Elemental

by katmobile

Angel and his collegues at Wolfram and Hart have just agreed to take down The Circle of Black Thorn when they receive some unexpected visitors.

Elemental

The Pentangle

The moment that Lorne raised his hand there was a weird shifting like the room had been put through a scanner. A flash of pale green light moved like an x-ray, the ground shook and there was a wave of hot, humid air. Lines on the floor formed out from the components parts of the phenomenon - flame, water, writing in the air and a crack in the floor. The lines widened and they moved outwards from the centre of where everyone was standing towards the walls until the crack stopped at a point between Spike and Wesley. Then Angel's desk lurched violently towards Spike. At that point he discovered he couldn't move and he was rooted there like he'd been bloody super-glued. The superhuman reflexes kicked in just quickly enough so for him to brace himself. He was preparing for the impact which was going to come when the desk smacked him in the back or for the attempt to shove it away when it stopped just short of him.

Then it was Wesley's turn to find he couldn't move his feet. As the end of the desk swung towards him, again it stopped just before it would have slammed into his side. Wesley had also been somewhat disconcerted by the sofa behind him bursting into flame and then a black figure leaping from it. He caught a fleeting glimpse of the figure as it rushed past him at superman speed, far too fast for him to see it clearly, leaving a heat trail behind it like a speeding car. He then noticed that symbols were forming behind both Gunn and Angel. In Gunn's case it looked like it was being written in the air and in Angel's it was condensing in the window behind him.

Angel's chair, which had moved along with the desk to still be behind it, swivelled around to reveal a man sitting in it, apparently out of nowhere. He was leaning back as casual as anything with one leg crossed over the other and his hands were steepled in that way that always indicated the person doing it felt a sense of superiority to everyone else in the room. He was oriental and middle-aged in appearance and he looked heavily built with a slight paunch suggesting that he ate well but could still handle himself in a fight if he had to. Angel, who had an eidetic memory and no small sense of style, noticed that this man was wearing a red Chinese-style silk shirt with gold medallions which was underneath the buttoned up jacket of what appeared to be a very well cut black suit. He reminded Angel and Wesley of Holland Manners and the former Mayor of Sunnydale while to Lorne and Spike were wondering where the fluffy white cat was. They all mentally readied themselves for a fight, noticing Gunn was doing the same.

The reminder of previous enemies and James Bond villains was even stronger when the man greeted them with a casual but clear "Good morning Gentlemen" in a slightly oriental accent. His voice was deep and commanding, in the manner of someone who had arrived meaning business but was trying to keep things reasonably informal. He appeared supremely confident, almost smug, until …

"Yo guys!" said the figure who had rushed past Wesley drawing the group's attention towards him, then a look of distaste and annoyance then crossed the seated man's face. This other guy looked to them all like a late teenage version of Gunn, especially considering he had very short hair almost like black stubble on the top of his head, which seemed to have a flame pattern shaved into it. He was slightly built but greyhound lean rather than scrawny. He was wearing nothing except a pair of tight-fitting, black lycra shorts like those worn by competitive athletes and cyclists, a pair of white shiny trainers with slashed areas at the sides revealing shiny orange-red material underneath, and a pair of mirror shades. He had a lean, bony face, a slight red tinge to his skin and a problem standing still.

Looking back at the man seated behind the desk, he shrugged his shoulders, pulled a grimace and said "What's your fucking problem man? I was only bein' friendly".

Angel was getting tired of this and aware that time was moving onwards, so he demanded some answers as to who they were and they were doing in his office.

"Perhaps the symbols ought to give you some idea to our identity" said a very clear, precise female voice.

Wes, Spike and Angel recognized it as a Scottish highlands accent and it reminded Spike and Lorne of Maggie Smith's turn as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films. It seemed to come from nowhere too, as there was apparently no one female in the room. Then Gunn, Spike and Wesley spotted a wispy cloud hovering behind Angel which formed into a female face, then extended to form an arm which waved.

"Mind being a bit less vague, cloudy bint?" Spike asked.

Angel heard a raspy sounding laugh behind him and then very quietly a voice said, "I wasn't saying anything but hi, anyway".

Only Angel and Spike heard her; her voice sounded as hoarse as her laugh and, although it was difficult to make out her accent, it was nothing like that of other woman's.

The Scottish voice said, "If you are going to be rude, Spike, at least make sure you are insulting the right person." The fact she knew his name made him suspicious and he remarked upon it.

She replied, "I know many things, including the fact that Wesley, at least, should recognize the symbols".

Angel stated. "I'm sure you do, but could you tell us the point of this?"

"As you do not have all the time in the world," she stated before continuing, "which is what you are concerned about when…"

"…actually you do," finished the man behind Angel's desk.

Then the other guy burnt down the wall dividing Angel's office from the rest of the building, much to Angel's and everyone else's horror.

"Check out the anal suit ho!" he said, dancing around in front of Hamilton who had been standing on the other side of Angel's office door looking through the window.

"Who ain't even movin' with the serious disrespect!" he continued, wobbling Hamilton's lip, pinching his cheeks and slapping him lightly on the face before jumping on his back and acting like he was riding him like a horse.

He was right, Hamilton remained absolutely motionless the whole time even if his eyes remained still, which was noticeable as they were open and appeared to be staring into the room. The guy then jumped off Hamilton's back and the Scottish woman's voice said loudly and harshly. "That's enough" and he staggered back into Angel's office like a blast of wind knocked him back.

"Just demo-ing the time-freeze man" he said "smokin' or what?"

The oriental man and Scottish woman's voices seemed to groan in unison.

"What?! I proved the heat's not on," he continued. "Besides a guy gotta do something to get things movin'".

"I think Mowgli would like to get out of here, for one thing" said Lorne. This elicited bemused looks from Spike, Wesley, Angel and Gunn.

"I'm sorry Lorne, but your nickname is inaccurate. Mowgli is male and the entity which you speak of does not actually have a gender," the Scottish woman's voice piped up. "I think you are confusing your associates as it is only visible to you".

Wesley frowned slightly in concentration. "So, there is someone else there?"

"We have a ghost in the house," Lorne elaborated

"One that looks like Mowgli?" queried Gunn

"Well he's – its got a baby Tarzan in weird greenish ectoplasmic light look," Lorne replied. What Lorne, but no one else, could see was a something an entity made of pale green light resembling a skinny, roughly eight year old child of Indian decent with large eyes and shoulder length hair who was wearing some sort of skirt composed of vegetation covering the area which would have shown its gender had it had one. Lorne alone knew it was clinging to his side with a nervous desperation that indicated that the room frightened it.

"The spirit," said Wesley in the quiet musing way he did when he had a Eureka moment. "These are symbols of the five Wiccan elements – Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Spirit."

"One manifest spod for each ruddy symbol," said Spike.

"Each personification of element, or elemental to abbreviate actually – I refuse to be called a spod." said the Scottish woman's voice. "I knew you'd work out eventually Wesley, although to my eternal shame I didn't actually consider that no one except Lorne could see the spirit. You can probably work out which of us represents which element but I may as well introduce myself as the Air elemental."

"Let's take a wild guess and say Chuck junior here is Flame boy." said Spike.

"Damn straight." came back the reply

"And our ethereal cloud who is temporarily invisible would be the water elemental?" queried Wesley.

The cloud manifested near him. "Hi" she said and extended her hand in greeting "Sorry, if seem rude, form tiring, explain later," and then she dispersed again.

"And so you're Earth," said Angel addressing the oriental man.

"I prefer to be addressed as The Earth Avatar or Avatar of Earth, but yes"

"So whatever you call yourselves what do you want with us so badly?" queried Angel

"I do not expect you to believe this, but we merely wish to talk to you" the Air elemental stated.

Everyone looked sceptical

Spike put into this into words, asking in an incredulous manner "So you barged in here and froze time just to talk?"

"Why not? You are aiming to do something very significant and unique in taking apart a cabal of great power and influence, seriously affecting the balance of power in the world," said the Earth elemental. "You are undertaking this, certain that it will have serious repercussions for you, very probably your own destruction. That is of great importance and I believe makes you worthy of our attention."

The Air elemental started to speak but he interrupted her to continue "…also each of you draws your power, your strength, or is of value, because of what matters to each of us …."

Then she interrupted him.

"….or what each of us represents, making you a perfect circle. It is more significant than mere strength and power. It is almost of though each of you is guided by the very forces that each of us personifies so strongly. This makes you interesting to each of us."

"Why should we trust you?" queried Wesley.

Earth started to speak, but Lorne asked for quiet as the spirit entity sang 'Oh What a Wonderful World' to him.

"He…sorry it.. doesn't want to hurt us, it just wants to take me off to its place, talk and then bring me home again"

The bit about carrying Lorne off didn't go down well and someone was going to raise that but then Lorne hushed them.

Water cleared her throat and then started to sing but Lorne interrupted each her. "You don't have to Edith Piaf. I can feel the love there already."

"Thanks, takes one to know one, I suppose." came back the croaky reply, "Empath," she elaborated in response to the sea of bemused looks.

"So, we all sing for the green guy," said Fire, and before anyone could interrupt him, sang the first verse and chorus of "Disco Inferno" with great gusto. He had a pretty good voice. Although Lorne looked a bit shocked at one point, he told the others he was harmless. He was going to say something else but stopped.

"But what?" said Gunn.

Lorne couldn't quite meet Gunn's eyes. He started to say something then stopped again.

Earth then started speaking again.

"I have a contract here that guarantees your safety and your return to this realm after our conservations, so we don't have bother with your priest's skills."

Everyone queried the word 'priest' all at the same time, but Earth explained that since Lorne was the one with spiritual powers then that made him a priest, at least in his eyes.

"I fail to see how it can be detrimental to employ both methods of demonstrating that we can be trusted. Give the contract to Gunn since he has the legal knowledge required, and we will all allow ourselves to be read by Lorne. That way, honour is satisfied on all counts." Air said.

Earth queried who Gunn was and Air pointed him out. There was some debate as Earth queried Gunn's skills and was persuaded by Air, after which the contract was floated over to Gunn.

Air asked Gunn if he could concentrate on the contract's details whilst she sang for Lorne and then seemed to remember something and let him read in silence.

As he read, he looked at it with increasing disgust. "It says something about physiological affects prior to entering through portals," as he said.

"Yes" replied Air "you are not going to appreciate this in the slightest but one of us aims to talk to one of you each in private, which means transporting you all to separate areas for a short duration. Since we know that you will not co-operate with that, we are going to use magic to enable us to do this. I would not normally mention it but, since we are guaranteeing we will not physically or psychologically affect you at any other time once you have been transported to these places, then it made sense to mention this now. If we are honest about the ways in which we will affect you, this implies that we are being equally candid about the ways in which we won't affect you. You are of course aware of being prevented from movement at this present time so physiological affects prior to entering doorways also refers to that."

"So" queried Gunn "you're setting a list of terms and conditions for the circumstances under which you are going to kidnap us and force us to talk to you"

"Put into those terms, yes, and do not bother ripping up the contract it will not help" Air replied neutrally.

"This doesn't make any sense, why do all this just for a conversation? Why don't you tell us what really want?" Angel stated angrily

"There is no hidden agenda," said Earth, "it is just the last window of opportunity for this."

"This is the last time you will all be together in the same place. You said yourself Angel that you regard the task you are about to undertake as a suicide mission. I do not know details but the Spirit elemental can see the future and confirms this suspicion that you will not remain intact as a group. If we do not act now, the opportunity will be lost and it is important to all of us that this does not happen, even though I do not expect you to share or even understand our motivations. We mean you no harm and, although it will inconvenience you, our suspension of time ensures that what you regard as important will not be compromised," continued Air.

"There's no way anyone's signing this," Gunn stated forcefully.

"None of you are required or expected to," stated Earth, "it is a more a written guarantee from us to you than a contract per se and I will sign on behalf of all us all in blood".

He walked across the room to Angel and the contract was blown out of Gunn's hands into his. He cut his hand, stabbed a pen into it and signed the piece of paper before bandaging his hand with a linen handkerchief he took from his jacket breast pocket. The piece of paper was wafted in front of Angel to smell the signature on it and Earth placed his hand in front of Angel so he could smell it was the same blood. Earth went to take the guarantee, but it was instead wafted in front of Spike and Earth's arm was picked up was if being blown into Spike's direction. Earth looked furious at this but Air said "It is never irrational to have confirmation and it's only fair to let them both use their abilities."

Air then began to sing a list of periodic table elements to the tune of "I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General," much to Gunn's surprise.

"Yes, I know it is strange to you, Gunn, but I thought the point was sing something that was personal to the singer and that song is a fair summary of what it is significant to me or, to put it in a less verbose manner, I have my reasons."

Lorne stated, "Whatever rings your bell. I know they are going to kidnap us but I'm not getting evil or 'we're going to take parts of your mind' from these guys here."

Air asked Earth if, in the light of the fact that Lorne's readings seemed to be doing more to foster trust than his written guarantee, if he could see the point of them, at which point Earth grouchily agreed and asked what to sing. Air explained it was her understanding that it could be anything but it was best if it had some relevance to his own character. Earth then clearly but not particularly skilfully sang the first verse of the "Star Spangled Banner," explaining afterwards in response to Lorne's query about the choice of song that it made sense to him to pay tribute to the sovereignty of the realm where he stood. Lorne again stated he seemed to read clean and he noticed that the spirit seemed relieved and less twitchy than it had been previously.

"Let us begin then," said Air, and all the entities seemed to move towards the outer points of the pentangle on the floor. Water again appeared in cloud form and started to drift back towards Angel.

"Spirit, I suggest that you begin and it will probably be for the best if your voice is heard by everyone" Air continued, Lorne could see it nod. Fire slouched on the sofa into which the symbol for fire was burnt and Earth walked back around Angel's desk, seating himself in Angel's desk chair.

Air's voice then said in Latin

"Silence will be had except for those conducting the ritual for its duration."

And from that moment, those were not elementals found they could not speak.

Spirit pulled a circular piece of wood with a leaf embedded in it from somewhere and said, in a hesitant, sing-song, childish voice:

"To the centre of the world

For the spirit,

the major arcana and

the ancient ghost of the guardian

Let him smell the woods"

A glass whistle then floated through the air above the point of the pentangle where the symbol of Air was and her clear, crisp voice recited:

"To the north pole star

For the edification of the element of Air

Represented by the minor arcana of swords

And Sophisus the mind

Let him hear the voice on the wind"

Earth produced a circular piece of jade from a trouser pocket and his deep commanding voice stated:

"To the bastion in the East

For the purposes of the Earth Avatar

By the power of the minor arcana of pentacles

And Manus the hand

Let him see the bounty"

Fire took out a piece of pumice from where it had been strapped to one of his shoes and spoke a great speed like he was rapping out a verse

"To the southern sun

For the glory of the Fire

By the vibe of the wands minor arcana

And Spritus, the spirit

Let him taste the heat"

A pearl shell formed in Water's cloudy hand and she recited slowly and clearly but still hoarsely as though reading a poem

"To the moon's reflection in the west

For the benefit of the element of water

By the influence of the minor arcana of cups

And Animus the heart

Let him feel the rain"

Then all of the elementals chanted together

"Let the parting of the ways commence."

There was a flurry of activity as objects and arms moved around.

And then ….

Earth

It all seemed to happen so quickly. He couldn't be sure if it was just that Earth was standing more in his line of sight than the others or if the piece of jade was having some sort of effect that made him focus on it rather than any of the other activity in the room. The fact that it was now glowing white certainly caught Angel's attention even when Earth bowled it over the desk and it broke like an eggshell on the floor.

Angel certainly couldn't focus on anything else after that as there was a dazzling white light that made it impossible to see anything else. It reminded him of the nuclear explosions he'd seen on television, but the effect happened and then faded so quickly that Angel hadn't even had time to try and hide from it. He didn't have time either to consider the fact that the light hadn't burned him nor did it even seem to have any sort of warming effect, before he noticed the chaos of everything happening at once in the room.

Lorne falling backwards into a large column of green light was what first caught his attention. Then it was the fact that the Earth was standing in front of him and restrained him from moving when he tried to dive towards Lorne to stop him disappearing. When Earth touched him Angel realised he couldn't actually feel anything. Before he had time to deliberate on that, he realised Lorne had gone and also noticed out of the corner of his eye that Fire was sucking in the air in front of him in front of Gunn's throat. Angel also took in the fact that Wesley was now suspended limply in mid-air and appeared to be being floated across the room. He also saw Fire look at him, laugh and then move his lips, though he couldn't hear any words. A scowl crossed Earth's face and his mouth moved too but the silence remained. It was at this point Angel realised he couldn't hear anything either, although the fact that he saw Wesley react seemed to indicate that he could. Angel called out to him and Wesley did indeed move his head in the vague direction that he had shouted from and Angel thought he could see a look of enquiry cross his face.

Angel looked around the room and tried to take stock of the situation. Earth was standing right in front of him and was watching him closely. He couldn't feel anything and so couldn't be certain of how hard he could hit, so it was probably going to be futile to attempt to over-power Earth or get past him to stop Wesley being floated across the room towards what Angel was guessing was a portal similar to the one Lorne had gone through. Neither Wesley nor Gunn looked as though they were in any pain or discomfort or even as if either of them had much awareness of what was going on around them. Gunn looked particularly unresponsive; apart from moving his lips and tongue slightly around his mouth he seemed totally unaware of his surroundings, like he was in a trance or stupor. Angel was starting to work out what had been done to them all and tried to look to see if he could see Spike more clearly. He could see Spike was still in the room but both the Earth elemental and the Water one, who seemed to have become a mixture of solid and ectoplasmic rather than vaguely nebulous and was as a result far less transparent, were both standing in Angel's line of sight between them.

Then, without warning, Fire swept Gunn's legs from under him and pushed him in the back, sending him flying across the room. Fire then leapt across the room, managing to stay ahead of flying/falling Gunn. He jumped through a doorway outlined in flame just before Gunn fell through it. Both Wesley and Spike reacted by turning their heads towards this. Earth restrained Angel again from trying to intervene but he saw from the look of thunder that crossed Earth's face that he was clearly annoyed with Fire over this and it had taken him completely by surprise.

Angel was starting to formulate a plan. There were obviously portals which people were being taken through at the points in the room where the symbols for the elements had been, and he could remember where they were. The closest one to where he stood would be the portal for water and, if he went through that, which was obviously intended for Spike he deduced that he just might be able to stop this insanity. He just needed a distraction to stop Earth from watching him. It was when Wesley was starting to disappear into thin air that Earth was started to move to Angel's side that he saw his chance. He half hurled and half let himself fall backwards in the direction of the water portal, hoping the momentum of the fall would carry him faster than Earth could move. Angel wasn't sure why it didn't work – he saw the Earth elemental grab his shoulder but he thought had fallen back to the right place before the arm connected. He looked behind him as the Earth elemental, who had an arm around his shoulders, frogmarched him away from the gate and he saw it was in the place where he had expected it to be. Angel then saw Spike and the Water elemental slide through the column of running water. At this point, he realised to his horror that there was nothing more he could do. Earth walked him around his own desk and he saw a button with the Earth symbol on it carved into the back of the chair. Angel deduced what was going to happen next and he was right. Earth pushed the button and the floor opened beneath them. Angel could see the rationale; the earth was beneath so of course they were going to descend into it.

