wanted for his best friend, however, he was grateful she didn’t seem to blame him like Buffy had when he revealed Angel’s darker side.

Cordelia gravely shared with the group, “Wow, it’s so weird how the person who nearly killed me last night was right next to me the entire time. Like, you’d think I’d be pissed.”

“Sorry about that,” Oz replied through the steel-mesh door. “I promise it wasn’t personal.”

“We don’t know that it was Oz,” Willow defiantly yelled at Cordelia.

To take their mind off of just waiting for the truth, Xander called their attention. With Buffy, Willow, Cordelia, Giles, and Oz present, he realized it was the perfect time to present an idea he had. During their battle with the Judge, the time-looping teenager was perpetually in panic mode, fearing Angel & Spike would kill each other and force him to loop back. Even before the battle, looping back due to one of the six dying was never far from his thoughts, but during the battle, it was at the forefront of his mind. It forced Xander to think of a solution, and to the gang’s surprise, proposed cursing Spike and Drusilla with the same ensouling curse Angel has.

In unison, Buffy and Willow exclaimed, “Are you serious?”

Xander didn’t care about saving Drusilla, but thought it would appear odd if he only suggested one without the other. Additionally, he didn’t want to risk some unforeseen consequence by suggesting Spike, but not Drusilla.

Xander answered his friends, “Dead serious. Let’s cast the same soul curse on Spike and Drusilla.”

“I’m trying to wrap my brain around that sentence,” a confused Buffy cutely confessed. “But all I’m getting is a garbled mess.” Turning to her smarter friend, she asked, “Willow?”

The near-genius shook her red head and answered, “I’m not doing much better here. He said ensoul Spike and Drusilla, but the why of it is still throwing me off.”

“It is an unusual idea,” Giles mentioned with a firm expression of concentration.

“Listen, Spike and Drusilla are different kinds of vampires,” Xander asserted. “They’re planners, and they don’t care how long it takes to devise some evil shindig for us to attend. So, even if they leave Sunnydale for some reason, that doesn’t mean they won’t come back with a nasty plan up their sleeve.”

Buffy hummed a moment before playfully offering, “This might be a crazy thought, but what if I just dusted them? I see a possible solution in this.”

With the same level of banter, he asked the slayer, “How well has that been going for you so far?” At her deadpan look, he simply smiled.

“So you propose cursing them with a soul in the hopes they become good like Angel?” Giles asked.

“Genius, ain’t it?” he boasted to the watcher. “Lord knows why no one’s thought of it.”

“I suppose it’s worth looking into,” Giles evenly stated, with a mild-mannered shrug.

When Willow and Buffy seemed to agree, it felt nice not having to fight his friends to be heard. Xander began feeling as if this was the time for him to progress further than he ever had before. Despite how chilly it’s been between Cordelia and himself, he thought that with time, even that will get better.

Clearing his throat, Xander jovially told Giles, “I suggest asking Ms. Calendar.” Giles quickly brightened at the mention of her name while Xander continued. “She’s the one who translated the Romani text of Angel’s curse for me. So, she should be able to help.”

“I-I-I’ll do that,” the hopeful Giles cheerfully replied, and the teens all smirked at the rare sight of the giddy librarian. Additionally, Xander felt it wouldn’t hurt to put more eyes on Jenny. He didn’t think there was a possibility of Angelus killing the foxy teacher like in his Old Man memories, but he didn’t want to risk anything.

It wasn’t long after the full moon was viewable from the window that the chill Oz doubled over in great pain, grunting as he held his stomach. Willow desperately wanted to enter the cage but was stopped by everyone as Oz transformed into a monstrous werewolf. His eyes changed to black pools before his teeth sharpened and elongated in tandem with his nose. His clothes didn’t survive his body growing a foot taller, with nearly as much brunette hair all over his body. With growing brown claws at the end of large bestial hands, the beast was as muscular as it was hostile, growling and snarling at everyone in the library.

The Oz they knew was gone, and if not for the steel cage restraining the beast, they knew it would’ve tried devouring them all. Not that Willow stopped being his girlfriend. After that tense night, the genius redhead continued to date the chill guitarist, and in the process, it gave Xander more opportunities to spend some alone time with Buffy. He quickly learned the fortunate development wasn’t as fun as he’d hoped.

Xander knew two things: Buffy would have a crush on him in the future, and in a previous long-loop, she said she could love him. He wanted that nearly as much as getting out of the time braid, however, the beautiful slayer always seemed distracted. Often, Xander would catch her silently staring off into space, so deep in thought that he’d need to snap his fingers in front of her face to call her back.

She’d play it off as nothing, however, Xander wondered if Buffy saw her own circumstances in Willow and Oz’s relationship. Oz could be as much of a monster as Angel, and yet, Willow stood by her chill boyfriend whereas Buffy was forced to break up with hers. It’s possible she thought that was unfair.

