Cordelia stayed in her position in front of Victoria, one arm stretched behind her and a hand wrapped around the girl's wrist, while she stared calculatingly at the strange demon who had yet to attack them. He was just standing there, a somewhat amused smile on his face, hands stuffed in his pockets and a very calm demeanor about him that didn't really fit in with this place.

She considered his words; the only ones he'd spoken so far. He said he'd been looking for one of them, and considering that he used the word 'long', she very much doubted it was her. Which was part of why she was acting so protective of Victoria, who knows what he wanted with her.

Maybe someone should break the silence and ask, though. "Why?" She kept it short and succinct, watching carefully in case he suddenly chose to attack.

The creature - who was looking annoyingly human now that he had packed his fangy teeth away (and how did he do that?) - continued to smile, as if this whole thing was amusing to him. "Why was I looking for that pretty thing you're hiding behind your back?" He didn't wait for a response, though he chuckled when his words made both women stiffen. "Cause she's my way out; you both are."

Victoria stared at the demon, wide eyes full of shock - was he telling the truth or just trying to lull them into a sense of security before he attacked? She wanted very much for him to be on the up and up, but… he was a monster.

Cordelia was on that same train of thought as her brows furrowed and a determined look settled over her face. "And we're supposed to just trust you?"

Again, his grin seemed to grow, as he raised one hand to rub against his beard. "Darling, if you wanna be stuck here, that's your choice. I'm just offering a way out; only thing I ask in return is to hitch a ride."

"What, so you can kill people back in my world?" Cordelia replied, not letting her guard down one bit. "Yeah, I don't think so, pal."

For the first time, the demon got serious. "You can assume whatever you want of me, but I have no intention of doing that." He got a faraway look in his eyes before shaking it off. "I just want out."

On cue, a trio of demons attacked them as if to underline his desperation to get away from this place of death, a desperation seemingly as powerful as the two human women's own. Cordelia pushed Victoria up against a tree and watched as this strange monster fought off the others trying to get to them. Every time they came close enough to almost touch one of them, there he was, blocking their path and putting himself in danger to save them from harm.

Cordelia wanted nothing more than to believe he was simply doing this to make them think he was being upfront, that he was playing a long game, but there were pieces of her own past that forced her to reconsider. She didn't think of Angel - he was a unique case thanks to his cursed conscience - but of the handful of demons she had met over the last few years that were more than what they appeared.

An unbidden image of Doyle passed by her mind's eye before she shook it off and considered the rest instead; like the Host, a kinder demon she had never met before. He didn't seem to have a violent bone in his green body and had, in fact, been very helpful over the past year. There were even a few instances from her high school years in Sunnydale, when she was spending time around the Slayer.

Not to mention the instances where humans were the real monsters. Did she really have the right to judge based simply on the fact that he was a demon?

She had been willing to give Doyle a chance; the fact that he had only been half demon shouldn't be that important in comparison.

She was wavering but she still wasn't sure. Maybe if it had just been her, she could take the chance, but she had Victoria to look out for, a girl who couldn't be older than seventeen, at the most. If she decided to trust this demon, as much as she was able to at least, and it turned sour, she wouldn't be the only one paying for it.

This was not the easiest dilemma in the world.

As she considered it from every angle, Victoria was peeking out from behind Cordelia's back, watching the fanged demon fighting off three other, very different, demons. He was a very brutal fighter, not as fluid as her new friend had seemed the day before, and she found herself wincing when he laid a harsh blow down on the creatures that wanted to hurt her and Cordelia.

He held a weapon very similar to the one she'd left behind right before she met the older brunette woman, which told her that he was one of the intelligent monsters in this place; they were often the only ones smart enough to create a weapon to help them survive. She watched as the sharp end of the stone cut through the neck of one of the demons and he was down to fighting two.

