Summary: What if Xander went after Cordelia when he was possessed instead of Buffy?
It was a beautiful day, as the class walked around the zoo looking at the animals. Buffy, Willow, and Xander soon saw Kile and them walk into the hyena compound with Lance.
Buffy started forward, ready to go in and fetch them.
Xander stopped her and said, "Let me. This isn't a job for a Slayer." With that, he went in.
They started to go in too, but were stopped by the zoo keeper.
"Whoa, hold it. Are you blind, or are you just illiterate? Because hyenas are quick to prey on the weak."
"We were just—" Buffy started.
"You're not going in there. Anyone that does is in a world of trouble."
"No, no one's going in there," Willow chimed in.
"Why is it off limits?" Buffy asked.
"It's a quarantine. These hyenas just came from Africa. So, keep out. Even if they call your name."
"What're you talking about?" Buffy asked.
"A Masai tribesman once told me that hyenas understand human speech. They follow humans around by day, learning their names. At night, when the campfire dies, they call out to the person. And once they separate him"—he snapped his fingers—"the pack devours him."
Kile looked around, as he led them in.
"Cool."
"I don't see any hyenas," Lance said.
A hyena stepped forward from the gloom of the pen, revealing a dark, almost black muzzle, full of large, pointed teeth. It growled.
"Okay," Lance said, scared and ready to leave. "Now we've seen it."
"It looks cute," Rhonda said.
"I think it looks hungry," Kile said. He stepped away from the bars. He and Tor grabbed Lance, muscled him up the steps toward the cage.
"Come on, spot!" Tor growled as they dragged Lance forward.
"Supper time!"
They held him in front of the bars. The hyena growled again, deep in its throat. Someone had a hand on the back of Lance's head, pushing his face into the cage.
Everyone but Lance laughed.
"Ow!" He complained. "Stop it! That's not funny!"
Xander came to the rescue, pushing Lance away from them.
Xander was eyeball to eyeball with Kile now. "Why don't you pick on someone your own species?"
"What, are you gonna get in my face?"
They did a stare down, but the hyena interrupted them with a growl.
They all looked at it in the eyes. All but Lance.
They turned to look at him and he ran.
It was a beautiful day, as the Slayer rounded the corner of the hallway, when she heard a commotion.
"Look out! It's gotten loose!" Principal Flutie cried. "Stop the beast!"
Buffy bent over and snagged the piglet, lifting it into her arms.
The poor thing was wearing a tiny Sunnydale High football helmet with papier—noche tusks attached at the sides of his snout and had a row of green foam triangles stuck to its back, like a cartoon dinosaurs fins.
Mr. Flutie caught up to them. "Naughty Herbert. Gave Mr. Flutie quite a scare, didn't he?"
He drew himself up, addressing the students crowding the hallway.
"Students, I'd like you all to meet Herbert, our new mascot for the Sunnydale High Razorbacks!"
This was met with a smattering of applause.
"He's so cute!" Buffy said.
"He's not cute," Principal Flutie insisted. "He's a fierce Razorback."
He pumped his fists into the air, and there was some halfhearted clapping.
She studied the poor, over accessories pig. "He doesn't look mean, Mr. Flutie."
"He's mean, he's ready for action." Mr. Flutie indicated Herbert's add-ons. "See, how are the tusks, and...a scary...Razorback." The green fins. Now she got it.
"You're right. He is a fine mascot and will engender the school spirit."
"Well, he's better—costs a fortune to feed him." He bent down, spoke direction to Herbert. "Let's get you back in your cage." He reached for the pig, and Herbert let out a squeal. Mr. Flutie backed off, gestured her to carry the new mascot. "This way."
Buff led the way, the piglet oinking contently in her arms.
Willow and Xander sat on one of the stone benches scattered around the campus, his Geometry textbook open on her lap. He had a notebook and a pencil and was jotting numbers and lines down, but not really catching on. They were a study in contrast—red-haired Willow wearing a bright orange sweater over a patterned skirt, and Xander, dark-haired and eyed, all in shades of black and gray.
"I'm not getting this," Xander said.
"It's simple, really. See, the bisector of a vertex is the line that divides that angle at that vertex into two equal parts."
"It's like a big blur, all these numbers and angles."
"It's the same stuff from last week. You had it down then."
"Why do I need to learn this?"
"'Cause otherwise you'll flunk Math."
"Explain the part where that's bad."
"You remember. You fail Math, you flunk out of school, you end up being the guy at the Pizza Place that sweeps the floor and says, 'Hey kids, where's the cool parties this weekend?' We've been through this."
As she spoke, Xander rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Do you have a headache?" she asked, concerned. She touched his temple, gently, and he shook her hand away.