Valentine’s season didn’t make the situation better. With all the red hearts and public displays of affection around them, Buffy couldn’t stop thinking about Angel, and would go a long time without saying anything. It was worse if she ran into the handsome vampire while patrolling at a graveyard. Her distant behavior left Xander firmly entrenched in the friend zone, offering a shoulder to lean on whenever she needed it, but nothing more.

‘Casanova would be so disappointed,’ he thought often.

When Xander offered to spar with Buffy, she agreed, but only wanted him to show her the move. Then she would practice it with him no more than two times before moving on. Or when they danced at the Bronze. The beautiful blonde always kept a foot or two of space between them and never made real physical contact. They could talk like they used to—especially when they sparred—and the beautiful blonde would smile easily at his jokes. However, at the risk of alienating himself from her life again, he had the hardest time creating the right moment to be more with her.

Xander felt worse when he saw Cordelia at the Bronze with a new guy every week. He didn’t like it for selfish reasons, but he knew she was dealing with her heartache in her own way. It annoyed Xander to see her dancing with a handsome guy, however, he felt it was better this way. She’d get over him and move on to the many great things she was destined for.

The holiday of love was not a good time for either Buffy or Xander, and worse, they couldn’t commune in misery together, since neither of them could talk about the other’s love life. The only fortunate part about the big couple’s day was that it came and went in relative peace. The only members of the Scooby Gang that were living life with a zest of passion were Willow and Giles.

Willow had a wonderful Valentine’s day, and Giles and Jenny could always be found together, talking and laughing together; they were a twosome of cuteness again. When Xander and Buffy caught some lipstick on Giles’ cheek, the teens were equal parts happy for them and grossed out imagining what the adults were doing in his office. Other than Xander and Buffy, everyone was happy, that was until Xander received a call while he was at Dinks.

The tired teen shouldered the phone to his ear and heard Willow on the other end. With the first sound out of her mouth, he immediately understood she was upset and crying. As she talked, Xander learned of the worst thing imaginable; something so heinous he wondered why he hadn’t looped. While buying the Orb of Thesulah to curse Spike with a soul, Jenny was on her way to meet Giles when she was viciously killed by the blond vampire.

Xander couldn’t believe it. He was so shocked, the phone nearly slipped from between his shoulder and ear. The sobbing Willow explained how Giles found her lifeless body in the alleyway next to the magic shop, and disappeared after calling Buffy. Xander dropped everything and rushed to meet his friends. It was immediately clear to him there would be no further conversation about cursing Spike. After finding Giles before he did anything crazy, they all wanted to kill Spike, and that threw on an extra thick layer of stress to every second of Xander’s day.

In addition to his sadness over Jenny’s death, Xander felt despair at the thought of looping back any day. Giles was quietly furious; Buffy wanted to support her watcher; Angel wanted to support Buffy, Willow wanted to avenge one of her favorite teachers, and Oz wanted to support her. The entire gang wanted to kill Spike, so Angel, Buffy, and Giles made it their mission to track him down and end him once and for all.

Only it wouldn’t be once and for all for time looping Xander.

Despite the pain squeezing his heart over the loss of the wonderful Jenny, Xander couldn’t let Spike die. The anxious teen had come too far to loop back and tried finding him as well. Xander patrolled the more abandoned or creepy streets of Sunnydale, however, he wasn’t sure how he would handle the situation if he came across the blond vampire. Would he let Spike go? Warn him? Help him? It turned Xander’s gut just thinking of the betrayal his friends would feel if they ever found out.

Fortunately, it appeared as if Spike escaped their wrath for the moment. After a week of trying to track the vampire down all around Sunnydale, they couldn’t find hide nor hair of him. Despite the bounty Angel put out on Spike’s head, they hadn’t seen the English blond, and Xander prayed Spike stayed away for years. Life continued normally for the gang, and the worst villain Buffy faced, was the flu that kept a third of the school home.

Xander, Willow, and Oz were patrolling in Buffy’s stead and he was hoping to meet a vampire to show Willow and Oz that he could handle it. However, there weren’t many occasions to showcase his hard-earned combat ability. Walking around the corner of a mausoleum, Xander barely heard very light footfalls. He raised his fist in a silent command to halt Willow and Oz’s movements. Whoever was around the mausoleum felt like a cautious attacker, and Xander was careful to go low and attack from a stronger base.

Then he heard a faint and familiar metal hum against leather, and cautiously, he called, “…Buffy?”

A second later, they heard, “Xander?” Walking around the mausoleum, Xander, Willow, and Oz came face-to-face with an unwell Buffy, sheathing Slaymore once again. “Well, you’re definitely not a vampire,” the sick girl lethargically mumbled.

“I knew I recognized that sound,” Xander stated, referencing the sharp blade he forged being unsheathed.

Looking at her friends, the sluggish Buffy asked, “What are you guys doing here?”

Worried, Willow returned, “What are you doing here?”

“Patrolling,” Buffy answered.

