The streets were a darkened battleground and they were not winning.                

That thing was after them. 

Actually it was probably only really after Buffy, but since she usually killed the big bad with a group, it was after her friends, too. And it had friends. Lots of them, and though not quite as ugly at it was, the Turok-Han certainly knew how to lead his army of Bringers and regular vamps and…other things. 

By example. 

She hadn’t been fast enough, damn it, she just hadn’t seen it coming. Buffy honestly thought that Old Ugly was only after her and the potentials, Giles, too, possibly. But she had been wrong. Wrong in a horrible sense of thinking her friends were safe. They weren’t. 

Outnumbered and out-gunned, wasn’t that the saying? Well they were. Hopelessly so. Not that they hadn’t been in situations like this before but this time was different. This time they had the potentials to worry about and they weren’t exactly helpful in the saving themselves department.  

Buffy watched as she fought off a group of vamps who had somehow eluded her stake all these years. Or maybe they were newcomers? The tourist attraction of Sunnydale was definitely high on the international demon sightseeing list. The potentials were currently huddled together and if and when they got out of this mess Buffy vowed to teach them a thing or two about not standing in a very easily picked off group.  

Willow was trying her best to maintain the magickal barrier around them but was attacked from the side by a burly demon.
Dawn and Giles were busy with a really big thing that looked like a giant gold fish. What a disturbing image that was. 

Xander noticed the demon-thingy going after the girls. Willow’s barrier was weakening but only that one thing seemed to notice. Seeing this gave Buffy pause: why were they out in force but not enough force to actually do extensive damage? 

But then Xander was swinging his axe at the demon, which looked like a cross between a Polgara and something else – and then Willow was safe as was the barrier and the potentials. 

The demon turned, surprised, before dropping to the ground, out of the fight if not dead. But then there was a Bringer, wicked looking knife in hand.

And now Xander was dead. 

His eyes had been slashed out by a Bringer and his body thrown such a long distance slamming into a brick wall…he probably wouldn’t have survived the impact. It wouldn’t have mattered if he had survived, for that same Bringer had run over to him and stabbed him a couple of times in rapid succession. Buffy had been too far away to stop it but had fought everything in her path to get to her friend. 

No matter how many times they hadn’t seen eye-to-eye, no matter how many arguments they had gotten into or how many mean things he had said about her life and choice of lovers, he was still one of her dearest friends. 

Now he was dead. 

She couldn’t have done anything about it, that was true, but that didn’t matter. He was dead and in the end she had been responsible for a friend’s death. It was one of her greatest nightmares come to life. 

If Buffy had been thinking coherently she would have realized that the moment Xander was down the rest of the attacking demons dispersed. If she had been thinking clearly she might have remembered fighting any stragglers too stupid to comprehend angry emotional slayer equaled death. 

Willow joined her on the ground and together they held the body of their friend.  

Neither noticed the blood, and they wouldn’t have cared if they had. Dawn joined them, holding onto her sister as her own tears fell, her grief adding to theirs. Giles watched them, his adopted children, and wept as well. For them, for their fallen friend and comrade, and for the future. 

The potentials walked slowly up to the small group and stood a silent vigil over them, circling the grieving family as if to protect them from any outside evil. But they were too late, that evil had already broken through their defenses and it was too late, now, it was too late…
~~~~~~~~~~
Anya was waiting at the house, going though more of the books that were scattered around the downstairs and, ostensibly, guarding Andrew. When the phone rang she thought nothing of it, wondering if, now that she was living there, she should answer it. 

On the third ring she got up, annoyed, and snapped into the receiver, “Yes?” 

“Ah, Buffy?” 

“No, Buffy’s out teaching the slayers how to fight, can I help you?” 

“Slayers? What? Who is this?” 

“Look, you called here, who are you?” Why was she stuck at home, babysitting an inept thief and the phone? 

“Right, sorry, Wesley Wyndham-Price, may I please speak with either Buffy or Giles?” 

“Oh, you’re that watcher, the stupid one. Sorry, they’re not here, can I take a message?” 

“Ah, yes, well, tell them that it’s imperative that I speak with either one of them, it’s of the utmost importance, concerning…ah, Angel.”

“Ok, I’ll tell them.” And she hung up, going back to her reading. Thirty minutes later the weary group trudged back into their house, battered and broken. Without looking up Anya said, “That other watcher called, Buffy, he wanted to speak with either you or Giles about Angel….” 

Anya trailed off when she finally looked up and saw them. But not all of them. “What happened?” She asked, her voice rising for she had a pretty good idea and even if she and Xander weren’t together anymore there were still some strong feelings there. 

“Anya,” Willow said, walking a few steps forward. “Anya…” She couldn’t go on, didn’t know how to. 

“It’s Xander, isn’t it? He’s dead.” 
~~~~~~~~~~
The funeral was simple. 

