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Chapter 37- Darla
Next day, all the past versions of the Scooby Gang woke up, took their showers, and then ate their breakfast with their future selves, who assured them they'd be in time for the 9th recording, and till then they had to do their usual job.
With that, the past versions of the Scooby Gang found themselves in the TV room once more, and they sat in their usual positions.
"I'm kind of scared", Dawn confessed.
"So am I, but I'm here for you", Buffy assured, wrapping an arm around her sister and kissing her forehead.
"Let's just start", Xander said with a sigh as Buffy nodded and turned the recording on.
Angel sat in his room, sketching a portrait of Darla, with Wesley hesitantly stepping up and looking in, Angel asking why he was here. Wesley said he was popping in to see if all was fine, and Angel assured it was, and the two wished each other good night before Angel noted Wesley was still there. Wesley hesitantly entered the room, asking if he'd like to share anything, noting Angel's sketch of Darla. Angel said there wasn't, and then saw Wesley looking at papers littered on the floor, all showing earlier attempts of drawing Darla by Angel.
"He seems really obsessed now", Giles noted.
"She knew what buttons to push, and by how much exactly", Willow said. "And she is succeeding."
Darla was slumped in a chair, moaning softly, and Lindsey arrived, taking off his sunglasses, looking around at shards of mirrors laying on the ground that used to grace the walls. Darla greeted him as Lindsey noted the cuts on her hands and wrists, saying she was bleeding, and inquired what had happened. Darla said she remembered it all, Lindsey realizing it was too soon as he took out a handkerchief to blot her hands.
"Why did she do that?" Dawn wondered.
"Guilt", Willow said as all turned to her. "She's feeling it all now."
"Her soul is affecting her", Buffy realized.
Darla reached to brush the hair out of Lindsey's face. "Lindsey. You never talk about yourself, Lindsey. You have a girlfriend? - Boyfriend? - Someone special?" Lindsey said. "There is no one." Darla rambled. "No. No, there really isn't, is there? You can be with someone for 150 years - think you know them. Still - doesn't work out. Angelus - why, you should have seen us together." Lindsey reminded. "He was a different person then." Darla added. "And so was I. - Now do you know what we've become?" Lindsey said. "Enemies." Darla shook her head. "Oh no. - Much worse. - Now we're soulmates." Darla started to laugh crazily as Lindsey stares at her.
Everyone was creeped by Darla's crazy behavior.
"What is she trying to say?" Buffy wondered, still a bit confused.
"Both she and Angel have souls now, and so she considers herself and him soulmates", Tara told her. "She is not in the right state of mind."
"The hurting herself bit made that clear", Giles said.
"I don't know what to feel. She did horrible things, but now she's being used too", Xander noted, and no one could disagree.
In 1609 in the Virginia Colony, the sun shone on Darla lying on the bed, with 2 veiled sisters standing at the foot of her bed, watching as a doctor took a leech from her arm. Darla asked to close the shutter and one sister did as she said it felt wrong to die when the sun was bright. A hooded priest then entered the room, telling her she won't see it again as she would have left this life before it set. Darla wondered who'd invited a priest as he said she'd called for him last night in her delirium, but Darla had no memory, asking if he knew who she was, and he said she was a woman of some property with no husband or inheritance, while she called herself a whore.
"So she was a prostitute", Giles noted. "And she got herself a wealthy property too."
"So, a life of luxury before she was turned, like Angel", Xander commented. "Guess their soulless selves were made for each other, not trying to be rude."
"She's dying", Buffy noted.
"She was a prostitute, must be some STD", Willow pointed out and all nodded.
"Yeah, that would have to be it", Tara agreed.
"Poor woman", Dawn muttered.
"The priest", Buffy then said. "His voice sounds….familiar. Like I've heard it somewhere before."
"When?" Xander asked.
"I'm trying to remember", Buffy said.
The priest told Darla her life would have been better if she'd asked for a priest long ago, and Darla said his life would have been more interesting if he'd visited her before this. The priest asked if she wanted to renounce Satan and beg God for forgiveness, to which she said God never did a thing for her. The priest asked the rest to leave and they did, telling the doctor he couldn't save her life. Darla moaned. "My soul is well past saving. Let the devil take me if he'll have me. Either way - I die." The priest said. "No", he stepped closer and pulled his hood back to reveal - the Master! "You will not die." Darla looked up at his inhuman face without flinching. "You will be reborn."
The jaws of Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles dropped in horror.
"I knew it!" Buffy said, feeling her heart beat a little faster at the sight of her first ever big nemesis once more.
"Who's that?" Tara asked.
"The Master", Buffy told her grimly, and both hers and Dawn's eyes widened too, not having expected to see him here.
"Your descriptions sold his face short", Dawn muttered.
