CHAPTER 13: TRIAL AND ERROR


"Does anybody else feel like an arsenal?" Xander carried a crossbow in one hand and a stake in the other, had two small bottles of holy water in his pockets and a large wooden cross around his neck. The others had similar equipment. Wesley carried a small battle axe and Cordelia the tranqualizer gun, Giles had a baseball bat and a crossbow and Anya had a cross and holy water. Buffy simply held a stake in one hand. Not that she intended to use it though… It would only come in handy for her threatening stance.

"I mean," Xander continued nervously. "Since we're so many we could almost be the soccer team Arsenal, I was however more referring to our stockpile of weapons."

"Oh joy," Cordelia said. "Witty Xander makes his dumb jokes again. We were all hoping the multiple concussions had cured you."

No one disagreed with Cordelia. Suddenly, Buffy stopped.

"What is it Buff? Is he close?" Buffy felt something, but it wasn't Angelus. More like some other vampire. She didn't have to think about it long; soon Spike emerged from the shadows.

"Hello there, pet. Seem to be meeting you a lot like this nowadays. Looking for me today then?"

"Yeah, sure, were looking for the evil dead that can't hurt a living thing." Xander answered for Buffy. He considered what he'd just said. "Hey, does that mean you can't kill mosquitoes or stomp flowers?" Spike just glared at him.

"So, Spike." Buffy said. "You're stepping out of the shadows once again. Are you just coming to leave another cryptic message or do you have anything useful to say?"

"Actually, I have something to say. I overheard both of Angelus talking about the spell to rejoin them. You need a piece of the weapon and demon blood, they said." He smirked. "I just happen to know where to procure one of those little knick-knacks." No one looked impressed.

"That's splendid, but it will do no good without the demons blood. Since it was Angel who killed it in a sewer in L.A. and burned its body, it's next to impossible to acquire." Wesley said.

"Besides," Buffy said, eyeing Spike suspiciously. "Why would you want to help us?

Spike puffed his cigarette and looked away. "Bloody wanker hurt the little Bit," he muttered as an explanation.

Buffy looked at him. Well, no matter what she thought about it, Spike had something of a soft spot for her sister. She didn't like it, she had never liked it; Spike was soulless after all and therefore unreliable, but if his feelings for her drove him to actually helping them with Angelus… Well, any port in a killing spree, right?

"Do you know where he is?" she asked.

"Nah luv, I think I've had my share of the angelic killing marvel for this time. I bloody well hope." He looked at the others, patting his stomach. "Bugger gave me a rather nasty gut wound, you see, when I tried to stake him. So no, I'll just keep out of the line of fire."

Buffy felt the familiar tingle as always when he was near. She blinked and swallowed. She wasn't comfortable with her body reacting like this to Angelus, but she had to admit, when searching for him, it was a handy skill.

"Well, Spike. If you want to run, this would be the time." she said, staring into the darkness, concentrating hard on seeing him.

"Oh, bloody brilliant." Spike threw away his cigarette butt, knowing what was coming. Well, he couldn't run away now. It would hurt his manliness. He glanced at Xander. Maybe he could use the milksop as a flesh made shield if Angelus decided to aim something sharp at him.

Angelus – well, one of them, stepped forward, leering. He looked completely relaxed, holding his hands in his pockets, looking and grinning at them. He had no fear whatsoever, even though he was technically facing an angry mob with a disturbing number of weapons. Well. He knew that the leader of this mob wouldn't let anything happen to him just like that.

"Hello, lover. And everybody else. It's so nice to meet old friends like this."

"You don't have any friends here, Angelus," Buffy said sternly, trying to look menacing.

"Oh, I know. I don't really have any friends at all, it's kinda the thing when you're evil. Well, it's time for another big fight scene, is it?" Angelus indicated all the weapons they were packing.

"Something like that." Buffy answered, glancing around. Where was the other one? She had to stall until he showed, or else Willow couldn't do the spell.

