Connor/Illyria was awake and Illyria was keeping the eyes closed. Connor's ears took in everything they were saying. They had a plan, and that was to release Illyria. They were going to release Illyria into another body. That excited the Illyria inside Connor and she longed for the feeling to be connected fully to herself again. Of course, there was a catch that Illyria became aware of. They weren't just going to release her into a body; they wanted to freeze her inside someone to keep her from taking control.

That couldn't happen. It would be better to only be some of Illyria inside of a super being who could make everyone her slave than to be full but stuck inside a shell, unable to take control. That meant she needed to escape this place somehow, needed to fight. She tried calling to her "army" but there was no hope. When would they wake up?

It didn't click until she heard Faith's voice. The ones who brought her here were idiots. Okay, they didn't know she was awake, but they did know she could control Faith, didn't they? Oh well, their mistake could be her key to escaping. That is, if she needed to use Faith to escape. She just had to wait a little longer…

"Anne, no, you can't do that," Gunn immediately said. Anne had just said that she'd do it; she'd allow Illyria to enter her body and then allow Willow to lock everything inside of Anne and basically freeze Anne to trap Illyria. The thing was, Anne would be…what? Frozen? Not, like, ice-around-her-body frozen, but literally locked in place, right? And Anne would basically be dead. No. Anne didn't deserve to die, whether she was willing to or not. Gunn wouldn't allow that to happen, and he hoped Angel and Wes and Fred and everyone else wouldn't allow that either.

"Gunn, it's my choice," she tried to tell him.

"No, it's not!" He argued. "Look, you're upset. We all know that. You put your life into saving people and, well, not everything went as planned. Just because people you care about are gone, though, doesn't mean you should give your life. If anything, it means that you shouldn't take your life. You have to know how important life is now and that you can't just give it up."

"I wouldn't be just 'giving it up.' Gunn, everybody, I started the shelter to make a difference. I wanted to save lives, to keep teenagers from turning out pretty much like I did as a teen. Do you understand what I'd be doing if I let Illyria come inside me? I'd be making a huge difference, possibly saving the entire world. I don't see how that's a bad thing."

Gunn was ready to keep arguing. He was about to start yelling, too. She was being ridiculous. Before Gunn could continue, Angel interrupted.

"We don't have to decide anything now," he started. "We still have some time before Drogyn gets back."

"We can't let her do this," Gunn tried to continue.

"We don't know when Drogyn will be back," Angel ignored Gunn. What could he even say to Gunn? He didn't want Anne to give up her life. Of course he didn't. But it was her choice, wasn't it? Or maybe he shouldn't allow her to do it, anyway. He didn't know. Not yet. "We should all get some rest. It's been a long night. When Drogyn comes back, we'll get up again and discuss this more."

No one seemed to take in what Angel was saying. How could they possibly go to sleep, now, when they were so close to ending this thing with Connor once and for all?

Still, it wasn't like they could do anything while Drogyn was gone.

Wes and Fred were to first to leave the office, going to their own office. Lilah also left, saying she was going to go look around and maybe scare a few familiar faces (seeing as she couldn't really lay on anything to sleep, even if she could or wanted to sleep). Gunn and Anne then left. Angel had a feeling that they would continue their argument in another office.

Willow, Buffy, Faith, Spike, and Angel were left.

"Where should we go?" Willow asked.

"There are plenty of open offices," Angel suggested. "You guys could sleep in any ones you'd like."

Buffy gave him a small smile, and he found it hard to swallow. Buffy being here, so close yet again, yet so far, was taking its toll on him. It was making him stress out about Spike and her and it was bringing back so many memories of her. They used to be so…inseparable. She was the love of his life, and he her, and they thought it would always be that way. It hadn't, really, seeing as she fell into relationships with others such as Riley and Spike and Angel found his own love in Cordelia; but still, he couldn't deny the fact that Buffy was still…Buffy. There would always be something between them. Maybe.

She and Willow left. Angel found it easier to speak again.

"Faith, I have to ask you a favor."

"What's up?" Faith stepped forward. Angel felt thankful because he knew that Faith would be there and listen to what he had to say.

"We have to tie you up," he said.

"Angel, I like you, but not that much."

"What? No," he shook his head. "With Illyria here, she has control over you. When she wakes up…well, you're a danger. We can't have that here, not now, when we're so close. I hope you understand."

Faith shrugged. "I do. It makes sense, really. Spike can help me find ropes or chains or whatever, right Spike?"

"Whatever," Spike responded. And they left.