"It's indescribable", Willow said, still struggling to process his appearance.
"He is one of the oldest Vampires ever, and the oldest recorded one at least", Giles said. "The first ever Vampire is not on record."
"Old or not, he was one powerful son of a bitch", Xander said.
"Tell me about it", Buffy agreed, remembering how strong he was, and creepy too.
Darla whispered. "I know you." The Master leaned down and took one of Darla's hands in his. "I came to you last night. I sang to you from that window." Darla muttered. "Hmm, I remember now. You're death?" The Master denied. "No." Darla asked. "What then?" The Master said. "I'm you're savior. God never did anything for you - but I will." With that he leaned down and sank his fangs into her neck.
"So that's how she was born", Buffy realized. "That's why she was such a high ranking soldier of him."
"She owed him, in a twisted way", Tara muttered. "For not letting her die painfully, and instead giving her power."
"Perhaps he saw the potential for evil and darkness in her", Willow said. "Same way she saw it in Angel."
"Sounds accurate to me", Xander agreed.
At the Hyperion, Angel sat on a desk with Cordelia and Wesley on the other side and Gunn in the background, Angel telling them they needed to find Darla, but Cordelia pointed out she was in his bedroom every night for 3 weeks, but Angel said it was different, to which she said Darla was on top of him. Wesley agreed with Cordelia, saying Darla wanted to be found, but now was among 6 million different people, Cordelia adding she could be on top of anybody now.
"I think they are forgetting she also had Calynthia powder", Giles reminded. "She used that to disorient him."
Angel said they were good at investigating, but Cordelia said they sucked and were out of luck, and Wesley agreed it won't be easy. Cordelia got up, saying they could go around with Angel taking big whiffs, after sunset of course, when Gunn said Wolfram and Hart would need to house out-of-towners. Wesley said they hadn't flown her in from Miami but raised her from the depths of Hell, to which Gunn said they still had to put her up since it was an expense. All stared at him as he said they'd have figured a way to write it off, and Cordelia turned to research the firm's real state acquisitions, Wesley following her to help as Angel called after them. "She'd want something with a view." He said to himself. "Darla always loved something with a view."
"When it's the less educated muscle who makes the smart deduction", Dawn quipped as all chuckled, because it was true.
"Sometimes educated people forget basic common sense, so people like Gunn are needed to point it out", Willow said with a smile. "And he seems to be doing that really well."
In 1760 in London, Angelus stood in front of the Master who sat on a big, carved chair. The Master noted Angelus was Latinate for Angel, and laughed, finding it marvelous, and Darla told him the name would have been legend in his home village had he left anyone alive to tell the tale. The Master was glad Darla had a nice trip, and she told him that Angelus and herself had cut a bloody swath through South Wales and northern England on their way back, and Angelus was magnificent.
"We don't need the reminders", Buffy said with a groan, remembering having found out about this from Giles' research on Angelus.
"But if you want to know Angel better, you should learn to know all sides of him better, including this", Willow told Buffy. "It's important."
Buffy sighed and nodded, knowing Willow was right.
Angelus said the Yorkshire men were tough as leather as both he and the Master laughed, and Angelus wondered if he was some kind of Master. Darla said The Master commanded their order, and The Master introduced the whole order. "The Order of Aurelius. We are the select - the elite." Angelus noted they lived in the sewers as Master stood up, saying they gave tribute to the Old Ones and awaited their rise to lay waste to the world, then laughed as Angelus said it was nicer above, and said he wanted a proper bed. Darla told Master he was young, and Angelus then told Darla how she always needed a view, and she told Master the blood was hot in his veins. The Master said they stalked the surface to grow and feed their ranks, and wouldn't live among human pestilence, to which Angelus said he couldn't with that face.
"Does he have a death wish or something?" Xander asked. "I mean, I know he's already dead, but insulting the most powerful Vampire like that to his face?"
"He is really bold", Buffy said. "Not sure if it's a good or bad thing. Sine he's bad, bad thing."
"But he was a master manipulator when he came at us, he calculated every move", Willow reminded. "Here, he seems more like a bold brute most of the time." [1]
"Well, you're only seeing the beginning stages, he would have evolved later", Tara told her.
Darla slapped Angelus, while he laughed and dropped down on the Master's chair, dangling his left leg over the armrest and taking a snuff, asking if it wasn't stuck like that, and Darla said the Master had grown past the curse of human features. Angelus wondered if he would get a bat nose like that.
In spite of the tense situation, that comment brought some chuckles, since it was true.
