Err—what happened last? Oh, yeh

Willow rings the Scoobies to inform them they will be getting back Andrew. Kennedy is worried about Willow's absence. (chill ppl, the scoobies come in the next chapter!)

Andrew is talking in his sleep whilst Conner watches over him. He and Cordy hear noises which is Angel & Co arriving so he tries to drag Cordy out. But she wants to take Andrew too. Conner, seeing this the opportunity to give his new friend a chance, says no, grabs his things and goes.

Andrew warns him not to go or else he'll die. He is rescued by Angel & Co and they take the knife too.

Andrew is in a room in the hotel. Lorne says that the Powers are talking to Andrew, telling him what he is now. Angels tells Willow & Fred to go to the other dimension.

A little Fred and Lindsey romance blossoming in the basement…Gunn has no idea.

Willow and Fred arrive in their strange dimension which so happens to change realities and shape at random times. As it does, strange dinosaur like creatures head straight towards them…

I am the biggest, idiotic plonker that ever existed within ff.net!!! And I say this with pride.

Another announcement: I am sorry again to shahid, who I said was a girl. So yeh, I'm embarrassed as shyte. After two blunders, I feel like a complete asshole. In hope that all will be forgiven and I can feel less of that, I have dedicated this chapter to 'him.' It's a weird ass chapter.

I'm so so so so so so sorry!

Where do we go from here: REDEMPTION

Three hours later, Lorne was still sitting in a chair next to Andrew in the room of the Hyperion.  The young boy was still lightly tossing and turning in his bed, muttering incoherent words and clawing the air or the sheets. Lorne kept on changing his cloth so that it was cool and wet and placing it on his forehead to keep him cool. The fever was still very high and he was dehydrated. They had tried earlier to lift him up and get him to swallow ice cold water which he seemed to take gratefully.

For a moment, his eyes focused and he looked properly at Lorne before he faded again.

Andrew shook his head. "This isn't me, this isn't me," he muttered in his sleep as he turned again. He groaned again as if he was in pain. "Please get it out of me. Can't do it…can't do it…"

Earlier that day, he'd had a vision within his own feverish state. He had flung his head back and frozen up with his hands grabbing the sheets tightly in his fists and his whole body shaking. He had cried out several times, making Angel, Spike and Wes come from the nearby room to see what was going on. They could see instantly that Andrew was having a vision but in his state it would have proven impossible to find out what he was. Angel tried to not let that annoy him. He knew the boy was very ill. There was nothing they could do but wait.

Now, as Lorne waited, Andrew had calmed down and settled to just soft moaning and whispering in his sleep. He lightly touched the boy's hair to calm him down. "Don't worry, sweetie, whatever's happened to you will all be gone soon. You're around friends now and we're all here to help you."

He stopped and listened closely. Andrew was smiling slightly and singing. Lorne leaned in closer. "La cucaracha, la cucaracha, la, la, la." He continued singing the song and Lorne decided that this was the perfect time to read him so he looked at the boy who sang the song that was buried somewhere in his memory. When finished and the singing stopped, Lorne leant back and looked thoughtfully at the boy.

His thoughts were disturbed though, when Angel, Wesley and Spike came into the room. They had been researching what they had on the First and talking to Buffy, who was still demanding Andrew, Spike and Willow back. She reluctantly gave information. Also in the process, they were trying to distinguish Conner and Cordy's whereabouts after the warehouse and if true, they had done something to Andrew.

"Anything?" Angel said, sitting on the bed next to Andrew.

Lorne shook his head. "Not since the vision. He sang, though, and I read him."

Wesley raised his eyebrows. "What did you see?" he asked eagerly.

"Well, he didn't sing enough for me to know enough. There is a lot in that boy that I wasn't able to get. But what I did get is that there is a lot of pain…a lot of loneliness. He feels responsible for the death of both of his friends and because of that feels he's in the situation where he's around for the sake of being around and no one cares about him. No one understands his regret or how sorry he is because no one will ever give him the chance or will judge him."

