Anne walked in to Angel's office after all the noise from whatever commotion was going on happened. When she walked in, she saw an unfamiliar man and woman unconscious on the floor, shattered glass across the floor, and everybody staring at a spot on the floor with the exception of Angel pacing around and shaking his head. What was going on? Anne was curious, but she almost didn't want to disrupt whatever was going on here.
The door to his office made a noise as it opened, though, causing everyone to turn to her. She stood exactly still, unsure of what to do. It was awkward just standing there while they all stared.
"I-I was just wondering what exactly was going on," Anne started. "I mean, I'm only just down the hall, and I heard a lot of commotion. I didn't mean to interrupt anything. You know, actually, I should just go. Sorry, sorry. I'll just leave."
"No, Anne, wait," Gunn stopped her. He stepped in front of her. "Look, there's, um, a lot going on here, I think. Actually, you know what, I'll tell you everything. We should get outta here."
Nobody stopped them as Gunn and Anne left the office. Nobody was really sure how to react to Harmony's death. They weren't terribly sad, really, but they weren't happy about the fact either.
Finally, Spike spoke.
"Why did she do that?" he asked. "I'm not sayin' Harm was the nicest vampire or the best fighter or even slightly not annoying, but she didn't deserve to die. Why would Faith do that and then just disappear? Is she back in Rome? She better be after what she did. She was trying to kill me, that was why Harm died."
"Spike, I don't think it was Faith," Angel defended her. "It was her body, but it wasn't her. It's all too coincidental."
"No doubt," Fred agreed. "These two people came in here and attacked us for no reason at the same time Faith acted out."
"Connor?" Wesley suggested.
"No," Angel shook his head. "This wasn't Connor. This was Illyria."
"Woo hoo, go geniuses, figure out the mystery," Lilah sarcastically cheered.
Faith was sitting back, resting for a little while until Willow was done getting the teleportation spell ready again. This time, it would take a little extra magic, seeing as she was going to be coming with Faith. She felt better knowing that Willow was coming with her and they might be able to stop Illyria and save Connor, even if Angel hadn't agreed to the plan to release Illyria yet. Still, they'd be prepared.
Buffy walked to Faith and sat next to her on the couch. She didn't say anything at first, didn't speak because she wasn't sure what she could say. There was a surfeit of questions and thoughts going through her mind that she just couldn't articulate. Where should she begin? She had so many things she wanted to say to Faith.
Everyone in the room was silent, not knowing what to say. For once, even Andrew was quiet, which was a bit of a shock. On the couch, Buffy couldn't keep quiet any longer, though.
"You can't go back to L.A.," Buffy told her slowly and quietly.
Faith turned to Buffy in the same calm manner. "What are you talking about, B?"
"You've clearly been through some insane stuff in L.A. You had your shot. It's my turn to go and see what's going on."
"Nope. Don't argue me on this, I'm going back."
"Faith, I can't just let you go with Willow and not know what's going on. This isn't about you; this is about all of us. I need to know what's going on."
"Look, we'll explain everything later. You don't need to be there, and I do. They have to know that what I did I didn't mean to do. I didn't mean to do that to Harmony."
Buffy frowned. "Harmony?"
"Yeah, she is—was—in L.A. working for Angel and all them." Faith stood up in front of Buffy to enunciate her point that she needed to go back to L.A. "You just can't go back, Buffy, I'm telling you. You don't know what's going on back there and if you and Willow were to go then there'd just be more confusion."
The truth was that Faith was right. Buffy didn't like that, though. She couldn't be right about this, she couldn't, not when Willow was going to possibly save the world and Angel was there, maybe in trouble and Spike was there still alive. She needed to go, and Faith was probably correct in the fact that Buffy going would just add to more confusion, but she wouldn't deny herself the fact that she wanted to go to L.A. It had been days, and she still had absolutely no idea why half of the world suddenly died and why part of Los Angeles was safe.
"Fine," Buffy said and stood up as well. "You can go, Faith. You do have business there, I understand. But I'm going too."
Now, everyone in the room turned to her. Was she serious? Would Buffy really just up and leave to go to L.A.?
"What?" Faith questioned.
"I'm going to L.A. too. Don't try to convince me otherwise, my mind is made up."
"What about me?" Dawn inquired. "You're just going to leave me here, all alone? And what about all the Slayers? Most of them are still angry, Buffy, still waiting to hear about L.A. and waiting to hear if they can go stake Angel for what happened."
