Author's note: My plot bunny had mated and bore children, so now this story will be going in a slightly different direction than originally intended.
The story so far: Wesley had trapped the gang in a mystical place and they got talking about the mysteries surrounding their own Wesley's death, to which Angel confesses to turning him. So what happened?
Chapter 8: Memories From Oblivion
5 years ago…
"Wesley's dead."
The dragon was slain, and the battle still raged on. Angel looked to his left to see Spike struggling with a Vorta demon before finally slicing its head off and going for his next victim. The rain was falling even harder now, and even thunder had decided to rumble. Gunn and Illyria were nowhere to be seen, but Angel wasn't thinking about them.
Wesley was dead.
Through some miracle, it seemed as though they were actually winning. The demons attacking them seemed to have dwindled to a numerable size, some of them having fled or were dead on the street. Angel knew he shouldn't leave his friends to carry on the battle without him, but he had to know, had to see for himself. Angel gave one more glance at the blood-drenched alley, and left.
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It was eerily quiet in the mansion, feeling like a different world altogether, and his running footstep echoed loudly on the marble floor. Angel opened the large double doors to the dining hall, and saw him.
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Angel was on his knees, leaning beside the body of his former friend. Slowly, he took Wesley's bloodied hand, the one he used to cover his own mortal wound, and held it in his. He closed his eyes and let his anguish overcome him silently.
But something wasn't right. Angel opened his eyes quickly, and looked back at the body in front of him.
"Wesley?" Angel whispered. His eyes held a silent prayer as he pleadingly wished for what he felt to be true and not just his imagination. A few moments in what felt like an eternity passed by, and Angel almost lost hope when suddenly, it happened again.
"Wesley!"
Wesley opened his eyes slowly and Angel felt a great sense of relief. Wesley was breathing, he was alive. But as soon as Angel realised it, he knew that Wesley's heartbeat was very weak, and that he didn't have much time left.
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Angel was conflicted. He knew Wesley would never forgive him for what he was about to do, but he had to make a decision. He didn't want to lose Wesley, not like he did Doyle. But Wesley as a vampire was unthinkable because even as he is now, he's ruthless in his methods. And at a time like this, giving him a soul was at the bottom of everyone's priority list. Angel looked over his shoulder at the open portal - due to the apocalypse, they seemed to be showing up everywhere, and this was only one of many - that was swirling jadedly behind him.
He had to make a decision.
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It was one of the hardest things he had done, but still his task wasn't over. He had to do one more thing.
Angel gently brushed off Wesley's hair from his forehead and said softly, "I'm sorry Wes, but I can't keep you here."
Wesley's pained gaze turned to that of confusion and silent questioning. Angel closed his eyes briefly so that he wouldn't have to see the pain and betrayal in Wesley's eyes.
"Please forgive me."
Angel got up, dragged Wesley's weak body across the room towards the open portal and, without a glance, threw him into its swirling depths. When it closed, he finally fell to his knees, and let unshed tears fall.
Forgive me, Wesley…
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Present day…
When Angel finished telling them about what happened, the room was quiet. He could see the different emotions running across the faces of his friends; confusion, disgust, anger, hurt, denial, disbelief, and strangely, understanding. Gunn was the first to speak.
"Angel…" Gunn said. He had his head down and turned it up to look at Angel. "Why?"
Angel was not expecting the soft-spoken question, least of all from Gunn who he thought would be the one to speak with a raging outburst. Angel choked momentarily, but finally found his words. "I couldn't risk losing him."
"So you turned him into a vampire and threw him into the first portal you saw, which by the way has a high probability of being a hell dimension. What a way to show you care." Xander said sarcastically.
"Xander." Buffy warned. Xander shrugged and Buffy turned her attention to Angel. Instantly, her various emotions returned. Angel saw her battle with her words but finally she said, "Angel, I… I don't even know what to say to that."
Yell at me, scream, Angel thought, just… anything.
"Well, I don't… Hey, look." Spike said. The others got out of their reverie long enough to notice that the walls were starting to shift. "About bloody time!"
"What do you think this means?" Gunn asked with a hint of fear.
Angel knew what he was talking about. The only reason they escaped in the ballet last time was because they defeated the Count. He didn't want to think of what happened to Wesley. They had to go back.
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Angel and the others rushed into the Hyperion to see that there was no one in the lobby. But then they saw both Giles and Willow through the window to the office. Angel went in and found them both as still as statues, unaware of their surroundings. He walked up to them and waved his hand in front of Giles' face.
"-to the DEAR GOD!" Giles jumped and fell on his bum when he saw Angel and the others suddenly appear in front of him. "How did you get here?" he clutched his rapidly beating heart and stared at them wide-eyed. Angel felt sorry for him but he had other matters to attend to.
"You guys were frozen like statues until just a few seconds ago." Buffy said. "Wesley tricked us – there was no-"
"'Totem of Varharra'? Yeah, we kinda figured that out." Willow said, not at all surprised that they appeared from thin air. She helped Giles up as he calmed down.
"Did you see him? When he did the spell?" Angel asked.
"No," Giles said, "we were just…" he trailed off as he took a look at the scroll and frowned.