Angel was alone with Connor/Illyria. As Angel turned away, he didn't notice Connor's blue eyes open and a smile appear on his face.

Wes and Fred went back to Wes's office, where there was plenty of room. It was hard for both of them to think that just a while ago they both got attacked by memories of what truly happened in the past. It seemed like so long ago already. Now here they were; Wes was okay but not fully recovered and Fred was concerned about Wesley, yes, but also about Anne.

"What do you think about what Anne said?" she asked Wesley when they were in the office, alone.

"I think it's her decision," Wes answered neutrally.

"Oh, come on," Fred pushed. "Gunn thinks it's a terrible idea. What do you think? And don't be neutral."

Wes chuckled. "Well, if I was going to be honest, I wouldn't want her to do it either, on one hand. On the other, it's her choice, and if she believes that's how she wants to make a difference, then who would we be to stand in her way?"

"I guess you're right," Fred sighed. "She just seems like such a good person. It'd be sad to see her give her life for this."

"Not sad, necessarily. Maybe it'd be heroic and brave and none of us would ever forget her because of it."

"Well, still. There has to be someone else."

"If there is, we'll find out later. We should get some sleep, like Angel suggested."

"Yeah, maybe," Fred joked.

Wes and she kissed and then they lied down and tried to get some sleep. It wasn't coming easily, and they both lied awake for a little while, just talking. It was great to just lie back and talk. At a certain point, a comfortable silence ensued and Wes's eyes closed as he thought about the exhausting night. Fred fell asleep closely after.

Buffy and Willow decided to stick with each other and sleep in an office together. When they found one, it didn't take long for them to get situated. They didn't really have any choices other than sleep in a chair, on the floor, or on the desk.

"Well, this is fun," Buffy commented sarcastically.

"Could be a lot worse," Willow suggested. "We could have to hide out in Xander's basement again."

"Ah, yes," Buffy admitted. "It could get worse."

They attempted to make themselves comfortable on the floor. In reality, Willow probably could've used magic to create a bed in here, but Willow was wary and didn't want to use more magic for the night. As she got on the floor, she wondered about Rome. How were Kennedy, Oz, Dawn, and Andrew doing? More specifically: How were Kennedy and Oz doing? They hadn't exactly "made nice" when Willow left them, and she was starting to think maybe that wasn't such a good idea. She had a distant memory of Oz and Tara…Tara's scent…Oz wolfing out.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. She shouldn't have left. If Oz wolfed out or if Kennedy got worked up…

Willow sighed. This wasn't fair.

"What's wrong?" Buffy noticed her best friend's distress.

"I'm worried," she responded openly. "Oz and Kennedy left alone, that's pretty much a, a recipe for disaster. I should've never come here."

"Willow, they need you here. If you hadn't been there to get rid of all those people Illyria had control over, who knows what would've happened. We could have lost. Maybe Illyria would have control over all of us, then. Who knows? And besides, Oz and Kennedy will be fine. They're not alone—Dawn and Andrew are there."

"But for how long? Eventually they'll be alone together and who knows what could happen."

"Will, we won't be gone for too long. Tomorrow that guy Drogyn comes back, you do the spell, and then we go back home. Everything will be fine."

"Yeah, but that seems too perfect. Something has to go bad, you know, just because. What if this plan doesn't work?"

Buffy stared up at the ceiling. "It has to work, Will. It has to."

"Oz, Kennedy, we're back," Dawn and Andrew announced as they made their way back into the apartment. They found Oz sitting on the couch, facing the TV, and flipping through many endless channels that weren't in English. It didn't seem like anything good was on in any language, anyway. It made sense nothing would be on, Dawn figured, given that half the world was gone. No more American TV shows, she supposed.

"Where's Kennedy?" Andrew asked, sort of collapsing on the couch next to Oz.

Oz scooted over, further from Andrew. "The Slayer School. Said she'd be back."

"Have you heard from Buffy? Has she called?" the excitement and nervousness in her voice was evident. She was worried about her sister.

He shook his head. "Sorry, Dawn."

The three sat in awkward silence, nobody knowing what else could be said.

Anne began to follow Gunn back to his office, but about halfway there started to wonder if that was such a good idea. Gunn seemed angry, and surely he wouldn't want her to sleep in there, so near to him. She should really go somewhere else; find a different office for her to fall asleep in.

Unfortunately, before she could really think more about leaving, they arrived. They both walked inside the office silently. Anne wasn't sure what to expect here. Was Gunn going to continue his argument as to why she shouldn't do it? Or was he going to drop it and just leave it for tomorrow? Either way, what was she going to do? Discuss it more with him or let it go for now?

