A/N: Thanks to Imzadi, Bella7, angel-cordy, and Genevieve719 for the lovely reviews! Where'd everyone else go:P Kidding… enjoy!
x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x
Wes stifled a yawn as he turned the page. The sun was now up, but for all Wes had ventured outside of the office he wouldn't have known it if Cordelia hadn't come in with lunch for him.
"You need to go sleep, Wes, before you fall over," she said, her voice tinged with worry. Wes smiled, appreciation for her worry apparent on his face.
"I'll sleep when I find something," he told her.
"Wes, the books will still be here later," she said, laying the haphazard sandwich down in front of him.
"Yes, that may be. But the world may not be, Cordy. We don't know how much time we have," he said with a sigh. The young woman knelt down next to him.
"I've got a feeling that the world isn't going to end tomorrow. I may not be secretary to the Powers anymore, but I think you can trust me on this," she said. Wes took a second to wipe off his glasses before laid them on the table and sat back in his chair.
"We'll need a little more than intuition to keep me from worrying, even though I do trust your instincts more than most," he said, an exhausted smile accompanying his last words. Cordelia looked over the stack of books the ex-Watcher had open and the multitude of papers he had scattered about.
"Fine then. Tell me what you've got, go take a nap and leave me to continue where you left off. Then, when you are slightly more rested, come back with fresh eyes and take control again," she said. Wes stared at her for a second, gauging her own exhaustion. The girl looked ragged, as they all surely did after a couple of sleepless nights, but she looked more rested than she had before.
"Okay, Cordy. If I won't hear the end of it, I'll take your advice. A short nap, mind you, may do me good," he said. Cordelia smiled at him and laid her hand over his.
"I don't care if you just close your eyes for an hour, Wes, but you need to close your eyes. Otherwise you'll drive yourself crazy," she said. Wes smiled back as he nodded.
"Well… all I seem to find in both texts besides the reference to blood is a reference to soul. Now, I know that translation isn't your forte, but if you could perhaps start to chip away at the words of this it will give me a head start when I come back to it," he said. He took the paper on which he had copied a verse-like passage and handed it to the girl.
"Your request is my command," she said with a quick salute. Then, she pointed towards the door. "Now, go sleep."
"Your command is my command," he shot back to her before standing and stretching. Cordelia quickly took his place at the desk and ruffled through some of his papers.
"On your way out, could you shake Fred and Lorne awake? If I have to suffer through translations, those sleepy-heads do too," she said. Wes gave her a smile before he went to do what he was bid.
x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x
It was close to three hours later and Cordelia was still paging through books. Rather than sulkily doing so, though, she did so with a sense of accomplishment. She'd gone online after an hour of searching through dusty books and found an answer to her translation in twenty minutes.
Dark with dark
Light with light
Unite together
Will of the sight
Bringer of ends
Must not see them unite
Now, whatever that meant, she had no clue whatsoever… hence, the paging through dusty books. The only thing in the passage that stuck out to her, however abstract, was teamwork. But, she also knew that nothing was ever that simple. Not for the end-all, be-all apocalypse as of late.
"How is the translation coming?" Wes' slightly groggy voice interrupted. Cordelia turned in her chair to look at him.
"Oh, it came, it saw, I conquered," she said. "Fred and Lorne were no help. Fred kept nodding off so I sent her to bed. And Lorne, well… he's Lorne. I sent him to help Gunn with the weapons or whatever. And might I say I am much happier to see Gunn back in every day clothes? It was kinda wiggy seeing him in a suit, or what was left of one…" Wes smiled as he took the chair across from her.
"Yes, well… Wolfram Hart did a number on him, on all of us. I didn't realize how much like the old Charles Gunn he wasn't. It's good to be back home again," he said. Cordelia let out a sigh.
"Yes, it is…" she said with a smile.
"May I see the translation?" he asked. Cordelia handed it to him.
"Here ya go, oh Einstein of the ghouly goodness," she said. Wes took the paper from her and read over the words.
"How did you get that so quickly?" Wes asked her as he rubbed his eyes to wake himself fully. Cordelia gave him a look as she handed the paper to him.
"I know that wasn't a slight against my wonderfully amazing researching skills but just lack of sleep talking. Anyway, isn't it amazing what you can find on the Internet?" she asked with a shrug of her shoulders. Wes' eyes went wider than normal.
"You received this translation from the Internet?" he asked, incredulous.
"Roll yourself out of the stone age for a minute or two and plug into the twenty-first century, you can find anything with the click of a button. If you can find out how to build a bomb, why not have translations to dark, evil texts that predict the world ending?" she asked. Wes looked over the words once more.
"Actually, the text itself isn't dark and evil. It is merely a guide, a prophetic medium in which the end of the world is merely mentioned…" he corrected her, his eyes not leaving the passage. Cordelia let out a 'pfft' with a roll of her eyes.
"To-may-to, to-ma-to, buddy," she said, causing him to crack a smile. "Should we show that to Angel?"
