Disclaimer: They belong to everyone's favorite evil genius, Joss.
Chapter 1
Buffy Summers had seen some strange things in her time, but none so strange as world peace.
The change had come suddenly, noticeably. It ranged from the feeling of happiness, serenity and love that had come over everyone, through to the news on television showing world leaders signing peace agreements, wars ceasing and dictators renouncing their own corruption. There was as yet no word on how or why any of this had occurred, or how long it could be expected to last for.
Buffy had called an emergency meeting of the Scooby Gang to figure the matter out. Xander and Willow had flown in from Africa and South America respectively. Giles had come from England. She, Dawn and Andrew were already in Rome. The research party had so far not yielded anything useful. Xander and Giles were deeply suspicious of the sudden peace, while Willow was slightly more optimistic, but still wary. The new Slayers, on the other hand, being inexperienced in these matters, were freaking out.
Buffy didn’t know what to think. All her life there’d been evil in the world, and since she was 15 she had had to fight it. Now, it was simply gone. The last time she’d felt like this was when she was in Heaven. This was what this was, Buffy realised with a surge of energy. Heaven on earth.
She looked out into the world beyond her balcony, watching as a man collided with a woman carrying groceries from the market. He gestured profusely in apology, though Buffy didn’t understand the Italian. The woman smiled, and together they began gathering the oranges and assorted produce scattered on the ground.
“So this really is world peace, huh?” Dawn’s voice came from behind her.
Buffy turned, and Dawn came up to stand beside her at the balcony railing. A rush of love for her sister came over Buffy and she knew fiercely that this world was what she wanted for Dawnie, and she’d do anything to make it last.
“Yeah,” she replied simply, letting the awe show in her voice.
“It’s beautiful. I mean, you never really think about world peace being real y’know. Just something beauty pageant contestants say or something,” Dawn rambled.
“You think it’ll last?” Dawn finally gave voice to her fears.
Before Buffy could answer, the change was upon them. The peaceful feeling departed. As she looked into the street she saw the woman snatch her oranges from the man and begin screaming at him in vicious Italian, which he reciprocated.
“Guess not,” Buffy replied, trying desperately to cover the sense of desolation she felt. She’d lost Heaven all over again. But for Dawn’s sake she had to be stoic.
****
They wandered back inside, where the others were still sprawled out in the living room amongst stacks of books. Xander looked up.
“That peaceful, easy feeling just went away,” he said, the lightness of his tone forced to cover the grief he truly felt at the loss.
Buffy shot an understanding look his way.
“Any idea what caused it yet?” she asked, trying to keep busy to distract herself.
Giles removed his glasses and began cleaning them assiduously.
“Uh, no. To tell the truth I can’t even begin to fathom how it could have occurred. I mean, the presence of evil in the world is a constant and integral factor. The absence of it is against all known laws of the universe,” he pointed out, his eyebrows raised in puzzlement as he shrugged.
Willow opened her eyes as she slowly came out of her meditation.
“Well, it doesn’t appear to be magickal at all. Which is really odd considering how suddenly it came, and then just went again.”
“So, what do we do?” Dawn asked, not liking this absence of knowledge.
Andrew toyed with his Captain Spock figurine nervously.
“It’s completely unprecedented. Even the coolest superheroes have never actually encountered world peace. There’s no protocol for this situation.”
“I don’t know that we have to do anything.” Giles proffered. “I mean, nothing bad happened. Quite the contrary, actually. It doesn’t really fall into our area of attention.”
“Yeah, we always get the sucky jobs,” Xander agreed.
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
“I’ll get it!” cried Dawn, running out before anyone else could react. She was hoping it would be her new friends Paola and Rico.
***
When Dawn opened the door she was greeted by the sight of a green-skinned demon in a yellow suit with a Fedora hat pulled down over his face. She jumped back, but was proud of herself for not screaming.
“Uh, hey there sugar plum, I’m looking for Buffy. Is this the right place?” he asked in a smooth, mellifluous voice that really belonged on radio or TV.
“You’re a demon, why are you looking for a Slayer?” Dawn asked, still wary despite the fact that his obvious friendliness had defused a lot of her fear.
“Uh, it’s kinda personal,” Lorne answered, uncomfortable even being there, but feeling he owed it to his former friends.
Buffy responded promptly to Dawn’s call, and, on seeing Lorne, quickly grabbed the sword she’s been cleaning earlier and levelled it at him.
“Hey! Whoa there! I’m a nice demon, I really am! That big sword there, so not necessary,” Lorne babbled, holding up his hands and cowering.
Just then Willow came in and Lorne brightened at the sight of an ally.
“Lorne?” she asked, spotting him and smiling.
“Willow! Great to see you, but could you please tell your friend that I don’t need slaying?”
Willow turned to Buffy.
“It’s okay Buffy, he’s a friend of Angel’s.”
