The Observer:

The battle was won, if you can call it a victory. The summit was broken up and the building all but destroyed, but at a great cost. Many people died, and the Slayer was mortally wounded in a fight with a very powerful enemy. They've earned a respite, but if they think their troubles are over, then they are seriously mistaken.

I think it's about time that I made an appearance.

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Angel:

I'm afraid. I don't admit that to many people, but it's true. Since the discovery of Jericho's not-soul, things have only become worse. We found Buffy on the way out, bleeding terribly and unresponsive. She's been unconscious since we brought her back. Gene and Jericho are both imprisoned in our makeshift brig, but all I can keep thinking is while we were breaking up the summit of panicked, wannabe big bads, she was fighting the real battle somewhere else. What could have the strength to do this to a Slayer, to her? Please wake up.

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Matt:

Getting information out of Gene is like extracting blood from a stone, except less fun. He swears blind that he has no idea what it was that beat Buffy to a bloody pulp, but he looks so calm when he says it that I don't trust him. I couldn't trust him again anyway, but that's not the point. The point is that something nearly killed my sister, and he knows something he's not telling. Jericho claims he doesn't know either, and despite not having a soul, he at least wants to be good, so I'm slightly more disposed towards him.

Gene staring at me from his cage is starting to annoy me, and I've been trying to find out what he knows for over an hour now with no luck. I sigh, and walk upstairs. Maybe Angel will have better luck.

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Gene:

I've been locked in this cage for a couple of days now, I think. It's hard to tell, since there are no windows in this room and I can't see daylight. I guess that's because I share the room with Jericho, who is locked up in a slightly larger cage in the opposite corner. Every so often someone comes down to interrogate me, but they're real amateurs. One of them just stared at me, and being the king of calm, he ran away whimpering after not too long. One promised me lots of comforts if I helped him, but not being in a position of any kind of power, I doubted his ability to provide them. Matt, who's just now given up, all he did was ask me straight out. How did we lose to these people?

Ah, now Angel's here. He looks tired. To my surprise, there are keys in his hand and he opens the door. Standing back he motions for me to get out of the cage. I hold back for a moment.

"What is this?" I ask hesitantly.

"Come on, quickly, before I change my mind." So I walk out of the little prison.

"Well, it's been a blast," I tell him, "but now I really must be going." I walk for the stairs.

"Oh, Gene, one more thing," he says from behind me.

"Yeah?" I prompt, turning to face him.

"Changed my mind," and before I can react, his fist collides with my jaw. I don't even remember hitting the ground.

When I come to, I'm tied to a chair in a darkened room and all I can see is Angel sitting on another chair in front of me. This is worrying.

"What's going on?"

"I'm going to torture you," he tells me, as if that was painfully obvious. "See, I may not have a demon anymore, but I remember exactly how deep every cut should go, exactly which body parts are expendable. It may not give me quite as much enjoyment as it used to, but don't think that I'll do it with any less fervour."

"I told you I don't know anything." He sighs.

"Well that's a shame. I really didn't want to have to do this. You know some of the tools they've got here are so blunt that they won't cut cleanly any more. Oh well, never mind. Shall we get started?" And he approaches me with the rustiest knife I've ever seen.

"Please," I sob, tears flowing down my cheeks for the first time in years, "I don't know anything, I swear. Please don't…"

Suddenly I can hear sniggering and the lights come on. We're still in the basement, and Jericho is watching from his cell, laughing at my plight.

"I believe you," Angel says, picking up the chair I'm sitting on and throwing it back into the cell, with me still tied to it.

"Angel," asks Jericho as Angel locks my door again, "you wouldn't really have tortured him, would you?" Angel just stares at him. I can't see his face, but Jericho actually flinches, so I know it can't be pleasant.

Suddenly, someone appears at the top of the stairs,

"She's awake!" he calls, and Angel is gone in the blink of an eye.

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Buffy:

I don't understand. How was I so badly beaten? Did she have a weapon that she was concealing? I guess right now it doesn't matter, but thinking about it… about anything… takes my mind off of the pain that my whole body is inflicting on me. I think I prefer unconsciousness.

I open my eyes, squinting because of the light – even my eyes hurt – and look up to see Matt sitting by me, forehead resting on his hands.

