He was alone. The others were off somewhere, devising plans to save Wes hours after he was taken, but he was alone, in his office. He needed to think, and being around the others wouldn't help right now. There was one thing nagging him. The memory spell. It was becoming harder and harder to make it secret now that everyone was officially involved in what was happening to Connor since he took Wes. When Gunn, Lorne, Wes, and Fred were off only mildly thinking about Connor, they weren't really a part of it yet. But now they were, now that Wes was taken. They'd start asking questions. How long could he keep this memory spell up?

The truth was, Angel couldn't keep the memory spell. It was affecting everybody and making everything a thousand times more difficult than they should be. The return of the memories would pain everybody, but at this point Angel didn't see that there was much of a choice, whether he was ready for them to know the truth or not.

He always knew the memory spell would come back and bite him in the ass, didn't he? Well, he should have known.

Would lifting the memory spell help Wesley at this point in time? He was taken by Connor, and would remembering help him or hurt him? Certainly it wouldn't help against Illyria, but maybe if he truly remembered Connor he could talk and try to get Connor to break through, allowing Wes time to escape. Or would the onslaught of memories hurt Wes more than anything? It would surely take time for him to get used to remembering the fact that at one time everyone had hated him for what he did and he used to be excluded from Angel Investigations and almost died.

Angel wished these decisions could be easy. They weren't, though, and they never would be. He had to decide which was best for the team. If everyone remembered Connor, then maybe they would be able to help more, in some way.

Spike walked into Angel's office. Angel forgot that he wasn't off with the others, making plans.

"What do you want, Spike?" Angel asked.

"Gotta talk to you, Angel."

"Well, look, I'm in the middle of making some major decisions, so I think that-"

"Would you stop for just a bloody second? I'm serious, here. I didn't walk in here callin' you a 'poof' or any one of my glorious nicknames I got for you. So you should know I'm serious." The look on Spike's face was definitely serious. He wasn't joking around or trying to annoy Angel. He really had something that he needed to say.

"What is it?" Angel asked Spike, wondering what could be on his mind.

"There's no easy way to say this. I guess I should have just said it in the beginning, but in all honesty I didn't really give a damn. Now, I can't wait any longer."

"What are you talking about?"

Spike sat down in the chair on the other side of Angel's desk. "I remember Connor," Spike deadpanned.

Angel frowned. What was he talking about? "What do you mean?"

"Angel, did you not think I knew about Connor? Back in Sunnydale when Faith and Willow came back from L.A. to help us defeat the First, they told us about your son. Plus, we knew about him even before then. Still, I know a lot about Connor, and I didn't say anything when he first came in here and they had no idea about anyone named Connor. You're lucky I stayed quiet."

Angel's head exploded. He put a hand on his forehead and leaned on his desk. How had he overlooked this? Why didn't he ever think about this?! Of course he knew he didn't do the memory spell on any of the Scoobies, but it never actually occurred to him that Spike would remember things he'd heard about Connor.

"Oh, God," Angel whispered. "Spike…I don't know what to say. Thank you, I guess, for not saying anything."

"It's alright, mate. I'm telling you now that I think you should tell them about your son. It'll help."

"You don't know everything that happened with Connor. You don't know the horrible things that occurred."

"I don't. But keepin' them in the dark isn't helping anything."

He nodded, but didn't respond. What else could he say to Spike? Angel was actually embarrassed that he never even thought about Spike remembering Connor.

"I have to ask, Angel, why didn't you get rid of our memories too, all those Scoobies, I mean? I don't know how you did it, but I'm sure ours could've been erased as well."

Angel shook his head. "It was too much. Nobody but Willow and Faith even met Connor, and that was just for a short amount of time, and I knew none of them would come to L.A. anytime often or in the future, so I figured I was fine. In the beginning I knew I couldn't rid of all of your memories of Connor. You guys weren't affected by Connor, and part of the deal was also having everyone come work at Wolfram & Hart, so I don't know if Lilah would have even allowed for me to rid Connor from all of your memories as well."

"Who's Lilah?"

Angel rolled his eyes. "Don't ask; that's a long story."

"Okay, whatever. I just want to know what you're planning on doing. Are you going to reveal the truth?"

Angel paused. "I don't know yet," he answered truthfully.

"Well, it's your spell, your decision. I just wanted you to know that I think it'll help for them to know."

"I'm thinking about it, Spike. I'm just not sure quite yet."

"Well, you better decide quickly."

