Author: AJ Hong and Tui

Parts: 1-3

Rating: PG-14

E-Mail: pollarb27@aol.com and teriiret@prodigy.net

Disclaimer: : Don't own any of the Buffy Characters, Joss, WB et all do.  Don't own any of the Highlander concepts.  Rysher, Panzer Davis do.  This is an Alt. Universe story.  Richie Did NOT get hacked up.  It didn't happen darnit.

Summary: Willow is an Immortal?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
 

SunnyDale
 

<Gods, it's been two years and Xander is still not talking to me.  Even Giles came around.  Of course it helped that Angel pulled that vamp off my neck while Giles was fighting his own battle.>  Willow thought to herself as she was staring at the computer screen in the lab. She didn't have much time for surfing anymore.  But she still did her best thinking over a keyboard.

 *************

 Ever since that fateful night in 1998, things hadn't been the same in Willow's world.  That was the night that Buffy disappeared.  One morning, Willow received a letter from her stating that she was still alive.  Buffy knew better than to send anything electronic to Willow.  She would have been able to trace it.  By using the actual postal system, Buffy was able to get out of town before the letter had arrived in Sunnydale.  Buffy had explained that her spell worked, Angel had his soul back.  Unfortunately, he had already awoken Acathla and the only way to save the world was to kill Angel, using his blood to seal the demon back into the statue.  That night, she left Sunnydale, leaving a note for her mother, saying she was sorry for ever lying to her, and to go to Giles with any questions that she had. She wrote that she couldn't be there anymore, she had hurt to many people.  Too many people had been hurt because of her.
 
 When Willow received the letter from Buffy, letting her know what had happened at the mansion, Willow started working on a way to get Angel out of hell.  She figured that if there was a portal to get him there, there had to be one to get him out.  Willow spent the next several weeks going through the books in the library trying to figure out a way to get what she needed done.  She sat at the table in the library, furiously typing on the computer.  She was searching everywhere for information on Acathla, and portals into and out of Hell.  She remembered the hours she spent arguing with Xander, Cordelia, Giles and Oz.  Telling them that Angel's soul was in hell, being punished.  She understood that Angelus had made their lives a living hell, but why should Angel be punished for what the demon had done.  No one understood.  Even Oz, her rock, her boyfriend.  He tried to be sympathetic, but all she could do was work on getting Angel out of his prison.

 ********

Willow stared at the computer screen, remembering one particular conversation with Giles after she had found the spell to hopefully get Angel.

 *******

 "Dammit Giles, I'm doing this!  I would like your help, but I will do it with or without you!  Of course without it, I will probably die." She knew that the last bit was bad, but she was desperate.  She had been learning slayer techniques from Giles, he was her mentor.  He knew how much she wanted to get Angel out of hell.  He knew how guilty she felt, with Angel’s soul being trapped there.
 
 "Willow, it's too dangerous.  I know you don't feel right about Angel's soul being trapped in Hell, but he has been there a long time, who knows what he would be like if we managed to bring him out?"
 
 "Giles, Angel was a good man before he became a vampire, his soul was pure.  Nothing is going to change that.  When he was cursed the first time, his guilt overwhelmed him.  He helped people in order to repent for his sins.  You know how much he has to be suffering there."  Willow was lower lip was starting to tremble, <No, I mustn't lose it.> Willow resolutely stopped herself from trembling.
 
 "Giles, I can't let his soul suffer in hell."  She said quietly, her head hanging down, looking at the floor.
 
 Giles stared, he had never seen her look so dejected.  She was the strong one.  The one that always kept everyone together.  When Buffy had left, she came to him, demanding that he train her.  He hadn't wanted to, but she just reminded him that they were all going to help with the vamps anyway.  He might as well give her a little extra edge.  She took to it well.  Pretty soon, she was throwing him around much like Buffy had. The training had shaped Willow into a fine young woman.  It had brought out the steel that was in her personality.  She wasn't one to be trifled with.
 
 "Willow....what happens if the time that Angel has spent in Hell has warped him.  So that even with a soul, he is a total monster."
 
 Willow was quiet for a moment.  "If that has happened, I’ll stake him.  The Angel that we knew and liked would want it.  He wouldn't want to be a murdering monster."
 