Buffy withdrew the sword and threw it back on the hall table.
“Oh. Hey,” she said, wiping her hands on her black pants sheepishly. “Sword polish” she explained, blushing.
“Come in,” Willow invited, closing the door behind him. “What brings you to Rome?”
Lorne sighed.
“I wish it was a pleasure trip, crumb cake. Hell, I should be halfway to Cabo by now. Instead I’m the bearer of bad news.”
“Usually the only sort we get around here,” Buffy observed.
They walked back into the living room. Lorne was introduced quickly. He stood nervously in the middle of the room.
“I really wish I didn’t have to tell you this, but Willow was so kind as to come in person and I thought I’d return the favour,” he said glumly.
“You mean…” Willow trailed off, realisation dawning.
“Yeah. I’m sorry apple muffin, but as far as I know I’m the only surviving member of Angel Investigations.”
***
“You mean Angel did all this?” Giles queried, still feeling slightly stunned.
“Well, Angel and the team. But taking out the Circle was his plan, yeah,” Lorne replied.
“And you’re sure that they’re….” Willow didn’t want to say it.
“Believe me I looked for them, gingersnap. Not a trace.”
“But they could be still out there,” Dawn protested. “Maybe you just missed them.” She looked at Buffy worriedly. Her sister seemed to have gone completely numb.
“Chances aren’t good, I’m afraid. Angelcakes didn’t expect to make it through. It was a suicide mission and he made sure we all knew that before we did it,” Lorne sighed.
“I need to know,” Buffy finally spoke.
She stood up and the others looked at her, half-expecting her to go crazy at any minute.
“Buffy-” Giles started.
“I’m going to L.A” she cut him off.
Willow really didn’t want to ask what Buffy was going tell her boyfriend, the Immortal, about the trip. She decided to keep quiet and go pack.
***
Buffy surveyed the wreckage of Wolfram and Hart’s L.A office with a sinking heart.
“Well here’s a whole pile of nothing,” Xander quipped.
“The Hyperion is totally wrecked too,” Willow added, sharing Buffy’s fears.
“Wait, Giles is coming,” Dawn interjected, trying to keep hope alive. “Maybe he found something.”
Giles hurried over to them, hating to disappoint the expectant faces.
“Well?” Xander asked.
“Bad news, I’m afraid. Wesley’s body has been found. He’s dead.”
“Oh,” Willow cried softly. Poor Wesley. Although she hadn’t known him well, he’d been an okay guy. Once he’d grown out of the stuffy British thing, that is.
“No one else?” Buffy questioned urgently.
“Er, no. But we can’t assume that’s good news,” he reminded her, trying to tread gently. He wholly disliked Angel, hated him even. But he couldn’t bear hurting Buffy.
“Yeah. Angel and Spike’d just be dust,” Andrew blundered in. Giles mentally cursed the boy.
“Spike?” Buffy asked, confused.
“Uh….yeah. You know. Vampires, dust. Spike is a vampire. Or was a vampire. Past tense. Was,” he finished lamely.
Buffy continued looking at him strangely, but she stepped towards him with purpose now.
“Andrew, if there’s something you need to tell me, you’d better do it. Now.”
Andrew looked miserable.
“I wasn’t supposed to break a confidence,” he said. Boy, he hated screwing up. He was supposed to have risen above that sort of thing in his new life.
“Andrew, tell me,” Buffy threatened.
“Spike’s alive. Or, he was. He was working with Angel. But he didn’t want to tell you,” Andrew blurted out in a rush.
Buffy absorbed this. Spike had survived? And he hadn’t told her. Why? It hurt to think he hadn’t wanted to see her. And now, both he and Angel might be gone again. She suppressed the urge to cry and throw things in frustration. She mentally disciplined herself. Crying had never solved anything. She had to suck it up.
“Oh,” she said simply, hating how lost she sounded.
She was aware of her friends’ concern, so she straightened her shoulders and tried to school her mind into Slayer-mode. She was on a mission.
“Okay, I just want to make one last check. We can spread out and search for anything that might give us a clue.”
The others nodded and started to drift toward the far reaches of the site.
***
Buffy was sifting through another pile of rubble when her spidey senses started tingling. She stood up straight and scanned the area, detecting a presence in the distance to her left.
Quietly, she moved in the direction, checking her pocket for her stake. As she approached, she was stunned to see a figure apparently fighting the vamps. She picked up her pace and as she got closer she stopped, momentarily stunned.
Those moves…the way he executed that kick, the fluid grace of his movements, she’d know it anywhere. She broke into a run.
“Angel!” she called frantically, rushing up to him.
“Angel?”
He turned and Buffy started.
“Is there a problem ma’am?” he asked.
Buffy’s mind flashed that sentence. Is there a problem ma’am? Their first meeting. Angel on his ass in a dark alley. Is there a problem ma’am?
She snapped back and tried to clear her head.
