Angel slung his bag over his shoulder and surveyed his companions. Faith was a slayer and she was his best asset in the combat department. But she was exhausted and he was sure that would impact her fighting ability. Gunn was the next best fighter and in better health than Faith at the moment, but his emotional stability was in question. Although to be fair Angel wasn't sure how emotionally stable Faith was either. In fact, they were all on edge and he imagined they would be until they found Wesley safe and sound. Cordelia's combat training had progressed, but Angel doubted she would be able to hold her own against many of the demonic species that roamed various hell dimensions. As for Fred, well Fred was tougher than she looked, not to mention resourceful. The Billy incident could have turned out a lot worse than it had if not for Fred's quick thinking and inventiveness. Fred was an unassuming young woman, but with her clever mind she might turn out to be the most useful person on this expedition. Angel told himself to keep that in mind. He looked at Lorne. "She's going to send us to where Wesley is?"

Lorne nodded. "I can't get a read on what it's like, just that it's bad."

"Well we'll only be there long enough to get Wes and get out." Gunn said

"So let's get a move on then." Cordy said "The sooner we go the sooner we can leave."

Angel took Cordelia's and Faith's hands. "I'm ready."

Gunn took Cordelia's hand, leaving Fred between him and Faith. Fred gave the slayer a disgusted glance before she took her hand. Angel looked at the demon. "We're ready."

The demon mumbled a few words and then Angel felt reality slide away. A new reality slammed into him like a freight train and they were all on the ground, no longer holding hands but scattered across the lobby floor. Angel sat up. They were at the Hyperion, but he knew they were no longer home. The cobwebs, dust, and moldy smell told him that this place wasn't anybody's home, except for maybe a few rats. "This is spooky." Fred said

"It looks just like it did before we moved in." Cordelia said

"Besides the creep factor I don't see what's so bad about this." Gunn said

Angel heard whispering in his ear. 'You'll never find your friend. You'll fail him just like you did Buffy and Darla, just like you failed Doyle. How many more have to die for your cause?'

Angel shivered. "The Thesulac is still here."

Angel saw that Faith was turning green. "Can we leave?"

"We need to go before it starts to affect us, come on." Angel looked outside and realized a stroll down the street wouldn't be an option for him for another few hours. "You guys head out the front door, I'll take the tunnels. We'll meet at sunset." Angel thought about where to meet.

"Let's meet up in front of the hotel." Cordy said "We don't know how different things are here so it's the only place we know exists." Cordy looked outside. "How odd."

"It looks just like L.A." Gunn said

"But it's not." Faith said

"Thank you Captain Obvious." Cordelia said in her most malicious voice

"Cordy," Angel said

"Angel why don't you take Ms. Likes-to-play-with-sharp-things-and-fire with you?"

"I'll feel better about leaving you guys if Faith is there to protect you."

"Protect us?" Cordelia asked "You must be joking."

"I won't hurt you Cordelia." Faith said "I want to help."

"If you want to help so bad I suggest you start by keeping your mouth shut."

Faith looked away. Fred had to quash involuntary sympathy by reminding herself that this woman had tortured Wesley. Angel started to say something and then seemed to decide that it was pointless. "I'll see all of you soon. Be safe. None of us are any good to Wes dead."

"Except for you," Gunn pointed out

"Ha, ha," Angel said dryly before he disappeared into the basement

Wesley looked at Lorne. "Payback for what?"

Lorne helped Wesley to his feet. "Best not to dwell on that."

"What did I do?" Wesley insisted

"You didn't do anything. It was your evil twin."

"Fine, what did my evil twin do?"

"Wesley, your only priority needs to be getting back home. Once you do this whole dimension is just going to disappear anyway. So use that big ol brain of yours and think."

Wesley sighed. "There are books and spell ingredients I'll need. Normally I'd have everything at the Hyperion, but here it's still abandoned. And I don't have any money."

"I'll loan you the money. You can pay the real me back when you get home."

Something occurred to Wesley. "When I leave and this dimension disappears won't you also cease to exist? Why would you want to help me if it leads to your own demise?"

