Chapter Seven – Falling Apart at the Seams

Fred's mouth stood open, but nothing came out. She had no clue, just as he didn't.

"I'm not sure," Fred said hesitantly. "I just suddenly appeared here."

Lindsey racked his brain, trying to figure out where an Old One would go after death. Sure, Illyria had been imprisoned after death in the Deeper Well for centuries, but someone or something had put her there. It hadn't happened this time.

"I need to talk to someone," he announced, hoping this was the right plan.

"Wait. What are you gonna to do?"

"I need to talk to a lawyer."

Buffy stood directly in front of Spike, shaking on the inside and out. His eyes bored into her, like he could see right into her soul. Was he controlled by the First again? No, he didn't have that vacant, I'm possessed look like he did in Sunnydale. He had that crazed, my soul has been put back look she remembered all too well. She didn't know which Spike she cared to see at the moment. Both could be volatile and dangerous.

"Spike?" she whispered, not wanting to set him off. "It's me, Buffy. What are you saying?"

"I, we, I don't know," he replied, haunted sound to his voice.

His head jerked around at a sound from down the corridor. A clang and a scrape drew her attention also. Xander and Clarisse were still trading insults, so they didn't hear the ominous noise.

"They're coming," Spike announced. "We need to get out of here. Now."

Spike grabbed her arm, intent on her following. Did he know what was coming down the corridor? It was obvious at that time that something was coming. It sounded like heavy footsteps.

Mark appeared from the back to startle her. "Buffy. Why on earth are you still here?" he said as he came up to the two.

"I, um, Spike heard something. What's down that corridor?" Buffy pointed in the direction of the noise.

"Oh. The front door, offices and such. Why?"

The hairs on the back of Buffy's neck tingled. Spike had to be right. Something was coming. Her spidey senses were never wrong.

"Xander, let's go. Now," she urged him on.

"And another thing," he continued with Clarisse.

Spike held onto her arm, getting a sharp look from Mark. She wrenched out of his grasp and reached for Xander. He stopped also, tipping his head toward the sound.

"Um, Buff. Wanna tell me what's coming?"

"You hear too?"

"They're coming. Let's go," Spike growled.

"This place is protected. Nothing can enter without express permission," Mark pointed out.

"Want to tell them," Xander finished, backing away.

At least ten Fyarl demons came around the corner, armed to the hilt. All the people that lived in and around the complex. Buffy couldn't warn all of them in time. All the slayers, all the baby watchers, theydidn't standa chance.

"Crap," she said to herself.

"Damn lawyers," Spike added.

Faith literally stroked Wesley's arm, wanting to calm him again. Ever since Angel had touched him, his brain must have been going into overdrive. She just wished for once the dumbass had listened to her. But he wanted to help, she knew. She just didn't need his kind of help right then.

Angel still sat against the wall, head bowed, eyes closed, almost like he was asleep. Faith figured that he wasn't. Since he didn't need to breathe as such, she couldn't tell what he was doing. He must be brooding was her first thought. That's what he did best.

Wes's hand had warmed up some after she had taken it between her two. As a matter of fact, he seemed to be getting warmer by the minute. Wasn't that what happened when he expended all that energy and shocked the hell out of her? But she didn't want to pull her hand back until absolutely necessary.

"Angel, call Giles," she asked of him.

"What? Is there a change?" he said bouncing up from his crouched position.

"He's warming up. I just don't want my body to light up the room again while he gives me enough jolts to fucking kill me this time."

"Then you need to let him go."

"Only if I have to."

And that was the end of that. She wasn't letting go until he lost it completely. She just hoped she knew when that time was coming.

"Angel, they're here," Wesley said in a calm and collected voice.

His eyes popped open, just like he'd been taking a leisurely nap. Angel had the phone in his hand, getting ready to speak into the receiver.

"Giles, he's awake," Angel spoke up, not even saying hello.

But something definitely was not right. She could still feel under the surface that he was still in that dream state. Why was he responding now? Pulling his hand out of her grasp, he swung his legs over the bed and pushed off. His wobbly legs took him to the door, where Angel blocked his way out.

"Let's wait for Giles."

