Chapter 16

Note: I usually don't name my chapters since I understand how people get all confused and . stuff. when they have to remember the title and the chapter. However in this case, if I did name this chapter, it would have been called "Return to Normality" . ~_~ no I'm not President Wilson.

Yes, the story does sound like the theme is coming from Dogma and yes I have seen that movie and enjoyed it. But my ideas are not really from Dogma, actually my ideas came from the "His Dark Materials" Trilogy by Philip Pullman (that man is like a modern day Tolkien, gotta love him.). I saw a lot of things differently after I read his books, great writer he is..

Coughs up a lung. horribly sick right now and hallucinating too. Most of the time I think I'm floating and seeing blue dragons and orange cows. sorry the story is coming so slowly.

R&R pwwwease!





~~~ ( Three months later)

William's POV

Ever since that night when I woke up drunk and Leng hovering over me, I haven't felt the same. There's this sickness, this empty feeling that eats away at your gut and throbs in your mind. I can tell that I've been more self-destructive lately. Not in a suicidal way, but in a way that hurts all those around me. The feeling claws away at me and makes my temper violent and my tongue caustic. This week I've already made Aoide cry and run to her room in broken sobs three times and I've received annoyed and disapproving looks from Owen twice.

I hate this feeling of desperation that comes out of nowhere and makes me practically immobile. I can't sleep anymore and I find myself indulging excessively in clubs, drinking, drugs and sex. My new darker life hasn't affected my day life yet, I've been popping pills every morning. I know I can't keep up this facade forever, but I still keep doing it. I need to live on the edge, because it feels like every moment counts. I try to cram in as many emotions as I can in an hour and sometimes find myself on the verge of going completely insane.

It's so morbid that every time I space out, I think about dying. I hate the thought of being gone forever, not knowing what's happening next. It's like I wish time could completely stop once I die, that way I won't miss a thing.

I can feel this foreign coldness settling in whenever I'm talking to someone and they bring up things that apparently happened while I was 'out of it'. It's funny, it's like there's this one-month gap in my life that I'll never know or see and I'm hearing people tell me about it. Apparently in that time period I had met Aoide. Maybe that's why I'm so hostile to her now. All of a sudden, I have this super strong girl living with me, I have no idea how we met, whether she can be trusted or why I invited her to stay with me. But I'm stuck with her.

I don't trust anyone now, not even Owen. He's extremely annoyed that I call him Owen now instead of Grandpa. And ever time I say "Owen" I can see him mentally flinch. I feel bad and yet I am elated that I have such power over him. I know, it's sick.

Everything was going pretty well after the first week I woke up, until Jeff went over my schedule.

~~~

William nodded as he took the agenda from his manservant, "Thank you, Jeff."

Everything on the agenda was perfectly normal, except for the meeting with one of the TIME journalists located in L.A. William blinked a few times, wondering if it was just something in his eyes, but when he cleared his eyes and saw that it was still there. He was somewhat disturbed.

"Jeff!"

Jeff returned from his position in the doorway, "Yes sir?"

"Why do I have a meeting with TIME magazine?"

Jeff shrugged, "Perhaps you should ask your secretary."

William nodded and speed dialed Sharon.

Sharon was somewhat groggy when she picked up the phone. He had forgotten that it was already 12 at night and that most people were asleep by now.

"Yes William?"

"How did you know it was me?"

"Only you call me at ungodly hours of the night. What's wrong?"

"I have a meeting with this journalist that I've never met. Stephanie Fieldman?"

"oh. she wrote a derisive article about you and your business practices in Time magazine. You said that you wanted to have a 'talk' with her."

William frowned, "What? When?"

"Oh.. oh no sweetie, it was during that time you had amnesia. I'm sorry."

William's eyes darkened and he scowled as he listened Sharon's pitying tone. "I don't want your sympathy Sharon. I just want the matter explained to me. I want a copy of that article on my desk first thing tomorrow morning and a file on Ms. Fieldman."

"No, William, you know I didn't say that!"

"I don't care, it was in your voice."

William hung up on Sharon before she could reply and stormed up to his room. But that night he couldn't fall asleep and instead he desperately tried scratch at the blinds that were like steel shields blocking his memory. ~~~

The next day I had read the article and went through the files on Stephanie Fieldman. Her records were clean as a slate, but I doubt her tactics were. After reading the article about five times I had finally realized what was bugging me. One of the sections talked about the non-regulation methods that one of LuminaCorp's older power plants used since it was changed into a test site for science experiments. The thing was, that power plant was totally off limits, private property and needed a key to get into. After reviewing most of the tapes, I had finally caught some footage of Ms. Fieldman breaking and entering.

~~~

William smiled as he shook hand with Steve Jacobson, editor for the TIMEs office in L.A. Then both men took a seat at opposite sides of the desk.

"So Mr. Dale, what brings you here?"

William sighed deeply and pulled out a file he had in his suitcase. "I am deeply disturbed by the ethics of some of your employees Mr. Jacobson, especially Ms. Fieldman's. not too long ago she wrote a scalding article about me and my company."

Mr. Jacobson shrugged, "The people have the right to know what is going on, freedom of the press."

William shook his head, "It's not the article that I'm unhappy about, it's the measures that Ms. Fieldman has taken to ensure her article."

William reached into his suitcase and pulled out three tapes. "I have footage of Ms. Fieldman breaking and entering into one of my science labs and going through confidential files. So here, the deal: I can either sue you or you fire Ms. Fieldman."

Steve Jacobson put the tapes into a VCR next to his desk and watched as Ms. Fieldman used acid to eat away at the locks and shove open the door. Jacobson was mute the entire time while watching the tapes, when the tapes were over Jacobson turned to William.

"I am truly sorry, but you must know that Ms. Fieldman is one of out best reporters, I can't just fire such a key person. Let me think this over."

William nodded as he took back the tapes and the file. Then, right before he left William looked around the spacious editor's room.

"You know, this would be the perfect place to set up my office."

Mr. Jacobson's face darkened, "This building is not for sale."

William returned with a challenging smirk, "Everything is for sale Mr. Jacobson, you just have to know what your willing to pay for it."

Then Jacobson paled as he struggled to gulp.

William gave a low laugh as he opened the door and strode complacently out of the editor's office.

The next day, Stephanie found a pink slip lying on her desk. ~~~

I wanted to be nice to everyone, I really did. But every time I spoke, the words were caustic and vindictive. It was like I needed to hurts someone. I needed to hurt everyone because I was so lost.

~~~~

Buffy unhappily sat at the kitchen island as she sipped some cold coffee that she was too lazy to heat up again. Three months ago, they had left L.A. right after Spike disappeared once more. But news from Angel said that Spike. or was it William? was out and about and back to his billionaire self. After hearing the news for the first time, she wanted to rush back to L.A. and bring Spike home. However, in the end, she stayed home. Not because she didn't want him. it was the 'what ifs'. Like, what if he was happy the way he was, being a billionaire and all? What if he hated her forever for the pain that she had caused him? What if he refused to see her? What if. what if. what if.?

In the end, the questions came crashing down around her and she let go of the idea of finding him again. Suddenly the phone rang.

Buffy walked over to the phone hanging on the wall and answered, "Hello?"

"Hi sweetie. It's dad."

Buffy froze, one part of her was jumping for joy that her daddy had finally called them after all those years. The other part screamed in bitterness and hate at his audacity to call her after leaving them to be so miserable and penniless.

"Dad." Buffy answered back, trying to get him to say something first. She really couldn't say that she missed him. Because truthfully, she didn't, he was long gone out of their lives for almost ten years. And yet here he was, out of the blue, on the phone with her.

"Buffy," Hank paused for a second. "I've heard what's been happening with you and Dawn. And I wanted to help out. I know that you don't have enough money to pay for Dawn to finish up her classes in the next two years so I'm offering to pay for the rest of her way through college and get the college money burden off of your back."