Spike sighed and took out a cigarette. "We did kind of treat him badly. He was Buffy's hostage. Spent his time cooking and cleaning. No one particularly liked him."

"Yes, he knows that. It's not that he doesn't want that. According to what I've read, he's used to be not wanted and taken advantage of. It's his character. That's why he's so dispensable to the First, kiddos. I'm not saying it's dangerous but he's trying hard to fight for what's done wrong. That's why he's running away and that's why he's not waking up."

Angel frowned. He looked at Andrew who was turning around again in his sleep. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean, Angelcakes, is that Andrew has found his own redemption now. That's what going on inside his head. He's almost fighting with his own conscience, or rather the conscience the Powers are throwing at him. This vision is his path to a better life. He'll be able to redeem himself for everything he's done wrong but he's fighting because he's scared and I'm guessing the Powers didn't aren't making this easy."

"What exactly are the Powers showing him."

"They're showing him what he is now, what he could accomplish. But Andrew is a very scared boy. He doesn't trust people now because he's so afraid of being used. Until he can face up to the fears he has which people like this Warren and the First did to him, he won't wake up. He needs to feel wanted. Love can be a very sad thing, kids, and Andrew is one rag that's been discarded too many times."

Angel looked down at Andrew. "How do we show him if he's asleep?"

"You can't. He'll know, though. That's up the Powers."

*  *  *  *  *

Andrew looked around at the darkness surrounding him. There were no walls in this place. There was no floor or no ceiling. It was just blackness around him. Just like that ultra reality episode in Star Wars, he thought to himself. It was like he was standing on nothing and just floating yet he felt very steady. Now, though, he was scared. He had no idea where he was or how he got here.

"Maybe you should look around a bit more," someone said.

Andrew turned round. He fell backwards. "Holy crap," he exclaimed and fell down onto the ground. He could have sworn that wasn't there before but in the darkness was this small light with a large table. On either side of it were Jonathan and Warren. Warren had his feet up on the table, looking incredibly bored. Jonathan was looking at him, smiling.

Andrew picked himself up off the ground. "No! No, I refuse to be a part of this anymore. You wanted me dead! I'm not doing anymore jobs."

"Andrew…"

"No, Stop using me!"

"We're not the fricking First, you moron," Warren said, glaring at Andrew. Andrew was silent and he looked at Warren. It was him. And it was Jonathan as well.

Jonathan looked slightly better, though. "The First can't inhabit your inner conscience of dreams," he said as a matter of factly.

Andrew looked around incredulously. "This is a dream?"

Jonathan screwed up his face. "Weelll, sort of."

"I wish it was." Warren sighed heavily.

Jonathan smiled. "Warren doesn't like this too much."

Andrew stood up. "What is this? Why are you here and if you're not the First then what are you?" He looked around. "What the hell is going on here?"

Warren put his feet down and leant forward. "This is redemption, Andrew. This is what redemption feels like. Obviously we were bad enough to need it. You and me in particular. Jonathan was just a whole little pawn that never really did anything wrong but our consciences need to be redeemed apparently and this is the way to do it."

Andrew frowned. "I don't understand."

Jonathan sighed. "Warren is crap at explaining this anyway." He stood up and walked towards Andrew. "This…this is all orchestrated. The Powers that Be believe that we deserve a second chance. We were never really evil but our actions lead to greater things that resulted badly…that's how they phrased it anyway. It makes sense. Warren died, the First made you kill me and you're the only one left now. You're the one that harbours the visions."

Andrew looked at Jonathan. He seemed so real. "You mean…the visions that the evil woman had."

"Exactly." Warren lifted his hand forward and Andrew rocketed back in pain, landing on his knees and clutching his head. The same vision came back again of a man being dragged away surrounded by robed people. There were people watching around them, in a large lobby looking place.

 "Warren, cut it out!" Jonathan shouted and Warren rolled his eyes. Andrew pulled himself to his feet. "Are you all right? Phew. You have them and you have an extra power as well but this one you have control over. You can see into people's sub consciousnesses; find their feelings, their weaknesses and thoughts that plague their minds. It's hard to explain. You've already done it."