The Master said. "Very few vampires are cunning enough to have lived as long as I have - which you've now", he grabbed Angelus by the front of his coat and threw him across the room, "demonstrated." Darla flinched as Angelus slid down the wall. Laughing, he got back up, and kept talking to Darla as if the Master wasn't even there. "Naples, you and me Darla. What do you say?" The Master hit him with a hard right throwing him back against the wall. "Angelus..." Angelus just pushed himself off the wall and went on as if nothing had happened. "This is no place for you - bound to the likes of him." The Master said. "You should show", he hit Angelus over the head, dropping him to the ground, "the proper respect." Angelus, now on all fours and breathing hard, still ignored the Master and talked only to Darla. "You belong by my side - out in the world - feeding as we like - taking what we need. I'll give you that view you crave, darling. I'll give you everything." The Master knocked Angelus over onto his back. Angelus coughed than laughed again, lifting his head to look at Darla. "Tell the truth - whose face do you want to look at for eternity?" He rolled over on his side. "His - or mine?" The Master smiled down at Angelus. "You idiot. I made her." Darla smiled at Angelus and he smiled back at her. The Master's smile faded and he turns to look at Darla. "You're leaving with the stallion, aren't you?"
"Bet he didn't see that coming", Xander commented.
"So she abandoned him for Angelus", Buffy noted. "Guess he had an appeal as the bad guy too."
"And she was a bad girl", Dawn added, Buffy agreeing.
"But by the time you came to Sunnydale, she was working under The Master again", Willow reminded. "Guess she didn't have anywhere else to go after her break-up with him."
Darla walked over to Angelus and helped him up. Angelus put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close and the two of them turned to leave. One of the Master's minions growled and blocked their path. The Master said with his back to them. "No. Let them go." He let them pass. "He won't last. I give it a century - tops."
"Well, he wasn't completely wrong, it was a bit longer than a century though", Dawn said. "And it was because he got his soul back instead of dying."
"I thought Angelus used to serve The Master, guess I was wrong", Xander noted.
"So he considered himself too good to serve The Master, and convinced Darla he was the better deal", Tara commented. "That, combined with this manipulative behavior you mention would have made him very dangerous."
"Like you can't even imagine", Buffy said, sharing a sad look with Giles.
"I think Drusilla tells us enough", Willow said and all shuddered at the memory of what Angelus and Darla had done to her.
Angel read from a book in the present day. It said that 'Darla' was an Anglo-Saxon derivation of 'dear one' and didn't come into common use 100 years after Darla was born, so it must be the Master's name for her, and he never even knew her real name. Then he asked Wesley if he had anything.
"Such an important part of his unlife and he didn't even know her real name", Buffy said, more sad about this situation than anything.
"Does she know?" Tara asked, and no one had a response. She probably didn't even remember now.
Wesley then told Angel his record regarding Darla had been spotty at best, and Angel said he'd killed her but she was brought back as a human. Wesley said they probably brought her back that way to control her better, and probably brought her back because Angel was now only focused on her. Angel asked if Wolfram and Hart did this to just distract him, and they agreed it was possible, and working too.
"Like a charm", Willow noted sadly.
Lindsey ushered Darla, huddled in a jacket, into his office, then dropped his coat and pushed a button to open the curtains, saying he could get some sandwiches for her, but then Holland entered the office, as he and Darla exchanged pleasantries, and then asked Lindsey to talk with him alone. The two walked out as Holland told Lindsey that Darla shouldn't be on the premises after making contact, but Lindsey said she was displaying PTSD. Holland realized they had to accelerate matters, and clapped Lindsey's arm, telling him he'd done the right thing, and asked him to not let Darla leave the building while also leaving sharp things out of her reach just in case.
"Yay, him", Dawn said sarcastically in a dry tone.
"Now that he's involved, I think this is about to get even worse", Buffy muttered.
"Yeah, this guy looks like his plans have plans", Xander agreed.
In 1880, London, Darla looked at a dead sailor lying in a corner, saying they could have preserved the beauty for eternity, and then she and Angelus agreed he won't age but rot for eternity. Drusilla said she could hop on him like she did on the ocean, adding she was full and warm but alone. Angelus said she had them, but Drusilla said they wouldn't let her have a little bit, to which Darla said she just had to ask. "No. His head's too full of you, grandmother", Drusilla said. Darla said. "Stop calling me that." She hit a chuckling Angelus and pulled him down the street, Drusilla following. "Don't be cross. I could be your mummy."
"Unless time travel is involved somehow, I doubt that", Dawn muttered.
"You never know if she's randomly ranting or actually predicting the future", Willow told Dawn.
Angelus suggested. "Well, if you're lonely, Dru, why don't you make yourself a playmate?" Drusilla agreed. "I could. I could pick the wisest and bravest knight in all the land - and make him mine forever with a kiss." Just then a crying William bumped into them, dropping his notebook. He bent down to pick it up then stumbled on. "You - watch where you're going!" Darla looked after him. "Or you could just take the first drooling idiot that comes along." Angelus laughed. "You think she'll find a good one?" They walked on but Drusilla keeps looking after William while Darla said to Angelus. "I found you."