 Giles looked at her, not doubting her sincerity at all.  Even though Buffy hadn't been able to kill Angelus, he had no doubt that Willow would follow through with her promise.  "Ok.  I know that you would do this by yourself if I don’t help you, so I will be there to support you. How can I help?"
 
 Willow's face lit up and Giles knew that he had done the right thing.  Even if this didn't work, it was worth it to see the energy flowing back through her.
 
 "Ok...I have everything....."

 ******

Willow snapped out of her memories when her computer screen beeped.  Glancing over it, she noticed that she had mail.  Clicking quickly with her mouse, she checked it out.  <let's see, who's sending mail now?> she thought to herself.  She checked out the sender name, NotAB0ySct. <oohh, wonder what he sent this time?>she thought with a smile.  Suddenly, there was someone standing behind her.
 
 "Ready to go?" He asked.  She looked up back over her head and saw the smiling Angel staring down at her.
 
 "Yeah, just give me a minute to sign off." She said. <Rats, will just have to wait,> she thought to herself as she went through the process of shutting down the pc.
 
 The two friends walked out of the lab together.  Neither noticing the envious looks on the other women's faces.  Angel always picked her up from her computer lab.  It was the only class she had that lasted after dark.  And Angel wasn't going to chance his friend's life with her walking home after dark in Sunnydale, no matter whose butt she could kick.
 
 "So have you heard from Adam lately?" He asked slyly, he had seen the grin on her face when he walked in.
 
 "No, there's an email, but I haven't had a chance to read it yet." She answered, climbing on the back of the motorcycle.  "Hey, by the way, I have a couple more  chapters written, do you think that you will have a chance to take a look at them?  I don't know, but they might be a little campy."
 
 "I doubt it, everytime you say that, it is always marvelous."  Angel said with a laugh.  He still got hadn't got over the thought of Willow writing fiction.  Horror fiction.....Vampire Horror Fiction.  When she told him after being holed up in her room for a couple of days he started laughing.  Until he saw the look on her face.  All he had been able to think about were the vampire flicks that she made him watch.  Ok, they were funny.  But one look at the hurt expression, and he stopped laughing.  Quickly.
 
 "Sure, Will, I would love to read it."  He said, before she either staked him, or changed her mind.
 
 To his amazement, it was great.  Not that he didn't expect anything that Willow did not to be great.  But usually anything to do with vampire writing was hysterical.  But Willow's writing was amazing, it was poignant, sad, funny, and horrific. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought that a vamp had written it. He couldn't stop reading it.  When her book was published.  He bought a copy and made her sign it.   Now she was writing another one.  After her first attempt had been well received, she made sure that he read all of the chapters before sending it to the editor.
 

Seacouver
 
Adam turned from the computer with a sigh.  This was the second day in a row and he hadn’t heard from{Willow, after all its been a year:>} Fxfyre.  Usually she was there online spinning webs as intricate as a spider, and harassing the pagans in the chatrooms.
 
 Normally, his past kept him from having normal relationships with mortals.  Yet, when he first met Fxfyre, she was discussing and arguing the theological and mystical aspects of retrieving and sending souls to hell.
 
 It was this topic alone which drew him.  He preferred to sit back and watch the mortals hash out the history and various theories of the centuries.  Then, here comes this newcomer with a new and fresh outlook on things.  She had liven up the chatroom with her fresh, sharp comebacks.
 
 The old and false mystics couldn’t hold up with her intense scrutiny.   Fxfyre was rapidly becoming known for her tenacity and researching capabilities.  The others realized quickly that Fxfyre was a force to be reconed with and was determined to move heaven and hell to find the answers she was looking for because  the ones she were getting were not satisfying her.
 
 Adam grinned widely and leaned back in his chair as he reflected back to that moment a year ago where he introduced himself to Fox, as he later came to call her.

********

 That evening, he decided to stay in and call it an evening after two disgusting battles with a couple of  young immortals each with a different agenda.  Before that a serious arguement broke out at the Watcher meeting concerning the other branches of Watchers and how something was going on with the other Watchers that was starting to affect them.
 
 Things started to get hairer and they were not about to agree so Adam gave up trying to make peace between the two facting parties and went home.  <There is only sooo much one can do with stubborn hardhead mortals>  Adam was just thankful that they weren’t descendants or related to a certain darkhaired Scot, he knew.
 
