Giles was trying to reason with her. “Buffy, if what you’re saying is true…the First has a larger army than we first anticipated. Even with Angel’s help there’s absolutely no guarantee that we’ll be able to defeat that army.”

“I don’t care. I want it to corporealise. I want to hurt it like its hurt me. I want to look it in the eye and then drain the life out of it.”

Willow looked shocked. “Buffy…think about what you’re saying. It’s a dark place, I know, I’ve been there.”

Faith piped up, “Me too, B.”

Buffy shook her head. “This isn’t human. It’s pure evil. It’s beyond anything we’ve fought before.”

“And for that reason, we need to be cautious,” said Giles. “We don’t know what it’s going to manifest as or even if it can be killed, let alone fight it.”

“It has Angel. What do you think it’s going to do to him? It’s going to bleed him while he’s hanging over the Seal and it’s going to bring forth more of those Turok-Han, maybe something more powerful. We can’t afford to wait for it to make the first move here.”

“Yeah, but marching into it’s stronghold to be slaughtered isn’t gonna cut it, B.”

“Well can any of you think of anything else we can do?”

The three others remained silent.

“I didn’t think so.” She took a breath. “But, I’ve got something else I want to tell you, an idea I had last night.”
She told them, and they were amazed.

Angel screamed in pain, blood seeping out of his chest onto the metal plate below him.

“Blood is a powerful thing,” said the First. “Your blood? Now, that’s even more powerful. I tried this with Spike, but unfortunately little William wasn’t up to the challenge.”

She paused for thought.

“It’s been very difficult for me too, you know. I’ve had to try this by trial and error. First, I tried it with that idiot Andrew, but his friend Jonathon’s blood wasn’t pure or thick enough for the job. It barely opened one of the corners. Then, I – for reasons I won’t go into now – tried it with a piglet, but Andrew couldn’t even grab it, let alone kill it. After this…disappointing failure, I tried Spike. As a champion and a vampire with a soul, he managed to raise one measly Turok-Han. One! Needless to say, though, that single Turok-Han kept the Slayer on – and off – her toes for a good long time while I made other arrangements. Now, I have you. The way I figure it, Spike didn’t have pure enough blood because he’s only recently got his soul back. You, on the other hand, have had that soul for coming up on a century, and with all of the good deeds you’ve done over the years…”

She chuckled.

“I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it won’t be one Turok-Han coming up out of the Seal.”

Darla smiled up at Angel.

“So you just hang on tight, my love. It’ll all be over soon.”

“Wow,” said Faith.

“I second that wow,” said Willow.

“You think it’s a bad idea?” asked Buffy.

“We didn’t say that,” said Giles. “I think it’s…it flies in the face of everything we’ve believed for hundreds and thousands of years.” He breathed. “I think it’s bloody marvellous!”

Buffy grinned.

“Hey, I’m the one who’ll have to pull this thing off, so maybe a little Willow-input here?”

Faith looked over at Buffy. “She’s right…it is beaucoup de mojo, B.”

“What is?” asked Xander from the doorway. Buffy told him.

“Wow.” was all he said.

“Will everyone stop saying that and give me some feedback please?”

“Sounds good. It’s just…well, nothing like this has ever been done before. Ever.”

“Exactly. Which is why it won’t be expecting it. We’ll hit it where it hurts, and finish this.”

Willow nodded slowly. “Alright…I’ll need some time to prepare, Buff.”

Buffy smiled. “I think we’ll need to give all of the girls a little time to think too.”

Angel lay on the ground, unconscious, nearly drained of blood. The First had ordered him cut down and given some nourishment to keep him alive, just in case it needed him again.

Slowly he opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings blearily. He blinked and tried to sit up.

“No, dear boy, don’t try to sit up. You need to rest,” said the image of Darla. “You need to rest…in case I need to bleed you again.” She smiled sweetly.