Angelus looked straight at her, practically piercing her with his gaze. "What is it Buffy? Waiting for something?"

Damn it, he was good. He simply knew her every thought, how did he do it? Well, if he sensed her as well as she sensed him, plus having extra vampire senses, it wasn't very strange of course. Very disturbing though, not to mention to her disadvantage right now.

"Look, we're fed up with you, we're angry, and we're armed," she said cockily. "So don't try anything, if you know what's good for you."

Angelus smiled slightly as he stepped closer to Buffy. He practically leaned against the stake she held up. He looked at her with those at the moment soft, brown eyes… God, he was so much like Angel. Buffy shook her head. NO, he wasn't anything like him. Angel was a good man – okay, vampire, but with a human soul. This creature was a vicious animal. It frustrated Buffy that the Scourge of Europe that had done so many horrible things to her, her friends, family and the world, could make her go soft when he looked at her like that. And he knew it.

Buffy braced herself and pushed the stake forward a bit. It didn't even penetrate Angelus' skin, it was simply a warning.

"Back off," she snapped. He just chuckled.

"So. How's the family unit? Guess I know how little sis is doing. What about your mother, hm? Joyce. Isn't she a nice lady? Well, except when she is all coldhearted and runs inside when her daughter's true love is expressing his feelings, of course." Angelus leered. He enjoyed every bit of this.

"What do you think, hm? I was actually thinking about going to meet Joyce, but then, I was so busy. I think we all have the feeling sometime – what if I could be in two places at once? You would be able to do twice as many things, you know."

What Angelus was saying was starting to dawn on Buffy. Oh no… Her mother. Where was her mother?


Joyce was driving home from the hospital Things were looking up. Dawn was still in a coma, but all her vitals were stable and the doctors had good hope. Unless there were any complications, she should wake up within the next few days.

She looked hard at her driveway. Was there a man standing there, on her front lawn? Yes there was, she became certain as the got closer. A tall, black clad man… She drove up and parked the car. The figure standing there had black leather pants…she could see that, but he wasn't totally visible in the dark. When she opened the car door, he stepped forward.

Oh dear. Angel. She remembered the last time he'd been waiting for her like this. She felt her face flush in anger. So here he was. Buffy had told her what was going on – well, not very much, but enough for Joyce to understand that Angel was back, in the really bad sense. Buffy had said something about a split personality, or was it split entity… She couldn't quite remember, she had been in a hurry when she spoke to her. The important thing was that sometimes he would be dangerous, like he had been before, and that she had to be careful if she saw him.

So what now? She should just simply step out of the car calmly, see if this was the balanced or less stable version – God, what did her daughter see in that thing – and if she had any bad feelings, get inside and call Buffy.

"Joyce."

"Angel." She looked at him, bitterly. He didn't look that crazy, really, but as she remembered, it was usually the dangerous one that called her "Joyce".

"Joyce, I…"

"Actually Angel, I would prefer if you called me Mrs. Summers. Even if you are… old, you have been dating my daughter. To me, you are her ex boyfriend, that's all. Besides, have you forgotten the talk we hade before you left for Los Angeles? I thought we agreed that it was best for Buffy it you stayed out of her way. Quiet frankly, I don't see what business you could have here."

Angel smirked at her, and his smile did indeed send cold chills down Joyce's spine. Even though she had technically not seen much of the smirk of Angelus, there was something about that smile that made her blood run cold, her heart skip a beat and her body shudder involuntary. All her senses screamed DANGER. Angelus knew it. He could hear her heart rate speed up, smell fear and tension on her. She, and thousands before her, had reacted like that to his smirk after all.

The question was, how would she maneuver herself past him to get inside?

"Joyce… I don't think that's fair. Seeing the fact that I've had close relationships with both your daughters, you could show a little respect."

What was he talking about?

"Oh, you didn't know? Let's just say, I have the most… intimate details on how your youngest ended up in hospital just recently."

