Disclaimer: I do not own Buffyverse or anything else you may recognize
Chapter 4- Into the Dark
"So far, they seem to be getting on their feet well", Willow commented about Angel, Cordelia and Doyle.
"Yeah, but clearly something bad happened, and watching all of these is what will make us understand why", Buffy said, the third recording finally starting.
A blonde girl ran in the darkness, hiding, and when the coast was clear, tried to run again, only for her boyfriend Lenny to grab her and shove her back, accusing her of humiliating him, and she asked him if he was on something sweetly, only for him to slap her down.
"That bastard", Xander snarled, everyone getting angry.
Rachel asked what he'd do, saying someone would hear her scream here, only for Lenny to take out a gun, saying no one would hear her in downtown LA at this time, and apologized, saying he couldn't take it anymore.
"Can't take hitting your girlfriend anymore so you're killing her?" Tara asked in disgust.
"This is not the first time I've seen stuff like this, unfortunately", Buffy said, and Willow, Xander, Dawn and Giles immediately knew she was referring to Pete and Debbie in the final year of high school.
Angel grabbed Lenny from behind, making him drop his gun. "Poor Lenny. The burden of terrorizing your girlfriend too much for you?"
Everyone sighed in relief as Dawn said. "Now he'll get his."
Angel hit him. "Lucky for you, I can make it stop." Lenny grabbed a 2x4 and tried to hit Angel. Angel ducked and cold cocked him.
Everyone watched in satisfaction as Buffy said. "What? Can't fight someone who can fight back?"
"I bet if she fought back, he'd run in fear too", Willow said.
"Yes, because that's what cowards do", Giles agreed.
Angel helped Rachel up, who was surprised he'd actually shown up, and he reminded that was the deal. From up above a building, someone watched and dubbed over the conversation in a high voice. "How can I thank you, you mysterious, black-clad hunk of a night thing?" His voice turned low as he imitated Angel. "No need, little lady, your tears of gratitude are enough for me. You see, I was once a badass vampire, but love and a pesky curse defanged me. Now I'm just a big, fluffy puppy with bad teeth." It was Spike.
Buffy watched with a dropped jaw, not having expected to see him here, and she felt her heart skip a beat on seeing him. Something which everyone noted.
"We can stop for now if you want", Tara offered Buffy, who seemed to come out of her trance.
"No, go on", Buffy said, shaking her head.
"You sure?" Xander asked.
"This isn't the Spike I loved, this is when he was a bad guy", Buffy reminded, trying to control herself. "I can deal with it."
Everyone knew she couldn't and was just saying this to reassure them, but her choice.
Rachel stepped closer to Angel, and Angel stepped back warding her off with his hands as Spike said. "No, not the hair! Never the hair!" His voice turned high to imitate the girl. "But there must be someway I can show my appreciation." His voice turned low to imitate Angel. "No, helping those in need's my job,... and working up a load of sexual tension, and prancing away like a magnificent poof is truly thanks enough!" His voice turned high again. "I understand. I have a nephew who is gay, so..." His voice turned low. "Say no more. Evil's still afoot! And I'm almost out of that Nancy-boy hair-gel that I like so much. Quickly, to the Angel-mobile, away!" Angel lead Rachel away.
At this point, everyone was in hysterics, even Buffy, due to Spike's dubbing.
"Okay, evil yes, but hilarious too", Willow said.
"Too hilarious", Dawn added, still laughing.
"And even he agrees Angel is Vampire Batman", Xander said, making everyone laugh more.
"Angel's hair is funny", Giles added, and there were more chuckles.
Spike lit a cigarette and smoked it. "Go on with you. Play the big, strapping hero while you can. You have a few surprises coming your way... The Ring of Amarra... a visit from your old pal Spike,... and, oh yeah,... your gruesome, horrible death." He smiled.
"So this is during the Ring of Amarra mess, huh", Willow noted.
"Must be after I beat him and asked Oz to deliver the Ring", Buffy said.
"I'm guessing we'll be seeing him too in this then", Tara said, and Willow realized it would be a little weird for sure.
"He sounds sadistic", Dawn muttered, never having met Spike when he was this way.
But they were mature adults so not too weird.
