Something I got from reading a story in Dragon Age fandom which inspired me to write this and reading 'Charmed' and 'BTVS' and 'Angel' comic books and I would like to thank Aragorn II Elessar with one particular part in this one-shot.

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffyverse or Charmed.

In Hyperion Hotel, Spike and Illyria were sparring, well, it was more Illyria tossing Spike around, while Gunn was checking the weapons and Angel was reading some books, when a blue shimmer appeared in the middle of the room as they prepared themselves for a fight as a blonde man dressed in dark blue shirt and jeans, wearing a beige jacket appeared that Angel recognized, looking at the man in disbelief. "Leo?"

"Hello, Angel." Leo said.

Spike, Gunn and Illyria turned to Angel in surprise.

"You two know each other?" Spike inquired.

"We've met. In the Battle of Gaudalcanal, I helped Leo get some soldiers out of harm's way before Leo got hit by a bomb. I thought you were dead." Angel noted, eying Leo.

"I was." Leo confirmed.

"How is a dude from World War II standing here in front of us?" Gunn asked.

"You're no vampire but there is power hidden in you. Power bestowed by those from above." Illyria said, eying Leo as it hit Angel, Spike and Gunn.

"You'd be right about that. I was resurrected by…" Leo glanced up.

"…the Powers That Be?" Angel asked.

"That's one way to call them. Some call them 'The Elders.' And we need your help, Angel." Leo said.

Angel scoffed, turning his back on Leo. As much as he wanted to help, it wasn't for the reward of Shanshu and redemption anymore, but for the sake of helping and after the Fall of Los Angeles, he had grown disillusioned of the higher powers after losing Cordelia. "Forget it, Leo, I'm not gonna be a pawn in another game of the higher—"

"Cordy is alive, Angel." Leo said and Angel froze, while Gunn widened his eyes, Illyria winced, the name sparking a memory in Fred's mind and Spike raised his eyebrows.

Angel slowly turned to face Leo, his face full of disbelief. "What did you just say?"

"Cordelia is alive." Leo repeated.

Filled with rage, Angel vamped out and grabbed Leo by his jacket and slammed him to the wall so hard it cracked as Angel pinned him. "I swear, if you're playing games with me, I'm going to kill—"

"I'm telling you the truth, Angel, I swear on my family's life. Please. I wouldn't lie about anything like this." Leo said pleadingly, raising his hands in surrender.

Angel pulled away and breathed out, his face turning human as he was still processing and Spike, despite his differences with Angel, sympathized with him, considering Buffy's own resurrection. "Cordy's alive?" He asked, still in disbelief and Leo nodded. "How?"

"I've found out just recently. And… well… you're not going to like what I'm about to tell you." Leo said grimly.

"Just tell me. If she's alive, tell me everything. Start from the beginning." Angel said.

Leo readjusted his jacket before taking a breath. "Few years ago, I'd met Kyra, one of the Seers of the Underworld. She helped me and my family with some… demonic situations and another… supernatural threat. The Elders, what you would call 'The Powers That Be', wanted to make a deal with her, make her human in exchange for information, but before they could hold up their end of the bargain, Zankou, one of the powerful upper-level demons, vanquished her, so that she wouldn't reveal more of their secrets to us. Sometime later, the Elders later realized there was something familiar about Kyra and we did some digging and…" He took a breath. "It was her, Angel. It was Cordelia. But… I guess she didn't remember her past."

Angel clenched his fists and closed his eyes as he felt himself deflate. It sounded like if the past was repeating itself.

"No one realized who she was at the time, nor did she remember, all she knew was that she was the Seer of the Underworld but she grew fascinated with humans and wanted to become one. Maybe that's because it was Cordelia." Leo continued. "She was supposed to return, when she gave you the visions about the Circle of the Black Thorn and helped you find your way back, when the Senior Partners condemned L.A. to Hell, but she never made it to the Upper Regions."

