Part Four

By the time Angel arrived back at the Hyperion, the alarm had gone up and the team had abandoned their books and started searching every corner of the hotel for any sign of Connor. Every slayer in the building was quizzed as to when she had last seen him. But that gate, hanging open onto the street, told its own story: Connor had left the building.

'This is all my fault,' Cordy said, pushing her hands through her hair and leaving it sticking up on end, 'I saw him being weird and I didn't do anything about it. I should have spoken to him - I just thought … he seemed like he needed some space, y'know?'

She turned beseeching eyes onto her husband, pleading with him to tell her this wasn't her doing. He obliged. 'Hey, this isn't on you - you know?' he said comfortingly, 'you're not the kid's sitter. He's old enough that we should be able to leave him in the garden without constant supervision - we let the girls do that, and Prim's ten years younger than he is!'

'But he was going through stuff.'

'Welcome to the world - He's old enough to be left alone and he's old enough to leave the hotel by himself. I'm not sayin' we don't need to find him - I'm just sayin': this isn't your fault for not keepin' him on a short leash.'

'That's not what Angel's gonna say.'

'Yeah well - he left him alone too.'

That moment, the basement door was flung open and Angel arrived back, looking slightly wild and more than a little panicked. 'What happened?' he demanded, 'where is he?'

'He was out in the courtyard - I saw him there and then you rang, it was only minutes later, and he was gone.'

'Well - what was he doing out there?'

'He had his sword but … um - I guess I saw him talking to someone.'

'Who?' Angel was starting to look angry.

'Well, there was nobody there.'

'What?'

'Look, bud,' Doyle stepped in to break the tension building between Angel and Cordy. 'There was no sign of a struggle, the gate was open - seems the kid just walked out of his own volition. We just need to find out where he went.'

'How the hell are we gonna do that?'

The French doors opened and everyone turned, expectantly, hoping to see Connor returning - but it was only Fred, her glasses on and one of her home built scanners in her hand. 'There's been no demonic activity out there beyond .. well you know… the demons we keep in-house,' she told them. 'But the scanner is set to allow for you four boys - there's been nothing else out there of the scaly or horny variety.'

Everyone stared at her.

'Horned variety,' she corrected herself. 'But I did pick up…'

'What?'

'There's been some kind of spectral presence out there,' she told the anxious father. 'Not a ghost as such but... a spirit. Or something. A dark manifestation, maybe. It isn't there anymore, it must have left with Connor, or gone back to where it came from. I guess I could use the scanner to try and trace where it is, if it's still out in L.A. The analysis is flashing pretty big and red, whatever it was, it isn't meant to be here - as in, the universe didn't want it there - not just it doesn't belong in the garden. Like, somehow it had been pulled back over from where it was into this plane of existence - but I don't know who or what or how…'

'Magic could do that,' Angel said, his voice was grim, 'dark magic. Something was out there talking to him, something only he could see.'

Fred looked confused, 'but how - or why?'

'It's gotta be Sahjahn doing this, he'd have that kind of power.'

'But the kind of power to do what?' Cordelia asked. 'What did he bring across - and what has it been saying to Connor?'

'I don't know - but we need to find him before Sahjahn does.'

'He left this behind,' Fred raised the sword she had found lying on the ground outside, 'he didn't take it with him.'

'Wherever he's going - he doesn't intend to fight,' Angel realised, '... Sahjahn doesn't intend for him to fight.' His voice rose in panic again, 'we need to find him - before he gets where he's going.'

'The scanner can only trace where the spectral disturbance has already been,' Fred told him. 'I can't get ahead of them, and having to stop for readings means we're unlikely to catch up.'

'Then we need to find another way.' He glanced around the lobby, 'where's everyone else?'

'Gunn went to check in the coffee shops across the road, Spike and Lorne are still searchin' every nook and cranny,' Doyle told him.

'Get them all back. He isn't playing hide and seek in the attics and he didn't slip out for a quick frappuccino. We need to ante up and we need to get out there.' He slammed his hand down on the counter, as Doyle scurried away to make the phone calls to bring the rest of the team back. 'Where would they go?' The vampire looked around at his friends, but they had no more answers for him.

...

Spike and Lorne returned from the upper storeys immediately, and Gunn - only across the road - was only a minute or so behind. But by the time he returned, the team had made no further progress - had no more clue of where to start looking.

'He's going to Sahjahn, we're agreed on that much,' Angel said, wheeling out their map of the city, 'so where would Sahjahn be hiding?'

'Aint he a timeshifter?' Gunn asked, 'can't he move between dimensions?'

Spike raised an eyebrow, 'so, what? He could be literally any time in history and any place in the universe? Well… that narrows it down then.'

'No, he's still here,' Angel disagreed. 'Connor's going to him. He's here in the city, but where?' He thumped the map.

'Calm down, bubela,' Lorne said to him, gently.

'Calm down? Calm down? My son is missing!'

'And you're not gonna get him back by panicking - we're gonna need level heads and clear vision on this one.'