Buffy gaped, stunned that her father was finally helping out for a change. but something wasn't right. There had to be strings, she knew her dad too well. "But what's the catch?"

There was a disturbing silence on the other side, but finally Hank answered, "In return, I want Dawn to come down to UCLA and live with me. Sunnydale isn't safe for her and your house is barely suitable to live in."

Buffy gripped onto a wooden spoon and broke it with her fingers, trying to hold the rage inside of her. But she refrained from yelling at him, if she pissed off her dad, she could be throwing away Dawn's only chance to complete her education and get a descent job.

After a while of cooling down, Buffy picked up the phone and spoke to her father again. "I'm going to have to think it over."

"Look Buffy, why don't you and Dawn come down to L.A. for a few days and look at the place I've picked out for Dawn and let her see the UCLA campus. I know some people and I think I can get her transferred over there."

All of Buffy's instincts scream 'NO!!!', but Buffy knew that Dawn's future was more important than her problems with her father.

"Okay."

"Great I'll see you on Friday."

~~~ (Friday, early morning)

"Dawn! Do you have all your stuff?!" Buffy yelled as she saw her father's approaching car.

"Yeah! Be down in a minute!" Dawn answered back.

A few moments later, Dawn carried her large baggage down the stairs.

"Is this going to be enough for one week?" Dawn inquired.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Look, if you don't have enough clothes, we can buy you stuff in L.A."

Dawn nodded and both sisters headed outside to greet their father.

~~~ (that afternoon)

William talked at Jeff as he skillfully put on his tie, "I have a 4 hour meeting later today with some clients from Korea. So I won't be back for dinner, you have the rest of the night off. Lock the door on your way out. If I need help, I'll call you..."

Jeff nodded as, then he picked up William's jacket and helped him put it on. William meticulously flattened the lapels and dusted off the sleeves.

"How do I look?" William asked, not turning around.

"Very professional sir."

"Good."

~~~

Angel gaped as he saw Buffy walk into his office. "Buffy! What are you doing here? Is there another apocalypse coming?"

Buffy shook her head. "Nah, actually I'm here because of dad."

Angel frowned, he really hated Buffy's dad and what he did to her.

"Why?"

"I don't have enough money and dad offered to pay for Dawn's tuition. but there was a catch, Dawn has to live in L.A. with dad and go to UCLA. I don't want to screw up this opportunity for Dawn, so I'm showing her around and letting her see if she likes it around here."

Angel sighed, "I wish there was something I could do."

Buffy shrugged, "There isn't anything anyone can do. I know that your business has been slow lately with Wolfram and Harte gone.Anyways, I wouldn't have been able to take your money."

"So what are you doing here?"

"Oh, just bored. Wondering if there's anything I can do to help out."

"You can help me file papers?"

Buffy threw her hands in the air. "Sure. Beats sitting around and watch my sister being taken away from me." ~~~ (That night)

William bowed a little as he shook hands with his clients and smiled. It was nice doing business with these men, they knew what they wanted and what he wanted. So the meeting ended fairly early; about 2 hours earlier than he had expected.

William quietly retreated to his office and decided to take a break. ~~~ (Meanwhile in an apartment somewhere in downtown L.A.)

Stephanie angrily huffed as she tossed her old files away into the garbage can and then she began to mutter curses as she saw that the garbage can was too full to take anymore. She angrily stood up and picked up the garbage can and walked out of her apartment to the garbage chute near by.

While she was walking, she was distracted, thinking of horrific ways to torture her editor for firing her. Every good reporters broke a few laws to get a great story, if it weren't for her he wouldn't have been able to get some many 'hot' stories before all the other magazines with such detail and coverage. 'That ungrateful bastard.' Stephanie thought as she opened the garbage chute, 'I am the best reporter in L.A.. if only that damn CEO hadn't turning in those @(&*^ tapes!!!!!!!'

With a forceful shove she dumped the garbage, however in her absentmindedness, she hadn't noticed that the chute's spring was wound up so tight. Suddenly her upper body was caught in the chute and because of her thin figure, she didn't have enough strength to pull out. In that moment, the chute closed in on her stomach and forced her to fall through the pipe and into the large garbage can.

Stephanie threw a tantrum in the garbage can, using colorful curses as she tried to climb out of the quicksand-like masses. But fate had other plans. In that moment Bobby, who lived in room 906 finally decided to throw out his old typewriter since he finally got his new computer from his grandparents for his birthday. The heavy metal typewriter began to accelerate more as gravity pulled it down. The resulting velocity was so great that the typewriter kill Stephanie on impact.

Cont.

Part 17:

Detective Anderson looked over his files on the recent death of Stephanie Fieldman. She was found around 24 hours after she died pulverized in the compactor. However the coroner showed that her death wasn't due to the garbage truck. Apparently she was struck in the skull with a heavy object before she was mutilated. The last person she had met was her editor, he was a suspect, however at the time of the murder he was in the office the whole time. The only other person that was possible was William Dale.

It made sense, Stephanie may have seen something in Mr. Dale's files that were confidential and this was the only way to silence her. ~~~ (William's office)

"Sir, Detective Anderson is here to see you."

"What? Why?"

"He says that you're a prime suspect to a murder."

"What?!"

Sharon shrugged and then asked, "Would you like me to call your lawyer?"

William nodded as he furrowed his brow. "Yes, of course."

"Would you like to speak to him now?"

William hesitated for a second and gave a deep sigh, "Sure. I'd like to hear how I somehow got into this mess."

Detective Anderson bowed slightly to Sharon and entered William's office cautiously. William stood up and waved toward the chair facing his desk.

"Please have a seat."

Detective Anderson nodded as both he and William sat down.

"How can I help you?"

"I would like to ask where you were yesterday around 5:30 pm."

"I was in my office for sometime and later I went to the coffee shop across the street to relax and do some paperwork."

Anderson nodded as he pulled out a pad and jotted down some notes. "I'm going to have to question the shop owner to back up your alibi."

William nodded. "Sure. Um, I'm still a little confused as to what I'm being accused of."

"We suspect that you are involved in the murder of Stephanie Fieldman."

"The reporter?"

"Yes. Now, how well did you know Mrs. Fieldman."

"She interviewed me once."

"How did you react to her scathing article about you and your company?"

". perhaps we should wait until my lawyer gets here. I'm not a liberty to say at the moment."

Anderson frowned as he closed his notepad, "Fine. I won't push, but if you."

William cut him off, "Don't accuse me of something I didn't do. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to attend to. Sharon will show you the way out."

~~~

The reporters rushed Anderson as he stepped out of LuminaCorp. Swiftly, the LuminaCorp bodyguards came to his side and helped him navigate through the horde of bodies, microphones and cameras. Detective Anderson suddenly saw one of his colleagues, Eliza, and ran up to her.

"I thought I told you not to leak out anything about the case until we've got the suspects."

Eliza shook her head, " I didn't leak anything. The LAPD chief officer did and so did the TIMEs editor. Now they won't stop hounding us."

The reporters kept pushing forward despite the guard's attempts to keep them at bay. They kept shouting out questions, asking Anderson for a statement or what he was doing in front of LuminaCorp.

Anderson's shoulders fell as he gave a sigh and he turned around to face the reporters. He held his hands up to silence their inquisitions. "We're currently investigating the homicide of reporter, Stephanie Fieldman."

One of the reporters cut in, "Where and when did you find her?"

"We found her at the Recycling compound about 13 hours ago."

"How did she die?" Another cut in.

"We suspect that she received a blow to the skull and her body was dumped into a garbage container near her apartment."

"Why are you here at LuminaCorp."

Anderson hesitated for a second and look at Eliza, who shrugged. Anderson cleared his throat and prayed that he wasn't making a mistake. "We suspect that William Dale may be involved in the murder of Stephanie Fieldman."