Oz drove in his van, listening to the radio before stopping in front of Angel's apartment.
"Oz", Willow whispered, this being the first time she had seen his face since his departure all those years ago. While she loved Tara, she would always care about Oz too, and he was her first real love, which would never change.
"You okay to watch?" Tara asked her. While she and Oz hadn't really had the best interactions, what with him unintentionally turning wolf to kill her, she knew he and Willow loved each other as well before she came, and she respected that.
"Yeah, I am", Willow said, giving Tara a smile.
Cordelia typed on the computer as Doyle read a newspaper. Cordelia was happy as they had got their first walk-in client, with Angel saving girl-in-distress from druggy/stalker boyfriend. She pulled the paper out of the printer and showed it to Doyle. "Invoice! Tada!"
Everyone chuckled as Xander said. "Sometimes, she is evil, other times, she is sweetly infectious."
"Which you know from first-hand experience", Dawn told him and he nodded.
"And they got their invoice", Buffy said, happy for them.
"Not payment though", Giles reminded.
Doyle didn't look impressed, reminding this wasn't money, but Cordelia said she had to pay, but Doyle was skeptic, saying they'd need many more clients if they were going to take a cruise to the Bahamas, with Cordelia adding also an alternate reality where he was Matthew McConaughey.
Everyone chuckled as Tara said. "She doesn't look like one to be messed with."
"Nope, no can do", Buffy said, remembering the time she had tricked the cowboy Vamp into thinking she was an even more dangerous Slayer then Buffy, and sent him packing.
Oz then arrived. "Hello, LA." Cordelia looked happy as she hugged him, saying his name repeatedly, while Doyle jokingly guessed he was Oz, and Oz said it was a good guess. Cordelia found it cool that he was in LA while being an embodiment of Sunnydale.
"She looks very happy to see him", Xander said.
"Always nice to meet old friendly faces from high school when your life is at a crossroads", Buffy said, and no one could disagree.
Cordelia asked how the Bronze, Oz saying it was the same, and the gang was good too. They looked at each other for a moment and Oz asked. "Are we done?" "Completely", Cordelia said as Doyle coughed.
"Guess they aren't that good of friends", Dawn said.
"Well, Oz wasn't very close to the rest of you", Willow said to the group. "Though you all did like him a lot."
"Yeah, he wasn't, but he was nice", Buffy said. "And a sweet guy. Boyfriend material for sure."
"You like him too or what?" Dawn asked.
"No! I mean, not in that way, but he was a great guy, and definitely the kind a woman would want to be with", Buffy said as she turned to Willow. "You attract the most amazing of people."
"Thank you", Willow said.
"Thank you", Tara said too, smiling, as she had been complimented as well.
"Other than Kennedy", Buffy added.
"Yeah", Willow groaned, not a fan of her anymore.
Oz and Doyle greeted each other, with Oz asking if they were detectives, but Cordelia said she was an actress, Doyle adding she was captivating too, and Cordelia said she helped out between her gigs.
"Non-existent gigs", Dawn said.
They said he was the detective, Oz jokingly asking if he had a hat and gun, but Cordelia said just fangs, as Oz said that worked and then asked where he was.
"Detective with Fangs, there's a joke there somewhere", Xander said.
Angel read a book downstairs as Cordelia, Doyle and Oz arrived, Angel surprised to see Oz as he told him he was staying for a few days, and Doyle asked if they were always like this, but Oz said they were usually laconic.
"Okay, I know its ironic coming from me, but I like him", Tara said about Oz.
"Makes sense", Willow said. "You two aren't very different really."
"Maybe if circumstances were different, the two of us could have been nice friends", Tara said. [1]
Oz held out the Ring of Amarra, Doyle surprised, as Angel took it after a moment, Oz explaining Buffy wanted him to have it.
"There it is", Xander said.
Buffy just thought about how the tables had turned now. Back then, she had wanted to protect an artefact from Spike and give to Angel, now recently she had chosen Spike to use another artefact over Angel.
Cordelia asked how Buffy was, asking if she was still the brave little Slayer or moping around in the dark like nobody here, adding the 'nobody' due to a look from Angel.
"I don't think I'm mopey", Buffy said.
"Not to Angel's extent at least", Willow said.
