Angel:

Okay, I'd realised that something was strange, but I hadn't realised that the bookstore where I'd acquired temporary employment was a front for Matt's demon fighting business. I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised. After all, it was owned by a man named Giles and it contained books.

The problem arose as soon as we came back, when Edward's friend, the man I'd rescued earlier from the burly enforcer, delivered some very bad news. The lawyers and various other groups from around the world are about to have a meeting to unite their organisation. If it goes through as planned and they start to work together, they'll destroy every single last one of us.

"Do we know where it is?" I ask, once it has been satisfactorily resolved that I am on their side.

"No."

"Do we know when it is?"

"No."

"What do we know?"

"Not a lot." That doesn't help any.

"No problem," Matt says. "Jackie and I will break into the BC&N building and find out."

"Matt," says Edward very carefully. "Jackie's dead. She was killed by vampires letting Rick and the others escape." Nothing can compare to the look on Matt's face. I don't know who this 'Jackie' was, but she and Matt obviously had some heavy history. How would I have looked if someone had told me that Buffy had died like that? How did I look when Willow showed up on that auspicious day? Without another word, he stands up and walks out of the room. Eve – I don't really know why she was in the room when she was uninvolved – stands up and holds out a hand as if to stop him, but of course she says nothing. Understanding that at this point he would be inconsolable, I turn my attention to other matters.

"I'll do it." Everyone looks at me. "I'll get in, their vampire sensors will go off, and they'll be so preoccupied with chasing me that someone can get in, get what we need and get out before they realise it." Nobody says anything.

"Uhh… yeah. See, I don't think we can really count on Matt for this one, and… you're not actually a vampire anymore." I hadn't thought of that.

"No," says a voice beside me. I turn to look, and there is Spike, his long hair and beard hacked off and bleached once more. "But I am."

------------------------------

Spike:

Angel has always had a power about him that everybody can see but him. When he was a monster he was the cruelest and most evil monster there was. And when he was good, he brought out the goodness in other people.

I spent a lot of time with Angel in both of his states. I can't say I particularly liked him as either, but I did respect him. And when I wanted Buffy, it was Angel's example that I followed. But no matter what I did, Angel had always done it first. He'd got a soul first; he'd slept with Buffy first. I couldn't prove myself to anyone without being compared to my sire – and what had he left as a reminder of his crusade? He'd tried to kill Buffy. And still he was better than me. Of course, I had done nothing special. No, I was just fighting the good fight for hundreds of years compared to his lone decade. And then Buffy died. That destroyed me, and in my loneliness, I grew to hate him. I found the prophecies of Aberjian – promising humanity to a vampire with a soul, and I tried to be worthy of that. But the End of Days came and I remained a vampire – my sire was dead and still he denied me my reward! And in a moment of intense jealousy, I went on a rampage, destroying all records that my sire had ever been good. And then I withdrew into myself, helping the fighters that arose but never doing anything myself – why should I when in the end there was no purpose to it?

And now he's back, and it was because of what I did – I hate poetic justice – and he's rekindled the good in my soul, the need to fight the good fight. I really hate him, but I respect him. And with the current Slayer dead, Angel will need my help to prevent Armageddon from happening again. So I fished a knife out of the rotten sink and cut off my beard and hair, tied them back with string – I have no razor or scissors, so this'll have to do – and used the last of my bleach. Renewed in spirit and appearance, I came to the bookstore, which is where I stand now, awaiting judgement.

Everyone looks at me, except Matt who must be grieving. There's Eve, silently looking exactly like Buffy, which disturbs me more than I can ever let on. I'd hold my breath but for the fact that I don't need to. They have to give me this last chance to prove my virtue, or I'll just crawl back into my shell further and then even Angel won't be able to pull me out again.

"I don't know, Spike," says the young Giles. "You haven't been in a fight for as long as I can remember, you think you can still hold your own?" Oddly enough it's my sire once again who comes to my rescue.

"We don't have any other choice, Edward. Matt's in a funk and I can't do this alone." So they agree to the proposal, tell us where to find the important documents and we work out a plan. I'm going to break in, confront them, giving Angel just enough time to get in, steal something heavily guarded and then we both get out.

Can we say suicide mission?

------------------------------

Matt:

I didn't hear much of what was going on – it all seemed so unreal. Jackie's dead. We've been together for almost three years, and suddenly she's gone. Just like that. I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. I remember the first time we met as if it was yesterday: I'd been fighting for Ed for a while, more as a defender than as a warrior. I protected people that couldn't defend themselves, from things that they did not understand. If Ed and Rick ever needed someone to infiltrate or attack, they used a Slayer. Spike once explained to me that there used to be a 'Watchers' Council' that constantly looked for and trained potential Slayers. It had been demolished ages ago, probably in the End of Days, but the rituals that they used to find the Slayers had survived in Ed's family, and he used them to find a new Slayer when the old one was killed. Well, one day, he found a Slayer and brought her to the store and when I saw her… my breath was just taken away. Jacqueline was so beautiful, and so confused, new to the calling but willing to do everything in her power to do her duty. Such a perfect soul, the likes of which I had never encountered before, and now I never shall again.

Something tells me the meeting's over, and though I don't know what the resolution of it was, I know that it doesn't involve me. I can't do this anymore, because now my one guiding light has been ripped from me.

Eve walks past the door, and I follow her. She's in the training room where Jackie and I had spent a lot of our time together. There's a bag in the middle of the room, and Eve is diligently putting things into it: stakes, swords and crosses.

"Eve, why are you getting the equipment ready?"

She doesn't answer, just walks over to the cabinet and lifts out my axe. All parts of it have been replaced over the years, but the axe itself has been used by the servants of the Powers That Be for centuries, perhaps longer. Why is Eve taking my axe?

"Eve, what's going on?"

Eve puts the axe into the bag and picks it up, slinging it over one shoulder. She walks up to me and looks into my eyes. She places a hand on my cheek, and smiles a sad smile. Then she walks past me and out into the store.

What was that about?