Summary: What if Buffy had gone with Angel into that hell dimension on the finale of Season2? My first fan fiction, I think this would be considered AU.
Disclaimers: Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon own it all. This just all just for entertainments sake, I hope.
Buffy sat by the small lake that bordered the cottage she now called home. Looking over the last 20 years it was very hard to imagine a time when she hadn't lived here. After all, it was more than half her life, as far as she was concerned.
When they first came through the vortex Buffy expected pits of fire and brimstone and endless suffering. Angel had no idea about what had just happened to him. He thought it was the day after her 17th birthday. They were in a glade of some sort, with lots of sun. She remembered pulling the sword out of Angel and trying to drag him into shade. But the strange thing was, the sun didn't burn him. That's when an even stranger thing happened, okay, the first of many stranger things. Whistler came walking up to them, in a very loud suit and hat.
"Wow, so okay, you guys made it through. Cool."
Angel and Buffy were dumbfounded. Words were forming in Buffy's brain, she could see them, but they refused to spill out of her mouth, so the both of them just stared.
"Okay, so I realized you're probably more than a little confused, you expected to be plunged into a hell dimension. Am I right?" Whistler crooked his head a little to the left and continued to speak. "Well, maybe just you, slayer. The big guy seems way confused by life right now. But Whistler will explain all, I promise. Let's get out of this place, it's a bit too wide open for my liking".
"So, you know where we should be? Is this like, your demon land, I mean, you are a demon, right? You KNOW what this is all about? You made this happen?" Buffy was freaked, but her anger at Whistler's nonchalance was over-taking all other emotions.
"Buffy, please, don't kill the messenger. Angel knows I have no real power, I just give options put down by The Powers. I work for them, y'know? Anyway, come on, I know a place where the big guy can rest and you can clue him in on his antics these past months, just in case he can't figure it out for himself. Then I can give you the rest of the story."
Buffy followed, begrudgingly and extremley scared. Angel was starting to fill in some of the missing pieces as Buffy tried to support him, physically and emotionally. A memory of what Angelus had done would hit him and he would fall to his knees, heaving. She knew it would take another long while for him to come to terms with this, guess that's why I love him so much, she thought.
After a bit of explaining on Whistler's part, Buffy felt she had heard quite enough and Angel was having more than a little bit of a problem accepting the fact that he had been Angelus and had done all the Angelus-type evil.
"Options, options? You call this an option? So, if I hadn't come with Angel, he'd be suffering an eternity of untold miseries at the hands of demons, with his soul intact? Like, this is our reward? Is this, like the typical way the powers that be operate? No talking, NO options? 'Cause my option would have been most definitely a place with at least one Starbucks!"
"Okay, Buff, I sort of see your point here. But may I remind you, no one told you to jump through the opening with Angel, you made that one all by yourself. But it was a selfless act, an act of love, an act of compassion. This is why you and Angel aren't being flayed and then having your skin reattached so that the flaying can recommence in the morning. See where I'm going with this one?" Whistler looked over at Angel to see how he was digesting all of this. "So big guy, care to add an opinion or two?"
Angel's face was a work in guilt and remorse. "I can't believe I lost my soul for simply loving Buffy. Why didn't you tell me this when you first showed her to me? Why didn't you warn us? You have to send Buffy back home and send me to the dimension I was meant to be in, it's what I deserve."
"Angel, just stop it, enough with the self-flagellation. This is where we are now and there is no way in hell I am going to lose you again after getting you back, just not gonna happen, so get over it! Right?" she asked Whistler, with a little less conviction.
"Yeah, I don't have the means to get anybody anywhere else, except myself. So, here's the deal, you guys. It appears that there's some sort of prophecy that's gonna involve the both of you. By Buffy going through the portal it's just going to happen a little sooner, but according to the Oracles, this was a definite possibility in the list of probabilities. Don't ask, I'm just repeating what I've been told. I am strictly a need to know basis kind of guy." Whistler dusted an imaginary speck off his lapel, while trying to not look at the two miserable folks in front of him.
Buffy sank to the makeshift mattress, at least she hoped it was makeshift, next to Angel in the small hut Whistler had led them to. The tension and exhaustion were tangible in every movement and muscleof her body. "What's next, then? Are we here to slay some evil master vampire, some demon that eats babies, what? Can you ay least give us that much?" Buffy felt as if she was whining, but she couldn't stop herself. She was scared, confused, tired and Angel's remorseful, semi-comatose state was really starting to get to her.
"Well, I know that the prophecy has to do with your world and you have to do something in this dimension before you can go back. Now, I also know that time in this dimension is much different than the one you just came from. I hate to lay all it on you like this, with no, how can I say this…foreplay? I just don't have a whole lot of time and I have a lot to clue you in on."
Whistler took a deep breath and continued, "Okay, first things first. Time, one week in yourworld is like a year and a half in this dimension, give or take."
Angel finally showed a bit of life, "What the hell are you talking about? That'll mean nothing for me, but what about Buffy? Are we here for a short duration or are the Powers That Be thinking long term? What are we suppose to do about that? This is insane, Whistler, you have to get them to take Buffy back!"
"Angel, you are giving me way more credit than I deserve. Like I said, I'm only the messenger. You're here until whatever needs to happen, happens. And that could be years, which seems the case when you hear all that I have to tell you. This leads me to my next couple of revelations. Hey, this may be the best thing that ever happened to you two. Come on guys, let's go with the half full mentality, just for a little bit."
Whistler continued, "Okay, so Angel. It seems that the PTBs have bonded your soul, so now there is nothing to get in the way of your happiness. That's a good thing, right? I mean, I'm sure that sex is the last thing that you have on your mind, but in time, who knows, right? As for the passage of time, this here is a little tricky, so please keep an open mind and bear with me. Seems the Powers That Be are of the opinion that you will need to turn Buffy within a few years time". Angel stood up and was about to pull Whistlers spine out through his mouth when Buffy put her hand on his arm. Her soft hand, with all her warmth, coursed through him and calmed him immediately. With everything that was happening, he still couldn't stop the feelings she stirred in him.
"Angel, hold on, let him finish. We're stuck here and they can't really force us to do anything, so let's hear what these fabulous supreme beings have to say." Buffy's voice was tired with resignation, but he could still see her love for him in her eyes. Maybe things could be worse, he'd listen.
Whistler wiped his brow, "Thanks, Buffy!"
She looked at him through half closed eyes, "Don't thank me yet, I may not like what you have to say and then those pesky Powers That Be will have to find a new errand boy."
"Okay, so like I said, when Angel turns you."
"If!" Buffy and Angel said simultaneously.
"Whatever, anyway as I was trying to say, you won't be losing your soul, Buffy. Even as we speak, it's bound to you. No chance, ever, of you losing it. I know it all sounds strange, but none of us are privy to what the Oracles have in mind. And believe you me, trying to second guess them just never works."
Whistler picked up his hat and set on his head, "So, I gotta be hitting the inter-dimensional road in a bit. I'll just go over with you what you can expect from this place. Not too bad as far as alternate, zero technology, dimensions go. Actually, I have a feeling you guys are going to do just fine."