"Yeah. And I think I know what's causing it." He snatched the book off her lap and tossed it into a nearby trash can. Smiling at his direct hit, he went on. "That's better. Goes straight to the source of the pain."
"Xander—."
"Look, forget it, okay. I don't get it. I won't ever. I don't care." He stood suddenly, throwing his spiral notebook into Willow's lap, and stormed away.
As Xander walked passed Mr. Flutie, Herbert, and Buffy the pig squirmed. It got the wiglets with him being around.
It rained later that day, while they were all in PE playing dodge-ball.
After PE, Xander and the others, which seemed like a group now, met Willow by the lockers.
"Xander, what's wrong with you?" she asked.
"I guess you've noticed that I've been different around you, lately."
"Yes."
"I think it's because my feelings for you have been changing."
Her heart skipped a beat.
"Well, we've been friends for such a long time that I feel like I need to tell you something. I've...I've decided to drop Geometry. So...I won't be needing your Math help anymore. Which means I won't have to look at your pasty face again."
They laughed. The group of them sounded sick to her, laughing so hard at such a mean joke. Willow's heart sank.
Buffy slammed her locker shut and started towards them, very upset. Cordelia had overheard, too. She excused herself from her Cordettes. She quickly came face to face with him, glaring at him with her coldest stare ever. Only she was allowed to make fun of others. No one else. Especially sweet, geeky Xander.
"What the hell is going on, Xander?" she asked coldly.
They continued to laugh.
She turned to Kile and friends.
"Get the hell out of here morons, or I will be forced to take drastic measures," she ordered, glaring.
They left.
She turned back to Xan.
"Get a hold of yourself. I'm the only one allowed to make fun of anyone. Excluding Buffy, of course. Now you need to stop this. You can't be hurting people like that. My question to you is how you could say that to her? She's your best friend. She cares about you. And you know that me and Buffy do, too."
Buffy arrived at that moment and crossed her arms.
"Are you going to say something to me, too?"
He just grinned at them.
"Is something wrong with you?" Buffy commented.
"I think it's Giles time," Cordelia agreed.
"None of you are perfect. You, Buffy, with Deadboy. And then you, Cordelia, acting big and tough on the outside, but on the inside you're weak. And you know what? It's radiating off of you."
"Screw you," she said, slapping him across the face and then walking away.
He chuckled, as he watched her go.
Buffy slapped him across the face and then left to go to the library to tell Giles. There had to be something in his books.
"Giles, we have a problem. It's Xander. He's not himself."
"What's wrong?"
"He's different. He's been very mean. He's even hanging out with the dode patrol."
"Xander's taking to teasing the less fortunate?"
"Uh-huh."
"There's been a noticeable change in both clothing and demeanor?"
"Yes."
"It's devastating. He has turned into a sixteen-old boy. Of course, you'll have to kill him."
"Giles, I'm serious."
"So am I, except for the part about killing him. Testerone is the great equalizer; it turns all men into morons. He will, however, get over it."
"I can't believe you of all people, are trying to scully me. There's something supernatural at work. Get your books! Look stuff up."
"Look under what?"
"I don't know. That's your department."
"The evidence you've presented me with is sketchy at best."
"He scared the pig!"
Giles gave her a look.
"Well, he did."
"Buffy, boys can be cruel. They tease, they prey on the weak. It's a natural teen behavior pattern."
"What did you just say?"
"Uh, what? Uh, they tease—"
"They prey on the weak. I heard that somewhere. Xander has been acting totally wiggy since we went to the zoo. He and Kile and all those guys went into the hyena cage...Oh God, that laugh—"
"Are you saying Xander's becoming a hyena?"
"I don't know. Or been possessed by one. Not just Xander, all of them."
"Well, I certainly haven't heard of—"
Willow ran in very upset. "Herbert. They found him!"
"The pig?" Buffy asked.
"Dead. And also, eaten! Principal Flutie is freaking out."
Buffy looked at her Watcher.
"Testerone, huh?"
"What are you gonna do?" Willow asked him.
"Get my books. Look stuff up," he answered.
Buffy went to go find Xander after finding that he was possessed by a hyena. She knew she had to find him. She stopped inside Principal Flutie's office to see where Herbert had been kept. The cage was ripped opened. It looked like wild animals had attacked the cage to get him; bars torn apart. Nothing was left now except bones.
"They're strong."
Meanwhile, Xander had Cordelia in an empty classroom with the door locked.
"Xander, what is it? Are you here to apologize or what?"
"Hardly."
She heard him growl low in his throat.
"Are you possessed or something?"
"Score one hundred points for the bitch."
He started forward, like a predator would when cornering its prey.
