Xander looked up at the sky. It was darker than he remembered it, but he wasn't sure if that was just because there were no stars out tonight, or if his memory was somehow failing him. It had been so long since they'd been back to the Hellmouth. Years...centuries...an eternity.

"Why are we here again?" Xander asked as he turned to his mate.

Angel rolled his eyes in a gesture that he had gotten from watching Xander get irritated on more than one occasion. "Because they asked."

Xander nodded his head as if that explanation made perfect sense. "Oh, right." He looked up at the sky again, noting how odd it was to see it without a single star in sight. "How long has it been?" He asked softly.

Angel came up behind him and spoke softly in his ear. "Five centuries, give or take."

"Do you remember why we left?" Xander asked leaning into his lover's embrace.

"The world was ending?" Angel asked with a chuckle.

"You say that so casually." Xander turned his head slightly. "You make it sound like it was an ordinary occurrence."

Angel sighed needlessly he stepped away from Xander and turned the younger vampire around to face him. "It's the truth. The world was ending. The fact that it didn't was only due to Willow and Spikes intervention. Their sacrifice saved us all." He smiled ruefully for a second.  "Besides, it wasn't the first, nor the last time the world, as we know it, was in danger."

Xander nodded. "I know. It's just weird coming back here after all these years." He looked around the deserted streets. "It hasn't changed much. Don't you find that strange?"

Angel looked around and noticed that his mate was right; not much had changed. The streets were completely empty, which in and of itself was troublesome. From what Spike had told him, Sunnydale's nightlife was quite active.

"Do you think they know?" Xander asked quietly, noticing the stillness of the streets and how wrong it was.

"Maybe. We'd better go, and find out what was so important they called us here after five hundred years." Angel started walking down the street towards the once familiar center of town.

Xander followed him and kept his eyes trained on the dark alleys that surrounded them. There was something off about the town. It didn't feel the same. Of course, he hadn't been a vampire when they had left, that had happened later.

Even so, he could feel a change in the air. It didn't seem like the Sunnydale he had known. There was something off about the down. He could feel the evil in the air. It was stronger than before, but different somehow. He knew part of that was due to the closing of the Hellmouth all those years ago, and the fact that Sunnydale was closed to mortals. The only people who lived here any more were demons, vampires, or those who lived in their world.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Xander asked with a small smile when Angel seemed to be a bit lost.

Angel growled softly as he looked at a strange building to his right. "That wasn't here before."

Xander laughed. "Deadboy, it's been five centuries."

"I know!" Angel looked indignant. His brows furrowed, as he looked at the building in question. "What is it anyway?"

Xander took a step closer to the building. It was an octagonal shape and covered in a strange metal, making the building seem out of place in the dirty street. There were clouds of a greenish mist coming out of these ducts on the side of the building.

Xander took a whiff as the mist hit his nostrils. He shuddered at the putrid smell. "Mucus plant." He said when he made it back to where Angel was standing.

Angel nodded remembering something Spike had told him about a clan of Vokesh demons who had moved to Sunnydale a few decades previous. They needed the mucus to survive, hence the plant.

"This way?" Xander pointed in the direction they had originally been traveling.

Angel nodded and the two vampires started walking down the street. They could feel eyes on them from the darkened alleys they passed. Neither vampire paid the watchful eyes more than a passing glance.

After several minutes of silence, Xander spoke again. "Why do you think we're here?" He turned to look at Angel.

Angel shrugged. "Trouble, obviously."

"You think?" Xander asked sarcastically as they turned into the cemetery.

Angel ignored Xander as the walked through the graveyard. "Maybe there's some new prophecy or such. Will keeps a tight eye on them."

"No, she would have said something when she sent for us, if that was the case."

"Well, we're about to find out. Ready?" Angel asked motioning to the estate which sat at the edge of the cemetery.

"After you, Deadboy." Xander grinned at his mate as he followed him through the iron gates.

As they approached the heavy door, Xander was overcome with the distinct impression he was being watched, by hundreds of eyes. He nudged Angel slightly. "Is it just me, or do we have an audience?"

Angel smiled. "They're just admiring your ass. A finer specimen they've never seen." The words were said loud enough so that not only Xander but also the Vampire on the other side of the door could hear him.

"I'll have you know, Peaches, *my* ass is the finest specimen any of those blokes could hope to see." Spike exclaimed indignantly. "Do come in."  He said dryly.

Xander rolled his eyes as he walked past the vampire into the house.

"You're here." Willow explained excitedly as she hugged her oldest friend.

"Yes, we're here. Now would you mind telling me why?" Xander asked, leaning against the wall.

"Do we need a reason?" Spike asked. "We are family after all. He haven't seen you in…" He turned to his mate, "How long has it been?"

Willow thought for a second. "Five hundred and three years, seven months, and seventeen days."

Angel looked at his Childe's mate in astonishment. "You counted?"

Willow shrugged.

"So, what's wrong?" Angel asked turning his attention back to Spike.

Willow rolled her eyes. "Does there have to be something wrong?"

Xander looked from Willow to Spike and then back again. "Why are we here?" He asked seriously, getting worried, when they didn't seem inclined to tell them.

"Relax," Spike told him pulling him into another room. "Red missed you."

Angel turned to look sharply at Spike. There was a reason they hadn't returned to Sunnydale in five centuries, and to be called here not because there was trouble, but because they were missed was unsettling.

"There's no emergency?" He asked, in a low angry voice.

Xander walked over to his mate and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's all right." He told him.

Angel looked at him questioningly, he wasn't convinced. Xander leaned in a placed a tender kiss on Angel's lips, to show him that it indeed was all right. They remained that way for several minutes, neither needing to breathe.

When Xander finally pulled away he turned to Willow and Spike who were smiling. "No emergency, huh?" He grinned and took Angel's hand in his. "Gotta love the deviousness of it."

"That's me, the devious Big Bad!" Spike smirked.

Xander snorted as he sat down on the couch, pulling Angel with him. "We're dead, not stupid."

Willow couldn't help but giggle. She had missed her friends.

*****

The End