Title: Two Faced

By: Nodakskip

Email: by: Theo

Rated: R

Disclaimer: All the characters in this belong to Joss and the others, world without end, whatever.

Author notes: There is some femslash in this one. All are just about same age

Category: Super AU

Summary: The Summer between season 2 and 3.

---

Sunnydale High Library, Sunnydale

Friday, May 30th 1998

3:45 pm

Xander started at the 'man' who had just appeared in the library with a lot of skepticism. "So lemme get this straight. You're Janus, the god of chaos?"

"Yep," the guy in the leather jacket and blue jeans said, as he put his feet up on the table. "Well, on the inside where it matters anyway. Don't be fooled by this human shell I picked to better communicate with you. Humans don't tend to see gods too well, y'know. Your brains really can't handle it."

"Fine. So let's pretend for the moment you are who you say you are," Xander said, his annoyance visible. "What would a god want with us?"

"Under normal circumstances? Not a damn thing," Janus said honestly. "But then you guys are not normal humans. Thing is, I've been keeping an eye on all of you after that Ethan guy called on me to empower that spell of his last year. And what I've seen ever since then has been enough to catch my interest."

Xander mulled his reply over. "What do you think, Willow?" When no answer came, he looked to his friend in her wheelchair. "Willow? Will?" The redhead just looked at him, confused, and pointed to her mouth.

"Oh, don't worry, she's fine," Janus told him. "I just like to do this sort of thing one on one, so to speak. They can hear everything, but for the moment they don't need to talk. It'll end when I leave. Frankly, son, you're the one I'm interested in."

"Now why am I so lucky?"

Janus cocked his head. "Hmmm. I don't know if I'd call you lucky." He glanced over at the others. "There are plans being made in the higher realms that deal with you people." He looked at Willow. "Four years from now? The witch here goes nuts and literally tries to fry the world, twice." Willow's eyes went wide at that but Janus just shrugged. "You'd think after getting your power from the Hellmouth that would be a sign of evil to come, wouldn't you?"

Glancing at Cordelia Chase Janus commented, "There's one so-called higher being up there who wants to use you to eventually give birth to itself, about five years from now. Even though that would destroy your body and soul, as in quite literally." Again he ignored the female wide-eyed shock. "Werewolf Boy is set to go off to find himself, abandon you all forever in about two years. While you, Harris, you just get your left eye gouged out by a mad preacher during 2003. Funny part is you then go on to be completely forgotten by all your so-called friends here."

He smiled at Xander. "Really nice to have something to look forward to, isn't it?"

"Why don't we leave the scare tactics till later," Xander said to all that, refusing to believe. "What do you want with me?"

"Fine, cards on the table," Janus said, looking bored. "You kids have some serious trouble happening right now. You're trying to fight the demons of this town alone, but you're almost at the stage of getting your asses handed to you. Without a Slayer, you're screwed."

Xander leaned forward. "You saying you can give me Buffy's location so we can bring her back?"

Janus shook his head. "Oh, no, no, no. She has her own thing to have to deal with first. For the meantime, I'm offering you a way to not die before she gets back. It'll be awhile, ya understand."

"Hold on a second. You just told us all our gloomy futures, remember?" Xander commented, baiting the new arrival. "So why would we need to even consider your offer? We all survive till Buffy gets back, if you're telling the truth."

"Well, yeah, there is that," Janus admitted. "But those futures I mentioned? The groundwork for them is already being laid. Harris, when I said you would be forgotten, I forgot to mention something. You're acting leader now, but when the necrophiliac blondie gets her ass back in gear…you'll soon find yourself kicked to the side of the curb. In less than a year's time, you'll be a joke to everyone in this room. The sidekick whose only job is to get the doughnuts." He motioned at Willow. "Hell, your best friend over there will try to get you kicked out of the group…" he made air quotes with his fingers. "...for your own good."

Willow strongly shook her head at that.

"Oh, give it a rest, witch!" the god in human clothing scolded her. "I'm Janus, remember? I face both the past and the future, so I know you've thought it before and will think it again. You have your magic mojo, and your best friend is Supergirl…but Harris here is just a normal human. Someone you think doesn't belong in this sort of fight."

Xander knew full well Willow had had those thoughts, even if he didn't like to dwell on that; he was the one who saw everything, after all. "Bottom line this for us. What are you offering? What's your price? And why would you offer it?"

