Episode 1.1 "Gifts and Curses"

Angel stood in the alley, dripping wet with water and blood stinging his eyes. “The dragon was easy” he thought chopping off the head of another demon. He backed up farther into the alley trying to put some space between him and the demon horde rushing at him. His hopes fell when his back hit cold stone. He smelled human blood and turned to look at Gunn; he was losing a lot of blood and wouldn’t last the fight at this rate.

Angel turned his attention back to the demon that was trying to cut off his head. He kneed it in the stomach, and then grabbed its head ramming it into the stone wall behind him, cracking its skull. They had been fighting for almost an hour and Angel was getting tired. He lost Spike and Illyria about twenty minutes ago and as much as he hated Spike he hoped the vampire was still alive. He had mixed feelings about Illyria, but he believed she could hold her own.

He heard a scream and turned to Gunn who had a sword sticking out of his chest. Angel caught the man’s gaze before he fell to the ground, dead. Even though Gunn didn’t kill many of the demons he diverted their attack, but now Angel had twice as many demons coming after him. It was too much. He had three coming at him at a time and even at full strength there was no way he would be able to make it out of here alive. He looked at the building where Gunn’s body lay and saw an escape ladder. He pushed the closest demon out of his way and jumped up catching the ladder. He climbed up it as fast as he could, stealing a look below him. The demons were chasing him, but he had enough room as he climbed to the top. He kicked the ladder with all the strength he had left. After a couple times the bolt fell out of its hole, releasing the ladder from the building, causing it to tumble down. Then he ran.

“Blue, get down!” Spike shouted as he watched a sword slice the air where the demon goddess’s head was moments ago. As she got up she kicked the demon, impaling him on his own sword. Spike was not sure how, but they were close to the mouth of the alley. He was bleeding from multiple cuts and Illyria wasn’t faring much better.

“We need to get out of this bloody alley” Spike told Illyria, who only nodded. Spike snapped the neck of the demon he was fighting, turned, and ran. He met Illyria at the mouth of the alley. She was staring at something to her right.

“What are you staring at? We need to lea-” he stopped short as he saw what she was staring at. Another cavalcade of demons was running towards them. “Oh balls” he rolled his eyes as he muttered the words. He grabbed Illyria’s arm and they took of to the other end of the street, zigzagging through buildings, trying to get the demons off there scent. They made it to the docks. Spike spotted a ship preparing to take off. It obviously wasn’t public knowledge yet that the apocalypse was happening. Spike grabbed Illyria and ran for the boat. Looking over his shoulder he could see the demons were still on their tail. Spike vaulted himself into the air, hauling Illyria with him. As they hit the deck Spike looked to the ancient demon. “That was close,” Spike muttered. “Now if we just knew where we were going…”

* * *

“Andrew, shut up” Dawn said gently slapping the back of his head.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do this again. I just got ‘Cry Me a River’ out of my head. I don’t want it back in there. Although Justin turned out to be quite the hottie”

Dawn rolled her eyes and turned back to looking out the window. “Buffy how much longer until we’re supposed to get there?”

“We should be landing in about an hour”

“Do you think something really bad is going to happen?” Andrew asked being serious for the first time since they boarded the plane.

“Well, Giles is pretty wigged and he wouldn’t bring us to England if he didn’t think it was needed. So usually that means there is an uber evil.” Everyone was quiet for a moment. The Immortal grabbed Buffy’s hand offering reassurance. “But it’s okay. We’ll fight it and move on, like we always do.”

“Why are we down in this hole? I deserve more than to be locked up with the rats.” Illyria said scanning her surroundings.

“We’re not part of the crew, pet. This is a cargo ship and if they find us on it we’ll be arrested.”

“You are afraid of the humans and their justice system?” Illyria smiled at this, knowing it would annoy Spike.

“No” Spike said, glaring at the demon goddess, an annoyed look on his face. “We just don’t have time for that. We need to get as far away from Los Angeles as we can.”

“Where will this ship take us?”