Despite his brutality, there was a small sense of grace in his movements, she began to notice. Now that he had taken down one opponent, he seemed to lose that slight edge of desperation that had coated the battle at first, more confident now that he would be the winner. There was even a small smile on his face, she noted, when he turned just enough for her to see him from the front.

She was still holding on to the back of Cordelia's denim-suit and she gently pulled on it, to get the woman down within earshot of her whisper. "Do you think he's telling the truth?"

Cordelia sighed and kept her eyes on the fight as she replied. "I'm not sure, but we may have to give him a chance to prove himself. If we're lucky, my friends will come for us before we can test it to the fullest." She prayed for this, but couldn't be sure; it had already been a full day here and still no sign of Angel and the others.

She wondered what they were doing.

-*- The Sisterhood -*-

The employees of Angel Investigations were still huddled around a small table in a herbal shop in Los Angeles, looking at the worn piece of paper that supposedly held a map of Purgatory. The vampire wasn't the only one who doubted that it was legit, but it was all they had.

Wesley looked at the shop owner, Dirk. "What else do you know?"

The man adjusted the glasses on his face and cleared his throat, while he walked around the room gathering more books and loose pieces of paper. "A lot, if I'm being honest. Anything that's useful to you? That's another story." He finally took a seat at the table and gestured for the other four to do the same; Angel was the only who remained standing, hovering over the rest. "Some of these are my father's personal notes."

Wesley grabbed a pile of papers and brought them closer to himself, peering over the scrawled words on the sides of the printed pages. "Am I reading this right?"

Dirk leaned over to see what the Brit had found, and then smiled. "Yes, you are. I thought that might interest you."

Angel stepped forward, reading over Wesley's shoulder, but didn't understand the language it was written in. "What did you find?" Gunn and Lorne were also interested in this answer.

"According to this text, there is a way out of Purgatory, it's just a matter of finding it." They all knew Cordelia was smarter than most people gave her credit for, so this was indeed good news.

Gunn asked what they were all thinking. "Why haven't the monsters left, then?"

Wesley looked up at his friend with a smile. "Because the exit only works on humans."

-*- The Sisterhood -*-

"Then how can you get out?" Cordelia asked, arms crossed as she stared at the demon that had just saved all of their hides.

He smiled; he did that a lot. "I'm not technically here," he said, lifting his eyes up to the skies above. "Just my soul. My body is still back in your world."

Cordelia shook her head, she was terribly confused. "Okay, how does that work?"

Victoria watched, still hidden behind Cordelia, while the man - she had decided to think of him as that from now on, it made it easier to have him around - sighed, but never lost the smile. "As soon as this little one," he pointed at Victoria, "came here, a while back, a portal opened up. See, humans aren't supposed to be here, they don't belong here, and this place doesn't want them here. So when one comes, an exit opens up." He rubbed his chin and continued. "Any human can pass easily through this portal, I'm guessing because they have a body." He gestured to himself. "This isn't actually a body, just a soul with a corporeal form, if you will. There's a ritual - a spell - involved in getting my soul through the portal and back into my body."

Cordelia's frown deepened. "But isn't that a body that's dead."

"Ah," he said, smiling even bigger now, tapping his temple. "Now you're thinking. And, yes, it is, but the ritual reverses those effects at the same time that my soul is returned to my body."

Admittedly Cordelia was feeling a lot better about this whole deal since discovering that the demon - whatever kind he was - had a soul. Was a soul currently, as it was. "Okay, I think I understand…mostly." She clenched her fists just a bit, wishing once more for the soothing presence of her trusted friends. "You help us get to this portal safely, protecting us from the other demons here along the way, and in return we perform this ritual to help you get out of here, too. Am I getting it right?"

He looked at her with a strange glint in his eyes, like he was confused, but then he just seemed to shrug it off. "Sounds like it, darling. Once you two are on the other side, you track down my grave, dig up my remains, and do the second ritual like I'll be teaching you. Should bring me right back."