Instead of listening to Angel, which lately Wes really hadn't at all, he put his hand on Angel's chest and gave him a jolt. Angel cried out in pain and slumped to the floor.

"Wes, stop," she yelled, trying to think of a way to stop him without touching him.

"Something wicked this way comes," he wryly told her as he pulled the door open, pushing Angel out of the way while doing it.

Great, now he was speaking in fucking riddles, she thought. Before she could take a step forward he was out the door and jogging down the corridor.

"Shit," she cursed.

Angel was panting on the floor, recovering from the shock. "God, I wish people would stop doing that to me. A heart can only take so much."

Crap, his heart was as dead as a doorknob. "Get your lazy vampire ass up," she said as she started to follow Wes.

"Hello? Hello, Angel?" Giles spoke into his cell. "I've lost them. He said that Wesley was awake, then the line went dead."

"Maybe we should just check things out," Willow stated.

She couldn't feel the overwhelming sensation that she had felt the first time Wesley had used dark magicks. But it was still there, still winding around her like a spool of thread, threatening to bind her until she gave in to using them herself, just to break free of the confinement. She was grounded though, the chants helping her deal with the fact that she still wasn't in total control. Yes, she had used the most pure, earthly magicks possible in Sunnydale to make all the potentials into slayers, thereby helping to defeat the ubervamps. In the back of her mind, there still was that little kernel of dark always fighting to get out. Must be what Angel had to deal with every day. She had to ask him sometime.

"My thoughts exactly."

Giles piled his books and ingredients into a duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder. She was so glad that he and Xander were here, if just to remind her what she went through in Sunnydale. They and Buffy were the best grounding force she had. Now she was glad that Kennedy wasn't around, wanting her attention. Now she could just focus on her closest friends, without having someone getting jealous. Tara never got jealous, because she had been part of their little circle, had made it complete.

Handing her a backpack, they left Giles's office to head to the townhouse across the street. She almost careened into Giles as he stopped short.

"Hey, mister. Tell me when you're gonna call a halt," she announced.

"Shh," he said, wanting her to be quiet. "The barriers are down," he told her in a whisper.

She knew exactly what barriers he was talking about, to protect the place from evil forces just like the harbingers. She had helped Giles put them into place herself. Why didn't she feel them coming down? Too busy concentrating on not going evil again was her guess.

"Giles? Run," she said as she sensed something behind them, way too close for her comfort.

The two didn't even look back, but she heard something following them down the corridor. Giles took her arm and forcefully flung her into another corridor and then into an archway, hiding them momentarily from their pursuers. She was having trouble calming her breathing, making Giles put his hand over her mouth to muffle it more. She understood why as two very icky, very large demons strode past them almost making no sound. Their shiny swords stood out in the darkness.

She was so surprised that the things didn't see her and Giles when she almost slapped her hand to her head. She had been so frightened that she hadn't realized that Giles had used a concealing spell to make them invisible for the time that the demons passed. Since that spell didn't last very long, they would have to make tracks so they wouldn't be seen.

Taking her hand, they headed off in the opposite direction as the two demons, hoping that they wouldn't run into any others before they arrived at the townhouse.

Only their luck didn't hold out. Before they could reach the entrance to the tunnel that led to the townhouse, two other demons, both armed with daggers, appeared out of nowhere. Giles flung down his bag, pulling his own dagger out of his pocket. Dang it, she thought. Why didn't I think of that too?

This was the time she needed to get her mojo going so they didn't end up like shish kabobs. Only the demons didn't play fair, shooting the knife directly toward her with surprising speed. Later on, she'd grump to Giles that he didn't need to protect her. Right at that moment, he hurled her to the ground, taking the knife in the thigh. She felt the impact of the hard, stone floor down to her bones, mostly because Giles weighed a ton and had hit her hard to make sure she wasn't the recipient of that deadly knife. And it only pissed her off. Before the demons could reach the two of them, her hand came up, driving the two demons back and into the wall with a resounding thud. Both sunk to the floor.

"I wasn't fast enough," Willow cried as she tried to pull herself out from under Giles.

He groaned in pain as Willow finally was able to get her leg out from underneath him. The knife stuck out of his leg to the hilt.

