Chapter 44

Angel, Gwen, Gunn, and Buffy strolled into the Hyperion. Buffy and Gwen were arguing again.

"I'm just saying, it never would have happened on my watch." Gwen said.

"Gosh, no! Because you're supertramp." Buffy said.

Angel went over to the counter where Lorne was researching. "What's the latest?"

"I checked out the ritual like you asked. Looks like there's some assembly required." Lorne said, pulling out a book. "Turns out these three pieces were inside the totems. Beast kills the totems, yanks out the pieces and builds himself a big old light switch."

"Well, what about the other two? What did he take out of them?" Angel asked.

"Well, I know he sucked the energy out of the little girl and he ripped the heart out of the shaman but what's not clear is how he's going to use them."

"These wings.. They're metal, right? Get me close enough and I can melt them. That'll slow him down." Gwen said.

"If we find him in time. Need I remind everyone that he's already got all the pieces plus we don't even know where he's going to perform this ritual?" Cordy said.

"Sun or no sun, I'm not worried about slowing him down. I'm worried about taking him out." Gunn said.

"We may have a solution for that." Wesley said as he and Fred entered from the office.

"We've done a lot of research and we think we found a way to get rid of the Beast. A portal." Fred said.

Gunn shook his head. "Figures."

"We've tried conventional methods: firearms, the usual weaponry. None of which seem to work." Wes said.

"But if we stand against it long enough to find a way to corner it, maneuver it into position.." Buffy said.

"Then maybe we can send this thing back to the hell-sweet-hell it came from." Lorne finished.

Gunn stalked over to the weapons cabinet and put away his things, obviously upset. Fred went over and tried to calm him down. "I know what you must be thinking."

"That we should have learned our lesson?" Gunn asked.

"Wesley and I have decided this is our only option."

"I know. But I don't got to like it." He walked over and joined the others.

"Okay, so we've got everything we need to stop the ritual. Let's clear out of here and try and locate the Beast." Angel said. As he started packing up the books, Cordelia's eyes went wide and she gasped as she received a vision of a medieval battlefield strewn with bloody and broken corpses. The Beast stood above it all, watching the dead and dying.

"Oh, my God.." Cordy said.

"Another vision?" Buffy asked.

"Same one. Only there was more of it. A massacre. So many people on the ground.. Dead, dying.. The screaming was so loud."

"Wait! Was it a battlefield?"

Cordy nodded. Angel looked from one woman to the other. "Could either of you hear the demon?"

"No." Buffy said.

"But whoever it was talking to, they felt familiar. Like someone I know." Cordy said.

"Exactly. I could see the back of him, but I just can't figure out who it is."

"Connor." Angel said.

"I think it's time we bring him into this, Angel. If nothing else, he's our best chance at finding the Beast." Cordy said.

"No. It isn't him. The hair is too long and dark." Buffy said.

"We can't take any chances. If it is him, we gotta know about it." Angel said.

"Angel, would you listen to me for once?"

"I do listen to you."

"Not usually, no. Not when it comes to Connor. I'm his mother. I'm also the Slayer. Connected to the Powers. They're sending me dreams. I can see a man talking to the Beast and it's not Connor. I agree with Cordy that he may be able to find the Beast because he does seem to have a nose for it, but it's not Connor that's the bad guy here. It's someone else. Someone we know."

"All right. Say it is someone we know. What about Connor? How come he can find this thing and we can't?"

"I don't know. I don't really care. All I know is that's my son out there and he's in danger. I'm going to go do the saving thing that I'm so damn good at right now." Buffy stormed out, angry with Angel that he could try and pin this on their son. The rest of the gang followed her out. They each piled in a car. Buffy, Angel, and Gwen, in Angel's convertible and Gunn, Fred, and Wesley in the Wes' SUV.