"Why? What happened?" Gunn asked.

"The Senior Partners." Leo revealed and Angel and Gunn clenched their fists, while Spike growled. They should've figured it was them. "Somehow they intercepted Cordelia and sent her to the Underworld, erasing her memory and turning her into Kyra. The Seer of the Underworld."

Angel and Gunn shuddered, feeling as if the history was repeating itself, just like with Jasmine.

"You said that Kyra died?" Angel asked.

Leo nodded. "But she has a human soul but she was brainwashed into believing she was a soulless demon, just like most of the demons in the Underworld and every demon, upon their death, ends up in the Demonic Wasteland, it's where the essences and powers of all vanquished demons end. Cordelia doesn't belong there though but we don't have the power to bring her back… but you can. At best, I can get someone to open the door for you, but you have to be the one to find Cordelia and bring her back."

Angel took a breath. "Tell me exactly what I'm going through."

"It's not gonna be a walk in the park, Angel." Leo warned.

Leo drew some symbols on the wall with chalk and then picked a bowl and rubbed some blood on it.

"You're not coming with us?" Spike asked.

"I'd be of no help to you on the other side, I have no pull there. The best I can do is open the doorway for you." Leo said.

"You know you don't have to come with me, if you don't want to." Angel said, turning to Spike.

"Trust me, I'd rather leave that to you but…" Spike looked at Angel in sympathy. "We both have lost Buffy before and she has always found her way back. As much as I don't like you and don't really care about Cordelia… I think both of us have been through so much darkness that we both need someone to bring us back on the track. I got Buffy. You got Cordelia. I've lost her and then got Buffy back. Why wouldn't you deserve to get Cordelia back as well?"

Angel turned to Spike, surprised by his maturity and compassion and just nodded in gratitude.

"Why would we risk our lives for one human soul that is already gone?" Illyria questioned.

"If you had a chance to get someone you care about from your past back, not only your army, would you take it?" Angel asked and that seemed to affect Illyria on some level, finding in herself kindness and sympathy she never thought she could have, which were again the remnants of Fred's memory affecting her as she remembered Cordelia.

"I don't know if we can bring your friend back… but I can understand why you want to try. I find it unlikely that we succeed… but if I have a chance to kill more demons, I will gladly take it." Illyria said.

"Leo, when we find Cordy, how are we gonna get back here?" Angel asked.

"I can get the Elders to glimpse into the Wasteland. The moment you find her, I'll know and once I know for sure it's safe, I can open another door for you. But it's gonna be a short window, so you won't have much time to return." Leo warned.

"Ready, guys?" Angel asked.

Spike and Gunn nodded as Leo said some incantation in an unknown language as the portal formed in the wall, while Angel, Spike, Gunn and Illyria entered it.

Next thing they all knew, they were falling until they saw rocky ground and they expected to end up as a bloody spatter but suddenly, they all stopped, floating just a few inches away from the ground as Angel touched the ground and next thing they all knew, the gravity took effect as everyone groaned before getting up on their feet.

"Everyone alright?" Angel asked.

"How undignified." Illyria said in disgust as she got up on her feet and brushed the dirt off her armor.

"Where are we?" Gunn asked as they looked around.

The place was a large rocky canyon, with fire and brimstone around and lava bursting in geysers from some places in the ground.

"We better be careful. We don't know what to expect here." Spike said.

"How are we gonna find Cordelia here?" Angel asked.

"Definitely not by standing around." Spike said as they walked down the hellish terrain. Angel shuddered, remembering something as Spike turned to him. "You alright?"

"Reminds me of Acathla's dimension." Angel said and Spike tensed. As much as he disliked Angel's and Buffy's relationship and still held dislike towards Angel, he felt some sympathies for him.

"Was it bad?" Spike asked.

"Well, could be worse." Angel admitted, clearly not wanting to remember.

"They call a place like this 'Hell'?" Illyria looked around in disgust. "In my times, it would be more destructive."