“You’re…you’re not…”

“…Darla, I know, I know already. We’ve established this on several occasions – I’m not trying to drive you insane, I’m trying to raise an army by squeezing every last drop of blood out of your body.”

“You’re not…gonna win…” finished Angel, glaring up at the First.

“Oh! You’re speaking in whole sentences!” Darla laughed.

“Where’s…?”

“The thing I brought through the Seal? Not here yet. I had one of my boys do a spell on the Seal to make it retain a charge from its sacrifices. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before, to be honest. But, I’ve had yet another brain wave, and I have you to thank for it. It happened while I was digging around in Darla’s past – not so recent past, to be exact – do you remember what she was trying to feed on while your child was in her stomach? When you cornered her in the arcade…?”

Angel began to get a horrible feeling. “Kids…”

“That’s right. So, I had the Bringers run around town, you know, for a deserted town there are a hell of a lot of people left here, and bring back a few suitable sacrifices.”

Angel rolled over and saw a group of little kids making a circle around the Seal, each with a Bringer behind them and sobbing their hearts out. Darla smiled.

“And I’m guessing an innocent’s blood’ll have more of an effect than an undead champion’s.”

It lifted its arm up, ready to signal the Bringers.

“No…!” said Angel.

“I’m afraid you’re beyond begging, Angel. Maybe before you came to Sunnydale, as old suicide pals, I might’ve made an exception, but as it stands…you just kind of piss me off.”

Angel’s eyes widened.

Darla dropped her arm and the Bringers brought their knives flashing down.

Willow flinched.

“Feel a disturbance in the Force?” asked Xander, teasing.

“Yes, actually,” said Willow. Xander’s face became serious all of a sudden.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know,” replied the witch. “But it isn’t good whatever it is.”

Downstairs, Buffy had finished giving her speech to the Potentials. Each of them took a breath and looked at the others.
" I know it's a lot to think about, but we're on a time limit here and we all have to be on board for this thing to work."
Kennedy looked up from across the room. "I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about you dying, Buffy, and what that'd mean for one of us sitting here. And this plan is the perfect way to avoid that and still get what you'd be giving up. I don't think any one of us isn't prepared to take it to the next level. And I know we haven't always seen eye to eye on certain things in the past...but if it means destroying the First then I'm with all the way to the end."
Buffy stared at Kennedy, surprised beyond words at the Potential's speech. She looked around the room, and saw grim determination in each of the other girl's eyes. Each one was prepared to accept their fate, even if they hadn't been Chosen yet. She felt fierce pride swell in her chest and the beginnings of tears began to swell in her eyes. Kennedy saw this and smiled at her. Buffy nodded, and without saying another word walked out of the room.
She met Willow in the hallway, looking distraught. She instantly went into full Slayer mode.
" Will, what is it?"
Willow stared at Buffy with haunted eyes. "I think it's started."
Buffy just gazed at Willow for a few long seconds and began to sprint up the stairs for the scythe.
A low rumble echoed outside in the distance.
" I don't wanna guess what that was," said Xander, "But I've already got couple of visuals."
Buffy turned on the stairs. "Willow, get the girls ready. Xander, find Spike and Faith, tell them it's game time." Her two oldest friends nodded and moved away with a purpose. Buffy started back up the stairs.
Fred came out of a room, looking frightened. "Buffy...?"
" Grab a weapon, Fred, I think you're gonna need it." Fred turned and glanced at Wesley, who was in the room with her, and they both ran downstairs, calling Gunn's name.
Buffy burst into her bedroom, ripping open her weapons chest and tearing out an armful of sharp swords, axes, daggers and things she didn't know the name of. She sprinted back downstairs and dropped them on the living room floor.
" Grab a weapon!" she shouted to the Potentials, who sprang into action. She met Faith on the way to the kitchen.
" B, what's happening?"
" I don't know," replied Buffy, grabbing a kitchen knife from the counter and wordlessly handing to Andrew, "But I don't think it's an ubervamp this time."
Faith nodded and ran down to the basement.
Spike wandered in brandishing a broadsword. "Well, I'm ready for the big show, how about you?"
Buffy nodded her head towards the door. "If you hadn't noticed it's nice and sunny outside."
Spike shrugged. "Doesn't mean I can't move around outside, as long as I have a blanket and I stick to the shadows..."
Buffy smiled. "Thanks." She moved back towards the door, shouting back to Andrew, "Don't put someone's eye out with that thing!"
" Uh, okay!" was the confused and meek response.
Kennedy stood in front of the other Potentials, grimly holding up a sword. "We're ready for this."
Buffy nodded. "Good. 'Cause the next level you were talking about before?" Another rumble echoed throughout the area. Buffy smiled grimly. "I think it's arrived."