Those last words made Cordelia realize the risk that this demon was taking; trusting them as much as they were choosing to trust him. For all he knew, they would just abandon his soul to float around their world. On top of that, he didn't seem to have any security that this ritual would even work in the first place, as according to him it was based on hearsay and no actual proof of success. It did make her feel a bit better about agreeing to this deal.

Doing her best to keep it from shaking, she stretched out her hand, keeping her eyes on the demon. "Cordelia." She glanced at the girl for permission. "And this is Victoria."

Again with that smile. "Good to officially meet you, miss," he said, grasping her hand in his own. "Benny, at your service."

She raised a brow at how he was acting, but didn't mention anything. "Okay, so where do we start looking for this portal." She stared all around the area they were standing in, surrounded by the dead bodies of the three demons Benny had fought off for them. "This is a pretty big place."

He chuckled. "I doubt you've seen even a third of this hellhole, darling; it does get pretty big."

"And you can find your way around? I mean, I can't tell one tree from another tree, one stone from another stone, and so far I've only seen one river." Cordelia didn't exactly have the best inner compass to begin with.

"Been here long enough, shouldn't be a problem," he replied, adjusting the hat on his head, a glint of humor in his blue eyes. "As far as the portal goes, I have somewhere for us to start." Then he leaned his body to the side and offered a smile to the girl who had yet to utter a single word, still hiding behind Cordelia. "You're pretty decent at playing hide-and-seek, little one, I gotta say. Been searching for you since rumor of your arrival reached me, and that was a sight long ago."

Not feeling the least bit brave, Victoria stayed where she was, but she did offer the 'nice' demon a small smile, just to let him know that she'd heard his words. "Alright, should we go?" Cordelia spoke, getting his attention away from the poor girl.

Benny straightened up again and still had that same smile on his face. "You're the boss, Cordelia. I'm just the compass." He winked and then set off in one direction of the dense forest.

Cordelia turned to Victoria. "It's gonna be okay, alright? I'll keep you safe."

Though she didn't say it, the young girl was already sure of this; however she may doubt the man, she trusted Cordelia completely.

It was a nice change from what had become the norm around here, she thought.

-*- The Sisterhood -*-

It was a somber threesome that returned to the Hyperion just a few hours after they'd left. Lorne had been dropped off at his bar, now that there was nothing more they could do but wait and hope that Cordelia found a way out as soon as possible. None of them liked feeling so helpless, but what else was there to do?

Wesley recognized the look in the vampire's eyes, though; Angel was going to continue looking for an alternate route, until the day their friend stepped back inside this hotel. And he would be damned if he wasn't planning on helping out every step of the way.

They pushed through the back doors, having come in from the garage where Angel kept his convertible, only to stop up short at the sight of someone sitting on the red couch by the office door. Their hopes that it might be Cordelia were dashed with the flash of red hair.

Willow.

"What…?" Angel cut himself off, staring into the watery green eyes of the young woman. Realization hit him like a battering ram. "Buffy."

Wesley's breath hitched at the name and he glanced at Gunn standing beside him, trying to figure out how to get around all of the questions that the demon fighter probably had. Thankfully the man had more tact than their missing friend and he kept quiet, simply watching with hawk eyes that held unspoken confusion.

Willow sniffled a bit and rose from her seat, but didn't speak; she just kept sad eyes on the vampire.

The Brit decided to break the silence. "Uh, why don't we take this…" Only then did he remember that the office was a destructive mess of broken furniture and scattered papers. He no longer knew what to say.

Angel swallowed, images zapping by his mind; he needed answers. "My room is upstairs." The redhead left with her old friend.

Now it was just Wesley and Gunn in the lobby, standing around with no idea of what to do.

"So," Gunn spoke, rolling his shoulders and leaning against the counter. "What was that about?"

A few floors up, the door closed with a soft click and Angel gestured for Willow to take a seat in his sofa chair. She offered him a tired smile in return and fell into the soft cushions. She let her eyes wander around the spacious room; this was definitely a decent step up from the basement apartment that both Oz and Buffy had told her about.