Oz said she was good, and she was Buffy.
"Best way to describe you", Dawn said, making everyone chuckle.
Doyle asked Angel to put on the ring, explaining to Cordelia it made the wearer unkillable to everything, Oz saying Spike dug it up, but got a fist full of Buffy and left it behind, her wanting it in good hands.
"Fist full of Buffy", Xander joked, holding up his fist. No one laughed. "I'll shut up."
Angel noted Buffy had sent him, and Oz said he was heading this way. Cordelia commented on how Buffy didn't send a note, before saying she should just shy away now.
"What's the need to send a note?" Buffy asked. "I sent Oz, he can explain it all in one line."
Everyone laughed again, because it was true.
Doyle picked up a stake, asking Angel to put it on while he'd stake him, but Angel said later, clearly not enthusiastic.
"Well, he's excited", Xander said sarcastically.
Doyle walked to the elevator, saying he'd still celebrate with a drink at the pub, and Cordelia joked to Oz how he'd celebrate a mailbox opening similarly, before walking away with him, with Oz also leaving. Angel went down to the sewers and hid the ring under a loose brick next to a pipe.
"So, he's keeping it away there?" Dawn asked. "He can use it."
"He doesn't want to", Buffy said. "Power corrupts. And he knows it well."
"Not well enough it seems", Giles popped up, clearly referring to recent events. No one else commented.
Next day, Cordelia and Doyle sat at the office, Doyle joking how he wants a vision to die while Cordelia told him to lay off the ale and not quote Angela's Ashes or weep like a baby man. Doyle said it was a great book while Cordelia reminded how he called Oz her little Bam-bam.
Everyone laughed at that as Willow said. "I really want to see that now."
"We all do", Xander said.
Angel was doing Tai-chi in his apartment.
"He has gotten even better at it than when we used to train together", Buffy commented.
The phone rang and Angel picked up, Rachel telling him Lenny had been let out on a technicality, so he left for her.
"And now he is out", Giles said, all groaning.
"These technicalities", Tara sighed.
Angel walked to his car in the underground garage when a beam smashed his face, sending him to the wall as Spike appeared in Vamp face. "Angel. I believe you have something I'm looking for... a shiny, little bauble?" Angel got up. "Might as well go home, Spike. The gem of Amarra stays with me."
"So now we're gonna see Angel and Spike fight", Dawn said excitedly. "I always wanted to see that."
Everyone shot her weird looks again as she said. "I hate you all."
Spike swung at Angel with the board. Angel caught it, hit Spike across the chin, in the stomach, and then kicked him to the floor. Spike slowly got back up, board in hand, mocking his profession and joked about Vampire cowboys, Vampire firemen and Vampire ballerinas.
"Vampire firemen doesn't really sound like it would be a thing", Willow said.
"Vampire ballerina though", Xander said and all laughed.
"And cowboys", Dawn added, everyone laughing more.
He charged Angel with the beam who said he liked to work with his legs. He grabbed an overhead pipe and swung both feet into Spike's chest.
"That was cool", Dawn said.
Buffy was pretty uncomfortable watching the fight. While she had moved on from Angel, she would always care about him, and this was back when Spike was evil, but she loved him now, so watching this was just weird and awkward.
Spike quickly picked himself back up and kept stabbing at Angel with the beam, while Angel danced around him like a boxer, dodging the board. Spike tried to pin him onto the hood of the car but Angel kicked him off, taking the beam a way form him in the process. Angel pinned him to the car with the beam and asked if a fight was his strategy, but Spike said he had a plan, he just got bored of waiting. Spike threw Angel to the door.
"Yeah, that I can believe", Buffy said, the Scoobies remembering he had attacked the school before the time he had said he would do it.
Angel turned around in Vamp face. "It wouldn't go with your outfit." He hit Spike around for a while and finally threw him against the wall just as Cordelia and Doyle ran in behind Angel. Spike greeted Cordelia, commenting on her weight loss, as she started replying about a gym before realizing who he was. "Hey!"
Everyone chuckled as Willow said. "Now I want to see them talk more." [2]
Spike ran off, saying he'd get the ring while Cordelia asked Angel if he was okay, and he turned around in Vamp face, telling Doyle the ring was fine as he turned to normal and asked him to take Cordelia to his place as Spike could burn her place to the ground. Angel told the two he'd find Spike first and they left as he wiped the blood at the corner of his mouth.
