I own no Buffy characters and no Marvel characters.  Don't bother suing, I can't afford it but I know how to fight back.

Anyone who wants to post this up on another site is welcome to do so, providing they ask me first.

The only stuff I know about the X-Men comes from watching the movie and playing Spiderman (the guy really doesn't like Wolverine does he?) so bear with me!

Anyway, it's late at night, I'm tired, but my muse will go on holiday if I keep ignoring her and as I'm attempting to write a novel that would most definitely be not of the good.  Later guys!  J

RED

1997

Willow slumped to the floor of the basement.  Beside her, Giles and Xander rammed the basement door in a futile attempt to open it.  Willow's head lolled to one side as the gas leaking into the room began to affect her more and more.

I'm going to die, she thought, I'm going to die and I haven't finished my physics homework.

Willow noticed the air in front of her shimmering with silver light.  It was hard to describe, but Willow would later say that it was almost as though she was seeing the basement through a crystal.  That although the dimensions of the room remained the same, the colours of the room had faded slightly and shone as though someone was holding a light behind them.  As well as this, the air in front of her danced in a shimmering silver light.  Willow flopped a hand in front of her face and watched the silver flow and eddy.  She giggled quietly to herself as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Some time later – Willow could only guess at how long it had been – she became aware of strong male arms carrying her and a change in the air.  Drowsily, she opened her eyes and looked around her.

On the plus side, she was out of the basement, and so were Giles and Xander.  On the down side, she could still see two images of the same thing.  And she had no idea who was carrying her.  She closed her eyes again, not wanting to face a reality where she was colour-blind.

Gently, whoever it was set her on her feet and helped to support her, holding her close to his chest.  From a far away place she heard Xander speak and then the mystery man's chest rumbled as he spoke.

"I'm up, mom."  Willow said as she opened her eyes a little bit and pushed slightly away from the person who had saved them. 

In doing so, she noticed that he was neither cold nor hot to the touch, in fact he was lukewarm and the only thing method she had of realising that he was there when she came into contact with him was the actual tactile experience of touching and being touched by him.  Also, he wasn't breathing.  This must be Angel she realised.

The men of the group talked some more and then Willow was led away from the basement while Angel went back into the basement to turn the gas off.  She still didn't trust her eyesight enough to open her eyes fully so she feigned semi-consciousness until they were closer to the library.  Where, to her intense relief, she discovered that her eyesight was back to normal.