They landed in a room and Angel was surprised when a gilded chair with a plush velvet seat of a very dark, almost black, purple colour lurched forward from just behind him, scooping him into it. He both heard it move and felt himself land on the floor which was a relief. He looked around and took in the room he was in; it made sense tactically and he had to admit to being curious. He also had to admit to himself that his captor had taste even it was more flamboyant than his own. There was a pale yellow-brown deep pile carpet and around the walls were rugs, stone friezes, frescos, mosaics and paintings that looked like they'd come from various times and places. All of them looked expensive, however, and were in various tones of red, yellow, brown and green (the traditional earth tones) meaning that nothing clashed with anything else. It all reminded Angel slightly of the apartment he'd had in Sunnydale, except more gaudy, as many of the objects were inset with precious metals and stones; this guy was particularly fond of gold. There was a marble table in red-brown tones in front of him and a large fresco of a red dragon painted on the ceiling from which a large crystal chandelier lit up the room. This was the only means of light in the room, since there were no windows, but the electric light bulbs in place of candles gave sufficient light to see by even if he couldn't have seen in the dark. Inset into his chair was a red and gold lacquered cup filled with blood.

Following Angel's line of sight Earth said, "Yes, I'm rather proud of this place. Please be my guest," he added and gestured towards the cup"

"And how do I know that this isn't a trap?"

"You now have full use of all your senses, smell the contents. I went for pig's blood to be on the safe side. I'm not quite sure what your policy is towards human blood. I am led to believe that you tend to avoid it, but will sometimes drink it. You have a special fondness for O type. There is also this which guarantees that I will not be a bad enough host to poison or drug my guest."

Earth took out the contract which he'd signed in Wolfram and Hart, and handed it to Angel.

"Before you raise objections, I would like to point out that that the clauses state that all effects upon you are to cease AFTER we got through the portals, so the effects on you and your people BEFORE do not violate that," he said.

"You mean leaving us all with only one functioning sense; you didn't think that was excessive?"

"To stop you from effectively combining forces, when even the measures we did use did not stop you from attempting to sabotage our efforts." Before Angel could interject, Earth continued. "Still I expected nothing less. You would not have been worth your salt if you hadn't put up some resistance. I made a rod for my own back in leaving you in possession of your sight partially since it is the strongest of all human senses, as only you probably know for certain what happened in that room before you all left. Anyway, much as would like to explain in full why I allowed you your vision, you are still nitpicking over details of the BEFORE you entered through the portal rather than the guarantee that nothing will happen AFTER such an event."

"And Gunn being sent flying through a portal won't have any effects on him when he smashes into something on the other side?" queried Angel

"I don't know how the Fire elemental is going to manage to prevent that, but he will because it's in his interests to do so, which is something you can always rely on even with a hare-brain like him. I can't speak for what goes on in his feeble excuse for a head but even he's got to see that he isn't going to get much conversation out of an unconscious man."

Earth was holding a small crystal ball in his hand and looking into it. Angel thought about smashing it, but Earth seemed to read his mind and said. "Smashing it won't achieve anything or should I say trying to smash it. It isn't a talisman and its destruction will not bring release from this place"

"So you admit that I'm a prisoner?"

Earth put the crystal ball down in one of cup holders in his chair.

"You have been temporarily detained. I refuse to cast myself in the role of your jailor since I see you as an equal."

Angel was going to query the fact that Earth had any respect for him and started to say as much but Earth lifted his hand and spoke:

"I know that you want to know about the object – it's a link to the knowledge that was accumulated by Wolfram and Hart and others about you. I don't know how it works but it involves a Biblos demon, which is a demon with a very large photographic memory"

"Ok, let's just cut the crap and you can tell me you want."

"Very well, let us commence. I would appreciate it if you did not interrupt or attempt to interrupt me when I am speaking – it shows a lack of respect. I understand that it is offensive to you to have had your hand forced in this manner and to be made to act against your own will but I could not see another way of doing this. You are too strong-willed an individual to allow yourself and your people to submit to another's will without a fight. I respect that - it is not good to be submissive. For the record, although I relished the challenge of bringing you here, I have disliked dealing you this insult to your strength and dignity, and regret that we could not have conducted this without the use of force. It's distasteful to me to have to dominate a powerful man. In a way it's shame this couldn't have been conducted in a slightly more civilised manner. I selected these objects for a reason as they all have significance. All the luxury over time and place, the cushions are Tyrian purple which was forbidden by a law against luxurious living in Rome, for example. However, I appreciate that as a leader your time is precious and you want to cease beating around the bush and get to the agenda. I wanted to meet with you to discuss what matters to me, which is the material and earthly concerns of this world. In a nutshell - money, power, status and physical strength – "(he ticked them off on his fingers as he spoke) "- although one thing that myself and the Fire avatar do see eye to eye on is the importance of style. I can see just by looking at you that you concur, at least in sartorial matters."

He picked up the crystal ball and looked into it, "The ball is now showing me your residences – very stylish, you have a sense of taste that extends beyond what you wear. You are a bit of connoisseur in general and have an appreciation for a degree of luxury – soft beds, sleek sports cars, which move with the speed and grace of big cats in the wild and purr like domestic pussycats. However, what mainly impacts upon you is power, you were created and trained to be a champion by the powers of other people. Major powers in this world attempt to push you to act on their agendas, possibly because of this prophecy business but I see that as a sideshow. Destiny isn't important and if it's then it is outside of anyone's dominion. A man, as I see it, makes his own destiny and very often his own luck – the gods help those who help themselves, so to speak."

He continued, "Destiny aside, you are a being of enormous physical strength, even for a vampire, therefore and who and what you serve matters. You resist this pressure, which is worthy of respect – you refuse to be a slave to anyone, even yourself and the more basic parts of your own nature. You did, even before you had a reason for the world's direction to matter to you. You refused to serve the Beast's agenda or even your own sire's, except when it suited you. You are very much your own man. You also wield power on behalf of others. You see, people think of power as base because of the way it often corrupts and bends the will of those who look for it to its own ends, but it is a tool which can be used to further any end, and those without it are slaves. If power is linked to tyranny, it is also linked to self-determination and independence. You defied the powerful Jasmine because she denied humanity's right to rule itself. It is the same reason you seek to smash The Circle of the Black Thorn although some of that is a warrior's pride that would cause you to choose to die on your feet rather than live on your knees. You help assert the rights of those who can't defend themselves and teach certain troubled young ladies to be the mistresses of their own power and to use it as you do. You try to remake the world the way in which you think it should be, although without destroying its autonomy. Status is important to you too – you have a strong sense of personal dignity and prefer to remain aloof rather than loose it and you dislike people ridiculing and undermining you. You also tend not to like it if someone has more respect from your people than you do for anything."

"Are you done?" Angel demanded. "That device of yours doesn't tell you everything. I'm not just a leader and they are not my people, they're my friends"

"And in one case your family. But even so, a leader's followers are always his people, especially to one such as yourself, who hold their welfare dear, in that the paternal responsibility that you assume for them is a hallmark of a benevolent leader. You may regard them as friends and respect their abilities, but you do not regard them as equals." Angel started to protest but Earth raised his hand and voice saying "Please don't interrupt me, I will find a way of saying my piece. You are in the belly of the beast you are about to slay because you made 'an executive decision' - your words not mine, to accept Wolfram and Hart's offer without consulting your so called friends first. Indeed, you went further than that in that you actually erased their memories so that the real reason why you took the reins at Wolfram and Hart went unchallenged."

"That was to protect Connor, not to dominate them" Angel stated angrily.

"It fits the paternal pattern. It wasn't the first time you'd done it either"

"If you mention Buffy I WILL throw you across the room."

"You mean you will try. You won't succeed and, even if you did, it wouldn't win you your argument. It would just take it into another arena".

"It'll make me feel better," Angel muttered.

Earth looked mildly exasperated. "Really, your personal dignity should mean such temper tantrums are unworthy of you, it shows a basic lack of control, more typical of that which that loudmouth bratty immortal offspring of yours displays. You are not in the playground now, idle threats will not work and immature displays of anger do not suit a leader. You are better than that, better than him. I apologise for offending your honour, but you seem to be misinterpreting the compliment I am paying you. A moral agenda is not separate from the ability to be a strong leader, there can be overlap."

The insult to Spike had made Angel feel better and friendlier towards Earth but he wasn't going to let his remarks stay unchallenged.

"That's not what Ilyria said"

"Ilyria has her own way of using power and she did have a point that in some ways you have to be ruthless to truly wield it, which you accepted this by adapting what she said to suit your purposes. It's harder to marry leadership to a moral agenda, I grant you, as you always have to balance the value of the end you want to achieve versus the possible damaging effect of the means that you use. This is not a problem for a leader for whom the mere wielding of power in and of itself is the end. Merely as an example of this, and no insult or even value judgement intended, you decreed that the sacrifice of Drogyn a man you have obvious respect and admiration for was worth the end of destroying the Black Thorn, for example"

"They would have killed him anyway"

"True, but the point still stands. You seem to taking the credit I give a leader as an insult, which is highly frustrating"

Angel thought about it.

"You're not seeing the full picture. I'm more than just a leader who likes riches. I'm a man too. I have people that I care about."

"So, trying to throw yourself through Water's portal was more than just sabotage? You actually want to be her man too, or possibly instead of mine. I'm more than a little offended you hold my kingdom's riches so cheaply and covet that which you don't possess. Do you want to proclaimed the king of the emotional world to build your pride or do you just want what little brother has? You are not an emotional person, primarily. You are too self-controlled and you had to have the will to give rather than take enforced upon you. You belong here with me. Also for the record you are actually a human demonic hybrid, rather than just a man"

Angel was getting angry again.

"So, I have to say that only your world matters or you'll keep me here forever, and that isn't petty?"

"I apologise, but you are wounding my pride by not realising the importance of what you possess. Do you not attach any value to the power you have?"

"I've had enough of this. I didn't ask to be bought here and into your petty arguments with the other kidnappers. I'm not going to let myself or Spike for that matter, be dragged into your politics or used to prove some point. Let me go."

Earth looked at him angrily, hesitated and then smiled.

"I suppose you wouldn't be a true embodiment of the values of power if you merely submitted to my vision. You, of course, have to determine your own. You will excuse me if I don't applaud you for staking a claim to the riches in another's world. I have my pride and begrudge giving ground to anyone else."

"It isn't about your stupid competition. You are talking about me and I am connected to others"

"So states the man who bashed his own immortal offspring's head in over a destiny. Are you seriously telling me that you don't have your competitions which you play with others to win or for that matter, that you don't raise yourself above others and cut yourself off from them?"

"He started it. And yes, I do cut myself off, but then I re-build the bonds I have to them. Spike's a pain in the ass but he's still in the team. Some things are more important than personal grudges. Look, I have to ask for help sometimes, I don't like doing it, but…. You talked about sacrifices to achieve ends and sometimes the sacrifice is your own pride." Angel bitterly thought about the humiliations he'd endured singing at Caritas in order to get things done and added "and dignity."

"Spirit always tells me that the collective is stronger than the individual and we all work best in harmony, but it's not in my nature to make concessions, especially unilateral ones - I can't see that they'll return the compliment and acknowledge my or my kingdom's influence on their vessels."

"They may surprise you."

Earth huffed "I wouldn't have anything important riding on it. I think our meeting's at an end. You earn both my esteem and a slight amount of resentment for being my touchstone. Would you at least do me the courtesy of accepting my hospitality?" He gestured towards Angel's untouched cup in the armrest of his chair. "It'll still be warm," he continued, "there's a heating element built into the holder."

Angel was starting to feel some sympathy and identification with Earth's damaged pride and dignity and he realised that some of what Earth had said was true.

"It's not all one way. You said things about me that I didn't want to hear too," he offered as an explanation and consolation.

Earth accepted it. "Then I have been a challenge to you too. Thank you for admitting as much. You also see that what I say holds weight"

"Yes, but it is not the whole story."

"So in a battle of wills this is a stalemate."

"If it's a competition."

"Then it is done. Take all the time you need to take in my hospitality." He gestured to the drink again. "One should never hastily consume that which has been offered to you. It shows a lack of courtesy. When you are finished, I'll show you out"

Angel drank up and Earth placed a raised ridge in the shape of his symbol on his ring into a matching indent in an elaborately carved stone panel on the wall of an Ancient Persian king. Angel heard a click and Earth turned to him.

"It has been an honour meeting with you…. a challenge, I grant you, but not an opportunity I would have chosen to miss," Earth said extending his hand to Angel.

"It is not an experience I chose to have at all but it's been …. Interesting," replied Angel shaking Earth's hand.

"All you need to do now is push the panel. As a parting gift, I wish you luck in your quest which hopefully you will not need," said Earth.

"Thank you" replied Angel. He touched the panel which swivelled him around into a green gloom. Both the momentum from pushing the door and the slightly shaking ground had pushed him forward from the window where he emerged. He was worried for a moment before he recognised where he was and remembered something important, then it all started to make sense. At that moment there was a crack in the ceiling and Spike fell into the room in a shower of masonry and…

Water

You had to hand it to the Gods and monsters, they knew how to do a ritual. The only thing missing was the blood – no wait, we'd had that earlier with the literary bloody contract, or guarantee as Mr Earth "got to have a flashy title with it" had called it. It was classic in any case except they hadn't got us to sign, bit of a confidence trick that one. This ritual had a bit of variation on the usual theme though – none of the usual invocations to gods or goddesses but then this lot obviously either were gods of a sort or they had serious delusions of grandeur, so that fitted. What had we got? – celestial bodies, tarot card suits – some clue as to what they're about and where they're taking us perhaps? Are you taking this in head boy?

Spike glanced across at Wesley, who did appear to be listening intently, and then something else jolted him back into his train of thought what's that about 'Manus the hand'? why can't I shake the deja-vu on that one, like it's something I've half heard something about before? This sense mentioned at the end too – got to mean something – oh bugger – that's not to do with the physiological effects is it?

He looked around the room to see everyone was concentrating and waiting. Alright folks, we might just have got something remotely usable out of this, so when the ritual ends we all make our moves on them, since I'm assuming that's when they'll un-stick us all since they've got to shunt us through their sodding portals.

As all the elementals starting chanting together, Spike tried to catch Angel's eye and readied himself to act. Ok, here we go, on your marks - he saw Angel staring at the piece of jade in that pompous git Earth's hand. You've got to be joking! Nice piece and all, but although it hurts the pride to admit it, you're better than this, it'll have to go. He caught Gunn's eye - get set - we'll have to lead the charge here Chuck. He saw water bint's cloudy hand raise the pearl shell in his direction, the glint of shiny exterior catching his eye - oh balls, that's not good…

Go …before he could move, Spike felt the onslaught of a torrent of water on him. The pressure was so intense he couldn't open his eyes to see anything and the water got into his ears blocking out any sound. In fact he couldn't do a ruddy thing except feel it rush through him and push him backwards until his arse bumped against Angel's desk. Then it got seriously weird, the water seemed to form into a body around him, he felt one arm start to form against his back and neck, another arm across his belly and a torso against his left side, definitely a female one at that. Then the tsunami stopped and he opened his eyes, or at least he thought he did - if you couldn't see anything, it was hard to tell for certain - he tired again but it made no difference – the blackout remained.

WHAT THE BLOODY HELL HAVE YOU….. He felt a finger on his lips – Sod that – he grabbed for the wrist which going to be between the body which seemed to instantly move round, and the finger, which moved too. Before he could change tactics, her left hand slipped into his, stopping its momentum, and her right hand gentled half stroked, half rubbed his shoulder and upper arm. Her hands felt soft and slightly moist and left him feeling calmer. They seemed to have a towel or sponge effect as if the excessive moisture on him drained into her. Although it was pleasant he wasn't entirely sure he liked this. He felt a bit like Micheal Palin's Sir Galahad the Pure in the face of Zoot and the rest of her "give me a spanking" brigade in that he thought he should be putting up more of a fight than he felt like doing.

This was especially true, since he'd just realised that the general buggering of his senses had probably gone beyond sight. He wasn't used to someone being that close and not getting any scent off them. She might be like that bloke in that "Perfume" book and have no personal odour, which being water girl and all, might be the case, but if that was so, he ought to be getting a trace from someone or something else. Same with sound, it was far too quiet, deadly silent in fact. Even if they'd nicked everyone's voices like the Gentleman did and no one was moving, he didn't have superhuman hearing for nothing, he should be able to hear bloody something. He stamped his foot as hard as he could but the silence remained unbroken.

Yeah mate she's got your hearing too. Think, how are we going to get out of….. What the ?! He felt a wave of heat in front of him like the drag from a speeding car had just gone past – looks like flame boy's pulled some stunt too then. Then to his amazement, he felt Zoot take his hand, lay it against her cheek and nod. She then formed his hand into a fist and pumped it up and down in a manner that indicated whatever the bloke had done hadn't impressed her. It made her seem a bit more human somehow.

It was while he was thinking that he ought to be putting more effort into not liking her and trying to get away, that she pulled her next trick. He felt her right hand reach behind him and push on the desk while her left one grabbed at the side of his belt. Then he could feel himself being pulled around, skidding sideways and being put through what felt like a sodding power shower. He was soaking wet again and what was worse he could tell he was to his waist in water this time by the fact it was seeping through his lower body and lapping against his sides but on the plus side he felt her let go of him. Although the waist deep water and the fact the air felt damp and clean in that way it did just after it had rained was telling him that was only because she'd literally got him where she bleeding well wanted him.

"Hello," she said cheerfully in a musical, rhythmic voice with an accent that wouldn't have stood out in L.A. That he could hear her was a relief and he found, on opening his eyes that this time he could actually see something too. The scene itself looked something like a mystical cliché with all the mist and moonlight above the water.

"Zoot welcomes you to Camelot," she said in an amused tone, smiling a Mona Lisa smile.

Her appearance didn't fit with the scene as she looked like more like something Gauguin might have painted and possibly shagged, except for the outfit. She was wearing this odd basque-thing that looked like it was made out of lots of shiny things held together with string across it and two shiny slide things in her hair pulling it taut at the sides just above her ears. The whole effect was a bit weird like someone had put together a collage of water based images.

"Abalone or Paui shells held together with sinew and shaped with whale bone" she said pointing at the basque and pointing upwards towards the slide things added. "Mother of pearl combs."

"Thanks for the fashion show love," Spike said sarcastically, "anyone ever tell you it's bloody rude to read people's minds?"

