The council arrive and Fisher wants to take Wesley for his actions against the Council. Wesley refuses. A fight ensues where Lindsey is left immobilized and Angel is almost staked. Wesley stands in between Angel and Harper (the one with the stake) and says that he will go provided that Angel is left unharmed. Faith refuses but she can't do anything as the Council take Wesley.

Andrew is talking to Buffy about what happened to Wesley. She says he has to help find him and get a vision. Buffy says what if it was Dawn and he realizes the seriousness of the situation. They talk about how Andrew prefers it here and then he talks to Dawn, hoping that what happened in the bedroom of the hotel was more than just a mistake.

Andrew talks to Angel about how much being a hero hurts and when a comrade falls, how heavy it weighs. Angel asks about Conner and Andrew assures him he's all right. Andrew says he understands why people continue fighting and asks if they would win. Angel's answer is neutral.

Wesley finds himself in a small box room, where the door is open. He walks out and finds Fisher looking at the array of portable weapons he had on him. Fisher says that he's very lucky to have all the good forces behind him. Wesley finds out the First let this small band of Watcher's live and now they have come down Wesley for all the mistakes he's made in the Council. He knocks Wesley unconscious.

I know, I'm a slower writer right now. My school have given me 5 pieces of coursework all to do by the end of October. Are they mad??

Oh well, that means the updating is taking a lot longer. Bear with my ppl, it will come.

Thanks for the reviews! I love you people.

Where do we go from here: SOURCE OF THE POWER

When Willow next woke she found herself lying next to a stream. She could hear the water trickling and it was a nice sound. It was something familiar…something pleasant. She could feel the cool splashes on her face which had woken her up and she blinked against the setting sun. Willow looked up and saw the sky was orange. The clouds had a tint of orangey red to them. It was a picture from a painting and for a moment, Willow was mesmerised by it. Sometimes it was nice to look at the small things and appreciate them whilst everything else in her brain was foggy. The dampness on her forehead soon took care of that.

She looked up and saw Fred above her, applying a damp bandage to her forehead. Willow smiled. "Hey," he said quietly. "What's happening? Are you all right?"

Willow tried to sit up with Fred's help and then looked around. "Did the scenery change?" she asked, wrinkling up her nose. "We weren't here when all this stuff was around, were we? I mean, I don't remember a stream…or this field or anything."

Fred laughed slightly nervously. "No. The reality hasn't changed yet. It's the same one. I moved us here."

The witch raised her eyebrows. "You moved all this stuff? Our bags and me?"

"It took a few round trips."

Willow smiled lightly and touched Fred's arm and the smaller girl looked frozen for a second but then relaxed. "Thanks," Willow said and Fred's smile just widened and she got up to dispose of the cloth. Now more coherent, Willow could feel the gash on her forehead. It still hurt a little. The events came flooding back to her slowly. She looked at Fred who was packing stuff into a bag not far away. "So…" she said calmly. "Who would've thought, ey? I'm sure Angel will be thrilled with another witch."

"'m not a witch," Fred mumbled, bustling about from bag to bag as if packing and searching for something. Anything to keep her busy.

"You must be," Willow stated, her eyes widening. "That's advanced level magic. Even I couldn't do that when I first started. It takes a lot of practise and you just did it one fail swoop. I'm just amazed that no one noticed before…" Fred just hummed slightly like she was paying attention and Willow paused, frowning. Then she got up to take Fred's arm. "Slow down, you'll end up changing the reality," she joked. Then she looked into Fred's eyes and noticed the downcast in them. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not a witch," Fred repeated quietly.

Willow relaxed. "Fred…being a witch isn't a bad thing. I'm one. They don't burn people like us anymore, you know. Cheer up." She looked at Willow. "That's not really the problem is it?"

Fred sighed. "I don't know what the problem is," she stated, feeling helpless again. She looked at the sky in the direction of the sun which was setting behind some hill, colouring the landscape orange. Fred's face reflected the orange light. "It's…I'm a physicist. All I've believed in are the laws of motion, gravity, Isaac Newton and all those other famous Physicist…I grow up believing those things. Magic is just…hard. I learn it shouldn't be possible."

"But it is," Willow pressed. "I thought…you'd be okay with it, now that you've been with Angel for a while."

The girl nodded. "Yes. I am. Well kinda. I am when it is for other people. I mean, Cordy, and you and Lindsey. But when it's me…I don't know, I just think it should be impossible. I mean, I'm not special, I'm just Fred."

