After a shower and getting ready Angelus was feeling a little more alive. Seeing Elizabeth earlier didn't hurt either, giving him quite a jolt. He didn't expect her to have returned, thought she was long gone by now upon waking up in his bleary state remembering how empty he felt when he knew she'd left several hours before.

He wanted to talk to her, though had no idea what he would say, but for now he knew that would have to wait.

With a sigh, he found his way through the mansion and began his last briefing before he was to make a statement, a big one at that.

Today they were going to mention Elizabeth, though not by name, to the people of Wolfram and Hart. He was to address their concerns and try to give them some comfort, to mention the mystery surrounding the loss of their never-ending storm, how there was a stranger to their land here, a young woman, and it was believed she had something to do with it though they were still investigating more information on that still.

It was going to be a very crazy morning.

OoOoO

Buffy learned of the plan to mention her from Giles and Lilah. They assured her that at this time there would be no mention of her name or her whereabouts, but slight information being given to the people here. She felt that bubble of panic but at the same time she thought of the position all of them were in and how little the people of this land knew. She agreed to it, though she was sure it would happen either way.

She watched the conference from the mansion. Angelus was dressed more formally for it, looking much more like the king he was than just some handsome stranger. She remembered seeing a photo of him from when he was first crowned publicly that was in her school books, and as she thought about it she thought it was the only photo she remembered even seeing of him before.

He looked much different now, that was for sure.

He was calm and collected, and she noticed how his people hung on every word that he said, he had their full attention and an outpouring feeling of respect for their leader. Not all who ruled were hated nor loved but she never saw something quite like this.

Angelus gave his speech flawlessly. He smiled at all the right times, his tone flowed perfectly from a joking one to a serious one, he gave his people vital information about where they stood and assured them he was still searching for more answers. When the time for questions came he was kind and courteous to everyone, doing his best to give them what information they requested. There were times when he honestly did not know something and he was upfront about that, other times, like when they were digging for more information on her, when he would skirt around it.

"What are we going to do now?" was the final question.

He looked thoughtfully for a moment, then smiled. "We are going to continue our lives," he told them. "We are going to enjoy this sunshine that we've never known before. We are going to go to work and send our children to school. We will get to the bottom of this, we will be prepared for whatever else might be coming our way, but we will continue our lives as we have always done."

OoOoO

Buffy was about ready to fall over from not getting any sleep and so much stress catching up to her. She'd gone out onto the balcony off of the main library with a handful of books to let the fresh air wake her up some, but now that was wearing off.

Closing the book in her hands and was starting to get up when Rupert Giles stepped out to join her. She greeted him again with a smile and they fell into easy small talk.

Buffy watched as he walked to the edge, looking out past the yard, the streets, on to where there was still darkness over parts of the land, storms and rain falling in the far distance. "What would you say to trying out an experiment while you're here, Miss Summers?" he asked her.

OoOoO

Buffy went to go get dressed and grab a few of her things while Rupert told her his plans from the other room as she got ready. She then followed him through the mansion, heading for one of the cars.

Before she left, Tara grabbed her hand telling her to "pay attention" and how "all will soon be revealed." She wanted to ask more but was led off to the back of a large black vehicle before she got the chance.

It was her, Giles and the driver, Marcus Hamilton, in the car though there were several others following behind them. As they traveled the two men told her about the town and she was delighted to learn more, loving looking out the window and seeing the area in better detail from here. She took in the streets, the scenery, houses, buildings, faces of those they passed by.

As they continued on, they started heading away from where the light had spread and the dark began to come to life. Once more, the sky opened up above them, following her. The car itself seemed to glow under the dark sky.

Buffy was suddenly unsure of how much of a good idea this was knowing that just hours before Angelus had brought her up to this world, explaining as much as he could about the sun returning because of her.

She looked over at Giles but he seemed lost in another world as he examined the unfolding situation around them.

When they came to what seemed like a more permanent stop, Buffy noticed it was slightly brighter. She scooted back closer to the tinted windows and peeked seeing them in front of a large, old looking building and a number of people outside. She felt twitchy as they sat there waiting.