The door to the office opened and Harmony walked in. "Boss, they need to see you. They have a plan." She ignored Spike completely.

Angel nodded. If he was going to decide what to do about the memory spell, he'd have to do it later.

Buffy, Willow, and Oz were in the living room. They were all sitting on the couch, Buffy between Willow and Oz. Willow and Oz had still yet to talk too much, neither knowing what to say or what could be said. Neither of them knew the other was going to be at Buffy's apartment, so they were each trying to get over some shock.

When Buffy woke up, she found Oz and Willow sitting in silence. She was surprised herself. She hadn't expected Oz to show up so quickly.

"Willow, Oz?" she said. They were all still sitting on the couch. "It'd probably be a good idea to talk."

Willow stood up and started pacing, almost nervously. She stopped suddenly in front of Oz. "What are you doing here?" she asked, not knowing if there was anything else she could say.

Oz looked at Buffy. She hadn't told Willow? "I talked to Buffy on the phone," Oz started. "After all those people died I wanted to know what was going on and if you all were okay. She said you were. I thought she'd tell you I talked to her."

Willow looked at Buffy.

"I-I'm sorry," Buffy stuttered with a little shrug. "There was just so much going on I didn't have time. I meant to though, I swear. Plus, I didn't even know he was going to show up. I didn't ask him to come or anything, and I surely didn't invite him."

"Human being with feelings here," Oz defended himself to Buffy's comments.

"I didn't mean it like that," Buffy went on. "It's great to see you, Oz." Buffy and Oz shared a brief hug.

"Where were you?" Willow questioned when they pulled apart. "When all those people died, I mean."

"I was back in Tibet," Oz answered, then stopped. He didn't elaborate about what he was doing there or how long he was there. "I'm glad you're okay," he told Willow.

"Baby, I was thinking that…" Kennedy stopped once she walked into the living room from the hall and saw the strange guy sitting there that she'd never seen before. She wasn't sure how to react based on the looks of Buffy and Willow's faces. "Who's this?"

Willow walked over to her girlfriend. "Kennedy, this is…um…this is Oz."

She looked at Willow incredulously. "Oz? The Oz you dated?"

"Yeah," Oz spoke up from the couch. "Who are you?"

"I'm Kennedy, Willow's girlfriend." She shot Oz a hard look. "Wish I could say it's nice to meet you."

"Kennedy," Willow hissed under her breath.

"What happened to Tara?" Oz asked.

Willow's heart broke at the mention of her name, but she contained herself.

"Oz, this isn't the right time to discuss everything that's happened," Buffy interrupted the conversation. "We'll definitely have to talk about it later, though. For now, I'm just wondering what exactly you're doing here."

"I wanted to be here," he said. "I was concerned for all of you. I couldn't get you guys out of my head, even if you were all okay. I'm sorry if I came so suddenly."

"Don't apologize," Buffy told him. "We're happy to have you here. Although we are a bit tight on space…"

"I don't need to stay," Oz said, standing up. "I should go anyway."

"No, Oz, please, I insist you stay," Buffy told her old friend. "The couch is open, if you don't mind sleeping on a couch. It's pretty comfortable, as you can tell."

"Is that okay with you?" Oz questioned and it took Willow a minute to realize he was asking her.

"Oh, oh, yeah, sure," Willow said. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kennedy look at her as if she was confused. Willow didn't care, though. Oz was their friend and she wasn't just going to kick him out just because they had a history together.

Still, things were bound to be awkward around here for a while.

Even though Faith did see someone dragging someone else into the Hyperion (she was too far away to see who was dragging who), she wasn't sure whether she should be alarmed or not. From the distance she was, she couldn't tell if the person being dragged was alive or dead. The person had to be dead, though, considering that was how everyone in L.A. was, right?

Since she sensed no immediate alarm, she began to make her way to where she thought she remembered the Wolfram & Hart building to be.

On the way, though, she couldn't get the image of that person dragging the other person into the hotel. There was something odd about it and something that wouldn't leave her head. Even though it wasn't her mission, she decided to go back and check to see what was going on, just to make sure.

Since Faith took some time to walk away from the Hyperion; that gave Connor a little extra time to be with Wesley. He dragged Wes into the old office that was formerly used by both Wes and Angel. He found some old rope and tied Wes's wrists together and then tied the end of the rope to something above him so his arms were held up against his head and he was sitting on the ground, up against the wall.

Connor, feeling confident, left Wes there alone, and went and walked around the Hyperion for a few minutes. Wes tried to escape, but the ropes were tied too tight.

