A/N: A thousand thanks to my Beta, Orin Forever Crimson. Thanks to those of you kind enough to leave a review; I truly appreciate it. As promised, I sticking with a sped up schedule thus far. I plan to have Act II out by the 28th or sooner, so stay tuned. So, please R&R but most importantly, enjoy!

"Redemption"

Episode 4

"Consequences"

by Leon Stryfe

Starring:

James Marsters as "Spike"

Michelle Trachtenberg as "Dawn Summers"

Nicholas Brendan as "Alexander 'Xander' Harris"

Alyson Hannigan as "Willow Rosenberg"

Amber Benson as "Tara Maclay"

Emma Caulfield as "Anya Jenkins"

and

Anthony Stewart Head as "Rupert Giles"

Guest Starring:

Kali Rocha as "Halfrek"

Alexis Denisof as "Wesley Wyndam-Pryce"

Charisma Carpenter as "Cordelia Chase"

David Boreanaz as "Angel"

and

Sarah Michelle Gellar as "Buffy Summers"

"Buffy?" Angel stared, open mouthed, at his former love. He had barely come to terms with her death and now she was standing in front of him. But something seemed off to him. "You're not real." His voice grew harsh, his anger for the ruse he believed the Powers were playing on him rising.

"Define real. I'm the girl you knew, the one you loved." Buffy stopped, noticing that her words weren't having any real effect on Angel. "Do I really need to repeat some of the things you whispered to me on our only night together?" This time her words got through, as Angel's face fell. He was quiet for a moment before he looked up at her again.

"But you're not alive."

"Hey, neither are you!" If Angel needed any more proof that this was Buffy, her angry outburst provided it. Buffy smiled a nervous apology at him before scrunching her nose up. "Hey, don't make me get all metaphysicy. It's so not my area of expertise." Angel smiled and nodded.

"Not that I'm not grateful to see you, but why are you here? How are you here?" It was Buffy's turn to look forlorn.

"I need you to do something for me, something you're not going to like. I need you to help me save William." Angel was confused at first, not knowing who William was. And then, it came to him.

"Spike." The hatred in his voice was so palpable that it caused Buffy to wince.

"I know that you guys aren't the best of friends but I-"

"No," Angel said before Buffy could finish pleading her case.

"Look, you don't understand what he-"

"I said no," Angel interrupted her again, turning away from her angrily. "I know that he's been a good dog since he got the leash put on his brain but he is still a monster."

"He sacrificed himself to save Dawn's life." Those words drained all the venom out of Angel as he turned back around and saw Buffy's face. "I wouldn't ask if you weren't the only one who could help." When she saw the hurt look that ran across Angel's face, Buffy hastened to modify her statement. "No! I didn't mean it like that! I meant that you're the only one who can help Spike, not that you're the last person I would turn to when I need help. You know I'm not good with speeches, right?" Angel couldn't help but smile. This was the woman he had loved for years, the woman who still owned a piece of his unbeating heart. How could he say no?

"What happened?"

"Dawn was kidnapped by some real losers, boys I had fought in the past. Their leader, Warren, went coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs and tried to kill everyone. Then he put a gun to Dawn's head. And then Spike..." Buffy's voice grew thick with emotion before she finished her sentence. "Spike broke his neck, causing the chip to explode in his head. It... it melted his brain." She was on the verge of tears so Angel moved to comfort her. As he went to put his arms around her, his hands moved right through Buffy's form. "Yeah," she said, sniffling, "that's the unreal part you mentioned. I can't touch anything here and it can't touch me."

"How can I help?" Angel could hardly believe that the words had come out of his mouth. The look on Buffy's face, however, let him know that he'd made the right choice. Her eyes danced as she recited the message given her by the Powers.

"'The champion of the Angels' city must provide the font of life for the defender of the dale of the Sun.' Then they went on and on about an apocalypse and said that he was needed to shine shoes, or something like that." Angel got the feeling that Buffy didn't really understand exactly what she was relaying. She obviously knew who the champion and the defender were, but the font of life must have meant as little to her as it did to Angel. And why would they need Spike to shine shoes? He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.

"I'll get my team together, try to see what we can find. We'll," Angel stopped momentarily, as if stunned, before beginning again. "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but we'll find a way to save Spike." Speaking the words seemed to leave a visible bad taste in Angel's mouth, causing Buffy to laugh softly.

"Angel... thank you. For everything." Buffy reached out her hand towards Angel's face but stopped when she remembered her physical state. She let her arm drop back to her side and she smiled. "Take care of Cordelia for me." Buffy's voice began to fade away just as she did. By the time her sentence was finished she was gone from the room. Still, Angel didn't miss the wink she threw his way before she had completely vanished.