The reporters gasped and suddenly the crowd was in an uproar and barraged Detective Anderson with more questions. Anderson shook his head as he retreated to his vehicle and drove away from the crowd. ~~~

Buffy gaped as she watched the live news. She was settling into her room and decided to watch some TV while she put her things away. When suddenly the newscaster announce the live coverage of the murder of Stephanie Fieldman. She had sat down on the bed, drawn into the news. And now, she could feel despair, hate, betrayal, sadness and a gamut of emotions flying through her.

Buffy quickly called Angel Investigations.

"Angel!"

"Buffy? Is that you? What's wrong?"

"Turn on the news."

"Angel ran over to the radio he had and turned to a news station."

He frowned as he heard the news. Then he talked to Buffy again.

"Do you think he's gone back again. to killing people?"

"I don't know. I don't know what's happened to him. Don't you think he would have called us if he woke up?" Angel pinched the bridge of his nose. " I'm. not sure."

"Should I tell the others?"

"No. not yet, we're not sure yet. They said he was a suspect."

"Maybe I should talk to him."

Angel chewed on his lower lip, " I don't think that's a good idea. What if he."

"No. I don't think he did it."

"You don't know what he can do. We don't know him anymore Buffy. He massacred all of Wolfram and Hart. He threatened to kill us and we know he's mentally unstable."

"Fine."

"Just wait for a bit. If things get worse, we'll also investigate."

Buffy nodded. "Okay."

Then Angel said goodbye to Buffy and hung up.

Buffy looked at the phone and fidgeted around the room for a while. During dinner, she could barely eat and she kept spacing out as he mind went a mile a minute. She new that her father disapproved of her behavior and gave him even more reason to take Dawn away, but she couldn't help it.

Finally, that night Buffy broke her resolve and her promise to Angel as she snuck out of the house and headed to William's apartment. She tried to remember as clearly as possible what Cordy told her later about her first encounter with William. Eventually, she found herself in front of a very tall, sleek and expensive building. Buffy quietly snuck around the back and knocked out a janitor who was heading into the building. She quickly changed into his gray jumpsuit. The man at the front desk nodded to her as she passed by. She gave a sigh of relief when she realized that the janitor's name was Alex, which could have been a nickname for Alexandria.

She glanced at the plaque on the sidewall, which indicated that William lived on the 21st floor and headed towards the elevator. When Buffy finally reached his floor, she decided to knock on his door instead of picking it open.

William called from inside, "Who is it?"

Buffy quickly moved away from the peekhole.

William frowned as he saw no one there and thought maybe he was had a package dropped off. He casually started to open the door.

Buffy quickly took this opportunity to kick the door the rest of the way, sending William sprawling on his back. William growled as he picked himself up and reached for the cell phone in his pocket, but Buffy was faster and she kicked it away.

"Who the hell are you?!" William shouted at Buffy.

Buffy frowned, "Don't play stupid with me!"

During their fight Michael had woken up and taken over, now he was pretending that he didn't know Buffy.

"Answer the question."

"Don't you remember?"

"Remember what?"

"Do you know who Cordelia or Wesley are?"

"Who?"

Buffy blanched. "You don't remember."

William threw his hands in the air, "That's it, I'm calling security. Today has been getting worse and worse."

"Did you kill her?"

"Who are you?!"

"I'm Buffy Summers."

"Okay, now why are you so concerned with this case? Are you an officer? Or a detective?"

Buffy gulped, "No."

William frowned, "I'll call the mental hospital while I'm at it."

"Wait!"

"Who the hell are you?! Why is this your concern?!"

"I'm a friend. And I just want to know whether you did it."

"No I didn't."

"Are you."

William cut her off, " I can't believe you have the audacity to walk in here without a warrant and interrogate me! Get out, or I'm calling the police."

"No."

William started to stride toward the phone and Buffy tackled him. William then spun around and shoved her to the floor with so much force that it knocked the air out of her.

"Mrs. Summers, if I ever see your face again. I won't hesitate to report you. If you touch me again, I won't hesitate to kill you."

Buffy stood up and William walked over to the door, holding it open for her. "Wait her, I'm going to have Jeff escort you out. I don't trust you."

As William walked away, Buffy grabbed his sleeve. Instinctively, William's hand lashed out and slapped Buffy across the face. Buffy's shaking hand touched her bruised cheek as tears began to fill her eyes. William glared at her, showing no remorse and walked away.

Buffy never saw William come back out again. Instead Jeff walked out with a plastic bag of ice and handed it to her as he gently escorted her out of the building. Jeff quietly drove her home and dropped her off in front of her father's house. Neither of them had exchanged words during the trip, except to give directions.

As Buffy got out of the car, Jeff quietly spoke to her, "I suggest you stay away from Mr. Dale, for your own safety. I'm not threatening you, I'm just warning you that he's been very short of temper lately. He usually would never hit any woman. But he's been.acting unusual. I'm sorry for what he did."

Buffy nodded, "Thank you. I shouldn't have intruded like that, I'm not sure what came over me.. Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Don't tell anyone. but, truth is, William might have known you, he has a strange case of amnesia. He doesn't remember what happened to him for a week exactly two months ago."

Buffy gaped, but her mind screamed out, 'So that's why!'

Buffy closed her mouth and nodded mutely to Jeff as she turned around and returned to her father's house.

~~~

During the time Jeff had left to drop off Buffy, William called a number that he would have never anticipated to ever have to call.

"Hello?" A dark sinuous voice answered.

"I have a job." William quietly whispered

"What kind?"

"I want you watch Buffy Summers, but if she starts snooping around me or get into anything I'm involved in. then kill her." William answered as his pure violet eyes stared intently at the pen he was twirling in his left hand.

"It'll cost a little more than my usual price if I have to stalk her."

"That's not a problem. You're money will be in the usually drop off point.".

"Pleasure doing business with you."

"Just do your job Shadow."

Cont.

Chapter 18

Note: *sighs* I know the story has been lagging a little, truth is, I'm having a hard time trying to piece everything together, because I keep changing my mind as what's happening at the moment; it isn't as clear cut as the first 14 chapters or so. Yes, it is a b/s fic, but I just wanted to show some problems they might have before getting together. I don't particularly want to make my story where spike suddenly becomes overly nice and buffy and spike go into ultra-love mode. I want buffy to understand what she did to spike and if they get together, I'd rather it be a mutual thing instead of one practically becoming a subservient pansy begging for forgiveness.

OMG. I have been so freaking busy lately! Arg! Stupid teachers. some of them should be repeatedly pummeled with rubber chickens!

~~~

"Took you long enough to contact me." Lucifer said as he stepped out of the shadows of the almost empty bar.

William glared at him with dark violet eyes, "I've been busy."

Lucifer tossed the front page of a newspaper on the table William was sitting at. "So I see."

William glanced at the headline, which read, 'LuminaCorp CEO is number 1 suspect.'

William closed his eyes and shook his head, "I have no idea how this mess happened. look, I'm not here to talk about this. Do you have it?"

Lucifer opened up an intricately carved wooden case, which held a sword with a pure black blade overlaying another sword with a clear, transparent blade. Lucifer pulled out both swords and tossed the clear one to William. William caught the sword with ease and studied it was must interest. He ran his finger along the edge and lifted it. His finger looked untouched, but when he pressed down, a slight bit of blood began to pool at the tip. William licked the blood off of his finger.

Lucifer smirked at William's action, "Satisfied? Both swords are sharpened down to an atom, cuts through anything, even Archangels."

William tested the weight of the sword, "Nice, very light. is there a sheath for this?"

Lucifer pulled open a bottom compartment in the wooden box and pulled out two metal sheaths. "They've been coated with some unearthly, magical metal which is suppose to keep the blades from cutting through. Although, I'm not took sure if that's true. just be careful."

William nodded as he sheathed the sword and tied the scabbard to his back. Then he faced Lucifer again. "When is it?"

"Soon."

William raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?"