Willow smiled and put a hand up to Fred's face, her thumb absently stroking her cheek. "You are special, Fred. Everyone is. I can see it in you. You have a power as well. And it can be used."

Fred just looked down, feeling slightly embarrassed and then back up to Willow's face. She didn't know what was going to happen next. The skyline was going dark now with the disappearance of the sun. She wanted to fidget, say something to make some kind of movement. Nothing came, though for a moment until she and Willow jumped from the changing of the scenery. Fred coughed her throat to try and ease the discomfort that had descended upon them. The landscape had changed to nothing different. Just a long abandoned road like a dirty track. There seemed to be desert everywhere in sight and it was dark. The only light came from the stars.

"Now what?" Fred asked.

It was almost as if her prayers were answered. Willow was beginning to run out of ideas for their quest. She hadn't expected it to be this difficult what with the changing realities. When everything moved, so could the old widow. They could be on the other end of this dimensional planet. But from the distance came a small light. A small green light that was coming towards them along the road, growing bigger and bigger but Fred and Willow realized, as it came closer, that it wasn't that big at all. The glow was big but there was something within in the glow, repelling the light. And that thing was really small.

Fred's mouth just dropped open and Willow's eyebrows rise in amusement. Floating in between them was what looked like a small fairy. It looked like a miniature human, no bigger than someone's thumb and it was smiling at them. Willow came closer and the little fairy pointed in the right direction. Then it flew, motioned to them to follow. "Where's it taking us?"

"Right where we want to. To the where the energy is cantered. The Source."

Fred and Willow looked at each other. Willow giggled. "It's just like Tinkerbelle from Peter Pan."

Fred scrunched up her nose and followed Willow who was following the fairy. "I never liked Tinkerbelle," she said as if she had given it a lot of thought.

"Why not? I thought she was cute."

Fred shrugged. "She had a problem with Wendy."

*  *  *  *  *

Angel came down the stairs, followed by Gunn. They had both got up at the same time and bumped into each other in the hall. Gunn had been up early, practising with his axe because he couldn't sleep. Fred's travel into another dimension and Wesley's kidnapping was keeping him awake at night. It was like something was going to happen to all of them. The apocalypse was posing its threatening doom over and over again upon them. Gunn was waiting his turn but determined to not give up without a fight. If he could, he was going to prevent everyone's death, including Spikes, because it was the right thing to do. Now, Gunn realized, emotions could no longer play apart...

"Nothing," Angel said, as he practically jogged down the stairs in a rush to get down. Gunn followed him quickly. "I don't even know where to start. They could be anywhere. And we call ourselves detectives."

"I think the whole detective idea flew out the window quite a while ago," Gunn replied. "Chill, Angel. We get down to business today. Get everyone on it, all day. Someone must know more. One of Lorne's contacts….someone!"

Angel nodded. "What's left of the Council must still be a fair amount. If only a few survived then Fisher wouldn't have been able to set this thing up. It would have been pointless."

"Yeah, but they got that all powerful stick," Gunn said, folding his arms across his chest and sighed. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting fed up of powerful things dotting up all over the place. We can't keep tabs on them anymore. Maybe we should make a list?"

The door opened and Lindsey came in with a box and cups in his hands which he was trying to balance. "Hey," he said, dumping them on the table. "I went out early, figured we could all—well except you and Spike—do with some kind of breakfast. I got coffee and I think I brought out the whole of the croissant selection at Starbucks."

Gunn smiled cheerfully as he reached into the box to lift out a wrapped croissant. "Calatine boy's smart," he answered, smiling at Lindsey.

"Did you see or find anything out whilst you were out there?" Angel demanded, not interesting in the trifling business of the morning. Gunn on the other hand, seemed thrilled with the croissant and the coffee, which he commented he had been deprived of for quite a while. Now, he looked hopefully at Lindsey when Angel asked the question.

Lindsey shrugged. "Didn't get the chance to ask anyone. I don't really know many places to go since I've come back. I went to a demon bar that was still open but if they did know anything they weren't telling. They weren't even threatened a bit by Calatine but he was a wimp." Lindsey shook his head. "I think that branch of the Council are keeping a low profile. They don't want anyone going after them whilst they're setting up."

Angel nodded. "You're right," he said as Faith and Spike emerged from the basement. Gunn raised an eyebrow but gathered that she had been releasing her anger and stress from punching a bag down in the basement. He could understand that she would want to relieve after finding out that her boyfriend had been kidnapped by the same people that tried to kill her. Gunn didn't really see Faith as the emotional type but if the Council kept this up for long, Faith would completely break down. She hadn't slept very much obviously. Her hair was mussed, she was dressed in yesterday's clothes and she had dark lines under her eyes.

