Chapter 20: A Single Event Can Have Infinitely Many Interpretations


“While dreaming we entertain a wider range of human possibilities than when awake; the open house of dreaming is less guarded.” Erik Craig


Humans had dreams, images from their conscious and subconscious minds that lead to connections in memories and imaginations that may or may not enlighten them to certain patterns in their lives. However, most humans could not understand their dreams or chose not to give them much importance.

Illyria did not dream, she didn’t have a subconscious and the shell really didn’t even need to rest. Occasionally, she would sleep, out of boredom, or even on a whim.

What made her decide to try and sleep now? She wasn’t sure.

Angel and Spike had returned some time after The Shadow and The Slayer appeared, and they explained the situation with the coffin.

Illyria knew she could have caught up with the coffin had she taken after it when it went past, but she didn’t want to leave The Hogosha alone with the soldiers. She wondered now if that was the right decision. Since she had let Spike drink from her the phantom emotions inside had been getting stronger, and with them the doubt. She also believed that she was missing something critical about their situation, the feeling grew as they related their tale.

When they finished, Spike announced he was going to try and get some sleep. Angel and The Hogosha offered to stand watch. For some reason Illyria decided she would try and sleep as well. She assumed it would give her a break from these tiresome emotions.

She did not fall asleep the way humans did, she willed herself to sleep and she was asleep. That was why the images hit her almost immediately.

She saw Wesley. Her entire being felt a jolt like and electrical shot at seeing him again. She knew he couldn’t be real, he had passed on from this life, but he looked so real. And he didn’t seem to notice her standing there.

Then she realized he was talking and she moved closer to hear his voice.

“This is where her temple was millions of years ago, and it's still here.” Wesley was saying to Angel.

“Well, you think I would've remembered seeing something like this parked next to The Ralph's.” Angel replied.

“It's out of phase with our time stream. Only Illyria can open the gateway.”

They were discussing her! This must have happened right after she arrived at this time.

Then she was in a different place. She saw the coffins of her kind surrounding her, going down deep into the Earth. Angel and Spike stood there speaking to someone.

“The power to draw back Illyria lies in there. It requires champion who has traveled from where it lies to where it belongs.” The other being was saying.

“You got two of those right here.” Angel, ever the hero, replied.

“But I didn't know it was free.” He sighed. “If we bring the sarcophagus back to the well, it will draw Illyria out of your friend...and into every single person between here and there. It will become the mystical equivalent of airborne. It will claw into every soul in its path to keep from being trapped. Entire cities—tens maybe hundreds of thousands will die in agony if you save her.”

Again the scene changed.

Angel, Wesley and Spike were together in a laboratory.

“Tell me you have something, Wes. Just anything.” Angel said.

“She is unstable.” Wesley replied, the clinical sound in his voice as he spoke about her caused her pain. “Overloading, to be more accurate. The fusion between her demon essence and her host's body seems to be deteriorating. It's as if the human part of her can no longer contain the demonic power within.”

This time the change was different; she was a part of it.

Pain rocked through her and she doubled over, holding her head. “Aaaah!” She cried as she gasped and stepped back. “Aaaaah! Oh, you have not lied. My undoing is beyond you, your people. Something is broken inside me.” The words poured from her mouth and she suddenly realized what time she was at, but if it didn’t really happen could it actually be a spot in time? There was not time to consider this as pain shot through her again. “Aaah! My power is too great! I know this now, as I know it every time I come to this moment. “

Angel tried desperately to talk to her. “Illyria, if I'm here, if I am paradox, then this can all change, can't it? You said things had been altered, what you said, what you did. You can change this outcome!”

This time it wasn’t a memory speaking through her. This time it was she that spoke, remembering all too well the words, and how wrong they were. “Change is constant. Yet things remain the same.”

She felt the fractures through her body, and then she exploded.

It was a different pain, but no less agonizing.

Wesley lay dying in her arms, he looked up at her and smiled “It was good... that you came.”

“I killed all mine, and I was... “ She didn’t want to see this again.

“Concerned?”

“I think so. But I can't help. You'll be dead within moments.” Did he know how much distress these words caused her?

