Prophesy After the Fact
Part Five
By Marie Nomad
Note: At times, Angel will be referred to as 'Will' by the others who don't know his identity.
Lightning crashed as Buffy ran through the forest. Rain fell as she looked around frantically. "Angel!" She cried out as she ran again.
A flash of lighting lit up the dark forest to reveal Angel standing next to a picturesque house with a white picket fence. Warm sunlight filled the place as she walked through. "Oh my god." She whispered as she felt herself get dried.
"Buffy?" Angel asked as he stepped forward.
"Angel. You're here." Buffy felt relieved as she dashed to him and held him. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
"It's okay." He whispered as he held her close. "I know." He winced as smoke started to come out of his body.
"Angel?" Buffy watched in horror as he shoved her away and burst into flames.
"ANGEL!" She screamed as she sat up in her bed. Sweat came down her face as she looked around to see she was in her hotel room. "It was just a dream."
"Buffy!" Giles ran in. "You were screaming."
Buffy wiped her face and she shook her head. "I found Angel. He was in this peaceful place in the middle of the woods with a white picket fence but when I got close to him. He burst into flames. Woosh."
"Oh dear."
"Yeah. It feels like one of those prophetic dreams."
Giles took a deep breath. "This is deeply troublesome. Your dream could serve as a warning to keep us away from finding Angel."
"Of course. Some evil goddess wants to keep Angel all to herself." Buffy realized, "I've battled goddesses before. The one can't be any different. Well, except for the fact that I will live after defeating this evil goddess."
"I'm sure she's not evil like Glory."
"Well, I better go, get Spike and his friends. Then, I have to get together with Leia and Will… ummm… Giles, could you not tell Will about the slaying thing? He doesn't know anything yet and I want to keep it that way."
"He will learn sooner or later." Giles warned, "His sister is a slayer and he had found out once."
Buffy frowned. Will had a right to know but not from her. The slayer thing was Leia's problem. Ever since the potentials have been called, it was agreed that it was up to the Slayer to tell their families. "Sure." She went to the phone and dialed Spike's number.
After several rings, Spike's tired voice came from the other end. "Hello?"
"Spike."
"Buffy, how was your date? Did you and William have fun?"
Buffy had to smile at the jealous tone. "Yes. It's just an investigative blind date. Look, I had a weird dream about Angel and… I want to help you guys find him. I talked to Leia last night. She knows that you're a vampire. Don't worry, I told her that you're a good vampire with a soul."
"That's good to know. I can't have my landlord try to stake me. Illyria and Charlie wouldn't like it."
"Who's Illyria? Never mind, you can introduce me to her when I get there. I'll get Leia, Ryoma, and Giles and we'll meet in the bomb shelter to talk about what's going on." Buffy said firmly. She wanted to get everything out of the way. She wanted to see Spike again, find out what happened to Angel, and get this chaos settled.
"All right you, Leia, Ryoma, and- RUPERT! That pounce! Forget it! Leave that hypocrite wanker to sipping his tea!" At that, Spike slammed the phone down making Buffy winced.
"Okay… that went well." Buffy muttered as she hung up. She looked at Giles and said, "Giles, I told Spike that you're coming and he just flew off the wall."
"I don't know why. I don't remember doing anything to Spike except when I helped Robin hold Spike captive and he seemed to have forgiven me for that." Giles said as he wiped his glasses. He put his glasses back on.
"He called you a hypocritic wanker."
"Hmmm… well, I will find out."
Buffy nodded and then bit her lip. Something about this didn't make sense. Spike wasn't the type to hate Giles for no reason. On the other hand, everything has not been perfect between them. She will find out when they get there.
XXX
Leia took a deep breath as she did another series of kicks and jumps. It was the weekend and she had some spare time to train. She paused and then saw her brother sitting against the tree gazing out. "Will." She whispered as she came up to see a sketch of Buffy. "You like her don't you?"
William looked up at her. "She has a lovely face and such spunk." The man mused as he smiled.
"Well, she has some weird relationships. In fact, she's going to be looking for her ex-boyfriend." Leia said. She knew all about the wacky relationships that the Elder Slayer endured. It was the running joke among the slayerettes. You cannot be a real slayer until you had dated at least one vampire.
Angel nodded. "I know. I just want to try this out first." He was nervous. Shanshu warned him not to get to close to his old friends. Yet, he missed them. He missed Buffy, Gunn, and even Spike and Illyria. Just seeing them again, really hurt him.
