Nina grasped Oz's shoulder. They were both on the floor, him behind her with his arms wrapped around her abdomen. She was clutching him, using him as an anchor to fight the change. She tightened her grip on him and on her mind. "I can't do it." She gasped "I have to let this happen. She wants out. She has to run."
"You are in control." Oz panted "We can do this."
Nina screamed. "She wants out!"
"We have to be the ones in control!"
They had felt the call, just like every other werewolf in the area. They fought the change, knowing they couldn't let the wolves regain control. They had to be the masters of their bodies.
"Tell me something." Oz gasped
"What?"
"Anything, something human, something about being human." Oz said
Nina didn't know this word, human. She only knew the Wolf, calling to her, demanding the blood of the champion. "She wants blood." Why wasn't she changing?
"Nina listen to me, we can fight this, we can stop this from happening."
"No we can't." She said "We are what we are. We have to be what we are."
Oz shook his head. "I told you I would stay with you, but if you let this change happen you won't be here anymore. She'll have control over you and I'll have to go."
Nina bit her lip and tasted blood. She wasn't going to let the change happen. She was going to stay human. She had to stay human. She had a purpose and she would fulfill it.
"Nina,"
"I'm human, I'm a human being." Nina gripped him tighter.
"Yes you are."
…
Wesley stared at the building that had once been his second home. They had claimed it for the good fight. They had taken it from a demon responsible for much death and suffering. He couldn't believe he hadn't figured it out before. This building was perfect.
"What happens when it crosses over?" Wesley asked
"She'll do whatever she wants, we'll watch." Lilah explained
"The people inside," Wesley couldn't finish his sentence.
"They'll die." Lilah said "The whole building will come tumbling down and they'll be dead. Your friends, the innocents, the werewolves, they'll be trapped under rubble."
"Is that so?" Angel approached, panting with effort. He had multiple serious cuts and was dragging a battle ax behind him. "I don't think I like that plan."
"Here to play the hero?" Lilah asked "You're a little late. The slayers already made the big entrance. They brought a witch and a mortal as well."
"Buffy's here?" Angel asked, hoping against hope she was lying.
"Got here just before I did, didn't even see me. It was a close call, I might not have been able to complete the ritual if they showed up later."
"Typical Buffy," Wesley muttered "You want her to help save an innocent woman from a terrible fate and she's busy, you've got an apocalyptic battle and her schedule clears right up."
"Wes she'll die in there!" Angel shouted "What do we do?"
Harmony walked up to Lilah and punched her in the face.
Lilah gave Harmony a funny look. "What was that supposed to accomplish?"
Harmony shrugged. "I just want to help. I thought you might tell us how to get inside."
Wes shook his head. "The spell will be in effect until the ceremony is complete."
"I don't understand." Angel said "What's going on in there?"
…
With Kennedy and Xander protecting her Willow performed binding spell after binding spell. In the confusion it was difficult to concentrate enough to zone in in a single aura and perform the spell. There were so many wolves and Willow made little headway.
"Heads up." Faith threw a wolf off a blond woman who had a scar from a vampire bite.
Willow threw up her hand and the wolf hit an invisible barrier instead of Xander. "You can't do that and perform the spell at the same time?" He asked
"No and I can't talk and perform the spell at the same time either."
A man Willow recognized as Angel's friend Gunn ran downstairs leading a group of civilians. "Head for the doors!" He ordered
"To late," Conner said "There's some sort of spell, get everybody back upstairs."
"The rooms are crawling with werewolves!" Gunn said
"The basement!" The blond woman said "We can use the cage!"
"Willow look out!" Kennedy tackled her as a werewolf hit the ground where she had been standing. The wolf turned and looked at her, their eyes met.
"Oz?"
"No way!" Spike shouted "We can't open the cage."
"We have to!" Conner said
Another wolf attacked Kennedy and she threw it off her onto the tile floor with such force its neck snapped. The wolf transformed into a young black woman. Kennedy froze in horror at the woman's limp form. Another wolf ran toward Willow and before she could use a spell to defend herself the wolf she had been looking at attacked it. "Kennedy!"