"I don't want you to do it," Gunn spoke softly. "You already know that. I just don't think you should do it." He took a shaky breath. "It's your decision, though. And that's it. I don't think anything I could say would change your mind anyway. We should get some sleep."

"Gunn, I don't want it to be like that," Anne tried to talk to him. "Truthfully, I'm not sure if I'm, like, 100% sure about doing this. I think it'd be a great way to help, and that way we don't have to, I don't know, go out on the streets and ask a bunch of random people if they'd be willing to give up their lives for Illyria. This isn't just about me losing my kids or anything. I mean, maybe it is about them. I couldn't save them, so now I want to play a part in saving the world. I don't know. I don't know, Gunn. Maybe I will change my mind. Maybe I won't."

Gunn didn't know what to say to her. She could be right. It was her decision, like she had said.

Still.

He didn't want to lose her. With Willow earlier tonight, he might have just discovered that he had feelings for Anne. And now she was going to let Illyria inside of her. Just because he couldn't really see the reason behind her doing that, though, didn't mean that she didn't have a reason.

"I'll support you no matter what," he finally responded. "Or, I'll try."

Anne smiled. "Thank you, Gunn."

There was nothing else for either of them to say. Anne was faced with this decision now. She said she'd do it, but of course Angel and everyone would understand if tomorrow morning she told them never mind. She could still think about this for a little while longer. It wasn't set in stone. What did she really, really want to do, deep inside? What did she feel was right?

These questions she pondered kept her awake during the night.

Hours passed, with everyone asleep. Faith was tied up tightly so she couldn't get out, and Spike was staying nearby just in case. Back upstairs, Angel slept also, but in his desk chair rather than in his own actual room. He didn't want to leave just in case something happened up here, and he figured that with Illyria here, if she were to try something Angel would hear and wake up. Connor was still on the ground, hands behind his back placed there by the magical-like handcuffs placed by Willow that couldn't really seem to be broken.

With Angel finally asleep, though, Illyria tried more persistently to break free. It wasn't working. Those handcuffs or whatever Willow did were unbreakable.

Illyria groaned. Then she grinned. What would it be like, to have control over a witch? Would she be able to force the witch to do spells? It was something fun to think about, certainly. If Illyria were to have a witch like Willow in her army, things would certainly be easier. Maybe she'd add that to the list of objectives. Kill Willow.

First off, though, there were more…pressing…matters. She was trapped. She needed to escape.

It wasn't like Angel had tied Connor up or anything, it was just these handcuffs. That meant she could escape generally easy. Unfortunately, what good would it do her if she were to escape with her hands still locked in this positing? It wouldn't exactly be easy to gather an army like this. She needed Willow to drop the spell on these handcuffs so she could actually get out of here. The witch wasn't going to do that, though.

Or maybe she would. Illyria would just need some sort of leverage. That shouldn't be too hard to come by. Illyria looked over at sleeping Angel. What would happen if she killed a vampire, she wondered? Would he turn to dust and then come back to an un-dead life? Maybe she could try and find out.

After a few attempts, Illyria stood up. She could do anything now. She could run, she could try to attack; she could go after the witch. What did she think was smartest?

"I hope you're not planning on doing anything," a small voice near the door said.

Illyria turned over and saw a woman standing there, watching her. She hadn't noticed her before.

"Lilah," Illyria said quietly, trying not to wake Angel up.

"The one and only," Lilah stated almost proudly. "What do you think you're doing up?"

"I just want these handcuffs off."

"Yeah, the witch probably made them impossible to get off of you. That sucks. You're not going to be escaping from those any time soon."

The witch. Illyria smiled. She knew all of what Connor knew about this woman, and that wasn't that much, other than the fact that she was evil and dead. She also knew that Lilah was incorporeal, based on earlier.

"The boss isn't as stupid as I thought," Lilah continued. "Sure, he basically let you roam free, but you can't escape and going anywhere stuck like that would be pointless. He locked Faith up so even with you inside her head she wouldn't escape. And Spike told me I should keep an eye on things up here, just in case you did try something if you woke up. I figure that probably has something to do with Angel's orders."

"Where's the witch?" Illyria asked. "I need her to lift this spell."

"Good luck with that. If you move one step towards me or anywhere else I'll wake up everybody."

"You can come with me, Lilah. You could be a part of my army that'll very soon rule the world. It won't be that hard."

