Author's note: Thank you to all those who reviewed. I love you guys! (NB: There will be a cameo from a character from 'Angel'.)
Chapter 5
Lorne pushed the door open slowly and took a peek inside. The lights were switched off and the curtains were drawn, giving the room a dark and gloomy look. He entered the room and made his way to the bedroom area where Wesley was resting. He was on watch duty today and Xander later tonight; so that at least someone would be able to check up on him every now and then.
He looked at the figure lying on the bed and sighed. The man looked like he'd been through enough and deserved a rest. But the fight wasn't over yet; it's never over. Not until every single one of them was dead, Lorne grumbled silently.
He waved away his anger - it was of no use to any of them here - and inspected the bruises on Wesley that were in plain view. He was surprised to see that they were in the advanced stages of healing already, considering the extent of it when he first arrived just three days ago. They say vampire saliva has healing properties – maybe Angel's been spitting on him, Lorne thought with a tiny hint of a smile.
Whistling a small tune to fill the silence, he abandoned the bed and turned around to the cupboard for some bandages as it was time to change the ones on Wesley. As he reached for the bandage roll he heard a creak but was too late to react before he was violently tugged backwards by a hand around his neck. Lorne choked and struggled to breathe. He tried to release the hand but the grip was too tight. Another one came up to his mouth just as he was about to call out for help.
"Speak and die." The voice said hoarsely.
Lorne stopped struggling instantly. He recognized that voice no matter how long it had been since he'd heard it – it was Wesley.
Wesley released his hand from Lorne's mouth and used it to poke a sharp object roughly at his back. Lorne grunted at the initial contact but his pain was blatantly ignored. Wesley pushed him towards the door, his hand still tightly snaked around Lorne's neck. Lorne felt fear at the calculating harshness of the man and could only hope that they didn't get the wrong guy.
"Take me to your leader."
---------------------------------------------------------
Angel was sitting alone in his room. He welcomed the peace as it relaxed him while he drew a small portrait. The sound of the lead tip scratching against the surface of the pad was meditative and hypnotising, that it was a while before he realized that someone was knocking at his door. He put down his things and got up to greet whoever it was. Just as he was to ask what they wanted as he opened the door, he stopped dead in his tracks and fell speechless.
"Hello, Angelus." Wesley said, and he pushed a helpless Lorne into the room.
---------------------------------------------------------
"You bloody cheated!"
"I did no such thing. You - are merely… a sore loser." Giles eyed the pacing blond vampire with a raised eyebrow. With nothing better to do, Spike invited him for a game of poker and he, for some reason unbeknownst to himself at the time, agreed. Now he watched as the fuming vampire throw down his own cards.
"There's no way you could've won ten bloody times in a row without cheatin'."
"I guess I'm just lucky." Giles stated. Spike walked up to him and glared.
"Careful, Watcher – I may have a soul now, but that ain't make me no pansy. I can visit the dark side if I 'ave to." Spike threatened.
Giles just looked him in the eye and said dangerously low, "So can I."
For a split moment Spike said nothing – remembering the rumours of Giles' alter self, Ripper – but it was only for a short moment as suddenly he scowled and proclaimed, "I was William the Bloody!"
Giles just scoffed at him and took off his glasses to clean. "As I recall, that was due to your dreadful poems."
"Why you-!" Suddenly they heard a crash from upstairs and their conversation stopped abruptly. They stared at that direction and when they heard the second crash, their argument was instantly abandoned as they rushed upstairs to find out what happened.
---------------------------------------------------------
"Wesley?" Angel said, his eyes never leaving him while he helped Lorne get back on his feet. Wesley came slowly into the room, holding what looked like to be an improvised stake. He stopped a bit further away from Angel before he spoke.
"Angelus; imagine my surprise when I found that you're still alive. I thought I killed you. It seems I've underestimated you." He paused before continuing "It doesn't matter. I won't make the same mistake twice. This time I'll make sure you stay dead." Then he charged for Angel.