Suddenly, spiders that were as large as a bulldog and some winged devilish creatures appeared and they immediately started to fight back. Angel and Spike hacked and sliced down the spiders and dodged the fireballs the creatures were tossing at them before Gunn whacked them away with his baseball bat with barbed wire wrapped around it. Illyria just raised her hand and used telekinesis, crushing the demons' bones and twisting their bodies as they all fell, dead.

"Well, now we know what hell demons look like." Gunn quipped.

They walked down the plains of fire and brimstone, fighting some demons there and now until suddenly, they heard a voice echo.

"Ah, we have uninvited visitors…"

"Who… who said that?" Angel asked, looking around.

"Two vampires with a soul, the Old One and a human. Do you truly believe you will fulfill the Shanshu prophecy, Angelus? A vampire with a soul, who would play a pivotal in the apocalypse, would become a human? You will never escape your past, vampire or human. What you have done will always define you."

Angel shuddered but smirked. "I won't let you get to me! You won't—"

Suddenly, Angel was in the woods in a gypsy camp as he saw a campfire and then he recognized the place.

Angelus was crawling on his feet as a Gypsy elder was saying an incantation and the Orb of Thesulah on a stand glowed before it vanished and Angelus gasped as his eyes glowed yellow and then he panted out, crawling on the ground, when one of the gypsies approached him, while Angelus, now Angel looked around in confusion.

"It hurts, yes?" The gypsy asked as Angel looked at him. "Good. It'll hurt more."

"Where am I?" Angel asked.

"You don't remember. Everything you've done for a hundred years. In a moment you will. The face of everyone you've killed. Our daughter's face. They will haunt you… and you will know what true suffering is." The gypsy said.

"Killed? I don't…" Angel trailed off, the memories of Angelus's atrocities flooding his mind as guilt and sorrow and grief flooded him in an instant before he panted out and sobbed in horror, shaking his head in denial and grief, while leaning his head to the ground. "No… no… no… no…"

"Angel!" Spike grabbed Angel as he returned back to the Wasteland, looking into Spike's eyes, while panting out in horror. "Get ahold of yourself, mate. That thing is playing with you. Don't let it get to you."

Angel took few breaths and nodded, while suppressing the shudder.

They walked down the plains again and faced off more demons, when walking down the wasteland before Spike heard the voice as well.

"Oh, poor William."

Spike looked around for the source of the voice that seemed to echo throughout the wasteland. "Did you hear that?" He asked.

"Hear what?" Gunn asked.

"You're hallucinating, vampire. This place toys with the heads of the weaker." Illyria sneered.

"Spike, you told me not to let it get to me. You need to try too." Angel said and Spike nodded.

They walked down the wasteland again, until Spike felt a shudder, recognizing the voice.

"You want to run, don't you?"

Spike was suddenly back in his family's home as he saw his younger self face his mother Anne, who had been sired by him.

"Scamper off and cry to your new little trollop." Anne said as William backed away.

Spike seethed, clenching his teeth. "Enough…"

"Do you think you will be able to love her? To touch her without feeling me?" Anne taunted as William took shaky breaths, while she neared him. "All you've ever wanted was to be back inside." She held William's chest and his head, while William turned more and more uncomfortable. "You finally got your wish, didn't you? Sank your teeth into me. An eternal kiss."

"No. I only wanted to make you well." William denied.

"You wanted your hands on me. Perhaps you'd like a chance to finish off what you started?" Anne taunted as she neared William to an uncomfortable proximity.

"I loved you. I did. Not like this." William pleaded.

"Just like this. This is what you've always wanted. Who's my dark little prince?" Anne said, about to kiss William.

"No!" William yelled, throwing Anne on the sofa.

Spike closed his eyes and covered his ears, but he could still hear the voices and despite not watching the scene, even with closed eyes, he could imagine the moment vividly, reliving it.