When Connor came back, he had a creepy smile on his face that made his uncanny blue eyes freakier. In one of his hands he held a long, pointy knife that he was swinging back and forth very slowly. His eyes were locked on Wes, and he wasn't looking away.

"You know, I'm glad you chose to come with me instead of letting me take Fred." He walked over to Wes and kneeled in front of him. "We have so much more to talk about, anyway. We have so much more in common, as well. If I brought Fred with me, we wouldn't have nearly as much fun as the two of us can."

Wesley suddenly spit in Connor's face. Connor stood quickly and backed up. With the back of his hand, he wiped the spit off his face. Instead of reacting angrily, he laughed.

"That's the best you got?" he asked. "I know you're tied up, but still. What happened to the old Wes, the one who was willing to take a baby away from his father without telling anybody, no matter what the costs? Oh, yeah, that's right. Memory spell."

"What are you talking about?" Wes responded.

Connor jumped forward and quickly ran the knife against Wes's bicep. He shut his eyes and took a sharp pang of breath in.

"Did that hurt?" Connor questioned innocently. "I hope it did. Pain may be the key. That's how it was for old-Connor up here inside my head. One lash of pain and he remembered everything. Or maybe that was just because an Old One came into contact with him and it had nothing to do with pain. Huh. It's something to wonder, isn't it?"

"Who are you?" Wes asked. "If you're going to lash out more, I'd really like to know what you're talking about."

"Oh, Wesley—poor, poor Wesley. This body's name is Connor. If you think about it—and I mean really think—you might remember me." He gave Wes a minute to think. "No? You don't remember me? Well, that's really interesting. You know what else I think is interesting? That scar," Connor pointed the sharp end of the knife to Wes's throat, where it was slit by Justine. The sharp edge was inches away from Wes. "Tell me, how exactly do you explain that scar since you don't know the truth?"

Wes tried to not let most of what Connor was saying faze him. "A harsh woman named Justine slit my throat, trying to kill me. She was working with another evil man named Holtz who was trying to destroy Angel. I just got in the way of that."

"Hm," Connor scratched his head. "That's sort of close to the truth, I guess."

"You wouldn't even know. You weren't there."

"No, but technically Connor was, even as a baby. And later on he heard about what you did."

"Who is Connor, Illyria?"

Connor grinned. "Who is Connor? Stellar question, Wes. Connor's pretty much a jerk, I might say. He was a jerk who tried to kill his father and his friends on more than one occasion. Angel still loved him, though, God bless his soul. I don't know how he did it."

"You are Illyria, but you are not how I would imagine an Old One," Wes told Connor. "They are supposed to be the oldest demons in the world. You don't speak like one."

"Yeah, well, technically I'm not," Connor said. "I'm not all of Illyria, you know. I'm just some of her. I guess the actual Old One part of me is missing. I'm kind of the mind of Illyria, I guess you could say, and mixed with Connor's mind my own words and actions are very different than how Illyria would actually be. And since I'm only part of me here, I'm not as much of an Old One as I'd like to think I am. I'm still Illyria, though, no matter how much of her." Connor frowned. "Are you trying to get me distracted, Wes? Smooth move, but it won't work."

"I wasn't trying to-"

Connor brought the knife against Wes's throat, barely touching it, not hard enough to draw blood yet. "You know what else I wonder? How it'd feel for you to get your throat slit just yet again. Maybe this time we'll see if anyone comes to save you."

Illyria inside of Connor was ready to do it, and she was about to, but, miraculously, Connor had a moment of strength and fought back.

Go away!

Connor screamed in his head and the Illyria inside of him shriveled down and he managed to come back on top, to become himself. Wes saw his eyes turn brown. Connor backed up a few steps, was ready to try and run away, when Illyria began to fight back.

You will not! I will rise inside of you. I am in control!

Connor wanted so desperately to be able to fight back. He wanted to be able to be the strong, impossible thing he always was and gain the strength to fight anything that fought him. He was no match for the small fraction of Illyria, though.

Blue returned to his eyes. The knife was still in Connor's hand and Wes was still sitting there, staring, willing for Connor to be able to fight back.

Illyria had taken control for the moment, though, and pushed Connor down as far as she could so his voice fighting back was just a mere whisper.

Connor got ready to attack Wes again, and this time he wouldn't leave him alive.

"Hey," a voice said behind Connor. "Do you know who you're about to attack?"