"You won't be alone," Buffy told her sister. "You'll have Oz, Andrew, and Kennedy here. As for the Slayers, Kennedy, I'll need your help to watch over them all just in case. Would you mind?"
"No problem," Kennedy said, but wearily looked over to where Oz was standing. Would it really just be her, Oz, Andrew, and Dawn alone in this apartment? Even she knew that she and Oz nearly alone didn't seem like too much of a good idea. Things were just too awkward between them, and Kennedy didn't know how she'd react if Oz tried to talk to her about Willow. She was protective of her girlfriend, and she wasn't just suddenly about to let that go.
"Buffy, I-"
"Faith, you can't argue me on this. I need to go."
She wasn't sure how she felt about it. Faith figured that maybe it would be okay for Buffy to go, as long as she went as well, but still, there was a nagging feeling in her chest that this may cause confusion amongst Angel and Spike.
"Could you bring me with?" Buffy asked Willow. She nodded. "Good. Faith, I really don't mean to be taking control here, I just need to know what's going on, and it's about time I found out."
"No, it's fine," Faith said with little emotion, still not sure if she was 100% okay with the idea. "Do whatever you want. Just don't get in my way."
"You can't just let her talk to you like that," Kennedy spoke up. "Buffy, you're the boss here."
"No, she's right," Buffy agreed with Faith. "You're the one who's connected there, Faith. This is your operation; I'm just coming along to answer the questions I need answered."
Faith wouldn't disagree with that. It actually sounded perfect—Faith would be able to deal with her own business and Buffy would deal with her own.
Connor/Illyria left Wolfram & Hart. Because of the connection to Jack and Mandy, he knew that they had been temporarily…taken care of. Illyria didn't care long enough to wait for them to be better and turned around to walk away. There were more important things that could be dealt with.
Walking away, a thought appeared. Anyone who died, at this point, would be under Illyria's control. With an army, Illyria would have all the power that was needed to take Angel and his friends down.
That was what she wanted, wasn't it? To kill Angel. For a while she was distracted from the main goal and lost track of what she was doing, but now things would be different. Angel would die. Connor/Illyria would have an army behind them that could be easily controlled. There was no bad side to this situation. Angel would be no match against an army controlled by Illyria who was in control of Connor.
Everything was explained to Anne by Gunn and, boy, was it a lot of intense information. Gunn had to tell her about Connor and about Illyria and about everything that happened to the world and what has been happening and by the time Anne was all caught up, she wasn't sure if she would be able to keep up with these people. They clearly had a lot going on, and in some way she was a part of it now, but it was still a lot to take in. Trying to keep up with what was going on was purely exhausting. Gunn was lucky Anne was quick enough to follow what he was saying. She just had one question which, actually, was a common question amongst all of the people involved in this.
"Will you really be able to stop this Illyria from rising if you were to release her in a body?"
"That's the big question," Gunn told her. "We don't know. Not even Drogyn knows. I don't think we need to worry about that too much, though. I ain't got no idea if Angel's really considering releasing Illyria fully again."
"But he wouldn't be releasing her," Anne opinionated. "He would be putting her inside someone and saving his son and stopping her."
"If it works," Gunn added.
"And if it didn't?"
"Then Illyria would rise and most likely give all hell to the world."
Anne nodded, understanding. "So Angel hasn't decided what to do yet?"
"No, he should be soon, though. I really don't know what he'll choose. None of these options he have seem right, even the releasing Illyria one. I mean, think about it. Lilah—who is such a bad person she literally is in Hell most of the time—came up with the idea of stopping Illyria when she is undetected in the 'shells' system, before she's started to officially take control. Now, I don't trust Lilah—no one does. I feel like she has somethin' planned. Anyway, when Fred first got infected or whatever, sure, nobody knew about it for a little while, but that doesn't automatically mean Illyria will be weak enough to just be frozen in place."
"Didn't Drogyn say that was when she was at her weakest?"
"But we don't know, is what I'm saying. I mean, maybe it makes sense in a sort of messed up way, but maybe it doesn't at the same time."
"It's Angel's son. He has the right to make this decision, doesn't he?"
"I'm not sayin' he doesn't. I'm just hoping he thinks about how everyone else could be affected as well."
Silence fell upon the office. Neither knew what could be said in the moment anymore, now that everything was covered. Anne wasn't sure where she stood on the subject. Angel couldn't kill Connor, obviously. She pretty much knew what it was like for your own kids to die and…
She shouldn't go there. Not now.