"It doesn't really matter, time does not exist on the plane we're fighting on. We could be at war for 100 earth years and not a millisecond would pass here. So it doesn't really matter."

William placed his hands on his hips.

Lucifer laughed as he turned around, getting ready to leave. "If you really want to know. It'll be in 4 to 5 days. It's not like any of us can prepare for it or bring in any new players. We'll just have to wait it out."

With that last word. Lucifer exited the club, leaving William in there alone with his thoughts.

~~~

Buffy kept glancing behind her as she tried to keep up with Dawn, her father and the tour group. She had this unnerving feeling that she was being followed, but she couldn't turn around and demand whomever was following her to show themselves.

Buffy sighed as she quickened her pace and returned to Dawn's side. The tour guide was currently pointing at the dorms for UCLA and describing the type of dorm rooms that were inside. Buffy glanced at the tree and suddenly saw a flash of black, he eyes widened as she gripped Dawn's arm a little tighter. Dawn looked at Buffy with concern. "Is there something wrong?"

Buffy shook her head and pretended to brush it off. After this, she had to go talk to Angel.

~~~

***Nemiphoren frowned at Michael's floating figure. This was the second time Michael had taken over and roughly shoved him back into the mindscape. Something weird was going on.

Michael's suddenly raised his head and floated back to the ground and he woke up once more.

Nemiphoren folded his arms and glared at Michael. "What the hell is going on?"

Michael turned around in surprise, not realizing that Nemi was standing behind him. "W-what do you mean?"

"You've been acting strange lately, especially after you met that blond headed girl. I have this feeling that I know her." Michael shook his head a little too quickly, "No you don't. I was just getting bad vibes from her, so I took over to make sure that we sent her away."

Will peak his head out from behind Nemi, "I didn't sense bad vibes from her. Why did you send the bad man after her?"

Michael shoved his hands in his pockets, " I know her and I know that she's bad news. Trust me."

Nemi gave him a suspicious look and finally gave up with a sigh. "Fine, I know you aren't going to tell us what's going on.you have that defensive look right now. But I'm going to figure it out. You never take such drastic measures against any mortal."

Nemi turned around and disappeared with Will.

Michael let out a sigh and shook his head while muttering to himself, 'He'll understand one day. It's for the best.'***

~~~

"Detective Anderson!" The commissioner shouted as he slammed his hand down on the desk. "You weren't supposed to leak out any information! It is against protocol!"

" But sir."

"But nothing rookie!" The commissioner spat back. "I'm reassigning this case to another detective that is more responsible. This is a very rich and influential man we're deal with at the moment. I can't believe that you would tell those media leeches confidential information that hasn't been approved by me! You're suspended without pay starting now."

Anderson shrunk into his chair and finally nodded as he walked away with his head bowed down.

"Damn greedy rookie trying to make himself a media wh*re." The commissioner muttered under his breath. Then he marched out of the office and grabbed a passing officer. "I want Detective Jose in my office ASAP."

The officer nodded as he trembled in fear at the commissioner's wrath and took off for Jose's office.

~~~

Buffy sighed as she sat in Angel's office while nursing a mug. Angel was pacing in the room while muttering curses after hearing what Buffy just told him about her visit to Spike. or was it William? And about this thing stalking her.

"Why did you go visit him?"

Buffy shrugged. "I-I don't know.?"

"I think that William might have sent this stalker guy after you."

Buffy nodded, "Yeah.. I thought so too, but why?"

"He wants you to stay away from him."

"I know, but even the William that we first met wasn't so paranoid or hostile!"

"Maybe he's gone over the edge."

Buffy rolled her eyes, " I don't think so, when I was at his apartment. Something felt off. I still can't put my finger on it though."

"Look, you're priority number one right now. You're in danger and I think you should go back to Sunnydale."

"What?! And lead this stalker back to my home?! No. Way."

"Buffy."

"No.."

"But.."

"NO!"

Angel threw his hands down and gave an exasperated sigh. Damn she was stubborn.

During this moment, a dark figure hidden in the bushes outside of Angel investigations wrote down 'Sunnydale' on his notepad as he pressed his headset closer to his ear, trying to get more information from the microphone he had hidden under Angel's desk.

~~~

Detective Jose examined the cadaver that used to be Stephanie Fieldman and looked back up at the coroner. "Okay, so yer sayin' that Stephanie was hit on the head and killed before her body was dumped into the garbage compactor. The coroner nodded as she lit up a cigarette. Detective Jose gave her a disapproving look. "Seniorita, those things can kill you."

The coroner shrugged, "The fumes I inhale in here everyday will kill me faster than any little ol' cigarette. I stopped caring a long time ago."

Jose sighed as he stuffed his hands in his pocket. "Have you seen this kind of blow before? I find the marking on her skull to be very unusual."

"They are, I'm thinking that whoever killed her was probably on drugs or on some extreme adrenaline rush. Humans can't hit this hard. I've only seen bruises and wounds like this on car crash victims or suicide victims that jump off of buildings."

Jose nodded as he took in the information and carefully assessed it. "Are there any DNA samples on her? From fingerprints? Or maybe rape?"

The coroner shook her head. "Nope. Whoever handled her was very careful, probably wearing gloves."

"Do you know what she was killed with?"

"I was thinking a bat, but no wood splinters. Can't be a pole, unless it was a really thick one. maybe you should check out the recycling center, in the pile where she was found. I know that it's being kept in storage right now."

Jose nodded, "Thank you seniorita." Then he reached over and plucked the cigarette out of her mouth. "You're a nice girl and I like working with you. I'd rather you didn't hurry off into death's arms so soon."

The coroner laughed as she shook her head. "Fine, I'll try. Only for you Jose."

Jose gave her a bright smile as he turned to exit, "Thank you." ~~~

Officer Eliza groaned as she followed Jose into the where house. She groaned once she took a whiff of the odor coming from the saved pile of trash. Jose paid no heed to the smell and started to carefully pry apart the pieces of garbage. Eliza's eye twitched as she stood there, arms akimbo.

Jose rolled his eyes and turned around, "I could use help sometime this century. or are you afraid of breaking a nail?"

Eliza face soured and she mutely headed for the trash pile and started to pry apart the compacted pieces.

Finally, after searching for about 2 hours Jose found a bloodied and smashed typewriter. He waved Eliza over and the both of them studied it with much interest. Jose bagged the typewriter and sent it off to the forensic investigators. ~~~ ***Nemi frowned as he watched Michael's frozen figure levitating in mid air. Michael was acting a little too suspicious lately, especially with him constantly taking control during the strangest times. Nemi concentrated slightly and saw Michael, through William's body, opening up a drawer beside his desk with a key and pull out a little black book with phone numbers.

Nemi made a mental note of who Michael was calling as William's finger stopped under a few strange symbols and a very long phone number. Without alerting Michael, Nemi hurried over to Will and woke up. With their combined abilities, they managed to tap into the mindscape and eavesdrop on Michael's conversation.***

"Do you have the notes for today?" William asked the person on the other line.

"Yes. Apparently this girl is from Sunnydale, she's only visiting because her younger sister, Dawn, is thinking of enrolling into UCLA."

"Good. go on."

"Buffy visited Angel Investigations today at around 4:30 in the afternoon. Buffy seems to have enhanced senses from what I could tell. She seemed to be able to sense me following her."

"You're going to have be more discrete. remember, no matter what happens. This is not to be connected back to me."

"Yes, of course, it's apart of the contract."

"Is that all?"

"Oh, and the girl will most likely stay for another 2 weeks. And from what I can tell, she is in need of financial help."

Michael nodded slowly while filing away the information. "Good, I our meeting will be a different time tomorrow. I have a meeting all day and I might not be able to catch you. In that case, update me the day after tomorrow."

"Understood." With that last word, Shadow hung up.

Michael studied the phone for a second and decided not to hang up. He quickly speed dialed Sharon.

"Sharon."

"Yes?"

"I want you to look up Buffy Summer's financial records, debts, jobs, . actually, just give me the whole nine yards."

"Alright."

*** Michael finally shook out of his trance after he hung up. Before Michael could notice, Nemi quickly curled up with Will on the floor and pretended to be sleeping. Michael glanced at the sleeping figures and let out a sigh as he stretched a little and wandered off. Will still kept his eyes tightly shut as he clung onto Nemi. Nemi, on the other hand, immediately shot his eyes open once Michael was out of range and narrowed his eyes; studying Michael's retreating figure.

Nemi turned back to Will, "We have to find out what's going on."

Will looked up at Nemi quietly and nodded, "He's doing something bad, I can feel it. But I don't know why? Why does he want to hurt this Buffy girl?"

Nemi rolled the name on his tongue a few times, "Buffy. Buffy. It sounds so familiar, but I can't put my finger on it."

Will nodded in agreement. "I think we should find out more about her and why she's supposedly so 'dangerous'." Will added the little air quote, emphasizing the little lecture that Michael had given them earlier on how dangerous this girl, Buffy, was and how they should stay away from her.

Nemi's eyes looked distant as he stared at where Michael was levitating earlier, " I have a plan."

Cont.

Chapter 19

Sorry, I've been really slow lately due to tons of schoolwork, college apps and my club. I'll try to type faster.

Eliza groaned as Jose kept watching the surveillance tapes over and over again. Unfortunately there was only a surveillance camera watching the hallway and nowhere else. The garbage chute, where Stephanie was killed, was just around the corner at the end of the hallway.

The tape always showed Stephanie walking out of her apartment with a garbage can and then returning. No one was in the hallway at all for hours before that and no one was even near the end of the hallway during the time of Stephanie's murder.

Eliza shook her head, "Look Jose, whoever killed her was probably hiding around the corner for a long time."

Jose narrowed his eyes as he watched the camera frame by frame for the umpteenth time. "It just doesn't make sense, we would have seen who was waiting there for her. Every person who threw away their garbage always came back and there was no one walking in the back of the hall, or else we would have seen them."

Eliza rolled her eyes, clearly sick of this case. "Look, we're both tired and it's 3 in the morning, we'll come back to the tapes tomorrow."

Jose shook his head, "No, tomorrow we go check out the apartment."

