Title: Forgotten Acquaintance

Author: GreenFire

Disclaimer: All characters are owned by there respective companies.

Feedback: Yes please! This is my first story.

The sun was rising over the dark expanse of Sunnydale, the trees that were shrouded in darkness now glowed gold and orange with the suns new rays, and quietly the shadows retreated into the corners until it was safe for them to expand into the void of night again.

"Wow." Whispered a small voice that was drenched in shadows. "This ought to be very interesting." It whispered before sliding away from the sun with the retreating darkness.

Buffy was one of the best Slayers of all time, she had stopped the world from ending more than once, she had taken on vampires, demons, mummies, giant snakes and even vapid dinner ladies, but this single, young and very drunk redheaded witch was scaring the hell out of her.

"Spike is so gonna pay…" Buffy mumbled as she tried to get Willow to stop singing ‘The hedgehog can never be buggered at all" and stopping her showing passers-by why that is exactly.

It was Xanders’ birthday, and they had had a small party in his basement/home. Surprisingly, it was a good party despite the overly dampness of the surrounding area. There were streamers, balloons, it was like a recreation of her 5^th birthday, but she loved it… and so did Willow… WAY too much. See, there was also another thing among all the party décor, there was punch, and it was believed that it was Spike who added the extra ingredients to ‘spice’ it up.

Finally, she got Willow to her room and she instantly fell asleep, it would have been even better if they would have been inside the room when she did. So, Buffy propped the snoring Willow against the doorframe and opened the door. Gently putting Willow on top of her bed and then got changed, got in her own bed and fell asleep.

Everybody gets weird dreams, even vampires, but Buffy was The Slayer, The Chosen One… well, one of them anyway, so she is entitled to a very high class of weird dreams. At the moment she was standing in an old village, there weren’t houses, but huts, with straw roofs and wooden shutters. In the center of the village was a stone statue, Buffy walked up to it, it was human, about 15 or 16 years old, dressed in robes, the colours faded to stone. Between the gaps of his arms that were shielding his face, there was a look of sadness, and a stone tear could be made out rolling down his cheek. The statue then pulled his hands away and pushed his sad face up, "Things never lost, are found. Items kept close to the heart are returned. Things that don’t exist are stolen… Are you ready?" then it disappeared from sight.

Buffy awoke with a start, with a witch who was in a great deal of pain in the bed next to her.

"Very interesting I must say" Giles muttered to himself. "Very interesting indeed."

"Any ideas?" Buffy asked. She had finished giving Giles the run over of her dream, all he had said was ‘very interesting’ and ‘really.’

"Hmm? Uh, no, not yet, stone you say? I’ll err, I’ll begin researching petrification immediately."

"Turning men into stone… Ahh, that brings back memories." Said Anya as she was enveloped by a wave of nostalgia, while Xander shuddered.

"Could you give me more of a description on the robes he was wearing?"

"Sorry, they were robey and stony, that’s it."

"Hmm, well, yes. How is Willow?"

"Yeah, how is my favorite party animal?" Asked Xander, who quickly received a glare from Anya that could have pinned him to the wall. "I mean, how is Willow?"

"She’s okay, she’s not quiet used to the hang over thing, but she’s coping."

"Oh, sorry Wesley." Said Cordelia as she helped the very much in pain English man to a chair. "You really shouldn’t stand that close… god I need an aspirin." She added as she got Wesley to the chair. "Want one?"

"Yes please…ugh, I’m not bleeding am I?"

"Hmm, nah, a little red around your eye, but nothing serious."

"Oh, good, so what did you see… Cordelia…Cordelia?" The second Wesley asked, Cordelia had gone considerably pale.

"Lets just say, after you’ve had that, you might want to go pack."

"Hello…Oh, what can I do for you…Of what…What!…When will you be arriving… I understand, shall I tell Buffy…Okay, goodbye." Giles replaced the receiver, then muttered phrases and curses under his breath that would have made a sailor jump over board in shark infested waters.

"How are you?" Asked Buffy

"Good, hangovers gone and from now on I swear, I’m never drinking again. Well, not alcohol anyway."

"Good, so what ya readin’?"

"Just some spells, I was think…." RING… RING

"Hallo?" Buffy chirped down the receiver.

"Buffy, good, its Giles, I have some news."

"Well spill."

"Well, you see, the fact is… umm, I would like to say that, well you know…. Oh bugger, Angel will be arriving tomorrow, Cordelia had a vision, that’s all he would say over the phone."

"What?" she gasped

"I’m sorry Buffy, but it must be important."

"Okay, I understand" She said and put the phone down. On the other side of town, Giles continued muttering.

"Buffy, what happened?"

"Angel…he’s coming back."

______________________________________________________________________________________

"I don’t get it… Didn’t Angel move to LA to stay?"

"Xander, he’s just visiting, besides it must be really important." Willow had just spent the last hour listening to Xander rant and rave about his dislike of Angel, and she was getting REALLY annoyed, plus Anya was really starting to bug her as well.

<I’ve had it! I really have!!> "Xander, no offense, but I don’t think its Angel that’s got you so worked up, I think that your nervous of seeing Cordelia again. I know seeing an old flame could bring up old feelings, maybe you’re still not over her." Willow put emphasized on the last part, just so Anya heard, who’s head snapped up when she finished speaking. <That was mean, so very mean… but I feel so much better!>

"Xander, what do you mean old feelings, you said you were over her, do you still love her…" KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! The door bellowed.

"I’ll get it!" yelled Xander jumping from his chair, while glaring at Willow. "Hay Buff, how ya’ doin’?" asked Xander as he opened the door.

"Okay, I just finished telling Riley about Angel."

"How much did you tell him?" Willow was feeling sorry for Buffy, she had an entire world depending on her, and she also had to deal with one undead X-boyfriend and one relationship with a human demon hunter. <Poor Buffy.>

"Everything."

"So, when is he getting here?" blurted Anya, who had now regained interest in picking her fingernails.

"Angel should be arriving anytime now." Answered Giles

Giles’ front room fell into silence… well, except for the click, click, click of Anya picking her nails.

Willow walked into the kitchen and came out holding a small paper bad and a pair of scissors and gave them to Anya. "Thanks."

Now the room fell into silence.

