PART FIVE CONTINUED: Walking a Fine Line

Hotel Lobby

Angelus, Buffy, Wesley, Gunn, Connor and Willow stood in the Hotel Lobby. Gunn and Connor flanked Angelus, their weapons trained on him.

"Wes, I'm not sure about this plan. I mean, Angelus ain't the most trustworthy guy around," Gunn said, but was really speaking to the whole group, including Angelus himself who stood a couple of feet away from him.

"Charles, we don't have a lot of choice" Wesley replied, as he continued to assist Willow in preparing the spell to open the gateway.

"Angelus has assured me he'll keep his fangs to himself," Buffy told them as she glared at Angelus.

Angelus held up his hands in mock surrender, "Look, if you guys don't want me to go, that's fine."

He moved to walk away. Gunn and Connor shifted their weapons and Buffy seized Angelus by the arm forcing him to stand in place beside her, "You're going."

"Okay, we're ready," Willow announced. She moved to sit cross-legged in the center of the room. Wesley had just finished pouring salt around her in a circle.

"Buffy and Angelus - stand in the circle in front of me and join hands," Willow instructed.

Buffy and Angelus moved to stand in the circle. Buffy looked disgustedly at Angelus as he reached for her hands. Angelus cleared his throat, indicating to her that he was waiting for her to take his hands so they could start the spell.

"Fine," Buffy said, as she took Angelus' hands in hers.

Angelus squeezed her hands, sadistically hard. Buffy looked up at him, angrily.

"Sorry, it's a reflex," he told her, snidely.

Buffy kneed him brutally in the stomach. He bent over, clutching his stomach in pain.

"So was that," she told him.

Connor exchanged a look with Gunn and they both smiled at the way Buffy kept Angelus under control.

"She'll be fine," Connor whispered to him.

"Seems like she has the situation under control," Gunn agreed with a grin.

"Okay, here it goes," Willow announced.

With that, Willow began to chant in Latin. Within moments, her pupils began to dilate and a bright blue glow emanated from her hands. Her arms shook as she fought to control the magicks that suddenly flowed through her. She directed the bright blue energy just beyond Buffy and Angelus. Within seconds there was a thundering within the hotel lobby and a glowing doorway exploded into existence mere inches away from Buffy and Angelus.

Buffy turned back to Willow, "Will?"

"It's ready," Willow assured her.

Wesley stepped towards Buffy and handed her a stake and a sword.

"There's no way in hell I'm going into that thing unarmed," Angelus complained.

Buffy thought about the notion of giving Angelus a weapon and the possibly ill-fated consequences of it. But her concerns were outweighed by her needing him to help her fight whatever the hell lay beyond the glowing doorway. She signalled to Wesley to hand Angelus a weapon. Wesley reluctantly handed him a Byzantine fighting axe.

"Good luck," Wesley told Buffy.

Buffy nodded in response.

"Watch your back" Connor called to Buffy as she and Angelus approached the gateway. He glared fiercely at Angelus.

"I will," Buffy assured him, knowing that he was referring to Angelus and the potential of his betrayal.

Buffy and Angelus stepped into the gateway and it swallowed them. In a blink of an eye it swiftly shrank and then disappeared. And, then there was nothing. It was as if it had never existed.

"I hope Buffy can handle this," Wesley spoke to Willow.

Willow stared in the direction where the gate had been, "She can," Willow said, as she continued to stare off, deep in thought. She said a prayer for her best friend, the Vampire Slayer.

"Where's that Slayer of yours?" Lorne's voice came from the Hotel entrance. He and Fred were hurrying down the steps towards them.

Wesley turned suddenly, "We sent her and Angelus through a portal to find an amulet that will stop the Beast. Why what did you find out?"

Fred looked at Wesley awash in deep concern and empathy for Buffy, "A portal?"

Gunn and Wesley looked at her, knowingly. Fred had had her fair share of portals to last her a lifetime.

"Angelus is loose?" Lorne asked in disbelief.