At the thought of that name, she choked up again.

"Tell me everything, Willow," Angel said, taking a cautious seat on the table next to the sofa chair.

And so she did.

Angel sat crouched over, his fingers intertwined and arms leaning on his thighs, staring at the redhead with lowered brows and a deep frown on his face as he listened. He was finding it difficult to wrap his head around it all; that he'd never actually met Dawn, even though he had memories of doing so, that the Slayer had been fighting a God, of all things, that Spike - Spike - was fighting with them, not against them.

Quite possibly the only thing he did understand was the sacrifice that Buffy had made for her sister. This was exactly the girl he had fallen in love with all those years ago, the one that made the hard choice when no one else could - or should. Who understood, better than her friends, perhaps even her Watcher, that the Slayer was more than just a hero - she was a warrior. And a warrior made the hard sacrifices in battle.

Of course he was in pain, no one was denying that; the woman he loved - would always love - was gone and it left a sharp sting behind in his heart, but he was also so proud of her, for doing something that amazing to save both her sister and the world.

But it might be a while before the pride overpowered the grief, of course. Until then, he would be strong, especially right now, when Willow - the only one from Sunnydale other than Buffy that had treated him like a friend - needed someone to be so, allowing her to let go completely.

As the redhead fell apart in his arms, drenching his shirt with tears, Angel wondered what this would mean for the future.

It was a somewhat dismal image to conjure up, admittedly.

-*- The Sisterhood -*-

Cordelia wiped the sweat from off her forehead and crouched over, trying to get her breathing back to normal. They'd been forced to run from a group of demons, too outnumbered as Benny was the only one of them who could take on the creatures; both because Cordelia really didn't have much experience and because someone needed to protect Victoria.

The girl was currently leaning up against a tree, sleeping as she sat on the ground. Cordelia and Benny were standing far enough away that they wouldn't disturb the poor girl, who'd already been through so much… most of it long before either of them even met her.

Several feet away, Benny stood leaning against another tree, staring curiously at the bent over woman gulping at the air around them. There was a small smile on his face - no doubt he was silently making fun of her, she thought - but he stayed eerily quiet. This was new, as she hadn't been able to get him to shut up for the past however many hours since they'd first shook hands on their deal.

"What is it?" she asked, when she could finally breathe normally again. She stood straight, hands on her hips as she stared him down with her fiercest glare.

He just chuckled. "Just wondering."

Cordelia's brows furrowed as she continued to stare right back at him. "Wondering what exactly?"

Slowly he shook his head, eyes still fixated on her. "Something you said back where we met." It was his turn to look confused. "You called me a demon."

She raised one brow. "So? Is that, what, offensive to you? Would you prefer something more cuddly?"

Benny laughed and pushed off the tree, walking closer to the woman. "Not what I meant, darling. I'm just wondering how much you really know about these things, if you think I'm a demon."

Cordelia's eyes widened as she realized what he was saying. "Wait, you're not a demon? When did that happen?"

Again he shook his head, seemingly astounded by her ignorance. "Cordelia, how many demons have you seen?"

She huffed and crossed her arms. "Plenty, trust me. My buddies back home run a supernatural detective agency. Besides, I was born and raised on a freaking Hellmouth, thank you very much."

"Ah," he said, nodding as if understanding completely. She was still confused, though.

"What?"

"No, no," he replied, pushing back a grin. "I wouldn't wanna burst your bubble, princess." He then proceeded to walk slowly away from her and closer to Victoria, knowing that little noise could be made in case she woke up. Which kept Cordelia from interrogating him about exactly what he meant. Stupid whatever he was, she thought to herself, kicking her heels at the ground below.

The thought was now stuck in her mind, though. What did he mean he wasn't a demon? Of course he was. Last time she checked, demons were the only beings with things like sharp teeth and enhanced strength, and he'd definitely exhibited both more than once. He had a soul which, granted, was a bit confusing to her, but she'd never known for sure whether demons had souls or not, only that vampires didn't - Angel not included, of course.