"It's not something I control, more organic than that. Hard to describe really, like an essence that… diffuses…" He looked at her cross-armed and unimpressed and she continued "and anything I say sounds like a load of mystical codswallop doesn't it?"

Well yeah.

"Look it just happens, I don't know how it works - probably an extension of empathy and.. I'm getting your total pissy indifference without the mystical abilities. Sometimes it's a pain too you see."

Spike sneered and rubbed his index finger against his thumb. "You see that? That's the world's smallest violin playing just for you. You see, being blinded, deafened, groped-" at that her mouth dropped open and she repeated the word in mock indignation, laughing.

"Ooooo, you're not fond of the dramatic outrage are you? Jesus Christ! You try to soothe a guy and…." She followed her words with more laughter.

"I'm glad you think it's funny" he interrupted her.

"I did not grope you" she said evenly.

"You were definitely hands on."

"But they stayed above the belt, didn't they? I was going for soothing and stopping you being knocking onto your arse."

"By your bloody tsunami - and one of them went on the belt!"

"Well it was that, having you skid across the room like a hunchback, land on that handsome face of yours or get pivoted by being grabbed by the arse, which you would have given me even more grief over, I did grab from the side away from backside or happy tackle."

He smiled nastily. "If you hadn't been trying to shunt me across the room in the first place…"

"Best way of getting you across the room, as you would have…"

"…Resisted, fought you, not been a good boy and gone quietly," he interrupted her sarcastically.

"Touché! Ok, you got me there." She put her hands up mockingly and then opened them out and said in a more serious and softer tone. "I'm sorry you had to be put through all that but I had to get out of that room, there was a whole load of mystical 'we've to do different things differently to show how different we are to each other' bollocks and paranoia about you guys giving us the slip…" Spike started to interrupt her again, but she continued before he could say anything "….which is perfectly natural that you would as it goes against every instinct you have to let yourself be reeled in on the hook, especially given your extensive experience of keel-hauling by supernatural wankers that tends to follow on from that. You guys have really been put through the mill, it's not really desperately surprising that you expect the worst."

She looked him in the eyes. "I know it's a lot to take on trust from some bint you don't know with her intrusive telepathy, but I really don't mean you any harm and I actually want you to drag those malevolent, manipulative, megalomaniacs down, so I'm not going to get in your way there. Could you give me the benefit of the doubt, relax and go with flow a little? … Please?"

He looked at her, she seemed to be ok but he still had questions.

"Why the kidnap then? I mean, why go through all that song and dance just bring me here? When I'm not an oracle so what I've got to say can't be that bloody interesting, especially since you can just pull it out of my brain anyway"

"It's a bit more…. essential … as in the essence of…. Ok, pretentious way of saying it's what you are rather than what you've got to say ….. hmm, you've had the why this is being done from Earth and Air's POV back in the room. Do you want my take on things?"

"Yeah, they said something about each of us having something that defined you and that we all pull power through what you've got. Seemed pretty vague."

"It's more the frustration of finding the exact words that get its well …hate to use the word again but essence. Describing it's a bit like trying to hold something fluid, but there's an affinity between each of us and each of you. My draw to both the group and to you as an individual was the passion. I mean, you've got to be seriously committed to doing something to risk everything for what you feel to be right thing to do." She smiled "You're probably getting déjà vu there and I'll come back to that later, humour me a touch here. First of all, it was the idea of the sacrifice of self for the greater good that drew me here - no greater love and all that."

"Hate to disappoint but I'm not the second coming."

"Nor the sinless first, and yet there are some things in common. You can understand why they call his sacrifice the passion, the feeling that you have to go through pain and death for the sake of what's good and pure in the world, to face to death to bring life, as it were, and how in spite of the agony you get this sort of ecstasy from doing it."

"Yeah, about that, hate to kill your illusions and all, but I didn't know it was going to do that. I just stood there and let it get on with it."

"But you didn't have to, did you? She gave an out to which you said 'gotta do this'. Yes mate, you've done the bleed for the world all right, although you also know what it is to receive the gift that the legend goes that the sinless martyr went through all that to get – what the amazing grace of forgiveness truly feels like."

"If I've been forgiven by your God, then why do the symbols still burn?"

"It's not to do with God, it's to do with…" She hesitated and smiled. "…Portia – the quality of mercy is not strained and comes like gentle rain from heaven – sorry about the pretentious, just love the quote really, second favourite one from the bard, you'll be getting the favourite one later, word of warning so you're not surprised when I dip into mild pretension again. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is you don't have to believe in a god or gods to believe in the cleansing baptism of absolution, so to speak. She did and she told you herself she ain't got an inkling what she believes about God, despite having been to heaven. The second bit touches on my feeling about why that stuff burns in the first place which I won't bore you with if you don't care."

"Always did wonder about that. Go on what's the theory?" he said, welcoming the chance to getting off talking about deeply personal stuff in his life.

She smiled. "Ok, you get let off the hook… for now. It's just my understanding, as to the truth who knows, but I believe it's to do with the power of the legend, myth, or whatever. You see, magic or the supernatural power of stuff … the talisman or fetish element comes from the belief in what the person or deity represents… the emotional truth which doesn't care if it's real or not…. Sometimes you draw it from people you know don't exist outside of someone else's imagination… Anyway, I feel what got imbued in the Christian sacred objects isn't so much "Back off hellspawn" as "Jesus save me". After all, if you believe this guy went through that much grief because he loved you that much then…. " She hesitated and looked at Spike enquiringly searching for something.

He understood "… He'll deliver you from evil. It's ok love. I know what I am and what I've done and it's…"

".. Not too painful anymore? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…I'm not into using guilt to make you feel like pond scum over what you can't change – that's just sadism or sanctimonious wank used to feel better than others. I hope you know you're more man than monster, especially these days, but objects can't understand that. Even if my belief holds water, then what seeped into them was like a basic instinct which they follow regardless if it's true to the original source of it or not. An object can't have a human understanding; it doesn't get..." she smiled "….the sea changes that create something strange and wondrous."

"Is that the dip into mild Shakespearean pretentiousness I hear before me?"

She laughed. "It is not a quote of the mind…. still true, though".

"Your point being?"

She said gently. "It's to do with the ability of water and what it mystically symbolises to affect change deeper than most would believe. Most myths, both the legends and the fictional epics, have water as transubstantiation themes following through them and it's a symbol of what flows inside you. I'm meandering around the true point a bit because I know it's a sore one… one you've had so much grief over it's untrue. The starched shirts and desiccated monsters have said things that go beyond spiteful into the downright sadistic because of the false security that made them feel all hard and superior. It pisses me off because THEY were the ones who were weak and pathetic – bullies always are – so desperate not to be hurt that they drain themselves of any humanity and put others down while deluding themselves that they are brave. You're stronger than them because you dared to let yourself feel and run that risk. You knew it would be excruciating and terrifying sometimes, that braving pools of sorrow and riding waves of joy is NOT for wimps. The monsters never understood that, which is why they were always bemused as to why you weren't the pushover they thought you would be, that the very thing they spat upon gave you these reservoirs of courage and tenacity. That meant they could never totally break you or force you into doing what they wanted and that eventually you gave them the slip."

She continued. "On the rare occasions that in itself was not enough there was always someone who could see enough in you to care enough to fish you out of trouble – it's not just the gits who see that well of feeling in you. You understand that sometimes everyone's strength fails, that they get too drained too low and they need to be topped up. You've been her reservoir and float and, even as a monster, you understood that she succeeded because her mates cared enough to help. 'No man is an island', humanity remains strong because it flows together and those shits you are about to try to take down know that, which is why they use manipulation and shiny lucre to seduce humanity, rather than just sending in an army. They understand some brave souls will resist them unless they can drain the desire to give a toss from everyone. I don't believe they'll ever succeed because, in you, I see that the human heart can survive and grow stronger even after being left for dead".

"It doesn't make me all sweetness and light though" Spike countered. "Sometimes I did bad things because I felt like doing them".

She smiled. "Oh, believe me, I understand that, but it made you good in the end. You were a monster, you weren't supposed to care. That was supposed to have been drained from you along with your soul and the blood in your veins. What did survive in you, to influence you to re-fill yourself and to go fishing for what you lost, survived against the tide of demonic desiccation and it says a lot about how deep your humanity runs. There's a tale that Dante told about some warrior who got saved from hell by just one little tear of repentance falling from his eye whilst good and evil were scrapping over him. That's the thing about water - like emotion, is however dirty or frozen it gets, once the will to clean or warm it up comes to something, then its ability to give life is restored. The currents in it will eventually break down most of the shit pumped into it, like the way sometimes empathy overcomes selfish desire. Would he walk upon the water if he couldn't walk away?"

She went on, "when given the choice between saving what you love and destroying what you hate or what will make you feel better, you always choose the salvation of beloved. Some people who call themselves human beings don't do that. Everyone does bad things to a greater or lesser extent, the anger of being hurt brings down the red mist and you lash out, although, with you, that came more from desperation and confusion. Unlike you, the unadulterated tossers never have the grace to lament the pain they cause and will forever try to duck whatever karmic backlash it brings. That includes a lot of so-called human beings, whose souls have so little influence on them it's like they've been left high and dry. What makes you special is you had the heart and guts to regret what you did and to purify yourself by going back to source so you didn't do it again, especially since you understood it was going to be painful and dangerous. Like she said you risked everything to become a better man and it could have easily overwhelmed someone who didn't have your passion and nerve. Bravery isn't the absence of fear or despair, but the will to swim against them so they don't drown you. You don't wallow in the guilt like he does sometimes, but mostly you don't duck it either. I understand you're not a saint and that you'll have the odd fight with that raging temper of yours as long as you continue to move through this world, but I believe the love flowing in you is strong enough for the world to be a better place with you in it, especially considering your affection for it. It's certainly a more fascinating one."

Spike was a bit choked by this speech. "Thank you for believing, it…"

"….means a lot. I know, and you're welcome. It's been a pleasure." She smiled. "But I'd better get you back, hadn't I? A man's gotta do what man a man's gotta do, and all that"

"Thought you'd never ask. How does this work?"

"At the risk of invoking deja-vu and bad memories – do you trust me?"

He thought about it. "Sort of"

"Thank you. It should ease things a bit. You're not going to like the sound of this, but mystic flow malarkey says it's needs be done a certain way and I'll need you to run with it."

"So, I'm going to be shoved, blinded and deafened again then? Bloody marvellous"

"Not with the blinding and deafening. I'll try and make this a bit more fun than last time."

Spike was sceptical "Fun?"

She smiled. "You'll see," then playfully, "or maybe not …. I should say goodbye nicely, don't you think?"

He looked at her warily, not sure what to make of that. "What are you up to?"

She grinned and moved in a bit closer. "Nothing nasty, it won't hurt, promise. Go on, humour me and close your eyes, please?"

He smiled back at her mockingly, deciding he liked the attention after all "No. Game's no fun if it's too easy, and I've had enough of being blinded. Ta very much."

She moved in closer still and said playfully. "You always did believe in facing things. Ok, that did come over a bit 'she who must be obeyed'. You see this isn't just about easing the way home, it's the closest thing I can give you to a blessing. Now, is that not friendly?"

She kissed him gently on the mouth. She was a good kisser, he'd give her that, so good that it was a minute or two before he noticed the fact it was suddenly raining hard resulting in a rapidly rising water level. He thought about doing something about it and then thought bollocks to it. She was probably going to do whatever she felt like anyway, so he may as well enjoy it. Besides she seemed nice enough, he hadn't had this much attention in a while and after the kidnap and the emotional wringer, he felt he was owed something. He kissed her back. The water rose over their heads and they held onto to each other, snogging all the way as they both sank downwards as if though pulled by an undertow. Then she slipped out of his arms and made a fingers crossed gesture before waving goodbye. Her dark hair billowing behind her as she slowly disappeared into the water as if dissolving. He felt his feet touch the bottom and then the ground give way beneath him.

He fell into the similar green gloom of a room through the ceiling, managing to land on his feet. His boots were now so soaked that he had to steady himself on a nearby desk to stop from slipping arse over tit. The shaking ground meant he ended up skidding forward quite a bit too but he'd landed with a bit of style and not in a bedraggled heap on the floor which, clocking Angel's presence, he was pretty bloody glad about. He had just enough time to wonder why the room wasn't now totally flooded and to process where he was before Wesley materialised between him and Angel as if out of thin…..

Air

Wesley watched them all gather for the ritual with mixed feelings. From a purely academic point of view, it was going to be fascinating to see how this was performed, but of course the fact that it was performed on himself and his friends meant it wasn't a purely academic concern. In any case, the best course of action was to pay attention to what was being said. He wondered how each of these entities defined themselves – his understanding of Wicca mythology was by no means perfect, but he believed that, according to it, only the spirit had human qualities. The other four elements were supposed to reflect the physical aspects of the world only.

He finally heard the voice of the spirit elemental – reedy and childlike. It gave him no clues – there was the mention of an ancient ghost of a guardian and the major arcana – destiny and an ancient protective spirit. Then came Air – she spoke of a Northern star as opposed to the spirit's centre – that had to be symbolic of them being taken in different directions. Air spoke of the minor arcana of swords, which always symbolised the intellect, re-enforced by the mention of Sophisus, the mind. That explained why she spoke about what he ought to know and sang about the periodic table of elements. Since he was the most intellectual person in the room her interest was going to be in him.

Earth's mention of a bastion could point to a military, power or status analogy. The pentacles tarot suit was mainly concerned with wealth, which didn't really seem relevant to anyone here as no one was particularly wealthy, nor did they aspire to be. They'd hardly have been helping the helpless for years if that had been the case. Manus the hand alongside Sophisus the mind was vaguely familiar. He saw a look on Spike's face that suggested he too recognised it but couldn't place it in context. This was odd as Wesley was fairly sure it was related to Watcher lore. Yes, Spike had contact with a slayer but so did Angel and Wesley didn't see the same look in Angel's face. However, Wesley knew he was no expert in reading people and Angel could sometimes be somewhat of a closed book even to those he counted as his friends, so Wesley couldn't be sure if that meant Spike knew something that Angel didn't or not.

Fire's section of the ritual repeated the pattern of the others with, again, a different direction being mentioned. The mention of the sun made sense as it was a large ball of flame in effect and a provider of light and heat like a fire. The main purpose of fire was to act as a substitute for the light and heat of the sun during times when it was not assessable, but there wasn't any obvious meaning to be derived from that in this context. The minor arcana of wands were to do with journeys, which could have related to anyone here, except possibly Gunn in the physical sense, as he didn't seem to have ever left Los Angeles. The mention of spirtus the spirit was familiar as part of the same ritual as manus and Sophisus but, considering there was a separate spirit elemental, it was confusing too. Wesley wasn't able to glean much that was shedding light on what fire was about in this content, unlike Water, who naturally enough mentioned the moon but also, like Air, the minor arcana of cups's association with emotion was re-enforced by the mention of animus the heart. Again, there wasn't an obvious connection to anyone here as no one seemed to be that concerned with emotion – except Lorne who had obviously been latched on to by the Spirit elemental. Angel was a possibility but Earth seemed more concerned with him; it could be Gunn.

With the end of the ritual, Wesley noticed that glances passed between all of them, except Angel, who seemed to become mesmerised by the piece of jade in Earth's hand and Spike by the pearl shell in Water's. He had just enough to time to wonder what he was going to do about this before a shrill sound came from a whistle. It pierced into his mind like a shrieking wind from an icy blizzard. It numbed him and made him instinctively close his eyes as if he was caught in its onslaught. Then it abruptly stopped.

He heard Angel loudly shouting Lorne's name and he thought he opened his eyes, but the darkness remained. Then he heard Spike shouting "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL" at ear splitting level, which disturbed his train of thought, and then stop. However, most disturbing of all was the sound of someone, Wesley presumed Gunn, choking. Wesley tried to feel the front of his face to establish if his glasses had been removed or broken, or if something had been placed over his eyes. He then realised he couldn't even feel enough to be sure if he'd managed to move his hands, or in fact anything at all. He felt an instant frustration and worry in not being able to help his friends or even know for sure what was happening. Then he was distracted from this depressing thought by an odd sucking noise, which was followed by the raucous laughter and the Fire elemental saying - half laughing - "Oh man you should see your face."

Before Wesley could process the implications of the choking noise stopping, and work out if he was the one being referred to, Earth's deep voice replied contemptuously, "He can't hear you, numbskull."

"But guy who can got an equally funky look on his face"

"You can see me?" Wesley enquired

"Sure man, we all see you"

Wesley heard Air begin to say something, which was drowned out by Angel shouting his name loudly.

He was about to respond, when Air interrupted him. "He can not hear you Wesley, before you add to the chorus of cacophony."

"That was a bit harsh," said a melodic female voice, which sounded concerned, "I hope you're nicer to him on the other side. Are you ok there Wes?"

"I'm more concerned about everyone else at present. The water elemental I presume - you sound in better voice"

"Always the altruist and the good friend …. They'll be ok."

Air spoke again "I apologise Wesley but all the shouting…." she was interrupted by a loud stamping noise "….especially combined with other loud disturbances," she continued pointedly, "is getting to be very annoying."

Water half laughed, half sneered. "And they're all loving what we're doing to them so much too"

"Yeah and I'm bored man. We need to get this moving," interjected Fire.

"Oh Christ, here we go," muttered Water.

Air started to speak quickly "What do you mea.." then groaned "…oh no!"

Angel shouted Gunn's name, then there was a whooshing sound, followed by an exclamation from Spike.

"WHAT HAS HE DONE NOW?" thundered Earth's voice, almost shaking with anger.

"I do not think now is a good time to discuss this," Air replied to him neutrally.

"Well, I do" snarled Earth.

"That is unfortunate for you, but no doubt you will find out later."

Wesley would have liked to have known too but before he could say something he heard Water's voice saying gently "Wes, if she doesn't get around to saying it, you should understand that you shouldn't feel so guilty. You're a good man who tries to do what is right with all his heart and no one can give more than that."

He was a little taken aback by that and was about to thank her when ….

"STOP HIM!" bellowed Earth's voice again at full volume.

Water laughed. "Tide one, Canute nil." Wesley just about managed to hear her say before a hissing sound like gas being released under high pressure surrounded him.

It stopped and he was hit by a blast of air so cold that it winded him for a second. Then he felt something warm and fluffy being laid across his shoulders. He knew that even if he had regained the power of sight then his glasses would have steamed up in the cold, so he instinctively reached for them, this time finding he could touch them. He cleaned them and found that he could now see again and there was a small amount of light although it was very dark. It was still very noticeably freezing cold so he started to button up the neck of the shirt he'd left open in the heat of Los Angeles.

