Cordelia's ear piercing scream rang out through the otherwise still and quite hotel lobby. She gripped her head, her knees buckled and she fell crashing to the floor. With in seconds both Angels were by her side sharing the job of holding her steady.

"I'm fine, fine." She said squirming from their grips. She held on to the back of her head, and began to stand on her still rather unsteady legs. She hated to be babied no matter how much pain the visions caused. She found a chair and parked herself down still rubbing the back of her head. She looked up at both Angels with fear piercing her eyes. "It's about you" she motioned to Angel and Gunn, who had been let out of the hospital a week ago. "All of you. And us. Oh, god, it is like a nightmare." The images were still rushing into her brain. She wrapped both arms around herself trying to quell the fear rising inside her. It was of little use.

Lorne walked in "What's up kiddies." Appraising his surroundings he changed his tone "Oh." Turning his attention to Cordelia "Oh! Oh! Honey this is not good. Your aura is just screaming help me! And make it quick!"

Cordelia gave him an annoyed glance. The visions were not getting easier and the panic that inevitably accompanied them always made it worse. This one was particularly bad. Her own thoughts running around in her head only added fuel to the fire.

"Where's Wesley, I want to talk Wesley." She sounded panicked. Angel went to reach for her but she pulled back further into the chair. He looked a little stunned. Did she not trust him?

Everyone looked around for a moment. It was a rather unusual request for her to make. Not that her and Wesley weren't close, but she never previously called for him when she was in a state of distress. After a moment Gunn went of to get him stating they would be right back.

Gunn ran upstairs to Fred's room. He wasn't necessarily shocked to find that Wes had created quite the bond with Fred and Illyria during his stay in the hospital. But he wasn't really sure how to feel about that. He knew he had no claim on her, but Fred was his girl too. During his stay in the hospital he had a lot of time to reflect on their past. Although it probably wasn't very fair to Wesley, he hoped he could make at least part of that past change for the better when it came to him and Fred. However, now was not the time for jealous thoughts. He knocked on the door "Wes, you in there?" He heard Fred giggle a bit. He called again "Wes?"

Illyria opened the door sharply "Gunn." Very much a statement.

"I need Wes, he in there?"

"I'm here Gunn, what do you need." He was still slightly laughing at whatever story they had been sharing.

"It's Cordy; she had a vision, and not a good one from the sounds of it. She is asking for you."

He sobered up a bit. "Of course, let's go."

"…I don't know if any of it did any bloody good. I think I chickened out. I didn't say enough. Maybe I should go back!" Spike was talking himself in circles sloshing though the sewers of Downtown LA, battle axe in one hand.

"All I asked was how you were doing." Replied a bewildered Gunn. The two were out on patrol for the latest big nasty. They ended up together pretty much by default. Spike just wanted to kill something and Gunn couldn't bring himself to deal with….himself. Well, the himself that just got out of the hospital. It reminded him all too much that he was mortal, not the big, undying hero he feels like in a fight. It was a little too much reality for him.

"I guess it has been on my mind a bit."

"Well, what happened out there in good old Hellmouth, USA anyway?" The stopped walking, reaching a fork in the sewer path. Gunn motioned with his sword "Left or right?"

Spike closed his eyes took in a deep breath and tried to sense something, anything, that would put them closer to the trail of the demons they were chasing. After a moment of thought "Right." They stepped into the tunnel. "I went to see myself. Try to convince me to do the right thing. To step in and make it right, you know?" He lifted his battle ax shaking it the air with his fist.

"And?"

"I got to myself. It was weird. There I was looking at me, all blonde and handsome; I never get to look at me so it was kinda nice. Now I see why all the ladies love me so much." He rubbed free hand over his chest.

"Spike, back on topic please, save your 'I'm so handsome' speech for the ladies, I'm sure they'll love it" He rolled his eyes adding a clearly sarcastic edge to the end of that sentence, to which Spike shot an evil glare back at him for.