"When?"

"When you were with Conner. You knew that Angel was his father. And you could sense that Cordelia was evil. That's what it is."

Andrew backed away. "No! No!" he screamed at them. "I don't want this. Please get it out of me. Can't do it."

Jonathan shook his head. "Andrew, you can. It's what you're here for."

"I can't do it," Andrew said, feeling like he was going to break down and cry again. Jonathan looked at Warren who shrugged helplessly. Jonathan just glared at him, knowing that Warren was no help but at least he could try. "I can't do it, Jonathan. I've been used for everything. I don't know if this is real or you're just going to use me again. I've seen you in front of so many evil masks."

"Andrew," Warren said coming forward.  "This is the real thing. You are the link to the Powers that Be. If you want to defeat the First this is the way to do it. They can help you. They're forces of good that are working with Angel and Buffy against the First. Besides, if you do this and we get it done and actually defeat the First, we'll finally find some peace."

Andrew wrinkled his nose and look at Warren in disgust. "You want to find peace?"

"I'm dead now. Look, I know it sounds all too weird but it's true. The vision were taken away from Cordelia and put into another woman who got here redemption as well. So it's true. If you don't believe me, touch me? I'm real here, this isn't all fake put on."

Andrew raised an eyebrow. "L-last time I did this, my hand right through you."

"Well, it won't this time." Andrew reached out his hand and it hung in mid air. He thought about moving it back again but finally he moved forward. His hand came into contact with Warren's arm and his eyebrows rose. He poked it again to make sure that it wasn't really going through.

"Ouch, careful!"

"Okay, so you're not the First," Andrew said, feeling somewhat better. "But that's not enough. What's your job in this redemption then?" Andrew asked.

Jonathan laughed. "At the moment, we're like your guides. We're tying to help you. The visions will hurt, Andrew. Sometimes they might be bad but then again, sometimes they might be light. It's the price. But good will come out of it. You'll be the hero, more of a hero than you were at Buffy's. You'll finally get respected and wanted and needed. Believe me, you're going to be better off at Angel's then you will at Buffy's."

"They need you, Andrew." Warren sighed. "Look, I know I've done some terrible things in my life but if anything, death wants you to get rid of it all. And for once I'm saying what you need to do and you're not listening. The difference is that this time it's true and it's for a good cause. Go and help Angel bring down the First and don't keep anything from them."

Andrew nodded. "Okay. I trust you. Will you be here?"

Jonathan sat down in his chair and Warren followed him. Jonathan was smiling brightly. "Always. We're always here. We work with the Powers now. High beings! But we're in you as well. You'll be fine." Andrew looked down and blushed. When he looked up, the light had gone and so had Jonathan, Warren and the table. He looked around frantically, expecting them to appear behind him or something.

"Go help Angel. Yeah, I can do that."

*  *  *  *  *

Andrew sat up in bed suddenly, taking a deep breath as though he had just swam to the surface of the swimming pool with just enough air. The cloth fell from his forehead onto the duvet. He breathed heavily as though he had been running a marathon and then calmed down. He looked around him and crying out, jumped backwards, his head connecting with the headboard. "Ow."

"Andrew, mate, are you all right?"

Andrew opened his eyes. "Spike?" He looked around. "What are you doing here? What am I doing here?" He panicked as he looked around. "I was in the dark room before. And…and Warren and Jonathan were there and they told me about the Powers and…"

He stopped when Spike looked at him. "Well, they were."

"I think it was a hallucination, mate. You're in LA. D'you remember? We saved you from Conner and Cordelia in the warehouse."

Andrew nodded and looked down at the duvet. "Yeah. I remember."

Spike hit Andrew in the shoulder. "Cheer up, kid. Not long to go now. You're in LA. This is Angel, that's Lorne over there and this is Wesley. You haven't met anyone else."

Andrew frowned. "Why are you here?"

