Chapter Five
Gunn had wandered off to his room to see if he could find some dry clothes. Spike decided, since the danger was pretty much over, to look around a bit. He entered what looked like an office, and sat behind the desk. He opened a drawer, and found a picture laying face down. Curious he picked it up. It was of Angel, Cordelia, and Wesley. Spike smiled. Cordelia looked young, Wesley looked more like a ponce, and Angel...well he never really changed. They were smiling and happy. Wesley was holding up his thumb in a thumbs up way. Spike laughed. "What a prat!" He said with a laugh, and placed the picture on the desk. "Man this is dusty!" He got up to look for a cloth to wipe the dust away.
He found an old box of tissues on an old book shelf, and turn around to find Layla holding the picture. She looked at it curiously. Then she carefully replaced it on the desk.
"Life is very fleeting here," she whispered. She turned and looked at Spike.
Spike walked back over to the desk, and took the picture and started to clean it with a tissue. "Yeah, well...nothing lasts forever."
He could feel her eyes on him. "But," she said as she laid her hand on his arm, "it does." He looked up into her eyes. "Your friends, who they were, what they became, go on in you, and in the hearts of others. Nothing ever truly dies."
Then she looked awkward. She reached into her outer robe and pulled out a box. "I think you should have this."
Spike looked at her in puzzlement.
"It's Angel. His remains. I thought...you should have it. To bury with his friends."
For once, Spike didn't know what to say. He just nodded, and took the box.
Whatever moment, or connection that was there, was shattered in the next breath, by the banging of the outer doors.
Illyria had returned.
Gunn rushed down the stairs at the same time Spike and Layla came darting out of the office.
Illyria had laid Wesley's body carefully on the couch, and was carefully covering it with a blanket. "His flesh is beginning to decay. We must perform the rituals soon."
Spike nodded, and Gunn swallowed. Illyria was trembling, but both men felt it more than wise to not mention it.
"Right, let's be off then," Spike announced.
"What you got there?" Gunn asked nodding at the box, and trying his best not to look at the body of his friend.
"Angel," Spike stated still looking at Wesley.
"Oh...well then..." Gunn looked lost for words, eyes now focused entirely on the box.
Layla stepped forward. "I can take you to the site more quickly." She nodded toward the windows. "The sun will rise soon, haste seems to be required."
She motioned for everyone to hold hands. "Um...I am afraid touch is necessary."
Illyria gathered Wesley to herself once again. Gunn held her arm. Spike sighed, a little irritated at having hold Gunn's hand. But when Layla took his....if he had needed to breathe, he would have lost it. There was a jolt through his whole body; from his finger tips to his brain. But there was no time to think about it, the room was swirling and the hotel faded away...