"Anyway…So there I was. Trying to do the right, noble thing. I always said back then that if I knew any part of what they were planning with Buffy I wouldn't have let them do it. It was wrong and all that."

"And what do you think now?"

"It's hard man, you know. I mean I love her. I know none of you believe me, but I did and I still do. S'not the same of course, but I still do, always will. And I know that I was the cause of some of the pain that happened to her when she came back. I didn't want that again. Not for her and not for me." He was clearly pained recalling the events of the last few years. But he put on a brave face, took in a deep breath and continued with his story. "So I said, 'look Spikey you've got some decisions to make, some hard choices'. I told him what happened. And I didn't leave anything, no glossing anything over. Let him know about Buffy coming back, our…connection after she does. Red going all crazy evil after Tara dies, how Tara dies. I let him know straight off everything that shouldn't have happened, but did. Nothing but the hard truth. It's what I needed to hear."

"You told yourself that you were burned from the inside out and sent to Hell?"

"Ok, maybe I glossed over that part, but that was it!"

"So what do you think you decided?" Gunn paused "Is this whole conversation a little confusing or is it me?"

"No, Charlie boy the whole damn situation is confusing; I'm with you on that. And I'm not really sure what was decided after I left. The truth is, without Buffy we wouldn't have made it through that fight with the First. It's a hard choice to make. I'm glad it's not me."

"It is you Spike. And how do you know that the First would even come back if Buffy was never brought back?"

Spike thought for a moment. This was perplexing to him. Did Buffy cause the first to attack? Maybe not Buffy herself, but the events around her? This was just too much for him. He hoped that the Spike he left back in Sunnydale would make the right decisions about what to do next.

His little trip back in time was a bit shocking. He was never one to forget the bad times just because they were bad, but he did forget how bad it was. He was soulless back then, but as he now recalled clearly it was probably the time his soul hurt the most, if that was at all possible.

Spike noticed that in all his thought he stopped moving forward and was now standing in quite a nasty pile of something. He preferred not to know exactly what.

Gunn called to him "Spike…Look!"

"I know…I know, I see it. I wish you told me before I stepped in it." He lifted up his feet trying to escape the nastiness below him.

"No, not that, THAT!" Spike looked up to see three demons advancing on him.

"Oh, crap."

Wes had pulled Cordelia into the office and closed the door behind them. She seemed much calmer now that just the two of them were alone.

"Cordelia, what is going on? What did you see?" Wes was trying to be calm and soothing, but the truth was that he was a bit alarmed. She seemed particularly distressed and clearly did not want any part of anyone else except him. That, to say the least caught him a bit off guard.

"I saw it Wes, and it was horrible."

"Saw what?"

"The future. Where they came from. What they fought. What is still there. It's a nightmare Wes. It's worse that a nightmare. It's like a nightmare's, nightmare."

Wesley starred at her, not sure what to say. Finally "Why me, what couldn't you tell the others?"

"They were all there. Fighting, bleeding, dying. I can't look at them without seeing it."

"But not me." He was quite, knowing the reason he didn't make a cameo in her vision. She didn't have words to respond she just looked up with watery eyes, blinking back tears. "Lorne?" he asked her, "What about him?"

"He sees it in me. It's like these images are trying to jump out of my brain and I can't make it stop. It's not like the other visions." She looked up at him again, tears falling down her face "Please Wes, please make it stop."

He got up from behind the desk and went over to where she was sitting. He bent down to be face to face with her. Lightly smoothing her hair back. "It will be okay Cordy, just start from the beginning and tell me what you saw. We will make it right. I promise."

"It was different when Angel told us what happened. It wasn't real; I didn't have pictures dancing in front of me of all my friends dying. But it was even more than that Wes; it was what happened after they left…." She paused, mentally preparing to continue "The demons, they didn't' stop. They are going to come after us. They are going to find us here and we can't fight it, we can't win. Wesley, it was worse then seeing what already happened to them. I saw what is going to happen to us."