"We're not letting your bloody girlfriend out!"
"These people will be safe in there!" Kate insisted
"We have to think of another way!" Gunn said as he kicked a wolf down the stairs. A woman behind him screamed as a wolf jumped on her back and Gunn grabbed it by the neck and shoved it over the banister. The creature's spine snapped and a freckled Irish boy took its place.
Willow watched the wolf, who was she kidding, she watched Oz tear out the other wolf's throat. His muzzle drenched in blood he started toward her, but stopped when the ground began to shake. Willow looked at the middle of the room where the tile was starting to crack. Oz walked toward the crack. "Oz stop!"
"Oz?" Buffy looked around. "What?"
The air around them began to shimmer, some sections took on a golden glow. The crack widened. The warriors tried to keep the people away from the opening portal. Screams grew louder as many of the wounded watched the blood start to flow from them faster and without any regard for gravity. Blood rushed toward the crack. Gunn grabbed his arm, but the blood slipped under his fingers and rushed to the crack. Willow ran over to him and put her hands on his arm focusing her healing energy on his wound. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. When she lifted her hands the wound was healed.
"Conner!" A woman Willow had never seen before called out to Angel's son. "What's happening?" Blood was pulled through the rip in her shirt and shot to the opening in the floor.
Willow started to run over to her but the light around the woman began to bend. She began to slide to the ground like gravity around her had doubled. The same thing was happening to people all over the lobby. "Oh my God," Gunn said
"What is this?" Willow asked
"We're being sacrificed." The walls began to waver, plaster fell from the ceiling. From the widening split a hand emerged. A marble hand bathed in golden light grasped the edge of the chasm. A woman coated in slippery yellow shimmers pulled herself up. She grabbed one of the fallen bleeders. She pushed him into the chasm. The hotel shook a little more and the woman became a little more stable, a little more there.
"What is she?" Willow asked in a tone equal parts horror and awe
"The Wolf," Gunn replied as the building continued to break apart.
The Wolf grabbed people surrounded by the light and one by one threw them into the chasm, becoming more solid as she did. They tried to reach the people, to help them, to pull them out of the horrible glow. They couldn't reach them somehow, they felt themselves repelled.
"Mom!" Conner screamed as the Wolf grabbed the woman who had cried out to him.
"Conner!" She begged "Help me Conner!"
Conner tried to run to her, but the light was to dazzling, to confusing. He found himself even farther away as he tried to go closer. "Mom wait!" The Wolf threw her into the chasm.
The staircase toppled over, smashing to pieces. One of the larger pieces pinned Spike and Buffy to the ground. Willow swung her hand and the wood exploded into a thousand smaller bits. Buffy stumbled to her feet and helped Spike do the same. The ceiling developed a spider web pattern. "It's going to come down on top of us." Gunn marveled
"We're going to die." Kate whispered from behind them
"No," Willow's eyes went black. "We're not."
…
"Wesley do something!" Angel begged. He was unable to process reason or logic. "We have to get them out of there!" There was nothing either of them could do, but he needed to do something. He turned to Lilah. He grabbed her by the throat and threw her to the ground.
She laughed. "Beat the dead woman, that'll do you a lot of good."
Angel kicked her in the abdomen. Lilah didn't feel a thing. "Do you think anything you do to me will make a difference? I can't feel anything. I'm as dead as your friends."
"No!" Angel cried out. "This can't be happening! I was supposed to save the world, not destroy it!" He grabbed Lilah by her jacket collar. "I killed them!"
Lilah laughed like a mad woman. "Who do you mean? Are you talking about the circle of the black thorn, or your friends?"
Angel dropped her and fell to his knees. "This can't be happening." He watched the Hyperion begin to shake. He watched pieces of the walls fall to the ground.
"What did we do to deserve this?" Wesley whispered
"You dared to feel." Lilah said as the walls of the Hyperion crumbled to nothing in front of them. "You dared to think you could have what your betters could not."
The dust cleared to reveal two amazing things in front of them. One was terrible and one was wonderful. One was a beautiful woman with the power to destroy worlds. One was a shimmering green orb that contained Angel's friends and allies.