"Giles?" she said as she looked over his wound.

"You'll have to pull it out," he panted back.

The last time she saw this amount of blood coming from Giles she had caused it herself. Hitting an artery in his leg wouldn't be really good right then. She had no way to get him to a hospital since the Council seemed to be overrun with demons.

"Ready?" she asked him.

"Do it," he implored, bracing for the added pain the knife would cause as it slid out.

Instead of doing it gently, Willow pulled it out smoothly and quickly, knowing that it would be like a band aide. The quicker you got it off, the faster and better you'd feel. But it wasn't a band aide. A big, long knife was clutched between her hands. Giles hadn't screamed, only moaned a little. She probably would have taken the house down, she thought.

Willow pulled off her sweater and tore a part of it to make a bandage to help stem the flow of blood. She tied it tight around his thigh.

"Can you walk?" she whispered, not wanting any other demons to hear.

"I'll have to, I suppose."

Willow placed her hands over the wound, trying to at least heal him enough to help him walk. It wasn't working. Nothing was working. The healing powers that she usually could call upon weren't responding. Did flinging the demons up against the wall take too much out of her? No, she could still feel that energy surround her, going through her. She just couldn't tap into it. So there was only one other way to get Giles moving enough for them to get out of there.

"Curatio," she mumbled, calling upon those dark forces that she was keeping dormant.

"No, Willow," Giles told her, probably feeling the same things that she was too.

He grabbed her hand before she could touch his wound, pulling it back until they were both sitting. Only he wasn't exactly trying to stop her. He was absorbing the energy and arcing it outward, away from him and her. The electrical pulses that surrounded them cracked and sputtered until she wrenched her hand away from his.

"Something's blocking me from helping," she cried.

"This is not the way, Willow. You know exactly where that will lead. Now help me up and lets get the bloody hell out of here."

Willow didn't want to touch Giles again, but she knew she had to, to help him walk. He groaned as she pulled him up off the ground.

"We need those books, Willow. We must have them."

Willow threw the bag over her free arm and helped Giles down the hall slowly. Each touch, each skin-to-skin contact made her spine shiver and her heart want the darkness to return. Why Giles, why now, she thought? Why was he the one to bring these forces forward again? She didn't blame him, she blamed herself. She wondered what he felt, if he felt it also. She also wondered if he did, how did he control it? Control wasn't easy. Controlling her dark demons was next to impossible.

Faith followed Wesley through the dark corridors. Before the corridors had been lit up like a Christmas tree. No dark corners, no places to hide. Only now, her vision wasn't working as well as she wanted in the dim light. It was hard to follow Wes, he was moving so fast. God, she was out of practice. She'd intensify her training once they got out of this mess. Maybe that would pull good ole' Wes back – the opportunity to whip her ass into shape once again. If she could reach him to be able to tell him that is.

Scrambling up to the door that led to the Watchers' Council building, Wesley suddenly stopped, peering outside. He waved them to stay where they were.

"Wes, back to the townhouse, now," she told him, growling out the last word for emphasis.

"They're here."

"He keeps saying that," Angel said from behind her.

He had obviously caught up with her, recovering from the blast he had received from the now electric Wes.

"Quit bein' cryptic, damn it," she wanted Wes to know.

"Damn lawyers," Wes answered, voice taking on some weird quality that spooked her.

"They found us. Should have known that they would, eventually."

Angel was standing beside her now, tense and ready to fight. Well, she wasn't ready to fight, unless she had to. No, she had to get Wes to safety. Then she'd kick some demon ass. Only Wes opened the door, exposing them to whoever or whatever was making all the noise in the corridor.

"Bad move," Angel shouted as he dove after Wesley.

They were immediately swallowed up by demons, coming from both sides. Vampires, demons, other creatures she didn't even know what in hell they were, converged on the spot where the two dumbasses had gone.

"Why is it I always have to save everyone's ass around here?" she mumbled to herself.

Lashing out with her fist, she took down the first vampire who got in her face. It hurt just slightly, making her cheer to herself. She was back in the game again, punching, kicking, crushing. The violence felt good. She hadn't slayed in so long, she had missed this part. Only there were way too many targets to choose from. It was like three to a hundred or something, she guessed. It wasn't like she had time to count.