"Because I'm not me, I'm a reflection of me. Real me would want to help you so I might as well do it for him. I exist only as a representation of certain qualities of the real version of myself and now I know that the only action I can take that would have any meaning is helping you because I don't really exist. I don't even have free will. Like I said, just a reflection."

Wesley rubbed his head. "Then why do I have to reimburse real you when I get back to my dimension? He won't have lost any money and I won't have gained any."

"I think real me deserves a little compensation after all the grief your lot has put him through in the short time you've known each other. You destroyed my club." Lorne said

"So if I told the other Angel that he was just a reflection of the real one-"

"He wouldn't believe you." Lorne said "I'd avoid this dimension's version of your friend if I were you. He wants to put some serious hurt to you and that won't help you get home."

Wesley sighed. "Right, I should probably go get those books while it's light then."

Lorne handed him a bundle of bills. "Whatever you do, don't die."

"Well gee, I was going to do that, but now that you-"

"On your way smartass." Lorne said "I'll see you when you get back."

Wesley headed out into the sunlight and thought about what Angel had said. Well it wasn't really Angel, but it wasn't Angelus either. Some version of Angel, some version of his close friend, hated him and wanted to see him dead. Maybe it wasn't the real Wesley and the real Angel, but Lorne had said the people in this universe were reflections of their real selves. If that was the case, how could any version of Wesley be what Angel had said? Wesley remembered the rage that had filled him after Billy's blood took effect. Was there really a Wesley Wyndam-Pryce out there that was like that all the time? If there was Wesley could understand why Angel, or anyone really, would want that person dead. Wesley felt like he was going to throw up so he stopped for a moment and sat down at a bus stop. Somewhere in this world was a man with his face and name that had committed horrible crimes. Was that person inside of Wesley? Had the vengeance demon simply pulled him out of where Wesley had put him after Billy's touch wore off and created a world where he had always been? Was there a monster living in him created not by the bite of a vampire, but by his own human flaws? Wesley got to his feet and hurried toward the book store. He did not like this place, and he did not want to be here one second longer.

Cordelia looked up and down the street. "This isn't right."

"It's exactly like back home." Gunn said "Exactly,"

Fred wandered away while Cordy kept talking. "If the vengeance demon wanted Wesley to suffer why didn't she send him to some custom made hell with fire and… bad stuff?"

"Maybe this is Wesley's hell." Faith said

"Right," Cordy said acidly "Wesley's hell is everything the same as it was."

"Maybe he was already suffering and the only difference here is that he doesn't have you guys to help him. Maybe losing all of you is his worst nightmare. How would you feel if you woke up in the Hyperion all alone and realized everything you're used to is just… gone?"

Cordelia really wanted to snap at Faith, but that was a good question. "Bad,"

"When he said I Wi- the W word, he wanted to be somewhere else. What he saw, me coming out of the office with Angel, really hurt him. Maybe it wasn't just seeing me again, maybe it was feeling like he wasn't a priority to people he cares about. Here, the people he cares about might not even exist. Here he's all alone. That's the worst thing in the world you know."

"Being alone?" Gunn asked skeptically

"Alone isn't just being by yourself." Faith said "It's being by yourself when you don't want to be. You can be by yourself and not be alone because you know there are people you can call that would spend time with you. But when you don't have that, that's when you're alone."

"How do you know so much about this?" Cordelia asked angrily

"I did a lot of thinking in prison." She said "I thought about myself and about the people that I hurt. I thought about the kind of person that would risk his life for the person that tortured him the night before. Nobody does that Cordelia. Not even Wesley."

"But he did." Cordelia said "He fought off one of those council goons."

"Not for me," Faith said "He'd have to be an idiot to do that for me. Wesley might be a lot of things that I don't know, but he's not an idiot. I know that because when I did what I did I looked in his eyes and there wasn't any hope there. He thought he was going to die. Do you know how hard it is for the human brain to accept an imminent death? We'll deny it's happening until we're gone, but Wesley knew he was going to die. He knew I was going to kill him."