~~~

"Buffy, I think Wesley should watch you."

"No!" Buffy snapped at Angel over the phone. "I don't want my sister getting all paranoid over this. It'll go away."

"Buffy please!"

"I'll be fine, besides I'm the slayer. I can take care of him."

"We don't even."

Buffy cut him off, "No, stop. We'll be fine."

A groan came from the other end of the line followed by a string of curses.

"Angel, just don't worry. Look, I'll go talk to Spike and get this straightened out."

~~~

William looked up at Sharon with violet eyes as she handed him a stack of papers, "There you are William. As much information I could find on Buffy Summers."

William nodded as he leafed through as few pages.

Sharon put her hands on her hips, "Quite a colorful history this girl has, setting schools on fire and getting arrested nearly twice. What does she have to do with you?"

William straightened the papers and looked indifferent, "Oh, I saw her snooping around my penthouse the other day and got suspicious."

"Do you want me to call security?"

William shook his head, "No need. If there is a problem, I can take care of her."

Sharon shrugged and shook her head, "I hope that cocky attitude of yours doesn't get you into more trouble than you can handle."

William laughed, almost sinisterly, "Why Sharon, I thought you had more faith in me."

Sharon walked out of William's office without another word. There was no point in provoking him when he was being such a jerk.

~~~

Jose looked into the garbage chute a few times and muttered to himself. It didn't make sense. If Stephanie was killed before being thrown into the chute then there would have been some sort of trace of a struggle. But what if the attacker caught her unawares?

Okay. so assume that Stephanie was caught unawares and was bashed on the head with a typewriter. Then there should have been a trace of blood around the ground or in the chute, right? Jose stuck his head down into the chute and called out to Eliza, who was standing at the bottom of the chute. "Anything?!"

Eliza shook her head as she stuck a flashlight up the chute and looked around inside. "No! There's nothing, not even a trace of blood."

Jose shook his head and called back down, "Fine! Meet me up here."

As Jose stuck his head out of the chute, he gasped as the spring suddenly sprung back hard and nearly threw him in. He used all of his strength to keep himself from being thrown in and then struggled to pull out. Then he landed hard on the floor as he panted fearfully, "Geez, that thing almost killed me."

Jose's eyes widened. "Oh my god."

Eliza called down the hall, "Hey Jose! I'm up!"

Jose gathered his bearings as he stood up and brushed himself off, then he ran down the hall to Stephanie's room.

Eliza looked at Jose curiously, "Are you okay?"

Jose came back out with a small trash bin and stuck it into Eliza's hand. "Here."

Eliza looked in the trash bin with two scraps of paper in it. "Okay? Jose? You aren't tripping on acid are you?"

Jose shook his head frantically as he studied Eliza's petite figure. "Hmm. You're about the same height and size."

Jose grabbed Eliza's hand and led her to the garbage chute, then he pointed his hand at the chute. "Throw the garbage away."

Eliza raised her eyebrows, then looked down at the trash bin and shrugged. She opened the garbage chute and used her hips to hold it open as she dumped the pieces of paper in. Suddenly, as she tried to pull out, the spring sprung out hard again and she screamed as she felt herself being pulled in. Jose quickly shot his hand out and pried the garbage chute open as Eliza scrambled away from it. Then she turned to Jose and screamed, "What the f*ck is wrong with you?! Are you trying to kill me?!"

Jose rolled his eyes, realizing that Eliza didn't understand why he had her simulate what Stephanie did. "No. Eliza, don't you realize how Stephanie was killed?"

Eliza's eyes widened, "oh.. OH~!"

Jose nodded, "So assuming that Stephanie fell into the trashcan. But I'm still not sure how this typewriter killed her."

"Maybe she fell on it?"

Jose shook his head. "No, the wound would have been different looking. I think someone on the upper floor must have been throwing away their typewriter and they unknowingly killed her."

Eliza rubbed her bruised ribs. ". and I used to never believe in chaos theory.poor gal."

Jose looked at the paper folded away in his pocket and sighed, "We have to exonerate Mr. Dale now."

Eliza winced visibly. "Do I have to come along? I don't think I want to be there when the lawsuit is being filed against us."

~~~

William hummed to himself as he got out of his car, stepped out into the parking lot and started to walk toward the elevator. Suddenly Buffy ran out in front of him and stopped him. William's eyes narrowed; apparently the Shadow hadn't done his job thoroughly, "Yes Mrs. Summer? How may I help you?"

" Call off that stalker you sent after me." She said angrily.

William's violet eyes looked down at her haughtily, "Now why should I do that if you're such a threat to me?"

"I am not a threat."

"I guess attacking someone in their own home has a different definition these days."

Buffy screamed at William, "What the hell is wrong with you?! What did you do to Spike?!"

William looked at her, unfazed by her outburst, "I didn't do anything to Spike. In fact, I'm the only reason why he's alive and sane."

Buffy glared at William, "You're not Spike."

"Bravo, you just realized that?"

"Who are you?"

William shrugged, "Find out on your own, you're a smart girl. I mean you did manage to get into a highly secure building without setting off any guards or the guy who I sent after you. Actually, I'm quite surprised at the moment. You really should be dead, my terms were to have you killed if you even tried approach me."

Buffy looked at William in horror. "Why are you doing this?"

William laughed as she walked over and invaded Buffy's personal space, "Fine, I'll tell you. I'm Michael. as in the archangel and I despise you with every fiber of my being. Spike may love you, but he won't. As long as he doesn't remember who you are, he can't love you and he can't protect you from me. I've seen what you've done to him. You're the reason why he's so f*cked up at the moment. Don't worry, I'll manage to kill you pretty soon, before he can remember who you are. I'll be doing him a favor."

Buffy shrank as she backed away from him. "Get out of his body."

"No can do. I need it."

Buffy suddenly jumped up and tried to spin kick him in the face. But the way Buffy moved instantly gave away what she was going to do. William took advantage of Buffy's unbalanced state in the air and used her momentum to slam her into the concrete ground. Buffy whimpered as he head collided sickeningly with the hard ground and knocked her out.

William looked down at her disheveled body in distaste and speed dialed security. "Hello? This is William Dale, there's a unconcious psychotic girl here in Parking lot A who tried to attack me. Yes, I'd like you take her down to the police station. Make sure she's locked away for good."