 When he got home, he threw off his coat and turned on some Jimi Hendrix.  He poured himself a scotch as the blare of Jimi’s guitar came off the speakers.  Red House, he remembered, was playing as he logged on into one of the chattrooms he knew Fxfyre would be.  He was in some serious need of amusement and he knew he would find it wherever Fxfyre would be.  She had a tendancy to put scholars and mystics on the spot.
 
 Things were going on as usual, the chatroom was buzzing with several people talking discussing an issue that Fxfyre somehow started.  Acathla.  The name itself sobered him up quickly.  <Well so much for a quiet night of comical sarcasm and put downs.  He had to find out more about this Fxfyre before she finds out more than she needs to know.
 
 With carefully placed suggestions, here and there, he soon had Fxfyre’s undivided attention. And before he knew it he was cautiously telling her how to stop the demon.

*************

 Adam sat up and looked again at the computer.  Since their meeting, they had become fast friends.  Something short of a miracle for him, since he didn’t place his trust so readily.  She emailed him three days after their meeting and told him what happened.  He wasn’t quite sure whether to believe her or not because most of the information he gave her came from the information he gathered through the ages and most of them he didn’t believe in anymore.
 
 She was quick to warn him that he should never discount things cause one never knew what life would bring.  And that he must be an old man cause he was starting sound like a wornout senior citizen.  Adam laughed when he realized no truer words had been said.  Later, she spun a tale for him to prove her point as she told of how three naive high schoolers were introduced to the world of the unexpected.

End Part 1

Angel was worried, he hadn't heard from Willow since he dropped her off at her apartment, when he picked her up from the Lab. So there he was, standing on her doorstep, ringing the bell, waiting for her to answer. "Come on Willow, where the hell are you?" He muttered underneath her breath, which still now was an amazing concept for him to grasp. He waited a few minutes with no answer. Taking out his own key, he unlocked her front door and stepped in. The place was quiet, however, he could pick up a sound emanating from the back. He walked towards the spare bedroom. Glancing at the glow filtering out the bottom of the door, he figured she was on the computer. He opened up the door and poked his head inside. The sight that greeted him was astonishing. He barely kept his laughter in check. "Um, Willow?" He asked softly, not wanting to startle her.

Her head whipped around, the pencil shoved into her hair flying off. "Wha?"

She muttered. She blinked, her eyes started to tear up after staring at the monitor for so long. "Angel? What are you doing here?" She stared around, looking out the window, fully expecting the sun to be shining. However, it was pitch black outside. "Angel, what time is it?"

"Don't you mean what day is it?" He asked, worried about her. Looking around, he spied a pot of coffee almost empty, sitting on the desk.

"What are you talking about? What day is it...it's Tuesday."

"Actually, it's Thursday, 8pm."

"No, that can't be." Willow proclaimed, standing up. Or rather trying to, her legs buckled under her. "Ow...ok, so it could be."

"What the hell have you been doing?"

"Hmm, writing." She said distractly, moving her legs and arms, getting the circulation going again.

"Two days, I'm surprised that you let it go that long, without checking up on me." She continued, smiling gently up at him.

"You're the one that said I needed to give you space. That I was smothering you." He retorted.

"Wow, and you stuck to it. I'm really impressed." She said, laughing.

"Well, would it be smothering you if I made you something to eat. Is that all right?"

She glanced up at him, laughing at his attempt at a puppy dog look. "That would be great. You know where the kitchen is."

She said, waving her hand graciously, "I'm just gonna check my mail." She turned back to the PC and pulled up her mailbox.

"What the hell?" She exclaimed.

"What is it?" Angel called from down the hall.

"There's like 10 messages from Adam." Willow shouted back as she started opening the mail. She started reading. A big grin on her face. <Uh oh, I should email him back, just to let him know that I am ok.> She thought as she brought up her Internet connection and logged in.

"Hmm, what to write." She muttered.

 
Send To: NotAB0ySct@jps.net
Subject: I Am Alive

Sorry it's been so long since i emailed you. got caught up in the ficticious world that revolves in my brain. i haven't moved for two days so my slave is now going to feed me and then i will jump back online, unless, of course, i pass out first:>.