“I know.” His eyes seemed sharper now, for a second she thought he was answering her thoughts, but that wasn’t possible, that wasn’t what happened here.

“Would you like me to lie to you now?” She asked, ready to change into the form of Fred, so he could say goodbye.

“No, I don’t think that’s necessary.” The different words made her look at him sharply.

“That is not what happened here.”

“No its not.”

“Are you a dream? Is that what I am in?”

“Yes, but it is more than that.”

“What is it then?”

“You have done well, Illyria. You have adjusted to this time, to this world, remarkably well.”

“It was difficult after you were gone.”

“Angel can be difficult at times. But you have made friends, haven’t you?” Illyria thought about Spike and the Hogosha. “You have even made decisions that may not have been wise to protect those you cared about.” She knew he was right. “Yet, there is more. You must put the pieces together. You know what is coming, you just haven’t realized it yet.”

“I do not understand the words you are speaking. What do I know? What pieces do I have?”

“The pieces you have obtained on this journey put with the ones I just gave you.” She tried to put it together, but staring down at Wesley, hearing his voice seemed to short-circuit her brain. She did not even know what he meant by pieces she obtained on the journey.

“I don’t know.” Her voice was low and angry, with herself, for being unable to think.

“You must.”

“I can’t. It’s all foggy; your presence is making it hard for me to think. Emotions are clouding my reasoning. This is why your species is weak.”

Wesley laughed and started to sit up. She noticed he no longer carried his wound and they were no longer in the same place.

“Where are we?” She asked.

“I should go now. I’ll leave you alone so you can think.”

“NO!” Illyria used her strongest, commanding voice. “I do not wish for you to leave me again.”

“Yet I must. I don’t belong here. I shouldn’t even be here now, but I wanted to help.”

“I do not want you to leave.” She said, her voice was much softer now, it almost sounded like Fred.

He smiled at her sadly. “I’m proud of you.” He said simply, those words warmed her heart. And then he was gone and Angel’s voice, frantically speaking to Spike woke her up.



“Spike, wake up.”

“Lemme alone, Peaches.”

“Spike, Buffy’s gone.”

That woke him up. Nights of stress and dreams of running through Buffy’s subconscious were taking their toll and Spike had been enjoying his first sound sleep since Angel had first knocked on his door.

Now, with one sentence, he was wide-awake and leaping to his feet.

“What do you mean she’s gone?” He demanded.

“She left with Shadow and Simon, I think they went to hunt down the coffin.”

“Or to use it.” Spike muttered. “How much of a lead do they have?” Spike was already on the move, with Angel following quickly behind.

“I don’t know.”

That stopped him short. He turned to face Angel. “What do you mean you ‘don’t know’ weren’t you on watch?”

“The soldiers took off into the tunnels, I thought it would be a good idea to see what they were up to, but then I lost them after a while and when I got back here they were gone.”

“Where was Myoko?”

Angel looked embarrassed. “I didn’t think it was a good idea to split up.”

“Ok.” Spike said slowly. His concern for Buffy was making him angry and short. He knew that most of his anger was at himself. He blamed himself for actually taking the time to get some sleep. He tried to hold his temper at Angel, but it was difficult. The part of him that was now like Illyria was demanding he punish the other vampire for his failure.

“And Blue?” Spike asked.

It was Illyria, herself, who answered. “I was asleep.”

Spike turned to look at her, shock quickly replacing his anger.

“Excuse me? I don’t think I heard you right.” He said.

“I was asleep.”

“I didn’t think you slept.”

“Occasionally, I do.”

So much for holding his temper.

“So, after we just lose the one chance we had to stop this thing before it started, when we know our allies are out to kill us and we are miles away from any aid, which we aren’t sure is still coming, you decide it’s a good time for a nap?” Spike yelled.

His anger set off her own. “Were you not also asleep?” She snapped.

“I bloody well NEED to.” He bellowed.

She didn’t have an answer to that. He was right, she didn’t need to sleep, and she had been hoping it would help her with her emotional problems. In retrospect, maybe she should have waited, it wasn’t as thought she couldn’t handle these strange feelings. They were just disconcerting.

Finally she just shrugged. “I thought it was a good idea at the time.”