If he wasn't just playing with her, then what did he mean; what else could he be? She tapped a couple of fingers against her dirt-encrusted, denim-clad thigh, eyes not staring at anything in particular, as she considered this. But she was coming up empty. In a world full of so much evil, there really weren't that many different species of creatures.

Vampires? Check. Demons? Check. Witches? Check. Slayers? Check. And...that was it.

Right?

She suddenly wasn't so sure, she thought, as she glanced over at Benny, who was leaning casually against the tree directly beside Victoria's resting place.

What was he?

-*- The Sisterhood -*-

It was strange how obvious it sometimes was that you were dreaming. From the moment Victoria had woken up in this weird place, she had known that it wasn't real. That she was really still in that awful place, that she was resting after Cordelia had told her to while they took a break from looking for the portal.

But even that knowledge didn't stop this whole thing from very, very strange.

She was standing in the middle of a room - one that looked very homey, if you asked her. It was a bit messy, but in a loving way; stuffed floor to ceiling with books of all shapes and sizes, a fireplace at the back wall and dimmed lighting from a few lamps here and there. There was also an uncomfortable looking bed to her right that looked very slept in. But the first piece of furniture that caught your eye in the room, was the oak desk that stood almost in the very middle, as if everything else had been placed here to fit around it.

The desk was as cluttered as the rest of the room - and the kitchen behind her, she decided, after a quick peek over her shoulder - but it seemed to be almost a kind of orderly mess. As if the person who lived here knew exactly where to find what they needed, without having to root around all those books and papers for hours.

Like she said, homey.

Knowing better than to think she could force herself awake, she took a few steps forward, going further into the small room. She couldn't hear any sound beyond a curious wind blowing outside - she hadn't heard the wind in ages, so she wasn't entirely sure that's what it was - but this being a dream, she mostly shrugged it off as she continued to take one step after another, until she stood hovering over the desk.

She didn't want to poke through someone else's precious belongings, but this was a dream, right? So, it wasn't really the same thing, right? She told herself this as she walked slowly around the desk and took a slow, cautious seat in the matching oak chair and stared down at the papers and notes in front of her.

Victoria felt a strange sensation - it almost felt like recognition - as she read the different words. She was surprised that she even remembered how to read, if she were being honest. But she did, and with each sentence, images sparked through her mind.

Suddenly she had all this knowledge in her head, knowledge she couldn't remember having before now. It wasn't what she was expecting, however; she still didn't know the name of her mother, nor could she remember the house she grew up in. Looking all around this place, she wondered if this was it.

Was that why her sleeping mind had conjured it up? Was this her home?

She stood up and started walking around again, this time searching for a photo, or anything that could tell her if this was where she'd come from. Why else would her brain come up with this, if not because it held some form of meaning to her? Unless she had made it up, of course, but that seemed highly unlikely. She didn't think she'd ever had the most illustrative imagination.

She wandered into the kitchen, which was rather dirty with several dishes stocked in the sink. She thought that perhaps she would have curled her face in disgust had she not spent so long living in filthy caves and wearing the same clothing year in and year out. Now, it didn't even faze her.

The kitchen was very similar to the room with the oak desk, as in cozy and homey looking, like whoever lived here didn't bother making it comfortable for others, so long as it was comfortable for them. Did that make sense? Anyway, it was cluttered with half the amount of books that had been in the previous room, and she wondered just how many books were in the entire house, combined.

Something told her it was more than a small town library.

Before she could investigate further, a noise that definitely wasn't the wind caught her attention and she walked through the opposite doorway to the one leading to the living room, which put her in what appeared to be the foyer or hallway. She tried to look through the window on the front door, but it was too grimy to make anything out.