KNOCK…KNOCK…

Buffy got up and opened the door.

"Angel."

"So Angel, what brings you to SunnyDale" Giles still recovering from the slight shock of seeing Wesley.

Angel was standing at the far side of the room, his first intention was to avoid Buffy, but now he had another one, Angel’s thoughts were contemplating the people in the group, until he came to one.

* Wow, when did Willow become so…. Wow? Her eyes shine and… wow. Shes developed into this really wowish person… is wowish a word? She just so incredibly…wow. Okay Angel, after this prophecy is over, find the rest of your vocabulary. * He thought to himself, took another look at her and though, * Wow.*

Anya had her arm wrapped around Xander while glaring at Cordelia and Xander was fidgeting uncomfortably and looking at his shoes while Cordelia was ignoring them completely.

"Angel? Are you with us?" Giles asked again.

"Huh? Oh, Cordelia had a vision that involved SunnyDale."

"Since when did you get visions?" Asked Buffy.

"For a while, but there nothing to be grateful for, they hurt like hell. Anyway, in the vision, there was this statue thing, and he was walking through SunnyDale an…."

"Did you say statue thing?" Interrupted Buffy.

"Yep."

"Was it human, covered in robe things?" Cordelia’s face paled. <She knows!?!>

"Yeah, how do you know?" Cordelia was quickly approaching blind panic.

"I had a dream thing, except I was in a medieval village and he wasn’t walking, he said… uhh…"

"Things never lost, are found. Items kept close to the heart are returned. Things that don’t exist are stolen… Are you ready?" Willow quickly answered, while everybody glared at her like she had just grown horns. "You told me after you told Giles." She shrugged

"oh"

"Yeah, well, I saw another thing in my vision…"

"C’mon Cordy… spill," said Buffy.

"Well, after the statue, there was… um… well, I saw Willow." Willow quickly paled to a shade of an anemic snowman.

"Will, are you okay? Will." Xander was by her side looking very worried.

"Um… no."

The meeting didn’t last long, there was so much tension in the air that if you tried to cut it with a knife the knife would shatter into little pieces and the tension would point and laugh at it. Angel, Cordelia and Wesley were staying in a motel, despite Cordelia’s wanting to stay at the mansion, Angel decided that it was not a good idea, "there might be a vampire nest there." He had said, but Cordelia’s analysis agreed with Angels’ thoughts. "To many bad memories huh? With the Buffy stab, ow!" Wesley had cut Cordelia’s sentence short with an elbow to her ribs.

Willow was slightly worried, and had done a few protection spells just to ease her mind, then took a couple of aspirins to ease her head.

Giles was in full research mode, he was researching living statues, golems, petrifaction and their possible links with Willow. He had been researching for an hour and had found 1 old jelly doughnut, a torn up piece of magazine that had been used to bookmark a page covered with engravings of nude nymphs. *Xander* And finally a piece of paper that was part of a spell written in Willows hand writing. *Interesting. * He thought. *What is that girl up to? * He then sat down and began looking over part of the spell, trying to figure out what it was meant to do.

The morning was again fast approaching Sunnydale, time after time the world faced untold peril, but, time after time, the sun still rose, and it still set over an unknowing world which contained magnificent beauty, and at the same time, the creatures which are many peoples nightmares given life.

The shadow smiled, "Soon, very soon."

Spike had just made it back ‘home’ to his mausoleum. Now, he may have a chip in his head, but he was still a 200-year-old vampire, he may not be able to drink fresh human blood, but he could bloody well smell it.

"Who’s here? You’ve got 5 sec… bloody ‘ell." He whispered as he remembered where he last smelled this scent.

"Hallo Spike." Came the voice as a teenager, roughly 15 years old stepped out of the shadows.

"Jesus Bloody Christ!" Spike yelled grabbing the boy and… hugged him?

Once again, everybody had gathered in Giles’ living room, and once again, everybody was staring at the floor.

"I, um, I believe I have found what the… err, thing that we are looking form, um… is." Giles managed to say. "About 200 years ago, two master vampires led an attack on a small settlement of witches. The witches were rebelling against the vampire presence in the region, so a vampire army was amassed, led by two master vampires and a child sorcerer. One of those master vampires… was Angel." Giles closed the book he was holding and stared at Angel while everybody else gasped, then stared. "Care to explain?" Giles asked, raising an eyebrow.

Angel took a deep breath, although it was completely unnecessary. "The other vampire was Spike. We moved quickly after sunset, the attack went quickly and in our favor. Spike, myself and ‘FireLion’ the sorcerer headed to the main house, the occupants were the two leaders of the settlement. There was a magick fight between them and our sorcerer. They won, they had more power and more experience, but it was a good fight, and it weakened them significantly, before me and Spike killed them, they encased FireLion in stone."

"And you waited to tell us because?" Buffy said glaring at Angel.

"Hey, hold it Buffy, Angel will have a good reason for not telling, don’t you?" Cordelia asked staring at him.

"After the fight, I was angry, FireLion had spent a long time around me and Spike, and had become as much as a friend as possible. I tried to find ways to free him, but I couldn’t. Then I got my soul back … Andrew, the sorcerers’ real name, was a cruel person, even for a boy, plus he was powerful, I was hoping it wasn’t going to be him."

"And now he’s free." Willow said, she hadn’t slept much, and the sleep she had was filled with nightmares, which explained the mess of her hair despite the hours of brushing, and the huge bags under her eyes.

"Willow, we won’t let him get any where near you." Buffy said rubbing Willow’s shoulder.

"I don’t understand how he’s free." Angel muttered. "I looked every where to find a way to free him."

"The magick will have worn off." Willow whispered. "It was a strong spell, but despite the fairytales, it wouldn’t have lasted forever."

"Why is he after you?"

"He might not be." Cordelia said, looking thoughtful. "Andrew was in the same vision, but he wasn’t with Willow. Willow was in no danger what-so-ever, in-fact she looked like she was going to go and kick some serious ass."

"What?" Willow was bewildered, she was the mousy one, the little dabbler, her… kicking ass… * cool *

"You were all glowing, and were almost running down the street and you looked REALLY angry."

"Oh, and you didn’t tell me I probably wasn’t in any danger because?"

"It takes me a while to sort out everything I see… sorry."

