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 come from the Buffy books "The Gatekeeper Trilogy" by Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder.
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There they were, facing off against legions of demons with the singular, burning desire to make them pay for what had been done to the Circle of the Black Thorn. Angel faced the oncoming horde flanked by Spike, Gunn, and Illyria. Angel knew that this was it; he and those that fought by his side were going to die here, in this cold, wet alleyway, to prove that they could not be controlled. As the mass of demons came nearer, Angel and the others prepared to fight.
The first wave hit him and he had no time to think, only to attack, to defend his life, and the lives of his friends. As he hacked and slashed with his magnificent sword, Angel could see Spike doing the same on his left. On his right Angel could see Gunn begin to go down, only to be rescued by an obviously furious Illyria. Wesley's death must have hit her hard, Angel thought, to make her this pissed. Glad she's on our side.
Spike got his attention and as one they turned their attentions to the dragon hovering overhead. As one they came at the thing, Spike's sword finding purchase and tearing off one of the monster's enormous wings. Angel took the opportunity to drive his sword into the now injured dragon's right eye, burying the blade to the hilt into its brain. As it crashed down, dead, he looked around quickly for another weapon.
Then, all at once, everything seemed to pause. He felt something, some familiar presence watching them and turned to look. There, not ten feet behind him, looking ravishing amid the chaos, stood Buffy. She was dressed all in white, her long hair loose around her shoulders. He almost thought he could smell her perfume. She was giving off an ethereal light, both here and somewhere else at the same time. He breathed her name in a single instant. Buffy.
She seemed startled that he had seen her. Reaching out a hand to him, she spoke words that he just couldn't quite seem to hear. As he reached out to touch her everything around him sped up, the previously forgotten battle resuming. He again searched for a weapon, this time to keep Buffy safe as she stood defenseless inside the maelstrom.
That was when it happened. Suddenly Whistler appeared from no where, touching Gunn and Illyria, who both immediately disappeared. He started towards an unsuspecting Spike, touching him on the shoulder an instant before the vampire was decapitated with his own sword. Spike also disappeared, but with a slight blink rather than an explosion of ash. As Whistler turned toward him, Angel looked desperately at Buffy. The instant before Whistler whisked him away, he could clearly hear her say:
"Come back for me lover. I'm waiting for you…"
Though separated from each other by untold distances, two lovers woke as one.
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The meeting room was packed when Giles arrived ten minutes late for the meeting, cold tea in one hand and several books in the other. He could see at once that everyone was present. Willow, Kennedy, Xander, and Cassandra, his slayer, sat at a table chatting comfortably. Spike and Faith were in the back, hunched together as they smoked, appearing to be flirting. It was good that Faith seemed to be moving on after Robin broke it off with her two weeks ago. Whistler, Gunn and Illyria were scattered around the room, with Andrew trying to appear as if he wasn't staring openly at the demon. And of course everyone was trying to hide the looks they sent at Angel as he paced back and forth in the front of the room.
As Giles entered the room and sat his things on one of the tables everyone looked at him expectantly. Even Angel stopped his pacing and sat down in one of the chairs.
"Thank you all for coming," he said unsure of how to begin. Angel made that easy for him.
"Giles. Where's Buffy?" Angel asked bluntly, his concern for the blond slayer noticeable.
"We… we don't know. All we know is that she's still alive and doesn't appear to be in this dimension. Unfortunately we seem to have bigger problems than just Buffy's disappearance. It seems that the Immortal has teamed up with Wolfram and Hart's Senior Partners to take over this dimension. Your little coup really pissed them off I'd wager. Anyway, they appear to be holding Buffy to split our attention while they raise an army to wipe out humanity."
"Wow, must really suck to be us right now," Xander pointer out drolly. Cassandra gave her watcher a light smack on the arm and a look suggestion he hush.
"Boy's right," Spike said, putting out his smoke. "So what are we gonna do about it?"
"It seems this army is being compiled on the Ghost Roads. Whistler here was sent by the Powers to be of assistance. Spike, Faith, Willow, and Whistler will be traveling to Boston, to the Gatekeeper's house, to attempt to access the Roads from there."
"Wicked," Faith replied, "road trip."
"The rest of us will remain here to see if we can locate Buffy. Xander and Kennedy, you are still in charge of training the girls, the need to be ready when this storm hits. The plane to Boston leaves in a couple hours, you should all go pack."
As the meeting broke up, Andrew went over to Giles and finally got him to relent to letting him take Illyria to go train with the slayers. Giles was happy to have the boy out of his hair for a while. When he turned to leave he noticed Angel still sitting in the otherwise empty room. He was surprised to realize he hadn't heard a peep out of the vampire since the beginning of the meeting.
"I saw her Giles. She was in my dream. Calling out for me to come rescue her. We have to find her before its too late." Angel ran a hand through his hair, obviously edgy.
"In a dream? It has happened before, but are you sure she was really there?" Giles sat back down, cleaning his glasses.
"I'm sure it was her. I could sense her just as much as I can sense you in this room with me. It was her Giles, and we have to find a way to get to her."
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I've finally picked up some steam on this story… shouldn't be as long between chapters now. Please let me know what you think so far, both good and bad, so that I can make adjustments as necessary. Thanks bunches to everyone.