Darkness. Everything was so dark. A cold feeling washed over her as she tried to take in her surroundings, it was all so muddled though, why couldn't' she see? Carefully, she began to step forward, her vision improved a little as she moved along; below her was a thick swamp, mist wistfully flowed along the ground. Trees hung heavily above her head, their leaves were almost too dark a green to make out without the aid of light. Behind her, she could almost feel something creeping up; reflectively she began moving faster, not daring to turn around. Suddenly, she heard leaves rustle behind her, fear shot through her veins as she began running, as fast as she could, anywhere that was away. As she moved faster and faster, she began to hear what started out as whispers, but were quickly turning to screams. Voices speaking in so many different languages, only the odd English word was audible through the chaos. She could feel the figure that was chasing her draw closer; her heart began to beat rapidly as her pulse rang in her ears. The voices were screaming at her now, so loudly that she couldn't concentrate. Almost out of nowhere, her foot caught on a root; sending her to the ground. She scrambled to get up, but it was as though the root was holding her to the ground. She turned and let out a scream, as the dark figure engulfed her.

Buffy eyes flew open and she took in a sharp breath. She looked around in confusion, her mind still muddled from her dream. She was lying on a couch…. Somewhere. She probed her mind for the details, trying to put together the missing pieces. Suddenly it all came back to her, the fight, Angel's injuries, her sudden strength. Angel… quickly she looked around, holding back a sigh of relief when she realized where exactly he was. He was sitting next to her, clutching her hand in his two larger ones. His head was down as he whispered something that sounded foreign, yet oddly familiar to her, although she had no idea what the words meant, he recited them like a prayer.

She stared at him for a moment or two, forgetting for a second her frightening dream and studying his strange behaviour. Finally finding her voice she spoke, her words sounded soft and raspy from her somewhat gazed state.

"Angel?"

She felt his hold on her hand tighten as his head shot up to stare at her. His face was one of shock and something else that she couldn't quite figure out, before she had the chance to ask what was wrong, he flew forward and wrapped his arms around her.

"Buffy!"

He chanted her name over again, clutching her close he planted butterfly kisses in her hair. Awkwardly, she gently put her arms around him as well, more than a little surprised by his actions (given his usual less than forward demeanour). After a few moments, he finally pulled back, he held her face in his hands, a look of relief evident on his features.

"How are you feeling?"

Buffy took a moment to focus on her injuries. Her head hurt a little, and she knew that her arm was bruised, but nothing major.

"I'm alright." She said simply, giving him a poor imitation of a smile.

He chuckled at her brush off of the wounds she had endured.

"Most of your bruises should be healed within a couple days, you have a cut on your shoulder that may take a little longer though."

"And a bit of headache." She added quietly, more for his benefit that her own.

He nodded,

"I'll go get Giles."

Buffy sighed and closed her eyes once again, her dream flashed through her mind. Through her life she'd had strange dreams, some were cryptic, most were frightening, but none had ever affected her as much as this one seems to have. She had a feeling that it wasn't just some random dream, mysterious as it may be, it meant something… something that was going to- or perhaps already has, happened to her. And from what she had felt in the dream, she wasn't sure if that was necessarily a good thing.

She was quickly brought out of her thoughts, however, when Angel came through the door, Giles close behind him.

"Hey." She said wearily

"Buffy, I'm relieved to see that you're awake. How are you feeling?" he asked, in a fatherly tone.

"I'm good." She said lightly

"No pain at all?"

"Well a bit of a headache but other than that I'm super."

She could feel Angel's eyes on her; she didn't have to look up to see his you're-lying-and-I-know-it glare.

"Yes, well that's good to hear." Giles said, doing a horrible job of showing his surprise.

"So, what actually happened out there?" Buffy asked, sitting up to stare at the two. "I remember the fight and everything, but after getting to Angel everything kinda goes blurry."

Giles looked to Angel pointedly.

