Chapter 2

"This is going to be harder than I thought." The demon said as he removed his fingers from Angel's temples and opened his eyes. Angel opened his eyes and asked,

"Why? What's wrong?" The demon looked at him and hesitated before replying. Angel threw him a menacing look and this seemed to help the demon to make up his mind. Well, not make up his mind as much as get bullied into replying.

"What you've been doing lately, the fighting the guilty instead of the defending the innocent, it's done more than just kill a lot of the demons in L.A."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Angel asked, his impatience showing so obviously that even the person who needed almost everything pointed out could feel it.

"Remember how I said that you'd strayed from your path?" Angel grunted in reply and the demon continued on.

"Well that means that you're going to have to work hard to get back on."

"I thought you said the path had found me." Angel's glare went into a more ominous mode. And the demon had a feeling that this was something he had to get used to.

"It has, but getting back onto it is still going to be a lot of hard work. You're trying to get rid of all the evil in this world. You know that that isn't possible. It's a heroic goal to be sure, but an impossible one. This world is made up of good and bad. If someone was to wipe out all the bad, as you are trying to do then it would be heaven. Just as if someone was to wipe out all of the good, then it would be hell. There has to be a balance and if you come close to destroying that balance then even the Powers will be out to kill you. Are you willing to go through the hard work to secure your soul? Are you willing to go off that self-destruct path and onto your destiny?" Angel hesitated. Just like the demon knew he would. The demon sighed and then said,

"I know you need to think about this. You have no reason for a soul at the moment, only the body which houses it. Your soul is buried deep inside of you and to actually get to it to anchor it is going to take a lot of work. And a lot of will." The demon looked into Angel's eyes when he said the last sentence. Angel still didn't say anything. The demon then got up from the alley floor and stretched in a cat-like gesture. He seemed to want to change the mood of the moment. Besides he was a little behind schedule.

"I'm hungry. Let's go get some pancakes." Angel looked up at him in a death stare. The demon made the 'surrender' move again. Not the last time he would, he could tell and he didn't need the Powers to tell him that either. Call it a sixth sense. Or a seventh in his case. And possibly a eighth depending how one of this other one panned out… But anyway.

"I'm just hungry is all." Angel grunted, not exactly wanting to get up. The demon held his arm out as a courtesy but Angel ignored it and got up by himself. The demon knew he wouldn't take it. Especially as both of them knew that the demon wasn't strong enough to help Angel up. The two then walked out of the alley.

"Why pancakes?" Angel asked quietly. The demon smiled and asked,

"I'm sorry did you just ask a non threatening question?" After a very threatening look from Angel the demon continued.

"Alright, well I just like eating pancakes at all times of the day. Even at eleven o'clock at night. Besides your destiny lies ahead." The demon stopped and Angel looked at the fluorescent lights and gave the demon a cynical look.

"My destiny lies in 'Joe's'?" The demon shrugged light heartedly.

"Sure it does." After another disparaging look the demon decided to elaborate.

"Well, I can't exactly explain why it lies in Joe's. It'll become apparent in a moment." Well okay, so that isn't really that elaborative but you know how vague these Powers links are. The demon pushed his way through the door and Angel was left there to have an inquisitive look left on his face. He gave the red fluorescent light a death look, one which was really for the demon.

"I think I like it better when they're evil." Angel muttered to himself, obviously talking about the aforesaid demon. He grunted in annoyance and followed the (aforesaid) demon by pushing his way into the caravan (turned diner).

Angel spotted the demon at one of the tables along the wall. He was ordering from a waitress. As Angel took a seat across from him the waitress' features lit up and she asked in a shy voice,

"Can I get you anything sir?" The demon looked on in wonder as Angel completely ignored the sudden spell that he'd managed to conjure over the pretty, young waitress. It wasn't as if the waitress hadn't called the demon 'sir'. He had a feeling that this was what happened to Angel regularly, hence the ignorance. Angel just replied with a simple,

"No, I'm okay thanks." Angel gave her a smile and the demon was surprised that she didn't just faint there and then. She seemed to float back to behind the counter. Maybe she was into the whole scar across the cheek thing. Maybe she liked pirates or something. The demon watched her and shook his head. Some people.

Eventually the waitress came back with a pile of pancakes smothered in maple syrup and a dollop of cream. She completely ignored the demon as she gave them to him, her sole attention on Angel. The demon then tucked a serviette into his shirt, picked up some utensils and proceeded to 'dig in'. Angel winced as he looked at the feeding frenzy in front of him.

"So exactly how does my destiny lie here?" Angel asked as he shifted around to attempt to comfort himself on the plastic seat he was sitting on that seemed nice and soft until you actually sat down in them. The demon stopped his frenzied eating for a second to say, with an extremely full mouth,

"Mmmph mm mph mph mm. (In English that is 'You'll see in a sec.', not that Angel knows that)" Angel had a perplexed look on his face but it didn't last too long. When the demon finished and he swallowed it all, just before the look disappeared, there was a massive crash behind Angel. That was what had caused the look to vanish. Angel got up and whirled around quickly. It was the impending sound of violence and that certainly didn't make Angel perplexed.

A nasty looking demon had just crashed through the door of the diner and was followed by a person who just simply walked through the damaged door, as if it was something they did everyday, and went over to the demon. The person lifted up its head and slit its throat with a big nasty looking knife and without a second thought. Something else that they supposedly did on a regular basis.

Angel saw this and felt his heart skip as he hoped that he was right when he guessed who it was. He felt a lump build in his throat as he saw the person straighten up and take a brief look around. Their eyes met and as Angel looked into the brown eyes and Angel knew that he would do anything to get his soul 'anchored'. And he knew that this, meeting this person, seeing this person, was the part of his destiny that the demon had talked about.

Angel looked into the eyes of the person in front of him and felt the time slow. Unknowingly to him, his eyes went to the puppy dog mode like they did around this person many times. However he was able to notice the demon rise from behind them, but the person didn't notice. The demon had the knife in his hand and was about to slice across the person's back.

With a loud and long shout (NOOO!) he launched into his 'superman' position (think back to Season 1 the episode 'Sanctuary' when Angel launches at the helicopter) and tackled the demon to the floor and then straddled him. He punched the demon several times before grabbing the knife and completely decapitating the demon beneath him.

He got up and looked at the person he'd just saved. And when I say looked I mean really really looked. As the person looked up into his eyes he felt every single feeling, no matter how large or little, come flooding back into him.

As he looked into those brown eyes he had only one word that he was able to say at that time. One word that his mind would let him say. One word that he was able to form with his mouth which seemed paralysed. One word which he remembered how to say. One word which always made him light up when someone else said it.

One name. The name of the person from the 'original' team. Of course it was… Have you guessed it yet? Come on, I've made it so obvious. Okay, here we go, I'm going to reveal the person that's getting Angel back on the Path. Okay I promise not to drag this out too much longer. Just one more hint, she's the first and only brunette he's ever loved. Okay, that totally gave it away. The person is, of course…

"Cordelia."