The stars above SunnyDale were always bright. Perhaps it was because they were closer, perhaps it was because they were bigger, or perhaps… just perhaps, they knew what happened on the Earth below, and tried to push back the encroaching darkness as best they could from their position, billions of miles away high up in the heavens.

Willow was sitting on the high cliff that slept on the side of SunnyDale. She remembered when Buffy had told her about when Angel was going to wait here, wait here and for the first time in centuries watch the sunlight as it rose over the horizon. She also remembered how the snow rolled over the distant hills instead of the bright rays, and how its delicate kiss saved his life… and their love.

Her mind began rolling back over the years, her childhood had been normal, there had been the infamous Barbie incident and her mostly absent parents, but that was pretty much it. After she met Buffy things had happened to her that only ever happened in her worst nightmares, and sometimes, only ever in her wildest dreams. Since she had met Buffy, she had changed, she risked her life for things she rarely got credit for, she had met her first true love, and lost him, and throughout all this, her life was being continuously being ripped apart and thrown back together.

When Xander had told her that she had too many thoughts, he didn’t know how right he was. She often needed to get away from everything, and just to run things over and ask herself * who am I? How have I changed? * She was asking herself these questions right now, but couldn’t keep her mind on the memories that would show her the answers. Instead, all she could think of was that night, about year or so ago. She had been on the computer late, when she heard something…

"Who’s there?" Willow asked, turning around at her desk. As she turned around, she gasped, seeing a woman standing behind her, her delicate features lined with gold and blue. Her petit body was wrapped in a drape that hung loosely, and her curly brown hair brushed behind her shoulders. In Willows mind, the woman was the embodiment of what she would have labeled an elf.

"Hello Willow." The woman said, her voice holding a gentle melodic tone, her face shining slightly with her smile.

"Wh, who are you?" Willow stuttered, bewildered by the appearance of this being. The lady smiled and held out her arms.

"Do not be afraid, I am an oracle, from the powers that be. Do you know what they are?"

"The Powers? They’re, uh, a mystical force that no one seems to know much about, directed by a sort of council."

"Yes, I am a member of that council." The woman waved one of her arms, and Willows room quickly changed to what looked liked a distant temple, with the sun beating down on the white marble of the floor and pillars. Willow gasped, adding to the only other sounds of a nearby stream and a bird perched on an olive branch. Willows padded chair had changed to a marble bench, covered with pillows, and everything had smell of faint jasmine.

"Do not be afraid Willow. You are in one of the chambers commanded by the powers that be, never has a mortal been allowed this far into our realm." Despite the friendly gestures, Willow was still bewildered, and not as, but still frightened.

"What do you want?" She managed to ask with out her babbling habits rendering her embarrassed.

"A great favor, and one that will be rewarded."

"Favor?"

"Yes, you know of a vampire called Angel?"

"Yeah, he was a friend, but…" Willow trailed off, her head dipping as she remembered the outcome of his last battle.

"Yes, he got sent to hell."

"Yeah." Willow looked at her hands, had she only acted faster, cast the spell a couple of seconds quicker, then Angel would have his soul and he would have Buffy.

"How would you like to free him?" Willows head snapped up, her eyes fixing the woman’s.

"Is that possible?"

"Yes, but unfortunately, the task is difficult, and the oracles or any of are dimension are unable to enter the burning realm, in your terms it would be like an Angel going to hell, just as impossible as a demon going to heaven."

"So, yo… you want me to go?"

"That is the favor we ask."

"Why do you want Angel free?" The Oracle took a breath, then walked towards Willow, knelt down, and put her hands on hers.

"It is difficult to give you an answer, all I can say is that the universe has plans for Angel, and his duties to the world are not yet complete, there will be a great many dangers that will face the world, and Angel will be needed. The love between him and Buffy was unexpected, and things went wrong, we need you to help us put things back on track, and maybe even give him and Buffy a chance to love each other again."

Willow was shaking slightly, there she was, at home on a Friday night, doing her physics homework, and now she was being propositioned by an angel who wanted her to go to hell and rescue one of her best friends and worst enemies.

"Why me?"

"Hell is a dangerous place, as one would expect, you know Angel, and you also have the strength of will to resist the temptations that will attack you. You also have the power of friendship and love to break the chains that will hold him prisoner."

"Sounds corny if you ask me." The woman gave a broad grin.

"Yes, it’s the way the universe works. Will you do it?" Willow closed her eyes, and pictured Angel and Buffy together under a watching moon.

"Yes."

With a few minutes to prepare, and some advice from the oracle, Willow was on her way… down.

As the dazzling lights of the teleport faded, she braced herself for the unbearable heat, and so was unprepared for the skin pearcing cold.

The sharp jabs of cold scared her, not only did the jab home the reality of her situation with their icy fingers, but also worries her another way. The oracle had called this the ‘burning realm’, if that is what it is, why was it so cold. Slowly, she took her first step forward, looking around, it looked like a typical dungeon, and only the cold made it different.

Then she remembered.

Hell was not just one place, but a series of levels, these were called anything from levels to rings. The outer were made of burning fire, were the everyday near-do-wells ended up, the lowest, was where Lucifer himself was encased in ice, frozen in despair for all eternity… or so the stories went.

* Those weren’t stories, for it to be this cold, I… Angel, look for Angel. * Willow didn’t let herself finish the thought, of how close she could be to the personification of evil, how close she was to the ultimate demon.

Her hand strayed to the necklace the oracle had given her before she left, the slight heat it gave out let her know the enchantment was working, while she breathed, she wouldn’t be seen by any pure demon.

She quickly offered a prayer to all the gods she knew, as two of the ugliest demons she had ever seen walked past, with 3 inch claws, blood stained skin and hair sprouting from interesting angles and places. She slammed herself against the wall and shut her eyes, praying again that the enchantment would work. After a minute, she squinted one eye open, to see no one in the corridor, she sighed a relief, and carried on looking. It seemed to Willow that she had been walking the endless corridors of this freezing layer, before finally the gem set in the necklace began a subtle glow and pulse. With a mental * YES! * She dived at the nearest door, and looked through the barred window, to see Angel against a wall, with faint simmering lines around him.