She also understood what Gunn said Angel said about not wanting Connor to be in a constant fight with his own body 24/7. So what did that leave? Releasing Illyria? Anne couldn't say she was opposed to the idea, not that Angel would really care about her opinion enough to do what she said. She just thought that, even if it was just a possibility, saving Connor and stopping Illyria would be like killing two birds with one stone. If they really knew a witch so powerful, why did they doubt the idea that Illyria could be stopped at all? It didn't make much sense.
"We should get back to Angel and the others," Gunn suggested. "Whether you want to be or not, I think you're an official part of this now."
"Oh, Gunn," Anne said with a bright smile and a hint of sarcasm, "I wouldn't want it any other way."
Though everyone was still in Angel's office (except for Gunn and Anne still), everyone seemed to gather off to other places and with certain people. Angel and Spike kept together, going over to the man and woman and tying them up, waiting for them to awaken. Lorne and Drogyn were staying near each other, at the table, but neither was saying anything, not in the mood for conversation. Lorne was mourning Harmony, a vampire who did not deserve to die and a friend of his he'd grown fond of, and Drogyn wasn't really the talkative type. Lilah was in the back, by Angel's desk, messing with her incorporeal form by trying to pick things up and failing while at the same time keeping a secret eye on Wes and Fred (who gathered over by the window), although she wasn't sure why she watched them. There was nothing she could do, nothing she wanted to do, but she just couldn't deny how much she disliked the fact that Wesley finally had the "sweet", nothing-but-skin-and-bones Texan girl he'd longed for so long for.
"How are you feeling?" Fred asked Wesley.
"Tired," Wes admitted. "A lot has happened. All this information in my head is still bugging me, nagging at my skull, and now with this man and woman who attacked us and Faith killing Harmony and them all being controlled by Illyria—it's just too much all at once."
"I know what you mean," she said, taking his hand in hers. "We're good though, right? I just need to know how you feel. I need to know that even with all this craziness going on around us, we can stay strong, you can stay strong."
"I'm fine. Really, Fred, I am. I understand how you all feel, I truly do. I'm affected by what I did, and me alone at this point, so I need to cope with that. And I know you'll help me and be there for me every step of the way. You're an astounding person, Fred. You always were. You're what's going to pull me through this."
"You give me too much credit," Fred said, blushing.
"I love you. I know you know that. I want to be with you forever. I know that sounds like the beginning of some proposal speech, and it's not; I just want you to know I have absolutely no intention of leaving."
"Me neither."
They kissed. It was amazing. Fred felt the chills, the sparks she always felt when they kissed. And, as usual, when they pulled apart she found herself longing for more.
Off to the side, Gunn and Anne reentered the office. A few minutes after they did, the man started to wake up, although the woman stayed unconscious.
"What'd you do that for?" Angel questioned him, not wasting any time. He wanted to get to the bottom of this just to be absolutely sure that they were under the influence of Illyria. "Why did you come in here?"
"He…he did it." The man started to say. "Blue eyes. Such bright blue eyes."
"What did he do?" Spike now asked.
"There was a…a knife. And then darkness. Then he orders me around and I'm doing whatever he says. Oh, God, what happened?" The more the man spoke, the faster the words started coming out.
Angel knew, and so did everyone else. Connor/Illyria killed them both, the man and the woman, and discovered the power to control them. That wasn't good, obviously. Now that Illyria knew she could have control over anybody she killed, the standards were certainly more dangerous. Angel needed to stop this, and stop it now. The problem was: he still wasn't sure what to do with Connor. It was time to decide, though, and he needed to think.
Dawn, Andrew, Oz, and Kennedy were left alone after Buffy, Faith, and Willow left. At first, awkward silence ensued. Nobody knew what exactly could be said. They were all worried, but on top of that Oz and Kennedy had some extra awkwardness going on.
Oz had no idea how long they'd be gone, so he had no idea how much time he'd be spending with Kennedy. All he knew was that he still wanted to talk to her about him staying, because he was positive he was going to. It didn't matter what she thought of it, he just wanted to tell her and make it clear why exactly he was staying—not just for Willow or anything, but for Buffy also and the Slayers and everything insane going on in the world. They could use his help, and he was more than willing to do it.
Still, how could he explain that to Kennedy? He'd just have to hope she just understood.
