Episode 6.2
Not the Same Old World
by Maddy
There was white, then nothing as they faded out of one world and into another. But as each began to fade into their natural world, vision was slowly restored like a camera being focused.
Where they were, Angel wasn't sure. It didn't look like any part of LA he had ever seen and he was pretty sure he'd seen all of it. The sky above was dark and overcast. At least I won't burn to ash suddenly, he thought, it would be a major let down after being given a second chance.
But the sky didn't bother him nearly as much as what was happening on Earth. The surrounding buildings were deserted, looted and vandalised. There was several small spot fires, but nothing else. No sound of people or other not so nice creatures of the night. Myself not included. The dark haired vampire then thought of Spike. Again, not myself included.
"What the bloody hell is going on here?" yelled Spike. Sound came rushing back to Angel's ears. He then spoke his own fears.
"Where are we?"
"I don't know," answered Spike. "But it reminds me so much of Sunnydale a few years back when these Demons On Wheels came roaring into town, because-"
"I don't think we need a history lesson right now, Blondie," snapped Faith.
Angel happily ignored them, and asked his question again, "Where are we?"
"I think I may know," said Gunn, from his position next to Angel. Angel then looked around to see exactly where the other two where. Spike was standing next to Gunn and Faith was standing next to him. They all look dishevelled, Faith was shaking her head vigorously, stopped, then stuck her finger in her ear and wriggled it about. Spike seemed to have adjusted to the fade-in-fade-out, just as Angel had. Gunn on the other hand had started shifted his weight and walked on the spot.
"Are you going to tell us?" asked Spike, "Or are you trying out for the marching band?"
Gunn became motionless, as did Faith. They all stared at Gunn expectedly.
"Well, spit it out," instructed Faith after a few seconds of silence.
"You're not gonna like it," he warned, "but that building over there," Gunn pointed to a building across the road. It was only half a building, all exterior fixtures had been torn down. The several storied structure was missing about half of itself, as though it had been blown apart. "I'm pretty sure it's the Hyperion."
"Jesus Christ," breathed Faith, taking a step towards the old Hotel. "Isn't that the place you guys used to live in?"
"Not me," Spike said, "it was before my time. And after if you consider that thing were I came and tortured you for that ring. You remember?"
"Yeah, I remember," Angel said solemnly.
"You what?" asked Faith. Then, gave herself a little shake, "Not the point. You're saying that's the Hyperion?"
Angel took a moment to look at Faith, really look at her. She's so different, so grown up.A better person, she wants to become someone worth knowing, worth fighting for.
Angel starred at the building in bewilderment and disbelief. It couldn't be, it just couldn't, he thought. Angel walked past Faith and continued until he was half way across the street. His face filled with recognition, he spun around to face his friends.
"Gunn's right, it's the Hyperion." Angel turned his head slightly and looked the hotel over. "I don't know who it is…when did this happen?"
"I think the correct question is, how did this happen?" asked Spike, "we were just there, outside, in the alleyway."
"Maybe not," spoke up Faith. "When we, um, died and went to that place, how long were we gone?"
"Yeah," agreed Gunn. "We all know that time can travel differently on other planes, dimensions, worlds, whatever. How long were we gone? What day is it?"
"We just have to find out," Angel said, stepping into 'leader mode.' "We need to get to a newspaper stand, anything that will tell us the date."
They all fell into silence, the weight of the situation falling hard on their shoulders. Angel recalled the words of the being that gave them their second chance: "Things will be different once you go back. The world is different because of you and the war you started." The war I started, thought Angel. Oh, god. What have I done?
"We need to get going," Faith said, breaking the silence. " I get the feeling it isn't safe to be here. Have you noticed that there ain't-"
"A single person out," finished Gunn, "Not the mention cars, buses or trains. It's like a ghost town…and it's giving me the creeps."
"Like the Slayer said, we need to get going." Spike adjusted his leather jacket, stopped abruptly. "Hey, look! We're not cut, not even our clothes. It's like we were never in a fight-to-the-death battle."
Spike was right, Faith, Gunn and Angel were also neatly dressed and groomed. All cuts, bruises and blood had disappeared.
"That was nice of them," commented Gunn.
"Yea, real nice," Angel snapped, "No need to start singing praises to the Powers, they're the ones who got us into this mess in the first place."
"Wow," said Gunn, putting up his hands in surrender. "I know we're kinda screwed right now and you're pissed off, but don't take it out on your friends."
"Sorry, it's just…" Angel fell silent, at a complete loss for words.
"I know, man. I'm feeling it too," Gunn smiled slightly. "Right, there's a newspaper stand a few blocks south of here, we go there first."
"Sounds like a plan," Spike said.
"The only one we've got," added Faith. "But it's a good plan."
"Okay," Angel said. They began walking down the street, heading south towards some answers. Angel took one last look the Hotel that had been his home for nearly three years. It was barely recognizable. What happened here?
They made it safely to the newspaper stand, which surprised Angel, but made him ever more cautious of the surrounding buildings and the shadows they created.
"Well, I don't think we're going to find anything here," Faith said, sighing in frustration and defeat.
