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Angel: The Series > AtS - Future
Between Apocalypses by rockangelz25
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Oz pulled into the driveway of a hotel. "This is it," he announced.

Dawn and Xander got out. "This is your place?" Dawn asked skeptically.

"I wasn't planning on staying long. Saw Xander, decided I might stay longer."

He walked into the Holiday Inn. Dawn and Xander exchanged nervous looks, but followed him anyway.

Oz walked in, not breaking his stride, going straight to the elevator. He punched the "Call" button--it was already there.

Dawn and Xander got in behind him. The doors slid shut after a strawberry blond got on.

She eyed them all with more than a little anxiety, seeming to recognize at least one of them.

"Do we know you?" Xander finally responded to her scrutiny. Not that he minded strange women watching him.... Just that he minded strange women watching him.

"What? No. No... I thought I recognized you, but--no..." She shook her head, turning away. She stared at the wall, seeming to find that more interesting.

Xander didn't buy it. After hanging out with Buffy and the Scoobies for nine years, more than enough people--and demons--recognized him and Dawn with ease. Some of them might even still recognize Oz. Too many of them for his taste. And based on her reaction, it might be check out time.

Dawn looked at Xander. She'd known him since she moved to Sunnydale, always one of Buffy's friends.

Now he was her friend, practically her older brother. She knew him pretty well--well enough to know that this woman was making a bad impression.

Oz, on the other hand, didn't seem to care. He ignored the other occupant of the elevator. Then again, Oz rarely seemed to care. It was hard to tell what Oz was thinking.

The elevator stopped fairly quickly (elevators usually do), and the three of them stepped off. As soon as the doors slid shut, Xander turned to Oz.

"I don't like her." Oz shrugged at him in response.

"You don't like a lot of people," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but she was strange."

"Most people are strange."

"So are lots of demons," shot back Xander. Dawn winced, thinking about Anya again.

"I know what you're saying. Just let me get my stuff," said Oz.

He walked to his room, Dawn and Xander following him closely. He pulled the card through the door, opening it when the light color changed.

Dawn and Xander followed him into the dark room. Oz flicked on the light, paying little attention to the other two.

The room looked nearly empty--he hadn't unloaded much yet. Oz walked into the bathroom, stopping when he looked in the mirror.

"Xander?" he called quietly. Xander followed him in, looking around.

"What?"

"Look in the mirror of the bathtub." Xander turned to look in the bathtub. "No--in the mirror, at the bathtub."

Having found the bathtub empty, Xander turned around to look in the mirror--where he saw Anya's body lying.

"Anya?" He whirled around to look back in the bathtub--to see the body, to see anything. But it was still empty.

"What is this?" He glared at Oz.

"I don't know. It looks a little like the girl you knew in Sunnydale.... Would it be her?"

"She's my ex-fiancee. She died in Sunnydale. We destroyed Sunnydale, but she'd already died there."

Xander shook his head. He'd gotten over her--he still missed her, like some part of Willow would always miss Tara. But she was dead, and he'd accepted it.

Dead bodies aren't supposed to live in hotel mirrors, though. Or, rather, stay dead in hotel mirrors.

"I... I'm going back outside. Just.... Hurry up, okay?"

"Sure, man." Oz nodded.

Xander turned around and left the room. Oz picked up the stuff he'd had time to get out, trying to ignore the picture in the mirror.

"Xander?" Dawn looked at him as he came out of the bathroom. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, Dawnie."

His voice was weaker, like it had been only a few times that she'd ever noticed. The last time that he'd used it was when Anya died--the time before that when Warren the psycho shot Buffy and Tara.

"Xander. What is it?" She repeated her question.

"It's Anya."

"Is she alive?" Dawn looked almost-happy. Dead bodies very rarely stayed dead--unless they were good people.

"No. She's definitely dead. She's also in the bathroom mirror."

"What... What do you mean?" Dawn frowned.

"I mean her dead body is in the mirror's bathtub. But not the real bathtub."

"Or maybe it is and you can't see it," said Dawn.

"Dawn!" Xander didn't even want to consider that possibility.

"Sorry." When she considered the words, she didn't like that idea very well either.

"Come on." Oz came out of the bathroom, shoving his stuff into the mostly full suitcase on one of the beds.

"We need to move."

He jarred Dawn and Xander out of their respective trances. Dawn nodded, and Xander followed them. He looked around behind them, turning out the light.


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