"No trying out." Shanshu warned as she appeared beside him. Angel glanced at her and then at Leia who was just looking at the picture. "Don't worry. Only people who know about the Shanshu prophesy or the fact that I exist can see me. Don't talk. Just don't try to go to Buffy. She's dangerous. She is a moth that's attracted to danger even if she doesn't know it. Just leave her alone. I have to go." At that, Shanshu vanished.
"Will?" Leia asked, "Are you okay, you just dazed off for a sec?"
"I was. Nothing. It was nothing." Angel smiled hesitantly. "I guess I just stared off into nothing."
"I see." She looked at her watch. "Aw man, I have to go and meet Buffy and the others. You go ahead and draw. I'll tell her you say 'hi'." Leia ran off to her car.
Angel looked down at his sketchbook and then at Leia. The logical part of him say to go ahead and stay behind. The irrational part that is responsible for many of his mistakes for most of his life told him to go ahead and see Buffy. "Well, I'll only live twice." Angel muttered to himself as he ran to Leia and said, "I'll join you."
"NO!" Leia stopped and shoved him down with her slayer strength. "You can't. It's a… private meeting. Girl stuff. Really personal girl stuff. Icky stuff."
Angel cocked an eyebrow. "Really. I may not remember anything before a couple of years ago but I am an adult."
"Don't follow me!" Leia pleaded as her frame trembled.
The ex-vampire stepped back. Leia was afraid but not of him but for him. Was Leia this scared to show her secret to her own brother? Something bothered her but he had to let her deal with it. "Okay. Just remember that you are my sister and I love you no matter what."
Leia's jaw dropped and she smiled hesitantly. "It's not like that. I have to go." She ran off.
XXX
Buffy and Giles hesitantly walked into the yard where the bomb shelter was. It was built during the paranoid period of the sixties. The house was a nice looking one with a white picket fence and everything.
"Buffy! Giles!" Leia yelled as she got out of her car and came up to the two. "Mr. Yamamoto couldn't make it but I'm going to record everything and I got him on speed dial."
"Ah, modern technology, how wonderful." Giles mused.
"Let's hurry. Will wanted to join us." Leia paused, "I think he wants you, Buffy. I caught him drawing a picture of you."
"Really?" Buffy had to blush. "Wow… is he good. No. Wait. Okay, push those thoughts away. First find Angel, figure out what higher powers are at work, and then deal with cute normal guy."
"Cute normal guy who is my brother." Leia defended. "I don't want him in my Slayer lifestyle again."
"I know but if you want to stay close to him, you have to tell him sooner or later." Buffy advised, "But, that can wait. Right now, we have an angel to find." She came up to the entrance, opened the hatch, and climbed down. They walked down the concrete enforced tunnel to see a door. She knocked.
"Come in." Spike said from the other side.
Buffy opened the door to see a normal looking bunker with a TV, sofa, bed, a refrigerator, and a game system with a TV attached. "Not bad." She complimented.
"Well, when the Y2K thing happened, Mom and Dad thought we should redecorate the shelter just in case we need it." Leia explained as she looked around. "Me and Will put in our own stuff after a while just in case something happens like an apocalypse."
"I have to say, this Will has taste." Spike said as he came in with a CD in his hand. "Sex Pistols, Marilyn Manson… Vanilla Ice?"
"That's mine." Leia swipe the CD away. "Anyway, you can have those. Will doesn't like heavy metal any more. He's more into Barry Manilow."
Spike blinked. "Barry Manilow? Now, I have another reason to hate him." He said as he pocketed the CDs.
Buffy looked to see a tall bald black man with a goatee with a blue demonic woman playing video games. "And who are you guys?"
Gunn slammed down his controller. "I'm dead again. Oh, hi, I'm Charles Gunn but you can call me Gunn and this is Illyria but she goes by Fred outside." Gunn said as he grinned at Buffy. "And you must be Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I heard a lot about you."
"I'm sure you have." Buffy said as the two shake hands. She glanced at Illyria who was pounding away at the game. "You two play video games all the time?"
"Only when there aren't court documents to process or demons to kill." Gunn replied as he shrugged. "I don't mind them so much but Illyria and Spike are hooked on them."
"If you're stuck inside during the day, you would understand." Spike said as he looked at his friend.
Giles came through the door and looked around. "Impressive place for a bomb shelter." He saw Spike and said, "Well, you are alive after all." At that moment, Gunn and Spike played paper rock scissors and Gunn saw he won.
Gunn came up and slammed his fist into Giles' face. Leia and Buffy jumped up and pinned the dark man down. "Let me go!"
"Let me have a go." Spike said as he knocked Giles down onto the ground.
Buffy got up and slammed Spike into the wall. "What's the big idea!" She demanded as she swiftly got out a giant cross and held it at Spike's throat.