"Get out." Anne hissed before she picked a cane and swung it as William backed away. "Get out!" William and Anne wrestled for a moment before William smashed the cane onto the shelf above the fireplace, breaking it and Anne vamped out in response. "There, there, precious." She taunted and William shuddered. "It will only hurt for a moment."

"I'm sorry." William said.

"What?" Anne asked in confusion.

"I'm sorry." William repeated before he stabbed Anne with the broken piece of cane into the heart. Anne's face morphed back into the human one as the mother and son looked at each other in heartbreak and disbelief, with Anne about to break down in tears before she turned into dust and William breathed out, guilt filling him.

Spike panted out and opened his eyes, taking a deep breath as he got ahold of himself. He had made peace with what he had done, but reliving that moment was another matter altogether and now he understood what Angel must have been through, wondering what he must have relived though.

"No matter what you do, no matter how much you try to be better, you will never escape your sins, William. Your past will stay your past and it will always haunt you. Your mother, Drusilla, Nikki, Buffy…"

"You'll have to do better than that!" Spike taunted, shouting into the crimson red skies.

"Don't let it get to you." Angel said, turning to Spike worriedly.

"I won't." Spike promised.

Punching, kicking, beating, whacking and slicing. Nothing they weren't familiar with already. One would've thought that the Wasteland would try harder to mess with them, Gunn mused. They could handle these demons easily, but then, Gunn heard a voice he never thought he would, ever again as he ended back in L.A. in one of the buildings in his neighborhood.

"You're on the right track, just the wrong team. All that rage and hatred we got? We get to keep on that, except on this side, there's no guilt, no grief. Just the hunt and the kill and the fun." Alonna said as Gunn looked broken, not believing his sister had become the very thing they had sworn to hunt down. "How often did we go out during the daylight anyway?"

"Alonna, I can't do this." Gunn said.

"You were made for this." Alonna said and Gunn grew more and more horrified by the sudden change in her personality. "And all that misery and moping, gone, I promise."

"I was never gonna let anything happen to you. I was supposed to protect you. You were my sister." Gunn said.

"I still am." Alonna shrugged. "So why don't you kill me? Why don't you?" She taunted, stretching her arms and Gunn looked heartbroken and on verge of tears. "Ha! You can't!" She pointed at him accusingly. "Because you got the guilt and I got the greatest guilt cure ever. I can free you. Our family can stay together… forever. Remember when we were kids in that shelter on Plummer Street?" Gunn nodded as she smiled. "Second floor was all rotted out. You used to dare kids to cross, and of course you were the best at it because you were the…" She took a breath. "You were the bravest. I wanted to be like you so bad, so I went up, and the floor gave out." She giggled. "I would've broken my neck, but you'd been watching me the whole time. You were standing right below, and you caught me. Ever since I can remember, you've been looking out for me. You don't have to anymore, 'cause I'm good and it's my turn to look out for you now."

"How?" Gunn asked.

"Look at you. You're running and hiding, cold and hungry. You call that 'living'?" Alonna pointed out as Gunn looked down at his feet in contemplation. "You are the one who's falling now. Let me catch you." She offered as Gunn met her eyes. "Don't you want to stop falling?" Gunn nodded as she nodded back. "I'm gonna fix it." She vamped out as Gunn suppressed the shudder. "Say 'goodbye' to everything you ever knew." She chuckled, about to bite Gunn and sire him.

Gunn took a breath and silenced a sob. "Goodbye." He plunged a stake into her heart as Alonna pulled away, face filled with shock before turning into dust as he took a breath, while facing Angel, who just looked at him in sympathy.

Gunn breathed out as he pulled away, with Illyria holding his shoulder. "This is not real. This place is designed to draw on your fears until it devours you."

"You didn't see anything?" Angel asked.

"I'd lost my army and Wesley… pain and loss is nothing new to me." Illyria said, unaffected.