Robin Wood hurtled down the deserted streets of Sunnydale in his car towards the Summers' residence, desperate to arrive before Buffy left on her final battle, which he had convinced himself she'd do after hearing that terrible rumble in the distance. He'd been out searching for possible sources of weapons or manual help when the rumble had sounded and he'd sprinted out to his car. Now, he speeded along the streets of the town with a trunk full of swords and other sharp objects, hoping to arrive to lend some assistance, and of course hopefully fix things up with Faith. She seemed to have given him the brush off after the other night, and he'd wanted to get her alone to talk things through.
Suddenly, a sheet of darkness shot across the road, and before Robin could brake, he'd plunged straight into it and hurtled through the now inky blackness of the outside world.
" What the hell???" he exclaimed, slamming his foot onto the brake pedal. The car squealed to a halt, sending him straining against his seatbelt, and he looked outside.
Mid-day California had turned into darkness blacker than the darkest night. It had to be something the First was doing, something to do with that rumble.
He huffed impatiently. “I’ll be damned if a smokescreen’s gonna stop me kickin’ some ass in the final battle…” He eased forward slightly, trying to recall the path of the road, when the car hit something solid and stopped.

“Dammit…” he threw open the car door and felt his way around to the trunk of the car. He clicked it open and fumbled around until his hand rested on a flashlight – one of those big industrial monsters – and his other lay on a sword hilt. He lifted them both out of the car when he heard something scrape behind him. He flicked the light and a beam of light shot out, piercing through the darkness and lighting the way slightly.

He smiled. “Well, now, that’s better…”

He turned back to the car and he heard the scrape again. Curiosity piqued, he shone the light onto the ground and saw something scurry behind a wall. Lifting the sword up, he paced slowly towards the wall. The scrape sounded from behind the bricks. Robin lifted the sword into a stabbing position and rounded the corner.

There was nothing there. He sighed and turned back towards the car when something impacted into his back and he collapsed face first onto the ground.

He instinctively rolled onto his back to squash the thing grabbing onto him but it just squeezed even harder. Feeling his ribs start to bruise, he lifted himself up and threw himself back down with as much force as he could muster. The creature let go and he sprang up, sword at the ready, but he couldn’t see it even with the massive power of the flashlight. He swung the beam of light around, frantic not to be grabbed by the thing again, when he saw something flash in the corner of his eye. He swung the light around and caught the creature full in the face with the beam of light. It screamed and collapsed backwards, shielding its eyes from the beam.

Robin stabbed forwards with the sword, gutting the thing. It screamed once more and fell silent, limp on the ground. He withdrew the sword and ran back to the car, slamming shut the trunk and throwing the sword and flashlight onto the passenger seat. He started up the stalled vehicle and backed slowly away from whatever he’d hit.

“Why didn’t I just do this the first time…?” he asked himself, snapping the headlights on. Sure enough, the road ahead of him was partially illuminated and he started towards Buffy’s house, still hoping to catch her.

Wesley kept producing small and large firearms and sticking them over his shoulder from inside the cupboard to whoever was waiting. Fred held onto some kind of big semi automatic, and Gunn held a pump action shotgun. Lorne grabbed a pistol from the former Watcher and stuck it in the belt of his suit, also holding a crossbow. Wesley stepped out of the cupboard wielding a shotgun of his own and a rifle slung over his shoulder with a strap. He nodded to the other three and they smiled at him.