"Spike", Buffy whispered, trailing off at the sight of him, and the rest too.
"What we saw before", Willow remembered from the older recording. "Treated like trash and kicked out."
"I'm guessing after becoming a Vampire, he probably had his revenge", Tara realized.
"And became the Spike we knew", Dawn realized.
"Drusilla was Angelus' victim, and Spike was Drusilla's", Buffy told them, since Drusilla was basically preying on Spike, or William, only instead of killing him, she was going to make him her partner. It honestly had disturbing parallels with how Parker used to prey on girls like her in college for sex. Both she and Spike were similar kind of victims, only in her case she'd just been used and discarded, it had hurt, but she had gotten over it. Spike, on the other hand, had been turned into a creepy bedtime story monster for all eternity against his will.
Angel, Cordelia and Wesley finally found a potential location- Annapolis Olive Oil Import Export, a corporate client of Wolfram and Hart, and it had a view too, with Berber carpeting. Angel told them to look further as Cordelia joked her sister was living in Unit 319, her 400 year older sister that was Darla, a blonde with no last name, and mom and dad were in a coma with Sue the property manager being helpful, adding she even cried. She looked at Wesley with a smile as Angel ripped the address page off the notebook and walked to the door.
"She convinced him pretty well", Xander commented.
Wesley blocked Angel's path, saying he and Gunn could check it out instead, and tried to take the paper with the address, and Cordelia added it was afternoon and the place was at Sun Valley. Angel let go and Wesley walked out, laughing dryly about 'Sun' as Cordelia said he didn't need to go to the valley if he didn't have to.
"Funny logic", Dawn muttered.
Darla stared out of Lindsey's office as he walked in, calling her by her name, and she found it odd, as it wasn't her name when human, and when Lindsey asked what her real name was, she shook her head, not remembering. She was first Darla, then not anything due to Angel killing her, and now was brought back, wondering if she was the girl whose name she didn't remember or something else.
"So she truly doesn't remember", Buffy said sadly, surprised that she was actually feeling bad for Darla here.
"Her life hasn't really been her own, has it?" Tara asked as all looked at her. "First, she had to be a prostitute to support herself, and got wealthy, but her STD was killing her, then the Master turned her. As a Vampire, she had no soul or conscience, so she served him, then caused destruction alongside Angelus with no remorse. Then she died, and now that she's back as a human again, Wolfram and Hart are using her for their own needs."
"When you put it that way", Xander trailed off, and now all felt really bad for Darla.
Darla asked why Lindsey hadn't kissed her as he wanted to, and he said he wasn't sure she wanted him to, but she said she never hesitated when she wanted something as life was short. So Lindsey stepped forward and kissed her softly, and asked if she liked it, to which she said it was good but he wanted to screw Angel, so he was using her to get to him. Lindsey said maybe he did and kissed her hard, pushing against the table, while Darla asked what she was to which he said he didn't care, and then she bit his neck hard as he pulled away, and she asked if he cared now.
Everyone was weirded out by this bit, not sure what to comment.
"So, he wants to screw her and Angel through her, is that it?" Xander asked.
"That's what it looks like", Willow said with a sigh.
Darla said this was how Vampires got what they wanted, and when Lindsey called her 'Darla' again, she wondered if she was Darla, as Darla could snap Lindsey in half, then pushed him away to lean her head against the window. Lindsey reached up his hand to cover his neck's side, saying he knew what she was going through, but Darla shook her head as she pushed away from the glass. "No. Nobody understands. Nobody can understand. - I can feel this body dying, Lindsey. I can feel it decaying moment by moment. It's being eaten away by this thing inside of it. - It's a cancer, this soul!"
Everyone was unnerved by Darla's behavior, while also feeling for her.
"She's dying", Willow said, reading between the lines as all looked at her. "'Decaying moment by moment', 'eaten away by this thing', she's dying."
"How's she dying though?" Xander asked.
"The STD", Buffy said in realization as everyone's eyes widened.
"It was killing her then, and its killing her again", Tara summed up.
"So, her life is still not her own, and also short", Dawn said sadly. "While I hate Vampire her, I feel bad for human her."
"So they brought her back this way to give Angel some kind of false hope and then rip it away", Giles said, disgusted by them, even Vampires weren't this cruel.
In 1898, Romania, the now ensouled Angel stumbled up a hill, while Darla stood in front of the elder of the gypsies, accusing him of taking away Angelus from her by giving him a soul. The elder said he must suffer like his victims had.