The demons were going down fast enough, but not fast enough for her. Suddenly, out of nowhere, half the group crumbled, just crumbled to dust.

"Double freakin' damn," she said to herself.

Another blast from somewhere took down at least twenty more. Now the odds were much better. She could see what her fist was hitting. And she wasn't getting knocked around as much too. Life was grand, until she spotted her savior, shooting sparks from his arm. Then he mumbled some of that mumbo jumbo that Willow sometimes used, felling another few who tried to do a sneak attack on Angel.

Wesley looked a little scary to her. She had heard the stories about Willow going over to the dark side, the veiny, scary Willow that killed a human for shooting her girlfriend. She wondered what Willow really looked like then. She just hoped it wasn't anything Wesley looked like now.

They took out the last few stragglers, Angel finishing off the last vampire by ripping its head off, watching the dust fall to the ground softly. He had gone into game face while he pummeled the demons. Faith was glad he was in it. Only when he turned toward Wes to nod a thank you did she really start to worry. Wes turned his arm, ready to shoot out one of those deadly jolts that she knew must be a gazillion times stronger than what she experienced.

Angel stood frozen, not moving. Good vampire, she thought. Not wanting to provoke the scary man with the pointing finger.

"Wes, don't do it. It's Angel," she yelled as she moved forward.

Walking slowly in front of Angel, she could actually see the blues of his eyes. Now that was different. But his hand was still extended, ready to do damage. Putting up her hand, she moved toward him deliberately. There was no recognition in his eyes. Maybe her theory of him being under was still correct. Before she could reach him, he collapsed in a heap on the floor.

Both she and Angel ran to him, Angel reaching him before his thick head touched the hard surface below him.

"Faith, take him," Angel said to her as he started to pull away.

Angel backed away, positioning himself against the far wall, hands shaking. Faith gingerly lifted Wesley's head and set it in her lap. He was fighting in his mind. Every punch he delivered and received, every cut, every scrape, every shot, every wound, she could see him going down each and every time. Those wicked guns he was deadly accurate with, firing off at a moment's notice. Shooting at the Beast point blank and having no effect, protecting Fred from gunrunners and cyborgs, shooting some unarmed guy standing next to Illyria and feeling no remorse, blasting some lawyer in the leg just for talking to him, only to come up short when Vail gutted him like a fish. Should have taken those lovely guns with you to the mage, she thought.

"I know," he answered in her brain. "Very big mistake on my part."

The visions kept playing over and over again. She held the bile down in her throat, but it was sheer torture.

"Enough gun battles, Wes. Give me a serene kinda thing going or I'm gonna upchuck right here," she said out loud.

"Faith, what the hell is going on here?" Sam shouted as he came near.

Faith tensed until she realized it wasn't another enemy. Angel staggered up out of his crouch and came over to stand beside them on the ground. As Sam reached his hand out to help Faith, both she and Angel screamed at the same time, "Don't touch him."

Sam jerked his hand back in addition to backing up a few steps.

"Giles. Have you seen Giles?" Angel hurriedly asked.

"No. The rest of the place is in chaos, although a few moments ago, it got eerily quiet."

"Time to make tracks people," Xander said coming from another corridor. "Watcher Boy, we need a van and pronto. Got any ideas?" he asked Sam.

"Xander, where's everyone else?" Faith asked of him.

"Buff, Mark and the bitch Clarisse are trying to find Giles and Willow."

Which was Giles and Willow's cue to show up. Willow was barely holding on to an injured Giles. Both Angel and Sam rushed to help her out.

"Barriers are back up," Giles groaned as the two men set him down on the cold floor.

"Who?" Sam asked.

"I think that Electro Guy may have had something to do with that," Faith pointed down to Wes, which was as good a guess as any.

"They're stronger than before," Giles started

"And more evil, I might add," Willow finished.

"We don't know where Wesley is deriving his power at the moment. Let's just take it as a blessing and leave it at that." Giles was surly and bleeding all over the floor. Wesley moved a finger and Giles gasped, grabbing his leg as if he was in pain.