"We needed his help," Wesley explained.

"And, he just happened to volunteer?" Lorne asked.

"It's a long story," Willow piped up.

"What did you find out?" Wesley asked, attempting to change the subject.

"There is a good chance that we may not be able to stop the Beast master, currently masquerading as our Cordelia," Lorne informed them.

"What does that mean?" Connor asked, with characteristic impatience.

Lorne looked at each of them in turn. They were waiting for him to explain his revelation, with the vague hope that they could find a way around what he had just told them. The problem was; he wasn't sure that they actually could.

Home Dimension of Tonatiuh, the Sun God

A flash of light roared like an angry thunderclap into existence and discharged Buffy and Angelus, hurling them forth onto the gravelled surface of the alien dimension they had gained entrance to.

They each rolled with the fall to break its impact. Buffy slowly rose to her feet and dusted herself off.

"Just what I need; more bruises," she muttered.

"I hear that," Angelus agreed.

Buffy glanced around the strange new world that they had just been thrown into. They stood on a long dilapidated wooden bridge, suspended by rope, end to end. Either side of the bridge there was nothing, only mist. Buffy stepped forward and looked down. Hundreds of feet below was a crevice with a tiny stream running through it. She and Angelus stood atop a huge cliff of some kind. There was a great incline behind them. At the other end of the bridge stood a huge temple-like structure. She reasoned that was most likely the way forward for them. The only problem was the bridge didn't look very sturdy.

Angelus moved to stand beside her and Buffy flinched slightly. He glanced at her, smirked, but said nothing of it.

"I don't like the look of that bridge. But, looks like that's our way forward," Buffy said.

"Seems that way. You first, then," Angelus urged her.

Buffy eyed him, "Why, me first?"

"Uh, because you're the Chosen One. I'm just along for the ride, Buff."

"Listen, the way this works is, either we both get out of this, or neither of us does. I realize it's difficult for you to comprehend the idea of teamwork, but make an effort and start comprehending!" Buffy yelled.

"Okay. Let's go then. Oh, and by the way, that angry look of yours is a total turn-on," Angelus said, as he stepped forward onto the bridge. Buffy threw him a look, but decided against a response.

As they both stepped onto the bridge it creaked loudly under their weight. Both of them walked slowly and cautiously along it even as it slowly swayed from side to side.

"I don't like this," Angelus remarked to Buffy.

Buffy didn't respond. She was trying to concentrate. She sped up and Angelus matched her pace. Suddenly, he grabbed her arm, sharply. She spun to face him, her fist ready to meet his face for touching her.

"Over there. Don't you see it?" Angelus asked her as he moved out of the way of her fist without taking his eyes off whatever it was that he was looking at.

Buffy followed his glance. She squinted for a few moments and then she saw what he was seeing. A small army of demons on horseback was assembled at the other end of the bridge: the end that they were trying to reach. Buffy counted approximately twenty of them, give or take a few.

"There's always a damn welcoming committee," Angelus remarked.

"We can take them," Buffy said. She turned to face him. Angelus looked at her and nodded in agreement.

"I suggest we get off this bridge before they get on it," Buffy advised.

With that, they both began sprinting towards the end of the bridge where the demons lay in wait. The supernatural speed that both of them possessed meant that they were within a couple of feet of the end of the bridge within mere moments. And that was when it happened. One of the demons approached the edge of the bridge and began to hack at the ropes either side of it.

Buffy saw what was about to happen and screamed for the demon to stop, telling them that she and Angelus came in peace. But it was too late. The bridge gave way. In the instant that the last thread of rope snapped Angelus grabbed hold of Buffy and threw the both of them forward and off the bridge. They began to fall, fast.

Angelus ripped something from his jacket pocket and fired it at the cliff side. It was a grapple hook. He watched as it imbedded itself nicely in the rock of the cliff. They jolted to a stop as they hung at the side of the cliff suspended by the grapple hook's rope the other end of which was attached to his belt.