“I don’t know. But wherever it is it will never be far enough” Spike sighed. “I wonder if Angel and Gunn got out alive”

“The one you call Gunn is dead. I no longer feel his essence. Angel is still alive. For now” Illyria watched as the vampire’s face fell with the news of Gunn’s death. She was still confused about human emotions. She had felt sadness over Wesley’s death and a need for vengeance. What confused her more was she was glad that the vampire standing next to her was still alive. To her vampires used to be nothing more than the rodents, lower even than humans. This feeling of comradery with Spike perplexed her.

The boat came to a sudden stop and jerked slightly.

“Why have we stopped?”

“We must be ‘here’. Wherever ‘here’ is”

* * *

Buffy stood in an alley rain pouring down, soaking her clothes. She was surrounded by demons, but none of them were attacking her. Instead they were drawn to two familiar figures in front of her. She walked closer to them seeing a face she never thought she’d see again.

“Spike?”

“Hello, luv” he said never taking his eyes off the demon he was fighting.

“Angel? Both of you. Together.”

“Yeah. It’s not like I like him now, but he’s changed. I need him to fight”

“How did you get back?” Buffy asked turning her attention back to Spike.

“It’s a long story. Right now I have something very important to te-” he was cut off by the sound of Angel screaming as he turned to dust.

“Angel” Buffy screamed.

“Buffy, listen to me.” Spike shouted as she stared at the place Angel used to be. “Buffy, the Big Bad is coming” he screamed again, but his voice was filled with pain. Buffy looked at his chest and her eyes filled with tears. He turned to face her “You have to know who to trust” he said as he turned to dust.

“Buffy, wake up. Buffy!” Dawn said as she gently shook her sister.

“Huh?” Buffy asked as she woke up from her dream. “Where’s the Immortal?”

“He’s landing the plane.”

“He’s doing what!?”

“Landing the plane. It’s his plane he can do what he wants” Dawn shrugged. She wanted to ask Buffy about the names she shouted in her dream, but didn’t know if she should.

“You might as well say whatever you want Dawn.” At her sister’s confused expression, Buffy chuckled “I know there’s something you want to say”

“You still miss him don’t you?”

“No, I don’t.” Buffy replied a bit too quickly, knowing exactly what Dawn was going to ask. “That happened a long time ago. I’ve moved on”

“I heard you Buffy. You said his name. You called out for Spi-” The Immortal interrupted Buffy’s answer as he came out of the pilot’s cabin.

“We’re here”

“Is the big bad coming?” Buffy asked echoing Spike’s words from her dream. They were sitting in a conference room in the new Watcher’s Council building. Well, Giles’ house. But it was rather big. Bigger than Buffy had expected. She didn’t understand how an ex-librarian could afford such a place, but that didn’t matter now. She was sitting at the head of the table, with the Immortal standing behind her. Xander was to her left and Willow was on her right. Faith, Andrew, and Dawn were sitting next to them.

“I’m not sure. All I know is that there is a big evil rising in LA”

“LA? You didn’t say that on the phone. Does Angel know? Is he alright?” Buffy asked trying to keep the panic out of her voice. She couldn’t shake the thoughts of her dream. If it was true then maybe Spike was alive. But if it was true, then that means that they would both die. She wouldn’t let that happen. “I think there at war with an army of demons” Seeing all of their questioning glances she added “I had a dream”.

Then the doors to the conference room burst open. Spike stood in the doorway, his flesh charred from too much exposure to the sun. “War’s over. We lost” he said before collapsing to the floor revealing a blue woman standing behind him.

“We need to get back to LA” Illyria stated walking into the room, steeping over Spike’s unconscious form.

“Who the hell are you?” Buffy asked getting out of her chair and rushing over to Spike.

“The vampire will be alright. He was not exposed to the sun long enough for it to be fatal.”

“You didn’t answer my question. Who are you?”

“I am Illyria. But you may recognize this form” she said turning into Fred.

“Oh my God, Fred” Willow said getting up.

“Yes, that was the former owner of this shell. Now we need to get back to Los Ange-”

“Wait a second. You mean Illyria, as in one of The Old Ones?” The Immortal interrupted staring at the goddess.

“Yes. I am she. Now don’t interrupt me again, or you will feel the pain of a thousand deaths.” Illyria cocked her head as she said this.