Xander’s family had come, of course, but it was his real family who had stayed. Who had stayed and watched over the grave as the sun moved across the sky and the world continued to revolve without their friend.

Buffy fancied she could hear his laugh, that funny nervous little sound he had made the first day she had met him. Another tear followed all the other ones she had shed that day. They had tried to call LA and let Cordelia, at least, know about Xander’s death but no one had answered. Buffy couldn’t bring herself to leave such a message on the machine. 

Then the sun was beginning its final descent and they knew it was time to go. Cemeteries in Sunnydale were notoriously unsafe but with the First playing games and that Turok-Han stalking them it was even worse. 

“I’ll find that thing, Willow, Anya,” she vowed to the only two people in the group who loved Xander as much as she…had. “I’ll find the Turok-Han and I’ll kill it; I’ll find a way to stop the First, too, permanetely.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Wolfram & Hart prided themselves on their security. 

Ultimately it was a joke. 

How many times had Angel successfully broken into their building? Angelus had even less of a problem, not caring if the guards lived or died; not that Angel was overly concerned about their lives, but he did always hold back. Angelus had no such qualms and even though Angel was still there, albeit subdued, neither did he. 

Yes, the demon alarms went off. Yes, the guards came a-rushing. Yes, they all died.  

Power streamed off Angelus in waves and he barely had to touch the doors to Lilah’s office for them to crash open, knocked off their hinges. Cool as could be she sat there, hands folded on her wide oak desk in a show of power as she waited his grand entrance.  

She believed she had it, that power.  

She was wrong.

Smirking at her obviousness, Angelus strode the few steps required to take him into her office. Ah, public buildings, no invitation required. Not that it mattered anymore, being a direct descendant of the Turok-Han certainly had its advantages, but it was still fun. 

“Angelus, what a pleasant surprise,” Lilah said, hiding as deep as she could manage the fear that coursed through her. He looked the same, that presence, those eyes; physically he was the same as he had been. There was more to him now, though, more something. He exuded power and authority, his eyes weren’t flat like other vampire’s, they sparkled with something, something other than malice and supremacy.  

Their vampire alarms hadn’t sounded when he entered the building: the unknown demon ones had instead.  

“What, may I ask,” she said, doing her best to remain as cool as she always was. Why was it that she was suddenly more terrified of Angelus than the senior partners? “Brings you here? And who or what brought about this lovely little…change?” 

“Lilah, such a bitch. I actually almost admire that about you. But, alas, that’s about all I admire about you. Still, I have a small proposition. Now, now,” Angelus added, making himself comfortable in a chair, propping his feet onto her desk in a negligent display, “Don’t get your hopes up, I’d rather fuck Cordelia than you and that’s saying something, but I’m sure we can come to a mutual agreement nonetheless.” 

Arching a fine eyebrow, Lilah allowed a smirk to grace her beautiful features. “And this arrangement would be…?” 

“I’m going to take over the world,” he announced boldly as if it were an every day occurrence. “Since I don’t want to wait the required time to gather an army,” he sighed as if bored with the whole thought and continued in an equally uninterested voice, “Raise a few helpful demons, care about alliances, I want you to do all that.” 

She began nodding going through her mental list of who she could call on and what they were willing to agree to for those alliances. Or what Angelus would have to agree to. It could be done, of that there was no doubt. It would just take time. 

“It’s possible, Angelus, as I’m sure you already know. It’ll take some time of course. What do we get out of this?” 

Tsk tsk-ing as if berating a child, Angelus laughed. “No, no Lilah, you misunderstand. Maybe I haven’t made myself clear. It’s like this. I want everything ready in two days. As for what you’re getting out of this by seeing everything’s ready for me…? You get to live to reap the rewards I bring when darkness descends on this miserable planet.” 

Oh, the senior partners weren’t going to like this. Then again, they’re the ones who wanted Angelus on their side in the first damn place. Hopefully they wouldn’t shoot (dismember) the messenger, namely her. Maybe that fear was equal when it came to the senior partners and Angelus, after all. Then something struck Lilah and she wondered why she hadn’t thought of it before. 

