Sorry for the long wait time people. I've been busy with a lot of Homework and family issues. But, hey! I'm BAAACCKKK!
Chapter 6- Fading Away
There was a pounding outside the hotel room door.
"Should someone get the door?" Illyria asked.
"Yes, although I fear we are a bit busy at the moment Illyria. W..Would you mind answering it?" Giles asked, looking over at her.
"Answering it? This is not a phrase I am familiar with." she responded.
"He means open the damn door!" Gunn yelled at her.
"I see." She went over to the door and opened it up. "Yes?" she asked Andrew.
"I need Buffy. Now!"
Illyria turned back to the room and said, "The mortal Andrew seeks the one called Buffy."
"Give me a moment Andrew! I'm slightly busy here with Angel!" Buffy replied loudly.
Illyria turned to look back at the door. "Would you like to come inside?" she asked him, remembering the lessons Wesley had taught her about being polite.
"No thanks. I'm cool here."
"Very well." Illyria closed the door on Andrew's face.
"Buffy, if you want to go, I can watch Angel." Cordy said, walking over to her.
"Can you hold down a half-crazed Vampire or whatever the hell he is now?"
"Buffy, I'm the equivlent of a small god. If I can't hold him down, no one can."
"Alright. Knock yourself out." Buffy said, letting go of Angel.
Immediatly, he started thrashing about on the bed. "Just not literally though." Xander added. Cordy rolled her eyes at his remark. To think that she had once dated this man. To be honest, when she heard about the war going on in Sunnydale, she didn't think Xander would be one to make it out. Now, here he was, minus one eye, but here none the less.
She gently put her hands on Angel's arms and brought them down, effectivly pinning them to the side of his body. Then, suddenly, she glowed white. The, there was no other word for it, whiteness surrounded both of them, and he stopped moving. If Angel had been able to breath, it would've been peacefully.
"Ooookaaay. I think we've found someone with more power than me." Willow said.
"Don't worry Wil, you're still my favorite witch."
"Thanks Xan."
"If I'm not needed, I'll go see what Andrew needs." Buffy told the room.
"Oh, yes. By all means, go right ahead. I believe that we can take care of it all from here." Giles said, waving her towards the door.
She went over to it, opened it up, and stepped outside into the hallway where Andrew was waiting. " What's up?" she asked.
"Besides the sky? Umm... Spike's awake, and he keeps saying his name is William, and he goes psycho if you call him Spike. Something about 'the monster inside' " Andrew explained.
"Sounds familiar."
"What?"
"I siad, sounds familiar."
Andrew's face took on a look that rarely appeared on his face since he began his Watcher training: confusion. "Andrew, are you alright?" Buffy asked him. "You look like a deer caught in some car'sheadlights."
"How does Spike being crazy and saying that he's William sound familiar?"
"When he got his soul back, he kept saying how a monster had killed everyone, not him." Buffy explained.
"Isn't that when the First was controlling him?"
"Yeah, but we don't need to worry about that. The First is long gone." At that moment, they arrived in front of the room Spike was in. Buffy walked rightin and took a spot next to Spike and Dawn. "Wanna go get him some food Dawnie?" she asked her sister.
"Crap. I forgot that he needed to eat now." She cringed slightly after she said crap, expecting Buffy to yell at her. She was too busy with Spike to notice though. Dawn quickly left to room, pulling Andrew out by his shirt, leaving Buffy alone with Spike for the second time that day.
"How are you doing Spike?" she asked him gently.
Spike backed up against the wall as far as he could go and still remain on the bed. "Name is William. Not Spike. William." he said.
Buffy put her hand gently upon his arm. "Shh. It's alright. Just listen to me now. Yes, your name in William, but we all knwo you as Spike. Yes, there was a monster insode of you, but not anymore. You're human, and humans can't have monsters inside of them. So, when I call you Spike, I'm really talking to William. Soon, you'll be back to normal, cracking jokes, and comebacks."
"How do you know?" Spike asked her quietly.
"Two reasons. One, because this had happened before, and you got better. Two, because that's the man I fell in love with."
"Cordy, why can't I move?" Angel asked, suddenly waking us again.
"You were going nuts and we all thought you were gonna hurt someone." Xander said. Everyone glared at him. "What?" he exclaimed. "It's the truth!"
"Xander, shut up. You're not helping." Giles said.
Illyria cocked her head to the left and asked, "Do you wish me to pull out his throat?"
Xander backed up against the wall, holding his throat. "Eeep!"
"I don't think we need to go that far Ilyria. Xander seems to be behaving himslf now, and if he starts not to, then I think we gotsome duct tape around here that we can tie him up with and let you have a crack at him." Gunn said with a completly straight face, so no one could tell if he was joking or not.
"Back to before though, why can't I move? I can't see anything that's holding me down." Angel said.
"Magick." WIllow said. "Good, old-fashioned, powerful magick."