“It looks like it’s just us four.”

“Yeah, Angel’ll be pissed he missed out on the big final battle, huh?” asked Fred in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Lorne caught on. “Yeah, the second we find him he’ll be itching to get in on the action.”

Gunn smiled. “He was always one for big finishes, huh?”

Wesley agreed. “Remember when the Beast threw him off a skyscraper?”

Gunn chuckled at the memory, as if Angel had done it on purpose just to make a big finish. “Or when he blew a grenade up in front of himself to escape from that guy Holtz.”

“I seem to remember a big diversion to get a load of demons to chase him in his car and then blowing them all up in an abandoned mine by making them think the bomb was his…” The smile vanished from Fred’s face.

“His son,” finished Gunn.

“My God…” said Wesley. “I remember it all…what I did…”

Gunn looked over at Lorne and the demon was similarly shocked by the revelation.

“How did he…? Why did we…?”

Wesley looked distraught. “I just figured it was something I’d done…nothing like that…”

Fred laid a hand on Wesley’s shoulder comfortingly. “You thought you were doing what was right – you were doing what was right, to the best of your knowledge at the time.”

Gunn looked perplexed. “So Angel and Cordelia never…? And Jasmine wasn’t his?”

“It would appear not,” said Wesley. “I got a hold of a shaman, and he removed Angel’s soul, probably by making Angel think that he was…with Cordelia.”

“And Connor killed Jasmine, not Angel, because Jasmine was Connor’s daughter, not Angel’s,” said Fred. “If I’d have thought back before maybe I’d have put two and two together – even mystical pregnancies don’t last as short as Cordelia’s after we took Angel’s soul away.”

“At least Cordelia wasn’t alone when Angel went to kill her, like we thought until just now.”

“But what if she wasn’t?” asked Gunn. “What if this is just the First screwin’ with our heads?”

“I doubt the First is capable of incanting and maintaining a memory spell like this, as it’s not totally present in our dimension, however I suspect it’s more than capable of breaking a similar spell.”

“Like the spell Angel put on us when we took over Wolfram and Hart.”

“So he had a motive for the takeover after all, not just wanting to turn the evil law firm to good so there’d be less evil in the world.”

He rumble echoed again, louder this time. It was getting closer, whatever it was.

Wesley snapped himself out of it. “We can worry about it later, right now we have to take care of whatever that thing is and rescue Angel.”

The others nodded and they headed towards the living room.

“Are you ready?” asked Buffy as the foursome walked through the door. She stood in front of the Scoobies and the Potentials, each holding onto some kind of pointed weapon.

Gunn hoisted the shotgun and cocked it. “Let’s bring it,” he said with a smile.