"I knew I didn't like the look of that bridge," Buffy gasped, trying to catch her breath from the adrenaline that was coursing through her, courtesy of the dreadful fall.

"And, this is exactly why I didn't pursue this amulet thing a couple of centuries ago. Hurtling into strange dimensions never goes well, Buff."

As they hung there, Buffy caught Angelus looking at her neck for a little too long than she felt comfortable with. He held her tightly by the waist and she held his arm with an intense grip. This entire situation was making her increasingly anxious. Relying on Angelus to save her life wasn't something she had a lot of faith in, given that they were sworn enemies.

"You bite me, you die," she warned.

"It'd be too easy right now, lover. And, that just takes the fun out of it."

Buffy realized that that was his idea of a reassurance. It was all a little too creepy for her liking.

"There's a ledge straight ahead. Looks like it continues along the circumference of the cliff. I don't know how long this grapple is going to hold; it's really a one-person only device. On the count of three we swing for it."

One. Two. Three.

They swung towards the ledge a couple of times. On the third try Buffy managed to grab a hold of the ledge, and driving her sword into the rock, she managed to pull them against it. Just as she managed to scramble onto it the grapple wire snapped. Angelus had only just grabbed the ledge with his one hand and as soon as the grapple snapped he started to lose his grip.

He was going to fall.

Buffy shot out her hand and grabbed his, just as he began to fall. As she held onto him with all her Slayer strength they exchanged a look. There was a moment between them. Buffy shook it off and hauled him onto the ledge quickly. He fell on top of her. Her natural instinct was to throw him off of her, but she was exhausted as was he from the fear of the jaw-dropping drop below and of all the strength they had exacted to reach the ledge. So, they just lay there, she beneath him, he atop of her, unable to move, as they caught their breath.

After a few moments, Angelus moved to get off Buffy, but then, stopped and looked down at her. He realized his hands were on her arms pinning her down and the predator in him growled inwardly in anticipation of the kill. Buffy saw the look on his face, but wasn't sure exactly what it meant. Was he going to vamp-out, or was he thinking about doing something else? Either way, it wasn't a good thing. That being the case, she instinctively reached for her sword with her right hand. She yanked it out of solid rock with just the one hand and held it tightly at her side. She didn't relish the prospect of fighting Angelus on the narrow ledge that they were situated on currently, so, instead she waited and just hoped that he would fight his vampiric instincts for the time being and get the hell off of her.

To her great surprise he did just that.

Buffy quickly got up as Angelus continued to stare at her. Then, he suddenly turned away and sighed deeply.

"Are you done thinking about vamping-out, cuz we have to get moving?" Buffy asked him, irritated, while also trying to mask her nervousness at being alone with him in a small, enclosed area, in a foreign land.

"If I wanted to bite you, I would have," Angelus lied.

"I think this King Arthur-esq sword would have had a little something to say about that," Buffy warned him, as she spun the sword around effortlessly.

"You wouldn't have had the time to lift the thing if I'd wanted to take you right there and then," Angelus informed her, arrogantly.

"Just keep your head in the mission" Buffy told him.

She strode past him, examining the cliff area as she tried to determine the best way back to the top of the cliff. They had to get to the temple as soon as possible. This dimension was starting to grate on her nerves.

After a few moments, she signalled for Angelus to follow her and they began moving as fast as possible, while exacting caution, across the narrow ledge that ran along the circumference of the cliff.

"What's the plan? We keep circling the cliff continuously? It's too steep to climb with our bare hands."

"No, we climb that ladder," Buffy announced.

Angelus looked at her, surprised. He followed her glance and sure enough, a few meters away, there was a ladder. It was about twenty feet above where they stood. Buffy led the way towards it. Within moments, they stood beneath it. Buffy turned to Angelus, then back to the ladder. She quickly secured her sword to her belt, then leapt a full twenty feet or so into the air, and grabbed hold of the ladder. She began climbing up slowly. Angelus followed closely behind.