He moved closer to her. His voice was low pitched and dangerous. When she saw him up close, there was no question whether he had a soul or not. His dark, cold eyes seemed to penetrate her, she felt most uncomfortable. She felt shots of fear surge through her body and it seemed harder to breathe properly. He leaned even closer.

"Would you want me to tell you those details, Joyce?"


Buffy ran as fast as she could. She was almost at Revello Drive. God, how could she be so stupid! This wasn't the first time Angelus had struck against those she at the moment didn't watch. She should have made sure that her mother was safely inside when they were all gathered to approach Angelus.

She had told the gang to try to keep Angelus at bay while she was gone. They needed to do the reintegration spell now. She knew in the back of her mind that if he didn't want to stay, they didn't stand any chance of stopping him… and if he wanted to use the situation and attack all of them, it would be hard for them to protect themselves, even with all their weapons. Still, it was a risk she had to take. She had to know that her mother was safe.

She stopped outside her house. It was completely dark, and her mother's car wasn't there. She obviously hadn't even come home yet. She picked up Xander's cell phone and called her mother. No answer… Then again, that didn't really mean anything, did it? Maybe she was still alt work – or visiting Dawn, she said she'd do that on the way home. That was probably it, cell phones weren't allowed in the hospital. Buffy was about to slip the phone in her pocket when it rang loudly. A wave of relief washed over her.

"Mom?"

"Buffy?" It wasn't Joyce's voice on the other end, it was Giles. "Buffy, Angelus has started moving, and we can't follow him too long before he turns on us, I suspect. Should we leave it?"

Buffy sighed. She didn't want to let him go, but if she couldn't find the other one, it was of no use risking life and limb by trying to keep Angelus still. "I guess."

Suddenly, she saw a well known, black clad figure walking down the street toward her. "On second thought, keep him there! I see the other one, maybe I can draw him to you." She hung up without waiting for Giles' answer. Buffy approached Angelus slowly. When he saw her, he stopped and smiled.

"Hello there, Buff. Lovely evening, don't you think?"

"Well, it was, then I met you," she snapped. He nodded with a smile, not really a smirk this time.

"That's hilarious, Buffy, really. Funny thing though, I can see in your eyes that you don't mean it. Why else would you reek of love and lust as soon as you see me? I can smell it, you know. It's interesting, really. The righteous vampire slayer, protector of all that's good and pure – turned on by the greatest mass murderer known to man. You gotta love the irony."

Buffy looked at him, disgusted at his words. No, it wasn't mostly at his words. She was more disgusted and pissed that Angelus was right on spot as usual, rather than about what he said to her.

"I think you've misunderstood, Angelus." She pronounced the end of his name with force, like she wanted to convince him that she made a distinction between him and Angel.

"Hmm." He looked at her with amusement.

"You're nobody. Just a disease," she continued. "If you're implying that I love YOU, you're dead wrong. I love Angel. And you are NOT Angel."

For once, Angelus didn't smirk or smile smugly at her, he simply leaned closer to her when he answered.

"You really think it's that cut and dry, don't you?" he asked coldly. "You actually think that, if I get my soul back, everything that I am is gone?" Angelus smiled a little. "No, Buffy. I'm always here." He patted his chest. "Deep in." Buffy shook her head.

"You're lying."

"Dear Buffy," he said, uttering her name just as Angel would, "so cute, so stupid. Tell me, how do you think your precious boy toy played the part of me so good that time, hm? When you fooled Faith. Let me give you a hint. Wasn't just because he… or should I say – I, have the memories from when I'm soulless. Come on. Drop the innocent act, we both know that's not exactly anything you have anymore."

"You know what, Angelus?" Buffy moved very close to him and quietly moved her hand into her pocket. "GO TO HELL!" Buffy pulled a tazer out of her pocket and hit Angelus in the chest with it. He didn't have time to react before he flew backwards and hit the pavement, hard.


