FicWad

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Groggily and with a protesting moan he awoke. As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, for a brief disoriented second, Xander wondered where he was. When his eyes focussed he was both relieved and surprised to find he was in his own room.

'Must have been a freaky dream after all.' He thought to himself as he got up and grabbed the nearest shirt and pants and gave them a quick sniff to determine their level of cleanliness.

Tossing them on a chair for later he made his way to the bathroom stretching and yawning the whole way. Xander, for one, was never fully awake until he had a long hot shower. Thus why he nearly missed the sight that greeted him in the bathroom mirror.

In fact it took him a moment to realize something wasn't right as he opened the door to the shower. Pausing he blinked several times before turning back towards the mirror. The sight was enough to jolt him fully awake and cause a gasp to escape his lips.

The colour of his eyes had turned a blood red.

"And the weirdness gets an early start today." He quipped almost on reflex while staring at the kick in the teeth before him.

In a daze he had his shower and somehow made it back to his room. He was fully dressed and pacing before he came to his senses. Xander didn't even miss a beat in his pace as he tried to come up with a course of action.

"Ok, calm down Xand." He told himself. "Just eyes. Nobody's going to notice. Right?"

Xander sighed as he stopped at his bedroom mirror and stared into his own newly red eyes. "Who am I kidding?! I have Xander luck! Everybody's going to notice! Crap. Crap! CRAP. CRAP!"

He was about to start pacing again when realization hit him and he nearly smacked himself at the obviousness of the solution.

"Giles will know what to do! Weird stuff is right up his alley!" He exclaimed happily only to deflate a second later. "But he's probably in the hospital after being tortured by Angelus."

A heavy sigh on his lips Xander headed for his door. "Oh well, no point standing here talking to myself like a crazy person. Sunndyhell's got enough of those as it is. May as well see if I can find out what happened after I passed out."

With that he walked through the door only to reappear seconds later and head straight for the mountain of junk that at one point was a desk. Digging around for a moment he smiled triumphantly as he pulled out a pair of black wraparound sunglasses. They were just the cheap brand you'd find at any drugstore but they'd do for now.

Glasses firmly in place Xander went downstairs intent on leaving. An aroma stopped him dead in his tracks as he passed the kitchen. It was something very odd for this house. It smelled like breakfast.

Cautiously Xander peered inside and his jaw dropped. If he'd had any heart problems he probably would have dropped too. He wasn't the only one shocked though. His mother sat at the kitchen table with a fresh cup of coffee just staring at his father who was... at the stove cooking?

As his father turned and saw him Xander noticed two things. Well, three things but are we really going to split hairs? One was that there were no alcohol bottles in sight and two his father seemed to be more or less sober for this time of day. As if that wasn't strange enough he had a rather nasty looking black eye.

"Alex, come on in here and sit down. I'm just about to dish out some breakfast."

Dumbfounded Xander complied and could hardly believe it when the plate of bacon and scrambled eggs placed in front of him actually looked edible. They ate in what was the first comfortable silence he could remember being in this house in a long time.

"Alex? Why are you wearing sunglasses indoors?" His mother asked after a few minutes. It came out awkward, but she genuinely sounded curious.

"My eyes are bugging me today." He didn't exactly lie. After all, they were bothering him, just not in the way it sounded.

The look his parents shared before his father spoke didn't go unnoticed by him. "The... lady... who dropped you off said you got hit on the head saving some people from gang members. Maybe it's from that."

"Did you really do that?" His mother asked. "Stand up to a gang like that to help somebody?"

It was a true enough story. He had jumped in and saved people from 'gang members on PCP' on many occasions and got a bonk on the head in return. So he just nodded in response.

She actually smiled at him after that. "I'm... we're proud of you."

Ok, this was different. His dad was relatively sober and cooking and his mom was actually showing an interest in his life. And the weirdness meter just keeps rising. What the hell happened while he was out?

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After Xander had presumably awoken from this little world he was stuck in Angel found a relatively comfortable spot to sit and brood with his back against a tombstone. He was confident that he wouldn't be here long. Xander would want to get rid of him as much as he wanted to get gone.

Unfortunately for him even Angel has limits on how long he sit and brood. With sigh he stood up and brushed off his black pants. Not that he actually had any he realized. Or the black button down shirt he wore either. He didn't even have a physical body. This world was one of the mind and soul. Xander's mind and soul. So would that make his body just a mental representation?

Shaking the thoughts aside he picked a direction at random and headed for the doors in the distance.

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As Xander walked up to the door of the large luxurious house he prayed. What did he pray for? Well, it was more of a request really. A simple one at that. He just wanted anyone but her to answer the door. Of course fate seemed to once more decide to kick him as the one person he least wanted to see answered the door.