"Did you..." Angel began, but Cordy cut him off.
"No. It was me. What's holding you down is pure power and the purest white magick you can find anywhere in the world since it comes from..."
"The-Powers-That-Be-Wrong-About-Prophicies." Angel finished sarcastically.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Gunn asked.
"I'm not human. I'm still the Vampire Angelus."
"Are you really?" Willow asked him.
He rounded on her now. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? Don't go all cryptic on me. I never liked it when I was completly awake and not coming out of a huge war."
"I'm serious. Do you feel anything different?"
"No."
"Well, I do. Your evil side, Angelus? It's not there anymore. You're 100 good Vampire."
"There's any oxymoron." Xander mumbled.
Willow hushed him with a glare and turned back to Angel. "You still have the demon in you, you wouldn't be Vampire without it, but you have your soul too. The best part- if something were to happen to it, nothing would happen to you. You wouldn't revert back to Angelus. You'd still be good old Angel." she explained. "Oh, and no pun intended with the 'old' part either."
"Well, now that we have determined that I am good for eternity, perhaps I can GET OFF THE BED!" Angel half-shouted.
Cordy closed her eyes a moment then opened them back up. "There. You're clear."
Angel sat up and closed his eyes a moment, trying to get his mind around all the stuff that was happening and had happedned. When he realized he only knew how he was feeling about everything, he asked, "I haven't really gotten a chance to talk to everyone since the Apoclypse. How's everyone doing?"
"Good, considering I'm a Vamp with no soul" Gunn replied.
"We'll work on that. Cordy?"
"Confused, and ore than slightly lost at everthing that's been happening, but it's getting better as everyone talks. I'll survive."
Angel nodded."How's tihngs in Sunnydale? Last I heard, you were about to be in the fight of your lives, and that was over a year ago when we first took over Wolfram and Hart."
"There is no Sunnydale anymore. It's kind of a really big hole now." Willow spoke.
"A hole? Meaning, no mall? The place that symbolized my life is gone! Noooo!" Cordy wailed jokingly. She had come a long way from the Californian bitch she had been.
"Can't say I'm amazed. Makes sense that the only way to destroy the Hellmouth was to destroy it. That where and how you lost your eye Xander?" Angel asked.
"Umm... kind of." Xander fingered the eyepatch on his left eye. "It was, umm... poked out by that evil preacher dude. I don't wanna go into it." he finished.
"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I don't go to church. Still, man that sucks. I can just imagine the depth perception you are stuck with." Gunn said.
Xander didn't reply. He had said all he was going to on the subject of his eye, of lack thereof.
"Willow, how have you been? Last time I saw you, I was Angelus. Hell, last time I tried to reach you, I could feel Angelus right there inside me, just waiting to come out."
"I'm good, actually. And sorry about the whole me being on the Astral Planes when you needed me. Things there were a mess, and needed to me sorted out before it erupted into a full fledged war that hurt witches everywhere."
"Saving two worlds. Gotta love it. What about Dawn and Andrew? They seem... they seem to be... uh... good buddies." he finished lamely.
"Umm, yeah. I think Dawn may have a boyfriend soon. They seem to be heading that direction anyways. Andrew's finished the majority of his Watcher training, and is only one step away from becoming a full Watcher." Willow said
"What's the final step?"
"Wearing tweed." Xander muttered.
"Contary to popular belief, it isn't!" Giles said sharply. "He has to be able to identify a Slayer on sight, withoout any previous knowledge of her whatsoever. Needless to say,"Giles sighed, "it could be an awefully long time before he's completed it."
Angel nodded knowingly. "Somehow, I'm not suprised. What have you been doing Giles?"
"And Giles has been helping to train Andrew and completing his library in his spare time." Buffy said.
"Wow. Andrew and Dawn. He never struck me as her type. I pictured a nice, Roman lad, maybe on the football team. Do they even have football there?"
"Yeah. It's called soccer though. I know what you mean though. But if you think about it, they've know eachother since we held him hostage. It does make some sense that they would hook up eventually. Just look at us."
"You know what they say. Violence makes the heart grow fonder."
Buffy laughed as Dawn came into the room holding a sandwich. She handed the plate to Spike and said, "I think it's eatible. The mayo was green, so I held off on that, but the meat looked goos and the tomato wasn't mushy. The lettuce wasn't all wilty either, so I put some of that on there."
"Thanks." he said, taking it. He took a bite, and his face instantly lighted up. Like magic, the sandwich was gone. "That was ambrosia, bloody ambrosia." he muttered as he licked his fingers clean of every last crumb.
"Dawn, can you and Andrew go check on Angel for me?" Buffy whispered as Spike finished eating. Dawn nodded and left, dragging out Andrew, who was just entering the room again. "Enjoying yourself?" Buffy asked a contented Spike.
"Yes, I am actually. Haven't been able to taste food proper like in a long time. So, tell me about Faith and the Principal. Last I 'member, they seem pretty cozy."