“I thought you wanted to destroy the world, why rule it now? Acathla wasn’t exactly designed to let you rule over a planet, it was more along the ‘I hate the world and it’s going to feel my mighty wrath’ line.” She said in a dry voice that was designed to tell him just how little she considered that action. “What changed?” 

Shrugging, Angelus betrayed nothing with either his face or his movements. Not his rage at being forced to resort to something so drastic to get rid of the slayer he wanted more than anything and second in being thwarted in his attempt to do so. “Let’s just say I’ve…” and he smiled here and it chilled even Lilah, “Had a change of heart.” 

She swallowed and wondered just what they were getting themselves in to. 

“It’s like this,” Angelus said, removing his feet from the desk and standing in one smooth motion. “You do this for me, everyone wins and you get to live. You don’t, I still win, you lose, you die, and I’m still happy. Understand?” 

Lilah nodded, already reaching for the phone as Angelus swaggered out her broken doors, not deigning to look back. She’d make the calls, gather the forces, and see that everyone followed Angelus in his take over the world scheme.  

And then she’d see just what was really going on.
~~~~~~~~~~
As they prepared to face their friend, Faith looked around the motley group. 

Her ex-watcher wasn’t as prissy as he once was, though she could detect hints of the old Wesley under this new one. But he really had done a fine job in breaking her out of jail; Faith hadn’t thought he had it in him. The high school bitch was still a bitch but with an added something that defied description even for Faith. What she wouldn’t give to have Willow or even Xander here instead of Cordelia. 

Oh, well, couldn’t be helped.

The black guy, what’s his name…Gunn, now there was someone who captured her attention. Alternatively funny and aggressive, he was definitely one she’d like to get to know better. On a variety of levels she smirked to herself. 

“Who’s the kid in the corner?” She asked Gunn as he debated between the battle-axe and the sword. 

Looking up Gunn glanced at the corner before answering, “Connor, Angel’s son.” 

Faith stared at the man for a moment. Angel’s son? Huh? “Angel’s…what?” The two words, ‘Angel’ and ‘Son’ didn’t sit on her tongue very well and she couldn’t force them passed her throat. And who the hell was the mother? 

“Yeah, some big prophecy,” Gunn added as he looked at the slayer a faint grind on his face at her incredulousness. “He and Darla got a little action going on a year and a half ago or so.” 

“Darla?” Faith was rapidly going into shock and couldn’t think who Darla was to save her life. Angel had a son? Why hadn’t he told her? And, wait… “How long ago?” 

Smirking now, as if this was one story that amused him each and every time, Gunn nodded. “Yeah, Darla, Angel’s sire.” He waited, knowing what was inevitably coming next. 

“Sire? Didn't he kill her ages ago?” This was making less and less sense by the word. 

“Wolfram & Hart brought her back. Angel went through a serious crazed period and banged her. Connor was born nine months later and a few months after that kidnapped by an old enemy of Angel’s, raised in a demon dimension where time moves faster, came back here and…things between father and son haven’t been all Brady Bunch.” 

“Angel has a son?” Okay, so she was slow, the concept was just that outrageous. Maybe prison had dulled her reaction time more than she suspected. 

Gunn just nodded and went to the new arrivals standing in the middle of the lobby. Faith stood there, staring blankly at the kid in the corner, trying to reconcile Angel with having a son. It still wasn’t working. Suddenly another thought struck her. 

Did Buffy know? And if she didn’t Angel/Angelus had better hope she never found out because that first stint in hell was nothing compared to what Faith imagined her sister slayer had in store for the vampire. 

She snapped out of her daze when she heard a woman ask, “Who’s that?” 

Gunn laughed, “The slayer.” 

“The one from the dead? I thought she was blonde.” 

“No, the other one. Remember I showed you that chart? This is Faith. The one Wes and I busted out of jail this morning.”

Faith smiled vaguely in the woman’s direction still wondering about Angel and a son. Man, this was one crazy fucked up world.
~~~~~~~~~~
They were about to get their collective asses kicked. 

Faith knew this the moment she saw Angelus. The minions and other assorted demons meant nothing to her despite their vast numbers, the fact that Wesley and Gunn muttered something about Wolfram & Hart meant even less. Even knowing what they were capable of the law firm was the least of their concerns, Faith was thinking. 

Angelus was standing before her and he was…different. 

Same gorgeous face, same body – from what she had ever known of it – same hair and eyes. Well, no the eyes weren’t full of a soul that regretted most of his past and held love for a girl he could never truly have again. They were mean, glowing with something that screamed hate and revenge and something else that Faith couldn’t identify. 