'Don't tell me to keep a level head!'

'Calm down, you wanker.'

'Don't you start on me, Blondie Bear…'

As the rest of the team descended into bickering, fighting, accusations and recriminations, the sound suddenly faded away for Doyle. It was like the whole world went on mute. And then the angry faces of his family began to blur and in their place he saw Sahjahn, sitting in his dark lair, his stones and his candles laid out before him. And then he saw Connor - marching through the streets, pushing his way past the people - a look of single focused determination on his face. And there was someone with him, someone more blurry, less corporeal - but in his vision state - Doyle could see it all. He stared at the short man in his long coat. That was a face he hadn't thought of in a very long time - a face that had caused them all a world of trouble once upon a time, but which had long since been put to rest - by a bullet from Wesley's gun.

The vision faded out and the noise and the sight of the team arguing came back into sharp relief. They hadn't even noticed he had spaced out. It was a long time since the visions had hurt him. Once he'd reached his atonement, the pain had stopped and he had been left with these much clearer, less art-house style images which told him everything he needed to know.

'You know if you all had just been paying closer attention in the first place…' Angel was yelling.

'If you hadn't sodding gone running off to your bezzie mates at evil incorporated,' Spike yelled back. 'Every drop of a hat - hi Lilah, can you solve my problems for me and while you're at it can you wipe my…'

'I know where Connor's goin',' Doyle announced, his voice cutting through the fight just before it turned into a bout of fisticuffs. Every head whipped around to look at him. He took a deep breath. 'I had a vision. Of Sahjahn. I saw Connor headed straight to him. I know where his lair is and…' He took another deep breath, and raised his eyes to look solely at Angel. 'I know who Sahjahn has raised to get into Connor's head, who it is who made the kid go walkabout … It's Holtz.'

'This way,' Holtz said, leading Connor through the streets. 'Not far now - and then it will all be over and the world will be a better place.'

Down in his lair, Sahjahn scratched a circle into the sandy floor and then cast some bones. He traced a finger over them, where they had landed, reading how they had fallen. He began to grin. So the kid was on his way. Finally, after more disappointments than could be counted, the vampire hunter had finally come through - held up his end of the bargain. The debt was nearly paid.

'Yeah?' He reached out and picked up the bones again, 'and what's Peter Pan's mental state like?' Sahjahn asked. He shook the bones in his fist, before he cast them, hearing them rattle - and then spilled them out across the floor. 'Well I'll be damned,' he grinned even wider. 'That old bastard has really done a number on him, this should be easier than I thought.'

Lorne had been left behind to watch over the young slayers. The rest of the team were bundled into the Plymouth - and it was speeding through the streets, Gunn at the wheel, whilst Doyle sat upfront and yelled directions. Fred had her scanner - it was still blinking bright red, telling them Doyle was leading them right - Holtz had been here. The jewel around her neck made her eyes shine blue. The rest of them were bristling with blades, axes, swords, crossbows - they'd emptied the weapons cabinets, determined to put on a better show than they had the night before.

The wind whipped through their hair, sending Cordy's and Fred's long tresses streaming backwards. The two vampires were huddled in the foot-wells, hiding under blankets and tussling for room in a confined space. 'Oi gerroff,' Spike was heard to bark, 'move over, you great ponce.'

'Take a right here,' Doyle yelled. Gunn swung the wheel and they squealed round the corner. Fred's scanner lit up even brighter. 'We're gettin' closer,' she shouted over the noise of the engine and the sound of the wind blowing past.

'Connor's on foot,' Doyle said, leaning back to look at the four people squashed in the backseat. 'So we should be able to catch up with him - maybe even get to Sahjahn first. But we're gainin' on him.'

'What is he thinking?' Angel asked from down on the floor, his voice muffled slightly. 'Why would he listen to what some crazy, dead guy had to say and walk off to find someone he knows wants him dead - without even taking a weapon?'

'Holtz has been poisonin' his mind,' Doyle called back. 'Really gettin' in there and making him afraid of what he is, what his destiny means. He's convinced him he's gonna destroy the world and Angel will have to kill him to stop him. He's told him there's only one way to keep it from happening.'

'He thinks sacrificing himself to Sahjahn is the only way to protect the world and stop Angel from having to kill him,' Gunn surmised.

'Pretty much.'

'So the kid's gone daft in the melon,' Spike said, from beneath his blanket. 'It's not looking so great for him being the one to kill Sahjahn then, is it? Looks like we might all be in for another spot of ass kicking.'

Cordelia frowned down in his direction, then leaned forward to speak to her husband. 'As indelicately as he put it, Spike has a point. If there's something messing with Connor's head, then this is gonna end badly for all of us. We need to hope there's someone up there, watching over him tonight.'

'There's always been someone up there on our side, one way or another, Princess.'

'Well let's hope that today they're paying attention and have something up their sleeves.' She frowned again, 'Do higher powers have sleeves?'