"You can bloody well stop that," Giles grumbled, clutching his leg, looking pointedly at Wesley.

"OK, now why can't I do that?" Willow complained, eyes widening as she finished that statement. "Give me my power back."

Willow lunged for Wesley, only to be caught around the waist by Angel.

"We're not doin' this now, Willow," Faith announced. "Don't be such a bastard Wes. Not fair to her."

Willow flinched as her power was restored. Faith really thought she saw her eyes flare black for just a brief second before Angel released her.

"I don't know what's going on here, but this whole place has been overrun with demons. If we don't do something, there'll be lots of bloodshed," Sam informed the rest of them.

"I don't think that will be a problem any more," Giles announced as he tried to move his leg. "And Wesley, would you please restore my power as well," he told the semi-conscious man.

Giles sighed in relief as Wesley did just that. How he did it baffled Faith. He was out of it, literally. Yeah, he twitched and sometimes moaned a little, but he was not coming around. At least he wasn't being Gun Boy in his dreams now.

"He borrowed your power?" Angel asked.

"Damn tootin'. And the only reason I knew that was I couldn't heal Giles."

"You could," Giles reminded her.

"Yeah, but not going over to the dark side of the force Obi-wan. Remember?"

The by-play between the two was giving Faith a headache in addition to the queasy stomach she already had.

"Hey, vehicle, procure. I don't believe I just said procure. Giles, you need to change your vocabulary." Xander grabbed a hold of Sam and they trotted off in the opposite direction.

"So, the barriers' up?" Faith asked slowly, since all this was still freaking her out.

"Mystical barriers, fortunately. Willow installed them right before we moved in. It must have taken quite a bit of power to lower them for the invasion."

More footsteps could be heard running down the opposite corridor. Angel tensed for a fight and Faith was ready to let go of her watcher if need be to defend them. But it was only Buffy, Spike, Mark and Clarisse barreling around the corner.

"Incoming," Buffy yelled as she spun around to fight.

Only she didn't get the chance. The Fyarl demons all clutched their sides, writhing in pain until they collapsed in a big heap on the floor.

"OK, Will, what'd you do?" Buffy asked first.

"Nothin'. Mr. Stealin' My Power is takin' 'em down," Willow told her friend cryptically.

"Uh, what?" she asked again.

"It appears that Wesley has the ability to borrow each of our powers at any given time."

"And kick some demon ass, Giles," Faith added.

"He's unconscious," Mark pointed out.

Spike snorted, like there was something funny to the situation. "Leave it to Percy to take a nap while the rest of us are getting our arses pounded."

"Well, Spike. Since all you did was run and hide underneath Buffy's skirts, I'd say the two of you are even," Angel chided.

"Skirt? What skirt? What, are you daft or something?" Spike asked Angel.

"Doing what you do best, Spike. Which means not getting your hands dirty unless it's necessary," Angel went on.

"Oh, will you two bloody well shut it," both Giles and Wesley mumbled.

"Freaky," Buffy said as she looked from Wesley to Giles.

Faith could feel that Wes had some control over his body. He just couldn't wake up and join in the conversation. How could he speak, or figure out that there were demons invading?

Xander whistled off in the distance. "We have wheels," he shouted.

"Giles? Protection for this place?" Buffy asked, worried that the demons would come back.

"It's protected. I believe if we do leave, that there will not be another attack. It seems they are after the Los Angeles contingent. Not us. Clarisse, you must stay and gather the others."

"I've stayed quiet until now, Rupert. Not on your life. You've abused too much power tonight. I do believe you need someone impartial to watch over what you are trying to do."

Faith heard Wes whisper an insult that sounded like it started with a c. She just didn't want to repeat the word because she really wanted Clarisse to hear it from his mouth when he woke up. Spike snickered beside her, using that vampire hearing. Even Angel had a slight quirking of the lips.

"Bloody hell, I'm not arguing with you. Do whatever you like, Clarisse. But I need to speak to the Chancellor before we leave. And will someone get me some bloody painkillers. You're healing skills are terrible," Giles directed toward Wesley.

"And so's your bedside manner, Rupert," Spike went on, chuckling.