Connor spun around and found Faith standing in front of him. She stood with her legs apart and her arms crossed over her chest. She had a stern look on her face, especially because Wes was tied up with blood dripping down one of his arms. When Connor turned around, though, she wasn't expecting to see Angel's son in front of her, getting ready to attack Wes. She didn't let it go that she was startled by his blue eyes.

"Faith," Connor said excitedly. "I remember you. Connor wasn't very fond of you. The only thing he liked was your fighting skills. Damn, amazing fighting skills. Plus he thought you were hot."

"Connor? Are you speaking about yourself in the third-person now?" Faith remarked snidely.

"Oh, my bad, I guess you haven't been caught up. I'm not Connor. Well, I am, but I'm not. You can call me Connor if you want, but I'm really Illyria. Or part of Illyria. Wow, this sure is a complicated thing to explain, isn't it?"

"Look, I don't care. You hurt Wes; I kick your ass, that's how things go down around here."

Connor smiled. Finally, someone who'd be a fair fight. "I hurt Wes," he taunted. "What are you waiting for?"

Angel, Spike, and Harmony walked into Gunn's office where Gunn, Fred, and Lorne were. Everyone had their own worried looks on their face for Wesley. Fred, especially, seemed concerned. She looked on the verge of tears again, which was something Angel didn't like thinking about.

"We got a plan," Gunn said immediately once they walked in. On his desk was an assortment of weapons. He grabbed a sword and threw Angel an ax. "You and me are paired up. We'll go around the sewers for a little while and stick to the shadows until night falls. We'll be goin' around places you think Connor would remember, just in case."

Angel agreed. The ax was heavy in his hands, knowing he would never use it on Connor. "What about everyone else?"

"Harmony and I will go around where people are still alive, if she's willing," Fred spoke. "Just to make sure Connor wouldn't go around hurting anyone else."

"I'll go," Harm said. "Anything to get out of here." She glanced at Spike.

"We think Spike and Lorne should stay here just in case, also. And if he doesn't come back by nightfall, then Spike can go out and do anything he wants," Fred said. "If you think it's okay to do this, Angel."

Angel nodded. "I think it's all we have. Gunn, we better get going."

They walked off and were soon followed by Fred and Harmony, who walked out the front door and went in an opposite direction as Angel and Gunn would go, had they left through the front door. Spike stood with Lorne in the lobby. Neither really had anything to say. Spike was fine with waiting, for now, but when night did come, he would surely be out there ready to search for Connor alongside everyone else.

Faith whipped a stake out of her back pocket and lunged. She punched Connor with her free hand and he was sent flying into the wall next to Wesley. The wall cracked and broke a bit, but Connor stood right up. All the time, a smile never left his face.

With his knife in hand, he ran and attempted to attack Faith. She dodged and managed to turn and kick Connor in the back. By the time he was turning around she was already next to him and punching him in the face, sending him spinning. Her Slayer strength was coming in handy. She wasn't planning on using the stake, but it was good to have just in case.

She ran forward to punch him again, but this time he ducked and came back with a powerful punch of his own. It only hit her on her side, though, so she was able to stay on her feet and when he came towards her yet again she jumped out of the way.

By now, Connor wasn't having fun, he was getting angry. He needed to win this fight. So he made an unexpected move and tackled Faith to the ground. Her stake went flying away. He sat on top of her, pinning her down, and punched her with the hand without the knife. He did it repeatedly until her face was bloody. Then, he brought the knife down against her throat, like he had done to Wes.

"Slayers aren't as strong as I thought they'd be," Connor said.

"You haven't seen me fight my best, yet."

With her left hand, she grabbed onto a book that had been left behind on the floor and, as fast as she could, brought it up and hit Connor in the head with it. He fell to the ground, dropping the knife, and Faith reversed their positions by pinning him down.

They were nearing the Hyperion Hotel underground. While they walked, they looked around just in case Connor had brought Wes down in the sewers.

"So you think he might've gone to the Hyperion?" Gunn questioned. "Wasn't he never there, though?"

"I just want to be safe," Angel told him. "I just want to make sure."

"Your call, Boss."

Spike and Lorne still stood in the lobby when the door opened, and they both turned to look at who it was. For some reason, just the sound of the door opening surprised them, seeing as the door hadn't been doing much opening and closing lately.

Lorne didn't recognize who came through the door, sweating and looking like he was exhausted.

Spike rolled his eyes. "Oh, bloody hell," he muttered under his breath. "What are you doing here?"