Angel pulled up to Merrick's old building just as Connor flew out the window and fell five stories to land in a bloody and battered heap on the pavement in front of them. Cordelia, Gunn, Gwen, Angel, Buffy, Wesley, and Fred emerge from their cars. Angel and Buffy ran to Connor. Buffy cradled his head in her lap.

"Oh, my God.. Connor." Buffy said, stroking the blood out of his face.

"What happened?" Angel asked.

"The Beast.. It's upstairs.. With Xander." Connor gasped.

"Maybe it needs to do the ritual.." Wesley said.

"In the place Connor's staying." Gunn finished.

"We'll figure that out later. Everybody gear up. Wes, you got everything you need?" Angel asked.

"Ready." Wes said.

Gunn went to the car's trunk and took out axes, swords, and other weapons. He handed some to Angel and Buffy. Buffy stood and allowed Cordy to take care of Connor.

"Gwen, go for the orb, the wings, whatever you can get your hands on. We can't let him finish the spell. Gunn, you, Angel, and I will keep the Beast busy long enough for Fred and Wesley to work the portal mojo. Cordy.. Keep him safe." Buffy said.

"Mom.. Dad.." Connor croaked.

"It's okay, Connor. We're here now." Angel said. "Let's go!"

They ran up to Merrick's old apartment, Buffy in the lead. She kicked down the door and found the Beast holding some contraption and chanting. Xander was lying in a corner, unconscious.

"He's already started." Fred said.

Gunn attacked. The Beast swatted him away and Gunn crashed to floor in a heap as Angel and Buffy attacked the Beast. Fred and Wesley stood off to the side chanting while Gwen tried to get at the idol. She spotted an opening and dashed across the room toward it. The Beast tossed Angel aside and turned back to Gunn with Buffy in the air by her neck when it spotted Gwen behind it. It picked Buffy up further and hurled her at Gwen. She struck Gwen full force and they dropped to the floor, both dazed. The idol broke into its three component pieces and the orb rolled across the floor.

"The orb! Don't let it.." Buffy tried to yell.

The glass orb came to rest right between the Beast's feet. It looked down at Buffy and Angel with a predatory smile. It knelt in the center of the runic diagram. "Ahmun Semkhet. Vesh ra'an Manjet." A shimmering energy filed started to form around the Beast.

"Angel.." Wes said.

"Yeah, I got it. Everybody get ready." Angel said.

Buffy watched the energy portal form around the Beast, then made her move as the Beast said, "Ket Mesektet."

"Now or never." Buffy said. She raised her sword and attacked along with Angel and Gunn. Between the three of them, they forced it backward toward the portal. With a final leaping kick, Angel knocked it into the energy field and it disappeared.

"We did it. Didn't we?" Buffy asked, looking around.

The group approached the windows and looked outside with apprehension while Buffy went to check on Xander. He was just coming around as she helped him stand.

"Why is it still getting dark?" Fred asked.

"I told you once.." They all spun around to find the Beast behind them, striding into the room. They backed away from it in shock. "You need not be my enemy, Angelus." As Angel stared at it in stunned silence, the Beast bent down and picked up the orb from the center of the ritual circle. It put the orb in its mouth and swallowed, then turned to Angel. "We'll meet again.. Soon." Then it leapt out the window and was gone.

"My God.. The sun. It's gone. Completely obliterated." Wes said, looking out the window.

"What the hell is going on?" Xander asked.

"It's a really long story." Buffy said. "Can you walk Xand?"

"Yeah. Where's Cordy?"

"She's outside with Connor."

"Oh God, Connor. He.. He flew out the window."

"He's ok."

"Go."

Buffy nodded and she and Angel ran outside. Connor and Cordy stood leaning on Angel's car, staring up at the darkened sky. The rest of the group followed them out as Buffy walked up to Connor and allowed him to lean on her.

"Angel, we have to talk." Cordy said.

"I can't believe we lost the sun." Fred said.

"Angel, I think I figured it out."

"So have I. The Beast knows me." Angel said.