"Well that was… unexpected." Lilah said
…
The Wolf looked at the green sphere. It wasn't supposed to be there. She reached out to touch it, it was solid. She pushed, but it did not yield. "Huh," She seemed surprised, and suspired that she could be surprised. "Huh," She said again "This world is not yet bending to my will."
The Wolf slammed her fist into the ground. The skeleton of the building collapsed to dust. Where the Hyperion had once stood nothing remained but that green sphere. "That's better, but something still isn't right." She examined the sphere. "Hello witch."
The red-haired woman clutched the hand of the woman standing next to her. The Wolf smiled. "Do you know what I am going to do to your girlfriend?" She didn't wait for Willow to answer, she saw everything in her mind. "I'm going to cut her open and look inside." The wolf pictured the throbbing whirly red mess. "Then I'm going to put fire in there, see what burns. I'm going to make you watch. I'll use your tears to put out the fire and use your honey's skeleton to build the base of my throne. Then I'm going to take you to a room where the other two slayers are chained to hot coals. Their pretty faces will be ugly red scars. I'll cut out their extra bits and feed them to each other. I'll let them have peace when they are a breath from death, but only if you put the knife in yourself. Then I'll make you watch me play with Xander for the rest of eternity. I'll keep him alive for centuries, until you've gone mad and forgot his name. Then I'll remind you in time for you to see him choke on fire. The last thing I'll do is lock you in the coffin of perpetuity. Would you like that?"
Kennedy's hand was white from the force Willow was squeezing it with. "Please,"
"You would like me to spare yours?" The Wolf said kindly "I can make it instantaneous."
Willow stared, eyes wide, skin paper-white. "Mercy," She whimpered
"Put down the shield. You won't feel a thing."
"Leave her alone." A voice said from behind
The Wolf turned, feeling that strange emotion of surprise again. "Such a brave little ghost who dares to speak to me. I can send you to hell with a word."
"I'm already there." Wesley said "Willow's not going to fall for your party trick, so why don't you go back to where you came from? But thanks for stopping by."
A creeping grin took over the Wolf's face. It made her whole face shine. "Are you giving up Wesley Wyndham-Price? Have you nothing left of your pretty soul? Are there no bits left for me to devour? You were so pretty. My sister didn't think much of you, but I saw it in you."
"I won't fall for it." Wesley said
The Wolf walked up to him. She put her mouth a breath away from his ear. "I can see inside your mind. I can see your past, your future. I can see you."
"I don't have a future."
She giggled. "You feel so sorry for yourself, why? You were a terrible son and a worse student. Your father couldn't wait to be sod of you and the watcher's council sent you to America just to get you out of their hair. You were made a fool of by a vapid valley girl. They all laughed at you Wesley. Even Cordelia was laughing, she was just stringing you along. She thought you were funny, like a pet monkey. Angel thought of you as a walking encyclopedia, not a person, not a man. He thought of you as less human than even him. Why shouldn't he, after what you did? Why shouldn't he want to put you down like a sick animal?"
Wesley stood paralyzed by her poisonous words. "You don't know what you're talking about." He said, but did not believe. "You're trying to trick me."
"She never loved you, sunshine. No one ever loved you. You were despised from the moment you entered your mother's belly. You have always been unwanted. You cannot name one person who ever loved you. Say a name Wesley. Say just one name."
The Wolf felt a hand grab her arm and try to tug with puny mortal strength. The vampire's teeth grew. "Angel," he said as he continued to try and move her. "Fred Burkle," He hit her in the face and his fist bounced off. "Cordelia Chase," He threw his whole wait into her and she didn't budge. "Charles Gun," The Wolf grew bored and tossed the vampire against the sphere where he slid to the floor.
"Now," She returned her attention to Wesley and saw him smiling. "Dammit," She said as if she had broken a nail. "Oh well, I see your mind and there are bits left, but you will fade to nothing soon. I will enjoy that, to know that your existence has perished."
"I'll enjoy seeing that happen to you." Wesley said
The Wolf chuckled. With terrible speed and ferocity she grabbed his neck. "I have power you know not." She whispered "I am above natural law." She shoved his chest and he flew back, going through a pile of rubble.