Victoria frowned and reached out to grab the door handle, which squeaked a bit under the pressure when she turned it, and pulled open the door. When she stepped outside on the front porch, it was suddenly much lighter and she threw a hand up to cover against the sun beating down on her.

Searching for the sound she'd heard, she stepped down off the porch when a quick look around didn't bring her any answers. There were cars littered all over the enormous front lawn, some in one piece, but most of them in different stages of repair; there were even a few that only had the skeleton of the vehicle left and had been left to rust in the rain and cold weather and she wondered why - whoever owned this home - they hadn't gotten rid of those.

Her frown deepened as she carefully walked around all of the tetanus dangers waiting to happen, still searching for that elusive noise. She had been so sure that it had been voices, but not only could she not find any people, the noise had stopped. Where had it come from? Had she even heard it, or just made it up?

Was it wishful thinking?

Just as she thought that, however, the noise returned. She couldn't make out words, but it sounded like a male and female voice arguing against one another heatedly. Picking up her pace, she walked in and out of the many - many - cars all around her, sometimes three stacked on top of each other like a tower. She was desperate to find out what was going on before she lost track of the sounds again.

As she finally closed in on their location, she began to make out actual words, and soon whole sentences.

"I don't care how gifted she is, my daughter is not going to follow in my footsteps. I don't know how many times I have to tell you that this discussion is a non-issue; she's my daughter."

Victoria's breath caught in her throat. "Mom?" she whispered, shocked still as an image of her mother came unbidden to her mind.

She had her mother's hair; she remembered that now. It looked brown inside a dark room, but in the sun it turned auburn, almost red at times. It had a few natural streaks of black here and there, which had always made her feel unique, even when other kids would tease her about it in school or on the playground.

But she had her father's eyes. She had never met him, but her mother had told her that.

Victoria walked around the corner of yet another stack of cars and finally came face to face with the woman she had forgotten for so long. She was standing there, in the bright sunlight, a frown on her tired face and hands on her hips, glaring at the man with fierce, green eyes.

She could only see the back of the other man but, with a smile, she realized that she would recognize him anywhere. That tattered vest he wore over an equally tattered checkered shirt, the cap on his head with strands of graying hair peeking out from above his collar, the way he stood, leaning slightly to one side due to an old injury to his left knee.

Bobby.

Victoria's father had passed away while her mother was still pregnant with her, so the closest thing she'd ever had to a strong father figure in her life had been this man. The man that owned and operated a salvage yard in South Dakota, just outside of the small town of Sioux Falls where she had lived for a few years with her mother when she was a small child.

And just like that, the floodgates opened.

They had moved around a lot in her young life, going from place to place and never staying in one spot for more than a couple of years, at the most. They had been living in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania last she remembered, in a small, white house with blue shutters on the windows and a herb garden that her mother would tend to in the daylight. It had been a nice change and Victoria had almost felt like maybe, just maybe, she'd get to stay there longer than usual.

That wasn't the case, of course, as she had ended up in that endless nightmare of forest and ferocious monsters.

Taking another few steps closer, she again paid attention to the conversation as the memories fell into place in her head like a puzzle coming together at long last.

"Now you listen here, Chris," Bobby said and Victoria smiled; that's right, her mother's name was Christina. Christina Phillips. "That girl of yours is not just gonna sit on the damn sidelines while you brick her away in some goddamn tower of your own insecurities. She's got a mind of her own, maybe it's time you start realizing that, before you push her away. For good!"

Victoria gasped as his words settled into place; this was an actual memory. She had been around the corner, where she couldn't be seen, listening to this very conversation.

Days before she had vanished into her current 'home'.

Her mother rolled her eyes and reached out to poke Bobby in his chest. "Don't tell me how to raise my child, Bobby Singer, that's not your job. I don't even know why you're getting involved, you should just mind your own business."

