Chapter Three

Angel had no thought in his mind as he stared blankly at the wall. He had no idea what time it was, or what was happening around him. In all the centuries that he had lived, he had lost many people he loved. But somehow he had made himself believe that he would not loose Buffy. Now that she was gone, there was nothing to think about. To him, there was nothing to fight for. At that moment when the whole the so called living people were out in the sun burying the one person he ever loved, he wished for the first time in his life that he didn't have a soul.

"Need some company?" Faith said as she joined the loner.

"Why aren't you in the funeral?" He asked but he didn't take his eyes off the spot in the wall.

"I am not the whole wearing the black dress, going to the funeral type. Anyway the more I see her still body the more I hate myself. After all she is dead because of me."

"No she is not. And you know that."

"If I had never met Piper…"

"If you had never met Piper a lot of good that you all did together wouldn't have been done, not to mention the hell mouth would have never been closed."

"If the hell mouth would have never closed, Kennedy wouldn't have died the way she did."

"If she had not died, you or Buffy would not have lasted this long."

"Are you on their side now?" Faith asked unable to believe that Angel was defending the sisters, especially on Buffy's funeral.

"I wish it was as simple as about taking sides." He replied with his head hung low.

"To me it is." Anger was one feeling that Faith never suppressed.

"We are on the same side." Though overwhelmed by grief Angel still tried to see past the pain.

"No, we are not. Not when she took that dragger and …" Faith couldn't continue as tears filled her eyes. She looked away to swallow them.

"Right in front of you." Angel finished her thought, "I can't even begin to imagine how you must have felt."

"You are right. You can't imagine but I was watching it and I was feeling it. So, don't tell me that I am supposed to side with those murderers." Faith snapped at Angel with her eyes red with hurt, anger and tears.

"As much as I hate to admit it, you are right. I don't care what is right and wrong, just know that I am on your side. It's your call, whatever you choose to do." Angel looked into the slayer's eyes to make sure that she understood that he meant what he said.

"I want them dead. I want them dead just like my baby is dead."

The sisters hadn't still completely believed Wesley when he had to leave to pick up one of his colleague. He had promised to fill them about what had happened in the year that supposedly they had forgotten when he came back.

"So, you really think we have lost a whole year of our memory?" Paige asked as they made their way to the attic.

"I don't know. I mean if he is right, how come we remember the date. I mean I know its November 15th of 2003 not 2002." Phoebe certainly didn't believe Wesley.

"We could have been sent to the past or the future. But usually when we time travel we are not in our own bodies. Except for that one time when Phoebe was burnt alive. But that one was because we were supposed to learn a lesson." Piper bantered.

"But we always remember where or when we came from, so this might not be our doing. I mean we had to remember something right?" Phoebe asked.

"Or may be this is all our white-lighter's doing and he is refusing to show himself right now." Paige said as she once again screamed for Leo.

Paige was still screaming Leo's name and Phoebe was already flipping through the Book of Shadows when Piper saw it.

"That?" She said, making her sister's look at the object.

"I don't remember that being there. Do you Paige?" Phoebe asked.

"No, I don't. It's a very nice looking couch though." Paige admired the furniture.

"Well thank you. I bought that. For Faith. For her place. What is it doing here?" Piper told her sisters as she moved closer. "And this end table and … These are all the furniture that Faith and I got for her place. Not to mention few more things that I don't remember buying but by the look of it from the same place."

"Ohh! This is not good." Phoebe whispered so that Piper wouldn't hear her conclusion.

"You can say that again." Paige agreed in a whisper too.

"Thank god you came." Wesley said hugging the woman who walked out of the airport.

"Of course. I told you I was coming." Fred said returning the hug. "So what is happening, is the …"

"Yes." Wesley answered impatiently and rushed her to the passenger seat.

"But the worse has happened. Buffy is dead." He said as he backed out of the parking lot.

"What?"

"I don't know anything. The only thing I can imagine is that Buffy must have intervened and the sisters couldn't help it."

"Of course Buffy intervened. Why wouldn't she? But so would Faith. Where was Faith at that time?"

"I don't know. I was in Sunnydale this morning, but the whole house is mourning and Faith would rather kill me than listen to me."

"I guess that is expected. Especially now that Buffy is dead. But didn't the sisters tell you …"

"No, the worse has happened. The sisters have lost their memory."

"What!" Fred exclaimed for the second time.

"Right now my theory is that, Piper or they must have felt so guilty that she must have cast a spell on themselves either consciously or unconsciously."

"But what good would that do?"

"I don't know. It certainly would not change what happened but at least that would save Piper from a pain of a broken heart." Wesley tried to reason Piper's motive.

"Or shield her from the consequences of a jealous rage." Fred spoke out her own theory.

"Now you don't believe that." What Wesley meant was that he didn't want to believe that.

"Oh! Come on. Buffy is dead. Regardless of the deal we made with the sisters, Buffy didn't have to be dead. But she is. Guilt must have played some role in her decision."

"Let's not jump to conclusion. For all we know, it wasn't even the sisters who cast the spell on themselves. May be something else is in play here." Wesley said, trying his best to believe his own words.

Piper tried to calm her thoughts and go over everything that had happened since this morning and everything that was it was implying to and everything she felt in her heart. It just didn't make sense to her. It felt like she was watching three different movies, with same characters but different stories. There was the first picture of her present or the present as she knew to be, where Faith and she were a happy couple. Then there was the present as the events were implying to be where Faith had obviously left her and Faith's ex girlfriend or possibly current girlfriend might have been killed by her. And then there was the third picture that her heart felt but did not show clearly, where she did feel sad, torn and even guilty but she certainly didn't feel heart broken. And if Faith had left her as the furniture in front of her implied then she knew that if nothing else she would feel heart broken and that wasn't what she felt.

"Look." She finally said. "I know what this looks like and what it implies. But I don't feel it in my heart that Faith left me. And before you start, the answer is no. No, I didn't feel that she left me even when she was choking me or when she threw that knife at us. I agree something has happened and we might be the ones who might have done it. And yes, she is hurt. Why shouldn't she be? Buffy is dead for Christ's sake. But no way in hell, am I willing to believe that Faith doesn't love me and I don't love her, no matter what has happened. Just like I am unwillingly to believe that we had anything to do with our losing our memories. So, don't stare at me and look in the book for any demon or even angels who could have done this to us; thinking that they were doing us a favor." Piper concluded and stared up hoping that Leo heard what she was saying.

"Or may be not." Phoebe said, glaring at the page that had shown itself in the most untimely moment.

"What did you find?" Piper hurried beside her sister.

"The power of three spell to erase memory." Paige stated the words that were staring at them.