“Why you… I am The Immortal” he said trying to regain his ego. “You do not speak to me like that!”

“You are nothing to me, Immortal, nothing but a poor excuse for how the world was in my day” she said tilting her head towards Spike. “Are you this ‘Buffy’ he and the other vampire talk about?”

“Yes” Buffy said not taking her eyes off Spike. So far some things in her dream were happening and she knew what they had to do, but before she could say anything Illyria spoke again.

“They speak very highly of you, I assume you are their leader”

“Yes. And I know what you are going to say.” she turned to the group “Giles gather the troops. We’re going to Los Angeles”

* * *

Buffy was on a plane for the second time that day and she didn’t like it. She was confused about how Spike could be back and she was frightened she would lose him again. They hadn’t gotten a chance to talk. He was still unconscious. Illyria was watching over him in a separate room in the plane. She didn’t know what to make of the demon goddess. She was fighting on their side so for the time being Buffy decided to trust her.

“The vampire’s awake” Illyria stated opening the door to the other room. Buffy jumped up and went inside, leaving Illyria with the others.

“Spike?” Buffy asked afraid that she was dreaming again.

“Hello, luv” he said. Buffy froze at the sound of his voice.

“How? When?” was all she was able to get out.

“It’s a long story, but it was connected to the amulet. I’ve- I’ve been back for a couple months.”

“Months? And you didn’t call or write, or do anything. Didn’t you think that I’d like to know?”

“Yes, I almost came, but I wanted my sacrifice to show you how much I- I” Spike paused not knowing what would happen if he told her. He didn’t want to ruin her life anymore than he already had.

“You what?” she asked, but all she got was silence. She turned around and headed for the door.

“I love you” he said, stopping her dead in her tracks. “ I wanted to show you how much I love you”

“A simple ‘I love you’ would have done just fine” she said turning to face him.

“Yeah, cos me saying I love you is really as grand as my saving the world from the original evil.” Spike was in pain, but his wit was fully healed. “Then I go find you’re making googley eyes with the Immortal, biggest wanker if ever there was one.”

“God, more jealous vampire crap.”

“I thought Riley was bad…” Spike was attacking, as he always did when confronted with something he didn’t like. “He’s not good enough for you…”

“Who is?” she asked “The only normal boyfriend I’ve had left because he thought I didn’t love him. Angel left for ‘my own good’. You died and then didn’t tell me you were back”

“Do you love him?” he asked. He dreaded asking the question because he dreaded that she might say yes. He looked into her eyes; she was searching for the answer.

“Is that your business?” Buffy asked, mirroring what she had said to Angel when he asked the exact same question, only he had been referring to Spike.

“Does he make you happy? Does he make you laugh?”

“He doesn’t make me cry” she stated and walked out the door. Leaving him standing there staring after her.

* * *

Angel came back into the hotel lobby after checking every room to make sure there was nothing hiding in them. After he escaped the demons he went to many different places, but the Hyperion Hotel seemed the most logical. He gathered all the weapons that he left there, in case something like this happened with Wolfram and Hart.

He heard footsteps and grabbed a sword ready for a fight. As the doors to the hotel opened he realized he knew the figure that emerged from them quite well.

“Buffy”

“Angel…” Buffy had pain in her voice. Angel was her first love, and no matter what he would always have a part of her that no one could touch.

“Let’s set up,” Giles interrupted, trying to break the uneasy feeling in the air.

Angel looked up at the rest of the group. He spotted Spike and Illyria among the familiar faces.

“Spike…” He muttered, trying to sound disappointed he was alive.

“Good to see you old man…” Spike replied with a glint in his eye.

* * *

Everyone was settled into Angel’s hotel. They had set up a pretty good base, mapping out where most of the demons would likely be and sending groups to go fight them. Buffy had avoided Angel and Spike as much as she could while she was there. Just as they were getting ready to go fight Angel grabbed her arm.

“Let’s go to work,” Buffy announced, picking up a sword.

“Be careful, Buffy” he said looking into her eyes.

“I’ll be fine”

“I-I just don’t want to lose you”

“You never will” she said putting a hand on his shoulder. “Now let’s go kick some ass”.