She looked at Angel. "I'm going to shower," she said. "Freshen up and then start work, yeah?" She had tried to sound upbeat but it seemed to pass right through the rest of them. Without waiting for an answer, she headed for the stairs.

"Poor girl," Spike said, lighting a cigarette as he watched with the others. "She's taking it hard. I'm telling you, Peaches, we better get the Watcher back or we might get the old Faith back."

"Sometimes the old Faith is what we need," Angel answered thoughtfully. "And Wesley is not a Watcher. Not anymore. He's not one of them. We're going to get him out of their grasp before any damage. We're going to see to that. The only thing that's giving them the upper hand is that stick that they have. We need to know what it is, get it away from them and destroy it."

"Then we're free to kick their asses," Gunn said enthusiastically.

"I guess we're all researching," Lindsey remarked. "I came here with a power and I spend most of my time looking through books. Maybe you should start paying me, Angel."

"Maybe if we were getting paid, I would. We'll talk about your employee check later. Right now, all I want to know is that stick…"

"Solstice," someone said and the three of them looked up towards the office door where they were heading to. Andrew was standing in the doorway, holding a book which was almost too large for any normal person to carry. He was balancing it on both his hands which was opened at a specific page. Andrew looked pretty much like Faith: he was dressed in old clothes, with tousled hair and looked tired. Spike looked into the office and thought that Andrew must have been in there all night, looking up books and he raised his eyebrows, looking back at Andrew. This boy was different from the one he knew.

"What?" Angel said.

"I-I found it in this book," Andrew said, holding it out. He walked back into the office and the others followed. The office was a mess. If Wesley were here, he would have a fit at the scattered books and papers on the floor. "I thought I should do something so I looked on the shelves for books and I eventually came across this one, which is about a gem, called Solstice which has some kind of power."

Spike turned the book towards him. "Solciste was an ancient stone, made by Asian monks in Medieval times... It's power isn't evil but it can be used for evil intentions. Somewhere in the late thirteenth century it was lost…in another dimension." He frowned when he looked up at the others. "How in blazes did the Council get a gem from another dimension? I didn't think they had enough power to do that. Especially this retarded lot."

Andrew shrugged but Angel and Gunn didn't do anything. Andrew fidgeted. "Well, they did. And that's it. See, the picture's exactly the same."

"We believe you, kid," Gunn said. "That's not we're worried about. We're worried how the Council got it. It can only be through some evil black magic stuff, yeah? I mean, how did this lot get through? Everything and everyone was destroyed at the Council."

"They were," Faith said, leaning against the doorframe. She lifted herself up and walked into the room. "Let's face it, there's nothing left of the Council. It was completely wiped off by the First. Like this Beast thing, it went after all of them, the ones who had days off or called in sick. So how come a bunch of Council workers got out, and the ones that were kind bad anyway. It could only mean one thing. They were given some slack by the same thing that gave them that stone."

Angel pounded his fist onto the table. "The First." His frustration showed evidently and Andrew looked on worriedly. He looked at Spike for some kind of comfort but the blond vampires just nodded reassuringly as if to say it was all right. Gunn just rolled his eyes, not believing that they hadn't seen it before. The First had let some members of the Council go. For what? What did they stand from the First and vice versa?

"Who knows," Angel said.

Lindsey shrugged. "Maybe it's part of the First's plan to get rid of Wesley. And Giles as well. They are previous Watcher's and they're both pretty intellectual. They are now the next most knowledgeable 'cause the Council is dead. Maybe it's a threat to the First."

Spike poked his cigarette into the ashtray. "You'd think with all these threats, the stupid bugger would be dead by now."

Lindsey smiled slightly towards Andrew. "We got the boy back, haven't we?"

Gunn nodded. "Yeah, the First's probably shitting itself right now about that." Andrew smiled broadly. "But watch out, kid. You're out best link at the moment. Any peep on where Wesley is from those heavenly headaches and you come running to us."

Andrew frowned. "You'd think they'd be quicker about it. I mean, they want the world saved so why not just give me visions non-stop."

"And give you a frikking headache," Spike remarked. Andrew shrugged, informing them that he didn't care.

Angel was about to say something but then he stopped. He was about to say something along the lines of the visions killing him, when he suddenly realized that they would. It was the same problem they'd had with Cordy. Andrew wasn't human either and he obviously had no idea about the consequences. His brain would slowly deteriorate from the visions and end up killing him. For a moment, he felt sick. How could the powers do that to a boy? In his mind, he made a mental note to find some way for Andrew to get to a cure, even if it did mean going through the process of making him half demon.

