Illyria started thrashing around. Angel and Willow moved to help her but it was soon clear that there was little either of them could do to ease her pain. Willow tried another painkiller spell, but it had no visible affect. The tremors beneath their feet made it hard for Willow to do much, while Illyria seemed to be battling unseen foes. One of her hands knocked Willow to the ground. Angel reached out and helped her up.
"Even unconscious, she's got quite a lot of power."
"You're telling me." Willow rubbed her chest where Illyria had struck it. "I don't know what's going on, Angel. But I think we might need to go find Spike and Buffy." Angel glanced back at Illyria.
"We can't very well leave her here alone."
"You don't need to. We're here." Buffy and Spike appeared at the stairs. "Any idea what the quakes are about, Will?" Buffy asked as they moved to the remains of the bar. Willow shook her head.
"No, but-" Her words were lost as another tremor shook what was left of the building. When it had finished, Illyria sat up, her hair whipping around her as though in a fierce wind. The thing was, the air was completely still. Her head turned, and she looked right at Buffy. The voice that came from her sounded odd. It was more masculine and gruff.
"You and your friends are no longer welcome in Los Angeles, Slayer. You need to leave." Illyria's head slumped forward again. Willow and Angel moved to catch her before she fell off the broken bar.
"What was that all about?" Buffy looked at the blue haired Old One. "Has she been doing that very much?" Willow shook her head.
"That's the first time she's been anything like awake for a long time."
"That wasn't her voice, either, Buffy." Angel glanced at Buffy.
"It sounded like a man." Buffy hesitantly moved closer. "Maybe it had something to do with these earthquakes?"
"It wouldn't be the first time earthquakes have unearthed something nasty." Willow sighed heavily. "It certainly wouldn't be surprising, especially if these quakes are related to Wolfram and Hart."
"Regardless, I still think we ought to finish scouring the city. Especially if there is something that has been uncovered. If there are still humans here, I don't want to leave them alone here." Buffy looked around the room. A witch, a vampire, a former vampire and a Slayer were all the resources they had. Buffy could probably convince Giles to send more Slayers if the need be, but she didn't think it was necessary just yet. "Have you heard anything from England yet?"
Willow shook her head, but before she could say anything, her phone rang. She looked at it, then stepped away from the group. Spike moved to Buffy's side.
"You look awfully worried, pet. What do you think is up?"
"I have no idea. But I really do believe that there's something going on. Of course, big surprise." Buffy rubbed her hands over her face.
"Relax, luv. We'll figure it out." Angel caught Spike's eye and something passed between them in the silence. It was as though, without words, they reached some sort of understanding. Spike no longer had any feelings of ill-will towards Angel. He had released any lingering feelings of resentment. There just wasn't time to hold onto those feelings. He hoped Angel felt the same, but he doubted it.
"What if we aren't supposed to figure this one out?" Buffy looked up at Spike again. "What if we're supposed to focus on the bigger picture this time?" Spike looked at her.
"What do you mean, pet?"
"I…I think maybe we are missing something. It seems odd to me that no one from Wolfram and Hart has attacked us. Where are they?"
"You might have a point, Buffy." Angel left Illyria's side to move closer to them. "Maybe the others have news about the Italian branch."
"I bet Andrew has reported back by now." Buffy looked between the two of them. "Meanwhile, I think we should figure out what to do about Blue there."
"She goes where I go." Angel's voice held a strong note of authority. Buffy raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't mean it like that, Angel. Of course we wouldn't leave her behind." Angel shook his head.
"That isn't quite what I meant, Buffy." Angel crossed his arms. "Andrew made it very clear how much you and the Council trust me. Trust is a two-way street. I do not know if the Council, and you by proxy, can be trusted with Illyria. There's a reason we didn't turn her over to them to begin with." He looked back at Illyria.