"Well, the wedding's set for next week in Texas. I need to head out of here in the two or three days, maybe sooner. It depends on when everyone else is ready to go. And, I have determined that night flights are a pain to organize too." she added non-chalently.
Spike caught her meaning though. "Can I come with? I'm assuming you've got an extra ticket, and that you were kene on giving it to a Vampire, considering the flight's at night and all. Who better to have along than an ex-Vamp? Besides, I can't think of a better way to celebrate walking in the sun than by, well, walking in the sun.
"I would love to have you come along Spike." she told him. He flinched visibly at the name, but didn't back away or deny that it was him. They were making progress. "Want me to tell everyone that you're coming along?"
"Yeah, I'd appreciate that. Don't think it's go over real well, me saying 'Hi all. I'm human again, and comin' with you all for Faith's wedding'. Can you imagine the look on Harris' face? Then again, it might be worth the beating I'm sure to get just to get a glimpse of it..." Spike finished thoughtfully.
"Will you ever stop teasing him?"
"No, pro'lly not."
"Some things never change." she murmered.
"Buffy?" Dawn asked, peeking her head into the room.
"What is it Dawnie?"
"Angel's doing fine, awake and everything. Want me to tell them that Spike's up?"
"Would you? It would be a great help if you did."
"No prob. I'll stay there too. Give you a chance to get Spike up to speed."
Spike flinched again, but not as much this time. Thank god for small things, Buffy thought. "OK. I'll see you later then." Dawn nodded, then left the room.
"So, what;s up with Willow? Still the most powerful Wiccan in the Western Hemisphere?" Spike asked.
"Yeah, she is. She's more for the control though than the power now."
"Kudos to her. I think that's everyone, innet?"
"Umm... well, there's Anya, but..."
"Can't believe I forgot about her." Spike interrupted. "How's she doin'?" Spike asked, not sounding as if he cared in the least.
"Well, she's dead. Never came out of the school. Andrew said she took a sword through the gut."
"Oh." Spike simply said. There was silence for a moment or two until spike spoke again. "So, how's Peaches doin'?"
"Gunn?" Angel asked him.
"Yo." he replied.
"Do you know if there's any blood left?"
"Yeah, there is." Dawn said, entering into the room followed by Andrew. "Do you want some?"
"If it's not any trouble."
"None at all." She turned to go look at Andrew. "Go get blood."
Andrew sighed, rolled his eyes, then left the room again muttering profanites under his breath.
"Any word on Spike, Dawnie?" Willow asked.
"Actually, that's why I'm here. Buffy sent me in to tell you that he's awake."
"The half-breed lives?" Illyria asked.
"Yup. And he's halk-crazy too."
"No suprise there. He always was." Xander mumbled.
"He's gotten better though, so don't worry. He doesn't start going all psycho if you call him Spik anymore."
"Why would he do that?" Conner asked.
"He says his name is William. Or, rather, he did."
"William? Wasn't that his name back when he was human?" Willow questioned.
"Yes. It was. William the Bloody because of his bloody aweful poetry. Dawn, does that mean he's human again?"
"Yup."
Angel growled quietly and his nostrils flared slightly. He felt the demon inside fight for control of his mind, and it almost won. However, he fought it back. As soon as Andrew came back into the room though, that all changed.
As the smell of blood filled the air, the demon took over his mind and body. His face began to change to reveal that. He lept off of the bed and was over by Andrew faster than anyone's eye could follow. Baring his fangs, he sunk them into Andrew's neck, causing him to drop the glass. It shattered on impact with the floor and the blood seeped into the carpet. The few drops of blood that didn't make it into Angel's mouth fell to the ground as well and there they mingled with the rest. The stain of crinsom spread across the carpet like a snail inching it's way though life. IT took less than a moment for the attack to happen, and a moment more for someone to react.
"Cordy! Give me your hand!" Willow said to her. Willow took the offered hand and closed her eyes. When they opened again, her irises were gone, eyes completly black. "Vampiero, stoof sesoo! Seperatero!" she yelled, drawing power from Cordy.
Angel and Andrew were forced apart with a bright light. Willow and Cordy were laying on the ground, both unconcious from the powerful magick they had just used. Andrew was left on the ground, more of his likfe pooling out onto the carpet beneath him.
"Andrew!" Dawn gasped. She was over by his side a few seconds later, tearing a strip of cloth from her shirt to try and stop the bleeding.
Angel sat up from where he was in the corner. He saw Dawn helping Andrew to maintain a fragile grip on his lie, and Willow and Cordy being helped by everyone else. "Lord, what have I done?" he whispered to the room.
There's chapter 6 for you. And here's why there's a star after Willow's line. It's a little footnote that tells you to look down here to figure out how to pronounce it. So, here ya go. "Vamp-pyro st-hool bee-suu. Seper-ato."
I hope you enjoyed this. Ony one chapter left now!