"Ask him. You hypocrite! You traitor! You pounce!" Spike yelled at the top of his lungs as Buffy struggled to keep him at bay.
"Spike! Down Spike!" Buffy was confused. Spike wasn't just mad, he was furious. She had never seen him so upset. "What did Giles do to you?"
Spike looked at the cross and relaxed. "Why don't you ask the hypocrite? All those witches and mystics at hand and you couldn't spare a hand to save a dear friend? Oh, or what about those slayers who were supposed to save the world? Where were they when we needed them? The Poof- Angel had given up everything for this sodding world and no one bothers to help us! I may have been an evil vampire but I was loyal vampire!"
"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked. "Spike, what are you talking about?"
"Ask that mother fucking hypocrite!" Gunn yelled at the top of his lungs from where Leia was holding him down.
"Calm down!" Buffy ordered, "Both of you!"
"Yes, I didn't understand why you two are so upset." Giles said as he took off his glasses and see that they were not broken.
Spike focused inward and said, "Oh really. Remember a certain phone call from a desperate CEO of an evil law firm? He needed help in dealing with a certain evil parasitic goddess who had stolen a friend's body and destroyed everything she was. No offense, Blue."
Illyria paused her game. "None taken." She admitted.
"He didn't say anything about that." Giles said as he shifted.
"You hung up on him!" Gunn strained again. "You bastard! I have half a mind to sue your pants off! We needed help and you won't give it to us! We're not evil! Why don't you help us? Unless you think that you wouldn't benefit from this."
"What?" Buffy looked up at her old watcher. "Giles, what are they talking about?" She found herself getting angry. She had known Giles for too long to know that while he was a good man, he tends to get a little underhanded when he had to.
"Well, a couple of times, Angel called asking for my help and… I refused." Giles confessed, "I swear, I thought it was a trap. We were barely ready for anything so we had to keep away from anything…"
"From anything evil like Wolfram and Hart." Gunn finished, "You know for someone that seems to ask a lot for Angel, you don't do a lot for him. When I get my hands on you, I will sue you for everything you owned and your first born son!"
Giles blinked. "But, I don't even have a first born son."
"Giles! Go!" Buffy yelled as she kept Spike to the ground. "We'll talk about this later!"
"You better run and hide English because when I find you, you better pray you have a good lawyer!" Gunn threatened.
Giles nodded and ran out of the room. Despite the fact that there are two slayers in the room, he didn't feel safe. "You can get off of me. I can't follow him in daylight." Spike said as he looked up at Buffy. "Unless you like holding me down like this."
Buffy jumped off and pulled him up. "What was that about? I thought you changed."
"No one helped us." Spike said as he walked over to Illyria. "Fred, she was a sweet girl, one of the sweetest, smartest girls I had ever known. That bastard Knox infected Fred with Illyria and destroyed her from the inside out. Angel tried to get Willow to help but Rupert refused to even listen to him."
"Oh…" Buffy was speechless. How could Giles do that to Angel? She couldn't understand what happened between them. She could remember a time when the Scoobies and the Angel Investigation team were close. They would make phone calls all the time back and forth. How did they just drift apart like that? "I… I'm sorry. But, if Illyria's evil, why is she still here?" She pointed to the demon goddess.
"She's not evil." Gunn said still pinned down. "We don't hate her for what she did to Fred since well, it wasn't her fault. She helped us in the big fight and after that, she was kinda lost. So, she tagged along with us and she just kinda blended right in."
"They have not tried to kill me." Illyria said, "They had shown me many things of this world like soap operas and onion blossoms. I am only 'tagging' along because I wish for more guidance."
"She's lonely." Gunn translated and then realize Leia was still on him. "Can you get up? My arms are getting numb."
"Oh." Leia got up. "Sorry about that."
Buffy sensed that the two hot heads had calmed down although, she couldn't leave Giles alone with Spike and Gunn alone again. "Spike, I'm really sorry. I swear, if I had known, I would've flew down to LA myself and try to fix this."
"That's nice of you but it's too late." Spike said as he gazed up. "Fred was a very sweet girl. She was like Dru, she had a childlike innocence around her well, except that she doesn't kill people."
Buffy's jaw dropped. Spike really loved this 'Fred'. "Look, maybe we can get Willow to come and see if she can help Fred get back to normal."
"I do not wish to die." Illyria interrupted.
"Besides, Fred's soul was destroyed. You can't bring her back." Gunn said sorrowfully.
"Hey, Willow is a superwitch. If she could bring out all of the Slayers in the world and accidentally get me and Spike engaged, she can restore a soul." Buffy comforted and then saw Illyria getting tense. "Without killing Illyria." She added.