Then he heard the familiar voice of the Air elemental say, "You could wrap the garment I've given you around you - that would keep you warmer. I understand your perfectly reasonable suspicion of anything to do with us but I think it is a little foolish of you to allow yourself to be physically discomforted over the issue"

To his surprise, Wesley noticed that there was a stooped figure squatted near him, wrapped in a grey feathery cowl. He assumed it was the Air elemental. There was a mist at ground level, which she almost seemed to rise out of. He crouched down to her level and attempted to look into her face, which he managed with some difficulty. It was as pale and wrinkled as scrunched paper and the irises of her ancient looking eyes were so pale that they seemed almost to be colourless. He was hoping by looking into her face he could be more intimidating as he said: "And how can I be guaranteed that I won't be facing further discomfort if I do as you ask?"

She seemed totally unflustered. "Two factors really. The first one being that you are already partially wearing it and yet there are no effects from it apart from being warmed. The second one being that the guarantee which you saw being signed back in Angel's office states that we will not affect you physiologically after you have passed through our portals. Unfortunately, the Earth elemental insisted on retaining the document himself so I cannot pass it to you, but your memory should inform you of its contents."

"I might have to be completely surrounded by it for it to have an effect rather like an invisibility cloak. Also isn't warming me a physiological effect?"

"I did not think of that. Technically yes, however it is done by natural rather than supernatural means and is one which I am carrying out with your consent, I assume, since you have not discarded the garment."

"Why is it so cold here that I need it?"

"Symbolic reasons, particularly because air is only noticeably felt and seen in conditions of extreme heat and cold, with heat being dismissed from my consideration here by the Fire element's claims with veracity that all forms of heat are generated either by fires or by the sun, which is in effect one enormous fireball. The second is that the traits manifested by someone using their reason rather than their emotions or instincts are said to be cold or cool. Intellectual people are very often thought of as being cold, rightly or wrongly. Although he did not say as much, Gunn seemed to believe that your perfectly rational assessment in Pylea that trying to preserve everyone would result in everyone's death was of such a nature."

"Speaking of Gunn, what was done to him that angered the Earth elemental so? I think I have the right to know."

"You do not actually, but I cannot reasonably ask for your trust whilst concealing the truth from you, although I reveal it with some reluctance. He was transported across the room to the Fire elemental's portal by being thrown in a somewhat undignified manner. The Earth elemental's anger was no doubt due to the effect that seeing this had on Angel, who was also furious, hardly surprising since it was never going to be a facilitator of trust to see one's friend and colleague treated in such a manner."

"So that is what Lorne read from the Fire elemental that he didn't see fit to share with the rest of us?"

"I do not know for sure but given the circumstances it seems highly probable. Although, in fairness to him, it was probably done with the advice of the Water elemental, who certainly seemed to know something was about to happen. She is telepathic, so she may well have read it from Lorne's mind. I can see her reasoning here, sharing such information with the whole group would have increased the already high level of suspicion, as well as needlessly invoking the anger of both Gunn and Spike, its two most volatile members. Invoking Angel's anger had consequences enough."

Wesley did not like the sound of that. "Which were?"

"Angel attempted to sabotage Spike's exit through the Water elemental's portal by launching himself through it instead. He was prevented from doing this by the said portal, a column of water, effectively flushing him out rather as someone trying to enter a body of water against a strong enough tide or current ends up being forced back onto the land."

Suddenly, Water's comments made sense to Wesley. The whole story of King Canute had been about the futility of a man, even a powerful one, trying to command tides or indeed forces of nature such as these entities believed themselves to be. Nethertheless he felt sorry for Angel and could understand why he had tried.

"I can see why Angel would have been annoyed; perhaps he felt that by sabotaging your plans Spike would be spared Gunn's fate"

"I would not have said Gunn's fate was actually that dire. Since the Fire elemental's instinct will have informed him that he will have a boring time, which for him is a disaster, unless Gunn is sufficiently uninjured enough to converse with him, then Gunn will not have been unduly hurt. All effects produced by us on you are only temporary, in any case. The supernatural, as you well know, has its own internal logic processes and the agreement, so to speak, here is that we could take you out of time provided there are no permanent consequences. Besides, considering that Gunn couldn't see, hear or feel anything at the time this happened, I doubt very much if he would have been aware of it. Also, I think you have learned enough of the Water elemental's character by her concern towards you to know she has more of an idea of how to treat people."

"Why should I believe you?"

"The obvious answer is that you have no choice. If you try to physically threaten me then I will merely teleport to another point out of your reach and repeat the process until you see reason. However, the fact I have told you a truth which I knew would provoke anger and concern for your friend in its entirety ought to inspire some trust in you."

"The problem with your assertion is that, if Gunn couldn't feel anything, then why was he choking - or was that Lorne?"

"You are correct in assuming it was Gunn, but it was not an effect of touch rather one of taste. He had an effect induced in him similar to having consumed a very hot curry. The Fire elemental used the process that produced the sucking sound you heard to remove its worst excesses, indicating that the Fire elemental was not completely oblivious to considerations about Gunn's welfare, which should at least partially reassure you that he will not be harmed."

"Apart from the fact he initially produced the effect, which caused the extreme discomfort in the first place, I am assuming."

"I think that I may actually to have to bear some of the responsibility for that factor."

"How so?"

"It was my idea to prevent each of your senses with the exception of one from functioning in between the ritual and your entry through the portals."

"Why?"

"The practical reason was to prevent you from communicating with each other, therefore making it easier for us to separate you. However, there are probably a number of ways we could have done this, including total sensory deprivation, which would no doubt have angered you all even more. I chose this one, as it seemed to be symbolic of how each of us, and therefore to some extent each of you, perceive the world in different ways."

Wesley's annoyance with the insensitivity of this and his wish to confront the Air elemental over it wrestled over a moment with his curiosity as to how she decreed which sense related to which perception of the world and, indeed, how the elemental forces related to world view's. His curiosity won.

"How does the perception that each of us supposedly has of the world translate into which sense we were allowed to retain?" he asked.

"Do you wish to know the reasoning behind them all, or just the one that related to you?"

"All of them, if it's not too much trouble" Wesley replied, finding it difficult to refrain from being sarcastic.

She ignored the sarcasm "I hoped as much, that you would be interested enough to know the reasoning behind everything. We have established that Gunn retained the use of his sense of taste. This is because the fire elemental's priorities are to do with passion, instinct and desire – I think you can obtain a sense of why taste is appropriate to this by the phrases 'spice of life' and the use of the word flavour to describe a style, something which people regard as capturing a zeitgeist. It is something that defies an easy definition but I hope you will have understood enough to see the reasoning behind that".

She continued. "You have probably worked out that Angel retained the use of his sight. This is because the values of the Earth elemental are related to the material view of success – how many resources one has access to, how much influence one has, how much force one can exert and how respected one is. All of these tend to be demonstrated through visual means of display – the peacock factor of the quality and the brand names ones clothing bears, the paraphernalia one surrounds oneself with, the environment in which one works - it is not a accident that the Earth elemental manifested first seated itself in Angel's desk chair behind his desk, as the Earth elemental was drawn to that symbol of Angel's position. Any person of high status will have visual means that indicate this, which can be subtle or blatant, depending on the nature of both the individual and the society they exist in. Sight is also the sense most relied upon just as most people judge someone by how they manage to rise on the scale of obtaining the material measures of success"

"Smell seemed to be the best choice for the Spirit elemental as it is often used to evoke a sense of the spiritual as testified by the use of incense in various disparate religious establishments probably due to its quality in aiding meditation. Water by its nature is somewhat tactile – one can often feel it is raining or that a part of your anatomy has become hydrated before this can be confirmed by sight. The connections to the emotional world embodied by Water are so self evident that I will not patronise you with their explanation. The reason why you retained your hearing is partially, as you are well aware, because sound is produced by the vibrations in air. On a more theoretical level, the intellectual world we are both so much a part of has much to with words. A person shows their intelligence and knowledge, or at least is judged in those terms, by the words they use and the way in which they speak. It is why a person born without the ability to hear often has to strive against the perception that they lack intelligence because of the way they speak can make them sound stupid to those unaware of their condition and it can be difficult for them to understand what is being communicated around them as it is often undertaken audibly."

"Isn't intelligence often related to literacy, to the reading of the written word, which involves the use of sight?" Wesley queried.

"That is true, but there two factors that contradict that. The first is that your former colleague Rupert Giles is wrong in that knowledge is not only communicated through books; in some societies important information is passed from person to person and across generations purely by oral means."

"Isn't that unreliable, posing the risk of Chinese whispers?"

"In Australian Aboriginal societies, each person will be rigorously tested in what they have learned before they are allowed to progress to the next level of knowledge, eliminating the chance that they have imperfectly understood what they have been taught. They would argue that writing something down means it is more likely to be placed in the hands of someone who will not fully understand it, or indeed misuse the knowledge within it."

"But such societies use drawings too"

"Which are fairly meaningless without the accompanying explanations of what is represented within them. The second factor is that one learns to be literate orally, in that one learns to read through being read to, hence why parents who take an interest in their child's learning enough to read to them often have an advantage when it comes to their literacy and education in general."

"True, and this is all very interesting, but did you not think that it was somewhat insensitive to arbitrarily deprive us of all but one sense, merely because it was symbolic?"

"I do not think that there was a single way that we could have separated you from each other that you would not have taken issue with. Magic very often works by translating the symbolic into reality so it seemed to be the best method to deploy to do this."

"Then why did you separate us at all?"

"We are all defined by the element we represent. I am physically unable to manifest in corporeal form except in extreme cold and heat, and I think you would feel somewhat foolish and self-conscious talking to a disembodied voice in full view of your friends. The water elemental needs to be hydrated in order not to find it difficult to function, which is why her voice became clearer after the ritual, since she'd managed to bring some water into the room, but I doubt Angel would approve of having his office continually flooded. She also to a lesser extent shares the spirit elemental's profound distaste for being in a place where evil has been routinely practiced for years, both of them believe such activity leaves its mark upon a place. The revulsion felt by the spirit elemental is so extreme that it could not have motivated itself to stay there and I sincerely doubt that the group would have agreed to the removal of Lorne to another place, even if he consented to this. You all would have insisted on eavesdropping on each other's conversations, in fact considering the sensitivity of their hearing, it would have been difficult for both Angel and Spike to avoid the temptation to do so. This would have meant that we could not have talked uncensored and we would have been continually interrupted by other people, whom we had no interest in talking to. Then there is also the issue that few of you trust the time stasis we have set in place and would have been continually either glancing at Hamilton to check he hadn't moved, or have simply tried to leave. In short, it would have been a total disaster"

"I don't like the use of the word uncensored it makes it sound like your fellow elementals are saying derogatory things about us."

"I am afraid some of us do not respect some of you. Again it is the difference in perspective which causes this. I do not have much respect for Gunn for the record; I consider him to be reckless in the extreme and could have predicted that this would have appalling consequences. To return to the original point, the problems with speaking with you all within earshot of each other are not just a matter of someone over-hearing a negative opinion of themselves. Given their rivalry, either Spike or Angel may have felt compelled to disagree with anything positive being said to the other, which seemed to imply one was superior to the other. Since you have no loyalty to Spike, I can state that the Earth elemental actually has very little regard for him and would probably have made no attempt to conceal this which would have invoked his temper. There is also the issue of secrets – taken into isolation the Earth elemental can freely discuss an issue such as the alteration of people's memories undertaken by Angel without worrying about the potential problems that Gunn or Lorne may have with learning that this had been done to them."

"You have made all this effort to isolate me from my friends and yet all you have done so far is to justify what and your -" he searched a moment for the right word "- cohorts have done. I am wondering why you have done that. You don't seem to be interested in me at all."

"I am talking of what has happened and why it has happened because you seem to want or need to know. I cannot refuse someone knowledge nor lie to them as it contradicts what I believe about the importance of knowledge and truth."

"So, you can't have a high opinion of the fact I deceived Angel in trying to take Connor away from him."

"You thought that you were acting in the best interests of everybody and you did not take the decision to do so rashly. You made every effort to establish the veracity of the prophecy which influenced your decision and spent a considerable amount of thought deciding what the correct decision was. The water elemental is right in that you are far too judgemental towards yourself. Being knowledgeable, intelligent and thorough in your research does not make you omniscient, you can only make the best decision you can, given the information which is available to you. Ensouled vampires are a difficult moral issue anyway, as you have an entity with, in Freudian terms, a human superego and a monstrous id. It can be easy for someone of evil intent to bring that id to the surface and yet the human superego means he has the same rights theoretically as a human being as he is capable of the same altruism and heroism. In some ways, his capacity for this selflessness is greater since he acts from a need to seek atonement for previous appalling acts and, in doing so, risks the ending of an existence whose termination is not an inevitability as it is in the case of someone who is mortal. However, that same superego also gives him some responsibility for how he behaves and I think Angel should bear some of blame for what happened with Connor. He may not have known that his animal blood was being doctored with Connor's but he knew that Connor was starting to smell like food and that he was starting to have greater than usual problems in controlling his aggressive impulses. He should have spoken to someone about this and persuaded them to test his food before his behaviour prompted others to suggest it. However, I appreciate that the equilibrium between the man and the monster is not an easy one to monitor or maintain. The duality of the nature of the ensouled vampire creates some very difficult moral quandaries on occasions, and is why every single watcher has managed to alienate themselves from the said entities friends, including their own slayers, over the problems they create – the quandaries that is, not necessarily the gentlemen in question."

"Even Giles?"

"Rupert Giles managed it to such a spectacular extent that Buffy Summers slammed a door in his face and could not mange to conduct any discourse with him without severe distrust and anger for several days. Considering how a close an erstwhile father and daughter relationship they had, this was impressively disturbing. Nor was it the first time they had argued over this issue. Although admittedly, in both cases, deception added to the anger, on the first occasion it was hers, on the second his. The first involved Buffy failing to inform Giles and her friends of Angel's return to Earth from the hell dimension he was sent in order to prevent Earth from failing in to it. Her friends and Giles argued that, in harbouring Angel in secret, she was wilfully ignoring the potential threat he posed. The second argument or series of arguments also involved similar issues of an individual's rights versus the rights of a group, or even society itself as a whole. However, it takes far longer to explain and, since it involved the total subjugation of the will of the individual in question, I find myself wondering if it would be unfair to them to discuss this, especially since, as it reflects upon your own experiences it will be a sensitive issue for you. Also, since it was you I particularly wanted to speak to, I find myself unwilling to spend so much time discussing the previous problems of other people. As with Connor, I think you blame yourself far too much for a situation, which in the case of Billy Blim was beyond your control."

"I suppose it would be futile to ask how you know all this?"

"I represent the concept of knowledge just as the air is everywhere so I know all that has passed which is of relevance at any given time. I do not know what the future brings as that is the area of the spirit: there are too many variables for logic to understand destiny. I only revisit this difficult area of your past in order to discuss how removing your free-will also removed your responsibility for your actions. I am actually attempting to reassure you."

"Yet you blame Angel for what his Id, invoked by others, made him do."

"Not in the slightest. I think he bears some responsibility for a situation where he placed the blame totally upon you by not enlisting the help of others when he felt it taking over him. For someone who is almost obsessed by the necessity of seeking redemption for his previous actions he appears to have very little ability to forgive others. Anyway, I digress, since as in any case his free will was not totally removed from him his situation is not comparable to yours."

Wesley found it very difficult to speak. "I don't think it is a question of blame per se, I think it is a question of, as you put it, the monstrous id and the unpleasant realisation that it exists in …. that you do not have to be demonic to have a monstrous id."

"Fred did not think it was an intrinsic part of your own nature that attacked her. She thought it was an urge that Billy imposed upon you."

The mention of Fred was more painful than the mention of Billy, especially since it invoked memories of her extraordinary kindness and her belief in the innate goodness in everyone. The open trust which she had extended towards that bastard Knox and had helped to get her killed. He didn't want to dwell on the injustice of it all, as to do so would have caused him to lose his temper or to break down emotionally in front of this rather cold and logical stranger, who reminded him of his father. She was either trying to provoke this reaction, in which case he would not give her the satisfaction, or more likely she wasn't and would find it unseemly. He took a sharp breath of the freezing air and attempted to answer her.

Again, getting the words out was difficult. "I think … that she was either stating such to be kind or more likely that she was deceiving herself. She did not like to think the worst of those she cared for."

"There are two kinds of common fallacies about the truth. The first is that it is always demanding and uncomfortable to accept it. On the contrary, it can be reassuring and liberating to know the truth. The second is that the truth is always absolute. Fred was probably speaking the truth as she perceived it and her interpretation was as valid as yours, as the absolute truth of what happened is impossible to establish. Personally, I think that the question as to whether Billy infected you with an alien hostility or managed to raise a highly unpleasant part of your own psyche from the depths of your subconscious mind is actually irrelevant. If it was the latter, then it is below the level of consciousness at which it affects your behaviour in normal circumstances. I am of the opinion that it is the decisions that one makes whilst fully conscious that define what sort of a person one is, and how one is able to control oneself given the full access to one's will to do so. Magical and supernatural effects can induce all sorts of behaviour in people and cause them to act in ways contrary to their own nature and one cannot assign blame for such actions committed in those sorts of circumstances."

"I engaged in some unsavoury behaviour when I was possessed of my own free will."

"In some truly appalling personal circumstances, both Angel and Buffy also have exhibited less than morally upstanding behaviour and sought solace in less than ideal places due to their lives becoming similarly almost intolerable. You did treat Liliah with more respect in some ways then they treated their respective paramours, as none of your behaviour towards her could have been regarded as abuse, which is more than could be said for them. In reference to keeping Justine captive, her vengeance-ridden behaviour was far from beyond moral reproach and you were doing so for a just cause. I am not recommending that you excuse yourself from all less than ideal behaviour and you have accepted the responsibility for it but you should not blame yourself for what you did do whilst you were not fully in control of yourself."

"Is that all you wanted to discuss?"

"Not quite."

"Maybe I don't feel like talking to you anymore."

"Being perverse will not persuade me to end this before everything relevant has been discussed."

"Regardless of how I feel about it?"

"I am not aware of having said anything that could be regarded as being unpleasant. I am not your father. I do not find fault with everything that you have done."

"Why do you believe he was..is like that?"

"Some people who are over-critical of their own children do so to over-compensate for their own failings, to ensure that the son does not make the father's mistakes, so to speak. However, I do not think that your father was one of those people. A father often sees himself reflected in his son and I think perhaps he saw you as his legacy and wanted to make sure that you would be a credit to him. He may have reasoned that if he over-praised you or exonerated your wrongs that you would become complacent or arrogant. He may have seen his criticism as advice, although some of the things he has said would seem to undermine that theory. You may have been correct in what you said to the cybernetic organism that imitated him, in that he may have at least on some level feared you eclipsing him and so sought to undermine you in subtle ways for that reason. May I add, contrary to your fear expressed to Angel, that I do not think that the cybernetic being in question assumed that form as you were regarded as an easy mark, so to speak, but as a former watcher it was logical for him to make an appearance in the context he did. For example, the appearance of Fred's parents in such a capacity would have been odd. The same would have applied to Gunn's family, had they been alive"

The memory of having murdered the entity he thought was his father was making Wesley uncomfortable and he did not want to talk to about it. He didn't want a discussion on the Oedipus complex, nor to discuss the other reasons why he had committed that act, especially since a large degree of it was due to the fact it had threatened Fred whom he also did not want to think about at present. In an attempt to think about something else, he found himself wondering where the small amount of light in this harsh environment was coming from and looked upward to see a huge variety of very bright stars including the same North pole star mentioned in the ritual. From what he knew of astronomy, the constellations seemed to be consistent with those in a real sky in the northern Europe during winter.