'I did - I was wearin' the t-shirt I'd slept in and my little tighty whities, talk about embarrassin'... couldda been worse, I suppose.'

'Oh yeah - well, whatever our guardian angel happens to be wearing, let's hope they can pull something good out of it - 'cause we're gonna need all the help we can get.'

Connor had left the world above behind and was now in the earthy passageways which led to Sahjahn's underground lair. His path was lit by flaming torches, attached in brackets to the rocky walls, and Holtz showed him the way. 'This must feel like a descent into hell,' the vampire hunter said to him, 'leaving behind all that is good: the freshness of the air, the brightness of the sun - to come down to this dank and dismal place to die. But I assure you, this is no hell like the one you would descend into in your mind if you stayed above, this is no hell like the one you would bring to earth.'

Connor said nothing in return. His eyes were strangely blank - as if he were working very hard to repress any kind of emotion or betray no flicker of fear.

'You are battling with yourself,' Holtz said to him, 'I can feel the struggle within your soul. You want to cut and run - head back to your father, let your cowardice win … That would be a mistake, you know it would be a mistake, my son.'

'I know it.' He struggled to get the words out.

'Good - for if you run now, then you are running full tilt into your destiny. The only thing standing between this world and a reign of destruction and bloodshed is your putting one foot in front of the other and choosing an early death instead.'

'If I die - everyone else will live, everyone else will be safe?' Connor asked. 'The girls? My family? My dad?'

'They'll not only be safe, they'll be better off,' Holtz assured him, leading him around a corner. The torches cast a flickering pattern on the floor, which made it look almost as if the ground was alive. The naked flames were oppressive in their heat - but the air in the spaces between them was cold. 'A creature of evil such as yourself can only bring suffering, can only cause harm - to those you love and to anyone else who crosses your path. Your father has carried the weight of your destiny for nineteen long years, boy, carried that fear in his heart … You will be relieving him of the most terrible burden he has ever known, worse even than the soul which curses him.'

'My dad … my dad doesn't want me to die,' Connor said, uncertainly. 'He would tell me not to do this.'

Holtz chuckled, dark and grim. 'Then why isn't here to stop you, my son? He may not even admit it to himself - but he is letting you do this. Letting you make this choice, to remove the burden from him. He is willingly not lifting a hand to save you. A creature of evil, like you, there is nothing out there - no higher power, no guardian angel - that is willing to save you.'

'Now that just isn't true, is it?' A soft, sweet voice said - as if from nowhere. A white clad woman melted out of the darkness. She was smiling, but there were tears in her eyes as she looked at Connor.

He stumbled to a halt and stared into the face of his mother.

'My boy,' Darla said to him, her voice was gentle but sad. 'My darling boy.'

Sahjahn paced up and down in his cavern. The kid should be here by now. He checked his watch - what was taking so freaking long? If that vampire hunter had messed up again… His patience snapped and he lit a cigarette, planning to chain smoke away the anxiety.

The spirit of Holtz glared at Darla. 'You would dare show your face here,' he hissed. His voice was low and menacing. His expression was furious.

'We hurt you, Daniel,' Darla said to him, 'we did the most unimaginable things … and I couldn't imagine it, couldn't feel it. Not until I had Connor's soul inside of me, guiding me. And then I understood what I had done. To you. To everyone. I'm sorry, Daniel, for how I hurt you …' Her voice and her eyes became harder, 'but I will not let you destroy my son. Serving this vengeance will not bring back what you lost - it will not make anything right.' She looked then at her son, and reached a hand up to caress his face. 'You've grown so much, you make me so proud … please don't give in to these lies.'

Connor stared down into her face, she smiled back up at him and her eyes were blurry with tears. He felt the same tears begin to prickle in his own eyes, as he looked at his mother for the first ever time. 'Mom?' His voice came out as a hoarse croak and it trembled, like he didn't quite believe what he was seeing. She nodded.

'This thing is not your mother,' Holtz told him, he sounded sure - but angry. 'It is a lie sent to trick you.'

Connor stumbled backwards away from his mother's reach.

'No!' She protested.

'Darla was a creature of evil. A cancer that walked this earth killing and maiming as she pleased. This pretty ghost in a white dress is not your mother. She was never this.'

'This is what you made me, Connor,' she said to him. 'Holtz is right when he says I did terrible, terrible things in my life. But I was a demon - that was my nature… until you saved me. You saved me, Connor. 400 years and I had never loved anything, never cared for anyone. But, when you were inside of me, I felt a whole world I had never known: possibilities and love and hope and I wanted it all for you. You nourished me and you taught me and I was so afraid to go back to what I was. I gave my life for you and I would die every day for an eternity to keep you safe, because you are good. I felt it. If you were evil I could not have sacrificed myself for you, it was your goodness, not mine - and your goodness led to my salvation.'

Connor glanced between his mother and Holtz, not knowing what to believe. As he looked to his mother, his expression was filled with such yearning; to believe her, to believe she was real and he was truly speaking with his mother… But, as he looked back at Holtz, the fear flickered across his face once more, casting shadows in his eyes.