"Ah…well, that's another story. Willow here but she's buggered off with another girl to another dimension. You'll meet everyone else later, alrite?"

Andrew looked at Angel for the first time. Angel smiled at him but Andrew didn't smile back. First of all he was too afraid but looking at him, all he could see was Conner and what he thought when he looked into Conner. "Andrew? Do you want anything to drink? Or eat?"

Andrew nodded slowly. "Yeah. I'm hungry. Do you have any Zima?"

Two hours later, the tales had been recounted. Andrew had said how he'd run away from Sunnydale with his knife only to be taken by Conner and Cordelia. They had wanted to kill him, especially Cordelia because she was in leagues with the First. Only they couldn't kill him and that was when they realized that he was special. Sometimes prevented them from doing so.

"I know what I am now," Andrew said, sipping his drink quietly. "They told me."

"Who?"

Andrew looked up at Faith. He was sitting cross legged on the banquet with a blanket around his shoulders because he was cold. The fever was still lingering on him. He realized what he said and closed his mouth. If he said, they would think he was mad; especially Spike who knew this couldn't be true anyway. "No one," he answered. "I just know what I am, from the Powers. I have visions. They hurt but I think it'll be all right. And I can almost…look into people. Sense them."

Gunn raised his eyebrows. "Don't do no looking through me."

Lindsey looked down at Andrew. "It's amazing, actually. He does have something extra about him, more than Justine or Cordelia did anyway."

Angel stood up. "I can't believe this," he said, leaning against the counter. He wanted to smash his fit right through it. "How could Conner and Cordelia do this? Cordelia's pregnant? And they left Andrew to die because they're working for the First? How did this happen and we didn't see."

"It's not Conner's fault," Andrew said suddenly and they turned to look at him. He looked down. "Stop staring at me. Conner doesn't understand what's going on. He's…confused, a warrior with a troubled past and mind. He didn't want to kill me, he wanted to help me. Cordelia has some kind of hold on him. He didn't want all this to happen."

Angel looked down. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"But…But I'm not a fighter," Andrew said. "I can't fight anything, not like Kirk or Captain Archer could."

They looked at him strangely. Gunn sighed. "Star Wars, guys, get with the times."

Angel nodded. "No one's expecting you to fight anything, Andrew. We don't. All we need is the visions, they're from the Powers. You can stay here and be careful, all right? I don't know what we can give you to keep you occupied, though."

Andrew sighed. "I forgot my camcorder."

Spike shook his head. "You weren't gonna point that thing around here. Andrew, things aren't walking through fields now, this is getting dangerous. You should know after everything you've done. You're not strong enough yet to do anything."

Angel bent down to Andrew. "What the vision. You had one. In your sleep."

Andrew put his drink down. "Oh yeah. I forgot. I won't do it again, I promise. It was strange. Flashing images. There were these man, in these really weird cloaks. One of them was carrying this stick and they were taking someone away." Suddenly he stood up and dropped his blanket. "Holy crap. It was here. It was happening here." He looked around. "And it was you. They were taking you."

They followed Andrew's gaze which rested on Wesley.

Faith frowned. "What do you mean, they were taking him away!"

Andrew put up his hands as if to defend himself. "That's all I saw, I swear. Don't hit me."

Lorne came around and pulled Andrew behind him. "No one is going to hit anybody. Faith, keep your punching bags to yourself and leave the messenger alone. He's been through enough at the moment."

Angel looked at Wesley who was standing looking in bewilderment. "Wes, do you have any kind of explanation for this?"

"Yes. I demand an explanation for all of this."

They all looked up towards the stairs of the Hyperion where there stood Buffy, a crossbow behind her and her arms folded over her chest as she surveyed what was happening in the lobby. Silence followed.

*  *  *  *  *

Doyle/First threw up his hands in frustration. "If only had corporeal form, I would smash something against a wall. But if that was the case, the sacrifice would've been done and I wouldn't need to. It's all ruined, darlin'. Angel came in, ruined by sacrifice and what's more, failed to get Andrew."