The Wolf began to walk away. She was between Harmony and Lilah when Wesley stood up and cried out to her. "Wait!" She stopped. "I want to make a deal with you."
"I see." She whispered.
Wesley felt alive. He knew he wasn't and knew it would fade, but for a moment he could still feel her hand around his neck and he could remember everything. He could remember who he was. "You know what I want. You know what you get in return."
The Wolf nodded. "I agree." Wesley couldn't see her smile, only her golden curls. She left. The ruins of her return stared at her back as it faded away.
Angel stumbled to his feet as Willow released the magic that separated them. Lilah headed back to the office while Wesley watched her go. He thought about the deal he had just made. Angel stared at the people Willow had saved, a few of them were werewolves, no longer transformed. One very naked blond young woman was familiar to him. "Nina,"
"Well," Harmony said "That wasn't good."
…
Buffy walked up to Angel. "Angel,"
"Buffy," Angel said, watching those who were able help those who were not to their feet.
"How have you been?" Buffy was eyeing Harmony suspiciously.
"Oh you know, apocalypse," Willow handed, was that Oz, her jacket.
"You could have called." Buffy was surprised to see Wesley, she thought he was dead.
"Figured you were busy," Faith started toward Wesley. Angel's heart went out to her when he saw the relief on her face. She was going to be so disappointed.
"You could have let me know about Spike." Buffy saw Faith approach her old watcher.
"English, I heard you were dead," Faith tried to give Wesley a good-natured punch in the arm and her fist went right through him. The smile fell off her face. "Guess I heard right."
"Faith," Wesley said "It's good to see you."
Buffy winced. "What happened?" She asked Angel
"A lot, a lot of things happened."
"I have to go." Wesley said "I'll be back soon." The ghost followed the footsteps of his old lover. Faith and Buffy watched him go. Angel was watching his werewolf girlfriend accept a jacket from one of the surviving civilians. Angel was surprised they had any left.
"I'm going to." Harmony said, wary of being around three slayers. "Wait up Wes!"
Willow approached the vampire and two slayers. "We need to talk."
"We will." Angel promised "Not here, this place belongs to them now."
"Where can we go?" Buffy asked
"I know a safe place." Angel said "But it's pretty… awful."
"Worse than this?" Buffy asked
…
Wes entered Lilah's office, she was standing in the middle of the room with her arms crossed over her chest, not even pretending to work. The scar from her decapitation glared at him accusingly. She looked like she was slowly melting away. "What was it?" She asked
Wesley didn't need clarification. "Do you remember when I broke into the hall of records?" Wesley asked, knowing she did, knowing she remembered it was to get her contract and release her from her bonds to Wolfram and Hart.
"What did you do?" Lilah sounded horrified
"He bought you a second chance." Lilah turned to see a beautiful brunette standing next to her. Cordelia Chase was smiling at her. "Lord knows why."
"What are you doing here?" Lilah said scornfully
"I'm here to offer you a second chance." Cordelia said
"The powers want to offer me a second chance?" Lilah was incredulous.
"Let's just say I have a little pull with the powers and leave it at that."
"Why would you want to use that pull to help me? You hate me."
"True," Cordelia conceded in her typical say-what-I-mean fashion. "But a friend of mine cares deeply about you and wants you to have a chance to undo the damage you have done."
"Is that right?" Lilah glared at Wesley
"You don't have to take the offer." Cordelia assured her "Like I said, I'm just here as a favor to a friend. I have no investment in your choice."
Lilah stared at Wesley. "Why did you do this?"
"What do you want me to say? I wanted you to be free, so I made a deal to release you from your contract. That's all I could do. You have to pick what happens next."
"How did you know Cordelia would show up?"
"I didn't." Wes admitted "I just wanted you to be free."
Lilah gave her attention back to Cordelia. "What happens if I don't go with you?"
"What do you think?"
"What happens if I do go with you?"
"You work for me." Cordelia said, her pleased tone of voice made it clear the irony of this was not in any way lost on her. "We make a difference."