"He didn't think Angel would save him?" Cordy whispered

"That's the thing Cordelia. That's who he fought the council for. He did it because Angel was in danger, because Angel thought it was right. There are two kinds of people who are that loyal, saints, and the very lonely. And Cordelia it really sucks to die alone, especially that alone."

Before either Cordelia or Gunn could respond they heard Fred calling out their names and turned to see her jumping up and down by a newspaper cart waving her arms. "Cordy! Charles!"

The two exchanged a look and went over to her with Faith close behind. "Yeah Fred,"

"He saw Wesley!" She pointed at the vendor.

"How do you know it was Wesley?" Cordelia asked

"I don't get many blue-eyed Brits with glasses coming over here to ask me what the date is, including the year. That's sort of a memorable thing." The vendor said

"He says Wes went that way." Fred pointed. "Right?" She asked the vendor

"Yep, he went off that way looking sort of dazed."

"Now we have a lead!"

Fred seemed so excited that Cordelia hated to burst her bubble. "Fred," Cordelia said in an uncharacteristically gentle voice "That doesn't narrow it down that much."

"What do you mean? We know he didn't go anywhere over there." Fred pointed in the opposite direction that Wes had gone. "We eliminated a whole chunk of city!"

"Unless he doubled back." Faith said

Fred frowned. "Why are you two being so pessimistic?"

Gunn took pity on her. "It's a good lead Fred, come on guys." They started down the street in the direction the vendor had indicated. Wesley could have turned off onto another street at any point and Cordelia couldn't help but feel that this was pointless. After a little while Gunn stopped suddenly and shook his head. "What are we doing? We know Wesley."

Cordelia and Fred shared a look. "Yeah," Cordelia said, confused

"So where would he go? The vendor said he looked dazed. So you're Wesley, you're disoriented, you don't know where you are or what has happened to you. Everything looks familiar, but you know you're not home. Where's the first place that you would go?"

"Home," Fred said "I would go home."

"You would go home." Faith said "Wesley would call."

"And you know this because you know him so well?" Cordelia asked

"I know this because it's the practical thing to do. He would call his home, then he would try to call all of you." Faith nodded toward a payphone. "Come on."

Faith went over to the phone and handed the handset to Cordelia. "Call Wesley and if a stranger answers ask them if they've gotten any strange calls today." Faith stepped back.

Cordelia reluctantly dialed the number. She hated listening to Faith, but she had to acknowledge a good plan. She listened to the phone ring and realized how nervous she was when she heard her heart pounding against her breastbone. She swallowed hard. "Hello?"

"Hi," Cordelia said to the young woman's voice "Do you know a Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, and if not have you gotten any odd phone calls today? It's an urgent matter."

"I'm sorry I just got home and- hold on." Cordelia heard murmuring in the background and what sounded like a child's voice. "Yes actually, my son answered the phone earlier today and there was a man looking for someone, but he doesn't remember the name."

"Can you ask your son if-"

"I don't really appreciate strangers calling my house and hassling my child."

Cordelia used her smoothest sweetest schmoozing voice for the next bit. "Of course, I can completely understand how you feel. That's why I'm trying to get in contact with the man who called you earlier. You see, there's an emergency contact number for a friend of mine that's one digit away from yours and he accidentally gave everyone your number by mistake. So now when my friend's surgery is scheduled if I haven't gotten a hold of him and told him to correct his mistake people are going to be calling you asking for hospital directions and giving you condolences, it will all be very awkward. So if you could just ask your son if the name of the man that called was Wesley-Wyndam Pryce and what the man said, that'd be great."

Gunn chuckled. "Go Cordy,"

Cordelia waited for the woman to ask her son and then get back on the line. "No, that wasn't the name of the man that called. The man that called was looking for someone with that name, but I don't know what his name was. Please tell people not to call this number anymore."

Cordelia listened to the dead line hum. "He called himself looking for himself."

"He must think this is an alternate dimension." Fred said

Cordelia dialed her home number. It rang and rang until she hung up. Then she called her cell phone number and reached a woman who said a man had called earlier also looking for a Cordelia Chase. Cordy thought about all the people Wesley might have called. She went through all of their cell phone numbers and each time it was confirmed that Wesley had called, but none of them were people she knew. "Who should I call next?" Cordelia asked "Apparently none of us exist or at the very least don't have cell phones. Who would Wesley call after us?"