As quiet as she could, she whispered a small cantrip she had learned from a very charming rogue at a magick fair, which unlocked the door to his chamber, shutting the door behind her, she walked toward her friend and knelt by his side. Sweat was pouring off him, his clothes ripped to almost nothing, Willow had been expecting huge demons with whips and maybe chainsaws, not this, what ever it was.

She raised her hand and placed it on his head, concentrating on him, the stone in the middle of her chest began to glow, and then the images came.

Flashes, to fast to concentrate on one, but long enough to feel the grief Angel attached to each one. Willow yanked her hand away, and let a tear slide, as she realized, he was living through the moments that what made him want to atone, made him want to be a better person.

Gripping the chains with her hands, she said the incantation that the oracle had taught her, the spell that would free him from this accursed place, as the spell began to finish, Willow felt a powerful block, the demon. The demon that Angel fought for so very long was again causing him pain, as it fought against Willow’s magick, fought to keep them all locked in his realm. As Willow pooled her all her power into the spell, she felt un-conscience beckoning her to a peaceful slumber.

She woke up on her bedroom floor, * What was that? A dream? A Nightmare? What happened? * She was to tired to think about it now, but over time, she thought things through, the fight of the demon to let it stay in control, the chains wrapped around his mind. It was when Willow grabbed the chains around his mind that Willow realized what Angel meant when he said he was the demon. Willow had never wanted to believe it, but the human Angel was really dead, the one she knew was a combination of soul, demon and experiences, if it wasn’t true, she would have only brought his soul back, but it wasn’t possible to separate the two, at least, not then.

It wasn’t for weeks until Willow found out that her escapade into the nether regions of hell was confirmed as being successful, when she finally saw Angel again with her own eyes. She was shocked, and not to say a little proud of herself, she had gone into hell, and fought a demon with everything that made her soul, and it turns out, she’d won.

She had never told anyone though, what was she supposed to say "Hi Buffy how are you? Oh, by the way, I went to hell to bring back your X after he’d been trying to kill us for months."

Angel had changed since she had last seen him, he seemed less broody, and she had a feeling that spending a large amount of time around Cordelia had been the cause.

As a witch, Willow had spent a lot of time working on her powers, because of this, there was a presence tugging on the edge of her mind, she would have normally noticed, but was so enveloped in thought to feel it. She was not, however, so far gone as to not notice the large growl it made as it lunged toward her. There are a lot of words you could use to describe Willow, redhead, small, fast-learner or ‘wow’ for example, but on of them was defiantly NOT stupid.

Quickly Willow rolled to her side as the vampire landed on the spot she had been lying on, she grabbed the water gun she had at her side, she stood up just as the vampire went to grab at her, and he quickly ran away as he got a face full of holy water, the vampire equivalent of a bucket full of battery acid.

There was a small chuckle from the shadows and Willow twisted round and took aim, but lowered the gun as Angel stepped out into the bright star light.

"I hope this doesn’t catch on, if all my clients begin saving themselves, I’m gonna be out of a job." He said smiling.

* Defiantly changed * she thought, smiling. She sat back down on the grass and gestured to Angel to sit next to her.

"You shouldn’t be out late." He said.

"I know, I just needed to clear my head." Angel nodded and stared at the town below him. "There’s so much going on I feel like my heads’ gone into over load."

"It’s going to be okay, you know that right?" He asked. He had always thought of Willow as the one that needed to be protected, but after what he had just seen, some changes had to be made to that line of thought, well, a few anyway.

"Yeah, Angel, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Who gave Wesley the black eye?" Angel laughed, a sound Willow just realized she had never heard before… she liked it, the way his eyes lit up, the way he seemed to be happy for a while… and the way you could see the lines of his well built chest and stomach through his silk shirt. * Bad Willow!! Bad!! Wait, why is it bad? He’s not going out with Buffy any more, she’s got Riley, and Angel’s not got anybody, and neither have I, so why is it I feel really bad… and why am I thinking this, its not as if I’m attracted to Angel. * A small voice in Willows head yelled *Yeah, right! *

Willow’s internal debate was ended when she felt Angel touch her shoulder.

"You okay, you spaced out." Willow blushed slightly, and tried to cover it up by rubbing her eyes.

"Hmm, I’m fine, just tired, did you just say spaced out?" She said.

"To much time around Cordelia, and to answer your question, it was Cordelia." Angel said.

"What?" Willow looked at Angel bemused.

"The black eye," He smiled, then added, "He tried to get Cordelia to a chair during her vision and got a right hook for being in the wrong place at the wrong time." He was chuckling under his breath. Willow smiled, and let out a real yawn. "Should we get you back home?" he asked staring at the moonlight bouncing of the fire red of her hair, the town even, he was looking at the moonlight on the town, not her hair, no, not her hair.

"Do you ever think about times that were more simple?" She asked. The question, being unexpected, caught Angel of guard, when he had ran the question over again in his head, he found that Willow was looking at him.

"Sometimes, when things get complicated, I think about when I lived in Ireland, before I… well, just before."

"I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry." She finished the sentence of with a shiver produced by the cold night air.

"Its okay." Angel draped his leather jacket around Willow’s shoulders and then stretched back on the grass. Willow was naturally shy, and was therefore very good at being subtle, but to be honest, she really couldn’t be bothered. She leaned back on the grass and curled up to Angel’s side using his chest as a pillow. Angel was a bit taken back by the un-willow like action, but Willow obviously needed comforting. * Obviously * a voice in his head said, if it were actually possible for words to drip sarcasm this one would have drown a fish.

Angel carefully stroked Willows hair, her strong jasmine perfume filling his nose as her breathing began to slow.

"I wish things could be simple again." She whispered, and as if the heavens were listening, a star shot across the heavens, unseen by all but the thick velvet of the night sky.

Giles was walking around his empty living room, sorting out the array of discarded books that decorated the chairs, floor, and desk. He then sat down and began to check the piece of paper with part of one of Willow’s spells on it, only to find it gone. * Where could it be? * He thought, scanning the room and the large amount of clutter still lying in places over the room. *Virtually anywhere. * Instead of looking, he decided to wind down with a glass of brandy and a nice volume of demonology.