I will read all your email and get back to you.

FxFyre

ps

hope i didn't worry you too much:-*

Willow sent the email off before she changed her mind about the ps. She sniffed the air and her stomach growled. <oohh, soup> She thought, getting up and searching for the source of the wonderful smell.

***

The sound of metal clashing echoed throughout the old factory. Grunts and shouts were heard as two men struggled to gain the upperhand. Sparks flew from their swords as the battle continued on.

The swords were locked above their heads as they gasped heavily from the battle.

"Well, old man. Looks like the years are catching up with you, and it will be a pleasure to show that the legendary Methos was not as all legendary as the old tales lead one to believe. Your head and your sword would look great in my collection." He laughed evily. "To believe, that you were once one of the 4 horsemen! What a laugh! You've gotten soft with your old age."

Methos wasn't fazed one bit. He looked deeply into the Karlof's eyes and grinned. Karlof suprised by Methos' grin, faltered a milisecond which was enough time for Methos to act. Methos dropped, sidestepped and swung his right leg sweeping Karlof off of his feet to land with a thud on his back.

Barely, second went and Methos had kicked Karlof's sword away and planted his foot on Karlof's chest. Out of breath, and in shock Karlof's eyes raised to meet Methos'.

Methos pointed the sword at Karlof's throat. "Get up!"

Karlof had no choice as he struggled onto his knees. The edge of Methos' sword pierced his skin at the neck.

"Not bad, for an old man, huh? I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same." Methos grinned and leaned over to whisper in Karlof's ear the silver of his sword shone against Karlof's throat. "You should never take things for granted. You'd live longer."

Methos stood and raised his sword, unaware of the small silver dagger Karlof withdrew from his boot and thrusted into Methos' chest. Methos' eyes widened in suprise and brought his sword down quickly slicing Karlof's arm off at the elbow.

Karlof screamed in pain when a large black van bust through the factory's wall. Methos grunted as he pulled the dagger from his chest and turned to exit a nearby door his arm pressed against his wound. Karlof desparately trying to stop the bleeding, screamed at Methos as two men and a darkhaired woman ran to his side.

"Methos! I'll destroy you! You'll pay for this!"
 

~At the apartment~
 

Methos barely made it in through the apartment door when he collapsed on the floor. Blood was flowing out of his mouth.

"Damn!" He coughed the blood onto the floor. He was slowling drowning in his own blood. "Musta pierced a lung..." He rasped and died.
 

~Five minutes later~

Methos gasped as air filled his lungs and he coughed out what was left in him. He turned and gagged as he struggled to get up from the floor. "What a bloody way to die!" He grimaced at the irony of his words and looked at the mess on the floor. "Well, another day of clean up..." He trailed off and went to the bathroom for towels.
 

~Two hours later~

Methos rubbed his hair with a plush hunter green towel, still wet from his recent shower. Barechest in dark green sweatpants and socks, Methos walked over to his sound system and turned it on. Heavy blues belted out as he grabbed a large steaming mug of soup, and an ancient text and dropped onto the sofa. The gleam of his computer monitor caught his eye and dragged his attention from the ancient book.

To get his mind off of Fox, he decided that he would take care of a certain situation for Joe for a couple of days. Not realizing, what he would be getting into, he ended up fighting for his life and the life of an innocent family who had no idea what their father had gotten them into. Thus, he hadn't spoken to Fox for two weeks.

"She'd be bloody well, pissed off. Her two days is nothing compared to the two weeks I've been having and not to mention that I forgot to tell her that I would be busy...." He trailed off thinking.

"What the hell, am I thinking?! We're just researching buddies...not some infatuated couple! Sheesh!"

He ran his hand through his cropped hair. "Hmmmm..but I still do need to check my messages.."

He got up and walked over to his computer and placed his mug down. He picked up a wireheadset that went into his ears and around to his mouth. "Storm, on." The screensaver blinked and his phone connected. In a minute, he was looking at his mailbox and pulled the speaker from his mouth to grin at the screen.

"You've certainly been busy, Fox. Open first entry." He spoke back into the speaker and leaned back happily into his chair.

End Part 2

SUNNYDALE
(1 week later)

Willow and Angel were doing a quick sweep through the cemetary.