"And that means what? What exactly does Andrew mean to you anyway?"

Doyle/First sighed. "He was pivotal. You know what is anyway. You saw it when you looked at him. He has the visions, the sight, he could be a real threat. He is giving Angel information that the Powers are sending to him. The Powers are watching us right now trying to find a way to overthrow us."

Cordelia stood up and put her arms around herself. "I know. I saw it when I looked at him. He's gifted. More gifted than I was." She kicked a chair across the room and it smashed into little pieces. "How could the Powers do this? What is wrong with them? Grr, this is making me so mad."

Doyle/First sighed. "I suppose there is no point in getting angry. Eventually, the final battle will come and we'll see who the winning side is. What we both need is a sacrifice to get ourselves on the right track. We both need one to get into the forms we want to be in. So we need two separate sacrifices. We cannot go back after Andrew. He is in the hands of Angel's band of merry men now and so he'll be protected."

Cordelia sat down tiredly. "This world is annoying me. So many powers, weak bodies and demons and we can't do anything about it. Any one of them could be useful and it's so impossible." She sat down on a couch. After she and Conner had run away from the warehouse they had run through the streets, trying to find somewhere safe to hide for a while. They could not return to the warehouse and nowhere seemed safe at the moment...

It was the First that had led them into an abandoned apartment on the other side of town where they were safe. Now Conner had gone out hunting and covering up their tracks so that Angel couldn't follow them. It was then that the First in the form of Doyle returned to Cordelia again. Both of them were in a bad mood over the proceedings.

"As least I tried," Cordelia replied.

"I know you did, tyke. I could tell and it was your boy that got in the way. I think you'd have had time to go and get the boy. If he hadn't stopped you we would have been stronger and tearing the rest of the world apart by now."

Cordelia sighed. "Don't worry. That day will come, believe me." She sat up from the couch suddenly. "Except, that I believe there are plenty of candidates that could supply us from the forces of Angel and the slayer, apart from themselves alone. There is the boy, Andrew, the lawyer, Lindsey with the power of Calatine, the witch…Spike?"

Doyle nodded and walked around the apartment. He looked out of the window at the darkening sky. "That's true. There certainly are plenty of candidates to choose from. That is not my concern. We need two of them and somehow we need to get them and our forces are weakened now after Karl's unfortunately demise. Your boy could not do anything by himself and if he were to come into contact with Andrew again…well, let's say he might not coming back lapping to you this time."

Cordelia frowned. "Why do I think that you have some other devilish plan?" She smiled evilly. "Come on, partners don't keep secrets. If it benefits both of us then you may as well tell. You know I'd support you."

Doyle knelt down in front of her. "I know you will, sweetie. But it's a harsh sacrifice to make, especially for you."

"It depends what you're asking."

"The reason you exist is due to this particular person. I doubt that what you have deep within you is affection for this boy. What you have cannot possibly be love of the human kind. Neither of you are fully human."

Cordelia shrugged. "That's true. What of it?"

"Would you be willing to sacrifice the boy in order to save yourself and make yourself stronger? The boy has been in prophecies and has been predicted for thousands of centuries. He holds a power that he doesn't know. Not literal power of throwing flames but he is a pivotal part of history, a valuable member and that alone is enough for both of us."

Cordelia looked at him suspiciously. "I'm listening."

"Conner's blood alone is strong enough to satisfy both of us and give us the forms we want. We wouldn't need two people and we wouldn't have to go through the hassle of kidnapping someone if the person we wanted was right here with us."

Cordelia thought for a moment. "You plan is definitely evil but the sacrifice isn't that much. Not only would we get what we want. But it would hurt Angel as well. I suppose Conner would be good enough. We will kill him."

Weird, huh? The whole Jonathan and Warren thing. But someone said to me I should and I love the Trio and somehow, they just had to come back. So I did it in this way. I hope it didn't weird anyone out. Review, Review! I'm going on holiday again for a week. Now I'm updating from France! Feed me…!!