Fred wanted to bang her head against the wall yet again. Spike was coming out of the coma he had put himself in. She knew that she hadn't helped that situation one bit. How'd he do it, she thought?

"Spike. What am I gonna do with you?"

"You know, he had a little help," Cordelia announced from the door.

"Not me. I just went in there and almost drove him to suicide," Fred said, southern accent picking up just a little.

It was at times like these that her voice reverted to her roots, when she was nervous or just too tired to care.

"No, I don't think he'd ever do that. At least, he seems to have a way of bringing himself out of those deep depressions he gets himself in. Unlike the other so-called vampire with a soul, who just punches his way out of it."

Fred sighed, not really wanting to talk about Angel also. "So? What gives? I'm not sure I'm the one to handle him."

"Fred, you're the first person to ever take him at face value. You didn't judge him, but made him feel like a real live boy, even though he was playing ghostie at the time."

"Well, he was real enough. His heart is good."

"That's what you see and that's what makes you so good at this. Come on, back in Pylea, you noticed that first about Angel. You defended Wes after he tried to kill you, for heaven's sake. You see things that other people can never see."

"What? That I'm a gullible girl from the sticks who let men walk all over her?"

Cordelia put a hand on her shoulder. "No. A woman who has them eating out of the palm of her hand. Don't you see it? I may have been the heart of that little group down there, but you were its soul."

Fred shyly dipped her head, not wanting to look at Cordy. She remembered how they each rallied around her when Illyria was taking her over slowly. Her handsome men, her friends, her family. Now they were all screwed up and she didn't have a clue how to fix it.

"So if they've lost the heart and soul of the group, how do they get it back?" Fred asked the hard question of Cordelia.

"We invent another heart and soul. Give them something else, or someone else to fight for. Hey, it can't be that hard?"

Fred knew it would be next to impossible. Give Spike a reason to live, to go on fighting? She also looked at Angel and the comatose Wesley on the ground. The three looked beaten, like they were slowly fading away. Only Faith was perched in the middle of the three guys. Like they radiated around the dark-haired slayer. Angel's hand came out to touch Faith's hair just slightly. Spike hovered over Wes like he was protecting the crown jewels or something. The four of them were all that was left of the group.

And then Fred realized what no one else was seeing. The forming of a plan popped into her linear brain. But everything had to go as planned if she were to help all four. Because now she felt like she had to take care of all of them, not just Spike. It might break her heart to do what she wanted to do. But all four of them needed each other. They just didn't know it yet.

TBC

Next: Lindsey goes to see a lawyer (I'll let you guess). Fred starts to formulate her plan. The rest travel to Giles's country retreat.

Author notes: Man, this chapter took forever to write. As all of you know, that means a couple more days than usual. It just wasn't flowing the way I wanted it to. Has anyone figured out what I'm doing? I've dropped clues here and there. Just shout out if you have. Also, if anyone knows anything about LiveJournal, please e-mail me. I'm trying to set one up.

Thanks go out to Wondertross, I.B. Slackin', Imzadi, Uberwicca, psychotic chaos, pari106, tp96, and everyone else out there in ficdom. I'm trying to move this along. Please keep reading.

Answers to questions:

Wondertross—Gave me chills too and I know exactly what he meant. Welcome to my twisted, crazy fics (snicker, snicker).

I.B. Slackin'—no Illyria in Spike, just dreaming about her? All 4 of my main characters have had crappy existences. Joss really likes 'em that way. Of course, if they were happy characters, then we wouldn't have any conflict to write about.

Imzadi—Lindsey is giving some spark back to Fred. Where will it lead?

Uberwicca—I kind of wanted Xander to be angry in this fic, helpful but angry. He has his own demons too. I'm glad you actually understood the Buffy speech. I had to read it about a dozen times to see if it made Buffy sense or not.

Psychotic chaos—crayon speech, one of my personal favs. I like it when Fred's pissed. She's not wimpy then. She's clever, take charge girl when she's pissed off.

Pari106—Love Time Bomb, especially crazy Wes scenes. A little Star Trek throwback.

Doza—I don't necessarily hate the Watchers. Hey, Wes and Giles! Gotta love them.