"Except you're not punishing him!" Buffy snapped at the elder. "You're punishing the human he was before he became a Vampire."
"Liam was a waste of space, but he wasn't a being of pure evil like Angelus", Xander said in agreement.
Darla said that wasn't justice as the pain caused to his daughter was momentary and over in an instant, or hour, while they were forcing Angel to suffer for eternity, so they must remove his filthy soul for her boy to return to her. Drusilla muttered Angelus was gone, wondering where he was. Darla grabbed the Gypsy by the throat while telling Drusilla to kill things, Drusilla saying Angelus would be cross if he found a slaughter without him, but Darla told her he'd join them soon. Drusilla then walked off as Darla told the elder his wife and daughters would die without her protection, but if he did what she said, they could live. Then Spike, in Vamp face, blood on his face, walked out of the wagon, burping, as she looked at him. "What?"
"So…Angelus didn't return sooner because Spike got too pecky?" Dawn asked, all of them surprised by that.
"Thanks Spike?" Willow half-asked, half-said.
"It feels like some kind of dark joke", Buffy shook her head. "Like, the world wouldn't unleash an evil monster on the people but in return, kill a bunch of innocent gypsies."
"Almost like a sacrifice to keep Angelus at bay", Tara said sadly.
Darla now snapped the gypsy elder's neck while Drusilla swayed to the pretty music, Spike coming to her as she pulled him in for a dance, saying they cried out for mercy and Darla told her to show none while walking off.
Buffy couldn't watch the bit with Spike and Drusilla, shaking her head as she looked away.
Angel and Cordelia looked at footage of Darla's trashed apartment, Wesley and Gunn saying they'd found it that way, and there was no forced entry before, so Darla had done it herself. Angel realized Darla had smashed all the mirrors because she was feeling the weight of her soul. Cordelia asked why he didn't smash all the mirrors to which he said. "Because I don't have to look at myself in them."
"After the things you've done, you wouldn't want to", Willow said in agreement, again speaking from experience.
The phone rang as Cordelia picked it, calling for Angel but he didn't want to talk, only for Cordelia to say 'Hi, Darla' and how Angel couldn't talk right now, making him run to her as he took the phone, calling for Darla and asking where she was. She asked where she was, and if there was hell, to which Angel said there were some, and he had been in one. Darla said she'd told him no one could understand, but Angel could, and reminded him he'd said he'd give her everything, and she still believed it, adding it had been 4 centuries since she'd been afraid of anything, and now she was sick with it.
"The STD", Buffy trailed off. "I don't know what will get to her first, that or her guilt."
"Or worse, both", Dawn said sadly. "What is she gonna do now?"
Lindsey saw Darla on the phone and told her to put it down while Angel called out to Darla from the phone. A security guard arrived, asking if all was okay, and Lindsey asked him to leave, while Darla clutched the phone to her breast, saying she had to go with Angel, but Lindsey was having none of it. Angel heard the conversation as well as Darla's heartbeat, while she said only Angel could help her, as Lindsey said he could too. Then an argument broke out between Lindsey and the guard as Darla knocked Lindsey away with the receiver before trying to run past the guard. Angel heard a struggle and then a gunshot.
"Oh crap!" Xander snapped, summing up what all felt about this.
"Lindsey has no idea what he is trying to mess with", Giles commented. "It is going to cost him heavily."
"If Wolfram and Hart's plan succeed, I don't think they're going to like what they did", Buffy muttered grimly.
Later, Lindsey watched the footage where when Darla ran into the guard he was hit by his own gun, and then Lindsey in the footage told Darla to come away with him. Holland told Lindsey he'd helped Darla escape. Lindsey said it was confusing to which Holland said he was allowing himself to be ruled by emotion where it came to Darla, and then asked about the guard, to which Holland said police had been notified and a suspect was in custody, so it was handled, before telling Lindsey he was off the project. Lindsey said he could find her but Holland said she'd been picked up 2 blocks from there, and wouldn't discuss it any further, saying he would terminate the project, asking Lindsey to go home and take rest so they could start fresh tomorrow.
"Does 'terminate' mean what I think it means?" Dawn asked.
"I think it does", Tara said grimly.
"So they're killing her due to not needing her. Why am I not surprised?" Buffy muttered.
Angel put on his coat in the lobby, saying he was going to do it alone, and Cordelia gave him his car keys as he thanked her, and also said he couldn't turn his back since she'd asked for his help. Angel said he knew what she was going through, and unlike him she wouldn't have to go through it alone, and Wesley agreed she may be feeling exactly like him, but then added he had wandered for hundreds of years without seeking any redemption. Angel said. "That's right. I sought her."
"What?" Buffy said, surprised again, like the rest.
"I don't think we knew that", Xander muttered.