"Angel, man, you alrite?" Gunn asked.

Angel nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Come on, we'd better get working or else we'll never get anywhere. Get Lorne out again. Pound every single low life and high life demon out there until they tell us where the Council are hiding. I don't care what we have to do to do it."

With that, he walked out, leaving the rest of them in the office. Faith picked up a stake from the table. "Well, I'm up for some demon pounding. Who's with me?" Lindsey and Gunn looked at each other and then meekly raised their hands against Faith's defiance.

*  *  *  *  *

Buffy stared out of the window. The clouds were gathering in Sunnydale and for a town that rarely saw a thunderstorm, it was a bad sign. Buffy could feel it in the pit of her stomach. Clouds gathering always meant something was looming in the distance, like an apocalypse. Sunnydale had been quiet. The First hadn't peeked its head but there were still Bringers lurking in the distance and occasionally there were daring attempts on part of desperate renegades that had heard the First's offer and kill the Potentials. So far, none of them had succeeded. And the Potentials remained safe, still practising.

But there was nothing to fight at the moment. The First had taken its battle to LA for the moment and it was taking its toll. Buffy was certain it wouldn't be gone for long. It would be back. It needed to get rid of the Potentials as part of its plan. So it would be back. And Buffy would be ready, she thought to herself and she stared out at the darkened street.

But still…kissing Angel. It was the one thing that had been running through her mind all day. She had always been afraid to admit it. Yet after Parker, Riley and even Spike, Angel was the one that had truly loved him. She could sense it in that kiss. How could a love so perfect be so faltered?

Giles came in with a cup of coffee in his hands. He saw Buffy standing at the window and immediately knew that she was worried about something. She was rigid, her arms folded across her chest and her face had that determined but the eyes showed worry. That's the only way Giles seemed to see her these days. And for once he wished he could see the playful Buffy again. "What are you thinking?" he suddenly asked, making her jump.

"Giles! You scared me," she said and smiled, feeling embarrassed that she had started at something like that. She glimpsed at the window again. "Just things."

"A thing is always something specific."

Buffy smiled and came to sit down in one of the living room chairs. She toyed with the bottom of her jumper. "I was thinking that we shouldn't have left LA."

Giles nodded slowly. "I thought as much. Why is that? Because Angel is there? Because Wesley has been kidnapped? Or because you fancy getting in the fray with the First again?"

Buffy shrugged and smiled slightly, amazed that Giles could always sense what she was thinking. "A bit of all of them. I just feel as though we should be doing something, not sitting here waiting for the First to come. It's in LA! We should be helping Angel. His forces are running low. Willow is gone and now Wesley is gone…and I want to help." She sagged down into the couch, putting on a face of misery.

Her watcher smiled. "I understand your desire to go and help. I must admit that…reunion…in Los Angeles was somewhat amusing."

"It was…different," Buffy said, leaning forward and smiling with a faraway look in her eyes. "So it was heated at first but then it got better. If we had stayed then I think things would have worked out for everyone. Faith is very different and so is Wesley. They almost…well suit each other the way they are now." She frowned. "It's strange to say that, or even think that they are together."

Giles laughed. "That's certainly true."

"And just…everything. Even Andrew and he'd only been gone for a few days. He has something to do now. It's like he'd…grown up. Had something worth doing and he's making an effort…not getting in everyone's way. In fact, I feel somewhat guilty."

Giles put his coffee cup down. "Guilty?"

"For the way I treated him. How we all treated him. He took it personally."

"Well, as you said, he has a responsibility now, a reason for someone to need him. But I understand you feeling. Loneliness is a horrible feeling. And at the moment, everyone sees to be alone. Such occasions are a time of loneliness. You as the slayer should know that. But it also puts a strain on everyone else. Xander…Anya…now Dawn. Even Angel and Mr Gunn looked slightly lost. Things will not be easy Buffy."

"I know. And I keep telling myself that and you keep telling me that. I'm not deaf. I'm working on it." There was an uncomfortable silence. "Andrew rang earlier. He said that Wesley had been captured by the Council—a man called Fisher?"

Giles nodded. "Yes. I know of him."

Buffy sighed. "Angel is running a riot trying to find him and we're stuck here. But he says he'll need help. And it's perfect for the Potentials. When Angel locates where the Council are holding Wesley, we're going to back to Sunnydale and they're going to fight their way out of it." She turned back towards the window. "The Potentials have no idea what they're getting themselves into."