"Well, boy, I know you researched me after that spell incident," the god replied. "You know how I like to create chaos, and bringing chaos upon other higher beings is pretty much just icing on the cake. That's both my price and my reason for this: helping you with some Slayer-type firepower now will REALLY screw up all their long-term plans for you people. They'll all be furious with me." He grinned. "Not that I give a damn though, it's not as if they can do diddly-squat to my ass!"

Xander grinned a little, finally getting it. "You're saying that the big bad futures will be stopped if I do what you want, thus forcing me into doing what you want."

"Yep," Janus said with a grin of his own. "And my little silence spell here and the way you were all turned into your costumes back then is almost proof enough for you, I'm sure." He leaned closer to Xander. "But here's the clincher: knowing you, boy, you'll toss your own dead body in the way to save any one of these people from everything what I said would happen. By the way, they REALLY hate you for that upstairs."

"Guess I don't have a choice then, do I?" Xander said simply.

"Nope. Good luck," Janus grinned as the room was bathed in intense, and blinding, white light. When it faded, the god of chaos was nowhere to be seen. The others had regained their voices as promised, judging by Willow's scream.

"What?" Xander demanded, as he shot up from his chair. "Will, are you okay?"

Willow just stammered as she pointed to him and Cordy and Oz just looked on, stunned. "You're a…you're a…"

"What?!" Xander demanded as his movement caused something to fall into his view of vision.

A curly lock of long, dark hair.

"Huh?" Xander said to himself as he grabbed it and could feel it attached to his head as he pulled it. "What the hell?" Glancing down, Harris saw that his light blue undershirt now showed a decent amount of cleavage. "Oh, NO!!!" Xander screamed as he quickly ran to the mirror hanging by the edge of the counter.

The reflection that stared back at him was not what he'd seen this morning. He was now a teenage girl with curly dark hair down to her shoulders and, despite himself, Xander had to admit, a nice-looking pair of breasts as well. Still unsure, the former male reached his hand up and touched the breast through the cloth.

"Sweet mamalooshin," Harris said in disbelief when he could feel the braless nipple underneath.

"Xander!" Cordelia called as she saw her boyfriend-turned girl faint down on the floor. As she went to check on him, Oz just stayed by his flabbergasted girlfriend.

"Huh," the man of few words said. "I guess we have a new Slayer in town."

---

Xander awoke to cleavage, her girlfriend's cleavage to be exact. He could tell where he was, laying on Giles' office leather couch, and Cordelia was leaning past him to get something off the table. "Now that's a sight to wake up to," he said as he saw the blue lace of the bra.

"Wha-?" Cordelia said in surprise as she dropped back with a tissue in her hand. "God damn it! What the hell is the matter with you?" she demanded.

"Hey, I'm a guy, don't look at me like that…" Harris trailed off when he finally heard his own voice. "What?" he asked as he sat up. "Why do I sound like that?" The new voice sounded more, well, husky.

"Well, you do have a different body now," Cordy told him bluntly.

"Oh, shit!" Xander said as 'she' jumped up and looked into the mirror over the desk. "It wasn't just a nightmare? I really am a girl!?"

"Can't slip anything past you, can we?" Cordy sniped.

"I'm a girl, I'm a girl, I'm a girl…" Xander started to freak out. "Why aren't you all shocked?"

"Oh, I already did the entire freak-out thing while you were passed out," Cordelia told her simply. "So I think we should pass on the plans for tonight."

Xander looked at her new face for a moment back in the mirror. "No."

"No?" Cordelia demanded. "Xander, you're a girl now!"

Without a word Xander turned and left the office. He crossed the main room and went right to the weapons locker.

"What's he, err, she doing?" Willow asked.

"Don't look at me. I could never get Xander, even when he was a still a guy," Cordelia sighed.

Xander emerged a second later with a short knife. "Seen Buffy do it enough times…"

"Do what?" Willow asked her friend.

"Slayer-ness test," Xander told her. She looked around and spotted a poster promoting reading on the far wall by the door. "Cordy, you said the blond guy was cute."

"Yeah, so…"

Harris flipped the knife in her hand for a moment before she wound up and threw the blade.

"Damn," Oz said simply as the blade embedded in the heart of the pictured high school student. "Nice throw."

Xander didn't reply as he backed up a little and then tensed. As the others watched, he jumped from the main level and after a back flip, landed perfectly balanced on the railing along the upper level. "Cooool."