~~~

***Nemi and Will secretly watched Michael and Buffy's interaction in the parking lot. Nemi was suddenly very sick as he watched Michael unfeelingly harm the beautiful blue-green eyed girl. At the moment, William was going upstairs to his penthouse. As William entered the penthouse safely they noticed that Michael was pulling out of his control state and they suddenly rushed to the side and pretended to be asleep. Michael looked at their prone figure and relaxed. Good, they hadn't seen what happened. Then Michael quietly walked into a more secluded spot of the dreamscape to take a break.

Nemi and Will looked at each other after Michael left. Nemi murmured to Will, "I think I might know who this Buffy is."

Will started to quietly sob, "Oh god, I hate him. I hate him."

Nemi touched Will's shoulder, "What's wrong kiddo?"

"I remember who Buffy is."

~~~ (the next day)

Nemi approached Michael, determined to give him the tongue lashing of his life. "Michael."

Michael held out his hand as he approached the spot he usually used to take control of William, "Wait. I have an important errand to run at the moment."

"It's really important."

Michael's eyes begged Nemi to let him go, "I really need to go. Can this wait until I come back?"

Nemi sighed as he looked away, frustrated. " Why have you been lying to us?"

Michael's tensed visibly, "Now is not the time."

Nemi growled, "No, we deal with this now."

Just as Michael was about to retort, he could sense Lucifer's presence nearing, " I need to go. We'll deal later."

Nemi lunged at Michael. But Michael was faster and he froze Nemi in his spot, midair. "I'm sorry I had to do that. But I have a more important thing to deal with."***

William 'woke up' just as Lucifer materialized in the room.

"It's time." Lucifer said as he touched the obsidian sword at his waist. William nodded as he retrieved the crystal sword from a secret panel behind his bed.

"Are you ready?" Lucifer asked with a slight bit of nervousness in his voice.

William sighed, his violet eyes a little distant and his brows knit with worry. 'Stop thinking about what Nemiphoren said. Like you said, we'll deal later.'

Then William looked up at Lucifer with stern eyes, "I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

Lucifer nodded and the two powerful being disappeared from the room. ~~~

Jose tapped his fingers against the rails in the elevator nervously as Eliza fidgeted next to him. They were on their way up to William Dale's penthouse. A million thoughts raced through their heads as they tried to prepare themselves from the billionaire's wrath. They approached the door with trepidation and knocked. But never in a millions years had either of them expected William to have mysteriously disappear and William's manservant hysterically trying to find him.

Cont.

Chapter 20:

Note: HEY! Last chapter! We're done

Michael walked silently with Lucifer through the marble hall which was one of the strange buildings that appeared out of nowhere in this desolate dimension. It was the perfect fighting grounds for one of their final battles. The entire land was barren, covered with a deep, reddish clay-like dirt. The suns were closer to this planet, creating an oppressive sort of feeling, but the planet wasn't particularly hot. It sort of reminded Michael of how mars would look like if the sky a dark orange color surrounded by 3 suns and 5 moons.

Every few miles there was a building, which appeared out of nowhere and didn't fit with the environment at all. Michael knew that they were materialized by Lucifer as one of the headquarters to be used to gather his minions and allies. There were deformed and hideous creatures roaming everywhere in the hall. Michael glanced over at Lucifer's solemn face and spoke, "Have you talked to the other Archangels?"

Lucifer gave him a strange look, "No. Whatever for?"

"Did it ever occur to you that we might be able to negotiate the situation?"

"But Metatron."

".Isn't the only Archangel. You could have talked to Uriel, Raphael or Gabriel."

"They're too embedded with their 'morals' I would never get through to them."

"But I know that they don't particularly like these battles that we have every few millennia."

Lucifer shook his head, "It's already too late."

Michael shoved his hands into his suit that he hadn't changed out of and he sighed. "I can talk to Raphael, I'm closer to him."

Lucifer shrugged, giving a 'it's kind of pointless' look. "Sure. If you can do it."

Michael nodded. "Be back soon."

~~~

The policeman looked strangely at the ranting manservant, "So you're saying that your boss, William Dale, was in the apartment one second and suddenly he disappeared?"

"Yes!"

"Did it ever occur to you that he could have just gone out?" The policeman said sarcastically.

"No! I would have heard him! And besides I reviewed all of the security tapes in the penthouse and none of them show him leaving."

The policeman shook his head as he wrote down the missing person's report. "It's not very much to go on. I know he was accused of killing that reporter gal. what's her name? Stephie?"

"Stephanie."

"Whatever. Maybe he hopped a plane out of the country."

"But all of his personal jets are accounted for and he hasn't registered any seats on any airline!"

The policeman held his hands up, "Hey man, calm down. It was just a speculation, I'm just as lost as you are. We'll get a detective on this case, the best money can buy right?"

Jeff nodded absentmindedly, "Yeah.. yeah."

~~~

The only sound coming from the room was Raphael sharpening his sword.

"What do you want?" Raphael asked the thin air.

Michael suddenly materialized, "Just here to talk."

"You shouldn't be here. It's almost started." Raphael answered, his tone was monotonous and indifferent.

"I'm trying to reason to with you."

Raphael whipped his head around and scoffed. "Reason? It's a little too late for that traitor."

"Metatron has blinded."

"No!" Raphael cut in, "Lucifer has blinded YOU!"

"How could you say that, he was one of us!"

Raphael took the sword he was sharpening and pointed it at Michael's throat. "Like how you were one of us?"

"There needs to be a balance." Michael answered.

Raphael took the sword away. "It's not too late Michael, for you to come back to us."

Michael rolled his eyes and backed away, "Oh~! And it's too late to stop this f*cking war!"

Michael glared at Raphael in disgust, "Hypocrite."

And then Michael disappeared from the room, leaving a frustrated Raphael to contemplate the situation. ~~~

A moody Michael greeted Lucifer as he walked out into the hall, "Things didn't go well?"

Michael strapped on the sheath with the crystal sword, "I don't want to talk about it."

Lucifer nodded, "You'll get over it soon enough. I did, eventually. It's just the price you have to pay for making the right choice."

Michael ran his hand over the metal belt, holding the sheath to his waist, "The 'right choice' is relative. Look, I'm only going to fight if it looks like your side is losing."

Lucifer sighed heavily and tilted his head down, "Yeah, I thought you would. It's all right."

Michael was silent, but his face was contorted in apology.

"No, you aren't sorry, you're just doing the right thing and I recognize that. I just hope it isn't a decision you're going to regret."

~~~

The blood red sky looked like an imminent omen for both side, Michael could have sworn that it probably rained blood on this planet. If not, it was going to this afternoon.

Michael stood watching from the cliff above the valley where the two sides would engage into their mindless battle. Michael looked over to where Metatron was standing. His energy was far stronger than the last time they met, this battle was going to be over soon.

Within moments the battle began, the echoes of screams carried itself from the depths of the valley, a lake of blood seems to appear from the massacre from the middle. Metatron had decided not to wait and he was slicing the demons effortlessly. Lucifer and a few other top-level hell gods were already having a difficult handling the archangels. One of the demon witches used a spell and bound Gabriel and Uriel midfight, which gave the hell gods an opportunity to pound on them. However, Metatron came in and swept the hell gods' bodies away in one blow.