Illyria nodded.
"Thanks." Spike said as he took her hand. "You really… you're really something, Slayer. Let's just hope that your new boyfriend won't die on you."
"He's not my boyfriend." Buffy denied, "Anyway, let's try to find Angel. First of all, how did you know that Angel is here?"
"Well…" Spike looked to the side. "You see, I have a power thrown onto me by the Powers that Be. I felt it when Peaches died. I get these visions into my brain of people who need help in the present or the near future. I got this vision of Angel but I was looking through his eyes and I knew which town he is in now."
"Visions? You really are psychic." Buffy was amazed at how Spike seemed to have changed from the last time she saw him. "Do they hurt?"
"Like hell but compared to when I had the chip, it was a walk in the graveyard." Spike replied.
"Okay, so, Angel is here in Sunnydale, New Jersey, any idea on where he could be?" Buffy asked.
"No clue. I saw only the classified ads through his mind. I kinda… just sensed him. But, I know it's him."
"We just got into town but we've been scouting around for info." Gunn said as he unrolled a map. It had a bunch of marks on it. "We marked out where Angel could be, abandoned buildings, homeless shelters, cemeteries…"
"And that's if he's still a vampire." Spike commented.
"What do you mean?" Leia asked as she tried to get into the conversation. "Vampires are vampires until they become dust. Vampires don't just come back to life."
"This one might be if it's shanshu." Spike said as he smirked.
"Shanwho?" Buffy repeated.
"Shanshu, it's a prophesy. Basically, a vampire with a soul gets to be alive for saving the bloomin world. I mean, the vampire, if it's Angel, get to be human."
Buffy's jaw dropped. Her heart pounded. She had dreams of Angel in the sunlight, eating ice cream, having sex, and enjoying the beach. "Human. Angel could be human?"
"Basically, yeah. I thought I could be shanshued after the big fight but I get brain splitting visions instead." Spike said as he rubbed his temples. "We don't really know. He could be in the hospital or an artist or he could be-"
"Will." Buffy said as she came up to see William standing there.
"What are you doing here?" Leia demanded. "I told you to stay away!"
"I know but I was in the neighborhood and thought I should stop by." Angel said as he looked at Buffy. "Buffy."
"Will. You shouldn't be here. We're talking about important things." Buffy said as she looked over her shoulder to see Illyria looking human. "Really important things."
"And I can't help? I want to see if I could try." Angel said as he looked at the map.
"NO!" Leia grabbed her brother and shoved him out of the door. "Forget it! We don't need your help!"
"Ow! Okay, I'm going. What should I do about the English guy outside?"
"Nothing! He's just an old friend of Mr. Yamamoto."
"Wait, can we talk a little later?" Buffy asked as she walked up to Will. "You know… lunch."
"Lunch sounds great." Will smiled back and then Leia pushed the rest of the way. "Come over at 1:00!" He yelled as Leia closed the door.
"You know, that's pretty rude to treat your big brother like that." Gunn commented as he came up to the younger slayer.
"I have no choice. What am I supposed to say, 'We're just talking about finding a guy who may or may not be dead who may or may not be vampire who can't have sex!'" Leia snapped.
"Angel can have sex, just can't be happy about it. Saw it myself." Spike commented. Buffy and the others stared at him. "He was having mystically induced sex with this chick."
"Oh. That makes so much sense." Buffy pondered, "Anyway, we can search in shifts. Gunn, Leia, and I will try to search for Angel in the day. Spike and Illyria look at night. Giles and Ryoma could do some watcher magic to see if they could find out anything about the goddesses."
Leia raised her hand. "What about Will? I can't let him into this."
"We'll just tell him that we're looking for an old friend. We won't tell him that Angel is over two hundred years old, can't handle direct sunlight, and prefers to drink blood. Besides, if this Shansue prophesy thingie works out, Angel would just be a nice normal guy." Buffy figured.
"So, we have to find a guy who may or may not be dead who may or may not be evil who we don't have a picture of and we don't know even know whether he's human or not." Leia said as she rubbed her head. "Are all slayer cases this hard?"
"Generally this confusing." Buffy replied, "Why don't we get started on finding Angel and I don't want anyone here beating up on Giles. I'll talk to him about the whole Illyria thing. No fighting. This is about Angel."
"I will make them not attack each other." Illyria promised.
"Good. Get out the map; we have an angel to find." Buffy said as she reached up to turn off the video game.
The TV screen became filled static and a strange feminine voice came out of the screen. "If… you find Angel… he will suffer a horrible fate."
The group stared at the TV and then Buffy said, "Of course. Someone has to make it complicated."
To Be Continued…