Both vampires stared at her in shock at her words and attitude. It was much more human than they had ever seen from her, unless she was pretending to be Fred.

Spike shook his head. “Ok then, moving on. Where is Myoko now?”

Angel looked on either side of him; he looked very surprised the petite girl wasn’t standing next to him.

“I swear you are the biggest idiot.” Spike snapped as they began to hurry through the tunnels.

“I thought she was right behind me. How was I supposed to know she wouldn’t follow me?”

“And yet you didn’t notice she was gone until I brought it up.”

“She is up ahead, I can sense her.”

Unlike Illyria, Spike couldn’t automatically sense beings the way she could. He had to concentrate to sense them. When he did, he could sense not only where Myoko was, but also the blackness of the soldiers chasing her.

“Look’s like she’s got some company.” Spike commented as he broke into a run. Illyria kept pace with him; Angel fell slightly behind the two unable to keep up.

They entered a large cavern just as Myoko ran in from the opposite end followed closely by the soldiers, who already had their guns drawn.

When Myoko looked up and saw them heading towards her, she decided she had enough backup to turn and make a stand. She spun around and pulled out a sword, from where Spike couldn’t tell, she was suddenly just holding it in her hand. She swung at the closest soldier to her, slicing into the flesh of his arm before he could get a shot off. The gun fell to the ground as she cut into muscles and tendons, but the soldier never yelled out in pain. Instead, he charged her while the other two took aim.

Illyria jumped up while running, executed a flip and landed in front of one of the soldiers. She landed a powerful blow to the side of his head, intending to crush his skull. She felt the skull shatter, pieces of it breaking through his scalp, but he did not fall, he just stood their grinning at her manically. A blackness oozed from his wounds instead of blood. The substance seemed to reach out for her arm as she withdrew it.

Illyria jumped back and away from the soldier, she kicked out her leg, removing the weapon from his hand. Behind her, Angel went flying through the air as the last soldier got the better of him. Spike had stepped up where Angel had been and was punching away at the man, but his blows didn’t even knock him backwards.

“What the hell?” Spike asked.

Illyria noticed the soldier Myoko had wounded also had the blackness oozing out of the wound in his arm. Myoko swung the sword again, this time at his neck, intending to decapitate him. His head fell back, but again he didn’t fall. The blackness poured forth onto the ground and seemed to reach for the Japanese girl.

Illyria dodged a blow from her soldier then turned and grabbed Myoko to pull her back away from the blackness. “Get back.” She yelled. Angel was now at her side. “Spike, we must get back, don’t let the blackness touch you.” Spike had been punching the solider for so long he managed to punch into his flesh, for a moment he stared at the blackness, but then decided Illyria was right. It was time to retreat.

They turned and ran out of the cavern, Spike noticed Myoko no longer carried her sword, but he didn’t see it laying on the ground anywhere either.

Illyria risked a look back as they ran. The soldier, who had almost lost his head, was fixing it back on his neck, while the other two ignored their wounds to chase them down.

When they reached a fork in the tunnels they stopped. “Which way?” Angel asked.

“Towards the cave’s entrance.”

“We’ll be trapping ourselves, its still light out.” Angel protested.

“They know that too. With any luck they’ll take one of the other forks and we can get some time to regroup.”

Angel shrugged, but followed as Spike led the way.

It seemed to work, after a few minutes there was no sign of pursuit from the soldiers. They stopped at the edge of the cave’s entrance, right before a ray of sunlight.

For a few minutes no one talked while Myoko caught her breath.

“Ok, I need some answers.” Spike said. “First of all, where the hell did you pull that sword from?” He asked Myoko. “And where the hell did you put it back at?”

The Japanese girl smiled at him. It was probably the biggest facial expression he had ever seen on her. “Just like Highlander.” She said.

Spike’s jaw dropped.

Illyria gave him a strange look. “The Highlander is a series of movies and a television show about an Immortal who decapitates other Immortal’s for dominance. They are always pulling swords out of no where.”

“I know what Highlander is. Its just…” Spike stopped. “Have you all gone stark raving mad?” He pointed at Illyria. “You’re taking naps,” He turned to Angel, “You’re being stupid.” Finally he faced Myoko again. “And you’re joking about television shows.”

