The Mask Transforms by Misha

Title: The Mask Transforms

Author: Misha
Rating: PG
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Spoilers: Episode 2.6 "Halloween"

Summary: Dawn likes trick-or-treating, too.
Length: 1800 words
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. own the universe and characters. I'm just playing with them.
Author's Note: For Stakebait's Back-In-The-Day Ficathon. Written for butterfly, who requested: Season 2, Xander, including Dawn

Feedback: Relished at mishamcm@livejournal.com

Persona se corpum et sanguium commutandum est.

[The mask transforms itself into flesh and blood.]

--Ethan Rayne's invocation of Janus

"I want to go on the Backcracker!"

"Gee, I don't know, Dawnie, it's kind of much."

"Come on, Willow, Buffy would let me go."

"Well Buffy isn't here."

"As usual."

"Dawn, you know Buffy has—"

"It's okay, Willow," interrupted Xander. "I'll take her."

Dawn beamed. Willow sighed.

"Okay, I'll meet you later."

"This is better anyway," Dawn shouted over the din.

"Just you and me, the brave ones," Xander screamed back.

"Do you think I'm brave?"

"What? Sure, you're brave."

"Buffy doesn't think so."

"Of course she does."

"She's always so overprotective. This is the Hellmouth, right? But she always hides me from the magic stuff."

"She's protecting you. She doesn't want you to get hurt."

"But you and Willow fight vamps and stuff. You've gotten hurt sometimes."

"Buffy would rather we didn't do the dangerous stuff, too."

"Yeah, but you do it anyway."

"Well, I'm her age. A little older, even."

"So when I'm sixteen, I'll get to do Scoobie stuff?"

"Uh, well, I mean, Buffy—"

"Yeah, yeah, it's just like I said. She'll always be my older sister, and she'll always be overprotective."

If Xander had an answer, it was drowned out by the cacophony of the ride's climax.

"Ooh, a fortune teller! Xander, can I get my fortune told?"

"We should find Willow—"

"Oh, we'll find her later! Or she'll find us. Please?"

"Sure, okay."

The fortune teller's hands were wrinkled but quick and agile. She laid out the Tarot cards and squinted at them.

"I see many of the Major Arcana in your spread. The answer to your question is largely controlled by others."

"Oh, there's a newsflash."

"But there are also many cups. Much love and goodness surrounds you."

"Yeah, good people lovingly controlling my life."

"Dawn…"

"Okay, okay. Tell me more."

"This card covers you. It tells us the general atmosphere, what is the most important aspect surrounding you right now. It is The Fool."

"Figures," Xander muttered.

"Shush!"

"The Fool may be young and inexperienced, but he is embarking on his journey in life. He carries a wand over his shoulder, for he has a strong will. He may be dreamy, but is also virile."

Dawn giggled. Xander blushed.

"This covers you. It is what opposes your progress. It is the Ace of Swords, a sign of powerful love or hate, of a hero or champion."

"Told you so," Dawn muttered.

"This is beneath you, the basis, what is in your past. It is the Six of Swords. A journey to a new home, success after anxieties."

"That's so true! My parents got divorced, and we moved here, and it's better now, and—"

"I don't think she needs to know that, Dawn."

In any event, the fortune teller didn't seem to be hearing her.

"This is behind you, an influence that is passing away. It is Judgment, but it is reversed. A divorce, or a loss of worldly possessions."

"See?"

"This is what crowns you, what may be in the future. It is The Lovers, but it is reversed, a sign of a broken marriage or of wrong choices in love."

"Great, I get to be my mom. I hope it's about Buffy."

"Now, now, Dawn—"

"It's always Angel this and Angel that with her. Now THAT's a bad choice."

Xander just sighed.

"This stands before you. It is what is in your near future. The Knight of Cups. Oh, this is an interesting man for you, girl. He is graceful and poetic, although he is of an indolent nature. A dreamer of sensual delights." She grinned and winked at Dawn.

Both Dawn and Xander blushed this time.

"He brings you a message, this man, an invitation."

"Maybe I'll go to an actual Halloween party instead of that lame kids' thing."

"This card is your fears, the Two of Cups. An odd thing to fear. It stands for the harmony of masculine and feminine, a coming together, a friendship or love affair."

"Only thing I'm afraid of is none of that."

"This is your family, the Queen of Wands. A powerful woman with blonde hair, who loves home and nature."

"Make that two of them."

"This is your hopes, the King of Cups. He is a man with skill, considerate, generous, willing to take responsibility."

Dawn grinned and wiggled in her seat. Xander bit his lip.

"And here is the ultimate outcome, the High Priestess. She is that which is unrevealed, the boundary between the seen and the unseen, the key to the door. You will be an artistic person, a writer, and artist, a composer. She is Artemis, Vesta, Isis, Hestia, watching over you."

"Huh. Aren't they all virgins? Figures."

"Dawn, Xander, I've been looking for you!"

"Hey, Will. We're just finishing up."

"I've got to head back now."

"Wait! You're supposed to help me get a Halloween costume!"

"It's okay, Dawn, I'll go with you. We'll go to that new place where we got our costumes, Ethan's."

