Disclaimer: Mutant Enemy, Joss Whedon, Fox and everyone else who owns a piece of BTVS/ATS owns everything. I merely own this piece of wonderful fanfiction. Although I do wish I could actually own Angel. Oh glory day, that would be the day.
Pairing: B/A and other couples will come soon.
Spoilers: Season 7 of BTVS and Season 4 of Angel is basically the ONLY spoilers. Nothing in Season 5 exists.
Notes: All right, the beginning takes place during the final battle in Chosen. Nothing goes according to plan. So everything that happens is basically AU. And just to clear a few things up, Angel NEVER gets the amulet in Home. You'll get why.
And remember. ATS S5 NEVER happens.
Oh, the things in Italics are narrated by Xander.
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Part One: A New Era
It had been a year since we lost.
Flashback:
May 20 2003, Sunnydale CA.
Spike fought off some Turok-Han alongside the others. He stepped back and glanced at the amulet around his neck. The thing was beginning to piss him off.
He touched it, but he withdrew his hand, it burned his palm. He looked at Buffy, "Buffy whatever this thing does, I think ..." He screamed in agony, but Buffy couldn't hear him.
Buffy continued fighting, "Keep the line together! Drive them to the edge. We can't let them ..." She felt a shot of pain go through her. She looked down at her abdomen, amazed at how the wound began to flow with blood.
Faith seeing this rushed towards her, "Buffy!" She knelt next to her.
Buffy raised her head, wincing in pain, "Hold the line." She said gasping for breath. She pushed the scythe towards Faith.
Faith stared at Buffy in shock, but understood what she had to do. She took the scythe and rushed back into the heat in the battle killing one Turok-Han after another.
Lying bleeding and barely conscious on the ground, Buffy watched in dismay. Slayers around her were being killed. She winced looking at the Asian Slayer named Choa-an being seized by a Turok-han.
A bloody stake fell in front of her, following it is the body of Amanda, her face covered in blood. Her eyes staring sightlessly at Buffy.
She closed her eyes in pain. She couldn't bear to see another innocent girl die. The sound of the fighting fade and she could only hear her own voice. She opened her eyes and saw herself towering over her, an identical wound dripping of blood. She knew who it was, The First.
"Oh no ..." The First mocked, smiling slightly, "ow! Mommy, this mortal wound is all ...itchy." The First crouched down next to Buffy; "you pulled a nice trick. You came pretty close to smacking me down. What more do you want?" The First boomed, grinning at The Slayer.
Buffy glared at The First. The fight slowly comes back into her eyes. Her face-hardened with determination, "I want you to get out of my face." She says pushing herself onto her hands and knees.
The First backs away and soon disappears.
Rona threw the scythe to Buffy. She clutched it in her hand, whipping it around a full 180. It kills a few Turok-Han and sends others flying off over the edge.
Next to Buffy, a pile of Turok-Han suddenly explode outward and Faith leaped to her feet killing more Turok-Han.
For the first time since the battle had begun, Buffy smiled. They were winning, "Keep it going! We're almost there!" She screamed, fighting off some Turok-Han. Buffy kicked one of the Turok-Han in the abdomen, sending it flying backward.
A scream shot out throughout the entire cave. Buffy whipped her head around to see the Slayers had the upper hand, but were soon overtaken by Turok-Han.
Buffy was at lost. They were just winning a few moments ago.
"Well isn't this suddenly interesting." The First came from behind Buffy, smiling in pride.
Buffy was beyond pissed, "What do you want?" She said, furious.
The First morphed into the form of Angel. Every single detail was there, his clothes, everything.
Buffy was at lost for words.
The First used Angel's trademark half smile, "I want you." The First laughed, "now, what to do," The First motioned its hand around the room.
Buffy's eyes followed and saw what she had seen earlier. They were loosing. By the second slayers were falling. Buffy screamed as she saw Spike being dusted. She tried running to him, but was held back as Turok-Han came from behind her and shoved her towards The First.
"I guess that amulet I gave you didn't work." The First said bringing its hands at its sides.
Buffy was shocked. That wasn't Angel who appeared at the Tomb? But it felt so real.
"Are you in love with him? Okay, maybe I'm out of line but this is kind of a curve ball for me. I mean, we are talking about Spike here." The First said mocking what Angel had spoken earlier.
"You bitch!" Buffy charged at The First but ran right through.
The First smiled, "My dear Buffy, your ex-lover has no idea what's about to happen." The First morphed into the form of her mother.
Buffy was more furious than ever, "Who gives you the right ..." Before Buffy could continue she was knocked to the ground. Her head splitting open on impact. The First smiled in approval.
"A job well done."
End Flashback
It was the last I had seen Buffy. I really never knew what happened to her. No one did. Faith had managed to escape with only a few ex-slayers behind her.
