Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel belong to their copyright holders, I own nothing.

Chapter 20: Gone

"Magic? I mean, are you kidding me?" Willow complained, pacing back and forth. Xander and Oz were sitting on the separate bedsjust watching, listening to what Willow was saying. It was a little awkward for Oz to sit there and listen to her talk about Kennedy, but he didn't say anything.

Xander was just sort of speechless. What could he say to Willow to make her feel better? He felt like his views on the matter wouldn't help much.

"You guys know Kennedy," Willow continued, still pacing. "Well, Xander, you do."

Dawn had actually gone for a walk to get some fresh air. Everyone was surprised when that had happened. She just said she needed to think about some things and then left. Still, it was the most they'd heard her speak for a while, so they just let her go, hoping she'd be okay.

"She can't control herself," Willow was still going on. "She makes decisions like that," she snapped her fingers quickly, "without even thinking."

"Normally I'd say Giles knows what he's doing, but lately I'm not so sure," Xander offered, not having much else to say. He agreed with Willow, mostly. Kennedy plus magic equaled no good. Giles was obviously just making up for a lost witch (Willow) that he could use to try and stop Buffy. He still strongly believed that Buffy needed to be killed.

"Don't let it get to you," Oz spoke shortly.

Willow nodded. "Yeah. We're supposed to be busy, anyway. No more slacking. We need to find a way to save Buffy, and soon."

As much as Willow expressed her desire to save Buffy, she still had no idea what could be done. The stress of the situation had begun to really take a toll on her. She was tired and had bags under her eyes; she hadn't slept much since all of this had begun. Her hair was a mess. She wanted nothing more than to be able to save her best friend—and yet she could not think of anything to do.

The question plagued her mind: Could they save her?

And, even if they could, could they get to her before Giles, Kennedy, Faith, or any of the Slayers did? It seemed unlikely. Especially now that all of the Slayers knew Buffy was undead because of the speech Giles had given.

They were outnumbered. Willow, Xander, Oz, and Dawn against Giles and countless Slayers. Did they really have any chance at winning this war?

Dawn felt guilt. She saw the speech Giles had given to all of the Slayers, just as everyone had. It had been recorded and sent to everyone not present over email—including Willow's email. And she felt guilty because it was her fault.

She was the one who originally called that Slayer Jessica and told them Buffy was dead. By the time she'd done that, suspicions had risen, but Dawn was truly the one to confirm those suspicions and force Giles to hold that press-conference-like event. If she hadn't called Jessica, maybe things would be better now, the suspicions would've died down.

The only reason she did it was so that the Slayers would hunt Buffy and leave Willow and them alone so they could search for a way to save Buffy.

Now, she realized how stupid she had been. Buffy could take on all the Slayers in the world; Dawn was still sure of that. But with all the craziness ensuing, she couldn't help but question whether she was wrong in thinking about how powerful Buffy was. Was she powerful enough to fight off all of the Slayers if the time came to that?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Either way, they hadn't made any progress in finding a way to save Buffy. So, Dawn was stressed and feeling guilty and took a walk to clear her head.

As it turned out, that was a very bad idea.

She saw a Slayer when she was out walking all by herself. The Slayer came up and tried to make conversation with Dawn. The Slayer asked questions like:

Where would your sister go to hide that no one would suspect?

Do you think she'd try to kill us, kill you?

Do you know where Buffy is?

Then more Slayers were following her magically, as if they'd appeared out of thin air. They all asked similar questions, and Dawn got pissed because not one of them bothered to ask: How are you holding up, Dawn, through all of this?

None of them bothered to say: I'm sorry for your loss.

And Dawn realized she was truly alone in this aside from Willow, Xander, and Oz. She'd made a mistake in thinking that the Slayers needed to know Buffy was undead. But now it was too late, and they would have to live with the consequences.

Dawn ran, trying to escape the growing crowd of Slayers desperate to kill the most horrifyingly powerful vampire that was Buffy. They followed her as she ran, but Dawn was quick and managed to lose them and then circle back to the hotel she was staying at.

She burst in through the door in the middle of Willow, Xander, and Oz's conversation.

"The Slayers," she said in between heavy breaths. "They're mad. Crazy. Desperate."

There was a pounding on the door behind Dawn so suddenly that Dawn jumped and nearly screamed. The Slayers, at least one of them came back here, wanted answers.

"They're all looking for Buffy," Xander said. "We have to do something. Try and stop them somehow."

"How?" Willow cried. "Of course they all want to kill a vampire."

"We can't just let them all hunt Buffy or else they'll find her eventually," Dawn spoke again. "There's gotta be a way we can…I don't know, stop them somehow."

Dawn was right. There had to be a way. Willow felt the extra stress of realizing she was going to have to find that way.

Buffy got back to L.A. quickly, and brought Riley and Sam to the mansion. She forced some of her minions to hold them back while she went to talk to Spike first.

On her way to the room she had Spike locked up in, though, she saw Harmony. She was walking around with the vampires Buffy had left her with. In just a matter of a short time period, they had gotten Harmony to follow orders and act like an obedient little dog. Outstanding.

"Harmony," Buffy called. At the sound of her voice, Harmony's head snapped up and a grin appeared on her face. She was now loyal to the leader that had returned.

Harmony rushed over to Buffy like puppy to a new owner. "Yes, Buffy? Er… Master?"

Buffy smiled. Yeah, this was working out very well. "Follow me," she ordered.

Without waiting for a response, Buffy turned and walked to where Angel was locked up.

Angel was trying to sleep, but it wasn't working all that well. His mind was too distracted. It was on Buffy, and then it was on Harmony, and then it was on all the other people he could think of that Buffy could try to hurt.

Would he and Spike ever be found locked up in here? Was anybody even looking for him?