Angel watched as Willow kicked the crap out of a vampire. Once Willow had plunged the stake into the vamp's chest and it turned to dust, Angel stepped forward.

"Thankfully you take your frustrations out on those vampires and not this one." Angel joked.

Willow just stared at him.

"Come on, I can't believe your still pissed that Adam hasn't emailed you."

"Angel..." Willow said in a warning voice.

"I mean, ok, you guys are email buddies.." He trailed off at the look of fury on her face.

"Look Angel, I can't explain it, but I did something stupid and I've not heard from him since.

"What did you do, cyber with him?"

Willow glared at him. "NO, goddess, I didn't CYBER with him. I don't want to go into details, but I can't believe that he's being such a dickhead and not responding to my emails."

"Look Will, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that you were so frustrated." Angel tried to apologize.

"No, it's ok. I don't know why its bugging me so much. I mean, I know
that I've never even met the guy, but there was a connection.. Except for when I was writing and spaced a few weeks back, we emailed each other every day. I mean after the writing spell, there were five or so messages from him. I emailed him to let him know that I was ok, I haven't heard from him since. I mean 2 days without email from me and he was panicking. Now its 3 weeks without anything from him."

Angel wrapped his arms around Willow.

"I'm sorry it's been so frustrating for you And I'm not helping matters any by being so flippant about it. Tell ya what. I'll finish the sweep. YOu wiat {wait}for me here and then we'll go get a coffee. What do ya say?"

Willow hugged Angel back, thanking him for his support. "That sounds like a plan. Thank you."

"Ok. I'll be right back."

Willow smiled and hopped up on a headstone and watched Angel walk off.

Willow let her legs swing freely until a noise caught her attention.

She saw a shadow move. She hopped down off the headstone and followed the shadow, slipping a stake free as she did so. The shadow turned towards Willow and grabbed her arm and caused her to drop her stake.

Willow reacted instinctively, and swept his legs out from under him. The shadow fell to the ground and Willow went down also, hitting him in the throat. The shadow started choking, but let go of Willow.

The moon came out and illuminated Willow. Her red hair glowed. The shadow looked up at her.

"Fox?" The question came out rough.

Willow stared down at him. There was only one person that called her that.

"Adam?" She asked, looking down at him, not noticing that she was still laying on top of him.

"What the Hell are you doing here in Sunnyhell?"