Holtz saw the hesitation - and pounced. 'It tells such pretty lies, I see you want to believe them.'

'A - a vampire shouldn't be able to sacrifice itself,' Connor said, though his voice was unsure. 'Something must have made her… and if that thing was me…'

'That's right,' Darla smiled encouragingly.

'It's a lie,' Holtz snapped. 'It's true Darla killed herself in childbirth - but not for the reason this figment whispers in your ears. Tell him the truth - if you are really Darla - how when you learned of his presence inside of you, you tried to get rid of him. How you visited every shaman in the western hemisphere looking for some way to abort the monstrosity that grew in your womb. It was unnatural - and you hated it.'

Connor was staring at her now - but his eyes were fearful and hurt.

'No - Connor, it wasn't like that…'

'It was exactly like that,' Holtz said. 'You tried everything you could to be rid of him and, when that didn't work, you sought out your old lover and he and his company of fools took over trying to find a way to end the boy's life before it had even begun.'

'No!'

'It's true, Connor,' Holtz told him. 'Your father did not want you, your family tried to aid him in terminating the pregnancy before it came to term. Everyone you have ever loved, everyone who had a hand in raising you - they all tried to murder you before you were born.'

Connor had brought his hands up to his head, his eyes were closed tight shut as if he were trying to block out the words, but Holtz kept on hissing into his ear. 'They were terrified of you. They knew what your destiny was - it was right there in the scrolls - and they thought the best way to avert it all was to destroy you before you slithered from your mother's body. They feared you then, they fear you now - why do you think they never told you what you are, boy? Why do you think your father never put a weapon in your hand? You are evil - and they all know it, and your mother killed herself because she was too afraid to live in a world with you in it.'

'No!' Darla cried out again.

Connor's hands had curled into fists, clutching at his hair. 'Stop it!' his eyes snapped open. 'No more.'

'But there has to be more, son,' Holtz said, his words sounded more gentle now, more compassionate. 'I wish there could be another way, but there is not. This thing is not your mother - your mother is in hell, where she belongs. This is a trick - sent from the powers of evil. You are doing God's work in sacrificing yourself, boy, dying so that others will live. The devil does not want that - he wants his tool on this earth. The Destroyer. He has sent one of his own, in your mother's form, to lie to you - to tell you pretty words of your own goodness and worth - so you will walk away from your own demise… and the destruction of the earth will be guaranteed. If you listen to this thing - that battlefield at the end of the world awaits. Save your father that heartbreak, my boy - save the world from that bloodshed. It is the one good act a creature of evil such as yourself can do…'

Slowly, Connor's fists uncurled - and he nodded.

'No, Connor,' Darla started to say … but he shouldered her aside and began to walk down the passageway, headed once more to Sahjahn's lair. 'This is what I have to do,' he said, as he heard his mother calling after him. 'This will make me a champion … like my dad.'

Sahjahn heard the crunch of footsteps and smiled. He stubbed his cigarette out. 'About damn time.' He turned around, Connor was standing in the mouth of the cave - his eyes were dark, but his hands were weaponless.

'So … you're here about a destiny?' Sahjahn said to him.

'You can stop it?' Connor asked him, taking a step into the lair, closer to the Granok demon. 'You can stop me from becoming The Destroyer?'

Sahjahn grinned. 'Kid - it would be my pleasure.'

Connor took another step closer. His knees trembled but he managed to keep himself upright, and he forced himself to look Sahjahn in the eyes. 'Do it then,' his voice shook, but he steeled his nerves and held himself steady. 'Make it quick.'

'You know, kid - I'm impressed - you're taking this like man. A real champ.'

'My father taught me.'

'Any last words? Requests? You wanna drink before you go?'

'Just - do it.'

'OK kid,' he shrugged and raised a sword, 'as you wish…'

...

There was a whirring sound - something sharp flying through the air - and then an arrow buried itself into the skin of Sahjahn's hand and he dropped the sword to the ground. 'Owww!' He turned around to find himself face to face with Cordelia and her crossbow. 'I'm sorry,' she smiled, 'was I interrupting something?'

He roared out, smacked her a hard backhander and sent her flying across the cave. When he looked up, he saw all the rest of the team standing there; blades raised and ready. 'You get away from my son, Sahjahn,' Angel said to him. His voice was quaking with fury.

'Dad!' Connor croaked.

'It's OK - we're getting out of here.' He advanced on the Granok demon. 'You know, I think I'm gonna kill you just a little bit harder than I've ever killed anything before.'

'Oh yeah? Were you watching a different fight last night or something? When are you gonna learn, Angel - you can't beat me. No one can. No one but the kid - and he's a messed up schmuck. It's destiny.'

'Well we're here to prove the existence of free will.' The vampire launched forward - but Sahjahn plucked the broadsword from his hand with ease, grabbed hold of him and flung him backwards into the rest of the team. They were all knocked down like skittles.