"Everyone's on high alert now", Tara said.
Doyle talked on the phone, trying to track down Spike before marking a Frankie Tripod in his address book, Cordelia wondering if he was a 3-legged creature.
Everyone chuckled again.
Doyle told Cordelia to get comfortable while he tracked down Spike, and Cordelia said she wasn't comfortable here, asking how he lived like this, and he joked seeing her place made him call a decorator.
There were more chuckles as Xander asked. "Did he just one-up Cordelia?"
"Looks like he did", Buffy said.
"Give him an award!" Xander said.
Cordelia found it yucky, brushing away paper as she sat down while Doyle said the laundry might be overdue, and picked the phone, getting some wrong info on Spike before asking Cordy about Spike and she said to sweat.
"Not wrong there", Giles said, remembering how he had felt when Spike had first come and he had discovered about him.
Angel arrived in Rachel's apartment, telling her she could be safe in a shelter, and she said how she always started it and it was good for a while till he got abusive, and Angel said he could have killed her this time. Angel told her she should have faith in herself. He told her if she left Lenny, it would hurt, but she'd be the stronger for it too, with the general idea being love without 911 calls.
"He's right", Buffy said. "And his way of explaining was simple and to the point."
"It made her listen too", Tara agreed.
"If only someone else could have been this brave", Willow said, referring to Debbie obviously.
Cordelia told Doyle how Spike had nearly done Buffy a few times and repeated how he had killed 2 Slayers.
Buffy groaned at the term 'done', since back then, it meant he had almost killed her, but now, it had another meaning too, which was equally true.
No one commented wisely.
Cordelia also told Doyle about the time Spike and Dru had raised a demon that burnt people from inside, and it was about an arm in a box.
"The Judge", Giles said, all groaning.
"Remember how we beat him?" Xander asked.
"Best loophole ever", Willow agreed.
The phone rang as Doyle said in a nasal voice. "House of Pies", but then he realized it was Angel and told Angel that someone called Manny the Pig had said he didn't know a thing about Spike before Doyle had asked about Spike, so Angel decided to start with him.
"How stupid are some people?" Buffy asked, referring to Manny.
"The stupidity of any race knows no bounds", Giles said.
Angel then beat down a few people to look for Manny before finding the Pig and slamming him down and holding his throat, Pig telling his guys to stand down and also telling Angel that Spike was out back.
"Well, that was easy", Dawn said.
"Except nothing is", Tara told her.
Angel walked out back to see Spike snacking on a woman, and he commented how much of a buzzkill Angel was.
Seeing Spike being evil again was hard for Buffy, but she knew she needed to watch this, unfortunately.
Even Dawn looked shocked, as she hadn't seen Spike at his worst ever.
"Any problem?" Willow asked Dawn.
"It's just…..Spike, I never thought he was this bad before", Dawn said.
"Well, on the bright side, you didn't meet him when he was that way", Tara said.
Spike threw the girl into Angel and ran off as Angel chased, and then he was stopped by a fence as Spike turned to face Angel, joking how he would have to pay his debt to society while Angel told Spike he never learnt, only for Spike to say. "I may be a slow learner." Chains rattled behind Angel and he turned as a guy whipped his chains around Angel's neck and dragged him down as Spike said. "But eventually I learn."
"Oh crap!" Xander said, everyone having a sinking feeling now.
"You okay to watch?" Willow asked Buffy.
"I am", Buffy nodded, though they were still not fully convinced, but let it pass for now.
Doyle and Cordelia were worried about Angel, with Doyle being optimistic about it.
"I don't think he is on any shore", Dawn muttered. "Or watching bikini babes."
Angel was hanging on chains as the other guy put on a classical LP and opened the trunk, taking out torture tools while Spike said his name was Marcus and he was the King of the classic torture and loved kids, whom he liked to eat and do other nasty things to.
Everyone felt chilled to their core by Spike's description of Marcus, plus seeing him so callous and cruel after they had seen him as a good guy.