"You will never escape this place alive…"

A giant humanoid grey-skinned creature with spider legs emerging from the back of its head. It threw its protrusions at them as they all dodged, while Angel, Spike and Gunn cut the protrusions off and Illyria ripped them off but they just regrew as the demon snarled in rage. It thrashed its massive protrusions at them once more but Illyria lifted boulders in the air, using telekinesis and shielding everyone as the boulders were smashed into bits until Illyria threw another giant boulder and smashed it at the demon's face as it roared in rage and pain, contorting around.

Using the opening, Angel, Spike and Gunn rushed at the creature, cutting into it as the creature roared and swung its arm. Angel and Spike ducked but Gunn was knocked back as he hit the rock wall and landed on the ground, dazed. Angel and Spike continued dodging and cutting before Illyria conjured fire in her hands and threw it at the demon's face, blinding it as it roared in rage and started to shrink until Spike impaled the demon in the heart with his sword and Angel cut its head off.

The demon faded in smoke and next thing they knew, there was a blinding glow of light that formed into a silhouette of a woman and then in front of them appeared a tanned-skinned brunette in purple dress that they all recognized, while Gunn came to, all of them, except for Illyria staring in disbelief.

"Cordy?" Angel asked.

Kyra… Cordelia came to as she looked into Angel's eyes, not believing it. "Angel?" She looked around. "Am I…"

"You're not dead." Angel assured, hugging her in relief and on verge of tears.

"Noooooooooo!" A giant roar of rage echoed throughout the wasteland.

"But we're about to be." Spike noted as they noticed a wave of shadows behind them.

"We need to find a way out! Quickly!" Angel ordered as they ran off as Angel looked up, yelling into the air. "Leo! Now would be a good time to get us out of here!"

They kept running down the rocky road and cutting their way through the demons before suddenly, a portal formed in front of them as they all got through it before it closed, not letting any demon get through it.

Next thing they all knew, they hit the floor of the lobby of Hyperion Hotel, while Leo did a gesture and the portal closed before he turned to the group and chuckled.

"You did it." Leo said.

Angel laughed as he and Gunn turned to Cordelia, looking happy. "Yeah. We did it."

Cordelia got up on her feet before smiling at Leo. "Nice to see you again, Leo."

"Nice to see you again too… Cordelia." Leo said, using her real name now.

After some catching up with what was left of Fred in Illyria, Gunn and the Scooby Gang, Cordelia entered Angel's room, as he eyed her, still not believing it.

"Hey." Angel said as he knocked on the windowsill as she turned to him.

"It's nice to be back." Cordelia said, looking around, now wearing her normal clothes, which was a top with jeans before she wrapped her arms around Angel and hugged him. "I can't believe you came for me."

"I'd move Heaven and Hell for you and Buffy. I…" Angel could feel tears forming in his eyes. "I thought I'd lost you for good."

"You'll never lose me." Cordelia promised as they kissed, while hugging each other tightly, the emotions they had been bottling up since losing each other as they laughed and were making out but they also were taking it slowly in order to not trigger the loophole in Angel's curse and let him achieve pure happiness.

The idea with Angel knowing Leo I got from a story from Marcus S. Lazarus, called 'The Coven of Reformed Supernaturals', which can be found on AO3.

I know Leo fell from grace and became mortal, but in the comic books, he had been a Whitelighter and then the Elder for so long that his powers became ingrained to his DNA and the Elders later offered to restore his wings but Leo rejected but for the sake of this story, Leo's wings are temporarily restored.

Not sure if the backstory for Cordelia becoming Kyra works but I thought, 'Why not?', given that Charisma Carpenter played Kyra, the Seer, in Season 7 of Charmed. Wasn't really in a mood to do add in a reunion of Cordy with the Scoobies, since that felt tricky to do, or the group, since at that point, all that left was Gunn and not sure how Cordy and Illyria would interact and it felt cheap to use Fred like that and she wouldn't really care much about Spike.

Please review and let me know if you have enjoyed this one-shot.

With regards

Bl4ckHunter