When the door opened and Angelus slipped inside, she found herself sucking in a large breath.

The light grew even brighter around them and when he touched her leg while getting settled in, the sky really opened up as it had before... the clouds parting on their own from the spot they were in, traveling in all directions.

Watching it play out made her almost dizzy.

"You okay?"

Buffy let out the breath slowly. "Is that because of you?" she asked. She had heard brief bits and pieces over the past few days, even had some slight memories and she had been living in the mansion under bright sunshine but this was still a hard pill to swallow.

He looked at her for a moment. "Yes," he said before quickly shaking his head. "Maybe. I don't know."

She knew it had to do with her somehow, that it was something connected between the two of them... it had to be... but it made no sense to her at all. "Why?" she asked, looking at him, Giles, then back to the king.

Angelus' mouth opened but all he did was sigh after a moment. "I don't know," he repeated.

Buffy's eyes went back to Giles. He did nearly the same as the king, though he looked more like he wanted to say something but all she got was how they were looking into it and some generic information, adding in how this was part of the 'test' he'd wanted to try out. "This is why you asked me to come?"

"Well, I wanted to see first hand how some things worked with you," Giles told her. "We are still trying to figure all of this out, any new information is helpful. There is also the fact of some of the kingdom remains in darkness and I thought perhaps we could change that. And also we thought that it might just be good for you to get out some. King Hart has a busy schedule and will be doing a bit of traveling given everything going on and thought you might want to go along, too. At least to some of it.

Buffy's eyes went back to the king.

"You don't have to do anything," Angelus told her. "Everybody is just looking for answers. Plus it'll give you more freedom and more of a cover. You don't need to be locked up in the mansion all the time... we just want to make sure you are protected, too. That's all."

Buffy looked down, nodding her head slowly. Answers would be good. As always, it seemed like there were just more questions.

OoOoO

They made a few brief stops before heading back. Angelus had a number of things he'd had to take care of so she was left to wander and explore some, though mostly she found herself caught up in her mind's thoughts. And by the time they pulled through the gates she had a headache and was too tired to make sense of anything at all anymore.

That night, as always, Buffy found herself dreaming of her past... the nightmare that sent her world into a downward spin, the past several years of running from it all... but tonight she also dreamt of something new.

First, there was another past... the one of Wolfram and Hart, images that made no sense to her. She saw flashes as a third party as the curse was cast, but also at times it was as though she was looking through someone else's eyes. Secondly, there were dreams, flashes, of a future... another that made no sense... she saw her and Angelus. The skies of Wolfram and Hart were being lit up like was currently planned, there were flashes of intimate moments between the two of them, what looked like a celebration... But even scarier than the images were the feelings behind them that seeped into her as they happened.

Buffy woke with a start, finding herself drenched in sweat. She looked around the room to make sure she wasn't escaping this place before the walls were up and the floods hit, making sure she wasn't back in Acathla as her parents were murdered, that she wasn't lost in some other land on her way here, that Hank hadn't caught up to her and was about to kill and torture her too, or that she wasn't in bed underneath the warm body of this land's king as the last thing she remembered before waking up would suggest.

Buffy shook her head, rationalizing everything before that turned into a self-scolding. The last thing she needed was to be putting Angelus Hart in those types of thoughts, or having them at all to begin with. She had much bigger things to be worrying about every second of every day without trying to romanticize the idea of this world's king.

OoOoO

Angelus hadn't been able to sleep, his mind once again not wanting to shut up long enough for that. He'd found himself in front of Elizabeth's door, sliding down to the floor with his back against it, just resting there as she slept. It wasn't peaceful, he could make that out... he knew what that was like, it was rare for him to get through the night without being terrorized by whatever his mind decided to haunt him with.

He closed his eyes, his head falling back against the door as well. He'd wanted to talk to her all day but everything was so crazy and even now he had no idea what he'd say to her. He was glad that before they parted for the night he'd gotten the chance to at least tell her he was glad she decided to stay, which was the understatement of a lifetime. He felt whole when she was even near... which was laughable as that was something he knew he'd never be.