"Why would he seek her after getting his soul?" Dawn wondered.
"Because no one else would want him, maybe he had a fool's hope that he could still work it out with her", Willow explained to them all.
In 1900, China, at night, the buildings were on fire with complete chaos on the streets as Darla was in a house, carrying a cloth wrapped package when a filthy Angel grabbed her from behind, noting she'd fed, and Darla said how he'd found her. Angel said Darla couldn't resist a religious war and always talked about China, so he'd followed the bodies, saying she'd become careless while she said maybe she wanted to be found. Angel asked about Spike and Drusilla, to which she said they were either rioting or starting a new one. Angel then let her go as she spun around and pushed him against the wall, putting a knife to his throat.
"What a way to greet your ex", Xander quipped.
"The Boxer Rebellion, where Spike killed his first Slayer, now we are seeing it from Angel's point of view", Giles realized.
"Yeah, this would be it", Buffy said, all hoping they didn't have to see Spike kill his first Slayer again. "And I think now we know why he was here."
"Right", Giles sighed, remembering his comment from the previous night.
Angel dared Darla to kill him and she asked if he was too much of a coward end himself and his filthy soul, and then Darla noted he reeked of vermin, asking if he survived on that. Angel told her to cut clear to the bone but Darla pulled away, asking what he wanted, and he said a second chance, so they could be together like before, and he missed the view. Darla wasn't convinced as he still had a soul but he said he was still a Vampire. Darla said she didn't know him anymore but he said she'd made him, and just needed a chance to prove it again. Darla said she almost believed but Angel said they'd the whirlwind back. Darla looked up at him. "We can do this." Angel agreed with a slight smile. "Yes, we can." Darla said. "We can do anything." Angel pulled her close. "Anything we like." They kissed.
"He may have convinced her and himself, but it won't last for long", Tara said to the rest, who were surprised by what was going on.
"Guess his 2 halves aren't as distinct as we thought", Buffy said in shocked realization.
"Angel and Angelus are both 2 sides of the same coin", Willow told her. "Not two different people."
Lindsey walked to his car in the garage, dialing a number when Angel wrapped a cable around him, asking for Darla and tightened the noose, pulling up so Lindsey's feet barely touched the ground, and then Cordelia's voice came from Lindsey's phone. He had dialed Angel Investigations' number. Angel let Lindsey drop back to his feet as he said he was calling him to stop Darla from being killed, and said it was in an abandoned bank on Fingaro and Ninth, owned by Wolfram and Hart. Angel pulled up the noose again to be sure as Lindsey said he wasn't in the loop on this, with Angel letting him back down, and added it'd be underground where the vaults were. Angel said he'd come back for him if this was a trick, letting go of the cable as Lindsey dropped against the trunk of his car, and then Angel added he'd come back for him anyway.
"Would be funny if he does", Dawn quipped.
"I think he has more important things to worry about", Giles told her.
Angel walked through the riots back in China, calling for Darla when he noticed a missionary family huddled against one of the walls, holding a basket with a crying baby between them. A Chinese swinging a sword attacked Angel from behind but he slapped him aside, headfirst into the wall before staring at the family again, and slowly backed away. He heard Darla calling him to him and left the alley as she bumped into his chest, smiling at him and calling him 'Angelus', happy the whirlwind was together again. Then they kissed as Darla peered past him into the alley, asking what was there, to which he said there were only bodies so they needed to find something warm, and Darla said it could be missionaries.
"Told you", Tara told them all, and Buffy was happy that Angel hadn't given in to his darkness here, not even for Darla. He was a good man with a soul, and acted upon the conscience the soul provided him with.
They moved down the street to see Drusilla and a roughed up and bleeding Spike. "So, where have you two been?" Drusilla asked. "Will I tell?" Spike shrugged. "No need to be humble." Drusilla boasted. "My little Spike just killed himself a Slayer." Darla asked Angel. "Did you hear that?" Angel told Spike in an emotionless tone. "Congratulations. - I guess that makes you one of us." Spike assured. "Don't be so glum, eh? The way you tell it, one Slayer snuffs another one rises. I figure, there is a new chosen one getting all chosen even as we speak. I tell you what, when and if this new bird shows up, I'll give you first crack at it!"
Buffy was relieved that she at least didn't have to see the actual killing of the Slayer once more, though it was still terrifying to remember.
"He did tell me that he got obsessed with Slayers because Angelus taunted him about it", Buffy said as she remembered their talk. "And so he killed two. And now I've seen it."
And Spike's words about letting Angel have the first crack at the new Slayer seemed almost like foreshadowing in a different way. She'd first fallen in love with Angel, and then Spike with a soul, and while Angel was great, for her specifically, Spike was better. It was like Angel had gotten a crack at a relationship with her, a Slayer, before Spike had stepped in and she had realized she could have a much better relationship with him.