“Buffy, you’re sick,” Willow argued with heavy concern.

“I feel fine,” her nasally voice assured them. “I mean, sure, the world’s spinning a little bit, but I like it. It’s like a ride… that you can’t get off.”

“Come on, Buffy,” Willow continued. “One night of rest isn’t going to kill you.”

“No,” the slayer returned. “But it could be the night I miss Spike. And I’m not letting him get away. You guys should go find a safer place to be; like somewhere I’m not.”

Fearful of looping back if she killed Spike or Spike killed her, Xander replied, “Buffy, this isn’t the time to challenge Spike for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He’s at full strength, and you’re only half a slayer.”

“But I’m still the Slayer,” she punctuated. “And as long as I am, Spike’s not going to kill anyone else…”

Buffy trailed off as she slowly focused on a tree behind them, as if sensing something. Then a blond vampire dressed in black suddenly ran from behind a tree and Buffy chased after him. Dreading looping back, Xander followed the slayer with Willow and Oz behind him. Sadly, the vampire and slayer were much too fast and outran the humans. Eventually, Xander caught up just as the blond vampire was atop a dazed Buffy, ready to kill her with her own sword.

Xander threw his stake with enough force to stab a few inches into the demon’s back. It wasn’t enough to kill him, but Xander was sprinting from too far back to do anything else. The vampire removed the stake with a snarling growl, then got up and turned to the running teen, ready to slash him with the sword. Xander was incredibly relieved to see the blond vampire wasn’t Spike.

Buffy kicked its foot, and Xander’s feint to rush in forced the vampire to swing too early. The experienced fighter slipped forward with a strong base stance and slammed the heel of his palm into the vampire’s nose. The strike dazed the vampire, forcing it to cover his face. Xander smoothly gripped the hilt of Slaymore, and effortlessly twisted the demon’s wrist, forcing the weapon counter-clockwise until the vampire let go.

With Slaymore in his hands, the vampire stood no chance. Baring its long fangs with a horrible screech, the vampire lunged at Xander, however, he was not bothered. With a side-step and a precise figure 8-like attack, Xander cut his hands off before decapitating the blond vampire, turning it into dust.

A woozy Buffy was so slow to get up, prompting Xander to help her. Willow and Oz made it to them when she finally stood on two feet. Gripping her feverish head, she weakly told them, “I told you guys to leave… This is my fight. You- You don’t h-have to...”

Her bluish-green eyes rolled back in her head, and before she collapsed to the floor, Xander managed to catch her, calling out, “Buffy!” But she was non-responsive.

The knowledge he gained from the doctor he dressed as felt like a lifetime ago, however, the little he recalled allowed him to remember how deadly influenza could be. Normal symptoms included a fever, chills, fatigue, body aches, loss of appetite, headache, dry cough, sore throat, and or a stuffy nose. Fainting was a severe symptom that required the emergency room. Xander scooped the unconscious slayer up before Willow could even check on her and started running to the hospital.

It wasn’t until Joyce arrived at the waiting area of the emergency room that Dr. Wilkinson told them Buffy would be fine. Soon, the medical staff were rolling her to a room for an overnight stay, however, along the way, the confused and dizzy slayer was desperate to leave the hospital and became manic. The doctors had to sedate her when three large orderlies could barely hold her down. Her fear-filled episode along the way was a first for Xander. Joyce explained to them how much Buffy hated hospitals after watching her cousin Celia die in one.

Worried about vampires entering the public building and killing her in her sleep, Xander decided to stand guard, alternating shifts with Angel when he came by, to his dismay. Xander assumed Willow called the tall vampire and told him what happened. The following day, Giles, Willow, Oz, and Xander were wheeling Buffy through the garden courtyard of the hospital for some fresh air. Xander was happy she looked miles better than the night before, but she was telling them about a little girl dying under suspicious circumstances.

“It was ruled as death by flu,” a concerned Buffy finished telling them.

“Flu?” Xander asked. “Doesn’t exactly sound monsterrific.”

Buffy agreed with a nod, however, she couldn’t let it go and explained, “Well, there’s this Dr. Backer. He’s been giving the kids experimental treatments, and he’s rating high on the creep scale. I’m not sure what he’s up to. And then I met this kid, Ryan. He said he saw something.”

“Saw what?” a curious Giles asked.

Buffy slowly answered, “Death.”

Xander was quick to offer his help, however, other than retrieving Tina’s medical records to learn the cause of death, he didn’t do much. Angel covered the night shift, forcing Xander to be absent when Dr. Backer was murdered by an invisible monster. When Buffy showed the gang the image of the monster killing the children the following morning, it didn’t ring any Old Man Xander bells. Xander stayed until Angel showed up to relieve him, then went to the library to help research what was killing the children.