“And you’re willing to give up the whole world for Buffy.” Angel added quietly.

Spike turned to glare at him. “You wanna back off of that topic real quick like, Mate.” The emphasis he put on the word mate and the ice blue flaring in his eyes left no question to the level of his anger.

“Come on Spike. You know we can’t just go rushing off after her. We can’t even handle the ones they left behind. What chance do the four of us have getting into a fortress?”

“And what do you suggest? We wait for the other’s to show up? We don’t even know if they are still alive, much less if they are going to come. They should have been here days ago.”

“Maybe instead we should be concentrating on how to kill the soldiers.” Myoko interrupted the fight before it could escalate. When they both looked at her, she continued on, hoping to distract them. “What are they? They were human when they arrived, so what happened to them? And what is the blackness inside of them.”

“Evil.” Illyria answered, looking back the way they came. “Pure evil.” She looked at the vampires. “I believe from the First.”

“Just like the preacher.” Angel said.

“No. The preacher didn’t ooze black stuff.” Spike protested. “You should know, you were there.” He added bitterly.

“And so were you.”

Again Myoko interrupted, hoping to stave off another argument. “So maybe this preacher was a willing convert.”

“That makes sense.” Illyria said. “If the soldiers didn’t want to do the First’s bidding maybe he just possessed them.”

“Ok, so how do we kill them, then?” Angel asked.

“I don’t know, but we better come up with a plan and fast.” Spike said. “Looks like I was wrong and they’re headed this way.”

The four of them got into a defensive posture as the soldiers approached from the darkness of the tunnels. There was no doubt now that they were anything but human. Their wounds had closed up, but only the blackness was holding them together, like some sort of black glue. Their eyes were also filled with blackness, their blank stares more than a little disconcerting.

“Well, we’ll just have to give it our all again.” Spike said.

“We’ve faced greater odds than this before.” Angel agreed.

Beside them Myoko pulled out her sword.

Spike glanced at Angel. “Do you have any idea where she pulls that out of?”

Angel just shrugged.

“It begins.” Illyria said.

The soldiers rushed them. Before Spike and the others could even move something buzzed past his ear. Suddenly, Pixie was standing before them, holding what looked like a strange knife. She spoke in a strange language and then stabbed the knife towards one of the soldiers. They watched as the blackness poured forth and got sucked into the knife. She did the same to the remaining two. The soldiers with head wounds fell to the ground dead, the one Spike had fought, but hadn’t been able to wound mortally fell to the ground, but he was obviously still alive and he was sobbing uncontrollably.

Pixie raised the knife intending to finish him off.

“Wait.” Illyria stopped her. “Maybe he has knowledge of their plans. We can use him.”

Pixie shook her head. “He will die soon anyway, an evil that strong is difficult for humans to recover from.”

“We should at least try.”

Pixie nodded and lowered the knife. “Its good to see you again.” She said. “It would’ve been a shame for such attractive vampires to be dust.”

“Where are the others?” Spike asked.

She pointed behind them and they watched as two vehicles pulled up to the cave’s entrance. Willow, Oz, Xander, Raven, Mimoko, & Helena got out.

Myoko ran over and hugged her sister.

Raven approached Spike, she looked him over carefully, relieved he appeared to be unharmed. Tired, but unharmed. Spike was also relieved to see Raven was ok. He would have blamed himself if anything happened to her because she agreed to this mission. The two of them shared a wistful smile, and then Spike looked up towards Willow and Xander.

“Sorry we’re late, man.” Xander said.

“At least you got here at a good time.” Spike and Angel walked up and greeted him; both of them kept one eye on Helena, uncertain as to what her roll was in Shadow’s plans. Illyria didn’t move, she just kept both her eyes on Pixie, who still stood over the sobbing soldier.

Spike looked at Oz for a moment, trying to place him. “Ah, the wolf boy. Good to see you again.”

Oz gave him a small smile. “That’s something I never thought I’d hear.”

“Things change.”

“For the better it would seem.”

“Or considering the current situation, for the worse.” Spike looked around. “Where’s Rupert? We’re gonna need his brain.”



