Buffy and Cordelia were tied to chairs and an invisible girl was threatening to cut them up. 'Definitely not a good day.' Xander thought. He'd insisted on helping guard Cordelia, then he'd gotten knocked out and now he was frantically trying to think up a way to distract the invisible girl, who they'd discovered was a classmate named Marcie Ross, who'd been ignored to the point of going invisible. No wonder she'd gone kinda crazy. "Marcie, whatever you think, it wasn't Cordelia's fault. She didn't do this to you. Not on purpose. None of us did this on purpose. It was an accident. I'm going to tell you a secret Marcie. Underneath this school is a literal doorway to Hell. You've been invisible long enough to know there's more to Sunnydale then you see on the surface. You know about the monsters, don't you?"

"Vampires. They're real? I'm not imagining them?"

"They're real Marcie. They're real because Hell is literally under our feet. It's the energy it gives off that did this to you. Not Cordelia. It made her not see you. It made us all not see you. Because monsters like to cause pain and misery. We're a reality show for them, Marcie. You do this and they get a big chuckle from it. Don't let them win, Marcie. I see you. Ever since I saw your picture in the yearbook, I've been remembering. You're funny. For the eighth grade talent show, you told jokes. Good jokes. We may not have been friends, Marcie, but I still knew you existed. They made us forget you, Marcie. Don't let them win. See yourself. Remember yourself."

"You thought my jokes were funny? Which was your favorite?"

"The one about sending the clown to the moon. I really don't like clowns."

"I don't like them either." She was flickering in front of him.

"Welcome back, Marcie. You beat them." He told her as she smiled at him.

"Come on, help me untie Buffy and Cordelia and then we'll see about getting you some help. Where are your parents, Marcie?"

"They forgot about me too."

"Well let's go remind them that they have a funny daughter, shall we?"

"So, once they saw her, they did remember her. It's funny, it's like there's no gap in their memory. It's been months since she was home, but they're seamless. They think they had supper with her last night." Xander told the group, including Cordelia, once they were back in the library. "I suggested she talk to the school counselor. Of course. she can't tell them she literally went invisible or about the vampires, but she can tell them she feels invisible. Hopefully, it helps."

"Were you serious about a door to Hell, Xander? And vampires?" Cordelia asked.

"Yes." Willow piped up. "Giles and I were trapped in the boiler room by Marcie. Angel saved us. Angel's a vampire. The only one with a soul. He was cursed by gypsies. Show her your game face, Angel."

"Alright." He said and shifted his face, scaring the crap out of Cordelia in the process.

"Oh gross!"

"Angel's Buffy boyfriend." Willow said. "He helps us."

"Helps with what?"

"It's a secret, Cordelia. You can't tell anyone." And Giles told her about Slayers and demons and everything they'd been dealing with for months.

"So the attack on the Bronze was vampires not a gang? Wait, Jesse?"

"Yeah, they got Jesse. It wasn't him anymore, Cordelia. Aside from Angel, no other vampires have a soul. And all vampires, Angel included, are demonically animated corpses. That means the soul Angel's got is sharing head space with a demon." As Buffy and Willow glared at him. Not that he cared. He wanted to make sure Cordelia understood exactly what they were dealing with. "After I pulled Jesse off of you, I tried to see if there was anything of Jesse in there. There wasn't. Just a cruel smirk and that thing wearing his face, insisting it was having fun. Vampires really do turn to dust when you stick a stake in their chests. Jesse dusted on a stake I was holding. I gathered what was left the next day and buried it under the memorial stone his mom put up."

"Xander, you never told me that!" Willow exclaimed.

"Actually, yes I did. When I asked you to come visit his memorial with me. But you didn't want to and you never want to talk about him. If we don't talk about him, then we'll forget about him. He doesn't deserve to be forgotten. Cordy, I know you didn't like the way he fawned all over you, but he would have grown out of it. And he had the great taste to know you're the hottest girl in school."

"Well, duh." She smiled that brilliant smile of hers. Yeah, maybe finding out if snarky bitch was still in there was a worthwhile goal.

"Well, if there's nothing else, I suggest we call it a night." Giles said.

"Oh, I've gotta go. The nomination! My election!" Cordelia exclaimed and ran for the door.

"Wow, her priorities are certainly in order." Willow snarked.

Xander frowned. "She just wants a little piece of normality after everything that happened. It's alot and it's overwhelming. Give her a break, she nearly had her face carved up tonight."

"I'm going to go too." Angel said. "I'll find that book for you, Giles."

"Yes, that would be most helpful, thank you." Giles answered, as everyone headed for the door. Xander made a mental note to check up on Marcie and headed for his house, grateful that another Hellmouth experience had been successfully resolved and wondering what the next one would be.