These charcters and some of the themse are not mine.
NOTE: Due to the confusion I know these next few scenes are going to cause, Angel will be known as Angel1 and "The Vampire" will be Angel2. Buffy will be Buffy1 and "The girl" will be Buffy2. As long as there are two of each character, this rule will continue.
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Part Four
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Angel2 thought about how to put this. It was a confusing topic and his approach was very important.
"I'm not of this world, neither is she. It's like….have you ever seen the show ‘Sliders'?" He asked.
"No." said Kayla and Angel1 in unison.
"I have." Said Buffy1.
"Well, it's a lot like that. Buffy and I have traveled through eight worlds so far. From what I've seen, all the worlds parallel each other. They're never exact, but they're all very similar."
"How did you start this… sliding?" asked Buffy1.
"When I went into the vortex, I-"
"What vortex?" asked Angel1.
"You didn't go through the vortex?"
"No. What is it?"
"The mouth of Acathala. I went through it. In most every other worlds it's been the same."
Buffy1 got up and ran to Giles' office. Talk of Acathala reminded her that she should call Giles. After all, he should know about this.
Everyone saw her pick up the phone in the office and quickly dial numbers. She spoke quickly into the receiver, then left the room. As she was on her way out, she heard a moaning coming from the room where they'd put Buffy2. She walked in and gasped at what she found. Blood covered the table and was spilling onto the floor.
"Kayla!" she yelled.
Kayla came running. When she got to the room, she did the same thing
Buffy1 had. The guys weren't far behind her. Angel2 ran in and pushed everyone aside to get to her. Kayla came from behind and pushed him out of the way so that she could get a look at the wound. The hole had opened up and blood was pouring from it. She tried to concentrate on it and perhaps heal it the way she had before, but Angel2, who kept asking things like "What's happening?" and "Can you save her?", constantly broke her concentration.
Eventually, she became fed up and yelled, "Will you be quiet! The more you talk, the less I can concentrate. The less I concentrate, the longer it will take to heal her. The longer it takes, the harder it will be. I don't know if I can save her as it is! So, if you want your girlfriend dead, then please, continue your idle chatter!" He was about to say something, but Kayla had lost all patience.
"Buffy, get them out of here!" she said.
Buffy1 dragged both Angels out of the room and locked the door, giving Kayla the privacy to work. A few minutes later, Buffy stuck her head out the door and said, "She's stable for now. Look, why don't you two do something useful? One of you, go get Giles. I told him everything, so this won't be too surprising. The other, go to my house, get Kendra. I'll call the others from here."
She didn't even wait for an answer before shutting the door on both of them. They looked at each other for a second then shrugged and left the library.
They walked down the street in awkward silence. Finally, Angel1 spoke up.
"So, why are you here?"
"The vortex, the mouth of Acathala, sucked me in."
"Then what?"
"I don't remember a whole lot about hell, but I know that I was being taken somewhere."
"What do you remember?"
"That it was the worst experience I think I've ever had. It hurts to do anything. Your very senses cause you unspeakable pain. Your eyes burn to see, every sound is too loud for your ears, the smells are horrible. You come out of there remembering little except how much it hurt and the rest you try to forget. I don't even remember how I got away. I just know that I woke up in the wrong place. About three hours later, a portal opened and dragged me kicking and screaming into it. I thought I'd be going back to hell, but I was only there for a few minutes before, I went to another world, then another, then another. At the moment, I'm just looking for a way home. I haven't seen my world for months."
"How did Buffy get with you?"
"That was a mistake. If your wondering why we didn't just tell you about the bomb, it's because she taught me that coming face to face with you would be a bad idea. When I met her, she thought that I was the Angel from her world, when he was actually stuck in hell. I stayed there for about a day, I'm rarely in a world longer, and when I left, she saw the vortex and thought that I'd been sucked back into hell. So, she went in after me. She experienced hell for a few minutes, before I realized that she was there and I pulled her into a world with me. Not that I have to tell you, but she was mad when I explained it to her. So, she and I have been traveling, trying to find our ways home. When I find mine, she'll have to travel alone."
"What decides when you leave?"
"I don't know. The portal just opens. Sometimes we're in a world for an entire day, sometimes ten minutes. The longest I've ever stayed is 36 hours in one world."
"How long have you been here?"
"Nearly a full day."
"Then you don't have much time. How did you know about the bomb?"
Angel2 hesitated, "When we arrived in our third world together, it was exactly like it was here. The difference was that you two died in that bombing, because Buffy and I did nothing to stop it. We weren't about to let it happen again. I know, we disrupted the natural order, but I think we did the right thing."
"Even though it involved, me impaling her with a stake?"
"That was an accident. I won't blame you for it. If anything, I'm blaming her. She's the one who decided to run in when she didn't need to."
"Please. I would have killed you."
"You think so?"
"Yeah I- why am I arguing with you?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing." Angel2 smiled, "Anyway, I don't want you to feel bad about this. By the way, if you didn't go through the portal, what brought your soul back? You did lose it right?"
"Yeah, I did. Jenny found a loophole in the curse. She-"
"Jenny's alive!"
"No, she died in an accident a few weeks ago."
"Oh."