Willow was sitting on her bed. Angel had carried her to her room and had been very thankful that Buffy was still on patrol, he left her on her bed, kissed her cheek and left silently. She hadn’t said anything, but it was the kiss that had woken her up. She now had all her notes arranged on her bed, all of them in neat writing covering bits of tidy paper, all but one, which had been screwed up and stained, that had been the one that she had dropped at Giles’. She felt bad about not telling him, but there was no way he would let her go through with this if he knew the dangers involved. She read over her notes again and thought of anything that could possibly be missing. After she had finished, she tidied up her notes, got changed, and then fell into a dream where she rode the back of a blazing white shooting star, with her friends faces smiling at her from the center of the stars.

"Hay Buffy." Said Riley running up to Buffy as she was heading to her dorm.

"Hay."

"Want to come for a coffee?" Classes had just finished for the day, and Buffy was heading to get some weapons before going to patrol.

"Can’t, gotta patrol. Wanna come?"

"Fighting demons in a cemetery under a bright moon in the cool scented wind of the spring… how romantic." he said smiling. Buffy smirked and opened the door.

"Hi Will." Said Buffy.

"Hay." Willow was on her bed reading a big textbook, she hadn’t looked up when the two had come in.

"Hi Willow." Said Riley.

"Hay." Willow’s gaze was still fixed on the huge book in her hands.

"Uh Will, class has finished." Buffy said, grabbing her bag from out of the closet.

"Hay. Huh? Oh, yeah, I just wanted to check something." She said barely looking up from her book. Buffy just shook her head and grabbed a couple of stakes and gave one to Riley.

"We’re going patrolling then going to Giles’ okay.

"Hmm? Oh, sure." Willow’s eyes were again fixed on the one of the many pages. Buffy grabbed Riley’s arm and pulled them out of the room. As the door shut, Willow dropped the heavy book she was holding to show a small leather bound magic book she was hiding underneath. She hopped of the bed and locked the door.

She opened the wooden box and pulled out a clay figure rapped in black silk, and a length of white ribbon.

Sitting on the floor she cleared her mind. Picking up the doll, she slowly chanted. "Hecate, Diana, Astarte, Demeter, I call upon your power. Destroy the dark that has plagued this world; remove the pain that torments the soul. Gods of old I call forth your might, destroy the demon, send it in flight." Willow was surrounded by a halo of light that enhanced the colors of her hair, skin and clothes. Her skin shining white, topped with fire red hair, her body clothed with bright purple and blue, her eyes emerald green. Willow raised her voice to a shout. "I banish the dark, I purge his soul, I banish the demon, I free his mind." The figure in her hands was bright red, in a flash; the doll had separated into two. One was glowing white, while the other was void of color or shade, it wasn’t black, because that’s a shade, it wasn’t gray because that’s a color, the doll was absent of all of that, like a hole in time and space, pulling the surrounding color into it. Quickly, she rapped the dark one in white ribbon until it was completely covered. Willow raised the doll above her head and shouted. "The darkness infects the soul no longer, I banish you to the darkness, I banish you, I banish you!" In front of Willow, a small part of the floor collapsed to show a swirling vortex of thousands of shades of black. "Banished from this world, banished from the light, never to return, I banish you, I banish you… I banish you to hell!" With that she threw the doll she was holding into the vortex, which quickly dissolved to show her floor again. The powerful aura that surrounded Willow was gone, and sweat was poring off her. She pulled the white doll to her chest and collapsed on the floor.

On the other side of town, Angel was feeling better than he had done for over 200 years. In fact, Cordelia was almost in shock. * He can’t be… is he? Yes he is! He’s singing to himself! *

"Spike? The suns’ down, could you take me for a walk around SunnyDale? Times have changed, and I… um, haven’t." Spike laughed and patted the young sorcerer on the shoulder.

"No prob’ mate. But first we need to do somethin’ about your clothes, people today don’t go for robes much. Don’t suppose you can wave yer hand and flash into the 21^st century could yer?"

"I could, but there’s one problem." He said, "What does the 21^st century look like?!" Spike laughed again.

"Well, in that case your gonna have to wear some of my stuff, might be a bit big but it’ll do."

Andrew smiled, he hadn’t been able to that for nearly a hundred years. "Thanks Spike. Spike? What happened to Angelus? I saw him with someone… she was, powerful."

"Was the chit blonde?"

"Yeah, who was she?"

"Bloody ‘ell. You’ve missed a lot."

"Tell me." He said, fixing Spike with a gray-eyed stare.

"Go put these on and I’ll tell you on the walk." He said throwing Andrew some jeans and a white T-shirt.

"Will! Will! Are you okay?" Buffy had come back from patrol and found Willow asleep on the floor, a sheen of sweat covered her face and hair clung to her skin. "Will!" She was shaking Willow by the shoulders shouting her name.

"Hmm, mmbfluk."

"Come on Will wake up."

"Waa? Hmm, who? Buffy?" Willow’s voice matched the look on her face, which clearly said. ‘If this isn’t important someone’s going to get hurt.’

"Willow, what happened?" Buffy was pulling Willow to her feet when a white doll fell to the ground.

"What’s that?"

"It’s uhh, a, um, a present, yeah, from, from, from myyyyy, cousin! Yeah, he came back of holiday from… Japan and he got it for me." * Gees! 4 years of practice and I still can’t lie! *

"Uh-huh, yeah, What is it?" Buffy said showing her the doll.

"I think you had better sit… down."

"That bad?" Buffy asked raising her eyebrow.

"It will be when Giles finds out." Willow answered already cringing at the future wrath of Giles.

"Okay Angel, what gives? You’ve haven’t stopped singing for nearly and hour. Have you been taking anything, and if you have… can I have some?"

"Caught in a one way street, with the monsters in your head… Hmm, what?" Cordelia smiled and checked his head for a temperature.

"Since when did you know Savage Garden?"

"Since I got a radio. What’s up?" Angel put down the book he was pretending to read and looked at Cordelia.

"You. If I didn’t know better I’d say you were actually happy." She said with a smirk.

"I can be happy, where’s Wesley?" He asked looking around the dingy room.

"He went to speak with Giles about something. What’s the reason for the happy? Is it Willow?" Angels head shot up.

"Willow?" Angel tried to shrug it off. "What do you mean?"

"Don’t play coy, I have eyes!" She said standing up and heading for the fridge. "When we all met up at Giles your eyes went all glazed, and every time I see you two together, you can’t stop smiling."