Higher up in the Himalayas, Buffy, Shadow and Simon, stood on a small trail leading down into a frozen valley. On the mountain face across from them, the large fortress was carved out of ice and stone.

“I can make out almost seventy-five guards, demons, on the ground. Thirty snipers on the turrets, those almost look like military, and I would guess that the blackness pooling around the bottom is some sort of trap.” Buffy said as she took it in. “No chance of climbing down from above, that’s got to be sheer ice and we don’t have the equipment for it.”

“We don’t have to worry about fighting are way in.” Shadow said, he had kept moving during Buffy’s assessment.

“What do you mean? I thought we were here to take back the coffin?’

“Actually we are here to help protect the coffin.”

“You lied to me.”

“Yes, I did.” Shadow stopped and looked back towards her. “Is that a problem?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“You’ve never lied before. I always knew what was going on in our missions, that’s part of why I trusted you. Now you’ve lied to me.

“Never before have you been a security risk.” He answered her.

“What do you mean?” Buffy almost demanded. Simon now stopped and looked back. The Slayer never got agitated. Never. Shadow and Simon exchanged looks, Buffy was starting to try and break through her walls.

Simon stepped forward, hoping to be able to reason with her. “Slayer, your behavior on this mission has been erratic at best. You have let your guard down several times; you even fornicated with the vampire. This is real, we have a mission to complete and we couldn’t trust you.”

Buffy stared at him. “Fine, then I want to know what the mission really is and I want to know now. There is no way I’m going in there until I do.”

They both took steps towards her and she tried to leap back away from them, unfortunately her foot caught an especially slick patch of ice and her legs flew out from under her. Shadow grabbed her arm to keep her from falling to the ground, but then he used the other hand to drive a hypodermic needle into the vein in her arm. After he depressed the plunger he released his hold on her. She was out before she hit the ground.



There was still was pain, when Dawn felt herself begin to swim out of the blissful, dark oblivion. It wasn’t in any wayas severe, so she didn’t shy from the waking world as she had been. She instinctively tried to stretch out and relieve some of the pressure on her muscles and was surprised to discover she could. She laid, stretching out her body, working out the kinks in it. She rolled her neck to the side and opened her eyes. She was lying on a large soft bed, in an ornate room, she didn’t recognize. Andrew was asleep in a chair next to the bed. She sat up, feeling her muscles protest in response. This time the pain was almost a relief. It seemed to further solidify the idea she was alive.

“Andrew.” She whispered softly. Nothing.

“Andrew.” She said a little louder. Not even a twitch.

“Andrew.” She used a normal voice. He turned his head away as if trying to get away from her voice, which irritated her.

“Andrew.” She said more firmly. He smacked his lips together and may have muttered something, but she couldn’t understand what.

Frustrated and slightly more than irritated now, she picked up her the pillow next to her. She threw it at him as she screamed “Andrew.” In a panicky voice.

“The Cylons are attacking.” Andrew yelled jumping out of his chair, batting and punching at the pillow. When it hit the ground he kept stomping on it as if it could still be alive.

“Andrew.” Dawn said one more time. He jumped and spun around.

“Dawn. You’re awake.” He looked down at the pillow. “And I just attacked a piece of bedding.”

The door flew open. Henri rushed in with a large axe in his hands; behind him was a young man about Dawn’s age. They both searched the room for any intruders before looking at her. When Dawn saw the young man’s eyes, she instantly recognized him from before.

“Are you all right?” Henri asked anxiously.

“Yeah, I didn’t mean to scare you, I was just trying to wake up Andrew.” Dawn felt mortified she had caused that much of a stir trying to wake up Andrew. Henri’s mouth broke into a smile and he lowered the axe.

“And how are you feeling?’

“Sore and hungry. I want to get up and move around.” Dawn answered.

Henri nodded. “I will send for some for food and after you eat we will have one of my old nurses help you to shower and clean up.”

Dawn turned red. “That’s not necessary, I can do it myself.”

“Please don’t be embarrassed, you are still going to be weak, she will just be available if you need her.”

Dawn nodded; she noticed she was already pretty clean, especially after being trapped in that box. How had they gotten her clean before?