Sadly, she'd realized it a little too late.
Drusilla stepped past Angel in the direction of the alley. "Hmm, I smell fear." Angel told her. "This whole place reeks of it." Spike wrapped his arms around Drusilla from behind. "It's intoxicating." Angel told them. "Let's get out of here. This rebellion is starting to bore me." Darla watched as Angel walked past Drusilla, giggling in Spike's arms, then followed him. There was a slow motion shot of the four of them walking down the street with the burning buildings and rioting all around. Spike stepped on a bundle in his path and leapt high into the air. Angel was walking down the street, grim-faced leading the way, with Darla just a step behind him. Spike was carrying Drusilla in his arms, kissing her. Darla was watching Angel.
"Looks like he couldn't convince her for long either", Tara said. "She knows him too well to be fooled like that."
"What will she do now?" Willow wondered.
"Nothing good, I think", Xander said with a sigh.
It faded to white as an echoing voice over of Darla was heard. "Are you with me, Angel? Why aren't you with me?" Darla was tossed out of the van by 3 white-clad guys as one aimed a gun at her. In China, Angel walked into Darla's house, and she wanted to find out where he'd been. He said he'd been feeding, and she asked on vermin, which he denied, but she told him not to lie. Angel said he'd killed men and she'd seen it. Darla, wearing a kimono, got up from her seat and said he'd only killed rapists, murderers, thieves and scoundrels, evildoers. She reminded he'd sworn to prove himself if she took him back, and Angel said he would, at which she pulled the blanket off a nearby basket, revealing the missionaries' baby. Darla said this was his chance.
Everyone's eyes widened in horror.
"Good lord", Giles said, rubbing his head, now thinking what Angel would do.
"So Angel protecting the missionaries was in vain", Buffy groaned.
Darla looked down at the baby. "I went back before dawn. They were still cowering there. Praying to their God for a salvation." She looked at Angel, who was staring down at the baby. "They didn't know that their only savior was at the waterfront - dining on rats. I won't be made a fool, Angelus." He looked at her. "Not by you. Not by anyone." Angel looked down. "I didn't mean..." Darla snapped. "While Spike - Spike! - was out killing a Slayer you were saving missionaries! From me!" Angel apologized. "I'm sorry..." Darla was having none of it. "No. No more words." She took a step back and Angel looked down at the baby. "Act!"
"Spike killed a Slayer while Angel saved innocent people", Dawn shook her head. "Guess to his evil Vamp girlfriend, that makes him less of a man."
"But to normal people, it makes him more of a man", Tara said, impressed by him, just like the rest, all hoping he made the right choice here once more, choosing his conscience over his desires.
Darla was lying on the ground in front of the three guys, gun pointed at her, when Angel pulled up in his convertible and jumped out over the windshield. One of them grabbed Darla as Angel kicked the gun out of the first guy's hand. Darla got thrown against a wall as Angel spin kicked the guy away. Angel threw another guy into the van's door before kicking another down and blocking the last's blow, punched his face a few times before throwing him into the back of the van. Angel walked over to where Darla was slumped against the wall and crouched down in front of her, calling to her.
"At least he has saved her now", Xander said as all were a little relieved.
"From them", Willow then reminded. "Not from herself."
"Can he?" Buffy asked.
"We're going to find that out soon", Tara told her.
Lindsey walked past the receptionist desk of Wolfram and Hart and saw Holland shaking hands with another guard, and remembered it was the same guard who Darla had accidentally shot, while also remembering Holland saying the family had been notified. The guard walked off Holland saw Lindsey and they entered his office, Lindsey asking if they should notify his family, calling out Holland for playing him and Darla, to which he said they needed to make him believe it, as well as Angel, as he needed to believe the crisis was real to save her.
"So the entire thing was planned by him to get Angel and Darla together", Giles said, staring in shock, just like the rest, as none had expected that. "And it all worked, without a single mistake in his plan."
"He's truly ten steps ahead of everyone", Willow said with a sigh. "Though in hindsight, we should have seen it coming."
"At least Vampires and Demons are just brutes who cause some destruction, I think people like him are who we should be worried about more", Tara commented.
"Unfortunately, I think you're right", Buffy told Tara, still in shock at how Holland had played everyone.
Lindsey said Darla wouldn't give Angel perfect happiness and he wouldn't come over to their side, because he was too noble to take advantage of her in this state, and Holland said Lindsey didn't understand Angel. There would be no physical intimacy, he'd try to save her soul instead.
"Looks like he did all homework on Angel", Willow said. "Probably looked into Faith, Bethany, and any other case where Angel was trying to redeem someone and save their soul."