Lilah looked terrified. She walked up to Wesley. "I have to know why."
"It wasn't just about sex Lilah." Wesley said
"You cared about me?" Lilah asked
"I did, I do."
"Did you love me, even for a moment?" Lilah asked
"I don't know, I think so." Wesley felt like someone had put his heart in a taffy-puller.
"I want to hug you, why can't I hug you?" Lilah asked, tears spilling down her face.
"It's okay Lilah, everything is going to be okay now."
"You can't know that." Lilah said "You can't know everything."
"Lilah," Cordelia spoke up "If you want to go we need to go." But her voice was full of kindness and understanding. Wes looked at his old friend, his eyes full of thanks and love.
Lilah kept looking at Wesley. "I'm scared."
"Me to," Wesley said with a chuckle.
Lilah laughed through her tears. "Can someone like me be saved?"
"Apparently," Wesley said
"You saved me." Lilah said
"No Lilah, you have to save yourself." Wesley said "It's going to be a lot of work."
Lila nodded, her face changed. She wiped the tears from her face and stood with her back straight. She looked like the old Lilah, but a little different, a little less sinister. "I'm ready." She turned to face Cordelia and saw the woman was holding open a white door. "I'm ready," She sounded like she was trying to convince herself. Lilah walked through the door.
Cordelia closed the door and it disappeared. "Do you really think she can do it?"
"Would you have come if she couldn't?" Wesley asked
"Wesley-"
"Cordelia!" Harmony caught a glimpse of her old high school friend through the glass. "I can't believe you're here!" She said as she rushed into the room. "Hey!" Harmony embraced her.
Cordelia smiled as she returned the hug. "I can't stay for long." She held Harmony and looked into her eyes, then kissed her lightly on the forehead. "Can you give me a minute with Wes?" She asked a slightly dazed-looking Harmony.
"Sure," She stumbled from the room.
"What did you-"
"Close your eyes." Cordelia commanded
Wes immediately obeyed. "I miss you." He said
"I miss you to." Cordelia put a hand on either side of his face and Wesley was surprised that he could feel it. "I have power to. The coming days are pivotal, my influence wanes. You will effect what becomes of this world. There is no one I trust more to do the job you must do."
Wesley felt Cordelia's lips on his forehead and opened his eyes. She was gone.
"Beautiful," The Wolf said as she entered the room. "Inspiring,"
"We'll win." Wesley said "I know that now."
"Of course," The Wolf said patronizingly "Of course you will. Now run along and play with your little friends." Wesley started to go as she sat down on Lilah's desk. "Oh and Wes,"
"Yes?"
"Don't bite the hand that feeds you."
…
Shifting through the rubble was hard work with no shovels or tools of any kind. Angel had only Buffy and Faith for help. He had instructed Spike, Kate, and Gunn to lead the others to the abbey where they would be safe. He had to stay behind to dig out Illyria.
"So," Faith said "Can we at least get the cliff notes version?"
Angel sighed. "The Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart are powerful demonic entities that rule a hell dimension." He explained "They've been trying to get back to this dimension for basically ever. The time set aside for them to return was coming so I killed their earthly agents, the circle of the black thorn. Wesley died taking on a member who was a powerful wizard. The senior partners, The Wolf, Ram, and Hart, released hell on earth in L.A. as punishment. They still want to cross over though. I think this time is significant somehow and the crossing has to be now."
"But the people who are supposed to help them are dead?" Faith asked
"Use of the word people is a stretch, but yeah." Angel replied
"So that's good then." Buffy said "Now they have to do their own dirty work."
"Buffy and Giles thought you were evil." Faith said on a totally unrelated note, clearly just wanting to stir up tension between the two.
"Thanks for the confidence." Angel said dryly
"It was mostly Giles." Buffy shifted the blame to her old watcher while glaring at Faith.
"He was pretty confident in your evilness." Faith said
"I wouldn't say that." Buffy defended Giles "He said Angel may have switched sides, may have does not translate to pretty confident."
"I'm glad Giles only thought I might be evil." Angel said sarcastically
"Well I knew you weren't evil." Faith said "Only a spell could turn you evil."