Gunn ran forward and swung his sword swiftly decapitating the first and closest of the three demons. They were large, green skinned with huge protruding teeth, almost like that of a Boar. They were big, and menacing, but not very fast, allowing the two skilled fighters a bit of an upper hand.

Spike steadied his battle axe, took a moment to focus and flung it towards an oncoming demon splitting his head in to. He yelled out proudly at his gruesome accomplishment, very pleased with himself. "Hey!" Gunn called out from behind him. Spike smashed the third and final demon in the face with his fists and turned to grab the sword Gunn was offering him. He pulled his arm back and ran the demon through. Upon pulling out the sword the demon fell into a dead lump on the floor.

"Well, that wasn't so difficult now was it?" Spike handed the sword back to Gunn and went to retrieve his axe which was still firmly lodged in the head of a demon.

"Yah, we are one hell of a team" Gunn held up his hand and Spike swung his up as well with the two landing in a firm SLAP of male pride.

"Damn right, not afraid to get down and dirty. No worries about any nancy boy hair gel or scuffing up our shoes." Spike was waving his axe around demonstrating his skilled fighting ability on an invisible entity in front of him

"Uh…Spike"

"You and me Charlie, we're a team; I always liked you best anyway."

"SPIKE!"

"Of the guys of course, you know what I'm saying'."

"Spike, run, now!"

Spike turned around to see an uncountable number of demons becoming visible around a turn in the sewer. Big, small, green, purple, blue, some of species he recognized, some he didn't. More disconcerting that that was some had weapons, and it was clear who the target of the mob was. "Oh, balls." They were brave, but not stupid. Seeing that they were clearly outnumbered they took off down the sewer tunnels running as fast as they could.

After about a half hour of stillness in the hotel lobby Wesley finally exited the office room. Cordelia was still in there trying to collect herself fully before having to face any of her friends.

Angel ran up to him, he wasn't sure which Angel it was, and decided that it really didn't matter anyway. "What happened? Is she okay? What did she see? Is she okay?"

Wes smiled lightly "She will be fine. Just give her some time." He looked around and noticed that Illyria and Fred had joined the rest of the gang in the lobby. He smiled at them both. Fred was practically hiding behind Illyria, not quite ready to come out into the world fully. Illyria, however, seemed fully willing to protect her, which considering the circumstances of them both was….odd.

Upon her eyes meeting his Illyria spoke up "She has seen where we came from."

"Yes."

"And where we will be." She wasn't asking, and it was clear that she wasn't talking about the future they came from, but of the future that they will create.

"Yes." His eyes never left hers.

"Hey, you guys feel like filling the rest of us in?" Gunn moved his gaze from Illyria to Wes

"Where exactly will we be?" Asked an equally confused Angel.

Fred peaked out from behind Illyria, still holding on to her shoulders. She was quite and meek when she spoke, but still telling "Hell." They all looked at her "Not Hell, Hell, but Hell on earth. The Hell you all escaped. It is coming for us, isn't it?"

Cordelia was standing in the office door way listening to their conversation. "That's what it seems like." She added "But, if you don't mind me asking, how did you two know?"

"I am not stupid." Replied Illyria "You can not run from what seeks to destroy you. Only buy time."

"I just imagined the worst possible scenario I could." Fred ducked back behind Illyria

"Oh." Cordelia responded, convinced enough

Lorne held up his seabreeze as if asking permission from the teacher to speak "Well, that's great, but what are we…"

The doors to the Hyperion flew open in a crash "Demons! Demons they are…coming…after us…." Gunn was breathing heavy, holding his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.

Spike ran in behind him "I think we lost them back there some where. Man what a rush!"

Lorne took a sip from his seabeeze and looked over at the two worse for wear men. "From the looks of those two, I would say Hell just handed us a party invitation with mandatory attendance required."

TBC…

A/N: I just want to say that I thoroughly enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you all enjoyed it as well. As always thank you for reading!