Victoria didn't have to see his face to know that it was turning red with anger. "I'm not a child, Chrissie, and I don't appreciate being treated like one. Now, about my rights? That girl is like a daughter to me and you damn well know that. I'm the one who was there for her, when you'd be gone for weeks at a time, never telling her why. I'm the one who taught her how to protect herself, because you were too busy being afraid that she would want to 'follow in your footsteps'." He used very sarcastic quote marks with his hands. "And have you already forgotten why she's even alive right now? Oh, right, because I taught her what she needed to know to get out of that hairy situation last year! Don't tell me I have no rights, don't ever say that to me again."

She didn't want to hear anymore, not now that she remembered how the rest of the conversation went. Turning on her heel, she ran away from the pair, deeper into the forest of metal and rubber until she came to the very edge of the property. She threw herself down on her knees, keeling over until her forehead touched the soft grass below and she cried out her frustrations and overwhelming emotions.

Three days later, her mother still pretending that everything was okay because she didn't know that Victoria had overheard anything, she had gotten in her car while her mother waved from the front porch, worry in her green eyes. Her last words to her mother ran through her mind, like an echo banging against her skull. "I don't know why, but thanks." A response to her mother expressing her love for her.

Sure, it was her way of saying 'I love you, too', but now she was wishing she'd said the actual words. What if they never escaped that literal hell she'd been in for so long? What if she never saw her mother again, never got to tell her how much she meant to her, how sorry she was for not listening to her, not trusting her when she said it was too dangerous to go.

Because she remembered now… she knew how she'd wound up in that place.

Cordelia was still irritated with Benny an hour or so later - it was difficult to tell how much time passed in this place, especially since she wasn't wearing a watch - when she jumped at the sudden way Victoria sat up. She hurried over and crouched down, looking at her with worry in her eyes. "Nightmare?" she asked, brushing some hair out of the girl's face.

"I-I don't know," she whispered, frustrated as the images of her dream once more began to slip out of her reach. She almost growled out loud. "Why can I never remember when I wake up?"

Benny, overhearing the two women easily, spoke up before Cordelia could. "If I remember right, Freud theorized that we forget our dreams 'cause they're about our repressed thoughts and wishes. He felt that we shouldn't want to remember them, anyway." He came closer as he spoke.

Cordelia twisted her head to the side to look at him, curious. "You memorized Freud?"

He grinned. "Layers, darling. They're called layers, we all got 'em." He leaned his shoulder against the tree Victoria was still resting her body against.

"But what if they're important?" Victoria said, forgetting in her irritation that she hadn't spoken in Benny's company yet, other than a few whispers to Cordelia while he was busy fighting. "What if I need to remember them?"

Benny took in her words and chewed on them for a bit. "Something tells me that you'll remember what you need to, little one. Maybe your subconscious isn't ready for you to remember? It's hard to say, without knowing what your dreams are about."

Victoria just nodded, even if it didn't make all that much sense to her. She was stuck with that same sensation from when she had woken up in the cave with Cordelia; she remembered warmth and a familiar scent she couldn't name, but nothing concrete.

"Hey," Cordelia said, reaching out to place a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "Who knows, maybe when we get back to our world, the place will start jogging your memories. That's possible, right?" She glanced up at Benny, communicating with her eyes.

He either got her message or was already planning on coddling the poor child. "Absolutely is. Hell, it happens to everyone; I believe it's called nostalgia." Then he laughed.

Very little seemed to get to him, Cordelia had noticed; it seemed like a nice trait to have.

Victoria just nodded her head, eyes still on the ground as she tried not to fall apart. The last thing she wanted right now was to start bawling her eyes out in front of two relative strangers. They were both so strong, emotionally along with physically, she was already seen as the weak one. She didn't need to come off any weaker.

Cordelia rose up and clapped her palms against her thighs. "Well, should we get going again? I really wanna find that exit, asap." She smiled down at Victoria and held out a hand to help her up.

The girl gratefully took it and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. She brushed some dirt off her clothes, though it was all but impossible to be clean for her these days, and slowly nodded her head. "Yeah, okay."