"We started walking and you were leaning on me pretty heavily. You passed out after a couple steps; I caught you and carried you here. The guys that attacked us were coming, but I don't think they followed." Angel said, not taking his eyes off her.

Buffy resisted the urge to shift under his gaze.

"Ya- those guys. I don't think they were completely human Giles. They were unbelievably strong."

"Did you find anything strange about them? Tattoos or such?"

Buffy thought for a moment, before pulling a knife from her pocket.

"Here, I got it off one of the guys that jumped us; he looked like the leader or something. They wore black robes, and the one- he said something to me. I don't know what it was, not English that's for sure."

"Do you remember what exactly he said?"

"It was weird…. Like 'lee falleara' or something."

"Lei fallirà." Angel spoke up, "It's old-style Italian, means roughly 'you will fail'."

"You will fail? Fail at what? They're the ones that attacked us." Buffy said.

"That seems to be the question of the hour…. You speak Italian?" Giles asked Angel, somewhat intrigued.

"Among others." He answered simply. "Did your friend know anything about what's going on?"

Giles shook his head.

"No, I'm afraid not. It would seem the council is about as clueless as we are at this point."

"Friend? Why do I feel like I'm missing something here?" Buffy asked

"Wesley came over earlier; council business."

Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Oh joy."

Ignoring Buffy's remark, Angel turned to Giles.

"But now we're ahead right? At least we know more than the council does at this point. Whoever attacked Buffy and me, I can't believe that it was a mistake. We know that they're Italian and that knife probably says something about them. And Faith said that the colony was full of demons."

"Yes well it will certainly take some research but as unfortunate as your experience was it should defiantly bring us one step ahead."

"Great, well if that's all cleared up, I'm outta here." Buffy said, getting up quickly, ignoring the wave of dizziness that rushed through her.

"Just a moment Buffy, we haven't been able to determine what happened to you out there. Angel explained briefly what had happened when you 'attacked' but he doesn't have the details. We were hoping that you could clear some of the details up." Giles questioned

Buffy sighed before turning to him with an uninterested expression.

"Not much to tell. They pissed me off, I snapped. I kicked their butt end of story. I guess I passed out because I was tired or something."

"Buffy I've never seen anyone move with that kind of power before. It doesn't just pop out of nowhere like that." Angel said, not taking his eyes off her.

"Look. Guys I'm really tired so I just want to go home and sleep. Can we do this tomorrow or something?" she said quickly, giving Giles a pleading look.

"Yes, of course Buffy, if you're tired we can finish this later."

Buffy nodded and headed for the door.

"I'll walk you home." Angel said, standing up.

"No!" Buffy said quickly, "No, it's alright. I'll be fine, and my place isn't that far anyway. I'll stop by tomorrow or something."

Quickly she turned and walked out of the house, not looking back. Giles and Angel turned to each other, both with a worried look on their face. Angel sighed and shook his head, something wasn't right, now he'd have to find out what.

Buffy moved around her apartment, glad that Angel hadn't followed her, she went into her bathroom and with shaky hands washed her face. Once she was done, she grabbed a nearby towel and dried her features, noticing the small blood that came off onto the cotton. Curiously she looked up at the mirror, one of her cuts had reopened, but that wasn't what caught her attention. As she looked at her reflection she wasn't sure of how to react, carefully she ran her fingers across her face, not believing what she saw. Staring back at her was the same face, the same golden hair, but her eyes looked almost foreign even to her. She almost couldn't recognize herself anymore. She broke into tears and fell to the ground, confusion and grief overwhelming her.

Angel sighed in frustration and worry as he moved around Giles' library. It had been three days since Buffy had woken up and still she hadn't stopped by, nor had she been seen anywhere. Giles had tried calling her a few times, but there was no answer, Angel himself had even stopped by her apartment but she either wasn't there or just wouldn't answer the door.

