"AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" was the first sound he heard. Who was screaming? Oh, right. He was.
Bright bright everything was bright. And there was yellow and green and… where the hell was he?
He blinked a few times. Aha! There were shapes now, enclosed forms, not just masses of color. There were column-shaped polygons, and people-shaped polygons… and look, an Angel-shaped polygon.
Angel, looking down at a prone Spike, brows furrowed in confusion, but truly not as much as the situation really deserved.
Angel blinked, stony-faced. "Are you going to be making a habit of this?"
He tried to sit up all at once. Very unwise. Swearing, by contrast, was a very good idea. Yes… this theory stood up well under trial.
"I'm…" his throat was scratchy. Must've been the screaming. "I'm back, am I?"
Angel only looked exasperated. "Again. I'm beginning to think you'll never leave." Something implicit in this jogged his memory.
"Nah." Spike shook his head blearily, disoriented but sure of at least one thing. "I will this time. Really." His eyes widened as this dawned on him, and he pressed his palm to his chest. "I—I got that—!" Wide-eyed and openmouthed, he looked back up at Angel, and felt an unwelcome surge of sympathy. This calmed him down. He winced slightly, somewhat at a loss. "Uh… sorry, mate."
A slight bitter smile was all Angel indulged. "Relax. I knew it wasn't going to be me. The Circle knew about the prophecy, and they made me…" he swallowed. "Well, we'll just say I knew."
Spike looked sympathetic but desperately uncomfortable. Angel frowned at him again.
"Oh, go outside." Angel said sourly, trying to sound good-natured. Spike looked out of the lobby (why were they in a hotel? Bizarre) into sunlight, and with another self-conscious glance at Angel, scrambled to obey.
Angel turned around to face those smirking red lips.
"Well, hey." Faith said reasonably. "At least we know it didn't go to waste."