Author's note: Hi MeryKey! Glad you're still enjoying it. We're almost at the end of Those who… now, but Connor's not going anywhere…

Those who do not Remember

6

Deirbhile wandered into Wes's office later on.

"Deirbhile. Feeling better?"

"Much, thank you. Where are the others?"

"Hmm? They've gone to stake out Eden."

"What're you reading?"

He raised the volume. "Gods and Fighting Men."

"Lady Gregory." Deirbhile murmured.

"It occurred to me that I might need to brush up on my Irish myths. Lady Gregory seemed a good place to start."

"You could try Michael Scott too. Some of his stuff's not too bad. The man's a jerk, but he writes well."

Wes leaned forward. "Do you know what he's planning?"

"No. A battle, I guess, but I've no idea when, or where. Probably soon, since none of us fell for Clann Alta's tricks."

"You know these legends better than anyone. You can't hazard a guess?"

"Wesley, in those days everyone fought everyone over everything. Eden could be drawing on any one of a thousand battles, or none of them. I just don't know."

"What of the major battles?"

"The largest was between the de Dannan and the Fomor, led by Lugh Long Hand and Balor Evil Eye, respectively. Lugh defeated Balor by casting a spear at his eye, saving Ireland from the tyranny of the Fomor. But there were a thousand other battles, Wesley, for a million different reasons. I don't even know why Eden didn't fade away with the others."

"Obviously he had his reasons." Wes mused.

"Obviously. But I don't get why he waited so long. It's five thousand years or more since the Tuatha walked."

"We must assume he had his reasons. A celestial alignment, perhaps."

"Maybe. I don't…" She stopped suddenly, tensing.

"What is it?" Wes asked cautiously.

"Something's wrong. Very wrong. Where are they?"

"Near to where you had your run-in with his men." Wesley rose, reaching for his coat. "How quickly can you get us there?"

"Not quickly enough." She eyed him. "You don't have any spells?"

"Not for instantaneous teleportation, no. Shall I call a car?"

"I can do it faster than that. Let's go."


"Are you sure this is the place?" Wes asked some time later. Deirbhile hadn't done anything he could detect beyond walk fast, but a journey that should have taken at least three-quarters of an hour on foot had taken only ten minutes.

"This is it." she agreed, making no move towards it.

"What precisely do you sense?"

"A lot of power." She reached out, waving her hand through the air in front of them. Ice-blue sparks flickered around her. "And…" She shook her head. "Stephen's afraid."

"Afraid?" Wes repeated.

"I've never felt him afraid. Not like this."

"What's he afraid of?"

"Can't tell." She bit her lip, studying the building. "He's not the only one, either. I can't…separate the others, but there's a lot of fear in there."

"Can you tell what's doing it? What kind of spell?"

"Not from out here. If we go in there, it'll hit us, too."

"Do we have a choice?" Wes asked rhetorically.

Deirbhile grimaced. "I hate those kind of questions."

"Let's go." Wes held her elbow, steering her towards the fire escape.

Inside it was oddly smoky, though they didn't need to cough and neither had any trouble breathing.

"More like fog than smoke." Wes mused, waving a hand experimentally.

"Don't mess with it." Deirbhile hissed. "He'll sense it."

"Eden's power is fire, I highly doubt he…"

"It's not a power, just a sense. Stop wafting the stuff around."

Wes mentally shrugged, lowering his hands to his sides. "Can you hear anything?"

"No."

"This building is not that large, we should be able to…"

"Sshhh!" she hissed frantically. "Look."

The fog…smoke, mist, whatever…cleared slightly, revealing Spike on his knees, keening to himself. He showed not a bit of interest in them, even when Wes shook his shoulder.

"He can't see us. Or hear us, either." He rose to his feet, staring around. "Whatever he sees, it's not this place."

Deirbhile was standing some distance away, arms wrapped tightly across her chest. "Something about a song…that made him do things. Kill people. Hurt them."

"A song?" Wes repeated blankly. "That made him hurt people?"

"I don't know, I can't see…" she backed up a few steps.

"All right, Deirbhile." Wes did his best to sound soothing. "Can you sense the others?"

"Stephen's that way." She gestured to her left. "But it's the same for him. You're not going to be able to get through to him."

"Can you?" Wes asked.

"Maybe. Depends what he's seeing."

"You can't tell?"

"Not from here." She glanced around and then looked back at Wes. "Listen, Wes, I know you're not particularly fond of me, but I'm the only thing you can trust in here, all right? Whatever's gotten them," she gestured to Spike, still ignoring them, "Could just as easy get you. Don't look at anything but me, got it?"

"Likewise." he murmured.

She flashed a brief grin at him before moving away from Spike, through the smoke.

Connor was backed up against a wall, staring blindly from side to side. The panic on his face was unnerving.

"What does he see?" Wes asked Deirbhile softly.

"Nothing."

"Deirbhile…"

"Literally. Nothing. No people, no buildings, no landmarks. Just…nothing."

Wes studied Connor for a moment. "Alone?"

"Absolutely…" she shuddered. "He's calling me."

"You?"

"The place he's standing is alive, more or less. He knows it's not an alternate dimension. He thinks I have to be around somewhere." She stepped back, taking a deep breath. "Wes? Don't freak out, Ok?"

"What do you mean?" he demanded.

"I'm gonna try and break Connor out of it. Things might…get a bit freaky."

"Freaky." he repeated skeptically.

"I don't know the spell Eden used. So I can't use magic to break it. Not regular magic, anyway."

"So what kind of magic are you using?"

"I'm not…exactly. I'm relying on him." She gestured to Connor and then, before Wes could say anything else, opened her mind to the entire area.

The spell hit almost at once; she could still see Wes and Connor, could almost hear Wes' words, but they sounded as though he…or possibly she…were underwater. Dismissing him without effort, she looked around, frowning.

"Looking for me?" someone whispered behind her.

Startled, she spun in place, stumbling back a step. "Eric?"

"Wrong one." he whispered, reaching for her.

"Conchobhar…" she stumbled back again, evading his touch with some difficulty. "Don't touch me. I warned you!"

"Cerbhall's land, right? I remember. Only problem with that is…" He leaned in, backing her against a pillar, and whispered directly in her ear, "you have no power here."

Blinking, she tried to move backwards again. More or less constant exposure to Eric had dulled her fight-or-flight response to him, but this was very clearly not Eric and old instincts were screaming now.