"There could have been a spell, we didn't know." Buffy said
"Well next time you think I'm evil try ringing me up and saying 'Hey Angel, just thought I'd catch up, by the way are you evil?' or try answering your phone when I call you."
"Sorry," Buffy blushed and she really did look sorry.
"I needed your help Buffy." Angel spoke in a softer voice. "I was counting on you."
Buffy focused on moving rubble, unable to look at her old lover. Faith and Angel maintained the awkward silence until Wesley showed up. "Lilah's gone." He said
"What happened? Does this have anything to do with your deal?" Angel had been surprised Wesley would make a deal with the Wolf, but trusted he knew what he was doing.
"Yeah, and Cordelia stopped by."
Angel dropped a pile of rocks on his feet and didn't even notice. He stared at Wesley, uncomprehending. "What? Cordelia? How?"
"I thought Cordelia was dead." Faith said
"Well you know how she works for the powers now?" Wesley asked
Angel nodded while Buffy and Faith exchanged confused looks.
"She showed up to offer Lilah a chance at redemption." Wes explained "The deal I made with the Wolf was to release Lilah from her contract."
"In exchange for what?" Buffy asked suspiciously
"Killing Illyria," Wes pointed at the corner of a metal cage Faith had just revealed by rolling over a large chunk of a stone column. "Which we were going to do anyway."
"Because?" Buffy demanded
"She killed Fred." Angel said, leaving out the moral ambiguity of the situation. "Killing Illyria will bring her back." Angel looked at Wes as if to say 'right?'
"As long as you still have the file." Wesley said
Angel pulled it out of his pocket. "Can't read any of it, but I still have it."
"Willow should be able to work the spell." Wes said
"What happens to you?" Faith asked
Wesley looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"Is there a way for you to… come back? I mean are you stuck like that?"
"I think when my purpose here is done I just sort of fade away." Wes explained
Faith looked stricken by this news. "So you really are dead?"
Wesley nodded. "I'm sorry Faith."
"No it's just…" Faith looked away, trying to conceal something. "I just feel bad now about all the times I tried to kill you." She lied; not that it was a lie, but that wasn't why she was upset. Faith didn't want Wesley to be dead, she wanted to save him, but he was already gone.
"Well I forgive you." Wesley said "We've all done things we regret haven't we?"
…
Spike and Kate led the group. Gunn was in the back supporting Anne, who walked like a zombie, slow and without aim. "We never picked up the bodies." Kate said
Spike nodded. "The place will smell pretty ripe."
"They should have been given a proper burial.
"Things got in the way." Spike said while thinking but wisely not saying that having sex with Angel had been one of Kate's things. He liked his heart to be without a stake in it.
"We shouldn't have let them. It should have been our top priority."
"Stopping the apocalypse is our top priority." Spike said
"We're doing a bang-up job." Kate cracked
Spike bit his tongue to stop himself from making a joke like: you're right about the banging part. He managed to banish the thought by picturing himself as a pile of dust.
Xander felt weird seeing Oz again, especially a semi-nude Oz; that jacked the awkwardness level right up. "So, how you been?"
"You know," Oz said "Walking the earth type stuff."
"Cool," Xander said "I've been doing a lot of traveling myself; watcher stuff mostly."
"So you're like a watcher now?"
"It's weird." Xander admitted "Not as weird as… this, but the job's rewarding, I guess."
"You sound unsure." Oz said
"Yeah well, sometimes I feel like I only have this job because Buffy feels bad for me. I mean it's like, poor Xander got his eye squished by a psychotic misogynistic ex-preacher."
"Right," Oz said "That sounds rough, how'd that happen?"
"It's a long story." Xander said with a hand-wave. "The point is, I sometimes wonder if I'm really an asset to the team. Plus Andrew has the same job as me so that's embarrassing."
"Andrew?" Oz asked
"Tucker's brother," Xander explained
"Oh, well yeah I see your point there. I guess you just have to decide if you're happy where you are. That's what's important."
"I guess," Xander wondered if he was, if being a watcher fulfilled him.
