Hellmouth Halloween

Author: Daenerys <MWALTHEW[at]telkomsa.net>

Pairings: X/D eventually

Crossover: Yup.

Disclaimer: Don't own them, and after what's been done to them on the show, don't particularly want to either.

Rating: I'm gonna go with R for now.

Summary: A slightly different Halloween

Author's Note: Before everyone starts complaining about the particular powers of the crossover (you'll find out), I know that they aren't quite accurate. I'm having them changed slightly by the mixture of both the hellmouth energy, and the chaos energy from ans, meaning they became slightly warped. Instead of only mental, physical manifestation also occurs.


Part 1

Xander Harris watched in disgust as Buffy and Willow left the store, still holding the gun limply in his hand. That Buffy had chosen her costume purely to impress a vampire just seemed wrong to him, and he would have thought that someone with Willow's intelligence would have tried at least to discourage her, but Willow, as usual, just went along with anything that the almighty slayer wanted. He looked down mournfully at the toy gun in his hands, knowing that his outfit was quite lame, a good idea, but when he looked around himself, and saw the collection of heroes, villians and monsters in the shop his shoulders drooped slightly.

"Just a gun?"

Xander looked up to see the owner of the shop with a slight frown on his face. "It's all I can afford, plus I have some fatigues at home. Even some dog tags. It'll do."

Ethan frowned deeper still. "A soldier." He glanced quickly up at the clock, showing that it was rapidly approaching closing time. "I'll tell you what, I can give you a better costume than that, and for the same price, it's hardly complicated after all, and much more impressive. Just come here before you meet up with your friends, if you don't like it, you can still go with the soldier look, but I don't think you'll want to. Just bring some black trousers or jeans, and I'll provide the rest. It's not like I'm likely to get anymore customers after tonight anyhow."

Xander brightened considerably, then nodded his head. "Hey man, thanks. That'd be great. Um, I assume you're name is Ethan right, like on the shop?"

"That's right, now if you don't mind, I do have some other preperations to make."

He watched as the kid ran out into the street, then smiled. "A soldier. I can't let one of those out tonight, while I'm sure it could provide some chaos with random shooting, they are to often too disciplined. I'd much rather have someone a bit more . . . unpredictable." His smile turned into a smirk. "And it isn't all that difficult after all, and won't cost me a thing."

A Few Hours Later

Xander rushed into the shop to find Ethan waiting for him in front of a mirror. The shop owner looked him over slowly, then smiled. "Yes that'll do  nicely, Mr . . ."

"Oh, call me Xander."

"Xander. Sit, take off that horrible shirt, I'll get something better suited." He moved off into the main portion of the shop, muttering to himself, just inaudible to Xander. "I swear, I worship chaos yes, but that shirt just goes to far. Even chaos would be afraid to own up to creating . . . that." He returned quickly, handing Xander a dark black shirt, and a leather motorcycle jacket, also black.

"Oh come on, please don't make me into a brooding idiot. I see enough of that from Buffy's boyfriend."

Ethan frowned again. "Xander, let me give you a bit of advice about Halloween. You can go one of two ways, dark and pained, or brightly coloured spandex. I'm not about to let you out with one of the more complicated costumnes from my shop, not unless you've suddenly inherited at least a hundred dollars. Besides which with you're build it would just make you look gay."

Xander blanched. "Right, black and broody it is then."

Ethan smirked. "I thought you'd come round to my thinking." He waited until Xander had put on the shirt, then grinned. "Now, we just have to do the makeup."

"MAKEUP!!!???"

Part 2
(WARNING!! R Rated for violence in this chapter)

Buffy opened the door, looking up toward Xander, and froze. "Whoah . . ."

"Well let him in! I wanna see what he got." Dawn, dressed in a classical witches costume looked at Xander and froze like her sister. "Whoah. That's great Xander, come . . ." she stopped, and glanced outside, saw the sun had just set, then gestured him inside instead of completing her sentence. Xander smiled. Buffy and the rest believed that Dawn knew nothing about the terrors of the night, but after he had caught her following him during one of their patrols, and her confessing to have seen him stake a vampire, made absolutely sure that she knew the rules on how to survive on the hellmouth. It just amazed him that she would do something as obvious as this, not inviting someone in after dark, yet still her sister remained clueless.

"Nice costume Dawnie. So what are you going to be doing, while we're roaming around guiding the children."

She frowned at him, then spat out, "I'm one of the children. In fact," and she glanced at what appeared to be a well read list, "I'm in your group."

"Really." Xander on the other hand seemed to beam at her. "That'll be great! Having you there will make up for the others. I was dreading it myself."

Dawn looked slightly mollified.

Buffy finally spoke. "Well that's good, because I know for a fact that Dawn here begged to be in your group, totally refused all others." She ignored her sister's horrified glare at her.

Xander's smile just got bigger. "Ah Buff, you know how it is. She must have seen all the other names leading the groups, and chose the best one of the lot. Why anyone would lower themselves to go with someone else when they could have such a handsome, intelligent, witty hunk like myself I don't know, isn't that right Dawnie."

Dawn turned a bright red, and nodded slightly. "Uh huh. . . Xander"

He looked at her, having totally missed her embarrasment.

"Don't smile okay. It totally ruins the effect of the makeup."

His expression went stony. "It's facepaint. FACEPAINT!! Ok. It. Is. Not. Makeup."

All three of the Summers women giggled slightly at that. With Willow joining the group as Casper, they left for the school, Dawn sticking closely to Xander all the way, then guiding him to the group he was taking around with him. After settling them down from the various "Cool!", "Awesome!" and even a "Groovy!" he gave them advice toward the aquisition of candy.