Michael frowned, he knew that he had to face Metatron before he annihilated everything. He took a small step forward and few pieces of rock scattered under his heavy feet. Michael closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

'Now.'

~~~

Metatron laughed as he plowed through the bodies easily with his long sword. Michael yanked an arrow out of a dead body and took a bow from the hands of a dead archer, then he concentrated on the tip of the arrow until a blazing flame grew on the end. Michael aimed at Metatron's distracted figure, directly at the upper spinal cord. The arrow hit bulls eye, however, it barely affected the hulking figure.

Metatron turned around and smiled viciously.

"It looks like the traitor has finally decided to join us!" Metatron said with a gleefully false tone. "By the way, nice host. I hope he doesn't mind that he won't be getting his body back. I mean, there won't be much left of either of you when I'm done."

Michael drew out the crystal sword and held it menacingly at Metatron. Unexpectedly, Metatron began to laugh. "Oh~hoho. I see why you got the weak mortal body now. You wanted to play with the pretty shiny sword. Well, you know what? It's not going to save you."

Metatron closed his eyes as his body started to cackle with a white-ish electricity that danced threateningly. Faster than a blink of an eye, Metatron disappeared and reappeared behind Michael and sent a powerful blow down his spine. Michael let out a scream as he felt one of his arms pop out of its socket.

Metatron shook his head in disappointment, "tsk.tsk.tsk. I Michael, the greatest warrior of the Archangel. You know what? You're pretty pathetic. I have no idea why you."

Michael sent a powerful kick into Metatron's gut with enough momentum to send the enormous being flying into the group of battling angel and demons. While Metatron had been bragging, Michael had started to tap into his own energy source. Michael concentrated harder as he called forth more energy. But within, there were complications. ~~~

Nemi and Will screamed as the entire dreamscape illuminated and started to fall apart, like it was disintegrating from the sheer power that was being sent through the body.

"I-I-.." Will cried as he clung onto Nemi. "I feel like someone is tearing me apart."

Nemi watched as the barriers fell apart and the Creature begin to enter, however in that instant a column of force swept through and annihilated it.

"It's gone." Nemi whispered as he watched the Creature slowly fade away. "Will, it's gone!"

"Will?" Nemi asked as he shook the little boy's limp body. "No.."

Nemi grew hysterical as he tried to wake up the younger soul. Nemi took Will in his arms and started to run towards the main bubble where Michael usually resided, "Michael! Michael! Will's hurt!... Michael?!"

There was no answer. Nemi let out a desperate wail as he walked around in circles. Eventually he ended up in the center of the dreamscape- The last place that could stand while everything else crumbled.

~~~

Michael lurched suddenly, something was wrong. But he barely had time to think as Metatron shook himself of the sickening pieces of demon body parts and blood and started to stalk towards Michael. Metatron grinned as he dropped his own weapon and his arm became a blade. Michael felt a bit of dread in his stomach as the other archangel stalked over.

Their blades met once they were close enough to each other and to Michaels surprise, Metatron's arm was still intact.

'sharpened down to an atom. cuts through archangels.'

His breath quickened. Could Lucifer have given him a malfunctioned sword? Was this a setup?

Metatron started to tisk as his presence started to force Michael to back up. Michael swallowed, the acid taste of bile mixed with fear didn't help his situation. Metatron's bladelike arm changed into a Triton and caught Michael's neck in between the two spikes.

Then Metatron took a lazy hand and reach over to pry a butcher knife from one of the more primitive demons, his face was immensely smug.

"Not feeling so powerful anymore huh little boy. I expected better. Oh well, this was so easy. But then I did tap into God's power-"

Suddenly Metatron stopped talking and lurched forward. Lucifer was standing behind him with his sword on his lower left side - indicating that he had sliced down on the archangel.

The Triton trapping Michael's neck disappeared and retracted to become Metatron's right hand once more. Michael quickly shifted and pulled himself out from underneath Metatron's bulking body. Michael then looked up at Lucifer with fury, "What the hell are you trying to pull?!"

Michael held up his crystal sword, "This thing doesn't work!"

Lucifer lifted an eyebrow and shrugged, "Sorry, forgot that both swords need to be out in order for the magical property to work."

Michael hissed, "And you found that you didn't have to tell me this vital information?!"

"It kind of slipped m-" Lucifer stopped mid-sentence as the sound of a 'Whoosh' was heard. Then he looked down and found that he had an arrow, imbedded perfectly in his sternum. Lucifer's sword instantly flipped downward to support him as he crouched down, trying to handle the pain.

Michael was about to run towards Lucifer until he saw Metatron was slowly inching towards Lucifer, fingers outstretched. 'He's going to leech off of him!' Michael suddenly realized.

He looked down at the crystal sword, "You better be right."

Then he flipped the sword facing down and stabbed Metatron in the spine. The bulky archangel let out a wail as blood and saliva gurgled out of his mouth Then Michael pulled out the sword and raised it above Metatron's head, "Just like decapitating a vampire. better safe than sorry."

As sickening crack of bones and squish of flesh could be heard in the distance.

~~~

Lucifer cringed as he glanced down at Metatron's head that had rolled towards him, "That's lovely Michael, really you have no finess- Arg!"

Another arrow had imbedded in Lucifer's knee. Michael looked up and his eyes quickly scanned the skies, "Who the hell?"

But apparently Lucifer had seen them, "By the blond Hell god's body."

Michael looked towards that direction and briefly recognized Glory's corpse. There was a small flicker of shine from the tip of an arrow. One someone's arrow shined like that.

"It's Raphael."

"I know." Lucifer grunted as he pulled the arrow out of his knee. "Urg, that's going to leave a scar. Come on, let's get out of here."

"What about?"

"No, forget him. He'll be taken care of."

"What? By whom?"

"Explain later. Just give me a hand here." Lucifer held his left arm out and Michael hooked the arm over his shoulders and supported Lucifer up. Suddenly another whoosh could be heard, but it missed by an inch.

Michael quickly gathered his bearings and disappeared with Lucifer.

~~~

There were back in Michael's room when both of them reappeared. Michael first lay Lucifer on the bed and broke off the shaft of the arrow, but leaving most of the point in Lucifer's body, "I need my knives to deal with that."

Lucifer nodded grudgingly.

Michael went into the bathroom and came back with a few dry towels and hot wet towels. He cleaned most of the blood from both of them and then treated Lucifer's more minor wounds first, especially the one on his leg.

Lucifer winced as he felt a needle pull through his knee, stitching the gaping wound together, "Can't you just use magic?"

Michael shook his head, "All tapped out. I didn't realize the crystal sword also leeched energy."

Lucifer sighed and then squirmed, "It's alright, probably better anyways."

Michael continued to sew, "Why do you say that?"

"God will be pissed, better not to call attention to ourselves so fast."

"Why would he be pissed? He's probably in a different universe right now."

"No he isn't. Or at least he'll be here soon."

Michael was confused, but then Lucifer had been around longer and he knew these sort of things, "Why?"

Lucifer cleared his throat, "Remember how Metatron said he tapped into God's power?"

Michael nodded.

"Well, it's not so much as tapping as ripping a hole in God and then sucking the power out.. Slimy bastard. I didn't think he'd stoop to that low." Lucifer hissed.

"So God's going to be running in to see why he's leaking power and then flame whoever did that to him?"

"Wouldn't you?" Lucifer shot back.

Michael shrugged, "Okay. well, so." He gave a sigh, "If God comes here, he'll realize what happened. After he's done with Metatron, he'll deal with us?"

"Not too sure." Lucifer shook his head, he looked worried, "I mean, I'm riding on the hope that he'll realize we were following the first and foremost rule, and that's: maintaining balance. He might not like the way we dealt with it. I just hope he isn't too pissed after he's done with Metatron."