Her voice broke into his train of thought. "Yes, they are indeed real. Marvellous, are they not?"

"Yes, you are obviously fond of them, or might I say stars in general. I should have deduced this from your mention of the North Pole star in the ritual."

"Both the north pole star in particular and stars in general have proved to be extremely useful as navigation aids, provided one has the correct knowledge, of course. People in general have managed to learn a good deal by observing stars in many areas of knowledge, there are even theories the great pyramids of Gisa were aligned using them. The sense of wonder they inspire also acts as a motivating factor for their study, leading to learning and then there is the fact that they are a symbol for aspiration and illuminate the night sky nicely. Obviously, the moon does this too but, again, the moon's influence on water meant it was her logical choice for illumination. There is also the quest to enter outer space and its role in innovation to consider, but then again, the Earth elemental would point out that wars are often beneficial for innovation and that the space race was in fact a theatre of war in the cold war."

"I assume that you don't mention the divination aspect…"

"…because I consider it to be whimsical nonsense on the whole, quite correct. However, considering that the alignment of celestial bodies has some effect on spells, there might be some ritual significance. I draw the absolute line at believing in horoscopes as they are generally understood however. It illustrates how ridiculous the whole ideology behind it really is, by the fact that the constellations of Scorpio and Sagittarius actually more accurately resemble a teapot and teabags, rather a scorpion and an archer"

"Maybe taking the form of a British person has affected your subconscious."

She sounded mildly assumed. "Even though technically, as we both know, tea is actually an import. However the popular association does rather make the observation valid"

"I assume you could take any form you wished. You choose to be Scottish. I wonder why?" asked Wesley, partially because he genuinely interested, partially to postpone the discussion of more personal matters.

"Or why perhaps I choose the form I did at all?"

"The wise woman is a fairly traditional motif of the keepers of knowledge, so that makes sense, but why specifically Scottish that one isn't so self-evident."

"You are right, and the association between age and wisdom is, as they say in the land we departed from, a 'no-brainer'. Women show a greater range of intelligence than men, one has statistically more female geniuses and more female idiots than the male equivalents; you, of course, were acquainted with one of each. Also, the elderly, elderly women in particular, who have nothing to offer in terms of reproductive capacity as opposed to their male equivalents who still retain some ability to reproduce albeit in a very diminished capacity, are mainly seen as useful purely as dispensers of knowledge and guidance. I mention this merely because I regard it as interesting. The question of what nationality I choose to adopt is far less obvious than both the question of my age and gender. I must confess I was slightly influenced by that nationalities of the other elementals but it was something that required thought on my part"

She continued. "I wanted a form associated with the frozen North so to speak, due to the previously discussed associations and symbolism with the cold. This was due to both the association of cold with the northerly direction since the majority of the world's population lives in the northern hemisphere of the world and the fact that it is the one not desired by the other elementals, something I will discuss slightly later. Taking the form of a person from the north significantly affected my choices; it also eliminated taking the form of a person from all of the earliest civilisations in the world, including the Sumerians who had the earliest forms of literature, although contrary to what imperialists often believe intelligence and knowledge are not limited to so called civilisation nor even as discussed earlier to literacy, although both do facilitate more sophisticated forms of its pursuit. Besides, a Chinese form would have been dismissed from my consideration as due to its wealth of resources, excessively large population and land mass and its probable status as the world's next superpower it was a natural choice for the Earth elemental. The spirit elemental manifests as an Indian due to that country's pursuit of spiritual considerations and the number of foreigners who journey there for spiritually motivated reasons. The water elemental manifests as a Tahitian due to that country's reputation as an island paradise and the fact that it is at one of the most westerly points in the world in middle of a vast ocean, which itself is used to refer to the area where it sits - the South Pacific - and the fact that people from that region are referred to as Islanders. Tahiti is also part of an archipelago called The Society Islands, which considering that emotion is inter-social is appropriate"

Her explanation continued, "The orient has an association with wealth in general and the western part of the world is the least dominated by land with its only substantial land mass the two enjoined American continents. Although these contain some very dry areas, they also host a large amount of long rivers, including the Amazon, the world's second longest, and a significant number of the great lakes. The south has the opposite associations to the north and Africans, along with other cultures from warm climates, are associated with the instinctive and expressive side of form of human communication over the purely intellectual. I felt that for the purposes of balance I ought to have a European form, which fitted nicely with the cold northerly associations, and since English is the world's mostly widely spoken language at present, it made sense to be a native speaker of it especially given previous discussions about the connection between language and knowledge. There is also the British affinity to the use of language to consider, which is illustrated by the fact that the visual artists and classical musicians of note, the pun is unintentional, produced by the British Isles tend to be few compared with, for example, the Italians and Germans. However, the number of renowned writers of both poetry and prose, not to mention plays - including probably the most famous playwright in the world, is extensive, even if your grammar is also famously dreadful. I specifically choose to be Scottish due to that nation's reputation for innovation, which in the field of engineering was strong enough for the Canadian actor playing the world's most famous fictional engineer to choose to portray him as a Scot and also because Scotland is further north and closer to the colder Polar Regions than England".

"Another strong reason for wishing to be British was that it was the centre of operations for the Watchers Council and you were both educated extensively in its area of expertise and given a generally very good education in your country of origin. You have to understand that my interest in you is not merely because you are intelligent and highly educated but because you are effective due to the fact that you were taught very well to use your mind and your base of knowledge as a finely honed tool. Your intelligence and intellectual training has defined the course of your life. It is also interesting that you dismissal by those who schooled you indicates the failings of their understanding, which led to their own downfall and illustrates the failings of some types of intellectuals in general."

"You mean their arrogance and disregard for the feelings of others?" queried Wesley.

"Not to mention dogma. The difference between someone who is clever and a genius is that geniuses are not susceptible to dogma. Innovation and discovery come from people who are not afraid to either ask questions or question that which has previously been understood to be true, the Galileo factor one might call it. Some intellectuals can assume that because they know a good deal they know everything, whereas as I said before, like a genius, a wise person understands that intelligence, knowledge and extensive research do not result in omniscience. Nor can one become complacent about what one knows. The wise person understands that there is always more to be discovered and understood, and that there are always changes to consider. One must also evolve to survive and, as Spike pointed out to Ilyria, it is a question of adaptation to changing circumstances in order to still be effective, which is as true for the intellectual world as it is for the physical one. Theories and accepted methods of how people should relate to each other probably change as much as physical landscapes do, and if you challenge someone's perception of how this should be undertaken, then you have to be prepared to justify that opinion with reasoning that is more compelling and extensive than 'father knows best', even if it is actually true. However, your former employer's most significant failure was simply the failure to listen. As they understood it, they were engaged in a war, so their failure to process that a theatre of war may just have been best understood by those who were the metaphorical field operatives rather than themselves in a command centre not even in the same continent, was staggeringly arrogant and condescending, as even the most inspired general knows that plans must be adapted to take account of field conditions and that, as Rupert Giles pointed out to you, controlled conditions do not exist there".

She continued, "The opinions of others should always be listened to, even if they are dismissed afterwards, as sometimes even an idiot can perceive something important that those of superior intelligence have failed to detect. For example, Xander Harris, whose intelligence was not initially rated highly by Rupert Giles at the time, had the incredibly important idea of using a rocket launcher to defeat a demon called The Judge which did not occur to anyone else. The metaphorical battlefield conditions in this case included the personalities of the people involved and their relationships to each other; they always do in any situation involving teamwork. You were put at a considerable disadvantage from the very start by the fact that you were appointed to succeed a man who had built a very close relationship with his charge. The Watchers Council actually replaced him for that very reason, as they felt that the relationship between watcher and slayer had become too personal for him to maintain the detachment necessary to risk her life and persuade her to do her job effectively to the exclusion of everything else. However, they failed to realise that there could be benefits to such a close relationship and that, like many modern young women, Buffy was simply not going to accept a 'because I say so' attitude towards her. The fact she listened to him rather than you was entirely predictable when looked at rationally. It wasn't just in the case of Buffy either that your task was made more difficult by previously existing conditions. Faith's ability to trust or respect anyone had already been severely eroded by the manipulations of the impostor Gwendolyn Post, of which the Watchers Council gave inadequate notice of her dismissal. She was also affected by witnessing the extremely gruesome demise of her original watcher who, since she perished on their business, the Watchers Council at least possibly bear some responsibility for. That this was a Cruciamentum for Faith, which got horribly out of control, much like Buffy's did, is a popular theory for why it happened. Whatever the reasons, that event had a detrimental effect on Faith and no one really attempted to help her overcome the suspicions that there was no one she could depend on apart from herself, not within the Watcher's Council anyway"

"Angel did twice - the first time only sabotaged by myself, the second time successfully."

"Yes, as you can see as well being critical of Angel, I do acknowledge when he manages to be wise. I think he has a unique understanding of the temptations and isolation of physical supernatural power and how one can become disillusioned with humanity, due to violations of trust, which enabled him to be a unique position to help Faith. Actually the areas in which most of your circle are capable of being wise and perceptive seem to very much relate to the area of the elemental who is speaking to them, but that is a digression. The fact remains that the Watchers Council's failure to recognise Angel as a potential ally at all, or even as anything other than just a vampire, was the most perfect illustration of their failure to consider changing circumstances as well as of course being the point over which the council lost control over Buffy. You were the mediator between them and Buffy, and both sides blamed you for the fact that you could not make either see the other's point of view, unfairly so in my opinion."

"I always thought that I was turned into a scapegoat but I do not think I was blameless. I made some terrible mistakes."

"…which were largely due to your own lack of experience of life and direct contact with the supernatural, which also meant you did not have the wisdom necessarily to question the mindset that they had trained you to adopt. There is a reason why the wise are usually old and that reason is often experience since, as you have found out, there are some lessons that books alone can not teach you. Also, when one who appoints someone to do a job which they prove to be too under qualified for then they bear some responsibility for that failure. Ideally, you should have been appointed to another position, which better suited your talents. I think they allocated the blame solely to you, in order to avoid the thorough and rational examination of the situation which would have led them to accept that their own methods were at least partially in error. One sees corporations fail all the time because they refuse to accept failures in their management and management structures and blame all failures on lower ranking members of staff, especially in cases where a large amount of tradition and bureaucracy is involved. Tradition is a fine thing and often functions as an important way of preserving knowledge, but it should never make one inflexible or blind to the fact that the longest established tradition of all is that circumstances change. It is worth pointing out that perhaps you were operating in the truer understanding of the process of learning, which is that one must be honest about one's failures and use them to avoid similar errors in the future. In fact, the wisest often acknowledge that one often discovers more from failure than from success."

"What do you believe I learnt?"

"Probably more than can be understood without a serious amount of contemplation. However, one of the most obvious lessons you have learned is that, as Rupert Giles first told Buffy, 'there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy'. The former Watcher Council's philosophy excluded the possibility of vampires who were anything other than monsters which needed to be destroyed. The fact that you learnt to trust and work alongside Angel proved that you were capable of being more open minded than your former employers. In the end, they were destroyed in their previous form as they refused to take the necessary precautions against someone entering into their headquarters with malicious intent as it was an event they did not consider possible. Whilst the even more unthinkable event of a hellmouth closing happened because of the aforementioned entities that they did not fully understand. The contemplation of that irony, indicating that more is possible than most people would think, and the world never ceases to surprise one for better or worse, seems like an appropriate thought with which to finish this discussion. However, perhaps I should add the postscript that one ought to be prepared for any eventuality, which is something that ought to be considered upon contemplating battle. You have a keen and well developed intellect and have managed to accumulate quite a bit of experience for one comparatively so young, which you should do your utmost to preserve, so it can continue to be of use to the world. I do wonder if you really ought to be risking your life in this manner."

"You forget that my mind was trained for the purpose of fighting evil, which I am going to be doing."

"That is true, and you must do as you see fit, but you should question if your talents are being put to their best use. All battles are a question of tactics and the best use of resources and a fine mind is a terrible thing to be wasted"

"As is anyone's life"

"It all depends on the life concerned, but I do not suppose that you wish to engage in a philosophical debate of such a theoretic nature. I cannot influence any course of action you choose to follow, since it counts as affecting the future, which is against the rules under which we were allowed to converse with you, so to speak. However, I am concerned that your depressed state of mind may be adversely affecting your judgement and this is not the wisest decision in the long term. However, since I can not persuade you against it, I think it for the best that I end our debate at this point. Although you did not participate willingly, I thank you for the discussion we did have. Farewell Wesley and do try not to lose your head, in all meanings of the word."

A bony and withered hand with long fingers like a bird's talon emerged from the cowl and she clicked her index finger and thumb together.

Then suddenly he was in a completely different place. He felt slightly nauseous and wasn't sure if this was an effect of the teleportation or the sudden change in environment conditions from the dry freezing cold to the sultry heat of where he was now. The fact the ground seemed to be shaking too didn't help either. The sudden change from arctic to tropical conditions had completely misted his glasses to the extent where he couldn't see a thing. He had started to clean them when he heard Spike's voice say -

"Bit cold where you were, then?"

"And where are we now?" he asked in return.

"Back where we started…probably in more ways than one," he heard Angel say. "These conditions are pretty much like the ones in place just before the pentagram and symbols, which aren't here now, and the elementals appeared. Both us and my desk are where they were originally too. I think this is the start of the time freeze."

Wesley finished cleaning his glasses as Angel was talking, just in time to see enough to confirm the truth of what Angel was saying with his own eyes. Before either he or Spike could say anything in reply, the glass interior window facing Wesley apparently liquefied. Gunn shot through it. It confirmed Angel's theory that he landed in the exact same place where he'd been standing before, steaming in the humidity of the room like someone had just doused a …

Fire

Why is she saying it in Latin? thought Gunn as Air commanded that silence would be had for the ritual. Is she just trying to sound smarter than the rest of us or is this some ritual or legal thing? He knew what she was saying, as he'd been given a thorough knowledge of Latin as part of the package of mojo they'd put in his head. This was because legal language was shot through with Latin phrases. He didn't know why there was so much Latin in legal terms, never really been curious to know. He'd worked out now that that was his problem – he never really questioned anything enough, just gone with whatever deal or plan had seemed to give him what he'd wanted for the now and never paid no mind for possible future consequences. He wasn't gonna think about that now, it wouldn't help, although he found himself wondering how Angel, or Spike for that matter, lived with the guilt when he found it so hard. He knew that he could never ask either of them, but supposed they just did what he was trying to, which was just do as much good as you could to try to make up for the bad you'd done.

Right about now, this would be listening out for what he could find out from the ritual wording, which was … not so much. He guessed this was what they called ironic, that he'd sold out more than he knew at the time or wanted to think about now to hang onto to all that stuff and, right now, it wasn't worth shit. All the talk about suns, stars, directions, arcana and senses meant nada to him 'cos it had nothing to do with anything he'd got in his head. In some ways that was good because it meant it wasn't related to demonic customs or law and Q.E.D was less likely to be to do with being screwed over by demons, but he wished he could have put it to more use since he'd paid such a high price for it. He guessed it was Wes's area and looked over to see Wes concentrating.

So, I guess Wes is on it whatever it is.

Angel and Spike seemed to be focusing so maybe they had something too. Spike seemed to vaguely recognise something along with Wes so maybe they'd got it covered. Then he looked over to Lorne and noticed Lorne had his right arm extended behind him and his fingers and thumb of his right hand folded inwards like he was holding someone's hand.

Has the spirit guy got you in some kind of spell?. Gunn tried to look into Lorne's face for clues and found Lorne looking away, like he was too guilty to meet his eyes. What the hell do you know and why you selling us out if you know it's something bad coming at us, when you're one of us. He thought about challenging Lorne, remembered he couldn't say anything, then realised he couldn't lose anything by trying, that there was a chance they were bluffing. He tried and nothing came out, so they weren't. But at least I tried, he thought.

All of the not welcome visitor crew started chanting together about separation and Gunn knew that the moment to kick their sorry asses was coming near. All of rest of the home team knew it too as they were looking at each other waiting to make their moves. Then he saw it all go wrong. Angel started staring into space like he'd been hypnotised then the same thing happened to Spike. Then he saw that piece of black rock in the fire guy's hand glow, fly out of his hand and explode in front of him. It left behind a dense smoke cloud and before Gunn had time to do crap all, the smoke seemed to get into his throat. Then it was giving him this taste which packed more of a kick than the most extreme Mexican he ever tasted, or would want to. It felt like his mouth and throat had been set alight and the burning just seemed to get worse and worse and worse, until he felt like he was going to choke. Then suddenly it was like the worst of it had been taken out and he had the strong taste, which was like a mixture of smoke, spice and chilli in his mouth. The extreme nature of that taste at its worst had distracted him, but now it was at a level where he could focus he realised that it was dark, silent and he couldn't feel anything. How the hell had that happened?

His instincts were screaming at him to freak out but he hadn't survived as a vamp-kicking bad ass for years by giving it up to fear. He realised it wasn't playing to his strengths, but he needed to think. He used to have to come up with strategies when him and his old gang had kicked the local vamps around, so it was time to re-visit that.

Ok, what just happened - he replayed it in his head with the smoke and the kick-ass taste and he figured, the smoke's gotta have done something to shut me down but could I have been taken from the room?. He realised had he had no way of knowing that or anything else and it was really starting to get to him. Get a grip and work it on out. What do we know? - they've done something to Spike and Angel and who knows who else too and so trying to shout out to someone else might not help any, especially since there's way of knowing if the silence mojo is still in place. Ok, so this is bad - now what the hell do I do about it? Maybe shouting might be worth a shot but it didn't work last time. Wait, what the hell was going down here? If they really wanted to talk why am I stuck in this void? Why is no one actually talking to me yet? Oh….

It was thinking about what they said they wanted that brought the Eureka-style memory flash, clear as day, of those words on that piece of paper "physiological affects prior to entering through portals".