"Matt?" I choke out. He looks up at me, such happiness in his eyes.

"Eve?" he asks, taking my hand in his. He turns his head and says something to someone else that I cannot hear.

I wince as my head pounds again, and he moves closer, brushing a hand over my forehead.

"Are you okay?" he asks, the worry evident in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Where's Angel?"

"I'm right here," says Angel, who has somehow appeared on the other side of the bed.

"Hey," I say weakly, smiling up at him, and I can see in his eyes that he's exhausted.

"Hey," he smiles back, trying to hide his own pain to ease mine.

"I told you we'd make it out, didn't I?" That elicits a laugh, even though it sounds quite forced.

"You did, that's right. We made it out." There is a pause, as he tries his hardest not to look at me. "Buffy, I know it's hard, but we need to know what did this to you." I know I have to tell them, but Matt won't take it well.

"It… it was Jackie." As expected, Matt freezes up on my left.

"No…" he whispers to the world.

"She was a vampire."

"But, no," muses Angel aloud. "That doesn't make any sense. Spike said that Slayers won't drink blood, that the Slayer instinct prevents it. How could she have been turned?"

"I don't know," I admit, "but before I realised, she said that it was Jericho that had saved her." Without a word, Matt stands up and walks towards the basement, his eyes burning. On the way, he grabs his axe and hefts it into both hands, his stride unbroken. Angel leans forward and kisses me on the forehead.

"I'll be back in a minute," he promises then takes off after Matt at a run.

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Jericho:

Okay, I thought I was pretty safe in here until they figure out what to do with me. Edward's supposed to be looking for an ancient spell to restore my soul. Those thoughts were shattered when Matt opened the cage door and came at me with an axe. He caught me off guard, and probably would have killed me, had Angel not grabbed the axe out of his hand suddenly and thrown him out of the cage. My guess is that he still isn't entirely used to his strength, because he can't have meant for Matt to hit the opposite wall, where he sits still rubbing his neck.

"This is not the way," Angel tells him, standing over him, holding the axe just beneath the blade. I wonder for a second if he realises that he's left the cage door wide open, then decide that he probably doesn't and that I'll let it be for now.

"How can you say that?" Matt spits out. "He didn't kill your lover."

"No, but yours almost did." Uh, what?

"What?" mutters Gene from the other cell. Angel kneels down.

"I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. We need to find out what actually happened first." Then he turns back to me, notices the door open and quickly shuts it. "Jericho… Jason… we need to know what you know about Jackie's last mission." I think for a moment.

"There was an ambush. When they arrived, we were ready for them. At the time I thought that I had to disrupt their plans, but I didn't want to kill anyone. So I started a fight with Jackie. She was pretty strong, but I'd had more experience. Everyone was so distracted it gave your people a chance to get away. But I kept getting the advantage, and soon my team would have realised what I was doing, so I got behind her and opened a vein. I wanted to make a show of it, that's all, but her blood was so potent I took too much."

"Then what happened?"

"She was going to die, so I did the only thing I could."

"You sired her…" He looks shocked.

"When no-one was looking, I cut open my wrist and fed her my blood. She was pretty out of it, but eventually she swallowed."

"That doesn't make any sense," mutters Angel. Matt meanwhile, has lost all colour in his face.

"How could you?" he whispers, so that even I can barely hear it.

"I thought since Spike had a soul, and when he sired me he passed it along, that I'd pass my soul along to Jackie as well."

"Except you don't have a soul."

"Yeah, but I didn't know that then."

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Buffy:

When Angel and Matt return to my bedside, they both look mortified. Matt looks as if he can't even tell what's going on around him and is just moving on automatic.

"What happened?" I ask.

"It was Jericho…" says Angel. "Jericho turned Jackie to save her."

"But doesn't that mean she should have a soul?"

"No, because Jericho doesn't have a soul. He just thinks he has a soul."

"Oh my god…" All of a sudden, Angel stands up and turns towards the door. "Angel, where are you going?"

"I need answers, and I think I know where I can get them."

"Where?"

"From someone who's been here since the very beginning."

"Who? How are you going to find him?"

"I don't need to find him. He'll come to me."

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Angel:

I walk out into the streets. It's raining now, but I don't care. I just take a deep breath and shout as loud as I can.

"Whistler! Show yourself!"