"No, it doesn't. It knows Angelus." At the mention of that name, Angel looked around uncomfortably as everyone stared at him. "Am I right? While you were upstairs, it came to me. I wasn't having a vision of the demon. I was having a memory of it."

"How's that again?" Gwen asked.

"I told you, when I was a higher being, I'd experienced everything you'd ever done as Angelus. But since I've been back, my memory's been fading until the Powers decided to.. Jog it, I guess. Angel, I saw you, long ago, standing in a field of bodies with the Beast."

"You knew this thing and you didn't tell us?" Connor asked.

"No! I couldn't come up against something like that and not remember." Angel said.

"It was Angelus." Buffy said. "I knew the man in my dream looked familiar. Turn around Angel." He did as she said. "Oh God."

"'The answer is among you.'" Gunn said. "That's what the little girl meant, isn't it? This was never about Connor. It's about.."

"Angelus." Fred said.

"I'm telling you, I don't know this Beast. I'd remember." Angel said.

"Like you remember falling asleep before Manny got killed?" Cordy asked.

"What?"

"An inside job." Gwen said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're a suspect. If Cordelia's right, we should admit the possibility that this Beast may have some sort of power over you. To make you do things. To make you forget." Wesley said.

"And it has a plan. The rain of fire, taking down Wolfram & Hart, even blotting out the sun.. I think now those were only the first steps to something bigger." Cordy said.

"Well, I don't know what to tell any of you because I don't know what the plan is!" Angel said, getting angry.

"No.. But Angelus might." Wesley said. "There's only one way we're going to defeat this Beast. We need Angelus."

Everyone went totally silent. They stared at Angel. Then, Buffy started to laugh. At first it was just a barely audible giggle, but it grew slowly towards a hysterical laughing. As she laughed, she managed to say, "Yeah, right."

"Uh oh." Xander said.

"Buffy.." Wesley said. "What's the matter with you?"

"You're funny Wes." Buffy said, tears rolling down her eyes.

"I wasn't joking."

"Oh, but you were. There's no way we're bringing Angelus out."

"Buffy.."

She stopped laughing and became deadly serious. "You have no idea what you're asking Wesley."

"I most certainly do."

"You've never been up against Angelus."

"I have."

"That was half Angelus. It was a fake happy." Angel said quietly.

"But it was Angelus. I know what it's like to face him."

"You have absolutely no idea." Buffy said, her expression darkening. Connor moved to hold her back, but she shoved him away harshly.

"Buffy, I understand.."

"You understand nothing." Buffy yelled. "Were you there Wesley the five months Angelus spent torturing me? Killing people I knew? Torturing the people I love? Were you there when he tortured Giles for hours just for pleasure? Were you there when he taunted me with everything he knew about me? About how much Angel loved me and how much I had loved him? Were you standing there watching as Angelus tried to kill my best friend right in front of me? Were you there when he put Willow in the hospital and had Drusilla kill Kendra?"

"Buffy.."

"No, Wesley, you weren't. You have no idea the hell I was put through for five months!" Tears rolled down Buffy's eyes as the memories cascaded through her mind. "Cordy, Xander.. They were there. They saw what Angelus did to me; what he did to Sunnydale. And I'm pretty damn sure they would agree with me that bringing Angelus out is a completely bad idea."

"It's the only way."

"Then we'll find another fucking away! We are not bringing Angelus out. Not now and not ever!" Buffy screamed at the top of her lungs. She looked around, avoiding Angel's eyes, and then she took off running. Angel turned to Wesley and punched him straight in the face.

"How could you do that her? After all you've put us through?" Angel asked. He didn't let Wesley answer because he was running after Buffy.

Gunn, Wesley, Cordy, Gwen, Connor, Xander, and Fred watched him go after Buffy. Buffy's words echoed in their minds. They knew she was right, but Wesley did have a point. Maybe Angelus was the only way.