Angel trashed in his chains as Marcus ripped open Angel's shirt, looking at his skin, and said there was little external damage, before saying he had known love, and Spike added with a Slayer, calling it a perversion.
Buffy again thought how the tables had turned, as Spike had fallen in love with her, that too without his soul. Was that a perversion, or something beautiful? Depended on perspective, she guessed.
Marcus noted Angel had a soul so he had something to lose, and Angel asked if he would torture him or bore him to death, and Marcus said a bit of both as he picked a hot poker and stabbed it into Angel's lower chest, while Spike watched with a smile.
Everyone was uncomfortable, worried for Angel, even Giles and Xander, as while they weren't his biggest fans, they still liked him more than Spike.
Later, Angel had several pokers in different parts of his body and Marcus asked what he wanted again, with Angel joking a house in the country and a pair of good running shoes to wear at dinner too. Spike was annoyed, asking why Marcus played the Brahms, but he corrected it was Mozart, Symphony 41 which he found effective.
"As horrible as Marcus is, his taste in music is good", Giles said and was shot looks. "Which shouldn't matter right now."
Spike kicked a box angrily, saying he wanted his ring back or would kill Angel, but Marcus said he wouldn't till he got his ring. Angel called Spike an idiot for hiring a Vamp to get the ring, but Spike said he hired a guy who didn't care about the ring bur torture, as all had an addiction, Angel's being 'Slutty the Vampire Slayer.'
"Okay, now I'm pissed", Buffy said, everyone wisely shifting a little away from her. She was watching the man she had loved and lost back when he was evil and calling her a slut. Bad combination for any woman, but with a Slayer, it was even worse.
"Angel may have been turned into a fluffy puppy by love and a pesky curse, but for Spike, a chip was enough", Dawn said, still trying to get over evil Spike.
The music stopped as Spike said he'd run into her recently and Angel's name had not come up, and she had boned the first guy she came across, and he was good looking, he had used her shamelessly and ditched her, and he said how she looked cute when hurting.
Everyone distanced themselves a bit more as Buffy muttered. "Parker, that….."
"Evil man who deserves to have his face bashed in", Dawn said.
"I heard Riley punched him once", Willow said.
"Well, that was one thing he did right", Buffy said about him. [3]
Angel said she was cuter when she kicked his ass.
Everyone chuckled as now Buffy's mood was a bit improved by Angel's comment.
Marcus started the music again while Spike decided to leave, calling Angel's scream on getting a poker stabbed through him good music.
"You have terrible taste, Spike", Giles said to him, though all were still concerned for Angel too.
Spike went through the sewers to Angel's place, tearing the place up, wondering where to find the ring.
"Hope he doesn't find it", Xander said. "Though not counting on it."
Marcus shot two holes in the ceiling, the streams of sunlight making Angel flinch as Marcus said while most living beings loved the light, they hated it, and so if Angel didn't want the ring, he wanted something, with pain showing them who they are, and he would help Angel find his innocence, and then he shot another hole, making Angel force away.
"The sicko", Dawn snarled, everyone glaring at Marcus.
Spike came to Angel's office, Cordelia waiting with a crossbow in her hands as she snarled. ""When you are done giving the place the Johnny Depp once-over... I hope you have the cash to pay for all of this."
"I doubt it", Willow said. "We hadn't started paying him yet."
Everyone chuckled as her attempt to lighten the mood worked.
Spike joked he loved the hair as he stepped closer and Doyle aimed a gun, saying he was more than met the eye, and Spike said he had a spine which he would snap in two, and Spike told Cordelia he would kill her before her arrow left the bow, making her lower it, and he said if they gave him the ring, he'd let Angel go, telling them the location before walking off.
"This is getting worse by the minute", Giles said.
At the warehouse, Marcus taunted Angel who fished for the stake Spike had dropped with his feet, as Marcus' back was turned, and Marcus pulled out 2 pokers, before saying he wanted forgiveness. Marcus promised to free him as Angel promised to kill him, swinging his legs to drive the stake into Marcus, only for Spike to catch his feet, quipping how staking the torturer was prohibited.
"Oh God!" Tara said, everyone's mood plummeting at Angel's attempt to save himself being foiled.
Marcus hit Angel as Spike decided to now give a hand.
"Now this is even worse", Dawn said.