"Why? What happened in your world?"
"So, what happened with the curse?" Said Angel2 avoiding the question entirely.
Angel1 decided not to push it. He explained about the curse.
"God, I wish it had been that easy for me." Said Angel2.
"So, about this thing with Acathala. Am I supposed to go in?"
"I don't know. These worlds are different. I mean, how long did it take for you to get your soul back?"
"About three months."
"I was gone for four." Said Angel2, "You asked about Jenny and I guess I should tell you. I killed her… when I was changed. I found out that she was trying to restore my soul. I only would have been gone a month if I hadn't."
"The ritual of restoration?"
"Yeah."
"I tried to kill her for that. A friend of hers was there to save her."
"What she'd do?" asked Angel2.
"She shot me. Jenny stabbed me. I was lucky they didn't kill me; they certainly had the chance to."
Finally, they came the point where they were forced to go their separate ways. Before they broke apart, Angel 2 said, "Look, I don't know what's meant to happen here, but if you are supposed to go in there, we're gonna find a way to stop it. I've been to hell and believe me, no one should have to go there."
With that, he walked towards Giles' house.
He arrived there about ten minutes later.
"Which one are you?" Giles asked as he locked his door behind him.
"I'm not the one you know."
Giles proceeded to ask him questions of his arrival and of his travels. On the other side of town, Kendra was being taken from her bed. She wasn't happy about it. Angel1 told her everything that had happened; she was her skeptical self about the whole situation, until she arrived at the library and met Angel2 who had just arrived with Giles. She asked many of the same questions that Giles had asked.
Xander showed up twenty minutes later with Cordelia and Willow. They had all been informed of the situation over the phone, but still found it rather shocking to see two Angels walking around.
Their arrival was not a happy one; on the way there, they'd been attacked. Vampires had jumped on the moving car. Xander slammed on the breaks, causing the vampires to fly off, but not before one had attached a note to the windshield wiper. When Xander saw Buffy1, he gave her the note. It read: Send her to the graveyard at midnight, or more will die.
When she'd finished reading it, she crumpled it in her hand, then began to walk away. Angel2 stopped her and took the note from her. He read it and said, "Damn. You can't go."
"Why not, it says-"
"It's a trap, Buffy. Remember about a year ago, when the Anointed One tried to raise the master? He lured you away and attacked your friends. Spike is trying to do the same."
"How do you know? Did he try it in your world?"
Angel2 shook his head, "No. I tried it. In my world, I was the one who brought forth Acathala. I planned everything and because of it, I was sent to hell."
"B-by me?"
He nodded, "This is the first world I've seen where Angel hasn't been to hell, so who's to say he isn't supposed to?"
"I am." She answered determinedly, "but someone has to meet Spike. I won't risk letting him hurt anyone else. Angel can go with me. I want you to stay here and protect the others."
"I can't do it alone."
A voice piped up from behind him, "I'll be here."
They turned and saw Kendra. She sat on a table, one hand hanging onto the strap of her bag, which she'd brought with her. She had been waiting for someone to take note of her presence. She'd felt ignored since she'd gotten there.
"I don't know…" Buffy1 trailed off.
Kendra gave her an annoyed look. Before she could object, Angel1 backed up Buffy1 by saying, "I think she's right, Kendra."
Kendra, continued to glare at Buffy1. She said "Listen, you need help right now. He's right, this can't be done alone. There's no one here to help him except me. I don't know what you're so worried about. The first time I came here, I said I could wipe the floor with you, and you know what? In six, seven months, I'll still be able to."
Finally, she got her way.
"Alright." Said Buffy1, "but I want you to be careful."
"I always have."
Buffy1 walked over to her friends.
"Have you guys found anything about Acathala?"
"I did." Said Willow going to her bag.
"What did you find?"
Willow pulled out some sheets of paper and handed them to Buffy1. She looked them over and said, "I hope Spike doesn't know this."
"What?" asked Angel1.
"To work the portal, the person who wants to open it, has to have their blood on the sword. That's the only way it will open."
"Without it, he'll get an electric shock strong enough to kill a man." Said Angel2.
"I take it you now know what a lab rat feels like." Said Xander.
"Something like that, only I didn't get a food pellet when I got it right."
"Buffy!" Kendra called from across the room.
Buffy1 walked over to the table where Kendra stood.
"I brought something." She took a sword from her bag, "This sword belonged to the knight who killed the demon. It should stop him… I think."
Buffy took the sword from her and examined it, "Thanks. I'm gonna leave it here, until I need it. Look in that closet, you'll find pretty much any weapon you'll ever need in there."
She pointed out the closet, then returned to her friends.
"Research, do anything you can to find a weakness in Spike, in Acathala, anything. I may need it." She told them.
"Buffy!" said Giles, tossing her a set of keys, "Take my car. You don't have much time."
With that, Buffy1 left the room, with Angel1 right behind her.
Those who stayed got to work.
"C'mon, Cordy." Said Xander, "There've gotta be more books around here somewhere."
"More books? Doesn't this job involve anything besides books and dead things?" Cordelia complained.
Xander was going to say something insulting, but decided to save it. Now just wasn't the time. Giles took them to the back to find more books on Acathala.
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