Upon reaching the library, the action continued slipping by him. He learned from Giles and Oz that the invisible monster terrorizing the hospital children was called Der Kindestod, meaning Child Death. Giles explained that the monster sat atop the children, pinning them down like prey, then sucked the life out of them. It sounded so gruesome, Xander rushed back to the hospital to help Buffy. However, he was only in time to watch Angel hold Buffy as he assisted her back to her room. The Der Kindestod had already been killed and a frustrated Xander did little to nothing to help.

Observing how much Buffy relished Angel’s touch—how it pained her to know they could never be more—Xander couldn’t help but feel defeated on multiple fronts. No matter how much skill he had developed through the loops or costumes, if he wasn’t in the right place at the right time, he’d never be of help when it mattered, not progress with Buffy.

Leaving the hospital, his miserable mind concluded, ‘No Cordelia, and Buffy’s still all about Angel.’ After a night of self-loathing, Xander redoubled his efforts to prove to Buffy and everyone in the group he could be helpful beyond the occasional thieving.

Not long after the Der Kindestod incident, Xander learned one morning that Buffy stopped a shooting between a couple. He thought little of it. When he opened his locker and a monstrous hand reached out and tried to pull him inside the metal rectangle by his shirt, the group soon learned they were dealing with a poltergeist, and quickly began investigating. Sadly, Xander couldn’t be of much help because Old Man Xander once again didn’t remember the poltergeists either.

‘That fucking Old Me is useless!’ he thought in growing annoyance.

From the internet, Willow learned that in 1955, Sunnydale High student James Stanley killed his teacher, Grace Newman, on the eve of the Sadie Hawkins dance after she tried to break off their affair. It appeared to the Scoobies that the ghost couple would possess random people to reenact the last moments of their lives, in which James killed Grace before turning the gun on himself.

Willow, Buffy, and Xander felt sorry for them, however, for different reasons. Willow and Buffy were empathetic to the tragic end of their forbidden love, whereas Xander didn’t mind the student-teacher relationship. He simply hated repeating anything for years and years with no hope of progress.

Old Man Xander should’ve remembered the fatal circumstance around the poltergeists, and Xander hated that he didn’t. After more paranormal phenomena broke out around school, Xander and Buffy were possessed by the past lovers. It was late at night when Xander became James, Buffy became Grace, and they were forced to replay the tragic couple’s final moments.

In the empty hallway of Sunnydale high, the heart-sickened Xander told Buffy, “You can’t make me disappear just because you say it’s over.”

Buffy’s face was filled with fear as she pleaded, “I just want you to be able to have some kind of normal life. We can never have that, don’t you see?”

“I don’t give a damn about a normal life,” Xander yelled, taking a step forward. “I’m going crazy not seeing you. I think about you every minute.”

Though Buffy’s expressive eyes conveyed the same feeling, she was strong enough to push it back before nodding and confirming, “I know. But... It’s over. We have to be.”

Buffy turned to leave, inflaming Xander’s ire further, and he yelled, “Come back here! We’re not finished!”

Xander rushed to Buffy and grabbed her arm before turning her to face him. He pleaded, “You don’t care anymore? Is that it?”

“It doesn't matter,” Buffy implored with the tragic passion in her voice as much as her eyes. “It doesn’t matter what I feel.”

“Then tell me you don’t love me,” Xander demanded, shaking her arm with frightful strength. “Say it!”

The tears welling up around her greenish-blue irises finally spilled, and Buffy didn’t break eye contact as she cried, “Will that help? Is that what you have to hear?” Her tears flowed freely as she expressed, “I don’t… I don’t! Now let me go!”

She managed to pull away from his grip but didn’t run. It devastated Xander to hear her utter those words, like a sword shoved through his stomach. “No,” he gasped. Shaking his head in pained disbelief, he repeated loudly, “No! A person doesn’t just wake up one day and stop loving somebody!” A gun suddenly appeared in Xander’s hand. Heavy with turbulent feelings, he struggled to raise the revolver, eventually pointing the shaky gun at Buffy. Her tear-filled eyes widened with terror as Xander finished, “Love is forever.”

Buffy ran from Xander, and unable to shoot her in the back, he quickly gave chase. From hallway to hallway and up the flight of stairs, he called for her to stop, however; she kept on running. When they were at the midway point between the first and second floor, Xander yelled, “Don’t run away from me, bitch!” She kept running, and he followed until they were near the balcony on the second floor. The gun was shaking terribly in his angered hands as he yelled, “Stop! I mean it! Don’t make me!”

A terrified Buffy carefully turned around, softly voicing, “All right. Just... You know you don’t want to do this. Let’s both just calm down. Give me the gun,” she said, cautiously extending her hand to the overwrought and crying boy.

Punctuating with his gun, Xander yelled, “Don’t! Don’t do that, damn it! Don’t talk to me like I’m some dumb-” However, the jerking movements of the gun while he yelled made his finger squeeze a little too tightly, and the revolver went off. A loud bang echoed throughout the halls of Sunnydale, then slowly, Buffy looked down to her chest, and she couldn’t comprehend the dark reddish hole above her heart or why so much blood was spilling out. With needlepoint eyes of disbelief, she slowly looked at a shocked Xander, tears streaming down her face, then fell to the ground.