So, this is part of the mojo that they're using to stop us kicking their asses while they do the kidnap, which means it ain't gonna last. Whatever mother's done this has gotta open up some way of talking to me and then I'm gonna give he, she or whatever they are, hell in any way I can. He felt hope rising and then came the anger … damn them – making me helpless like this, leaving me in the dark and almost getting me to freak, forcing me to play their game and wait on the hope that they're telling the truth and this isn't just some kind of torture, punishment or mind game gig, First chance I get, someone's gonna pay for this … unless they're lying, they're all lying, even the gang, they've all got together to send me to some hell void for Fred, which is why Lorne … no I can't think like this… it's crazy, because Angel could have kicked my ass before and Ilyria got me out of the Wolfram and Hart place… unless….. NO not going there …I'll get out of this and get who did this… He found focusing on the anger seemed to drive out the paranoid thoughts until…

He felt an intense heat like an inferno around him. Then a feeling of being pushed by something with burning hands against something. This all kicked off the fear that he was in hell, especially with a red glow in front of his eyes. Without him thinking about it he opened his eyes for a moment, scared as to what he was going to find. Then the bright white light around him shone into his face and he realised the heat he could feel and the red glow were coming from the glare of the sunshine around him, which was so dazzling he had to put a hand across his brows to shield his eyes from the glare.

"Yo, you'll be wanting these, man." he heard the fire guy say, as he held a pair of shades in front of Gunn's face.

Gunn thought about taking them and then thought about what happened the last time he'd taken something without thinking about it.

"No way." he said.

The fire guy looked at him for a second and said. "What's yo fucking problem?"

Gunn couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You and your gang show up, and you drag my ass out here, pulling a load of mojo that leaves me in the dark wondering what the hell's going on and you've got the nerve to be asking me what MY problem is?!"

The fire guy sighed. "Screw this!" he said and the next thing Gunn knew, his hand had been flung back and the guy was in front of him holding the shades over his eyes and there was a burning sensation on either side of his head. Before Gunn could do anything, the guy had stepped away and Gunn was now wearing them.

"There you go, don't thank me for not letting you burn you eyes out, ya whiny paranoid pussy."

"Who the hell do you think you think you are?" shouted Gunn at him, while trying to pull the shades off.

"Give it up, man, I stuck them good, you is only gonna rip at your face tryin'.'"

"So, what do these do then since I can't get them off?"

"They stop the sun getting in your face, 'cos hello! – they're shades!. If you get over the paranoia trip for one fucking second, you'd be getting that there ain't no voodoo Harry Potter funk fooling you you're talking to Halle Berry or whatever hottie lights your fire or making your ass mellower toward me."

"Why are you so determined that I get them on me, if they'd don't do anything?"

"'Cos I figure it'll get real annoying real fast seeing you do the squinty or the hand shade the whole time. I can't be doing trying with the let's settle your issues dance right from the start. You wanna go for it now I'm a bit more warmed up and not too tired of it yet?"

The guy's attitude was not improving Gunn's mood any. He hadn't wanted to hurt someone like this since Knox, but he realised that his back had been stuck to the wall of this clear dome-like thing that seemed to reflect the sun in from all angles, meaning he couldn't see out through the glare.

"I want to kick your ass but I'm guessing the reason you stuck me here is so that you can carry on being an asshole, secure in the knowledge I can't do a damn thing about it".

The guy smiled at him. "You wanna rumble, bring it on!" and he did a hand gesture like Morphesus to Neo in the kung-fu section of The Matrix, only with both hands at once.

Then he bounced back up to the wall where Gunn was still stuck and put his hands against the glass to one side of him. Gunn felt the heat travelling across his back and then the wall behind him start to liquefy. The moment he could peel his back off the wall, he rushed the guy, who no surprise, jumped out of the way. Gunn turned around to hit him, he dodged. Gunn went for a leg sweep, the guy jumped it, doing a back flip at the same time. The fight, if you could call it that, went on for a little while but Gunn had a feeling he was being toyed with as the guy moved faster and with more moves than any vamp he'd ever seen and bent like he was made of elastic. He didn't try to hit Gunn at all, which he wasn't used to, and added to the feeling that this was just a game to this guy. The heat in this place was extreme enough to be wearing Gunn out, which for an L.A native in good shape who was used to fights, was saying something, although fighting or trying to in the light of day felt weird too, and maybe that was upping the heat and keeping him off his game. He was starting to think that maybe he ought to stop this while he still had something left, in case this guy was going to spring something on him he needed to get out of later.

He stopped and crouched on the floor, making a time-out sign.

"You all partied out then?" the Fire guy replied to that.

"I'll give it up for now, Neo."

"Ain't that more the look your undead bud's going for, and no can do the funky hang in air time-freeze jazz…kinda a bummer, 'cos that would be seriously funky. So, you dig The Matrix huh?"

"I'm guessing you didn't haul my ass out here to talk movies."

"I'm kinda into finding what makes you tick. So, if you wanna talk movies, we can do that. Although, I'm getting you're more into the fight, so I'd like to rap about that."

"What makes me tick is putting down evil like you. You want to rap about that?"

The fire guy laughed. "Righteous fury, huh? Yeah, I can riff on that, but, man, you got me all wrong. I ain't evil. Evil's kinda too dull"

"Not what I hear."

"You heard wrong, or they mix it up a little. You never met the First Evil then – you lucky - real big yawn – talk plays on of all like five themes max – you lame, you screwed, I rock, I'm gonna kick your sorry ass and you wanna go my way – ok maybe six, I ain't great with the math and point still stands. Same deal with all real pure hell places and the time of the old ones – big snooze, I mean, I know you got a thing for a smackdown but, man, that's all those guys ever did. Gets real boring seeing that go down after a while, lemme tell you – kinda like watching WWF wrestling – which even if you dig, ain't gonna keep you amused twenty four seven."

"I don't buy that. If evil's not fun why would anyone be evil?"

"Some guys don't get to be anything else – you know caveguy types – demon and human, some guys get stuck in a rut with the dominator gig 'cos it gives them a buzz, some guys just go after the bling - not getting that the serious evil guys want rid of it, some guys got an unholy roller thing – I don't get it but what the hell, some guys got a whole rage at the world going, some guys are just plain wacko - who knows what the fuck they're grooving on. I guess it all depends on what you call evil anyhow – I just know the ones strict on it ain't party guys."

"Seems to me you ain't a good guy if your only thing is how fun someone is, and you talk about evil as a relative thing?"

"It ain't just about the fun, it's about the passion. I guess I got to give it up to your binary ass that you ain't slow – I'm just about the vibe, I would say the guys who use the force for light or dark but let's be straight up here – apart from the funky powers, not much fun being a Jedi or a Sith, not loose enough – too bound up with how you got to play it and apart from Ani, who kicked against the whole Jedi monk thing, none of those guys ever got any, did they – and that blows. Who wouldn't rather be Han – live free and get to do the hot princess."

"Han came good in the end, because he made a choice to, and I can't believe I'm discussing movies to show good and evil. Life ain't the movies – in real life, when a guy goes down, he stays down, well most of the time anyhow, and those who cared for him suffer knowing that. Neutrality doesn't fly, sooner or later, you have to make the choice who you play for and it ain't always about who's the best side to party with."

"Nature's real, nature's neutral, it don't give a fuck who it hurts to do its thing and stay alive, but it looks after its own, enough not to go extinct, anyhow. Guys romanticise it, because of its wow or their need for it, or demonise it cos it's getting in their face, or like De Sade, they're justifying their own gig, and what they say always say more about them then it. People change their mind about bits of it all the time, they'll hunt something down to the brink and then some others guys later on come up and say 'we're preserving those' and beat on them for doing it. One guy's good or neutral's another guy's bad. Times mix things up and guys argue about it all the whole time. I guess that's the thing, I'm about the wild fire – both good or bad, or nothing to do with either – all depends on how it works for you."

"This ain't about nature. We're not like the animals. We get to choose how we live. I don't get what you're getting at but all fire ever does is burn things down, from what I see. If you're the guy who represents fire then all you do is destroy, that's not nature, that's against nature."

"Look around you, man! You reckon that light you see all around is here 'cos it ain't a part of who I am? – this is all me and my scene – you follow? All this -" the fire guy spread his arms to gesture towards the walls of the dome, where the glare of the sun was beaming through "comes from one big ass ball of fire, way out there." He pointed upwards. "You only have to see what it does to some honky out in it too long to get that, I'm kinda glad you a brother so I don't have to sweat about that, and if you want righteous, it dusts vamps quicker than any slayer and never fails to get it done – and I'm guessing you get, even with a couple on the team, most of them ain't good guys. Even the real undead badasses can't fight it, and run off like little girlies when it shows up in all its glory. Word up too, in case you missed out, without that burning ring o'fire this joint is colder and deader than their skin. You see all what you call fire is just pale alongside and just your way of getting a piece of the main man when he goes away or he gets blocked and can't give you it to you full on. Same deal with on the inside – ain't rocket science – Withers sang 'ain't no sunshine', Walker, though he before yo' time, sang 'sun ain't gonna shine anymore', even the holy rollers sing to their God to keep 'em burning, 'cos if there ain't anything burning in you it go all cold and dark in there like you wouldn't believe. I'm hoping you ain't ever been there 'cos that's one hell of an unholy head fuck that leaves you just wanting to curl up and give it up to the big sleep, like forever"

"Only time I ever got that chill is when going after what fired me up, burnt out someone else."

"That's one hell of a kick in the teeth but you rose up phoenix-like from the ashes, with the whole righteous purge thing."

"NO, you're wrong. I KILLED someone I cared for. You don't EVER get over that."

"Ain't about getting over, it's about getting on and you gotta have got that – if you didn't, you'd have put yo'self in the ground or you'd be lurking in shadows beating on yo'self but you ain't, you're here. That means there's something in you burning to keep going, I'm guessing holy fire from yo guilt rapping, the whole binary line you play and the kami kazi gig you stepped up for that got you noticed by us, your redemption song – right?"

"Why are you so interested?"

"Like I said, I'm into about finding out what drives you – vibe I'm getting, it's the fight – crusade against e with a capital E but everyone got a story of the why on that – I'm after yours, that's it. 'Cos I'm telling you, you fight like fighting is your life and you got some serious moves going, especially for someone who ain't got that bit of demon in the system working it for them. You got to have been running with punching above your weight for a while, and there's a fire in your eyes when you go too? You've had all the jazz about why we're all here served up straight and I can't be assed to keep going over it, I mean, what the hell else do does your paranoia trip say we're about?"

"You see just because I can't see it, don't mean it ain't there?"

"What the fuck!...ok, why's it gotta be anything, why doesn't it go in, if we're all giving the same old over and over – it's cos it's the FUCKING TRUTH"

"You do not get to be pissed at me."

"Yeah right! – 'cos you got shut down for all of, like, five minutes tops, boo fucking hoo! You want the run through of how I could screw with you if I wanted?"

"Is that supposed to scare me?"

Gunn could feel his hands wanting to go into fists, but he knew it was a really bad idea, based on the last time. The fire guy glared back at him: the guy wasn't wearing shades and his eyes looked like there was a reddish glow to them, despite being so dark they were almost black. Then he just burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Ok, man, you don't get what we're doing here?"

"I was trying to get to the truth."

"Don't make me throw that Nicolson 'Few Good Men' quote back at you, 'cos that's been done to death. We're fucking shadow boxing, man?"

"What are you saying?"

"Man, you want to smack me around 'cos I'm the part of you that you don't dig about yo'self, mebbe even freaks you a little, you are demonising me because what you got in you that's mine is why you screwed up…."

"… so you're saying this a Tylor Durdon deal?"

"No man, I ain't no projection you get to blow out of your brain. I don't do the existential, but I've been around since the dawn of well before you. Ain't your Vader either - I ain't about pulling you over to the dark side."

"The thing is, you talk about going with what you feel and what you want – that sounds pretty dark side to me."

"Not with the feely – that's water bitch's gig and that's what dragged Ani down – rage over Mommy and fear of losing the heartthrob. That and wanting to be the big I am and rising above everyone else which is Earth guy's whole thing."

"I don't reckon he wanted to be superior to everyone else. He just wanted to stand out, have his own scene going, and why are we talking Star Wars again?"

"We ain't really – you're using its plot to say your piece and then hide behind, kinda like saying my homie did it when you did and you don't wanna say. I see through your smoke screen, man. Fore you go into denial - you do fucking stand out. You reckon an ordinary Joe gonna raise my curiosity – hell no. You think you mudane 'cos you don't get the funky powers – right? but to fight the guys you did you had to raise yo' game, yo' had to work for it and that takes way more fire than a guy who had it given him as part of some mojo. Your undead heavyweight boss guy wanted you in on the hardcore monster mash, I reckon, 'cos he give it you, though you can't work what he does, you'll give it your all and you'll get what he gives you done or go down trying – that ain't nothing. To be taking on the guys you do, you gotta be able to pull a curve ball on them, winging it on the fly, if that's what it takes, at least at first when you were starting out. Lots of guys who go in for the demon hunt don't last 'cos they ain't got that. You see, I get a bad rep for having an appetite for destruction, which is kinda fair, but I'm about the flip side too that give man the staying power to stay moving through this joint – the spark that fires the imagination to cook up the new, both to keep things getting stale and to drive off what comes for you. Ain't just vamps who fire turns off, lots of demons ain't keen on it either."

"The rain of fire that came here was summoned by a demon, and some demons are immune"

"Yeah, I heard that, but didn't that guy block off the sun too – and you got my take on the sun. Anyhow, even fiery demons don't put fire to the uses man does – it's about the melting pot from which comes all kinds of weird and wonderful and fucking useful funk. Even if it is from hell, we did a Prometheus style steal on it and got it working for us – doing magic, sticking demon mojo into some bitch to get slayers, slapping souls into vamps – that's all the innovation of turning the enemy's firepower back on them. It ain't just about the fight either, it's about why it's worth fighting for – 'cos a demon couldn't give us a Star Wars or The Matrix - it ain't got that creative flare to set off those sorts of fireworks. Ok, I mentioned Wars and Matrix, there must be good stuff that you're fighting to keep – that lights your fire when you ain't beating on demons."

Gunn did think about telling the guy, but then he just felt too self-conscious and didn't want to have to admit to the uncool thing Angel had got him to like. He wasn't sure that he liked this guy and should tell him anything, even something that seemed trival.

"Why should I tell you anything?"

"Oh man, that line's getting real tired. You got the best shot at rapping with someone who don't judge, 'cos I don't give a fuck what gets you going. If you trip on Whitney, Brittany or Tiffany, 'though by the age you look I'm guessing not Tiffany, unless you do old school kitch…."

"I'd dig on a band called Mata Hari, who are definitely new school…" He thought about telling the guy the rest but, no matter what he said he was going to laugh at him and Gunn didn't want to admit to it anyhow.

"Look, as an actor you a bust, you're holding back on me here, I'm going to keep coming at you 'til you give it up, 'cos you got my curiosity now, and what you come up with can't be any worse than I'm going to be imagining."

"Ballet," said Gunn quietly.

"Colour me surprised, 'cos I had you pegged as street, but ballet ain't lame. All those Kung Fu movies and guys like Tarantino who rip them off owe big time to ballet. John Woo say that he make all his scenes balletic. I guess it figures with you been a fighter and all – it's all about moves, timing and shooting through pain barriers – 'cos dancers, like fighters, put their bodies through hell, especially the on the tip toes thing - that smarts real good"

"How come you read me as street?"

"Your hunger for the fight and to be someone, man, most guys who got that are street. Where does that come from if you ain't?"

"What says I ain't?"

"You are ain't you!. The ballet thing, the way you sometimes talk educated, that's all show, I'm guessing something you did to feel special."

"The ballet I kinda got conned into going to."

"But you found you liked it anyhow, no bad thing to make a different scene – you ain't a hood traitor fo' liking ballet – lots of the original bitches in Paris were as street as they come, it's only 'cos it's old that don't happen no more. I guess the same bitches all want to be models, singers and actresses and most of them end up doing porno. If your ass was born in Russia, you'd still have that respect for ballet as part of the culture. I don't give a fuck if it's high or low art – it's all the same vibe. Since I got what I need from you I'll give you this for free, right – reason why I ain't for good or evil is, with me, it's the dynamic – pure good and evil want to freeze things and shape it in their own image so it reflect them and won't let them run doing their own thing. It's like Orson Welles got Harry Lyme to say - in Italy you got full on war and awesome art, and Switzerland full on peace and lame ass fucking cuckoo clocks."

Gunn had been just starting to like the guy and now he was pissing him off again.

"Guys get killed in wars and the great art ain't worth the body count."

"It ain't just about the wars, but the whole dynamic going – evil needs good to be evil and good needs evil to have something to be heroic against. Gods always give man the choice, 'cos it's way too fucking boring otherwise, who wants that? Why you guys rock is that you're live wires and the current in you flow every which way, so you can always surprise and keep everyone on their toes, it's kinda of a buzz."

"I'd settle for dull if it meant Fred and my family all got to live."

"Ain't surprised you an orphan what with the hunger. Ok, not my way but I ain't gonna argue with how you see it, with the loss and all, like I said don't judge, you gotta march to your own beat. I guess this is played out then. It's been a blast"

"So do I get to go home now or are you going to pull something else, just to keep you amused"

"Hey, I want to see Babylon fucking burn man, and you a part of that, so you goin' back. Ok, are you gonna run with the program for getting you back or are you gonna be a fuckass and make me have to play it hardball?"

"I don't get a choice but to trust you, do I?"

"Yeah, you can choose not, but you're just gonna make it harder on yourself."

"Ok, so how does this play?"

"Warning, man, this is gonna smart but a little pain should be nothing a badass like you can't handle, and the quicker this goes down the better for you. I just need you to run like your ass is on fire."

The fire guy grabbed Gunn's arm, which started to burn. He started running at breakneck speed. Gunn was kinda dragged behind him but he was running too or at least he thought he was. He was taken along so fast he wasn't sure and what he could see was a blur. However, he thought he saw the fire guy touch the wall and the wall go liquid. Then Gunn shot through it into this green gloom. It was so humid the air seemed to hiss when he hit it, and it steamed which meant he couldn't see shit, although all the moisture eased the burn on his upper arm where he'd been grabbed. He was just thinking this wasn't right, especially with the shaking ground, when the steam cleared and he saw three familiar figures looking concerned back at him. There had been times when he'd been happier to see guys he knew, but not that many. He noticed that Wes had this odd limp looking grey thing over his shoulders and Spike looked boy band image soaked. He was wondering where Lorne was when he saw the guy's familar green head emerge slowly out of the floor, like some kind of….

Spirit

It had to stop from being attached to him, Lorne guessed, to be in the right place for the ritual but it still held onto his hand as if its life depended on it as it moved to stand behind him and even after it had started speaking its part. He looked at his friends, colleagues and collaborators in soon to be suicide mission and they were all looking like they going into alert mode. Give it up guys, you can't fight forces of nature, he found himself thinking. He was wondering why he didn't feel the need to try and fight against what he knew was coming. He'd seen the future before without it making him fatalistic, as heaven knows the world would have ended if he'd adopted a 'Que sera que sera' attitude towards everything he'd read. He wondered why, was he just wearied beyond care or was it that these guys read as positively fluffy as supernatural beings went or was it just that even he was finding it difficult to be frightened by a kidnapper who seemed be even more scared than usually he was, when he knew that was really saying something.