It wasn’t Angel. He was a kid, about 18 or so, Buffy guessed. The realization dawned that she hadn’t felt Angel’s presence in her blood as she usually did when he was around.
“Oh. Sorry,” she apologised awkwardly to the stranger. There was definitely something familiar about him though. “You reminded me of someone.”
“Angel.” His blue eyes burned into her. “I remind you of Angel. Do you know him?” he asked, a hint of desperation in his voice.
“Yeah. I’m looking for him,” Buffy told him, surprised. She was still trying to put her finger on who he could be.
“So am I. I’ve been here every night since it happened. But I can’t find anything,” he confided.
“Who are you?” she asked finally.
The boy looked at the ground shyly and shoved his hands in his pockets.
“Uh, it’s a long story and you probably won’t believe me,” he muttered.
“Try me,” Buffy told him. She’d heard and seen plenty of weird stuff.
“I’m Connor. Angel’s son,” he admitted.
Buffy’s mouth fell open, and she quickly closed it again. No sense looking like Fish Girl in front of Angel’s son. Angel had a son? Vampires couldn’t have children! But somewhere inside her she knew it was true. The familiarity she’d sensed since she saw him made sense now. He was a part of Angel.
“Wow. I knew there was something about you…” she said.
He regarded her curiously.
“I still don’t know who you are,” he said. “Are you Angel’s girlfriend?” She didn’t exactly look like an art student. But he’d never met Nina so he supposed he couldn’t really judge.
Buffy’s heart lurched, but she swallowed and managed to answer him.
“I was. Once upon a time. But we haven’t been together for a long time now.”
He nodded, but didn’t say anything. There were so many questions each would like to ask the other, but finding out what had happened to Angel took priority now.
“Uh, I’m Buffy, by the way,” she told him.
“Nice to meet you,” he replied.
They walked back in the direction of the others.
***
“Wow. I’ve met you, but I don’t remember you? That’s just a little scary,” Willow said.
They were sitting in the shared lounge of the hotel suite Buffy had rented. Xander and Andrew had wandered off in search of food.
“Try waking up and finding out you had a whole other life you didn’t remember,” Connor muttered.
“I can sort of relate,” Dawn told him. “Most of my life is fake memories created magickally by a bunch of monks.”
“Yeah?” Connor’s interest was piqued.
“Uh, back to the matter at hand,” Giles said, looking like he could use a good snifter of brandy. “You last saw Angel at Wolfram and Hart, just before it began to collapse?”
“Yeah. I shouldn’t have left,” Connor said, looking at the ground and clenching his fists.
“Hey! Don’t beat yourself up. Angel wouldn’t want anything to happen to you,” Willow comforted.
“He should. After all the stuff I did to him,” Connor said. He’d been appalled when he’d got his memory back at some of the stuff he’d done. Granted, he understood why he’d done it, but it still made him a bit queasy.
“Your dad’s a pretty forgiving guy. Also, he cornered the market in overprotective so don’t think he would have let you stay,” Buffy said.
Connor managed a half-smile that reminded Buffy so much of Angel that her heart flipped in her chest. She swallowed hard.
The door opened and Xander and Andrew came in carrying buckets of fried chicken. The food was like a magnet, drawing the room’s occupants towards it, but Giles’ phone rang, and he stepped away to take the call. Buffy still couldn’t get over technophobe Giles having a cellphone. She silently promised to save him a wing or two and went in search of batter-covered drumsticks.
When he returned, the look on his face gave the game away.
“Uh oh. You have Something-Face” Xander said, brandishing a drumstick.
Buffy’s eyes pinned him down and Giles quickly informed her it wasn’t anything about Angel or his team.
“I’ve had a call from the Council. It seems that something is killing the new Slayers. En mass.”
“Like, all of them?” Buffy asked.
“That seems to be the eventual goal. Someone is trying to reverse your move to enfranchise the potential Slayers. It’s sucking their power out and then killing them. It’s occurring all over the world.”
“Rome?” Andrew squeaked.
“No, not Rome, yet. But I’m afraid we must get back and try to find out what’s doing this so we can stop it.”
Buffy stared. She would have to leave, not knowing yet what had happened to Angel.
“Can’t I catch you up in a day or two?” she asked.
Giles stared at her disapprovingly.
“Girls are dying, Buffy. I know it’s difficult for you, but this has to take priority.”
“I know,” she muttered, looking at her hands. Sacred duty yet again. She was so sick of it she could scream.
“I’ll call you if you I find out anything,” Connor promised.
Buffy nodded and headed back to her room to pack.
***
Deep beneath Los Angeles, a rat scurried quickly across the sewer at the sound of boot-clad feet approaching.
The footsteps thudded into the tiny room and their maker surveyed the creature lying still on the makeshift bed, and the two seated on boxes beside it.
“No change, then?” Spike asked.
***
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