Then that kind of thinking led his thoughts back to the woman who'd appeared in the mirror, to things the watchers had told him, even some of the strange events he'd been witness to over the course of the past few days since her arrival here. He had no idea what any of it meant, and he refused to accept the current theory. His entire family had gone mad from this curse, he was bound and determined to be the one to handle it differently. He'd accepted his fate the best that he could and gave up what the rest of them had clung to and made them who they were. Hell, to be honest, he never had any to begin with so therefore it wasn't really a big deal.

Hope.

He'd accepted things as they were. Now... there was this.

OoOoO

When he heard the night terrors finally get the worst of her, waking her out of the troubled slumber, Angelus quietly got up and started back for his own room.

OoOoO

Buffy had been in The Dark Realm for just over two weeks now. She had gone with Angelus and several others to a few different places across their land, currently on the complete opposite from where she'd first entered. A large portion of the kingdom was now free of the darkened clouds and ever-lasting rain they'd all known for over a century and a half.

This gave her a lot more freedom to do things without being singled out, at least for the time being, but there was no single streak above her, following her where the sky had opened up so it did her some wonders for now.

The reach of the light seemed to have picked up speed as well. It was still brighter above her, especially when it was her and Angelus together somewhere, but it was moving away quicker now, bleeding a little faster out to the still-covered areas.

Angelus had been busy with a lot of reassuring his public, slowly giving them answers to questions everyone had-ones he even had answers about. And the king was hardly the only one with a lot on his plate, it seemed everyone was slowly trying to get over the shock and somewhat going back to their normal lives-so to speak. People began trying to clear up the mudiness, looking into outside farming, construction crews surveying areas... scientists studying, the watcher's researching...

Buffy did her best to stay out of the way, but she helped when she could, asked questions when it seemed they all needed a break from whatever they were looking into, did her own research of things.

But since arriving on this side of the kingdom some things were becoming a little more troublesome for her. Her nightmares were almost all of the past, of the time when the curse was cast. She would still see through a third party view but most of the time it was back to as if she were someone else, watching the destruction unfold before her.

Some of the images would be clear as day, other times it was just a lot of flashes going too fast. She would almost feel what the person was feeling, but she could never hear words or thoughts.

She could see people talking to her, or screaming all around, but it was like it was all on mute.

One night, everything was particularly bothersome to her. She saw the 'before' in brief flashes, the kingdom before the curse, how things once were through this person's eyes. She watched as the town was entered by the witch and as people of this land started falling victim to her wicked plans.

Buffy watched in horror as the people turned on one another, as the kingdom became a near war-zone. She watched, felt, as they ran and ran, stopping in a middle of chaos and searching all around for something, spotting something-someone-in the distance and going towards them. As they got closer, Buffy woke with a start.

She knew the face from history books and from various places in Angelus' mansion.

It was the face of Angelus' great grandfather.

OoOoO

Buffy was scratching at her arm, feeling nervous. Everyone was busy as they spoke to one another, getting breakfast in and going over their plans for the day.

"Are you alright?" she finally heard someone ask her.

She blinked hard before lifting her head up, seeing a few faces now turned toward her. She took a deep breath then asked, "Is there a way to see the past?"

Silence fell for a few moments before Giles put the book in his hands down onto the table in front of him. "What do you mean?"

She let out another deep breath. "I don't know really," she answered, then took a seat. "I've just been having dreams for awhile, dreams that don't make a lot of sense to me, and they've gotten worse in the past few days."

"You're bothering us about some dreams you're having?" Lilah asked, annoyed.

"Lilah," Angelus growled. Next he gathered a few of them and decided to take their discussion to another room.

Buffy felt foolish now even bringing it up. "It's probably nothing," she grumbled.

"It bothered you enough to bring it up with us, so what's going on?"

Buffy went over to the closest chair and sat back down. "I keep seeing flashes for the most part, but it's as if I am reliving the time when the curse was cast here in my dreams. Sometimes it's like I'm on the outside looking in, almost floating above everything, but most of the time it is as if I am seeing it first-hand through someone. And I know that must sound silly and stupid, but it feels all too real and there's just so much..." Buffy sighed. "I used to have nightmares about this place when I was younger, after hearing about what had happened. I would wake up screaming, terrified Acathla was going to be cursed next. But this is nothing like those dreams at all. Everything's too real."