********
A bit weird, I’ve updated before the chapter’s been up more than 24 hours, but it’s just here I’m updating, just to clear some things up, namely the events the Fang Gang thought was real until they remembered.
Okay, Holtz was summoned by Sahjin (sp?) as before, to have revenge upon Angel, and went around recruiting Justine etc to help him. It was business as usual at Angel Investigations until Cordy was summoned to the Higher Plane, and Angel was sunk to the bottom of the ocean, this time by Holtz and Justine. Holtz then disappeared, probably on some moral dilemma quest thing, and Wesley captured Justine. Now, there’s no way Wes could do anything as bad as he’d done before – stealing Connor – so the memory spell deliberately gets a little hazy here, and if he tries to think about it he just thinks he’s got a memory drain and stops thinking about it. He knows vague details, like getting his throat cut by Justine, but figures he just got careless in a fight and this made him more distant to the Fang Gang, driving him away and into the waiting arms of Lilah. He doesn’t know why, but getting his throat cut made him lose it in a big way, separating him from his friends like before. He then captures Justine and searches for Angel while Lorne jets off to Las Vegas and Fred and Gunn keep AI running throughout the summer.
Then, as we go into season four, Wes finds Angel as before and returns him to Gunn and Fred and they try to find Cordy, ultimately bringing them back together with Lorne and Wesley, and Cordy returns from the higher plane as before. They do the wacky memory spell, Cordy gets her memory back and awakens Jasmine’s consciousness inside of her and she starts pulling the strings of everyone around her. Instead of going to Connor’s place, she goes to a motel or something and then goes walkabouts with Angel, prompting the Beast to fly up through the ground as before and make the Rain of Fire. Now, Cordy doesn’t give the speech about not being to love Angel and they start to fall for each other in a big way while all of this is happening, but they don’t sleep together during the Rain of Fire, but they fight the Beast like before while Cordy’s holed up at the hotel and get their asses kicked. The Beast destroys the Ra-tet and the sun blacks out; Cordy has the vision as before and indicates Angelus as the “answer is among you” riddle, prompting Wes to suggest they de-soul Angel. He doesn’t go to get the Shaman as before, though, Angel and Cordelia both agree that they love each other and actually sleep together, and they manage to incapacitate Angelus afterwards long enough to get him into the basement. This act conceives the vessel that will become Jasmine, and Cordy swells up even quicker than before, and while Wes nips off to break Faith out of jail, Cordy makes preparations for the arrival of Jasmine. They capture Angelus and jam his soul back into his body, and Angel returns to the fold at last (the Beast still dies like before, btw). As Willow heads back to LA with Faith, Cordy reveals her pregnant state and they try to figure out what’s going on. When Angel finally clocks on to Cordy not being Cordy, he confronts her but lets her go, unable to harm her or their child, even if it isn’t the real Cordelia. In search for more info, he captures Skip and he finds out it’s worse than he realised and he made a terrible mistake letting her go. He goes to find Cordy to kill her before she gives birth, but Jasmine beats him to it and that whole peace-and-love storyline carries on like normal. Fred discovers what’s really going on, escapes, releases the others from Jasmine’s mind control and they try to escape, Angel finds out Jasmine’s true name, releases the world from her grasp, everyone goes mad and Angel tracks down Jasmine, having one last final battle with her and he realises she was never really his child, it was just the act of sleeping with Cordelia which caused her to start developing, like a catalyst. This gives him the justification he needs to kill Jasmine, just they way Connor did, and this is the point where Lilah offers them all Wolfram and Hart, which he accepts in return for information about Sunnydale, the amulet and the chance to make the world a better place, which is when they all head off to Sunnydale to give some much needed assistance and where this fic begins.
Hopefully this has cast some light on any confusion caused by my AU within an AU, but I thought I needed to clarify exactly what went on in ATS series 3+4 (according to the memory-altered Fang Gang, anyway), as I got a review asking if Angel actually killed Cordy! And the answer is no, he didn’t, but they thought she was alone when she gave birth, and they’re taking comfort from the fact that at least she had Connor with her when he tried, even though it wasn’t the real Cordy.
Phew! The person most affected by this sudden reversal will be Wes, as I like his character so, but also because he was the one most messed around with, yet he has to be the one to keep in control otherwise everyone else’ll unwind too, at the same time as trying to rescue the guy who screwed with his mind. Also, it finally gives him the chance to strike back at Angel for doing something terrible!

Okay, I’m *really* sorry about the long post-mortem but I wanted to make clear the position the Fang Gang’s been put in at the end of this chapter and what they’re having to deal with as well as worry about fighting the thing making that rumbling sound – and oh, yes, it’s most definitely a thing, and it’s no Turok-Han!

I keep getting reviews asking for characters to come into it a chapter before I’m going to mention them! I got one about Andrew and now one about Principal Wood, but they’re both here now. Hopefully this’ll mean I don’t have anyone else I’ve forgotten about, but you never know…

So, sorry again. Please review! Any comments, criticisms, suggestions, stick it in a review or email me. Okay, thanks!