"Hiya" said the water elemental's voice in his head, breaking into his thoughts, followed by "don't look at me you'll just make them all even more paranoid. Look, not meaning to disturb you, but I never did thank you for letting me to have that hug."

He had wondered what that had been about when, in the middle of all the explanations of why they were being invaded because they were some sort of spiritual variety pack with a favourite sweetie for everyone, he'd felt her embrace him a with telepathic explanation that she needed a hug with a slight plea attached on the end of it. Now, sometimes he could read people he was close to without them having to sing and, bizarrely enough, he had that from her, despite her being a total stranger. It was a feeling he couldn't quite explain, which said she was touchy feely like him and therefore it was ok to give her what she wanted and to trust her, without her singing to him. Was I being too trusting? He still felt guilty about not reading Knox and so not finding out about his awful plans for Fred until it was too late, but his instinct was telling him that the cloud lady was ok and he knew she'd been upset by something. Then spirit kid had started singing and it had got forgotten. Now, after the always happy to help telepathic response, he found himself wondering about it again.

"She looked into the heart of the man in the suit from the nasty ones and found a stinky wasteland," he heard Spirit's voice say in his head.

And that had freaked her out - oh sweetie, what else did you expect?!

"Ok, ok, so not the coolest move ever, put it down to insatiable curiosity about people and getting lulled into believing that thing might actually be one from my guy and the feelings of others tainted by this sink hole that were reflected in your friends' memories. Why can't you of all people, with all the hearts poured out you to in song, understand not every sleaze has a heart of stone?!" came her telepathic response sounding slightly pissed. It took him aback but before he could think about it the conversation in his head continued with Spirit.

"Feelings not always good – little Miss Evil Eve hurt the good man who used to be very bad because of the evil her man wanted to do."

Lorne briefly had time to think that it took the supernatural to give you Mowgli mis-quoting Bette Davis, before Water continued the telepathic conversation this time sounding gentler.

"You despise her and her beloved because of the love you have for your friend and the world's welfare. I don't blame you and it probably makes you better than me, but sadly, because of what flows between them, I can't, not whole-heartedly. On that note, I'd better love and leave you for someone for whom it was a saving grace. Take care of yourself, gentle one".

Then she started chanting her part of the ritual and it was strange to hear the voice sounding so croaky out loud when it had sounded so clear and musical in his head. Lorne then noticed that Gunn was looking suspiciously at the hand that the spirit kid was gripping, and he instantly thought of Gunn being thrown across the room which he'd seen through reading Fire, and couldn't look at him. The same kid squeezed the same hand gently, saying in his head. "It's ok; he won't feel it and it won't last. You're not a bad person for not telling, it would just make everyone all angry and worried, which is silly and won't help. We're not bad and can't change you or what you'll do, so don't worry"

Then it joined the others chanting. "Let the separation begin". Lorne took a last look at his friends and found he suddenly felt nervous, before the overwhelming smell of woodland made him feel weightless and his eyes felt like they were too heavy to stay open, and closed like he was falling asleep or being drugged. It must have come out of the circular wooden disc thing the spirit kid was holding in its hand, which he'd seen in his mind's eye when it sang. He was waiting be to sucked into the green light portal like he'd seen happen too and he got a sense of deja-vu when he could feel he was falling backwards, and opened his eyes in time to see a flash of overhead tree canopy before he landed in a pile of leaves. His arm moved without him willing it to just before he landed. This re-enforced that sense, which was further compounded by seeing he was in the clearing in the forest that he'd seen before.

He was wondering what the jazz with his arm was about, when the Spirit replied verbally out-loud instead of in his head for a change. "Break-fall, it stops you hurting your head when you fall backwards".

Ok kid, he thought slightly bemused, do I talk to you or do you just read my mind?

"Whatever you're most ok with," it replied again out-loud.

"Call me a diva, sweet cheeks but I need to hear the sound of my own voice…" He noticed the kid seemed to untying one of his shoe laces "…. And what are you doing?"

"Making you comfy, so you can relax in the good place, feel the ground between your toes."

"I think you've got me wrong here, I'm more bright lights and big city than nature boy."

"It's got its own song."

"But…"

"Sshh, lie back, relax and let the good place sing to you."

"How long do I…"

"Til I say when," it said playfully.

He didn't know why, but he did as the kid asked, while he felt it remove his shoes. There was a certain musicality to the sound of the birds and animals chirping and the rustle of leaves, but he wasn't sharing the love the kid had for this place, maybe it was too much like Pylea.

"When" it said, flopping on its stomach beside him.

"Look, hate to rain on your parade, and maybe its different strokes, but I'm not hearing whatever sweet song the woods are trying to sing to me."

It frowned. "They aren't trying to sing to you, they sing to each other because they're alive, you see?"

He was getting it. "So you and this place are about songs in the key of life, that's why it's good?"

"Sort of, it's about bringing together everyone else to create life. It's all there because of the trees and the trees need to be rooted in the earth, they need the rain and the air and the fire from above…" It pointed upwards towards to the sun shining in the sky above "… and below to put good stuff into the earth to grow."

"That's all fine and dandy, but what's it got to do with me?"

"We need to go to your place to see."

"I thought that was the bad place you were desperate to get out of."

"Not THEIR place, YOUR place."

Then he realised where this was going, as he'd foreseen.

"Is this when we go to…" he said, as the smell of alcohol rose from the leaves making him feel sleepy again. He closed his eyes, then the feeling passed and he opened them to find himself sitting at a table in Caritas, although still barefoot.

"Ok, so if we're back in time where…"

"…you're asleep upstairs."

"Should have figured it would be after closing time, just don't want to act out the old sci-fi cliché of meeting future me and screaming."

It laughed "You're being silly"

"A bit freaked, being back here again." He found himself walking around and touching things like he wanted to re-connect with them. Is this what coming back home is meant to be like?

"You miss it, don't you?"

"Gotta say haven't thought about it. I miss better times, like the ones I had here." He suddenly felt close to tears. "I'm getting why they say to never look back." He started to sing "# memories like the colours of my mind, misty watercolour memories of the way were …#" and found he couldn't carry on.

It put an arm around him. "It's ok to cry for it, it was good place"

"I know, but seeing it again is too much. Never thought I'd say this, but can we go back to yours?"

"Sure, but do you want a drink while we here?"

"Now, I know you're older than you look…"

"Much," it interpreted him with a smile, before walking behind the bar and going to work on the mixers.

"What's with you supernatural players, that makes you dress up like little kids, and how did you learn how to fix a drink?"

He saw it chew its lip and say. "I'm not dressed up, I'm a symbol of innocence and wonder of life. Also didn't want to be boy or girl, to be for everyone and not carnal, and balance the others so we're two boys, two girls and one neither. It's easier not to be girl or boy when you don't have to have the bits you do when you're older. The drink comes from memories of barmen here: people's memories and the things they do get tied to a place like spilled things leave marks. Like my place is my place partly because of stories of spirits living in the forests and very old trees being alive like Ents." It sounded precocious but then seeing a little kid deftly mix a drink like a pro looked weird and ludicrous too. It even copied the tricks they used in throwing the shakers around.

It smiled and handed him a sea breeze, which actually tasted pretty good. "Ready to go or do you want to stay for a bit longer?"

"No, I know I can't stay here forever and I'm just prolonging the agony in hearing the siren call of sitting here using it as a tomb of memories Haversham style. Let's go, before I lose the will to"

It sang "#somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there's a land that I heard of once a in lu-ll-a-by#" The song acted like a lullaby, making him feel drowsy for a second and then, as he'd foreseen he was back in the woods again, only this time sitting with his back against a tree, with the sea breeze placed next to him.

"Thanks kiddo"

"It's ok, only way to make up for upsetting you, sorry. You used to serve drinks to make those who came to you relax and feel better before they had to sing and also 'cos you're nice and like to make people happier #spread a little happiness as you go by#. You made dough too, but not why you did it, you did it to make people feel at home."

"Right on the money, but then you know you all about me anyway, don't you babe? Why do you need to talk to me?"

"To show you me in you and talk about how you use it to find your way through life. Your place was like my place – everything good was there to help life, balance of what the things of life stand for." It picked up a lump of earth from the forest floor and started to mould it in its hands into a rectangular shape. "The bricks and mortar you built around them made them feel safe, you called it a name that means sanctuary and put up a spell to stop them hurting each other. It was your nest egg, daily bread and home too. They came to find out about things to help them find other things, to get them what they or others wanted, needed and treasured or what gave them control over their lives. They did this by getting to know things." It smiled and then sang, "#the answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind#, sorry if you know this, but sound in the air vibrates so we can tell and listen and share what we know. They could get drinks, which all have water in them somewhere and talked before about how drinks are touchy-feely, they help people to sing too, hard to sing or talk with a dry throat – why Water sounded so croaky in the bad place."

"Why did she sound better when doing telepathically?"

"Your head's full of blood, which has got lots of water in it." It frowned. "Where was I? Oh yes, touchy-feely to do with what they sang 'cos it had to be something that meant something to the singer. That's also fire's thing of the creative spark, feeling and passion, water and fire. Songs are there because someone with that writes them, except for Diane Warren who thinks she's got it but hasn't felt the love that she writes about, so it's only a pale reflection. That's why you hate her, the good songs all have a bit of soul fire and your place needed energy to keep the pretty lights going and the microphones, although being in a hot place you didn't need heating. Fire would say that's because the sun heats the city outside, although its dirty air holds in the heat more. Sorry, wandered off there, what I'm saying is that in your place everything else was brought together to help people just like here everything in this place comes together to create life. You're here because you helped and helping's why the good place got destroyed by the man all angry at your friend, but it's also what made it good. The spirit is above the other elements, because it brings them together for the best."

"I didn't bring the gang together peaches and I'm not so sure I was a whole lot of help"

"You got the Earth's one to save the world when he didn't want to 'cos he was being too angry and grumpy, and then you told him where to go to save his friends, including Air's and Fire's ones. You always tried to bring good people together, get them to say together, give them kind and wise words and help them out any way you could. You're going to help with big fight too even though you don't want to and you're scared, just 'cos you are care about them and want to help the world. You're their soul, even if they don't know it. I think your Earth friend does, when the nasty thing was put on him to give him the bad dreams, you were the one in them who told him the truth and looked after him. He trusts you."

"That's sweet of him, but I failed his trust to sound out everyone who was going to hurt us, I… you know what I'm talking about babe, who I failed to read…"

"You can't take all the blame." It looked at him straight, with compassion in its big hazel eyes. "What makes someone's fate is a lot of things that lots of people do or don't do, including them. You're all tied together with guilt and sadness 'cos when someone dies, everyone who cares feels guilty and sad about what they could have done to stop it, but it's never just one thing. She chose to look in that case, Fire's one choose to take the 'all this I will give you' and let it into the bad place, Earth's one brought you all to the bad place with 'executive decision', they blame themselves too. Everyone makes mistakes, the good people are those who try to make good choices, but they're not bad if they sometimes get it wrong or they don't do something that could have stopped bad happening. Feeling bad won't help things get better, but you still keep doing all you can to make things better, tomorrow is another day."

"And you know what it brings? I heard the voice of Air say so. Have you got some good news for old Lorne or do I not want to know what's in store?"

"You're going to live."

"That's just peachy, but I'm guessing you mean just yours truly and not the whole gang."

It looked sheepish. "You'll live because you're not like them."

Lorne was shocked. "Look I know their shining amour's a little tainted here but they don't deserve death. You've gotta give them the gold stars for effort at redemption."

"They're all killers."

"But they only kill bad people and I'll give it to you straight Mowgli. I would have murdered little Miss Evil if she'd been part of …. "

"But it's not who you are, you do peace not war, and you don't like killing even if it's got to be done. It's wrong for you and you can feel the blood stain on your soul, even if it's bad blood. You know from the help you gave that everyone's got their own path, and yours isn't theirs anymore, so you'll leave them. It doesn't make you a bad friend, 'cos you'll help them first but you can't go where they do, 'cos it's not you."

"Gotta say I'm not loving hearing this."

It looked at him sadly, which confirmed his suspicions before it spoke and confirmed them in words as well.

"It's not a nice story, but do you want the whole truth? You won't remember it when you see them again, promise."

"If I don't have live with it for long. I guess then I've heard enough for my curiosity to be peaked, even my heart ends up being the cat here."

Spirit looked alarmed at this, so Lorne interrupted and said.

"In terms of being knocked dead, rather than sent to the great fish market in the sky."

"Then we'll start at the start", it said, kneeling in front of him and starting to make a pentangle out of leaves. This was something else Lorne had foreseen too.

It smiled whilst continuing its task. "Déjà vu again?"

"Telepathy or precognition skills telling you that?"

"Answering questions with questions? Destiny talks to both of us, something else we share. # let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start# when all you stood in circle and all said that you were going to help break bad circle, it was sort of like a magic ritual with each of you having a strong bit of one of each of the magic elements. Earth -" It dug it's fingers into the ground and pulled out a piece of jade with the crude symbol of angel wings that Lorne knew Angel Investigations had used picked out in gold on it. It placed this on one point of the pentangle. "Water -" It ran it's hand down the along the dew on a tree trunk which formed into a pearl shell filled with a clear liquid that gave off a strong chemical smell, Lorne wondered what it was and the Spirit kid pointed into the shell saying "peroxide." Then it put it on another point of the pentangle. "Air -" It put its hand in the air and a glass whistle formed in it, with a series of wedge shapes etched along one side, which it placed on another point and then said. "It says his name in Sumerian letters." "Fire -" it raised its hand up to the light and a piece of pumice in the form of a gun formed in its hand, with which it followed the same procedure. "Spirit-" It pulled a hair out of Lorne's head and putting it on the last remaining point. "Do you see?"

"I think so, although not how everyone else fits into this?"

"I'll show you later. Thing is, that the magic circle starts off the plan, but it comes from Earth man and rich giant country that Earth elemental is linked to thinks it's all about a different five elements – Earth, Water, Fire, Metal…" It snaked its hand deep into the ground and pulled out of it, with some displacement of the earth, a piece of metal in the form of a figure which had been painted on the front with shiny metallic paint. Looking at it more closely, Lorne was a bit unnerved to see it was of Illyria – with the distinctive blue of her hair and eyes and red of her armour. Well, I guess we trusted her with Drogyn and she's certainly no mean warrior, so it makes sense she's on board, he thought.

Spirit placed the Illyria figure next the glass whistle on the pentagram and looked at him. "Questions?" it asked.

"And spoil your show? I'll let you run with it."

"… and Wood" It reached into the pile of leaves and pulled out a piece of wood, which seemed to be an effigy, like the piece of metal. As Spirit placed it on the same part of the pentacle as Lorne's strand of hair, he noticed it was rotten and depicted Lindsey.

"Love the symbolic comment, I'm not just wishful thinking in reading that as meaning something, am I?"

"Knew you'd get it," it sniggered.

"What's he got to do with the big plan?"

Its smile and laugh died. "That's the bit you're going to hate, talk about other things first"

"Thought wood was your great symbol of the harmony of life. Why's it representing someone you hate, who was the former golden boy in the bad place TM?"

"The trees are from everything else coming together – some good, some bad. When you get bad air, earth and/or water, you get bad rotten trees. There are lots of stories about nasty trees that eat people, hurt them or whisper bad things to them. The wood man is rotten 'cos of his thing for being rooted - even if the roots choke everyone else and mean they can't grow. That's how the nasty people could get him to do what they wanted and fill him with their poison until he saw they could hurt him if they wanted, then he walked away. You know he'll never be good, even if he works against them, 'cos he's too scared of being small and crushed by someone or left with nothing, like his daddy was, and thinks he's got to be bigger than everyone else to stop that and he'll do bad things to do it. He took in bad water too, the bad lady doesn't help and he hates the Earth man because of another bad lady and the fact he hurt him to save the good lady who had the visions. The bad people gave him nasty ideas. It's also 'cos metal's like the lady, the old machine buried deep in the ground from old times long ago. She's like a relic and they tend to be metal 'cos wood doesn't last and is all glinty and precious, which he caught the eye of the bad man who worshipped her. Also she's haunted, 'ghost in the machine'."

"Not sold on that babycakes. The bad doctor said our bright and beautiful girl's soul had been destroyed. Metaphysical - not my area, but I didn't think you could haunt without a soul."

"No, he said consumed and you are what you eat, bits of it build what you are. The iron lady got the swan's memories and she loves the Air man like the lady who was in the body she took over did."

"Swan in that she sang sweetly before she …"

"No, sorry, wasn't thinking of that. I think of her as swan as in pretty graceful thing of air and water, who can break an arm with its wing if it wants to."

"Bad choice of image there, and hate to disagree with the prophet, but our goddess in swan's residence doesn't know what love is."

"She'll find out what grief is."

"Is that what you didn't want to tell me?"

The spirit looked very sad. "No, but I didn't want to tell you that either, should have found a way not to."

"It's ok kid. I've got used to bad news and I'm getting the big bombshell anyway, may as well swallow down the whole bitter medicine cabinet full. I'm going to have to watch them all fall down, aren't I?"

It shook its head. "Do you want to know how they'll take the circle apart?"

"So, at least the bad guys will go down, that's something."

It perked up. "Oh yes"

"Oh, go on, you want to tell me and your old metaphors'll give all the destruction tales a flavour, at least."

"Ok. Well, thing about the five things that are the people for the elements from the Earth elemental's land is that they're the ones who'll take down the nasty things. The magic circle's about the starting the plan to take down the bad circle. Spirit about the ideal, earth's about the power and the fist and, well, with the Earth man it's about blood – as it's all related to body and to his power, or some of it. He knows that to get to something that drinks out of someone else, if you poison the drinkee, you poison the drinker – it's been done to him when he was bad, after all. The nasty man in suit started talking about how his power comes from blood and Earth man just took it away, or sorry, will just take it away from him. There's a bloodline that helps too but that's another story, which I won't tell you 'cos it takes too long."

"I thought we had all the time in the world, as Uncle Louis once sang."

"Not telling it now, maybe later. Old story about people kept as slaves, masters wanted to kill some of their children, mother floated baby down River Nile where it got fished out by a princess. When baby grew up to be prophet, his god got the nasty king to let their people go, when it did lots of horrible things to the land, including turn same river into blood and then finally sent angel of death. Thing is, when nasty king did let the people go he changed his mind and set army after them, they got to a sea, which their god parted and they all walked through, but then the army chased after them and the sea came back and drowned the army. I think it's funny that the Water man will be sent to save baby and kill army, makes me think of that story, especially with river turning to blood in it and sea that killed the bad army called Red Sea. Your earth and water men are blood drinkers – blood formed by iron eaten by people and water drank in. Fire above -" Spirit pointed to the sky "- burns them and Fire man will turn to dust lots of nasty things like them to kill the nasty thing in a lady's body like a Fire. Metal lady will cut down lots of bad men and then go to find Air man, who will be dying. She'll take the form of swan lady to make him feel better. He'll think he's taken down nasty wizard but he'll have just knocked him out for a bit, and Voldemort'll come round to say 'ner ner ner, he died for nothing' to the metal lady, not knowing who she really is. Then he'll say 'take your best shot little girl' and she'll put her fist through his head – squish."