"Wouldn't surprise me", Xander said with a shake of his head, wondering how this would work out now.
Darla was lying with her eyes closed on a sofa in the hotel lobby with Angel crouched in front of it and Wesley, Cordelia and Gunn standing around it. Cordelia said they could get her a doctor but Darla's eyes opened and she refused doctors, calling Angel as 'Angelus', but Cordelia said he was just Angel. Angel asked for a minute and so the three left. Darla said. "I thought I was dead." Angel assured. "You're not dead." Darla responded. "I'm not sure how I feel about that." Angel gave her a small smile. "I know what you mean." Darla put her hand on his. "I'm so lucky - to have someone who understands - who knows. It's something you never had, is it?" Angel assured again. "It wasn't your fault." Darla pulled herself up into a sitting position. "No. No, but there is so much that is." Angel told her. "It's gonna be okay." Darla gave him a smile. "I knew you'd help me. Now if I could only get to you. - Funny. That's why they brought me back - to get to you. - Now I find I need you, just as I've always needed you. - You'll make the pain stop, won't you?" Angel advised. "Takes time." Darla instead said. "Takes moments." She shook her hair back and exposed her throat. "Do it - now."
"Oh boy", Dawn sighed, rubbing her forehead.
"She wants the easy way out, she wants it to stop instantly", Willow told them all. "She can't face it right now."
"It's kind of understandable, if cowardly", Buffy commented.
"But I don't think he will do it", Tara said.
Angel stared at her throat, stood up and backed away from her. "What?" Darla followed him and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "Make me what I was again!" Angel tried to stop her. "Darla..." Darla reminded. "You said you'd help me!" Angel backed away but she won't let go of him. "I will. - I want to - but - not like this." Darla begged. "Turn me back. God! I can't bear this pounding in my chest for another instant!" Angel quietly said. "It's gift. - To feel that heart beat - to know, really and for once, that you're alive. - You're human again, Darla. You know what that means?" Darla looked at the negative side. "Of course I do. It means pain and suffering - and disease and death. - Look, I released you from this world once, I gave you eternal life. Now it's time for you to return the favor." Angel backed away a step, just looking at her. "Favor - is that what you think? - You think you did me a favor? - You damned me." Darla said after a beat. "Fine. Fine then, if it's such a punishment, take out your revenge, pay me back!" Angel just looked at her. "Please." Angel swallowed and shook his head ever so slightly. "I can't." Darla closed her eyes.
"So he won't do it, and she can't face herself, I think it is a bad combination for her", Xander said to the rest. "I'm kind of scared of what she might do next."
"Nothing good for sure", Giles told him.
Angel was looking down at the baby in the basket in the past. Darla asked. "What do you mean you can't? You won't!" Angel apologized. "I can't seem to be able to uhm, I'm sorry." Darla shook her head ever so slightly. "You disgust me." Angel grabbed a hold of the baby and ran out on Darla, crashing through some glass doors.
Everyone sighed in relief, Buffy proud of Angel for making the right choice once more.
Darla in the present was running away from Angel as he begged. "Darla, wait!" Darla stopped in front of the doors and spun around to face him. "No! Don't look for me again." She turned and rushed out the door and he made no move to stop her. The screen went black.
"That was so…intense", Dawn said, wondering how emotionally draining it would have been for Angel and Darla, who had actually experienced this.
"I have a feeling this is not the last time Angel and Darla are meeting each other", Giles told the rest while adjusting his glasses.
"If any of you had doubts that Angel is not a good man, here's proof you're wrong", Buffy told them all, specifically Giles and Xander.
"Yeah, I get it, he's not a bad guy anymore, just a flawed guy like us all", Xander said with a nod.
"If this was bad, I wonder what is going to happen in the 9th one", Willow said, and all felt their hearts drop as they wondered how bad it was going to get.
"Only way to find out is to watch", Tara told them, and Buffy nodded.
"Yeah, that's what we have to do", Buffy said as she pressed the button, and they came onto the next recording.
This one was intense to write, but hope I did a good job.
[1] This might just be me, but in 'Angel', they kind of portrayed Angelus as more of a pure evil brute rather than the master manipulator he is. The only time I saw master manipulator Angelus in this whole show was when he was in the cage from 4x10 to 4x11, the moment he ran out of the cage, he started behaving more like a brute. A smart brute, but still a brute, the manipulation and planning stuff wasn't shown in this show the way it was in BTVS Season 2. But again, like I said, it might just be me. Or maybe Jasmine was just that much more manipulative that it made him look inferior to her. Just, the way they asked for his autograph and all that, it was funny, but felt a bit off to me.
Next episode is great, though I'm really waiting to do the three after it.
Anyway, hope all enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter. Stay safe from the coronavirus ya all!