Andrew hopped onto the bed next to her, interrupting her thoughts. “Hey Dawnie, I got to sneak into the house you were being kept in. I actually got to do field work.”

“I’m so glad my kidnapping was a good thing for you.” She said dryly. “It took you long enough.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t fly well, you know that. Then I didn’t know how to get into the house, I cased the joint for a day, but that didn’t accomplish anything except I think I bruised my butt. From sitting too long, you know.”

“I have some idea, from the box I was trapped in waiting for you to come get me.”

“Well, I would probably still be sitting there, but then I ran into Lorne and Conner. Have you met Conner, yet?” Andrew rambled on.

Dawn felt her heart accelerate as she looked up at the young man again.

“Hello.”

“Hello.” They both sort of blushed.

“Um, thanks, for saving my life.”

Conner smiled. “You’re welcome. I’m glad to see you’re awake. You look better.” He said, his own words sounded strange, awkward to him.

Dawn ducked her head, realizing the state she had been in when he found her. “Oh, I didn’t mean that, I just meant, um, your color is back in your cheeks.”

Dawn turned even redder, assuming he was referring to her embarrassment. “No, I mean…”

“I must have been so disgusting.” Her voice choked up. “I don’t even know how long I was in there. I almost gave up. The pain, the hunger, I just couldn’t take anymore.”

“Shh, you’re safe now.” Andrew said.

“You must think I’m an idiot letting him capture me like that.”

“No.” Andrew assured her. “Although next time, I think I’ll go out into the field and you can run things back at the Council.”

Dawn had to laugh. Andrew. There wasn’t another one like him out there. Thankfully, one was enough. She hugged him tightly.

”You’re hurting me.” He whined when she squeezed him tight.

“I think you are very brave.” Conner said in answer to her earlier statement. Dawn looked up at him in surprise.

“Was it my screaming that made you think that?” She asked.

“No, it’s the fact that you can joke about it at this point.” There was real admiration in his voice. Dawn felt a warm tingling sensation at his praise.

Henri looked at the two young people with fond remembrance. How long ago was it since he had last felt the prick of love’s first sting?

“Ahh,” Andrew immediately caught onto the vibe.

There was a knock at the door and a servant entered with a tray of food. Dawn’s eyes brightened, as her stomach growled at just the sight of the food. “It looks great.” She began to eat with great relish; even the presence of Conner couldn’t make her slow down and eat properly. While she ate Andrew explained everything that had happened while she was trapped. At one point he tried to steal a bite of her plate, but she jabbed at him with her fork.

“Ouch. Hey is that anyway to repay someone who saved you?”

Dawn finished her food and then looked and addressed them. “So has there been any word from Giles since then?”

“No I tried to contact him several times, but I can’t get through.”

“Ok, we need to go after them, they are going to need more help and not just us. Call in all the Slayers and all the Covens we have contact with.” Dawn was suddenly taking charge. She turned to Henri. “Don’t suppose you have any contacts that would be willing to help save the world at the risk of their lives?”

“Actually, I just might.”

“Count me in to.” Conner said. “I don’t know anyone else who could help us. Just my dad and he’s already out there.”

“You’re dad?” She asked.

“Yeah, Dawn, Angel’s his dad.” Andrew said excitedly.

That knocked the seriousness from her face. Dawn looked confused, then surprised. “But how…?” She began.

“It’s a long story.” Conner said.

“Ok.” She said ready to move on.

“Are you sure we should go in Dawn? Won’t it be dangerous putting all of our reserves in one place?” Andrew asked uncertainly.

“We don’t have a choice. If what I saw in Jason’s computer was right, then they are going to need all the help they can get.” She paused. “What did you do with him anyway?” She asked.

“He’s been contained in my dungeon. He swears he didn’t think he was hurting you, they told him you weren’t real.” Henri answered.

Dawn rolled her eyes. “That’s why he was able to hurt me.”

“Its up to you, do you think we should kill him?’

Dawn didn’t know what to say at first. Part of her did want him dead for what he did to her, but then she remember the young man who lost his way a long time ago. “No, I think things will be hard enough for him from now on.” Then she had a thought. “He has a friend somewhere in India with the Peace Corps. I think he should go help him out for a while.”