"Reconsidering your costume choice, eh?"

Xander jumped ten feet at Ethan's voice. Or, rather, he wished that he could jump ten feet, for then he would be ten feet away from the mannequin wearing the Vampirella costume he had just been fingering.

"No! Saving up to buy some chewing gum."

"Ah. Pity. It suits you."

Xander waved in the general direction of a rack of costumes, shuffling under the influence of an unseen hand. "I'm just escorting – that is, keeping someone company, er…"

"Welcome, young lady. And how might I serve you today?"

Dawn poked her head around the side of the rack. "I think I've found what I want."

The bouncy exuberance made Xander nervous. He followed Ethan around the rack. Dawn was holding up a Wonder Woman costume. Somehow, this incarnation was way more Frederick's of Hollywood than Xander had ever pictured it. Which was saying a lot.

"I'd said that's perfect for you, my dear."

"Uh, Dawn, I think maybe you should be looking at something a little less, uh, lingerie-y."

"But it would be perfect! Please?"

"Your mom'll kill me if I let you go out in that."

"My mom's away all night, remember? The costume will be back here before she gets back to town."

Xander began to falter. "Maybe we'd better ask Buffy—"

"No! By then it'll be too late! She said she wouldn't be back in time. 'Xander, I leave it in your capable hands' were her exact words, as I recall."

"And I don't want her to lose faith in the capability of my, uh, hands."

"Please let me be a superhero!"

"Just not that one, how about this?"

"A suit of armor? That's not a superhero."

"No, in Avengers #225 the Black Knight—"

"Anyway, I can't afford something that elaborate. The more material, the more it costs, right Mr. Ethan?"

"I'm afraid the young lady has a point."

"But…Dawn, I can't…" He trailed off. It was no use. There was no way he could turn down the pleading eyes of a Summers.

"Okay, how about this one?"

"Hawkgirl? Look at it. Look at the wings. No way I can afford that."

Ethan tapped his chin with an index finger. "If I might interject? If your chaperone approves, I think we could find a price for that one which wouldn't strain your budget."

"Yes!" exclaimed Dawn.

Oh no, Xander thought.

The monster returned with a friend, and they both roared as they approached. Xander shouldered his M-16 again and took aim.

"This could be a situation."

Willow just stared. "Buffy, what do we do?"

Buffy swooned.

The monsters hesitated, sizing up the rifle.

Then a shriek filled the air. Xander watched as another creature, a woman with wings, bowled over both monsters. She turned to them and shouted, "Get to safety! I'll hold them off."

Xander wondered whether he should shoot this one.

Weakly, Willow said, "Dawnie?" No one payed much attention.

"Go! Now!"

Xander scooped up the unconscious woman in the fancy dress.

"We're going to that house," Willow told her. "Follow us there, please."

Hawkgirl's eyes narrowed. "I have work to do."

"It's important. Promise me."

An irritated sigh. "Fine. Now get out of here."

Hawkgirl glared at Angel. "Buffy ran out? Why would she do a stupid thing like that?"

Angel sighed. "She saw I was a vampire."

"You're a vampire."

"Why not?" said Xander. "You've got wings."

She turned to him. "You believe this?"

"Ma'am, there are monsters running around, and you've got wings. You can fly. We deal with the emergency now, and figure out if it makes sense later. Now let's find her."

"I can find her faster from the air."

"Unless she's hiding. You take the high road, we'll take the low road."

By the time Hawkgirl spotted her, the rest of them had caught up with her, too. Xander seemed to have the situation well in hand, and Hawkgirl had spotted something else: the redheaded girl had enlisted a man in a tweed jacket and they had gone into the costume shop.

Not long afterwards Red had come running out.

Alone.

Inside, she found Tweed beating up the store's proprietor.

"What's going on?"

"Destroy the statue to break the spell!"

She was uncertain, but he was with Red, so she complied.

And Dawn crashed to the floor. Giles was at her side in an instant.

"Dawn! Are you all right?"

"I think so."

By the time he'd helped her to her feet, Ethan had vanished.

"You're sure you're okay, Dawn?" Buffy asked.

"I'm fine, Buffy. Go, talk to Angel. I'm fine."

"I can stay with you, Dawn, really."

"It's okay. Hey, it was fun being the superhero for a while."

Buffy smiled and stroked her hair. "Okay, I get the picture. Leaving you in peace now."

"More hot chocolate?"

"Yes, please, Xander. You're sure you don't mind babysitting?"

"Hey, evening with a hot chick beats monster-bashing any day."

Dawn blushed. "Uh, Xander, when you were soldier-guy, were you…older?"

He thought for a minute. "Yeah, I was twenty-five. Seven-year man."

"Was it different? Being older?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you think about the same things? Feel the same way?"

"Well, uh, pretty much, I guess. Why do you ask?"

"When I was Hawkgirl I was…older. And I felt lonely, and angry, and bitter. Is that what it's like to be an adult?"

"Oh, no, Dawn. It doesn't have to be like that."

Dawn sighed. "Good." She drank her hot chocolate, looking at him over the rim of her mug.

"Xander?"

"Yeah?"

"I remember other stuff. I can't wait to be grown-up."

Oh no.