Surely Giles, Willow, Xander, and Dawn were searching for Buffy, but did they know Angel was missing? Possibly. And Wesley was gone far away, so he wasn't sure of the possibility of him knowing Angel was missing. What of Gunn and Lorne? Were they searching for him? Was Illyria helping?

This was all such a mess. He couldn't do anything but sit here. And feel guilty.

Harmony didn't deserve whatever happened to her. She wasn't the best vampire ever, but she was trying to be good without a soul. That amounted for something, Angel believed.

The door to the room opened for the first time in what felt like days. Angel had to close his eyes to shield them from the light. Eventually the door closed and the single light in the room flickered on.

Angel could handle that light.

Standing in the room now were Buffy and Harmony. Buffy was standing straight up, arms folded across her chest, with a smile on her face. Harmony was practically cowering behind her.

"What do you want?" Angel asked, his voice hoarse. He felt so weak and tired. He hadn't had blood in a long time.

"Just wanted to show you something," Buffy responded cheerfully. "Harmony?"

"Yes?"

Buffy took a stake out of her back pocket, and Angel chuckled. Old habits die hard, he supposed. Even though a stake was the thing that could kill her, the Slayer side of her still needed to keep one close by.

She handed the stake off to Harmony.

"Stake Angel," she spoke simply.

"Excuse me?" Harmony questioned.

"He was your old boss. Not anymore, though. I'm your leader now, and you can prove your loyalty to me by the simple act. Stake Angel. Not through the heart, though. I don't want him dead forever. Just somewhere it'll hurt."

Harmony eyed the stake and then eyed Angel. But that was only for a second. She got over her hesitation and stepped towards Angel on the ground, stake pointed towards him.

"Harm, please," Angel begged. "This isn't you. You were doing so good."

"Those days are gone," she said, but Angel sensed sadness in her voice. She didn't really want to do this.

She shoved the stake into Angel's left shoulder. He knew he shouldn't really complain since he wasn't dead, but it did hurt. He tried not to show it. Surely Buffy could see right through his act.

At Buffy's command, Harmony took the stake out and handed it back over to Buffy.

"Good," Buffy smiled more. "You're loyal. You can go now."

Harmony scurried away.

"My people really do wonders, don't they?"

Angel shook his head. "This isn't right. You have a soul, supposedly. You must know that this is wrong, somewhere deep inside. And once you fully realize it, it'll hurt, Buffy. You'll regret everything one day, and you won't be able to forgive yourself. Just wait and see."

Buffy didn't bother to respond. Instead she turned around and left the room. She had to go to Spike now. She had her presents for him.

Spike didn't expect to see Buffy again so soon. So when she walked in, he smiled slightly.

"Hurried back to me, huh love?" he asked sarcastically. A part of him was…excited to see her. Because she wasn't letting go. Spike figured that if the vampire side of her had taken over completely, she wouldn't put this much effort into make him and Angel feel miserable. She wouldn't bother with the "gifts" she had for them.

Or maybe that was just a useless theory he had thought up in this room, all alone.

"I could never resist you," Buffy said. Spike wasn't sure if she was being serious or sarcastic as well.

"Got my gifts?"

Buffy laughed. "You just like to get right down to it, don't you?"

"Why waste time? I don't like the suspense."

Buffy leaned down by Spike. "Spike. You know, I did mean it. When I told you I loved you. Before Sunnydale went down."

Spike didn't know what to say. What good did this information do him now? None. The Buffy he loved was gone, long gone. Until they could get her back, he didn't care much about what this Buffy said.

"And now," Buffy continued, "I think to myself: What was I thinking? But actually, I knew what I was thinking. I was the Slayer. I couldn't love yet another vampire. Especially not you. But I kind of did. Spike with a soul, I ended up caring for him more than I thought I could. I didn't love Spike without a soul.

And now that I have my own vampire status, all I wish I could have is Spike without a soul. I know Angelus would probably be more dangers, but there's something about you I wish I could have, Spike. I wish I could have you without a soul."

"Sorry, love," Spike faked an apology. "Too late for that now."

"The thing is, though, is that Spike with a soul was never that much different than Spike without a soul. Take Angel for example. He still regrets every little thing Angelus did after all these years. You, you got over all of that regret extraordinarily quickly. You were crazy under the school basement for a while, and then you became nearly normal again."

"Angel and I are different kinds of people."

"Yeah. I guess so. That's why I'm presenting these two to you."

Buffy got up and walked over to the door. Once it was swung open, two vampires walked in with two people in their captivity. Spike recognized the two people instantly. Riley Finn and his wife who was now pregnant. Both of them had their hands tied behind their backs.

"Angel wouldn't even think about drinking them. You might though, Spike. For me. For a chance to rekindle some of our love, maybe."

Riley and Sam appeared so helpless. Spike's insides were hurting. He wanted to break off the chains that held him and go help these poor souls who didn't deserve whatever Buffy had planned. The fact that they were two people the old Buffy had known made this so much worse.

"I won't hurt them," Spike fought. "Especially her. She has a baby on the way, Buffy. Even you have got to have a little bit of emotion towards her."

Buffy shrugged. "I'm giving you your chance, Spike. All you'll have to do is drink them both. Then I'll let you go and we can be together."

"Please," Riley begged. "If you need to do anything just… Just take me. Let her be safe. Let the baby be safe."

Spike shook his head. He couldn't do this. He wouldn't do this. This was morally wrong. He knew if he did nothing, Buffy would take control. It wasn't like he had a choice.

"No," he spoke concretely. He wouldn't budge.

Buffy made a frustrated noise. "Fine. Fine, Spike. Whatever. This is better off without you, anyway. Just remember that this was your choice. You'll have to face the consequences."

Buffy stepped forward and took a bite into Riley's neck.