Angel heard the sound of a struggle back in the direction he left Willow and took off running.

~~~~~~~~~~

<Ugh, that hurt!> Adam groaned out of breath and reminances of the old daggar pain shot through him.

"Where'd the hell, did you learn that, Fox?!" Adam asked Willow harshly.

"Adam?!"

"And you were expecting, what? A vampire to show up?"

"You were saying?" Angel appeared from the shadows. He approached them with his game face on and a stake in hand.

Shocked, Adam quickly rolled Willow underneath him and grabbed the stake from her hand.

"Angelus!"

"Matthew?" Angel looked at the stranger in surprise, his game face quickly changed back to his normal features. "But you're dead?"

Adam grunted gathering wind as he slowly stood up, keeping Willow safely behind him. He faced Angel, fierce hatred etched across his face.

He gripped the stake and pointed it directly at Angel.

"Fortunately, not everyone believed that I was a warlock. But that didn't matter to you, did it Angelus? A lot of innocent people died because you played with those childrens' minds!" Adam threw the stake down and pulled a sword from beneath his coat.

"Adam, don't do this!" Willow gripped his arm to pull him back. "Angel is no longer Angelus!"

"You're the Adam, Willow has been corresponding to on the computer?" Angel stared at Adam in suprise.

"Willow, let go of me." Adam growled and tried to shrug from Willow's grip. Willow held tighter. "You don't know what kind of animal Angelus is. He had me drowned and tortured because they believed I was a warlock....." He paused when Willow's words registered in his mind. "What do you mean Angel is no longer Angelus?? He's the one with the soul in hell???"

Angel's mind was going a mile a minute. How the hell could Mathew be here. Angel hadn't seen him since 1692. Matthew was trying to stop Angelus from having his fun. And that wasn't about to happen. Angel cringed once more as he thought about the destruction that his darker half had wrought upon human kind.

Willow saw him cringe and saw the tell tale guilt start to creep back into his eyes. She walked from around Adam and slapped Angel across the face.

"I told you, none of that." Willow snapped at him.

Adam stood astonished, staring at Willow. She had just slapped Angelus. And he wasn't retaliating.

Angel ducked his head, giving Willow a sheepish grin. He knew that whenever he became maudelin over his past deeds she always hit him. She hated his brooding. He didn't do it too often anymore. Well, usually only when it suited him.

<Damn, she throws a mean punch.> He thought to himself rubbing his chin.

"Adam, yes, this is Angel, the one you helped me with. I don't understand. How could you know him, from the witch trials, I mean. " she waves a cross in front of him, flicking holy water at him," you aren't a vampire. How were you involved in the trials?" She asked, curious, still standing between the two men, so that they wouldn't attack each other.

Adam stopped cold. <oh shit.> He realized that Willow knew that something was not exactly Kosher with him. And she knew that he wasn't a vampire. Hence the no cringing at the cross and the holy water thing he had goin' on. He searched for a way to get out of it, but took one look at Willow, and couldn't think of one lie to tell. <What?> he thought.

"Well, Fox, see, um...." he stuttered, for once in his life, he didn't know what to say. Was he actually thinking about telling her the truth. <well, > part of the truth, anyway>.

"Your immortal." Angel blurted out. He, obviuously, knew that the other one wasn't a vampire, and hadn't aged physically since the last time he had seen him, it only made sense.

Willow stared at Angel, mockinlgly putting a hand on his forehead to check for a fever. "Angel, honey, he's not a vampire, unless he's not affected by Holy Water."

Angel pulled her hand down, playfully growled at her, "I didn't say he was a vampire. I SAID he was an immortal."

"Are you trying to tell me that there is more than one kinda immortal, not demon bound?" She almost yelled. "Why me, why here, this could only happen on the hellmouth" She muttered to herself.

"Well I have only heard rumours of the others. But since he has a sword. It kinda falls into place."

They both stared at Adam, waiting for him to explain. Adam glared at Angelus.

Strangely enough, he didn't really want to lie to Fox, and he didn't know why.

"Well, Fox, you see it's like this..." he started to say, but then Angel blurted out:

"Why do you keep saying Fox, her name is Willow....Willow..." For some reason, he didn't like the fact that the other man had something private with Willow.

For the first time in a long time, Methos grinned widely at the vampire. He caught the flare of jealousy in Angelous...no Angel's eyes before he
quickly hidden it with curiousity. <So Angel is attracted to the lass, is he?> The idea of a slow mental torture on Angelous pleased him to no end.

<Hmmm...how to use this?> Methos smiled charmingly to Willow and grinned wickedly to Angel above her head when she turned to look at Angel. As he planned his verbal game, a lightning quick tremor ran through his body. He turned his head sharply to see two shadowed figures emerge from the shadows.

"Angelus..take Fox..I mean Willow out of here." Methos stated cooly as he pushed Willow into Angel's arms.

"What's going on?" Willow asked confused over the sudden change in the environment. One minute she was trying to prevent the two men from fighting, the next Adam was shoving her into Angel's arms.

"Angel, take her now! I'll speak to the two of you later." Methos said without taking his eyes off of the approaching men.

"That's what you think. Once we get done with you, we'll be coming for your sweet little friend over there. We weren't expecting to see you here. But two birds with one stone! This must be my lucky day!" the leader grinned evilly at Methos as he slowly approached him. The moonlight reflected off of the sword by Methos' opponent's side.

Methos smirked at the man. "I would've thought that Karloff would want my head himself. Now, what would he think when he finds that you had deprived him of that pleasure?" He paused to lean against a headstone
giving him a good view of the two men and a side view of both Angel and Willow.

He wished Angel had listened to him and taken Willow out of the situation. However, he caught a glimpse of Willow refusing to leave so Angel pushed her behind him. Methos felt he had to hand it to Angelus. Fox was proving to be as every bit formidable as he imagined she would be despite the fact that suprisingly she was a mere girl.

"Karloff will be pleased when he finds that I got your head."

Methos grinned widely as he pointed and tilted his sword at the man. "You really are dumber than you look."

End Part 3

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