Spike got to his feet first, vamped out and charged. He was spanked so hard with the broadsword that he flew through the air and smacked his head against the crumbling rock wall.

Gunn and Doyle worked together. They each carried an axe and ran at the demon from opposite sides. But Sahjahn grabbed their axes, with them still attached, lifted them bodily into the air and spun them around and around, before abruptly letting go and sending them hurtling away. Both men landed with a heavy crunch.

...

'It's his weakness you see,' Holtz appeared at Connor's side.

Connor hadn't moved since his dad had arrived and the fight had begun. He looked at the short man. 'What do you mean?'

'He's come here to save you, because he loves you. Even though he knows, in his heart, this is the worst thing he can do for the world - still he cannot bear to see his child harmed.'

'Maybe he believes in me - believes I can … not destroy the world.'

'He doesn't truly believe that - he just wants to pretend he does.'

...

Angel was back on his feet and circling Sahjahn, though the demon now had his sword. Cordelia fired another arrow, but Sahjahn plucked it straight out of the air and then used it to stab Spike, as the vampire came running at him. He dug it straight into Spike's gut and then twisted, and the blonde vampire collapsed to the ground.

Fred threw a hard right cross at Sahjahn, and Cordy followed it up with one of her own. Together they closed in on him, ducking and jumping his sword swings.

'Hey, Angel!' Gunn threw his axe to the weaponless vampire and - armed once more - Angel took the offensive, charging at the Granok.

...

'It would hurt him more than he can bear for harm to come to you,' Holtz said, conversationally - as if a battle wasn't raging on in the background. 'So he has come here to save you - even though he knows this sorry world and everyone in it will pay for his weakness.'

...

Sahjahn grabbed Fred by the hair and threw her at Cordelia, both women tumbled to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Doyle, spikes on, ran at the demon. But Sahjahn simply reached out and snapped his neck - dropping him to the floor like a dead weight.

...

Holtz watched, as Angel and Sahjhan clashed the sword and the axe against each other, swinging and missing and striking and hitting. Circling and dodging and weaving. 'It is you who will have to be strong, this time,' he said to Connor. 'Be the champion your father cannot be. If you do not die now - he will have to kill you. Spare him that pain, if you love him - be strong for him when he is being weak.'

...

With a great cry, Angel swung the axe. Sahjahn blocked - the two blades clanged together in a deafening clatter of noise which reverberated around the cavern. They stood for a moment, weapons locked, straining.

...

'If he kills Sahjahn. He will have to kill you. Everything he is will be broken. Spare him from that Connor. You can do it.'

...

Angel pulled his axe down. Sahjahn's midsection was exposed and the vampire swung with all his might...

'No!' Connor launched forward, grabbed hold of his father and rugby tackled him to the ground before he could strike the killing blow. The force of them knocked Sahjhan off his balance, he staggered a little and the sword fell from his hand.

Angel rolled over, coughing. 'Stay out of this,' he barked at his son, before scrambling back to his feet and grabbing the axe once more.

Connor rolled over as well and got to his knees. He was right beside the fallen sword. His muscles ached from the fall.

'Well done,' Holtz said to him, 'but it was not enough.'

'I know.'

'You must die.'

'I know.'

'The sword, pick it up.'

Connor did so - and got back to his feet.

'Now, give it to Sahjhan.'

'Don't do that, baby.' Darla had appeared again.

...

Behind them, the team - apart from Doyle who was still out cold - were rounding on Sahjhan. Weaponless, the Granok was depending on his fists - though they were more than enough. He pushed Gunn away from himself, launching him backwards through the air. Gunn landed awkwardly. He hit a wooden chair, which smashed into splinters on impact and then he crashed heavily to the ground, his leg bent at an unnatural angle.

...

'You will not listen to the lies this woman feeds you,' Holtz said.

'I…' Connor was frozen. He stared between the two of them. Holtz was inside his head too much to shake off, everything he said had the ring of truth to it … But he wanted so badly to believe in his mother, to believe she was real and to believe what she had to say. But then the devil on his shoulder told him that was his weakness talking, and that that weakness would destroy the world and condemn his father to the pain of having to murder his own son. 'I don't know what to think.'

'Be a champion - don't give into weakness.'

'Strong isn't dying, baby,' Darla said to him. 'Strong is fighting. It's hard and it's every day and it's never over. It's what your father does, it's who he is - and it's who you can be too.'

'But … if I'm The Destroyer...'

'Your father is a vampire. Yet he works for the good of the world. We can all be more than we are born to be. Your path is your own - you just have to choose it.'

'I ... don't have to be evil.'

'No.'

'Yes - you do. It is your nature,' Holtz said. 'Your father is cursed with a soul, take that away and he is the self same animal that killed my Caroline and turned my Sarah. There is no gypsy curse to stop you from becoming what you are, boy. Your mother was a killer, your father was a killer and there is no goodness in you.'

Connor was looking more troubled, his eyes grew darker. The voices beside him whirled inside his head until he didn't know which way he was pointing or what was right or wrong.

...