He stood there for a moment, unsure whether to laugh or cry. His dead former lover had just come to him asking his help in reviving a monster that he had helped create over one hundred years ago. Still, it wasn't the weirdest thing that he had ever done, and what kind of champion would he be if he refused a dead heroine's last request?

The morning had brought about no change in Spike's condition. Giles awoke early and started his tea sombrely. As he passed by the living room he discovered that Dawn had fallen asleep there on the couch, Spike's head cradled in her lap. He had chosen not to disturb the girl and to let her have her rest. When Giles received his library early in the morning, he did so as quietly as possible and then began immediately to search through it for anything useful. He had yet to find anything by the time Tara walked into the kitchen.

"Morning," she said quietly. He nodded his greetings to her and continued perusing his books in an attempt to find any information at all which could help them. By the time she had finished making breakfast, Willow had come downstairs and Dawn had joined them in the kitchen. They ate moderately and in relative silence, no one able to overcome their sombre feelings. After they had eaten, everyone began work on their respective roles.

Tara began searching for any mystical information that would help. Willow scoured the internet to see what, if anything, she could find. Xander called and said that he and Anya were talking to various contacts that she had made whist she had been a Vengeance demon. Even Dawn was helping by aiding Giles in his search.

The hours rolled by, everyone buried in their respective investigations. After his fifth cup of tea, Giles dropped his book to the table and sighed wearily. He removed his glasses and began massaging the bridge of his nose. Everyone stopped what they were doing but it was Willow who voiced their thoughts.

"So, nothing yet?"

"Nothing that is helpful, no." The tone of his voice suggested that he had found something that he didn't like. Willow might not agree with Dawn's romantic feelings for Spike, but she didn't want her to hear whatever it was that Giles had found.

"Tara, why don't you and Dawnie go get us something for lunch? Research on an empty stomach leads to bad things." Willow infused her words with as much humour as she could muster, hoping that Dawn wouldn't see through what she was trying to do. It didn't look like it was going to work until Tara picked up on exactly what Willow was trying to do.

"Sounds like a good idea. Dawn, you pick the place and we'll get something for everyone." It looked like Dawn was about to object but instead she nodded and smiled slightly. Willow and Giles placed their orders for a large number of eventualities and Tara and Dawn went out in search of food. As soon as the door closed, Willow turned intently to the former watcher, wanting him to share what he had found.

"It doesn't look good," Giles said, knowing exactly what Willow was waiting for. "Vampires have amazing healing capacities, perhaps even better than a Slayer's, but there are limits. Vampires cannot regenerate lost extremities, for instance. If you cut off a vampire's hand, it will neither regrow nor reattach without other mystical aid." Giles stopped and flipped open the book he had been reading before Tara and Dawn had left. "This is perhaps most damaging to our cause. An account from a Watcher circa 1747." Giles passed the book over to Willow while he continued to describe its contents.

"During the War of Austrian Secession, known as King Georges' War on this side of the Atlantic, the Spanish forces attacked a small city on the North Carolinian coast. The Spanish, desperate to regain their former glory no matter the cost, used demons in their attacks. Before the Slayer of that time and her Watcher could arrive to aid the local militia forces, they had managed to defeat the demons on their own. Upon their arrival they did, however, take note of a vampire body the militia had, for whatever reason, salvaged."

"'The men pointed me towards an unmoving form,'" Willow began to read aloud, word for word, the description in Giles' book. "'The body of the vampyre, for it could be mistaken for no other creature on this earth, with its rigid brow and protruding fangs, had been wounded in the head. A musket shot had penetrated the creature's skull, leaving it even more lifeless than other creatures of its ilk. We transported the fiend back to the Council for further studious endeavours.' Giles, I know that this doesn't sound good but we don't have the rest of the information. That journal entry ends there." Willow looked up at Giles, knowing that he wouldn't have brought this up if he didn't have some other piece of the puzzle. However, she hoped that this was all the information on this case that he had. When she saw him reaching for another book, her hopes were quickly dashed.

"I recall from when I was a young boy my father spoke of a creature they called Miguel. It was a... research subject of sorts. They performed countless tests on the thing until it finally expired some time before I became a Watcher. He had told me that the thing was brain dead, felt no pain, and was of great use to the Council. Seeing what must have been the look of horror on my face, my father went on to assure me that while the creature was of an unspeakable evil nature, the Council had done nothing to cause the initial damage that left it in a vegetative state. While he never told me exactly what the creature was, he did tell me that it had come from across the pond sometime in the 18th century... and that it had been a part of a Spanish raid on one of the Colonies." A look of defeat passed over Willow's features before she responded.

"So, all those years, and he never recovered? That... that..."