Doyle and Cordelia looked for the ring in Angel's apartment, Doyle not finding it in the cliché places before they decided to go to the sewers, Cordelia commenting it was like looking for a needle in Kansas.
"Honestly, that should be a phrase", Buffy said.
Doyle let Cordelia walk ahead before turning into his demon face, then sniffed the air, turning into his normal face as he walked to where Angel had put the ring and picked it up.
"Handy use of that face", Willow said.
"I'm guessing people Spike could have found it if he tried better then, Vampires do have a good sense of smell", Buffy said.
"But it's a good thing he didn't find it back then", Tara said and no one disagreed.
Doyle told her he found it and said sometimes they got lucky.
"Or spiky", Dawn said and all chuckled.
She said she could hug him right now and he spread his arms but she said he wasn't that lucky.
"Poor guy", Willow said.
Cordelia then told him they needed a plan. Spike waited in the shadows behind the Fishery as Doyle and Cordelia arrived, telling him they knew where the ring was and they would tell him where it was if he took them to Angel.
"So he's a Cockney now", Xander said, everyone laughing.
Angel was slumped against the chains as Spike, Cordelia and Doyle arrived. Cordelia was about to run to him but Spike held them both back, getting impatient. Doyle called him a dog and taking out the ring, tossed it past Angel, telling him to fetch. Cordelia told Spike to now leave them alone but he taunted them as he reached for the ring when tires squealed and Oz's van burst through the side of the warehouse, ramming through some barrels and coming to a halt behind Angel as Spike rolled out of the way.
"Go Oz!" Willow said.
"Right on time", Buffy said.
"His van is the best vehicle ever", Xander said and Giles shot him a look. "It's true."
"How I miss his coolness", Dawn muttered.
Oz pulled out two crossbows and aimed them out of the driver's side window while Cordelia and Doyle freed Angel and helped him into the back of the van. Oz greeted Spike before the van backed off, and Spike looked around for the ring in vain, while Marcus was shown walking out in the sun, not burning.
"And now he has got it", Tara groaned.
"See Spike! This is why you don't hire another Vampire to get that ring!" Buffy said.
"So, he's an idiot", Xander finally said. "Not surprised."
Spike now had a tantrum. ""Son of a bitch!... I do the work,...I do the digging,...fight off a Slayer,...drive to LA, fire the help,...and what do I get?...ROYALLY SCREWWED, is what!... Well that cinches it. No more partners. From now on I'm my own man. A lone wolf. Sole survivor. Look out, here comes Spike! The baddest mother..." a beam of sunlight from one of the bullet holes hit the back of his head and his hair ignited. "Ahh!" He ducked and put his hair out with his hands. "I really hope they kill each other."
Everyone chuckled as Willow said. "Epic fail again."
"I'm guessing that the chip was planted into him after this", Xander said.
"And he turned from big bad Spike to puppy Spike", Dawn said, glad she had only met and befriended the latter, and never met the former.
Marcus walked onto a pier while Oz drove Angel, Cordelia and Doyle away, offering some first aid when Angel asked to turn around after a pulling out a poker, saying Marcus specialized in children and couldn't have gotten far. Oz spun the van around.
"So Angel against Marcus to get the ring now", Tara muttered.
As Marcus looked at some scouts, Oz drove his van onto the pier, sending him flying.
"Hell yeah!" Xander said, everyone cheering for Oz.
"I definitely like him", Tara said.
"Well, he's very likable", Willow agreed. "And you are too."
Cordelia told the scouts to run off while Oz, wearing shades, shot Marcus in the chest with a crossbow bolt but he pulled it out and threw it away while Doyle fought Marcus but was knocked down. "You sure about this?" Oz asked Angel. "Yeah", he said.
"What's he going to do?" Dawn asked.
"Something crazy", Buffy said.
Oz opened the side door and Angel launched himself out with a scream. He caught fire as he ran to tackle Marcus. They crashed through the railing and into the water below.
"Bloody Hell! That was a risky and desperate gamble", Giles said.
"He did it to save the children", Buffy pointed out, impressed by his heroism.