Gunn and Doyle were now both down and not getting back up. Fred kicked Sahjahn, right in the face. He stumbled back and Spike was waiting - he threw a punch. Sahjahn grabbed the arrow still sticking from Spike's gut and ripped it out. The vampire screamed and collapsed again and - almost blurry with speed - Sahjahn used the same arrow to stab Fred. Like Spike, she collapsed on the ground.

...

'There is goodness in you, Connor,' Darla told him. 'So much goodness. I felt it. I did so much evil in my day - and you are the one good thing I ever gave to this world.'

'You are her masterpiece,' Holtz said. 'But think what she is - what would the masterpiece of a creature of evil look like? You are the very worst of Darla and Angelus.'

Connor shook his head- trying to shut it all out.

'No - listen to me, Connor, you are good. I know it to be true.'

'She wants you to end the world,' Holtz warned.

'I want you to save it - I know you can.'

But that made the old vampire hunter laugh. The sound echoed inside Connor's head - taunting him. 'She speaks of goodness, of salvation - tell me, Darla, what would a bitch from the depths of hell know of either? Look around you, Connor, the only one who sees any good in you is this spawn of the devil herself, this creature of evil. Evil aligns with you, evil is what you serve and it serves you back in kind. There is no one else in the universe on your side.'

A balled fist suddenly flew out of nowhere, striking Holtz in the face and knocking him to the ground. Wesley stepped out of the shadows, straightening his tie, 'that is not entirely true.'

...

Doyle groaned as he came to. The ache all over his body told him he had had his neck snapped - again. He cracked it back into place and shook off his spikes just in time to see Cordelia flung across the cavern and hit the opposite wall before crashing to the ground.

...

Holtz brought a hand up to his stinging nose, 'what's this?' He got back to his feet. 'Another trickery from the devil?'

'Another soldier of the powers,' Wesley corrected him. 'And we are sent to help out a brother warrior.'

'Angelus.'

'Connor.' His fist whipped out again and he knocked the vampire hunter off his feet one more time.

'You see, Connor,' Darla said, her voice hurried and urgent as her son still stood inactive - frozen with fear and indecision. 'We were sent here to help you out by something far greater than ourselves, something out there believes in you - and so do we.'

'A kidnapper and a whore,' Holtz growled, 'what champions you have to defend your honour.'

'A mother,' Wesley kicked Holtz whilst he was on the ground, 'and a man who did wrong but loves you as a father.' The watcher turned to look at Connor, his blue eyes shining furiously, 'I wronged your father when I took you away Connor, but I did it to protect him - he was worth that sacrifice. Because he is a good man and you can be one too. A child born of two vampires was both a miracle and an unknown terror, we were afraid. But, from the moment we knew of your soul, we loved you and wanted nothing more than to protect you and keep you safe. It's why we did what we did - why all of us have done the things we have, over the years. No price was too high to keep you safe, Connor.'

'Don't throw that away now,' Darla said. 'All our sacrifices, don't repay everything we gave by listening to our enemies. There are forces out in the world that look to destroy us - always - but your family loves you, Connor, they will always do what's best for you. You have to do what's best for them.'

'That's sacrificing yourself,' Holtz said. 'Destroying the evil inside of you.'

Connor inhaled sharply. His head was hung low, one of his eyes was beginning to twitch as the onslaught of conflicting information rained down on him from every direction.

'Connor, listen to me,' Wesley said, his voice was sharp and clear. 'Your life is a miracle. Each child holds within them the power to heal the world or destroy it - and you are no different. But you have been raised well by people who love you, by champions to guide you. Right now you fear there is nothing of goodness and light inside of you, and yet here you are: to sacrifice your life for the good of the world, to spare your father the pain this vengeance hungry creature tells you is coming Angel's way. He is preying on your very goodness to make you come here. If you were not inherently good - you would not be here to die for the good of others. You have the power to be whatever man you want to be, but you need to find that strength inside yourself. The miracle child was not born to be killed in some dank underground cave by some run of the mill Granok demon.'

'He was born to destroy the earth,' Holtz snarled.

Connor flinched.

...

Sahjahn and Angel - alone in the fighting now- were both weaponless and duking it out. Angel was not a match for the Granok demon's terrible strength and he crumbled beneath the blows. He ducked and weaved as best he could, hoping to tire Sahjahn out - but it was him that was tiring. His legs felt like butter. He stumbled back and collapsed amongst the splinters of the chair Gunn's fall had broken. Sahjahn bore down on him; grinning, as he reached down to pick up a fragment of splintered wood.

...

'You could destroy the earth,' Darla said to her son, 'you were born with so much more power, so much more potential than most. But it doesn't have to be that way. You can choose your own path, baby. The Tro Clon could bring destruction or salvation. I know you are here to save this world, to make it better.'

'Lies,' Holtz hissed.