"So how's Willow?" Oz asked "She good?"
Xander wished there was a book titled 'How to talk to a half-naked werewolf about his lesbian ex-girlfriend without embarrassing both of you' but there wasn't so he just gave it his best shot. "She's good, seeing someone."
"Tara?" Oz asked and Xander felt a tear in his heart.
"She's dead."
Oz sensed this was a painful topic for Xander and didn't press. He instead asked more about Xander's job. Xander explained he was living in Sydney training the Australian slayers.
Conner could hear all of these conversations and he trembled with rage as he walked next to his shell-shocked father and tearful sisters. How could these people speak? How could they breathe? The world was over. His world was over. "Home is wherever I am." Conner whispered.
"Conner?" His father said
"I have to save her."
"She's…" He couldn't believe the words he had to say to his son. "She's dead Conner, I can't believe she's dead. The way she died… it's all so impossible."
Conner stopped, he stood there for an instant and in that instant everything fell into place.
"Conner," A female voice said, Teresa the annoying hybrid "Please don't."
He turned to look at her, and Lorne who was standing behind her. "What?"
"I can see what will come of it. Cordelia showed me."
"You know nothing." Conner said "You see nothing. You are blind." He took off running and so did Teresa, but not after him. She ran to the front of the procession, up to Spike.
"You have to stop Conner, I had a vision and terrible things happen if he makes it back to the Hyperion." She recalled what had happened. "To where the Hyperion used to be."
Spike nodded. "You take care of them." He told Kate and then ran after Conner.
…
"So this is Illyria huh?" Faith said "She looks exactly like Fred."
"I'll take your word for it." Said Buffy
The two slayers, the vampire, and the ghost stood in front of the cage holding a silent Illyria who gazed at them with utter contempt. "We should get started toward the abbey." Wes said "That was a good idea Angel, the Wolf should be much less powerful there if she is able to enter at all in her weakened state-"
"That's her weakened state?" Buffy exclaimed
"She will be more powerful when she gathers her energies, and even more powerful if she succeeds in bringing over the Ram." Wesley explained
"That's not gonna happen." Angel said as he gripped on of the cage's metal bars. "Let's go." The slayers helped him lift the cage from the ground and they started off.
"To bad you're all go-throughable and can't give us a hand." Faith told Wesley.
"I'm devastated about that." He said in the most dead-pan voice imaginable
The trio stopped as Conner ran up to them. "Dammit." Angel said
"Hey Conner," said Faith "Did you miss me?"
"Put her down." Conner demanded
Spike ran up to them. "You're fast kid; let's go." He grabbed Conner's arm.
Conner grabbed Spike's wrist and twisted his arm. He shoved the vampire back and picked up a sharp piece of wood from the surrounding debris. Angel, Buffy, and Faith dropped Illyria's cage. The old one fell against the metal bars, she watched the action unfold.
Faith grabbed Conner's wrist and punched him in the stomach. The boy gasped as Buffy grasped his shoulders and tossed him into the wreckage. Angel rushed over to help his son up but Conner punched him in the face. Angel reeled back, clutching his sore jaw. "Ow!" If he weren't a vampire he would have a broken jaw. "Conner what the hell?"
"I won't let you kill her! I won't let you kill her to!"
"To?" Buffy questioned
"You're responsible for Cordy's death! You let Fred die! You let my mother die!"
"What are you- did something happen to your mother?"
"The Wolf took her." Conner said "She's dead."
"Conner I'm so-"
"Shut up, just shut up!"
Buffy whispered to Faith. "I thought you said Darla was Conner's mother."
Faith whispered back. "If it's important I'm sure Angel will explain later."
"Conner I'm sorry things got so bad." Angel spoke with the utmost sincerity, but Conner didn't see it. "I wanted to protect you, I wanted that more than anything in the world."
"You failed." Conner spat
"I'm so sorry." Angel punched Conner in the face and the boy fell to the ground. "But I have to do this. Spike," The blond vampire dragged the boy to his feet and led him back toward the abbey. "You guys going to give me a hand with this?" He asked the stunned slayers