The entire time James and Grace’s horrid drama played out in the empty hallways of their school, Xander—the real Xander—had been yelling within himself to stop, to return control of his body, to not shoot the girl he loved. Not unlike the Hyena spirit or the Halloween costumes during the Janus curse, Xander couldn’t stop anything while James controlled him. All he could do was watch until Buffy’s heart finally stopped beating and everything went black.

Xander looped back.

“FUCK!” Xander yelled the moment he popped up on the smelly bed of his disgusting room. “FUCK!!” he yelled even louder.

After ripping his aged sheets off, Xander took the Navy SEAL route once again. He didn’t deviate much from the previous loop and mostly had the same results, with slight improvements to his physical fitness, school grades, relationships, and forging. His forging specifically made a Slaymore that flared brighter than before when he spoke the incantation, and could now cut through anything without losing its sharp edge. As Xander had before, he forged the weapon using the gold from the Du Lac cross, however, this time, Slaymore burned any vampire it pierced like holy water.

Xander even made himself a battle axe for fun. He extended the grip so he could use both hands to wield it, not unlike a sledgehammer but with an axe head. The young weapon-smith originally intended to forge a hammer just like Thor’s Mjölnir, however, when he listened to the material, it was telling him it wanted to be a dual-wield battle axe with a long-blade on one side and a blunt butt on the other.

The four runes he forged in the folds of the weapon were ᛞᚾᚨᛟ—Restore, Need, Power, and Worthy—so like Slaymore, it was incredibly strong. It didn’t wield lightning like he fantasized it would, but Xander was thrilled he could throw the weapon, and sometimes—if he concentrated hard enough—it would slowly fly back to him. The first time he did it, Xander orgasmed a little in his underwear. His love for smithing redoubled all over again, and he didn’t stop practicing.

Rather than let Jenny get the Orb by herself in this loop, Xander came up with an excuse to go with her. Under the pretense of asking for magical material for smithing, they went to the shop together, bought the Orb, and she dropped him off without incident. The lack of attack surprised Xander, however, he only grew more nervous. He phoned Giles to check in on her that night, but several hours later, Xander got the call from a distraught Willow, sharing with him the tragic news of Jenny’s murder.

“Giles f-found her,” Willow cried, but Xander couldn’t feel as heartbroken.

Jenny’s death—or the deaths of any of his friends—wasn’t his first time, and it was making him feel emotionally distant, jaded, and callous when he couldn’t feel as much as his friends. Xander would later learn that Spike attacked and killed Jenny on her way home. And yet again, the plan to curse the blond vampire with a soul was scrapped in favor of murdering him.

When the school shootings began again, Xander made certain to fit Buffy with a bulletproof vest the night they trained together. The slayer told him repeatedly that she didn’t need the defense wear, but the time-repeating teen was so adamant about not looping again, he forced the protection on her. Graciously, she stood still and let him fit her with the vest. His friends thought him crazy for going to such extremes, until Xander and Buffy were possessed again. Xander expected to survive until he realized their roles were now reversed. Buffy was James. Xander was Grace, and she shot him in the chest, forcing Xander to loop back yet again.

After months of mind-numbing repetition, improving the recreations of his powerful weapons, breaking up with Cordelia, and everything else he did, Xander was fitting them both in a bullet-proof vest. Somehow, on the night of the possession, Spike showed up as well. The rebel vampire had not been seen since February, but implausibly, the blond vampire returned to kill Buffy. Within the poltergeists’ field of influence, Spike was possessed by Grace while James possessed Buffy again. And Xander was forced to watch them recreate the past lover’s emotional breakup.

Buffy shooting Spike in the chest was the only satisfying part of the entire vomit-inducing ordeal. Watching Spike fall over the balcony, Xander was happy to note he didn’t die from the bullet to the heart or the fall, which meant Xander wouldn’t be looping back. Buffy ran away and Xander followed her to the music room, where he grew nervous once again.

A 50s-era record player magically appeared and a distraught Buffy, as James, placed a record on the turntable. She dropped the needle before turning to the reflection on the glass cabinet. Even Xander could see James reflected on the surface, mirroring Buffy’s sadness for killing Grace-Spike. When the inconsolable Buffy began raising the revolver to her head, her hand trembling throughout as she cried, Xander quickly grabbed her hand and tried to wrestle the weapon away.

“Come on!” Xander yelled as he pulled with all his might to pry the murder weapon from her grip. His knuckles were white, and he strained his muscles trying to pull the weapon away, however, the combination of Buffy’s slayer strength and the poltergeist’s paranormal power made it impossible to move the barrel away from her temple. Xander heard the click of her finger on the trigger when Spike burst through the door.