'Just before you were born, I took you up to the top of a bridge and we looked out over the city,' Darla said. 'I was so afraid. Of what I would become once your goodness had left me, of how I might hurt you, of how I wouldn't even remember that I had loved you and would care even less. I could not bear to go back to what I was. And I was afraid for you - having to live in this terrible world. And I know things have only got worse since then, but I realised you can change everything. That's why I sacrificed myself- because your life is worth more than mine. You can make everything better. You can help people. You can be a champion, like your father … but you have to do that by being strong, by fighting. You were born to save this world.'

'You are a creature of evil. You were born to destroy it!' Holtz said.

The sword twitched in Connor's hand.

...

Down on the floor, Angel tried to slither backwards out of the reach of Sahjhan's makeshift stake. But he was aching and bleeding and he was moving too slowly. The Granok demon pulled the stake back.

...

'Act now,' Holtz said. 'Don't give in to weakness. Don't listen to the lies.'

The sword twitched in Connor's hand again.

...

Angel stared up at the stake in Sahjan's hand. Sahjahn laughed. 'You know, all that time I spent scheming to get you killed … gotta tell ya, it's pretty sweet to do it myself.' The stake lunged downward…

There was a whistling sound of a blade swinging through the air, and then a slicing sound … and then Sahjahn's head rolled off his body, his dead hand let go of the stake and his now headless corpse followed it down, falling forwards. Angel only just rolled out of the way in time before it landed on top of him. It smashed against the earth instead. As the one who had summoned him lay dead, the spirit of Holtz melted away - back to whatever afterlife Sahjahn had pulled him from. Darla and Wesley remained: watching the scene unfold.

Angel looked up in shock. Connor was standing where Sahjahn had stood, sword raised - his expression unreadable.

The vampire coughed, 'Connor - '

Slowly, Connor lowered his sword. 'I think I'd like to go home now,' he said - and then limped out of the cave.

Groaning, Angel got to his feet and staggered after him. Spike and Fred helped Gunn up and - with one of Gunn's arms around each of their shoulders - they followed their boss out.

Doyle helped Cordelia back to her feet. 'I don't get it,' she said, looking down at the headless body. 'What made him suddenly step up and act?'

Doyle - the seer, the former higher power - was able to see far more than she could. His eyes met Wesley's. Wesley nodded at him, he nodded back and then the watcher and Darla faded away. 'Not what,' Doyle said softly, 'who.'

Connor had gone back to Stanford. He had just bundled up his stuff and gone out and caught a bus - he wouldn't even let one of his family drive him back. Angel was off somewhere, brooding. The rest of the team were gathered in the lobby, battered, bruised and broken. Gunn was on crutches, Fred and Spike had had their stab wounds bandaged up and ice packs were in abundance.

'So - the kid came through in the end?' Lorne said, taking a sip of his ever present seabreeze. 'Gotta say - it's a battle I'm not sorry I missed. Although,' he chuckled, but it was a dark little chuckle: 'all those things Sahjahn did to prevent Connor from killing him, all those schemes across centuries - and in the end, they all led him right to the slicy end of Connor's sword. I guess that's just fate, huh - she really is a wily mistress.'

'I guess it's true - you just can't avoid your destiny.' Fred winced as the wound in her side twinged with pain. 'Though I might have liked it better if my destiny hadn't involved gettin' stabbed by an arrow.'

'You and me both, pet,' Spike flashed her a sympathetic grin. 'Speaking of … what does this all mean for that end of the world mojo we were dealing with? The big black out? What's up with the Tro Clon?'

Gunn was sitting on the round sofa, his broken leg up on a footstool and his crutches balanced beside him. 'I did some more translating on that,' he said. 'I'm thinking we might be in the clear.'

'How's that again?' Cordelia frowned.

'Well - it was in three parts, just like Irish said. The first part was detailing the focal point of the Tro Clon coming of age.'

'You mean Connor?' Cordy checked.

He nodded, 'yep - the boy himself. Now the Tro Clon's got serious mojo in it's own right. So when it matures … things are gonna get a little freaky. You get harbingers, birthing pains sort of.'

'You mean like rich ladies with swimmin' pools full o' blood?' Doyle asked.

'For starters - but it's bigger than that. Everythin' about the world right now is a part of it. Why it is the way it is - why it's so damn crazy. It's because the Tro Clon is in effect, it's all grown up and ready to be resolved.'

'So we have Connor to thank for Covid?' Lorne asked.

'No, we have folks eating live bats to thank for Covid,' Gunn corrected. 'But like everything else that's goin' down - it's all just a harbinger.'

'So what did the next part say?' Fred asked.

'Well - like I said before, the whole thing is a constructed argument. The first point presupposes the Tro Clon coming of age will bring about turmoil, the second point argues that that turmoil will bring about old enemies returned to earth.'

'The earthquake brought about Sahjahn, Sahjhan brought about Holtz,' Lorne said, counting on his fingers to keep track.

'Right - and the final part is the conclusion. If the Tro Clon has come of age, then his enemies are going to walk the earth … so this is what's gonna be done about it.'