Cordelia, Doyle and Oz looked over the railing as Angel and Marcus stood in the shallow water under the plier, and fought, though Marcus wasn't the best fighter, the two being evenly matched. Angel was thrown down before blocking some blows and tossing Marcus away. Angel slammed his face in the wooden fence and reminded he had promised to kill him as they fought more, Marcus throwing him off though Angel caught his kick and threw him down. He slammed Marcus through another fence but Marcus lifted him up by the collar while Angel said Marcus had tried but failed to crack him, and that was torture, and then he punched Marcus, then impaled him on a board sticking out, before pulling off the ring as Marcus screamed, dusting.
"Good riddance", Xander said.
"Yeah, one more sicko down", Willow said in agreement.
"Now he has the ring", Giles said.
"For now", Buffy told him.
Angel put the ring on hesitantly, then walked out of under the pier, looking at the sun as he blinked. Cordelia inquired about his well-being as Angel said he was good and thanked Oz for the help, calling him key.
"That he was", Buffy said.
"Yep", Willow agreed.
Oz said he was pale as Angel wandered out on the beach, amazed, while Oz commented on how pale he was. Angel later watched the sunset on top of a skyscraper, saying it had been about 200 years between sunsets for him.
"They look beautiful", Dawn said, feeling bad Angel couldn't see them anymore.
Doyle told Angel how there will be another sunset exactly like this tomorrow but Angel said not for him, and not because the city was being hit by a meteor, but because he wouldn't wear the ring.
"Why doesn't he want it?" Xander said, confused.
"Because he knows its power is going to change who he is, which he can't afford", Buffy said.
Everyone was impressed by his resolve, even Giles and Xander.
Doyle joked how Angel had an addiction to brooding.
All chuckled as Willow said. "That he does."
Doyle said the ring was his redemption but Angel said it wasn't, just looked like it. Doyle pointed about the people he could save in daytime but he said. "They have help. The whole world is designed for them, so much that they have no idea what goes on around them after dark. They don't see the weak ones lost in the night,... or the things that prey on them. And if I join them, maybe I'd stop seeing, too."
"That doesn't really make much sense to me", Dawn said.
"If you were him, it would", Tara told her, understanding Angel's reasons, even if she wasn't fully accepting of them.
Dawn nodded, realizing she was right.
Angel told Doyle he had been brought back for a reason. As the sun sank below the horizon, Angel took off the ring, picked a brick and smashed it in a big green flash of light.
"There it goes", Willow muttered.
"Guess I should have done that myself if I knew Angel was going to do it", Buffy commented. "But he did the right thing."
"Yeah, he did", Tara said. "Plus, imagine if some other random Vamp took it, it would be horrible."
"Yes, it would be", Giles nodded in agreement.
Doyle then told Angel that Rachel had called and found a little faith.
"She is strong", Willow said.
"Yes, that took guts", Buffy said. "And she'll be better for it."
Angel then told Doyle he had a nice day other than being almost tortured to death, and said he was close to telling him everything, the two walking inside. The screen went black.
"Well, that was intense", Buffy said as it was finished.
"Yeah, I mean, Angel and Spike going at it? Move to a different town immediately", Willow said.
"Truer words have never been spoken", Xander agreed.
"So, will we watch anymore?" Dawn asked.
"I am thinking one more will be enough for today", Giles said.
"Yeah, we can take one more", Tara nodded.
"Well then", Buffy said, moving to the 4th recording now.
And we're done with this at last. Seeing Angel and Spike fight is fun, as long as it's not over Buffy.
Now honestly, every time I hear the characters in the earlier Seasons mention Spike 'doing' Buffy, it ends up coming off as hilarious unintentional foreshadowing of Spuffy.
[1] I think its obvious Tara and Oz are very similar people. Both are kind, caring, sympathetic and sweet, and wise too. Oz is beyond his years, and Tara is a wise witch as she knows what lines not to cross in magic, something Willow understood too late and Amy never understood. So its obvious that Willow has a type, and Kennedy is not it. FUCK KENNEDY!
[2] I'm not the only one who wanted more Spike/Cordelia interactions, right?
[3] Many of us hate Riley, though there are others who do like him, but we can all agree on one thing- Him punching Parker was awesome.
So next up is 'I Fall To Pieces.' Hope everyone enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter. Stay safe from the coronavirus ya all!