---------------------------------------------------------
"He would isolate himself in his box, finding answers within these texts. These are the… Winifred's memories of Wesley in this place."
Illyria picked out a book from the shelf and examined its leather binding. Willow looked at her from her seat behind the desk, startled at this sudden articulation by the former god-king. They were the only two in the office and until now they had been silent in their own thoughts.
"Oh?" she said, trying to find something to say. "Well, I guess Wesley was the book guy around here."
Illyria opened the book and traced her fingers across the words. "These fragmented memories – I have those of when she would watch him secretly, filled with feelings I cannot describe." She was silent while she flipped a page and did the same thing again. Then she said, "I remember Wesley in the Wolf, Ram and Hart. He was my guide, yet I know that he himself was lost. He sought to save what was rotted through, what was gone. If he had found a way to replace us…" Illyria left the sentence to run off and put back the book. "He could not find happiness with me."
Willow thought that she heard the tiniest ghost of sadness in her voice, but didn't have time to dwell on it when they suddenly heard a crash. They both rushed out the office to see Spike and Giles look up the stairs. A second crash came and Willow and Illyria followed them to the source of the sound.
---------------------------------------------------------
"Wesley, wait! I'm not Angelus!" Angel shouted as he desperately tried to dodge Wesley's several blows, both succeeding and not. He could feel that the man was serious so he countered with his own blows.
"Don't fool me, vampire. I can taste your deathly state from here." Wesley tried to punch Angel's head again but his hand was stopped midway by Angel. Not losing his momentum, he kicked Angel in the gut, forcing the vampire to stagger backwards. Angel was surprised at Wesley's superior strength, not knowing him to be anything but a normal human. It was comparable to that of Buffy's.
He didn't have time to linger as Wesley was upon him almost instantly. He grabbed Angel and threw him on top of the coffee table; Angel's back smashing against the glass surface. Angel got up just in time to deflect a kick and they exchanged blows before he tried again. "It's me, Angel!"
Wesley managed to hit him twice before saying, "Hah – Angel. Don't make me laugh. You think that name should mean anything to me!" He punched Angel on the jaw and Angel backhanded him.
"Will – you – just – stop – and – listen!" Angel threw him across the room to collide severely against a shelf, breaking it into splinters. Wesley looked dazed for a second but he stubbornly stood up again. He scowled at Angel.
He held out his hand with his palm upwards. "You give me no choice. I guess I'll just be forced to-"
Suddenly, Giles and Spike rushed into the room, followed by Willow and then Illyria. Giles said out of breath "Angel. We heard a crash and-". They stopped when they saw the condition of the room. Then they looked at its occupants.
Willow gasped. "Wesley?"
Wesley, surprised by the distraction, stopped what he was about to do. He looked at the new intruders before facing Angel again. "So is this your new army? I'm surprised some of them are still mortals. Did you brainwash them?"
Giles looked at Wesley and said "Wesley, I think you should-"
"No." Wesley turned to face him. "I will not negotiate with my enemy's minions." He gazed at them longer as if contemplating, and his features almost softened when he said "I'm sorry for your souls."
Then he rushed towards the window and before anyone knew what was going on, he crashed through the glass and into the night. Angel rushed to the window but found that Wesley was already gone, no trace of him except for the broken shards of glass on the street below.
After a while, Spike broke the silence. "What the bloody hell happened 'ere!"
Angel was still staring out the window when he said softly, "He called me Angelus."
Giles took off his glasses to wipe and shook his head. "Oh dear."
---------------------------------------------------------
"But what does this mean?" Gunn asked. "So he didn't even react when you told him you were Angel?" He, Xander and Buffy shortly arrived from their supply shopping right after Wesley's little escape and were only earlier briefed on the current situation.
Now they were all in the lobby trying to understand what just happened.