“Don’t!” Spike yelled.

Buffy turned, skeptical of the sight of Spike, and asked with confusion, “Grace? But I… I killed you.”

Spike cautiously moved to the frazzled Buffy, reaching out to her as he said, “It’s not your fault. It was an accident.”

Buffy shook her head the closer Spike got, unable to hear such forgiveness, and protested, “It was my fault! How could I let this-”

Spike embraced her passionately, making Xander reflexively grip his stake harder as he watched the disturbing scene. It reminded Xander too much of the Old Man memories that starred Spike and Buffy, grossing him out.

“I’m the one who should be sorry, James,” Spike softly said to the crying Buffy. “You thought I stopped loving you. But I never did. I loved you with my last breath.”

A sobbing Buffy broke down, dropping the gun, and Xander was relieved to know he wouldn’t be looping again. Then Spike comforted the overwrought slayer, voicing, “No more tears,” before kissing her. Xander froze in mind, body, and spirit at the disturbing sight of the loving kissing happening in front of him. Knowing the future of Buffy and Spike’s toxic and tumultuous relationship, Xander couldn’t believe how much seeing it hurt more than simply knowing of it. Soon the past lovers experience their touching moment of redemption, making the kissing Buffy and Spike glow in warm, white light. Like smoke, the poltergeists rose from slayer and vampire until they vanished above the kissing pair.

The next second of lustful kissing lasted an eternity before Buffy finally opened her eyes. At the sight of Spike’s face, she stopped. Then Spike did as well, and they looked at each other in abhorrent shock. Spike’s eyes grew even wider when he felt a sharp stake be driven into his back, through his ribs, and into his heart. Spike managed to look at the manic Xander before everything went black. The mentally exhausted time-looper may have woken up in his smelly bed and gross room once again, but with the lingering, traumatic image of Buffy and Spike making out in his head, he didn’t feel an ounce of regret.

The fuming teen nodded as he snarled, “Worth it.”

Xander restarted everything yet again, passing each time barrier with more confidence whilst working out, improving his forging speed & technique, his weapons’ strengths, and trying to do better by his friends and Cordelia. Buffy was always incredibly heartbroken when she learned about Angel’s curse. Whether Xander had Willow or Giles be the ones telling her, she blamed him for the fifth consecutive time. Trying to distance himself from Cordelia always made them end up in bed together, and his skills kept her there until she broke it off when he couldn’t deny his feelings for Buffy. Then Xander began helping Giles train Buffy until the shootings happened once again.

Xander, fitted himself and Buffy with bulletproof vests, however, he also called Angel to cover for Spike’s attendance. Angel and Buffy were sparring in the library when the vampire sensed Spike, then the three searched the closed school grounds for him. The three were in the courtyard when the paranormal event happened once again. Buffy had her bullet-proof vest on, as did Xander, but the ones possessed were Buffy and Angel.

By their declarations of love and loss, Xander could tell Angel would be the one holding the revolver, which was a relief, however, he couldn’t rejoice for long. From behind Xander, he heard casual footsteps before a long whistle. The very human teenager turned, and to his dismay, Spike was observing the tragic drama unfolding between Buffy and Angel.

“What the bloody hell is going on here?” Spike asked in clear confusion, despite his demonic face. “This is giving me some serious Passions vibes.” Turning to Xander, Spike genuinely asked, “You catch that soap opera on the telly? Because I can’t get enough of it.”

The intelligent Spike seemed to understand the drama beginning to unfold behind Xander and smiled evilly. The undead blond stepped forward with nefarious purpose and Xander stepped in front of him, blocking the villainous vampire from his homicidal goal. If Xander wanted to prevent Spike from killing either Buffy or Angel while they reenacted the supernatural tragedy, he was going to have to fight the vampire by himself; without the intent to kill him.

‘Fuck me,’ Xander annoyingly thought as a confident Spike laughed at him.

Fighting the vampire was nothing Xander hadn’t done before. He fought Spike dozens upon dozens of times during his rage phase, however, those were day-loops. Xander didn’t have to repeat much to fight the blond vamp during day-loops. Dying here would send him back six months, and the possibility of that was incredibly high. The vampire would likely not use the same moves he always did during Halloween, and Xander knew he wouldn’t be able to force Spike to retreat without sustaining mild-to-serious injuries. If Xander didn’t get to a hospital fast enough, he could just as easily die from blood loss, internal bleeding, or ruptured organs.

‘Fuck me,’ he thought again, as he lowered his stance. Despite the confident vampire’s superior speed and power, Xander was no slouch. Not only was he a capable fighter, but after six months of intense physical training, his body was in much better condition than his body on Halloween. Xander felt confident despite his perceivable fear.