"That’s not true." As soon as he said it he knew it wasn’t true.

"Oh come on! You’ve got the hots for her big time, anybody who’s not self involved can see that!" Cordelia, with coke in hand, kneeled by the chair Angel was sitting in. "I know I don’t often give wonderful advice, but go for it, you don’t have a thing for Buffy anymore and she’s moved on, there is nothing holding you back… except the monochrome wardrobe. But besides that, you two fit, forget the forbidden love thing, sure, it was great, but there is nothing forbidden about Willow." Cordelia paused to take a breath and think about what she was going to say next. "With people like Willow, love is love, that means everything in her heart is yours, and if you want her, that has to be the same with you if you want to be with her. If your going to be involved with Willow, the third thing to remember is that truth is one of the most important things to her, break your word and you break her heart."

"The third? What’s one and two?" Angel was surprised, he knew Cordelia could be compassionate, but this was unexpected.

"The first thing, if you want to make her happy, all you have to do, is love her, and tell her! Tell her everyday, because I have a feeling that you’ll never be able to tell her enough." Angel nodded and looked up at Cordelia, she had changed since he had known her, she was now a mature, sensitive young woman.

"And the second thing. Hurt her and you’ll have a VERY pissed off secretary to deal with."

* Okay, not that sensitive. * "Thanks Cordelia, that was, insightful." Angel smiled and touched her shoulder. "I’m impressed."

"Yeah, well, I’m not just a pretty face." She said standing up, she turned around and stared at him. "Why are you still here? The suns down!" Cordelia put her coke down and walked over to Angel and grabbed his arm and did her best to drag him out of the chair. "Go. And. Tell. Her. Now. Or I’ll redecorate your office and take you shopping with me." Angel moved liked greased lightning and darted out of the door, grabbing his leather coat as he headed out.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. You split Angel into two, threw the bad one away and passed out." Willow had given Buffy a 15-minute talk on what had happened, and Buffy had just summed it up in a sentence.

"Uh, yeah." Willow was unsure of what Buffy was going to do, she was looking at the floor by her feet, no expression on her face. Buffy lifted her head, ocean blue met emerald green.

"Was it dangerous?" There was no lying this time, Buffy’s eyes drove into her mind picking out the truth before the lie had even formed.

"Yes." She answered simply. Buffy’s face had closed off, no emotion showing, but her eyes held the burning fury of a thousand suns.

"Damn it Will!" Buffy yelled standing up from the bed and walking around the room, "What the hell were you thinking!? You could have probably gotten yourself killed! Is that why you didn’t tell Giles! Or me!" Buffy stood still gazing at Willow again who was still on her bed.

"Yes... I knew if I told Giles or you, you would stop me. I wanted Angel to have a chance at a life… I mean happiness, if I could do it then I would, and I could so I did." Willow held Buffy’s stare until Buffy relented and sat opposite her.

"I know Will, I just wish you would have told me. I would have understood."

"Really?" Willow smiled and mentally kicked herself for not trusting her best friend.

"No, I would have stopped you."

"Oh." Willow looked crest fallen.

"But look at the bright side, I can help stick up for you when you tell Giles." Willow groaned and fell side ways on the bed.

"Okay, let me get this straight. Angelus killed a gypsy girl, the gypsy clan cursed him with his soul, he went around all ‘El wimpo’ for about 80 years, but then he shagged the slayer, turned bad, the red head gave him his soul back, and now he’s a… private detective?" Andrew asked. Him and Spike had been walking SunnyDale for about an hour while Spike told the young sorcerer everything of note for the past 100 years or so.

"Revolting ain’t it."

"Sickening. So what’s been happening with you, last I heard there was a female somewhere in your life." He asked, waving the Angelus topic aside with a wave of his hand as if to say, ‘deal with that later.’

"Uh, well, we broke up." Spike said staring ahead of him.

"Oh, well then, what else has been happening, come on Spike, I’ve got an excuse for not getting out much for the past 100 years or so, you haven’t, what’s been happening?"

"Oh not much, there was this thing in Prague, got a little tense, that’s about it, recently that blond bitch of a slayer has been pissin’ me off." Spike said shrugging.

"Why don’t you kill her? You’ve already killed one." Andrew asked as if it was the most obvious course of action.

"Two." He said with a small beam of pride.

"Two? You killed McPhearson? She was tough, I’m impressed. But if you managed to kill ‘McBitch McPhearson’, how come you can’t kill the blonde bimbo?"

"Oh bloody hell." Spike breathed.

"What?"

"Might as well bloody tell ya." He breathed kicking a stone, "These bloody army twats put a buggerin’ chip in me head, I can’t bloody kill anything… well, human anyway."

"Ouch, how’d they manage that?"

"Any time I try to kill or hurt anything human I get a shock or summin’ in my head."

"Wait, your… uh, neutered?" As he finished the sentence, Spike let out a small growl.

"It’s bloody embarrassing is what it is! I’m Spike! William the Bloody! And I can’t even bloody kill anything!!"

"Calm down Spike. I might be able to help." He said with a smirk that would have made Angelus proud.

"What? You can get this bloody chip out of my head?" Spike had stopped walking and was looking at Andrew.

"I might, I can certainly try." Still smirking.

"YES!" Spike yelled, jumping and punching the air above him. Andrew just smiled and carried on walking towards his mausoleum.

Still smirking.

______________________________________________________________________________________

* What am I thinking? Where am I going!? I must have really lost it. *

Angel was walking across SunnyDale under the moon, listening to the winds sweeping the roads of leaves and to the crickets filling the night with song.

* Willow and me? Yeah! That’s going to happen! After all the things I’ve done, I can’t think of one that gives me any right to be with Willow. She deserves someone who can be with her night AND day. Someone who can wake her in the mourning, take her for walks as the sunsets and someone who she can trust. Willow and me? Ha! That one moment of happiness would come too soon, then it wouldn’t be the same me.

No, Willow deserves someone, not something. Someone normal, not a freak. *

Angel stopped where he was standing, he could see the college, her room even, her light was shining through the dark. * Just like Willow* He turned around and headed the other way.

He let his feet walk him around SunnyDale, walking the familiar routes that he often walked with many a trouble and a care, he ended up in the cemetery staring at the moon, letting the wind push his coat back like a huge cloak in the darkness.