"He said 'Angel' doesn't mean a thing to him, but he called me Angelus, said that he killed me already." Angel said. Then he asked hesitatingly "Do you think-"
Xander cut in. "That where he came from you never had a soul and he actually killed Angelus? And now that he thinks you're still him, he's gonna find a way to kill you? Again? Then, yes. I think so."
"The mortal said 'Angel' right before he fell unconscious. Is this not an indication of acknowledgment to the half-breed?" Illyria said.
"Well, maybe he pulled a classic dying breath cliché." Xander said, getting down from where he was sitting on the reception table. Off some of their confused looks, Xander expanded, "You know – where the person dying finally says what they wanted to but never finish it?" To elaborate, he then put his hand on his forehead and closing his eye, said breathily in an attempted female voice, "Oh, Mark. I never told you this, but I've always felt this way about you ever since the first time I looked into your eyes. I – I… lov -. And dead."
"Ok, we need to get Xander off the chick flicks." Buffy said.
"Hey, not too bad. Ever considered acting? They can always use another damsel in distress." Spike smirked.
Xander was just about to retort when Willow suddenly asked, "Don't you think we should be looking for him? I mean, he is in a totally different world now. He can, you know, get… scared." Even as the words left her mouth, she knew that it wasn't likely going to happen.
"I don't think we'll need to worry about him being scared." Angel said. "Our worlds aren't that much different, actually. It's just like… a before and after picture. Here's" Angel pointed with his hands to the floor "before Armageddon, and there it was – after." Seeing Giles' raised eyebrow, he quickly continued "But you're right. We do need to get him back."
"And how do you suppose we do that? This is Los Angeles. Are we gonna drive around in a car and have you try to sniff him out?" Gunn said, remembering the time when Cordelia suggested they tried to find someone that way.
"I don't think that is necessary." Giles said. He turned and said, "Willow?
"Yes! I can do a locator spell!" She piped up. "I'll find him before you can say – supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!"
"… Right. That puts the deadline to, oh say, ten years." Xander said.
Then Illyria's voice sounded "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Are you done?"
They all stopped and slowly turned to look at her with disbelief in their eyes. Was she serious, or was that actual humour?
Then Spike put his hand in his pocket and said softly, "Funny, Blue."
And Illyria smirked.
---------------------------------------------------------
Wesley ran as fast as he could with no thought of his destination.
Wesley wasn't stupid – he was a Watcher. As soon as he saw his quiet and largely undemolished surroundings, he instantly made the conclusion that he was either dreaming, under a spell or in an alternate dimension. The latter was more possible.
He slowed down to a gentle jog and before he knew it, he was in a park. He saw a bench and decided that it was safe to sit down. Only now did he have time to think about what he was going to do.
There was nowhere he knew to go and he was alone. Just then, Wesley felt approaching feet from behind him, but concluding that they were non-threatening, he decided to let whoever it was approach.
"Wesley?" said a male voice in an almost gasp. Wesley slowly got up and turned to look at the person who called his name. He looked young, no more than 27. He didn't look threatening, but Wesley learnt the hard way that looks were deceiving.
"You seem to know who I am. What I don't know is who are you?"
The young man looked momentarily surprised. "You must be from the other place then."
Instantly Wesley took out his stake. He knew he wasn't a vampire, but that didn't mean that it wouldn't hurt if he stabbed him with it. "Are you also with Angelus? It's hard to know; he has humans by his side now."
"No, I'm not with Angelus." The young man said quickly. "You might be confused right now but I'm a friend. I know all about you, and I'm here to help." After a pause, he said "I have a place; and it's not far from here. We can stay there… So, are you coming?"
Wesley gave it a moment's thought and then sheathed his stake. "Fine."
Wesley didn't know why, but he never questioned the young man's intentions. As they walked back to his place, Wesley said, "You never told me your name."
It was a while but eventually he finally answered, "It's Connor."