"It doesn't leave us much room for hope, does it? Still, keep in mind that the council had no impetus to see the vampire healed, where as we have a great deal of motivation to see that Spike is restored. Perhaps with all of us searching, we'll find something that will work." While Giles' tried to be as hope inspiring as he could be, he feared that all their research was for nothing. Still, if only for Dawn, he would search out every possible means of restoring Spike to a functioning state.

"Yeah, maybe," Willow responded softly before burying herself back into her research on the worldwide web.

"Is it really you?" Spike stared at the apparition before him. All of his other senses told him that this was some sort of trick, and yet his heart told him that this really was Buffy. When she smiled at him, he had his answer. "How?"

"The Powers That Be owe me one." Her simple statement didn't do much to answer Spike's question.

"The who that what now?"

"The Powers are, like, some kind of supreme force for good, or something. The opposite of Wolfram and Hart. And they don't so much owe me a favour as they need you for something big and they thought that I might be able to lead you back." Spike stared at her as if he hadn't heard what she had said. He had, of course, but he was overwhelmed by seeing her again without having to worry about something else going wrong, such as the ordeal with the body swap a few weeks prior. And then Spike remembered that there were strings attached.

"I'm dead, aren't I." He stated a fact more than asked a question.

"More dead than usual, yeah." This elicited a small, quiet laugh from Spike as he nodded his agreement.

"Yeah, I suppose so. So, why aren't I down there with those poor sods?" Spike indicated the scene off to the far horizon, the scene that had first solidified the fact that he wasn't in the land of the living.

"Because you're different, Spike. You always have been. You're a good man." Spike's heart initially swelled, but soon he hung his head.

"You don't know all the things I've done, luv'. You can't imagine-"

"I don't have to imagine, Spike. I've seen them all." Spike looked up due to the morose tone she had switched to. "The Powers, they wanted me to be sure that you were someone they could count on, so they showed me... everything. I've seen everything." Here her voice changed and she spoke with a smile. "I've also seen how you're different. The way you turned your mother, hoping to give her the same gift you had received. The love you showered upon Drusilla. And of course I've seen the loyalty you've shown to me. No other vampire in history has ever been like you. That makes you special." Buffy reached out and placed a hand on Spike's cheek. "Monster's don't leave anonymous flowers for grieving daughters." The surprise was evident on Spike's face.

"How did you-"

"I did say everything, Spike. The most important thing of all, the thing that sets you apart , especially to me, is that you traded your life for Dawn's. It set up this chance for you to live again." Buffy got quieter, speaking in a tender, intimate voice. "And I can't begin to explain how much that sacrifice means to me."

Through it all Spike said nothing, relishing the contact with Buffy and the comfort it brought him. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. He reached up and placed his hand on hers, holding it there a moment before gently moving it away.

"If all that's true luv', then why am I here at all? And where exactly is here anyway?"

"This is Hamistagan. It's a place where someone who performed both good and evil deeds go. As you can see, you're much closer to the evil spectrum, but apparently fighting to stave off an apocalypse and performing a selfless sacrifice is enough to keep you just this side of hell."

"So, this place is like a purgatory?"

"Close enough."

"Right." Spike seemed to contemplate his situation a few seconds before looking back up at Buffy with a sparkle in his eyes. "So, how do I get outta' here, pet?" The smile left Buffy's face as she pointed back towards the hell on the horizon.

"You've got to go through there." Spike stared at her a moment, rethinking whether or not he was sure this was really Buffy. Asking to go through a literal hell isn't how you reward someone who saved your sister's life. "I need you back in Sunnydale, Spike. Something terrible is coming." The fear on her face was enough to once again wash away Spike's doubt about her identity. Still, he was left with one question.

"If I'm dead, then how am I supposed to get back to bein' a real boy?"

"Being a vampire puts you in a very unique position," Buffy explained. "Your body has been dead since you were turned. Now your mind has joined it in death but your body still exists back on Earth. If we can get your mind out of here you'll still have a body to return to. But the Powers need to be sure that you are the person that I know you are, the one that they need. And to convince them that you're him, well... you've got to go through hell." Spike seemed to mull this over for a brief period of time. Then, he squeezed Buffy's hand before leaping down off of his vantage point and raced towards the horrors he could see off in the distance.

Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes before she hopped down herself and chased after him.

Angel walked into the lobby area of the Hyperion Hotel well after the sun had crested in the sky. He had been forced to use the sewers to return to the hotel due to how late it had gotten. As he walked in he found both Cordelia and Wesley eating doughnuts.

"Gunn still out sulking?" Wesley nodded while eating a jelly filled delight.

"He told me that he had to sort a few things out before he came back to work," Wesley replied after he had finished his pastry.

"And Fred?" A somewhat saddened look passed over Wesley's features before he answered Angel.

"Fred has walled herself back up in her room. After what happened at Caritas, she believes that this place every bit as monstrous as Pylea was." From the look that passed between Wes and Cordelia, Angel surmised that this was a paraphrase of words spoken by Fred earlier in the morning. Angel couldn't worry about that right then however, as he was on a mission.