---

Higher dimension

The same time

"Are you out of your ever-loving so-called mind!?"

Janus looked up in annoyance as the balance demon stormed into his sanctuary. "Didn't take you and yours long, did it."

Whistler didn't flinch as he walked over to the god. "They sent me here to give you one chance to reverse what you've done."

"Oh, did they now?" Janus smiled. "I believe an appropriate human gesture will be my answer to that."

Whistler looked on in shock as the god flipped him off with his middle finger.

---

Crestview Cemetery

One month later

Faith did a spin kick to the attacking vampires head as it grabbed her arm. As she landed, she grabbed its arm with her other hand and spun him onto his back. Quickly, she impaled him with a wooden stake through its cold heart. As it exploded into dust, she looked up at the group sitting on the gravestones. "Well?"

Oz shrugged. "9.2."

"9.2?" Faith said, upset. "I dominated his ass!"

"He did get that first shot in," Oz told her.

"Well, if C wasn't babbling about her idiot pony…" Faith growled.

Cordelia looked up from examining her nails. "Oh, I can't talk about my horse, but I have to listen to you going on about all the different whatevers of the Jedi and the Sith?" She thought for a moment. "Just for that, I'm not going to wear that Princess Lea metal bikini later tonight."

"What?" Faith said, mad. "But you promised!"

Cordelia shrugged as she got up. "Well if you want to see it so bad, then YOU can wear it instead."

"Children, can we please cease this annoying dialogue?" Giles said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Oh, come on G-man…" Faith started but stopped suddenly.

"Faith?" Willow asked, confused.

Faith didn't answer as she jumped back and caught a dark blur in mid-air. She yanked it hard to the ground and pinned it to the ground. "Who the hell are you?"

The Scoobies gathered around in surprise as the dark-haired teen girl looked up at Faith and grinned. "Why don't we ditch the audience and just go back to your place, if you want me on my back so much?"

"Don't flatter yourself, babe," Faith said as she yanked the girl up by her shirt. "Now, why did you try to jump me?"

"I ordered her to."

Giles looked back to see an attractive Englishwoman in a tan skirt and white blouse. "And who are you supposed to be?"

"Why, Rupert," the blond woman replied coolly. "I'm crushed. You mean to tell me you don't recall your freshman year university fling?"

The woman walked into the light and the recognition dawned on Giles. "Tabitha? My word. I…I...heard you quit the Council years ago."

"You could say I went into a consulting position." She looked to Faith. "Would you kindly release my Slayer now?"

"Slayer?" Faith asked even as she let the girl go.

Giles understood. "Kennedy."

"That's me," the new teen said smartly. "Kennedy, the Vampire Slayer."

Tabitha walked over to Faith. "And I assume you're the girl that Rupert said was helping on the Hellmouth?"

"Name's Faith," the Sunnydale girl said in a Boston accent. "What's it to you?"

The older woman ignored the question, instead she looked back to Giles. "I think we should adjourn to your 'library' for the introductions."

"Very well," Giles sighed. "Our cars are over by the south gate. Do you need one of us to go with you?"

"No," Tabitha replied. "We know the way."

"Did some recon last night," Kennedy filled in as she went over to her Watcher.

"Good for you," Faith said, annoyed at the chipper attitude.

"Fine," Giles said simply.

As the groups split up Kennedy looked back to see the Faith girl reach over and grab the tall girl's ass playfully. Instead of getting slapped, the tall girl just grabbed it and dragged it over her shoulder.

( This could have some possibilities, ) the openly gay Slayer thought as she watched.

---

Sunnydale High Library, Sunnydale

Twenty minutes later

"So what's the deal? Faith demanded as she put her feet up on the table.

Giles calmly walked by and pushed her feet off. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Faith grumbled.

Tabitha sat at the head of the large table. "As you have already guessed. I am from the Watchers Council, my name is Tabitha Bines. And this young lady is my Slayer, Kennedy Tompson."

"Hey," Kennedy said simply with a quick wave.

"And you're here because?" Faith asked.

"It's rather self-explanatory I trust," Tabitha replied. "We're here to take over the guarding of the Hellmouth."

"What?!" Faith demanded as she shot up. "We didn't ask for any help from British land!"

Tabitha gave her a look that a mother would give an out of control child. "Well, we couldn't just leave the Hellmouth unguarded now that its resident Slayer has disappeared, could we?"