She backed away, as he started half circling her.
Without warning, he grabbed her and pinned her to the floor, so she was on her back staring up at him. She tried to get free, but he was too strong and had a hold of both her wrists.
"Let me go!"
He chuckled. "I thought you liked me."
"Only when you're yourself."
"Look at me. I am myself."
She kicked him away and started forward quickly, but he grabbed her again. This time he pinned her to a wall. He sniffed her hair like an animal would. She inwardly cringed.
"Xander, you're not an animal. Let me go!" she yelled.
He kept sniffing her hair.
The door rattled, as she yelled at him.
"Just stop it, Xander! Leave me the hell alone! Now!"
The door opened to reveal the Slayer. The Slayer started forward quickly.
Cor rammed a knee in his and stomped on his foot with a heel she wore. He hollered in pain and she ran from him, but stayed in the room. He turned around angrily.
"You're going to regret that," he growled at the Queen C.
"Slayer," he greeted, looking at Buffy.
He stalked forward, very predatory like.
A few minutes later, he was locked up in the library cage. Buffy stayed to keep an eye on him, while the others went to the zoo. The plan was to get the pack to the hyena cage with Buffy leading them.
Half an hour later, it all worked out. Little did they know, the zoo keeper's plan all along was to bring all of the hyenas into himself which worked.
He had a knife to Willow's throat, but when the spirits were drawn into him, he dropped the knife. He grabbed Willow's head between his hands. He roared like a wild beast. He leaned toward her, baring his teeth like he meant to rip into her flesh.
"Willow!" Xander hollered, launching himself across the room and slamming into the growling zoo keeper. They both went down, but the zoo keeper regained his footing quickly. When Xander came at him again, he swung a backhand blow that knocked him to one side.
Buffy launched a kick at the zoo keeper's pointed jaw. She connected, hard, and he fell back. In a second, he was up again, and charging her. She stopped him for a moment with a left, and when he attacked again, she grabbed his robes him over her shoulder and down into the hard-stone floor. He was powerful, though. Most men would have been out cold, but he jumped up and came back for more with an animal-like growl. So, she used the same trick in the other direction. Grasping the robes, turning, spinning, bringing him over her shoulder and down. Except that this time, because he was coming at her from the other way, "down" meant into the hyena pit.
He screamed.
Xander started to get up and Cor helped him, as he did so.
Once he was on his feet, they hugged in a familiar embrace. Willow got to her feet, too.
The next day was another one of those days when it really became clear that summer was just around the corner. Buffy, Willow, Cor, and Xan walked across the quad.
Buffy was enjoying the sunshine, and strange as it seemed, enjoying being with Xander. As they walked, Cor and Xan held hands.
"I heard the Vice Principal is taking over until they can find a replacement," Will said.
"It shouldn't be hard to find a new Principal," Buffy said. "Unless they ask what happened to the last one."
"Okay, but I had nothing to do with that, right?" Xander asked.
"Right," Buffy said.
They started up an outside staircase.
"You only ate a pig," Willow added.
"I ate a pig? Was he cooked and called bacon or..." Xander put his hand to his forehead in obvious dismay. "Oh my God. I ate a pig? I mean, the who trichinosis issue aside, yuck."
"Well, it wasn't really you," Buffy assured him.
"Well, I remember going on the field trip, and then going down in the hyena house. Next thing some guy's holding Willow and he has a knife."
"You saved my life," Willow said.
"Hey." Xander stopped at the top of the stairs. "Nobody messes with my Willow." He hugged her and then let go.
"This is definitely the superior Xander," Buffy announced.
"Accept no substitutes."
"I didn't do anything else, did I? Around you guys?" Xander asked. "Anything embarrassing?"
"Naah," Buffy assured him.
"Not at all," Willow added.
"Come on. We're gonna be late," Buffy said, grabbing Willow's hand.
Willow looked at Xander.
"See you at lunch."
"Cool."
He looked at his girlfriend.
"You've been quiet. That's not you at all. What's wrong?"
"They lied to you, Xander. You did have a part in it. They don't want to let you know the bad parts. Come on. I'll tell you."
She led him into a broom closet and turned the light on, shutting the door.
"So, what horrible things did I do?"
She looked up at him.
"You were very mean to me and Willow. And let's just say you tried our act at assault on me and Buffy."
"I'm sorry, Cor."
"It's alright."
"Is there any way I can make it up to you?"
"Yes. Kiss me."
"Really?"
"Just shut up and kiss me," she said, and they kissed each other hard, turning it into sweetness and gentleness. That kiss meant that they forgave each other. Any kiss would always mean forgiveness to them. They knew that. They probably always would.