Giles had been keeping himself busy with research, trying not to worry, but even though Angel had spent most of the last two days helping him, his mind was mostly focused on Buffy. She had acted so strange that night, at first she seemed fine, but once he came back in the room it was like she was a completely different person. Dismissive and detached, not to mention the 'stretching of truth' that she had used when Giles had asked her how she was. She had been so unlike the Buffy he knew, he wasn't quite sure how to react to that.

Sighing, he looked out a nearby window carefully, the sun was almost set, it would be risky going out, but if he stayed in the shadows he could manage it. He'd been racking his brain for where she might be, recalling every word she had ever said to him but each time he drew a blank.

"Giles?"

"Hm?" the trainer asked, looking up from his book.

"The warriors, most of them are teenagers right?"

"Yes, a majority of them are at least."

"Well with that many teenagers wandering around, there has to be some place they go, to relax or hang out."

Giles thought for a moment.

"I'm afraid I am not exactly 'up' with the hangouts these days. However Tara is upstairs I believe, she may have the answers you need, given that she is Buffy's age."

Angel nodded his thanks and made his way upstairs. He searched through the long halls before finally arriving at a partially opened door; carefully he gave it a soft knock, peeking inside.

Sure enough, Tara was sitting in a chair, a pile of papers beside her scribbled with small drawings. At the sound of his knock she looked up, giving him a small smile.

"Angel, hi." She said, surprised, putting down a picture. "What can I do for you."

"I just wanted to ask you something, I'm not disturbing you am I?"

"No, not at all! Come on in."

Angel let out a breath of relief and sat across from her in a chair. He hadn't really gotten to know Buffy's surrogate sister, but he had seen her around the house a few times and she seemed nice. For the most part she was quiet, but friendly as well, Angel liked her.

"Have you heard from Buffy lately?" he asked, trying not to sound worried.

Tara shook her head.

"No, Giles told me a bit about what happened. It really doesn't sound like Buffy at all."

"I've tried going to her house, but there wasn't an answer, and she won't pick up her phone either."

Tara just nodded.

"I was thinking, are there any places she might be? Places that people your age hang out or something?"

"Oh, well um… There's not much to be honest, most of us just meet up wherever is handy. Oh! T-there's this club! The Bronze, it's just across town. Buffy used to go there a lot, but once she hit seventeen she just stopped for some reason. Other than patrolling I can't think of any other place she might be."

Angel nodded and stood up.

"Okay, thank you. I'm just going to…"

"Go." Tara said with a smile. "Oh and Angel?" he turned to her, "I'm glad you met Buffy, it's like she's finally opening up to someone, it's good for her."

Angel gave her a small smile before heading out the door. He'd stop by his apartment on the way to get the address; hopefully Buffy had decided to go for a night out.

Buffy danced feverishly to the fast beat that whipped through the air. It had been over two years since she had come here, but as she moved to the strong rhythms of the music, she could almost forget about all that had happened. She closed her eyes and her mind drifted from the worries and fears that had clouded her mind for the past two days. She felt others move around her, close but never letting anyone touch, she let the music take her, the world flowing away with each moment.

Then she felt it, a small tingle starting at her spine and working its way through her body. She felt his eyes on her, and she urged herself to keep dancing, that maybe if she ignored him long enough he would go away. Her hopes went unanswered however, when she heard the song fade out. She slowed to a stop, simply standing on the dance floor with her eyes shut. Two strong arms wrapped around her and it took all she had not to move into his welcoming embrace. A slow melody came from the speakers, slowly the two began swaying to the music.

"What are you doing here?" Buffy asked softly, not turning to meet his gaze.

"Looking for you. You didn't come by, I was worried."

Buffy held back the tears that threatened to gather in her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she turned in his embrace and gave him a smile.

"I'm fine."

"No Buffy you're not." Angel said, looking into her eyes. "You didn't pick up the phone or answer your door, and you practically ran out of Giles' the other day. This isn't like you."

"And how would you know? You barely know me Angel, how are you so sure that this isn't just who I am?" she asked, raising her voice slightly

Angel didn't reply, just looked away, causing Buffy to immediately regret her words.