"Try Giles," Faith said

"Why would he call Giles?"

"If you were stuck in an alternate dimension wouldn't you call Giles?"

Cordelia shrugged and dialed the number. Giles had been helpful in their dimension when he put them in touch with Anya. There was no reason to think he wouldn't be equally helpful here, that was if he existed here. Cordelia was delighted when Giles answered. "Hello,"

"Giles!" Cordelia said in an exuberant tone

"Cordelia, where are you calling from?"

"I'm in L.A.-"

"Good Lord! How on earth did you get there? When did you leave Sunnydale?"

"Erm…"

"Has someone taken you against your will?" Giles asked

"No," Cordelia said "It's-"

"Hello Cordelia."

Cordelia turned around and saw Wesley standing there. "Wesley!" Cordelia squeaked with delight as she hung up the phone "We were so worried about you!" Cordelia threw herself into Wesley's arms. "You scared us." She hugged him as tight as she could. "Scared us lots,"

"How dreadful of me." Wesley murmured as he hugged her back

"I want to hug him!" Fred demanded

"Wait your turn." Cordelia said

"Oh sweet Cordelia." Cordy felt something cold and metal press against her gut and her eyes widened in horror. She started to pull back, but Wesley didn't loosen his grip. "I promise that everyone will get their turn. But first you're all going to answer some questions for me."

"Guys, I don't think this is Wesley." Faith said

"Brilliant deduction," Cordelia murmured

"Aren't you sassy?" Wesley asked "Now if you're all very cooperative and accommodating nobody has to get hurt. If you're not…" Cordelia felt him push the barrel of the gun deeper into her abdomen and she flinched in discomfort. "Use your imagination."

Wesley spun her around and kept his arm across her abdomen, leaving the barrel of his gun pushed into her gut. His other arm crossed over her shoulders. Cordelia felt his breath on her neck and shivered. "What's happening?" Fred asked in a shaking voice "I don't understand."

"What's happening you stupid little girl is that you and your friends are going to walk over to that car." He pointed. "Otherwise I'm going to shoot young Cordelia and let her bleed to death in the street. You wouldn't want that on your conscience now would you my dear?"

Fred began to shake again. Gunn took hold of her shoulders and stared at Wesley, or not Wesley as this clearly was not him, with contempt. Faith looked at him with haunted eyes, her expression equal parts guilt and determination. "Come on, he's not joking." She said

Cordelia heard him whisper threateningly in her ear. "I'm really not." She felt him inhale deeply, taking in the scent of her hair. The arm over her chest shifted position and his hand brushed her breast. She wanted to use her new martial arts skills on him and send him to the ground with a painful jab, but not as much as she wanted her guts to stay inside her body.

Wesley tossed a nervous glance at the window in the rare book shop he was in. It had taken him quite a while to find the volume he needed and the sun was now setting. He hoped he would be able to make it back to Caritas without incident. He fumbled with his cash as he got to the counter and paid for his items. "You all right sir?" The proprietor asked as he made change

"I'm fine, just a little jittery today." Wesley said

"When I get a bad case of the nerves I try to lose myself in a good book."

Wesley smiled at the man. "That's the plan."

"Come again," The proprietor smiled at Wesley.

"Yes," Wesley said as he picked the books up with his trembling hands

As Wesley made his way down the darkening street at a fast pace he found his thoughts wandering to his childhood, never a good thing. He remembered his father telling him what happened to bad little boys who roamed around at night. He remembered his father telling him about the monsters that lived in the shadows and waited for stupid children to amble past so that they could grab the children. The monsters would sink their teeth into his tender flesh and drain every last drop of blood from him unless he obeyed every edict he was given and aced every examination he attempted. Wesley shivered. Why was he thinking about that now? Wesley felt strong hands wrap around his arms and yank him back. Wesley dropped his books on the sidewalk and felt his head smack painfully into a brick wall. He stared without comprehension at a beautiful young blond woman. Buffy Summers stared at him with glittering hateful eyes while she was flanked by Angel and Xander. "Hello Wesley," She said "Long time, no see."