There was nothing but him, the moon, and the silence, it was so quiet it was tangible, something you could rap around and around, and have a peaceful eternity drenched in thought.

"Bugger me!" a voice from the darkness said.

"Sorry, your not quiet my type." Came the response.

"Get your mind out the gutter ye perve! Look." There were two silhouettes, one wasn’t human.

"Oh shit." Said Spike as he walked into the moonlight. Angel just sighed and looked back at the moon. Then remembered the other voice.

"Oh shit." He whispered.

"Well, it’s good to see you to!" Said Andrew as he walked out of the shadows

"What are you doing here?" Angel asked, taking a few steps toward the pair.

"Living, breathing, talking, wandering, everything I haven’t been able to do for nearly a hundred years!" He said waving his hands about. "What about you? I’ve heard a few things but they’re just SO hard to believe! Let’s see, sucking the world into hell." Andrew held up his hand and started counting the deeds that Spike had told him. "That was class! Got to hand it to you, most try to use the hell mouth, but no! My Angelus uses a whole different approach." Andrew let out an exaggerated sigh and held his hands to his chest. "I’m so proud." He pretended to brush aside a tear.

Angel growled.

"But best of all, shagging a slayer! Only you could think of that, hell! Only you could pull it off!" Andrew laughed as Angel’s growling got louder and he started to walk towards him.

"I don’t know what you’re up to, but…."

"But what Angel? But what? Your gonna kill me? Drain me? Ha! That might have scared me a long time ago, but now… with your all-sappy soul… your pathetic." Angel was very close to Andrew, who was looking up at Angel with disgust, Spike just looked a bit worried.

"Uh, mate, not that I don’t agree with you, but Angel isn’t all that much of a push-over."

Angel let out another growl and grabbed Andrew by the throat and shoved him back against the tree. Andrew laughed and shouted, "There’s life in the old boy yet!" before Angel tightened his grip so Andrew couldn’t talk properly.

"I may have an ‘all sappy soul’ but I’m not opposed to ripping your intestines out and hanging you with them." He said, as he put on his ‘game face’.

Andrew lifted his hands to Angels’ eyes and shut his tight. A blinding white/yellow flash came from his hands and surprised Angel enough to make him let go and stumble to the ground, as well as blind him for a short while.

Andrew filled his lungs and looked at Angel, who was still surprised from the flash.

"I may be a 112, but I still have one or two surprises." He said smiling. "I’m glad to see that you’re not completely a lost cause… I’ll be seeing you later." He said with another smile, and walked off with Spike, who was chuckling. Angel let out another small growl and disappeared into the dark.

______________________________________________________________________________________

"So what do you thinks going to happen?"

"I don’t know… prophecies happen a lot, but this kind a thing is new. I just hope Will can hold it together, this must be really scary for her." Answered Buffy.

"Willow’s a lot stronger than you think, she’ll hold up." Said Riley.

"I hope so." Buffy sat up from Riley’s bed and walked around the room "I just wish she didn’t have to get involved. Willow’s supposed to be the innocent one." Buffy started to let her mind wander to her first day in SunnyDale, all the demons they’d fought, all the loves and loses. She started to smile. "When I first met her she was kind and gentle, not that she isn’t now but, then she was nice because she didn’t now what else to be… does that make sense?" She asked turning to Riley.

"Yeah, I guess it does." Buffy smiled and walked to the window and gazed out into the stars, *They were always brighter here than LA, * she smiled, *I owe a lot to you guys, * she thought, still gazing at the stars, *lights to fight by, and focus to think by. *

"Over the years, she stayed the same. Sure, she got more confident, developed into her own person, she doesn’t have that ever present mom looking over her shoulder any more, that can change a person a lot. But underneath, she’s still kind, compassionate and gentle, but not because she doesn’t know how to be anything else, but she doesn’t want to be. She’s seen what there is in the world… she’s seen more than any one person should have to, but she ignores it… or fights it, I’m not sure, but she is kind because that’s how she makes the world better. That’s her power."

Riley walked up to her and rapped his arms around her.

"Sounds like she can hold her own."

"Yeah, but she won’t have to. Willow may not be the most popular person, but the friends she has will fight for her, and if we need to, we’ll do a hell of a lot more." She wasn’t feeling, there was no anger, no hate, no joy, no love, only one thing, rock hard determination. She’d felt like this before, when the master had risen, when she went to fight Angelus, and now. Right now, she would fight for Willow, and she will win. But right now, she had a soon to be pissed off English man to deal with, never a pretty thing, especially with the tweed.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Willow knocked at the door timidly, Buffy standing behind her.

A few seconds later, Giles opened the door and smiled. "Willow, Buffy, what can I do for you?"

"Um, Giles, can I, uh, we come in?"

"Certainly, do come in."

"Thank you."

"Willow has something to tell you." She said, as she nudged Willow through the door.

______________________________________________________________________________________

"That’s it?" Asked Spike, as Andrew picked up the doll, its white ribbon still bright.

"There’s a lot more to it then this."

"Hope so mate, hate to think your losing yer touch." Andrew clicked his fingers, a small spark flew from them and hit Spike on the nose.

"Ouch!"

"That ain’t never gonna happen." He said still looking at the doll.

"So what is it?" Asked Spike, rubbing his nose.

"You’ll see. Could you do me a favor?" He asked, looking up at Spike with the best puppy dog eyes he could muster.

"That’s damn scary mate."

______________________________________________________________________________________

"WILLOW! How could you have been so irresponsible! You of all people know how dangerous such a spell is! You could’ve gotten yourself killed, or worse!" After a few stuttered starts and then a marathon babble, Giles had managed to understand what she had tried. And was furious.

"Buffy! Did you know of this?"

"NO! I mean no. But Giles, Willow was trying to help."

"I know what she was doing, but I also know damn well what she could have done!" He turned his glare once more on Willow, and then continued to pinch his nose and hold his glasses in the other hand, never a good sign.

"You could have torn a whole between the worlds. Anything could have gotten through, absolutely anything! You could have had 20 Batzuu running around the campus! I hope you have a damned good excuse young lady, a damned good one."

Willow held her head low against her chest and quietly murmured, "It was worth it." Giles paled at what she said, then turned red.