"Don't wake him yet. Let me cross reference a few words and then we shall inform the crew," he said as he selected a word and looked it up in one of the other texts.
"The World Wide Web knows all, Wes. No need to worry about the translation. The End Is Here dot com pays people to be right about this stuff…" she said. Wes looked up, his finger marking his spot.
"I've been wrong in the past, Cordelia. Horribly wrong. I'd prefer to make sure this is definite than to run off on something and it be not entirely correct," he said, a solemn look on his face. Cordelia didn't know whether to flush in horror at her careless words or to pale in understanding, so instead she decided on a sick feeling in her stomach.
"I'm sorry," she said. "Take as much time as you need…" Rather than dredge up the hideous past they were all attempting fairly successfully to move past, she left Wes to his double-checking.
As she walked out of the office she saw Angel descending the stairs.
"Good morning," she said brightly, heading over to him. When he saw her he smiled.
"How's everything down here?" he asked as he took her hand. Cordelia's eyes roamed over the empty lobby.
"Well, Wes and I have made some headway on the texts. Not much, but it could be something. Buffy and Spike went to take over watch from Gunn earlier. Gunn is now with Lorne doing who knows what, and Fred is napping. And Wes is, as usual, entombing himself in the office with books, books and more books," she said. Angel sat down in one of the chairs and pulled Cordelia into his lap, her head resting back on his shoulder. They sat like that for a few quiet moments, but as usual, a few quiet moments were all they were allowed.
Just as Wesley's 'Eureka' rang through the lobby, the hotel doors burst open and a ragged looking Buffy was helped through the door by Spike. Cordelia stood quickly as she took in the Slayer and her companion, but Angel stood up at a slower pace, taking in the significance of the situation. Neither one had a chance to say anything before Wes bound into the room with a gleam in his eye and a small smile on his face.
"I think I may have figured it out… well, part of it out, anyway," he said, adjusting his glasses. He fell silent when he took in Buffy's appearance. "But you go first…"
"How generous," Spike spat out as he helped the blond girl sit down.
"What happened?" Cordelia asked as she knelt in front of the Slayer.
"What didn't happen, you mean?" she said, propping her foot up on the couch. "Spike had a vision…"
"But before that, the nipper broke out," Spike said with a growl. "Fat lot of thanks we got too, trying to keep his skinny arse out of trouble…" This time Angel let out a growl.
"What do you mean 'broke out'? Where did Conner go?" he demanded.
"We don't know. We were minding our bleeding business and then all of a sudden we had fists in our faces. Buffy put up a good fight, but the kid was too much for her…" he said.
"We have no clue as to where he went," Buffy said, looking at Angel apologetically. Angel didn't say anything as he crossed his arms.
"And the vision?" he asked. Spike swallowed.
"I saw the kid in it. It's about what's coming… He was angry and he was killing. He was in some sort of chamber, not sure where. There were markings on the walls, there were green flames and there were voices. I wasn't shown who they were. The Powers tried to show me, but it was blocked. These Senior Partners are more powerful than ever…" he said. Everyone was silent as they tried to think over the implications. Wes turned to Cordelia.
"What was that about the world not ending tomorrow?" he asked. Cordelia crossed her arms and raised a brow.
"I never said that someone wasn't going to try. I just said that I have a feeling it wasn't going to end. Call it optimism," she said tartly.
"What's happened?" Fred's voice called as she ran down the stairs. "I'm so sorry I fell asleep…"
"It's okay, Fred. You needed it," Cordelia reassured her. Just as Wes was about to launch into an explanation of his own, Lorne and Gunn emerged from the basement.
"I thought I heard a 'eureka' echo across the ages," Lorne said.
"What I was going to say before I was interrupted was that I think it would be best if we all returned to the office. I've taken the liberty of creating a flowchart," Wes said before heading in that very direction. Gunn looked at Angel, bemuse.
"English made a flowchart," he said.
"Don't mock the flowchart. I like flowcharts," Fred said before following Wes and Cordelia who were already talking animatedly about the subject.
As everyone found a seat or a place to stand, Wes pulled out his easel. On the paper he had written words in a circular arrangement, connecting each with an arrow.
"Okay, I've tried to get as much as I could possibly could on here…" he said before pointing to the first word 'memory'. "This sequence of events was put into motion long before this, but for our ultimate purposes it all really started at the alteration of our memories – Spike and Buffy excluded, of course. It led to the Powers stepping in by bringing Cordy back, making Spike seer, and Lindsey searching out Buffy. This led to the finding of the text we now have and finding out that Conner's blood would call the Senior Partners. After researching the word soul within selected passages I have found that it all links back to memory…" The gang watched as Wes pointed to and explained each word on his chart.
"Okay, so what does this all mean?" Cordelia asked.
"Well… it involves you, Cordelia… and Angel, Spike and Buffy. It involves your souls," he said without preamble. He then flipped the page on his chart and everyone saw the words to Cordelia's translation.
"Our souls?" Buffy asked, confused.