Lilah burst into laughter. "Do you realize who you're talking to? You do realize I'm dead, right? Plus, I'm here to stick with Angel and the goody-goodies, not run off. Since you're so adamant on escaping, though, I'll wake Angel and he can knock you out again."

At the sound of his name, Angel, still asleep, groaned.

Illyria cursed. She wasn't going to escape. She was stuck here. She tried to tap into Faith, but knew that Faith was basically locked up. Faith wasn't going to be escaping anything, no matter what.

"Fine," Illyria gave up. "I'm staying. I guess I have no choice."

Then Illyria felt something else playing with her mind, or Connor's mind, or whatever. There was another option, other than Faith. Actually, there were two options, two options that Angel had overlooked, two options that weren't knocked out because they weren't with Illyria at the time Willow knocked the whole army out. They were here, and Angel had made the stupid mistake of overlooking them. It was a stupid mistake to forget about the man and woman that Illyria sent in here at the same time she had Faith kill Harmony, but it was understandable. Angel was exhausted, wiped out mentally and physically, it almost made sense to forget about two unimportant people. But Illyria wasn't done yet. She tapped into the two peoples heads and sent them searching. This wouldn't be over yet. Illyria always had a few tricks up Connor's sleeve.

Kennedy arrived back at the apartment a little while later. She came back as slow as possible in order to avoid any more confrontation with Oz. Of course, just her luck, when she arrived back everyone was still up and awake and just sitting there.

"Hey Kennedy," both Dawn and Andrew greeted.

"Hi," Oz said quietly after Dawn and Andrew.

"Hi," she responded to them.

"How're the Slayers?" Andrew questioned.

"Oh, they're fine. Still a little angry, but they're okay."

Oz thought about their last conversation. She had gotten mad, maybe madder than she should have, and thought everything was about Willow. It wasn't about Willow. Why couldn't she see that? Oz had meditated again, but just thinking about their last conversation kind of got him angry. He didn't want to be angry.

He knew he couldn't get overly angry. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Kennedy found herself saying in Oz's direction. She wasn't really sure why she said it because she really wasn't sorry. But Oz was going to stay, wasn't he? She had to try and…get used to it, she supposed. For Willow.

With that, she walked away. Oz could tell that she didn't really mean the apology, so their problems weren't exactly solved. Still, they were closer to being friendly, in a way. They still had other issues to work out, of course.

"I don't remember ever hearing her apologize before," Andrew observed.

Jack, the man Illyria had control over, was staring at Faith and Spike. They were in an office with a large table and many chairs inside. Faith was tied to one of those chairs with plenty or rope, and Spike was sleeping in a different chair with his legs put up on the table. They were both definitely asleep.

In his mind, Jack knew he didn't want to do this. He was being forced to, though. The voice of Illyria in his head was telling him he needed to do this now.

He pulled out a knife he found around the building and slowly entered the room. A knife wouldn't kill Spike, if he were to awaken. Hopefully, if everything went as planned, he wouldn't wake up.

The plan was to get to Faith. If he could cut the ropes off without waking her up (because surely she'd then wake Spike up) then Illyria could get inside Faith's head and use her. It was no doubt that Faith would be better to use anyway, given her super strength. All he had to do was cut the ropes off of her. That was it. Such a simple task, yet so hard.

Could he do it?

He neared Faith as silently as he could, knife slightly raised at the same length as the ropes were tied to her. He stopped when he arrived behind her. He slowly bent down and placed the knife against the rope. He had to do this without waking her. He could do it.

He started cutting the rope. It wasn't easy to do, certainly not when he couldn't wake her up. He was doing it, though, and—wow, he was almost halfway done! But he couldn't cut this rope, and he didn't know why, so he started cutting harder and faster and it must've been too fast because he heard a gasp come from Faith's mouth.

She was awake.

He then began to cut at the rope as furiously as he could.

"Spike!" Faith called, immediately knowing that something was wrong; these ropes were being cut off behind her!

Spike jumped up and saw the ropes falling off around Faith and that the bloke from earlier was behind her, cutting the ropes.

At the same time, Illyria entered Faith's mind. Faith used her strength to break the rest of the rope off of her body and she stood up. Seeing Spike, Illyria told her to take out the stake that she had. Faith pulled it out.

"Faith, you can't do this. Don't let her get to you. Fight her." Spike tried to plead with her, to get her to take control. She had to, or else Spike knew that they were going to have to fight.

Faith couldn't fight her. She was going to do whatever Illyria wanted.

Kill him, Illyria ordered Faith. She was going to follow Illyria's orders whether she wanted to or not. Faith attacked.