"What do you want?" Cordelia's mother asked snidely.

She was one of those people who took being of the upper class very seriously. As such she didn't approve of her daughter dating someone so obvious beneath her it wasn't funny. It was more or less ok when she thought it was just a fling, but after a few months she realized it was more serious than that. Then the sabotage attempts started.

She had actually tried to bribe him away at one point. He refused as politely as he could with his teeth clenched stating that he didn't care about money. Xander had had to bite his tongue when the look on her face told him she didn't believe him for a second.

"Well, out with it boy!" Her annoyed voice came as he realized he'd zoned out for a minute there. He tried his best not to cringe.

"I'm looking for Cordelia."

"She's not here." With that the door slammed in his face.

Not wanting to press his luck he started walking back down the drive to continue on his way to the hospital. He'd stopped here because it was on the way and he thought Cordelia would want to come. Despite what she may say about them he knew she worried as much as any of them when somebody was hurt. She just hid it better. At least now he wouldn't have to worry about her feeling ditched when he snuck in to see Giles alone though.

As Xander made it to the street a red dodge ram started to pull into the driveway only to stop beside him. The window rolled down to reveal Cordelia's father. He was a nice enough guy. He didn't really seem to approve or disapprove of his daughter's relationship. "Hey Xander, what are you doing here?"

"Just looking for Cordelia."

A confused look crossed his bearded features. "She's checking on someone in the hospital. I thought you were meeting her there?"

"Miscommunication I guess. Thanks Mr. Chase, I'll head over there now."

"Alright, see you later Xander."

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Angel walked down a long hall filled with more of the large ornate double doors that were in the first room. In fact if it wasn't vaguely hall like this room would look just like the first, keeping with the graveyard and mist motif.

He stopped as he tried to decide which door to try first. In this section of the hall there were six doors, three on either side. Finally deciding on one he pushed the stone door open with ease that belied its compound. Angel never walked inside though, he only stood in the doorway as his mouth threatened to go agape.

Inside was a hyena. Not just any hyena though. The biggest freaking hyena Angel had ever seen. In a room that was easily the size of a football field it took up just over half of that. It was struggling against the large, heavy chains that held it to the ground.

Angel learned the hard way that its head had just enough room to each the door as it snapped in his direction causing him to fall backwards from the shock. Cautiously he stood and closed the door, wary of the snarling beast.

"Let's skip door number one."

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It didn't take Xander long to reach the hospital and the floor Willow was on. A small waiting area was nearby and as he reached it he was met with a sight that was equally surprising and pleasing sight. Joyce and Buffy sat next to each other, both looking decidedly uncomfortable but were there nonetheless.

He knew Buffy and her mom had it out last night, but from the looks of it they were on the road to patching things up. Joyce had made no secret that she disapproved of the slaying and it was a testament to her character that she was here. Odds are the two had talked some last night... no... probably this morning when they wouldn't be as emotionally worn.

It didn't matter what had happened right now just that it had. He would find out later anyways. For now he was just happy that Buffy had her mother to help her deal with the loss of Angel and Kendra and having two people she cared about hospitalized. Not to mention it was safer on Joyce to know about the real nightlife out there.

"Hey." Xander said simply as he sat beside Buffy and put an arm around her shoulder. She leaned into him in response, her puffy eyes didn't escape his notice but he made no comment.

"So what's the what?"

"They're going to release Willow tomorrow." Buffy told him with a weak voice. "Giles is going to be ok, but they won't let us all visit him at once. Mom and I have already been in, Oz and Cordelia are in now."

"That's some good news then."

"Yeah."

An uncomfortable silence began to settle in then so Xander decided to change the topic.

"So, Buff, care to tell me why my dad has a black eye?" The question was asked playfully. She wouldn't have been the first person to want to pop his father after all. And after what she went through last night he doubted she would have had the patience to deal with him. "What exactly happened when you dropped me off last night."

"I didn't." She told him indignantly. "I called my mom to take you home while I took Giles to the hospital. Since you just seemed to be unconscious she took you home."

Two pairs of eyes turned towards Joyce, one set curious and questioning.

"Well when I brought you home I met your parents and I assumed they would help me with you... arrhh." She made a sound of frustration and the disgusted look on her face clearly said she'd do it again if they were there right now. "How can people say those kinds of things about their own child!? It was disgusting!"

Xander's chuckle drew both Summer's attention. "Well I don't think you're going to have to worry right now. This morning my dad was making a family breakfast and my mom actually talked to me rather than at me... it was weird."

This actually got a small chuckle out of Joyce. "I think I might have put the fear of God in them."

"No you put the fear of Summer's women in him. Much scarier."

He never did find out which one them the smack upside the head came from.