Drogyn ran up to Spike and Lorne. "I am here to warn Angel. Where is he? There's an emergency with-"

"A boy getting partly infected by Illyria? Yeah, you're a bit late on this one."

"Sure, sure, but I'm here, and I have something to tell you. I know information about what happened to the boy. I have information about what we can do to help him."

Faith punched Connor again and again, like he had done to her. "You want to hurt Wes? Do you even know the group of people you're messing with?"

Connor spat blood into Faith's face. She wiped it away with a snarl. When she looked back at Connor, she was surprised, though.

He was thinking about it for a while. In his head Connor was trying to break through to let Faith know that he was here and that the thing attacking her was not Connor. Now, he figured this would be the perfect opportunity.

As Faith looked back at Connor she saw his eyes turn brown as the Illyria allowed Connor to break through for just a few seconds to distract Faith. Faith was surprised, much more surprised than she should have been, and when Illyria took back control in the next few seconds, she used Connor's body to push Faith's off of his. She flew into a wall on the ground and groaned.

He wasted no time in grabbing the knife off of the floor and running towards Faith. She was sitting up when Connor neared and easily thrust the knife into her stomach, similar to how Buffy had at one time. Keeping the knife inside her, he backed away a few steps. For some reason, he was feeling quite tired.

Faith stayed there, on the ground, unable to move as the blood pumped out of her body.

Wes was on the other side of the room screaming at Connor, screaming, "No, no Faith, no!"

Connor shook his head. He had to get out of there. It shouldn't be too long before Angel or the others figured it out. Connor turned and ran out of the office, and then out of the Hyperion Hotel.

Minutes later, Angel and Gunn came up from the sewers and made their way into the Hyperion Hotel. This brought a sense of familiarity to both of them. How long had it been since they were back here? It was nice to walk through the lobby and remember all those times with everyone. Three years they spent in the Hyperion Hotel. It brought a lot of emotions back.

It didn't take them long to see that a light in the office was on. They both hurried over there, just to see if Connor and Wes were there.

The first thing they saw was Wes on the floor with his hands tied above his head. Gunn ran towards him, but Angel noticed another pair of legs on the floor near the door. He turned and saw the pale face of Faith.

"Faith!" Angel yelled and dropped his ax. He kneeled down next to her and checked out her wound. The knife was still inside of her and she was shaking and sweating terribly. She wasn't dead yet, but she would be soon. Tears formed in Angel's eyes.

After Gunn untied Wes, he ran over to Faith and Angel. Wes stayed on the other side of the room, not quite ready to move yet.

"Angel," Gunn spoke hurriedly. "We have to do something, save her. We need to bring her to a hospital."

"There are no more hospitals," Angel said. "How can we save her?"

Gunn had his own tears forming. "We can't just let her die, Angel! She's a good person."

"I…I don't know what to do."

"You can save her, Angel. I mean, I know it ain't a good solution, but-"

"Gunn, no. You don't understand what it'd do to her, what it'd do to everyone. I can't save her, Gunn. I don't know what to do."

Gunn and Angel didn't know what else to say, what else to do.

Wes also came over and sat by Angel and Gunn in silence. He wanted to save Faith. There had to be a way, there had to be a way! She had come so far and now here she was, lying here, dying thanks to Connor/Illyria. No. No, she wouldn't die! She couldn't! But what could he do?

Angel heard her heart slowing…and slowing…and slowing…and slowing.

It stopped. Solemnly, he reached over and pulled the knife out of her gut. He put his head down and let many tears fall as he mourned the death of a great woman and friend. A great Slayer. She made some mistakes along the way, but who didn't? She came back, got redemption, and she didn't-

Coming from nowhere, there was a sharp intake of breath. Angel, Gunn, and Wes's heads snapped up and saw as Faith's eyes opened and she breathed in heavily. Angel looked down to see that the blood, all of her blood, was disappearing and the hole in her stomach was also going away. They were each mesmerized by what was going on, not understanding what was happening or what was doing this to her.

She looked around slowly, as if she was confused. Then, what happened before rushed back to her and she didn't know what to think. How…? Why…? What?

Her eyes widened. "Angel, you didn't-"

"No," Angel marveled at the impossible sight of Faith sitting here with them, alive. It was impossible and miraculous and against every law of nature. Nobody came to life just because. "I didn't do anything."

"Then how am I…alive?" Faith put her hands on her stomach, searching for the hole that should be there from the knife but was now gone.

"I don't know," Angel admitted.

She looked around the room. "So where's Connor?"

To be continued…