"What is it?" Angel said, coming closer to take a look.
"This – it wasn't like this before." Giles turned it around right-side up and peered at the words more closely.
"It changed!" Willow exclaimed.
"Yes, but they're all over the place. Wesley must've done this while we were under the spell."
"Can you make it out?" Angel asked agitatedly.
"Vaguely – some of the words have completely merged. It's not in order but…" Giles tried to read what he could, "There's something about time… a magical vortex appearing somewhere… um…"
"What does it say about where Wesley is right now!"
"I don't – there's…" Giles stuttered.
"Leave the poor man alone, Angelcakes." Angel turned around to see Lorne by the door holding a Sea Breeze in his hand. "I think I know where he went."
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Lorne had gone out of his room and was about to tell the two researchers that he was going to go out. But when he saw that they were busy with the scroll, he didn't want to disturb them so he went out without telling them.
The cool night air was refreshing to Lorne who thought that the last few hours were suffocating at best. After taking a stroll for half an hour, he decided that it was time to head back. As he was walking towards the Hyperion, he noticed there was a car parked in front of the sidewalk. Upon closer inspection, he realised that it was Angel's Plymouth. However, he found it strange that the others' cars weren't also there and that the engine was kept running.
Sensing that something wrong was going on, Lorne hid in the bushes to see who would go out. Sure enough, a few moments later, someone exited the Hyperion and towards the car. He was surprised to find that it was actually Wesley. Why was he alone? Where were the others?
Wesley stopped suddenly and Lorne was afraid that he knew someone was there but all Wesley did was take something from out of his pocket. It looked like a tiny box and Wesley threw it to the ground, smashing it into tiny pieces. The significance of the act was lost to Lorne who kept watching as Wesley took out a piece of paper and looked at it before scrunching it up and throwing it away. He waited until Wesley left and was out of sight before he got up and picked it up, reading what was written.
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"It's an address somewhere." Lorne said, handing the paper to Angel who took it from him quickly. "I have a feeling that's where our little ray of darkness is heading."
Angel scanned it quickly and pocketed it as he went out of the office. "Thanks Lorne." He took Gunn's keys which were left on the reception desk and went for the front doors.
"What about us!" Gunn said when he realised Angel wasn't about to share the information.
"You guys stay here." Angel said over his shoulder. "I'm doing this alone." Then he left.
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Angel looked up at the high-rise office building from where he stood. All he could tell was that it was just another nameless advertising company and there was nothing significant about it that would bring Wesley here.
That was, of course, before he had a demon fall face first with a disturbing splat on the pavement in front of him after falling from the roof.
Right – so Wesley's on the roof. As he rushed up to the building, Angel could only hope that he wasn't too late.
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As he reached the final steps, Angel could hear the muffled sounds of someone fighting. He kicked the metal door open and got out on the roof. Straight away, he saw Wesley fighting alone against at least a dozen demons. Angel saw one of them that had been knocked to the floor behind Wesley get up slowly, holding a metal pipe. He wanted to warn Wesley but he knew that would just endanger him as Wesley already had his hands full.
Angel ran as fast as he could and took hold of the pipe just as it was in mid-swing. He wrenched it out of the demon's hands and smashed the demon around the face with it.
Wesley turned his head around for a second and saw Angel before turning back to haul a charging demon over the roof edge. "What the hell are you doing here!" He yelled.
"What does it look like?" Angel punched another one in the face and said, "I'm helping your ass."
Wesley stopped a demon in mid-punch and snapped its neck. "I don't need you!"
"Well," Angel defected a blow to the head and hit the demon in the gut that sent it sprawling through the air before saying, "Tough."
They fought until only two or three demons were left standing. Angel killed one easily and turned to do the others when he saw Wesley hit a demon in a way that shocked him into a standstill.
Angel didn't know why he didn't realise this before. He knew that move. He knew it because it was his, and it was the same move he taught Wesley when he was just a blubbering mess all those years ago that it seemed almost like a dream.
"Wesley." Angel whispered unconsciously.
"What?" Wesley said as he dodged an attack, paying the vampire only half his attention.
Angel shook himself from his thoughts and looked at the man in front of him, seeing him with new eyes. His voice came out more firm as he tried to validate what he saw. "Wesley."
"What?" Wesley said, getting more annoyed as he battled the last demon. Angel watched the scene in front of him, everything becoming more and more familiar and heartbreaking. As Wesley dispatched of the demon, Angel knew.
"Wes!"
"WHAT!" Wesley turned round angrily but stopped when he saw the look in Angel's eyes. They stared at each other, both seeking for the truth they knew to be there.
"Wes." Angel said softly.
Two men stood alone on top of a building; the traffic silent and the wind motionless. There was a stillness in the air, as if the world itself was in pause and patiently waiting like the calm before the storm.
It was a long silence before Wesley finally answered. He understood, and there was no turning back.
"Angel."
Author's note: I'll get depressed if no one reviews, really. Thank you to all of you who reviewed this far, esp. Imzadi, wesleyssilverphoenix and Ruth Quist- I truly appreciate it. Imzadi, I'm sorry Lindsey was a no show but actually, I have a prequel in the works (set in AU) and he's gonna have a big role in it.