CHAPTER 2----New Beginnings
Los Angeles
Angel couldn't sleep. It was 12 PM and yet he just couldn't seem to find any rest. This doesn't seem right, he thought. I shouldn't be here. I should be with her.wherever she is. Quickly he got out of bed and showered and dressed, then he took the back way out of the hotel into the sewer, and decided to go for a walk. He didn't know where he was heading until he cam to see the sign. 'Caritas,' was a good place to be right now. If anything maybe the Host could help him. He walked into the dimly lit karaoke bar, and sat down. "Bloody Mary, fresh." He said to the bartender when he asked if Angel would like a drink. As the Host walked toward Angel and pulled up a seat across from him, he knew without song that something was wrong with this vamp, and he knew exactly the word it was too: Buffy.
"Angel, babe, what's the prob. here?" he asked.
"I want information and I want it now. And I think you know what I'm talking about." Said Angel with ice in his eyes.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa there hun. Chill. This whole Buffy thing. I can tell it has you all messed up." the Host said, backing up a little ways from Angel. He didn't want to be around if he got angry. That could have disastrous consequences. "But the fact is, you need to let things take their course." The Host was usually pretty good at getting past the rules of not telling him everything, but at the same time giving him enough information to hold him over until.but Angel was different.
"And what if letting things take their course isn't what I had planned to do?" He asked, almost knowing exactly what the Host was going to say in return.
"Listen, They don't care what you plan to do. They care what They plan to do, and right now, it's best that you stick to Their plan. At least until you can be sure what They want and what you want. 'Cause hun I know you don't know what you want right now."
"Oh really? I've been around for over 200 years, and you think I don't know what I want? I want the woman I love more than anything else in my entire existence back! That is what I want! Now tell me how to get her or I might just decide to make 'Caritas' a violence-only area." Angel stood up suddenly, menacingly, and glared at the Host.
"Look, all I can tell you is that you have to wait. Just go home, and try to get some sleep. This will work out. I promise it will, but sometimes you just have to learn to let things be!" The Host truly did look sorry for all the not-so-great information he had to give. He was actually a little relieved when Angel finally stormed out. The guy couldn't be blamed though. The only woman he had ever loved just died. It would only be natural for him to be in mourning. But that was just it. Angel wasn't in mourning. It was like he blamed himself for what happened to her, even though it wasn't his fault, or even his responsibility for that matter. Oh well, thought the Host, everything will get sorted out. ---looking to the sky---It better, he thought again, it really had better.
Out on the streets of LA at night is not the greatest of all places to be. Dark, dreary, lonely. Just the way Angel like things. Keeping to the shadows so not to be seen, hidden in a cover of darkness and black, he couldn't seem to stop thinking about her. She had always made him feel more than he was. Like an actual human being, but now that she was gone, Angel felt like exactly what he knew he had always been. A lonely, solitary, angry monster. Not that he didn't mind, because, if truth be told, he wasn't one for company. But still, he enjoyed being on this earth when Buffy had been around. Even knowing that she was here, somewhere, in the same dimension as he, was comfort. But now, with her gone, he didn't belong. He had no one to go to, nowhere to be, and most of all, nothing he wanted to see or hear or do. He just walked on, further and further, until he wondered where he was even going. But then he went back to realizing it didn't matter. Buffy is gone, he thought. It doesn't matter what happens to me. So he just walked on, wishing he could walk off the face of the earth, if only just to be with her.
*****
Sunnydale
"Brother Zachary?" asked Brother Jacques as he walked into the motel room they had been renting for the past few weeks.
"Yes, Brother Jacques?" answered Brother Zachary.
"You were right. About the resurrection. I was afraid. I still am, but we owe it to them. All of the people that she helped, and all that she could help, and also to the Souled One. They need her. What can we make of our lives but to just work simple old magicks? She could do much greater things than we."
"I agree, Brother. But you realize what will happen if we perform the spell."
"I know, Brother, and I am willing to give that up." Answered Jacques, solemnly.
"Then we had better hurry. There isn't much more time to perform the rituals. We must start immediately. We have but a few hours." Finished Brother Zachary.
"I know." Said Brother Jacques, and they set up to cast the spell.