"How was your meeting with Buffy?"

"Buffy is alive?" Cordelia had forgotten that Wesley didn't yet know what had transpired the night before.

"No," Angel replied frostily. "But she did give me a mission." He looked at both of the people standing across from him, his stalwart friends, and shuddered at what he had to ask. "I need your help doing something for Buffy but I don't think either of you are going to like it. I'm not going to force you to do anything, and I'll understand when you say no." Cordelia had been aware of the meeting but not the contents. She frowned and locked eyes with Wesley, who wore and equally concerned look on his face.

"Angel, what is it?" Angel sighed, scoffed and rolled his eyes before meeting Cordelia's questioning gaze.

"I need your help to resurrect Spike."

"Have you lost your mind?" Cordelia remembered the chaos Spike caused in Sunnydale, and more recently in L.A. "He had you tortured! Why would you want to bring that maniac back?"

"Wait, are we talking about William the Bloody?" At a terse nod from Angel, Wesley went on. "The same Spike that has killed more slayers than any other living demon? I agree with Cordelia, why on Earth would you want to unleash that horror back upon the world?"

"Because Buffy asked me to. She says... she says that 'he's changed'," Angel used finger-quotes, showing his disagreement with Buffy's assessment. "She says that he helps her friends back in Sunnydale in defending against the hellmouth."

"What precipitated his demise?" When Cordelia cocked her eyebrow and his question, Wesley put it in layman's terms. "How did he die?"

"She said that he killed a human who had put a gun to Dawn's head. Then his brain liquefied."

"And how exactly would that cause his brain to liquefy?"

"A couple of years ago, not long after he attacked us here," Angel added for Cordelia, "he was captured by some secret government organisation and he had some kind of impulse inhibitor put in his brain. Basically, any time he even tried to hurt a human, the chip would go off and send out electricity into his brain. If he fought through that and actually hurt someone, the amount of damage he suffered increased exponentially. So, if he killed someone..."

"The chip went kerblamo." Cordelia shook her head, not liking the mental image. "Ew."

"I assume he knew this about the chip?" Wesley looked to Angel for clarification.

"Spike was dense, but it would be hard for even him to miss electric pulses shooting through his brain."

"Then he knew what saving Dawn might do to him?"

"Yeah..." Angel wasn't certain he was comfortable with where Wesley's logic was taking him.

"And does this type of behaviour describe Spike as you knew him?"

"Self-destructive tendencies? Absolutely."

"No, I meant self-sacrificial actions. I know that he was a bit of a thrill seeker-"

"That's an understatement," Angel interrupted Wesley, who rebuked him mildly with a stare before continuing his own line of thought.

"—but risking himself when he had nothing to gain personally goes against what the files say about him."

"It's not entirely new," Angel revealed reluctantly, drawing both Cordelia and Wesley's attention. "Spike was always loyal to Drusilla. From what I heard, he fought off an entire mob in Prague just to reach her, knowing that they might have already killed her. Spike was always... different." Angel was lost in thought for a moment, wondering just how Spike might have turned out, had Angelus and Darla not been there to corrupt him.

"How are we supposed to bring a vampire back to life?" Cordelia's question cut through Angel's thoughts. "I don't think I'm willing to do what Wolfram & Hart did to bring back Darla."

"We won't have to. Spike's body is still intact," Angel said, clarifying the situation.

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know, Wes. Since his heart hasn't been pierced by a stake and since he hasn't been dumped in the sunlight or a firepit, I don't think mental injuries kill vampires like they would a human. We're fuelled by different physiology than a human; the brain doesn't need to be there to operate things."

"So, like, where is he? I mean, his consciousness." Cordelia waited expectantly before both Angel and Wesley responded simultaneously.

"Hell."

"How do you know?" Again, the men replied at exactly the same time, though this time their words were different.

"Makes sense," Angel said.

"Where else would he go," was Wesley's reply. Cordelia tilted her head to one side before nodding in agreement.

"So, why do the PTB want him back alive?"

"Buffy said that they needed him to help fight of an apocalypse and to... shine shoes?" Angel still didn't get that bit of the prophecy. Wesley looked at him a moment before he began to laugh. When Cordelia and Angel just stared at him, he explained what he found so funny.

"I'm sorry, for a moment I thought you said that the Powers needed him to Shanshu." Wesley continued to laugh after he finished his statement, which caused Angel to join him.

"Yeah, like they would need Spike to fight off the apocalypse... and to... Shanshu..." Angel sobered up immediately, running everything back over in his head. He came to a very unsatisfying conclusion. "They need Spike alive because he's vampire in the prophecy. The Shanshu is about him."