"Look, I was tired alright? I didn't hear anyone come to the door and my phone was buried somewhere in my apartment."

"You know that's not true Buffy. But you just cut everyone off like that, how are we supposed to help you when you're pushing us all away!"

"You don't know what it's like!" Buffy said, almost yelling now.

"So tell me!" Angel said just a loudly, desperately trying to get through to her.

The people around them froze and stared at the two. Angel looked at Buffy expectantly, but the blonde just looked around at everyone, tears gathering in her eyes. Quickly she tore herself from Angel's embrace and raced out the back door, walking as fast as she could without running. She had only managed to get a few steps away from the club before Angel grabbed her arm, turning her to face him.

"What do you want from me?" she yelled, breaking off his hand.

"I want you to talk to me Buffy! Yell at me, beat me up, just do something!"

"I don't want to talk about it!"

"You have to! Look at what this is doing to you! What's it even about? Is it what happened the other day? Then fine, what happened to you? How did you beat up those guys? Where did it come from!"

"I don't know!" Buffy yelled, tears now pouring freely down her face.

Angel stared at her, worry and silent questions crossed his face.

"I-I don't know what happened." Buffy said again, in a quiet voice. "I saw t-them hurting you, a-and one of them had a knife. I was so scared, he was going to kill you and I couldn't s-stop it…. I f-fought as hard as I could but it wasn't enough, they were too strong. T-then I heard you s-scream, and it was like…. Like something i-inside me came out a-and I just snapped. It was like I wasn't even in control… a-all I could think of was that they were h-hurting you, and I had to stop it."

She looked up at Angel, her eyes that of a scared little girl.

"I had a dream… a-a nightmare. Something was chasing me and I couldn't stop it, I couldn't run fast enough and then it was… it was in me. There's something inside me and I have no idea what it is. It's strong but I can't control it Angel! Something changed when it took over and I don't know how to stop it. I'm so scared! I'm scared of what it is, and what it's doing to me, and god Angel I'm scared of myself." She sobbed, falling to the ground.

Angel caught her before she hit the pavement and sat holding her against his chest, as she clutched his shirt, weeping. His strong arms wrapped around her as he gently rocked them back and forth, whispering soothing nonsense in her ear. Buffy let it all out, the pain, the fear; her frame shuddered with sobs as grasped Angel as hard as she could.

After what seemed like hours, Buffy's tears began to settle, Angel carefully lifted her chin up so she was looking up at him.

"Buffy, listen. I don't know what this is, but I promise you we will find out. Alright? No matter how long it takes we will get to the bottom of this. But you have to remember this might be a good thing too. You saved both our lives, and even though you were dazed you were still so careful when you came to me; so clear-headed when we started walking. We'll figure this out together, and until we do I'm going to help you learn to control this."

Buffy looked at him questioningly.

"H-How?"

He gave her a small smile and shrugged.

"Different techniques, a lot of training. I've had a demon living inside me for nearly three centuries, you pick up a few things here and there."

Buffy laughed, who would of thought Angel of all people could liven up such a serious situation. She didn't know what to say, she hadn't even considered that whatever it is that was inside her might not be evil, and the prospect of being able to control it brought her so much relief that she nearly burst into tears again.

"Thank you." She said softly, giving him a small, but without a doubt true smile.

He just nodded, gazing down at her. Suddenly she felt all her worries and fears all melt away, replaced with new emotions of both love and lust. She gazed at him, as his eyes shifted from her own to her lips, his chocolate brown orbs seemingly darker than usual. She unconsciously licked her suddenly dry lips as they began to inch closer and closer to each other. She closed her eyes as they crept nearer, until they were a mere hairsbreadth apart. Their lips met in the softest of kisses, happiness and love washing through them. They moved closer, wrapping their arms around each other and deepening the kiss; both joyfully oblivious to the world around them. They were together, and for now, it was all that mattered.

End of Chapter Sixteen.