Rather than wait, Xander took the fight to him, charging the blond vampire. The young teen knew Spike’s tells and how to feint attacks in order to counter. Being faster, a confident Spike swung a casual right hook first. Expecting it, Xander slipped it on the outside, because as he guessed, the blond vampire would follow with a backhand using the same hand. Xander stepped forward, gripped the swinging arm, and utilized the strength of his core to throw Spike with his own momentum. The vampire recovered quick enough, however; it was all to give Xander the half-a-second necessary to follow the throw with a solid roundhouse kick to his jaw.

Spike was launched off his feet, spinning in the air before landing hard on the tile floor, but Xander didn’t let up. Spike couldn’t even spit out the blood before Xander quickly stabbed the vampire twice in his right thigh. He needed to avoid killing the impressive fighter while slowing him down to a manageable speed. Spike grunted before swiping at Xander’s legs, forcing the teen to back away.

Now incredibly enraged, Spike slowly stood up, leaning more on his left leg. He forgot about Buffy for the moment in favor of killing Xander. Despite his handicap, Spike lunged at Xander and the pair began trading blows. Xander kept slipping or dodging punches to his left, forcing Spike to put more weight on his injured leg if the vampire wanted to hit the teen.

Nevertheless, Spike ignored the stabbing pain of his leg and raged forward, landing more and more heavy punches against Xander’s defensive arms. Xander ignored the pain and countered as best he could with the stake in hand and his fancy footwork. His forearms were throbbing from the few punches Spike landed, however, the teen hadn’t been hit in the face, throat, kidneys, or liver. Xander only needed to keep up this strategy for a few more minutes, then Buffy and Angel could help enough to force the vampire to flee.

As a creature of adaptation, Spike suddenly halted his assault and backed away. Xander was confused a moment before he realized he had rotated too much, and the vampire had a clearer path toward Buffy. Xander had to leap forward to protect her, giving Spike the chance to take advantage. Despite stabbing the vampire in the shoulder, Spike got a solid hit across his face, dazing the boy. A terrible ringing replaced all other sounds in his ears, and Xander saw blinking bright stars in his blurry vision. He could already feel his mouth filling with blood as his congested nose trickled with the thick liquid, making breathing harder.

Spike pressed his assault and Xander remained on the defensive, blocking as many shots as he could whilst moving back. Xander’s blocking with his pointy weapon kept the vampire from doing crippling damage, however, everything was hurting worse. The vampire completely forgot about his injured leg and the sweating Xander was getting tired quicker. The teen had his technique and the presence of mind to avoid killer blows, but against Spike, recovering his offense was nearly impossible for a regular human.

At the loud bang of a gunshot, the punch-drunk Spike turned and calmed enough to be shocked at the sight of Angel shooting Buffy in the chest. Xander felt relief for the respite and tried to recover as much as he could while slowly moving in the direction of the music room.

“Well, this might just be one of the oddest nights I’ve ever come across,” Spike remarked in disbelief. When Angel ran away, the blond vampire looked at the downed slayer, then the wounded Xander before quipping, “Not how I would’a done it, but dead is dead. Right, this is cause for celebration.” Pointing a black-painted nail at Xander, Spike threatened, “I’ll give ya a few days to make your peace with God, boy, then I’m coming for you and anyone you love. I don’t want to hear any begging either. Serves you right for being so annoying.”

With a smirk, Spike turned to leave, his long leather coat billowing behind him. His leg didn’t even seem to bother him anymore. The bloody and hurting Xander was thrilled to let the vampire think it was over and wondered how fast he could get to the hospital for the throbbing he was feeling all over his body. Spike nearly made it to the exit of the spacious quad when Buffy grunted and then coughed, halting his steps. Then Spike turned to the sound.

As Buffy slowly made her way to her feet, Xander grimaced, “Fuck,” when he realized the impossible battle wasn’t over. Possessed-Buffy chased after possessed-Angel and Spike chased after her, forcing the irritated teen to repeat, “Fuck!” before ignoring his pain and chasing after them.

Taking a shortcut to the music room, the sprinting Xander knew the destruction to his school would be an issue later, but he truly didn’t have any other option. Xander extended his arm for several seconds before tackling Spike to the floor right outside the music room Buffy had entered. Using the momentum, he tossed Spike to the side. Quickly, Xander extended his hand again with his palm open as an irate Spike made his way to his feet. The teen remained with his hand outstretched, waiting, as the vampire growled with his nightmarish face before charging the young human.

Xander stopped extending his hand to block Spike’s fast punch with both arms. The force from the furious vampire was strong enough to knock his arms into his face, then off his feet to the floor. Spike kicked the stake away before picking Xander up by his collar and effortlessly slamming him against the hard wall.

“Such an annoying little gnat,” the vampire growled, baring his horrible fangs. “But an easily killable gnat, nonetheless!”

Xander extended his arm again as his other arm elbowed Spike in the face when he tried to bite him. At the same time, Xander planted his feet on Spike’s chest, and using the wall as leverage, tasked all the strength in his legs to push the incredibly strong vampire away. Playfully, Spike moved forward, regardless of all of Xander’s leg strength trying to keep him back.