"WORTH IT! Oh, it was worth it, well that makes everything so much better, you could have gotten yourself and everyone in SunnyDale killed, but it was worth it, that’s good to know, don’t you think Buffy."

"Enough!" The red head shouted, standing up from where she had been sitting. "I am not going to sit here and take this, I did what I did because I thought it was right, I was damn careful not to let anything get through and since when did I have to answer to you anyway! You have no right to criticize actions that I took out of kindness and friendship for a person that you have condemned since the day you met him!" With that, Willow stormed out of the house, leaving a stunned slayer, and a very angry X-librarian.

Willow had ran from Giles’ house, not knowing where she was going, her thoughts racing through her head as fast as she could, the scenery past her bye as she ran.

* It was my choice, it was the right thing to do, nothing would have gotten through, why do I let people get to me * Her thoughts carried on in one long stream, the passing view had become a blur as tears clouded her eyes. She had no idea how she ended up on the floor in the middle of the cemetery with a very concerned looking Angel standing over her.

"Willow? Are you okay? You’re crying, what’s the matter? Is something after you?" The sentence was almost babble as he said it and helped Willow up, looking behind her for any danger.

"No, no I’m fine." She said, rubbing away the tears that were still falling.

"Will." Angel said, pulling her towards the shade of a large oak that cast a great shadow over the cemetery, gentle seating themselves down, he draped his jacket over her bare shoulders, as she hadn’t bothered to grab her coat when she stormed out of Giles’ house. "What’s the matter?" He asked, as she cradled her head on Angel’s shoulder, just as she had 2 nights ago.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Willow, I you can tell me anything, you know that."

"I know, its just, I’ve just told Giles, and he went a little mad."

"Is that why you were crying?" Angel hadn’t always gotten on with Giles, but no he had an over whelming desire to pull his arms off and beat him to death with them.

"I guess, I wasn’t planning on telling him… I was just gonna let him, find out."

"What? What was it that you told him." Willow was about to explain everything, but then thought that Buffy’s explanation would be a little more appropriate.

"That I took your demon half, opened a portal to hell, then banished it there forever." Angel took a depth breath, he didn’t know what to do, shout, cry or thank. He was so confused, he knew that it was very dangerous, apart from the risk of something coming through to this world from Hell, it was also possible for Willow to get stuck there herself.

Willow had felt the sharp intake of breath, and mentally braced herself for the shouting that she was expecting from Angel. In a way, that was why she did what she did, his first thought would be that she had put herself in danger for him, in hid view a dumb thing to do.

"Angel?" She asked, worrying when the silence lasted to long.

"Willow, you know that was a dangerous thing to do." He said, almost too calmly for her liking.

"I know, but I don’t see why you shouldn’t be allowed a chance at life, like the good person I know you to be." Angel smiled, and looked down at the red head that was still leaning on him.

"Now that my demon is gone…"

"There is no more curse." She said, finishing of his sentence. "You can have a life, do anything you want, meet someone, do, you know, normal things." As Willow was talking, it slowly dawned that he may well go and find someone, and fall in love, and strangely enough, the thought Angel falling in love with anyone but her really pissed her off!

Angel thoughts were going slowly, his mind reeling from the information that Willow was telling him, the small petit girl next to him, had once given him his soul, and now she had given him a chance at life. As the realization dawned on him, he felt a glow inside, a warm fuzzy feeling, and slowly he realized… he was happy. That was why he had been so cheerful, there was no demon, no dark essence lurking at the back of his mind, he found it surprising that he hadn’t noticed, but no he had, never before, in nearly 200 years, had he felt so free.

The thoughts of a life span round his mind, he still may not be able to walk in the sun, but he could walk in the moonlight without the demon following in the shadow of his mind. Angel, full of delight and wonder for the girl, no, his friend, that he did something that surprised himself.

He kissed her.

At first just a surprising gesture, that quickly turned into a romantic kiss, when they finally broke, they smiled, then Willow looked at the sky, noticing the grays that were forming on the horizon, she turned to Angel and smiled again. "The sun is coming up." She said almost sadly. Angel kissed her once more lightly, looked into her emerald eyes.

"Meet me tonight? I want to thank you."

"I thought you just did?" She said with a bit of a smirk. Angel grinned.

"Properly, let me take you somewhere?" He asked.

"You don’t have to, you’ve got a new life, you can spend it anywhere, with anyone." She said, dipping her head slightly, only to have Angel lift her head up again gently.

"I don’t want ‘anyone’." He whispered, moving forward, gently pressing his lips against hers. Willow breathed in sharply, * Does this mean… he wants me… YES! *

Angel, gently picked Willow up, and both walked there different ways, both feeling as if heaven itself had come to earth.

The rays of light were beginning to sweep across the land, when Spike muttering and cursing, fell into the crypt with a large Tupperware box in hand. Andrew took one look at the scene unfolding, and laughed, although stopped very quickly when his head got in the way of a flying Tupperware tub.

"I’m not even gonna ask about the Tupperware." He said looking at the box filled with the ashes of a vampire.

"Don’t, it took me ages to find something to put ‘im in."

Andrew chuckled again and said "Thank you" as he placed the box on the floor, unwrapped the doll, and put the dark item in the box. Spike came up behind him and looked at the small display on the floor.

"As much as I know not to ask when your doin’ stuff like this, but what the bloody hell are you doin’ and when are you gonna get this chip out my head?"

"Fine, fine, I’ll try it now. Shouldn’t be to hard. Lie down on the, uh, slab." With a grin, Spike sat on the slab and lied down. Andrew walked to the top of the slab and put his hands on his head. Soon, a blue pulse could be seen from Andrew’s hands, getting brighter and brighter, in a bright flash, and a grunt of pain from Spike, the small chip lied by the side of his head. Spike sat up and said,

"That’s it!?" All that wavin’ around and stuff earlier, and all you did for me was ‘Hay presto’ all sorted."

"That’s gratitude for you, would you like me to put it back?"

"No! No, thanks mate." Spike said, knocking the chip to the floor and smashing it under his heel. "So what’s that vampire ashes for?"

"This?" Andrew said, holding up the Tupperware, "This is a little surprise for a slayer friend." Finishing the sentence with an evil smile.