*  *  *  *  *

Wesley screamed and tried to twist away from the source of the pain. It seemed to engulf him, sending shock waves through his body. He gasped in pain as the torture stopped and he lay on the floor, gasping for breath. The cold concrete had never seemed so appealing before. He pressed his face into the ground but opened his eyes to see his surroundings.

It had been going on for hours, Wesley was sure of it. When Fisher dragged him back to lock him in his box room it had been dark. When he had awoken next due to a sharp searing pain, it was still dark. And he felt tired. Whatever Fisher wanted to do, he wanted to do quickly. Wesley didn't even have enough time to determine what was going on when the shock wave of pain had ripped through his body mercilessly and continued until he was almost unconscious.

Now he looked around him. He was still in that stupid dark box room, only standing in front of him was Harper and he held a stick in his hand. The glowing jewel seemed to be pointing right at Wesley. "What is that?" he asked, his voice catching from the lack of water.

The pain was subsiding, although there was a ringing in his ears.

Harper shrugged. "I don't know, and I don't give a toss. It's the best thing that's been handed out to us. It's for getting rid of the likes of you."

There was an edge of anger and disgust in his voice. Wesley sat up on his elbows and then pulled the rest of himself up to lean against the wall. Harper watched him carefully. "What is it, Harper," Wesley said, an edge of menace to his voice. "What is your reason for all this? Why the hell would the First keep a skinny, pathetic Watcher like you?"

The jewel seemed to glow and Wesley arched his head as pain exploded into it again. He shook for it to go away, his scream echoing around him and then it disappeared, leaving stars in his eyes. He could hear Harper speaking. "Do you want to know why?" Harper said coming forward. The jewel was almost right up against Wesley's face. If he blasted him, it would be the end. "Do you really want to know why I want to do this?"

Wesley nodded as calmly as he could as he fought for breath. "Yes, I do."

"You're a disgrace, Wesley. You give Watchers a bad name, that's the first one. But this is even more personal. You had in your care, the Slayer. And then two! Two bloody slayers and you let them go with a shade of incompetence. One went psycho and the other quit. We were left with nothing, almost jobless, no reason to continue. The remaining Watcher's generation was over because they couldn't work with a slayer who wouldn't take orders."

Wesley narrowed his eyes as Harper continued.

"You had what most Watcher's dreamed of. The Council didn't even think it was possible that two slayers could exist at the same time but they did. You had it. And you lost it…for all of us."

Wesley could see that Harper was growing mad again. The young watcher, so blinded by his passion had failed to see the drawn line of where good and evil were wrong. He didn't know the score, he just wanted some revenge. And this was how he was getting it. A long time ago, Wesley knew he would have felt somewhat sympathetic towards him. Now all he felt was anger. So as Harper prepared to release another blast of energy, fuelled by his anger, he kicked out with all his strength.

The stick rolled to the floor and Harper shouted out loud. He scrambled to get it but Wesley kicked him forward, sending him sprawling. As the ex-water prepared to continue, Harper stood up, knocking Wesley onto his back and he winced slightly as he head connected with the hard floor. With a burst of energy, he shot up and pushed Harper into the wall.

"Do you want to know what darkness really is, you idiot?" Wesley said harshly, shaking him slightly. "It's not a place you want to go. I've been there. And it's cold. It's harsh. It's nothingness. Do you really want to go there?"

"I've been there!" Harper cried back. "I've been to nothing."

Wesley tightened his hold. From the side of his face, he could feel the blood begin to drip down. "It extends beyond nothing. It's when you suddenly realize, that you really have no care in the world for anything. There is nothing out there that gives a toss about you and vice versa. You delude yourself with bad images; you focus on the darkness within you. And if you want to go deep, you go and meddle with some dark arts. Dabble in the occult a bit and then you'll be really bad."

He could see Harper's eyes taking on a new light, as if suddenly, that had seemed really appealing. Wesley wondered if that's what Karl had looked like when he first realized. He pulled out a knife that was lying in Harper's belt and with one quick thrust, pushed it into Harper, into his chest where his heart was.

"Unfortunately, you'll never have the chance to know."

Harper's eyes changed to one of tempting glee to shock. He looked down at the knife and then back at Wesley. They widened in terror but he didn't say anything when Wesley let go. He just slid down the wall, blood pouring out profusely.

Wesley stood back and watched the young watcher die in front of him. And once again, he felt that nothingness where he simply didn't care anymore.

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