Everyone stared at him. 'Did I miss something?' Cordy wrinkled her brow, 'what's gonna be done about it?'

But Gunn only shrugged, 'whatever the hell Connor wants to do about it. The choice is his. That's why Fred couldn't get a fix on the math - kid's got his whole damn life to figure it out. '

...

It was starting to get dark outside. Angel came down the stairs, but he didn't speak to or look at anyone. He just drifted out through the French windows and was then visible, sitting on the bench, his shoulders hunched: brooding. Everyone turned to look at Doyle. The half demon nodded, 'I'll go talk to him,' he said, getting up.

'They sent you out here?' Angel said, when he heard the doors open, he didn't bother looking up.

'They figured you could do with some cheering up.' Doyle sat down beside him.

'He wouldn't even talk to me.'

'He'll come around - kid just needs some time.'

'I never wanted him to have to do that,' Angel's voice was heavy.

'It was written in the stars, bud. You couldn't stop it.'

'Maybe I could have done something, tried harder, fought better…'

'Don't beat yourself up - Sahjahn already did that.' That managed to get a wry smile out of the vampire.

'I just … I thought we'd have more time. You know, before we got to destiny and life and death and … I didn't want him to become a killer, not so young. I wanted more for him, something different than what I had. Not prophecies and set in stone and fate and duty and honour. It's too much for him. He's just a boy.'

Doyle shook his head. 'I guess maybe he isn't just a boy, anymore. We forget - how fast they grow up.'

'I wasn't ready.'

'I don't think parents ever are - but it's inevitable. It's destiny.'

'Connor's destiny is bigger than most.'

'And now he's met it,' Doyle said. He turned to Angel. 'Everythin' we worried about - back in the day - it's over now. Done.'

'Back in the day,' Angel sighed, deeply. 'You know, when I went to see the conduit - it appeared to me as Wesley?'

'Yeah?'

'And for a moment - I just - I thought it was him. But it was something ancient and evil, wearing his skin.'

'The whiteroom, man, nothing's ever what it appears in there.'

Angel looked up at the stars, as if searching something out. 'I guess it just got me thinking - about the path that led us here, where it all started … I wonder if Wesley was watching us tonight?'

Doyle smiled. 'I'm pretty sure he was there with us in spirit.'

'You think?'

'I think family's always there when you need it most. And Connor's got a lot o' people watching over him. Even when you're not there to do it.'

Angle shuffled a little on the bench. 'I just - I never realised how hard it would be. Letting go, not being there for him every minute. I'm - I'm not ready for him not to be my boy anymore.'

'He'll always be your boy, man - nothing can change that. Not even him growing up…' He nodded his head slowly, 'but you do need to let him go. It's time, man - you did a good job, he's got a good head on his shoulders and now he's got his whole life in front of him - free to do whatever he chooses, be whatever he wants. That's what you wanted isn't it?'

'Of course.'

'Then you gotta stand back and let him. You gotta let him grow up into the man he's going to become. He'll never do that if you keep treatin' him like a child. It's time for him to stand on his own two feet - he proved tonight he can do it, question is - can you let him?'

'I don't know … you think it's that easy?'

'Nope,' Doyle chuckled wryly and shook his head. 'I think in ten years time you'll be havin' this exact same conversation with me over Primrose. It's the way o' the world. It's bein' a dad. But right now - your job in bein' a dad is to take a step back, and I'm here to tell you that. I know you'll repay the favour when the time comes.'

Angel smiled, 'count on it.'

'Well,' the half demon checked his watch, 'I better go help Cordy put the girls to bed - you OK, man?'

'Yeah - I'm just gonna… stay…' He stayed sitting on the bench and, after a moment, Doyle left him alone and went back inside to his own little family. Angel stayed outside for a long while; long after the moon had risen and the last of his family had deserted the lobby; thinking about Connor and destiny and the way time moved too quickly.

...

Once the lobby was empty, he got up and went inside. He took out his phone and opened up the tracking app - looking at the little dot that was Connor in his dorm room. He stared at it for a long, long time and then - reluctantly - he reached out his index finger … and deleted the app.

The next day, Connor was back in his poetry lecture. It seemed surreal - everyone sitting here, six feet apart, masks on, as if nothing had changed. For Connor, everything was different; everything looked different and felt different and nobody around him knew. Nobody could see the change in him - but he could feel it, deep in his soul, and down to his toes and through to his bones.

'Poetry is about subjective feeling, it speaks to us on a personal level and that's what I want you to think about now,' the lecturer said, down at the front. 'So we're going to look at these last four lines: the conclusion, the denouement - what it has all been building up to.'

Connor looked at the printout as the lecturer read the words aloud. 'If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run, yours is the earth and everything that's in it and - which is more - you'll be a man, my son… I just want you to take a moment to write down what that sentiment means to you.'

A lecture hall full of heads bent down and began scribbling on their notes. All except one. Sitting alone, in the back of the room, Connor just looked at the final words of the poem - and smiled to himself.

The End

Happy 21st Birthday Angel the Series!