Xander tried to swipe at his yellow demon eyes or club his throat, but the blond fighter slipped those attacks while pressing dangerously close to Xander’s neck. Spike’s fangs kept inching closer to the human’s throbbing jugular, folding the injured teen’s straining legs more than they should. Keeping his arm outstretched, Xander concentrated harder, desperately, and just as sharp fangs were about to sink into his neck, Spike stopped.

The vampire heard something alarming—a mystery that gave him pause—and soon, the beat and bleeding Xander could hear it as well. Something very heavy was moving at incredible speed through walls, trees, bookshelves, windows, cabinets, chalkboards, and anything else in its way. Like a targeting missile, the destructive sound was headed straight for them. Xander’s newly made weapon finally smashed through the last wall, knocking over lockers and making Spike behold a speeding battle axe, spinning straight into Xander’s outstretched hand.

It was a thing of beauty. The two-handed Viking-style battle axe had an overall length of forty inches, or 3.3 feet. The twelve wide, 7Cr13 carbon steel bearded axe head had a 9.7 inch, hair-shaving razor edge on one side and a blunt butt for bludgeoning attacks on the other. The curved handle was crafted of impact-resistant red-elm wood, then laid in a Tung oil bath for twenty-four hours, filling the wood pores, and swelling the handle so the wood would be fully protected and never shrink. It was wrapped in cowhide treated with palm leaf wax and heated beeswax, and felt absolutely invigorating in Xander’s hand, as if it was healing to the touch. Though it looked heavy, his battle-axe felt incredibly light.

Feeling relieved with his weapon in hand, Xander swung the blunt end into stunned Spike’s ribs, eliciting a stiff grunt from the vampire as Xander’s legs shoved the vampire back. Telegraphing his next move, the teen took a second longer than needed to throw the axe toward Spike’s chest. Predictably, the vampire dodged and came right at Xander, but his outstretched hand already called his weapon back. Spike had to dodge to the side to avoid the axe’s blade from biting into his back. Xander caught his weapon as he rushed forward to knee Spike in the face, making him grunt. He then swung the blunt butt of the axe into the vampire’s stomach like a baseball bat. Spike grunted as he was shoved back, hitting the floor and rolling on one knee to a stop.

As they glared at each other, Xander wondered what the vampire would fall for next as Spike angrily growled, “Bastard, you broke a bloody rib!”

Xander just concentrated on his own labored breathing as he wondered what kind of internal damage his own body was suffering. Spike grabbed the trashcan near him and threw it as a feint. Xander spun his axe and batted the large receptacle away with the butt of his axe while he side-stepped. Spike met him in an instant, and rather than punch or kick, he spear-tackled the teen in the gut, bending him in half.

Like getting hit by a car, Xander grunted as they flew many yards away. His entire chest felt caved in as the men slid on the cold floor to a stop. Fortunately, the bullet-proof vest lent him just enough protection to keep his sternum from braking. However, Spike was atop of him and punched Xander through his one-arm guard. Xander was dazed by the punch, but felt Spike’s cold hands grip his chin and back of the head, ready to break his neck when Angel tackled him off.

“Xander!” Buffy yelled as she slid to her wounded friend’s side.

The young teen could hear Spike and Angel fight and growl, however, he only cared to stay with Buffy and relax under her super-powered protection. It was a clear tactical retreat for Spike, who was now not only injured but outnumbered. When he took off, Angel chased after him.

With the relief of safety and security the Slayer brought, Xander felt his body unwind, followed quickly by unbridled pain. His sweaty, hot, and swollen face grimaced at the agony flourishing throughout his broken body. From his back to his legs, shoulders, arms, neck, and face, Xander was hurting horribly. He could taste his blood clogging his nose and dripping from his busted lip. It was hard to take deep breaths and all his bones felt brittle and ached. Buffy mostly carried the hobbling teenage boy to the library, where Angel and Giles met them.

“Spike’s gone,” Angel voiced as Giles demanded to know, “Goodness, Xander, what happened?”

“He fought Spike,” Buffy gravely answered, easily holding the limp and struggling boy.

Confused, a concerned Giles asked, “Alone?”

“No… choice- AH!” Xander yelped from the sharp pain in his ankle shooting up his body like lightning. The wounded teenager leaned on Buffy more when his vision began swimming, which didn’t go unnoticed by the slayer, the vampire, and the watcher.

“Don’t speak,” Giles ordered the boy, leading them to the library for medical treatment.

Xander’s vision darkened worse than the already dark hallway, and he felt like puking his boiling internal organs as he brokenly voiced, “Jus… neeeed… ta heal…”

Sensing how bad of a state he was in, Buffy desperately yelled, “We need to get him to the hospital!” The wounded teen could barely hear Buffy say, “Xander, you need to let the axe go.” Everything was blacking out despite the blonde yelling, “Xander? Xander, let go of the axe! Xander!”