TITLE: Who Are You?

 

CHAPTER: 4

 

AUTHOR: persistenceofmemory

 

DISCLAIMER:  As usual, Joss owns all I'm just borrowing his people.

RATING: R

PAIRINGS: A/S

Angel stood looking into a cave on the ocean shoreline. This man would be the first human he’s killed in a long time, and sure it was for Spike but it was taking its toll on his mind. Was he ready to kill a man for someone who possibly didn’t return his love? Sure Spike had said it but Spike has been known to say things he doesn’t mean, quite often actually.

Angel was still deep in thought when a twig snapping behind him alerted him to William’s presence. He sighed and turned around to look at the other man. “What are you doing here?”

“I followed you. I needed to know something and you’re the only one that can tell me.” Angel nodded for him to go ahead. “That girl, Dawn.” William said quietly. “She said that Angelus was a vampire, and I over heard you talking about me not having a reflection. Now I am not the smartest man in the world but I can put two and two together.” He took a deep breath and kept going. “This Spike chap, he’s me but from the future, or rather from this time.”

Angel looked down at the ground, avoiding the eyes that could still bring him to his knees as William continued his speech. “I know that I’m not in England anymore, and each moment I’m becoming more painfully aware that it is not eighteen seventy five. I don’t know how this all came to be but I’m beginning to understand things. I am this Spike person, and you are Angelus. You love me and I think I love you. Now you are ready to kill a man to return me to what I once was. Am I correct?”

“Yes.” Angel sighed, running a hand through his spiky hair. “Now I have to go do this to get Spike back and you can’t be here when I do it. So go back to Buffy’s and wait.” He started walking into the cave but was stopped by William’s hand on his shoulder.

He turned Angel around and looked him right in the eye. “We’re going together or not at all. Is that clear?”

“Fine.” Angel growled, shrugging of William’s hand. They walked into the cave together and soon found what looked like a lair. In the back was a sewer pipe, which explained how he had gotten from Willie’s to here without being spotted. Angel turned to William. “Stay put.” He whispered then began looking around the cave.

Angel sniffed the air then turned sharply to face William the instant he smelled the man’s fear. His eyes fell on a scruffy looking man standing behind William, holding a knife to the blonde’s throat. Angel took a step further but the man pushed the dagger closer to William’s throat. “Not another step vampire, or you will lose the body as well as the mind.”

Angel took a step back, holding his hands in the air. “Look, I don’t want to hurt you, all I want is for you to restore Spike’s memory. But if a single drop of blood is spilt from that body, you will be dead long before you hit the ground.”

The man shrugged, he didn’t look to intimidated but he let go of William regardless. He pushed William away, still holding the knife out in front of him. “Seams fair, you don’t want him to dust and I don’t want to die. I think we can reach some sort of agreement.”

“Okay.” Angel said calmly as he shielded the shaking William with his larger form. “You give Spike his memory back and I won’t kill you.”

The warlock started to chuckle. When he finally stopped laughing he smirked and said, “You were Angelus right? I thought you were supposed to be smart.” He chuckled again. “I didn’t take your boy’s memory, I took his mind. It’s a whole different brand of magic.”

“So, fix him then.” Angel half growled. He was desperately trying to keep his cool as his instincts screamed at him to kill the man and be done with it.

“It’s not that simple.” The other man chuckled. He geld out his hand in front of himself and a glowing red orb appeared in his palm. “This is your childe’s mind. When he and the slayer attacked me I could feel the pain inside of him, so I took it away.”

“What pain?” Angel breathed, trying to keep from throttling the man where he stood.

“The pain from you of coarse.” The man chuckled. “I took him back to the time when he still liked Angelus, when they were friends. That is when he was at his happiest. That’s all he really wanted from you, you know. He doesn’t want your love or your sex, he wants your friendship. So I gave that to you but you had to go and mess it up.” He sighed, bending over and placing the orb on the ground.

“At sunrise, sprinkle a bit of ground Mandrake root on top of the orb, chant a basic reversal spell then break the orb. You’ll have your boy back.” He turned and left the cave.

Angel stood there, not moving a muscle for the longest time. Spike didn’t want his love? That meant that Spike didn’t love him back. He was snapped out of his daze by William’s still shaking hand on his arm. Angel turned and looked at the boy.

“Can we go home now?” The blonde whispered.

“Sure.” Angel nodded. He bent over and picked up the orb, stared at it for a moment or so then pocketed it. They both turned and left the cave, Angel still in deep thought.

When they got back to Buffy’s everyone was relieved that both vampires were okay and even more relieved that they had found the cure. William had gone to bed and everyone else stayed up to help prepare the spell. It was an hour before sunrise and Willow had begun grinding the Mandrake root when Angel suddenly stopped her.

“What’s wrong Angel?” She asked, setting the mortar and pestle down on the table.

“I don’t want to do the spell.” He said softly.

Everyone’s eyes were instantly on the dark- haired vampire. “Why?” Willow asked, her voice filled with shock and confusion.

“The warlock guy.” Angel said quietly, trying to hide the pain in his voice and failing miserably. “He said that Spike was hurting so he took him back to the time when he was most happy. When he and Angelus were just friends, nothing more.”

“Angel, what are you getting at?” Buffy asked.

He looked at the room full of people, his eyes starting to fill with tears. “He doesn’t love me, not as Spike he didn’t. Now that he’s William again, I have a chance to fix it, to make him love me. Buffy don’t tell me that if there was even the slightest chance that we could be together back when you were in high school, you wouldn’t’ve taken it in an instant.”

Buffy said nothing, she just looked down at her feet, her hand absently tightening around Riley’s knee. Now it was Willow’s turn to play the voice of reason. “Angel, from what you told us, about how to get Spike back, it sounds like his mind is trapped in here.”

“That’s what the warlock said.” Angel said, rubbing his eyes as the tears became to thick to see through.

“If his mind is in here then it’s in a sort of hell. Trapped and alone in the dark with no way of knowing when it will get out.” The red head explained. “Now you’ve been to hell, and if you truly love Spike, you wouldn’t leave him in there to rot would you?”

Angel opened his mouth to answer but no words came out, Willow was right. If it was truly Spike’s mind in there then it was trapped in something akin to hell. No matter what Spike thought about their relationship, Angel had to set him free. After a long moment’s pause Angel sighed heavily and said the one word he had dreaded saying. “Okay.” He whispered.

Angel stood up and grabbed his duster off the chair he was in and slipped it over his shoulders. “I need to be alone, I’ll be back before you do the spell.” He walked into the kitchen, down into the basement and into the sewer access.

Willow turned to the room. “Let’s get the rest of the stuff ready.” The gang continued to work.

To be continued...

I’m not holding the story hostage anymore I just want to stretch it out a bit, make it last longer than five chapters. I’ll update ASAP, probably not this weekend though, I’m really busy but I’ll try. R&R please.

Next Chapter