Los Angeles
Angel couldn't sleep. It was 12 PM and yet he just couldn't seem to find any rest. This doesn't seem right, he thought. I shouldn't be here. I should be with her.wherever she is. Quickly he got out of bed and showered and dressed, then he took the back way out of the hotel into the sewer, and decided to go for a walk. He didn't know where he was heading until he cam to see the sign. 'Caritas,' was a good place to be right now. If anything maybe the Host could help him. He walked into the dimly lit karaoke bar, and sat down. "Bloody Mary, fresh." He said to the bartender when he asked if Angel would like a drink. As the Host walked toward Angel and pulled up a seat across from him, he knew without song that something was wrong with this vamp, and he knew exactly the word it was too: Buffy.
"Angel, babe, what's the prob. here?" he asked.
"I want information and I want it now. And I think you know what I'm talking about." Said Angel with ice in his eyes.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa there hun. Chill. This whole Buffy thing. I can tell it has you all messed up." the Host said, backing up a little ways from Angel. He didn't want to be around if he got angry. That could have disastrous consequences. "But the fact is, you need to let things take their course." The Host was usually pretty good at getting past the rules of not telling him everything, but at the same time giving him enough information to hold him over until.but Angel was different.
"And what if letting things take their course isn't what I had planned to do?" He asked, almost knowing exactly what the Host was going to say in return.
"Listen, They don't care what you plan to do. They care what They plan to do, and right now, it's best that you stick to Their plan. At least until you can be sure what They want and what you want. 'Cause hun I know you don't know what you want right now."
"Oh really? I've been around for over 200 years, and you think I don't know what I want? I want the woman I love more than anything else in my entire existence back! That is what I want! Now tell me how to get her or I might just decide to make 'Caritas' a violence-only area." Angel stood up suddenly, menacingly, and glared at the Host.
"Look, all I can tell you is that you have to wait. Just go home, and try to get some sleep. This will work out. I promise it will, but sometimes you just have to learn to let things be!" The Host truly did look sorry for all the not-so-great information he had to give. He was actually a little relieved when Angel finally stormed out. The guy couldn't be blamed though. The only woman he had ever loved just died. It would only be natural for him to be in mourning. But that was just it. Angel wasn't in mourning. It was like he blamed himself for what happened to her, even though it wasn't his fault, or even his responsibility for that matter. Oh well, thought the Host, everything will get sorted out. ---looking to the sky---It better, he thought again, it really had better.
Out on the streets of LA at night is not the greatest of all places to be. Dark, dreary, lonely. Just the way Angel like things. Keeping to the shadows so not to be seen, hidden in a cover of darkness and black, he couldn't seem to stop thinking about her. She had always made him feel more than he was. Like an actual human being, but now that she was gone, Angel felt like exactly what he knew he had always been. A lonely, solitary, angry monster. Not that he didn't mind, because, if truth be told, he wasn't one for company. But still, he enjoyed being on this earth when Buffy had been around. Even knowing that she was here, somewhere, in the same dimension as he, was comfort. But now, with her gone, he didn't belong. He had no one to go to, nowhere to be, and most of all, nothing he wanted to see or hear or do. He just walked on, further and further, until he wondered where he was even going. But then he went back to realizing it didn't matter. Buffy is gone, he thought. It doesn't matter what happens to me. So he just walked on, wishing he could walk off the face of the earth, if only just to be with her.
*****
Sunnydale
"Brother Zachary?" asked Brother Jacques as he walked into the motel room they had been renting for the past few weeks.
"Yes, Brother Jacques?" answered Brother Zachary.
"You were right. About the resurrection. I was afraid. I still am, but we owe it to them. All of the people that she helped, and all that she could help, and also to the Souled One. They need her. What can we make of our lives but to just work simple old magicks? She could do much greater things than we."
"I agree, Brother. But you realize what will happen if we perform the spell."
"I know, Brother, and I am willing to give that up." Answered Jacques, solemnly.
"Then we had better hurry. There isn't much more time to perform the rituals. We must start immediately. We have but a few hours." Finished Brother Zachary.
"I know." Said Brother Jacques, and they set up to cast the spell.
