A/N: This is in response to a challenge posted by psycho-fangirl. It's also my first 'Angel' fic, so please be gentle?

Disclaimer: If I owned any of the characters, I would be halfway up to heaven. Halfway because I would also want to own Charmed and whatnot…

Once Upon a Spell

Summary: Faith, Cordy, Fred, Gunn, Angel and Wesley get sucked into a fairytale after a miscast spell. Each get placed in different roles in the story and have to find one another and complete the story without screwing up the fairytale happy ending.

Chapter 1: The Spell Gone Wrong

Winifred Burkle, commonly known to the gang at Angel Investigations as Fred, walked into the lobby to the Hyperion Hotel with Cordelia Chase and Faith, a rogue Slayer busted out of jail, after a shopping spree, their arms filled with shopping bags as they talked about the best bargains and stuff like that. Faith, of course, couldn't really care less, but she had agreed to go along and she had bought quite a few new outfits, comprising mainly of tight leather pants and matching tops.

Wesley Wyndham-Pyrce, ex-Watcher, looked up from where he sat at the counter, pouring over one of his many books, a partially annoyed look on his face. "Where have the three of you been?" he asked, just as Gunn and Angel came out of Angel's office, a solemn loon on their faces.

"Shopping. Didn't I tell you?" Cordelia said, directing the question at Angel, who frowned.

"You did? When?"

Faith and Fred looked at Cordelia. "You said you told him," Faith said.

"Sorry," came the reply as Cordelia shrugged sheepishly, keeping her bags on a chair.

Fred and Faith followed suit. "Anyway, what's the big deal? We were only out for a few hours," Faith said, ever her couldn't-care-less self.

Angel frowned. "The big deal is that there's a demon wrecking havoc in L.A., and you were out shopping!"

"What's new?" Fred grumbled. "There's always a demon out loose. What's the big deal about this one?"

"The difference about this demon is that it's not exactly a demon," Wesley said, giving Angel a pointed look. "It's more of a…gnome."

That caught the girls' attention. "Wait. A gnome!"

Wesley cracked a smile. "Funny, isn't it?"

"It ain't funny when it got your sword," Gunn replied, holding up a thing that had once been a sword, but all that was left of it was a piece of melted metal.

Faith raised an eyebrow. "A gnome did that?"

Giggles escaped the girls' lips as they tried not to laugh. It was funny, thinking how a gnome could melt a sword.

Silencing the girls with a look, Angel continued. "It wasn't just any gnome. Care to explain, Wes?"

Wesley kept a straight face as he said, "It was an acid-spitting gnome."

That did it. Faith, Fred and Cordelia cracked up, doubling over with laughter. Unable to contain himself, Wesley smiled, biting his lip to keep the laughter in.

Gunn groaned. "Aw, come on! It wasn't funny! I mean, they were short, and ugly and…okay, maybe it was funny." He and Angel smiled, visualizing the gnome statues that had come to life and now had acid mixed in their spit, making them fairly dangerous.

Once the laughter had stopped, or at least died down, Wesley went on. "The only way to stop these…gnomes…is to cast a spell that will turn them back into their original stone selves."

"And do we have a spell for that?" Cordelia asked, arching an eyebrow.

Gesturing at the book, Wesley said, "I've been trying to find one, but so far, none of the books I've looked in have any record of acid-spitting gnomes. Possibly because this is the first case that stone statues have come to life."

"So…now what?" Fred asked, looking around.

"Well, I was thinking that maybe we could invent a spell of our own, one that will, hopefully, work."

"And when did you think of that again?" Faith asked.

Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, Wes answered, "Just now," earning himself annoyed looks from almost everyone.

"And when were you going to start work on it?" Angel said pointedly.

"Now," Wesley replied with a heavy sigh as he closed the book and took out a slip of paper and a pen. Looking up at his colleagues and friends, he said, "A little help would be helpful."

"I have to go...do something…in my office," Angel said.

"And I have to go help him," Gunn added as the two made their way to Angel's office.

Cordelia, Faith and Fred took their bags. "We'd better go put this upstairs. You know, get everything sorted out and all," Cordelia said, leading the three of them up the stairs to the rooms upstairs.

Wesley didn't hide his annoyance as he glanced around the empty room. "I'll do it myself, then," he sighed, picking up the pen and tapping it against the paper.

About an hour and a half later, everyone was in the lobby again as they waited for Wesley to read out his spell.

"You're sure this will work?" Angel asked uncertainly.

"Absolutely," the ex-Watcher said, his eyes depicting the uncertainty his voice hid. "But I think the best thing to do first would be to find the gnomes."

Angel glanced outside. "It's dusk. Might as well."


The parade of gnomes had been found. They had been terrorizing backyards, touching the garden gnome ornaments and bringing them to life with a touch of their stubby, evil little fingers. Surprisingly, when the ornaments had come to life, they had turned into mutants of the Snow White dwarfs, dressed in brown rags, possibly dirtied by mud and grime. The were short and fat, and if they weren't so ugly and…acid-spitting... Fred might actually have called them cute.

"Uh, Wesley? How sure are you that the spell will work?" the Pylean escapee asked nervously.

"About 97."

"Why 97?" Cordelia asked.

"Because there's a chance it won't work."

"That much is a 'duh' factor," Faith commented sarcastically, she, Angel and Gunn assuming battle positions as they watched the gnomes turn more ornaments alive. "Ugh. They are so hideous."

"Tell me about it," Gunn said, nodding at Faith.

"You know, guys, I think it might be better for us to stay silent so the gnomes won't

notice us." That was Angel.

"Can we please say the spell?" Cordelia whined.

Wesley took a deep breath.

"Through time and space,

Leave this evil place.

Return to your form so true,

Just as the sky is blue."

"'Just as the sky is blue'?" Cordelia quoted, raising an eyebrow.

Wesley shrugged. "It's something, isn't it?"

"Guys, look!" Fred exclaimed, pointing at the evil gnomes.

They had frozen in place, turned into stone. Angel breathed a sigh of relief. "Glad that's over wi-"

He was cut off as freak winds started to blow, coming from who-knew-where, and swept them off their feet, carrying them to unknown lands.

A/N: That's all for now. More soon. Read, enjoy, and review!