Angelus the first and the gang – except for Spike, who obviously had split – were just around the corner. Buffy panted from the effort of dragging the knocked out vampire from her house to their current position. Right now, Angelus was about to wake up after being hit with the tazer. Buffy's plan was to wait until he was at least semi-awake, and in some way – probably violent, bring him close to his other half.

She could only hope that the other one would be somewhat cooperative. This wouldn't work if he wasn't okay with being put back together with himself, and she knew it. Her success depended on how tired he was of having an identical twin running around… she was playing on his ego here, which she hoped would be successful.

She leaned forward and hit him in the face two times. The third time, his left hand flew up and caught her fist. He opened his eyes.

"Very nice," he hissed. "Now, let's do this fair."

"Oh, I'm all for it. Fair ass-kicking's makes me feel all righteous."

Angelus hit Buffy hard across the face and shoved her backwards. She stumbled and while she recovered he got to his feet, taking another swing at her. She dodged and kicked him in the side. Before he could get at her again she spun around, jumped and kicked him with both legs in the chest, sending him backwards reeling around the corner. The gang, and Angelus, could now see them. She caught a glimpse of Angelus the first smiling, enjoying the show.

Angelus grabbed Buffy's coat and flipped her over, she fell but was on her feet again fast. He got a hold of her again fast and slammed her into a nearby tree. She kneed him in the crotch which took his edge of for a second, she wriggled free from his grip and shoved him forward, working on taking the fight all the way to the other Angelus, who stood his ground and watched. Hopefully that indicated that she had been right, that he knew what they were doing and welcomed it. After all, even if being split in two came with some advantages, he might very well be tired of sharing his unlife with a demanding identical twin.

When she was about to hit Angelus, he caught her arm and yanked it backwards. She gasped in pain and head butted him, getting free. She quickly attacked him with another series of kicks and punches which made him bend over for a minute. When he got up again, he was in vamp face. He growled viciously and kicked her hard. She almost fell but caught herself. They were close to the other Angelus now.

Willow was ready. Buffy grabbed him by the arm, spun around and let go. He reeled and almost crashed into his other self.

"NOW!" Buffy yelled. Immediately, Willow held up her hand and performed the spell that immobilized both of Angelus. She quickly started to chant the rejoining spell.

"Ab imploro abeo acerbus divinus."
I implore you dark gods

"Recursus qualis seiugatus."
Return what was separated

"Abicio iectum alteruter."
Get rid of one of the two

"Antiquoare!"
Leave it in its former state!

The thicken spell wore of, but the Angelus's couldn't – or was it wouldn't? – do much about the reintegration spell at this point. A bright, yellow light appeared around them and they started to combine. Buffy could hardly see them for a while.

When the light disappeared only one of them was left. At first he looked bewildered, but soon he seemed to accustom to the new state. He got to his feet, growled, and disappeared.

As soon as the immediate danger and tension wore off, Buffy felt how tired she was. Oh, how she wanted this to be over right now. But no. They still had a re-ensouling to perform.


Thirty minutes later, Buffy, Willow, Cordelia, Giles, Anya, Wesley, Gunn and Xander all poured into the Magic Box. It served as their headquarter – the only bad thing about it was that it was a public accommodation, which meant that Angelus could get in, but no one had a suitable home to be in. It didn't matter, after all Angel would soon be re-ensouled again and the danger would be eliminated. The gang, all tired didn't say much. They simply sat down where they could find space.

"So." Willow said tiredly. She was exhausted after the spell. She knew that calling on dark gods was tiring on a witch that wasn't completely ready for it, but she would never admit that to anyone.

"So." Xander echoed. "What do we do now? Anyone who answers better include words such as 'rest your smashed head' or 'sleep'."

Buffy sighed. "I'm sorry to be a spoilsport, but we're not done yet. We still need to curse Angelus. The orb of Thesulah should arrive soon, right Will?"

She simply nodded. Buffy looked at her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine. I'm just a little drained from the spell, is all."