Henri looked confused, but nodded. “I will try to locate this person and send him on his way.”

“Good.”



“So just like that you’re going to trust them?” Spike asked angrily, after hearing Willow’s story.

“We are sitting right here, you know.” Helena said.

“Really? I can see that for myself, I have two working eyes.” Spike snapped at her.

“Hey.” Xander protested.

“Uncalled for.” Willow backed him up.

They were all gathered near the camp within the caves, except for Illyria and the Hogoshas who were taking care of interrogating the remaining soldier.

“You come here and tell us Rupert is dead, basically because of them. Dawn may be dead, because of their teammate. We were almost killed because of the rest of their team and just because they decided to change sides when backed in a corner you think we should trust them?” Spike was incredulous.

“They didn’t have to help us, Spike.” Willow again tried to defend Pixie and Helena.

“Did you ever think this is just part of another plan?” Angel asked.

“I hardly think the two of us could take on all of you.” Helena argued. Pixie said nothing, just watched everything with interest.

“No, but you might distract us or lead us to the wrong place. Any number of thing.”

“So what should we do? Kill them?” Xander asked.

“No, but they shouldn’t be trusted and they should be watched at all times.”

Illyria came back at that point, followed by Raven and the others. “We have finished interrogating the soldier, his mind is damaged and he doesn’t seem to remember anything.”

Spike nodded. “Is he still alive?”

“Yes, but he was unconscious when we left him. I don’t expect him to live much longer.”

“Did he tell you anything important?”

“No.” Illyria paused. “He did say they were all connected in darkness. I don’t know if that means anything or not.”

Spike looked over at Pixie. “Yet you seemed to know what they were and how to kill them.” Pixie didn’t answer, just stared back at him. “Right.” Spike came to a decision. “Looks like its time for an interrogation of my own.” He pointed at the remaining Rogues. “You two come with me.” He looked at Angel. “You too, Old Man. This sort of thing is your specialty.”

“Spike…” There was a sharp warning in Willow’s voice.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt them, as long as they tell me what I need to know.”

“Then you won’t mind if Oz comes with you.”

“Fine, but the Whelp stays here.”

“Hey.” Xander protested again.

“Fine.” Willow agreed. “I’m going to go back outside and try to contact Dawn.”

“That’s a good idea.” Spike said.

“And what should the rest of us do, O Great One?” Xander asked Spike, with more than a trace of anger.

“Break down the camp, we’ll want to leave as soon as we can.”

“Who died and made him boss?” Xander muttered. Helena rested her hand on his arm. The look they exchanged filled Spike with jealousy.

“Let’s go.” He grabbed Helena and yanked her up. He did hope for Xander’s sake her feelings were real.


Twenty minutes later, Willow returned to find the camp packed up and the others waiting for Spike to return.

“Any luck?” Raven asked.

“I’m not sure.” Willow answered. “I couldn’t reach Dawn or Andrew, but I sent them both an e-mail telling them what has happened. I hated to tell them about Giles like that, but I didn’t really have a choice.” She started working on the computer. “I did find out from the history that Giles talked to Andrew right before he was killed and Andrew was in Kathmandu.”

“What was he doing there?”

“I’m not sure, but he sent Giles a file. I’m going to find out what it was.” She typed on the keyboard. “It looks like a translated copy of the prophecy.” Willow said excitedly. She began to read. Raven, looking over her shoulder began to read with her.


“So, Illyria, this army the Thunder Dragon has, these reptile creatures, was that like your army?”

“No, he created his army in his own image, then changed them to maximize their fighting abilities.”

“Oh.” Xander thought a minute. “So what did your army look like?”

Illyria thought, and then thought some more. “I do not know.” She sounded confused. “I cannot remember anymore.” She sounded troubled by this. When was the last time she remembered? Did she know when she came back? Did she lose part of her memories when Wesley drained her powers?

That reminded her of her dream.

“Your army wasn’t still around when you came back was it?”

“No, my temple was destroyed, my army was dust.”

“How could your temple have been in LA? Why didn’t someone notice it?”

“It was in a different time stream.” She said slowly. There was something here she should know. “I was the only one who could access it.”

“So how did you guys release the Thunder Dragon’s army? Were you able to release that too?”