"What happens in these dreams?" Wesley asked.

She shrugged, curling up tighter into the chair then she did her best to describe what she would see. The brief bits of happiness and laughter, the town, the people, homes, a festival it looked like going on. Then things taking a dark turn, the air growing dark, the people starting to change.

She described watching fires being set, fights breaking out, everything around them being destroyed. Horrific acts between the three founding families, glimpses of what she thought were the very witch, and then leading up to her final image... the one of her running, chasing after someone... heading toward Angelus' great grandfather.

She described the images she remembered seeing, but more so the feelings that came with it. The happiness, then the panic, the confusion to the tingle sensation when trying to catch the remaining founder.

The room around her fell quiet again.

OoOoO

Wesley's eyes were wide, Giles' head tilted, Angelus clenched his jaw.

A number of things she was describing she wouldn't have been able to know. Not from her land, not even from public records here. Some of it, absolutely, but there were a handful of things that had been kept as private as possible.

One particular thing? The events that led up to the saving of his ancestor, and this land.

Only those on the inside knew about the real story, the legend of the so-called angel who saved them all.

A lot of details were left out to the public, who really didn't care, they were just thankful to have survived the ordeal. And less than that spoken to the rest of the kingdoms. But the last thing she was describing sounded eerily familiar to the legend of that particular incident.

OoOoO

"There's something else, too," Buffy said. She looked down, watching her fingernails scratch at her arm in a nervous habit. She'd never given much thought to any of this, though had heard it briefly mentioned in her life. "I have another connection to Wolfram and Hart. Sort of."

"How so?" Wesley asked, intrigued.

"It's not much, I don't think... but..." Buffy paused. Two weeks in and she had still kept her cards very close to the vest. "According to what my mother had told me years and years ago... my great-great-grandmother on her side of the family had just graduated high school and decided to go see The Oracles afterward. She felt as though she didn't know what to do next and wanted some guidance. So, the family went on a trip. Before they got there, she met someone. She said she instantly fell in love and felt she no longer needed to go because she was going to be with this boy and make a life with him. Her parents didn't agree, didn't approve of the boy, so she wound up running away with him." Buffy paused again, looking at the ground. "The boy had just finished school recently himself, and had been traveling some on his way to take a job. In Wolfram and Hart. She had grabbed up what things she could from their vehicle and jumped into his pretty much, and together they came out here to make a life," she told them. "They married very quickly, and it was only a few short months before things started to take a turn here. She watched her husband get killed in the madness. She barely made it out of here alive her own self. The walls were starting to go up, the flooding just starting to take waves when she got out. She went back home to Acaltha after this. She remained to have a strained relationship with her parents but as she soon found out she was with child, they tried to all do what was right."

OoOoO

Everyone sat stunned, then Wesley asked for the name of Buffy's ancestor.

"Angelica Walker. People called her Angel."

Angelus began to laugh.

Buffy's head tilted his way and she gave a strange look.

OoOoO

"Well," Angel said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "He did say it was an angel." Everyone's eyes fell on him and Angel just shrugged before shaking his head and taking a seat.

A question and answer session as well as doing a hurried rush of research and the group were all left rather stunned. They re-read the file, finding an old photo and handing it to Buffy. "That her?"

The small blonde nodded after a moment. Angel shook his head, laughing before tilting his back some and pinching the bridge of his nose again.

"That is..." Giles began, sliding his glasses off from his face.

"Unbelievable," Wes finished, doing a similar motion with his own.

Buffy raised an eyebrow and finally the others began to fill her in on what the stories she'd been told had left out. They told her more about how the curse had come to be and what it had led to, of Angel's great-grandfather's story of why he'd suddenly been woken up from the spell by what he said was an angel, how it had saved all of them.

And how now that they were putting the pieces together and with the help of the two witches they had managed to get a glimpse into that night, it seemed that this angel was Buffy's ancestor, that the angel Angelus was named after was her ancestor., that the woman who had saved all of them, saved this land was her very own flesh and blood.