Oz wanted to talk to her, but now wasn't the time, after they just left. He'd have to wait. That wasn't that big of a deal. It wasn't like he or Kennedy were going anywhere anytime soon.
As unexpected as it was, a semi-bright light appeared out of nowhere inside of Angel's office. It was in the middle of the room, near where Harmony died, and it was impossible not to notice. It died down soon enough, though, and Buffy, Faith, and Willow found themselves surrounded by kind of a large amount of people.
Spike saw Faith first and nearly grimaced. He knew she wasn't in control, but whatever, she killed Harmony. He didn't know he'd be this concerned about Harm's death. It was sad, just plain sad. And then he noticed Buffy.
Angel noticed her too.
"Hey guys," Faith tried to open coolly. "Look, first off you have to understand what happened. I wasn't in control, I wasn't-"
"We figured that out already," Lilah told her. "That's been the big drama over here, you killing Harmony."
"You killed Harmony?" Willow asked, clearly surprised.
"Buffy," Angel said, interrupting. He stepped forward. "It's good to see you." He paused. "You too, Willow. What-what are you guys doing here?"
Spike couldn't bring himself to step forward or talk to Buffy himself. This was the first time seeing her since his supposed "death."
"I decided to come," Buffy explained not to just Angel, but to everybody. "I thought maybe you guys could use some extra help with whatever is going on over here. Faith brought Will here, really."
"Why?" Angel directed the question towards Faith.
"Angel, what I did, it made me realize what we have to do. You can't kill Connor, I know that, we all know. And if he's fighting over control, then so many other people are in danger as well. The only way we can make a difference, Angel, is if we release Illyria and stop her inside the body like Lilah suggested and like Drogyn said might be possible."
"Faith, she's an Old One," Angel shook his head. "We don't know if freezing her inside the body before she took control would even work."
"W-wait," Willow stopped them. "That's why I'm here? You want me to stop an Old One from entering someone's body?"
"No, we'd want you to freeze Illyria and everything else inside of the person, including the person, in order to stop her from fully rising."
"Angel, I know a little bit about Old Ones," Willow said. "I don't know if that'll work or if I could even do that. That sounds like a lot and it sounds very dangerous and I can't use too much magic or, or-"
"Willow, I know. That's why I'd never ask you to do it."
"It's the only way," Faith argued.
"She's right, Angel, and you know it," Lilah said, stepping forward. "I don't know you, Willow, but if you're as powerful as they say you are, you'll be able to do it without a doubt. This will save the world, and Angel's son. And as I'm saying this I have no idea why I'm helping you people since you can't even seem to help yourselves."
"There's a risk," Angel defended himself.
"There's a risk no matter what!" Lilah responded. "There's always the chance that you won't be able to catch Connor to kill him or that you'll never have the opportunity to teach him to fight her. Releasing Illyria is the only true pure way to save your son and stop her once and for all."
Neither Buffy nor Willow knew who Lilah was, but that didn't matter. They were both essentially trying to keep up with all of the conversation, trying not to bud in. Buffy had no idea what to say or if she could even say anything to what was going on around them. For now, this was between Angel and his friends, not including her. In fact, she was pretty lost. Willow was too, except for the fact that she knew about the Old One she was supposed to freeze inside someone's body or something like that.
"Maybe she's right," Anne said, surprising everybody. She wasn't exactly a "main" part of their group, but she was being really sincere. "Angel sacrificed so much for Illyria to be stopped only to have his son ripped from his life. You deserve to have her gone forever and to have your son back into your life."
"Even if I agreed, there are still complications," Angel told them all. "Willow doesn't want to do the spell and nobody in this entire world would want to sacrifice themselves to be frozen with an Old One also frozen inside of them."
"I never said I wouldn't do it," Willow shrugged. "I mean, if-if I must, if it'll save the world, I will. I'll try."
Angel didn't know what to do. Were they right? Should he do this?
He looked around the room at his friends. They all looked sympathetic. They'd agree with his decisions because they loved him, and if they didn't agree they'd definitely tell him. He couldn't put it off any longer.
"Fine, maybe you're right." Angel spoke, shaking his head. "I guess we have to try, right? It might be the only true way to save Connor and make sure nobody else dies like Harmony." He took a second to think about Harmony and remember her. "If you guys agree, maybe releasing Illyria is the best chance we have."
Was he making the right choice? He wasn't so sure.