"Yes. You see, Conner's memory has been reintroduced to him. The Senior Partners are taking full advantage of the boy's confusion. He is slowly slipping back into the boy he was before the Partners had altered reality. Wolfram Hart will capitalize on those prior feelings. We are all now well aware of what drove Angel to alter reality. Conner was slowly becoming more and more unhinged as time went by. I'm afraid his destiny would not have been satisfied by merely killing a handful of people…" the ex-Watcher said.
"Are you saying that the altered reality was a good thing?" Gunn asked. Wes gave Angel a quick glance. The vampire's mood was quickly becoming dark.
"No. I am not saying anything of the sort. But what it did was delay the inevitable. That in itself is a good thing. At the time we were all distracted by what happened in the past, what happened to Cordelia and what had happened to Conner… the end of the world would have come and we would never have known the difference. The altered reality gave us a fighting chance whether it was good idea or not," Wes clarified. Angel shifted on his feet.
"It was a good idea at the time," he said.
"Yes, I am sure it was. But if the Powers hadn't stepped in, the world would be over. The Senior Partners had each of us where they wanted us. And the best part was they had Angel pulling the strings. So who was going to notice a little behind the scenes 'end of the world' ploy? Especially since Angel thought he knew everything that was going on inside Wolfram Hart…" Wes said without a hint of reproach.
"Damn. Shoulda given those evil bastards a little more credit," Gunn grumbled.
"Yes, we should have…" Cordelia held up her hand to stop whatever was going to come next.
"Okay, so what does this have to do with our souls?" she asked while gesturing to Angel, Spike, Buffy and herself. Wes cleared his throat again.
"Your souls have the power to stop Conner. I've yet to fully translate the spell, but it will take your souls to bring Conner's back," he said with certainty.
"So, you're saying that Conner is bent on destroying the world and the four of us have to give our souls in order to stop it from happening?" Cordelia said, eyes just as wide as Buffy's. Wes shook his head.
"No, not precisely…" he said. Angel stepped up to the desk and leaned on it.
"You'd better tell us… precisely…" he said. Wes cleared his throat but was otherwise un-intimidated.
"It is not Conner who is bent on destroying the world, but rather the Senior Partners… which is not in the least bit surprising. Conner is not referred to as the Destroyer by coincidence or by the lack of a better title and the Partners have known this. His power could destroy the world if it is unleashed in the manner Wolfram Hart hope it to be. But if we can harness that power by means I am as yet uncertain about we could use it to destroy the Senior Partner once and for all," Wes said. It took a second for everyone to absorb the ex-Watcher's words.
"But what about that soul part?" Cordelia asked. Wes shifted in his seat.
"As I said, I am not entirely certain about that part just yet. I've more research to do. But, from what I can gather, it will require four souls – two dark and two light according to the passage. These souls are meant to bring Conner back. From what Spike's vision imparted to us, it would seem that the Senior Partners have lured him to their clutches… or they will attempt to and succeed," he said. Again there was silence as each person came to their own conclusion.
"We've got to find Conner… now," Angel said suddenly, breaking from the group and heading into the lobby to find a weapon. Cordelia took off after him.
"I'm coming with," she said, going to the weapon's cabinet.
"No," Angel said. When Cordelia turned to glare at him, he held up a hand. "I need you here in case Conner comes here." Cordelia's jaw tightened perceptively, but she nodded.
"What if he has gone off the deep end? Cordy's not going to be much match for him," Spike commented. Angel didn't look away from the brunette.
"That's why you and Buffy are staying here," he said. "Gunn, you're with me. Wes, Lorne, Fred - I need to you stick around to figure out Spike's vision and find that spell. The when and where… and we're going to need it quickly." In the flurry of sudden action, no one had heard the door open.
"You're going to need more help than you think," a voice said. Everyone turned to watch Lindsey walk down the steps to the lobby. "I'm not the only lawyer in town…"
x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x
He hated them all. They all had brought him to this. He had two lives and he hated everything about each one of them. His existence was shattered pieces and he didn't know how to put them back together. With a kick he sent the monk standing guard flying down the stairs. He took the dropped sword and slowly followed. Without a flinch or a moment's hesitation he killed the man on the floor. The violence felt good. With that, he stepped into the large room and quickly dispatched the two other monks without a blink. Alone now, he studied his surroundings. The room was empty save for a burning fire in the middle of the space. He stepped closer to it to see where, exactly, it was coming from.
Without warning the flames flared up with a flash of green. Conner quickly turned, covering his face from the light.
"The prodigal son returns," a voice said. "We've been waiting for you…" Conner whirled around and uncovered his face to see a figure step out of the flames, not a mark on them.
"Who are you?" Conner asked the figure warily.
"I'm your worst nightmare," the figure said. Conner sneered.
"I don't have nightmares," he said. The figure smiled.
"Your whole life is a nightmare. But we're going to fix that."
"Who's we?" Conner asked.
"The Senior Partners and myself… and you," the figure stepped forward. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Conner."
"You know who I am, but who are you?" he asked, stepping back from her approach and holding his sword up between them.
"I'm Lilah Morgan."
x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x
A/N2: grin