"I think I need to sit down now," Buffy muttered, her eyes wide as she let everything start to sink in. This was all far too much for her mind to wrap around.

OoOoO

Buffy rubbed at her forehead., this had been a very long and strange day.

She had gone over what little she knew of Angelica Walker and the rest of her family with everyone. It'd been by chance that she'd even known about the portion of Angelica's life spent here as everyone seemed to go out of their way to act as though it never happened. Buffy went through her family line with them though, on both Joyce and Ethan's sides of her tree, though the further back they ventured the less information she had.

Buffy told of her life while growing up before shit had hit the fan in her life. She told them about her family, of how Joyce and Ethan were together, how magical the world seemed when the two of them were together. She explained how they were always sneaking around, making it into a game for her, how they always seemed to have an answer for every question she brought up as she grew older. Buffy told them about her homeland, about her life as the princess.

Buffy went over what had happened to her beloved parents and the rest of her living family at Hank Summers' hands and what had happened to her after that as well. She described the ten year old girl running from such a scene and trying to figure out what in the world she was going to do next. She described what the last ten years of her life had been like, in a nutshell, and how several events had steered her this way.

This continued on to her journey to Wolfram and Hart on through everything that had happened since her arrival.

She had answered the questions thrown at her the best she could, asked many more of her own, they had all gone over theories and everything else they could think of. But it still seemed like a long trail of more questions at every turn. If it wasn't over one thing, it was another.

Buffy looked up when she heard someone at the door and watched as Mister Giles stepped inside. He gave a weak smile and brought over a glass of ice water for her before slowly sitting down in a seat at the table beside her. "I have no idea what any of this means," she told him after several minutes had passed, the two having just sat in silence together.

"I believe you," he told her, sitting up some in his chair. "And we are still searching endlessly for answers, for one thing or another, as we have been. But I would like to say that I don't believe you being here is accidental."

Buffy sighed. "It does seem like there's too much for it to be a big coincidence," she had to admit. She didn't know why it seemed her family had some weird connection to this place or to the Hart family even, whatever so-called powers they might have meant, or what in the world all of this had in store for her. But it seemed like it had to be leading to something. And that it now had to do with her somehow. "But I have no idea what the reasoning would be. I don't have any clue as to why it was my ancestor who was here all those many years ago, why she was the one able to reach Angel's great-grandfather and help put a stop to the madness during the curse. I don't really know much of anything about her at all, it was just something I overheard in passing and no one ever wanted to talk about. The portion of her life when she was here was always just skipped over and everyone wanted to just pretend it never happened. As far as I know, nothing else was 'special' about anyone, not until my mother when it came to her and Ethan Rayne. And I don't know why it was her, why it was them, how any of that is supposed to work. It just was. Someone she was one half of a beautiful love and somehow I wound up a product of that. I have been told that I am supposed to possess something great many, many times because of that but it had never meant anything to me. It had been nothing but a curse. Their unbreakable love was beautiful, but it also got them killed. It's why I have been running for half of my life from someone wanting to kill me too because of what I am. That's about the lot of it. I've been on the run, I've gotten sick, been hurt, been hunted. I have gotten lucky many times and had some extraordinary help at times, but nothing like what happened when I got here has ever been a part of my life. It all surprised me as much as all of you. I don't know why I was told to come here entirely but I know why I felt like it was my only option. I don't know why I have some connection here and have been messing with the curse you've been living with for over a hundred years. And I don't know what's supposed to happen next. I don't know. Why them, why me. Why then, why now. Anything."

Giles took a long drink from his own cup, then opened one of the books he had with him. "I don't have many answers for you either," he said. "I wish I did. But I do believe there is a reason you are here, that there is a connection to you, your family, this place and to the Hart's. We all know you have been affecting our land since you arrived, slowly it seems even breaking the curse little by little. And maybe that's why you are here, though I couldn't tell you why it is you or why not either."

Buffy laid her head down on her crossed arms upon the table and the two of them sat in silence for awhile.

"I think something will happen with you and Angelus."

Buffy's eyes opened at the return of the older man's voice. "Something?" she asked. "Like what?"