"Oh dear," Wesley felt his mouth go dry. How was he going to get out of this?

"Did you think I would let a challenge like this go unanswered?"

"I never meant-"

Wesley felt her strong slayer fist drive into his stomach. "I'm talking."

Wesley gasped for air like a fish flopping on a boat deck. Tears sprang into his eyes and it occurred to him that no matter what dimension he was in women with superpowers wanted to cause him physical pain. "I'd shut up and listen if I were you." Xander said "Where's Cordy?"

"What?"

Another hit to the gut and Wesley was sure a rib had cracked. "Buffy," Angel said in a chastising voice "He won't be able to answer our questions if he can't breathe. Break his arm."

Xander chuckled darkly. "Good idea dead boy, looks like hell just froze over."

"Let's take him back to Angel's office." Buffy said "We're attracting attention."

Buffy yanked Wesley away from the wall. She led him down the sidewalk while Xander whispered to him menacingly. "Try something, please. I want to see Buffy tear you apart."

"This is a misunder-" Wesley felt a powerful blow to the back of his head that made his vision swim. He blinked and his vision cleared, but his head was now throbbing and the pain was so disorienting that he couldn't keep his footing and now Buffy was pretty much dragging him down the sidewalk toward a familiar car. Angel opened the door and Buffy threw Wesley in and then got in herself and grabbed his collar. "Please," He said "I'm not who you think I-"

"Save it." Angel said as he and Xander got in the front "You'll tell us where Cordelia is eventually, it's only a matter of how much we have to hurt you before you squeal."

"I'm hoping it's a lot." Xander said "And if you did anything to her again, I don't give a damn about our no killing humans policy, I will gut you like a pig and feed you to Angel."

"I wouldn't eat something that diseased." Angel said as he started the car

Wesley began to shake. He had been in bad situations before. But as he felt Buffy's painful grip on his arms tighten more and more throughout their car ride he realized that this might be the worst predicament he had been in to date. No one was going to save him because the heroes were the ones that wanted him dead. And if he didn't give them the information he in no way had they were going to end him. Perhaps, a nagging voice in the back of his head spoke up, perhaps that was for the best. Perhaps they were doing him a favor. Angel pulled into a parking spot in front of a building Wesley recognized very well. He should, he had been in it when it blew up. Buffy opened the door and yanked him out of the car. She dragged him by his arms, which were already turning purple, toward the entrance. "Come on scumbag, it's time to meet your comeuppance. You should have stayed away. You should have stayed far away."

Angel paced in front of the Hyperion. Why were they late? Didn't they know they were scaring him to death? He had already lost one friend toady, now the rest were missing as well and he was pacing in front of a hotel infested with a paranoia demon. He didn't need the Thesulac whispering in his head to imagine a million different horrible scenarios. Each was worse than the last and Angel began to pace faster. They needed to get here now. Angel could picture each of them as mangled bodies. No, Faith wouldn't let that happen. But what if Faith had done something? Angel had just accepted her story without reservation. Had that been a terrible mistake? Angel shook his head. He needed to get farther away from the Thesulac and go somewhere where he could thing clearly. Angel walked away from the Hyperion and then stopped with the realization that if they showed up late and he wasn't there they would probably panic just as he was now. But if they were in trouble he had to rescue them. Angel shifted from foot to foot, feeling sick with indecision. He needed someone to help him find the right-

Angel grinned. Of course, he knew where to go. They had left Lorne back in Las Angeles, but today's fruitless search had revealed that this Las Angeles was almost identical to the one they had left. The odds that this place also had an anagogic karaoke singing proprietor of a nightclub with a soft spot for champions weren't too bad. He would find Lorne and Lorne would help him find his friends. Angel refused to consider the alternatives. He refused to consider that his friends might be hurt. He made his way toward Caritas and thought about whether he would try to defend Wesley from Cordelia's berating when they found him or just hang back and let her tire herself out. Because he would find them, all of them.