Hey. Thanks for the reviews :) they're great. oh but just fyi, the person who said Angel is already dead, he's not. hes undead :P . any way, as always these characters aren't mine. they are joss whedons. cept once again that guy at the end. who is he?? guess you'll have to keep reading :D . oh and this is quite a slow chapter. sorry. anyway, enjoy.

Chapter Three: Revelations

Buffy stared at the lobby of the Hyperion. It was bruised and battered, much like her Slayers. The battle had hit on many fronts. The demon army had been beaten back, but there were casualties. The slayers were good, but not invincible.

Spike was upstairs, recovering from numerous wounds. Buffy hadn't gone to see him yet. She didn't want to. He hadn't told her he was alive. No one had. She didn't want to look at him right now, let alone talk to him. She was more concerned with what was coming next. If this was the apocalypse, then surely there was more coming, and soon. That was one thing she had learnt from seven years in Sunnydale; you never get a rest.

Buffy sighed. She was glad she had left Dawn back in Rome with Andrew and Kennedy. Kennedy wanted to come, but since her accident in Brazil, she wasn't as mobile as she had been. She would have been too slow to fight in full on combat. She disagreed, as she always did, but Buffy was the leader, and what she said was final.

"What I say is final!" Angel was shouting at a couple of the slayers.

They were trying to put crosses up in the hotel. Angel was against the idea.

"Why?" asked Beth, one of the younger, and more annoying slayers.

"Because, this is my hotel, well technically I don't own it any more, but the point is... look I don't want any crosses up in my hotel!" Angel was annoyed by his need to defend himself.

"Fine, but we're telling Buffy!" Beth semi yelled as she walked off to find Buffy.

Angel sighed. He hadn't planned on this. His plan was kind of outdated now. It had read as follows:

1.Ruin Senior Partners plans.

2. Die in glamorous fight against evil.

That was kind of the end of his plan. And then Buffy had showed up. He could deal with that. He could deal with the reunion of the Scooby gang. He didn't like having the Immortal on his side. He didn't trust him. Not since he had "had" his way with Darla. He hated the guy. And before this was over, he knew that they would come to blows.

Spike was sitting up in bed. In the corner of the room stood Xander, he was looking out onto the war-torn streets of L.A., while Willow was casting a healing spell on Spike. It was meant to make the bone heal faster.

"BLOODY HELL!" Spike yelled. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Willow frowned. "I'm trying to make your arm heal quicker,"

"Well I don't think it's working," Spike scowled.

Xander turned around "Why don't you keep the complaints to a minimum walking dead man. You're lucky willow is even doing this spell,"

"Who asked you, Harris? You never did tell me how you got your eye back anyhow. Same deal?" Spike asked, trying to keep his mind of the pain.

"Yeah, Willow grew me a new eye. Kind of. Look it's complicated, and brings back memories I don't like, so drop it,"

Spike smirked. He had found something that made Xander uncomfortable. This could be fun. "What's the matter? Did it puss? Was it gooey?" Spike was smiling as he asked the questions.

"Shut up Spike!" Xander hated the vampire. It was tied between him, the Immortal and Angel for who he hated most in the world.

"Will you BOTH shut up!" Willow suddenly piped into life, "This is hard at nest normally, and with you two bickering like you're married, just makes it harder."

Spike stopped.

Xander looked to the floor.

"So why didn't you tell us you were alive Spikey?? Did you think Buffy wouldn't want to know?" Xander took delight in disobeying Willow. She was his best friend, and he felt it necessary to show her sometimes that not everyone feared her.

"You pillock. I didn't tell her 'cos I didn't want you lot here, stinking up the town!" Spike tried to defend himself.

Willow frowned, cast one last incantation and left the room. It was like the old days again.

This was nothing like the old days. Illyria was astounded at how the humans were gathering. In her time, humans hid. They cowered. They were mere bugs to her kind.

More to Illyria's interest was the one called The Immortal. She knew that she knew him. Her demon memories were hard to recall. Since she had lost a great chunk of her powers her memories had merged with that of the host body. She was neither Fred nor Illyria.

She was lost.

And it irritated her that she knew this being, but could not place her finger on from where.

Giles was sitting at the desk in Angel's old office, going over the Shanshu prophecy.

He was surprised that no one had informed him or Buffy about a prophecy that basically said Angel would become human again at some point. The truth was that Giles already knew about the prophecy. High-level council members were informed on most things. And Giles knew a lot of their secrets. He also knew that what was in front of him was only half the prophecy.

Angel came to the door. "What you looking at Giles?" the vampire asked.

"The Shanshu prophecy. It was among the pile of Wesley's possessions. He seems to have been trying to figure out if it was you or Spike that the prophecy referred to." The ex-watcher answered without taking his eye from the page.

Angel's eyes lit up with this knowledge. It was strange that Wesley, with all of his trauma, was still looking into this for him.

"And? What did he find Giles?" Angel asked.

"Well, if he had bothered to call me I could have answered the question for him,"

Angel stared at Giles. "If you remember the last time we talked, it wasn't on exactly the best of terms," Angel replied to the ex-watcher.

Giles looked up. He remembered the conversation he had had with Angel not long ago. His brow slightly folded. "Sorry, all I meant to say was I know this prophecy, and you only have the first half."

"What? How can that be? Wolfram and Hart had the biggest archive in the world. They had an ex-watcher who had stolen some of the council's records for God's sake. How can they not have known?" Angel was genuinely confused.

"That prophecy wasn't held in the Watchers Council building. It was placed in a trans-dimensional, well, hole in reality. It was the only way that we could hope to keep it safe. Obviously we didn't do a very good job, as you managed to find a copy. Or half a copy..." Giles looked back at the prophecy.

"So what does it say Giles? The rest of it?" Angel had to know now.

Giles sighed. He hated prophecies. He hated fate, or destiny or what ever you would call it. It meant there was no free will. Not even in the choices we make.

"It says that while the vampire with a soul will face a test before the final apocalypse. He can save the world, or he can keep his reward. He may be human without remorse, or a demon with a soul. When the choice is made his fate is set. It says if he sacrifices his reward he is on the side of good, but if he keeps his reward in the face of death then he will be fighting for evil." Giles told him with his eyes closed.

He found it hard remembering prophecies. He nearly always messed then up in someway.

Angel stood still. He had really given up his reward the other day. That meant he was fighting on the side of good in the Apocalypse. He had always believed he would fight for good, but there was also a niggle of doubt in his mind every time he would think about it.

He turned from Giles and walked towards the bathroom. He hadn't expected this. It was really the end. He hadn't wanted to believe it. But the prophecies always seemed to be right. Even the prophecy about him killing Connor was correct. He had re-written his sons life. He had killed the person he was and replaced him with a new one. He missed his son now more than ever. He wanted his son by his side.

In the sky a red streak of lightning shone across the sky.

It shimmered backwards and forwards, almost with a mind of its own. The energy shot down towards the ground. It ripped into the Hollywood Hills, tearing down the Hollywood sign.

As it hit, a demon appeared in the midst of all of the destruction. He laughed as he looked down onto the city.

"Fear..." it whispered in a gravely voice. It raised its arms, and as it did so wings grew from its back.

It raised itself high into the sky and flew straight for the ruins of the Wolfram and Hart building.

It was time to have fun.