"A little late then, wouldn't you say?" Cordelia asked bluntly.

"Yeah," Willow agreed. "Buffy's been missing for almost-"

"There was some demon trouble in Germany that had to take priority," Kennedy told them. "Some group called the Scourge, they kept us busy for awhile. Besides, we heard that Mr. Giles had obtained some sorta backup to cover for Buffy Summers." Glancing at Faith she added, "Guess that would be the babe in the skintight leather here, right?"

"About that," Tabitha said from her chair. "Mr. Giles wouldn't tell the Council exactly what you are."

Faith looked over to Giles. "What do you think, G-man?"

"It's your call," the Englishman told her, even as he bit back a comment about that damned nickname.

Faith shared a look with the other Scooby gang members before she nodded. "I'm a Vampire Slayer."

Tabitha just raised an eyebrow at that. "That's impossible. Kennedy isn't dead, and our seers have mentioned nothing about Ms. Summers dying - not that her next death is expected to trigger another Slayer's activation…"

"She's not dead!" Willow said hotly, ignoring the Slayer commentary. "Buffy's just…missing."

"After that business with the ensouled vampire named Angel," Tabitha said. "Yes, I've read the briefs. And really, Rupert, how on earth you could allow your charge to pursue a relationship of that sort is beyond me, not to mention everyone else back home. You've really blotted your copybook on that one."

Giles tried not to grind his teeth, reminded of his lost Jenny - who had been dead in her grave for just over four months, thanks to him not killing Angel the moment he'd found out about Angelus. "My priority is and always shall be my Slayer's needs. And had I known about the loophole in that curse, things would have turned out very differently, I can assure you," Rupert said stiffly.

"So if this chick isn't dead, and I haven't pulled that kind of Lazarus stunt either," Kennedy asked, looking at Faith. "How the hell could you be a Slayer?"

Faith got up and seemed about to do something when Cordelia stopped her. "Oh, no you don't! You'll ruin that new leather. Go and change in the office!"

"Now's not the time, Cordelia," Giles told the cheerleader.

"We just got the outfit two days ago!" the rich girl complained. She got up and grabbed Faith's hand. "We'll be right back."

"What is this?" Tabitha demanded of Giles.

"Ms. Chase is rather found of clothes," the librarian said with a shrug.

"Has her own parking space at the mall," Oz added.

"Well, if she needs help getting that girl out of the leather pants…" Kennedy said jokingly, knowing it would annoy her Watcher.

"Do not think anything like that will happen, till we know that we can trust her," Tabitha ordered her charge.

Willow saw the smirk on the new Slayer's face. "She's gay?" she whispered to Oz.

The werewolf just shrugged, but Kennedy called over. "I'm more bi, actually." When Willow looked over, embarrassed, Kennedy tapped her ear. "Slayer hearing. Anything wrong with that?"

"No!" Willow said quickly. "You have a right to…I mean it's fine, I…ohimgoingtoshutupnow."

"Her first lesbian?" Kennedy asked Oz.

"Oh no," Willow said, misunderstanding. "Never had a lesbian encounter...never even thought about it at all. No sir! I'm straight…straight as an arrow."

"Well, as long as you're sure," Kennedy smirked.

The door to the office opened allowing the two girls back out. "All ready now," Cordelia said as she sat back down.

"Interesting clothing choice," Kennedy commented as she saw the other 'Slayer' now wearing jeans and a t-shirt a size or two too big.

"Give me a sec," Faith told her.

"Okay…" Kennedy drawled but jumped out of her chair at what she saw next.

Faith seemed to morph into another person, a male person. Her skin tone lost its tan, and her curly shoulder-length hair shrank down to a small close cut on the boy's head. The clothes now fit perfectly. "Shapeshifter!" The Chosen One yelled as she jumped and pinned the newly-made male against the wall.

"OW!!" Xander Harris yelled as he was lifted up by the neck. "Can't...breathe..."

"Let him go, you idiot!" Cordelia said as she tried to grab at Kennedy's arm. "I mean it! Or you'll be sorry!"

"Release him this instant!" Giles yelled from behind the Slayer. "Xander's on our side."

Kennedy loosened her grip barely a fraction. "Most demon shapeshifters are used for infiltration and spying."

"Not a demon!" Xander choked out frantically, even as Cordelia whacked Kennedy on the head.