“No.” The images from her dream kept flashing through her head. “No, I didn’t. I couldn’t reach it. I could feel it, but I couldn’t reach it.”


“I want to know what those things were and how you knew how to kill them.” Spike told Helena and Pixie. The two looked at each other, but it was Pixie who answered.

“They are Shadow’s recruits. He can fill a man with darkness and make him his follower.”

Spike looked at Angel. “Blue said the darkness in them was from the First.”

“Yes, she did.”

Spike turned back and grabbed Pixie by her shoulders. “You’ve been in league with the First this whole time.” He roared. Pixie’s eyes widened, for the first time she looked frightened.

“No, I swear, we didn’t know. Shadow always has those followers; he’s had them since I was recruited. I didn’t know they had anything to do with the First.”

“Liar.” Spike snarled changing into game face.

“I’m not!!” Pixie insisted. At any time she could get away from his grip, but she knew that wouldn’t help, she needed to convince him about the truth of her words. “They would appear on jobs sometimes. They would relay messages from Shadow or help us complete our objective. When the mission was over we would usually dispose of them so we didn’t leave any loose ends.”

“She’s telling the truth.” Helena said wearily. “We never spent much time around them. The only way we could recognize them would be from a medallion worn around their neck, we would have to activate it with a phrase and that would be how they could recognize us” She fished something out of her pocket. “It looks like this.”

Angel snatched it away from her. “The soldiers weren’t wearing these.”

“They wouldn’t. They were already with Shadow, no one needed to identify them and they were already activated.”

“What is Shadow up to?”

Helena sighed. “I’m not sure. He wanted all of you dead, but whether he is working with the American Government or the First, I don’t know.”

“You have to do better than that.”

“I don’t know!!” Helena insisted. “We are on a need to know basis. Only Buffy and Simon are privy to all of a plan.”

“Why them?” Angel asked.

“Because Simon is usually the one who comes up with the plan details. With his brains, there isn’t too much he can’t figure out.”

“And Buffy?”

“She belongs to Shadow.” Pixie answered. Spike’s grip on her arms tightened. “Ow.”

“No, she belongs to me.”

“What can you tell us about Buffy?”

“I already told Xander there isn’t much we can tell you.” Helena began.

“Try.” Spike said, shaking Pixie roughly in his anger.

“Easy man.” Oz said off to his side.

Spike forced himself to calm down and released Pixie. She rubbed at her arms and looked at him with a hurt expression.

“She wasn’t afraid of anything. No matter what we faced she dove in headfirst. Nothing bothered her, ever. No mission was ever too dangerous. She had no moral issues with anything Shadow wanted.” Pixie said.

“I like to think I am brave, but there are some things that terrify me.” Helena said. “I was hurt on a mission once, miles from any medical aid. Shadow took me back to get help, he had me traveling in the shadows with him because it was the quickest way to get there.” She shuddered. “I almost would have rather died. Being lost in that darkness, feeling it all around me and know that if he let me go I would be lost there, forever…” Helena took a deep breath. “I still have nightmares about it. But Buffy, she traveled with him all the time. It never seemed to faze her. Nothing ever did.”

“Its like she’s made out of stone.” Pixie said.

Spike turned to her. “What did you say?”

Willow scanned through the prophecy, as she scrolled down she noticed some sections of it were highlighted. She began to read those.


Illyria stood still, ignoring Xander. How was the Slayer able to access the Thunder Dragon’s temple?

“It's out of phase with our time stream. Only Illyria can open the gateway.” She whispered Wesley’s words from her dream.

Her head shot up. “The Slayer.” She said loudly.


Across the cavern Willow let out a cry. “Goddess, its Buffy.” She jumped up and almost dropped the computer.

Spike came barreling in followed by the others. “We have to leave now.” He yelled in a panic.

“Spike, its Buffy.” Willow shouted.

At the same time Illyria yelled. “The Slayer is the Warrior of Stone.”

That was all it took, the entire team got moving. They grabbed what they needed and ran towards the entrance of the cave.

“Do we have a plan?” Xander asked.

“We’ll come up with one on the way.” Spike shouted. “Now move your ass whelp. I need to get my Slayer back.”