"Wait. I thought I finished." Michael started, but Lucifer's laughed stopped him. "What?"

"You only destroyed Metatron's physical body. Spiritual castigation is far more painful than being physically killed."

Michael cringed, then he froze and he suddenly realized.

"Oh shit,"

Lucifer frowned and lifted his head slightly, "What's wrong with you?"

"My host's soul. Shit! I was ignoring it while I was fighting. Something must have happened when I touched Metatron when he charged up!"

"Well what are you rambling for! Go deal with it!" Lucifer scowled at Michael. "You're such a dunderhead, I can't believe you're only a thousand years old younger than me. When I was your age."

Lucifer's words drowned out as Michael closed his eyes and went to check on Nemi and Will.

~~~

Michael looked around the shattered dreamscape, "Oh God no."

He actually had to levitate because everything had fallen into the abyss. except for a small platform in the center where Nemi and Will were lying. Both of them were half dead. Michael looked at both of them helplessly, "What do I do. what do I do?!"

Suddenly a hand touched Michael's shoulder. Michael looked up, it was Lucifer. Apparently the older archangel didn't trust Michael to be able to deal with the situation. Michael felt a flash of resentment and relief. Lucifer's spirit form was fine, as opposed to his physical form.

He quietly pushed Michael to the side and studied the two unconscious souls. "You can't restore them, not unless you want give up your own soul."

"How did this happen?"

"You know how it happened. You just told me earlier."

"But I wasn't sure"

"Well I'm SURE."

Michael swallowed, "What do I do?"

"One, stop sounding like a broken record. Two, do as I say, I'm going to be doing a Convergance."

Michael nodded. Convergances were when you combined two half souls to make one new soul. Then he held out his hand, "But wait, Nemiphoren is a demon soul."

Lucifer shook his head, "Doesn't matter, he had enough humanity in him to converge without a problem."

Lucifer levitated to Will's head and put both his hands on his head. He glanced over at Michael, "Do the same as me, but on Nemiphoren."

Michael followed Lucifer's instruction and did the same.

"Ready."

"Yeah.."

~~~

William groaned as he sat up. He looked around, "Wasn't I. I'm not in the dreamscape anymore."

A voice spoke next to him. William quickly turned his head. It was Michael, except he was transparent. William gaped, not sure what was going on, his head throbbed unkindly every time he strained to recall something. Michael held out a hand, "Don't bother. It'll come back throughout the week so you don't need to strain yourself."

William blinked, "Okay.not to be offensive or anything, but what are you doing here?"

"To give you my Gifts." Michael told him vaguely.

"Gifts?"

Michael nodded, "As a way to repay you for allowing me to use your body as a host. I couldn't have done it without you."

William blinked, "Oh. alright."

Michael held out his transparent hands and placed them on William. William felt a strange cold air from where Michael hands should have been, had he been tangible. Then a rush of energy surged through him. And as soon as it came, it disappeared.

William was very confused now, "Would you mind at least telling me what you did."

"I gave you the powers that you possessed while I was in you. You need that because once you start remembering, you'll want to try to perform certain tasks that require that kind of magic.. Umm.. heh. Lucifer probably could have explained it better. But he's talking to God right now, trying to keep the both of us from being maimed."

William nodded, but the conversation was a bit weird. It would have helped if he could remember things other than his name.

Then Michael held out a glowing silver sphere, "This is a very dangerous object that can only be used three times. And what it does. is it takes it's keeper through time. Either to the future or past. And it will allow for you to change the future if you decide to go into the past. Note: if you do go into the past, there will be two of you in existence, be sure not to kill your past self, for that will erase your own existence. And also, you must realize, there are consequences if you change too much. So be warned, use it carefully and if you do decide to return to the past, hold your tongue before telling anyone of the future. You can only ripple time, not splash it."

William took the sphere in his hands and then looked up at Michael, "Why?"

Michael smiled, "When you start remembering, you'll see."

"Wait." William said as Michael tried to leave. The archangel stopped, "Yes?"

"Won't that undo everything you did?"

Michael shook his head, "The battle was on another plane entirely. Your appearance in the past shall not change the fact that I used your body as a host. It cannot change the world you are currently. But it can increase the amount of possibilities for a better future."

Then Michael disappeared leaving William alone and still utterly confused in his bedroom.

~~~

The words of the archangel started to make more sense as William recalled everything throughout the week, despite the messes he had to cleanup from his disapperance. He felt the sphere in his pocket, itching to be used. He wanted to go back and change everything. He didn't want the Scoobles to suffer. He didn't want Buffy to look so lost and used. He wanted to take that betrayed and downtrodden look out of her eyes. He wanted heal her urge to return to death. He wanted to stop Tara from dying, he wanted. and Joyce too. he wanted. too much.

He couldn't really figure out which point in time to return to. She he return right before Joyce died and get her to the hospital? Should he go back to that time Buffy ran away from home after killing Angelus? . Or perhaps he should go back all the way to the beginning before Buffy became a slayer.

'Yes.' a small voice in him urged.

He could take over Angel's role becoming Buffy's shadowy guardian. He could be Buffy's first love. He wasn't under some sort of stupid Gypsy curse. He wouldn't leave her, never leave her.

'Is that what I want. Is that what I decide?' William asked himself. 'But what of the other me, what if the 'me' in that world also loves her too. Aren't you being a bit selfish for denying him the ability to love her? He was there first.'

William sighed and sat down on the park bench near the lake and watched the ripples of water.

A soft voice floated over to him, but it was hard and steel-like, "Mind if I sit down?"

William mentally cringed and remembered that he had sent Buffy to jail. He reluctantly looked up and noticed that Buffy was standing at the end of the bench, he smirked, "It's a public park."

Buffy sat at the other end of the bench, as far away as she could from him. Her eyes were full of suspicion and malice, "What have you done to Spike. Get out of his body!"

William closed his eyes, 'Thank you for giving me this mess Michael, was this also one of your Gifts? You could have been a bit less nasty to her. despite what she did.'

"He's not in me anymore Buffy."

Buffy tensed and then looked up at William, he eyes didn't hold the same malice as when she saw him the last time. "Spike?"

"Yeah. well.. sort of. I mean. I'm still me, Michael isn't in my body anymore, but I'm not really the same anymore either." William mentally lashed himself, 'Spoken like a true idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about.'

Buffy was still staring at him, after all. as she had to base on was his words. She wanted to trust him. but after that whole stalking and then jail business.

"How do I know you're not lying."

William shrugged, "I guess I can't prove anything."

"So I can't trust you."

William shook his head. "That's for you to decide."

"Why? Why did you do it?!"

"What? Follow you?"

"And send me to jail."

"I told you, that wasn't me. That was Michael!" William's voice rose. He hated that fact that she was looking at him like that, like he was worse than the dirt under her shoe.

Buffy shook her head, "Look." She sighed, as if she had come to a conclusion. "I can't prove that you're right. or that you're wrong. But please promise me something?"

William looked up at her, curious, "What is it?"

"You have to promise first." Buff insisted.

"If I don't know what I'm promising."

"Look, I want you stay away from me and Dawn and my friends. That includes Angel and his friends too."

William felt a strong stab of hurt, "What?"

Buffy shook her head, "After what you did to us. I can't trust you. And I know how powerful you are. I mean, destroying Wolfram and Harte in one night. Even Angel couldn't do that for that last five years."

William was bitterly looking down now. "I can't promise you that."

Buffy waved his answer away, "Forget the promising.. just. That's not going to work. I'm not asking you to promise. I'm telling you what to do, for my sake and my sanity. If I ever see you again." She trailed off, but William understood the implication. He nodded.

Then Buffy nodded and walked away.

As soon as Buffy was out of sight, William pulled the sphere out of his pocket. "I'm allowed to be selfish.."

Without warning, William disappeared.

End.

Author's note: Winces. I know. I know. open ended ending. I'll consider writing a sequel, but no promises.