Ignoring the relatively weak blow, the Chosen One looked her prisoner square in the eyes before letting go and letting the boy drop to the floor. "Explain now," she ordered Giles.

"You crazy freak! I swear, you Slayers are all alike. I shoulda guessed you'd do something like that, right from the start!" Cordelia screamed in Kennedy's ear, making the brunette girl wince.

"Yes, Rupert, let's hear it," Tabitha seconded, ignoring Cordelia's rant. "This ought to be interesting."

"We're leaving," Cordelia said before Giles had a chance to reply. "You tell the nutso bitch what she needs to know. And by the way, asswipe, you try something like that on my boyfriend again and I will HURT you!!" Then with Xander protesting, Cordelia dragged him away.

As the two left, Giles turned to Oz and Willow. "Don't you two have somewhere else to be?"

"Not really," the werewolf replied truthfully.

"Trust me, you do," Giles pressed very firmly.

"Oh, we have that THING," Willow told her boyfriend. "Remember, Oz? That thing we have to do?"

The boy easily got it. "Ah, yep, the thing. It never ends with that thing."

After they also left, Giles looked back to the table. "If we could discuss this in a civil manner?"

"Yes of course, I could do with a cup of tea. And please start from the beginning, Rupert," Tabitha told him sternly.

"I'm all out of tea at the moment," Giles glared at his one-time girlfriend. The three people sat back down. "Well, now. After Buffy disappeared, I went on various trips to find her…"

"Which is one of the reasons we're here," Tabitha told him. "To allow you to continue looking for Slayer Summers."

Giles nodded to that. "As I expected. But as for what you just saw…Xander, the boy which just appeared, he's a friend of Buffy's. And he, or should I say she in his female guise, leads the group against the enemy forces ever since Buffy went missing. Since the seers I've talked to said she was still alive, I knew the odds were the Council would send a wetworks team after Buffy, so I had to go on my own..."

"They decided against that, actually," his old girlfriend told him, still confused about Xander. "Ever since Kennedy was activated after Slayer Kendra's death, and Slayer Summers was considered to have become too independent…they decided to just cut their losses with her. Besides, it was also believed that your girl would not last long without the Council's guidance."

Giles snorted at the Council's findings. "Typical." He reigned in his anger though, since Tabitha would have not have any power to do anything about the matter. "Well, to get on with the story. Last year, we had an incident with a…a chaos worshipper. He turned children into the costumes they wore for the American Halloween holiday. He did this by calling upon the one known as Janus to empower his spell."

"Janus? The Roman god?" Tabitha asked.

"Yes," Giles replied. "Well, Janus claims that he took an interest in the children after that."

"A god spoke to you?" Kennedy's Watcher demanded, shocked. "They are not exactly known to converse with lowly mortals, Rupert."

"He, or perhaps it, didn't talk to me," Giles clarified. "I was away when Janus came to the rest of the group and told them he could give them the 'backup' they needed, for his own reasons. Xander agreed…and Janus being the god of Chaos turned him into a girl, a Slayer."

"Whoa," Kennedy whispered for the first time, quickly getting it.

"Indeed," Giles said. "They all quickly found out that he, or rather she, had all the powers and abilities of a Slayer. I was less than happy about all this when I got back…but I have to admit, Xander or rather 'Faith' does the job very well now that she has learned how to channel the Slayer essence. If that is in fact what she has within her."

"So why the devil haven't you told everyone back home about all this?" Tabitha wanted to know. "It would have saved me a lot of-"

"The Council has no need to know about Xander. Can you guarantee me that someone won't be tempted to kidnap the boy and do experiments on him, trying to learn how he was infused with the abilities he now has? Tell me Quentin or Roger wouldn't be seduced by the dream of raising an army of such females! I'm warning you, Tabitha, you will say nothing to anyone back in London about this. Or else one of us at least won't like the consequences."

Tabitha almost shivered with memories of 'Ripper' coming back suddenly, even as Kennedy's eyes narrowed dangerously at the threat. But there was no trace of fear on her face as the female Watcher said, "I'm curious. How does the boy do it? Shift back and forth in between male and female form?"

"Xander refuses to say. And as a matter of fact, we only found out a while ago that he could do that," Giles shrugged. "He'd been stuck as a woman for some time. And from a male point of view, one must really admire the lad's tenacity to have stuck it out for as long as he did."