Then the spell struck. Children rose growling as various monsters. Willow collapsed, gasping for air, as did Xander, while Dawn frowned down at her clothes, then muttered quickly, transforming them into a long black robe, tied with a silver chain around her waist, and lost the pointed hat. She glanced up quickly, casting a protection spell over herself, then gasped as she saw Xander flip up onto his feet, and turn and stare at her. She looked quickly around her, examining the monsters now running around the town, then back toward Xander, who was standing stock still, breathing lightly as he glanced around.

"Excuse me sir."

His face shot round to her, confirming her suspicions as she saw the markings on it.

"If you don't mind, with all that's happening around here. I believe that I would be safer if we could team up. The monsters won't have muc danger for you, whilst those that will, I can combat magically."

He continued to stare at her, then spoke disbelieving. "Dawnie. But. . . you're dead. It's why I came back. What's happening."

She frowned deeply, then her eyes seemed to lose focus. They snapped back, and she spoke, slightly disbelievingly. "It would seem, that you are right, I am this . . . Dawn. It appears to be a chaos spell, which could end at any time." She frowned slightly. "I am unsure what would happen to you, since you must have died to become, what you have become. I can cast another spell, if you wish, it would merely strengthen the one at the moment, make it permanent in fact, but will let us retain our real memories as well."

Xander looked down at himself in agony, silent for several moments, the two of them a pool of silence in the chaos surrounding them. He looked up again at her. "Do it. Even if I have to remain like this, to protect you, I'll do anything."

Dawn nodded, and spoke quickly and quietly, while Xander looked around them, and froze, seeing a familiar face, as Spike watched the happenings with glee, and then spotted him, and moved swiftly to attack. As the spell of Dawn's insured a permanent change over the two of them, Dawn features, while his remained the same, become younger, fitting her own, rather than the ageless look of before. She cast again, and Spike froze in front of them, unable to move.

Xander looked over at her.

"It was the best I could do. After the other spells, I can't dust him properly."

He smirked. "Don't worry. I have something much better planned." He took three rapid steps to the vampire, then brought his hands up to his face and gasped slightly. He drew back, and then reached out a hand again. "All the suffering you've caused. The pain, the agony, the anguish, the affliction. The men, women and children. The lives you took. You'll feel it all."

Spike seemed to frown for an instant, then started to scream. Blood welled up, mostly from his shoulders, pouring out of deep wounds. Cuts appeared , covering his body, spilling more blood. His fingers broke one by one, followed by his toes, then his legs and arms. His mouth opened and his tongue fell out of it, releasing yet another fountain of red. Electrical burns appeared, over the cuts, that were slowly healing from his vampiric power, then welling up again. The same with the broken limbs, healing, then rebreaking. He fell to the groundand jerked uncontrollably. Cracking noises became audible as each bone in his spine slowly shattered, from the bottom upwards. He resembled a red mass of flesh by this time, misshapen and jerking from the force of bones breaking, and tearing out of his flesh, and then slowly moving back, cutting their way back into position, only for it to happen again and again. His ribs cracked and broke, one by one. His mouth opened again, his regrown tongue was only able to gurgle as his teeth, broken and ripped from his bloody gums were swallowed, or fell out of his mouth, he no longer having the strength to even spit, washed down with blood that dripped down his chin. Finally one of his broken ribs puncured his torn heart, bringing and end to his uffering as he dissolved into dust.

Xander turned to look at Dawn, waiting for her reaction. She was staring at the floating remains of the vampire, then looked back up at him. She paused for a long while, then shrugged. "He deserved it, obviously. I wouldn't mention it to Buffy and the others though, and I'd stick with simple staking while they're around." Her eyes lightened slightly. "At least he lived up to his name. William the Bloody"

He smiled, it wasn't apparent to anyone else, but Dawn could see the emotion in his painted face, through the white and black markings, that no-one else would be able to see. She frowned quickly. "Xander."

He looked back at her, from where he had been glancing around at the battlefield that was Sunnydale.

"How. . . how did you become a crow?"

He looked back at the almost vanished dust that was once Spike. He gestured at it. "He made a deal with the First Evil, and your sister was keeping him in the house, with the given reason to get information. She left for what she thought was the final battle. Then." He looked down, away from Dawn's face. "He broke my legs, and raped you in front of me. Then he cut your throat, and killed everyone else in the house. He nailed me up against the wall with railroad spikes, and I bled to death, just as I saw him ambush Tara when she got back with Willow and Buffy. I don't know if they managed to stop him or not, it was the last thing I saw before you just now."

Dawn gently put her hand on his arm, and he could feel her giving him comfort, empathising with him. "It won't happen Xander. You've stopped it. Thank you."

She looked around again. "I suggest that we head for my house. We don't know where to find the others, and I've used too much energy to cast any more spells, without drawing on some very dark sources."

He nodded at her, and when she started to move her hand away, gripped it again in his own. "Dawn. Thank you. I love you, you know that don't you."

She beamed at him. "I know. I, love you too. And you can believe me, I've been a witch for a good fifty years now, it's real, not just the crush from before this."

He nodded, smiling, and raised her hand for a kiss, then, still holding on to it, motioned in front of him. "Shall we."

She frowned. "Xander?"

He glanced at her again.

"Could you, um, bring your own face back."

He smiled, then closed his eyes. The crow's mask receded, and he blinked suddenly, raising his free hand to his eye. Only Dawn was able to sense the joy he had, and he could sense her responding happiness.

The two started walking slowly, moving toward 1630 Revello drive, hand in hand, as they would be forever after.

TBC…

(A round robin, please someone follow on from this beginning)