But he was still different…more than a vampire? Did that even make sense? 

“What,” she scoffed, every slayer instinct going into overdrive and making her want to fidget and vomit and run and fight and howl at the moon all at once. “Being a vamp wasn’t good enough for you? Had to change into something else?” 

Cocking his head to the side at Faith’s words, Angelus smiled. “Faith! Well, well, look who’s out of jail! So nice of the gang to spring you and just for me! It’s nice of you to join them for their final humiliation, Faith. Enjoying the freedom, are you? It won’t last long. As for the new me, what can I say? It was an offer I didn’t want to refuse.” 

He smirked at her and if Faith knew anything about Angelus it was that he loved the sound of his own voice. True they had never technically met, but there were enough stories going around with the Sunnydale gang for her to know that. 

“Don’t think so, Angelus.” She tossed off a smirk of her own as she confronted him. She wasn’t going to kill him that wasn’t a part of her plan. But neither was letting him know that.

“Shame you can’t take me, Faith. You don’t have it in you.” 

“You so sure about that, babe? Did a fairly good job of kicking your ass the last time.” 

“Faith, Faith, Faith. You’ve never met ME. And you may be stronger and, well, smarter than Angel Inc. – their the ones who sprung you after all, but you’ll never defeat me. You’ll never be anything but second best to my Buffy.” Angelus watched her eyes, saw the hurt, the old insecurities and his smirk widened. Oh, this was fun! 

“Now there’s a slayer with an extra little kick.” He licked his lips at the thought. “Can’t wait to taste her again.” 

Faith scowled but didn’t do anything, not wanting to be provoked into a strike when that wasn’t their plan. Angelus walked forward a step or two, keeping everyone back, keeping the two sides from attacking each other. “Does Turok-Han mean anything to you, Wes?” 

“Uh, no…” Though it did sound familiar. 

“What kind of Watcher are you? No wonder neither of your slayers listened to you and the council fired you.” Oh, yeah, this was fun. “The first vampire?”

Wesley paled, looked at Angelus in a new light and seriously wanted to crawl away and whimper. They were going to get their asses kicked. 

“Ah, I see it does, even to an inept watcher such as yourself. Good, hate for you to not know what you’re up against.” 

And with those words, as if it were some kind of unspoken signal, both sides attacked. 

It wasn’t a long battle, the white hats were seriously out numbered though they did try, Angelus gave them that as he watched, bored, from a few feet away. 

Ah, there was his chance. Cordelia was trying to get away, overwhelmed by the sheer numbers that had made a preemptive strike and taken over the few champions who remained to fight. But he wasn’t going to allow that, there was no way he was going to allow her to escape when she had wanted just what he was about to give her. 

Wasn’t irony sweet? 

No one heard her scream, no one heard anything, for just as she was about to make a run for it, hoping that she could find help somewhere, anywhere at this point, even Buffy if the seer could find her, Angelus grabbed her. Leaning forward, his vamp face clear for all to see, he whispered just loud enough to be heard over the din. 

“Think you can get away that easily, whore? Seriously, Cordelia, did you really think that I wouldn’t know?” 

And he knocked her out, throwing her over his shoulder as negligently as he could manage and still retain his grip on her. 

Faith watched it but was too far away. Wesley had fallen, as had Gunn and Connor. They were simply overwhelmed. She had no idea what had happened to Fred or Lorne, but she needed to warn Buffy. Sunnydale had never seemed so far away, but that wasn’t going to stop her. 

The minions of hell might, but she’d be damned if she didn’t at least try. 

With no clear idea on where she was going or how she was going to get out of this mess, Faith spotted a not so fallen Connor, battling his father’s forces. Poor kid, Faith thought as she fought her way to him. Things never get any easier, do they? 

“Connor, we need help, cover me.” Faith said those six words as quietly as she could, hoping that Connor could hear but the hoards of hell couldn’t. Or those hoards at least didn’t understand what ‘help’ she had in mind. 

Nodding once, Connor fought with renewed vigor. He had no real idea who this woman was, had only heard a brief and slightly confused version of the slayer and the chosen one being the chosen two and working for the darkness but finding her way and something about jail. Why would they put a slayer, if she really was all everyone claimed her to be, in a jail that obviously couldn’t hold her?

And why would she stay?

 But he hadn’t asked any of his questions and there hadn’t been time, anyway. 

He fought long past his capacity to do so, but he bought Faith enough time to crawl away. He hoped that she made it safely and that whatever help she was getting would arrive sooner rather than later.

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