I on the other hand was busy looking for Willow, Giles and Anya. I finally found them; they were all outside already. Except Anya.
"She died a hero." Was all Andrew had told me. A part of me wanted to die with her, but somehow I knew she wanted me to continue on living. and so I did.
Anyways back to the story. We had realized we needed to get out of Sunnydale quick. Without hesitation myself as well as the other survivors rushed into the school bus, and we drove for our lives.
The Turok-Han had chased us out of Sunnydale. We didn't know what we were going to do without Buffy.
"We go to LA." Giles had said. Although I wasn't a big fan of Angel, I had agreed. He was our last thread of hope. So we drove for nearly two hours until we had reached the address Willow had told us to go to.
But once we arrived the place was empty. Only a few dusty books remained behind the counter. Willow noticed something though, she found a quick note.
"Angel Investigations has moved locations. Please head to Wolfram and Heart for further notice. Thank you. Signed, Fred."
Willow had read. We all looked at each other. I had heard about Wolfram and Heart was not a place where good people work, but we had no choice. So we went.
People and demons of all shapes and sizes greeted us. I was surprised Harmony had been working there. But of course, she WAS a evil vampire, so I could accept that. Knowing we were there for Angel, she brought us to him.
Angel looked at all of us. He didn't say anything but just stare. After a few moments of silence Angel spoke, "What happened? Where's Buffy?" I was shocked. Wasn't he there when Buffy had beaten Caleb?
Giles was confused also, "What do you mean? You know full well what happened."
Angel looked at us weird. He really wasn't there after all; "no I don't know what happened. I haven't spoken to any of you besides Willow in a really long time."
"Wait a minute, you weren't in Sunnydale yesterday?" I asked, hoping he would actually answer something truthfully.
Angel shook his head, "No."
And that's when I realized something. The First had set everything up. The amulet was nothing, it had no meaning. It made me sick to the bone. The First had tricked us for its amusement. It knew it was going to win.
Los Angeles, 2004
The sun had set. No one had remained on the streets. Earth had been like that lately. You would never see a living human being out at a time like this. There was one girl who went through this kind of fear, but she had died long before it happened.
And now, the world had fallen into fear. Presidents, kings or ministers didn't rule the world. The world was ruled by one thing, The First. It had finally won. For the first time, Evil had truly overpowered good.
The Powers that be had known something like this would happen. So being cowards, they hid. Never to be seen again. Leaving only a few warriors on Earth fighting for life during the Final Apacoplyse.
The Four Horsemen led the first's army. No one saw it coming. Not even Angel himself. But he did all he could before yelling for the few survivors to retreat back. And so that's when it happened. The world was overtaken by evil, first starting in Asia and then expanding from there.
Angel, the last thread of hope, organized an institution of some sorts underground. With the help of Willow, Xander, Gunn and Wesley, they planned to defeat The First as well as evil itself.
...............
Underground inside an abandoned Subway station, Angel leaned numbly against a steel rail. He looked at the others across from him. They all seemed happy. Like joyous little clowns. But somehow, while looking into their eyes he saw nothing by despair.
They all had lost someone they had loved. But his was different. He never had the chance to see her. The last time he ever did was over two years ago. And now it only seemed like a dream. To see her face would make him the happiest man in the world.
"Angel." He heard an all too familiar voice call to him. He felt small tender arms wrap around his waist, and then he turned his head to look at her. The girl he had fallen in love so many years ago.
She smiled at him, her teeth shinning brightly as the sun.
He smiled back down at her, "What are you doing here?" He asked.
She squeezed him tighter, "I came here for you silly." She released her hands from his waist, and went to stand in front of him. She raised her hand and pointed.
His eyes followed her to where she pointed, and behind him he saw something he hadn't seen before. A monster was hunched over, it's claws shredding at an innocent girl. Without hesitation he ran to the girl, but he was grabbed from behind.
He spun and found Buffy looking up at him, her innocent eyes beaming, "You can't save her." She frowned, "no one can."
The ground began to shake, making Angel Fall to his knees. He grunted as he looked up at Buffy.
Behind her, Doyle stood. He looked at the innocent girl lying dead. He shook his head as he looked at Angel, a frown crossing his Irish features, "I knew the Powers that Be shouldn't have chosen you."
Angel opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Nothing, not even puffs of air.
Buffy and Doyle began to laugh, "You are no hero."
Dark brown eyes fluttered open, "Angel, wake up." He heard Xander's voice call to him as he was being shook. He sat up, rubbing the back of his head, "Man, took you awhile just to wake up."
"Yeah." Was all he said. Something about that dream meant something, he just didn't know what.
.......................
TBC...
Oh my word. What does the Dream mean? Find out when the next chapter is updated!