Lorne winced at that.

"Sorry, you're too nice to like icky details, but thing is she'll kill him because of Air man – wind beneath metal swan wings, even though the elements from country where earth elemental comes from take down the monsters, the ones which are just spirit ones help. Air fits with spirit 'cos, in some places the spirit is seen as the breath, probably 'cos it's the sign of life. All the trees and big animals breathe, while the dead men, who are mostly nasty, don't"

"So, how does my breath or spirit help here?"

Then Spirit said very sadly. "You have to take the breath, spirit and soul out of the rotten wood man, like the things that break down the rotten stuff so that it doesn't just lie around and poison or choke the grass and the things on the floor."

Lorne looked shocked.

"Knew you wouldn't like that," it said. "Don't you see why you'll leave them, now?"

He nodded. "Not into being destiny's bacteria, leaves a bad taste in the mouth."

"You see, the blood earth man'll make you into someone who kills like him, and you'll do it 'cos you care about him and the world, like the Water lady said, but the spirit shouldn't take life, only give it, and you know that and it'll kill you if you have to keep doing it, but you shouldn't hate your earth friend for that, 'cos he'll have to give up the destiny promised him to do what he wants. The horrible man in the suit is coming take him back to them, where they'll make him do it 'cos they think he won't go against them if there's nothing in it for him but they don't get it's not about him, but the world. That's why I came, 'cos I knew that one of you would be nice enough to talk to. He pushes you into his world and they take the bit of yours that was his away from him – strange and sad. I'm so sorry I don't have anything happy to say to make it better."

"It's not your fault, you're just the messenger and only the bad guys shoot messengers, especially little kids."

"You couldn't shoot me anyway 'cos I'm eternal and you don't have any weapons, but thanks for not getting angry."

"I meant verbally, kiddo, people shoot each other down with words all the time. Mommy dearest got in few rounds in, I can tell you. I'm tired of being angry. The only folks I could still get angry at have got it coming anyway. You don't get to say the words that wave the magic wand and spread sunshine, although obviously sunshine's no good for Angel and Spike, so sparkles and fluffiness, when it all falls apart. I know I've tried so hard to think of them."

"That's why you're a good person, 'cos you try."

"Thanks kid, but I just feel like a big fat failure."

It gave him a hug.

"Sorry, best I can do, and you're not."

"Thanks, also even if not the best news, the honesty's something."

"I have to return you, but want you to feel better first."

"You're going to have to wave the white flag on that one, but thanks for trying. It's nice to know someone cared and it's been good to talk to someone who knows the score without having to be happy Lorne. I know why they always say that the world laughs with you but you cry alone."

"'Cos a sad old earth must borrow its mirth but has trouble enough of its own."

Lorne smiled slightly at that, "# and anyway we hurt together and hurt alone, don't you sometimes wish your heart was made of stone #".

Suddenly, it smiled. "I know how we can end this. Do you know the story of Pandora's box?"

"Curious lady opened in a big box with all the world's trouble in, I know what that feels like."

"But the end goes that a nice god let her shut back in hope so that she would have something that meant she and everyone could face to all the horrible things in the world and not give up. Even if it's hard now that's what you've got to do."

"I've been trying …"

"And you always will, which is why I love you. Do you feel all better now and want to go?"

"Take my hope and face the enemy, including those I call friends. I'll find a way to be happy lovable old Lorne somehow, don't you worry. Just tell me something and please be honest, will I have to lie to them or look them in the face when I go back before I forget everything you told me?"

"No, and not for long."

"Great, then let's hit the road, Jack."

"Bye, Bye. It's been nice to meet you." Then it sang the words to 'There's no place like Home'.

Lorne felt strange, like he was becoming weightless and floating upwards, and looking down he found he was. It wasn't an out of body thing, though, because his body was not on the ground below him. Whoa mamma! Looking down was making him feel faintly queasy so he looked upwards and saw a big thick branch over his head that he was floating straight towards. This made him panic briefly. Then it was if he was moving through the wood, which then seemed to turn into a fibrous material. He emerged through a grey carpet into a hot, sticky room bathed in a green light. As he rose up into the room, he could see that it was Angel's office and everyone else was back. Gunn looked like sections of his hooded top and t-shirt had been burned off. Spike was dripping wet and Lorne noticed his wet hair was actually quite wavy. Wes had something limp looking draped over his shoulders. Strangely enough Angel looked exactly the same as he always did. Lorne felt his feet touch on the floor they had just risen through but, before he could say anything, it was like the elemental elves went to work putting everything back the way it was. The thing was blown off Wes's shoulders and over to Gunn where it seemed to merge into the holes in his clothing, mending them as if they'd never been burned. The burns on Gunn's arms where healed by the water in the air. A whirlwind surrounded Spike, acting like a giant dryer, even blowing his hair back into place. All this time the green tint to the room gradually faded and the heat and humidity slowly dropped until they were back to the levels they were before.

"So we're agreed then" said Angel, as soon as the room had returned to normal as if nothing had happened since Lorne raised his hand, and as far as everyone present was concerned, nothing had. They all forgot about the invasion of the elementals or, since it was never mentioned Lorne guessed they all had. Lorne knew he'd forgotten until….

Traces

He put the gun down and walked out of the room, which was littered with bodies of Sahrvin demons in chunks. It was the all too complete one of what had once been Lindsey McDonald, still leaning against the wall, with the two fatal bullet holes in his chest that Lorne was all too aware of having put there, that he was most keen to get away from though. Once back in the street, he saw a childish, ghostly figure in a green light, who he suddenly remembered was familiar.

"I thought you were done after the last time, kid."

Then he heard the also suddenly familiar McGonagall-esque voice of Air elemental. "It is not just the Spirit who has returned to visit you briefly, but a number of us believe that there ought to be some attempt to commemorate the passing of at least one friend of yours and an important transition in your life."

Then came another voice. "She speaks for herself, as she always does, I just came to see if you're ok, well as ok as you can be, and I'd rather spend more time with you then seeing the rest of them…." the Water elemental stopped as if trying to find the words to say it nicely.

"Play the Butch and Sundance final scene?" Lorne finished for her.

"The analogy fits, certainly. Film references are not the Water elemental's forte…" interrupted the Air elemental.

"Whatever!" Water replied sounding annoyed. "I'm sure our nice man here doesn't want to hear us bickering after the day or even the year he's had."

It didn't surprise Lorne that the empath knew how he felt. "Well, don't like to be rude but…"

"…we caught you at a bad time, so piss off, right?" said the Water elemental gently. "I understand that but she's gonna hang around and talk your ears off anyway, and it might help to get things off your chest."

"I am no more interested in turning this into an argument then you are, but I do find your hypocrisy in blaming me for the pursuit of your own agenda and using Lorne as an excuse to defuse my challenges to your sarcastic remarks about me highly irritating, which out of respect for Lorne I will say no more about," replied Air.

"Don't worry about me. Listening to you argue is the lesser of two evils than doing the therapy session. I'm tired of talking," Lorne replied.

"…you want to drown your sorrows." interpreted Water. "#Oh show me the way to next whisky bar, oh don't ask why, oh don't ask why, cos if we don't find the next whisky bar….#" She stopped as she realised what the next words to the song went 'I tell you we must die' "has he got time?" she asked instead.

"The army on its way will mainly be concerned with those actively facing it. Actually, I imagine that the aforementioned army has mostly been sent to destroy Angel, since the Senior Partners sole focus appears to be on him. Had he been less interested about making a point and more so with practicalities, then he could have spared the lives of entities more useful in actively remaining alive to fight evil, rather than squandering their lives in a show of defiance."

Spirit spoke for the first time. "They have to follow their own paths: Earth man told them what it was for and what would happen. He didn't make them do it, they chose to, just as nice man here chose not too. Doesn't matter if it's stupid, it's what they are and what they believe is good."

"You have to follow your heart." Water continued. "Look let's talk about this somewhere with drinks, where our pestered guy is more comfy."

"If I give you one last number for the road, will you all promise to never darken my door again?" Lorne asked.

"Sure, lead on McDuff." Water said.

"Actually, it's lay on…" Air started to say.

"Actually, no one cares." interrupted Water.

"They always argue, but they need each other" said Spirit, answering Lorne's unspoken query. "Life needs Air to be in Water so the things in the sea can breathe, and Water in Air so the rain can make plants grow and nothing withers away. Both need to understand – clever Watcher men messed things up, 'cos didn't understanding feelings."

"…and people mess up all the time, as they can't get past what they feel to see the truth and they hurt people they care about because of it," Water interrupted.

"I think we are both aware of our worlds' co-dependence and the tempering effect they have on each other," continued Air.

There was a huge sound of thunder, the ground shook and it started pouring with rain.

"I think that should be taken as our signal that our move to a location not open to the air ought to be imminent," she continued.

"But not back into the room where the nasty things got killed," said Spirit.

"Amen to that," said Lorne, noticing a female figure with long dark hair emerging in front of him in the rain, which he assumed was the water elemental, especially since she wearing a dress that had a bodice made of shells tied onto bones and a long skirt consisting of a net with seaweed and small shells in it.

"Yeah, this is what I look like." she said, and started to explain the components of her outfit to Lorne and why she was manifesting in physical form due to the rain. They all walked in the direction of the nearest demon bar an act which gave him the occasional glimpse of fishnet stockinged feet.

"Don't take this badly, but discussing outfits brought up my bemusement about what is it with you people that means you're all so obsessed with the surface decoration? It's something I sensed when moving through all of your memories to get a feel for who you all were, that it holds so much sway over you when it's well…kind of shallow really in a way that you all mostly aren't," she said.

"Can't speak for everyone else, but I just find it makes me feel good to have something stylish and jazzy on. I guess its part of putting on the show, which I always did love and doesn't hurt anyone, in fact, it's even been known to put a few smiles on faces," Lorne replied.

"I suppose beauty and style do make people feel good to be around, unless it's been used as a way to make those who don't fit some sort of mould for it to feel shitty, so not into that. I can't say that it wasn't nice to look at a sea of pretty faces back in that room, but it's a shame that some folks forget the surface isn't really what should make you care about someone. The song I would have sung was by a woman who starved herself to death because of her feeling she had to look a certain way to be liked, which was just sad especially as she had such a lovely, emotive voice."

"Well having worked amongst divas, sweetie, all I can say is when that's all anyone ever cares about then it makes you feel the same. Trust one who's seen the entertainment industry from the inside - it's as shallow as it comes. One actress once said they pay a fortune for your body but ten cents for your soul, and she was right on the money. Why The Carpenters, by the way 'excuse me for asking, but I always like to know what folks sing and why."

She sang "#sing, sing a song, sing it clear, sing it long, sing of happy, not sad, sing of good times, not bad, sing, sing a song, sing it to last your whole life long, no matter if it's not good enough for anyone else to hear, just sing, sing a song#" and then said "I suppose it's about the emotions of why we sing, which doesn't mention the heartbreak, which I didn't want to sing about since it would have hurt so many of you to have it dredged up in front of you."

They got to the bar and, as they started to going in, she continued.

"Look, could you please take a seat near the window: it'll just make things a little easier for me to talk .I know it's a lot to ask since you just want to be left alone, but…."

"Ok."

"Thanks."

They walked into the bar and she faded from view, all he could see now was the Spirit in the ghostly form he originally saw it in. He ordered a sea breeze and took a seat by the window.

"Ok folks, let's get this over with," he said.

He heard Air's voice in his head. "It is probably for the best that we communicate telepathically, so that you do not appear to taking to yourself, which is always seen as an indication of insanity."

"Or drunkenness, lots of that round here, probably nothing they ain't seen before. I've had a really bad day and don't need voices in my head. They can't hear you anyway so what does it matter?" Lorne said quietly.

"They can hear both me and the Water elemental, so we'll have to talk quietly," said Air speaking almost in a whisper.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"Memory," replied Spirit, "memory of friends and times you had before you go down a new path, that's why it's just us – it's the idea, the heart and the soul and where we go from here, not drive and power and material stuff."

"I don't wanna talk about it," said Lorne.

"#how you broke my heart#" sang the Spirit before continuing to say "I know it's hard, but you have to, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow….."

"…but someday and for the rest of my life. Here's looking at you, kid" Lorne injected with, before asking "out of the movie frame kid, give me one reason why?"

"Hope," Spirit said. "It's 'cos it's not just for you that it'll all make it better. You've got to tell others what they're doing and what some of them have done to give it to them. A film about a superhero coming out soon says that there's a bit of hero in everyone and people need to know about heroes to bring that out. It's why you've got to live and talk, cos' how will they know about the heroes you've known if there's no one to tell them?"

"The grapevine'll deliver the good news, you save that many people some of them are gonna sing your praises."

"But not about the sacrifices they made, and it's good to have the man who knew them say it. You can talk about what they didn't see, like about the lady who saw they were in trouble and how much she let it hurt to carry on seeing and how she came back from the dead just to help the Earth's man. They won't know that, they'll just know about the man or men who turned up to save them."

"People who cared for them will need to know what happened to them too, although you don't want to tell little Miss Evil. I understand why you killed her Romeo and don't hate you for it, but she'll be vengeful, because she's got nothing else left in her heart and that makes her dangerous, so I'd run from her" said Water. "Anyway, the families and friends of your friends will need to know they died as heroes, bravely fighting for what they believed in, and, it wasn't just Earth's guy, they all believed in it. I know Air thinks that her guy died in vain but he didn't - he had that satisfaction. He made an uncaring god feel something, even if it was only grief it still gives her some trace of humanity. I wish he'd understood how he brought out humanity in her."

"That wasn't her, it was probably elements of Fred," said Air dryly.

"It's still something, whatever the source. Also, if he wasn't flushed into some vile hell place then he's at least at some sort of peace now away from all the pain and guilt he had to endure," Water replied gently.

Air's voice cut in, sounding even more harsh than usual "Nietsche was deeply contemptuous of the kind of sentiment, that death was to be welcomed as a release from pain. It's the same logic that Willow used when she decided to destroy the world."

"It sucks when it's imposed, but it wasn't for him: contrary to what you believe, it wasn't even suicide – I'm not pushing the suicide is painless line. He risked his life to pull down something he despised and make the death of the person he loved so much that she was his world mean something, and it did destroy Voldemort in the end. What he felt to be right drove the course of his life and he died for it; that's martyrdom and most of this world tends to get saved by martyrs."

"Or destroyed," commented Air, caustically.

"Depends if you serve love or hatred, doesn't it? He definitely loved the world, even when it treated him like shit, which was quite a lot. I suppose what I'm trying to say to our kind spirit guy is that, even if you never tell, the only way most of us are ever truly immortal is in the memories of those who loved us so, in a sense, they'll live forever in your gentle heart, and I believe in that, don't care about anyone else," was Water's reply.

"Two things confusing me here, Manon De Sources, if you love everyone so much, what you have got against using their names, and why do you have a snark as your guy?"

She laughed. "Which name do I use for you – the one given you by the two people who spawned you but never gave you any affection, one of which slags you off every chance she gets - the one that relates to what you do rather than who are you – you're not a Host, you're a person – only the lonely and/or pretentious go by a name which starts The – or is it the one which is a bad joke involving the colour of your skin. Names don't mean shit really, do they?"

"Yes they do, actually" interjected Air

"But they don't tell you about the depths of the person they're slapped on. A baby's name is like a wish or chimera; it tells nothing more than whom one or other of the parents love, fancy or want the child to be. A nickname's usually a joke or something that someone wants to believe that they are - with my guy, it's the puffer fish's defences – don't give me grief or I'll prick you with poisoned spikes," she said, audibly putting quotation marks around the last word before continuing. "Like many of the pure and lovely, you're transparent in a good way. People can see through you, not because you're shallow, but because you let them, there's no stuff that you put in there that stops that. Now you understand with the scumbags that the false face hides what the false heart doth know, that the clear surface belies the murky depths, but it's not just the bad who play that game nor is it not just done to hurt people. That transparency just feels like being vulnerable to the teeth of the monsters to my guy, especially those he met who mocked what they saw in the depths of his heart. Well you know through bitter experience what sort of a sweetheart your friend was before some of his victims made him feel. I believe he didn't go for you, as you have too strong a heart and sense of who you are to be stung by the bile that poured out of that sadist's mouth. However most folks get conditioned; the worlds they live in have their ways of trying to pour you into their moulds. You're wonderful because you resisted the pressure of the place where you spawned to let them do that to you but, in the delightful company of your friend in his less nice mode, my guy found the pressure got intolerably brutal and he needed to obscure things a little to guard his reservoirs, which are still there, even if you can't always see them from the surface. Do you understand?"

"So it's all Angelus's fault?"

"Not the brutality against the world; some of that's the loony siren and his own fault, but the acerbity of tongue certainly has a lot to do with that bastard."

There was a brief silence and then Spirit spoke up. "Anyone else want to say anything before we go?"

Air said. "Yes, I think it is important that someone alive knows the truth, as you never know when having a witness to events of significance might be useful, especially since the Water elemental has a point about those wishing to discover what happened to the others requiring the continued existence of someone who will tell them. I think the fact that Angel has made no provision for a secure retreat for his girlfriend during her lycanthropic episodes is a severe oversight; you may wish to use whatever contacts you have to make the arrangements necessary for her protection and that of others. I may also add that I approve of your decision to live, since you are wise and the psychic abilities you have may well prove useful to another group, or even a lone individual, seeking to improve the world. Had you chosen to fight in that alleyway, you would have been ineffective and sacrificed your life needlessly. It is also important that you follow your own principles even if they are not those of the people who surround you. You are important to the world, even if you do not yet realise it. I thank you for letting us discuss these matters with you, apologise for arguing in your presence, and wish you well."

Water added. "I hope that things get better for you and that you don't let the pain you've felt on losing those you love stop you from letting other people into your heart. I'm not sure you could do that anyway, but I understand the pain can drain you, if you let it. #Life's not a song, life isn't bliss, life is just this, it's living, you'll get along, the pain that you feel, you only can heal through living, you have to go on living, so one of them is living#."

Spirit joined in "#Chiquita, you and I cry, but the sun is still in the sky and shining above you, let me hear you sing once more, like you did before, sing a new song, Chiquita, try once more like you did before, sing a new song, Chiquita#. We're going now, but please take a moment when we're gone to think about everything that your friends were and drink to them before you go on without them. Bye, bye and good luck." It waved before slowly disappearing into the smoky air.

Their voices were gone and the only sounds were the usual ones in the bar of talking, clattering of objects and sloshing of liquid into and in glasses – the rhythm of life. There didn't seem to be much else to do, except do as the Spirit had asked and take the moment, whilst finishing his drink. A drink to an era which had reached ….THE END