When Good Angels go Bad
Chapter 3: A Cure
"Giles thanks so much for coming this soon." Angel says shaking hands with Giles.
"No problem." Giles says accepting the hand.
"Willow, Xander, it's good to see you again. Thanks for coming." Angel says and Willow gives him a quick hug.
"Is that who I think it is?" Xander asks spotting Cordy and Wes.
"Yes, surprised to see us Harris?" Cordelia retorts.
"No, we knew you were in LA, just not with Angel and Wesley..." Willow says before it could escalate into a fight.
"I left the Council and after a while hunting on my own I crossed paths and later joined forces with Angel." Wes responds.
"Who are you?" Xander asks Leo.
"I'm Leo Wyatt. I live in San Fransisco, but I've known Angel for several years."
"How much do you know about the supernatural?" Giles inquires.
"Quite a lot actually. You see I'm a guardian angel for witches and future guardian angels. Basically the equivalent of a Watcher but I died first."
"A say what now, you died?" Xander asks confused.
"I died in World War Two serving as a medic and I was given the choice to be reborn as a whitelighter." Leo explains.
"Oh."
"That's pretty much what I said." Wesley says.
"So, back on point, what seems to be the issue needing our help?" Giles asks.
"My son. He's been stabbed by an athame blessed with a Killing Curse as well as two others, including one that blocks whitelighter healing powers." Leo goes on to explain about Chris Perry and the alternate timeline and his death as well as rebirth.
"So he was stabbed and he died but was reborn and now 25 years later he's dying again?" Xander asks.
"Once again a complex idea reduced to it's simplest form." Giles says annoyyed.
"Actually the simplest would be history is repeating itself and Leo needs our help." Xander retorts.
"I stand corrected." Giles grumbles.
"Yes." Leo confirms.
"I've heard of this curse before and I believe the cure is mentioned in one of the books I've brought." Giles says thoughtfully.
"That's great! Now which box and which book? Because I remember hauling about 20 boxes here." Xander says sarcastically.
"Right, well then we best get looking, cause if memory serves this curse gets nasty fast." Giles says.
All seven of them follow Giles down to the underground parking garage.
Several boxes, books and hours later they'd only made it through about halfway through. Then Willow says, "Here! I think I found it, but it doesn't appear to be in English."
"Then how do you know it's the right page?" Xander asks.
"Because it says Killing Curse in English on the top." Willow responds handing the book to Giles.
Giles pulls several books towards him and compares a few translations, "It says: the killing curse only takes effect after the victim reaches the same age as they were when they died in their previous life. The only known cure is for the one who originally killed the victim to spill their blood with the cursed item over the victim by his own choosing. Or if the victim's second life is killed before the curse takes effect. Also all future selves will be saved, however if the second life is not saved all-" Giles pauses and looks at Leo, "All future selves will die worse each time with no possibility of a cure."
"That's great all we have to do is find this Gideon guy and trick or convince him into saving Chris." Xander says.
"He's dead." Leo says, his voice hollow.
"Dead?" Wesley asks.
"I killed him after the first Chris died, he's been dead for 25 years."
"Oh..." Willow says in a small voice.
"There's still another way, but you're not going to like it, none of you are." Leo says.
"We'll do whatever we can to save Chris, you won't lose him again. He's got a good soul." Angel says, "What do we have to do?"
"I need someone who can perform a gypsy curse." Leo replies.
"I can probably do that. Why?" Willow says warily.
"Since Gideon is dead and the curse had already taken effect the only way to save him is to freeze him permanently in a living death." Leo explains.
"You mean to have Angel turn Chris into a vampire and have the same curse that returned Angel's soul applied to him." Giles says.
"Yes, that's our only option at this point." Leo confirms, "But I won't force any of you to help. All I can do is ask."
"I'm in." Willow says.
"I'll second that." Giles agrees.
"Might as well." Xander says, "I'm in too."
"Count me in." Wesley says.
Cordelia hesitates but then nods, "Yeah, okay."
"Angel?" Leo asks, "If you can't do this I completely understand."
"No, I'll do it. If I have to do this to save him then I will." Angel says firmly.
"Let's get to work." Giles says, "We've got one shot to pull this off safely."
"Go home Leo. We've just got to go over a few things real quick, then we'll be ready. Go see your son, I'll call you when we're ready." Angel says to Leo, who is pacing back and forth.
"Okay. Thank you again, all of you. Please hurry." Leo orbs home.
"Don't thank us yet." Cordelia mutters.
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