Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Joss Whedon. I don't own them, so don't sue me. Also, some of my characters and settings later on will come from the Buffy books "The Gatekeeper Trilogy" by Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder.
Authors note: Finally got a chance to continue this little story that I've been chasing around. Any feedback you have as to whether it's a plot worth pursuing would be greatly appreciated and positive comments will probably speed up the time between chapters. Thanks
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His head throbbed. His head throbbed and he couldn't quite remember why. He opened his eyes, then closed them quickly to keep the world from spinning crazily. He tried to sit up and groaned when a hand pushed him back down. He forced his eyes open again and blearily made out the shape of his favorite redhead.
"Shh, Angel just lay still. You've been through a lot, just try to rest, you're safe now."
"Where am I? What happened?" He tried to sit up again and she pushed him back, much more firmly this time.
"You need to lie down and relax Angel. Your body hasn't recovered from the translocation spell yet and if you don't give it a chance to you're going to end up injuring yourself more."
"Fine, I'll lay still if you will just tell me what's going on."
She smiled at him. "See, you're feeling better already, I can tell. You're in London, at a house that Giles owns as part of the new Watcher's Counsel. The Powers-that-Be decided it wasn't your time to go and sent Whistler to help us get you guys out of the mess you made."
"Whistler? Wait… us?" He turned his head and sure enough, there was Spike and Gunn. They were both still unconscious and Gunn had an oxygen mask over his mouth. Illyria was nowhere to be seen but that didn't necessarily mean anything. There were two girls standing watch by the door, slayers he figured, but other than that they were alone in the small infirmary. "Where's Buffy? Still in Italy?"
Willow's smile faded instantly. "You need to hear the rest of the story Angel. See, the Powers didn't interfere for your sake, from what I gather they had decided that you could sleep in the bed you made for yourselves. They helped me save you so that you could help us. Buffy's missing. Things are really bad this time Angel, really bad…"
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The form that approached him was a woman. A young, black woman with a swagger that reminded Wes of Faith.
"Excuse me," he croaked out through a surprisingly dry throat. The woman spun and crouched into a defensive position, apparently taken off guard by his presence. She squinted at him, the appeared to relax a notch.
"You're off the road."
He blinked at her dumbly. "Pardon me?"
"You're off the road. I didn't see you."
He stepped towards her and she eyed him warily. Suddenly the world cleared and solidified, still grey and colorless, but no longer hazy. Wesley was able to take a better look at the woman. She was tall and skinny with bellbottoms and a tight fro'. She appeared to be in her early 20's, the right age for a slayer.
"You need to move on. Whatever trauma you feel you need to resolve isn't important. Cross over now, it isn't safe here for you." She addressed him in a way that was preoccupied, as if he'd interrupted her from something important.
"Where are we?"
"The ghost roads. You died and your soul didn't cross all the way over, got stuck on the roads to haunt for all time or some shit until you decided your issues aren't important enough to stick around for so you finish crossing. So why don't you just skip the middle part bub, cause it ain't safe for you here."
"Fascinating! I'd always thought the ghost roads were a myth, other than Giles, every one at the counsel always discounted their existence. However, I'm getting ahead of myself. My name is Wesley Windam-Pryce, former member of the Watchers Counsel, and your name is either Nikki Wood or Alexandra Harrington, although I'm betting the former."
She gaped at him, clearly startled that he knew her and what was going on. Within moments though her surprise was gone, replaced once more by slayer watchfulness.
"Great, just what we need, a stuffy-assed Watcher trying to tell us what to do. Just so you know, if it were up to me I'd leave you out here to rot, but my orders say otherwise so I guess you're coming with me. Better not slow me down though, the mission is what's important, not you."