Buffy looked at the worn group. "You should all get some rest." Xander mouthed a thank you. "I'm gonna call the hospital and see how Dawn is doing… and, um, check on my mom. Apart from that, I don't think there's much we can do before the orb arrives."


They didn't have to wait long, only just under two hours later the orb arrived. Angelus hadn't made any appearances. Was it possible that he didn't know that they would try to re-curse him as soon as possible, or was he still recovering from his recent reintegration? Buffy guarded the front door just in case. She didn't trust him not to show up.

She was worried. The last hour Buffy had spent trying to get a hold of her mother, but she wasn't anywhere to be found – she had left work during the afternoon, visited Dawn, but she hadn't arrived home. She didn't answer on her cell phone.

Buffy could only hope that the reason for her mother's absence was something natural, though she feared that it wasn't. She wanted to panic – she desperately wanted to be able to act like anyone else would if their mother was missing while a sadistic monster was loose looking to hurt her in all ways imaginable, but she couldn't. She had to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders, again. With a sigh and a last worried look outside, she went inside where Willow and the others had set up everything to perform the curse.

"Okay." Willow nodded. "We're ready."

"Yep, stinky herbs are go," Cordelia said. A beat before she continued. "Oh. Déjà vu. Feels like I've said that before."

"You have," Willow reminded her. "Giles?" With a stern look, Giles opened the book he was holding and spoke the first few words of the curse.

"Quod perditum est, invenietur."

Unpleasant memories from almost three years ago stirred up. The last time he did this, he was only days away from loosing Buffy, if only temporary. Only hours away from being tortured by Angelus. Only minutes away from realizing that the cunning vampire had fooled them and the horror of possibly waking up to a world where he found that all his protégés had been killed.

"Not dead nor not of the living. Spirits of the interregnum I call," Willow chanted slowly. "Let him know the pain of humanity, gods. Reach your wizened hands to me. Give me the sword. Gods, bind him. Cast his heart from the evil realm. I call on you gods…"

Just like last time, Willow's head snapped back and she continued chanting, now in Romanian instead of English.

"Te implor, Doamne, nu ignora aceasta rugaminte. Nici mort, nici de-al fiintei, Te invoc, spirit al trecerii. Reda trupului ce separa omul de animal!"

The orb started to glow bright. Everyone was watching tensely. Everything was going all right. Nothing could possibly go wrong at this point, could it? Soon they would have Angel back and everything would be normal.

"Lasa orbita sa fie vasul care-i va transporta, sufletul la el. Utrespur aceastui."

It looked like the soul prepared to leave the orb, just like it was supposed to.

"Asa sa fie! Asa sa fie! Acum!"

But instead of glowing and disappearing, the orb continued to glow, brighter and brighter. After a few seconds, it exploded into hundreds of pieces and a lot of dust. Willow who sat very close to it, shrieked and jumped back.

Buffy frowned. "Okay… so, it worked, right? I mean, that what happens when Angel's soul leaves the orb?"

Cordelia shook her head. "I remember the last time. The orb did the glow thing, and when Willow said that… last thing, it disappeared. I don't think it worked." Buffy stared at her, terror and anger in her eyes.

"What? But… how?"

"So what we're saying here is that Angel is still all psychopath-y out there? Very nice!" Xander said, throwing his hands in the air in a frustrated gesture.

"Calm down," Wesley said to no one in particular. "Just stay calm. Let's think, what could possibly stop the curse from working?"

Giles cleared his throat. "Well, there's one thing in all this that no one has mentioned." He raised his gaze and looked warily at Buffy. She frowned and glared back at him demandingly.

"How did Angel loose his soul this time?"

"Well I…" God, how could she be so stupid. She hadn't given it one thought. "I don't know."

Wesley spoke again. "Well, at least I think it's fair to say that he didn't loose it through a moment of true happiness. We're also sure that it wasn't Doximall that made Angelus surface this time, since the effects would have worn of long ago. The question is, what did it?"