No! a voice in Angel's head screamed. We can't give up! We have to keep fighting, for the world, for our friends who died trying to make it a better place. No defeat, I got them into this, if it wasn't for my and my need to find redemption…they'd still be here.
But Faith was right about the newspaper stand. It just wasn't there anymore. Like the Hyperion, the building where the stand had been, was in pieces of rubble, blown up.
"No newspaper stand," Spike said, incredulously. "This is getting ridiculous. We died, got brought back, wind up in a war zone and we can't find out what day it is."
No admitting defeat!
"New plan," spoke up Angel. "This place isn't completely deserted, it wouldn't make sense. There are still standing buildings that people or demons are living in. We need to find something that speaks English and ask them a few questions."
"Dibs on being the one who gets to hit them," Faith said, grinning. Spike rolled his eyes, while Angel looked around seeking a good place to start their search.
They began searching in the building opposite the former newspaper stand. Outcome: nothing but a family of rats. Gunn yelped like a child which caused Spike to laugh uncontrollably and Faith to call him a sissy.
Next building: Nothing. Building after that: Nothing. And after that, and after that: Nothing and more nothing.
The four warriors were going through the latest decaying apartment building, Faith volunteered to check upstairs, while Angel checked the basement and Gunn and Spike looked over the ground floor.
Faith called out to the others while slowly and carefully walked down the stairs. "Seems as though your theory about people and/or demons living here turns out to be-"
"Right," Angel said from the doorway of an apartment.
"No, wrong," said Faith, "We haven't found-"
"A family," said Gunn from his spot next to Angel.
Faith looked annoyed, "Stop interrupting me."
"Now," said Spike drawly, looking over the shoulders of Angel and Gunn. "who wants to scare them first?"
"Huh?" Faith walked to where the three men stood and peered between them and saw a family of humans, a mother, father and two sons. All scared out of their minds. "They're already scared."
Angel knelt down, the mother pulled her sons closer. The family shuffled nearer to each other.
"We're not going to hurt you. I promise," Angel said softly, in the nice soothing voice he uses. "We just need to know what happened here. How did this happen?"
They didn't speak, the father opened his mouth then shut it firmly. Their clothing was puzzling, designer jeans, suits, pretty expensive shoes…but now covered in grime, muck and dirt. What happened here? thought Angel, I've never seen anything like this, how could it have happened so fast?
"Could you tell us what day it is?" asked Faith, seeing if she had a nice soothing voice too. Angel smiled at her as she made her way through the other men and knelt next to Angel.
The father looked confused, maybe at the question or he's just confused in general, but he spoke. "It's June first."
Spike swore under his breath, Faith let out a gasp. Angel starred at the frightened man.
"Are you sure?" he asked, the father nodded. "Eleven days. We've been gone eleven days."
"Oh, god," breathed Faith, she slowly rose to her feet. "Eleven days…"
"Time travels differently-" started Angel.
"On different planes of existence," finished Spike, "Yeah, for us."
Gunn came out of his reverie, "How do you figure?"
"Sarcasm," said Spike pointedly. "Sarcasm, lawyer-boy. Surely you can recognise it."
"Sometimes it's hard to tell with you," retorted Gunn. "And I'm not a lawyer anymore."
"Stop!" yelled Angel, also getting to his feet. The family recoiled in fear, his heart went out for them. I need to do something. "We need to figure out our next move."
"Buffy," said Faith.
"What about her?" asked the two vampires in unison. They glared at each other, but remained silent.
"We need to check in with Buffy and the others," Faith went on. "They know I came to help. If they know what's gone down, which they most likely do, we need to tell them we're alive. Plus they could tell us what's gone down," she added as an afterthought.
"Yeah, they could help," agreed Gunn, thought for a moment then said: "Who's 'they'?"
"Buffy and her friends, they head the new Watcher's Council," explained Angel. "They have an army of Slayer at their disposal, maybe-"
"They don't trust us, remember?" reminded Spike. "They think we've switched sides, well, you actually. Do they even know if I'm alive?"
"That's stretching it a bit, don't you think?" said Angel.
"You're one to talk," bit back Spike.
"Are they always like this?" asked Faith, smirking at the two vampires.
"Worse," answered Gunn.
"Right, ladies!" Faith called out to the bickering champions. "You gonna stop doing that so we can get going?"
"Sure," Spike said.
"We should make contact with the Council," Angel said, "If they have information, we will need it."
"Problem," spoke up Spike. "How are we going to contact? I don't know about you, but I didn't bring my communicator with me."
"We need to find a phone," said Angel. "We should split up, Faith and Spike, you should find a phone and ring the Council. Gunn and I will find a place for us to stay for the rest of the night and tomorrow."
"Plus food, drink and clothes," said Faith. "We'd better get going," she said to Spike. Faith rearranged her jacket, smoothed back her hair and let out a deep breath. "Let's go."
"Sure," Spike and Faith walked towards the crumbling entrance.
"Meet us back here in two hours, with or without any results." Angel said firmly, stepping back into his leadership role. "It's too dangerous and we can't afford to be risky."
"Will do," called Faith over her shoulder as she and the other vampire with a soul left the old apartment building. Gunn also walked out, but Angel remained staring at the family cowering on the floor.
"I'll come back with food and other things, stay here." And he left.
END