Benny was still smiling as he began leading the way again. "Hopefully we won't have to take any more breaks," he said, nothing in his tone of voice accusatory against the girl that had forced them to stop for a few hours, thankfully.

Cordelia stayed behind him with Victoria, but their previous conversation was still forefront in her mind. "Now are you going to tell me what you meant earlier?"

Her only answer was Benny's laughter.

-*- The Sisterhood -*-

Willow took the book from Wesley and quickly glanced at the cover before looking back up at the former Watcher. "And you're sure you read something in here about it?"

He smiled gently at the young woman who'd come so far from the last time he'd seen her. "Positive. Giles should be able to make heads or tails of it, even if you can't." He reached out and squeezed her arm. "Don't forget my offer."

She returned his smile with a shaky one of her own. "I won't, I promise. And, hey, if things in LA ever get slow, you could always just come for a non-world-ending visit, right?"

Wesley nodded as Angel stepped down from the staircase and joined the two by the couches. "You all set, Willow?"

She turned to the vampire and stuffed the book in the bag on her shoulder. "Yep, got everything I brought, and some extras, too." She frowned as she looked at her old friend. "And you're sure you don't need me to stick around and help you find Cordy?"

"We can manage, really; you should be back in Sunnydale with the others." His brows furrowed as he thought of Dawn and what she must be going through right now. "I'll call if I need help."

The infamous resolve face took over her features as she stepped forward to give him a hug. "You better, I don't like to think of her stuck somewhere like that. I may do some research of my own, since summer vacation just hit." She stepped back and then gave a nod to Wesley, before looking back at Angel. "I'll call you with the details, once we know where to… where to bury her." She choked on her last words but kept the tears at bay through pure inner strength. "You can stop by whenever you need to, I'm sure it'll… be somewhere isolated."

Angel just nodded, still not trusting himself enough to do more than that.

Gunn stepped in from the back entrance and took in the scene. "Guess I got here just in time for the farewell party." He smiled at the redhead he'd barely gotten to know in the past day. "You heading back?"

Again, Willow tried on a shaky smile. "I shudder to think what's become of the Hellmouth while I've been gone," she joked, liking the honest demon fighter very much, from what little she'd seen of him.

Gunn shook his head. "I still can't get past that concept; a Hellmouth? I'll take my big city of occasional vamps and demons, thanks. All this mystical stuff goes right over my head."

This time she laughed. "I don't blame you, it can get pretty intense." She sighed and looked over all three of them as a whole. "Have Cordy call me herself when she gets back, kay?"

"Of course," Wesley said, smiling at her.

Angel stepped forward. "I'll walk you out, Willow."

They exited the front doors of the Hyperion in silence, walking through the front garden and out onto the street, where Xander's borrowed suburban was parked by the curb. They each turned to face one another, but neither knew what to say; it felt as if it had all been said up in his room, in the past twenty-four hours.

The rest was still too fresh to bring up.

She stepped forward to grab him in another hug, feeling there was nothing else for her to do, and she whispered in his ear. "Call me, anytime, day or night, got it?"

Angel felt his eyes sting, not something that happened often with him - though it was certainly understandable at this point - and squeezed her back, just a little harder than he usually did. "I promise. Give my best to the others, okay?"

Willow walked over the front door of the car and opened it up, throwing her bag in on the passenger seat. "You betcha; I'm sure they'll be glad to hear that you're doing good." She looked up at the sprawling hotel. "I'm real proud of what you've built for yourself here, Angel," she said, her voice lowering as she continued. "She would be, too, ya'know."

He blinked away the tears and gave her the best smile he could produce right now. "Thanks." He came over to the window when she started the engine. "Drive safe." She gave him another shaky smile and a short nod.

And then she was gone.

TBC in Chapter 3: Will the Fang Gang find Cordelia before she can escape Purgatory? Will Victoria ever remember her dreams? And how much can the girls really trust Benny?